Loading...Isaiah 58:6-12; Psalm 15; Galatians 6:1-2; Luke 18:18-30
Lessons for the Feast of St. Martin of Tours
This is opening Eucharist of Convention. It is the day of Ben Badgett’s ordination to the Sacred Order of Deacons. This day used to be called Armistice Day as well, when at the eleventh hour on the eleventh day of the eleventh month the Allied Powers kept a moment of silence to honor the laying down of armaments in 1918, which brought an end to what was innocently called The Great War, which was to end all wars. Unknown to Woodrow Wilson, it was also the feast of a soldier saint who had foresworn the use of violence.
Martin was born around 330 C.E. in what is now Hungary. He grew up in Pavia, Italy. His father was in the Roman imperial army, and Martin himself entered the officer corps. While serving he heard the good news of the Gospel and became a catechumen, embarking on a three-year journey leading to his baptism.
One day he met a beggar, who asked for help in the name of Christ. Martin used his military sword to redistribute his own property to the poor man—he cut his military great cloak in two, and gave half to the beggar.
Legend has it that the next night Jesus appeared to Martin clothed in the half-cloak, and said to him, "Martin the Catechumen covered me with this clothing." Martin saw that the cloak-less poor man was Jesus with whom he had shared. Shortly after this vision he was baptized and later asked to be discharged, because he felt, as a soldier for Christ, he could no longer be in a position requiring him to do violence to another. His initial request was denied, though he was allowed to serve as something like a fourth century witness for peace who stood between opposing lines, observing that the rules of war were observed. He later was discharged, and his journey took him to Tours, where he was chosen to serve as a bishop.(adapted from a homily by Father Grant Gallup).
For our time together this weekend as a diocese discerning our mission, and as a future priest receives diaconal ordination, Martin’s witness can inspire and challenge us. In short, he used a sword to divide his property, but he would not use his sword against another person created in God’s image. He used his sword to provide for the poor. And he teaches us that in the poor Christ is found.
At least two namesakes come to mind: Martin Luther calling the Church to see herself totally dependent upon grace, and Martin Luther King Jr. who also said the sword must only be used as Isaiah proclaims:
- to loose the bonds of injustice,
- to let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke?
What a thrilling challenge to our diocese, and to the ordinand!
Legend says that Martin gave half his cloak to one who had none. According to our gospel reading from Luke, Jesus taught a wealthy man to sell all he had and give it to the poor, if he wanted to be a disciple. What is Jesus calling us to in this diocesan community that will free us to live out a more radical discipleship? Is how we create budgets and manage money and buildings and land key to breaking certain yokes that hold us back? If we are honest, we won’t hesitate to say yes.
Tomorrow’s address will touch on several priorities that have come from the diocesan community during my visits and conversations with you. But first, this liturgy for the ordination of a deacon brings us back to one of Jesus’ primary teachings. Whoever would be great in God’s kingdom must become a servant and slave to all. And more than a teaching, it was how he lived and died, emptying himself, taking the form of a servant.
And it is this holy emptying we must undergo before moving forward with a renewed sense of mission. At every Eucharist we proclaim the Paschal Mystery, the Mystery of faith: Christ has died, Christ is risen, Christ will come again. Ben, in a profound sense, you die to many things today in order to be raised by Christ to a new life of service that is entrusted to you until Christ comes again. Perhaps what we most need in these days is to die to attitudes, fears, particularly the fear of scarcity, and to structures that have served us well in the past but today are actually robbing us of life. Servanthood is that sword of Martin that separates us from unhealthy attachments and frees to serve the poor, which is really serving Jesus.
This Paschal dying and rising shatters arrogance and self-confidence in us and the Church (Bishop Frank T Griswold, faithandleadership.com). We are raised by the Holy Spirit to become more authentic disciples, concerned far more about loving God with all our being and our neighbors the same way. One of the biggest challenges most dioceses and parishes and baptized and ordained leaders face is how to get back to being servants. By grace, we will take that journey together in the diocese. And by grace, the newly ordained will join us.
So Ben, my brother: this is a great day for the Church! A great day for this diocese! You have prayed for and worked towards this day, both anticipating and every-so-often dreading a bit this day. And it is quite likely at one point in this liturgy you cast a quick glance around looking for the closet exit. (At my episcopal ordination I located a trap door in the floor exactly six steps away from my seat and don’t ask how I knew it was exactly six steps away!)
This is as it should be, for we should experience holy fear as we offer ourselves to the paschal mystery of dying and rising. An ordination is one of those moments that reminds us that we are rarely prepared to surrender to God. Yet the glorious truth is that we need only say, “Here I am Lord” and God will do the rest.
You come to this moment having been formed by family and friends, mentors lay and ordained, and by the multitude of ways God has fed and led you through events and challenges, successes and obstacles through the years. And such formation will continue in exactly the same ways.
Blessed Martin calls you, and us, to wield the sword of righteousness to provide for the poor. To shatter the chains which bind, and call the church to regularly die and rise, that we might become more effective and humble servants. Use the sword of grace to cut through the false messages that enslave God’s people and plunge us into darkness of self-centered and apathy. By your life and words shed light, preach Christ the hope of the world, and call those on the margins to the Eucharistic Table and to take part in the Church’s mission.
This is a great day for you. It is a great day for the Church. It is a great day for your bishop.
God bless and disturb you, always.
