Pentecost Sermon Online

Come Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of Your faithful and kindle in us the fire of Your love. Send forth Your Spirit and we shall be created, and You shall renew the face of the earth. O God, who by the light of the Holy Spirit did instruct the hearts of the faithful, grant that by the same Holy Spirit we may be truly wise and ever enjoy Your consolations; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

On Wednesday, I was unable to use a mediation for our Noonday Prayers because the wifi wasn’t working right on the Green and the app wasn’t helping.

So I want to start with those words. They were on a Facebook page of one of my professors from seminary, although they were not her words. This is the post…

Have you ever noticed how in the scriptures men are always going up into the mountains to commune with the Lord?

Yet in the scriptures we hardly ever hear of women going to the mountains. But we know why — right?

Because the women were too busy keeping life going;
they couldn’t abandon babies, meals, homes, fires, gardens,
and a thousand responsibilities to make the climb into the mountains!

I was talking to a friend the other day, saying that as modern woman I feel like I’m never “free” enough from my responsibilities, never in a quiet enough space I want with God.

Her response floored me, “That is why God comes to women. Men have to climb the mountain to meet God, but God comes to women wherever they are.”

I have been pondering on her words for weeks and have searched my scriptures to see that what she said is true. God does indeed come to women where they are, when they are doing their ordinary, everyday work.

God meets them at the wells
where they draw water for their families,
in their homes, in their kitchens, in their gardens.

God comes to them as they sit beside sickbeds,
as they give birth, care for the elderly, and perform necessary mourning and burial rites.

Even at the empty tomb, Mary was the first to witness Christ’s resurrection, She was there because she was doing the womanly chore of properly preparing Christ’s body for burial.

In these seemingly mundane and ordinary tasks, these women of the scriptures found themselves face to face with divinity.

So if — like me — you ever start to bemoan the fact that you don’t have as much time to spend in the mountains with God as you would like. Remember, God comes to women. He knows where we are and the burdens we carry. He sees us, and if we open our eyes and our hearts we will see Him, even in the most ordinary places and in the most ordinary things.

He lives. And he’s using a time such as this to speak to women around the world. (Original 🖌: Heather F.)

I think one of the reasons this stuck me is that it is not my lived experience. I am not a woman. Duh! But more to the point, people experience God in very different ways because our lives are very different, age, race, gender, sexual orientation, culture, and the list goes on. That Facebook post filled me with delight because it speaks of God finding her, of God's grace rushing in!

Thanks be to God who comes to us in a myriad of ways! What a wonderful created world in its diversity and complexity and God is there in the midst of us for each of us in so many ways.

And that is the celebration of Pentecost. When the Holy Spirit came up on the disciples. What happened? As the Acts of the Apostles tells us…

All the disciples were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages, as the Spirit gave them ability. Now there were devout Jews from every nation under heaven living in Jerusalem. And at this sound the crowd gathered and was bewildered, because each one heard them speaking in the native language of each. Amazed and astonished…

They tasted the Gospel in their language, in their experience, in their lives…

Those in Jerusalem had God reached out to them and they understood. God does that for us today, in maybe more subtle ways… This is a true story told by writer Auburn Sandstrom (at The Moth, the acclaimed organization dedicated to the art and craft of storytelling)

In 1992, Auburn was 29, the mother of a three-year-old son, trapped in an abusive marriage — and an addict. One night she hit bottom. She was curled up on a filthy carpet in a cluttered apartment, in horrible withdrawal from a drug she had been addicted to for several years. In her hand was a little piece of paper. For hours, she kept folding and crumbling it. It was the phone number for a Christian counsellor her mother had given her in one of their rare moments of contact. Finally, the desperate young mother punched the numbers on her phone. It rang. A man answered.

“Hi, I got this number from my mother. Uh, do you think you could talk to me?”

Auburn heard some shuffling at the other end of the line. A little radio in the background was snapped off and the man who answered became very present. “Yes, yes, yes. What’s going on?”

For the first time, Auburn poured out her story. She told him that she wasn’t feeling good, that things had gotten pretty bad in her marriage, that she had a drug problem, that she was scared.

The man at the other end of the line didn’t judge. He just sat with her and listened. Auburn was encouraged by his kindness and gentleness.

It was two in the morning. The man stayed up the whole night with Auburn, just talking, listening and being there until the sun rose. By daybreak, she had calmed down. The raw panic had passed. She was feeling okay.

She was grateful to him. “Hey, you know, I really appreciate you and what you’ve done for me tonight. Aren’t you supposed to be telling me to read some Bible verses or something? Because that’d be cool, I’ll do it, you know. It’s all right.”

He laughed and said, “Well, I’m glad this was helpful to you.”

“No, really. You’re very good at this. I mean, you’ve seriously done a big thing for me. How long have you been a Christian counselor?”

There was a long pause at the other end of the line. “Auburn, please don’t hang up. I’ve been trying not to bring this up….” “I’m so afraid to tell you this. But the number you called . . . ” He paused again. “You got the wrong number.”

Auburn didn’t hang up. They talked a little longer. Auburn never got his name or called him back.

Auburn Sandstrom survived that night. She’s now a successful writer and teacher; she raised her little boy, alone, to become a magnificent young athlete and scholar who graduated from Princeton. She concludes her story of that night:

“ . . . the next day I felt this kind of joy, like I was shining. I think I’ve heard them call it ‘the peace that passes understanding.’ I had gotten to see that there was this completely random love in the universe. That it could be unconditional. And that some of it was for me . . . In the deepest, blackest night of despair, if you can get just one pinhole of light . . . all of grace rushes in.”

A stranger called in the middle of the night by mistake becomes the means of transformation and grace for a desperate young mother. Such compassion, such selfless caring, is the Spirit of God in our midst.

Pentecost celebrates the love that IS God and OF God: the love that binds the Father to the Son and now binds us to God and to one another in all of our experiences. It is the love that transcends words to embrace the heart and soul of each one of us; it is the love that gives voice to the things we believe but are unable to speak; it is the love that enables us to be for others “pinholes of light” through which the grace of God rushes in.

You never know where God will be when you need God the most and yet the promised Holy Spirit will be with us, no matter who we are, no matter where we’ve been. Amen.

Praying our Way Through a Crisis

What do we do when the darkness seems all around us?

• Covid-19
• Racism
• Riots
• Hate
• Fear

As Christians, we follow the example of Jesus, we roll up ourselves and we get busy loving God with our whole being, and loving our neighbors as ourselves.

And we start with prayer.

Here are some litanies that may be helpful:

https://episcopalmn.org/assets/pdfs/Litany%20for%20Minnesota's%20sins%20of%20racism.pdf

https://earthandaltarmag.com/posts/a-litany-amidst-the-covid-19-outbreak

https://earthandaltarmag.com/posts/the-great-litany-novena-for-the-end-of-injustice 

https://indydio.org/prayers-of-the-people-for-racial-reconciliation-created-by-standing-commission-on-liturgy-and-music-subcommittee-on-racial-reconciliation/

and to take your prayer deeper, read this:

To Serve and Protect: The Police, Race, and The Episcopal Church in the Black Lives Matter Era

Anglican Theological Review article by The Rev. Gayle Fisher-Stewart

When the Cameras are Gone, We Will Still Be Here

[May 30, 2020] A word to the Church from Presiding Bishop Michael Curry:

“Our long-term commitment to racial justice and reconciliation is embedded in our identity as baptized followers of Jesus. We will still be doing it when the news cameras are long gone.”

In the midst of COVID-19 and the pressure cooker of a society in turmoil, a Minnesota man named George Floyd was brutally killed. His basic human dignity was stripped by someone charged to protect our common humanity.

Perhaps the deeper pain is the fact that this was not an isolated incident. It happened to Breonna Taylor on March 13 in Kentucky. It happened to Ahmaud Arbery on February 23 in Georgia. Racial terror in this form occurred when I was a teenager growing up black in Buffalo, New York. It extends back to the lynching of Emmett Till in 1955 and well before that. It’s not just our present or our history. It is part of the fabric of American life.

But we need not be paralyzed by our past or our present. We are not slaves to fate but people of faith. Our long-term commitment to racial justice and reconciliation is embedded in our identity as baptized followers of Jesus. We will still be doing it when the news cameras are long gone.

