Pentecost

Readings are here

When the day of Pentecost had come, the disciples were all together in one place. And suddenly from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. Divided tongues, as of fire, appeared among them, and a tongue rested on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages, as the Spirit gave them ability. (Acts 2)

The followers of Jesus had been gathered together since the Ascension- women and men - about 120 of them as it says earlier in Acts. They are waiting - they do not know for what but Jesus told them to wait. They wait in hope as Paul says in Romans:

For in hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what is seen? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.

They waited in hope not knowing. They shared the stories of their time with Jesus and prayed and broke bread together. For 10 days they kept hoping. Suddenly they were so filled by the Spirit they overcame their fears and burst out in the streets - unable to contain that which they knew - it had to be shared. Some in the streets thought they had been drinking all night and into the morning - and in a way they were drunk - drunk on the Spirit. They shared their faith in such a way that all heard it in their own language.

Lately there have been many surveys that show the fastest growing faith group is the "none" group. When asked about faith traditions, denominations or churches - a growing percentage of respondents say "none."

So how did we get from the early church with its enthusiasm for sharing the gospel in the languages of their day to today when so many do not know the story nor see why it might be something for them? Why do we come to church - why did you come today when there are so many other things you could be doing? Obviously we have some small flame of the Spirit that we come to tend here. But it seems to stop there. This is not a guilt trip - I am just curious as to what it would take for us to share the good news that we know with others? Not just to make Episcopalians but to share that which sustains us so others might know about it.

Some time ago I was in a group where we studied the scriptures, prayed, and shared our stories of faith with one another. It was a safe place to practice our stories. One day she came bursting into our group saying I have a ministry! She meant she realized that ministry was more than what people dressed up in vestments do on Sunday or only ordained people can do. Her ministry was being a checker in a local variety store. She discovered that living her faith as she checked out people and their items could change the lives of most all who came through her line. You know how it is - someone has stress and anger - it is so easy to return that anger with anger. But she would return anger with love and concern. Pretty soon, because we live in a small town - people began to ask her what it was that helped her stay centered and spread love to each person? And there was the opening for her to share what it was - her commitment to following Christ and the work of the Spirit in her life. Because she had been practicing her story with the small safe group - she could burst out of our small meeting into the world. Her fears were gone - she had the confidence of God within her.

This summer at the Episcopal every 3 year national convention - we will be learning more about sharing our faith stories - testifying as Jesus says in our Gospel today. It is not about knocking on doors or passing out pamphlets in the city squares - but about knowing where we have encountered God and telling others about it where we live and work. We will practice our testimony -- even though the news reports may be that all we talk about is sex (sometimes it seems easier to talk about than faith) - we will be learning about sharing our faith.

The other part of sharing our faith is talking about it so others can hear it (as the early disciples spoke in the many languages). How are we to learn other languages that we encounter? Of course we can take Spanish or another language but how are we to speak across generations - speak to people who are becoming the "none" church. Learning to listen deeply to their hopes and dreams and their way of connecting to something greater than themselves is one way. By listening to how they speak of God or the Holy or Creation - we can begin the conversation. Our goal is not to make Episcopalians (although we would like that!) but to open up the dialogue of faith and how it supports and challenges our way of living.

As we go out to listen and share our story -- I read this last week --

"Easter makes me not afraid to die. Pentecost makes me not afraid to
live." h/t to Fran I am

Easter gives us the assurance that we will live forever - death is not the end - nor are the metaphorical deaths of embarrassing ourselves in public nor our fear of failure that feels like death. But Pentecost is what frees us to really live - live in the power of the Spirit - who came this day to get us up and out into the world.

Ascension

Some last thoughts on Ascension -- my essay on Ascension is here. As I was preaching the sermon I focused on God breaking down the barriers between us and the Holy. Jesus prays that we may be one as he and the Father are one. Often this is used as a motivator for Christian unity but I think it is more in the line of all the times God broke through all the barriers we have erected between ourselves and the One who created all things. In both the Hebrew Scriptures and the Christian Testament, God continually pursues this relationship. From the time of our separation upon leaving the garden of Eden, there has been this endless opening of doors to return to that easy one-ness with God. From Jesus' baptism and the opening of the heavens with the voice saying "you are my beloved" to the Transfiguration, to the cross and the veil of the Temple torn in two from top to bottom, to the Ascension - the message is -- I will tear down every barrier between you and Me. Barriers we have created by what we have done and not done, barriers created by human systems - even the church, whatever separates us - God is tearing down and reaching out. Can we let down our barriers to this union?

