How will we live the life we get to live? - Redeemer Episcopal

Luke 13:1-9 (NRSV) 

At that very time there were some present who told him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. ²He asked them, “Do you think that because these Galileans suffered in this way they were worse sinners than all other Galileans? ³No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all perish as they did. ⁴Or those eighteen who were killed when the tower of Siloam fell on them—do you think that they were worse offenders than all the others living in Jerusalem? ⁵No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all perish just as they did.”

⁶Then he told this parable: “A man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard; and he came looking for fruit on it and found none. ⁷So he said to the gardener, ‘See here! For three years I have come looking for fruit on this fig tree, and still I find none. Cut it down! Why should it be wasting the soil?’ ⁸He replied, ‘Sir, let it alone for one more year, until I dig around it and put manure on it. ⁹If it bears fruit next year, well and good; but if not, you can cut it down.’”

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You can listen to my sermon here.

Click on Mar 24, 2019 - Lent 3, "What we do matters"

(It is fairly similar to what is written below.)

There have been far too many tragedies lately. Between the cyclones throughout Mozambique, and the massacre in Christchurch, New Zealand— just naming those two are enough. But in the United States, we have seen unprecedented winter storms, terrible fires, bomb cyclones and floods throughout the midwest, and it seems every other week there is news of more violence. As I scanned the news, I realized that I could spend twenty minutes recounting the horrific things that have happened just in this past week. But I don’t need to do that for all of us to know that there have been far too many tragedies lately. 

This lament echoes the crowd’s from the gospel text as they their own story to Jesus this morning. Pilate had massacred Galileans recently. Jesus replies with another story: one of 18 people who were killed in an accident when a tower fell on them.

These tragedies, like the ones we experience today, begin to turn the wheels of our minds and hearts. They made people feel anxious. The question on the crowd’s mind was, “why did these people die?” That’s often the question we ask when bad things happen, right? Why? 

And the rest of the question doesn’t matter so much: we can fill in the blank… 

Why did God allow this to happen? 

Why did these people die?

Why do bad things happen to innocent and good people?

We are often asking “why?” 

Jesus replies that it is not a question of “why” they died, but that we will all die: the question is how will we live in the meantime? 

Father Wiley has been telling us for a few weeks now, that Lent is not a time to put aside our vices for a few weeks, just to pick them back up again after Easter. So, I’ll repeat what the rector has said before: vices, ideas, perspectives, and ideologies that we set at the foot of Christ, even as a Lenten discipline, should never be picked back up again. Jesus is explicit in the story this morning— life is fragile and short. What we do in the meantime matters. 

Lent is a time of preparation, a time of examining our lives, and ultimately, a time of repentance. That is what Jesus says in the text twice: “No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all perish as they did. No, I tell you; unless you repent, you will all perish as they did.” 

Now, I thought about bringing a milk crate to stand on this morning and just yelling “repent or perish!” for 8 to 10 minutes, like the campus preachers do on the green at UNF. But first of all, it doesn’t really seem to be working for the campus preachers, and secondly, I think we have the wrong idea about repentance. And perishing, for that matter. 

Usually when I hear the word “repent,” I think about feeling really sorry for something, expressing regret for my faults and my sins, or even becoming more morally righteous. I should BE a better person if I’m truly repentant. And ultimately, I think those preachers on the green are concerned about how good we are on earth so that we don’t go to hell when we die.  

But repentance is less about where we go when we die, and more about how we live our lives today. If sin is turning away from God’s grace and neighbor, repentance is actively turning TOWARD God’s grace and our neighbor. Repentance is about accepting and living into the fact that God has already saved us from the power of sin through Jesus life, death, and resurrection. 

When Jesus talks of “perishing,” he isn’t talking about some divine punishment in the afterlife. He means that when we deny God and God’s grace, we are not able to fully live into who we were created to be. Our souls are not whole. We perish in comparison to the life we could be living in Christ. And this life is fragile and this life is short. What we do in the meantime matters. 

