WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:06.599 Father, Son, Holy Spirit, glory to Jesus Christ. 00:00:08.259 --> 00:00:15.400 Let me bring three circumstances to your mind, 00:00:15.500 --> 00:00:17.559 two from the Gospel and one from the Epistle. 00:00:19.140 --> 00:00:21.760 I'll try to be brief. I say that frequently and 00:00:21.760 --> 00:00:24.839 frequently am not brief. Those who are eloquent 00:00:24.839 --> 00:00:29.440 have the gift of being brief. Those who speak 00:00:29.440 --> 00:00:34.320 in a halting, unclear way necessarily go on and 00:00:34.320 --> 00:00:39.179 on. As we look for that right word, the brilliant 00:00:39.179 --> 00:00:42.219 can find the gem right there and give it out, 00:00:42.280 --> 00:00:46.079 but the rest of us are not like Archbishop Alexander, 00:00:46.340 --> 00:00:50.039 for example, who preached last night four minutes 00:00:50.039 --> 00:00:54.799 and it was soul -stirring and beautiful. Three 00:00:54.799 --> 00:01:02.359 circumstances. You heard the gospel from the 00:01:02.359 --> 00:01:07.819 14th chapter of St. Matthew. The apostles in 00:01:07.819 --> 00:01:10.980 a boat, they had been sent over to the other 00:01:10.980 --> 00:01:16.359 side of the lake, and Jesus went to pray. When 00:01:16.359 --> 00:01:18.760 Jesus prayed, it wasn't just a lot of words, 00:01:18.799 --> 00:01:22.560 O God this, O God that, O Father whatever. It's 00:01:22.560 --> 00:01:28.079 communion. It's silence. It's being with God 00:01:28.079 --> 00:01:35.159 in a quiet place, the still small place. Jesus 00:01:35.159 --> 00:01:38.799 teaches us in that act that we should do that 00:01:38.799 --> 00:01:42.579 too. The disciples, on the other hand, were in 00:01:42.579 --> 00:01:46.120 a boat. It was a storm, the Sea of Galilee about 00:01:46.120 --> 00:01:50.260 the size of Lake Tahoe. But the storms are terrible 00:01:50.260 --> 00:01:53.140 because of the winds, the way it whips up there. 00:01:54.260 --> 00:01:56.359 Water's coming over the edge. They're crying 00:01:56.359 --> 00:02:01.799 out. They're crying out. And the Lord comes walking 00:02:01.799 --> 00:02:05.540 across the sea. This is not what I want to talk 00:02:05.540 --> 00:02:07.939 about today because, of course, he's the Lord, 00:02:08.120 --> 00:02:11.840 the creator of all things. For him to walk across 00:02:11.840 --> 00:02:15.419 the sea is not some circus trick. It's to get 00:02:15.419 --> 00:02:18.900 to his apostles that are crying out in fear. 00:02:19.939 --> 00:02:23.129 And Peter comes to him. He sinks. You know the 00:02:23.129 --> 00:02:28.710 story. What does Jesus say? Oh, you of little 00:02:28.710 --> 00:02:34.650 faith. Why did you doubt? He could have gone 00:02:34.650 --> 00:02:37.490 on and said, you just saw 5 ,000 people fed in 00:02:37.490 --> 00:02:42.050 the wilderness with a little bit of food and 00:02:42.050 --> 00:02:46.610 a great amount left over. You saw demoniacs being 00:02:46.610 --> 00:02:50.740 cured. of their demon possession. You saw people 00:02:50.740 --> 00:02:55.340 being healed, lepers being healed, the deaf hearing. 00:02:55.379 --> 00:03:00.680 Why did you doubt? A view of little faith. In 00:03:00.680 --> 00:03:02.699 the eighth chapter of St. Matthew, the second 00:03:02.699 --> 00:03:06.740 circumstance I'd like you to think about. Jesus 00:03:06.740 --> 00:03:09.819 is in the boat, and the boat is being tossed 00:03:09.819 --> 00:03:13.719 in the storm, and once again, they are fearful 00:03:13.719 --> 00:03:22.270 for their life. And Jesus is asleep. And there 00:03:22.270 --> 00:03:25.590 he is, and they're crying out. Again, they had 00:03:25.590 --> 00:03:32.210 seen so much. And he comes awake, and the storm 00:03:32.210 --> 00:03:37.090 is stilled immediately. Storms don't do that, 00:03:37.229 --> 00:03:40.849 right? The waves