tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17030097612589739652024-03-05T07:26:42.499-08:00Well Meta place for a few musings about life in general, reflected in the light of ChristSusanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11627396804281804448noreply@blogger.comBlogger22125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1703009761258973965.post-6059901225568245632012-12-18T10:06:00.001-08:002012-12-18T10:06:54.828-08:00Surely it is God who saves us<span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';"><span style="font-size: x-small;">The children of God:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Charlotte Bacon, 6, Daniel Barden, 7, Olivia Engel, 6, Josephine Gay, 7, Ana M. Marquez-Greene, 6, Dylan Hockley, 6, Madeleine F. Hsu, 6, Catherine V. Hubbard, 6, Chase Kowalski, 7, Jesse Lewis, 6, James Mattioli, 6, Grace McDonnell, 7, Emilie Parker, 6, Jack Pinto, 6, Noah Pozner, 6, Caroline Previdi, 6, Jessica Rekos, 6, Avielle Richman, 6, Benjamin Wheeler, 6, Allison N. Wyatt, 6.<o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';"><span style="font-size: x-small;">The staff, also children of God: Rachel Davino, 29, Dawn Hochsprung, 47, Anne Marie Murphy, 52, Lauren Rousseau, 30, Mary Sherlach, 56, Victoria Soto, 27.<o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';"><span style="font-size: x-small;">A mother, also a child of God: Nancy Lanza<o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Another child of God:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Adam Lanza<o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">Those were their names.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Each one a bit anonymous to us, but oh, so alive and present to those who loved them.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">As so many have noted, all of them with promise and life ahead of them.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And not just the children:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>there were two fairly new teachers who lived for their days in their classrooms, and there was the school psychologist who had spent her whole life with kids and was planning to retire in a few years.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Each one of them had a life still yet to live and it was taken from them.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">And there is no sense in trying to dance on the head of a pin:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>their lives were taken by evil personified in one young man.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We’ll never know why:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>was he sick, was he lonely, was he angry – all those answers to our anguished “Why’s” died with him, and with the mother he also killed.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">The basic answer is some of our why’s is that we have free will.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>God made us that way – to make choices about how to live our lives.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Some of us, unfortunately, due to mental illness, are unable to exercise free will as God meant it to be, I think.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And some of us have chosen, yes, have chosen, to live comfortably with evil.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">That is one of the paradoxes of Christian life I spoke about last week.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That we are a people who live in paradox.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And this week it was brought home to us:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>we try to be a people who live in the light, but there are some who live in the dark.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And since we are a people called to be in the world but not of it, we do have to acknowledge the darkness in the midst of our light.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">But we do not have to succumb to it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We can choose over and over again, to not spend our time cursing the evil or the darkness, but rather light candles to illuminate it with the light of Christ.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">In another paradox, this is Gaudete Sunday, that of the pink candle.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It takes its name from the Latin for Rejoice, the first word in the lesson from Paul’s letter to the Christians in Phillippi.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">But how can we rejoice?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I don’t; I don’t rejoice that Dylan and Avielle and Victoria are with God, and I doubt that their families do either.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">And I really believe that God knows we have little to rejoice about this particular Gaudete Sunday.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>After all, on December 26 we remember the Holy Innocents, the little ones in Bethlehem who were slaughtered because Herod was paranoid and looking for Jesus.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Jesus died for us, and that should be enough.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">But it is not.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Because evil still exists, and it will still exist, this side of the Kingdom. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But it is also our responsibility and part of our baptismal covenant to resist evil wherever we find it.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">And we may find it individually in the young man with a grudge.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We can also find it corporately:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>the twenty little six and seven-year-old children will be remembered and become icons, while the 26-year-old killed in Norfolk will be a footnote in the newspaper.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Any death should grieve us, any death should be an occasion for lighting candles in the darkness, but we all know that some lives have more importance than others.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">I wish I had more words of comfort today.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Like you, I am grieved, and I can barely read those names, much less say them, without wanting to weep.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">But the refrain I keep coming back to is the first two lines of the lesson from Isaiah that we read this morning.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">Surely it is God who saves me, I will trust in him and not be afraid.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">For the Lord is my stronghold and my sure defense and he will be my Saviour.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">There is a lovely setting for that Canticle which includes those lines as a refrain.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">I would like to teach you that tune, that refrain, so that in the days and weeks to come, you can hum it to yourself, or sing it out loud, to remind yourself that God is still present with us, still grieves with us, and still works with us so that the light will overcome the darkness.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">But let’s do this – let’s change that 1<sup>st</sup> person singular pronoun me to US.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For God so loved the world that he gave his son for all of us – not just for one or two of us.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For all of us, even the ones who live in the darkness. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Jesus died so that we may continue to live and continue to hope – and continue to trust in God.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">Surely it is God who saves us, <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">we will trust in him and not be afraid.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">For the Lord is our stronghold and our sure defense <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">and he will be our Saviour.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';"><span style="font-size: x-small;">(if you would like to hear the Canticle setting in its entirety, Google “Jack Noble White Song of Isaiah”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You will find some wonderful choral performances on YouTube.)<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><b>The Collect for the Second Sunday of Advent</b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><b> </b>Merciful God, who sent your
messengers the prophets to preach repentance and prepare the way for our salvation:
Give us grace to heed their warnings and forsake our sins, that we may greet
with joy the coming of Jesus Christ our Redeemer; who lives and reigns with you
and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">One of the more interesting
things about Christians is that we are a people of paradox.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">A seemingly absurd statement that
turns out to be true. Like a baby born in a stable who
is a king.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">That’s only the beginning of the
paradoxes for us.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">You and I still practice one of
the best every Sunday morning as we read the scriptures and respond to them.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Word of the Lord, one says, to which we
all respond, “Thanks be to God!”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Or
The Gospel of the Lord, and then we all say “Praise to you, Lord Christ.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">We say those things when often
the lessons are not about things we would be thankful for, or praising for, if
we were brutally honest.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">This morning that’s the situation
about John.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You don’t have to know much
to know that this brief pericope about John is only the beginning of a horrible
end for him.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A tyrannical ruler,
besotted with women, caves in to the demands of an Ancient Near East Lolita and
has John executed – for what?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Telling
the truth.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">I am not thankful about that, nor
do I praise God for it.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">But that is the life of a
prophet.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Thankless, praiseless.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>No one wanting to hear your words.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>No matter how life-giving or beneficial those
words might be.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Some of you are prophets and I
bet you don’t realize it.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Perhaps you work now or have
worked with children who have few others to speak for them.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Perhaps you are one who listens
to sick folks when no one else does and keeps them company as they journey
though illness.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Perhaps you, in the routine of
your day, see that simple justice is done by keeping faith and standards in a
world where honesty and integrity are often completely forgotten.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Those are only a few examples.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">You don’t have to be a John or an
Isaiah to tell the world it needs to change.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">I read an interesting comment
this week, that before we can identify sin, or where the world is apart from
the will of God, we have to have known a place where the world is striving to
do the will of God.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">You can honestly say, “This is
not the way things are supposed to be.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Because you have both an innate
sense and a cultivated sense of how things ought to be.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">But it’s hard to be the one who
speaks out when others are happy to just go along.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Martin Luther King was one.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When he was jailed in Birmingham in the early
1960’s for one of the marches, did you know that a number of prominent
Birmingham ministers, including some Episcopal ones, wrote him a letter asking
him to wait?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They wanted him to wait a
bit longer, they said this was not the time.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>“Not right now, Martin, not right now.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">And King’s response, Letter from
a Birmingham Jail, asks the question,<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“How
long?”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>How long do we wait for justice
in the face of injustice?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>One thousand
years?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>One hundred years?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Or one year?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Unfortunately, examples like
Martin Luther King are often only examples because something makes them bigger
than life – and often that something is death.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">There are many other lesser known
prophets toiling in our community, in our country, in the world, seeking to
make the world into the place where they know “This IS the way it should be.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Where children are honored for
being people, and not just another mouth, impossible to feed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Where people actually have a vote that truly
gives them a voice in the government they live under.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Where a hand reaching up for aid, meets a
hand reaching down to help pull you out of the muck of a disaster.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Knowing what life is like, and
what it should be like requires change.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>And someone to lead the change.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Metanoia is the technical term
for that change.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s described as a 180
degree turn-around in one’s life, </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">a change from what you were to
what you will be.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">But we all must be the prophets
who say, no, really, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">shout</b>, <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Here is the place where change is needed.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Here is the place where God is leading us
all to be.” And we’re not there yet.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">For you can turn around 180 degrees and still
be walking in the wrong direction.</span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">It is only by listening to the
prophets among us and to God in the midst of us that we can find the right
direction.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As one of the Eastern wise
men has said, you must be the change you wish to see.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">But how will we get there?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My friends, we don’t get to the world Jesus described
by sitting here<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"> in</b> our comfort and <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">on</b> our comfort!</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Another paradox is that ours is a
faith of coming – and going. Coming together to be refreshed, to be fed in the
scriptures, and then going to do the work we have been given to do.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">What work?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>To love God and to love our neighbor as we
love God. To see that our neighbor’s needs are met as if our neighbor were
Christ himself.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And to do mercy in the
name of God, wherever we find it lacking.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Another paradox is that we may
occasionally find ourselves on the wrong road, as we seek to follow Jesus.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But the flip side of that paradox, is that if
we are really trying to find Jesus, we have an internal self-correcting compass,
found in our baptismal covenant, that will get us back on the right road.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">The road that leads to life, not
death.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">As we prayed today, “<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Give us grace to heed the warnings and
