#LivingBeatitudes

You can read the Sermon on the Mount here.

This week, if you do something for someone else for no other reason than to bring joy to their lives, blessed are you.

If you find yourself feeling the loss of a friend or loved one and, in missing them, you realize that you experienced the love of God in their love for you, blessed are you.

This week, if you put yourself second for the needs of another, blessed are you.

If you do the "right" thing when the conventional wisdom is to do the "smart" thing, blessed are you.

This week, if you forgive someone or if someone forgives you, blessed are you.

Sometime in the next few days, if you stop, unplug and spend even just a moment thinking about all the good in your life and find yourself embraced by a sense of gratitude, blessed are you.

This week, if you can diffuse someone's anger, if you can bridge the chasm between you and another, if you bring a positive perspective to an otherwise negative situation, blessed are you.

If you risk being laughed at or misunderstood or if you endure a "funny look" from someone because you took a stand based on what was morally and ethically right, blessed are you.

You have reason to be glad.

In the blessings you give, you have been blessed.

To be a people of the Beatitudes is to embrace the spirit of humility that begins with valuing life as a gift from God, a gift we have received only through God's mysterious love, not through anything we have done to deserve it. Jesus calls all who would be his disciples to live the "blessedness" of the Sermon on the Mount: to embrace a spirit of humble gratitude before the God who gives, nurtures and sustains our lives and to respond to such unfathomable love the only way we can: by returning that love to others, God's children, as a way of returning it to God. ~ Jay Cormier

#ECCT Bishop's Letter Regarding Refugees

Dear Companions in Christ in the Episcopal Church in Connecticut:

 

Last Friday, January 27, 2017 President Donald Trump signed the Executive Order entitled: "Protecting the Nation From Foreign Terrorist Entry Into the United States". This far-reaching and sweeping Executive Order includes, but is not limited to: suspending our country's refugee resettlement program for 120 days, suspending the resettlement of Syrian refugees for an indefinite time, reducing the number of refugees to be admitted to the United States in this fiscal year from 110,000 to 50,000,and prohibiting entry into the United States of citizens from Iraq, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, and Yemen for a period of 90 days.

 

This Executive Order contravenes our American values of welcoming immigrants and refugees to our shores and makes a mockery of the words on the Statue of Liberty: "Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free...."  As Christians, welcoming the alien and stranger is a fundamental feature of our faith. Hebrew Scripture over and over underscores the importance of treating the alien with hospitality and justice. "You shall not wrong or oppress a resident alien, for you were aliens in the land of Egypt." (Exodus 22:21) "Cursed be anyone who deprives the alien, the orphan, and the widow of justice." (Deuteronomy 27:19) We recall that our Lord and Savior was a refugee, fleeing with his mother and father into Egypt to escape persecution and death. (Matthew 2:13-15) And Jesus reminds us that in welcoming the stranger, we are welcoming Christ himself into our midst. (Matthew: 25:31-46)

 

For over 35 years the Episcopal Church in Connecticut has worked to welcome refugees to Connecticut, first through Episcopal Social Services and currently in cooperation with Integrated Refugee and Immigration Services - IRIS http://www.irisct.org. Our last three diocesan Annual Conventions articulated our support of IRIS and refugees. In 2014 we entered into a covenanted relationship with IRIS promising to work together closely in settling refugees. Read resolution here. In response to the growing refugee crisis in Syria, we committed ourselves in 2015 to co-sponsoring the resettlement of a minimum 30 refugee families in 2016. Read resolution here. And at our last Annual Convention in November we reiterated our support for IRIS and asked parishes and individuals to give to IRIS and consider sponsoring a refugee family. Read resolution here.

 

We cannot be idle as this Executive Order threatens to undermine the values that we stand for as Americans, as Christians, as Episcopalians in Connecticut. We, your bishops, urge the parishes and people of the Episcopal Church in Connecticut to take action in one or more of the following ways:

 

Pray: Pray for all who are adversely affected by this Executive Order and whose lives are threatened by these actions. Pray also that our President and his administration will have an amendment of heart and reconsider this order. We particularly invite you to add the prayer For Social Justice found on page 823 of the Book of Common Prayer to your personal prayers and Sunday Prayers of the People:

 

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

 

Speak Out: Use your voice to share your concerns about the Executive Order. Write an editorial to your local paper; use social media to connect; participate in vigils, gatherings, and witness opportunities; and sign onto petitions. Along with other faith leaders, we your bishops have recently signed the Interfaith Immigration Coalition Letter to President Trump. See letter here .

 

Advocate: Write, call, email, and text your local Congressperson and Senators Blumenthal and Murphy sharing your position on the Executive Order and encouraging their efforts to work against the Executive Order.

