postID: 6911; title: The Sixteenth Sunday After Pentecost
groupKey: secondary
groupKey: other
The Sixteenth Sunday After Pentecost
O God, who declarest thy almighty power chiefly in showing mercy and pity: Mercifully grant unto us such a measure of thy grace, that we, running to obtain thy promises, may be made partakers of thy heavenly treasure; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen. (Proper 21)
Array
(
[date] => 2017-09-24 16:00:00
[scope] =>
[year] =>
[month] =>
[post_id] => 1386
[series_id] =>
[day_titles_only] =>
[exclusive] => 1
[return] => formatted
[formatted] =>
[show_date] =>
[show_meta] =>
[show_content] => 1
[admin] =>
[debug] => 1
[filter_types] => Array
(
[0] => primary
[1] => secondary
)
[type_labels] => Array
(
[primary] => Primary
[secondary] => Secondary
[other] => Other
)
[the_date] => 2017-09-24 16:00:00
)
2 post(s) found for dateStr : 2017-09-24postID: 230370 (Our Lady of Walsingham)
--- getDisplayDates ---
litdate post_id: 230370; date_type: fixed; year: 2017
fixed_date_str: September 24
fixed_date_str (mod): September 24 2017
formattedFixedDateStr: 2017-09-24
=> check date_assignments.
=> NO date_assignments found for postID: 230370
displayDates for postID: 230370/year: 2017
Array
(
[0] => 2017-09-24
)
postPriority: 999postID: 6911 (The Sixteenth Sunday After Pentecost)
--- getDisplayDates ---
litdate post_id: 6911; date_type: variable; year: 2017
Variable date => check date_calculations.
=> check date_assignments.
=> NO date_assignments found for postID: 6911
displayDates for postID: 6911/year: 2017
Array
(
[0] => 2017-09-24
)
postPriority: 3primaryPost found for date: 2017-09-24 with ID: 6911 (The Sixteenth Sunday After Pentecost)
The Sixteenth Sunday After Pentecost
Array
(
[date] => 2017-09-24 16:00:00
[scope] =>
[year] =>
[month] =>
[post_id] => 1386
[series_id] =>
[day_titles_only] =>
[exclusive] => 1
[return] => simple
[formatted] =>
[show_date] =>
[show_meta] =>
[show_content] => 1
[admin] =>
[debug] => 1
[filter_types] => Array
(
[0] => primary
[1] => secondary
)
[type_labels] => Array
(
[primary] => Primary
[secondary] => Secondary
[other] => Other
)
[the_date] => 2017-09-24 16:00:00
)
2 post(s) found for dateStr : 2017-09-24postID: 230370 (Our Lady of Walsingham)
--- getDisplayDates ---
litdate post_id: 230370; date_type: fixed; year: 2017
fixed_date_str: September 24
fixed_date_str (mod): September 24 2017
formattedFixedDateStr: 2017-09-24
=> check date_assignments.
=> NO date_assignments found for postID: 230370
displayDates for postID: 230370/year: 2017
Array
(
[0] => 2017-09-24
)
postPriority: 999postID: 6911 (The Sixteenth Sunday After Pentecost)
--- getDisplayDates ---
litdate post_id: 6911; date_type: variable; year: 2017
Variable date => check date_calculations.
=> check date_assignments.
=> NO date_assignments found for postID: 6911
displayDates for postID: 6911/year: 2017
Array
(
[0] => 2017-09-24
)
postPriority: 3primaryPost found for date: 2017-09-24 with ID: 6911 (The Sixteenth Sunday After Pentecost)
The reading_id [310267] is already in the array.
reading found matching title 'Luke 3:7-18' with ID: 73526
The reading_id [73526] is already in the array.
No update needed.
Scripture citation(s): Luke 3:7-18; Esther 3:1-4:3
A Sermon by
The Rev. Canon Carl Turner
on
Luke 3:7-18; Esther 3:1-4:3
✛
If anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation.
Array
(
[0] => 60757
[1] => 60719
)
book: [Array
(
[0] => 60757
)
] (reading_id: 73526)bbook_id: 60757
The bbook_id [60757] is already in the array.
book: [60719] (reading_id: 310267)
bbook_id: 60719
The bbook_id [60719] is already in the array.
No update needed for sermon_bbooks.
A few days ago the Jewish Community celebrated Rosh Hashanah – the New Year which, as a festival, has as its theme the creation of Adam and Eve in the book of Genesis. It is about new beginnings, reflecting the creative activity of God. It is one of the high holy days of Judaism and marked, as directed in the Book of Leviticus, by the sounding of the shofar and loud trumpets; it is a feast of joy. Just over a week later is another high holy day – Yom Kippur – the Day of Atonement, which has at its center the second giving of the law to Moses after the awfulness of the Hebrew tribe’s apostasy and worship of the golden calf, requiring penance, fasting and prayer and the offering of sacrifice. After Rosh Hashanah, the shofar is not sounded again until the end of Yom Kippur, announcing the end of the fast. So in just over a week, the Jewish community celebrates God’s sovereignty over the universe, the creation of human beings and their need to examine their relationships with him and with each other.
