Proper 25 2025 I Have NOT Arrived

Proper 25 26 October 2025

St George’s Episcopal, Fredericksburg, VA

“I Have NOT Arrived”

Collect

Almighty and everlasting God, increase in us the gifts of faith, hope, and charity; and, that we may obtain what you promise, make us love what you command; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Luke 18:9-14

Jesus told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous and regarded others with contempt: "Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee, standing by himself, was praying thus, `God, I thank you that I am not like other people: thieves, rogues, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I give a tenth of all my income.' But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even look up to heaven, but was beating his breast and saying, `God, be merciful to me, a sinner!' I tell you, this man went down to his home justified rather than the other; for all who exalt themselves will be humbled, but all who humble themselves will be exalted."

I remember hearing a story from a friend about going into a church, and seeing in the entryway a huge banner: “You have arrived!” Now, I hope and trust that what they meant to say was “You made it. We are glad you are here!” But when I hear the phrase, “You have arrived!” it sounds like you have made it to your destination, that you have nowhere else to go, that you have nothing else to do, nothing more to learn, no more growth is needed. Rest.

Had I seen that banner hanging in a church I was visiting, I would have turned around and walked out the door immediately. What I look for in a Church is not a bunch of “arrived” people, but a bunch of people en route. In the early Church, people who followed Christ did not call themselves Christians. In fact, the name Christian was an insulting, derisive name that got slapped on Christ’s followers in Antioch, the city in Syria. It literally means “little Christs.” Little Messiahs. People were making fun of these people running around trying to help people and save them from their troubles. The term that people used in the Church to describe themselves was followers of The Way. The Way. You see, our faith is to be on the move, on the go. We follow Jesus, and he shows us The Way. When we think that we have it made, that we have arrived, we have left The Way. And there is nothing I think that would make Jesus sadder.

In the story he told tonight Jesus sets up a dichotomy, two people praying in the Temple. One who thanks they have arrived, that they have their act together and THANKS BE TO GOD THEY WERE BORN THAT WAY and followed all the rules to stay that way! 

And we have another, who knew for a fact that they were on the wrong path, that they had strayed and that they needed help. He prayed, “God, be merciful to me, a sinner!” 

God heard both prayers and God affirmed one of them, according to Jesus. The obvious and notorious sinner went home justified. And the one who was sure he was ready and redeemed was anything but.

Friends, you know you. At least, I hope you do. I know I have not arrived, and I still have a ways to go. I could worry and fret about that, or, like the Tax Collector, I could see it as my starting place on the road to Grace.

Maybe one way to look at it is to not be like the Pharisee, and do not judge anybody, unless you are looking in a mirror.

And if you have breath in your lungs, God is not done with you yet! Thanks be to God! You still have room and time to grow and to go home justified like the Tax Collector. 

God has given you today to humbly start again. All Roads May Lead To Rome, but all roads on Jesus’ Way lead to him. No matter where you are starting from, Jesus can and wants to show you the way home. Thanks be to God! Amen

 

Proper 24 WED 22 Oct 2025 Missing the Point

 Proper 24 WEDNESDAY, 22 October 2025

St George’s Episcopal, Fredericksburg, VA

“Missing the Point” 

Collect

Almighty and everlasting God, in Christ you have revealed your glory among the nations: Preserve the works of your mercy, that your Church throughout the world may persevere with steadfast faith in the confession of your Name; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

1 Corinthians 15:51-58 NRSV

Listen, I will tell you a mystery! We will not all die, but we will all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. For this perishable body must put on imperishability, and this mortal body must put on immortality. When this perishable body puts on imperishability, and this mortal body puts on immortality, then the saying that is written will be fulfilled:

“Death has been swallowed up in victory.”

“Where, O death, is your victory?

     Where, O death, is your sting?”

The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Therefore, my beloved, be steadfast, immovable, always excelling in the work of the Lord, because you know that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.