 

Attend: Participate in the annual ECCT Companions in Mission Ministry Network conference: "Refugees and Immigrants: Across the Street and Around the World" to be held at St. John's Episcopal Church in West Hartford on March 4, 2017. Registration can be found at here.

 

Collaborate: Work with your parish, other parishes in your area, ecumenical and interfaith partners, and community organizations to welcome refugees into your neighborhood through IRIS and other refugee resettlement agencies.

 

Give: Donate generously to IRIS http://www.irisct.org/index.php/financial-donation/ and other refugee resettlement agencies such as Episcopal Migration Ministries http://www.episcopalmigrationministries.org/how_you_can_help/donate_now.aspx so that they can continue their work resettling immigrants and refugees.

 

Additional ideas for how you can help are found on the Episcopal Migration Ministries website here.

 

Thank you for your attention to the plight of refugees and immigrants in the world, and especially in the United States at this time. May we see Christ in those who are different from us, welcoming strangers and aliens with open arms of hospitality, love, and generosity. God's mission of restoration and reconciliation compels us to continue to settle immigrants and refugees in our country.

 

Faithfully,

 

The Rt. Rev. Ian T. Douglas                        The Rt. Rev. Laura J. Ahrens

Bishop Diocesan                                                Bishop Suffragan

Interfaith Letter to President Trump (on Refugees)

January 29, 2017

Dear President Trump and Members of Congress, 

As religious leaders from a variety of backgrounds, we are called by our sacred texts and faith traditions to love our neighbor, accompany the vulnerable, and welcome the sojourner. War, conflict and persecution have forced people to leave their homes, creating more refugees, asylum seekers and internally displaced people than at any other time in history. More than 65 million people are currently displaced – the largest number in recorded history.

This nation has an urgent moral responsibility to receive refugees and asylum seekers who are in dire need of safety. Today, with more than five million Syrian refugees fleeing violence and persecution and hundreds of thousands of civilian casualties, the United States has an ethical obligation as a world leader to reduce this suffering and generously welcome Syrian refugees into our country. We call on the Trump Administration and all members of the U.S. Congress to demonstrate moral leadership and affirm their support for the resettlement of refugees from all over the world to the United States. This nation has a rich history as a leader in refugee resettlement, with significant precedent, including after World War II and after the fall of Saigon, when we resettled hundreds of thousands of refugees.

It is important to recognize that the United States has the most rigorous refugee screening process in the world, involving the Department of Defense, Department of State, Department of Homeland Security, Federal Bureau of Investigation, and National Counter Terrorism Center. The process includes biometric checks, medical screenings, forensic testing of documents, DNA testing for family reunification cases, and in-person interviews with highly trained homeland security officials.

The U.S. Refugee Resettlement program has been and should remain open to those of all nationalities and religions who face persecution on account of the reasons enumerated under U.S. law. We oppose any policy change that would prevent refugees from Syria, Iraq, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, and Yemen, or individuals who practice Islam and other faiths from accessing the U.S. refugee resettlement program. Proposals that would have the U.S. State Department disqualify refugees from protection based on their nationality or religion fly in the face of the very principles this nation was built upon, contradict the legacy of leadership our country has historically demonstrated, and dishonor our shared humanity.

As the United States joins the world in seeking ways to meaningfully respond to the global refugee crisis, it is paramount that the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program stay true to its mandate to resettle the most vulnerable. Vulnerable individuals from a host of religions, ethnicities and backgrounds have been and should continue to be resettled in the United States.

Together, representing our various faiths, we decry derogatory language that has been used about Middle Eastern refugees and our Muslim friends and neighbors. Inflammatory rhetoric has no place in our response to this humanitarian crisis. We ask our elected officials and candidates for office to recognize that new Americans of all faiths and backgrounds contribute to our economy, our community, and our congregations. Refugees are an asset to this country. They are powerful ambassadors of the American Dream and our nation’s founding principles of equal opportunity, religious freedom, and liberty and justice for all.

As people of faith, our values call us to welcome the stranger, love our neighbor, and stand with the vulnerable, regardless of their religion. We pray that in your discernment, compassion for the plight of refugees will touch your hearts. We urge you to be bold in choosing moral, just policies that provide refuge for vulnerable individuals seeking protection.

Sincerely,

The Interfaith Immigration Coalition

(Over 2,000 clergy from different faith traditions have signed on to this letter including Rev. Kurt)

http://www.interfaithimmigration.org/religiousleaderletter/

Annual Parish Meeting: Rector's Address

O God, make the door of this parish wide enough to receive all who need human love and fellowship, narrow enough to shut out all envy, pride and strife. Make its threshold smooth enough to be no stumbling block to children, nor to straying feet, but rugged and strong enough to turn back the tempter's power. God, make the door of this parish the gateway to your eternal kingdom. Amen. (adapted from a prayer by Thomas Ken, 1637 – 1711)

If you come this way,
Taking any route, starting from anywhere,
At any time or any season,
It would always be the same…
You are here to kneel
Where prayer has been valid. And prayer is more
Than an order of words, the conscious occupation
Of the praying mind, or the sound of the voice praying.

