SERMON PREACHED BY
THE REVEREND DR. HAROLD T. LEWIS, RECTOR
CALVARY EPISCOPAL CHURCH,
PITTSBURGH, PENNSYLVANIA
ON THE SIXTH SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST
8 JULY 2007

 

 

 

"I send you out as lambs in the midst of wolves." (Luke 10:3)

 

I am indebted to Lord Carey, the former archbishop of Canterbury and sometime visitor to this parish, for a story he is fond of telling. There was a cabin boy who worked on a large, ocean-going vessel. One of his duties was to take a pot of tea every morning to the captain of the ship. The boy would climb the rickety companionway, taking care not to spill the precious liquid, hurrying as fast as he could lest it arrive cold. Every morning the same ritual was repeated. The captain received the teapot, poured its contents into a cup, took a long sip, and thanked the cabin boy. Then, placing his cup down, he would take out his binoculars and survey the great expanse of ocean. Then, reaching a hand into his pocket, he would unravel a scrap of paper, read what was written on it, and replace it. Each morning, as the cabin boy took his leave, he wondered what on earth --- or more correctly on sea ---could have been jotted on that piece of paper. Maybe an inspirational Biblical passage, or a verse from Coleridge's Ancient Mariner, or a word of endearment from the captain's mother or sweetheart. One morning, his curiosity overcame him, and he craned his neck as unobtrusively as possible, and could at last decipher the message on the piece of paper. It read: "Port is left, starboard is right." The captain, long years of experience at sea notwithstanding, found the need daily to remind himself of a basic rule of navigation of which even landlubbers were aware.

 

As we navigate the waters of life, some charted and others uncharted, I often feel like that captain. I find I have to check every day to make sure the rules haven't changed, The scrap of paper in my pocket would have written on it a verse from the prophet Amos, containing a God-given rule about how we should treat each other: "Let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an everflowing stream." I would have read that verse this week, which, ironically, included Independence Day, as the question was raised yet again as to whether freedom is equally accessible to all citizens, as we pondered yet again whether those words chiseled in stone on the façade of the Supreme Court --- "Equal Justice under the law" --- run the risk of becoming just a lovely phrase. This was the week we learned that convicted felons are punished, except, perhaps, when they are rich and have friends in high places; when we learned that it would appear that perjury is rewarded when the truth would have incriminated those very people in high places. The now-famous commutation is the more risible when we remember that the one who granted it earned a reputation in a previous incarnation for refusing to show an iota of leniency for scores of less connected convicted felons, many of whom ended up in the gas chamber.

 

Was this event a mere anomaly? A blip on the screen? Au contraire! Even the newspapers in Honduras, a week earlier, carried the news that the Supreme Court tried, perhaps with a modicum of success, to undermine Brown vs. Board of Education, in a ruling that sounds more the language in Plessy vs. Ferguson. (Lest we forget, that was the case which gave to the lexicon of jurisprudence the phrase "separate but equal," and which in practice really meant "separate but unequal.") But at least Plessy recognized racial differences. Today's so-called color-blind Court would now have us believe that race is a non-issue, a non-factor in American life, a view that can only be considered delusional.

 

And within the bosom of the church, the same phenomenon can be seen. In the name of Biblical orthodoxy, certain church members are about the business of systematically marginalizing women, racial minorities and gays and lesbians, declaring that they, one way or the other, are outside the fold. Some elements in the church seem to be joining a chorus of those who maintain that certain groups have gone too far, achieved too much. Note, for the example, the comment made by a priest in California whose parish now claims to be under the aegis of the Archbishop of Uganda: "The Episcopal Church has been in decline ever since the civil rights movement." Even the church, therefore, sometimes joins the ranks of those who wish to restore the status quo ante bellum, and depending on whom you speak to, that bellum could be the Vietnam War, the Second World War or even the Civil War!

 

In today's Gospel, Jesus gives marching orders to the disciples, and by extension to us. He is telling both the original disciples and us modern-day disciples that we are called to proclaim the love, forgiveness and reconciliation that God is accomplishing through Jesus. But he makes it clear that there will be obstacles in the way, sometimes evil powers to be overcome. And unlike the conventional wisdom contained in that old adage that says we must "try, try again," Jesus would suggest that if a particular group doesn't respond to our ministry, we should perhaps shake the dust off our feet and move on. He makes it clear to us that the people to whom we would bring the saving message of the Gospel are those hindered by allegiance to race, tribe or clan, religion, social status and mode of life. People then as now want religion to conform to their way of life; they find it difficult to make changes to conform to the demands of the Gospel.

 

Jesus tells us, too, that the work in which we are engaged is urgent, and that therefore, we should travel light, not being encumbered by stuff which will get in the way. But Jesus also warns us that the work is difficult. You don't have to be a Biblical scholar to understand that being lambs in the midst of wolves means that we are vulnerable and weak compared to the powers-that-be. But we take no small comfort in the knowledge that on virtually every page of the Bible, it is the underdog --- the least, the lost and the last who prevail, and who are upheld by God's grace.

 

Perhaps some of you remember George Egan. He is not only remembered for being the father one not one, but two sets of twins, but for being the founder and guru of the Wednesday morning men's Bible study, now co-ed. George was in mergers and acquisitions, and was involved in buying and selling companies several times before lunch on a given day. He moved in the world of contracts, complete with the requisite small print, footnotes, and codicils. And when something wasn't Kosher, when George believed that somebody was getting the raw end of the deal, he would speak up, only to be met with a chorus that said, "George, don't go church on us!" In other words, "that Sunday School morality is fine for church, but this is the real world!"

 

My friends, it is the real world to which we are called to bring the saving message of the Gospel. And in these troublous times, it would seem, people are finding the courage to speak out. In our nation, as the toll of the dead and wounded in the Iraqi War continues to mount, and as the nation's coffers face depletion, people, eschewing party loyalty and forgetting partisanship, are loudly and publicly raising questions about our involvement in a conflict of specious origin and dubious purpose. Meanwhile, back at the church, many of those who a scant few months ago were preaching secession, declaring that the so-called orthodox wing of the this church could no longer bear to live cheek to jowl with the rest of us are now beating a hasty retreat from that position, now that they understand the cost of secession, and realize that life after breaking ranks looks bleak, indeed.

 

If you feel especially vulnerable as a helpless lamb thrown to a pack of wolves, let me remind you that the lamb is not the only animal that Jesus says we should imitate. He also tells us that as we exercise our ministry, we should be as wise as serpents and as gentle as doves. By this, I believe that Jesus means that while we should be gracious and loving and kind, we must also be savvy and shrewd. When I was in Canterbury after Easter, the communications officer of the Anglican Communion addressed our group --- made up of rectors of large parishes, and accused us of being "lazy liberals." While other forces in the life of the church have had a game plan and an agenda, the default position for the moderate wing has been to believe that there is no conflict that cannot be resolved by having a heartfelt chat over a glass of sherry. It's what I call the "gentlemen's agreement" approach. Now that a shrewd woman, and a scientist at that, is at the helm of the Episcopal Church, our church, like Patti Labelle, has a new attitude, and we have renewed and realistic hope that we will have "an happy issue out of all our affliction."

 

As disciples of Jesus, our work is cut out for us --- in church, in government, in society, but by God's grace, I believe we will be equal to the task.

 

Let us pray:
Lo the host of evil round us scorn thy Christ, assail his ways!
From the fears that long have bound us free our hearts to faith and praise
Grant us wisdom, grant us courage, for the living of these days. (The Hymnal 1982, 594)
AMEN