I stand in awe not only of God this morning but in the joy and wonder I have seen and felt in these past hours.Throughout our time together, we have seen Christ’s witness in the men and women who labor so freely to offer ministry in many ways; in social ministry and outreach into the communities where our churches are located; in a deepening of spirituality and wholeness of being; and through the extension of the mission of the church. Our children and youth with their adult leadership have engaged in ministry to one another and to us and have shared the joy of the Lord. We have participated in a multitude of educational opportunities; and have witnessed the generosity of congregations who share their commitment of money and resources to the rest of the nation and the world through the diocese. For all of these things I am indeed thankful.

An unknown quantity in my life is whether I shall stand before you once more at the 15th annual convention of the diocese. I do not presume to know, but--to reflect our convention theme taken from Julian of Norwich: All shall be well and all manner of things will be well. And all shall be well.

-I-

We are confronted in today’s gospel lesson with Luke’s presentation of what have come to be called the Beatitudes. They are sometimes called the words of "blessing" or "happiness" of Jesus. Matthew has nine of them. Luke only four. The beatitudes correspond with Jeremiah’s passage that begins with Yahweh’s curse for those who trust in mere mortals and is immediately followed by the blessing on those who trust in the Lord. These are akin to the words that we hear in the psalm for today:

Happy are they who have not walked in the counsel of the wicked, nor lingered in the way of sinners, nor sat in the seats of the scornful!

Their delight is in the law of the Lord, And they meditate on his law day and night.

They are like trees planted by streams of waters, bearing fruit in due season, with leaves that do not wither; everything they do shall prosper.

The psalmist goes on to talk about the wicked and their plight, which is doomed. The same is true in Luke’s narrative. After the four beatitudes for the poor, the hungry, the sorrowing, and the persecuted on Jesus’ account; the four woes for the rich, the full, the laughing, and those well spoken of directly correspond to the blessings. The tension between what the message of the realm of God is and the world is made clear.

The setting for the passage is that Jesus came down from the mountain with his disciples after a time of prayer. The Twelve have been chosen, reinforcing Jesus as a prophet like Moses. The sermon, not on the mount but on the plain, is addressed to these disciples and the multitude of people from many places. They had come not only to hear him but "to be healed of their diseases; and those who were troubled with unclean spirits were cured. And all in the crowd were trying to touch him, for power came out from him and healed all of them." I often wonder what those who were there remembered most about that day: the words he spoke or the healings he rendered? Some of us are visual people who understand better through pictures and graphic illustrations. Others are auditory people who comprehend better through hearing the spoken word. Jesus does both. He is visible in what he does and he speaks the words.

Perhaps this is the pattern the church needs to follow in proclaiming by word and example the Good News of God in Christ. Both are needed: the Word of Truth and the Word of Incarnation - the word spoken and the word revealed. Much of what we have done at St. Paul’s Church has been inviting us to this model, the way of wholeness in Christ. We are invited into the life of Jesus to be healed in body, mind, and spirit. When we ourselves have been made disciples, then we are sent out as apostolic messengers to proclaim the grace and mercy of God. Beatitude is meant to be given away to others - the poor, the hungry, the sorrowing, and those persecuted on Jesus’ account.

-II-

Giving away beatitude means that we must be in harmony with God, nature, and humanity. It is somewhat like Frederick Beuchner’s description of driving through trees in full summer foliage. He writes:

The trees are always glad to see us. That was the best way I could find to say it. They waved their branches like flags in a parade, hailing me as I passed by as though I was some mighty spirit. They looked as if they had lined up for miles along the New York Thruway to greet me, and after a while I started waving back at them from time to time as if they too were mighty spirits and it was I who was greeting them. I believe I was not just being eccentric. I believe that for a while I saw those trees as so real that I was myself made real by them. We were concentric. It was the whole of me that waved at the whole of them. There was no part of me left over to be anywhere other than where I was or to do anything other than what I was doing. And it was the same with the trees. The holiness that we shared - what it was that we were hallowing and honoring in each other - was that it was God who had formed and given life to us both. Trees and humans together, we had both proceeded from the hand of Holiness.

