WEBVTT 00:00:04.620 --> 00:00:06.780 In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and 00:00:06.780 --> 00:00:12.119 of the Holy Spirit. Amen. We come to church this 00:00:12.119 --> 00:00:16.539 morning, and we notice that everyone is wearing 00:00:16.539 --> 00:00:20.280 blue. The servers, the priests, the deacons, 00:00:20.320 --> 00:00:23.579 the covers are blue, and before us is the winding 00:00:23.579 --> 00:00:27.640 sheet of the Theotokos, and the icon of her adormition 00:00:27.640 --> 00:00:30.160 is there at the center, and a loy decorated in 00:00:30.160 --> 00:00:32.979 flowers, and it dawns on us that we are still. 00:00:33.560 --> 00:00:38.119 in this feast of the falling asleep of the Theotokos 00:00:38.119 --> 00:00:46.140 of St. Mary. St. Mary is held very highly in 00:00:46.140 --> 00:00:52.979 humanity because she gave birth to God. That's 00:00:52.979 --> 00:00:55.899 like a mouthful, it's like mind -boggling. In 00:00:55.899 --> 00:00:57.560 the Troparion that is sung, it says that she 00:00:57.560 --> 00:01:01.259 is the mother of life, life with a capital L. 00:01:02.219 --> 00:01:06.519 She is the bearer of God, the mother of God. 00:01:07.680 --> 00:01:10.359 And she is held in a very high place because 00:01:10.359 --> 00:01:13.180 of her obedience. When she says to the Archangel 00:01:13.180 --> 00:01:18.280 Gabriel, she doesn't say to the Archangel Gabriel, 00:01:18.480 --> 00:01:21.299 this is my life and I want to go to college. 00:01:23.319 --> 00:01:26.640 Who are you to tell me how to live my life? Rather, 00:01:26.760 --> 00:01:34.140 she says, be unto me according to thy word. We 00:01:34.140 --> 00:01:38.579 also hold her in very high regard because she 00:01:38.579 --> 00:01:44.500 beautifully and quietly and peacefully lived 00:01:44.500 --> 00:01:53.400 into that obedience. She lived in a world like 00:01:53.400 --> 00:01:59.579 we do, a world where the kingdom of God was entering. 00:02:00.420 --> 00:02:04.739 The kingdom of God is coming. into a world that 00:02:04.739 --> 00:02:10.900 is fractured, broken, and fallen. And in that 00:02:10.900 --> 00:02:15.360 meeting of those two worlds, there is a great 00:02:15.360 --> 00:02:18.300 measure of, and the word I'm going to use is 00:02:18.300 --> 00:02:21.800 tension. Maybe there's a better word. But where 00:02:21.800 --> 00:02:25.099 the kingdom of God is coming into this fallen, 00:02:25.300 --> 00:02:28.560 fractured, broken world, there's this tension. 00:02:29.620 --> 00:02:33.909 And she lived in that tension. beautifully, peacefully, 00:02:34.169 --> 00:02:41.389 quietly. It's that place where divine glory meets 00:02:41.389 --> 00:02:45.729 human suffering. Where revelation meets rejection. 00:02:47.169 --> 00:02:55.370 Where beauty meets mess. There's a lot that we 00:02:55.370 --> 00:02:57.590 don't know, but we can imagine. We can imagine 00:02:57.590 --> 00:03:02.419 these things. That she... followed her Lord, 00:03:02.639 --> 00:03:05.979 her son, our Lord, through the valley of human 00:03:05.979 --> 00:03:10.979 misery that she saw the pool of Siloam where 00:03:10.979 --> 00:03:16.259 all the paralyzed and blind and demon -possessed 00:03:16.259 --> 00:03:19.879 and crazy people were all gathered there waiting 00:03:19.879 --> 00:03:22.379 for the waters to be stirred. And when they were 00:03:22.379 --> 00:03:25.319 stirred, they all rushed in, shoving each other 00:03:25.319 --> 00:03:26.840 and screaming at each other and cursing each 00:03:26.840 --> 00:03:29.439 other to get to the waters that were just stirred. 