[Propertalk] Proper 6 c rcl

[Robert P Morrison]

This may - or may not - be dingy, at least in the beginning, but here's what I have for this Sunday - to be visited again and again through the week!

Bob


ST ALBAN’S EPISCOPAL CHURCH, ALBANY     THE THIRD SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST
1 KINGS 21:1-21 a		       PROPER 6 C RCL
GALATIANS 2:15-21		      13th JUNE, 2010
LUKE 7:36 – 8:3		       PSALM 5:1-8

	“Equus hemionus kulan” – probably you know it as the Onager.  
	“There are altogether five subspecies of (them, each of which) can be found in Central Asia.” It lives in deserts and steppes, is bright brown with a white belly and a black stripe on its back and is over eight feet long, four feet high and has a sixteen inch tail.
	“Equus hemionus usually lives in small groups, however sometimes it is seen in a herd of 50 animals.” It’s a great runner and has been clocked at 45 miles-per-hour. It’s a vegetarian, eating grass, bark and so on, so if you fancy yourself in some track and field events this summer you might give this some thought!
	These days this animal “belongs to endangered species for two main reasons. Firstly it is hunted by poachers because of fur and meat. Secondly its habitat is getting smaller.” 1
	Last week a crossword puzzle addict in Britain was really stumped as he tried to complete his puzzle. Although he’d worked these puzzles for most of his life, the name of this animal had escaped him. Finally this “fan aged 89 used an internet search to solve a clue about (the) donkey …”
	“The great-grandad typed (the clue) into Yahoo's search engine in the hope of finding the answer to the newspaper poser. 
	“But he was stunned when it threw up dozens of porn sites displaying photos of naked Asian girls. One offered ‘the hottest spicy asian …’” – well “donkey” wasn’t quite the word that the search produced.
	“Ex-engineer Jack said: ‘I was shaken. The images were horrendous. I didn't know this sort of stuff existed.’
	“After trying variations on the theme with the same result, frantic Jack finally found the answer by changing his search to ‘donkey sanctuaries.’” 2
	You’ve heard it before, I’m sure, and you’ll hear it again – and again – you have to be REALLY careful about that for which you ask. 
	Back in Galilee, that Pharisee asked Jesus over for drinks and dinner. No doubt he thought he’d have an evening of stimulating conversation, maybe some new interpretations of troubling texts, or a more relaxed view about some of the laws. It could be he wanted simply to get the latest on what had been happening in some of the other communities. And it wouldn’t have hurt any to be able to say to the folks at the Lodge later in the week that he’d had this unusual rabbi over at his place.
	But then, the awkwardness set in. No sooner had Jesus arrived and got his first drink than in came this woman from the other side of the tracks and started up with her crying. Then she began to pour some really expensive balm on Jesus’ feet.
	You can guess what the Pharisee was thinking. Well, you don’t need to guess, actually, it’s right there in the verses we heard Deacon Marj read – “What’s Jesus thinking – this woman’s one of … well, maybe you could find her on a website if you were trying to finish your crossword puzzle. If Jesus were half what He’s cracked up to be surely He’d know that.”
	You see, the problem was, you asked Jesus to dinner and you get His friends too! Even with the best of intentions, the Pharisee couldn’t see that Jesus cannot be isolated, cannot be separated from ANY of God’s children, ESPECIALLY those whom no one else asks over for dinner. Not that Jesus actually invited that woman, or anyone else, to come. He probably assumed that that rag-tag bunch of twelve could come, but maybe some of them had dates and were off someplace else. But Jesus had a way of attracting folk – those who were curious or enthralled by Him and what He had to say and do, as well as those who couldn’t stand Him, but either wanted to catch Him out making some stupid campaign promise or else couldn’t bear the thought of missing out on something spectacular. 
	Jesus’ point was that the Pharisee was spending so much time on what he thought were the important niceties that he completely forgot basic courtesies and necessities, something the unexpected visitor knew instinctively.	
	It may well have been that the Pharisee took so much for granted while the woman could take nothing for granted. So Simon got WAY more than he anticipated when he extended the invitation.
	The good news for us this morning is that there’s nothing for which we can’t ask God that God won’t answer, in one way or another. The BAD news, if I dare call it that, is that God ALWAYS has a way of opening up people’s vision, whether we seek it or not. “Ask,” said Jesus, “and you shall receive.” Only Jesus never said how much, or even what we’ll receive.
	That’s the problem with Jesus – there so much more to Him than ever meets our imaginations. But that sort of mind-expanding was what Jesus’ ministry was all about. From His first breaths in an ordinary, humble home to His last breaths on a terrifying instrument of torture, Jesus was doing the unexpected.
	And He’s still at it.
