Which Animal Are You? - October 8

Today’s Readings: AM Psalm 140, 142; PM Psalm 141, 143:1-11(12); 2 Kings 23:36-24:17; 1 Cor. 12:12-26; Matt. 9:27-34

Today’s Reflection

“Indeed, the body does not consist of one member but of many. If the foot were to say, ‘Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body’, that would not make it any less a part of the body. And if the ear were to say, ‘Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body’, that would not make it any less a part of the body. If the whole body were an eye, where would the hearing be? If the whole body were hearing, where would the sense of smell be? But as it is, God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as he chose. If all were a single member, where would the body be? As it is, there are many members, yet one body.” –1 Corinthians 12: 14-20

Yesterday afternoon there was a light-hearted, community feeling in the office. Thursdays we have a program planning meeting in the morning, and then staff are around the office the rest of the day trying to finish our weekday tasks before the weekend (since for many on our staff, the weekend is Friday and Saturday). After taking some tech stuff up to the Parish Hall, I was walking back into the office suite and wandered into a little impromptu gathering in one of my colleague’s offices—just co-workers enjoying conversation together on a stream-of-consciousness like array of topics.

Somehow, we jumped from talking about the upcoming Trunk or Treat to discussing what we each thought our ‘spirit animal’ is (admittedly, we weren’t meaning ‘spirit animal’ in the more authentic sense of the term as used by indigenous people, but rather in the more pop culture sense of the term). I think we got to this topic because I was sharing my idea for decorating a trunk this year, and how it coordinates with costumes my 13-year-old daughter and I have (you’ll have to come to the Trunk or Treat on October 27 to find out more!).

I won’t identify which colleagues were involved in this conversation but suffice it to say the diversity of our staff’s personalities and gifts are reflected in which animal we each thought best reflected who we are as people or that we feel some spiritual kinship with. One identifies with hummingbirds. Another identifies with blue herons. The third said orangutans! For me, ever since I was a young child, I’ve always felt a connection with the squirrels who populated the long-leaf pine trees in our backyard, busily leaving their mark on all the pinecones to get to the seeds deep inside.

When I mentioned that my animal is the squirrel, one person was surprised, believing that I am too focused to be like a squirrel! A good point! But I responded that it depends on how you see squirrels—I see them as always busy, getting things done, planning and preparing for the next season. Which if you know me, you know that this is pretty accurate. Squirrels are busy, but happily so. When I see squirrels roaming around the yard looking for nuts, hanging upside down on the feeder eating their fill of seeds, or chasing each other around the pecan trees, they seem happy and content. (It’s fall break, so a Friday reflection on squirrels seems appropriate to the season!)

If we were to ask each person on our staff which animal, they feel most kinship with, I bet each one would name a different one. And if we polled everyone around Saint Stephen’s, since there are so many people, we might find some who’d pick the same animal as one another, but I bet they would give very different reasons why.

All this diversity is such a blessing! As Paul wrote to the Corinthians, to function as the body of Christ, we need to have all the different body parts to make up a functioning body. If everyone was a hand or a foot or an eye, we wouldn’t be able to do all the things a body should do! Here’s how Paul put it: “But as it is, God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as he chose. If all were a single member, where would the body be? As it is, there are many members, yet one body.”

I feel happy to work and worship alongside a hummingbird, a heron, and an orangutan—and all the other creatures our staff and parishioners feel that they are most like in some way! God has created us to be a diverse menagerie, bringing all manner of strengths and gifts and experiences into the life of our church habitat. Thanks be to God!

—Becky+

Questions for Self-Reflection

Have you ever thought of which animal best represents your temperament and traits? If so, which one? Why?

I once had a roommate who felt God’s peace and reassurance whenever she would see a hawk in the sky. Are there particular creatures that, when you see them in nature, remind you that is God is always with you?

Daily Challenge

Samford professor Will Kynes, Ph.D. gave a talk at Saint Stephen’s earlier this year on “A Biblical Theology of Diversiunity,” tracing God’s valuing of diversity throughout Holy Scripture. You can find it here on our Saint Stephen’s YouTube channel in our Christian Formation playlist.

Pick one and Do it Well! - October 7

Today’s Readings: AM Psalm 131, 132, [133]; PM Psalm 134, 135; 2 Kings 23:4-25; 1 Cor. 12:1-11; Matt. 9:18-26

Yesterday, Anne and I met with a psychologist to review the results of some testing for our daughter.  The testing confirmed some of what we expected: she is gifted at math and spatial processing, and she struggles with language and phonetics.  This was not a surprise to her parents.  I joked with our doctor that it’s a good thing that Bailey wants to be an engineer when she grows up.  We all agreed that this plays to her strengths exceptionally well. 

And then we joked about our other child who is a very strong reader, and at this point in his life wants to be a professional soccer player. I’m not quite sure I am ready to squash his dreams, but part of being the best version of ourselves is learning to play to our strengths.  Some of us are good at math, others reading, and others are fast on the field and are dynamic athletes.  Some are capable musicians or artists, and others are exceptionally savvy at emotionally connecting with people and navigating relationships.  As we talked through the gifts and challenges of our children, it was a reminder for me that we don’t have to have everything figured out perfectly, nor do we have to be responsible for all things. 

A few weeks ago, I gave a tour to the generous donor of a $25k grant to help support our solar panel system.  He was visiting two projects that his foundation has helped to bring to life here in Alabama.  I asked him his motivation for helping nonprofits install solar arrays and his answer was very helpful to me.  “John, I care about climate change, but I can’t fix all the problems of the world.  I thought I’ll pick one and make a difference.  I can move the needle by focusing entirely on one small segment of the population.” His answer was impressive.  This man knows his limits and his capacity to make a difference.  Pick something and do it well.  We can’t do it all!

In Paul’s first letter to the community in Corinth, he reminds the community of the diversity of spiritual gifts. Some of the people in the community are good at healing, others prophecy, and others discernment.  What is implied in that statement is the individuals aren’t good at it all.  They have strengths, and while not explicitly stated, they have weaknesses too.  Paul’s encouraging the group to play to their strengths. 

I find it so easy for us to focus on our weaknesses or to become aware of where others outshine our own selves.  Another way of framing that discovery might be to give thanks for helping us to hone our strengths.  One of the profound gifts of being in community is the reality that we all collectively share responsibility for the whole body.  We don’t have to be responsible as individuals for solving all the problems.  Maybe pick one or two and put our energy there.

What is your focus or mission? Where are your strengths or spiritual gifts?  Pick one and make a difference!

John+

Questions for Self-Reflection:  Do you know your own strengths and weaknesses, or better yet your spiritual gifts?  Do you focus or spend more time playing to your strengths or compensating for your weaknesses? 

Daily Challenge: There are several quick ways of understanding yourself better.  Our staff at Saint Stephen’s looks at the Enneagram and the Myers-Brigg Typology.  If you have the time, explore one of these.  Links are above.

Paul's harsh words - October 6

Today’s Readings: AM Psalm 119:145-176; PM Psalm 128, 129, 130; 2 Kings 22:14-23:3; 1 Cor. 11:23-34; Matt. 9:9-17

Confession: I did not go to chapel every day in seminary.

There were some days that it felt like too much. Daily the community gathered for Morning Prayer at 9:30, Eucharist at noonish, and Evening Prayer at 5. It set a lovely ritual to frame the day with prayer and gathering. While I feel a sense of fondness for that flow and camaraderie now, in those three years, I often felt tension because of the many demands. I had a young family who were uprooted in a new place with foreign rhythms. My graduate studies required much reading, writing, not too much arithmetic – except when budgeting funds – plus doing fieldwork (getting immersed in the life of a local church) and work-study jobs. I spent small breaks in between the next scheduled thing with classmates, sharing sips of ever-brewing coffee and all-you-can-eat animal crackers in the library. When the sun set, there was still much studying to do. Time was a precious commodity. There were days that I would skip worship to study or spend time with my family.

I am taken back early this morning to those memories as I read today’s appointed excerpt of Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians. Some of these words sound terribly foreign to me…maybe I just wasn’t in chapel those times this scripture was read aloud? Or maybe this fell freshly upon your ears and eyes, too? I normally associate Jesus’ prayerful words used to consecrate the bread and wine with the gospels. Here, we read Paul’s rehearsal of Jesus’ process and prose. Such familiar words present themselves in a fresh space.

Then, Paul offers directions that are challenging: ”Whoever, therefore, eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be answerable for the body and blood of the Lord. Examine yourselves, and only then eat of the bread and drink of the cup.” (1 Cor. 11:27, 28) Surely there must have been those in Corinth who were not coming to the shared sacramental meal with gentle hearts and cleansed spirits. Or they were poking fun and cracking up, not grasping the gravity of this experience with the reverence deserved. This scripture also speaks to approaching the altar for Communion with openness to receive the gifts of God given for each of us, the people of God.

