Advent: A Time for Spiritual Preparation

By the Rev. Bernard W. Poppe, Rector

The season of Advent begins today. The liturgical colors change to the royal blues and purples symbolic of anticipating the arrival of a King. The wreath is set up with the first of four candles burning anticipating the four weeks of preparation for the Feast of the Nativity, also called Christmas.

In the history of the Church, this season was a time of penance, similar to Lent. It was a time to prepare spiritually for the joy of the Christmas feast. We still have a sense of preparation for Christmas in a different, secular way. The shopping, parties, sending cards, home and shop decorations, all pointing to this special day. It's good to anticipate, it sharpens the joy of a special event. On the surface, Christmas has become about gift giving, but beneath that surface is the love that inspires the gift. The weeks leading up to Christmas are filled with the anticipation of the joy released on that day with the gifts for children, spouses, other family members, friends and co-workers. It's an Advent season in its own right.

While Christmas in today's world has taken the shape it has both in the secular and religious world, it also has a dual role for people of faith. It commemorates the birth of the Christ and looks forward to the coming of Christ again. On December 25 we observe an event that already happened. The season of Advent is to remind us that we are to be alert for an event that has not yet happened.

The lessons we read this morning are filled with this kind of anticipation. Anticipation of how God will work in the unknown future. The lesson from Israel anticipates a great day when there will be no more war and the swords will be beat into plows. Being in a time of war we can well imagine that hope. When it will no longer be necessary to arm ourselves against brothers and sisters we call enemies. When our technology will be used to create food and shelter and all necessities for the people of the world. What a great day that will be. Like Isaiah, we are a people of Advent waiting for God's kingdom in that way.

But there are also more immediate ways of waiting. The Gospel gives a nice lesson about the need for preparation. I've read this story for years and like so many other times, each reading yields a different way of looking at it. Jesus told his followers that no one knows when and how God will work in the future. He reminds them of the story of Noah and how people in his day were laughing and eating and drinking and living as though they had not a care in the world. They had no idea that the flood was about to happen and were caught unaware and carried off by it. Noah and his family alone were saved because they had listened to God and made an Ark. When the flood came, they were carried to safety -- them and the animals they needed to restock the world.

Once in a while the Discovery Channel or the History Channel will do an episode on finding the Ark. Supposedly it struck land in the Turkish mountains. They give tantalizing circumstantial evidence to substantiate the claim, but positive proof is just beyond reach. There is a segment of the Christian Church that desperately wants to find such proof as though that will validate to a scoffing world that all the claims of the Bible are literally true.

I don't think they'll find it, if you ask me. And I'm not on the side of those who believe the literal truth of Noah's Ark. As I tell the confirmation class, stories don't need to be true to find the truth in them. Searching for the Ark misses the point of the story. It's about being prepared for disaster.

God spoke to Noah and Noah listened. He built what he needed to survive the flood. The other people didn't. That doesn't mean that God didn't tell them, it means that they didn't listen. In the language of the Old Testament, God causes everything good and bad. It's a reward and punishment view of the world, nothing happens by chance. Our world view is different, and that world view was shaped by the events of the New Testament. Jesus told us of God's love for the world and God's care for the world.

God doesn't cause the evil in the world, but transcends it, overcomes it, moves beyond it and helps us to do the same. Disaster hits everyone at one time or another. The flood becomes an illustration of the overwhelming sense of calamity that may occur in our lives. People who have suffered the death of a parent or child, spouse or partner can relate to the power of a flood sweeping them away. Loss of jobs or security such as those lost in this long recession has been devastating to many. The earthquakes in Haiti, the hurricanes in the south and other natural disasters point to the overwhelming power of disaster.

Without trying to sound too apocalyptic, we are all in the path of some unknown disaster. We will all experience, if we haven't already, something devastating. The question comes up, how have we prepared for it? What ark have we built to protect us from the flood?

Last week we had a lovely baptism of a sweet baby girl. I reminded those here that the part of the church where the pews are is called the nave, which is from the Latin meaning "ship." A look at the ceiling is to remind us of the underside of th hull of a ship. The symbol here is that our faith is the ark upon which we are carried to safety when trials or disaster strikes.

