Is he your friend?

Sunday, July 28, 2024

Old Testament

2 Samuel 11:1-15

In the spring of the year, the time when kings go out to battle, David sent Joab with his officers and all Israel with him; they ravaged the Ammonites, and besieged Rabbah. But David remained at Jerusalem.

It happened, late one afternoon, when David rose from his couch and was walking about on the roof of the king’s house, that he saw from the roof a woman bathing; the woman was very beautiful. David sent someone to inquire about the woman. It was reported, “This is Bathsheba daughter of Eliam, the wife of Uriah the Hittite.” So David sent messengers to get her, and she came to him, and he lay with her. (Now she was purifying herself after her period.) Then she returned to her house. The woman conceived; and she sent and told David, “I am pregnant.”

So David sent word to Joab, “Send me Uriah the Hittite.” And Joab sent Uriah to David. When Uriah came to him, David asked how Joab and the people fared, and how the war was going. Then David said to Uriah, “Go down to your house, and wash your feet.” Uriah went out of the king’s house, and there followed him a present from the king. But Uriah slept at the entrance of the king’s house with all the servants of his lord, and did not go down to his house. When they told David, “Uriah did not go down to his house,” David said to Uriah, “You have just come from a journey. Why did you not go down to your house?” Uriah said to David, “The ark and Israel and Judah remain in booths; and my lord Joab and the servants of my lord are camping in the open field; shall I then go to my house, to eat and to drink, and to lie with my wife? As you live, and as your soul lives, I will not do such a thing.” Then David said to Uriah, “Remain here today also, and tomorrow I will send you back.” So Uriah remained in Jerusalem that day. On the next day, David invited him to eat and drink in his presence and made him drunk; and in the evening he went out to lie on his couch with the servants of his lord, but he did not go down to his house.

In the morning David wrote a letter to Joab, and sent it by the hand of Uriah. In the letter he wrote, “Set Uriah in the forefront of the hardest fighting, and then draw back from him, so that he may be struck down and die.”

The Psalm

Psalm 14

1 The fool has said in his heart, "There is no God." *

All are corrupt and commit abominable acts;

there is none who does any good.

2 The Lord looks down from heaven upon us all, *

to see if there is any who is wise,

if there is one who seeks after God.

3 Every one has proved faithless;

all alike have turned bad; *

there is none who does good; no, not one.

4 Have they no knowledge, all those evildoers *

who eat up my people like bread

and do not call upon the Lord?

5 See how they tremble with fear, *

because God is in the company of the righteous.

6 Their aim is to confound the plans of the afflicted, *

but the Lord is their refuge.

7 Oh, that Israel's deliverance would come out of Zion! *

when the Lord restores the fortunes of his people,

Jacob will rejoice and Israel be glad.

The Epistle

Ephesians 3:14-21

I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth takes its name. I pray that, according to the riches of his glory, he may grant that you may be strengthened in your inner being with power through his Spirit, and that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith, as you are being rooted and grounded in love. I pray that you may have the power to comprehend, with all the saints, what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, so that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.

Now to him who by the power at work within us is able to accomplish abundantly far more than all we can ask or imagine, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.

The Gospel

John 6:1-21

Jesus went to the other side of the Sea of Galilee, also called the Sea of Tiberias. A large crowd kept following him, because they saw the signs that he was doing for the sick. Jesus went up the mountain and sat down there with his disciples. Now the Passover, the festival of the Jews, was near. When he looked up and saw a large crowd coming toward him, Jesus said to Philip, “Where are we to buy bread for these people to eat?” He said this to test him, for he himself knew what he was going to do. Philip answered him, “Six months’ wages would not buy enough bread for each of them to get a little.” One of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, said to him, “There is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish. But what are they among so many people?” Jesus said, “Make the people sit down.” Now there was a great deal of grass in the place; so they sat down, about five thousand in all. Then Jesus took the loaves, and when he had given thanks, he distributed them to those who were seated; so also the fish, as much as they wanted. When they were satisfied, he told his disciples, “Gather up the fragments left over, so that nothing may be lost.” So they gathered them up, and from the fragments of the five barley loaves, left by those who had eaten, they filled twelve baskets. When the people saw the sign that he had done, they began to say, “This is indeed the prophet who is to come into the world.”

