1119 Reflection -- Judges 4:1-7

Sunday 19 November 2017

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Judges 4:1-7 (NRSV)

The Israelites again did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, after Ehud died. So the Lord sold them into the hand of King Jabin of Canaan, who reigned in Hazor; the commander of his army was Sisera, who lived in Harosheth-ha-goiim. Then the Israelites cried out to the Lord for help; for he had nine hundred chariots of iron, and had oppressed the Israelites cruelly twenty years. At that time Deborah, a prophetess, wife of Lappidoth, was judging Israel. She used to sit under the palm of Deborah between Ramah and Bethel in the hill country of Ephraim; and the Israelites came up to her for judgment. She sent and summoned Barak son of Abinoam from Kedesh in Naphtali, and said to him, “The Lord, the God of Israel, commands you, ‘Go, take position at Mount Tabor, bringing ten thousand from the tribe of Naphtali and the tribe of Zebulun. I will draw out Sisera, the general of Jabin’s army, to meet you by the Wadi Kishon with his chariots and his troops; and I will give him into your hand.’”

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Sure enough, the people went away from God and followed another way, a false idol that is no god. They suffered for it. And when they did, after some time, they cried out to God once more. And God, whose identity is always mercy, whose desire is always to reconcile and heal, is once more faithful even when the people are not. God acts on behalf of his people and provides deliverance and salvation.

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                                          Fr. Timothy Alleman

1112 Reflection -- Joshua 24:1-3a, 14-25

Sunday 12 November 2017

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Joshua 24:1-3a, 14-25 (NRSV)

Joshua gathered all the tribes of Israel to Shechem, and summoned the elders, the heads, the judges, and the officers of Israel; and they presented themselves before God. And Joshua said to all the people, “Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: ‘Long ago your ancestors—Terah and his sons Abraham and Nahor—lived beyond the Euphrates and served other gods. Then I took your father Abraham from beyond the River and led him through all the land of Canaan and made his offspring many.’ Now therefore revere the Lord, and serve him in sincerity and in faithfulness; put away the gods that your ancestors served beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve the Lord. Now if you are unwilling to serve the Lord, choose this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your ancestors served in the region beyond the River or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you are living; but as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.” Then the people answered, “Far be it from us that we should forsake the Lord to serve other gods; for it is the Lord our God who brought us and our ancestors up from the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery, and who did those great signs in our sight. He protected us along all the way that we went, and among all the peoples through whom we passed; and the Lord drove out before us all the peoples, the Amorites who lived in the land. Therefore we also will serve the Lord, for he is our God.” But Joshua said to the people, “You cannot serve the Lord, for he is a holy God. He is a jealous God; he will not forgive your transgressions or your sins. If you forsake the Lord and serve foreign gods, then he will turn and do you harm, and consume you, after having done you good.” And the people said to Joshua, “No, we will serve the Lord!” Then Joshua said to the people, “You are witnesses against yourselves that you have chosen the Lord, to serve him.” And they said, “We are witnesses.” He said, “Then put away the foreign gods that are among you, and incline your hearts to the Lord, the God of Israel.” The people said to Joshua, “The Lord our God we will serve, and him we will obey.” So Joshua made a covenant with the people that day, and made statutes and ordinances for them at Shechem.

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Joshua is preparing to go the way of Moses and the Patriarchs; to die and be numbered among the ancestors of the people. As he does so, he challenges the people to choose whom they shall serve. He does not mention God but rather sets up two false idols for them to follow. They respond by saying that they too will follow God. Even when Joshua portrays God as one who will demand that they follow only God, they continue steadfast in their response. They will fail at this, as we find in the stories that follow this moment. But here and now, they are steadfast. Today we are challenged to do likewise. And as we do so, remember that false idols are not a thing of the past. There are all sorts of false idols seeking to divert our attention away from God. Will we remain steadfast? If we fail to ask for God's help, we will likely fail as did our spiritual ancestors. But if we ask for God to help us, we can remain steadfast and unmoveable.

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                                          Fr. Timothy Alleman

1105 Reflection -- Revelation 7:9-17

The Sunday of All Saints
                                Sunday 5 November 2017

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Revelation 7:9-17 (NRSV)

I looked, and there was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, robed in white, with palm branches in their hands. They cried out in a loud voice, saying, “Salvation belongs to our God who is seated on the throne, and to the Lamb!” And all the angels stood around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures, and they fell on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, singing, “Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our God forever and ever! Amen.” Then one of the elders addressed me, saying, “Who are these, robed in white, and where have they come from?” I said to him, “Sir, you are the one that knows.” Then he said to me, “These are they who have come out of the great ordeal; they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. For this reason they are before the throne of God, and worship him day and night within his temple, and the one who is seated on the throne will shelter them. They will hunger no more, and thirst no more; the sun will not strike them, nor any scorching heat; for the Lamb at the center of the throne will be their shepherd, and he will guide them to springs of the water of life, and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.”

