Showing posts with label water. Show all posts
Showing posts with label water. Show all posts

Monday, July 17, 2017

Sermon: Even A Cup of Cold Water



A Sermon preached in Christ Church, Grosse Pointe, Michigan
by The Reverend Vicki Hesse, Associate
The Fourth Sunday after Pentecost | (RCL Proper 8, Year A)
2 July 2017

Listen Here

May the words of my mouth and the meditations of all our hearts be always acceptable to you O Lord, our strength and our redeemer.  Amen

The other day I heard a story about five people who were blind and went to “see” an elephant.[1] “What is this?” asked the first one, who had run head-first into its side. “It’s an elephant,” said the elephant’s keeper, who was sitting on a stool, cleaning the elephant’s harness. “Wow, I’ve always wondered what Elephants are like,” as they ran their hands up and down the elephant’s side. “Why, it’s just like a wall… a large, warm wall!”

“What do you mean, a wall?” said the second person, wrapping their arms around the elephant’s leg. “This is nothing like a wall. You can’t reach around a wall! This is more like a pillar. Yeah, that’s it, an elephant is exactly like a pillar!”

“A pillar? Strange kind of pillar!” said the third one, stroking the elephant’s trunk.  “It’s too thin, for one thing, and it’s too flexible for another. This is more like a snake.  See, it’s wrapping around my arm.  An elephant is just like a snake!”

“Snakes don’t have hair!” said the fourth person, pulling the elephant’s tail. “I’m surprised that you missed the hair. This isn’t a snake, it’s a rope.  Elephants are exactly like ropes.”

“I don’t know what y’all are thinking!” the fifth one cried, waving the elephant’s ear back and forth. “It’s as large as a wall, all right, but thin as a leaf, and no more flexible than any piece of cloth this size should be. I don’t know about all of you – who could mistake an elephant for anything except a sail!”

And as the elephant moved on, they found the truth, that an elephant is, well, an elephant.

Perspective, right?  Today’s short gospel text begs for such an introduction that invites perspective and context. The whole of Chapter 10 of Matthew’s gospel is about discipleship – that’s the perspective.  A few weeks ago we heard how Jesus calls and commissions the disciples.

Then Jesus gives disciples authority over unclean spirits and power to heal and minister to those who are sick. He sends them out to proclaim good news and to bring about the Kingdom of God.  He also gives them warnings of coming persecutions and trials, telling disciples whom to fear and whom to ignore.  You may recall last week’s sermon by Fr. Drew, explaining that living into the gospel message might spark division sometimes, even while Jesus seeks peace and unity.  And, here at the end of the chapter, Jesus’ promises rewards for faithfulness.

There, in the last line, comes the clincher: whoever gives “even” a cup of cold water to one of these little ones… none of these will lose their reward.  Even a cup of cold water.  In the Greek, this little word monon means only, or alone.  So: only a cup of water.  With this tiny word, Jesus emphasizes something as small as a cup of water for the Christ is of cosmic importance.

Taken in perspective, this cup of water symbolizes gospel – it’s not only what it takes to be a disciple but rather what it means to be a disciple.[2]
·         It means empowerment and struggle.
·         It means welcome and rejection.
·         It means division, persecution and the call to faithfulness.

Perspective – having it and keeping it. This is what it means to be a disciple of Jesus – both then and now.  The rewards?  It is not about how one earns the reward but how one recognizes the reward. Here, Jesus is not talking about the actions the disciples are supposed to do.  Jesus talks about those who welcome them, the ordinary little ones that Jesus has commissioned.  The ones who welcome those disciples – even just giving them a cup of cold water – those who welcome with a small gesture are now welcomed into the mission of the disciples and of Jesus. 

That means
·         just smiling at and really seeing strangers instead of ignoring them.
·         Even offering to sit with someone and to listen to their story of heart ache.
·         Even offering your own story of heartache, being mutually vulnerable, and inviting someone to listen to you.
·         Even helping with summer starters on Sunday.
·         Even pulling weeds at Buckets of Rain on a Thursday.
·         Even volunteering for one morning during Vacation Bible School.
·         Even bringing extra supplies for your kid’s teachers at the beginning of the school year.
·         Even speaking up for someone who is being bullied.

These are small gestures, yes, and in the Kingdom of God, there is no small gesture when it is done in faith.  Each act of loving kindness has a cosmic impact, affecting our hearts, those of others, and the ones who welcome them.

And even as we celebrate our nation’s Independence this week, today’s readings remind us that we live interdependently. Our gospel of grace has at its core a mutuality: with each other, with the whole of creation and with God.  This is a fundamental truth about ourselves, that we can hear “even” in this small text – in our welcome, when we receive one another, God receives us – that God upon whom we are dependent.

On the 4th of July, while we celebrate, we can remember that Jesus calls usnot to a way of independent self-sufficiency. Jesus calls us to a welcoming way of discipleship that is interdependent: for God, for our neighbors, for our enemies, for ourselves.

And that is today’s promise – we have the opportunity to be Jesus’ disciple and make a difference in the world. Every. Single. Day. And God receives us. Every. Single. Day.

