Jesus said, “For this I was born, and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone who belongs to the truth listens to my voice." Pilate later asked him, “What is truth?”

When my daughters and I lived together in Manhattan back in the mid-nineties, there was a certain night of the week that we considered ‘family time.’ We sat down to dinner together, didn’t answer the phone and we actually talked to each other. Well - we ate while sitting on the couch and we talked during the commercials of our favorite TV show which was our designated sacred time together. The show was the X-files which had the great tag line, “The truth is out there.”

But, what is truth?

In the movie, A Few Good Men, Col. Jessup, played by Jack Nicholson, gets called to task for a death that happened at his command post. He is asked to tell the truth. “The truth!” he yells out. “You can’t handle the truth.”

But, what is truth?

The vestry met a couple of weeks ago and struggled to find the right words to express ‘the truth’ about what or who St. Gregory’s was or is or is becoming.

But, what is truth?

This speaking the truth – or about truth – is not easy. We may all have different ideas, viewpoints concerning truth. Is it reality, accuracy, honesty, integrity, sincerity?

When Pilate encountered Jesus on the day of the trial, there was a brief opening where Pilate could have taken a look at himself, his behavior, his lifestyle – and in that self-examination he might have found an opportunity for transformation – a new reality – a new life. But Pilate was stuck in his image of kingly power and the trappings of the Roman ‘good life.’ No doubt he probably wanted to be remembered for his great deeds. And the truth, the reality is that he is remembered but ironically it is because every Sunday his name is recited in the creed when we say Jesus, “suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died and was buried.”

There is the truth about Jesus, who as Rabbi and prophet, dared to tell people that being enslaved to power, treating others badly, living a life only focused on oneself was not what God wanted. He taught about and lived out a radical life of unconditional love and, he knowingly and willingly put himself on a path which he knew could lead to his death because he refused to be silent in the face of opposition.

And there is the truth about ourselves that we must face.

Paul wrote to the church in Ephesus about truth: “God wants us to grow up, to know the whole truth and tell it in love—like Christ in everything. We take our lead from Christ, who is the source of everything we do. “

Some truths are really hard to hear: Your job is not working out. Your body is failing you. This relationship is over. Or, as in my case, “Mom, sometimes we think you love the poor more than you love us.”

Truth can be taking a hard look, facing the reality about ourselves – truth spoken in love tells it like it is to someone who needs to hear it. Self-examination from time to time is good for our well-being…to look who we are and how we act. One of my favorite questions for reflection is, “Am I really who I say I am?”

But another way of looking at the truth about our lives is to ask how do we proclaim Jesus as the sovereign who guides our lives? If Jesus is ‘king’ of your life, what does that mean? If Jesus Christ is not king of your life, who or what is?

The truths that Jesus calls us to always have to do with way of treating power, possessions and people.

Theologian Walter Brueggemann writes that the "truth evidenced in Jesus is not an idea, not a concept, not a formulation, not a fact. It is rather a way of being in the world in suffering and hope, so radical and so raw that we can scarcely entertain it." Would people say that about the way we live our lives?

And, as we know from the Gospels, there can be a tremendous cost when we speak the truth in love. In the very basic day-to-day living, telling the truth can cost us a relationship. Doing an intervention with someone who is suffering from addiction is telling the truth in love but if the person cannot or will hear not receive the truth, the relationship can die.

One year before his death, Martin Luther King, Jr. preached at Riverside Church in New York. The title of his sermon was ““Beyond Vietnam” Well worth reading. In that sermon he spoke of the agony of telling the truth.

“Some of us who have already begun to break the silence of the night have found that the calling to speak is often a vocation of agony, but we must speak. We are called to speak for the weak, for the voiceless, for victims of our nation and for those it calls enemy. I am convinced that if we are to get on the right side of the world revolution, we as a nation must undergo a radical revolution of values. We must rapidly begin the shift from a "thing-oriented" society to a "person-oriented" society. When machines and computers, profit motives and property rights are considered more important than people, the giant triplets of racism, materialism, and militarism are incapable of being conquered.”

He spoke a truth about our society which is still a reality today.

Bishop Sisk, in his remarks at diocesan convention yesterday, spoke of witnessing, of telling the truth.

After talking at length about the challenges facing the diocese Bishop Sisk said, “In the light of an on-going and perhaps accelerating environmental crisis, of interminable wars, in face of an economic crisis, in the light of global forces, that in their tedious and overwhelming power, seem to have numbed the human heart, why, in heavens name, would we worry with the minutia of Church life?”

