April 6 - 2008

Imagine.

Imagine you and your wife – or husband – or friend – or whomever your companion is – are together on the road of life – and you are just reeling – because you’ve been through hell...

Imagine you’re reeling, and you’ve left town, where nothing’s going well, and you’re on the road to home – hoping it’s there – so you can get there and get it together.

Have you ever been there? Confused, and shocked, and afraid, and you just wanted a place to go and be with companions for a moment’s peace?

I have – and for me that place has always been my church.

It’s always been my home in a nutty world – and thank God they took me in and called me brother.

Because if they didn’t I don’t know what I’d do.

What about you?

You’ve been down that road.

God knows you have.

And God knows you have – not because he can see clearly from on High – but because he can see clearly from up close.

Yes, God knows, and sees, and feels everything you do – and not just because God is smart – but because He became a person like you and me, and lived this human life, and suffered it, and died it, and by his loving Grace forgave us everything –

And friends that same Jesus is following us on our journey even now.

Even now – even today – even right here in this specific time and place – Jesus is here with us – and we are in a kind of eternal Emmaus where with our companions and our Lord we are hearing Scripture and breaking bread and finding that the Good News is really for real.

Don’t you feel him here?

Have not your hearts ever burned within you as the Spirit breathes through Scripture, or prayer, or song, or the breaking of the bread?

Friends – I feel the Lord in this place – in this heavenly village – don’t you?

I feel the Lord when somebody reads the Bible in this room with us.

I feel the Lord when somebody makes music in this room with us.

I feel the Lord when somebody breaks bread in this room with us.

Don’t you?

And I’m not just saying this because you pay me.

No – of course thank you for paying me – but I have given my life to the Body of Christ because I believe God has shown himself to me and asked me to do so.

Yes, I’m all-in – because I am convinced that we companions who break bread in Jesus’ name are able to see the risen Christ in our midst– and receive power to build the kingdom of God in the here and now.

Are you all-in?

The readings today – especially in Acts and Luke – they are about this. They are about this group of Christ’s companions – this New Creation, this Body of Christ, this Church.

The readings today should burn within you as they tell us what we’re supposed to do – how we’re supposed to be – what our mission really is.

As Peter tells it – the new creation of God in Christ is not racial, or civil, or territorial – but it is flesh and blood and spirit.

The fellowship of those who believe in Christ is that real-time body of people who put Him above all else in baptism and call him Lord.

This creation – as Peter tells us – exists solely to do God’s gracious will on earth – now and forever – period.

And folks – that’s us.

And for us, the primary way of knowing, seeing, feeling and connecting with God and each other

is the sharing of mystic sweet communion around the eucharistic table where the Body and Blood of Christ are given.

In other words, the Church is not just a group of people who look alike and agree on the basics. In fact, ideally not at all.

The Church is primarily the people who simply share in the Baptism and Eucharist of the Son of God.

For in baptism and eucharist in and with Christ – and only there – do the scriptures even begin to make sense, or do we have any power at all to make a difference in this world.

Friends – as I understand the Word of God today – you and I are not on the road to Emmaus.

We who are disciples are already in Emmaus.

We are there, gathered around the table with a present and risen Lord Jesus, and that is some kind of good news.

Isn’t it?

Aren’t you glad?

I hope you are, because I am – and so are the many new companions who have joined us here in recent times to abide in Christ.

I hope you are as glad as I am with this community – but as I understand the Word of God today – especially in Acts 2 – disciples are not called to be merely glad.

We are supposed to be glad, and, we are supposed to be generous in heart.

And without doubt, if we don’t get generous and make space here for our new companions and those still on the road here – I believe we will begin to turn away from where Jesus wants us to be.

I believe that if we do not continue to make space at the table of Christian fellowship then we will be turning down a road we don’t want to be on.

I believe the time is now to be both glad and generous of heart for the purpose of adding souls to this apostolic gathering.