forsake our sins</b>, that we may greet with joy the coming of Jesus Christ our
Redeemer.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>AMEN.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
Susanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11627396804281804448noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1703009761258973965.post-58621119426569207632012-10-08T17:21:00.002-07:002012-10-10T11:22:53.560-07:00In thanksgiving for Mark and Wendy: The Sunday after their wedding<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<h3 style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>October 7 (Proper 22): Mark
10:2-16</i></span></h3>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>Some
Pharisees came, and to test Jesus they asked, "Is it lawful for a man to
divorce his wife?" He answered them, "What did Moses command
you?" They said, "Moses allowed a man to write a certificate of
dismissal and to divorce her." </i></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>But
Jesus said to them, "Because of your hardness of heart he wrote this
commandment for you. But from the beginning of creation, 'God made them male
and female.' 'For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be
joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.' So they are no longer
two, but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let no one
separate."</i></span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><i><br /></i></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>Then in the house the disciples asked him again about
this matter. He said to them, "Whoever divorces his wife and marries
another commits adultery against her; and if she divorces her husband and
marries another, she commits adultery." </i></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>People were bringing little children to him in order
that he might touch them; and the disciples spoke sternly to them. But when
Jesus saw this, he was indignant and said to them, "Let the little
children come to me; do not stop them; for it is to such as these that the kingdom of God belongs. Truly I tell you, whoever
does not receive the kingdom
of God as a little child
will never enter it." And he took them up in his arms, laid his hands on
them, and blessed them.</i></span><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></div>
<br />
<br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-left: 18.6pt; text-indent: -18.6pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-left: 18.6pt; text-indent: -18.6pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-left: 18.6pt; text-indent: -18.6pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Ah, another day of
difficult lessons. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Which ones shall we
choose to preach about, is the refrain of my clergy friends.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Which ones, indeed.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-left: 18.6pt; text-indent: -18.6pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-left: 18.6pt; text-indent: -18.6pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Shall we mention Job, a
righteous man, whom God allows to be tormented by the devil, just to <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>prove his faithfulness?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Or shall we mention that VERY difficult
lesson about marriage? Or the more difficult lesson about children, and their
participation in a life of faith?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-left: 18.6pt; text-indent: -18.6pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-left: 18.6pt; text-indent: -18.6pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">I’m going to go a
slightly different way and focus on the hope that Jesus calls us all to when he
talks about Divorce and Children – in one lesson.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-left: 18.6pt; text-indent: -18.6pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-left: 18.6pt; text-indent: -18.6pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">I was part of a joyful
celebration yesterday, and two who were one were joined together.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Let no one separate them, says Jesus.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And I say, let them not separate themselves.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And several months from now, this couple will
find their lives changing in another way – baby #1 is due to arrive in
December!</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-left: 18.6pt; text-indent: -18.6pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-left: 18.6pt; text-indent: -18.6pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Two of the most active
parts of the wedding were the groom’s nephews.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Five and three, plus a bit more for each, they were not quite into the
more reverent moments.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I spent the meal
being entertained by the 5 yr old who was drawing pictures and totally clueless
to ‘the importance’ of what was going on, no matter how often his mother said
it was someone else’s big day.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-left: 18.6pt; text-indent: -18.6pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-left: 18.6pt; text-indent: -18.6pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Now you might think this
is kind of funny, coming from a priest who is not married, and has no children.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But I think this is one place where we all
fail to honor Jesus’ teachings.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-left: 18.6pt; text-indent: -18.6pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-left: 18.6pt; text-indent: -18.6pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Because, my friends, Jesus
is a giving ALL of us a model, a model of faithfulness in marriage, and a model
of faithfulness in raising up the next generation.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But they are both models which we often fail
at.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And that’s a fact.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-left: 18.6pt; text-indent: -18.6pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-left: 18.6pt; text-indent: -18.6pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Examine those lessons
closely again.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-left: 18.6pt; text-indent: -18.6pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Jesus does not follow his
words about marriage and adultery with words that say we are no longer his if
we fail to honor our marriages.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-left: 18.6pt; text-indent: -18.6pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">And he does not say that
the children are welcome only when they are well-behaved.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-left: 18.6pt; text-indent: -18.6pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-left: 18.6pt; text-indent: -18.6pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-left: 18.6pt; text-indent: -18.6pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">I’m here to say that
while we have a standard, it is a standard that we will fail
at.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>All of us.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>And while we will fail at it, we must, over and
over again, try again.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-left: 18.6pt; text-indent: -18.6pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-left: 18.6pt; text-indent: -18.6pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Marriage is much like how
a child grows.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Did any of you who are
married know what you were getting into when you were first married?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I think not, even if you had lived together
for some time.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-left: 18.6pt; text-indent: -18.6pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-left: 18.6pt; text-indent: -18.6pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">It is the same with
raising children.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>No matter how well
prepared your nursery is, and how many birthing classes you have taken, you
still don’t know so much. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-left: 18.6pt; text-indent: -18.6pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-left: 18.6pt; text-indent: -18.6pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">I was thinking yesterday
of a friends whose baby #1 was perfect, no muss, no fuss.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Several years later, Baby #2 was quite the
opposite experience.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He had colic from
day one and it took nearly a year for the pediatrician to light on the right
combo of meds to overcome it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I think if
#2 had been #1, there would not have been another child for Kelley and Susan.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-left: 18.6pt; text-indent: -18.6pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-left: 18.6pt; text-indent: -18.6pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">I recall going over to
their house on occasion to babysit #2 so mom and day and #1 could get some time
together. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Even if all they did was nap
and watch TV.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But both #1 and #2 are
grown and married and doing well these days.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-left: 18.6pt; text-indent: -18.6pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-left: 18.6pt; text-indent: -18.6pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The point is that whether
we are making a marriage or raising children, we learn as we go. And since we
are only learning, we have to understand that we will fail.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-left: 18.6pt; text-indent: -18.6pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">“Ah Guar-an-tee it” as
that TV Cajun cook used to say.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-left: 18.6pt; text-indent: -18.6pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-left: 18.6pt; text-indent: -18.6pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">But just because we know we
will fail, there is no real reason why we should not keep trying.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-left: 18.6pt; text-indent: -18.6pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-left: 18.6pt; text-indent: -18.6pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">However, and this is a
big however, to keep trying also means to forgive ourselves.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Because sometimes there will be that one
relationship, whether of spouse or child, where things are not working.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The marriage was simply to the wrong person,
or you have grown into people with different needs and wants. The child, now
grown and responsible for themselves, has chosen a way of life that is not your
way of life.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-left: 18.6pt; text-indent: -18.6pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-left: 18.6pt; text-indent: -18.6pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Sometimes we have to
learn to let go of our preconceived notions of what a relationship will look
like in the future.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That may – or may
not – mean letting go of the relationship. Often what it means it taking the
relationship to a new place. A different place than what we expected.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-left: 18.6pt; text-indent: -18.6pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-left: 18.6pt; text-indent: -18.6pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">One in which a couple are
no longer married but can remain, if not friends, at least civil to each other.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>One in which a parent lets go of parental expectations,
and sees “their” child for the child of God that they really are – unique in
this world.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-left: 18.6pt; text-indent: -18.6pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-left: 18.6pt; text-indent: -18.6pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Those friends of mine
with the different children?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I knew them
from high school, but they moved to NC about 15 years ago, for HER job
transfer. My friends are themselves a social worker and a lawyer – and both of
whom had midlife career changes to get there.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And by the way, he’s the social
worker and she’s the lawyer.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-left: 18.6pt; text-indent: -18.6pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Child #2, the difficult
one, is pretty traditional in his outlook and lifestyle.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There’s nothing much about him to report that’s
not what we ‘expected,’ whatever those expectations might have been.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Child #1, the easy one, blew off higher
education.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He has some of the most
interesting ink on his body that I’ve ever seen – and so does his wife.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And now, closer to 30 than 20, he’s back in
school.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-left: 18.6pt; text-indent: -18.6pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-left: 18.6pt; text-indent: -18.6pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Yes, you could say that
nothing in that family was kind of expected.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>But throughout the years that I’ve known them, which has included some
years when communication was only via email or Christmas letters, I’ve been
impressed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Two people whose marriage has
been challenged at every turn, and whose marriage looks conventional only to
those who have not known them for so long.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Two children who have turned out in some very interesting ways.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-left: 18.6pt; text-indent: -18.6pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-left: 18.6pt; text-indent: -18.6pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Don’t get me wrong:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>God has standards for all of us.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Even if you don’t fall into these particular
lessons, there are still those pesky commandments to deal with.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-left: 18.6pt; text-indent: -18.6pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-left: 18.6pt; text-indent: -18.6pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">It would be wonderful if
life were such that we were always in full obedience to what God has required of
us.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I don’t mean just honoring marriage,
or not murdering each other.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-left: 18.6pt; text-indent: -18.6pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">How are we doing with
that coveting thing?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Anybody here who
has never coveted anything that belonged to someone else?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-left: 18.6pt; text-indent: -18.6pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Or honoring parents, or
other elders?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Are we doing all that we
could?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-left: 18.6pt; text-indent: -18.6pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">And what about honoring
God?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Have you never slept in on Sunday mornings?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-left: 18.6pt; text-indent: -18.6pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-left: 18.6pt; text-indent: -18.6pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The point here is that we
have standards – and God knows we will fail at them.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Yesterday, today and tomorrow, we have
failed, and we will fail again.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Yet our
God does not throw us into the fires of hell for failing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Instead he invites us, again and again, to
get up and try once more.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-left: 18.6pt; text-indent: -18.6pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">My friends, don’t give up
on yourselves.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-left: 18.6pt; text-indent: -18.6pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Don’t give up on those
