tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-76338418672537565312024-03-19T04:08:31.480-04:00A Positively Poetic PriestPositively Snarky Perhaps... But Always PoeticElizabethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07061454901707205519noreply@blogger.comBlogger756125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7633841867253756531.post-48089921546233760292023-12-25T11:00:00.001-05:002023-12-25T11:00:00.136-05:00God is here for you<p> When I think of lights shining in the darkness that cannot be overcome,</p><div>I always think of starlight.</div><div>Stars are huge burning balls of gaseous mixtures light-years away from us. </div><div>What we see is history written large in the night sky</div><div>and those stars are not overcome by the surrounding darkness of space</div><div>they continue to burn and blaze in relationship with the darkness.</div><div><br /></div><div>The light of the stars unfortunately is hard to see these days because of light pollution.</div><div>With so many outdoor lights - and extremely bright ones with new LED lights</div><div>and plane lights up in the sky</div><div>It means its no longer easy to see starlight</div><div>to know the true starlight from all the rest of the light</div><div>Being able to see the swath of the Milky Way is gone in so many places.</div><div>We have seemingly disconnected ourselves from the rest of the galaxy with too much light</div><div>we drown out the starlight.</div><div><br /></div><div>All too often we do this in many other ways in our lives.</div><div>We listen to so many voices, our families and friends, the newscasters, our favorite podcasters, the radio personalities</div><div>we drown out the voice inside of us, the voice of God in our lives</div><div><br /></div><div>We see so many romantic comedy television shows and movies</div><div>we forget what real romance, what real love is</div><div>We are flooded with so much restaurants and fast food chains</div><div>we have replaced family meals with meals adjacent to our families</div><div>We know what the difference is there.</div><div><br /></div><div>In the 2008 Pixar movie Wall-E, which is even more relevant today than it was when it came out in 2008 and it was pretty relevant then,</div><div>the humans on the space ark haven't experienced human connection or touch in multiple generations. </div><div>They were so taken care of by robots and technology that they had forgotten what it means to be human. </div><div><br /></div><div>Today is Christmas Day, the feast of the Nativity.</div><div>The day when God becomes human</div><div>comes to earth to experience our sense of life and love and reality</div><div>God, the grounding of all existence, the true light and voice in this existence</div><div>comes to be with us in order to deliver a very simple message</div><div>one that we have a hard time hearing</div><div>God loves us</div><div>God loves us</div><div>God loves us</div><div><br /></div><div>As we have grown and advanced in culture and technology and numbers</div><div>we consistently drown out all that God comes to us as</div><div>we drown out God's light with fake lights </div><div>as if there can't be bad things if there is no darkness</div><div>we drown out God's voice with the voices of hundreds of other people</div><div>afraid to listen to the one who might speak to our very souls</div><div>We drown out God's love with imperfect impersonations </div><div>thinking that if enough people follow us or like our pictures</div><div>we don't have to recognize that our hearts long for love in ways we don't understand</div><div>because we were created for God's love</div><div>and no human love is going to fill that space in our lives.</div><div>Only Through knowing that God loves us - personally, each and every one of us</div><div>God loves me and you and you and you -</div><div>can we know the true love we are created for.</div><div><br /></div><div>Today is really a ridiculous day by human standards</div><div>both because of what we celebrate</div><div>and because of how we have mashed up our celebrations.</div><div>We have so crowded up our celebrations with festive gimmicks</div><div>that we cannot see the true light, cannot hear the true voice, cannot feel the true love.</div><div>We celebrate God becoming a little baby boy named Jesus</div><div>in the midst of oppression in Palestine two thousand years ago</div><div>A baby boy whose mission in this world was to give us a very simple message</div><div>God loves us.</div><div><br /></div><div>Today in the midst of all your Christmas celebrations </div><div>Take a moment, perhaps this moment,</div><div>Open your eyes, God's light is for you.</div><div>Open your ears, God is speaking to you.</div><div>Open your heart, God loves you.</div><div>This day, this baby, this celebration</div><div>is for you.</div><div><br /></div>Elizabethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07061454901707205519noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7633841867253756531.post-18350650727733254142023-12-24T09:00:00.001-05:002023-12-24T09:00:00.146-05:00Love is coming for you<p> "Love came down at Christmas</p><div>Love all lovely, Love divine;</div><div>Love was born at Christmas;</div><div>star and angels gave the sign"</div><div><br /></div><div>Christine Rossetti's poem is a lovely one. </div><div>And the hymn is wonderful too.</div><div>A lovely Christmas song for Advent.</div><div><br /></div><div>Christmas is actually not the first manifestation of divine love. </div><div>Christmas is not even the first manifestation of divine love in a person.</div><div>Adam was. </div><div>However, divine love did come into being at Christmas</div><div>as the baby Jesus.</div><div>This is the love waited for</div><div>something understandable and relatable and able to be proved, </div><div>well, as long as you believe Jesus...</div><div>God exists and is present.</div><div><br /></div><div>And yet.</div><div>This is definitely not how we approach Christmas.</div><div>My husband knows how difficult I am to watch Christmas movies with</div><div>because any time a movie starts going into 'the true meaning of Christmas'</div><div>and they don't talk about the salvation of the cosmos from sin and death through love manifest...</div><div>which never happens,</div><div>I will say, you're wrong! to the television.</div><div>Priestly duty and all.</div><div>It is a little disruptive to the Christmas movie watching feel.</div><div>But I still enjoy them anyway. </div><div><br /></div><div>Just as much as I enjoy Nativity sets</div><div>and the wide variety of representation and artistry that goes into them.</div><div>Of course, there are versions that have nothing to do with the Biblical account,</div><div>but sometimes the artistry of a set will draw the eye and mind to something poignant about the story.</div><div>Such as the Peruvian nativity set, seen at our Parish Christmas Party last week.</div><div>The Holy Family are seen perched on top of a refugee bus, among the bags of goods.</div><div>The statement it makes about where God shows up in the world</div><div>where Jesus was born in love</div><div>is particularly telling.</div><div><br /></div><div>Recently, the news publisher, Al-Jerzeera, shared pictures of a nativity set put up in a Lutheran church in Bethlehem, Palestine.</div><div>They created their nativity scene in the church in the midst of rubble saying that if Jesus was born today he would be born in the midst of rubble and shelling. </div><div>And the reality of that is so painful, so true, so indicative of our world today.</div><div><br /></div><div>There is nothing about children being born in the midst of rubble and shelling that is happy,</div><div>but this reality is Awe Inspiring because God, the perfect part of existence, is still willing to come into this world at all. </div><div>If God was going to come to earth as a baby right now, </div><div>it might be again in Palestine, in Bethlehem or Gaza City</div><div>certainly we know babies have been born in the last three months</div><div>in the hospital there and in hostage situations.</div><div>God is in the midst of those moments.</div><div>God is still coming into the world in the midst of rubble</div><div>in the midst of ongoing climate crisis</div><div>in the midst of traumatic tragedy.</div><div>God comes to tell us we are so loved, so so loved</div><div>that even when we are destroying ourselves</div><div>physically, mentally, emotionally, economically</div><div>God is still willing to show up and take us by the hand.</div><div><br /></div><div>The theme for the fourth week of Advent is love.</div><div>Tomorrow the theme is light.</div><div>Today, the fourth Sunday of Advent,</div><div>is all about love.</div><div>And while love is never mentioned in the Bible passages today,</div><div>it is definitely there. </div><div><br /></div><div>What love it is to show up in the crowded smelly places of this world to be with certain people</div><div>If you have a choice between a party at a big fancy house with the rich and powerful</div><div>or the crowded tenement housing apartment with questionable plumbing</div><div>most people wouldn't choose the cheap uncle smoking bad cigars all night long</div><div>what love it is to show up in the messiest places</div><div>And yet,</div><div>this is what God does</div><div>first, God comes into a woman's uterus, Mary's.</div><div>Mary says yes to all of it</div><div>knowing it could take her life, her standing, her relationships, her community.</div><div>An extremely brave woman. </div><div>All for the sake of love of her people and her God.</div><div>Then God shows up in a screaming baby, breathing air for the first time </div><div>throwing up, burping, pooping, </div><div>having to be cared for in the most intimate of ways</div><div>This is divine love coming into the world. </div><div><br /></div><div>An embarrassing and encompassing love.</div><div>Personal love is always a little embarrassing.</div><div>We love our spouses and children, our families, </div><div>but we don't share the most detailed aspects of that love with the public on a regular basis.</div><div>It makes us feel vulnerable and weak,</div><div>knowing that love is a place we are all unable to help ourselves.</div><div>And that is why sometimes the message of God, the good news of God's love</div><div>and Jesus' personal mission on this earth can be so embarrassing.</div><div>We need God's love. We want God's love. We cannot fully live without it.</div><div>And it is so hard to admit it.</div><div><br /></div><div>Which is why we never talk about the true meaning of Christmas. </div><div>Who wants to be reminded that we desperately need the Love which comes down at Christmas?</div><div>We celebrate the divine love coming to us</div><div>and forget the reason it comes in the first place.</div><div>If you're going to still be watching Christmas movies during the twelve days of Christmas</div><div>when they mention the true meaning of Christmas</div><div>take a moment to remember God's love for you.</div><div>Because God's love is coming into the world every day</div><div>just for you.</div>Elizabethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07061454901707205519noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7633841867253756531.post-34785784990433349532023-12-17T09:00:00.001-05:002023-12-17T09:00:00.250-05:00Advent 3 Joy<p>If I asked you all to imagine a green hill with a blue sky with some small white puffy clouds on it,</p><div>how many of you would see the Microsoft Windows background screen which was so popular for decades?</div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bliss_(image)" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img alt="" data-original-height="241" data-original-width="300" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEh7lNVYlT5KbuR56KMR49dzx7BnNKM3KkMotyXGUYXKtndjm91gjta4qQ570SK6-u8e4qPXCJdbWGPr_MWImGOYZ2wvuQr1s2dEuUl5ow_gy99wJi80M0l7vKJSb9DAzB83XePEuAlfiVwSA3u-QcjHYV0zJZrfog5TY8epqoGLBJtTmbmkz_l_EM7cxNud" width="299" /></a></div><br /><br /></div><div>It is reportedly one of the most widely known photographs ever taken</div><div>it is now titled Bliss, <span style="color: #202122;">originally titled </span><b><i><span style="color: #202122;">Bucolic Green Hills</span></i></b></div><div>bought from National Geography photographer Charles O'Rear</div><div>it depicts a green hill and blue sky with a few white clouds on it.</div><div>It was taken on the Sonoma Napa county line in California in 1996. </div><div>The hill was in a resting stage between different vintages of wine grapes at the time</div><div>and the story goes, O'Rear was driving to visit his girlfriend after a storm earlier in the day </div><div>and saw the scene at the perfect moment.</div><div>He put it up on a photo sharing website from where Microsoft bought it to use as their Windows background image.</div><div><br /></div><div>It is somewhat ironic to me, in an age of technology </div><div>as more and more of spend hours staring at screens </div><div>that most of us have at some point in our lives, or still do have</div><div>a background screen image of something in nature.</div><div><br /></div><div>I think the name of the image is so telling. </div><div>This is what we think Bliss would be like. </div><div>A perfectly green hill with a beautiful blue sky and maybe some nice white puffy clouds.</div><div>I will agree that it is a calming image to look at.</div><div>No tension, nothing to really wonder at</div><div>its reassuring in its cheeriness. </div><div><br /></div><div>If we look outside on any given day, we won't see this kind of scene</div><div>granted, right now we are on the cusp of winter</div><div>so everything has a brown cast to it</div><div>but also, we get a lot of weather and we have a lot of broken up skyline</div><div>with electrical cables and tv cables </div><div>wind turbines cell phone towers</div><div>humanity comes with a lot of infrastructure. </div><div><br /></div><div>The thing about an easy picture like this, especially when we name it something like bliss,</div><div>is that we think happy emotions will be easy.</div><div>Clear, uncluttered, easy bliss</div><div>like an empty green hill and an empty blue sky.</div><div>Yet, even happy emotions are rarely that simple or straight forward</div><div>Happiness may come for a short while and be easy</div><div>but Joy, the deeper under girding foundation of any happiness</div><div>is a complicated emotion.</div><div><br /></div><div>One of the best pictorial images for seeing the complicated nature of joy</div><div>is from the Pixar movie Inside Out.</div><div>It is a movie that takes place inside the head of a pre-teen as she copes with moving across the country </div><div>and going to a new school.</div><div>The real main characters are her emotional thoughts, depicted as</div><div>Sadness, who is completely blue, head to toe,</div><div>not surprisingly, anger is red, Disgust is green, fear is purple.</div><div>Joy, who is bright yellow and dressed in a yellow dress,</div><div>actually also has blue hair! </div><div>Symbolically giving away some of the movie plot </div><div>as the emotions learn how to share moments and recognize that emotions are not always only one way.</div><div>You can't really have joy without some sadness.</div><div>Because part of what makes joy joy is that you know the moment won't last.</div><div><br /></div><div>The third Sunday of Advent is about joy.</div><div>Our celebration is another great mix of themes: joy in the midst of a season of waiting.</div><div>There is plenty of joy to be had when we are waiting</div><div>even if we don't like to wait.</div><div><br /></div><div>In the first letter of Paul to the Thessalonians, he says, </div><div>"Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you."</div><div><br /></div><div>Many of us understand the joy of waiting for something we expect will bring happiness </div><div>even when it means leaving behind something else and sometimes feeling sad about that.</div><div>Perhaps when changing jobs or moving to a new location or waiting for a new year, </div><div>2024 is fourteen days away!</div><div>or as children in school, waiting for the summer to start or the new school year to start.</div><div>It is the joy of summer with the sadness at not being able to see friends on a daily basis.</div><div><br /></div><div>Rejoicing while waiting for something you're not looking forward to</div><div>or while waiting for something you are uncertain about</div><div>takes a different approach.</div><div>Finding and acknowledging joy in those moments comes from being present</div><div>being awake to God's goodness as it is</div><div>in the little parts of life, like a tasty meal or favorite shoes</div><div>or in the joy of a friends' smile.</div><div><br /></div><div>We do need these momentary glimpses of joy</div><div>like that Windows background of clear sky and open fields</div><div>even if they aren't true joy </div><div>we need those moments of serenity </div><div>in order to let go of the tension in our bodies and minds</div><div>in order to 'stay awake'</div><div>as Jesus has repetitively taught.</div><div><br /></div><div>Sometimes we feel ashamed or unable to enjoy the moments of joy in our lives</div><div>because we know there are horrible conflicts going on and people struggling to get the basic necessities of life</div><div>Living into God's wholeness for us means recognizing that </div><div>God has created us for joy</div><div>even when we are in unhappy seasons of our lives.</div><div>This is part of the blue edge of sadness in a yellow joy-filled moment.</div><div><br /></div><div>When it comes to waiting for Jesus</div><div>there may indeed be excitement with a little sadness</div><div>excitement for what is to come, but also sadness at what we might lose</div><div>as life changes.</div><div><br /></div><div>God brings new light into the world anyway</div><div>and that IS what we are waiting for</div><div>the light, the moments of joy in a dark world</div><div>Jesus coming into the world will bring </div><div>more than just a spark or a flame</div><div>Jesus coming into the world will bring more light than we can imagine</div><div>moving in and around and through us</div><div>opening us up to God's joy and love in all of creation.</div><div>In this joy, we are home. </div><div>That is worth waiting for.</div>Elizabethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07061454901707205519noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7633841867253756531.post-47212882348363117902023-12-10T09:00:00.001-05:002023-12-10T09:00:00.142-05:00Peace in our Hearts<p> "Therefore, beloved, while you are waiting for these things, strive to be found by him at peace, without spot or blemish; and regard the patience of our Lord as salvation."</p><div><br /></div><div>wait... did I just hear what I think I heard?</div><div>the scriptures say, be at peace while waiting???</div><div>well, that is easier said than done.</div><div><br /></div><div>If I think about all the waiting I have done in my life</div><div>I can say that much of it has not been the most peaceful.</div><div>Anticipatory excitement or anxiety usually get to me quickly.</div><div><br /></div><div>The theme for the second Sunday of Advent is peace.</div><div>The word peace shows up in two different verses in our lectionary scriptures.</div><div>Once in the Epistle, 2 Peter 3:14-15a, as we heard</div><div>and also in the psalm, number 85, verse 8</div><div>"I will listen to what the Lord God is saying, * for he is speaking peace to his faithful people and to those who turn their hearts to him."</div><div><br /></div><div>There are so many conflicts going on in the world. </div><div>In the news a couple make the headlines in any week,</div><div>yet still hundreds of conflicts continue even when not in the news.</div><div>I have been praying for those doing the peace work, </div><div>the hard work of taking risks and talking to people when they don't know what the outcome will be.</div><div>I imagine some of them have been frustrated with the outcomes, though they keep hoping for peace no matter what the circumstances. </div><div>When I think about how what peace really means, </div><div>I imagine people like the Qatari negotiators in Doha working to bring about the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas</div><div>and I almost can't even imagine what it is like to be in that situation. </div><div>Though, I am guess they probably feel both fulfilled in that a ceasefire happened and crushed that it didn't last longer.</div><div><br /></div><div>This is how peace in conflict works.</div><div>Lots of messy conversations and risks and hoping against the odds.</div><div>In any kind of peace negotiation, the people involved have to maintain their own emotions throughout in order to make any headway.</div><div>They will have to know peace in their hearts in order to make people happen on the ground.</div><div><br /></div><div>Jesus is complicated when it comes to the polarized categories of pacifism and war</div><div>he never resorted to violence, and he told his disciples to practice and work towards peace</div><div>however, he always stood up for the truth, even when that meant violence could be done to him.</div><div>Jesus regularly reminded the disciples to find peace within their hearts though</div><div>and to spread peace everywhere they went. </div><div><br /></div><div>Which takes me back to the verse in the second letter of Peter about being found by God in peace.</div><div>Part of our work as followers of Jesus is learning how to be at peace with ourselves. </div><div>The author of the letter recognizes that waiting for Jesus' second coming</div><div>isn't a time for passive waiting and hanging out.</div><div>No, it is the time for active waiting.</div><div>A time of learning peace.</div><div><br /></div><div>The people of the land of Israel had been waiting for the Messiah for centuries.</div><div>They were waiting, though they weren't always patient</div><div>There were rebellions and times of moving away from the promise</div><div>We as Christians find ourselves in the same situation much of the time</div><div>we are waiting for the second coming of Christ</div><div>and we are not always very patient.</div><div><br /></div><div>While taking a meditation class in college, </div><div>we were asked to take every opportunity we were waiting in our lives </div><div>as a time to slow down and be peaceful.</div><div>It was a hard idea to put into practice. </div><div>I took every opportunity I saw as waiting</div><div>to think about what it meant to be peaceful in that moment</div><div>I would try to stand calmly at the grocery store line, not looking at anything in particular, watching and waiting</div><div>I would sit quietly at doctors offices and wait</div><div>I would stand at the gas pump and wait as it filled up, not something we do here in NJ, but in every other state I've lived in.</div><div>And yes, I had a smart phone. I could have been on my phone. </div><div>Instead I stopped and waited. </div><div>And what I learned from these moments was that waiting peacefully has nothing to do with what you are holding in your hands or what you are doing or where you are or how late you are already</div><div>waiting peacefully has everything to do what was is going on inside of you.</div><div><br /></div><div>If there is a lot going on inside of you that is not peaceful</div><div>it doesn't really matter how much you work on standing or sitting still</div><div>there is no peace.</div><div>If we are to be found by Jesus waiting peacefully,</div><div>then we have a lot of inner work to do!</div><div><br /></div><div>We are waiting for peace in the world</div><div>peace in our own hearts</div><div>We are called to be peace-makers and sometimes that means making peace in our own hearts before we can make any peace out in the world</div><div>How can we make, teach, proclaim peace </div><div>when we are not at peace with ourselves and our identity in God?</div><div>The short answer is, we can't. </div><div>Coming to terms with who we are right now, who we have been, and the continual striving to be who God is calling us to be</div><div>are so important</div><div>This leads to peace</div><div>there are many ways of going about this kind of internal work</div><div>meditation, prayer, therapy, spiritual direction, coaching, </div><div>or simply learning how to stand peacefully in line wherever you find yourself in line.</div><div><br /></div><div>Only once we have established some peace in ourselves </div><div>between our hearts, minds, souls and bodies</div><div>where all are listened to and loved</div><div>then we can start truly creating peace in the world around us.</div><div>Then the results are remarkable.</div><div>The Psalmist says, </div><div>God speaks peace to the people</div><div>God speaks in many ways</div><div>we can be a part of God speaking peace in the world</div><div>only if we know what peace is</div><div>and truly know peace in our hearts. </div>Elizabethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07061454901707205519noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7633841867253756531.post-348990317210603792023-12-03T09:00:00.001-05:002023-12-03T09:00:00.263-05:00Cultivating Hope in a Changing Climate<p> “We seldom admit the seductive comfort of hopelessness.</p><div>It saves us from ambiguity. </div><div>It has an answer for every question: "There's just no point."; </div><div>Hope, on the other hand, is messy. </div><div>If it might all work out, then we have things to do. </div><div>We must weather the possibility of happiness.” </div><div>This was written on the former Twitter, by The CryptoNaturalist last July. (July 22, 2022, Twitter)</div><div><br /></div><div>This quote spoke to me about the reason hopelessness seems so easy</div><div>in the face of so much in our world that seems so hard.</div><div>In order to have hope, we have to be willing to change</div><div>whereas hopelessness gives us an easy out.</div><div><br /></div><div>In August of 2017, the United States experienced what some media outlets called "the Great American Eclipse." </div><div>It was a total solar eclipse that spanned fourteen different states, </div><div>with a partial eclipse being visible from parts of Canada to parts of South America. </div><div>I was traveling that day and remember pulling off the highway into a shopping mall to catch a glimpse of the event. </div><div>It was a moment where much of the United States was united with creation, </div><div>as everyone stopped to go outside and look up.</div><div><br /></div><div>Reflecting on the where we are today, six years later, </div><div>many of us have lost all hope of anything in creation bringing so many people together. </div><div>Many folks have fallen into a state of hopelessness. </div><div>They do not see a point to getting involved with the hard work of living in our world. </div><div>As one climate related disaster rolls into another, </div><div>less of the country is coming together to witness and be a part of such events. </div><div>How can we find hope this Advent?</div><div>especially when Jesus has gone all apocalyptic talking about when the heaven and earth will pass away.</div><div>This past week, the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Dubai heard a report</div><div>that 2023 is the newest hottest year on record.</div><div>We are feeling the heat of the earth all too soon already!</div><div><br /></div><div>A few months ago, </div><div>Kathleen Carozza and I surprisingly found ourselves on the same national Zoom conversation </div><div>offered by the Agrarian Ministries of the Episcopal Church. </div><div>It was a conversation with Katharine Hayhoe, a climate scientist who wrote a book </div><div>called Saving Us: A Climate Scientist's Case for Hope and Healing in a Divided World. </div><div>I saw the title in an email and was immediately interested. </div><div>After listening to Katharine Hayhoe, Kathleen and I talked about reading the book together and perhaps offering a book study on it. </div><div>Which is what we did.