Following the commandments Fr. David Lowell

In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the

Holy Spirit. Glory to Jesus Christ. Glory to

the Father. We heard the words of the gospel,

and let's determine in our hearts that we will

hear these words with joy. And the last words

that we heard were, Be merciful as your Father

is merciful. Now my voice comes and goes. Please

excuse that. It'll go and come back. These words

are from the sixth chapter of Luke, and they

really parallel what's in the Sermon on the Mount,

also in Matthew. In Matthew, we heard this, it

was in June, and it's a familiar verses. The

Lord says, therefore do not worry, saying, what

shall we eat, or what shall we drink, or what

shall we wear? For all these things your Heavenly

Father knows that you need. But seek first the

kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all

these things shall be added to you. We know that

the Lord has given us talents. Each one of us

has gifts and competencies and abilities, and

we are given these talents to use. and we use

these if we seek first the kingdom of God and

his righteousness, and we use our talents, then

God grants the increase. And this is how he makes

sure that we have what we need. I was in a parish

once in a farming community, and this farmer

was telling me, he was a rancher, That he had

just bought, right before I got there, a $3 ,000

bull. And lightning struck it and killed it.

He was out $3 ,000. And he just prayed to God.

He said, Lord, I'm trying to do the best I can.

This is in your hands. You're going to have to

make it work. I'll do my part. You are just going

to have to. Grant the increase. And he says,

I have everything I need. My farm has paid off.

I have a good job. I do the day. I got some cattle.

I'm not as rich as I sometimes imagine I would

like to be. But I don't lack for anything. And

then he's just reminding himself to continue

to do what he does. And God grants the increase.

So the Lord says, seek first the kingdom of God.

He was telling me that's what he's doing. And

his righteousness, in which he understood that

whatever God has given me, if I use it rightly,

I'm seeking God's righteousness, and God grants

the increase. In Matthew, and then again, in

the verses that follow this verse, and we didn't

read them today, the Lord says, judge not. and

you shall not be judged. Condemn not, and you

shall not be condemned. Forgive, and you will

be forgiven. Give, and it will be given to you.

Good measure, pressed down, shaken together,

running over, will be put into your bosom. For

with the same measure that you use, it will be

measured back to you. So this is... our practice

in which we seek first the kingdom of God and

we seek his righteousness through us. And what

does he ask us to do? This is the end of the

sermon. It's the end of the gospel text that

we heard today. It's the end of the sermon as

well. He says, therefore be merciful just as

your Father also is merciful. We are blessed

in this parish to be surrounded with brothers

and sisters who take these gospel words seriously,

who do seek the kingdom of God, who do seek his

righteousness, who are merciful, who do bless

us. And in this context in which we receive Can

we even keep up? Can we give our part, however

big or little that may be? But the bigger question

for us is can we do it beyond this parish where

we don't have the continuous reinforcement? Because

we are blessed here. And we are blessed for a

purpose that we carry this blessing in us and

carry it in the way that we are in the world.

If any rector of any experience has heard people

say, Father, I think the parish needs to do this,

some service project, or this, some activist

need, they typically are saying something that

they need to do, and they want the parish to

do it. But it's something that God is putting

in their heart, that they need to do, not everyone

else. So this is what we seek. We seek to do,

we seek the kingdom of God and to do his righteousness

and to be merciful one to another. So that's

the task that's within our power. The last judgment,

this was the encouraging news. When he said,

I was hungry and you fed me, he didn't say, and

you solved world hunger. You just did what was

in your power to do. And it's in our power to

be merciful one to another and to give thanks

to God for all things. Glory to Jesus Christ.