Sermon July 26, 2015 Eighth Sunday after Trinity

There is an Old Aboriginal teaching:

An elder was teaching his grandson about life.  He said to him, “Grandson, a fight is going on inside you and me.  It is a terrible fight between two wolves”.  “How come there are two wolves grandfather?” the boy asked.  His grandfather answered, “One wolf is evil – he is anger, envy, regret, greed, conceit, self-pity, guilt, lies resentment, false pride, superiority and ego.  The other wolf is good – he is joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion and faith.  The same fight is going on inside you – and inside every other person.”  His grandson thought about this for a minute and then asked his grandfather, “Which wolf will win?”

The elder replied, “The one you feed.” 

They come in sheep’s clothing but inwardly they are ravening wolves.  Last week Father David quoted someone I don’t hear quoted in church very often, Bob Dylan. 

But you’re gonna have to serve somebody, yes indeed
You’re gonna have to serve somebody
Well, it may be the devil or it may be the Lord
But you’re gonna have to serve somebody

You’re gonna have to serve somebody; that is the basic message in both that Aboriginal teaching and the Bob Dylan song.  The Gospel tells us that false prophets are inwardly ravenous wolves.  We will know them by the fruit of their teachings. 

This was very important in Jesus’ time.  We know there were many false prophets who were doing miraculous things just as Jesus was.   Most of them have rightly faded into the mists of time.  However, one we know about is Simon Magus or Simon the Magician.  The apostle Peter is recorded in the Book of Acts to have had an encounter with Simon.  In some apocryphal books he is recorded to have been a formidable sorcerer with the ability to levitate and fly at will.  It is recorded in Acts that he tried to bribe the apostles—offering money to receive the power of the Holy Spirit which the Apostles were demonstrating.  The sin of Simony is named after Simon.   Simony is the sin of paying for position and influence in the church.

Jesus does not give his warning lightly—it is a matter of salvation.  The Apostles and first Christians knew that Jesus was a true prophet—the true messiah—by the fruit of who he was.  They were filled with the Holy Spirit just as Jesus was at his baptism in the Jordan River.  Christians throughout the millennia that followed have known that Jesus is the only begotten son of God because of the fruits of that belief.  They have known the fulfilling and full life which following Christ can bring.  That, of course, doesn’t mean that there haven’t been false prophets in the church and false prophets in the world.

We have false prophets who follow false gods all around us today.  I don’t know if there are more than in other times but it certainly seems that way.  Perhaps it seems this way because there are more opportunities for us to be exposed to them and tempted by them through modern communication which started with radio and TV and has expanded exponentially with the internet and social media.  There is no shortage of people willing to lead us astray offering instant cures for all ills. There are princes in Nigeria willing to share their fortunes with us if we only send them some seed money.  We have no shortage of financial gurus who are going to give us fantastic returns on our investments.  We have false prophets of government who are giving us simplistic solutions to all the world’s problems.  Just say no to drugs; just get tough on crime and increase the mandatory minimum sentences and lock them up and throw away the keys—don’t waste money on rehabilitation; waste it on building more prisons to hold more prisoners of which there will be an ever increasing supply.    The false prophets are everywhere.  We have to be aware and beware of them as Jesus says and judge them by their fruit.  Do they bring forth evil fruit or good fruit?  It can be hard to tell the difference—at least initially.

Which prophet will you serve; which wolf will you feed?  The Gospel tells us that inwardly the false prophets are ravening wolves.  The false prophets are, of course, not only in the outer world.  The inner wolves take the form of devices and desires of our inner lives.  The demand of the hunger of alcoholism can only be described as a ravenous evil wolf.  It will eventually devour those who are attacked by it and who respond by feeding it.  One way of describing alcoholism is a need to find the Spirit of God in a person’s life. The alcoholic tries to have the Spirit through the spirits of alcohol. 

A key—I don’t know if it is the key—to the 12 step program of AA—is to acknowledge that you can’t do it yourself; you have to give your life to a higher power, in effect give up the illusion that you are in control and give that control to God.  This is true for everyone—not just alcoholics.

There are many other—perhaps numberless—forms of the evil wolf; from the desire for power to the desire for material possessions.  There is the desire for love which people hope can be found in the fairy tale romance of happily ever after in the arms of Prince Charming or Sleeping beauty. 

