Bishops' Blog

Sermon at San Bernabe

We are recently past Mothers’ Day and Fathers’ Day, this seems like a good time to think about the lessons parenting teaches us. I am sure you can think of lots more, but here are three. Number one: when kids are little, we have to keep them from harm, whether they like it or not! Remember those years when they are about to put something harmful in their mouth, or maybe they managed to get their scooter out on the street, or, more recently, want to have freer rein on the internet than they should. In such cases, love takes the form of ‘no’, and living with the pushback sure to come our way. To put it briefly, the rules are guardrails so that nothing dire takes place, and the child can continue to grow up unimpeded. But of course your kids grow up, and, while they aren’t trying to eat things off the floor, things don’t get any easier.

So lesson 2- when your children are teenagers, you learn that you can’t control what you love most. They are struggling to find their way to being adults. Sometimes they balk at our ideas. We feel we know what is better for them, but they want to do it their way. It can be frustrating for a parent, since their welfare is what you want! And of course they are, slowly, moving away from you. You can’t control what you love most, but you can try some persuasion, maybe a little negotiation, maybe share a little of your own struggle, maybe be more patient than usual. Love here has much to do with letting go, which is very hard.

What then is rule three, when they finally make their passage to adulthood? You, and they, come to see that it was never about the rules themselves, but about where they help to take you, maturity, adulthood. Here is how St. Paul describes this arrival in another letter: ‘speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ. ¹⁶ From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.’ So what you were aiming at all along was that the discipline would move from outside to inside, from imposed on you to being how you are. What mattered all along was the goal, and once they are there, it is time for you to decrease, stand down, (as I have been meditating upon in my run-up to retirement!)

Church is not parenting class, so why am I going on about all this? Our second reading is from the third chapter of Paul’s letter to the Church in Galatia. The issue is how non-Jews, people who do not keep the laws, for example of eating kosher, can be part of the people of God, of Israel. The question is tricky, since Paul thinks that the torah, translated either ‘the law’ or perhaps ‘the teaching,’ is good and holy. It shows how the people of God can maintain their identity and how they can keep close to God.  But now is the moment when the door of salvation is opened wider, to the Gentiles, the non-Jews, as well as the Jews. This has happened because the resurrection of Jesus has ushered in a new time, leading up to the kingdom of God. Even in Jesus’ own ministry we can see signs that because of the victory of the cross and resurrection we are in a new era, when the servitude of the spirit of the prior era is overcome. In this new era people are joined to Christ in this new body through faith, that is, trust, in Him.

So, again, the question is, what place does the law have? how can it be bypassed, and yet holy? How can it be optional, and yet still be part of His revelation and His gift to us? And what about us, who live many generations later? Take that word ‘law,’ and substitute for it, ‘religion,’ all the good and worthwhile things we are encouraged to follow? If they are necessary then what about faith? And if they are not necessary, what stops us from doing what we like and then repairing to Jesus to clean matters up (a view that Paul actually mentions, and discards, in his letter to the Church in Rome). what role, in other words, do our efforts have in our life before God, given that we put so much emphasis on grace, gift, freely and unilaterally given by Christ?

Consider again helping a child. The goal is that they grow up to adulthood- that was our third point. All the things we do for them are so that they will not need us, but will stand on their own two legs. The things we do are not for their own sakes, but in order to move on to a new kind of freedom. With a young child, we need to protect them. In a similar way, the tradition said that the law has a role in restraining evil, that is keeping harm from coming to us. Police aren’t preachers, but we need them too, so that we can survive to hear!  Paul says the Law guards us, and that is what the disciplinarian (in Greek the paidogogos, from which we get the word’ pedogogical’ from), is doing- this was in the ancient world someone who escorted children to make sure they got safely where they were going. But the law isn’t just negative. It can be a counselor as well, like the parent of the adolescent, who needs the patient and savvy word which they can hear, sometimes in spite of themselves. Here you might think of books of advice for Christians, read long after conversion, along the disciples’ walk, to fortify and sometimes reboot our enthusiasm when the journey seems too long and hard.

So how about our patron saint, bishop, on this our patronal feast?  Acts tells us that his name means ‘son of encouragement,’ and we hear that he was a companion and help to Paul as well as Mark, someone who was at their side, accompanying them on their journeys and in their trials. What an important calling for parish ministry, to come alongside and encourage. I attended a large downtown parish in Toronto. The rector told me that a well-known, retired priest was on his staff, without remuneration. Every Monday morning he would ask the rector,’ what can I do for you this week?’ the priest almost had tears in his eyes when he recalled it. He had a ministry not of leadership, but of support, as often behind and in front of the scene. Such are the pillars, the bulwarks of ministry over time in the parish,  the long obedience to Christ of the teammate. By definition the Barnabases get less recognition. And what have they to do with the subject of this sermon, the law? It too comes alongside, complements and accompanies, though it gives way to the Word of salvation.

