Stroop Sermon, "Embriodery and the Gazelle" Year C, Ester 5, April 29, 2007

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About the Revised Common Lectionary

The 75th General Convention in June, 2006 directed that the Revised Common Lectionary (RCL) replace the Book of Common Prayer lectionary "effective the First Sunday of Advent 2007; with the provision for continued use of the previous Lectionary for purposes of orderly transition, with the permission of the ecclesiastical authority, until the First Sunday of Advent 2010." The Rt. Rev. Duncan M. Gray, III has indicated to the clergy of the Diocese of Mississippi that the RCL be used in this Diocese. The General Convention of 2000 which initially authorized the trial use of the Revised Common Lectionary (RCL) actually modified the RCL slightly to conform to Episcopal worship needs. In addition, the weekday feasts and fasts are a matter of Episcopal usage and are not supported by the RCL.

So what exactly does it take to get your name into the book? Being blind doesn’t do it (Mt 9:27-31, 20:30-34; Mk 8:22-25; Lk 18:35-43), not even if blind from birth (Jn 9:1-7). Being possessed doesn’t do it (Mk 5:1-13, 9:17-27), and being possessed and blind doesn’t do it either (Mt. 12:22; Jn 10:19-21). Being lame, maimed, or dumb doesn’t do the trick (Mt 15:30), and being deaf is of no consequence either (Mk 7:32-35).

Even being one of Jesus’ teachers or inspiring Jesus to change his mind about something as important as to who was included in the Kingdom of God isn’t sufficient either (Mk 7:24-31; Jn 4:6-42).

It was apparently hard for the writers of the Gospels to name the people helped by Jesus, or who helped Jesus. Indeed, number of named individuals in these texts – including the Book of Acts – is very small.

Bartimeus the blind beggar is named by Matthew, (Mk 10:46-52), but I can’t figure out what makes Bartimeus all that memorable compared to the other blind people cured by Jesus. A woman named “Mary” anoints Jesus’ feet in the Gospel of John (Jn 12:3-8), but in a similar story in the Gospel of Mark about which Jesus says, “truly, I say to you, wherever the gospel is preached in the whole world, what she has done will be told in memory of her,” the woman’s name is never mentioned (Mk 14:3-9). You’d think that the name of this whom woman Jesus regarded so highly would have been remembered by the compiler of the Gospel of Mark.

It is indeed very puzzling why most people touched by the hand or Spirit of Jesus are not named in the New Testament. Some scholars will tell you that at least one reason for that is that the Gospel stories were affected by cultural, societal, and religious influences during the period of the early church. But perhaps we might find some clues if we look at the reading we have today from the Book of Acts – which is the second scroll penned by the author of the Gospel of Luke.

In this story is described a woman who is named not once, but twice! We also do not know if Tabitha or Dorcas is a Jewish woman who was given the Greek name “Dorcas,” or a Gentile woman given the Hebrew or Aramaic name, “Tabitha.” We don’t know if she was a widow herself, but she was someone clearly loved by widows. It was the widows who had washed Tabitha’s body and put it in the upper room. In Jewish custom outside of Jerusalem it was customary to put a body in an upper room for up to three days pending burial. They stood beside Peter after he had arrived, and they wept at his side. They proudly showed Peter the tunics and other clothing that Dorcas had made while she was with them. O, she was a woman who was dearly loved by the women of her community.

Several years ago in another parish I met a woman named Caroline Harris. Caroline was the widow of an Episcopal priest and someone deeply involved in the altar guild. No one moved a candle stick or a piece of linen without her knowing about it. She was in her nineties and while a little infirm of body, her mind was sharp and her wit was sharper still.

One day while I was in the sacristy changing out of my alb and stole, Caroline, who was all of about 5 feet tall, came up to me and stood very close, and thrust her finger at me and said, “My husband was a priest, and I want to tell you how to be a good priest like he was.” And so for the next several months, Caroline instructed me on things that cannot be found in the standard works sold at seminary book stores and taught in worship and liturgy classes. I looked forward to my time with her, and I began to value her wisdom and appreciate her insights.

At that church and in the college chapel I also served at that time, there were many beautifully embroidered altar linens. The intricacy of the designs were amazing. I mentioned this to Caroline one day, she very humbly told me that she had made and embroidered most of those linens herself. When I told her that I had never seen such gorgeous work, she displayed a kind of gracious pride I imagine Tabitha felt when one of the women of Joppa complimented her on her skill and her generosity toward the disadvantaged.

Caroline also loved to garden. One day she came in from gardening, washed up and sat down to embroider and watch some TV. When she was found dead a few days later, she was sitting peacefully with a slight smile on her face.

The following Sunday, I was at the altar, and Caroline was very much on my mind and in my prayers. I had planned to say some special personal prayers for her that day. As I was setting the table I noticed that the embroidery on the corporal – that white square of cloth that lies beneath the chalice and bread on the altar – did not match the embroidery on the purificators – the little altar napkins. I smiled, and immediately felt the presence of little Caroline Harris at my side. I could almost feel her smile, grateful that I had even noticed that small detail.

