A Sermon for XXIV Pentecost
November 11, 2012
All Saints Episcopal, Southern Shores, NC
Thomas E Wilson,
Lessons:
Ruth 3:1-5; 4:13-17
Psalm 146
Hebrews 9:24-28
Mark 12:38-44
There is a theme that is present in all of the lessons for today- giving. In the Hebrew Testament story of Ruth, (Ruth 3:1-5; 4:13-17 ) The widow Ruth gives herself to Boaz in order to give her homeless mother-in -law, Naomi, and herself a home. Boaz, in turn, will give himself to Ruth, giving up all rights to his own inheritance in order to help Naomi and Ruth. reclaim the inheritance of Naomi' dead husband and sons, one of which was Ruth's husband.Naomi give herself to the raising of the son of Boaz and Ruth, who will be the grandfather of David. They all gave themselves to the hope of a future, the dimensions of which they could not know but to which they all faithfully offered themselves.
Psalm 146 is a song of praise for the God who gives all things for us giving "justice to those who are oppressed, *and food to those who hunger, . . . sets the prisoners free; ... opens the eyes of the blind; . . . lifts up those who are bowed down; . . .loves the righteous; . . .cares for the stranger; . . .sustains the orphan and widow, but frustrates the way of the wicked."
In the Hebrews passage,( Hebrews 9:24-28 ) the writer tells of Jesus who gives himself as the sacrifice "for the sins of many" so that we might be free. It was a gift not to appease a vengeful God, demanding satisfaction but a gift to show God's love for all of God's people.
In the Gospel story (Mark 12:38-44 ) Jesus sees the widow who gives herself, all that she has, in order to dedicate a life of love to her God.
Last week at 8:00 on Sunday morning after a wonderful time having dinner in Chapel Hill with my younger sister and her husband and their children, four nieces and their husbands, and my deceased older brother's two sons and their wives and combined seven grand nieces and nephews all in preparation for the wedding of the last unmarried niece the next afternoon, another Priest who is my brother in law's sister, and a couple of friends. It was wonderful but exhausting. I woke up and knew I had to give thanks and to center myself for the wedding that we were to perform later that day. I went to church that was closest to the hotel in Raleigh and while I was not in my clerical garb was welcomed by strangers. The people in the pew in front of us turned around before the service began and said, "You must be visiting. We are the Wilsons." I allowed that we also were the Wilsons, they invited us to the reception after the communion service. We heard a good sermon on All Saints Sunday and later, talking with the Priest and thanking him for the ideas that I would steal, who told me that he was heading to Kitty Hawk after the 10:30 service. I pretty much figured out what I would say for the homily I would give at my niece's service later in the day, but I decided that maybe I needed to start working on a sermon for this week; Veterans Day. We returned to the NC Museum of Art where we had spent hours the day before and I came across a painting of George Washington by American painter Rembrandt Peale.
Peale first met Washington when he was 9 years old and watched his father, Charles Wilson, Peale, paint a portrait of portrait of the Virginia planter, retired General, and veteran, and future president in 1787. Eight years later, at the age of 17, when Washington was in his second term, Peale, with his father at his side to calm him, painted his first portrait of the President and made his debut as an artist. He was never satisfied with that painting and 25 years later, in 1823-24 as the last living artist who had painted Washington in life he started a series of 80 portraits, replicas and variants. The original hangs in the US Senate and one of the variants of Washington in uniform hangs in Raleigh.
Peale understood that Washington was more than a soldier he was also a citizen.That idea of citizen soldier is what we remember when we remember Veteran's Day. Other nations used mercenary armies, people who sold their killing skills to the highest bidder; but the United States States had from the beginning of its history a heritage of people who as the Prayer Book Prayer says: ". . . in the time of trail. ventured much for the liberties we now enjoy." American Veterans gave themselves for something greater than themselves, for a future they might not be able to see, to lift up those who are bowed down and to frustrate the ways of the wicked," as the Psalmist says. Veterans were not in it for their own glory and lived in the belief that "greater love has no man than to lay down his life for his brothers.
Sometimes the nation used them well and other times they squandered them in pointless wars. We are in the middle of the Bi-Centennial of the War of 1812 a totally useless exercise in a war of choice to satisfy blood-lust where we fought the British, who were pre-occupied with Napoleon, and Canadians, who wanted not to be absorbed into our nation, to a draw and the only real losers were the Native American tribes of the old Northwestern territories who were kicked further west. Sometimes our veterans do not deserve the leaders they have but they do not follow a particular party or agenda but the idea of a community of people dedicated to liberty.
My father had been a veteran in World War II, a Marine Major in the South Pacific. He told me that the people who talk about the glories of war are usually people who had not been on the front line. War has no glory, he asserted, as an Artillery officer he spent his time figuring out sines and cosines for the angles of the shells lobed at the Japanese fortifications. He saw it as a job he did because he figured that he owed his country his life in return for all it had given him.. However he was sure to tell me he did not owe his country his mind; not for him was the hollow hectoring of "My country right or wrong".
With the help of the GI Bill, he finished college, which had been interrupted by the war and became a Civil Engineer to build and rebuild after years of destroying., He was a citizen soldier who saw his job of defending his country as part of the responsibility of being an adult. He would have delighted in the remark Republican Governor Chris Christie's remark after being attacked by the far right for working with the Democratic President after the destruction of the hurricane, when he said "We work together; that is what adults do."
When he died while I was in college, his Veterans Benefits helped pay for some of the Tuition and fees in my last two years, at that time Chapel Hill tuition and fees was an out of reach $300.00 a semester for out of state students.I was able to finish school because a grateful country wanted to thank my father for his gifts when " in the time of trail, (he) ventured much for the liberties we now enjoy."
Today we give thanks for our Veterans, citizen soldiers, who taught us how to give to help our nation so that we might grow up and rebuild. They teach us how to give for something greater than our own agendas, to give our gifts and to ". . . work together; that is what adults do."
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