Readings for Epiphany 4C / Annual Meeting:
Luke 4:21-32
January 28, 2007
The Rev. Karen Faye Siegfriedt
St. Jude the Apostle Episcopal Church, Cupertino, CA
Jesus said: “Truly I tell you, no prophet is accepted in the prophet’s hometown.” [Lk. 4]
What is the difference between a priest and a prophet? A prophet does not have a pension fund! Prophets make people feel very uncomfortable because they push people beyond their comfort level to new places of change. Prophets work for God, not for the church. Some priests do become prophets but most of them do not last in their parishes. Today, we hear a prophetic word from Jesus as he preaches in the synagogue. Initially, the people are impressed by his words, his passion, and his hope. But as he continues his sermon, he challenges their complacency. He declares that God’s grace is not limited to their community but extends to the poor, the oppressed, and anyone who is marginalized, regardless of nationality, gender, or race. This is an offense to anyone who has purity codes and prejudices which exclude others. It is into this context that the people of Nazareth move from being amazed at Jesus’ gracious words, to a place of doubt, anger, and attempted mob violence.
When dealing with Jesus, all of us have an opinion about him. Some are moved by his gracious words. Others doubt his incredible gifts of healing or his exceptional relationship with God. Some are so adamantly against all that he represents that they prefer to walk and act in darkness than to humbly submit to his spirit. Where do you find yourself on this spectrum of belief?
What I would like to talk about today is becoming a blessed Church.* A blessed Church is filled with God’s purpose, presence, and power. People in blessed churches experience God rather than merely experiencing church. People may talk about God and serve God, yet their overarching desire is actually to know and experience God in some direct and personal way. People are in a deep spiritual, loving, saving, and healing relationship with God the Creator, Son, and Holy Spirit and embrace Jesus’ prophetic words. In a blessed church, God is not a problem to be solved but rather a purpose, presence, and power for transformation. Let’s take a closer look at today’s gospel from Luke.
Jesus has just finished reading a passage from the prophet Isaiah about the good news of what is in stored for those who have been pushed into the margins of society. He then tells the congregation, “Today, this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.” [Lk. 4] Those in attendance spoke well of him and were amazed at the gracious words that came from his mouth. Jesus then uses two examples from the Hebrew Scriptures about how God had reached out to those outside the Jewish covenantal community to those who were considered “unclean.” This kind of preaching was upsetting because hidden in the hearts of this congregation were attitudes of which they were not yet fully conscious. They wanted Jesus to preach good news to them, but certainly not to those kinds of people.
So, they put him down. They began to question his authority: “Isn’t this Joseph’s son; the son of a simple, uneducated carpenter?’ Why should I believe anything he says? Let us wait and see some cures, some miracles, and then maybe we will be convinced! Jesus’ ministry was resisted. A prophet is usually not accepted in his hometown (and sometimes, neither is a priest). I remember the time when I decided to leave my profession as a chemist and go to seminary. I went back to Boston to tell my family. Seated around the table were my brothers. I was number 4 out of 5. When I told them the news about my desire to become a priest, there was silence, followed by laughter and many jokes. They were surprised, puzzled, and wanted to know if they had to call their little sister, “Father Karen.” I never did try to be their priest. I felt my job was to love them and try to be a good sister.
For most of the people of Nazareth, Jesus remained simply Joseph’s son. He was different from the kind of prophet they were expecting. He challenged the traditional wisdom of the times, pushing them out of their comfort zone. As a result, they tried to kill him early on in his ministry but were unsuccessful. Three years later, they accomplished his demise. But his truth did not die with him. His spirit did not die with him. The good news did not die with him. In fact, his followers keenly felt his presence after his death. This presence is still available today to those who believe and are open to his spirit. We call this presence, resurrection, a core doctrine of the Christian faith.
So where are you in your journey of faith? Do you experience Jesus as simply the son of a carpenter? Is he a prophet that moves you to a different kind of life? Or are you connected to the resurrected Christ, the presence of God, the living water, which makes you grow and thrive and become alive? Where are you in your relationship to Christ?
Becoming a blessed church means to be a church that intentionally tries to awaken people to God’s presence and grace in their midst so that they can connect with Christ more powerfully in their daily lives. “A church of Presence offers a pathway for people to experience the resurrected Christ. It calls them to commitment, prayer, sacrifice, love, and transformation. It teaches people that Christ is among us and in us, but that we cannot intimately encounter Christ unless we adopt practices and lifestyles that allow the life of Christ to grow in us.” An example of what happens when we become alive in Christ is summed up in Paul’s letter to the Colossians: “As God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience. Bear with one another, and if anyone has a complaint against another, forgive each other ... Above all, clothe yourselves with love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called ... Be thankful. And let the word of Christ dwell in your richly. And whatever you do in word or deed, do everything in the name of Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the father through him.” [Colossians 3:12-17]
“Becoming a blessed church means becoming awake, aware, and alive to Christ’s presence in our midst. It means becoming awake to Christ. A blessed church is not content to do merely what has always been done. The people of the church, especially the leaders, deeply believe that Christ is in their midst, guiding, directing, and blessing them. They expect that something wonderful and mystical will happen in worship, meetings, classes, and small groups. They don’t necessarily know what will happen, but they know it will lead to an encounter with Christ.”
“Blessed churches aren’t just awake. They are also aware. They have a mystical awareness that God is present. They experience Christ’s presence in the music, prayers, sermons, meetings, groups, fellowship, ministry, and mission of the church.” As they connect with others in church, they experience those relationships as being in communion with God. As they help another in need, they become aware that they are seeking and serving Christ in that person. When a church becomes awake ... they keep their eyes on Christ. To them, all that matters is that God is present among them and that they must follow where Christ leads.”
Finally, blessed churches are alive to Christ and because they are, Christ is alive in them. When this happens, our lives take on a new character and quality. Jesus becomes the vine and we are the branches, bearing abundant fruit that feeds the world.
In the 21st century, it is hard for mainline churches to become alive to Christ’s presence because so many of the members do not believe that God can be tangibly sensed in their midst. Instead, they focus on God in the heavens, or on the historical Jesus, or become scholars in demythologizing the New Testament. The church then loses its transformative power and becomes stale and irrelevant. But when a church becomes truly alive to Christ’s presence, “people begin to experience blessings in every part of their lives. They continue to struggle. They still may become ill. They still may find themselves unemployed or divorced, or suffer some other form of loss. But something else also happens. They become aware that God is with them, blessing them despite the pain and suffering of their lives. In the midst of suffering they experience faith, hope, and love.”
Our vision is: “St. Jude’s is a spiritual oasis where lives are transformed.” We are beginning to see transformation in the lives of those who congregate with us. But do you know that even more is possible as we open ourselves up to Christ’s presence in all that we do? The possibilities are unlimited. The people of Nazareth were skeptical of Jesus’ power. They doubted that he was truly anointed by the Holy Spirit. Unwilling to move beyond what they already believed and refusing to accept his prophetic teachings and healing grace, the people of Nazareth lost out on the many blessings and miracles that God was doing through him. Let us not make the same mistake.
“Almighty and everlasting God ... mercifully hear the supplications of your people, and in our time grant us your peace; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.” [Today’s Collect, BCP 215]
[* Much of the material in this sermon comes from N. Graham Standish’s book, Becoming a Blessed Church (2005), Alban Institute.]
| Updated 01/31/07 |
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