A good coach - January 11

Today’s Readings: AM Psalm 5, 6; PM Psalm 10, 11; Gen. 3:1-24; Heb. 2:1-10; John 1:19-28

This morning, I came across a bit written by Rick Karle, a sports enthusiast and one of the news anchors at the local NBC affiliate, WVTM-13. He was reflecting on the fallout from the National Championship game last night between Alabama and Georgia. In sporting events, coaches and players (who are barely two decades old) must sit in front of reporters and cameras, addressing a barrage of questions about their most recent actions on the field. When the winners are interviewed, it must feel easy to chime in with the accolades and celebration. When the losers are interviewed, it is a much more vulnerable and painful experience. I would dread having to do that.

Karle wrote this description of what he saw unfold last night:

“Bryce Young and Will Anderson were about to leave the podium after making their post game remarks.

Coach Saban said, “Hold up - I’d like to say something.”

He went onto say this:

“These two guys sitting up here, they're not defined by one game. They played great for us all year, they were great competitors, great leaders on this team and they contributed tremendously to the success of this team.

And we would not be here without them.

And both of them take responsibility for the loss, but both of them contributed in a lot of ways, in a positive way, to giving us a chance to win and a chance to be here to have an opportunity to win.

So, I just want to thank them for that and let everybody know how proud I am of these two guys.”

After pouring their hearts out, Coach Saban took time to let Bryce and Will know how much he appreciates them.”

These words of encouragement and praise were not held back for a time when the cameras were turned off, when the press had moved on to write up the play-by-play of how Alabama lost the National Championship game. Nick Saban imparted these words publicly for these young men at a time when they were vulnerable and full of regret, taking the lens wider, not just to the loss at the end of the game, but looking at the road that got them to this point. Saban’s choice to lead in this manner speaks to how he operates as a coach – with high expectations, coupled with compassion for helping these players reconcile losses and learn about responsibility as humans…not just on the football field.

The Old Testament reading for today is known as the story of the “fall”…chapter 3 of Genesis when humans became separated from the glory of God by eating of the fruit on the tree in the middle of the garden. This is a familiar story, and it is not one that I adore. There is much grist and fodder for reflection and refuting, in my opinion. Nevertheless, you may remember that in the fallout of the forbidden snack, God chastises the serpent who tricked the woman, then disciplines the woman, and finally the man. They are punished. God does not stop there, knowing that there is still the tree of life…and if the man and woman could be tricked or tempted to eat of that tree, the hardships ahead would never end. They must be protected from that pain. Fierce angels are stationed around that tree of life and the humans are sent forth from the Garden of Eden. They are not banished. They are let go together, out to the way they are to go next. To till the ground from which they had come.

As I reflect on this ancient story from Judeo-Christian lore, and on a post-game media conference in 2022, the players in each story are filled with regret and their shepherd knows that the experiences are going to shape those people moving forward. It is words of support that keep us going when we are broken.

I pray that God’s grace lifts and guides you today, and may your words and prayers be shaped by that amazing grace.

-- Katherine+

Questions for Reflection

When disappointed, how do you respond?

 What words of encouragement have gotten you through a hard time?

Daily Challenge

Reread Genesis 3. Look for what in this chapter surprises you. What details stick out that you did not know before? What do you wrestle with? What do you take away from this scripture?

All Things Came Into Being Through Him - January 10

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” – John 1:1

John’s Gospel begins rather boldly.  One of the more memorable lines of Scripture, what John is essentially trying to say, at the beginning of Creation, when the moon and stars, the earth, and the seas, and everything was created, God was there, and so was Jesus.  I especially love the next line, that “all things came into being through him.”  It’s an equally bold statement: everything comes from God, designed by God, with purpose and design.

I’m reading an interesting book about gardening titled Bringing Nature Home: How You Can Sustain Wildlife with Native Plants by Douglas Tallamy.  His premise is rather simple: bugs can’t eat alien plants so when we introduce foreign plants it impacts the entire ecosystem.  At Saint Stephen’s, we have a project to remove all of our invasive species and reintroduce natives, but only now am beginning to deepen my understanding of why. 

Tallamy introduces a rather interesting concept (created by Peter de Ruiter at Utrecht University) in trying to understand the role of certain species in an ecosystem.  The hypothesis is called “the Jenga hypothesis.”  Jenga is the popular block game where a freestanding tower is built with blocks that can be removed, each player removing blocks as the tower becomes more and more wobbly until it finally comes crashing down.  Tallamy writes, “In the Jenga metaphor, the role of any given species in maintaining the stability of its ecosystem is similar to the role to the individual blocks play in keeping the tower from tumbling down.  Each block supports the tower in some way…Each time a block is removed, the relative importance of the remaining blocks change. 

John’s premise is that everything is created by God.  I love the Jenga metaphor because it speaks an unexpected truth, that we don’t understand the purpose and relationship of everything or even everyone.  We don’t quite get to know fully why or for what purpose everything is, or maybe more specifically people come into our lives, our communities, and our stories.  And we don’t understand the significance always when there is loss.  But it does change everything.  And that matters.   

So this morning, I’m going to remember that everything, and everyone can into being by God, and while I might not understand why, that’s ok.

John+

Question for Self-Reflection:  What are some of the things, relationships, people, and ideas that impact your life that you don’t often consider?  Are there recent losses that have changed other relationships?

Daily Challenge:  Take a walk outside.  Try to make it longer than you would normally.  I would suggest at least thirty minutes and try to see things you haven’t seen before.  If you see something extraordinary, let me know!

Hymn to the Christ - January 8

Today’s Readings: AM Psalm 117, 118; PM Psalm 112, 113; Exod. 17:1-7; Col. 1:15-23; John 7:37-52

Last night, I thought I would get a jump on this morning’s reflection. I thought I could review the readings and something would immediately grab me. Something pithy from the week. Something pertinent from antiquity. Something. That did not happen.

So, I slowed down. I felt drawn to the letter to the Colossians, but I could not put my finger on what was stirring. And so, I did what my seminary professor Micah Jackson suggested when preparing to explore scripture for discussion or preaching: write out the scripture by hand. Each and every word. Allow space for breathing room between the lines. Mark the words that stand out. Underline phrases that have a cadence or phrasing that you want to know more about.

This practice of writing each word of the scripture is an amazing one to me. It is a practice that slows down and shifts the way I receive the Holy Scripture. Before those words pour out of my hand, they first flow into my eyes. They wander around my brain, triggering understanding and familiarity and newness. Then, the impulses of the words jump down and along the neurological pathways in my spine, shoulders, arms, and fingers, so that finally I press down upon the green pen in my hand so that it will lend its ink, spilling onto the lined page these ancient words.

In the splendor of this process, I revisited the words of Colossians. I heard the beauty of the Pauline message, a hymn to the Christ, unfurling slowly and clearly who Jesus Christ was, and is, and will be. There are words of Christ-centered genesis, reminders of holy order and organization, and the peace of God’s reconciling love in Christ. Take a moment and revisit Colossians 1:15-20:

“He is the image of the invisible God,

the firstborn of all creation;

for in him all things in heaven and on earth were created,

things visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or powers –

all things have been created

through him and for him.

He himself is before all things,

And in him all things hold together.

“He is the head of the body, the church;

he is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead,

so that he might come to have first place in everything.

“For in him all the fullness of God was pleased

to reconcile to himself all things,

whether on earth or in heaven,

by making peace through the blood of his cross.”

These few verses deliver dense, developed theology, to be sure.

Here is what I hear: Jesus the Christ serves as the glue, holding all things together, across time. He is more that the prophetic human who walked upon the earth. He is the firstborn of all creation, and the firstborn to emerge from the dead. Jesus excels in all things and sets the tone for all from the top – that pinnacle, which was upon a cross. In the heartbreak and hardship, what emerged was redemption and reconciliation. The message that remains is that all things and all people are brought to a space of peace through Jesus.

