| To contact us: Calvary Episcopal Church 667 Mount Road Aston, PA 19014 610-459-2013 OFFICE mail@calvaryepiscopalrockdale.org |
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| SERMON 15 Pentecost - Proper 16 August 24, 2008 The Rev. Kristine Hill |
| 667 Mount Road, Aston, PA 19014 610-459-2013 |
| Small Parish - Big Heart The little church you've been looking for! All are welcome! |
| Our Mission: To worship the Lord To serve the community To grow the church |
Keys (holding some up)… are significant. They represent much more than
what they merely have the ability to do -- unlock a door, start an engine. A
set of keys can bestow a rite of passage; they can transmit great
responsibility or signify the changing of the guard. You -- parents out there --
think of the first time you tossed the car-keys to your eldest child after he or
she passed the driving test. That was probably a scary moment. There’s power
in that exchange, from parent to son or daughter, handing off the keys to the
family car so your child can go for a solo drive. Or when the day comes
that you finally retire, or maybe just leave a certain job, making the decision
and announcing it are only steps along the way. Nothing seems final until you
hand-in the keys to your office; only then does your leaving feel official.
Giving someone “the keys…” is no small thing; if our lives were a movie, this
scene would be accompanied by a great hush and a weighty pause in-the-
action to mark the gravity of the occasion.
There are no such theatrics, however, in today’s Gospel reading. It seem as
though nobody who is with Jesus in today’s story-from-Matthew is aware such
“keys” exist until, suddenly, Jesus gives them to Peter. This is all a surprise,
and there’s not much explanation of what these keys are, how they function,
when and in what manner they should be used, whether there’s a rule-book
we might follow…? With keys as important as these you’d think we might get
a bit more instruction on how to use them properly and not mess things up.
Because the “keys to the kingdom of heaven” come from Peter to the whole
Church. They’re in our hands, now. / Before you get keys to a car, you learn
to drive; before anyone gives you the keys to an office you demonstrate that
you’re able to perform the job. These keys are far more important that car
keys or office keys. Does Jesus really know what he’s doing, giving them to
Peter? to us?
Back maybe 4 months ago I switched purses to use a smaller, cloth purse
that I have. About a week later, I lost my car keys. I could not find them
anywhere. My apartment is not big and I searched it from top to bottom
several times over. Finally I called my husband – who is still living in our
home in Hickory, North Carolina – and told him of my dilemma. He put his set
of keys to my car in the overnight mail. Of course, this took place on a
Friday evening, so his set of keys did not reach me until Monday at noon. I
was very troubled by losing my keys. I couldn’t imagine where they had gone.
Sunday evening I picked up that cloth purse – which I had emptied several
times – and my hand automatically went into a little pocket I had forgotten
about inside the purse. There were my car keys. I felt so stupid. // That’s the
thing about us human beings -- even when we don’t mean to do harm, we are
careless or forgetful. Our minds get distracted by other things, sometimes we
have a bad day or a headache, and we snap at somebody… and yet, Jesus
has placed the keys to the kingdom in our hands.
In the history of the church we have misunderstood the significance of these
keys in both directions. On the one hand the church has taken too much
authority from Jesus words, and thought it had license to determine who was
and who was not worthy of God’s forgiveness for all eternity. During those
times the church condemned people for transgressing its rules or for living
outside its structure. That was an instance of over-reaching our authority, of
assuming too much power for ourselves in Jesus’ name. At other times,
however, the church has not under-estimated its authority as one with the
“keys to the kingdom of heaven.” Instead we think of ourselves a nice place
to worship God, to gather for fellowship, to engage with others in helpful
projects for humanity, but we utterly overlook the power Christ has placed in
our hands, power to wound and power to heal.
“Whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven and whatever you loose
on earth will be loosed in heaven.” We needn’t take those words literally, in
the sense that you and I decide who receives God’s final mercy and who
does not. Certainly that decision is not ours. But regarding the effect that our
words, our actions can have for “binding” people here on earth - because we
are “church” - binding people so that they feel as though God has rejected
them in heaven… in that respect, we want to hear Jesus’ words clearly and
consider them carefully. People do not always distinguish between what we
say and do-in-relation-to-them and what God has to say about them.
