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Trinity Episcopal Church Hattiesburg, Mississippi Proper 28, November 19, 2006 Go To Trinity's Home Page

1 Samuel 1:4-20
1 Samuel 2:1-10
Heb 10:11-14, (15-18), 19-25
Mark 13:1-8
Collect of the Day
From the Revised Common Lectionary as Adapted for Use by the Episcopal Church
and Authorized by the 74 th General Convention of the ECUSA

And every priest stands day after day at his service, offering again and again the same sacrifices that can never take away sins. But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, “he sat down at the right hand of God,” and since then has been waiting “until his enemies would be made a footstool for his feet.” For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are sanctified. And the Holy Spirit also testifies to us, for after saying, “This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, says the Lord: I will put my laws in their hearts, and I will write them on their minds,” he also adds, “I will remember their sins and their lawless deeds no more.” Where there is forgiveness of these, there is no longer any offering for sin. Therefore, my friends, since we have confidence to enter the sanctuary by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain (that is, through his flesh), and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us approach with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold fast to the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who has promised is faithful. And let us consider how to provoke one another to love and good deeds, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day approaching. [Heb 10:11-14,(15-18),19-25]

     The past several mornings I watched portions of a series airing on NBC on the Today Show called “The Mysteries of Faith.” The show had Matt Lauer and other correspondents traveling the globe to bring us the basic tenets of the world’s major religions including Judaism, Christianity, Islam, and just the other day, Buddhism and Hinduism.

     According to Religious Tolerance.org, an Ontario, Canada based organization, there are about nineteen major world’s religions.[1] These religions can be subdivided into a total of 270 large religious groups, and many smaller ones. The three largest are Christianity, Islam and Hinduism with over 2 trillion Christians, 1.2 trillion Muslims, and 828 million Hindus. There are 34,000 separate Christian groups in the world, and over half of them are independent churches totally uninterested in connecting with the major denominations. Interestingly, the fourth largest group of people claiming to be religious – amounting to 775 million people – claim no formal religious affiliation. Judaism is eleventh on the list, with 14.5 million adherents world wide.

     According to NBC’s “The Mysteries of Faith,” Hinduism is among the fastest growing religions world wide. Although only 0.5% of the U.S. population is Hindu it is growing.

     What do you suppose is the reason is for such religious pluralism? There may be many explanations – including the action of the Holy Spirit – but there is one factor I think we need to talk about: faddism. We Americans love things that are new and different. And religions outside the main flow of Christianity have appeal to many Americans simply because they are different.

     Hinduism has become a recent fad in the American religious scene - the concept of karma in particular. One definition of karma is found in Alicia Keys popular song called “Karma, Baby!” In it she sings, “It’s called karma, baby and it goes around. What goes around comes around. What goes up must come down.” Another definition in popular culture is exemplified by an episode of My Name is Earl in which Earl went about righting about 200 wrongs he had committed in a karmic attempt to erase his past mistakes with current good deeds. These ideas of karma present a “lite” version of the Hindu faith that does not do justice to karma as a neutral, self-perpetuating cosmic law of cause and effect.[2]

     That kind of thinking might explain why Britney Spears has again decided to switch religions. According to NBC, Britney who was raised a Baptist, is now apparently dabbling in Hinduism. She recently attended a Hindu Temple in Maui where her baby son, Sean Preston, was blessed.[3] Previously she was mentored in Kabbalah, a branch of Jewish mysticism, by Madonna.

     “Hinduism is a complicated and beautiful religion but much more complicated to adopt as a lifestyle, particularly in our short-cut culture” (Mark Hawthorne, Hinduism Today). 3 And as such, it is something that needs to be pursued carefully and in depth to completely grasp. The present infatuation with karma and with certain other elements of Hinduism is a kind of Hindu-esque sampling of the flavor, images and style of a 6,000-year-old faith but one that sadly does not do justice to the rigor and theology of this classical and rich religious tradition.

     Some Christians also do this within the confines of Christianity – assembling Jesus-esque things from scripture or tradition, taking what sounds appealing and leaving behind what seems unappetizing.

