Seventeenth Sunday after Pentecost (Saint Francis of Assisi)

Sunday, October 5, 2025
United Church of Santa Fe

MATTHEW 6.25-33

25 Διὰ τοῦτο λέγω ὑμῖν, μὴ μεριμνᾶτε τῇ ψυχῇ ὑμῶν τί φάγητε [ἢ τί πίητε,] μηδὲ τῷ σώματι ὑμῶν τί ἐνδύσησθε· οὐχὶ ἡ ψυχὴ πλεῖόν ἐστιν τῆς τροφῆς καὶ τὸ σῶμα τοῦ ἐνδύματος;26 ἐμβλέψατε εἰς τὰ πετεινὰ τοῦ οὐρανοῦ ὅτι οὐ σπείρουσιν οὐδὲ θερίζουσιν οὐδὲ συνάγουσιν εἰς ἀποθήκας, καὶ ὁ πατὴρ ὑμῶν ὁ οὐράνιος τρέφει αὐτά· οὐχ ὑμεῖς μᾶλλον διαφέρετε αὐτῶν;27 τίς δὲ ἐξ ὑμῶν μεριμνῶν δύναται προσθεῖναι ἐπὶ τὴν ἡλικίαν αὐτοῦ πῆχυν ἕνα;28 καὶ περὶ ἐνδύματος τί μεριμνᾶτε; καταμάθετε τὰ κρίνα τοῦ ἀγροῦ πῶς αὐξάνουσιν· οὐ κοπιῶσιν οὐδὲ νήθουσιν·29 λέγω δὲ ὑμῖν ὅτι οὐδὲ Σολομὼν ἐν πάσῃ τῇ δόξῃ αὐτοῦ περιεβάλετο ὡς ἓν τούτων.30 εἰ δὲ τὸν χόρτον τοῦ ἀγροῦ σήμερον ὄντα καὶ αὔριον εἰς κλίβανον βαλλόμενον ὁ θεὸς οὕτως ἀμφιέννυσιν, οὐ πολλῷ μᾶλλον ὑμᾶς, ὀλιγόπιστοι;31 μὴ οὖν μεριμνήσητε λέγοντες, Τί φάγωμεν; ἤ, Τί πίωμεν; ἤ, Τί περιβαλώμεθα;32 πάντα γὰρ ταῦτα τὰ ἔθνη ἐπιζητοῦσιν· οἶδεν γὰρ ὁ πατὴρ ὑμῶν ὁ οὐράνιος ὅτι χρῄζετε τούτων ἁπάντων.33 ζητεῖτε δὲ πρῶτον τὴν βασιλείαν [τοῦ θεοῦ] καὶ τὴν δικαιοσύνην αὐτοῦ, καὶ ταῦτα πάντα προστεθήσεται ὑμῖν.

[Jesus is speaking to the people. “Sermon on the Mount.”]

“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Creator feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And which of you by worrying can add a single hour to your span of life? And why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not clothed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will God not much more clothe you—you of little faith? Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What will we eat?’ or ‘What will we drink?’ or ‘What will we wear?’ For it is the gentiles who seek all these things, and indeed your heavenly Creator knows that you need all these things. But seek first the realm of God and God’s righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.”

FRANCESCO

+ In nomine Domini. Amen.

A number of years ago Beverly and I were in Italy with our dear friends Rab. Marvin and Janet Schwab. We were in a rental car headed South from Florence to Assisi.

In my memory the journey always goes North, which has nothing to do with the problem we had actually finding Assisi; but when I play back the video in my head of the journey, we are certainly going North — even though we were definitely driving South.

Rab. Marvin was driving. I was in the passenger seat in the front reading road signs as we passed them speeding along in our vehicle. Speeding because the Rabbi was driving. Reading Road Signs because I was practicing my Italian which is one language I do not know at all. But, it’s like Latin and I know Latin very well; so I was hopeful.

“Marvin,” I said cautiously, “We just passed a sign that read “Assisi.”

