We still have more to learn - January 30

Today’s Readings: AM Psalm 56, 57, [58]; PM Psalm 64, 65; Isa. 51:17-23; Gal. 4:1-11; Mark 7:24-37

There is a rather famous sentiment that is often attributed to Mark Twain.  Whether he said it or not, it’s a really brilliant idea.  “When I was a boy of 14, my father was so ignorant I could hardly stand to have the old man around. But when I got to be 21, I was astonished at how much the old man had learned in seven years.”  I think every parent gets the sentiment.  I was certainly that boy, although it took me a lot longer than seven years to realize how foolish I had been.  Elders are filled with wisdom that often our immaturity and arrogance keep us from seeing. 

In Paul’s letter to Galatians, Paul uses this idea of childhood as a metaphor for the life of faith.  “While we were minors, we were enslaved to the elemental spirits of the world.”  It is not just that we have to be set for by Christ, we don’t even know what we need.  But now that Christ has redeemed our lives, we can learn to see the world.  

Paul continues, “Now, however, that you have come to know God, or rather to be known by God, how can you turn back again to the weak and beggarly elemental spirits?”  He is making the claim Jesus has caused us to grow and our life is different because of that growth. 

When I was a teenager, I thought I knew everything.  I wonder how much I think I know about God and the love that Christ calls us into, and still how much I have yet to learn.  Maybe, I’m the 21-year-old, astonished at how much my old man has learned in seven years, still clueless to the way my father really works, loves, and calls us into life.  Might mean there is still a lot of growing up to do.

John+

Questions for Self-Reflection: When have you learned that you don’t know what you needed to know?  What are some humbling moments of self-growth?  How frequently do you experience that kind of learning?

Daily Challenge: Think of a time when you learned that one of your parents knew a lot more than you realized. 

'Take heart, it is I' - January 27

Today’s Readings: AM Psalm 40, 54; PM Psalm 51; Isa. 50:1-11; Gal. 3:15-22; Mark 6:47-56

Today’s Reflection

In the days and weeks leading up to the scene where we find them in today’s Gospel reading, much drama was swirling around the lives of Jesus and his disciples. Realizing they had been through so many stressful events in a short time, Jesus encouraged them to “‘Come away to a deserted place all by yourselves and rest a while.’ For many were coming and going, and they had no leisure even to eat. And they went away in the boat to a deserted place by themselves” (Mark 6: 31-32). But, at this point, Jesus and his disciples were growing in celebrity, so when people saw them, they began to gather, waiting for them to return to the shore and clamoring to hear more from Jesus. This set the scene for the miracle of the loaves and the fishes, taking five loaves and two fish, and making it enough to feed everyone.

Knowing that it had been a long day and that his disciples needed to get away, “Immediately he made his disciples get into the boat and go on ahead to the other side, to Bethsaida, while he dismissed the crowd. After saying farewell to them, he went up on the mountain to pray” (6: 45-46). We see in these choices—first in sending his disciples off to get their rest and time away from the crowds, and then in allowing himself the time to go up on the mountain to pray—how Jesus prioritized time set apart from the noise and the crowds to be refreshed and renewed before moving on to the next crowd and the next stop on their journey.

It is at this point in the story that we find Jesus and his friends in today’s passage from Mark. Evening had come, his friends were still “out on the lake, and he was alone on the land” (6:47). From his vantage point, up on the mountain, Jesus could see that his friends were struggling. Not being in the situation with them, he could tell from a distance how “they were straining at the oars against an adverse wind” (6:48). In the morning, while out for his walk “on the lake” (as only Jesus could do!), Jesus wanted to check on how they were doing after the windy night on the water: “he came towards them early in the morning, walking on the lake.” And then Mark adds this interesting detail: “He intended to pass them by” (6:48). So, Jesus had planned to just peek in on how they were, but then planned to keep going on his way, enjoying his morning walk.

But Jesus’ plan for an uninterrupted morning stroll on the lake was interrupted, of course, by the disciples, who saw his walking on the water and “thought it was a ghost,” which made them cry out and feel “terrified (6: 49-50). Jesus could have kept going—but then, that was not Jesus’ way. As their shepherd and friend, Jesus couldn’t just keep going—he needed to reassure them and help bring them back to a place of peace: “But immediately he spoke to them and said, ‘Take heart, it is I; do not be afraid’” (6:50).

Now, Jesus could have left it at that, just offering them these reassuring words, and then going about his way. But Jesus, being Jesus, saw that more was required if he was to be the Good Shepherd (and good friend) that they needed him to be in that moment. Which is why what Jesus does next is so important to note: “Then he got into the boat with them and the wind ceased” (6:51). In that moment, Jesus saw that he needed to be with the disciples. Jesus saw that the disciples needed that moment in which Jesus would be (literally) in the same boat with them.

When Jesus chose to be with the disciples, putting himself right there with them in the boat out on the lake, only then did the wind cease—both the physical element of the wind and their windy state of emotional and spiritual turmoil. By choosing to be with them in that moment—and by showing them how he could walk on water and make the wind cease—Jesus opened his friends’ eyes more clearly to who he was and all he was capable of—and left them with no doubts about just how much he valued and loved them.

Becky+

Question for Reflection

Jesus’ peaceful morning walk on the lake was interrupted by seeing his friends straining to row their boat in the wind. Author Henri Nouwen recounts a story of when he was walking across the Notre Dame campus with a colleague who shared that, “My whole life I have been complaining that my work was constantly interrupted, until I discovered that my interruptions were my work.” As Nouwen later reflected, “But what if our interruptions are in fact our opportunities?”

Reflect on a moment of holy interruption in your own life and how God used that unexpected encounter for good.

Confession and Absolution – January 25

Today’s Readings: AM Psalm 119:49-72; PM Psalm 49, [53]
Isa. 49:1-12; Gal. 2:11-21; Mark 6:13-29 

The apostle Paul writes to the churches in Galatia about what it means to live faithfully with God. He also reports on those who are not living on the straight and narrow path. In today’s excerpt, Paul gives Peter (Cephas) a hard time. Peter – a Jew – purportedly is living “like a Gentile and not like a Jew.” As such, how can Peter expect others to live into Jewish cultural norms, when he is not abiding by them? Paul goes on a bit and then says, “But if I build up again the very things that I once tore down, then I demonstrate that I am a transgressor.”

In abstruse language, Paul points to the problem of sin, and the temptation to fall into former ways. We try to follow Jesus. We try to live into our baptismal promises to turn our backs on sin and turn our faces to God. The very thing we promise to avoid presents itself and feels so tempting and dangerous…even if that temptation is only a tiny chocolate morsel.

The Good News is that faith in Jesus and the grace of God are the salvific tidbits…as Paul states, “we know that a person is justified not by the works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ.” And while justification comes through God’s benevolent grace, we still make day-to-day choices like a short temper or dishonesty to avoid hard exchanges with a neighbor.

Each time we confess our sins to God – whether in worship during Morning Prayer or a Sunday service, or in a breath prayer on the way to work – we are reminded of the Christ light that lives in each of us. When we hear the Absolution, it solidifies for us that God has forgiven our sins and put them away. “Almighty God have mercy on you, forgive you all your sins through our Lord Jesus Christ, strengthen you in all goodness, and by the power of the Holy Spirit keep you in eternal life. Amen.”

