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3 Pentecost
June 5, 2005 Sermon
by Rev. Aron Kramer, Associate Rector
Readings
Listen again to the collect
of the day, just the first part. “O God, from whom all good proceeds:
Grant that by your inspiration we may think those things that are right,
and by your merciful guiding may do them”. This collect used to fall on
the fifth Sunday of Easter, back in the 15 to early 1900’s. It was a
collect that grew out of a resistance to Aristotelian Philosophy that
had been present since the 1100’s. Aristotle taught that if a person
performed those things that were good they would then become a good
person. Performing good deeds would create moral goodness in a person;
this philosophy permeated the Middle Ages until the Reformers began to
see the Gospel in a different light.
The Reformers saw that this sort of philosophy did not work; it was a
philosophy that even went against the message of Jesus and the Gospels.
What they discovered in the Gospels and other New Testament Epistles and
books was that people must first discover that they are good because
they have already been forgiven by God and declared Children of God and
therefore are good. We are already good; it does not take good deeds to
make us into good people or to help us become better people. There is
nothing we can do to make ourselves more loved by God. God already loves
us as much as is possible. I find that quite profound and moving, and I
would go so far as to say that we should slightly change the collect to
say something like this: “O God, from who all good proceeds: Grant that
by your inspiration we may discover within us those things that are
right, and by your merciful guiding may live out of the abundance of
goodness you have granted us.”
We are good, that is where we as a faith community start, that is where
the beginning of our biblical story and biblical history declare to the
world our blessedness. God created us and we are good. We are forgiven,
and because we have been forgiven we are recognized as good by God.
Jesus had this in mind when he was sitting around a table, actually
reclining around a table in today’s Gospel. He understood that even
these suspicious and manipulating tax collectors and sinners were good.
Eating, as many of you know, table ethics was a big deal during Jesus’
time. It mattered who you ate with, it mattered who was sitting at your
table. The people you invited to participate in meals at your home
indicated your status, how holy you were, how good you were. Use your
own imagination to figure out who the tax collectors and sinners were,
what they did and who might be considered a tax collector in our day.
This Gospel rings loud and clear in this day and age, a time where we
are teetering on the brink of a return to prejudice and hatred and bias.
A time where it is still difficult to take the steps forward that
distinguishes accepting a call to be a disciple from rejecting that
call. More and more the face of this country is changing, more and more
the faces of our communities are changing. We are becoming a more
diverse society and culture. More and more people who do not look the
same as us are entering into our communities. More and more those people
are being rejected or forced to seek out other people who look like
them. We live in a time where this call to open table fellowship that
Jesus exhibits in this Gospel is needed to be heard loud and clear.
What does it mean to be a disciple of Christ, what does it mean to
follow Jesus’ call to us? It is the question that will haunt and drive
us for the rest of our lives, for as long as we call ourselves members
of this faith community we must face that question, we must always ask
ourselves how do we respond to Jesus’ call, “Follow me!”? That question
can never be absent from our daily actions and our daily lives. If that
question, that of how to be a disciple is not a part of who we are as a
faith community then we need to look again at what it means to be
Children of God and what it means to believe in the Gospel of Jesus
Christ. We cannot ignore the call to discipleship; it is integral to our
faith. That call to follow Jesus is primary in our spirituality. The
examples are set before us, all of these individuals, Jesus’ disciples,
who simply left everything and followed Jesus, and today’s Gospel is
interesting because we have a man who was not exactly upstanding in the
community as the other fishermen and disciples seemed to be. Today we
have a man who is a sinner, loud and clear, today we have a man who
leaves everything, follows Jesus and sits to eat with him. Matthew was
no shining star, he was not a good person in the eyes of the authorities
and leaders and even of the common folk of Jesus’ time. Matthew was a
despised man, a man who had many shortcomings and yet Jesus called him
to follow him. I love this because it means not one of us is free of
being pulled into Jesus call to follow him. All of us gathered today are
not perfect, we fall on our face and yet still Jesus wants us to follow
him. Jesus still calls us to follow no matter what we have done, because
we have been forgiven and we are loved.
Today we baptize three beautiful children, three individuals to whom you
all will soon declare your undying support. They have been forgiven;
they have been accepted as Children of God they have been embraced into
the love of this community. Today we all gather to celebrate these three
brand new members of our faith community and these three brand new
children of God. Today we gather to celebrate and pledge our support and
wisdom to them as they grow into strong and wise members of this place
and of this world. We came today to this place not with expectations of
who we will see or who we want to have sit next to us, we came together
today knowing full well we may sit next to a person we have never met
before. We came to Church today probably even knowing very little about
these wonderful little ones yet excited to participate in this rite of
Baptism, this opportunity to publicly declare our hope for their future
with us. We came because we know that Christ welcomes all people, we
came because we know that it does not matter who sits next to us, in
this community and in this place and as children of God we are all
equal, no single person is greater than another in this room. Today we
welcome three gorgeous and excellent human beings into our midst,
recognizing the light of God and the love of Christ in their little
bodies simply because of the joy they bring into this community
gathered.
To Charlie, Evan and John’s parents, Grandparents and Godparents, yours
is a monumental task, yours is a challenge that will bring great joy to
your lives as well as your child and godchild’s lives. Yours is a task
of always remembering the humility and the suppleness of Jesus in
today’s Gospel. Yours is a task of living humbly and mercifully,
forgiving Charlie, Evan and John in those really hard moments and
celebrating with them in those fantastic highs they will experience.
Yours is a challenge that you will not be able to accomplish alone, so I
ask that you turn around and look out at all these people gathered here
with you today. We are all about to participate in the same meal that
Jesus participated in in today’s Gospel, we are all called by Jesus and
called by God to be present and participate in the life of Charlie and
Evan and John as you are called. That is why we will be eating together
in a few moments, that is why we celebrate the Eucharist today so that
each of you will know there is a huge number of loving and caring people
who will be present to your children and godchildren and to you as you
live your life sharing your wisdom with each of these brilliant
individuals.
Lastly, to Charlie, Evan and John, although you may not be able to grasp
my words, or the words of all these people around you, may your presence
and may your lives fill this world with so much love that the only thing
people will be able to see when they are in your presence in the
goodness that God has placed in you and in us and in the world. May your
light shine so bright it melts always the insecurities and the fear we
have that cause us to reject God’s life giving love. May the light you
have in your eyes forever burn bright always exposing the goodness we
have and the glory God has in us. Charlie, Evan and John, you are
amazing and wonderful little creatures made in the image of God and
nature; filled with love, wisdom and inspiration, may you always feel
and know that you are loved and held by God forever!