He reminded us that we are witnesses to the truths of life, especially when there are voices that distort the realities of our lives.

He said, “There are those who are saying that poverty, and the injustices that flow from it, are largely resolved. There are those who say that in every large society, in every field of conflict, there must be acceptable levels of collateral damage. They say no bomb, no rocket, can avoid hitting any civilian. No program can see to it that everyone gets an adequate education. It is not possible for all people to have reasonable healthcare. Not everyone who wants a job can get one. You can’t expect everyone who is issued a credit card can fathom the fine print even though that fine print may entrap them in a lifetime of servitude to a debt they can never overcome. A fully accessible justice system is a nice ideal but not a practical reality. These, and countless others, are all the collateral damage of our global world. As Christians we are to bear witness: that these things are not so.

People are children of God. People can never be reduced to a calculation. They can never be dismissed as regrettable but necessary collateral damage. Nor can they be relegated to the trash heap of humanity with a label: criminal, terrorist, immigrant, chronically indigent, incorrigible offender, or for that matter: conservative or liberal. We can not stand by without witnessing. We are all God’s children. We are all embraced in the arms of God’s Divine Love. That is the vocation of our community. That is why we work so hard. We are called to be here, and to continue to be here, in order that we might bear witness that all is not well – all is not as it should be. But ours is not a message of doom. Far from it – ours is the good news of the truth.

The truth to which he refers is the truth of Jesus Christ which has been spoken and handed down through all time. It is the truth of undying and unconditional love. It is the truth of the power of self-sacrifice for the well-being of others. And it is the truth of the profound strength and comfort of hope which can never be obliterated or taken from us.

When the vestry met to discuss a mission statement for St. Gregory’s, we spent a long and fruitful time together. We wrestled with different words, the nuances of the words and what they meant to us or what they might mean to others. It was not easy coming to a consensus but the depth of the conversation was well worth the time and energy.

The mission statement is on the front of your bulletin. “At St. Gregory’s Episcopal Church we explore the profound life and radical teachings of Jesus Christ, through a living faith.”

Jesus said, “For this I was born, and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone who belongs to the truth listens to my voice." Pilate later asked him, “What is truth?”

When my daughters and I lived together in Manhattan back in the mid-nineties, there was a certain night of the week that we considered ‘family time.’ We sat down to dinner together, didn’t answer the phone and we actually talked to each other. Well - we ate while sitting on the couch and we talked during the commercials of our favorite TV show which was our designated sacred time together. The show was the X-files which had the great tag line, “The truth is out there.”

But, what is truth?

In the movie, A Few Good Men, Col. Jessup, played by Jack Nicholson, gets called to task for a death that happened at his command post. He is asked to tell the truth. “The truth!” he yells out. “You can’t handle the truth.”

But, what is truth?

The vestry met a couple of weeks ago and struggled to find the right words to express ‘the truth’ about what or who St. Gregory’s was or is or is becoming.

But, what is truth?

This speaking the truth – or about truth – is not easy. We may all have different ideas, viewpoints concerning truth. Is it reality, accuracy, honesty, integrity, sincerity?

When Pilate encountered Jesus on the day of the trial, there was a brief opening where Pilate could have taken a look at himself, his behavior, his lifestyle – and in that self-examination he might have found an opportunity for transformation – a new reality – a new life. But Pilate was stuck in his image of kingly power and the trappings of the Roman ‘good life.’ No doubt he probably wanted to be remembered for his great deeds. And the truth, the reality is that he is remembered but ironically it is because every Sunday his name is recited in the creed when we say Jesus, “suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died and was buried.”

There is the truth about Jesus, who as Rabbi and prophet, dared to tell people that being enslaved to power, treating others badly, living a life only focused on oneself was not what God wanted. He taught about and lived out a radical life of unconditional love and, he knowingly and willingly put himself on a path which he knew could lead to his death because he refused to be silent in the face of opposition.

And there is the truth about ourselves that we must face.

Paul wrote to the church in Ephesus about truth: “God wants us to grow up, to know the whole truth and tell it in love—like Christ in everything. We take our lead from Christ, who is the source of everything we do. “

Some truths are really hard to hear: Your job is not working out. Your body is failing you. This relationship is over. Or, as in my case, “Mom, sometimes we think you love the poor more than you love us.”