May you find that hope and encouragement in Jesus as you take today one step at a time.

-- Katherine+

Questions for Reflection

How do you best receive information? Through listening, reading, writing, lived experience?



How does your awareness in this way spill over into your faith? What about your spiritual growth might you tweak, to deepen or broaden the ways you experience and share God's love?

Holy Longing - January 7

Today’s Readings: AM Psalm 103; PM Psalm 114, 115; Deut. 8:1-3; Col. 1:1-14; John 6:30-33,48-51

Today’s Reflection

We humans are, at heart, hungry and thirsty beings. Of course, we need food and drink—along with clean air to breathe and rest for our bodies and brains—for our physical survival. But we are hungry and thirsty for much more than that. We are always hungering and thirsting for something more than what we already have, and to be something more than what we already are.

Unfortunately, the forces of this world—which are forces of darkness, if you see the world in a spiritual way—twist our inherent hungering and thirsting in ways that are destructive to us in mind, body, and spirit. In our contemporary U.S. culture, companies take advantage of this sense of longing and convince us that our hunger will be satisfied and our thirst will be quenched by things that we can purchase with money. If we can just have better clothes, or a better car, or a better house, or better vacations—or a better image of who we are relative to other people and their respective things. It’s OK to have nice things—but what’s not OK is to get sucked into believing that these things will fulfill our sense of longing, our hungering and thirsting for something more.

I believe that God has placed in each one of us, as God’s dearly loved children, a holy longing for something more—something much more than what the things of this world can give, and a holy longing more than anything we can ever achieve for or give to ourselves. We hear the threads of this theme of our hunger and thirst being satisfied and quenched by God woven throughout today’s scripture readings. In our Old Testament reading from Deuteronomy 8, we are reminded that, “One does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord” (Deut. 8:3b). And in our Gospel reading from John 7, we hear Jesus declare this: “‘Let anyone who is thirsty come to me, and let the one who believes in me drink. As the scripture has said, ‘Out of the believer’s heart shall flow rivers of living water’” (John 7: 37-28).

Today’s readings acknowledge that God has placed within each one of us a holy sense of longing—a longing for something more than what could ever be fulfilled by the things of this world or by our own sense of accomplishment. In these passages of Holy Scripture, we find reassurance that God will meet our needs and give us a way to fulfill our inherent longing for something more. We hear that the way to begin to fill ourselves up with something deeper, something truer, something that will sustain us spiritually is to begin with these two things: the Word of God and the Spirit of God.

God has given us access to a sense of who God is, a sense of what is right and true, of what is meaningful, of love, mercy, and grace that will endure for ever. God has given us means by which we can tap into this source of living water and manna from heaven in our lives still today. How? By spending time with God through studying Holy Scripture. By reading and reflecting on other holy words by wise and holy people. By sharing in holy conversations with our fellow Christ followers. By finding time to listen for the Holy Spirit’s still small voice through setting aside time for silence and prayer. By getting outside of ourselves and our needs and focusing on the needs of others.

We have just begun the Season of Epiphany, the season in the church between the Season of Christmas and the Season of Lent. We shouldn’t discount the Epiphany season as just an interim period of ordinary time between more joyous or penitential liturgical seasons. Rather, let’s see the Season of Epiphany as a season to focus on seeking after Jesus, as the Magi did—a season of asking, “Where can we find Jesus?” in our daily lives, and helping others seek Jesus, too.

Just as Paul prayed for his friends in Colossae, this is my hope and prayer for us this day, as we begin this season of seeking something deeper, something truer in our lives as we seek to find and then follow Christ:

I pray that you may be filled with the knowledge of God’s will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so that you may lead lives worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him, as you bear fruit in every good work and as you grow in the knowledge of God.  –Colossians 1: 9-10

Becky+

Questions for Self-Reflection

Do you ever have a sense of holy longing, that God has placed in you a hunger and thirst for more than what the things and pursuits of this world can fulfill? When do you most sense this longing? What spiritual practices have you found that satisfy this longing for more, and redirect you toward bearing spiritual fruit you can share with others?

Daily Challenge

As we begin the new year, consider committing to a weekly formation group or outreach ministry as ways of deepening your faith and bearing good fruit.

A Different Way Home

Today’s Readings: AM Psalm 46, 97; PM Psalm 96, 100; Isa. 49:1-7; Rev. 21:22-27; Matt. 12:14-21

Today is the Feast of the Epiphany, although the Daily office readings don’t do the best job of capturing the story.  If we were to have Eucharist today, you would hear the story in Matthew’s Gospel about Herod calling the wise men to learn about a special star and sending them to search for the Christ child.  In the reading, the wise men search and upon finding the place where Jesus is resting, they are overwhelmed with joy. This is the moment when the wise men enter the house and present the child with gifts. Think of the old hymn “We three kings!”

There is a part of the story that the nativity pageants and hymn leave out and that is the last verse where the men “having been warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they left for their own country by another road.”  It’s an interesting twist to the story.  Their lives have been altered by the encounter with Jesus.

Today marks the day that we celebrate the very light that leads us on a path to find God’s glory. It’s likely many of us can easily point to that light.  It could be a friend, a partner, a grandparent, a mentor, our church community, or more.  It’s beautiful to reflect on how people lead us to find Christ Jesus, and probably important to pause and give thanks for those people and those communities.   

And yet, it is even more provocative to then ask ourselves how now is our journey home called to be different?  It’s a new year, and as this season has concluded, we have all encountered Christ, made a journey just like the wise men.  So how does our journey home change? How have our lives been altered?

John+

Questions for Self-Reflection:  Who are the people who lead you to know Christ more deeply? How has that happened? Do you play that role for others?

Daily Challenge:  Send a text, write a letter, or call one of these people who shapes your faith and give thanks for the role they play in your faith life.

The twelfth day of Christmas – January 5

Today’s Readings: AM Psalm 2, 110:1-5(6,7); Joshua 2:2-9; Eph. 6:10-20; John 11:17-27, 38-44

Last night as we were cleaning up after dinner, Sam asked a question. He asks a similar question each year. For nearly fifteen years. “When is it that I can start taking down the tree? Thursday?” He has been wanting to take down the tree since December 26. And yet, we keep it up – for Christmas is a season, not a solitary day, that spans from Christmas Day until sundown on the twelfth day (today) – and tomorrow is Epiphany!

If you read about the meaning behind the twelve days of Christmas in popular lore, there are many rabbit trails of exploration: the history of “The Twelve Days of Christmas,” heralded by some as the most annoying Christmas carol; theological ties to the twelve gifts; how the twelve gifts named in the lyrical poem (penned in England circa 1780) contained secret codes for ancient Christians; and so forth. While I am not certain of the veracity of all these web results, especially the secret code part, I do commend to you the rendition of this song presented by John Denver and the Muppets: https://youtu.be/8ygW5hLgnn4.  

In seeking to understand the framework undergirding our rhythm of the twelve days of Christmas, prior to the celebration of Epiphany on January 6, I looked further back in history. I found this assertion: “In 567, the Council of Tours ‘proclaimed the twelve days from Christmas to Epiphany as a sacred and festive season, and established the duty of Advent fasting in preparation for the feast.’” This sounded pretty legitimate – and so I sought out more information on the 566-567 Council of Tours. The first lead I read summarized this council in this way: if a cleric was found in bed with his wife, he was excommunicated for one year and returned to the laity. Ha!

