But, What Do I Get Out Of This?

 

Reflection and Poem For 25^th Sunday after Pentecost         The Church of the Holy Cross, Hertford, NC November 19, 2023                                                             Thomas E Wilson, Guest Celebrant

Judges 4:1-7           Psalm 123 1        Thessalonians 5:1-11         Matthew 25:14-30

But, What Do I Get Out Of This?

Almost 30 years ago, as part of my Sabbatical, Pat and I went to study in St. George's College in Jerusalem to take a course on the Palestine of Jesus. One day the class went up to Mount Tabor which the Hebrew Testament Lesson identifies as the battle site of the Wadi Kishon where the forces of Deborah and Barak defeated the Canaanite forces of Sisera. The Bible in this chapter of the book of Judges records the Battle and its outcome but the next chapter has The Song of Deborah, the “fiery woman”. It is a Hebrew poem, which may have been written as early as the 12^th Century BCE, or as late as the 3^rd BCE, and may or may not describe an historical event, but it is treated as true in the minds of people who come to the site to worship. In the Song of Deborah she sings about the death of Sisera, who was fleeing the Battle, and then was killed against the laws of Sanctuary by Jael, the wife of Heber the Kenite who was not Jewish. She was hiding him and feeds him perhaps drugged milk and covers him with a blanket, speaking softly to him, and then drives a tent peg through his skull. Then there is a heartbreaking couple of verses where Sisera'a wife is wondering why his chariot of glory is taking so long. The song of all the mothers and wives waiting for their men to come back from one more senseless war. David sang it best when in the Book of Samuel, he laments the deaths of his enemy Saul and Saul's son and David's lover, Jonathan. “How the mighty have fallen and the weapons of War perished!”

Mount Tabor is also identified as the Mount of the Transfiguration, where Jesus was transfigured and the disciples got a glimpse that Jesus was more than a traveling Preacher.. We were up there to worship; the practice of worship and the point of the Sabbatical, is the practice of seeing things in a different way. Mount Tabor on the Megiddo plain, in the Valley of Jezreel is about a 2+ hour drive north from Jerusalem, about 8 miles west from Nazareth and about 11 miles east from the Sea Of Galilee.

When we were on top of the mountain. We could see the the plain where the battle in the poem or at least is idiomatic of the history, took place where the Wadi Kishon overflowed and turned the area into quicksand which swallowed up the mighty chariots of Sisera.

We could also see the centuries of historical battles where invaders brought war and destruction. In my imagination I could see the forces of Pharaoh Tutmose III of Egypt cruelly crushing his opponents at the Battle of Megiddo in the 15^th Century BCE.

In my prayers, I could see the next major Battle with historical documentation of Megiddo where the Egyptian Pharaoh Necho II fought with allies of the fading Assyrian Empire and their vassals like King Josiah of Judah against the Neo-Babylonian Empire in 609 BCE., where Josiah is killed. Therefore, setting up the Babylonian conquest and destruction of Jerusalem 20 years later. In this battle Egypt is expelled out of Asia Minor.

I could see the Greek Armies of Alexander the Great slaughtering on their way from Gaza to Damascus and to Persia in 331 BCE.

I could see the Roman Legions of Pompey the Great and Mark Antony, a couple of Centuries later killing all in their path of making a Roman Client state under Herod the Great. There were Battles and slaughters of Jews in 55 BCE and in 66 CE

After Christianity became the religion of Rome, I could see the Iron rule of the Christian Roman Emperors being enforced with blood.

I could see the Desert Tribes out of Mecca conquering all in their path getting rid of Christian Empire rule.

I could see the Crusaders from Europe come in to conquer the land for Christ and killing Jews for Jesus.

In my imagination I could see could see the the Meggido area being the site of battles between Mongols coming from Central Asia, Crusaders from different crusades and Muslim forces, all of them slaughtering whoever stood in their way. The area changed hands in 947, 1099, 1212, 1229 and 1263; slaughtering Jews and Christians for the glory of Allah or Jesus.

In my prayerful imagination, I could see the armies of Napoleon in 1799 returning from Egypt, taking Gaza and then getting stalled at Acre and failing to capture Mount Tabor. His troops killed many in the unsuccessful siege but his troops lost several thousand men from plague in the failed attempt. He gave up and returned to France to take over as Dictator there, and to being his wars back to Europe.

In my imagination, I could see British General Allenby spilling British and Turkish blood in 1917-18 on his way to fulfill the Balfour Declaration where the British Foreign Secretary made a promise to the Rothschilds to make plans for a Jewish Homeland after the Ottoman Empire was dismantled, AND at the same time making promises to the leaders of the Arab revolt to kill Turks, AND at the same time making concessions to France to help her regain a mideast empire, AND most especially protecting the Financial Treasure and Economic Jewel of the Crown of the Suez Canal. Four different promises, to four different groups, with four different agendas is a recipe for disaster.

In my prayers, I could see the blood of Jews and Arabs on the ground in 1948 and all the years after and was still going on in terror campaigns that we saw in Jerusalem that year. While we were there an Israeli soldier walked off his base and emptied his weapon on a group of Muslims and a Muslim terrorist opened fire on a bus full of Christians and Jews.

