Online Sermons
12th Sunday in Pentecost (proper 16): August 23, Martha Rogers
Welcome to our website. You are here: The Word --> Online SermonsO Lord of hosts, happy are they who put their trust in you! (from today’s psalm 84)
If you come and visit in my office, you’ll get an opportunity to see how I’ve decorated it since I arrived. There are plants and books, candles and icons, a black and white photo of a round loaf of bread given to me by Phoebe Griswold, wife of our past presiding bishop, a bible saying and more. One of my favorite wall decorations is a metal word that hangs near the loaf of bread and it says “Spirit”. I’m looking for another similar metal wall hanging that will be the word “life” to go with it, but so far I’ve been unsuccessful.
Spirit and Life. The two things I am constantly on the look-out for.
When I interviewed here, I was asked what my criteria for success was. The answer I gave then, and the answer I still use for my criteria, is Spirit and Life.
Whenever I am in a situation which needs a decision, my inner process is to look for the spirit of Christ or the spirit of love, holiness and compassion along with my searching for life in the situation. Where is there energy? Is it positive and sacred energy, bringing life to the need at hand? You may never know I’m looking for these things, but I am.
I might be visiting with an individual who would like some pastoral care or spiritual direction and I look for what brings spirit and life to this individual. If I cannot locate anything spirit-filled or life giving, we search it out together. Or I may be at a vestry meeting or a board meeting where we may be at an impasse or going in many directions at once. When that happens, I start my searching….where is there spirit and life in our work, I ask myself. Sometimes the discussion is difficult, and we think we cannot accept where it is going. Or a very hard decision has to be made, where some are asked to give up what they value in order to change and work with the process. Sometimes I am meeting with people about family relationships or church functions or life’s disappointments and directions. In those thorny and complex appointments, I have to find spirit and life or I’m afraid we’d go on for hours stuck in the muck. Spirit and life. When I find it, it is usually directed towards a satisfactory conclusion to whatever is happening with the agenda or the appointment or the process. If something is not full of spirit and life, then I tend to avoid it or cancel it or not participate with it. Spirit and life, my criteria for looking for God in all I do. For in finding the spirit, life is found.
And how do I know that? Jesus said in today’s gospel that the spirit gives life. He goes on to say that the words that he has spoken are spirit and life. Jesus’ words are spirit and life, they are of God. Words said to his disciples at a difficult time in their journey while Jesus was talking about being the bread of life, inviting those who eat of his bread to live forever.
Jesus says many difficult things in our sacred gospels. That doesn’t seem to bother Simon Peter, who acclaims that the things Jesus puts into words are eternal life.
What does Jesus say? Listen to some of his words and see if you feel a sense of spirit and life radiating from these sayings. In the gospels, I heard my savior say “I am the resurrection and the life. Because you believe in Me, you will never die”; “I am bread, broken for you”. I heard my savior say: “I will never leave or forsake, give up on, you:” and “I will be your light”. Then I heard my savior also say: “I have loved you and I still do”, and “I am your shepherd, I will lead you and carry you.” and “I want your life to be one of abundance, for I have come to give you life and give it abundantly.” Then there are those sayings of Jesus like: “Ask and you shall receive,” “Peace be to you” and “I am with you always.” Jesus also said “You are blessed because you believe in me, even though you have not seen me” and he said: “I have called you my friend”. He promises us when he says: “I am preparing a place for you” or “I have sent you a comforter” and “You ARE forgiven.”
Listen again:
I am the resurrection and the life.
Because you believe in me, you will never die.
I am bread, broken for you.
I will never leave or forsake, give up on, you
I will be your light.
I have loved you and I still do.
I am your shepherd; I will lead you and carry you.
I want your life to be one of abundance.
Ask and you shall receive.
Peace be to you.
I am with you always.
You are blessed because you believe in me, even though you have not seen me.
I have called you my friend.
I am preparing a place for you.
I have sent you a comforter.
You ARE forgiven.
I have come to give you life and to give it abundantly.There are many other things that Jesus has said. Do you feel it, that spirit? That life?
Do you sense it? Can you really accept it and believe it? Today Jesus said, “The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life.”Jesus’ words are spirit and life. Look for them in all you do and think, for in finding the spirit, life is also found. Abundantly.
Maybe that’s what Peter really knew when he replied to Jesus: You have the words of eternal life. To whom can we go?
To whom can we go?
To whom do you go?
Better yet, to whom, or to what, do you belong?
Amen.