I kept searching and came across the transcripts in Latin from this council of the church, by way of an absolutely informative and timely blog entitled, “When to take down the Christmas decorations? A canon of the 2nd Council of Tours (567)”! Thanks to the dedication of Roger Pearse, who penned this article, I learned that the canons which emerged from the second Council of Tours did speak of the days leading up to Christmas and those between Christmas and Epiphany. The content of those directions addressed the daily habits of monks. Fasting was to happen daily in December, in the days leading up until Christmas. During the Christmas feast time, the monks were to eat a breakfast daily, rather than the norm through much of the year, which included fasting three times per week.

The canons (sadly) gave no guidance around the timing of dismantling Christmas trees and removing twinkly lights at the homes of clergy or laity.

So, what does all of this mean, on the twelfth day of Christmas? As the beat of twelve drummers drumming pulses in my head, the words of the apostle Paul in the daily lectionary send us off as we ring in the final day of Christmas: “Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his power…Stand therefore, and fasten the belt of truth around your waist, and put on the breastplate of righteousness.” (Ephesians 6:10, 14) Paul calls the church at Ephesus to unity, for the real struggle is not against the people around us, but against the spiritual forces of evil which seek to darken the light of Christ. Paul gives direction to the Ephesians, preparing them to proclaim the gospel and live in faith, equipped with the protection of God’s salvation, Spirit, and word. He ends this instruction with a boost, to keep them always grounded: “Pray in the Spirit at all times in every prayer and supplication. To that end keep alert and always persevere in supplication for all the saints. Pray also for me, so that when I speak, a message may be given to me to make known with boldness the mystery of the gospel” (v. 18-19)

Wherever we go, we are called to march together, walking in step with our sisters and brothers for Christ, living into the gospel hope. We are to pray in the Spirit of God and pray for one another. And, if one of our brothers or sisters takes down their decorations before sundown on the twelfth day of Christmas, it does not make that person an enemy to the faith. Jesus came to equip each of us to walk in love.

I pray that songs of joy fill your heart this and every day.

-- Katherine+

Questions for Reflection

What drives you to be curious to understand the "why" of something that is commonly accepted?

Who encourages you to be curious, and who encourages you to deepen your faith in God?

Daily Challenge

Today, whether you are packing up decorations or facing a desk full of tasks, get curious. Do some research. Perhaps it is on a matter of faith. Perhaps it is on a matter of genealogy. Perhaps it is to understand your neighbor better. Pray that God moves your heart and mind to greater understanding of those around you - and perhaps of yourself, too.

A Fragrant Offering and Sacrifice to God - January 4

Today’s Readings: AM Psalm 85, 87; PM Psalm 136; Joshua 3:14—4:7; Eph. 5:1-20; John 9:1-12,35-38

Today’s Reflection

Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children, and live in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.  –Ephesians 5: 1-2

In each service of Holy Eucharist, we have a transitional time after the Liturgy of the Word as we move into the Liturgy of the Table. We exchange the Peace of Christ with one another and then we take a moment to share words of welcome and announcements about happenings in the life of our church. At the end of this interlude, the Celebrant signals the beginning of the next part of the service, the Liturgy of the Table, by saying what is called an Offertory Sentence. The Book of Common Prayer gives us several options, but I always say this one: “Walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.”

Now the Prayer Book uses a slightly different version of this sentence, leaving out the word “fragrant.” But I always reinsert “fragrant” as this stays truer to the Scripture, as this Offertory Sentence is a direct quote from Ephesians 5, verse 2. Why is it important to keep the “fragrant” in the line “a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God?” For one, keeping “fragrant” in the sentence reminds us of the embodied nature of Christ’s sacrifice. Jesus lived a human life, a life fully enfleshed as a person who experienced the world through all the senses: sight, sound, taste, touch, and smell. Oftentimes, because much of what we know of Jesus comes through Holy Scripture, we think of the words we have heard that Jesus said or the words that others said about him or in response to him—or words that we sing or hear others sing about him. We also think of Jesus as artists have portrayed him through the years, how they have imaginatively depicted his image in paintings and stained glass and sculptures that we can see with our eyes.

But what of the other senses? Here’s where scent and the fragrant offering and sacrifice may more fully develop our understanding of and experience of Jesus. For one, think about the fact that the God who created the Universe lived and died as one of us—with all the bodily fragrances all the rest of us experience and create. As a baby, I imagine that Jesus emitted the sweet baby scent that we all love to experience when we nuzzle a small baby close to us—but also all the icky scents we take in when caring for babies whose bodies are getting used to processing milk and food for the first time. Or as a grown man, walking along hot, dusty roads in the ancient Middle East, I imagine that Jesus’ scent was as pungent and sweaty at times as anyone else’s! We may also think of the scents of the end of his life as his body hung on the cross, and as it was carried to the tomb. The women came to the tomb with strong scented spices to prepare his body for burial—only to find it missing.

Walking in our shoes by living a fully human life put Jesus in touch with a life with all the sights, sounds, tastes, feelings, and scents of humanity—both by experiencing other people through his senses as well as allowing others to experience him through theirs. While Paul may have had in mind the fragrances of Temple sacrifice as he used this phrase in his letter to the Ephesians, the life of Jesus points us to him being “a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God” in these other senses of the word, too.

The other thing to notice is the difference between the translation used in the BCP’s version of the offertory sentence “walk in love” versus what we read today in Ephesians 5, “live in love.” Our Paul’s Letters Bible study group has had multiple discussions of what it means to “walk in love” or “live in love.” Walking is perhaps a more evocative image—we can picture how a person might walk in a certain way, where a person might walk, who they would walk with, etc. And we can picture all the stories from Scripture of Jesus walking along the way, walking from one town to the next, walking with his friends, walking on water, walking surrounded by the throngs of people, walking toward Jerusalem. Walk in love is a more vivid turn of phrase but live in love is more spacious language—live in love encompasses all the activities we engage in, as we lean into the lives and calls God has given to each one of us.

So go, walk in love as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God!

Becky+

Questions for Self-Reflection

What scents do you most associate with God or being with God’s people? What scents seem heavenly to you? Incense or candles in a church? Freshly baked cookies or warm cinnamon buns? Magnolia blossoms or honeysuckle vines? The scent of meat being smoked at your favorite barbecue joint? A salty sea breeze?

Daily Challenge

The Old Testament Scriptures include much discussion of the details of Temple sacrifice, including that part of the reason sacrifices were made was to send up a “pleasing aroma” that God would enjoy. Learn more about “fragrant offerings and sacrifices” in the context of ancient Israel in this brief article by a professor of religion at Emory University.

Sheer Silence - Jan 3

Today’s Readings: AM Psalm 68; PM Psalm 72; 1 Kings 19:9-18; Eph. 4:17-32; John 6:15-27

I believe the temperature here in Alabama begin in the 70s yesterday.  I broke a sweat on my walk, if that is any measure.  And then today I awoke to snow on the ground!  As I have heard a number of times in my four years living here, “Only in Alabama!”

A colleague of mine is not the biggest fan of Eucharistic Prayer C, the one that calls Earth our “fragile island home.”  He argues that mother nature isn’t fragile at all but strikes back with vengeance and might.  He suspects (even much to the chagrin of Elon Music and Jeff Bezos) that the earth will be around far longer than humans.  

Mother nature is pretty extraordinary.  In the Gospel for John this morning, there are storms on the Sea of Galilee.  But it is the reading in Kings that takes it to a whole new level (kind of like Alabama).   There are winds that break mountains, fires, and earthquakes. I am struck that the word of God reminds Elijah that Lord God is not in the earthquake, or fire, or wind, but the sheer silence that follows. 

 It’s a quiet morning.  I’ve just returned from taking the dog out.  I suspect some people are rising others are enjoying the extra moments of warmth on an especially cold morning.  For many, offices are closed, school has yet to resume, and people are sleeping in from vacations or travel.  The world is eerily quiet this morning.  Maybe the reading from Kings is reminder that when everything slows down, that is when maybe we can best hear the voice of God. 