That work of racial reconciliation and justice – what we know as Becoming Beloved Community – is happening across our Episcopal Church. It is happening in Minnesota and in the Dioceses of Kentucky, Georgia and Atlanta, across America and around the world. That mission matters now more than ever, and it is work that belongs to all of us.

It must go on when racist violence and police brutality are no longer front-page news. It must go on when the work is not fashionable, and the way seems hard, and we feel utterly alone. It is the difficult labor of picking up the cross of Jesus like Simon of Cyrene, and carrying it until no one – no matter their color, no matter their class, no matter their caste – until no child of God is degraded and disrespected by anybody. That is God's dream, this is our work, and we shall not cease until God's dream is realized.

Is this hopelessly naïve? No, the vision of God’s dream is no idealistic utopia. It is our only real hope. And, St. Paul says, “hope does not disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts by the Holy Spirit” (Romans 5:5). Real love is the dogged commitment to live my life in the most unselfish, even sacrificial ways; to love God, love my neighbor, love the earth and truly love myself. Perhaps most difficult in times like this, it is even love for my enemy. That is why we cannot condone violence. Violence against any person – conducted by some police officers or by some protesters – is violence against a child of God created in God’s image. No, as followers of Christ, we do not condone violence.

Neither do we condone our nation’s collective, complicit silence in the face of injustice and violent death. The anger of so many on our streets is born out of the accumulated frustration that so few seem to care when another black, brown or native life is snuffed out.

But there is another way. In the parable of the Good Samaritan, a broken man lay on the side of the road. The religious leaders who passed were largely indifferent. Only the Samaritan saw the wounded stranger and acted. He provided medical care and housing. He made provision for this stranger’s well-being. He helped and healed a fellow child of God.

Love, as Jesus teaches, is action like this as well as attitude. It seeks the good, the well-being, and the welfare of others as well as one’s self. That way of real love is the only way there is.

Accompanying this statement is a card describing ways to practice the Way of Love in the midst of pandemic, uncertainty and loss. In addition, you will find online a set of resources to help Episcopalians to LEARN, PRAY & ACT in response to racist violence and police brutality. That resource set includes faithful tools for listening to and learning from communities too often ignored or suppressed, for incorporating God’s vision of justice into your personal and community prayer life, and for positively and constructively engaging in advocacy and public witness.

Opening and changing hearts does not happen overnight. The Christian race is not a sprint; it is a marathon. Our prayers and our work for justice, healing and truth-telling must be unceasing. Let us recommit ourselves to following in the footsteps of Jesus, the way that leads to healing, justice and love.

“What Does Love Do: The Way of Love during Pandemic”

Additional Resources for Responding to Racist Violence and Police Brutality

Habits of Grace: Pray for the entire human family

May 29, 2020:

In the book of Ecclesiastes in the Hebrew scriptures, the text says,

For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven:
a time to be born, and a time to die . . .
a time to weep, and a time to laugh;
a time to mourn, and a time to dance

Jesus in Luke's gospel said, "Blessed are those who mourn for they shall laugh." This coming weekend, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, the last weekend in May, we will join with people of all faiths, Christian, Muslim, Jewish, and people of good will to observe a time of grieving. To mourn those who have died from COVID-19, to pray for them and for their loved ones, to pray for all who are sick of any disease or condition, to pray for the entire human family.

It is a weekend of grieving, of collective and national grieving ecumenical and interfaith. And we will join together with brothers and sisters and siblings, who pray to God in different ways, but who share with us all a common humanity created by one creator. This weekend we join with them, and as we do so I would invite you to join in that prayer in your congregations and personally. But I wanted to share with you a prayer that was composed for this weekend, jointly composed by Lutherans and Episcopalians, for the feast of Pentecost in the midst of pandemic.

God of all power and love,
we give thanks for your unfailing presence
and the hope you provide in times of uncertainty and loss.
Send your Holy Spirit to enkindle in us your holy fire.
Revive us to live as Christ’s body in the world:
a people who pray, worship, learn,
break bread, share life, heal neighbors,
bear good news, seek justice, rest and grow in the Spirit.
Wherever and however we gather,
unite us in common prayer and send us in common mission,
that we and the whole creation might be restored and renewed,
through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

God love you. God bless you. And may God hold us all, the entire human family in those almighty hands of love. (PB Curry)

We Cannot Be Silent: Statement from the Bishops of the Episcopal Church in Connecticut

 

Thursday, May 28, 2020

God, who can turn our worries into wings of joys and our sorrows into songs of thanks, let not our hearts be so troubled by the tragedies of this life‘s moment that we lose sight of the eternal life in your kingdom. Give comfort and solace to our companions who suffer almost unbearable losses every second, minute, and hour in our nation and world. Strengthen our resolve to replace hatred with love, tension with trust, and selfishness with caring and community. Heal, O God, all our children so that those who hate and those who are hated, those who hurt and those who are hurt, may grow up in an America and in a world of peace, opportunity, and justice. Amen.

Marian Wright Edelman, Guide My Feet, Prayers and Meditations for Our Children, p. 142 (modified)

Dear Companions in Christ,

As we continue to live into all of the challenges that the global COVID-19 pandemic has added to our lives, we find our emotions are heightened and our resilience is being tested. The Church Pension Fund in their presentation on The Emotional Life-Cycle of a Disaster highlights that we are in the stage when feelings of sadness, grief, despair, and disillusionment consume our lives. In this difficult time, we are also witnessing that those who are marginalized and oppressed in our society are being further pushed to the margins as social, economic, political, and racial divisions become exacerbated.

Racism and the resulting violence against people of color perpetrated by those who have power in our nation and state has led recently to the tragic and inexcusable deaths of George Floyd in Minnesota, Jose Soto in Connecticut, Breonna Taylor in Kentucky, and Ahmaud Arbery in Georgia. Such violence is unacceptable and contrary to the will of God and the promise of justice and freedom central to our country’s ideals. We must not let the realities of COVID-19 distract us from speaking out against, and working to dismantle, the forces of racism and white supremacy that continue to infect our lives and our nation. It is that very inaction and silence that feed into the legacy of white supremacy. Silence is complicity and we must not participate in the forces of evil that divide us.

The Episcopal Church in Connecticut is committed to the work of Racial Healing, Justice, and Reconciliation. For us to be the Beloved Community in Jesus that we are committed to becoming, we must act justly, love mercy, and walk humbly with our God (Micah 6:8). To be the Beloved Community, we must believe and act in a way that recognizes that every person is created in the image of God. It also means that we will speak out when we see the dignity of another person being disrespected. And it means that we will do our personal work to address our own places of both privilege and prejudice. ECCT is in the beginning stages of planning an offering related to this work and will have more information to share in the coming weeks.

In the meantime, we encourage you to explore important opportunities for us to become the Beloved Community God calls us to be in our neighborhoods and our nation, such as those provided by the Racial Healing, Justice, and Reconciliation Ministry Network in the Episcopal Church in Connecticut. As we live into this time of heightened emotions, we invite you to pray and reflect on who God is calling us to be and then recommit to dismantling the racism manifested in our midst.

The injustice against people of color we have seen in recent weeks is not tolerable. It is contrary to the will of God and our Christian witness. We must speak up. We must work for change. And we must repent for the ways we are complicit in the ongoing violence in our society. We do this work together. We do this work for God. And we do this work so that all God’s people may know safety, hope, and love.

In Christ,

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

A National Day of Mourning and Lament

A call to grieve and honor those who have died from COVID-19 and join together in a National Day of Mourning and Lament for the healing of our nation 

Our nation has passed a grievous point in history: 100,000 Americans have died from COVID-19. As people of faith, we cannot allow this grim number to go unnoticed. Always and everywhere, it is the duty of religious communities to remember the dead and mourn their passing. From generation to generation, we have been given this task: to speak their names and honor their lives. The deaths of 100,000 Americans shall not pass by unmarked and unlamented.