In that prayerful exchange, we have affirmation that restoration of relationship with God (and others) is possible. Thanks be to God!

Katherine+

Questions for Self-Reflection:

What makes confession easier? What makes it harder?

Daily Challenge:

Pause and deeply reflect today before saying the Confession. When you hear the words of the Absolution, truly receive God's forgiveness.

Jesus the Healer - January 23

Today’s Readings: AM Psalm 41, 52; PM Psalm 44; Isa. 48:1-11; Gal. 1:1-17; Mark 5:21-43

In today’s passage from Mark, one of the leaders of the synagogue, Jairus, is in desperate need of healing for his daughter.  He falls to his feet and begs Jesus for mercy for his daughter.  He pleads with Jesus.  “Come and lay your hands on her, so that she may be made well and live.”  Jesus follows and another woman comes who has been suffering and she is healed as well. She seeks Jesus out in the crowd, pushing through with fear and trembling. 

In this story, it is not just the hemorrhaging woman and Jairus’s daughter who are suffering.  Jairus is as well.  He suffers from watching his loved one become ill.  Jesus’s healing is not just for the unwell people, but for the people who love them as well.  Jesus actually takes the father and the mother, and the text says, “the others who were with them.”

 One simple observation would be that when faced with hardship, illness, or tragedy, there are two potential outcomes to our faith.  Our faith can grow, or it can lessen. This is my pastoral observation of life in general. I have witnessed several people in two decades of ministry, who have drifted away from faith when something painful happens in their life. The loss of a loved one, an illness or suffering of a beloved spouse or friend. These kinds of losses can have an impact on an entire community. 

However, the opposite is also true, that often one’s faith can be deepened.  Rarely, does a person seem unchanged.  In both instances in Mark, a woman who is in pain, and a father and mother who are distraught for their daughter, find their lives changed. The pain and fear for their child have driven them to know Jesus in a way that hadn’t before.  It is the beginning of a new understanding of God’s love, Jesus who comes to be with them in their distress, who takes their hand and leads them into caring for their daughter. 

One of the beautiful things about being in Christian community, is the reality that others have faith too and they teach us, and guide us, and lift us up when our faith isn’t as strong.  Most Sundays have us begin our statement of faith with the words, “We believe.”  It’s not an ‘I’ statement, but a recognition that we are part of something larger. We get to have our hands taken and led to something that we might not always be able to claim on our own, just like Jesus guiding the family and others to see their beloved child.  In community, we teach each other, we play a role in shaping the faith of others. 

This is the fundamental difference between growing in our faith or losing it altogether.  To look and see God at work in the people around us can make all the difference in the world.  When faced with what we don’t understand, trying to look in the pew next to you, in those gathered behind and before you, who are praying with you and for you.  It matters.  It’s God showing up as God always does. 

Just as it was for Jarius, God’s healing happens when we see God at work in our lives, leading us to be with us, no matter what it is we are to face. 

John

Questions for Self-Reflection:  Are there moments that you have felt closer to God or father away?  What about moments when your faith was deepened? 

Jesus and the Disinherited - January 20

Today’s Readings: AM Psalm 31; PM Psalm 35; Isa. 45:18-25; Eph. 6:1-9; Mark 4:35-41

Today’s Reflection

On Thursday evenings this winter and spring, a small group of us are gathering on Zoom or discuss books by some of the great theologians and thinkers of today and the recent past. The book we are starting with in 2023 is a brief but but very important book, Jesus and the Disinherited, by theologian and mystic Howard Thurman. Civil rights movement leader the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was very influenced and inspired by Thurman’s theological outlook, and considered this particular book so important that he carried a copy of it with him wherever he went as traveled the United States campaigning for equal rights for people of all colors.

In our first discussion of the beginning of Jesus and the Disinherited last week, we reflected on memories Thurman shares of his grandmother. Thurman, who was born and raised in Daytona Beach, Florida (also my hometown), would spend much time with his grandmother and was assigned the special task of reading books and letters to her as she could neither read nor write as she grew up in slavery in rural, inland Florida. Thurman recalls being impressed by his grandmother’s recall of scriptures and how she always had a clear idea of what she wanted him to read—but also what she did not want him to read. She loved to hear the Psalms and the Gospels, but she expressly did not want to hear anything from Paul’s letters save occasionally wanting to hear the love passage (1 Corinthians 13).

You may wonder why Thurman’s grandmother was so against hearing her grandson read to her from Paul’s letters. Today’s passage from Ephesians 6 is one of the reasons why:

“Slaves, obey your earthly masters with fear and trembling, in singleness of heart, as you obey Christ; not only while being watched, and in order to please them, but as slaves of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart. Render service with enthusiasm, as to the Lord and not to men and women, knowing that whatever good we do, we will receive the same again from the Lord, whether we are slaves or free” (vv. 5-8).

In the plantation chapel where Thurman’s grandmother worshipped, a white minister would be sent in to preach to the enslaved people there several times a year, and this passage is one of the ones he would always give a sermon on. They were not allowed to have an African American preacher of their own choosing. Because these white preachers would always come in and selectively used these and similar verses from Paul’s letters to keep them in their places of forced servitude to their white enslavers, Thurman’s grandmother vowed that if she ever gained her freedom that she would never voluntarily hear these letters of Paul that were weaponized against her and others to keep them in slavery.

Verses 5-8 are part of a larger passage in which Paul writes about various ways in which human beings are in relationships with others: those who hold authority over us, and those over whom we have authority. In verses 1-4, Paul writes about the relationship between parents and children. Then in verses 5-9, Paul writes of enslaved people and those who enslaved them. When these preachers were brought in by the slaveholders to deliver sermons, they inevitably focused on verses 5-8 and left out verse 9, which delineates the reciprocal expectations placed on them: “And, masters, do the same to them. Stop threatening them, for you know that both of you have the same Master in heaven, and with him there is no partiality.”

It’s crucial that we keep in mind that Paul was writing his letters, including this one to the Ephesians, in the context of the Roman Empire, a highly stratified culture of citizens and non-citizens, free people and enslaved people. Slavery was taken for granted in Paul’s time and place as part of the cultural context. Should he have questioned it and campaigned against it? Absolutely. But, unfortunately, Paul did not—rather, as in this letter, he admonishes people how to live within the cultural context within which they found themselves, rather than using his influence to change it. Paul, in not questioning slavery and not working against it, was complicit in it—as were people of faith in Thurman’s grandmother’s time who weaponized scriptures like Ephesians 6: 5-8 to keep millions of people of color enslaved for generations.

If we read on in Ephesians 6, we find other words from Paul that seem more in line with Jesus being on the side of the disinherited, the marginalized, the enslaved:

“Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his power. Put on the whole armour of God, so that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For our struggle is not against enemies of blood and flesh, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers of this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. Therefore take up the whole armour of God, so that you may be able to withstand on that evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm” (10-13).

As Thurman argues throughout Jesus and the Disinherited, Jesus was not only on the side of the disinherited, but as a poor Jew living as a minority in the Roman Empire, Jesus was himself one of the disinherited. God, in being incarnate as the Jesus who grew up in a poor Jewish family in Nazareth, made a very deliberate choice. The very human life taken on by the Son of God was as a person on the margins of society. Jesus knew what it was like to be poor, to be meek, to be subject to the rulers, the authorities, the cosmic powers of this present darkness. And in this, anyone who has ever felt powerless and discriminated against can know, without a doubt—in spite of the ways scripture has been misused to keep people down—that God is always on their side. Thanks be to God.