you love, or even those you just like.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-left: 18.6pt; text-indent: -18.6pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Because God is not giving
up on you.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-left: 18.6pt; text-indent: -18.6pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">God has never given up on
you.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-left: 18.6pt; text-indent: -18.6pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">I ask that you remember
that the next time you have a fight with your spouse.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I ask that you remember that the next time
you see one of the children here do something disruptive.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I ask that you forgive yourself the next time
you accidentally do something hurtful or break one of those commandments. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-left: 18.6pt; text-indent: -18.6pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-left: 18.6pt; text-indent: -18.6pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">It might feel a bit corny
to say so, but each one of us is still a work in progress.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-left: 18.6pt; text-indent: -18.6pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Young or old, each one of
us is still learning what it truly means to be one of God’s children.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-left: 18.6pt; text-indent: -18.6pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">“God is not finished with
us yet.”</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-left: 18.6pt; text-indent: -18.6pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">And that’s not just a
phrase for children.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Thanks be to God
that God is not finished with any one of us yet!</span></div>
Susanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11627396804281804448noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1703009761258973965.post-40968349930189223442012-09-22T17:31:00.001-07:002012-09-22T17:31:26.968-07:00Behind again: Proper 18<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">Proper 18B 09/09/2012</span></span></div>
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<h3 style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span>Mark
7:24-37<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1703009761258973965" name="OLE_LINK6"></a></span></span></h3>
<h3 style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span><span style="font-weight: normal;">Jesus set
out and went away to the region of Tyre. He entered a house and did not want
anyone to know he was there. Yet he could not escape notice, but a woman whose
little daughter had an unclean spirit immediately heard about him, and she came
and bowed down at his feet. Now the woman was a Gentile, of Syrophoenician
origin. She begged him to cast the demon out of her daughter. He said to her,
"Let the children be fed first, for it is not fair to take the children's
food and throw it to the dogs." But she answered him, "Sir, even the
dogs under the table eat the children's crumbs." Then he said to her,
"For saying that, you may go-- the demon has left your daughter." So
she went home, found the child lying on the bed, and the demon gone. </span></span><span></span><span></span></span></h3>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span>Then
he returned from the region of Tyre, and went by way of Sidon towards the Sea
of Galilee, in the region of the Decapolis. They brought to him a deaf man who
had an impediment in his speech; and they begged him to lay his hand on him. He
took him aside in private, away from the crowd, and put his fingers into his
ears, and he spat and touched his tongue. Then looking up to heaven, he sighed
and said to him, "Ephphatha," that is, "Be opened." And
immediately his ears were opened, his tongue was released, and he spoke
plainly. Then Jesus ordered them to tell no one; but the more he ordered them,
the more zealously they proclaimed it. They were astounded beyond measure,
saying, "He has done everything well; he even makes the deaf to hear and
the mute to speak."</span></span></div>
<br /><br />
<br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">Today, I’d like to talk
about something else that is important to any Christian community. Part of my vocation as a
priest and as a preacher is to reflect on and relate the world and the church. Something I read earlier
this week really caught my eye.</span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">It was along the lines of
“In order to grow, churches have to die.”</span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">Well, that is a headline
that will catch the attention of anyone who works in the church – and honestly,
should catch the attention of anyone who worships in a church. When you read a bit
further, it did make sense – and it makes sense in terms of today’s epistle and
gospel lessons, one which are full of import for us – and for those outside the
church.</span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-left: 18.6pt; text-indent: -18.6pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">Have you ever noticed
that the deaf mute in this morning’s gospel was brought by his friends? He did not come on his
own. I wonder if the friends
had to drag him to Jesus.<span> </span>Perhaps they couldn’t
figure out how to tell him where they were going.<span> </span>But they loved him enough
to take him to the Teacher who could possible heal him.<span> </span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-left: 18.6pt; text-indent: -18.6pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">And he’s the only deaf
mute who is healed in the Gospels.<span> </span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-left: 18.6pt; text-indent: -18.6pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-left: 18.6pt; text-indent: -18.6pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">It’s important to
remember that in Jesus’ time, people with handicaps were considered to be
sinners and therefore unclean.<span> </span>His friends loved him
enough to risk that his uncleanness would contaminate him and take him to
Jesus.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-left: 18.6pt; text-indent: -18.6pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-left: 18.6pt; text-indent: -18.6pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">And the SyroPhoenician
woman – she too is unclean. She’s both a woman and a
non-Jew, so you could say that she has a double disability in the eyes of some
in Jesus’ time. She doesn’t care – what
she does care about is her child. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-left: 18.6pt; text-indent: -18.6pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">What a risk she took. And at first, it did look
as if she was going to be dismissed.<span> </span>Jesus points out that he
did not come for the likes of her. Brazenly, she rebuts him,
speaking of crumbs. She’ll take anything. We will never know if her
words were what changed Jesus’ mind or if he intended to heal the child all
along and was testing her perseverance.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-left: 18.6pt; text-indent: -18.6pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-left: 18.6pt; text-indent: -18.6pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">One of the things I
always wonder about in the Gospels is exactly who it is who is blind, or deaf,
or in some way disabled or on the margins.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-left: 18.6pt; text-indent: -18.6pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-left: 18.6pt; text-indent: -18.6pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-left: 18.6pt; text-indent: -18.6pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">Unfortunately, more often
than not today the deaf and blind folks are the ones already in the churches.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-left: 18.6pt; text-indent: -18.6pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">Yes, that’s what that
headline was all about.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-left: 18.6pt; text-indent: -18.6pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-left: 18.6pt; text-indent: -18.6pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">You see, the world has
changed, and is changing around us, and we have been deaf and blind to those
changes.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-left: 18.6pt; text-indent: -18.6pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-left: 18.6pt; text-indent: -18.6pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">I’m not talking about
changing the Gospels. I’m talking about
changing us – so that we meet the ones who need to hear the gospel where they
are – </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-left: 18.6pt; text-indent: -18.6pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">Yes, where THEY are, not
where we are.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-left: 18.6pt; text-indent: -18.6pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-left: 18.6pt; text-indent: -18.6pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="line-height: 115%;"> John Donohue, a New
Testament scholar, says that a church that is to witness to the example of Jesus
must be partial to “those who are bowed down” and through its healing presence
give a voice to the voiceless.<span> </span>And when we give voice to
the voiceless, we give them back their humanity as God’s own beloved.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-left: 18.6pt; text-indent: -18.6pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-left: 18.6pt; text-indent: -18.6pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">And who are the most
voiceless in our community?</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-left: 18.6pt; text-indent: -18.6pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-left: 18.6pt; text-indent: -18.6pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">The most important group
of voiceless ones are the ones who are not here.<span> </span>They are the ones who do
not know the love of Christ, because no one has spoken the good news of the
Gospel to them. There are others –
children, seniors, handicapped, <span></span>the sick, the shut-ins,
those who live in fear, fear of aloneness or illness or a number of other
fears.<span> </span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-left: 18.6pt; text-indent: -18.6pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-left: 18.6pt; text-indent: -18.6pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">We need to be listening
to them and listening for them.<span> </span>That’s what Jesus died
for. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-left: 18.6pt; text-indent: -18.6pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-left: 18.6pt; text-indent: -18.6pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">When I was in m seminary,
I spent about a month in San Antonio, doing Spanish language immersion. The program I was in was
Roman Catholic, and I was the only “Protestant Girl”, as they called me. So on Sundays, I looked
for my people – the Episcopalians!</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-left: 18.6pt; text-indent: -18.6pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-left: 18.6pt; text-indent: -18.6pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">One church was so focused
on themselves, that the newbies like me, and there were others, were totally
ignored.<span> </span>It was quite an
interesting coffee hour, standing there by myself. Of course, I finally
left. They did not know I was
in seminary, they did not know if I was the person they were looking for to
head one of their ministries, they did not know me as a person – because I
never had a name there.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-left: 18.6pt; text-indent: -18.6pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">Here’s the interesting
thing:<span> </span>I don’t remember the name of that
church. I just remember them as
the navel-gazing church.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-left: 18.6pt; text-indent: -18.6pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-left: 18.6pt; text-indent: -18.6pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">The second place, I was
welcomed as I walked in the door, I had someone sit near me to make sure I was
familiar with the BCP, I got a gift at the close of the service, and somebody
had made sure to tell the Rector my name – and when he found out why I was in
San Antonio, he did invite me to lunch, which unfortunately, I couldn’t do. Guess what – I remember
the name of<span> </span>that church and I’ll go
there again if I am every in town. I can’t ever recall being
quite so welcome, even among folks who already knew me.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-left: 18.6pt; text-indent: -18.6pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">What a thought!</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-left: 18.6pt; text-indent: -18.6pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-left: 18.6pt; text-indent: -18.6pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-left: 18.6pt; text-indent: -18.6pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">I’ve heard church growth
specialists say that if a church is entirely focused on growth, it’s already
dying.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-left: 18.6pt; text-indent: -18.6pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="line-height: 115%;"></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-left: 18.6pt; text-indent: -18.6pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">I think that’s sort of
right and sort of wrong.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-left: 18.6pt; text-indent: -18.6pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">It’s the navel-gazing,
the self-focus that is deadly.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-left: 18.6pt; text-indent: -18.6pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-left: 18.6pt; text-indent: -18.6pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">Instead, we should focus
on the why of growth.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-left: 18.6pt; text-indent: -18.6pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-left: 18.6pt; text-indent: -18.6pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="line-height: 115%;"></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-left: 18.6pt; text-indent: -18.6pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">You and I ARE called to
evangelize the world and bring folks to know the saving love of Jesus, but
where does that fit into church growth?<span> </span>Are we interested in
growth only for the sake of keeping the doors open, or are we interested in
growth because Jesus died for us and others need to know that?</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-left: 18.6pt; text-indent: -18.6pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">Are we interested in what
the voiceless ones have to say, or do we only care that they start to mimic us?</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-left: 18.6pt; text-indent: -18.6pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">Are there other ways we
exclude the voiceless ones, marking them as outsiders?</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-left: 18.6pt; text-indent: -18.6pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">Are we deaf and blind to
the needs they might have, as they walk in our doors?</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-left: 18.6pt; text-indent: -18.6pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-left: 18.6pt; text-indent: -18.6pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">Is growth the <b>only</b> way we identify a healthy
congregation?<span> </span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-left: 18.6pt; text-indent: -18.6pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="line-height: 115%;"></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-left: 18.6pt; text-indent: -18.6pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">Or is it more important
to witness to Christ, in our living and perhaps even in our dying?</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-left: 18.6pt; text-indent: -18.6pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-left: 18.6pt; text-indent: -18.6pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">I’ve seen it in other
places.<span> </span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-left: 18.6pt; text-indent: -18.6pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">Start living the Gospel,
and people are attracted by it.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-left: 18.6pt; text-indent: -18.6pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">Live the Gospel by
listening, and people know they are valued.<span>
</span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-left: 18.6pt; text-indent: -18.6pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-left: 18.6pt; text-indent: -18.6pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">Live the Gospel by
celebrating the Eucharist.<span> </span>Simple, huh?