In the quiet of today, as you ready for all that today, this week, and this year are calling you to, how do you hear the voice of God in the silence?   If you have some down time today, maybe it is an invitation to listen.  Where do you hear the voice of God?

John+
Questions for Self-Reflection:  What are moments of silence that have shaped you?  How can make time for silence or quiet if that is missing from your life?  

Daily Challenge:  Take a picture with your phone of the silence of today.  Once you have found the perfect picture, sit for a while and enjoy the quiet. 

An Imperfect Yet Holy Family - December 24

Today’s Readings: AM Psalm 45, 46; Baruch 4:36-5:9; Gal. 3:23-4:7; Matt. 1:18-25

Today’s Reflection

“Joseph, who only a few scripture sentences earlier had considered abandoning Mary, is now behaving like a loving, earthly father to this strange holy infant. The window reminds me that God is taking a confused man, a teenage woman, and an unexpected baby, and turning them into a holy family; echoing the message of the other window nothing is impossible with God.” —The Rt. Rev. Dr. Glenda Curry in her 2021 Christmas Message to the Diocese of Alabama

In Scripture, we hear the story of Jesus’ birth in the Gospels of Luke and Matthew. In Luke’s version of the nativity story, we hear of the annunciation to Mary, which is when the angel appears to her and tells her she will bear a child, conceived in her by the power of the Holy Spirit, and that child will be the Son of God, who will inherit the throne of his forefather David and rule over the house of Jacob. However, in Matthew’s Gospel, which we hear today, we learn of another annunciation—an annunciation through an angel of the Lord to Joseph. The angel tells Joseph he is not to abandon Mary, but that he is stay committed to her beyond all societal and legal expectations.

And not only that, but Joseph is to make a social and legal commitment to Mary’s baby—a child not biologically his own. The commitment Joseph makes comes through obeying the command that Joseph will be the one to name the baby Jesus. Joseph’s role in naming Jesus is no small detail—it’s very important to Jesus being the fulfillment of all the prophecies of the long-awaited Messiah. If we think back to how the book of Matthew begins, we hear the long genealogy that spans the generations from Abraham and Isaac and Jacob down through to Jesse and David and Solomon and then all the way down to Joseph.

When we start reading Matthew 1, this genealogy seems kind of tedious to get through with all its many, many generations of long, complicated names. But this genealogy is so important because it traces the family tree of Jesus as stemming from the line of Abraham and David—and it connects Jesus to the Abrahamic and Davidic line through Joseph. What this means is that, in order for Jesus to come from the line of David, we have to understand Joseph as being Jesus’ father. But how can that be if Jesus is the Son of God, conceived by the Holy Spirit?

This is where Joseph’s obedience to God, in the most difficult and unlikely of circumstances, is so important. Joseph steps up and does what God (through the angel) told him to do, which was to name the baby Jesus. That act, of being the one to name him, is the act that culturally and legally made Jesus part of the house of Abraham and the house of David. Joseph naming him allowed the name of Jesus to be added after his own in the genealogy of the house of Abraham and the house of David.

Of course, it’s essential that Jesus was born of Mary, in that the divine also entered humanity by being born of a woman, living and dying as one of us. However, some would argue that it is equally important that Jesus was also named and adopted by Joseph, because that is how Jesus would come to recognized as the fulfillment of prophecy. And it makes sense that Matthew, of all the Gospel writers, emphasizes this aspect of the nativity story, because, as one commentator describes, “Matthew crafted his account to demonstrate Jesus’ messianic identity, his inheritance of the Davidic kingship over Israel, and his fulfillment of the promise made to his ancestor Abraham. … Matthew’s Gospel [was] an evangelistic took aimed at [Matthew’s] fellow Jews, persuading them to recognize Jesus as their long-awaited Messiah” (ESV Study Bible 1816). Jesus is marked as the long-awaited Messiah by virtue of his kinship with Joseph, the man who obeyed God by naming him Jesus and thus adding that name into the house of Abraham and the house of David.

God turns us back toward restored relationship with himself by letting his face, or his countenance, shine on us that we might be saved. But what does it mean for God to let his face shine on us—and how does that save us? God let his face shine on us by allowing the Word to become flesh and dwell among us. God let his face shine on us by allowing his Logos or Incarnate Word to be borne of Mary, and then allowing him to be named and adopted into the house of David by Joseph. Jesus, fully divine and fully human, is the way through which the God of Abraham and the God of David could shine the light of his face into our world, by living and dying as one of us. In Advent and at Christmas, we remember and celebrate how God came down to us as a baby, grew and developed as a child, lived and walked among us as an adult, and then conquered sin and death for us. And so, today, we echo the psalmist’s cry to God: Restore us, O God, let your face shine upon us, that we may be saved!

Becky+

Questions for Self-Reflection

Bishop G recently shared a beautiful Christmas message with the Diocese, in which she reflects on the Christmas story through the lens of the four stained glass windows in the Chapel of the Holy Family at her former parish, All Saints. Reflect on these thoughts that our bishop shared about Joseph (see quote above), and what this brings up for you in light of your own experiences and memories of family.

Daily Challenge

You can read or watch Bishop G’s Christmas message about longing, imperfection, and the hope we find in Christ here.

Naming the New Thing - December 23

Today’s Readings: AM Psalm 80; PM Psalm 146, 147; 2 Samuel 7:18-29; Gal. 3:1-14; Luke 1:57-66

I wonder what it was like for Zechariah. He was without a voice since the moment he learned that his wife was pregnant with their child. For nine months he has been silent, unable to communicate in spoken word, and then as he shares the name of his son, John, on a tablet, his tongue is freed, and he immediately begins speaking. He is able to live more fully into who he is.

I don’t think this is the intent of Luke necessarily, but it does seem to me to be pretty profound that when Zechariah properly names what God has done (the birth of his son) he is able to live more fully. It is as if, recognizing what God has done actually changes our lives and gives us the ability to live fully into who we are as God’s beloved.

What is God doing in your life? What is God birthing that needs to be named? In just a few days we give name and credence to the new thing that God has done in the world. I’m willing to bet that has implications for each of our own lives too.  Maybe it’s time we name it.

John+

Questions for Self-Reflection: How much time do you spend pondering what God is up to in your life?  Do things happen because of your due diligence, hard work, charisma, or luck, or is God at work in your life too?  How does naming what God doing change your perspective?

Daily Challenge:  Consider three new avenues in your life.  Spend time journaling about or daydreaming about new things that God is calling you to in the new year. 

Doing more than the minimum - December 22

Today’s Readings: AM Psalm 72; PM Psalm 111, 113, 2 Samuel 7:1-17; Titus 2:11-3:8a; Luke 1:39-48a(48b-56)

The reading from Luke this morning includes the song of Mary - what we call the Magnificat. In the lectionary assigned, one could break the reading after the first line "‘My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, for he has looked with favor on the lowliness of his servant." If we were to do that, we would miss her prophetic components of the song in verses 48b through 55. Point by point, the content of this optional reading could be listed like this:

1. Others will revere her (Mary) as blessed.

2. God does much for Mary.

3. God's mercy is bestowed on those who put God first, time after time.

4. God is strong and levels those who put themselves first.

5. God brings life to those who are feeling low and empty.

6. God is at the center of each way we feel full and cared for.

7. God is our ever-present help to those who serve the Lord.

8. God makes promises that are everlasting.

If we read the bare minimum, we miss some good stuff. We miss one young woman's reflections on who God is and how God is in relation to each of us.

