Relationships Matter - Redeemer Episcopal Church

Matthew 5:21-37 New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)

Concerning Anger

21 “You have heard that it was said to those of ancient times, ‘You shall not murder’; and ‘whoever murders shall be liable to judgment.’ 22 But I say to you that if you are angry with a brother or sister, you will be liable to judgment; and if you insult a brother or sister, you will be liable to the council; and if you say, ‘You fool,’ you will be liable to the hell of fire. 23 So when you are offering your gift at the altar, if you remember that your brother or sister has something against you, 24 leave your gift there before the altar and go; first be reconciled to your brother or sister, and then come and offer your gift. 25 Come to terms quickly with your accuser while you are on the way to court with him, or your accuser may hand you over to the judge, and the judge to the guard, and you will be thrown into prison. 26 Truly I tell you, you will never get out until you have paid the last penny.

Concerning Adultery

27 “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ 28 But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lust has already committed adultery with her in his heart. 29 If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away; it is better for you to lose one of your members than for your whole body to be thrown into hell. 30 And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away; it is better for you to lose one of your members than for your whole body to go into hell.[i]

Concerning Divorce

31 “It was also said, ‘Whoever divorces his wife, let him give her a certificate of divorce.’ 32 But I say to you that anyone who divorces his wife, except on the ground of unchastity, causes her to commit adultery; and whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery.

Concerning Oaths

33 “Again, you have heard that it was said to those of ancient times, ‘You shall not swear falsely, but carry out the vows you have made to the Lord.’ 34 But I say to you, Do not swear at all, either by heaven, for it is the throne of God, 35 or by the earth, for it is his footstool, or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great King. 36 And do not swear by your head, for you cannot make one hair white or black. 37 Let your word be ‘Yes, Yes’ or ‘No, No’; anything more than this comes from the evil one.

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Below is the sermon I preached on February 16, 2020 at Redeemer Episcopal Church. You can read the sermon manuscript here, or listen to the sermon (with infusions from the Spirit) at this link. Always remember that I preach to a particular context in a particular time, but I hope it speaks to you as well! 

God of reconciliation, give us the courage to live for you and strive toward the relationships you desire for us among all people and all of creation. Amen. 

There is a famous story about St. Francis of Assisi, where he is asked by Brother Masseo: “Why you? Why does all the world seem to be running after you, and everyone seems to want to see you and hear you and obey you? You are not a handsome man. You do not have great learning or wisdom. You are not a nobleman. So why is all the world running after you?” 

Saint Francis, with his characteristic humility, explained that God’s glory shone all the brighter through the weakness of such an obviously “miserable servant.” 

Of course, this has turned into somewhat of a joke, but the question remains: why were people so drawn to the life of St. Francis as he taught and preached, following him around the Italian countryside and giving up their bourgeois lifestyles to become monks and nuns?

I have been spending some time studying the life of St. Francis because some of my students and I head to Italy in about three months. On Friday I attended a lecture about his life and some of the sites we will be visiting while we are there. Every part of the Italian countryside seems influenced by St. Francis in some way. 

I think much of it has to do with his authenticity. In the 13th century, medieval Christians liked what was in the Bible and what Jesus said about how to live according to the Gospel, but no one truly thought it was possible to actually live like Jesus described. They were all wonderful teachings in theory, but they were impossible to put into practice. 

St. Francis proved them wrong. He gave up his wealth and inheritance, he gave up comfort and a permanent home to follow God’s call. He proved through his life and his actions that following Jesus’ call was, in fact, possible. 

I share this story of St. Francis because the people who would have first heard Jesus’ words that we heard this morning would have thought that these things sounded good in theory, but they were impossible to practice. 

This portion of the sermon on the mount is called the antitheses. Jesus says repeatedly, “you have heard it said… but…” It’s a bit misleading because it sounds like Jesus is replacing long-standing Jewish laws with something completely different. But what he actually does is intensifies the commands. 

I think what resonates with so many people today about St. Francis is that his entire life was centered around and shaped by relationships. The very first worship service he led was in a leper colony outside of Assisi. He thought that is was important to be in relationship with those who were exiled from society— the sick, the dying, the orphaned, and the widowed. 

When he was first moved to poverty and preaching, he realized that he would have to create his own order of friars. All of the other orders had a hierarchy of authority and St. Francis wasn’t interested in that. He wanted all of his followers to be brothers, he even called himself a custodian, the lowest servant of them all. 

When St. Francis began having many followers, he sent them out in pairs to spread the gospel. Of course, this was because it is biblical— Jesus did the same thing— but he also wanted to make sure his fellow friars always had to rely on someone else. Relationships were the most important thing to St. Francis. Your relationship with other people and with creation, he believed, was a direct reflection of your relationship with God. 

