Morning Devotion with Julian of Norwich

I shared this story from "Revelations of Divine Love" with the teen campers this morning:

He showed me a little thing, the size of a hazelnut, in the palm of my hand, and it was round as a ball. I looked at it with my mind’s eye and I thought, “What can this be?” And the answer came, “It is all that is made.” I marveled that it could last for I thought it might have crumbled to nothing, it was so small. And the answer came into my mind, “It lasts and ever shall because God loves it.” And all things have being through the love of God. In this little thing I saw three truths. The first is that God made it. The second is that God loves it. The third is that God looks after it. What is he indeed that is maker and love and keeper? I cannot find words to tell.

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Location:Camp Washington

Camp Washington

I leave for Camp Washington tomorrow to be the chaplain for Teen Week!




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Location:Lakeside, CT

Out of the Box - Sermon on the Green

The Rev. Paul Bryant-Smith, UCC

Watching the Olympics - Ryan Hall

There was a story in the Sports section of the NY Times last week about a marathon runner whose coach is "God."  I liked the story as it gave glimpse into the world of a marathon runner and one who also belives mightily in God.  He also seems like a well grounded young man!

Ryan Hall rocked slightly, palms up, closing his eyes or singing softly to lyrics projected on giant screens at the evangelical Bethel Church. Other worshipers jubilantly raised their arms and swayed and jumped in the aisles. A band played onstage and a woman waved a fabric flag like a rhythmic gymnast.

Thin and blond and boyish at 29 — flight attendants still asked his age when he sat in an exit row — Hall wore jeans and a blue shirt labeled with the shoe company that sponsored his running. At the 2011 Boston Marathon, he ran a personal best of 2 hours 4 minutes 58 seconds. No other American has run faster.

The Boston course is not certified for record purposes because of its drop in elevation and its layout. Still, of the 29 fastest marathon performances in 2011, Hall’s was the only one by a runner from a country other than Kenya or Ethiopia. His next marathon will come Aug. 12 at the London Olympics. On a Sunday in March, Hall firmly believed he could challenge the East Africans for a gold medal.

“Light a fire in me for the whole world to see,” he sang.

Go Ryan! (Chariots of Fire Theme Music) 
You can read the whole article here:  A Runner’s Belief: God Is His Coach By JERÉ LONGMAN (NY Times)

July 15 Sermon

“There's no such thing as a free lunch.”

A phrase that dates back at least 80 years but hints to a practice when free lunches were offered to entice the consumer to come into the saloon in the 19th century. Those free lunches would be very salty and the consumer would then purchase the drinks. “There's no such thing as a free lunch.” We’ve come to understand that you can’t get something for nothing, there is always a cost.

John the Baptizer appeared in the wilderness, baptizing many, proclaiming a message of repentance. He was certainly noticed by the authorities. He did his ministry by the Jordan until he proclaimed the King’s marriage was not right. The King had him arrested.

As he sat in prison, after he had spoken against the King and his new wife, did he know his fate? Did he think he would he be released?

I suspect he knew he would not get out. That his truthful words had so unnerved them, that he would pay the price… and Heordias the wife got her wish, and John the Baptizer died.

John stuck to his belief and his message… repent, even as he must of known that it might end his life. His story is a foreshadowing in the Gospel of what would happen to Jesus. It is also a story that we see in the lives of others, there is a price for faithfulness…

In the spring of 1939, 47-year-old Paul Gruninger was a police officer in St. Gallen, a picturesque Swiss town near the Austrian border. Gruninger was quiet, church-going, non-confrontational, conservative. He had served with the Swiss Army in World War I, obtained his teaching degree and settled into a position at an elementary school where he met Alice Federer, a fellow teacher. They married and began a family.

At the urging of his wife and his mother, Gruninger applied for a better-paying position with the police department. The job was largely administrative, involving completing reports and arranging security for visiting officials. Or so it seemed.

