This sermon is an outline rather than a full text – apologies for somewhat less ease of reading! Here is the annotated page I prepared of this text, which you can open or print. 

Hebrews12AnnotatedPage

1. INTRO
   1. Clergy don’t know all of Scripture well, or equally…
   2. Hebrews is one of the parts I don’t know well.
   3. When it comes around in lectionary …., I tend to wait it out. 
   4. But last time it came around, I noticed a sentence I liked & kept it to use as a Scripture to lead us from the Peace & announcements, towards the Eucharist…. 
      1. A place in Anglican worship where it is traditional for the priest to read some short piece of Scripture. 
   5. Hebrews 12:28-29 – “Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us give thanks, by which we offer to God an acceptable worship with reverence and awe.”
      1. Printed it out, taped it to the ambo! I say it, many weeks.
   6. THIS year, when this part of Hebrews comes around – What does this mean?… 

2. Hebrews
   1. One of the letters of the Early Church
   2. Very finely written – literary
   3. Author unknown – Pauline but not Paul
      1. Priscilla? – named leader in the early church 
   4. Thinking and writing at the interface between Judaism and emergent Christianity – describing Jesus in terms of the ritual practices of the great Temple. 
   5. Hebrews is hard to teach and preach today because of its supercessionism. That big word means the belief that the Church replaces Israel and the Jews as God’s people. 
      1. Not a new branch grafted onto God’s holy tree – Paul – but a whole new tree that has taken over the old tree’s roots. 
   6. When this was written: Christians were a minority, not much power. When Christians become the politically powerful majority, a couple of centuries later, this idea starts to become very dangerous. 
      1. Gospel story – Let’s be clear that everyone here is Jewish. And Jesus’ response here is also very Jewish. 
      2. This leader is uptight because he’s uptight, not because he’s Jewish. 
         1. Friend – kids helping in worship – “sucked all the holiness right out of the room”. 
         2. Episcopalians can get a little anxious about disrupting orderly worship, even if the disruption is life-giving. 
      3. But stories like this eventually become part of Christian thinking about Judaism as superficial and legalistic, vs. Christianity as religion of the heart. 
         1. Let me be clear: that is not a distinction that holds up to scrutiny! 
   7. We have to be careful with texts like this. What do they actually say? How have they been used? 

3. Today’s passage… 
   1. Towards the end of the letter – 13 chapters – this is the “how to live” part, after the big theological argument. 
   2. I was starting somewhat from scratch 
   3. Discovered a really densely allusive text – Page!

4. Working through the page… 
   1. This passage: Contrasting two mountains. First, Sinai – where Moses received the covenant, on the wilderness journey from the book of Exodus
      1. God’s presence – fire, earthquake, storm – other places in OT, too – signs of power. 
   2. Stay away from the mountain!! Exodus 19… 
      1. Sense of terror and danger in God’s presence. 
      2. Could kill you just to see God directly! 
   3. The second mountain – Zion. 
      1. Jerusalem – City of David – 1000 years ago now – becomes an idealized image of the holy City – “the heavenly Jerusalem.” (The heavenly New York…) 
   4. The gathering at/on the mountain… Sinai: people filled with dread. Here: at my first reading, a party! “Festal gathering.”
      1. WorkingPreacher – actually this is Greek political terminology – assembly, enrollment, festal gathering – this is an alternative body politic, a renewed civil society, a divine democracy. 
         1. Different from party image – but also appealing! 
         2. God the judge – could sound scary, we’ve heard a lot about God’s judgment. But maybe positive here? 
         3. Contrast to the fear and trembling of Sinai. 
   5. “Sprinkling blood” – what? 
      1. Abel – Adam and Eve’s son killed by his brother – reference to human tendency to kill each other? 
      2. Based on practices from the wilderness Tabernacle that became part of Temple worship
         1. Animal sacrifice – blood as holy, represented life force. 
         2. Sprinkling blood as act of symbolic cleansing –  
            1. Exod 24 – Moses sprinkles the people to affirm the covenant with God.
      3. Earlier in Hebrews – ch 9 – explicit contrast of these practices and Jesus’ self-sacrifice. Blood of goats & bulls can clean people superficially, but  “How much more, then, will the blood of Christ… cleanse our consciences…, so that we may serve the living God!”
      4. I hope you are starting to notice how well this author knows the OT & how skillfully they are weaving it into their writing here! 
      5. Re: supercessionism: The text wants to say that Jesus has replaced those old ritual practices. 
         1. Thing is, Judaism ALSO emphasizes that rituals aren’t enough in themselves & need to have the right heart towards God!

