Proper 8b: St. Alfred's

 

title: Proper 8b Sermon
subtitle: Fr. Dale
author: St. Alfred's Church
date: June 29, 2024

The collect

The collects we pray at the beginning of the liturgy have a particular form. By the way it is not entirely clear how we get the word "collect". It might have to do with a prayer that collects the gathered people. It might be from an old Latin word that means "gather the people." We know that in the word with bad associations in the old socialist term: "Collective".

1. Addressing the prayer to God.
2. Noticing a particular act, normally some aspect of glory, that God has done or is doing.
3. Spelling out a particular request or petition for grace. Usually there is a "colon" at the beginning of this 3rd part of the collect.
4. There is also usually a 4th part which identifies the desired result of the request.
5. Concluding with a signature, the bearer of the prayer, (In the name of Christ ...) (the name of the Trinity ...) and so on

Many years ago I carried with me a serious fear of not being able to respond when someone asked me to pray. They frequently ask clergy to do that you know. I found it helpful to think about the prayer in the terms I've just outlined. Who are we talking to? What are the credentials of this person we're praying to? What are we asking for? And then sign off.

Keep in mind the prayers of petition are only one kind of prayer. Some of you have journeyed with Mary Pat these past months in discovering the power of contemplative prayer. That kind of prayer takes a different shape.

I have often thought that there was a whole sermon condensed in the collects. Today we started things off with:

1. Almighty God, \
2. you have built your Church upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief cornerstone: \
3. Grant us so to be joined together in unity of spirit by their teaching,
4. that we may be made a holy temple acceptable to you; \
5. through Jesus Christ our Lord, …

Here we are, gathered on the Sunday leading up to July 4th, Independence Day. Here we are gathered together in the church; the church gathered in the church building; the church of the people built on the foundation of people, Apostles and Prophets, – note it's not not poured concrete;
the church (not the building) has a cornerstone in the form of a person, Jesus Christ. We, the church, a motley crew of people who are nevertheless a holy temple.

Now, I haven't seen very many temples in my life. I've been in some synagogues that had the title temple. I've seen two Mormon temples. I haven't been to Asia where I think there might be lots of temples of various kinds.

Our collect today would have us believe that I'm looking out on a holy temple. Well -- I'll have to think about that.

Foundation

Today's collect tells us that our foundation is apostles and prophets. Apostles are those sent out -- that's what the word means -- sent out after receiving and trusting in the good news of Jesus Christ. Prophets. Messengers of God. Prophets giving voice to God so that we might hear God's voice. So often – or most of the time – we can't hear God's voice, and that's why we need prohets to say it so that we can hear it.

We are here on the shoulders of a countless multitude of those who have gone before. Those who have entrusted their life to the gospel, so much so that they worked and risked so that those who came after would also know and trust in the good news. That's us.

Last week Fr. Peter told us about the distinguishing characteristic of the Gospel of Mark. He said it ends with the women going away afraid and then abruptly ends. As if there is more -- much more -- to come. And included in that more to come – is us.

When it comes to prophets there's a long line of them. Stretching back in time. The first and original prophet was Abraham. The first Patriarch. Moses was regarded as the greatest Prophet. He was prophet and law-giver. In so many ways David is the next greatest Prophet.

One of the benefits of the lectionary we are using currently is that we hear about these early prophets at a depth that we didn't with older lectionaries. As we are listening to passages from first and 2nd Samuel, we are hearing snippets of the riches that are contained in the Hebrew scriptures. Nevertheless, what we actually get in these short lectionary readings is a bare outline of the rich tapestry that is present in the Hebrew scriptures.

The earliest Christians understood Jesus to have been a descendant of David. Jesus was standing on his shoulders. The deep connections the early Christians saw to David are too numerous to mention. The annointing of David is passed down to us in the word messiah – meaning "annointed."

What can we say about this prophet David?

There is scarcely anyone in the Bible who is portrayed with as rich and varied a portrait as David.