I believe that Raleigh needs St. Michael’s to grow in faith, mission and numbers – and we need to open our walls and our pockets to do so.

Friends, I am asking each of you to pray, and ask God for the courage to be both glad and generous for the sake of the Gospel.

Because while we are already in Emmaus around the table with the Lord – there are countless people on that hard road looking for companions, looking for home, looking for peace in a world that cannot give it, looking for the Son of God made real in baptism and eucharist.

Won’t you join me in making room for them?

Amen.

Lent 4 - Greg Jones

I love church stained glass windows. The way the light shines through, and tells a story, to enlighten us, literally and figuratively, casting light upon us, and telling us something of God.
Interestingly enough, abundant glass, and the rise of glass windows happened rather suddenly in Rome in the first century -- almost at exactly the same time as the New Testament was being written.

John would have seen lots of colored glass bottles, and even some glass windows, in his life. Roman glass was beautiful, and abundant (truly all of a sudden), in the first century, when the newly invented art of applying fire and breath to sand (glass blowing) took off across the empire.
I wonder sometimes if John was thinking of brightly colored Roman glass when he wrote his Gospel? He uses words in such a magical way, it’s as if he were painting a portrait of Christ in stained glass -- illumined with bold colors and dazzling sparkle by God's light passing through his majestic Gospel.

The words John uses in his Gospel are imbued with such meaning, such power, such layered significance, they really do seem to refract meaning the way blown glass refracts light – into color and magic.

John has a special vocabulary of words -- a palette of brightly colored glass jewels if you will -- that are repeated again and again in his Gospel -- and they all shine bright with witness to Christ.

So we can really see him, know him, and become enlightened about the amazing, never-before-since-the-world-began thing God is doing in Christ.

There are many of these words – but especially we see:

Life and Light
Spirit and Sight
Day from Night

In John 9 – which we read all of on Lent 4 – we see all this:

Going from blindness to sight – night to day – fear and ignorance to peace and a fuller life.
Throughout John, Jesus is called the "light" or the "light of the World," who calls us to do God’s work while there is still ‘Day.’

Again and again in John, Jesus is revealed as God incarnate – the shining presence of God’s glory in the flesh – and folks see in Christ for the first time what God wants from and for all of us.
Folks stop being blind to what really matters – and they start seeing the truth – face to face.
They finally see what’s what – and why that is – and that’s what we want too, right?

Don’t you want to see? Don’t you want to be enlightened? Don’t you want a fuller life? I know I do.

I know I want God to turn the lights on for me. I want to walk as a child of the light ... even as I continue to be extremely short-sighted.

Even though I remain spiritually not 20/20 but more like 20/200 – tending to see only my own ideas, and desires and needs. Even though I know I am far from being who Christ wants me to be – and can barely see sometimes through the cloud of pride and sin which cover my eyes like a blindfold.

Today’s reading from John is hard to understand – and it isn’t.

I believe what it’s saying – is that we will never truly see until we realize in Christ that on our own we are but blind beggars – a mass of self-interest and yearning unable to do much on our own power that really matters.

I believe what John is saying is that we will remain but blind beggars – or proud hypocrites – or short-sighted disciples – until we see the one truth – that only in Christ do we matter – as someone He made – someone He loves – someone He restores to Life – someone He has poured out the entire love of God upon so we might live in and with and for Him.

The light of Christ working through those who love him is the work that he calls us to do – and that work is to tell the world how Jesus has turned on the lights – and healed our blindness – in our own words – and in our own works of mercy, love and care.

The message I see today is that our identity as Christians is not to lead personally fulfilled lives – but to become stained glass images of Christ through which the Light of the world shines into the dark corners of the world in which we live.

Amen.

Second Sunday of Lent - Jones

God asked Abram to get up from where he was, and to move where God would show him, him and his whole family, across the known world, promising an infinite blessing – but giving no details. And Abram said, "O.K." And he did it. And he was 75 years old – and his wife was no spring chicken.