4. 6. Okay, new paragraph, and a new aspect to the contrast. God’s people at Sinai struggled to listen, obey, and trust. Wilderness stories…. Call for the Christian community to do better! 
      1. Quotation – “Yet once more  I will shake not only the earth but also the heaven.” This is from the prophetic book of Haggai. (How did I find that out? Google.)
      2. Haggai – prophet during the building of the Second Temple. Minor Prophet – means we didn’t learn very much about them in seminary. 
         1. Telling the people to have confidence and trust that God will help them rebuild. 
         2. People who have been through great “shaking” – conquest, exile – next “shake” will be to your benefit! 
      3. This author’s interp – not much to do with Haggai. — “Yet once more” as pointing towards end times – everything shake-able, that is, everything earthly and tangible, will be gone, soon. 
         1. But what cannot be shaken will remain, endure. 
   7. Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken… What kingdom? 
      1. This is basically the only time Hebrews uses this word. But it’s pretty clearly alluding to Jesus’s kingdom language. Examples on page – two out of MANY. 
      2. Hard to unpack briefly! An alternative reality we can choose to step into now, and also, something beyond this world that we are promised… 
   8. One more quotation – “For indeed our God is a consuming fire.” 
      1. This is the ONLY TIME this particular Gk word appears in the NT! (How do I know THAT? Google. Well: an online concordance, which is a kind of index to all the words used in the Bible.) 
      2. BUT it is used a couple of times in the Septuagint, which is a Greek version of the Hebrew Bible. It’s the version of the Old Testament that this writer would have known. 
      3. I’m almost certain this line is a direct quote from Deuteronomy 4. 
         1. Deut – one of those parts I do know relatively well – at least the gist – because I wrote a paper on it in seminary!  
            1. Moses’ last words to the people before entering the Promised Land.  
            2. Strong theme: Choose faithfulness, choose to follow God’s ways & stick with God, as you enter this new chapter, and things will go well for you. 
            3. This passage consistent with that – a reminder that faithfulness includes not messing around wiht other gods, because our God does not like that! 
      4. So while this passage begins by saying we – as Christians – aren’t like God’s people huddled in terror below Mount Sinai, it ends on this note: we should rightly feel some awe before God.

5. So – having gone through all that – better sense of meaning – still a text I want to use liturgically? Appropriate? 
   1. 1. “Since, then…” (or, “Therefore…”) 
         1. Here, wrapping up this argument.
         2. In worship: Everything before – readings, hymns, sermon, prayers, confession – should point us towards this realization/affirmation.
      2. Since, then, we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken… 
         1. We have to bear with the mystery of the kingdom & let those layers of meaning add up over time. 
         2. “That cannot be shaken” – don’t need context – The idea of something unshakable – appealing. 
      3. Let us give thanks – Or, Let us have grace. 
         1. Charin – which is the “char” in Eucharist. 
         2. Translated as grace and as gratitude or thanks. Scope for a whole word study there!

