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Ash Wednesday: Dust & Treasure.

2/18/2015

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You can read the texts for the day by clicking here. You may wish to note that we read Isaiah instead of Joel.

My parents didn’t believe in giving me an allowance. So when I was little, what change I had – what money I had – I had to earn by doing small jobs around the house. And my mom, in particular, was really creative about this.

My favorite little job, actually – was dusting. We’ll get to why. On Saturday morning – before we all cleaned the house together – My mom would go around – leaving little coins on the things that I was supposed to dust. A penny here. A nickel there. Sometimes a couple of dimes. And if I was really lucky – and really careful – I’d find, tucked in the corner of a the bookcase – or behind something on the bureau – I’d find a quarter. And let me tell you – I loved finding quarters.

So I’d pick up these coins as I went – also picking up and moving the dust on the furniture – And because I didn’t know quite what I was going to find – The whole thing became a bit like a treasure hunt. And at the end of all of this dusty, sort of dirty work – I would survey the spoils. And usually, I was satisfied – both with the work that I had done – And with the coins I’d found. The reward for my work.

Today is about a different kind of dust. Today we use the dust of the ashes of last year’s palms- The dust left over from last year’s glory – last year’s celebration – And we put it on our heads – with the reminder that we, too – In all of who we are – That which is good – and glorious – the things we can celebrate about ourselves – And the things about us that are…less wonderful… In all of who we are, we are just dust. Dust that God has created something with. Dust that God will someday use to do something else.
Remember that you are dust, and to dust you will return.

It is a serious statement for the beginning of a serious season. Lent, in many ways is about sorting through the dust of our lives. It’s about identifying that which is dust. That which will pass away and come to nothing. The less than worthy causes… The less than righteous thoughts… The less than holy desires…

Lent in many ways is about sorting through all these things in our lives. Sometimes, there is dust – in the corners of who we are. Hiding within us. Sometimes we have to shake the dust out of our relationships. Sometimes there is dust – clinging – even to the ways in which we think about and care for ourselves. When we sell ourselves short – or leave God out.

Lent is about re-examining the corners of our lives and the corners of our hearts. Lent is about sorting through the dust that collects there. It’s about finding – in the midst of the dust – The quarter in the corner – on the bookshelf. Finding God's treasure in the midst of our own very normal, dusty lives.

Lent is about pushing all of this dusty – temporal – finite stuff out of the way. It is about clearing a path to get to God – and letting God get to us. Sometimes we do that by giving up things. If you need help figuring out some ways you can clear out the dust – just take a look at our readings for today. There are lots of suggestions. There’s a whole list of things that you can do. Sometimes we clear out the dust by taking on something new – By finding a new way to serve our neighbors – Or by adding an extra cycle of prayer to our days. This clearing out of the dust – it’s intentional. No matter how you choose to do it – the clearing of the path – It’s about pushing the dust aside for now –  And hoping that we can eventually push it out of our lives completely – So that we can see the things hiding underneath. So that we can see the things in ourselves and in our lives that aren’t dust at all – But that are eternal – and of God.

Inside this dust, from which we came – and do which our bodies will return – Inside this dust – waiting to be found again – to be cared for again – Is this eternal soul that God gives us – and that Jesus promises to save. But before we can get there – before we can get to that Easter joy – and the promise of salvation. We have to clear the dust away. We have to recognize that which is dust around us – and in us. We have to reach for the corners and clear them out. We have to make room so that we can see God – and come to know God more deeply. So that in the end we will serve God more faithfully.

On this day as you leave here with dust on your head – Dust that came from last year’s celebration – Let it be a reminder to you of the dust in your life that needs to be cleared out. Let it be an outward sign of something internal that needs to be dealt with – And let go. Begin this season with the intention of clearing the path. Clearing the way between you and God. Because it’s a two-way street between us and God – but it is always us – who allow the dust to accumulate. And so it is us who need to do the work to clear it.
Because dust – no matter how many times we wipe it away – always comes back.

There is always dust in our lives that needs to be cleared out.
And so we mark this day every year – to remind ourselves that it’s time again to do some cleaning – and some clearing out.

In all of our lives there are things that will come to dust. That at the end of our lives will mean nothing to us – And will have added nothing to us or to the world. Ahead of you stretches a season when God and the church invite you to practice letting go of those things. So that you can focus on the things that are real. The things that will last.

The love that you share with God – and the love that you share with your neighbor.

And so – I invite you to make a holy start to this Lent. To determine what it is that you will do in these 40 days to clear out the dust of your life. Because it is only in doing this work that we find the treasure within the dust. Only by doing this work are we able to know and feel and find God’s presence within us.

So remember on this day that you are dust. But that within the dust – waiting to be discovered again – And reignited – And polished – and dragged back out into the sunlight – To be offered to the world – Is the divine spark of God that lives in you.

Choose on this day – to spend the next 40 days clearing out this dust – So that you will find within you – and all around you – the real treasure of God – Christ living with you – and within your neighbors.

Amen.

This is the basis of the sermon preached at 12:00pm and 7:00pm on Wednesday, February 18th, 2015. Like always, it's a bit more of an outline or a framework than a script.
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Pray the city's prayer.

2/8/2015

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The fifth Sunday after the Epiphany. Click here to see the texts for the day.
Or click here to listen to the sermon from the 10am service.