We carry insurance for our homes, cars and health, not in a way that makes us afraid to go outside, but in a way that makes us feel reasonably prepared if something happens to anyone of those things. But none of those forms of insurance works for the spirit of a person trying to pick up the pieces of a life that has been disastrously affected. That kind of preparation comes in prayer and faith.

Rose Kennedy was asked what she did each time she received the tragic news that one of her sons had been killed. Her response was that the first thing she did was to go to church. Before she could deal with the shock and grief, she had to pray. Her Ark was built very strong, and she made it through. People who survive great tragedy and horrible living situations often credit prayer with their ability to survive. Scientific tests are conducted these days observing the increase in healing ability among those who profess a faith versus those who claim to have no faith.

Advent as a season of preparation calls us to consider the importance of being spiritually prepared to be in the world, putting on the "armor of light" to use Paul's phrase. Doing so means that we not living in fear that something might happen, but living in faith that when it does, we can handle it and with God's help transcend it, and like Noah, bring with us that which we need to rebuild our world.

Last week the clergy of this district got together for a meeting with Canon Greg Jacobs who is Bishop Beckwith's assistant. His official title is "Canon to the Ordinary." We all get together from time to time to check in with each other, find out what's going on in our churches and our lives and support each other in various ways. We often do a Bible study using the lessons for the upcoming Sunday and it actually helps us prepare for our sermons.

When we read this Gospel we shared different impressions. When it was my turn I was overcome by a devilish smile -- the kind that gave away that I'd thought of something that I found very funny but wasn't sure my colleagues would. Never the less I ventured my impression of the story Jesus told with the people eating and drinking unaware of the flood. God help me, it reminded me of the Three Little Pigs. Building the house of straw and twigs wasn't enough. The wolf blew them both down. But the house of bricks was strong enough. The people eating and drinking that Jesus talked about had built their houses of straw and twigs, but Noah, to complete the musing, had the house of bricks. They teased me for my thoughts but kept coming back to the image I used. Our children's stories are ingrained in us in the ways that the Bible stories were ingrained in generations of people of faith. They speak of truths that reach deep into our understanding and teach us how to prepare for the world in which we live that can sometimes be dangerous and appear cruel.

Advent is about preparing for the feast of Christmas, but in a deeper sense is about being prepared with God's help to be in the world. To live in expectation that no matter what, God will be there for us to see us through the floods of overwhelming circumstance in our lives. As Jesus said, we don't know when these things will happen -- the day or the hour -- but they will come like a thief in the night. When they do, we have the power of God to see us through. And just as the circumstances of our lives come at unexpected times, the strength of God comes at equally unexpected times to save us. Amen.

©2010 St. George's Episcopal Church, Maplewood, NJ

The Baptism of Arden

By The Rev. Bernard W. Poppe, Rector

It's a pleasure to welcome the immediate and extended families of Arden Murphy and their friends to St. George's this morning. It's a special day for several reasons. First, as the psalmist has written, this is the day the Lord has made, therefore let us rejoice and be glad in it.

Second, as the Sunday before Thanksgiving, the St. George's community celebrates the holiday today with a meal in the parish hall following the service. We're a little more relaxed than we will be as the week progresses and before we all go our separate ways it's nice to be together to give thanks.

Third, on the Liturgical calendar this is the last Sunday before Advent, and it has a special name. It's called Christ the King Sunday. The lessons for the day and the music choices focus on the theme of Jesus as Sovereign. More on that later.

Last, but in no way least, we are baptizing a little baby today named Arden Murphy. She was born in August and her parents Jessica and Chris have been coming to St. George's for a couple years, usually at 8 a.m. I believe the realities of nap time have begun to alter your lives a bit and we're seeing you at 10:30 more often. Little bundles create big changes. So here we are, and welcome to one and all.

I must admit that I automatically feel a bit apologetic to those of you who are new or visiting St. George's and that a word of explanation is needed for the choice of readings today. As I said earlier, since it is Christ the King Sunday the lessons are geared to that theme. Normally for baptisms different readings are assigned and some that are much less foreboding and grim. Usually they're happier.

For example, I would not normally have chosen Jeremiah to shout "woe to the shepherds who destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture!" Nor would I have chosen the crucifixion for a happy baby day. But, like so much of life, we take what we're given and see how we can make it work.

