<html><body>First draft, part 1:<div><br></div><div><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">THE
EPISCOPAL CHURCH OF ST. ALBAN, ALBANY</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">THE
TWENTY-FIFTH SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">1
SAMUEL 1:4-20 PROPER 28 b<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">HEBREWS
10:11-25 15<sup>th</sup>
NOVEMBER, 2015<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">MARK
13:1-8 THE SONG OF HANNAH<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> After thinking last week about
demons, I was somewhat startled this week by the headline, “I<a href="http://click.email.bbc.com/?qs=6c604a33c76fb39897b08bd3815a9d863723f421cbdc0547a3eace565e22dd785764e1434b74a573" target="_blank"><span style="background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">f
aliens exist, how would we know?</span></a>” <sup>1</sup><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> It’s an interesting question. How <b><u>WOULD</u></b> we know? What does an
alien look like? How does an alien sound? Have we seen one but never known it?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> A few decades ago I came across a
book by William Stringfellow, the U.S. lawyer and theologian. The book was
called “An Ethic for Christians and Other Aliens in a Strange Land”. <sup>2</sup>
It’s a title that stuck with me since I first saw it. “and Other Aliens” – it
was very catchy. It still is.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> The message of the prophets and of
Jesus and the apostles is that God has always remained in constant touch with
creation. Nowhere is it suggested that God has ever turned away, has grown
tired, has given up and walked out on human beings. Have we ticked God off at
any time? You bet! But at no point did God say, “That’s once too many. You’re
on your own.” Prophets, priests, kings, apostles, and, supremely, Jesus
Himself, when they listened to God and tried to remain faithful to God and to
God’s creation, all made a point of trying
to coax our ancestors, coax us, back into the fold. Our relationship
with God was supposed to be one of co-operation, of enthusiasm for what we see
and hear in our midst. Nothing is to be strange to us or for us. When God’s
people moved from place to place and encountered a group of people previously
unknown, they were to be considered part of God’s creative purpose too, no
matter how difficult, how dangerous this might be.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> Supremely, this was shown by the way
that Jesus interacted with all classes within Jewish society, with those not
generally accepted in a good Jewish home, with visiting and occupying forces.
In one way or another, Jesus was drawing everyone’s attention to the fact that
they had a role to play in this world, a role that would show honour to all
people. God had never been absent. In Jesus, God simply became tangible. And,
through the Spirit, God remains in our midst.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> This <b><u>CAN</u></b> be a challenging thought. God around us all the time,
watching listening, laughing, crying, sighing, yet not in the manner of George
Orwell’s “Big Brother”, trying to catch us out and, if necessary, imprison or
exterminate us. No, God cries, God is hurt, at the very least, God sighs when
it becomes obvious that we’re not doing our best; that we haven’t been
wrestling with the prophetic words and deeds encircling us; that we haven’t
applied what we’ve learned, what we know in our heart of hearts is true, and
lovely, and of good report.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> From giving us a heart and set of
lungs and a brain stem to keep us drawing in breaths, and from giving us oxygen
to extract from the atmosphere, God is with us not only in the most simple and
basic elements of life, but also in the ability to wrestle through complex
problems, to consider causes and effects, to imagine the outcomes of our actions.
God isn’t the least bit interested in making life difficult for us. God hates
it when things go wrong. When we make a decision that impacts negatively our
own safety and the safety of others, God grieves. When free will, in its
complicated machinations, seemingly allows human cells to run amok within our
bodies, or when one individual or group or nation speaks and acts without any
regard for what will be the impact on others, God weeps at the consequences.
We’ve read and heard how Jesus interacted with folk in His small corner of this
globe. We’re aware of what He tried to do to ensure the safety and health of
every human being with whom He came in touch. But He realized that it was still
up to each of us whether or not to listen; whether or not to adopt His way of
life; whether or not we’d care how other people are affected by how we live.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> It’s a wonderful yet awesome
responsibility we have as children of God, sisters and brothers of Jesus.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> So at every opportunity, God tried,
and continues to try to get us to see how we all inter-relate. But it’s so easy
to misunderstand. No matter how difficult or how beautiful something may seem,
we have to try to look beyond it – even, if it comes right down to it, beyond
what everyone else seems to think is so important.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> This <b><u>DOES</u></b> bring us up short, though. In fact, it <b><u>SHOULD</u></b>! Living with Jesus isn’t
the easy life.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> As I said a moment ago, I began at
the beginning of last week, confronted by the thought of whether or not we’d
recognise an alien. I remembered the title of Stringfellow’s book, and then I
came across a review comment on a book about both the Stringfellow and his
book.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> Under the disturbing heading “An
Inconvenient Truth” Nathan Schneider
wrote, and remember that Stringfellow wrote in the 70s and 80s, “</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">The strength of Stringfellow’s theology lies in
his exploration, specifically within the context of the Cold War-era Pax
Americana, of the worldly “principalities and powers” described in the New
Testament. Stringfellow saw these malign spiritual forces at work in the most
familiar of secular and religious institutions—in IBM, in the popularity
of Marilyn Monroe, and even in Billy Graham’s crusades—as well as in all the
-isms that seek to shape how we think and act. They’re idols, “impostors of God.”
Stringfellow’s work poses a challenge to the imagination, and manifests a
refusal to confuse things as they are with how they could or should be. We
confuse a Hallmark card with actual love, and next year’s car model with actual
progress. For Stringfellow, the gospel calls us to something better. He gives a
wildly creative, occasionally funny, and often disturbing picture of a world
upside-down and a gospel right-side-up.” <sup>3</sup></span><sup><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""><o:p></o:p></span></sup></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><sup><br></sup></span></p></div></body></html>