Our Lady meets Lady Gaga

Luke 1:26-38

In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a town in Galilee called Nazareth, to a virgin engaged to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. The virgin's name was Mary. And he came to her and said, "Greetings, favored one! The Lord is with you." But she was much perplexed by his words and pondered what sort of greeting this might be. The angel said to her, "Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And now, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you will name him Jesus. He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give to him the throne of his ancestor David. He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end." Mary said to the angel, "How can this be, since I am a virgin?" The angel said to her, "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be holy; he will be called Son of God. And now, your relative Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son; and this is the sixth month for her who was said to be barren. For nothing will be impossible with God." Then Mary said, "Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word." Then the angel departed from her.

How many of you have ever heard of Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta? I suspect that most of you probably never even heard the name. What if I told you that she could teach us a thing or two about Mary? Here is something written by Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta:

Click to find out...

That’s right, Stefani Germanotta is none other than Lady Gaga (Here begins your requested Lady Gaga Sermon).

 Those of you who may not know who Lady Gaga is, she is the Queen of Pop. She is the most searched, most googled, and most twittered person alive. If you’re wondering what Twitter is, it has nothing to do with birds. Lady Gaga is shocking, outrageous and unpredictable….she showed up at an awards ceremony wearing a meat suit…with real meat. 

But as strange and outlandish as Lady Gaga might be she reminds us that like Mary, underneath the makeup and glitter and "outrageousness" is an ordinary person called by God to be part of something extraordinary.

Whether we like it or not we serve a shocking, outrageous and unpredictable God that goes well beyond meat suits and over the top incandescent high heels.

You see the thing about Our Lady and Lady Gaga is that God doesn’t often call the powerful and the exceptional God calls the ordinary. Mary was not chosen to be the mother of Jesus because she was special. She was chosen because she was the spitting image of ordinary; A young girl of marriageable age, living an ordinary life in an ordinary town in an ordinary country with nothing to special or exceptional about her. There were probably hundreds of other girls who could easily have taken Mary’s place.

But yet each year around this time we ponder the question; Who is Mary? Depending on your background there are a million different ways to answer that question. Mary is either to be held up as being almost divine or simply the mother of the greatest man that ever lived.  To our culture Mary is by and large a distant figure, silent, immobile, gazing at the manger; plastic. She is there untouchable. We don’t often see her as a real person; we see the image of her that we have created.

When I was growing up we had a little plastic nativity set that was carefully stored away during the year and lovingly unwrapped around Christmas. The figures were nothing special; they were made out of cheap hard plastic with paint. But to me those figures were priceless. I loved the ritual of taking those little figures out and placing them somewhere near our little plastic tree (no Douglas Firs in Barbados). But of all the figures I like Mary the best. The plastic look on her face that conveyed such love and hope and devotion for her little plastic cast son in a manger was endearing and engaging all at the same time.

I have no idea what happened to those plastic figures but they tell a story of how to connect with the Divine. That little blue and white figure of Mary, as plastic as she was made her a real person to me; She was much more than the Mary I knew from the prayers (Some of you can probably recite with me without much thought “Hail Mary full of Grace the Lord is with thee, blessed art thou among women and blessed is the fruit of thy womb. Holy Mary Mother of God pray for us sinners now and in the hour of our death.)My little plastic Mary took her from the realm of being the big, awesome Mother of God and made her human for me.  She was more than the Mary of prayers.

This ordinariness is what makes the Mary’s story so extraordinary. How could someone so common give birth to a child that would change the world? How could a child that would reflect the Divine be born into such ordinary circumstances, grow up under such plain-jane parents, and do such ordinary work (carpentry)? The answer, I believe is simply this: God’s Reign, God’s presence, God’s very self does not come through extraordinary people. God’s vision stands or falls on ordinary people embracing it and living it out in their daily lives.

What was significant about both Mary and her son Jesus was the Reign of God that came into the world through them. This is why Mary’s song never once mentions Jesus. It praises God for the justice and grace, the love and peace that God is bringing into the world through her (See Luke 1:46-55). None of this is intended to deny the unique nature and mission of Jesus. It is simply a challenge for us to recognize that if Jesus’ incarnation was an extraordinary thing, that was done to us, it would have little impact on our lives now.

If Jesus came as some sort of superhero swooping in to save us, then he would have had no need to call anyone to follow him. The Gospels are nothing if not a call to ordinary people to embrace the vision of God that was present in Jesus’ life and to live it out as Jesus did in lives of compassion, grace, love and sacrifice. Scripture is filed with ordinary people going about their lives and together reflecting all the awe, and beauty and hope and joy and peace and grace of an awesome and awe-inspiring God. From Adam right down to YOU God is in the business of calling ordinary people to the work of extraordinary love.

