LAKE JAMES

NORTH CAROLINA

Epiphany V + Feb. 5, 2006 + St. Paul’s, Morganton, NC

+ In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.

For many centuries, one of the chief duties, but also great joys of the priesthood has been the daily recitation of the Divine Office. For diocesan priests in the Anglican Tradition, that has usually meant the Prayerbook Offices of Daily Morning and Evening Prayer. Offering that unceasing round of worship is one of the ways priests fulfill the special role conferred on us at ordination, although, thanks be to God, many lay people also engage in that daily discipline and find great joy in that ministry.

In the 100th Psalm, often used at the beginning of Daily Morning Prayer, are these familiar words: “Enter His gates with thanksgiving, go into His courts with praise…”

This past week, I have been meditating on the act on entering, thinking prayerfully about all the “entering” I am permitted, invited, and privileged to do. Last November, with the approval of the bishop of this diocese, your Wardens and Vestry called me to be your Interim Parish Priest and so to enter into the life of this parish. Each Sunday, there is the particular joy of entering the sanctuary to celebrate the Holy Eucharist, bringing with me concerns for parishioners and others who may be sick, or whose lives may be in turmoil, for the dying, for the dead and those in bereavement, as well as rejoicing with others in their times of happiness.

There are the special moments of other enterings. The entering of your homes, not as salesman for the Church, but as priest and brother in Christ, and, I hope, as time goes on and we get to know each other better, as friend as well. There are the enterings of hospital rooms, meeting rooms and all sorts of other places – sometimes in joy, sometimes in sadness. I thought also of the times I enter my study at home to write sermons and to work on plans regarding the ministry of this parish, a ministry I am so privileged to share with Father John, the Wardens and Vestry, and with all of you.

Almost all the “enterings” I have mentioned are surely akin to those in your lives and I dare hope that, as I have been listing mine, you may have had some mental images of meaningful “enterings” you have had in the past week or so. If, by now, you are wondering why in the world Father Zadig is going on and on about “enterings,” it’s because that’s the word which kept coming to me as I pondered the Bible readings assigned for use this morning.

In the Old Testament lesson, we heard how the woman of Shunem asked her husband to build a special room on their house so that Elisha, the Holy Man of God could enter and rest there when he felt the need. In the Epistle, St. Paul enters the lives of others as he fulfills his vocation by sharing the Good News of Christ with them. In the Gospel, St. Mark tells how Jesus entered the house of Andrew and Peter, later adding that Jesus said that it was his mission to go on, entering the neighboring towns and villages as He went on about His Father’s business.

The Judeo-Christian Tradition not only commends, it commands its followers to enter the lives of others. If we have any understanding at all of our religion and the will of our God, to be aware of the needs of others and to do nothing of meaning to minister to them is just not acceptable. I think the late Charles Schultz expressed it wonderfully in an episode of the Peanuts cartoon. Snoopy the dog is standing in the backyard in the midst of a snowstorm, shivering in the cold. Along come two of the children, warm and comfortable in their heavy coats, high boots, gloves and scarves. Seeing the dog and his suffering, they decide to do something to help so, walking up to him, they say “Be of good cheer, Snoopy! Be of good cheer!” And then, having done their good deed, they walk off, leaving the poor dog just as cold and miserable as before!

By way of contrast, consider what happened in each of the Bible readings we heard this morning. Elisha, confronted by the Shunemite woman’s grief, acted! He left his place on Mount Carmel and went to her home, entered it, and restored her son to life. Saint Paul, called by God to leave his comfortable, familiar life, left what he was doing and entered a new life, preaching, teaching, spreading the Word of God. And in today’s Gospel, Jesus, learning of the illness of St. Peter’s mother-in-law, left the synagogue, went to their home, entered it, and healed her.