These poetic words from TS Eliot (Little Gidding) remind me that this is holy place, a place of prayerful gathering for over 2 centuries. A house of prayer where generations have come to kneel, to offer prayer for family, friends, a neighbor down the street, a co-worker, a refugee or a stranger half way around the world. More than words, it is what we do. I think of the baptisms here, and the congregation upholding in prayer a child of God and those who have gone through confirmation and the laying on of hands by a bishop when they visit us.

I also think of our gatherings when we have said goodbye to members of this parish family. To those who have moved away from here, and to those who no longer sit with us in the pew, but who watch over us in the communion of saints. It is through prayer we said goodbye and celebrated life. I think of the couples brought together in holy matrimony who have been blessed in this space.

And each and every week we gather to hear scripture (in church & study), to pray for ourselves & others and to partake in communion, in bread and wine, in the body and blood of Christ, bread often made by a member of this parish. That is our corporate prayer and is part of what we do.

We have also incarnated our prayers; I think of the ladies of Knit one, Pray too, and all those prayer shawls. The pastoral visits we make to those who are ill among us and who cannot make it here. The love and prayer you share with others from your own faith journey. Prayer has also lead us to our mission projects with Mozambique and Chapel on the Green.

Think of the words from Micah today: “"With what shall I come before the LORD, and bow myself before God on high? Shall I come before him with burnt offerings?... He has told you, O mortal, what is good; and what does the LORD require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?”

It’s not sacrifice that God wants, but God wants us to have “hands ready for acts of justice, hearts overflowing with tender compassion, and heads bowed in humble acknowledgment of who we are before God.” (Penelope Mark-Stuart) That’s a good definition of prayer and a good definition of our lives as Christians. But St. Peter’s isn’t just a house of prayer. Its also a house of hospitality.

Our doors are open for those who come to support one another through AA. The Tuesday night group has been meeting here since 1963. There is Little Ivy Nursery School. They have been a wonderful addition to our space since 2009. Sandy & Donna run a great school and it is wonderful to hear the kids in the hallways and undercroft.

Such hospitality is part of who we are. As the words of St. Paul remind us, “The message about the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.” And the message of the cross, helps us offer hospitality to all who enter our doors.

And that can only happen when we keep our doors wide open. It is a lofty goal and a challenge for us, especially during this time when many peddle fears of the other. I think of the prayer I opened with: “make the door of this parish wide enough to receive all who need human love and fellowship... God, make the door of this parish the gateway to your eternal kingdom.”

This a place of prayer, of hospitality, a place where anyone on their journey of faith can walk in and join us. But we also have extended our open doors by helping fund an apartment for victims of domestic violence; by giving money to support IRIS - Integrated Refugee & Immigrant Services of New Haven, as it has helped settle refugees and immigrants here in Connecticut.

Fellowship is an important part of our life as a community and we do it well. It is more than just fellowship, if we remember the ministry of Jesus, he was enjoying meals with friends, breaking down barriers by eating with the sick or “sinners,” he performed many miracles at meals.

In a world that seems so busy, so hectic, so full of worry, where the best we often can do is write a quick note on Facebook, or send off a quick email, those drinks we share, the meals we enjoy together, go against the prevailing rush and anxiety of our lives. We can slow down and enjoy the great creation that God has given to us, in food and drink and in one another’s company. To rest in hope, for that is what Jesus did and so should we.

But this just can’t stay here among us. All of that must go out with us, to our homes, our places of work, our places of study, of play. Wherever we find ourselves, that Spirit of God that so infuses all that we do here, must be born in our lives outside these walls.

So that others can feel it too. I think of a comment made a couple of years back at our Apple Festival. An Episcopalian from another church in CT was impressed by what we did on the Green. “We couldn’t pull this off as you all did.” He said. “You have such a wonderful community and spirit, everyone can feel it.” Yes indeed!

I hope others feel that spirit that we feel, and in their wonder where it’s from and look to be a part of something like that. St. Peter’s can be that place of prayer, of hospitality and nurture that as we get fired up through what we do hear that same fire is also burning in our lives.

Of course, we have our challenges as a small parish. We have inherited a wonderful property that needs constant maintenance (organ & church painting). We are a small parish so every dollar counts from every parishioner, and as of late, a smaller # of parishioners carry a larger load in funding our ministry & property. So too as volunteers, we need everyone to participate so that a few don’t get burnt out doing all the work. It is challenging and hard work.

