Sermon_10_7

"Two Choices for Halloween"

A Sermon by the Rev. Charles Caskey
Interim Rector
St. Thomas Episcopal Church
Battle Creek, Michigan

Date: October 28, 2007

Suppose you had only two costume choices for Halloween, how many would prefer to dress as the Pharisee? How many as the tax collector? As I expected, few of us are proud of our status as Pharisees. Just the opposite, we want to stand or kneel, as our preferred posture for prayer may be, and thank God that I am not like that pompous Pharisee! Today’s Good News, however, is not about who is right or wrong, good or bad, virtuous or sinful, but who experiences the need for God’s grace and love. If we thank God this morning that we are not like that awful Pharisee, we have just placed our selves in his shoes. In many ways they fit better anyway, or our churches would look somewhat different than they do.

It has been reported that Fred Rodgers, Mr. Rodgers of television fame, said at the end of his life that he regretted constantly telling children how special they were, because he believed that we now have a generation o who thinks that they are important and deserving of everything because they are special. If they commit a sin, so what, who needs repentance or forgiveness. People who live abroad believe that Americans, not all Americans, just those who live in these United States are especially afflicted by our “special-ness,”

Churches are so afflicted by our “special-ness,” that Sunday morning is still the most segregated time of the week, when many of us worship next to each other in separate buildings, black or white, protestant or catholic, denominational or nondenominational, and the list goes on. While we may want to choose the costume of the tax collector, the sinner, we are more often than not perceived as portraying the self-righteous Pharisee by our actions. Scholars even suggest that the prayer used by the Pharisee may have been a standard Jewish prayer of thanksgiving. However, he like perhaps many of us at times, lapses into a feeling of moral superiority, seeing clearly the weakness or shortcomings of others, but failing to recognize our own.

There is such a divide between the Pharisees and tax collectors of our day, that those who feel too sinful to be forgiven, their actions “demonized,” afraid of God, but perhaps more afraid of the judgment of churches. If not, our churches would be filled with the formerly incarcerated and their families. As Joseph Pagano says: “The tax collector’s humility was not a virtue that earns him God’s love and acceptance. The tax collector’s humility is a posture of openness in which he is able to receive God’s love. Ultimately, the Pharisee and the tax collector are the same. They both need God’s love. The difference is that the Pharisee doesn’t know it and the tax collector does.”

How might we begin to make St. Thomas truly a place where all feel welcome and loved, not just by God, but us too? Notice where the Pharisee and the tax collector place themselves in the temple. The Pharisee is by himself and the tax collector too. They would not even be close enough to exchange the Peace, and why should they? Would they sit together at coffee hour? Probably not!

In light of this Gospel, do you think Jesus is asking us to be even more hospitable? Perhaps it is important to be outside on Van Buren offering to park cars for those who can’t manage our steps, to even more intentionally reach out to newcomers perhaps by wearing a name tag so that the stranger might be able to call me by name. Perhaps we could try to sit beside a stranger in church or at coffee hour. The Gospel invites us to get out of our comfort zones, whether as Pharisees or tax collectors. Those who are by themselves or far off, as the Gospel says for whatever reason, are invited by Christ, our host at this table, to draw near. And all of us who have drawn near are to invite others too.

Sarah Dylan Breuer in her comments on humility in relation to Gospel story says: “I think…the humble person is the one whose energy is so occupied with serving others, with exercising the kind of spiritual leadership that call all into deeper maturity, with seeking God’s will and enjoying God’s fellowship, and with enjoying all of God’s good gifts that she/he just doesn’t have all that much left over to devote to assessing whether she/he is more or less virtuous than others.”

It might be good to remind ourselves that Jesus urged Christians to do what they (the Pharisees) say and not what they do. Sarah in her comments reminds us: “…, the Pharisees were not the fundamentalists of their time. They did not read scripture literally. They understood that the laws given to Moses while the people were nomadic herders needed to be interpreted to suit changing circumstances. And the Pharisees were remarkably INCLUSIVE. They were well known for their enthusiasm for evangelism …, and they received Gentile converts with great joy (i.e., those who joined the people of Israel by being baptized, offering sacrifice in the Temple, promising to follow the Law, and for men, being circumcised). As for justice issues, we pretty much owe it to the Pharisees that the prophetic works like Isaiah, Micah, and Amos are in the canon; the Sadducees saw these works as newfangled innovations and not canon…. The Pharisees longed for what Christians long for: God's will done on earth as it is in heaven, and all nations streaming into Zion to enjoy God's just and compassionate rule.”

The Pharisee is one of the “good guys” as opposed to the tax collector who made a living by working for a foreign, oppressive government, and by cheating the tax payers. While he is a low life, a crook and a traitor, he leaves with a right relationship with God and the Pharisee goes home with nothing. The Gospel for today gives us much to ponder as we think about our own ministry of hospitality. True hospitality will enable us all to leave Christ’s table nourished and filled.

