#proper 15c

We really don’t like the idea of Jesus bringing division. But we like what he actually means by it even less. Photo by cottonbro Jesus gives us a vision of hopeProper 15C  |  Luke 12:49-56 What is going on with Jesus? He’s talking about fire, swords, dividing families. It is hard to not get nervous here. Because non this sounds like the Jesus we know. And I want to emphasize this: we know…

The heart of this week’s gospel is Peter’s desire for clarity. But Jesus reveals that Peter wanted something else. Photo by Alan Cabello For SundayProper 15C Collect Almighty God, you have given your only Son to be for us a sacrifice for sin, and also an example of godly life: Give us grace to receive thankfully the fruits of his redeeming work, and to follow daily in the blessed steps of his…

A look at the gaps in the lectionary.

This week: the gap between Proper 15C and Proper 16C.

After several troubling passages and challenging preaching opportunities, Proper 16C will give us something positive to preach on. That is, as always, if we’re avoiding our context. Or dwelling on what it means for Jesus to be flouting Sabbath law.

But there is such provocative material…

Jesus decries our reluctance to see what’s wrong with our world. Not because we can’t see it. But because we refuse to do what we need to do.

Jesus and the gathering storm clouds Proper 15C | Luke 12:49-56

Photo by Moritz Böing from Pexels

Jesus just opened up a can, didn’t he?

And what is supposed to happen next goes one of two ways.

The easy way

The hard way

And the easy way…

A look at the gaps in the lectionary.

This week: the gap between Proper 14C and Proper 15C.

Photo by Bithin raj from Pexels

I’ll be honest. The lectionary skipping over this text is a pretty solid move. It is bleak. And not just a little bit ripe for confusion.

Through the twelfth chapter, Luke has been committed to keeping it real with his disciples. Beware of the Pharisees. Your…

“Do you think that I have come to bring peace to the earth? No, I tell you, but rather division!”

As much as I don’t want to preach on this gospel today, I fear for the thousands of churches and church goers who will wrestle with such a tricky and troubling passage. And how many more will be told from the pulpit that they, or someone they love is going to hell.

[bctt tweet=”Maybe it’s all that…

Proper 15C Sermon

August 18, 2013

The Rev. Anne Lane Witt

Immanuel Episcopal Church

  Isaiah 5:1-7

Psalm 80:1-2, 8-18

Hebrews 11:29-12:2

Luke 12:49-56

  Almighty God, you have given your only Son to be for us a sacrifice for sin, and also an example of godly life: Give us grace to receive thankfully the fruits of his redeeming work, and to follow daily in the blessed steps of his most holy life; through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

In last week’s gospel, we heard Jesus tell the disciples and us, “Do not be afraid.”  In this week’s gospel, we are dealing with stress.  Over the past few years since I went to seminary, I have heard people encouraging each other to calm down, in a variety of ways.  Some of these are more polite than others.  Many of my seminary classmates would, in a well-intentioned manner, quote Julian of Norwich, an English mystic who lived from the mid-14th century until the early 15th century.  Perhaps you’ve heard the quote: “All shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of thing shall be well.”  Sometimes this brings great comfort; other times, it seems to work about as well as trying to baptize a cat.  By immersion.  Ouch.

  When we’re feeling stressed, it is a very real feeling, and it has real effects.  It sharpens some instincts while dulling others, often blurring our focus on that which is usually of at least some importance to us.  As a movie once said, “Everybody’s life has got static[,]” and that static can keep us from getting a true signal as to what our mission is, what we’d really prefer to be doing instead of handling, well, stress.  Furthermore, the noise from the static often adds to the stress since it grates on our nerves, eroding our patience and reducing our calmness.

    Think of Martha as she worked to show hospitality to Jesus.  Her nerves got frazzled, and she snapped because her sister wasn’t in the kitchen helping her.  And she forgot what her true goal was: to be with Jesus, to share his company.  Like Martha, when we get stressed, we could have the perfect raw materials and situations to form something wonderful, but they are not properly utilized because we cannot fully assess their value.

    Stress is a very real part of our human existence, and it will not always be possible to reduce or eliminate it from our lives.  It can separate us from our fundamental identity as God’s beloved, and it can also keep us from recognizing that common identity in our neighbors.  Stress, simply put, happens, and its effects are far-reaching.

    One of my favorite preaching-helps sites, called Working Preacher, had two articles on stress as it relates to our gospel reading.  In these articles, the authors reminded the readers that Jesus came to earth to fully comprehend our human condition so that we know we truly have an advocate with God the Father.  In his time walking this earth, Jesus experienced the full gamut of human emotions and conditions: love, anger, joy, pain, fear, and yes, stress, to name but a few.  But he came to help us remember who we are and to see that commonality in others.  He came to re-member, to put back together, the flock.  This wasn’t an easy mission, nor did it meet with popular approval.  For one thing, identity was determined then—and still is, to a certain extent—by who your people were.  What kind of family do you come from?  Who is your tribe?  As some of us might say, who’s your daddy?  Jesus was up against a lot, and being human, he got stressed. 

    Today’s readings are no picnic for preachers.  In the gospel, Jesus tells the disciples that he’s feeling stressed out.  He’s been teaching them about building God’s kingdom, one unlike earthly kingdoms, and he’s dealing with a lot of humans who are distracted by other things, missing the point of love.  Jesus goes on to say that people are doing a better job of interpreting the signs of oncoming weather than they are picking up on the inbreaking of the kingdom of God.  They know how to pay attention to signs; why are they missing God’s signs?  Why, like the vineyard in our reading from Isaiah, are they not producing the good fruit when the tools are all there?

    Personally, I’m thankful to be reminded of Jesus’ feeling stressed in this passage.  I can only imagine how he was feeling at that particular point, drawing closer by the day to his crucifixion and still trying to carry out his mission.  I feel better knowing that Jesus experienced frustration and pressure while he was on earth because that means he better understands my responses to these very things.  He doesn’t brush off our stressors as insignificant; instead, he takes them very seriously.  At times of extreme pressure, we have an option to help reduce the static that reduces the clarity of the signs and signals around us.

    If we get too mired in the weeds, we can miss the crops, sometimes pulling the good plants with the bad.  The static from our stress grows like weeds if we aren’t careful.  But if we take some time to reduce the static, then we can see more clearly what’s in front of us.  One way to do this is to share our burdens with God through prayer, naming what’s causing the stress and asking for help.  In this, we are able to reconnect with our identity as God’s beloved, knowing once more that God loves us beyond measure and that it is God’s good pleasure to give us his kingdom.  We can pray for others, reconnecting ourselves with them in the midst of disconnecting stress.  We can also do something good for others, physically reconnecting ourselves with one another.  This has been shown to reduce stress.  It gets us out of our own weeds and back into observing what is happening in the world.  We can get back to observing the signs and to building the kingdom here on earth.

    In being connected, we run the race of life supporting and supported by the cloud of witnesses of the communion of saints.  We are not alone.

In tomorrow’s gospel from Luke (12:49-56), we get a most striking vision of a pissed off Jesus complaining about His burdens and claiming (in my 21st Century voice)

You think I’m the bringer of peace! Idiots! I bring conflict!

It is a hard enough gospel…