EPIPHANY 3B – Jonah 3:1-5; Psalm 62:6-14; 1 Corinthians 7:29-31; Mark 1:14-20 –
22 January 2012 – A sermon given by The Rev. Peter A. Munson for St. Ambrose Episcopal Church, Boulder, Colorado

God Is Calling You

INTRODUCTION – “I WANT YOU”

In 1916 a man named James Montgomery Flagg created what would become one of the most famous posters in modern history. It was a picture of Uncle Sam pointing straight ahead and the words read, “I Want You for U.S. Army.” Four million copies of the poster were printed between 1917 and 1918, as the U.S. entered World War I, and the poster was so popular that it was adapted for use in World War II, also. (“I Want You for the U.S. Navy” was one variation.) Not only that, you can now go on Amazon and buy a copy of it today.

Many men and women in our country have seen that poster, heard the call, and served our country in courageous and sacrificial ways.

SITUATION – God is calling you as God has called those before us

But there is still a more urgent and more prominent call upon your life and mine. It is Yahweh calling, Jesus calling, the Holy Spirit calling, and the poster looks like this. (Hold up a Bible) The poster contains the words you hear from God when you are praying and you hear that still, small voice, definitely nudging you to do something. The poster looks like the intersection of your deepest passions and something that God needs done in the world – something that benefits other people, or the planet as a whole.

Jonah heard that call. And at first he didn’t want to go to the Assyrian city of Nineveh and “cry out against it”, so he ran away from God, boarded a ship, and a great storm came up. Perhaps you remember the rest of the story. When Jonah was on dry land again, God called Jonah a second time, again telling him to go to Nineveh. And this time he went.

Simon and Andrew and James and John, all fishermen, were approached by Jesus at the very beginning of his ministry. Jesus hadn’t done anything amazing yet, but when Jesus said “Follow me and I will make you fish for people,” they went. In fact, James and John left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired men as they were mending the nets.

In the same way, God is calling you and me, too.

God is calling us to notice the poor – both those nearby and those far away – and respond in love.

God is calling us to share the good news that – with the coming of Christ – the kingdom of God is at hand.

God is calling us to maturity in our faith, where we are no longer “tossed to and fro and blown about by every wind of doctrine” (Ephesians 4:14), so that we can become people who speak the truth in love and grow up into Christ – i.e., become Christ to others in the world.

In sum, we are being called to become dedicated followers of Jesus. We are being called to become willing apostles – those who are sent out by God to continue proclaiming Jesus’ message of love, forgiveness, and reconciliation. But even more than that, we are to do the things that Jesus did: bring healing, teach, love and forgive our enemies, help others experience the living God, help others discover that they cannot heal and become full human beings without the presence of God in their lives.

COMPLICATION – The calling often comes with challenges

In case you didn’t catch it in the readings, this calling from God often comes with challenges. Jonah was called to preach to the Assyrians, a people who had treated Israel brutally in the past. He doesn’t exactly want to see God give them a chance to repent and be forgiven, and when they do repent, Jonah is not a happy camper.

And James and John leaving their father Zebedee in the boat is not an exceptional story. When Jesus calls you and me, we are called to develop our own relationship with God, and sometimes that puts us at odds even with the members of our own family, or our close friends. Just think of some of the interactions Jesus had with his mother… some of the interactions that he had with his disciples, especially when they didn’t want him to go to Jerusalem, didn’t want him to choose the path of a suffering Messiah.

Yes, the call of God for your life may not always be what you would have chosen for yourself. The call of God for your life will mean leaving your parents behind in some way. The call of God for your life may mean leaving your “comfortable culture” behind – this American culture, the family patterns that were comfortable for you growing up, or even the culture that you came to know and love in the Church.

Paul said to the Corinthians – because he believed the Second Coming of Christ was imminent – that they shouldn’t get too attached to the present circumstances of their lives. “For the present form of this world is passing away.” (1 Corinthians 7:31) But with the rate of speed at which the world is changing today, isn’t this now always true?

God calls you and me when the present form of this world is passing away.

GOOD NEWS – God is at hand, and God is what we need most

But there is great news for us – to go along with the often-challenging call of God. And today it is found in Psalm 62.

For you see, in the midst of a world that is passing away, in the midst of God calling us to do some things that we are not even sure we can do, God is with us. God is with us to love us and guide us and encourage us and even to give us honor and safety and a stronghold… when it seems like all of the ground around us is shaking.

Did you hear the words of the Psalmist?

“For God alone my soul in silence waits; truly, my hope is in him.” (Psalm 62:6, The Book of Common Prayer)

He alone is our rock… our salvation… our stronghold… our safety… our honor… our refuge… our guide… our power – and the One who loves us steadfastly, in a way that no one else on this earth can love us.

Are you feeling the least bit scared – or a lot scared! – about the call of God upon your life? “Put your trust in him always, O people, pour out your hearts before him, for God is our refuge.” (Psalm 62:9, The Book of Common Prayer)

NEW BEHAVIOR

How is Jesus calling you today? If you are not sure, read your Bible. Pray. Listen to the faithful voices of those around you, for the call might come through them. And pay attention to what is going on in the world, especially to those who don’t seem to have much of a voice.

For Jesus is calling you. Jesus is calling you because He sees something special in you, and has faith in you… in the very same way that he saw something special in Simon, Andrew, James, and John… in the very same way that he had faith in them. They were ordinary people – just like you and me – who were capable of doing extraordinary things when they remembered that God was with them, and that the Holy Spirit was their source of power.

Yes, God is calling you. He is not pointing a finger or wearing a white top hat with a blue stripe and a white star. But you know what? Though millions of copies of that Uncle Sam poster have been printed, the Bible is the number one selling book of all time. There is a reason. People know, deep down, that they need God in their life – for so many reasons. And despite the challenges that may come with the job, people want to respond to the call of God. I do. Don’t you?

Jesus says to us again today: Follow me, and I will make you fish for people.

Let’s follow him, no matter what the cost may be.

EPIPHANY 1B – Genesis 1:1-5; Psalm 29; Acts 19:1-7; Mark 1:4-11 – 8 January 2012 – A sermon given by The Rev. Peter A. Munson for St. Ambrose Episcopal Church, Boulder, Colorado

Overwhelmed with God

INTRODUCTION – Life can be overwhelming; baptism = overwhelm

Life can be overwhelming. It can be overwhelming in a good way, as when we get married, or see a child being born… when we accomplish something significant after a period of extended dedication, or when we witness something so beautiful in nature or see someone do something so loving that we are overcome with emotion.

Life can also be overwhelming in a frustrating or sad way, too, as when a loved one dies, or we first hear of the diagnosis that we don’t want any part of, or we go through something that involves severe physical pain, or a relationship ends or shifts and there is intense emotional pain.

Today, the first Sunday in Epiphany, we always hear the story of Jesus’ baptism. The root meaning of the word ‘baptism’ is ‘to be overwhelmed” – in this case, overwhelmed in the sense of going under the water… the water coming over you and surrounding you and taking away your breath, and – for some moments, at least – giving you a sense of unpredictability and fear and even – oh, my God! – what would it be like to never breathe again… what would it be like to drown right here in this water… what would it be like to die? If you have ever surfed or body-surfed and gotten hit in just the wrong way by a wave and tumbled over and over and you weren’t sure for a while which way was up, or if or when you were going to pop back up to the surface – and breathe sweet air again! – if you’ve ever experienced that, then you know something about what baptism is really about. It’s overwhelming.

And, in fact, it’s meant to symbolize both a dying and a coming up out of the water to a whole new life. The dying is to a prior way of life that was without God, and I would say that life without God is d-e-a-t-h. When the early Christians were baptized and they came out of the water and went up on the river bank, usually on the opposite side of the river from where they had entered, and were given new white garments to put on – garments that symbolized victory… victory over death and new life with Christ… there was a very real sense that you had died to that old life of wandering around without God, and you had been given not just a whole new lease on life, but a whole new life!

What I also know to be true about baptisms is that the witnesses are often overwhelmed, too. The parents, the grandparents – and maybe just folks like you and I who are not related to the person being baptized – become overwhelmed and overcome with emotion, because we know that something big is happening, something truly wonderful is happening, and that God and the Holy Spirit are indeed descending not only on the person being baptized, but on us, too. It’s the same feeling of overwhelm that often happens at a wedding or at a graduation or at an ordination or at a 50th anniversary celebration or at a funeral. We are reminded that God is indeed with us – the Holy Spirit is powerfully present – and we are overwhelmed… overwhelmed by God, really. You might it call it being overwhelmed with God.