What this means is that Mary was not a unique human being who was uniquely chosen, and who we must simply watch and celebrate. No, Mary is all of us – ordinary, loved and called. We are all visited by God. We are all overshadowed by God’s Spirit. We are all parents of God’s Reign. Which means that it is time to stop waiting for the fantastically and extraordinary to save us. Mary reminds us that it is time for us all to accept the “calledness” of our ordinariness, and begin to give birth to God’s Reign in our own small way. It is time for us all to choose, daily, to bring Christ and the Reign of God that Christ revealed, into our world.

Mary was not extraordinary. Stefani Germanotta is not extraordinary. We are not extraordinary. Beneath the myth of Mary, the makeup of Lady Gaga and the masks we create for ourselves lay the truly ordinary people that God has called by name. It is not the extraordinary people that God needs. The history of God is filled with ordinary people who recognized what God was doing and joined the movement. 

Seeking to be relevant or to matter?

This week's meditation comes in the form of a reblog...yes that is allowed. IN thinking about all that goes on in our world and what happens in our faith the question of the future of the church always comes up. One of the blogs that I follow had the following post around what young peole across all denominations want out of faith. Take a read.

"The young adults I talk to are not looking for easy answers, vague spiritualities, dumbed-down theology, slipshod worship, therapeutic relativism, private faith, or a mono-cultural God. They are desperately searching for a Church that offers an encounter with the Holy that transforms, convicts, inspires, and draws them in.

They are searching for a Church that demands their best. Whether it is in mission, worship, theology, or daily life, they want a Church that is relevant not because it tries to tell them only what they want to hear but because it offers them a vision of the Holy and its transforming power. A Church that reaches for and preaches relevance is a Church that makes itself irrelevant. The quest for relevance is the mark of quiescent extinction.

This does not mean we quietly make our way off to the Grey Havens exiled in our own sense of righteous irrelevance as a new age dawns. It means that questing for relevance, as if it is a goal worth achieving in and of itself, is a sad and tired pursuit. It is not relevance that defines a people, that marks transformational leadership, but passion and purpose. It is passion for God that shines through and marks a Church as Holy, as set aside for God’s use, and as deeply and overwhelmingly relevant.

There is a profound difference between a Church that is “relevant” and a Church that matters. We are relevant only insofar as we offer a way for our believers to have their lives formed to the pattern of Christ’s own life. We are relevant only insofar as we offer cruciform living and it is only in offering that transformation that we matter.

Young people are not looking for the easy path in life. They don’t mind a challenge – it is too often us who fear the challenge. They are not looking for the path of least resistance.

Look at the number of young people Occupying across the country or those joining Teach for America, the Peace Corps, the Episcopal Service Corps, Jesuit Volunteer Corps, Americorp, Lutheran Volunteer Corps, and the countless other service programs out there that call young people to live sacrificial lives in the service of others. These young people are not trying to find an easy path – they are trying to find a path that makes a difference both to themselves and to others.

The Church must honor that deep desire by offering more – by offering them all that we have ever had to offer – the life-changing encounter with Christ. "

The Rev. Robert Hedrickson

Interesting to say the least. What has your experience of church been? Has it been an attempt to be relevant or to matter in the lives of those who would follow Jesus?

Stressing out on Stress...

"Stop the world…I want to get off." The familiar quote from Anthony Newly comes to mind way too often these days. There are so many things going on in the world that is it is hard to figure out sometimes which way is up.

With economic news changing daily, default concerns in Greece and Italy, earthquakes in Turkey and Japan, poverty rates going up in the United States, wars in Iraq and Afghanistan…the list goes on and on. Add to the many things swirling around in the world out there our own personal  crises. It seems sometimes that stopping the world would be a good thing to do.

So what to do when everything seems to be spinning out of control around you? Well for me, when things get stressful and seemingly out of control, creating "sacred space" becomes extremely important. Often in the gospels Jesus "retreats to a quiet place" to escape the demands of his day to day ministry. We are not so much different. If the Son of God needed time away we doubly need time to ourselves.

So a few suggestions on finding or creating your "sacred space".

1. Find a spiritual practice. One of the things that I have done and continue to do is end the day with washing the dishes. I know that that doesn't sound exactly spiritual but trust me it is. Having that quiet time at the end of the day to let my mind go blank and wash the stress of the day way is simply spiritual. It is a time that I can focus on letting go and opening my mind to God's presence. My point is that whether it's washing the dishes or finding a quiet place to meditate, create space in your day to simply be; to commune with your soul and with God.

2. Create something with an end. I have found that doing some activity or project that allows me to see its completion takes me away for a time from stress.  It forces me to focus on one thing and see it to the end. Think of Paul writing all those letters to the baby churches throughout Christendom. Paul knew that the possibility of persecution was around every corner and that he would never see the fruits from the seeds of faith he had planted. How different are we from Paul in our need to see something to its end?

3. Find out what helps you de-stress. When I find myself stressed my house miraculously becomes spotless. Cleaning seems to be a great way for me to let things flow. But find something that allows you to release to God those things over which you have no control.

