Proper 16, 13 Pentecost
27 Aug 2023
Romans 12:1-8, Matthew 16:13-20
Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you may discern what is the will of God-- what is good and acceptable and perfect. NRSV
Do not permit the ways of this world to mold and shape you. Instead, let Creator change you from the inside out, in the way a caterpillar becomes a butterfly. He will do this by giving you a new way of thinking, seeing, and walking. Then you will know for sure what the Great Spirit wants for you, things that are good, that make the heart glad, and that help you to walk in the path of becoming a mature and true human being. First Nations version.
Two ways of translating and interpreting the very same words. I fear we so easily become mired in one way of reading and hearing the Word and then are unable to grow. I want to be like that caterpillar, bravely burying myself in a cocoon in order to become something I can not yet discern. The caterpillar does not know it will become a butterfly; not even a child knows the adult he or she will grow to be. The French expression “que sera, sera” reminds us we cannot know the future, but we can make choices and walk the path of becoming a full member of the body of Christ.
We have all been members of different groups and organizations over the years and the times my belonging has been most fruitful were the times I stuck out in some way. Sometimes it was in an awkward and self-conscious way, like the time I tried to play on an adult summer softball team when I had barely played as a youth. I could throw the ball well and field reasonably well, thanks to being young and healthy and somewhat athletic, but I could not bat worth anything. I was a liability, but they let me play anyway because for this team it was more about having fun, followed by a beer or two, then winning a league championship. Were that the case I might have been retained as equipment manager!!
Sometimes you end up in a group where you are vital to the mission of whatever you are doing. I have been backpacking on more than one occasion where I was the only one with good navigational skills.
Most the time I have been in groups where there was some degree of choice and some degree of necessity as to why we were a group. Our endocrine practice held a one-day retreat once upon a time and part of what we did explored the strengths of everyone in the office. It helped all of us to see why some staff had problems in certain areas yet excelled in others. It also helped us see how we might be a help at times and a hindrance at others. The office ran much better after that day.
I must hand it to Paul; he had a great deal of chutzpah to write this letter. He was, after all, not writing to churches where he knew most of the people, but to a group of folks he had never met and who were gentiles. This was not really a letter but a treatise.
This work of his, written about 2000 years ago, has so much to say to me. It offers an antidote, or at least a part of an antidote, to the divisive society in which we live. He is not asking us to be perfect, despite the wording in the NRSV, but rather of changing our hearts and minds. In Matthew’s Gospel reading, Peter is blessed for recognizing Jesus as the One Sent By God to save us all, but his epiphany is only partial. He still sees Jesus as the one to restore the Davidic monarchy and the earthly power of Israel. His understanding is incomplete, and in some ways wrong, yet Jesus blesses him for this baby step.
The last part of this reading about the keys of heaven, sadly, has been used to say that “father knows best”, meaning that the church, or more specifically the denomination to which someone belongs, has been the authority to decide who is in and who is out of heaven. Listen again to what is said in the First Nations version: I am giving you the authority of Creator’s good road from above. The things you do not permit on earth will be what Creator has not permitted in the spirit world above. The things that you permit on earth will be what Creator has permitted in the spirit world above.
In other words, we are to strive to bring the realm of God to earth, not to include or exclude anyone because we claim to have an exclusive claim on correct knowledge. The Gospels are very plain about what Jesus taught, how he acted, and what he expected of us. This is, in modern terminology, where the rubber hits the road.
We in this room have many different opinions and viewpoints. But where we should be of one mind is that the Kingdom of God is open to everyone who follows the path of good living. As hard as it is at times, we need to keep our doors and our minds open, and we need to go and find folks to bring to the banquet table. I suspect we have diverse opinions on what atonement theology is or is not; the reality is that it is more important that we welcome those who may not be welcome anywhere else. What we do best as Anglicans is communal worship. In our worship we set aside so many things to truly make it common prayer. I think Jesus calls all Christians to that standard. It may make me sound elitist, when what I desire is just the opposite. And if we cannot make common cause in worship, we must strive to find common ground in being inclusive with issues of justice, love, and mercy.
Steven Charleston, retired Episcopal Bishop and Choctaw mystic, recently published a book of poems entitled Spirit Wheel. Below is an excerpt
OUR COMMON SPIRIT by Steven Charleston from Spirit Wheel.
Let us climb over the high walls of our own doctrine
Sneak past the guards of the caste systems
That tell us we are never to speak to those people
And see what it feels like to be out under the open sky.
Now is the moment for our peaceful insurrection.
Let us dare to love one another
To listen, to learn, to be the friends
Our common spirit tells us we are and always were.
In the name of the one True God, Amen.
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