Sunday, November 8, 2020

AS FOR ME AND MY FAMILY WE WILL SERVE THE LORD
The Rev. Mark D. Wilkinson, Rector
St. Paul’s Episcopal Church
Katy Texas 77493
Joshua 24:1-25

 

I went to get my haircut on Friday after getting home from Camp Allen for a clergy meeting the last one for those who are new to the diocese or their position in the last year. Many of us were talking about our sermons for Sunday and we all were waiting to write that sermon. Waiting for results from Tuesday’s election. Wondering what was going to happen Friday afternoon or Saturday.

As I sat down in the chair to have Nora begin, I noticed a framed picture on the counter next to her clippers that said, “As for me and my household, we will eat tacos. Salsa 2:20”. I did chuckle and thought maybe that confirms what to focus on this Sunday.

Joshua 24:15 “as for me and my household, we will serve the LORD.” At one time I had a metal plaque that had that verse on it. It was on the door of our apartment in seminary. For me it was part of the answer of why I went to seminary. It was a statement about what was important to me and to my household. This was also a statement by Joshua as to what was important to him and challenged the people of Israel to make a decision about what was of ultimate importance to them.

Idols, other gods were a problem for Joshua and the people of Israel. They lived in a world filled with other gods and physical idols to those gods. These other idols were a constant source of temptation and problems for the people and we have several confrontations between some of the prophets of God and those of the other religions as we move forward through the history of the people of Israel.

We too live in a world where we make idols of things, people and sometimes movements. When something becomes the focus of our worship or energies that is other than God then it can become an idol. Something worshiped rather than being something that is an end to a greater good. A good that serves God’s call to us as Jesus laid out in the two great commandments from a couple weeks ago. Love God and love neighbor.

Bishop Curry in his sermon last Sunday in that wonderful Holding on to Hope service used the themes of our own county’s founding documents as a call to love neighbor as ourselves. This service was a call for healing before the election. The focus was on the value that all people are created equal by God. He said, “Our ideals, values, principles and dreams of beloved community matter. They matter because they drive us beyond service of self alone to commitment to the greater good of us all. They matter because they give us an actual picture of God’s reign of love, and a reason to struggle and make it real. They matter to our lives as people of faith. They matter to our life in civil society. They matter to our life as a nation and as a world. Our values matter. “A world, a society, a life devoid of values and ideals that ennoble, that lift up and liberate, is a world descending into the abyss, a world that is a dystopian vision of hell on earth.”

At times like this when we need to call on our better nature, I look at what it means to serve the Lord I go to our baptismal covenant. Now I realized as we were going through last week’s service that I had made a mistake and left the Nicene Creed in on All Saints when we should have renewed our baptismal vows. Maybe however that was part of the plan because this is a better week to remind ourselves of how this covenant allows us to serve the Lord and is certainly a way forward to which our Presiding Bishop often refers. That way forward is the Way of Love.

The five promises of the Baptismal Covenant are one of the most important parts of the Book of Common Prayer. When someone asked me long ago what the focus of my call was as a priest I answered, “To help people live into the promises made at our baptism.” That is still the primary call for me as your rector and was at the top of the materials I sent to the search committee. My call is to inspire you, challenge you and give you the tools to live into these promises.

Living as the promises describe is a good way forward, a great start on bringing the healing into the country that we so desperately need. Just as with the prayer for enemies that I used a couple weeks ago, the emphasis is on what we can do. You cannot control what your neighbor does, but you can control how you respond. Responding in love is what we need even though right now that may be incredibly hard. The divisions are deep. So deep I sat there Saturday afternoon wondering do I add to the prayers for Donald our President and Gregg our Governor, Joe our President elect. It is something I would normally do automatically in fact Jennifer had already added it into the bulletin. Yet I hesitated primarily because there was no winner when we printed the bulletins, but also because I didn’t want to cause more division. However, we will add that in because that is part of moving forward. I would add it after any election.

Since we didn’t say these promises last week, I want to read them slowly and remind you that this is what you have promised as a Christian. This is what it means to serve the Lord.

Celebrant
Will you continue in the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, in the breaking of the bread, and in the prayers?
People
I will, with God’s help.

Celebrant
Will you persevere in resisting evil, and, whenever you fall into sin, repent and return to the Lord?
People
I will, with God’s help.

Celebrant
Will you proclaim by word and example the Good News of God in Christ?
People
I will, with God’s help.

Celebrant
Will you seek and serve Christ in all persons, loving your neighbor as yourself?
People
I will, with God’s help.

Celebrant
Will you strive for justice and peace among all people, and respect the dignity of every human being?
People
I will, with God’s help.

Notice the words all, every, no exceptions allowed. We believe that all people were created equal by God. Bishop Curry reminded us of that in his sermon and it is a central tenant of his teaching. We are all God’s children, created in the image and likeness of God.

The important thing is that this isn’t about just us, but about serving and caring for something larger. These are values and ideals that as Bishop Curry says, “They matter because they give us an actual picture of God’s reign of love, and a reason to struggle and make it real.” These promises are how we can serve the Lord and not other idols that take us away from God’s kingdom. These are how we can begin to repair the separation between people and parties that threaten the fabric of our country. Somebody has to start the process and I challenge you to be one of those who step forward and begin to reach out and help us heal.

I truly believe that this is the way you and I and our parish can serve the Lord. As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. Like Joshua I challenge all of you to do the same.

Now I want to conclude with a prayer from our Book of Common Prayer. I encourage you this week to go to your prayer books and pray the prayers for our country that are in that section with this prayer. This one is on page 823.

Prayer for Social Order:
Grant, O God, that your holy and life-giving Spirit may so move every human heart and especially the hearts of the people of this land, that barriers which divide us may crumble, suspicions disappear, and hatreds cease; that our divisions being healed, we may live in justice and peace; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.