The Apostle Paul puts a few more barbs into his message to the churches in Corinth, saying, “For all who eat and drink without discerning the body, eat and drink judgement against themselves. For this reason many of you are weak and ill, and some have died. But if we judged ourselves, we would not be judged.” (v. 29-32). His words are harsh: because many have not understood what it means to receive the bread and wine, they are infirm and weak, either physically or morally. Some are dead – and this could be metaphorical or actual death. I take issue with Paul’s message here, for it is hurtful and untrue. People get sick and die sometimes. It is not directly correlated to their lack of decorum or contemplation when receiving Eucharist.  

However, I see what Paul was doing, urging people to understand the seriousness of the sacramental meal, continuing to partake of the bread and wine, just as Jesus had shared with the disciples. Remembering the actions, recalling the significance. Paul is training from a distance, which is extremely hard.

Perhaps we can listen to the intent behind this letter of the Apostle Paul: be attentive to what it means to receive the gifts of God, that are given for the people of God. Confess those things and feelings that weigh us down and plague our being, so that rather than feeling judged, we can approach the Table with gratitude. I hope you will join in, for Jesus’ body was broken for all. There is room for each of us. If today is feeling like it is just too much, attend to your soul. Take a break. We will be here, praying and singing.  

--Katherine+

Questions for Reflection

Think of a time when you have abstained from receiving Eucharist. What was going on with you? Did you talk to anyone about it? How did you get to a space of resolution?

Daily Challenge

Paul's letter to the Corinthians talks about judgement. Pay attention to how you are judging yourself, and perhaps how you are judging others. Ponder the word "judgement" and journal about those thoughts for five minutes. Then, pray the Lord's Prayer and ask God to be with you in the tension you feel.

Take Heart - October 5

Today’s Readings: AM Psalm [120], 121, 122, 123; PM Psalm 124, 125, 126, [127]; 2 Kings 22:1-13; 1 Cor. 11:2,17-22; Matt. 9:1-8

Today’s Reflection

And just then some people were carrying a paralysed man lying on a bed. When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, ‘Take heart, son; your sins are forgiven.’ Then some of the scribes said to themselves, ‘This man is blaspheming.’ But Jesus, perceiving their thoughts, said, ‘Why do you think evil in your hearts? For which is easier, to say, “Your sins are forgiven”, or to say, “Stand up and walk”? –Matthew 9: 2-5

Yesterday in our Romans Bible study group, we were looking at the second half of Romans chapter 2 and spent most of our time looking at verses that have to do with what justifies a person in the eyes of God, as well as the misguided sense of self-righteousness that some believers can get drawn into feeling sometimes. In verses 17-23, Paul was writing of Jews whose sense of righteousness and closeness to God came through feeling that they were faithfully following the law (and, of course, that they were more faithful in that than others): “you call yourself a Jew and rely on the law and boast of your relation to God.” But then Paul begins to pose a series of questions that shine a light on the hypocrisy that inevitably follows when people set themselves up as justified because of what they do instead of what God has done: “you, then, that teach others, will you not teach yourself?” This series of rhetorical questions leads Paul to make this observation about the impact of such self-righteousness and hypocrisy: “You that boast in the law, do you dishonor God by breaking the law? For, as it is written, “The name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you” (Romans 2: 23-24).

We talked about what it means for the name of God to be blasphemed. Some of the other translations we looked at beyond this one (NRSV) phrased it “the name of God is frowned upon because of you” or “the name of God is despised because of you.” This is a powerful indictment, and one that we in the church today need to spend time thinking on. Our study group spent a few minutes talking about the many, many people out there who have been burned by the church or church-people. All “the nones and the dones,” those who don’t identify as people of faith or who feel so burned by religion that they are “done” with the church and hope never to return.

Just as much as in Paul’s time and as in Jesus’ time, self-righteousness and hypocrisy—people who think they have their acts together in the eyes of God and make others feel bad that they don’t—make people not want to be a part of the community of Christ. As I said to the others in the group yesterday, this is one of the main challenges we face in the church today. How do we help people to feel welcome? How do we help people to feel not judged but instead accepted and affirmed? How do we let people know that church, and especially our church, is a place where they will be encouraged in their faith rather than discouraged in their faith?

In today’s passage from Matthew 9, Jesus himself was accused of blaspheming the name of God. What did Jesus do that caused him to be accused of blasphemy? Jesus said this to someone who came seeking healing: “Take heart, son; your sins are forgiven” (Matt. 9: 2). The people who thought this was blasphemous were Pharisees whose whole sense of self and relationship to God came through feeling like they were crossing all their ‘t’s and dotting all their ‘i’s when it came to following the law—and they were paying very close attention to Jesus to try to catch him not following the law. Knowing what they were thinking and saying amongst themselves, Jesus responded: “Which is easier, to say, “Your sins are forgiven”, or to say, “Stand up and walk”? But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins’—he then said to the paralytic—‘Stand up, take your bed and go to your home.’”

It’s interesting to think about why it is that Jesus tells this person to “Take heart… your sins are forgiven” and also “Stand up and walk.” What is the relationship between being assured of forgiveness (absolution) and being able to stand up and walk? My theory is that once we are reassured of our right relationship with God through forgiveness, we feel renewed hope and confidence to be able “walk in love, as God loved us and gave himself up for us, an offering and sacrifice to God” (Ephesians 5:2). I experienced a reminder of this on Sunday during our 11:15 service. The content of the Gospel reading and the sermon hit close to home for me, as I am sure it did for many. I was feeling a bit worn down, and perhaps too self-conscious in that moment, leading to a keen sense of my own imperfection—all while sitting up there in my alb and stole, under the bright lights, about to celebrate communion. As I watched Katherine setting the table for communion, I noticed there was a piece of yellow paper sticking out of the altar book—I wondered what it was, as I hadn’t noticed it there at the 9:00 service.

When I walked over to take my place behind the table to prepare to celebrate the Eucharist, I noticed that Katherine had placed the piece of yellow paper on the fair linen, in front of the altar book. And when I looked down, I saw that it was a note written by one of the children of the congregation (I think I know who). In red crayon were these words: “God is on your side. So are we.” I was stunned because, as I whispered to Katherine in that moment, “These are just the words I needed to hear.” Through the kindness and perceptiveness of a child, I could “take heart” and receive the reassurance I needed in that moment to be able to stand up and walk in love—and to share that love with those gathered by sharing the bread of heaven and the cup of salvation. Thanks be to God.

—Becky+

Questions for Self-Reflection

When have you received an unexpected reminder of God’s love and forgiveness? What did it mean to you in that moment? How does being reassured of your forgiveness allow you to stand up and walk?

Daily Challenge

Think of someone who could use a word of reassurance or encouragement and find a way to let them know, maybe in a way that that person would not expect.

Feast of St. Francis

Today’s Readings: AM Psalm 106:1-18; PM Psalm 106:19-48; 2 Kings 21:1-18; 1 Cor. 10:14-11:1; Matt. 8:28-34

This past weekend, my sister and I walked through the family home where my parents have lived for the last thirty-three years.  It will likely be one of the last times we walk through together.  My parents are preparing to move and wanted us to have the chance to see if there was furniture or art that we would like before it made its way into the estate sale.  And of course, there are boxes and boxes of Burruss and Bailey belonging that my parents want to make sure are preserved.  I brought one of those boxes home full of pictures from my childhood.

Of the pictures that stand out, there are several of me with the 120-pound Chocolate Labrador Retriever, Charlie Kangaroo Brown, a.k.a. “Chuck the Wonder Dog,” best known just as “Chuck.”  As a puppy, Chuck would bound around the house sliding on the hardwood floor trying his very best to commandeer any of my sister’s stuffed animals.  He was most comfortable sleeping fully on top of other human beings and would fetch just about anything including glass LaCroix bottles before LaCroix was cool to drink.   Chuck once ate an entire garden hose.  We found bits and pieces for weeks in places we didn’t know the dog could get to.

On a rather tragic afternoon, Chuck was stolen.  Our neighbor witnessed a man walk up and tie a chain around his collar and walk him off.  I’ve never seen my family so upset.  We drove two hours to a flea market in Mississippi where we thought there might be stolen dogs for sale.  We talked to the police and posted signs around the city. 

About five days later, we received a phone call that someone has found a large Labrador with half of a chain tied to his collar about a mile from our house. The collar had been turned inside out but still had our phone number on the inside.  Chuck had broken free and was returning home. He had come to a dead-end in an apartment parking lot and wouldn’t go back.  It was a moment of great homecoming and joy in our family, probably reminiscent of the story of the prodigal son.  As I was in Middle School, it was the first reminder to me of just how much we love our pets, and what a part of our family they truly become. 

Today is the actual feast of St. Francis.  The daily lectionary readings aren’t necessarily tied to this and oddly, Jesus’s use of the swine as a vehicle for relieving people consumed by demons seems counter to Francis’s love of animals, but today can be an invitation to reflect on Francis’s life where he found God’s love through poverty and the love of nature, especially animals.  It’s around this day that we Bless Animals (we will do this next Sunday at 3 p.m. since yesterday there was a chance of thunderstorms in the afternoon).

