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Sermon March 10, 2019
The Rev. Rebecca S. Myers,
The Church of the Nativity and St. Stephen’s
First Sunday in Lent, Year C
Observance of Women's History Month
http://www.lectionarypage.net/YearC_RCL/Lent/CLent1_RCL.html
Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the wilderness, where for forty days he was tempted by the devil. Luke 4:1-2
Please Be Seated.
Recently I received an email through the Union of Black Episcopalians email list. It was a thank you note from The Rt. Rev. Barbara Harris. Bishop Harris was the first woman consecrated as a Bishop in the Anglican Communion. She was also the first African-American woman consecrated. She was Bishop Suffragan of the Diocese of Massachusetts until 2002. From then until now, she has also served in some other Diocese.
I first saw Bishop Harris when I lived in Washington, DC. She had accepted the request from then Bishop Chane to assist with matters in the Diocese of Washington. One day she attended the National Cathedral. People surrounded her. She is a diminutive woman and projects a mighty presence. I just stood by and listened, excited to be in her presence.
Then I saw her again at St. Stephen’s Cathedral. I was attending an ordination to the Diaconate of a number of people in our Diocese. One of my friends being ordained was Betsy Ivey. I knew Betsy from seminary and was very excited to be present at this ordination. And then I saw Bishop Harris. It turns out that Bishop Harris is a cousin of Betsy. Betsy had never said a word about that in seminary, lest people think she got special treatment because of her relative. Bishop Harris did not vest that day nor help serve. She explained that if too many Bishops were up front, the candidates might think they were being consecrated as Bishops. We all laughed.
Bishop Harris was born in Philadelphia and attended and graduated from Girls High. She joined a public relations firm at the age of 19, in 1949, and traveled all over the country. She eventually became head of public relations at Sun Oil Company.
In 1974, she was the crucifer at the “irregular” ordination to the priesthood of eleven women in Philadelphia. This ordination pushed The Episcopal Church to finally agree to ordain women. Bishop Harris was ordained a Deacon in 1979 and Priest in 1980.
Bishop Harris has been an activist all of her life. She participated in the march from Selma to Montgomery. She advocated strongly for the inclusion of all people in the life of the church.
Yet, her consecration was marred by death threats and obscene messages – and this was prior to our world of social media. Boston police officers were assigned to protect her. She was encouraged to wear a bulletproof vest for her consecration, but declined to do so. A group of Episcopal churches left the denomination and formed their own church group.
She is now 88 years old and on the 30th anniversary of her ordination, she wrote thanks for the privilege of serving as Bishop, not only in Massachusetts, but in other places in The Episcopal Church.
It wasn’t easy being the first woman and first African-American Bishop. Can you imagine receiving death threats or having police officers at your consecration? Yet, Bishop Harris stayed true to her call from God, despite the threat of danger and loss of life.
In our Gospel today, we hear once again about how Jesus was tempted by Satan for 40 days. Jesus was in the wilderness. We don’t know all of Satan’s temptations throughout those days. We do hear about three that deal with the temptation of power, the temptation of food or daily sustenance, and the temptation to test God. Many of these temptations do hold true today.
And I also believe we face temptations not mentioned in our Gospel. One I thought about this week is the temptation of complacency.
Complacency is defined as being unusually pleased with ourselves or being smug. We feel like we have it made and all is right with the world. When people are complacent, they are unaware of dangers or deficiencies in their thinking. In many ways complacency is about being out of touch with reality.
Complacency is a tough temptation to address, I think. It’s really great to think we have made it on our own and through our own merits. We don’t want to be bothered with the facts that there is more to success than our effort. Race, gender, and class all play into success by societal standards.
Complacency tempts us to be lazy. There is no crisis regarding our natural environment. Racism has disappeared and doesn’t affect us any longer; people are judged on their character. Women and men are equal and have equal opportunity and maybe women are doing lots better than men, even. And if some people live in poverty, it is their own fault. We work hard so we won’t be poor.
All of these statements belie the facts and data. That’s the problem with complacency. Facing the truth and not succumbing to the Temptation of Complacency, requires action on our part. As followers of Jesus Christ, we are called to create a world that honors and respects the dignity of every human being. We are called to treat our neighbors as ourselves. We are called to justice in the world as God sees justice.
Complacency hides us from the work we are called to do.
Bishop Harris could have been tempted by complacency. She had a great job and career. Yet she gave it up to become a priest. She could have stayed a priest, yet she accepted the call to be a Bishop. Wouldn’t it have been easier for her to stay where she was before becoming a priest? The Episcopal Church is fortunate that she did not succumb to the temptation of complacency.
In her February 13 email this year, Bishop Harris said,
It has been an honor and a privilege to serve and to continue to be helpful on occasion in retirement when called upon here and in other areas of the church.
At age 88 I can only humbly say, thank you for your continued prayers and support, and thanks be to God.
In a 2017 interview she stated she was writing a book about her life. Each chapter begins with a Bible verse or verse of a hymn. The last chapter begins with this verse from a Gospel Hymn:
I don’t feel no ways tired.
I’ve come too far from where I started from.
Nobody told me the road would be easy,
but I don’t believe he brought me this far to leave me.
May we, like Bishop Harris, not be tempted by complacency.
Amen
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barbara_Harris_(bishop)#cite_note-USNews-2
Email received from Union of Black Episcopalians February 13, 2019
Interview with Bishop Barbara Harris: https://www.episcopalchurch.org/library/article/qa-bishop-suffragan-barbara-harris-says-people-have-got-live-boldly