“It can’t be where we are supposed to turn, but I’m not sure, the GPS is speaking Italian,” offered Janet who was watching her GPS in the back seat and listening to the directions which none of us understood because in fact the GPS was speaking Italian.

“Dear,” offered Marvin. “Change the language on the GPS to English.” And so she did and all was well as we sped up the highway (rather down, because we were indeed driving South, even though I imagined us going North and for me North is always up — again not very helpful was I being.)

The GPS took us finally off the main highway, through some countryside right off an Italian travel folder, and up up up a winding narrow road which ended in a small village right outside a church.

“You have reached your destination,” said the GPS.

“This doesn’t look right,” we all said in unison.

Coming up to the car window was a priest [there are many priests in Italy] and he said in perfect English, “Are you lost?”

“Well yes,” Marvin said, “we’re looking for the Church of St. Francis in Assisi.”

“And here you are!” smiled the priest, then added, “but there are many Churches of St. Francis around here and your GPS has brought you to this one! It’s not the Church you are looking for in the town of Assisi.”

I whispered, “I told you the sign said Assisi, back there.”

In a sentence which could have been from our Gospel Reading from Matthew, our priest friend said, “Do not worry. I will give you simple directions to follow. The road is a lovely one through our countryside and it will take you right to Assisi and the Church.”

And so he did. And so we went. And after a half-hour there we were — in the medieval town of Assisi, flooded with tourists and priests and monks and for the afternoon a Rabbi, a Lutheran Pastor and their wives — all of which sounds like the beginning of a joke.

But it was not a joke, not at all. And we went inside the very-simple-and-not-ornate “lower church” of the Basilica of St. Francis, into the part which has the crypt where Francis’ remains are buried, and there we paid homage to this incredible 13^th Century person of faith whose Feast Day is October 4^th and whose life and story we celebrate today here in our congregation worshiping in La Villa Real de la Santa Fe de San Francisco de Asis.

So, who was this person whose name is given to our Capital City? When we walk up or down (or East or West) on San Francisco Street do we think about him? Remember him? Ponder his life and teaching? Just before we walk into the Lensic Theatre if we pause a moment and look Eastward and see the Basilica Cathedral of St. Francis at the end of the street, do we ponder Francis?

[Maybe now we will next time we go to the Lensic. It would not be a bad thing.]

Giovanni di Pietro di Bernardone was born in 1181 (maybe 1182) in Assisi in the Province of Perugia in the Umbria region of Italy. He was the son of a very wealthy family. His father, Pietro Bernadone was a prosperous cloth merchant. His mother, Pica de Bourlemon, came from nobility. He was baptized as Giovanni, but became known as Francesco (Francis).

He was a party-loving pleasure-seeking rich kid, living a life of luxury. He wore fine clothes and had dreams of glory on the battlefield. But, it wasn’t until he was captured during a war between Assisi and Perugia — spending nearly a year in prison — that he began to reflect on a different path.

At the age of 25, he experienced a vision in which he heard a voice from a crucifix in the dilapidated San Damiano church saying, “Francis, go and repair my house which, as you see, is falling into ruin.” Taking this as a divine calling, Francis renounced his family’s wealth in a dramatic and public fashion. In front of the bishop and townspeople, he stripped off all his clothes — literally — and gave everything back to his father. He declared that from that point on, he would have no father but “Our Father who art in heaven.” It was at this moment that he completely rejected worldly goods and embraced a life of poverty.

After his conversion, Francis dedicated his life to serving God and others. He attracted a group of like-minded followers who were inspired by his devotion to humility, poverty, and service.

In 1209, he sought approval from Pope Innocent III to form a new religious order focused on these principles. The Pope granted his approval, and the Franciscan Order, officially known as the Order of Friars Minor (O.F.M.), was founded. Along with Francis they were committed to living a life of radical poverty, preaching the Gospel, and serving the marginalized.

They still are.

There is a famous book entitled The Little Flowers of Saint Francis which was written anonymously in Italian toward the end of the 14^th Century CE. In 53 short chapters it contains the collection of popular legends about the life of Francis and his companions.