Looking back on those pictures, I learned that at a young age, I knew something about love that I didn’t quite realize at the time.  The joy and love that Chuck brought our family taught me about care and love, loss and pain, and the power and joy of homecoming.  Now as I watch my own children love on Sugar Magnolia Blossoms Blooming Burruss a.k.a. “Sugar” or “Maggie, and Meriwether the Cat, I am hopeful that they are learning about love and compassion too.   

Whether through pets, through service and mission, or through life in general, I hope we are learning about love and compassion as well. 

John+

Question for Self-Reflection:  What are the stories of pets that shaped your childhood?  How have animals taught you about the nature of God?

Daily Challenge:  Pick up something for an animal in need today.  It can be delivered anytime this week to the church or at our Blessing of the Animals on Sunday at 3 p.m.  We will donate these items to the Greater Birmingham Humane Society.

Jesus Slept - October 2

Today’s Readings: AM Psalm 107:33-43, 108:1-6(7-13); PM Psalm 33
2 Kings 19:21-36; 1 Cor. 10:1-13; Matt. 8:18-27

And when Jesus got into the boat, his disciples followed him. A gale arose on the lake, so great that the boat was being swamped by the waves; but he was asleep. And they went and woke him up, saying, ‘Lord, save us! We are perishing!’ (Matthew 8:23-25)

There is a seven-episode miniseries on Netflix that is called “Midnight Mass”, based in a struggling fishing village somewhere in the United States. The townspeople wrestle with faith, community, and reconciling the brokenness of the past and present…or that is the gist I have gathered from watching the first three episodes! It is a suspenseful mystery with some moments of disturbing imagery. If this style of entertainment intrigues you, check it out. Otherwise, just stick with me in this reflection and move along with other genres that amuse and compel you.

One image from the show resonates with me as I reflect on today’s scripture from the gospel according to Matthew. The protagonist named Riley has disturbing dreams. In the recurrent reverie, he finds himself in a rowboat amid a tumultuous storm, with oars in his hands. The sky is dark. The water is darker. The wind is blowing. He is alone, sitting bolt upright. The scene cuts away to another image of tension and unrest. I would not want to be a companion in that boat of drifting despair.

In Matthew, we find Jesus on a lake. His boat surely was a larger vessel than the dingy described above, and he was not alone. His disciples accompanied him. At some point, the winds whipped around them, splashing white caps higher and higher as water invaded the boat. Astoundingly, Jesus slept in the middle of the crisis. The noise of passengers’ cries, the sensation of wetness upon his body, and the emotional tension in the air did not stir the rabbi. Jesus’ friends shook him awake, calling for him to restore them to safety in the perilous situation.

Jesus slept. A note in the Jewish Annotated New Testament made this observation about Jesus’ actions in this stressful three-hour boat tour. That he was asleep, relaxing in the crisis, indicated faith. Faith in the ultimate safety of God’s care surrounding them. Looking to ancient Hebrew texts, we read in the directions for obedience directed to the Israelites in Leviticus. When they were compliant, God offered this promise: “And I will grant peace in the land, and you shall lie down, and no one shall make you afraid; I will remove dangerous animals from the land, and no sword shall go through your land.” (Leviticus 26:6) Peace and safety were gifts from God, allowing them to slip into a vulnerable posture of reclining. I think, too, of scripture from the minor prophet Micah, looking to the idealized future of divine restoration of Jerusalem, where safety would cover the land: “but they shall all sit under their own vines and under their own fig trees, and no one shall make them afraid; for the mouth of the LORD of hosts has spoken.” (Micah 4:4) Rather than toiling in the sun for 14 hours a day, there would be a time to rest in the shade of their own harvests of plenty, without worry. Generations later, Jesus was calm in the storm on that lake. He had strong, deep faith. The turbulent waters could not move his spirit to a posture of fear.

What about Jesus’ non-anxious presence inspires you to find stillness in a storm within your life? Perhaps there is a tempest swirling or brewing on the horizon for you. Know that you are not alone in that dingy, though it may feel weak and tiny. Jesus is your companion, no matter how dark the skies or high the waves. God’s love surrounds you. The Holy Spirit will empower you to be strong in body. Pray that God will cleanse your mind of the dreams of despair and grant you the peace that passes all understanding.

--Katherine+

Questions for Reflection

 Think of a time you really struggled with your faith. What have you learned about your needs for safety and reaching resolution? What prayer practices have kept you steady?

What and who have helped you through a stormy time?

Daily Challenge

Think of someone you admire who has come through a hard time. Set aside time to connect with that person. Ask them what helped them? How was their faith in God affected? Reflect afterwards, and journal about your own faith - areas that are already strong, and those that could use fortification with God's help.

Hoping for Healing - October 1

Today’s Readings: AM Psalm 102; PM Psalm 107:1-32; 2 Kings 19:1-20; 1 Cor. 9:16-27; Matt. 8:1-17

Today’s Reflection

In today’s Gospel from Matthew 8, we are presented with three different scenes of healing. The scenes show not only three very different kinds of illness, but also three very different ways that people come to Jesus to receive healing, whether for themselves or for someone whom they love. We also see three ways that Jesus responds, tailoring his response to each person's situation and need.

First, we see a person with leprosy who comes directly to Jesus for healing. This person came in faith, kneeling before Jesus and saying, “Lord, if you choose, you can make me clean.” Jesus responded, “I do choose. Be made clean!” This man is sick, but his faith remains strong, and he comes to Jesus with full faith that, if Jesus chooses, he will be clean.

Then, Matthew describes the interaction between the centurion and Jesus. In this vignette, the centurion is coming to Jesus asking for healing not for himself but for his servant, who he tells Jesus is “lying at home paralyzed.” The centurion is not even asking Jesus to come to his home to do the healing, but rather believes so much in Jesus’ power that all he needs to hear from Jesus is that that man will be healed: “‘Lord, I am not worthy to have you come under my roof; but only speak the word, and my servant will be healed. For I also am a man under authority, with soldiers under me; and I say to one, ‘Go,’ and he goes, and to another, ‘Come,’ and he comes, and to my slave, ‘Do this,’ and the slave does it.’”

The centurion has a strong faith, so strong that he knows that Jesus’ healing power does not require physical touch or proximity to be manifest. Even Jesus is taken aback by the centurion’s faith: “When Jesus heard him, he was amazed and said to those who followed him, ‘Truly I tell you, in no one* in Israel have I found such faith.” His response to the centurion’s request?  ‘Go; let it be done for you according to your faith.’ And the servant was healed in that hour.”

Finally, we hear the story of how, when Jesus arrived at Peter’s house, he found Peter’s mother-in-law lying in bed with a fever. In this case, Jesus has made a visit to the one who needs healing (the passage is not clear whether he was asked to do so, or whether by divine instinct he knew he was needed there). We do know how Jesus responded: “he touched her hand, and the fever left her, and she got up and began to serve him.” In this case, Jesus reached out with his physical touch, placed his hand on hers, and without a word she was made well. Her response was one of immediate gratitude—she was well again, and she wanted to use her newfound energy and strength to serve Jesus.

Seeing these three scenes of healing, and how each one unfolds so differently, is a vivid reminder for us about the nature of health and healing. Every person and situation in need of Jesus’s healing is distinctive. Jesus saw that there is no ‘one size fits all’ response when people are unwell, or are caring for someone who is unwell, and need his healing word or touch. We see this in our community of Saint Stephen’s today. Sometimes you will let us know directly that you have a need for prayer and support for yourself—reaching out to a clergy person or staff member or a fellow parishioner to let us know directly. Other times, we hear from you about people you care about who need our prayers and support as they struggle with illnesses of many kinds, physical and mental. We lift up these prayer requests together in our online Morning Prayer community, and in Sunday services, and throughout the week clergy and parishioner intercessors pray for the needs of those whom you love and whose names and needs you have brought before us. Other times, you or I may come across people in need of healing in the course of our daily comings and goings—we may run into someone at church or at the store, or in our own family or circle of friends—and we can in that moment reach out, as Jesus did, with a simple, loving word or healing touch.

I pray that we can all be open, both as people in need of healing and as people who love those in need of healing, to have a faith like the leper, the centurion and his servant, and Peter and Peter’s mother-in-law—a faith that knows that, no matter how healing is sought, we believe in a God of love who sent his healing power into the world through Jesus, and that we carry that healing power within us even to this day. May we, like the three people in this story, have the kind of faith that seeks not to keep the healing to ourselves, but a faith that seeks to share Christ’s healing and comforting love with all who need it.

—Becky+

Questions for Self-Reflection

What healing can you ask God for in your prayers this day? What within yourself needs Jesus’ healing touch? And who has God placed on your heart this day so that you may pray for God’s healing love and power would be at work in their lives?

Daily Challenge

Beyond praying, what else can you do to extend God’s healing love and power toward one (or more) of the people God has placed on your heart this day? Consider making a call or visit, writing and sending a note, offering to go for a walk (or take their pet or children for a walk), or bringing by flowers or a meal.

