Imagine

By The Rev. Bernard W. Poppe, Rector

Imagine. Imagine yourself so desperate to be healed that you would fight a crowd to touch the hem of Jesus’ garment. Imagine the realization that he knew what happened and turned to find out who did it. Imagine the thoughts that would go through your mind, weighing whether or not you should admit it, or run away before anyone found out. Imagine stepping forward fearfully, wondering if Jesus would take the healing back and push you back into the pit of your disease. Now imagine the smile on Jesus’ face when he looked happily at you and shared your joy. Imagine being stunned that after so many years of illness, he told you that your faith has made you well, go in peace and be healed.

The woman in this story has no name given, imagine it was you. Now ask yourself, what might you have inside that would make you so desperate that you would risk the crowd and your fears to touch that hem.

The healing stories are among the most numerous in the Gospels. And in most cases there is a common thread, namely, the person in need such as the woman in today’s lesson, or someone on behalf of the person in need - such as Jairus on behalf of his daughter - approaches Jesus and asks, begs, or even takes the healing. And even though the individual cases differ, there is no one who is turned away. No one is told “no”. One notable difference is the way Jesus handled the death of his friend Lazarus. In that case he was asked to come quickly, much the same as Jairus. He didn’t say “no”, but he didn’t hurry either and Lazarus died. To Martha and Mary that must have seemed like a great big “NO” to them, but it turned out to be a greater good.

I find these healing stories to be fascinating. Ultimately I wrestle with their factual quality versus their spiritual quality. There are plenty of stories in each of our lives where physical healing has occurred to ourselves or someone we know that appear quite miraculous and in response to prayer. And there are also many tragic stories where the answer to desperate prayers seems to be “no”. When the answer appears to be “no” is it an imperfect faith that has failed or an imperfect God that closes the door? These are haunting questions, for which I for one, do not have the answers. It doesn’t stop me from praying however. Part of my personal faith is accepting that I don’t have the whole picture yet. I have learned that what I want is not always what is best. That doesn’t stop me from praying either. That little bit of insight simply shapes my prayer into making my requests known to God while remaining open to the outcome, certain that in the end my healing is God’s desire for me. Where I have to remain open is coming to understand what shape that healing takes.

Today is Gay Pride Sunday in New York City and it gets world wide attention. A vast community of Gay people and their straight friends witness and advocate in a parade not asking, but demanding healing. Demanding that the legal system statewide and nationally give full equality and protection from bias and hate. Claiming the spiritual healing that comes from not asking for equality, but fully acknowledging that despite the legal realities, we are equal.

I remember being tortured as a child by my own fears of being gay and the ostracism and danger I risked. I remembered my desperate prayers to be healed, made straight. I remember all too well the anguish I felt at God’s apparent silence and non-responsiveness. I prayed deeply and the answer seemed to keep coming back, “NO.” Was I not faithful enough, or good enough to heard? Was I already lost and left behind? Was I so awful as not even to be noticed by God? I was not only touching that hem, I was pulling it! Jesus couldn’t have helped but notice!!

The healing I sought came in a different way. It came by slowly over time understanding God’s love for me just as I am. Being gay is a rich quality of my character that informs how I see the world, form relationships with men and women. How I enter platonic or romantic intimacy. Even my humor and how I choose to decorate my home. It’s no better or worse than anyone else, it’s just who I am and part of who God made me to be. It is one facet of this particular diamond in the rough that God keeps polishing over the years of my being. There are many other facets, some smoother and rougher than others. My point here is that healing came not as I had asked for, but as I needed it. God did answer, and I believe is smiling, but I had to lift my head to see it, and open my hears and heart to receive it.

My healing is not evenly celebrated throughout the world. I am so fortunate and blessed that it is recognized here in this congregation, this Diocese and to some degree this state, but certainly not to the degree it will be one day. Parades are important, though the media will focus on the more exotic elements, and reinforce the negative rather than the positive understandings of what is hoped to be achieved. The struggles that take place in so many ways are also important in which ever arena they happen. But most importantly, the setting for healing must take place in the spirit of the individual who feels God’s love personally saying, “you are well, you faith has healed you, go in peace.” The disease that is healed at least in my case, was that of fear and self loathing. The healing that happened brought peace and self acceptance and deep knowing that I am loved by God who made me as I am and loves me. I have seen similar healing in other gay and lesbian people and I celebrate it. I have seen healing in straight people whose prejudice and even hatred and violence has been replaced by understanding and warmth if not, in fact, love.

