Psalm 51

Preached at Saint James Church, Fairhaven

“Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.”

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, Amen.

When I was growing up, I went each year to the Saint Michael’s Conference, a one week retreat for high school and college age Episcopalians, led by about a dozen Anglo-Catholic clergy in New England. One of the things that we were taught how to do at Saint Michael’s was how to give our sacramental confession. We were taught to examine ourselves and make a list of all of our sins. When we felt that we had thoroughly examined ourselves, we made our confessions. I always felt much fresher and cleaner after going to Confession at Saint Michael’s because I was able to do a very thorough examination of my soul and confess to God everything that I could remember – not just the really bad things, but also the everyday sins and habits that might not weigh so heavily on me. It was sort of like that feeling you get on a beautiful summer day when you have just taken a shower and you feel refreshed, happy, and care free.

Today is the last Sunday of Lent. Lent is the season of repentance leading up to Easter. The readings and liturgy for Lent stresses this idea, so that by the time Easter arrives we have been given ample opportunity to examine ourselves. You may have noticed that each week we say the Confession at the start of the service. You may also have noticed that today’s Psalm was read at the start of Lent on Ash Wednesday. It is very fitting therefore that we again read Psalm 51 as Lent comes to a close. Today let’s take a careful look at confession, repentance, and forgiveness.

“Have mercy on me, O God, according to your loving-kindness; in your great compassion blot out my offenses. Wash me through and through from my wickedness and cleanse me from my sin. For I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me.” Sin separates us from God. When we sin we are putting our own wishes before those of God. The first step in repentance is examining ourselves and knowing our transgressions. The psalm writes: “I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me.” It is impossible to repent unless you can identify your sins. Do you remember the story of King David and Bathsheba? In this story, David, the king of Israel does some pretty bad stuff. He sleeps with a married woman and gets her pregnant and he has the woman’s husband, Uriah, sent to frontlines of the ongoing war where he is killed. However, when David is confronted about this he admits his guilt and says: “I have sinned against the Lord.”

When we sin, we must recognize and admit that we have sinned. When we say the general confession we say: “we confess that we have sinned against you in thought, word, and deed by what we have done and by what we have left undone.” God knows everything, and He knows what we have done and what we have not done. Even though God knows what we have done, we still must admit what we have done. In the case of David, he admitted that he had sinned. In our own lives, we apologize to others for wrongs we have done to them. When we are mean to our friends, we apologize. We say: “I’m sorry for saying such mean things to you, I was wrong to do that.” We must do the same with God. We must confess what we have done.
Confession of what we have done is only the first part. We must also repent. When we repent, we turn from the life of sin we have been living and we point ourselves toward God. At some point in our lives, all of us have gotten lost. Whether we are driving or walking around in an unfamiliar place, we have all at some point gotten lost. When we are lost we try to find our way to somewhere where we know or we try to get ourselves on the right road or going in the right direction. Once when I was driving to wedding in Utica, I took a wrong turn at Albany and instead of heading west, I headed north for about an hour. As soon as I figured out I was going the wrong way, I turned my car around and I went the right way.

Repentance is just like this. Once we realize that the sin we have committed is separating us from God, we turn and follow a path that will not separate us from God. It isn’t enough simply to say, I have sinned, and continue business as usual. Imagine if instead of turning around I had just kept going north until I had left New York, left the United States, and come into Canada. I would never had made it to the wedding and my trip would have been a huge waste of time. Nobody keeps going the wrong way when he finds out that he is going away from where he wants. Nobody intending to fly to Denver, yet finding herself on a plane to Detroit would stay on the plane. We would all get off and make sure we were headed in the right direction. Why should we act any different when our life and soul are concerned? When we say the Confession, or when we go to individual sacramental confession, we must not only identify our sins, we must also intend not to do them again. We must intend to amend ourselves and attempt to live a more Godly life.

Yet, it is hard, we all sin and we all struggle through our lives trying to avoid sin. We all struggle with certain sins which we really don’t want to stop. My father, who is an Episcopal priest once taught a confession class at Saint Michael’s Conference. When someone asked him, “Well, what about all of those things that I confess as sins but I know I am going to go right out and do them as soon as I can. Not only that, but I want to go out and do them.” My father responded that there were many levels of intention. You can intend to intend to stop doing those things. You can even intend to intend to intend to stop something. Our sins

A New War (alternate version)

MATTHEW HOXSIE MEAD
GOSPEL OF MARK
DAVID BARTLETT, ALLEN HILTON
MARCH 30, 2003
SERMON 2: MARK 8:27-38

Note: content from this alternate version of my sermon for class was used in the sermon for Lent 2 (10 Commandments) below.

