ISAIAH 43:16-21

PSALM 126

PHILIPPIANS 3:8-14

LUKE 20:9-19

Sermon – March 28, 2004

The Upward Call

So where does Lent lead us? Does this introspective season simply lead us to personal prayers for forgiveness of ourselves by God for what we’ve done that we ought not to have done, and for what we have not done that we ought to have done, a clean slate with God, and then – return to our previous patterns of life unchanged?

If so, we’ve missed the point.

Christian life is not intended to be cyclical: sin, ask forgiveness, receive forgiveness, do the same sins in the same way again, ask forgiveness, and so on, whether once a year, once a week – or even once a day. We are supposed to be moving, moving closer to God – and that means being transformed, shedding worldly ways, becoming more holy in our thinking, attitudes and behavior.

Both of the “Proper Prefaces” for Lent speak of this spiritual progress. (The “Proper Preface” is what I say or chant just before the “Holy, holy, holy” part of the Holy Eucharist).

The first Proper Preface, which we used during the first three Sundays of Lent, says that we give thanks to God the Father “through Jesus Christ our Lord; who was tempted in every way as we are, yet did not sin. By his grace we are able to triumph over evil, and to live no longer for ourselves alone, but for him who died for us and rose again.” The second Proper Preface, which we used last week and will use today, says “You (God) bid your faithful people cleanse their hearts, and prepare with joy for the Paschal feast; that fervent in prayer and in works of mercy, and renewed by your Word and Sacraments, they may come to the fullness of grace which you have prepared for those who love you.” [Italics added in both cases].

Lent is designed to enable us to live unburdened by the weight of sin – so that we may live for Christ by serving others with works of mercy and, eventually, experience the inexpressible joys of heaven.

Personal renewal is good – in fact, essential. But Lent doesn’t stop there. For if our missions in life stop with ourselves, we are turning worship of God into another self-help manual titled “It’s all about me.”

Today’s scriptures give us some clues here. There are a number of stories and parables in the Bible which depict God as a landowner and God’s people as tenants. Some of us in this congregation are tenants but I don’t think any are tenant farmers – people whose homes and jobs are both owned by the same person.

But if you apply that image to us and God, we all are “tenant farmers”. God owns “this fragile earth, our island home”, not us, whatever our property deeds may say. God in fact has “title” to the whole planet, and Mars, and the rest of the universe. God also owns us – our lives, our bodies, our time, and has given us the talent to do worthwhile things in the world, or – not, as we wish.

Like tenant farmers, we are answerable to the owner for how we treat his property – the earth. Anyone feel really confident of the human race getting “a good grade” in that department? So what is each of us doing to help? And like tenant farmers, we are answerable to the owner for the work that we do: how we live our lives, in all aspects, including how much time, energy and money we spend on helping other people. Yes, this is part of the required “core curriculum.”

But take heart: grace is at work here, not law, so that no matter how bad someone’s “grades” are so far in taking care of God’s creation and in living according to God’s commands, “passing” is still possible by turning one’s heart, mind and body over to God and getting a fresh start. In Isaiah 43, God told the exiled Jews suffering in Babylon, “I am about to do a new thing.” Those who had been punished for their rebellious sinfulness and were almost without hope were promised forgiveness and a fresh start by God, in extremely tangible ways: release from bondage and humiliation in foreign captivity and return home to the Holy Land where they could rebuild the Temple and worship God in the land promised by God to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

It happened.

So: no one is hopeless. And – no one “has it made.” Even St. Paul did not talk as knowing Christ fully or experiencing the fullness of salvation and resurrection were things he already had experienced or were things he had “in the bag”: he speaks hopefully in today’s Epistle, “If somehow I may attain the resurrection from the dead.” If St.Paul didn’t feel like he “had the pennant clinched”, then nobody should “coast” no matter how much time they spend in church or how many good deeds they do.

Oh, but we have so many challenges: how can we try to be good “tenants” of God and never feel hopeless or overconfident in addition to all the other stuff we have to do?