So what I want us to remember today is that our Christian life – our eternal life-long journey with God – began with being overwhelmed. That’s important.

SITUATION – Life’s overwhelming moments

That’s important because as we go through life, we continue to experience significant life events where we are overwhelmed. We are either overwhelmed with how amazing and awesome and unspeakably beautiful life can be, or we are overwhelmed with how brutal and painful life can be.

As I alluded to earlier, one day we are seeing a child being born and we are rendered mute. All we can do is cry our eyes out and hug our spouse, and then latch on to that new-born babe like we are never going to let go. And then – 18 years later or so – that same person is heading off to college to find their calling, their path, and their great love – and you are crying your eyes out for a very different reason. But what’s true is that you are overwhelmed.

Or you’ve just heard that your parent or your child or your spouse or your best friend – someone very close to you, or you yourself – have cancer. And maybe you’ll make some adjustments and accept it or take on the challenge in a few days or weeks or months, but in that first hearing you are mostly just shocked and overwhelmed, and even though – on a head level – you know that people get diagnosed with cancer every day, you just keep muttering, “I can’t believe it! This doesn’t seem real!”

COMPLICATION – What are our options?

What are our options, in such moments of overwhelm? I suppose it is somewhat easier in the moments of overwhelm that are about pure joy. We want it to share the good news with someone, and that usually occurs afterwards. But in the moment itself – as the child is being born, as the child is being baptized or getting married, as you are bowled over by that sunrise or by the story of love and sacrifice that someone is telling you, you simply feel it. You let the feelings come and flow up and out and over, and so you cry or shake or scream or laugh, or maybe you do all of those things in a few seconds’ time. And after you’ve lived on this earth long enough, you don’t even apologize anymore, because you know it’s not something to apologize for. It’s just life and how amazing and beautiful life can be, and you know – deep down – that’s there’s absolutely nothing to apologize for. You think to yourself, “I am having an emotion, a God-given emotion, because I am a human being and I have a heart and a spirit and a body, and life gets to me sometimes.” And that’s a good thing – a really good thing!

And what about the times when you and I are overwhelmed with the hard stuff of life… with the bad news? Well… then we really see the different choices that we make as human beings, don’t we? Sometimes we want to go somewhere and hole up and hide, and that’s what we do. Sometimes we are mainly feeling anger – anger about having so little control – and we express that anger in some way. Sometimes the main thing we are feeling is fear – fear of not knowing what to do, and fear of what the future might hold. And sometimes, the moment we begin to feel afraid we stuff that feeling down, and just try to “buck up” and move on. We try to ignore the big feelings… the feelings of overwhelm… and we just decide we are going to try harder to make our lives work, and it’s as if we’re hoisting a backpack that is twice as heavy as the one we were carrying before the terrible news arrived, and – by God – I’m sure not going to ask anyone else for help, because – you know how it is: I can make it in this world by myself! These are all options, but perhaps, if we stop and take stock, we can admit to ourselves that some of them are healthier than others.

GOOD NEWS

Here’s a suggestion when the stuff of life is overwhelming you, when you are just like the Psalmist in Psalm 69, who writes: “Save me, O God, for the waters have come up to my neck. I sink in deep mire, where there is no foothold; I have come into deep waters, and the flood sweeps over me.” (Psalm 69:1-2)

Here’s a suggestion: Remember the beginning of your Christian life. Remember your baptism. Remember the waters coming not only up to your neck, but being poured over your head, and overwhelming you. And here’s the most important part of remembering your baptism: Remember that God was with you in that moment of overwhelm… AND called you his beloved child! The same Lord God promises to be with you always – anytime, anywhere, in any situation, no matter what. And that – by definition – means that He is with you in all times of overwhelm.

You might even say that – in these moments of overwhelm – God has us right where he wants us. Because in these moments, we may very well be so overwhelmed that we fall to our knees and cry out to the Lord, “Save me, O God, for the waters have come up to my neck… and the flood sweeps over me!” In these moments we remember that in fact we need help – BIG HELP! We need more than our own strength and power. We need God’s strength; we need God’s power. We need God to be with us – in the very midst of our sense of overwhelm – to carry us over to the other side. We need God to be with us and remind us that He has already won the victory, and that – for us, too – the victory has already been won. And that what we need to do, more than anything else during these times, is to be reliant on Him, trusting that He will be our boat in the storm.

CONCLUSION
Feeling overwhelmed today? Or were you feeling overwhelming recently? You know what? That’s not necessarily a bad thing, especially when we remember that our whole life with God began with being overwhelmed… especially when we allow ourselves to cry out to God, and to grab the lifeline that He gladly offers us.

THE HOLY NAME OF JESUS – Numbers 6:22-27; Psalm 8; Galatians 4:4-7 or Philippians 2:5-11; Luke 2:15-21 – 1 January 2012 – A sermon given by The Rev. Peter A. Munson for St. Ambrose Episcopal Church, Boulder, Colorado

Holy Names, Holy People

INTRODUCTION – The Naming of Jesus

Today we celebrate the holy name of Jesus. We read in Luke: “After eight days had passed [from Jesus’ birth], it was time to circumcise the child; and he was called Jesus, the name given by the angel before he was conceived in the womb.” (Luke 2:21) Jesus – meaning “salvation”, or “the Lord is salvation” – the name given by the angel Gabriel, during his visit to Mary, before the child was conceived. The reading from Philippians, one of the options for today, fast-forwards us through Jesus’ life, his obedience “to the point of death – even death on a cross” (Philippians 2:8), and his exaltation at the right hand of God. The one who humbled himself has been exalted by God and we are reminded that God “gave him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus ever knee should bend, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord…” (Philippians 2:9-11)

WHAT MAKES A NAME HOLY?

So… what makes a name holy? I suppose in the case of Jesus it’s not too hard to put it all together. Conceived by the Holy Spirit… come to be our Savior, Messiah, and Lord… to be called Son of the Most High, Son of God (Luke 1:32, 35) … “you are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.” (Matthew 1:21) It’s the whole package – the circumstances of his birth, what he came to do, what he did, how he did it, the fruit of his work… eternal life offered to all who believe in Him. He originated in God and lived a holy, perfect life. So yes – his name is holy. Not only that, God gave him the name that is above every name. Jesus’ name is holy, and the holiness of the name is inextricably intertwined with his origin in God, and in what He did. His name – Jesus – is holy, because he is holy.

But if we continue to think about the word “holy”, and what it means – “belonging to or coming from God; consecrated; sacred” (Webster’s New World Dictionary) – we are reminded that things are holy when they belong to God, come from God, are consecrated to God or are blessed by God.

You have a name. Do you know what it means? Do you like your name? Does it fit who you are? You meet people now and then who have changed their names, but most of us were given our names by our parents. You meet people in the Bible whose names were changed by God. Abram became Abraham; Sarai became Sarah; Jacob wrestled with God, or with a man sent by God, and had his name changed to Israel. Saul became Paul; Simon became Peter. Names are important. Sometimes, when we have gone through a transformation, the transformation is so huge that a new name is warranted.
And sometimes the new name is just a sign of maturity. “Mikey” finally becomes Michael; Susie finally becomes Susan. Or perhaps, when we reach adulthood, we decide we prefer the shortened version of our name.

But back to “holy”… “belonging to or coming from God; consecrated; sacred.” What strikes me once again, as we begin another year, is that all of life is holy, because all of life comes from God. When I think about the miraculous nature of human conception, human gestation, and a child being born… there is something so holy about the process. It is so God-driven, so sacred. Where there was no life before, suddenly – in a relatively short amount of time – there is life! That’s a God-driven thing!

Whatever you think of your name… whether you love or hate it, whether you tolerate it or don’t even give much thought to it anymore because you are so used to it, when you think about the times your name has been said with tender love and the times when it has been called out in the midst of deep anger… no matter what you think of your name, there are a few things that are true about you, that you need to remember as you begin another year.

1. You originated in God.
2. You were designed to belong to God.
3. You are holy.
4. And God chooses to bless you.

And just as God put his name on the Israelites – “You shall be my people, and I shall be your God” – we are his people, too. We are his children. Through Jesus we have been adopted as his children. God has no grandchildren. Each of us is his beloved child, and God has sent the Holy Spirit into our hearts so that we cry out, “Abba! Father!” (see Galatians 4:4-7) We belong to God. We have come from God and – in the end – we will be returning to God. So we are holy, because we belong to God, and the one we belong to is the Holy of Holies.