Truth can be taking a hard look, facing the reality about ourselves – truth spoken in love tells it like it is to someone who needs to hear it. Self-examination from time to time is good for our well-being…to look who we are and how we act. One of my favorite questions for reflection is, “Am I really who I say I am?”

But another way of looking at the truth about our lives is to ask how do we proclaim Jesus as the sovereign who guides our lives? If Jesus is ‘king’ of your life, what does that mean? If Jesus Christ is not king of your life, who or what is?

The truths that Jesus calls us to always have to do with way of treating power, possessions and people.

Theologian Walter Brueggemann writes that the "truth evidenced in Jesus is not an idea, not a concept, not a formulation, not a fact. It is rather a way of being in the world in suffering and hope, so radical and so raw that we can scarcely entertain it." Would people say that about the way we live our lives?

And, as we know from the Gospels, there can be a tremendous cost when we speak the truth in love. In the very basic day-to-day living, telling the truth can cost us a relationship. Doing an intervention with someone who is suffering from addiction is telling the truth in love but if the person cannot or will hear not receive the truth, the relationship can die.

One year before his death, Martin Luther King, Jr. preached at Riverside Church in New York. The title of his sermon was ““Beyond Vietnam” Well worth reading. In that sermon he spoke of the agony of telling the truth.

“Some of us who have already begun to break the silence of the night have found that the calling to speak is often a vocation of agony, but we must speak. We are called to speak for the weak, for the voiceless, for victims of our nation and for those it calls enemy. I am convinced that if we are to get on the right side of the world revolution, we as a nation must undergo a radical revolution of values. We must rapidly begin the shift from a "thing-oriented" society to a "person-oriented" society. When machines and computers, profit motives and property rights are considered more important than people, the giant triplets of racism, materialism, and militarism are incapable of being conquered.”

He spoke a truth about our society which is still a reality today.

Bishop Sisk, in his remarks at diocesan convention yesterday, spoke of witnessing, of telling the truth.

After talking at length about the challenges facing the diocese Bishop Sisk said, “In the light of an on-going and perhaps accelerating environmental crisis, of interminable wars, in face of an economic crisis, in the light of global forces, that in their tedious and overwhelming power, seem to have numbed the human heart, why, in heavens name, would we worry with the minutia of Church life?”

He reminded us that we are witnesses to the truths of life, especially when there are voices that distort the realities of our lives.

He said, “There are those who are saying that poverty, and the injustices that flow from it, are largely resolved. There are those who say that in every large society, in every field of conflict, there must be acceptable levels of collateral damage. They say no bomb, no rocket, can avoid hitting any civilian. No program can see to it that everyone gets an adequate education. It is not possible for all people to have reasonable healthcare. Not everyone who wants a job can get one. You can’t expect everyone who is issued a credit card can fathom the fine print even though that fine print may entrap them in a lifetime of servitude to a debt they can never overcome. A fully accessible justice system is a nice ideal but not a practical reality. These, and countless others, are all the collateral damage of our global world. As Christians we are to bear witness: that these things are not so.

People are children of God. People can never be reduced to a calculation. They can never be dismissed as regrettable but necessary collateral damage. Nor can they be relegated to the trash heap of humanity with a label: criminal, terrorist, immigrant, chronically indigent, incorrigible offender, or for that matter: conservative or liberal. We can not stand by without witnessing. We are all God’s children. We are all embraced in the arms of God’s Divine Love. That is the vocation of our community. That is why we work so hard. We are called to be here, and to continue to be here, in order that we might bear witness that all is not well – all is not as it should be. But ours is not a message of doom. Far from it – ours is the good news of the truth.

The truth to which he refers is the truth of Jesus Christ which has been spoken and handed down through all time. It is the truth of undying and unconditional love. It is the truth of the power of self-sacrifice for the well-being of others. And it is the truth of the profound strength and comfort of hope which can never be obliterated or taken from us.

When the vestry met to discuss a mission statement for St. Gregory’s, we spent a long and fruitful time together. We wrestled with different words, the nuances of the words and what they meant to us or what they might mean to others. It was not easy coming to a consensus but the depth of the conversation was well worth the time and energy.

The mission statement is on the front of your bulletin. “At St. Gregory’s Episcopal Church we explore the profound life and radical teachings of Jesus Christ, through a living faith.”

So our ‘truth’ is out there….for all to see. We will write it, we will tell it and we will live it.