“What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his soul? Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul?”

In the Name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost, Amen.

You may have noticed that we have a new carpet today at the front of the church. When I was last here two weeks ago we had just moved the pews out and there was a rather barren space at the front up here; this is a welcome change. I think that the rug has made our worship space more comfortable and given it a warmer feeling.

Change is nothing new, in fact we have recently experienced a great change that has affected us in many different ways. A few days ago our nation went to war. We all have a sense of unease about war. Aside from the terrible nature of war and the obvious effects and dangers it has for those who are directly involved in it, we have questions that cannot easily be answered and fears that cannot easily be addressed. How will the war affect us as a nation? How will it affect us individually? How long will the war last? How will it affect our safety and security? Will there be more terrorist attacks? Will it affect our jobs? How will it affect our daily lives? What does it mean for me to be a Christian during a war?

Amidst all the TV watching, newspaper reading, and discussions about the war, you may have noticed that we have settled into Lent, albeit with other things on our minds. Normally, Lent is an opportunity for us, as we prepare for Easter, to try to become closer to God through various acts of piety. We do this by giving up things and occasionally taking on new challenges, adding new disciplines to our lives, or avoiding certain things. Whatever act of piety we may pick up and drop off after forty days, whatever state of mind we might be in, whether we are at peace or at war, in good times or bad times, whether we have a new rug or not we are reminded today that there are many things that change.

Life, in fact, is a series of never ending changes. From the time when we are children until we grow up, we are constantly changing and the world around us is constantly changing. Sometimes, everything seems to be going very well. Other times things are not so good. Things change and because of that, often we carry a great amount of uncertainty with us.

Today’s Gospel speaks to us today, amidst all of the uncertainty and change that we have experienced recently as well as throughout our whole lives. We hear today a two part story. In the first part, Peter confesses Jesus as Messiah. In the second part, Jesus corrects Peter by explaining what kind of Messiah he will be and explains that something beyond what we can see and touch is necessary. Our story begins when the disciples were asked by Jesus: "Who do you say I am?" Peter replied: “You are the Christ.” After this identification, Jesus said that he must suffer, be killed, and after three days rise again. This was something that was very hard for the apostles to understand. Even Peter, refused at that moment to accept that this must happen because he had a worldly idea of what a Messiah was supposed to do and be.

What was a Messiah was supposed to do and be? During Jesus’ life and for many years after it, Jerusalem and the entire surrounding region was under the control of the Roman Empire. In many places, the Romans were resented and hated because they were oppressive outsiders who treated the locals with contempt and taxed them heavily. It was hoped that someday a Messiah would come and restore Israel to its former glory. People hoped for a worldly king who would come and kick the Romans out and restore the old kingdom like it had been under King David. This type of Messiah was not supposed to suffer and die, rather this Messiah would make the Romans suffer and would come in power and victory. All of the problems in the world would go away with this Messiah.

Most likely, it was this type of Messiah that Peter himself hoped for. It is therefore no surprise at all that he could not understand or accept that Jesus had to suffer and die. The Messiah that Peter had in mind was one that would satisfy and address all of Peter’s worldly cares. He had put all of his worldly hopes into Jesus and suddenly they had been dashed. Jesus scolded Peter by saying: “You do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men”.

Jesus continued on to explain to Peter that it would be difficult road ahead, one must deny himself and take up his cross and follow Jesus.

It is very hard to put our Lord Jesus Christ before the things that we see and do every day. Just as Peter was unable to let go of his worldly view of what a Messiah should be, we too are often unable to let go of our worldly cares, even for a moment. After all, all of the problems in the world did not go away with Jesus. Life is hard enough when you are concentrating on it full time. In addition to working, shopping, cooking, sleeping, taking care of our families, paying our bills, paying our taxes, keeping the house in order, and spending time with our friends, we also have to worry about what is going on around us in the world.

It is for this very reason that we often attempt to maintain certain disciplines for the forty days of Lent. The disciplines that we try to maintain for ourselves in Lent are about bringing us closer to God and resetting our priorities so that we put the things of God and not our own things first. During Lent we do not forget about our worldly cares, to do so would be crazy! No, we simply attempt to make a more concerted effort to put God first in our lives.

The poet Shel Silverstein wrote a funny parody of the classic childrens bedtime prayer, “Now I lay me down to sleep”. His parody goes: “Now I lay me down to sleep and pray to God my soul to keep. If I should die before I wake I pray to God my toys to take, so none of the other kids will get them.” We all laugh, but this underscores exactly how much we all really do care about what we have and how we live. But in the long run, we leave this world and everything in it behind. If we put all of our worldly cares and concerns at the forefront of our lives and forget about God, what good does it do us in the long run?