     Jesus’ teachings and his life do not lend themselves to a smorgasbord approach to theology. Jesus told us that we are to love God with all our hearts and all our minds and all our souls. And we are to love our neighbor as ourselves. This is a take-it-all approach whereby we let the meaning and life of Jesus dictate every aspect of our life, not just those we find safe, comfortable, or convenient. Some of Jesus’ sayings and teachings are edgy and hard: “Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth; I have not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law; and one’s foes will be members of one’s own household.” (Matt 10:34-35) Some are comforting if bewildering: “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life” (John 3:16).

     This is not to say that we are not free to evaluate and critique our beliefs and to interpret the scripture and our tradition by the use of our reason. But in order to do that kind of hard spiritual work, we need a community of people who are willing to roll up their sleeves with us and work toward understanding. It is easy to cobble together a comfortable spirituality when we go on our faith journey alone. It is harder but so much more satisfying when we are together and held accountable by one another. The author of the Letter to the Hebrews knew this when he wrote, “ Let us consider how to provoke one another to love and good deeds, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another … (Heb 10:24-25).”

     Christianity is all about personal transformation. But, we are less likely to be transformed by our individual pursuits than we are by developing and nurturing a corporate partnership between each other and God. If we remain unknown to each other not only are we denying our gifts to one another, we are also risking remaining unchanged, untransformed.

     God gave us each other for our journey. God’s grace was present in Jesus Christ, and God’s grace is available through the Holy Spirit, and from the person sitting next to you. That grace means company along the way. That grace means forgiveness of our faults. It does not mean adversarial provocation, but rather encouraging one another by listening and talking and helping. Grace means change.

     But I think that we sometimes need to be reminded of how we can best serve as instruments of God’s grace. In his book, “What’s So Amazing About Grace,” Phillip Yancey points out that part of our problem is in the nature of grace itself. Grace is scandalous. It’s hard to accept, hard to believe, and hard to receive. Grace shocks us in what it offers. It is truly not of this world.

     Grace teaches us that God does for others what we would never do for them. If it were up to us, we would save the not-so-bad; we wouldn’t save the drunk, the beggar, the homeless. But God starts with prostitutes, the lame, the diseased, and the dispossessed, and then works downward from there. Grace is a gift that costs everything to the giver and nothing to the receiver. It is given to those who don’t deserve it, who barely recognize it, and who may hardly appreciate it.

     And that is just what we are called to do as instruments of God’s boundless grace. Imagine how much more kingdom-like this world would be if we could be as grace-filled and as giving as a God who sees that no one is beyond redemption!

     That is our challenge. To develop an understanding of grace so sufficient that we truly can provoke one another to love and good deeds, and encourage one another.

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On the day when Elkanah sacrificed, he would give portions to his wife Peninnah and to all her sons and daughters; but to Hannah he gave a double portion, because he loved her, though the LORD had closed her womb. Her rival used to provoke her severely, to irritate her, because the LORD had closed her womb. So it went on year by year; as often as she went up to the house of the LORD, she used to provoke her. Therefore Hannah wept and would not eat. Her husband Elkanah said to her, “Hannah, why do you weep? Why do you not eat? Why is your heart sad? Am I not more to you than ten sons?” After they had eaten and drunk at Shiloh, Hannah rose and presented herself before the LORD. Now Eli the priest was sitting on the seat beside the doorpost of the temple of the LORD. She was deeply distressed and prayed to the LORD, and wept bitterly. She made this vow: “O LORD of hosts, if only you will look on the misery of your servant, and remember me, and not forget your servant, but will give to your servant a male child, then I will set him before you as a nazirite until the day of his death. He shall drink neither wine nor intoxicants, and no razor shall touch his head.” As she continued praying before the LORD, Eli observed her mouth. Hannah was praying silently; only her lips moved, but her voice was not heard; therefore Eli thought she was drunk. So Eli said to her, “How long will you make a drunken spectacle of yourself? Put away your wine.” But Hannah answered, “No, my lord, I am a woman deeply troubled; I have drunk neither wine nor strong drink, but I have been pouring out my soul before the LORD. Do not regard your servant as a worthless woman, for I have been speaking out of my great anxiety and vexation all this time.” Then Eli answered, “Go in peace; the God of Israel grant the petition you have made to him.” And she said, “Let your servant find favor in your sight.” Then the woman went to her quarters, ate and drank with her husband, and her countenance was sad no longer. They rose early in the morning and worshiped before the LORD; then they went back to their house at Ramah. Elkanah knew his wife Hannah, and the LORD remembered her. In due time Hannah conceived and bore a son. She named him Samuel, for she said, “I have asked him of the LORD.”

