Sunday, March 27, 2016

Easter Sermon

Be present, be present, O Risen Christ, as you were with your disciples, and be known to us in the breaking of bread and in the Scriptures, we pray. Amen.

A teacher asked the children in her Sunday School class, “If I sold my house and my car, had a big garage sale, and give all the money to the church, would I get into heaven?” “No!” The children all answered.

“If I cleaned the church everyday, mowed the yard, and kept everything neat and tidy, would I then get into heaven?” Again, the answer was “NO!”

“Well,” she continued, “then how can I get into heaven? In the back of the room, a five year-old boy shouted, “You gotta be dead!”

You gotta be dead. Out of the mouth of babes… And that’s where the holy story seemed to end on Palm Sunday and Good Friday. Jesus, the messiah, the Christ, the one expected to change everything was killed. He was crucified like a common criminal. A spectacle to be held and we were left to watch and wait.

It was over. Hate crucified love. But God was still at work & new life was about to be born from his sacrifice…

In the little village of Eyam, located in the lead-mining region of northern England, is remembered for their sacrifice.

In 1665, much of London to the south was caught in the grip of a devastating epidemic. The north was largely spared - until a flea-invested bundle of cloth arrived from London for the local tailor in Eyam. Within a week, the tailor was dead and more began dying in his household soon after. That's when the 350 villagers decided to isolate themselves, in an effort to protect the neighboring settlements from contagion. Rather than fleeing their infected village, the people of Eyam made the heroic decision to stay, quarantining themselves in order to contain the plague. Their sacrifice may well have saved many thousands of lives in the north of England.

The villagers of Eyam marked out their isolation perimeter by a circle of boundary stones, one of which was a well. People from the surrounding area brought food, medication and news to the well and boundary markers and left them there to be collected by the stricken villagers.

Records show that at least 260 of 350 villagers died over the 14 months that the epidemic raged. Entire families died in the epidemic. We can imagine the remaining uninfected villagers treading to the stone wall and well, seeking the means to live for another day.

The well at Eyam became a powerful symbol of everything that wells are supposed to be: a symbol of life, of healing, of cleansing. [From Sacred Space: Stations on a Celtic Way by Margaret Silf.]

To this day, the well at Eyam and the stones that remain of the isolation wall honor the selfless sacrifice of the people of Eyam. The story of Eyam is a story of how the human spirit can discover its place of resurrection by entering the heart of the darkness, without evasion or circumvention, with courage and generosity.

Jesus knew his actions would cause a reaction by the Roman Empire and Jewish authorities, but his courage and spirit, were not stopped by the cross. His sacrifice became a beacon of hope that Easter morning, for everything changed in the resurrection.

Why do you seek the living among the dead? The angels asked the women at the tomb. He is not here. He is risen. As he told you. And they ran and told the disciples who at first did not believe it. Peter ran and it was just as the women had said. They were amazed at what had taken place.

Love had indeed won, Jesus had defeated death and won for us freedom… Life out of death.

In his book The Liberators, author Michael Hirsch details the stories, impressions and reactions of American soldiers who liberated the Nazi concentration camps as they chased the last remnants of the Nazi army in the final days of World War II.

Hirsch also includes in his book the recollection of one of those liberated. Coenraad Rood was a 24-year-old Dutch Jew who worked as a tailor. He was arrested in 1942 and spent three years imprisoned at a number of camps. In January 1945, he lay dying in a covered ditch in the camp at Ampfing when the US 14th Armored Division liberated the camp. Rood remembers:

"Suddenly, I heard my friend Maupy. I heard him speaking English, saying [to someone] 'go in there. My friend is dying. He should know that he is free before he dies.' [The trapdoor to the ditch] opened up and there was an American soldier there . . . I was laying in the dark, in the dirt, and he told me, 'come, you are free now.' And then I started crying. I try to get to him, but I was, like paralyzed . . . I was crawling on the ground, trying to get to the door. And then he picked me up by the collar of my little jacket [and] he was holding me. I remember I thought, 'Man, is the man strong!' . . . And he told me, 'You're free now. You understand? It's over.'"

"As dirty and sick as I was, that soldier, that American soldier, kissed me. And I kissed him back, and he was holding me and took me [outside to ditch, into the light] and said, 'See? You are free now.' And he cried to."

After the liberation, Coenraad Rood was reunited with his wife Bep, who survived the war in hiding, they became war refugees and they made a new life for themselves in the United States.

In the light of the empty tomb at Easter, every moment of forgiveness, every triumph of justice over persecution, every insistence of goodness in the face of horrendous evil, every act of compassion (no matter how simple or small),every act of selflessness to help others live, proclaims the good news that Christ is risen.

You are free; it's over - the words of American soldiers to the victims of the Holocaust. Why do you seek the living among the dead? - the angels ask of the women who come to the tomb on Easter morning. Easter is God's never-ending invitation to freedom, his raising us up from our "tombs" of death to life.

And, in turn, we become liberators ourselves, picking up others from among the dead and restoring them to life and hope. We do this when we welcome refugees to our country; we do this when we offer a hand to our neighbor in need; when we make sacrifices so others can live. We do this out of the love that would not be stopped on Good Friday.

As that old hymn tells us:

Love lives again, that with the dead has been:
Love is come again, like wheat that springs up green.