And yet, parishioners step up and do what needs to be done. They stand for election to the vestry. They volunteer to run our church school and minister to all looking for human love & fellowship. They plan and run our fundraisers. They host coffee hour. They donate supplies. They participate in worship and outreach. They enjoy the people & this space. They give generously to this parish and beyond.

And as we have done for many years we will continue to nurture our relationships with neighboring congregations, our Lenten Study with the Lutherans, our Maundy Thursday service with my wife’s church, Christ Church in Easton. We will continue to have 2 joint summer services with Monroe Congregational Church. Who else might we connect with in Monroe?

And we do all of this in the Spirit of blessedness that Jesus invites us to consider in his Sermon on the Mount. It is his inaugural address to everyone and he calls us to be living Beatitudes.

“To be a people of the Beatitudes is to embrace the spirit of humility that begins with valuing life as a gift from God…” and to live that blessing. In eight Beatitudes we find aspects of being in communion with God, and each of which we need to think about again and again as we make progress in our lifelong discipleship with Jesus. (Jim Forrest)

This week, if you do something for someone else for no other reason than to bring joy to their lives, blessed are you. If you find yourself feeling the loss of a friend or loved one and, in missing them, you realize that you experienced the love of God in their love for you, blessed are you.

This week, if you put yourself second for the needs of another, blessed are you. If you do the "right" thing when the conventional wisdom is to do the "smart" thing, blessed are you.

This week, if you forgive someone or if someone forgives you, blessed are you. Sometime in the next few days, if you stop, unplug and spend even just a moment thinking about all the good in your life and find yourself embraced by a sense of gratitude, blessed are you.

This week, if you can diffuse someone's anger, if you can bridge the chasm between you and another, if you bring a positive perspective to an otherwise negative situation, blessed are you.

If you risk being laughed at or misunderstood or if you endure a "funny look" from someone because you took a stand based on what was morally and ethically right, blessed are you.

You have reason to be glad. In the blessings you give, you have been blessed.

(You can find these words on that orange card at your table along with the Sermon on the Mount)
I am excited for St. Peter’s Church. We have done so much in these past years and there is so much ahead of us. Yes, there are great challenges ahead of us, but through the gift of the Holy Spirit that is part of this holy place & the Spirit that is you, I have no doubt, we will overcome whatever we face. In the poem of ee comings:

i am a little church (no great cathedral) – i do not worry if briefer days grow briefest,
i am not sorry when sun and rain make april
my life is the life of the reaper and the sower;
my prayers are prayers of earth’s own clumsily striving
(finding and losing and laughing and crying)
children whose any sadness or joy is my grief or my gladness
around me surges a miracle of unceasing
birth and glory and death and resurrection:

i am a little church (far from the frantic world with its rapture and anguish)
at peace with nature – i do not worry if longer nights grow longest;
i am not sorry when silence becomes singing
winter by spring, i lift my diminutive spire to
merciful Him Whose only now is forever…

Miracles, blessings and gratefulness, birth & resurrection abound in this place of prayer, hospitality and nurture, as we journey together with our Lord in our 215th year. Amen.

Public Opinion & #AlternativeFacts

"Lies, damned lies, and statistics"

It seems we now live in a time where truth is manipulated.  Where lies and falsehoods are called alternative truths.

We live in a time of babel...

Babel means the inversion of language, verbal inflation, libel, rumor, euphemism and coded phrases, rhetorical wantonness, redundancy, hyperbole, such profusion in speech and sound that comprehension is impaired, nonsense, sophistry, jargon, noise, incoherence, a chaos of voices and tongues, falsehood, blasphemy... Essentially, babel targets the faculties of comprehension--sanity and conscience... (William Stringfellow)

So how do we pray against such influence? Here is a start:

Almighty God, you proclaim your truth in every age by many voices: Direct, in our time, we pray, those who speak where many listen and write what many read; that they may do their part in making the heart of this people wise, its mind sound, and its will righteous; to the honor of Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. (BCP)

Wise, sound and righteous...

Is what is being reported helping to make us wise, make our minds sound and our wills righteous? or is it just babel?  Questions to ask...

The Ladder of the Beatitudes

(from a blog post by Jim Forest)

...During the procession with the Gospel book, the choir sings the Beatitudes. The reason is that the Church recognizes these verses as a summary of Christ’s teaching, a synopsis of the whole Gospel.

If we recognize the last two verses as one, in that both describe the suffering often imposed upon those who love the Gospel, we find there are eight Beatitudes, each of them an aspect of being in communion with God, and each of which we need to think about again and again as we make progress in our lifelong conversion to Christ.

