Trinity Episcopal Church, April 20, 2008

P. Roger Bowen

Let’s be still for a moment together ….[silence]…Let us pray – Cleanse our hands and hearts and our voices, oh Lord, from all stains, so that - pure in mind and body - we may be worthy to serve you. Amen.

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From the Gospel this morning –

Jesus said, "Do not let your hearts be troubled. Believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father's house there are many dwelling places. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you?" (John 14.1-2)

Sing - I got shoes, you got shoes, All God's chillun got shoes.  When I get to heaven, gonna put on my shoes, gonna walk all over God's heaven.  Everybody talkin 'bout heaven ain't goin' there. Heaven. Heaven…

Scarcity or abundance? Many dwelling places? Room for all?

I spent most of March working in Haiti, desperately poor Haiti. Many of the Haitian Episcopal priests in that diocese are young guys - committed, young fellows - one is a woman – more women on the way in seminary though. But for the most part they are young adults…30 somethings ministering in the midst of scarcity one can hardly imagine…although some Trinity folks have been in Honduras…they, and others of you know. But, Episcopal congregations in Haiti are tragically poor people; and each of these Haitian Epioscopal priests and their lay leaders have huge responsibilites for their flocks’ spiritual and physical care. In their care are many dwelling places. It is not unusual for a priest to be responsible for 14 churches up in the mountains and 12 of those would also be schools on weekdays. These are young adults/priests who, despite all they face, draw from God’s abundant love…they are for the most part open minded and eager, they are willing to sacrifice because they are called to it. They reflect that divine love and somehow stay positive and hopeful. It brings tears to my eyes.

As Will Roger’s said “a fellow can observe a lot by just watch’in.”

Jesus and his disciples were young adults too, although age 30 in that era was considerably “older” than 30 something today. They were for the most part open-minded and eager. They were willing to leave their occupations when adventure came along, willing to sacrifice when vision called for it. They were willing to accept different "sorts and conditions" of humanity, and not at all willing to be stifled by inherited tradition or yesterday's arguments. Jesus just looked past those and told stories about this abundant, "new thing" God was doing. In His Father’s house were many dwelling places.

Another thought is about us - while fountains of youth are never found - many of us said goodbyes to our 30’s years ago - whatever our age, we can all stop being prickly and demanding. We can all stop whining about the scarcity of this and that and start being excited about life. We can all set aside inherited prejudices and our fears -- of strangers, of failure, of being rejected -- and start embracing what life offers. That’s a choice; that’s a discipline. There are many opportunities to reflect God’s abundant love, to be DOERS of that love. And we can get strength for that kind of shift right here. Right here.

You see, like our Jewish ancestors, we Christians have tended to promote a theology of scarcity. The "gate," some say, is "narrow," and only the "righteous" and "elect" will get in.

So, eternal life, pie in the sky by and by, is for the chosen few. Even though Jesus fed multitudes without asking questions, some church leaders restrict access to sacraments by requiring credentials and training. How do you fill a large cathedral on Easter? You require tickets for admission.

Jesus taught exactly the opposite, of course. God's love is vast, he said, and undiscriminating. God's forgiveness is beyond measure. All are welcome at that table up there in the front of the church, and "all nations" are invited to draw near. To promote their baby institution, the gospel writers made much of sayings that suggested limited access. But Jesus himself opened his circle to all who sought him.

A theology of "abundance," sees the magna/ni/mity of God. It accepts the need for radically open doors, ministry to all in need, and it has a mission grounded in justice - that’s love for all, rather than in privilege - that’s benefits for the “worthy.”

I was struck by E.J. Dionne’s powerful editorial in Friday’s Washington Post,. He wrote about the Pope’s sermon at the ballpark Mass. He said –

“Benedict’s message runs crosswise to conventional liberalism and conservatism. He came to the U.S. as a quiet but forceful critic of an “increasingly secular and materialistic culture.” Almost any of us who paid attention to his sermon had to be uncomfortable, because all of us are shaped by the very forces he was criticising. He directly challenged the assumption that so many Americans make about religion: that it’s a matter of private devotion with few public implications.

“NOT true,” said the Pope….this time to the Catholic bishops. “Any tendency to treat religion as a private matter must be resisted. Only when their faith permeates every aspect of their lives do Christians become truly open to the transforming power of the Gospel.””

There is one image from my time Haiti that highlights the scarsity our Church there faces and the abundance of faith and service and commitment I observed…that I must share…

Talk about scarcity!

