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| St. Philip, sanctuary painting |
Sermon for May 3, 2015
St. Philip’s Day (obs)
The Rev. Vicki K. Hesse
St. Philip’s In The Hills, Tucson, AZ
John
14:6-14
Lord, Open our Lips,
that our mouth shall proclaim your
praise. Amen
Intro
Years
ago,
while
teaching business courses,
it
was impressed upon me
to
be sure to have clear “sightlines.”
That
is, be sure that all participants in a course
can
see you and can see
what
you are writing on a flipchart
or
showing on the projector.
Surveys
show that most adult learners
complain
about poor sightlines;
that and the environmental
comfort of the room.
Clear
sightlines was a challenge,
because
hotel conference rooms often had
pillars
for structural support,
mid-way
through the room.
In
these cases, learners were invited
to
move around the room for their own needs.
“Do
you best to have clear sightlines,”
was
the admonition.
In
today’s Gospel text,
Philip
asks for clear sightlines.
“Lord,
show us the Father
and
we will be satisfied.”
Jesus
replies to Philip,
“Have
I been with you all this time, Philip,
and
you still do not know me?
Whoever
has seen me has seen the Father.
How
can you say, “Show us the Father”?
Well,
Philip,
as
a named Apostle in this discipleship
course,
seemed
to be complaining that his teacher
had
not set up clear sightlines.
Philip
often had this kind of
exacting
way about him,
“Show
us the Father – clear out the sightlines, and we will be satisfied.”
Philip’s
calculating way showed up
at
the loaves and fishes event when Jesus asked,
“From
where are we to buy enough bread
to
feed all these people?”
Philip
replied,
“…[dude,]
six months wages will not buy enough bread to feed these people!”
In
other words, Philip tended to see
only
up to the pillar, not beyond.
I
wonder if sometimes we are that way, too.
Calculating,
precise, exacting.
Not
seeing beyond the pillar.
Sometimes,
if we don’t have *just* what we need,
we can’t imagine how things could work
out.
Sometimes,
we can’t see around
the
pillars of brokenness in our world
whether
brought on by
the
civic diseases of greed, or
of
racism, or of homophobia
Sometimes,
we can’t see beyond
the
pillars of suffering
by
innocent people whether brought on by
natural
disasters or war or migration.
Sometimes,
the pillars block our sightlines.
How can we see the divine
when these
pillars are in the way?
This
question about how to “see” God
is
not just for our generation,
as
we find in the Psalms –
sacred
text from our ancestors
that
presents nothing short of
God’s
claim upon the whole world.
This
question about how to “see” God
shows
up in the rhythmic complexity
of
the Psalms,
detailing
humanity’s struggle with
the
pillars that block our sightlines
The
Psalms offer
God’s
sacred response to humanity
with
poetry, prayer and paradox
[as
we hear today.[1]]
Martin
Luther once said
that
when read only occasionally,
“…the
Psalms are too overwhelming
in
design and power
and
tend to turn us back to more palatable fare…
other
little devotional prayers …
[but
these] do not contain …
the
juice, the strength,
the
passion, the fire…”[2]
[of the Psalms.]
In
today’s offertory, we will hear the poignant
tension
of God’s claim and humanity’s hope
in
the comfort of Psalm 23
paired
with the disturbance
of
“raging nations” from Psalm 2.
This
powerful movement offers the paradox
of
God’s dream and our hope
for
justice, righteousness and peace. (Bulletin P.6)
Although
Philip sought clear sightlines to God,
he
saw only Jesus.
Yet,
Jesus kept pointing beyond himself
to
God the Father.
Jesus
persistently and faithfully revealed God,
empowering
Philip and the apostles
to
share the truth
of
God’s steadfast Love for all of humanity.
Jesus
cleared the sightlines
for
Philip to see God and God saw Philip,
the
true Philip,
the
sacred Philip,
the
soul of Philip.
God
saw beyond Philip’s pillars,
like
his characteristic need for concrete action,
like
his pillar of desire to solve things his way.
And,
God loved Philip, opening him
to a new life,
a
transformed heart, and an expansive vocation.
According
to the Medieval classic,
“Golden
Legend,”[3]
Philip
spent his life preaching and teaching,
baptizing
and ordaining,
and
seeking, with God’s help,
to
do greater works than Jesus.
And
so it is with us.
Although
we sometimes see only the pillars
of
the broken world around us,
Jesus
points us to God’s dream
for
justice, righteousness and peace.
Jesus
shows how to see God’s Love:
·
through
peaceful civic demonstrations,
·
with
communities of first responders to disasters
·
and
in our community, working in solidarity with the poor,
o
as
through our food pantry
and Laundry Love
ministries.
Jesus
clears the sightlines
for
us to see God’s grace
and
so God sees us, our true identity,
our
sacred self, our tender soul.
God
sees beyond our pillars,
like
our need for concrete action,
like
our human desire to solve things our way.
God
sees us and loves us, opening us to new life, transforming our hearts
to
do God’s work in the world,
so
that we will can do even greater works.
This
week, when you find yourself
struggling
with a solution, listen.
Do
you hear Jesus’ question, “have I been with you all this time, and you still do
not know me?”
Then,
look through the clear sightlines,
with
God’s help, and Jesus will show you
the
way, the truth and the life.
Amen
[1]
Today’s
First Sunday Music is Leonard Bernstein’s Chichester Psalms,
presented by the St. Nicholas Choir, St. Philip’s Singers, Canterbury Choir,
Canterbury Apprentices, and special guest choir members from Temple Emanu-El,
with the St. Philip’s Chamber Orchestra, under the direction of Woosug Kang
[2] From Faith Alive
/ Finding Your Story in the Psalms, by Kevin Adams (Grand Rapids, Faith Alive,
2011), p. 14
[3] Cited on May 1, 2015 http://www.christianiconography.info/goldenLegend/philip.htm
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