The faith of a Polycarp

1 Corinthians 2:1-5

          It is the year of our Lord, Two thousand and fifteen. Many years since Bishop and Saint Polycarp was sentenced at the age of 86 to be burned to death.  When Polycarp was asked to denounce Jesus, Polycapr said "Eighty-six years I have served him, and he never did me any wrong. How can I blaspheme my King who saved me?" I feel the same way even though I am quite a few years shy of 86. I hope and pray I could meet my creator in such a brave, honourable and faithful way.

         It seems that little has changed in some ways after the 21 Coptic Christians were beheaded last week. I pray I will never be put to such a test for I am perhaps the weakest of Christians, a far cry from the Saints that have preceded me and who died in service to our Lord.

         For many of us it would seem unfathomable to live up to the standards of the Saints, let alone face death in place of denouncing our faith. Perhaps I am over dramatizing the lives of the Saints. Perhaps I am whitewashing the lives faithful people live. The challenges seem daunting and I see my own failures daily. Perhaps this is true of any faithful person who knows how they wish to live but also reflects on how miserably we seem to fail at times. I know I do. 

         If the lives of the faithful and Saints have any meaning; indeed, if Jesus' life has any meaning, it is that we are fully human and in so being we are sinners and saints.  ( OK, so Jesus was def not a sinner. ) But can I attain redemption by my faith alone? Can I attain redemption by trying my best even if I fail? Can I attain redemption by proceeding along in life with a sincere faithful heart knowing that I fail but aspire to great deeds all along the way? 

       A a sinner and saint, as a person who knows and appreciated the magnitude of the gift that Jesus has given us, perhaps, just perhaps, that is enough. It is by faith alone. Jesus said many times "your faith has healed you".  It would human arrogance to think we can attain perfection on this side of the grave ( if ever ) but it is faith and love that keeps us striving, keeps us getting up each time we stumble and fall.  By faith alone. 

          I pray that should I live to the age of 86 as Polycarp did, I will have the calmness, surety and faith to have always said yes to Christ because "Eighty-six years I have served him, and he never did me any wrong. How can I blaspheme my King who saved me?"

         

When I came to you, brothers and sisters, I did not come proclaiming the mystery of God to you in lofty words or wisdom. For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ, and him crucified. And I came to you in weakness and in fear and in much trembling. My speech and my proclamation were not with plausible words of wisdom, but with a demonstration of the Spirit and of power, so that your faith might rest not on human wisdom but on the power of God.

Embracing gayness and light

John 1:35-42

          It is the beginning of Jesus' public ministry and perhaps not unlike the beginning of the world. There is an inevitability of some things. Perhaps some of this is how the disciples began to follow Jesus, part of that story is related in today's passage. Part of the story too is the actual incarnation of Jesus. Was it inevitable that God would send his Son to us as a human? Was it inevitable that Jesus would die on the cross for us, die and rise again? Was it inevitable that Judas would betray Jesus. There are many theological discussion and writings about all these questions.

          Of any such questions, the most inevitable to me would be Jesus becoming fully human for all of us and dying for us. Why? Because it is God's nature. God so loved the world and love he did by becoming one with us in our humanity. Just as Jesus came to save the Jewish people and soon found himself embracing all sorts of 'others' from sinners and Centurions, from gentiles and women of every kind. God's love in this way seems inevitable. God always loves us. Whether we choose to accept that love is a much bigger question.

           Part of this discussion to me, especially during Lent, has to be the inevitability of who we are. That is, embracing our own human nature and embracing who God made us to be. "Be all that you can be" as the saying goes. Trying to be a nuclear physicist when your talents run akin to those of Picasso does not seem inevitable. That would not be embracing whom God made you to be. Where do your talents lie? In what ways are you the special creation that God envisioned and placed on this earth?

            There are myriad ways in which we can embrace our humanity, our talents our existence. For me that is being the best damn gay man I can be. I am embracing it along with all my other gifts and talents. I try to respect myself in the process ( and others of course ) and I realize being gay is but one portion of who I was created to be. Overall I was created to be a loving creature that returns love to God directly and through others. All of this I view as inevitability of sorts. Not that any of it has to happen, I can say no to my gifts and talents. I can say no to God. I can fail to love myself and others. In that sense it is not inevitable.