Becky+

Questions for Reflection

I wonder if you have ever observed people using scriptures to keep people quiet or unfairly subject to the power of others, whether in terms of race, ethnicity, social class, gender, or sexual orientation. Reflect on the ways we can, instead, use scriptures to lift up vulnerable people and inspire equality in how we as individuals, as a church, and as a society treat one another.

Daily Challenge

If you’d like to join our Thinking & Theology on Thursdays discussion group, email becky@ssechurch.org for our reading schedule and the Zoom link.

The tension between darkness and light – January 18

Today’s Readings: AM Psalm 119:1-24; PM Psalm 12, 13, 14; Isa. 41:1-16; Eph. 2:1-10; Mark 1:29-45 

“The season of Epiphany is when we celebrate the revealing of Christ to the world. We mark the arrival of the One who is the light of the world: a light that brings life, a light that brings hope. This light shines its brightest when we are in community – with God and with one another.” - The Episcopal Church

I have been playing with the tension between darkness and light in my mind of late. As I ponder, I know on multiple levels that we need one to welcome the other. For plants, people, and pets alike, darkness brings a slowing down. A time of rest and respiration. An ending. Darkness can also bring a time of peril and uncertainty. Light heralds an awakening. Warmth and growth and movement. Light can blind us or wear us out, pushing us to close our eyes.

When I was in school, a friend was struggling. He spoke of how dark the hopelessness within him was. I went to the Gospel of John: “What has come into being in him was life, and the life was the light of all people. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it.” (1:4-5) I wrote these words down and passed them to my friend. He knew them already.

In the daily office readings appointed for today, the play between darkness and light is woven into the messages for us. In Isaiah 45, we read the words from God spoken to Cyrus the king of Persia, who is to help the Israelites escape from exile:
     “I am the Lord, and there is no other;
        besides me there is no god.
        I arm you, though you do not know me,
       so that they may know, from the rising of the sun
        and from the west, that there is no one besides me;
        I am the Lord, and there is no other.
      I form light and create darkness,
        I make weal and create woe;
        I the Lord do all these things.”

The apostle Paul writes to the church in Ephesus, sharing wisdom of how to live in faithfulness to God and in Christian community. He advises, “For once you were darkness, but now in the Lord you are light. Live as children of light— for the fruit of the light is found in all that is good and right and true….Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them. For it is shameful even to mention what such people do secretly; but everything exposed by the light becomes visible, for everything that becomes visible is light. Therefore it says, ‘Sleeper, awake! Rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.’”

In the Gospel according to Mark today, Jesus is teaching a parable to the crowd – the one about the sower who sows seeds on all kinds of terrain. Then, he takes his disciples aside later and shines light on the figurative language of the story, so that they may fully understand the messages he is conveying about faithful living – and the pitfalls that can come.

We are in the season following the Epiphany, when the light of Christ is revealed. Christ shines the light of hope, understanding, and comfort into the darkest spaces of our lives. It is that light that draws others in, to ask questions and find healing. May the Epiphany light shine brightly within you, upon you, and before you this day, so that in this warmth, others may know the love and glory of God.

Katherine+

Questions for Self-Reflection:

Who are the people around you who shine the light of Christ? How do you show this brightness? Who are the community around you who support and encourage this light?

Daily Challenge:

Prepare for this Sunday’s worship by immersing yourself in a study of the scripture. Try doing a method of Bible study called lectio divina: click this link to access the steps of this reflective method of reading the gospel. You may watch a recorded conversation of other Episcopalians going through the steps of lectio, too.

'I have taken you by the hand and kept you' - January 13

Today’s Readings: AM Psalm 16, 17; PM Psalm 22; Isa. 42:(1-9)10-17; Eph. 3:1-13; Mark 2:13-22 

Today’s Reflection

My Lord God,
I have no idea where I am going.
I do not see the road ahead of me.
I cannot know for certain where it will end.
nor do I really know myself,
and the fact that I think I am following your will
does not mean that I am actually doing so.
But I believe that the desire to please you
does in fact please you.
And I hope I have that desire in all that I am doing.
I hope that I will never do anything apart from that desire.

And I know that if I do this you will lead me by the right road,

though I may know nothing about it.
Therefore will I trust you always though
I may seem to be lost and in the shadow of death.

I will not fear, for you are ever with me,
and you will never leave me to face my perils alone. —Thomas Merton

We humans tend to be very fearful of uncertainty. We have a fear of the unknown and of the future. We feel uncomfortable and afraid when we cannot see around the bend in the road. But when I think of some of my favorite places to go hiking—whether at Red Mountain Park here in Birmingham, or on the Lake Beresford Trail back in my home of Central Florida, or at McKinney Roughs outside Austin—I recall how some of what makes those trails most appealing to me are the curves. Seeing a bend in the trail up ahead, you wonder what may be around it—what beauties of nature will I experience next? Perhaps, as at Lake Beresford, I'll encounter a magnolia tree whose massive, fragrant white blooms I can smell even before I see the tree towering around the bend. Perhaps I'll encounter a wild boar and her babies up in a stand of trees as I come around the next curve in the path, as I once did at McKinney Roughs. We don’t know what exactly we will encounter—be it beautiful or dangerous—around the next bend. But if choose to set out hiking on the trail, we accept that there will be hills and bends that we cannot see beyond—and we know that these grades and curves are what make the hike interesting and beautiful as well as risky.

When we consider today’s Old Testament passage from Isaiah 42, we read of a God who cares for each one of us today just as he cared for Isaiah and the people of Israel centuries ago: “Here is my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen, in whom my soul delights” (v. 1). God upholds or supports us, and not only but God also delights in us. Wait, did I read that right? God delights in us. Yes, we bring God delight, in God’s very soul. That’s strong language. God doesn’t just tolerate us, he chooses us, upholds us, and delights in us.

The God who made the heavens and the earth and all who dwell therein also wants to care for us, guide us, and guard us: “Thus says God, the Lord, who created the heavens and stretched them out, who spread out the earth and what comes from it, who gives breath to the people upon it and spirit to those who walk in it: I am the Lord, I have called you in righteousness, I have taken you by the hand and kept you” (v. 5-6a). Imagine walking along and God taking you by the hand and keeping you by their side. We don’t have to imagine it, that is what God promises to us in these words to us through the prophet Isaiah. God sent Jesus to walk with us, and be with us, as one of us. And God sent us the Holy Spirit to guide us from within and be among us, to intercede for us when we don’t know how, to whisper and nudge us and stir us toward what God would have us to do, where God would have us to go, and who God means for us to be and to become.

And when we feel as if we are unable to see where to place our next steps, this God who upholds us and delights in us, who has taken us by the hand and kept us by their side, is there to lead us on when the path seems unfamiliar or even hard to find: “I will lead the blind by a road they do not know, by paths they have not known, I will guide them. I will turn the darkness before them into light, the rough places into level ground. These are the things I will do, and I will not forsake them (v. 16).

So, take courage. Our God has given us his Spirit to abide in us and with us, so that we need not be paralyzed by either regret for the past or by fear for the future. We cannot see around the bend in the road. But at each bend we can choose to keep walking, knowing that God's love for us is sure, and believing that while we may not know what lies ahead, we will not walk there alone.