They are like rungs on a ladder. Each one leads to the next, and is placed in a particular order. To reach the second step, we need to make the first step. The idea isn’t that I’ll be a peacemaker while somebody else specializes in poverty of spirit or being pure of heart.

We begin at the beginning, the first rung of the ladder, the primary Beatitude — “Blessed are the poor in spirit.” Without poverty of spirit, none of us can begin to follow Christ. What does poverty of spirit mean? It is my awareness that I cannot save myself, that I am defenseless, that neither money nor power will spare me from suffering and death. It is my awareness that I desperately need God’s help and mercy. It is stepping away from the rule of fear in one’s life, fear being the great force that restrains us from acts of love. Being poor in spirit means becoming free of the myth that possessing many things will make me a happier person. It is an attitude expressed in a French proverb: “When you die, you carry in your clutched hand only that which you have given away.”

The second rung — “Blessed are they who mourn.” Here is the Beatitude of feeling grief for the sorrows of other people. I can hardly feel someone else’s pain without poverty of spirit, because otherwise I am on always on guard to keep what I have for myself, and to keep me for myself. If I begin to feel for someone, to feel and not just pretend to feel, I will want to share with him what I have, and even share myself. The immediate consequence of poverty of spirit is becoming sensitive to the losses of people around us, not just those whom I happen to know and like but strangers. This is the Beatitude of tears. Remember chapter 11, verse 35, of the Gospel of John: “Jesus wept.” That is the entire verse. The 17th Century poet and priest, John Donne, comments, “There is no shorter verse in the Bible, nor is there a larger text.”

The third rung — “Blessed are the meek.” We find examples of each Beatitude in Christ’s life. We see meekness in Jesus washing the feet of his disciples, something that embarrassed them, something they resisted. But in what better way could he teach them the nature of love and what it means to be an apostle? We see the meekness of his entry into Jerusalem on the back not of a powerful horse but a modest donkey. We see meekness in Christ carrying the cross and enduring all the other events that led to his crucifixion. Meekness is a hard virtue for everyone, but perhaps most of all for men because we have been made to think of meekness as a feminine quality. But meekness is not simply doing what you are told. The person who obeys evil orders is not being meek but being cowardly. He has cut himself off from his own conscience, thrown away his God-given freedom, all because he is afraid of the price he may have to pay for following Christ. We must first of all be meek toward God, and that God-centered meekness will give us the strength not to lord it over others or to commit evil deeds against a neighbor.

The fourth rung — “Blessed are they who hunger and thirst for that which is right.” When we begin to share in the sufferings of others, we cannot help but notice that often suffering is the result of injustice or is made worse by injustice. Jesus doesn’t say “Blessed are those who hopefor righteousness” or “Blessed are those who campaign for righteousness” but “Blessed are they who hunger and thirst for righteousness” — that is, people who want what is right as urgently as someone dying on a desert thirsts for water. For the same reason, they cannot adapt themselves to the absence of righteousness, explaining that the devil you know is better than the devil you don’t know, that eggs must be broken to make an omelet, or even the blasphemy that God wills social evils.

The fifth rung — “Blessed are the merciful.” This Beatitude prevents us from thinking that the longing for righteousness permits us to be ruthless. It is natural to feel anger toward those who make themselves richer, more comfortable or more powerful by causing suffering. We can easily think of all sorts of people, from petty criminals to heads of corporations and governments, who, as we hear in the vivid imagery of the Old Testament, “grind the poor.” But we see in Christ the constant example of someone ready to be merciful to anyone, no matter what he has done: not only the prostitute but the Roman centurion (that is, a soldier belonging to an occupying army) and the tax collector.

The sixth rung — “Blessed are the pure in heart.” What is a pure heart? A heart free of possessiveness, a heart able to feel the sorrow of others, a heart that thirsts for what is right, a heart that is not vengeful. We see a pure heart in the face of any saintly person. Consider the pure heart of St. Seraphim of Sarov, who was so free of fear and violence that he was on good terms with a bear who lived near his cabin and on occasion even shared his of bread with the bear, seeing this beast as a neighbor, and who forgave the robbers who nearly beat him to death and left his body bent for the rest of his life. He labored long and hard to free himself of all obstacles to God and finally had a heart so pure that it seems no one can come near him, or kiss his icon, without becoming more pure himself.

The seventh rung — “Blessed are the peacemakers.” Only after ascending the first six rungs of the ladder of the Beatitudes can we talk about the Beatitude of the peacemaker, for only a person with a pure heart can help, in God’s mercy, to rebuild broken bridges and pull down walls, to help us recover our lost unity. The maker of peace must be a person who seeks nothing for himself, not even recognition. Such a person does not even regard his actions as “good deeds.” They simply are the consequence of having been drawn more deeply into God’s love. Because of this, such a person cannot help but see others, even the most unpleasant or dangerous person, as a child of God, someone beloved of God, someone made in the image of God even if the likeness is presently very damaged or completely lost. Think of the teaching of St. Sergius of Radonezh: “Contemplation of the Holy Trinity destroys all discord.”