Baptism, its symbols and vows bring a person into the church community. Not only the parish of St. George's, but the worldwide community of believers. But Christians are a motley crew with a wide range of beliefs and not always a gracious tolerance for the differences. Never the less, now matter what our creeds or beliefs are, we are united by the person of Jesus. That one life connects us all. We believe that God acted in the world in a unique way, and touched the lives of everyone on the planet in an act of love so profound that it radiates through the centuries and draws people to its light.

Love is that light. The very first act of creation noted in Genesis is when God made the light and said it was good. It's astounding that God so loved the world that he gave his only son, to quote John, that all who believe will have eternal life. Beliefs change and grow over time. They differ from others. Even those who claim to be the most traditional hold onto beliefs that have changed over time. The constant however, is that God loves the world. And God loves Arden. Those two statements are basically what Baptism is about. It's our way of telling her that, and reminding ourselves of the same truth as it applies to us.

In a way baptizing a baby on the feast of Christ the King may be very appropriate. Because without making that simple statement, there would be nothing to baptize her into.

One of the seeming contradictions of Jesus' life is the death of the King in the manner of a criminal. Yet, it demonstrates that sovereignty is not a measure of material or military strength. It's about union with God which transcends all the trappings of this life and goes to the core of our spiritual being. There is much more to us than the body, what we wear and what we eat or how we act and react in the world. At our deepest core is love and how we nurture it and reflect it in the world. That is the spark of God in us.

The crucifixion is a contradiction of what one expects of a King, but it's not a contradiction in the language of love. Parents do what they need to do to protect their children and God does what God needs to do to protect us, even if that means going to the deepest canyons of human fear and cruelty to say I still love you even here.

Jesus between the two thieves becomes a microcosm of the world. There he is between the ones who believe and the ones who don't. Scripture tells us the two on either side of Jesus were thieves. It doesn't say what they stole, but it must have been pretty bad to end up on a cross. All the rest of us may not be thieves of that ilk, but I dare say we all have one or two things that we regret and demonstrate that we are not without sin, to quote a phrase. None of us are going to be throwing any stones. Between each other, people in the world and even within ourselves there is always a tug of war between these two criminals - those who scoff at the power of love and those who depends on it and want to be remembered by it. In our deepest selves this tension exists at one time or another. In the world of contradictions in which we live this tension exists all the time. In business, at school, or in our families, these tensions exist. The good news is that God is there and despite the fallibility of people and even the intention to kill that which is good and loving, the power of God, the power of love cannot be killed and will always rise. That's why it's sovereign. And that's what we tell Arden. It'll be more convincing to her if we believe it. And we're more likely to believe it if we stay close to the source of it -- in prayer and meditation, in song and fellowship. If we practice reflecting God's love in the world through kindness and understanding, justice and generosity. Sometimes it's easier than others, and we may drift, but whenever we get back into the swing of it, we feel better.

The Murphy's are a sailing family. I had prepared a series of sailing metaphors but decided to spare you, metaphors of safe harbors in stormy seas, and stories of Jesus' calming the waves, that sort of thing. But I do want you to look up at the ceiling of this church. The section in which you are seated is called the "nave". It's from the Latin for "ship". If you use your imagination you can see the inside hull of the ship. There are a lot of stories in scriptures about boats and the sea since that was part of their everyday life. I realized I didn't need to come up with sailing metaphors since the most important one is the one we are now gathered in. It is a safe place for Arden to meet Jesus and for all of us to voyage together. We fuss from time to time, but on the whole we play well together. We pray, sing and eat together, and we try our best to reflect the love of God together. So for these things we give thanks, we praise Christ the King, we welcome Arden on board and look out on this wonderful day the Lord has made. Let us rejoice and be glad in it. Amen.

©2010 St. George's Episcopal Church, Maplewood, NJ

Vision and Stewardship

By The Rev. Bernard W. Poppe, Rector

The Book of Proverbs writes, that "without a vision the people perish." It’s a phrase that is quoted a lot in religious circles because it points urgently to the need we have to hope in the future. A vision becomes a goal that is achievable, if not in specifics, then in concept. Institutions will write vision statements based on the direction they hope to go and the spirit in which they want to get there. A mission statement has specific goals, but a vision statement is wider, it takes in dreams and hopes for the future. It encapsulates what the person or institution is trying to build.