All of us need healing in one form or another. In most cases the heed for healing will be within our bodies minds or spirits. It might be in our relationships or about finding our place in the world. Ironically we’ll discover that we don’t have the full picture on any given issue and that our prayers may appear to go unanswered or unnoticed. But I believe with my whole being that is not the case. Our prayer brings whatever awareness we have to the surface, so that it is not we who have God’s attention, but God who finally has ours.

None of us can afford to stop praying for healing for ourselves or others. There’s a lot that needs to be healed physically, emotionally and spiritually. Like the woman in the story each of us will have a time when we are so desperate about something that we will fight the crowd to claim the healing that Jesus will lovingly give. Whatever healing you need, I encourage you to reach out, risk what you fear to know that God’s love will surprise you with an incredible healing energy that you may not even realize has been at work in you until much later.

This wonderful woman in the Gospel story sought Jesus in quiet desperation to heal something that she had dealt with for many years. She later experienced fear and trembling after claiming her healing. And then experienced the ecstasy of hearing her savior tell her she was healed. That woman was healed in so much more than her body that day. So many of our illnesses are physical or emotional reflections of the illnesses we keep in our spirits. Accepting God’s love, and healing the spirit within radiates outward and takes many different forms - emotionally, physically, even in society. Imagine that. Amen.

©2009 St. George's Episcopal Church, Maplewood, NJ

The Baptism of Eleanor and Owen

By The Rev. Bernard W. Poppe, Rector

First of all, let me welcome the families and friends of Eleanor Paige Matteson and Owen Jace Main. One of the parting words of Jesus to his disciples is to go out into all the nations and baptize in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Among all the work that any church does, there is nothing more important than what we do here today.

Baptism is the welcoming of a person into the family of God in the body of Jesus Christ known as the Church. Vows will made on behalf of these two babies and the rest of us will renew our own baptismal vows. These promises bring us into relationship with God and each other by setting the priorities and values which we want to live into. To worship God. To study scripture and participate in the Eucharist. To resist evil and see forgiveness when necessary. To talk about our faith and proclaim the Gospel. To seek and serve Christ in all persons and love our neighbors. To strive for justice and peace, and respect he dignity of all people.

It’s a tall order. We’re not always able to do it well. Sometimes we don’t do it at all. But sometimes, we’re really quite remarkable in what we’re able to do in the name of God. It’s those moments that we strive for and pray for. In his letter to the Corinthians, Paul begs them to open their hearts wide to the teachings he brings and the love of God he proclaims. Today we beg for this also - to open our hearts wide to the love of God and reflect that love by how we live in the world.

I must admit that when I looked at the lessons for today and saw that on a Baptism Sunday we have one from Job, I thought, “Oh no... maybe the Gospel will be better.” But there we have a storm at sea. Not much of an improvement. But given the weather lately, it might be appropriate than I first thought. But the more I thought about these lessons, the more I liked them and thought them perfect for today.

Job is a well known book of the Old Testament in the Wisdom literature. The Wisdom Books are specifically designed to teach lessons and Job is certainly among them. It has a peculiar beginning, in that Satan and God are talking, perhaps over tea, and God is bragging about Job’s righteousness. Satan says, “Of course he’s righteous, everything is going his way. I bet at the first sign of trouble he curses you.” It’s a bet that God was willing to make, and so began a terrible ordeal for Job that included a lot of mental and physical suffering. (This wager doesn’t place God in the most favorable light, I must say - but it sets the stage for the story about to unfold.) Job is visited by three friends and most of the book centers around their conversations. In a gross over simplification, Job’s friends spend a lot of time accusing him of having done something wrong to deserve his suffering. Job continually maintains he’s done nothing wrong. It’s a circular conversation that digs a hole deeper and deeper without ever getting out of it. In the portion we read, God intervenes “out of the whirlwind” quite angrily it seems telling them all that they can’t possibly know all there is to know, and suggests that they shouldn’t even be asking the questions of “why” when things go wrong.

