The Spirit of the Lord

January 21, 2007

3 Epiphany, Year C

“The Spirit of the Lord is on me, for God has anointed me to bring good news to the afflicted. God has sent me to proclaim liberty to captives, sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” Luke 4:18-19

These words were Jesus’ inaugural address, the touchstone vision of his ministry. He was reading Isaiah 61 – a text describing the vision and practice of Jubilee - a vision that weaves together economic and ecological justice, work and rest, liturgy and society. It invites the people of God to live in holy rhythms.

Many people today are exploring what it would mean to weave together ecology and economy, to have a life where work and rest were in balance and where we would all live in holy rhythms together seeking the betterment of the community and the world.

Jesus read these strong words from Isaiah to move the people, to get them to see a new light and a new way. This new way is not just to follow, but to live with the Holy Spirit. It is not a way that merely meant following everything Jesus did, but rather taking his life as an example and doing good in the world - living a holy life in the midst of chaos. This way is a way of life, a way of being, a way of embodying the Spirit and living out our full potential that we were given at our creation.

We hear the same from Paul in the letter to the Corinthians, but in a different way. The message of Paul is that we are the body of Christ together, called to do and live as Christ did and lived. However, Paul is reminding us that we are all called to do something as we work as the body of Christ, but not everything. He is writing to the church in Corinth, counseling them on how to work out differences in their new community telling them that each person should not try to do everything, but that they all have a place in their community and each place is as important as the other, therefore, they should all be doing something. God has constituted the church with a variety of gifts, services, ministries, offices and functions.

Those who knew Jesus understood that Jesus did not want each of them to become just like him, rather Jesus wanted them to live their lives in a true and holy way and that meant that you could not overlook those who were poor and oppressed, you could not disregard those who are different than yourself, and you could not push aside anyone. Jesus had all sorts of followers. Fishermen, tax collectors, prostitutes, sisters and brothers who fought over who was a better follower, people who lived on faith and were healed, people who did not believe at all, but still kept a close eye on him, people who loved him and people who hated him. They were all close to him as he did his ministry. He did not want them to change who they were, but he wanted their ways of living to change. He wanted them to turn around and see the way to living the true and holy life that they were called to live, the life God wanted them to live.

Doing these good deeds in the world, doing your part as the body of Christ is not about working your way to Heaven or working your way to salvation. That’s already done for you. What we do here on earth is about bringing the Kingdom of God here, where we are, right now. It is about bringing God into our midst in all that we do. That is one reason why Luke reminds us time and again of the Spirit. Just before this reading in Luke, Jesus is baptized and the Spirit of God descends upon him. Now, we are reminded again, as he heads off to his hometown that the Spirit is once again with him. It is with us, each and every one of us present here, each and every person in the world. The Holy Spirit dwells in us and guides us and helps us discover what part we can do to make the body of Christ whole.

For it to work, for us to be Christ in the world, for us to be able to go out and do Jesus’ work, we have to not only do our part, but also be there to support and encourage others to do their part, to give them time to heal when needed. When we work together, support each other, laugh and cry together, we are whole.

Paul, in his letter to the Corinthians reminds us that the world is alive with many different kinds of people and that we are to work together. Unity does not mean uniformity. Oneness does not mean sameness. We are to work together as one people with all of our differences and with all of our uniqueness. Unity does not exclude diversity, rather we can only speak of oneness if we recognize diversity and the tension that it brings as we try to work together in a true and holy way.

This last week, I got an email from an old friend of mine who is also a priest serving in Texas. On top of being a rector, he is a navy chaplain and has served time on the weekends mostly in the reserves. He just learned that in about a month, he will be deployed for six months and have to leave his wife, two kids and his parish behind for that time. Since I can remember, he saw serving those in the military and those who work as the police and firefighters as part of his calling. He and I have talked many times about how I could not do this - and he doesn’t understand how I can’t – and he doesn’t understand parts of my calling as well. Especially because I don’t see this as something that I could do, I’m glad that there are people like him who see this as their calling and are willing to leave loved ones behind to serve others overseas.

As I thought about us all working together to be Christ in the world, I also thought of my friends Sara and Aron and their little boy Eliot. About a month ago, I got a phone call telling me that their three year old, Eliot has leukemia. He has a “good kind” of cancer – the kind that can be healed and gone 85% of the time. They spent two weeks in the hospital, celebrated Christmas in the hospital, celebrated their daughter, Naomi’s birthday in the hospital having more tests. As they have struggled through this, people have come from far and near to help. Aron is a priest and other priests helped him out over Christmas so that he could be with his family on Christmas morning. People have circled around them giving and giving, serving and helping them in many different ways. Sara and Aron have also begun to help other kids in the hospital and created a network of people. I see this as the body of Christ working together in a beautiful way. Everyone is doing their part – not everyone is doing the same things – and their life is working as well as it can under the circumstances.

In the Gospel, we hear from Jesus that we are to serve those around us that are in need – to serve each other – to look out for each other. In Paul’s letter, we hear about functioning together in order to create a whole. We are all called to do something, yet how we do it will be different than those around us. We are meant to be different by God’s creation. We are all created differently, but in God’s image.

This is the beginning of a new semester for all of you. It is a time of starting again, and a time of continuing on the work you have already started. Our entire life is full of starting again and continuing on – that is our journey. On this journey we are called to find ourselves and to find our path with God. All of our paths will be different, and through the help of the Holy Spirit will all lead us to our Creator. At the beginning of this new time, I encourage you to take a step back for a moment and think about what you would say to the people you know well about what you want to do with your life. We just heard Jesus’ inaugural address – so what would yours be? What are your passions? What are the things that drive your life? What are you hoping to do in the world to make it a better place and bring us closer to the Kingdom of God here on earth? Our answers will be different, and that is the beauty of it. We are all part of the body of Christ, working together to create one beautiful, unique, amazing whole. So create away, begin again and continue what you are doing. You are doing God’s work in the world. You are Christ’s body in the world. You are in embodiment of the Holy Spirit and therefore you are a part of creating God’s kingdom here on earth. God’s blessings on the new semester, on new beginnings and on continuing your work. Amen.