"Do justice, love kindness, and walk humbly with your God"

By the Rev. Bernard W. Poppe, Rector

The lesson from Micah is a well known passage and quoted often. "What does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness and to walk humbly with your God?"

Micah was a contemporary of the prophet Isaiah. He was a bit younger though and from very different circumstances. Isaiah was very famous and had a prominent role in the court of the King. In his writings it's clear that Isaiah was able to speak to the King whenever he wanted and was also on call if the King wanted to talk to him. Isaiah was in a place of influence and on more than one occasion used it to sway the King's foreign policy.

Micah, on the other hand, was from a small town outside the capital city of Jerusalem and was not a man of position or stature. Since they were contemporaries they wrote about the same events, but what makes their prophecies interesting is the lenses through which they see those events, their causes and the impacts.

Through Isaiah's eyes we see how the King wrestled with the severe issues facing him. The biggest threat was the Assyrian army bearing down on them. It was a perennial threat that spanned the reigns of several kings. Both Isaiah and Micah lived and wrote over the course of those reigns, but through Isaiah's work we can see the complications of political intrigue and the difficult decisions each King faced regarding alliances and actions that would protect them without provoking their much larger neighbor.

Micah, could not have seen the inner workings of the court, but his writings have more of the common touch. He wrote from the perspective of the average person who looks at their leadership with an almost childlike trust and simple hope for solution. Political solutions always seem simple to the people on the outside. But where Micah is not naive is in his experience of the failure of society on the level of the common person.

He could see first hand the effects of injustice -- judges bribed or educated shop keepers taking advantage of uneducated customers. The inequality of power and the abuse of authority is nothing new to the common person for whom it was an every day experience.

I picked up a book recently titled, The Preacher and the Presidents. It's about Billy Graham and how his long career has spanned the presidencies from Harry Truman to Barack Obama. Like many, I don't agree with his theology, but I am also impressed by his ability to be among the inner circle of the presidents of two parties who looked to him as a pastor and adviser. In his work I can see a reflection of Isaiah as one who was close to the seat of power while maintaining the spiritual authority to speak out for or against issues of the day according to his faith and not his politics. Even that got complicated for him and he made some grave errors in judgment, but in terms of an illustration, it's helpful. Part of the book focuses on his relationship and interaction with Martin Luther King, Jr during the civil rights struggle. Two men of faith -- one close to the seat of power and one close to the injustice on the street seeing the solutions from very different lenses and yet their conversations with each other influenced some of the shape of the civil rights struggle.

It's fascinating history and also remarkable how often it's repeated through out history with different issues and different players. Micah and Isaiah also contrasted in their approach to the issues of their day based on the situations in which they lived and the information they had available to them. But where each of them agreed completely was in the need for true religion. Not the same beliefs, mind you, but the integrity of the behavior coming from those beliefs.

Micah watched and wrote about the carful attention to the temple worship -- as did Isaiah. Sometimes it was done perfectly and other times it was not, but both agreed that the worship meant nothing if the same people who attended it still cheated, still accepted bribes, and still abused their authority. Micah was exasperated by what he saw and simply said, "What does the Lord require of you but to do justice, love kindness and walk humbly with your God?"

This lesson is paired with the Gospel lesson we call the Beatitudes. It also is an often quoted part of scripture and lists the ways in which people are blessed by the ways in which they stay in relationship with God. It is a gathering of the promises of God for people who are in need -- those who hunger, those who thirst, those who are poor in spirit, meek, those who mourn, the pure in heart and the peacemakers. They are blessed not because they are lucky, certainly, but because God's love and grace will touch and heal them. They are blessed because they are not forgotten or forsaken. God comes to us in our times of need, and that is God's promise.

Friday and Saturday of this weekend was the annual convention of the Diocese of Newark. The theme of this convention was "Stepping Out in Audacious Faith." There are over a hundred churches in this Diocese of Newark which covers the geographical region of the top third of the state of New Jersey. Each year, the last weekend of January delegations from each church meet to take care of the business of the Diocese, such as passing a budget and voting on resolutions that impact the common lives of the churches. There's singing, eating, haggling, voting, witnessing and celebrating in varying degrees and with varying outcomes.

I have to pause here to recognize our delegates Tom Savoth, Cheryl Notari and Valyrie Laedlein. And also recognize our members who serve on the staff of the Diocese -- Michael Francaviglia, Nina Nicholson and Diane Sammons. Other members serve on Diocesan committees -- Lindsay McHugh, Martha Gardner, Aleeda Crawley, Susan Chrystal and myself. St. George's is well represented and we're proud of you all!

The guest speaker was Bishop Julio Murry from the Diocese of Panama. There has been a program within the National Church for many years called Companion Dioceses which pairs a Diocese in the US with other Dioceses outside the US especially among those in developing countries. Panama is our companion Diocese and through Bishop Murray we learned about the issues they face, particularly among the poor and struggling of that country. Missions trips will be planned and I hope that St. Georgians will be available to participate and take advantage of the opportunities such a relationship will bring. Adults and youth from this diocese who have been gave witness to their trips and told how life changing they were. How abstract issues that we hear in the news become real. For a young person to say he'd heard about the poor in school or the news and different it is to be in a place that is so poor and talk with other youth whose lives are very different from theirs. What became even more profound was not the comparisons of who has what, but the faith that sustains them in the challenges that each face. Our circumstances are very different, but our reliance on God is the same. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called children of God.