Weathering Storms - September 30

Todays Readings: AM Psalm 105:1-22; PM Psalm 105:23-45; 2 Kings 18:28-37; 1 Cor. 9:1-15; Matt. 7:22-29

The year before seminary, I started riding my bike to work.  It was a seven-mile ride each way and about half of that ride was on a pretty busy road through the middle of town.  I began to find alternate routes that might be a little longer but took me down back roads and neighborhoods. One change to my route took me through the campus of Christian Brothers University so that I could miss trying to navigate through a confusing and busy intersection.

My route through the campus involved a paved pedestrian path that led by the track with a big turn in the path.  I rode the route many times without any problems, but early one morning, after a rainstorm, a bunch of sand was at the base of the turn on the pedestrian path.  I took the turn just as I had the day before and the day before that.  And as I leaned my body to balance the bike, the tires slid across the sand with my body and bike following suit. 

The same trip, the same turn, only this time it was different.  And the only difference was a bunch of sand on the hard, asphalt path.  What I could handle so easily before was very different this time.  And I came crashing down hard.

In today’s Gospel passage, Jesus uses the metaphor of building a house on a foundation.  Those that build their house on rock can weather the storm.  Those who build their houses on sand, when the rain and floods come, the house will fall.  For Jesus, the foundation is following his word. To expand that image just a bit, maybe following Jesus’s way of love changes our foundation, allows us to weather storms, take turns, and not experience the total devastation of outside forces and obstacles.  It keeps our house intact or keeps us moving along the path set before us.

This morning, it is almost exactly 18 months since the onset of the pandemic and almost exactly 18 months since we started writing daily reflections inspired by God’s word through Holy Scripture.  If you are reading this, maybe it’s an opportunity to ask the question, how has this practice changed your foundation?  Has it made a difference in how you have handled events, relationships, challenges, and moments of wonder and joy in your life? 

I’d be curious to hear your answer.  I know Becky and Katherine would too.  And I am grateful to be a part of a community that seeks to make our foundation on God’s love and Jesus’s word and mission.

Faithfully,

John+

Questions for Self-Reflection:  What is your practice of reading Scripture?  Do you have a practice or set out to read Scripture in a certain way?  Do you focus more on the reflection or on the passages? 

Daily Challenge:  Read a least one of the Scripture passages for today.  I suggest the Gospel if nothing else.

Angels' Wings - September 29

Today’s Readings: St. Michael & All Angels: AM Psalm 8, 148; Job 38:1-7; Hebrews 1:1-14; PM Psalm 14, 150; Daniel 12:1-3; Mark 13:21-27

“Are not all angels spirits in the divine service, sent to serve for the sake of those who are to inherit salvation?” (Hebrews 1:11)

My mom read lots of books to me when I was little. One that I remember clearly was called “The Littlest Angel” about the young, curly headed blonde angel-boy who kept dropping his halo and disrupting order around heaven. My mom could not make it through that book without her voice cracking and tears streaming down her cheeks. I would giggle when she cried, for I did not understand the tenderness.

As the story goes, Heaven became a place of great excitement as the news spread of the impending birth of Jesus, Son of God - a child to be born of Mary. As Charles Tazewell writes it, “all the angels rejoiced and their voices were lifted to herald the Miracle of Miracles, the coming of the Christ Child.” The usual hustle and bustle of Paradise shifted, as angels, archangels, seraphim and cherubim prepared their gifts for the blessed baby. But, the littlest angel was stuck. He could not come up with an idea for a gift. He tried and tried – but nothing. At the last moment, he gathered some items into a rustic, worn box, feeling insignificant seeing it in comparison with the other glowing, heavenly gifts. The gift from the Littlest Angel is opened by the Hand of God, holding precious items from when the boy had lived prior to coming to the heavenly gates: a golden-winged butterfly, a tiny bird’s egg shell in hues of heavenly blue, smooth white rocks from the river where he played, and a leather collar worn by his dog who he had dearly loved. Gifts of tenderness and memory, wonder and potential. He gave those gifts of himself freely, uncertain if they would be valued and appreciated. (Surely other angels standing nearby raised their eyebrows or held their breath in trepidation about what was next.) The tension broke and the gifts from the littlest angel were the most fitting, the most pleasing, the most cherished – for these gifts would be the things that would bring the Son of God joy as a child.

Today is the Feast of St. Michael and All Angels. It is a day in which we revisit passages of Holy Scripture that tells of brushes with the protective angels’ wings and their messages brought to us from Heaven. In modern American culture, conversations of angels point to images of cute, snuggly cherubs, or in the realm of baseball, the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, perennial heartbreakers who just cannot get to the World Series. Biblical descriptions of these heavenly hosts are less sanitized. In Mark, we read about the forecasting of the last and dark days, when the Son of Man is coming in the clouds. Jesus will send the angels to do his bidding, gathering the chosen ones from all around the world (7:24-27). Angels are described as huge and imposing; when people encounter them, the angels’ first words are often, “Be not afraid!” I imagine the booming sounds created by angels when I read in Revelation 5 where John of Patmos writes about his apocalyptic vision in which “a mighty angel proclaiming with a loud voice, ‘Who is worthy to open the scroll and break its seals?’”

During the Eucharistic Prayer, the priest invites the congregation to join “with angels and archangels and all the company of heaven, who forever sing this hymn to proclaim the glory of God’s name”…or something along those lines. We boldly join our voices with the Heavenly Host in speaking the truth. The messages delivered by angels are unsettling, in that God’s words to humans are often about a change to come. They are words of warning or direction or hard truth we need to hear.

So, while we sing of the tender brush of angels’ wings in the song “Sanctuary”, today is a day we remember that the brush of angels’ wings means that there is movement about. God is moving us. God is present with us. Let us be bold and join our voices with that of angels, as we listen deeply for God.

--Katherine+

Questions for Reflection

What images of angels are inspirational to you? Who have been angels in your life? How might your understanding of angels expand?

Daily Challenge

Sit in silence for 15 minutes. Listen for angels' wings. Listen for how God is calling you to move or change in new ways. Ask God to be with you in stillness, emboldening you to move into the rest of your day.

Sheep Need a Shepherd - September 28

Today’s Readings: AM Psalm 97, 99, [100]; PM Psalm 94, [95]; 2 Chron. 29:1-3,30:1(2-9)10-27; 1 Cor. 7:32-40; Matt. 7:1-12

Today’s Reflection

Know this: The Lord himself is God; he himself has made us, and we are his; we are his people and the sheep of his pasture.  –Psalm 100:2

This past Sunday afternoon, being exceptionally tired out, I did something I rarely do—I stretched out in the living room and turned on the TV. I was in the mood for something British. I thought maybe Pride and Prejudice, but after a few minutes decided against it. I considered Peppa Pig, which puts me to sleep every single time (the characters’ voices and the theme song are very soothing), but decided against that because I didn’t want to fall asleep immediately. Finally, I turned to see if there were any new episodes of the Grand Tour (the Amazon version of Top Gear), but finding none I settled on a new series featuring one of the Grand Tour guys, Jeremy Clarkson.

If you’re familiar with Jeremy Clarkson, then you’ll know that the whole premise of the series Clarkson’s Farm is meant to be ridiculous. Clarkson, having made many millions of pounds over the years as a Top Gear presenter, owns a 1,000-acre farm in the Cotswolds. The premise of the show is that his farm overseer is retiring, and he wants to learn to run the farm for himself. So, he goes about working with local farmers, Cotswolds born and raised, ostensibly to learn about how to do things like use tractors and farm equipment to prepare soil, plant seeds, and harvest crops (episode 1, “Tractoring”). While it had some humorous moments, the “Tractoring” episode put me to sleep and next thing I knew we were at the beginning of episode 2, “Sheeping.”

Here’s the main thing I learned from watching Jeremy Clarkson trying to raise sheep: both Jeremy Clarkson and sheep are quite difficult to herd! So, when I read in Psalm 100 that we are God’s people and the sheep of his pasture, it puts me in mind everything Clarkson learned about raising sheep. First, you need to give the sheep some boundaries. Clarkson figured he could just rely on the traditional stone walls that mark off sections of his farmland—but he learned that sheep, though they seem docile and unathletic, in fact are quite capable of jumping over walls. And once one sheep jumps over a wall, all the rest of the sheep will follow.

Farmer Clarkson also learned that one needs to provide sufficient food for the sheep, especially once the ewes are expecting their lambs. While the whole sheep farming venture began as a means to mow some of his fields naturally, in fact the sheep so quickly eat the grasses in a pasture that he then needed to purchase expensive hay to supplement his farm’s grass. He also learned that sheep get injured and require expensive veterinary care. Overall, sheep are animals who are difficult to herd and cost much more to raise than the amount he would make from selling off the lambs—and certainly much, much more than it would have cost to just hire someone to mow his fields!

Like sheep, we need boundaries to keep us in the safe pasture where God would rather us be. Like sheep, we need extra attention and nourishment to keep us healthy and well. Like sheep, we need someone willing to look out for us and keep us within those safe boundaries and focused on what is most essential for our life and well-being.

And like Jeremy Clarkson, we are stubborn and wrong-headed! We think that surely our more complicated way of doing things will somehow be better than the simpler, tried-and-true ways of tending the flock.

