First Sermon ever.

Preached September 20, 2009 at St. David of Wales

Proverbs 31:10-31

Psalm 1

James 3:13-4:3, 7-8a

Mark 9:30-37

A couple of months ago when Sara asked if I could preach a couple of Sundays this fall, we both pulled out our calendars and picked some days at random.

I got home and looked up the lectionary readings and thought oh no. surely I didn’t just agree to preach on Proverbs 31.

now Proverbs is full of good advice but it is also full of passages that can too easily be used as weapons. And as coming originally from the south I am aware of the cultural weight of passages like proverbs 31, for women who define an entire life on one scriptural passage.

So a few weeks later I was at a friends house and while the kids were playing and the moms were all just sitting there, she turned to me and said, “ I know you are into that churchy stuff do you know what would it mean if someone signs her e-mails

P. 31 mom?

I must admit there is a part of me that was hoping this unknown sister in faith was referring to herself as a psalm 31 mom, which I could relate to

My life is consumed by anguish

and my years by groaning;

my strength fails because of my affliction,

and my bones grow weak.

“Because of all my enemies,

I am the utter contempt of my neighbors;

I am a dread to my friends—

those who see me on the street flee from me.

I am forgotten by them as though I were dead;

I have become like broken pottery.”

however..

I am pretty sure the room mother meant proverbs 31. the websites and books that trumpet this proverb above other scriptural ideals for living mostly focus on its wifely character who values homemaking above all things.

I tried to sit with this image of God-

I will confess a hard time wrapping my mind around the idea that the creator of all things who loved all creation into being and longs to breath compassion into our every thought valuing even more good housekeeping skills.

That someday Jesus will say to me, “oh honey , welcome home- now we will see each other face to face and live into an eternity of blinding love. But first we need to talk about the housework, it was pretty sloppy sometimes, and the laundry – what was that?

I told my friend that the new room mother would probably be a huge help when it came time to make and sell linen garments and plant the vineyard.

So if not an impeccably well groomed house --what is it then that God desires from us?

in his letter James is pretty clear about his vision of the kingdom

For where there is envy and selfish ambition, there will also be disorder and wickedness of every kind. But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, without a trace of partiality or hypocrisy. And a harvest of righteousness is sown in peace for those who make peace.

Those conflicts and disputes among you, where do they come from? Do they not come from your cravings that are at war within you? You want something and do not have it; so you commit murder. And you covet something and cannot obtain it; so you engage in disputes and conflicts. You do not have, because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, in order to spend what you get on your pleasures.

Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you.

Easy enough right?

Also Jesus in speaking with the disciples in the gospel of Mark,

wants to know what they were arguing about, you can almost imagine them shuffling around, not making eye contact “who was arguing? US?

no

But they were silent, for on the way they had argued with one another who was the greatest. He sat down, called the twelve, and said to them, "Whoever wants to be first must be last of all and servant of all.

" Then he took a little child and put it among them; and taking it in his arms, he said to them, "Whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes not me but the one who sent me."

So it is our craving our desire to be first, our coveting of possessions, our unwillingness to welcome Christ in the form of children, our bitter envy and selfish ambition, that seem to be the problem here.

Neither mentions the laundry once.

We are called to become a totally different sort of people than is common to us. We are to unload and unpack all of our naturally self-serving way of being with others and turn them inside out. we are to seek to be last of all, and servant of all.

This is what being Church is all about.

How do we really come together and live in this crazy way that both Jesus and James talk about?

Well, there is a tradition that speaks of the Church being the bride of Christ, and an older tradition of Israel being the wife of God.

So what would it look like for us if the good wife from Proverbs were the good wife of Christ.

She does him good, and not harm,

all the days of her life.

lets start then by not doing harm-

Let us ask ourselves if Christ is harmed by our actions and let us see what sort of Choices that guides us to. keeping in mind that Christ is the child held up to the disciples. So after the church makes sure that none of its actions are harming Christ in the form of all the world’s wounded and fragile and frightened children, we could move on.

she brings her food from far away.

lets nourish each other and not stay within our own mindset. lets look outside our own walls to see what will feed us. Lets not assume that only the traditions we already have are all that is needed. lets learn form our brothers and sisters in far away places. both geographically and conceptually.

She rises while it is still night

and provides food for her household

and tasks for her servant girls.

This is a church that does not exist for its own comfort, this is a church that rises up and feeds her household. And lucky us, as soon as we are fed there is work for us to do. We are the servant girls.

She considers a field and buys it;

with the fruit of her hands she plants a vineyard.

She girds herself with strength,

and makes her arms strong.

She makes linen garments and sells them;

she supplies the merchant with sashes.

So this is a busy and productive church. the world would most definitely notice a church buying fields and planting them, and the best reason I know of to plant a vineyard is to make wine. this a strong church. the church is part of the world and if we are going to own land and collect money then we should enter into such work joyfully.

She opens her hand to the poor,

and reaches out her hands to the needy.

and she isn’t doing all of this for her own household, the needy don’t to reach out to this church, no she is reaching out to them. This is what she does with her wealth.

She is not afraid for her household when it snows,

for all her household are clothed in crimson.

I love this part, she is not afraid. In our church do we know that we need not be afraid because we are clothed in Crimson, or when the snow comes are shivering and ashamed? does our church take care of its household?

Her husband is known in the city gates,

taking his seat among the elders of the land.

this is why we would do such things. not for our own glory , but just imagine if the church took deep care of those inside and outside what they might begin to think of our Lord.

Strength and dignity are her clothing,

and she laughs at the time to come.

She opens her mouth with wisdom,

and the teaching of kindness is on her tongue.

When we look at our newspapers and the despair for sale on every corner, leaking out of every radio do we know that our church is a refuge from the cynical darkness? is she laughing at the time to come? Is wisdom and kindness what you think of when you think of the church?

Her children rise up and call her happy;

her husband too, and he praises her:

What if we are called to be happy?

what if that is actually Jesus’ biggest hope for us?

we are her children, however, we are also the church

It is when we come together how we act and what we say and our every action is what determines what kind of wife we are being to Christ.

we are called to harm no one, take of each other, take care of the world, have kindness on our tongues, and be happy.

we cannot do any of this work if our primary goals are to get ahead and look good, to take care of ourselves first. and be the greatest.

the good news is that we can do this, we can be this kind of Church,

the bad news is that We have to do this, it is up to us to be this kind of church. We cannot expect it from our clergy, or wait for the diocese, or maybe find another denomination that is doing it better. We are the church. and this is hard stuff.

Sometimes it feels like a long distance relationship.

How can we ever hope to be this kind of wife, when our beloved sometimes seems so far away.

o Jesus- we pray come back, we cant do it without you,

and Jesus says to us

here I am

take this bread, drink this cup, and when we do Christ is broken open and poured out and the only thing we can do is fall on our knees hold out our hands, receive the gift of God with us, and say

amen