The Second Sunday after Pentecost B - June 2, 2024

 Holy Cross Monastery, West Park, NY

Br. Robert Leo Sevensky

The Second Sunday after Pentecost B, June 2, 2024

• Deuteronomy 5:12-15
• 2 Corinthians 4:5-12
• Mark 2:23-3:6

Click here for an audio of the sermon

In August 1994, thirteen brothers from Holy Cross Monastery set out on a once in a lifetime pilgrimage to the great monastic sites in Europe. It was an amazing month-long journey where they visited Rome, Subiaco and Monte Casino, Camaldoli and Naples and Florence. And that was only Italy. Then there was Switzerland and Belgium and Luxembourg. And of course, France to visit the ruins of Cluny, which was once the largest church in Christendom, and the young very vibrant ecumenical community at Taize and the community at Bec in Normandy which was so influential on the life of the English church. It was a true pilgrimage. The point was never to get there first, wherever there might be, but to get there together and experience it as a group.

Travel can affect us in many ways. Some travel is designed for purely practical purposes, but the vacation or holiday travel or even pilgrimage travel that some, perhaps many, of us will do this summer have the power to change us profoundly. Travel allows us, if we are willing, to see the world and the human family in its rich diversity and nature in its rugged beauty. It allows us to learn about ourselves by moving with others, especially others that we live alongside and think we know all too well. It permits us to encounter other cultures, even apparently similar ones such as Western Europe, and better see our own culture in its uniqueness and contingency. And it can help us to understand a little more clearly our own place in the world as we weigh our choices and their consequences.

All travel, even dreaded business travel, offers unique opportunities to catch a glimpse of the face of Jesus present, though often hidden, in the lives and faces of others and, as our friend Bishop Stacey Sauls reminded our community yesterday, particularly in the lives and the faces of the poor and the marginalized.  

What were the results of our 1994 community pilgrimage? It's hard to say. Such exposure and adventure is certainly no magic bullet, either vocational or otherwise. It turned out that of the thirteen of us who went on that pilgrimage, six subsequently left our community, though they might have left in any case… pilgrimage or not. Of the seven who remained, only three of us still survive, and here we are together in this Chapel this morning.

Today at 2:00 two vans will arrive to take eleven of our brothers and, believe it or not, our financial advisor to Newark airport to fly to South Africa for a visit of slightly more than two weeks. They will join our Superior who is already there to visit with our brothers at our priory outside Cape Town, to visit our Holy Cross School in the Eastern Cape, and to explore something of the life and culture and history of that complex country, however briefly. And like all travel, it has the potential of allowing them to explore their own selves as well: motives, cultural baggage, privilege and poverty. And unlike our experience of say Switzerland or Italy and France in 1994, the poor and the marginalized will not be hidden from their sight, at least not readily. They are everywhere there, and by extension so is the face of Christ.

Today’s scriptural readings have much to say about Sabbath and sabbath time and sabbath rest. Whatever its deeper meaning, the Sabbath is a gift and an opportunity to see our world and ourselves differently, more clearly, more connected and perhaps more holy than we knew. Rabbi Abraham Heschel in his book on the Sabbath reminds us that for the Hebrew people and their spiritual descendants, Sabbath is the central temple or shrine, one made not of wood or stones but out of time itself. The reading from Deuteronomy tells us that Sabbath is a time of rest, of non-work. In fact, it later developed extremely limited travel restrictions for the Sabbath. But there is something of a Sabbath dimension to travel. And while travel is rarely restful, it can often be interesting and rewarding and holy.

Every Sunday at the conclusion of vespers we say a prayer to usher in our Monday sabbath day. It captures for me the essence of both the sabbath rest and the adventure of travel:

O God, in the course of this busy life you give us times of refreshment and peace: Grant that we may use our Sabbath to rebuild our bodies and renew our minds that our spirits may be opened to the goodness of your creation and our lives refreshed with the bounty of your love; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. 

Whether going on a pilgrimage or beginning a sabbatical leave or just starting our day off, it is helpful to begin and end that time with prayer.  

My brothers know that I am a regular source of monastic trivia and that I’m frequently reminding them of how we did it in the old days, even though I may not have experienced them personally. I am, after all, the archivist of the Order. One of the things I am reminded of this morning is the traditional monastic practice of beginning a journey with certain rituals. Our Rule from 1900 says that the going forth of a member on the mission must always be a solemn event. He will prepare for his journey the day before, so that he will not be hurried immediately before leaving. He will make a visit to the Chapel where the Blessed Sacrament is reserved, and will receive the blessing of the Superior. And he will say the itinerary of our breviary before leaving the house or in setting out on his journey. After returning to the house from he will receive the blessing from the Superior and will say the Thanksgiving.

