Sermon for May 20, 2007
Miracles Deborah Rucki Drake
Have you ever asked God to show you a miracle? Do you want to see a miracle? Have you ever seen a miracle? The word miracle is derived from the old Latin word miraculum meaning “something wonderful”. We, as Christians, might interchange the word miracle with divine intervention because we may feel it involves the action of God. We call something a miracle because it is against the laws of nature as we know it or against living as we know it.
There are a few miracles or something wonderful events that occur in this mornings reading from Acts. The scripture reading starts with Paul and Silas encountering a slave girl who is held captive by the men making money off of her and also by an evil force within her, an annoying spirit was holding her captive. Paul and Silas set her free by casting out the evil spirit from within her.
We are told that because they set free the captive girl that Silas and Paul were whipped and put into a horrible hole in the ground called a prison. It seems the real reason for the persecution of Silas and Paul was economic. The business people had political power and so they used the public officials to vent their anger. The people in power protected the economic interest of the men who were enslaving the girl for profit.
Silas and Paul were abused, locked into a horrific place called prison and yet we are told Silas and Paul displayed hope for the miracle to be released from their suffering. They were suffering immensely and there was a prison guard watching over them to make sure they could not be freed from their suffering, they were locked in their cells and their feet fastened and the prison guard held the key to their freedom.
During the night it seems a miracle did occur, there was an earthquake and the prison was so rattled that the cell doors opened and all the imprisoned were set free. The life of all in that prison was rattled and the earthquake transformed the prison, it turned into a series of open rooms. The prisoner’s chains were loosed and all were set free. The guard who was responsible for keeping the prisoners locked up had been sleeping, his eyes were closed and than he awakens and opened his eyes to see the chains have been removed from the cell doors and he assumed all the prisoners had been set free.
The guard was in such despair that he was ready to commit suicide and he was trembling in fear. Paul and Silas did not leave the guard in his despair but instead sat with the guard and spoke to him about the message of salvation through their faith in Jesus Christ.
Now, instead of suffering and pain the guard witnessed freedom and chains removed.
Silas and Paul did not leave the guard, they stayed to help the guard see the glory of God and to bring him into the glory of God. The guard who had been sleeping opened his eyes to experience a miracle and he expressed his desire to live in this new world where miracles can occur. The miracle changed this guard, he witnessed release from suffering and the chains that were binding people and he no longer wanted to live his life in a way that put chains on people but now he desires to help set people free. The guard is so overcome with the glory of God that he must share his new found life with his loved ones and he brings Silas and Paul to his home to speak with his family. The entire household is baptized and they all rejoiced.
Last Thursday was Ascension Day and Jesus was lifted up to share in God’s glory. Out of the suffering of Jesus’ crucifixion came the freedom of being lifted into the glory of God. The Ascension means Jesus is with God, one with God. Because Jesus has ascended he is no longer restricted or confined to time and space, as he was during historical lifetime. Jesus, like God, is with us and Jesus continues to be known in the experience of us, his followers. We, like Silas and Paul, are living examples of hope and freedom; helping others to experience the miracles of living in God’s glory.
Paul and Silas would not let their faith die when they found themselves beaten and chained; instead they continued to stay close in their relationship with God and they were lifted up by God and they experienced their freedom. And they did not keep the freedom to themselves but helped to lift up others so they to could live in the ways that Jesus had taught them.
We all know there are many ways which we experience suffering; there is literal death when the physical body dies, but there is also the death that comes with the despair of giving up on life, death of our dreams, death of a relationship. The miracle is when we overcome the types of deaths that try to take a hold of us and chain and imprison us.
The men who were holding the slave girl were chained to the money they were making by abusing the mentally ill girl. The men were upset by the good deeds of Silas and Paul because by setting the girl free had hurt their economy. The mentally ill girl was enslaved for profits and this sounds so terribly abusive to us but our governments have closed many psychiatric wards and released patients to care for themselves, many of the mentally ill wind up homeless on the streets. In allowing this to happen are we also perpetrating abuse?
I think Jesus came to show us that we can have miracles, but it is up to us to choose how we desire to look at life and how we help to make known the miracles. Do we want to be lifted up or do we continue to live in our prisons with the chains that bind us? Life is filled with miracles; we just have to let ourselves have the experiences. And we, like the prison guard, must open our eyes to see the miracles, desire to live into the miracles, and rejoice with others in the miracles. Do you believe in miracles? Amen.