             The way in which it is inevitable is that there are things about me and only me that God made. I may be similar to others ins some ways, I certainly am not the only gay man or woman God created.  God did that throughout his created world and animal kingdom. But for those 'things' that make me who I am am, that is what Lent is all about. Salvation comes through embracing who you are in it's totality and that it really must be expressed. Just like Jesus had to love because that is the essence of who he is. I also hear he makes a mean bench because as a human he was a damn good talented carpenter too!

The next day John again was standing with two of his disciples, and as he watched Jesus walk by, he exclaimed, ‘Look, here is the Lamb of God!’ The two disciples heard him say this, and they followed Jesus. When Jesus turned and saw them following, he said to them, ‘What are you looking for?’ They said to him, ‘Rabbi’ (which translated means Teacher), ‘where are you staying?’ He said to them, ‘Come and see.’ They came and saw where he was staying, and they remained with him that day. It was about four o’clock in the afternoon. One of the two who heard John speak and followed him was Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother. He first found his brother Simon and said to him, ‘We have found the Messiah’ (which is translated Anointed). He brought Simon to Jesus, who looked at him and said, ‘You are Simon son of John. You are to be called Cephas’ (which is translated Peter).

The fully human journey for Lent

Luke 18:9-14

           I have always maintained that Jesus made life just a wee bit harder for mankind in singling out the two great commandments. Now we are required to use our heads and hearts to live and love according to God's plan for us. With the Ten Commandments it was relatively easy, you simply obeyed those laws and you could feel saved, self righteous. Even with the myriad manmade religious laws that the Temple elite set forth you could be assured of complete salvation by obeying every law to the letter.

             Here we have the tax collector who walks away more justified than the self righteous prigg who has his nose in the air while looking down on everyone else.

              It seems a much harder challenge to love everyone in it's most encompassing form than to simply check of a box that you fulfilled the letter of the law. Love requires compassion, recognition of everyone's inherent value. Love requires that we put others before ourselves. Love requires that we exercise some form of introspection and analysis of where we are succeeding and where we are failing. Love requires us to grow. 

               That growth thing is what hangs a great many of us up. That is what Lent is all about.  Someone I know likened it to a cocoon. On Easter we all burst forth as magnificent butterflies - or at least that's our goal. Someone else I recall said Lent was a time to become as human as we possibly can.  I'd like to try and embrace both these ideas for Lent. Whatever I do, whatever plan I may come up with or whatever I "give up" for Lent, all of it should be geared to making me more human. 

              Embracing our humanity completely as Jesus did requires a lot of living and loving. It requires us to fight against the evils that may tempt us and requires us to live fully, embracing those things that God gives us as gifts for the living. 

               The first option at my disposal to be fully human will be to love others. It seems easy enough and the joys of companionship, loving,  bonding, holding, sharing and caring are all part of being fully human. Even our sexuality makes us more human. It is a gift to us as God created us. Embrace that too on your Lenten journey. Share your God given gifts in all it's glory and forms.  Listening, loving, talking, sharing,  the list seems endless and our journey in Lent is as grand and as varied as we are as humans. 

                Whatever we do for Lent, let us do it for the glory of God in love and let us embrace our humanity to the full.  

He also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous and regarded others with contempt: ‘Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax-collector. The Pharisee, standing by himself, was praying thus, “God, I thank you that I am not like other people: thieves, rogues, adulterers, or even like this tax-collector. I fast twice a week; I give a tenth of all my income.” But the tax-collector, standing far off, would not even look up to heaven, but was beating his breast and saying, “God, be merciful to me, a sinner!” I tell you, this man went down to his home justified rather than the other; for all who exalt themselves will be humbled, but all who humble themselves will be exalted.’

Repeating history. Are we doomed?

Daniel 3:13-29

              So here is one of today's passages from scripture. Is it a joyous celebration and example of how God is faithful to us and saves us from all turmoil and torment.   Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego are not consumed by the fire and are an example of the strength of our God. But what else is playing out here? Not unlike many other stories conveyed from ancient scripture, there is violence and evil and one person (or group) trying to force their beliefs on another group. So much so that Nebuchadnezzar throws people into a fire to get them to convert or to reject their God. Sound familiar?

