Jesus in a box…

The following is the sermon offered this morning at Christ Church Episcopal – Trinity Lutheran Church in Sheffield, MA.

Proper 9/Year C

Mark 6:1-13

Good morning! My name is Vicki Ix. I am a licensed lay preacher and the Communications Director for the Episcopal Diocese of Western Massachusetts. First, let me say how happy I am to be with you all again. This is the third time Annie has invited me to preach and each time I drive away from Sheffield, I take a little bit of the spirit of this community with me.

Speaking of Annie, I left her in Salt Lake City after my eight-day stint at the 78^th General Convention of the Episcopal Church. As an alternate deputy, Annie had to remain the full length of the legislative sessions. She was an energetic and eager deputy – open to the experience of God’s presence in the gathering and determined to give herself totally to the process. It was my first General Convention, too. Lots happened there and I will touch on that more in a few minutes. But first, let’s have a look at today’s gospel.

Jesus faces failure. In his own hometown, he was confronted by the smallness of the human condition.  They said, “Where did this man get all this? What is this wisdom that has been given to him? What deeds of power are being done by his hands (Mark 1:2)!” It must have hurt when they rejected his message. It must have been especially painful to fail in front of his neighbors and relatives.

As I read the story I was thinking about this goofy prank we used to play on people when I was in Jr. high. I think many of you will remember it. You dial the number of a local store and when someone answers you ask: “Do you have Prince Albert in a can?”

When they say yes to your request for this brand of tobacco, you say, “Well, you better let him out!” Then, you hang up and call another store. My friends and I were really proud of ourselves when we updated the game for the ‘70’s. “Do you have Captain Crunch in a box?” Well, you get it.

The people of Nazareth put Jesus in a box. He was the carpenter, the son of Joseph. How could he possibly be the anointed of God? How could they take to heart the teaching of someone they thought they knew so well?

We still do this with prophets – especially if we don’t want to hear what they have to say.   We put them into boxes.

“She’s a flaming liberal.”

“He’s a FOX news Republican.”

“Just another angry Black man.”

“When will those gay people stop adding letters? I can’t keep up.”

“Those evangelicals are all Bible thumpers…”

“High Church”, “Low Church,” “Broad Church”

We put prophets in boxes so that we can tune out the truth – protect ourselves from having to change or grow or repent.

So many wonderful things happened at the General Convention. No one person decided anything. The voices of the laity, the priests and bishops were all heard and every soul present was given a vote. I’ve never experience Church this way before. I was raised in a very top-down, hierarchical church. I never experienced the feeling of the Spirit of God at work in the whole community. It was like watching holy CSPAN. Some things passed, others were rejected, but in all of it I felt certain that the gathering itself was the prophet in our midst. When a resolution was decided, there was peace because we prayed and listened to one another. What was decided was decided by the Spirit of God among us.

So among other important business, the GC passed resolutions that will guarantee that marriage is marriage for everyone. The Church decided to get a little bit smaller as an organization. And, the Church elected a new Presiding Bishop – a holy man who will begin his service on November 1. The Rt. Rev. Michael Curry of NC will be the first African American PB in the history of the Episcopal Church. He was elected on the first ballot in record time and passed the House of Deputies with an overwhelming majority. The Church decided this together with the power of the Holy Spirit. It was truly an experience of the prophetic aspect of being Church.

My job at General Convention was to cover everything and makes sure the folks here at home got some sense of the historic decisions being made in our Church. I got to wear a press pass – like a real journalist! I was in two briefings each day with the major players – lay and ordained. Right after the election of Bishop Curry, the real media (NYTimes, CNN, AP, Reuters, etc.) were given access to the Bishop. This press conference was streamed live. An interesting moment happened toward the end. A journalist from a notable Anglican blog asked Bishop Curry a question. Would he characterize himself in the Anglican world as a “traditionalist” or a “progressive.” Bishop Curry smiled for a moment and said nothing. Then he said, “I am a follower of Jesus.”

Bam! He escaped the trap! Like Jesus, leaders are tested with questions that are really a “Catch 22.” Bishop Curry changed the game and answered with the truth in his heart. Perhaps, this Presiding Bishop will be remembered one day as a prophet among us. I hope we all give him the chance to tell us the story of Jesus in a new way. I hope we welcome the challenges ahead of us, the truth he’s been given to share. My feeling is that it will be very difficult for anyone – with any agenda – to put Bishop Curry in a box.

Don’t get me wrong. Putting people in boxes is a whole lot easier than listening to them. If we put the prophet in a box, we can just pretend we never heard the message. We can just go on telling ourselves that the kingdom of God is all taken care of. We won’t have to roll up our sleeves and work for justice. We won’t have to look at how our plenty could be hurting those who go without.

But if we do that – if we put the prophets in a box – then, like Jesus in Nazareth, they cannot bless us or heal us or remind us that Love is the only currency in the kingdom of God. If we put our prophets in a box, we will not catch that glimpse of Jesus as he passes through our town. Whether they hear or refuse to hear (for they are a rebellious house), they shall know that there has been a prophet among them (Ezekiel 2:5)

Do we have Jesus in a box? Well, we better let him out.