ALL SAINTS CHURCH

“Foxes have their holes and birds of the air have their nests; but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.”  Could there be a more poignant description of alienation?  All of us want to belong somewhere.  We join fraternities, sororities, sports teams, interest groups, political parties, business alliances, etcetera.  One of the joys of a group is to have safety from the threat of other groups as well as the threat of a descent into a faceless oblivion. 

Unlike us, foxes don’t worry about belonging, Jesus observes, because they belong to the earth. Birds are fine too, so long as there are trees on the earth.  But we, The Son of Man, and by extension, all humans, are not quite sure where we belong.  Houses and apartments not withstanding, we live as creatures alienated from our environment.  I think Jesus is just stating a core reality principle when he tells his disciples, to be in the world but not of it.  I believe this was the way he experienced his life.  He stood outside the strictures and customs of this world, observing, commenting and associating with others who were similarly dispossessed.  

From his position as outsider, Jesus stood with those in every generation who have fallen through the cracks in the world’s safety net.  He stood with them, ate with them and helped give voice to their perspective of not fitting in.  Why try to save your life, (invest in existence in this world) when it means losing your true identity as children of God?  Can’t you see that this world always tramples on, subjugates and exploits and then discards the poor and the weak?  As seductive as it appears, why would you want to invest in it, Jesus asks in various and sundry ways through out the gospels. 

In the face of all that glitters and for all the allure of money and power and privilege, the real truth is that humans have their true residence elsewhere.  In our mad attempt to quiet our knowledge that we don’t fit, we join groups that shield us from this knowledge.  These groups grant us a certain power, frequently at the expense of excluding others.  When we join the right group we finally sense we become mommy or daddy’s “favorite.”  I think Groucho exercised considerable wisdom when he ironically averred, “Any club that would have me as a member, I wouldn’t want to be a part of.”  He offers us a scathing critique of group pride, only to replace it with personal pride.

I think an even more profound wisdom comes from standing with Jesus, in the knowledge that we are a people out of joint (no room at the inn, no place to lay our heads). In so doing we always make our stand and share our voice with the poor and the persecuted. With Jesus and the prophets, we cannot neglect the stranger and the sojourner, because we know ourselves to be the same.  We cannot turn our backs on our brothers and sisters in Darfur, or any other oppressed and persecuted people who are being driven from their homes, raped and murdered for the sake of the security of some other group.

As Christians we are to be universal men and women.  We affirm God’s love is for everybody.  For the Christian, this Everybody, means starting with those whom the world has forgotten.  St. Peter says in Acts, “Surely I see that God shows no partiality.” Jesus said, “Those who are healthy have no need for a physician.” There can be no peace in our world until all the sons and daughters of all people, have a place to lay their heads.  Until this becomes a reality, discipleship calls us to step outside our comfort zones and accept our alien status, as we identify with the least and the lost and the last.  While we are out there, we are able to join hands with all of God’s people, the last first and the first last. Then, with Jesus and all refugees, exiles, prophets and martyrs in every generation, we too can begin our procession toward the Holy City as a single family.  A family where everyone belongs and everyone has a place to lay their heads and everyone shares in the Eucharistic banquet feast.  In the meantime we allow the Word and Sacraments to foreshadow and inspire us towards this vision. 

Imagine, Believe, Act.

This past week one of my colleagues sent an email with a link to an interesting and somewhat provocative article about an Episcopal priest who used to be classmate of mine.  The article was about the Reverend Ann Redding, who had become a Muslim.  The article went on to speak about Ann’s personal journey and how she felt drawn to Muslim spirituality and practice.  In addition, the article listed interviews with various scholars and religious leaders about whether this “combination” of faiths could be valid or consistent with the basic teachings of each faith.  One of the interesting things has been the series of emails from out colleagues on the list serve about the rightness or wrongness of this choice.

Some people were happy that there was this bridge person who could act as a symbol or sign of unity that could help draw the two communities together.  However, most responses were more critical.  They acknowledged the right of every person to their own spiritual journey.  However, they expressed that as a priest in the Episcopal Church, that her public role and ordination vows were not consistent with a faith that denies the unique divinity and salvivic ministry of Jesus.

I am sure this debate will go on for some time to come.  It can’t help but to be controversial and upsetting to many in both faith communities.    Perhaps it is hard to separate one’s feelings about this particular combination of faiths.  For instance, would it have been easier, if someone said that he or she was a Christian who practiced Zen meditation or Yoga?

Many of us choose some syncretic or inclusive practices in our lives.  We gain insight and depth by interfaith studies and borrowing practices.  Gandhi and others have suggested that once we get to the core of any of the major faith we see the unity of all faiths. Of course St. Paul argued in Galatians that to practice or observe Jewish Law in addition to following Christ undermined the suffiency and efficacy of Christ’s sacrificial love.

So as if our church did not have enough controversy, this comes along, perhaps as a delicious distraction.  The one thing that occurs to me from one of my professors at Hebrew Union is that religion seems to operate simultaneously on three levels.  There is the personal level, which by nature can be very idiosyncratic.  There is common practice, which most people take as normative, whether or not they have any official status.  Finally there is what the various faiths have written as law or canon, even if it is little understood or practiced. 

It seems to me that Ann is practicing her own personal journey.  But in so doing she is contravening the norms and rules of the second two categories.  For this she will no doubt suffer some external rejection and censure.  And for the former she will also, no doubt experience deep inward joy.  

It is a complete cliché to speak about how fast the world changes.  Even in today’s New York Times, President Bush is now looking for world consensus on slowing and reversing the effects of global warming.  Maybe Gore won after all?  Yes, one can’t help being overwhelmed by the vertiginous swirl of events in our lives and in our world. 

Yet in the midst of these observable and remarkable changes, I find the more marvelous wonder is that constant, that stays the same, yesterday, today and tomorrow.  Just like in Rick’s Café, “The fundamental things apply, as time goes by.”  At the core of our worship is the truly miraculous realization that the eternal has deigned to become manifest in the temporal.  Sometimes we use the word incarnation to focus our attention on this reality, sometimes we just say Jesus.

For millennia people have acknowledged the still small voice that whispers of divine presence and intimates immortality.  This voice is given utterance in the Word and Sacraments, in human acts of compassion, forgiveness, and sacrificial service. All of this taught and nurtured in the gathering of the faithful. 

As summer approaches, many of us take off for the beaches, parks and mountains for rest and renewal.   Those of us who come to church are doing the rest (Sabbath) and renewal (Gospel) every Sunday.  Each service is testimony, reminder and experience of the beautiful renewing timelessness of God.  In this sense church’s first order of business is re-creation and renewal. By comparison, the beach is just a pleasant distraction. (I know, HERESY!…Off with his collar!)

This summer as you take time off from your “normal schedule” I invite you to step into the wonderful presence of Eternal here at All Saints.  It is not just coming to church, it is a symbolic participation in the renewal and redemption of the world, a world that includes flesh and blood, you and me and the stranger. 

The church is prepared as a bride for the groom and now we are calling the guests to the “wedding feast,” the union of heaven and earth. Won’t you once again consider accepting this invitation?  Why don’t you bring a friend, or even a stranger!  Remember what you were taught, we need all need to share the good news.