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.  

Advice for those in the Discernment Process - from "Ember Days"

I think that "Ember Days" has some wonderful thoughts, solid wisdom, and a great sense of humor...check out his advice for those in the discernment process towards ordination in the Episcopal Church. I've listed the 9 main points, for details, click HERE.

~~~~~~~~~

From "Ember Days" Blog...

Now that my discernment process for ordained ministry is behind me (and the ministry itself in front of me), I thought I'd offer my advice -- for whatever it might be worth -- to those who are in the process, or at least that part of the process that begins with admission to postulancy and ends with the imposition of episcopal hands. Basically, here's what I learned by doing a lot of stuff wrong.

(1) Have a regular and reliable connection with someone on the Commission on Ministry.


(2) Make sure the expectations for your "program of preparation" are explicit and in writing.


(3) Have an understanding with the Bishop (and other relevant parties) about how the General Ordination Examination will be used.


(4) Be persistent.


(5) Keep your Bishop informed.


(6) Let your sponsoring parish see you from time to time.


(7) Have a copy of the canons handy.


(8) Keep good records.


(9) Keep reminding yourself that the telos of this process is not getting ordained; it's being a priest.


Read the post HERE
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(and one more from me...

If you don't know what telos means, look it up before you go to seminary!

Article in Lynchburg (VA) Paper: Pair of Priests

I went to seminary with Todd and Diane Vie at Virginia Theological Seminary. They are wonderful people and great priests. I ran across this article about them in the Lynchburg (VA) News & Advance Newspaper. You can also read it HERE, and here.

Have a great day!
Peace be with you,

Peter+

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A pair of priests

By Casey Gillis

cgillis@newsadvance.com

Friday, January 4, 2008

(Chet White)

The Revs. Todd and Diane Vie followed different paths to the priesthood.

Diane, now assistant priest at St. John’s Episcopal Church, first heard her calling in 1998 while on a mission trip to Honduras.
Todd, her husband of 15 years, heard his call later that same year, quite unexpectedly.

“Never in my wildest dreams did I ever think I’d be called, which made it all the more enjoyable,” says Todd, now associate priest at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church.

At the time, both Todd and Diane worked for a Chicago insurance company, where they met in 1988.

Soon after hearing their respective calls, the couple started the process of entering the priesthood, and they’ve been in it together ever since.

Two years after the process began, Todd and Diane were approved as postulants, meaning they’d received parish and diocesan endorsements to go on to seminary.

They both quit their insurance jobs on the same day and enrolled in Alexandria’s Virginia Theological Seminary in the fall of 2004.

“The tricky thing for us was we were going through it at the same time,” Diane says. “It was very unusual in the diocese. They couldn’t decide what to do with us.”

The Virginia Theological Seminary is a three-year program. The couple says the first year is mostly academic work, while the second and third years involve an assignment at a field parish. Todd and Diane were assigned to the same field parish.

“A lot of people at seminary are married, and a lot of them have families,” Todd says. “From my own viewpoint, I think we had an advantage in that we understood what the other was going through. We understood the challenges. We understood the stress and the things the other person, who (usually) is not going through it, can’t.

“We had a built-in support system right off the bat.”

The couple has a daughter, Amanda, now 8, and say balancing her schedule and activities with their own schooling was complicated.

“We wanted her to have as positive an experience as she could have,” Todd says. “We knew that all three of us being full-time students was going to be challenging.”

So the couple tried to arrange their respective schedules so that they took most classes during the day, and “when it was time to pick (Amanda) up, we were done,” Todd says.

During their final year at seminary, they met with the Rev. Michael Sullivan, rector at St. John’s, for an interview.

Sullivan wanted the Vies to come to Lynchburg, so he offered Diane the job at St. John’s and told Todd about an opening that might be available at St. Paul’s. Both churches are part of the same diocese.

“I realized they both had great gifts for ministering, and they’d be a great fit for Lynchburg,” Sullivan says. “They bring a wealth of pastoral care experience, and a dedication to mission and outreach. And for the congregations here, those would be primary needs. So it’s just a great match.”

But before they could accept the jobs in Lynchburg, Todd and Diane, who graduated from seminary in May 2007, had to get approval from their bishop in Chicago.

“Usually, you go back to the diocese you came from,” Todd says.

Their bishop told them to look in Chicago first, but the positions in Lynchburg wound up being the best fit.

“They’re approachable, and they understand their roles … to preach the gospel in a way that others find accessible,” Sullivan says of the couple. “They have great senses of humor and are extraordinarily outgoing.”

