Ash Wednesday Sermon

Heavenly Father, may we seek you and find you, may we knock and the door be opened, for we are sojourners looking for your Kingdom. As we encounter suffering in this world, turn our hearts, our ears, our eyes, our souls toward Christ, who emptied himself, and was tempted, and suffered for us, even giving his own life. In this suffering, plant seeds of hope, and let us never stray so far into despair, that we forget the resurrection of Christ and the power of his Spirit. Amen. (written by Thomas)

5 times a day – I get a random notification on my phone: “Don’t forget, you’re going to die.”

The app says that in Bhutan (near Nepal) – contemplating death five times daily brings happiness. For me, it’s not about happiness but humility. And on this day, as ashes are placed on our foreheads, that little phrase is reminder that even when we wash the ashes off later, the mark is still there reminding us of our mortality.

I think of Mary Oliver’s words in her poem “Sometimes.”

Death waits for me, I know it, around
one corner or another.
This doesn’t amuse me.
Neither does it frighten me.
“Don’t forget, you’re going to die.” – It doesn’t scare me nor do I think it bad luck to see that phrase - that little saying helps me pause and give me some perspective on life. Likewise ashes on our foreheads should give us pause this day to reflect on our lives. Life that is so often full.

Like Mary Oliver who ponders her stuff in her poem “Storage”

What does one do with all the stuff?
I rented a storage space. And filled it. Years passed ...
As I grew older the things I cared about grew fewer, but were more important.
So one day I undid the lock and called the trash man. He took everything…
Don’t we all have too much stuff? Our attics, basements, storage lockers are filled. My book shelves are overflowing. Our time too seems so full, we are always running on to the next thing…

It is good for us to clean out such things from our lives but for Lent, we need take it a step further. What is the stuff that clutters our lives that holds us back from the abundant life that Jesus offers us?

What lock do we need to unfasten in ourselves so everything can be taken, stripped away from us, so that we have more room in our hearts for love? Jesus gives us hints in the Gospel for today…

Beware of practicing your piety before others in order to be seen by them, Jesus says. So give alms, fast and pray but do it without blowing a trumpet, without letting everyone know what you are doing.
Those three simple practices are helpful for us – give alms, fast and pray. But do it quietly, away from the fanfare and consider what the prophet Isaiah says to us…

Look, you serve your own interest on your fast day… Is not this the fast that I choose: to loose the bonds of injustice, to undo the thongs of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke? Is it not to share your bread with the hungry, and bring the homeless poor into your house…
The point Isaiah makes is that our fasting, praying and giving alms is to help those in need, the oppressed, the hungry and homeless. Our cleaning out our storage, our living into what Jesus calls us to do, is for the benefit of one another, not just for ourselves.

And maybe that is one of the things we need to give up, unlock in our hearts. This hyper-individuality that exists in our society that fails to look beyond what our own needs are, that focus on I and I alone.

I believe Jesus and Isaiah call us to go deeper. To look around and consider our lives as they connect with one another. So we give alms – we give away some of our money to benefit others this Lent – to end the hoarding that we can so easily do for ourselves. And we fast so others might be filled.

But what about prayer? I think of the poem Praying by Mary Oliver

It doesn’t have to be
the blue iris, it could be
weeds in a vacant lot, or a few
small stones; just
pay attention, then patch
a few words together and don’t try
to make them elaborate, this isn’t
a contest but the doorway
into thanks, and a silence in which
another voice may speak.
Our prayers are meant to be simple – but we do need to pay attention, then string a few words together – for prayer is a doorway into giving thanks for our lives and into a silence where the voice of God may speak to us.

Again in the words of Mary Oliver (Summer Day)

I don't know exactly what a prayer is.
I do know how to pay attention, how to fall down
into the grass, how to kneel down in the grass,
how to be idle and blessed, how to stroll through the fields…

Our prayer is to pay attention to our world and offer it to God.

A beautiful fire consumed the dry palm branches into the ashes for today’s service. May such a beautiful fire burn away the chafe and stuff that holds us back from what God wants us to be in God’s creation. So there will be more room in our hearts for love. So that through our prayers, our alms giving and fasting, this Lent we may come to know God more deeply, help others out more readily and find ourselves more free to fly and live.

Don’t forget that you are dust, and to dust you shall return. Amen.