Without a vision of the future and the hopeful possibilities it holds, we just plod along in a survival mode on a treadmill with no particular motivation. We become dry and bitter.

Isaiah’s passage contains something akin to a vision statement for the people of Israel who were held in captivity in a foreign land. It holds a vision for how their lives should and will be in the future when they are released from that captivity. In their past, they worked fields and never knew for sure if some marauders would attack at harvest time and leave them without the fruit of their labor. They might be attacked in their towns and driven out, and the attackers take over the homes that they themselves had built. In Isaiah’s vision, none of that would happen. They would be safe and secure in their homeland and live to ripe old ages. More than that, even the animals would live in peace. The wolf and the lamb, the lion and the ox - all living peacefully. The only one who doesn’t share in the bounty of Isaiah’s vision is the serpent. The serpent’s food shall be dust. They never really forgave the serpents for the whole Adam and Eve thing. Not everyone gets to share the vision!

The vision in the Gospel of Luke is not as rosy. It’s triumphal in an important way, but it isn’t without suffering and anxiety. The early Christians faced hard times. When the Gospel of Luke was written approximately 40 years after the events it describes about Jesus, Christians were persecuted by the Romans and the Jewish leadership. Christians didn’t acknowledge the divinity of the Roman Emperor, or the traditional law of the Jews, and they suffered the rejection and persecution of each. The Gospel of Luke wrote the words of Jesus in the context of a church in distress, much like Isaiah wrote to people in the midst of distress. Whereas Isaiah’s words were poetic and blissful, Luke’s were ominous, because it contained their realities. Family members did turn against each other and turn their Christian members in. If one member of a family was a Christian, the whole family could be punished. Rather than face that, family members publicly turned against each other and remained safe that way. The temple was torn down in 67 AD, so the words of Jesus describing a time when even that would happen was seen as the fulfillment of a prophecy, and the hope of another prophecy that the second coming of Jesus was only a short time away. The early Christians held to the hope that Jesus would appear in their lifetime and bring the faithful to heaven. Both visions kept the people they served hopeful and connected to their faith.

Visions can sometimes backfire, however. Paul wrote to the Thessalonians to get after them for being lazy. Paul had done such a good job of convincing them that the second coming of Jesus was so immanent that some took it as a reason to stop working and wait. Why bother getting up for a job you don’t like if Jesus is right around the corner? Ah, don’t worry, be happy. Paul told them to get back to work and stop being a drain on the folks who did work.

Planning for the future and looking ahead with a vision is easy in one sense and difficult in another. It’s easy to dream up a utopian world and hope for a vague someday. It’s quite another thing to set realistic goals that stretch us but not so far that we despair that the dreams will ever happen.

The workers for abolition, or women’s suffrage, civil rights, and now marriage equality had and have a vision for a better world that at times seemed so far away and yet so close to possibility. In each struggle there were victories and set backs. There was optimism and frustration, the motivation to move ahead and the temptation to give up. The vision of each group was aided by the belief that God was at work in the journey toward justice and equality. The inherent value of each person as a child of God give us all a promise that we matter and that we are just as good as the next person and that the rights of one need to be available to all. If we believe that we are equal in the eyes of God, then we need to fight to be equal in the eyes of the law. In order to achieve these visions, sitting idly by isn’t going to help. Great strides have been made and further strides need to happen.

We have a vision here at St. George’s too. We envision a world in which all people are welcome in the eyes of God and each other; that the gifts and talents of each person are valued and celebrated; that we discern God’s call to us individually and as a community and find the faith and courage to live into it. We have a legacy of the work done so ably by those in past generations who have preceded us in this building. We have done a lot of work in this generation and we are making it possible for those who come after us to meet the challenges of their day. Our stewardship of the buildings and resources of St. George’s speak of our faith and how we believe God is calling us to use them. We reach out and we reach in. We reach out to the local and global community with our physical labor and financial contributions. We respond to global and national crisis. We offer food and shelter. We visit the sick and those in prison. We provide for children and families in need. We witness for justice and equality.

Occasionally at Diocesan and other church functions I’ll receive compliments about St. George’s for the work we do here. At first I’m confused because it’s become so second nature here that I assume all churches do what we, and am often surprised to learn that they don’t. We roll up our sleeves and do a lot of work and raise a lot of money and we still enjoy each other’s company doing it. Apparently this is not the case everywhere.

