Sunday, June 11, 2023
/The Second Sunday of Pentacost
Genesis 12:1-9; Psalm 33:1-12; Romans 4:13-25; Matthew 9:18-26
The Rev. Jeff Bohanski
In the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen
This morning, I ask you, where are you? Where does God find you today? Who do you know who is not here who needs to hear this message? Perhaps you could share the Good News.
In the Genesis reading we heard this morning, I noticed Abram, Sarai, and Lot were in Haran when God came calling. In Matthew’s Gospel, Matthew was sitting at the tax booth when Jesus came calling. God came to Abram, Sarai, Lot, and Matthew where they were as they were, in their own worlds.
I’m wondering, where does God find you this morning? What booth are you sitting at?
Yesterday I was at Camp Allen. I was there attending the annual retreat for FIND. FIND is a three-year school for spiritual direction and formation sponsored by the Episcopal Diocese of Texas. In the program people are trained to spiritual directors or leaders in spiritual formation, which is the growing of groups of people in their spiritual life through programs and or classes of a graduate’s own design. Our classes have been held once a month in Bryan, TX since last September. This weekend’s retreat was the final class of the year, and it was also the graduation celebration for the senior class of 2023.
So, today Jesus comes to me as I am, tired, happy, joyous, and I feel spent.
Where are you this morning? Where does Jesus find you? Perhaps you are happy, sad, healthy or in the hospital. Perhaps you feel too old, too young, hurt, or strong. Like Abram and Sarai, God is willing to come to you where you are as you are. Perhaps you are happy with, or struggling with the fact you are lesbian, gay bisexual, transexual, asexual or non-binary. Perhaps you think you don’t measure up. Or perhaps you have come to believe old messages once planted in your head by hurt people that said you were stupid, fat, or ugly. In all these places, God comes to you to, like God came to Matthew in his world, where you are as you are today.
At this point you are probably wondering where the Good News is in this sermon today. The Good News is God, the creator of the universe comes to redeem you and to empower us with the knowledge that you and I are not alone in our struggles. Jesus is with us. I am not alone in my exhaustion. God is with me. God knows our struggles firsthand because Jesus has been loved and hated. He has been accepted and excluded. He wept at a friend’s death, and he celebrated at a wedding; he was also spat upon. God knows us where we are, as we are. There is no use in hiding from God.
Today our church hangings have changed back to green. Clint and I are wearing green stoles again. Everything will be green until November 19th. It is “Ordinary Time.” But God is in the ordinary. Jesus is in the living of ordinary life.
This is also the season many of us have the luxury of taking vacations. Victor and I will go up to Wisconsin next week. This summer as we vacation, I invite us all to look for and notice God in the ordinary. Look for and feel Jesus in our struggles, our hopes, and in our celebrations. Feel God’s presence in our pain, our suffering, our happiness, and our joy of plain life. Look for Jesus in our loved ones and our not so loved ones. Look for Jesus in all the people we encounter in the ordinary. Know that we are never alone. And above all, never underestimate the importance of your call to be loved by God, the creator of heaven and earth, your creator. Let God enter your world this ordinary time. Amen