St Mary in the Mountains, Sonora

Sermon for 11/22/2009 - The Rev Stan Coppel

2009-11-25T20:28:00.000-08:00

Christ the King, John.18: 33-37

We come today to the end of the church year, the Last Sunday after Pentecost. Through this past year, we have traveled the course of the Gospel, marked for us by the Creed. We have stood at the stable, at the cross, in the garden of resurrection, and in the upper room as the Holy Spirit swept down like wildfire.

At this year's end, we turn our sights toward the ultimate End, also marked for us by the Creed. We open our arms to welcome the Last Day when "He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead, and his kingdom will have no end." We look for "the life of the world to come."

Our people have awaited the Last Day for a very long time. Daniel caught a glimpse of it years ago in a night vision. He saw an Ancient One, seated on a throne, surrounded by thousands of thousands. Then came someone resembling a person, with the clouds of heaven. To this person - like person, the Ancient One gave dominion and kingship. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that shall not pass away, and his kingship is one that shall never be destroyed, words which have also found their way into our Creed.

The psalmist has a song celebrating the kingship of God, who made the earth secure. But even more secure is God's rule, mightier than the pounding breakers of the sea.

On this Last Sunday, we also hear about the Last Day from the Last Book, the book of Revelation. John of Patmos, like Daniel, has seen that day in a vision. John declares, oddly and despite appearances, that Jesus Christ is the ruler of the kings of the earth. The rulers are themselves ruled. John seems to stretch out his finger and point, saying, "Look, all of you. He is coming with the clouds. Every eye will see him, even those who pierced him."

After all these mighty pronouncements about the kingdom which God has established and will bring in, we come at last to the Gospel. We come to two lonely men, facing one another, talking across one another. Jesus before Pilate and Pilate before Jesus. Pilate is not a king. He's a civil servant, who serves at Caesar's beck and call. Jesus seems even less like a king. He is a man on trial and is only one step away from being executed. This is not the big splashy kingdom we were gearing up for a minute ago.

Or is it? Raymond Brown, an eminent scholar of John's Gospel, is convinced that the dominant theological theme of Jesus' trial before Pilate is Kingship………We just heard a bit of the kingship debate: ……

Pilate: "Are you the King of the Jews?"
Jesus: "My kingdom is not from this world. If my kingdom were from this world, my followers would be fighting to keep me from being handed over to the Jews. But as it is, my kingdom is not from here."

……Jesus notes that the refusal to resort to violence is a mark of his kingdom.

Pilate asks again: "So you are a king?"
Jesus is noncommittal: "You say that I am king..."

When Pilate addresses the crowd, he consistently calls Jesus "your king." Jesus undergoes a mock enthronement at the hand of Pilate's soldiers. He wears a thorny crown and a purple robe. The soldiers salute him "the king of the Jews," as they slap him in the face repeatedly. Pilate presents Jesus in his silly king costume to the crowd regally, saying, "Behold, the man." The people shout as one in answer -- not "Long live the King," but "Crucify him." Finally, Pilate has fixed to the cross, above the twisted corpse, a placard which says, "...the King of the Jews." So there. Let this be a lesson to you. This is the fate for any pretender to power who would challenge the rule of Caesar, the almighty one.

His dominion is an everlasting dominion that shall not pass away, and his kingship is one that shall never be destroyed.

Because we have been to the Cross and the garden of the resurrection, we can see through the charade in the narrative. The pretenders to power are Pilate and his higher-ups…….

…….The true king is the harassed and seemingly helpless Jesus.

John's narrative shows us a ruler with all the accoutrements of power, with the authority to take away life, who stands powerless in the face of true power, authority and life.

When Pilate asks Jesus the second time if he is a king, Jesus adds "For this I was born, and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone who belongs to the truth listens to my voice."

As the Truth, Jesus unmasks all oppressive worldly pretensions to power. Does Pilate belong to the Truth? Will Pilate listen? From this point on, the subject of the trial is not whether Jesus is innocent. Even Pilate knows the answer to that. The man on trail now is Pilate himself and the question is whether he will respond to the truth. Pilate's question to Jesus, "And what is truth?" is telling……

…….Pilate doesn't even know what truth is. He doesn't know Truth when he sees it.

The trial in John's Gospel starkly places before us a choice: the kingdom of this world or the kingdom of Jesus, the truth. The chief priests made their choice: "We have no king but Caesar." Now it's our turn. Will we listen to the voice of truth? Will we be able to take our stand and say, "We have no king but Jesus?"

The very first creed of the Church was simply "Jesus is Lord." A simple message, but a deeply subversive one, because it calls into question all other allegiances and loyalties, whatever they may be. For us, worldly power is no longer concentrated in the person of a king. In our culture, we really have no king but Elvis. What we must face instead is a complex, interlocking ring of earthly powers. This includes the State certainly, but a State wedded to the vast military, industrial, commercial complex, founded upon the Truth of capitalism, efficiency, applied science or what have you, and fed by the advertising media. These are the powers of our world.

