Sunshine Cathedral Sermons

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Lent 5

The Good News Written

Psalm 126.3-6 (The Inclusive Bible, Priests for Equality):

Yes — [the Eternal] has done great things for us, and we are filled with joy. Now set our captive hearts free, [O God!] Make them like streams in the driest desert! Then those who now sow in tears will reap with shouts of joy; those who go out weeping as they carry their seed for sowing will come back with shouts of joy as they carry their harvest home.

Barbara De Angelis:

“Love and kindness are never wasted. They always make a difference. They bless the one who receives them, and they bless you, the giver.”

John 12.1-8 (NRSV)

¹Six days before the Passover Jesus came to Bethany… ²There they gave a dinner for him. Martha served, and Lazarus was one of those at the table with him. ³Mary took a pound of costly perfume made of pure nard, anointed Jesus’ feet, and wiped them with her hair. The house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume. ⁴But Judas Iscariot, one of his disciples (the one who was about to betray him), said, ⁵“Why was this perfume not sold for three hundred denarii and the money given to the poor?” ⁶(He said this not because he cared about the poor, but because he was a thief; he kept the common purse and used to steal what was put into it.) ⁷Jesus said… ⁸You always have the poor with you, but you do not always have me.”

The Good News Proclaimed

Preached by the Reverend Doctor Durrell Watkins at the Sunshine Cathedral on Sunday, March21, 2010.

Today’s Gospel story is PROGRESSIVE. We see Mary, Martha, and Lazarus living together, entertaining Jesus. Three unmarried adults, living together as a family. Whatever did people think?

Oh, don’t be silly, Durrell, they were siblings; no one would have thought a thing about it. Really? Three unmarried, childless, middle aged adults move into the neighborhood, and no one raises an eyebrow? Just how are these three people a family?

Maybe they are just friends and who have formed fictive kinships, a Three’s Company situation. We call nuns sister, and priests father… communities of people who choose to live or worship together have been known to call each other sister and brother, Father and Mother.

Girl, can you believe that new cult that has moved into the neighborhood… some weird guy and two odd women calling themselves sister and brother… I wouldn’t drink their cool-aid.

Unkind gossip you will always have with you.

Maybe Mary and Martha are a couple, and their gay friend Lazarus has come to live with them and they call themselves a family so they won’t be harmed or run out of town.

Sweet Caligula, can you believe those queers who have moved onto our block. Calling themselves brother and sisters, as if they’re fooling anyone! I hear the “sisters” share a bedroom. And who is this Jesus that drops in so often! I suppose he’s Lazarus’ guest. It’s a den of iniquity I tell you!

The self-righteous you will always have with you.

Or maybe they really are just three siblings who for whatever reason never married and chose to look after one another. Maybe these single, childless people were looked at with pity or scorn because they just didn’t seem to fit in with the way people usually do things.

The out-of-the-mainstream you will always have with you.

There are, as you can see, a few possibilities, but every possibility suggests that this is a family outside of the mainstream, and THIS family is where Jesus chooses to be. Mary, Martha, and Lazarus, however they happen to be family, are a good enough family for Jesus. We could say Amen and pass the plate at this point, but there is more.

Today’s Gospel story is POSITIVE. Jesus is the Christ, the Messiah, the Anointed One. Warrior kings were anointed by prophets of God with oil in the old days, and people had hoped a new anointed leader would rise up to help the people of Israel reclaim their independence and sovereignty. Some people believed Jesus might wind up being that person. But to be an anointed leader, one must be, well, anointed! And the writer of John’s gospel seems to take care of this problem by setting a scene were Jesus’ ritual anointing actually takes place. In John’s gospel, Jesus is anointed with perfume, and is anointed by a woman. The prophetic, priestly role is played by Mary of Bethany. It is a woman’s hands that anoint Jesus, making him the anointed one. And it’s not just a woman, but a childless, unmarried woman who lives with another woman, her “sister” (whatever that may mean). Who is left out of God’s plan? Who doesn’t have gifts to share in God’s economy? No one!

And today’s Gospel story is PRACTICAL. It shows us how to be a better ministering presence in the world.

Helping people celebrate themselves and helping them learn how to help themselves is powerful ministry, and worthy of our on-going support.

A little money could have fed a few people for a short time (as Judas points out), but by Mary giving Jesus her best, he is encouraged to do his best, and others learn how to be their best, and here we are, still pondering the tale.

We need never doubt the good that is accomplished by giving human and financial resources to the place that builds up, affirms, encourages, and equips the people of God! Our generous, consistent, joyful support of our church home is a gift to ourselves, our community, and our world and we can rejoice in the good that we as a church accomplish.

When we allow ourselves to be our best, we raise money quickly for Haiti in the aftermath of an earthquake. We support life-saving ministry in Jamaica. We collect literally tons of food for local residents, and we consistently offer a progressive, positive, practical message that can comfort, console, and empower thousands of people from all walks of life all over the world, week after week after week.

Someone recently suggested that we should give half of our church income away. Well I’ve got news… we give it all away.

Some of what we give is in the form of food, some of it is in the form of social services.