Evolution (Science) Sunday Sermon

ALMIGHTY GOD, Creator and Redeemer of all that is, source and foundation of time and space, matter and energy, life and consciousness: Grant all who live and to those who study the mysteries of your creation, grace to be true witnesses to your glory and faithful stewards of your gifts; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. (adapted from the Society of Ordained Scientists)

“We already had our shot … Jesus himself gave us the flu shot,” said Gloria Copeland, a televangelist. Implying that the faithful don’t need flu shots but to rely on their faith, is one of the oldest misuses of our faith… for if we have enough faith, we can be healed.

Or not have the flu at all.

But knowing a little biology, we know this is not how our world works. It is a grave misunderstanding of science & our faith, especially in a year when the flu has been so deadly, to think we can have faith and the flu will avoid us. I find her comments to be reckless.

I have my flu shot.

There is too often in our society an “us vs. them” mentality, and too often science and religion is depicted as such rivals. I came across these words from Fr. Richard Rohr, a Franciscan Priest, that helps us to move past this rivalry approach. He writes:

“When I was growing up, the common perception was that science and religion were at odds. Now that we are coming to understand the magnificent nature of the cosmos, we’re finding that many of the intuitions of mystics of all religions are paralleled by scientific theories and explanations. All disciplines are just approaching truth from different angles and levels and questions.

It’s easy to imagine the delight Francis of Assisi found by turning skyward. I can picture him filled with wonder at God’s goodness on display: “he often overflowed with amazing, unspeakable joy as he looked at the sun, gazed at the moon, or observed the stars in the sky.” Thomas Aquinas also intuited this deep connection when he wrote, “Any mistake we make about creation will also be a mistake about God.” Inner and outer realities mirror one another.

Ilia Delio, a Franciscan sister and scientist, shares how our view of the universe and God has been evolving. During the Middle Ages, when most Christian theology was developed, the universe was thought to be centered around humans and the Earth. Scientists saw the universe as anthropocentric, unchanging, mechanistic, orderly, predictable, and hierarchical. Christians viewed God, the “Prime Mover,” in much the same way, with the same static and predictable characteristics—omnipotent and omniscient, but not really loving. God was “out there” somewhere, separate from us and the universe. The unique and central message of the Christian religion—incarnation (God with us in our humanity)—was not really taken seriously by most Christians. In fact, our whole salvation plan was largely about getting away from this earth!

Today, we know that the universe is old, large, dynamic, and interconnected. It is about 13.7 billion years old, and some scientists think it could still exist for 100 trillion years. The universe has been expanding since its birth. Our home planet, Earth, far from being the center of the universe, revolves around the Sun, a medium-sized star near the edge of a medium-sized galaxy, the Milky Way, which contains about 200 billion stars. The Milky Way is about 100,000 light years in diameter. Furthermore, it is one of 100 billion galaxies in the universe. We do not appear to be the center of anything. And yet, by faith we trust that we are.

Delio writes: We’re reaching a fork in the road; two paths are diverging on planet Earth, and the one we choose will make all the difference for the life of the planet. Shall we continue our medieval religious practices in a medieval paradigm and mechanistic culture and undergo extinction? Or shall we wake up to this dynamic, evolutionary universe and the rise of consciousness toward an integral wholeness?

We are called to make the paradigm shift to a new cosmology.” [Adapted from Richard Rohr, Eager to Love: The Alternative Way of Francis of Assisi (Franciscan Media: 2014), 169.]

This shift, away from the old into a new way of seeing ourselves as part of God’s creation – an integral wholeness and connection with all that God has made – is tied in how we use science to explore our planet and our universe. It is to see God’s power and glory in renewed ways and one that is connected to us.

We live, move, and have our being in love and through this understanding we are a part of one shared humanity in a new cosmology, a new understanding of our place in the universe.

For the God who brought Elijah up through a whirlwind, to the beautiful and dazzling brightness of Jesus on the holy mountain and the Transfiguration, it is God who calls us to see this power and glory not only in those events & in creation but to see them in our God given gifts too. These gifts that are given to us to use for each other, gifts from the astronomers who explore the universe, to the biologists who explore creation here, to the doctors who save our lives through vaccinations & diagnosis…

This is a true story from The New York Times' "Metropolitan Diary" [July 6, 2015]:

A few minutes after eating lunch one day at a Chelsea restaurant, a man suddenly felt feverish and nauseous. Fearing food poisoning and not wanting to be sick on the subway, he hailed a cab to head for home.