	It hasn’t been that long since we gathered, with candles, and bright lights, and mysterious packages to remember Jesus’ birth. It’s been less time than that since we came into this room in a subdued manner to reflect on Jesus’ death, both of which had to happen before we could begin to tease out the implications of Easter morning.
	Every year Jesus surprises us – maybe more frequently than that. You might find Jesus’ surprises round so many different corners. Yet still we think that WE’RE in the driver’s seat, that we can control who does what, and who goes where, and who – well, who comes over for drinks – or … or who sits where right here.
	How often do we joke about a visitor coming into a Church service and being asked to move out of one pew or another, or at the very least, end up on the receiving end of a glare and a roll of the eyeballs? How long has it been since it happened here? Do we ask folk to come to worship – do we HOPE that they’ll become a part of our regular congregation – but then we find ourselves having to bite our tongues and curb our initial feelings of displeasure that our routines have been knocked  out of the park?
 	We ask for one thing – more visitors, better yet, more people interested in becoming a part of our ministry family here – but we discover that just as we anticipate having a simple Bread and Wine meal, with a nice conversation, a few songs we know – or not – and a relatively short comment on something that we hope doesn’t make too many demands on us – we ask for one thing, but where on earth IS God’s mind?
	We pray that Jesus will be present, only to discover someone else here, someone with burdens to try to resolve and unload. More frequently than we’d like to admit, we don’t REALLY want to know someone’s entire social and medical history. But it seems that the kind of people who hang with Jesus are not only the ones we expect – like the semi-elite of society. They include the ones who seem to cough constantly, or may not know their way around a Prayer Book, or sing off-key. Jesus may have friends who can’t seem to sit still, or keep focused for more than a few minutes. Heaven forbid! they may even include the ones like Helen Thomas who say really embarrassing things at precisely the worst moment – when everyone, including our best (or worst) friends, are listening, and watching to see how we’ll react.
	But Helen Thomas, AND all the others – they’re just as likely to need and want to talk to Jesus, and be comforted by Jesus, and to be ministered to by Jesus as much as any of the rest of us.
	“Miles McPherson, a former San Diego Chargers defensive back … founded the Rock (a non-denominational worship community) 10 years ago and is its senior pastor. The goal, he said, is to ‘just do something about the pain and brokenness of the world.’
	"Look around you," he writes. "We're facing economic chaos, endless wars, AIDS, famine, ecological ruin, political corruption — the list is endless. Your neighbors are in desperate need of love and a helping hand. … For members of the Rock in San Diego, it's simple: Ease the pain, emulate Christ and perhaps fill the church.” 3
We listen to Jesus. We want to hear more. We’d like to have Him give us advice and address some of the difficulties we’re facing this minute – so we talk, we with Him, informally, at home, or as we move down the sidewalk, or as we drive. We talk, formally, in gatherings like this. We talk about all sorts of things, sometimes directly, sometimes indirectly, hoping Jesus’ comment won’t be too forceful, and will be spoken in such a way that few others will overhear or interrupt.
	We charge the BAC with certain responsibilities, we enter the process of looking for a Vicar to share in leadership and encouragement with us, but I’m sure the last thing on our minds is who might come along with Jesus, or where Jesus may invite us to walk.
	And as if this uncertainty, this turning of expectations on their heads, is not enough, Jesus continues to reach out to offer forgiveness – when all we were expecting was a slightly dismissive stare at someone not quite up to our standards, and maybe a few good jokes we can share with our friends the next day.
 	But Jesus puts paid to any easy solutions. Not once. Not twice. But all the time. 
	What ARE the consequences of the requests and invitations we make to Jesus?
	We never really know. Except that Jesus is always there, ready and willing to forgive, to cleanse, to restore.
	The only fly in the ointment of Grace that remains, though, is the way in which inclusion is seen to be truly endless. Sidney Poitier’s appearance at the door in “Guess who’s coming to dinner?” doesn’t seem to create half the panic and confusion as the others who may show up.
	Maybe one word of warning: perhaps we should just stick to typing in equus hemionus kulan and the like, unless we’re prepared to meet ALL of Jesus’ friends – in whatever phase of their journey!
	And that’s the Good News for this week!

NOTES:

1 	www.wildanimalsonline.com/mammals/asianwildass.php  
2	www.thesun.co.uk/.../news/2990390/Web-porn-But-I-was-only-after-br-wild-asian-ass.html
3		“Column One: Community service is the religion” By Mitchell Landsberg, Los Angeles Times June 6, 2010 http://link.latimes.com/r/M2L8S1/4IBKW/MRSCLI/UTZR9/2OCU8V/PJ/h  



--
Robert P. Morrison
Interim Vicar
The Episcopal Church of St Alban,
P.O. Box 1556,
Albany, Oregon, 97321

541-921-1076 (cell)
541-967-7051 (church)