There is a lot going on in my day today. I bet you have a lot going on in yours. Let's do what we can to give God our full attention, and not just the bare minimum. We miss some beauty and encouragement if we skim. Though spread thin on these tender days leading up to Christmas, let us lean into God and hear the song being placed upon our hearts.

-- Katherine+

Questions for Reflection

What is your priority today? Who is your priority today? How do you use your words and works to show where your priorities lie?

Daily Challenge

Be attentive to the music moving you today. Perhaps it is the clicking of a child's tongue, calling a dog to come in from the cold. Perhaps it is the ringing on bells on the back door. Or maybe it is the Magnificat, the song of Mary, bringing you hope and inspiration in a time of uncertainty.

Believing Thomas - December 21

Today’s Readings: Psalm 27; Isaiah 43: 8-13; 1 Peter 1:3-9; John 20:24-29

Today’s Reflection

Although you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and rejoice with an indescribable and glorious joy, for you are receiving the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls.  –1 Peter 1: 8-9

Today is the Feast Day of Saint Thomas, the apostle who had some questions when he heard from his fellow disciples that they had seen the risen Christ. Thomas wanted firsthand testimony. Thomas wanted to collect his own evidence and judge for himself whether this was the Jesus he knew.

The three post-resurrection encounters we hear about in John 20 highlight the importance of firsthand testimony and personal experience of Christ. Mary shared her testimony of the empty tomb and her encounter with the risen Christ with Peter and John. But they didn’t just believe her. They ran to the tomb to see for themselves. And then Peter and John went back to their homes and shared what they saw, we assume with Mary and the other disciples. But their response was lock themselves away in fear, waiting until they could learn more, waiting to see if they would see Jesus for themselves. And then Jesus appeared to the 10 disciples, greeting them in peace, showing them his wounds, commissioning them to go out, sent with the Holy Spirit to guide them.

And then the 10 shared their firsthand testimony with Thomas, the absent one. And, like them, he wanted to see for himself. Now, of course, his choice of words in expressing this was very vivid: “Unless I see in his hands the mark of the nails, and place my finger into the mark of the nails, and place my hand into his side, I will never believe.” Thomas had a strong reaction. And rightly so. I imagine that Thomas very much hoped that what his friends was telling him was true. But, like them, he needed to have a firsthand experience. And, as we know from the rest of the story, when Jesus returned the following Sunday, Thomas had his chance for his own personal encounter with the risen Christ.

Just like Mary knew who Jesus was by the way he said her name, “Mary,” so too did Thomas recognize Jesus by what he said to him: “Put your finger here, and see my hands; and put out your hand, and place it in my side. Do not disbelieve, but believe.” Jesus said these words to Thomas to show that he knew what Thomas had said to his friends when he wasn’t there—knowledge that Jesus would have because he was not just human, but also divine. And so, instead of responding by placing his finger in Jesus’ wounds, Thomas responds by giving what is considered by Bible scholars to be the “highest confession” found in all of the Gospels: “My Lord and my God!” in that Thomas’ confession recognizes the full identity of Jesus, he is both Lord and God.

Jesus’ response to Thomas has been read by those less sympathetic to Thomas, the ones who label him a doubter, as a sort of put-down: “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.” However, what other commentators have noted is that Thomas, because he was absent, serves as a representative figure for all of us who would come later and not have the opportunity to see Jesus in the flesh and then believe. Jesus’ encounter with Thomas here in John 20 comes just before John’s concluding, purpose statement in John 20: 30-31: “Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.”  

John’s Gospel was written well after the other three, synoptic Gospels. John wrote his Gospel around 70-100 AD. More time had passed since the years when Jesus had walked the earth and had firsthand encounters with people. And so when John wrote his Gospel account, he did so with this purpose in mind: to develop his characters and stories with such detail and depth that it would allow those who heard it who had never seen, heard, or touched Jesus for themselves to experience, through his Gospel, Jesus for themselves in such intimate detail that they would indeed believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing would have life in his name.

Friends, we are among those who have come after John and Mary and Thomas and the other disciples, who are called to believe based on what others have seen and the words that they have left for us in these Gospel accounts. We can believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, because the Gospels are true, reliable accounts. And yet we, like Thomas, want to experience the risen Christ for ourselves. My encouragement to you is that we can and do experience Christ for ourselves—each time we listen and pray, each time we engage with Scripture, each time we participate in worship and engage with fellow Christ-followers. In the words of 1 Peter: “Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory, obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls.”

Becky+

Collect for Saint Thomas the Apostle: Everliving God, who strengthened your apostle Thomas with sure and certain faith in your Son's resurrection: Grant us so perfectly and without doubt to believe in Jesus Christ, our Lord and our God, that our faith may never be found wanting in your sight; through him who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

Questions for Self-Reflection

Recall a time when you doubted something had happened, or when you later second-guessed something that at first you felt confident about. What evidence did you need to resolve your doubts and second thoughts? Or did something else—perhaps a conversation with a trusted person or committing the doubt-filled situation to prayer—help you to move from doubt to certainty?

Daily Challenge

Learn more about the power of asking questions in this article from the Harvard Business Review.

The Wisdom of Titus - December 20

Today’s Readings: AM Psalm 61, 62; PM Psalm 112, 115; Zeph. 3:14-20; Titus 1:1-16; Luke 1:1-25

Honestly, I don’t spend much time reading the Epistle to Titus. I haven’t read it since this passage was quoted a few years ago after Bishop Kee announced his retirement and Saint Stephen’s hosted one of the listening sessions as together, we discerned our vision for the Diocese of Alabama.  In a room full of lay and ordained people, a clergy member read verses 9-11.  These are certainly good attributes for a bishop, who in our tradition is the unifier and the ultimate spiritual authority.

It is with this lens that I read the Scripture this morning, remembering that part of the church is to live in tension with conflict.  The epistle lays the groundwork for conflict acknowledging that it exists, one of the only constants in 1900 years of history since this Epistle was likely written.  I don’t think I would have paid attention to Titus as much today if we hadn’t heard Titus two years ago, but I am especially drawn to the first part of verse 15.  “To the pure all things are pure, but to the corrupt and unbelieving nothing is pure.”

This little line of scripture is a response to the conflict, specifically the people in Crete who stir up trouble in the church.  I am struck by the profound nature of this sentiment that to the corrupt and unbelieving, nothing is pure. I wish we would have kept reading at the listening session instead of stopping at verse 11!  It is almost an implication, that part of being pure, and maybe a better translation of pure, would be ‘Godly’ is to see goodness and possibility and hope in every situation.  It is to lead with hope before doubt, goodness before lack of it, and to be generous at our characterization of others at every turn. 

Part of being Godly is to see God in every situation, to see hope in every life, to begin with generosity.  Maybe Titus has some wisdom for the ages.  Start with a generous possibility for others. “To the pure, all things are pure,” because the alternative corrupts our view of everything else.    

Maybe this reading comes at the perfect time of the year just a few days before the gift of the Incarnation.  Because isn’t that what Christmas is really about? God, is here, and we have to be open to the idea that God is everywhere, in humble and human form.  And being Godly is being open to where God could show up – in literally everything.

John+

Questions for Self-Reflection: Consider your own gut reactions to conflict.   What are the barriers to generosity that keep you from seeing the best in others? How does trying to see the best come into conflict when people hold views or have actions that are problematic, destructive, or painful?  How can this be resolved?

Daily Challenge:  Think of three people who have frustrated you greatly in the last year.   Write or say something nice, kind, and generous about them.  If you are really up for it, actually write them a note, email, or card.