A yellow cab pulled over and the man got in. He immediately called his fiancée to let her know what was going on. After he finished the call, the cab driver, who overheard the conversation, asked, "Excuse me, but what are your symptoms?" Realizing the man's stunned look, the driver reassured him, "Don't worry. I'm a doctor."

The driver explained that he was a physician in his native Pakistan; he was driving a taxi while awaiting his United States residency papers. The doctor-cum-cabbie listened to the man's symptoms, asked the usual doctor-patient questions, and diagnosed gastroenteritis (stomach flu), saving the man a visit to a clinic or ER. It was the first time the New Yorker used the "30 percent tip" option when paying the fare.

A doctor's skill and compassion comes to the fore in a moment of healing. The encounter between the two is a moment of transfiguration. For the Spirit of God dwelling within us enables us to realize our own potential for generosity, compassion and gratitude - and, in the light of Christ's transfiguration, to recognize that same goodness in others.

Like the sick passenger who comes to realize the skill of the physician whose profession is hidden because of legal technicalities, we are challenged as disciples of Jesus not to let fear or doubt repress our own abilities and opportunities to transform hearts and souls in the creation within us and around us. May we be faithful witness to God’s glory and stewards of God’s gifts. Amen.

Thinking about Science & Faith

When I consider how faith and science are connected with each other, these articles come to mind to help us with this:

When Scientists Reflect on their Walk with Jesus

From the Center for Action & Contemplation:

• A New Cosmology 
• Evolution
• Climate Change
• Love at the Heart of the Universe

and some prayers that may be helpful...

Prayers of the People Honoring God in Creation

God of grace and glory, you create and sustain the universe in majesty and beauty: We thank you for [
N. and] all in whom you have planted the desire to know your creation and to explore your work and wisdom. Lead us, like them, to understand better the wonder and mystery of creation; through Christ your eternal Word, through whom all things were made. Amen.

Prayers for the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Games

For the Olympic & Paralympic Winter Games:

Eternal God,
Giver of joy and source of all strength,
we pray for those
who are at the PyeongChang Olympic and the upcoming Paralympic games.
For the competitors and their loved ones,
For the many thousands who will support them,
and who will welcome many people from many nations.
In a world where many are rejected and abused,
we pray for a spirit of tolerance and acceptance,
of humility and respect
and for the health and safety of all.
May we at the last be led towards the love of Christ
who is more than gold, today and for ever. Amen.

God our Creator,
we pray for the Olympic and Paralympic Games.
We give thanks for the thrill of watching them;
and we pray for all who are taking part.
Give them courage and strength,
wisdom and generosity.
We ask this in the name of Jesus Christ,
our teacher and our friend.  Amen.

Gracious God,
we pray for PyeongChang,
welcoming the people of the world to the Games.
We give thanks for its history and
offering a warm embrace to many.
Grant enrichment and friendship and safety
to all who visit and receive hospitality here,
that the world may be sustained
in its journey towards tolerance, understanding and peace.  Amen.

Almighty God,
you created humanity in your image
and delight in our talent, skill and flair:
give us grace to celebrate
the achievements of our fellow men and women.
Give determination and equity to competitors,
gratitude and charm to winners,
grace and mercy to those who do not come in first,
and thankfulness and admiration to observers;
that in all our best efforts
your creation may be glorified. Amen.

Prayers adapted from the 2012 London Games (Church of England).

Prayers on Super Bowl Sunday

Super Bowl Sunday
By Walter Brueggemann
From Prayers for a Privileged People (C)

The world of fast money,
and loud talk,
and much hype is upon us.
We praise huge men whose names will linger only briefly.

We will eat and drink,
and gamble and laugh,
and cheer and hiss,
and marvel and then yawn.

We show up, most of us, for such a circus,
and such an indulgence.
Loud clashing bodies,
violence within rules,
and money and merchandise and music.

And you—today like every day—
you govern and watch and summon;
you are glad when there is joy in the earth,
But you notice our liturgies of disregard and
our litanies of selves made too big,
our fascination with machismo power,
and lust for bodies and for big bucks.

And around you gather today, as every day,
elsewhere uninvited, but noticed acutely by you,
those disabled and gone feeble,
those alone and failed,
those uninvited and shamed.
And you whose gift if more than “super,”
Overflowing, abundant, adequate, all sufficient.

