Where to begin?

The Second Sunday after the Epiphany, Year A

January 19, 2014

The Rev. Christopher L. Caddell

Where do you begin?

The first major construction project that I was involved in was nearly twenty years ago now.  It was the new Special Events Center on the campus of a University that will remain unnamed for the purposes of this sermon.  But it suffices to say that it was a complex and complicated project.

I was a lowly student worker back then, with the grand title of Assistant to the Project Inspector.  I took the job not knowing very much about anything that I would be doing.  All I knew was that I needed a job, preferred that it be in the construction industry, and the University was hiring. 

On my first day, I walked into the Project Inspectors office to find an extremely gruff man, hardened by forty years of field experience and aged by the carton of cigarettes he smoked each day.  Ken wasted no time in putting me to work.

On my first day he handed me a stack of papers – something that I later came to know were called Addendums – that reflected changes to the construction plans.  Those plans were daunting.  Nearly 1,000 pages in plan sheets, a three volume spec book (each of which required their own 4” three-ring binder), and a set of Addendums that were almost as thick.

 On my first day, I was told to take the Addendums and “post” them to the plans. Posting is essentially a cut and paste project – something that I’ve watched both my children do in Kindergarten – but after staring at this new project for several hours you could hardly tell I had even started.

I was overwhelmed.  What had I gotten myself into?  I hadn’t a clue what I was doing, and I was sure that this job was not going to last long.  I didn’t even know where to begin.

After spending nearly half the day tucked away in my office, my new boss walked in and in his gruff voice said, “Come on kid, let’s go for a walk.”  I was sure that this was the point where he was going to tell me, “Don’t you know anything?  You’re probably not cut out for this job.”

Instead, we walked out to the project site where they were drilling the first pier.  Ken didn’t say much but rather just let me watch as this massive piece of equipment drilled a six-foot diameter hole thirty-feet deep into the ground.

I’m sure the look on my face said it all.  I was amazed and astonished.  I had never been around such a complex project in my life, and yet here I was with absolutely no clue what I was doing.

That day began what would be a daily ritual for Ken and me.  Every day we would find a time to walk around the project together.  Whether it was sitework, structural, or finishes we would spend an hour or two together looking.  Ken remained a man of little words – often just pointing and leaving me with the task of trying to figure out what his experienced eye saw.

But four years and two major construction projects later, I had seen a lot.  Over the next eight years, I would see and learn even more.  But looking back I had come a long way from “I don’t even know where to begin.”

I imagine that story resonates in many places in our lives.  There are all kinds of places where we can feel unqualified, overwhelmed, and completely lost.  Not the least of which is our journey of faith. 

Last week we were reminded that God is continually making new beginnings.  Noah, Abraham, Moses, the people of Israel, Jesus– all of these were new starts, fresh beginnings.  And today we have another new beginning.  It is John’s version of the calling of the first disciples.

 Andrew, along with another of John’s disciples, meets Jesus for the first time.  It is John’s words about Jesus that make them curious – Look; here is the Lamb of God!

One wonders what they hoped to find in following Jesus.  Perhaps they didn’t even know.  After all, when Jesus questions them about what they are looking for, the best that they can offer is a question about where he is staying.

Would they have even followed had they known what lay ahead for them? 

What if Jesus had said, to follow me you will travel far and wide,

sleep in boats and in the fields,

never know where your next meal will come from,

listen to my teaching and witness the things that I do

and then be pushed to do those same things in my name.

And by the way, all of this will put you in grave danger.

And when the time is right, I will confront the authorities in Jerusalem,

and you will witness my brutal execution and burial,

and you will run for your lives.

Oh, and when all of that is completed,

that’s when it all really begins for you,

because you will carry on what I will begin,

travelling even farther and sharing this message with an even larger audience,

and coming into your own conflict with authority,

and losing your own life for the sake of others.

Instead, Jesus offers the very simple invitation to “Come and see.”

He doesn’t tell them what lies ahead.  He doesn’t even answer their question.  Just the gentle invitation to follow and see for themselves.

The teaching will come.

The challenges will be there.

The work, that even looking back is seemingly impossible, will come in time.

But it is the journey with Jesus, all beginning with a simple invitation, which will form them, prepare them, and give them the power to do ministry in his name.

That simple invitation is ours as well. 

Come and see.

Take a walk.

Journey with me and see what will come. 

Whether we are just beginning that journey or have been on this road our whole life, Jesus invites us deeper and deeper into the mystery of our faith with the simple words, “Come and see.”

It is our invitation to accept, and all we have to do is follow.  Amen.

A New Beginning

The Baptism of Our Lord, Year A

January 12, 2014

The Rev. Christopher L. Caddell

A new beginning….