On this Easter Sunday, may we seek to bring such resurrection to the darkness we encounter; may we bury our own self-interests and wants for the sake of the greater good; may we practice resurrection in what we say and do in order that God may restore us to life in the well of compassion and mercy and love that is the Risen Christ.

Today, your friend, your liberator, your beloved, your messiah is not dead but alive.

Christ is risen! Alleluia! Amen.

Saturday, March 26, 2016

Easter Vigil Sermon

How blessed is this night, when earth and heaven are joined and humankind is reconciled to God! May the light of Jesus shine in us to continually drive away all darkness. May the Risen Christ, the Morning Star who knows no setting, find his light ever burning in our hearts—he who gives his light to all creation, and who lives and reigns for ever and ever. Amen.

It begin with a triumphant entry. It ended, it seemed, with tragedy.

But God wasn’t done yet…

And so the holy story goes on: The women of Jesus' company, do their duty, they get up early the day after the Passover Sabbath to finish the job of burying Jesus. When they arrive they find the stone rolled away. The tomb is empty. Two angels greet them.

Why do you seek the living among the dead?

It is the question of faith for Easter – for they are to become evangelists!

He is not here. He is risen. It's not over. It's only begun as he told you! Don't think you can come here and finish or go home to hide. Go into the streets and look for him. Go to the prisons and soup kitchens. Go to the ghettos and hamlets. Go home to your families. He is there among your spouses and children, your coworkers and friends, your classmates and teammates, strangers and those in need. In other words, beat it! The best part of the story is still ahead of you. [adapted from "Career ministry" by Garrett Keizer, Tile Christian Century, April 24-May 1, 2002.]

Easter pushes us out of those tombs where we bury ourselves and challenges us to discover fulfillment in living a life centered beyond ourselves. Easter throws us out of the cemeteries where we hide and invites us to embrace the love of Christ present in family and community and even in the stranger.

Easter dares us to look around the rocks we stumble over and find the path of peace and forgiveness and love.

Jesus has been raised up from the dead: He is not bound by the burial cloths of hopelessness and cynicism. He is no longer entombed by fear and distrust. His cross is not the dead wood of shame and ridicule but the first branches of a harvest of compassion and justice and hope for everyone of every time and place.

Easter calls us to rise with him and live the miracle – for Christ is alive!

Finished with The Easter Sermon by St. John Chrysostom

Q & A with our Presiding Bishop

 Bishop Michael B. Curry
  • Title: Presiding Bishop, the Episcopal Church
  • Installed: Nov. 1, 2015
  • Previous Position: Bishop of North Carolina, 2000-2015
  • Ordained to the Priesthood: December, 1978
  • Born: March 13, 1953
An excerpt from the NY Times:

Q. Your father was also an Episcopal priest, but before that he was a Baptist. Why did he become an Episcopalian?

A. He was dating my mother, who was an Episcopalian, and he went to church with her at some point. When it came time for communion, in the Episcopal Church people drink out of the same cup. They were one of the only black couples sitting in the congregation, and this was in the late ’40s, in southern Ohio, which then really was still the South. Watching that, he said that it just hit him that any church where people of different races drink from the same cup knows something about the Gospel, and that he wants to be a part of that.

Read the whole interview (condensed) here.

Holy Saturday

XIV Jesus is laid in the tomb

Here at the centre everything is still
Before the stir and movement of our grief
Which bears it’s pain with rhythm, ritual,
Beautiful useless gestures of relief.
So they anoint the skin that cannot feel
Soothing his ruined flesh with tender care,
Kissing the wounds they know they cannot heal,
With incense scenting only empty air.
He blesses every love that weeps and grieves
And makes our grief the pangs of a new birth.
The love that’s poured in silence at old graves
Renewing flowers, tending the bare earth,
Is never lost. In him all love is found
And sown with him, a seed in the rich ground.

Poem by Malcolm Guite
from
Sounding the Seasons; seventy Sonnets for the Christian Year, Canterbury Press 2012′

Friday, March 25, 2016

Good Friday Service

(O Lord) By your wounded hands: teach us diligence and generosity.
By your wounded feet: teach us steadfastness and perseverance.
By your wounded and insulted head: teach us patience, clarity and self-mastery.
By your wounded heart: teach us charity and love,
O Master and Savior. Teach us love. Amen. (adapted from Daphne Fraser)

Last week, the Bishops issued a Word to the Church, one sentence stood out for me: “In a country still living under the shadow of the lynching tree, we are troubled by the violent forces being released by this season’s political rhetoric.”

The shadow of the Lynching Tree. For many of our fellow citizens, mostly African Americans, the lynching tree was a form of terror to keep them in their place. As one historian and theologian put it:

"The lynching tree is the most potent symbol of the trouble nobody knows that blacks have seen but do not talk about because the pain of remembering—visions of black bodies dangling from southern trees, surrounded by jeering white mobs—is almost too excruciating to recall. In that era, the lynching tree joined the cross as the most emotionally charged symbols in the African American community—symbols that represented both death and the promise of redemption, judgment and the offer of mercy, suffering and the power of hope. Both the cross and the lynching tree represented the worst in human beings and at the same time “an unquenchable ontological thirst” for life that refuses to let the worst determine our final meaning." (from the Cross & the Lynching Tree)

The lynching tree was a form of social control, much like the Roman crucifixions, people crucified in places where the population could see them, as a warning for anyone stepping out of line. The Roman Empire would make you suffer and kill you in the worst way possible.