Today’s good news is that we are called not to heroic discipleship, but genuine, authentic, faithful, consistent, daily discipleship.  Just, even, only discipleship. This will make a difference beyond what we see – and that is God’s perspective. 

Through Christ, *even* this will reverberate out and be used by God for the dream of God’s kingdom come. 
Amen

Posted by at No comments:
Labels: , , , , , , , ,

Tuesday, February 25, 2014

Sermon: John Roberts, Priest


Sermon for February 25, 2014 ~ 
10:00 Healing Service
Feast Day of John Roberts, Priest, 1949
St. Philip’s In The Hills Parish, Tucson, AZ
The Rev. Vicki K. Hesse
For online access to the readings click here.
I speak to you in the name of One God, Creator, Christ and Holy Spirit. Amen

Today is the feast day of John Roberts, 1949. 
What do you know of him and his work?

The various profiles offered describe John Roberts
as one who grappled with his vocation,
which was “ministering to only Christian people”
John Roberts’ grappling resonates
with so many of us – we can relate!
how God was working in his heart,
with a deep yearning for more connection,
more meaning, more use of his faculties for God’s will.

After growing up in Wales, JR served briefly in the Bahamas.
He asked to be sent to CO where he then worked with miners,
and in a small pox hospital,
and then he went to the Wind River Range in WY in 1883.

There, JR learned the languages of
the Shoshone (mountain- people) and
the Arapahoe (plains- people). 
He learned their languages and recorded their vocabulary
for future generations of English-speakers
as well as Native peoples
to learn each others’ languages.

JR thirsted in his vocation;
he saw others’ pain and had the gift of language
to share God’s love. 
This strange journey to which he was called
certainly had its share of
misunderstanding, resistance and conflict.
Perhaps that is why the texts for today
from GJohn include those three components – misunderstanding, resistance and conflict.

The context of the passage from GJohn begins with
“the festival, the great day.” 
This festival, in Jewish context,
was the Feast of the Tabernacles,
commemorating God’s protection of Israel
at their times in the wilderness. 
For six days, the Israelite priests carried waster
from the pool of Siloam to the water gate of Jerusalem.
Then, that special water was
poured out as a libation on their altar. 
On The Great Day, the last day of the 8-day ritual,  
there was a time of solemn worship
after a procession is made around the altar seven times and
there is a waving of branches and chanting. 

In this context, The Great Day, Jesus cries out,

“Let anyone who is thirsty come to me, 38
and let the one who believes in me drink.
As the scripture has said,
‘Out of the believer’s heart shall flow rivers of living water.’” 39

J and his disciples observe The Great Day and all the rites to which the people consider as meaningful. 
Yet in his crying out, we can also understand
that he is reframing the meaning of it all
–       the whole scene –
because The Word is now in the world. 
J’s presence changes everything about being thirsty and
from where one shall drink to be quenched.

As J speaks these words, the people are perplexed. 
There is misunderstanding,
there is resistance,
there is conflict. 
There goes J again, kicking up the dust. 

The people gathered react. Wait, what? Is this The Messiah? It’s difficult to see in Jesus a new understanding
of God in the world.
The people resist Jesus and judge him
according to pre-existing systems and structures
that continue to fuel misunderstanding. 

I wonder – are we not like people of all time?
Do we allow moments of misunderstanding,
resistance and conflict
to show us God’s grace? 
In these critical times of emotional and spiritual upheaval,
do we squirm and try to get out of the discomfort?

For the people gathered there for the Festival of Tabernacles,
that moment that Jesus spoke revealed something new
about God and about humanity’s relationship to God. 

Jesus cried out that He was the living water,
the real presence of God that quenches thirst,
because he was God.  The water was not.

In our moments of misunderstanding, resistance and conflict,
when we seek healing and wholeness,
when we seek relief from grief and loss,
when we thirst for meaning for our lives, Jesus cries out to us.

 Jesus invites us to believe – or beLOVE him and
to drink in his love. 
Through those messy moments,
Jesus invites us to see and experience
something new about God.
In Jesus, there is compassion, there is grace,
there is the deep hope in this community here gathered,
as we realize that our neighbors really do care about us,
that we are not alone when we gather as God calls us. 

*pause*
There is an artist named Sark,
who writes these wonderful DIY Creativity books. 
One of them is called “A Creative Companion: How to free your creative spirit.”[1]

This book invites the reader to follow their inner artist. 
She reminds us that creativity is fueled by difficult moments, when there is resistance or even fear.
And when we are vulnerable. 
She makes this recommendation:
“Invite someone dangerous to Tea.” 

Now you can decide what is “dangerous” to you,
but this kind of invitation speaks to the power of
jumping directly into the mess,
in the promise that it is in the mess
where God’s love is directly revealed. 

Today, JR offers his messy,
vocation-grappling life to us
as an offer to see God’s grace in his life,
as hope that God’s grace also pours onto our life
to heal, make whole, bind up and reconcile all that is misunderstood, resistant or in conflict.

God, in Jesus, is the living water,
the drink that quenches our blessedly messy lifes.

Today, may you know God’s love in all of it.

Amen.



Posted by at No comments:
Labels: , , , , , , , ,
Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)