             Just the other day 21 Coptic Christians were beheaded at the hands of Islamic extremists. I have no doubt these brave faithful were not perfect but yet they met their death no different than what Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego had faced. On the other hand, I have no doubt at all that the perpetrators were the worst possible example of what Mohammad tried to say and reveal about God. Liars and selfish sinners one and all.  God weeps at the violence and desecration of His message. 

         The similarities between what happened to these Coptic innocents and what Nebuchadnezzar tried to foist on people is obvious. Is it all that different from the crusades or the inquisition?  Have we not been forcing our own arrogant beliefs about a loving God on everyone else for millenia? What have we learned or are we actually capable of learning?

           I have no message here today except to note that we all seem to be in the same pit of quicksand, all doomed to the same fate if we do not figure a way for all of us to climb out safe. Are we all doomed to revisit the sins of the past? I am afraid for us and I imagine God weeps for us. The God of love is the God of all. We must find a way to respect, reconcile and live together or we are in fact doomed.

         The concept of "one true faith" seems a basis for a never ending cycle of religious disresepct, hate and revenge. This cannot be what God intended for humanity. 

          Let us think, pray and love like our lives depends on it. It  very well may

Then Nebuchadnezzar in furious rage commanded that Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego be brought in; so they brought those men before the king. Nebuchadnezzar said to them, ‘Is it true, O Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, that you do not serve my gods and you do not worship the golden statue that I have set up? Now if you are ready when you hear the sound of the horn, pipe, lyre, trigon, harp, drum, and entire musical ensemble to fall down and worship the statue that I have made, well and good. But if you do not worship, you shall immediately be thrown into a furnace of blazing fire, and who is the god that will deliver you out of my hands?’

Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego answered the king, ‘O Nebuchadnezzar, we have no need to present a defence to you in this matter. If our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the furnace of blazing fire and out of your hand, O king, let him deliver us. But if not, be it known to you, O king, that we will not serve your gods and we will not worship the golden statue that you have set up.’

Then Nebuchadnezzar was so filled with rage against Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego that his face was distorted. He ordered the furnace to be heated up seven times more than was customary, and ordered some of the strongest guards in his army to bind Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego and to throw them into the furnace of blazing fire. So the men were bound, still wearing their tunics, their trousers, their hats, and their other garments, and they were thrown into the furnace of blazing fire. Because the king’s command was urgent and the furnace was so overheated, the raging flames killed the men who lifted Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. But the three men, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, fell down, bound, into the furnace of blazing fire.

Then King Nebuchadnezzar was astonished and rose up quickly. He said to his counsellors, ‘Was it not three men that we threw bound into the fire?’ They answered the king, ‘True, O king.’ He replied, ‘But I see four men unbound, walking in the middle of the fire, and they are not hurt; and the fourth has the appearance of a god.’ Nebuchadnezzar then approached the door of the furnace of blazing fire and said, ‘Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, servants of the Most High God, come out! Come here!’ So Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego came out from the fire. And the satraps, the prefects, the governors, and the king’s counsellors gathered together and saw that the fire had not had any power over the bodies of those men; the hair of their heads was not singed, their tunics were not harmed, and not even the smell of fire came from them. Nebuchadnezzar said, ‘Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, who has sent his angel and delivered his servants who trusted in him. They disobeyed the king’s command and yielded up their bodies rather than serve and worship any god except their own God. Therefore I make a decree: Any people, nation, or language that utters blasphemy against the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego shall be torn limb from limb, and their houses laid in ruins; for there is no other god who is able to deliver in this way.’

Stop making excuses

Luke 14:15-24

          Before it was legal for my husband and I to marry, we had an exchange of vows between ourselves with two witnesses. It was as solemn as any ceremony and we committed to each other as God was our witness. It was a Sacramental, non denominational wedding with God smiling down on us with love along with all those we invoked who also shined down on us from heaven. Some time later, we saw fit to invite to our home a group of people who had been particularly supportive of us. I still recall one person who called at the last minute to say "the day got away from me" and therefore would not be able to make it. I don't think my husband has ever gotten over such a lame excuse for such a joyous occasion. Clearly, the person had no idea what the invitation was for. Or maybe they did, who knows?

