The Rev. Canon John Bedingfield's sermon for May 30, 2021

Today is Trinity Sunday, the day that we celebrate, or at least consider the doctrine of the Trinity – our closely held belief that God is one being in three persons.  

The belief in the Trinity has been a foundational piece of Christianity for many centuries.  But it has also been quite troublesome from time to time, because it is so hard to really get a grip on what we’re talking about.  It is difficult for the mind to grasp the concept that God is unified – one being in every way, and yet at the same time that God is three different aspects: the Father (Creator); the Son (Redeemer) and the Spirit (Sustainer).  And today’s readings cannot really address the totality of the difficulty we have with this doctrine because the Trinitarian God is never really explained in Scripture.  Go ahead.  Look it up.  The term “Holy Trinity” is not in there.

We have descriptions of the acts of Creation done by God, beginning with the creation stories in Genesis.  Over and over we get stories of the way God created heaven, earth, humanity and all that continues to be created.  We also have texts that speak about God the Son – a lot of them – and how He redeemed the world from sin and death.  In fact, the entirety of the New Testament is devoted to stories of God, the Son – Jesus Christ – what He did during His earthly ministry and what His presence means to us today.  And woven through all of those stories, both Old Testament and New, are stories that speak of the power of the Holy Spirit at work in the world.  But there is no text that deals directly with all three entities that make up the Trinity.

Maybe it’s best that – for the most part – we leave deep discussions of the history and application of the doctrine of the Trinity to Christian education forums and use the pulpit for consideration of what this Holy Trinity means in our everyday lives.  

So what can we learn about God – and us – from these Trinity readings?  I would really like to consider that this morning’s readings reflect the fact that God is “One who sends” in order to get God’s mission accomplished.

This morning’s reading from Isaiah is one of the favorites for use at ordination services.  Isaiah has a vision in which he is experiencing being in the presence of God on a holy throne.  Even though he cannot see God directly, the prophet is humbled to the point of terror by God’s proximity because he realizes how unworthy he is to stand in the presence of God.  Isaiah knows that he has not always spoken well or properly.  He says that he has “unclean lips,” and is not worthy to speak about God, much less to God.  But God sends an angel to purify the prophet’s lips.  Then he “heard the voice of the Lord saying, ‘Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?’  And (Isaiah) said, ‘Here am I; send me!’”  And send him, is exactly what God did.  

The Gospel reading contains Jesus’ famous discussion with Nicodemus, the Pharisee.  Nicodemus, like Isaiah, had been sent by God to perform a mission.  He was a leader of the Temple, one of the people in charge of keeping God’s law among the Jewish people.  And God sent him to Jesus for an explanation of what made Jesus different from the prophets and the pretend messiahs who had come before.  Jesus recognized Nicodemus as having a pure heart, unlike the other Pharisees who tried to trap Jesus into breaking some part of The Law.  So Jesus explained rebirth in the Spirit to Nicodemus.  And ultimately Nicodemus was convinced, to the point where he defended Jesus before the Sanhedrin – the council of the Temple – before Jesus was crucified.  God sent Nicodemus to perform a mission.  Nicodemus answered God’s call and became an important instrument of God’s mission in the world.  But the last part of the Gospel reading tells us about God’s most important act of sending.

John 3:16 is one of the few Bible verses that almost everyone can quote from memory.  “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.”  Jesus was the ultimate example of God sending someone to accomplish God’s purpose in the world.  God loved the world enough that God decided this mission of sending was too important to be done by anyone other than an aspect of God’s self – God the Son.  

The world was so broken; it had gotten so far away from the perfect creation that we read about in Genesis, that God had to try something brand new to restart perfected creation.  Throughout the Old Testament there is a repeating cycle of stories in which God makes covenants – contracts – with humanity.  In these covenants God promises to give people the whole world (or at least everything that was good for them) if they would only be faithful and worship the one true God.  But every time, the people could not (or would not) live up to their part of the covenant.  They would always stray away and begin to worship things other than God.  This would anger God.  And God would punish the people for their idolatry.  Then the people would repent and return to God, and God would offer them a new covenant.  The cycle began in the Garden of Eden.  It continued with Noah, Abraham and Moses.  Over and over God tried to covenant with humanity, but without success.  God loved this creation very much, but God was running out of ways to try to make the covenant work.  Then God decided to do something brand new.

