My Blog

Category: Lexington

  • Having a Right Relationship with God – And Our Stuff

    The Canons of The Episcopal Church list thirteen specific duties of Rectors and Priests-in-Charge.  Among those thirteen duties is the duty “to ensure that all persons are instructed concerning Christian stewardship, including: reverence for the creation and the right use of God’s gifts; generous and consistent offering of time, talent, and treasure for the mission and ministry of the Church at home and abroad; the biblical standard of the tithe for financial stewardship; and the responsibility of all persons to make a will as prescribed in the Book of Common Prayer” (Canon III.9.5.a.2).

    My performance of this duty has never required a canon as motivation!  As far as I am concerned, the ability to be stewards is a gift of God that distinguishes human beings from all other creatures.  It is a privilege to exercise that gift as an expression of faith in the Creator.  There’s no more important priestly work than that of helping those given into our care to develop a healthy relationship with their possessions.

    Our Lord had the same conviction. More than half of his sayings concern possessions.  He wanted to liberate people from bondage and knew that our possessions have a way of possessing us. If you don't think you've given your possessions power over you, take a moment and consider how you've felt about them – or the loss of them – during the last couple of years.  Jesus mission was to restore us to unity with God and one another, so he spent a lot of time helping people sort out their relationship with whatever estranges us – mainly, our possessions.  He has entrusted that mission to us.

    The invitation to make an annual "pledge" to God for the work of the Church is an opportunity to take a step toward healing our relationship with our possessions.  We are invited to make a new commitment concerning what we will give to God, in acknowledgement of God’s sovereignty over our stuff.

    One expression of stewardship is to practice tithing, the ancient biblical custom of returning to God one-tenth of what God has entrusted to us.  Gay and I learned to tithe from the clergy who taught us in our childhood and from our parents.  We do not regard tithing as a law or obligation, but as a spiritual discipline that helps us maintain a healthy relationship with our possessions so that they will have less interference in our relationships, so that we will be free to be stewards.  To us, it is a precious vocation and we commend it to you as you consider your stewardship decision.  We grew into tithing by starting with a percentage we could live with and then adjusting our lives so we could add at least 1% annually until we reached 10%.  We now regard that tithe as God’s.  Amazingly, the remaining 90%  has always been enough.

    Whatever we have, whether spent or saved or given away, is a sacred trust from God.  We believe the least we can do is return the first portion of it – for us, a tithe – to God who has entrusted 100% of it to us to invest it in those things that further God’s ongoing Creation.  We invite you to join us.

    Ron Short Signature

  • Singing a New Song

    I love congregational singing.  Those who know me well will tell you that I seldom meet a hymn I haven't sung or at least heard. The idea of learning a new hymn always appeals to me and I have irritated folks along the way by suggesting that they should enjoy singing a new song as much as I do.

    Of all the hymns I love to sing, those written by Charles Wesley are my favorites. In the course of his career, Charles Wesley published the words to more than 6,000 hymns.  He also wrote the words to another 2,000 that were not published.  I am grateful that the 1982 Hymnal of the Episcopal Church includes 24 of his hymns.

    At Church of the Good Shepherd in Lexington, Kentucky, where I am serving as Interim Rector, the Organist-Choirmaster normally selects the hymns for our services.  Yesterday, the opening hymn he selected was a Charles Wesley hymn that I don't recall ever singing.  O Thou Who Camest From Above is traditionally sung to the tune Hereford, which was coomposed by Samuel Sebastian Wesley, Charles Wesley's grandson.  Both the words and the music were a very pleasant surprise for me and I would like to share them with you.

    O Thou Who camest from above,
    The pure celestial fire to impart,
    Kindle a flame of sacred love
    Upon the mean altar of my heart.

    There let it for Thy glory burn
    With inextinguishable blaze,
    And trembling to its source return,
    In humble prayer and fervent praise.