The kingdom of Jesus subverts those powers. The kingdom of Jesus is centered not upon clout, coercion, and capital, but upon the cross, the sign of a self- giving love that conquers death, the sign of the victory of God. No more will we be seduced by the slick advertisement, the employee-of-the-month incentive or the stealth bomber. We look for the resurrection of the dead and the life of the world to come.

Easy and high-sounding words for a preacher to say, perhaps. More difficult it is to prescribe what to do. Should we then secede from the Union? Hole up in a fortified compound? Form a Christian Political Action Committee? Lead a tax revolt?

No. Christ's kingdom is not from this world. I will tell you two things that we can do, however……

……First, we can refuse to comply whenever the power-that-be would coerce us to acts which are not Christ-like……

…….Second, we can be the Church, the messianic community, who lives no longer for itself, but for him who died for us and rose again.

He will come again in glory and his kingdom will have no end. AMEN.

Sermon for 11/15/2009, The Rev. Stan Coppel

2009-11-18T22:50:00.001-08:00

Mark 12: 14-23

We are winding down the church year... Next Sunday, the feast of “Christ the King”, is the last Sunday in our liturgical year “B”. After that, we begin again with “Advent”... As is usual for this time of year, the readings for this Sunday are about the end-times. All three of the readings for today use ‘apocalyptic’ language, often called ‘The Little Apocalypse’ of Mark’s Gospel…… the language of the end-times: Daniel's vision, Jesus' and Paul's warnings. Apocalyptic language is marked by symbolic images, the expectation of the end of the world and, as the Merriam Webster Dictionary says, an "immanent cosmic cataclysm in which God destroys the ruling powers of evil."

It can be difficult and confusing for us to read these passages, and to try to figure out what they mean and how they apply to our own times. It's important to remember that, from his words, Jesus appears to have believed that the end of the world was at hand. Paul, and others in the early church after Jesus' death, also really believed that the end was immanent. They expected that the Kingdom of God would come at any time, hence Paul's writings about not marrying and not being concerned about the things of this world.

They truly believed there was no time to be worried about or distracted by the normal things that people are involved in, because it was all about to be wiped away.

Throughout the ages, there have always been times when people were afraid and wondered if life on the planet, as they knew it, would survive. In Jesus' time, the people of Israel (and many other countries) were under the domination of the Roman Empire and things were difficult for those non-Romans under Roman rule. When the Empire fell, people also wondered if that was a signal that the world would end, as hordes of "barbarian" armies swept through Europe… Wars, plagues, and famines have affected people everywhere throughout the centuries, and those people also wondered if and how they would survive, and if these things were God's judgment.

In our own time there are memories of the great world wars, the Holocaust, Atom bomb, and the Korean and Vietnam wars. There is the AIDS epidemic, the economic struggle, and the continuing violence of our society. We fear for the safety of our children, and wonder what the future holds for them. We are once again engaged in a war, in Iraq and Afghanistan, of which many of us are none too certain about. We worry about terrorism, about "smart bombs" and "dirty bombs." We wonder where God is in all of this.

It got more difficult, of course, for the followers of Jesus and the early church as time went on and the end didn’t come. What, then, were they to think of these writings? How were they to understand them?

For many people, the events of our own times suggest to them that the end of the world will soon be at hand. They believe that the apocalyptic writings of the Bible -- especially the book of ‘Revelation’ -- are a road map for the end of the world. They spend a lot of time trying to match current events with the images and prophecies contained in those writings.

The problem with that approach is that people have been trying it for centuries, and it hasn't proven out yet.

Prophecy in those times did not mean foretelling the future, but providing a commentary on the present. We can certainly sympathize with those who look for hard and fast answers, because it can feel like things are so out of control, so awful, that no other resolution is possible but the end of the world as we know it. These feelings come out of our fear and grief over some of the realities of our lives… many feel they can no longer go on when a loved one dies. We often feel stuck and hopeless, and we see no way out; no way to fix the problem.

However, the one thing about the apocalyptic writings, and the writings of the Old Testament prophets, is that there is always hope. The end of the world may come, the old way may be destroyed, but those who obey God's commandments will be rewarded. The faithful remnant will be saved.

Hope and faithfulness can seem like fleeting things, like foolishness, when our lives and our world are in turmoil…… How can we be hopeful in the face of tragedy and loss? How can we remain faithful when things often seem hopeless, and we are wondering where God is in the midst of our despair?

Vaclav Havel, a contemporary Polish writer says, "Hope is a state of mind, not of the world. Hope, in this deep and powerful sense, is not the same as joy that things are going well, or willingness to invest in enterprises that are obviously heading for success, but rather an ability to work for something because it is good."

Both Jesus and the writer of the letter to the Hebrews encourage us to endure, for the sake of the kingdom. We are called to work for something that is good, to work for the Kingdom of God.

When we are in our darkest moments, when it all seems overwhelming, sometimes the best we can do is know that somehow God will use our suffering and turn it to good.

We may not experience it, we may not recognize it, but for someone our experiences may become icons of God's kingdom.