What is it that you are feeding in your life?  Many of the wolves are easy to see in others.  We can see the devastation of alcoholism or materialism.  But what about those that have the appearance of being harmless and perhaps even fruit that appear to be good. Are you someone who must keep busy to believe that you are worth being loved?  Do you think if I don’t keep active doing I am not worthy of being loved by God?  How are you filling your life because you don’t want to recognize who you are a beloved child of God?  These too can be subtle evil wolves that are disguised as good wolves.  These wolves can seem to offer the answer to all our problems.  They seem to provide easy answers.  But they are not; the answers they provide are not easy; they are false.  We can try to ignore them.  However, they will not be ignored. We can try to feed them but they are ravenous and always hungry.  That is another sign that the fruit is bad.  The only answer is to face them and engage them to find out what they are truly offering—what need they are filling and determine that the fruit they offer is false. 

The answer is to discover the truth of salvation and grace in the saving power of Jesus Christ offered to us through the forgiveness of the cross.  The grace of God is offered to each of us because we are God’s Children and not because of the wolf that we try and feed.  The true fruit of Jesus Christ is the possibility of salvation through the forgiveness offered in seeking and following Jesus Christ.    The fruit of that journey is the forgiveness that is given to us when we miss the mark and feed the evil wolf.  Jesus knows that is going to happen and welcomes us back when we turn again to him.  Thanks be to God.  

You're Gonna Have to Serve Somebody

Yesterday was the Eight Sunday after Trinity if you follow the Book of Common Prayer as we do in our Parish in P.E.I.  I was presiding at the services at St. Alban’s, Souris and St. George’s, Montague.  The Gospel appointed was Matt. 7: 15-21.  The opening verse is: ¹⁵“Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves. ¹⁶You will know them by their fruits.” (NRSV) 

I opened my sermon with the aboriginal teaching of the two wolves:

An elder was teaching his grandson about life.  He said to him, “Grandson, a fight is going on inside you and me.  It is a terrible fight between two wolves”.  “How come there are two wolves grandfather?” the boy asked.  His grandfather answered, “One wolf is evil – he is anger, envy, regret, greed, conceit, self-pity, guilt, lies resentment, false pride, superiority and ego.  The other wolf is good – he is joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion and faith.  The same fight is going on inside you – and inside every other person.”  His grandson thought about this for a minute and then asked his grandfather, “Which wolf will win?” The elder replied, “The one you feed.” 

To quote Bob Dylan (which I did):

But you’re gonna have to serve somebody, yes indeed
You’re gonna have to serve somebody
Well, it may be the devil or it may be the Lord
But you’re gonna have to serve somebody

The question for each of us is which wolf are we going to feed; which prophet are we going to serve?

Later yesterday afternoon I came across a wonderful video on Huffington blog by James Gerkin.  In the video an African American evangelical preacher who gave a wonderful exposition of this: Georgia Pastor Has No Time For Anti-LGBT Hypocrites http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/georgia-pastor-gay-equality_55b50b09e4b0074ba5a4d6e2.  The video ends by the pastor saying, “We all need to look at ourselves” and condemning Christians for being hypocrites in their attitudes to the LGBT community. 

An excerpt from the post follows.

 

Georgia pastor E. Dewey Smith said in a videotaped sermon that was posted Thursday. Smith, who is pastor of the House of Hope Atlanta in Decatur, Georgia, and the House of Hope Macon, chastised his congregation and others who "demonize and dehumanize" artists and even members of their own choir who are gay while enjoying and benefitting from their work.

"We have done what the slave master did to us," he said. "Dehumanize us, degrade us, demonize us, but then use them for our advantage."

Vocal opponents of homosexuality will cite Leviticus, Smith went on to say, but the same book of the Bible also prohibits eating shellfish, wearing mixed fabrics and sharing a bed with a woman while she's menstruating.

"Here’s my point. We pick and choose the scriptures that we want to use to beat folk up with, rather than look at our own lives." 

"Look at your neighbor and tell your neighbor, ‘I don’t condemn you. I don’t judge you. I will preach Christ to you,'" he said. "You can’t evangelize and antagonize at the same time." 

You're Gonna Have to Serve Somebody

Yesterday was the Eight Sunday after Trinity if you follow the Book of Common Prayer as we do in our Parish in P.E.I.  I was presiding at the services at St. Alban’s, Souris and St. George’s, Montague.  The Gospel appointed was Matt. 7: 15-21.  The opening verse is: ¹⁵“Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves. ¹⁶You will know them by their fruits.” (NRSV) 

I opened my sermon with the aboriginal teaching of the two wolves:

An elder was teaching his grandson about life.  He said to him, “Grandson, a fight is going on inside you and me.  It is a terrible fight between two wolves”.  “How come there are two wolves grandfather?” the boy asked.  His grandfather answered, “One wolf is evil – he is anger, envy, regret, greed, conceit, self-pity, guilt, lies resentment, false pride, superiority and ego.  The other wolf is good – he is joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion and faith.  The same fight is going on inside you – and inside every other person.”  His grandson thought about this for a minute and then asked his grandfather, “Which wolf will win?” The elder replied, “The one you feed.” 