Wednesday, June 27, 2007
Our Churches Sermon for April 15, 2007
Deacon Deborah Rucki Drake
The Diocese of Newark is sectioned by districts and our church is in district 7. The Rev. Paul Walker and I are the Co-Conveners or leaders for the meetings of district 7. District 7 includes 11 churches; St. Paul’s North Arlington, St. Thomas’ Lyndhurst, Trinity Kearny, St.Peter’s Clifton, St. Martin’s Maywood, Grace Rutherford,
Grace Nutley, St. Paul’s & Resurrection Wood-Ridge, St. John the Divine Hasbrouck Heights, St. John’s Passaic and Christ Belleville.
These 11 churches meet once a month and we rotate the meetings among our church locations so that we have the chance to meet in each church and get to know each church and the church properties. The clergy and at least two district representatives from each church should be present for every meeting.
In the reading from Revelation this morning we hear there are 7 churches in the Roman province of Asia being addressed by the prophet John There was internal struggle occurring within the churches of Asia Minor. There were accusations that some of the Christian teachers were false prophets and that some were worshipping false gods.
There were different interpretations of rules and which groups a true Christian could associate themselves with. Today we know that our Anglican communion is going through internal struggles with Christians interpreting our rules in different ways and people having different opinions on whether we should ordain openly gay persons in non-celibate relationships and whether we should bless same gender marriages.
Within the 11 churches in our district 7 we also have differences. Some of us are more “high church’ some are more “low church” some are somewhere in between. Some have services in Spanish; we use different styles of music and vestments. Our worship spaces are different and we use variations of styles of worship for our services. We have some differences but we come together at least once a month during our district meetings to share our experiences and to have comradeship with one another. During our last meeting we discussed why we come together and whether the meetings are worthwhile. The representatives of the 11 churches loudly proclaimed they want to meet, despite our differences we have more in common than we have different and we want to be part of the same group. This was invigorating and joyful for us all to hear and it affirmed our community of district 7.
The prophet John seemed to know we would experience our differences in interpretations of rules, differences in our styles of worship but John reminds us through the Book of Revelation through his visions which he is shown in heaven; that no matter our internal differences we all believe that Jesus is the beginning and end of all things.
It is no mistake that this reading from Revelation comes immediately after Easter for
throughout Revelation we are reminded that Jesus has triumphed over death.
Revelation centers its confidence in Christ. We, as the hearers, are transported into heavenly places where the victory of Jesus is proclaimed and the John the prophet shows that Christ is Lord over the kings of the earth.
The prophet John is telling us to be encouraged and stand fast when confronted by times of suffering and struggle. We can be inspired by Revelation’s visions of heavenly victory with our Christ.
During the time when John is writing the Roman Empire is ruling and Christians are being persecuted because of their refusal to worship the emperor for this would be worshipping a false god. The Christians experienced pressure from the demands of business associates or social relationships.
Today we, as Christians, experience many of the same pressures of the early Christians, we may not be forced to worship our president but our society does put a lot of false gods before us. A false god is anything which takes us away from worshipping our God.
Our society stresses the importance of “making it big” in the business arena and we are spending many of our waking hours at the workplace to keep up with our peers.
Our social relationships may be keeping us away from our church community or causing us to cross boundaries which we, as Christians, have set for ourselves. We all have found ourselves in a social setting when an ethnic or off color joke is told
and we have to decide upon our reaction. We have heard the comments about “those” people and we need to decide upon our reaction.
We have much in common with the early Christians and we are in a time when our churches are struggling. Revelation was written to encourage and inspire Christians to endure and remain faithful during times of tribulation, both through the internal and the external battles.
Through the writing of Revelation John offers us a vision of hope. It is a hope rooted in
the reality of the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Our churches have a common vision, a vision in the midst of our struggles and our pain. Our vision is of the resurrected Jesus Christ. I have printed works of art from various artists depicting our resurrected Christ. I invite you to take a look and realize how artists have conveyed their belief in the resurrection. The stained glass Risen Christ is from Sacred Heart Church in Jersey City where I attended church during my eight years of grammar school. This Risen Christ was always there for me, present, whether I was focusing on it or not.