We don’t know how often or how little God spoke to Abram in the days before this conversation.

In the Bible this is the first time we learn of Abram, and its the first thing God appears to say to him – as far as we know. And God gets right to the point too – no explanation – simply, "Abram, get up, go, and be a blessing for the whole world." And Abram went.

This little story is the model for faith, obedience and righteousness – and really the whole rest of the Bible is but a follow-up to this conversation in Genesis 12.

God says, "Abram, go and be a blessing." And Abram says, "Yes."

It’s a pattern for all the righteous –
"Samuel, wake up!" "Here I am."
"Mary – have a baby!" "Let it be."
"Peter – follow me!" "Yes Lord."

When God calls you – you answer – my answer – it’s gotta be "Yes."

Today’s readings are all about this – this simple but hard act of Faith. Of belief. Of trust. Of not knowing many details other than that God is good, and right, and his will for all is blessing.

As Paul says, "Abram believed God and it was reckoned to him as righteousness."

Abram didn’t have rules to follow, people to teach him ‘how to be good,’ he heard God – and trusted – and followed.

It’s what Jesus is saying to Nicodemus –

• "If you want to even see the Kingdom of God you’ve got to shut your eyes – close down your way of seeing – and seeing what you want – and Trust the Spirit of God will open New Eyes for you..."
• "If you want to enter the Kingdom of God ... than you’ve got to die to self ... and Trust that Jesus will draw you there."
  

The Gospel today is a greatest hit of the Bible – perhaps the greatest. If you’ve ever watched sports on TV you’ve seen some fella with a poster that simply says, "John 3:16" – "For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son..."

It’s a passage you’ve heard before. But don’t let it ... sneak past you ... because you’ve heard it before. Don’t let the popularity of this passage in posters, bumper stickers and everywhere deafen you to the Thunder of this mighty word of God –

For God so loved you and the whole world that he sent his Son – so you and all
who trust him – love him – hope in him – abide in him – may be born again – out
of a deathly existence – and into a blessed one ...

Friends – Jesus is saying "Get up – go where I show you – and you will bless the whole world in my name..."

He’s saying, "Get up – follow me – be like me – and others will see you and want to follow into the Kingdom I have built from nothing but my love."

He’s saying, "Get up and Trust me – now."

And it doesn’t matter how old you are. Whether you’re young or already grown old as Nicodemus said – you can be born anew by the hands of God any time. Just trust him.

If you think you Trust the Lord, if you’ve already joined Him in baptism by water and spirit – then you are ready to get up and go be a blessing. Like Abram. Like Sarah. Like Paul. Like Nicodemus. Will you? Will you get up and go be a blessing?

If you really trust God – you will. Trust him, and go. Amen.

Epiphany - 2008 - Jones

Only two of the four gospels talk about the events surrounding the birth of Jesus – Matthew and Luke. Luke talks about angels and shepherds and all of what happened regarding an inn and a manger etc. Matthew skips all of that – and talks about the arrival of three wise men from the east – following a star – and bearing gifts.

Contrary to legend, we don’t know where the wise men came from, what their names were, or how many of them there were. Only tradition tells us these things. And tradition varies. In the West, their names are Caspar, Melchior and Balthasar. In the Ethiopian Church they call them Hor, Karsudan, and Basanater.

In Armenia, its Kagbha, Badadakharida and Badadilma. Syrian Christians call them Larvandad, Gushnasaph, and Hormisdas.

Chinese Christians believe that one of the wise men was from China – perhaps his name was Liu Shang, chief astrologer in the Han dynasty, from the time Jesus was born. Liu Shang discovered a new star the Chinese call the "King Star." Notably, Liu Shang disappered from the emperor’s court for two years after he discovered the King Star. Chinese Christians argue that he took the Silk Road west to Bethlehem.
Marco Polo claims to have seen the tomb of the magi in the Persian city of Saba in 1270.

