Painting Our Masterpiece: Sermon Easter 7C

Acts 16:16-34; Revelation 22:12-14, 16-17, 20; John 17:20-26

Rob Bell, author of the book, “Velvet Elvis,” and pastor at a church in Michigan tells this story about a painting in his basement:

“In my basement, behind some bikes and suitcases and boxes sits a Velvet Elvis. A genuine, bought-by-the-side-of-the-road Velvet Elvis. And to say that this painting captures The King in all his glory would be an understatement. It’s not the young Elvis –
the thin one with the slicked-back hair…And it’s not the old Elvis…. the big one in the shiny cape singing to old women in Hawaii.”

“My painting is the Pre-doughnut Elvis. A touch of blue in the hair; the tall, white collar that suggests one of those polyester jumpsuits….”

“But I think the best part of my Velvet Elvis is the lower left hand corner where the artist simply wrote a capital R and then a period.”

“Because when you’re this good, you don’t even have to write your whole name.”

“What if, when he was done with this masterpiece, R had announced there was no more need for anyone to paint, because he had just painted the ultimate painting?..we would say that R had lost his mind. We say this because we instinctively understand that art has to, in some way, keep going. Keep exploring. Keep arranging. Keep shaping and forming and bringing in new perspectives.”

“For thousands of years followers of Jesus, like artists, have understood that we have to keep going, exploring what it means to live in harmony with God and each other. The Christian faith tradition is filled with change and growth and transformation. Jesus took part in this process by calling people to rethink faith and the Bible and hope and love and everything else, and by inviting them into the endless process of working out how to live as God created us to live. “

“The challenge for Christians then is to live with great passion and conviction, remaining open and flexible…”

Here in lies the premise of this insightful book on the emerging Christian tradition: Realizing and remembering that we are invited into an active dynamic faith filled with passion and conviction, openness and flexibility.

In the adult forum we have read several books looking at this “new” way of thinking about our faith and being church. We have read Marcus Borg’s, “The Heart of Christianity,” and Brian McLaren’s “a Generous Orthodoxy,” and Diana Butler Bass, “Christianity for the Rest of Us.” And so, in that respect Rob Bells book is in good company.

And I like his illustration of our faith being like art, a work in progress.So, like art in progress, we need to continue to explore, create, and form our faith.

And, most importantly, he means particularly in the way we engage our faith through the Bible, through our scriptures. The Bible needs to be for us like the process of painting a masterpiece. Engaging in scripture in ways that allow us to be shaped and formed over and over. His argument is that we tend to want to hold the Bible as if it were static and unchanging, which would basically make it dead. Instead the Bible is very much alive and dynamic.So, we need to approach the Bible with enough openness and flexibility to allow the stories to help us make meaning out of our lives,Which will then fill us with a sense of conviction and passion; God loves us.

The Bible is indeed filled with truth, truth about the ways God is known to human beings. Truth about how God interfaces in our lives and in the history of all human kind. And the truth about God and humanity is that this relationship is always growing and evolving. We never know God once and for all. And God never reveals God’s self in a final complete way, until, perhaps, we have died. We always know only a small piece of God.

New Testament scholar Marcus Borg of Oregon State University, in a footnote to his book The Heart of Christianity, says that when he asks his unchurched university students to write a short essay about their impressions of Christianity,

“they consistently use five adjectives: Christians are literalistic, anti-intellectual, self-righteous, judgmental, and bigoted.”

Think about it. Is this how you would describe yourself?

However, if a portion of young (or not so young) people in this country view us like that then we Christians have not done such a good job of portraying to the world who we are. If we are to know our faith with conviction, in an open, flexible and passionate way, then we ought to be known as open, flexible, and passionate people. Which of course means that we are expansive in our hospitality and in our generosity; welcoming to all and generous with what we have.Our struggle to do this reminds me of joke from Emo Philips:

I was walking across a bridge one day, and I saw a man standing on the edge, about to jump off. So I ran over and said "Stop! don't do it!" "Why shouldn't I?" he said. I said, "Well, there's so much to live for!" He said, "Like what?" I said, "Well...are you religious or atheist?" He said, "Religious." I said, "Me too!

