Emmanuel Episcopal Church

Homily for the Ninth Sunday after Pentecost

The Gospel - Luke 11:1-13

Jesus was praying in a certain place, and after he had finished, one of his disciples said to him, "Lord, teach us to pray, as John taught his disciples." He said to them, "When you pray, say:

Father, hallowed be your name.

Your kingdom come.

Give us each day our daily bread.

And forgive us our sins,

for we ourselves forgive everyone indebted to us.

And do not bring us to the time of trial."

And he said to them, "Suppose one of you has a friend, and you go to him at midnight and say to him, `Friend, lend me three loaves of bread; for a friend of mine has arrived, and I have nothing to set before him.' And he answers from within, `Do not bother me; the door has already been locked, and my children are with me in bed; I cannot get up and give you anything.' I tell you, even though he will not get up and give him anything because he is his friend, at least because of his persistence he will get up and give him whatever he needs.

"So I say to you, Ask, and it will be given you; search, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened for you. For everyone who asks receives, and everyone who searches finds, and for everyone who knocks, the door will be opened. Is there anyone among you who, if your child asks for a fish, will give a snake instead of a fish? Or if the child asks for an egg, will give a scorpion? If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!"

 

Homily by the Reverend John S. Ruef

Lord, teach us to pray.

You will probably notice that this version of the Lord's Prayer is different from the version in the Prayer Book. We prefer the version from Matthew because it is almost like the one in The Prayer Book, except for the business at the end "For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory, etc...” which is not in the New Testament at all.

We leave it up to you to figure out why there are two versions. The real point of the section is prayer as such. One might say, "Don't give up praying." As Luke tells the story, in the tale of Mary and Martha, how important it is to learn from the teacher, Jesus.

Here we are told how to pray. In the Lord's Prayer (Lucan version), we are given the areas or topics which we should cover in our prayer. We are then assured that our prayers are not only heard, but are in some fashion, answered. The argument proceeds in the “how much more?” fashion. The key is in the rhetorical statement if you being evil, etc. The contrast is between the all righteous God and the imperfect (i.e. evil) human creature. One is reminded of the popular song, “Anything you can do [, I can do better.]”

So the gospel writer speaking in and for the Church assures members of the Church that all is well in the prayer department, “Keep up the good work.” As Jews, the early Christians had known God. In Jesus their teacher, they had known God. After Pentecost, they will continue to know God through the Holy Spirit.

Homily for the Eighth Sunday after Pentecost

The Gospel - Luke 10:38-42

As Jesus and his disciples went on their way, Jesus entered a certain village, where a woman named Martha welcomed him into her home. She had a sister named Mary, who sat at the Lord's feet and listened to what he was saying. But Martha was distracted by her many tasks; so she came to him and asked, "Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to do all the work by myself? Tell her then to help me." But the Lord answered her, "Martha, Martha, you are worried and distracted by many things; there is need of only one thing. Mary has chosen the better part, which will not be taken away from her."   

Homily by the Reverend John S. Ruef

At the Feet of Jesus

My first reaction to this story is to be sympathetic to Martha: why doesn't she get up and help her sister?  Family should help family, especially when there is company. As in so many of Jesus' parables, this is shocking. It is supposed to be: it is meant to get our attention. What is that good part, which Mary has chosen, which outweighs her obligation to help her sister?

Mary sits in the position of a learner, i.e. at Jesus' feet. This points to his position as their rabbi, i.e. their teacher. It should be noted that Martha is not criticized for her work of preparation for the guest. Nor is she criticized for her complaint.

Jesus says that what Mary is doing is ok, i.e. good. In modern parlance, we would say that this little vignette showcases Jesus' position as the teacher or rabbi. It would seem to be saying that there is something to be learned from Jesus. It would also seem to be saying that what Mary is doing is important in its own right, along with the practical implications of hospitality.

This little story, whether it happened or not, would seem to say that the tail should not wag the dog. Jesus has something to teach us, about him and about ourselves. The other things which we do as the Church, as important as they may be, should not be allowed to obscure that.

Emmanuel Parishioners "Clean up"

Our thanks go to all those parishioners and friends who turned out on Friday the 13th for Emmanuel's annual Church and Yard Clean-up Day. Books were dusted, windows washed, light bulbs replaced, corners vacuumed and pews polished among many other tasks. And additional work will be continuing in the coming days.

Homily for the Seventh Sunday after Pentecost

The Gospel - Luke 10:25-37

Just then a lawyer stood up to test Jesus. "Teacher," he said, "what must I do to inherit eternal life?" He said to him, "What is written in the law? What do you read there?" He answered, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself." And he said to him, "You have given the right answer; do this, and you will live."

