Category: Religion

Today

Those of us who are old enough to remember the 1960’s will recall how important a genre of music called “folk music” was in that era. One of the early folk music groups was The New Christy Minstrels, founded by songwriter/guitarist Randy Sparks in 1961. One of Sparks’ hit songs, recorded by this group in 1964, is entitled simply Today. Some of the words of this song came to mind as I reflected on the relationship between the past, present, and future.

Today, while the blossoms still cling to the vine
I’ll taste your strawberries, I’ll drink your sweet wine
A million tomorrows shall all pass away
‘Ere I forget all the joy that is mine, Today

I can’t be contented with yesterday’s glory
I can’t live on promises winter to spring
Today is my moment, now is my story
I’ll laugh and I’ll cry and I’ll sing

In this bit of poetry set to a lovely tune, Randy Sparks and The New Christy Minstrels reminded us to appreciate the present moment and cherish the joy of now. I once heard a preacher put it in a less poetic but equally effective way: “Yesterday’s gone. Tomorrow hasn’t come yet. Today is all we have. Use it!”

During a time of transition between rectors, our church is engaged in a process of reflecting upon the past and discerning the future into which God is calling us. As we do this, we want to remember that if heritage and hope do not inform the way we live today, we are destined to be prisoners of our past or disciples of our daydreams. Either way, we are disconnected from the present, which is the scene of the greatest reality.

A visitor to the Vatican was approached by a sidewalk peddler outside the walls. He was offering a hen, a very special hen, for sale. “This hen is a direct descendant of the cock that crowed when Peter denied the Lord,” said the peddler. “Yes,” responded the visitor, “but does it lay eggs?” Whatever the hen’s past or future, the visitor wanted to know if she was doing what hens do today.

Jesus joined the past and the future together in a new way. He is the intersection of the horizontal dimension of time and the vertical dimension of spiritual reality. He warned the religious leaders that their genealogy did not relieve them of responsibility for their present actions. Likewise, he warned the rich young man that good intentions, no matter how worthy, could not give him the eternal life he was seeking at the present moment. Addressing the crowd in the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus said, “You have heard that it was said to those of ancient times…but I say unto you.” He said to the woman at the well, “The time is coming and now is.” Each step away from the past and into the future is dependent upon the spiritual dimension we refer to as “The Kingdom of God.”

Let us enter faithfully into this process of discovery and discernment so that this community of faith may be fruitful and vibrant in the here and now. And may we cherish the opportunity and the joy that are ours today!

February 17, 2011
Sermon at Church of the Good Shepherd ~ February 13, 2011

Read the Sermon for February 13, 2011

Listen to the Sermon for February 13, 2011

February 13, 2011
Collaboration and Community

When I started the car and the radio came on, an interview was already underway with the author of a recent book about the significance of civil discourse at every level of our lives. I was unable to get the name of the author or of his book. However, in the course of the interview, he made this statement about the statutes, ordinances, policies, guidelines, and customs which govern us: "These are the structures we have set in place to make it possible for us to collaborate."

I'd like to add that followers of reveal religions like Judaism and Christianity believe some of those structures are God-given. The Ten Commandments come to mind. They are given to us as a revelation of God's desire for the children of God to live together in ways that advance God's vision for creation.

Because human beings are by nature more or less suspicious of authority, if not defian of it, we tend to resist rules that are imposed upon us. And, yet, the author's words remind us that we need such things to make it possible for us to work together toward common objectives and shared visions. If our human structures for collaboration are ineffective, then we have structures to guide us through an orderly process of improving them. We have been given higher order thinking ability to move us past our fears and mistrust into collaborative behaviors.

Theologian and University President George Rupp wrote a book about community and commitment in which he points out that there is no life without community and no community without commitment. God created us for community. We have been placed in families, tribes, nations, societies, nations, and organizations. Jesus' first act in his public ministry was to form a community when he called his disciples. The call to follow Christ is always a call to life in community with others of his followers. Continuation of community requies something of us. We need each other!

