Alabama bishops and clergy on Immigration

XIII Pentecost

Readings are here.

Sermon thoughts:

I wrestle often with the question Peter asks about forgiveness. My experience is that people expect instant results if one forgives. The church makes one feel guilty if a person cannot forgive. Psychologists (pros and amateurs) tell us we will be the ones to benefit. But for me this just does not work. I need the acknowledgement of the wound and a time with my rage once I discover the depth of the wound to bring me back to myself and to give me strength to even move.

Today I read Jesus reply in a new way -- that the 77 times is not for 77 offenses but 77 times it may take before I can let the offense go and fully live into the future. Now I am reflecting on that and what it means for me. I know that the first step is acknowledging that the past cannot be changed, that the event happened and it was terrible for me and others. It was wrong and there is no changing that either. But with the idea that I can continue to let go even 77 times - somehow gives me hope that there is a day when it will no longer be fresh nor affecting my life. Like a broken bone - it may only ache when the weather changes - but I will be able to walk and run again.

Labor Day 2011

Barefoot and Laughing: In Loving Remembrance - Kirstin's Memorial Service

Watch and weep. Thanks to Andee for being an icon of a faithful friend.

Barefoot and Laughing: In Loving Remembrance - Kirstin's Memorial Service.

BAREFOOT AND FOREVER LAUGHING

Full box of tissues alert.



Thanks MP and Clumber

Pentecost

Readings are here.

When we left the followers of Jesus last week they were staring up in the sky wondering, what next? Now they have spent the week+ gathering for meals, praying together, studying the scriptures and recounting their experiences with Jesus - doing what all have done since that time - gathering, lighting the fire, telling the story and breaking the bread - the basics of church.

Today we hear the next step in their journey in faith - the Day of Pentecost - the birthday of the church. The candles are lit by the Spirit and they begin to spread the word to the world.

Last Monday eve at our service one of the kids brought a pine cone in our "box." Every week one of them takes the box home and puts something in it for me to use to tell them about Jesus and the church. The pine cone reminded me of the Yellowstone fires. In 1988, Yellowstone Park experienced terrible fires. A combination of fire suppression which left trees of mostly one age and closely spaced, dry windy weather conditions, and other factors gave a welcome place for the fires to explode. The smoke in our valley 180 miles to the east filled the air. The sun appeared above the smoky clouds about 10 in the morning and set around 4. Devastation seemed to be the end of the grand old lady of national parks. As terrible as wild fires are - and we know them in Oregon as well - we learned that some pine cones cannot reproduce unless subjected to fire. They need fire to open and allow their seeds to be released and life to continue.

I see this as the story of Pentecost. Pentecost falls on the Jewish celebration of the giving of the law to the people through Moses on Mt. Sinai. Held at the harvest festival of Shauvot, it falls 50 days after the Exodus. The law is seen throughout the Bible as life giving - as the psalmist says, "a lantern for our feet" to help us live into that fullness of life that God intends for each of us. The Day of Pentecost for Christians falls 50 days after the death and resurrection of Jesus. When Moses received the law - the mountain was wreathed in thunder and lightning, smoke and fire. His face shone with the glory of God when he returned from the mountain - his face was so bright he had to wear a veil for the people to look upon him. In our reading today all the followers received the fire of the Spirit. It is portrayed as tongues of fire on each head. Or perhaps as Sister Corita says - they had "tons of fire." Each follower was filled with this fire or zeal - they ran to tell others - each in his or her own language. Many thought they were drunk but many caught the Spirit and soon the Word (not words - but the incarnate Christ) spread like a wildfire throughout the area around the Mediterranean and out to the whole world. The fire of the Spirit broke open their hearts and the seeds of Christ fell out into the world.

Am also thinking about languages and understanding each other and wondering how this event crosses the boundaries we set for one another. Some people who speak other languages are welcome - others not so much. How can the Holy Spirit bridge this divide?

Perhaps the fire of the Spirit can warm and open our hearts to God and one another. We can then witness to how Christ makes a difference in our lives - helps us to be more fully the persons we were created to be, gives us strength to go out into a hurting world and be the heart, hands and feet of Jesus and help others to know this too.