As Jesus told the disciples, we do not know when the Kingdom of God will arrive, neither the day nor the hour. We don't experience the same urgency that Jesus and his followers, or the members of the early church, did. But as the church year winds down, as we move into the darkest time of the year, we also turn once again to the anticipation of the season of ‘Advent’ and all it foretells. We turn once again to hope in the ‘Light of the World’, the hope of our redemption, and the promise of God's kingdom.

Those of you who are fans of ‘The Lord of the Rings’ trilogy may remember Aragorn's words in The Two Towers, when he is speaking to a boy who has suddenly found himself outfitted as a soldier for the coming battle of Helms Deep. The boy tells Aragorn that the other soldiers are saying there is no hope of success in this battle. Aragorn turns to the boy and replies, "There is always hope."

There is always hope. Amen.

SERMON for 11/8/2009, Carolyn Woodall, Mark 12:38-44

2009-11-08T14:24:00.000-08:00

SERMON for 11/8/2009

Carolyn Woodall

Mark 12:38-44

Capo 3d fret: Intro Am

Am G

They say that Richard Cory owns one half of this whole town

Am E7

With political connections to spread his wealth around

Born into society a banker's only child

Am G C E7

He had everything a man could want; power, grace and style

REFRAIN

C Am

But I -- work in his factory

And I curse the life I'm living,

And I curse my poverty

C Am

And I wish that I could be, oh I wish that I could be

D5 D7 Am

Oh I wish that I could be - Richard Cory

     Am                             G

The papers print his picture almost everywhere he goes

         Am                        E7

Richard Cory at the opera, Richard Cory at a show

D5

And the rumors of his parties and the orgies on his yacht

        Am     G       C          E7

Oh, he surely must be happy with everything he's got

REFRAIN

Am G

He freely gave to charities, he had the common touch

Am E7

And they were grateful for his patronage, and they thanked him very much

So my mind was filled with wonder when the evening headlines read

Am G C Am

Richard Cory went home last night and put a bullet through his head.

REFRAIN

OK, so the Gospel reading for today reminded me of a song. Anyone surprised? That song is called “Richard Cory,” and it’s by Simon and Garfunkel – favorites of mine from years and years ago. The Gospel reminded me of this particular song because the song talks about the haves and the have nots, about form verses substance..

Richard Cory, you see, is a scribe – well, a modern variation on one. He is one of the favored in society. Dad was a banker so Richard was born into the higher reaches of society – not the top, necessarily, but well up there.

So were the scribes. A scribe, in this context, was not a secretary or clerk. Back then, scribes, even civil scribes, were high officials. The civil scribes had clerks and secretaries to write and keep documents for them. Archeologists have discovered that many of the civil scribes could not even read or write – except what they had to do to make documents official. They know this because they found a series of documents attested to by one particular scribe and a mistake crept into it along the way – and was faithfully repeated in every document that man did.

Nevertheless, that illiterate scribe was a big shot in civil society. The scribes in the temple were even bigger in their own realm. They could read and write. They were the teachers of the law. They wore long, fringed, white linen robes that reached almost all the way to the ground. Richard Cory probably wore thousand dollar suits.

The scribes had the most important seats in the synagogues – the ones closest to the “ark” that held the sacred scrolls – the seats where EVERYONE could see them. Kind of like Richard Cory getting the best seats at the theater, the head of the table at the board meetings, and the best seats at restaurants.

Richard wore his wealth and power conspicuously and everyone knew who he was. He cared about how he was seen by the public and he was publicly glamorous and publicly generous. But behind this wonderful image was a businessman who cared about the bottom line – not about the people who helped make the bottom line. That would be the singer of the song - the guy who works in Richard’s factory and hates his life.

Richard sounds just like the scribes in the Gospel. The scribes “like to walk around in long robes, and to be greeted with respect in the marketplaces, and to have the best seats in the synagogues and places of honor at banquets! They devour widows' houses and for the sake of appearance say long prayers.” It’s a different setting, but, really, no difference in substance. The scribes made sure everyone knew they were big shots. They cared about their public image, yet they “devoured” widows houses. What that means is this - they weren’t paid a salary, you see, but relied upon the generosity of their patrons. Widows were a fairly easy and popular target for abuse. But people didn’t see that. They saw the public image the scribes wanted them to see.

Richard Cory was respected for his wealth, power, and generosity. The scribes were respected for their knowledge and piety. Both lorded it over others by their public actions. Hey everyone, I’m Richard Cory - you may admire me now. Hey everyone, I’m a scribe – you may admire me now.

What about the guy in the factory? His is an attitude we all know too well. He was jealous of Richard Cory. He was a poor, working stiff and life wasn’t easy for him. But he knew it would all be better if he only had money and power. He wanted to be Richard Cory. If he were in Richard Cory’s shoes then everything would be all right.

But no, it wouldn’t be all right. I think that’s the point Jesus was making in this Gospel reading. Jesus watched people put large amounts of money in the treasury but considered it not to be particularly significant. Why? Because it didn’t mean anything to them. It was what you did to be admired and loved and to fulfill your “duty” to God, but they really didn’t sacrifice anything. I’m sure the officials at the temple were delighted to get all that money, but that really wasn’t the point.