Break bread together.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-left: 18.6pt; text-indent: -18.6pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">Live the Gospel by not
just feeding the poor but inviting them to church.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-left: 18.6pt; text-indent: -18.6pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">Live the Gospel by making
sure everyone feels like an insider, not an outsider.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-left: 18.6pt; text-indent: -18.6pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">Live the Gospel by
asking<span> </span>IS THIS WHAT JESUS DIED FOR?</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-left: 18.6pt; text-indent: -18.6pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-left: 18.6pt; text-indent: -18.6pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">That focus on what Jesus
died for leads to growth, I am convinced.<span>
</span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-left: 18.6pt; text-indent: -18.6pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-left: 18.6pt; text-indent: -18.6pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">Not just growth in
numbers, but growth in discipleship and fellowship.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-left: 18.6pt; text-indent: -18.6pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-left: 18.6pt; text-indent: -18.6pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">He died for the people,
not the official church records of who is here and who is not.<span> </span>And he didn’t care how
they got to him, just that they came.<span> </span>He also didn’t care that
they were outcasts, or Samaritans, or sinners.<span>
</span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-left: 18.6pt; text-indent: -18.6pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-left: 18.6pt; text-indent: -18.6pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">I’ve seen a video with of
a listening session with 18 young adults, aged 18-30, all about why they did
and did not attend church.<span> </span>The biggest thing they
asked for was acceptance.<span> </span>Acceptance for the way
they looked, they way they talked, and the way they felt called to do ministry. They wanted to be heard
and not talked down to, to find places in the church’s life of ministry that
were of value, not just make-work to keep them present on Sundays.<span> </span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-left: 18.6pt; text-indent: -18.6pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">One young woman even said
that she was far more willing to work in the church’s soup kitchen on Saturday
than she was to attend worship on Sunday.<span>
</span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-left: 18.6pt; text-indent: -18.6pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-left: 18.6pt; text-indent: -18.6pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">I also heard many of them
say that they felt voiceless in church. And I sat there thinking
that those folks aged 18-30 are no different from those under 18 and those of us
well over 18. We just want to be
accepted the way we are, and feel that we are valued, and can make a difference
in this world.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-left: 18.6pt; text-indent: -18.6pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">Often we could make a
good start by knowing their names.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-left: 18.6pt; text-indent: -18.6pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-left: 18.6pt; text-indent: -18.6pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-left: 18.6pt; text-indent: -18.6pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">I don’t have an ending
for this sermon, and that’s intentional.<span> </span>I offer this sermon was a
way to get us all thinking about the focus of all our ministries here in the
communities where we live and worship.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-left: 18.6pt; text-indent: -18.6pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-left: 18.6pt; text-indent: -18.6pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">And when we do that, I
think that growth will take care of itself. </span></span></div>
Susanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11627396804281804448noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1703009761258973965.post-14151445243144205212012-09-07T12:50:00.002-07:002012-09-07T12:50:22.170-07:00Sometimes the simplest toys are best<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
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<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;">Who knew that cat food cans are great building blocks? </span><br />
J was about a year in this pic and S was 4 1/2. Susanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11627396804281804448noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1703009761258973965.post-63362689598704891142012-09-07T12:49:00.000-07:002012-09-07T12:49:37.834-07:00Job satisfactionI started out thinking that this post would be called "I love my job," but that is not always true.<br />
<br />
Heck, for most of us, jobs are ways we make money to support families, friends, and ourselves. If we are really lucky, however, there is some point at which we can say that the "love my job" (or even "enjoy my job") moments outweigh the "hate my job" moments. <br />
<br />
But for myself, I am surprised to realize, in reflection, how those moments have morphed and changed over the years. The same repetitive tasks that I hated at one point in my job became refuges of peace and quiet and meditation when my parents became ill and we careened from one health care crisis to another, as I say. Honestly, the whole job became a refuge, because although it was more often than not wild and crazy, it was a predictable wild and crazy. A controllable wild and crazy. And my life caring for parents was a never-ending roller-coaster of unpredictable wild and crazy.<br />
<br />
Today the very thing which I thought I'd love about being a priest, some flexibility, is often a problem. My calendar is a wreck, and I despair at the time it takes to manage it! But being able to be flexible enough to sit and listen to the elder who drops in and, I suspect, has no one to listen to him, is a gift. Yes, it's all in the perspective. <br />
<br />
I think it is a gift to have a moment to think about the jobs and vocations we do have: there is usually something positive there. Making a difference, making a good product, making a good living are all important positives.<br />
<br />
And if there is nothing positive AT ALL, maybe it's time to talk to God about next steps. Susanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11627396804281804448noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1703009761258973965.post-6908279398852746732012-09-03T07:30:00.001-07:002012-09-03T07:30:35.714-07:00Because we've always done it that way!I remarked in the sermon yesterday that the famous last words of the church* are<br />
<br />
BECAUSE WE'VE <u>ALWAYS</u> DONE IT THAT WAY!<br />
<br />
or variously, BECAUSE WE'VE <u>NEVER</u> DONE IT THAT WAY!<br />
<br />
An astute member of the congregation reminded me of this story:<br />
<br />
A man watched his wife prepare the country ham for their Christmas dinner. First she cut off one end, and then the other, and then placed the large center in the pan. The two ends were included, wedged in, just no longer attached.<br />
<br />
He asked her why she did that. "Because my mother did it that way!"<br />
<br />
A call to mother ensued. "Why did you do that?" "Because my mother always did it that way!"<br />
<br />
Finally, the call the Grandma. "Why did you cut the ends off the ham?"<br />
"I don't know about the others, but my pan was too small to hold the whole ham."<br />
<br />
Let those who have ears listen. <br />
<br />
<br />
*And I mean any church, but of course, if the shoe fits, Episcopalians, wear it!Susanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11627396804281804448noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1703009761258973965.post-88901085424738640542012-09-02T08:11:00.000-07:002012-09-03T07:23:38.960-07:00The sermon for September 2: the Fourteenth Sunday after Pentecost<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 9.3pt; text-indent: -10.85pt;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"> </span>I have to issue a disclaimer here. I am occasionally hard on Pharisees, and often
they deserve it. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 9.3pt; text-indent: -10.85pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 9.3pt; text-indent: -10.85pt;">
<span style="font-size: small;"> But if we examine their actions, often we find them no
worse than ours. They observed distinctive practices, such as kosher
food and circumcision, that helped the nation of Israel to maintain its identity as
God's people in a world that tempted them to worship their neighbors' gods. These traditions, which come into question in this
text, grew out of a need to maintain their religious identity. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 9.3pt; text-indent: -10.85pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 9.3pt; text-indent: -10.85pt;">
<span style="font-size: small;"> The Jewish law, called the Torah, while quite
detailed, leaves room for interpretation in many situations. The Pharisees, out of a desire to obey God,
established rules to clarify the law in those situations. As time passed, these rules hardened into a surrogate
law that Jewish leaders regarded as <b>equal</b>
to scripture. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 9.3pt; text-indent: -10.85pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 9.3pt; text-indent: -10.85pt;">
<span style="font-size: small;"> They lost sight of the line between God's law and
their opinions.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 9.3pt; text-indent: -10.85pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 9.3pt; text-indent: -10.85pt;">
<span style="font-size: small;"> Both before and after this particular lesson, Jesus
has been about the countryside doing good works and miracles. But the Pharisees instead focus on nitpicking about the
ways of the law.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 9.3pt; text-indent: -10.85pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 9.3pt; text-indent: -10.85pt;">
<span style="font-size: small;"> Ritual cleanliness has nothing to do with hygiene. Pharisaic handwashing involved the use of only a small
amount of water poured over the hands to wash away ritual defilement, such as
that caused by touching an unclean object or person (i.e., a bodily discharge
such as blood, a dead body, a leper, or a Gentile). While most of <b>us</b>
would want to wash our hands for hygienic purposes in many of these
circumstances, for example, if we came in contact with blood, the manner in
which ritual handwashing was done offers no hygienic benefit. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 9.3pt; text-indent: -10.85pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 9.3pt; text-indent: -10.85pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 9.3pt; text-indent: -10.85pt;">
