Friday, March 16, 2018

The Sunday Sermon: Life Before Death


 
I speak to you in the name of the father, son and holy spirit. Amen. Please be seated.

I’m grateful to be with you this morning, and I thank Penny, our dean, for inviting me. I’m Hannah Wilder, your  seminarian and I bring you greetings from the School for Ministry, our local theological training program, from St. Luke’s Episcopal Church in North Park where I am doing field education, and from the bishop’s office where I serve as communications director. The entire diocesan staff is here to help you in any way we can. Please reach out to us.


I’ll bet you didn’t know that our passage from John is related to In N Out Burger! Did you know that? Yes, you see, In N Out is owned by evangelical Christians and they have printed on the bottom inside rim of every cup a bible verse reference. So the next time you’re there, tip your cup and look for “John 3:16” stamped there and smile because you have just been evangelized. By In-n-Out.


And John 3:16 is powerful. In it Jesus summarizes God’s saving action in this world. But if we read on to verses 17 through 20, notice that Jesus does not specify which actions or opinions are in and which are out. He only speaks of God’s love for the world, a love that penetrates the whole world, a love that does not condemn, but rather saves.

John 3:16, which many of us memorized as children and could say it all in one breath: ForGodSoLovedTheWorldThatHeGaveHisOnlyBegottenSonThatWhosoeverBelievesInHimShouldNotPerishButHaveEternalLife That verse is about more than the human fear of death! That is what we have reduced it to, thanks to Anselm and other medieval church fathers. Religion for them was about what you get when you die, either glory or punishment, rather than teaching people how to enter into the new mode of being right now.

Because eternal life exists in the Here and Now! And you know what? Eternal Death does too. You can be physically wasting away and dying physically and yet be very, very alive. And you can be healthy and successful and yet be dying in all sorts of ways.*

The wisdom tradition of the ancient Israelites, and which WE are a part of now, that wisdom tradition has been teaching for thousands of years that life and death are PRESENT modes of being. If you read the Proverbs and Psalms you will find all kinds of references to the Way of life and the Way of death.

But those are always rooted in the choices you are making right now. Life and death are PRESENT REALITIES. They are not two static states of being: Now you are alive and one day you will be dead.

You see, the question is not: is there life after death? The question is: Is there life BEFORE death?
 
In any moment you can choose life or you can choose death. You choose death when you opt to hold a grudge, pass on gossip, or let that racist or sexist comment slip on by without saying anything. Or you can choose life by forgiving, opening yourself to others, releasing your grip on being right, choosing to be in relationship with others instead of closed off from them, and in choosing to stand up for the dignity of every human being.

Paul understands this and references it in today’s reading when he says You were dead through trespasses and sins IN WHICH YOU ONCE LIVED (a present, ongoing condition) but now you are made ALIVE THROUGH CHRIST! And Paul goes on to say, we were created for life, for ETERNAL LIFE in the here and now. Jesus said: I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.
 
Do you know we have evidence of that LIFE in our diocese? In this Cathedral community? Your work with Showers of Blessings, the mobile shower unit for people without homes, has far reaching consequences. Through your contribution to the diocese over and above your common life share, you have pledged your support of the diocesan shower unit. Now the North County churches are partnering with those in other denominations to purchase a second trailer for exclusive use up north so we will have two in our diocese — that’s eternal life. Your saving love for the 30 children who live at Vida Joven, a foster home in Tijuana, that this congregation had the foresight to take on and to support when it was struggling and going to close almost fifteen years ago...that’s eternal life. And you showing up here, week after week, meeting people who are different from you, getting to know one another in an honest and vulnerable way...that’s eternal life!

In my own life you, the people of this Cathedral, have shown me what it means to choose life. I moved to San Diego on a Saturday in May sixteen years ago. On the very next day I got up and came here to church at this Cathedral. It was here that I first worshipped with openly gay people. It was here that I discerned in community a call to the priesthood. It was here that I felt the support to be able to come out to my parents. It was here that I had the spiritual family to surround me and accept me in ways that my own family of origin could not. It was here that I was confirmed in my faith and it was here that I was married to my wonderful wife.  So you see, you have formed and shaped me and taught me what eternal life is and what it means to choose the path of life.
 
