Sermons from the Episcopal Church of the Redeemer

Not long ago, in a spiritual direction session, My companion and I spoke about the relinquishing of baggage. Letting baggage go to give space to my future self. Placing that baggage at the feet of Jesus. Placing that baggage on the altar as a sacrifice of a part of myself to God. Like a good and proper Gestalt pupil, I spoke to the future, my future self. It is a self that is not completely known. It is a self, fraught with uncertainty. But it is a self, pregnant with possibilities. Great possibilities, Holy possibilities, Spirit-infused possibilities. I don't remember exactly what I said to my future self. I do remember speaking about my fear of the unknown. A fear so great. I was dragging my feet. Sometimes I wanted to pick up my baggage and return to the place that I knew well.

Your salvation is not about you. It is about God. Now maybe you're not wealthy. Maybe money is not the issue for you. I invite you to close your eyes for a second and think. Like think about what are the things that you lean on to make sure you know that you're okay. What are they? Probably is money for a lot of us. You can open your eyes when you want. I grew up, um, I didn't grow up very much. I grew up short. Um, I was, I was, I was always the shortest kid in my class, um, I was never very athletic, I was never like, like one of the cool kids in that way, right? But I could talk myself into and out of anything. And I find myself even now trying to talk myself into and out of my own salvation. That's the way that I, that's the way that I know that I'm okay. So when I actually practice silent prayer, and I learn to shut up. God shows up and reminds me, I'm not talking my way into heaven. Heaven is showing up in my heart and in my life, if only I have eyes to see it and am willing to acknowledge my need for God.

We all know that divorce happens. It happens to married people. It happens to siblings. It happens to friends, and neighbors, and communities. It even happens to countries. Divorce, or the act of separating ourselves from one another, is the result of human error in understanding God's intentions for humanity. Divorce is a common response to our amnesia (or defiance) of the reality that human beings were made for relationship and that we actually need one another. We always have. You know who knows this? Children.

In the business world I lived in, When someone said the left hand doesn't know what the right hand is doing, that was not a good thing. That was talking about things falling apart pretty quickly. But here I believe Jesus is speaking with hyperbole, delivering a powerful message for us. To give our attention to whatever we are doing. What our hands are doing. Where our feet are carrying us. What our eyes are focused on. To be awake within ourselves and in our interactions with others. To not fall into or be in default ways of being that set up stumbling blocks for others, and that do not follow Jesus path of love. The path is made by walking. Walking makes the path. Sometimes it's clear when we're starting a new path. Choosing a new school, a new work position, retirement, sabbatical, being in a committed relationship, suffering, suffering a, a deep loss. New experiences with some direction to them. Sometimes they are anticipated, they are thought through over time, and sometimes they happen spontaneously.

In his arms, he holds an infant, and he says, "Be like this." Innocent, and dependent upon one another, unstained by the world; and open to being formed. Be like this. Curious seekers with BIG emotions. Be creative and adaptable; imitating me. Someone you can trust. Welcome the vulnerable into your midst, and be like them. For the leader among you is like the one who serves. There is a reason why, in the Gospels, Jesus implores his believers, his followers to be like little children. Born anew to a living hope.