We saw filmed accounts of churches in this diocese who have addressed the needs of their communities in some really creative ways. Some starting worship services for autistic children and other special needs, some creating soup kitchens, and others allowing people from the town to grow vegetables on unused church property that is used in the soup kitchens. Blessed are those who hunger for they shall be filled.

Conventions are a lot of work and very tiring. But they are a good time to see God working in this part of the state by the Episcopal church. We are a small denomination and as the Bishop said in an address, many people don't even know who we are, let alone how to spell our name. But we have a lens through which we see God and it's a good one and God calls us all, no matter who we are or where we are and shows us ministries that only we can do. The task of each church community is to discern, that is figure out, what that ministry is.

St. George's has had a long history of witnessing to social justice. From women's rights to advocacy for the homeless, co-founding shelters and gathering food and necessities for mothers and children, witnessing for marriage equality and much more. We've been a teaching parish hosting field education students from local seminaries and preparing them for ministry in many other places. We are a healing parish. Through prayer and anointing, welcome and fellowship, we heal those who have been hurt by other churches or injured by life's tragedies. We offer God's healing in prayer and witness that all people are loved by God. Our ministry is important to us and it grows and changes through out the years, but what remains the same is the desire to bring integrity to our worship through the love it inspires us to show each other and reflect in the world. Often we get it right, sometimes we fall short, but we are blessed in what we try to do when we keep in mind that all that God really requires of us is to do justice, love kindness, and walk humbly with God. Amen.

© 2011 St. George's Episcopal Church, Maplewood, NJ

"Before I formed you in the womb, I appointed you."

By The Rev. Bernard W. Poppe, Rector

Jeremiah tried to get out of it. The word of the Lord came to him quite clearly and gave him a vision of the ministry to which he had been called. Not only called, but created for. "Before I formed you in the womb, I appointed you a prophet to the nations..." It was really a foregone conclusion, but Jeremiah did give it his best shot. "Ah, Lord God! Truly I do not know how to speak for I am only a boy."

God wasn’t falling for that and had no intention of letting Jeremiah off the hook. "To whom I send you, you will go." And he went, and did what he was made to do. Jeremiah had a difficult ministry of being a prophet. He had to say many unpopular things and often got into trouble for holding the leadership of his day accountable for the problems they were facing. He would chastise the leaders, sometimes the people, but when things got really bad, he would give them hope as well.

During the State of the Union address by the President last Wednesday, there was a bit of the Jeremiah story being acted out. Many of the struggles we’re having today in terms of the economy and wars were long in the making, and there is collective responsibility for a generation of bad decisions. But in the address there were bold statements aimed at clearing up the smoke and mirrors of blame and inaction. At this point blame for the past serves no purpose, but direction and responsibility will serve us well.

For those of Jeremiah’s time, the leaders and people did not heed his words and suffered an even greater fate. When even the worst of his warnings came to pass, Jeremiah changed to words of hope. Prophets do not only give predictions of doom, they give words of inspiration and hope and in the times of deepest pain. They remind us that God is still near, and that despite the messes we can get ourselves into, the love of God, finding root in our hearts and actions can bring a turn around.

I’ve often heard it said that if you’re feeling down about your struggles and get stuck in self pitying, help another person. It’s the best medicine for anger or depression. Perhaps that’s why the world has responded so quickly and generously to the people of Haiti. No prophet could have predicted that earthquake, but it is a prophetic voice which rallies hope. The world has shown an amazing degree of compassion and good will. Similar to that shown when the Tsunami hit or when the Twin Towers fell, or Hurricane Katrina destroyed so much. The voice of the prophet says we will not be defeated, and that with God’s help we will be restored.

That’s what happened to the people of Israel. That’s what is happening to the places around the world in their periods of devastation. It won’t happen quickly, but it will happen.

Jeremiah did the work he was called to do. He didn’t choose it, but he accepted it because he was uniquely able to give the message he gave.

I often admire, if not envy Jeremiah in this passage. I do not envy the task he was given, mind you. I envy the clarity with which he received his call. It would be very nice to hear God’s voice clearly tell me what I was formed in the womb to do. At some times in my life it’s felt like I was stumbling in the dark, making decisions and second guessing them almost immediately. In hindsight they seemed to be just the right ones - mostly. A few I could have done without, but on the whole I think I heard God’s call and responded.

Sometimes I feel a call to do something and in my prayer tell God all the reasons I can’t do them. I can no longer say I’m too young, but now I can perhaps say I’m too old. But then Abraham got his call when he was 100 years old, so that won’t work. God plays by different rules. God does call us to do what we were born to do and while that may not always be crystal clear, there are certain aspects that cannot be denied. We are called to love one another. To be fair. To help and at the very least, not to hurt. We are called to be good, to be just, to live in humility. After that our own interests and passions will fill in the gaps, but essentially we are called to be in relationship with each other consistent with the love of God.