In our life together in the Church, the nation, or the global village, we accomplish more together than apart. We live in an increasingly interdependent world. At the same time, we are more aware of the differences that threaten us. In light of that interdependence and diversity, perhaps effective collaboration is more critical now than at any point in human history. Our world and our progress as God's children requires that we devote ourselves to working together in effective ways.

The Baptismal Covenent in The Book of Common Prayer of The Episcopal Church contains two questions that invite us to commitment to civility, collaboration, and community:

Will you seek and serve Christ in all persons, loving your neighbor as yourself?

Will you strive for justice and peace among all people, and respect the dignity of every human being?

Our answer to these questions is, "I will, with God's help." Those of us who have given such an answer to these or similar questions are in the best possible position to become specialists in civil discourse and collaborative behavior in pursuit of our Creator's vision of healing and advancement of human life on "this fragile earth, our island home." God help us do it!

February 10, 2011
Nurturing the Most Important Relationship of All

Think of the most important relationships in your life. Who are the people who matter to you and to whom you matter? How do you nurture those relationships? Do you routinely show up for meals with them? Do you communicate with them? Do you celebrate special occasions with them? Do you check in with them on a regular basis? Do you go out of your way for them? Do you feel a sense of responsibility to them? Do you delight in their company? Do you lavish gifts upon them to express your devotion? Do you tell them what they mean to you? What would your life be like without them? Do you ever take them for granted? Would it bother you if you drifted apart.

Does your relationship with God matter as much? How do you nurture your relationship with God?

One of the consistent themes of the Bible is God’s desire for a relationship with us. God went searching for Adam in the Garden of Eden. God appeared to Abraham and made a covenant with him. The first two commandments God gave to Moses on the mountain have to do with putting God first. God in Christ said, “Follow me” to some strangers and formed them into a community of friends and disciples. They and their successors called to others to follow Christ and join that community, the Church, where we continue to work on that relationship today.

God wants to be first in our lives and promises to transform all other relationships. In an attempt to express the primacy of our relationship with God, the faithful do things like give the first tenth of their treasure to God and worship on the first day of the week. Because God matters, we show up for meals, communicate, celebrate special occasions, check in regularly, go out of our way, feel a sense of responsibility, delight in God’s company, lavish gifts upon God, and express what God means to us through prayers and praises. Life would not be the same without God and we don’t ever want to take God for granted.

God matters to us. But even more important is the message that we matter to God! Of all God’s creatures, human beings come first. We are the apple of God’s eye. Because this relationship is so important to God, God shows up for meals, communicates with us, celebrates special occasions with us, goes out of the way for us, feels a sense of responsibility toward us, delights in our company, lavishes gifts upon us, and tells us we are beloved. We matter to God and God never takes us for granted.

    I sought the Lord, and afterward I knew
    he moved my soul to seek him, seeking me.
    It was not I that found, O Savior true;
    no, I was found of thee.

    Thou didst reach forth thy hand and mine enfold;
    I walked and sank not on the storm-vexed sea.
    'Twas not so much that I on thee took hold,
    as thou, dear Lord, on me.

    I find, I walk, I love, but oh, the whole
    of love is but my answer, Lord, to thee!
    For thou wert long beforehand with my soul;
    always thou lovedst me.

February 3, 2011
Blessed From the Beginning

At the beginning of the Sermon on the Mount, Matthew depicts Jesus with the crowds gathered around. Jews and Gentiles alike came up the mountain to hear him. His message was for everyone. The sermon opens with a series of eight blessings, known to us as "The Beatitudes."

The Beatitudes are not a set of rules for living. They are a set of blessings, declarations about the abundant grace of God that brings happiness to people with various virtues and in various circumstances. It is generally held that this blessedness or happiness is the character given to Jesus' followers as the free gift of God.

