'With you I am well pleased' - April 21

Today’s Readings: AM Psalm 16, 17; PM Psalm 134, 135; Dan 3:1-18; 1 John 3:1-10; Luke 3:15-22 

Today’s Reflection

The Gospel reading appointed for today (Luke 3: 15-22) tells of how Jesus traveled to the River Jordan to be baptized by John, who had been baptizing people to purify them from sin, calling them to repentance and a holier life. Why would Jesus, the pure and sinless Son of God, the one whose sandals John said he was not worthy to carry, need to be baptized? And yet, Jesus said he must be baptized by John “to fulfill all righteousness” (Matthew 3:15).

So, why did Jesus need to be baptized? One reason is that, in the moment of Jesus’ baptism, we are given the clearest picture of how Jesus is truly the Son of God, and how he fits into the Trinity of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The moment of Jesus’ baptism is when we both see and hear evidence that this seeming human being is in fact God’s own Son: “and when Jesus also had been baptized and was praying, the heaven was opened, and the Holy Spirit descended upon him in bodily form like a dove. And a voice came from heaven, ‘You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased’” (Luke 3: 21-22). In Jesus’ baptism, God the Father makes God’s threefold nature known to all gathered there at the Jordan—and to all who would hear about it later by word of mouth and in Scripture.

Jesus needed to be baptized so that the world would know more clearly who he was. In being baptized, Jesus was clearly marked as the Beloved Son of God. Likewise, when each one of us is baptized, we are “sealed by the Holy Spirit… and marked as Christ’s own for ever.” When Jesus was baptized, he was marked as God’s own Son. When we are baptized, we are marked as “Christ’s own,” God’s dearly beloved children, forever received “into the household of God” (BCP 308).

Baptism is our rite of entry into the life of God. Of all the sacraments, only Eucharist and Baptism were modeled for us by Jesus himself. In the life of Christ, his baptism by John in the River Jordan marked the beginning of his public ministry, so it served as an initiation rite in that way for Jesus as well. Not only that, but Jesus often used words that mean immersion or baptism to discuss his ultimate sacrifice: “the suffering and death that lies ahead of him as a ‘baptism’ he is going to endure… as if going towards suffering and death were a kind of immersion in something, being drowned or swamped in something” (Williams). In our own baptisms, Rowan Williams observes, “We are, so to speak, ‘dropped’ into that mysterious event which Christians commemorate on Good Friday, and, more regularly, in the breaking of bread at Holy Communion.”

The baptism proper involves being immersed or having water poured upon the baptized. The immersion in water carries the meaning of first being dead to sin, then being raised to new life in Christ. In the creation, God ordered the chaos when he divided the waters from the land and the sky. From this perspective, water is associated with the primordial chaos. As Williams reflects, “At the very beginning of creation . . . there was watery chaos. And over that watery chaos there was, depending on how you read the Hebrew, the Holy Spirit hovering or a great wind blowing. First there is chaos, and then there is the wind of God’s spirit; and out of the watery chaos comes the world. And God says this is good.”

When we are baptized, we are baptized into Jesus, who brings our inherent human chaos into divine order. And with this, God is well pleased.

Becky+

Moment for Reflection

What do you know of your own baptism? Is it a moment you have been told about or seen pictures of? Or were you old enough at the time of your baptism that you can remember it for yourself? How does reflecting on the moment of Jesus’ own baptism change how you see the spiritual meaning inherent in your own moment of baptism?

Name changes - April 19, 2023

Today’s Readings: AM Psalm 119:1-24; PM Psalm 12, 13, 14 
Dan. 2:17-30; 1 John 2:12-17; John 17:20-26 

The story of Daniel and his friends has always been a fascinating Bible story adventure, as they face perils like lions and fiery furnaces. I learned something new about this part of our Hebrew legacy while studying the Old Testament reading this morning. The famed three men who faced fire and through faith in God were protected, the same three who were always named together - Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego - were not given those names at birth!

The disrupting king Nebuchadnezzar from Babylon had Jerusalem besieged. The invading king had some of the finest of Judah, noble families and those with talents and skills, brought to his Babylonian palace to learn and live in the manner of the royal court. (This is describes the Babylonian exile, decimating the land of Judah and those left behind, and defining the trajectory of what was to be the story of the Israelites on their return.) The palace master welcomed Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, among many others. He gave them other names: Daniel became Belteshazzar; Hananiah became Shadrach; Mishael became Meshach; and Azariah became Abednego. The original names were Jewish ones, ending in -el or –[y]ah, connecting them to Israel’s God YHWH. The other names referred to foreign deities - Babylonian gods Bel and Nabu and Sumerian god Anu. (I had no idea!!) The concordance notes in my Bible offered that name changes were a common practice among conquering kings, as a means of shifting one’s identity – in ethnicity and faith.

In our story of Daniel, faith in God and fealty to Judah remained true, though he and his friends were fiercely tested by the king who had disturbing dreams. Sleepless and frantic, Nebuchadnezzar searched for a magician, sorcerer, or Chaldean to tell the king his dream and then interpret it (Daniel 2:1-16). What he asked was impossible…the Chaldeans answer to the king was, “There is no one on earth who can reveal what the king demands! In fact no king, however great and powerful, has ever asked such a thing of any magician or enchanter or Chaldean. The thing that the king is asking is too difficult, and no one can reveal it to the king except the gods, whose dwelling is not with mortals.” (v. 10-11) The king’s demand came at a high cost – the chief executioner was to execute all wisemen in Babylon if no one could meet Nebuchadnezzar’s impulsive demand.

Daniel let his companions know of the tensions brewing. He told them to pray – to “seek mercy from the god of heaven concerning this mystery” – to save their lives and the lives of many others around them. The faithful Judeans prayed, and our appointed reading for today fills in a few details – a vision came to Daniel in his dreams. And Daniel prayed words of praise and thanks to God, “Blessed be the name of God from age to age, for wisdom and power are his.” (v. 20) Daniel approached Nebuchadnezzar and proclaimed that the God of Israel was the one that showed the king the vision of what would happen at the end of his days.