How desperately we need such people! We need them not only in places where wars are being fought or might be fought, but we need them within the church and within each parish. Even the best and most vital parishes often suffer from deep divisions. And who is the peacemaker who is needed? It is each of us. Often it is harder to forgive and understand someone in our own parish than an abstract enemy we see mainly in propaganda images on television. See can see within our Orthodox Church that we don’t simply disagree with each other on many topics but that often we despise those who hold an opposing view. In the name of Christ, who commanded us to love one another, we engage in wars of words. Far from loving our opponent, we don’t even respect him. But without mercy and forgiveness, without love, I am no longer in communion either with my neighbor or with Christ.

At the deepest level, the peacemaker is a person being used by God to help heal our relationship with God, for we get no closer to God than we get to our neighbor. As we know from the Parable of the Good Samaritan, our neighbor doesn’t just refer to the person next door of the same nationality but even more to the person regarded as “different” and a “threat.” St. Silouan of the Holy Mountain taught that love of enemies is not simply an aspect of Christian life but is “the central criterion of true faith and of real communion with God, the lover of souls, the lover of humankind.”

Finally, the eighth rung — “Blessed are they who suffer persecution” — the Beatitude of the persecuted. We are reminded that we shouldn’t expect or even want to win a peace prize for following Christ. It is, of course, no news to anyone in Russia what a price can be paid simply for being a believer. But we are given the remarkable advice that we should rejoice when we are persecuted because we are in the good company of the prophets and, still more important, with Jesus the Savior, who never harmed anyone but finally had to carry a cross — we know it to be the holy and life-giving cross but it didn’t look either holy or life-giving at the time — to a place of execution and have nails hammered through his flesh for our sake. But it is on the cross that resurrection begins.

This blog post is based on a sermon that was preached at the Church of Saints Cosmas & Damian in Moscow on Sunday, March 23, 1996. Jim Forest is co-secretary of the Orthodox Peace Fellowship. The sermon was a step along the way in writing The Ladder of the Beatitudes (Orbis Books, 1999).

A Prayer for Refugees

O God, we ask your living protection of all refugees yearning for freedom and hope in a new land. May we ever remember that the Holy Family, too, were refugees as they fled persecution. Bless, guide and lead us in faith to open doors and to open our hearts through this ministry of hospitality. Give us strength, vision and compassion as we work together to welcome those in need. We ask this in the name of Christ. AMEN.

#RefugeesWelcome #LetThemIn

We too often build walls to keep refugees (and others) out. 

 

Heavenly Father,
you are the source of all goodness, generosity and love.
We thank you for opening the hearts of many
to those who are fleeing for their lives.
Help us now to open our arms in welcome,
and reach out our hands in support.
That the desperate may find new hope,
and lives torn apart be restored.
We ask this in the name of Jesus Christ Your Son, Our Lord,
who fled persecution at His birth
and at His last triumphed over death.
Amen.
(from Church of England)

 We need to let them in...

http://wtnh.com/2015/11/18/conn-welcomes-refugee-family-rejected-by-indiana/

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/18/nyregion/11th-hour-detour-puts-family-in-connecticut-as-indiana-bars-syrian-refugees.html

Thankfully Connecticut is open and welcoming.

Learn more here:

(IRIS) http://www.irisct.org/index1.html

(EMM) http://episcopalmigrationministries.org/

Prayer for Refugees

Dear Lord, You know what it means to be a refugee. You also lost all and perhaps remembered how you came to be hungry and naked, thirsty and cold, prisoners in a camp or prisoners in our own minds. They even took your cloak and you had nothing left, except some people who came by to quench your thirst, to give you a blanket and to help carry your burden. Lord Jesus, for God's sake, let us be those people who bring comfort, food and water, and an encouraging word. And may we then hear the words softly spoken: "insofar as you did it unto these people who are the least of my brothers, you did it unto me.  Go in peace!" Amen. (By Brother Andrew L. de Carpentier,  Jordan)

O God, our great strength, help us to fix our eyes on you, trusting in your mercy. Help us to look into the world and discover that you are there, our Immanuel. Strengthen us as we hold out open hearts and hands to the stranger, to the homeless, to the lonely, to the broken in mind and spirit. Stir us with your presence, your strength, to the homeless, to the lonely, to the broken in mind and spirit. Stir us with your presence, your strength, and your love. All this we ask in the name of your Son, our Lord, AMEN.