It is hard to comprehend this magnitude of deaths in so short a time. The past three months have been some of the deadliest in U.S. history. Americans have endured more death than in many of our wars, as we just memorialized last weekend. At 100,000 deaths, COVID-19 becomes the fifth most deadly event in U.S. history. The number of deceased is equivalent to whole towns and cities. The pandemic now ranks among those moments in the life of our nation marked by national remembrances, somber memorials, and moving tributes. As people of faith, we cannot let this moment pass unnoticed. The nation must be given the chance to mourn, lament, and remember the dead.

The rapid spread of the disease, the scope of its impact, and the mitigation through “social distancing” has prevented the time and space for us to grieve. It has been impossible to bury our dead as people have for thousands of years—communally and intimately with friends, family, and neighbors. As religious leaders, we are deeply connected with our nation’s pain. Both as individuals and collectively as a nation, we need time to stop, reflect, pray, mourn, and honor the dead.
To meet this need, religious communities across faiths will act with unprecedented unity, gathering together safely to mourn, memorialize, and remember their lives both in our diverse faith traditions and in our public squares. Together, we will pray for the healing of our nation.

On May 29, 30, and 31 — Friday, Saturday, and Sunday — America’s religious communities will gather for the first time following this grim 100,000 marker — many of us still virtually. Keeping with their own traditions and practices, each will mourn our American dead and pray for the healing of our nation.

On Friday, with Ramadan finished, Muslims will remember the revelation of the Quran. On Friday and Saturday, Jews will remember God’s covenant as they celebrate Shavuot and read their yizkhor (remembrance) prayers. On Sunday, Christians will celebrate Pentecost Sunday, when the first Christians were given courage through the reception of the Holy Spirit. We will name, honor, lament, and offer our tributes to the lives and families of those who have died. The Christian prayers of mourning for the 100,000 dead will be offered across our Protestant, Catholic, Evangelical, Pentecostal, African American, Hispanic, Asian American, and Native American traditions and communities.

But religious communities do not act alone. We call too on political leaders — the president, senators and members of Congress, governors, and mayors—to lead a National Day of Mourning and Lament on Monday, June 1 — at noon local time — to pause to remember those who have died. It will be appropriate for flags to be lowered and to observe moments of silence, mourning, memorial, prayer, reflection, and bell ringing. We will stop. We will remember. We will mourn and honor our dead. We will pray for the healing of the nation.

In the days prior to our national weekend of remembrance, we invite Americans to use social media and other communication platforms to post prayers and laments, names, photos, and tributes to those who have died of the coronavirus in the United States, using the hashtags #Lament100k and #DayofMourning. In many civic spaces, outside places of worship and our homes, groups or individuals may place empty chairs with the names, dates, and photos as tribute to and in remembrance of those who are no longer with us.

We will ask God to help heal our land in a moment of mourning as we honor those who have died, often without their loved ones around them. We come together both to weep and to rejoice for those lives that have been lost. We shall mourn the loss of so many Americans, many known only to families and friends, coworkers and neighbors. We will mourn family members and friends whom we loved; worked and worshiped with; ate, played, and prayed with; important members of our communities, some who were on the front lines of caring for and serving others; and those we passed on the street with a smile and nod. By God’s grace, we will mourn with families who have not been able to memorialize, mourn, or properly bury their dead.

Our lament will also honor hard truths we have learned during this pandemic: Our suffering has been unequal, elders have been vulnerable and alone, black and brown neighbors have borne disproportionately the brunt of sickness and death and the front lines labor of the fight against this disease. Native communities, our land’s original caretakers, have been particularly hard hit — as they have been so many times in the past. Asian Americans have been targeted by hateful words and actions. Our prayers for the healing of the nation must acknowledge the brokenness of our democracy and rededicate ourselves to repair the injustices this pandemic has revealed, even as work for the healing of those who are afflicted with the virus.

This vocation of the faith community to stop, name, feel, remember, memorialize, and pray for the dead, their families and their friends unites all our traditions and transcends our politics.
This momentous and tragic 100,000 marker will not be an empty data point on death's grim graph. We will remember those whom we loved and pray for both healing and hope — for our nation and the world. As a people, we have borne this pandemic's cost in the lives of our loved ones. As a nation, we shall honor and mourn them together.

As faith leaders, we must help to lead our congregations, communities, and country in this time of grief and lament in a way that will lead us forward more united as a country to address the very real challenges we face ahead. And that we must do together.

Signatures include from the Episcopal Church...

The Rev. Dr. Kelly Brown Douglas, Dean, Episcopal Divinity School at Union Theological Seminary
The Most Rev. Michael B. Curry, Presiding Bishop and Primate, The Episcopal Church
The Rev. Dr. C.K. Robertson, Canon to the Presiding Bishop for Ministry Beyond the Church, The Episcopal Church

Our Present Help: A Prayer

We pray guided by the words of Psalm 46:

Compassionate, Comforting, Empowering God, you are our refuge and strength, a very present help in times of trouble. Amid the turmoil in the world, your love is steadfast and your strength never fails.

We pray for those infected and all of us who are affected by COVID-19. We remember especially healthcare workers, first responders, persons in isolation and those who grieve the loss of their loved ones.

Your love is steadfast and your strength never fails.

Merciful God, grant order to the chaos of our racing minds and our pounding hearts. We remember especially those who are overwhelmed by the uncertainty, in particular those most vulnerable because of preexisting health conditions, and those who have lost, or will lose, their jobs.

Your love is steadfast and your strength never fails.
Compassionate God, grant courage and hope in the wake of this unprecedented path as we navigate and re-navigate our lives in this global crisis. We remember especially elected government officials, educational administrators, religious leaders and all policy-makers who are expected to offer decisive leadership in this time of crisis. We remember the medical scientists and researchers who are working assiduously to develop a vaccine or treatment.

Your love is steadfast and your strength never fails.

Empower us to be open to your unfolding purposes even as the waters around us roar and foam. Reassure us of your divine presence and peace with us, now and always.

Amen!

by Deonie Duncan ’20 M.A.R., is an ordained Baptist minister from Jamaica.

 

(from https://reflections.yale.edu/article/hard-times-gospel-values/our-present-help-prayer)

An American Triduum - 3 American Feasts with Prayer

I love the idea of three days of prayer centered around 3 American Feast Days (this is often called a triduum). I think about the three Feast Days of America that are centered on summer & our lives as Americans: Memorial Day, Independence Day and Labor Day. These are appropriate prayers for each of these occasions (from our BCP). It all begins with Memorial Day:

Memorial Day

Almighty God, our heavenly Father, in whose hands are the living and the dead; We give you thanks for all your servants who have laid down their lives in the service of our country. Grant to them your mercy and the light of your presence, that the good work which you have begun in them may be perfected; through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord. Amen.

Independence Day

Lord God Almighty, you have made all the peoples of the  earth for your glory, to serve you in freedom and in peace: Give to the people of our country a zeal for justice and the strength of forbearance, that we may use our liberty in accordance with your gracious will; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Labor Day

Almighty God, you have so linked our lives one with another that all we do affects, for good or ill, all other lives: So guide us in the work we do, that we may do it not for self alone, but for the common good; and, as we seek a proper return for our own labor, make us mindful of the rightful aspirations of other workers, and arouse our concern for those who are out of work; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.  Amen.

Poems to Ponder for Memorial Day

In Flanders Fields 
By: Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae, MD (1872-1918)
Canadian Army

In Flanders Fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.


Trees  
By Sgt. Joyce Kilmer (1886 – 1918)
US Army

I think that I shall never see
A poem lovely as a tree.

A tree whose hungry mouth is prest
Against the earth's sweet flowing breast;

A tree that looks at God all day,
And lifts her leafy arms to pray;

A tree that may in Summer wear
A nest of robins in her hair;

Upon whose bosom snow has lain;
Who intimately lives with rain.

Poems are made by fools like me,
But only God can make a tree.