00:03:29.870 --> 00:03:34.310 She was there. She saw that human misery. But 00:03:34.310 --> 00:03:38.889 she also saw Zacchaeus come down from the tree. 00:03:41.250 --> 00:03:44.669 She would have heard the Sadducees, the elders, 00:03:44.810 --> 00:03:47.050 the scribes, the Pharisees, always with their 00:03:47.050 --> 00:03:49.750 envy, their anger, their vitriol toward God. 00:03:51.409 --> 00:03:56.189 But she would have also seen that woman who had 00:03:56.189 --> 00:03:58.960 that hemorrhage for 12 years. Walk away that 00:03:58.960 --> 00:04:03.419 morning with new life. She would have seen the 00:04:03.419 --> 00:04:06.500 rich young ruler. Who walked away from eternal 00:04:06.500 --> 00:04:10.219 life. Because he had many possessions. But she 00:04:10.219 --> 00:04:12.939 also would have seen the woman give her two mites. 00:04:14.580 --> 00:04:17.720 In holy week. She would have seen the anger. 00:04:17.879 --> 00:04:21.439 The hatred. The betrayal. But she also would 00:04:21.439 --> 00:04:24.860 have seen that sinful woman. Pour out her heart. 00:04:25.180 --> 00:04:29.790 Her tears. Her ointment. and dry our Lord's feet 00:04:29.790 --> 00:04:35.290 with her hair. She lived in that tension, that 00:04:35.290 --> 00:04:38.910 tension of the kingdom of God coming into this 00:04:38.910 --> 00:04:42.790 broken, fallen, you want to say like stupid world. 00:04:44.889 --> 00:04:48.009 Now, somebody could ask this. They could say, 00:04:48.170 --> 00:04:50.810 and it's actually, it's a good question. Like 00:04:50.810 --> 00:04:52.949 if the kingdom of God is coming into this broken, 00:04:52.970 --> 00:04:56.920 fractured, fallen, stupid world, Why doesn't 00:04:56.920 --> 00:05:01.759 it just overcome all of this? Like all of this 00:05:01.759 --> 00:05:06.420 injustice, all this innocent suffering. Why doesn't 00:05:06.420 --> 00:05:09.759 it just make the world what it was meant to be? 00:05:12.879 --> 00:05:15.500 The church has an answer to that question. Before 00:05:15.500 --> 00:05:19.319 I share the answer, I'm going to say two things 00:05:19.319 --> 00:05:20.860 about the answer. Well, three things about the 00:05:20.860 --> 00:05:23.259 answer. First of all, ironically, there is no 00:05:23.259 --> 00:05:27.860 answer. But I'll get to that in a moment. There 00:05:27.860 --> 00:05:30.019 are some people, maybe even many people in the 00:05:30.019 --> 00:05:32.720 world, who find the answer to be unacceptable. 00:05:35.980 --> 00:05:38.259 For those of us in the church who are in the 00:05:38.259 --> 00:05:44.079 faith, if we can catch this answer and hold it, 00:05:44.160 --> 00:05:47.180 hold it long enough so that we can appropriate 00:05:47.180 --> 00:05:49.879 our lives to it, that we can begin to live in 00:05:49.879 --> 00:05:52.939 function of it, if we can integrate it into our 00:05:52.939 --> 00:05:59.980 hearts, then we're home free. We've got it. The 00:05:59.980 --> 00:06:02.740 answer, which ironically is not an answer, is 00:06:02.740 --> 00:06:06.480 the kingdom of God coming into this world is 00:06:06.480 --> 00:06:10.879 not an answer. It's not a solution. It's not 00:06:10.879 --> 00:06:16.019 a fix. It's not a program. It's a person. It's 00:06:16.019 --> 00:06:19.180 the person who was born from the fleshy womb 00:06:19.180 --> 00:06:24.439 of the Theotokos. It's a person. who is a persecuted, 00:06:24.620 --> 00:06:29.100 crucified, risen, and glorified Messiah. It's 00:06:29.100 --> 00:06:33.519 a person who did not come into this world, nor 00:06:33.519 --> 00:06:38.060 ever will come into this world by force, bulldozing 00:06:38.060 --> 00:06:40.600 our humanity and our freedom, who doesn't come 00:06:40.600 --> 00:06:44.560 in a way of saying to fix our humanity or to 00:06:44.560 --> 00:06:47.459 erase our humanity, but to heal it, to invite 00:06:47.459 --> 00:06:53.949 us into healing our humanity. There's this tension 00:06:53.949 --> 00:06:59.970 that we live in of the kingdom of God coming 00:06:59.970 --> 00:07:04.910 at us with an invitation for healing while we 00:07:04.910 --> 00:07:10.009 live, work, breathe, eat in a fallen, broken, 00:07:10.290 --> 00:07:13.790 fractured world. And we live in that tension. 