Look at those whom Jesus said are blessed: the poor, the sorrowful, those who hunger and thirst, those who suffer persecution. Where is the happiness in that? In the beatitudes, Jesus shows that life involves both success and failure and God is in it from the beginning. God’s blessing is not dispensed as a reward for our successes nor withheld as punishment for our failures. We live our lives the way we do not to earn God’s blessing but in grateful response to the blessing already given to us. If that is an epiphany for you, imagine how it must have impacted those who heard Jesus’ words for the first time on that Galilean hillside.

I am reminded of a woman I once heard about who walked the streets carrying a broom in one hand and a pail of water in the other. When asked why she carried the broom and pail, she would reply, "To sweep heaven out of the skies and to quench the fires of hell so that people might love God for himself." Love Divine has blessed us from the beginning. How can our response to such Love be aspiration for a reward or fear of punishment. Love prompts a loving response. Love is best answered by love.

This is the story of the cross, the story of our baptism, and the story of the banquet we celebrate at the start of every week. The Cross comes before us, Baptism comes at the beginning of our discipleship, and the Holy Eucharist is celebrated at the beginning of every week for the same reason Jesus' Sermon on the Mount begins with the beatitudes: We are blessed from the beginning.

To all kinds of people in all kinds of places and circumstances, the Beatitudes declare, “You are blessed. You are accepted. You are included in the love of God. Be at peace!” We don't have to prove anything to God because we are blessed from the beginning. The deepest hungers of life will be satisfied not by what we can do for ourselves or what others may do for us, but by the One who became the living bread and came to give us life. When we live our lives from that blessedness, we are a blessing to others.

January 27, 2011
Week of Prayer for Christian Unity Day 7 ~ January 24

Living in Resurrection Faith

Day 7 takes us beyond the four elements of unity, as the Jerusalem church joyfully proclaims the Resurrection even while it bears the pain of the Cross. The Resurrection of Jesus is for Christians in Jerusalem today hope and strength that enables them to remain constant in their witness, working for freedom and peace in the City of Peace.

Reading

Isaiah 60: 1-3, 18-22 You shall call your walls Salvation…
Psalm: 118:1. 5-17     I shall not die, but I shall live
Roman 6: 3-11            …we have been buried with Christ by baptism
Matthew 28:1-10         Jesus said to them, ‘Do not be afraid…

Commentary

The first Christians’ devotion to the apostles’ teaching, fellowship, breaking of the bread and the prayers was made possible, above all, by the living power of the Risen Jesus. This power is living still, and today’s Jerusalem Christians witness to this. Whatever the difficulties of the present situa-tion in which they find themselves – however much it feels like Gethsemane and Golgotha – they know in faith that all is made new by the truth of Jesus’ resurrection from the dead.

The light and hope of the Resurrection changes everything. As Isaiah prophesies, it is the transfor-mation of darkness into light; it is an enlightening for all peoples. The power of the Resurrection shines out from Jerusalem, the place of the Lord’s Passion, and draws all nations to its brightness. This is a new life, in which violence is put aside, and security found in salvation and praise.

In the Psalm we are given words to celebrate the central Christian experience of passing from death to life. This is the abiding sign of God’s steadfast love. This passing from the terrors of death into new life is the defining reality of all Christians. For, as St. Paul teaches, we have, in baptism, entered into the tomb with Christ, and been raised with Him. We have died with Christ, and live to share his risen life. And so we can see the world differently – with compassion, patience, love and hope; for, in Christ the present struggles can never be the whole story. Even as divided Christians, we know that the baptism that unites us is a bearing of the Cross in the light of the Resurrection.

For the Christian Gospel this resurrection life is not some mere concept or helpful idea; it is rooted in a vivid event in time and space. It is this event we hear recounted in the Gospel reading with great humanity and drama. From Jerusalem the Risen Lord sends greetings to His disciples across the ages, calling us to follow Him without fear. He goes ahead of us.