4. Pray. Need I say more? 

"Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus." -Philippians 4:6-7 

A Case for waiting for Christmas...

Since late September retail shops and department stores have been fahlalalalahing towards Christmas. The Christmas trees, the lights, the ornaments seemed to appear much earlier than usual this year. Even the city I live in, Brighton MI, has already put up their holiday décor along the highways and byways of the city. So ready or not here comes Christmas!

But I would make a case why we as people of faith should wait; why we should put the brakes on the mad dash towards Christmas. Yes I know this is not exactly the most popular of ideas, and I know it’s not going to catch on too soon, but I am an avid believer in keeping Advent the season of light, hope but more of all anticipation.

So here is my case for waiting for Christmas…

1. Anticipation is a good thing. Do you remember what it was like to be a child waiting for a birthday or family visit of Christmas? Your heart pounding, you palms sweating, bouncing off the walls waiting for the right moment. There was something exciting in being a child waiting to see what would come. For Christmas to have any real meaning in our lives we need a good dose of that excitement. The birth of Jesus for us should be a looked-for thing not a mad dash of shopping and busy-making. In Jesus’ birth we see the anticipation of Mary, the angels, the shepherds. We are called to join them in the longing and waiting.

2. In an era of instant everything being able to wait is a blessing. We live in an instant society; instant messaging, texting, fast food, and coffee just to name a few. We loathe having to wait on anything, we want it and we want it now! But the birth of any child involves waiting (ask any mom if you doubt me). No matter how anticipated, needed or wanted the Christ Child was Mary still had to be patient throughout the nine months leading up to his birth. Can we in our modern instant culture learn a lesson from first century peasant girl about the value of waiting…if only for a few weeks?

3. We lose something in jumping to quickly into Christmas. Scarcely had the candy been put away from Halloween before “Forsty the snow man” took up residence in department stores this year (actually his eyes of coal and carrot nose were showing up well before Halloween but who am I to judge). I think we lose something in jumping to quickly to Christmas because we tarnish the luster of the season if we run to it too soon. The lights aren’t as sparkly and the tinsel not as tinselly if we put them up in early September. Don’t get me wrong I LOVE Christmas music and the spirit that the season brings but if we point too much and too quickly to that season by the time Christmas rolls around most of us will be Bahumbuging rather than Merry Christmas-ing.

So in the end this year I plan on holding off on Christmas, at least for a little while. I plan on keeping Advent, spending time with Mary and Joseph and the unborn Jesus. I plan on anticipating and waiting and enjoying the journey because I know that in the end Christ will be born once again into our world and I don’t want to be so burnt out on Christmas that I miss him. 

Why I support the "occupy" movement...

The Rev. Deon K. Johnson

One of my friends from New York called me earlier in the week pretty upset. He lives in New York City and had a chance to go to the "Occupy Wall Street" protest area and was shocked that Trinity Episcopal Church, Wall Street, had opened its doors to the protesters. He could not imagine why a church would welcome those who were protesting and still be "followers of Christ."

"No right Christian would support something like that." I won't repeat what I said in response but it got me thinking about why the Episcopal Church, and me as a priest for that matter, would support the Wall Street protesters.

So here are three reasons why I support the "Occupy" movement…

1. It is what Jesus would have done! Actually it is what Jesus did! Throughout his ministry Jesus continued to put before the authorities of his time the poor, the widows and the marginalized. "Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God. Blessed are you who are hungry now, for you will be filled. Blessed are you who weep now, for you will laugh." Luke 6:20-21

Those who were forgotten by his society were the ones Jesus lifted up as examples of those going into the kingdom of God. From the woman at the well to the man born blind Jesus primary care was for those whom society conveniently forgot or dismissed.

Those who are occupying the different cities throughout the world seek to remind us that there are many marginalized folks that are an inconvenience to our comfortable lives; the poor, those for whom opportunity has been taken away.

2. It is about equity and seeing our lives as being shared. One of the worst concepts that has crept into our society and vocabulary is "self made" or "I did it by myself." There is no such thing as "self made", it takes a community for any of us to achieve success and one of the things that Jesus tried very hard to remind the Scribes and Pharisees (and us for that matter) was that they did not create themselves.  It takes a village to get us where we are and the occupy folks are forcing us to see ourselves not in a vacuum but as an extended web of connection.  In God's view none of us are any better than the other we are equal receivers of divine love. Maybe we need to start living like it.

3. It's about Economic Justice. During a time of cutting back and downsizing, when people have lost their jobs and homes and livelihood it seems odd that a select few would benefit disproportionately while others are losing their shirts (literally).