Second Reading: 1 Samuel 2:1-10

1 Hannah prayed and said,
“My heart exults in the LORD;
my strength is exalted in my God.
My mouth derides my enemies,
because I rejoice in my victory.

2 “There is no Holy One like the LORD,
no one besides you;
there is no Rock like our God.

3 Talk no more so very proudly,
let not arrogance come from your mouth;
for the LORD is a God of knowledge,
and by him actions are weighed.

4 The bows of the mighty are broken,
but the feeble gird on strength.

5 Those who were full have hired themselves out for bread,
but those who were hungry are fat with spoil.
The barren has borne seven,
but she who has many children is forlorn.

6 The LORD kills and brings to life;
he brings down to Sheol and raises up.

7 The LORD makes poor and makes rich;
he brings low, he also exalts.

8 He raises up the poor from the dust;
he lifts the needy from the ash heap,
to make them sit with princes
and inherit a seat of honor.
For the pillars of the earth are the LORD’s,
and on them he has set the world.

9 “He will guard the feet of his faithful ones,
but the wicked shall be cut off in darkness;
for not by might does one prevail.

10 The LORD! His adversaries shall be shattered;
the Most High will thunder in heaven.
The LORD will judge the ends of the earth;
he will give strength to his king,
and exalt the power of his anointed.”

Heb 10:11-14,(15-18),19-25

And every priest stands day after day at his service, offering again and again the same sacrifices that can never take away sins. But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, “he sat down at the right hand of God,” and since then has been waiting “until his enemies would be made a footstool for his feet.” For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are sanctified. And the Holy Spirit also testifies to us, for after saying, “This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, says the Lord: I will put my laws in their hearts, and I will write them on their minds,” he also adds, “I will remember their sins and their lawless deeds no more.” Where there is forgiveness of these, there is no longer any offering for sin. Therefore, my friends, since we have confidence to enter the sanctuary by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain (that is, through his flesh), and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us approach with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold fast to the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who has promised is faithful. And let us consider how to provoke one another to love and good deeds, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day approaching.

Mark 13:1-8

As he came out of the temple, one of his disciples said to him, “Look, Teacher, what large stones and what large buildings!” Then Jesus asked him, “Do you see these great buildings? Not one stone will be left here upon another; all will be thrown down.” When he was sitting on the Mount of Olives opposite the temple, Peter, James, John, and Andrew asked him privately, “Tell us, when will this be, and what will be the sign that all these things are about to be accomplished?” Then Jesus began to say to them, “Beware that no one leads you astray. Many will come in my name and say, ‘I am he!’ and they will lead many astray. When you hear of wars and rumors of wars, do not be alarmed; this must take place, but the end is still to come. For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom; there will be earthquakes in various places; there will be famines. This is but the beginning of the birthpangs.”

Blessed Lord, who caused all holy Scriptures to be written for our learning: Grant us so to hear them, read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest them, that we may embrace and ever hold fast the blessed hope of everlasting life, which you have given us in our Savior Jesus Christ; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

[1] Information accessed 16 November 2006 at http://www.religioustolerance.org/worldrel.htm
[2] Information accessed 16 November 2006 at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karma
[3] Information accessed 16 November 2006 at http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10696063/

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Copyright © 2006, William G. Stroop - All Rights Reserved.
16 November 2006

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