{"id":637707,"date":"2023-05-15T09:24:11","date_gmt":"2023-05-15T13:24:11","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"2026-08-10T10:54:38","modified_gmt":"2026-08-10T14:54:38","slug":"proximate-pentecost-2-a-june-11-2023","status":"publish","type":"sermon","link":"https:\/\/staging.episcopalchurch.org\/es\/sermons\/proximate-pentecost-2-a-june-11-2023\/","title":{"rendered":"Proximate, Proper 5 (A) \u2013 2023"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-text-color has-green-color has-alpha-channel-opacity has-green-background-color has-background is-style-wide\"\/>\n\n\n\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" frameborder=\"0\" height=\"200\" scrolling=\"no\" src=\"https:\/\/playlist.megaphone.fm\/?e=DFMS9932578439&#038;light=true\" width=\"100%\"><\/iframe>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-text-color has-green-color has-alpha-channel-opacity has-green-background-color has-background is-style-wide\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>[RCL] Genesis 12:1-9; Psalm 33:1-12; Romans 4:13-25; Matthew 9:9-13, 18-26<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image alignright size-large is-resized\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/staging.episcopalchurch.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/P2-2023-Cover-FB-1024x536.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-287712\" style=\"width:512px;height:268px\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Bryan Stevenson, author of <em>Just Mercy<\/em>, which is now a movie, if you\u2019re not the book-reading type, tells people that what called him into his work was \u201cgetting proximate.\u201d Stevenson works with prisoners who are on death row \u2013 work he was introduced to in graduate school. He describes being a student at Harvard and beginning work with a law firm \u2013 the Southern Center for Human Rights in Atlanta.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">His first assignment was to talk with a man on death row \u2013 simply informing him that there had been a stay of execution in the case, meaning that this man would not be killed at the date that had been given to him. Stevenson recounts that as he gave this news \u2013 what seemed a tiny piece of information \u2013 the man had tears in his eyes. He asked for Stevenson to repeat what he\u2019d just heard, to make sure his ears weren\u2019t deceiving him.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Stevenson recounts that this encounter changed him. Prisoners on death row weren\u2019t prisoners anymore \u2013 not a faceless mass of criminals \u2013 but people. There were stories and names and faces and whole lives lived before the crime for which they had been convicted. Stevenson says that what changed him was this proximity.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Getting proximate seems to be, if not a cure-all, a game-changing thing to do. When we are close to \u201cthe other,\u201d however that otherness manifests, we are changed by the relationship \u2013 changed by the encounter. We\u2019ve all read stories about people changed by friendships they have across lines of race or socioeconomics or geographical borders. The power of an individual story can\u2019t be denied when we are up close to it.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">From this lens, it\u2019s no wonder that Jesus chose to hang out with tax collectors and sinners. He got proximate. Our teacher shows us the way we are to live \u2013 to hang out with all kinds of folks, but most especially those who are on the margins of society \u2013 those who are judged and misunderstood and \u201cnogood.\u201d Our teacher eats with them because it\u2019s on these margins that the gospel is most alive \u2013 and that God is most needed. As Jesus puts it, those who are well have no need of a physician.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">So, how do we do it? How do we get proximate to the heartache of the world? A lot of the time, it\u2019s going to mean leaving our church pews. Often, those who sit near us in church are somewhat like us \u2013 perhaps they\u2019re bound to us by having kids the same age, or by having similar career paths, or by both serving on the vestry. With whom are you not usually in contact? Who\u2019s at the gas station in need of a hot meal or overwhelmed with childcare on Sunday morning? Who was out too late last night to wake up in time for service? Who\u2019s serving time in the nearest prison? These are the people with whom Jesus calls us into deeper relationship.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">From a place of relationship, we are transformed. We are made into the new creation that God wishes for us \u2013 changed into something more closely resembling true love. Jesus says that he desires mercy, not sacrifice. We cannot truly understand mercy without sacrificing our judgment, leaving self-righteousness behind in our walk of discipleship. Bryan Stevenson says very simply that, \u201ceach of us is more than the worst thing we\u2019ve ever done.\u201d He can say it not because he is delusional about human nature, not because he imagines us to be saints, but because he knows us to be sinners. He has seen the humanity in those whom we have condemned to a life behind bars. He has seen himself in those who are called, simply, \u201ccriminals.\u201d&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In this morning\u2019s gospel, when the Pharisees ask the disciples, \u201cWhy does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?\u201d they meant it to be shaming. They meant it to be embarrassing. They meant to say, \u201cWhy isn\u2019t he hanging out with us \u2013 the important people? If he\u2019s important, he should be paying mind to us.