February 19, 2012

Last Sunday After the Epiphany (B)

Reverend Gregg Wood

When I was serving Zion Church in 2010, the Bible Study Group and I studied the Book of Acts.  We focused on one verse, Acts 1:8, as illuminating the whole message of the Book of Acts and the purpose of the Church after the Day of Pentecost:  “You will receive power when the Holy Spirit is come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”  It is a clear mandate, telling the disciples that they are to proclaim the good news of salvation and eternal life in Christ, starting with their own environs and people they know (Jerusalem and Judea), moving then to strangers and adversaries (Samaria), and finally “to the ends of the earth.”

Do you know what the official, corporate name of our national church is?  It is the Domestic and Foreign Missionary Society of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America.  That official title relates directly to the Book of Acts and to our purpose as a church.

The mission of the church is both foreign and domestic. In the most obvious understanding of the phrase “foreign and domestic,” it means there are individuals within our own nation, even our own neighborhoods, who have yet to hear the Good News of Jesus Christ; and there are individuals who live in places outside of those domestic boundaries to whom the mission of the church is extended. Thus the mission of the church is to the whole, wide world.

It can be seen in today’s gospel reading, the telling of the events on the mountain that we know as “the Transfiguration of Christ,” that from a different perspective, the foreign and domestic mission exists not only wherever the gospel has not yet been accepted, but also within ourselves, we who are the church. We often are in need of preaching to ourselves.

But from either perspective, the Transfiguration speaks of God’s power.  The appearance of Jesus in dazzling white garments, the overshadowing cloud, the voice of God, and even the command to wait to tell, all has to do with the power of God released for the sake of the mission to be successful. The power of God.

The beginning and the end of the mission of the church is meant to be conducted in the power of God.

That conclusion is found in today’s gospel reading, and pointed to in another verse from the ninth chapter of Mark that is not included in today’s reading. The first verse of Chapter 9: “Truly I tell you, some who are standing here will not taste death before they see that the kingdom of God has come with power.”

Indeed the Kingdom of God has come with power. From the work of God in creation, through the prophets as we heard in the story of Elijah and Elisha, to the conception of Jesus by the power of the Holy Spirit, through the miracles of Jesus retold in this season after the Epiphany, and now to this moment on the mountain.

This power of God is intended to be revealed to the world, both foreign and domestic, through Jesus in the preaching and proclamation of the church, the Body of Christ.

You see, as both Matthew and Mark record, it is not simply that Jesus “was transfigured,” but that “he was transfigured before them,” the three disciples. It is not simply a display of power; it is for the benefit of the witnesses, to remind them, and us, of the eternal name Emmanuel, “God-with-us.” If God is with us, then so is His power; and that is exactly his intention.

Sometimes, though, is it not difficult to see the power in the church? We all have stories about how the church has faltered in its mission to the world, rather than portrayed the life-changing, transfiguring, transforming power of God.  St. Peter wasn’t the only one who blundered occasionally. 

Take for example, the bloopers in church bulletins, which are often very funny, although sometimes they hit a little too close to home. A bulletin from a Methodist congregation read: “Don’t let worry kill you. Let the church help.”

Another church bulletin, prompting the Prayers of the People, read: “Remember in prayer the many who are sick of our church and community.”

Certainly, there will always be failures within the church, but if the beginning and end of the mission of the church, the Body of Christ, is meant to be conducted in the power of God, then where in the gospel do we find our guidance for doing it properly?

In regard to that Mission, one major failure of the church has always been paying so much attention to ourselves that we neglect the mission of proclamation. It might be because we have decided we have to be polished as Christians before presenting ourselves to the world. But who will ever achieve perfection to prove their worth?  Those first disciples who accompanied Jesus on the mountain -- Peter, James, and John – certainly were not perfect.  Yet God worked through them mightily despite their imperfections.

How can we be bearers of gospel truth when we ourselves continue to be in great need of the healing Love of God?  Placing ourselves into the gospel story, we desperately want to be the recipients of God’s call as His “sons and daughters” whom he loves. And yet there is only One about whom God is speaking at that moment. And through that Son, Jesus, the love of God is revealed to all of us. We can’t set aside Jesus.

We need to know what Mission is. Our guidance here in the Gospel of Mark will be found in Jesus’ instruction to the disciples. As they come down the mountain, their eyes are turned back to what just happened.

What did they see? They saw the power of God revealed in and through Jesus Christ.

And what did they hear? They heard the voice of God saying about the Son of God, “Listen to him.”

Here, then, is the most basic definition of the mission of the church: pointing to Jesus and telling others that the Almighty God has proclaimed who he is; and to do what he says.

This is what a missionary is called to do, just as the three in our readings today were called to be apostles and called to be witnesses on the mountaintop. We pray for missionaries and for their sometimes perilous work in foreign or domestic lands, who also have also seen Jesus and have heard from God the Father. We pray that we all may understand our baptismal duty to point to Jesus and proclaim him as the only Son of God, the Lord and Savior.  