After serving as deacons since their move to Lynchburg, Todd and Diane were ordained into the priesthood last month. The ceremony was held at St. Paul’s, and the post-ordination reception at St. John’s.

“Bringing the two churches together was amazing,” Todd says. “So many people said how wonderful it was.”

Sullivan says the couple’s love and support for each other was evident during the ceremony.

“It was one of the most beautiful services I have ever attended,” he says. “The music, the pomp and circumstance.

“Episcopal ordinations are a huge combination of ancient tradition and contemporary understanding. To see two priests ordained together is always special, but to see two who are a couple is extraordinary.”

Now that they’re both working full time, Todd and Diane say they face many of the same challenges they encountered while at seminary.

With regular services, pastoral care, the occasional night meeting and other duties, they’ve both got full plates and, like most working parents, are constantly trying to find a healthy balance between their home and work lives.

Their daughter usually takes turns attending each of their Sunday morning services.

“We really just say, ‘Where would you like to go this Sunday?’” Diane says.

But even with those challenges, the couple wouldn’t have it any other way.

“Truly serving God and serving people, and to be able to do that in a way that is so rewarding and feels so right, is a true gift,” says Diane.

Todd says he loves sharing a vocation with his wife.

“It’s an extraordinary experience,” he says. “It’s neat in that Diane can come home and say this thing happened, and I totally understand it. She can come in and be quiet, and I totally understand that. It is unusual for two people to connect in a spiritual way and a vocational way.”

(posted by The Rev. Peter M. Carey on January 5th)

Priesthood (almost)

Tomorrow I will be ordained a priest in the Episcopal Church. This official process has taken 7 years, but I first started feeling a sense of call to this vocation nearly 30 years ago when I was about 8 years old ~I will say more about that in a later post. There is much I can say about the process, and I hope to do so, but at this point my mind turns to prayer, that I might be given the strength, wisdom and patience to live out this calling.


A prayer I love from the ordination service sends me into some reflection this evening:


O God of unchangeable power and eternal light: Look
favorably on your whole Church, that wonderful and sacred
mystery; by the effectual working of your providence, carry
out in tranquillity the plan of salvation; let the whole world
see and know that things which were cast down are being
raised up, and things which had grown old are being made
new, and that all things are being brought to their perfection
by him through whom all things were made, your Son Jesus
Christ our Lord; who lives and reigns with you, in the unity
of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.
Amen.


As I have moved through the last week towards ordination I have re-read Archbishop Michael Ramsey's book, The Christian Priest Today, which is an excellent book, and offers much food for thought.

Also, I re-watched one of my favorite movies, The Mission, starring Robert DeNiro and Jeremy Irons (and Daniel Berrigan!)...watch a clip below for a taste of it, and then rent it!

Thank you for your prayers, your presence tomorrow, and for all those who have supported me along the way!

Peace and Blessings,

Peter

The Mission (excerpt)

Approved for Ordination to the Priesthood

On Friday, I received a call on my cell phone while I was teaching a class of 3rd graders about Anglican Worship at Williamsbug during colonial times.

The substance of the call was that I was approved for ordination to the priesthood which was the final hurdle in a 6 year discernment process which included 3 years of parish work, 3 years of seminary, and the last few months as a transitional deacon. While I expected to be approved, strange things sometimes happen in these processes, so it is a great joy for me to move through to this step of the process and I rejoice. So, if you are in Philly on December 15th, come by the Philadelphia (Episcopal) Cathedral, and send along your prayers and good thoughts if you cannot be there.

Peace and blessings,

Peter

Helpful Letter to the NYTimes Editor by Bishop Bruno

The Episcope blog has posted a very helpful letter to the NYTimes Editor by Bishop Jon Bruno of the Diocese of Los Angeles on the recent article about the adult film star who was supposedly on the priesthood track...

July 17, 2007

+Bruno writes the New York Times

The New York Times
To the editor:

I would like to clear some factual errors in the article by reporter Sharon Waxman, “Man of the Flesh to Man of the Cloth,” (Sunday July 15, Fashion and Style).

Mr. Ronald Boyer is not in any process for ordination in The Episcopal Church in the Diocese of Los Angeles. He has expressed an interest in ordained ministry, as do dozens of people every year. But the path to ordination is a long, careful, deliberate process, beginning with a discernment committee in the applicant’s own congregation, which over a period of time arrives at a prayerful recommendation as to whether or not to support the person’s application.

Read the rest of the Letter to the Editor HERE.