September 28 Sermon

By what authority are you doing these things?

Hundreds of students marched Thursday in the fifth day of demonstrations against the Jefferson County school board, which oversees the second-largest school district in Colorado. Protests began last Friday after members of the board called for a review of the new Advanced Placement U.S. History (APUSH) curriculum to see whether it promotes "respect for authority" or encourages "civil disorder, social strife or disregard for the law." By Thursday, the protests had grown to include nearly 1,000 students from Columbine, Lakewood, Bear Creek and Dakota Ridge high schools. [Huffington Post]

By what authority are you doing these things?

Legions of demonstrators frustrated by international inaction on global warming descended on New York City on Sunday, marching through the heart of Manhattan with a message of alarm for world leaders set to gather this week at the United Nations for a summit meeting on climate change. Coursing through Midtown, from Columbus Circle to Times Square and the Far West Side, the People’s Climate March was a spectacle even for a city known for doing things big, and it was joined, in solidarity, by demonstrations on Sunday across the globe, from Paris to Papua New Guinea. [NY Times]

By what authority are you doing these things?

Hundreds of children joined students demanding greater democracy for Hong Kong on Friday, capping a week-long campaign that has seen a large cut-out depicting the territory's leader as the devil paraded through the city and calls for him to resign. Secondary school pupils launched a one-day class boycott, supporting the university and college students who began their own class boycott on Monday with a rally that drew about 13,000. [Reuters]

By what authority are you doing these things?

When Jesus entered the temple, the chief priests and the elders of the people came to him as he was teaching, and said, "By what authority are you doing these things, and who gave you this authority?"

It is the question that is often asked by those in power, when people rise up, when they speak up, when they protest and refuse to follow along.

Jesus pushed the envelope. He taught in the temple. He healed on the Sabbath. Gentile or Jew. Male or Female. Rich or poor. No one fell outside his love. And it provoked a reaction from those in power.

By what authority are you doing these things? After Jesus asks them a question, he turns the tables on them & tells them a parable…

"What do you think? A man had two sons; he went to the first and said, `Son, go and work in the vineyard today.' He answered, `I will not'; but later he changed his mind and went. The father went to the second and said the same; and he answered, `I go, sir'; but he did not go. Which of the two did the will of his father?" They said, "The first." Jesus said to them, "Truly I tell you, the tax collectors and the prostitutes are going into the kingdom of God ahead of you. For John came to you in the way of righteousness and you did not believe him, but the tax collectors and the prostitutes believed him; and even after you saw it, you did not change your minds and believe him."

The tax collectors and the prostitutes will go in the front of the line into the Kingdom of God. The chief priests and elders, the religiously righteous, will head to the back. It is not what we expect, but Jesus points out the truth in his parable, the ones deemed dirty, the sinners, they listened to the message, they heard John and believed. The righteous ones, did not listen, failed to follow through with their yes, they didn’t change their minds or their hearts.

It is Jesus who is protesting. He is walking the line. He is carrying the banner. Do we see it? For Jesus will not be confined to our ideological boxes nor will he be left only in the Church to be found each week. He is outside. Waiting for us. In the midst of our lives. In the darkness and in the light. His life laid bare before us, his authority through what he said and he did.

Will you follow me? Will you listen? Will you go out as I have asked?

In the early 1960s, when the racial struggle was white-hot, an interracial retreat was held at a Benedictine monastery, Subiaco Abbey in Arkansas. One participant was a recent college graduate at work in voter registration in the Mississippi delta area of eastern Arkansas. He was asked, "Isn't that dangerous work you're doing? We hear the reports of hatred and violence."

"It's true," he said. "The hatred is vicious, and the punishment is violent.’ "Have you ever been hurt yourself?" The young college grad replied: ""Yes, I've been spit on, beaten with fists, with pipes, with chains and left a bloody mess." "But you're pretty big," the brothers said. "Weren't you able to protect yourself sometimes, to fight back?"

