Sermon by The Very Rev Chris Yaw, 3/16/2025
Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, Awaken me to myself and others
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ -
Once again, I am elated to be with you as we gather for worship on a Sunday in this Holy season of Lent, our time for reflection, repentance, habit-making, habit-breaking, and rededication to following Jesus more dearly and nearly.
It is good for the saints to be together, to smile, laugh, and encourage one another - Yes, I know you're *not here just for the free coffee!
And it is amidst this nurturing and holy fellowship that we gather under what are certainly, dark storm-clouds of worry and anxiety that have filled our skies and gripped our hearts.
Ours are tense times.
There is no small amount of stress over the ongoing struggles in Gaza and Ukraine. There is the sorrow and mental anguish over the fates of our friends in Haiti, and ongoing bloodshed in the Congo and Sudan.
There is a whirlwind of domestic change that has filled the air with uncertainty, as jobs are cut, then restored, services are stopped, then started, tariffs are levied, then suspended.
There is the sleep-depriving, saber-rattling of Medicaid and Social Security cuts. The stock market is in upheaval. Inflation continues. The late-night jesters say we'll soon be able to pay our mortgages with eggs.
And we come this morning to find refuge from those storm clouds and the loud and clambering sounds of these whipping winds and lashing rains of anxiety and hardship.
And we discover it, underneath the protective and nurturing wings of that mother hen - who gathers the brood - shielding us from the storms and showering us with love.
For that love has come here to roost this morning, in the form of Jesus, whose words and deeds could not be more timely.
This morning our Gospel gives us hopeful words from 2,000 years ago.
We hear of Jesus' redemptive attitude toward the stinging threats, cutting insults, and blatant mockeries of his detractors. And we discover something we sorely need:
Today Jesus gives us peace.
He paints a picture of you and me rising above our troubles and worries.
We are on the wings of a soaring eagle - *not weaving between lowly adversaries, *not caught up in the tempests of capricious earthly controversies!
But high up - floating upon the winds of heaven!
How does he do this? He gives us an example.
He shows us his preoccupation with God's vision of redemption and justice.
It is a vision of that place and that day when all of humanity will be united under that banner of love and acceptance - a vision we broker here on earth!
Jesus shows us that in catching that vision we rise above worldly concerns - and embrace that wider imagination of freedom, justice, healing and peace!
We will consider how he lives on a different plane - and his invitation to join him:
His thoughts becoming our thoughts - his vision becoming our vision.
We discover that from his vantage point, we fend off discouragement.
From his vantage point, we put anxiety in its place.
From his vantage point, there is calm and serenity.
From his vantage point, we must live our lives!
Friends, life is too short - the times are too important - for us to wallow and wander in the quicksands of excessive worry - relying on our own power - on our own wisdom - trying to make it through with our own medication and distraction.
There is too much at stake, too much suffering and oppression, pain and injustice, for us *not to take life seriously - *not to take Jesus and his promises to heart - *not to attempt to rise above the worries that bind us, freeing us to help the struggling and hurting.
For God is calling us to a higher place - and we get to that higher place, by going lower –
That lofty position comes as we lower ourselves to wash the feet of the needy - shedding our myopic vision - and liberating ourselves to be a greater part of the solution.
Each one of us has a role in God's ongoing re-creation of the world!
And we now turn to the scriptures - to Jesus - and one of his many dialogs - that urges us to rise above! Rise above! Don't wallow and wander but rise above!
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The Gospel of Luke is often called "The Journey Gospel" because so much of it happens as Jesus journeys to Jerusalem - and his fate of arrest, torture, death, and resurrection.
You remember "The Transfiguration" just 2 weeks ago - when Jesus climbed the holy mount, spoke with Moses and Elijah, then headed back down - beginning his journey to Jerusalem?
That was in early on in Luke Chapter 9 - of a 27 chapter book - meaning that Jesus' journey to that cross was of great importance to St. Luke - as it is for us this morning.
And our story begins as Jesus is approached by some Pharisees. There are the Jewish leaders - better known for trying to trick and test the Lord - but here they seem to be helping him - when they say, "Get away from here, for Herod wants to kill you!"
And here is our initial indication that Jesus is operating on an entirely different plane than his detractors - indeed, even you and me.