Consider this: to enter somewhere requires one to leave somewhere else. If we are called to enter the lives of others, we have to leave some of the selfish, self-centered preoccupations which would either keep us from entering or, at the least, make such enterings meaningless. If we are all bound up in ourselves and our own concerns, it can be hard to enter the space of others, for while we might seem to do so, we wouldn’t really be there for them at all! In the cartoon, the children might have appeared to enter Snoopy’s life but, in fact, did not. They were not ready to enter his situation because they did not first “leave” their own.

It seems to me that today’s Bible readings are telling us that, as assembled members of the People of God, we are to be people of action, of involvement with others. We are not really given a choice. A basic part of our religion, of our relationship with God, requires us to reach out beyond our concerns for self in order to care for others in ways which, as far as we are able, will be real ministrations to those in need. True Christianity cannot be twisted into being a mere philosophy or simply a set of right beliefs without destroying an essential element, making it a caricature of itself. God became human as the divine act of entering – of involvement! So we, as Christians, are called to leave self-centeredness and enter the lives of others. That, it seems to me, is one major point to be learned from today’s Bible readings. But – and it’s a big “but” – there is another equally important message there as well.

Consider Elisha, the man of God. He was not in solitude on Mount Carmel so as to be able to do crossword puzzles nor was he writing a novel. He was there following the ancient practice of withdrawing from the active bustle of daily life in order to be deeply immersed in prayer. He was involved in a central aspect of his vocation, that is, communion with God.

Saint Paul, for all his stirring exhortations to be doing, also reminds those in his charge to “pray without ceasing,” to be people of prayer. Our Lord not only healed Peter’s Mother-In-Law but also, the Gospel goes on to say that, “in the morning, a great while before day, Jesus rose, went out to a lonely place, - and there, he prayed.”

Over and over again our Faith teaches that there is an essential connection between a life of service to others and a life of prayer. The pages of the Bible are consistent in that, the history of Church teaching through the centuries demonstrates its truth and I very much doubt that any new revelation from God has suddenly changed that. The Christian life is intended to be both a life of action and a life of prayer with prayer strengthening us to engage in active ministry to others, and our active ministries bringing us back to the need for prayer – regular, ordered, disciplined prayer, not just the impulse of the moment.

Did you notice a wonderful twist in both the Old Testament and Gospel readings this morning? The Shunemite woman’s kindness to Elisha was not based on a hope for a reward from him. In fact, when Elisha asked what she wanted, she said “forget it! I’m fine! I live among my own people, I have enough.” She wasn’t looking for any favors, she just wanted to be helpful to Elisha, and she was. But, in time, she did need something. The tables were turned, and having served, she was served in return with the healing of her son. Likewise, in the Gospel, St. Peter’s sick Mother-In-Law is no sooner healed when she gets up and serves in return.

Sometimes we are so quick to label people and actions! We divide the world into the healers and the healees. Physicians, Psychologists, Social Workers, Nurses, Priests and so on are healers while patients, clients, parishioners are healees until sometimes, the tables are turned and the healers become the healees, or vice versa! When that happens (and it’s hardly a rare occurrence) we see the essence of the very nature of the Church as a living body, an organism, in which each part, each member ministers and is ministered to. What about you? To whom have you ministered recently – and who has ministered to you? The opportunities for service to others, that is the doors we are permitted to enter, are constantly opening and closing. It might be nice if we could simply rededicate ourselves to God and others, to rid ourselves of self-centeredness and indifference to others, enter their lives and just happily remain there as holy people. But we aren’t like that. Instead, our lives are a constant entering and leaving, sometimes in the right direction, sometimes in the wrong. Maybe that’s why periodically the Bible readings remind us, our friends remind us, even preachers remind us! So, this morning, may I remind you (and may I remind myself) that as Christians, we do have the amazing joys of caring for and serving others, but also of being cared for and being served, that we do have the amazing privilege of being people of prayer, and that those are not separate vocations but integral parts of living out our baptismal covenant with Almighty God. In keeping that covenant we do “enter God’s gates with thanksgiving, we do go into His courts with praise.”

For which I would simply add “Thanks be to God!”

+ In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.

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