Tales of biblical yore like these are compelling – as faith stories, as adventures of the human experience, and as invitations to see our own prayers of fear, fervor, and faith within the spaces of Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah – though I am not sure I can call the latter three by their original names. Old habits are hard to shake!

-- Katherine+

Questions for Reflection

What is the name you choose to be called? Who named you? If your driver's license reflects a different name, reflect on those names and the stories associated.

Daily Challenge:

Read about the different names the God of Israel is called... resources could include books on your shelf or websites through the Episcopal Church or other venues. Get curious!

You are the Mirror - April 17

Today’s Readings: AM Psalm 1, 2, 3; PM Psalm 4, 7; Dan. 1:1-21; 1 John 1:1-10; John 17:1-11

Most of my summers from age fifteen to twenty-two were spent in a small town in northeastern Arkansas working at a Boy Scout Camp.  Most summers I worked on acquiring more freckles serving on the Waterfront Staff and my last summer I was the Program Director of the camp.  Every year, we would have around thirty staff members and many young people only came to work one summer. 

One of the greatest lessons I learned was from one of my first bosses, who told me that we shouldn’t be judged on how good of a job we do.  My boss shared, “I expect you to do a good job.  However, you will be remembered by how well you build up the people around you who will carry on the work.”  Making sure you train up your replacement was critical for the success of the camp because we couldn’t work at the camp forever, even if many of us wanted to. 

I thought of that advice while reading today’s Gospel from John when Jesus says in verse 8 “for the words that you gave to me I have given to them, and they have received them and know in truth that I came from you; and they have believed that you sent me.” Jesus has received God’s word and empowered his disciples to carry on the work of Christ.  

The 50 days of Easter are designed for you and me to learn to see the manifestation of Christ in this world.  To proclaim God’s resurrection is to be open to seeing God’s resurrection lived out.  It begins with curiosity and openness.  However, we are also recipients of a faith that has been passed down to us, and we have been equipped to be the bearers of God’s Good News.  This creates an interesting dichotomy: We are the image bearers of the image we seek to discover. 

Maybe Easter should be a reminder that if we need to know there is goodness and beauty and resurrection in this world, we should look no further than a mirror.  The profound truth is that no matter how much we have messed up, come up short, left things undone, God’s grace and love are a reminder that we are the image of Christ to others.  We get to pass down this great truth and legacy to those who come after us.  What a beautiful gift to live into!  Happy Easter.

Faithfully,

John+

Questions for Self-Reflection:  Consider who you are good news for?  Who are the people whom your life has a positive and joyful impact on? 

Daily Challenge:  Consider who you might be a mentor in the faith for. Spend some time considering how you might be more intentional about mentoring that person. 

The Spirit will guide you - April 14

Today’s Readings: AM Psalm 136; PM Psalm 118 ; Dan. 12:1-4,13; Acts 4:1-12 ; John 16:1-15 

Today’s Reflection

Nevertheless, I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Advocate will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you. … I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth; for he will not speak on his own, but will speak whatever he hears, and he will declare to you the things that are to come. He will glorify me, because he will take what is mine and declare it to you.  —John 16: 7, 12-14

When Jesus knew that he was approaching his final days, he began saying things meant to prepare his followers, especially the disciples, of what it would be like when he would no longer be with them. Jesus wanted them to know that they would not be left alone, with no direction, but rather that another would be sent to guide them. In John’s Gospel, this someone is referred to as the Advocate and as the Spirit of truth. Elsewhere in Scripture, we know this guiding presence as the Holy Spirit. We acknowledge this Advocate, this Spirit of truth, in our Episcopal liturgy every time we pray in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. And yet, this Spirit seems enigmatic and difficult to put into words just what it is and how we can know this holy presence in our lives.

As I was reflecting on how Jesus is telling his friends about the one who is coming, and how he wanted them to know this Advocate and to welcome this Spirit’s presence in their lives, the lyrics of a song I have not heard or sung in many years came to mind:

There’s a sweet, sweet Spirit in this place,

And I know that it’s the Spirit of the Lord.

There are sweet expressions on each face,

And I know you feel the presence of the Lord.

Sweet Holy Spirit, sweet heavenly Dove,

Stay right here with us, filling us with Your love.

And for these blessings, we lift our hearts in praise.

Without a doubt we’ll know that we have been revived

When we shall leave this place.

Akers Music House 1962, renewed by Manna Music 1990.

When I searched online for the lyrics, I stumbled across an article (by Michael Hawn on the United Methodist Church’s Discipleship website) that tells the story of the songwriter, Doris Akers. She composed her first song at age 10, and by age 12 had assembled a jazz band, Dot Akers and Her Swingsters. At 22, she moved from Missouri to Los Angeles to make music her profession, working with some of the top names in Gospel music and eventually forming her own groups, the Akers Singers and later the Sky Pilot Choir, the first interracial Gospel choir in Los Angeles.

The story behind “Sweet, Sweet Spirit” is a story of what happened when, in 1962, Akers and the Sky Pilot Choir were praying together in a practice room before heading in to lead the music in a worship service. As Lindsay Terry learned in an interview with Akers years later:

she said to her singers, 'You are not ready to go in.' She didn’t believe they had prayed enough! They were accustomed to spending time with her in prayer before the service, asking God to bless their songs. She said, 'I feel that prayer is more important than great voices.' They had already prayed, but this particular morning she asked them to pray again, and they did so with renewed fervor (Stories Behind 50 Gospel Favorites).

Meanwhile, the pastor of the church was growing impatient, as they couldn’t begin the service until the choir arrived. So, reluctant to end this sweet, Spirit-filled time of prayer, Akers told her choir, “We have to go. I hate to leave this room and I know you hate to leave, but you know we do have to go to the service. But there is such a sweet, sweet Spirit in this place.”

This moment that inspired Akers to compose “Sweet, Sweet Spirit” is one that maybe you can identify with when you reflect back on moments shared together in worship or in fellowship with your friends in Christ. We don’t want the joy of being together in Christ to end, we want it to keep going on forever. The good news is that it can, and it does. While the sweet time spent together in prayer, conversation, service, and worship may end for that moment or that day, these Spirit-filled moments reassure us that we are part of something bigger, something ongoing that binds us all together in the love of Christ..