Heavenly Father, thank you for making us members of your family--"children of God" and "heir of heaven." Help us to extend the boundaries of our parish family to those who are without family, home and country. Stir us to make and live out our commitment to welcoming the stranger into our midst. Help us to love those welcomed, to share our lives and to witness to them of your love for all of us in the person of your Son, Jesus Christ, our risen Savior and Lord. In his name we ask this, AMEN.

(The following may be especially suitable for children.)

Dearest Jesus, thank you for making us all brothers and sisters in God's family. Help us to help our brothers and sisters who have no homes. Remind us to pray for them and give our gifts to help them. AMEN.

O God, we ask your living protection of all refugees yearning for freedom and hope in a new land. May we ever remember that the Holy Family, too, were refugees as they fled persecution. Bless, guide and lead us in faith to open doors and to open our hearts through this ministry of hospitality. Give us strength, vision and compassion as we work together to welcome those in need. We ask this in the name of Christ. AMEN.

Sermon: January 22

O God, you made us in your own image and redeemed us through Jesus your Son: Look with compassion on the whole human family; take away the arrogance and hatred which infect our hearts; break down the walls that separate us; unite us in bonds of love; and work through our struggle and confusion to accomplish your purposes on earth; that, in your good time, all nations and races may serve you in harmony around your heavenly throne through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

A New Day has dawned… The Inauguration has taken place but I am not talking about what happened in Washington DC on Friday, with our 45th President.

In this morning’s Gospel, Jesus began his ministry. He begins calling the disciples. He is inaugurating a new way of living. This Gospel story is the story of an Inauguration. Not an inauguration of a new person in power, but an inauguration for those who will follow the call into God’s life and love as disciples of Jesus.

Following him is no small thing. He is calling them away from their families, their livelihood. They are sacrificing much to follow Jesus. And we hear their names… Simon Peter & Andrew, James & John, sons of Zebedee. He called the fishermen to come fish for people…

They left their nets, boats and family and joined his ministry. His ministry of healing, teaching, and preaching about the Reign of God that has come near. Repent & Be ready. It is a revolution. A revolution of healing & reconciliation in a time of brokenness and power imbalance in a land occupied by Rome, that longed for hope, for a messiah.

He left Nazareth, after John’s arrest by the authorities, and at the shores of the Sea of Galilee, gathers disciples and there it all begins…

“Jesus went throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the good news of the kingdom and curing every disease and every sickness among the people.” (Matthew)

What a moment in history that must have been.

“The people who sat in darkness have seen a great light, and for those who sat in the region and shadow of death, light has dawned.” (Isaiah & Matthew – helps frame Jesus work)

The Gospel story is the story of an Inauguration, of darkness turning to light and those who came to follow Jesus in the years afterwards were brought into his ministry by the Holy Spirit.

But that doesn’t mean it always worked right. We humans are fallible creatures and boy we are so easily swayed into factions and partisans. That is not only true of today but back in that first century too.

In Paul’s 1st Letter to the Christians living in Corinth, He says “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. For it has been reported to me by Chloe’s people that there are quarrels among you…”

Now the church has always struggled to maintain such agreement, part of our human nature to discuss and disagree, but we can get very divided when we lose sight of our purpose in Jesus, and think we know best. We can easily be lead to quarrel

“Each of you says, “I belong to Paul,” or “I belong to Apollos,” or “I belong to Cephas,” or “I belong to Christ.””

Sigh. It has been from our beginnings to divide ourselves up. In Paul’s case, by those who baptized. Our days, we do it through our labels – Conservative or Liberal, Republican or Democrat – we do it by saying some our heretics and we are not.

But for us who follow Jesus. Such division must not be our identity or our purpose.

“Has Christ been divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you baptized in the name of Paul? … For Christ did not send me to baptize but to proclaim the gospel, and not with eloquent wisdom, so that the cross of Christ might not be emptied of its power. For the message about the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.”

The cross is the power of God. It is salvation. It is life. And it is our purpose as beautifully stated in one of our morning prayers: Lord Jesus Christ, you stretched out your arms of love on the hard wood of the cross that everyone might come within the reach of your saving embrace: So clothe us in your Spirit that we, reaching forth our hands in love…

This Gospel story is the story of an Inauguration. Not an inauguration of a new person in power, but an inauguration for those who will follow the call into God’s life and love as disciples of Jesus, who stretched out his arms on the cross for everyone, who calls us to reach forth our hands in love.

It will not be easy. It will require sacrifice on our part. But in it all, through our baptism, the Spirit of God will be with us. Even if we do not know what to expect.

Let me end with a favorite prayer by Thomas Merton that might help us consider this inauguration of discipleship and our part in following Jesus.

