Sermon

July 3, 2005

A Sermon Preached at St. Stephen’s on June 3, 2005, by the Rev. Cork Tarplee

This week the Episcopal News Service reported the ordination to the priesthood of James Tramel, an inmate at the California State Prison in Solano. Tramel has been in prison since he was 18 when he was sentenced to 15 years to life for his role in a fight that resulted in the death of another young man in a public park. Tramel began his ministry as an Episcopalian while working with dying inmates in a hospice ward in the prison. There he felt the call to ordination and sought the guidance of the congregation he had attended before his arrest. With their help he completed seminary through a long-distance learning program and went through the rigorous screening process prescribed by the church. After the California parole board voted unanimously to release him in March, the bishop scheduled Tramel’s ordination for June 18. The ordination took place as scheduled, but in prison, because the parole board’s decision was reversed by Governor Arnold Schwartzenegger. At this writing, there is every possibility that James Tramel, who is now 37 will spend the rest of his priesthood in prison. Richard Dahl, an inmate and member of the Episcopal congregation in the prison knows that this would not be a wasted ministry. Of the ordination, Dahl said it showed him “that even though I’m down in this place, that there is hope. I’ve known James for three years, and have watched him grow, and James has helped me know that there is hope for me.”

The story of James Tramel is a real-life reminder of the truth of Jesus’ promise announced in our Gospel today: “Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest.” There are burdens in life that we cannot put down and others that we don’t want to put down: prison terms, living with illness, nursing sick loved ones, making a living in the daily grind, facing temptations. We can’t or won’t put these down, but that doesn’t keep us from longing for rest. Finding meaning and hope in Jesus may not take those burdens away, but will lighten the load. “Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” The rest Jesus promises, then, is not an end to burdens, but the acceptance of a burden that will lighten your life: following the way of radical love. The promise is that if we will continue to model our lives on Jesus’ acceptance, gentleness and humility our souls will be rested.

Doing the right thing, even when it is the hard thing, is a sure way to find rest for our souls. In illness it is a lot easier to lash out in bitterness than to treat our care-givers with good humor. When caring for the sick or facing temptations or sticking to the daily grind it is a lot easier to seek escape than to pay attention to those around us. The truth of Jesus’ promise is that life is lighter and more fun when we stick to what we believe in.

I am sure there are few things in life that the Rev. James Tramel wants more than to walk out of Solano Prison a free man, but by the grace of God, he has discovered that there is something more important than the freedom of the body: the freedom of the soul. In prison James Tramel has found the freedom of the soul to live in hope in hard times, the freedom to treat the dying and those doing hard time with dignity and compassion, the freedom to claim forgiveness. I don’t think I have often recommended following the example of a convicted criminal. But in a strange way, all of us find ourselves locked in—locked in to situations that could drag us down, and the example of someone who could find freedom inside a locked cell offers all of us hope: hope that we, too, can find rest for our souls. AMEN