But wanting to justify himself, he asked Jesus, "And who is my neighbor?" Jesus replied, "A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell into the hands of robbers, who stripped him, beat him, and went away, leaving him half dead. Now by chance a priest was going down that road; and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side. So likewise a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. But a Samaritan while traveling came near him; and when he saw him, he was moved with pity. He went to him and bandaged his wounds, having poured oil and wine on them. Then he put him on his own animal, brought him to an inn, and took care of him. The next day he took out two denarii, gave them to the innkeeper, and said, `Take care of him; and when I come back, I will repay you whatever more you spend.' Which of these three, do you think, was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of the robbers?" He said, "The one who showed him mercy." Jesus said to him, "Go and do likewise."

   

Homily by the Reverend John S. Ruef

And who is my neighbor?

Good Samaritan is a term applied today to any one or any institution which attempts to help others. Good Samaritan in Jesus' time and place was an oxymoron: there could be no such person since Samaritans were enemies of the Jews almost by definition. They had the same animosity toward Samaritans as a modern day Sunni Muslim has toward a Muslim who is a Shiite.

Their hatred and willingness to kill parallels the feeling which many Protestants during the Reformation period had toward Catholics, and vice-versa. Jesus not only portrays the generous behavior of the Samaritan, but contrasts it with the seemingly insensitive comportment of the Priest and the Levite.

Jesus does this for dramatic effect. The behavior of the Samaritan would have been just as generous had it been a Jew. But Jesus is not above using rhetoric to make his point. Nor does he play fair with the questioner. Asked to define neighbor, Jesus tells a story in which neighborly behavior is displayed toward one who is a sworn enemy, so to speak.

Jesus refuses to define neighbor, which is what he was asked to do. Instead he depicts the actions of one who helps a person who is presumably an enemy. Then, instead of saying that is what I mean by neighbor, he puts the inquirer on the spot by asking who displayed neighborly behavior toward the unfortunate victim of robbers.

The questioner becomes the one questioned. This is the accused becoming the accuser. This is a Joseph Welch asking the Red Bater, Joseph McCarthy, "Sir, in the end, have you no decency?" This is the student in a class on ethics raising the question of basic humanity, in the face of attempts to define what we owe to one another.

The approach of the rabbi who never went to school is one of constantly breaking down the barriers which people construct to allow them to turn their backs on reality.

Go and do thou likewise. It is not a command to define, but to seek out an opportunity.

Dinner Groups Engage Parishioners and Friends

Emmanuel’s Dinner Groups program is off to a rousing start. Since the program’s launch in April, each of the groups has met at least once and two groups have held their second event. As expected, meeting formats have varied from dinners to a cocktail party to a porch picnic. Participants appear to be enjoying great fun and fellowship.

Some of the "revelers" at Mary Hicks Heitzler's recent cocktail party

The dinner group program allows groups of 8 to 10 adults, singles and couples, to meet in private homes on a monthly rotating basis for an evening of potluck, fun and fellowship. Since the format of each evening is at the discretion of that night's host / hostess, the venue could be a cookout, a buffet, just coffee and desserts, or an evening at a local restaurant.

If you would like to join a dinner group, please email the Parish Office for more details, or call one of the group leaders: Betty Camp, Jane De Paulo, Mary Hicks Heitzler, or Jane Ruef.

Homily for the Sixth Sunday after Pentecost

The Gospel - Luke 10:1-12,16-20

After this the Lord appointed seventy others and sent them on ahead of him in pairs to every town and place where he himself intended to go. He said to them, "The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore ask the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest. Go on your way. See, I am sending you out like lambs into the midst of wolves. Carry no purse, no bag, no sandals; and greet no one on the road. Whatever house you enter, first say, `Peace to this house!' And if anyone is there who shares in peace, your peace will rest on that person; but if not, it will return to you. Remain in the same house, eating and drinking whatever they provide, for the laborer deserves to be paid. Do not move about from house to house. Whenever you enter a town and its people welcome you, eat what is set before you; cure the sick who are there, and say to them, `The kingdom of God has come near to you.' But whenever you enter a town and they do not welcome you, go out into its streets and say, `Even the dust of your town that clings to our feet, we wipe off in protest against you. Yet know this: the kingdom of God has come near.' I tell you, on that day it will be more tolerable for Sodom than for that town.

"Whoever listens to you listens to me, and whoever rejects you rejects me, and whoever rejects me rejects the one who sent me."