LIVING INTO WHO WE ARE

Perhaps that can be our mission in 2012, to live fully into our names, into the people that God knows us to be: beloved children of God…blessed ones… followers of Christ… holy. And living fully into our names can reveal to us the other part of that mission: not just to see ourselves as beloved, blessed, followers of Christ, and holy, but to see our neighbors that way, too.

Yes… you are a beloved child of God, and so am I.

You are deeply blessed by God, and so am I.

You are a follower of Christ, and so am I.

You are holy, and so am I.

You have been made, as Psalm 8 says, but a little lower than the angels, and you have been adorned with glory and honor… and so have I.

The same One who made the sun, the moon, the stars, the planets and the galaxies, made you… and me, too.

CONCLUSION

In 2012, let’s claim our blessedness and our holiness, and do everything we can to live into it. And let’s see the blessedness and holiness in each other. And let’s give all the glory to God, and to his Son Jesus Christ – whose name is above every name – and to the Holy Spirit, who enables us to call God “Abba! Daddy!”

And may you, beloved child of God, know – throughout 2012 and through all of your days – that you are blessed in the same way that the people of Israel knew that they were blessed.

“The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make his face to shine upon you, and be gracious to you; the Lord lift up his countenance upon you, and give you peace.” (Numbers 6:24-25)

These are words to treasure in your heart in 2012… words to meditate upon and treasure:

• The Lord (Yahweh)
• Jesus
• Spirit
• Bless
• Keep
• Shine
• Gracious
• Peace
• Follower
• Holy
• Beloved
• You
• Me
• Abba

“O Lord our Governor, how exalted is your Name in all the world!” (Psalm 8:10)

ADVENT 4B – 2 Samuel 7:1-11, 16; Canticle 15 (The Magnificat) or Psalm 89:1-4, 19-26; Romans 16:25-27; Luke 1:26-38 – 18 December 2011 – A sermon given by The Rev. Peter A. Munson for St. Ambrose Episcopal Church, Boulder, Colorado

Holy Waiting, Part 4 – Waiting, in Faith and Love… for Love

INTRODUCTION – God happens

I believe it was John Lennon who said “Life is what happens when you are making other plans.” Today’s gospel lesson about Mary being visited by the angel Gabriel would suggest that Mr. Lennon was mostly right, but that he missed it by one word. Today’s gospel might be summarized: God is what happens when you are making other plans. Or, if you want to make it fit on a bumper sticker… God happens.

Let’s review the story, shall we? And let’s not go so quickly, thinking we already know every detail, that we miss some of the key points.

THE INTERACTION BETWEEN GABRIEL AND MARY

Here’s how Luke introduces the story: “In the sixth month [of Elizabeth’s pregnancy... who would give birth to John.... who would become known as John the Baptist] the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a town in Galilee called Nazareth, to a virgin engaged to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. The virgin’s name was Mary.” (Luke 1: 26 ______)

Let’s stop right there. God had a plan. And God sent a messenger – an angel named Gabriel – to visit a young woman in a little nowhere’s-ville town. The woman was a virgin and happened to be engaged. Why this woman? What are we told? She had “found favor with God.” (verse ______) What had she done to find favor with God? We can gather a little bit from the rest of the story. She didn’t totally freak out when the angel showed up. She didn’t say, “That’s the most insane plan – my giving birth to the Son of God – that I’ve ever heard of! Go back and tell God that he needs to come up with a better plan than that!” No. She had a very practical, matter-of-fact question, the type of question that probably any other woman in her situation would have had. “How can this be, since I am a virgin?” But I’m getting ahead of myself.

The point is that God saw some key traits in Mary:
• Someone who already believed in God, and in the goodness and love of God
• Someone who was waiting for God to show up… even expecting God to show up in some way, and to act in a way that was true to God’s character… i.e., in love
• Someone who was open to God intervening in her life, and changing her life, her plans – and her! – forever

What else do we notice in this interaction? Luke says that Mary was perplexed by Gabriel’s greeting, but she also must have looked scared.
For Gabriel said, “Do not be afraid, Mary…” All of us get scared. Being scared is one of the five main God-given feelings. Yes, God happens, and so does fear. And sometimes the two go hand-in-hand. When God shows up, sometimes it can be a very scary thing.

But our fear isn’t meant to be a destination. As Fritz Perls once said, “Fear is excitement without the breath.” Mary kept breathing and kept listening to what Gabriel was saying to her, and some very exciting things were being said! She was young, but already a person of faith. And faith – well – that’s the opposite of fear. Faith that God is with you… faith that God is for you… faith that God wants what is best for you. That kind of faith will elicit “yeses” and movement. So Mary kept listening… listening for the deeper message.

I think what she heard was all the love in the message.
• “Greetings, favored one!”
• “The Lord is with you.”
• “You have found favor with God.”
• “You will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you will name him Jesus…. and he will be called Son of the Most High… He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.”
• God wants to do all of this through you, Mary.

She heard all the love at the very core of Gabriel’s message. She knew she was having an encounter with Love, and she had been waiting – in faith and love – for this encounter with Love. Now it was happening. For – you see – God happens. God is what happens when you and I are making other plans. God is what happens when you are making other plans – like getting married to your fiancee, Joseph, and expecting a rather normal Jewish life. God is what happens when you are making other plans, but open enough to change those plans when God shows up.

THE “HOW” MOMENT

And yes – Mary had her ‘how’ moment. “How can this be, since I am virgin?” A totally logical question. Often, before you and I say ‘yes’… before you and I make a big commitment, we want to know the ‘how’.
• How can we get married?
• How can I move to another state when I don’t have a job lined up yet?
• How can we be parents? I’m not ready!
• How is this dream of mine ever going to happen?
• How could I tithe?
• How could the Broncos win any games with that man playing quarterback?

And what kind of answer does Mary get? Is it satisfying? It depends, I suppose, on who you are. Here, I’ll summarize it for you: “It’s a God-thing, Mary! The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you… For nothing will be impossible with God” – and some people would hear all of that and say, “What a bunch of pie-in-the-sky religious gobbledegook! What I hear is blah-blah-blah-blah.”

But Mary – a young woman, but already a woman of faith… Mary, a women who had been waiting in faith and love, for Love… Mary, who was open to a loving God intervening in her life… Mary, who was open to being forever changed by God, paused and then uttered one of the most powerful lines of faith ever proclaimed by anyone… anywhere… in any generation. “Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word.” (Luke 1:38)

In other words, “I put myself in your hands, Lord, trusting in You, trusting in your Love, trusting in your plans. I am your servant. I am at your service.”

I read a similar quote recently from Thomas Merton. “… more and more I realize God wants me to put myself in His hands, and let Him take me through the things that are to come, and I must learn to trust Him without fear, or questions, or hesitation, or withdrawal.” (A Year with Thomas Merton: Daily Meditations from His Journals, p. 362)

Isn’t that what Mary did? And then… then the angel Gabriel departed from her.

But God didn’t depart from her. God was right there, ready to accompany her on the next step, and the one after that, and the one after that. All the way to Jesus’ birth, and the arrival of the magi, and the flight into Egypt, and the time Jesus, as a boy, accidentally got left behind in Jerusalem. And the death of Joseph, and Jesus’ baptism by John in the Jordan, and his brilliant teaching, and that wedding in Cana and bringing Lazarus back to life and healing the blind man and the lepers and feeding the crowds and the arrest and that joke of a trial and – oh, my God – the crucifixion! And the mighty, out-of-this-world resurrection and seeing him again and eating with him again! And the ascension into heaven. For, you see, nothing is impossible with God.

CONCLUSION

We wait – in faith and love – for Love, for the God who is Love, for the God who often has way better plans for us than we have for ourselves. And when we wait, believing in this God of love… when we wait, loving and appreciating and being grateful for how God has already shown up in our lives… when we wait with an openness to God intervening in our lives, with an openness to having the way we see the world turned on its head… with an openness to having our very lives turned upside down – maybe with some fear and some growth pains, but always for the better… when we wait openly like this, and expectantly, waiting for the God of Love to show up… then that is what happens.

God shows up. God happens.

Just ask Mary. God is what happens when you are making other plans.

ADVENT 3B – Isaiah 61:1-4, 8-11; Psalm 126 or Canticle 15 (The Magnificat);
1 Thessalonians 5:16-24; John 1:6-8, 19-28 – 11 December 2011 – A sermon given by The Rev. Peter A. Munson for St. Ambrose Episcopal Church, Boulder, Colorado

Holy Waiting, Part 3 – Waiting for the Power of God to…

INTRODUCTION – A mini-Pentecost during Advent

I’ve thought for some time now that one of the intriguing things about today is that it’s as if God is giving us a mini-Pentecost, right in the middle of Advent! You’ll recall that on Pentecost we celebrate the “birthday of the church” – the day, soon after Jesus’ ascension into heaven, when they had been waiting, as Jesus commanded, to be clothed with power from on high (Luke 24:49), that day when the Holy Spirit came down and rested on the disciples so powerfully that they could suddenly speak in other languages, as the Spirit gave them ability, so that the foreigners in Jerusalem could hear the good news about Jesus and God’s saving deeds in their own languages (Acts 2). That’s a God thing, that’s a power thing, that’s a Holy Spirit thing – and that’s Pentecost!

