Savor Lent

Charlotte Collins Reed
Christ Episcopal Church
February 14, 2016

1 Lent C

Our 5 o'clock Ash Wednesday service is a special service designed for our children and their families.  The chairs in the chapel are set in a circle around a large round table from the nursery.  We all enter the chapel quietly together, having gathered in the hallway and removed our shoes.  The table in the center is set with candles, water, rocks, crosses, and the ashes, all symbols of our faith.  We spend the first part of the service taking about the items on the table, what they represent, and how they are connected to Ash Wednesday. This service is familiar to most of our children and youth, and we always have a good conversation.  Since many of our kids have been coming to this service for as many years as we have been offering it, I decided to add some new items to the table this year. So last Wednesday when everyone entered the chapel, in addition to the items that are always on the table, there were suckers, grapes, and cheese.

What, you might reasonably wonder, do suckers, grapes, and cheese have to do with Ash Wednesday, much less Lent, especially when we hear this morning that Jesus spent 40 days in the wilderness where he was tempted by the devil and ate nothing at all.

In the reading from Deuteronomy, we hear Moses tell the people what they are to do once they have entered into the Promised Land and settled there.  The people are to make an offering of the first fruits of their harvest in thanksgiving for all that God has done for them.  The people are to be thankful, not in general, but for something very specific.  They are to give thanks with these specific words ""A wandering Aramean was my ancestor; he went down into Egypt and lived there as an alien, few in number, and there he became a great nation, mighty and populous. When the Egyptians treated us harshly and afflicted us, by imposing hard labor on us, we cried to the Lord, the God of our ancestors; the Lord heard our voice and saw our affliction, our toil, and our oppression. The Lord brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, with a terrifying display of power, and with signs and wonders; and he brought us into this place and gave us this land, a land flowing with milk and honey."  The people are to recount the story of their escape from Egypt in some detail as they make their offering of thanksgiving to God.  The story of the Exodus will sustain God's people in good times and hard times.  In good times, they will tell the story of the Exodus and celebrate the wonders God has done in their lives.  In hard times, they will tell the story of the Exodus and remember what God has done for them in the past so they can see what God is doing in the present.  In both good times and hard times, telling the story of the Exodus is the occasion of great thanksgiving.

When Jesus is famished and being tempted by the devil, he, too reaches back into Scripture for sustenance.  When Jesus says "One does not live by bread alone," he is quoting Deuteronomy 8 which says "One does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God."  When Jesus says "Worship the Lord your God and serve him only," he is quoting Deuteronomy 6 "Fear the Lord your God and serve him only."  And when Jesus says "Do not put the Lord your God to the test," he is again quoting Deuteronomy 6 which says exactly that.  And why does Deuteronomy command these things?  Because they are the appropriate and grateful response to the God who led them out of slavery in Egypt, through the wilderness and into the Promised Land.
So, what do suckers, grapes, and cheese have to do with any of this? At the appropriate time in the Ash Wednesday service, I invited each person to take a sucker, and if a sucker wasn't appropriate for some reason, to take a grape or a piece of cheese.  I asked them to look at the sucker or the grape or the cheese, and just think about the way it looks.  What color is it? What shape?  What texture?  Then I asked those with suckers to remove the wrappers and we listened as the wrappers crinkled.  Then we looked at the suckers again.  Finally, after it seemed that we had exhausted all visual possibilities, they could put their sucker, grape, or cheese in their mouth.  But they couldn't chew it until they experienced what the food felt like in their mouths, what it tasted like, and what it reminded them of.  Then, finally, they could eat.

My point was for everyone to savor the item they choose. I wanted them to fully experience the sucker, or the grape, or the cheese.  I wanted them to do that, not as a point of etiquette, but because I think that God wants us to savor Lent rather than seeing Lent as a means to Easter.  Lent can be a time to savor our own stories, to savor our story together, and to savor the story of Scripture much the way the Hebrew people have savored the story of the Exodus year after year after year.   The story of the Exodus has sustained the Hebrew people in good times and hard times, and has given and continues to give the Hebrew people the opportunity for deep gratitude.  Savoring our stories, the story of our life together, and the story of God's people will also sustain us and can become an opportunity for the same gratitude.  Lent is not about giving something up in order to get that thing back on Easter.  Lent is about deepening our appreciation and understanding of all that God has done for us, through out history and in our own lives, so that our hearts are ready for Easter.