Becky+

Questions for Self-Reflection

When have you seen the “sweet expressions” of the Spirit in your life recently? How did these interactions with sisters and brothers in Christ encourage you in your faith?

Daily Challenge

Listen to a Gospel choir at Saint John’s Hackney sing “Sweet, Sweet Spirit” and carry this song with you in your heart as you go about the rest of your day.

Read Michael Hawn’s full article on Doris Akers and “Sweet, Sweet Spirit” and reflect on how we connect with God and one another through the gift of music.

The Power of the Eyes – April 12, 2023

Today’s Readings: AM Psalm 97, 99; PM Psalm 115; Micah 7:7-15; Acts 3:1-10; John 15:1-11

But as for me, I will look to the Lord,
   I will wait for the God of my salvation;
   my God will hear me.  (Micah 7:7)

When I think about the Old Testament book of Micah, I think of the verse, “[God] 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?” (6:8)

The minor prophet Micah prophesies during a time when there is much change in the landscape of Israel. The northern kingdom (Samaria) falls in the eighth century BCE; emigrants move southward into Jerusalem, causing change and tension; and, the external forces of Assyria flexing its assumptive muscles of power generate fear and uncertainty. The guidance and encouragement and honesty poured out in these seven brief chapters speak to a community’s struggle with trusting God during tumultuous times, when hope is uncertain and kindness is sparse.

The portion of Micah appointed for today, this Wednesday in the first week of the Easter season, puts a tidy bow at the end of the book. We begin with verse 7, that statement of faithfulness that tethers the people of Israel to their purpose: “But as for me, I will look to the Lord, I will wait for the God of my salvation; my God will hear me.” The prophet reminds the Israelites to look around and be ready to see God. He calls them to be available for the Lord, who is bringing hope and salvation. I am reminded of the Michael W. Smith song, “Open the Eyes of My Heart, Lord,” a sung prayer asking that we see God’s glory, power, and love – and know God’s love in our words, hearts, and lives. The contemporary Christian song proclaims God as “holy, holy, holy” – in a repeated refrain that invites all to sing along, joining the heavenly proclamation from the commission of Isaiah, in which one seraph called to the other, “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory.” (6:3).

Christians living in this twenty-first century context are only here, living and speaking and wondering about our faith in God, because the eyes of faithful people generations before us were opened to the Lord. They beheld the risen Jesus. They saw him on the morning of the resurrection. They ate with him on the beach. They were healed by him. His disciples invited the lowly and lame to look at them…to make eye contact and have real, dignified connection. The stories of healing and growth and hope followed. And continue today.

Let us fix our eyes upon the God of our salvation, who brings hope and strength and courage into spaces that we think are beyond help. God brings light to the darkness through the gift of the risen Jesus.

Katherine+

Questions for Self-Reflection:

Think about when you are having a conversation in person with someone meaningful to you. What levels of eye contact happen? How important is looking at someone, and being looked at?

Where do you look when you pray? Do you look down, or out a window, or up on the ceiling, or at prayer beads?

Daily Challenge:

Pray the collect (prayer) appointed for today and reflect on the word/phrase that stands out to you: O God, whose blessed Son made himself known to his disciples in the breaking of bread: Open the eyes of our faith, that we may behold him in all his redeeming work; who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

The Belly of the Fish - April 10

Alleluia, Christ is Risen!

I was surprised when I opened the lectionary today, to see the reading from Jonah.  Jonah has run from the Lord’s command, boards a ship with some people headed to Tarshish, and when storms begin to make their trip treacherous, Jonah is cast into the ocean where a large fish swallows him whole, and he remains in the belly for three days and three nights.  Chapter two begins with his prayer in the belly of the fish.  It’s not exactly what I expected to read on the first Monday in the Easter Season!

Today is the season when we celebrate the victory of Christ.  Easter is often filled with beautiful colors, festive shouts and pronouncements of Alleluia, parties, and so much joy.  Jonah’s prayerful crying out in this passage doesn’t seem to capture the joy of Easter. Yet, as I read it this morning, I am more grateful than I realized for this passage showing up.

Jonah is stuck in a belly of a large fish.  He has been saved. He has also been forced to travel where he didn’t want to go, but he also has much more work left to do to share God’s love.  And, I imagine, he isn’t very pleased being in the belly of a fish.   

I love Easter and the joy of it all, and the Victory of God doesn’t mean we are left without the challenges of our life.  The friend with cancer, the aging parent, the challenges of work, all still exist.  We may feel as if we are trapped in a belly of a fish being forced to continue on God’ journey, without the agency or autonomy we so desperately desire.  And…. we have been saved.  Thanks be to God.

Today and tomorrow will bring the same challenges as they always have. Easter doesn’t solve our earthly problems.  But it does promise us there is life on the other side.  And that is Good News. No matter what we face, God will be with us and has promised to deliver us to perfect freedom.  Alleluia, Christ is Risen and you still might feel like you are in the belly of giant fish, trapped in the cycle of the challenges of our earthly life. But that trap might be the very rescue you and I need too.  Thanks be to God.

John+

Questions for Self-Reflection: What is the “belly of the fish” for you? Are there places in your life you feel trapped or unable to make progress in? How can Easter be Good News?

Daily Challenge: Try praying the Serenity Prayer. It can be found here.

'And yet' - April 7, 2023

Daily Office Readings: AM Psalm 95 & 22; PM Psalm 40:1-14(15-19), 54 ; Wisdom 1:16-2:1,12-22 or Gen. 22:1-14; 1 Peter 1:10-20; John 13:36-38 or John 19:38-42

Good Friday Service Readings: Psalm 22; Isaiah 52:13-53:12; Hebrews 4:14-16; 5:7-9; John 18:1-19:42

Today’s Reflection

Our Holy Scriptures are full paradox and incongruities. Jesus, the Incarnation of God as a human, is the ultimate study in incongruity. It just doesn’t make sense that the divine would take on human form. To simultaneously be both God and man may even seem, at first thought, ludicrous. And that initial response, that divine and human don’t belong together, that they don’t match up, that it doesn’t make sense, is what should cue us to the fact that the life of Jesus—fully divine and fully human—is significant. The paradox of God deciding to come down and live and die as one of us is a paradox worth noticing and reflecting on. And it is this paradox that we commemorate today, on Good Friday.