Job seems to be written as a book to explain the existence of suffering but never quite explains it. Rather, the book seems to discourage the question. In the tradition of Wisdom literature, the reader has to wrestle with the answers. Rather than see the cause of suffering in this book, I see the tendency most people have in the face of it. Blame or self pity. We look for reasons to explain the origins of what is already there and spin wheels that might otherwise be used to get us moving beyond the issues.

I’ve seen people who, when confronted with a spouse’s infidelity continually torture themselves by asking “why”. The same questions occurs when a loved one dies, or some tragedy or setback happens. Some questioning is normal and a specific reason may be helpful, but when the answer is simply not knowable, obsessing over it keeps a person paralyzed. There are simply things we will never know and like Job and his friends we can go round and round trying to find answers that don’t exist, or accept reality and look for ways to move beyond the difficulties.

During my recent trip to South Africa, the evidence of suffering is everywhere. The reasons are vast and complex and stretch back generations into a mist of unknowing. There are times when we need to stop looking backward and start to look forward to solutions. In South Africa there are places of hope where that is happening. But there are also too many places where blame and self pity keep people locked in a place of paralysis.

The imagery of God calling out of the whirlwind is wonderful. When we are in times of suffering there is a crashing and confusion in our heads that might as well be a whirlwind. And this is where the story becomes important for a Baptism. We all know that life has joys and struggles. Baptism does not protect any of us from life’s hardships, and it’s no insurance against suffering. It is, however, part of the solution to maneuvering out of the storm. If you sense a segue to the Gospel lesson, yes it’s coming. Whether it’s God calling out of the whirlwind or Jesus calming the storm, the presence of God in the midst of life’s suffering and hardships is essential for us to hold onto to move beyond it.

Faith and prayer work. In these things we find strength and solutions to what confronts us. They do not turn back the clock and undo everything that may have been done, but they give us the strength to move forward and create an environment for healing to occur. In order to tap into these wonderful tools, a person needs guidance and support in developing their own relationship with God and the shape their faith and prayer will take. That’s why it’s so important that people have a community of faith that can help them. It’s into the Christian faith that Owen and Eleanor are being baptized because we believe the promises we’ve received through the Gospels and scriptures of God’s love for us and God’s driving intention that we live life fully and joyfully.

©2009 St. George's Episcopal Church, Maplewood, NJ

Home Again

By The Rev. Bernard W. Poppe, Rector

It feels good to be back home and very good to be back in this pulpit. I preached in several interesting places including a monastic chapel and a Cathedral in South Africa, a village church and Cathedral in England. The monastic chapel is a relatively new building and the Rochester Cathedral is among the oldest in Britain. The memories of all those places are like a kaleidoscope of images accompanied by memories of the sounds of drums and ethereal choirs. But of all the pulpits I entered, this is still the one that fits best. There are many stories to tell and lessons learned. I have some to share and I already know that you do as well. Our sabbaticals were each times of exploration, learning and prayerful journey. One of my favorite quotes is from T.S. Eliot and it says: “We shall not cease from exploration and the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started... and know the place for the first time.” I feel a bit of that now, grateful to have gone, and even more grateful to be back.

As the weeks unfold, so will the stories, but today we have some other kinds of celebration and transitions to observe. We’ll start by looking at the readings.

The lessons today give nice images of new life, growth and hope. Ezekiel wrote of a sprig being taken from the top of a mighty cedar tree and becoming the start of a new tree that would be a haven for birds and beasts. He even goes so far as to say that it will bear fruit. We need to remember that Ezekiel is a prophet, he’s not a botanist. Cedars don’t bear fruit, but the image still works in terms of the growth of the new sprig and the abundance of protection it offers. Ezekiel is writing to a people in exile and giving them hope of new beginnings and a return to their homeland. The image is itself a seed to plant the imagining of a new Israel in the future. In an earlier chapter he uses the metaphor of the cedar to refer to their former line of kings. In the segment we read, clipping the top of the old tree is the suggestion that the royal family will be restored someday. It is in fact the seed of the expectation that a messiah will come to restore that line.