St. Francis was devoted to God’s word, and more specifically the words and the way of Jesus Christ. He longed to see the fullness of the kingdom of God in this world. And he knew that in the fullness of the kingdom, people would live in full communion with one another. 

Because that is Jesus’ intent here, right? The law seemed to be asking the bear minimum of God’s people and Jesus is upping the ante. 

There is a big spectrum of emotion and action between simply not murdering someone and deep, fulfilling, restored relationships. What if the opposite of killing someone was restorative, and healing community with someone? 

There is a big difference between simply not committing adultery and treating others as truly beautiful children of God. Jesus seems to say that adultery, murder, divorce, and even swearing oaths have less to do with individual actions, and much more to do with our relationships with one another. 

And, Jesus says, this relationship we have with one another affects our relationship with God. So much so that if we remember that we have issues with someone, we should leave and go settle those issues before we even come to the altar and stand before God. 

Relationships matter. 

That’s what made St. Francis’ life so appealing to so many, that’s why his impact has lasted over 800 years. Because he demonstrated what happens when people choose to take Jesus’ words seriously and devote themselves to not the bear minimum in relationships but, the utmost and the most whole in our relationships.

This is what God proved to us and promised to us in the birth, life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. That relationships matter so much, that full communion with God’s people is so important, that God is willing and even enthusiastic about coming into this world as a human to be among us, healing us, and feeding us. 

We are invited into this kind of communion with one another and with God in the waters of baptism and we are reminded of the divine example of God’s grace, mercy, and commitment to God’s people every week when we gather for this meal. We get to participate in this gift of life given to us in these words. We can choose to believe, like St. Francis did, that relationships matter. Not only our relationship with the divine, but also our relationship with one another and all of creation. And we are called not to the bear minimum, but to fullness of life. Not only is it possible, but it will change the world. 

Faith - Redeemer Episcopal Church

Luke 17:5-10

⁵The apostles said to the Lord, “Increase our faith!” ⁶The Lord replied, “If you had faith the size of a mustard seed, you could say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and planted in the sea,’ and it would obey you. ⁷“Who among you would say to your slave who has just come in from plowing or tending sheep in the field, ‘Come here at once and take your place at the table’? ⁸Would you not rather say to him, ‘Prepare supper for me, put on your apron and serve me while I eat and drink; later you may eat and drink’? ⁹Do you thank the slave for doing what was commanded? ¹⁰So you also, when you have done all that you were ordered to do, say, ‘We are worthless slaves; we have done only what we ought to have done!’”

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This sermon was originally preached by me, Rev. Sarah Locke, at Redeemer Episcopal Church in Jacksonville, FL on October 6, 2019. You may read the transcript below, or listen to it (with infusions from the Spirit) at this link. It was also our celebration of "Blessing of the Animals," which adds a little context to why my dog was with me that morning. 

God of mercy, help us to understand that we already have enough faith through your Son, Jesus Christ, to live our days in Christian obedience. Amen.

A few weekends ago, I attended a women’s retreat that focused on spiritual gifts. Before the retreat, we were all supposed to take a spiritual gifts assessment online and bring our results with us. 

As we began our conversations, I listened to various women confess, “well, it says my most prominent spiritual gift is faith, but I don’t know about that.” The other women, their friends who had come with them, and the one who listened to their stories over the weekend began shaking their heads. “Yes,” they said, “it is so obvious to us that faith is your spiritual gift. Just the way you walk through life and encounter people— it is certainly a prominent gift in your life.” 

The faithful women didn’t see big flashy, newspaper worthy signs of the faithfulness— maybe they never left their homes to live in poverty, perhaps they weren’t traditional ministers or nuns, maybe they’d never been recognized for their faith ever before that day. 

Whatever it was, they didn’t feel like they had “enough” faith, which is what the disciples were looking for in themselves because Jesus was asking them to do what they thought were big, huge, flashy things. The disciples had heard Jesus tell people about the true cost of discipleship— a lifestyle that would cost them not only their relationships, their livelihood, but ultimately their very lives. 

It’s really no wonder that the disciples were demanding Jesus to increase their faith, but Jesus obviously thinks it’s the wrong request. 

Faith, Jesus says in not so many words, is not something that can be measured, but something that has already been gifted to us— in ready abundance— by the Holy Spirit. Faith is something that we walk every day, obedience we called it, perhaps, as Jesus implies by his story of the slaves serving their masters. Faith is simply doing what we are told by God to do— nothing flashy, nothing worth praise or a news story. 

But the disciples didn’t want faith to simply make it through the day, they were asking for faith to do great works and great wonders according to their own desires. But this was not according to God’s own grace and love. 

But I understand the disciples’ cry for more faith— it would be nice if we were recognized a little more for how much faith we have, wouldn’t it? Just so we know we have enough. But the reality is that we do already have the faith that we need, and more than that, we already demonstrate that faith every day. 