00:07:15.329 --> 00:07:22.069 That tension is the overarching structure. Of 00:07:22.069 --> 00:07:25.569 St. Matthew's gospel. The tension of the divine. 00:07:25.629 --> 00:07:30.230 And the human. And St. Matthew's gospel. We're 00:07:30.230 --> 00:07:32.569 in the season right now. Of St. Matthew's gospel. 00:07:32.829 --> 00:07:37.629 It's the summer gospel. It begins at Pentecost. 00:07:37.709 --> 00:07:39.870 Right after Pentecost. We close John's gospel. 00:07:40.050 --> 00:07:42.110 And we open Matthew's gospel. And it carries 00:07:42.110 --> 00:07:45.129 us through the summer. All the way until next 00:07:45.129 --> 00:07:47.389 month. When we celebrate the exaltation of the 00:07:47.389 --> 00:07:50.230 cross. When we then jump to Luke's gospel. But 00:07:50.230 --> 00:07:54.189 Matthew is the summer gospel that has this tension, 00:07:54.290 --> 00:07:58.970 this overarching tension of the kingdom of God 00:07:58.970 --> 00:08:01.610 coming into the world, into a fallen, broken, 00:08:01.670 --> 00:08:05.449 fractured, stupid world. And it doesn't resolve 00:08:05.449 --> 00:08:08.189 that tension, but it says, enter into that tension. 00:08:08.370 --> 00:08:13.389 There you will find Christ. There you will find 00:08:13.389 --> 00:08:18.550 the Lord in that tension. Today's gospel reading. 00:08:21.069 --> 00:08:25.290 takes place in a valley it takes place in a valley 00:08:25.290 --> 00:08:30.110 because our Lord is walking down from a mountain 00:08:30.110 --> 00:08:33.549 just a few verses before today's gospel reading 00:08:33.549 --> 00:08:39.830 our Lord was on Mount Tabor where he was transfigured 00:08:39.830 --> 00:08:42.809 with Peter James and John and the voice came 00:08:42.809 --> 00:08:44.490 from the cloud this is my beloved son whom I'm 00:08:44.490 --> 00:08:46.470 well pleased to listen to him and Moses and Elijah 00:08:46.470 --> 00:08:50.769 were there And in St. Matthew's Gospel, it says 00:08:50.769 --> 00:08:56.549 that his face shone like the sun. And his garments 00:08:56.549 --> 00:09:00.669 were dazzling white. Completely, it's called 00:09:00.669 --> 00:09:06.110 the glory of Mount Tabor. And he is transfigured, 00:09:06.129 --> 00:09:08.549 showing his divine glory. We just celebrated 00:09:08.549 --> 00:09:11.070 the feast a couple days ago, about 10 days ago. 00:09:12.009 --> 00:09:15.169 And then he's coming down the mountain with Peter, 00:09:15.190 --> 00:09:19.279 James, and John. into the valley so he goes from 00:09:19.279 --> 00:09:22.000 the glory of Tabor into the mess of the valley 00:09:22.000 --> 00:09:25.120 because when he hits the valley there is a desperate 00:09:25.120 --> 00:09:28.720 father a convulsing son a clueless disciples 00:09:28.720 --> 00:09:32.299 and a bewildered crowd from the glory of Tabor 00:09:32.299 --> 00:09:35.279 to the mess of the valley that's the tension 00:09:35.279 --> 00:09:39.820 that is there that we're invited to live in the 00:09:39.820 --> 00:09:44.559 glory in the mess and that in that space that's 00:09:44.559 --> 00:09:47.460 where we could say like The