When we look back at the Hebrew scriptures, they are full of expectation—they were looking for a Messiah, a Savior. The prophetic literature, most especially, is full of mysterious allusions to an incongruous, paradoxical Messiah. This is what stood out to me as I’ve pondered Isaiah 52 and 53.

At the very beginning of the passage, God, speaking through his prophet Isaiah, declares, “See, my servant shall prosper; he shall be exalted and lifted up, and shall be very high.” Servants, then and now, are people who are either of low status or people who are choosing to lower themselves for the sake of placing others’ needs higher than their own. So, it doesn’t make sense that the servant, someone who is lowly, is “exalted and lifted up.” And so that paradox signals us that something important is going on here with someone lowly who “shall be very high.” Sometimes this pattern of paradox or incongruity is signaled by even the smallest of words. And that is the case in this passage from Isaiah. What stands out most clearly to me, as someone who admittedly is drawn to paradox, is a three-letter word that recurs four times in this passage: and that is the word “yet.”

Listen for the “yet” in these verses: “Surely he has borne our infirmities and carried our diseases; yet we accounted him stricken, struck down by God, and afflicted.” If we read this passage from Isaiah as one that paints a prophetic picture of the Messiah yet to come, we can understand this “yet” passage to be telling us about the paradoxical Messiah we know as Jesus. On the one hand, he is a healer—he has borne our infirmities and carried our diseases. And yet he was stricken, struck down, and afflicted. The power of the healing we receive through Jesus comes from the “yet” and also in the word “but”: “But he was wounded for our transgressions, crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the punishment that made us whole, and by his bruises we are healed.” Jesus is, as Henri Nouwen called him, “the wounded healer.” We are healed by Jesus because he was wounded for us: “By his bruises we are healed.”

Listen for the second “yet” in the next set of verses from Isaiah: “He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; like a lamb to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth.” Here’s the paradox: In Jesus, the all-powerful, God of all creation allowed himself to be oppressed and afflicted; he did not use his divine power to stop this from happening: “he did not open his mouth.” And not only that, but he didn’t open his mouth even though this oppression and affliction was totally without cause. Another word, “although” stands out as important here, too: “They made his grave with the wicked and his tomb with the rich, although he had done no violence, and there was no deceit in his mouth.” Jesus would be wrongly accused, oppressed all the way to the grave. He was without fault—“yet he did not open his mouth.”

But for what purpose? The third “yet” passage offers us another paradox that answers this question of divine purpose in the suffering and sacrifice of Christ: “Yet it was the will of the LORD to crush him with pain. When you make his life an offering for sin, he shall see his offspring, and shall prolong his days; through him the will of the LORD shall prosper. Out of his anguish he shall see light.” Again, we are presented with another passage that, on surface, does not make sense. Here we see the LORD’s servant crushed with pain and his life made an offering for sin. So how does it make sense that through this “he shall see his offspring, shall prolong his days… and shall prosper”? He’s crushed and sacrificed. So how can he live on into future generations, how can his life and his lineage continue? Through all of his anguish, he shall see not the darkness one would expect—instead “out of his anguish he shall see light.”

The fourth and final “yet” of this prophetic passage offers us still further insight as we continue to wrestle with the stunning paradox of the Messiah whom Isaiah is expecting: “Therefore I will allot him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong; because he poured out himself to death, and was numbered among the transgressors; yet he bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.”

A couple of paradoxes float up to the surface here. First, he has been allotted a portion with the great because he poured out himself to death. Pouring oneself out means that one is giving up all that one has—pouring everything out of himself to the point of death. Nothing is left, everything has been poured out. And yet, “I will allot him a portion with the great and he shall divide the spoil with the strong.” He gave up everything, and so should have no portion or spoil—and yet, God has not left him with nothing.

Second, “he was numbered with the transgressors; yet he bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.” On Good Friday, we remember how Jesus was wrongly accused and then sent to be punished to death by crucifixion—crucified at Golgotha, the place of the skull, alongside two rightly accused transgressors. He was sentenced to death as a transgressor—though he himself had not transgressed or sinned. And what was Christ’s response to that? To intercede for us sinners—he even interceded for one of the transgressors being crucified alongside him that day.

As John records in the Passion narrative we hear today, on Good Friday, “When Jesus had received the wine, he said, ‘It is finished.’ Then he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.” In this lies the most astonishing paradox of all: How was it possible that Jesus, the Son of God, the creator of all life, could give up his spirit? And, not only do we wonder how it was possible, but you may even be apt to wonder, especially on Good Friday, why was it necessary? C.S. Lewis helps us work through these questions in an essay called “The Perfect Penitent,” in his book Mere Christianity:

But supposing God became a man—suppose our human nature which can suffer and die was amalgamated with God’s nature in one person—then that person could help us. He could surrender His will, and suffer and die, because He was man; and He could do it perfectly because He was God. You and I can go through this process only if God does it in us; but God can only do it if He becomes man. Our attempts at this dying will succeed only if we [humans] share in God’s dying, just as our thinking can succeed only because it is a drop out of the ocean of His intelligence: but we cannot share God’s dying unless God dies; and He cannot die except by being a man. That is the sense in which He pays our debt, and suffers for us what He Himself need not suffer at all" (58).

Dear friends in Christ, when we put our faith in the saving sacrifice of Jesus, we are putting our faith in the most astonishing paradox of all time. What we are remembering on this Good Friday, the Son of God being crucified for our sake, does not make sense—at least not to our human understanding. But therein lies the beauty of Christ’s sacrifice. It doesn’t make sense. It wasn’t fair. Jesus shouldn’t have suffered for us. And we aren’t deserving of such infinite love and sacrifice.