If Bill Gates were to offer to build us a nice, new church building I’m sure we would all be delighted, too. And maybe Bill would have some warm and fuzzy feelings for a few minutes, but it is not the kind of giving that would truly feed his soul because he wouldn’t even miss the money. And he gets to write it off for tax purposes. So Bill, come on down.

What about the widow? Let’s talk about her. The point Jesus made about her was pretty clear. Her giving was a pittance compared to that church building Bill Gates is going to give us – enough perhaps to buy a few communion wafers. But you know what? We need communion wafers, too. And that widow gave a tremendous amount – for her. All she had to live on.

There’s another widow it today’s readings as well. In the Old Testament lesson we learn that a widow was gathering wood for a fire to cook the last of her food for herself and her son. They were going to eat what they had and then she expected they would starve to death. When Elijah told her to take that food and cook it for him her initial response was to say, in substance, “I don’t think so.” But Elijah prophesied to her, which means he spoke on behalf of the Lord, and reassured her that she would have all she needed. She trusted in God, and it was as Elijah said.

Now you know, I suspect God did not fill the first widow’s purse with gold, but we can be sure that God gave her what she needed – in abundance. It isn’t about money or food, church buildings or communion wafers. Jesus was not telling the disciples to give everything they had to live on. It was a deeper lesson Jesus taught. That widow found favor with God because she gave to God what was important to her – everything. Both widows did. One gave money to the temple; one gave the last of her food to God’s prophet. But it’s not a question of what or how much we give to God in absolute terms. The lesson is that we give all that we have and all that we are to God.

We give to the church, yes. We give money, we give time, and we give the talents God has given us. But we also need to give ourselves to God – our hearts, minds, and souls. That is truly giving all we have.

Now what about Richard Cory? In a twist to the song that was very typical of Simon and Garfunkel, Richard Cory knew that his life was only fabulous on the outside. It had no substance, no meaning, and he didn’t know how to bring those things into his life – he didn’t read today’s lessons. He couldn’t stand to live a life with no substance or true meaning, and he committed suicide. And the guy in the factory STILL wanted to be Richard Cory. He didn’t understand why Richard Cory killed himself, but HE would be fine if he had that money and wealth, if only he could be Richard Cory.

But we know that’s not true - not even for Richard Cory. The widow who put all she had in the treasury, and the widow who trusted the word of the Lord and went to make bread for Elijah, with the only food she had left in the house - for them it was fine. They didn’t have much, but they gave all they had - money, food, themselves- to the service of God. Their faith sustained them and gave their lives meaning and substance such that they could trust God to take care of their physical needs. When we give all that we are to God, then whether we are the haves, the have nots, or are somewhere in between, we are wealthy. Our lives then truly have substance and our lives are worth living because we know God.

But beware of Richard Cory for he likes to ride around in limousines, party on his yacht, and get his picture in the paper. He oppresses others to get what he needs, but it’s OK because he gives generously to charity. Beware of Richard Cory, because Richard Cory had all the riches of the world that he wanted, yet because he did not know God, Richard Cory went home last night and put a bullet through his head.. Let’s be like the widows, instead. Let’s give all that we have, all of ourselves, to God and enjoy true wealth.

Sermon for 10/9/2009 - The Rev. Stan Coppel

2009-10-22T14:19:00.000-07:00

Mark 10 35-45 \

James Hewett writes, “God did not save us to be a   sensation. God saved us to be servants.”

       Today’s gospel reading provides a remarkable contrast between sensation and servant. In this reading we hear the story of two of Jesus’ disciples, James and John, who make the request to Jesus to receive a position of prominence in the Kingdom: “Let one of us sit at your right, and one at your left in Glory” they ask of Jesus. The disciples’ impudence and lack of understanding is beyond belief. How could two people who are so close to Jesus miss the boat so completely? Did they forget the encounter with the rich man that occurred just before their request? Or the encounter with the little children? And have they not heard Jesus’ own prediction of what was soon to happen to him? In light of all of this, their request is truly astounding.

        And it angers their fellow disciples. But what seems to anger the other disciples is not so much that James and John have misunderstood Jesus’ teachings – which could perhaps be justified – but that James and John went to Jesus requesting a place of power ahead of the rest of them.

        The other disciples do not seem to be acting out of righteous indignation; rather, it appears that they are jealous. And Jesus’ loving response to them all is to take the opportunity to contrast earthly greatness with divine greatness. Earthly greatness is defined as having power over, whereas divine greatness is defined as being servant to.

       Today, there are examples all around us of the secular quest for greatness and its often accompanying spectacular fall. Bernie Madoff is an obvious example of the quest for monetary power, but our country’s growing credit-card debt hints at how widespread the problem is.

     In contrast to worldly greatness, to be great in God’s eyes is to be a servant modeled after Jesus’ own life of service. For many listeners, the story of James and John is disconcerting because if James and John, who knew Jesus personally, couldn’t incorporate his teachings into their lives, how on earth are we to do so?