Enter Jesus. He refused to be controlled by the Jewish elite or the Roman authorities. Jesus said before Pilate, “For this I was born, and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone who belongs to the truth listens to my voice.”

To which Pilate replied, What is truth. It is the question we must ask before the cross. What is truth?

In a world where truth seems to be constantly manipulated, constantly false, it makes us very cynical and doubtful about what really is truth.

What scared Pilate, what worried the Jewish leaders of Jesus day, was that Jesus embodied what he said. He lived the way he taught. People flocked around him because they sensed a truthful authenticity. Truth isn’t simply words on a page, truth is the lived reality of one who embodies what he or she says. This day truth was crucified on the cross, they thought they could control it but the Spirit of Truth that lived in Jesus still exists today.

It seemed on that Good Friday death triumphed over truth. Many looked on and wondered.

But even in his suffering and death, his truth lived on.

Consider one of the world’s greatest art treasures is Michelangelo’s Pieta, created from a single piece of marble in 1498, when Michelangelo was only twenty-three. It shows Mary, the Mother of Jesus, holding the broken body of her son on her lap. The combination of love and sorrow on Mary’s face, the sense of longing to take onto herself some of her son’s pain that she might lessen it, speaks to anyone who has ever loved and cared for another.

Only in John’s Gospel are we told that Mary is present at the Crucifixion. Others, not Mary, are involved in Jesus’ being taken down from the cross and buried.

Yet, in moving us so deeply, the Pieta strikes us as so right and true. Why? Rabbi Harold S. Kushner, in his recent The Lord is My Shepherd, offers this insight into Michelangelo’s creation: He sees in Mary the love and tenderness of “God in his feminine aspect . . . the God who created life in all of its fragile vulnerability, the way a mother creates life, a God who grieves for His children when they suffer, who suffers with them when they are cruel to one another, when they hurt and kill one another. Every mother, every parent who suffers the loss of a child is reenacting God’s grief at the death of one of His own children . . . God’s was the first heart to break.”
In the passion and death of his beloved, God is rejected and humiliated, God suffers and dies — just as every human being experiences. But God allows himself to be broken in order that we might understand the fragile, impermanent nature of this life.

In the broken body of Jesus, we are reconciled with God; in the broken body of Jesus, our lives are transformed in the perfect love of Christ; in the broken body of Jesus, God’s Spirit of humility and compassion becomes a force of hope and re-creation in our hurting and despairing world. And Jesus broken body is found on

· The Cross.
· The Lynching Tree.
· Christians beheaded in the Middle East & Africa.
· Suicide Bombings in Iraq, Belgium and Turkey.

There is so much cruelty. So much violence. So much hate and fear.

As we will see as the Gospel continues to unfold this Holy Week, the brokenness we both suffer and inflict on one another can be healed in the love of God: love that is humble, love that is sincere, love centered in gratitude and selflessness. Love centered on the God who created us out of love, and who refused to let hate, fear and death rule the day.

A love we will see reborn in two days. Amen.

This Good (Holy) Friday

An article on why it is called Good Friday:

http://www.slate.com/blogs/browbeat/2014/04/18/why_is_good_friday_called_good_friday_the_etymology_and_origins_of_the_holiday.html

The third and final theory, the one supported by both the Oxford English Dictionary and every language expert I contacted, is that the name comes from an antiquated meaning of good.

A meditation on Good Friday - the deeper magic:

http://experimentaltheology.blogspot.com/2011/04/deeper-magic-good-friday-mediation.html

There, on the cross, where it seems that death is now victorious, a Deeper Magic is at work. 

Tuesday, March 22, 2016

The Genocide of Christians & Others

It began here:

http://www.euronews.com/2014/07/22/how-an-arabic-letter-was-reclaimed-to-support-iraqs-persecuted-christians-n/

Then came the news from the US State Dept:

http://www.state.gov/secretary/remarks/2016/03/254782.htm

I hope that my statement today will assure the victims of Daesh’s atrocities that the United States recognizes and confirms the despicable nature of the crimes that have been committed against them. Second, I hope it will highlight the shared interest that otherwise diverse groups have in opposing Daesh. After all, the reality of genocide underscores even more starkly the need for a comprehensive and unified approach to defeating Daesh both in its core in Syria and Iraq and more broadly in its attempt to establish external networks.

Learn more here: http://frrme.org/

FRRME is a small UK-based charity achieving big changes. We work in some of the world’s most dangerous countries and facilitate the unique and important work of Canon Andrew White in Iraq, Jordan, Israel and Palestine – convinced that God has not forgotten their people. 

Pray!

Almighty God, our Refuge and our Rock, your loving care knows no bounds and embraces all the peoples of the earth: Defend and protect those who fall victim to the forces of evil, and as we remember today those who endured depredation and death because of who they were, not because of what they had done or failed to do, give us the courage to stand against hatred and oppression, and to seek the dignity and well-being of all for the sake of our Savior Jesus Christ, in whom you have reconciled the world to yourself; and who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever.  Amen.

Prayers for #Belgium & #Turkey

and all those affected by Terrorism...