Yet, as wonderful as that is, we cannot be like the Thessalonians and sit on our past successes. There is still a lot to do. We still have a vision of what can be done for families, and children in particular. Providing an environment of faith takes intention and commitment. It doesn’t happen overnight or without work. Our work in the area of stewardship is a witness to that. In each of the stories told by parishioners this year and in years past, the discovery of God in this place emerged and the desire to be actively engaged as a result has gotten expressed in as many ways as there were stories.

One of the prayers in the Baptismal Covenant is that the person baptized has an inquiring and discerning heart, the courage to will and to persevere, a spirit to know and to love God, and the gift of joy and wonder in all God’s works. Stretch in the stewardship of your time, talent and treasure. Engage in the vision of this community in our work and witness to God’s love and live into the baptism of being a disciple of Christ.

Pledges are a personal thing. The stewardship committee and the different levels of church organization often tip toe around the topic hoping not to turn people off or offend. We keep the pledges confidential and it’s important to give that assurance. We will teach about proportionate giving and the tithe. Proportionate giving is taking your salaries or financial resources and deciding on a percentage to pledge to the church. The tithe simply refers to the proportion that is ten percent. Whether before or after taxes is not a conversation we usually get into, except to say that it is up to the individual.

To a newcomer this may seem like a lot, and in a way of speaking it is. But when we look at the growth we’ve received in our lives, it’s generally been after some huge event or huge intentional action. Giving to God’s work in the world is such an intentional action. Your giving may be divided between this church and other places where you feel God’s work is being done. I’ve heard it put that "my money goes where I can’t."

We have a vision for the church that includes an increase in program, involvement of our members and reaching out to people who really want and need to find a spiritual home in which they feel welcomed, challenged and safe. We need to feel the presence of God in our prayer, music and fellowship. That comes from intentional giving, it doesn’t just happen. But we also have a vision for each individual among us. We are at our best when we give outside ourselves. Confidence and generosity are the characteristics of a spiritually healthy person. Fear of scarcity, withdrawing and isolating are signs of trouble. This is a sensitive and touchy area, but one that needs to be looked at in a safe way. We want to grow and be strong physically, spiritually and mentally. It takes intention and commitment. Growth doesn’t happen by chance. Stewardship time is one occasion in which we discuss our need for the contribution of our members to do the ministry that we do here, to keep it going and to help it grow. But it’s also an invitation for each of us to grow individually as well. Our ancestors in the faith overcame amazing odds to spread the Gospel of God’s love and became transformed in the process. We have daunting challenges in our day as well and with their example and the grace of God at our backs, we’ll meet ours as well. Amen.

©2010 St. George's Episcopal Church, Maplewood, NJ

All Saints

By The Rev. Bernard W. Poppe, Rector

This morning we observe one of the main feasts of the Church Year, All Saints Day. The actual day was November 1, which was last Monday. In the days when Christianity was new, there was a practice of placing Christian holidays on or close to Pagan holidays in the hope that they would come to eclipse them - which they did. For example Christmas was placed on the Roman feast of Saturnalia - a day in honor of Saturn, the Roman god of the harvest. It was a time of merriment in which masters and slaves reversed roles for the 3-5 days of its duration. (It's an interesting day to celebrate the Christian God who became human.) Needless to say the strategy worked and while people know Christmas, we have long forgotten Saturnalia.

A case can be made for a similar happening with All Saints Day and the Celtic feast of Samhain. That pre-Christian feast celebrated the harvest and observed the thin line between the living and the dead. When the crops were harvested and the plants which bore them left to die, the cycle of life was celebrated and a feast enjoyed. Gourds were carved to ward off evil spirits and costumes fashioned to mock them. When the Christian Church arrived on the British Isles this feast with its costumes came to celebrate the saints of the Christian year and costumes that mocked death and celebrated Jesus' triumph over death and the victory over demons and the powers of darkness.

However, I think a reverse has happened in the case of All Saints Day. The secular fascination with Hallowe'en has eclipsed the day it was supposed to celebrate. All Hallow's Eve, of the Eve of All Saints has taken on a life of its own, and the holiday it is supposed to herald has been largely forgotten.