Through Revelation John offers our churches a hope rooted in the reality of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Revelation tells us no matter what our differences the risen Christ in on the Throne.
Amen.
Deacon Deborah Rucki Drake
The Diocese of Newark is sectioned by districts and our church is in district 7. The Rev. Paul Walker and I are the Co-Conveners or leaders for the meetings of district 7. District 7 includes 11 churches; St. Paul’s North Arlington, St. Thomas’ Lyndhurst, Trinity Kearny, St.Peter’s Clifton, St. Martin’s Maywood, Grace Rutherford,
Grace Nutley, St. Paul’s & Resurrection Wood-Ridge, St. John the Divine Hasbrouck Heights, St. John’s Passaic and Christ Belleville.
These 11 churches meet once a month and we rotate the meetings among our church locations so that we have the chance to meet in each church and get to know each church and the church properties. The clergy and at least two district representatives from each church should be present for every meeting.
In the reading from Revelation this morning we hear there are 7 churches in the Roman province of Asia being addressed by the prophet John There was internal struggle occurring within the churches of Asia Minor. There were accusations that some of the Christian teachers were false prophets and that some were worshipping false gods.
There were different interpretations of rules and which groups a true Christian could associate themselves with. Today we know that our Anglican communion is going through internal struggles with Christians interpreting our rules in different ways and people having different opinions on whether we should ordain openly gay persons in non-celibate relationships and whether we should bless same gender marriages.
Within the 11 churches in our district 7 we also have differences. Some of us are more “high church’ some are more “low church” some are somewhere in between. Some have services in Spanish; we use different styles of music and vestments. Our worship spaces are different and we use variations of styles of worship for our services. We have some differences but we come together at least once a month during our district meetings to share our experiences and to have comradeship with one another. During our last meeting we discussed why we come together and whether the meetings are worthwhile. The representatives of the 11 churches loudly proclaimed they want to meet, despite our differences we have more in common than we have different and we want to be part of the same group. This was invigorating and joyful for us all to hear and it affirmed our community of district 7.
The prophet John seemed to know we would experience our differences in interpretations of rules, differences in our styles of worship but John reminds us through the Book of Revelation through his visions which he is shown in heaven; that no matter our internal differences we all believe that Jesus is the beginning and end of all things.
It is no mistake that this reading from Revelation comes immediately after Easter for
throughout Revelation we are reminded that Jesus has triumphed over death.
Revelation centers its confidence in Christ. We, as the hearers, are transported into heavenly places where the victory of Jesus is proclaimed and the John the prophet shows that Christ is Lord over the kings of the earth.
The prophet John is telling us to be encouraged and stand fast when confronted by times of suffering and struggle. We can be inspired by Revelation’s visions of heavenly victory with our Christ.
During the time when John is writing the Roman Empire is ruling and Christians are being persecuted because of their refusal to worship the emperor for this would be worshipping a false god. The Christians experienced pressure from the demands of business associates or social relationships.
Today we, as Christians, experience many of the same pressures of the early Christians, we may not be forced to worship our president but our society does put a lot of false gods before us. A false god is anything which takes us away from worshipping our God.
Our society stresses the importance of “making it big” in the business arena and we are spending many of our waking hours at the workplace to keep up with our peers.
Our social relationships may be keeping us away from our church community or causing us to cross boundaries which we, as Christians, have set for ourselves. We all have found ourselves in a social setting when an ethnic or off color joke is told
and we have to decide upon our reaction. We have heard the comments about “those” people and we need to decide upon our reaction.
We have much in common with the early Christians and we are in a time when our churches are struggling. Revelation was written to encourage and inspire Christians to endure and remain faithful during times of tribulation, both through the internal and the external battles.
Through the writing of Revelation John offers us a vision of hope. It is a hope rooted in
the reality of the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Our churches have a common vision, a vision in the midst of our struggles and our pain. Our vision is of the resurrected Jesus Christ. I have printed works of art from various artists depicting our resurrected Christ. I invite you to take a look and realize how artists have conveyed their belief in the resurrection. The stained glass Risen Christ is from Sacred Heart Church in Jersey City where I attended church during my eight years of grammar school. This Risen Christ was always there for me, present, whether I was focusing on it or not.
Through Revelation John offers our churches a hope rooted in the reality of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Revelation tells us no matter what our differences the risen Christ in on the Throne.
Amen.
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