(Prayers from the Church of England)

Compassionate God and Father of all,
we are horrified at violence
in so many parts of the world (especially in Belgium & Turkey).
It seems that none are safe, and some are terrified.
Hold back the hands that kill and maim;
turn around the hearts that hate.
Grant instead your strong Spirit of Peace -
peace that passes our understanding
but changes lives,
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen

God of Hope,
we come to you in shock and grief and confusion of heart.
Help us to find peace in the knowledge
of your loving mercy to all your children,
and give us light to guide us out of our darkness
into the assurance of your love,
In Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen.

Merciful God,
hear the cries of our grief,
for you know the anguish of our hearts.
It is beyond our understanding
and more than we can bear.
We pray that justice may be done
and that we may treasure the memory of their lives
more than the manner of their death.
For Christ's sake. Amen.

© Archbishops' Council 2015

Monday, March 21, 2016

A Word to the Church - Prayers

From the Book of Common Prayer - follow up to A Word to the Church, a few prayers to use in this season:

22. For Sound Government

The responses in italics may be omitted.

O Lord our Governor, bless the leaders of our land, that we may be a people at peace among ourselves and a blessing to other nations of the earth.
Lord, keep this nation under your care.

To the President and members of the Cabinet, to Governors of States, Mayors of Cities, and to all in administrative authority, grant wisdom and grace in the exercise of their duties.
Give grace to your servants, O Lord.

To Senators and Representatives, and those who make our laws in States, Cities, and Towns, give courage, wisdom, and foresight to provide for the needs of all our people, and to fulfill our obligations in the community of nations.
Give grace to your servants, O Lord.

To the Judges and officers of our Courts give understanding and integrity, that human rights may be safeguarded and justice served.
Give grace to your servants, O Lord.

And finally, teach our people to rely on your strength and to accept their responsibilities to their fellow citizens, that they may elect trustworthy leaders and make wise decisions for the well-being of our society; that we may serve you faithfully in our generation and honor your holy Name.
For yours is the kingdom, O Lord, and you are exalted as head above all. Amen.

23. For Local Government

Almighty God our heavenly Father, send down upon those who hold office in this State (Commonwealth, City, County, Town, ____________) the spirit of wisdom, charity, and justice;
that with steadfast purpose they may faithfully serve in their offices to promote the well-being of all people; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

24. For an Election

Almighty God, to whom we must account for all our powers and privileges: Guide the people of the United States (or of this community) in the election of officials and representatives; that, by faithful administration and wise laws, the rights of all may be protected and our nation be enabled to fulfill your purposes; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

 
 27. For Social Justice

Grant, O God, that your holy and life-giving Spirit may so move every human heart [and especially the hearts of the people of this land], that barriers which divide us may crumble, suspicions disappear, and hatreds cease; that our divisions being healed, we may live in justice and peace; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

28. In Times of Conflict

O God, you have bound us together in a common life. Help us, in the midst of our struggles for justice and truth, to confront one another without hatred or bitterness, and to work together with mutual forbearance and respect; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

A Word to the Church

The House of Bishops in our business session on our final day of the meeting unanimously adopted a "Word to the Church," included below. This "Word" calls for prayer for our country that a spirit of reconciliation will prevail in this political season. As the Episcopal bishops of Connecticut, we wholeheartedly stand behind this Word to the Church and ask that each clergy person and lay leader in charge of worship in the parishes and worshiping communities of the Episcopal Church in Connecticut ensure that this Word to the Church is read in each service in the Diocese this Palm Sunday, March 20, 2016. As we journey to Jerusalem and the cross with Jesus this upcoming Holy Week, may we hold onto the promise and truth of new life in the resurrected Jesus on Easter morning.

Faithfully, The Rt. Rev. Ian T. Douglas, Bishop Diocesan & The Rt. Rev. Laura J. Ahrens, Bishop Suffragan

A Word to the Church
Holy Week 2016

"We reject the idolatrous notion that we can ensure the safety of some by sacrificing the hopes of others.”

On Good Friday the ruling political forces of the day tortured and executed an innocent man. They sacrificed the weak and the blameless to protect their own status and power. On the third day Jesus was raised from the dead, revealing not only their injustice but also unmasking the lie that might makes right.

In a country still living under the shadow of the lynching tree, we are troubled by the violent forces being released by this season’s political rhetoric. Americans are turning against their neighbors, particularly those on the margins of society. They seek to secure their own safety and security at the expense of others. There is legitimate reason to fear where this rhetoric and the actions arising from it might take us.

In this moment, we resemble God’s children wandering in the wilderness. We, like they, are struggling to find our way. They turned from following God and worshiped a golden calf constructed from their own wealth. The current rhetoric is leading us to construct a modern false idol out of power and privilege. We reject the idolatrous notion that we can ensure the safety of some by sacrificing the hopes of others. No matter where we fall on the political spectrum, we must respect the dignity of every human being and we must seek the common good above all else.

We call for prayer for our country that a spirit of reconciliation will prevail and we will not betray our true selves.

The Episcopal Church House of Bishops met in retreat March 11 – 15 at Camp Allen Conference Center in Navasota, TX.


