My mother died on Thursday, February 8th and today, February 13th was her funeral. This is the sermon I preached on that occasion. 

I would like to begin this morning’s reflection with a word of thanks. On behalf of my father, my brothers and sister-in-law, the grandchildren and I thank you all for not only being here today but for being with us these last days as we begin the process of healing. It is so lovely to see all of you here and to have read all of the amazing messages in the cards you sent and the messages posted on the Facebook.

But I need to add a very personal note of thanks to my darling wife, Nicky. I would not have been able to get through these last few days without you, and I am so glad you are a part of my life and a part of this amazing family. Thanks for saying yes!

I hope you will grant me a few moments of reflection here this morning, it might be a little longer than usual, but it is always dangerous when you give a preacher the microphone. I cannot count the number of funerals I have presided over, but this one has to be the hardest. Someone asked me how I could do it and my response is it is what I do, and it is what she wanted me to do. Where does my strength come from? I turn to Psalm 121, “My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth.”

Rituals are important. We all have them, and we have all participated in them. Think about our lives, they all revolve around one ritual or another; even our morning routine can be considered a ritual. We have rituals for beginnings, and we have rituals for endings. We have rituals for the start of life and, what beings us here today, rituals for the end of life.

The other day as the family gathered at home we grew up in, we had the ritual of going through the pictures to prepare the video that was being played at the wake last night. Going through boxes of photos and photo albums was an amazing thing and were able to tell stories and have good memories. Rituals are important.

When I was in the Orthodox Church, at the end of every funeral or memorial service, we would sing Memory Eternal. I will spare you my singing voice today, but the reason this was sung and the reason we would say may their memory be eternal, is to remind us that it is up to us to not forget those who have gone before us. Sure there will be pain we when have memories and moments of intense grief, but I believe all of those who have gone before us are always with us in our minds and our hearts. We keep them alive if you will, with the stories and the memories that we share and the private ones.

But, this ritual today is not for my mother. I know it sounds like a cliché but she is in a “better place.” My faith teaches me, and this is my faith, and it works for me, my faith teaches me that she is now truly in a better place because she is not here and having to deal with the pain. For her, that part of her life has ended. But my faith also teaches me that she is with all of those who have gone before us. She is playing scrabble with her sister Jackie or sitting around a table working on another piece of ceramics. By the way, Jacob and Julia, you are going to have to replace her at Eileen’s ceramic shop. Today this ritual is for us, a time to grieve and a time to celebrate.

But my faith also teaches me that she has been welcomed into that place and is in the arms of her savior and that she heard those words we all long to hear “well done good and faithful servant.” I know this has to be true, she raised four boys and had to deal with all of us, not me, of course, I was an angel. But if that is not a ticket in I do not know what is!

But let’s talk about faith for a moment. Any of you who know me or have heard me preach you know that most of what I preach, teach, believe, and act follows two simple rules; love God and love your neighbor. My mother lived this in her life, and that is where I learned it. Sure, I went to seminary, and all of that but my belief comes from watching her in her life she loved her God, and she loved and cared for her neighbor. And she did unconditionally. My mother respected everyone; my mother respected the choices everyone made. She may not have always agreed with them, but she respected them.

Faith was important to my mother, and she taught all of her sons to respect faith, but she also told us that we had to make our own decisions. Her faith was her faith, and it worked for her that did not mean it would work for us and we have become, well, a somewhat eclectic faith family. But I remember the day I told her I had been accepted to seminary. She had a big smile on her face, and she said that could not wait to see me standing in the pulpit at Most Blessed Sacrament Church, well, here I am! Maybe not the way she wanted me to but…

And let’s talk about this place a little. This building that formed our young lives. Most of my family were baptized here, received our d first spoke to me and called me to serve Him in ministry. This is a unique place, and it is good that we are here today in this place that she loved.

