Third Sunday in Lent

Year C
RCL

Sermon Audio: March 7, 2010-The Rev’d Warren Hicks

Exodus 3:1-15
Psalm 63:1-8
1 Corinthians 10:1-13
Luke 13:1-9

Second Sunday in Lent

Year C
RCL

Sermon Audio-February 28, 2010 The Rev’d Warren Hicks

Genesis 15:1-12, 17-18
Psalm 27
Philippians 3:17-4:1
Luke 13:31-35

First Sunday in Lent

Year C
RCL

Sermon Audio-8 am Service February 21, 2010

Sermon Audio-Children’s Sermon 10 am February 21, 2010

Deuteronomy 26:1-11
Psalm 91:1-2, 9-16
Romans 10:8b-13
Luke 4:1-13

Finally, beloved,*  whatever is true, whatever is honourable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is pleasing, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence and if there is anything worthy of praise, think about*   these things. 9Keep on doing the things that you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, and the God of peace will be with you.–Philippians 4:8-9

It has been said, and I believe it to be true, that “imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.”  That being said, it seems that today’s text from Paul’s letter to the struggling church in Philippi is a clarion call to flatter Jesus by doing our best impression of him that we can muster.

I don’t suspect that it matters if our mimicry is excellent and indistinguishable from the original, I have a pretty strong hunch that it’s mainly the thought that counts here.

To imitate someone means that we’ve paid attention to them.  That we’ve found their demeanor, mannerisms and character, sufficiently interesting to give them our attention and to try and take some of them on as a part of our persona.

Thomas a Kempis talks about this in the classic ‘The Imitation of Christ’.  To imitate Jesus is at the heart of ‘being Christian’.  Which literally means to be like Christ.

Paul lays before us a comforting promise in this text that we need to keep practicing our imitation and if we stay faithful to that effort that we’ll find peace as a constant companion on the road of discipleship.

I don’t know about you, but peace sounds like a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow for me in the uncertainty of the world.  It’s a treasure I’m willing to chase, I hope you’ll chase it too.

6As we work together with him,^* we urge you also not to accept the grace of God in vain. ²For he says, ‘At an acceptable time I have listened to you, and on a day of salvation I have helped you.’ See, now is the acceptable time; see, now is the day of salvation!–2 Corinthians 6:1-2

This reading from Paul’s letter to the Corinthians is part of every Ash Wednesday in our Episcopal tradition.  When read as the bridge between either of the Old Testament readings and Matthew’s Jesus call to a quiet piety during Lent, we have a link between action and contemplation.  It is this link that I’m coming to believe that helps us live into the call in the Ash Wednesday Liturgy to the ‘keeping of a Holy Lent’

Isaiah 58:1-12 strikes a great counterbalance to Matthew 6:1-6, 16-21 in calling us to pay attention to the needs of others and the world in Isaiah and a commitment to personal piety, sanctification and dare I say, divinization.  What is before us is the invitation to live a life of action and contemplation in the present.

When I was younger and would say that, “I ought to do x” or “I want to do y”, I’d often hear, “now’s as good a time as any.”  Sometimes Lent can become an excuse to postpone ministry and response to the world and its needs in favor of a commitment to personal reflection and piety.  These Ash Wednesday texts seem to say that we are not living in a time of either/or, but rather that the keeping of a Holy Lent is a both/and proposition.

We go to our Lord in private and He hears the laments of our souls and the desires of our hearts and then we are equipped by that exercise to act in the name of God by the Power of the Spirit in the ways that are ours to do. And now’s as good a time as any to start!!!

On this Ash Wednesday, may we all learn to accept, embrace and celebrate and actively contemplative discipleship of Jesus, the Holy One of God. And now’s as good a time as any to start!

I invite you, therefore, in the name of the Church, to the observance of a holy Lent, by self-examination and repentance; by prayer, fasting, and self-denial; and by reading and meditating on God’s holy Word. And, to make a right beginning of repentance, and as a mark of our mortal nature, let us now kneel before the Lord, our maker and redeemer. (BCP p. 265 from The Ash Wednesday Liturgy)

For me and for a long time I’ve had some very particular ideas about what Lent was all about.  I always seemed to wind up in a conversaton that talked about what we were going to ‘give up’ for Lent.  I still think in terms of what sacrifice I’ll make for Lent but the fruits of that sacrifice have changed significantly for me over time.

This is no more true than maybe it is this year.  Recovering from physical ailments has afforded me what I seldom take enough of and that is time to reflect and limit my commitments.

In November I attended a seminar on David Allen’s Getting Things Done methodology of getting to be more organized and productive.  I had no idea what sort of impact those two days would have on my spiritual life.  I went to the seminar just two weeks after going away to the Society of St. John the Evangelist (SSJE) in Boston for an extended silent retreat that was long overdue.  I came back from retreat feeling like I was sufficiently calm and centered to make better choices about the balance between ‘being’ and ‘doing’ as a part of living my vocation as priest, father, husband and friend.