-III-

"It was God who had formed and given life to us both." We start with who we are, where we are, and what we have for that moment and just let it happen. That is where God steps in and offers a divine intervention in the lives of the people who follow The Way. The connection comes first to ourselves, asking forgiveness, seeking healing, and knowing the peace of God. Then we connect with our brothers and sisters in Christ. Those connections through our congregations are available then to others both in the church and out in the community.

Even with wealth many are poor. Even with abundance many are hungry. Even with good spirits many are sorrowing. Even with confession of faith many are persecuted often by themselves. Our definitions of who are the poor, the hungry and the sorrowing need to be clear. For there are those whose self loathing has made them poor in spirit. There are the lonely who long for love and care. They hunger and thirst for someone to touch them. Then the Stoics of our day, the stiff upper lips, who disavow their feelings, often are in denial of their sorrowing spirits.

We have a story to tell and healing power to give. The story is that of Jesus. The healing power is that of the divine physician Jesus. We have the opportunity every day of our lives to tell the story and demonstrate the wholeness of being in Christ. So, what keeps us from it? It is our mission "to restore all people to unity with God and each other in Christ." Is it that we do not believe this?

Perhaps we are allowing other matters to cloud the true mission of the Church. In today’s Episcopal Church we have many different issues: authority of scripture; ordination of women; homosexuality; orthodoxy and tradition; and the national church. Some members have been blinded by committing themselves solely to such issues, usually a singular one, and leaving behind our true mission of restoration.

Presiding Bishop Frank Griswold in the homily at his installation as the 25th Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church quoted the words St. Francis of Assisi heard from the crucifix: "Francis, go rebuild my Church."He heard in this his vocation as the upcoming presiding bishop. He also heard the voice of God that said: "This is not yours alone, it belongs to everyone who has been baptized into my death and resurrection. You are all called to rebuild my church."

Bishop Griswold went on to say: "What would happen if instead of leading with our opinions fully formed and our conclusions smartly arrayed, we addressed one another as brothers and sisters in the body of Christ, knit together by one Lord, one Faith, one Baptism; one God and Father of all? What would happen if instead of defensively declaring where we stand, we asked questions of one another such as, ‘Who is Christ for you?’ ‘What does the church mean to you?’ ‘How have you been challenged to live the Gospel?’ Are we afraid that if we asked such questions we might have to modify our position and make room for the ambiguity and paradox that another person’s truth might be present?"

Mr. Beuchner speaks of lying in the dark just before going to sleep and reviewing wars waged within and without:

As we lie there in the dark, we might ask ourselves, what battles, if any, are we winning? What battles are we losing? Which battles might we do better not to be fighting at all, and which, in place of surrender, should we be fighting more effectively and bravely. We are church-goers. We are nice people. We fight well camouflaged. We are snipers rather than bombardiers. Our weapons are more apt to be chilly silences than hot words. But our wars are no less real for all of that, and the stakes are high. Perhaps the stakes are nowhere higher than in the war we all wage within ourselves - the battles we fight against loneliness, boredom, despair, self-doubt, the battles against fear, against the great dark.

-IV-

Every Sunday morning I pray for the priests, deacons, and lay people of this diocese as they gather at their local altars, asking that God will grant all things necessary for spiritual welfare; enlightenment and guidance of the clergy; strength for the faithful; relief for the sick; a turning of the wicked; rousing the careless; recovery of the fallen; restoration of the penitent; and removal of all hindrances to the advancement of God’s truth. I now add to that my prayer that we shall be mutual listeners of one another, careful not to make quick judgments, and help for us to go forward in the true mission of the Church, which is that of Jesus Christ in teaching, healing, baptizing, and making disciples.

-V-

Dr. Karl Menninger writes: "When a trout rising to a fly gets hooked on a line and finds himself unable to swim about freely, he begins with a fight which results in struggles and splashes and sometimes an escape. Often, of course, the situation is too tough for him.

"In the same way the human being struggles with his environment and with the hooks that catch him. Sometimes he masters his difficulties; sometimes they are too much for him. His struggles are all that the world sees and it naturally misunderstands them. It is hard for a free fish to understand what is happening to a hooked one."

May we allow each other to come unhooked and enjoy the freedom to live together in God’s love and mercy.