Church of the Ascension Home | The Episcopal Church of the Ascension

Time 2020-11-01 07:02:33

Web Name: Church of the Ascension Home | The Episcopal Church of the Ascension

WebSite: http://ascensionepiscopal.org

ID:101185

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Sunday MorningWe have resumed indoor worship at 8 a.m and 10 a.m. and continue to offer the 10 a.m. service via live stream. Click here to find out more. We will offer outdoor worship when scheduled.Liturgy of the Word8:00 am - Holy Eucharist, Rite I - Nave10:00 am - Holy Eucharist, Rite II - NaveLive Stream - 10 amYou Are Welcome Here! Our country will elect a President on Tuesday, Nov. 3 and what concerns me most is not who will take the oath of office in January. Instead, I am troubled by assumption that believes once this election is over we can return to life as usual. While I ve thought this myself, I believe we are fooling ourselves with this statement. We are coming off the heels of three parables on judgment in Matthew s gospel. We heard about the parable of two sons, the parable of the greedy tenants, and the parable of the wedding banquet. All of these parables are meant to highlight the hypocrisy of the religious elite. In turn, these parables also issue a strong warning to the church of all saints and no sinners. Now Matthew is on to three more images that are meant to show the religious elite as manipulators. These parables also show us that Jesus is both as wise as a serpent and as gentle as a dove. As discussed in staff meeting, Matthew s gospel is hard. Unless we aren t paying attention to Matthew s Jesus, we must all confront how far we have fallen from the call of God.Today s lesson tells of two unlikely groups coming together to trap Jesus in a trick question. The Pharisees represent the Jewish elite who are bound to the law of Moses and who oppose Roman occupation in Israel. The Herodians are sympathizers with King Herod the Roman puppet king. While they don t love the idea of Roman occupation in Israel, they are better off than most because of their relationship with King Herod.An imperfect analogy might equate the Pharisees to the Patriots during the American Revolutionary War. While the Patriots opposed taxation without representation, the Pharisees oppose taxation with a coin that bears a graven image thus breaking the first two commandments. Plus, they aren t too keen on the idea that they are paying taxes in order to ensure their continued oppression.The Herodians are the Tories or Loyalists. They d rather pledge allegiance to the oppressive empire than be free because it is safer that way. Keeping that analogy in mind, imagine the Tories and the Patriots coming together during the Revolutionary War for a common purpose. Thus, we can see that the Herodians and the Pharisees really want Jesus out of the picture. So, they begin to build a case against him.In order to do so, they ask him an impossible question, is it lawful to pay taxes to the emperor or not? If Jesus answers, yes, then he ll get in trouble with the devout Jews for breaking the first and second commandment and for supporting continued oppression. If he answers, no, then he ll be brought up on sedition charges by Rome, tried, and killed. Either way, Jesus loses. However, Jesus, in all of his wisdom, says, Give to Caesar what is Caesar s and give to God what is God s. I ve never really thought of Jesus as a politician but he kind of sounds like one in this story. He doesn t answer the question, but the audience is amazed with his response!In a nutshell, Jesus is saying, You want me to answer an impossible question? I ll give you an impossible answer yes and no. We know this is impossible for Jesus himself said, you cannot serve God and wealth. In other words, you decide what you will do but remember that you can t serve God and the empire that is impossible.This passage forces us to ask the question, Who is our Master? Who or what does our life orbit around? How stable is that person or thing or institution we orbit around? Will that thing or person or institution pull us in and burn us up? Will that thing or person or institution disappear and leave us in the cold or dark?As we are talking about stewardship, a helpful tool in discerning who or what we are orbiting is our bank statement. While money in and of itself isn t an idol, where we put our money tells us a lot about who or what our God substitutes are. Our calendar also helps us determine whose or what orbit we are in.As I reflect more broadly on culture today, the church is no longer what a community orbits around. This is truer in larger cities than it is in smaller cities but is slowly becoming the norm even in the Bible Belt. When I was a kid, extracurricular actives were off limits on Wednesday evenings and Sunday mornings. As every parent in this room knows, that is no longer true.Church has to compete for a spot on our calendar and in our checkbook just like any other activity. Church has shifted to just another option in a long list of things we may or may not choose to do. A church small group is hardly distinguishable