I, for one, am quite glad that God is my shepherd (and not Jeremy Clarkson). Because, as amusing as it was at times to see the very un-farmerlike Clarkson ostensibly trying to learn about sheep farming, what is needed is someone truly committed to guiding and nurturing us. God himself has made us and we are his, the sheep of God’s pasture.

—Becky+

Questions for Self-Reflection

Reflecting on yourself, in what ways are you like a sheep in need of a shepherd? Who have been some good shepherd figures in your life? What have these shepherds done to gently keep you in a safe pasture?

Daily Challenge

Learn more about sheep and shepherding in the Bible and art by reading this article on Bible Odyssey.

Letting Go of Worry - September 27

Today’s Readings: AM Psalm 89:1-18; PM Psalm 89:19-52; 2 Kings 17:24-41; 1 Cor. 7:25-31; Matt. 6:25-34

In the last few years, I have found cycling to be enjoyable and a wonderful outlet for exercise, focus, and friendship.   Being outside in our beautiful city, or really just outside, in the rolling hills and foothills of Appalachia, I’ve fallen in love with our natural setting here in Birmingham.  One of the aspects of cycling that is most intriguing is the ability to totally get crushed by people thirty years my senior.  Even at 40 years old, I am awestruck at the ability for people well into their seventies to maintain such high levels of fitness, finding myself often struggling to keep up with people who in most other endurance sports wouldn’t stand a chance of being at the same physical level due to nothing more than physiology.

As I learn more about the sport, I am amazed by the time that people put in every week.  Some people ride a few hours a day.  It’s an amazing feat.  It’s not a surprise to come across someone who purely does this to gain years on their life.  You can imagine someone saying, “Oh I ride twenty hours a week so that I’ll live ten years longer.”  This certainly might be true, but the irony of the statement is, the person is spending that time on a bicycle!  If the sole purpose of the activity is to gain time to spend with family or friends, then the gain is lost on the activity and the person is totally unaware.  It has no benefit!  There must be other reasons for riding, such as health, friendship, and general enjoyment of the sport for the activity to make sense.  When diving into anything that requires a significant amount of time, we should ask ourselves, “What is the purpose of our investment of time, talent, and treasure?”  “What are we hoping to accomplish?” 

I wonder if a similar principle can be applied to worry.  I’ve experienced several times in my life wear a healthy dose of skepticism and worry has helped motivate or shape an outcome to be positive.  I’ve also experienced moments where I spent so much time worrying over things that were outside of my control, or worse, where I have spent so much time consumed by worry, for more than even the worse outcome coming to life. 

Jesus’s words of compassion around worry are meant to help give us perspective.  “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air; they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? vv. (6:25-26)” Even two thousand years later, we are still worrying about the same things! 

Perspective seems to be the answer.  Jesus reminds those gathered on the mountain that even the lilies of the field continue to grow because God has planted them as well.  We worry a lot these days.  Today, I wonder just how necessary that worry really is.  Sometimes it might be a healthy motivator and at other times a complete waste of time that even inhibits our own growth and wellbeing.  How different would it be if you were to see our own lives as where God has planted us, and to believe that “if God so clothes the grass of the field… will he not much more clothe (us)- of little faith (v. 30).”

Faithfully,

John+ 

Questions for Self-Reflection:  How often do you reflect on the motivations of where you spend your time?  What three areas or activities outside of work do you spend most of your time on?  What are the values underneath those activities that you are trying to draw out?

Daily Challenge:  If you need help worrying less, read these seven simple practices.

Sharing treasures and light - September 25

Today’s Readings: AM Psalm 87, 90; PM Psalm 136; 2 Kings 11:1-20a; 1 Cor. 7:10-24; Matt. 6:19-24

It is one of these chilly autumn mornings. The windows of our home office are covered in condensation and I can hear the chirps and chips of creatures outside, invigorated by the cool morning air. What I thought would be a great time to write this morning’s reflection in silence has resulted in something different. Everyone in the household, humans and pets alike, is up early on a Saturday morning. Chirping, chipping, and joyous.

As the din of giggles upstairs taper off, my mind slips to reflections of yesterday afternoon. I attended the funeral of a lovely, kind woman named Kay Kellum. I got to know her and her late husband Mike when we sang in the choir. Kay, a buoyant alto, exuded a warmth and joy. Her face always glowed. Her eyes twinkled. Compassionate, funny, full of spunk and wisdom. I think of Kay when I read this continuation of the sermon on the mount, for Jesus is offering nuggets of wisdom to those who have ears to hear:

“‘Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust consume and where thieves break in and steal; but store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust consumes and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

‘The eye is the lamp of the body. So, if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light;” (Matthew 6:19-22)

Kay lived into Jesus’ words. Her whole body was full of light, as her eyes shined with God’s love. She was always giving away treasures to others. She donated to numerous charities that resonated with her heart for caring for those who are struggling. She had been a social worker for the burn unit at UAB. When she was no longer on the floors of the hospital helping families through hard times, Kay was committed to sharing financially with others. She wrote cards of encouragement and care all the time; with her copious handwritten notes, Kay kept the postal service occupied even on the slowest of days. Each time she heard an ambulance or fire truck’s siren, she immediately prayed for those affected by the emergency at hand. Kay told me once that she did not sleep well at night. There were times she would lie awake for hours. Rather than counting sheep, she would pray for people. Pray and pray and pray. Her prayers redeemed the frustration of sleeplessness. It became sacred time of connection with God.

All of this doing and giving and being that Kay lived was valuable, because she was grounded fully in God’s love. Love of family. Love for the whole human family. That is where her heart was. That was her treasure.

As we enter these next few weeks of stewardship conversations at Saint Stephen’s, exploring how giving has changed our lives, I will be giving thanks and remembering Kay, a beacon of love and generosity. I encourage you to think of a person who inspires you to give more. What would it be like to incorporate some of that person’s qualities into your own life?

--Katherine+

Questions for Reflection

Who is someone who has shown care and compassion to you in a time when you really needed it?

Who are the people you treasure most? Who holds you in high esteem like that?

Daily Challenge

Think of someone who inspires you to love more deeply and give more freely. Tell that person today – through spoken or written word – how much they mean to you, and how they have changed your life.

Darkness is My Only Companion - September 24

Today’s Readings: AM Psalm 88; PM Psalm 91, 92; 2 Kings 9:17-37; 1 Cor. 7:1-9; Matt. 6:7-15

Today’s Reflection

The Psalms appointed for today provide us a study in contrasts. In Psalm 88, we hear strong notes of desperation and hopelessness—one of many songs of lament included amongst the Psalter. But then Psalm 91 comes across as a song of encouragement—a prayer admonishing the one addressed that God will remain with them, no matter what troubles may be encountered. Then we find in Psalm 92 a song of thankfulness, acknowledging God’s steadfast presence through all things, the good and the not-so-good times, even in the downright bad times. This is one of the things I love most about the Psalms—they capture so beautifully and so accurately the wide array of moods and states of mind we will experience throughout our lives.

We all go through different moods and states of mind. Many things factor into how we feel mentally, emotionally, and physically on a given day. Some of how we feel is situational—what is happening in the world around us—whether in our home, our social life, our work life, or out in our community and the wider world.

During this 18-month (and counting) pandemic, people have experienced the stresses of isolation, changes in work-life balance, not to mention the traumas of severe illness and even the death of loved ones. Living in a world of constantly changing conditions takes its own toll, when we are constantly carrying so many questions around in the back of our minds: When are we required to isolate? When is it OK to mix with other people, and in what ways? When should I wear a mask? When is it safe not to? Could everything shut down again at any time? Will I or a loved one find themselves without a job due to the economic impact of it all? Could I or a loved one end up in the hospital? But even when we get to that point when the pandemic is over (whenever that may be), we will all be changed in how we see ourselves, our world, and how we respond to things like contagious illnesses in ourselves and in those around us.

But not everything about our emotional and mental state is explained by outside, situational factors. Our internal physiology also should be considered. Mental health can also be influenced through experiencing trauma at some point in life (even long ago), or through our genetic predisposition, or due to changes in brain function (whether permanent or temporary) due to injury, illness, aging, and so on.