He tells the Pharisees, "Go and tell that fox for me..." Interesting choice of words - when you and I consider how we might characterize someone who is out to kill us. After all, we have far more colorful words for people who steal our parking spots or spill wine on our carpet - much less threaten homicide.
Here Jesus was floating above the fray. He didn't meet threat with threat, assassination plot with assassination plot - He didn't have time to disparage and insult - and neither do we.
Deep division has wrought asunder the fabric of our civil society.
It has been largely fueled by the fearful and weak-minded who hide behind their keyboards, hurling insults, creating and sharing cruel and demeaning memes, and offering oft-misspelled, caustic, hit-and-run comments that they would never think of saying if they saw the target of their mud-slinging face to face.
Jesus could have chosen a much more crass and cutting descriptor for King Herod - who was, as you remember, the one who sent soldiers to slaughter innocent babies in an effort to eliminate competition after Jesus' birth - then murdered his cousin and good friend John the Baptist - putting his head on a platter because Herod got turned on by a belly dancer.
Friends, the words we chose signify the plane we're on.
On this earthly plane, with its brutal nature of survival that Tennyson termed "red in tooth and claw" - is *not the plane Jesus operated on - nor should it be ours.
Ours is a higher calling of dignity, respect, and turning the other cheek. Jesus was not playing. He was not joking. Jesus knew that our words can annihilate or liberate - exterminate or extricate - decimate or emancipate.
We all know how divided our nation, communities, and even families have become - and we can blame, to a large degree, our choice of nouns and adjectives. The healing we long for starts with ourselves - and with the words we choose and the ways we use them.
This boils down to love - loving our neighbor - loving our enemies - treating others as we would like to be treated - being known as Jesus said we should be know - not for our cutting criticisms - but for our long-suffering love.
I am so happy to be part of a congregation that models this behavior. I see you in the pews, the atrium, and parish hall - such a diverse congregation as we are - by color, ethnicity, economics, and politics - but united under the greatest banner there is - which is love. I see it in how you speak to one another - with forgiveness, generosity, joy and love.
Church people often speak well in church - let us take those church words out these doors and into our world.
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After Jesus chose to characterize Herod as 'that fox' he had a message for him - that he was busy! "Casting out demons and performing cures today and tomorrow." Yes, Jesus was too busy to give 'that fox' much attention - he had more important things to do.
After all, can we imagine the state of health care back in Jesus' day - the disease and injury - in a society without any of the life-saving medicines and machines, knowledge and procedures, that you and I enjoy today?
What must daily life have been like - the sights and smells at the marketplace - of so many people suffering from such an array of maladies - the open sores of leprosy, the wailing sounds of the crippled, palsied, and amputated.
And we marvel at how Jesus had his sights set *not on the wealthy and well-off - but on these, the very least of these.
Jesus didn't care about some far away politician and his threats, when the cries of the hurting and oppressed were so much louder. Keen were his ears to the whimpers of the child born with a deformed hand;
the sobbing of the mother with endometriosis;
and the mumbling of the once-strapping young man whose stroke left him paralyzed from the waist down and reduced his language to a garble.
Jesus knew his purpose, to bring God's Kingdom of healing and wholeness to this world - and he stuck to it - just as we must stick to ours.
For our charge is to make this world like the next - to care for the suffering in our midst. We must speak up and care for the vulnerable: the starving, and suffering, the transgender and mis-treated.
After all, you all know what's happening - we live in a day of perilous global trends that we must address: the uptick in nationalism, populism, disinformation, xenophobia, economic inequality, and authoritarianism.
As Jesus liberated the suffering from demons and disease - so must we!
Yes, we wrestle with demons - those devious devils that keep us blind, self-interested, complacent, and uncaring about the desperate need before us!
The apathy and conformity! - Their difficulty chronicled well by Anthony DeMello who challenges us with these words:
"Most people end up being conformists; they adapt to prison life. A few become reformers; they fight for better lighting, better ventilation. Hardly anyone becomes a rebel, a revolutionary who breaks down the prison walls. You can only be a revolutionary when you see the prison walls in the first place."
Jesus saw the prison walls - and so do we.
For I am among a people of purpose - who do not shrink when our hungry neighbors want food,
who do not back off when the alcoholic needs space to meet,
and who open their wallets and parking lots to the owners of firearms who lose sleep because they are stuck with weapons they don't want.