Here are two lovely stories from the book, in the first Francis preaches to the birds, in the second he befriends a wolf.

First the Sermon to the Birds:

One day as Francis was walking along with his companions he noticed that a flock of birds were watching him as if they expected him to say something to them.

“My sweet little sisters, birds of the sky,” Francis said, “you are bound to heaven, to God, your Creator. In every beat of your wings and every note of your songs, praise him. He has given you the greatest of gifts, the freedom of the air. You neither sow, nor reap, yet God provides for you the most delicious food, rivers, and lakes to quench your thirst, mountains, and valleys for your home, tall trees to build your nests, and the most beautiful clothing: a change of feathers with every season. You and your kind were preserved in Noah’s Ark. Clearly, our Creator loves you dearly, since he gives you gifts so abundantly. So please beware, my little sisters, of the sin of ingratitude, and always sing praise to God.”

[That sounds quite a bit like Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount, part of which we have as our text this morning. [Jesus says: “Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Creator feeds them.”]

And now the story of The Wolf of Gubbio.

[Are there any children (of any age) who would like to come up and join me for this Story?]

[https://ofsaustralia.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/Story-The-Wolf-of-Gubbio.pdf]

Some other interesting and noteworthy things to remember about Francis:

He wrote the “Canticle of the Sun,” (“Canticle of Creation”) part of which we have used in worship this morning. It was written around 1225, and is considered one of the earliest works in the Italian language. At a time when most literary pieces were written in Latin, Francis chose to write it in his native language so more people could understand it. The entire poem has 23 verses dedicated to different aspects of creation.

In 1223, Francis staged the first-ever live Nativity scene in Greccio, Italy. He used real people and animals with the hope of helping people connect more with the birth of Christ. To this day, the people of Greccio stage a live, historical reenactment of St. Francis and the first Nativity scene every year at Christmas.

Something which most people do not know about Francis is that in 1224 he had a vision while climbing Mount The stigmata are the wounds of Christ, which Saint Francis is believed to have received miraculously during a period of intense prayer and contemplation on Mount La Verna (which is located East of Florence) in 1224. The vision was of a seraph (a six-winged angelic being) descending from the heavens and bestowing upon him the marks of Christ’s crucifixion, including wounds on his hands, feet, and side. Such marks are called stigmata.

These stigmata remained with Francis until he died at the age of 44 on October 3, 1226. The stigmata were considered a sign of his deep spiritual connection with Christ.

It was 1972 and a slightly younger Pastor Ben Larzelere and Beverly Larzelere had just moved to Albuquerque. One of the first movies we saw was Brother Sun, Sister Moon, a Zeffirelli film. It is still available, streaming on Amazon Prime. I highly recommend the film.

What does Francis teach us today? We see it every Sunday when we drive to church here at the corner of St. Michael’s Drive and Arroyo Chamiso:

LOVE GOD. LOVE NEIGHBOR. LOVE CREATION.

We hear it in the words of the Sermon on the Mount — Do not worry. Seek God and God’s reign.

We find it in the life of this Saint, who heard a voice, changed his life, and lived for others. Which is just what Jesus did, is it not — Jesus, the Preacher on the Hillside, the lover of the poor, destitute, sick and suffering, the downcast — the “man for others” as Bonhoeffer wrote about Jesus from his cell in Nazi Germany, before his own death.

You see, what we who follow Jesus are called to do is to do something! Not just anything, but something — and the something to which we are called is to live lives faithfully not just here among our friends, but out in the world where bullets fly and kill innocent children and their moms and dads, where cars drive into the followers of Moses, where corporations seeking only a profit make the climate their playground, where tyrants rage in ever increasing sickness — yes, into just this world we are called. Francis is there to lead us, so is Moses, so is Jesus, so is the God of Hope.

So let us go then, you and I into this world with our hope, our understanding, our unrelenting love.

And let us say: Amen.

Deo Gratias (+)

The Rev. Benjamin Larzelere III
Retired