The Widow's Change, a sermon on Mark 12:38-44

This was my first sermon in my field placement site. It brings up some interesting liturgical history specific to the parish.

Mark 12:38-44

Teaching in the temple, Jesus said, "Beware of the scribes, who like to walk around in long robes, and to be greeted with respect in the marketplaces, and to have the best seats in the synagogues and places of honor at banquets! They devour widows' houses and for the sake of appearance say long prayers. They will receive the greater condemnation."
He sat down opposite the treasury, and watched the crowd putting money into the treasury. Many rich people put in large sums. A poor widow came and put in two small copper coins, which are worth a penny. Then he called his disciples and said to them, "Truly I tell you, this poor widow has put in more than all those who are contributing to the treasury. For all of them have contributed out of their abundance; but she out of her poverty has put in everything she had, all she had to live on."

The widow comes to the edge of the temple grounds...

She is not allowed to go any farther...

She is allowed to go in just far enough to give her gift, to make her peace with God and show her love.

The temple barely notices it, such a small gift.

The temple does not see what her gift means for her.

The temple devours her and moves on.

Jesus notices it, such a great gift.

Jesus sees what her gift means to her.

Jesus connects with her and loves her.

Jesus responds to her gift just a few days later... On the cross... Giving up his life, his all, for her, for all the widows not allowed inside the temple door, for all of us.

There is no doubt that each of us is called to struggle with how to enter into this call to give, and give fully, and follow the example of the widow, of Jesus.

We are also, however, called to notice the gifts of others, see what those gifts mean to them, connect with and love them for their gifts...

And respond to those gifts... To give also of ourselves... To change...

Jesus' response, Jesus' giving, Jesus' changing was anything but easy...

Maintaining the status quo, not noticing, not seeing, not connecting... Not Loving... would be so much easier...

As Christians we are called into the difficult road of Love... Called to be in the midst of authentic relationship with others... Called to let the widow in... Called at points to change...

Which does not mean we like to do it very much... But we do enter into it.

Look at the stain glass windows, we would not think of changing them... But they are not original to the building... At some point the parish decided to add them, decided to change.

Consider where you are sitting, you probably sit about where you are sitting now most Sundays... If we moved all the pews think of the chaos... But the parish has done that, look down and at the centre of your pew, see the wood running in the opposite direction towards the altar?... Those are the original aisles, all the pews have been moved....

Look at the altar space... would we think for a moment to tear it all down and replace it?... But the parish did just that, took out the entire rear wall... Risking the structural integrity of the entire building... To change the central focus of our worship space...

We have entered into change... change that for an outsider might seem small or insignificant... No more significant than the small change of the widow... But for the worshipers in this space it was a significant change a radical change... Change we celebrate every time we enter into this space for worship...

 And we keep doing it...

The prayer book, it is the 1979 book of common prayer... But St. Peter's been using it since 1971... St. Peter's took up the change in the Prayer Book at the first possible moment...

The pulpit I am standing in is a change, a change we have only been working with for two Sundays.

The Gloria and Sanctus we have been singing... They are still new to us, they are a change... They are ones I love and have been excited to sing... but in a few weeks advent shall begin and with it shall come different service music...

Things we take as certain set things... Have changed... At points St. Peter's has jumped at the chance to take part in extreme risky change... We worship in a cycle that brings us to constantly shift and change... Change is a constant part of our lives, as individuals and as a community.

I came to St. Peter's to be changed, to be challenged, to be formed... This will happen as I notice what gifts this community has, see why these gifts are important to you, make connections with you, and enter into the Love of Christ that is embodied inside and outside of these walls by you... As I journey with you over the next months it is possible you might find yourself changing just a little as well...

We must celebrate the change St. Peter's embraced to become and remain a successful parish... We need to remain open to the change that will continue to make us Bearer's of Christ's love to all who enter our red church doors and all we meet outside them... We cannot fear change...

Because to fear change is to not let the widow, the other, the outsider in...

To fear change is to not notice the gifts others bring us...

To fear change is to not see how important those gifts are...

To fear change is to devour the others gift and move on...

Jesus calls us to notice the gifts others bring...

Jesus calls us to see how important those gifts are...

Jesus calls us to connect with and to Love those around us...

And to enter into the change those relationships bring... No matter what the cost...

Amen.

Resolutions for Change: The Parish Call Process

During my morning run the idea for the following resolution to diocesan con/cans for the calling of an ordained minister to a parish came to me...









Be it resolved that the (appropriate section of the con/can of the diocese regarding the deployment of ordained ministers to a parish) be amended to include:



When a parish has decided upon its list of finalist for the call of an ordained minister those finalist will be provided with letters of recommendation for the parish from three of the following five categories of individual:

1) A member in good standing of the parish who is in High School.
2) A member in good standing of the parish who is between the ages of 21 and 35.
3) A minister of a local congregation that is not part of the Episcopal Church.
4) A director of a local non-profit that is in a ministry relationship with the parish.
5) An individual who regularly takes part in a ministry of the parish but does not regularly attend worship.