As a priest, I wonder sometimes how all the above—these environmental and physiological factors—interact with and influence how a person experiences a sense of connection with God. So earlier this year, I read a book called Darkness is My Only Companion: A Christian Response to Mental Illness by Katherine Greene-McCreight, an Episcopal priest and theologian affiliated with Yale Divinity School. Greene-McCreight found herself dealing first with post-partum depression and later was diagnosed as having bipolar disorder, for which she has been hospitalized on occasion and continues treatment for through both medication and talk therapy. So, all that is to say, she’s not writing about the intersection of mental health and Christian faith from some abstract, theological perspective—this is her life, and as such her life has informed her vocations as priest and theologian. She titled her book Darkness in My Only Companion inspired by these lines from Psalm 88 we read today:

But as for me, O Lord, I cry to you for help;
in the morning my prayer comes before you.
Lord, why have you rejected me?
why have you hidden your face from me?
Ever since my youth, I have been wretched and at the point of death;
I have borne your terrors with a troubled mind.
Your blazing anger has swept over me;
your terrors have destroyed me;
They surround me all day long like a flood;
they encompass me on every side.
My friend and my neighbor you have put away from me,
and darkness is my only companion.  (Psalm 88: 14-19)

As Steve Moore, a parishioner here at Saint Stephen’s has said regarding both substance use issues and mental health issues, these are the life circumstances for which people are not usually offering to bring over a casserole—or any of the other usual ways we show tangible support for people who are struggling with their physical health. What I know of this subject comes from firsthand experience over the years of knowing and supporting those who experience life with mental illness. Knowing and supporting them has given me a special appreciation for the challenges they face—and for the challenge for us in the church to acknowledge what is often treated as shameful both in the church and in the wider culture.

Psalm 88 captures so well that sense of isolation and not being understood that are experienced by people in a number of challenging life situations—whether due to grieving a loved one, facing a life-threatening physical illness, being socially ostracized, or dealing with depression or another mental health challenge. But we also find in Psalms 91 a clear reminder of the hope and comfort that God holds out to us all, especially at those times when the light of hope is shining only very dimly somewhere out there in the distance:

He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High,
abides under the shadow of the Almighty.
He shall say to the Lord,
“You are my refuge and my stronghold,
my God in whom I put my trust.”
He shall deliver you from the snare of the hunter
and from the deadly pestilence.
He shall cover you with his pinions,
and you shall find refuge under his wings;
his faithfulness shall be a shield and buckler.

For he shall give his angels charge over you,
to keep you in all your ways.
They shall bear you in their hands,
lest you dash your foot against a stone. (Psalm 91: 1-4, 11-12)

—Becky+

Questions for Self-Reflection

Which lines of Psalm 88 resonate most with you? What challenging time in life does this Psalm bring to mind for you? Which lines from Psalm 91 do you find most comforting?

Daily Challenge

Consider reading Katherine Greene-McCreight’s book Darkness is My Only Companion: A Christian Response to Mental Illness. Or consider reading Christian ethicist and theologian Stanley Hauerwas’ book, Hannah’s Child: A Theologian’s Memoir, which includes his reflections on being married to a spouse who struggled with mental illness.

If you are looking for resources for yourself or a loved one dealing with mental illness, take a look at the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) website.

Take a Deep Breath - September 23

Today’s Readings: AM Psalm [83] or 34; PM Psalm 85, 86; 2 Kings 9:1-16; 1 Cor. 6:12-20; Matt. 6:1-6,16-18

Often, when studying a new language, you learn more about your own language, or at least that has always been the case for me.  Hebrew, like many other languages, has sounds that are guttural, others that are hard sounding.   What Hebrew does not have in its written language are vowels.  Three of the letters in Hebrew, ‘Yod’, ‘Hey’, ‘Vav’ which in English are often translated as ‘Y’, ‘H’ and ‘V’ or ‘W’ are known as aspirant consonants (This was very new to me when I studied Hebrew but we have aspirated consonants in English too!). These letters, when spoken, require aspiration with the amount of breath pushed out when you say the letters.   

In Hebrew, one of the ways that God is named is simply the Hebrew letters YHVH.  Translations that try to acknowledge the Hebrew name of God often write Yahweh adding two vowels to make the word construction make sense.  Hebrew had vowel sounds but they were not contained in the letters.  

It is not a mistake that God’s name is literally the sound of breath.  In Genesis, God takes red clay (Adamah) and forms the clay into man.  However, this form, later named Adam, is only a vessel until God breathes life into him.  Breath or spirit is the animating force behind who we are.  This makes sense physiologically because one of the signs of life is breath!

I think Paul, a Greek Jew, was deeply shaped by these ideas.  He refers to our bodies as temples animated by the Holy Spirit.  He writes to the community in Corinth, “Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, which you have from God, and that you are not your own?”

I don’t think it is a stretch to claim that God dwells within each of us.  It’s a little bit farther than we are made in the image of God. God has breathed life into each of us.  We also breathe life into the world.   If you are struggling to see God in your life, maybe it’s as simple as slowing down and paying attention to your breathing.  Or maybe just slowing down and listening. 

A deep breath goes a long way to calm worries.  Maybe because it’s a reminder that God is with us.  Take a deep breath and know that you are not alone.

John+

Questions for Self-Reflection:  How often are you aware of your breathing?  How often do you slow down enough without other distractions?  What are your practices of listening to yourself? 

Daily Challenge: Find a quiet place.  Set your phone timer for three minutes and close your eyes and spend a few minutes slowly breathing and listening to your breath. 

Are all slaps equal? – September 22

Today’s Readings: AM Psalm 119:97-120; PM Psalm 81, 82; 2 Kings 6:1-23; 1 Cor. 5:9-6:8; Matt. 5:38-48

My reflection from this past Saturday never was penned. While I had many reflection-worthy experiences from which to pull, I was simply too tired. I needed to rest. And so, I did that. Sabbath looks like that sometimes. We have other things pulling at us, and yet, we prioritize health.

Refreshed, I opened the scriptures appointed for today. We meet Jesus in Matthew 5 in the midst of the sermon on the mount, offering wisdom point by point. In verse 38, we read, ’You have heard that it was said, “An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.”’

I remember learning about Hammurabi’s Code in 9th grade history from Mr. Roberts – an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth. Gruesome retribution, to be sure. Through the eyes of sibling rivalry, that kind of payback felt good in the very moment. My sisters and I would try to get digs in at each other, one paying the other back for a mean word or kick to the shin. I can still feel the burn in my gut, feeling angry or resentful, and lashing out. The fallout is painful, though. Brokenness and tears. Deepened chasms of angst and separation. And then, somebody tells Mom.

My high horse of physical domination or intellectual superiority over my sisters – who were four years younger than me – quickly would deflate into a pool of fear and dread. Mom’s justice was far from Hammurabi’s mode. She was raised by the daughter of a Presbyterian minister. Mom reminded us about responsibility, connection, and resolution, though her means of delivering that message was not measured in spoonfuls of sugar, but rather was peppered with pointed fingers and sharp tones. And there was probably a “You ought to know better” thrown into the mix, too…because we did.

Jesus offers a different twist on Hammurabi’s Code. Preaching to his disciples and the crowds all around the mountain, this Nazarene woodworker suggests a response in absurdity when met with social injustice. For example, Jesus says, “Do not resist an evildoer. But if anyone strikes you on the right cheek, turn the other also.” Sometimes this verse is understood as a call to radical nonviolence.

Through understanding ancient Jewish culture, we get a different read on Jesus’ message. Striking a person’s cheek was a way to inflict shame, not just pain, on a person. There were ancient Jewish laws about compensation due to those who were injured wrongly or abused. Those acting unjustly were responsible for making amends, financially and otherwise. Interestingly, a slap on the cheek is one of the humiliating offenses spelled out in the Mishna Bava Kamma, one of the Jewish texts that offered guidance on civil matters:

“If someone slaps another person, he must pay two hundred zuzim. If it was backhanded, he must pay four hundred zuzim. If someone flicks a person’s ear, pulls his hair, spits so that it lands on him, strips his cloak off, or pulls off a woman’s headscarf in public, [the perpetrator] must pay four hundred zuzim.” (m.Bava Kamma 8:6)

In Middle Eastern culture, the dominant hand is the right hand, and so that is the hand with which most activities are executed. Striking a person on the right cheek with the right hand would require using a backhanded motion. A backhanded slap is considered twice as offensive as an openhanded slap, and thus subject to double the fine, as we read above.

A backhanded slap is a sign of deep insult, due to someone of insignificance. An openhanded slap is delivered to someone who is more likely an equal. Jesus tells this crowd – most likely the hungry rabble and not those in power – to offer the left cheek after being backhanded on the right cheek. If the left cheek is then slapped, it is a sign that the person is of higher rank or equal status. Offering the left cheek is a nonverbal way to stop someone in their tracks. Drawn up short, the person wonders, “Wait, is this person my equal?” They are left to question and examine their actions within cultural norms, without one physical blow waged in retribution.

Clever, right?

Jesus was teaching his followers how to love fully and live shrewdly. He taught them to rethink cultural mores and find spaces of empowerment – not for their glory, but for their health and strength. Jesus helped those treated unjustly to seek justice and cultivated an understanding for how God sees each of us, so that we may see one another as siblings.

--Katherine+

Questions for Reflection

How do you react when you feel wronged by someone? Hurl back a punch or an insult? Tell the authority?

What is perplexing to you about Jesus’ call to turn the other cheek?

Daily Challenge

Jesus taught his friends to fully understand the systems around them. He pushed them to examine themselves and the connections in their lives. What is a relationship in your life that needs pondering and prodding today? Pray about a connection that has tension or frustration. Spend 10 minutes journaling about avenues of deeper understanding or where you need to do some work.