This week ten of your fellow parishioners made a New Year’s resolution, of sorts.  Like the group last year, this group has committed itself to taking the Bible Challenge – to read the bible in its entirety in one year. That’s no small task, and yet, encouraged by those who came before, they have made the commitment and on Monday these 10 people jumped in with both feet. 

In the introduction to the book that that group is using, the editor suggests that we should, “Read the bible slowly and meditatively, as if it were a love letter written by God especially to you.”

On day one that wasn’t too hard.

We began from the very beginning.  The story of creation.  The story of a loving, powerful God who spoke everything into being – the heavens and the earth, the sea and all the creatures that live in it, the birds of the air and beasts of the field, and every living creature that has breath – God created them, and God said it was good.

Still, God’s creation is not finished.  It is not complete without humankind.  And so, God creates Adam and Eve, creatures in God’s own image, a son and daughter of the Creator himself.  And God said it was very good.

And yet very soon, the wheels begin to fall off, and before too long, things have turned downright bleak.

The good creation that God had made is so corrupt, so far from his plan that God sees no other option but to destroy all living creatures, save Noah and the things he brings on the ark, and start anew. 

As bleak as that story is, it points to a God who is actively engaged in restoring his creation.  Through Noah and his descendants, life as God intended is given a new chance.

Yet things turn as quickly after Noah as they had before, and the rest of this story will be God moving through people, places, and events, looking to restore the goodness, the righteousness of his creation.

There will be Abraham, the father of many nations, through whom the entire world will be blessed.

Then Moses who, by God’s power, will lead a people out of slavery into freedom.

That people will make a covenant with God so that they might be a beacon of light to all. Through them all nations would be able to see God’s goodness and choose to live as God intended.

There will be Judges, Kings, and Prophets, all of whom, when they are at their best, seek to point God’s people toward living into the covenant that was made.

There will be exile and return, again providing a fresh slate though which that light might be rekindled and burn brightly.

And, of course, in time comes Jesus.  The one through whom we know God’s plans would finally be fulfilled.

And yet that story starts quite oddly.

Jesus travels from his home in Galilee to the Jordan where John is baptizing.  After some initial hesitation, John consents to baptizing Jesus.  The heavens are opened, God’s Spirit descends, and a voice from heaven declares, “This is my Son, the Beloved, with whom I am well pleased.”

It is a scene that has caused much confusion and even some embarrassment for Christians over the centuries.  Why, after all, would Jesus need to be baptized?

And then we are reminded of where we are in the story. Jesus’ baptism is the first recorded act of Jesus’ adult life and ministry.  This is the beginning of the Christian story.  All that flows from here – the teaching, the healing, the calling of disciples, the selfless act of laying down his life for the sake of others – all of that began in the river Jordan.

And while we might hear pieces of our Trinitarian theology in the voice that comes from heaven, the first Christians would have heard son of God as a royal title.  It was an anointing, a commissioning, a public act that identifies Jesus as the Messiah.  This is the new king; this is the one who is to bring in God’s reign, this is God acting in the world to set things right.

It is a fresh start.  A new Moses. A new Adam.  And from here, all righteousness will finally be fulfilled.

The interesting thing about the arc of scripture is that the story doesn’t end when we come to the end of the book.   That sweeping story that begins with Genesis and moves through Revelation does not complete the story.  God’s active work in healing the world did not end with Noah, or Abraham, or Moses, or the people of Israel, or even with Jesus and his disciples.

We are deeply intertwined in God’s plan for restoring the creation to wholeness.

We are anointed in our baptism.  With that we say, “You are sealed by the Holy Spirit in baptism and marked as Christ’s own forever.”  It is not something we simply do or say, but symbolizes the reality of what is taking place.  We are anointed, marked, and forever changed to be – in Christ and through Christ – the very agents of God’s healing of the world.  In short, we carry on the work begun by Jesus – loving, forgiving, healing, caring for others, and putting the needs of others before our own.

It is that time of year when some are naturally inclined to step back and take a look at their lives.  With the best of intentions, we seek to make changes.  We look for ways to better ourselves, our habits, our health, our relationships.

And while all of that is good, I want to suggest to you that you take a moment to listen to the words that are spoken in our baptism and take them into yourself –

“You are sealed by the Holy Spirit, and marked as Christ’s own forever.”

Hear in them the words of God who is deeply committed to setting the world right.  A God who loves His creation so much that He will not stop until all things in heaven and on earth are the way that they are intended to be.  A God who sees in you and in me the continuation of his love story with all that he has made.

Our whole story and life begins here.  It’s a clean slate.  A new beginning.  And a chance to live life as it was intended, as sons and daughters of God, made in his image.  Amen.