The Spirit comes in the way we most need it. For some it is an instantaneous conversion, for others a slow gentle process of deepening faith, as Mechtild of Magdeburg tells us: How God comes to the soul: I descend on my love, As dew on a flower. Sometimes we feel far away from the warmth and the light and wonder how to find it again. Even this is part of the journey of faith. Like the early disciples - women and men waiting after the Ascension for what they did not know - we continue to pray and study and be in community and do the work we are called to do. We tend our individual spiritual lives and the spiritual life of this place, St. Catherine/Santa Catalina, or wherever we find a community striving to be the Body of Christ. And we nurture the next generation. Whether it is providing care for toddlers on Sunday morning or supporting our kids and youth on Monday eve. This summer, with Godly Play and with our soccer club - more children will feel the care and concern of our church.

From Edge of Enclosure

celestial fire

Now an angel of the Lord appeared to
Moses in a blazing fire –

a fire that devours fire;
a fire that burns in things dry and moist;
a fire that glows amid snow and ice;
a fire that is like a crouching lion;
a fire that reveals itself in many forms;
a fire that is, and never expires;
a fire that shines and roars;
a fire that blazes and sparkles;
a fire that flies in a storm wind;
a fire that burns without wood;
a fire that renews itself every day;
a fire that is not fanned by fire;
a fire that billows like palm branches;
a fire whose sparks are flashes of lightning;
a fire black as a raven;
a fire, curled, like the colours of the rainbows!

-Eleazar Ben Kaller c 6th to 10th century liturgical poet
translated by T Carmi The Element Book of Mystical Verse

Lord
Take me where you want me to go,
Let me meet who you want me to meet
Tell me what you want me to say,
and keep me out of your way.

-The Rev. Mychal Judge O.F.M.
d. 9/11/2001

Yellowstone Fire

Ascension Day

I love the images of the Ascension especially the ones where Jesus' feet hang out of the sky. When I think about the Ascension, the image of Glinda the Good Witch leaving the Munchkins comes into my mind - I can hear them saying "good-bye, good-bye" and waving, excited by her visit and sad to see her leave but sure she will return again. Here are a few favorites:

5 Easter

Readings are here.

Notes towards a sermon. I have gone back to my previous practice of notes instead of text since I rarely preach the totality of what I write. This week thought about Way, Truth, Life in light of living in a pluralistic society. As we follow Jesus (what he asks us to do) he shows us the Way, he embodies Truth and wherever he goes he spreads Life. As a holy people, a royal priesthood we are called to the same, putting away the stones used to kill the body and soul and return to love.

Being grounded and steady in our faith we can encounter other faiths and non-faiths with an open heart and mind, not apologizing for the differences but celebrating them. When I was at school we had many traditions and tried to have common worship each week. When we tried to meld it all together and use the least controversial bits of our traditions - it was bland and boring. When we offered the fullness of our worship and each participated as invited or able to participate -- it was rich and satisfying.

And as this was the week of the predicted Rapture - a thought from Facebook:

The world is not ending today, it is just being rebooted. Please be sure your security software is up to date. Run a full scan of your life and remove any malicious files which may be damaging your joy, stealing your hope, or slowing down your blessings. If you need more instructions, please refer to the user's manual, or put your hands together, bow your head and contact technical support.

3 Easter

Readings are here.

Notes toward a sermon:

A couple is returning home from the heady days of their past week. Last week they had left the garrison town of Emmaus where they work for the Roman legions, stationed there. They had gone for the festival days of Passover. Making a pilgrimage to Jerusalem. They had been caught up in the crowds flocking to hear this man, Jesus. So kind, so embracing - healing just to be in his presence. They had seen his shocking confrontation in the Temple - turning over the tables of the money changers and sellers of birds and goats for sacrifice. They had shared meals with the other followers of Jesus - breaking the barley bread, drinking the rough wine. Full of hopes and dreams of a new world - a place where all can live in abundance and fullness of life.

Then the shocking end. Death as a criminal, on a cross, so awful. Now they scuff the dirt of the road as they return to their old life of daily serving the soldiers. It is a good job, the soldiers welcome their work, other peoples' sons stationed far from home, some seem to appreciate them almost like grandparents, a few are arrogant and abusive - but most are just like young men everywhere.

But the heaviness of heart - the joy destroyed - of hopes dashed. Will they ever know joy and hope again?

Now a stranger walking with them. Doesn't he know but now he is answering all their questions. Hearts on fire as he speaks. It is getting to be night time - they invite him into their home for the night. They are all hungry and tired from the walking and talking. It is dangerous on the roads at night. Hospitality is still the highest virtue in their faith. Welcome the stranger is the code of their ancestors from Abraham and Sarah to this night.