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This is a beautiful reading for us to hear as we remember, commemorate and commend those who have gone before us to the eternal mercy of God. It is especuially powerful because in this great multitude we find persons we have known and loved dearly in this life. Today is a powerful reminder that for us life is changed, not ended, when our mortal bodies lie in death. Resurrection wins! This and every Sunday we proclaim life and Resurrection. This is an Easter moment. Christ is risen from the dead, trampling down death by death, and to those in the tomb bestowing life. We proclaim this for all who have gone before us marked with Christ's cross and claimed by Christ through the power of the Holy Spirit to the glory of the Father. And as we proclaim, we place our hope in God, trusting that when our mortal bodies lie in death, we too shall be numbered among that great multitude who live forever with Christ in the Kingdom of God in which death has died and sin is no more.

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                                          Fr. Timothy Alleman

1029 Reflection -- Deuteronomy 34:1-12

Sunday 29 October 2017

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Deuteronomy 34:1-12 (NRSV)

Moses went up from the plains of Moab to Mount Nebo, to the top of Pisgah, which is opposite Jericho, and the Lord showed him the whole land: Gilead as far as Dan, all Naphtali, the land of Ephraim and Manasseh, all the land of Judah as far as the Western Sea, the Negeb, and the Plain—that is, the valley of Jericho, the city of palm trees—as far as Zoar. The Lord said to him, “This is the land of which I swore to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, saying, ‘I will give it to your descendants’; I have let you see it with your eyes, but you shall not cross over there.” Then Moses, the servant of the Lord, died there in the land of Moab, at the Lord’s command. He was buried in a valley in the land of Moab, opposite Beth-peor, but no one knows his burial place to this day. Moses was one hundred twenty years old when he died; his sight was unimpaired and his vigor had not abated. The Israelites wept for Moses in the plains of Moab thirty days; then the period of mourning for Moses was ended. Joshua son of Nun was full of the spirit of wisdom, because Moses had laid his hands on him; and the Israelites obeyed him, doing as the Lord had commanded Moses. Never since has there arisen a prophet in Israel like Moses, whom the Lord knew face to face. He was unequaled for all the signs and wonders that the Lord sent him to perform in the land of Egypt, against Pharaoh and all his servants and his entire land, and for all the mighty deeds and all the terrifying displays of power that Moses performed in the sight of all Israel.

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God gives Moses the gift of seeing the Promised Land into which Joshua will lead the people as the succesor to Moses. It's a beautiful text. I'm not sure how one would preach on this, but it is certainly beautiful!

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                                          Fr. Timothy Alleman

1022 Reflection -- Exodus 33:12-23

Sunday 22 October 2017

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Exodus 33:12-23 (NRSV)

Moses said to the Lord, “See, you have said to me, ‘Bring up this people’; but you have not let me know whom you will send with me. Yet you have said, ‘I know you by name, and you have also found favor in my sight.’ Now if I have found favor in your sight, show me your ways, so that I may know you and find favor in your sight. Consider too that this nation is your people.” He said, “My presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.” And he said to him, “If your presence will not go, do not carry us up from here. For how shall it be known that I have found favor in your sight, I and your people, unless you go with us? In this way, we shall be distinct, I and your people, from every people on the face of the earth.” The Lord said to Moses, “I will do the very thing that you have asked; for you have found favor in my sight, and I know you by name.” Moses said, “Show me your glory, I pray.” And he said, “I will make all my goodness pass before you, and will proclaim before you the name, ‘The Lord’; and I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy. But,” he said, “you cannot see my face; for no one shall see me and live.” And the Lord continued, “See, there is a place by me where you shall stand on the rock; and while my glory passes by I will put you in a cleft of the rock, and I will cover you with my hand until I have passed by; then I will take away my hand, and you shall see my back; but my face shall not be seen.”

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Moses pleads with God. He knows that the safety of the people depends on the presence of God. He knows very well that if this people is left to themselves, they will mess things up. And to be perfectly honest, I think Moses knows this is true of himself as well as the people. And so he pleads for God to be known as present among them and with him. God grants that request and shows the divine presence to Moses, revealing that presence in the midst of the people.