Sorting - December 18, 2021

Today’s Readings: AM Psalm 55; PM Psalm 138, 139:1-17(18-23); Zech. 8:9-17; Rev. 6:1-17; Matt. 25:31-46

“…for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me.”  Matthew 25:35-37

This morning’s scripture from Matthew grabs me. Jesus is prophesying through parables. He is painting a picture of what righteousness and salvation look like, holding up the sharp contrast to the fate of the stingy and self-righteous. Jesus presents a message that is challenging.

At the end that is ahead, there will be a time for evaluation and honest observation conducted by the Son of Man, who we know as Jesus. He will sort some to the right hand – considered in antiquity to be the hand of honor and favor – and to the left hand – the unclean, undesirable side. Those shunted to the right side will be called blessed by God and have the promise of great reward, for they showed mercy upon those in need – feeding, clothing, nursing, visiting. The Son of Man will then turn to those at his left hand and declare them heading for doom and eternal fire, for they neglected to be welcoming or compassionate to those who were hurting, lost, hungry, and vulnerable.

I am fascinated this morning by the distinct parallel between the responses of those jettisoned to the right and to the left. Those who showed compassion respond, “Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry and gave you food, or thirsty and gave you something to drink? And when was it that we saw you a stranger and welcomed you, or naked and gave you clothing? And when was it that we saw you sick or in prison and visited you?” The answer from those who were aloof is, “Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not take care of you?” I am intrigued by the rhetorical angle of Jesus’ message, for the symmetry laid out in the story is beautiful. I feel compelled by the view of human experience, too. Those who fall into each category have no idea of their actions, or their impact upon their lives of faithfulness to God. It is as if their eyes are covered in cotton, and the veils are being pulled back during this time of reckoning and reflecting.

This piece of Jesus’ teaching in Matthew is the final one before he and his disciples share the Last Supper. This is Jesus’ final attempt at preparing the people for what is ahead. Truly, there are days when I need these words to awaken me and get my eyes and heart recentered. These are words that prepare each of us to welcome Jesus and live fully into the promise and gift of connectedness and faith. These are the words that help us look at our own choices and evaluate how we are doing. This message feels like one appropriate to Lent and germane to Advent – in this season of preparing, clearing out, and waiting for the joy that is to come.

I think of Micah 6:8, in which the prophet reminds the people of God’s instructions for living well: “He has told you, O mortal, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?” This truth shared through the gospel of Matthew this morning reminds me that while the message of doing good is simple, it is also hard to be disciplined each moment. I am grateful to have God’s grace and the encouragement of others as we wander this path of faithfulness. Let us prepare our hearts each day to welcome Jesus, seeing Jesus in one another. As such, I pray that we are each moved to show compassion to those around us in need – for when we do justice, live kindness, and walk humbly with God, we are in tune with our neighbors and in touch with the God who made us and loves us all.

-- Katherine+

Questions for Reflection

In Matthew 25:31-47, Jesus talks about sorting people into sheep and goats. How does this sit with you? What are the feelings that bubble up for you? What stories from your present or past do you think about when you read this scripture?

Daily Challenge

Today’s reading from Matthew is an encouragement to open our eyes to see God in those around us, and especially in those who are in need. Spend time in prayer today that God will open your eyes and your heart to help those around you. Then, make plans for how you will show compassion to others (e.g., carry a blessing bag to share food or water with someone on the street, call someone on the Saint Stephen’s prayer list, send a card to a person who is incarcerated, etc.).

The Happiness U-Curve - December 17

Today’s Readings: AM Psalm 40, 54; PM Psalm 51; Zech. 7:8-8:8; Rev. 5:6-14; Matt. 25:14-30  

Today’s Reflection

Thus says the Lord: I will return to Zion, and will dwell in the midst of Jerusalem; Jerusalem shall be called the faithful city… Old men and old women shall again sit in the streets of Jerusalem, each with staff in hand because of their great age. And the streets of the city shall be full of boys and girls playing in its streets. … They shall be my people and I will be their God, in faithfulness and in righteousness.  –Zechariah 8: 3-8

This week I read an interview with Jonathan Rauch, author of a book called The Happiness Curve: Why Life Gets Better after 50. Published in Mockingbird (a magazine which counts many Episcopalians among its editors and writers), the interview itself is titled, “Beyond the Midlife Crisis.” As a 40-something who’s gone through several major life changes over the past five years (though I don’t know that I would label these transitions as ‘crises’ in the popular sense of the word), the title piqued my interest. I would argue, though, that is more fruitful to think of crisis in the literary sense of being a turning point. A crisis is an opportunity for the plot of our life to change in a way that opens up new possibilities for how our stories will continue to unfold.

As a 47-year-old who is about to turn 48 at the end of December, I was amused and maybe also encouraged to learn that the “data … suggests that in developed countries age 47 or so is the statistical average bottom.” So, statistically, the low point in the U-curve of our happiness is age 47. My response to this is: Yes! I have made it through the lowlands and, at least according to this one measure, things should be looking up in life from here on out!

Looking at today’s passage from Zechariah 8, we find a picture of Jerusalem in which old men and old women will sit again in the streets—I imagine the scene as perhaps sitting out on front porches—and boys and girls are playing in the streets. In this intergenerational scene, there is a place in the beloved community of God for people of all ages and at all stages of life. Not just the children are happy, but so too are those who have progressed to being of a “great age.” No matter what age we are, no matter what stage in life, we can find peace in knowing this: we will be God’s people and he will be our God, “in faithfulness and righteousness.”

I’m not sure that our happiness trajectory can be charted as simply as a U-curve would indicate. However, the point is that life has its high and lows, and there’s something about being in those early and later stages of life that lends itself to happiness. As the interviewer summarizes, what we learn in the first half of life equips us to live into a renewed sense of our priorities in the second half: “[Rauch’s] writing on the happiness curve is foremost a word of grace. Though midlife can be, for many, very difficult, he assures us that it is also a time of positive change. You begin to value relationships and compassion above status and acclaim; oftentimes, you emerge from the trough with more wisdom and kindness than you entered it.”

No matter what we may be going through in life—even when we are at the bottom of the happiness U-curve that is midlife (at least according to Rauch and the researchers he cites)—we do not walk alone. In Psalm 40, appointed for today, we hear words of thankfulness for God’s faithfulness from someone who, looking back on it all, sees more clearly how God has been there all along and seen them through the times of trial.

I pray these lines from Psalm 40 will be a balm to you on those days when you feel trapped down in the “pits of despair” or the “desolate pit” (which sounds a lot like being at the bottom of the happiness U-curve!). As we end 2021 (and as my own year at age 47 draws to a close), I feel encouraged. God has put a new song in my mouth. With the Psalmist, I feel grateful for all the great things God has done—and hopeful for all the wonders of what will be as we look together toward 2022, with all that it may hold for us. Thanks be to God!

—Becky+

(The version included below is Psalm 40: 1-6 from Psalms for Praying by Nan Merrill.)

I waited patiently for the Beloved, who heard my cry and came to me.

Love raised me from the pits of despair, out of confusion and fear,

and set my feet upon a rock, making my steps secure.

There is a new song in my mouth, a song of praise to the Beloved.

May many see and rejoice, may they put their trust in Love.

Blessed are those who make Love their home,

who do not turn to the proud, to those who follow false idols!

O Beloved, how wondrous are your gifts to us; your thoughts are beyond our imagination.

What joy to live in Oneness with you!

Were we to proclaim and tell of Your beauty and blessed grace, who could measure it?

Questions for Self-Reflection

Thinking back on your years of life so far, which years stand out as low points and which ones as high points. Does the trajectory of your life and your happiness feel like a U-curve? Or would you describe the trajectory of your life and sense of happiness as following some other pattern?

Reflect on the ways in which we can experience life’s highs and lows in ways that may be too complicated to chart. Where do you see God in all of this?