The seventy returned with joy, saying, "Lord, in your name even the demons submit to us!" He said to them, "I watched Satan fall from heaven like a flash of lightning. See, I have given you authority to tread on snakes and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy; and nothing will hurt you. Nevertheless, do not rejoice at this, that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven."

 

Homily by the Reverend John S. Ruef

The Road to Jerusalem

Jesus is on his way to Jerusalem. The disciples are sent two by two to announce the nearness of the Kingdom. They are given strict instructions about what to do in case they are accepted and also if they are not accepted. Jesus pronounces an extreme judgment on those who do not heed the disciples' warning.

Jesus does go to Jerusalem where he is betrayed and executed for crimes against the state. Some see in this a plan: this is to be a prelude to the coming of the kingdom. The kingdom does not come. Others see this as part of a plan which includes Jesus' sacrifice of himself. Some see this sacrifice as a means of bringing in the kingdom. It failed. Others see Jesus' sacrifice as a way of propitiating God for the forgiveness of sins. This latter view came to be the basic understanding of the Church.

The Church of the Middle Ages created a mechanism whereby this forgiveness was mediated to mankind through the sacrament of Penance or Confession. The Reformation altered this so that the gift of forgiveness was not mediated by the Church but was freely given to the individual through his or her faith in Jesus.

So for two thousand years men and women, sinners all, have been saved from the jaws of hell by the sacrificial death of one who came organizing a group of men who went forth proclaiming a kingdom which never came. One suspects they were disappointed. It did not take long for this movement to turn in upon itself. Movements abounded which tried to make sense of this failure, The failure. The Catholic Church in the west and the Orthodox Church in the east were the ones which survived.

In this failure of an earthly sort we are invited, as we are in so many of Jesus' parables, to look beyond the obvious. God invites us to continue seeking the Kingdom within ourselves and beyond what we see and hear. If the structures help, good. If not, well...

Homily for the Fifth Sunday after Pentecost

The Gospel - Luke 9:51-62

When the days drew near for Jesus to be taken up, he set his face to go to Jerusalem. And he sent messengers ahead of him. On their way they entered a village of the Samaritans to make ready for him; but they did not receive him, because his face was set toward Jerusalem. When his disciples James and John saw it, they said, "Lord, do you want us to command fire to come down from heaven and consume them?" But he turned and rebuked them. Then they went on to another village.

As they were going along the road, someone said to him, "I will follow you wherever you go." And Jesus said to him, "Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests; but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head." To another he said, "Follow me." But he said, "Lord, first let me go and bury my father." But Jesus said to him, "Let the dead bury their own dead; but as for you, go and proclaim the kingdom of God." Another said, "I will follow you, Lord; but let me first say farewell to those at my home." Jesus said to him, "No one who puts a hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God."

   

Homily by the Reverend John S. Ruef

Let the dead bury their dead

This kind of talk could get the rector into serious trouble. After all these are important things to do - burying a father or saying goodbye to loved ones. These are "must do" kinds of things. On the other hand, if one believes that the Kingdom is just around the corner and this world is coming to an end, they are not.

Scholars have argued about this for years. Why? Because, what we have is not the Kingdom of God, but the Church, which by no stretch of the imagination is the Kingdom of God. So, as a Christian scholar one must say that Jesus did not mean that the Kingdom was just around the corner, in which case his directions don't make sense.

Or, one is faced with the possibility that Jesus didn't say this, but that it was added by someone like the Evangelist to validate some kind of rules which the Church had made.  There is another possibility and that is that Jesus meant what he said and said what he meant and further, that he was mistaken.

In any case we are left, not with the Kingdom of God, but the Church. Now, Jesus was Jewish. His disciples were also Jewish. End of the world from the point of view of the death and resurrection of Jesus came to be interpreted, not by Jews, but by the gentiles who came into the Church after the first Easter. End of the world came to mean the death of the individual believer, who, in gentile terms, was then transported either to heaven or to hell depending upon his or her standing with the divine tribunal.

This means that "end of the world" language might not be interpreted by gentiles in the way Jesus meant it in the thought world from which he came.  The first Christian theologian was Paul of Tarsus. He knew that after the resurrection of Jesus nothing would be the same. The faith or trust which one had known or had come to know in the God of Israel had been embodied in Jesus and reaffirmed for all believers in his resurrection from the dead. But what was reaffirmed was one's faith. We know what faith means: confidence that, whatever happens, things will turn out all right.

But how does that get expressed? "End of the world" becomes when one dies.

How will it get expressed in a world where one asks for the departure time of the next trip to the moon or Mars or beyond?