[Propertalk] Proper 19 b rcl

[Robert P Morrison]

I put this together on Sunday evening and have tweaked a little here and there, so this may be close to something to look at for this Sunday!

Bob

THE EPISCOPAL PARISH OF ST. JAMES, LINCOLN CITY    THE FIFTEENTH SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST
PROVERBS 1:20-33  	  PROPER 19 b RCL 
JAMES 3:1-12	 13th SEPTEMBER, 2009
MARK 8:27-38                     WISDOM OF SOLOMON 7:26 – 8:1

	A cynical thought occurred to me. What if Jesus’ comment was brought up to 2009 and we discovered that actually He was talking about the leaders of General Convention – the President of the House of Deputies, the Presiding Bishop, the Secretary of Convention, the Chair of Dispatch of Business? How would we view things then? Would we look at His comments any differently? He was being brutally frank with His disciples. Surviving seemed no longer an option. He said that He’d annoyed the establishment one too many times. He DID have a job to do. There were places to go, people to address, tasks to perform. He still had to continue the extended seminar with those closest to Him, and to make sure that their field- and lab -work had been done. But He recognized that this would bring Him into direct conflict with religious and political leaders. Still, this was no popularity contest in which He was engaging. Quite the contrary – popularity, social acceptance, dinner with all the right folk in the right places, complimentary reviews of His sermons in The Jerusalem Post – NONE of that mattered.
	Which leads me to ask – if His closest friends DID know that He was on a divinely inspired mission, what did THEY think it was? We know that none of this sank into those apostolic skulls until well past Jesus’ ascension – during Paul’s ministry they were still trying to figure things out – about what ranking Jerusalem held as opposed to Rome, or Corinth, and so on; about whether Peter was a bigger hot-shot than Paul; about where Jesus’ brother, James, fitted into the picture; about how to deal with deacons, and just what their ministry was vis-à-vis the apostles and the general membership of First Christian Church and Sauna … just kidding! It wasn’t known as Christian for quite a few more years!
What was it that drove Jesus throughout HIS ministry? What enabled Him to learn from the interaction with foreign workers and their family members? What was the point of being in that place and at that time?
This is where arguments develop among Christian scholars. Certainly, the death of Jesus on the cross, followed by His resurrection, figured in most discussions among the first groups of Christians scattered around the Mediterranean. But the cross wasn’t that recognised as a symbol of the followers of Jesus – not till the Church became nationalised, and the State took over defining orthodoxy of belief and practice. For three hundred years the standard symbol of those who tried to follow Jesus’ teachings and example, the standard symbol was a fish – whose letters in Greek represented acronymically the first letters of a slogan which proclaimed Jesus as God’s Son and the Saviour of the world.
	The fish – which also stood for the way in which Jesus took care of the physical hunger of the poor – the fish defined Jesus’ ministry. If Peter, with an assist from the Spirit, confessed that Jesus was God’s anointed messenger of peace, of renewal, of acceptance, of compassion, then Peter’s blinding insight was an affirmation that the desire of God was – and remains today – to show that everyone had worth. Peter’s confession was the end of the era in which classed societies were the determinants of who should make the rules, who should wield the power, who should get basic necessities, and how all this played out in and through the establishment.
	We may be tempted to join with people of every age and conclude that this affirmation of Jesus by Peter on the shores of a popular Mediterranean resort had little to say beyond a few religious niceties. And while we’re on the subject of the beach at Caesarea Philippi and the throngs of people who were vacationing and working there, it’s no coincidence that God’s design for the future of the human race – indeed, all of creation – was disclosed at one of the prime Roman centres. Only Pilate’s office and palace complex in Jerusalem and the Forum in Rome could have been more obvious in terms of the PR opportunity availed by Jesus.
	Which takes me back to my opening remark. What if Jesus’ comment WAS touching on General Convention 2009, and the leaders, the deputies, and the ten thousand participants in The Episcopal Church’s legislative processes?
	Where did I join with friends from Oregon, and across this country and many parts of the world, to talk about Stewardship, about Ministry by and with countless groups of people, about how to touch the lives of the dispossessed – in other words, to be agents of God’s Spirit bringing a message of renewal? Where did we do this? We did this a few hundred yards from Disneyland, self-described as the “happiest place on earth”.
	On the 17th July, 1955, Walt Disney, standing in Disneyland Town Square, Main Street, USA, at the dedication of his kingdom, said, “To all who come to this happy place: welcome. Disneyland is your land. Here age relives fond memories of the past...and here youth may savor the challenge and promise of the future. Disneyland is dedicated to the ideals, the dreams and the hard facts which have created America...with the hope that it will be a source of joy and inspiration to all the world.” 1
	Disney went so far as to say, “I don't want the public to see the world they live in while they're in Disneyland. I want them to feel they're in another world.”