Moses' plea should be ours also. We know that when we are left to ourselves, nothing good can come of this. We will show again and again that we are our own enemy, doing the very thing we know we should not and failing to do those things we know we should. Today we are reminded that God indeed is in our midst. The most powerful reminder of this is when with hands outstretched as a throne for the King of Heaven and Earth, we receive the Lord who is truly present in our midst in the Bread of Heaven and the Cup of Salvation.

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                                          Fr. Timothy Alleman

1015 Reflection -- Exodus 32:1-14

Sunday 15 October 2017

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Exodus 32:1-14 (NRSV)

When the people saw that Moses delayed to come down from the mountain, the people gathered around Aaron, and said to him, “Come, make gods for us, who shall go before us; as for this Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.” Aaron said to them, “Take off the gold rings that are on the ears of your wives, your sons, and your daughters, and bring them to me.” So all the people took off the gold rings from their ears, and brought them to Aaron. He took the gold from them, formed it in a mold, and cast an image of a calf; and they said, “These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt!” When Aaron saw this, he built an altar before it; and Aaron made proclamation and said, “Tomorrow shall be a festival to the Lord.” They rose early the next day, and offered burnt offerings and brought sacrifices of well-being; and the people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to revel. The Lord said to Moses, “Go down at once! Your people, whom you brought up out of the land of Egypt, have acted perversely; they have been quick to turn aside from the way that I commanded them; they have cast for themselves an image of a calf, and have worshiped it and sacrificed to it, and said, ‘These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt!’” The Lord said to Moses, “I have seen this people, how stiff-necked they are. Now let me alone, so that my wrath may burn hot against them and I may consume them; and of you I will make a great nation.” But Moses implored the Lord his God, and said, “O Lord, why does your wrath burn hot against your people, whom you brought out of the land of Egypt with great power and with a mighty hand? Why should the Egyptians say, ‘It was with evil intent that he brought them out to kill them in the mountains, and to consume them from the face of the earth’? Turn from your fierce wrath; change your mind and do not bring disaster on your people. Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, your servants, how you swore to them by your own self, saying to them, ‘I will multiply your descendants like the stars of heaven, and all this land that I have promised I will give to your descendants, and they shall inherit it forever.’” And the Lord changed his mind about the disaster that he planned to bring on his people.

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Reading Exodus can be very frustrating! On the Sunday prior to the one when we hear this reading, we heard the giving of the Decalogue. The very first thing on the list of 10 words: no other gods. And now here they are breaking the commandment. I think here of the comment these days in the face of such amazing blunders: "You had one thing to do!" There is of course a reason why there is such a modern expression. The behavior of our spiritual ancestors is not forgotten in our day and generation. Perhaps today is a good day to review the Decalogue we heard last week and ask: "So how are we doing; how have we done this week?" And if we hear this in the homily, and actually engage that examination, how good it is that for us Episcopalians with Prayer Books in hands, confession and absolution are soon to come after the homily. We might be tempted to jump into it right away. If this feels heavy, note here also that God remains merciful and forgives. Yes, Moses might need to plead for his people, the very ones who time and time again ridiculed, attacked, and rejected him. And they will do so again. But Moses reminds God of God's nature to forgive, and God forgives even them. Thus we have the comfort of knowing God will forgive us also.

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                                          Fr. Timothy Alleman

A17 Sunday 1 October 2017

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Sunday 1 October ’17

 Proper 21: 17^th Sunday after Pentecost

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Matthew 21:23-32

When Jesus entered the temple, the chief priests and the elders of the people came to him as he was teaching, and said, “By what authority are you doing these things, and who gave you this authority?” Jesus said to them, “I will also ask you one question; if you tell me the answer, then I will also tell you by what authority I do these things. Did the baptism of John come from heaven, or was it of human origin?” And they argued with one another, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ he will say to us, ‘Why then did you not believe him?’ But if we say, ‘Of human origin,’ we are afraid of the crowd; for all regard John as a prophet.” So they answered Jesus, “We do not know.” And he said to them, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I am doing these things. “What do you think? A man had two sons; he went to the first and said, ‘Son, go and work in the vineyard today.’ He answered, ‘I will not’; but later he changed his mind and went. The father went to the second and said the same; and he answered, ‘I go, sir’; but he did not go. Which of the two did the will of his father?” They said, “The first.” Jesus said to them, “Truly I tell you, the tax collectors and the prostitutes are going into the kingdom of God ahead of you. For John came to you in the way of righteousness and you did not believe him, but the tax collectors and the prostitutes believed him; and even after you saw it, you did not change your minds and believe him.