Who knows. But, today’s Gospel story is not so much about the Magi as it is about all seekers after God from everywhere on Earth.

We don’t know who the magi really were, but we know who they represent is you and me. We are seekers after God too – right? And I believe that like them, you and I have been made to know by Grace where the King of Love is – and he’s in our midst. Christ is born by all who bear him – and Christ is within us as we are within him.

Which is why once we’ve been led to Christ, we just can’t go back to the same old ways. We just can’t go back to Herod.

Just as Herod represents the vile, the corrupt and the captive to sin and its power – let us not go back to him once we’ve had a glimpse of Jesus. Let’s not say our prayers, worship, receive communion, enjoy Christian fellowship – all means of Grace – all ways to connect with the eternal plan of God – and then, go back to Herod.

In the earliest days of the Church, there was a common way of teaching seekers about holiness. They used an approach called ‘the Two Ways.’ One was the Way of Light. The other -- the Way of Darkness.

And I believe we do have to choose as best we can between those ways in this life. For I believe with the wise ones who first saw Christ that in this World there is an eternal plan – and that God is working toward the healing and unity of all in Christ. I believe this is the free, gracious and expansive plan of God, which seeks to include all people in the Kindgom.

I believe with the wise ones who first saw Christ that in this world there is another plan too. That plan is about conquest, ownership, worldy power – and finally – the annhilation of creation by the One who loves it NOT.

The powers and principalities of this world – according to Paul – don’t love God or His Creation and they seek to ruin it. And friends that is what Herod represents. And that Herod – that power and principality – is not just a long ago character out of the bible. That Herod is a part of our lives even now.

For the light has come into the darkness – and in Him God was pleased to dwell. If you call Jesus Lord – then the Grace of God is also in your life – even now. If Jesus is in your life – even now – then don’t go back to Herod.

This year, I invite you to examine in what ways you are ‘going back to Herod’ on a seven day a week, real life in the world kind of way – and how you can find a new road home – to the kingdom.

1 Advent - RCL Year A - Greg Jones

Isaiah speaks of the day when Jerusalem will be a city of peace – a city of love – a city of unity – the place where God rules the Hearts of all. Isaiah speaks of the day when folk will study war no more: when all will be fed - all will be loved - all will sing God’s praises with loud trumpets and joyful noises.

Given what you know of the Middle East – do you think that day will be tomorrow? Or next month or next year? Given the history of the Middle East – do you think that day will be any time soon at all? I kinda doubt it.

And even if our president could do what none before him could, even if the extremists on both sides could lay down their swords and spears and turn them into plowshares and pruning hooks, even if a political peace could prevail in Zion ... do you think the Kingdom of God will then be ushered in?

Are we to believe that by human effort we can trigger the fulfillment of the Dream of God? No.
No politics can bring the peace of God. No economics can feed us all. No diplomacy will make us study war no more. Because, no matter how good any of those things can be from time to time, they just don’t last, and they just don’t apply everywhere. Because the problem that politics, economics and diplomacy cannot solve is the problem with everything anyway – and that problem is sin – and we are powerless on our own to do anything about it.

Only God can bring the Day of the Lord. Only God can put things right. That’s why Jesus says nobody knows when the Day of the Lord will come – only the Father.

But...there’s Good News anyway. There’s Good News anyway because while we cannot bring the Day of the Lord to us – the Way to the Kingdom of God has been paved for us by Jesus Christ – and we can follow him on it... all the way into the Heart of the City of God.

We can’t bring God’s reign about – but Jesus Christ offers a taste of the Kingdom to all who follow Him and his way of life. In his resurrection and in his Church the way to the Kingdom has been given.

This nave we’re worshipping in today – look up – it looks kind of like a ship to me. Yes, I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again, this place looks kind of like a ship upside down, and it is a ship. It’s the ark of salvation – and it has come to a world upside down, to save us and bring us to the Kingdom.