Today in our opening prayer, the Collect for this Sunday, we hear: “Stir up your power, O Lord, and with great might come among us; and because we are sorely hindered by our sins, let your bountiful grace and mercy speedily help and deliver us…” (The Book of Common Prayer, p. 212)

“Stir up your power, O Lord, and with great might come among us…”

It’s as if God knows, and the author of this prayer (whoever it was) knows that as we wait in Advent for the coming of the Lord… as we acknowledge that waiting can be difficult… as we acknowledge that sometimes we might not even be sure exactly what it is we are waiting for… as we sometimes wait in unproductive ways, waiting for the wrong things…. it’s as if God knows that what we are waiting for, deep-down, more than anything else, is God’s power – the strength and the mightiness of God to do the things that most need to be done, that only God can do. Or, perhaps to say that more accurately, the really important things that you and I can do, but that we can only do with God’s help… that is, with God’s strength and power.

Sometimes people outside of the faith ask us very good, basic questions, such as: What do we need God and God’s power for? And this is just one of the reasons that I love scripture so much. Today, through the scriptures of the Old and New Testaments, God reminds us what we are hungry for. God reminds us why we so desperately need Him, and why we so desperately need the power that comes with the Spirit of God.

Listen, as I take you back through our lessons for the day.

LESSONS FROM THE LESSONS – What we need God and God’s power for

We need the power of God’s spirit to deliver us from our sins, which “sorely hinder” us. And sin does more than that, of course. Our sin leads to death – our death. And we need God’s power – God’s forgiving power, in this case – to deliver us from death, and to lead us into new – totally brand-spanking new – life… abundant life.

We need the power of God’s Spirit that brings good news to the broken-hearted. Is there anything you are brokenhearted about today? Make no mistake. It is God’s power – perhaps working through other people or through a sunset or a scripture passage – but it is God’s power that will heal your broken heart.

We need the power of God’s Spirit that proclaims liberty to the captives and release to the prisoners – not just those imprisoned in actual jails, but also those who are imprisoned in any way. By addiction, by our thoughts, by our narrowness of thinking, by our stubborn hearts. In the very midst of that imprisonment, it is God who shows up in all of His power and proclaims, “There is another way! You can be free! Even those of you in actual jail cells can be free!”

We are waiting for the power of God that proclaims the year of the Lord’s favor. Man alive, aren’t we all waiting for that?!? In a world full of bad news, in a world where many people talk to you more about what you do wrong than what you do that’s truly wonderful, aren’t you waiting to hear God proclaim, “Well done, good and faithful servant. Your are my beloved daughter (beloved son), and with you I am totally over-the-top pleased!”? And what would it be like to hear that message for an entire year – the year of the Lord’s favor? Aren’t you waiting for that?

We are waiting for the One who has the power to comfort those who mourn. God may do that through your dog, through your family, through a really good grief group, through a book, in the stillness – but it is God who is the source of that comfort, however it may come to you.

We are waiting for the power of God that can give us a mantle – a cloak – of praise, instead of a faint spirit. God has that kind of power, my friends, to turn our fears and our barely-alive energy into an energetic stream of praise, because God has the power to transform us.

We are waiting for God’s blessing, not just individually, but upon us as the people of God. And guess what? God has the power to bless us! Oh, boy does He!

We are waiting – this has to said among all the things that we are waiting for – for salvation. To be healed… to be made whole… to be reconciled with God, with others, and with ourselves. And only God has the power to save us.

Shall I continue? I’m just getting started with words of hope from today’s lessons!

We are waiting for the power of God so that we can know laughter and joy, so that we can even have the capacity to “rejoice always”. Do I need to remind you that joy is one of those things listed by Paul as the fruit of the Spirit? And that the Spirit is the power, the comfort, and the presence of God?

And maybe, just maybe, we’re waiting for God to scatter the proud in their conceit, and to lift up the lowly, and to fill the hungry with good things (cf. Luke 1:51-53). Maybe we’d like to learn how to pray without ceasing, and how to give thanks in all circumstances. I can assure you, if you’d like to make those your goals, you are going to have to tap in to the power of God!

We are waiting for the power of God’s Spirit that helps us testify to the Light, the power that helps us point to Christ so that others can encounter the One who is the way, the truth and the life.

We are waiting for the power of God’s Spirit so that – like John the Baptist – we can speak the truth about who we are and who we are not… and speak the truth about Whose we are, too.

We are waiting for the power of God’s Spirit so we can be led into the deepest of all truths, that there is only One who is perfectly loving… there is only One who loves ALL of us unconditionally… there is only One who is absolutely and perfectly worthy – the thong of whose sandal I am not worthy to untie.

We are waiting for the power of God that – how do I summarize all of this? – helps us with all the challenges of life, helps us to discover new life, helps us live the loving, serving, and abundant life to which He calls us.

CONCLUSION

Yes, yes, you betcha! I am waiting for the power of God, for the strength of the Holy Spirit. For without it, I can do nothing of ultimate value, nothing of consequence. But with it… with the power of God – well, what did Paul write to the Philippians? “I can do all things through him who strengthens me.” (Philippians 4:13) The “him” he refers to there is Christ. Through the power of Christ, I can do all… – ALL – things!

“Stir up your power, O Lord, and with great might come among us; and because we are sorely hindered by our sins, let your bountiful grace and mercy speedily help and deliver us; through Jesus Christ our Lord, to whom, with you and the Holy Spirit, be honor and glory, world without end. Amen.”

ADVENT 2B – Isaiah 40:1-11; Psalm 85:1-2, 8-13; 2 Peter 3:8-15a; Mark 1:1-8 –
4 December 2011 – A sermon given by The Rev. Peter A. Munson for St. Ambrose Episcopal Church, Boulder, Colorado

Waiting for the Lord, Part 2 – Waiting, Commitment, and Listening

INTRODUCTION – Review of Last Week, and Israel During Jesus’ Time

Last week I began a sermon series on “Holy Waiting” and I said the One we are waiting for is the Lord, and that the kind of waiting that God calls us to is an active waiting, an on-tiptoe waiting, an eager kind of waiting, for we anticipate that the Lord will show up. This is a waiting that occurs after we have committed our way to the Lord. This is an “I’m in, Lord… I believe in You, Lord… I believe you are going to tear through the heavens and come down and change things for the better” type of waiting.

Before Jesus was baptized by John in the Jordan River, and even before John the Baptist stepped on the stage, there were plenty of people in Israel who were on the lookout for the Messiah. Faithful Jews were living under the foreign rule of the “not so holy” Roman Empire, paying taxes to the emperor and expected to pay homage to him, too; that was the situation. Only there was more to it than that, of course. An occupying army, and wondering every single day if you might say something, or not say something that you were expected to say, that would get you into hot water. Wondering each day if you would continue to have your freedom to worship, too.

You don’t think, if you’d been a faithful Jew up to this point, you’d be praying harder than ever, attending synagogue faithfully every Saturday, and saying to your friends, “Now! Right now would be a great time for the long-promised Messiah to show up, preferably with the power to rally a Jewish army around him, and drive these powerful but God-mocking Romans right out of Israel”? You might have said it quietly, and been mighty careful about who you said it to, but you would have been saying it. For there’s nothing like everything you hold dear being threatened with extinction to make you long – more than ever – for God to break through and make things right.

ENTER JOHN THE BAPTIST – To whom do I listen?

In the midst of this longing for the Messiah, you suddenly hear a lot of folks talking about a man. Folks are even talking about him before and after worship at synagogue. “Did you hear about this guy named John out by the Jordan River? He wear camel’s hair for clothing and eats locusts and wild honey, and tells everyone they need to repent and be baptized so that their sins will be forgiven. But who is he? And why doesn’t our rabbi seem to know who he is? Did you hear about the rabbi in Bethany? He went out to find out more about John, listened to him preach, was baptized by him, and came back and told his people all about what happened, and now he’s encouraging the members of his synagogue to go see John and to be baptized by him! What do you think? Should we go see him?”