	Where were we talking about people who were losing their vocational opportunities, and having their life-hopes threatened? About TEN (?) miles for places like Twentieth Century Fox, and Warner Brothers, and Universal Studios; about the same distance from really glitzy and horrendously expensive restaurants; about the same distance from USC and UCLA; about the same distance from – well, the whole gamut of Southern Californiadom.
	OK call me a Scrooge, but isn’t there a tremendous challenge to all of this? If we can’t make sure that people don’t need to sleep under the front porch of this worship building, with their heads up against the door – as they have done for the past two Sundays, and probably other days too; if we can’t make sure that people who have the skills and the will to work find an opportunity to use them not just for their own feelings of well-being, as important as this is, but for the good of the entire community; if we can’t make sure that all those children who returned to school on Tuesday, and the teachers and staff at these schools, will be able to get medical care to combat the sickness, the flus, the injuries which probably have started to surface already, or WILL very shortly; if we can’t take care of physical, emotional AND spiritual needs by affirming value and insisting on access to basic necessities without any discrimination – then what right do we have to think about the Magic Kingdom?
	Not that there’s anything wrong with that Magic Kingdom, per se. There wasn’t anything wrong with the beach at Caesarea Philippi, or the resort accommodations either, both of which Jesus and the disciples must have been enjoying. But the enrichment of the soul takes second place to nothing; freedom from worry about basic day-to-day well-being takes second place to nothing. “Seek first GOD’S Kingdom,” said someone once, “and the other little fiefdoms will fall into proper perspective and significance.”
	The trouble is, God’s realm simply won’t BE God’s realm, if everyone else isn’t enabled to be a part of it – RIGHT NOW! 
	Jesus got pretty ticked off with Peter when the disciple starting making all sorts of alternative plans – scheduling another week at the beach, maybe a few days in the Galilean countryside, another day or two out on the lake fishing, rather than engaging the civic leaders in Jerusalem. It seems that confrontation was never far from Jesus’ vocation as God’s Christ. It HAD to be right there. How else could anything be done to bring people’s focus back to the sort of dignity, and pleasure, and enriched life which were in God’s plans for humans from the beginning of time? Try this out on the Vestry here, if you will. Or on the City Council, never mind the State and Federal Governments.
	We ALL have our axes to grind, we all have our pet projects, we ALL, each one of us without exception, we ALL want to make sure that what’s important to us takes precedence over anything and everything else. It doesn’t matter whether you and I are a Vestry member, or a City Councillor, or a State or Federal Representative or Senator – the call to serve as any sort of member of the human race is one of putting others first, no matter what the cost. And that means going to where the action is – congregational building, City Hall, The Capitol Building in Salem, Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., the U.N. building in New York … nothing should get in our way of discussing the needs of the people of God. No threat of investigation; no threat of being put on some sort of a list or another; no threat of jail time; no threat of anything which attempts to deprive us of any of the rights and liberties which MUST be afforded to ALL, without exception – nothing is to stand in the way of bringing God’s reign into obvious and complete fulfillment here on earth.
	That’s why Jesus got so worked up that day on the beach. He saw Peter as suggesting that Jesus and the rest of the work crew should take the easy way out – right after he’d made that incredibly intuitive affirmation of the role of Jesus as Saviour.
	Jesus saw that there was no time to waste. He was learning that everything He did HAD to be addressed directly. Jesus never said, “Take care of those folks sleeping at the front door next month.” Jesus never said, “You don’t need to worry about flu vaccine and health care for children and older adults here in Lincoln City until they actually start coughing, and at least fifty per cent of the population start showing symptoms.” Jesus never said, “Well, there’s always tomorrow.”
	Part of the affirmation – by that first group of disciples as much as by us – part of the affirmation of Jesus as Messiah is that it implied IMMEDIATE action. 	Our membership in Christ’s Body, the Church, bestowed upon us through baptism, brings with it all sorts of rights and privileges. But it also brings with it all sorts of responsibilities – all backed up with God’s Lifetime Warranty that the Presence of the Spirit will help us to accomplish our baptismal, our vocational task, to the best of our abilities.
	None of this is to say that we can’t enjoy the beach with Peter. None of this is to say that our vocation prevents us from enjoying the scenery on the way to any government office. None of this says that I and all those others COULDN’T enjoy countless events in Anaheim last July. But we have to ensure that people are nourished; we have to ensure that no one is assaulted or abused. And if this means that we take others with us, then so be it.
	What if Jesus WAS in Anaheim while I was there? What if Jesus is HERE, right now?
	Who do we say Jesus was? What do we say His ministry was? And how does this affect our day to day living, as well as lie at the heart of our worship of God?

NOTE:

1 	Walt Disney: Dedication of Disneyland on July 17, 1955, Disneyland Town Square, Main Street, U.S.A. ww.geocities.com/hollywood/boulevard/1877/  


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Robert P. Morrison
The Episcopal Parish of St James,
PO Box 789
Lincoln City, Oregon, 97367

541-994-2426 (Church)