Matthew 12:1-14

At that time Jesus went through the cornfields on the sabbath; his disciples were hungry, and they began to pluck heads of grain and to eat. 2When the Pharisees saw it, they said to him, ‘Look, your disciples are doing what is not lawful to do on the sabbath.’ 3He said to them, ‘Have you not read what David did when he and his companions were hungry? 4He entered the house of God and ate the bread of the Presence, which it was not lawful for him or his companions to eat, but only for the priests. 5Or have you not read in the law that on the sabbath the priests in the temple break the sabbath and yet are guiltless? 6I tell you, something greater than the temple is here. 7But if you had known what this means, “I desire mercy and not sacrifice”, you would not have condemned the guiltless. 8For the Son of Man is lord of the sabbath.’

9 He left that place and entered their synagogue; 10a man was there with a withered hand, and they asked him, ‘Is it lawful to cure on the sabbath?’ so that they might accuse him. 11He said to them, ‘Suppose one of you has only one sheep and it falls into a pit on the sabbath; will you not lay hold of it and lift it out? 12How much more valuable is a human being than a sheep! So it is lawful to do good on the sabbath.’ 13Then he said to the man, ‘Stretch out your hand.’ He stretched it out, and it was restored, as sound as the other. 14But the Pharisees went out and conspired against him, how to destroy him.

Two of my favorite authors, and both of which I have had the distinct pleasure of getting to spend time with, Brian McLaren and Tony Campolo co-wrote a book, Adventures in Missing the Point. The book was not particularly memorable, but the title certainly was. So many of the problems we face in life stem directly from this, us not being on the same page. Miscommunications. Assumptions. So many things trip us up and we run with our certainty and assume our perspective is reality and the rest, all that confusion and conflict, is what becomes history.

Jesus had the same thing happen to him. He and his followers were hungry, so they ate. But their way of getting food, plucking the wheat grains, happened on the Sabbath. This commanded day of rest in which we dedicate it to God was the hang-up. Jesus knew it was the Sabbath, but following the minutia of how one is supposed to follow that commandment was what became the issue.

The Sabbath was made for us, not us for it. In other words, who is driving the car here? What is the highest priority?

Think about who you last had a confrontation with. Most likely, you were not on opposite ends of whatever issue it was, but where you rank the priorities coming into conflict. Which priority trumps the other one?

My wife used to be the assistant to Bishop Goff. When she helped prepare churches for their episcopal visitation liturgical colors always came into play. What color is the color of the day. She, coming out of a Baptist background, had no idea about liturgical colors and what was appropriate when. Bishop Goff clarified it this way. If we are invoking the Holy Spirit, it is Red. Confirmations and Receptions. Both of which call on the Holy Spirit. But when we invoke Jesus, Baptisms (and Weddings and Funerals, too, by the way) we have White. While Red and White are both good, Jesus trumps everybody so white wins. It comes back to priorities.

For the Pharisees, Sabbath observance trumped personal needs. Jesus disagreed. Hunger and healing are both good, and good beats legalistic observance every time.

That conversation might seem far fetched and not applicable, but there were a few recent conversations where these conflicting priorities came into play. So many are desperately hurting right now with the government shut down. As a parish, though, we are right smack in the middle of the Generosity campaign which because of all the other programming was happening now. Can we be compassionate and caring of those hurting while the system continues the way systems do?

I was so moved how those on staff wrestled with not being tone deaf to folks’ situation while getting out the scheduled mailings. The emphasis of reaching out and telling people they come first was touching to me. I trust these efforts succeeded and were heard and even more felt.

These conversations around Tithing (or Stewardship or Giving or Generosity, whatever you call it) and the Sabbath are not about God, they are about US! God does not need your money. God does not need you to give God a day of praise. But God knows us because God made us, and God knows we are stuck in limited perspectives where it is hard for us to have the faith that we can live on 90% of our labors and we can get all that needs to be done in 6 days instead of 7. The Sabbath and our Giving are statements of profound faith that God is God and we are not. That what we have from this God of Abundance will make do. As we live into the Kingdom of God, think on that! Amen

Proper 24, 19 October 2025 "Shiny Red Bikes and Having Heart"

 Proper 24 19 October 2025

St George’s Episcopal, 

Fredericksburg, VA

“Shiny Red Bikes and Having Heart”

Collect

Almighty and everlasting God, in Christ you have revealed your glory among the nations: Preserve the works of your mercy, that your Church throughout the world may persevere with steadfast faith in the confession of your Name; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Luke 18:1-8

