[Propertalk] Proper 5 b

[robertpmorrison at charter.net]

Here's my draft for Sunday.

I hope you have a great celebration!

Bob

THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH OF ST. ALBAN, ALBANY                           THE 
SECOND SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST
1 SAMUEL 8:4-20, 11:14-15                           	    	                	 
PROPER 5 B RCL
2 CORINTHIANS 4:13 – 5:1		                                                	               	 
10th JUNE, 2012
MARK 3:20-35         					 
PSALM 138

	“Victory is mine!” began an article about newly elected bishops I 
received last Monday. “Then (it suggested I) [stand for a full 
30-seconds with arms raised in the classic Richard Nixon double V pose 
while soaking in all the applause.] And you, good people of the Diocese 
of XXX are obviously smarter than the Episcopalians in (name the five 
dioceses in which you lost elections).

	“Thank you for finally getting me out of St. Thomas-by-the-Turnpike and 
away from all those annoying parishioners who kept showing up week after 
week and telling me all about their “problems” at coffee hour. It’s been 
a long-time coming. And my wife and I are psyched that my current salary 
will now be doubled. Show me the money! And by the way here are some 
plans we had drawn up to redo the kitchen in the bishop’s residence 
[hand them to the diocesan treasurer].

	“To my fellow candidates: in an election, there can only be one winner. 
Thus, God thinks you’re a loser. As does this entire diocese. But take 
it from me — there will be other elections and other chances to join ME 
in the House of Bishops. Until then please know that I won’t return your 
phone calls and, in fact, I’ve already forgotten all of your names.” 1

	That was actually a spoof written by someone who felt that newly 
elected bishops said or wrote too much of the same thing on hearing of 
the results of the Diocese’s search process decision. Think about it, 
though, and you may find more than a grain of truth, not just for 
prospective bishops, but people in many vocations. Whom do we want to 
lead us? And why?

	I have several friends who quietly or not so quietly are talking about 
how it might be less stressful to have a constitutional monarchy in the 
U.S. as we ooze towards November.

	Leaders, and their appointment or election, can produce so much 
tension, and there’s seldom any guarantee that things will work out – if 
they ever do.

	You may be able to imagine what was running through Samuel’s mind at 
the time described in our first reading. First, his family was 
crumbling. His sons, on whom he’d probably pinned so much hope, his sons 
were incapable of assuming the role. Their behaviour was such that folk 
came to the prophet and said, to his face, “We can’t go on like this. We 
need someone else. We need a king.”

	How little things change! Samuel’s family life was so dysfunctional – 
possibly not completely the old man’s fault, but he would have had to 
have accepted at least some responsibility. The problem was probably the 
same as today’s – Samuel was in control, but, for whatever reason, his 
sons were OUT of control, which, in turn, makes Samuel’s ministry less 
than effectual.

A glance at just one newspaper story last week showed much the same 
happening today. Hamid Karzai likely won’t be President of Afghanistan 
for much longer. He has many brothers and business partners. All of them 
are in the business of hanging on to control and power as tightly as 
they possibly can. There’s talk that one of the other brothers may run 
for the office of the Presidency when Hamid steps down. Meanwhile, the 
family are quarreling openly as well as under-handedly to hang on to 
vast bank accounts, and huge development complexes, and foreign 
investments – and who knows how they’re involved in the tremendous 
mineral resources recently brought to light. 2

Sound familiar? It’s been repeated through history from the time Cain 
and Abel fought over who had the better job and could get the parental 
blessing. It happens in congregations too – THAT shouldn’t be a 
surprise. A play on that famous quote and a vodka commercial might well 
run “Absolut power corrupts Absolut-ly”!

	Now SOMEone has to be in charge, no doubt about that. And I’m not 
saying that Samuel was a peach of a prophet, all the time at any rate. I 
know that even Jesus ran into trouble. Who are My sisters and brothers, 
indeed! The biological ones probably wanted to keep for themselves what 
prestige and marketability they saw in being related Jesus, so they 
didn’t want Jesus making a fool of Himself and dragging the family name 
into disrepute. When He DID yank people’s chains, however, He would have 
been the last person they’d have acknowledged. They distanced themselves 
from Him as much as they possibly could. Leadership, power, control over 
others, and the inevitable money and property, and an 
often-misplaced-sense of respectability, they have such in incredible 
hold on our lives. And that’s precisely the
problem the readings address today.
	
	Nothing wrong with having a monarch, per se. However, the reason the 
people gave Samuel for it shows a lack of understanding of who they 
were. They said, quite bluntly, “ ... we are determined to have a king 
over us, so that we may be like other nations”.

	The whole point of Israel being Israel was that they were to be 
different, a special people, called by God to set the standard, to show 
what can be possible when you live with God and follow God’s guidance. 
There were no claims made by God as to how the people would be 
protected. God was looking for people who’d take a strong sense of 
purpose and mould it into such a pattern of behaviour that other nations 
would actually turn to look at them.

	Samuel, had, I’m sure, talked till he was blue in the face, but the 
problem didn’t seem to lie there. Even his sons were adults by this 
time. They, like the nation, had their own decisions to make, difficult 
decisions, decisions that might or might not be costly, but decisions 
nevertheless which would show how closely they aligned themselves with 
God.