Daily Challenge

You can read the full interview with Jonathan Rauch, “Beyond the Midlife Crisis,” on the Mockingbird Ministries website.

Witnesses to the Joy and Wonder of God - December 16

 Today’s Readings: AM Psalm 50; PM Psalm [59, 60] or 33; Zech. 4:1-14; Rev. 4:9-5:5; Matt. 25:1-13

During the first several months of the pandemic, most of my work and my spouses took place in our home.  We would find corners of the house or perch up at the dining room table on a laptop. If calls or zoom meetings were taking place someone would be on the porch and another in the living room.  One of the side effects of this practice was that our pets always had one of us around.  Sugar Magnolia Blossoms Blooming Burruss, aka ‘Shuugs’ the wonder lab would have at least a few sessions of extreme tennis ball retrieval during the day, never bored and always satisfied with her human companions.  Meri, short for Meriwether, which is a pretty formal name for the most mature member of our family (Meri is 15 in human years or 105 in cat years) enjoyed the company too. 

 This has since changed over the last several months, and the animals have found themselves often cooped up alone until after dark.  This means when I return home, and as soon as the car hits the driveway, Sugar is bounding up and down at the door, her head moving from glass pane to pane in anticipatory joy for the soon to be of a tennis ball game that she desires more than anything else.  And the cat is right behind her making sure she is returned the love she has missed for the day. 

All these animals want to do is proclaim love and receive love and the greeting each day is a reminder of how simple life can really be.  It is actually a rather extraordinary outlook to want nothing more than love and be loved and I think there are few things I can learn from the furrier part of the Burruss clan.\

The readings this season continue to be difficult and bizarre, but there is something interesting about John’s vision this morning in Revelation.  He names living creatures “giving glory and honor to the one seated on the throne” as a witness to the revelation of God.  It’s a small passage that would be easy to gloss over, probably as easy as it is sometimes to miss the joy and wonder that is taking place all over the world, bounding in our kitchen or living room or chasing a tennis ball or laser pointer, seeking to share and receive love.

Part of waiting in anticipation, a posture of Advent, should also be to look or watch or be alert.  As we often start Morning Prayer in Advent “Watch, for you know not when the master of the house will come, in the evening, or at midnight, or at cockcrow, or in the morning; lest he come suddenly and find you asleep” (Mark 13:35, 36).  It’s not just about watching for the master, but seeing the others around us who are waiting for the master to return to, point us in the way too.

All around us are witnesses to the joy and wonder of God.  Being alert is letting those witnesses shape our waiting.  And in that maybe we will see or learn something we didn’t expect to see.  God’s return is on the horizon.  Who and what of creation is calling us to pay attention to see what we might not have seen before?

John+

Questions for Self-Reflection:  How do pets shape your life?  What do they teach you and how do they change your perspective?  If you don’t have pets, are there other parts of creation that you notice that are calling out to give glory to God?

Daily Challenge:  If you have a dog, take him or her on an extra-long walk today.  If you don’t, take a walk anyway!

The colors of Revelation - December 15

Today’s Readings: AM Psalm 119:49-72; PM Psalm 49, [53], Zech. 3:1-10; Rev. 4:1-8; Matt. 24:45-51

I remember sitting in art class in school. It was such a refreshing break from the other learning we did. We got to sit in a different room. The tables were different. The light through the windows was brighter. There were clotheslines strung up around the outside of the room, where clothes pins held up the latest paintings and pieces that needed to dry before being sent home. We studied methods of still life painting. And then, we got to do our own. It was a bowl of fruit. Red apple. Yellow banana. Green pear. And purple grapes. The yellow paint on my brush cast tones of light on the backdrop. Rich brown strokes composed the sturdy table. I remember painting the reds on the apple and trying to accomplish the trick of adding depth to the form through shading. Hope Brannon was my teacher, and she coached me gently as I attempted to paint a shadow beneath the fruits. I thought that the darkness beneath took away from the beauty of the colorful fruits, but I did what she suggested to the best of my fourth-grade ability.

While it was no great work of art, my parents had that still life painting framed. It hung in our kitchen for the remainder of our years in that house. Until 2003. I think about the bold colors of that picture. And the subtle shadow beneath that red apple, which actually enhances the beauty of the fruit and gives it life in a more meaningful way. I can see that now, on many levels in life.

Even now, my eyes are drawn to artwork that has bold, bright hues. While at Anne and John Burruss’ house for a vestry meeting and dinner last night, I was struck by the colorful pieces adorning their walls. This morning, the colors of Revelation 4 speak to me. We move from the third chapter’s call to hear what the Spirit is saying to the churches. Now, our eyes are opened to what the Spirit will show us. In this promise of heaven and what God will reveal, John of Patmos outlines an array of splendor. He sees a throne in heaven, and it is occupied by one who looks like jasper and carnelian – reddish brown tones. There is an emerald green halo (or rainbow) around the throne. There are twenty-four thrones around the primary throne, each filled with elders dressed in white robes, adorned with golden crowns. There are flaming lanterns, flashes of lightning, and a shimmering space in front of the throne that is described as a crystalline sea of glass. What a picture of the gathering of angels and archangels has been painted for us with words. This is the setting for the song proclaimed, “Holy, holy, holy, the Lord God the Almighty, who was and is and is to come.” The language of John’s revelation send majesty and inspiration to color the thoughts of my mind on this December morning.

Let me speak to one more aspect of John’s language choice that adds a subtle shadow and depth to his revelation. Revelation 4:3 reads, “And the one seated there looks like jasper and carnelian, and around the throne is a rainbow that looks like an emerald.” In Greek, John uses the word “litho” in this sentence, which is translated as “stone”. It does not show up in the New Revised Standard English translation. Perhaps it is thought to be redundant to the jasper and carnelian – both semi-precious stones. However, as we are working to grow better-versed in Bible imagery through our immersion in scripture, as we are shown this revelation of the new heaven, who is it that we expect upon the throne? That stone upon the throne could be the building block of what “was, and is, and is to come”. It could be that use of “stone” here is a metaphor for Jesus, the chief cornerstone of our faith.

I pray that as you sit with Holy Scripture this day, you will be drawn into the bold colors and radiance of God’s promise, that was, and is, and is to come, where Jesus is at the center.

-- Katherine+

Questions for Reflection

What colors catch your attention and are the most beautiful to you? How do you incorporate those colors in your environment?

Daily Challenge

The Revelation to John gets a reputation for being stormy and scary, and some imagery in this biblical book are unsettling. Re-examine Revelation 4 through the eyes of wonder and understanding. Pray that God will send the Holy Spirit upon you, to show you deeper understanding of this scripture, to build up your faith – rather than to deepen your fears.

'Listen to what the Spirit is saying to the churches' - December 14

Today’s Readings: AM Psalm 45; PM Psalm 47, 48; Zech. 2:1-13; Rev. 3:14-22; Matt. 24:32-44

Today’s Reflection

I reprove and discipline those whom I love. Be earnest, therefore, and repent. Listen! I am standing at the door, knocking; if you hear my voice and open the door, I will come in to you and eat with you, and you with me. To the one who conquers I will give a place with me on my throne, just as I myself conquered and sat down with my Father on his throne. Let anyone who has an ear listen to what the Spirit is saying to the churches. –Revelation 3: 19-22

In Christ Chapel at the Seminary of the Southwest, we would cycle through different versions of the liturgy as we shifted through the different liturgical seasons. At some times of year, we would use the Rite I, with its echoes of Elizabethan language, for Morning Prayer, Holy Eucharist, and Evening Prayer. At other times of year, we would use Rite II for these services. Rites I and II are the versions to be found in the Book of Common Prayer, so it just meant turning to a different page of the same book. But at other times, the sacristans (fellow students who helped run our chapel services) would bring out the cart with the EOWs: the Enriching Our Worship booklets.