The congregation accepted Anna-Mae, but they also knew she drank too much
and that when she’d been drinking she did not communicate well. / The day
she searched out Father Scott for some counseling was during a very
stressful time at the church. Father Scott was overloaded with work. Anna-Mae
had been drinking and Father Scott was late leaving for a meeting. She began
talking about her situation, but nothing she said made any sense. The Father
really needed to get going so as he asked her to try once more to tell him
clearly what she needed, but his words came out more sharply than he
intended. Anna-Mae was stunned. Because he was her priest and they were in
the church, she was hurt far beyond what she would have been had her next-
door neighbor said the same thing. It was a long time before Anna-Mae came
back to church; Father Scott and a few members had to work to heal that
wound.
In the church we can bind people with misspoken words, with unkind
gestures, or with perceived slights - some that were never intended and some
that happen because we are human. But regardless, we are the Church; we
represent Jesus; people come here to encounter God. We sometimes forget
that, as “church,” we have great power, great responsibility. Like the time Dr.
Young, an African-American Lutheran pastor and scholar, spoke at a Lutheran
convention in Minnesota. Afterwards he squeezed onto a crowded elevator
with others from the meeting. Traditionally, if you don’t know, Lutheran
heritage is German and Scandinavian… so on the elevator people were
thanking Dr. Young for his inspiring talk, commenting on it’s faithfulness to
Martin Luther’s teachings, when one woman joked “now if you just learn to
like Swedish meatballs you’ll be a real Lutheran.” There they were, stuffed
into this elevator, his the only black face among a sea of white faces and her
joke implied that for him to be truly Lutheran he had to become Scandinavian.
She hadn’t meant to single him out or to make him feel uncomfortable or to
insult his heritage; she was just trying to be funny.
As the Church we have much more power than we realize -- in our gestures,
in our words, in the way we witness or fail to witness to the love of God in
Jesus Christ. We make blunders without ever meaning to, causing harm to
people that it’s difficult to repair. So part of what we hear in Jesus’ words to
Peter today is a warning… “I give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven,
and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven…” We represent
God, more than we might understand, even in this very secular age, and our
words, our attitudes, our actions can inflict wounds that will be a long time in
healing. We need to take care with what we say and how we say it; with how
we interact with the world.
But that’s not all… we also have incredible power to bless. This is a pretty
secular age and many people don’t notice the church, don’t put credence in
what we hold dear, in the truths that guide our lives. By giving us the keys
to the kingdom, Jesus has left with us the awesome responsibility of
unwrapping our treasures before others and showing them what we have --
these things that are so precious to us… liturgy, ancient prayers, hymns, Bible
stories, relationships built on mutual faith, turning to God in the full knowledge
that we ourselves are not sufficient but that God gives us all we need…
priceless treasures. Jesus has left us the “keys to the kingdom of heaven”
so that we can share the gift of life in Christ with other people.
A story on the radio told about a priest who had recently begun to serve at
an inner-city church. Several tough, neighborhood youths had been breaking
into the church and vandalizing things -- spraying paint on the pulpit and
lectern, pulling off the altar linens and leaving them in a heap, throwing
hymnals around the room – writing in some of them, smashing altar candles.
The priest got angry. He caught one of the boys and called police. As things
worked out, the priest developed a tenuous relationship with this boy, then a
couple of the others. Their punishment was to clean up the damage they had
caused and to do community service for that church. The father wasn’t sure
where to start so he took the boys into the nave and began to explain to
them each of the things they had ruined and its importance. When they didn’t
quite understand, they might ask a question. He supervised them as they
cleaned, telling them the significance of the processional cross they were
polishing, and the torches, and the altar Bible lying there. Eventually he
showed the boys how to carry those things in procession, demanding that
they do so with reverence and dignity, practicing again and again until they
got it right. He explained Holy Eucharist and taught them to handle the
communion ware with respect. Things went on like this for months until, one
day, some of the boys joined the church. They became acolytes and then
servers at communion. In the midst of what was intended to be punishment,
the priest opened the treasures of the church to these boys, shared with them
the mysteries of faith, and God revealed his Son to them. It changed their lives.