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But Jesus stays true to his calling. He isn\u2019t swayed by the self-importance of the Pharisees. He isn\u2019t tempted into putting himself above anyone else. He knows that there is little difference between the Pharisees and the tax collectors \u2013 the only difference was one of ego. One group knew their need of God \u2013 the other didn\u2019t.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Jesus says he comes to call not the righteous but sinners \u2013 and the good news is that\u2019s us! Sin isn\u2019t confined to those who have broken the law or to those who are different from us. We, too, are sinners. When we get proximate to those who are different from us, what falls away is judgment, allowing us to see how God is working in their lives, and wonder anew about how God might be working in our own.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">We are invited in the gospel to check our ego at the door, to get close to those about whom we have judgments, to remember that they \u2013 and we! \u2013 are more than the worst things anyone has ever done. Amen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>This sermon was written by <strong>the Rev. Jazzy Bostock<\/strong>. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-file\"><a id=\"wp-block-file--media-f682421b-dfe3-4e23-8f8f-9bd423efb5f8\" href=\"https:\/\/staging.episcopalchurch.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/Sermon-Proper-5A-English.docx\">Word \u2013 Proper 5 (A) Sermon<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/staging.episcopalchurch.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/Sermon-Proper-5A-English.docx\" class=\"wp-block-file__button wp-element-button\" download aria-describedby=\"wp-block-file--media-f682421b-dfe3-4e23-8f8f-9bd423efb5f8\">Download<\/a><\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-file\"><a id=\"wp-block-file--media-273dfad4-176e-44a4-a944-38ab6c466874\" href=\"https:\/\/staging.episcopalchurch.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/Sermon-Proper-5A-English.pdf\">PDF \u2013 Proper 5 (A) Sermon<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/staging.episcopalchurch.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/Sermon-Proper-5A-English.pdf\" class=\"wp-block-file__button wp-element-button\" download aria-describedby=\"wp-block-file--media-273dfad4-176e-44a4-a944-38ab6c466874\">Download<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>[RCL] Genesis 12:1-9; Psalm 33:1-12; Romans 4:13-25; Matthew 9:9-13, 18-26 Bryan Stevenson, author of Just Mercy, which is now a movie, if you\u2019re not the book-reading type, tells people that what called him into his work was \u201cgetting proximate.\u201d Stevenson works with prisoners who are on death row \u2013 work he was introduced to in&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":201212,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_tec_requires_first_save":true,"_kad_blocks_custom_css":"","_kad_blocks_head_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_body_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_footer_custom_js":"","_EventAllDay":false,"_EventTimezone":"","_EventStartDate":"","_EventEndDate":"","_EventStartDateUTC":"","_EventEndDateUTC":"","_EventShowMap":false,"_EventShowMapLink":false,"_EventURL":"","_EventCost":"","_EventCostDescription":"","_EventCurrencySymbol":"","_EventCurrencyCode":"","_EventCurrencyPosition":"","_EventDateTimeSeparator":"","_EventTimeRangeSeparator":"","_EventOrganizerID":[],"_EventVenueID":[],"_OrganizerEmail":"","_OrganizerPhone":"","_OrganizerWebsite":"","_VenueAddress":"","_VenueCity":"","_VenueCountry":"","_VenueProvince":"","_VenueState":"","_VenueZip":"","_VenuePhone":"","_VenueURL":"","_VenueStateProvince":"","_VenueLat":"","_VenueLng":"","_VenueShowMap":false,"_VenueShowMapLink":false,"_tribe_blocks_recurrence_rules":"","_tribe_blocks_recurrence_description":"","_tribe_blocks_recurrence_exclusions":"","_kad_post_transparent":"","_kad_post_title":"","_kad_post_layout":"","_kad_post_sidebar_id":"","_kad_post_content_style":"","_kad_post_vertical_padding":"","_kad_post_feature":"","_kad_post_feature_position":"","_kad_post_header":false,"_kad_post_footer":false,"_kad_post_classname":"","ep_exclude_from_search":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[43,52,33,3],"tags":[98],"class_list":["post-637707","sermon","type-sermon","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sermons","category-sermons-that-work","category-the-season-after-pentecost","category-worship-and-prayer-menu","tag-proper-5a"],"acf":[],"taxonomy_info":{"category":[{"value":43,"label":"Sermons"},{"value":52,"label":"Sermons That Work"},{"value":33,"label":"The Season After Pentecost"},{"value":3,"label":"worship_and_prayer_menu"}],"post_tag":[{"value":98,"label":"Proper 5A"}]},"featured_image_src_large":false,"author_info":[],"comment_info":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.episcopalchurch.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/sermon\/637707","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.episcopalchurch.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/sermon"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.episcopalchurch.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/sermon"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/staging.episcopalchurch.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/sermon\/637707\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3477361,"href":"https:\/\/staging.episcopalchurch.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/sermon\/637707\/revisions\/3477361"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.episcopalchurch.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=637707"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.episcopalchurch.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=637707"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.episcopalchurch.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=637707"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}