</div><div>This past fall, we have met twice a month with people from not only our congregation but others in our area </div><div>to talk about the climate, our planet, our faith, </div><div>what we can do, and how all these things intersect. </div><div>We have had great conversations, learned amazing things, and gathered strength to have conversations about what is going on in our struggling world. </div><div>A few of us started with hopelessness in the face of the changing climate, </div><div>but towards the end it has been all empowerment and hope, </div><div>despite the many challenges. </div><div>During our last session this past week, we came up with an Advent calendar to share with you all today. </div><div><br /></div><div>Traditionally, the first week of Advent's theme is hope.</div><div>Which isn't always easy to pick out of the readings for the day. </div><div>If you aren't feeling very hopeful right now, hopefully by the end of the sermon or the service today, </div><div>you'll feel the soft flame of hope stirring up inside of you.</div><div><br /></div><div>In the Gospel passage from Mark, </div><div>Jesus is sitting on the Mount of Olives, opposite the Temple, </div><div>talking with Peter, James, John, and Andrew. </div><div>They ask him to tell them more about his previous statement </div><div>that all the stones of the temple will be thrown down. </div><div>As Jesus is describing the time of when all will be thrown down, </div><div>a great apocalyptic unveiling, he mentions eclipses and the stars falling and everything that we know being upended. </div><div>In the end, his advice to his disciples is simple: "Keep awake." </div><div>He tells them to keep awake in order to stay hopeful and engaged. </div><div><br /></div><div>In her book, Saving Us, Katharine Hayhoe also cautions staying alert. </div><div>In her perspective, what we need to stay alert to </div><div>are the times and places we can connect with others about what is going on in our world today. </div><div>Her case for hope in the midst of our planet in crisis is to share stories. </div><div>While many of us are alarmed by the statistics coming out from scientists about the climate, </div><div>she recognizes that people are quickly overwhelmed by facts. </div><div>While she advocates ending the use of fossil fuels, </div><div>she argues that the best thing we can personally do to help ourselves and our home</div><div>is to talk about why we care about the world. </div><div><br /></div><div>Humans are more likely to feel hopeless in the face of what we think of as big systems issues.</div><div>Climate change is a big systems issue. </div><div>It is a global issue.</div><div>It isn't our waste of food, or our dependence on cows, or our use of fossil fuels to run our cars and heat our houses and create all the plastic we use</div><div>all the plastic, plastic, plastic!</div><div>its all of these things together with all the other issues around water, land resources, politics, laws, cultural expectations.</div><div>Big systems are hard to change.</div><div>They require adaptive changes</div><div>changes in how we think and speak and act</div><div>along with the technical changes in what products we buy.</div><div>Big systems require big adaptive changes in which people come together to change corporations, governments, whole industries to make a big impact on the whole system. </div><div>People are most like to come together through sharing stories.</div><div>Stories are how you build a movement. </div><div><br /></div><div>Small changes do help. </div><div>Its always good when one person in a big system becomes healthier in the system, </div><div>for example, in the climate system, when one person cuts back on their carbon footprint by buying solar panels or a heat pump.</div><div>Even better, as people do make small changes, the feeling of hopelessness decreases,</div><div>hope starts growing for an overarching changed system.</div><div><br /></div><div>Hope grows in every system where one person starts to change.</div><div>this happens in family systems, when one person works towards being better towards a specific problem,</div><div>this happens in religious systems, when one person starts to work towards safer and healthier religious practices.</div><div>Small changes do make an impact.</div><div>In order to change the whole system, a large number of people have to start asking new questions, come together in bigger actions,</div><div>and seeking new answers.</div><div>All of this can be started by sharing stories. </div><div><br /></div><div>One of my favorites stories is the ongoing story of God with humanity.</div><div>Its amazing to me when reading the Bible that God never loses hope with humanity.</div><div>I lose hope with humanity in reading the Bible,</div><div>but God doesn't. </div><div>There is always more hoping for good relationship. </div><div>Jesus comes into a world that has not been in great relationship with God</div><div>and despite this, Jesus is not a despairing prophet or hopeless teacher.</div><div>He tells stories.</div><div>He engages people in their lives.</div><div>He creates hope for a new future. </div><div><br /></div><div>We all have stories.</div><div>Human beings are designed to share stories. </div><div>We share them incessantly, whether we are aware of it or not.</div><div>We talk through stories to our friends, our families, our neighbors, our coworkers.</div><div>We are already having plenty of conversations</div><div>we don't need to feel like we need to go out and have new conversations.</div><div>We are called to share our faith and our creation stories,</div><div>why the world matters</div><div>why our faith matters</div><div>why we do what we do to help others in our communities.</div><div>We already have these stories.</div><div>We need to share them in the conversations we are already having.</div><div><br /></div><div>We know the stories of the scriptures as well. </div><div>Of the changes of landscape across generations and how it has affected civilizations. </div><div>Hannah Malcolm, a theologian, who writes about climate change, is quoted in Saving Us saying, </div><div>"The words of the prophets - living and dead - can help us learn to talk about our apocalyptic fears. </div><div>They teach us to be honest about the realities of sin, greed, and grief. </div><div>They call for radical, upside-down changes, not small adjustments to existing systems. </div><div>And they teach us how to be absurdly hopeful, </div><div>painting visions of peaceful futures when that seems impossible."</div><div><br /></div><div>Our prophet for today, Isaiah ,</div><div>speaks to some of the hopelessness of the world many millennia ago. </div><div>Isaiah recognizes the power and might of God. </div><div>In this passage Isaiah writes, "Yet, O Lord, you are our Father; </div><div>we are the clay, and you are our potter; </div><div>we are all the work of your hand." </div><div>God can change our hearts and minds. </div><div>God can change the world. </div><div>God can make the impossible happen.</div><div><br /></div><div>We who await the birth of the Christ child, </div><div>God incarnate on this planet, </div><div>know what amazingly impossible things God can do. </div><div>We know that God's amazing works happen all around us through nature, through humans, through forces we cannot quantify or categorize. </div><div>As we wait with bated breath this Advent, </div><div>we need to keep awake to what is happening around us </div><div>and share our stories of the amazing impossible things God is doing in our lives. </div>Elizabethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07061454901707205519noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7633841867253756531.post-49593535617375094392023-11-12T09:12:00.001-05:002023-11-12T09:12:00.131-05:00Staying Mindful<p>I have had a reputation in my life</p><p>for not sleeping.</p><div>As a small child, I didn't sleep through the night</div><div>and frequently kept my parents awake.</div><div>As a kid at camp, not being a good sleeper,</div><div>everyone thought that I just didn't sleep.</div><div>Even through college and seminary, my friends joked that I must not be human </div><div>because they had never seen me sleep. </div><div>I have a hard time sleeping through noise,</div><div>and people make a lot of noise. </div><div>My husband continues this line of joking still today</div><div>though he has managed to catch me asleep, though not often,</div><div>because he falls asleep faster than I do and he can sleep through almost anything.</div><div><br /></div><div>In the Gospel passage this morning, we hear another parable from Jesus.</div><div>And this one leaves us with a lot more questions instead of answers.</div><div>In the stories and teachings before this parable in the arc of story from Matthew</div><div>Jesus is on this theme of staying awake.</div><div>Of course, we get to the parable of the bridesmaids and </div><div>see all of them promptly fall asleep.</div><div><br /></div><div>Thankfully, I don't think Jesus keeps telling his disciples to stay awake</div><div>because sleep deprivation madness is the key to the kingdom.</div><div>While I know Jesus means people should literally feed the hungry and clothe the naked</div><div>when he teaches care for the poor</div><div>I don't think he literally means no sleeping when he teaches and preaches keeping awake.</div><div><br /></div><div>My conclusion is that Jesus means what we call being mindful these days.</div><div>Let's look at the parable.</div><div><br /></div><div>The parable looks like a classic story to back up the scout wisdom to be prepared</div><div>and while that is certainly wisdom</div><div>we can't always be prepared for everything.</div><div>so, how is this like the kingdom of heaven? </div><div><br /></div><div>This parable comes near the end of Jesus' ministry, </div><div>and things are getting tense around Jesus.</div><div>Things are getting dicey in Jerusalem and people are anxious</div><div>they want to know what is coming and when it is going to happen</div><div>things are moving and tensions are high and everyone wants certainty</div><div>we know what that feels like.</div><div><br /></div><div>Yet, in this uncertainty, Jesus only preaches</div><div>to stay awake.</div><div><br /></div><div>This morning, this might seem like preaching to the choir.... and all those who are already here!</div><div>Most of us here this morning already are trying to be mindful of God in our lives.</div><div>However, This is not the only time Jesus says to the disciples to stay awake</div><div>to be present and mindful and aware of what is going on</div><div>the gospel of Mark has six instances </div><div>the gospel of Matthew has six instances</div><div>Luke has one really important one: because the disciples stay awake, they see Jesus transfigured on the mountain with Moses and Elijah</div><div>and naturally, there is also the unforgettable story of Jesus and the disciples in Gethsemane, where he asks them to stay awake and they do all fall asleep.</div><div>Yet Jesus continues to teach them to stay awake</div><div>because new things continue to happen. </div><div><br /></div><div>In reflecting on this parable, we might want to find ways for this parable to be more inclusive</div><div>we don't want anyone to left out.</div><div>those young women who didn't have enough oil could have just had a bad day</div><div>or perhaps didn't have the money for more oil</div><div>or who knows what kind of jobs and families they have taking up their brain space</div><div>There is not a single helping hand offered in this parable. </div><div>Some of the bridesmaids are stingy and mean, some of them leave</div><div>some of them don't trust that they will have enough.</div><div><br /></div><div>This parable sounds a little harsh. </div><div>Cultural customs in weddings in the Middle East suggest that the groom might be going to multiple different places before the final wedding destination and we all know how families get at a wedding</div><div>the concept of being on time is very difficult to stick with, especially if you aren't carrying around your phone with its incessant alarms, timers, and reminders</div><div>those poor women had no way to know how long the groom was going to be!</div><div><br /></div><div>this kind of parable is where some Christians find permission to judge others for their devotion </div><div>its also where people make bad allegories, saying things like the young women left behind are the Jews who didn't believe in Jesus as the Messiah. </div><div>Y'all, Christians have made some horrible interpretation choices over the centuries. </div><div>We do need to repent of those.</div><div><br /></div><div>Jesus was a teacher and he tended to use things people already knew </div><div>in order to stop and remind the people of how their (and our) lives could be different.</div><div>Jesus goes into the scriptural memory banks of all the people listening to him and reminds them of the writings about wisdom and folly. </div><div>In the wisdom literature, wisdom and folly are personified as women and people would be able to see the correlations with these ten young women. </div><div><br /></div><div>If we believe in all sorts of other things that Jesus says,</div><div>then we have to believe him when he preaches to stay awake in order to experience God</div><div>he says it multiple times</div><div>We have to heed the teaching to stay awake</div><div>to wait and watch and be ready</div><div><br /></div><div>Since even I can't be awake all the time</div><div>my conclusion is that Jesus is talking about mindfulness. </div><div>The language of meditation, mindfulness, and prayer is about paying attention, staying awake. </div><div>Through my own experience with these practices, </div><div>they do lead to seeing the kingdom of heaven</div><div>not at all times</div><div>but its amazing when it happens, </div><div>gorgeous, surprising, humbling in such a good way.</div><div><br /></div><div>[Baptism is one of those moments that calls us to being mindful of what God is doing in the world today</div><div>We intend this baptism as a bringing in of a child to the body of Christ</div><div>but if we remember the meaning of baptism</div><div>it is nothing less than an imitation of the death and resurrection of Jesus</div><div>We are giving Logan a new life by symbolically washing him in the death and resurrection of Christ.]</div><div><br /></div><div>If we are mindful of this moment</div><div>we can see how powerful it is</div><div>we can see how these seemingly ordinary moments are extraordinary</div><div>And this is the world of God around us at all times.</div><div><br /></div><div>When we are mindful of the world, even for a moment</div><div>our bodies calm down, our chemical levels are given a chance to stabilize</div><div>our brains are given time to process</div><div>we can see patterns in our lives</div><div>we can hear the whispers of God</div><div>we know how precious and amazing this moment is</div><div>and how grace filled this world is. </div><div><br /></div><div>When we are mindful we are better able to see patterns</div><div>we can recognize and acknowledge things we might not be able to see without reflection time</div><div>we are in tune with the createdness of everything </div><div>and with God.</div><div><br /></div><div>Being mindful includes the full range of experience</div><div>death, life, sorrow, joy, generational patterns we might not see otherwise</div><div>we can't be mindful of everything all the time</div><div>but we can make mindfulness a practice </div><div>so that we are consistently checking in with ourselves and God</div><div>we are better at discerning where we are and what we need for the ups and downs of life. </div><div><br /></div><div>I feel sadness on the part of the bridesmaids,</div><div>those women who failed to bring enough oil to last the whole wait.</div><div>They missed out on a joyful celebration of someone they knew</div><div>a precious moment. </div><div><br /></div><div>Being mindful of the opportunities of each moment</div><div>allows us to see God.</div><div>I don't want anyone to be those women,</div><div>missing Jesus.</div><div>I want everyone to have a chance to meet Jesus in life.</div><div><br /></div><div>Keep awake </div><div>God is doing marvelous things</div><div>here and now.</div>Elizabethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07061454901707205519noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7633841867253756531.post-215320273599371592023-10-29T09:03:00.001-04:002023-10-29T09:03:00.179-04:00Pardes with the Beatitudes<p> At the end of a ecumenical trip to Sweden in 2016, Pope Francis offered six new Beatitudes:</p><div>""Blessed are those who remain faithful while enduring evils inflicted on them by others and forgive them from their heart.</div><div>"Blessed are those who look into the eyes of the abandoned and marginalized and show them their closeness.</div><div>"Blessed are those who see God in every person and strive to make others also discover him.</div><div>"Blessed are those who protect and care for our common home.</div><div>"Blessed are those who renounce their own comfort in order to help others.</div><div>"Blessed are those who pray and work for full communion between Christians."</div><div>"All these are messengers of God's mercy and tenderness," Pope Francis said. "Surely they will receive from him their merited reward."</div><div><br /></div><div>The Beatitudes are so well known </div><div>that even people in secular situations will occasionally use the format </div><div>to offer their own blessings or to make their own poetic commentary on who is the underdog in a situation.</div><div>Since that is what they are known as. </div><div>Blessings on the underdogs</div><div><br /></div><div>They are happy announcements</div><div>of a upside down world. </div><div>Jesus is proclaiming good news to people who are mourning</div><div>who are poor</div><div>who are persecuted</div><div>who are meek</div><div><br /></div><div>Jesus is sharing with us the new world which is coming into existence because of his ministry</div><div>and it is very different than the world of the first century </div><div>and its still very different than the world of today.</div><div><br /></div><div>Just as an aside, the last line of the passage mentions the prophets</div><div>The people would have been familiar with the ways in which the prophets were treated</div><div>Jeremiah thrown into a cistern </div><div>Elijah wandering in the desert afraid for his life</div><div>Daniel thrown to the lions, and him and his companions thrown in a fiery furnace</div><div>I totally see the people listening to Jesus being encouraged by thinking of the treatment of the prophets.</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>This passage has been interpreted in many different ways. </div><div>It doesn't matter how we translate these words</div><div>they are always a turning upside down of the way our society is currently structured</div><div>we do not give preference to those who are poor or poor in spirit</div><div>we do not give preference to those who are mourning</div><div>or those who are humble and meek </div><div>or the peacemakers, </div><div>it is always the people seeking war who claim the headlines.</div><div><br /></div><div>It is a tendency in the church to nod along for the Beatitudes</div><div>yes, we agree,</div><div>wouldn't it be nice for the world to look like this</div><div>but it doesn't.</div><div>And we think we know what these are,</div><div>They have a comfortable label, so we don't have to think more about them.</div><div>you know, The Beatitudes.</div><div><br /></div><div>Usually when I think I already know what something is, </div><div>its a sign for me to go deeper </div><div>to get curious about it.</div><div><br /></div><div>So for our well known Beatitudes</div><div>we are going to use a sacred reading practice </div><div>and see if we can hear something new in their words.</div><div><br /></div><div>I'm going to talk us through the practice of Pardes.</div><div>Pardes is a Jewish rabbinical reading practice</div><div>designed to see the text as something new things can grow out of.</div><div><br /></div><div>I will admit, I originally learned about the sacred reading practice of Pardes from the podcast, Harry Potter and the Sacred Text</div><div>which uses many different spiritual practices on the text of the Harry Potter books to learn about values and talk about society today.</div><div><br /></div><div>Pardes is a Biblical Hebrew word meaning "orchard" or "garden"</div><div>"In early rabbinic works, the "orchard" is used as a metaphor for divine secrets or Torah study."</div><div>Pardes itself is a acronym, so we have four words that make up the consonants of the word Pardes</div><div> Peshat (פְּשָׁט) – "surface" or the literal meaning.</div><div> Remez (רֶמֶז) – "hints" or the deep, hidden or symbolic meaning beyond just the literal sense. </div><div> Derash (דְּרַשׁ) – "inquire" or the comparative meaning, as given through looking at similar occurrences.</div><div> Sod (סוֹד) – "secret" or the esoteric/mystical meaning, as given through inspiration or revelation.</div><div>Through these four steps we will look deeper into the words and meaning of the passage.</div><div><br /></div><div>The Peshat or direct meaning of this the Beatitudes is that Jesus is blessing people</div><div>he is offering blessing probably to those who are sitting and standing in front of him</div><div>his disciples, those who are listening in.</div><div>I wonder if this passage is simply what it is on the surface</div><div>A blessing. </div><div>A grace given to the people who were sitting there listening to him.</div><div>Profound in its simplicity and beauty</div><div>A reminder of the grace and love of God</div><div>because the people sitting there probably weren't the religious favorites</div><div>they were the poor and humble</div><div>those trying to make a living and trying to get ahead but struggling</div><div><br /></div><div>To consider the Remez, the allegorical sense,</div><div>Lets look at the larger context</div><div><br /></div><div>In the Gospel of Matthew, the first chapter is Matthew's attempt to put Jesus into the important genealogy of the time and the physical birth of Jesus</div><div>The second chapter is the whole series about Joseph and the dreams and King Herod and the Magi and the slaughter of the Innocents.</div><div>The third chapter is the introduction of John the Baptist and Jesus' baptism. </div><div>The fourth chapter is Jesus' forty days in the desert and the calling of the first disciples</div><div>So for Matthew, chapter 5 is the beginning of all of Jesus' ministry</div><div>this is his first teaching</div><div>this is his big entrance</div><div>He starts by blessing the people...</div><div>he is buttering up his audience.... blessing them before teaching and preaching to them. </div><div><br /></div><div>But really,</div><div>We don't have much of the Sermon on the Mount in today's passage</div><div>in Matthew's gospel, this is the main big teaching, three chapters of the most important things</div><div>Jesus hits on all his points</div><div>If we were going to look at this passage as if it was a letter from Paul or a five paragraph topic paper,</div><div>the Beatitudes is the summary before the explanation. </div><div>Jesus is starting a ministry of blessing and sharing good news about God.</div><div><br /></div><div>The third step of the process, D'rash</div><div>can be done by looking at the similarities of this passage to others</div><div>Many do so by choosing one word and thinking about where it shows up in other parts of the scriptures</div><div>for instance, the mountain, which sets the scene. </div><div>well, mountains are important for Moses and Elijah and now Jesus... </div><div>and we will later, not too much further in the lectionary, see Moses, Elijah and Jesus together on a mountain</div><div>Jerusalem is on a mountain</div><div>holy things are thought to be on mountains</div><div><br /></div><div>However when I think about the Beatitudes, what really stands out is the 'Blessed' word</div><div>In Greek it is makarioi which is blessed, fortunate, happy</div><div>What comes to mind for me is the Hebrew equivalent, ashrei</div><div>and that is used in, well, I counted eight different Psalms in this pattern.</div><div>Psalm 1:1</div><div>Happy are they who have not walked in the counsel of the wicked, * nor lingered in the way of sinners, nor sat in the seats of the scornful!</div><div>89:15</div><div>Happy are the people who know the festal shout! * they walk, O LORD, in the light of your presence.</div><div>112:1</div><div>Hallelujah! Happy are they who fear the Lord * and have great delight in his commandments!</div><div>119:1-2</div><div>Happy are they whose way is blameless, * who walk in the law of the LORD!</div><div>Happy are they who observe his decrees * and seek him with all their hearts!</div><div>128:1</div><div>Happy are they all who fear the LORD, * and who follow in his ways!</div><div>137:9</div><div>Happy shall he be who takes your little ones, *and dashes them against the rock!</div><div>(This one is a whole sermon on its own)</div><div>145:15</div><div>Happy are the people of whom this is so! * happy are the people whose God is the LORD!</div><div>146:4</div><div>Happy are they who have the God of Jacob for their help! *whose hope is in the LORD their God;</div><div><br /></div><div>Jewish practice has been to sing the Psalms, especially as part of liturgies</div><div>Ritualistic sharing and praying of the words.</div><div>Jesus was almost giving them a new Psalm</div><div>one for his new community. </div><div>In this way, it almost sounds like the start of something liturgical, ritualistic </div><div>Jesus is starting a worship service for his disciples singing a new psalm to them. </div><div>No matter what the people thought Jesus was going to do before they heard him start speaking </div><div>(it was a crowd, who knows what they thought he was going to do)</div><div>they now know. </div><div>Jesus is here to talk about God </div><div>Jesus is offering them a blessing singing a psalm in a way they would recognize.</div><div><br /></div><div>The last part of Pardes, this spiritual practice and way of reading scripture is sod</div><div>and the sod is the mystery or revelation, the secret meaning of this passage</div><div>and the practice is to take some time in silence to listen to the passage and God</div><div>and see if anything is revealed.</div><div>Now the thing about the sod is that it isn't always revealed</div><div>sometimes it is personal or it doesn't come until later</div><div>So, we are going to take a minute of silence to listen for the sod</div><div>I have my watch here</div><div>and we will see if something is revealed.</div><div>If it is, you are welcome to share. </div><div>If not, I'll finish up the sermon </div><div>with some blessings and we will continue with our worship.</div><div>Let's listen for the revelation of God.</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>Did anyone hear anything they want to share?</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>Thank you.</div><div><br /></div><div>In the spirit of Jesus this day</div><div>Blessed are the troubled for justice's sake, for they will find God's justice</div><div>Blessed are the refugees, for they will find their home in God</div><div>Blessed are the peacemakers, the repairers of the breaches, for they work with God.</div><div>Blessed are those who mourn, for they will find comfort.</div><div>Blessed are those who recognize their own sins, for they will grow in the way of God.</div><div>Blessed are those who stand up in integrity, for they will find rest for their souls.</div>Elizabethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07061454901707205519noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7633841867253756531.post-83583779696186192902023-10-15T09:00:00.001-04:002023-10-15T09:00:00.150-04:00The Parable of the Man with No Wedding Clothes<p>I brought a special box with me today!</p><div>Although, y'all have already heard Jesus' parable </div><div>and I don't know... its not an easy parable to take out of the box.