In today’s Gospel, Jesus confronts the religious leaders who have challenged his authority.  Instead of answering their question, he asks them what they think of John the Baptist.  They refuse to answer.  Jesus does likewise, and then shares a parable that clearly is aimed against the religious leaders.

It’s an interesting moment for us to observe.  Only remember that for us as Christians, the Gospel is never something we observe as outsiders.  When we hear the Gospel, we need to ask ourselves “What are we being taught?”  Jesus speaks in this parable of two sons.  It’s an interesting family scenario that is set before us of a highly dysfunctional family.  These two brothers would not want to be associated with each other.  One of them is representative of the religious leaders of the day.  The other represents “the deplorables” of society, prostitutes and tax collectors, Gentiles and sinners.  Each of them are called by their father to go and work in the father’s vineyard.  One says that he will go, while the other refuses.  One goes and works, while the other refuses.  And what is interesting is that it is the one told the father that he would not go who submits to the will of the father.

Remember today that we are the son called by God to go into the vineyard.  We who are the Church have received the Great Commission.  Jesus has told us to go into the world in his name.  The world is the vineyard of Jesus.  It is the vineyard in which we proclaim the Gospel.  The question of the Gospel, of this specific Gospel, therefore, is simply this: “Will we go into the vineyard to do the work of Christ to which we have been called?”

We have already answered that question.  We answered it at our baptism when we were brought to the font to be baptized into Christ and made a member of the Church.  For many of us, this was a decision that was made when we were children who had no voice of our own.  Those who brought us to the font made that commitment for us, and committed themselves to raising us in such a way that in time we would again and again both say that we would go into the vineyard, and then actually go in obedience to Christ for the salvation of the world.  When we were confirmed in the faith into which we were baptized, we claimed that response for ourselves.  When we hear the Gospel and take part in the Sacraments of the New Covenant, we proclaim again and again that we will go into the vineyard of Christ, making Christ known for the healing of all persons.

But will we go?  Will we do the work to which we are called?  This is a question that is relevant today.  Even now, we can find persons who on one hand say that they will go and then who walk in the other direction away from the vineyard to which we have been sent by Christ.  I think of a specific person imprinted on my memory this past week that drives this from theory to reality.  I walked into a patient room earlier this week and I introduced myself as a chaplain.  The man I was visiting responded with vile hatred for the Church, for organized religion, and especially for the priesthood.  I represented everything about these thing for this man, and to be perfectly honest, he was hoping for a fight with me that would confirm his hatred of them and of me.  He was disappointed that he did not get that response from me.  Finally he relented from that approach, and spoke personally of his faith in God and his love for Christ.

This man is not alone.  There are plenty of persons who profess their hatred for the Church and its people, especially its ministers, while professing their love of Jesus.  And this is not a new experience in the world.  In the Gospel, we find the “deplorables” of society drawn to Jesus.  They clung to his every word, and fell in love with Jesus deeper and deeper as they heard his voice and experienced his tenderness and love.  It doesn’t take much imagination to consider the possibility that the prostitutes, tax collectors, Gentiles, and all other sinners drawn to Jesus, could say: “I love Jesus, but I hate the Temple and Synagogue, and the priests, rabbis and scribes.”  And if they only find “us” in those holy places and acting “holier than thou” in them, we can hardly blame them for their hatred.  That was true 2,000 years ago, and it remains true in our own day and generation.

Does that make us uneasy?  It should!  But what do we do with than uneasiness.  Jesus shows us that the “good religious folks” of the day responded to Jesus’ challenge in such a way that uneasiness led to offense and the rejection of Jesus.  We who as the baptized children of God, who are the “good religious folks” of today, could do likewise.  But note that when we do so, we are doing nothing other than saying, “I go, Lord,” while walking away from the vineyard to which Christ sends us.  When we do that, we are not doing the kingdom work of the vineyard of God.

Today we are challenged to go forth from places like this into the midst of the world, to be the hands, the feet and the voice of Christ for the world.  Will we be so bold as to go forth, knowing that God’s work done with our hands happens not here but in the world?  If we are not that bold, we are no better than the Pharisees to whom Jesus speaks this Gospel.  Jesus longs for us to be in the vineyard, to enjoy the fruits that God provides for us and for those we shall find and encounter in the name of Christ.  And we can be so bold to go forth in the name of Christ, but only when we remember that Jesus is already there, calling us to join him for the salvation not just of ourselves and those like us, but of the world in which we encounter not strangers but brothers and sisters loved by Christ, even when they are as different from us as the brothers in today’s Gospel.

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Father Timothy Alleman

Rector of The Church of the Holy Cross

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