Preachers Study - The Day of Pentecost

Monday morning in the Preacher's Study

First thoughts about next Sunday's sermon (Pentecost Year C)

Todd Townshend

There are so many things to be said about the possibilities offered in our celebration of the Day of Pentecost—primarily, that all possibility for us, as Christians, is rooted in the movement of the Holy Spirit.

One element of the celebration which we may choose to de-emphasize is that Pentecost is the birthday of the Church. As we struggle against our (sinful) tendency to make it all about us, why not make the day instead about God? What did God do on the day of Pentecost and how is it like and unlike what God is doing now?

Perhaps, as we lean away from an overly strong focus on the human beings, we could mix things up in a sermon taking our cue from the Sunday following – Trinity Sunday. Without filling the air with words that we learned in our theology books, without delving too deeply into theological explanations of our Triune God, preachers have an opportunity to evoke meaning from a celebration which says, “the Spirit gives birth" or, “Jesus gives life to the dead” or, “the Creator breathes and we are filled with that Spirit,” or, “here begins God’s creative reclamation”, or “the Spirit is animating your charismata!”—now what in the world does that mean, and what does that look like today, now, for me, for us?

These are some very bold, strong, astonishing texts. Storm winds, fire, bestowal of impossible gifts, all sent/given so that we will know for ourselves the power of life over death.  Our mission is, in part, to take in “the breath of the resurrection” and to “go tell / go live”.  Now preachers, please help us to see something— what in the world this action-of-God might mean, what it looks like today, now, for me, for us?

Baptism: The Moment That Lasts a Lifetime

Baptism: The Moment That Lasts a Lifetime

Ruth Meyers

During the Easter season at Church Divinity School of the Pacific, where I teach, Eucharist begins with singing the Easter Troparion: “Christ is risen from dead, trampling down death by death, and on those in the tombs bestowing life.” Just before we sing, the presider, standing at the baptismal font, offers a brief prayer over the water. Then, during the troparion, which is sung over and over and over, the presider walks through the chapel sprinkling the assembly. Emphasizing Christ’s trampling down death, members of the assembly stomp their feet in time with the music.

Remember your baptism! Remember that we have been buried with Christ, so that we might walk in newness of life (Romans 6).

The identity established in baptism shapes a Christian’s entire life. Whether baptized as an adult, making the promises of baptism for oneself, or committed to the Christian life as an infant, on the strength of promises made by parents and godparents, we cannot in that moment comprehend all that it is to believe in the God of Jesus Christ and to live as Christ’s Body in the world. The moment of baptism lasts a lifetime. We spend our lives learning what it means to believe in Christ, risen from the dead. We spend our lives learning how to behave as Christians.

In its recently revised materials for baptism, the Church of England says, “One test of the liturgical celebration of baptism is whether, over time, it enables the whole Church to see itself as a baptized community, called to partake in the life of God and to share in the mission of God to the world.” Our celebration of baptism and our remembrance of baptism must be strong, shaping Christians who are able to walk in newness of life.

Here’s a question to stir the waters: How can baptism shape a faithful Christian community, enabling Christians to grow up into the full stature of Christ?

Ruth Meyers will be one of the featured presenters at Stirring the Waters: Reclaiming the Missional, Subversive Character of Baptism, the APLM-NAAC conference this June 27-29 in Chicago.  Dr. Meyers is the Hodges-Haynes Professor of Liturgics and Dean of Academic Affairs at Church Divinity School of the Pacific, and author of Continuing the Reformation: Re-Visioning Baptism in the Episcopal Church. She is currently working on a book about liturgy and mission. She is the chair of the Episcopal Church’s Standing Commission on Liturgy and Music and a member of the Council of Associated Parishes for Liturgy and Mission.

