WEBVTT 00:00:02.830 --> 00:00:06.849 Sometimes sermon inspiration comes from the most 00:00:06.849 --> 00:00:12.130 random of places. And this week, I want to talk 00:00:12.130 --> 00:00:19.449 to you about chairs. Chairs, you say? Yes. And 00:00:19.449 --> 00:00:22.690 frankly, they're far more fascinating than you 00:00:22.690 --> 00:00:26.980 can even imagine. Just a few hundred miles north 00:00:26.980 --> 00:00:31.000 of us, in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New 00:00:31.000 --> 00:00:35.920 York City, resides the oldest chair in existence. 00:00:36.420 --> 00:00:41.679 It is the chair of Reneseneb, who was a scribe 00:00:41.679 --> 00:00:47.000 in ancient Egypt. The chair dates to the 15th 00:00:47.000 --> 00:00:54.600 century B .C., 1 ,400 B .C. It is in pristine 00:00:54.600 --> 00:00:59.159 condition because it was entombed with Renesbev 00:00:59.159 --> 00:01:02.299 when he died. The only thing that's been changed 00:01:02.299 --> 00:01:05.560 over the years is the wicker seat faded away, 00:01:05.680 --> 00:01:10.659 deteriorated, and they had to re -bind it. But 00:01:10.659 --> 00:01:14.060 that's not the only ancient chair around. In 00:01:14.060 --> 00:01:16.780 the Christian tradition, we have the cathedral. 00:01:17.579 --> 00:01:20.900 which is a fancy term for the chair that the 00:01:20.900 --> 00:01:23.900 bishop sits in. It's actually the term by which 00:01:23.900 --> 00:01:27.879 cathedrals have come into usage. Cathedrals are 00:01:27.879 --> 00:01:32.879 the place of the cathedral. The term the chair 00:01:32.879 --> 00:01:37.099 of St. Peter is a descriptor for the bishop of 00:01:37.099 --> 00:01:41.280 Rome, for the pope. But in Rome, in St. Peter's 00:01:41.280 --> 00:01:46.180 Basilica, there is an actual chair of St. Peter. 00:01:47.180 --> 00:01:51.519 It is today encased in a golden reliquary, but 00:01:51.519 --> 00:01:56.579 it's a literal wooden chair that at least dates 00:01:56.579 --> 00:02:00.799 to the 9th century and has pieces embedded within 00:02:00.799 --> 00:02:06.060 it that appear to be far older. By tradition, 00:02:06.379 --> 00:02:09.740 received tradition, it is understood that the 00:02:09.740 --> 00:02:14.060 chair or significant pieces of the chair are 00:02:14.060 --> 00:02:17.819 part of a chair that Peter, the first bishop 00:02:17.819 --> 00:02:22.460 of Rome, sat in himself. And then in our tradition, 00:02:22.539 --> 00:02:25.159 in the Anglican Communion, we have the chair 00:02:25.159 --> 00:02:29.379 of St. Augustine of Canterbury. It is a beautiful 00:02:29.379 --> 00:02:33.360 Sussex marble chair that dates to the 13th century. 00:02:33.960 --> 00:02:37.879 and is still to this day used in England for 00:02:37.879 --> 00:02:42.020 the inauguration and enthronement of the Archbishop 00:02:42.020 --> 00:02:45.060 of Canterbury each time we have a new Archbishop. 00:02:45.719 --> 00:02:49.139 But one of the chairs that captures me almost 00:02:49.139 --> 00:02:53.060 more than any other is the coronation chair used 00:02:53.060 --> 00:02:56.610 in England. It's known as St. Edward's Chair 00:02:56.610 --> 00:03:00.849 or King Edward's Chair. And it's an ancient wooden 00:03:00.849 --> 00:03:04.689 chair used by British monarchs since at least 00:03:04.689 --> 00:03:07.870 the 14th century. We know that it was used in 00:03:07.870 --> 00:03:13.409 1308 at a coronation and has been used in recent 00:03:13.409 --> 00:03:16.550 memory as far back as we can go. But the thing 00:03:16.550 --> 00:03:19.490 that fascinates me about it is that it's a rather 00:03:19.490 --> 00:03:23.900 plain chair with a rather plain origin. it wasn't 00:03:23.900 --> 00:03:27.400 anything fancy or made specifically for the purpose 00:03:27.400 --> 00:03:33.000 of being a throne. And today, it is quite decrepit. 