Memorial Day Prayers

ALMIGHTY God, our heavenly Father, in whose hands are the living and the dead; We give thee thanks for all those thy servants who have laid down their lives in the service of our country. Grant to them thy mercy and the light of thy presence, that the good work which thou hast begun in them may be perfected; through Jesus Christ thy Son our Lord. Amen. (1928 BCP)

O Judge of the nations, we remember before you with grateful hearts the men and women of our country who in the day of decision ventured much for the liberties we now enjoy. Grant that we may not rest until all the people of this land share the benefits of true freedom and gladly accept its disciplines. This we ask in the Name of Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. (1979 BCP)

Almighty God, Father of all humankind: We pause on this Day of Memorial to honor the memories of the heroic sons and daughters of our country who rendered their full measure of devotion on all the far-flung battlefields of the world in the defense of these United States. They fought valiantly and courageously in storms of fire and blood so that we, the living, may enjoy the blessings of liberty, democracy and freedom. May the deeds of our fallen heroes be an inspiration to us and to all our fellow Americans. Grant that their supreme sacrifices shall not have been in vain. Let this Memorial Day stimulate us to be mindful of our responsibilities and duties as conscientious citizens of this great Republic. We pray thee, Merciful God, sustain the leaders of the United Nations in their efforts to remove the dark shadow of fear which lurks over the abode of peace-loving people. Help all nations of our 21st century world realize the cruelty of bloodshed and the futility of warfare. Inspire them to labor with all their might to banish conflict and strife and establish world peace. Hasten the fulfillment of the visions of our Prophets when the work of righteousness shall be peace, and its effect, tranquility and security forever; when nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore. Amen. (original by Louis J. Swichkow, 1964)

And a Prayer from the Lutheran Book of Worship, 1970...

Easter 7 Sermon Online

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

If next Sunday, Pentecost, is the birthday of the Church, then Ascension Day (and the Sunday that follows) is the day that Jesus handed his ministry over to his disciples and to us.

As the disciples were watching, Jesus was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight…
suddenly two men in white robes stood by them. They said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking up toward heaven? This Jesus, who has been taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven.”

Then they returned to Jerusalem….and were constantly devoting themselves to prayer…
We don’t need to stand looking up to heaven.

We are called to be the church today in our homes or wherever we find ourselves to be.

For by prayer, we know Jesus is risen, and through him we have abundant life. We live in such faithful hope even in the midst of this pandemic.

Prayer is essential to our lives. The disciples after Jesus rose, devoted themselves to prayer as we just heard in our first reading.

Our second reading from 1 Peter tells us to humble ourselves under the mighty hand of God, so that God may exalt us in due time. Cast all your anxiety on God, because God cares for you. Discipline yourselves, keep alert. – All of which, starts with our prayers.

And in the Gospel reading, Jesus in his final prayer - he prays first for himself first, then prays for his disciples, who will be left in the world after his ascension, and he finally prays for the Church to come.

Prayer is essential for our lives, we do it for ourselves, others, and the world God has made because as we know first hand, tragedy, accidents, pandemics can strike, and we react & we hope…

Two years ago, Debbie Thomas her 17-year-old son had a biking accident. He plowed into the boy in front of him who stopped suddenly. He got up off the ground sometime later with a cracked helmet, a few scrapes and a vicious headache.

The headache still has not gone away.

For two years he has been in and out of school. He’s unable to participate in the extracurricular activities he loves. He struggles to remain upright for more than four of five hours at a time; he often faints and feels nauseous. His mom and dad have consulted several physicians and tried different medications and therapies. But their son’s headaches persist. Debbie who is director of children's and family ministries at St. Mark’s Episcopal Church in Palo Alto, California writes:

“Two years in, everything I understand about hope has changed. Of course I still pray for my son’s headaches to go away. But the hope fueling the prayer is softer now, quieter. It’s an unclenched hope, one set free from expectations, clamoring, and frenzy. It’s a hope grounded in things not seen, in tiny seeds planted in dark soil; in small gestures of love, courage, friendship, and solidarity; in streams that flow in the desert; in the quiet resurrections that keep my son and our family going.

“When I read biblical stories of hope, the ones that resonate are no longer the stories of epic victories and grand celebrations. Those are lovely, but they don’t speak to where I live as the mother of a son in chronic pain. Instead I take hope in the story of Sarah, 99 years old and pregnant, laughing her head off because she thought for sure she was too old and wise and jaded to ever again be surprised by God. I take hope in the story of Hagar, a slave woman dying of thirst in the desert, who even in her abandonment becomes the first person in the Bible to name God.

I take hope in the story of Hannah, who cries so hard and so earnestly in the presence of God that people take her for a disrespectful drunk. I take hope in the story of Mary, the mother of Jesus, who ponders hard mysteries deep in her heart. I take hope in the persistent widow who pounds the door of a corrupt judge day after day after day, insisting on justice until she drives the man nuts. I take hope in the story of Mary Magdalene, who refuses to budge even when evil, tragedy, death and despair seems to have won the day.

“What these stories suggest to me is that hope isn’t about magical results — it’s about the long haul and the long darkness. Hope is robust and muscular and ferocious and long suffering. Hope never gets so cynical that it can’t be surprised. Hope finds and names God in the world’s most desolate places. Hope kneels on hard ground and yearns without shame. Hope ponders and meditates and ruminates. Hope gets in apathy’s face and says, ‘No. Not good enough. Try again.’ Hope sits in the darkness — outwitting torture, humiliation, crucifixion, and death — until finally a would-be gardener shows up at dawn and calls us by name.”

“These days I hope not because things are even close to being OK but because the God of the small and the mundane and the inexplicable is my son’s companion in his pain. I’m learning, slowly and cautiously, to live with the mystery of the already-and-not-yet kingdom of God . . .

“After all, what else is hope? Isn’t it precisely the mystery that strains toward what I don’t yet have? Isn’t it all about the unseen, the unknown, the unreached? If I already had what I longed for, I wouldn’t need hope. As it is, hope is my tether, my footing, my solace. It’s a bridge, wider and sturdier than I imagined it would be, that connects me still to the God who loves my son.” [From “Hope sits in darkness” by Debbie Thomas, The Christian Century, December 4, 2019.]

That connection between God and this mom is what Jesus prays for in his prayer today from the Last Supper. As the challenges and obstacles we face in our lives become more daunting, our perspectives may change, our understanding may become clearer, our prayers may be re-focused, but the hope in that connection between God and us remains.

It is our humble prayers to God, offering all our anxieties to the one who will see us through it all.

May the hope of Jesus’ prayer the night before he died be the center of our constant trust that God will transform our Good Friday crucifixions into Easter resurrections. Amen.

Beatitudes & Prayer for Mask Makers

The Beatitudes:

Blessed are those who give the gift of their time and their talent
to create face masks for others,
for their community, for strangers,
for they shall help to save the lives of many people.

Blessed are those who make masks for others to wear
so that together we may protect others,
especially the most vulnerable
who at another time had protected us
when they worked as first responders,
served in the military,
or taught us the school lessons of our childhood,
for they shall truly know the value of each human life.

Blessed are those who work tirelessly to fill bins in the market
or the clothesline across the front door of the church
with masks of all sizes and types,
for they shall know that this is grace, compassion,
and love of neighbor.

Blessed are the mask makers
who send face masks to those who may be forgotten,
to the agencies that support the homeless,
nursing home staff and residents,
the mentally ill,
the prisoner,
the tenderest among us,
for they shall have respected and remembered the least of these.

Blessed are those who crochet ear savers
and hunt down the buttons
that hook on to the face masks for comfort
for those who wear them for endless hours,
for they shall see the face of God
in each caregiver who wears one.

Blessed are those who give out of their own money
for supplies and postage for face masks and ear savers
because others’ lives and comfort are more important
than their personal checking account,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Blessed are those who wear face masks
to show their care for others,
who know that they can be passing on the virus
that moves as a stealth,
infecting others days before their own symptoms emerge
for they shall be for they shall be called children of God.

Prayer: 

O Holy One.
Bless the mask makers, those who create –
from cloth, flannel, elastic, wire, yarn and buttons –
the barriers that allow us to be out among others
yet keep them safe from what we might be silently harboring.

Bless the mask wearers
that we may see them as a sign of care and concern for others;
that we may see your face beneath each mask.

Bless us all
that we may see that by covering our noses and mouths
we have opened our eyes and our hearts to one another. Amen.

~ created by Rev. Donna Vuilleumier, Pastor at Smith Memorial Church, UCC in Hillsboro, NH.

Thy Kingdom Come

Thy Kingdom Come is a global prayer movement that invites Christians around the world to pray from Ascension to Pentecost for more people to come to know Jesus.