**I am indebted to the Rev. John Eaton of the Episcopal Church of Tulare, California, and a sermon of his on the Episcopal Church’s website, for some of the thoughts in today’s sermon.**

February 12, 2012

Sermon for Epiphany 6, Year B

                                       Reverend Gregg Wood

The first lesson for today is a story about a healing. Naaman, who is the successful commander of the Army of the king of Aram, is afflicted with leprosy. Now we are not sure if this was the very serious disease we know today as leprosy proper, or Hansen’s disease; it may have been a less serious skin disease such as psoriasis or dermatitis. But whatever it was, it troubled Naaman. Now Naaman's wife had a slave girl who had been captured in one of the raids on Israel. This slave girl spoke of the prophet Elisha, and suggested that this great prophet of Israel would be able to cure Naaman's affliction. So Naaman’s wife tells him what the Israelite slave girl said, and he likes the idea so much that he suggests that the king of Aram give him permission to go peacefully into Israel to seek the cure. The king agrees, so Naaman sets out with a lot of money and goods and a letter from the king of Aram requesting that the King of Israel grant Naaman safe passage.

When the King of Israel learns that the commander of the armies of the king of Aram is coming into his country, he fears the worst, probably that he is about to be invaded, and he tears his garments in distress.   But the prophet Elisha sends word to the King, reassuring him and asking him to allow Naaman to come to Elisha. Soon Naaman comes to Elisha.  But Elisha does not come out to greet Naaman, and instead sends a messenger instructing Naaman to wash himself seven times in the River Jordan, after which his flesh will be restored to normal.   Naaman is insulted at this treatment. He is offended that the prophet did not come out to greet him, and also that he was instructed to do something so simple and undignified as washing himself in the River Jordan, which was not a great river like the rivers of Damascus.  Also, Naaman no doubt expected that he would have to negotiate a fee for the prophet's services, which is why he brought all that money.  However, one of his servants encourages Naaman to do what the prophet told him to do, since it is such a simple thing. So Naaman does it, he washes himself in the River, and the Bible tells us "his flesh was restored like the flesh of a young boy, and he was clean."

This story is about expectations. Everyone involved has different expectations. Let us look at those expectations.

First of all, there is the Israelite slave girl. It is she who sets the whole train of events in motion by suggesting that the prophet in Israel would be able to cure Naaman of his skin disease. Since she is a slave, she probably had no expectations that any of this would do her any good. So she seems to be acting out of a pure and generous heart, with the expectation of faith. She expects that her faith in God, and in God's prophet, will bring relief to her master. 

Then there is the king of Israel, who is terrified and tears his garments when he reads the letter from the king of Aram.  He expects the worst. He fears that there is deceit and trickery going on, that will ultimately do harm to him and to his country.  Maybe that's not a bad expectation for a king to have. His job is to defend his country and to keep it secure.   Probably it's not a bad thing for him to be suspicious and even paranoid, especially in dealing with people who have been his enemies in the past.  The problem is that his fear and suspicion could cause him to miss an opportunity to improve relations.  If you're always expecting the worst, you may be blind when something good comes along.  

Then there is Naaman himself. He expects that he will have to negotiate an expensive transaction, which is no doubt why he brought along all that money and treasure. He also expects that this transaction will be accompanied with a certain amount of ceremony and performance, and his dignity is wounded when the prophet Elisha does not even come out to meet him, but instead sends him a simple prescription by the hand of a servant.  What happens to him is so far removed from his expectations that he almost fails to get what he came for, namely a cure for his illness. He expected a complicated transaction; instead he got a rather simple free gift.  The free gift of healing.

Everyone had their normal expectations.  The problem is they did not expect the unexpected.

Sometimes, like Naaman, our expectations can defeat our purposes.  In the village near where I live there is a thrift shop.  The purpose of the thrift shop is to re-cycle second hand goods to people who cannot afford to pay retail prices for these things.  The thrift shop is housed in a church basement; the church donates the space and the utilities.  The shop is operated by volunteers from the church and the community; they donate their time and their skill.  The clothing and household goods that are sold in the shop are donated by people in the community. 

The volunteers spend a lot of their time pricing the goods for sale.  Of course they are priced very low, sometimes as low as a dollar, 50 cents, a quarter.  Everyone expects that people will pay these prices.  But occasionally there is a customer who needs something but cannot afford even these low prices.  What to do?  If you withhold what is needed from such a customer, you will be failing in the main purpose of the shop, which is to get these goods to people who cannot afford them.  So usually the volunteer in charge will make an outright gift to the needy customer.  She does the unexpected.  Sometimes, in order to do the right thing, you have to do the unexpected.  And sometimes, like Naaman, the customer will try to refuse the unexpected gift.  She, the customer, is bound by her expectation that she must pay for it.

The heroine of this story is the Israelite slave girl.  She had faith.  She believed that if her Master Naaman was able to get together with the prophet Elijah, good things would happen.  She expected the unexpected.  She had faith.  And good things did happen, once everybody managed to get over their normal expectations.

You and I live in a world of normal expectations, as we must.  But let us not lose the capacity to see the hand of God working in unusual ways.  Let us not fail to expect the unexpected.