God “gave” the only Son – God sent God’s only Son – so that all who believe in Him should not perish, but might have everlasting life.  God sent an aspect of God’s self – the Only Son – not just to try to explain a covenant; not just to try to enter into a new covenant – but to BE the new covenant between God and humanity.  Jesus came into the world to be the agreement – the contract –  between God and the creation that God loved so much.  For the first time, people were not entering into a covenant with a God they could not see, some distant and frightening being.  Instead, they had this human aspect of God right in front of them.  They could see the love of God reflected in the face of Jesus.  They could see the healing power of God reflected in the deeds of Jesus.  They could see the world being fed and nourished through the actions of Jesus.  They even saw death defeated through the wonder of Jesus.  

God sent Jesus to perform the most important task God had ever accomplished – the redemption of the world.  And so began the work of perfecting the world on a cross on Calvary.  But now God has empowered US with the Holy Spirit so that we can continue the work of redemption that Jesus started.  God sent the Holy Spirit to us so that we might have the power to perform the work that God sends us to do.  

God sends us into the world every day.  As believers in the God of Creation, we are called to be sent out to be the hands, the eyes and the voice of God in the world around us.  God loves us enough to send Jesus and the Spirit.  It is up to us to use the gifts we have been given in the way they were intended – as reflections of the power of God’s love of all creation.

God the Creator gave you life.  God the Son redeemed your life and the world around you.  God the Holy Spirit is ready to empower your life.  Listen to God’s call.  Be brave enough to be sent.  Then live a life in which reflection of the loving God is the most important thing you do.  “Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.” Starting today, let’s live like it.

In the name of the Holy Trinity, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, Amen

[Trinity B Sermon 053021, Isaiah 6:1-8; Psalm 29 or Canticle 2 or 13, Romans 8:12-17; John 3:1-17]

Funeral Service for Mrs. Nancy Clark: Service will be 10am Tuesday, May 25, 2021

 

Mrs. Nancy Clark, our long-time friend and member of Christ Episcopal entered into eternal life May 22, 2021. Nancy's funeral service will be 10am, Tuesday, May 25 at Christ Episcopal.  Visitation will 9-10am in our Parish Hall immediately before the service.  Please keep Sonny and all of Nancy’s family in your prayers during this time.  

Pentecost Sunday Morning Prayer May 23, 2021, 10am Christ Episcopal, Saint Joseph

 

“When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them.”  [Acts 2]

 Pentecost “commemorates the descent of the Holy Spirit on the Apostles and other disciples following the Crucifixion, Resurrection, and Ascension of Jesus Christ (Acts of the Apostles, chapter 2), and it marks the beginning of the Christian church's mission to the world.” (Britannica)

 Please remember to wear your best red for Morning Prayer Pentecost service this Sunday, May 23, 2021.

Our Lord's Peace be with the Jefferson family

From Bishop Jake:

 Dear Friends,

I am sad to share with you the news that our brother Fr. Lee Jefferson passed into eternal life today. It is a terrible loss for us all, especially for his spouse Deacon Rita and the rest of the family.

O Lover of Souls, receive our friend Lee into the arms of your mercy. May he rest this day in peace and dwell forever in the warmth of your eternal light. Amen.

Holy One, in your mercy grant consolation and comfort to those who grieve, especially Rita and all of Lee’s family and friends. Amen.

Funeral arrangements will be made in due course. Once details have been finalized, I will let you know. In the meantime, hold Lee’s loved ones in your heart and in your prayers.

In Christ’s Peace,
+Jake

The Rev. Canon John Bedingfield's sermon for May 9, 2021 at Christ Episcopal, Saint Joseph

 

    

A man walked into a restaurant with a young ostrich behind him, and as he sat down, the waitress came over and asked for his order.

The man said, “I'll have a hamburger, fries and a coke,” then turned to the ostrich. “What's yours?”  “I'll have the same,” said the ostrich.

The waitress returned with the order.  “That will be $11.75 please,” she said.  And the man reached into his pocket and, without even looking at the money, pulled out exact change and handed it to her.

The next day, the man and the ostrich came in again and the man said, “I'll have a hamburger, fries and a coke,” and the ostrich said, “I'll have the same.”  Again the man didn’t even look as he reached into his pocket and paid with exact change.