from a book club or a feeding ministry or an advocacy group.Now, it would be easy to point the finger at culture. However, I feel like the church must take ownership of this trend. The call to repentance isn t limited to those sinners out there but also to those saints in here. How did the church go from being a focal point to just another thing in a long list of things? I think this trend started exactly the moment the church tried to compete with those long lists of things.In a podcast I listened to last week, the host, David Zahl, said, We ve turned Christianity into another and rather than where you go when the ands crush you. When did the church become something else on a long list of to dos , rather than the place we go when we fail to do all the things on our to do list? Isn t the church supposed to be the place where we go to be unburdened by the world? Isn t the church supposed to be the place where we go to hear the good news that Jesus has finished the work we have failed to do? Instead, church has turned into another thing we fail at.In many ways, the church has added to that burden especially in this political climate. You aren t a real Christian if you are Pro-Choice. You aren t a real Christian if you don t support government assistance programs. You aren t a real Christian if don t write your legislator to advocate for more gun control.You aren t a real Christian if you don t support Black Lives Matter. You aren t a real Christian if you do support Black Lives Matter. You aren t a real Christian if you vote Republican. You aren t a real Christian if you vote Democrat. I don t know about you but being a Christian sounds impossible. No wonder fewer and fewer people want to become one.In a way, being a Christian is impossible. We cannot possibly live up to the standard given in Christ. However, Jesus does not save us by his example. Jesus saves us by his love a love that calls us back to life again and again. Jesus saves us by his death and resurrection. The great 20th century theologian Karl Barth said, No one can be a Christian; only become one again and again. (call to repentance not perfection)So, where were we? Oh yeah, Is it lawful to pay taxes to the emperor or not? Like I said earlier, this is a trick question. And based on Jesus answer, I m not sure we should give the question a lot of thought. Rather, the question that Jesus seems to be begging us to ask is, What belongs to God? Our faith tells us that everything belongs to God even the taxes we pay to the emperor. We can live our life pretending that only 10% of our life or our possessions belong to God and divorce ourself from the truth that we are in God s orbit. Or we can live our life according to a faith that says all our life and possession belong to God and trust that we are always in God s orbit. You aren t strong enough to pull yourself away from the gravitational force of God s love.So, stop trying so hard to put yourself in the orbit of things or people or institutions that will fail to keep you alive. Rather, give all of yourself, all of your life, all of your possessions to God until there is nothing left to give and discover that God is always holding you with his love. And if you can t give up all, remember that Jesus has and is risen from the dead. Amen. Today, officially marks the beginning of our Annual Giving Campaign entitled: Glad, Grateful, and Generous: Sharing God s Mission Together. The Stewardship Team has worked hard to frame this time as a way for the parish to come together (physically and virtually) to celebrate the parish family God has called together in Christ.We will have inspiring talks from those who have been made glad, grateful, and generous through Ascension. We will have fellowship events on Wednesday evenings that will make us glad, grateful and generous. The committee wanted to keep things light, fun, and inspiring given the climate of the world.Everyone is playing their part well. Well, almost everyone is playing their part. Everyone, except Jesus. Today, we read a parable that might be best categorized as a parable of judgment. You don t have to have stayed at a Holiday Inn Express last night to realize that asking people for money and judging them at the same time don t usually mix.Today s parable is the second of three parables on judgment where Jesus authority is questioned by the religious elite. Last week we were reminded that even the worst sinner who repents goes into the kingdom of heaven ahead of those upstanding citizens who don t practice what they preach.In Jesus eyes, it is better to be a repentant sinner than a hypocrite and liar. Like we tell our children (and spouses), it would have been better if you had just told the truth than to cover up the truth with lies. Repentance, not perfection, is what is required of us as followers of Jesus. Repentance, not perfection, is what gives us life.Like last week s parable, this week s parable is directed toward the religious leaders. Knowing that the Pharisees are more interested in the sins of others than their own sins, Jesus uses this to his advantage and baits