But one morning in April 1939, Gruninger went to his office to find his entry blocked by a uniformed officer. "Sir, you no longer have the right to enter these premises," he was told. His credentials were taken from him; he was ordered to return his uniform. An investigation had discovered that Gruninger was secretly altering the documents of Jews fleeing Austria for safety in Switzerland. When the Nazis came to power in neighboring Austria, Austrian Jews headed to the Swiss border. To avoid confrontation with the Nazis, Swiss police were directed to deny the Jews entry - but Officer Gruninger would make minor alterations in their passports to allow them to enter safely. A few strokes of Gruninger's pen saved hundreds of lives. It was a small action but one of great personal risk.

And Paul Gruninger paid the price. He was dismissed from his position. Charges were filed against him. False rumors circulated that Gruninger had demanded money and favors from those he helped. Shunned by his neighbors, Gruninger peddled raincoats, greeting cards and even animal feed until he died, broke and disgraced, in 1972.

Gruninger was an unassuming man whose faith and family were formed in a world in which anyone who saw what he saw, "the heart-breaking scenes . . . the screaming and the crying of mothers and children . . . could not bear it anymore . . . [and] could do nothing else."

Paul and Alice were buried together near St. Gallen. A plaque was placed on the grave. It read: Paul Gruninger saved hundreds of refugees in 1938-1939. At his funeral, a rabbi read from the Talmud: "He who saves a single life, saves the entire world.” From Beautiful Souls: Saying No, Breaking Ranks, and Heeding the Voice of Conscience in Dark Times by Eyal Press.

Paul Gruninger, a righteous gentile, put aside the safe convention of his life for the sake of others, and like John the Baptist, was a prophet who proclaimed the reign of God by his actions, and it would cost him dearly but he lived as faithfully as he could.

As Dietrcih Bonehoeffer put it, “Being a Christan is less about cautiously avoiding sin than about courageously and actively doing God's will.” There's no such thing as a free lunch – our faith life is meant to be lived out!

May we possess their courage and righteousness to be prophets of the light of Christ when darkness threatens to snuff that light out in our own time and place. May we follow through in our faith, knowing we too must live and serve like John the Baptist & Paul Gruninger, not knowing what it may cost us, but be willing to pay the price. Amen.

Standing in the Silence

After hearing about the tragedy in Aurora, CO, the internet has been filled with commentary, thoughts, prayers and lots of emotion. Too much has been spent on our own feelings and too little on those most affected by this event.

One of the best responses I have seen is from the Huffington Post in an article called, "Reacting Faithfully to the Colorado Shootings."

In it, Paul Brandeis Raushenbush, Senior Religion Editor, says

The faithful response is to hold a vigil. The reason why it is so important to stay silent and be still in the immediate aftermath of tragedy is that if we respond or answer too soon we do not honor those victims who have died, and those who continue to suffer. Instead, our reactions serve the idols of our own agendas and ideas. Our reactions become about us and our egos, and only serve to distract away from the real work of compassion.

Read it all here.

Let me end with another article that was thought provoking, that of Roger Ebert in the NY Times.


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Prayers for Aurora, CO

Prayers this morning for Aurora, Colorado in the wake of the mass shooting at a movie theater:

God our saviour,
we pray with those in Aurora, CO
who are shocked, grieving or in pain.
In your mercy, look on this wounded world,
and hold us closely to your promise of hope
in our Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen

Holy One, you do not distance yourself from the pain of your people, but in Jesus bear that pain with us and bless all who suffer at others' hands. Hallow our flesh and all creation; with your cleansing love bring healing and strength to the victims of this shooting; and by your justice, lift them up, that in the body you have given them, they may again rejoice. Amen

O God our Vindicator, come speedily to our help. Receive the souls of those killed in this act of violence, your children into the arms of your mercy, and deliver their assailant to justice, that your holy Law may be served, and your peace renewed; through Jesus our Savior. Amen

God our strong deliverer; when those charged with the mediation of your healing poer feel overwhelmed by the numbers of the suffering, uphold them in their fatique and banish their despair. Let them see with your eyes, so that they may know all their patients are precious. Give comfort, and renew their energy and compassion, for the sake of Jesus In who in our life and hope. Amen

Ty to Episcopal Cafe.

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