God has given us this ship, and like Noah and his family we are on that Ark of Christ and it’s raining outside. The days of this world are numbered friends – but we just don’t know how high that number goes.

But, because we’re on this ship, this ark, we don’t need to worry about the number of the world’s remaining days – because our one goal and job is to follow Christ everyday. Because we are on this ark of salvation, we only have to be one thing – disciples. And what disciples do is to save, heal, love, forgive, feed, and protect as many as we can in the sea around us. That’s the mission from God.

Folks, we are on the ark, and thanks be to God it’s a good one. The flood of sin is everywhere around us – and you know it. If any are hungry in the world – it’s because of sin. If any are kept ignorant and oppressed – it’s because of sin. If any are beaten or killed in war and violence – it’s because of sin. The world is hurting bad, but we believe our God won’t have it stay this way. We believe our God came into the world to conquer sin and death and to give a new life, a new hope, a new world. As disciples, we are the answer to what’s wrong with this world – when we put on Christ, when we follow Christ, when we do the mission of God.

No, we don’t need to worry about the end of the world. Jesus says we need to worry about today. We need to make today the day that we live as if the Kingdom were fully here – even though we know we’re only on our way there. We need to make today the day that we keep reaching out to those not on the ark of salvation – and that we never stop reaching out until this world and this ark are one and the same.

And only God knows when that will be.

Amen.

November 18th - Greg Jones - Proper 28c

What God said to Moses back in the beginning was to build him a people.

He said that these people should follow God, should dwell with God, should abide with God.
And so God spoke to Moses and gave him the Law.

God gave Moses the Law – and Moses took some of it and wrote it down, and some of it he just remembered.

Part of the written Law was placed in a golden box, and kept in a special tent, and they observed that as a physical reminder that God was with them – and they carried it close, and quite literally, wherever they went, they went ‘following’ the Law that was kept inside a special carrying case.

The oral Law, that Moses received, was passed down from generation to generation as a living Scripture – one committed to memory and to the heart – to be spoken of in worship and in study and in daily practice of the people Israel.

It was God’s will that Moses would build for God a people, and that with those people God would be pleased to dwell – and they would serve to bring God’s light to the whole wide world.
But, along the way, some mistakes were made. One notable mistake was when King Solomon spent a vast fortune to build a stone temple in Jerusalem – a temple that was so beautiful and powerful in its practices – that many forgot that the idea was that the People of God would be God’s dwelling place – not the building.

When that Temple would be destroyed, it would be because the People no longer followed his Word – and they became weak and vulnerable to the powers of this World.

When that Temple was finally rebuilt, at great expense, and again became a place of great hypocrisy and corruption – Jesus said, "This place is going to be thrown down."

Jesus foretold the destruction of the Second Temple, because again, God didn’t want a stone temple – he wanted a People with whom to Dwell.

Just as Malachi told the people of Israel to follow God’s ways and abide with him, Jesus too implored the people to open their hearts to the presence of God.

God permitted the destruction of both the First and Second Temples – to prove that point.

God doesn’t need a building – God needs a people.

This is why God’s word came to dwell in the flesh in the form of Jesus Christ. This is why God chose to send his living and active Word, not merely in the form of a book or a building – but in the flesh and blood life of Jesus Christ. For in Christ God made himself fully known – fully communicated – fully understandable. In Christ God spoke his word – in language, in body, in blood. Because the point is that God wants to dwell with us – in our hearts, in our lives, in all things, and for always. The Word of God made flesh – is pointed to in the written Word and in the oral Word which is the life and practice of the worshipping community.

In this service today, we will hear and study God’s Word in Scripture, preaching, prayer and hymn – and then God’s Word will be made fully present to us in the body and blood of Christ.
This is what the Church is all about my friends – it is about our coming together in the name of Christ to be His Body, to be the people that God is trying to build – for our sake, and really, for the sake of those out there who are still lost and lonely and looking for the love which only God has.

