Proper 24A
School of Theology, October 22, 2008
“Render to Caesar,” Caesar, please, not “the Emperor.” That was one of those changes the NRSV seemed to need to make because it needed to make changes. It is not, I think, felicitous. Well, a preacher in this place needs a lot of chutzpah to preach on that text, given Fr. Dr. Bryan’s learned book on the subject [Christopher Bryan, Render to Caesar: Jesus, the Early Church, and the Roman Superpower (Oxford U.P.: 2005)]. And what a time to preach a sermon about texts that really cannot avoid politics, so close to an important election. No, I do not intend to put the 501(c)3 tax exempt status of either the University or the Church at risk. But our lessons today require us to ask what in God’s name is going on if Cyrus and Caesar can be seen as instruments of the divine providence, and what that might mean for us.
Read more
School of Theology, Ash Wednesday, 2003
“When you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face, so that your fasting may not be seen by others but by your Father who is in secret. . . .”
I. One of the short answer questions on the General Ordination Exams for the Episcopal Church in 2003 called for a response from a young person who wondered how the liturgical tradition of wearing ashes really fits with this gospel text. It’s a good question, and deserved more than a short answer, though a short and correct answer could be given. More on that later. But for now, How do today’s Ashes relate to today’s Gospel?
II. My own experience: I grew up in the Episcopal Church in a tradtionally “low church” diocese which certainly had no use for ashes on this day. I spent a year in England between high school and college, and in that year underwent my adolescent religion rebellion by becoming an Anglo-Catholic. Both at my school and especially, during Holy Week and Easter at the motherhouse of the Anglican Franciscans, I experienced the restored Lenten and Holy Week rites for the first time and fell in love with them. And fell flat into one of their traps. For many years I was guilty on Ash Wednesday of wearing my cross of ashes proudly, as a badge of honor saying to all “I’ve been to Church, have you?” It is still tempting to put a positive spin on this — think about the powerful witness of all of us going out into the community with our little ashy crosses visible, being very cool and saying nothing except when asked. But temptation it is. It is exactly what Jesus warns about in this gospel. It is for that reason that most churches of the Reformation abandoned the use of ashes on this day, and have only recently begun to bring the practice back. I approve of ashes on this day. Perhaps, as I said, too much. But what IS the relationship of these ashes to this Gospel?
III. All of which has led me to ask, what ARE we doing here anyway. What in heaven’s Name is Going On here today?
Read more
Chapel of Theology, Propers for Wednesday, the 4th week of Lent, 2000
I. Can these bones live? Can this dear ruined city rise from the ashes and prosper? Is there any hope for the dead? These are the Lenten questions in our texts, and the resounding answer is “YES.”
II. The Isaiah passage is one of the most beautiful of the servant songs of second Isaiah. It affirms, in the face of the ruin of daughter Zion and the exile of her people that God is still God, and can never forget Zion, though a nursing mother forget her child. Israel is engraved on the palms of God’s hands (a Christian cannot help but see, with nail prints), and she cannot be lost for good. There must and will be hope. Her children will yet be gathered from all the corners of the earth; the nations will yet come to her to hear the Word of God, however bad the current disaster appears.
Read more