So how does one sum up 84 years of life? I have been thinking about this for several days, and it came to me last night as I was standing in line at the wake. I can sum up my mother’s life just by looking out at all of you and the hundreds that came to the wake last night. When I preach, I often use the image of the pebble being dropped into the lake and the ripples going out. We saw ripples last night and have been hearing from people all over about how my mother touched their lives in big ways and in small. I shook so many hands last night I thought I was running for office! But what an amazing tribute and I thank all of you again.

Family was important to my mother. She came from a rather large family, there were 10 of them all together, and the family has gotten a little larger since then. As each of her sisters and their families moved away, she stayed in contact with them. Every now and again when one of the cousins was getting married, she would load us all in the car, and we would head off on some journey. Many times it was like National Lampoons Vacation, but we always arrived, and we always returned.

But the last few years she was able to connect with the vast extended family via Facebook, and she loved sitting at the table in the morning looking at all of the pictures and reading about what was going on in their lives. She did not make many comments, but she read everything and was genuinely interested in everyone’s lives. Many of the “out of town” relatives, as we call them, have come today, from both sides of the family and I am sure she has a big smile on her face knowing that we are all here. She was so looking forward to the reunion in Tennessee this summer.

So now we begin the task of life without. It has been said that we never get over it, but we just get used to them not being there and eventually the smile and the laughs will return. My mother had a good run, and she lived her life to the fullest. If there is one lesson that we should learn is that life is short, yes 84 years is short, hug those that need hugs, love those who need love, forgive those that need forgiving and live life today for we have no idea what tomorrow will bring.

Let us pray:

Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace according to thy word. For mine eyes have seen thy salvation, which thou hast prepared before the face of all people; to be a light to lighten the Gentiles and to be the glory of thy people Israel.

Last Tuesday night we held a forum here at Bethany concerning the search for our new senior minister. We asked our Associate Conference Minister Don Remick to come and share some thoughts on the process and also to begin a discussion around the idea of shifting gears from searching for a settled pastor to what is called a designated term pastor. The big difference, and there will be more information coming out about this in the next few weeks, is that a designated term pastor come with a unique set of skills designed to help the church, such as ourselves, revitalize.

I describe it this way. Most of us have a doctor who is a general practitioner. They have a variety of skills to treat most ailments but will often refer you to a specialist such as a cardiologist or other such skilled professional. Yes, a settled minister might have the necessary skill set to revitalize a church but why not bring in a specialist to assist. As I said, there will be more information on this in the coming weeks.

But during the conversation last week, and thanks to those who took the time to come out, a question was raised about bringing more people to church and how we do that. The sobering response is there is tried and true method for how to do this. There are hundreds, maybe thousands of books written about bringing people to church but each church is different and each set of people, us, is different.

Also this past week a new study was released by the Public Religion Research Institute with the title Diversity, Division, Discrimination: The State of Young America. The study looked at what young people think is essential in their lives. It asked the question what concerns you the most about the future.  Now, the survey is many, many pages long and goes into great detail but the point is these are the things that the young folks are interested in and have questions about. So how do we reach them?  We start by speaking their language.

In Paul’s letter to the Corinthians, he speaks about being all to all. To reach the weak, I must become weak. To reach the Jew, I must become a Jew. In other words, if Paul wants to reach people he has to be willing to meet them where they are and talk about the issues that are important to them.

Years ago I did some volunteer work with a street mission in Kansas City. It was part of a missions program I was involved in, and it was designed to introduce people to ministering cross-culturally.  One of the critical points I learned during those few weeks was you cannot minister to someone, in the hopes of changing their lives, unless and until their basic needs are met. Food, clothing, shelter the basic human needs and I will add a fourth to that list, security.

I might have the most inspired message given to me directly by the Holy Spirit, but if the person I am delivering that message too is hungry, they will not listen. We need to feed them physically before we can feed them spiritually.

What Paul is reminding us is that we have to put aside what we think is essential for what those around us think is important. He is not saying we have to compromise on our beliefs, but what he is saying is that we have to be open to those around us, meet them where they are, fulfill their needs if possible, and then we can share the good news with them.