"Yes," he said. "At first I did fight back. I made some of them sorry they had attacked me. But then I realized that by fighting back I wasn't getting anywhere. The hatred coming at me in those fists and clubs was bouncing right off me back into the air, and it could just continue to spread like electricity. I decided I would not fight back. I would let my body absorb that hatred, so that some of it would die in my body and not bounce back into the world. I now see that my job in the midst of that evil is to make my body a grave for hate." The monks were deeply moved by the young man's story. "We were all shaken by what this young man said," one brother recalls. "But what he was describing was the Gospel of Jesus." [From "The Good Fight: How Christians suffer, died and rise with Jesus," by Abbot Jerome Kodell, O.S.B., America, April 25, 2011.]

Jesus’ parable of the two sons places the will of God in the middle of our busy, complicated everyday lives. All authority we need was given to us at Baptism, to live our lives as followers of Jesus. But to do that, we must say Yes and follow through. For as St. Paul reminds us, “it is God who is at work in us.”

Compassion, forgiveness and mercy are only words until our actions give full expression to those values in our relationships with others; our identifying ourselves as Christians and calling ourselves disciples of Jesus mean nothing until our lives express such Gospel values.

The words of the Gospel must be lived; Jesus’ teachings on justice, reconciliation and love must be the light that guides us, the path we walk, the prayers we work to make a reality in our lives. Discipleship begins within our hearts, where we realize that Christ is present there and in the lives of others and then honoring that presence through meaningful acts of compassion and charity in the world. Amen.

Parenthood without Marriage

MARRIAGE is disappearing. More than 40 percent of new mothers are unmarried. Many young adults drift into parenthood unintentionally. They may be cohabiting at the time of their child’s birth, but about half of these couples will have split up by the time their child is 5 years old. College-educated young adults are still marrying before having children and planning their families more intentionally. The rest of America, about two-thirds of the population, is not.We’ve been worrying about these trends for years, and wondering: Can marriage be restored as the standard way to raise children? As much as we might welcome a revival, I doubt that it will happen. The genie is out of the bottle. What we need instead is a new ethic of responsible parenthood.

Is the genie really out of the bottle?  Is marriage over?

For Christians, Marriage is Holy.  “Christian marriage is a solemn and public covenant between a man and a woman in the presence of God.” (The Book of Common Prayer, p. 422)  For Christians, parenthood and marriage go hand in hand, but we should always be aware that our ideal does not always take place.

In her opinion piece, Beyond Marriage by ISABEL V. SAWHILL, has written an article about the need for us as a citizenry to look at ways to help promote the general welfare, in light of less marriages taking place and the need for responsible parenthood.

An except:

Not only are 40 percent of all children born outside marriage (50 percent among mothers under 30), but 60 percent of these births were unplanned. New parents often come to accept and love the baby, but it is not an auspicious beginning. Research I did with Quentin Karpilow and Joanna Venator at the Brookings Institution shows that unplanned births affect children’s development, including their chances of graduating from college and earning a middle-class income...

It is in this context that any efforts, like the Supreme Court’s decision in Hobby Lobby to curtail access to the most effective forms of birth control, are misguided. If we could make the most effective forms of birth control available to all women with no co-payment, we would not only have healthier children and lower child poverty rates, we would limit the extent of government assistance people need in the process...

But greater access to the most effective forms of contraception is not enough. We also need a new ethic of responsible parenthood. That means not having a child before you and your partner really want one and have thought about how you will care for that child. Those from less privileged backgrounds may worry that they will never be able to afford a child. But two full-time $10-an-hour jobs bring in roughly $40,000 a year, hardly a princely sum yet enough to support a family well above the poverty line, even after child care and other expenses. These families should be receiving child-care subsidies and other forms of help.

Prayers on family from the BCP:

O God, you have taught us through your blessed Son that whoever receives a little child in the name of Christ receives Christ himself: We give thanks for the blessing you have bestowed upon this family in giving them a child.  Confirm their joy by a lively sense of your presence with them, and give them calm strength and patient wisdom as they seek to bring this child to love all that is true and noble, just and pure, lovable and gracious, excellent and admirable, following the example of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.