    Jesus, confirm my heart’s desire
    To work and speak and think for Thee;
    Still let me guard the holy fire,
    And still stir up Thy gift in me.

    Ready for all Thy perfect will,
    My acts of faith and love repeat,
    Till death Thy endless mercies seal,
    And make my sacrifice complete.

    Here is a recording of the Choir of Rochester Cathedral singing the hymn.

     

     I hope this hymn makes your heart glad today.

      Ron Short Signature

     

     

     

    P.S. This year we celebrate the 200th anniversary of Samuel S. Wesley's birth.

  • Take comfort in rituals

    On a Sunday morning in September, while we were visiting our son in Vancouver, I walked to the Anglican Cathedral for a celebration of the Holy Eucharist.  Along the way, I noticed an inscription etched in the glass door of a Starbucks shop.  I have since realized that it is on most Starbucks doors.  The inscription read, “TAKE COMFORT IN RITUALS.”  It struck me that I was on my way to participate in a ritual because I do indeed take comfort in them.  So, I took a photo. Take Comfort Vancouver

    When I arrived at the Cathedral, there were many things that comforted me – the holy water in the stoup, the Compass Rose insignia of the Anglican Communion, people kneeling in prayerful preparation, the processional cross leading the choir, liturgical ministers, and clergy down the aisle. There were familiar hymns, the opportunity to make an offering, the exchange of the Peace, the bread and wine, the Celebrant making the sign of the cross during the absolution and the blessing, the dismissal by the Deacon.  I took comfort in those rituals!

    However, I also realized a certain amount of dis-comfort.  The sermon pricked my conscience at several points.  The degree of inclusive language was far beyond what I am accustomed to and, although I happen to agree intellectually with their choice of words, I was startled nevertheless. I was likewise approving of, yet surprised at the dis-comfort I felt in, the multicultural diversity represented in the worshiping congregation.

    So, it was an epiphany for me to realize that there is also DISCOMFORT in rituals.  That is true of just about any rituals, religious and otherwise.  Even a visit to Starbucks or a morning cup of their great coffee, which are rituals for many, can be discomforting.  But this leads me to another epiphany: the word comfort has more than one meaning.  Our modern use of the word comfort has to do with “solace.”  An earlier meaning is to “strengthen intensively.”  And an even earlier meaning is “together strong.”  That’s the one I like best!

    So many times I have guided people through rituals at some of the most uncomfortable moments – ministration at the time of death, funerals, prayers before surgery, sermons about the “hard sayings” of Jesus, and fall stewardship campaigns, to name a few.  The desired outcome is always to help them find comfort, solace.  Beyond solace, however, we hope they find the strength that comes from the rituals we do together – strength to go on, strength to face an uncertain future, strength to do the right thing.  COMFORT – together strong. 

    The rituals Christians experience together often make us uncomfortable in the process of making us strong.  That is an important reason God calls us to gather week by week in worship.  In one of our Eucharistic prayers, we ask God to “Deliver us from the presumption of coming to this Table for solace only and not for strength.”  That’s what I am getting at!

    Let us indeed take comfort in rituals, religious and otherwise.  But let us remember that comfort is not merely solace, as important as that may be.  Comfort is also strength – the strength we gain from engaging together in the sacred rituals of our faith in the One who is the source of that strength.

    Ron

  • Sermon at Church of the Good Shepherd ~ October 24, 2010

     

     

    Listen to the Sermon for October 24, 2010 ~ Proper 25C

     

    Read the Sermon for October 24, 2010 ~  Proper 25C

     

     

  • You are Christ’s Body

    Each Wednesday, we have a noon service of Holy Eucharist and Healing at Lexington's Church of the Good Shepherd.  A couple stopped me after one of those services at to share something that had happened that day.  Their experience illustrates how the Church manifests the Body of Christ, even in ordinary every day encounters.  I asked them to put their story in writing:

    For several years we have attended the Wednesday Healing Service.  We usually eat at a local restaurant either before or after.  A week ago, the proprietor astutely observed that we either come at 11:00 a.m. or 1:00 p.m., so she asked what we did from noon until 1:00 p.m..  We told her that we attend the Healing Service at Good Shepherd.  Today, as we were leaving about 11:30, she approached us with a slip of paper and asked us to pray for a 6 year old boy born with brain damage and cannot walk.  We invited her to join us, but said she could not leave the restaurant – just to add him to our prayer list.