To register online for Stirring the Waters: http://www.rsvpbook.com/event.php?456526#Sales_MOP

For more information, printable brochure or mail-in registration form: http://www.associatedparishes.org

Preacher's Study - Ascension

Monday morning in the Preacher's Study

First thoughts about next Sunday's sermon (AscensionYear C)

Todd Townshend

The celebration of Ascension Day comes ten days before the Day of Pentecost. As much as I respect Luke’s timeline, and the use we make of it in the Christian Calendar, I’d like to encourage the preacher and congregation to celebrate Ascension on the Sunday. It is an important day and, theologically speaking, it is essential for understanding both the presence and the absence of Jesus. It certainly gives us a promise.

It is the combination of Luke 24 and Acts 1 that most intrigues me (although Ephesians 1 is also a wonderful text for preaching*). In both passages, the evangelist emphasizes that Jesus is doing something as he departs - he is blessing them – and Jesus promises that he will return in the same way that he left. This may be a surprise for those who think of Jesus’ return as a fearful moment. Here the promise is one of blessing.

Much of “the world” wants to smack folks down and make them afraid. Sometimes out of cruelty, sometimes out of hurt.  Sometimes people push others down to exalt themselves. Many systems, institutions, and bureaucracies survive by drawing energy and dignity out of the people they are supposed to serve. There is plenty of pain in almost every news story, so when people gather to worship they need to hear good news – promise, gift, blessing. They need something, someone, to raise them up.

On Ascension (Sun)day, I want to hear that there is someone at the right hand of God who knows our names and understands our lives. I do not want to hear about how I am supposed to save myself, or save the world, or climb my own ladder to heaven. I want to live (luxuriate, even) in the hope that Jesus will come to us, exactly because we remain here waiting with God and for God. The angels said, “Why are you standing here, looking toward heaven? This Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way that you saw him go into heaven” (Acts 1:11). That is a promise. The one who will consummate history is a person who knows us. He promised to come to us. There is forgiveness with him. He returns with his wounds still visible. He “gets it”. Wait for him.

So what to do while we wait? It is not the over-busyness of production and consumption that we need, it is the busyness of waiting in hope, welcoming the animating, humanizing Spirit, watching the Gospel happen all around us, and celebrating everything God accomplishes in and through us. Waiting for, and working with, the Spirit of God. Remember Jesus saying, “You will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you will be my witnesses . . .” (Acts 1:8).

* [For a beautiful and creative example of what the preacher can do with Ephesians 1, see “He Who Fills All in All” in Home by Another Way, Barbara Brown Taylor, Cowley, 1997.]

The Rev. Canon Todd Townshend, ThD, is Dean-designate of the Faculty of Theology, Huron University College, and editor of OPEN: Journal for Associated Parishes for Liturgy and Mission  

Preacher's Study - 6 Easter

 Wednesday morning in the Preacher's Study

First thoughts about next Sunday's sermon (6 Easter Year C)

Todd Townshend

Most homileticians advocate for a some kind of “theme” sentence for the sermon—a focus statement, a function statement, central idea, a declarative sentence that serves to proclaim something of the Good News. Paul Scott Wilson organizes his homiletic with “Four Pages of the Sermon” (Abingdon Press, 1999) and on “page three” the preacher offers a sustained focus on the gracious activity of God, summarized in a theme sentence. 

One of the texts for this Sunday is John 5:1-9, and one of the best theme sentences I’ve heard/read is found in Wilson’s book, page 174. Hank Langknect reads John 5:1-9 and he sees that “Jesus just heals the man”, so in his sermon, he repeats it no less than eight times.

The man at the pool is pictured in a humorous way—one that we recognize—saying, “’I want to be healed, I want to be healed’, yet all the while he’s got his arms wrapped around a column, with Jesus pulling on his feet, trying to drag him into the water.” (174) 

But Jesus persists. According to the preacher, “Jesus doesn’t call the man’s bluff. Jesus cuts right through the whole game; and he just heals him. No repentance necessary, no jumping into the pool, no particular willingness on the man’s part to be healed, the man doesn’t even ask Jesus to heal him. Jesus just heals him. “Stand up, take your mat, and walk.” And at once, the man was made well. Jesus just heals him.” (175)

“Do you want to be made well?” Thirty Eight Years, and now, here stands Jesus. What say ye?