Almighty God, our heavenly Father, who settest the solitary in families: We commend to thy continual care the homes in which thy people dwell. Put far from them, we beseech thee, every root of bitterness, the desire of vainglory, and the pride of life. Fill them with faith, virtue, knowledge, temperance, patience, godliness. Knit together in constant affection those  who, in holy wedlock, have been made one flesh. Turn the hearts of the parents to the children, and the hearts of the children to the parents; and so enkindle fervent charity among  us all, that we may evermore be kindly affectioned one to another; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Almighty God, heavenly Father, you have blessed us with the joy and care of children: Give us calm strength and patient wisdom as we bring them up, that we may teach them to love  whatever is just and true and good, following the example of our Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.

God our Father, you see your children growing up in an unsteady and confusing world: Show them that your ways give more life than the ways of the world, and that following you is better than chasing after selfish goals. Help them to take failure, not as a measure of their worth, but as a chance
for a new start. Give them strength to hold their faith in you,  and to keep alive their joy in your creation; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

September 14 Sermon

"How often should I forgive? As many as seven times?" Jesus said to him, "Not seven times, but, I tell you, seventy-seven times."

Forgiveness is not easy. It may be one of the hardest things that Jesus asks of us.

“Not seven times, but, I tell you, seventy-seven times.”

As the old saying goes, to err is human, to forgive divine. And yet Jesus calls us to do just that, forgive. Again, & again and again.

On my wrist, I wear a bracelet. The bracelet has the signature of Nelson Mandela. One reason, I wear it, is because it reminds me that at the moment of truth, after decades in prison, Madiba chose forgiveness.

As you remember, Nelson Mandela was a human rights lawyer and freedom fighter, but for many of the white South Africans, he was a terrorist. In 1964, Mandela was sentenced to life in prison for his participation in several bombings around South Africa.

As Mandela wrote in his autobiography, "A Long Walk to Freedom," he was suffering at the hands of his captors, and he became determined to study his enemy. He wanted to understand them. He wanted to know them. He befriended many of his prison guards. And by the end, Mandela forgave the Afrikaners.

He forgave them. That same forgiveness Jesus asks of us. Forgiveness removed the shackles of hate that he wore & he knew that such forgiveness was going to be the key to any reconciliation in SA.

"Forgiveness liberates the soul, it removes fear. That's why it's such a powerful weapon." ~ Madiba

Forgiveness ultimately is not about someone else. It is about us. Our hearts and our lives, if we forgive others we will be truly free. Madiba came to understand that truth that forgiveness will help us be free, to let go of whatever injury we sustained, and find healing.

As Desmond Tutu put it, “The invitation to forgive is not an invitation to forget. Nor is it an invitation to claim that an injury is less hurtful than it really is. Nor is it a request to paper over the fissure in a relationship, to say it’s okay when it’s not. It’s not okay to be injured. It’s not okay to be abused. It’s not okay to be violated. It’s not okay to be betrayed. The invitation to forgive is an invitation to find healing and peace.”

Forgiveness is at the heart of our faith if we are to be called disciples of Jesus Christ. We see this in Jesus’ parable of the unforgiving servant that we heard today. Again, Jesus shakes up our understandings to see the Kingdom of God in new ways.

The parable begins with a king settling his accounts. When a slave who is brought to him owing a huge sum, one he could not pay, he is ordered to be sold with his family to repay the debt. That is his prerogative. It’s his slave, and he wants his money. Sell them. But the slave promises to pay the king everything he owes, which of course as a slave he could never obtain that amount of wealth. Ever.

But the king has mercy; he has a change of heart. He releases the slave and forgives the debt. That’s it. No repayment necessary. Not even a little bit of what he owed. The slave is freed!

"But that same slave, as he went out, came upon one of his fellow slaves who owed him a hundred denarii; and seizing him by the throat, he said, ‘Pay what you owe.’ Then his fellow slave fell down and pleaded with him, ‘Have patience with me, and I will pay you.’ But he refused; then he went and threw him into prison until he would pay the debt."