The itinerary is a brief service of prayer that was normally included in all breviaries or monastic prayer books. It begins with the invocation: “Our help is in the name of the Lord, the maker of heaven and earth” and then continues with the beautiful psalm 121 which was one of the psalms of ascent said by ancient pilgrims as they climbed up to Jerusalem, and later by centuries of Christian travelers as they set out on their journey:

I lift up my eyes to the hills; *

from where is my help to come?

My help comes from the LORD, *

the maker of heaven and earth.

He will not let your foot be moved *

and he who watches over you will not fall asleep.

Behold, he who keeps watch over Israel *

shall neither slumber nor sleep;

The LORD himself watches over you; *

the LORD is your shade at your right hand,

So that the sun shall not strike you by day, *

nor the moon by night.

The LORD shall preserve you from all evil; *

it is he who shall keep you safe.

The LORD shall watch over your going out and your coming in, *

from this time forth for evermore.

This is followed by three brief prayers. I invite you, my brothers, who are setting out on your journey to South Africa to please stand as we here join in these prayers of blessing over you and indeed over all travelers.

Let us pray.

Heavenly Father, who brought Abraham out of Ur of the Chaldees and preserved him unhurt through all the ways of his pilgrimage, be to you in your journey a support in setting out, a comfort by the way, and a protection from danger that you may prosperously reached the place where you go and at length return home in safety. 

Lord Jesus, who travelled with the disciples on the road to Emmaus: Be with you in the way that you may know him in the Scriptures, in the Breaking of Bread, and in the hearts of all whom you meet.

May the Holy Spirit, who by the leading of a star guided the wise men to the newborn Christ, enable you in your journey to find and serve him in all that you do, and with him in the end enjoy the glory everlasting. Amen.

Go with God! Via con dios! Idź z Bogiem.

Safe travel.

Proper 4 - Year B: June 3, 2018

Holy Cross Monastery, West Park, NY
Br. Josép R. Martínez-Cubero, OHC
Proper 4 Year B- Sunday, June 3, 2018

To hear the sermon in its fullness click here.

I wonder what Jesus must have said to the disciples after the encounter with the Pharisees at the grainfields? I’m thinking it may have been something like: “thanks a lot for getting me in trouble with the darn Pharisees.” You see, in my former life, I was, among other things, the director of a youth theatre. I worked with youth of all ages, including teenagers. I directed teenagers in theatrical productions- fun! I ran summer camps for teenagers- fun! I took teenagers on outings- fun! I took teenagers on hiking trips- fun! And I have been with teenagers when they are hungry- not fun! Quite a bit of whining can ensue.

It’s easy to forget that many of Jesus’ followers were very young people. It is very likely that his disciples were mostly teenagers. Who knows why they were walking on the grainfields on the Sabbath? I have read many scholarly commentaries and opinions about this Gospel lesson and have to conclude that no one really knows. But as a theatre director, when I read this Gospel lesson I fill in the blanks with a theatrical dialogue that goes sort of like this:

-“Man, I’m hungry!”-“Me too, I’m starving.”-“Hey, teacher, is it OK if we pluck some heads of grain?”-“No”, says Jesus, “It’s the Sabbath.”-“But we are starving!”-“You babies”, says one of the women.-“Are we there yet?”-“When are we going to get to eat?”-“Are you sure we can’t pluck some heads of grain?”-“Fine!” Says Jesus “Go ahead.” They begin to pluck heads of grain, and USL enter the Pharisees:-“They should have stayed home on the Sabbath.”-“Or they should have prepared their snacks yesterday.”

Our Gospel lesson this morning points to the difference between the letter of the law and the spirit of the law. To the Pharisees, the actions of the disciples on the grainfields, and of Jesus at the synagogue appear to deliberately disobey the commandment to remember the Sabbath day and keep it holy (Exodus 20:8; Deuteronomy 5:12). But Jesus sees the Sabbath in a different light. He reminds the Pharisees of the story about David taking consecrated bread that was supposed to be reserved for priests (Leviticus 24:5-9). 

David was a refugee fleeing from Saul, who had clearly declared his intentions to kill him. Jesus implies that the priest broke the letter of the law concerning the bread in order to relieve David’s hunger. The priest not only sustained the life of a weary traveler, but also contributed to David living into his calling as the king anointed to replace Saul (1 Samuel 16:1-13). Jesus insists that sometimes demands of the law must be set aside in favor of meeting greater needs, especially when those greater needs promote a person’s well-being and facilitate the coming of blessings.