In my imagination I could see into the future the vision of the Book of Revelation of Blood of the the last Battle of the Megiddo, called by its Greek name Armageddon. All of history in the area of the Mount of the Transfiguration where followers of Jesus were told to listen to a Prince of Peace: To love their neighbor and to even love the enemy. Imagine Loving an enemy!

When I was writing this reflection, I took a break and checked my e-mail. I subscribe to a blog of quotes from the writings of Frederick Buechner. He was saying what I was trying to say on Wednesday was from his Magnificent Defeat:

THE LOVE FOR equals is a human thing—of friend for friend, brother for brother. It is to love what is loving and lovely. The world smiles.

The love for the less fortunate is a beautiful thing—the love for those who suffer, for those who are poor, the sick, the failures, the unlovely. This is compassion, and it touches the heart of the world.

The love for the more fortunate is a rare thing—to love those who succeed where we fail, to rejoice without envy with those who rejoice, the love of the poor for the rich, of the black man for the white man. The world is always bewildered by its saints.

And then there is the love for the enemy—love for the one who does not love you but mocks, threatens, and inflicts pain. The tortured's love for the torturer. This is God's love. It conquers the world.

Now, what does that have to do with the Gospel reading from Matthew of the parable about the servants and their Talents? Now, of course you know that the word Talent refers to a measurement of money rather than a attribute of a person of a particular skill like a Talent for Music. It would be intellectually dishonest and lazy for me to confuse in your mind a measurement of money with a skill; but I will do it anyway. A parable is a an extended metaphor to teach a certain quality and the quality is in the twist at the end; sort of like a punchline of a joke, For example in the Good Samaritan Parable, which teaches that your neighbor you are to love includes your enemy.

Another point of a parable is in the use of outrageous quantities. As in the shepherd who leaves 99 sheep alone to search for the one lost. In this parable, the quantity is in the value of a Talent. A Talent is not a coin but a weight of measure. A day's wage was a denarius of silver and a Talent is the weight of silver equal to 6000 day's wages, or twenty years. Five Talents would be 100 years wages, three Talents would be sixty years wages, and the poor schmuck who got only one Talent would get the equivalent of 20 years wages. Do the math and figure out your lowest paying year of earning and figure out how much we are talking about.

In this parable the metaphor for God is the Landowner, the servants are you and me, the Talents are the attributes that we have been given by God in our creation, which we have either used or hoarded. What are the things that God calls us to use in living a faith filled life? Is Jesus saying that the point of a faith filled life making lots of money? Or is it to bring peace, do justice, love mercy, share hope, and forgive outrageously. I look at my life and I realize that I have been blessed with many talents and gifts. As I look at quantity called for in the parable I figure I am more than a couple decades behind in bringing peace, doing justice, loving mercy, sharing hope and forgiving outrageously in every day of my life.

How are you doing in spending your Talents?

But, What Do I Get Out Of This?

O.K, I get it! Just get off my back.

It has gone past a point to belabor

I'm supposed to love my neighbor,

About who I don't even know jack!

What do I get out of finding a rhyme

with strangers? Where's my profit,

besides making happy some prophet,

mumbling Aramaic in another time?

The problem is he keeps on speaking,

as if he knows me right now and here,

as if he expects my own heart to hear,

and then respond to neighbor seeking.

Speaking in the space between words,

whispers love through all the worlds.

It's Not About You!

Reflection/Poem for the 26^th Sunday After Pentecost              Thomas E Wilson, Guest Celebrant

Church of the Holy Trinity, Hertford, NC                                 November 5, 2023

Joshua 3:7-17      Psalm 107:1-7, 33-37      1 Thessalonians 2:9-13     Matthew 23:1-12

It's Not About You!

One of the themes in the lessons for today has to do with the avoidance of arrogance. In the Hebrew Testament lesson, “The Lord said to Joshua, “This day I will begin to exalt you in the sight of all Israel, so that they may know that I will be with you as I was with Moses.” Notice the exaltation has nothing to do with Joshua's innate special talents but because it is a sign that the power comes from the power greater than ourselves.

In the Epistle for today, Paul is writing to the people in Thessaloniki, not to brag about what he has done, which was considerable, but to give thanks for what the Spirit of the Living Christ is doing among them. Paul did have a high opinion of himself, but he avoided arrogance because he understood his own brokenness and God's grace redeeming all.

In the Gospel lesson, Jesus warns the disciples not to be filled with the arrogance of the teachers of the law “The greatest among you will be your servant. All who exalt themselves will be humbled, and all who humble themselves will be exalted.”

The warnings about arrogance are not just a Christian teaching but was universal. Greek comedies had the central theme of laughing at the vanity of the characters and Greek Tragedies had as their central theme the the downfall and punishment of those who in their arrogance saw themselves as the equals of the Gods.