Jesus told his disciples a parable about their need to pray always and not to lose heart. He said, "In a certain city there was a judge who neither feared God nor had respect for people. In that city there was a widow who kept coming to him and saying, `Grant me justice against my opponent.' For a while he refused; but later he said to himself, `Though I have no fear of God and no respect for anyone, yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will grant her justice, so that she may not wear me out by continually coming.'" And the Lord said, "Listen to what the unjust judge says. And will not God grant justice to his chosen ones who cry to him day and night? Will he delay long in helping them? I tell you, he will quickly grant justice to them. And yet, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?"

“Shiny Red Bikes and Having Heart”

Good morning! 

Jesus was a teacher. Jesus was a healer. But, what attracted and enthralled his hearers was that Jesus was a storyteller. Plain and simple.

I have been preaching twice as many years as I haven’t, and in those decades I have learned a very simple and important lesson. If I talk in the abstract, people can pay attention for a little bit before their minds wander, or they start applying the ideas to their situation and their attention flits away to those thoughts. It is par for the course.

But if I start to tell a story, and I make it engaging and interesting people look up, and lean in, and stay with me. We are wired for stories. We use them to say goodnight and tuck our kids into bed. Standing around the watercooler or at a cookout, we might break out a joke or anecdote to engage with our colleagues or friends.

And as I said, being a Master of the Human Condition, Jesus knew that about us. And how did he repeatedly teach? Through story, and we call the stories he told parables. The word parable comes from the Latin word for “comparison.” We might use the word metaphor. He is making a point by pointing to something else that is parallel to what we are experiencing.

And we are still wrestling with Jesus’s metaphorical teaching stories 2,000 years later. I highly encourage you, if you would like to take a deep dive, to pick up “Short Stories by Jesus” by Vanderbilt Divinity professor Amy-Jill Levine. Its sub-title is “The Enigmatic Parables of a Controversial Rabbi.” She repeatedly brings out that Jesus intended to shock and dismay his hearers by twisting something that they knew and turning it on its head.

So many of Jesus’ parables are about God and the nature of God. Some other parables are about the way things are or will be in the Kingdom of God which Jesus preached about and lived to bring into reality. 

In the spiritual world, taking the familiar and twisting is an easy way to get us to unlearn what we think we know, and relearn what is more true and real. And by more true and real I mean what God’s intentions are for all of us.

Today’s parable from our lectionary reading is often confusing because it goes against those patterns most often found in Jesus’s stories. It is clearly against how God is. And sometimes, like in this instance, they actually tell you the point it is they are trying to make. Luke does as much…

Jesus told his disciples a parable about their need to pray always and not to lose heart. 

So let’s start there. This is about our praying, especially when we are unsure if we are being heard. We need to pray, even if we do not know the outcome.

[Jesus] said, "In a certain city there was a judge who neither feared God nor had respect for people. In that city there was a widow who kept coming to him and saying, `Grant me justice against my opponent.' For a while he refused; but later he said to himself, `Though I have no fear of God and no respect for anyone, yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will grant her justice, so that she may not wear me out by continually coming.'" 

Jesus, as I mentioned, takes what is known, and spins it.

Scripture promises that there is nothing new under the sun, and a crooked politician is not new. Even in Jesus’s day, there were stinkers who would kiss a baby just so that they could take their lollipop. Do not confuse the Judge with God, which might be easy to do. The Judge is the antithesis of God; God is not like him.

When it comes to our prayer, it might seem like you are not being heard. It might seem like your prayers are landing on deaf ears. But this parable is about our need to pray without ceasing, not about the nature of God. Jesus clears that up with the line: 

And will not God grant justice to his chosen ones who cry to him day and night? Will God delay long in helping them? I tell you, God will quickly grant justice to them. 

Now this is the time when we have to talk about God’s answer to prayers. I have read a lot. I have prayed a lot. I have waited a long time for an answers.

You may remember the story from the Hebrew Scriptures when the Prophet Elijah was being persecuted by King Ahab and Queen Jezebel. They had brought in the religion of the false idol Baal, and to get the people’s attention there was a drought for three years. Elijah sent word to the prophets of Baal to meet for a showdown on Mount Carmel.