Today is our Annual Meeting Sunday, so I am supposed to reflect on our life together and our goals for the next year.  At the vestry meeting on February 1, the vestry and I actually talked about the difference it would make at Christ Church if we more deeply and actively appreciated each other.  Rather than just think about how grateful we are to our Sunday School teachers, or our Altar Guild Members, or the people who coordinate our outreach ministries or serve coffee hour, what would life be like at Christ Church if we behaved toward each other with such gratitude?  What might that look like?  On the first Sunday of Lent each year, we hear that the devil tempted Jesus in order to derail his ministry.  Our greatest temptation, and one which could certainly derail our ministry together,  may well be to take each other for granted.  So, as we mark a new year on this Annual Meeting Sunday, one which will bring new experiences and new challenges to all of us, as we embark on our Lenten journey together, I suggest that we savor Lent, savor our stories, the story of our life together, and the story of Scripture, and make living with gratitude our Lenten discipline.  If we actually live as truly thankful people, we will arrive at Easter refreshed and prepared for all that lies ahead.

Amen.

Listen!

Charlotte Collins Reed
Christ Episcopal Church
February 7, 2016

Last Epiphany

Camp Mitchell sits on the side of a cliff on Petit Jean Mountain in the Diocese of Arkansas.  The cliff offers a spectacular view of the valley below and I often imagined that standing on the cliff we could see the valley much the way God sees, taking in the entire scene at once.  On the one hand, Camp Mitchell was a safe place for children and youth to come for retreats and camp.  We were miles away from the cares and concerns of our young lives, both literally and figuratively and had a safe place to wrestle with whatever life had thrown us.  On the other hand, the mountain was a place where we were often confronted with the truth about our young selves.  On the mountain, we faced both our accomplishments and our failures, our greatest hopes and our deepest fears.  I experienced God on that mountain in many ways, but especially in the friendships I formed there and in the music we sang in worship.  Camp Mitchell was, and I assume still is, a very special place for many people.  But Camp Mitchell was never a place intended for people to live.  The old World War 2 army barracks that were our cabins make that perfectly clear!  We always had to go back down the mountain, into the valley, and back to our regular lives.  But we always went home changed by our experience.  Sometimes I went home just plain tired.  But usually I went home having tasted the glory of God and ready to live my normal life again.

This morning, Moses, and Peter, James, and John all get a mountain top taste of the glory of God.  Moses has already been up the mountain once, received the 10 commandments, come down the mountain, found the people worshiping a golden calf, smashed the tablets with the 10 commandments, and had words with God about the people God led out of Egypt.  Now Moses returns to the mountain for a new set of 10 commandment tablets. At this point, given his recent experience with the golden calf, I imagine Moses would just as soon stay up on the mountain with God indefinitely.  But the point of the 10 commandments is to take them to the people so the people have something to live by.  Living by the 10 commandments will show the world what it means to be God's chosen people.  But when Moses comes down from the mountain his face is shining so brightly that his brother Aaron and the rest of the people are afraid to come near him.  In response to the people's fear, Moses would veil his face when he talked with them, then would remove the veil when he went up on the mountain to talk with God.  While our reading from 2 Corinthians gives a most unfortunate account of that veiling that has more to do with the 1st century tensions between Jews and Christians than with the glory of God, the writer does remind us of the transformative power of the glory of God. In the Exodus story, Moses experiences that power and that power sends him back down the mountain to the people God has called him to lead.

Also this morning, Jesus takes Peter and James and John and goes up on the mountain to pray.  And while Jesus is praying, the appearance of his face changes, his clothes become dazzling white, and Moses and Elijah appear with Jesus and speak of Jesus' departure which he is about to accomplish at Jerusalem.  Peter is ready to make this mountain his permanent address and he offers to build three booths, one for Jesus, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.  Confusion turns to terror as a cloud overshadows all of them and the voice from the cloud says "This is my Son, my Chosen; listen to him."  Peter, James, and John have beheld the glory of God and what the glory of God says is "This is my Son, my Chosen, listen to him."