Becky+

Questions for Reflection

I wonder when you have felt someone took delight in being your presence or took real delight in some aspect of who you are. Reflect on how that carried over into the other relationships in your life and into your own sense of self. I wonder how you have taken delight in and upheld the people in your circle of care.

Daily Challenge

Allow yourself 10 minutes of stillness and quietness today to sit with the realization that God chooses you, upholds you, and delights in you; God takes you by the hand and keeps you at their side; God guides you, shines a light before you, and turns rough places into level ground. God has done this. God is doing this. God will do this. God loves you. Always.

Who are we? – January 11

Today’s Readings: AM Psalm 119:1-24; PM Psalm 12, 13, 14 
Isa. 41:1-16; Eph. 2:1-10; Mark 1:29-45 

For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God — not the result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are what he has made us, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand to be our way of life.

One of my favorite movies that we watch as a family is based upon a Roald Dahl book called The Fantastic Mr. Fox. In this delightful work, interpreted through the creative lens of Wes Anderson, the protagonist Foxy Fox, given voice by George Clooney, has a crisis of self. Who is he? He misses the glory days of stealing chickens and quick escapes. He wants to conduct his fox-life so that he lives out his years in satisfaction, not fear. He no longer wants to live underground. He yearns to leave behind the grind of being a journalist. He seeks adventure and a big house in a tall tree. He is a wild animal and wants to live as one. The movie traces Mr. Fox's foibles in finding himself - and it is a fun ride.

Oddly, I am reminded of The Fantastic Mr. Fox as I read Ephesians 2 today. Paul is reminding the church at Ephesus who they are, and how they got to this point. They were dead through their sins and previous ways of life apart from faithfulness to God. They – like Paul – wrestled with following the desires of flesh and hormones, seeking immediate gratification and sated urges. And, that was not the end of the story…God, who is full of mercy and love, gave new life to the world in Jesus the Messiah. That gift was a gift of salvation, lifting us from life conducted underground and elevating us to new heights. The gift of Jesus was given by the grace of God – and the saving occurred by this action of generosity, not by anything they could do. Living well, eating well, praying well…none of it could bridge the gap between death and eternal life. Paul wrote, “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God — not the result of works, so that no one may boast.” The apostle Paul closed this section in this way, addressing identity: “For we are what he has made us, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand to be our way of life.”

My friends, we are the workmanship of God, who has given us a way of grace and life. God has given us a path to walk and companions along the way. For this gift, let us breathe in gratitude and share the Good News with someone who needs this reminder today. Good luck out there!

Katherine+

Questions for Self-Reflection:

Who do you say that you are? What are the mantras you repeat to yourself, affirming your identity? How does your faith in God get expressed in who you are?

Daily Challenge:

Ponder your identity as the work of God.

Invite someone into a conversation to share who they are, as you introduce yourself.

Another Point of View - January 9

Today’s Readings: AM Psalm 1, 2, 3; PM Psalm 4, 7; Isa. 40:12-23; Eph. 1:1-14; Mark 1:1-13 

The beginning of the Good News as told by Mark begins with a passage from Isaiah and John the Baptist hanging out in the wilderness.  It caught my ears especially this morning because Sunday’s Gospel was the same story but told from Matthew’s point of view.  Matthew’s story came after a long account of Jesus’s genealogy that was not read yesterday. Two stories read back to back, slightly different, from different points of view written to different communities and we have heard them both in 24 hours’ time. 

It is in Matthew’s Gospel that John tries to tell Jesus that Jesus should be the one baptizing him.  Mark’s Gospel this morning adds some important context, but Matthew’s Gospel adds that small little detail that we would have missed if we didn’t have Matthew’s point of view. 

Could this be indicative of the nature of God – that there are some details that we need another point of view to fully understand? The different Gospel narratives together paint a much clearer picture of who God is in Jesus Christ, with no one Gospel claiming an exclusive understanding.  As Christians, we are given all of the texts to read and study together.  We need different points of view together to paint a picture of the greater truth of God’s love and character. 

Maybe this is just how the world works.  Truth is always bigger than our own limited point of view.  If it’s true about God, shouldn’t it be true about everything else?

John+

Questions for Self-Reflection:  What stories or truths are important to you that might benefit from another point of view or a few more details? 

Daily Challenge:  Reread the story from Mark.  Now read the passage in Matthew’s Gospel here.  What are the major differences that you notice? 

Good News - January 6

Today’s Readings: AM Psalm 46, 97;  PM Psalm 96, 100; Isa. 52:7-10; Rev. 21:22-27; Matt. 12:14-21

Today’s Reflection

How beautiful upon the mountains
   are the feet of the messenger who announces peace,
who brings good news,
   who announces salvation,
   who says to Zion, ‘Your God reigns.’ —Isaiah 52: 7

Like us, the people of Israel had also been through a lot—and not just for two or three years, but over several decades of being in exile. And like us, they didn’t always respond very well to being under the pressure of these ongoing, harsh conditions. Sometimes they questioned God. And they didn’t always follow God’s directions—so they got into some trouble, with God and with one another. The relationship between God and God’s people, especially in terms of mutual trust, was understandably strained.

Again and again, the people felt like giving up on God and lost faith that God was looking out for them and caring for them. And for God’s part, God gave up on the people and told them they were on their own. If you all think you can do it better, if you think you can take care of yourselves better than I can take care of you, go ahead—give it a try. Kind of like God asking them, “How’s that going for you?” Sounds kind of familiar, right? The people of Israel had strayed and they had disobeyed, and they had given up on God and given up on themselves. And even God had given up on them for a while—or at least he was very, very frustrated with them.

God doesn’t say, you won’t have to pass through the waters. God doesn’t say, you won’t have to walk through fire. What God says, instead, is that, yes, you will pass through the waters and the rivers—but you will not pass through them alone. I will be with you, and I will not let them overwhelm you. And God says, yes, there will be times when you will walk through fire—but you will not be burned, and you will not be consumed.

Some people have, over the years, mistaken such statements to mean that God will not give us more than we can handle. That statement is flawed on a few levels. First, does God “give us” difficult circumstances? Does God decide to drop us down into a flood or a fire or its equivalent? I don’t think God does. Second, I believe God gives us the Holy Spirit, our Advocate and our Guide, to be with us and sustain us in circumstances that are just plain heavy and overwhelming—situations that are truly more than we can handle on our own. We will certainly come face to face with situations that are much more than we can ever handle on our own. But we can also be certain that God is with us in those situations—and that God also gives us one another to walk through these floods and fires of life together.

One of the blessings of going through the past few years of pandemic together has been seeing all the creative and compassionate ways people have come up with being there for each other—both for people they personally know and for the wider world. One example that comes to mind is a YouTube series produced by John Krasinski (best known for his role as Jim on The Office). On March 25, 2020, John Krasinski posted a tweet asking people to tell him some good news, “stories that made you feel good this week or the things that just made you smile.” From this tweet he received so many pieces of good news that he decided to start making a web series called Some Good News, filmed in his home in Brooklyn, complete with a colorful logo hand-drawn by his daughters with markers and crayons.