Jesus asks us this same question: “What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his soul? Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul?” It is very hard to deny our worldly desires and put Jesus first anytime, but it can be especially hard to trust ourselves to God when we are uneasy or afraid and there are very scary things happening in our world. Even the great disciple Peter was unable to put aside his worldly cares.

War or no war, Lent or no Lent, rug or no new rug in the church, there is always one constant: God’s love. God’s love is there for us no matter what changes we are going through. Whether we are in good times or bad times, whether we are at ease or struggling, God is with us. Now, we have questions and fears and we worry that life will get more difficult. Struggling through life is nothing new. Saint Paul went through many struggles and eventually was martyred in Rome. Yet, throughout all of his struggles he also knew that he could never be separated from the love of God. Listen to what he writes in the 8th chapter of his letter to the Romans: “For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” [Romans 8:38-39]

My message to you today is to open your hearts to God, trust in God and put your faith wholehearted in Jesus Christ. By placing your whole trust in Jesus you can be assured that no matter what he will be with you. Trust in Jesus, put Him first in everything you do and have faith that through good times or bad times, through life and through death He is with you and He loves you.

We are in the middle of Lent now but in a few weeks Lent will be over. We are at the start of a war but at some point that war too will be over. The things of this world are fleeting – honest to God they are – they come and go. They change and they change often and unexpectedly. Some are good some are bad, but even if we gain the whole world we still lose it all in the end. Even if we have everything we want, even our own worldly Messiah, we still have nothing if the love of God is not in us. Reset your own priorities so that Christ is at the forefront of your life because Christ transcends not only life and death but everything in the world that has ever happened or is happening now or will every happen. The Gospel of John tells us that eternal life begins now with faith in Jesus Christ. Put our Lord God Jesus Christ at the forefront of your life now and know that no matter what happens, nothing, not even death itself can separate you from his love.

In the Name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost, Amen.

A New War

MATTHEW HOXSIE MEAD
GOSPEL OF MARK
DAVID BARTLETT, ALLEN HILTON
MARCH 30, 2003
SERMON 2: MARK 8:27-38

Note, that much of the material for this sermon was used in the Lent 3 Sermon (below) at Saint James.

“What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his soul? Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul?”

In the Name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost, Amen.

You may have noticed that we have a new carpet today at the front of the church. When I was last here two weeks ago we had just moved the pews out and there was a rather barren space at the up here, this is a welcome change. I think that the rug has made our worship space more comfortable and given it a warmed feeling.

Change is nothing new, in fact we have recently experienced a great change that has affected us in many different ways. A few days ago our nation went to war. Before I begin I would like to note that we all have a general sense of unease about war. Aside from the terrible nature of war and the obvious effects and dangers it has for those who are directly involved in it, we have questions that cannot easily be answered and fears that cannot easily be addressed. How will the war affect us as a nation? How will it affect us individually? How long will the war last? How will it affect our safety and security? Will there be more terrorist attacks? Will it affect our jobs? How will it affect our daily lives? What does it mean for me to be a Christian during a war?

Amidst all the TV watching, newspaper reading, and discussions about the war, you may have noticed that we have settled into Lent, albeit with other things on our minds. Normally, Lent is an opportunity for us, as we prepare for Easter, to try to become closer to God through various acts of piety. We do this by giving up things and occasionally taking on new challenges, adding new disciplines to our lives, or avoiding certain things. Whatever act of piety we may pick up and drop off after forty days, whatever state of mind we might be in, whether we are at peace or at war, in good times or bad times, whether we have a new rug or not we are reminded today that there are many things that change. Life, in fact, is a series of never ending changes.

Today’s gospel speaks to us today, amidst all of the uncertainty and change that we have experienced. In today’s Gospel Peter confesses that Jesus is the Messiah. Throughout the Gospel of Mark, we seen a constant back and forth between Jesus and those around him as they attempt to put some form of label on who he is while he refused to let anyone label him. Finally, today we see Jesus asking his own disciples this very question. “Who do people say that I am?” His disciples replied, "Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, one of the prophets." "But what about you?" he asked. "Who do you say I am?" To this question Peter stepped up and replied: “You are the Christ.”

After this identification, however, Jesus taught them that he must suffer, be killed, and after three days rise again. This is something that Peter cannot accept or understand. He therefore takes Jesus aside and rebukes him. Peter’s mistake was not that he had failed to understand that Jesus was the Messiah, but that he had a worldly idea of what a Messiah was supposed to do and be.