These letters of recommendation are to be held to the same standards of confidence as those provided by the applicant.

If a parish is unable to provide such letters it will be required to submit a report on why such a recommendation is not currently possible on one of the above categories for each letter it cannot provide. This report will be submitted to both the applicants as well as the diocesan TMO officer.

Explanation:
The above resolution's purpose is to provide a window into the parish for the applicant that might not be part of the normal search process. The specefic inclusion of youth and young adult reccomenders is not to place extra value upon them but to recognize that their voices are often not an active part in the call process. The inclusion of individuals from the greater community allows for a voice that is regularly not heard at all in the call process. These letters also recognize points of engagement that are crtical for a vital ministry. 

A little sermon dealing with law and gospel...

They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. Awe came upon everyone, because many wonders and signs were being done by the apostles. All who believed were together and had all things in common; they would sell their possessions and goods and distribute the proceeds to all, as any had need. Day by day, as they spent much time together in the temple, they broke bread at home and ate their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having the goodwill of all the people. And day by day the Lord added to their number those who were being saved.

Followers of the law from every nation had gathered in Jerusalem, had witnessed the descent of the Holy Spirit, the miracle of Pentecost.

Three thousand of them had been baptized and become followers of Christ. And now they were living together in harmony under the law. They had declared a year of Jubilee and those who owned much had sold it and all had been redistributed. They went to the temple devoutly, prayed the traditional prayers with full hearts. Any Prophet of Israel or Judah would have walked into their community and found nothing wanting, nothing to rail about, they lived fully into both the spirit and word of the Law. Their works were a beautiful utopia on earth. A beautiful self sufficient insulated egg.

And God, the brooding mother hen, she looked down and said its time for that egg to hatch.

I am sure at the moment, however, it felt more like God the Master Chef looked down and said, time to make an omelet.

Because where is God’s action in this passage… “the Lord added to their number those who were being saved…”

Uh Oh

God’s Grace, the Full Gospel, enters stage left and everything falls apart. God’s Grace, the Gospel shown forth in full, is not an easy thing, its not a happy thing, it is a terrible thing, a terribly good thing, but a terrible thing none the less.

Kumbayah time is over for the first Christians… because the Full Gospel is arriving. The Lord is sending them those who have been saved.

And those who have been saved by God’s grace are not always followers of the law. They will be non-Jewish widows, uncircumcised men, gender non conforming Ethiopians, a man who sought their complete annihilation, and so many others.

The comfort zones of the early Christians will be violated. They will have to eat odd disgusting food with odd disgusting people. They will find themselves forced to touch and comfort menstruating women. They will be forced to look down at their genetalia and ask “wait that is not what defines me as God’s?”. 

This is God’s grace, this is the movement of the Gospel. This is God breaking into the laws and rules we surround ourselves with to make ourselves feel good and righteous and comfortable. This is God destroying our self-assurance and calling us to something fuller, the Assurance of Grace.

As the Gospel became manifest, as the Grace of God abounded, fighting and struggle came into full bloom within the early Christian community. The book of acts, the letters of Paul, report again and again the struggles, friction, and pain involved in entering into the Grace of God, of taking part fully in the Gospel. These times of struggle, the places where conflict occurred, is again and again where God was and where the church was growing.

Throughout history we find again and again humans laying down laws to make themselves feel comfortable and righteous: free will or predestination, real presences or remembrance, homoousios or homoiousios. Grace, the Full Gospel, attempts to break through, fighting breaks out. Sadly, more often then not, at the end of the fighting what results is two groups of humans less open to grace but more feeling very comfortable and righteous within their laws.

Our churches have seen so much fighting over the past years. The comfort zones of many have been violated. Why? Because for centuries we had gotten comfortable, gotten righteous, in our laws, in our insulated egg. A self-sufficient community dependent on certain turns of phrasing in the English language, dependent on a certain form of gender conformity, dependent on defining relational love in a very limited way. It was time to make an omelet.

And God, the Mother Hen, she knew it was time for that egg to hatch.

And so Grace is breaking through… it is not comfortable… it is at points terribly frightening… but it is also terribly good… it is the sign of a world relating more and more to the Full Gospel…

The question before us now is that can we keep fighting, can we keep struggling, can we keep getting uncomfortable… or will we simply start feeling comfortable in our new laws around the turns of phrase in the English Language… feel assured by not allowing those who do not fit into our new laws of gender conformity to have a place… feel righteous in our new limits on relational love… will we simply seek some consensus that creates some new self sufficient insulated community all nestled and happy and kumbayah…

Or will we continue to be a community that struggles, that fights, that at points gets a bit violated… so that we can continue to be sufficient on a Grace that comes from a place completely beyond us.