The day of preoccupation with creature comforts writ large.
We pause to be mindful of our creatureliness,
our commonality with all that is small and vulnerable exposed,
your creatures called to obedience and praise.

Give us some distance from the noise,
some reserve about the loud success of the day,
that we may remember that our life consists
not in things we consume
but in neighbors we embrace.

Be our good neighbor that we may practice
your neighborly generosity all through our needy
neighborhood.

A Confessional Prayer -- to be said before watching football games

Most merciful God,
Forgive us for what we are about to do;

For our blood-curdling cries,
Lord, have mercy;
For our lust for violence,
Lord, have mercy;
For our emulation of military conquest,
Lord, have mercy;
For our favor to the strong,
Lord, have mercy;
For our scorn upon the weak,
Lord, have mercy;
For the vengeance which we seek
upon enemies whom we oppose for the most arbitrary of reasons,
Lord, have mercy.

We acknowledge and bewail our mortal sins and weaknesses;
We are troubled by these dark comparisons:
the football stadium and the coliseum;
the fans and the pagan mobs;
the star athletes and the demigods;
the linebackers and the gladiators;
the cheerleaders and the furies;
the commentators and the chorus;
the corporations and the slave owners.

We can only hope that you see, as we do,
that this is only a game;
and that you haven't lost your sense of humor.
Despite appearances to the contrary, our heart remains faithful to you.
Even as we glory in the spectacle of our football enemies
being pounded into the dust, we will strive to remember you.

God, be with those who will taste dirt this day.
Heal those who will be injured;
Console the losers with gratitude for the privilege of having played;
Ennoble the victors with gentle reminders of their mortality;
And show your favor toward all contestants
Who this day will shed their blood and break their bones
for our trivial sakes, AMEN.

Written by The Rev. Matthew Lawrence
This prayer was read over Michigan Public Radio twice: on the day before, and immediately preceding their broadcast of the first game of the Wolverine's 1998-99 season. They lost the game, and the next one too...

Souper Bowl - Prayers of the People & Confession

People: Almighty and most merciful Father, we have erred and strayed from thy ways like lost sheep.

Intercessor: We have strayed from our own responsibilities to families and communities, thinking that we would thus be free.

P: We have followed too much the devices and desires of our own hearts.

I: We have been too sentimental and at the same time have followed too much the logic of our minds; we have built great universities to search our truth, then hidden behind their ivied walls to protect ourselves, from strife and danger.

P: We have offended against thy holy laws.

I: We have allowed our communities and nations to respect selfishness and injustice and have washed our hands of the “due process of law.”

P: We have left undone those things which we ought to have done.

I: We have been irresponsible in our economic life and allowed unrighteousness to hold sway in politics and the struggle for power,

P: And we have done those things which we ought not to have done.

I: We have lived at the expense of our poorer brothers and sisters at home and abroad; we have used the terrible destructiveness of science against our enemies; we have judged others by the languages people speak, the color of their skin, their sex or gender, and their religion.

P: And there is no health in us.

I: There is conflict in the depths of our souls which has driven us into sickness of mind and body,

P: But thou, O Lord, have mercy upon us,

I: We have considered ourselves untainted by the evils of our modern world.

P: Spare thou those, O God, who confess their faults.

I: Be they personal, social, cultural or religious sins,

P: Restore thou those who are penitent.

I: Who would change both themselves and their society,

P: According to thy promises declared unto humankind in Christ Jesus our Lord.

I: Through whom together we are raised up into thy kingdom on earth and in heaven.

P: And grant, O most merciful Father, for his sake, that we may hereafter live a godly, righteous & sober life,

I: Ordered by thy law and freed by thy grace,

P: To the glory of thy holy name. Amen.

I: We offer in prayer today… (Rev. Kurt will add names & end with a prayer)

[Adapted from The Wideness of God's Mercy]

Souper Bowl Sunday Sermon

Almighty God, whose Son Jesus Christ gives to the world living water from the well springs of salvation: as we seek to follow in his footsteps, so may we work together for that day when all your children may drink the water of life from clean pipes, water tank and cistern as well as from altar and pulpit; and share the good gifts you have given us for the benefit of our brothers and sisters everywhere; as we come together as one family under heaven, for the sake of the same Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. (Rev. Canon Michael Hampel)

On this Souper Bowl of Caring Sunday, as we enjoy a football game this night (& so not to be divisive, I said no to a few hymns like “On Eagles Wings” and one that says “O beautiful, for patriot dreams” & even “drop kick me Jesus thru the goalposts of life”), we are reminded today that in our society and world there are those who don’t have enough money for a cup of soup, those who are trafficked for sex, and in too many homes there will be violence and strife.