A Christmas to Remember

The Second Sunday after Christmas – Year A

January 5, 2014

The Rev. Christopher L. Caddell

Merry Christmas!

Yes, I’ll admit to it.  I’m enough of a church geek that it is still Christmas to me - at least for a few more hours.

Last week while my family and I were travelling, I went to the post office to mail something.  Only a few days after Christmas day, I wished the clerk a Merry Christmas, and you would have thought I said something in another language.

After stammering and looking at me cross-eyed, she was able to squeak out, “Happy New Year.”

I just smiled and went on my way, but honestly it was closer to Christmas than to January 1. 

As I left, I’m sure she thought I was the one who had a mental lapse.

Nevertheless, consider this your friendly public service announcement that “The Twelve Days of Christmas” is not just a Christmas song, that Christmas is a season that begins on December 25^th, and that there really are 12 days of Christmas!

And if that leaves you counting in your head, today is the twelfth day and marks the end of the Christmas Season.

We still have Christmas hymns, Christmas vestments and decorations, and though it may not seem like it, a Christmas gospel.

Matthew’s Christmas story does not end on a happy note.  The serene scene that we get from Luke of shepherds and animals surrounding the Holy family in a stable does not appear in Matthew.  The angels do not join in the heavenly host singing praises to God.  Instead, Matthew’s story revolves on two royal responses to the news of a new king – Herod and the Magi.  One comes to pay homage and offer gifts; the other seeks to destroy the newborn child.

Instead of ending this season with the peace-filled scene of angels and shepherds, the Incarnation is interrupted by panic and a rapid departure to a foreign land. Herod has heard of this new king’s birth, and he is not about to be challenged – him or his lineage. 

It is not a part of the Christmas story that we like to remember.  I doubt you’ve ever received a Christmas card that depicts it. 

However you imagine the message shared with Joseph in his dreams, what is clear is that God moves Joseph to take some fairly drastic actions.  When you think about it, all of what we know of Mary and Joseph has them responding to God in ways that probably never crossed their mind.

Mary is asked to bear a child that will put not only her reputation – in a world where reputation is everything – but also her life in a very perilous situation.  Joseph is asked to go through with a marriage that also puts his reputation on the line.  Then they are both uprooted, first with the flight to Egypt, then the hope to return home to Israel, and finally the eventual settlement in Galilee. 

No matter how you look at it, the Christmas story, for all that we like to romanticize about it, is a story about real life, real hardship, real ministry in the name of Christ. Joseph and Mary, as the very first who were tasked with bearing Christ did not find an easy journey ahead of them.

I will confess that sometimes I don’t take this seriously enough.  It is, after all, not where I want to go after experiencing the joy of Christmas.  Sometimes I choose to hear it as simply an historical account of the hardships faced early in the life of Jesus.  Other times I choose to write it off as a rhetorical device used by Matthew to used to identify Jesus with Moses and the Exodus.

And while one or both of those may be true, neither view challenges me to weave this story into my own story.  Neither stance moves me to consider how God may be calling me to bear Christ in the world.  And yet, if we allow it, it is what this story does so very well.  If we allow it, this story to goes well beyond “just being about Joseph and Mary,” or a literary allusion to the Old Testament.  If we allow it, we just might find in this story a piece of our own life and calling as Christians.

The Church teaches that its ministers are lay persons, bishops, priests, and deacons (BCP 855).  And though it is lived out differently, each of these orders are tasked with the same ministry – “to represent Christ and his Church”

In other words, much as Joseph and Mary did, The Church exists as the bearers of the Incarnation today.  We represent Him, bear Him, and carry Him with us wherever we go.

How we do that will differ from person to person, but when we are living into it fully, it will include:

• ·      Bearing witness to Him through our words and actions
• ·      Carrying on the work of Christ in the world
• ·      And participating in the life, worship and work of the Church

Ending the season on this note reminds us that Christmas and the Incarnation are not meant to draw us to the manger so that we can stay there and bask in the glory of a newborn child.  Christmas is not simply about the receiving of a gift. The shepherds don’t do it.  The wise men won’t do it.  Even Joseph and Mary don’t have the luxury of staying in place to enjoy this gift.

Christmas draws us in so that we can witness the birth of the Messiah but then pushes us out so that we can take our place in the work of carrying that child with us.  And though that may seem a difficult task, God equips us with both the message and the individual gifts to the work in ways that often seem impossible and take more effort or skill than we think we have.

As Christmas comes to a close, I invite you to listen to how is God calling you to bear Christ in the world and in His Church. Recognize it or not, respond to it or not, the call is there for each and every one of us.