Quit Lit - September 21

Today’s Readings: AM Psalm 78:1-39; PM Psalm 78:40-72; Isaiah 8:11-20; Romans 10:1-15; Matthew 13:44-52

Today’s Reflection

Through the seven years I was a grad student, the year in between degrees that I worked as an adjunct, and the twelve years I worked full-time as a university professor, I would keep up with reading the different e-mail lists, blogs, and later social media feeds geared toward academics. Of all the different things academics write about in their sub-culture, I was always fascinated by a genre of life writing dubbed Quit Lit, which are the different stories and statements of reasons that professors or aspiring professors give when they decide to leave academia behind them.

Many of these stories are tales of people who earned PhDs but could never secure that elusive unicorn that so many people with PhDs are striving toward: the tenure-track position. They get tired of the rat race of applying for positions and biding their time in contingent (semester to semester, year to year) teaching jobs. Or some Quit Lit is authored by those who found the unicorn but weren’t able to keep it in their grasp—the expectations were too high, or the colleagues were too cruel, or the university budgets were too tight.

Once in a while once will read Quit Lit by someone who had secured the elusive tenure-track job, done well in it, and then decided to walk away from academia any way. Personally, though I was in that last category, I never wrote my own Quit Lit narrative—at the time, living it seemed challenging enough. To walk away from a profession one has thrown themselves into and been immersed in for years or even, for some, decades is a decision not made lightly.

My observations of those who have composed their own Quit Lit, and my own experience of discerning a new vocation in midlife, leads me to have a special interest in the stories behind how each of the disciples came to leave behind what they did before to follow Jesus. Peter and others were fishermen. Luke is said to have been a physician.

On September 21, the church commemorates the life of Saint Matthew. Besides being the likely author of the Gospel according to Matthew, what else do we know about him? Before Matthew was called by Jesus to be one of the Twelve, he had a very different profession: tax collector. Here’s how the calling of Matthew by Jesus is told in his Gospel account:

As Jesus was walking along, he saw a man called Matthew sitting at the tax booth; and he said to him, “Follow me.” And he got up and followed him.

And as he sat at dinner in the house, many tax collectors and sinners came and were sitting with him and his disciples. When the Pharisees saw this, they said to his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?” But when he heard this, he said, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. Go and learn what this means, ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’ For I have come to call not the righteous but sinners.” (Matthew 9: 9-13)

Matthew didn’t have the luxury, as I did, of ruminating and praying for a long period of time to discern whether he should leave his well-paying (though socially shunned) position as a tax collector. Jesus just approached him at his tax collection booth one day, said “Follow me,” and Matthew did. There’s no description of how the conversation may have unfolded—was there a dialogue before that in which Jesus gave a sort of elevator talk for what it meant to be a disciple before he made the big ask. All we know is that Jesus asked Matthew to follow him and Matthew said yes. What a great example of faithfulness we have set before us in Matthew’s own, very short, simple Quit Lit story!

—Becky+

Questions for Self-Reflection

What is a major life change you have made, when you decided to leave one pursuit behind so that you could try something new?

What is something you could leave behind in order to pick up something new that would encourage yourself and others in the faith?

Daily Challenge

Take a few minutes today to read some of the Gospel accounts of how Jesus called each of the disciples to come follow him. Reflect on what comes to mind for you as you carry these stories with you for the rest of the day.

The Peace of the Lord - September 20

Today’s Readings: AM Psalm 80; PM Psalm 77, [79]; 2 Kings 5:1-19; 1 Cor. 4:8-21; Matt. 5:21-26

The Rabbi Harold Kushner once said,

“A woman in my congregation comes to see me.  She is a single mother, divorced, working to support herself and three young children. She says to me, “Since my husband walked out on us, every month is a struggle to pay our bills.  I have to tell my kids we have no money to go to the movies, while he’s living it up with his new wife in another state.  How can you tell me to forgive him?” I answer her, “I’m not asking you to forgive him because what he did was acceptable.  It wasn’t.  It was mean and selfish.  I’m asking you to forgive because he doesn’t deserve the power to live in your head and turn you into a bitter angry woman.  I’d like to see him out of your life emotionally as completely as he is physically, but you keep holding on to him.  You are not hurting him by holding on to that resentment, but you are hurting yourself.”[i]

We often are led to believe that forgiveness is necessary for a person who has wronged us, or for our own sake when we have wronged someone else, but forgiveness is not limited to one party as it is necessary for both parties to live into God’s vision of reconciliation.  Rabbi Kushner reminds us just how dangerous it can be to hold onto feelings for our own wellbeing.

Today’s reading from Matthew is likely one of the justifications for passing the peace at Church.  The practice dates back to at least the fourth century and is a prerequisite for receiving the Holy Eucharist.  We extend to each other the peace of God, we are reconciled to each other, and then we are able to receive the gift of God’s presence in the Eucharist.   

As I reflect on eighteen months of pandemic, it seems to me there is justifiable anger by many.  Poor individual and corporate decisions have affected the well-being of others.  And I am wondering what the fallout will be for years to come as we wonder how things could have been handled differently.  Judgment, shame, and anger could so easily be our next story.  And yet as Matthew’s Gospel account suggested, we cannot truly offer our gifts to God until we are first reconciled to each other.  As individuals, we cannot offer our full selves when we are consumed with anger or resentment, even if fully justified.

In a period of such tragic loss when there is more than enough blame to go around, how do we not become consumed with resentment that further decays our own wellbeing?  I’m guessing it starts with prayer.  And maybe with an understanding that God desires to make us whole so that we can experience the gift of God’s presence too.  It’s far too easy these days to keep tabs.  Maybe we should let others do that and we can focus on passing the peace.  The Peace of the Lord be always with you.

John+

Questions for Self-Reflection:  Are there feelings of resentment and anger that you hold on to?  How are those feelings benefiting you?  What are your own practices that help you learn to forgive? 

Daily Challenge: Write down three things that occupy too much space in your mind or heart.  Focus on forgiveness for those three things, specifically in preparation for the gift of the Eucharist.  If you are yet to be worshiping in person, consider requesting a Eucharistic Visitor by emailing Katherine.

[i] See Harold Kushner in Simon Wiesenthal, The Sunflower (New York: Schocken Books, 1998), 186.

Human Salt - September 17

Today’s Readings: AM Psalm 69:1-23(24-30)31-38; PM Psalm 73; 2 Kings 1:2-17; 1 Cor. 3:16-23; Matt. 5:11-16

Today’s Reflection

‘You are the salt of the earth; but if salt has lost its taste, how can its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything, but is thrown out and trampled under foot. ‘You are the light of the world. A city built on a hill cannot be hidden. No one after lighting a lamp puts it under the bushel basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven.  Matthew 5:11-16

What does it mean to be salt and light? We know, of course, what salt and light are in the physical world. In school, we learned that salt is HCl. Maybe your teacher even brought in a big piece of it to show what it looks like before it is broken in up into tiny crystals to season food. And in physics we learned about light—how fast light travels, how it can be refracted, and how it allows us to experience the whole spectrum of colors (this is when we’d get to bring out the prisms, always a highlight in science class).

Before we get into what it means for human beings to be like physical elements like salt and light, it’s important to step back and look at the words Jesus uses to talk about this. The Rev. Canon Christopher Russell, Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby’s Adviser for Evangelism and Witness, gave a talk to a clergy conference in Florida back in February 2020. Russell reflected in depth on the implications of this passage for how we, as Christians, are to see our mission and conduct our lives, as individuals and as a church:

In this, Jesus is telling us about our identity: You are the salt of the earth. You are the light of the world. … Not just the light of Galilee. Not just the light of Jerusalem. Not just the light of Israel, but the light of the Cosmos. … Note that he doesn’t say you should be the light of the world, you could be the light of the world, you ought to be the salt of the earth. You see, no shoulds, no coulds, no oughts. You are. … In every church, you are the salt of the earth. You are the light of the world. …. Let us become who we are. Not who we ought to be, but who we are—because Jesus has stated that we are the salt of the earth, the light of the world. Let us become that.

But what does Jesus mean when he tells his disciples (and by extension, us) that they (and we) are to be salt and light? What Jesus is getting at is that we are supposed to take on some of the characteristics of these elements in the way we interact with our surroundings, especially with the people around us. Russell observes what it meant to talk about salt in Jesus’ time and place, when people were more acutely aware of salt’s essential role in preserving and protecting life:

You are the salt of the earth. Salt wasn’t an optional table condiment. Salt was essential to daily life. Stopped things decaying, stopped infections from spreading. It sanctified people, Leviticus tells us. Salt doesn’t exist for itself. … Salt only has purpose when it has contact. As salt of the earth, we have to have contact with this world. … Conversation is the seasoning. Our words of course must be borne out by our lives.

Listening to Russell’s talk changed the way I understand these words from Jesus. It had never before occurred to me that “salt only has purpose when it has contact.” But now that I have grasped this, the application of these verses to the mission of the church is now much more clear.