One of the things that has annoyed me to no end, right here in Michigan, is our State Legislature's  plan to balance the state budget on the livelihood of the poor. Michigan currently pays $5.00 a day in cash assistance to those living below the poverty line. As a way of reducing the state's deficit there is a proposal not only to reduce that amount but to limit the length of the poor's eligibility for such aid, while something as simple as raising the beer tax by $0.05 would practically balance the state budget. [Correction...the Legislature has already passed the reduction of cash assistance measure AND made it retroactive. Almost 25,000.00 children will be kicked off the rolls of assistance in order to balance the state budget. I wonder how long it will take our conservative/fundamentalist sisters and brothers to get to Lansing to start lobbying for the rights of the widows and orphans that no longer receive assistance.]

As Christians we are to be champions on the side of the poor. The occupy folks remind us that we are to be the ones fighting for their cause because in the poor we encounter none other than Jesus himself. "Come, you that are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world; for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me."

We are called to witness in the tradition of Jesus to inequities in society and maybe for just that reason alone I support the "Occupy" movement. 

IMAGINE: Mission

By Jenny Ritter

IMAGINE: Mission

Good Morning. My name is Jenny Ritter, and I am your Parish Coordinator, and Co-Director of Christian Education and Formation. I was asked by the Stewardship Team, to spend some time reflecting on the M in imagine… “Mission”, and then share my thoughts with you.

Where do I begin? The word “mission” can lead you in many different directions. What we “Do” on our own and what we “Do” as a whole… as the members of St. Paul’s.

Everyone has a “Mission”; we are all called into the “Mission” of God in particular ways.

What area in the community do you feel called to serve?

Feeding the hungry? Do you help with the Fish & Loaves program, or with Gleaners?

Are you called to prayer? Are you a member of the DOK or Prayer Chain?

What about the Homeless and forgotten? Have you volunteered with the R.E.A.C.H. program?

Do you “Sing out you Soul” in the Choir, teach Sunday school, or lend you neighbor or stranger a helping hand?

Were you a LACASA angel, helping women and children in need? Or are you called to bring the Good News of Christ to the Lonely, Sick, and the Poor?

Have you taken communion to the sick and shut-in? Set the Altar, worked at a Boutique, English Tea, or Art fair to help those in need?

Served on the Vestry, participated in Service and Outreach projects, Search Committees, or Strategic Planning? As we work towards the future together.

Shoveled the snow, painted, swept, planted a garden, donated money to help with Building and Grounds or hosted a “Coffee Hour”? So that St. Paul’s would be a place of welcome, and hospitality, to all who walk through our doors.

St. Paul’s is a Parish that has continued to serve not only its members but the community that surrounds us, and then some.

The good news for us is that we are not alone in this “Mission”. We have the Holy Spirit guiding us, comforting us, empowering us.

And we have each other, and the Church, and together, participating, resourcing, networking, and supporting each other, we can continue to live into the “Mission” of the church.

Jesus tells the eleven disciples in the “Great Commission” in Matthew 28, to “Go” – go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.

I am with you always…

The people of St. Paul’s have been answering this call for over 130years.

“Joyfully growing, giving, and serving in all ways in Christ.”

As we continue to grow Spiritually, and in community, let us remember not only our personal "Missions”, but how we as a member of the Household of God, can continue to serve in all ways, and to never be afraid, for God is with us Always.

Imagine...identity

Jeff Ellison is a member of St. Paul's Episcopal Church. 

For the stewardship campaign this year, the stewardship team is asking each of us – you, me – to imagine who you want to be in your spiritual life and what it is you hope for St. Paul’s future.  What is it to imagine?  I think of imagining as looking at the world and seeing it differently than it is now.  It is hope for the future (“What would it be like if – ?”), and it also fills in things we don’t know with what we imagine them to be.  So the word “imagine” will be the topic to ponder this year.  And we’ll do it in a unique way.  We’ll look at the word “imagine” – seven letters – as an acronym that stands for seven different words.  Each Sunday, one of us – today, it’s me – will share a few things on one of the words in that acronym.  The first “I” word in “imagine” is “identity.”

So what is my identity?  How do I identify myself?  How do I imagine myself to be?  This is not something I think about often (or perhaps ever, in the conscious, deliberate way I have since being asked to speak on this).  But pondering it, the things that come easily to mind are what I am to others: I’m a father to my boys and a son to my mother.  I’m a brother.  I’m a friend and occasionally a best friend.  How I relate to others is part of my identity.  It adds to my concept of self, of who I am and who I imagine myself to be.

Part of my identity – of who I am – includes how I imagine God and how I imagine my relationship with God.  That relationship with God brings me here, to St. Paul’s.  Every one of us has a story of how we found this place.  For some, we were brought by our parents or by a friend.  For others (I count myself in this group), we just found it, this small building, sitting on a hill, that a town grew up around; I walked into this place out of curiosity, to see what goes on here, asking how is God present in this place. 

In your personal story, the reason you came here may merely be interesting history.  The person who brought or invited you may have passed away or moved on.  But you’re still here.  This reminds me of the story of Ruth, who when her husband died, was urged by her mother-in-law to go back to her own people.  But Ruth said no.  She told her mother-in-law: don’t ask me to leave you.  “For wherever you go, I will go; And wherever you lodge, I will lodge; Your people shall be my people, and your God, my God.”  Ruth claimed as part of her identity the community she had married into, even though her husband – the one who brought her to that community – was gone. 