When Jesus realized that they were about to come and take him by force to make him king, he withdrew again to the mountain by himself.

When evening came, his disciples went down to the sea, got into a boat, and started across the sea to Capernaum. It was now dark, and Jesus had not yet come to them. The sea became rough because a strong wind was blowing. When they had rowed about three or four miles, they saw Jesus walking on the sea and coming near the boat, and they were terrified. But he said to them, “It is I; do not be afraid.” Then they wanted to take him into the boat, and immediately the boat reached the land toward which they were going.

Homily by Rev. Deb Lockhart, Deacon

This morning we are offered a glimpse of God through the signs in this passage from John and an invitation to let God in, from our Epistle reading. What a wonderful opportunity to engage with God…..and can we delve more deeply into that engagement?

Let us pray: Oh Holy One—Provider, Creator and Sustainer of us all, be with us today. Open our hearts to new possibilities, to a new relationship, in a new direction. As your people, put us on the path of greater understanding of what you intend for us. AMEN.

Last week we heard about the power and the importance of prayer as Susan so beautifully guided us through. This week we hear Paul speaking through his letter to the Ephesians—- a young church in Ephesus, comprised of both former Jews and former Gentiles. His letter is written as an intercessory prayer, said on the behalf of these Ephesians, encouraging them to stay strong and remain unified in Christ.

And what a prayer this is!

Reading the first part of today’s Epistle, using The Message:

“My response is to get down on my knees before the Father, this magnificent Father who parcels out all heaven and earth. I ask him to strengthen you by his Spirit—not a brute strength but a glorious inner strength—that Christ will live in you as you open the door and invite him in. And I ask him {God} that with both feet planted firmly on love, you’ll be able to take in with all followers of Jesus the extravagant dimensions of Christ’s love. Reach out and experience the breadth! Test its length! Plumb the depths! Rise to the heights! Live full lives, full in the fullness of God.”

Paul’s words are inspiring! God willingly is there for us at every turn. He is inexhaustible, his immenseness larger that we can ever truly fathom—-God has no limits. And most importantly, He loves us….always

Paul’s prayer asks for God to strengthen us in power so that we may have power—-be filled with power that will enlarge our faith. Christ will dwell in our hearts through that faith. Such power comes from the Spirit, that dwells with our inner most being—-imagine that! This amazing power is within us——we have only to tap into it…………..And there lies the rub.

Do we know this God Paul speaks of? Are we involved with this God? Do we have a relationship that is rooted and grounded in love?

During my diaconal formation one of the essays asked me to explain my relationship to Jesus in 1000 words. Oh gosh, I thought where do I start?

And then I remembered, nearly 10 years ago when being reaffirmed in the church, the visiting Bishop asked us if we were friends with Jesus. What a silly question I thought at first, but as he continued to ask questions of each of us in the group, I realized that no, I wasn’t really friends with Jesus and seldom called on him. I had my reasons…..that of not being enough, of being broken, and simply of being very misinformed as to why Jesus needed to be on my list of friends in the first place. For me, Jesus felt harder to explain than my understanding and relationship with God plus I could pray to God from a safe distance. Jesus, on the other hand, was a perfect human and that caused great angst and uncertainty especially from someone who came up short…..

Bishop asked—when was the last time you talked with Jesus? Last week? Last month, never? Assuming you do talk to Jesus, what do you talk about? Is it all about me, me , me? Many of us at this point were staring at our shoes….

The Bishop then said, “Let’s take a moment and think about other friends you have and how you maintain your friendship. Would you say you have a best friend? At this, everybody nods. Would Jesus be your best friend—-fewer nods. How often do you talk? Multiple times a day? Several hands shot up. One person offered multiple times an hour….but then she was a 17 yr old with facile texting skills. At this, even the Bishop looked more than a little impressed.