What was a Messiah was supposed to do and be? During Jesus’ life and for many years after it, Jerusalem and all of the surrounding region was under the control of the Roman empire. In many places, the Romans were resented and hated because they were oppressive outsiders who treated the locals with contempt and taxed them heavily. It was hoped that someday a Messiah would come and restore Israel to its former glory. People hoped for a worldly king who would come and kick the Romans out and restore the old kingdom like it had been under King David. This type of Messiah was not supposed to suffer and die, rather this Messiah would make the Romans suffer and would come in power and victory.

Most likely, it was this type of Messiah that Peter himself hoped for. It is therefore no surprise at all that he could not understand or accept that Jesus had to suffer and die. The Messiah that Peter had in mind was one that would satisfy and address all of Peter’s worldly cares. He had put all of his worldly hopes into Jesus and suddenly they had been dashed. Jesus scolded Peter by saying: “You do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men”.

Jesus continued on to explain to Peter that it would be difficult to follow Jesus, one must deny himself and take up his cross and follow Jesus. Often it is very hard. It is very hard to put our Lord Jesus Christ before the things that we see and do every day. The disciplines that we try to maintain for ourselves in Lent are about bringing us closer to God and resetting our priorities so that we put the things of God and not our own things first. If we put all of our worldly cares and concerns at the forefront of our lives and forget about God, what good does it do us? Jesus asks us this same question: What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his soul? Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul? It is very hard to deny our worldly desires and ourselves and put Jesus first anytime, but it can be especially hard to trust ourselves to God when we are uneasy or afraid and there are very scary things happening in our world.

War or no war, Lent or no Lent, rug or no new rug in the church, there is always one constant: God’s love. God’s love is there for us no matter what changes we are going through. Whether we are in good times or bad times, whether we are at ease or struggling, God is with us. Now, we have questions and fears and we worry that life will get more difficult. Struggling through life is nothing new. Saint Paul went through many struggles and eventually was martyred in Rome. Yet, throughout all of his struggles he also knew that he could never be separated from the love of God. Listen to what he writes in the 8th chapter of his letter to the Romans: “For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” [Romans 8:38-39]

My message to you today is to open your hearts to God, trust in God and put your faith wholehearted in Jesus Christ. By placing your whole trust in Jesus you can be assured that no matter what he will be with you. Trust in Jesus, put Him first in everything you do and have faith that through good times or bad times, through life and through death He is with you and He loves you.

We are in the middle of Lent now but in a few weeks Lent will be over. We are at the start of a war but at some point that war too will be over. The things of this world are fleeting – honest to God they are – they come and go. Some are good some are bad, but even if we gain the whole world we still lose it all when we die. Reset your own priorities so that Christ is at the forefront of your life because Christ transcends life and death. The Gospel of John tells us that eternal life begins now with faith in Jesus Christ. Put our Lord God Jesus Christ at the forefront of your life now and know that no matter what happens, nothing, not even death itself can separate you from his love.

Matthew Hoxsie Mead
Preached at Saint James Church, Fair Haven, CT
March 23, 2003
Exodus 20:1-17

"I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.
You shall have no other gods before me.”

In the Name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost, Amen.


A few days ago our nation went to war. We all have a general sense of unease about war and rightly so. Aside from the terrible nature of war and the obvious effects and dangers it has for those who are directly involved in it, we have questions that cannot easily be answered and fears that cannot easily be addressed. How will the war affect us as a nation? How will it affect us individually? How long will the war last? How will it affect our safety and security? Will there be more terrorist attacks? Will it affect our jobs? How will it affect our daily lives? What does it mean for me to be a Christian during a war?

Amidst all the TV watching, newspaper reading, and discussions about the war, you may have noticed that we have settled into Lent, albeit with other things on our minds. Normally, Lent is an opportunity for us, as we prepare for Easter, to try to become closer to God through various acts of piety. We do this by giving up things and occasionally taking on new challenges, adding new disciplines to our lives, or avoiding certain things. Whatever act of piety we may pick up and drop off after forty days, whatever state of mind we might be in, whether we are at peace or at war, in good times or bad times, we are reminded today through the reading of the Ten Commandments as the Old Testament Lesson that there are certain things that are constants in our Christian lives.

Several thousand years ago the Israelites were given the Ten Commandments by God when they too were full of questions and fears. The Israelites were on the run from the Egyptians, away from the land and the homes that had always known, lost and homeless with no idea what their future held. It was in this situation that God gave them the Ten Commandments. What comfort did those commandments offer to the Israelites when they were afraid and lost in the desert and what comfort can they give us as Christians today?