“…whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven,” Jesus said. We
have wonders to share with other people, our tradition, our worship, the “keys
to the kingdom.” - Just as we have been hungry for the presence of God, for
the assurance of God’s love and the support of a strong faith, so are others
hungry for what we have received through Jesus Christ. We have these to
share because God has richly blessed us. Someone brought us into God’s
house, helped us learn the liturgy, encouraged us to sing the hymns, taught
us the stories of God and God’s people in scripture. We are able to rejoice in
because someone told us about Jesus, and God revealed to us the truth --
that Jesus is our Savior, God’s own Son. We rejoice today because Jesus’
love and lordship is revealed to us again in every song we sing; his presence
is here in our gathering with friends in the faith; his mercy heals us when we
eat at his table. What a treasure God has placed in our hands; may God
help us share the gift-of-life-in-Christ with others, so that they, too, will know
the joy of the kingdom of heaven. amen.
what they merely have the ability to do -- unlock a door, start an engine. A
set of keys can bestow a rite of passage; they can transmit great
responsibility or signify the changing of the guard. You -- parents out there --
think of the first time you tossed the car-keys to your eldest child after he or
she passed the driving test. That was probably a scary moment. There’s power
in that exchange, from parent to son or daughter, handing off the keys to the
family car so your child can go for a solo drive. Or when the day comes
that you finally retire, or maybe just leave a certain job, making the decision
and announcing it are only steps along the way. Nothing seems final until you
hand-in the keys to your office; only then does your leaving feel official.
Giving someone “the keys…” is no small thing; if our lives were a movie, this
scene would be accompanied by a great hush and a weighty pause in-the-
action to mark the gravity of the occasion.
There are no such theatrics, however, in today’s Gospel reading. It seem as
though nobody who is with Jesus in today’s story-from-Matthew is aware such
“keys” exist until, suddenly, Jesus gives them to Peter. This is all a surprise,
and there’s not much explanation of what these keys are, how they function,
when and in what manner they should be used, whether there’s a rule-book
we might follow…? With keys as important as these you’d think we might get
a bit more instruction on how to use them properly and not mess things up.
Because the “keys to the kingdom of heaven” come from Peter to the whole
Church. They’re in our hands, now. / Before you get keys to a car, you learn
to drive; before anyone gives you the keys to an office you demonstrate that
you’re able to perform the job. These keys are far more important that car
keys or office keys. Does Jesus really know what he’s doing, giving them to
Peter? to us?
Back maybe 4 months ago I switched purses to use a smaller, cloth purse
that I have. About a week later, I lost my car keys. I could not find them
anywhere. My apartment is not big and I searched it from top to bottom
several times over. Finally I called my husband – who is still living in our
home in Hickory, North Carolina – and told him of my dilemma. He put his set
of keys to my car in the overnight mail. Of course, this took place on a
Friday evening, so his set of keys did not reach me until Monday at noon. I
was very troubled by losing my keys. I couldn’t imagine where they had gone.
Sunday evening I picked up that cloth purse – which I had emptied several
times – and my hand automatically went into a little pocket I had forgotten
about inside the purse. There were my car keys. I felt so stupid. // That’s the
thing about us human beings -- even when we don’t mean to do harm, we are
careless or forgetful. Our minds get distracted by other things, sometimes we
have a bad day or a headache, and we snap at somebody… and yet, Jesus
has placed the keys to the kingdom in our hands.
In the history of the church we have misunderstood the significance of these
keys in both directions. On the one hand the church has taken too much
authority from Jesus words, and thought it had license to determine who was
and who was not worthy of God’s forgiveness for all eternity. During those
times the church condemned people for transgressing its rules or for living
outside its structure. That was an instance of over-reaching our authority, of
assuming too much power for ourselves in Jesus’ name. At other times,
however, the church has not under-estimated its authority as one with the
“keys to the kingdom of heaven.” Instead we think of ourselves a nice place
to worship God, to gather for fellowship, to engage with others in helpful
projects for humanity, but we utterly overlook the power Christ has placed in
our hands, power to wound and power to heal.
“Whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven and whatever you loose
on earth will be loosed in heaven.” We needn’t take those words literally, in
the sense that you and I decide who receives God’s final mercy and who
does not. Certainly that decision is not ours. But regarding the effect that our
words, our actions can have for “binding” people here on earth - because we
are “church” - binding people so that they feel as though God has rejected
them in heaven… in that respect, we want to hear Jesus’ words clearly and
consider them carefully. People do not always distinguish between what we
say and do-in-relation-to-them and what God has to say about them.
The congregation accepted Anna-Mae, but they also knew she drank too much
and that when she’d been drinking she did not communicate well. / The day
she searched out Father Scott for some counseling was during a very
stressful time at the church. Father Scott was overloaded with work. Anna-Mae
had been drinking and Father Scott was late leaving for a meeting. She began
talking about her situation, but nothing she said made any sense. The Father
really needed to get going so as he asked her to try once more to tell him
clearly what she needed, but his words came out more sharply than he
intended. Anna-Mae was stunned. Because he was her priest and they were in
the church, she was hurt far beyond what she would have been had her next-
door neighbor said the same thing. It was a long time before Anna-Mae came
back to church; Father Scott and a few members had to work to heal that
wound.