Recientemente hemos pasados los Dias de las madres y los padres. Entonces es un buen tiempo para pensar.juntos sobre la enseñanza de ser padres. Sin duda pueden ofrecer otras, pero voy a hablar sobre tres. Numero uno- cuando nuestros niños son pequeños, necesitamos evitarlos de peligro, aunque quieran o no. Recuerda los años cuando comencian poner una cosa del daño en su boca, o pudieran llegar su calle en su scooter, o, ahora, buscandos aceso toral de redes sociales sin limites. En estos casos amor se significa decir ‘no’, aunque van a resistirlos ciertamente. Las reglas son barandillas para evitar resultados malos, para ayudar los niños crescan sin impedimento. Pero los jovenes continuan tener riesgos especiales por sue dad.

Numero dos- cuando tus niños llegan en adolescencia, aprendemos que no podemos controlar le que amamos le mas. Luchan para llegar ser adultos. Muchas veces resisten nuestros consejos., aunque pensamos que sapemos el que sea mejor para ellos. No es posible controlar el que amas mas, pero podemos tratar de la persuasion, humildad, compartir en tu conflict. Aqui amor consiste a dejar, el que es dificil.

Que es regla tercera, despues de llegar a ser adultos? Finalmente entendemos que las reglas no han sido importantes, sido el lugar donde buscaban ayudar que ustedes llegen, de decir, la madurez. Pablo describió esta meta en una otra epistola: ‘ siguiendo la verdad en amor, crezcamos en todo en aquel que es la cabeza, esto es, Cristo,¹⁶ de quien todo el cuerpo, bien concertado y unido entre sí por todas las coyunturas que se ayudan mutuamente, según la actividad propia de cada miembro, recibe su crecimiento para ir edificándose en amor.todo tiempo el fin era que la disciplina mueva desde el exterior hasta la interior, desde sser impuesto hasta estar en dentro. Llegar allá es imperativo y despues de llegar, esta bien que disminuas y te retires.(consejo bueno por los que se jubilan!)

La vida de la iglesia no es un clase de la crianza de los niños! Por que continuo hablar sobre esto? Nuestra leccion secunda es de capitulo tercero de la epistola de Pablo a la iglesia de Galatia. Debatieron como la Gente no comiendo comida ‘kosher’ puedan compartir con el pueblo de Israel. Era complicado, porque Pablo pensó que el Torah era bueno y santo. Muestra como el pueblo de Dios puede mantener su identitdad y continuar estar cerca de El.  Pero cuando la Puerta de la salvacion se abrió mas amplio para la Gente como para los judios. La resureción de Jesus ha acompañado un tiempo nuevo llevando el reino de Dios, ya visto en el ministerio e Jesus, en su triunfo entramos una temporada superada vieja, de fieldad  consigo.

Generalmente, la pregunta central es: que papel juega la ley? Pasada pero santa? Opcional pero una donación? Y nosotros, despues de muchos siglos? Intercambie ‘religion’ por ‘ley’, considera todas cosas ayudantes para seguir, pero no necesarias comparadas con la fe? Si no necesaria, puedes romperlas y regresar a Jesus por redencion? (Pablo estaba anxioso sobre esto en la carta de los Romanos). Que contribuyen nuestros esfuerzos en la relacion de la gracia de Dios en Jesus Cristo?

Regrese una vez mas sobre los niños y su meta de crescer hasta adultez,. Dirigimos todo el que hacemos no por su dependencia de nosotros, sido por la meta de su Libertad,  su vida madura. Primero, los protegimos. La policia no es pastores, pero los necesitamos tambien. Entonces Pablo mismo dijo que la ley era un ‘disciplinario’ hasta Cristo. Caminó con ellos hasta la seguridad de la escuela or la casa. La palabra de Griego ‘paidagogos’ es una mesca de guia y maestro. Su relacion con el niño era negativa y positive, consejo necesario en el camino de los discipulos para animar nuestro compromiso.

Pero que digamos sobre nuestro santo patronal de hoy, Bernabe, el hijo del animo? Era un amigo de Pablo y Marcos tambien, caminando a su lado, un buen compañero. Un llamado importante pero no en frente es caminar a lado para ayudar. Y Bernabe es un santo de esto.  En una paraquilla de Toronto un sacerdote Viejo jubilado voluntario dijo al rector cada lunes, ‘ como puedo ayudarte esta semana?’ el rector describio esto emocionalmente. Personas como este Viejo , como Bernabe, son columnas y baluartes. Son apoyandos y ayudandos, como Bernabe, siguiendos como la ley hasta el Jardin y Descanso de salvacion. Amen.