To answer that question I invite you to open your pew Bibles so we can take a look at the first two of these commandments: "You shall have no other gods before me.” And "You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing love to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commandments.”

In ancient Israel, the Israelites were in a world where there were many other cultures, each of which had their own Gods. The most prominent nations, the Egyptians, Babylonians, Greeks, and later the Romans, practiced polytheism. That is to say, they worshipped many different gods. For example, in Greece there were gods and goddesses for everything you could think of. Zeus was the god of thunder and king of the gods, Dionysus was the god of wine and debauchery, Aphrodite was the goddess of love, Athena was the goddess of sport and hunting, and so on. Anything and everything had a particular deity and a particular cult. It was almost like the internet is today. Just like in Greece I could have found a cult for anything at all, I can today go online and find that there is a message board or chat room for everyone: whether you are looking to meet other music lovers, other sports fans, other stamp collectors, others who want to talk about politics or world affairs or anything at all.

The difference between today’s “gods” [with quotes] and the ancient gods of polytheism is that today we simply don’t call them gods anymore. In many ways we are just like the Greeks, Babylonians, Egyptians, and Romans. Whenever we put anything first in our lives, whether it is music, food, hobbies, political causes, sex, work, our cars or homes, or anything at all we too are worshipping man made gods. The Greeks simply attached a name and a divine character to each of these things. The only difference between someone who worshipped Athena, or Dionysus and someone who lives to enjoy sports or partying is that that the first person has attached a name and a character to that desire. We all in many different ways make our own gods out of the things that we do or the things that we have or want. With our mouths we may say we worship Jesus, but with our actions we are often worshipping something else. When our priorities are aligned like this and we through our actions worship something else by making it the be all and end all of our existence, we are committing idolatry. Today, as much as in ancient Israel, we are called by God to leave behind these other gods and put Jesus Christ first.

But often it is very hard. It is very hard to put our Lord Jesus Christ before the things that we see and do every day. It is very hard to trust ourselves to God when we are uneasy or afraid and there are very scary things happening in our world. The ancient Israelites were commanded by God to have no other gods because they too were questioning and fearful. By giving the commandments, God assured His people that He loved them and would be there for them no matter what.

The Ten Commandments, just like our own Lenten disciplines are not necessarily about laying down rules to try to break bad habits, but about resetting our priorities. Just like the ancient Israelites we too must reset our own priorities. If we make idols out the things that are around us what good does it do in the long run? If we put all of our worldly cares and concerns at the forefront of our lives and forget about God, what good does it do us? Jesus asks us this same question: What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his soul? Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul? [Mark 8:36-37]

War or no war, Lent or no Lent there is always one constant: God’s love. The Israelites may have been homeless in the desert but they knew that God loved them and they knew that they could never be separated from the love of God no matter what suffering they went through. Struggling through life is nothing new. Saint Paul went through many struggles and eventually was martyred in Rome. Yet, throughout all of his struggles he also knew that he could never be separated from the love of God. Listen to what he writes in the 8th chapter of his letter to the Romans: “For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” [Romans 8:38-39]

My message to you today is to open your hearts to God, trust in God and put your faith wholehearted in Jesus Christ. By placing your whole trust in Jesus you can be assured that no matter what he will be with you. The commandment tells us that God shows love to a thousand generations of those who love him and keep his commandments. Love God and keep His commandments, put Him first in everything you do and have faith that through good times or bad times, through life and through death He is with you and He loves you.

We are in the middle of Lent now but in a few weeks Lent will be over. We are at the start of a war but at some point that war too will be over. The things of this world are fleeting, they come and go. Some are good some are bad, but even if we gain the whole world we still lose it all when we die. Reset your own priorities so that Christ is at the forefront of your life because Christ transcends life and death. The Gospel of John tells us that eternal life begins now with faith in Jesus Christ. Put our Lord God Jesus Christ at the forefront of your life now and know that no matter what happens, nothing, not even death itself can separate you from his love.

Let us pray. Almighty God, we ask through your Son our savior Jesus Christ that you give us the strength and guidance to put you first in our lives. We pray for perseverance and resolve so we can press on through our own lives toward you, Father. We ask that you illuminate and strengthen us with your Holy Spirit so that we may walk with you in holiness and faithfulness throughout this Lenten season, through these times of unease and worry and all the days of our lives. Bless us, sanctify us and help us to trust in you above all else in our lives. Comfort us in our struggles. We pray that you will gently correct us and lead us on the paths of righteousness so that we may follow your commandments and live together in faith, peace, and love. All this we ask through your son our Lord, Jesus Christ. Amen.