Prayer

God, Protector of the widow, the orphan and the stranger – in a world where many know despair, you raised your Son Jesus to give hope for humanity and renewal to the earth. Continue to strengthen and unify your Church in its struggles against the forces of death in the world, where violence against creation and humanity obscures the hope of the new life you offer. This we pray in the name of the Risen Lord, in the power of His Spirit. Amen.

The materials contained herein are drawn entirely from materials that are jointly prepared and published by The Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity and The Commission on Faith and Order of the World Council of Churches.

January 24, 2011
Week of Prayer for Christian Unity Day 6 ~ January 23

Empowered to Action and Prayer

Day 6 presents the fourth mark of unity; with the church in Jerusalem, we draw strength from spending time in prayer. Specifically, the Lord’s Prayer calls all of us in Jerusalem and throughout the world, the weak and the mighty, to work together for justice, peace and unity that God’s Kingdom may come.

Reading

Jonah 2:1-9         Deliverance belongs to the Lord!
Psalm 67:1-7     Let the peoples praise you, O God!
1Timothy 2:1-8    …prayers should be made for everyone…
Matthew 6:5-15 Your kingdom come, your will be done…

Commentary

Following devotion to the Apostles’ teaching and fellowship and the breaking of the bread, the fourth mark of the earliest Church of Jerusalem is the life of prayer. It is experienced today as the necessary source of the power and strength needed by Christians in Jerusalem – as everywhere. The witness of Christians in Jerusalem today calls us to a deeper recognition of the ways we face situations of injustice and inequality in our own contexts. In all this, it is prayer that empowers Christians for mission to-gether.

For Jonah the intensity of his prayer is met with dramatic deliverance from the belly of the fish. His prayer is heartfelt, as it arises from his own sense of repentance at having tried to avoid God’s will: he has abandoned the Lord’s call to prophesy, and ended up in a hopeless place. And here God meets his prayer with deliverance for his mission.

The Psalm calls us to pray that God’s face will shine upon us – not only for our own benefit, but for the spread of His rule ‘among all the nations’.

The apostolic Church reminds us that prayer is a part of the strength and power of mission and proph-ecy for the world. Paul’s letter to Timothy here instructs us to pray especially for those with power in the world so that we may live together in peace and dignity. We pray for the unity of our societies, and lands, and for the unity of all humanity in God. Our prayer for our unity in Christ reaches out to the whole world.

This dynamic life of prayer is rooted in the Lord’s teaching to his disciples. In our reading from Mat-thew’s Gospel we hear of prayer as a ‘secret’ power, born not from display or performance, but from humble coming before the Lord. Jesus’ teaching is summed up in the Lord’s Prayer. Praying this together forms us as a united people who seek the Father’s will, and the building up of His Kingdom here on earth, and calls us to a life of forgiveness and reconciliation.

Prayer

Lord God our Father, we rejoice that in all times, places and cultures, there are people who reach out to you in prayer. Above all we thank you for the example and teaching of your Son, Jesus Christ, who has taught us to long in prayer for the coming of your Kingdom. Teach us to pray better as Christians together, so that we may always be aware of your guidance and encouragement through all our joys and distress, through the power your Holy Spirit. Amen.

The materials contained herein are drawn entirely from materials that are jointly prepared and published by The Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity and The Commission on Faith and Order of the World Council of Churches.

January 23, 2011
Week of Prayer for Christian Unity Day 5 ~ January 22

Breaking the Bread in Hope

Day 5 expresses the third element of unity; the Breaking of the Bread, which joins us in hope. Our unity goes beyond Holy Communion; it must include a right attitude towards ethical living, the human person and the whole community. The Jerusalem church urges Christians to unite in “the breaking of bread” today, because a divided church cannot speak out with authority on issues of Justice and Peace.