The slave who was freed, fails to show mercy like the king did to him. Unlike the king, he was not transformed, . The king hears about it and relents of his mercy and has him tortured until the debts are paid off because he did not have mercy and forgive his fellow slave. And how does Jesus end this parable?

“So my heavenly Father will also do to every one of you, if you do not forgive your brother or sister from your heart.” That is blunt. Forgive your brother or sister, from your heart!

As one of my seminary professors has put it, “the main message of Jesus was about forgiveness and how it transforms lives.” (Bill Countryman) 

The king in the parable was transformed because he forgave the slave. The slave did not understand or could not do it, so his life was not transformed and he suffered for it. Jesus who died on the cross for us, for the forgiveness of our sins, gives us that gift of grace, the forgiveness of our sins. Not because we earned it, or begged in the right way, but because God wanted to do that.

As Wm. Paul Young, The Shack, puts it “Forgiveness is not about forgetting. It is about letting go of another person's throat......Forgiveness does not create a relationship. Unless people speak the truth about what they have done and change their mind and behavior, a relationship of trust is not possible. When you forgive someone you certainly release them from judgment, but without true change, no real relationship can be established.........Forgiveness in no way requires that you trust the one you forgive. But should they finally confess and repent, you will discover a miracle in your own heart that allows you to reach out and begin to build between you a bridge of reconciliation.........Forgiveness does not excuse anything.........You may have to declare your forgiveness a hundred times the first day and the second day, but the third day will be less and each day after, until one day you will realize that you have forgiven completely. And then one day you will pray for his wholeness......”

It reminds me that every day, twice a day (morning and night), monks following the rule of St. Benedict say the Lord’s Prayer, because as the rule says, “this is done because of the harm that is often done in a community by the thorns of conflict which can arise.” They hear the words, “forgive us as we also forgive,” and are called to forgive one another, to be cleansed from the stain of such evil, so they can live with one another in love.

In his parable on forgiveness, Jesus calls everyone to be his disciples in this work, to be ready and willing to make the first move toward forgiveness and to offer it from our hearts. So will we be the king who forgives & has mercy or the unforgiving slave who is not transformed?

Today let us remember the precious gifts we have been given and share these gifts with our troubled and hurting world today, which may be as close as our own home. Amen.

Why We Forgive

I used a quote from Desmond Tutu's work in my sermon on forgiveness last Sunday.  He and his daughter have written a fine book about forgiveness.  An except of the book is given here:

http://spiritualityhealth.com/articles/why-we-forgive

There were so many nights when I, as a young boy, had to watch helplessly as my father verbally and physically abused my mother. I can still recall the smell of alcohol, see the fear in my mother’s eyes, and feel the hopeless despair that comes when we see people we love hurting each other in incomprehensible ways. If I dwell in those memories, I can feel myself wanting to hurt my father back, in the same ways he hurt my mother, and in ways of which I was incapable as a small boy. I see my mother’s face and I see this gentle human being whom I loved so very much and who did nothing to deserve the pain inflicted upon her.

When I recall this story, I realize how difficult the process of forgiving truly is. Intellectually, I know my father caused pain because he was in pain. Spiritually, I know my faith tells me my father deserves to be forgiven as God forgives us all. But it is still difficult. The traumas we have witnessed or experienced live on in our memories. Even years later they can cause us fresh pain each time we recall them.

Read the whole excerpt.  Then buy the book (or get it from your local library).

There were so many nights when I, as a young boy, had to watch helplessly as my father verbally and physically abused my mother. I can still recall the smell of alcohol, see the fear in my mother’s eyes, and feel the hopeless despair that comes when we see people we love hurting each other in incomprehensible ways. If I dwell in those memories, I can feel myself wanting to hurt my father back, in the same ways he hurt my mother, and in ways of which I was incapable as a small boy. I see my mother’s face and I see this gentle human being whom I loved so very much and who did nothing to deserve the pain inflicted upon her.
When I recall this story, I realize how difficult the process of forgiving truly is. Intellectually, I know my father caused pain because he was in pain. Spiritually, I know my faith tells me my father deserves to be forgiven as God forgives us all. But it is still difficult. The traumas we have witnessed or experienced live on in our memories. Even years later they can cause us fresh pain each time we recall them.
- See more at: http://spiritualityhealth.com/articles/why-we-forgive#sthash.pCcpnm5P.dpuf