And yet, “upon him was the punishment that made us whole, and by his bruises we are healed.”

Becky+

Moment for Reflection

Take a few minutes to engage with this online exhibition of art and commentary, “Stricken, Smitten, Bruised, and Afflicted,” curated by the Visual Commentary on Scripture in response to Isaiah 53.

Today’s reflection was originally given as a Good Friday sermon in 2021. You can listen to it here.

Hide-and-seek - April 5, 2023

Scripture Readings Appointed for the Wednesday of Holy Week:

AM Psalm 55; PM Psalm 74 ,  Jer. 17:5-10, 14-17; Phil. 4:1-13; John 12:27-36  

Can you remember a time when you played hide-and-seek? When I was seven or eight, I was playing at my friend Egan’s house. We were at her mom’s condo just down the street from my house. At the back of the upstairs playroom, there was a door to the unfinished attic space. It was the best hiding spot. I remember crouching in the dark, holding my knees to my chin, feeling giggles of exhilaration, and wondering if her older brother Jonathan would find me. I crept out of the hiding place and dashed toward home base. Hide-and-seek can be a thrill…when you are the hider.

Being the seeker is a different experience. It can be one of frustration, looking in all of the usual – and unusual – places. Listening for snickers. Scanning for things not in the right place. Reaching into dark corners of closets to make sure someone isn’t behind the baseball bats and overcoats. The seeker can get lonely or bored. The fun can dissipate quickly. And what about parents who become seekers of their children…those mischievous darlings who run off to hide without telling their supervisors? Impromptu seekers inhabit a very different space, frantically searching for hiding children – perhaps in crowds, in libraries, in Target, or on the baseball field. If you have ever been in this position, you know that it is both memorable and not pleasant.

Jesus plays a bit of hide-and-seek at the end of the reading from John 12 today. After his triumphal entry into Jerusalem, with palm branches waving and people shouting “Hosanna! Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord – the King of Israel!”, Philip and Andrew bring some Jews over who wanted to meet Jesus. He says that the hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. Jesus tells those listening that whoever serves him must also follow him; through serving, God the Father will be honored. It is a mini sermon…and a bit abstruse. He continues with a vulnerable, personal musing: “Now my soul is troubled. And what should I say – ‘Father, save me from this hour?’ No, it is for this reason that I have come to this hour. Father, glorify your name.”

John then reports as the narrator that a voice comes from heaven, sounding like thunder, saying “I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again.” The people are riveted. “An angel has spoken to him,” they say. Jesus responds that the voice was for the sake of those listening. So that they might believe. The conversation continues, with Jesus telling the crowd about his impending death.

The crowd is still hungry to understand and hear from the Messiah. Jesus says, “The light is with you for a little longer. Walk while you have the light, so that the darkness may not overtake you. If you walk in the darkness, you do not know where you are going. While you have the light, believe in the light, so that you may become children of light.”

And then Jesus walks off and hides from them.

Let’s be honest. That is a lot to digest…and as John tells it, Jesus finishes talking, departs, and conceals himself from them.

I can imagine if I was a member of the crowd, I would begin looking for Jesus to ask questions – and maybe the first would be, “Can you please repeat that?” I can think of a myriad of other questions I would pepper at the Messiah during hide-and-seek: Jesus, do you know the darkness that is in my life? Will you please pray for me? What do I do on the days that feel dark and hard and scary? Will you help me face my fears? Will you stay with me until I don’t feel so sad? What does it mean to believe in the light? Can I still believe when I can no longer see the light? Do children of light still have spaces of darkness and uncertainty – and why?

Perhaps you, too, have questions of faith and life that bubble up in your hide-and-seek moments with God. The Good News is that Jesus did not hide forever. He did not die forever. Rather, he defeated death by rising from the grave. It is that movement from cross to grave to eternal life that we remember in these days of Holy Week. I hope you will join us at Saint Stephen’s for the Triduum – the three days of worship from sundown on Maundy Thursday, to Good Friday, to the Easter Vigil on Saturday, and then Sunday morning. It will be a faith-filled time and I look forward to seeing you. 

Katherine+

Challenge and Self-Reflection:

 Think about the ways that you hide today. What about yourself do you hide? Who knows those things? How do you come to spaces to share with those you trust?

 Think about how you seek out others - for connection, for joy, for recreation. Who will you connect with this week? What truth will you seek?

'Who will separate us?' - March 24

Note: Next week we will not be posting Daily Reflections due to Spring Break. However, online Morning Prayer will continue as usual at 8:30 a.m. each day. You may find the lectionary readings for Morning Prayer each day here: http://satucket.com/lectionary/1Lent5.htm

Today’s Readings: AM Psalm 95* & 102; PM Psalm 107:1-32; Jer. 23:1-8; Rom. 8:28-39; John 6:52-59

Today’s Reflection

This week, some have reflected on the fact that we are three years out from the beginning of the COVID pandemic in the United States. As we read Paul’s words of encouragement to the Romans today (Romans 8:28-39), we can look back on all the changes and challenges of the past three years and feel encouraged that, through it all, we can trust that “all things work together for good for those who love God, who are called according to his purpose.”

Those words, while encouraging, can also be a bit disconcerting in that, when we are going through a challenging time, we may struggle to see how it is working for our good or for the good of those we love. Paul isn’t saying that we won’t go through hard things—in fact, he acknowledges several very hard things that followers of Christ, across time and place, experience: “hardship, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword.” His point is that, when we do face struggles of many kinds, “It is Christ Jesus, who died, yes, who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who indeed intercedes for us” (8:34). When we experience hard things, we can find comfort and strength in knowing that Christ, sitting at the right hand of God, intercedes for us.

Three years ago this week is a time full of intense memories. My daughters’ spring break was the week before, but since I could not take off from work that week, we had sent them off on a plane to Florida, where they would spend the week with my parents. I planned to join them at the end of their time there, and then as the reality of the pandemic set in, the schools extended their break for another week. While flying on a plane was beginning to be seen as a risky endeavor, I decided to fly on to Florida anyway with the plan that we would all return home to Texas at the end of the week.