    Upon arrival at the service, they requested prayers for the boy.  I am confident that there will be more to this story and that our prayers will play a central role.  The words of Teresa of Avila come to mind:

    Christ has no body but yours,
    No hands, no feet on earth but yours,
    Yours are the eyes with which he looks compassion on this world,
    Yours are the feet with which he walks to do good,
    Yours are the hands, with which he blesses all the world.
    Yours are the hands, yours are the feet,
    Yours are the eyes, you are his body.

    The ministry of Christians extends into the nooks and crannies of the city and beyond.  Grace-filled Christians are sent into the mission field at our doorstep to be a Sacrament to a world in need of Love Divine.  Daily, our people recognize and respond to opportunities to be the body, the hands, the feet, and the eyes of Christ.  Even the simplest gestures are multiplied and magnified by the Lover of Souls.

    St. Paul expressed it this way: “He who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will supply and multiply your seed for sowing and increase the harvest of your righteousness. You will be enriched in every way for your great generosity, which will produce thanksgiving to God through us; for the rendering of this ministry not only supplies the needs of the saints but also overflows with many thanksgivings to God” II (Cor. 9:10-12).

    Ron

     

     

     

     

    P.S. Here's a musical setting of St. Teresa's words, sung by the Washington National Cathedral Choir.

  • Are you ready to give?

    A friend of mine, when he was a clergyman in a downtown church, was confronted one day by a street person who was seeking assistance.  My friend observed that the man was wearing only one shoe.  “I see that you’ve lost a shoe,” said my friend.  “No,” the man replied with a cheery, toothless smile, “I found one!”

    My friend said he learned a valuable lesson that day from an unexpected teacher.  Things are not always as they appear.  Sometimes we tend to notice what is not there instead of what is.  It’s a matter of perspective. Faithful stewardship requires a perspective that is focused on what is rather than what is not, on abundance rather than scarcity.  That is why St. Paul held up the generosity of the poor and persecuted Macedonians as an example to the more affluent Corinthians.  He counseled them, “…if the readiness is there, it is acceptable according to what a person has, not according to what one has not” (II Cor. 8:12).

    God doesn’t expect us to give out of what we don’t have, but from the resources God has provided.  God has certainly been generous with us.  Shouldn’t we in turn be generous with God?  Of course!  All we need now is the readiness to follow through on that belief.

    Many churches are asking members to make new stewardship commitments at this time of year.  Our church's Commitment Sunday is November 7.  Wherever you may be, I invite you to give prayerful consideration to the stewardship commitment you will make to God for the coming year.  Christian stewardship is not about the Church’s need to receive but about each Christian’s need to give.  When we are dealing with our need to give to God, we are probing one of the most sensitive areas of our spirituality.  Money comes between people and God more often than anything else.  That is why prayer has to precede decisions about giving.

    As you pray, first ask God to remind you how much you have received.  Next, ask God to grant you the readiness to give from that abundance.  Then, ask for a clear, honest assessment of your priorities.  After you have answers to these requests, you will find it easier to decide how much to give.

    None of us ever fulfilled our destiny or achieved anything great by focusing on what we can’t do.  Let the extent of our gifts reflect a perspective that sees an abundance of possibilities and resources. When the readiness is there, God can accomplish amazing things through us.

    Ron

  • Sermon at Good Shepherd ~ October 3, 2010

    Download Sermon for October 3, 2010