[Propertalk] 1st December - World AIDS Day

[robertpmorrison at charter.net]

We (Episcopalians in Albany, Oregon) are holding three joint services 
with ELCA congregations in the city during Advent. The first is at the 
Episcopal Shop, and follows a soup supper. Wednesday is also World AIDS 
Day.

Here's a work-in-progress up to delivery for the homily.

Bob

THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH OF ST. ALBAN, ALBANY  		             1st WEDNESDAY 
IN ADVENT
JOEL 2:21-27						         						 1st DECEMBER, 2010
REVELATION 21:1-7     					         				       WORLD AIDS DAY
LUKE 17:11-19       							        				 PSALM 13

	I’d hoped that the incident at Linn-Benton about a month ago was an 
aberration, a one-time-occurrence, as hateful as it was.

	You may remember that a documentary was being shown on campus – a 
documentary whose producers and directors were present to talk about why 
they made the film about their experience in Pennsylvania when the local 
newspaper carried a notice of the blessing of their relationship. All of 
a sudden, the two men were deluged with hate mail, and threats, and all 
sorts of comments. They couldn’t understand why the notice in the paper 
would have changed their relationship with the community.

	So the documentary they produced is being taken around the country, and 
screened with time for discussion and questions afterwards.

	While this was happening at LBCC, someone, or some group, papered cars 
throughout the parking lots and put up posters on the campus notice 
boards, with such comments that this is now an FBI, hate-crime 
investigation.

	As I said, I’d hoped that this was a one-time incident, as depressing 
as it is.

	But then there was another incident, not ten miles from here.

	“Someone set fire to an Islamic center (in Corvallis) on Sunday, two 
days after a man who worshipped there was accused of trying to blow up a 
van full of explosives during Portland's Christmas tree lighting 
ceremony. Other Muslims fear it could be the first volley of misplaced 
retribution. ….

	“U.S. Attorney Dwight Holton vowed to prosecute the case aggressively.”

	He hit the nail right on the head when he said, “‘The fact is that 
violent extremists come from all religions and no religion at all. For 
one person to blame a group, if that's what happened here, is uniquely 
anti-American and will be pursued with the full force of the Justice 
Department,’” 1

	A part of me feels really sorry for both individuals, or both groups – 
actually all three if you include the person arrested in Portland in 
connection with the attempted bombing. Part of me is really hurting that 
people can lead such incredibly dark lives that they see no other way 
than to lash out in violence of speech or of action. Even John the 
Baptist didn’t get THAT worked up – and you know what the Advent Gospel 
lessons say about him and the genteel dinner parties he held up and down 
the Jordan Valley and in Jerusalem.

	Jesus, as described in this evening’s Gospel passage, might have barked 
at the one leper, and at the disciples, and at anyone else within 
earshot, about the potential self-absorption and feeling that it was 
only their right that Jesus should have healed the other nine, and that 
there was no need whatsoever to go back and mutter, “Thanks.”.

	But Jesus, it seems, simply shook His head in amazement that only the 
illegal should have come back in tears of joy and thankfulness for being 
counted worthy to be accepted by Jesus and given full rights of 
citizenship in God’s realm.

	THAT’S EXACTLY what we’re about this evening, and what we should be 
about every day of our lives, no matter in which building we’re present. 
We’re a people who’re learning to live in hope; a people trying to 
develop an understanding of just who this God is who cares enough to 
announce that the Son of God will be present with us – with you, and 
you, and you - AND with me – no matter who we are, no matter how we’re 
dressed, and whether we’re living and acting out with ADD and any number 
of other so-called disorders.

	It simply doesn’t matter WHO we are – Jesus is coming for every single 
one of us, to give us hope, to bring us peace, to come, as the Christmas 
hymn puts it, quoting Malachi, 2 to come with healing in His wings, to 
renew and revitalize everyone on earth, without exception.

	THAT’S why we can name World AIDS Day observances “celebrations” – NOT 
because the disease will be gone by tomorrow morning. But because last 
week the headlines announced that an-already-tested-and-marketed pill is 
a sign-in-the-works of the wonderful hope that the syndrome CAN and WILL 
be arrested.

	Advent IS a time of hope. If there weren’t hope, if we didn’t think 
that something might come out of this, anything, but preferably 
something better, something positive, something useful – if we didn’t 
think that something of hope might come out of this season, we’d have 
been out of here long ago. No kidding! But God IS good – ALL THE TIME!

	Advent is a SEASON, a way of LIFE of hope. It’s a time for waiting for 
the fulfillment of what God had whispered long, long ago.

	This is a time of hope, not just of something philosophical, but of 
immense practicality. For starters, babies compel us to think in 
practicalities! God wants to use these days in which we’re engaged right 
now as a means to help us live out the words of the prophet Joel. Not 
just human beings, not just animals, not just grapes, not just grain – 
even the very grass is called to rejoice and be glad because God is 
working God’s purpose out in ways we can’t begin to understand. And even 
as you and I live with pains, and anxieties, and complexes, and 
syndromes and burdens of every imaginable sort – even as we struggle, 
we’re reminded that God bolsters our every moment with hope. And God 
calls us to be incredibly uncareful in spreading this word of hope 
around.

	If the individual or group at Linn-Benton; if the individual who went 
to Portland on the day after Thanksgiving – what a day! if the 
individual or group who went to the Muslim Holy Place in Corvallis can 
only be reached with this word of hope – then there’s every chance that 
fear, and distrust, and hatred, and anger can be dissolved and resolved.

	For this to happen, though, God’s agents will have to be present, to 
make everyone welcome, to listen silently and compassionately  to 
everyone, as each becomes willing and able to ask questions and to name 
what’s troubling her or him. And the last time I checked, God’s agents 
are you and me.

	To use the expression being shared right now, especially shared with 
youth who’re tempted to give in to despair, Advent is a time for 
acknowledging to the whole world, “It gets better!”

	If WE don’t believe this; if WE won’t take this word around; then the 
fires of torment may continue to burn. And we don’t want that. GOD 
doesn’t want that. And THAT’S what it means to live as a person of 
Advent!

	So come – come to the Altar to be fed in body, mind and spirit. Come 
also, if you will, to seek healing. Come, whoever you are, to find in 
Bread, and Wine, and Oil and Words the signs of God’s Love.

	Jude Simpson, a young British poet wrote:
  “If you’re cracked, if you’re splintered,
if your Winter is just too long,
if this Winter is just too long,
(but the thought of Spring is terrifying,)
then come.” 3

Just come!
Jesus did!
And He waits now …..

NOTES

1 	“Ore. fire raises Muslims' fears of attack backlash” By JONATHAN 
COOPER and NIGEL DUARA Associated Press The Associated Press Sunday, 
November 28, 2010 5:14 PM EST
 
http://www.charter.net/news/read.php?rip_id=%3CD9JPD8K80%40news.ap.org%3E&ps=1018
2	Malachi 4:2
3	“Broken Open” by Jude Simpson at  www.gadgetvicar.org.uk/poetry/	see 
also   www.judesimpson.co.uk

Robert P Morrison
Interim Vicar
The Episcopal Church of St Alban
PO Box 1556
Albany OR  97321   541-921-1076 (cell)
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