While it was pleasant to be back in sunny Florida, seeing my parents and revisiting favorite places with my daughters, my hopes for reuniting with friends over lunch or dinner were quickly canceled. We could still enjoy outdoor places, but even a dash into Publix for a few items to take back to my parents’ home was stressful, as people were crowding into stores to stock up as if a hurricane were on the way. Then, the day after arriving in Florida, I learned that I may have been exposed to COVID the day before my trip, and that the person would learn whether or not their illness was COVID sometime later in the week. I decided not to tell my daughters or parents quite yet, as there was nothing I could do to change the fact that I may have already exposed them to it. By that Thursday, we learned that I had been exposed to COVID back in Texas, so we would need to quarantine for 14 days—a protocol that seems very familiar to us now, but was still very scary and new to us then.

As Paul wrote, “Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will hardship, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? … No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (8:35, 37-39). I like what Michael Gorman, a scholar of Paul’s letters, observes about this language of being more than conquerors: “Paul’s attitude was that those in Christ ‘hyper-conquer’ (Gk. hypernikao) in the midst of suffering because they know God’s love and possess a sure hope as they suffer. Therefore, nothing in all creation… can separate believers from God’s love and purpose in Christ for his children” (Gorman, Apostle of the Crucified Lord, 378). Nothing, not even a global pandemic—or whatever seems to us at the time like the worst possible circumstances—can separate us from the love of Christ. That is a truth we can always hold onto and take comfort in.

Becky+

Questions for Self-Reflection

Recall a time when you felt overwhelmed by what life was throwing at you. How did you keep going and conquer it? Who offered you support and love? Looking back, can you see the evidence of God’s presence with you more clearly now?

Daily Challenge

To reflect further on how Romans 8 can help us think through the spiritual implications of the pandemic, read this interview with New Testament scholar, N.T. Wright.

Give us this bread always – March 22

Today’s Readings: AM Psalm 101, 109:1-4(5-19)20-30; PM Psalm 119:121-144
Jer. 18:1-11; Rom. 8:1-11; John 6:27-40

Today’s Reflection

For the bread of God is that which comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.’ They said to him, ‘Sir, give us this bread always.’  John 6:33-34

After the vestry meeting last night, I made a few phone calls on the way home. Sam and the kids had just finished baseball practice and stopped at the grocery store to pick up something for dinner. What they brought home was a hodge-podge in which everyone got to eat just what they wanted. A Cuban sandwich. Chicken and veggie ramen. A Lunchable. Chicken tortilla soup. And a baguette to share. After a quick warming in the oven, the bread was crisp on the outside and warm on the inside. Butter spread easily over the steaming loaf.

Sam turned on “The Music Man” and we enjoyed our meals. The kids were transfixed by the salesmen singing on the train, speeding up and slowing down with the cadence of the locomotive. They were delighted by the rivaling school board turned barber shop quartet. We watched this movie that has been a soul-warming one for me.

When I read the gospel appointed for today in John 6, I think about the bread my family ate last night. It was especially satisfying. And the time together was especially satisfying. It felt like a treat – on a Tuesday night in Lent.

I try to remember that evenings like this- those that feel holy and good – are gifts from God. There will be bumps in the day ahead and I may feel unsatisfied or frustrated. I will get hungry again and the bread will not be as good. Or I will forget where I am most nourished. Jesus reminds us of the true source of goodness: “Very truly, I tell you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, but it is my Father who gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is that which comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.”

It is bread given in love. It is bread filled with grace. It is bread that gathers all to the table. It is bread that sustains and fills us through the darkest of times.

Let us say in return, “Sir, give us this bread always.”

Katherine+

Questions for Self-Reflection:

Think about when you have felt satisfied this week. Who was there? What was happening? What happened next?

Daily Challenge:

Pay attention to moments today that feel satisfying. When you feel full or enough, if even for a moment. Take a deep breath and then exhale. Pray a simple prayer of thanksgiving to God.

God Enough - March 20

Today’s Readings: AM Psalm 89:1-18; PM Psalm 89:19-52; Jer. 16:10-21; Rom. 7:1-12; John 6:1-15

God creates.  And while the first action of God might have been to create out of nothingness, every action thereupon action ever since has been taking what is already there and turning it into something beautiful.  God uses water to create living creatures (Gen 1:24).  When God creates humanity, God takes the red clay (Adamah), shapes it, and breathes life into it, and we have humanity (Adam).  God takes what is there and makes it beautiful, meaningful, and useful. 

How often do we turn to the outside to look for help?   The hiring of a consultant?  A self-help book for outside answers to problems that we know better than anyone else?  Or if we can just go away to meet some experts we can come back changed or transformed?  Or maybe more in line with today’s Gospel, we don’t realize our own capacity for God to use what is already there in our life to breathe hope and life into this world.

Maybe even more challenging is the feeling of “not enough” that seems to define the protestant work ethic.  We don’t have enough yet, or not until that next big promotion.  Or our church isn’t quite large enough, or our home isn’t quite big enough, or we didn’t put enough hours in at work?  Or we didn’t get into the best school or college.  Will it really be enough?

Today’s Gospel is the feeding of the five thousand.  Jesus takes five loaves and two fish and the disciples are able to feed more people than could possibly imagine.  Maybe Jesus multiplied the fish and bread.  Maybe people trusted in being generous and that they had more than enough to share and go around. In a world of scarcity, both stories would be miracles.  And in both cases, the disciples (through Christ) have more than they realize, and more than they need.

When I think of this story in the context of our Lenten journey, maybe the stripping down of the excesses in our life is to expose that what is underneath is good enough.  It is good enough because it comes from God and God has given us more than we need.  God takes what is there and makes it beautiful, meaningful, and useful.  God takes you and me.

John+

Questions for Self-Reflection:  Where does the feeling of “not enough” intersect with your life?

Daily Challenge:  See what you can eliminate from your life that leads to the feeling of inadequacy.   Consider how Lent can help with this.