Prayers for National Life - 18. For our Country (page 820)

Almighty God, who hast given us this good land for our heritage: We humbly beseech thee that we may always prove ourselves a people mindful of thy favor and glad to do thy will. Bless our land with honorable industry, sound learning, and pure manners. Save us from violence, discord, and confusion; from pride and arrogance, and from every evil way. Defend our liberties, and fashion into one united people the multitudes brought hither out of many kindreds and tongues. Endue with the spirit of wisdom those to whom in thy Name we entrust the authority of government, that there may be justice and peace at home, and that, through obedience to thy law, we may show forth thy praise among the nations of the earth. In the time of prosperity, fill our hearts with thankfulness, and in the day of trouble, suffer not our trust in thee to fail; all which we ask through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Palm Sunday Sermon

Gracious God, you are the source of life and love; Be present with us today in the Palms & in the Passion that your Word may inform our minds and your Spirit inflame our hearts; then send us out with that life and love and knowledge for all who seek you. Amen.

Holy Week began with peace and excitment.

His disciples and other followers – laying down garments of clothing, palm branches, shouting Hosanna! They were talking about peace.

You can sense the love that people had for Jesus and how the crowd was around him, expecting wonderful things; but there were others watching Jesus, those who feared his arrival. Some among the Jewish leadership were not convinced that Jesus was the messiah, some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to him, "Teacher, order your disciples to stop as he entered Jerusalem." Jesus answered, "I tell you, if these were silent, the stones would shout out." The same Jesus who challenged authority in the villages, by the sea, out in the highways and byways had now come to Jerusalem.

It was not time to back down, even the stones would shout out… “Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven, and glory in the highest heaven!"

But that peace would not last long…For in that same week, there was another grand procession. This one began at the Roman Governor’s capital of Caesarea on the coast. Pontius Pilate, the Roman Governor, and his imperial cavalry had come to Jerusalem to reinforce the troops there. Pilate who oversaw Jerusalem and all of Israel for the Roman Empire, was there to make sure there was no trouble during the Jewish Passover. The entrance procession of Jesus into Jerusalem with shouts from the people of blessed is the king, would have made the Romans take notice.

The next day when Jesus threw the merchants out of the Temple, he would not only have angered the Jewish authorities who were looking for a way to arrest him, but also the Romans, who would want to quell the disturbance created by Jesus and his disciples. Jesus understood that through his actions, and the actions of his disciples and the crowd that he was confronting power and authority in a way that would change the world but also lead to his death…

As William Stringfellow wrote, “The real witness of Palm Sunday is not the parade or what the disciples or secular authorities saw; it is the encounter between Christ and the power of death.”

By Jesus own actions, it put him in the sights of the empire that would destroy anyone who would not live by their Pax Romana. Jesus confronted the power of death in the occupying imperial empire of Rome, centered in the holiest place, Jerusalem. As two authors put it, “The contrast is clear: Jesus versus Pilate, the nonviolence of the kingdom of God versus the violence of empire. Two arrivals, two entrances, two processions—and our Christian Lent is about repentance for being in the wrong one and preparation to abandon it for its alternative.” (Marcus Borg & John Dominic Crossan)

When Jesus calls us to take up our cross and follow him, it is a call to follow him not only in the triumphant entrance to Jerusalem, but throughout Holy Week from celebration, to betrayal, to abandonment, to the cross, to follow his way and not the way of Pilate and empire.

We are called to follow the one who came in the name of love and peace, who rode humbly on a donkey, who threw out the merchants so God’s house could be a house of prayer for all people. The one who confronted death with his life. We are challenged to repent of our allegiance to the way of prosperity and power and to once again follow the way of the cross. To shout out with the crowd and those stones: Hosanna! Blessed is the King! May Peace reign!

And our voices join many others…

They never imagined that this would happen to their families. How could it, in their affluent neighborhoods and well-funded schools? What did they miss? What could they have done? But it happened. Each of these families has buried a son or daughter who died of a heroin overdose. Now they have banded together in their grief to warn other families of the epidemic of heroin in their children's schools and to mobilize medical and legislative resources to deal with the issue of easy-to-obtain hallucinogens and opioids among kids. These parents are the very voice of "the stones crying out."

Their church was shattered by the murders last June: a young white racist, welcomed into their Wednesday evening Bible Study, suddenly stood and opened fire, killing nine members of Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, South Carolina. The murderer sought to ignite a race war - but the church and community responded with forgiveness and grace instead of anger and vengeance. They came together in the spirit of Jesus, and his call for reconciliation and mercy. In their Christ-like response to the tragedy that struck their families and church, "the stones cry out."

They stand up for the invisible people, those pushed to the margins, those whose religion, culture and gender make them the scapegoats for a community's fears and anger. They work tirelessly and unceasingly - and stubbornly - to push back against the unjust laws and hateful rhetoric that condemn others to lives of endless poverty and dashed hopes. In their advocacy for the poor and displaced, the victimized and the forgotten, the "stones cry out." (Connections)

This Palm Sunday invites us to walk with Jesus on the road to Calvary and to raise our voices, shouting our Hosannas, crying out like those stones, bearing witness to the Jesus we follow.

For our Hosanna is not just a hymn happily sung at the beginning of the journey; our Hosanna is most beautifully intoned when we raise our voices in compassion, in the work of securing justice for all, in our selfless and generous efforts at reconciliation and peace. May we enter this Holy Week with hearts open to hearing the "stones" crying out for justice and mercy and peace in our own Jerusalems & the places of violence and hate with the Holy Spirit impelling us to add our own voices to theirs...

“Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven, and glory in the highest heaven!"

Amen.