As he opened the first episode, on March 29, 2020, he observed, “And what a week for good news it was. Yes, without question, we are all going through an incredibly trying time. But, through all the anxiety, through all the confusion, all the isolation, and all the Tiger King, somehow the human spirit still found a way to break through and blow us all away.” They made just eight episodes of Some Good News in those earliest months of our collective lockdown, from March to May of 2020, but they went viral and that very first episode has been viewed over 18.7 million times so far—which, to me, means John Krasinski could be considered an incredibly effective evangelist, or spreader of the Good News.

You know, a lot of times we think of the Good News in Holy Scripture as being contained within the four Gospel books, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. But as I was reading what people have to say about the prophetic Book of Isaiah, I found one scholar, Frederick Gaiser, who calls it the Gospel of Isaiah. Isaiah not only bears the Good News that God is with us, and therefore we should not be afraid, but in Isaiah 43 we hear what Gaiser calls “the direct three-word ‘Valentine’ from God.: ‘You are precious in my sight, and honored, and I love you.’ Here the claim of divine love is no longer spoken about God, but by God.

“Good news” captures exactly what we are hearing God say to us, his dearly loved children:

Here’s some Good News, God says: I created you and formed you.

Good News, God says: Do not fear, for I have redeemed you.

Good news, God says: I have called you by name, and you are mine.

Good news, God says: When you pass through the waters, I will be with you, and they will not overwhelm you.

Good news, God says: When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned or consumed.

And still more good news, God says: I am the LORD your God, your Savior. You are precious in my sight, and honored, and I love you.

Becky+

Questions for Reflection

Recall a time when you received some astonishingly good news. I wonder how it felt to be surprised by something so good and yet so unexpected. I wonder how it felt to be the one to share that good news with you.

Daily Challenge

Make a point to pay attention to stories of good news when you read or listen to media today, then make a point to initiate a conversation with someone in your life about something that was both very astonishing and very good. Reflect on how it feels to be a messenger of Good News.

“I will be with you.” – January 4, 2023

Today’s Readings: AM Psalm 85, 87; PM Psalm 89:1-29; Exod. 3:1-12; Heb. 11:23-31; John 14:6-14

Reading the scriptures for this morning left me thinking about the stories we tell about our brushes with the Divine. How do we put into words the experiences we have on holy ground? What reassures us that those moments are real and valid and not just wacky dreams after eating a late dinner?

Moses had exceptional accounts of conversing with God. In Exodus 3, he is tending his father-in-law’s livestock and wanders to a mountain. A bush bursts into flames and the angel of the Lord appears in the tongues of fire. Then God calls to him by name, “Moses!” Stunned, the man answers, “Here I am.” Yahweh instructs Moses to remove his footwear, as he is standing on sacred turf. That part of the story I often remember.

The second part of this reading from Exodus 3 stands out to me today, as God continues: “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” The Lord says how the misery of the Israelites in Egypt is not lost or hidden from sight. God hears their cries and knows their suffering. Relief is ahead – in a land of nourishment and health, quite contrary to the slavery and oppression in Egypt. Deliverance is promised. And Moses will be the one to petition Pharaoh.

Moses is willing to answer when a voice from a burning shrub calls out to him. He accepts that the Lord is the God of his forefathers. And when God says that Moses will be the one to convince the enemy’s leader to set God’s people on the path home, that is when he doubts. “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh, and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?” God meets Moses right there, saying, “I will be with you”.

No matter the challenge that faces you today, or this week, or this year, God promises each of us that same assurance: I will be with you. God even sent Jesus as a tangible symbol of that promise…to walk alongside people struggling, doubting, hurting. Jesus helps direct our eyes to God. We pray to a God who knows us. Who has guided those who came before us. It is God who assures us, “I will be with you.”

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Katherine+

Questions for Reflection

We all question God at some point. What circumstances have left you doubting God? How do you move forward? Who is a partner for you in this? What did you learn?

Happy New Year - January 2

Today’s Readings: AM Psalm 34; PM Psalm 33; Gen. 12:1-7; Heb. 11:1-12; John 6:35-42, 48-51

Happy New Year! 

In just a few days, I will celebrate my 5th Anniversary, not only as a priest at Saint Stephen’s but as a resident of this community.  Over the holidays, I have been reflecting some on what it means to be here, and the sense of community that we have found.  This fall, we moved Anne’s family from Kansas to a few miles south of us, to have them close by and help with the care required at this chapter of life. Our children unequivocally see this as home.  I think Anne and I are there now too. 

Claiming a place as home means something.  Anne and I lived in Northern Virginia for three years for seminary, but it was never home.  When you know a place is temporary, it changes the way you build relationships with people.  Fortunately, most students were in the same boat, eager to finish school so that we could get on with our vocations and ministries and begin to live into our vocations.  School was simply the preparation for what was next, and next is what we were focused on.  Concentrating on what is next changes the way we participate in the now.

As I read today’s Old Testament lesson, an apt on for the first day of the year, the Lord is giving Abram instructions to go to the place that God has given him.  In this passage in Genesis, God promises to bless Abram and that Abram will be a blessing to his people.  But in order for that to happen, Abram has to go to the place that his God has shown him, settle down, and make it home. 

Life is full of transitions.  The home we have today, might not be the home we have tomorrow, but it’s important to reflect on what it means to be rooted, to see a community as the community that not only you are a part of, but that you contribute to and build up.  Did Abram’s sense of place contribute to the way that he was a blessing and that others blessed him? 

I wonder if a simple new year’s resolution for all of us could be found in our Old Testament lesson.  God is inviting us into community.  We see this as the Body of Christ.  Maybe this year, a challenge of considering what it means to be rooted where we are.  Where are our roots?  What are the relationships we are building?  What does it mean to see ourselves as an integral part of the community where we are located?  My hope is the same truth for Abram – that you will see your life as blessed.  And in the process, you will see that you are a blessing too.

Happy New Year to you,

John+

Questions for Self-Reflection:  Consider the questions in this reflection and spend some time pondering your own rootedness in community.

'When someone offers you their hand, take it' - December 23

Today’s Readings: AM Psalm 93, 96; PM Psalm 148, 150; Isa. 33:17-22; Rev. 22:6-11, 18-20; Luke 1:39-48a(48b-56)

Today’s Reflection

In those days Mary set out and went with haste to a Judean town in the hill country, where she entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth. When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the child leapt in her womb. And Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit and exclaimed with a loud cry, ‘Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb. And why has this happened to me, that the mother of my Lord comes to me? For as soon as I heard the sound of your greeting, the child in my womb leapt for joy. And blessed is she who believed that there would be* a fulfilment of what was spoken to her by the Lord.’  —Luke 1: 39-45

We know that Elizabeth and Mary shared some things in common: Both were unexpectedly with child. Both were stigmatized (or would be)—but in very different ways, one because she couldn’t have a child until she was older, and the other because she was having a child outside of marriage. Both were chosen by God to play a special role—to birth God’s plan for our salvation into being.

Here’s what we learn from this holy conversation, this holy visitation as it’s traditionally called. First off, it’s a holy moment of recognition. Elizabeth and Mary recognize they are sharing this strange, unexpected experience of being bearers of holy ones entrusted to them by God. It is in this holy encounter that they experience more vividly how their babies are holy and different, as John leaps in Elizabeth’s womb when he hears Mary speak.