Some of the episodes are deeply familiar to us – but they barely scratch the surface. We know the story of David and Goliath -- at least the outlines of it. The reading of it was one of the options last week. We may perhaps remember the calling of David as God's chosen one, the calling marked with an annointing when Samuel went to the house of Jesse. David was a warrior. We might call him a guerilla fighter. He was also known as a musician. He sought influence in the court of king Saul. He also fought with the Philistines when it was to his advantage. A kind of switch hitter? He was in fact aligned with one of the Philistine groups when king Saul and Jonathan were killed.

Today's reading from Samuel picks up at that point in David's story. We hear in the passage mostly about the musician David. He sings this song, translated as the Song of the Bow. The people are directed to sing the song in the morning – lamenting the death of Saul and Jonathan. The song is dripping in irony since David had most recently been a traitor to Saul.

But the irony anticipates the many adventures of David -- related in the 2nd book of Samuel. King of the united tribes of Israel. Making Jerusalem his capital. His calamitous seduction of Bathsheba. Love and battles with his children. David is a real person. And he is the great ancestor and forerunner of Jesus himself.

How wonderful it is that the giants on whose shoulders we stand were themselves real, with flaws and gifts, just like you and me. God works through folks like them – who are folks like you and me.

In our Psalm -- for so long attributed to David himself -- we read or sing:

I wait for the Lord; my soul waits for him; in his word is my hope.

I for one am glad to have David by my side.

Healing business

In the passage from Mark's gospel today, we hear snippets or glimpses of Jesus the cornerstone. We, the holy temple, are measured according to the first measure given in Jesus himself. Jesus the healer. As David was not just one thing, Jesus is more than a healer. But he is a healer. And Mark has given us 2 episodes of Jesus's healing

Talitha cum

 I can hear the voice of the father in today’s gospel reading. Do you know the sound of a father, crying out at his children stolen from him? A father whose daughter is sick unto death?

A “little girl” who stood up after being put down. A young girl raised up as a sign of the Resurrection.

Jesus raised up a little girl, he rewarded her father’s humility in bringing his burden before Jesus. Though he had no children of his own in the biological sense of that word, all children were his. He felt the sorrow of all fathers as he heard the voice of one individual father.

The woman approaching in fear and trembling

… blood that can’t be hidden. In society all too often it has been a focus of shame. It has been a way that men have shamed women. Even to the present day. Men of power have attempted to lord it over women.

She doesn’t want to make a big deal out of it. But she is adamant that Jesus know, that he touch her. Jesus is worthy of the trust she puts in him. He is completely trustworthy in a world where trust has become scarce.

Jesus touches her with compassion, unclean though she be. Outcast that she is, Jesus reaches across the lines of separation.

We who come after

We stand on the shoulders not just of Jesus. We are also inheritors of the faith and trust of that brave father who gave his broken daughter and trusted that she was not dead but sleeping. We are also indebted to that brave woman who stepped forward to touch the hem of Jesus's garment, trusting that that was all that was needed for her own healing. We stand on the shoulders of such as that little girl who stood up to walk again.

Closing

In the coming days we will mark he anniversary of the founding of our country. Like the church, we are inheritors of a deep tradition. As a nation we stand on the shoulders of those who have come before. But these are not apostles and prophets. If we turn them into that, we are treating a nation as if it were a holy temple. When ancient Israel made that same move, the prophets spoke doom to them.

The holy temple is what sits before you. The people of God.

Recent weeks I have heard some members of the congregation wondering how and what we can do in the face of the world's great needs. The good news we are presented with today is that it's not all on us. There is a great cloud of witnesses preceding us and an equal number will follow.

The church united in the Spirit we have inherited from those before, looking for all the world like you and me, is only asked to bear the burden handed down to us. "What can one person do?" a singer asks. We can do what is given to us to do. George MacDonald said nearly 150 years ago:

What God may hereafter require of you, you must not give yourself the least trouble about. Everything He gives you to do, you must do as well as ever you can. That is the best possible preparation for what He may want you to do next. If people would but do what they have to do, they would always find themselves ready for what came next.

Thanks be to God that we do not stand or fall alone. The great cloud of witnesses, with the shepherd gathering and guiding them, accompanies us.

The God of peace, who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus Christ, the great Shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the eternal covenant: Make you perfect in every good work to do his will, working in you that which is well-pleasing in his sight; (what is the last step of a prayer?) through your Son Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.