</div><div>(though this parable is bursting out of this box...)</div><div><br /></div><div>In case you need to hear this up front,</div><div>this sermon is not about answers.</div><div>It is about questions.</div><div><br /></div><div>Here it comes.</div><div><br /></div><div>This box is the color of gold. </div><div>Parables are even more valuable than gold.</div><div>This box also looks like a present.</div><div>Parables are presents. </div><div>They were given to us before we were born and they are ours,</div><div>even if we don't know what they mean.</div><div>This box looks old.</div><div>Parables are old.</div><div>This box is closed.</div><div>Parables sometimes seem closed to us.</div><div>We need to keep coming back to them to see if they will open.</div><div><br /></div><div>Let's look inside.</div><div>We have a king, (crown)</div><div>we have invitations (invitation card)</div><div>we have a wedding banquet, (plastic food)</div><div>we have servants/slaves (towel)</div><div>we have people (wooden people figures)</div><div>we have wedding clothes (wedding clothes)</div><div>we have a man with no wedding clothes.</div><div><br /></div><div>The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who invites people to a wedding banquet...</div><div><br /></div><div>I wonder how this parable is more valuable than gold</div><div>I wonder how this parable is a present</div><div>I wonder where we see ourselves in this parable</div><div><br /></div><div>At the core, this parable is about transformation. </div><div>The question is, who's transformation?</div><div>The biggest indicator of the theme of transformation</div><div>is that this parable takes place around a wedding feast.</div><div><br /></div><div>Weddings have always been events of transformation.</div><div>The people involved go from part of one family to creating a whole new family.</div><div>And wedding clothes are simply one of the outward and visible symbols of what is going on.</div><div>Everyone is invited to change their clothing for a wedding, </div><div>whether for a garden party, a black tie event, or a barnyard hoe down. </div><div>Weddings are celebrations of transformation.</div><div>In weddings today, we celebrate the transformation of the people being married and their love,</div><div>and we also acknowledge the transformation of everyone's relationships to the couple.</div><div>In the first century, weddings weren't always about love</div><div>but they were still transformations of family and loyalty and care</div><div>and frequently a transformation of wealth.</div><div><br /></div><div>This parable is usually interpreted in one way. </div><div>With God as the king, throwing the Messianic banquet for his son, Jesus,</div><div>with the rejected and murdered slaves being the prophets</div><div>and the first set of invited guests being the Israelites</div><div>who are destroyed because of their refusal to believe</div><div>and the second set of guests, those off the streets,</div><div>are the gentiles, the church.</div><div><br /></div><div>Its an interpretation that has been part of Christian teaching for far too long.</div><div>And is an horrible way in which Christians have supported antisemitic thought throughout the centuries. </div><div>Certainly, in light of recent atrocities, this is the kind of Christian thought</div><div>we need to lament, repent, and seek transformation around.</div><div><br /></div><div>I do think it might be helpful for us to think about ourselves in this parable as those who have been invited, </div><div>both the first and second times.</div><div>Have we not accepted the invitation of God in our lives?</div><div>Have we refused to be transformed by the invitations of God?</div><div>Are we fully accepting God's invitation to the banquet,</div><div>or do we partially accept them, coming in an unprepared state?</div><div><br /></div><div>However, we cannot stay in this interpretation of the parable</div><div>In this direction we see a God who does brutal things,</div><div>burning and destroying a city during a wedding feast.</div><div>That is not the God I believe in.</div><div><br /></div><div>I know Jesus was a smart teacher</div><div>and I trust Jesus' teachings.</div><div>Parables have many ways of interpretation.</div><div>I wonder what other ways we can see this parable.</div><div><br /></div><div>Debie Thomas, author and christian formation minister, </div><div>wrote an article about this parable in October of 2020,</div><div>wondering about what we might learn by seeing Jesus as the man who shows up without wedding clothes. </div><div><br /></div><div>Instead of having God as the king and humans as the people,</div><div>flip the story on its head,</div><div>have humans as the king and God as the man without a robe.</div><div><br /></div><div>She writes, </div><div>"What if the “God” figure in the parable is the one guest who refuses to accept the terms of the tyrannical king? The one guest who decides not to “wear the robe” of forced celebration and coerced hilarity, the one guest whose silent resistance leaves the king himself “speechless,” and brings the whole sham feast to a thundering halt? The one brave guest who decides he’d rather be “bound hand and foot,” and cast into the outer darkness of Gethsemane, Calvary, the cross, and the grave, than accept the authority of a violent, loveless sovereign?"</div><div><br /></div><div>We know human kings have acted as the king in the parable acts.</div><div>We know governments and organizations which have brutalized others because they did not conform to their ideas.</div><div>Such behavior is going on in our world today.</div><div>I wonder what we see if we see the wedding robes as the robes of privilege, power, and complicity.</div><div><br /></div><div>What if this parable is a comparison</div><div>in the ways in which God does not act?</div><div><br /></div><div>I wonder if we can see Jesus as the man who shows up defying the understanding of the world</div><div>to show us something new</div><div>something different.</div><div><br /></div><div>I wonder how this interpretation calls us to be transformed</div><div>transformed by a God who is selfless in the face of violence. </div><div><br /></div><div>Jesus always fosters change</div><div>and the best changes are transformations of life.</div><div><br /></div><div>In all the preaching Jesus has done before this moment,</div><div>in the Gospel of Matthew</div><div>which we have heard in the last few weeks:</div><div>the other parables about the kingdom of heaven,</div><div>the story about the sons doing the will of the father, </div><div>the parable of the vineyard owner</div><div>the debates with the local religious owners</div><div>there is a recognition that something has to change in order to move forward.</div><div><br /></div><div>I mean, Jesus wasn't crucified for being nice to people.</div><div>He was crucified because he was a threat to the status quo of the world structures.</div><div><br /></div><div>This parable still feels quite harsh.</div><div>Spiritual maturity doesn't come easy with this parable. </div><div><br /></div><div>I wonder what you think Jesus was teaching with this parable.</div><div>We have a king, (crown)</div><div>we have invitations (invitation card)</div><div>we have a wedding banquet, (plastic food)</div><div>we have servants/slaves (towel)</div><div>we have people (wooden people figures)</div><div>we have wedding clothes (wedding clothes)</div><div>we have a man with no wedding clothes.</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><a href="https://www.journeywithjesus.net/essays/2777-the-god-who-isn-t" target="_blank">Debie Thomas' article on Journeying with Jesus</a></div><div><br /></div>Elizabethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07061454901707205519noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7633841867253756531.post-29966235289053092052023-10-04T13:10:00.002-04:002023-10-04T13:11:43.350-04:00Book Review: Radiant Rebellion: Reclaim Aging, Practice Joy, And Raise A Little Hell, by Karen Walrond<p>This isn't a scientific book about aging.</p><p>It isn't a book about how to age well or what you should do as you are aging.</p><p>It is a book about aging into who you want to be. </p><p>It is a book about looking into the mirror and seeing the smile on your face and light in your eyes.</p><p>Karen Walrond guides us on the journey she took leading up to her year of aging anniversaries and milestones. She explains how she took the time and space in her life to reflect on what it means to age, to acknowledge and combat internalized ageism, and to figure out who she wanted to be as she grew older. She shares some research, tips, tricks, and lessons learned from professionals and elders in her life.</p><p>As in her previous books, her conversational writing style, easy prose, and gift of storytelling makes this an interesting and engaging read. She offers thoughtful challenges to the 'normal' ways we think about age and what it means to grow older. </p><p>Karen Walrond doesn't take the reader on this journey just for giggles. </p><p>In the back of Radiant Rebellion is the "Guide for Creating a Radiant Rebellion Handbook." In this section of the book, Walrond helps the reader take this journey for themselves. Giving everyone an opportunity to become a rebel, a revolutionary, in their own life. In this section, Walrond empowers people to look at their internalized ageism and to be transformed by the journey. Radiant Rebellion invites everyone on the journey to have purposeful and joy-filled years of life, even after the goals of family and career have ended. </p><p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgiRSK2H8cs7bvvSnrJVvJBkJqD02TO5Vv_LuS9s3UhkZYPffPR4CbifhxAu6wTwB2s89utXQRznGKgWOkGRFJwENvRrst-4eVu92FUCfPWOHwVAa4PS2FNDUVppggU4OpMAzxB8DdlOwsuCS62zEg_ncon_HEN9bIHFig_bO6TNxFnjolEUusUKr0ONQsw" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;">
<img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgiRSK2H8cs7bvvSnrJVvJBkJqD02TO5Vv_LuS9s3UhkZYPffPR4CbifhxAu6wTwB2s89utXQRznGKgWOkGRFJwENvRrst-4eVu92FUCfPWOHwVAa4PS2FNDUVppggU4OpMAzxB8DdlOwsuCS62zEg_ncon_HEN9bIHFig_bO6TNxFnjolEUusUKr0ONQsw" width="400">
</a>
</div><br></p><p>I love a book that comes with its own workbook! </p><p>This book is for anyone of any age that wants to fully embrace their lives, especially as they experience the adventures of growing older. </p><p>Click here to<a href="https://bookshop.org/p/books/radiant-rebellion-reclaim-aging-practice-joy-and-raise-a-little-hell-karen-walrond/19577547?gclid=CjwKCAjw3oqoBhAjEiwA_UaLtiCCvjN1GgkD27zDnLx1l9RLdFrxQyeriyXrrzDMexCRESUiQNxJlBoC7xkQAvD_BwE" target="_blank"> order this book!</a> </p><p>*This review is shared on Goodreads.</p>Elizabethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07061454901707205519noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7633841867253756531.post-21822140532083303282023-10-01T09:00:00.001-04:002023-10-01T09:00:00.312-04:00Individuality and Togetherness<p> (sit down please in sign language)</p><div><br /></div><div>While I was in college a couple of my friends took American Sign Language to fulfill their humanities requirement.</div><div>As in studying any language, they delighted in learning new words and culture.</div><div>In particular, they greatly enjoyed one practice their teacher suggested for remembering vocabulary and learning how to put words together: sign singing.</div><div>Singing in sign language relies heavily on expressive face and hand movement</div><div>in order to differentiate it from regular speech. </div><div>Quickly all of their ASL study sessions became in essence sign karaoke. </div><div>They would get together and sing in ASL. </div><div>It was a sight to behold.</div><div>They were all sign singing the same songs together </div><div>but they were also all very individualistic in their expressive style. </div><div><br /></div><div>In the passage from Philippians we heard this morning, we hear an interruption of Paul in his own writing.</div><div>"At the name of Jesus, every knee shall bow... every tongue confess him, King of Glory now..."</div><div>This part of the passage from Paul's letter to the Philippians this morning is not in Paul's usual syntax and grammar. </div><div>It doesn't sound like authentic Paul. </div><div>Literary historians think that this hymn to Christ was something Paul learned in his travels to different churches and uses in this passage to support what he is saying to the Philippians. </div><div>The early followers of the Way were known to gather and sing, </div><div>particularly to sing responsively in the same manner that Jewish synagogues sing the Psalms. </div><div>We don't know this hymn's original tune,</div><div>but we do recognize its lyricism. </div><div>(We sang a version of it as our opening hymn.)</div><div><br /></div><div>It is a beautiful hymn about Jesus and we are going to dive into it for a bit,</div><div>and after our hymn analysis, I also want to touch on what Paul is trying to do in this passage by using this hymn.</div><div><br /></div><div>Not surprisingly, the earliest followers of the Way, the earliest Christians,</div><div>had a bit of an obsession with Jesus.</div><div>They sang about Jesus, they created art of Jesus, they tried to live exactly the way Jesus taught.</div><div>As Christianity grew and spread, its vision expanded a bit</div><div>so we aren't always as hyper focused on Jesus today as the first followers were.</div><div><br /></div><div>While we think Paul didn't write this portion, we know that whoever did compose this hymn was steeped in Jewish tradition and scripture.</div><div>The phrase "the form of God" reminds us of the story of Adam, made in the image of God.</div><div>The Divine Wisdom figure from the Proverbs can be seen in the way this hymn talks about Jesus dwelling with humans. </div><div>The bit about Jesus humbling himself to death recalls the suffering servant imagery from Isaiah.</div><div>And the emphasis on the name of Jesus brings forth the Jewish tradition of the power of names.</div><div>This hymn shows the depth of belief of Jesus as the Jewish Messiah. </div><div>And also, a bit of pulling away from that belief as Christology starts to become its own thing. </div><div><br /></div><div>In the first century, the Jewish belief in the coming Messiah was of a human anointed by God,</div><div>but not someone who was both human and divine. </div><div>And this is where Christology, and Christianity, starts to go outside the lines of Judaism.</div><div>Jesus was and is believed to be part of God. </div><div>This hymn follows the drama of Jesus' life and story as divine and human by saying </div><div>that Jesus goes from the highest possible form to the lowest and back to the highest.</div><div>The hymn also brings out the tension between the individuality of Jesus and the connection with God.</div><div>Keep that thought in mind for a moment. </div><div>In essence this hymn has death and drama, an underdog and salvation</div><div>everything you need for number 1 hit. </div><div>No wonder Paul decided to use it to make his point. </div><div><br /></div><div>So what is Paul's point?</div><div><br /></div><div>In the surrounding passages to this hymn, Paul writes some seemingly contradictory things.</div><div>He focuses on humility and unity, </div><div>trying to remind the Philippians how he thinks they should live in community.</div><div>He writes,</div><div>"Let each of you look not to your own interests, but to the interests of others."</div><div>And </div><div>"work out your own salvation with fear and trembling;"</div><div>which on the surface seem contradictory.</div><div>Look to others interests but work out your own salvation?</div><div>Is this about community?</div><div><br /></div><div>Paul brings home his point with the use of this hymn about Jesus.</div><div>So let's focus back on Jesus.</div><div>This hymn reminds us of how Jesus acted and what Jesus did.</div><div>Some of the characteristics of Christ which Paul elucidates are humility, obedience, love, compassion, generosity</div><div>and Jesus' use of his free will. </div><div>He stays in connection with others, with God and the disciples, </div><div>and he makes his own decisions. </div><div><br /></div><div>If you think about one of the biggest moments of his life,</div><div>and the crux of the drama in the hymn,</div><div>Jesus' arrest, trial, and crucifixion, </div><div>in the stories we have, Jesus doesn't react emotionally to what is happening.</div><div>When everyone else gets emotionally riled up, he checks in with his own emotions and doesn't get swayed by mob mentality.</div><div>He continues to act the way he has always acted</div><div>with humility and unity, for the best of the cosmic community.</div><div>Even before the whole thing goes down, </div><div>He knows his own strengths and weaknesses, so he prays for the ability to do what he knows needs to be done. </div><div><br /></div><div>Paul is reminding the Philippians that community</div><div>requires both humility and unity.</div><div>The ability to stay connected, and to make decisions based on our knowledge of ourselves.</div><div>The secret to the body of Christ </div><div>is that unity, </div><div>being connected to each other,</div><div>works best if we humbly know who we are personally. </div><div><br /></div><div>Today, psychologists call this self-differentiation. </div><div>Jesus is a great example of a self-differentiated leader.</div><div>Dr. Edwin Friedman in his book A Failure of Nerve wrote, </div><div>"The most critical issue in understanding human institutions is how well they are able to handle the natural tension between individuality and togetherness."</div><div>In looking at Paul's writings to the different churches, the Philippians, the Corinthians, the Romans, the Galatians,</div><div>the working out of how to be in this new Christian community comes up over and over again.</div><div>The new followers struggle with issues of circumcision, foods they can eat, financial matters, other people's questionable behaviors...</div><div>the list goes on and on.</div><div>All of these squabbles are the tension between individuality and togetherness,</div><div>between the different people involved and the larger group of people. </div><div>We still struggle figuring out how to live in community.</div><div>Communities at their worst are negative feedback loops for the most immature member of the group. </div><div>Communities at their best are groups of diverse and well differentiated people who come together for a purpose.</div><div>Paul is reminding us all of the example of Jesus,</div><div>who built a community of diverse people </div><div>and didn't allow them to get dragged down by the differences among them.</div><div><br /></div><div>Identity in community is a complicated dance.</div><div>The steps are integration and integrity,</div><div>knowing who you are and staying connected to others.</div><div><br /></div><div>In other letters, Paul uses the imagery of the body of Christ </div><div>to talk about the unity and humility of different members of the community. </div><div>Especially, today, as we will baptize three people into Christ's body</div><div>we need to recognize that being in community</div><div>means we are called to be separate and connected.</div><div>An eye shouldn't try to become an arm </div><div>but they are connected.</div><div><br /></div><div>8 am</div><div>[For all of us</div><div>who are baptized Christians</div><div>we belong to the community of followers of Jesus.</div><div>The Church asks us to learn some of the practices and teachings of Jesus and the church</div><div>and we also ask people to become the beautiful person God is calling you to be.</div><div>Christ doesn't need a body of all eyes.</div><div>Christ needs a body of eyes and ears and hearts and arms and legs and toes and hands.</div><div>As we participate in the sacred rituals and join the fellowship of the community</div><div>always bring ourselves, bring Olu and Leo and Yvette and Dee...</div><div>Remember Jesus as the example.</div><div>Give thanks,</div><div>and sing a hymn of praise </div><div>in whatever way your heart sings.]</div><div><br /></div><div>10:30 am</div><div>[For Natalie and Robert, for Michael</div><div>you are becoming a baptized Christian</div><div>you are entering into this community of followers of Jesus</div><div>we ask that you learn some of the practices and teachings of Jesus and the church</div><div>and we also ask you to become the beautiful person God is calling you to be.</div><div>Christ doesn't need a body of all eyes</div><div>Christ needs a body of eyes and ears and hearts and arms and legs and toes and hands</div><div>As you learn and grow, as you participate in the sacred rituals and join the fellowship of the community</div><div>always bring yourself, bring Natalie and Robert and Michael.</div><div>Remember Jesus as your example</div><div>and give thanks </div><div>sing a hymn of praise </div><div>in whatever way your heart sings.]</div>Elizabethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07061454901707205519noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7633841867253756531.post-65853666765993553132023-09-30T14:01:00.002-04:002023-09-30T14:01:19.361-04:00Real Radiance<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQ805arO-huZYmUbyVYJajq9S7DfT12bmgrbVMvkf2FPO2o4ju25P5cyaBamZhX6wzIa6UcxFoAUw_mAslRKswlq1-4Ujm9J0rgkh9HzJ7X4-k5xtZ3XddYj4eTCXSnfXVqLagZuMph-ODTmZnGBDdoGGiEpd8QngwNHizl3ofHPv3HyxMz7jRT-W48sE5/s1500/0e3a31ea-033c-4af6-87fc-e3b3f756fa52_1200x1500.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1500" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQ805arO-huZYmUbyVYJajq9S7DfT12bmgrbVMvkf2FPO2o4ju25P5cyaBamZhX6wzIa6UcxFoAUw_mAslRKswlq1-4Ujm9J0rgkh9HzJ7X4-k5xtZ3XddYj4eTCXSnfXVqLagZuMph-ODTmZnGBDdoGGiEpd8QngwNHizl3ofHPv3HyxMz7jRT-W48sE5/s320/0e3a31ea-033c-4af6-87fc-e3b3f756fa52_1200x1500.jpg" width="256" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">'I saw a woman in the mirror in the lobby out of the corner of my eye and I registered her as a friend.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">It was only when I stopped to wave did I realize I was seeing myself.'</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">I don't know where I heard this story, </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">but as someone who has struggled with self-love,</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">it was a very attractive story.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">Could I have ever accidentally mistake myself for a friend?</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">I hoped it could be true. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">I spent years working on rebuilding my self love.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">Part of that was reclaiming how I looked, the clothes I wore, the way I did my hair,</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">the feel of my body. </div></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbfUm_Xzii2nJQNUZswU31kB1v3xbKFHm-JOAZ4gT1bVXVqVY2zshB3wuB6xq4FHrW9D-is1R_PY-ZJmOR4Zgerkb2A3Kw2MMnY774LfGyMc5_vKxKcqwvZx0LDDkv8dmZz3GxVzsmgQtGhn7pX4FVhkEStiMmw2BsSasMTvEwpvnjhhQOM_C2v3sQlsen/s1500/d9d9567f-a859-48fa-923f-039e3d62ffd0_1200x1500.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1500" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbfUm_Xzii2nJQNUZswU31kB1v3xbKFHm-JOAZ4gT1bVXVqVY2zshB3wuB6xq4FHrW9D-is1R_PY-ZJmOR4Zgerkb2A3Kw2MMnY774LfGyMc5_vKxKcqwvZx0LDDkv8dmZz3GxVzsmgQtGhn7pX4FVhkEStiMmw2BsSasMTvEwpvnjhhQOM_C2v3sQlsen/s320/d9d9567f-a859-48fa-923f-039e3d62ffd0_1200x1500.jpg" width="256" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"> Do I have a great sense of fashion now? </div><div style="text-align: center;">No.</div><div style="text-align: center;">Am I happier about what I wear and why and how I look? </div><div style="text-align: center;">Yes. </div><div style="text-align: center;">Am I always happy with those things? </div><div style="text-align: center;">No. </div><div style="text-align: center;">But I agree with Karen Williams. </div><div style="text-align: center;">We all look our best when we are excited and passionate about what we are doing. </div><div style="text-align: center;">When the inner joy shines forth so brightly that nothing else matters. </div><div style="text-align: center;">That is radiance.</div><div style="text-align: center;">#RadiantRebellion</div><p></p>Elizabethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07061454901707205519noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7633841867253756531.post-10595841315851108452023-09-23T08:56:00.001-04:002023-09-23T08:56:14.755-04:00Nutritional Wellness<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_9rT7gsKfcuqHFXEEC4nZpg9hUh_unkOwOLuNCbqjEZ0Bec-egK9IIDBczi9T0bQKgFFaUp6PwwWkq74aR4OJuiGBzlPJaXDrh3nUZPgMqE3TUKnX9BpCTHMytxb7I_nTPGRMgSHCIcfoZTDuIGF-UqyaFp3Fz4-S5uRr53D-IODgjHrQXmqiReSr4F5j/s1500/9af99ef5-bc34-4021-abbe-fe0bfc851c5d_1200x1500.webp" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1500" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_9rT7gsKfcuqHFXEEC4nZpg9hUh_unkOwOLuNCbqjEZ0Bec-egK9IIDBczi9T0bQKgFFaUp6PwwWkq74aR4OJuiGBzlPJaXDrh3nUZPgMqE3TUKnX9BpCTHMytxb7I_nTPGRMgSHCIcfoZTDuIGF-UqyaFp3Fz4-S5uRr53D-IODgjHrQXmqiReSr4F5j/s320/9af99ef5-bc34-4021-abbe-fe0bfc851c5d_1200x1500.webp" width="256" /></a></div><br />I love food. <div>The tastes, the smells, the experience of eating. </div><div>I even like gardening and the creation of food.</div><div>The cooking and baking processes of making individual items into marvelous meals. </div><div><br /></div><div>My digestive system has a much more complicated relationship with food.</div><div>There are many things my digestive system overreacts to or feels the need to attack. </div><div><br /></div><div>Over the years of trying to figure out what my digestive system will tolerate</div><div>I've had to change my focus on eating for wellness </div><div>and learn to create the things I like with the ingredients my body also likes.</div><div>Its not an immediate change in mindset.</div><div>It takes time and energy and reminders.</div><div>Because eating is such a communal experience,</div><div>it has also taken community adjustment.</div><div>Finding family and friends who will support my journey and focus on wellness. </div><div>I have found that my focus on wellness has been a little bit contagious. </div><div>As others have supported me in focusing on digestive wellness,</div><div>others have been inspired to focus on their own nutritional wellness. </div><div><br /></div><div>What we eat makes a huge difference in how we feel and what we can accomplish.</div><div>If you feel you need some emotional or mental support to start a journey of nutritional wellness,</div><div>let me know. </div><div>I can't tell you what is good for your body,</div><div>but I believe that we all need to take this journey.</div><div><br /></div><div>#jointheradiantrebellion</div><div>Go to <a href="http://www.chookooloonks.com/radiant-rebellion-1">www.chookooloonks.com/radiant-rebellion-1</a> to read more about the Radiant Rebellion.</div><p></p>Elizabethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07061454901707205519noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7633841867253756531.post-89422482146879750122023-09-17T09:00:00.001-04:002023-09-17T09:00:00.150-04:00Forgiveness in Community<p> "Way way back many centuries ago, not long after the Bible began</p><div>Jacob lived in the land of Canaan, a fine example of a family man</div><div>Jacob - Jacob and sons - depended on farming to earn their keep</div><div>Jacob - Jacob and sons - spent all of their days in the fields with sheep</div><div><br /></div><div>Jacob was the founder of a whole new nation</div><div>Thanks to the number of children he'd had</div><div>He was also known as Israel, but most of the time</div><div>His sons and his wives used to call him dad</div><div>Jacob, Jacob and sons, men of the soil, of the sheaf and crook</div><div>Jacob, Jacob and sons, a remarkable family in anyone's book</div><div><br /></div><div>Reuben was the eldest of the children of Israel</div><div>With Simeon and Levi the next in line</div><div>Napthali and Isaachar with Asher and Dan</div><div>Zebulun and Gad took the total to nine</div><div>Jacob, Jacob and sons, Benjamin and Judah, which leaves only one</div><div>Jacob, Jacob and sons, Joseph -- Jacob's favorite son</div><div><br /></div><div>Jacob, Jacob and sons!