God has given us an incredible opportunity to seize God’s graciousness in this life. God does not leave us to our own devices to repent and be made new. As Jesus’ parable suggests, God gives us everything we need to flourish and produce good fruit: we are formed and reformed in baptism, nourished and fed in the holy meal, reminded of God’s goodness and love in God’s Word, enriched and cultivated with the liturgy. God has extended grace upon grace to God’s people through the life, death, and resurrection of Christ Jesus. Now we are asked to do what we were made by God to do: produce good fruit, actively turn back to God and to our neighbors, to see the world with the lens of grace instead of the lens of sin.  

Therefore, in this season of Lent, I invite you to examine those things that cause you to perish and cast aside your lens of sin for the lens of eternal and everlasting grace that God in Christ Jesus has gifted us on the cross. Because this life is fragile and this life is short. What we do in the meantime matters. Amen. 

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This sermon (or a Spirited version of it) was originally preached by me, Rev. Sarah Locke, on March 24, 2019 at Redeemer Episcopal in Jacksonville, Florida where I serve as the Assisting Priest and College Chaplain. 

Serve all people following the example of Jesus

As we approach the last few weeks of this Lenten season, we continue to reflect on what it might look like to strive toward our baptismal promises in the context of campus ministry. 

The second to last promise (or, really, only part of the final promise) is to "serve all people following the example of Jesus." 

What a hefty promise. I don't know about you, but I have described myself in many different ways-- none of those ways has been "Jesus-like." We understand Jesus to be the incarnation of our one true God, so how in the world are we supposed to follow Jesus (God's) example? 

Not to mention, this promise also says, "serve all people."

Not "serve people on days you are rested and happy."

Not "serve just the people who look like you." 

Not "serve people who are nice to you and serve you." 

Not "serve people who live near you." 

We are called to serve all people, all the time. Talk about a tall order. 

I have never been so encouraged about this promise as when I worked with the students at Jacob's Porch, the campus ministry at Ohio State. OSU is in the capitol city of Ohio and as such, it has a lot of people and a large homeless population. The area around campus didn't have as many homeless people as downtown, but we still saw them pretty frequently on the city bus, walking to classes, and in the parking lots behind our favorite restaurants. Some of them made a meager living by selling newspapers, others pulled cans and bottles from the dumpsters to sell them. 

The students at Jacob's Porch began to create relationships with some of the homeless men in the area. Somehow, despite all of the other things college students had to worry about on a daily basis, these students thought they should be doing more. We had a free meal with worship every Sunday night (and sometimes other days of the week, too), so they invited the men to come and enjoy the warmth and have a bit of food. The only requirement is that they had to be sober if they wanted to eat and stay. Some just came for dinner, some enjoyed a nap on the couches while we worshiped amidst their snoring. I imagine Jesus really enjoyed these gatherings of misfits and weirdness. (Wouldn't Jesus love coming to worship with a couple of homeless men snoring on couches among young energetic college students singing and stomping praises to God?) 

Some of the more committed students started helping the homeless men find better employment or get counseling for mental illness. It wasn't always easy, but they continue to work hard to serve all people following the example of Jesus. 

Josh Hayes, a student during these interesting years describes it this way: 

"JP (Jacob's Porch) had outreach programs for those struggling in our direct vicinity. we endured numerous setbacks from exposing ourselves in that way, but these did not deter us and made us more convicted in our service. I still see a few of those we assisted thriving when I go back to that area with good jobs and healthy lives we helped spark. Beyond that, we welcomed people into our space and provided comfort, healing, and advice to not only our fellow students, but any individuals we were capable of serving. not only this, but if we were unable to serve them appropriately they were referred directly and clearly to those institutions that could."

To be clear, it wasn't the university asking Jacob's Porch to "fix the homeless problem" or even serve these folks. The pastors in the area didn't even ask the students to participate in the Kin-dom in this way. The students saw people in need around them and served them to the best of their ability. At one point, they were able to provide food to anyone who knocked on the door, any day of the week. It was a wonder to behold, and undeniably humbling.