	As the climax of the wonderful celebrations for the British Queen’s 
Diamond Jubilee celebrations last weekend, there was a service at 
Westminster Abbey at which the Archbishop of Canterbury preached. One of 
the more conservative newspapers took the Archbishop to task for talking 
about social issues, real-life issues. He pointed out that Queen 
Elizabeth never shirked responsibilities in terms of her public office, 
even when it was costly. Then he made a rather apropos point.

	He said, “Moralists (archbishops included) can thunder away as much as 
they like; but they'll make no difference unless and until people see 
that there is something transforming and exhilarating about the prospect 
of a whole community rejoicing together - being glad of each other's 
happiness and safety.

	“This alone is what will save us from the traps of ludicrous financial 
greed, of environmental recklessness, of collective fear of strangers 
and collective contempt for the unsuccessful and marginal - and many 
more things that we see far too much of, around us and within us.

	“One crucial aspect of discovering such a vision - and many still do 
discover it in their service of others, despite everything - is to have 
the stories and examples available that show it's possible.

	“Thank God, there are many wonderful instances lived out unobtrusively 
throughout the country and the Commonwealth. But we are marking today 
the anniversary of one historic and very public act of dedication - a 
dedication that has endured faithfully, calmly and generously through 
most of the adult lives of most of us here.

	“We are marking six decades of living proof that public service is 
possible and that it is a place where happiness can be found. To seek 
one's own good and one's own well-being in the health of the community 
is sacrificially hard work - but it is this search that is truly natural 
to the human heart.

	“That's why it is not a matter of tight-lipped duty or grudging 
compliance with someone else's demands. Jesus himself says, ‘My food is 
to do the will of him who sent me’, and that's what is at the heart of 
real dedication.” 3

	If we seek leaders, and if we do it in order to be just like, or one 
better than our neighbours, we’re bound to fail. If we, at any point in 
our lives, on any issue – choosing a congregation with which to 
affiliate, choosing stores to patronise, choosing a candidate at an 
election – if at any point in our lives we fail to see that God isn’t 
here to make sure that we’re comfortable, we court trouble. God’s point 
in calling us here, to be members of the family, to be brothers and 
sisters to one another, is not to make sure that we agree with one 
another, but to make sure that everyone is afforded respect, and 
dignity, and compassion. God’s point – said with such a sigh by Jesus – 
is that our sisters and our brothers are all around us, peering in our 
windows, waiting on our streets, looking for a response from us that 
isn’t guided by how good it will look on our resumés, or whether the 
Chamber of Commerce will give us a good citizenship award, or whether 
it’ll tick off or please the bishop.

	Who are our sisters and brothers? What’s happening to them? Jesus’ 
response was that there’s no limit to those who need our immediate and 
compassionate attention. I guess that’s one reason I’m so saddened by 
the way in which the Roman Catholic Curia has responded to the Women 
Religious in this country, and their sisters around the world. The first 
commandment, including loving God, is to love in a practical way. No 
matter what the cost, it means making sure that no one is left out, that 
people’s social and physical needs are met as well as their spiritual 
ones. There’s no denying that we all need spiritual care; but there’s no 
denying that we need care that addresses the needs of our bodies and 
minds also.

	I find it really interesting in light of Rome’s crackdown on the 
Sisters’ ministry, to read that a “(Roman) Catholic bishop told 
President Obama in a meeting … religious leaders had with him in the 
White House last year as the August debt crisis deal was being decided: 
“‘Mr. President, our scriptural mandate from Jesus does not say “As you 
have done to the middle class, you have done to me.” It rather says, “As 
you have done to the least of these, you have done to me.”’” 4

	We’re still struggling with trying to define to whom we look for 
leadership and why. We’re still struggling with trying to define who are 
our sisters and brothers. It’s a heck of a job. But Jesus and Samuel 
both invite us to look for those whom everyone else ignores, or 
belittles, or attacks; to set aside any thoughts we might have about 
power and control; to “think those things that are right, and by (God’s) 
merciful guiding ... do them; through Jesus Christ our Lord,” 5 for our 
own sakes as well as the sake of all of our sisters, and brothers, and 
mothers.

NOTES:

1 	The Rev. Tim Schenck, the rector of the Episcopal Parish of St. John 
the Evangelist in Hingham, MA 
http://www.teutopolispress.com/community/blogs/frtim/x1982680424/Victory-Speech-Bishop-s-Edition

2	“Intrigue in Karzai Family as an Afghan Era Closes by James Risen” 
3rd June, 2012 © - The New York Times 
http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=afhagni%20president's%20family%20power%20control&source=web&cd=1&sqi=2&ved=0CFkQFjAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.nytimes.com%2F2012%2F06%2F04%2Fworld%2Fasia%2Fkarzai-family-moves-to-protect-its-privilege.html&ei=d9_QT6z0JKH56QG8tch7&usg=AFQjCNEIsFNFV8P_sOY7SHrH19_navZkPg

3	HM Queen Elizabeth’s Diamond Jubilee Celebratory Service sermon by 
Rowan Williams, Archbishop of Canterbury 
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2154808/Archbishop-Canterbury-hijacks-Diamond-Jubilee-Thanksgiving-sermon-preach-City-greed-environmental-issues.html#ixzz1x2UGEKpX

4	“The Missing Religious Principle in Our Budget Debates” by Jim Wallis. 
Sojourners 7th June, 2012 
http://sojo.net/blogs/2012/06/06/missing-religious-principle-our-budget-debates

5	Collect for Proper 5 b, Book of Common Prayer, page 229.



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