In the same way, we are part of St. Paul’s – it is part of our identity – even though the reason we first came through that door is not what brings us here today.  For instance, I am here not because St. Paul’s is a small building on a hill, although it is that.  I’m here searching for God and, in blessed moments, finding God.

What brought you here?  How is St. Paul’s part of your identity?  How do you look for God – how do you find God – here?

The Holiness of God

The Burning bush...

DAYS PASS and the years vanish, and we walk sightless among miracles.
God, fill our eyes with seeing and our minds with knowing;
let there be moments when Your presence, like lightning,
illumines the darkness in which we walk.
Help us to see, wherever we gaze, that the bush burns unconsumed.
And we, clay touched by God, will reach out for holiness,
and exclaim it in wonder:
How filled with awe is this place, and we did not know it!
Blessed is the Eternal One, the Holy God!

It is sometimes hard to see the awe, the burning bushes along the way sometimes. We now more than ever find it hard to trust that God will be there when we need God’s providence and presence that most. But time and time again God is there when we need God most. That was true for the people of Israel and it is true for us. Even when we complain, when we grumble and long for the way things used to be God reminds us that as we travel through the wilderness, with hunger and thirst, plagued by scorching sun and stinging insects, with all the calamities and trials of life, we are assured that God will be with us.

Beyond September 11th

Towers of Light in New York City

Speech given by The Rev. Deon Johnson  on September 11, 2011 at the Dedication of the City of Brighton's 9/11 Memorial

On a clear crisp day in September the world was turned upside down. Against the back drop of an unusually cloudless and warm day the unimaginable happened.  I was beginning my second year of seminary and started my morning on the subway, headed to St. Paul’s Chapel for an interview. As I came up from the subway the usual bustle of Manhattan seemed muted and as I got to the top of the subway stairs almost everyone was looking up. Smoke was coming from one of the World Trade Center towers. It all seemed unreal. My first thought was that a movie was being filmed, something that happens often in NYC, until I heard the sound of an airplane.  I watched in silence as the second plane crashed into the second tower of the World Trade Center, continuing to think that it was all part of a movie.

The realization that this was not some elaborate special effect hit home when pieces of the World Trade Center tower came raining down. All I could do was jump into a cab and make my way back to the seminary all the while listening to the commentary on the radio. As I arrived outside the seminary I remember hearing the bells, tolling a slow mournful toll, calling us to prayer. In the seminary chapel I joined my classmates in prayers for the nation and for the people on the planes and in the towers. Afterwards we made our way to the Westside highway, which looks directly down towards the World Trade Center and the Statue of Liberty. We stood there as those towers collapsed.

The next day I was dispatched to Ground Zero with the rest of my seminary classmates to be chaplains to the first responders and to offer care to the families of those missing. I spent a week praying, comforting, talking and trying to make sense out of all that happened on September 11, 2001.

September 11^th 2001 is forever etched into the fabric of our common history as a day of tragedy and loss. But September 12^th is a day of shared unity and common cause. On September 12^th we were at our best, living fully into the ideal of being the shining beacon on the hill that our forefathers and mothers envisioned.

One of the images that stuck with me from the days following September 11^th was the hundreds of fire trucks, ambulances, police cruisers and other emergency vehicles lining the Westside Highway in New York City for miles. Vehicles from almost every state showing the unity found in common cause.

I spent September 12^th and after praying with those who rushed in to collapsing buildings, praying over remains that were recovered, but most of all seeing the best of who we are as many different people united as one.

It is that sense of unity, of purpose, of hope that enveloped New York City in the days afterwards that is our focus on this 10^th anniversary.  We are a nation comprised of people of many faiths and differing beliefs, but we all look to a God who calls us to hope.

On September  12^th we lived more fully into that hope that unity brings. If we dwell too much on the pain, the fear and the resentment of September 11^th and let them be a cause of division and discord then we dishonor the lives of those who died on that day.  If we dwell on what happened in NYC and Washington DC and Pennsylvania, and we use it as an occasion of separation, disconnection and conflict with each other, then those who would insight terror would have won, they would have fulfilled their cause in making us fear each other and to turn our hope into despair.

Let us instead live into the best of September 12^th while commemorating those horrific acts of September 11^th.  On this 10^th anniversary let each one of us be a testament that we as Americans, called from differences, can be the best of who we claim to be. Let us live the words of the motto of this great nation, e pluribus unum –from many one.

I will never forget that day that changed my life and has influenced my ministry and my call as an Episcopal priest. I will remember those who lost their lives, those who rushed in when instinct said run away, I will reflect always on the events of that faithful day and strive once more for the sense of unity and hope that September 12^th inspired in us all and I ask you to join me in that journey, that together we can be one united people. 

