Luke 12:32-37 (NRSV)
Jesus said to his disciples, "Do not be afraid, little flock, for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom. Sell your possessions, and give alms. Make purses for yourselves that do not wear out, an unfailing treasure in heaven, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
"Be dressed for action and have your lamps lit; be like those who are waiting for their master to return from the wedding banquet, so that they may open the door for him as soon as he comes and knocks. Blessed are those slaves whom the master finds alert when he comes; truly I tell you, he will fasten his belt and have them sit down to eat, and he will come and serve them."
This seems to be the week that we are reading the Gospel of Luke chapter 12, 32 to 37 almost every day. If you are scratching your head thinking: "Wasn't this just written about this past Sunday?" Yes, indeed it was. I also wrote about it as part of yesterday when we commemorated St. Laurence. Today, we commemorate St. Claire of Assisi, who was a companion to St. Francis of Assisi.
St. Claire was born a rather wealthy girl, and was said to be amazingly beautiful. Francis and Claire lived in a time when there was tremendous corruption within the Church. The poor and destitute were every where. Upon hearing St. Francis, Claire became more and more interested to the point that she took all of her extravagant clothing and offered them on the altar. St. Claire began a monastery of nuns that would devote themselves to very austere living. They took the Franciscan vow of radical poverty, slept on mats, wore no shoes and lived a very cloistered life. St. Claire and her nuns took good care of the poor and offered much of their work to caring for the sick and those who were suffering. Like St. Francis, they put a name and face on the marginalized and revitalized the Church to the service of those who are so often forgotten.
There is still a great deal of corruption within the Church today. Sometimes the Church forgets that our mission is not necessarily about defending our dogmas, as much as it is about caring for and about those who are poor, homeless, marginalized and placed in second class citizenship. What Christians believe is certainly important, but when we ignore Jesus Christ in the homeless, those without equal rights protection, the prisoner, those who fall through the cracks, the unemployed, those without health care, family, friends and the like, then what we believe only matters when we recite the Nicene Creed. What we pray in the Book of Common Prayer is meant to become who we are as Christians. What we read in the Gospels is suppose to live in and through our lives. When we fail to see and love Jesus in one another, but in particular those who are longing to know love in a new and awesome way, the Nicene Creed becomes just an abstraction. The Gospels are just a legendary story of a group of old guys who really did not do anything that means anything, when we do not welcome and love Jesus Christ in the women, the LGBTQ, the immigrants, the African American, those who are physically, emotionally and economically challenged, the Muslim/Buddhist/Jewish, Hindu, Athiest, the Native American, and so on.
The devotion of Claire of Assisi was to God and the order that she and Francis created during such turbulent times. The devotion they had was also known in their service of those who were thought to have no face or name by the Church and society. The Church today is again challenged by the work of Claire and Francis to remember that when we welcome the stranger who can also be understood as the "unfamiliar" or even the "not so status quo" which includes lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgendered, questioning/queer people, we are welcoming Jesus Christ. The Church and the United States are really being challenged in these days to work harder to welcoming the immigrant and the Muslim's of our time as well. The ongoing debate about building Mosques in America and the outrageous discrimination by Christianists like AFA Bryan Fischer, and Pat Robertson is contrary to what America is, as well as to what the Gospel is about. This is the same Bryan Fischer who has also been quoted saying that adoption by gay and lesbian parents is "inhumane to children". Those who insist that the "traditional family" must be the standard of society tend to forget that Jesus Christ who was Jewish and is the founder of Christianity was conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit in the womb of a virgin mother who was betrothed to a man named Joseph. Jesus was in a sense conceived out of wedlock. In the name of "tradition" many Christians have built standards that are not only non binding to Christians or anyone else for that matter, but we have also placed greater burdens on those who already have hardships placed on their shoulders. Isn't that comparable to placing weights on the cross as Jesus carries it on his way to Calvary?
If there is one thing that Christians should be coming to a better understanding about is that God has given the poor a very special place in God's heart. A careful reading of the Psalms as well as the Gospel and we see that God has reached out to the poor who had no one to help them. (See Psalm 72 for example.) Jesus even began the Sermon on the Mount with: "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of God" (Matthew 5: 3). Given the national outrage that came after Arizona passed their "papers please" immigration law, I think that is a good indication that God is hearing their cries. Given that last Wednesday, Judge Walker ruled Proposition 8 "unconstitutional" is a good indication that God is hearing the cries of lesbian and gay people to be granted the opportunity for marriage equality. Given that last year the Episcopal Church and the ELCA gave permission to create rites to perform same-sex marriages means that God is hearing the prayers of lesbian and gay people to find sacramental equality within the Church. It is the work of Jesus Christ, St. Claire and Francis of Assisi being manifested in our time, as the Church continues to be renewed.
Let us continue to pray for each other and the Church. That we will be more and more open to the movement of the Holy Spirit to be a more inclusive Church that welcomes all people.
Grant to us, Lord, we pray, the spirit to think and do always those things that are right, that we, who cannot exist without you, may by you be enabled to live according to your will; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen. (Proper 14, Book of Common Prayer, Page 232).
O God, whose blessed Son became poor that we through his poverty might be rich: Deliver us from an inordinate love of this world, that we, inspired by the devotion of your servant Clare, may serve you with singleness of heart, and attain to the riches of the age to come; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen. (Collect for Claire of Assisi, Holy Women, Holy Men, Celebrating the Saints, Page 521).
Lord, make us instruments of your peace. Where there is hatred, let us sow love; where there is injury, pardon; where there is discord, union; where there is doubt, faith; where there is despair, hope; where there is darkness, light; where there is sadness, joy. Grant that we may not so much seek to be consoled as to console; to be understood as to understand; to be loved as to love. For it is in giving that we receive; it is in pardoning that we are pardoned; and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life. Amen. (Prayer Attributed to St. Francis, Book of Common Prayer, Page 833).
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