00:03:33.539 --> 00:03:38.599 In the 18th century, in the 1700s, when Westminster 00:03:38.599 --> 00:03:42.280 Abbey was kind of hard up for cash, they would 00:03:42.280 --> 00:03:44.979 let people pay a few pence and sit in the chair 00:03:44.979 --> 00:03:50.639 itself. And people, tourists, in the 18th century, 00:03:50.740 --> 00:03:54.419 would carve their initials into the coronation 00:03:54.419 --> 00:03:57.840 chair. So if you see a picture of it today, it 00:03:57.840 --> 00:04:02.300 looks like a wooden bench in a park where people 00:04:02.300 --> 00:04:04.699 have come through and carved their names over 00:04:04.699 --> 00:04:08.819 time. It really is not very attractive. And then 00:04:08.819 --> 00:04:12.659 on top of that, the seat of the chair is an ancient 00:04:12.659 --> 00:04:15.939 stone from Scotland used to enthrone the kings 00:04:15.939 --> 00:04:18.500 of Scotland. It's called the Stone of Scone, 00:04:18.579 --> 00:04:22.110 and it itself is very rough -hewn. and not very 00:04:22.110 --> 00:04:25.589 attractive. So the whole design of this chair 00:04:25.589 --> 00:04:29.430 is rather plain and ordinary. But there's something 00:04:29.430 --> 00:04:32.069 really profound about that too, isn't there? 00:04:32.269 --> 00:04:36.410 Of something so plain, so ordinary, so run -of 00:04:36.410 --> 00:04:40.610 -the -mill, being the chair that is used to enthrone, 00:04:40.689 --> 00:04:45.329 arguably, the most prominent and powerful monarch 00:04:45.329 --> 00:04:52.810 in the world today. And that... brings us to 00:04:52.810 --> 00:04:56.050 the gospel passage. And this sense of what it 00:04:56.050 --> 00:05:00.870 means to be humble and how we are to live with 00:05:00.870 --> 00:05:05.029 humility in the world around us. Now there are 00:05:05.029 --> 00:05:08.230 kind of two distinct elements of this gospel 00:05:08.230 --> 00:05:11.610 passage that we hear today. Because the first 00:05:11.610 --> 00:05:15.529 is this parable that Jesus is offering about 00:05:15.529 --> 00:05:20.180 not positioning yourself At the head of the table. 00:05:20.319 --> 00:05:26.660 Not preemptively or presumptuously thinking that 00:05:26.660 --> 00:05:30.339 you will be the person of prominence. But taking 00:05:30.339 --> 00:05:33.680 that opportunity. Taking that opportunity to 00:05:33.680 --> 00:05:40.899 be reserved. To be humble. To step back. And 00:05:40.899 --> 00:05:44.040 wait until you are invited. Wait until you are 00:05:44.040 --> 00:05:47.379 acknowledged for that position of preeminence. 00:05:48.329 --> 00:05:52.149 But in that parable, there's a little bit of 00:05:52.149 --> 00:05:56.470 a presumption there, or could be a presumption, 00:05:56.470 --> 00:06:00.810 of self -servingness. That we will have this 00:06:00.810 --> 00:06:05.509 facade of humility so that when we are recognized 00:06:05.509 --> 00:06:10.170 for the important people that we are, that we 00:06:10.170 --> 00:06:14.829 will be put in that place of honor. That we do 00:06:14.829 --> 00:06:19.720 it not out of true humility, but out of an effort 00:06:19.720 --> 00:06:22.980 not to be scandalized or not to be embarrassed. 00:06:25.519 --> 00:06:28.199 But Jesus doesn't stop with just the parable. 00:06:28.500 --> 00:06:31.720 He adds the second element that really does kind 00:06:31.720 --> 00:06:37.500 of upend our human inclinations. He says, when 00:06:37.500 --> 00:06:42.139 you throw a banquet, don't do it for those self 00:06:42.139 --> 00:06:46.160 -serving reasons. Don't be humble for self -serving 00:06:46.160 --> 00:06:51.069 purposes. But instead, go out and invite the 00:06:51.069 --> 00:06:54.149 people on the margins. Go out and invite the 00:06:54.149 --> 00:06:58.810 people that cannot repay you, that cannot do 00:06:58.810 --> 00:07:02.649 anything of their own volition, that are incapable 00:07:02.649 --> 00:07:07.649 of reciprocating this false sense of humility 00:07:07.649 --> 00:07:11.569 with some kind of recognition of your status. 