UPDATE:
Some thoughts from the mystics

And God said to the soul:
I desired you before the world began.
I desire you now
As you desire me
And where the desires of two come together
There love is perfected."

-Mechtild of Magdeburg 1207-1297
(trans.by Oliver Davies)


How God comes to the soul:
“I descend on my love
As dew on a flower."
-Mechtild of Magdeburg
(trans. by Oliver Davies)


There the soul dwells –
like the fish in the sea
and the sea in the fish.

-Catherine of Siena

In the garden...

Supposing him to be the gardener...

Mary Magdalene goes to the tomb, deep in her grief and loss. The one who had freed her of her many demons, who had given her back her life, whom she had followed and supported - he is dead. All who have experienced death of those we love, of the passing away of beloved times, can relate to this depth of loss. The story of God in human life starts in a garden. In the beginning... God walked with Eve and Adam, talked with them, they felt at one with God. They turned away from God to pursue their own lives and desires - they broke faith with God. As God makes garments to protect them on their journey, perhaps God wept into the threads.

Now we come to another garden and we are weeping. We know the terrible loss that death brings. We ache to be whole. Mary Magdalene think Jesus is the gardener and in a way he is - a gardener of our being - tending us and caring for us and praying us into wholeness. Even on the cross he stretches his arms out to us saying "forgive" - offering the path back to union with God.

Perhaps you have been far away, wandering from the faith of your childhood, perhaps you never heard the story of God's love for you and today you came out of curiosity or because a friend said, "Come and see." Or maybe your parents or your children brought you. Hear the words of Peter in the story of the Acts of the Apostles: "I truly understand that God shows no partiality, but in every nation anyone who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him." Jesus comes to free us from whatever keeps us from living and loving freely. The offering is before us calling to us - we don't earn it - it is grace abounding freely. Everyone, in every nation, in every state of life, everyone is offered the loving embrace of God. Our response is awe and wonder (as Acts calls it "fear") and the desire to walk in the path of Christ. But first comes the offer.

In the garden, Mary Magdalene, does not know who Jesus is until he calls her name. It is that naming that is symbolic of who we are - someone who fully knows us and fully loves us. That is the offer today and every day of the one who rose from the dead and shows us the path of life.

Readings are here.

I am with you to the end...

Cleveland sings for love

Easter

From the Archbishop of Canterbury:

Take me out to the ball game

Opening Day! Put me in coach:

Palm/Passion Sunday

Today we start with one kind of parade leading into another. From the joyous Hosannas to the silence of the tomb. At our 8 a.m. service I had everyone read the Jesus' parts. Usually the congregations gets the "Crucify him" parts so I thought it would be a change for them to look at from the point of view of Jesus. I preached briefly on noticing who ministered to Jesus along the way. Noted that it is often the unnamed and unknown: the woman who spent her year's wages to anoint Jesus, Simon the Cyrene - a stranger walking through town, Mary Magdalen, Mary, and the other women at the cross, the rich man who goes in fear and trembling to claim Jesus' body. The people who are expected to help: the government, the church, his closest disciples - all actively seek to take his life or turn their backs on him in the end.

Afterward one of the men said - wow - that happened to me - I had a wreck on Main Street last week - my friends drove on by -- strangers helped me -- I think I need to start acting when I see help is needed (I know that he already does this but I think it reinforced the gospel for him).

We have to get that service done in less than an hour or the next group gets antsy. We did it but with the long Gospel - we stripped out everything else except the Blessing of the Palms (I told them to hold up their hands to get the palms of their hands as well as their palm fronds), the Prayers and the Eucharist.

I think it was good and all are set to meditate on the events of Holy Week.

Painting by Danila Vassilieff.

Hate the sin?

Father Matthew takes on the saying "love the sinner, hate the sin" - why that does not work.



You can now purchase his series on the Sacraments as a DVD - great for Christian Education or inquirers' classes. Click here for more information.

Some silliness for today

h/t to Andrew Plus

A prayer for our library...