What I think is most important to notice in this story, though, is how God guides Mary to go to her cousin Elizabeth. God has entrusted each of these women with great responsibility amidst truly strange and stressful life circumstances—but God also has given them one another to walk together down this strange and winding path.

Author Kate Bowler posted a photo on social media last year that someone had taken of her and her 6-year-old son Zach walking down a path through some woods together, holding one another’s hand. The photo was taken from behind them on the path, from a little distance behind. And the caption of the photo was simply this: “When someone offers you their hand, take it.” That photo and those words have really stuck with me—I have carried them around with me in my heart and in my mind. Ever since, I have been thinking a lot about what it means to accept someone’s hand when it’s offered—and what it means for me to offer my hand to others I encounter along life’s path.

This is the dynamic that we see at play between Mary and Elizabeth, Mary’s beloved older cousin. Mary finds herself in an unexpected and difficult situation. She doesn’t feel safe or comfortable sharing what she’s going through with the people in her own, immediate family. But suddenly she hears that still small voice of God, that gentle nudge (or even that strong push) of the Holy Spirit that what she really needs to do right now is go see Elizabeth. Even though her family doesn’t want her to leave. Even though it’s a lot of trouble to travel all the way to the town where Elizabeth and Zechariah live. But Mary steps out in faith and seeks out Elizabeth—because somehow, through the guiding of the Holy Spirit, she knows that Elizabeth is just the person she needs to be with in this strange and stressful time.

How can we connect Elizabeth and Mary’s story with our own holy conversations, our own holy friendships? We experience these same kinds of holy moments when we recognize that God has brought us into the presence of someone who shares something with us—some common life experience. We have a moment of recognition when we realize that we have walked a similar path, that we have each followed the breadcrumbs God has scattered along the path. And we discover that as we find the next breadcrumb that we have found it in this friendship and in this holy moment of conversation and common ground. When we share our emotions, our experiences, our vulnerabilities, and give them voice, these are holy conversations. And these holy conversations are moments when we find that we are, in fact, bearing the light and love of Christ into the world.

The sociologist Brene Brown defines vulnerability as the intertwining of risk, uncertainty, and emotional exposure. I know it seems paradoxical, but there is a real power to be found in this kind of vulnerability. When we shine a light into these previously dark corners of our lives, God’s love conquers what we had long believed needed to remain hidden.

Elizabeth and Mary are such a vivid reminder to us that God doesn’t intend for us to walk alone. These two women were entrusted with some of the most important and holy work that anyone has ever been entrusted with by God—to bring John the Baptist and Jesus into this world, and then to raise them up to be the people God needed them to be in order to save us all. But as this story makes so clear, Mary and Elizabeth couldn’t do this on their own. They needed each other. And God gave them one another so that they would not have to carry both these special responsibilities and these special joys alone.

Becky+

Questions for Reflection

Recall a person with whom you have shared the kind of mutual vulnerability that Elizabeth and Mary shared with one another. How did sharing your experiences openly and being present with one another in that way give you courage for what you were facing then and for what was yet to come?

Daily Challenge

Today’s reflection is an excerpt of a sermon given last year in the Season of Advent. You may listen to the full sermon here.

The Longest Night - December 21, 2022

Today’s Readings: AM Psalm 72; PM Psalm 111, 113; Isa. 28:9-22; Rev. 21:9-21; Luke 1:26-38

Blessed be the Lord God, the God of Israel,

who alone does wondrous deeds!

And blessed be his glorious Name for ever!

and may all the earth be filled with his glory. Amen. Amen. (Psalm 72:18-19)

These stanzas above are the final verses of Psalm 72, appointed for this morning. This psalm of prayer and praise to God guides our eyes and minds to focus on the justice that God will bring to all of creation. Rather than flowing through the hand of the Divine, this prayer asks that justice be made manifest through a King over the peoples. Through that King, the Lord God will reign.

In this psalm, justice and righteousness do not result in the smiting of those who are awful. Neither will YHWH extinguish the evil. Rather, the prayer outlines how the compassion of God will be demonstrated through the acts of the King, extending care and protection to those who are needy, poor, and vulnerable. The King will bring nourishment and salvation. This King will bring redemption, not fiery condemnation. All hearts will bow down to this King, offering gifts and honor. And so, as the psalmist prays, "Long may he live!" followed by a sequence of hopes: may much gold be sent to him from Arabia; may people always pray for him; may people bless him all day, every day...with this crescendo: "May his Name remain for ever and be established as long as the sun endures; may all the nations bless themselves in him and call him blessed."

While this psalm was written long before Jesus, it sure does sound like it is pointing toward the reign hoped for in the Messiah's coming. A King like no other: The King of kings. The Lord of lords. And He shall reign forever. And ever.

With God, all things are possible. Healing and peace. Care and hope. On this day, the shortest of our calendar year, I pray that the words of this psalm create a thread of hopefulness and light, as you cast your eyes upon the Savior. On this the longest night, may you bless the Lord God, the God of Israel, who alone does wondrous deeds. May all the earth be filled with God's glory. Amen. Amen.

Katherine+

Questions for Reflection 

What images come to mind when you think of a godly leader? Who do you consider to be a righteous leader serving God? What qualities does that person exhibit? What habits help sustain their grounding in God?

Daily Challenge

Sit in intentional prayer today. Remember those struggling - the poor, the needy, the lonely, the dying. This is the winter solstice...and the day with the least amount of sunshine. Pray for those surrounded by darkness this day and night.

"I can do Nothing on my Own" - December 19

Today’s Readings: AM Psalm 61, 62; PM Psalm 112, 115; Isa. 11:1-9; Rev. 20:1-10; John 5:30-47

A question was posed in one of our weekly small groups by a curious and thoughtful parishioner: Is much of our human existence focused on the alleviation of suffering?  The conversation turned to parenting, and a teacher in the group shared, I wish I could tell 90% of the parents I work with, you need to let your kids fail and mess up and sit with that suffering that comes from loss and failure.  And you will be grateful for it!”

One of the realities of this past year and being a part of Saint Stephen’s has been a confrontation with pain and suffering colliding with radical and unconditional love that puts that suffering and loss into the hands of God.  Being a part of a worshiping congregation that appears to be a place that has marginal suffering, where people have much privilege and resources, and often sees its own identity focused on caring for the needs of others, this past year has been a stark reminder that nothing in life is certain and all of us are impacted by sin and evil.  What has been most interesting is the reality that faith seems to have deepened for many people when confronted with this truth, at least that is very true for me.

The question that was posed is especially interesting when held up as a theological conundrum.   What is it that we believe God is to do?  Does God alleviate our suffering, or does God promise to be with us so that we may endure this life, and find goodness and beauty in overcoming the pain and challenges that we face?  Maybe we have been forced to learn what many others have learned before, and yet are teaching many others in our larger community that often live with an ethic of alleviating their own suffering. In today’s Gospel, it begins with Jesus saying, “I can do nothing on my own.”  It is in John’s Gospel that we get the vision of the Advocate, whom we come to know as the Holy Spirit, God’s promise to be with us. 

It seems as appropriate as ever, to name this truth, that we too can do nothing on our own.  Our attempt to alleviate suffering, to make our lives more comfortable certainly might be a worthy cause, but there are no guarantees in life, except God’s promise to be with us through it all.  As we barrel towards Christmas this coming week, I pray that you find the joy of the Christmas season.  And if you are finding this season more difficult than most, I also pray that you know and see God with you in your midst.  That is the true gift of Christmas, that God came to dwell with us in human form, and God is still with us now, an Advocate so that we never find ourselves alone again.