I learned that hungry people in the slums of Haiti are giving new meaning to the phrase "dirt poor." As food prices soar, many desperate people are eating mud cookies to stave off their hunger pangs.

They’ve come to rely on a traditional Haitian remedy for hunger pangs now: cookies made of dried yellow dirt from the country's central plateau.

The mud has long been prized by pregnant women and children in Haiti as an antacid and maybe a source of calcium. But in places like Cite Soleil, an oceanside slum, cookies made of dirt, salt and vegetable shortening have become a regular meal.

You’ve probably been reading and maybe experiencing that food prices around the world have spiked because of higher oil prices, needed for fertilizer, irrigation and transportation. Prices for basic ingredients, like corn and wheat, are also up sharply, and the increasing global demand for biofuels is pressuring food markets too.

The problem is particularly dire in the Caribbean, where island nations depend on imports; and food prices are up 40 percent in places.

The global price hikes, together with floods and crop damage from the 2007 hurricane season, prompted the U.N. Food and Agriculture Agency to declare states of emergency in Haiti and several other Caribbean countries. As you might have seen, violence is erupting there now, protests of frustration…and in several other places around the globe.

Still, at about 5 cents apiece, the dirt cookies are a bargain compared to food staples. About 80 percent of people in Haiti live on less than $2 a day and a tiny elite controls the economy.

So, merchants truck the dirt from the central town of Hinche to the La Saline market, a maze of tables of vegetables and meat swarming with flies. Women buy the dirt, then process it into mud cookies.

Carrying buckets of dirt and water up ladders to the roof of the former prison for which the slum is named, they strain out rocks and clumps on a sheet, and stir in shortening and salt. Then they pat the mixture into mud cookies and leave them to dry under the scorching sun.The finished cookies are carried in buckets to markets or sold on the streets.

And, in the midst of this…somehow ….our Church…the priests and lay leaders in the Episcopal Diocese of Haiti….are seeing Jesus in others… and they are serving the hungry and the sick, the illiterate and the disenfranchised. They are begging and borrowing the resources they need from our national church offices in NYC, from parishes like ours, from friends in the US and Canada and France, from their own meager, priest salaries…to buy sacks of rice and beans. And they are serving a hot mix of those, with dried fish sometimes for more protien, cooked over charcoal, to our many children in 200 little Episcopal schools there. God’s abundant love, channeled through courageous people…committed people …. men and women who see God in those they serve…who draw on abundance when others see scarcity.

Do not let your hearts be troubled…believe in God, believe also in Me.

And so I say…to you…to me…make a decision…be committed…every day. …committed not just to private devotion, not just to coprpoarte worhip in here; but committed to looking for Christ in others evrywhere…in my Father’s house are many dwelling places… and serving Him.

Listen to this. This was found in the office of an African pastor in Zimbabwe – and I suspect that he faces in his country much of what I have described about Haiti….the words describe his commitment.

I am part of the fellowship of the unashamed.

I have Holy Spirit power. The die has been cast.

I have stepped over the line.

The decision has been made.

I am a disciple of His.

I won’t look back, back away, or be still.

My past redeemed, my present makes sense, my future secure.

I am finished and done with low living, sight walking, small planning,

smooth knees, colorless dreams, tamed visions, worldly talking, cheap giving, dwarfed goals.

I no longer need pre-emininence, prosperity,

Position, promotions, plaudits or popularity.

I don’t have to be right, first, tops, recognized,

Praised, regarded, or rewarded.

I now live by faith, lean on His presence, walk by patience, am uplifted by prayer, and labor in power.

My face is set, my gait is fast, my goal is heaven, my road is narrow,

my way is rough, my companions are few, my Guide reliable, my mission clear.

I cannot be bought, compromised, detoured, lured away,

turned back, deluded or delayed.

I will not flinch in the face of sacrifice,

hesitate in the presence of the adversary,

negotiate at the table of the enemy,

ponder at the pool of popularity,

or meander in the maze of mediocrity.

I won’t give up, shut up, let up, until I have stayed up, stored up,

prayed up, paid up, preached up for the cause of Christ.

I am a disciple of Jesus.

I must go til He comes, give til I drop,

preach til all know, and work til He stops me.

And when He comes for His own,

He will have no problem recognizing me – my banner will be clear!

A fellow can observe a lot by just watch’in.

Amen.