Reading

Exodus 16: 13b-21a    It is the bread the Lord has given you to eat

Psalm:116: 12-14.16-18    I will offer to you a thanksgiving sacrifice

1 Corinthians 11:17-18.23-26     Do this in remembrance of me

John 6:53-58       This is the bread that came down from heaven…

Commentary

From the first Church at Jerusalem until now, the ‘breaking of bread’ has been a central act for Christians. For the Christians of Jerusalem today, the sharing of bread traditionally speaks of friendship, forgiveness and commitment to the other. We are challenged in this breaking of bread to seek a unity that can speak prophetically to a world of divisions. This is the world by which we have all, in different ways, been shaped. In the breaking of bread Christians are formed anew for the prophetic message of hope for all humankind.

Today we, too, break bread ‘with glad and generous hearts’; but we also experience, at each celebration of the Eucharist, a painful reminder of our disunity. On this fifth day of the Week of Prayer, the Christians of Jerusalem gather in the Upper Room, the place of the Last Supper. Here, whilst they do not celebrate the Eucharist, they break bread in hope.

We learn this hope in the ways God reaches out to us in the wilderness of our own discontent. Exodus relates how God responds to the grumbling of the people he has liberated, by providing them with what they need – no more, and no less. The manna in the desert is a gift of God, not to be hoarded, nor even fully understood. It is, as our Psalm celebrates, a moment which calls simply for thanksgiving – for God ‘has loosened our bonds’.

What St. Paul recognises is that to break the bread means not only to celebrate the Eucharist, but to be a Eucharistic people – to become Christ’s Body in the world. This short reading stands, in its context (1 Cor 10 – 11) as a reminder of how the Christian community is to live: in communion in Christ, determining right behaviour in a difficult worldly context, guided by the reality of our life in Him. We live “in remembrance of him.”

As a people of the breaking of bread, we are a people of eternal life – life in its fullness – as the reading from St. John teaches us. Our celebration of Eucharist challenges us to reflect on how such an abundant gift of life is expressed day to day as we live in hope as well as in difficulties. In spite of the daily challenges for the Christians in Jerusalem, they witness to how it is possible to rejoice in hope.

Prayer

God of Hope, we praise you for your gift to us of the Lord’s Supper, where, in the Spirit, we continue to meet your Son Jesus Christ, the living bread from heaven. Forgive our unworthiness of this great gift – our living in factions, our collusion with inequalities, our complacency in separation. Lord, we pray that you will hasten the day when your whole church together shares the breaking of the bread, and that, as we wait for that day, we may learn more deeply to be a people formed by the Eucharist for service to the world. We pray in Jesus’ name. Amen.

The materials contained herein are drawn entirely from materials that are jointly prepared and published by The Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity and The Commission on Faith and Order of the World Council of Churches.

January 22, 2011
One Lord, One Faith, One Baptism

This will reach you during The Week of Prayer for Christian Unity. This annual observance always begins on January 18, the Confession of St. Peter, and continues until January 25, the Conversion of St. Paul.

Once we thought Christian unity meant all Christians should be organized into one big church. Today’s approach is summed up in a Latin phrase, “In necessariis unitas, in dubiis libertas, in omnibus caritas” commonly translated as "unity in necessary things; liberty in doubtful things; charity in all things." The phrase has often been attributed to 4th century bishop St. Augustine of Hippo, but has also been attributed to 17th century Croatian Bishop Marco Antonio de Dominis and English author and Puritan Richard Baxter of the same era. Regardless of who said it, it is worthy of contemplation as we pray and work for Christian unity.

Sunday’s Epistle reminds us that Christians have sought unity from the earliest days. St. Paul writes to the Corinthians, “I appeal to you, brothers and sisters, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you be in agreement and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be united in the same mind and the same purpose” (I Cor. 1:10).

I wish other groups of Christians could know the kind of unity that exists in The Church of the Good Shepherd – an inviting, unity of heart, mind, and purpose that is in contrast to the day-to-day conflicts that plague us. It is not a unity based on agreement in everything, but is similar to what St. Paul described in another message he sent to the Ephesians, “I therefore, the prisoner in the Lord, beg you to lead a life worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, making every effort to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to the one hope of your calling, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is above all and through all and in all” (Eph. 4:1-6).