In the scene at the synagogue Jesus is honoring the chief objective of the mandate to preserve life, as read in the book of Deuteronomy: “ I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Choose life so that you and your descendants may live, loving the Lord your God, obeying and holding fast to God; for that means life to you and length of days” (Deuteronomy 30:19-20). What better day than the Sabbath, a day meant to promote God’s commitment to humanity’s wellbeing, to heal a man’s damaged hand? With the healing of his hand, the man may have received back his ability to work, and to provide for his family. The event represents more than just fixing something that has gone wrong. It represents the restoration to wholeness and dignity, the promotion of life and human prosperity.

It was when those who claimed to speak for God used their position to draw rigid boundary lines of inclusion and exclusion that Jesus looked around at them with anger. The next time someone tries to tell you that a good Christian should show no anger, remind him or her of this passage. Sometimes Christians may need to get angry, when religious values become oppressive in the hands of careless stewards. Sometimes Christians may need to get angry, when what begins as a noble motive becomes perverted.

Sometimes Christians may need to get angry, when those who live in privilege turn into insensitive leaders, out of touch with, and indifferent of the needs of the vulnerable. That's the hardness of heart that moves Jesus to grief in the synagogue, and it is the hardness of heart described in the book of the prophet Isaiah: “.... these people draw near with their mouths and honor me with their lips, while their hearts are far from me, and their worship of me is a human commandment learned by rote”. (Isaiah 29:13) In the end, on that Sabbath, the Pharisees went out and plotted how to destroy Jesus. Amazing! One must wonder how on earth they didn’t question whether that was a holy thing to do on the Sabbath?

This is not a Gospel lesson about Jesus rejecting the law, or rendering the Sabbath as unimportant. But keeping the Sabbath must always reflect God’s reign of love being worked out in the world. For Jesus love was the ground of religious and moral law. And for us, followers of Jesus, love of God and love of neighbor must always define the law. And why? Because only love can expose religious hypocrisy, only love can expose the oppressive tyrannies of fear. After all, as our Presiding Bishop Michael Curry reminded the entire world a few weeks ago, “If it’s not about love, it’s not about God.” ~¡Que así sea! En el nombre del Padre, del Hijo y del Espíritu Santo, Amen+

 
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References:
1.   Donald H. Juel, Shaping the Scriptural Imagination: Truth, Meaning, and the Theological Interpretation of the Bible (Waco: Baylor University Press, 2011)
2.   Thomas Jay Ord, The Uncontrolling Love of God: An Open and Relational Account of Providence (AVP Academic, 2015)

Proper 4 C- May 29, 2016

Holy Cross Monastery, West Park, NY
Br.Peter Rostron, OHC
Proper 4 Year C Sunday, May 29, 2016

 Seeing God in the ordinary
(Photo credit  Elizabeth Boe)

At last, we are settling into ordinary time. The past three months have been filled with the intensity of Lent, Holy Week, and Easter, followed by the joy of Eastertide with its abundance of alleluias, and, most recently, we’ve had three great, first-class feasts: Pentecost, Trinity Sunday, and Corpus Christi. Now, we can relax and settle into the comfortable routine of what is commonly referred to in the church calendar as ordinary time. School and church programs will be on hiatus. Maybe you’ll take a vacation to visit friends, or explore interesting museums or historic sites, or just lie on a beach and enjoy beautiful sunsets. Or perhaps you’ll just stay at home, slow down, and sip on cool glasses of iced tea. It will be a relief to simply enjoy the ordinary pleasures of life.

But what about our spiritual lives, our prayer lives? They hopefully will not go on hiatus as well. Ordinary does not mean absent or less important or lacking in intensity. God is still present even though we are in between church seasons and do not have the inspiration and ritual of a major feast in these months. God is not a distant force whom we know only in sacred spaces and through eloquent prayer or festive celebrations. No, God is here with us, everywhere present in all things, in us, at all times. The stuff we are made of is the same stuff that the whole of the universe is made of, and that is God. God dwells in the ordinary, and we experience God through very ordinary prayer and in the everydayness of life. No feast or church or script, or even any words at all, are required.

Ann and Barry Ulanov open their classic work, Primary Speech, by stating: “Everybody prays. People pray whether or not they call it prayer. We pray every time we ask for help, understanding, or strength, in or out of religion. Our movements, our stillness, the expressions on our faces, our tone of voice, our actions, what we dream and daydream, as well as what we actually put into words say who and what we are. To pray is to listen to and hear this self who is speaking.” I would sum it up by saying simply that our very lives are prayer. Prayer is our relationship with God. We are part of God, God is part of us, we are never not in relationship with God. When Paul enjoins us to pray without ceasing, it really is not as difficult as one might think. Mostly, it requires us to be continually attentive and intentional - about who we are, what we are doing, who we are with - all with an awareness of God’s immediate and loving presence within and all around us.