Therefore go forth into the world in peace; Be of good courage; Hold fast to that which is good. Render to no one evil for evil. Strengthen the faint hearted. Support the weak. Help the afflicted. Honor everyone. Love and serve the Lord.

And may God continue to richly bless and keep you and those you love, filling you with hope for the journey ahead and may we once more find that common bond that unites us as one.  Thank you and God’s peace. 

What's on your bucket list?

"I don't believe she died!" As I was rounding the corner in the grocery story these five words intrigued

me. Did someone have a sudden illness and died? Was there an accident? All manner of things crossed my mind. Now I went from hearing a passing statement to being an eavesdropper. "She was only 98, I can't believe she's gone." I almost didn't hear anything past 98. It seemed odd to me that there would be surprise around the death of a 98year old.

Mind you I know people live w

ell pass 100 these days but still. It made me think of how our culture treats death. We live in a society that tells us in subtle (and not so subtle) ways that we will live forever. Turn on the television on any given night and there are commercials for everything from facial cream to luxury cars that proclaim that by owning them we will somehow live forever.

But we know deep down that death is a part of life. We know that we too will one day shuffle off the mortal coil. And yet we deny. As Christians we are well aware that death is a part of life. We do not fear death (or at least we shouldn't), but yet we live our lives in many ways as if we will never face death.

In the movie The Bucket List the main characters decide to live out their dreams once they realize that they are dying. They live their lives as if every day was a wonderful gift with a new adventure around every turn. They became nicer and more loving, valued the people they loved as they tried to truly live each of their last remaining days. I have to wonder if that isn't our call as Christians.

We know that we will eventually die, but do we really live? Does it take a life threatening event or illness to get our attention that "life is short and we do not have much time to gladden the hearts of those we love or those who travel this way with us?"

We cannot deny death but we can live the life that God has given us.

2 Corinthians 4:16--5:8

We do not lose heart. Even though our outer nature is wasting away, our inner nature is being renewed day by day. For this slight momentary affliction is preparing us for an eternal weight of glory beyond all measure, because we look not at what can be seen but at what cannot be seen; for what can be seen is temporary, but what cannot be seen is eternal. For we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. For in this tent we groan, longing to be clothed with our heavenly dwelling-- if indeed, when we have taken it off we will not be found naked. For while we are still in this tent, we groan under our burden, because we wish not to be unclothed but to be further clothed, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life. He who has prepared us for this very thing is God, who has given us the Spirit as a guarantee.

Internetting God....

This past week the internet went out at our offices. For almost three days we had no connection to the world wide web or anything that goes with being online. This was not a week to be internet-less; three services, a major wedding, multiple meetings and messy church, not to mention getting our regular office work done. Needless to say it was a frantic week.

But being without the internet, a setback though it was, was a much needed deep breath in an otherwise busy-making summer schedule. I found myself outside watering the plants, catching up on some much needed reading and getting around to making a parish video that I have been putting off for a while (that video can be viewed here). Looking back at those three days of not being "connected" I think I was even more connected, connected to my immediate surroundings and the things that have been left to temporary neglect.

I don't want to say or suggest that God caused our internet to go out, God has more important things to do than fry our router, but it was a God given opportunity to realize that sometimes the things most important are not always out there somewhere but right in front of your face.

In reflecting on this past week I thought of the many times in the Bible that God had to get the attention of someone called to ministry. God often has to get our attention and it is not usually with lightening or burning bushes but in simple, subtle ways.

How many subtle nudges from God do we miss in our drive to be productive? In the age of smart phones, ipads and wireless everything how difficult would it be for us to disconnect from these devices and listen for the voice of God? At the risk of being accused of being anti-technology I suggest a time to "disconnected".

With luck, my goal is to take Thursday afternoons as my "technology blackout". To take time to turn off the computer, put away my phone and to listen to where God is calling.

I invite you to take some time to let the technology rest. You may find yourself surprised.

‘Do not fear, for I am with you; do not anxiously look about you, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, surely I will help you, surely I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.’ Isaiah 41:10

Finding God in Tomatoes

I have to begin with a confession: I do not like tomatoes. I don't mean I tolerate, or if given the choice of eating tomatoes or not I just choose not to eat them, I mean I go out of my way to avoid anything that remotely looks like a tomato! I have a healthy dislike for tomatoes!

Having said that this summer I planted an organic garden in my limited backyard for the first time to get my hands dirty. This was not a difficult task since Home Depot sells a "grow kit" with instructions no less. So I diligently followed the instructions, connecting part A

to part B and screwing in part C. etc. I even bought seedlings that came with instructions: plant x inches apart, water daily, provide lots of sun. Tomatoes were on sale and I know they are a staple of any garden, even though I don't like them one bit. But into the ground they went. I thought I did a pretty good job.