Enriching Our Worship is an alternative version of the Episcopal liturgies written in more contemporary language, and with more inclusive wording, than the Rite I and Rite II services found in the 1979 Book of Common Prayer. Currently, in this season of Advent, we are using a Eucharistic Prayer (what we pray together as we prepare to share communion) drawn from Enriching Our Worship. It’s a beautiful prayer, and these past few weeks have been my first time to celebrate the Eucharist using this version of the liturgy. I find that when using new words to pray, I am especially attuned to the meaningfulness of the words, as I become acquainted with these new ways of praying these ancient prayers of preparation.

Today’s reading from Revelation 3 ends with a verse that always reminds me of one of the more noticeable differences between Rite II and Enriching Our Worship in the earlier part of the service, the Liturgy of the Word (the part of the service before we share the Peace). When lay lectors (readers) share the appointed passages of Scripture with us in the Rite II service, they close their reading with this: “The Word of the Lord.” And then the congregation responds, “Thanks be to God.” But in Enriching Our Worship, we are given these possibilities to signal the end of the reading:

After the Readings, the Reader may say

Hear what the Spirit is saying to God’s people. or

Hear what the Spirit is saying to the Churches.

People Thanks be to God.

When I would first hear these words after the Scripture readings in Christ Chapel, it bothered me. I thought: Why can’t we just say the usual, the Word of the Lord? And I felt similarly about the other differences between the EOW and BCP liturgies. Why not just leave well enough alone and stick with the very lovely liturgies we already have? I have come to have more appreciation for these different versions of the service now, as I can understand how rotating through different versions allows us to really listen to and say and pray these words with a sense of newness, with a heightened sense of the meaningfulness of these words we are hearing and praying. And, as we are reminded by today’s Revelation reading, Enriching Our Worship, as with the Book of Common Prayer, in many instances is drawing the inspiration for its phrasing directly from Holy Scripture:

Let anyone who has an ear listen to what the Spirit is saying to the churches.

Thanks be to God!

—Becky+

Questions for Self-Reflection

When have you heard other glimpses of Holy Scripture woven into our Sunday morning Holy Eucharist liturgy (beyond the readings themselves)? And in the Daily Offices of Morning Prayer and Compline? In our Rite I and Rite II services, based on the original Book of Common Prayer composed by Thomas Cranmer, we find many phrases taken directly from Paul’s letters, especially from his Letter to the Ephesians (“Walk in love…” and “May God’s peace, which surpasses all understanding” are two).

Daily Challenge

This week, take some time to let the words and phrases of the Enriching Our Worship Eucharistic Prayer wash over you in a new way. Take the bulletin home so that you can linger over or even mark those phrases that seem especially meaningful to you. Maybe weave these words into your own of prayer life between now and Christmas Eve, when we will shift into another Eucharistic Prayer in the season of Christmas.

Apocalyptic Imagery - December 13

Today’s Readings: AM Psalm 41, 52; PM Psalm 44; Zech. 1:7-17; Rev. 3:7-13; Matt. 24:15-31

I’ve been up for a good hour now, trying to will something out of our readings.  I’ve deleted two paragraphs and had a few other ideas swirling in my head, but nothing seems to come to fruition.  To no avail, today’s reflection will be shorter than most.   Sometimes, I just can’t power through it all, which oddly becomes its own inflection point. 

The readings are bizarre, specifically Matthew 24:29-31.  

 ‘Immediately after the suffering of those days
the sun will be darkened,
   and the moon will not give its light;
the stars will fall from heaven,
   and the powers of heaven will be shaken.
Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see “the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven” with power and great glory. And he will send out his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.

In one of Fleming Rutledge’s reflections on Advent she writes, “one foundational truth that I have learned from apocalyptic theology, it is this: God is the subject of the verb. God doesn’t need us to help him make his “dream” come true; God is on the march far ahead of us, bringing his purposes to pass.”

As I struggle to make words this morning, one of the hopes of this Advent vision is that God is at work and not you and me.  I don’t need to figure out, come up with some shiny new angle, or offer something new to say.  God is already making it happen.  And there is nothing we can do about it.  That’s a good thing that God’s vision isn’t dependent on you and me.

Maybe Thursday will come a little easier, but it makes no difference to God.

John+

Questions for Reflection:  What you have struggled to accomplish lately?  How does this shape your understanding of God?

Daily Challenge:  Read all of the Scriptures today.  That should be a task or challenge that is enough!

Crystal glasses and cherished memories – December 11

Today’s Readings: AM Psalm 30, 32; PM Psalm 42, 43; Haggai 2:1-9; Rev. 3:1-6; Matt. 24:1-14

As Jesus came out of the temple and was going away, his disciples came to point out to him the buildings of the temple. Then he asked them, ‘You see all these, do you not? Truly I tell you, not one stone will be left here upon another; all will be thrown down.’ (Matthew 24:1-2)

Yesterday morning after the kids went to school, I got a bee in my bonnet: we were missing some ornaments and I was determined to find them. Sam had unpacked most of the Christmas decorations, and still, the white pine in our living room was missing some of the precious pieces that traditionally adorn our tree. I headed to one of our storage spots, the crawl space in the basement. Sam gave me a word of warning, “Don’t look to closely down there!”; evidently the unfinished part of our basement also doubles as a hiding nook for Christmas gifts!

We made it a team effort. While sifting and sorting, Sam came across a wet cardboard box. And another. Our hunt for Christmas ornaments shifted to dealing with some manner of basement water intrusion. Boxes of precious memories were soaked and there was the unmistakable smell of mold as I looked through the contents. Stationery and papers stuck together and disintegrating; photographs ruined; linens stained; crystal wine glasses and goblets – though two were broken. Sam pondered with frustration how the boxes could have gotten so wet, as he had placed them in large plastic yard bags to prevent damage. He turned on faucets, examined pipes, with no signs of leakage. The best we can figure, the flooding from October’s huge storms caused the lowest parts of our crawlspace to have a bit of water – and those two boxes were in just the wrong spot.

Some of the contents of the boxes were salvageable. Linens have been washed with Oxi-Clean. Crystal has been washed, dried, and moved onto a shelf in the kitchen. Most papers were beyond help. Sam and I dumped the remainder into the trash – wedding photos, notes to one another, family documents, etc. It was a sad, disappointing moment.

There are times that I make temples out of the physical fixtures in life…a rug that belonged to my mom, a table from my childhood, a Valentine’s Day card from 2007, a Waterford crystal glass. All of those things will pass away. Only love remains. Jesus was teaching his friends this lesson in Matthew 24. The temple, a highly esteemed gathering place, was not everlasting. Jerusalem, the city of promise, was still filled with unrealized hopes. Because God’s work is beyond the realm of the here and now. The rocks and boxes and goblets we cling to will fall away. Jesus tells his disciples this hard lesson. The goal for their ministry was beyond the temple, and outside the walls of Jerusalem. The ever-moving love of God would take them far and wide.

That love still stirs us. Moves us. Stretches us. So that we let go of the boxes that encumber us. So that we make room for the joy that God promises. So that we cast our eyes up and around us, rather than upon our own fleeting existence.

Advent is an invitation to reflect and simplify. I pray that your reason for cleaning out is less grounded in mold and mess, than it is a desire to remove the distractions that clutter your connection with God.

-- Katherine+

Questions for Reflection

Where is a space in need of decluttering in your life?

What do you have boxed up, in your attic? In your basement? In your heart?

Daily Challenge

Find a box that needs to be cleaned out. Take the time to appreciate the contents. Re-read Matthew 24:1-14. Then, let go of what you can set aside. Find a new place in your home for what you value – rather than keeping it tucked away.