For some communities, like Flint (MI), Cape Town (SA), Puerto Rico - clean, fresh, water is also the issue…

In Flint, MI, the water might have been changed back from the untreated source that damaged the water lines, leaching lead & other chemicals into the drinking supply, but nearly 12,000 pipes still need to be changed, a process that will go on for two more years. That’s why we are again supporting St. Paul’s in Flint and their flint water relief.

In today's Gospel, we read that Jesus grasped the hand of Simon's mother-in-law and helped her up. The Greek verb in the original text literally means "he raised her up." The same word is used of Jesus at the resurrection – he is raised.

How do we raise others up? How do we bring to others new life? We have helped with water – Magumeto, Mozambique – a well & solar pump for the village so they didn’t have to walk 5 km to retrieve it from a local river. We have helped Flint too.

But for the Gospel of Mark, the healing in this story is not only a matter of a fever departing for Peter’s mother in law; it’s also a matter of restoration to community and the mom serves Jesus out of gratefulness. Sometimes it’s not water they need but a fresh clean start to life & restoration to community…

The way to Ender's Island off Mystic, Connecticut, is a tiny one-lane bridge. But for the teens and young adults whose lives have been wrecked by drugs and alcohol, who have left behind a trail of betrayal and defeat, of hopelessness and paralyzing fear, it's nothing less than the passage of a lifetime.

On the other side of that bridge, they are met by Father Tom Hoar. He asks a simple question: "Have you had enough?"

It's a question he had to confront a long time ago. Now it's a question that he helps others answer, step by step, day by day.

"I'm grateful for God's blessing in my life and in the life of the folks who come across that causeway," Father Hoar says. "Because people who come across that causeway are looking for hope."

Hope has been the heart of Father Hoar's ministry for nearly 40 years. Father Tom is president of St. Edmund's Retreat, a place of refuge for those suffering the carnage of the nation's opioid and alcohol addiction crisis Father Tom knows what they are going through. He was there himself once.

"I never felt good enough," he remembers. "Never smart enough . . . Even though I excelled in school, internally I never felt good enough. And you see that in many alcoholics and addicts. I could preach a great sermon on how much God loved you. I wasn't always sure he loved me. Even though I achieved, I lived in fear."

And he developed a taste for good wine, top-shelf whiskey, fine cognac. It caught up with him in October 1989 at the college where he was serving as campus minister. He was alone, drinking in his room, when a fire broke out a mile down the road. He was the fire department chaplain, so he answered the alarm. When he arrived, he was confronted by both the dean of students and the fire chief: "Have you been drinking?"

Father Hoar denied it: "No, no . . . I went out to dinner and had some drinks."

He made his way home through the flashing red and blue lights. When he got home, he looked in the mirror and took stock: "I said what the [expletive] am I doing? And that was my last drink."

At Ender's Island he set up a recovery residence for college-aged men. Those who walk the bridge typically stay for three to 12 months of post-treatment recovery and counseling. They develop personal and social skills and sketch educational and life goals. More than 70 percent - a remarkable figure - go on to lead productive lives in sobriety.

It's a struggle to keep the program going financially. His board of trustees have told Father Tom that "hope is not a business plan." But Father Tom always finds a way to make it work. Like the small, life-changing miracles that happen every day on that small island that sits next to a spectacular sea. [From "Addicts find an island refuge amid a tempest" by Thomas Farragher, The Boston Globe, November 27, 2017.]

The moment of healing in Mark's Gospel mirrors the dynamic between God and God’s creation, us: God raises us up out of our own despair and illness and hardships, enabling us to make similar miracles of hope happen through our compassion and healing to others.

Through the mercy and peace we experience, we can become bridges like Father Hoar on Ender's Island, enabling others to walk in the light and grace of God, to help bring new life to the broken people and places of our world, in places like Flint, MI & in our own homes & communities.

On this Souper Bowl Sunday, let us not forget the needs that are all around us and endeavor to help raise up those in need of healing & new life, be it ourselves or others. (Go Pats.) Amen.