Until the tomatoes started growing, and growing and growing some more. I realized that my tomato plants were mutants, the flora version of the Frankenstein monster! They took over the garden! The little tomato plants that were supposed to be no higher than 24" are twice that size. The poor egg plant, pepper, rosemary and oregano plants are barely hanging on with the little space they have left. And it would appear that ever branch of the tomato plant (bush? tree? shrub? not sure) has blossomed, so instead of a few tomatoes that I could pawn off to a few friends I can possibly start my own pasta sauce cannery.

I expected a few tomatoes, I got a few hundred tomatoes (well not yet but soon enough). So you are wondering where is God in all this? Well I suspect that God is a lot like my mutant tomato plants. We expect just enough from God but instead we are richly blessed with more

than we can conceive. I find that God shows up in the unexpected and God is always surprising me in ways I would never imagine.

If only we as people of faith could be a lot more like my tomatoes, surprising others with our generosity, with our love, with our abundance. We tend to think that there is always a limited supply but the reality is that with God there is more than enough, much, much, much more than enough.

We serve a God of abundance, not of scarcity, maybe it's time we started living like it.

Care for a tomato?

Matthew 13:1-8 That same day Jesus went out of the house and sat beside the lake. ²Such great crowds gathered around him that he got into a boat and sat there, while the whole crowd stood on the beach. ³And he told them many things in parables, saying: ‘Listen! A sower went out to sow. ⁴And as he sowed, some seeds fell on the path, and the birds came and ate them up. ⁵Other seeds fell on rocky ground, where they did not have much soil, and they sprang up quickly, since they had no depth of soil. ⁶But when the sun rose, they were scorched; and since they had no root, they withered away. ⁷Other seeds fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked them. ⁸Other seeds fell on good soil and brought forth grain, some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty.

Surprising acts of Hospitality

A few years ago while at a dinner party I was introduced to a bunch of people as the evening went along. As with any event like this so many people introduce themselves to you that it is rare that you even remember the name of three of the people present. But there was something different at this party. It was the week before Passover and one of the people I was introduced to was a mother and her two daughters.

They stood out because they invited me to share Passover with them. It was jarring invitation to say the least, since I didn't really know them and they had just met me and yet here she was inviting me to join her and her family at table. It was a surprising act of hospitality.

At the heart of who we are as people of faith is hospitality. Surprising acts of hospitality define who we are as Christians and help remind us that we belong. We so often think of hospitality as little more than entertaining guests – family, friends, and sometimes, strangers. We prepare food , clean our homes and issue invitations, as a way of sharing our hearth and home with others. Sometimes we’re blessed and filled by those to whom we’ve shown hospitality, and sometimes we just wish they would go home.

Offering hospitality can be both energizing and draining, depending on our mood, the personality of the guests, and the degree of perfection we try to achieve in what we offer. At its foundation, we know that hospitality is simply welcoming others into our space and sharing the simple things of food and conversation with them. But surprising acts of hospitality are more than just food and conversation, it is about being vulnerable as the host and a sense of belonging as the guest. Jesus in his ministry often showed the least in society that they belonged to the kingdom around food, but it wasn't the food it was the feeling that endeared them to Jesus. That same thing draws us to him 2000+ years later.

We all want to be belong. If we simply remember how we felt when someone opened their heart to us, it won’t be so difficult to do it for someone else.

P.S. I did go to the Passover meal and had a wonderful time, along with making three new friends.

Let mutual love continue. Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by doing that some have entertained angels without knowing it.
-Hebrews 13:1-2

Taking time for Time...

Last week I had lunch with a friend of mine who lives “the fast paced life”. We had to schedule our lunch almost three months out just to get it on his calendar and make time to nourish our friendship.

One of the first things that we talk about whenever we get together for lunch (or for any function for that matter) is how busy our lives have become. He said to me while the warm rolls arrived at our table, “you know I didn't grow up thinking that one of these days I’d have no time to do much of anything.”

It sounded like the lament of modern life, there is just not enough time to do the things that truly give us life. I thought a moment about what he said and found myself saying something along the lines of, “It’s your time, do what you need to do with it.”

The second those words came out of my mouth I realized I was talking to myself more than I was to my lunch companion. I thought of my calendar and how quickly it can fill up with the obligations of my vocation. How quickly I can get overwhelmed with needing to reply, respond and act on everything that comes across my desk and every invitation to engage. But in the end I am the one in charge of my time and my calendar.

We live in a busy world and often we feel pulled in seven different directions ten times a day, all this before lunch. But God calls us to make time, not just time for our friends and families but make time for ourselves and our souls to commune with God. How daring would it be if we actually scheduled that time in our blackberrys and smart phones. Would we look at the blocked out 1/2hour or hour that says “God time” on our calendars and decide that it’s expendable in favor of a meeting or an errand? Would we actually keep that appointment?

If we are so driven by our calendars and the hands of the clock maybe we do need to put “God time” on our calendars as a regular appointment, I know I will going forward. Try it! See what happens.