Several years ago I had the opportunity to preach at Christ Church here in Quincy. I am not sure if any of you have ever been inside the church, but the pulpit is up a few steps. While climbing those steps, the preacher comes face to face with the enormity of the task at hand. There is a sign inside the pulpit, just at eye height as you begin the climb up the stairs. Right at eye level are words of warning from St. Paul, “Woe to you if you preach not the gospel.”

These are very sobering words for anyone who claims to preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ and not just those of us who stand in places like here at Bethany or just down the street at Christ Church. All of us are called to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ with our very lives and so the question I ask all of us today is, are we doing that?

There is no doubt in my mind that Gospel has a preferential option for the poor.  Jesus says he has come to preach the good news to the poor, not that the rich do not need to hear it as well, but the poor and oppressed need hope more than ever. Jesus came at a time and to a people that were being oppressed not only politically but by their religion and their religious leaders. The task was so enormous that no one could live up to the standard that was being put forth. Jesus came into that world and preached a radical message of love and freedom for everyone, not just a select few.

The work of the Gospel does not take place inside of the four walls of the church building. The work of the Gospel takes place out there, in the street, in our everyday lives. How we treat each other inside is essential, but how we treat those outside, and the message we project, is preaching the Gospel.

Paul tells us, “I have become all things to all people, that I might, by all means, save some. I do it all for the sake of the gospel, so that I may share in its blessings.”

Mark 1:21-28

I am a firm believer in miracles. I have seen miracles happen first hand. Those of us who are Boston sports fans have seen many miracles, and perhaps we will see one next Sunday night. But miracles do happen. But the temptation with the miracle is to focus on the miracle itself and not on the person or the thing, and by that, I mean the illness or problem. But sometimes, I think we think miracles have to be about healings but what about the small miracles like the person who does not know where their next meal is going to come from and suddenly the find some cash. Little things, as well as large things, can be miracles.

The writer of the Gospel of Mark was all about miracles. There are eighteen recorded miracles in the Gospel of Mark, more than any other Gospel. Thirteen of those miracles have to do with healing while four of those thirteen have to do with exorcisms or casting out of things. Mark is setting the stage that miracles can happen but his emphasis not necessarily on the miracle itself but instead on the story of what happened.

Today we have one such story. We see Jesus, very early on in his ministry, in the temple in Capernaum. He is teaching, and scripture tells us “they were astounded” at his teaching. They were astounded because he was not one of the scribes, he was not one of the educated, in the classical sense of the word, and it was not necessarily his teaching that astounded them but the authority by which he taught. I always say that if you tell someone something in such a way that it looks like you know what you are talking about, they will believe you. Say it with authority and stand by it. This speaking with authority is what Jesus always did.

After he finished teaching a man “with an unclean spirit” comes up and cries out “what have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth?” Now we do not know what this “unclean spirit” is, but apparently, it knows who Jesus is, where he has come from, and what he is there to do. A man asks if he is there to destroy them and calls Jesus the “holy one of God.”

Jesus tells the man to be quiet. Now I find this interesting and I have to ask a couple of questions. Did Jesus say to the man to be quiet because he was causing a disturbance? Did Jesus tell the man to be quiet so he could think about what to do next? Or, did Jesus say to the man to be quiet because he had called him “the holy one of God?”  Perhaps it is all three, but I am leaning towards the last possibility. Keep in mind, this is early on in the ministry of Jesus and calling someone the “holy one of God” would draw unnecessary attention to Jesus and perhaps get him in trouble.

But there is also a fourth possibility, and that is he wanted the man to be silent so he could hear what his heart was telling him. We will come back to that in a minute.

Regardless of what the reason was Jesus told him to be quiet and the unclean spirit came out of him and left the man. Again, we do not know what this spirit was just that it was unclean so it could be anything. It could be a demon, or it could be something else.