spiritual life is 00:09:47.460 --> 00:09:55.759 worked out in that tension. If you have that 00:09:55.759 --> 00:09:58.639 tension in your life now, and if you have a heartbeat, 00:09:58.879 --> 00:10:01.179 you have that tension in your life right now. 00:10:01.600 --> 00:10:06.139 It could be small, or it could be large. It could 00:10:06.139 --> 00:10:08.659 be hidden, like you're the only one that knows 00:10:08.659 --> 00:10:11.360 about it, you and maybe some friends, or it can 00:10:11.360 --> 00:10:15.250 be known, like everyone's talking about it. It 00:10:15.250 --> 00:10:20.370 could be interior, like this anger so fierce 00:10:20.370 --> 00:10:23.970 it just sits in your chest, or a depression that 00:10:23.970 --> 00:10:27.549 weighs like a stone on you, or an anxiety that 00:10:27.549 --> 00:10:31.690 just won't go away. Or it can be an exterior, 00:10:32.070 --> 00:10:35.730 a tension in a marriage, a tension in a family 00:10:35.730 --> 00:10:39.210 that's falling apart, craziness at the workplace 00:10:39.210 --> 00:10:40.990 where you're trying to live out your vocation 00:10:40.990 --> 00:10:43.169 and offer your work to the world and to God. 00:10:43.549 --> 00:10:46.149 But there's like politics and stupidity going 00:10:46.149 --> 00:10:49.629 on. Whatever that tension is, and we're all a 00:10:49.629 --> 00:10:55.809 part of that tension. Here's the good news. God 00:10:55.809 --> 00:11:00.309 is with us in that tension. And if you feel like 00:11:00.309 --> 00:11:04.409 that tension is overcoming you, it is not. You 00:11:04.409 --> 00:11:08.590 are not losing. You are in the fight. You are 00:11:08.590 --> 00:11:11.679 in the battle where you meet Christ. Not only 00:11:11.679 --> 00:11:13.460 do you meet Christ, but you discover yourself. 00:11:14.559 --> 00:11:18.600 Stripped of your pretense. Humbled by grace. 00:11:18.759 --> 00:11:21.799 And you become your authentic self. And the thing 00:11:21.799 --> 00:11:26.139 about the answer, being a person, is that because 00:11:26.139 --> 00:11:31.100 it's a person, we have, and it's the worst possible 00:11:31.100 --> 00:11:34.820 word because of our culture today and our society 00:11:34.820 --> 00:11:37.320 today. But it's the only word that we got. Because 00:11:37.320 --> 00:11:42.279 it's a person, it's... It's an invitation to 00:11:42.279 --> 00:11:45.679 relationship, to enter into relationship with 00:11:45.679 --> 00:11:49.460 that person, to enter into communion with that 00:11:49.460 --> 00:11:52.740 person. And that's the kingdom coming into the 00:11:52.740 --> 00:11:54.820 world. That's the glory of Mount Tabor in the 00:11:54.820 --> 00:11:58.899 mess. And that mess is in our lives, but so is 00:11:58.899 --> 00:12:02.720 the glory. It is not rarely given or occasionally 00:12:02.720 --> 00:12:06.039 given. It is constant in our fallen, broken. 00:12:06.909 --> 00:12:09.889 fractured, stupid world, the Gloria Tabor's around 00:12:09.889 --> 00:12:12.850 us. Just that Akathist that we're all familiar 00:12:12.850 --> 00:12:15.889 with, glory to God for all things, just read 00:12:15.889 --> 00:12:18.870 that Akathist. It's always referencing the glory 00:12:18.870 --> 00:12:21.490 of God that is in our everyday present life that 00:12:21.490 --> 00:12:25.830 we don't see. It's in this liturgy, in this gospel, 00:12:25.970 --> 00:12:28.940 in this Eucharist. It's in our family when we 00:12:28.940 --> 00:12:31.000 sit down to eat. It's in forgiveness when we 00:12:31.000 --> 00:12:33.480 offer each other that quiet moment when we forgive 00:12:33.480 --> 00:12:35.820 one another and have that