Lent 1

Pasted below is a copy of the sermon that I gave on Feb. 25, 2007 at St. Augustine's Kingston.

It is wonderful to be here with you this morning, and actually a bit of a miracle. I arrived at TF Green at about 1 o’clock this morning after a ten hour lay over in Chicago. I owe a great deal of thanks to my classmates who I traveled with because they unanimously agreed to let me take the first stand by seat of the group so that I could make it here this morning. I would also like to share my congratulations with you on recently receiving parish status. Everyone around the Diocese is extremely proud of all that you have accomplished and all that you will continue to achieve.

Over the past two years I have to travel all over the country. The stories I could share from my mission trip to Arizona last week would keep us here until Easter. But, as I reflected on today’s scripture readings I was reminded of two particularly powerful experiences.

The Old Testament reading from Deuteronomy allowed me to relive an extremely prayerful, and also painful experience form my most recent trip to Maine. Two weeks ago I traveled to South Bristol Maine with the students form Christ Church Lincoln, my home parish, who are to be confirmed in May. I was particularly excited to attend the retreat, because the retreat center we were going to, Tidewater Way, is owned by my former interim rector – John Van Siclen – and his wife Pam. After an amazing and jam packed day, we returned to the Van Siclen’s home for dinner and a movie. The movie John had picked for us was “The Saint of 9-11.” It was an incredible story about a Franciscan Priest who was one of the first killed on that Tuesday morning. I was very nervous to watch this movie, as I had not begun to heal from those events five years ago. The movie began by showing the footage of the attacks. My hands began to shake, my breath became very labored, and my heart jumped into my throat. I tried to hold back the tears, but it was just too hard. When the movie was over John could tell I was in a great deal of pain, so he took me into his office so we could talk. As we talked I began to realize that, for five years I had been trying to heal this wound on my own, not even letting God in. After our long talk I went to bed feeling worse that I did before. The next morning I woke up at around five to watch the sunrise. As I sat on the dock praying and meditating John’s words continued to echo through my head. “The only way to begin to heal is to let God in.” As I started praying to God to enter into my heart the sun began to rise over the trees. It was breath taking. An orange glow hovered over the frozen John’s River, the trees danced in the cold breeze, the silence was deafening, but if I focused and listened really hard I could hear the tide coming in under the icy covering. It was as if God had heard my cry and was letting me know that he had been waiting to fill my heart and soul with his joy and love. This morning we read from Deuteronomy a beautiful message of hope. “We cried to the Lord, the God of our fathers, and he heard our cry and saw our affliction, our toil and our oppression. He brought us out of Egypt with his strong hand and outstretched arm, with terrifying power, with signs and wonders.” God did for me, and does for all of us, what he did for the Israelites so long ago. He brings us out of our own personal Egypt into a land of milk and honey.

I’d like to transition our reflection to our Gospel reading. Luke tells us of Jesus’ temptation in the desert. This temptation to separate from the Father and from our true mission is a temptation currently plaguing The Episcopal Church. Actions taken at this past general Convetion and the results of those actions are in a sense our temptation to separate from the Father and our true mission as a church. We constantly hear of parishes leaving their respective dioceses, dioceses asking for alternative primal oversight, and primates refusing to worship with fellow primates. People leaving, breaking away from our mission to live, worship, and serve together in the name of the Lord. However, experiencing general Convention first hand showed me that as a majority we are repeating Christ’s words through our actions when faced with the thought of schism. Just as Jesus was tempted our leaders are being tempted. We respond to that temptation just as Jesus did. At General Convention when we could have split, we passed legislation to end extreme poverty and hunger via the Millennium Development Goals. When we could have split we joined together in worship and fellowship through the Eucharist. And when we could have split we elected the first female Presiding Bishop in the history of the Anglican Communion. We as a church have followed Christ’s example and have thus far avoided splitting up and instead have focused our energy on the mission and work God has given us to do.

As we begin Lent we are called to look inward and prepare ourselves to share in Christ’s death and resurrection. We must cry out to the Lord so that on Easter day He carries us with a strong hand and an out stretched arm out of Egypt and into the promise land. We must avoid temptation and be mindful of the work God has given us to do. AMEN.