Thursday, March 17, 2016

Remembering St. Patrick




Patrick by Malcolm Guite

Six years a slave, and then you slipped the yoke,
Till Christ recalled you, through your captors cries!
Patrick, you had the courage to turn back,
With open love to your old enemies,
Serving them now in Christ, not in their chains,
Bringing the freedom He gave you to share.
You heard the voice of Ireland, in your veins
Her passion and compassion burned like fire.

Now you rejoice amidst the three-in-one,
Refreshed in love and blessing all you knew,
Look back on us and bless us, Ireland’s son,
And plant the staff of prayer in all we do:
A gospel seed that flowers in belief,
A greening glory, coming into leaf.

A prayer...

Almighty God, in your providence you chose your servant Patrick to be the apostle of the Irish people, to bring those who were wandering in darkness and error to the true light and knowledge of you: Grant us so to walk in that light that we may come at last to the light of everlasting life; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.


A Word to the Episcopal Church from the Bishops



The House of Bishops in our business session on our final day of the meeting unanimously adopted a "Word to the Church," included below. This "Word" calls for prayer for our country that a spirit of reconciliation will prevail in this political season. As the Episcopal bishops of Connecticut, we wholeheartedly stand behind this Word to the Church and ask that each clergy person and lay leader in charge of worship in the parishes and worshiping communities of the Episcopal Church in Connecticut ensure that this Word to the Church is read in each service in the Diocese this Palm Sunday, March 20, 2016. As we journey to Jerusalem and the cross with Jesus this upcoming Holy Week, may we hold onto the promise and truth of new life in the resurrected Jesus on Easter morning.
Faithfully, 
The Rt. Rev. Ian T. Douglas, Bishop Diocesan   
& The Rt. Rev. Laura J. Ahrens, Bishop Suffragan


A Word to the Church
Holy Week 2016


"We reject the idolatrous notion that we can ensure the safety of some by sacrificing the hopes of others.”

On Good Friday the ruling political forces of the day tortured and executed an innocent man. They sacrificed the weak and the blameless to protect their own status and power. On the third day Jesus was raised from the dead, revealing not only their injustice but also unmasking the lie that might makes right.

In a country still living under the shadow of the lynching tree, we are troubled by the violent forces being released by this season’s political rhetoric. Americans are turning against their neighbors, particularly those on the margins of society. They seek to secure their own safety and security at the expense of others. There is legitimate reason to fear where this rhetoric and the actions arising from it might take us.

In this moment, we resemble God’s children wandering in the wilderness. We, like they, are struggling to find our way. They turned from following God and worshiped a golden calf constructed from their own wealth. The current rhetoric is leading us to construct a modern false idol out of power and privilege. We reject the idolatrous notion that we can ensure the safety of some by sacrificing the hopes of others. No matter where we fall on the political spectrum, we must respect the dignity of every human being and we must seek the common good above all else.

We call for prayer for our country that a spirit of reconciliation will prevail and we will not betray our true selves.

The Episcopal Church House of Bishops met in retreat March 11 – 15 at Camp Allen Conference Center in Navasota, TX.

Prayers for National Life - 18. For our Country (page 820)

Almighty God, who hast given us this good land for our heritage: We humbly beseech thee that we may always prove ourselves a people mindful of thy favor and glad to do thy will. Bless our land with honorable industry, sound learning, and pure manners. Save us from violence, discord, and confusion; from pride and arrogance, and from every evil way. Defend our liberties, and fashion into one united people the multitudes brought hither out of many kindreds and tongues. Endue with the spirit of wisdom those to whom in thy Name we entrust the authority of government, that there may be justice and peace at home, and that, through obedience to thy law, we may show forth thy praise among the nations of the earth. In the time of prosperity, fill our hearts with thankfulness, and in the day of trouble, suffer not our trust in thee to fail; all which we ask through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Sunday, March 13, 2016

The Holy City

Sung by John Ehlers as a solo...

The Holy City (1892)
by Frederick Weatherly

Last night I lay a sleeping, There came a dream so fair,
I stood in old Jerusalem Beside the temple there.
I heard the children singing, And ever as they sang,
Methought the voice of Angels From Heav’n in answer rang;
Methought the voice of Angels From Heav’n in answer rang,-

Jerusalem! Jerusalem!
Lift up your gates and sing,
Hosanna in the highest!
Hosanna to your King!

And then methought my dream was chang’d, The streets no longer rang,
Hush’d were the glad Hosannas The little children sang.
The sun grew dark with mystery, The morn was cold and chill,
As the shadow of a cross arose Upon a lonely hill,
As the shadow of a cross arose Upon a lonely hill.

Jerusalem! Jerusalem!
Hark! how the Angels sing,
Hosanna in the highest,
Hosanna to your King.

And once again the scene was chang’d, New earth there seem’d to be,
I saw the Holy City Beside the tideless sea;
The light of God was on its streets, The gates were open wide,
And all who would might enter, And no one was denied.
No need of moon or stars by night, Or sun to shine by day,
It was the new Jerusalem, That would not pass away,
It was the new Jerusalem, That would not pass away.

"Jerusalem! Jerusalem!
Sing, for the night is o’er!
Hosanna in the highest,
Hosanna for evermore!
Hosanna in the highest,....
Hosanna for evermore!

Sermons We See

This poem was read at the 10:15 AM service...