We do have a beautiful building, and many of us have so much to be thankful for – financially, physically, bodily. Let us not make the mistake of Solomon though – who built God a temple of stone – not a people. Let us not make the mistake of so many – who treat God’s Word as if it were something merely written on paper – and not in beating hearts. Let us never forget – that the Word of God is Jesus Christ – the living and active Word – and he will only do us some good when we invite him into our lives.

For without God’s Word inside us – we will surely die. Without God’s saving power – we will become like stubble. For all things are passing away – sooner or later. All things, save for the Word of God, and the love made known to us in Christ. Friends, it’s time to put everything you’ve got into this Good News. Amen.

All Saints' Sunday - Greg Jones

Only in recent times the majority of people in America have become urban or suburban as opposed to rural.

But the Church, since its beginning was an urban movement. The Church began in cities – Jerusalem, Antioch, Damascus, Rome, Ephesus – places like that.

It makes sense that the Church – which is to be like the City of God – would have begun in cities.

Cities are places where the connections between people are obvious and everywhere – and the Church is to be a place of connection.

Many of us in America, even city dwellers or sub-city dwellers, we often pretend that our houses and our lives are our own private places, individual and not necessarily connected to the rest of the world – but it’s just not true.

Think about it – there’s a wire that starts at my house, and ends at yours.

-- there’s a pipe that starts at my house, and ends at yours.

Whether we know each other, think about each other, or even care ... the fact is that your household and mine – and his and hers – and theirs and ours – are all connected.

And, I’m not even speaking figuratively (yet.)

There is a physical wire and a physical pipe hooking all our houses together in a grid, a network, a single connected thing.

A squirrel could walk from household to household on that wire – and a tiny fish could swim it.

Even folks off the grid – out in the countryside – with no water, no power – they are still connected to the same ground as you and me.

The ideology of American individualism is just that – an ideology – an abstract notion – invented out of thin air – but not really, real.

Because whether we like it or want it or cherish it or not – we are all connected. In a myriad ways – in time – in space – and in ways we can’t even begin to understand.

God says it’s the same thing with all of Creation – in Heaven and Earth – this world and the next – the past, present and future.

God says – in Scripture – in Christ – in the Church – that all things are in God’s sight, and that God’s will is to draw all things into Himself – by the mysterious work of Jesus Christ.

Again – we are all connected.

We who have become baptised into Christ are connected not just with worldly wires, pipes and ground – but Godly wires, pipes and ground.

Prayer is our power line.

Scripture and sacrament our water line.

And God himself is the very ground upon which we live and move and have our being.

We believe that Christ binds all together, loves all together, saves all forever – who call Him lord.

What Jesus says – in today’s Gospel – is that if you want your own power – your own water – your own ground more than God’s – you may pursue that. You may even do alright for a little while ... finding your own power, spirit and substance satisfactory.

You don’t have to pray ... you don’t have to receive God’s grace ... you don’t have to love and rejoice in the God who made and surrounds you... you don’t have to love your neighbor as yourself.

If you have chosen this path – ignoring God’s connections – good luck. You are welcome to leave the City of God and spend time out in the countryside of your own making. I know how well I fared on my own in those years I spent in the country of my own making.

The good news, however, if you have followed this path too long already – and lived too long on the outskirts of town -- and you want to plug in again – and come back to the City of God – there will be a room prepared there for you by Jesus Christ himself.

Your mansion will still be there – with the power, water and substance of God all still working. Even though you haven’t paid God a moment’s bit of praise in all the time you’ve been away.

You won’t be cut off by God if you seek Him, because in Christ, God gives power, grace and life for free to all who turn unto Him who are tired and heavy-laden.

It is by the grace of God that we are connected to Him – it is by the public work of Christ that we have these bonds between us.

It is our mission as citizens of the City of God to extend these lines of sacred power, grace and Godly substance to the suffering, the lost, the forgotten, the enslaved by sin and death. It is our single mission to bring this Good News to the whole World. Amen.