Since its start in May 2016, just three and a half years ago, God has grown Thy Kingdom Come from a dream of possibility into a movement. In 2019 Christians from 172 countries took part in praying ‘Come Holy Spirit’, so that friends and family, neighbours and colleagues might come to faith in Jesus Christ.

This praying together has been across our diversity and differences as every person, household and church are encouraged to pray in their own way. Whilst an astonishing 92% of people said they were praying for family and friends to come to faith in Jesus, and 40% of those taking part in 2019 did so for the first time, we recognise there is much more we can do together to help Thy Kingdom Come be fully in the lifeblood of the Church.

During the 11 days of Thy Kingdom Come, it is hoped that everyone who takes part will:

• Deepen their own relationship with Jesus Christ
• Pray for 5 friends or family to come to faith in Jesus
• Pray for the empowerment of the Spirit that we would be effective in our witness

After the very first Ascension Day the disciples gathered with Mary, constantly devoting themselves to prayer while they waited for the outpouring of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost. Like them, our reliance on the gift of the Holy Spirit is total – on our own we can do nothing.

“In praying 'Thy Kingdom Come' we all commit to playing our part in the renewal of the nations and the transformation of communities." Archbishop Justin Welby

Learn more here.

Prayer:

Almighty God,your ascended Son has sent us into the world to preach the good news of your kingdom:inspire us with your Spirit and fill our hearts with the fire of your love,that all who hear your Word may be drawn to you,through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

O God the King of glory,you have exalted your only Son Jesus Christ with great triumph to your kingdom in heaven:we beseech you, leave us not comfortless,but send your Holy Spirit to strengthen us and exalt us to the place where our Savior Christ is gone before,who is alive and reigns with you,in the unity of the Holy Spirit,one God,now and forever. Amen.

Rogation Prayers

The word "rogation" come from the Latin rogare, which means "to ask," and the Rogation Days are days set apart to bless the fields, and ask for God's mercy on all of creation (often done as a procession around the "parish"). The standard practice in the Episcopal Church on the Rogation Days is to pray for fruitful seasons on Monday, commerce and industry on Tuesday, and stewardship of creation on Wednesday. The Rogation Days are the days just before Ascension Day (Thursday).

Collects  – BCP p. 259 & 260
 
19. For Rogation Days

I. For fruitful seasons 
 
Almighty God, Lord of heaven and earth: We humbly pray that your gracious providence may give and preserve to our use the harvests of the land and of the seas, and may prosper all who labor to gather them, that we, who are constantly receiving good things from your hand, may always give you thanks; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

II. For Commerce and Industry

Almighty God, whose Son Jesus Christ in his earthly life shared our toil and hallowed our labor: Be present with your people where they work; make those who carry on the industries and commerce of this land responsive to your will; and give to us all a pride in what we do, and a just return for our labor; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

III. For stewardship of creation

O merciful Creator, your hand is open wide to satisfy the needs of every living creature: Make us always thankful for your loving providence; and grant that we, remembering the account that we must one day give, may be faithful stewards of your good gifts; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who with you and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Blessing (adapted from C of E): 
 
May God who is the source of all goodness and growth,
pour his blessing upon all things created,
and upon you his children,
that you may use all good gifts to his glory and the welfare of all peoples;
and the blessing of God almighty,
the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit,
be among you and remain with you always. Amen.

Seculosity and St. Paul

 from mbird.com
article by Todd Brewer
David Zahl didn’t put me up to this, I swear. But if the Apostle Paul were alive today, I dare say he would have written Seculosity. Let me explain.

The secular world in which we live now wouldn’t have been imaginable to the Apostle Paul. In the first century, everything one did was connected to some official Religious entity. Civic religion and civic participation went hand in hand—even going to the butcher store to prepare a feast raised questions about idol worship (1 Cor. 8:1-6). Yet Paul’s opposition to meat sacrificed to idols is only mildly instructive for how he might have viewed our modern secular “religion,” or, as Zahl puts it, seculosity. Paul didn’t have an iPhone, Prius, or the right to vote. In the almost 2,000 years since Paul’s time, there have been vast changes to society, culture, and our mental universe. Which is to say that the actual writings of Paul do not directly answer the questions of one’s relation to the secular world. To do so, one must think about such issues with Paul rather than from Paul directly, and this is precisely what Seculosity accomplishes, by translating his Law-faith contrast into the modern world.

In his landmark 1977 book, Paul and Palestinian Judaism, E. P. Sanders analyzed the letters of Paul and the writings of his Jewish contemporaries, contending that Paul’s faith-Law contrast is essentially a contrast between two different “patterns of religion.” The two are not wholly unrelated, of course, and it is their overlap which serves as the basis for the contrast. Whether it be the Law/Torah or faith, both promise the same goal, namely, life through righteousness (p. 549-552). The law’s pattern of religion attains life by way of Torah-practice, while faith attains life by faith in Christ. For Paul, Law-practice is not immoral so much as it does not provide what is given in faith—i.e., life. This particular desire for righteousness is not wrong, but misdirected.

Certainly, there is more to be said about Paul’s faith-Law contrast than Sanders himself would allow. The framework of his analysis is still essentially correct. Paul assesses the Law as a different pattern of religion, but the basis of the comparison between Law-practice and Christianity is their shared itinerary of seeking life through righteousness. Paul contrasts the two to demonstrate how what one seeks within a Law-practice pattern of religion (righteousness leading to life) is only given in Christ. The failure of the former, so vividly outlined in Romans 7, gives way to the triumph of grace.

But Seculosity does not speak of righteousness and life so much as “enough-ness.” Enoughness is a load-bearing concept for Zahl, and it is more than a gloss of righteousness. Enoughness adeptly spans Paul’s righteousness-life dynamic. Enoughness retains the moral character of righteousness, but achieving enoughness also implies a degree of self-satisfaction, wholeness, rest, and security. This move also provides a lens for Zahl to illuminate modern seculosities on their own terms, rather than an anachronistic analysis of seculosities in accordance with Christian texts. Enoughness, on the other hand, functions the same way for both Paul and many seculosities. This is the heart-beat of the book, as well as its brilliance. The quest for enoughness is universal and insatiable, and we will turn to anything to find it. Or, in Augustinian terms, everything we touch has become something to use rather than enjoy.

In terms as sympathetic as possible, Seculosity lays bear the vacuity of the search for enoughness. Zahl does not stand outside of the seculosities of enoughness he examines, but within them, living out their empty promises and gasping for the fresh air of grace. He gave up the smart phone out of protest, only to reluctantly re-up with his local supplier nine months later. Whether it be politics, food, romance, or even Christianity, the badges of enoughness they offer are the modern currency of belonging and acceptance. The sad reality, though, is that the things we use to become enough prove to be our new taskmasters. Zahl writes to those suffering under the burden of these new laws, proclaiming a gospel of liberation and comfort.

All of which brings me back to Paul. In his own day, the Apostle’s Law-faith contrast was articulated not in secular contexts, but where the Torah was practiced by those of faith. If Paul contrasts Law and faith as two alternate patterns of religion, Seculosity does not draw an analogy with Christianity and secular religions. Instead, it extends Paul’s logic into a different sphere. In no way does Zahl equate seculosities with the Law (Torah), a difference signaled by his use of little “l” secular law vs. capital “L” Mosaic Law. Outside of certain circles of Reformed churches, Christianity isn’t in danger of reintroducing the Law as a measure of one’s worth. Instead, the church’s legalism today usually manifests as an extension of modern seculosities, whether it be social activism, parenting, or identity politics. The Galatian church did not abandon the Gospel by becoming Instagram celebrities, hosting Zumba classes, or sponsoring political rallies, but no doubt Paul would have been equally astonished by such developments today.

Paul would have seen our seculosities in something like the same way he viewed the Law: as a rival pattern of righteousness that structures and gives life to their participants. In the same way, some of Paul’s indictments of the Law could be extended to seculosities. If one could genuinely find enoughness through romantic love, then Christ died for nothing (Gal. 2:21). We are not under Marie Kondo, but under grace (Rom. 6:14).