Faithfully,

John+

Questions for Self-Reflection:  What role does suffering play in your life?  When have you found God to be more present in your life than others?

Daily Challenge: Look for God today.  Don’t stop until you answer the question, ‘where do you see God at work today in your own life.’

'More than a prophet' - December 16

Today’s Readings: AM Psalm 40, 54; PM Psalm 51; Isa. 10:5-19; 2 Pet. 2:17-22; Matt. 11:2-15

Today’s Reflection

It’s easy to get wrapped up in a vision of Advent and Christmas seen through a soft lens, in which all is calm and all is bright. Holy infant, so tender and mild, sleeping in heavenly peace. There is truth in the tenderness and sweetness of the baby Jesus being nestled and nursed by his mother Mary. And yet, there’s another lens through which one can see the coming of Jesus with a harder edge. Jesus himself, speaking as an adult, acknowledges this edgier version of his story when he gives us his take on his cousin, John the Baptist, the one sent to prepare his way: 

Jesus began to speak to the crowds about John: “What did you go out into the wilderness to look at? A reed shaken by the wind? What then did you go out to see? Someone dressed in soft robes? Look, those who wear soft robes are in royal palaces. What then did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet.” 

John is no reed shaken by the wind. John’s not going to be pushed around. And John’s definitely not wearing soft robes. In fact, he’s wearing camel hair, and he’s got a strong enough stomach to eat his honey with a large side of locusts. John was sent ahead of Jesus to prepare his way—not by declaring some soft, easily digestible message but to proclaim a message that was much harder for people to digest. John came to call people to repentance for their sins, both those things we’ve done and left undone. 

John came bearing an uncomfortable message. But this is what prophets do: They tell it like it is. They ask tough questions. They wonder what it is you’re really all about. They push you to see if you have a purpose, and whether or not even you know it. They hold up a mirror so we can see ourselves in a truer light. 

Often what we see in the mirror the prophet holds up is not a flattering vision of who we are, what we’ve done, or what we hope to be. We look at the prophet and we feel uncomfortable. We see the prophet coming toward us and we don’t want to let her get too close. As Jesus probes, “What did you go out into the wilderness to look at?” Whatever people may have been looking for, Jesus says, what they found there was a prophet and then some: “Yes, a prophet, I tell you, and more than a prophet.” 

We can think of people in our lives who make us feel uncomfortable at times—or maybe even most of the time. Many times, someone who makes us feel uncomfortable makes us feel this way because of the mirror that they hold up to us—somehow looking at and listening to this person makes us feel less than comfortable with ourselves. There’s something in the way they declare the truth or see the world that rubs us the wrong way. They don’t cast a vision of soft robes—and they don’t speak words that just soothe us and leave us be. 

The Canticle appointed for this past Sunday was the Magnificat, or the Song of Mary, Mary’s own very prophetic declaration recorded in the Gospel according to Luke. In choosing Mary, an unmarried young woman from a poor family in a rural village, God was making a radical statement about who is closest to God’s heart: the poor, the disadvantaged, the disinherited, the meek, the weak, the marginalized. God chose someone from the margins to carry his son in her womb and raise him up in the way in which he should go. Mary’s song is not soft and sweet. Mary’s song is just as radical and uncomfortable a message as John’s voice crying out in the wilderness or Jesus’ own speaking of truth to power. 

Mary is speaking prophetically from her one-of-a-kind position as both God-bearer and representative of those at the margins. On the one hand, Mary speaks from a place of credibility, as one who has experienced hunger, thirst, and oppression. On the other hand, Mary speaks from a place of authority, as one who carries within her the long-awaited Messiah. She speaks with a prophetic voice as she declares: 

He has mercy on those who fear him in every generation. 

He has shown the strength of his arm, he has scattered the proud in their conceit. 

He has cast down the mighty from their thrones, and has lifted up the lowly. 

He has filled the hungry with good things, and the rich he has sent away empty. 

Mary prepares the way for Jesus as he grows in her womb, singing her prophetic song over him as she declared the many ways in which God, through sending Jesus to be with us, would turn the world upside down. Likewise, John prepares the way for Jesus as he speaks the truth plainly, without artifice, calling people to repentance and baptism, making the way for one far greater and mightier to save. Both Mary and John are the ones God chose to prepare the way for Jesus.

Becky+

Questions for Reflection

Who has played a prophetic role in your life? What questions did they ask that made you feel uncomfortable? What did they bring to light that made you re-evaluate yourself and your priorities? How have you responded to the message that this prophetic voice proclaimed to you?

Daily Challenge

Reflect more on Jesus and John the Baptist by reading this short article by Helen Bond, head of the Divinity School at the University of Edinburgh.

The voice of one crying out - December 14

Today’s Readings: AM Psalm 119:49-72; PM Psalm 49, [53]
Isa. 9:8-17; 2 Pet. 2:1-10a; Mark 1:1-8

While downstairs writing today, attempting a reflection on Isaiah 9, I heard the sounds of crying upstairs. It was distant and wavering. It reminded me of the opening to the gospel of Jesus according to Mark that is appointed for today…Isaiah says, “See I am sending my messenger ahead of you, who will prepare your way; the voice of one crying out in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord, may his paths straight.’”

I heard a voice crying out and I was not exactly sure what was going on. When I came to a stopping point, I went upstairs to say hello to our two school-aged kids.

I’ll say this: some weekday mornings are rocky. Usually, it is wrapped up in middle school anxiety. This morning, however, it was the first grader. He was out sick yesterday with a 24-hour bug. And his teacher has been out sick with the flu. If there is one thing Robinson does not like, it is a substitute teacher. Now, if you are one of the dedicated cadre that subject yourselves and your schedules to the whims and needs of substitute teaching, thank you!! You keep our schools running. My kid, however, dreads substitutes. They are unknown. They are new. They must get the class in order. And Robinson only wants warmth and familiarity. Change is not a welcomed friend in his six-year-old sensibilities.

Change is hard. And the best we can do is lean upon God in those moments. John the baptizer was sent to prepare people all over Judea for the coming of Jesus. It was rocky, at best. People did not know how to hear what John was saying. They could not fully comprehend the magnitude of the glory Jesus would bring to the world.

We are not alone in these moments of transition. Let us draw together as community, woven in the love of our Lord, who sends messengers to open our ears and hearts. Let us pray that God will reassure us when we are timid and frightened, for God’s hand is outstretched to us still.

Katherine+

Questions for Reflection

What scared you as a child? What scares you today? Who reassures you? How do you pray through times of change and uncertainty?

Daily Challenge

Listen for something today that makes you really uncomfortable. And then, take fifteen minutes to ponder and pray. Journal about what is making you feel this way? Rather than stepping back, lean into the discomfort. Read more. Ask someone for their input. Pray for God to prepare you to move deeper into that space, to open your eyes, and to help you grow.