This became a routine until late one evening, the two entered again. “The usual?” asked the waitress.  “No, this is Saturday night, so I will have a steak, baked potato and salad,” said the man.  “Same for me,” said the ostrich.

When the waitress returned with the order she said, “That will be $24.89.”  Once again the man reached into his pocket and pulled out exact change and placed it on the table.

The waitress couldn’t stand it anymore.  “Excuse me, sir.  How do you manage to always come up with the exact change out of your pocket every time – without even looking at it?”  “Well,” said the man, “several years ago I was cleaning the attic and I found an old lamp.  When I rubbed it a genie appeared and offered me two wishes.  My first wish was that if I ever had to pay for anything, I would just put my hand in my pocket, and the right amount of money would always be there.”  “That's brilliant!” said the waitress.  “Most people would wish for a million dollars or something, but you'll always be as rich as you want for as long as you live!”  “That's right!  Whether it's a gallon of milk or a Rolls Royce, the exact money is always there,” said the man.

The waitress then said, “One other thing, sir, what's with the ostrich?”  The man sighed, and answered, “That’s my second wish.  I wanted a tall chick with long legs who agreed with everything I said!”

In the 1997 Academy Award winning film, Good Will Hunting, there is a wonderful scene near the end of the film.  It takes place in the office of Sean Maguire, a psychologist, played wonderfully by Robin Williams.  Sean has been working with Will Hunting – a troubled mathematical genius – who suffered horrible physical abuse as a child, which left him scarred, both inside and out.  In this climactic scene, Sean admits to Will that he too was physically abused as a boy.  Sean steps close to Will, grabs him by the shoulders, looks him in the eyes and says, “It’s not your fault.”  Meaning that it wasn’t Will’s fault that he had been abused by his father.  Will’s eyes dart away and he says, “Yeah.  I know.”  Sean stays right in front of him and repeats, “It’s not your fault.”  Again, Will’s eyes avert as he says, “Yeah.  I know.”  Sean does this several more times before using an insistent tone when he says, “It’s NOT YOUR FAULT!”  At which point, Will breaks down and sobs.  It is not until Will Hunting finally internalizes – or lets his heart acknowledge – what the therapist has said that he finally begins to FEEL the magnitude of the words.

It is the same way with God’s message of love for us.  Think about the story of humanity’s interaction with God.  God made Adam & Eve, put them in the Garden and said, “I love you.”  They said, “I love you, too,” and they meant it.

After The Fall, (after they did the only thing God told them not to do) they hid and the next time God said, “I love you,” they averted their eyes and said, “Yeah, I know.”  Through the generations, God repeatedly said, “I love you.”  And the people always looked away and said, “Yeah, I know.”  Occasionally the people really got it.  Occasionally they really internalized the message.

The children of Israel were enslaved by Pharaoh and God said, “I love you.”  The children said, “Yeah, we know.”  But when God delivered them on dry land and they stood and watched as the chariots and soldiers were swept away by the Red Sea, God said, “I love you,” and the children said, “Wow!  God REALLY loves us.”  They understood.  But no sooner were they in the wilderness than they forgot again.  And over the succeeding generations, they never seemed to get it. 

When Jesus began His ministry, He taught the people that God loved them and they glanced away and responded, “Yeah, I know.”  But individually, Jesus touched people’s lives and they would say, “Wow!  I get it, God really DOES love me.”  Even as Jesus was touching lives though, most of the people still looked away and said, “Yeah, I know.”

God wanted so much to get the message across, that that’s why God became human – in Jesus Christ – to metaphorically (and in some cases literally) hold us by the shoulders, look us in the eye and repeat over and over, “I love you.”  Jesus said, “Greater love has no one than to lay down his life for a friend.”  That’s exactly what Jesus did.  For us.  There never was a moment in human history where love was more perfectly played out than that one.  Jesus died so that we could live. 

“Jesus said to his disciples, ‘As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you; abide in my love.  If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father's commandments and abide in his love.  I have said these things to you so that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be complete.”  In other words, love as Jesus loved, internalize and share God’s “I love you,” to us, and your own joy will be complete, just as God’s joy for you is complete.

Rather than trying to open up God’s undying love for us in words, here is an example of that love being made complete.  This story was told by Sr. Miriam Brasher of the St. Mary’s Convent in Sewanee, Tennessee.