          We all have an arsenal of excuses at our disposal for just about everything. We can't do something because the time is not right or we don't have the time. We judge relationships that way too. This person isn't right, that person isn't right - not what I am looking for. Too old, too fat, too young, too muscular, not buff enough. You name it, we all have excuses. 

           I have a magnificent cat who while amazingly dog like and human at times, still maintains enough aloofness to let you know who is really in charge. There are times I can call him and he comes on command and there are others when there isn't a millimeter of movement. The time has to be right for him. Very likely, he senses when the time is right for me. I am the one that must be settled, really settled before he will come to me. 'Get yourself settled dad so you can give me the attention I deserve' I imagine him saying.  Almost all the situations I can think of in life are like that. The excuses we make are all about us. "The day got away from me" is really about being too busy with fluff. You accomplish really nothing and miss out on the most important things in life.

           I imagine God must be aching much more than my husband over "the day got away from me". How many times are we each called and we have one excuse or another. How much more would we accomplish if we actually put some time into the important. Maybe we'd find the minutia isn't really that important at all and what we shouldn't be wasting our time on is all sorts of errands and chores anyway.

           I wonder how many people in their frantic search for 'the right one' have missed any number of beautiful people who would love to love them except for that one dismissive excuse or another.   When you are too busy, too judgemental? Have your standards been set just a wee bit too high (sarcasm),  you easily miss out on who is out there looking for you. That goes for God and any number of delicious, delightful people. 

          You really miss out on life and love.  How sad is that?

One of the dinner guests, on hearing this, said to him, ‘Blessed is anyone who will eat bread in the kingdom of God!’ Then Jesus said to him, ‘Someone gave a great dinner and invited many. At the time for the dinner he sent his slave to say to those who had been invited, “Come; for everything is ready now.” But they all alike began to make excuses. The first said to him, “I have bought a piece of land, and I must go out and see it; please accept my apologies.” Another said, “I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I am going to try them out; please accept my apologies.” Another said, “I have just been married, and therefore I cannot come.” So the slave returned and reported this to his master. Then the owner of the house became angry and said to his slave, “Go out at once into the streets and lanes of the town and bring in the poor, the crippled, the blind, and the lame.” And the slave said, “Sir, what you ordered has been done, and there is still room.” Then the master said to the slave, “Go out into the roads and lanes, and compel people to come in, so that my house may be filled. For I tell you, none of those who were invited will taste my dinner.” ’

It's all in the follow through

Mark 16:15-20

          One of the many joys of my ministry years ago was Baptising babies. Here is the living proof of our ability to start fresh. Each child is a a new day and a new hope. If we ever caught ourselves in the negativism of saying all that is wrong with the world, a babe is our opportunity to mold this life for the better. To teach all the incredibly wonderful lessons we wish we had learned. We can show this child what love is really about and how to avoid some of the pitfalls we may have experienced. A child is a gift from God and a grand opportunity, a fresh slate, a joy to behold.  In Baptism it is that and more. In Baptism we are putting the love and light of Christ on this child and we are invited into the unfolding scene ourselves as well. God always calls us.

           As my mind reminisces over that joyful 'task', I also began to hone in on Baptism. What is Baptism. How would I define it? Would I use terms and ideas that have been popularized? Could I only express it in terms that were influenced, if not dictated, by the concepts and rules of the Roman church of my upbringing? Could I expand my mind to see what other concepts of Baptism are?

            We are all familiar with the expression "Baptism by fire". It isn't exactly the way we would want to enter a situation and yet like many 'fires', it produces strong metal. Challenges seem to make us stronger. I know how good I feel after an invigorating spin class. I know how good it feels to have accomplished a difficult task. This is not what we think of religiously as baptism but it is another view of baptism isn't it?

            Are there other paradigms for baptism then? At it's core baptism is a about initiation, about cleansing, starting new and the hope of the future. We can embrace that concept every day. Could we say we are baptised in the light of the rising sun? Does this daily ritual cleanse us and can we see the opportunities each day brings? 

            As we approach Ash Wednesday, I was thinking too about the ashes we don. That is a remembrance and actually a look to the future while embracing our past.  In an extreme sense, getting personally sand blasted, reminding us of the graffiti of our soul and life and making us clean and fresh.  Do we baptize ourselves with ashes then? 