Of course choosing the path of life comes with risk, loss...you have to deal with fear. You may face criticism. You will probably be in unknown territory. But are you more alive than you were?
 
Choosing that path has nothing to do with success. This is not the Instagram Good Life. This has nothing to do with your physical beauty or your material possessions or even your IQ or your health. You can have all those things and be dying.

In fact those things might cloud your ability to really choose and live life. You might be able to list all the things you have (career, spouse, car, home, friends, possessions) and still feel like, something is missing, this can’t be it, this is not all there is.

I believe that there is a divine love that undergirds all of reality and surges through all of life. When you give, serve, love and create, you participate in the eternal life of God. You are not here just for you. You are here to give, sacrifice, take part in a much larger economy of exchange where you realize just how much you’ve received and your only natural response is to pass it along. You see, because LIVING is about connection, freedom, possibility, flow, in other words, it’s about God. This is the place you actually live from. It’s about your True Self, your identity as a child of God, your heart, soul, spirit, the depth of your being. It’s independent from your possessions, accomplishments, where you live, who you’re friends with. It’s the deep place within you that speaks to you and tells you whether you’re living or whether you’re dying. Pay attention.

Living and dying are independent of your present circumstances. You may have financial burdens, accidents, disease, tragedy, but you know what? Struggle can actually make you more alive. Some of the people I know and want to be around the most are the refugee families at St Luke’s. Life for newly arrived Americans is not easy. Rents are high. Apartments are small. English is baffling. The job market is tight. Everything is expensive. But you know what? These people ...are...ALIVE! Every day they are learning new things, often times it’s hard, but the resilience and gratitude and good nature I encounter in these people is...well it’s life!

I’d like to tell you a story about this. My wife and I, being good lesbians, own a small truck. Pause. One Congolese man, Amuri, saw me drive away in it one day and later texted to ask if I could help him move a couch from a generous Episcopalian’s house in Kensington to his apartment in City Heights. I said sure, but what actually ended up happening was that we picked up a refrigerator and delivered it not to his house, but to one of his friends’, who also is Congolese and attends St Lukes. As it turned out, he had given up his time with our truck so that this other family could get a refrigerator. The mom in that family, Celestina, had wanted it so that she could start renting out space in the fridge to other families in her apartment complex that did not have refrigeration for a little extra income. To me that speaks volumes about how industrious Celestina is. Yes, she has very little by many of our standards, but you know what? She’s smart! And creative! She’s striving! And she is responding to the God-given impulse toward life that informs and connects all living beings.

Later, we went back to Amuri’s house with the couch and when we arrived, everyone in his household came out to help carry it in. Once it was placed in the living room, everyone clapped and cheered and the kids started bouncing on the couch. They invited us to come sit on it right away. In that I see appreciation for a used couch and the joy and generosity that springs from people whose spirits are alive in Christ!

So where is eternal life for you? What are the things in your life that are blocking you from eternal LIFE? Pay attention to the voice inside you that says, “This can’t be it. There has to be something more.” That’s the Christ wisdom inside you. Your true self is talking to you. It tells you if you’re just going through the motions, skimming the surface of your own existence, OR if you are feeling the DEPTH and REALLY LIVING the moments of your life!

I want to leave you with an example of this. A California farmer returned his land to a neighboring tribe that was forced out 150 years ago. With this addition, the reservation land will now reach the Pacific Coast, increasing the previously small and water-poor reservation 18-fold. The tribe will use the space to educate and engage the public about the history and practices of native people in that area.

Is giving your land back to Native peoples unorthodox? Definitely. Risky? Probably. Financially unwise? Certainly!  But this action, this impetus toward reconciliation, connection, and possibility, this is the Way of life.

How can you choose life today?

*I am grateful to Rob Bell and The Robcast for the ideas presented in this sermon. https://robbell.com/portfolio/robcast/

 
Hannah Wilder
March 11, 2018

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