Sermon for Year B, Proper 17: "Fill 'er Up"

This sermon was preached on Sunday, August 30, 2009 at Christ & Saint Stephen’s Church. Scripture readings that this sermon is based on can be found by clicking here.

In the fifth grade, I switched schools and started attending St. John’s School, a Roman Catholic parochial school in Memphis. This was very new for me. I had heretofore been aware of only that part of the religious spectrum that ran from Methodist to Baptism – not a wide swath of ecclesial and theological experience. I hadn’t the slightest idea what communion was, what mass was, why the girls had to put beanies on their heads in order to go into church. But I was soon well aware of all these things.

Because at St. John’s we followed a fairly vigorous worship schedule. On Mondays, the first and eighth grades went to morning mass; on Tuesdays, the second and seventh grades, on Wednesdays, the third and sixth grades; Thursdays, the fourth and fifth grades. And on Fridays, the whole school attended morning mass, and one of the eighth graders might even play an acoustic guitar while we sang “Kumbaya.” We were very Vatican II at St. John’s.

The Thursday mass with just the fifth graders and the fourth graders in attendance was a more intimate affair that the big Friday mass. In place of the homily, Father St. Charles would come down off the chancel and hold a sort of bible study with us, in the form of a Q and A. He would quiz us on different aspects of the readings for the day before explicating the text for us in age-appropriate, somewhat less Vatican II, ways.

I can’t remember what the subject of the gospel was on one particular Thursday morning, but it must have been one I knew well. Because my hand popped up at almost every question. I was still pretty new in the school, and I don’t think that I had yet figured out that answering Father St. Charles’s questions was the pursuit of the particularly pious and/or the hopelessly nerdy. Often there was a big overlap in those two populations. But I did notice that there wasn’t much competition from my classmates, all but one of whom was Roman Catholic.

I really wish I could remember what the gospel was that day, because my several answers to his queries clearly impressed Father St. Charles. “I have another question, this time just for you, Mark C,” said Father St. Charles.

I’ve just discovered that on the Social Security Administration’s website you can type in your first name and find out where it ranks in popularity for any given year. In 1959, the year I was born, Mark was the 6^th most popular name, its highest ever ranking, and it stayed at number 6 all the way through to 1964 when it dropped to 7^th through 1968. Mark has dropped into the triple digits in the 21^st century – for no reason I can determine – it’s a perfectly good first name now left floundering in obscurity… But, nevertheless you can see why, for all of my school years, I was always Mark C., never just plain Mark.

“My question for you Mark C.”, said Father St. Charles, “is how do you know so much about the Bible?” I replied, “My mom reads me and my brother Bible stories every night at bedtime.” Father St. Charles was really impressed now. “Do you hear that??? Every night, is it?? Well, that’s just fine. Just fine,” he said. “I hope you Catholic boys and girls are hearing this. That’s why this little Baptist boy knows the Bible better than you Catholics! Yessir, Baptists know their Bible!”

At that moment, I realized something -- I was now never going to be very popular at St. John’s School. The playground was going to be hard going for this Baptist from now on, I was certain.

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This whole experience came flooding back this week when I was preparing my sermon. I was doing some Internet research on our epistle reading for this morning, when to my surprise, I was led to a website that sells pajamas for kids. If you someday in your perambulations on the Internet happen to visit armorofgodpjs.com – and I hope you do, you will find a rather surprising story.

But before we get to the story, I have to tell you about these pajamas. These are without a doubt the coolest pajamas I’ve ever scene. They are really very Anglican. They’re white with a big red cross on the chest, and across that red cross it reads “righteousness”. At the bottom of the pajama top is a red belt that reads “truth”. There’s a bit of a nightcap in the shape of a Roman helmet that says ‘salvation.’ The legs of the pajama bottoms have little crescents attached to them that cover your feet and say “peace” on them. But best of all, there’s a pillow that comes with the pajama set, and the pillow is in the shape of a shield. It looks almost like the Episcopal shield – it’s white with a red cross – the Cross of St. George -- and across the shield is emblazoned the word “faith”. I can’t tell you how sorry I am that these pajamas don’t come in my size. They are so, so awesome! I almost ordered some just for the shield pillow that says “faith” on it. How cool is that!

And it should be obvious by now that, no, I was NOT goofing off on the Internet when I was supposed to be writing my sermon. These pajamas at armorofgodpjs.com are based upon our epistle reading from Ephesians. But here’s the part I find somewhat surprising, to say the least. The inventor of Armor of God PJs got the idea for the pajamas from a mother who read to her children every night at bedtime the same bible verses: Ephesians chapter 6, verses ten through eighteen. I have to say, I’m grateful for the set of Bible story books that my family had—with the cool illustrations and age-appropriate explications of Scripture. I don’t think I could have slept at night if I had gotten this text every night: “Our struggle is not against enemies of blood and flesh, but against the cosmic powers of this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. Put on the whole armor of God, so that you may be able to withstand on that evil day!” I don’t think I would have been quite so alert at morning mass at St. John’s School if this is how I went to bed each night.