       These stories are a reminder for many of us that, try as we might, all too often our actions are more reflective of motivations of the secular world than the divine.

So how do we become better servants?

      One way is by making sure that the motivation for our service is love. Eighteenth-century Archbishop of Canterbury Thomas Secker said, “God has three sorts of servants in the world: some are slaves, and serve Him from fear; others are hirelings, and serve for wages; and the last are sons [and daughters], who serve because they love.”

       In the week ahead, as you seek to serve God, check your motivation. Divine servanthood is always motivated by love.

       Another way to become better servants is by being mindful of who it is that calls us to serve. We should remember that in all things we serve God, and God alone. By becoming more aware of God’s presence in everyday life, we can strive to understand that all we do is somehow of God. With this approach, even the most mundane tasks that might not usually be associated with our spiritual lives can be viewed as service.

      One young mother recalls her difficult transition from paid employment to being a stay-at-home mother after the birth of her first child……

……A spiritual director assisted her in the process, instructing her to walk with the baby each day, being acutely aware of her surroundings and being alert to where God might be. She recalls seeing nature and the created order, as well as the frenetic pace of those around her, in a new way during these walks. She also began to see her tasks, such as the endless piles of laundry that had to be washed, as a service of love.

A third way to become better servants is by ensuring that our church is a “servant church.” Theologian Karl Barth discusses such churches in his book Dogmatics in Outline. Barth describes the living church as one that:
……………“proclaims the Gospel to every creature. The Church runs like a herald to deliver the message. It is not a snail that carries its little house on its back and is so well off in it that only now and then it sticks out its feelers and then thinks that the claim of publicity has been satisfied. No, the Church lives by its commission as herald. Where the Church is living, it must ask itself whether it is serving this commission or whether it is a purpose in itself.”

       Is our congregation a living servant church?   Does it have a clear understanding that it exists in service to Jesus? Do all actions stem from Jesus’ commission to proclaim the gospel? Do our worship services, community outreach, and activities all have the possibility to transform those they touch? If not, then perhaps it might be time to begin a conversation about refocusing on Christ’s divine purpose for our congregation, because, after all, the mission of the church is the mission of Jesus Christ.

        The story of James and John is disconcerting because even the most pious listeners can see a bit of themselves in the story. How many of us are able to truly base our lives and actions on the divine definition of greatness – servanthood?

       Fortunately, this story closes with a message of hope. Jesus proclaims that the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many. Jesus promises us that although we will all fall short, through his death we are redeemed.

And that is the Good News.

Sermon for October 4, 2009

2009-10-05T12:14:00.000-07:00

Mark 10: 2-9 ‘Divorce/Relationships’

"This at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh," says Adam in today's reading from Genesis. He immediately recognizes his deep connection to the new human being standing before him, a connection that God has woven deeply into the fabric of their lives. For us in the West today, it's very easy for us to focus only on the individuality of Adam and Eve….the union of a single man and a single woman that the ancient story seems to represent.

And it's easy for us to carry that individualistic notion of marriage into Jesus' teachings about divorce, too. When Jesus talks about the dissolution of marriage in today's Gospel, our cultural and legal perspective tempts us to hear him talking only about a man and woman: two individuals who entered into covenant with each other-and we are tempted to hear that the pain of divorce involves only them, at least for the most part.

But in Jesus' time, marriage and divorce were not just about the man and the woman. They were about two families representing many generations, property, honor, and status. Divorce was not just an individual life event; it was a risky break of confidence that could lead to family feuds, shame, and hardship for numerous people.

The hardness of heart Jesus speaks of seems not only to point to the potential suffering of the woman, who must return in shame to her family of origin; but it also points to the suffering of two entire families and the greatercommunity.

For those of us today who have lived through the pain of divorce or separation, whether our own or others', this ancient understanding of marriage and divorce seems to ring more true than we might think at first. Even today, marriage, divorce, and separation, affect many more that just those who sign the forms and enter or dissolve legal contracts. They often affect our parents, friends, and siblings, who can wrestle with the part they played or failed to play in a marriage or relationship that didn't work; and they certainly impact our children, if children are involved, as their schedules and lives must be forever altered.

Jesus' hard teaching about marriage and divorce, then, isn't just for a man and woman. Likewise, the recognition of Adam when he sees Eve is ultimately not just about Adam and Eve. Being "bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh" is a profound statement about how interconnected the wholehuman family really is…

…….and how divorce and separation, as painfully necessary as it can sometimes be, ultimately tears at the fabric of this human family, and affects all of us, and the world around us.

And here is where today's teaching about divorce and separation touches ourworld and our Church. Divorce is not just about a man and woman. It's about all of those places where we have become hard of heart and have failed to recognize each other as "bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh;" places where we tear and unbind, sometimes mercilessly, the ties between us that God made at the foundation of creation.