What are we to hear?  Just a few paragraphs before Jesus takes Peter, James, and John up on the mountain to pray, Jesus says to his disciples "The Son of Man must undergo great suffering, and be rejected by the elders, chief priests, and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised."  Then Jesus goes on to say to them "If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me.  For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will save it."   No wonder Peter wants to build booths on the mountain for Jesus, Moses, and Elijah and stay there  permanently.  The disciples may not have understood what was happening on that mountain, or the reference to Jerusalem, but being in the presence of Jesus, Moses, and Elijah is certainly preferable to listening to Jesus talk about the Son of Man undergoing suffering, rejection and death.  However, God commands the disciples to listen to Jesus, and Jesus has told them that he is headed to Jerusalem and the cross.  So Jesus and the disciples come down from the mountain, back to the valley, where they immediately encounter a child in need of healing.

Today, we sing the great alleluia hymns and bury the alleluias as our way of experiencing something of the glory of God before we, too, move down the mountain toward Jerusalem and Jesus' departure.  Every year, I too, would like to build a booth and dwell right here and keep singing these hymns rather than head down the mountain to Lent.  But the mountain is not a permanent address and God calls us to come off the mountain and follow Jesus.  A few verses after today's reading from 2 Corinthians, the writer says "For God, who said, "Let light shine out of darkness," made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of God's glory displayed in the face of Christ."  God sends us down the mountain to follow Jesus where ever Jesus leads, not alone, but equipped with each other to walk with, with the glory of God to sustain us, and with Jesus to guide us.  

Amen.

Hoarding

Charlotte Collins Reed
Christ Episcopal Church
January 31, 2016

4 Epiphany C

Just before Lent last year, I saw a Lenten discipline on Facebook called "40 bags in 40 days."  The idea was to clean out one drawer, or closet, or under a bed or any other hiding place for clutter and collect one bag each day and give that bag away.  This discipline sounded like a great idea on so many levels.  I would get rid of some unnecessary clutter in the house, and that sounded a whole lot better than giving up chocolate!  Letting go of stuff turned out to be much more of a spiritual discipline than I ever imagined, and about half way through Lent, I asked Don to remind me to just give up the chocolate next year.  I didn't throw away much-I'm pretty good about throwing away what needs to be pitched on an ongoing basis. I was letting go of things-giving things away-that I no longer used, or in some cases had never used.  Now, I do not consider myself a hoarder.  I just keep things in case I need them again sometimes.  However, the likelihood that I will ever find what I am looking for in 10 years worth of stacks of Time magazine is slim.  The likelihood that I will ever fit into clothes I wore 20 years ago is non-existent.  Giving away things was not always easy, but it was liberating.  Forty bags later, I found myself wondering why had I kept all those things to begin with.  Do I find security in having lots of stuff?  I wonder if those of us with plenty tend to hold onto things because, despite all evidence to the contrary, we cannot trust that we will always have what we need.
This morning, both Jeremiah and Jesus will infuriate people who are trying to hold onto or hoard something far more valuable than anything we have in our closets.  In different ways, both Jeremiah's audience and Jesus' audience want to hoard their status as God's beloved chosen people.  We only hear about Jeremiah's call in our first reading this morning.  First God says "Today, I appoint you over nations and over kingdoms."  I wonder how the rulers of those nations and those kingdoms are going to feel about that!  Then God sends Jeremiah to pluck up and pull down, to destroy and overthrown, to build and to plant.  That is 4 verbs about destruction and 2 verbs about building up.  Somehow I don't think this is going to go very well for Jeremiah.  Jeremiah will tell the people that worshiping idols, neglecting the poor, and believing false prophets are not what God had in mind for God's people.  Their status as God's people is not permission do whatever they like.  The people are furious with Jeremiah, and for the prophet's efforts, he will attacked by his own brothers, beaten and put in stocks, imprisoned by the king, thrown in a cistern and threatened with death.  Clearly the people were unwilling to let go of their understanding of their identity as God's chosen people.