Trinity Sunday, Prosper

On this the only day of the Church year dedicated to a doctrine and not a saint or an event, my assignment is to explain the deep and ultimately unknowable nature of the God creator of the Universe. No wonder clergy dread it! So here’s what I have in mind- detective work! I want to take one small clue and see where it goes, in the hope that one thing will lead to another. The thing I have in mind is how we in the Church introduce the Lord’s Prayer. We say ‘and now as our Savior Christ has taught us, we are bold to say.’ Why is that bold? I suppose you could say that living in the world under the assumption of the reality of God is more bold than the alternative- true. But still, saying a prayer you were taught to say, if Jesus said so, doesn’t seem bold to me. No, there is something more afoot here, but what is it?

Jesus didn’t teach any old prayer but his own special one, which defined who he, what praying, was, especially in relation to the one he prayed to, his father.  The first thing to notice is that he calls him ‘Abba,’ dear father, a name of intimacy, closer to 'Daddy’ - this was a discovery by new Testament scholars in the last century.  There is no parallel in the ancient world, nor in the record of the rabbis.  In fact, it was more usual to pray in a way that emphasized God’s grandeur, perhaps in the hope of flattering, since often in prayer we go on to ask Him for something!  No, Jesus had a unique and intimate relation to His Father. They were, he said, one. Though his Father inhabits the highest heaven, from before time, to Jesus he is Papa. His prayer grows from a confidence that his plea, and his joy, will reach him directly. He is in heaven, set apart, ruling everything, the one who commands history- yet he and this God have the closest conversation, a shared life. This becomes all the more remarkable when you recall how the story goes on. He would arrive in the Garden of Gethsemane, at the end, and realize that he must drink the terrible cup of suffering and abandonment- but when he cries out that the cup might pass, there too he is called ‘Abba.’ He prays that the Father’s will be done, in the moment of the great trial, also called ‘the temptation,’ so that the agony of the Garden and the prayer of the Abba are one. In other words, the sacrifice of the cross, where Jesus identified in the deepest way with us (Paul says he became our sin that we might be the righteousness of God!) is also packed into that name, Abba, and the relation to him, which stretched to the max but did not break.

We believe that in Jesus the one God of heaven has come here. This is not just an abstract idea, but it defines how Jesus prays, because it defines who he is, and so how he lives and dies, and so also, who we are and how we live and die. That claim is what requires boldness because it is an audacious claim. Let’s follow this out, with the help of our passage from Romans, chapter five.  The place to start is that God is trustworthy. He is who he says he is. He acts in a way that is consistent with who He is. His Being and acting are one. To be sure, there is so much we cannot see yet, God indeed mysterious. But the better we come to know of Him, the more and deeper we will know him to be the same one who he says he is!  We will be taken higher up and further in, said C.S.Lewis, to see more detail of the land we have already been shown. 

The words from Romans 5 are about what God has done for us, since in God who he is and what he does are one. First he has given us access to him through fellowship with His Son. This was of great importance to those first Christians, who lived in a world in which they felt oppressed by the fates, by what he called ‘the powers.’ Now, by trusting in Jesus, they have peace in the present and hope for the future. They are assured of what lies ahead, in what he calls ‘the glory.’ And all of this is through the love that is poured in our hearts through the Holy Spirit. Yes, we can experience this love, of a kind real even when we are feeling unloving or unloved, for what matters in this passage of Romans is what God is doing- opening access, making peace, pouring in love. Again, the actions are consistent with who He is. And they show us what he will be like, even more, up ahead, in the glory. And what the one God of heaven and earth is like is this:  access, freedom, in the Son, the God of overflowing, and extravagant love, in the Spirit.

So here is the cash-out- God is consistent because he is trustworthy. He is Father, Son, Spirit, and so His action is access, through the Son,  in the Spirit. Who He has been from eternity, and what he does toward you and me, is one. Father, reaching down in the Son, reaching out in love in the Spirit. Follow me one more step- this consistency of God’s being and doing,  is true in us, in prayer, in Christian living. Don’t get me wrong- we can indeed deceive ourselves, about a lot of things, including where to find God. But from His side he is trustworthy, and so the shape of Christian life conforms to who God really, and eternally is. Because he is trustworthy the shape of the Christian life conforms to God’s nature, broken vessels though we be. And that, brothers and sisters, is what the doctrine of the Trinity, is saying to us.

We’ve come full circle back to where we started, though now we can see more in those little words ‘bold to say.’ We are not talking about religion as self-help with ancient words. We claim that we are invited into fellowship with God revealing Himself as He is, so that our praying follows the tracings of His nature. We are praying with the grain of ultimate reality!  Three chapters later, in Romans 8, Paul goes on to say that even when we are at a loss, when the most we can do in prayer is to groan, the Spirit prays through us, because the Spirit is working through the Son actually conjoined with us, taking us reliably to the Father. And finally, there in chapter 8’s conclusion, as we heard last Sunday, nothing in heaven or earth has the power to stop this connection from happening. That too is a very bold thing to say, about what is going on even in my most incapacitated and struggling moments, a bold thing too to say about how far down the Father will stoop for this Son, who, when he looks at His face, by grace sees you and me, as well. For God’s boldness, most of all, on this Trinity Sunday we give thanks. Amen.