It's that hardness that we struggle with as we watch the painful realities ofconflict between Palestinians, Iran and Israelis and so many other peoples in the Middle East; as we reckon with hunger and disease in so many parts of the world, as wealthy and poor become further divided; as we suffer fear from the cold heartedness that brings war and now terrorism to our country’s soil….. and to our sisters and brothers abroad; and as we struggle, too, withabuse that we often heap on the natural world, divorcing ourselves from our deep ties with the natural order and the heritage of a healthy planet we ought to be leaving for those who follow.

………And it is also this hardness that we must be wary of in a time when some in our greater community of the Episcopal Church, and now the Lutheran’s…… engage in actual and intended schism and breaking away…..In a word…’Divorcing’ the Church……

Of course, the reality is that there will continue to be divorce, separation, and schism……in our society and in the World……As there always has been, and probably will be. All divorce, separation, and schism can be, and usually are, painful and hurtful experiences……In the case of schism, it is a form of ‘separation’ that has touched us all here present, in different degrees, and in different ways……

…..No contract, lawsuit, prenuptial agreement, certificate of dismissal, or any other carefully crafted parting of the ways can get us off that hook……it never gets ‘easier’.

But Jesus holds up to that pain, to the Pharisees, and to us today. the longing for the deep connection that God intends for all of us…. It is that hope that we celebrate together when we gather to pray and when we break breadtogether as a sacred community….. It's a hope that Jesus witnesses to in hislife, and that Christ brings to us through the resurrection. And that hope is the good news that runs like a thread through today's readings.

We are a family, a people, and a world that suffers from divorce of all kinds. But it is precisely that world that God in Christ enters……and not just with a hope to ultimately end divorce, but with a mission to heal all of us who suffer from it; to heal our hardness of heart, and to help us recognize once again that we truly belong to each other, we belong to the world we call home…… and we belong ultimately to a God who has, for all eternity, refused to divorce us.

Sermon for September 27, 2009

2009-09-28T12:54:00.000-07:00

The Rev. Stan Coppel

Mark 9:38-50

“No one who does a deed of power in my name will be able soon afterward to speak evil of me.”

You may be familiar with an outfit called the Church Ad Project. Started some years ago by a dynamic Episcopal priest with an interest in evangelism and church marketing, it got some of the best brains in the advertising world together to donate their time and talent to produce catchy, if somewhat offbeat, ads for the Church.

One such ad -- a favorite -- highlights the Episcopal Church’s acceptance of women in the ordained ministry. Above a photograph of a very traditional-looking altar reads the caption “Where Women Stand in the Episcopal Church.” The message is clear and simple. Women have indeed been accorded their full and equal share in the grace and responsibilities of ordained ministry in our Church. Some are now even serving as bishops, including our newly elected presiding bishop.

Perhaps this popular ad or poster could be revised from time to time to highlight where others stand in the Church. Pick a marginalized or out-of-favor group, and somewhere in the Episcopal Church you will find them accepted and fully integrated into the life of their local worshipping community. That is where they stand in the Episcopal Church. Our Church has tackled some of the toughest issues of our time in order to make all people feel welcome in its ranks. After all, “The Episcopal Church Welcomes You!” has been our motto for many years. No matter who “you” may be.

In today’s Gospel account, the disciples come to the Lord troubled about someone, an outsider without standing in their community, acting in his name to cast out demons. Scripture does not record who this someone was, so we can only speculate. It may have been a religious zealot with his own agenda. It could have been a genuine believer not yet fully integrated into the circle of Jesus’ disciples. It may have been an imposter or fraud. We will never know for sure. But the disciples certainly do not put out the welcome sign for him. Like overeager corporate attorneys defending their company’s trademarks in the marketplace, they act quickly to protect their exclusive franchise on the use of Jesus’ name and authority. They want this outsider stopped. And they take the matter right to the top, confident that Jesus will get the point and lower the boom.

It does not work out that way. Jesus is not concerned that others are acting in his name. He probably knows that his world -- just like ours today -- has more than its fair share of evil spirits: war, violence, hatred of those who are different, and greed, to name but a few. Casting out such demons -- no matter who is doing it -- is bound to be a good thing. “No one who does a deed of power in my name,” Jesus tells his anxious disciples, “will be able soon afterward to speak evil of me.” He reminds them, and us, of what should be an obvious truth: “Whoever is not against us is for us.”

Jesus’ tolerance for those not of his following is astonishing for his troubled times. But it is more than just tolerance. Jesus does not simply put up with those who do not belong to his circle, as if they were an annoying but harmless irritant, like summer bugs at a picnic. He welcomes them. They are the disciples to come. Those who do not now belong will soon enough have a full share in the reward of the very kingdom he has come to proclaim. Whoever bears “the name of Christ will by no means lose the reward,” says Jesus. All are welcome to work wonders in his name. Casting out demons is not the personal prerogative of the disciples. It is the challenge for all.