keep moving for a long time. 00:03:40.909 --> 00:03:44.110 No, with Jesus, the master of all things in heaven 00:03:44.110 --> 00:03:49.169 and earth, it became still. This is a lesson 00:03:49.169 --> 00:03:51.150 for us to come to Christ. Is somebody singing 00:03:51.150 --> 00:04:00.889 outside? Can you? Yeah. It's, yeah. Like, I'm 00:04:00.889 --> 00:04:09.629 talking stillness here. Where was I? What does 00:04:09.629 --> 00:04:15.270 Jesus say to them? Same thing. Oh, you of little 00:04:15.270 --> 00:04:19.529 faith, why do you doubt? In both circumstances, 00:04:19.810 --> 00:04:24.670 what is the problem Jesus is addressing? Lack 00:04:24.670 --> 00:04:30.810 of attention to him and what he is and who he 00:04:30.810 --> 00:04:35.810 is. This is the problem. You know, if I'm driving 00:04:35.810 --> 00:04:39.050 a car, if I don't pay attention, I'm going to 00:04:39.050 --> 00:04:42.189 crash. People with their cell phones now texting. 00:04:42.269 --> 00:04:44.389 There's more auto accidents. People are getting 00:04:44.389 --> 00:04:47.449 killed. People on their bicycles with cell phones, 00:04:47.649 --> 00:04:53.129 not paying attention to what they do. In church, 00:04:53.209 --> 00:04:57.850 we bring our attention to the hymns, to stillness, 00:04:57.870 --> 00:05:00.870 away from our own thought. If I go to a concert, 00:05:01.110 --> 00:05:04.350 I need to pay attention if I'm going to get anything 00:05:04.350 --> 00:05:06.730 out of it from what those performers are doing. 00:05:06.949 --> 00:05:09.670 If I go to a ball game, it's going to be boring 00:05:09.670 --> 00:05:17.329 unless I pay attention. If I... I'm with my family 00:05:17.329 --> 00:05:21.730 and my wife, and I'm wrapped up in my own cares 00:05:21.730 --> 00:05:27.209 and problems and issues. Love is going to grow 00:05:27.209 --> 00:05:31.970 cold because I haven't paid attention. It's no 00:05:31.970 --> 00:05:34.529 different with our life with Christ. Now let 00:05:34.529 --> 00:05:37.389 me give you the other circumstance. You heard 00:05:37.389 --> 00:05:43.589 it in the epistle today. St. Paul is talking 00:05:43.589 --> 00:05:49.980 about building. On either gold or silver or hay 00:05:49.980 --> 00:05:53.459 and straw. Because the day of the Lord, when 00:05:53.459 --> 00:05:57.360 he comes, will reveal what's there. Why is he 00:05:57.360 --> 00:06:00.560 saying this? Is it just some kind of interesting 00:06:00.560 --> 00:06:02.740 thought that he has about the second coming? 00:06:02.800 --> 00:06:05.620 No, he's addressing a problem. It's the same 00:06:05.620 --> 00:06:10.860 problem. Attention. The beginning of chapter 00:06:10.860 --> 00:06:17.019 3, he says, brethren. I could not speak to you 00:06:17.019 --> 00:06:23.579 as to spiritual people, but as to carnal. They're 00:06:23.579 --> 00:06:28.259 wrapped up in their own passions and to babes 00:06:28.259 --> 00:06:31.079 in Christ. He's calling them babies. He says, 00:06:31.139 --> 00:06:35.120 you people are babies. You're arguing with one 00:06:35.120 --> 00:06:38.259 another. There's envy. There's strife. There's 00:06:38.259 --> 00:06:42.240 divisions. You're carnal. You're not like people 00:06:42.240 --> 00:06:45.790 that are spiritual. I can't give you spiritual 00:06:45.790 --> 00:06:49.129 knowledge because you're babies in the faith 00:06:49.129 --> 00:06:54.310 and emotionally and spiritually. They took their 00:06:54.310 --> 00:06:59.149 eyes off of the goal here. And the Lord ends 00:06:59.149 --> 00:07:02.470 with what we need to remember. And this is for 00:07:02.470 --> 00:07:07.529 us the point today that I'd like to make. Do 00:07:07.529 --> 00:07:13.519 you not know, St. Paul writes, That you are the 00:07:13.519 --> 00:07:20.959 temple of God. An astounding sentence. Because 00:07:20.959 --> 00:07:23.699 the only temple there was for the Jewish person 00:07:23.699 --> 00:07:28.620 was that one in Jerusalem. Where forgiveness 00:07:28.620 --> 00:07:32.300 would happen. Thanksgiving sacrifices would happen. 