5. 0. 4. “Let us give thanks, by which we offer to God an acceptable worship with reverence and awe. 
         1. “Acceptable” –  Gk: “well-pleasing.” Translator DB Hart – worship that delights God. 
         2. LOTS of examples in the Bible (Isaiah, recently) of worship that doesn’t please God because it’s not offered with the right state of heart or mind. 
         3. So: A call to worship with gratitude and reverence. 
      5. For indeed our God is a consuming fire! This part isn’t on the paper on the ambo… but sometimes I say it anyway!
         1. God’s generosity towards us, our response of gratitude and wonder – sometimes adding that final note of God’s powerful otherness also feels important. 
         2. Worshipping at synagogue recently – how much their worship emphasizes God’s holiness. 
            1. Kabod in Hebrew – heaviness, weight. Approaching the living God is a serious matter. 
            2. We “God is love”-type Protestants can sometimes need a little reminder of that. 

So. 

Since, then, we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken,

Let us give thanks… let us have grace… 

By which we offer God well-pleasing worship, with reverence and awe… for indeed our God is a consuming fire. 

6. Conclusion
   1. Doing this work helped me appreciate this author, their voice, their craft.  I hope for you too.
   2. Doing this work helped me go deeper into the meaning of something I say often. I hope you found some meaning too.
   3. And doing this work stirred up some of my awe, my gratitude, at being called into the presence of the Living One. At being, indeed, promised a kingdom that cannot be shaken. I hope for you too. 

St. Dunstan’s Parish survey results, June-July 2022

Thanks to all who filled out our survey about your experiences of church and Covid over the past two years! We got 50 responses. Here are some general findings and patterns. 

• The pandemic has been very very hard – but in different ways for different people. 
• It looks like Zoom worship is here to stay for the foreseeable future. People really appreciate having both in-person and Zoom options. (Though we got hints hat people can sometimes feel a little jealous of the other service. Trust us: both Zoom and in-person worship are getting all the time, attention and resources we can give!) 
• We now have somewhat separate Zoom and in-person congregations, as we used to have 8AM & 10AM congregations. 
• A lot of people want interaction. They may miss friends; they may just want to feel integrated and connected, or see what the other group is up to. We’ll be keeping an eye out and doing some experiments with gatherings and opportunities that can bring together folks from the Zoom/in-person congregations, in the months ahead. Your ideas are welcome too!
• Isolation has been tough, for lots of people. Building space to reconnect is important. Several people mentioned feeling like they had lost social skills due to the pandemic. Perhaps some lightly-structured social gatherings, like craft groups, book groups, simple service projects, game nights, etc., would be helpful doorways back into community. 
• About returning to in-person worship: 11 people said they were uncomfortable returning to in-person church because of Covid risks; 4 people said they don’t want to return because they don’t want to wear masks at church. We still have a continuum of views and risk tolerances among our members. Your parish leaders are trying to hold the best balance we can, and maintain options that allow people to participate in many different ways. 
• Music feels less important than before the pandemic to some, and more so to others. Same with Eucharist. Same with the building. Overall: Connection and participation remain important, but what and how have shifted for many folks. Perhaps this indicates how people are changing and adapting, as the church changes and adapts. How do we continue to feed our holy needs, in changed and changing circumstances? 
• People miss choir, but also it’s not clear whether it’s the highest priority, or that everyone who’s historically participated is ready to return to it. We’ll continue experiments and opportunities with shared song an music-making in the weeks and months ahead. 
• It’s OK to ask for a home visit or for someone to bring you Communion! Rev. Miranda or another visitor would be glad to make a plan with you. Some people feel reluctant or hesitant, but please ask if it’s something you want. And if you’re willing to visit people – in person or over Zoom – to chat, pray with them, perhaps bring Communion, etc., let Rev. Miranda know. 
• 94% of respondents felt a high or very high level of trust in parish leadership. 90% feel that they understand the decisions that have been taken about Covid response and mitigation. About 88% feel that their needs and feelings have been heard and considered in that decision-making. 
• This is good to hear because your leadership have been trying really hard to be worthy of your trust, listen to everyone, make the best decisions we can, and communicate clearly about what and why. We’re glad that that’s coming through. 
• That said, if you’re one of the folks who is at the lower end on those questions and you need further conversation, please reach out. You can always email . 

Prepared for Zoom worship by Sister Pamela Pranke, OPA.