Everyone, whether Christian or not, is a devotee to some seculosities simply by virtue of living in the secular world. Zahl’s solution to this quandary isn’t to retreat into a holy enclave, cut off from the world (asceticism), nor is it to try and bless or harness our seculosities for the sake of ethics (legalism). Rather, Zahl preaches freedom from the world’s empty promises in order that we participate in and enjoy the world without needing the world to be enough. The world is never enough, of course, but grace is always given to the empty-handed.

Keeping the Faith

more on that creed here: https://mbird.com/2019/10/the-seculosity-creed/

from How to Regain Our Sense of Faith in a Secular World (Maria Shriver website)

In his latest book, “Seculosity: How Career, Parenting, Technology, Food, Politics, and Romance Became Our New Religion and What to Do About it,” David Zahl coins the word “seculosity” which he says describes what he’s witnessing in all aspects of daily life: “the way more and more of us are leaning on things like politics and food and romance, not just for the things themselves but for our own sense of “enoughness.” Basically, as replacement religions.” In this exclusive Q & A, Zahl reveals why we’re turning to replacement religion and how we can take a fresh look at the grace of God in all its countercultural wonder.

1) How do you define “seculosity” and how has it become part of our popular culture? Why are we, as a society, abandoning or replacing religion?

DZ: “Seculosity” refers to religious devotion or feeling that’s directed at earthly rather than heavenly targets. The word itself is a mashup of “secular” and “religiosity.” Having grown up in the church, I’d leave the gym and think, “Gosh, that felt a lot like church, and not necessarily the good parts—a sort of “be better, or else.” Or I’d be at the playground and witness a perfect stranger correcting another parent about their childrearing and couldn’t help but notice that it felt like certain fanatical strands of American religion, where there’s an intense focus on behavioral purity, and everyone was basically afraid of messing up all the time. But since there was no substitute deity involved, at least not consciously, I figured a fresh term was called for to name this phenomenon.

As for why we’re abandoning or replacing religion in such numbers, there are nearly as many theories as there are people. Some say it has to do with science, some with capitalism, or moralism, or distraction, or indifference, or abuse, or all of the above. Clearly, the Christian church has a pretty significant PR problem! That is, it’s viewed by more and more people—and not for no reason—as a driver of guilt, hypocrisy, and ‘not-enoughness’ rather than a reliable dispensary of comfort, forgiveness, understanding, and grace. But one of the observations at the heart of Seculosity is that our replacement religions tend to maintain most of the demand of the old-fashioned variety but little of the mercy.

I think we’re only beginning to realize the function that religion—at its best—has always served, namely, as a place to go with our guilt and shame. Your priest, as a friend of mine likes to say, was “your local forgiveness person.” Our need for that hasn’t gone away.

2) What are the forms “seculosity” and why do you feel this inspires more anxiety?

DZ: The forms of seculosity I outlined in the book were the ones that I felt applied most broadly in our culture, as well as the ones that applied most to me personally. I didn’t want to write about this phenomenon from “above” or “outside” but from within. So it’s almost a catalog of replacement religions that would occupy a person in my stage of life: busyness, parenting, technology/social media, food/diet, career, romance/relationships, exercise, and politics. I probably could’ve written about the seculosity of sports or the seculosity of celebrity, as both of those things function pretty religiously in our culture. I’m sure everyone has others they could mention.

The anxiety comes from the inherent and often unconscious “performancism” at work. By “performancism,” I mean the idea that there’s no distinction between my performance at x, y, or z, and myself. My resume doesn’t describe me, it is me. This means that if you’re not eating well enough, loving well enough, parenting well enough, voting well enough, balancing work-and-personal-life well enough, getting enough ‘likes,’ then you aren’t enough. There are right and wrong answers to these questions. In other words, all sorts of everyday activities and decisions take on existential stakes: Thou Shalt Be Thin, or Influential, or Happy, or Authentic (and Effortlessly So)—which is super anxiety-producing. One false move, especially on social media, and you run the risk of being canceled—or cast into ‘secular hell.’ And so we hide and curate and do everything we can to avoid transgressing whatever code of ‘enoughness’ or ‘righteousness’ we hold dear. It’s exhausting to say the least, especially when there’s no place to go with your failures and shortcomings, other than the therapist’s office (and even then). So I have a lot of compassion for people.

3) Can you offer some examples of how “seculosity” is being played out in politics, parenting, relationships?

DZ: When it comes to politics, I think you see seculosity not just in the outright messianic (or diabolical!) expectations we foist onto candidates but in the tribalism on both sides of the aisle. There’s a lot of “us vs them” thinking that divides the people into believers vs pagans. Not that there aren’t legitimate differences in conviction between parties, or that there’s no such thing as right vs wrong, but there’s a leap from that kind of talk to ‘orthodoxy vs heresy,’ which is closer to what we have today. It’s not just a person’s position that’s wrong, it’s they themselves. But anytime you claim that politics not only explains everything in the world but can fix everything in the world, you’re in religious territory, and holy war is just around the corner.

In parenting, take the VarsityBlues scandal as an example. Parents have always wanted the best for their kids, and that includes education and the opportunities that admission at a prestigious college can provide. But for a certain slice of the population, college admissions’ decisions have come to represent a judgment of religious proportions, not just for the students but their parents. “I am enough because my child goes to this-or-that school.” When we make our children the measures of our enoughness (or our path to immortality/eternal life), well, then we will do everything in our power to make sure that the school sticker on the back of our car broadcasts the ‘right’ message. Plus, I think a lot of high-powered parents deal with a lot of guilt for overworking while their children are young. One of the ways they can ‘atone’ is to get their child into their dream college.

Relationship-wise, just think about the “Soulmate Myth.” We’ve somehow bought into this idea that there is one perfect person out there for us, who will fulfill all of our emotional, physical, and material needs almost by instinct. Someone who will, to quote Jerry Maguire, “complete us.” What we’re after, in these cases, is more of a savior more than a spouse. Those kinds of astronomical expectations of another person tend not to bode well for intimate relationships, which are commonly forged in moments of vulnerability and failure.

4) How can we take a fresh look at ourselves and where we’re headed with regards to this new way of thinking?

DZ: I suppose that will vary for every person. My hope with the book is that it might give people a fresh lens for viewing the world and maybe evoke some sympathy about why it is we’re all so increasingly anxious, lonely, and exhausted. Sometimes it ‘takes the sting out’ and gives us some patience with others to know we’re not the only person out there dealing with an acute sense of ‘not-enoughness.’ If you are a conventionally religious person, then take heart; religious observance is not nearly as weird we sometimes fear it is. Furthermore, we’re all in this together!

So it would be wonderful if the book lent that sort of perspective and allowed readers to take a deep breath, no matter what their background or spiritual leaning. Practically, I would urge folks to think seriously about what forms of ‘replacement religion’ they gravitate toward and reflect on about whether or not those ‘seculosities’ are delivering what they’re promising or if perhaps it’s time to raise the white flag. Maybe ask yourself, what would it be like if you truly believed that ‘enoughness’ was a gift rather than an achievement? Can you imagine a life lived without a scoresheet?

Then again, the goal of the book isn’t to give people one more thing to feel like they have to get ‘right’ but to point toward the reality and hope of grace. By ‘grace’ I mean love that comes at you when you’re at your most ‘not-enough.’ Love that absolves and restores, yet isn’t self-generated, the kind that we hear about in best kinds of churches. If you’ve experienced that sort of thing before, it makes all the difference. Stay close to it, or even better, pray that it stays close to you.

Easter 6 Sermon Online

Heavenly Father, 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.

Always be ready to make your defense to anyone who demands from you
an accounting for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and reverence.

The first letter of Peter reminds us that we will all be called to witness the hope that is inside us.

Hope. There are times during this pandemic when such hope seems beyond us.

So many have been infected, so many have died. Businesses shuttered. People unemployed.

We remain safely in our homes, to flatten the curve and to help slow the spread of this uncontrolled virus. But our anxiety and fear sit with us in our rooms.

And yet Peter’s letter calls us to be witnesses to the hope that is in us even during these troubling times.

That hope is Jesus Christ who still walks with us and will not leave us. We must live into such hope.

On The New York Times’ Parenting website, a dad tells of transforming his son’s terror:

“When my five-year-old son told me there might be monsters in his closet, I grabbed a jar from the kitchen, and the little net from his fish tank, and said, ‘I hope we can catch one!’ After I made a big show of searching and came up empty-handed, he consoled me. Since we turned that fear into a game, not only was he not afraid of closet-monsters, he was sorry there weren’t any.”