Perhaps there is some way it can be exported. Let me tell you about a place that did just that.

On November 14, 1940, much of the City of Coventry, England was reduced to rubble by German bombs. The Cathedral Church of St. Michael and All Angels, at the heart of the city, burned with it. In the terrible aftermath that followed, Provost Howard wrote the words ‘Father forgive’ on the smoke-blackened wall of the sanctuary. Two of the charred beams that had fallen in the shape of a cross were set on the altar and three of the medieval nails were bound into the shape of a cross. The people of Coventry found the grace to overcome the anger they felt toward their enemies who destroyed their Cathedral and almost destroyed their entire city.

After the war, they decided to share that grace with others. Crosses of Nails were presented to Kiel, Dresden, and Berlin, cities shattered by Allied bombing. Out of those ashes grew a trust and partnership between Coventry and the German cities. The Community of the Cross of Nails came into being. There are now 160 of Cross of Nails Centres around the world, all emanating from this early, courageous vision, and all working for peace and reconciliation within their own communities and countries. The Cross of Nails has become a powerful and inspirational symbol of reconciliation and peace.

The original Cross of Nails is now incorporated in the cross on the Cathedral High Altar. The twisted arms of the High Altar cross symbolize the charred timbers from the roof of the original Cathedral, which were made into a cross to replace the original High Altar cross. The nails and twisted arms also symbolize Christ's suffering on the original Cross.

Give thanks to God for our unity and pray that we will be a light to others who seek oneness in Christ. Every shining example of a community of Christians living into the oneness for which our Savior prayed is part of the answer to his prayer "that they all might be one" and all prayers for unity among all God's children.

January 20, 2011
Week of Prayer for Christian Unity Day 3 ~ January 20

Devotion to the Apostles’ Teaching Unites Us

Day 3 looks at the first essential element of unity; the Word of God delivered through the teaching of the apostles. The church in Jerusalem reminds us that, whatever our divisions, these teachings urge us to devote ourselves in love to each other, and in faithfulness to the one body which is the church.
Readings

Isaiah 51:4-8              Listen to me, my people
Psalm 119:105-112     Your word is a lamp to my feet
Romans 1:15-17         Eagerness to proclaim the gospel
John 17:6-19             I have made your name known

Commentary

The Church of Jerusalem in the Acts of the Apostles was united in its devotion to the apostles’ teaching, despite the great diversity of language and culture amongst its members. The apostles’ teaching is their witness to the life, teaching, ministry, death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus. Their teaching is what St Paul simply calls “the gospel.” The apostles’ teaching, as exemplified by St Peter’s preaching in Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost. In his use of the prophet Joel, he connects the Church with the biblical story of the people of God, drawing us into the narrative that begins in creation itself.

Despite divisions the Word of God gathers and unites us. The apostles’ teaching, the good news in all its fullness, was at the centre of unity in diversity of the first Church of Jerusalem. Christians in Jerusalem remind us today that it is not simply the “apostles’ teaching” that the united earliest church, but devotion to that teaching. Such devotion is reflected in St Paul identifying the gospel as “the power of God for salvation.”

The prophet Isaiah reminds us that God’s teaching is inseparable from God’s “justice for a light to the peoples.” Or, as the psalmist prays, “Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path. Your decrees are my heritage forever; they are the joy of my heart.”

Prayer

God of Light, we give you thanks for the revelation of your truth in Jesus Christ, your Living Word, which we have received through the apostles’ teaching, first heard at Jerusalem. May your Holy Spirit continue to sanctify us in the truth of your Son, so that united in Him we may grow in devotion to the Word, and together serve your Kingdom in humility and love. In Christ’s name we pray. Amen.

The materials contained herein are drawn entirely from materials that are jointly prepared and published by The Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity and The Commission on Faith and Order of the World Council of Churches.

January 20, 2011