3 September 2017 ~ Sermon preached at St. Mary’s Church, Cathedral Road, Philadelphia

The Rev. Peter M. Carey

Sermon preached at St. Mary’s Church, Cathedral Road, Philadelphia

3 September 2017

God is the unimaginable, however, we seek images of God.  Our minds construct images and metaphors to describe God, to make God real to us.

Is God a bearded octogenarian floating in the sky, like the God of the famous portion of Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel ceiling?  Is God wind, the breath of God, the Holy Spirit that flows through the leaves on a late summer afternoon?  Is God the breath, the ruah that moves over the chaotic waters in the beginnings of Genesis?  For some people, God is described as solely Spirit, sensed through intuition, and a feeling that can hardly be described.  For others, God is felt most tangibly in the personal connection with the person of Jesus.  Of course, our own embrace of Trinitarian theology affirms that there are “three persons, one God”...three “entities”...three metaphors (if you like), but one God.  

In scripture, God is described in a multitude of ways, with a multitude of metaphors.  In today’s lesson from the Old Testament we are introduced once again to a unique and surprising depiction of God.  God here, appears in the form of a Burning Bush.  Moses is keeping the flock of his father - in - law, Jethro,  and here he brings his flock not only into the wilderness, but the text tells us that he brings them “through” the wilderness, and “beyond” the wilderness to Mt. Horeb - the Mountain of God.  There, on this mountain moses “turns aside” because something catches his eye...something appears in his peripheral vision.  Instead of going on his way, perhaps searching for a lost sheep, he takes a moment to “turn aside,” and the text tells us this twice.  Whenever phrases are repeated in the scriptures, we should take notice.  Moses dose not merely rush on to the next task.  In our parlance, he was mindful - he was aware - he was in the present moment.  

And so, he turns aside, and what does he see there, what does he hear there?  He sees a bush, burning, and yet not consumed.  And he hears a voice, and he knows.  This voice was God.  And, what was the substance of this meeting?  What was the purpose of this interaction, this theophany?  The purpose is a divine job interview.  God is interviewing Moses for the job of liberator, savior of the Israelites, leader of the enslaved Hebrews.  More accurately, perhaps, it is not merely a job interview, but a recruitment effort.  God is the corporate “head hunter” who is looking for his next CEO.  

Take a moment and look at the dialogue.  

The cry of the Israelites has now come to me; I have also seen how the Egyptians oppress them. So come, I will send you to Pharaoh to bring my people, the Israelites, out of Egypt.”

But Moses said to God, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh, and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?” He said, “I will be with you; and this shall be the sign for you that it is I who sent you: when you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall worship God on this mountain.” But Moses said to God, “If I come to the Israelites and say to them, ‘The God of your ancestors has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ what shall I say to them?” God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM.” He said further, “Thus you shall say to the Israelites, ‘I AM has sent me to you.’“ God also said to Moses, “Thus you shall say to the Israelites, ‘The Lord, the God of your ancestors, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you’:

This is my name forever,

and this my title for all generations.

“I will send you to Pharaoh to bring my people, the Israelites, out of Egypt.”

But Moses wants no part of this job.  He is fine being a shepherd of sheep.  However, as we see, he has gone into the wilderness, and even beyond the wilderness.  “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh?”  A pretty spot-0n response.  Just about exactly what we might say!  “Who am I that I should go?!”  We learn later that Moses does not possess the gift of public speaking.  God ends up appointing his brother Aaron to be the “mouthpiece” of Moses.  Some have even surmised that Moses might have a physical limitation when it comes to speaking, perhaps what generations 5000 years later might call a disability.  Moses wants no part of this job.  He is not equipped to do this ministry.  However, God is a God of surprises.  God looks not on the surface of the resume or the online profile.  God looks to the heart.  God looks for goodness in our bones.  God knows us from “when we were in the womb” and loves us.  “What is impossible for man is...for God.”  So, God is not going to be swayed by excuses or evasions (God never is!)  God is not going to be outdone by Moses, God is persistent and patient.  

Even then, God does not take the bait, and does not try to convince Moses that he has the skills, gifts, experience, or wherewithall to confront a brutal leader, and lead an oppressed people to freedom.  Look and see what God says:  “I will be with you.” I can almost read Moses’s mind at this moment … “oh, great! You will be with me, great!  But it is my backside that will be on the line when I go back to Pharaoh’s palace.”