In the Roman Empire, the Commanders of the Armies who were victorious in the field were welcomed back for a Triumph in Rome. They were allowed to drive their chariot through the streets of Rome leading their prisoners and booty to the exultation of the crowd. However, behind each Commander celebrating his victory in the chariot stood a slave, holding a Laurel Crown over the head of the Victor, with the slave instructed to say over and over again, “Memento Mori”, “Remember, you are a mortal.”

In the Diocese this last week there were two ordinations to the Priesthood. I had wanted to attend but I was still struggling with the remnants of Covid. There is a moment in the Ordination service where the Bishop lays hands on the kneeling Ordinand, and the other Priests present gather around and lay their own hands in prayer on the Ordinand; it looks like for all the world like a football huddle. The Priests who were honest knew how difficult it is to be a Priest and they were saying by their participation that you can't make it by yourself.

One of the things that happens to people who become ordained is that many of us had seen the same movies about Ordained folk whose message is always the same: just have to work harder, and if you just work harder and keep the faith you will survive; not only survive but thrive. There is the 1941 Movie “One Foot In Heaven” where Frederic March plays the Methodist Pastor who survives and against all odds thrives and ends the movie having the entire town rush out into the streets to sing “The Church is One Foundation” while he plays high up in the New Carillon. There is the the 1944 “Keys of the Kingdom” with Gregory Peck who is able to triumph and become beloved as a Roman Catholic Priest in China. There is the 1950 Joel McCrea vehicle: Stars In My Crown” as the young preacher who is able to tame a small Southern town. There is the 1955 “A Man Called Peter” with Richard Todd as Presbyterian Pastor Peter Marshall who packs churches and becomes a symbol of America at its best. There was the 1963 epic The Cardinal with Tom Tryon as the good looking version of Father What a Waste fighting singlehandedly Nazis and prejudice. Then when I went to seminary some the seminarians and wives would gather to see Richard Chamberlain wrestle with temptation in the 1983 mini series The Thornbirds.

I thought back on my own Ordination to the Priesthood. Professionally I was doing well but my marriage was falling apart and my daughter was having a rough time. I stuffed everything down and worked harder to be a success. I kept up a facade of looking like I was in charge. I put on a show of confidence and it seemed to work for people who did not look deep enough.

There was one person who who looked deeper. I had met her two weeks after I was Ordained to the Diaconate in Western North Carolina and moved to Virginia to take up a position. When I was ordained a Deacon, there was nothing humble about me. I knew the church was lucky to have me. I had worked darn hard to get there! I was the hero of my story and the Episcopal Church was lucky to have me. This person was very unimpressed when she met me, and I was less than impressed with her. She worked for the Diocese and saw my arrogance and refused to attend my ordination to the Priesthood. I think if she had attended, she might have stood up to object to my ordination at the appropriate time in the service when the Bishop asks if anyone has an objection.

A year later, I took a position of Rector of a Church in another town. I was very good at Preaching and ministering but my marriage ended in divorce and I submitted my resignation because I had let them down. The Vestry told me to put away my resignation and they accepted me as the broken person that I was. They did not excuse me, they did not forgive me; they just accepted the fact.

I remember attending the installation of of a Rector when a neighboring Priest stood up to object to the Rector at the time for what he saw as a moral failure that the search committee had overlooked. The Bishop stopped the service and took the complainant and the Rector designate back into the sacristy and we all waited. The Bishop came out and allowed the service to continue. I spent the rest of the service, breathing a sigh of relief that my early years as ordained did not have someone call me out on how shallow I had been and how often I had not honored God's call to forgive abundantly.

I want to give excuses for my arrogance. But there is no excuse since I was so filled with my pride and my fears that my pride would be exposed. C. S. Lewis wrote about the difference between forgiving and excusing.

“I find that when I think I am asking God to forgive me I am often in reality (unless I watch myself very carefully) asking Him to do something quite different. I am asking him not to forgive me but to excuse me. But there is all the difference in the world between forgiving and excusing. Forgiveness says, “Yes, you have done this thing, but I accept your apology; I will never hold it against you and everything between us two will be exactly as it was before.” But excusing says, “I see that you couldn’t help it or didn’t mean it; you weren’t really to blame.” If one was not really to blame then there is nothing to forgive. In that sense forgiveness and excusing are almost opposite.

As is my practice, I try to write a poem to focus on what I think the Holy is asking me to see before I start writing sermon text . One of the people being Ordained this last week was a colleague on the Outer Banks. I wrote a poem for that occasion. The poem took me to remember my own ordination almost 40 years ago. Lots of prancing around, but I knew I was being open to a whole new way of believing on having a place in the heart of God. I saw in him the desire that burned in my heart to be God's servant and wanted him to avoid the sin of arrogance that I struggled through.

It's Not About You!

You are not the Center of the Universe,

You're catching a ride passing through;

God knows where what you are to do,

Be free to take as a blessing or a curse!

Funniest costumers you've ever seen,

Prance around to make you feel swell;

Egos expands to either heaven or hell,

But now has a glimmer of hope's been.

There is a power greater than ourselves,

Being unleashed into a new imagination

Of your place in a Heart of God's station,

Blowing religious dust off souls' shelves.

The Holy is touching your tongue

To sing the songs that our Jesus sung.