Charlie+



	"Two Choices for Halloween" A Sermon by the Rev. Charles Caskey Interim Rector St. Thomas Episcopal Church Battle Creek, Michigan Date: October 28, 2007 Suppose you had only two costume choices for Halloween, how many would prefer to dress as the Pharisee? How many as the tax collector? As I expected, few of us are proud of our status as Pharisees. Just the opposite, we want to stand or kneel, as our preferred posture for prayer may be, and thank God that I am not like that pompous Pharisee! Today’s Good News, however, is not about who is right or wrong, good or bad, virtuous or sinful, but who experiences the need for God’s grace and love. If we thank God this morning that we are not like that awful Pharisee, we have just placed our selves in his shoes. In many ways they fit better anyway, or our churches would look somewhat different than they do. It has been reported that Fred Rodgers, Mr. Rodgers of television fame, said at the end of his life that he regretted constantly telling children how special they were, because he believed that we now have a generation o who thinks that they are important and deserving of everything because they are special. If they commit a sin, so what, who needs repentance or forgiveness. People who live abroad believe that Americans, not all Americans, just those who live in these United States are especially afflicted by our “special-ness,” Churches are so afflicted by our “special-ness,” that Sunday morning is still the most segregated time of the week, when many of us worship next to each other in separate buildings, black or white, protestant or catholic, denominational or nondenominational, and the list goes on. While we may want to choose the costume of the tax collector, the sinner, we are more often than not perceived as portraying the self-righteous Pharisee by our actions. Scholars even suggest that the prayer used by the Pharisee may have been a standard Jewish prayer of thanksgiving. However, he like perhaps many of us at times, lapses into a feeling of moral superiority, seeing clearly the weakness or shortcomings of others, but failing to recognize our own. There is such a divide between the Pharisees and tax collectors of our day, that those who feel too sinful to be forgiven, their actions “demonized,” afraid of God, but perhaps more afraid of the judgment of churches. If not, our churches would be filled with the formerly incarcerated and their families. As Joseph Pagano says: “The tax collector’s humility was not a virtue that earns him God’s love and acceptance. The tax collector’s humility is a posture of openness in which he is able to receive God’s love. Ultimately, the Pharisee and the tax collector are the same. They both need God’s love. The difference is that the Pharisee doesn’t know it and the tax collector does.” How might we begin to make St. Thomas truly a place where all feel welcome and loved, not just by God, but us too? Notice where the Pharisee and the tax collector place themselves in the temple. The Pharisee is by himself and the tax collector too. They would not even be close enough to exchange the Peace, and why should they? Would they sit together at coffee hour? Probably not! In light of this Gospel, do you think Jesus is asking us to be even more hospitable? Perhaps it is important to be outside on Van Buren offering to park cars for those who can’t manage our steps, to even more intentionally reach out to newcomers perhaps by wearing a name tag so that the stranger might be able to call me by name. Perhaps we could try to sit beside a stranger in church or at coffee hour. The Gospel invites us to get out of our comfort zones, whether as Pharisees or tax collectors. Those who are by themselves or far off, as the Gospel says for whatever reason, are invited by Christ, our host at this table, to draw near. And all of us who have drawn near are to invite others too. Sarah Dylan Breuer in her comments on humility in relation to Gospel story says: “I think…the humble person is the one whose energy is so occupied with serving others, with exercising the kind of spiritual leadership that call all into deeper maturity, with seeking God’s will and enjoying God’s fellowship, and with enjoying all of God’s good gifts that she/he just doesn’t have all that much left over to devote to assessing whether she/he is more or less virtuous than others.” It might be good to remind ourselves that Jesus urged Christians to do what they (the Pharisees) say and not what they do. Sarah in her comments reminds us: “…, the Pharisees were not the fundamentalists of their time. They did not read scripture literally. They understood that the laws given to Moses while the people were nomadic herders needed to be interpreted to suit changing circumstances. And the Pharisees were remarkably INCLUSIVE. They were well known for their enthusiasm for evangelism …, and they received Gentile converts with great joy (i.e., those who joined the people of Israel by being baptized, offering sacrifice in the Temple, promising to follow the Law, and for men, being circumcised). As for justice issues, we pretty much owe it to the Pharisees that the prophetic works like Isaiah, Micah, and Amos are in the canon; the Sadducees saw these works as newfangled innovations and not canon…. The Pharisees longed for what Christians long for: God's will done on earth as it is in heaven, and all nations streaming into Zion to enjoy God's just and compassionate rule.” The Pharisee is one of the “good guys” as opposed to the tax collector who made a living by working for a foreign, oppressive government, and by cheating the tax payers. While he is a low life, a crook and a traitor, he leaves with a right relationship with God and the Pharisee goes home with nothing. The Gospel for today gives us much to ponder as we think about our own ministry of hospitality. True hospitality will enable us all to leave Christ’s table nourished and filled. Charlie+
Home Page \| Worship Times \| Church Calendar \| Youth Activities \| Outreach Programs \| Liturgy Schedule \| Contacts
"Being a Light to the World" \| St. Thomas Episcopal Church, 16 E. Van Buren St., Battle Creek, MI 49017 \| Phone: (269) 965-2244