Two weeks later, I found myself sitting with a bunch of other clergy and their administrators and admitting that I was as overwhelmed as when I’d left.

Then our presenter for the day quoted one of David Allen’s guiding principles in Getting Things Done namely that ‘whatever has your attention, has your attention.’  At first it seemed obvious but then I realized what terrific wisdom was there.

If I am preoccupied with many things, I neglect other things and some of those things neglected are not only important, they are critical.  Thoughts of Mary and Martha (Luke 10:38-42) swept into my mind and the words of Jesus convicted me, “you are worried and distracted by many things.” (Luke 10:41).

This long introduction leads me to what I hope is the point for me and may be of some use to you for this Lenten season of reflection, repentance and preparation to live anew in the light of the Resurrection.  I need to get back to the basics of being present to Jesus and what is most important and all the rest will fall into place.

In the Getting Things Done world, we are called to take all that comes into our minds and take them and put them in a trusted place where we can return to them and process them based on our values.  Isn’t it the same with our lives in Christ?

What has my attention has my attention and some of it’s not so very important as I’d like to think.  Maybe I’d all do well to find a trusted place to park my worries until I get some clarity on things and then, and only then, return and pick them up again.  I’m convinced Jesus’ is that place. If I am willing to do that, I suspect I’ll have gained some holy perspective, be clearer and more centered and find myself saying no to the many things and engaging more faithfully in the One Thing of most importance, namely my relationship to God and my part in God’s Mission.

That’s my Lenten story, and I pray, by the grace of God I’ll be sticking to it.  Pay attention to what and who has your attention and live your life accordingly. May we all keep a Holy Lent, in God’s name.

Last Sunday after Epiphany

Year C
RCL

Sermon Audio-February 14, 2010; The Rev’d Warren Hicks

Exodus 34:29-35
Psalm 99
2 Corinthians 3:12-4:2
Luke 9:28-36, [37-43a]

On January 25th I had my right knee scoped and all went well, then I came down with a bit of a gastric problem.  For those of who have kept checking in since the 17th, thank you.  I’ve got several updates to post in the next few days.

I’ll simply close today by saying WHO DAT?!?!?!?!?!?

Congratulations to the Saints and the people of New Orleans.

Second Sunday after the Epiphany

Year C
RCL

Sermon Audio-January 17, 2010 by the Rev’d Warren Hicks

Isaiah 62:1-5
Psalm 36:5-10
1 Corinthians 12:1-11
John 2:1-11

In a ‘news’ broadcast on his cable channel yesterday Pat Robertson made the claim that the earthquake in Haiti was just the latest in a series of tragic events to befall the country and that all of those events are the result of a ‘pact made with the devil.’

I simply want to say brother Robertson, you neither speak for God, or the tradition of Jesus handed down over twenty centuries. And in fact your assertion is in direct opposition to the Bible that you so assiduously cling to as the support for your ‘ministry’.

I simply point out that in Genesis after the flood (Genesis 9:1-13) God declares that he will never again destroy humanity because of the people’s infidelity.

Make no mistake, Haiti is not the whole world, but it seems to me, in my limited understanding and experience, that God’s word is to be taken seriously.  Namely, that Covenant is always kept by God.  By human beings, not so much.

I cannot find a way to make the promise of God not to wantonly destroy people conditional upon any ‘pact’ made with an already defeated foe.  Make no mistake, I do believe that evil is real and that suffering is a part of life, but I also believe the Bible when it says that God, “does not willingly afflict or grieve anyone.” (Lamentations 3:31-33)

We who take Jesus, God and the Bible seriously need to claim the true nature of God in the face of the spiteful proclamations, faulty theology and scapegoating mentality that seems to be the cornerstone of what passes for ‘Christianity’ in Pat Robertson’s worldview.

What I saw and heard in the aftermath of the disaster on Tuesday night,  was a nation that, in the midst of their shock, grief despair and suffering; took to the streets in some numbers and sang hymns to God.  I have also seen Churches and faith communities across the continuum in our country and around the world rise to the occasion and be the presence of Christ to a suffering people.

With all due respect Mr. Robertson, perhaps you could stand with a bit of a ‘great returning to God’ as you called the nation of Haiti to yesterday.  Have you no human decency, sir?  Have you no shame?

May God continue to bear up the broken hearted in Haiti and throughout this broken world and may we who bear the mark and seal of Christ continue to serve them in His Name and proclaim the Gospel, the Good News, of peace, love and redemption that was the essence of Jesus’ earthly ministry and is an unwavering and unchangeable characteristic of our God and the Father of all of humanity.

–The Rev’d Warren Earl Hicks