They would have been pulled in two directions, at least. One pull: to just keep doing what they had been doing – going to their local synagogue if they lived out in the country, going to the temple if they lived in Jerusalem – taking part in the worship, saying the prayers, reciting the Shema, observing the Sabbath and all the various Jewish laws. Keep following the tradition, in other words.

The second pull: Leave your home and head for the Jordan River, to see what this John character – who kind of acted like a throw-back prophet from 600 or 700 years ago – had to say.

Here you are, with two forces pulling on you: the tradition that has grounded you and been passed on to you by so many generations of faithful Jews before you, and that man with the strange clothes and the strange diet, all by himself, and yet drawing crowds of city folk and country folk out to hear his direct, tell-it-like-it-is preaching.

(At this point in the sermon, have the John the Baptist “plant” cry out, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near!” And have the tradition “plants” start singing the “Tradition! Tradition!” refrain from The Fiddler on the Roof)

What choice do you make? Do you stick with the tradition and keep doing what you’ve been doing? Or do you go out to see what John has to say? Or is it a both/and, and do you do both?

LISTENING

After you and I have committed to following Jesus, and we are seeking some guidance for the next steps we are going to take, it’s mostly about listening. And, of course, with all listening, there is discernment. Who do you listen to? What do you read? Which voices that are out there and which writers that are out there are themselves listening to God? Where do you focus your efforts? How do you spend your precious time listening?

The Bible suggests that both kinds of listening are important. It’s important to read and study and seek guidance from the Holy Scriptures. And the Bible is also clear that we sometimes ignore the holy prophets – the people sent my God to speak for God – at our peril. And then, just to make it more interesting, the Bible talks about false prophets, too!

So how do you know when it’s the voice of God calling to you? One way you can tell: When you are a little too full of yourself, and think you know everything, and are ignoring the plight of others, God tends to send someone who will challenge your complacency… your arrogance… your obsession with your own self. And, on the other hand, if you are the one who is down on your luck, if you are the one who has been overrun by another person or another country, God tends to send a word of hope.

“Comfort, O comfort my people,’ says your God. “Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and cry to her that she has served her term, that her penalty is paid, that she has received from the Lord’s hand double for all hers sins.” (Isaiah 40:1-2)

That is what the Jews heard when they were in exile, after being conquered by the Babylonia empire in the sixth century before Christ.

Which sort of word do you most need to hear today, if you are really honest with yourself and with God? A word of challenge… or a word of comfort and hope? Listen for it!

Listen for it by reading the scriptures.

Listen for it by paying attention when you are here on Sundays.

Listen for it by putting a request before God in prayer, and then listening for an answer.

Listen for it by asking questions of your friends, and listening to their answers.

Listen for it by paying attention to the unexpected person who shows up in your life, who might just be a modern-day John the Baptist, preparing the way for you to meet the Lord.

Listen by noticing anything unusual that happens in your life, something that doesn’t quite fit your normal routine. You know, along the lines of God appearing in the midst of a burning bush, or God telling you that you will conceive and bear a son…

CONCLUSION

When you’re waiting for the Lord, after you’ve chosen to follow him, you’ve got to be listening… paying attention… on the lookout. Because He’s always just a breath away. But sometimes you and I miss Him!

ADVENT 1B – Isaiah 64:1-9; Psalm 80:1-7, 16-18; 1 Corinthians 1:3-9; Mark 13:24-37 – 27 November 2011 – A sermon given by The Rev. Peter A. Munson for St. Ambrose Episcopal Church, Boulder, Colorado

Holy Waiting, Part 1 – Waiting for the Lord

INTRODUCTION – A culture that has trouble waiting

We are a culture that has trouble waiting, and it might be getting worse. In the world of the internet… in the world of email and texting, in a world where people now update their Facebook page several times a day, we expect everything to happen instantly. You’ve probably noticed that “holiday creep” is getting worse and worse, too. The first Christmas merchandise offered for sale in the Costco near my home was on display at the end of August. I saw some ads that said “Black Friday begins at 10 pm on Thursday.” Do you hear that? Friday now starts at 10 pm on Thursday; so make a note of that, please. That ad demonstrates pretty clearly how much trouble we have with waiting. Do stores really need to open on Thanksgiving? For some people, Thanksgiving seems to have become a day to get over with as quickly as possible so that we can get on with some serious Christmas shopping.

I wonder: Does the phrase “Good things come to those who wait” have any traction at all in our society today?

ADVENT AND WAITING

One of the preeminent themes of Advent is waiting. On one level I experienced this as a child, and probably you did, too. For me, the waiting was about a countdown to Christmas morning, and opening presents. What would be under that Christmas tree? There were some family rituals that helped with the waiting – Advent calendars, and baking cookies while listening to Christmas music, and putting up the lights and the Christmas tree. Such anticipation! The waiting had excitement wrapped all around it and in it, so much so that it was hard to be in school some days during December, and when school finally let out for the holidays, those days off prior to Christmas seemed to go on forever.

I knew Christmas was about the birth of Jesus, but I totally missed another prominent theme of Advent: waiting for the second coming of Christ, waiting for our Lord’s return “in his glorious majesty to judge both the living and the dead.” (from the Collect for the first Sunday of Advent)

So I begin this four-week series on holy waiting by reminding you that it’s not just any kind of waiting that we are talking about. This isn’t waiting in the checkout line. This isn’t waiting for your spouse to change in a way that you really want him or her to change. This isn’t even waiting to see what your gifts will be this Christmas.

It’s waiting for a personal encounter with the Lord, one way or another.

It’s about waiting each week and listening the the lessons anew and re-living the Christmas story like a child, and having your relationship with Jesus be renewed and transformed in the waiting.

It’s about waiting on tiptoe, being alert and awake, living your daily life as faithfully as you can, and all the while thinking that Jesus might return tomorrow, and mess up everyone’s Christmas plans – and being absolutely okay with that.

Or it’s just waiting for the Lord to show up in the way that you most need him to show up. For the Israelites who were in exile, what they wanted – more than anything – was for God to “tear open the heavens and come down, so that the mountains would quake at [His] presence… to make [His] name known to [His] adversaries, so that the nations might tremble at [His] presence!” (Isaiah 64:1-2)

Perhaps you are waiting for the Lord to come and execute justice, too. Perhaps you are waiting for him to bring healing. Perhaps you have had a rough year, and you are waiting for the Lord to show up and bless you in any way at all, just so you know that He is present, and that He cares personally for you. Perhaps you are waiting for a word from the Lord – the exact word you know not, but you know you are waiting for some guidance, for some wisdom from above. Perhaps you are waiting for a situation or a relationship in your life to be transformed, or for you yourself to be transformed. Perhaps you are waiting for the love of your life – a lifelong partner – to show up, and you have a sneaking suspicion that God could play a big role in answering that prayer.

AN ACTIVE WAITING

The Bible makes it clear that waiting for the Lord is not some passive activity, where we just sit back and wait to be overwhelmed by the Lord’s presence. No, holy waiting is a very active thing. We first make ourselves available to God in some way. We might express to God our desires; we might walk over to see why the bush is burning but is not consumed; we might choose to wrestle with God; we might hear the angels words of invitation and not fully understand, but say, “Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word.” In one way or another, we make ourselves available to the Lord. Second, there is listening involved – listening to our lives in a way that we are paying attention to what we read, paying attention to what is read in church, paying attention to what our friends say and what total strangers say. And – related to the listening – there is a being on tiptoe, a being on the lookout, an expectancy, an anticipation that the Lord is indeed coming, in the same way that a pregnant woman anticipates that her baby is indeed coming. Another way to say all this is that there is an openness associated with this kind of waiting, an eagerness to this kind of waiting.

Why? Because nothing is more amazing, nothing is potentially more life-transforming, nothing provides a bigger high than a personal encounter with the living God.

But there is one thing that must be said: The very word “waiting” implies that we don’t know exactly when God will show up. In the same way that we know the gestation period for a human baby to be born in around 280 days, we don’t know exactly which day that brand-new person is going to make his or her appearance in the world. Similarly, we can’t force God to meet our schedule. It strikes me that Jesus’ words about his second coming might apply to all encounters we have with him. “But about that day or hour no one knows, neither the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. Beware, keep alert; for you do not know when the time will come.” (Mark 13:32-33)

CONCLUSION

Yes, we have entered into a holy season of waiting. It’s holy because the One for whom we are waiting is holy. And this is a different kind of waiting from the sort we normally encounter in the world. It’s not a waiting that’s mostly about frustration, but rather a waiting that is pregnant with hope. It’s not an anxious waiting, but a faith-filled waiting, because the One we are waiting for is loving and faithful. There is something in this waiting that is very similar to a child’s waiting for Christmas, though. This waiting for the Lord is laden with excitement, for we anticipate in our waiting how the Lord – when he shows up – can transform any situation.