I recently completed a four-week, intensive spiritual direction training program, which not only was relevant for my beginning work as a director, but, even more significantly, for my own formation as a monk. One of the central truths that resonated deep within me in the program was the essential role that God plays in the direction experience. There are three present in the room: the director, the directee, and God. It is prayer. As I considered this, it struck me that this dynamic extends beyond just an intimate conversation with one other person to every kind of situation we might be in, from our homes to our workplaces and to the grocery store, while enjoying a fine meal or taking out the trash, with one person or many or none, in harmony or in conflict, awake or asleep. God is present and prayer is happening always and in everything we do, in every ordinary, routine place, even when and where we may least expect it. Our task is to choose to listen, and respond, to the prayer that God is constantly initiating in us.


In the closing prayers of the spiritual direction program, one of the participants prayed aloud for Donald Trump. Many of us remarked afterward that we found this quite jarring. Why should that be? God is present in Mr. Trump just as God is present in each of us, yet for some reason we felt differently about him. Another time in the program, a participant shared his profound experiences of God while ministering to men in a local prison. He said that some of the greatest expressions of love he has ever witnessed took place among those prisoners. As the people of Galatia are turning away from God, Paul knows that God is still present among them. He addresses them harshly, but he does not turn away from them or give up on them. And in today’s gospel, we see a Roman centurion, one who bears the violent authority of the oppressor, as someone who also is a person of deep humility and love, of whom Jesus says, "not even in Israel have I found such faith." We are called to seek God in everyone, to open our hearts to every person in prayer, no matter their place in life.

Likewise, God desires us to bring all of our selves to prayer as well. There is an abundance of content and emotion that can be brought to prayer. In their book, the Ulanovs carefully explore a variety of facets of prayer, many of which surprised me. They devote a chapter to prayer and fantasy, another to prayer and aggression, another to prayer and sexuality, and another to prayer and fear. The message is that there is nothing that cannot be brought to prayer, no part of us that we need worry about keeping from God. God can take it. He can bear our anger, our pettiness, all of our failings, all of our ordinariness. After all, God already knows everything about us, and still loves us. As the psalmist said, “O Lord, you have searched me and known me. You know when I sit down and when I rise up; you...are acquainted with all my ways. Even before a word is on my tongue, O Lord, you know it completely.”

So, why bother to pray, one might ask? God may know us, but he wants us to know him, too. When we reveal ourselves to God in prayer - in all of our ordinariness - then we are more fully open to receive God’s grace and God’s love. In the radical act of sending Jesus to us, God demonstrated his ultimate wish for us: that we let go of our selfish, ego-driven desires and turn ourselves over to God’s love and will. But that can only happen through prayer. It is in our own prayer that we discover what God’s particular desire is for each of us, and we discern what God would have us do. It is only through this completely unfettered relationship with God, exposing our whole selves, in all of the ordinariness of our everyday lives, that we can become the person God wants us to be.

There are many examples of this which God has provided in scripture. Along with Primary Speech, another of the excellent books that were part of the spiritual direction program was Inviting the Mystic, Supporting the Prophet, by Katherine Dyckman and Patrick Carroll. Sprinkled throughout the book were references to archetypal experiences of prayer found in scripture that can be relevant and inspirational to our modern lives. There is a tendency, I’m afraid, that, because they are in Holy Scripture, we assign them a kind of elevated, other-worldly status. They’re not applicable to us, they’re beyond our own experience. Yet, all of them involved ordinary people whose prayer and openness to God led them to take a risk, to trust in God, and to be open to transformation. Abraham followed God’s call, trusting that he was being led to a better place, for his and his descendants’ sake. Ruth made and kept a simple vow to stay with her mother-in-law Naomi, which ultimately bore great fruit. Moses resisted and argued and pleaded with God because he did not feel worthy or capable of leading his people to freedom, yet he remained obedient. We can do the same. We can listen and respond to God. We can choose to pay attention to the burning bush that suddenly appears amidst the ordinariness of our lives.

Lord, let this seemingly ordinary time - whose beginning was marked by the descent of the Holy Spirit into the church - be a time of deepening prayer for each of us; a time of allowing the Holy Spirit to work within us; a time of knowing our bodies to be the body of your son Jesus Christ, doing your work in the world; a time of fully realizing your love for us and our constant relationship with you; a time for extra-ordinary things to happen.  

Amen.