This progression is highly symbolic and at many different levels; made in God’s image, they recognize that they have much to celebrate and rejoice in the creativity of God, but they also know that they fall short of what is expected and require confession and penitence. All of this leads back to a loving and merciful Father who forgives those who are penitent and restores them to wholeness of life; if you will, recognizing that he created them in his own image.
In our first lesson today, from the book of Esther, we heard of planned genocide – the destruction of the Jewish community in Persia even though Queen Esther, wife of the King of Persia was, herself, a Jew. The response of Mordecai and the rest of the Jewish Community to the frightening and vicious letters sent throughout the kingdom is simple and stark; they fast, they put on sackcloth, and they cry.
Genocide is often called ‘a crime against humanity’. It is also a crime against God who has made humankind in his own image. The beauty of our world is the diversity of race and culture that speaks powerfully of the depth of the Father’s love for us. Linked to the sin of racism, genocide is a frightening destructive tool in the hands of powerful or ideological people who have no respect for God since they have no respect for their fellow man.
Jewish communities around the world know of the terrible effects of attempted genocide and the Holocaust museums and memorials in Europe, in particular, are chilling reminders of how unlike the image of God human beings can become.
Sadly, in our own generation there have been other attempted genocides – the terror inflicted in Rwanda, or in the Balkans, or against the Kurdish people, or Christian communities in Syria or Iraq occupied by ISIS, and in recent weeks the increasingly worrying treatment of the Rohingya people in Myanmar-Burma. Pope Francis has spoken out and said something very simple – “They are not Christians but they are our brothers and sisters.” [1] They are our brothers and sisters; made in the image of God, we are all part of one family and, therefore, we have a responsibility for one another.
In our second lesson, John the Baptist brings this home when he is questioned by the crowd, then specifically (and significantly) by tax collectors and soldiers – agents of the state. He gives them simple moral advice in the context of living a responsible life that makes a difference to others: “Bear fruits worthy of repentance.” The word repentance means a ‘turning around’ or a change of heart that should affect one’s life. It is not enough, says John the Baptist, to lay claim to the faith of Abraham if it doesn’t actually make a difference to your life.
And that is why John pointed to Jesus who would be the one to restore the true likeness of human beings, calling them and calling us back into a more honest and perfect relationship with his Father and, therefore, with one another. The relationships that we each have with the Lord should make a difference to how we live our lives. They should make a differences to the choices that we make. They should make a difference to the communities in which we live; to our homes and to our workplaces.
When Jesus came among us he was, as St Paul describes in the letter to the Colossians, “the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation; for in him all things in heaven and on earth were created.”(Colossians 1:15-16a). God came to us in Jesus to bring us back to himself; to help us repent – turn around – change our hearts – so that we might recognize the face of God in each other just as we recognized the face of God in Christ.
When a person is baptized, we say that they become a new creation and that they are born again. For a moment, at our baptism, we are perfect – sinless – remade in the image of God with the face of Christ shining out. Sadly, we soon stumble and fall into sin and mar that image. When that happens, we need to remember that is exactly why Jesus came, to save us from our sins and to be our advocate in heaven. On earth, Jesus disliked intensely hypocrites and, particularly, self-righteous Pharisees and Scribes who knew the letter of the law but for whom the Law made no difference to the state of life. Thus, Jesus chose to mix with sinners and tax collectors; with prostitutes and publicans. And he still does but much closer to home than you realize, for he mixes with you and with me, especially when we fall into sin. He calls us back to recognize that image in each one of us – the image of God. He calls us to speak out against injustice and hate; he calls us to recognize the image of God in people different from ourselves. This is very hard sometimes; the Pharisees and the scribes looked down on others and did not realize that they were, in fact, insulting the image of God. We, sometimes, may feel inadequate or undeserving of God’s love and we may fail to realize that we are actually much closer to God, than we realize – to him who calls us into his love.
As Paul says in the Second Letter to the Corinthians, “From now on, therefore, we regard no one from a human point of view; even though we once knew Christ from a human point of view, we know him no longer in that way. So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting the message of reconciliation to us. So we are ambassadors for Christ.” (2 Corinthians 5:16-20a)
Pope Francis puts it this way; “There is no saint without a past and there is no sinner without a future. This is beautiful; this is what Jesus does.” [2]
_______________
[1] Speaking to pilgrims in Rome, August 28, 2017.
[2] General Audience, April 13, 2016.