Here is the prayer I composed for the blessing of our local library. In 1909 the original Carnegie was built here in Lander - a big stone edifice like you see in many Western small towns. Today in 2009 we dedicated an addition and remodel of the old. Odd fact- the current mayor grew up in the house where the new addition now stands.

Prayer for the Fremont County Library in Lander

God of all creation, giver of knowledge, wisdom, and creativity, you spoke your Word and all things were brought into being. In the spirit of the creative power of words:

We offer prayers this day for our library:

For all who worked to bring it into being
For the support of the community of Lander, Fremont County and Wyoming
For the committed, ever welcoming and helpful librarians and staff
For all those who will use its resources

For children of all ages who find it a place to dream and wonder
For those who find it a place of refuge and support in their daily lives

For the connections it provides

between the history and cultures of the world
through books, magazines, and the Internet
in the sharing of our stories, the stories of our community and the stories of the world beyond our experience.
through performances and presentations of plays, films, music and art

May it be a place for the enlightenment of our minds and kindling of our imaginations.

May we receive the gift of intellectual courage to ask the tough questions, encounter the issues of our day, and to weigh critically all the answers suggested here.

May it be a safe place of gathering in the midst of our community

where all are welcome
where our diversity is honored
and respect is practiced.

May we become not only knowledgeable, but also wise.

We pray this day for hope, for understanding, for new vision, and for the courage to take risks for the sake of knowledge and for the wisdom to use these gifts in service of our community and the world. May those who come here encounter hope, grace, and love. May the Fremont County Library in Lander ever be a place of blessing in our community. Amen.

4 Lent

Readings are here.

This week's lessons seem to have a theme of being raised up for healing. In the wilderness Moses holds up the image of a snake to heal those who have been bitten by poisonous snakes. The letter to the Ephesians says:

God, who is rich in mercy, out of the great love with which he loved us even when we were dead through our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ-- by grace you have been saved-- and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the ages to come he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.

And in the Gospel, Jesus says:

"Just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.
"For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.
"Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him."

All of these are not raised up for themselves but for the sake of others. The raising up somehow transforms what might be a terrible thing into a healing thing.

I think how those who have been through suffering and death are more able to walk through these times with others. Henry Nouwen calls them wounded healers. AA and other 12-step programs are example of people having found healing who are able to guide others through the healing process.

Although terrible things should not happen to any of us and we pray that they will not - the example of Christ is one of how suffering can be redemptive. Dorothee Sollee says that our pain can be like a kidney stone - serving no purpose other than hurting. Or it can be like childbirth- bring new life to another.

Some others thoughts on the Serpent on the Pole here and here. Both having to do with the healing and lifegiving power of looking directly at death.

And a poem:

Anaphora
by Nicholas Samaras

Let the path beat me down.
Let the weather and no covering beat me down.
Let the sun be my undoing.
Let Ksenofondos Monastery shrink behind me, until I lose all
bearing.
Let me lose the road to where I lose all hope.
Let this path diverge unto my ruin, and beat me down.
Let all the elements of the earth beat me down.
Let the manuscript of my sins beat me down.
Let God thunder and kingdom come to beat me down.
Let me uncover my shame and give over my life.
Let me repent until repentance breaks me.
Let this path beat me down.
Let me learn the word for water is the same as the word for
forgiveness.
Let the path beat me down, as I lie on its body and give up
everything.
Let me let go of the bag I own, the book, the pen, the dry bottle.
Let me own none of it.
Let me own nothing of myself.
Let the dust of my footsteps be tracked over by the wolves.
Let me die on these rocks, and my body be discovered in days.
Let my hands be found bloody with climbing the scree.
Let the oblique ascension of stars slant over my body.
Let the solemn silence of night be my liturgy.
Let God thunder and beat me down.
Where is the monastic, and where the scribe?
Where is the wise to beat me down?
Let the path beat me down.
Let the path lead me to my other self.
Let the smell of water waken what I walked for.
Let my face be transformed.
Let my face be transfigured from my life.
Let the world be beaten down as I wobble up again.
Let me go back to my family changed.
Let the path beat me down.
Let this path beat me down.
Let the path break me as I come,
to be this broken, this blessed.

For St. Patrick's Day





Thanks to Fran I Am.