Ecclesiastes 3:1-11 A Time for Everything

1 There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens: 2 a time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot, 3 a time to kill and a time to heal, a time to tear down and a time to build, 4 a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance, 5 a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them, a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing, 6 a time to search and a time to give up, a time to keep and a time to throw away, 7 a time to tear and a time to mend, a time to be silent and a time to speak, 8 a time to love and a time to hate, a time for war and a time for peace. 9 What do workers gain from their toil? 10 I have seen the burden God has laid on the human race. 11 He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end.

God is out there...

Ever since Adam and Eve drew their first breaths God has been trying to get our attention. And more often than not whenever we stop running from God and experience God's love in a profound way we seek to enshrine that experience. The "gathering of stones" to commemorate the places where we met God are scattered throughout history and the world. But like any gathering of stones we cannot encapsulate God no matter how hard we try.

I remember my childhood church. The doors were always open, night or day. I didn't even know as a child if the doors even had locks, but I suspect that they did. But that church was alive in many ways, not just in the people but in the space. My childhood church was a "pass through", it was a place that you went through on your way to some other destination. I suspect that when we lose that sense that our places of worship are pass throughs we lose a sense that God is encountered and worshiped not in a church building but in leaving that building.

Our places of worship are not destinations where go to find God, but rather they are way stations, pass throughs where we stop for a time as part of the journey with God. God isn’t enshrined in our buildings, God is a nomad, a wanderer, a holy hobo who travels daily with us, our Church buildings are simply “sacred places” where we have communally experienced a closeness to the Divine. Like our biblical ancestors erected stones at important encounter points in their traveling so too are our church buildings. They must speak of a God who is on the move, who wanderers, who journeys not some domesticated geriatric God confined to a sacred nursing hoping for an occasional visit from the too busy family.

When we seek to encounter God as we go out into the world we are better able to allow ourselves to be pursued and found by the living God.

Thus says the LORD: "Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool; what is the house that you would build for me, and what is the place of my rest? All these things my hand has made, and so all these things came to be, declares the LORD. But this is the one to whom I will look: he who is humble and contrite in spirit and trembles at my word." (Isaiah 66:1,2; ESV)

Don't worry...

Matthew 6:24-34

Jesus said, "No one can serve two masters; for a slave will either hate the one and love the other, or be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth. "Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air; they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And can any of you by worrying add a single hour to your span of life? And why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not clothed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you-- you of little faith? Therefore do not worry, saying, `What will we eat?' or `What will we drink?' or `What will we wear?' For it is the Gentiles who strive for all these things; and indeed your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But strive first for the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. "So do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring worries of its own. Today's trouble is enough for today."

In September 1988 a song hit the Billboard Chart’s top 100 list and stayed there for a solid two weeks. The song went on to win the 1989 Grammy Awards for Song of the Year, Record of the Year and Best Male Pop Vocals. It was a song unique in many ways but particularly for the a cappella singing and the simple message it told.

Bobby McFerrin’s “Don’t worry, be happy.”

It just makes you want to kick off your shoes, put up your feet and toss your cares out the door doesn’t it? Don’t worry be happy sounds easy enough when you put it to a nice Caribbean beat that you can dance to. But actually living that simple message is far from easy.

Jesus in our Gospel tells us just as simply as McFerrin’s song “Do not worry…”

We live in an incredibly worry filled culture. No matter what we do we can’t seem to escape the worries of the world. We worry so much that worry has become a commodity that sells. The evening news certainly depends upon worries at home and abroad to attract our attention. Commercials are constantly inviting us to worry about one more thing that can be solved by buy what they are selling. I mean really how many of us worry about if our cheese comes from happy cows or not and yet worry sells happy cow cheese.

What Jesus is calling us to do is to live in God's moment, live in the present, enjoy the wonderful things that the God of abundance has given us. Wealth and money are not bad things according to Jesus, but when they become idols, when they become the measure of who we are we are crippled by worry of how to hold on to what little we think we have.

But you know the thing is we serve a God who believes in abundance. We might sometimes like to think that God’s grace and love can only go so far. Bu think about your family, once you get a new member in the family, a new child, a new dog, we don’t love the people we had before any less, our love simply grows to be enough for the new. The same is true of God.

We falsely believe sometimes that our stuff will make us happy. That if we could only get enough money in the bank, enough stored up, if we could just get a little bit more we will be happy. But the truth is all the money, fame and notoriety in the world does not save us from worry and certainly does not make us happy.

As simplistic as it may seem, as unrealistic as Jesus’ command to not worry may be, he is right. God loves us infinitely, cares for us unconditionally and accepts us joyfully. When we start letting the things of our lives take the place of God we simply find new avenues of worry. So invite you this week to look at all you have, look at the stuff, the wealth, look at your family and friends and ask yourself where do you see God’s abundance most. I suspect you will find it in the places you are most love.