[Propertalk] 1 lent b

Sat Feb 25 00:35:13 EST 2012

	This Sunday the Director of Pastoral Counselling Center - which has 
offices in this and two nearby cities - will be speaking as part of the 
celebration of their 35 years of service, and of our being a sponsoring 
congregation of the Centre, which has qualified, certified counsellors 
who work with folk, using a sliding payment scale if needed, to ensure 
they have quality mental health treatment. That's the reference to Dr. 
Anthony Terndrup at the end.

I begin the homily - which is still up for revision - and then the 
Director of the Centre talks about the work there and gives thanks for 
the local churches' involvement.

Bob

THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH OF ST. ALBAN, ALBANY  	         		 THE FIRST SUNDAY 
IN LENT - B
GENESIS 9:8-17                          		    	                	 26nd 
FEBRUARY, 2012
1 PETER 3:18-22		                                                	 
PSALM25:1-10
MARK1:9-15

	Andy Borowitz, the satirical social commentator, wrote last week,	“As 
North Korea ramped up its threats to attack South Korea, CNN reassured 
its viewers that a nuclear war on the Korean Peninsula would have ‘no 
effect whatsoever’ on its Whitney Houston coverage.

	“‘As viewers, you have come to trust us to deliver the news whenever it 
happens, wherever it happens, as long as that news is about Whitney 
Houston,’ said Wolf Blitzer, host of the network’s ‘Situation Room’ 
program. ‘We will never do anything to break that trust.’

	“As Mr. Blitzer spoke, 23 of the Situation Room’s 24 video monitors 
featured images of Ms. Houston, with the 24th featuring an image of her 
ex, Bobby Brown.

	“The news from CNN sent a chill through the senior leadership of North 
Korea, who announced later today that it might postpone a nuclear war 
until later in the week when the Whitney Houston coverage calms down.

	“‘Good luck with that,’ Mr. Blitzer said. ‘The Oscars are this 
Sunday.’” 1

	O.K., that didn’t really happen. It was Borowitz’ wonderfully biting 
commentary on where we tend to put our values. But it COULD have 
happened. When we understand that one of Jesus’ goals was to turn 
society of His day upside down so that people might be able to examine 
where God’s love REALLY intends us to put our energy, when we see that 
in the revolutionary words of the Gospels, then not only do we come 
close to walking along with Jesus’ original twelve friends and their 
other companions, but also to finding ourselves living with God.

	What DOES it mean to live with God? It’s not an idle question.  People 
of many faiths ask it, in one way or another. It’s our goal in life. 
It’s a way of painting a rainbow over everything we are and everyplace 
we inhabit. It’s a way of saying we are “safe” people, this is a “safe” 
place. You needn’t fear anything from us or the places we inhabit. And 
if you have questions; if you have troubles; if you don’t seem to be 
able to get your mind around a particular problem ,or your heart opening 
up in compassion as you hope you might; if there’s anything in your life 
that’s not quite falling into place right now – then we offer you 
ourselves, and our chairs, and our warmth while you catch your breath 
and work on where you feel you need to be heading.

	One of the great things that’s emerged over the past several years is 
the use of a rainbow sign to emphasise that no one will be turned away 
from the place displaying it; that no one need be afraid of coming into 
such a place, no matter how people within may share different opinions.

	We’re people who live “after the flood”. We may have felt, at times, 
that we’ve come close to drowning, but, somehow, God has opened our 
imaginations and hearts to discover how to ride along on top of the 
water, rather than under it. And we’re learning how to discriminate in 
the sense that there are some things simply not worth bothering about. 
They take up too much of our time and provide hardly any benefits. 
Besides, there’s so much these days that’s far more important, that 
SHOULD get our time and energy. So, for our heath, we’re given lent – a 
time to reflect, to think over who we are and whose we are, and to think 
about how we relate to God and everyone in creation. That’s why we’re 
taken back to all those eater stories in our readings this morning. 
We’ve been saved, every last one of us. We’ve been given a wonderful 
promise that nothing will ever overwhelm us – that when things start to 
get tough, there WILL be both a person and a place to whom we may turn; 
such a person, such a place that will remind us of God’s promise of an 
everlasting covenant.

	That’s essentially what the Gospel story – a repeat of most of the one 
from back in January – that’s essentially what the Gospel verses say to 
us. Jesus entered into the cold waters of the Jordan to stand with us 
and to bring us to a place of renewal. That’s another promise for us – 
and it’s the one to which we make a commitment when we renew our 
baptismal vows. We identify with Jesus and take His life as a model for 
our own. We go with Jesus – or, rather, He goes with us as we face our 
struggles, until we hear Jesus’ request to become working disciples, 
ready to witness to how to
experience the safety and strength of God.

