{"id":888,"date":"2014-05-04T11:00:38","date_gmt":"2014-05-04T15:00:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.bu.edu\/sermons\/?p=888"},"modified":"2019-11-12T10:59:45","modified_gmt":"2019-11-12T15:59:45","slug":"means-of-grace","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.bu.edu\/sermons\/2014\/05\/04\/means-of-grace\/","title":{"rendered":"Means of Grace"},"content":{"rendered":"

Luke 24<\/a><\/p>\n

Click here to hear the full service.<\/a><\/p>\n

Click here to hear the sermon only.<\/a><\/p>\n

New Creed<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

We believe in God<\/i><\/p>\n

Who has created and is creating<\/i><\/p>\n

Who has come in the true person, Jesus, to reconcile and make new<\/i><\/p>\n

Who works in us and others by the Spirit.<\/i><\/p>\n

We trust in God.<\/i><\/p>\n

God calls us to be the church, the Body of Christ.<\/i><\/p>\n

To celebrate Christ\u2019s presence<\/i><\/p>\n

To love and serve others<\/i><\/p>\n

To proclaim Jesus, crucified and risen<\/i><\/p>\n

Our Judge and our Hope<\/i><\/p>\n

In life, in death, in life beyond death<\/i><\/p>\n

God is with us<\/i><\/p>\n

We are not alone<\/i><\/p>\n

Thanks be to God<\/i><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/i><\/p>\n

Karen Daly<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

Karen Daly spoke at Sargent College last week.\u00a0 She is a courageous nurse.\u00a0 In the ER one afternoon she was accidently stuck by an infected needle, contracting Hepatitis C and Aids, some twenty years ago.\u00a0 She spent many years then successfully combating these diseases, both in her own body and also in the halls of congress.\u00a0 This Sargent lecture each year is one of the very best moments available at BU for pastoral preparation.\u00a0 It is theological without being theological.\u00a0 She told her story.\u00a0 After living with the realization that she was infected for some days, in a kind of stupor, she received a phone call from her new doctor.\u00a0 Somehow he found her, though she was thousands of miles away.\u00a0 He said:\u00a0 \u201cI am your new physician.\u00a0 You are going to be fine\u201d. \u00a0She said for the first time she began to feel human again.\u00a0 Weeks later the doctor gave her his home phone number.\u00a0 He said, \u201cIf you cannot sleep at night and are worried, don\u2019t worry alone.\u00a0 You call me.\u00a0 We will talk\u201d.\u00a0 She said that for the first time she began to think she might get better.\u00a0 Salvus is the latin word for health.\u00a0 Salvation is healing.\u00a0 Healing comes through words and through fellowship, preaching and sacrament.<\/p>\n

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Luke 24<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

Our gospel summarizes resurrection to preaching and communion.\u00a0 Not to try to boil us down to grandchildren of Rudolph Bultmann, but this long narrative depicts Jesus Risen as the telling of the good news and the sharing of the bread and cup.\u00a0 The difference resurrection makes is the possibility of preaching and the availability of sacrament, both means of grace.<\/p>\n

I remember an Anglican cleric, whose journalist interrogator asked about the precipitous numerical demise of the Church of England.\u00a0 \u201cWhat will happen when there are almost no members left and all the buildings are sold?\u201d he was asked.\u00a0 \u201cWell, I guess then we will find a Bible, a table, a cup, a plate, some bread, some wine, and we will start over\u201d.<\/p>\n

What happens in Luke 24, as you have just heard, is what happens at Marsh Chapel on Sunday morning.\u00a0 People on a journey gather.\u00a0 The Scripture is read, and more importantly, interpreted in preaching.\u00a0 The table is set and the meal is served.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s it, folks.<\/p>\n

Not much to go on, you might and rightly say.\u00a0 A simple meal and some fairly simple words.<\/p>\n

Seniors<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

This morning we gather up in prayer the experiences of four years:\u00a0 the learning, the growth, the change, the gladness, the adventure, the losses, the tragedy, the trauma, the friendships, the successes, the mistakes, the loves, the heartaches, the happiness, and lift them all in a spirit of grace and peace.<\/p>\n