There were so many nights when I, as a young boy, had to watch helplessly as my father verbally and physically abused my mother. I can still recall the smell of alcohol, see the fear in my mother’s eyes, and feel the hopeless despair that comes when we see people we love hurting each other in incomprehensible ways. If I dwell in those memories, I can feel myself wanting to hurt my father back, in the same ways he hurt my mother, and in ways of which I was incapable as a small boy. I see my mother’s face and I see this gentle human being whom I loved so very much and who did nothing to deserve the pain inflicted upon her.
When I recall this story, I realize how difficult the process of forgiving truly is. Intellectually, I know my father caused pain because he was in pain. Spiritually, I know my faith tells me my father deserves to be forgiven as God forgives us all. But it is still difficult. The traumas we have witnessed or experienced live on in our memories. Even years later they can cause us fresh pain each time we recall them.
- See more at: http://spiritualityhealth.com/articles/why-we-forgive#sthash.pCcpnm5P.dpuf

Prayers (from the time of our Jesus Statue)

The Jesus statue arrived on Sept. 1 -  It was made to look like a homeless person, except for the stigmata in his hand.  Besides the statue, was a box inviting people to write down any prayers they would like.  This is what they wrote:

A prayer for seasonable weather for farmers and the homeless.

For the homeless and for the faith of America.

For all those troubled by addiction and depression, may they and their families find peace.

For the soul of [name redacted] and health & happiness of my children

Pray for peace throughout the world.  Love Jesus!

These prayers will be offered during the intercessions on Sept. 21.

9/11 - a poem

Survivors—Found
by Joan Murray
We thought that they were gone—
we rarely saw them on our screens—
those everyday Americans
with workaday routines,

and the heroes standing ready—
not glamorous enough—
on days without a tragedy,
we clicked—and turned them off.

We only saw the cynics—
the dropouts, show-offs, snobs—
the right- and left- wing critics:
we saw that they were us.

But with the wounds of Tuesday
when the smoke began to clear,
we rubbed away our stony gaze—
and watched them reappear:

the waitress in the tower,
the broker reading mail,
a pair of window washers,
filling up a final pail,

the husband's last "I love you"
from the last seat of a plane,
the tourist taking in a view
no one would see again,

the fireman, his eyes ablaze
as he climbed the swaying stairs—
he knew someone might still be saved.
We wondered who it was.

We glimpsed them through the rubble:
the ones who lost their lives,
the heroes' double burials,
the ones now "left behind,"

 the ones who rolled a sleeve up,
the ones in scrubs and masks,
the ones who lifted buckets
filled with stone and grief and ash:

some spoke a different language—
still no one missed a phrase;
the soot had softened every face
of every shade and age—

"the greatest generation" ?—
we wondered where they'd gone—
they hadn't left directions
how to find our nation-home:

for thirty years we saw few signs,
but now in swirls of dust,
they were alive—they had survived—
we saw that they were us.

From Poems to Live By by Joan Murray. Copyright © 2001 by Joan Murray.

9/11 - a remembrance

Fr. Mychal Judge spoke these words to Engine 73, Ladder 42 in the Bronx, NY on September 10, 2001:

“Thank You, Lord, for life. Thank You for love. Thank You for goodness. Thank You for work. Thank You for family. Thank You for friends. Thank You for every gift...

As we celebrate this day in thanksgiving to You, keep our hearts and minds open. Let us enjoy each other's company, and most of all, let us be conscious of Your presence in our lives, and in a special way, in the lives of those who have gone before us.

No matter how big the call. No matter how small. You have no idea what God is calling you to. But he needs you. He needs me. He needs all of us. Keep supporting each other. Be kind to each other. Love each other. Work together and do what you did the other night and the weeks and the months and the years before and from this fire house, God's blessings go forth in this community. It's fantastic!”

