Sunday, March 26, 2017: "Keep it Public" Fr. Carey Stone



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 Lent 4A’17

26 March 2017
Ephesians 5.8-14
St. Luke’s Episcopal Church
North Little Rock, Arkansas
The Rev. Carey Stone
 
O God, by whom the meek are guided in judgment, and light rises up in darkness for the godly: Grant us, in all our doubts and uncertainties, the grace to ask what you would have us to do; that the Spirit of wisdom may save us from all false choices, and that in your straight path may not stumble; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. 
- Prayer #58 For Guidance, The Book of Common Prayer
 
One of the first things we are doing in our liturgy during Lent is focusing on the Ten Commandments that tell us “thou shalt not,” the actions that displease the Lord. It’s important to remember them and to endeavor to not violate them but it’s only half the story. Our faith is about so much more than ‘thou shalt nots’ – there is the whole other side of the equation the “Thous shalts!”
 
 St. Paul in his letter to the Ephesians tries to fill in some of the amazing and life giving things we as Christians can do to bring light into the dark places all around us. 
 
The passage that precedes the one in our readings today has a lot to say about what we get to do as Christians. I’d like to read this from Eugene Peterson’s translation called The Message: “Watch what God does, and then you do it, like children who learn proper behavior from their parents. Mostly what God does is love you. Keep company with him and learn a life of love. Observe how Christ loved us. His love was not cautious but extravagant. He didn’t love in order to get something from us but to give everything of himself to us, love like that. Don’t allow love to turn to lust, setting off a downhill slide into sexual promiscuity, filthy practices, or bullying greed. Though some tongues just love the taste of gossip, Christians have better uses for language than that. Don’t talk dirty or silly. That kind of talk doesn’t fit our style. Thanksgiving is our dialect.” 
 
The world outside our walls are filled with people who hungry for something real, they’re drowning in darkness, their asleep and they don’t even realize it.  But how will they ever know there is a better way to live unless they see some real flesh and blood people who are children of the light walking in the light of God’s love. How will they know the difference without meeting folks who are seeking to imitate Christ with their lives and who are not afraid to speak about what Christ and their Christian community mean to them. 
 
On my way to Barnes & Nobles bookstore the other day I got behind a gray Nissan exterra and I noticed a bumper sticker on the back window that had a picture of the United States and on it it said, “Keep It Public.” I went home and looked it up on the internet and discovered that it represented a diverse group of hikers, hunters, backpackers, climbers, birdwatchers, mountain bikers and were from all political persuasions. Their common mission was to defend public land so that it would be available for them to pursue their many interests in the great outdoors. They also had a slogan “we are one and all.” These outdoor enthusiasts plan to “Keep It Public.” 
 
Would that we as Christians would do the same for our faith but for many of us Episcopalians we have done just the opposite when it comes to our faith I’m afraid our bumper sticker would read: “Keep It Private.” Faith, it has been believed, is a private matter. As a result of these decades long stance it has contributed to ever decreasing numbers. 
 
The Pew Research Center has some chilling statistics about the decline in overall church attendance. Only 51% of the generation called the greatest Generation those born between 1928-1945 attend weekly and the millennial generation (those born after 1981) only 39% attends weekly. 71% of the greatest generation believes in God with absolute certainty and only 50 percent of millennials report believing in God with certainty. 69% of the greatest gen. believes scripture is the word of God followed by only 52% of millennials. And while 67% of the greatest generation reported that religion was very important in their lives, only 38% of millennials reported that religion was very important to them. The other generations, baby boomers and Gen Xers percentages fell in between the greatest generation and millennial generation and all of their percentage points were decreasing as well. 
 
St. Paul says in his letter to the Ephesians says: “Sleeper, awake! Rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.” The world around us is growing increasingly agnostic, atheistic, and pagan. They are in need of the light, of the good news that they are God’s beloved children but from the statistics we can see that many of them will never darken our door. We who are called children of light are called to walk as children of light to be good news while sharing good news! We have the message that people are dying for we can share that regardless of their circumstances they are unconditionally loved by God, that there is an alternative to hate filled rhetoric that is passing in some places for Christianity. 
 
We have a faith that is expressed in a three-legged stool of Scripture, Tradition, and Reason. We actively engage with the best advice ever written the Bible and we wrestle to understand and follow its contents. While we understand that parts of the Bible are not to be taken literally we believe that all of scripture should be taken seriously. 
 
Ours is not a fly-by-night and faddish faith, we practice some of the oldest traditions in the Christian faith with words of our liturgy being traced back to the 2nd century. We have the Book of Common Prayer that takes us on an annual journey of the life of Christ and points us to the imitation of his life as his followers. And we are seeking to practice this ancient faith that is just as relevant today as it was 2000 years ago, and we don’t have to leave our brains on the front porch before entering the church building. In fact our church encourages and empowers us to use the mind God gave us to search out the truth and the God of our understanding. Someone asked me once why I had left the Baptist church for the Episcopal Church and I said that I had to ‘find a kinder and gentler God’ and that is exactly the God I have found in Jesus Christ a God who’s mercy is greater than judgment.  
 
Every time we journey beyond the walls of St. Luke’s we need to be awake and aware that we are going out into darkness where people long for a real faith that works in the real world a faith that still asks what is pleasing to the Lord and then joyously attempts to live that way. 
 
I still say that there are hundreds of people all around us who are Episcopalian Christians they just don’t know it yet! My friends we have a life worth living and a faith worth sharing – let’s keep it public. Amen.