I think that Dorcas and Caroline Harris are remembered by their communities because of their generosity. Jon Walton, pastor of First Presbyterian Church in New York City, writes that “Dorcas was not a preacher, a theologian, or an eloquent writer. She was not a martyr or brave leader of people.”[1] She did not apparently contribute financially in a huge way to the church in Joppa. She influenced more people and touched more lives, though, than just about anyone else. “She apparently took care of a lot of people. She made tunics, and knitted afgans, baked cookies, held hands and visited people. She listened to the heartbreaks and joys, toils and triumphs of the people of Joppa. And what’s more, she persuaded her friends to help. She organized an ecclesiastical welfare system” that took care of the disadvantaged.[1]

What she was, was compassionate. In Latin, the word “compassion” means “to suffer with” (cum patior). “This means to enter into another persons experience or to put yourself in the place of another. It is really the definition of incarnation. It is far more than kindness, far more radical than simply being nice.”[1] It is experiencing the indwelling of the Spirit so completely that one becomes godly by “doing justice, loving mercy, and walking humbly with God, and doing it in ways that are almost imperceptible except for the compassion of it.”[1]

“Dorcas, whose name means gazelle, was a tireless disciple whose devotion to others inspired a network of support that undergirded an entire church community. You can almost see her looking after others, taking food, dropping by with flowers or spending an afternoon babysitting.”[1] If that sounds familiar, it should. At Trinity we have several groups of people who fulfill this same role for all of us. They are the commission and guilds, the vestry, and the numerous unnamed committess and advisory groups who work in the evenings and on Saturdays doing things most of us do not even notice. One such group put together last week’s absolutely spectacular luncheon for the Bishop. All of these groups do hundreds of other selfless things for so many of us within and outside these walls. And it is for them and to them that I give my personal thanks.

They are the modern exemplars of the kind of action that characterizes real church. It is that kind of action that will grow Trinity. We may say the creeds perfectly, and we might say our prayers eloquently. We may possibly sing our hymns magnificently, but the church is really church when we have gazelles willing to do so much for so many.

But, we need more gazelles than we have now. We need Sunday school teachers, and we will need more of them when school resumes this Fall. We will need people to work with our youth on Wednesday evenings, and to cook meals for them. We need the help of several people to prepare Sunday coffee hours.

And as important as our corporate life is together, there is another aspect of our common life that can benefit from the example of Tabitha. And that has to do with our involvement in the Episcopal Church itself. The church needs all of its members to participate as living members of the Body. There is much going on in the church right now – a lot of it controversial. Some people are feeling lost and bewildered by what they hear. One way to combat this is to become truly involved in the life of the church – in its politics and governance. Dorcas became a symbol of resurrection in the Joppa church because her simple acts of compassion and caring expressed in very visible and tangible ways something of the incarnation and resurrection of Jesus Christ. In her actions, the body did not lay in the tomb. It came alive, and reflected her community of believers. We can, and we must do that too.

Let us pray, Gracious Father, we pray for your holy Catholic Church. Fill it with all truth, in all truth with all peace. Where it is corrupt, purify it; where it is in error, direct it; where in any thing it is amiss, reform it. Where it is right, strengthen it; where it is in want, provide for it; where it is divided, reunite it; for the sake of Jesus Christ thy Son our Savior. Amen.

Now in Joppa there was a disciple whose name was Tabitha, which in Greek is Dorcas. She was devoted to good works and acts of charity. At that time she became ill and died. When they had washed her, they laid her in a room upstairs. Since Lydda was near Joppa, the disciples, who heard that Peter was there, sent two men to him with the request, “Please come to us without delay.” So Peter got up and went with them; and when he arrived, they took him to the room upstairs. All the widows stood beside him, weeping and showing tunics and other clothing that Dorcas had made while she was with them. Peter put all of them outside, and then he knelt down and prayed. He turned to the body and said, “Tabitha, get up.” Then she opened her eyes, and seeing Peter, she sat up. He gave her his hand and helped her up. Then calling the saints and widows, he showed her to be alive. This became known throughout Joppa, and many believed in the Lord. Meanwhile he stayed in Joppa for some time with a certain Simon, a tanner.

3 He revives my soul *
and guides me along right pathways for his Name’s sake.

4 Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I shall fear no evil; *

5 You spread a table before me in the presence of those who trouble me; *
you have anointed my head with oil,
and my cup is running over.

6 Surely your goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, *
and I will dwell in the house of the LORD for ever.

After this I looked, and there was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, robed in white, with palm branches in their hands. They cried out in a loud voice, saying, “Salvation belongs to our God who is seated on the throne, and to the Lamb!” And all the angels stood around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures, and they fell on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, singing, “Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our God forever and ever! Amen.” Then one of the elders addressed me, saying, “Who are these, robed in white, and where have they come from?” I said to him, “Sir, you are the one that knows.” Then he said to me, “These are they who have come out of the great ordeal; they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. For this reason they are before the throne of God, and worship him day and night within his temple, and the one who is seated on the throne will shelter them. They will hunger no more, and thirst no more; the sun will not strike them, nor any scorching heat; for the Lamb at the center of the throne will be their shepherd, and he will guide them to springs of the water of life, and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.”

At that time the festival of the Dedication took place in Jerusalem. It was winter, and Jesus was walking in the temple, in the portico of Solomon. So the Jews gathered around him and said to him, “How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Messiah, tell us plainly.” Jesus answered, “I have told you, and you do not believe. The works that I do in my Father’s name testify to me; but you do not believe, because you do not belong to my sheep. My sheep hear my voice. I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish. No one will snatch them out of my hand. What my Father has given me is greater than all else, and no one can snatch it out of the Father’s hand. The Father and I are one.”

O God, whose Son Jesus is the good shepherd of your people: Grant that when we hear his voice we may know him who calls us each by name, and follow where he leads; who, with you and the Holy Spirit, lives and reigns, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

[1] Jon M. Walton. “What about Dorcas?” The Christian Century124(8):16, 2007.

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