Elijah set up altars with sacrifices on them, one to Baal and one to God. He allowed the 400 prophets of Baal to pray to their deity first, and after hours of calling and crying, of dancing and even self-mutilation, nothing came of it.

Friends, that is not what God wants from us. God wants us to be clear, honest, and direct. Elijah did that and God lit the fire on the altar dedicated to himself. 

We are to pray, without ceasing and to have heart. A synonym for that is to pray with faith. 

Another caveat, when I am waiting to hear from God, I too often, admittedly think, God will give me exactly what I pray for. And sometimes God does. But I often have to remind myself that God’s answers to prayer are often boiled down to one of three things: Yes, No, and Not Now.

When my daughter was very young, she did not want to get a shot. We would tell her that she was going to get a shot. We would go through the appointment right up until the time when the shot was coming. And even while I held her still on my lap, she would look at me one last time, words no longer of use, but that way our beloved ones can look at us and speak volumes with a glance.

In that look, she would want me to make it go away. But I was the father. I was the one holding her. I was the one who knew it was best for her to take a moment of pain for her long-term health and safety. Despite her begging, the answer to her pleas was No. I stayed with her. I hurt with her. I would take her anger or resentment to the decision that I knew was best for her and all of us. I did what needed to be done. 

I would rather have her beg and tell me what she was feeling. She did not need to hold it or hide it. She did not need to say, “Why bother!?!?” I wanted her to have honest and open communication with me, but I also wanted her to trust that I was doing what was best for her.

Prayer is like that. We share our hearts, what they are really and truly feeling and wanting. No matter how trivial. And I also have faith in God that the answer may be yes, you get what you want, no, you do not get that, or not now, and we will see what comes.

Sometimes I might see a shiny new bike. It is red and cool, and I convince myself that I want that red bike. I might even pray that God would give me that really cool, shiny, red bicycle. I might even pray that continually, like a kid dropping hints at Christmas.

But then it does not arrive. Am I angry with God? If so, that would be on me. If I were a petulant child that would be the outcome.

But if I kept praying for that red bike, God would have the opportunity to show me that my blue bike is just fine. I might see that some people might not even have a bike, and how blessed I am to have a bike at all. My blue bike starts looking better and better, and I see God’s loving hand in saying No, no matter how hard I prayed. And while I got a No to my prayers, I trust that God’s No means something else will happen, and I pray I can see that it is better.

When Jesus talked about our not losing heart in our prayers, it is about faith in a God who is good, a God who is abundant with gifts and justice, a God who loves us more than we can ever perceive.

Holding my child while she got shots was hard, but it was one of the most loving things I could do. She got what she needed without necessarily getting what she wanted. And even in the No to her pleas, I trust she had heart that I loved her and wanted what was best for her in the long run.

God loves us and wants what is best for us. God is generous, abundant, and loving. Today’s reading ends with this phrase.

And yet, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?"

Praying without ceasing. Praying, even when the answer might be Yes, No, or Not Now, shows that we have faith that God hears us and that God’s response will be just and caring of us.

Today, as we look at the Gratitude we have in our Generosity Campaign, we have a God who hears our prayers. We have a community of love and support, especially in the hard times like so many are going through right now. Even in days like these we can have Gratitude. We have a way to have hope, even when we do not see what is beyond the horizon. God, who began a good work in you, is faithful to complete it. Amen

Proper 23, 12 October 2025 Sermon: "The Ducky Dance" & a Homilette "In-Between"

 Proper 23, 12 October 2025

St George’s Episcopal Fredericksburg, VA

"The Ducky Dance"

Collect

Lord, we pray that your grace may always precede and follow us, that we may continually be given to good works; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

Jeremiah 29:1, 4-7

These are the words of the letter that the prophet Jeremiah sent from Jerusalem to the remaining elders among the exiles, and to the priests, the prophets, and all the people, whom Nebuchadnezzar had taken into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon.

Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, to all the exiles whom I have sent into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon: Build houses and live in them; plant gardens and eat what they produce. Take wives and have sons and daughters; take wives for your sons, and give your daughters in marriage, that they may bear sons and daughters; multiply there, and do not decrease. But seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the Lord on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare.

Psalm 66:1-11

1 Be joyful in God, all you lands; *

sing the glory of his Name;

sing the glory of his praise.

2 Say to God, "How awesome are your deeds! *

because of your great strength your enemies cringe before you.

3 All the earth bows down before you, *

sings to you, sings out your Name."

4 Come now and see the works of God, *

how wonderful he is in his doing toward all people.

5 He turned the sea into dry land,

so that they went through the water on foot, *

and there we rejoiced in him.

6 In his might he rules for ever;

his eyes keep watch over the nations; *

let no rebel rise up against him.

7 Bless our God, you peoples; *

make the voice of his praise to be heard;

8 Who holds our souls in life, *

and will not allow our feet to slip.

9 For you, O God, have proved us; *

you have tried us just as silver is tried.

10 You brought us into the snare; *

you laid heavy burdens upon our backs.

11 You let enemies ride over our heads;

we went through fire and water; *

but you brought us out into a place of refreshment.

2 Timothy 2:8-15

Remember Jesus Christ, raised from the dead, a descendant of David-- that is my gospel, for which I suffer hardship, even to the point of being chained like a criminal. But the word of God is not chained. Therefore I endure everything for the sake of the elect, so that they may also obtain the salvation that is in Christ Jesus, with eternal glory. The saying is sure:

If we have died with him, we will also live with him;

if we endure, we will also reign with him;

if we deny him, he will also deny us;

if we are faithless, he remains faithful--

for he cannot deny himself.

Remind them of this, and warn them before God that they are to avoid wrangling over words, which does no good but only ruins those who are listening. Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved by him, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly explaining the word of truth.

Luke 17:11-19

On the way to Jerusalem Jesus was going through the region between Samaria and Galilee. As he entered a village, ten lepers approached him. Keeping their distance, they called out, saying, "Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!" When he saw them, he said to them, "Go and show yourselves to the priests." And as they went, they were made clean. Then one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, praising God with a loud voice. He prostrated himself at Jesus' feet and thanked him. And he was a Samaritan. Then Jesus asked, "Were not ten made clean? But the other nine, where are they? Was none of them found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?" Then he said to him, "Get up and go on your way; your faith has made you well."

Good morning and greetings. Who am I? And why am I here? You may be asking yourself those very questions. Last week I began as your Interim Associate Rector. It has been a wonderful and wild week and a half since I started. My name is Rock Higgins, and I will be with you over the next 10 months or so.

I have been a priest in three parishes around Richmond, and I am glad to be here with you as you discern the position and who God is preparing to come be with you.

We continue in our season of Generosity which we began last Sunday with the lengthy parade of ministries which make an impact in and around Fredericksburg. The list and breadth of ministries was impressive. As Archbishop of Canterbury William Temple reminded us, “The Church exists primarily for the sake of those who are still outside it.” We are here to make a difference in the world, to be leaven to raise the world’s standard, to be light to drive out the darkness, to be salt to bring out the God-flavors woven into creation.

The prophet Jeremiah said as much to the children of Israel. While mostly seen as the weeping prophet, here Jeremiah takes a moment to have us have hope in even in the midst of troubles.

Build houses and live in them; 

plant gardens and eat what they produce. 

Take wives and have sons and daughters; 

take wives for your sons, and give your daughters in marriage, 

that they may bear sons and daughters; 

multiply there, and do not decrease. 

But seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, 

and pray to the Lord on its behalf, 

for in its welfare you will find your welfare.

As they succeed, so do we all.

Friends, we are living in strange and hard days. And the world needs the faith, hope, and love we find in Christ even more than any other time I remember. The times are calling for a literal following of Christ’s commands more and more. 

When someone slaps you, turn the other cheek.

Bless those that curse you.

Do good to those that hate you.

Love your enemies.

I have heard these all my life and never thought things would devolve to the point of having to consciously follow these instructions. Literally, at times.