Moses then comes up with another problem with this plan...namely, how on earth will he get the people to follow the likes of HIM!?  How will he begin to convince them that he is doing the work of YAHWEH, that he is acting on orders from God?  

God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM.” He said further, “Thus you shall say to the Israelites, ‘I AM has sent me to you.’“ God also said to Moses, “Thus you shall say to the Israelites, ‘The Lord, the God of your ancestors, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you’:

This is my name forever,

and this my title for all generations.

God will be with him.  A simple statement.  But an immensely powerful reality.  God is.  “I am who I am.”  At the deepest bedrock of reality, God is.  In the midst of pain, God is.  In the midst of this challenging task for Moses, God is.  In the midst of every anxiety, God is.  When we are at the end of our rope, God is.  God is with Moses, and God is with us.

27 August 2017 ~ Sermon ~ St. Mary’s Church, Cathedral Road, Philadelphia

The Rev. Peter M. Carey

Sermon ~ St. Mary’s Church, Cathedral Road, Philadelphia

27 August 2017

Sermon audio

It is well-worth your time to study the book of Romans.  There is incredible wisdom and truth contained within this epistle by Paul to the Romans.  Today’s portion of this letter is no different.  Essential to this book is the deep and abiding sense that all that we are, and all that we have is from God.  When Paul asserts that his hearers should “present your bodies as a living sacrifice,” he is affirming the deep reality that our bodies, minds, and spirits are all from God.  When we offer sacrifice, we are offering a bit of what we have already been given back to God.  

As we pray in the Rite I offering a bit of what we have received.  “All things come of thee O Lord, and of thine own have we given thee.” We can cling to our selves, cling to our patterns, cling to our possessions and pathways, but it is deeply important to go into a prayer of gratitude so that we might recognize our own giftedness.  When we abide this truth, we come to the discerning sense about what is important, and what is merely the “small stuff.”  “Don’t sweat the small stuff.”  Even here, even in church, we can spend too much time on the particulars, and forget that the love of God is what is truly important.  Love God, Love Your Neighbor.  (the rest are merely details).  

Here the listeners of Paul’s letter to the Romans are no longer “conformed to the world, but are transformed to the renewing of your minds.”  Rather than merely cling to the world, to the practices of the worldly expectations, rather than becoming fastened to the limiting works of the world, here, Paul affirms that his listeners then will be TRANSFORMED - to the renewing of our minds and hearts.  No longer merely conformed to the laws of the world, but rather TRANSFORMED by the law of love.

And, so this should also build humility, that we are pulled into a deep awareness that we don’t know the whole truth.  We do not have the ability to do it all ourselves.  We do not have pure thinking, and we do not have pure knowledge.  We can be tempted to feel that our way is better, that we may actually have a corner on the Truth, that we can assert statements like “My way or the highway.” Doing a sober assessment of our gifts and particularities we get a clearer sense that while our own gifts are essential, that the entire Body of Christ the entire community needs a multiplicity of gifts.  There are truly many gifts but the same Spirit.  The many gifts of the Spirit are needed, and Paul has named a few of them...prophecy, in proportion to faith; ministry, in ministering; the teacher, in teaching; the exhorter, in exhortation; the giver, in generosity; the leader, in diligence; the compassionate, in cheerfulness.

However, let us be clear, the gifts of the spirit do not include toxicity, selfish criticism, griping, complaining, and negativity.  Were these a part of the gifts mentioned by Paul.  No.  Just because there are many gifts, it does not mean that every single behavior are blessed.  No.  When we spend time to do an accurate and sober scan of our thoughts, feelings, and behaviors, we begin the process toward true transformation.  Through the work of the Spirit, it is our gifts that are affirmed, it is our gifts, motivated by love, that are affirmed.  Setting aside the “works of the crud” - and affirming the “works of the spirit - of the Loving spirit of God” is what we each must do as persons in relationship.  When each our our Spirit-fed gifts are named, affirmed, and fed, then the entire Body of Christ is powered by Love.  

We have gifts that differ according to the grace given to us: prophecy, in proportion to faith; ministry, in ministering; the teacher, in teaching; the exhorter, in exhortation; the giver, in generosity; the leader, in diligence; the compassionate, in cheerfulness.

Pray ~ Read  ~ Reflect

First, I ask that you each include St. Mary’s, our entire church community, and the community surrounding St. Mary’s in your daily prayers.  Whatever we do that is good and abiding will be grounded in prayer.  Please pray for each of us and for our neighbors.