Some of it is in the form of a safe, comfortable place for support groups, therapy groups, educational groups, worshiping groups, and more to meet and impact lives one by one, and in small and large gatherings.

Some of what we give away is in the form of internet ministry, or soul-lifting artistic performances, or life-changing worship services.

Some of what we give is in the form of activism challenging homophobia, sexism, racism, preventable wars, and violence of all kinds.

Some of what we give away is in the form of publications, spiritual enrichment classes, outreach ministry to universities, prisons, and assisted living facilities.

Whether we spend money on light bulbs or electricity or equipment or staff or cleaning supplies or paper… it’s all to give away all the hope, all the encouragement, all the empowerment, and all the joy we possibly can!

By being our best, we have 100% of who we are to share with the world, and guess what? The world needs us to be our best, and we help more people by being all that we can be.

I will never apologize for our size, our appearance, our programs, or our plans to be and to do more. It isn’t about prestige; it is about reaching more and more people with truly good news, and never believing that we’ve done enough.

That’s why I ask this congregation to give your best… your best attitudes, your best financial gifts, your best volunteer service. And I know what every faithful giver of time, talent, and treasure knows: giving is an act of worship, and as we worship with all that we are, our lives are abundantly blessed.

Don’t do it to be recognized, thanked, rewarded, or praised… do it for the reason Mary did it… to bless the body of Christ, to honor the light of Christ, that of God in all people. Volunteers are sometimes here until midnight making sure this space is ready for worship the following day. We don’t have a paid receptionist, or a paid gardener. Our facilities manager has no paid staff. Most of our musicians are volunteers, as are all of our ushers, board members, acolytes, lectors, deacons, and audio/video team. The people you saw staffing our table at Pride last week – all volunteers. Even the people who print our visitor letters, stuff our bulletins, and enter our weekly data are all volunteers. We do so much of what we do not only because people give generously from their pocket book, but also because they give generously of the hours of their lives.

When people come to realize that they have sacred value, just as they are, they want to give back so that more people will be blessed as they have been, and they start doing more and giving more, and then what miracles begin to take place!

How many people have eaten because of the food this church has collected over the years?

How many people have had their mental health renewed because of SunServe… a social services agency able to operate not only because of the grants they receive but also because of the space and utilities they receive for free from this worshiping community?

How many isolated people in Appalachia or the Ozarks or India or the Middle East have found hope and joy because of the message they hear on the internet, a message made possible by the support of the members of this congregation?

How many Jamaicans have hope today, in spite of an inhospitable environment, because of the Sunshine Cathedral?

How many people in Haiti have temporary shelter because this congregation answered a call for help after their homes were destroyed in an earthquake?

How many people in Africa, in Latin America, in Eastern Europe are hearing for the first time that they are children of God because of the work of Metropolitan Community Churches, work which is supported by one of its largest congregations, The Sunshine Cathedral?

How many elderly people in this county never have to be completely alone or forgotten because of this church’s outreach to assisted living facilities or because of the elder care provided by SunServe on our campus?

How many people all over the world are comforted to know that this church is holding them in prayer?

How many parents now know that their queer child is also a child of God because of the message and ministry of this church?

You spent 300 denarii on perfume that you then wasted on some peasant’s feet? You could have fed a few people with that; but because you shared it with and for the body of Christ, hundreds, and for that matter thousands of people will be blessed, comforted, healed, uplifted, and yes, even fed. Your time, talent, and treasure work together to change lives and I hope you feel a tremendous sense of joy knowing that you ARE sharing the Light with the world!

NEVER underestimate the good accomplished by a faithful seed sown in the fertile soil of life-changing ministry. Because of these windows, these pipes, these screens, this property, this choir, this pulpit, this piano, Broward County is a better place, and the light of hope shines in more hearts, and the power of love is experienced in more lives. Yes its expensive perfume, and yes we’ll need more, and yes, we’ll even ask for more. We have poured our best perfume on the body of Christ… and because we were so faithful, MANY more people have been helped than if we had not been courageous enough to believe in ourselves so that we could be our best selves to share with the world.

People in need we will always have with us and the best gift we can give them is for us to be all that we can be for them. We can’t give what we don’t have, we can’t call people to be what we aren’t willing to be, we can’t teach what we don’t know and we can’t lead where we won’t go. By being our best, we are showing all people what is possible for them; we are declaring that we are here to journey with them, whoever they may be.

We’ve only just begun… there’s more to do, more to be… and while there will always be a Judas or two telling us what we should have done instead of what we have been faithfully doing, there are countless others who will thank us for being our best and for offering all of who we are to them. YOU are the light of the world, and this is the good news. Amen.

The Good News Affirmed

I believe in myself.

When I am my best, I am helping others.

I give thanks for my blessings.

And I share my blessings with the world.

Amen.

The Good News Repeated

“Happiness is perfume. You can’t pour it on somebody else without getting a few drops on yourself.” Harlem Renaissance photographer, James Van Der Zee

Audio readings and sermon (http://sunshinecathedral.org/sermons/audio/20100321_1.mp3)