Holy Spaces ~ Bates College

Holy Spaces ~ Bates College

HolySpaceThursdays ~ Shrine Mont, Orkney Springs, VA ~ The Episcopal Diocese of Virginia

One of my favorite places!  The Spirit is strong there!

~Peter

The Rev. Peter M. Carey St. Martin in the Fields Evensong ~ 1 October 2017

Sermon

The Rev. Peter M. Carey

St. Martin in the Fields

Evensong ~ 1 October 2017

When we read snippets of the scriptures in church every week, we are at risk of not really knowing the full story.  Or, perhaps the preacher decides to preach one week on the Hebrew Scriptures and then the next week dip into the gospel.  Or, we might come to Evensong, and the readings are taken from the Evening Daily Office, which we may only be following, if we pray the Daily Office.  

This may be like turning into your favorite television series one week after missing a week or two, or for those of us who read to our our children at bedtime, you may be working through a beloved book, but your spouse did the bedtime reading the last two nights, and you are dipping into the story lacking the previous two chapters.

Today’s snippet of the Gospel of Luke is a marvelous look at an early part of Luke’s Gospel, and in it, Luke does a wonderful of painting a picture of a day in the life of our Lord as he does his ministry and teaching.  

Looking at where this scene falls in Luke’s gospel, a reader quickly sees that this is the first time that Jesus is teaching outside of the synagogues.  He had overcome temptation in the wilderness, and had done an exorcism and a healing, and had taught in “the synagogues of Judea,”  but this was his first time preaching the good news of God’s love for all outside of the political/religious establishment.  He preaches, and then he “catches” some disciples.

We see the creative mind of Jesus when he felt “the crowd pressing in on him,” and he decided to go out into a boat in order to continue his preaching to the crowds.  

We see that Jesus has a deep and clear understanding that what he is doing is not a mere lesson, not mere words of wisdom, not merely advice.  Jesus “sits down” on the boat and taught the crowds from the boat.  This visual of Jesus sitting down would instantly conjur up the image of the rabbis and temple elders when they would teach and preach in the synagogues.  For first century Jews, the action of sitting down to teach would signal the most formal and powerful teaching by a religious authority.

After the teaching, Jesus knows full well how difficult it can be to move through a crowd of people, and so, instead, he asks Peter to go out into deeper water in order to fish. There, in the deep water, Jesus encourages Peter to make a change, and fish on the other side of the boat.  There, the nets became so full of fish that they could not hold the fish.

Sea of Galilee - Lake Gennesaret

Its area is 166.7 km2 (64.4 sq mi) at its fullest, and its maximum depth is approximately 43 m (141 feet).[3] At levels between 215 metres (705 ft) and 209 metres (686 ft) below sea level,[4] it is the lowest freshwater lake on Earth and the second-lowest lake in the world (after the Dead Sea, a saltwater lake).[5]The lake is fed partly by underground springs although its main source is the Jordan River which flows through it from north to south.

Let’s be very plain about this part of the story.  Jesus tells his new followers to go deep in order to be fed.  In order to get what they truly want, they must think creatively, and then seek the treasures of the deep.   In the deep water, the portion of the sea fed by freshwater springs, and activated by the flow of the Jordan River, there is where Jesus instructs them to find treasure.  

Once they find the treasures of the deep, in the midst of the preaching and teaching and fishing, Jesus challenges them:

“Jesus said to Simon, ‘Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching people.’ 11When they had brought their boats to shore, they left everything and followed him.

The Greek verb zogron (“catching”) was commonly used of teachers: they caught their students and thereby brought them new life. Peter, James and John make a total commitment...

The disciples give up everything and follow Jesus. God often calls people right out from their everyday lives, even from their places of work.  Moses while tending sheep, Gideon while beating wheat, and Isaiah in the temple.  The disciples are “caught” by God and then give up all they had to follow Jesus.

Going out on the boat, somewhat like getting up to the balcony, getting out in a boat, getting up to 20,000 feet

Going to the deep water, living water, the deep water in this story was living water - springs and river!  Here is where the treasure is.

Use some creative thinking ~ going out onto the boat and then throwing the nets over the other side

Being prepared to “leave everything and follow.”  What are we needing to leave behind so that we can truly get out on the boat, up in the balcony, up in the sky and see as God sees?  How creative have we been in our thinking, and in our work, and living - have we thought to throw the nets over the other side?  Have we attempted to put out our nets into the deep, living,” water?  

Here is where Jesus begins his ministry of preaching a gospel of love by healing those who were thought to be beyond the pale, of welcoming those who had been cast out, and of turning the assumptions of the world upside down.  So, we too, should embrace this gospel of radical love, and be “caught” by the nets of Christ.  

Rock Point, Burlington, Vermont ~ #HolySpaceThursdays

Rock Point, Burlington, Vermont ~ #HolySpaceThursdays

For this "HolySpaceThursday" I want to give a nod to Rock Point, and Rock Point Summer Conferences from back in my youth and young adulthood, which taught me first-hand what it meant to be a holy place, and a holy space.  If the celts are right, and if there are "thin places" in this world between the everyday and the divine, between the human and the godly, and between earth and heaven, surely Rock Point is one of those places.  The people, the program, and the place of Rock Point all taught me the tangible love of God, and of the importance of prayer, of the Eucharist, and of building a beloved community.  

~Peter+

Rumi's The Guest House

The Guest House 

This being human is a guest house.
Every morning a new arrival.

A joy, a depression, a meanness,
some momentary awareness comes
as an unexpected visitor.

Welcome and entertain them all!
Even if they're a crowd of sorrows,
who violently sweep your house
empty of its furniture,
still, treat each guest honorably.
He may be clearing you out
for some new delight.

The dark thought, the shame, the malice,
meet them at the door laughing,
and invite them in.

Be grateful for whoever comes,
because each has been sent
as a guide from beyond.

 ~ Rumi ~

  

(The Essential Rumi, version by Coleman Barks)

HolySpaceThursday ~ Bishop's Ranch, Healdsburg, California

For this "ThrowBackThursday," also known as "HolySpaceThursdays" I remember and recognize the wonderful Bishop's Ranch, an Episcopal Retreat Center in Sonoma County, California.  The image above is a panorama photo I took while journalling at Bishop's Ranch while I was at a CREDO Conference.  The beauty of the place is amazingly overwhelming, and my iphone photo only barely captures a glimpse of that beauty.

Check out this amazing place at their website: http://www.bishopsranch.org/

~Peter