The questions continued and I came away clearly with work to do on a friendship where I had been terribly absent. It didn’t happen overnight, l experienced a bucketful of failures along the way. I took Jesus on walks, for rides in the car where we often had heated discussions while on an interstate or sitting at a light. As it’s turned out, I’ve gotten pretty good at talking to Jesus as a friend. I tell him everything, leaving nothing out—-sometimes aloud and other times in the silence. Does Jesus talk back to me—-in words? Not generally. In feelings? All of the time. And as for the confession of not being enough—-Karoline Lewis, a theologian and Scholar on the Gospel of John, says “No matter where I am, how I am, how weary or worn down, no matter how disheartened, no matter what I am, Jesus takes it all and uses it.”

While out on a walk this week, listening to a commentary on this week’s lectionary, I heard these words….”The more you get into God, the more God gets into you”. I’d credit that genius if I could. I found myself nodding in appreciation for all the ways I’ve grown by taking my relationship (my friendship) with Jesus with intention and letting God in.

This relationship with God that Paul speaks of comes to us through the power of his Spirit within us, that deep place where faith, our believing in God, lives. God sent Jesus so that mankind could experience God in the Flesh. Through the teachings of Jesus, the Son of God, we can grow in our believing and to grow in our faith.

Without faith we will not be aware of Christ’s presence within us, we won’t grow to depend on him, we won’t enjoy a friendship, experience prayerful time with him and we won’t center our lives around him.

If Christ doesn’t dwell in our hearts in faith, all that Paul speaks of in this passage is impossible—-it will never happen.

Letting God in changes us. Once God is in us, everything changes. Relationships, conversations, priorities,… everything… so letting God in, by way of a relationship we have with Jesus is paramount in becoming that person God intends for us to become— being faithful, curious, loving and being the vessel of God’s Word to others.

You may be saying about now, how would I assess my relationship with Jesus at this moment—-is there room for more God in here (pointing to heart), space for some faith to grow, a place for honest dialog with the One who created you, loves you without judgement and awaits with a love for you so large that is has no boundaries? ( I know we are Episcopalians, the frozen chosen…. But I know you are in your quiet ways giving a resounding YES!)

This beautiful intercessory prayer is timely for Trinity and Whitechapel as the focus is on sustaining our churches while waiting for a new rector. God will be there for all the struggles and setbacks, whether its the size of the church, decreased pledges but not decreased expenses, water under the church with a whopping price tag attached to mediate it, or difficulty finding a common focus and a common future. It can be hard to trust that God is always present, but as Paul points out, the main reason we don’t always trust him and obey him is that we really don’t grasp how much he loves us. We say we believe it; we sing, “Jesus loves me, this I know.” But we don’t really know it, not deeply, not always.

Building a solid relationship with Jesus is a start, making your faith a priority and not happenstance…..because it won’t happen at all without the investment of the time reading scripture to grow your faith…..it won’t happen at all without prayer, lots of prayer, and it won’t happen ever if you don’t invite God in.

John Mott, an evangelist and Nobel Peace Prize recipient writes a word of caution to Christians about faith. He says that today’s Christian activities are growing faster that their faith and that we are so busy serving that we don’t have time to know and experience God. God is not trying to show the world how we can work; God wants to show how we can believe——that by glorifying God first within us; the fruit of the works will come, but the tree must come first.

To be frank, just because we are all here, doesn’t mean that Jesus came with us…...Being in relationship with Jesus requires us to show up and to keep showing up, to work at it by letting ourselves be drawn to the “I AM”, the God made flesh, to bow in reference to the God who loves us without question or judgement, and to surrender ourselves to a love that is there waiting for us.

Our Epistle reading from The Messages closes us today with this doxology; “God can do anything, you know—far more than you could ever imagine or guess or request in your wildest dreams! He does it not by pushing us around but by working within us, his Spirit deeply and gently within us.”

Paul might have been writing to the Ephesians 2 thousand years ago but his words never rang truer for us today than they do right now, in this place we reside and where we know we desperately need God as never before.

Go ahead ….. invite him in……