‘My spirit was stirred up’ - March 17

Today’s Readings: Feast of Saint Patrick of Ireland Psalm 96; 1 Thessalonians 2:1-8; Matthew 28:16-20 

Today’s Reflection: 

“Because God is God, there are purposes in which we belong which are larger than our purposes.”

Walter Brueggemann, a Biblical scholar, wrote these words, which sum up well the common thread between today’s readings from Genesis and Luke. Loving our enemies is all about setting aside our own preferences and purposes in favor of something bigger, of something beyond ourselves. 

About 400 years after the birth of Jesus, a 16-year-old in what we know today as Scotland was kidnapped by raiders who took him to Ireland where he lived as a slave for six years, forced to work herding swine. Before being forced into slavery, he had grown up in religious family, the son of a deacon and grandson of a priest, but he had not been particularly religious himself. But under these changed, more harsh life circumstances, the young man turned his life more toward God, and became a person of prayer amidst his life as a slave. Later he wrote that, “My love and fear of God increased greatly, and my faith grew, and my spirit was stirred up” (Patrick’s Confessions, quoted in Mystics & Miracles, p. 155). It was through prayer that the young man heard God telling him to flee to a boat some 200 miles away—so he escaped the pastures and made his way to the port he had heard the voice directing him toward. 

After being reunited with his family, the young man discerned a call to the priesthood and a call to return to Ireland. After training and working as a priest in France for over 20 years, the man eventually made his way back to Ireland, just as he had been called to do. He returned as the Bishop of Ireland and is well known to us today as Ireland’s patron, Saint Patrick. Discerning a call to return to the land where he had been forced to live as a slave, called to lead the entire island to faith in the love of Christ, Patrick was faithful to the teaching of Jesus: “Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you.” 

As we reflect on our lives today, let us pray that God will direct our hearts to love not just those who it’s easy for us to love, but especially that God will direct our hearts to love those whom it is most difficult for us to love. 

Picture for a moment in your mind a particular person, maybe even a group of people, who feels like an enemy to you on some level—someone who frustrates or annoys you, someone who has wronged you, someone who is working against you, or someone who is working against all that is most important to you. Carry this person or these people with you into prayer this day, and throughout this coming week. Pray that God will help you to love them as Jesus commands. 

Becky+ 

Daily Challenge 

You may read more about the life and faith of Saint Patrick here. 

A Prayer for Saint Patrick’s Day 

Almighty God, in your providence you chose your servant Patrick to be the apostle to the Irish people, to bring those who were wandering in darkness and error to the true light and knowledge of you: Grant us so to walk in that way that we may come at last to the light of everlasting life; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and ever. Amen. 

A heart-broken God – March 15

Today’s Readings: AM Psalm 119:97-120; PM Psalm 81, 82
Jer. 8:18-9:6; Rom. 5:1-11; John 8:12-20

Today’s Reflection

In conversations, sometimes I hear people say things like, “God is calling me to a new role,” or “I just don’t know what God wants for me.” This is one of the ways we live into our Christian faith – by listening to where God is calling us to go and be and do.

I wonder…what are God’s dreams for you? And for me? That space of curiosity feels hopeful. And then, when we wake up and behold what is in front of us, there are distractions, impediments, and choices that take us down different paths. Those winding paths do not remove God from us…and we might change our focus to things of this world that take our eyes from the light of our Lord.

In the message from the prophet Jeremiah this morning, we meet a heart-broken God. The Lord says, “My joy is gone, grief is upon me, my heart is sick.” (8:18) These words make me quake with sadness and regret. The people of Israel are doubting God, or God’s faithfulness. They fear they are abandoned. They cry out, “Is the LORD not in Zion?...The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we are not saved.” (v. 19b, 20)

God is not angry here. God is sad. “For the hurt of my poor people I am hurt, I mourn, and dismay has taken hold of me.” (v. 21) It is unmistakable that the Israelites are suffering, and it is painful to behold. The dream of faithfulness and closeness feels so far away. And God is grieving.

Jeremiah shares a perspective of God that is visceral and proximate. God says, “Is there no balm in Gilead? Is there no physician there? Why then has the health of my poor people not been restored? O that my head were a spring of water and my eyes a fountain of tears, so that I might weep day and night for the slain of my poor people!” (8:22 – 9:1)

Gilead was the region in the north of Israel’s territory, known for its copious medicinal herbs. People would get healing plants from there or would receive treatment using those leaves. God wonders why the illness and affliction are persisting. And then, God weeps. So much so that springs of water pour out like a fountain of tears. Have you ever wept that much for a deep loss? Did it feel like it was beyond recovery? What a painful place God is in during these verses in Jeremiah…and God meets us here when we find ourselves in a similar place of solitude and disappointment.

In Ecclesiastes, the preacher often writes that there is nothing new under the sun. God is present in the hopes and the hurts. This excerpt from the prophet Jeremiah reminds us that God weeps with us. God’s dreams for us sometimes shatter and fall to the floor. And yet, God still wants to know us and draw us near. That is what the abiding love of the Divine looks like.

Katherine+

Questions for Self-Reflection:

Our choices can lead us away from God. Take time today to revisit the Litany of Penitence on page 267 of the Book of Common Prayer. Pray that this time of prayer will draw you nearer to the God who loves, redeems, and receives us because of the love of Jesus.

Lament - March 13, 2023

Today’s Readings: AM Psalm 80; PM Psalm 77, [79]; Jer. 7:1-15; Rom. 4:1-12; John 7:14-36 

I sat down with a friend last week who is conducting a research project at Samford University on the use of lament in worship.  We were checking in as Saint Stephen’s is one of the churches that is participating in his project.  Most of the nondenominational or other denomination churches in the project did not have an active use of lament in worship.  However, I shared how we read the Psalter and for those who engage in morning prayer or the daily reading of scripture, we read all of the Psalms every seven weeks!  We lament in worship by not glossing over the challenging texts, by praying, and by offering the Great Litany on the first Sunday in Lent.  My friend asked me a challenging question that followed my response, “John, did the use of lament give you tools that have helped you grieve and find hope through the last year?” 