Father Mike was a chaplain of the Fire Department of New York City beginning in 1992 and was recognized as the first official victim of the 9/11 attacks. On that day, when he heard that the World Trade Center had been hit, Father Mike rushed to the site. He was met by the Mayor of New York, Rudolph Giuliani, who asked him to pray for the city and its victims. Hee administered the Last Rites to some lying on the streets, and went to the command post in the North Tower to see where he could assist.

When the South Tower fell, debris from the tower entered the lobby and many were killed including Fr. Mike. A NYPD lieutenant, who was also buried in the debris, found Fr. Mike's body and then assisted by two firemen and two others, carried his body out of the North Tower lobby using a chair and took him to nearby St Peter's Church. The picture of that scene has become one of the iconic photographs from 9/11.

His story stays with me, because his life speaks of how we are to live with one another. A man who rushed to do his duty, to be a prayerful presence in the midst of crisis. A man who loved his neighbor, who cared for the fire fighters under his care, and as a Franciscan monk, he also looked out for those in need in his community.

The words he spoke are just as true for us today as they were 13 years ago in NY. God needs you and God needs me; Keep supporting each other. Be kind to each other. Love each other. From what you do, God’s blessings will go forth into our community.

9/11 Anniversary - a prayer

O gracious and loving God, on this 13th anniversary of the terror attacks on 9/11, we lift up our nation in prayer. We remember all the victims who lost their lives to hate. We remember the brave and courageous who rushed to the scene to help, to those who came to search through rubble, who cut through steel and debris. We remember those who grieve loved ones lost and for all the anxiety and fear we had in those days. We also remember how we came together to support one another in a time of need. Have mercy, Lord, give us strength and peace to not seek revenge nor turn our hurt to hate, but make us courageous in compassion and in justice for all. Help us to know your steadfast love & hope, your presence that is as near as breath; rekindle in our hearts the hope of life that conquers death. This we ask in your name. Amen.

Apple Festival Sermon

Owe no one anything, except to love one another, wrote St. Paul to the Romans. Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore, love is the fulfilling of the law.

Love never wrongs the other or does what is hateful. It helps others. But love also recognizes when behavior is hurting others and needs to be corrected. I am thinking of the Gospel for today & Jesus reminder that even in our community we need to loving help each other, and a story I recently read in Doris Donnelly ‘s book Learning to Forgive:

When the family had moved to a new city, seven-year-old son Christopher started the school year with a head-on collision with the 12-year-old school bully. On the first day of school the bully pushed Christopher off the school bus, ordered him to carry his books home, and made the prospect of going to school a horror for him. Mom, of course, was outraged. She wanted to take on the bully, the boy's parents, his teacher and the school principal. But Christopher said, "But if he stops picking on me, he'll only start picking on someone else. Some other kid in school is going to get it if it's not me! I'd rather find some way of getting along with him because I'll probably be living with him for a long time."

It took Mom a few days to see things the way Christopher saw them - her immediate maternal instinct was to protect her child above all. But she realized the wisdom of her son's perspective.

Mom writes: “My goal shifted. The goal was no longer wanting to get even, to 'fight fire with fire' ... My goal- my family's goal - was to set this child free to love more than he was apparently capable of doing at the time. "I approached the principal and told her that we wanted to work through the problem for our good, for the benefit of the other child who was harassing mine, and for any children who might be affected in the future. The principal was cooperative. She and I saw the need the bully had for attention, and we set on a course to affirm him, enlist his support with the smaller children, and encourage him as an older boy to be helpful to my son. It didn't work. We tried again. And again. And again.

"We found that there was no magic formula. We found that love, above all, is patient. And we found that love, in the end - in the end that looks as though it will never come - in that end, love triumphs."

Love never means that we are door mats and doesn’t mean that it will be easy. Loving is just as easily a No as it is a Yes. But Love is not about judging others as it is about living lives of integrity and doing good to those around us. The Gospel reminds us that what binds us together, Love, is found in the person of Jesus.