A cute story of transforming fear. That is also a story of hope and one we need to hold onto during this pandemic. St. Paul in our first reading takes it a step further.

As Paul wandered around Athens waiting for Silas to arrive, he saw many altars and idols. But there was one that caught his eye and his imagination: the altar simply said: ‘To an unknown god.’

And so when given the opportunity to preach before a crowd there, he took it. He didn’t denigrate their faiths or religions, but he spoke of the hope inside of him. A hope that transformed his hate into love.

He taught them about Jesus. Paul before the Athenians on Mars Hill in the Aeropagus, helps the Athenians learn that this unknown God that they worshiped was the God Paul knew. For Paul listened to the longing in their hearts for faith and hope and love, he saw their intellectual curiosity and their restless creative spirit, and spoke boldly of God who is near each one of us, “in whom we live and move and have our being. as even some of your own poets have said, ‘For we too are his offspring.’

Paul witnessed to the hope inside of him, and that was Jesus Christ, the one raised from the dead for all of creation and all his offspring, including Athenians.

David Nott has witnessed humanity at its worst. For the past 30 years, Dr. Nott has served as a surgeon in war zones and territories devastated by natural disasters. Dr. Nott has treated victims of barrel bombs in Syria, snipers in Bosnia and child rape in Sudan. He once removed a detonator from a woman’s leg; during another surgery, the nurse standing next to him was killed by a bullet.

The British physician has traveled to such missions since 1993, when he first took an unpaid leave to volunteer in Sarajevo with the French organization Medecins Sans Frontieres (Doctors without Borders). Today, Dr. Nott’s foundation works with the International Red Cross and other humanitarian organizations to train surgeons and medical professionals to work in regions of conflict, violence and catastrophe. The intensive five-day course Dr. Nott and his associates have developed and teach is based on his own war surgery experience. (Today, Doctors without Borders has a team on the Navajo Reservation because of Covid-19.)

In an interview with the British newspaper The Sunday Telegraph [February 16, 2020], Dr. Nott was asked how he managed to survive so many close calls — Dr. Nott replied that his success is due largely to his ability to build relationships.

“You can’t stop bullets or bombs, obviously, but you can develop relationships with people whereby they don’t want you to die — or they don’t want you to be in a situation whereby your life is at risk.” Such relationship-building has enabled the unassuming, modest physician to save lives not only on the operating table but through careful negotiation and intervention.

As well as seeing the worst of humanity, Dr. Nott has witnessed acts of extraordinary kindness and heroic generosity. How does he reconcile these opposing sides of human nature?

“There are some people who use their power to make things better and have a positive effect on people’s lives, there are others who use power to destroy everything around them. I think the majority of humans are good.”

Dr. Nott bore witness to the hope inside of him. David Nott and the many selfless and courageous physicians and medical professionals like him who serve in the most dangerous places on earth (including our own medical facilities treating Covid!) - mirror the Holy Spirit, the Advocate in our midst; their work is the work God entrusted to his Son – and now his Son entrusts to us.

To be bearers of hope in a world full of pain and sorrow that is what we are called to do.

Let me end with two poems from a poet in England – (Rev) Malcolm Guite – who gives me hope through his words… his poems are based on his reading of the psalms during this pandemic.

III Domine Quid Multiplicati?

That you may find your peace in his good will
Call out to him, and tell him all your fear
For he will hear you from his holy hill

He knows how many ills both far and near
Oppress your soul and how they multiply,
These obstacles and problems, how you veer

From one side to the other, from one lie
To yet another till there’s nothing true.
Just let it go for now. Don’t even try.

Lie down and rest. Let him look after you
And in the morning when you rise again
Then let him lift your head and change your view

Replenish, renovate you, and sustain
His long slow blessings in your growing soul,
Till troubles cease and only joys remain.

IV Cum invocarem

Till troubles cease and only joys remain
Take refuge in the shelter of his love
Who hears your call and feels with you your pain

Who does not keep his distance, high above
But brings his light into your little room
Nestles and settles with you like the dove

In its familiar dovecote. From the womb
Of Mary, to her house in Nazareth,
From the upper chamber to the empty tomb

He comes to share with you your every breath
And to commune with you. To every heart,
That opens to him he will bring new birth,

For every ending offer a new start.
Lie down in peace and trust and take your rest
Safe in the love of one who’ll never part.

Always be ready to share the hope that is in you with gentleness and reverence. Amen.

Prayers for Rogationtide

prayers arranged by Scott Gunn
commentary by Carl Fortunato

Rogation Days are an old religious custom. The word "rogation" come from the Latin rogare, which means "to ask," and the Rogation Days are four days set apart to bless the fields, and ask for God's mercy on all of creation. The 6th Sunday of Easter is called the Major Rogation; the three days preceding Ascension Thursday are called the Minor Rogations.

The Rogation Days were first instituted in the 5th Century by Mamertus, bishop of Vienne in France from 461 to 475. His Episcopacy was marked by near-continuous disaster. In the space of a single year - around 470 - a fire destroyed the king's palace, a pestilence killed the cattle, the populace was terrorized by attacks of hungry wolves, and there were earthquakes.

In response, Mamertus led his flock in three days of prayer and procession leading up to the feast of the Ascension, In 511, the Fifth Council of Orleans made the three days of prayer mandatory in France. In the 9th Century, Pope Leo III extended the practice to the entire church.

The standard practice in the Episcopal Church is to pray for fruitful seasons on Monday, commerce and industry on Tuesday, and stewardship of creation on Wednesday. When currently observed, the practice frequently has an environmental bent, and is a time to be reminded of the obligations to be good stewards of God's creation. (Collects For Rogation Days on pages 258 & 259)

As we consider Holy Living & Holy Dying during this pandemic, maybe praying like Mamertus once did, may be helpful for us all.


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Just after the postcommunion prayer, we deviate from the usual conclusion of the liturgy.
THE ROGATION PROCESSION

Let the peoples praise you, O God;
Let all the peoples praise you.
The earth has brought forth her increase;
May God, our own God, give us his blessing.
May God give us his blessing,
And may all the ends of the earth stand in awe of him.
Let us pray.

Almighty God, the Giver of all that is good, you promise to hear the prayers of those who ask in your Son’s Name. We pray that in your mercy you will supply all our needs, so that daily we may offer our lives to your praise and glory. Through the same Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Let us go forth in peace.
In the name of Christ. Amen.

HYMN 292 (Kingsfold, set by Ralph Vaughan Williams; Words: Ed­ward W. Ben­son, 1860)

AT THE WEST STATION

For hospitals
Sanctify, O Lord, those whom you have called to the study and practice of the arts of healing, and to the prevention of disease and pain. Strengthen them by your life-giving Spirit, that by their ministries the health of the community may be promoted and your creation glorified; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

For schools
Eternal God, bless all schools, colleges, and universities, that they may be lively centers for sound learning, new discovery, and the pursuit of wisdom; and grant that those who teach and those who learn may find you to be the source of all truth; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

For the unemployed
Heavenly Father, we remember before you those who suffer want and anxiety from lack of work. Guide the people of this land so to use our public and private wealth that all may find suitable employment, and receive just payment for their labor, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

AT THE SOUTH STATION

For the Parish House
Almighty and everliving God, source of all wisdom and understanding, be present with all those who gather in our Parish House, that we may continue the renewal and mission of your Church. Teach us in all things to seek first your honor and glory. Guide us to perceive what is right, and grant us both the courage to pursue it and the grace to accomplish it; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

For homes
Heavenly Father, we commend to your continual care the homes in which your people dwell. Let your holy angels dwell with them to preserve them in peace, and let your blessing be upon them always. Amen.

For the homeless and poor
Most merciful God, we remember before you all poor and neglected persons: the homeless and the destitute, the oppressed and rejected, and all who have none to care for them. Rise up, O God, and maintain their cause; help us to share with them as you have shared with us, for the love of your Son who for our sakes became poor, Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

AT THE EAST STATION (The memorial garden)

For the departed
Almighty and everlasting God, the God of the spirits of all women and men, we pray you to give to those who rest in Jesus the blessings of your love, that the good work which you began in them may come to its true end in the day of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior. Amen.