them into condemning themselves much like David condemned himself after Nathan s famous parable.Denial is a powerful force that is not easily removed. Sometimes we have to stand outside the story in order to see our part in the story the power of allegory. Parables, such as this one, allow us to see things more objectively. Our emotions and feelings are not as likely to complicate the picture when things aren t so personal.To review, the landowner represents God. The vineyard in this parable represents Israel. The tenants represent the religious authorities. The slaves represent the prophets. And the son represents Jesus Christ. Note of warning not every parable is meant to be allegorical.That being said, the plain meaning tells us that the religious authorities are the ones who reject and kill Jesus because they are afraid to lose control of the nation of Israel something they were never meant to control in the first place. The religious authorities were meant to be stewards, not dictators, over God s creation and people.I bet you weren t sure how I could tie this lesson into a stewardship sermon I wasn t either! God will provide In verse 43, Jesus says, Therefore I tell you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people that produces the fruits of the kingdom. In a nutshell, this verse tells me that God will reign victorious with or without us. We can choose to accept God s call or we can choose to reject God s call. Either way, God will accomplish what God wishes to accomplish.You are probably familiar with the story of William Wilberforce. Wilberforce is credited for leading the charge to put an end to slave trade in England in the 19th century. As you might image, Wilberforce met a lot of resistance. His reputation was ruined.He was once asked, Why are you risking so much for this cause? He replied, I knew if I didn t heed the call then God would have gotten someone else to do it. In other words, Wilberforce choose to accept God s call and experienced the kingdom on earth because of it. If he rejected God s call, then God would have proceeded - just without William Wilberforce.The bad news of this parable tells us what happens when we reject God. God will give the work to someone else. The good news of the parable tells us that even when God is rejected, God s plan for salvation will be worked out. And as Christians, we proclaim a faith that says that Jesus is the one who completes the work we weren t strong enough to do, that we were too scared to do, that we were too proud to do. The world s rejection of Jesus isn t strong enough to defeat God s will.So, the question for us today asks, when will we surrender? When will we die to the idea that we can control God, to the idea that we can put God in a bottle and pull him out when we need him? When will we die to self and let God be God? When will die to the idea that we have earned everything we have? When will we accept that everything we have is because of God and God alone?In so many ways, stewardship is about surrender. Stewardship is about remembering that we are simply called to use what we have been given not for our own self gain but for the good of the world around us. And as Christians, using what we have been given for the good of the world around us means proclaiming the message of grace and repentance, the message of Jesus radically hospitality, it is about lifting up the least, the last, and the lost, it is about being a light in the darkness.We started planning for the Annual Giving Campaign in the middle of COVID and the protests about racial injustice. Talking about stewardship was absolutely the last thing I wanted to talk about. I would have rather eaten chicken liver and radishes for a week than to talk about stewardship. And maybe that is how some of you feel today except for the few of you who actually like chicken liver and radishes.However, the experience has been a source of renewal for me. I was able to refocus on what God is up to through Church of the Ascension. I was able to remember how God is blessing us so that we might be a blessing. I recalled that we have an awesome privilege and responsibility to use what God has given us to give hope and encouragement to a world that is hanging by a thread.I firmly believe we have so much to offer to this community and would hate to see God take that opportunity away from us. While I don t anticipate this happening, I also know that human beings get complacent when things seem to be going well. Did anyone watch the second half of the Alabama-Missouri game?So, in way or another, I hope you will participate in this year s Annual Giving Campaign. And by doing so, I hope that God makes you glad, grateful, and generous that you are a part of a parish community who is committed to sharing in God s mission together, a parish community who is committed to making Christ known by our love for all. Despite our failures or successes, God s kingdom is coming into the world through Jesus Christ. May we have the grace and repentance to participate in that kingdom. Amen.

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