For the better part of a decade, I have been doing battle with depression and PTSD. After many hours spent in therapy, I nor have it under control, well as much control as one ever has over this type of thing. I know, or at least I think I do, what triggers episodes and so I am ever vigilant when I get into those situations. I am, however, susceptible to depression and PTSD and all that comes with it, so it is important that I keep a close watch.

I am a firm believer in the fact that we are made up of body, mind, and spirit and that all three of these have to be functioning for us to be at our best. If anyone of these is out of kilter, then we are out of sorts. I know this in my own life and strive to have the balance necessary between the three, I need to work more on the body part, but I am a work in progress.  And when I am not at my best them I do not follow as best as I should.

The man with the “unclean spirit” was able to recognize that Jesus was the “holy one of God” but whatever it was he had, was holding him back and the question that we all have to ask ourselves is what is the thing, what is that item, that thought, that feeling, that desire that keeps us from genuinely giving our all to Jesus and following him and the life he wants us to lead.

I mentioned earlier about Jesus telling the “unclean spirit” to be quiet and proposed a few possible reasons for it, and I added a fourth possibility and that Jesus wanted the “spirit” to be quiet so the man could hear what was in his heart. There is so much noise in our world, and we are pulled in many different directions always and, all of that noise keeps us from hearing and from listening.

A few weeks back I spoke about the comma and that God is still speaking and I asked if we were listening. For us to listen all of our selves, body, mind, and spirit, have to be able to hear, and so we need to have balance in our lives. What is that noise that is keeping us from hearing God’s voice? What is that distraction that is keeping us from saying here I am Lord? What is it that is keeping us from truly being able to say here I am Lord I come to do your will? Maybe, just maybe we need to tell ourselves to “be quiet” and just spend some time listening to that still small voice.

Earlier in the service, we sang the great song “Just as I am.” This is an old song, but it came to fame because it was used as part of the Billy Graham Crusade as the hymn that was sung during the altar call, that time in the service when Rev. Graham would ask people to dedicate or rededicate their lives to Christ. It is a song about coming to Jesus just as we are. We bring it all with us when we come, but hopefully, we leave different.

The second verse speaks volumes to me. Just as I am though tossed about with many a conflict, many a doubt, fighting and fears within, without, O Lamb of God, I come I come. We all have something that keeps us from truly following God, and we have to figure out what that is. The man is the story recognized Jesus for who and what he was but he could not follow him. Jesus told him to be quiet, and when he became quiet his heart opened, and he was ready. Spend some time this week being quiet and listening to that still small voice of God.

Sometimes sermons write themselves. Sometimes the message just leaps off the page, and the story is clear, and then there are times like today. Most weeks begin the same way. I look at the calendar to see what the lectionary has for readings. I read all four selections and then narrow it down pretty quickly to the passage that I will use on Sunday morning. I then pray over that passage. I then read what others have written about that passage and pray again. I spend the better part of the week with the passage making notes and reading.

The other challenge is making the particular passage relevant in today’s world, so I have to be in tune what is going on all around us here in the church, the community outside of the walls of the church and in the world. Preaching a message without any mention of current events is tantamount to malpractice. The preacher’s job is to link the 2,000-year-old writings to our life today and commenting on what is happening in the world, and ow we should react, is part of that.

But sometimes we preachers overreach, and we take the simple and turn it into the complex. In many ways the church does this as well, we take a simple problem, study it death, come up with a proposed solution and by that time the issue has either resolved itself or our attention is on something else altogether.

The Gospel passage we heard from Mark’s Gospel this morning is one such passage. This passage is about many things, time, incarceration, repentance, fishing, and discipleship. I could go on about any one or all of these topics, but discipleship is the primary focus this morning. What does it mean to make disciples and more important what does it mean to be a disciple?

There is an old saying, “give a man a fish feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish feed him for a lifetime.” This passage is often attributed to the Bible by those who do not want to help their neighbors but in fact, it is a Chinese proverb, and it is less about not giving people stuff and more about teaching people life skills and helping them learn them. For us to make disciples we first have to be disciples.