The Gospel echoes this story with the parable of the mustard seed. Again, we have to let go of botanic accuracy in favor of literary license. It’s not really the smallest of all the seeds on the earth, but it’s small. And who hasn’t picked up any tiny seed and been amazed at the tree or shrub that grows out of it? Any growth is a wonder and Jesus uses it here to make the point of both growth and protection. The birds make their nests in the shade of this shrub where they will be safe.

I decided to do some research on this image and although I don’t have a mustard shrub in the yard, I do have some nice trees and I went outside when it wasn’t raining, sat down and watched one. Watching a tree can be very instructive. As for the tree I watched, I noticed that some birds do in fact have a nest in it, while others simply came for various periods of time and flew off. Not all the birds got along and some got along very well. Occasionally one would chirp, sing or coo. But that’s not all. Not only birds are to be found it the trees. There were squirrels and the neighbors cat sat curiously poised, alternately looking at me and then the tree, no doubt like my neighbors wondering what I was doing and why I was there. (It had occurred to me to disguise my intent by holding an open book in my lap, but I decided to keep my focus uncluttered by deception or embarrassment.) I glared at the cat, daring it to go up the tree, it left shortly after. I think it was shaking its head, but I could be wrong.

I counted several varieties of birds and just meditated a bit on the miracle of the seed that took root so many years ago. The kingdom of heaven is like this tree too, I imagined.

The art of the parable is to look at it in different layers. There are some generally accepted interpretations, but there’s no one way to understand them and each person who studies one will have a different take on it.

We have a lot happening today in the life of this parish and while I watched the tree I imagined that it was St. George’s like the kingdom of God where some make nests and stay for a long time raising families, while others are here for a shorter time and will make their nests in another tree. But all in all, it’s a miracle.

We come here to find God, to discover and develop a relationship with God and be enriched by a community engaged in their own pursuit of God. And that is the Kingdom of Heaven. It’s not without squirrely challenges and catlike struggles, (sorry, but I had to put those in somewhere) but over time it’s a place dedicated to the pursuit of the “holy”.

During June we celebrate graduations of our children from various grades or schools and some of our seasonal programs end. At the family service we celebrated and thanked the church school teachers and their fearless leader, Jane Cates. At this service we will be thanking our choir for their work and dedication over the past year. We will also be thanking Mary Davis for her work and ministry among us as she concludes her time with us. I can also say now that she was interviewed yesterday by the Commission on Ministry and approved for the next level of her process and she is now officially a candidate in this labyrinthine journey to ordination.

Today we also observe Juneteenth, commemorating June 19, 1865 when General Gordon Granger informed the people of Galveston, Texas that slavery was over. General Order # 3 was read aloud stating:

"The people of Texas are informed that in accordance with a Proclamation from the Executive of the United States, all slaves are free. This involves an absolute equality of rights and rights of property between former masters and slaves, and the connection heretofore existing between them becomes that between employer and free laborer."

Hats are worn today as a gracious tribute to the traditions of African American women and the crowns they represent from the heritage of proud African dress.

June is also the month of Gay Pride with parades and marches scheduled in many different towns and cities giving witness to the need for further equality and justice. These marches like almost every other march for justice is sometimes met with cheering and welcome and at other times met with jeers, insults, arrest and violence.

In this church this morning we all rest in the shade of this great tree of God’s love. We represent and participate in one or more of the many facets of life celebrated this day or this month. We do so in community and in sharing God’s love. We do so claiming our own voices and in support of our brothers and sisters who are claiming theirs.

Sometimes I like to come in here when it’s quiet and walk around. I like to look at the plaques and memorials and wonder at the people who were here before us. What kind of shade were they looking for and what kind did they find? Using Ezekiel’s image, were they seeds for shrubs or trees? How high did they grow and how high will we grow while protecting the little sprouts in our care?

With all its graduations and celebrations, June is a month that marks transitions and life changes. It watches movements occur in our lives. But like the birds of the parable, we may go from branch to branch or tree to tree in the kingdom of God we are assured that God is a safe secure roost for our wanderings. We may go from place to place, but God is there wherever we go ready to give us shelter, protection and hope. That is the Kingdom of God. Amen.

© 2009 St. George's Episcopal Church, Maplewood, NJ

Trinity Sunday

By The Rt. Rev. Mark M. Beckwith, Bishop of Newark

This video is in two parts.





©2009 The Rt. Rev. Mark M. Beckwith