Our world is scarcely less fearful and frightening than that in which our Lord lived so long ago. People are still afraid of those who do not belong, of the exile and refugee, no matter what “deeds of power” they may demonstrate. We see this played out every day in distant lands and in the corridors of power in our own country. Our prejudices remain a stumbling block to our common life and to world peace. We remain too ready to perceive enemies everywhere at work against us. We are as much as ever in need of Jesus’ reassurance that all will be well. We still need to be reconciled, one to another.

Reconciliation is of course the definitive “deed of power” that drives out the demons and evil spirits of any age. It requires that we see the other in a new and different light -- as the neighbor in the next village and as the distant relative who shares our bloodline. Only this kind of change of heart can bring an end to suspicion and bloodshed. But it takes hard work and patience, both of which are in short supply.

Too often, like the people of

Israel

described in our first reading, we complain when things do not go our way. We want instant answers and immediate gratification. We think back to good times that probably never were. We grumble. God must sometimes be as exasperated with our demands and grievances as he was with those of the ancient Israelites. But the problem is not with God.

As always, the problem is our own fear and lack of trust, our inability as individuals, churches, and societies to live by faith, to be reconciled, to see in the good deeds of others the reflection of the love of our common Father in heaven. Perhaps the Lord needs to send seventy elders into our midst today, as he did among the people of Israel in the wilderness, to prophesy to us and bring once again order to our chaotic lives and compassion to our hardened hearts.

The Lord is still able to cast out demons. The welcome signs in front of our churches are a constant reminder to each of us that no matter who we are or where we come from, we are all capable of unimagined “deeds of power” if we but call upon the Lord’s name as did that someone in our Gospel narrative. That is where we stand in the Church today. There are plenty of demons left in the hearts of each of us. In the name of Jesus, we can cast them out. But we must begin our work with humility and reconciliation. We must begin within. For as the comic-strip character Pogo said decades ago, “We have met the enemy, and he is us.”

May our gracious God give us courage to follow Christ and grace to rejoice with all who work for Christ in a world in need of the good news of God….. For none of us has exclusive rights to the gospel!

Blessings Are Where You Find Them

2009-09-21T17:43:00.000-07:00

We meet in the Senior Center. Sonora had two Episcopal Churches and both left the Diocese. When St. Mary in the Mountains started as a new faith community we had to find a place to meet. That place was, and still is, the Sonora Senior Center. We have no permanent fixtures and we have to set up for each service and take everything down afterwards. Our altar is a sofa table with a removable top. Our cross is hung behind the altar on a rolling partition. We have a pulpit that we drag into place for each service. We have a lectern too, but that we put by the front door so we have someplace to put the bulletins and the visitor's book. If you need a BCP and Hymnal, they are in a box by the front door - help yourself. The chairs are stackable and not padded. We also have a credence TV tray - in genuine wood - from WalMart. The Senior Center is a busy place. Most Sundays we can take our time after because the bridge group only plays every so often. On Ash Wednesday we were in a small room on the other side of an accordian partition from the Wednesday night drum circle. It wasn't too bad if we chanted the liturgy along with the drums. Our music is either piano or guitar but never both because the piano is out of tune, and a smidgen flat, so that you can't tune a guitar to it.

We've been there since January 2008. We all miss the trappings of a permanent facility - a real church, as most people would put it. That's where the part about blessings being where you find them comes in. The blessing is that, because we don't have a permanent facility we have become a real church. Huh?

Really, it isn't so hard to see. I can look back and see many times in my life where the buildings and the trappings took on more importance than the liturgy and the reason we were there - to worship God in community. I can also remember, when I was very young, spending a lot of time looking at the stained glass windows. We don't have any stained glass windows, but if you look to the left of the altar and up a bit you can watch the lighted "EXIT" sign.

Because we don't have these things we have become a faith community in a very real sense of the word. We pitch in to set up the chairs, the altar, the credence TV tray, and the rest. We sit together in a relatively small area. Microphones? We don't need no stinkin' microphones. The place simply isn't that big. Our annnouncement time can, and frequently does, turn into a sort of free-for-all. When we do the Peace, we all greet everyone else. When we are done, everyone pitches in to put it all away again. The able-bodied stack chairs, move the pulpit and lectern, and dismantle the altar. Those not able to do that help with the smaller things. Even visitors pitch in most of the time - and we let them. When we have a Bishop's Committee meeting we shoehorn ourselves around Fr. Martin's dining room table. When we have a dinner or celebration we usually do it at someone's home. We know each other. We care about each other. We strive to see God in each other. And because we all pitch in, we all feel part of that community.

Don't get me wrong - we don't want to stay at the Senior Center forever. Buildings have their uses - the church office is in a corner of my living room and it would be nice to put it somewhere else. Not having to double as a furniture mover would be nice, as well. But until that day comes, we will continue to set up, take down, and have Bishop's Committee meetings at Fr. Martin's house. We are blessed by this effort. Blessings are where you find them. You can find them in a church building, in a Senior Center, around a dining room table. You find blessings in all of those places because that is where you find people and community - and that is where you find God.