I'd rather see a sermon than hear one any day;
I'd rather one should walk with me than merely tell the way.
The eye's a better pupil and more willing than the ear,
Fine counsel is confusing, but example's always clear;
And the best of all the preachers are the men who live their creeds,
For to see good put in action is what everybody needs.

I soon can learn to do it if you'll let me see it done;
I can watch your hands in action, but your tongue too fast may run.
And the lecture you deliver may be very wise and true,
But I'd rather get my lessons by observing what you do;
For I might misunderstand you and the high advise you give,
But there's no misunderstanding how you act and how you live.

When I see a deed of kindness, I am eager to be kind.
When a weaker brother stumbles and a strong man stays behind
Just to see if he can help him, then the wish grows strong in me
To become as big and thoughtful as I know that friend to be.
And all travelers can witness that the best of guides today
Is not the one who tells them, but the one who shows the way.

One good man teaches many, men believe what they behold;
One deed of kindness noticed is worth forty that are told.
Who stands with men of honor learns to hold his honor dear,
For right living speaks a language which to every one is clear.
Though an able speaker charms me with his eloquence, I say,
I'd rather see a sermon than to hear one, any day.

Sermon: March 13

Sermon given at the 8 AM service...

O Gracious God, in you we live and move and have our being: We humbly pray you so to guide and govern us by your Holy Spirit, that in all the cares and occupations of our life we may not forget you, but may remember that we are ever walking in your sight; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

The toughest part of being a Christian, I believe, is trying to live our faith in our daily lives. It’s easy to say we are a Christian & proclaim our beliefs. But it is much more difficult to live our beliefs, to show by our actions how we embody the truth of our faith in Jesus Christ.

"Religion is not ours till we live by it, till it is the Religion of our thoughts, words, and actions, till it goes with us into every place, sits uppermost on every occasion, and forms and governs our hopes and fears, our cares and pleasures."

These words come from William Law who was a priest in England in the 18 century, who lost his position at Emmanuel College, Cambridge when his conscience would not allow him to take the required oath of allegiance to King George I. He reminds us that our religion, our faith, is not ours until we truly own it in our lives and live it in every place we go. It is how we embody it, even when we may be criticized for it or suffer for it.

Consider the Gospel reading from this morning.

Jesus came to Bethany, the home of Lazarus (whom he had raised from the dead) & Martha & Mary. & there they offered hospitality –they gave a dinner for him, their friend. Martha served, and Lazarus was one of those at the table with him. & Mary, didn’t just wash his feet, as was the common & hospitable thing to do, she took a pound of costly perfume made of pure nard, anointed Jesus' feet, and wiped them with her hair. The house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume.

But Judas criticized Mary for wasting such expensive perfume and not selling it and giving the money to the poor. But Jesus tells him to leave her alone for Judas is missing the point.

Mary is offering to Jesus love and thanksgiving and faith by using a very expensive item, so she could anoint the feet of Jesus. She embodied the love that he had taught. She was criticized for doing the right thing, but Jesus pointed out she was right in what she was doing. What a beautiful act!

Such faithful living is what I hear in this poem by Edgar Guest:

I'd rather see a sermon than hear one any day;
I'd rather one should walk with me than merely tell the way.
The eye's a better pupil and more willing than the ear,
Fine counsel is confusing, but example's always clear;
And the best of all the preachers are those who live their creeds,
For to see good put in action is what everybody needs.
I soon can learn to do it if you'll let me see it done;
I can watch your hands in action, but your tongue too fast may run.
And the lecture you deliver may be very wise and true,
But I'd rather get my lessons by observing what you do;
For I might misunderstand you and the high advice you give,
But there's no misunderstanding how you act and how you live.

When I see a deed of kindness, I am eager to be kind.
When a weaker brother stumbles and a strong one stays behind
Just to see if he can help him, then the wish grows strong in me
To become as big and thoughtful as I know that friend to be.
And all travelers can witness that the best of guides today
Is not the one who tells them, but the one who shows the way.

One good person teaches many, they believe what they behold;
One deed of kindness noticed is worth forty that are told.
Who stands with those of honor learns to hold his honor dear,
For right living speaks a language which to everyone is clear.
Though an able speaker charms me with his eloquence, I say,
I'd rather see a sermon than to hear one, any day.

Now, I disagree with him about sermons, but his point is well taken. It’s how we embody, live out our faith, that truly speaks for each of us. We have to practice what we preach. Such living out of faith is what I saw in a story from Canada last month:

Ehab Taha, a 26-year-old from Canada, was riding public transit in Metro Vancouver when a large man he described on Facebook as “suffering from drug abuse and\or mental health issues” became aggressive in his train car.

The man was alarming fellow passengers “with erratic movements, cursing, shouting” until a 70-year-old woman decided to reach out and help him by extending her hand and grabbing his.

The sweet gesture soothed the man. Eventually he sank to the floor of the train as tears flooded his eyes.

"It was quite incredible how much he calmed down in a split moment,” Taha told HuffPost Canada. “It was the most touching thing I've ever seen.”

Moved by “the incredible display of humanity,” Taha snapped a picture of the two holding hands and posted it to Facebook.

“I spoke to the woman after this incident and she simply said, ‘I'm a mother and he needed someone to touch.’ And she started to cry.” Although the woman felt a great amount of empathy for the man, like most, she was initially petrified to interfere.

"She was very brave. She even mentioned that she thought about what would happen if he stabbed her with the pen -- because he had one in his hand -- but she said it was more important he didn't feel alone."