            Then I can think of other new beginnings, the first day at a new job, at school. Perhaps the first time we make love with someone.  Maybe having a chunk of my aorta cut out last year was a baptism of sorts, a new beginning for me. The opportunities for newness abound.

            It does not matter so much then what paradigm I use to look at baptism. The truth is, newness abounds. We are constantly stepping forward in life in new situations and each decision we make.

            The importance of baptism the is not in the initiation, it's the engagement that really says it all.
What do we do after the baptism? How do handle the commitment, our life, our relationships?  There is a joke about a small child who receives his First Holy Communion. He sees a priest years later and asks 'when do I receive my second holy communion?' While we celebrate initial engagements and events no matter what kind of 'baptism' it is, what truly counts is the carry through.

    

            

And he said to them, ‘Go into all the world and proclaim the good news to the whole creation. The one who believes and is baptized will be saved; but the one who does not believe will be condemned. And these signs will accompany those who believe: by using my name they will cast out demons; they will speak in new tongues; they will pick up snakes in their hands, and if they drink any deadly thing, it will not hurt them; they will lay their hands on the sick, and they will recover.’

So then the Lord Jesus, after he had spoken to them, was taken up into heaven and sat down at the right hand of God. And they went out and proclaimed the good news everywhere, while the Lord worked with them and confirmed the message by the signs that accompanied it.

Laying down a little for a friend

John 15:12-15

           Permit me to take you back about 40 years to the Baltimore Catechism. My parish priest is explaining about mortal and venial sins and conveying why my soul is like a milk bottle with black spots. Mortal sins are a wholesale turning your back on God and makes your soul (milk bottle) black. Venial sins are small ways of turning our back on God and hence make your milk bottle speckled with black particles. You can, he explains, achieve the same effect as a mortal sin by continuously choosing small sins, speckling your 'milk bottle' until it is essentially all black. Interesting explanation and it does has some merit even in it's (over) simplicity.

           And what of our good actions? Let's think of them as karma. Can we bank sufficient good deeds to overpower the dark particles of sin? Must we literally lay down our lives for a friend or can we achieve the same by living our lives, laying down a little bit at a time. Can we die to ourselves in the name of love by random or focused small acts of kindness?

           The Roman church is replete with saints who were martyrs, literally giving up their lives in the name of Jesus Christ, at least in the ideal. (some interesting people though have become saints based on human judgements). Other churches, the Episcopalians I note specifically, honour and remember saintly people, holy men and women who may not have given up their lives but have contributed to the kingdom here on earth. The 'rules' for "canonization" are less stringent if present really at all.

            Some people look at life as if success or faith is based on some grand gesture or some great worldly achievement.  Our contribution to God's plan of salvation can easily be made by simply living good and decent lives, speaking up for the marginalized in any way we can and consistent efforts to do good in the world in which we live, even if that sphere of influence is minute. It's as if we laid down our lives one pure speck at a time overcoming those little specks of darkness that exist.  It is that idea of a single candle point of light.  How powerful is it when a darkened church is filled with everyone holding a small lit candle. It is glorious!

            Let me end by telling you about Sainted Anna Schuster. You will not find here name in the official Roman roster of saints, not even the Episcopalians although they are much more likely to recognize her in spirit that the Romans even though Anna was a devout Roman Catholic. Anna was a gifted, dedicated and awarded teacher. In a time when medicine might seem to us today as close to butchery, she became immobilized by a broken hip. Here world was a bed in her bedroom and extended to a wheelchair in her living room when she had sufficient help to move her there for a few hours each day. Anna prayed and journaled and was a beacon of faith. Not complaining and ever faithful, she witnessed her love in such a small world but yet gave a resounding example of laying down her life, gently succumbing to her ailments but living brightly none the less. Her life was a grand gesture of a different type not recognized by formal religion but she was, I am sure, exalted by God as friend, beloved daughter and faithful servant.

            Here is to laying down our lives for our friends, known and unknown in actions big and small, all the days of our lives. Go out and live the love that resides in your heart and soul.

                      

‘This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you. I do not call you servants any longer, because the servant does not know what the master is doing; but I have called you friends, because I have made known to you everything that I have heard from my Father.