Carolyn Woodall

Sermon for September 6, 2009

2009-09-06T19:55:00.001-07:00

Sermon for 9/6/2009
The Rev. Stan Coppel

Mark 7:31-37

Today the Scriptures confront us with the power of Jesus to heal, and our obligation to be the healing hands and presence of Jesus in our world. Considering the Scriptures, each of us can perhaps identify with one of the characters or recognize ourselves in some way: deafness, inability to speak clearly, maybe a sense of being caught or inhibited, unable to be a "doer of the Word." By making these connections we can then begin to recognize those places where God is trying to break into our lives, and through us into our society and the world.

In the Gospel, we see Jesus going to Galilee… the place where his ministry started. Going to Galilee is perhaps an indication that something of fundamental importance is going to happen in Mark's Gospel. At Galilee, Jesus is confronted with an unfortunate man who can't hear and has some kind of speech impediment, which is common in a lifetime of deafness… He is handicapped, at a disadvantage in his community, and ritually impure… his neighbors suspecting he had committed a sin. This was the belief of the day. When someone was ‘inflicted’ with a permanent infirmity, it was assumed that he, or someone in his family ancestory had sinned, and their infirmity was their punishment by God…Illness and deformity were believed to have moral causes. Jesus reaches across the gap, opens the man's ears and mouth, and restores him to wholeness.

The basis of the Good News about Jesus in Mark's Gospel is that Jesus restores people to community. His healings are about incorporating people into a new system where there are no outcasts. Just before this morning's Gospel lesson, is the story of the Syrophoenician woman (the two stories are in the same lesson in the “Revised Common Lectionary”) who claims the privileges of a dog to beg for Jesus to help in healing her daughter. We see Jesus reaching across prejudice, across lines of insider and outsider, and healing the daughter. Before that, we learn what really makes people unclean is what comes out of their mouths, not what goes in. Mark shows us Jesus changing religious rules to include more people, opening communication where there was deafness and denial before, creating new possibilities for relationships.

Where do we see this story in the world around us?.... Certainly in hospitals we are advancing in ways to help people hear, improving our technology, and finding new ways of helping people to hear and speak. They are restored to community; it is exciting and awe-inspiring to speak with people who have had their hearing restored. It is even more awesome to consider the cases of people who learn to read lips and are trained by skilled therapists to speak even when they cannot hear. There was such a woman in the television series, “The West Wing”. In the series, she is staff member at the White House--highly capable and functioning at the top of our society. To Her, deafness was not an impediment and she asks for no special treatment. She exemplifies the distinction that is often made between "cured" and "healed." She is still deaf, but her place in society is healed. She was not an outcast.

Considering the difference between cured and healed, makes me realize that there is another way to think about deafness, too. There’s a story about a man and wife. The wife would often break off a conversation to demand, "Did you hear what I said?" And the husband would look up from his paper mystified. Eventually she learned of a free hearing clinic to be held in town, and she took her husband for testing. The doctor, after the hearing test, told the man, "Sir, your hearing is fine. But you might think about seeing a marriage counselor."

It’s true, I think, that we often tune each other out. Husbands turn a deaf ear to wives, children tune out their parents. Sometimes communities of people will not hear the plea for help from poor neighbors. One of the greatest challenges to people trying to raise an issue on a national level is getting heard, breaking through the indifference of the news media, the politician's agendas for re-election. Yet our protests are in a way perhaps like the prayer of Jesus praying for the deaf man, praying for all who are deaf to families and neighbors, a plea that ears be opened.

Deafness and denial have played a big part in my own life. Sometimes it required a terrible event to open my ears. And yet I have learned that I can prayerfully open myself to the ways I might be deaf; when I feel a kind of agitation or anger inside, I know it is an invitation to stop, to consider, and pray to God for help. An even greater step is to make my needs known to friends or trust them when they suggest I might need help. I know my friends can bring me to a place where I can get in the way of Jesus. My friends have held me up in prayerful support, and thus encourage me to find the strength and openness to hear what is going on in my life. In all of this they have been like Jesus in their ministering to me, praying that I might be healed, that my ears might be opened to what's going on around me, to remind me of God’s call to a priestly ministry, and most of all, how I need to respond to that call.

What about the Word of God? What it is calling us to do as a Christian people? Do we really hear God speaking to us through his Word? I know we ‘listen’ to the Word, but do we ‘Really’ hear it? Do we reflect on it? ”Read, Mark, and Inwardly Digest” it? And THEN what!! You have heard it a thousand times before I ever stood in this pulpit. To quote Cannon Martin Risard, “Give us the strength to know your will and DO IT!

I know in my heart that I don’t have to preach to you what you should do, but Jesus, The Word, makes it quite clear.”For when I was hungry, you gave me food: When thirsty, you have be drink; when I was a stranger you welcomed me; when naked you clothed me; when I was sick you gave me help; when in prison you visited me. Then the King answers, “I tell you this: anything you did for the least of my brothers, you did it to me!”

Who are the people around you at home or at work or school that you do not hear? Are there friends in your life trying to get you to listen to something you don't want to hear? We must pray for Jesus to open our ears, clear our mouths, and restore us to community where there are ever-expanding circles of friends - with no outcasts!