This morning we embrace the young graduates of 2014, as they commence with the rest of life, in a world ever a stage, with men and women merely players, in a lifetime taking many parts:\u00a0 infant, schoolchild, lover, soldier, judge, retiree, convalescent, and we lift them all in a spirit of grace and peace.<\/p>\n

This morning we open ourselves to the world around us, to all its great gifts and all its crying needs, mindful of other young people who in this hour lack raiment, lack shelter, lack nourishment, lack health, lack freedom, and pledge ourselves to live not only in this world but also, and more so, for this world, in a spirit of grace and peace.<\/p>\n

Our prayer:\u00a0 four years, one class, our world.<\/p>\n

As the grace for our meal I invite you to join with me in a prayer written by John Wesley.<\/p>\n

Wesley was the founder of Methodism, the religious tradition that gave birth to Boston University in 1839.<\/p>\n

His breakfast prayer exemplifies that tradition:<\/p>\n

The words are simple:\u00a0 that is significant<\/i><\/p>\n

The language is universal:\u00a0 that is significant<\/i><\/p>\n

The tone is thankful:\u00a0 that is significant<\/i><\/p>\n

The phrasing is memorable:\u00a0 that is significant<\/i><\/p>\n

It is a prayer fit for use in a call and response manner, as we shall this morning:\u00a0 that too is significant:<\/p>\n

Gracious Giver of all good<\/i><\/p>\n

Thee we thank for rest and food<\/i><\/p>\n

Grant that all we do or say<\/i><\/p>\n

May in thy service be, this day<\/i><\/p>\n

Voices<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

Flanner O\u2019Connor:\u00a0 \u201cI would like to be intelligently holy.\u201d<\/p>\n

DJHall:\u00a0 \u2018ours is a religion that must share spiritual nurture of the world with many other faith traditions\u2026<\/p>\n

Paul Theroux, advice to writers:\u00a0 \u201c1. Leave Home.\u00a0 2. Go Alone.\u00a0 3. Stay on the Ground… \u201c<\/p>\n

Dag Hammarskjold:\u00a0 \u2018God does not die on the day we cease to believe in a personal Deity, but we die on the day our lives cease to be illumined by a radiance, renewed daily, of a wonder whose source lies beyond all reason.\u2019<\/p>\n

St.Chrysostom:\u00a0 \u201cA just, useful and suitable intercession\u2026The poor are necessary for the spiritual well-being of the rich\u2026Your brother is more truly God\u2019s temple than any church building\u2026Show a natural compassion\u2026To make you humane for your own salvation\u2026Enjoy luxury in moderation, give the rest away\u2026God:\u00a0 Scripture, Sacraments, Poor\u2026Those who are sent out to be dependent upon the hospitality of others: the apostolic ministry\u2026\u2019Ministry is mendicant\u2019\u2026The sign of the mendicant church calls forth generosity\u2026Serve the poor under all conditions and circumstances\u2026The poor are the bearers of God\u2019s spirit in the way that the rich are not\u2026All goodness in the world is a reflection of God\u2019s grace\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

Two Friends<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

I recall two friends, recently deceased:\u00a0 Jim Burchett (69); Bill Hardoby (62).\u00a0 My pastoral ministry to Jim, a corporate leader, and to Bill, a psychiatrist, is finished.\u00a0 Whatever it is, it is over.\u00a0 Did they receive grace?\u00a0 Were their souls healed, saved. \u2018If anyone is damned, Jesus has failed\u2026I can tell you how the world works.\u00a0 But we still have to decide what it means\u2026The world is absurd, but faith is an act of faith.\u2019 (R Cooper).\u00a0 Did they live?\u00a0 Did they live before they died?\u00a0 Did they know love? Were they loved?\u00a0 Did they love?\u00a0 As they died, did they have care: personal, physical, pastoral?\u00a0 Did they die in fear or trust?\u00a0 Were they practically ready?\u00a0 Did they have a will, funeral plans, a burial plot, finished conversations? (OOPS).\u00a0 Did they die in fellowship with God?\u00a0 Did they die in friendship with God and others?\u00a0 What regrets did they harbor, what unshared hurts, what secret sermons, what despair, what deferred desire?\u00a0 What models for dying, for a good death, did they have?\u00a0 Did they die in belief, believing in the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting?\u00a0 In their last months, or days, when they wanted to talk, was there anyone there?<\/p>\n