<span style="font-size: small;"> Have you ever heard the story of the cat in the
temple? </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 9.3pt; text-indent: -10.85pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 9.3pt; text-indent: -10.85pt;">
<span style="font-size: small;"> Somewhere long ago, in the East, a wise man sat in the
front of the village temple, teaching his apprentices and the local villagers
the tenets of their religion. But prowling around the grounds of the temple was a
yowling tomcat, repeatedly drowning out his words. Finally, the holy teacher asked his disciples to tie
up the cat to one of the pillars at the back of the temple. They did so, and while the cat was still noisy, the
disruption was in the background and he was able to go on teaching. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 9.3pt; text-indent: -10.85pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 9.3pt; text-indent: -10.85pt;">
<span style="font-size: small;"> And three hundred years later, in an honored tradition
in the same village temple, students of that religion and followers of that
teacher still tied cats to the temple pillars. And no one knew why.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 9.3pt; text-indent: -10.85pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 9.3pt; text-indent: -10.85pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 9.3pt; text-indent: -10.85pt;">
<span style="font-size: small;"> "The tendency that Jesus criticizes in the
Pharisees and scribes appears in most religious groups. <b>People come
to hold on to merely human traditions as if they were divinely revealed."</b> <a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1703009761258973965#_ftn1" name="_ftnref1" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">[1]</span></span></span></a> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 9.3pt; text-indent: -10.85pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 9.3pt; text-indent: -10.85pt;">
<span style="font-size: small;"> The Pharisees knew why they did what they did – they had rules that said they did these things to honor
God <b>and</b> to keep their religion pure
– <b>but they had
lost the sense of what God had called the people to do. </b>Instead they substituted their own rules and
opinions. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 9.3pt; text-indent: -10.85pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 9.3pt; text-indent: -10.85pt;">
<span style="font-size: small;"> That’s where Corban comes from. Under the law as interpreted in Jesus’ time, the
religious scholars had made a determination that in the interests of charity, a
person could dedicate a portion of all their possessions to God. And what you gave “to God” could be what you would otherwise
use for supporting your parents in old age.
</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 9.3pt; text-indent: -10.85pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 9.3pt; text-indent: -10.85pt;">
<span style="font-size: small;"> “Gee, Mom and Dad, you know the commandment about
honoring you? Well, I have! I have given all your support to God! Isn’t that wonderful!? </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 9.3pt; text-indent: -10.85pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 9.3pt; text-indent: -10.85pt;">
<span style="font-size: small;"> Huh? How am I
going to support you in your old age?
Well, I don’t know. It’s not my
problem anymore.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 9.3pt; text-indent: -10.85pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 9.3pt; text-indent: -10.85pt;">
<span style="font-size: small;"> Corban was a legal dodge, a legal commandment dodge,
you might say. A legal way to avoid the obligation laid on you by the
Commandments. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 9.3pt; text-indent: -10.85pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 9.3pt; text-indent: -10.85pt;">
<span style="font-size: small;"> It was not only legal, but encouraged by the religious
authorities,because of course, they were the ones who benefited
from this legal commandment dodge. Anything dedicated to God ended up in their hands.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 9.3pt; text-indent: -10.85pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 9.3pt; text-indent: -10.85pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 9.3pt; text-indent: -10.85pt;">
<span style="font-size: small;"> The problem is that both concepts – honoring God and honoring parents – have been honored in the breach, you might say. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 9.3pt; text-indent: -10.85pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 9.3pt; text-indent: -10.85pt;">
<span style="font-size: small;"> The Pharisees had so corrupted valid laws from God as
to make them unrecognizable. Corban was a scandal in Jesus’ time because elderly
people were left destitute by their children.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 9.3pt; text-indent: -10.85pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 9.3pt; text-indent: -10.85pt;">
<span style="font-size: small;"> Jesus tells us the story of the Good Samaritan to make
a similar point. The priest and the Levite passed by the injured man
because he was bleeding and therefore unclean. And they would not have enough time to ritually purify
themselves before worship. So, instead of offering comfort to someone injured,
they walked right on by.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 9.3pt; text-indent: -10.85pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 9.3pt; text-indent: -10.85pt;">
<span style="font-size: small;"> And the law that God had given them,to honor and respect other human beings as fellow
creatures of God,fell victim to ritual purity requirements. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 9.3pt; text-indent: -10.85pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 9.3pt; text-indent: -10.85pt;">
<span style="font-size: small;"> That was what concerned Jesus. And it should concern us.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 9.3pt; text-indent: -10.85pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 9.3pt; text-indent: -10.85pt;">
<span style="font-size: small;"> Ritual actions or their lack, do not make one pure and
they don’t make one impure. Eating with Gentiles did not and does not affect your
status with God, nor did whether or not you had handled a dead body
recently. And certainly, whether or not you washed before you
ate was not as critical as the Pharisees would have you believe. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 9.3pt; text-indent: -10.85pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 9.3pt; text-indent: -10.85pt;">
<span style="font-size: small;"> In an interesting turn, Jesus is doing exactly what he
accuses the Pharisees of doing: changing
the rules. But Jesus has changed the rules to refocus them: your religious actions, what we call piety,
are not what is important. <b>What is
important is your behavior in light of God’s commandments. </b>Your uncleanness comes from your own heart, not from
any external source. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 9.3pt; text-indent: -10.85pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 9.3pt; text-indent: -10.85pt;">
<span style="font-size: small;"> The Pharisees, rather than look for some teaching that
will guide them to live a better life, </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 9.3pt; text-indent: 26.7pt;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><b><i>focus on a pious action of human origin. </i></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 9.3pt; text-indent: -10.85pt;">
<span style="font-size: small;"> Instead of looking to the words of hope and
encouragement that Jesus has been offering to those who hear him, </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 9.3pt; text-indent: 26.7pt;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><b><i>they are looking for ways to tie cats to temple
pillars. </i></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 9.3pt; text-indent: -10.85pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 9.3pt; text-indent: -10.85pt;">
<span style="font-size: small;"> I opened with a disclaimer because this is where the
Pharisees start to seem quite a bit like us.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 9.3pt; text-indent: -10.85pt;">
<span style="font-size: small;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 9.3pt; text-indent: -10.85pt;">
<span style="font-size: small;"> If you asked one of them why they washed their hands
that way, I bet they’d reply, “Because we have always done it that way.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 9.3pt; text-indent: -10.85pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 9.3pt; text-indent: -10.85pt;">
<span style="font-size: small;"> Okay, Episcopalians, are those some words that sound
familiar?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 9.3pt; text-indent: -10.85pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 9.3pt; text-indent: -10.85pt;">
<span style="font-size: small;"> Because we have always done it that way? </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 9.3pt; text-indent: -10.85pt;">
<span style="font-size: small;"> Because we have done it that way without thinking
about it? </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 9.3pt; text-indent: -10.85pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 9.3pt; text-indent: -10.85pt;">
<span style="font-size: small;"> We need to be very careful that we know that what we
are doing serves to honor God’s commandments – and not our own preferences.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 9.3pt; text-indent: -10.85pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 9.3pt; text-indent: -10.85pt;">
<span style="font-size: small;"> That’s not always easy to know. And sometimes the questions need to be asked over and
over again.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 9.3pt; text-indent: -10.85pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 9.3pt; text-indent: -10.85pt;">
<span style="font-size: small;"> When your elderly mother is hooked up to machines that
keep her alive and you know that she would not want that, the relationship between commandment to honor human
life and the commandment to honor one’s parents can seem pretty hard to figure
out sometimes. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 9.3pt; text-indent: -10.85pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 9.3pt; text-indent: -10.85pt;">
<span style="font-size: small;"> When a child of eleven is raped by a family friend and
ends up pregnant, where does the command to not kill stand between her
baby and her own body that is not physically mature enough to bear a child?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 9.3pt; text-indent: -10.85pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 9.3pt; text-indent: -10.85pt;">
<span style="font-size: small;"> And with apologies to Augustine of Hippo and St.
