To Speak and Be Heard
/St Barnabas, Norwich VT
Sermon by Rev Jennie M Anderson
Lord, make us stewards of ourselves, that we may be servants of others. Take my words and speak through them, take our minds and think through them, take our hearts and set them on fire, for Jesus’ sake. Amen. Good morning! Welcome!
To Speak and Be Heard
Br. Mark Brown said about Fear - The more we love, the less we fear; the less we fear, the more we love. Sometimes we can address our fears head on and simply dismiss them—or at least manage them. Sometimes love can overwhelm our fear. Sometimes doing some completely gratuitous act of loving-kindness will break through the sclerotic accretions of fear and the fountain begins to flow again.
Mahatma Gandhi said, "Prayer is not an old woman's idle amusement. Properly understood and applied, it is the most potent instrument of action."
This week in Hendersonville, North Carolina, the 2016 Lansing Lee Conference will consider the question of whether civility and respect as spiritual values are essential to democracy. Led by Los Angeles Times writer, Mark Oppenheimer and a panel of thinkers and writers, participants will explore the idea of transformational leadership. As we look toward the elections of 2016, how can the country go from a place of partisanship to engagement? On September 24, 2015, led by Pope Francis, the United States Congress applauded the Golden Rule. The next day, things were back to normal. The invitation to the conference goes on to say, “join us at Kanuga as we seek to engage public issues at the intersection of politics and religion. The annual Lansing Lee Conference honors the memory of Lansing B. Lee Jr. of Augusta, GA. Lee participated in many aspects of Kanuga’s programs and governance for more than 50 years. The conference focuses on the theme “Practicing the Faith” and explores different dimensions of that topic in the context of the world, nation, the Church and society. The Lansing Lee Conference is made possible by an endowment established by Natalie Lee and with major support from the Buford L. Bowen Endowment.” Kanuga is a bit like our Rock Point only in North Carolina, just a little bit south of Asheville.
Speaking of Rock Point, next month, on November 4th and 5th, the Episcopal Church in Vermont will have its 184th Annual Convention. The theme for our Convention is Love Heals. Our special guest this year is Becca Stevens, the founding director of Magdalene and Thistle Farms located in Tennessee. Becca has been featured on CNN and in other national media. She is also an Episcopal priest, an author and a well-known speaker. In 2011 the White House named Becca a “Champion of Change” for her work against domestic violence. Recently she was featured in the PBS documentary, “A Path Appears”, and named Humanitarian of the Year by the Small Business Council of America. Magdalene is a residential community for women who have survived lives of prostitution, violence, and abuse. The women live together and support each other through the work of Thistle Farms, a nonprofit bath and body-care business run by the women. Convention begins with a Keynote talk by Becca Stevens at 10:00am on Friday. This will be followed by a Vermont Panel made up of groups from Vermont who do ministries similar to Becca’s. The panel will have representatives from the Lund Home, The Vermont Network Against Domestic Violence, Committee on Vermont Human Trafficking, DIVAS and Give Way to Freedom.
Later next month, on November 15, 2016 in Houston TX, the annual International Black Clergy Conference will commence. The history of contributions to The Episcopal Church by its black clergy and black congregations is long and inspiring. The church pays tribute to this legacy by supporting and fostering the growth of black congregations through partnerships that reach across ethnic and racial boundaries, from the Episcopal provinces, dioceses, and deaneries to local parishes. Through the Recruitment, Training, and Development Program, black postulants and candidates for ministry are empowered and encouraged to seek vocations in lay and ordained ministries. This program offers an annual conference to provide historical perspectives of black Episcopalians in the church, leadership training, opportunities for networking, and mentoring for ongoing education and spiritual growth. These clergy conferences continue to be important events in the church, gathering clergy for conversations on various topics that include congregational life, clergy wellness and networks in support of one another. The conferences have traditionally included bishops, who are available for consultation. Also, the Episcopal Church Office of Transition Ministry will be present for counseling on discernment and ministry opportunities.