In the church we can bind people with misspoken words, with unkind
gestures, or with perceived slights - some that were never intended and some
that happen because we are human. But regardless, we are the Church; we
represent Jesus; people come here to encounter God. We sometimes forget
that, as “church,” we have great power, great responsibility. Like the time Dr.
Young, an African-American Lutheran pastor and scholar, spoke at a Lutheran
convention in Minnesota. Afterwards he squeezed onto a crowded elevator
with others from the meeting. Traditionally, if you don’t know, Lutheran
heritage is German and Scandinavian… so on the elevator people were
thanking Dr. Young for his inspiring talk, commenting on it’s faithfulness to
Martin Luther’s teachings, when one woman joked “now if you just learn to
like Swedish meatballs you’ll be a real Lutheran.” There they were, stuffed
into this elevator, his the only black face among a sea of white faces and her
joke implied that for him to be truly Lutheran he had to become Scandinavian.
She hadn’t meant to single him out or to make him feel uncomfortable or to
insult his heritage; she was just trying to be funny.
As the Church we have much more power than we realize -- in our gestures,
in our words, in the way we witness or fail to witness to the love of God in
Jesus Christ. We make blunders without ever meaning to, causing harm to
people that it’s difficult to repair. So part of what we hear in Jesus’ words to
Peter today is a warning… “I give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven,
and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven…” We represent
God, more than we might understand, even in this very secular age, and our
words, our attitudes, our actions can inflict wounds that will be a long time in
healing. We need to take care with what we say and how we say it; with how
we interact with the world.
But that’s not all… we also have incredible power to bless. This is a pretty
secular age and many people don’t notice the church, don’t put credence in
what we hold dear, in the truths that guide our lives. By giving us the keys
to the kingdom, Jesus has left with us the awesome responsibility of
unwrapping our treasures before others and showing them what we have --
these things that are so precious to us… liturgy, ancient prayers, hymns, Bible
stories, relationships built on mutual faith, turning to God in the full knowledge
that we ourselves are not sufficient but that God gives us all we need…
priceless treasures. Jesus has left us the “keys to the kingdom of heaven”
so that we can share the gift of life in Christ with other people.
A story on the radio told about a priest who had recently begun to serve at
an inner-city church. Several tough, neighborhood youths had been breaking
into the church and vandalizing things -- spraying paint on the pulpit and
lectern, pulling off the altar linens and leaving them in a heap, throwing
hymnals around the room – writing in some of them, smashing altar candles.
The priest got angry. He caught one of the boys and called police. As things
worked out, the priest developed a tenuous relationship with this boy, then a
couple of the others. Their punishment was to clean up the damage they had
caused and to do community service for that church. The father wasn’t sure
where to start so he took the boys into the nave and began to explain to
them each of the things they had ruined and its importance. When they didn’t
quite understand, they might ask a question. He supervised them as they
cleaned, telling them the significance of the processional cross they were
polishing, and the torches, and the altar Bible lying there. Eventually he
showed the boys how to carry those things in procession, demanding that
they do so with reverence and dignity, practicing again and again until they
got it right. He explained Holy Eucharist and taught them to handle the
communion ware with respect. Things went on like this for months until, one
day, some of the boys joined the church. They became acolytes and then
servers at communion. In the midst of what was intended to be punishment,
the priest opened the treasures of the church to these boys, shared with them
the mysteries of faith, and God revealed his Son to them. It changed their lives.
“…whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven,” Jesus said. We
have wonders to share with other people, our tradition, our worship, the “keys
to the kingdom.” - Just as we have been hungry for the presence of God, for
the assurance of God’s love and the support of a strong faith, so are others
hungry for what we have received through Jesus Christ. We have these to
share because God has richly blessed us. Someone brought us into God’s
house, helped us learn the liturgy, encouraged us to sing the hymns, taught
us the stories of God and God’s people in scripture. We are able to rejoice in
because someone told us about Jesus, and God revealed to us the truth --
that Jesus is our Savior, God’s own Son. We rejoice today because Jesus’
love and lordship is revealed to us again in every song we sing; his presence
is here in our gathering with friends in the faith; his mercy heals us when we
eat at his table. What a treasure God has placed in our hands; may God
help us share the gift-of-life-in-Christ with others, so that they, too, will know
the joy of the kingdom of heaven. amen.
| Romans 11:33-36 Matthew 16:13-20 |