The scene is a courtroom trial in South Africa.  A frail black woman, over 70 years old, gets slowly to her feet.  Facing her are several white security police officers.  One of them, a Mr. van der Broek, has just been tried and found guilty in the murders of the woman’s son and husband.  He had come to the woman’s home, taken her son, shot him at point-blank range, and burned his body while he and his officers partied nearby.

Several years later, van der Broek and his cohorts returned for her husband as well.  For months she heard nothing of his whereabouts.  Then, almost two years after her husband’s disappearance, van der Broek came back to fetch her.

How vividly she remembered that night.  They took her to a riverbank where she saw her husband, bound and beaten, but still strong in spirit, lying on a pile of wood.  The last words she heard from his lips as van der Broek and his fellow officers poured gasoline over his body and set him on fire were, “Father, forgive them … ”

When the woman stood in the courtroom and listened to the confessions of van der Broek, a member of South Africa’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission (the tribunal set up to deal with the aftermath of apartheid-era atrocities) turned to her and said, “So what do you want?  How should justice be done to this man who has so brutally destroyed your family?”

“I want three things,” said the old woman calmly and confidently. “I want first to be taken to the place where my husband’s body was burned to gather up the dust and give his remains a decent burial.”  She paused, then continued, “My husband and son were my only family.  So I want Mr. van der Broek to become my son.  I want him to come twice a month to my house and spend the day with me so I can pour out on him whatever love I have remaining in me.”

“Finally,” she said, “I would like Mr. van der Broek to know that I offer him my forgiveness because Jesus Christ died to forgive.  This was also the wish of my husband.  So, I would kindly ask someone to come to my side and lead me across the courtroom so that I can take Mr. van der Broek in my arms, embrace him and let him know that he is truly forgiven.”  As the court assistants came to lead the woman across the room, van der Broek fainted, overwhelmed by what he had heard.  As he struggled for consciousness, those in the courtroom — family, friends, neighbors, all victims of decades of oppression and injustice — began to sing softly and assuredly, “Amazing grace, how sweet the sound, that saved a wretch like me.”

            In closing, let us again pray this morning’s Collect.  O God, you have prepared for those who love you such good things as surpass our understanding: Pour into our hearts such love towards you, that we, loving you in all things and above all things, may obtain your promises, which exceed all that we can desire; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. 

In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, Amen.

[Easter 6B Sermon 050921, Acts 10:44-48; Psalm 98, 1 John 5:1-6; John 15:9-17]

 

Yoga Wellness Classes at Christ Episcopal, Saint Joseph

The Rev. Canon John Bedingfield's sermon for Sunday, May 2, 2021 at Christ Episcopal, Saint Joseph

It was a beautiful summer Sunday in a small Southern church, songs had been sung, and the preacher was about to begin his sermon. There was suddenly a loud boom of thunder, and in a bright flash and smell of burning brimstone. And Satan appeared at the pulpit. It terrified the congregation, and they began flooding from every door and window. All except one old woman on the second row. She sat quietly reading the church bulletin. Satan pondered the matter and thought this woman must be deaf and blind or surely she would have departed in terror. Satan asked, “Can you see me?” “Yes, of course,” replied the old woman, still casually reading. “Do you know who I am?” asked Satan. “Certainly.” said the woman, not even bothering to look up. This angered Satan greatly. “Don’t you realize that with the utterance of a single word, I can take your life and condemn you to an eternity in hell?” “Sure.” replied the old woman, now appearing to be a bit bored, but still not looking up from her reading. Satan, now bewildered, asks, “If you know who I am, and what I can do to you, why are you not terrified like the rest?” For the first time the old woman looked up at Satan and replied, “Because I was married to your son for fifty years, and I figured you were just here to get away from him.”

I have been preaching on the topic of love pretty often. You’ll find, as we get to know each other better, that in one way or another, love creeps into most of my sermons. But this morning, the word “love” and its meaning in our lives, is clearly in the center of things. In the reading from the 1st Letter of John, this morning, there are 14 verses, 326 words, and St. John uses the word “love” 29 times! So it is pretty easy to figure out that the author wanted to get a message across with this letter. But there is a problem for those of us who read and discuss this letter in English. We do not have a word in our language for what John was talking about.