We are the salt of the earth. We must have contact with other people to make a difference in the world for Christ. We cannot just stay in our own individual bubbles or silos. We must take the risk of making meaningful contact with others. Living these past 18 months through a pandemic that has often required us to have less contact with others, many of the habits and routines we had before for remaining in contact with others have been disrupted. After such a long pause, putting our toes back into the salty waters of being with others in our church and wider community seems unfamiliar and even risky after so many days, weeks, and months of isolation, disruption, and trauma.

Being salt begins with making meaningful contact with one another here at Saint Stephen’s; we can be salt that preserves, sanctifies, and seasons one another’s lives as we get to know one another through small groups, Bible studies, and book groups, as we worship with one another on Sundays, as we care for one another through pastoral care and outreach, and as we care for creation together, making our church campus a more sustainable one. Being salt of the earth also requires that we embolden one another to get out into the wider community of Birmingham, to get to know people beyond the places we usually go. As Russell observes, “Notice when Jesus says ‘you’ he is not talking to an individual—he’s talking to a group and to a community. … The corporate is the thing that counts. We know we have gotten into all sorts of trouble when we’re getting stuck on our own ministries. We know it’s about ‘us.’ It’s we before me.”

Russell asked his audience to think about what is our distinctive—what makes the church distinctive from other organizations and groups? Russell offers this answer to the question of what makes us different: “What if our first distinctive is: We are the church and therefore we are for the world. We are called by Christ to be for others.” To be “for others,” we also must be with others. And in so doing we will find that we are salt and we are light.

—Becky+

Questions for Self-Reflection

What kinds of human contact have you missed most over these past 18 months? What are one or two specific things you could do to reconnect with people at Saint Stephen’s and in the wider community over the next week or two?

Daily Challenge

Listen to the Rev. Canon Christopher Russell’s full address on being salt and light here.

God's Wisdom - September 16

Today’s Readings: AM Psalm [70], 71; PM Psalm 74; 1 Kings 22:29-45; 1 Cor. 2:14-3:15; Matt. 5:1-10

“Those who are unspiritual do not receive the gifts of God’s Spirit, for they are foolishness to them, and they are unable to understand them because they are discerned spiritually. Those who are spiritual discern all things, and they are themselves subject to no one else’s scrutiny. ‘For who has known the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him?’ But we have the mind of Christ. - 1 Corinthians 2:14-16

On Wednesday evenings, I lead two different Bible studies.   At 5:30 p.m., there is a Men’s Bible Study and after Compline, around 7:00 p.m. I gather with the Young Adults of Saint Stephen’s in hybrid format with people joining in person and on zoom.  I ask the same questions and we study the same scripture, but the conversation went in different directions.  That is probably not surprising with people's different junctures in life.  The Men’s Bible Study had an average age of closer to 50 while the young adults gathered on average were probably closer to 26 or 27. 

This week, we explored the passage from James for this upcoming Sunday (James 3:13-4:3, 7-8a).  James is focused on wisdom, the theme of our Corinthians reading from yesterday and today as well.  And I asked both groups to define wisdom.  Our young adults focused on what we learn from experience.  Essentially, they ended up with the answer: “knowledge applied.”  This is certainly true as a group that is rapidly gaining more experience in the world and looking back at how much more they know now than they did just a few years ago.  The older group ended up defining wisdom a little differently - “knowing what we don’t know,” a view from a little farther back from experience.  I was struck by just how different each group’s answers were. 

And yet both Paul and James had a little different definition.  In this excerpt, Paul differentiates between human wisdom and God’s wisdom or also known as God’s power.  God’s wisdom “is not a wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are doomed to perish. But we speak God’s wisdom, secret and hidden, which God decreed before the ages for our glory” (1 Corinthians 2:6-7).  God’s wisdom does not make sense to the ways of the world.  It is different!

I’m finding it challenging to believe that some of the wisdom I have learned from the world isn’t helpful.  I suspect it is profoundly helpful and yet Paul is critical.  But God’s wisdom is different, emboldened by the Holy Spirit. I shared on Sunday, the prayer for St. Francis which to me has often seemed like the gift of counter wisdom.  It is the antithesis of the way of the world: I wonder if this could be one way of entering into God’s wisdom. 

 “Lord, make us instruments of your peace. Where there is hatred, let us sow love; where there is injury, pardon; where there is discord, union; where there is doubt, faith; where there is despair, hope; where there is darkness, light; where there is sadness, joy. Grant that we may not so much seek to be consoled as to console; to be understood as to understand; to be loved as to love. For it is in giving that we receive; it is in pardoning that we are pardoned; and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life. Amen. (BCP 877).”

God’s wisdom might be learned through experience.  And it might be admitting what we don’t know.  But it is also something that is given to us by God that stands contrary to what our ego is driving.  Paul suggests there is a better way of living through the wisdom passed down through God, and I am betting it’s the key to find life through our faith. 

John+

Questions for Self-Reflection:  What does wisdom mean to you?  Who do you consider to be wise?  How is God’s wisdom different than what you have learned yourself?

Daily Challenge: Make a list of five things that you do not know the answer to. Try more philosophical questions, not things you could quickly lookup with Google.

Healing and history - September 15

Today’s Readings: AM Psalm 72; PM Psalm 119:73-96; 1 Kings 22:1-28; 1 Cor. 2:1-13; Matt. 4:18-25

Jesus went throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the good news of the kingdom and curing every disease and every sickness among the people. So his fame spread throughout all Syria, and they brought to him all the sick, those who were afflicted with various diseases and pains, demoniacs, epileptics, and paralytics, and he cured them. (Matthew 4:24-25)

One of the methods of Bible study that I find generative and beautiful is to imagine where I would be in the scene as I ponder it. The act of hearing or reading Holy Scripture opens a doorway for each of us to crawl into the story and look around. In reading from the gospel according to Matthew this morning, I can imagine a dusty road in the white hot sun, waiting for Jesus. Waiting for my family’s turn for healing. Perhaps it took two of us to bring our uncle who is sick, as it is exhausting and physically awkward to help another grown person move about when they are unsteady on their feet. We follow the crowds to the public worship space to hear Jesus teach about this other kingdom, apart from the rulers of our land. This promised land and promised love of God. Healing in the moment and healing to come. What a hallowed place that synagogue feels like, witnessing healings and feeling the inspiration of Jesus’ message. I can imagine I would see that space of worship so differently after the healer and teacher moved on. Walking past it would elicit memories and feelings of consolation, hopefulness, peace, and inspiration.

Do you have a place that fills you with these feelings? Maybe it is Saint Stephen’s. Maybe it is a lake house. Maybe it is a parking lot. Who knows…many find churches spaces of peace and encouragement. I know I do. I am thinking about places of safety and nourishment this morning because today is the 58th anniversary of the bombing of the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church. This church, originally organized in 1873 as the First Colored Baptist Church of Birmingham, functioned as a meeting place, social center, and lecture hall for a variety of activities important to the lives of the city’s black residents. On the church’s website today, in describing their history and the role of the church in community life, this is written: “African Americans from across the city and neighboring towns came to Sixteenth Street, then called ‘everybody’s church,’ to take part in the special programs it hosted.” Because of its central location, the church became a hub of activity for civil rights activities in Birmingham in the 1960s. Marches and demonstrations were planned and implemented to bring an end to the public segregation of blacks from whites.

On a Sunday morning in September 1963, at 10:22 a.m., a bomb exploded at Sixteenth Street Baptist Church, killing four young girls attending Sunday School and injuring more than 20 other members of the congregation. Later that same evening, in different parts of town, a black youth was killed by police and one was murdered by a mob of white men. September 15, 1963 was a painful, horrific day. The church that had been a nexus of hope and change was left with a hole blown out of the side, and hundreds of lives touched by violence and loss. “The Magic City” was a place of tragedy and racism.

John Archibald, the Pulitzer Prize winning columnist for The Birmingham News, spoke at Saint Stephen’s this weekend about his dad’s legacy as a local minister during the Civil Rights era. He spoke about how important it is to know the history. It is a painful history. It is an uncomfortable history. And yet, we are called to open our eyes to see the impact, know the loss, and seek to understand what went wrong. I come back to the image of standing in line, waiting for Jesus on that dusty road. I believe that as we imagine ourselves waiting for Jesus to cure every disease and every sickness among us, when it is our time, Jesus sees the whole picture of our brokenness and pain. He knows it all. There is no way to hide the festering wounds on our skin or in our hearts. He sees it.

Through prayer and study and action as Christians, we strive to prepare our hearts to welcome Jesus. So in the vein of that discipline, let us begin practicing being honest about our pains and disappointments, our regrets and our fears. Through being open and loving, let our prayers to God be that we will not repeat the hurt inflicted in the past. Let our prayers to God be that we will learn from our history of racism, so that we may live into the kingdom of God and do God’s will this day. Amen.

--Katherine+

Questions for Reflection

Where is a place of healing and safety for you? What is it like for you to wait for healing?

What do you know or remember about the bombing of the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church?

Daily Challenge

Take a few minutes to read more about the racial conflicts in Birmingham in the 1960s. Then, sit in prayer, praying for those affected by violence as they worked for change. Finally, take 10 minutes to journal about how knowing this history moves you to act and be.