</div><div><br /></div><div>When I was a child I learned the entire 1982 Broadway Musical recording of Joseph and the Technicolor Dreamcoat by Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber by heart.</div><div>So much so that once on a drive to a friends house, I sang the entire recording straight through to myself in the back seat</div><div>in multiple voices and with sound effects.</div><div>My mother was quite impressed. </div><div>As you might imagine, the story of Joseph has stuck with me since then. </div><div><br /></div><div>What we heard today in the passage from Genesis is the end of the story</div><div>many chapters and twists and turns from the beginning musical number.</div><div>As a recap, Joseph is the eleventh of twelve sons of Jacob.</div><div>Jacob favors Joseph and gives him a special multicolored coat.</div><div>Joseph's brothers don't like this.</div><div>Joseph has some dreams. His brothers don't like his dreams.</div><div>Many of his brothers attempt to kill Joseph, but their oldest brother relents and spares his life.</div><div>His brothers sell him to some foreigners who take him to Egypt as a slave.</div><div>Joseph works for a rich man with an unfaithful wife.</div><div>The wife tries to sleep with Joseph, he doesn't let her,</div><div>She blames him for her unfaithfulness, Joseph is thrown in jail.</div><div>In Jail, Joseph builds power and responsibility with his good behavior.</div><div>Others dream dreams and Joseph helps the chief cupbearer interpret his dream.</div><div>Eventually Pharaoh has some bad dreams. </div><div>The cupbearer remembers Joseph and tells Pharaoh, who hauls Joseph out of prison.</div><div>After Joseph explains the bad dreams, Pharaoh makes him chief steward.</div><div>Years pass. Drought and famine strike the Mesopotamian region.</div><div>Joseph's brothers come to Egypt to buy food from Joseph and don't realize its him.</div><div>Joseph plays tricks with them and then reveals himself.</div><div>Everyone plays nicely.</div><div>The extended family moves to Egypt, his father dies. </div><div>Then comes this passage, where Joseph's brothers aren't sure that Joseph has really forgiven them.</div><div>You know, for attempted murder. </div><div>So they try to trick Joseph into forgiving them,</div><div>but Joseph has already forgiven them.</div><div>Joseph has found the insight that God has overcome evil with good. </div><div><br /></div><div>We could pull a lot of morality, good news, and God moments out of Joseph's story. </div><div>I could do a whole sermon series from the life of Joseph and the many many twists and turns of his story.</div><div>His story starts with the struggle over his birth in Genesis chapter 30, then picks up again,</div><div>in chapter 37 when Joseph is a teen.</div><div>The passage we heard this morning is part of chapter 50, the last chapter of Genesis,</div><div>as Genesis ends with Joseph dying in Egypt. </div><div>There are days I feel I could write sermons on single sentences of the Bible, </div><div>let alone fourteen chapters of a man's life. </div><div>If we think about the part of the story we heard today,</div><div>the forgiveness of Joseph towards his brothers,</div><div>in relationship to Paul asking the rhetorical question, who are you to pass judgement on others?</div><div>and Jesus answering Peter's question about how many times we must forgive with seventy seven times,</div><div>then we can see a theme start to emerge. </div><div>Forgiveness in the midst of community.</div><div><br /></div><div>A difficult theme in a country</div><div>lacking both forgiveness and community.</div><div><br /></div><div>Here in the church we hope to find both.</div><div>Community as the body of Christ, as the people of God in the midst of Morristown,</div><div>and God's forgiveness.</div><div>Joseph had plenty of reason to be upset with his brothers,</div><div>they tried to murder him, and then sold him into slavery. </div><div>Told their father he was dead so Jacob wouldn't try to look for him.</div><div>The brothers never straightforwardly admit that they committed multiple crimes.</div><div>Yet, Joseph has found belonging, community with God, and forgiveness through God</div><div>and he can offer those things to his brothers.</div><div>His words are a beautiful example, </div><div>“Do not be afraid! Am I in the place of God? Even though you intended to do harm to me, God intended it for good, in order to preserve a numerous people, as he is doing today. So have no fear; I myself will provide for you and your little ones.”</div><div>He offers them both forgiveness and community.</div><div><br /></div><div>In the Gospel passage we see this joint theme of forgiveness and community come in the question and answer between Peter and Jesus.</div><div>Peter asks Jesus, "Lord, if another member of the church sins against me, how often should I forgive? As many as seven times?” Jesus said to him, “Not seven times, but, I tell you, seventy-seven times." </div><div>Peter is told to forgive multiple times. </div><div>Jesus' answer implies staying in relationship with people.</div><div>Not an easy business.</div><div>If we only forgave people once, we would have to walk away from everyone.</div><div>Forgiveness is an important aspect of community.</div><div><br /></div><div>Last week Rev. Anne talked about score keeping in relationship.</div><div>With what Jesus says today we would have to go down the lists of our grievances and forgive all of them. </div><div>One of the things about Joseph's story which gives me hope </div><div>is the fact that it takes more than ten chapters of Genesis, decades of time for Joseph and his brothers to get to this place of forgiveness and community.</div><div>Certainly there may be people who do things we struggle to forgive</div><div>or people who we take a long time to forgive.</div><div><br /></div><div>Once he finds them again, Joseph stays in relationship with his family.</div><div>Although, I do think in Joseph's example, </div><div>part of the reason he is able to offer both forgiveness and community is the shift in power.</div><div>This is where the line of forgiveness and community needs accountability.</div><div>Because when someone in power is hurting others without accountability, it becomes abuse.</div><div>And then forgiveness can be offered without community. </div><div><br /></div><div>One of the problems and joys of community is that there is a mix of people and power. </div><div>Some people are empowered in a community and others are not. </div><div>Churches are a perfect example. </div><div>It is supposed to be a community of believers, without power differences, so that people can find ways to talk to each other. </div><div>But with human complications, we do have different levels of power in our community. </div><div>And not everyone perceives those levels in the same way. </div><div>Speaking truth and hurt to power is difficult.</div><div>Forgiveness in community is hard work. </div><div>Both require being brave and vulnerable,</div><div>and letting God change our lives.</div><div><br /></div><div>When I last preached, two weeks ago,</div><div>I said I wasn't preaching to myself. </div><div>Today, I am preaching to myself.</div><div>Welcome to my head.</div><div>Yes, it comes with big musical numbers.</div><div>I am struggling to forgive someone in our community.</div><div>I am struggling to stay in community with someone after I have felt hurt by their actions.</div><div>No need to speculate on who, </div><div>I am calling myself out.</div><div>As one of your spiritual leaders, I want to be a good role model.</div><div>And I am struggling to forgive.</div><div>I am struggling to stay in community.</div><div>I ask for your prayers, as my community</div><div>To help me find forgiveness.</div><div><br /></div><div>For the last two weeks,</div><div>I've been meditating on Peter and Jesus,</div><div>on the life story of Joseph,</div><div>knowing that I am struggling to forgive and stay in community.</div><div>I am right there with Peter wondering how many times to do I have to forgive them??</div><div>Depending on how you read the Greek its either 77 times or 490 times.</div><div>Either way, its enough to lose track of the number of times </div><div>and recognize that forgiveness is a habit.</div><div>A lifetime habit.</div><div>A spiritual practice of the highest degree. </div><div>While it is one of the first we have to learn, its also one of the practices we have to relearn over and over.</div><div>How to forgive, the patience needed to forgive, the separation of forgiveness and accountability </div><div>and learning when we have to remove ourselves from subsequent situations.</div><div>Its not forgive and forget.</div><div>Jesus knows and teaches forgiveness and rebuilding relationships</div><div>and also accountability and amendment of life.</div><div><br /></div><div>Good news, we can keep working on this.</div><div>We can keep forgiving, struggling to forgive, learning to forgive,</div><div>learning how to stay in community and rebuild relationships</div><div>and learn to forgive all over again. </div><div>Joseph was given time to forgive his family.</div><div>Peter was given instruction on how to forgive and stay in community.</div><div><br /></div><div>Even better news, or maybe even great news:</div><div>Jesus has already forgiven us.</div><div>God has already given us grace</div><div>for all our failures,</div><div>including our failures to forgive.</div><div><br /></div><div>As we gather together today as a community</div><div>I hope you know the grace of God here.</div><div>Jesus forgives us all and welcomes us into his beloved community. </div><div><br /></div>Elizabethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07061454901707205519noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7633841867253756531.post-54201785791335728692023-09-14T13:47:00.002-04:002023-09-14T13:47:50.315-04:00The Book is HERE! Radiant Rebellion<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">It is a party!</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Confetti, music, a disco ball, and a new book!</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Of course its a party.</div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkSsjs0NFV0oW-igr5Giq9LZZPKWkCrok29JhyewEX2Y9Jof7e7wn5VicXFX6xOguZu9WrSRrTNvLzxrf7DEgczaSK8CpakhHfhaW1fuDx_rXBN_cIIa3tRIlGFpw3OJgYuS2yiDtuoDI3cLC-onCzTVpP78wtvAt6cC0srCW9tTGYbM7JHW5KLO-G_2XF/s4032/PXL_20230914_170017018.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkSsjs0NFV0oW-igr5Giq9LZZPKWkCrok29JhyewEX2Y9Jof7e7wn5VicXFX6xOguZu9WrSRrTNvLzxrf7DEgczaSK8CpakhHfhaW1fuDx_rXBN_cIIa3tRIlGFpw3OJgYuS2yiDtuoDI3cLC-onCzTVpP78wtvAt6cC0srCW9tTGYbM7JHW5KLO-G_2XF/s320/PXL_20230914_170017018.jpg" width="240" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">I'll see y'all later.</div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://bookshop.org/p/books/radiant-rebellion-reclaim-aging-practice-joy-and-raise-a-little-hell-karen-walrond/19577547?gclid=CjwKCAjw3oqoBhAjEiwA_UaLtiCCvjN1GgkD27zDnLx1l9RLdFrxQyeriyXrrzDMexCRESUiQNxJlBoC7xkQAvD_BwE" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKPIri99vmQfDMpnODN8WUIowKtI6TsoWbz7YsNSY8zbJXWKXvSF_zL5xzp_yjgjlfVJgQ_6NFHZP44Wv9BFjrOKgg9chTuxvudjVJbWSPUT9i-VA6Oi29AQ41m1ArjtvJVhoAncplfMQZM4MVqdQOMxLySUdtb3OiQJiYQql6Yywmb3u-msuvUHPLdpWl/s320/PXL_20230914_170233630.jpg" width="240" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">#jointheradiantrebellion</div><p></p>Elizabethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07061454901707205519noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7633841867253756531.post-81791546165324900752023-09-08T13:14:00.001-04:002023-09-08T13:14:13.877-04:00The Radiant Rebellion<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNls1VQwvE40WNZvMOn7rfHRBrbS6Paw_3o8TYNb5xDUcEaicW3XSclXaV-L14DL8qfZlQR8IahdXdQBVrAhf8ac-SwBV7shzC4XUy1eZYxlIap8Utgry3ZS55UROu7Mdd-8t-gSuwjJrL8bCQB93avPLS4joC00_RuJCB8ca9eUk_aPwC9n7WwJSOmD6O/s1500/Radiant%20Rebellion%201.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1500" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNls1VQwvE40WNZvMOn7rfHRBrbS6Paw_3o8TYNb5xDUcEaicW3XSclXaV-L14DL8qfZlQR8IahdXdQBVrAhf8ac-SwBV7shzC4XUy1eZYxlIap8Utgry3ZS55UROu7Mdd-8t-gSuwjJrL8bCQB93avPLS4joC00_RuJCB8ca9eUk_aPwC9n7WwJSOmD6O/s320/Radiant%20Rebellion%201.jpg" width="256" /></a></div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6BEiXrwyiZhacI2r9xGTrJdzbTb0WhbrHEyhGpU5p4Jp4xyXnFvi80maRlw1ztpXQsjvTXVCsWZVbQ_p18TtLgoqxK-hxyYH5AsEG8oSAp7zIr7a_gHLk_TPL9OwGa2z3R20FEzKtuxViNigP5fwttN8x3E3kLBHqS7ilKEueKShQ3eDrFpb3z4gsJ50C/s1500/Radiant%20Rebellion%202.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1500" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6BEiXrwyiZhacI2r9xGTrJdzbTb0WhbrHEyhGpU5p4Jp4xyXnFvi80maRlw1ztpXQsjvTXVCsWZVbQ_p18TtLgoqxK-hxyYH5AsEG8oSAp7zIr7a_gHLk_TPL9OwGa2z3R20FEzKtuxViNigP5fwttN8x3E3kLBHqS7ilKEueKShQ3eDrFpb3z4gsJ50C/s320/Radiant%20Rebellion%202.jpg" width="256" /></a></div><br /><br /><p></p><p>Girls are taught far too young to have problems with their age.</p><p>Facial creams, hiding from the sun, not acknowledging our age, these practices deny the truth and our full lived experience. </p><p>(Okay, no one should spend too much time in the sun anyway)</p><p>I'm in my mid-thirties and people are starting to comment on my new streaks of grey hair as if it was a problem. I'm also going to be considered a young person in the church for another ten years... Too young to lead or have a wise voice, so my relationship to ageism is complex. Grey hair is not the problem. Our cultural refusal to come to terms with the privilege of aging is a problem. For someone who considered committing suicide earlier in my life, all my laugh lines, frown lines, and grey hairs are trophies. Trophies of days I didn't want live, but kept living. Joys and sorrows weathered. </p><p>I can't wait to read Karen Walrond's new book, Radiant Rebellion. I don't know what is in it, yet! I do know Karen will remind us that the real measure of a life has nothing to do with age. The real measure of a life is experience and love. </p><p><span class="x7l2uk3 xt0e3qv">#jointheradiantrebellion</span> Go to <a href="http://www.chookooloonks.com/radiant-rebellion-1">www.chookooloonks.com/radiant-rebellion-1</a> to read more about the Radiant Rebellion. </p>Elizabethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07061454901707205519noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7633841867253756531.post-76602312005018399672023-09-03T09:00:00.001-04:002023-09-03T09:00:00.167-04:00Overcome Evil with Good<p> Make yourselves comfortable.</p><div><br /></div><div>I'm going to mention some hard and upsetting things today.</div><div>If you're not in a mental place to be able to deal with hard or upsetting things today,</div><div>please zone out for a little while. </div><div>For all of you who normally write your grocery list during the sermon,</div><div>the cherries were looking particularly good yesterday at the store.</div><div><br /></div><div>I'm going to talk about evil today.</div><div>Evil is a fascinating subject.</div><div>You might think that evil is not a particularly good theme for Labor Day weekend,</div><div>however,</div><div>Labor Day has its roots as a celebration of good overcoming evil.</div><div>Labor Day is a celebration of workers.</div><div>The Labor Day holiday was created after the union developments of better benefits, official work hours, and better company representation.</div><div>Which all came after the exploitation of laborers and the Haymarket riot in Chicago before 1882.</div><div><br /></div><div>Unfortunately, despite Labor Day</div><div>people are still exploited for their labor.</div><div>People are still abused and bullied by companies, managers, and supervisors.</div><div>People are still abused in our communities. </div><div>Evil is still part of our every day lives.</div><div><br /></div><div>The Poppy Family on their album Poppy Seeds in 1971 sang,</div><div>"Evil grows in the dark</div><div>Where the sun, it never shines</div><div>Evil grows in cracks and holes</div><div>And lives in people's minds</div><div>Evil grew, it's part of you</div><div>And now it seems to be</div><div>That everytime I look at you</div><div>Evil grows in me"</div><div><br /></div><div>I recently heard this as part of a soundtrack for something I was watching.</div><div>It made me pause. </div><div>How we think and talk about evil is largely dependent on the type of culture we grew up in </div><div>and the experiences we have had personally. </div><div>Evil can be highly abstract or it can be personified. </div><div>The Merriam Webster definition of evil is "<span style="color: #212529;">morally reprehensible". </span></div><div><span style="color: #212529;">Evil is morally reprehensible. </span></div><div><span style="color: #212529;">Sounds right, but rather abstract. </span></div><div><span style="color: #212529;">That definition is dependent on our morals,</span></div><div><span style="color: #212529;">which is dependent on our culture,</span></div><div><span style="color: #212529;">and our understanding of importance. </span></div><div><span style="color: #212529;">This definition makes evil a part of us,</span></div><div><span style="color: #212529;">because morality is concerned with human thoughts, actions, and behaviors. </span></div><div><span style="color: #212529;"><span data-markholder="true"></span></span></div><div><span style="color: #212529;">On the other hand, this morning we hear Jesus call Peter Satan</span></div><div><span style="color: #212529;">when he rebukes him for trying to protect him from what is coming.</span></div><div><span style="color: #212529;">In Hebrew, ha'satan means an accuser, an adversary.</span></div><div><span style="color: #212529;">However, the word has become a personified version of evil.</span></div><div><span style="color: #212529;">Satan is the one doing bad things in the world.</span></div><div><span style="color: #212529;">Evil as a force outside of us.</span></div><div><br /></div><div>Interestingly, because of the different centuries in which they lived,</div><div>Jeremiah understood evil in one way,</div><div>Paul in another,</div><div>and Jesus shows us an altogether different way of understanding evil.</div><div>Which is why we are so confused about the nature of evil.</div><div>The ancient Jewish concept of evil was different than the ancient Greek idea or even the ancient Roman idea,</div><div>and then on top of all that, we have the interpretations of translators into English</div><div>and centuries of connotations with words and implied theology.</div><div><br /></div><div>So when it comes to questions about evil,</div><div>what is evil?</div><div>why is there evil in the world?</div><div>There aren't a lot of good answers.</div><div>Theologians have debated the questions, the potential answers, the reality of evil in the world,</div><div>and every aspect of human problems throughout the centuries. </div><div><br /></div><div>Of course, we can't just say, evil exists and walk away.</div><div>Evil isn't the elephant in the room, it is part of the architecture of the church.</div><div>If we don't realize there is evil in the world</div><div>we don't know we have done evil</div><div>if we don't think we have done evil,</div><div>we don't care about salvation or our Savior</div><div>or God at all</div><div>its only when you recognize the lack of good</div><div>do you realize how much we need morals and religion</div><div>and how amazing Jesus is. </div><div><br /></div><div>Thank God almighty for Jesus.</div><div><br /></div><div>In the Episcopal Church, our belief is shaped by our prayer and our prayer is shaped by our belief.</div><div>That is the way we do doctrine.</div><div>As it stands, the most comprehensive understanding of evil</div><div>comes through the Baptismal Covenant.</div><div>In our Baptismal Covenant there are three questions which give us an understanding of evil.</div><div>They are on page p. 302 in the BCP if you don't have them memorized already,</div><div>we have done a fair number of baptisms the last couple of years.</div><div>"Do you renounce Satan and all the spiritual forces of wickedness that rebel against God?</div><div>Do you renounce the evil powers of this world which corrupt and destroy the creatures of God?</div><div>Do you renounce all sinful desires that draw you from the love of God?"</div><div>We are instructed to say, "I renounce them."</div><div><br /></div><div>Renouncing means stopping using or rejecting something.</div><div>Renouncing evil is a spiritual practice.</div><div>We can't say it once and then we are done.</div><div>I know, wish that we could.</div><div><br /></div><div>What we learn from these questions are that</div><div>rebelling against God, corruption, destruction, and separation</div><div>are some of the defining characteristics of evil.</div><div>Renouncing these things in the world means saying no to them.</div><div>Two year olds everywhere are going to be thrilled to hear,</div><div>Saying no, to evil, is also a spiritual practice. </div><div>We say we are going to say no to these things</div><div>we need to practice saying no</div><div>we need to remember to say no.</div><div>Almost every toddler goes through a phase of saying no constantly</div><div>yet, we seem to lose that ability later on in life.</div><div>No is a complete sentence.</div><div>When it comes to systems which hurt people's bodies, we need to say no.</div><div>when it comes to systems which hurt God's creation, our environment and home, we need to say no.</div><div>We can say no with our words, by speaking out, by sharing our stories with others,</div><div>we can also say no by not giving our money to companies which do these things and take part in systems which exploit people and the environment. </div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>There are some cliches about preaching.</div><div>One, that preachers are always preaching to themselves.</div><div>Two, that preachers only have a few sermons. </div><div>I don't know if all of my sermons sound the same,</div><div>but I have identified a few major categories of my sermons.</div><div>One category is my God loves you sermons. </div><div>God loves you.</div><div>I have specific categories for weddings and funerals. </div><div>Another category is my make good choices sermons.</div><div>I don't usually, consciously think about anyone's specific choices when writing these sermons.</div><div>I strongly believe that as a whole,</div><div>as a community of God, a world full of people going every which way,</div><div>we all do need to think about the choices we are making.</div><div><br /></div><div>We have to think about what we are doing in order to not support evil. </div><div>Evil is all around us.</div><div>We are going to fail sometimes at saying no to evil.</div><div>We are going to commit evil acts,</div><div>knowingly and unknowingly take part in rebellion, in destruction, in corruption, in exploitation and abuse.</div><div>This is why we do the general confession every week. </div><div><br /></div><div>Sadly, despite our confusion over what is evil,</div><div>we do need to learn to identify it.</div><div>Otherwise we get caught up in it. </div><div>All of us are tangled up in evil. </div><div><br /></div><div>Paul is very clear in his letter to the Romans:</div><div>"Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good."</div><div><br /></div><div>This is the example of Jesus, overcoming evil with good.</div><div>This is the work of God in the world. </div><div>God overcomes evil with good.</div><div>With love and grace and forgiveness and healing. </div><div><br /></div><div>Before we can overcome evil with good </div><div>we have to be able to recognize evil for what it is. </div><div>All that separates us from God, all that destroys health and goodness in this world,</div><div>anything that corrupts God's mission to bring love and peace to the people of the world </div><div>these are the evil things of this world.</div><div>Once we recognize it, we can say no to it,</div><div>we can say, I am not going to collude with, participate in</div><div>or go along with this kind of behavior</div><div>and we can find good ways to respond</div><div>we can find ways of working around the systems of destruction to build up people and communities.</div><div><br /></div><div>In the context of Labor Day weekend, </div><div>we can continue the historical overcoming of evil with good on behalf of workers</div><div>by making sure our companies, our churches, our favorite retailers,</div><div>have good human resource policies,</div><div>have ways of holding everyone in the system accountable for their actions,</div><div>have pay transparency.</div><div>We have the power to overcome evil with good through advocating for public records on companies, governments, and agencies.</div><div>Through sharing stories, and </div><div>doing better once you've learned better.</div><div>By learning to say no to evil in all its insidious ways.</div><div><br /></div><div>It isn't easy work. </div><div>In fact, it requires us to act like adults</div><div>to think, to find perspective, to respond to the world</div><div>instead of simply reacting without thought.</div><div>Jesus is our example and role model.</div><div>We need to learn to say no to evil,</div><div>and yes to overcoming evil with good.</div>Elizabethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07061454901707205519noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7633841867253756531.post-88763231006819097892023-08-27T09:00:00.001-04:002023-08-27T09:00:00.144-04:00Messy Goo is a stage of Life<p> Lets take three deep breaths together</p><div>breathe in</div><div>hold it for a second</div><div>then let it all out</div><div>again</div><div>breathe in</div><div>hold it for a second</div><div>then let it all out</div><div>one more time</div><div>breathe in</div><div>hold it for a second</div><div>then let it all out</div><div><br /></div><div>Its biologically proven that we can listen and concentrate better after breathing intentionally. </div><div><br /></div><div>How many of you know the life stages of Danaus plexippus?</div><div>which in Greek means "sleepy transformation"</div><div>the stages are</div><div>eggs, larva or caterpillar, pupa, what most know as the chrysalis,</div><div>and then the adult butterfly.</div><div>Monarchs, milkweed butterflies, or common tigers</div><div>typically have around four generations each summer. </div><div>The first three live around two weeks, each moving further north as they travel,</div><div>the fourth, the winter generation, can live almost nine months and they are the ones who fly to Mexico.</div><div><br /></div><div>Butterflies are an Easter symbol, </div><div>though they could be a year round Christian symbol</div><div>the transformation from caterpillar to butterfly is radical</div><div>but not so complete that butterflies don't remember being caterpillars. </div><div>They do.</div><div>According to a study from Georgetown University, butterflies do remember some things from their time as caterpillars.</div><div><br /></div><div>Transformation makes new things out of old things</div><div>but not everything old is lost. </div><div><br /></div><div>If you want an end goal to the purpose of Christianity, </div><div>the religious practice of Christianity,</div><div>it is transformation.</div><div>Transformation is not a basic element of every religion,</div><div>but it is a basic element of Christianity.</div><div>Transformation from where we are now into the beloved community of God.</div><div><br /></div><div>Transformation happens in many ways.</div><div>By working on our minds and hearts, renewing and learning</div><div>by being together in community, working and sharing together</div><div>by listening and looking, having revelations</div><div>both in our individual lives and collectively in community.