But that begs the question, what is this text saying to us, and what is it saying in the context of our gospel reading from Mark this morning? To my ear, the epistle reading and the gospel reading seem to be at odds. In Ephesians, we hear that we must put on the armor of God to protect ourselves from the evil that lies all around us. This is evil of a cosmic dimension – it is powerful and pervasive; it is even found in the heavenly places. We need to prepare to engage in spiritual warfare. We are about to face the flaming arrows of the evil one. We’ll need sword, shield and helmet to do battle with the present darkness.

But then in the gospel, Jesus says that there is nothing outside of us that can come into us to defile us, but rather, that which is sinful is within us. It is not what is in the world or even in the heavens, but rather it is from within the human heart that evil intentions come.

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Where does sin come from? How does sin start? Was the old Flip Wilson character Geraldine right? Does the devil make us do it? Or is it we ourselves who cause our own moral lapses? What is sin anyway? In our gospel, Jesus gives us his list, “fornication, theft, murder, adultery, avarice, wickedness, deceit, licentiousness, envy, slander, pride, folly.” Folly… I’m not entirely sure what folly is, but I have to admit, I think I’m guilty of it. It just sounds like something I would do.

Are these the only sins we should be concerned with? Are there more – less?

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I have a friend who suffered from alcoholism and addiction for many years. But, by the grace of God, she was able to recover from her addictions with the help of Alcoholics Anonymous. As some of you know, the process of recovery in AA requires that alcoholics make a searching and fearless inventory of their wrongs, their sins, and then make amends to those they have harmed. Often, when doing so, alcoholics will take the seven deadly sins, a list very like the one Jesus gives us, and ask themselves when and where they have been guilty of each one. After my friend made her list, she said she came to a rather profound realization. In every case, her malevolent actions sprang from fear. In the process of her recovery, she found herself saying to those she had harmed, “I’m sorry I stole from you, but you see, I was afraid I would not have enough for myself” and “I’m sorry I lied to you, but I was afraid to tell the truth.” and “I’m sorry I ran out on you, but you see, I was sure you would run out on me, and I was afraid of what it would do to me. So, I ran out on you first.” “I’m sorry I gossiped about you, but I was intimidated by you and was afraid that you might eclipse me in some way, ruin my reputation, so I ruined yours first.” All of her meetings with those to whom she owed amends began with the same admission, “I’m sorry. I was afraid.”

I’m inclined to agree with the British singer and songwriter Elvis Costello who says in one of his songs, “There's no such thing as an original sin.” I think that’s true, nothing original at all in the wrongs that we do. Jesus’ list of wrongs is still being done today. But I think my friend in AA is onto something. I think that fear might play a significant role in all the wrongs we do. Whether fear is something the world foists on us –-- or whether our fears rise up from our own troubled hearts.

But I have the cure for fear, my friends. I have the antidote. There is one thing that answers every fear, one thing that quashes fear every time. One thing that is the very antithesis of fear. That one thing is faith.

It is one of the messages that rings like a clarion down through the Scriptures. From Isaiah, who spoke God’s word to the people of Israel, “Do not fear, for I am your God.” Down to the angel Gabriel who declared to Mary, “Be not afraid, you have found favor with God.” To Jesus himself, come walking on the water, who cried out to the disciples, “Take heart. It is I, be not afraid.”

Faith is the antidote to fear. But faith is not always easy to hang on to. It would be nice to rest your head on a faith pillow every night and let that do the trick, wouldn’t it. But it’s not that simple. We can at times wander from our faith. We can loose sight of what it is we believe in.

When that happens to you, as it likely will at some time or other, I want you to remember something. Remember that we’re here. All of us, gathered here this morning. If you’re having trouble believing, then come to us, and we’ll believe for you, for a while. Our sequence hymn claims that the sweet sound of Jesus’ name can drive away our fear. Join us here of a Sunday, and you’re sure to hear that sweet sound. That’s what we in Christian communities do for each other. We keep the faith, for each other, for generations to come.

From time to time, folks will tell me, “I’m not sure what I believe really, so I’m not much of a church-goer.” They shy away from us when questions of faith arise. Troubled faith is not a reason to stay away, it’s a reason to come closer! That’s like saying, “Well, I’ve been running low on gas, so I haven’t been around the filling station much lately.” Wrong answer!

When you feel afraid, don’t tough it. That way leads to the sins Jesus was talking about. Instead call upon your faith. And if you find that you can’t call up reserves of faith from within you, then come here. We’ll fill your tank with some of the faith that we have, faith that we have been called by God to share with all the world.

Fear not. Have faith. And if you find yourself running a quart low some time, come round here. We’ll share some of ours. And we’ll help you find the faith you need to live without fear, and to go in peace. +Amen

© The Rev. Mark R. Collins aka “Mark C.”