00:07:33.000 --> 00:07:37.600 Feast days would happen. And the encounter with 00:07:37.600 --> 00:07:40.839 the living God would happen. St. Paul is saying 00:07:40.839 --> 00:07:44.959 you've been given the Holy Spirit. Start building 00:07:44.959 --> 00:07:50.120 a spiritual life. Take your attention away from 00:07:50.120 --> 00:07:53.060 the troubles and the difficulties, the strife, 00:07:53.060 --> 00:07:56.120 the anger, the disagreements, whatever it might 00:07:56.120 --> 00:08:00.060 be. God is not going to save us, brothers and 00:08:00.060 --> 00:08:03.240 sisters, from the travails of the world. We know 00:08:03.240 --> 00:08:07.790 that. But St. James tells us this. Count it all 00:08:07.790 --> 00:08:10.949 joy when you fall into various trials, knowing 00:08:10.949 --> 00:08:13.629 that the testing of your faith brings patience. 00:08:14.610 --> 00:08:17.670 That when we bring our attention back to Christ, 00:08:17.730 --> 00:08:23.170 no matter what the circumstances are, that when 00:08:23.170 --> 00:08:26.709 we remember we are temples of God and the Spirit 00:08:26.709 --> 00:08:30.550 of God dwells in us, then we won't defile that 00:08:30.550 --> 00:08:33.070 temple because the one who defiles the temple 00:08:33.070 --> 00:08:39.600 of his body St. Paul says God will destroy. Temple 00:08:39.600 --> 00:08:44.460 defilers. We don't want to be that. There's all 00:08:44.460 --> 00:08:46.899 kinds of things we might get excited about in 00:08:46.899 --> 00:08:53.200 our world. Frustration. You don't like this governor. 00:08:53.399 --> 00:08:55.200 You don't like this president. You don't like 00:08:55.200 --> 00:08:57.500 this situation. I don't like this one. I don't 00:08:57.500 --> 00:09:00.259 like that one. I'm frustrated about whatever 00:09:00.259 --> 00:09:07.929 it might be. But brothers and sisters, if we 00:09:07.929 --> 00:09:14.549 are the temple of God, then we can't just come 00:09:14.549 --> 00:09:21.230 to the table of societal complaints and add our 00:09:21.230 --> 00:09:26.809 angry voice and our frustration. If we are going 00:09:26.809 --> 00:09:30.470 to be a little leaven in the whole lump, if the 00:09:30.470 --> 00:09:34.470 gospel is going to be preached and people rejoice 00:09:34.470 --> 00:09:37.899 at their salvation, then this means that we take 00:09:37.899 --> 00:09:41.519 seriously that we have to build upon gold and 00:09:41.519 --> 00:09:44.279 silver of the faith, that we have to keep our 00:09:44.279 --> 00:09:46.960 eye on Christ as Peter didn't do when he fell 00:09:46.960 --> 00:09:54.120 into the water. His name is Peter the Rock. What 00:09:54.120 --> 00:09:57.980 do rocks do when they hit water? Unless you throw 00:09:57.980 --> 00:10:03.720 them hard, they go right down. Our task, brothers 00:10:03.720 --> 00:10:08.740 and sisters, It's focused here on the gift of 00:10:08.740 --> 00:10:13.500 the life of the Holy Spirit in us. Don't be taken 00:10:13.500 --> 00:10:16.940 away by other things. If you have to add your 00:10:16.940 --> 00:10:20.379 voice to the chorus in society, make sure it's 00:10:20.379 --> 00:10:26.379 a voice that is inspired by the grace of the 00:10:26.379 --> 00:10:32.500 Holy Spirit, by holiness, by apostleship. by 00:10:32.500 --> 00:10:35.340 support of one another, by worship and prayer. 00:10:36.480 --> 00:10:42.080 Yes, we have extremely weak faith, but the Lord 00:10:42.080 --> 00:10:45.919 saves even us. He said to the apostles, O you 00:10:45.919 --> 00:10:49.039 of little faith, why did you doubt? But he saved 00:10:49.039 --> 00:10:52.500 them from the storm. So I think we're in good 00:10:52.500 --> 00:10:53.860 company. Amen.