In the Gospel lesson Jesus begins his ministry on a tough note. In the 4th chapter of Luke that we read Jesus is making his first teaching appearance in his home synagogue. Everyone is pleased and waiting to hear nice things. It’s the same way we at St. George’s felt when Chris Carroll, Chris McCloud, Debbie Venezia, Bill Albinger, Margie Tuttle and Bambie Koeniger all took to this pulpit for the first time after being sponsored for ordination. For those of you who were present for those occasions, remember the pride we felt as each ascended these steps. The anticipation of their first sermons and how happy we all expected to be. The same is true, I suspect, for Jesus and the good people of his synagogue. Well, unlike each of our ordinands who did stellar jobs in the pulpit, Jesus blew it. He came across a bit arrogant and so offended the people that they took him to a cliff to throw him off. Now that’s bad. But he said what was on his mind and he never stopped. He still hasn’t, he still says things in times of our prayer that make us uncomfortable. But God’s call isn’t always warm and fuzzy. It’s more often uncomfortable, inconvenient, and seemingly impossible. There are many reasons not to accept God’s call and yet when we do, we are amazed by the results. God calls us to extraordinary ministry and stays with us.

This weekend held the annual convention of the Diocese of Newark. For those of you who are not very familiar with the Episcopal Church, the American Episcopal Church is divided into regions often along state boundaries into segments called Dioceses. The state of New Jersey was originally one Diocese called the Diocese of New Jersey, but when it got administratively too large by the number of churches, it was necessary to divide it. The top third of the state became the Diocese of Newark. We have in this Diocese 108 churches and like all the other American Dioceses we gather once a year to share our common vision for the ministry we believe God is calling us into. While churches operate individually, we also share resources and programs and support the ministry of the Bishop. At convention we debate and vote on resolutions that speak of the values and goals that we can work on together.

The Convention began on Friday with a Eucharist in the newly refurbished Trinity and St. Philip’s Cathedral on Broad Street. The preacher for that day was the Bishop of our neighboring Diocese of New Jersey, Bishop George Councell, who set a wonderful tone with stories and images of faith. The business of the convention was to vote on resolutions which cover contemporary issues of justice, administrative needs of our Diocese, the Budget, and electing people to serve on Diocesan boards and committees.

St. George’s, I’m proud to say, is well represented on the Diocesan level by Michael Francaviglia as Diocesan Administrator, Diane Sammons as Chancellor, Nina Nicholson as Communications Officer and Martha Gardner as representative to Jubilee ministries. We also have several others who serve on committees.

Bishop Beckwith has framed our conversations using four core values that were identified in years past as Worship, Spiritual Formation, Justice/Non-Violence, and Radical Hospitality. These core values led to the creation of a mission statement for the Diocese which is "Equipping congregations, Empowering people, Engaging the world, with the hope and Justice of Jesus."

We heard a lot of reports and debated various issues. The Diocesan website will cover these in detail, but suffice it to say the roughly 500 people gathered at the Robert Treat Hotel for this convention - clergy and elected delegates from each church - take their call seriously to work together in ministry. We are know nationally as a progressive Diocese among some and a radical Diocese by others. We have long led the nation in debates of women’s ordination and human sexuality to where now as much of the country gets combatant about these issues, we shrug as though they are non-issues. After all we debated them 20 years ago and have lived into a ministry others see as radical. To us it seems normal. We now have resolutions looking at issues like human trafficking - virtual and actual slavery in countries including the US where mostly women are kept against their will for slave labor or sex. We voted to study this more and raise awareness to this horrible practice, as well as looking at what’s called the "stained glass ceiling" in disparities among salaries and limitations faced by women clergy. We heard many reports requested by past conventions, including one by Episcopal Relief and Development which does so much to aid disaster victims around the world and now focusing on Haiti. (Martha Gardner will be leading a forum on this very subject after church today in the parish hall.)

The need we face in this world can be overwhelming and crushing. For those with out faith, they can only fall into despair and paralysis. As Christians and people of faith, we believe that God is bigger than any of the problems we face and that together we can transcend them and bring God’s love and hope into a world that sorely needs it. We are made and designed to do just that. From the womb each of us is called to enter the world as God’s unique messengers delivering God’s word in ways that only we can. Like Jeremiah we may demure, and like Jesus we may get in trouble for it, but we have to. For to whom God sends us we will go. Sooner or later, we will go.

In Paul’s famous letter to the Corinthians he describes love as being patient and kind, not envious or boastful and rejoices in the truth. We don’t always see clearly now, but someday we will and in the end, after all is said and done, there will be three things - faith hope and love, the greatest of which is love.

It’s that love we embrace for ourselves, that love we bring to each other, and that love that heals a broken world one person at a time. We are not too young or too old to respond to the call to love. We are called just as we are, wherever we are to carry God’s message of love. Amen.

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