</div><div>Through all of Jesus' teachings, you hear him pushing towards</div><div>transformation.</div><div><br /></div><div>Jesus spent three years walking and talking and being with people in ancient Galilee.</div><div>Through all the teaching, healing, feeding, eating, cleaning, praying,</div><div>Jesus guided the people he encountered</div><div>towards transformation.</div><div><br /></div><div>Subsequently, billions of people's lives have been changed because of Jesus' three years in ministry.</div><div>Transformation isn't just change though.</div><div>Transformation is harder than simple change. </div><div>Change happens to us. Change happens through us. Change is something we do.</div><div>Transformation is when we become something new.</div><div><br /></div><div>We hear in the passages for today</div><div>we hear a bit about changes, actions and reactions</div><div>we hear a bit about community</div><div>we hear a bit about revelation</div><div><br /></div><div>Paul writes, Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you may discern what is the will of God.</div><div><br /></div><div>Jesus asks the community of the disciples, 'Who do you say that I am?' </div><div>Jesus didn't just ask Simon Peter. He asks the community of disciples.</div><div>Simon Peter answers for the group, 'You are the Messiah.'</div><div>It is a revelation. </div><div>It is also a moment of transformation for the disciples. </div><div>They become the disciples of the Messiah in that moment. </div><div>We know its not a pretty transformation,</div><div>they still abandon Jesus when he is arrested,</div><div>but it is a truth they cannot run from. </div><div>They are the disciples of the Messiah</div><div>and it transforms them into the saints we know them as. </div><div><br /></div><div>The love of God can transform peoples lives.</div><div>I've seen transformation happen. </div><div>The recipe, the equation, for transformation is simple</div><div>you plus me plus God equals unity. </div><div>the living of it, the actual change, changing of form and matter and daily life</div><div>is much harder</div><div>and messier.</div><div><br /></div><div>If you think about the life stages of the monarch butterfly</div><div>the third stage, the pupa or chrysalis</div><div>is quite messy.</div><div>Its an outer shell with goo in it.</div><div>Everything that was the caterpillar, except what becomes the outer shell</div><div>turns into slimy messy organic soup.</div><div><br /></div><div>When we think about personal or communal transformation</div><div>we want slow methodical and logical change.</div><div>We don't want messy goo.</div><div>Beautiful black and orange monarch butterflies</div><div>come from messy goo.</div><div><br /></div><div>Transformation</div><div>is deeper and scarier than slow methodical and logical change.</div><div>To move from becoming a better person</div><div>to being transformed by the love of God</div><div>means cracking the safety of our souls</div><div>it means peering into the darkness within ourselves</div><div>saying hello to the demons that live in our hearts</div><div>forgiving them</div><div>forgiving us</div><div>it means moving from an individual mindset to a community mindset and then on to a unity mindset</div><div>recognizing that as Jesus and Paul and Peter and Isaiah knew</div><div>this is as important and urgent as eternity.</div><div><br /></div><div>In transformation comes wisdom</div><div>wisdom to recognize the unity we need with all of the cosmic creation</div><div>unity we need with our breath,</div><div>the spark of life spoken into our souls.</div><div><br /></div><div>Prayer, or meditation practice, or centering prayer, or contemplative prayer</div><div>any practice which starts with focusing on breathing and opens us up to the wider world in which we live</div><div>is the direct work of connecting to all that is around us</div><div>to transform us.</div><div>When we focus on our breathing</div><div>we recognize that all the world requires air, oxygen, hydrogen, nitrogen</div><div>we are all dependent on each other to keep the resource that keeps us alive</div><div>clean and healthy for all of us.</div><div><br /></div><div>In her writings, particularly her book, The Interior Castle, St. Teresa of Avila</div><div>writes about the spiritual journey starting with breathing prayer.</div><div>She writes about how going inside yourself to connect with your body and soul</div><div>will lead to better relationships and better community,</div><div>to transformation into God's grace and love in this world. </div><div><br /></div><div>This is one of those universal truths among most religions</div><div>that we are all connected, humans and plants and animals and our planet</div><div>we are connected and alive together in the same life</div><div>we categorize things in science in order to label them</div><div>but we are truly connected, all made of one being</div><div>God, our infinite Love who is the foundation for everything.</div><div><br /></div><div>Whether we are a hatching egg or a hungry caterpillar</div><div>or perhaps the messy goo of a chrysalis</div><div>God calls us deeper.</div><div>To be transformed by love</div><div>by learning, growing,</div><div>by community, forgiveness, grace</div><div>so that some day</div><div>fully encompassed in wisdom and unity</div><div>we will all be beautiful butterflies</div><div>bound together in God's beloved community.</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLy7RBgV3M_Fw3GV1xN25gbedrDXyUXiFSVB6MTScUxfWNKAcfXMuLtup2q_gCSWtYgImn07Cu2o94PvN-DL5eWHxgmDJt4jTT3IIWrKCJNyA9tBWw_MyDSRh5DsPBKC_IPeRtXiyvMUmfKNR02PYZB7sk_4jytKBTF-2dbz2aPA0171hr2QMj8gIAIZ0t/s3500/joshua-j-cotten-Ho93gVTRWW8-unsplash.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2333" data-original-width="3500" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLy7RBgV3M_Fw3GV1xN25gbedrDXyUXiFSVB6MTScUxfWNKAcfXMuLtup2q_gCSWtYgImn07Cu2o94PvN-DL5eWHxgmDJt4jTT3IIWrKCJNyA9tBWw_MyDSRh5DsPBKC_IPeRtXiyvMUmfKNR02PYZB7sk_4jytKBTF-2dbz2aPA0171hr2QMj8gIAIZ0t/s320/joshua-j-cotten-Ho93gVTRWW8-unsplash.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><span style="font-family: inherit;">(Photo credit: <a class="N2odk RZQOk eziW_ cl4O9 KHq0c" href="https://unsplash.com/@jcotten" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #111111; display: inline !important; font-size: 15px; overflow: hidden; text-decoration-line: none; text-decoration-skip-ink: auto; text-overflow: ellipsis; text-wrap: nowrap; transition: color 0.1s ease-in-out 0s, opacity 0.1s ease-in-out 0s;">Joshua J. Cotten</a>, <a href="https://unsplash.com/photos/Ho93gVTRWW8?utm_source=unsplash&utm_medium=referral&utm_content=creditShareLink">unsplash.com</a>)</span><br /><div><br /></div>Elizabethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07061454901707205519noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7633841867253756531.post-8064611927135743012023-07-30T09:07:00.001-04:002023-07-30T09:07:00.151-04:00Wise and Discerning Minds<p>I want everyone to take a moment to put yourself in Solomon's feet,</p><div>God comes to you and says,</div><div>“Ask what I should give you.”</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>Whoa. The first 'make a wish' moment.</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>We do have this opportunity,</div><div>we are allowed to tell God what we would like God to give to us</div><div>many times this is exactly how we use prayer.</div><div>God, give me a better work situation, help my daughter find a husband, and give Marshall a new arm</div><div>Oh, and the VBS students all want to be better at Fortnite. </div><div><br /></div><div>Solomon was a little better at thinking through the opportunity he had in conversation with God</div><div>and asks for an understanding mind, knowledge of good and evil, to be able to govern the people</div><div>in telling this story we typically say that Solomon asks for wisdom</div><div><br /></div><div>I have a few issues with this story,</div><div>partially because the Hebrew word for wisdom isn't used when Solomon asks for understanding,</div><div>though it is used at the end when the story says God gives Solomon a wise and discerning mind,</div><div>and</div><div>the story is a total show of patriarchy</div><div>because in the scriptures</div><div>we already have a story about a woman seeking the knowledge of good and evil,</div><div>remember Eve</div><div>and God being upset by it,</div><div>and the exile from Eden,</div><div>yet, here is a man asking for the knowledge of good and evil </div><div>and God is very happy with it. </div><div>Double standards.</div><div><br /></div><div>But I am glad that Solomon was smart enough to ask for help with a challenge he truly faced</div><div>knowing how best to govern the people,</div><div>so God grants him a wise and discerning mind.</div><div><br /></div><div>If you know a lot about 9th century BCE history, anyone?</div><div>Or really know the book of First Kings, anyone?</div><div>Anyway, despite this famous story about Solomon being granted wisdom and discernment</div><div>The rest of his life story shows that in human terms he acted with great business acumen</div><div>creating relationships with other countries and using slave labor to build up the city of Jerusalem, </div><div>including the great Temple,</div><div>though he didn't always use his wise and discerning mind when it came to his religious and spiritual decisions.</div><div>Solomon didn't always stay true to God. </div><div>Sometimes he sacrificed and prayed to other gods. </div><div><br /></div><div>It seems having a wise and discerning mind is good.</div><div>Using your wise and discerning mind is even better. </div><div><br /></div><div>We see this come up again in the Gospel passage again.</div><div>In the parables of Jesus that we hear, some of them are about discernment, about wisdom, </div><div>about being able to use our wise and discerning minds</div><div>to help us recognize what is important and precious in this world</div><div>then letting it guide our lives.</div><div>In these parables we get the sense that what is important from God is small, yeast, a pearl, a mustard seed</div><div>but that it impacts everything, it changes everything.</div><div>But making those decisions are hard.</div><div>To find a pearl and then to sell everything you have for it.</div><div>I mean, we have more possessions than most people in the first century did, but no matter how much you have, its a hard decision to put everything into one little thing like a pearl, or a field. </div><div><br /></div><div>Discernment is an important skill! </div><div><br /></div><div>If you were here last week, you may remember </div><div>I ended my sermon with asking what we all have faith in.</div><div>If you weren't here, I preached about the basic question of faith in our lives</div><div>and how we need to ask ourselves what we have faith in</div><div>so we can live out our faith.</div><div>After hearing the scripture passages this week, </div><div>it looks like the next step in this basic process of spiritual development is then</div><div>discernment.</div><div>Living out our faith requires us to make choices </div><div>which requires us to use God's wisdom and discernment to make good choices.</div><div><br /></div><div>We make choices all day long</div><div>some conscious, some unconscious</div><div>And this is where things bring up more questions</div><div>what is simply a choice and what needs discernment?</div><div>When we talk about discernment in the church we may use it as insider lingo meaning one of two things,</div><div>trying to figure out if you're called to a specific ministry, especially an ordained ministry, but can be lay</div><div>or trying to make a big life choice, getting married or moving for a new job.</div><div>We make choices all day every day</div><div>and when we have to think about them, weight the options, forecast the consequences, get input from others,</div><div>that is discernment.</div><div><br /></div><div>Naturally, people do this individually </div><div>but typically we do this in community</div><div>in family units,</div><div>in friend groups</div><div>in larger communities, especially when the decision will impact everyone</div><div><br /></div><div>We live in an interconnected world,</div><div>what we do makes an impact on others.</div><div><br /></div><div>In some ways, the disciples had already exercised their discernment in following Jesus</div><div>they had left everything they had in order to wander around with Jesus</div><div>They understood what an impact that had made on their life and choices</div><div><br /></div><div>When we know what we believe in, we take our creed, </div><div>and we best determine how to live them out. </div><div>I believe in God and that God is love</div><div>and I discern how to live my life through that lens. </div><div><br /></div><div>In just a couple of minutes</div><div>we will all affirm our faith in God </div><div>using the words of the Nicene Creed (using the words of the Apostles Creed).</div><div>And hopefully you do believe those things. </div><div>Or perhaps you should say them or read them and think about whether you believe those things or not.</div><div>But what we do today, is a perfect example of acting out of faith.</div><div>Because we believe in God</div><div>because we believe in Jesus</div><div>because we believe in the Holy Spirit</div><div>and we believe in the teachings in the scriptures</div><div><br /></div><div>8 am</div><div>we celebrate the Eucharist, we remember Jesus in bread and wine.</div><div>The discernment process that gave us the Nicene Creed</div><div>and the practice of Eucharist</div><div><br /></div><div>10:30 am</div><div>we baptize children. </div><div>The discernment process that gave us the Apostles Creed,</div><div>and the action of baptism</div><div><br /></div><div>didn't happen here or recently</div><div>it was done through the wider community</div><div>over decades, centuries, with thousands of people</div><div>repeating the process, thinking about the words and action</div><div>having conversations about what and how and who and why</div><div>we do these rituals.</div><div><br /></div><div>Ruth Haley Barton, a devoted lay leader and founder of the Transforming Center wrote a couple of books which have to do with discernment</div><div>she writes, "Discernment, in a most general sense, is the capacity to recognize and respond to the presence and the activity of God - both in the ordinary moments and in the larger decisions of our lives. The apostle Paul says that we are to be transformed by the renewing of our minds so that we can discern what the will of God is, that which is good, acceptable and perfect (Rom 12:2). This includes not only the mind of each individual but also the corporate mind."</div><div><br /></div><div>real discernment, even personal discernment, happens in community</div><div>it takes time and the ability to connect to God's wisdom</div><div>through prayer and conversation and feelings and being foolish</div><div>and the ability to follow.... to accept the guidance of God</div><div>even when it doesn't seem to be going in the direction of human wisdom</div><div>it might not be</div><div><br /></div><div>We know this. </div><div>We naturally fall into talking to others</div><div>We may not like what others say or maybe we don't even truly ask them what we are grappling with</div><div>But we ask others their opinions. </div><div>And that is part of our discernment process. That is part of how we deal with our lives</div><div>Discernment is intentionally inviting others into our decisions</div><div>Discernment is intentionally inviting God in and asking for guidance along the way</div><div><br /></div><div>We are in an individualistic era. </div><div>This is part of our problem with many issues going on in the globe right now.</div><div>We are well connected in some ways, but lack a real sense of community</div><div>that we are interconnected.</div><div><br /></div><div>Despite God giving Solomon a wise and discerning mind,</div><div>despite Jesus telling his disciples about the kingdom of heaven.</div><div>There's no kingdom, no neighborhood, no town or community</div><div>with one person.</div><div>A mustard seed may become one tree, but its not the kingdom until the birds and insects live with it.</div><div>Well, yeast is never on its own. I've never seen one yeast organism... you use a teaspoon full</div><div>which may not look like much, but together as a community they create amazing things like bread and wine.</div><div><br /></div><div>If we are facing big decisions</div><div>And that's subjective</div><div>Because every decision does impact others</div><div>But intentionally asking other people to pray with you or to think about your situation</div><div>Intentionally asking others into community to make decisions</div><div>Is part of discernment.</div><div><br /></div><div>Discerning needs to happen in community</div><div>one of the benefits of belonging to a church or other healthy community</div><div>we need others in helping make those big decisions</div><div>Our climate crisis is not going to change because of individual action,</div><div>its only going to change by communal effort.</div><div>Our economic disparities aren't going to change because of individual action</div><div>but only through communal efforts.</div><div>Together</div><div>we can use our wise and discerning minds</div><div>to find where God is at work in the world</div><div>and help God change the world. </div><div>I hope you'll join me in the journey.</div><div><br /></div>Elizabethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07061454901707205519noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7633841867253756531.post-62408658354215799082023-07-23T09:00:00.001-04:002023-07-23T09:00:00.151-04:00The Question of Faith<p> <span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">What do you have faith in?</span></p><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><br /></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">Now I know the parables are good today,</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">And I'm not going to talk about them</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">Because one of the most basic things about religion is faith.</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">You can blame St. Paul for today's sermon.</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">All religions require faith.</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">Faith is the belief in things not seen.</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><br /></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">In some ways, all the ideals we aspire to</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">love, justice, charity, hope</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">they are the bedrock on which any religion is created,</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">including some things we don't think of as religion, but could be construed that way,</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">are things we cannot see.</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">We can't see justice, certainly these days we don't see a lot of evidence for it.</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">We can't see equality or freedom or peace</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">because they are ways of talking about systems in which everyone belongs and feels comfortable being themselves</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">and we know we have not achieved that kind of world.</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">Anyway, without faith, there is no religion</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">no Christianity, no Judaism, no Islam, no Jainism, no pantheism.</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><br /></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">In the passage from Paul to the Romans, he writes,</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">"Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what is seen? </div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience."</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">Well, we try to wait for it with patience...</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">Faith is another one of those things we cannot see</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">at least not in itself</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">Its not faith if we have certainty,</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">its faith because there is some element of uncertainty about it. </div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">We have faith in God, who we cannot see, in God's existence and actions.</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">We might say we have faith in another person, but that isn't about their existence,</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">its about their actions which haven't come to pass yet, something unseen.</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><br /></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">The St. Peter's summer book, written by Mitch Albom, called the Stranger in the Lifeboat</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">brings up this question of having faith.</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">And the corollary question, faith in what?</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">The basic set up of the book is that there is a conference, </div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">a gathering of innovators and big shots on a personal yacht of a billionaire, as a kind of think tank trip with lots of lavish entertainment.</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">During the trip, something happens on the yacht and it explodes. </div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">The story follows a small group of people who end up in a lifeboat.</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">The reader is told this story from the perspectives of two narrators,</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">one of the people who was working on the yacht who ends up in the lifeboat</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">and the police officer in charge when the lifeboat comes ashore a year later.</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">The big question of faith comes up after the lifeboat has been floating by itself at sea for a couple of days.</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">The group of people in the lifeboat pulls another person out of the ocean </div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">who claims to be God.</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">And says that he can save everyone on the lifeboat, </div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">but everyone has to believe in him in order for it to work.</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">And subsequently the rest of the book is about the reactions, responses, and consequences of everyone's faith or lack of faith. </div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><br /></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">The question of faith in this story is one that has immediate and drastic consequences.</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">That's what makes it suspenseful. </div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">The question of faith in our lives may not seem like it has drastic consequences, </div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">we don't usually face life or death situations daily where our faith makes a difference,</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">but also in some ways, our faith does make a huge difference to how we are living and what kinds of choices we are willing to make. </div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">In the book, the outcome of the people in the lifeboat all depend on their relationship to this question.</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">The questions are asked,</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">Is the man God? Are there logical explanations for the things that happen? </div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><br /></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">If you haven't read the book, now is a good time to do so.</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><br /></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">Sometimes things can be seen to have very logical explanations, </div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">sometimes things are more convoluted and questionable.</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">sometimes our lack of understanding about the truly interconnected nature of our world leadS us to make the wrong conclusions. </div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">what we believe is determined by us, </div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">faith is always a choice, a soul choice, not always a mind choice or a logical choice.</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><br /></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">Not that mathematicians and philosophers and religious leaders haven't tried</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">to clear up the murky questions of existence and God and evil and meaning...</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">In the last few millennia, plenty of people have tried to make logical and conclusive proofs about the existence or non-existence of God</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">Maybe you've heard of Pascal's Wager or Aquinas' Five Ways,</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">Plato's cosmological arguments or Moses ben Maimon, widely known as Maimonides, </div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">Wrote a proof to believe that God is, but not an idea of what God is. He believed that God cannot be understood or be compared.</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">On the other hand Nietzsche and Russell have proofs against the existence of God.</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><br /></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">There is a whole spectrum of ideas about faith</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">and some of the people on the furthest edges of the spectrum say there is no use even talking about the question </div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">because it has been become a certainty for them, one way or the other. </div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">Of course, that is when it stops being faith.</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">Most people find themselves somewhere in the middle</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">For many people this is what keeps them learning, keeps them exploring faith, religion, and their understanding of reality</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">because uncertainty opens up questions</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">Sometimes I think questions are more important than answers. </div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><br /></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">Martin B. Copenhaver, an ordained minister of the United Church of Christ, literally wrote a book called</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">Jesus Is the Question: The 307 Questions Jesus Asked and the 3 He Answered. He says, </div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">"In the Gospels Jesus asks many more questions than he answers. To be precise, Jesus asks 307 questions. He is asked 183 of which he only answers 3. </div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">Asking questions was central to Jesus' life and teachings."