The Tenacity of HOPE; The Discipline of LOVE
November 15, 2015
Christ Church Episcopal, Norcross, GA
The 25th Sunday after Pentecost; Proper 28
1 Samuel 1:4-20; Hebrews 10:11-25; Mark 13:1-8
(Gospel text is provided at the bottom of this post)
You may have heard me refer to Mark’s gospel as the “action adventure movie” of the New Testament. Jesus is constantly on the move, going from town to town. Folks gather ’round wherever he is and he heals them and casts out demons. Even when he tries to get off for some time to himself, they find him – his compassion compels him to respond to their needs.
But today, we’ve reached the part of Mark’s gospel that sounds more like Mad Max, Independence Day and Armageddon all rolled into one!
It all starts innocently enough. Up until now, Jesus and the disciples have been traveling around Galilee, in small towns and the countryside. They’ve now entered Jerusalem and Jesus has been teaching in the temple.
As they leave the temple, the disciples marvel at the large buildings all around them – the grandness and permanence of this holy place. The place where the Hebrew people make pilgrimage for great feast days. The temple that held God’s presence.
But, as Jesus hears the disciples’ wonderment, instead of marveling along with them Jesus turns and informs them, “Do you see these great buildings? Not one stone will be left here upon another; all will be thrown down.”
When the disciples ask for details, the message gets even more grim: Read the rest of this entry »
The Future for Jesus
September 20, 2015
Christ Church Episcopal, Norcross, GA
The 17th Sunday after Pentecost; Proper 20
Proverbs 31:10-31; James 3:13-4:3, 7-8; Mark 9:30-37
(Gospel text is provided at the bottom of this post)
This past Friday I spent the morning at All Saints, in Atlanta. Bishop Andy Doyle was there – he’s the bishop from my home diocese in Texas. He was talking about his new book: Church: A Generous Community Amplified for the Future.
Pointing to the future, he shared a couple of videos. These videos included images like self-driving cars, and 3-D printers that not only create parts for cars, but implantable organs for our bodies. 
We saw integrated technologies that anticipate our every need, and a tube-passenger train that gets us from Los Angeles to San Francisco in 30 minutes. Some of these futuristic imaginings are already underway, while others are only in their early stages – but all could be viable in the next fifty years.
Bishop Doyle pointed out that the business world thinks a lot about the future. It looks at current trends and considers shifts in cultural behavior. From there, it explores the possibilities of what is needed to meet future needs, and then begins to lead society in a direction of what the next reality will look like for us.
In our time together, Bishop Doyle challenged us, as clergy, to do some of this same kind of future-looking work in the church. He pointed out that the church isn’t historically good at this kind of future-looking work, which is probably true. But, I don’t think this is unique to our generation. I don’t even think it’s unique to Christianity. We get a sense of how difficult making shifts to new things can be, even 2000 years ago, when Jesus came to start a new thing. Read the rest of this entry »
Rest, Rejuvenation & Re-formation
July 19, 2015
Christ Church Episcopal, Norcross, GA
The 8th Sunday after Pentecost; Proper 11
2 Samuel 7:1-14a; Ephesians 2:11-22; Mark 6:30-34, 53-56
(Gospel text is provided at the bottom of this post)
So, remember two weeks ago… the disciples were empowered and sent out by Jesus, two by two, with only a staff in hand and sandals on their feet. They went out to do God’s work in the world.
In today’s lesson we see that they have returned from their work. They are gathered around Jesus telling him all about their excursions! They were probably amazed by how much they’d been able to accomplish – preaching, being witnesses for God, and healing the sick – these are the things Jesus had been doing – and now the disciples saw that by trusting in God, having been empowered by Jesus, they could do it, too!
I can imagine the scene – all the disciples trying to get a word in edgewise. The pairs of disciples were likely finishing each others’ sentences as they told their stories; marveling at the work they’d done on the journey; meeting new people in unfamiliar places. They were told to take no food, no money, no extra clothes, and now they’ve come back and are sharing stories of how their needs were met by the kindness of strangers; adding to the excitement of having embodied God’s work in the world!
When you get that fired -up about things, you just want to keep going, and going and going, right? You’re touching lives! You’re making a difference! You’re on-fire for Jesus!!!
And then what happens? Mark’s gospel says:
Photo by Jody (Iona, Scotland)
(Jesus) said to them, “Come away to a deserted place all by yourselves and rest a while.” For many were coming and going, and they had no leisure even to eat. And they went away in the boat to a deserted place by themselves. (Mk 6:31-32)
On Purpose
July 12, 2015
Christ Church Episcopal, Norcross, GA
The 7th Sunday after Pentecost; Proper 10
2 Samuel 6:1-5, 12b-19; Ephesians 1:3-14; Mark 6:14-29
(Gospel text is provided at the bottom of this post)
If you were here last Sunday, you heard me make the case that Mark’s Gospel is the Action/Adventure movie of the New Testament. But, if we look at today’s passage, it seems more like a horror film. If I were watching this in the theater, this would be the time I’d go get a refill on my popcorn.
When we have a gospel reading like this it’s tempting to turn to the Old Testament or Epistle lesson for a good word, and avoid this gruesome tale altogether. And, as tempting as that was for me, I kept being pulled back to this text. So, let’s stick with Mark’s gospel and see if we can figure out what’s going on here.
The reading today comes immediately after last week’s lesson… the one where the disciples have been empowered by Jesus and given authority to go and do God’s work. They have gone out two by two, with only a staff in hand and sandals on their feet. They were told to take no food, no money, no extra clothes – just GO, just as they were. They were proclaiming that all should repent. They were casting out demons. They were anointing the sick with oil and curing them. Pretty powerful stuff!
Then, all of the sudden, we’re presented with this odd and terribly graphic story about Herod and the beheading of John the Baptist. Read the rest of this entry »
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