Jesus also infuriates the people in his hometown synagogue.  Last week we heard Jesus read from the prophet Isaiah "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor.  He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor."  Today we hear Jesus say "Today, this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing."  All the people in the synagogue are amazed at the words coming from Jesus' mouth.  They marvel that this is Joseph's son.  If Jesus had just stopped there, he could have gone to coffee hour and gone home in peace.  But, good rabbi that Jesus was, he wanted the people to understand the words he had just spoken.  The long awaited Messiah was not coming just for them.  The chosen people were not the only people God chose.  Jesus reminded the people in the synagogue of two Biblical stories in which the love of God touched Gentiles: the story in which Elijah, the foremost prophet of God, was sent to the widow of Zarephath during a severe famine to provide a miracle of food for the widow and her son, and the story of Naaman the Syrian, who was not just a Gentile, but an enemy of the Israelites, and who was the only leper cleansed.  The people in the temple, who just a moment ago were speaking well of Jesus, are now furious  and try to throw him off the cliff because Jesus is telling them they are not God's only beloved people.

Why are the people so angry?  Neither Jesus nor Jeremiah are telling the people that they are not loved by God, even though that is what the people hear.  Both Jesus and Jeremiah are challenging a people who want to hoard the love of God and define that love on their own terms.  Jeremiah speaks to people who want the love of God to allow them to behave as they like with no consequences because they are Gods's chosen people.   Jesus speaks to people in the synagogue who want to believe they have an exclusive claim on God's love.  Both speak to people who are furious because they can not, or will not, hear God challenge them to understand the love of God in more expansive ways.  Both speak to people who are afraid because they are being challenged to let go of their perceived hold on God's love.

By partnering the stories about Jesus and Jeremiah with the reading from I Corinthians, we are reminded that the most basic commandment of God is to love God and each other.   When asked about the greatest commandment, Jesus will quote the book of Deuteronomy and say "Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength, and love your neighbor as yourself."  Paul writes "Love is patient; love is kind; love is not envious or boastful or arrogant or rude.  Love does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth."  That reading reminds us that there is more than enough of God's love to go around, and no need to hoard something that is infinite.

In this season when so much seeks to divide us, whether in politics or in the workplace or in church on anywhere else, we can easily jump from "I disagree with you" to "you are wrong" to "God only loves those who think like we do."  We move from hoarding the truth, which is a problem in itself, to hoarding God's love.  God may not like some, or a lot, of the things we humans do.  But the overwhelming evidence of Scripture is that God has more than enough love to go around.  And when we can love our neighbor with the love Paul describes, whether we agree with or even like that neighbor, we participate in the abundance of God's love.  The great theologian Fred Rogers, also known simply as "Mister Rogers" said it like this: "I believe that appreciation is a holy thing--that when we look for what's best in a person we happen to be with at the moment, we are doing what God does all the time.  So, in loving and appreciating our neighbor, we're participating in something sacred."

Amen.

Homecoming

Charlotte Collins Reed
Christ Episcopal Church
January 24, 2016

3 Epiphany C

Some years ago, I went back to Little Rock for the funeral of a close friend.  My family moved to Little Rock the summer before I started 6th grade, and I stayed in the area through college, so going to Little Rock has the feel of going home for me.  People came from all over the country for this funeral, traveling from places like Seattle, and Arizona, to mourn the loss of this dear friend, hear the powerful words of scripture, to pray the prayers of the burial office together, and pour our grief into the familiar liturgy.  We also came to be together as none of us could bare to do this difficult work alone.  We needed to be together to hear the challenge in both scripture and our burial service to live like people who believe that death does not have the final say.  The funeral and the reception afterwards were a homecoming for all of us, a reminder to live into our identity as Easter people, and a joyful occasion in the midst of deep sorrow.

We hear about two homecomings in today's readings from Scripture.  In the reading from Nehemiah, some of the Hebrew people have returned to their homeland, the Promised Land, from their exile in Babylon. All the people may have gathered at the gate to the city in our passage this morning, but all of the people did not agree about who was among the faithful and who was not, who should govern, how and if the temple should be rebuilt, and who they are as God's chosen people.  They are squabbling, much like the people in the church in Corinth to which Paul writes are squabbling, and in both cases, the very survival of the community is at stake.  When the people gather at the gate this morning, their future is in jeopardy, in part because they cannot agree how to move forward and in part because they are under military attack from their enemies.  The people ask to hear the familiar words of the Torah, the law of Moses, read out loud for them, and to have those words explained.  Over and over again, we hear that all the people stood, all the people said "Amen, Amen," and all the people understood.  And all the people were moved to worship the Lord with their faces to the ground, apparently weeping and mourning.  They heard the challenge of the words of scripture, recognized the ways they were failing to live into their identity as God's people, and realized that their return to the Promised Land was nothing less than a gift from God who loves them and made them God's own.  And so they are able to rise up, rejoice, and make sure anyone who could not be at the gate could rejoice as well.