I’ll end today with some wonderful verses from Isaiah:

“Have you not known? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary; his understanding is unsearchable. He gives power to the faint, and strengthens the powerless. Even youths will faint and be weary, and the young will fall exhausted; but those who wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength, they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint.” (Isaiah 40:28-31)

PROPER 28A – Judges 4:1-7; Psalm 123; 1 Thessalonians 5:1-11; Matthew 25:14-30 – 13 November 2011 – A sermon by The Rev. Peter A. Munson for St. Ambrose Episcopal Church, Boulder, Colorado

My Dream for St. Ambrose

INTRODUCTION – The Parable of the Talents

The three slaves in Jesus’ Parable of the Talents were all entrusted with outrageous amounts of money, for a talent was worth over 15 years’ wages of a laborer. So one of them was given more than 75 years of wages, the second was given over 30 years wages, and the third was given over 15 years wages. If the story is to represent God and us – and I think it is – then Jesus is saying that God trusts us immensely, that God has great faith in our abilities. The three slaves were each given the talents “according to his ability”, as Jesus puts it. Clearly the master saw huge abilities in each of them. They were stewards serving the interest of their master, and they were expected to do something with this money – not only protect it, but produce something with it.

I wonder if some benefactor handed you or me such a large amount of money what our response would be. Would we see it as an amazing opportunity? Would we put our most creative energies into dreaming and scheming, or would we freak out and be afraid like the third slave in the parable, create a story that the master was harsh (a story not created by the other two slaves), and do ourselves in by letting our fear get the best of us?

What would I do if I were given a huge amount of money is not that different a question from what would I love to see happen at St. Ambrose. We have been given this community, which means that we have been given each other, with all our diverse and undeniable gifts and talents. And I deeply believe that it is our Lord’s desire to keep blessing us and teaching us. Not only that, just as in Jesus’s Parable of the Talents, our Lord has great faith in us to be about the work of the kingdom – to do good, to offer healing to others, to serve others in ways that make the world a better place, and to use what we’ve been given – our creativity, our particular genius, our money, our love, and – yes – our dreams to take something amazing – you, me, us, and the Holy Spirit – and turn it into something even more abundant and more amazing.

So having said all that, here is my dream for St. Ambrose. Here’s what I would love to see happen here.

A COME-AS-YOU-ARE PARTY

I would love to see St. Ambrose be a come-as-you-are party. On one level, what I mean by that is that all our welcome: young, old, black, white, brown, straight, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, baptized, unbaptized, recovering Catholics, recovering Baptists, recovering what-evers, high church, low church, saints and sinners of all stripes.

On anther level, though, what I mean is that you would not check your emotions at the door when you walk in the doors. We would not only know what the five basic God-given feelings are but we would not be afraid to feel them or even talk about them or share them. In other words, you wouldn’t have to stay home if you felt sad or angry or scared. You wouldn’t have to worry about making others feel uncomfortable if you were really happy, or if you were having a sexual feeling. You could come as you are, and not feel like you had to cover any of those feelings up. In other words, you could be fully who you are – be authentic – and nobody would freak out or say you’re “breaking down” or “going off” or “in a funk” or “sky high” or “too out there sexually.” We’d all know that you were simply having a feeling, and that in ten minutes you might actually have a different one.

OPEN TO GROWTH, LEARNING AND TRANSFORMATION

At the St. Ambrose of my dreams, every person would realize that you can come as you are AND that once you get here, you may discover that God is calling you to “become” some more. There would be a strong bias toward learning, growth, and transformation. We’d want that for ourselves and for each other, and we’d constantly be asking each other, “What is God up to in your life and how are you changing, how are you different than you were last year or five years ago?”

WORSHIP

In the St. Ambrose of my dreams, we will all show up to worship in a way that everyone is fully participating, expecting each time we worship for the Holy Spirit to be among us and surprise us in joyful, vibrant, and powerful ways. I dream of a church where the main postures or attitudes of our worship are gratitude, praise, joy, and generosity. I dream of 80 ASA at the early service and a 150 ASA at the second service.

A.R.T.

In the St. Ambrose of my dreams, we would continue to put a strong emphasis on prayer, worship, and on serving and welcoming others. And, we would place a strong emphasis on practicing the A.R.T. skills in whatever group or meeting we are a part of.
A – giving and receiving APPRECIATION
R – taking full RESPONSIBILITY for what we want to create in our lives, in our relationships, and at St. Ambrose
T – TRANSPARENCY – being way more invested in speaking the truth in love and being authentic, than in being nice (For you see, when we all go around trying to be nice to each other, without being authentic, the energy, and – for that matter – the creativity of the Holy Spirit, goes right out of the building)

IMPACT – RELATIONSHIPS AND LEADERSHIP

I dream of a church that is known across the Diocese – and maybe beyond that – for teaching relationship skills. I see the number of participants in the Transformation Learning Community (TLC) doubling, and drawing in more people from outside of St. Ambrose. I also see us as being known as a training center for leadership development, and this, too, would extend beyond the membership of St. Ambrose. I see headlines and articles in the Boulder Camera about what St. Ambrose is doing to foster both healthy relationships and strong leaders.

SUPPORT AND ENCOURAGEMENT FOR DREAMS TO BE ACCOMPLISHED

I dream of a church where any member who shares a dream or a BHAG (a big, hairy, audacious goal) has support from the community to bring it to fruition, a community where we help each other discern and pursue the God-inspired dreams and passions of our lives.

FLOWING, ABUNDANT MONEY

The St. Ambrose of my dreams is a place where money is available, flowing and abundant, a church where money is never the reason given for why we can’t do something. Instead, whether or not we do something is totally based on prayer, listening for God’s guidance, sharing the deepest desires of our hearts, and moving forward with faithful action, trusting that the money that is needed will show up. The St. Ambrose of my dreams will be a church that moves beyond budgets and will be a-buzz with what God is doing in us and through us, and at least 50% of the money given by members will be going outside the church to support other life-giving ministries and programs.

GROUPS – CONNECTION, TRANSFORMATION, PURPOSE

The St. Ambrose of my dreams will have 30 or more young people in the youth group. There will be 50 or more in Sunday School. The St. Ambrose of my dreams will be a place where all kinds of groups meet together on days other than Sunday. That will be true for families with children. There will be a young adults’ group, a men’s group, a women’s group, a hiking group, and any other groups that meet the needs of our members. These groups will satisfy each person’s need for connection, transformation, and purpose, and folks in these groups will find meaning and purpose through service.

HEALTH

The St. Ambrose of my dreams will be a place where we regularly take risks of faith, stepping into commitments in which we don’t know how our big commitments are going to be realized. We will support each other in this risk-taking, and trust that God will show up – often in unexpected ways – to give us exactly what we need, when we need it, for we will know that God is not only with us, but also for us.

In the St. Ambrose of my dreams, there will be no gossip. Members will speak directly to the person that they need to speak to. Folks won’t have time to sit back and complain or be judgmental about what other people are doing, because they will be too focused on being creative, fully-participating members of the community. We won’t be consumers of church. We will be creative partners, working together to be about the work of the Kingdom, with God’s help.

MOVING FORWARD – You dreams for St. Ambrose

This is my dream for St. Ambrose. There may be some things you resonate with in my dream, and other things where you say, “Uh… not so much.” What’s next is for you to think about what you would love to see at St. Ambrose, and to offer it. Over the next ten weeks or so, leading up to the Annual Meeting at the end of January, I would ask you to add your dreams to this banner. You can take as many of these strips of paper that say “__________’s Dream for St. Ambrose – as many as you need – and place them on the banner. There will be two banners – more if we need them – out on tables here in the nave (perhaps in the narthex, too). I am looking forward to the chance to see what all of your dreams are, and how these dreams might come together in the form of a vision that can guide us in the coming years. I am very interested, too, in how each of us will discern what our commitments will be, to make these dreams a reality. But the first step is not landing on your commitment. The first step is to let your imagination go crazy, and dream about what you’d love to see at St. Ambrose.

POSSIBLE REACTIONS

Another way to put it: if anything were possible… if we had unlimited time, resources, and energy, what would you love to see at St. Ambrose?

I’m aware that there can be different reactions when someone asks us what we want. So I am going to list some of them now, just to lay them out.