I was a pastor in another denomination for a long time, but felt God’s calling into the Episcopal Church, thanks be to God! To support my family during this transition, I taught school. A friend was head of school at a private school, a private middle school for boys. He had asked me repeatedly to come teach for him. For many that may seem like a punishment or one of Dante’s Levels of Hell., but I I loved the energy and enthusiasm that drove the place every single day. One of the prices of that energy was the occasional fight which would break out. It was part and parcel of the territory in which we resided. And over and over again, I would talk with one or both parties and call them to a higher place. “Billy,” or whatever the boy’s name was, “Billy, I need you to be the bigger man.” And almost every time, the response was, “I don’t want to!” And I got it. Being big when people are being small is SOOOOOO HARD!

But when the child showed the inner grit to ignore the taunts and provocations, they soon ended. They let them slide off, and got on with their life. I came to call this the ducky dance. If you watch a duck come out of the water, they shake starting with the head, and then working their way down themselves to their tail feathers. Once they have shaken off their tail feathers, their little ducky dance is over and they move on with their life.

All of our readings this morning is about moving on from things which hinder us or hold us back, and they could not be more relative or applicable to the times in which we find ourselves.

Jeremiah told us to seek the welfare of where God has planted us, and the Hebrew word there is shalom, seek the shalom of the city in which we find ourselves. Through cultural osmosis, you probably know that Shalom translates as peace. And especially these days, we seek and pray for peace. But too often, that peace is merely the absence of war. We can hate someone’s guts and have an absence of war. This word connotes things far greater and more blessed than that. It is peace with ourselves and with one another. It is peace with no worries. It is peace beyond understanding and it is shared.  Shalom is going to bed without a worry, your doors unlocked and your windows open. It is the comfort of a child sitting on a grandparent’s lap and taking a snooze. All is okay, and will be okay. That is shalom.

Hear again Jeremiah with that understanding.

…Seek the shalom of the city where I have sent you… 

and pray to the Lord on its behalf, 

for in its shalom you will find your shalom.

That is what we are talking about. And to get to that point, especially in the times in which we find ourselves, we have to do the ducky dance A LOT. We have to be the bigger person, A LOT. We have to go above and beyond, and more than follow the rules.

Paul, in his letter to Timothy from today’s readings, was asking that of him. To go above and beyond the Dos and Don’ts, beyond the the Thou-Shalt-Nots. 

Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved by him, a worker who has no need to be ashamed…

According to Roman law, a soldier could demand of you to carry their pack one mile. That’s a little bit further than from right here to Mary Washington’s campus. On Roman roads, which were so well made they are still in use 2,000 years later, they were well marked, so one could know the exact distance of one mile. But Jesus wants us to be like him, to go above and beyond, to do the ducky dance and be the bigger person. In the Sermon on the Mount, he taught us this way.

“You have heard that it was said, ‘An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.’ But I say to you: Do not resist an evildoer. But if anyone strikes you on the right cheek, turn the other also, and if anyone wants to sue you and take your shirt, give your coat as well, and if anyone forces you to go one mile, go also the second mile. [Matthew 5:38-41]

As we look at being Generous in our season of Generosity, this is what we are talking about. Having the faith to know we are bigger than the situation in which we find ourselves. Our enemies can actually be Friends Becoming. Our attackers can be Future Partners. We can actually be more than conquerors instead of victims who have no hope.

One of the most counter cultural things we can do right now is teach, preach, and live in Hope when most of the world thinks we are all in a Hopeless situation and are doomed. As Scripture teaches, “If God is for us, who can be against us.” [Romans 8:31] You and God are bigger than anything you will ever face. Especially in days like these!

In closing, I do want to touch on the Gospel. Not to squeeze it in, but that it is an example of going above and beyond. Most of us have been told the story that is our Gospel reading today since our toddler days if we were raised in the Church. It becomes a good morality tale of saying thank you, an early way to show appreciation. Since many churches Stewardship seasons are about now, there is the expected sermon of “Our support of the Church is a way for us to say Thank You.” While that is true, I think we can go beyond the simplicity of that.

What we saw was the Samaritan who came back as something else, something more. Jesus called on the Ten Lepers who had requested help to follow the Commandments to lepers to show themselves to the priest so that they could be declared Clean, healed and whole after a devastating skin disease that stripped you of your community and identity. A leper was basically exiled and as good as dead.