To quote Bob Dylan (which I did):

But you’re gonna have to serve somebody, yes indeed
You’re gonna have to serve somebody
Well, it may be the devil or it may be the Lord
But you’re gonna have to serve somebody

The question for each of us is which wolf are we going to feed; which prophet are we going to serve?

Later yesterday afternoon I came across a wonderful video on Huffington blog by James Gerkin.  In the video an African American evangelical preacher who gave a wonderful exposition of this: Georgia Pastor Has No Time For Anti-LGBT Hypocrites http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/georgia-pastor-gay-equality_55b50b09e4b0074ba5a4d6e2.  The video ends by the pastor saying, “We all need to look at ourselves” and condemning Christians for being hypocrites in their attitudes to the LGBT community. 

An excerpt from the post follows.

 

Georgia pastor E. Dewey Smith said in a videotaped sermon that was posted Thursday. Smith, who is pastor of the House of Hope Atlanta in Decatur, Georgia, and the House of Hope Macon, chastised his congregation and others who "demonize and dehumanize" artists and even members of their own choir who are gay while enjoying and benefitting from their work.

"We have done what the slave master did to us," he said. "Dehumanize us, degrade us, demonize us, but then use them for our advantage."

Vocal opponents of homosexuality will cite Leviticus, Smith went on to say, but the same book of the Bible also prohibits eating shellfish, wearing mixed fabrics and sharing a bed with a woman while she's menstruating.

"Here’s my point. We pick and choose the scriptures that we want to use to beat folk up with, rather than look at our own lives." 

"Look at your neighbor and tell your neighbor, ‘I don’t condemn you. I don’t judge you. I will preach Christ to you,'" he said. "You can’t evangelize and antagonize at the same time." 

Alice and the Looking Glass Life

A couple of weeks ago Lorna and I went to see a production of James Reaney's adaption of Alice, Through the Looking Glass at the Confederation Theatre in Charlottetown.  The production was interesting—to use a non-committal word.  To be more specific it engaged me in a number of areas.  I don’t know James Reaney’s interpretation to enable me separate what was his from the director’s stamp on the production.  However, aspects of it were not, to my knowledge, contained in the original version by Lewis Carroll.  

The production set out to engage the audience directly in what could be considered a post-modern interpretation.  The audience was directly engaging with the production by having two lucky young people selected to pull a chord which descended from the ceiling.  The audience was also showered at a couple of points with objects—first little packets of jelly beans and then with streamers.  It also had bubbles descending on us at various points in the production.  I found that, at the least, it didn’t take away from the production if it didn’t necessarily add to it.  Another attempt to engage the audience was to have various members of the chorus mug the audience shamelessly at various points.  There were other things that tended to distract from the main action.  There were, as Lorna pointed out, unfortunate distractions from the meaningful internal and external dialogue that Alice engages in as she attempts to understand the curious world in which she finds herself.  Another rather confusing and unclear element was the dressing of the male chorus members in female garb.  When it became clear that the rather plain members of the chorus were actually male, the confusion took a turn to wondering why?  The idea of the director, Adam Brazier, may have been to capture the confusion of Alice in this inside out world.  However, to my way of thinking it would have been more effective to have all chorus members in opposite gender garb as in the looking glass everything is backwards and inside out. 

The production did a creditable job of presenting many of Lewis Carroll’s wonderful characters in this dream world; self-satisfied Humpty Dumpty, the poor muddled kindly White Knight, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern—sorry wrong play—I meant the Walrus and the Carpenter and the poor fated singing oysters, Tweedledee and Tweedledum. Natasha Greenblatt’s Alice was wonderful and her performance gave a marvelous interpretation of her character.   In all it was definitely worth seeing.

That being said, what truly engaged me was the awareness that all this Wonderland of Alice’s took place in a dream.  It harkened back to the Summer Dream and Spirituality Conference that Lorna and I attended at Kanuga Center in Hendersonville North Carolina before coming to the Land of Anne (she of Green Gables).  As in The Wizard of Oz, the girl heroine is in a dream world comprised of archetypal characters that are sometimes friendly, sometimes helpful, sometimes frightening, sometimes dangerous, awful and awe-full, and always Wonderful (thinking of Alice’s first adventure).  In a dream it is helpful to understand all the images as parts of yourself which are often just those things; friendly, frightening, helpful, dangerous, and awful and awe-full and wonderful.   