In the gospel reading, we have yet another homecoming.  Jesus returns to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, and goes to the synagogue, as was his custom. The synagogue was the place where the faithful gathered on the Sabbath to hear the word of God proclaimed, much as the Hebrew people had gathered at the gate in the reading from Nehemiah.  Jesus is in the midst of his own people when he reads from the prophet Isaiah, and outlines what he understands to be his work in the world.  "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor."  Then Jesus says to the people, his people, "Today, this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing."  Next week, we will hear the end of the story, which begins with these words "All spoke well of him and were amazed at the gracious words that came from his mouth."  And then the people will realize what Jesus' words require of them, which is to change and to recognize that Jesus' words are not just for them, and they are furious, but that is a story for next week.  Today, Jesus' people are proud of their hometown boy.  They are all amazed and probably all take a bit of credit for the person Jesus has become.

So, we have two homecoming stories.  Both involve the reading of Scripture.  Both have all the people responding as one.  Both have "feel good" endings, as the people in the reading from Nehemiah rise up, eat and drink, and celebrate God's goodness, and the people in the synagogue with Jesus hear that the words of Isaiah are fulfilled in their midst.

However, both stories also call the people to hear the challenge of scripture and to change.  The gathering of God's people to hear God's word is sometimes meant to comfort, but those words are also meant to challenge.  The Hebrew people who have returned from Babylon are likely trying to make sense of what has happened to them as a people.  They are not getting along the way they should be.  They want to hear God's word read and explained.  When they do, they mourn and weep because they realize how they have failed to live as God's people.  They hear the call to change.  Only by realizing the extent to which they have failed can they repent and live more faithfully.

On the other hand, the people in the synagogue who hear Jesus read from Isaiah this morning only hear words of comfort.  They do not yet understand that the words of Isaiah are words of challenge that call them to change and be part of the change for those who are poor, blind, captive, or oppressed.  Next week, we will hear the people's reaction when they realize that Jesus is telling them that the good news is not just for them.  They are God's chosen people, not set apart for special privilege, but to be a light to all the nations.  The people are furious and try to throw Jesus off a cliff.  They definitely understand what Jesus is saying. They just do not like what they hear.

There is a sense in which our gathering in this place every Sunday is a homecoming where we come back together after doing our work in the world, hear the word of God proclaimed, share a meal together, and are reminded of our identity as the body of Christ. We are one body with many members, as Paul reminds us in 1 Corinthians this morning.  And yes, part of the reason we come together is for comfort and strength.  But if we forget that we come together to be challenged, changed, and held accountable for living as the Body of Christ, we are not listening carefully to scripture or the words of our liturgy.  We come together  because being challenged, changed and held accountable is far too difficult and too scary to do on our own if we are taking the matter seriously.  Paul reminds us of our identity as the one body of Christ and the way we are to live and treat each other in the reading from 1 Corinthians.  The only way we can live faithfully, to allow ourselves to be challenged, changed, and held accountable in the way that living faithfully as being the Body of Christ requires, is to do that work together.

Amen.

Abundance Happens

Charlotte Collins Reed
Christ Episcopal Church
January 17, 2016

2 Epiphany C

A few thousand pounds of food were delivered to Christ Church last Wednesday as we prepare for Food Pantry this coming Wednesday.  Now, our offices look like a food storage facility, with cases of food stacked along every available downstairs wall. There are packages of toilet paper stacked almost to the ceiling, thanks to your generosity.  We had our largest turn out ever of folks to help unload the trucks and unwrap the cases of food, and that was on a 2 degree morning!  Next Tuesday, a crew will come in to take the brown paper sacks and double bag them so they don't tear when filled.  When Kelly and I come in on Wednesday morning, what was left of floor space downstairs and an entire room upstairs will be filled with open paper bags, waiting for food. Then another few thousand pounds of food will appear, along with, over the course of the day, some 25 or 30 more people to help serve the 150+ people who will stand in line to receive food for the families.

