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7/29/2019 Sermon "A Great Satanic Illusion" - Alan NealeSunday
March 17th 2013The Church of the Holy Trinity, Philadelphia
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Sermon preached at The Church of the Holy TrinityRittenhouse
Square, PhiladelphiaOn Sunday March 17th 2013
The Reverend Alan NealeA Great Satanic Illusion
The title for todays sermon is A Great Satanic Illusion it is
the fifth and final sermonin a Lenten series based on Julie Otsukas
book The Buddha in the Attic. We haveconsidered the Seduction, the
Power, the Isolation of Illusion and, last week, the Escape
from Illusion. I am proud to have shared this series with
Marissa and Richard - they havepreached with eloquence, with
passion and with authenticity.
In the book, Japanese mail order brides are shipped to America
their expectation ofcompassionate and caring men, their hopes for
marriages where they are respected andtheir talents and skills
valued is all an illusion an awful, tragic illusion.
Towards the end of the book Ms. Otsuka describes the way in
which the Japanese, manyAmerican citizens, are again shipped off to
camps during the Second World War; theirvery existence becomes an
illusion.
Very rarely did they ever hear you are welcome and I believe
this speaks to what is agreat Satanic illusion of the soul you are
not welcome, you have no home.
The Epic Church speaks of stuffy people in stuffy churches where
they have not heard,You are welcome.
Handsome baby Andrew was in church a few weeks ago, he cried as
babies do and evenin a communion line his mother was told, Cant you
shut that baby up. You agree, arather strident You are not
welcome.
And in the late 19th century NINA signs appeared Help Wanted, No
Irish Need Apply!
To be refused admission, barred entry, offered no welcome
strikes right at the deepest,the profoundest aspect of the human
heart. It creates hurt and trauma, often tears andoften physical
pain, and sometimes paranoia and anger leading to a violent
andunbridled response.
This is, I believe, a Great Satanic Illusion the whispering,
seductive, persuasive voicethat insinuates itself into our minds
and hearts. You are not welcome in the plans, thepeople, the heart
of God.
First, consider the plans ofGod that are always good, productive
and protected. Assome consider their future, a voice will come
(sometimes as an interior voice but moreoften expressed by people
and institutions that should know better) a voice will come you are
not welcome!
But, the prophet Isaiah (chapter 43) declares without hesitation
you, I are welcome in thefuture, the plan, the economy of God I am
about to do a new thing there will beways in the wilderness there
will be rivers in the desert.
You are not welcome oh yes, I am!
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7/29/2019 Sermon "A Great Satanic Illusion" - Alan NealeSunday
March 17th 2013The Church of the Holy Trinity, Philadelphia
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Second, consider the community of God that at its best, at its
most authentic offerswelcome, radical hospitality to all. The
woman, named Mary, in todays Gospel (John 12)approaches Jesus but
is scorned, ridiculed, ostracized by the disciples. In utter
adoration,pure worship, almost intimate reverence Mary takes costly
pure nard to anoint the feetof Jesus and then wipes his feet with
her hair womens hair seen in Bible times asspeaking to that which
is intimate, sensual.
Jesus receives, welcomes the gift (maybe embarrassed a little),
receives the act of love
and then commands the disciples, Leave her alone and, as Matthew
records (26:10),Jesus continues, She has done a beautiful thing for
me.
You are not welcome oh yes I am!
And consider the very heart of God that throbs, pulsates, beats
for His creation. Paulis the persecutor par excellence of the
Christians he does it with zeal, with efficiencyand with energy.
This arch enemy of the Christian church, treated with
understandablesuspicion by some of the early Christians; this
maniac who harassed the church withobsession he now enjoys a place
in the very heart of God. Philippians 3, he writes ofknowing Jesus
as MY Lord becoming like Jesus and of Christ Jesus making me
his
own.
Personal experience, painful memories and doubtless persistent
rebuff by the earlyChurch could easily have combined to convince
Paul that he was not welcome in theheart and life God but he was
wrong, resoundingly wrong, and so he sings literary songsof Gods
love and writes lyrical praises of Gods grace.
You are not welcome oh yes I am.
Experiences of the women (and men) as Japanese in a foreign land
can be summed up,summarized, encapsulated in this wretched
reception, You are not welcome you haveno future, no community and
you surely have no place in the heart and soul of what isgenuinely
American.
Overnight they began to look at us differently page 85
They learned when to go swimming Mondays only page 77.
And yet they bravely and resolutely somehow survived and to the
statement You arenot welcome they resoundingly, almost with one
voice, respond, though sometimeswith a whisper Oh yes I am; Oh yes
we are.
The church, out of step with the heart of God, has often told
racial minorities you arenot welcome, it has often dared to speak
the same message to women, to gays, to theoppressed, the invisible
and the those who make us feeljust downright uncomfortable.
And from somewhere even those who come regularly to the table
hear the samemessage, You are not welcome. Would you believe
it?
It occurs to me that a hypocrite is the person who refuses to
welcome the shadow side,the awful secret, the repressed aspect of
her or his soul, psyche the very deepest oftheir being.
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7/29/2019 Sermon "A Great Satanic Illusion" - Alan NealeSunday
March 17th 2013The Church of the Holy Trinity, Philadelphia
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And to such a person, I ask And hows that working for you?
Haruko left a tiny laughing brass Buddha up high, in a corner of
the attic, where he isstill laughing to this day of course he is
laughing, he has found his place where he issecure. How much have
we laughed recently?
You are welcome, I am welcome to share in the future, the
community, the heart of
God anything other voice is a great satanic illusion. Believe
it! Amen.