exchange. It's in the 00:12:35.820 --> 00:12:38.340 beauty of, I'm from Pennsylvania, it's in the 00:12:38.340 --> 00:12:40.940 beauty of Santa Rosa, California. It's a great 00:12:40.940 --> 00:12:43.860 beauty. The glory of God is all around us in 00:12:43.860 --> 00:12:49.320 the mess. And we are invited to enter that mess 00:12:49.320 --> 00:12:52.679 to discover ourselves and discover Christ and 00:12:52.679 --> 00:12:57.059 have that communion with the crucified, persecuted, 00:12:57.629 --> 00:13:03.149 risen and glorified Lord. There's this passion 00:13:03.149 --> 00:13:06.690 prediction that's made in today's gospel. It's 00:13:06.690 --> 00:13:08.450 the second one in Matthew's gospel. He says that 00:13:08.450 --> 00:13:11.389 he's going to Jerusalem. If you were at the liturgy 00:13:11.389 --> 00:13:14.570 yesterday in San Francisco for the ordination 00:13:14.570 --> 00:13:18.929 of the bishop, we heard it in that gospel reading 00:13:18.929 --> 00:13:22.350 yesterday that Jesus sets his face to Jerusalem 00:13:22.350 --> 00:13:26.049 and he tells the disciples, When I get there, 00:13:26.110 --> 00:13:28.490 this is what's going to happen. I'll be turned 00:13:28.490 --> 00:13:30.629 over to the hands of evil men and they'll crucify 00:13:30.629 --> 00:13:37.889 me. There is a line in our liturgical worship 00:13:37.889 --> 00:13:42.509 that once you hear it, you can't unhear it. It's 00:13:42.509 --> 00:13:46.230 memorable. It's powerful. If you're ever in traffic, 00:13:46.450 --> 00:13:48.309 you can just sit there and think about it the 00:13:48.309 --> 00:13:49.990 entire time you're in traffic. I think God gave 00:13:49.990 --> 00:13:51.529 us traffic to think about the things that we 00:13:51.529 --> 00:13:54.090 hear in church. I can't think of any other reason 00:13:54.090 --> 00:13:58.830 why he would give us traffic. It's from the Feast 00:13:58.830 --> 00:14:00.529 of the Exaltation of the Cross next month, but 00:14:00.529 --> 00:14:02.909 it's also in every Resurrection of Matins on 00:14:02.909 --> 00:14:06.429 Saturday night. And when the clergy take the 00:14:06.429 --> 00:14:08.750 Eucharist back into the altar after committing 00:14:08.750 --> 00:14:12.889 the faithful, this is said, this line is, Through 00:14:12.889 --> 00:14:18.789 the cross, joy has come into all the world. Through 00:14:18.789 --> 00:14:21.990 the valley, the glory of Tabor has come into 00:14:21.990 --> 00:14:25.799 all the world. Through the cross, joy has come 00:14:25.799 --> 00:14:31.519 into all the world. As we continue to celebrate 00:14:31.519 --> 00:14:34.419 the adormition of Mary, we would affirm this. 00:14:35.440 --> 00:14:39.139 The valley did not have the final word with her. 00:14:40.460 --> 00:14:43.840 Human misery did not have the final word with 00:14:43.840 --> 00:14:48.679 her. Death did not have the final word with her. 00:14:50.600 --> 00:14:55.629 The valley... The misery, the death in our life 00:14:55.629 --> 00:15:00.230 does not have the final word because through 00:15:00.230 --> 00:15:03.389 the cross, joy has come to the world. The kingdom 00:15:03.389 --> 00:15:06.309 of God has come to us through the mess of the 00:15:06.309 --> 00:15:08.909 valley and through the mess of our lives. May 00:15:08.909 --> 00:15:12.570 we receive that glory. May we integrate it into 00:15:12.570 --> 00:15:14.649 our life. May we live in a function of it. May 00:15:14.649 --> 00:15:17.070 we appropriate it to our life so that we too 00:15:17.070 --> 00:15:20.070 can participate in the life with a capital L 00:15:20.070 --> 00:15:22.419 from which Mary gave birth to. Amen.