00:07:11.990 --> 00:07:16.790 But do it out of a true... of connection and 00:07:16.790 --> 00:07:22.050 service to those who are in need, those who are 00:07:22.050 --> 00:07:26.029 desperate for support, compassion, and love. 00:07:27.009 --> 00:07:32.230 And so if we take both of those admonitions today, 00:07:32.470 --> 00:07:37.329 we are presented with this call not just to deep 00:07:37.329 --> 00:07:41.709 humility, but the experience of humility as an 00:07:41.709 --> 00:07:46.800 act of service. Humility as a call in our lives 00:07:46.800 --> 00:07:53.060 to be of loving servitude to each other. As we 00:07:53.060 --> 00:07:57.740 hear in this great reading from Sirach or Ecclesiasticus, 00:07:57.740 --> 00:08:03.000 the book has both names, the beginning of human 00:08:03.000 --> 00:08:10.220 pride is to forsake the Lord. So often, So often 00:08:10.220 --> 00:08:15.139 in our lives, we get tied up in knots with our 00:08:15.139 --> 00:08:20.240 own presumptions about who we are, what is right, 00:08:20.420 --> 00:08:27.060 how we should be, how the world should be. And 00:08:27.060 --> 00:08:31.060 the moment we get ourselves down those tracks, 00:08:31.399 --> 00:08:36.379 we have forsaken the Lord. That the Lord's... 00:08:36.759 --> 00:08:41.620 of orientation for us. The place in which he 00:08:41.620 --> 00:08:46.059 shows up and most fully works through us is when 00:08:46.059 --> 00:08:50.179 we are the people of humility and openness prepared 00:08:50.179 --> 00:08:56.039 to hear and receive the truths of the world around 00:08:56.039 --> 00:09:00.419 us. Hear and receive the needs of the world around 00:09:00.419 --> 00:09:05.919 us. and to be that transforming change agent 00:09:05.919 --> 00:09:11.639 in the world around us. It can be so very easy 00:09:11.639 --> 00:09:16.480 to come in on our high horse, as it were, and 00:09:16.480 --> 00:09:19.980 to dictate to the world what needs to happen, 00:09:20.100 --> 00:09:25.220 what changes must be made, how the world could 00:09:25.220 --> 00:09:28.820 be a better place if just X, Y, or Z thing were 00:09:28.820 --> 00:09:32.460 different. Different in the ways that we think 00:09:32.460 --> 00:09:39.320 they need to be different. But I invite us to 00:09:39.320 --> 00:09:44.279 consider today that even when we are those empowered 00:09:44.279 --> 00:09:48.919 change agents in the world, when we are the voice 00:09:48.919 --> 00:09:52.980 and the presence of transformation in the world 00:09:52.980 --> 00:10:00.360 around us, we are that most fully. when we have 00:10:00.360 --> 00:10:03.919 an openness and generosity of spirit, when we 00:10:03.919 --> 00:10:08.980 have a humility to be the people of faith who 00:10:08.980 --> 00:10:12.799 we are and to stand firm in that faith, but to 00:10:12.799 --> 00:10:17.179 do it with love and compassion, with a deep ear 00:10:17.179 --> 00:10:23.460 to listen to what the world is begging us for, 00:10:23.639 --> 00:10:28.019 what the needs are before us. How we might be 00:10:28.019 --> 00:10:32.960 a better service to each other. There have been 00:10:32.960 --> 00:10:36.019 numerous thought pieces over the last 30 years 00:10:36.019 --> 00:10:42.940 that have talked ad nauseum about the decay. 00:10:43.980 --> 00:10:48.679 Of our social bonds and ties that bring us together. 