As they have for many people, vows have been on my mind this week. First for me was a three-day retreat for clergy, with ordination vows the theme. Then it was Valentines’ Day which got me thinking about wedding vows and other vows couples make to each other.
And now here we are on the sixth Sunday after the Epiphany, when Jesus talks about not vows but blessings and curses. Unlike the gospel of Matthew where the poor are softened into the poor in spirit, Luke just calls it out.
This reminds me of a young adult group that foundered on age limits, and began including the young at heart. Young at heart, a term fond among Sinatra fans, means... what? Who does that not include? With the gospel of Matthew, we have the challenge of asking what it means to be poor in spirit: who hasn't been, some time or other? Or do we lack compassion for the downhearted? No. But Luke challenges us directly and concretely to consider something not only psychological but political and physical.
From the quiet poverty of the seldom seen to the all too often seen panhandlers on street corners, undocumented laborers seeking a day's hire as they wait in a park, the people whose insurance has been cancelled, those who have lost everything in a fire, or in a divorce, or just through a concatenation of circumstances, there are those among us who are poor in spirit and body, both.
And what is the challenge to us? We are among them, ourselves individually sometimes, as the body of Christ all the time. But let us look at happier things, still challenging: all those vows.
Some of them are really long: I will refer you to the Book of Common Prayer for ordination vows.
Some of them are written by happy couples for each other. Some couples as they wed recite vows that would've been familiar to Thomas Cranmer (himself married twice).
And then before and behind the ordination vows and many others, are the vows of baptism.
What do these vows have in common? Loyalty, trust, good intentions, failure, success, forgiveness, and dependence on the grace of God for their fulfillment. We do the best we can. We fail. We pick ourselves up. We say sorry. We forgive each other. We learn, and we carry on. Hoping next time to do better.
Another thing these vows have in common is permanence, or at least longevity. We hope to stay faithful to God for a lifetime, following Christ on the Way of Life. We hope to keep covenant with our spouse, and love our children. We hope to sustain those newly baptized, or ordained, or married, in their own vows.
All of these are under the mercy, under the covering protection of a loving God. And so all of them are, in a sense, reflections of the covenants God has made with his people. Some of them, according to the Bible, are pretty explicit. Whether you feel covered by those or not, you know that God has called us to faith based on the promise of mercy and grace from the one in whom we have our being.
When was the last time you saw a rainbow? I’d kind of hoped for one on Friday afternoon. Before that, September? August? And what did it mean to you? I’m recalling in the story of Noah that God promised no more water - and set a rainbow in the heavens as a sign of his covenant.
Several times in the Old Testament a covenant between God and his people is announced: the promise that after the Babylonian Captivity the people would be restored to the land of promise, the Holy Land of ancient Israel.
And perhaps most vividly the promise to Abraham that he would be the father of nations, and that they would bring the glory of God to all people.
And in the Christmas and Epiphany readings we hear the song of Zechariah and its prophecy that the redemption of Israel was coming; a promise echoed by the prophet Anna and holy Simeon at the Presentation of our Lord in the Temple.
And Jesus’ promise to the Good Thief, today you will be with me in Paradise. All these promises, reflecting in a sense the same thing: the grace and glory, the peace and the fullness of life under the mercy of God.
Our vows, to each other, to our church, to ourselves, echo the promises of God - promises that beyond human failure find their fulfillment, ultimately in the consummation of time, or even immediately in a kind word or a changed heart, or a providential blessing or intervention that sustains us in life and hope.
Our vows to each other, in marriage; our vows to the church, at baptism or confirmation or ordination - or the renewal of vows at Easter, and the vows to ourselves, however private, all reflect and depend upon the grace of God, the gift already given, of his merciful abundance.
May the Lord who has given us the will to do these things give us the grace and power to perform them.
We may be poor. We may be poor in spirit. We may be giddily blessed or feeling forsaken. But always God is with us. The God who made us is the God who redeems us is the God whose spirit infuses us with grace and mercy, forgiveness and wisdom, as we move forward through life. Challenges await, as we well know. So do love and hope and faith, these three: and among them what abides, always, is love.
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16 February 2025
Sixth Sunday after the Epiphany
● Jeremiah 17:5-10
● 1 Corinthians 15:12-20
● Luke 6:17-26
● Psalm 1
Episcopal Church of Saint Matthew, Tucson. Sunday 16 February 2025. 8 & 10:30am. JRL+
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