In English, the word “love” is a very squishy thing. I love Donna. I love my children and my grandchildren, and my other relatives. I love being a priest. I love this congregation. I love college football. I love playing guitar. I love a good meal, and a good single malt scotch whisky. You see? I used the same word as the verb in every one of those sentences. But the quality of my feelings for each object of the verb is vastly different. St. John the Evangelist though, wrote this letter in Koine (or ancient) Greek. And the Greeks have multiple words for what we simply call, “love.”

15. There is eros (eros).  That is the love of lovers.  When we say that we love a

spouse or significant other, we are (at least partly) saying that we feel eros for them.

15. Then there is filea (philia), or affectionate love. It is partially filea that we are referring to when we say that we love our siblings and other relatives. Parenthetically – the word filea is the reason that Philadelphia is referred to as the City of Brotherly Love. filea -- delfoi (delphoi) literally translates to brotherly love city.

15. And there is storge (storge), which is familial love. It is, again partly, storge that we refer to when we speak of loving our children (or grandchildren). There is a sense of desiring to protect the ones for whom we feel storge. This word is also used to describe love of country.

15. There is ludus (ludus) or playful love. This is what we mean when we talk about young people who have crushes on others. It is a love that is felt deeply, but it has no roots and thus disappears quickly.

15. There is also µania (mania). We are pretty familiar with that one because it comes from Greek to English, almost unchanged. When I say that I love college football, think µania. Although I admit that my mania has subsided a bit in recent years.

15. There is even philautia (philautia), or self-love. In my experience, there is no concept of love that is less understood in this country than is philautia. In America today, either you go so overboard with how much you love yourself that you become a narcissist, or you care very little for yourself. There seems to be no middle ground with most folks.

15. Finally, there is the kind of love that John was talking about. And that is agape (agape). Agape is that love that is self-sacrificing. To feel agape for someone else, is to care about their well-being even more than you care about your own.

Agape refers to boundless compassion and endless empathy. It is the quality of the love that God shows us.

With that definition of agape in mind, you can see why I said that my love for Donna was “partly” eros. Another aspect of my love for her, and for my children, grandchildren, and this congregation, is agape, or at least that is what I strive to show.

It is agape that St. John used when he said, “Beloved, let us love one another, because love is from God; everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, for God is love.” And, “Beloved, since God loved us so much, we also ought to love one another. [I]f we love one another, God lives in us, and his love is perfected in us.”

Having a working definition of agape in mind, we can see what St. John, and before him, Jesus, were trying to tell us. God loved us so much that the creator of the universe – the one and only supreme being of all that is – was willing to humble God’s self to the point of becoming human, thereby saving us from ourselves and from a life of captivity to sin. The level, the depth of that love is beyond measure. And God, through Christ, calls us to love that same way.

Every day – and I mean every … single … day, there are multiple stories in the news about the latest headline-grabbing murders in this country. You cannot read or listen to the news without learning about some new place where someone senselessly shot multiple people; or ran a car into a crowd; or saw someone who did not look or speak as they did and decided to beat them to death because of that difference. America is absolutely, undoubtedly, addicted to violence – both as a solution to perceived problems, and as a way to make a statement.

Do you know what the opposite of agape is? It is not hate. It is violence. The polar opposite of caring about what is best for another person over caring about what is best for self, is doing violence to another person. Nothing could be farther from loving as God loves than is committing violence on someone else. America has a violence problem and our lawmakers need to set aside their ongoing war with each other, and come together to address this problem. I know. First they will have blame someone, some group, some video game, some movie, or something that allows them to absolve themselves of the problem. But at some point, after the posturing, the speechifying, the talking point spewing, they need to address what the real root problem is, and how we can begin to get a handle on it.

The root problem in this country especially, but in the world generally, is a lack of agape. We need more selflessness. We need more empathy. We need more compassion. So what can we, the few people of St. Joseph, Louisiana do to make a difference? Love the Lord your God with all you heart, soul, mind, and strength. And agape your neighbor as yourself. Oh, and one more thing, stop reading and listening to the people in the media (whether paid media or social media) who tell you to fear or hate another group. That will never help. That is not agape.

In the name of the Risen Lord, Amen.

[Easter 5B Sermon 050221, Acts 8:26-40; Psalm 22:24-30, 1 John 4:7-21; John 15:1-8]