Read the Amos lesson here! 

[Show a basket of summer fruit. Looks good but ripening and beginning to rot.]

Here I have a bowl of summer fruit. It’s beautiful, isn’t it? While the fruits are not from the Middle East, they represent the basket of summer fruit given in a vision by the Lord to Amos along with the words, “The end is come upon my people of Israel; I will not again pass by them anymore.”

That does sound like a dire warning, but – really, what does it have to do with a basket of summer fruit?

Let’s keep this fruit handy while listening carefully to the warnings given to Amos by the Lord, and draw some parallels for 21^st Century Christians.

Sometime, about 765 BC, the prophet Amos tried to warn the Jewish people living in the northern Kingdom of Israel that they were headed for disaster unless they made some changes to the way that they were living. As any prophet knows, the people just won’t listen.

And why should they listen, after all, like us, Israel was experiencing a time of relative prosperity as symbolized by this lovely bowl of fruit. Yet, when we look more closely, we notice that it is not as lovely as it first appeared. 

Here the skin is shriveling, this one is beginning to rot, this one has a worm.  Summer fruit, while delicious, doesn’t last long and must be examined carefully.

Amos is known as the social justice prophet sent by God to inform Israel of the rot present in their fruit, of its faults, how the Kingdom needed to change its ways to repair injustice, and to warn the people of coming disaster if they did not do so. This is also a message for us.

While the economy could be doing better, most people are doing alright, there is no famine, yet hunger exists among the poor and sick, especially among widows, children, and refugees, with a growing disparity of wealth between the ones who had and the ones who had not. 

The poor grow poorer. They are being cheated in the markets, prices are raised so the poor only grow further into debt, becoming slaves to the wealthy.

Are we like the people of ancient Israel where prosperity was available only to those who did not experience misfortune of any kind, such as illness, coming from a conquered nation, having a husband die, or being a woman or, or elderly, or a child?

Do these things really happen in the United States? 

Can you offer some examples? 

Regarding wealth, The Pew Research Organization stated that there has been an …uninterrupted increase in inequality since 1980. Income and wealth inequality in the United States is substantially higher than in almost any other developed nation, and it is on the rise, [Council of Foreign Affairs).

Despite the presence of injustice, like the people in ancient Israel, most of us are content with the general state of affairs. 

The people of Amos’ time did not want to listen to Amos so he wrote the Lord’s words down so they and us could read and study them today. We must take care that we do not make the same mistake as they did by not listening to the warning.

We, means individuals, families, churches, and our nation, that we must listen to this warning about injustice. A just society is a stable society and a stable society is a just society.

When greed for power and wealth overcome a society it begins to go bad. Like this bowl of fruit, it will look good until closer examination. That was Amos’ message. 

That is not just Amos message, it is God’s message, as well. Throughout the Old and New Testament, the Lord teaches us to live righteously. 

Christianity is a faith with defined moral rights and wrongs lived out, above all, in love. As Christians, our life ought to look like our beliefs, a life of humility, honesty, righteousness, and above all, love.

Here at St. Dunstan’s, we see that lived experience with loving actions toward those in need and care for the earth.

As individuals, each of us are called to contribute in whatever way we are called. Do for others what you have a passion to do, what you love to do. 

I have a friend who runs a dance studio, she offers scholarships for dance class to children who cannot afford the usual fee. 

I have another friend who collects Christmas gifts for abused women and their children.

 Whatever we do, do in love, do with joy, and do with the knowledge that it will not be easy, therefore, support one another in God’s work.

Amos’ warning was indeed dire. And, it is a warning given in love to help the people in ancient Israel, and now, so inevitable disaster would be avoided.

So, enjoy the summer fruit, and, do not take it for granted. It is fragile and fleeting.

As another prophet, Micah, said in Micah 6:8,

⁸ He has shown you, O mortal, what is good.
And what does the Lord require of you?
To act justly and to love mercy
and to walk humbly^[a] with your God. [NIV]