Ghosts and Ghouls and all types of monsters, princesses and hobos, boxes of pop corn and cell phone costumes, super heroes and the like, have supplanted the men and women known as saints in the calendar of Christian memory. So it's our task to remember the main feast day of All Saints. We are all saints and over time have come to recognize specific people as examples "of godly living" as the collect says it. Part of what we recognize as "saintly" is the courage of faith convictions to do extraordinary things for the good of others. They carry the message of God's love to different configurations of people over the centuries that the church has existed. They have seen Christ in all persons and served them.

The Episcopal Church inherited the list of saints from the Roman Church, though our relationship to them is slightly different. We honor them for the lives they led and we name our churches after some of them - even the ones that, alas, like Blessed George, are not necessarily historically factual. While we may doubt the historicity of a medieval soldier named George slaying a dragon, we hold to the spiritual truth of men and women who battle amazing odds successfully in living out their faith and accomplishing true miracles in those lives. And some of then are most definitely named George.

Whereas our Roman friends still require stringent background checks and miracles before they dub the name "Saint" on an individual, the Episcopal Church has created a book of saints that includes the actual, the hopefully actual, and even the doubtfully actual saints of old with contemporary saints whose lives model faith and fortitude in larger than life ways.

One such saint is Martin Luther King. Dr. King is responsible for many miracles and is beyond doubt an example of virtuous and godly living.

Some of the youth from this parish gave up a day off from school this past Thursday to go to the New Jersey Food Bank. We got a tour of that very impressive facility which feeds and clothes thousands of people each year. It began in 1975 when a woman named Kathleen DiChiara collected dented cans from supermarkets and gave them out to people in need in the Newark area from the back of her car. Today the project is huge and gathers food from many venues including churches like ours who have food bins and bring them to be distributed.

There is a banner at the Food Bank over the hallway leading into the main storage facility with a quote from Dr. King. It reads: Life's most persistent and urgent question is, What are you doing for others?"

Service is the sign of hope in our world that connects what we believe and what we do about it. Giving service in any fashion to those in need is ministry and proclaiming through action that God loves all people, and that they are blessed. Not blessed in that their circumstances are dire, but blessed in that they are not forgotten by God and they are loved.

The Gospel lesson connected with All Saints Day is the Beatitudes. The list of those who are blessed is among the most beautiful passages in all of the scriptures and they are words of hope for those who seem to be forgotten by the world.

Blessed are the poor, blessed are those who are hungry now, blessed are those who weep, blessed are you when people hate you on account of the Son of Man... We sometimes mistake the word "blessed" with the world "lucky". But that's not what it means at all. It means "consecrated, sacred, holy." Set aside for a particular purpose. And more often that not the purpose is to manifest the love of God, through their actions or in calling forth an action in others.

The service that we do for those in any need, if it comes from our faith conviction that God is reflected in all people and our work honors that, then we are living into our faith. Through our prayers, through our actions, through our contributions, through the welcome we extend to the visitor.

Saints dedicated their lives to service in God's name. They still do. It's so very important that we create service venues for our youth and engage in it ourselves. It takes us out of ourselves in a good way. I guarantee that if you're sad or angry about something, the antidote is service to another person, no matter how seemingly small.

We continue our stewardship campaign today and hope to gather pledges next week for the work and ministry here at St. George's. We are a vital and vibrant presence in Maplewood, in the Diocese of Newark and in the country and beyond. Our service and faith commitment has reached out to people in the Indian Ocean region affected by the 2004 Tsunami, the people in Haiti, South Africa, Mississippi, to name a few. Our voice has been heard in Trenton and Washington. People who have been hurt by religious institutions, families of origin or current families or battered by life's circumstances have found healing here in prayer, music, study and food. Later this morning we'll bless a tricycle given in the memory of Gabriel Batiste who would have been 5 years old last week. When death or loss hits us, we process the healing through giving in a variety of ways. The joy this tricycle will give a child at the Turning Point Community Services Family Shelter, helps his parents Miguel and Suzette and grandmother Yolanda in their healing over his untimely death.

We are saints in a long tradition or those committed to God through Jesus who are inspired to reach beyond ourselves, and in the process become ourselves in a way that is deeper and more fulfilling than we can imagine. By George, there are dragons out there, and by God we'll take them on. Amen.

©2010 St. George's Episcopal Church, Maplewood, NJ