These two men worked hard, played by the rules, achieved and succeeded.\u00a0 They took big responsibilities for their long marriages, gifted children, extended families, communities of fellowship and meaning, and to some degree, their environment, legacy, and world.\u00a0 They were men.\u00a0 Good men.\u00a0 They \u2018did their duty\u2019.\u00a0 Were they happy? At peace? Centered? Satisfied? Contrite? Humble?<\/p>\n

Did my friendship and pastoral care provide the right space, depth, meaning, hearing, word, example to \u2018bring them home\u2019?<\/p>\n

For Jim, the church was central.\u00a0 For Bill, the church was peripheral.\u00a0 For both, the church was meaningful.<\/p>\n

Ancient Creed<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

Said Thomas, \u2018My Lord and my God\u2019.\u00a0 Our faith, expressed in the creed, says much the same<\/p>\n

1.\u00a0 I believe in God the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth<\/p>\n

A light angelic voice, a crisp little line.\u00a0 The ancients said only what they needed to, here.\u00a0 God made the world.\u00a0 God set the conditions for the world to be.\u00a0 God created.\u00a0 Heaven\u2014things invisible.\u00a0 Earth\u2014things visible.\u00a0 There is no attempt to explain the fallen darkness of the world, here.\u00a0 There is no avoidance of the absolute mystery, here.\u00a0 There is a just an abrupt statement:\u00a0 God created.<\/p>\n

2.\u00a0 And in Jesus Christ his only Son our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead and buried\u2026<\/p>\n

A clear voice, narrative and personal.\u00a0 Jesus is our guide, our measure, our Lord above all Lords.\u00a0 His life is the line of God in the sand of time.\u00a0\u00a0 Sent with the love that only a Dad can know and give to a Son known and loved.\u00a0 Conceived with the joy of passion in spirit.\u00a0 Born of the best of women, like every birth an absolute miracle itself, a smoking cradle.\u00a0 Who suffered, and suffered in a social political matrix, under the thumb of the ruler of the age\u2014suffering particular, local, individual and unappreciated.\u00a0 Who died an ignominious death, stretched out as a common criminal among others common and criminal.<\/p>\n

\u2026The third day he rose from the dead and ascended into heaven and sitteth at the right hand of God the Father, from whence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead.<\/p>\n

A trumpet angelic voice, sonorous and somber and serene.\u00a0 Heaven is His.\u00a0 He is ours.\u00a0 What else shall we take with us?\u00a0 Who else could we ever expect to judge us?\u00a0 Easter is the victory of the invisible heaven or the visible earth.\u00a0 There is a judgment for life and for death and for the living and for the dead.\u00a0 And Love has the last word.<\/p>\n

3.\u00a0 I believe in the Holy Spirit:\u00a0 the holy catholic church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting.<\/p>\n

A sweet voice.\u00a0 Placing you at the global table.\u00a0 Feeding you with the fellowship of greatness.\u00a0 Steadying you with mercy, mercy, mercy.\u00a0 (If you take no other clue from Easter, take along an inclination to forgive).\u00a0\u00a0 The capacity for renewal of the church, and so by extension of your spirit, soul and body.\u00a0 The confidence that life outlasts death within the mystery with which we began.<\/p>\n

\u00a0~The Rev. Dr. Robert Allan Hill, Dean of Marsh Chapel<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Luke 24 Click here to hear the full service. Click here to hear the sermon only. New Creed \u00a0 We believe in God Who has created and is creating Who has come in the true person, Jesus, to reconcile and make new Who works in us and others by the Spirit. We trust in God. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2679,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[22],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bu.edu\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/888"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bu.edu\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bu.edu\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bu.edu\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2679"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bu.edu\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=888"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bu.edu\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/888\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2399,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bu.edu\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/888\/revisions\/2399"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bu.edu\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=888"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bu.edu\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=888"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bu.edu\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=888"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}