Are you christian or buddhist?" He said, "Christian." I said, "Me too! Are you catholic or protestant?" He said, "Protestant." I said, "Me too! Are you episcopalian or baptist?" He said, "Baptist!" I said,"Wow! Me too! Are you baptist church of god or baptist church of the lord?" He said, "Baptist church of god!" I said, "Me too! Are you original baptist church of god, or are you reformed baptist church of god?" He said,"Reformed Baptist church of god!" I said, "Me too! Are you reformed baptist church of god, reformation of 1879, or reformed baptist church of god, reformation of 1915?" He said, "Reformed baptist church of god, reformation of 1915!" I said, "Die, heretic scum", and pushed him off the bridge.

Our ability to be open and welcoming always seems to have some limits. Some point in which we say, “This far and no more.” But I am not sure that Jesus had limits to whom he would welcome and love. Our scriptures tell us stories of Jesus loving those who understood and those who did not. Those who behaved according to what was acceptable and those who did not. Those who were willing and able to follow him, and those who could not…I think Jesus continues to model for us, through our scriptures, an open and welcoming faith that grows deeper through our relationships with others.

I have been here for six years. A lot has happened in those years. The landscape of the church, ours and the larger church, has changed. We’ve had lots of distractions. Regardless, during this time my emphasis has been on growing us in our faith and helping us find a way to express that. I want us to be known for who we really are a people with a great sense of hospitality and generosity. I’ve seen this in the way we care for one another. In our prayers and in the meals we bring.

And in the way we care for others. In our silent auction, our effort with the day care center, and the Kurutuki church.

And now, it is deeply apparent to me in the openness of the vestry to welcome the family from Rwanda. Although it is complicated we have nonetheless welcomed them here and given them temporary shelter. True, this will not be easy for us. We will need to live with and accommodate seven people who do not speak our language nor understand our customs. We will be a bit displaced, aware of strangers as we move through our building this day, and in the week ahead.

But then, so are they. Displaced from home, family, and everything that was familiar.

So, I think we can manage this for a few days or a week.

It is also apparent to me in the way some of our parishioners have connected with the refugee ministry, especially this consortium of churches I mentioned in my sermon last week. With this consortium we are creating a way for many churches to warehouse items needed to set up an apartment for refugee families.

And as I said, we anticipate up to 60 families arriving between July and Sept. My hope, as the Episcopal Migration Ministries Refugee Program Diocesan Liaison is to have a lot of the dishes, utensils, bed and bath linens warehoused so that the setting up of these apartments is just a matter of collating supplies and getting them delivered. So far I have seven churches working on this project and some from our parish who are actively soliciting business for donations. Donations of towels, dishes, and gift certificates, as well as money. It’s amazing to watch this come together. It’s exciting. I’ve written an article for the national EMM newsletter which will give us national attention for our efforts. As a parish we will be known in a new way for our openness and flexibility, our passion and our conviction.

We’re calling this consortium of churches: “Church Pantries for Refugees” or CPR. Because we are helping to give these families a new life. And because we are doing this through a gift of the heart – through our generosity, compassion, and hospitality. The heart of our faith calls us to love God, love self, and love others. All of our scripture readings this morning point us to ponder how we know Jesus in our lives.

I might add that it is also important, following up on Marcus Borg’s observation, that it is also important that we participate in how Jesus is known. Our faith is a canvas upon which we paint. It’s a canvas that can take layers of paint providing depth and texture. With this refugee ministry the canvas of St. Hilary’s has taken on some new colors, new texture. It will add depth to who we are. And for however long this ministry lives on in us it will help shape our faith.

We will come to know our scriptures in new ways. We will come to know Jesus in new ways. And we will bring a new face of Christ to a broken world.