This is what abundance looks like at Christ Church.  Abundance does not mean too much food or too many people.  Abundance means more than we could possibly expect or deserve on our own.  We see such an abundance in the story of the wedding at Cana this morning.  Jesus takes 6 stone water jars, each holding 20 or 30 gallons of water, and transforms the water into the equivalent of 200 or so cases of the best wine of the wedding feast.  We are told that the miracle at Cana is the first of Jesus' signs,  revealed his glory, and his disciples believed in him.

There is a sense in which the whole of John's gospel, in which we find the story of the wedding at Cana, is about abundance*.  In the opening paragraphs of John's gospel, we hear these words "And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father's only son, full of grace and truth...From his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace.  The law indeed was given through Moses.  Grace and truth came through Jesus Christ."  The introduction to John's gospel sets a stage on which the abundance of grace will be played out for all of us to watch.  And the very first action of Jesus in this gospel is to change an enormous amount of water into a great abundance of wine.  Inaugural actions have meaning, and this inaugural action is about abundance.  Later in the gospel, Jesus will say "I have come that you may have life, and have it abundantly" (John 10:10).  In the story of the wedding at Cana, Jesus' glory is revealed, not because he saved the week-long wedding party from the shame of running out of wine, or just because he was able to transform some water into wine.  Jesus' glory was revealed through abundance.

But what is abundance?  We humans can easily fall into the trap of "I have a lot.  I want more."  On our bad days, abundance can look a lot like greed.  Martin Luther King, Jr., whose life the nation celebrates this weekend, preached this about abundance in one of his sermons (Quote) "When we look at modern man, we have to face the fact...that modern man suffers from a kind of poverty of the spirit, which stands in glaring contrast to his scientific and technological abundance; We've learned to fly the air like birds, we've learned to swim the seas like fish, and yet we haven't learned to walk the Earth as brothers and sisters..."  Martin Luther King points to the sad reality that abundance often divides rather than unites.  Abundance that divides is greed, not abundance.  Real abundance is meant to be given away and brings us together to walk the earth together as brothers and sisters.

Paul's words to the Corinthians this morning are similar to King's words about abundance.  The church in Corinth is divided because the Christians there are arguing over who has the greater spiritual gifts.  The abundance of spiritual gifts the church has been given has become the cause of division rather than unity, and is tearing apart the Body of Christ rather than building up the Body.  Into that situation, Paul writes "Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; and there are varieties of services, but the same Lord; and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who activates all of them in everyone."  No one gift is better than another because they all come from and are activated by the same God.  No one gift is complete in and of itself.  The church needs all of the gifts working together to experience the true abundance that is the Body of Christ.  Paul also writes "To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good."  The gifts of the Spirit are given, not for our own private use and enjoyment, but for the common good.  When those gifts are used together for the common good, real abundance happens.

The prophetic call join arms with all of our brothers and sisters and use all of our gifts for the common good, regardless of race, religion, resources, or sexual orientation, is not always well received and often has a cost. Certainly Martin Luther King paid the ultimate cost for his prophetic witness.  You many have seen or heard in the news this week that the Episcopal Church is paying a cost in the Anglican Communion for our witness to practicing full inclusion and walking hand in hand with all of our brothers and sisters regardless of sexual orientation.  That cost, while deeply painful to many, is not ultimate, nor is it unexpected.  Much has been written about the events and the outcome of the Primates' meeting in Canterbury, some of which is accurate and some is not, and I commend to your reading the actual document which is on the ushers' tables along with a couple of helpful responses.

Abundance that divides is actually fear of scarcity, whether a fear of a lack of material resources, or a lack of good will, or anything else of which there could be scarcity.  This sort of abundance is otherwise known as hoarding.  In Luke's gospel, Jesus says "Foxes have dens and birds have nests, bu the Son of Man has no place to lay his head." In the same gospel Jesus says to his disciples as he is sending them out "Take nothing for the journey. No staff, no bag, no bread, no money, no extra shirt."  Jesus is clearly not interested in hoarding.  Jesus turns an enormous amount of water into an abundance of excellent wine so that the wine can be given away.  Paul calls us to use our gifts together to work for the common good.  God's abundance brings people together to make the world, or some part of it, a better place. When we walk together as brothers and sisters, and work for the common good, God's abundance happens and Jesus' glory is revealed.

Amen.

*Thank you to Karoline Lewis at www.workingpreacher.org for this insight into the role abundance plays in John's gospel.