My Lord God, I have no idea where I am going. I do not see the road ahead of me. I cannot know for certain where it will end. Nor do I really know myself, and the fact that I think that I am following your will does not mean that I am actually doing so. But I believe that the desire to please you does in fact please you. And I hope I have that desire in all that I am doing. I hope that I will never do anything apart from that desire. And I know that if I do this you will lead me by the right road, though I may know nothing about it. Therefore will I trust you always, though I may seem to be lost and in the shadow of death. I will not fear, for you are ever with me, and you will never leave me to face my perils alone. Amen.

The Problem of Truth & Fake News - How we are to Live

All this talk about fake news and what is truth versus lies has got me thinking about William Stringfellow's work "An Ethic for Christians & other Aliens in a Strange Land."

In it he tackles this very question in Chapter 4.  A good round up of this is here:

http://experimentaltheology.blogspot.com/2014/01/an-ethic-for-christians-and-other_27.html

The implications for how we live is here:

http://experimentaltheology.blogspot.com/2014/01/an-ethic-for-christians-and-other_30.html

Read the book for it is as relevant today as it was written in 1973.

Prayers for the Marchers

As my beautiful wife & daughter Norah marches at a sister march in Stamford, CT, I am reminded of the thousands who march across the US...

"We stand together in solidarity with our partners and children for the protection of our rights, our safety, our health, and our families - recognizing that our vibrant and diverse communities are the strength of our country.

The rhetoric of the past election cycle has insulted, demonized, and threatened many of us - immigrants of all statuses, Muslims and those of diverse religious faiths, people who identify as LGBTQIA, Native people, Black and Brown people, people with disabilities, survivors of sexual assault - and our communities are hurting and scared. We are confronted with the question of how to move forward in the face of national and international concern and fear." (https://www.womensmarch.com/mission/)

These are some prayers for us to use as we stand together...

O HOLY GOD, you love righteousness and hate iniquity: Strengthen, we pray, the hands of all who strive for justice throughout the world, and, seeing that all human beings are your offspring, move us to share the pain of those who are oppressed, and to promote the dignity and freedom of every person; through Jesus Christ the Liberator, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

O RIGHTEOUS GOD, you sent your Christ to establish the reign of justice, on earth as in heaven: Prosper every effort to root out arrogance, intolerance, and prejudice, and to eliminate all forms of discrimination, degradation, and oppression; through him who died at the oppressors' hands, Jesus Christ our Redeemer, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.

NURTURE US, O LOVING GOD, in the dignity and worth you give to all your creatures. Keep us in the discipline you command, that we may respect the diversity and richness of your creation; that we may honor the persons who come to us; that we may refuse to use or to be used as objects of selfish gratification; and that we may work for equity and justice for all people; through Jesus Christ our Savior. Amen.

Other Prayers for the Journey:

O God our Father, whose Son forgave his enemies while he was suffering shame and death: Strengthen those who suffer for the sake of conscience; when they are accused, save them from speaking in hate; when they are rejected, save them from bitterness; when they are imprisoned, save them from despair; and to us your servants, give grace to respect their witness and to discern the truth, that our society may be cleansed and strengthened. This we ask for the sake of Jesus Christ, our merciful and righteous Judge. Amen.

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. 

(information on the posters here: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/local/wp/2017/01/20/the-artist-who-created-the-obama-hope-posters-is-back-with-a-new-art-this-inauguration/ ) 

Inaugural Prayer (from 1933)

A prayer for the Inauguration of the President, offered by ZeBarney Phillips, Episcopal priest and Chaplain of the Senate, in 1933.
March 4, 1933

Eternal God and Heavenly Father, before whose face the generations rise and pass away, who through all the ages hast led Thy children with the fire and cloud; hearken to our prayer and turn the heart of every citizen of the Republic unto Thee in this fateful hour of our own and the world’s great need. Bestow Thy choicest blessings upon these Thy servants , who under Thee have been called to be President and Vice-President of the United States. Give unto them the grace of true humility, the heart that knows no guile, the courage born of innocency of life, the gentle patience of the Christ, and, above all, the spirit of love that believes and hopes and endures, that they may be true leaders of Thy people.

Bless every Member of the Congress and all others in authority, that they may be a glorious company, the flower of men, to serve a model for this mighty world and to be the fair beginning of a time when, with every root of bitterness cast out, the good work of all shall be the goal of each. Let Thy blessing rest upon the retiring President, Vice-President, and Members if the Congress, to whom we pay our loving tribute. Bring the nations of the world, through an ever-increasing sense of fellowship, into one great family; hasten the time when war shall be no more, and may we never be content with any peace save that of Him who won His peace by making the world’s His own, Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

From: An American Prayer Book, Morehouse Publishing, 2008