The woman lays out the bread and the wine on the table. They all sit as she lights the candles and says the prayers. They serve him first as is only proper - he breaks the bread.

Suddenly - there in the midst of the dailyness of life - the Lord of Hope and Joy - alive. Jesus is in their midst just as he promised whenever 2 or 3 are gathered. No fancy clothes or rituals -- just the everyday evening meal with strangers and family and friends. Always.

Emmaus

This captures that moment of the breaking of the bread among the strangers at Emmaus for me. h/t to Kwok Pui Lan

John O’Donohue’s “Beannacht.”

On the day when
the weight deadens
on your shoulders
and you stumble,
may the clay dance
to balance you.
And when your eyes
freeze behind
the grey window
and the ghost of loss
gets in to you,
may a flock of colours,
indigo, red, green,
and azure blue
come to awaken in you
a meadow of delight.
When the canvas frays
in the currach of thought
and a stain of ocean
blackens beneath you,
may there come across the waters
a path of yellow moonlight
to bring you safely home.
May the nourishment of the earth be yours,
may the clarity of light be yours,
may the fluency of the ocean be yours,
may the protection of the ancestors be yours.
And so may a slow
wind work these words
of love around you,
an invisible cloak
to mind your life.

2 Easter

Readings are here.

Every year, the first Sunday after Easter, the church reads this Gospel. It is a challenge to say anything new about the appearance to the disciples who are hiding in terror from the religious authorities and the soldiers of the Roman Empire. Are any of the women followers of Jesus with them? Is it just the 11? Hard to tell from the word "disciples," because in Greek if there is even one man in a group the male plural is used to describe the group. One wonders why Thomas was not with the group? Was he not afraid? Did they send him out for food or to see if the streets were safe for them. Was he tired of living in the atmosphere of fear? It was evening of the same day when Magdalene had been the first to see Jesus in the garden. Peter and the others had gone home after seeing the empty tomb. He and most of the disciples had run off after Jesus was sentenced to death on Thursday so it was Sunday evening when those in the locked room had experienced Jesus alive in their midst.

Now it is a week later. Thomas has resisted their story all week - saying - I have to see him with his wounds to believe you. Thomas appears 3 times in the Gospel of John. The first time is when Jesus insists on going so near Jerusalem after the death of Lazarus, when the sisters send for Jesus. While most of the disciples say it is not safe and they should stay where they are until things calm down, Jesus is determined to go. At that point Thomas says, "Let us also go, that we may die with him." (John 11:16)

Thomas appears again in John 14. Jesus is telling the disciples that he is going to prepare a place for them in his Father's house and that they already know the way. Thomas says to him, "Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?' Jesus said to him, 'I am the way, and the truth, and the life. If you know me, you will know my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him." Thomas may not understand what Jesus is saying at that moment but in our Gospel to day he finds out.

So today we find our selves in that locked room with Thomas, with an unbelievable story that the a man has returned from death, is able to come into our midst regardless of the solid doors and locks we have built between believing and unbelieving. For that is what is being explored. The Greek does not say doubt. It speaks of two states of being - being believing and being not believing. Doubt, in its way, is part of believing - it is saying "maybe" "maybe not" - having a part of oneself that is open to the possibility. Thomas is not believing - there is no room in his heart or mind to accept what happened to Magdalene, the other women, nor those in the locked room. He is not doubting at all - he knows. Jesus is dead. This is not a Lazarus story - Jesus is dead and buried and gone.

Now the door is locked once again and Thomas has locked out everything his friends are saying. And yet - still - suddenly - Jesus is there. Does Thomas even need to touch the wounds that Jesus shows him? He "gets it" -- and even more so than the others - he declares "my Lord and my God" -- the answer Jesus gave him to his question of John 14 is standing before him - Thomas sees God in the wounded One. The way to God is through looking at the wounded of this world. We will see God when we present to wounded-ness - our own wounds and the wounds of the world.

Jesus says in Matthew 25 - that when we help the "least of these" - those who are hungry, sick, imprisoned, without clothing, thirsty, or the stranger we will be helping Christ. That is what our Gospel shows us today. When we don't hide our wounds or hide from others who are wounded - we will be on the Way, the way that leads to God.

Joy after the wedding

A verger cartwheels in the Abbey after the ceremony -- how I feel after an excellent liturgy!!