Thomas Aquinas,in a religion with a commandment to not kill, and a
savior who tells us to turn the other cheek, is there really such a thing as a ‘just war?’</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 9.3pt; text-indent: -10.85pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 9.3pt; text-indent: -10.85pt;">
<span style="font-size: small;"> This Gospel is not intended to render us helpless, but to make us see a true problem, the challenge before us as people of faith. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 9.3pt; text-indent: -10.85pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 9.3pt; text-indent: -10.85pt;">
<span style="font-size: small;"> Because <b>it is
not always easy</b> to know the way that God would have us live out the
commandments. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 9.3pt; text-indent: -10.85pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 9.3pt; text-indent: -10.85pt;">
<span style="font-size: small;"> Despite what some would have you believe,following Christ is not always slam-dunk easy.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 13.95pt; text-indent: -13.95pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 13.95pt; text-indent: -13.95pt;">
<span style="font-size: small;"> What we do require, at the center of our being, is for
God to create a new heart in us. And this needs to happen, not one time only, but
continually. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 13.95pt; text-indent: -13.95pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 13.95pt; text-indent: -13.95pt;">
<span style="font-size: small;"> Over and over again the <b>transforming</b> grace of Christ must find a home in us, help us understand those difficult places where
justice and mercy and commandments all seem to collide. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 13.95pt; text-indent: -13.95pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 13.95pt; text-indent: -13.95pt;">
<span style="font-size: small;"> Along with the Pharisees, we have to be set free from our own opinions and
speculations, and become susceptible to the transforming work of God
at work around and within us. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 13.95pt; text-indent: -13.95pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 13.95pt; text-indent: -13.95pt;">
<span style="font-size: small;"> I think there are two basic requirements to knowing
what it is that God is asking of us, each and every day.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 13.95pt; text-indent: -13.95pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 13.95pt; text-indent: -13.95pt;">
<span style="font-size: small;"> The second (yes, the second!) is to discernment in
community. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 13.95pt; text-indent: -13.95pt;">
<span style="font-size: small;"> Together, we can look at the tough questions of where
justice and mercy lie, and struggle with them. And the struggle to find where the lines of justice
and mercy lie is much easier when we do it as a community of faith. We will each bring our various gifts to the table and
together seek God’s will for us, both as a community and individually.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 13.95pt; text-indent: -13.95pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 13.95pt; text-indent: -13.95pt;">
<span style="font-size: small;"> But the first and most important requirement is
something that we may not think about often enough. We must be emptied of ourselves. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 13.95pt; text-indent: -13.95pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 13.95pt; text-indent: -13.95pt;">
<span style="font-size: small;"> We must let go of human-made rules to be enabled to
hear God’s word to us. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 13.95pt; text-indent: -13.95pt;">
<span style="font-size: small;"> We must let go of everything except Jesus Christ.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 13.95pt; text-indent: -13.95pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 13.95pt; text-indent: -13.95pt;">
<span style="font-size: small;"> Sometimes our insight into Scripture can be enhanced
by hearing a story from another source. Or another story.
</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 13.95pt; text-indent: -13.95pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 13.95pt; text-indent: -13.95pt;">
<span style="font-size: small;"> There once was a teacher of Zen Buddhism in Japan, named
Nan-in. It seems that one day, Nan-in received a university
professor who came to inquire about Zen. Nan-in served tea. He poured his visitor's cup full,
and then kept on pouring. The professor watched the overflow until he could no
longer restrain himself. "It is overflowing! No more will go in!"</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 13.95pt; text-indent: -13.95pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 13.95pt; text-indent: -13.95pt;">
<span style="font-size: small;"> "Like this cup," Nan-in said, "you are
full of your own opinions and speculations. How can I show you Zen unless you
first empty your cup?" <span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1703009761258973965#_ftn2" name="_ftnref2" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">[2]</span></span></span></a> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 13.95pt; text-indent: -13.95pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 13.95pt; text-indent: -13.95pt;">
<span style="font-size: small;"> How can
Jesus Christ show us the Way, the Truth and the Life unless we first empty our
own cup? </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 13.95pt; text-indent: -13.95pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 13.95pt; text-indent: -13.95pt;">
<span style="font-size: small;"> When our
hearts and minds are free of rules about handwashing AND emptied of ourselves,</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 13.95pt; text-indent: -13.95pt;">
<span style="font-size: small;"> then we will
be able to hear and know the words of justice and mercy which Christ speaks to
us.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 13.95pt; text-indent: -13.95pt;">
<br /></div>
<div>
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><br clear="all" /></span>
<br />
<hr align="left" size="1" width="33%" />
<div id="ftn1">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1703009761258973965#_ftnref1" name="_ftn1" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">[1]</span></span></span></a>
Williamson, Lamar Jr., Interpretation:
Mark. 133.</span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn2">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1703009761258973965#_ftnref2" name="_ftn2" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">[2]</span></span></span></a> The story of Nan-in comes from by Sermonwriter Dick Donovan, in his proper 17B
email of 8/17/06. </span></div>
</div>
</div>
Susanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11627396804281804448noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1703009761258973965.post-24516986745433329392012-09-01T17:41:00.000-07:002012-09-01T17:55:31.455-07:00Taking a risk - to find out what's on the other sideComing home from Williamsburg on Thursday, I saw the most amazing thing on US58. Right there on the dashed line between the two west-bound lanes was a turtle, head stuck WAAAAY out, crossing the road. All I could do was pray that he'd both make it across the rest of the west-bound lanes, and then across the median and across the east-bound lanes as well.<br />
<br />
I couldn't help but be amazed. I almost stopped and moved him, but then sometimes those turtles don't like being moved. I also realized that I was as much at risk of an 18-wheeler as he was.<br />
<br />
But I was thinking about that turtle - all the way home and often since. I know a turtle doesn't have courage, as you and I do, but what does it take for a creature which prefers woods to be called to move across a hot patch of asphalt, with no idea of what might be next?<br />
<br />
What I kept thinking was that sometimes we have to be the turtles, and take that first step in faith and hope, knowing that there are cars, trucks, and the occasional predator bird just waiting for us.<br />
<br />
But what's also waiting for us is what is on the other side of the road - and we'll never know what it might be unless we take the first step.Susanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11627396804281804448noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1703009761258973965.post-27037325981162356732012-05-10T13:53:00.000-07:002012-05-10T13:55:46.371-07:00<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bold;"><b>The sermon for the Fifth Sunday of Easter, May 6, 2012</b></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">The Collect: Almighty
God, whom truly to know is everlasting life: Grant us so perfectly to know your
Son Jesus Christ to be the way, the truth, and the life, that we may
steadfastly follow his steps in the way that leads to eternal life; through
Jesus Christ your Son our Lord, who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of
the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<b><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">The Lessons:
Acts 8:26-40 <a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1703009761258973965" name="PSALM"></a>Psalm 22:24-30 Page 611,
BCP </span></b><b><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">1
John 4:7-21 John 15:1-8</span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">The usual caveat: I
format my sermons for preaching, and sometimes the written version is a little
off for reading. I also write sermons
only as a guide, so I deviate and adlib quite frequently. But this is what I wrote.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Let’s
begin this sermon with a test. Actually,
a survey. Raise your hand if you have
used the word abide in your conversation during the last week. Anybody?
How about the last month? The
last year?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">I
would bet that most of us have never used the word abide in regular
conversation at any time in our lives. It’s
not only a word that isn’t commonly used, it’s a word with a meaning that’s
hard to put our fingers on.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">The
dictionary says, remain, continue, stay, to have one’s abode or dwelling with. When it’s used without an object, it can mean
to tolerate, endure, or await.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">And
I would suggest that abide means all of those things for us. Abide
is like a stew word. Composed of various ingredients that don’t
necessarily sound so appealing when taken separately, but which meld together
to form something delicious, and nourishing.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">And
there’s often some flavor you can’t quite put a name to.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">What’s
the point of our abiding with Jesus? What does it mean for us to remain with or
continue with him?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">It
all comes down to fruit.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">I
had two professors in seminary who were quite different. One was very pastoral, and his pastor’s heart
meant that whenever the seminary was without a dean, the university made him
the acting dean. The only reason he
didn’t become dean was that he was a Lutheran in an Episcopal seminary! Don Armentrout is a nationally known
historian of the Episcopal church, and I know that those he taught learned much
more than history from him. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">The
second professor is an ethicist, a former Roman Catholic priest, trained in
very traditional models of philosophy and ethics. And if
ever there was someone to push your buttons, he’s it. Not because he likes to push buttons, but
because he knows that in examining how your buttons are pushed, you learn a
great deal about yourself and your beliefs, the ones you acknowledge and the
ones you know nothing about. A good
friend of mine who had him years before I did said that being in Joe Monti’s
classes was like being at the receiving end of a fire hose.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Two
very different men, both just recently retired, and honestly, two very
different kinds of fruit.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Don’s
pastoral nature challenged us all obliquely.