Prayer as Preparation - December 12

Today’s Readings: AM Psalm 41, 52; PM Psalm 44; Isa. 8:16-9:1; 2 Pet. 1:1-11; Luke 22:39-53

My understanding of prayer has always been that it shapes us, maybe to be more compassionate, more understanding, to be deeply more empathetic.  And prayer entrusts our concerns to God, a way of seeking the support and comfort from the one who loves us.  But I am still struck by a sermon that Katherine preached a week ago.  

Katherine shared, that prayer prepares us for what is to come.  There is a slight difference in shaping us to be who are supposed to be and preparing for what is to come.  While I might know that I might need to be more compassionate, therefore praying for the concerns of others, seeing my prayers as preparation becomes more urgent.  I must pray in order to handle what life may throw my way.  This means prayer is necessary. The deep prayers of this past year are what have prepared us to be able to live with love, welcome, and faith in the midst of challenges and pain. The deep prayers of love for friends and parishioners who are struggling prepare me to sit with them in the midst of life. Prayers for my family ease tensions in the holidays. Prayers for our community, prepare me to be more a part of our community.

I have often wondered how Jesus could so willingly go to the cross.  Today’s Gospel reading is Jesus praying at the Mount of Olives, just outside the gate to the old city of Jerusalem.  He kneels and prays in one of his last acts before being handed over to the Roman authorities.  One of his last acts is to pray: “Not my will but yours be done.” 

I wonder if this is the crux of a faithful life, to surrender to God’s will and let our own ego and desires dissipate so that God’s will shine through.  It is counterintuitive because most of our actions as human beings are trying to will our own outcome to life.  Many of us are told from a very young age that we can be whoever we want to be.  We make decisions that directly affect outcomes and we do have agency over our own lives.  I’ve even argued before that autonomy is what defines what it means to truly live.  And yet, Jesus’s action in today’s Gospel is to surrender to God’s will, and it is prayer that prepares him to do what is necessary. 

As much as I want to believe that I know what tomorrow will bring, the past few years are a visible reminder that the future is always uncertain.  But we do have some control and agency in our lives.  We can pray and God will use those prayers to shape us to be faithful in spite of all that is to come.  Thanks be to God.

John+

Questions for Self-Reflection:  How does prayer shape your life?  What was the last thing you prayed about?  How do you think about your prayer life?

Daily Challenge:  Consider praying the Saint Stephen’s prayer list.  Here is a link to this weeks list.

'Hold fast to the traditions' - December 9

Today’s Readings: AM Psalm 31; PM Psalm 35; Isa. 7:10-25; 2 Thess. 2:13-3:5; Luke 22:14-30

Today’s Reflection

But we must always give thanks to God for you, brothers and sisters beloved by the Lord, because God chose you as the first fruits for salvation through sanctification by the Spirit and through belief in the truth. For this purpose he called you through our proclamation of the good news, so that you may obtain the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. So then, brothers and sisters, stand firm and hold fast to the traditions that you were taught by us, either by word of mouth or by our letter.

Now may our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father, who loved us and through grace gave us eternal comfort and good hope, comfort your hearts and strengthen them in every good work and word.  —2 Thessalonians 2: 13-17

A few days after the first Sunday in Advent, I was walking up the stairs in the church and there, at the top of the stairs, was an evergreen tree, ready in its stand to be decorated. As soon as I saw it, I remembered, yes, it’s time already for the Chrismon tree.

And then I recalled the last time I had seen the tree in that exact spot, being decorated. It was about that same day in Advent in 2021, and the people decorating it included the two people who did so many things to prepare our church for all the liturgical seasons: Jane and Sharon. As I had that memory, my instinct was to walk over close to tree, close enough to touch it and smell it, and just pause for a moment to remember them for a moment and wonder who would be coming by later to decorate the tree this Advent.

Later that day, as I came up the stairs for my Wednesday night Advent reflection group, I received the answer to that question. There was the completely, beautifully decorated tree, with all the hand-stitched Chrismon ornaments, and Martha Noble Langston, putting the ornament boxes away. We stood there and talked a moment, before we both headed into the Advent group in the library, about how it had been strange to be the one to take the lead with the tree, which had been something her dear friend Jane had always done.

Martha shared how she had invited her granddaughter, Hill, to come join her in the work of hanging the Chrismons on the tree, and how beautiful it was to invite someone from the next generation into carrying on this tradition in our church. And then, when we gathered to reflect on Advent themes with the others in our group, there was a moment when Martha shared more about this with those gathered and it became a beautiful moment for us to stop and remember in this season of waiting and anticipation that leads us into Christmas and all that it means.

Becky+

Questions for Reflection

What are some traditions you and your family have to help prepare your hearts for Christmas in this Season of Advent? How might you invite others to share in the preparations with you in a different way this year?

Daily Challenge

Learn more about the history and meaning of Chrismon trees here or pick up one of the leaflets next to our Chrismon tree next time you are at the church to worship.

"The holy seed is its stump" - December 7

Today’s Readings:
AM Psalm 38; PM Psalm 119:25-48
Isa. 6:1-13; 2 Thess. 1:1-12; John 7:53-8:11

While reading the passage appointed today from the prophet Isaiah, the familiar words rang clearly in my heart – it is often the Old Testament reading in priestly ordination services. Isaiah tells of his prophetic vision: seated upon a throne, the Lord was so large, the hem of the robe filled the temple. Winged seraphs hovered above the Divine and sang to one another the words we say during the Eucharistic prayer, proclaiming the holiness of God: “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory.”

Then the Temple filled with smoke. Isaiah voiced his disorientation and humility: “Woe is me! I am lost, for I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips; yet my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!” One of the angelic attendants flew to Isaiah, toting a hot coal from the altar of the Lord. The seraph touched the prophet’s mouth with the burning ember and stated, “Now that this has touched your lips, your guilt has departed and your sin is blotted out.” Isaiah heard the voice of God asking, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” He answered the Lord, “Here am I; send me!”

The faithful follower is cleansed, and in doing so, he is transformed into a prophet…this is his story of being and becoming.

In an ordination, like the one held at Camp McDowell last month during Clergy Conference, the Isaiah reading ends there, followed by more readings of Holy Scripture, hymns, and prayers. For this Old Testament reading today, we get to read what comes next – God’s response to a person of faith. The Lord told Isaiah to go to a people – the Israelites – and say, “Keep listening, but do not comprehend; keep looking, but do not understand.” God challenged Isaiah to help this people trust in the Divine so that they may repent and be healed…and that meant they needed to turn off their other sources of perception to pay attention to the Lord.

Isaiah asked how long this process would take, putting a mental goal in his own mind. God’s response was harsh – destruction and exile were forecast. “Until cities lie waste without inhabitant, and houses without people, and the land is utterly desolate; until the Lord sends everyone far away…” The trees would be brought down and only stumps left behind.

And yet, in that lowest of the low times, there was hope: “The holy seed is its stump.” New growth would come out of the ruins. God’s promise was not wiped away. Isaiah would continue to remind the Israelites of this during their years of exile in Babylon.

Perhaps there are days you and I need this reminder, too.

Katherine+

Questions for Reflection

How does Isaiah's story of being and becoming remind you of a story in your own experience? Who are the angels?

Who has been a source of inspiration and change for you?

Daily Challenge

Today is the day we remember the attacks on Pearl Harbor. There was much desolation, loss, and fear that emanated from those events in 1941. Sit in prayer to reflect on the pain inflicted by that tragedy. Read about the commemoration events happening today at Pearl Harbor.