The secret is to make everything we do part of our worship of God. And if we don’t – maybe re-evaluate that activity. Taking out the recycling can be drudgery – or it can be part of being a “good tenant” of God’s creation. A healthy diet could be an annoying burden – or it could be an offering to God, one way to say “thank you” to God for giving us lifetime use of our bodies. Dealing with difficult people at work effectively and appropriately could be merely “what the boss expects” – or it could be an opportunity to pray for God’s guidance as to how we can be God’s servants in the situation and minister with people who, like us, are also priceless in the sight of God.

Challenges? Let me tell you about challenges. Some of us have heard about the work of the Church in El Salvador, and many of us will hear soon about one work of the church in Kenya in helping treat people with alcoholism or nicotine addiction. But another good work I have recently added to those I personally support is that of the Episcopal Diocese of Jerusalem.

I experienced a little bit of the Episcopal Diocese of Jerusalem when I was in the Holy Land on sabbatical in 1994. As you’ve heard, I and the rest of my study group worshipped at Christ Church, Nazareth; the rector of that parish then is now the Episcopal Bishop of Jerusalem, the Rt. Rev. Riah Abu El-Assal. I also worshiped in St. George’s Cathedral in Jerusalem.

I didn’t see most of the “works of mercy” of the Diocese either because they were in areas we couldn’t visit – in Jordan – or because they were in places which were too dangerous. For us, foreigners, tourists, pilgrims. But to the people who live there, danger is a daily companion on a level that most native-born Americans can scarcely comprehend.

Last October 16, the Church dedicated a new secondary school building in Ramallah, in the West Bank, which enrolls 570 students, both boys and girls. Girls have not often had many educational opportunities in Arab countries, and not everywhere in the Arab world can both boys and girls look up to a woman as an educational leader, but these teens have Headmistress Samira Nasser. She and the rest of the leaders have persevered in building the school during the last three years, time of almost constant conflict and often open warfare. She herself has had to stare down the guns of invading soldiers and has had her own home blown up. The biblical verse she has repeated tenaciously is Romans 8:316: “If God is with us, who is against us?” In the midst of the disastrous economic, educational and safety conditions in the West Bank, the Arab Evangelical School is a testament to those crazy enough to hope, believing in God enough to act in their beliefs.

St. Luke’s Hospital also serves a Palestinian Community, that of Nablus. No one is turned away for lack of payment. It is a Christian hospital which serves all people. Christ Church High School in Nazareth, which did not exist when I was there in ‘94, now educates a student body of 205, half boys, half girls.

But perhaps most amazing is Ahli Hospital in Gaza, a Christian hospital serving an area where only ¼ of 1% of the people are Christian. Over 60% of the population lives in refugee camps. Unemployment is 60% or more. Last year over 5,000 patients were seen for free. The hospital tries to work on preventive care in an area where UNICEF says rates of malnutrition are equal to those of the Congo and Zimbabwe, but all too often the hospital has to focus on emergency room service to the victims or the ongoing Israeli-Palestinian war. The hospital itself has been hit by missiles, and periodically the Israeli military has blocked shipments of medical and humanitarian supplies by United Nations vehicles to Gaza. Basic utilities cannot always be depended on in this war zone.

Nevertheless, doctors, nurses, administrators and fundraisers persevere. Why? Why not just give up? Why not try to emigrate to someplace quieter (like New Jersey)? Why not join with those who respond to violence with more violence? Why not just quit? Surely there are easier places and ways to be a Christian.

Indeed there are. But Paul gave up building an impressive resumé, gave up safety, gave up security in order to serve Christ in the way Christ was calling him as an individual to serve him. And Paul believed that his relationship with Christ was of far greater value than what he gave up.

I have a feeling that many of those involved in these ministries – and hundreds of other ministries around the world in places far from safe and comfortable – have found a spiritual nourishment affirming life while surrounded by the threat of death, affirming love while surrounded by hate, affirming God while surrounded by those who champion themselves or their side in the conflict. I also believe Christ gives them strength to do what they do. If no one did these things, how much worse off would these communities be?

Affirming life, love and God: What are each of us doing? What risks are we taking? What differences are we making? How much would our communities be diminished if we were not here? What else can we do, in addition to what we may already be doing, to make this world more heavenly?

How is this Lent helping us, with Paul, to “press on toward the goal for the prize of the heavenly call of God in Christ Jesus?”

(The Rev.) Francis A. Hubbard

St. Barnabas Episcopal Church