Joe’s confrontational ways challenged us head on. Over the course of 3 years, both took
engineers and doctors and lawyers and salesmen and therapists and artists and
Army non-coms and Air Force pilots and
helped us become priests and pastors for the church.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Folks
like Don and Joe are part of the process of pruning us, I think.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">You
know the folks in your life who have challenged you. Challenged your beliefs. Challenged your
lifestyle. Challenged you to define who
you are and who you are not.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">And
finally, challenged you to be more than you are, to become more. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Unfortunately,
when we think of pruning, we think of wholesale whacking off of branches and
limbs. Sometimes it is that, but more
often pruning is a very selective kind of process. Find the point where the dead wood means the
live wood and cut there, not too much into the live wood. Consider the shape of the plant and what it
can support, and gently trim off the parts that can no longer be maintained, or
that won’t contribute to future growth.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">I am
reminded of the true nature of pruning each spring when somebody whacks another
crepe myrtle. You see them all around
here, the crepe myrtles which have become crepe murders. Whacked again. Someone has taken off huge
branches, actually stems, of 2-3 inches in diameter. And
the forms that result this time of year have knobbly joints where the new
growth emerges. They are functional as
crepe myrtles, but certainly not beautiful.
To borrow a phrase, they are not all that they could be. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">And
then I recall watching Charlie Easton prune our crepe myrtles here at St.
Timothy’s, several years ago. Not a pair
of scissors or loppers in his hands, he approached them individually and using
just his fingers, carefully examined each branch, and gently took it back to
new growth, growth that could support those sweeping branches of beautiful
stems. Charlie has the hands of someone
who works outside and loves it. He also
has the hands of a nurturer, who brings new health and growth to those around
him. His crepe myrtles are beautiful
things.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">When
Jesus speaks of abiding in him, one of the pieces of that is knowing that we
will be pruned. Not that we might be,
but that we will be. But our formation
as the followers of Christ is much more subtle than going after the plant with
our shears and doing it in one instant.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Instead
our formation, our shaping in Christ, is gentle. It’s not done obliquely, just head on. But if we allow ourselves, we are gently
reshaped in the way we should go. Scraggly
bushes and vines are subtly reformed in the image of Christ. Not a one-time event, or a sudden event, but
rather a life-long process.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">John
Wesley called it the process of sanctification. And that’s what abiding really is. Not at all what the dictionary says. Allowing ourselves to be reshaped constantly.
To be challenged in the shape we are in
and to be re-formed. And to know that
the pruning that will reshape us comes from many sources, not just from the
Lord.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">To
be re-formed, day by day, month-by-month.
Abiding in the true vine. And the
truth of it, I believe, is that that kind of re-formation and re-shaping takes
place only in Christ. In the body of
Christ, in the Body we call the church.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Jesus
speaks these words about being the vine to his disciples as part of what is
known as the Farewell Discourses. In a
little bit of time travel, here in our time, after Easter, we go back to the
days before his crucifixion. To the time
when he prepared his disciples to be without his physical presence among them.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">This
is how you will survive, he says to them.
This is how you will not only survive, but thrive. You will not be a lone branch on a vine, or a
tree. You will not live your life alone or without companionship. You will live
your life in me, and in the company of others who believe in me.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">And
only then will you truly live your life.
Only then will you live life to bear fruit. Fruit that will forever and
truly change the world. Abide in me.<o:p></o:p></span></div>Susanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11627396804281804448noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1703009761258973965.post-76677706040066950232012-05-10T13:48:00.002-07:002012-05-10T13:48:58.205-07:00it's time<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">We're working on a new website at St. Timothy's and one of the things that has to happen is there to be a link to my sermons. I've hesitated to publish them or send them out because 1) I format them in a way that works for my preaching style, but doesn't work well for reading and therefore requires reformatting and 2) the whole process of publishing them seems somehow, well, like putting myself forward. I have no issue at all with folks taking them on Sundays, and indeed, invite folks to do so. And I'm not ashamed or embarrassed about what I write or say. </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">It's just that I was raised in a household where we were expected to not call attention to ourselves. And this whole idea of publishing for the whole world to see (although I know that maybe, what 3 people will see this?) takes me back to that place. </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">I guess I have to get it over, don't I? And that's what we all have to do. Get over how we were raised, and get over ourselves. After all, it's to the glory of God. That is what we do.</span>Susanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11627396804281804448noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1703009761258973965.post-76841086682848528012012-04-09T11:54:00.002-07:002012-04-09T11:56:06.510-07:00The Triduum<div style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<span style="font-size: small;">Most clergy will tell you that they, well, sort of dread Holy Week. It's hard not to when there's so much work to be done. Just how many decent sermons can one person churn out in a limited period of time, all the while attending to the usual pastoral care needs? It's so, so easy to be caught up in the business and bulletins that you forget why you are doing what you do.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<span style="font-size: small;">And of course, there's the guilt: one a Good Friday visit to the local nursing home with the Sunday School class, who'd made Easter baskets for our residents there, one woman made a point of detailing my inadequacies in bringing communion to her. I know that I'd love to take her communion as often as she demands it, but since she requires my presence and not that of the Lay Eucharistic Visitors, it's simply not going to happen. And she doesn't realize that she's not the only one in the parish who needs a visit or has a pastoral need. It's those kind of days that exhaust you.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<span style="font-size: small;">And then, on that same day, I had one of those events that exhilarate! At the hands of those same kids, 6 girls, 3 sets of sister, the same ones who plucked the last nerves of the teachers, parents, and clergy who took them to the nursing home after school. We came back to church as they were to lead the Stations of the Cross for us during the Good Friday Liturgy. Rehearsal was not very promising. But wow, did they ever 'bring it' to the actual liturgy. Elena and Jamison were so intent on doing the best job they could as acolytes, I thought someone's tongue would be bitten off. And we ended up at exactly the right station each time, which is better than some of the adults have done in years past! And Jamison, Lucy, Lydia, and Annelise read each of the stations with such care. We had to practice "iniquity" a lot, but they did so well.</span> I forced myself to let go of worrying about the pronunciation, and instead focused on the words, the hard words, coming from such sweet voices.</div>
<div style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">
I don't think I'll ever do the stations again without hearing their voices in my head.</div>
<div style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">
And this is what Holy Week and Easter are all about: Jesus died for the young and the old, the ones who grumble and the ones who pluck someone's last nerves, the ones who can say "iniquity" and those of us who have lived our own iniquities. </div>
<div style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">
Out of the mouths of babes comes the Easter acclamation: Alleluia. Christ is risen! The Lord is risen indeed! Alleluia!</div>
<div style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</div>
<div style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">
Thanks be to God!</div>Susanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11627396804281804448noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1703009761258973965.post-38148942627457469602011-12-07T17:49:00.000-08:002011-12-07T17:56:23.677-08:00Wednesdays in AdventI took communion to a parishioner out in the country today. Really out in the country - in another state. That's not unusual here, for we are only five miles from that other state.<br /><br />I didn't take my usual route to the house because I was coming from another place. I let the GPS lead the way, and as it often does in this rural area, it took me down unfamiliar roads. And for this Garmin GPS, a gravel road is just the same as a paved road. I end up on lots of gravel roads.<br /><br />But this one was different. It looked like someone's driveway, not just a gravel road with many houses and mailboxes on it. And I guess that's what it was - someone's driveway. <br /><br />But it was a wonderful look at another part of the county. I saw the backside of some very nice farms. Farms I usually see from the front. I guess that's just like life, isn't it? We see the front, never considering what the backside might look like. I suppose some farms are messy on the backside, but the ones I saw today were neat and well-tended. Just as pretty on the back as they are on the front.<br /><br />Oh, and that gravel driveway? It eventually ended up at a gate that I wasn't going to get out and open in the pouring rain, so I backed up to where I could safely turn around and go back to a main road.<br /><br />So, the Garmin misled me today. But the Good News is what I did see - and that there was a place to back up!Susanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11627396804281804448noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1703009761258973965.post-43009675716080994132009-04-04T12:20:00.000-07:002009-04-04T12:25:29.045-07:00Redbuds!!!I love redbuds in the spring! The glow of their purple (and they are really purple) against the still yellow green of new leaves and gray-brown of bark is just stunning. I take pictures of them so I can recreate them in fabric some day.<br /><br />What do you love in the springtime? Daffodils? The first blades of hostas coming up? The funny blossoms on some of the bushes we value for their foliage?<br /><br />I <span style="font-style: italic;">appreciate</span> the other seasons but I just absolutely <span style="font-style: italic;">LOVE</span> spring!<br /><br />And when I get the picture taken, I'll post it.Susanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11627396804281804448noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1703009761258973965.post-2892367011037813282009-04-02T06:35:00.001-07:002009-04-02T06:42:57.828-07:00Community: fake or real?<span style="font-family:times new roman;">Just when you think you've heard it all . . . there was a report on NPR last night about staging. You know, that's what realtors like to do in a house which is for sale. Keep it neutral, as if no one lived there, and the potential buyer could move right in. The buyer needs to be able to see themselves in that house.