SERMON PREACHED BY
THE REVEREND NATHAN A. RUGH, CURATE
CALVARY EPISCOPAL CHURCH,
PITTSBURGH, PENNSYLVANIA
ON THE LAST SUNDAY AFTER THE EPIPHANY
18 FEBRUARY 2007

 

 

If you are a person who has a life, then I imagine that you do not know that all of the Primates of the Anglican Communion are meeting in Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania this week. Primates are the chief bishops of each of the national churches or Provinces that make up the Anglican Communion. The Episcopal Church is a member. Under more normal circumstances the Primates would have gathered this week to pray and study together and to share stories and support each other's ministries. But because of issues surrounding disagreements on human sexuality that have been happening the last several years, this meeting did not look like it was going to be a collegial event.

 

There was speculation going into this week that the Primate of the Episcopal Church, the Presiding Bishop, Katharine Jefferts Schori, was going to have a rough time because of her progressive stance on human sexuality and to my mind some unwarranted concern about her Christology. It should also be pointed out that her gender is undoubtedly of great issue to many of those who are her critics.

 

So, there was speculation that Bishop Jefferts Schori might not be allowed to sit at the table with the rest of the Primates as a head of our church. There was speculation that the bishop of this Diocese, Robert Duncan, might be seated at the table as well as or instead of the Presiding Bishop to represent a far right voice. There was speculation that if the Presiding Bishop was given a seat at the table that there might be a mass exodus of many of the more conservative Primates from elsewhere around the world. There was speculation that the Episcopal Church would be strongly rebuked and disciplined by the Primates. There was speculation that there might be an attempt to have a vote to begin the process of removing the Episcopal Church from the Anglican Communion and to create a new province of conservatives that would take its place. This is all to say, that there was a lot of speculation and none of it sounded particularly good if you were a loyal member of the Episcopal Church.

 

The thing is that while the meeting is still in session the speculation appears to be all wrong. The Presiding Bishop was given a seat at the table. It appears that this was never really a great issue. Bishop Duncan did come to the meeting to make a presentation with two other American Bishops from across the theological spectrum and while he has not left Tanzania he has faded into the shadows.

 

The report that was presented to the Primates on the Episcopal Church's response to the Windsor Report was generally favorable. There has been no mass exodus of primates and no alternative meetings to try to take the place of the scheduled meeting. Though seven of the Primates have refused to have communion with the rest of the primates, that number is half as many as refused when the Primates last met in Ireland several years ago.

 

Now, I could be wrong because this meeting is not very open and there are few official pronouncements yet, but near as I can tell things are going extremely well. Some of the Primates even stopped talking about human sexuality and the Episcopal Church for a bit yesterday to talk about theological education and helping the poor. It would appear that at least for the time being, the Anglican Communion will continue on its journey together with no major break coming forth.

 

And it is this notion of journey that struck me from today's readings.

 

Moses and the Israelites and Jesus and his disciples are all on their respective journeys. In the story of the Transfiguration that we heard in today's Gospel reading, we need to remember that this moment of revelation is a little time out on the road. It is a little get away for a chance to have the disciples eyes opened.

 

You see before the event of the Transfiguration, Jesus has asked his disciples, "Who do you say that I am?" Peter correctly names Jesus as the Messiah, the Christ of God. But instead of handing out stickers and having a party, Jesus warns them to not to tell anyone. What's more Jesus tells them that being Messiah is not like becoming the next American Idol, instead it involves suffering, rejection, and death only to be raised on the third day. Jesus also tells his disciples that if they are to follow him they must daily take up their cross, "for those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will save it."

 

It is eight days after this, the number eight days signifying a new creation, that Peter, James, and John come to their mountain top. What they see there terrifies them and leaves them speechless. They will not share their experience with anyone until after Jesus has died. As an event it reveals the divinity of Jesus, reveals his intimate connection to the Father, but it also acts as confirmation. The Transfiguration is an event that serves to confirm what Jesus has had to say about the nature of being Messiah and about the nature of following him.

But they do not stay on that mountain top; they cannot for there is only the journey. The first thing they do as they come down off of the mountain is heal a sick child with epilepsy.

 

It is not long after this that Jesus will set his face toward Jerusalem to fulfill his part. Even on the mountain top the conversation is about the journey. Moses, Elijah, and Jesus are talking about his "departure, which he is about to accomplish at Jerusalem". The word translated here as departure is actually Exodus in the Greek. It means to point to the crucifixion as a paradoxical instance of God's triumph. Jesus is on a journey and asks us along.

 

It is this business of being on a journey with Jesus that is the mission of the Church. We too are off to the pronounce the Good News, to pronounce the year of the Lord's favor, to make known that the Kingdom of God has come near. We too are to lift up our cross daily. We too are to reach out to sick children, give food to the hungry, release to the prisoner. We are on this journey for just this reason. Even our moments of experiencing being touched by the divine are meant as food for the journey and as confirmation for our mission and task.

 

I believe that the Episcopal Church is on such a journey. I believe that we are trying to follow our Lord and to listen to his voice. Right now we are trying to have a conversation in this church about human sexuality and about the role of the ministry of all baptized Christians whatever their gender or sexual orientation. We are trying to have a conversation about how we read and listen to the Bible. We are trying to discern how the Bible and the tradition are used to understand give life to a proclamation of faith today. Say what you will about how messy it is, but realize that this sort of conversation can only happen because we are so democratic and because the power is not centrally located. It is not messy because we are not authoritarian. There is not a dictatorship of Bishops or of a once for all interpreted Bible. If it was not for our more equitable power dynamic, the conversation would not be had, but the problems that the conversation is trying to address would not go away.

 

And at least right now, though there might be great frustration, the Anglican Communion is choosing to journey on together. We are striving, despite our difference, to sit together, pray together, and break bread together at the Lord's Table. Of course, it could be that sooner rather than later there will be a split, either in the Episcopal Church or in the Anglican Communion. There are many people who do not want to have the conversation we are having, they are convinced that they are right, and they do not want to journey any longer.

 

Some will leave. To my mind it is like building one of those dwellings that Peter was trying to make. I do not think that our Lord would have us do that.

 

Despite my frustration, it is my prayer that we will keep journeying together. It is my hope that out of this mess will come a greater ability to talk to one another. I hope too that out of this we can hear anew God's call to get on with our journey. For as the Gospel reading shows us, we are not meant to set up our metaphorical "dwellings", but are instead meant to be down off of the mountain and on our journey.

 

Amen