1. It’s too hard to figure out what I want so I will defer to what others want.

2. This isn’t practical. There’s no way that what I want can happen!

3. What I want matters and I’m excited to contribute.

4. I don’t say what I want and then I sit back and complain.

5. What I want doesn’t matter. What’s important is what God wants.

6. I don’t want to say what I want because then it’s up to me to make it happen.

There are some common reactions; there are many other possible ways to react. What’s important is to notice how you respond to the question, “What do you want for St. Ambrose?” You and I can learn a lot just by paying attention to our reactions.

CONCLUSION

There is a process ahead of us. I envision one or two forums in December and one or two in January prior to the Annual Meeting. In the meantime, start tuning in to what you’d love to see happen at St. Ambrose. And be on the lookout for emails from me in the next few weeks, and please add your dreams for St. Ambrose to one of the banners!

Thanks so much!

PROPER 27A – Joshua 24:1-3a, 14-25; Psalm 78:1-7; 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18; Matthew 25:1-13 – 6 November 2011 – A sermon given by The Rev. Peter A. Munson for St. Ambrose Episcopal Church, Boulder, Colorado

What Commitment Looks and Feels Like

INTRODUCTION – Commitment stories in the Bible

The story from Joshua that we heard a few moments ago, the renewal of the covenant between Yahweh and His people – that Yahweh would be their God, and they would serve Him and Him alone – is one of the many commitment stories in the Bible. It started with the call of Abraham around 1750 B.C. “Go to the land that I will show you,” and Abraham went. The story of a people’s commitment to this one God continued through Isaac and Jacob and Joseph, including hundreds of years in Egypt – first to escape a famine, then during a time of prosperity, and finally experiencing a period of oppressive slavery. And then, despite initial protests of not being qualified, the commitment continued as Moses agreed to lead the people out of Egypt, with a whole lot of help from Yahweh. More recently, Moses has died, Joshua has become his successor, and following the commandments of God and the priests who carry the ark of the covenant, the people step into the Jordan River. And when they do, the waters flowing from above were stopped – reminiscent of the time 40 years earlier when the waters of the Red Sea were parted. And once again, the people of God are able to cross over into a new place on dry ground. Even more recently, the people have conquered Jericho and moved into the Promised Land – over 500 years after that initial call of Abraham. And now they are gathered at Shechem, in the heart of the hill country of a land that would eventually be known as Israel, and another moment of commitment is before them. And Joshua presides at a covenant ceremony in which ancestral gods are renounced and allegiance to Yahweh alone is proclaimed.

“Now if you are unwilling to serve this Lord, choose this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your ancestors served in the region beyond the River or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you are living; but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.” And all the people reply, “Far be it from us that we should forsake the Lord to serve other gods, for it is the Lord who brought us and our ancestors up from the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery, and who did those great signs in our sight… Therefore we also will serve the Lord, for he is our God.” (Joshua 24:15-18)

These commitment stories continue. Think of Mary and Joseph, and for that matter, the disciples. “Follow me and I will make you fish for people.” And they did. “You give them something to eat.” And they did. “As you go, proclaim the good news, ‘The kingdom of heaven has come near.’ Cure the sick… cleanse the lepers, cast out demons.” And they did. “… and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” And they were.

God is calling us to choose, too. God is calling us to make big commitments, too. But what does commitment look like? Maybe even more important, what does commitment feel like, and what happens once we make a commitment?

WHAT COMMITMENT IS

The moving toward the accomplishment of any goal or dream that you or I have begins with commitment. I suppose it really begins with an idea, but the idea remains only an idea if there is no action. Commitment involves gathering my energy and moving in a given direction.

What are your current commitments? Well, a sure-fire way to tell what you’re committed to is to look at the results of what you are creating. If you say, “I’m committed to going to the gym 3 or 4 times a week,” and you don’t make it to the gym at all, that’s what you’re committed to. If you say, “I have a real problem and I need to stop drinking,” and you still drink, then you are committed to drinking. When we do the things we say we don’t want to do, you might call those your unconscious commitments, but they are still commitments.

I’ve been learning a lot about commitment in recent months, and there are three main points I’d like you to remember and come back to, as you look at your own commitments.

1. People often don’t set goals, much less pursue them, because they don’t see how they are going to accomplish them. But here’s the thing: The “how” comes after you commit.
2. I can commit and feel scared at the same time.
3. What’s important when you notice you have pulled back from your original commitment, what’s easily as important as the original commitment… is recommitment.

Imagine for a moment that you are standing at the edge of a swimming pool, and you don’t know how to swim, and you are watching all sorts of people swimming. You might have all sorts of thoughts. “That looks fun!” “I wonder what it’s like to swim.” “Wow, that person really moves through the water beautifully.” But you won’t ever learn how to swim until you do what? That’s right. Get in the water.

The how comes after you commit. And once you get in the water, things start to happen. You might notice that there is someone nearby who can teach you how to swim. Or you flail around on your own without making much progress, and you get out of the pool, go home, think about it, call your local YMCA and find out when they offer swimming lessons. After you commit, you find that there are resources out there to help you in your commitment.

These lessons – the “how” comes after you commit, you can commit and be scared, the key once you have pulled back is to recommit – apply to all dreams and goals that you may have.

EXERCISE – What commitment feels like

I’d like you to stand up and come to the “edge of the pool” right now. Obviously you noticed when you arrived today that the pews were pulled back to the perimeter of the nave, and there is a big open space in the middle of the church that is not normally there. This is our swimming pool.

I want you to think of something that you’d absolutely love to create in your life. Perhaps it’s a relationship with someone – a friendship or even a marriage. Perhaps it’s a new job – a really wonderful, challenging, interesting and well-paying new job. Perhaps it’s a dream vacation. Perhaps you want to learn a new hobby. Perhaps you want to create a lifestyle for yourself that will result in you having a healthy body.

Think of that one thing you would love to create in your life. Now step into the pool, focusing on a place in the room that represents your goal, and start moving. Now notice what happens to you inside. What feelings are coming up inside of you?

Commitment is a dynamic process. The people of Israel did not settle in the Promised Land until 500 years after the call of Abraham! I don’t say that to discourage you. I say that to remind you that it’s a dynamic process, and reaching our goals takes a lot of recommitting!

So what happens after we commit? Two things frequently and predictably happen. I’ve already mentioned one of them. We get scared. And second, we meet up with obstacles. You can count on this fact. From almost the moment you make a commitment, your commitment will be tested.

Here’s what I wrote in my journal after my fourth day backpacking along the Colorado Trail earlier this summer.

“THIS WAS A HARD DAY! This was a hard day, O Lord! The trail was mostly uphill. My feet were sore all day and my toes kept cramping. Allen and I had to go round three groups of somewhat anxious cattle… My pack definitely weighs too much! I am working too hard to have fun! So… I need to recommit and carry less weight, and maybe I can go home Sunday morning, regroup, and have someone bring me back to Kenosha Pass. I can’t do the next 65-mile section and have fun with my feet hurting this much and my pack so heavy. And there are too many mosquitoes at an otherwise very nice campsite… I missed Julia today!”

I did all those things. With Allen’s help, I figured out how to get rid of 10 pounds of weight. I had a night at William and Kris’ cabin, Paul Austin cooked Allen and me a great dinner, I got to take a shower, I went home for a day and regrouped, Julia brought me back to Kenosha Pass, I remembered to put my insoles in my boots, and I hiked the rest of the way to Independence Pass, the original plan for where I would take my first break.

What we need to learn shows up along the way. For me, it showed up in the form of Allen in the July leg of my trek. In the August leg, I had a day or two when I had this sharp pain in a tendon coming up from my ankle. My ibuprofen wasn’t touching it. It just so happened that Nancy Hillmer had joined me for that section of the trail, and offered me some Aleve. I had never taken an Aleve in my life. Poof! – the pain went away. I had wondered if I was going to have to leave the trail when Nancy got off, but I made it the rest of the way. What I needed to learn – the “how” – showed up in the form of Allen and Nancy and some other people who shared the trail with me.

A number of months ago, someone shared this quote with me, and I’ve had it on my phone ever since. It was written by a mountaineer and writer, and by someone who had survived time in a concentration camp in World War II.

“Until one is committed, there is a hesitancy, the chance to draw back, always ineffectiveness. Concerning all acts of initiative and creation, there is one elementary truth, the ignorance of which kills countless ideas and splendid plans:

That the moment one definitely commits oneself, then Providence moves too.

All sorts of things occur to help one that would never otherwise have occurred. A whole stream of events issues from the decision, raising in one’s favor all manner of unforeseen incidents, meetings, and material assistance which no man could have dreamed would have come his way.”