Jesus left us with two mandates one that was an individual mandate and one that was a corporate mandate. The individual one you hear me mention most of the time, Love God, Love Neighbor. The corporate or church mandate if you will come to us from the 28th chapter of the Matthew’s Gospel, “therefore make disciples of all the nations….” We are given the mandate, the job, the task, to make disciples. Not make members, not make donors, not make converts, not make people believe the way we think, nope, make disciples, followers of Jesus Christ. That is what being a disciple is all about, following Jesus Christ.

So let’s go back to the story we hear this morning. The stage is set by Mark it is the time after the arrest of John the Baptist and Jesus comes to Galilee, proclaiming the good news and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent and believe in the good news.” The time is fulfilled, we hear Jesus mention this again when he says that in him has come the fulfillment of all the law and the prophets. The kingdom of God has come near, the kingdom of God is himself, and it is here, not some far distant place, but right here and right now. Repent, in other words, confess. These would be familiar words to those who were followers of John since he was calling people to confess, not just once but continuously. And, he finishes by telling them to believe in the good news which, we will see later on, is Jesus himself.

So things sound kinda simple so far all we have to do is confess and believe and we are on the right track. Keep in mind religion had become very complicated with thousands of rules and regulations to determine who was and is in the club, Jesus just stood that all on its head with the clear message of confessing and believe.

He then goes off and encounters Simon and Andrew. Simon, who later becomes Peter and his brother are fishermen, and they are tending to their nets. This is their livelihood and provides for their family. We are unsure if Andrew has a family, but we know Peter does because Jesus heals his mother-in-law in another story. Jesus comes upon them and says, “Follow me, and I will make you fish for people.”

Now what happens next is extraordinary. Scripture tells us that “and immediately they left their nets and followed him.” They did not even go home and consult with their families, not something I would suggest we do, but they did not form a committee and discuss it. They did not check to see how much money they had at the Galilean First National Bank. They did not even ask any questions, they “immediately followed him.” They had no idea who this was, had never seen him before, but the left everything and followed him.

Now notice, Jesus did not ask them to add one more thing to their long list of things they had to do. Jesus calls them to a new way of being. When Simon and Andrew left their nets, they leave a way of life, everything they have known, and take a step of faith, more than a step of faith a leap of faith into the unknown. Jesus has led them to the edge of a cliff and said jump, and they did.

So why did they do it? What prompted them to follow this stranger and leave everything behind? Well, as a Christian, I believe it was the Holy Spirit, but they also had a desire for something different in their lives.

All through history, for good and bad, people follow charismatic people. A leader is someone others want to follow otherwise they are just out taking a walk. But before Jesus approached them he prayed for them, perhaps not by name, but he prayed for them.

Fr. Mychal Judge was a Franciscan priest and fire chaplain to the fire department of the City of New York. On September 11, 2001, Fr. Mychal heard the call and put on his gear and ran to the World Trade Center. Little did he know he would become one of the casualties on that day. As the story goes, Fr. Mychal was killed by falling debris from the towers, while he knelt to pray with a dying person in the street. Fr. Mychal is one of the main reasons I do what I do today. But Fr. Mychal is vital to the story today because of the prayer that he said daily, and now I say daily:

Lord, take me where you want me to go;
Let me meet who you want me to meet;
Tell me what you want me to say
And keep me out of your way.

Jesus prayed for those he would encounter, and the Holy Spirit tilled the soil of their hearts and prepared the way, and all he said was follow me. Jesus made disciples but he was also a disciple, and it was his life that attracted people. Jesus was different and was calling people to a different way of life that was simple, repent and believe, love God, love neighbor. That is it, folks, that is the summation of the Gospel message.

We cannot make disciples until we are disciples. One of the marks of a good leader is that they will never ask the people they lead to do anything they are not willing to do. We cannot “make” disciples unless we are disciples.

Jesus left us with a simple formula; repent, believe, love, and follow. If we do that others will join us.