Second, I ask you to consider joining our Bishop, Daniel Gutierrez, as he has encouraged the Diocese of Pennsylvania to join the “Bible Challenge” by reading a portion of the Bible Daily, which will lead us to complete the entire Bible in one year.  I realize this may not be possible for all of us, but I wonder if we could commit to reading even a small portion of the Bible daily?  Please consider it.

Thirdly, I ask that you read and reflect upon the Mission of St. Mary’s Church at least weekly.  I love this mission statement, and think it is a helpful vision for us.

"St. Mary's Church is a fellowship of Christians called by God to worship,

to witness God's love and concern for all persons,

and to serve our brothers and sisters under the guidance of the Holy Spirit."

https://soundcloud.com/user-214468201/the-rev-peter-m-carey-sermon-27aug2017-10am

11 June 2017 ~ Trinity Sunday Sermon ~ The Rev. Peter M. Carey

The Rev. Peter M. Carey

St. Mary’s, Cathedral Road, Philadelphia

Sermon

Trinity Sunday

11 June 2017

Almighty and Loving God, you live and move and have your being with us and among us and within us always.  Shower your grace upon us, and let us feel your healing presence in our lives always.  You gave us a vision of perfect love and community in the Trinity, allow us to find an entry into the way of Jesus so that we might too live in such a way that your love is communicated through us to the suffering and hurting world.  Be with us, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.  Amen.

Today we embrace the sense that God is Trinity, three persons, and yet One God.  God as Father, as Son, and as Holy Spirit.  God as Creator, Redeemer, Sanctifier.  Today we embrace the reality that God not only was present to his people in the past, but is present to us today, and will be ever present with us in the future.

The mystery of the Trinity is one that may confound us.  How can something be One, and yet Three.  How can we claim to believe in one God, when it seems we are leaning towards polytheism?  The theological questions are deep, centuries old, and have confounded even the greatest theological minds of the church.  

However, even these confounded qualities of the Trinity are a gift.  While we rely on our logical and rational brains in our day to day world, there are deeper truths  beyond our own thinking.  In our day to day world, we live and move in a dualistic world.  We look at things as either, or, as up and down, as good and evil, as life or death.  However, much of life is not merely either/or, but is both/and.  Our faith moves us deeper.  Jesus leads us into this strange and wonderful existence where we are called to “Love our enemies,” to “pray for those who persecute us” and where even the “poor are blessed” and where “our burdens are light.”  In a few moments at the altar, we will again affirm that even death will not have the final word.  We will affirm that there is even resurrection and life after death.  And so, today, on Trinity Sunday, God confounds us once again by showing us that One is Three and Three is One.

In the earliest centuries of the church, the “movement” of the Trinity was described in Greek by the word: perichoresis.  Peri, meaning “around” - where we get the word perimeter for the distance around a geometrical object.  And then”choresis” - where we get the word choreography, dance, movement.  And so, this movement of the church is an interconnected three-person dance.  As Richard Rohr names his book on the Trinity, “The Divine Dance.”  A loving dance of three persons of the Trinity - three “persons” and yet One God.

And so, what can we glean from this image, how might this mystical and theological image have any relevance to the likes of us?  How might this Trinity Sunday give us something to reflect upon, how might it challenge us, how might is get us to see God, and our lives in a new way, how might it inspire us to get to work in building God’s kingdom?

A model of movement.  Love overflowing.  Other images of the trinity.  Shamrock.  Pouring buckets.   Just as the Trinity has three persons who are interconnected in a holy and loving dance, so to, are we empowered to build loving and interdependent relationships.  God calls us and empowers us to go beyond a static pattern of our lives to a dynamic and robust one.  The interconnected and interdependent Trinity offers us a model of relationship that is also essentially interrelated with others.

One of the clearest and most passionate descriptions of this kind of relationship was described to me by Archbishop Desmond Tutu through his writing and speaking.  I was blessed to have a few occasions where I was able to spend time with him and learn about Ubuntu.

Ubuntu - a relational life - not merely us alone

A person is a person through other persons.

I am, because of you.

Tutu:  “One of the sayings in our country is Ubuntu – the essence of being human. Ubuntu speaks particularly about the fact that you can't exist as a human being in isolation. It speaks about our interconnectedness. You can't be human all by yourself, and when you have this quality – Ubuntu – you are known for your generosity.

We think of ourselves far too frequently as just individuals, separated from one another, whereas you are connected and what you do affects the whole World. When you do well, it spreads out; it is for the whole of humanity.”