</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><br /></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">One of the most basic questions we can ask ourselves is </div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">what do I believe? What do I have faith in?</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">In the Confirmation class this past spring we asked our young people to write their own creed</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">A statement of belief</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">which can be a good helpful, engaging, and harder than you might think, spiritual practice. </div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">I occasionally do this myself. </div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">I write a creed of beliefs.</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">What I have faith in</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">because the world pulls us in so many directions sometimes we don't realize what we truly believe in. </div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">Asking ourselves the question is one of the only ways to find out.</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><br /></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">Its summer, in case you haven't noticed</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">I suggest this exercise,</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">Take your cocktail outside, on a good air day</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">take a pencil and paper and eraser</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">write at the top of the page</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">What do I have faith in? Or what do I believe?</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">And see what comes</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">see where God is at work in you.</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><br /></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">And then go out into the world and live it.</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><br /></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">We can talk about faith until we are blue in the face,</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">and my husband would tell you that I can definitely do that,</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">but questions and answers, true faith, </div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">needs to be lived out.</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><br /></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">We can follow the example of Jesus who lived his questions</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">day in and day out.</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">This is why I highly recommend</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">at least once in your life, or on an occasional basis,</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">write out what you believe,</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">write out what you have faith in.</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">Then think about what that means for your daily life and put it into action.</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">I know, I know...</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">easier said than done.</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">Believe me... I know. </div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">I believe in a non-violent approach to conflict and life in general</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">but there are days I want to punch something.</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">But I believe in a non-violent approach to life,</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">as Jesus did, and so I took the Lombard Mennonite Peace Center training on how to deal with conflict </div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">and I am working on implementing what I learned there into my life practices.</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><br /></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">Truly, faith cannot be seen,</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">but it does have to be lived.</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">In order to be lived we have to have an idea about what we have faith in.</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">So, the question for the day is</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">What do you have faith in?</div>Elizabethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07061454901707205519noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7633841867253756531.post-25325561341345259172023-07-16T09:00:00.001-04:002023-07-16T09:00:00.140-04:00The Parable of the Abundant God<p><br />Do you know the feeling of planting something?</p><div>The hopeful feeling of wanting something to grow</div><div>the slightly scary feeling of knowing that you don't have total control over what is going to happen</div><div>the awe inspiring feeling of knowing you don't actually know exactly how growth happens?</div><div>Planting is fraught with emotion.</div><div><br /></div><div>Between last Sunday's sermon and this Sunday's Gospel passage, </div><div>I found myself compelled to reach out to <a href="https://www.growitgreenmorristown.org/" target="_blank">Grow It Green here in Morristown</a></div><div>and spend an afternoon at their Urban Farm. </div><div>If you don't know Grow It Green, they are a local non-profit farm,</div><div>managing the community gardens on Early Street, the partner greenhouse at St. Elizabeth's, and the Urban Farm on Hazel Street behind the Lafayette Learning Center preschool. Their mission is</div><div>"to promote community health through urban agriculture, discovery-based learning and equitable food access. Grow It Green Morristown creates sustainable farms and gardens, and educates communities on healthy eating and environmental stewardship."</div><div>St. Peter's has donated offerings to them in the time I have been here, </div><div>as well as having their Urban Farm be one of the field trips for our VBS Summer Camp students.</div><div>On a daily basis they have volunteers come to the different parts of the farm and help out.</div><div><br /></div><div>So Wednesday afternoon I spent three hours in 90 degrees in long sleeved, long legged clothing </div><div>weeding, planting, raking, and watering perennials, herbs, and vegetables. </div><div>I got my hands in the dirt. </div><div>I disrupted a nest of ants.</div><div>I made a worm very happy.</div><div>I was reminded of the awe inspiring nature of dirt.</div><div>Its one of those things we know as children, how cool dirt is</div><div>and somehow some of us forget it as we grow older.</div><div><br /></div><div>In our summer sabbath of going back to basics</div><div>I want to talk about one of the underlying basic attributes of God.</div><div>Abundance.</div><div><br /></div><div>There is always more than enough with God.</div><div>More than enough love.</div><div>More than enough grace.</div><div>More than enough sorrow.</div><div>More than enough joy.</div><div><br /></div><div>God gives abundantly</div><div>though we don't always understand it.</div><div><br /></div><div>Today's parable from Jesus is evidence of this basic attribute of God.</div><div><br /></div><div>We call this parable of Jesus that we hear in the gospel of Matthew today the parable of the sower.</div><div>Though most of the time when we look at this parable, we actually focus on the different types of soil, </div><div>as if this is the parable of the soil.</div><div>This is the way that the author of the Gospel of Matthew sees this parable and how the author offers his commentary on it.</div><div>We see the Sower as God, we see the seeds as God's Word, and us as the soil, in which the seed is planted and something might grow. </div><div><br /></div><div>Many times when we hear it preached on, this is the direction and the preacher spends time trying to get us to think about how we are as soil. </div><div>Are we rocky or hard or thorny?</div><div>However, when you look at just the parable, there are other ways of seeing it as well. </div><div>That is one of the many joys of a parable, a story. </div><div>You can be any and all of the parts of it and there are lessons to be learned in all areas.</div><div><br /></div><div>If we focus on the sower in this parable we see the mindset of abundance,</div><div>immense abundance as the sower flings seeds every which way</div><div>with no regard for the soil type. </div><div>There is a joy present in having more than enough seeds to send everywhere.</div><div>I do think God creates with joyful abundance and sends creation, </div><div>creativity out to all the ends of the earth.</div><div><br /></div><div>The parable of the sower is a crazy one,</div><div>if we know anything about farming.</div><div>Seeds are precious and farming takes a lot more than simply spreading seeds and waiting for them to grow.</div><div><br /></div><div>For first century farm workers this parable is like a white upper class crowd hearing</div><div>an investor went out to invest</div><div>and they put their money in all kinds of ventures</div><div>some grew quickly and then crashed</div><div>some were bought out and sold</div><div>some were out competed and lost their business</div><div>and others did well and grew steadily.</div><div>Let anyone with ears listen!</div><div><br /></div><div>What kind of investor, what kind of farmer spreads their precious money all over the place?</div><div>The only way this makes sense is to look at it with this idea of abundance</div><div>obviously there is some risk in spreading seeds all over a farm and not just the good soil,</div><div>but this mindset of abundance changes everything.</div><div>There is more than enough.</div><div><br /></div><div>I think the way St. Paul would look at this parable is saying</div><div>human wisdom says to study and learn about your soil and climate </div><div>and perfectly portion out your seeds to grow your crop.</div><div>But God's wisdom is foolishness to our ears,</div><div>so God's wisdom is to be abundant and share everywhere</div><div>and in an upside down world this makes sense.</div><div><br /></div><div>In fact, this parable is the start of a series of parables in the gospel according to Matthew</div><div>all about the kingdom of God</div><div>and this parable shows how abundant God is with the Good News.</div><div><br /></div><div>In imitation of God we are called to live abundant lives, not in the scarcity mind set that we too often take.</div><div>This parable seems to say, don't be wise in your dealings, be abundant</div><div>live in a mindset where there is possibility everywhere</div><div>we don't know how things are going to turn out</div><div>so spread love and grace and the Word of God everywhere.</div><div><br /></div><div>In the Parable of the Sower, if we are to imitate the sower,</div><div>we are called to share abundantly.</div><div>With everyone, in every situation, everywhere we go. </div><div>This image of God doesn't depend on how well prepared we are</div><div>God shares all that is available</div><div>taking the risk that nothing grows</div><div>but also the risk that we grow into amazing expressions of love.</div><div><br /></div><div>I want to leave you with one last image, something to inspire you to be abundant and hopeful</div><div>and foolish with your sharing of love and grace </div><div>the gifts of God in this world. </div><div>During the youth pilgrimage a couple of weeks ago</div><div>We went hiking in a place called Eaton Canyon outside of Pasadena.</div><div>We walked a couple of miles around the canyon and to the waterfall of the river which created the canyon.</div><div>we walked along a rocky and dusty trail with some fantastic views</div><div>The flora of the area is typically shrubs, with the Mediterranean type climate.</div><div>The <a href="https://www.ecnca.org/plants-2/" target="_blank">Eaton Canyon Nature Center website</a> has a listing of the flora of the area, </div><div>only listing 14 different types of trees compared to the 44 different types of shrubs in the canyon. </div><div>All that to say, the views off the sides of the canyon were fantastic and easily visible. </div><div>And it was all the more impressive when we were hiking towards the waterfall and saw</div><div>fifteen feet up the side of the canyon wall, a twenty foot tree</div><div>going out of the rock.</div><div>God's creative love is abundant </div><div>and we never know where it will grow,</div><div>so share it everywhere.</div><div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWasI2HUBE5ytemtdq-UqPLIxLLxpO4yaQdvp_RawoXgd79tn-1J397gQqHMJ4GJwMrtAB5lkOLavcpN-lGWUPWlrHsLOr_m5byohgOTmKib6zxcHfv-O49ULfW21qPJJp2lD3zqUQOB_F9XjhW-0lv-Gg0Bt2Uw4cLElbg1K4A3ftZjxKuxTGciCzL23U/s4032/PXL_20230626_170107514.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWasI2HUBE5ytemtdq-UqPLIxLLxpO4yaQdvp_RawoXgd79tn-1J397gQqHMJ4GJwMrtAB5lkOLavcpN-lGWUPWlrHsLOr_m5byohgOTmKib6zxcHfv-O49ULfW21qPJJp2lD3zqUQOB_F9XjhW-0lv-Gg0Bt2Uw4cLElbg1K4A3ftZjxKuxTGciCzL23U/s320/PXL_20230626_170107514.jpg" width="240" /></a></div></div>Elizabethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07061454901707205519noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7633841867253756531.post-66551486223804497392023-07-09T09:49:00.004-04:002023-07-09T09:49:00.149-04:00The Burden of the ClimateIt was an intensely sunny, windy, and warm day on Wednesday June 28th<br />in Monterey County, California.<br />I was driving a Nissan Murano up Highway 101, otherwise known as El Camino Real,<br />the royal road, what began as the path taken by the Spanish friars and military<br />between the Missions through Alta California in the late 1700s and early 1800s.<br />I had three sleeping teens listening to Billy Joel<br />and I was going along well...<br />until I realized I missed my exit. <br /><br />As I pulled off the next exit, <br />I found myself stopped behind a white painted school bus towing porta-potties. <br />I was somewhat surprised, and quickly realized I wasn't the only one<br />since my exiting had woken up my passengers <br />and there was quickly conversation about what the bus and porta potty combination was doing.<br />Luckily I was only three miles past the exit I needed,<br />so it was a quick detour through the small town we were in to make it back to the road we needed.<br />Along the way we saw more school buses towing porta potties<br />and coming out of the town we saw the reason for them.<br /><br />If you don't know, this region of California produces millions of tons of food each year.<br />The likelihood is that you've tasted the goods of Monterey County,<br />as the yearly strawberry crop of Monterey County is worth almost a billion dollars.<br />The other top ten crops being lettuce, broccoli, wine grapes, spinach, cauliflower, celery, poultry, and Brussels sprouts.<br />What we saw on our drive that day were fields and fields of crops.<br />And fields and fields of farm workers<br />fully covered in hats, long sleeved shirts, and pants<br />gathering strawberries by hand in some of the strongest wind and sun I have ever experienced. <br /><br />We saw where all those buses were going, <br />to the fields<br />to offer a spot of respite and bathrooms to the farm workers. <br /><br />While we had been taking turns praying grace over our meals during the youth pilgrimage<br />and praying for the people who helped make our food possible,<br />after that day all our prayers were a little more heartfelt when it came to praying for the farm workers.<br />We talked about the conditions and the bathrooms and what it must be like to be bent over all day<br />hand picking strawberries.<br /><br />Later that evening, <br />after a long day of driving, visiting Hearst Castle, driving again, <br />we drove close to six hours that day, <br />visiting Mission San Carlos Borromeo del Rio Carmel, <br />hiking and seeing seals at Point Lobos State Reserve,<br />and having dinner in a local pub, <br />we gathered together before bed in the hotel lobby to have Compline. <br />During Compline our reading was these verses from our Gospel passage today:<br />“Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. <br />Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. <br />For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”<br /><br /><br />This was one of the days the gospel sounded like good news<br />the scriptures made sense.<br /><br />Not necessarily for me, no.<br />For the fifty thousand farm workers and fruit pickers of Monterey County<br />toiling in the blazing sun and unrelenting wind<br />in full length clothing in 85 degree weather<br />This scripture is for them.<br />Jesus is speaking to them. <br /><br />During our Compline prayer time one of the teens remarked,<br />'I didn't realize people still picked food like that.'<br />To people working day in and day out for food to eat<br />Anyone offering rest, or just an old school bus with some porta potties <br />would be welcome. <br /><br />This is why we take pilgrimages.<br />The scriptures come alive to us in ways we didn't understand before. <br />All the youth from Christ Church Short Hills who had never seen farm workers working at picking fruits and vegetables for the rest of us to eat,<br />now they know who they are talking about when they pray before eating. <br /><br />Not that Jesus wasn't talking to us, but we have lost touch with the earth.<br />We have lost touch with the real feeling of knowing what it is to carry <br />water for our drinking or for watering our crops.<br />We have lost touch with the bodily knowledge of what it takes to walk the land and know how to survive off what you grow<br />Jesus was talking to them. <br />In the first century, the people in the regions that Jesus walked through <br />survived mainly on subsistence farming<br />they grew crops to eat<br />There was some fishing industry around the Sea, <br />there was some wine, olive, and barley industry<br />where wealthier landowners would be able to sell their goods at the market <br />but otherwise, the crowds Jesus was talking to <br />were farm workers.<br />Shepherds, laborers, field hands, grape or olive pressers, <br />masons and builders.<br /><br />They knew what it was to have to work to eat. <br />And that can be a hugely heavy burden. <br /><br />Today, more than 2 billion people still work to eat, <br />about a quarter of the global population is still involved in subsistence farming.<br />And another billion work on farms owned by other people or companies. <br />Unfortunately, the conditions for farm workers are becoming worse.<br />And because the poor carry the most heavy burdens, <br />they are feeling the worst effects of the changes in the world.<br /><br />On the other hand, those of us with the money and ability and voice, <br />the agency to make changes in our lifestyles and society at large,<br />especially those of us who follow Jesus' teachings, emphasizing the poor and disenfranchised, <br />we should be carrying this burden. <br /><br />We know what the solutions are, <br />we have the ability to change our ways without putting our survival at risk<br />we have solution aversion,<br />we are more afraid of changing our lifestyles <br />rather than the bigger changes that are going to happen.<br />Even though the bigger changes of the climate are going to force us to change anyway.<br /><br />As we all have noticed recently with the air quality alerts from the fires in Canada<br />what happens in one part of the world definitely affects other parts of the world.<br />Millions of pounds of strawberries are grown and harvested in Monterey County California.<br />As their temperatures rise and their weather gets weirder<br />we are less likely to be able to enjoy strawberries year round.<br />Strawberries may once again become a local special treat for only the spring months of May and June. <br /><br />Here in New Jersey, climate changes are affecting blueberry and cranberry growth <br />which affects the state economy.<br />Heat waves are affecting our power grids and stressing the road and sewage infrastructure.<br />In Morris County, flooding, power outages, and longer mosquito seasons has affected the county expenditures, <br />which affects the county budgets, which affects the tax rates... and we all know who that affects. <br />All of us. <br /><br />And you may want to say,<br />climate change is too big and heavy a burden.<br />Or you may think that it is not affecting you.<br />But all of us were affected in some way by the air quality alerts,<br />I mean, how many of you exist without air? <br /><br /><br />Thankfully, we aren't left without options. <br />We can change our gardens to native plants. We can grow more vegetables. We can buy more local produce.<br />We can use our cars less and carpool or use the train <br />or buy a bicycle, its both good for your health and good for the earth. <br />We can use our devices until they no longer work, not just the next upgrade comes out, and then recycle them through electronics recycling programs. <br />We can wear our clothing until it no longer fits, slowing down our changes in fashion. <br />(And if you've noticed that I only wear the same six dresses, you should ask me about my dresses.)<br />We can talk to our neighbors and colleagues, our bankers and financial planners,<br />our lawyers and restaurateurs and politicians about the crazy weather <br />and how much we care about our space and land here. <br />There are hundreds of things we can each do<br />and it comes down to each of us deciding that we care to do one thing differently in order to help. <br /><br />We can lay down the heavy burden of the whole world of climate change at Jesus' feet. <br />We are crushed in face of that burden. <br />We can pick up Jesus' yoke of loving what is in front of us,<br />which includes the land under our feet, the air we breath in, and the food we eat.<br /><br />Jesus offers us an exchange. <br />The burden of the world which we cannot carry,<br />for the burden of love which we can carry.<br />Jesus offers this to each and every one of us,<br />knowing that love in action always makes a difference. <br /><br /><br />One last thing. <br />I know I landed the plane, I shouldn't continue on.<br />However, I can't help myself.<br />Jesus preached in Aramaic, the language of the people of the fields. <br />He spoke the good news to those who needed it most. <br />Here in the United States, the people in the fields don't usually speak English. <br />The people in the fields are immigrants.<br />The majority, something like 90% in California, are Latinx.<br />And in case there is anyone here or watching online in that category, here is the good news for you:<br /><br /><div>Mi sermón de esta mañana es sobre el cambio climático y cómo afecta a los trabajadores de la granja. </div><div>Dije una cuenta sobre mi viaje a la Alta California y visitando a los misiones españoles. </div><div>También, cuando estaba en California, veíamos a los trabajadores de la granja en los campos. </div><div>Ver a los trabajadores agrícolas hacer que las escrituras tengan vida.</div><div>Todos necesitan oír lo que Jesus dice en el evangelio de Mateo, especialmente los trabajadores quienes hacen todas las comidas que comamos. </div><div>»Vengan a mí todos ustedes que están cansados y agobiados, y yo les daré descanso. Carguen con mi yugo y aprendan de mí, pues yo soy apacible y humilde de corazón, y encontrarán descanso para su alma. Porque mi yugo es suave y mi carga es liviana»</div><div>Dios ofrece amor y descanso a ti. </div>Elizabethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07061454901707205519noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7633841867253756531.post-85849542994251518512023-07-02T12:29:00.007-04:002023-07-02T12:29:46.272-04:00Welcoming Conversations<p> <span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">One of the things we do in the Worship Together service is teach the children words</span></p><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">for the littlest children, its very basic words, because they are just beginning to talk</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">for the older children, it is teaching them bigger words,</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">Like the special words we use for the cup and plate we use for our meal with Jesus</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">Do you all know what those words are?</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">This is a (chalice)</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">this is a (Paten).</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">Well done. </div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><br /></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">Can you say, conversation?</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><div>Let me hear you say, conversation.</div><div><br /></div></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">Do you know what a conversation is?</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">Raise your hand, How many of you think you know what a conversation is?</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><br /></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">Learning how to have a conversation is an important aspect of socialization for children, and adults.</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">Which I know all of you are rolling your eyes and thinking to yourself,</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">"Mother Elizabeth, I'm ...(insert random number, you can be honest with yourself) years old, I know how to have a conversation."</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">Hmmm.... </div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><br /></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">In our recent clergy meeting with the Bishop, she told us </div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">That we need to take the summer time as a time to go back to basics</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">And while talking about how to have a conversation might seem a little too basic</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">Bear with me.</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">There's a part of having conversations, especially welcoming conversations,</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">That we seem to have lost in the last few years.</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><br /></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">Do you feel that you know how to make someone feel welcome in a conversation</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">how to move past small talk and talk about the things you and the other person are really passionate about?</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">Do you know how to have a conversation that builds relationship?</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">How to truly listen to another person as they speak and engage with them in ideas?</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><br /></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">As we turn toward the Fourth of July this week and the United States independence holiday,</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">it is important that we talk about having welcoming conversations. </div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">We live in a country that has trouble having conversations </div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">and our political and civic world will only get harder to live in if we continue to shy away from having important conversations. </div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><br /></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">saying hello and exchanging a few words about the weather is not a conversation</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">its a first step to having a conversation, but its not the conversation.