For justice
Almighty God, you have given all peoples one common origin, and your will is to gather them as one family in yourself. Fill the hearts of all with the fire of your love and the desire to ensure justice for all our sisters and brothers. By sharing the good things you give us, may we secure justice and equality for every human being, and a human society built on love and peace, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

For workers
Almighty God, whose Son Jesus Christ in his earthly life shared our toil and hallowed our labor: be present with your people where they work; make those who carry on the industries and commerce of this land responsive to your will; and give is all a pride in what we do and a just return for our labor; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

AT THE NORTH STATION (facing the Green)

For gardens
God, our Father in heaven, by your Son Jesus Christ you promised to those who look first for your rule and your justice all things that their bodies need, send us we pray you rain and sun for our gardens as shall be good for them and for our food, through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.

For towns and cities
Heavenly Father, in your Word you have given us a vision of that Holy City to which the nations of the world bring their glory; behold and visit, we pray, the towns and cities of the earth. Have mercy upon all who live and work in them. Guide them into the way of justice and truth, establish among them that peace which is the fruit of righteousness, and hasten the time when the cities of this world shall become the Kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.

For our community
O God, you have brought us together in this place to learn your will and to be your family. We ask you to bless us with your Holy Spirit that we may live and work for you and for each other. Help us to live together in love and joy and peace. Make us strong to bear all trouble that may come to us, that we may know and do your will in all things. Draw us near to you in our prayers, and give us happiness in our feasts and times together. Give us hearts of praise and thanksgiving for all your goodness and mercy; and help us to remember those who are poor, starving, sick, or homeless. Finish in us all good work which we have begun, that we may spread your rule in all the world, to the honor and glory of your name; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

THE BLESSING

May God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
who is the source of all goodness and growth,
pour blessings upon all things created,
and upon you, God’s children,
that you may use God’s gifts to God’s glory and the welfare of all peoples;
and the blessing of God almighty,
the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit,
be upon you and remain with you always. Amen.

THE DISMISSAL

Let us go forth in the name of Christ. Alleluia, alleluia.
Thanks be to God. Alleluia, alleluia.

Prayers for a Pandemic

A Blessing Prayer In Difficult Times by John O’Donohue
May you know tender shelter and healing blessing
when you are called to stand in the place of pain.
May the places of darkness within you be surprised by light.
May you be granted the wisdom to avoid false resistance and
when suffering knocks on the door of your life, may you be able to glimpse its hidden gift.
May you be able to see the fruits of suffering.
May memory bless and shelter you with the hard-earned light of past turmoil,
to remind you that you have survived before,
And though the darkness is now deep,
You will soon see approaching light.
May this give you confidence and trust.
May a window of light always surprise you.
May the grace of transfiguration heal your wounds.

May The Light Of Your Soul Guide You, by John O’Donohue 

May the light of your soul guide you.
May the light of your soul bless the work
You do with the secret love and warmth of your heart.
May you see in what you do the beauty of your own soul.
May the sacredness of your work bring healing, light and renewal to those
Who work with you and to those who see and receive your work.
May your work never weary you.
May it release within you wellsprings of refreshment, inspiration and excitement.
May you be present in what you do.
May you never become lost in the bland absences.
May the day never burden you.
May dawn find you awake and alert, approaching your new day with dreams,
Possibilities and promises.
May evening find you gracious and fulfilled.
May you go into the night blessed, sheltered and protected.
May your soul calm, console and renew you.

on being open to the Spirit

from Being the Church Then and Now: Issues from the Acts of the Apostles   

by William Loader

"In him we live and move and have our being, even as some of your poets have said." (Acts 17:28)

On Paul and Athens
Our second episode presents Paul in Athens. He wanders among the images of various deities, the gods in the market place. Quick fire gods who promise immediate relief, gods for the greedy, gods of ecstatic indulgence, gods of nationalism, gods with all the answers, gods of magic, gods of institutions, gods to bolster the Roman political system, gods to keep the poor happily poor, gods for the curious, all the gods we find in our own market places and sometimes in our churches and more. Paul confronts the savage pluriformity of a cosmopolitan world and stands up to its best philosophies. The ingredients are all there for a characteristic Jewish tirade for monotheism, much as Paul had written in the first chapter of the letter to the Romans.

But Luke’s story moves differently. Paul notes the pluriform religiosity arid somewhat playfully mentions that one image had been dedicated to an unknown God. Of this God he speaks, the creator God who cannot be captured in temples made with hands or poured into moulds of human images. This is the God of all peoples, the God not distant from any of us, the divine being present to all. There follows a quotation from Aratus, a pagan poet, from his poem Phaenomena, written about 270 BC in Athens. “In, or perhaps through, whom we live and move and have our being: for we are his family.” What an extraordinary thing for Luke to have Paul say! He quotes a pagan poet. We find the same quotation also used by very open minded Jews elsewhere. It is nonetheless very striking.

There, in your culture, 300 years ago, the truth about God was expressed. The Spirit of God was there before us. The sense of the divine which, distorted, produced this wild array of idols also came to expression in the poets. They told of the one who is not far from each of us; these pagan poets knew we belong to God and we belong to a family; we are God’s family. What an extraordinary pattern Luke lays down here.

And so in this land the Spirit was also speaking 200, 300, 30000, 40000 years ago. And we need to hear what the Spirit was saying to the Aboriginal people and what the Spirit is saying through them to us. The same Spirit brooded in the Indian subcontinent, in Arabia, and the same Spirit speaks in the language of the poets and the artists, the novelists and the playwrights of every age. The Spirit is free and our calling is to rejoice and to discover, to dialogue and to enjoy the common life of the Spirit. We need to sit down and hold hands with all who listen for the voice of the one who is not far away, who is the ground of all life and being.

But Luke does not leave it there. Paul does add his broadside now about the futility of pagan fundamentalism, which thinks it captures deity not in parchment but in silver and gold and stone. He then announces that God will judge the world by a human being, Jesus Christ whom he raised from the dead. Is this consistent with what has gone before? Yes it is. Luke is not suggesting that mission degenerate into religious syncretism, where all religions are thrown together into an amalgam of soft tolerance and truth is traded for shallow unity. On the contrary, there is a criterion, a judge, and he is Jesus. It is by Jesus that we can recognise the footprints of the Spirit. It is the love he made known which helps us discover its past victories and its defeats in the cultures of the world. This is not a Jesus imperialism of the kind that declared the world abandoned by the Spirit and claimed a monopoly for the Church on the truth. Such Christianity repeats all the arrogance of religious colonialism.

The Spirit is none other than the Spirit who came upon Jesus of Galilee. The music of the Spirit is heard in the groaning of creation for renewal, for peace, for justice. For the Spirit breathes wherever the lungs are open, wherever the heart pounds for the gospel of love. The incognito God of mercy and justice still stands in the market place and in the Church. This God still hears the cries of the people in the Egypts of today. This God still raises up the Moses, the Elijah, the Peter, the Paul to join forces with the advance party, the Spirit. This God still stands in the market place and in the Church beside the well promoted competitors and their myriad followers.

Both episodes today are about removing barriers, barriers constructed by religion itself. Both are saying that the whole world is God’s creation, the playground of the Spirit. The whole world is the object of God’s love, the love incarnate in Jesus Christ. Every attempt by human beings to capture God in images, in a book, in a temple, in a people or culture, in a religious experience or in an institution, is a denial of the Spirit. It is a re-erection of Babel’s tower, another futile assault on God’s power in the name of human power, another desperate bid borne of fear, to define out the unknown, the unpredictable, the unmanageable future God promises us. The serpent’s vision still entices us: we want to be like God.

The vision of the kingdom is our agenda. The Spirit of the kingdom is our enabling. The grace which lived and died and rose for us in Jesus feeds our souls. We are the Church, God’s risk of love in history, as mature and immature as the average of its members, but God’s promise of the kingdom for now. Let us rejoice in the freedom of the Spirit that knows no bounds, that leads us beyond our fears and our barriers to the uttermost ends of the world, and that brings us back to the centre, to the Word of God borne witness to by Holy Scripture: God in whom we live and move and have our being and whose family we are.