God gives us enough faith through the Holy Spirit to continue in the Christian life, to continue to turn back toward God despite our sinfulness and temptations. Not flashy, but good and true and measured everyday faith. 

It’s the faith that Jesus speaks about at other times— not the faith of moving mountains or of uprooting a mulberry tree and throwing it into the sea. 

It is doing small, faithful things repeatedly. It is the faith of a mustard seed, the faith of salt and grain and ordinary life. 

Presbyterian pastor, Courtney Ellis says, “It is what we do in those ordinary times that matters most because those are the days that shape us most regularly.” God works in the minuscule things. God works in our every day, faithful acts of obedience. 

When we decide to turn toward our neighbor instead of away, God works in that small faithful act. When we spend an extra few minutes snuggling with our child at night, when we decide to just do this dishes instead of fussing at our spouse or roommate. God works in that small faithful act. When we prayerfully decide to commit a few extra dollar to the mission of the church this year, God works in that small faithful act. When we come to worship with our friends and family, when we bring our pets for a blessing. God works in that small faithful act. 

And God works in those small faithful acts day after day, even when we trip up and feel like we haven’t done a single faithful thing in weeks. Because God is faithful to us. And it is God’s faithfulness that keeps us moving toward the Kingdom.

There are countless examples of every day faithfulness in my life, people I can point to and say, “that’s exactly what God is like.” But the best example I could think of this week was Cooper, our seven year old husky here. 

We also have a one year old little boy, so every day Cooper is whacked with toys and bottles, he has his fur tugged on and pulled out, and he’s regularly used as a footstool. We don’t walk him as often as we should and he spends a lot of time at home sleeping. Yet he remains faithful. He is always calm and happy, always willing to stick close to our son and me when we do go on walks. Every day he demonstrates his obedience and devotion to us, despite the way we sometimes unknowingly neglect him. 

We see that kind of faithfulness in so many pets, service animals, and therapy animals. The faith of simply continuing to look forward to the next day, no knowing what it holds, but knowing that God is there guiding us and being faithful alongside us. 

And that faith might not be flashy or glamorous, it might not feel like a lot and some days it will feel like it is barely there, God works in that too. Amen. 

Blessing of the Animals at University of North Florida

You can read the article about our Blessing of the Animals from News4Jax at this link.

On October 4, I preached and presided on University of North Florida's campus for the first time. It was an absolutely wonderful experience and I can't wait to do it again. I love the Blessing of the Animals worship service and I think it is a great way to introduce church to people who might not be very familiar with it. Everything was casual but so very sacred. As we worshipped outside of the Brooks College of Health, we were greeted by not only the various dogs, but also the birds, lizards, and squirrels that live on campus. We listened to the fountain in the background, felt the sun on our shoulders, and heard the breeze rustle through the trees above us.

Below is the gist of my sermon, which included some improvisation and loving on Polar Bear, the monstrous white dog who laid lazily in the front row.

In the summer of 2014, my husband, who was only my boyfriend at the time, and I adopted our sweet dog Cooper. It was a regular outing for us to leave seminary and go snuggle all the dogs we wish we could adopt. We were in school full time and had very little money, so we liked to go fantasize about adopting puppies and older dogs and ALL of the dogs together.

When we walked in that day, Cooper was the first dog I saw-- he was the only dog I saw. He has mange and fleas and heart worms and barely any hair at all. But he was so calm and peaceful. So sad and longing. Just laying there, a little bit like Bear lays here now. So I climbed into the fenced in area with him and pulled him onto my lap and looked up at Daniel and said, "I don't care how we do it, but we're not leaving here without this dog."

And of course, we didn't. He came home with us that very day and we fell deeply in love with him. Since then, he has been teaching me all sorts of things about myself, about creation, and about God.

This is the sort of thing St. Francis found as he interacted with God's creation throughout his life. He understood creation to be a mirror to God. Theologian Richard Rohr calls creation the first Bible-- plants, animals, and all of creation, reflect God's beauty. It teaches us something about God that we cannot even learn from reading the words of the Bible.

God created the world to call us into relationship-- with one another, with creation itself, and, of course, relationship with God.

When we first adopted Cooper, he was very skittish. Despite promising to love him forever and ever, one morning, he slipped right out of his collar and ran off. Then it happened again. And again. And four times. Each time, we chased after him, gathering the whole neighborhood to help us. And each time we brought him back home, soothed him, assured him that he was safe and didn't have to run away. He didn't have to be scared with us, we loved him.

This is like God's love for us-- God is constantly running after us, chasing after us, calling all of the people in our lives to help God search for us, bringing us home, and assuring us that we are safe and that God loves us.

Pets, service animals, comfort animals, and therapy animals teach us about this kind of love, forgiveness, and grace.

In a world where humans are not always a testament to love, forgiveness, and grace, it is a shame that the church only spends one day honoring and blessing these animals and all of creation. Because every single day they are a blessing to us.

Amen.