Let me end with another story – this for the children – a story often told by Wangari Matthai.

Wangari Maathai was from Kenya. In the 1970s, Maathai founded the Green Belt Movement, an organization focused on the planting of trees, environmental conservation, and women’s rights. In 2004, she became the first African woman to receive the Nobel Peace Prize.

“It is the little things citizens do that will make a difference. My little thing is planting a tree.” Wangari Maathai. The Green Belt movement has planted over 51 million trees in Kenya.

We all have our part to play, all of us can make a difference, no matter what our age, no matter what our size, we all can love… The Story of the Humming Bird. Amen.

Creation Day (in a Season of Creation)

A Season of Creation begins on September 1.

1 September to 4 October is Time for Creation.

The beginning and the end date of Time for Creation are linked with the concern for creation in the Eastern and the Western traditions of Christianity, respectively.

September 1st was proclaimed as a day of prayer for the environment by the late Ecumenical Patriarch Dimitrios I in 1989. The Orthodox church year starts that day with a commemoration of how God created the world. On 4 October, Roman Catholics and other churches [Episcopal Church!] from the Western traditions commemorate Francis of Assisi, known to many as the author of the Canticle of the Creatures.

The proposal to celebrate a Time for Creation during these five weeks was made by the Third European Ecumenical Assembly in Sibiu in 2007.The following year, the WCC Central Committee invited churches to observe Time for Creation through prayers and actions. ( from the World Council of Churches website: http://www.oikoumene.org/en/what-we-do/climate-change/time-for-creation )

A Prayer:

Holy God, you alone are unutterable,
from the time you created all things that can be spoken of.
You alone are unknowable,
from the time you created all things that can be known.
All things cry out about you: those that speak, and those that cannot speak.
All things honor you: those that think, and those that cannot think.
For there is one longing, one groaning, which all things have for you.
All things pray to you that comprehend your plan and offer you a silent hymn.
In you, the One, all things abide,
and all things endlessly run to you who are the end of all. Amen.
(source: Gregory of Nazianzus)

Jesus Statue Comes to St. Peter’s Church

On September 1 (through September 15), a life-sized sculpture of a homeless Jesus will grace the front of St. Peter’s Episcopal Church, as a public witness of St. Peter’s commitment to remember and love all of our neighbors. The sculpture, by Canadian sculptor Timothy P. Schmalz, was inspired by the parable Jesus told to his followers near the end of the Gospel of Matthew. Schmalz titled his sculpture, "Whatsoever You Do."

“This sculpture is a visual representation of charity. We should see Christ in the poor and the hungry. We should see our acts of kindness to them as kindness to Him. It is inspired by the Gospel of Matthew 25:40.” (from Schmalz’s website)

He describes his sculptures “as being visual prayers.”

The sculpture is a poignant reminder of God’s invitation to see Jesus in everyone we encounter. At the same time, the statue invites us to recall our shared humanity with the homeless we worshipped alongside at Chapel on the Green in New Haven, the hungry we feed through the Monroe Food Pantry, our participation in the Bridgeport Deanery feeding programs, and those strangers in Monroe whose need we do not yet know. At the very heart of all these ministries, is our willingness to embrace everyone as a child of God.

The statue has been traveling throughout the Episcopal Diocese of Connecticut; it had a brief stay at Camp Washington and will be displayed in over a dozen churches throughout the year. Please do take a few minutes to come by the church to sit with Jesus, who beckons us with sadness and hope as a powerful reminder of our ministry to love our neighbors as ourselves.

To learn more:

Video by the artist concerning the “Whatsoever You Do” sculpture:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2sGkDEDPCPI

The artist’s webpage:

http://www.sculpturebytps.com/

“‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you a drink? When did we see you as a stranger and welcome you, or naked and give you clothes to wear? When did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?’ “Then he will reply to them, ‘I assure you that when you have done it for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you have done it for me.’”
(from Matthew 25: 37-40 - Common English Bible (CEB))