Sunday 24, October, 2004 - Sermon by Hilary E. Cooke (1)

First Reading	Psalm	Epistle	Gospel
Sirach 35:12-17	84:1-6	2 Timothy 4:6-8, 16-18	Luke 18:9-14

"Your Word, O God, and your Word only,
be that which we sing and speak,
be that which falls on our ears and lives in our hearts,
for in your Word we find you
and you are our rock and our redeemer."

     Community has been on my mind a lot these days, not only as I see the divisiveness surrounding our national election, but also as I take in the news from around the world and continue to see the fear and hatred present in so many lives. Sadly, much of this fear and hatred comes from strongly held opposing religious beliefs. I find myself thinking about community because I wonder what role the church can take to work toward a more united global community. As one Bishop recently said, "Communion is both the very nature of God and God's gift to us." I believe that this gift of communion is something we must always nurture and I think today's reading from Luke has something to say to us about this gift.

     In this morning's Gospel lesson Jesus tells a parable about two men from very different backgrounds going to the temple to pray. There is a Pharisee and a Tax collector. One man was accepted by his community and the other considered an outcast. Pharisees were pious and dedicated Jews. Tax collectors were despised in Palestine, for they were seen as having sold out to the Roman Government and as having betrayed the Jewish community. The Pharisee confidently enters the temple and, being careful not to touch anyone unclean, he offers his prayers, God, I thank you that I am not like other people: thieves, rogues, adulterers and even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I give a tenth of all my income. The tax collector, by contrast, timidly enters the temple and, shuffling off to the corner, he looks down as he prays, God, be merciful to me, a sinner! It is almost as if there is an invisible wall between the two men keeping them apart.

     When a story is set up as this parable is, with two men contrasted so starkly it is easy to say that one man is "good" and the other "bad," I can't tell you how many clergy I have heard say that the Pharisee in this story is the "bad guy" and the message we need to learn from his mistakes that we should be very careful not to boast. I'm not saying that's completely wrong, but it discounts the positive things to be learned from the Pharisee. It is important to take the Pharisee and Tax collector and put their actions together to fully understand the message in Jesus' parable.

     The Pharisee is confident in his prayer life, his faith is strong. He enters the temple and speaks to God because he trusts that God will listen to him. And no priest is going to complain about someone who gives ten percent of his income to the church. However, when the Pharisee begins to compare himself to others, his actions become questionable. Likewise, when the tax collector prays to God, he does not boast about all the good he has done. However, the tax collector stands "far off' as if he is separating himself from God. The tax collector feels marginalized in society, and brings that feeling to the temple. He needs a community to let him know that he is not marginal in God's eyes.

     Those of you who have seen the articles in the New York Times this week know that the Anglican Communion, of which the Episcopal Church is a part, has taken another step in the effort to explore how we can remain a worldwide communion despite radically differing understandings of several aspects of our common life. For those of you who haven't seen it, the report of the commission (all 93 pages of it) can be found on line at the national church website. It is a detailed report and will take some time to digest fully. But the report highlights the importance of the common beliefs that have traditionally held our communion together and the concerns (which are not just limited to those surrounding sexuality) that have been the topic of heated debates over the last few years.

     Presiding Bishop Frank Griswold released an initial statement in response to the report earlier this week in which he emphasized the importance of examining our own understanding of what it means to be a communion. He writes,

"My first reading shows the Report as having in mind the containment of differences in the service of reconciliation. However, unless we go beyond containment and move to some deeper place of acknowledging and making room for the differences that will doubtless continue to be present in our Communion, we will do disservice to our mission. A life of communion is not for the benefit of the church but for the sake of the world. All of us, regardless of our several points of view, must accept the invitation to consider more deeply what it means to live a life of communion, grounded in the knowledge that `in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself."'

     The Presiding Bishop tells us that our communion is not just about containing differences, but about trying to reach out and understand our differences. This does not mean that we all have to agree. On the contrary the Presiding Bishop writes that "The Report calls our communion to reconciliation, which does not mean the reduction of differences to a single point of view." Reconciliation in our communion is about community and finding a way to live in community that nurtures, challenges and encourages everyone to grow in their faith. It is about reaching beyond the boundaries and walls created by culture and distance and listening to those with whom we disagree.

     In the gospel lesson we can see that the Pharisee and the Tax Collector need each other, that they have much to learn from each other. By working together they could both be strengthened in their relationships to their community and to God. As members of the Anglican Communion we can all be strengthened in our relationships with God by entering into this time of discussion and debate with open minds and hearts.

     The challenges of community building are not only limited to the Anglican Communion, but to people of all faiths. As the Presiding Bishop said, the work we are doing is not just for the sake of the communion, but for the world. We have ways, right here in Ithaca, that we can begin some of this global reconciliation. This afternoon many of us will participate in the CROP walk. It is not just members of St. John's who will be walking to raise money to end hunger today, it will be members of all the local faith communities. Despite the different beliefs we might hold, we are able to work together to end hunger not only locally, but also throughout the world.

     It's often easy to recognize the divisions between other people, but we can each examine our own lives for ways in which we separate ourselves from others. The question becomes, how do we recognize and make room for the differences that prevent us from moving forward in communion? The Presiding Bishop guides us to enter into conversation about the issues that divide us and to bring an open heart and a willingness to listen even to those who hold radically opposing opinions. This is certainly not the easiest thing to do because it means really listening and trying to understand a position far different from our own. I know that when I experience conflict, jumping to understand my opponent's point of view is not the first thing I usually do. But we are people who live in a community and in order for that community to thrive we need to work together.

     I would like to leave you with a prayer from the New Zealand Prayer Book. I use it to remind me that I don't always know the people I think I know. It reminds me that Jesus called us to reach out to others in love, trying to learn who they really are.
Let us pray:

"Give us, we pray you, gentle God, A mind forgetful of past injury,
A will to seek the good of others, And a heart of love".     Amen.
                                                                                   (Page 624)