<br /><br />But there's a new kind of staging out there. It's staging neighborhoods. One buyer, now owner, met the neighbors, had cookies and lemonade with them, and then moved in - to find out they were actors. In fact, the neighborhood he moved into, in one of those empty Las Vegas subdivisions which are a symbol of the real estate market, has no one - except him and his family. It was all a sham.<br /><br />And that's not all - apparently realtors are now staging tennis matches, town hall meetings, and yes, here's the best part, even churches. In order to entice buyers to buy into a particular community, they make artificial community, whatever it takes.<br /><br />I'm stunned - but not surprised in the end. I think that this is a symptom of a major lack in our society: people want and need community and they'll do it any way that they can, including fake ones. Gangs are another symptom: what are they but places for people to find family and community?<br /><br />I chose the real community - the one that is born of the love of God. Community where I'm not looking for folks exactly like me, in lifestyle, education, interests, language, or ethnic background. I want the diversity of the various points of view, and the unity of the love of God.<br /><br />What about you?<br /></span>Susanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11627396804281804448noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1703009761258973965.post-23603748633625736062009-03-31T06:45:00.000-07:002009-03-31T06:53:25.367-07:00Who's the blind (wo)man now?<span style=";font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:100%;" >John 9:18-41 (NRSV)<br />I'm always amazed, when I read the story of the blind man who is healed by Jesus, at the inquisition conducted by the Jewish authorities. The man who is known to have been blind is healed, and it seems they want to find someone to blame, rather than rejoice that one who could not see now can.<br /><br />And it is the blind man who sees, when those who see are blind. </span><span style=";font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:100%;" >"Here is an astonishing thing! You do not know where he comes from, and yet he opened my eyes. 31 We know that God does not listen to sinners, but he does listen to one who worships him and obeys his will. 32 Never since the world began has it been heard that anyone opened the eyes of a person born blind. 33 If this man were not from God, he could do nothing."<br /><br />How many of us think we can see and don't realize how blind we really are? Especially in these hard economic times, I wonder if it has something to do with a bit of deprivation. When you have everything, it's easier to ignore needs, concerns, and yes, even healings of blind men, right in front of your eyes. I suspect that those who are lacking in something, food, shelter, health insurance, job, security of any kind, are far more observant, for they have to be; they can take nothing for granted.<br /><br />Who's the blind (wo)man now?<br /></span>Susanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11627396804281804448noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1703009761258973965.post-53399250167025007582009-03-30T10:56:00.000-07:002009-03-30T11:02:49.297-07:00kenosisAs I occasionally do, I taught a new word to the congregation yesterday. I used the word "kenosis" in my sermon. The sermon was about the emptying of self that Jesus did in order to save us from ourselves. God the Son became less of what he was (as God) so that we could become more of what we should always have been.<br /><br />My thoughts today are not about the doctrine of kenosis itself, but rather what it means for me. What it means to "give up ourselves to your service." (General Thanksgiving) How many of us have really done this - given up self to serve God? Or are we still serving other gods?Susanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11627396804281804448noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1703009761258973965.post-60649777660016367962009-01-01T08:22:00.000-08:002009-01-01T08:28:39.260-08:00Well, this is certainly interesting - my last post was 1 year ago. Another crazy year, crazy for a lot more folks than me. No house yet - market took care of that. Did have to buy a new car because the old one was about to lose the differential - and that would have been more than it was worth. Like the new car - and this is important - don't feel like I'm taking a huge risk doing the long-distance drives, especially in the dark. Oh - a first for me: a sun roof! Maybe it will be warm enough to actually open it up!<br /><br />One New Year's resolution: post a bit more! So today, I'll post my two bread recipes I'm trying out and a soup recipe that looks ready-made to go with them!<br />King Arthur's cheese bread - only I'm making mine with smoked gouda 'cause that's what's in the house!<br />http://www.kingarthurflour.com/shop/RecipeDisplay?RID=32<br />And their English muffin bread is just out of the oven - waiting those magic 5 minutes to be turned out and cooled so I can toast and eat some!<br />http://www.kingarthurflour.com/shop/RecipeDisplay?RID=266<br /><br />I'll try the Tomato and smoked gouda soup and let you know how it goes. Happy Christmastide and New Year -Susanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11627396804281804448noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1703009761258973965.post-36926360855655430102008-01-01T13:18:00.000-08:002008-12-01T05:02:13.509-08:00A Wild FallThis has been a wild-and-crazy fall, probably the weirdest I've ever known. Not even filling out applications for the discernment process or working in another parish prior to seminary matched this one.<br /><br />To make a very long, very hard story short, the two churches I've been serving as Priest-in-Charge (PIC's to those in the know!) began discussing how/whether/if to call me as Rector. While I was out of town in late October, the Vestry of the smaller church decided to decline the negotiated agreement (negotiated by a subcommittee of that vestry). I told the deployment officer in the Diocese to put my name in for a few places.<br /><br />However, the larger of the two churches' Vestry met and decided to take a great leap of faith, and when they told me, I said I'd take it with them. And the result is that a church which was contributing 50% of the costs of a full-time priest this year increased their pledges by 70% and will be calling me full-time at the end of the PIC contract in mid-June. I had some concerns when they said they were going to initially try for 75% of the costs associated with clergy, so the leap of faith to 100% was amazing. I am still processing it all - it's certainly really nice to be wanted enough that folks would take that leap! <br /><br />And the big family news was the thing that kept perspective for me! My niece and her husband had their first child in late October, a few days early. I was more than a bit stunned and surprised to find that she's partially named for me! You can meet Susannah Rose Hall at mandghall.blogspot.com . I've been able to see her about once a month so far, and looking forward to spoiling her a great deal. I KNEW there was a reason I kept all those beautiful pieces of fine cotton fabrics and my pleater when I moved to Sewanee!<br /><br />My next journey is hopefully to home ownership. After the exhausting fall, I know my own need for a place that's mine and that fits my lifestyle and where I can paint the walls something other than beige. Beige carpet is fine, but that's all the beige I intend to have in my future!Susanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11627396804281804448noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1703009761258973965.post-60439914550189057012007-08-31T07:43:00.000-07:002007-08-31T07:54:21.115-07:00Doubt is our constant companion<span style="font-family:arial;">In the last week, the news that Mother Teresa had doubts has rather taken over the religious news.<br /><br />Some folks are crowing, for they see doubt as disbelief. They are not the same, not ever.<br /><br />Doubt is the constant companion of faith. Susan Brooks</span><span style="font-family: arial;">Thistlethwaite said it in a commentary posted in "On Faith" (http://newsweek.washingtonpost.com/onfaith) and she's absolutely right.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: arial;">But even in the middle of the greatest doubts, the experience of faith can keep one going. Most of us don't have dark nights of the soul to compare with that of John of the Cross or Teresa of Calcutta, but we do have them. And we also have the moments of faith, strong enough to keep us moving through the times of doubt. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: arial;">And for both the faith and the doubt, thanks be to God! They are part of what makes us authentically human, made in the image and likeness of God, who doubted too, when he was hung on a cross.</span>Susanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11627396804281804448noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1703009761258973965.post-74550627797799202202007-06-21T17:43:00.001-07:002007-06-21T17:52:49.981-07:00<span style="font-family:verdana;">Well. . . .they're pretty puny right now but the basil plants have arrived and are now planted in their pot.<br /><br />In one of the most graceful moments of my early days in these two parishes, a parishioner asked one Sunday morning if anyone wanted basil. "I do, I do!" was my immediate reply. I thought I was getting some cuttings to dry.<br /><br />But no! A 12-inch pot arrived with at least 8 plants. And so began a delicious and luxuriant summer. That's my idea of summer indulgence: fresh basil to pair with fresh, home-grown tomatoes.<br /><br />That's another perk of rural ministry - this year folks are planting tomatoes for me! I know too many carrots can make you orange - what happens with too many tomatoes? Or is there such a thing as too many tomatoes?<br /><br />My most favorite summer meal: a flat cracker, like a Triscuit or one of those Swedish flatbrot thingies, thin slice of tomato, leaf or two of basil, slice of fresh mozzarella, drizzle of olive oil, twist or two of the pepper grinder. Yummo, as Rachael would say! A plate of those and some iced tea on the porch, in the shade, and even 90degrees can be ok.<br /><br />Oh, and you should try a bacon, tomato and basil sandwich - replace the lettuce. You can also leave out the bread entirely.<br /></span>Susanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11627396804281804448noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1703009761258973965.post-34590878297259297352007-06-21T17:11:00.000-07:002007-06-21T17:21:44.819-07:00Blog name?<span style="font-family: verdana;">Well, I suppose the first question anyone would ask is "Where in the world did the name of the blog come from?"</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">For many years I have loved the words and rhythms of the Book of Common Prayer. It was those words, in liturgy, which first attracted me to the Episcopal Church. But the New Zealand Prayer Book has some of the most lovely versions of the traditional and familiar words, I think due to to the rhythms of Maori. And the title to this blog is from the post-communion prayer on page 429:</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">Father of all, we give you thanks and praise, that when we were still far off you met us in your Son and brought us home. Dying and living, he declared your love, gave us grace and opened the gate of glory. May we who share Christ's body live his risen life; we who drink his cup bring life to others; we whom the Spirit lights give light to the world. Keep us firm in the hope you have set before us, so we and all your children shall be free, and the whole earth live to praise your name. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">Indeed, we are "well met." Thanks be to God!</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">(</span><span style="font-weight: bold; font-family: verdana;">A New Zealand Prayer Book/He Karakia Mihinare o Aotearoa;</span><span style="font-family: verdana;"> 1988; published in the US by HarperSanFrancisco)</span>Susanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11627396804281804448noreply@blogger.com0