00:10:49.059 --> 00:10:51.679 The ways in which we have been able to cross 00:10:51.679 --> 00:10:55.360 bounds and boundaries and barriers. To be in 00:10:55.360 --> 00:10:58.659 relationship even in the midst of great diversities 00:10:58.659 --> 00:11:02.100 that we have in this country. We see this politically 00:11:02.100 --> 00:11:08.379 in the dissolution of bipartisanship. If we look 00:11:08.379 --> 00:11:13.679 at the ways in which subsequent congresses. have 00:11:13.679 --> 00:11:16.500 conducted their affairs in the last 50 years, 00:11:16.659 --> 00:11:20.600 we've grown further and further apart, more and 00:11:20.600 --> 00:11:25.179 more polarized, more and more centered in our 00:11:25.179 --> 00:11:30.299 own echo chambers, unwilling, unable to hear 00:11:30.299 --> 00:11:33.860 the voice of the other, to be invited into a 00:11:33.860 --> 00:11:39.840 space of deep relational connectivity, even when 00:11:39.840 --> 00:11:43.809 we are encountering an experience. or a person 00:11:43.809 --> 00:11:47.429 or a community that isn't quite what we think 00:11:47.429 --> 00:11:50.350 it should be or quite how we think the world 00:11:50.350 --> 00:11:55.649 should be. But yet in that humility, in that 00:11:55.649 --> 00:12:03.889 deep place of humility, we find our ability to 00:12:03.889 --> 00:12:07.509 be the transforming change agents of compassion 00:12:07.509 --> 00:12:11.799 and love, to be the people of deep... care and 00:12:11.799 --> 00:12:17.779 service that god calls us to over and over again 00:12:17.779 --> 00:12:23.840 throughout all of holy scripture years ago when 00:12:23.840 --> 00:12:27.679 i was still in arkansas i worked as a coordinator 00:12:27.679 --> 00:12:30.779 for disaster relief services with the red cross 00:12:31.600 --> 00:12:34.000 And I had the responsibility for three separate 00:12:34.000 --> 00:12:36.360 counties, but I had an older retired gentleman 00:12:36.360 --> 00:12:39.639 who was kind of my right -hand man and helped 00:12:39.639 --> 00:12:42.960 guide me as I was taking on this kind of first 00:12:42.960 --> 00:12:46.240 opportunity of leadership as a young 20 -something. 00:12:46.799 --> 00:12:50.759 And he was this kind of gruff, old Marine veteran 00:12:50.759 --> 00:12:55.190 who had been a gunnery sergeant in Vietnam. And 00:12:55.190 --> 00:12:57.850 one of the great lessons I learned from him on 00:12:57.850 --> 00:13:00.970 several occasions when we were responding to 00:13:00.970 --> 00:13:05.809 disasters was that whatever needed to be done, 00:13:05.950 --> 00:13:11.250 whatever activities were before us, if I as a 00:13:11.250 --> 00:13:14.850 leader was unwilling to do even the most basic 00:13:14.850 --> 00:13:20.710 and most menial of those tasks, then I wouldn't 00:13:20.710 --> 00:13:23.850 be respected in my leadership. by the rest of 00:13:23.850 --> 00:13:28.029 the team. So not only was I the one directing 00:13:28.029 --> 00:13:30.950 stuff at kind of a top -level layer, organizing 00:13:30.950 --> 00:13:34.850 response calls, but more often than not, I was 00:13:34.850 --> 00:13:38.549 with Richard down in the muck, doing the dirtiest 00:13:38.549 --> 00:13:42.370 of jobs, responding to the most difficult of 00:13:42.370 --> 00:13:47.190 calls. Because doing that helped me understand 00:13:47.190 --> 00:13:51.129 what everyone else was doing, gave me the humility 00:13:51.129 --> 00:13:56.409 and openness to see how best to lead those who 00:13:56.409 --> 00:14:00.750 are doing the same things that I was doing. When 00:14:00.750 --> 00:14:04.330 we're called into this place of humility, when 00:14:04.330 --> 00:14:08.230 we're called into this place of service, it's 00:14:08.230 --> 00:14:11.429 going to be disorienting. Sometimes it's going 00:14:11.429 --> 00:14:15.990 to be uncomfortable. But it's life -giving. It's 00:14:15.990 --> 00:14:20.690 transformative. And it helps us to be the most 00:14:20.690 --> 00:14:25.460 robust, and the fullest proclaimers of this gospel 00:14:25.460 --> 00:14:28.279 good news that we have to offer to the world 00:14:28.279 --> 00:14:33.500 around us. When we don't sit on our laurels proclaiming 00:14:33.500 --> 00:14:36.879 what should be done from on high, but instead 00:14:36.879 --> 00:14:40.419 get down into the thick, nitty -gritty needs, 00:14:40.879 --> 00:14:45.580 the difficult, dirty, dark spaces of the world 00:14:45.580 --> 00:14:51.850 around us, that's... Where we are most impactful. 