	Lent, then isn’t a time of giving up – either of giving up on our ever 
finding a way to be more faithful, more Jesus-like; nor is it a time in 
which we may be brought to believe that God, and God’s messengers will 
give up on us.

	Lent, as these reading this morning point out, is the opposite. It’s a 
time of admitting straight off that we’re worth every possible effort by 
God to help us get through any struggles. Through God’s grace we’re 
reminded of what water brings to us – life, hope, health, a sense of 
dignity, of self-worth. Above all, through God’s grace we’re reminded 
that we belong together as part of a family which is multi-talented and 
fully committed to love and to honour everyone.

	That’s what makes Lent so healthy. It puts the important picture up on 
life’s TV screens, if you will, and tells us that, as attractive and 
titillating as some of that other stuff may appear, it’s not worth 
spending every last minute and portion of our energy flogging ourselves 
to death over it. We’re to concentrate on the living, especially those 
who’re having any sort of a difficult time. Not that it’s wrong to give 
thanks for what’s been accomplished. But God didn’t send the rainbow 
over to Noah and say, “Here’s a bumper sticker to remind you of all of 
those drowned people and animals.” Bumper sticker it may be – and I’ve 
seen a lot less worthy of attention – but it’s a reminder that help is 
always present

	So here are three little comments on which to ponder.

	The famous Bilbo Baggins said, “It’s a dangerous business, going out 
your door. You step onto the road, and if you don't keep your feet, 
there's no telling where you might be swept off to.” 2 So we have to be 
on the lookout whenever we set out to follow Jesus – not only for 
ourselves, but perhaps more for others. We have to be the rainbow signs 
of love and of hope to a world in which there seems to be so much 
disconnectedness and worry. We have to be able to walk through 
wildernesses filled with all sorts of wild beasts, holding the hand of 
those who’re not so steady of mind and limb.

	Which brings me to this second quote. Jonathan Safran Foer is a young 
US novelist who wrote, “I hope that one day you will have the experience 
of doing something you do not understand for someone you love.” … “I 
love you also means I love you more than anyone loves you, or has loved 
you, or will love you, and also, I love you in a way that no one loves 
you, or has loved you, or will love you, and also, I love you in a way 
that I love no one else, and never have loved anyone else, and never 
will love anyone else.” 3

	That sounds just like the heavenly voice talking to Jesus at His 
baptism – the same voice that spoke and continues to speak to us at our 
own baptisms and throughout our lives today.

	We’re loved! Imagine that! Every last one of us is loved! To me this 
opens up a whole new way of looking at that last comment in the Gospel 
passage. “Repent,” it says, “and believe in the good news.” We’re too 
eager to think, “Repent” and spend the rest of the day grinding 
ourselves into the ground. But what if it means, “Stop belittling 
yourselves. Believe in the Good News that God has all the time in the 
world for you; that God loves you; and so do all of Jesus’ sisters and 
brothers. You, and you, and you, and I are SO valuable!”

Which leads to the last comment from Dom Helder Camera, the late 
Archbishop of Olinda and Recife in Brazil. He said, “To walk alone is 
possible, but the good walker knows that the trip is life and it 
requires companions.” 4

THIS is what Lent is about – learning to accept ourselves as whole 
beings, to whom God has given life, given love, given dignity; and 
learning to live as if we believed it. Beyond that, though, Lent’s 
promise has a broader purpose. We’re to get more rainbows out there for 
others to see; to recognise that we may have to be Noahs to a world 
that’s near-drowning. We’ve to reach out to pull others out of danger so 
that they too can complete the journey to Easter. And, on a practical, 
local level, that’s what Dr. Anthony Terndrup is going to talk to you 
about now.

NOTES:

1 	 “CNN Says Nuclear Attack by North Korea Would Not Affect Whitney 
Houston Coverage Wolf Blitzer Promises No Interruption”. “Borowitz 
report” by Andy Borowitz, 28th February, 2012 
http://www.borowitzreport.com/archives/

2	 Bilbo, from J.R.R. Tolkien's ”The Fellowship of the Ring”.

3	Jonathan Safran Foer, the first quote from “Extremely Loud and 
Incredibly Close” via Sojourners 2nd February, 2012. See this page of 
quotes  http://www.goodreads.com/author/quotes/2617.Jonathan_Safran_Foer 
and for a biography see 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jonathan_Safran_Foer

4	See  http://in-formatio.com/?paged=2

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