13 Pentecost 2007 Zion, Washington

One of the things that never fails to catch me up short is the hubris, the unchecked pride, of religious Christian people who presume to have the inside track to heaven. It usually comes out in a defiant cock-sure rant on how they are right and the rest of the world, including all of the other Christians, is wrong and therefore going to hell. The Roman Catholic Church recently reiterated that position and individual ministers across this nation regularly preach that Gospel of Bad News.

It's bad enough to be confronted with that sort of faithless certainty on its own, but the added insult is the passionate arrogance with which that hubris is dished out. A friend of mine was telling me about visiting one of the local Baptist churches here in Washington, on a weekday, just to see the place and perhaps meet the minister; and was amazed and appalled at how quickly the minister launched into a stunningly vitriolic rant against one of the other Baptist churches in town and against that church's minister. My friend was struck by how important it was for that minister to condemn the other minister, even to a total stranger. Wisely, my friend said that something felt very wrong about the whole situation.

All of the readings for today address the hopeless situation of the religious arrogant; especially those in power (in the case of Isaiah) and those who presume to have a reserved seat at the heavenly banquet (according to Jesus). It is precisely because of readings like these that the Episcopal Church is quick to say that the Episcopal Church is not the only Church, the Episcopal Church is simply the only Church for us. And not everyone is called by God to worship and serve God in the Episcopal Church. Some people are called to be Roman Catholics and some are called to Baptists and the list goes on and on; and we know that only God will determine who gets into that heavenly banquet, since even Jesus says that people will come "from east and west and from north and south and sit at table in the kingdom of God".

Please notice that Jesus did not even say "Jews" or "Christians" would come from east and west, and from north and south. Literally, only God knows who will be "at table in the kingdom of God" - and God isn't telling; and it's not for us to condemn those who differ from us, just in case we get to watch them enter by that narrow door, while we are shut out from the banquet. God calls us to a life of charity towards all people and humility regarding ourselves.

 We don't believe that anyone has to be in hell in order for us to be happy in heaven. That "narrow door", about which Jesus speaks, could mean all sorts of things. Certainly, it doesn't mean that just because we ate and drank with Jesus, even at the altar of God, are we guaranteed anything at all for eternity. Certainly, it doesn't mean that just because we heard the teachings of Jesus with our own ears, that we are guaranteed anything at all for eternity. God requires our Faith, not our Certainty. God requires Justice and Righteousness, and Charity and Humility.

Isaiah pointed out that, even though the rulers of Jerusalem had entertained the illusion that they had made a covenant with death and that, therefore, they could do what they wanted - with whomever they wanted - whenever they wanted, without any possibility of punishment from God; that God would annul their covenant with death and that their agreement with Sheol would not stand, and that they would be beaten down for their unrighteousness and for the injustices with which they had inflicted the people over whom they ruled. From those to whom much is given, much is expected.

One of the things that I profoundly admire about Fort Worth, Texas, is that the wealthy and powerful people of that fair city have a strong sense of noblesse oblige and regularly and frequently do gigantically generous things for the citizens of Fort Worth who are at the other end of the economic continuum: there are free days at the city zoo and museums, the parks are kept clean and inviting - in every part of town, and the biggest galas on the social calendar raise money for fine arts for all people in Fort Worth and raise money for the local Children's Hospital.

At Mayfest, along the Trinity River, the Fort Worth Symphony plays at one end, while country and western singing and dancing is going on at the other end, and the children's activities are in the middle. Everyone mixs with everyone else. And there has been a tradition that the last evening of Mayfest ended with the symphony orchestra playing "The 1812 Overture", along with real cannons and tons of fireworks. Expensive, and also magnetic for the whole population of Fort Worth.

I don't always see that sort of commitment by the leaders of a community to the general population of that community. I've lived in more than one place where the privileged are pleased to move within their own circles and let the rest of the community fend for themselves. It's the sort of behavior that brought about the downfall of the French and Russian monarchies. It's the sort of behavior that catches people by surprise when they discover that the world is moving on and leaving them behind.

This is Isaiah the prophet speaking in our own day. From those to whom much is given, much is expected; and that expectation, from God, takes the form of commitments, not just writing out a check and maintaining a safe distance from the action; nor is it a committed intention without committed action; the road to hell being paved with good intentions.

But, of course, all of this is simply an expansion on the implications of the Summary of the Law. Isaiah is prophetically indignant at the absence of "love for their neighbors" that the rulers of Jerusalem had for their people.

Jesus is cold and detached from the people who presumed intimacy with God, but who were also "workers of iniquity". I once knew a man whose bank had the highest foreclosure rate in the State of Oklahoma, more than a few of which were carefully engineered, and yet, every Sunday, he was always on the front pew of the church he'd built for one of his sons. But he never heard nor grasped that "intimacy with God" and "working iniquity" are incompatible.

So, as often is the case in the Sunday readings, the subtle, elegant, wise teaching is found in the Second Reading; in this case, from the Letter to the Hebrews. Listen to the strength and the beauty of this reading:

 "You have not come to what may be touched, but you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable angels in festal gathering and to the assembly of the first-born who are enrolled in heaven, and to a judge who is God of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect, and to Jesus... Therefore let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and thus let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe; for our God is a consuming fire."

The phrase "reverence and awe" sticks out. Our only proper attitude toward Him whom we are to love with all our heart, soul, and mind, is an attitude of "reverence and awe". That's very different from an attitude of hubris and condemnation and presumption, because whenever we go to God with true "reverence and awe" we will be incapable of "working iniquity". It's just that "reverence and awe" aren't part of our normal demeanor, except before God in times of emergencies and crises.

It's an attitude toward God that we do well to cultivate all the time, every day, especially as it becomes more and more clear that our lives rest gently in God's Hands and only by God's Divine Will do we, or those whom we love, enjoy the blessings of health or wealth or happiness. It's why God, through the Church, has given us a variety of options for orderly, thoughtful, reverent approaches to God through prayer, day by day.

It's just that, although they are there is no guarantee that we will use those options; nor that, in using those options, that our lives will actually be transformed for the better. (But that's the sermon at the end of October, when the Gospel reading is the parable of the Pharisee and the Publican.) There's a lot of good to be said about the reverence and awe that is so characteristic of acceptable worship offered to God. There's a lot of good to be said about "the beauty of holiness" that we enter into as we offer acceptable worship to God. And there's a lot of good to be said about the transforming power of our faith in God that actually prevents us from "working iniquity" on anyone whomsoever.

Like a Great Buffet, God has spread all of these good things in front of us for our own benefit and welfare, and invites us to partake of the true riches of creation. But we are prone to be distracted by other things, by other people, by other causes and projects; and fail to do much more than only nibble the Bread of Heaven and sip at the Cup of Salvation. But there's always that Fisherman's Prayer that goes something like, "Dear God, I'm going to be busy today on these vast and great waters. Even if I should forget You, please don't forget me. Amen."

The Psalmist put it another way, "The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our stronghold."

The heart of the Good News of holy Christianity is this: "God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore, we will not fear, though the earth be moved, and though the mountains be toppled into the depths of the sea; though its waters rage and foam, and though the mountains tremble at its tumult. The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our stronghold."

Our task is to cultivate a continuous attitude of "reverence and awe" for God and an attitude of "justice and righteousness" toward one another. In these ways, we find some of the myriad of applications of Jesus' Summary of the Law and the Prophets that we are so quick to say and, because of our sins, so slow to do.

God grant us the power to do the good that has been given to us to do, to the glory of God and for the common good.