The lepers, probably having heard of Jesus’ reputation, and with nothing left to lose, cried out, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!” And then he instructs them to go and show themselves to the priests. The text tells us that they did what he said, even though they had not been cleansed yet! They were lepers going to show themselves to the priests, and in the going they were healed. They followed the instructions and reaped the reward. And here lies the surprise, the reason this story gets repeated 2,000 years later is as consistent as those Roman roads.

One of them, one least expected, an outsider, a foreigner, when he sees that he is actually healed, went above and beyond the stated instructions which was to follow the Commandments regarding lepers. 

Then one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, praising God with a loud voice. He prostrated himself at Jesus' feet and thanked him. And he was a Samaritan.

The disciples and most of the first hearers of this story would have heard (and probably used) the name Samaritan as a slur, a title of being less than and worthy of scorn. But in this case, this one did what was instructed, and then went above and beyond. He came back, praising God with a loud voice. He came back and prostrated himself before Jesus and gave thanks.

He did the leprosy Duckie Dance, and shook it off. He gave the cultural separation the same. And Jesus saw it and praised it. And he calls us to do it, too.

As we ponder Generosity, we are pondering being like God. God is Generous. God is Abundant. God is Loving. God goes above and beyond. And I believe, God hopes for us to be that way and helps us get there, too! Amen

Celtic Service Homilette

"In-Between"

If you grew up in the Church, you have been hearing the story of the Healing of the Ten Lepers your entire life. Mostly as a morality story we tell our toddlers to instill in them a sense of politeness  and appreciation, it helps them say their Please and Thank Yous.

I think this story is much more than that. I preached this morning on us being called to go above and beyond the normal expectations and live in a space of abundance and generosity with an attitude of Hope. But this text is rich and we can mine it for much more. In my readings of it, it also struck me of how Jesus and his disciples, as well as this fledgling band of lepers, encountered one another in a liminal space.

Liminal is a fancy way of saying in-between. The technical definitions are:

1. occupying a position at, or on both sides of, a boundary or threshold.

2. relating to a transitional or initial stage of a process.

Jesus and his disciples were in a liminal space because they were passing between the area between Samaria and Galilee. Now Jesus had made a name for himself in Galilee, and was heading to Jerusalem. This is the final trip which ends, in Luke’s account, with the events we remember during Holy Week.

Jesus had no intention of having this encounter that we know of. The Lepers, having heard of him through the word on the street, or pathway, knew he was a healer and asked for that. Had they heard he was coming that way? We do not know. We can’t. We just know they did ask for help and got it.

The Bible is filled with stories where God sneaks in in those in-between spaces and times in our lives.

Moses and the Burning Bush. He was tending his sheep when he noticed something out of place.

Isaiah in the Temple. God’s glory fills the Temple and Isaiah is caught off guard and feels unworthy of such an encounter.

I may be more sensitive to this idea of liminality because that is where I am these days. I am moving into a new space. My wife and I became empty nesters 7 weeks ago, and we are still getting used to that. I am in a liminal space right now, and I have found that God keeps showing up. Maybe because I am more attentive between things. It is humbling, and disorienting, and wonderful.

I am not sure that God approaches us during those threshold moments, maybe God does cause we are paying more attention. Or maybe God is always calling us, and it is in those transitions when so many things are coming at us that we are attentive enough to pick up the call. Either way, there seems to be a recurrence in Scripture and my experience when God catches us in-between.

I would invite you, friends, to think of Worship as just that. An in-between space, when we step into the otherworldly from the mundane. How different would we approach worship if we expected God to show up? Hanging above the door in the eminent psychologist Carl Jung’s office was a sign. It was in Latin, with a simple, but clear message. It worked for the work he did with his patients in his office, as well as being there above the threshold as they went back into their lives.

"VOCATUS ATQUE NON VOCATUS DEUS ADERIT."

Bidden or unbidden, God is present.

As you stepped into this space tonight, that was true. When you leave this space tonight, may it be even more true. Always be open for those serendipities when God breaks through. Blessings, and thanksgivings, for our in-between times! Amen