</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">Small talk is important, and it has a important function in social interaction</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">but we really need to learn how to move beyond the small talk</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">and into the conversations</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">where we listen, we respond, we disagree, we agree, we look at different perspectives</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">we are able to say I don't know, and I'm learning, and I haven't thought about that before.</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><br /></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">In the Gospel passage we have heard today, we hear Jesus saying to welcome others</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">and that whoever is welcoming will be welcomed and so on.</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">I think we can all agree that this is something we want.</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">We want to be welcomed in our relationships and community.</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><br /></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">And we all know what it feels like to NOT be welcome.</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">We may say that St. Peter's, or our neighborhood, or our exercise class is welcoming,</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">but what do we really mean?</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><br /></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">When most people are asked to describe what is welcoming</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">the top five things talked about are: </div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">friendliness, pleasantness, accessibility, openness, and preparedness.</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><br /></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">Spaces that are welcoming are accessible, able to easily walk into them,</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">open, being not locked, or difficult to get into</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">pleasant, which usually means not dirty and in some kind of aesthetic as to be good to look at,</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">prepared, ready for people to be in it, someone took care to think about who was going to be in a space and what they might need</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">and friendly, in that it has a good user interface, it is kind and clear and able to be used appropriately.</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><br /></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">I did say I was going to talk about conversations, and here I'm talking about spaces...</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">so what are welcoming conversations?</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">One of the first ways we welcome others is in how we speak to and with them. </div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">In a welcoming conversation, people have relaxed and easy body language</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">they might get passionate about something, but the facial and body language is open, curious, and easily changed.</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">Most of us know how to read the signs of when someone doesn't want to have a conversation,</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">closed arms or hands, closed faces, etc.</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">and we also know when someone is open and ready to talk.</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">Sometimes we think someone is open for a conversation, by their body language</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">but after some small talk realize that they are not in an emotional or mental space to have a conversation.</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">This is usually evidenced by repetition of time, or stuck in a feeling, or unable to ask return questions.</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">A person who keeps saying they have to go, are not available for a conversation mentally or emotionally.</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">A good, real, welcoming, conversation</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">has many of the same characteristics as a welcoming space</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">they are friendly, accessible, open, prepared, and pleasant.</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><br /></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">Welcoming conversations are always God conversations</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">even if we never mention God.</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">Because when we welcome the person in front of us</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">when we meet them where they are and welcome them, we are welcoming Jesus and God into our lives.</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">The reverse is also true, as Jesus says in Matthew 10:40, </div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">"Whoever welcomes you welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me."</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><br /></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">So what is involved in having a welcoming conversation?</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">I have three basic steps for having a welcoming conversations, especially if you don't know someone else well. </div><ol style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><li>Reminding people of your name, asking them theirs, or what they want to be called, if you already know them very well, you may be able to skip this step. But it never hurts to double check that you are still calling someone else by the name they want to be known by</li><li>Asking questions - not what do you do, boring!</li></ol><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">Ask instead, what are you passionate about? What are you involved with outside of work?</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">Where have you found God lately? What do you think about... topic you actually care about? If you are involved in something together, ask what caught their attention.</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">The last step is the most important</div><ol start="3" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><li>LISTENING!!! </li></ol><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">I wrote it in all caps with three exclamation points. This is the most important step in having a welcoming conversation.</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">Active listening is a skill most of us fail to practice.</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">If you are going to take one thing out of this sermon, go practice active listening.</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">Here is how to active listen:</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">ask someone else a question</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">listen to their answer!</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">After you have heard their answer, repeat what you have heard to make sure you understand</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">then comment, ask another question, or share a connecting story.</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">You don't have to repeat every sentence, but especially when you are confused or not sure you understood, repeat!</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">Don't spend the time they are talking thinking of what you are going to say next.</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">Listen to what they are saying. Listen to what they aren't saying. Listen to what they are saying.</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><br /></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">Pop Quiz time! Its only one question:</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">What is the most important aspect of having a conversation?</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">(Listening) Yes, listening.</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><br /></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">The 19th century British critic William Hazlitt said, </div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">“The art of conversation is the art of hearing as well as of being heard.”</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">Having a good conversation is an art, </div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">and all art comes out of God's creative force in our lives.</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><br /></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">Lest you think I leave you high and dry,</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">I have an example for you. </div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">Our friend Elmer/Kay, is going to help me with this demonstration. Thank you.</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><br /></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">Good morning! How are you doing this morning?</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">respond back and forth</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">We have been in this church service together this morning, what has caught your attention?</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">respond back and forth</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><br /></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">Thank you! Let's all give Elmer/Kay a round of applause for being the preacher's assistant...</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><br /></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">Before I end,</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">What did you hear in this conversation?</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">How did it feel?</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">This was a good, welcoming, God-centered conversation.</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><br /></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">Being welcoming, </div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">welcoming God into our lives doesn't have to be grandiose</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">it can start with our daily conversations.</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">God is with us in every conversation.</div>Elizabethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07061454901707205519noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7633841867253756531.post-70861373212461650522023-06-11T13:00:00.005-04:002023-06-11T13:00:00.140-04:00Make God-Centered Decisions<p> <span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">Do you want a salad or roasted vegetables?</span></p><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><br /></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">For some of us this might be an easy decision.</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">For others, it might be more difficult.</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">When I was a child and I couldn't make this kind of decision,</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">my father would figuratively put one in his left hand and one in his right hand</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">without telling me which was in each hand.</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">Then I was to choose a hand, right or left?</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">I was supposed to go with whichever of the choices in the hand I chose</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">But most of the time, in that second after he told me which I had to go with</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">I realized either that I was happy with the choice</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">or sad that I didn't get the other</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">and knew which I really wanted. </div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">In this case, usually the salad.</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">You never knew which vegetables were going to be in 'roasted vegetables.'</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">A salad is usually more predictable.</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">This way of choosing is a decision making game</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">and one that I occasionally still use to help make simple and fairly unimportant decisions.</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><br /></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">But what about when the decisions are much bigger</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">much harder?</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><br /></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">In the Undercroft here at St. Peter's, where our After School program and our Vacation Bible School takes place</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">there is a poster</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">its one of those typical school posters</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">empowering and pithy</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">encouraging and a little cheesy</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">There are a number of these posters in our Undercroft</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">but the one I am thinking about today is one that reads:</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><br /></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><a href="https://www.passiton.com/inspirational-quotes/3869-watch-your-thoughts-for-they-become" target="_blank">Poster</a><br /></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><br /></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">The poster draws a straight a=b line</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">from thoughts to destiny</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">in the light of our actions and habits and character along the way.</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><br /></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">Most of the time we think of these things as things that just happen to us</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">we aren't in control of our thoughts, they just wander through our heads</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">we control some of our actions, but most of the time we are simply responding to what is happening around us</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">our habits and character and destiny... well...</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">most of the time we forget those are patterns and aspects of our lives</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">we are too busy keeping track of where we need to be and what we need to do</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><br /></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">Yet, All of these things can be changed.</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">We can direct and shape our thoughts</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">we can control our actions and habits</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">which shape our character and destiny</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><br /></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">In effect, while this poster is trying to get students to realize that they have agency in their lives</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">it is also a free will based, theologically charged, wisdom text.</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">Reflecting on this text could lead to higher functioning.</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><br /></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">This is what I have been reflecting on with the passages we heard this morning.</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">God calls us to make God-centered decisions.</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><br /></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">This connection between words and actions is very present in our readings and prayers for today</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">The Collect of the Day says, "Grant that by your inspiration we may think those things that are right, and by your merciful guiding may do them"</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">thinking leads to doing.</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">Jesus tells Matthew to follow me and he gets up and follows him.</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">The way the story is recorded, its a split second decision that changes his whole life. </div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">And then also in the Gospel text,</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">While they are having dinner, a synagogue leader comes to Jesus and tells him he needs his help</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">Jesus gets up and goes</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">no questions are asked, no dilly dallying happens</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">there are words and then there are direct actions</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">The decisions are moved by the Holy Spirit and lead to new life. </div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><br /></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">I don't think we don't need to moralize or overthink every decision we make,</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">but in some ways, we do have to be careful what we think, say, and do</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">because Jesus does ask us to pay attention to our decisions and make God-centered decisions.</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><br /></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">Jesus calls Matthew, all the disciples, and in perpetuity, all his followers</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">to follow him.</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">Which means, to make Jesus-God-the Holy Spirit the central aspect of our lives</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">to listen and act from God-centered decisions.</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><br /></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">And all Christians say, of course.</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">But how we make decisions in our lives affects more than we realize</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">And many times we say we follow Jesus, when our thoughts, actions, decisions </div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">show something entirely else.</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><br /></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">Other people can tell a lot about us from the decisions we make and how we make them. </div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">In the passages we hear this morning, Matthew and Jesus both make decisions in the moment that </div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">put their trust in God </div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">they are in line with other ways in which we see them make decisions later on. </div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">Jesus regularly responds to people asking for help in an immediate way. </div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">Matthew becomes a disciple and while we don't hear much about him specifically afterwards, </div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">we assume he traveled with and witnessed and was sent out with the other disciples. </div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><br /></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">There are a lot of frameworks for how we can make decisions in our world today. </div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">Many people simply react to the world around them, doing things without necessarily thinking about the decisions behind the actions.</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">Lots of people, communities, and groups have guiding frameworks. </div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">Rotary has the four way test. Doctors and nurses have guiding frameworks for how to triage and make medical decisions. </div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">Lots of businesses have practical tools to help employees in situations in order to have the best decisions made for the whole company. </div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">Christians are called to make decisions through discernment, prayer and listening to God and putting Christ in the center of their thoughts and principles.</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">Some of us learn these frameworks explicitly</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">like when a doctor is told, this is how to act and make triage decisions</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">and others, implicitly, through experience and mistakes along our journeys.</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><br /></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">Later this month I will be joining the youth from Christ Church Short Hills </div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">on a pilgrimage to California to learn about the Spanish missions. </div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">We will be using the guiding theme and acronym</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">LOVE: learn, observe, verify, empower</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">This is a way for us to teach the youth to love and give them a framework for making loving decisions. </div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">On the trip we will be learning about the Spanish Missions in California and the ways in which they colonized the region. </div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">The Franciscan friars who started the missions were trying to bring God to the indigenous people who lived there. </div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">But since they were also accompanied by Spanish and later Mexican and then United States military presences, </div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">there were also other agendas, God was not in the center of the decisions</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">so the ways in which colonization happened were frequently not very loving. </div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">However, we will be working with the youth to show them how when love, God's love, is the guiding framework, </div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">we can learn from others, we can observe where God is already at work, we can verify with the people involved,</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">and we can empower others to know God's love already present with them.</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">God calls all of us to make God-centered decisions</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">and for our teens, that means learning and practicing what that looks like.</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><br /></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">As those of us who have lived a few more years than our teens have already learned,</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">we are going to make mistakes.</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">Making decisions can be tricky business</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">how do we know we are making the right decision?</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">Is salad or are roasted vegetables better for me?</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">there are decisions that are right for us in one moment, that aren't right for us at other times</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">there are objectively right decisions, those that impact ours and others freedom and ability to live</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">decisions to offer love and care for ourselves, others, and the planet</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">but sometimes it can be very hard to figure those out.</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><br /></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">All decisions come down to grace and love</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">grace with ourselves in making the decisions and recognizing that some of the decisions we make are going to be mistakes</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">and love in trying to find the best decision for those who are most impacted by the decisions we make.</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><br /></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">In our Baptismal Covenant we recognize </div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">that we are going to mess up and we are going to need to repent</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">we are going to need to start over</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">and we need God's grace and help and guidance</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">we think and say and do everything with God's help.</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">As we go on our pilgrimage of life, we learn, we grow,</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">we can get better at making God-centered decisions.</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">(this is our hope and promise for Ophelia as she publicly joins the family of God this morning)</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">So that when Jesus calls us in our lives</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">we are able to make the God-centered decision.</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><br /></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"></div>Elizabethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07061454901707205519noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7633841867253756531.post-9583477692361471992023-05-28T16:00:00.001-04:002023-05-28T16:00:00.148-04:00Pentecost: The Holy Spirit Builds Diverse Community<p> <span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">The Holy Spirit acts in diverse community.</span></p><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><br /></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">If you were here last Sunday, you'll know that I was not.</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">Last November, I, in my infinite wisdom, decided that last Sunday</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">I was going to attempt to swim, bike, and run across almost seventy one miles </div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">in southern Tennessee and Georgia.