- W. H. Murray, The Scottish Himalaya Expedition (1951)

GOD’S DREAM FOR US

You see, God wants an abundant life for us. (Cf. John 10:10) God wants us to dream, to dream “big”, to have what some people in corporate America call BHAG’s – “big, hairy, audacious goals.” When we commit, Providence moves, too. God shows up. God moves to support us in ways that we could have never imagined – even in our wildest dreams – because God wants us to do well. God wants us to experience life, and life in abundance.

There is never a direct line to our big goals. A plane that is navigating to a destination is technically “off course” over 90% of the time. It is constantly making adjustments, but it gets where it is going because the pilot is committed to that particular destination. And so he or she keeps recommitting, when the plane gets off course, and brings the plane back to where it needs to be. I am told that Walt Disney went bankrupt five times before he hit it big. And how many attempts did Thomas Edison make before he invented the light bulb?

CONCLUSION

Next week I’ll be sharing what I’d like to see happen here. It is my dream for St. Ambrose. I’m inviting you into a process to dream – to dream really big – with me. I’m inviting you to join me over the next few months, between now and the Annual Meeting at the end of January… to dream big dreams together, and to commit – each one of us – to doing our part to make those dreams become a reality.

We begin all of that next Sunday, on Consecration Sunday. We allow God to consecrate us, bless us, and use us for His purposes, and we commit ourselves – both to God and to this community – as we come together in worship at 9:30, and offer our selves, all of who we are… our dreams for this community, our particular gifts and genius, our money, our time, our worship, our prayers, our love – all of who we are – for the good of God’s kingdom, and for the good of this particular community.

Will you join me by stepping into the swimming pool, into your particular commitments, realizing that the “how” will show up after you commit? Will you remember that you can commit and still be scared? And when you encounter obstacles and get tested… when you get scared and your fear stops you in your tracks or even draws you back from your commitment, will you recommit?

You will? Thank you! And so will I.

PROPER 24A – Exodus 33:12-23; Psalm 99; 1 Thess. 1:1-10; Matthew 22:15-22 –
16 October 2011 – A sermon given by The Rev. Peter A. Munson for St. Ambrose Episcopal Church, Boulder, Colorado

Honesty and Saying What We Are Feeling

INTRODUCTION – The Pharisees’ approach to Jesus

Many people – I, myself, being one of them – have preached on the text, “Give to the emperor [Caesar] the things that are the emperor’s [Caesar’s], and to God the things that are God’s.” I’m not going to do that today. What I am going to do is to look at the interaction between Jesus and the Herodians and the disciples of the Pharisees that led up to Jesus saying those words.

What does Matthew tell us? He begins, “The Pharisees went and plotted to entrap Jesus in what he said.” Here’s the plan they came up with: We will ask him whether it is lawful to pay taxes to the emperor or not. Either way he’ll get himself in trouble! If he says “yes it is”, all the leading rabbis and other respected leaders will be offended and say, “Look! He’s telling us to obey an oppressive, foreign power!” And then they would drum up more animosity towards him. On the other hand, if he says, “no, it’s not legal”, then we can spread the word that he is advocating rebellion against the Roman government.

Notice what they do after they hatch the plan. The leading Pharisees didn’t go to Jesus. They sent their disciples and the supporters of Herod to him. And those fellows start by putting on a sweet voice. “Teacher [rabbi], we know that you are sincere, and teach the way of God in accordance with truth…”

Then they show their hand a little bit. “… and show deference to no one…” – i.e., you don’t yield to the opinions of other religious leaders – “… for you do not regard people with partiality.” You’d think they might see that as a positive trait, but given their earlier reactions to Jesus hanging out with the “wrong” crowd, probably not. And then they ask the question that they hope will lead Jesus to seal his own fate. “Is it lawful to pay taxes to the emperor, or not?”

Matthew then writes: “But Jesus, aware of their malice, said, ‘Why are you putting me to the test, you hypocrites?’”

A DIFFERENT POSSIBILITY

Let’s stop the scene right there for a moment – Cut! Cut! – and allow for a do-over.

What do you suppose the Pharisees and the disciples of the Pharisees and the Herodians were really feeling? What was really going on for them? (Wait for answers) Were they scared? Mad? Sad? Maybe a combination of all three?

How might they have presented that in a more authentic, honest way? Instead of what they did, what could they have said to Jesus once they approached him? Perhaps it would have sounded like this:

“Rabbi, we know that you are sincere… but we are scared out of our minds by what you are saying and doing! It feels like the bedrock of our faith is being attacked and we are scared because you seem to be saying that none of the old rules apply, and yet, we see you healing people right and left! We’re scared out of our minds, Jesus! Since you came on the scene, we are not sure what to believe about God, or how to practice our faith!”

And here’s my other question: Given what you know about Jesus from the Gospels, and from your own experience of him, how do you think he would have responded if they would have come to him in this way? Would he still have called them “hypocrites”? I don’t think there’s even a remote chance he would called them that, because they wouldn’t have been hypocrites. They would have been honest with themselves and honest with him. They would have been “in alignment”, their words matching what was going on for them on the inside. Another way of saying that: They would have been in integrity, which is the exact opposite of being a hypocrite.

What do you think Jesus would have said if they would have come to him and said, “What you are doing and saying is scaring us out of our minds and we don’t know what to do!”

Do you think there would have been a compassionate response coming from Jesus? Do you think the conversation would have gone in a whole different way? Yeah, so do I.

OUR BEHAVIOR

Sometimes when you and I have feelings come up, we do pretty much the same thing that the Pharisees and the Herodians did. The problem, you see, is not the feelings that come up for us. Those are just God-given feelings. The problem, sometimes at least, is what we do with those feelings.

When you are faced with a situation where there is a change in how things are done…
• the music in church is not what you are used to
• the priest or Vestry come up with the idea that we will allow homeless people to sleep in the church
• you are not at all happy with the direction in which the Episcopal Church is going…

What is the core feeling you have when you are faced with something that is a change from what you have been used to? I’m not talking about your opinions. I’m talking about the core feeling you have inside when there is a change.

(Wait for answers)

All you who go, “Yea! Yippee there’s a change!” – raise your hand.

Those of you who didn’t raise your hand, what is your feeling?

The problem wasn’t that the Pharisees were scared. The problem was what they did with that feeling. And what they did was turn their fear into criticism. They turned their fear into a plan for entrapping Jesus. They turned it into an attack.

Rather than being with their fear and discomfort… rather that expressing that fear… they looked to obliterate the person who stirred them up in the first place. We can do that with each other. We can do that with our family members. We can do that at work. We can do it with our fellow church members.

It’s the old “I am scared! You are bad!” model. Sometimes we would much rather focus on how you are bad than on how I am scared.

Ultimately, it was this model that led to Jesus being crucified. And it is this model that sometimes leads to separation, alienation, and estrangement in our own relationships.

NEW BEHAVIOR

The one whom they sought to entrap was the one who had the most to teach them about how to love and be authentic in the midst of our relationships, even when those relationships enter into a conflicted place. When he didn’t answer their question in the way that he thought he would, when he didn’t fall into their trap, they were amazed. According to Matthew, “they left him and went away.”

It was a moment of great opportunity, for everything you and I go through in life is an opportunity for learning.

Did some of them come back the next day and say, “Rabbi, I’m confused and still scared! Can we talk for a little while?” Perhaps a few of them did. But clearly a number of the scribes and Pharisees stayed reactive, and continued to look for opportunities to “get” Jesus, until they got him.

Sometimes we get so invested in “being right” that we don’t stop pursuing being vindicated until there is no longer any relationship left. There is another option, of course – the option that Jesus came to reveal, and that is the path of authenticity and transformation and love.

It looks like expressing what is true, in a loving way. It looks like – first and foremost – being committed to your own growth and transformation, and losing interest in blaming and criticizing others. It looks like wanting what is best for the other, as well as wanting what is best for yourself.

The Pharisees and the scribes and the Sadducees could have pursued that path, in the same way that you and I can. Because Someone has come who is the way, the truth, and the life. Someone has come to guide us and to lead us into all truth. Someone has come to save us from ourselves. Someone has come who loves us just as we are, and also leads us into all that God imagines we can be.

CONCLUSION

Transformation always begins with taking one step, and in certain situations – especially situations where change is occurring – the first step is just naming what is going on inside of us. “Lord, I’m scared. Lord, I’m sad. Lord, I’m angry. Lord, I’m so happy I think I’m going to bust!” Jesus meets us right there – wherever we are, with whatever feeling we are having in the moment – and says, “Let’s go for a walk together.” And if we give our consent to going on that walk with Him, there is no telling what will unfold in our lives.

I know this, though: In the long run, it’s going to be good!

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