When we reflect deeply, we know that our life is fundamentally relational.  Our life is fundamentally dependent upon others.  We are shaped by our family and friends, by our schools, and our workplaces, and by our worshipping communities.  We are each  dependent on others, but also others depend on us.  We need others, and others need us.  

Interdependent.  “I am because of you.”  “A person is a person through other persons.”  This is the joy of God, the grace of God that confounds us, but is a deep truth and a deep gift for us.

Nelson Mandela: “A traveller through a country would stop at a village and he didn't have to ask for food or for water. Once he stops, the people give him food and attend him. That is one aspect of Ubuntu, but it will have various aspects. Ubuntu does not mean that people should not enrich themselves. The question therefore is: Are you going to do so in order to enable the community around you to be able to improve?”

This  image of the Trinity can inspire us to also live and move with the deep knowledge that we are deeply connected to one another.   This Trinity Sunday gives us an image of three persons, but one God, of perichoresis or the “divine dance” of God, which may help us to also reach out and deepen our own connections one to another.  The love of God flows between and among the three persons of the Trinity.  This love is poured out for us, and we are empowered to pass it along, to pay it forward to others. God offers us a confounding and wonderful love.  Healing in the midst of pain, Life in the midst of death, Joy in the midst of sorrow, relationship in the midst of loneliness.  

Holy Trinity, One God, you live and move and have your being with us always.  Shower your love upon us, and let us feel your healing presence so that we may be known by our love for others.  Help us to remember your love always, and the ways that we are connected deeply with one another.  Amen.

An unfinished church

“So, you have discovered that St. Mary’s is an unfinished church. Those soaring arches and unfinished upper walls are awaiting completion with timeless patience. The symbolism of the unfinished structure is a parable. The Church is not yet finished either. The Church is as unfinished as is every human soul. We, the Church, have not yet become all we are called to be. St. Mary’s is beautiful in its incompleteness.” 

~Marjorie R. Maurer

The Rev. Peter M. Carey Called to be Rector of St. Mary's Episcopal Church ~ Philadelphia

The Rev. Peter M. Carey called to be Rector of St. Mary's Episcopal Church, Philadelphia in the Diocese of Pennsylvania

The Reverend Peter M. Carey

Appointed Rector of St. Mary’s

It is with great joy that we announce the appointment of the Reverend Peter Michael Carey as Rector of St. Mary’s Church.

Peter comes to us from Berkeley Preparatory School in Tampa, FL where he served as Chaplain, Rector and Pastor at the coeducational Episcopal School of 1,300 students for the past three years.

 

Peter is a native of Middlebury, Vermont and earned a B.A. degree from Bates College, an M.Ed. from George Washington University, and a Master of Divinity from Virginia Theological Seminary. Peter is no stranger to the Philadelphia area; from 2000-2004 he was a religion and history teacher at Episcopal Academy.  During his time here he served occasionally as liturgist and preacher at St. Martin-in-the-Fields in Chestnut Hill.  Peter was sponsored for seminary by the Diocese of Pennsylvania and was ordained to the diaconate at the Philadelphia Cathedral.  

After seminary at Virginia Theological Seminary, he served as Head Chaplain at St. Catherine’s Episcopal School in Richmond, VA, then as Associate Rector at Emmanuel Episcopal Church and as Senior Associate Rector at St. Paul’s Memorial Church, both in Charlottesville, VA.   In these roles he collaborated with the rectors to lead the parishes, taught a variety of Christian formation classes, served as preacher on a regular basis, and assisted in church finance and administration.

He will be joined at St. Mary’s by his wife, Lisa, a career independent school educator.  Their children, Zach (14), Sam (11) and Lily (9) are excited to join the St. Mary’s family this summer. In his leisure time, Peter enjoys reading, cycling, and hiking with family.

Peter’s appointment is the result of more than a year of hard work and dedication by our Discernment Committee:  Joanne Ey (co-chair), Elizabeth Lowther (co-chair), Valerie James, Pat Sirianni, Christine Snyder, Emily Starr, Virginia Trimble, Olivia Van Osten, and Abby York. We offer our sincere thanks to them for their tireless efforts.

Peter brings rich and varied liturgical, pastoral, and academic experience and an upbeat, engaging personality to St. Mary’s.  We eagerly look forward to him joining us on Trinity Sunday.

Yours in faith,

The Vestry of St. Mary’s