</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">Because it seemed like a fun idea.</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">And it was.</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><br /></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">I completed the Chattanooga Ironman 70.3, a half Ironman triathlon</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">in 7 hours, 30 minutes, and 37 secs.</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">It was quite an achievement.</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">But you know what made it actually fun?</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">All of the family, friends, and strangers who volunteered, raced, cheered </div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">before, during, and after the event.</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">The diverse community.</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><br /></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">I met people from all over.</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">Connected with people so very different than I.</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">I was cheered on and supported by complete strangers I will never see again in my life.</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">I cheered on complete strangers.</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><br /></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">Its in all the news about how divided the United States is</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">And it is divided in many ways</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">but when I go out and about</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">and last week Jimmy and I were in eight different states:</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, West Virginia, Virginia, Tennessee, Alabama, Georgia</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">and some of these states have some big issues going on</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">I also saw lots of strangers helping strangers</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">people being friendly and helpful</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">I saw the coming together of diverse community in all sorts of places.</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><br /></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">The Holy Spirit brings diverse community.</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><br /></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">The reading from the Acts of the Apostles for Pentecost Sunday is one of my favorite passages.</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">Its dramatic, its inclusive, it includes the speaking of bad assumptions, and the sharing of truth</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">it highlights multiple miracles, not just the coming of the Holy Spirit </div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">and its full of interesting names</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">Its one of the times when a single event shows a larger picture of what God is doing in the world</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">and its about the community of all people</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><br /></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">The passage starts with a small known group of people</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">the disciples</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">we don't exactly know who was in the room, but we have a general gist:</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">Simon Peter Andrew</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">James and Brother John</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">Philip Thomas Matthew</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">James the son of Alphaeus</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">Thaddaeus Simon Judas</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">And Bartholomew</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">I couldn't list the twelve disciples without singing. </div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><br /></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">I also imagine some of the women we know who were a part of the group were there</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">Mary Magdalene, Joanna, the other Mary, maybe even Mother Mary</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">All these twenty so people were gathered together in a room</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">a small but already diverse community.</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">Some of them were fishermen, a tax collector, probably another carpenter</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">with the addition of the women, more diverse backgrounds</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">as Joanna was married to the chief steward of King Herod</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">compared to Mother Mary, the wife of a carpenter.</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><br /></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">And then </div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">in comes the Holy Spirit </div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">and blows the whole thing out</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">out of the room they go</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">out into the city, into the crowds</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">growing the group </div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">into a multinational conglomeration of people from everywhere the Roman empire had contact with </div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">We know there were other places and people beyond where they had gone, but the point is made in this list, right?</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">Parthians, Medes, Elamites, and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabs</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">The Holy Spirit is being inclusive, everyone is invited.</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">and everyone could hear the disciples in their own languages.</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><br /></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">The Holy Spirit acts through diverse community.</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><br /></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">Even what Peter stands and preaches </div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">speaks to the diverse community of the Holy Spirit.</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><br /></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">Peter quotes from the prophet Joel,</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">"God declares,</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">that I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh,</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy,</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">and your young men shall see visions,</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">and your old men shall dream dreams.</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">Even upon my slaves, both men and women,</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">in those days I will pour out my Spirit;</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">and they shall prophesy."</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><br /></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">Men, women, old, young, enslaved, free</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">everyone is included</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">and everyone has different gifts and will do different things.</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">Its not one sized fits all</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">or as they joke in the clothing industry,</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">one size fits no one. </div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">When the Spirit comes</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">Oh, the Spirit comes!</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">And everyone is included and everyone is given a different part to play</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">when the Spirit comes</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">all are welcome</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">and all are needed</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">to bring together the whole work of God.</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><br /></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">The Holy Spirit builds diverse community.</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><br /></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">St. Peter's</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">is a moderately diverse community</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">though we don't always act like one</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">sometimes we act like multiple different communities barely tolerating the others in the vicinity</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">But I look around this room</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">we all look very different</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">we are all human, but we are all also unique</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><br /></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">individually, most of us couldn't provide invaluable bags of food for children on the weekends and help house refugees and build and maintain multiple old stone buildings or teach about baptism, marriage, and perform funerals and pastoral calls and create social media advertisements, teach tango dance lessons, sing and play glorious music</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">together as a community</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">we do all this and more in a week</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><br /></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">St. Peter's is a community, </div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">together we have power and agency</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">together we have all the gifts we need</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">together we can receive the Holy Spirit </div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">and together, with God, creator, redeemer, and advocate</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">Who creates, redeems and empowers us</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">we can change the world</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><br /></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">It doesn't happen on its own.</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">Peter wasn't changing the world on his own.</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">He had his friends and family</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">the other disciples with him.</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">Even Paul didn't go it alone, </div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">in the Acts of the Apostles we meet his traveling companions</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">Silas, Timothy, Luke, Barnabas, John Mark.</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">We need each other </div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">we need this community</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">and all the wonderful diverse gifts the Holy Spirit brings to it.</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><br /></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">Because...</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">The Holy Spirit brings diverse community.</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><br /></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">"Ev’ry time I feel the Spirit</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">moving in my heart, I will pray."</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">Yes, but every time I feel the Spirit is at work in the world</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">I know it will include lots of different people coming together with unique gifts</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">that maybe on their own are small </div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">but together </div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">create big power</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><br /></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">I'm a big believer in repetition. </div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">The Holy Spirit brings diverse community.</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">Let's be a part of it.</div>Elizabethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07061454901707205519noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7633841867253756531.post-70310319299742786152023-05-28T06:05:00.007-04:002023-05-28T06:05:53.368-04:00Infinite Love<p> <span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">There once was a man who was so interesting and good</span></p><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">that people came from all over to hear him teach</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">He became such a good teacher and leader that some other leaders started to be afraid</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">they didn't know if Jesus wanted to take their jobs</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><br /></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">One night</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">Jesus was in an upper room with his friends</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">they were celebrating the festival which remembers the day the Israelites left Egypt and crossed the reed sea</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">Jesus and his friends were eating flat bread, lamb, grilled vegetables, and drinking wine</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><br /></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">Jesus started to teach his friends</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">He offered them encouragement</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">and reminders</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">a summary of all that he had taught them</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><br /></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">Jesus reminded them that the Greatest Commandments</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">are based in Love</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">Love of God</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">Love for ourselves</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">Love for others</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><br /></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">Love. Love, love, love, love, love. </div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><br /></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">What a four letter word.</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><br /></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">Its a complicated thing</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">love.</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><br /></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">I say this as someone who grew up in a loving family </div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">with multiple people having mental health struggles</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">I say this as someone who has broken off relationships</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">and been broken off from. </div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">I say this as someone who has lived her entire life as part of very different congregational communities</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">I say this as someone who is married</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">who knows the joys of sharing my life,</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">and the daily frustrations.</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">Love.</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><br /></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">The second time I fell in love, </div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">It was such a surprise and I fell so hard and so fast </div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">that the next week I was on the phone with my friend KariAnn</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">and after saying all the typical crazy things you say when you've fallen in love, </div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">I also said: </div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">Oof, I feel ten years older than last week. </div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><br /></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">Love can give us direction and purpose </div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">Energy and focus and something to hold on to, </div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">And it can also increase our sense of responsibility and care for the fragile things in this world</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><br /></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">people</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">us </div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">each other </div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">Our pets </div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">Our land</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">Our world</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><br /></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">Love is always going to be hardest thing we get to do in our lives</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">it keeps asking us to be open </div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">To suffer pain</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">And risk </div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">Risk our feelings</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">Our money</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">Our time</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">Our lives</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><br /></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">Love is Also the best thing we get to do in our lives</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">Love is</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">"more than feeling"</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">it is a promise</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">a loyalty</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">a struggle</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">a longing</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">a grace</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">a gift</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><br /></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">Love is the ground of all being</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">everything we know in this universe</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">the atoms which make us up</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">the threads that are bound together for our clothes</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">the annoying pebble in your shoe</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">the air and water, crops and food, we breathe, drink, and eat</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">the pollen and cat hair which clings to everything in the spring</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">the oceans full of fish, plankton, whales, sharks</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">the forests full of lions, and tigers, and bears</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">the insects and arachnids</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">and animals we haven't figured out classifications for yet</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">the black holes, stars, quasars, and immense sound waves of space</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">All of this was created in love</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">immense love</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><br /></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">I mean, how in love with creation do you have to be to create black widow spiders</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">that's some serious love right there</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><br /></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">I'm going to be preaching about love my entire career, nine years already with another thirty five to go</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">and I'm never going to preach a sermon that fully encompasses what God's love means</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">that is how immense and amazing God's love for us is</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><br /></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">In dire circumstances we might say we would be willing to die for those we love</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">God has done that</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><br /></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">God came to earth as Jesus out of love for us </div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">and because of the circumstances</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">died so that we might be free</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">free from sin, death, everything which keeps us from living with joy and peace</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><br /></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">Jesus, our God who is love,</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">reminds us to reconnect with the foundation of our being</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">the reason and purpose we are alive</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">life is created for love</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><br /></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">Of course this is the greatest commandment</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">without love we become dead inside</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">we are empty and dark and malicious</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">and it shows</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><br /></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">This is where love really hits the road</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">love empowers us to rise again</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">when we get knocked down, knocked out, devastated by what is going on in our lives and in the world</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">love, the courage of our hearts,</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">is what helps us become like those magical mythical phoenixes </div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">rising again from the ashes</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">we are never exactly the same as before</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">but we can still continue to live and breathe and work love into this world</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><br /></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">the commandment of love is a daily practice</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">a habit we need to work on</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">kind of like eating healthily</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">we know it is something we should do</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">and it will make our lives better</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">but it takes time and energy and intention</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">and so we eat daily cheeseburgers instead of daily salads</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">we allow our self talk to be daily self shame instead of daily self love</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">we allow ourselves to forget all the hard things taking up our brain space</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">and judge others when they mess up</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">and being upset when they judge us because we know all the things going on in our lives</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><br /></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">the commandment of love is a daily practice</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">it looks like saying a prayer in the morning</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">it looks like cleaning up our messes, whether they are spilling milk or saying something mean</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">it looks like allowing yourself to be happy when something silly happens </div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">it looks like taking time to enjoy who you are and what you like to do</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">it looks like living out of abundance, being able to share our toys, our food, our lives, our money, our time</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">because love means there is always enough</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><br /></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">Having lived in this world, Jesus knows</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">he knows that we internalize shame</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">and the only cure for shame is love</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">there is no shame in the presence of love</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">Jesus invites us to internalize love</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">to know the only rule we need is one of love</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">because from love comes grace, forgiveness, peace, joy, empathy</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><br /></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">Listen to Jesus' teaching</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">Know that love is the hardest thing we get to do in this world</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">Loving is also the best thing we get to do in this world</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">start a daily practice of love</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">And know that you are completely unashamedly loved</div>Elizabethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07061454901707205519noreply@blogger.com0