If Alice’s adventure Through the Looking Glass were my dream what would I make of all those wonderful characters who would be part of me?  What part of me is the inflated pompous Humpty Dumpty?  Which part of me is the confused, out of touch kindly White Knight who takes things literally?  What part is the Carpenter and which the Walrus, both of whom are described by Alice as “very unpleasant characters” eating the poor innocent oysters.  Indeed what part of me is the innocent foolish oysters?    The mind boggles but they are all there for me to explore.  I believe that is a large part of the enduring stories of Alice that Lewis Carroll created.    Which character resonates most with you and which do you want to avoid connecting with the most?  Enjoy your trip into the Looking Glass World. 

The Prodigal Father (4): the Ways of Compassion

Recently, I have written about the Henri Nouwen’s striving to aspire to be like the father in the parable of the Prodigal Son.  Nouwen’s book The Return of the Prodigal Son describes his exploration of the parable which was initiated by his encounter with the painting by Rembrandt based on the parable.

Nouwen saw that what it meant for him to aspire to be like God the father was to be compassionate.  Nouwen states that the most radical statement Jesus made was, “Be compassionate as your father is compassionate”.  He acknowledges that this is in no way easy for him.  To do this you must live a life that is based on cooperation rather than competition—which, of course, is truly radical in today’s culture.   However, he identifies three ways to a truly compassionate fatherhood.   These ways of compassion are; grief, forgiveness, and generosity.  Last week I explored the first way; grief.  Today I will explore the second way; forgiveness.

As Nouwen notes, “Forgiveness from the heart is very, very difficult.  It is next to impossible.  Jesus said to his disciples: ‘when your brother wrongs you seven times a day and comes back to you and says ‘I am sorry,’ you must forgive him.’”  The words are certainly easier than change in heart which is required to truly forgive.  We are trained as children to say we forgive even when we don’t feel it or believe it.  When the parents say to the child ‘say you are sorry’ the child may say it to placate the parent but he or she probably is only sorry that they were caught in the wrongdoing.

 A few years ago I read about one person’s struggle with forgiveness that illustrates how hard it is to truly forgive.  An Anglican priest in England, resigned her holy orders because she found that as hard as she tried she was unable to forgive, to truly forgive, the drunk driver who had killed her child.  She believed that as a Christian and a priest she was called to forgive that person and was unable to do it.  This shows us that true forgiveness is not cheap or easy.  It is more than just say the words.  To truly mean it is a long hard journey.

As Nouwen notes, “God’s forgiveness is unconditional; it comes from a heart that does not demand anything for itself, a heart that is completely empty of self-seeking.  It is this forgiveness that I have to practice in my daily life.”  Fortunately God’s forgiveness is there for us unconditionally when we fail to do likewise.  Thanks be to God.  

The Prodigal Father (3): the Ways of Compassion

Last week I wrote of the Henri Nouwen’s striving to aspire to be like the father in the parable of the Prodigal Son.  Nouwen’s book The Return of the Prodigal Son explores his exploration of the parable which was initiated by his encounter with the painting by Rembrandt of the same name based on the parable.

Nouwen saw that what it meant for him to aspire to be like God the father was to be compassionate.  Nouwen states that the most radical statement Jesus made was, “Be compassionate as your father is compassionate”.  He acknowledges that this is in no way easy for him.  To do this you must live a life that is based on cooperation rather than competition—which, of course, is truly radical in today’s culture.   However, he identifies three ways to a truly compassionate fatherhood.   These ways of compassion are; grief, forgiveness, and generosity.

I will look at each of these ways this week and subsequent weeks beginning with grief.  Nouwen notes that there is no grief without tears; either tears that flow from our eyes or tears that flow from our hearts.  He notes that there is no shortage of things to grieve over in this world, “When I consider the immense waywardness of God’s children, our lust, our greed, our violence, our anger, our resentment, and when I look at them through the eyes of God’s heart, I cannot but weep and cry out in grief.” 

For there to be tears of grief I believe that there must be an open heart.  As one who has not always had the gift of tears of compassion that came to me often or easily, I am aware that it is because my heart has not been open to much of the waywardness in the world.  I have had a protective wall around my heart that requires breaching.  To enable this to happen, we must be open to being hurt by the world. 

Nouwen proposes that much of grieving is prayer.  A good prayer for the grief that comes from compassion is to prayer that the walls around our hearts will come tumbling down like the walls of Jericho.  Blessings.