Sermon preached by the Rev. Richard Lampert
The 7th Sunday after Pentecost
A GREAT PRIVILEGE AND RESPONSIBILITY Mk.6.30-44 07/19/’09
Sometimes it hits me right between the eyes what a great blessing, privilege and responsibility it is to be a priest! I don’t think about this every day, although I probably should. In the ministry, you are invited and welcomed into peoples lives in good and in devastatingly tragic times and you share with them in these most intense and significant moments. People look to you for strength and comfort and wisdom and they want to rely on your judgment. Some will say that the priesthood is not now what it used to be nor does the minister today have entrée into families and lives as in the days of old. Not so!
If and when someone tells you this, you are speaking to a fool. I am thinking about all of this today in relation to St. Paul’s epistletwo weeks ago (it’s not really us, it is God; and in our weakest times He is strongest; the times when we don’t know what to do or what to say and He gives us the words) and also connected with the disciples last week and this morning in their fears and joys, amidst their exhilarations and their exhaustions; times when they really wanted to be left alone, but then Jesus said “no”. I also think about this now in relation to some of my own experiences this week when I was invited again into some intense moments of re-lationships between God and other persons and their lives. There are times when it all seems to flow quite easily, but other moments when it is harder and a real struggle. But, these blessings of human inter-connectedness are times which the disciples all experienced , moments which all of you and I have also known in our lives, and they are occasions filled with great meaning, sadness and/or joy!
So, what really is the great privilege and responsibility? I think it is about those times when people invite us into their deepest and private moments (periods of joy or depths of great sad-ness) by virtue of our role (knowing the person or not), and/or because of their trust in us.Then by God’s Grace, we become part of that profound experience with all of its related grace and faith-fulness and loyalty. But, throughout it all (when we will) it is God Himself (never ourselves) who guides and sustains and strengthens us. And then our ministries, these moments (as complicated as they may be) again become times of great honor and rare privilege and true responsibility!
All four Gospels this July are part of Mark chapter 6. The first three have been mine! Two weeks ago Jesus and His disciples went into his hometown synagogue on the Sabbath ,but those who knew him as a boy took offense, so Jesus could do no mighty works! Last week (partly in frustration) Jesus called together the twelve, commissioned them, gave them their marching or-ders and then sent them out two by two. Now, today, the disciples return from their first mission-ary outing, tired yet filled with excitement and in their enthusiasm they gather around Him and be-gin to tell Him everything that had happened. But because so many people kept coming and going and since the disciples were exhausted after their trip, Jesus ends up saying,“Come with me off by ourselves to a quiet place and get some rest.” But, it didn’t happen! The crowds saw the disci-ples get into a boat so many of them ran around the lake and got there before the boat landed. In their frustration and because it was already late, the disciples tried to get Jesus to send all the people away, but He refused to do it (because He had compassion on them, inasmuch as they were like a sheep without a shepherd). After today’s Gospel Story of the feeding of the five thousand, Jesus did finally send the crowd away and He put the disciples again into the boat sending them across the lake to Betsaida (presumably to get some rest) ,but we really don’t know what happened then?
Talking about retreats/study and rest and deserted places let me tell you a Dick Lampert story about The Two Great Commandments (Mark 12.29-31) and The Society of St. John The Evangelist (The Boston Cowley Fathers) and Virginia Theological Seminary in Alexandria When I was a young man/priest (& because I was always such a “people person”) I invariably be-gin with the people and then almost like when there was some time in between I would pray and/or reflect-study about it all! Over the years, and as I have become older, and especially thanks to the Cowley Fathers Monastery in Cambridge, Mass. and my D.Min. studies at Virginia Theological Seminary in Alexandria, Va. I began to learn (like the disciples and in spite of myself) why the First Commandment is first and the Second Commandment second. (Why it is God-people-God!)
Our lives, our interconnections with others & our ministries are great blessings, privileges & responsibilities! None of us have anything to do with our entry into this world nor will we with our departure. It is God Himself who guides, strengthens and sustains us all!