6 or 7 years ago – I spent the summer at Bridgeport Hospital learning how to be a hospital chaplain.
You’ve probably heard me say that I loved this work – so much that I stayed on for the rest of seminary as a contract chaplain. But like many things we love – it didn’t come easy. At the beginning – there was one thing in particular that I found to be really, really hard.

I didn’t know how to sort of…let myself go – in the room. And what I mean by that is – I’ve been Episcopalian my whole life. I know the Book of Common Prayer like the back of my hand. I think in terms of our language – and our tradition. So – when it came time to pray in the room – I struggled. Because I wanted to have my Book with me. I wanted to use the language that I knew. The tradition I loved. And it didn’t work.

 One of the mantras of my supervisor – was “pray the patient’s prayer.” Pray the patient’s prayer. And what that meant was – basically – get over yourself, dummy. And use the words – and the language – that the patient knows – to ask for what the patient wants. To help them say their prayers to God – And in their own tradition – their own language – find some comfort – and some peace.

I have to tell you – that it first – it felt really, really strange. Actually – it felt like I was faking it. I was afraid that I would somehow be less of who I was – And it was scary - Especially in rooms where both their language – and their tradition were different than mine. But I learned. And as I learned – I realized – that I was giving them the same Jesus.

 I wasn’t denying any part of who I was - or what I believed – or how I was trained – But I was making it possible for them – no matter who they were – to feel Jesus’ presence in the room. And to find some at least small amount of peace. Pray the patient’s prayer.

Paul sounds a little confusing today at first. But he’s actually making a lot of good sense – and he’s talking about mission. Paul is talking about the contextual nature of ministry. The fact that if we proclaim the Gospel – In word and action – as we promise to in our baptismal covenants – Then we have to take into account the context that surrounds us. And we have to be willing to let go of some of who we are – in order to proclaim the Gospel effectively –

Listen again:

To the Jews I became as a Jew, in order to win Jews.

To those under the law I became as one under the law (though I myself am not under the law) so that I might win those under the law.

To those outside the law I became as one outside the law (though I am not free from God’s law but am under Christ’s law) so that I might win those outside the law.

To the weak I became weak so that I might win the weak.

I have become all things to all people – that I might by all means save some.

Paul is praying the patient’s prayer – In priest school, the fancy name for this is “contextual ministry.” And what it means is that ministry is different in every context. Easy enough, right? It’s about speaking the language that people can understand.

So when Paul was preaching to the Jews – he talked about how Jesus fulfilled scripture. About the good Jewish carpenter – who honored his parents and kept the law – And was foretold by all the prophets. To the Gentiles – outside of the law – he found ways to embed himself in their culture – Knowing that he wasn’t outside of the law – But also knowing that if he was able to meet them where they were – then he would be able to proclaim the Gospel to them- In ways they would be able to see and hear and understand.

Paul is reminding us that proclaiming the Gospel isn’t about what makes us comfortable. It isn’t about what makes us feel good.

A few weeks ago – at the Annual Meeting – we talked a bit about some ideas for the future. And we asked you to fill out a survey – about your sense of where the parish is now – What’s going well – What could be going better – And where we might want to go together in the future. And there were some really great ideas on some of those pages. Ideas that will get incorporated as the Vestry and I continue to ask some questions- Of each other – and of you – And as we begin to formulate some more concrete plans.

 And to do that – we have to pay attention to our own context. Meriden is a city that is really struggling. There are many who are hungry – and poor. Others with abuse problems. Still others out of work – needing help. We are surrounded by people who speak different languages – Spanish – Portuguese – Polish. Refugees from all over the world who have been re-settled in CT.

We are surrounded by cultures – and traditions – different than our own. We have a complicated context. But equally as in need of Jesus as Paul’s own context. And we have to find a way to break in – and to speak to that context – About what we know to be true.

 

Chances are – that’s not going to look like the church of 40 years ago. And even though there’s always this desire to look back – It’s part of my work – to push you – to urge you – to look forward…

We have to pray the city’s prayer.
To study the context – and to learn to stand with the people we meet. That is the only way to proclaim the Gospel - We aren’t going to be able to just sit here – on the hill – and hope that they’ll come. We have to go out and learn to speak the language of our context. Not just in words – but in action. And once we do that – we have to be sure that we’re ready for people – different than we are right now - to follow us back here – To this hill. To sit in our pews. To eat at our tables.

We must give up some of those things that make us comfortable. We have to learn to let ourselves go a bit - To stop looking into the past – and praying that God will make us plentiful again – in the same way. Because God isn’t in the business of preservation and restoration.

But God is in the business of resurrection. God is in the business of eternal life – If we will submit to God’s will – To God’s imagination – To God’s plan – and not our own.

We have to be prepared first – though – to speak someone else’s language. To learn someone else’s culture. To pray the city’s prayer.

So - for the sake of the Gospel. For the sake of Christ.

Look around you – with Paul’s eyes – at the gas station

At the grocery store –

While you’re driving down Main Street –

In your neighborhood – in your office –

And help us figure out how to pray the city’s prayer.


This text represents the basis of what was preached at 8 and 10am on Sunday, February 8th, 2015 by the Rev. Marissa Rohrbach. It's not a script though, exactly. It's more of an outline.
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    The Rev. Marissa S. Rohrbach is an Episcopal priest and is currently serving as the Rector of St. Matthew's in Wilton, Connecticut.

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