Are you beginning to pick up a theme in these conferences and in the gospel message being lived out in the world of the Episcopal Church and beyond? We are all working to offer the voice of widow to the world, the voice of the love of Jesus Christ to the world today. His compassion, his sense of justice, his faith in God the Father, and his amazing and healing love. How is Jesus’ love being lived in the world today? In so many ways even here in St Barnabas Episcopal Church!
Last week we hosted Christian Palestinian, George Rishmawi, who shared about the latest of his mission projects building a new hiking trail that ties in all the places that Abraham might have walked. It was wonderful! This Friday, I am going to talk about my life a little bit in the Telling Our Stories program. In addition to these recent programs, I want to mention a little bit about the UVIP Moral Economy program I am supporting. Specifically that part of our Moral Economy that talks about the call to vote at this coming election. It is a pretty impressive list of offices to which candidates will be selected. U.S. president and vice-president, U.S. senator, U.S. representative, governor, lieutenant governor, treasurer, secretary of state, auditor of accounts, attorney general, all (30) state senate seats, all (150) state representative seats, high bailiff and justices of the peace. So, you might ask, what does this have to do with the gospel lesson? Well, I’ll explain.
By the time Luke was writing his Gospel a generation or so after Jesus died, people were starting to feel discouraged. They were tired of waiting for Jesus to return and finally bring all things to fulfillment, the deepest hope of their hearts. They were tired of being persecuted as a tiny little minority in a great big, powerful empire. They were anxious and suffering. Our passage from Luke is about that waiting and about not being discouraged, not losing heart. However, we've somehow read it more as an instruction to "nag" God with our repeated requests, so God, like a weary and worn-down parent, will eventually give in and give us what we want.
Once again, Jesus uses a figure from the very edges of society to teach his followers a lesson. John Pilch tells us that the "word for 'widow' in Hebrew means 'silent one' or 'one unable to speak.' In the patriarchal Mediterranean world males alone play a public role. Women do not speak on their own behalf." So this "silent one" is acting outside the normal bounds when she finds her voice and speaks up for herself. Maybe it's because she knows that there's a special place for her in the heart of God, as the Bible often says. Widows, orphans, and aliens are all very close to the heart of God and the focus of God's concern. We might ask ourselves who "the widows" are in our time: the ones without a voice who speak up anyway in protest of injustice. [Kate Matthews]
Here in the US, we might think that anyone can vote, anyone can choose their candidate that they want to win and then go out and vote for that person. Well, there are still some stumbling blocks to voting in many places in this the good old US of A. We might consider those who can’t get out to register to vote, those who pay taxes but who don’t get the information they need to make an informed choice of who they want to be accountable for the local offices. We might consider these persons as “the widows” in our time. Perhaps we could reach out to that person and check and see if they can participate as much as possible in this year’s election. Perhaps St Barnabas could have information sheets on who the local candidates are who are running for election this year so that we can get to know them over the next several weeks. Perhaps when we reach out and take a risk to help someone else to vote, we will take extra care to make sure we ourselves get to vote. It is just 22 days and some hours until Election Day here in the US so maybe we want to take that time and help someone find their voice, we ourselves may then find our own voices and then we can all take the time to make all of our voices heard.
To Speak and Be Heard
Br. Mark Brown said about Fear - The more we love, the less we fear; the less we fear, the more we love. Sometimes we can address our fears head on and simply dismiss them—or at least manage them. Sometimes love can overwhelm our fear. Sometimes doing some completely gratuitous act of loving-kindness will break through the sclerotic accretions of fear and the fountain begins to flow again.
Mahatma Gandhi said, "Prayer is not an old woman's idle amusement. Properly understood and applied, it is the most potent instrument of action."
Let us pray. Holy One, we lift our eyes to you in hope and awe. Grant that we may reject all apathy of spirit, all impatience and anxiety, so that, with the persistence of the widow, we may lift our voice again and again to seek your justice. Amen.