I am among a fellowship of martyrs, who die daily to themselves as they seek the common good, thinking less of themselves, deeming it a privilege to serve the suffering.
I am among those who know that down must come these prison walls of conformity and status quo - For busy, we must be, with the kingdom work of liberation and healing that puts us on that higher plane with Jesus - so caught up with the work, that we could care less about the worry.
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Yes, I realize this is much easier said than done.
For we have embarked upon a mission that is not easy - nor popular - nor safe.
And we return to our Gospel to see how Jesus handled this - and we hear his dialog turn toward difficulty as he laments:
"Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it!"
Jesus knows where he's going - into the snake pit of hissing opposition and coiled danger.
Yet amidst this sure and certain destiny, Jesus persists. He goes on. He knows the suffering that will come, the death that will result - and he does not turn back or turn away.
In his heart of hearts, we suspect that he knew about resurrection.
It is with this confidence and faith that we must persist - through resistance and persecution - we, too, must go on. We cannot expect that our work following Jesus, will be universally applauded - popularly accepted, nor easy on our hearts, bodies, or wallets. Disciples will fall away from Jesus then, and now, as we see how difficult it is to do what he's asked us to do.
For we face forces no less powerful and seemingly insurmountable - and suffering is our destiny because giving is our destiny. Discomfort is our destiny because selflessness is our destiny. Anguish and affliction is our destiny because God is our destiny - the God who gave everything to us - and calls us to give everything to God.
For the Jesus way is a way of suffering - not because God wants to torture us - but because God wants to bless us - for there is much value to suffering. In fact, it is invaluable.
Let us hear the reflections of a little-known attorney named Julie Yip-Williams who was born blind:
"There is incredible value in pain and suffering, if you allow yourself to experience it, to cry, to feel sorrow and grief, to hurt.
Walk through the fire and you will emerge on the other end, whole and stronger: I promise.
You will ultimately find truth and beauty and wisdom and peace. You will understand that nothing lasts forever, not pain, or joy. You will understand that joy cannot exist without sadness.
Relief cannot exist without pain. Compassion cannot exist without cruelty. Courage cannot exist without fear. Hope cannot exist without despair. Wisdom cannot exist without suffering. Gratitude cannot exist without deprivation.
Paradoxes abound in this life. Living is an exercise in navigating within them. I was deprived of sight.
And yet, that single unfortunate physical condition changed me for the better.
Instead of leaving me wallowing in self-pity, it made me more ambitious. It made me more resourceful. It made me smarter. It taught me to ask for help, to not be ashamed of my physical shortcoming. It forced me to be honest with myself and my limitations, and eventually to be honest with others. It taught me strength and resilience."
Friends, we know suffering well.
We carry the bruises and bumps of a faithful platoon of God's Army of Love.
We also know that our Lord did not call us to follow him because he wanted to punish us! No, true liberation and that abundance of joy can only be known when we've poured out our lives for others - not shirking or looking aside - but pitching in, well beyond when it hurts.
Yes, life is too short - the cries of the world's suffering are too strong - for us to get detoured and distracted by the myriad of entertainments and frivolities, anxieties and worries of this world - relying on ourselves to make it through - and not striving to live on that 'higher plane' where Jesus invites us.
We have a higher power and a greater mission!
For there is so much at stake, the howling of the hurting echoes through our age: the lonely who need a phone call, the downtrodden who need a visit, the discouraged who could use a good word - and God has raised each of us up - to take the mantle, march on, and rise above!
For we have summoned and coronated for this very hour - to take a ride on the backs of eagles - to float far above the anxious battlefields below.
Let us not be a discouraged people because of the immensity of the work before us - but let us be encouraged because we are in this together - you, me , and God!
Let us not be apathetic about the breadth of suffering that seems insurmountable and hopeless - but let us remember the strength and power of a God whom death could not even restrain!
Let us not be taken in by the discouraging voices that tell us we're too frail, too pre-programmed, and too weak to follow Jesus to that higher plane.
And let us not, for a moment, think that we are destined to the dull, drudgery of a life below - because God has raised us up - far up - to soar on those Thermal winds of serenity and peace as we rise above! Rise above! It is your call, it is your destiny to rise above!
Amen.