00:14:52.850 --> 00:14:56.590 That is where Christ shines through us most fully. 00:14:59.330 --> 00:15:03.169 But I want to bring us back to chairs for just 00:15:03.169 --> 00:15:08.070 a moment. Because I said that Edward's chair, 00:15:08.169 --> 00:15:10.629 King Edward's chair in England is one of my most 00:15:10.629 --> 00:15:14.750 favorite chairs. My absolute most favorite chair 00:15:14.750 --> 00:15:18.429 anywhere in the entire world. is just down the 00:15:18.429 --> 00:15:23.529 road in Washington, D .C. At the Smithsonian 00:15:23.529 --> 00:15:29.289 American Art Museum, just around the corner from 00:15:29.289 --> 00:15:35.929 Chinatown, there is a space in the American folk 00:15:35.929 --> 00:15:43.269 art wing. It's an entire room. Called the throne 00:15:43.269 --> 00:15:46.169 of the third heaven of the nation's millennium 00:15:46.169 --> 00:15:52.309 general assembly. It's a mouthful. But it's an 00:15:52.309 --> 00:15:58.870 entire throne room. Lavishly decorated in this 00:15:58.870 --> 00:16:04.429 stunning metallic beauty. It was designed by 00:16:04.429 --> 00:16:07.610 James Hampton in a carriage house in Georgetown. 00:16:10.120 --> 00:16:13.799 14 years in the early part of the 20th century. 00:16:14.419 --> 00:16:18.240 And James Hampton became convinced in his life 00:16:18.240 --> 00:16:23.100 that he was to make the throne room for the return 00:16:23.100 --> 00:16:29.220 of Jesus when he arrives again. But I say this 00:16:29.220 --> 00:16:32.340 throne room is gilded in this metallic sheen. 00:16:32.960 --> 00:16:37.000 The entire throne room, this ornate, beautiful 00:16:37.000 --> 00:16:42.519 array. Of the throne and all of its accoutrements. 00:16:43.519 --> 00:16:53.000 Is cardboard and tinfoil. How profound. It would 00:16:53.000 --> 00:16:57.980 be. For Christ to come arrayed in all the splendor 00:16:57.980 --> 00:17:01.639 of glory. And for his throne to be cardboard 00:17:01.639 --> 00:17:06.480 and tinfoil. I faithfully believe that that may 00:17:06.480 --> 00:17:12.629 well be Christ's throne when he returns. That 00:17:12.629 --> 00:17:16.150 is what servant leadership looks like. That is 00:17:16.150 --> 00:17:20.430 what the humility and beauty of humility looks 00:17:20.430 --> 00:17:27.690 like. For us to be present to those lowest and 00:17:27.690 --> 00:17:32.049 most left out. To be the presence of God to those 00:17:32.049 --> 00:17:37.809 most in need. To find our place in that deep 00:17:37.809 --> 00:17:42.869 humility. Because ultimately, as St. Paul talks 00:17:42.869 --> 00:17:45.029 about in our reading from Hebrews today, that 00:17:45.029 --> 00:17:50.690 is where the depth of our love comes from. It's 00:17:50.690 --> 00:17:54.390 in that place of hospitality. That place of caring 00:17:54.390 --> 00:17:58.690 for the stranger. That place of being Christ 00:17:58.690 --> 00:18:06.789 to those most in need. So as we come this day, 00:18:07.319 --> 00:18:09.599 as we come in this weekend where we celebrate 00:18:09.599 --> 00:18:13.779 all the laborers in the society and world around 00:18:13.779 --> 00:18:18.680 us, may we see more clearly the labor we are 00:18:18.680 --> 00:18:25.900 called into, the labor of being humble and open 00:18:25.900 --> 00:18:31.400 proclaimers of a gospel that is centered on love, 00:18:31.400 --> 00:18:35.960 compassion, and care. And may we find in our 00:18:35.960 --> 00:18:39.960 humility our place of honor in God's kingdom. 00:18:41.220 --> 00:18:43.339 In the name of the Father and of the Son and 00:18:43.339 --> 00:18:44.880 of the Holy Spirit, Amen.