At the end, he said 'Thanks, Grandma,' and walked away.” (from Huffington Post)

In the end, what Jesus asks of us, is to be like Mary & offer ourselves, to embody that love that Jesus shares with us even if we might be criticized. To be that gentle touch that someone needs as that mother did on the metro, even when it involves risk. Such beautiful acts of love!

Our faith calls each of us to offer ourselves in the Spirit of Jesus to a world hungry for love and kindness. Such faithful love & compassion is a fragrance that fills the world with the glory of God. Amen.




Sunday, March 6, 2016

Sermon: March 6 (Lent IV)

O Lord, help us listen to our lives. Help us see them for the fathomless mysteries that you created them to be! In the boredom and pain of them, no less than in the excitement and gladness, help us touch, taste, and smell our way to the holy and hidden hearts of our lives; for in the final analysis, all moments are key moments, and life itself is grace, and there you are in the midst of it all. Amen.
(Adapted from a passage in Longing for Home by Fredrick Buechner)

“Am I my brother’s keeper?”

It is the cry of every brother, of every sister. Those who have siblings, may have felt at one time or another like Cain toward his brother Abel. I know my older brother and sister had their moments with me, their baby brother, fleeting moments of leaving their little obnoxious brother somewhere…

Sibling rivalry is a common theme in the bible. The challenge we have of loving someone who is so close to us.

Desmond Tutu reminds us that "you don't choose your family. They are God's gift to you, as you are to them." Although I suspect there are times when we don’t feel our family is such a gift!

As a parent, I know that I have to embody that love for my kids especially when they don’t feel that love towards their sibling, who borrowed something without asking or who said something mean, where they can easily turn to bickering and anger.

So it’s easy for me to hear the Parable from Luke, of the Prodigal Son, the Waiting Father & the Elder Son through the father’s role: a loving father who waits faithfully for his lost son with love & forgiveness in his heart. This parable can be viewed in a lot of different ways, the young son who take his share of the inheritance and runs away. Who comes back when he realizes, after its all gone, that he needs to go back to be in relationship with his family. And then there is the faithful and elder brother.

Who upon the return of his younger brother, is angry that there is a celebration to welcome this son back, when he alone has been the faithful one. The father offers reassuring words, reconnects with him, “Son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours. But we had to celebrate and rejoice, because this brother of yours was dead and has come to life; he was lost and has been found.”

It is a beautiful parable about faith, forgiveness, patience. But I want to explore the position of the elder brother in the parable. Now I admit, I stole this idea from a friend, he is the dean of the Episcopal cathedral in St. Louis. He looks at this parable through the lens of one my favorite movies: Field of Dreams.

“At the end of Field of Dreams -- in many ways a parable of the Prodigal Son parable itself -- Ray Kinsella (Kevin Costner) has had it. He has risked losing his farm by following a strange voice (if you built it, he will come). He has risked alienating his family and suffered the ridicule of just about everyone by plowing under his corn (his cash crop!) and building a baseball field. He then followed that voice to Boston to pick up an old writer, Terence Mann and now that writer - and not Ray - has been invited by Shoeless Joe Jackson to go through the corn and experience something extraordinary.

And so Ray, who has been completely faithful, feels like he has been unappreciated, and didn’t get his due.

Ray Kinsella: I did it all, I listened to the voices, I did what they told me, and not once did I ask what's in it for me!

Shoeless: What are you saying, Ray?

Ray: I'm saying... what's in it for me?

Shoeless: Is that why you did this? For you? I think you better stay here, Ray.

Now we believe that hard work should pay off. And even though we know plenty of cases where that isn't true, there is still the small child inside us that wants to scream "But, it's not fair!" when we see someone else who didn't seem to work as hard ... or didn't work at all ... getting the spoils, just like Ray does.

It's nothing new. It's the cry of the elder son in Jesus' parable. His slacker younger brother has blown his part of the family savings, and he's the one who gets the party. And so he cries: "What about me?" "It's not fair!" "What's in it for me?"

The father's answer to the son is the same as Shoeless Joe's answer to Ray. "Is that why you did this Ray, for you?"

What Shoeless Joe reveals to Ray is that he never did this for himself. It was never about him. It was all an act of love for his father ... in his case a father he had become estranged from. And that relationship ... that relationship was the real gift, the only thing that matters. We are each other’s keeper, for it is about embodying that love toward each other. From Field of Dreams:

Ray Kinsella: What are you grinning at, you ghost?

Shoeless Joe: "If you build it -" [gestures toward catcher, who is Ray's father, John Kinsella] "- he will come."

Ray: That’s my father. "Ease his pain. Go the distance." [It was him!

Shoeless Joe: No, Ray. It was you.]

The parable of the prodigal son is not only a reminder to us that no matter how far we stray that God is always ready to receive us back. It's a reminder that the reward for our faithfulness isn't wealth or fame ... or even a great party. The reward for our faithfulness is a relationship with a God who loves us without end, weather we are the prodigal son or the elder brother.

The reward for our faithfulness is a relationship with a God who says: "Child, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours."

The reward for our faithfulness is a relationship with a God that God is always willing to invest in & seek us out, but we have to invest in that relationship as well.” (The Very Rev. Mike Kinman – Gnaw on This)

If you build it ... God will come.

Amen.