I’m struck by his words and the challenge of his question.  I’m not sure I want to answer it, but I do turn to Psalm 80 which will be read this morning.  The Psalm begins by asking for God’s help and laments the challenges of the world.  The people cry out, “O Lord God of hosts, how long will you be angered despite the prayers of your people… You have made us the derision of our neighbors, and our enemies laugh us to scorn.”  Later in the Psalm, we hear “Why have you broken down its wall so that all who pass by pluck off its grapes?  The wild boar of the forest has ravaged it, and the beasts of the field have grazed upon it.”  We gain the impression that God’s faithful people have experienced exceptional hardship and their answer is to acknowledge it, it is to cry out to God, and then ask “Restore us, O Lord God of hosts; show the light of your countenance, and we shall be saved.” 

When we see lament in scripture, it almost always turns hopeful, but it doesn’t shy away from the hard truth that sometimes life is difficult. If you don’t resonate with the Psalmist today, then thanks be to God.  And I offer, that maybe there is wisdom in reading these words over and over, because life will have its ups and downs, and the challenge for all of us is to know to turn to God not only when life is easy and smooth but in the valleys, too.  “Restore us, O Lord God of hosts; show the light of your countenance, and we shall be saved.”

John+

Questions for Self-Reflection:  Have you considered the use of the lament Psalms in your own faith development?  How often do you turn to give thanks to God when you go through a tough time. 

Daily Challenge:  Read all of the Psalms appointed for today.  Consider making this practice alone part of your daily practice.

March 13, 2023

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"Everything I had ever Done" - March 6, 2023

‘The Lord lifts up those who are bowed down’ - March 10

Today’s Readings: Psalm 146; Judges 9:50-55; Luke 11:5-10  

Today’s Reflection

Happy are they who have the God of Jacob for their help! whose hope is in the Lord their God; Who made heaven and earth, the seas, and all that is in them; who keeps his promise for ever; Who gives justice to those who are oppressed, and food to those who hunger. The Lord sets the prisoners free; the Lord opens the eyes of the blind; the Lord lifts up those who are bowed down; The Lord loves the righteous; the Lord cares for the stranger; he sustains the orphan and widow, but frustrates the way of the wicked. Psalm 146: 4-8

Today is the feast day of Harriet Tubman, who escaped slavery to find freedom in Canada, but ended up returning to the United States where she helped hundreds of others escape to freedom in her role as one of the key conductors of the Underground Railroad. While it’s always appropriate to remember and honor the work of Tubman and others like her who have put their lives on the line to offer the hope of freedom to others, it’s especially timely this week as the House of Bishops of the Episcopal Church have been meeting at our own Camp McDowell.

Yesterday, 150 bishops went on pilgrimage to Montgomery, where they spent time reflecting on the legacy of slavery, segregation, and systemic racism in the United States. As they toured the sacred spaces of the Equal Justice Initiative’s Legacy Museum and National Memorial for Peace and Justice, and spent time with EJI founder and civil rights attorney Bryan Stevenson, bishops from around the Episcopal Church had the opportunity not simply to engage with our nation’s history but also to engage spiritually with the responsibility we all have as Christ followers to take up the cause of “lifting up those who are bowed down,” as we read in Psalm 146 (the Psalm appointed for the Feast Day of Harriet Tubman).

In my February 5 sermon on “Repairing the Breach,” I reflected with you on stories of how people around the Episcopal Church, including at Virginia Theological Seminary and at Sewanee, the University of the South, have been prayerfully discerning and then acting to do what they can to “repair the breach” and “lift up those who are bowed down” by the enduring legacy of slavery, segregation, and systemic racism in our country. At the close of that sermon, I shared these reflections:

Needless to say, talk of making reparations, removing icons, renaming streets and buildings, and any number of other actions meant to promote racial justice, healing, and reconciliation, can prove controversial for the people who make up a school, a church, a Diocese, or a community. Talk of such things may bring up, for some, feelings of guilt or defensiveness. We may wonder what we can do to atone for the sins of our ancestors, or to repair relationships and institutions broken by previous generations. Here is where turning again to the prophet Isaiah can help us begin to discern what God is calling us to do, as people in 2023 who are living both with the consequences and the advantages set into motion by those who enslaved and segregated and even lynched people solely because of the color of their skin.

And yet, as uncomfortable as this may make us feel, as Christians we are called, as the Apostle Paul said in 2 Corinthians, to be ministers of reconciliation; or as Isaiah proclaimed, we are called to rebuild the ancient ruins, to raise up foundations for the generations, to repair the breach, and to restore the streets to live in. So, it may help us to think of the different ways repairing the breach may play out. Sometimes, we are the ones who have created the breach, or divide, through what we have said or left unsaid, through things we have done or left undone. Other times, we are the ones who see the hurt someone else has done, and when we notice it, we then have a responsibility to do what we can to begin to make things right. And still other times, we may inherit a breach or hurt that someone else set into motion, long, long ago, as with those of us who have ancestors who enslaved others, or upheld segregating traditions, or chose to look the other way when someone in their town was lynched. I imagine that each one of us here today, myself included, can identify with at least one of these three scenarios: we have created a breach, we have observed a breach, or we have inherited a breach.

Ultimately, we are called to be repairers of the breach because we are called to live like Jesus, who through his incarnation—living and dying as one of us—brought God and humanity together for all time. Jesus repaired the breach; we are called to follow him and do the same. The work of repairing the breach was difficult, even for God. And so it is for us. This work we are called to do, as repairers of the breach, as ministers of reconciliation, requires the courage to confront great suffering and to consider great sacrifice. This work we are called to do will require our effort, our energy, our commitment, and our time. Slavery was a wound it took 400 years to inflict. We cannot be surprised if it takes 400 years to heal. We cannot wait another day.

Becky+

P.S. If you are interested in joining with others from Saint Stephen’s to make a one-day pilgrimage to Montgomery later this spring, please email me at becky@ssechurch.org and I will add you to the list of those who have expressed interest in experiencing this pilgrimage together.

Moment for Reflection

O God, whose Spirit guides us into all truth and makes us free: Strengthen and sustain us as you did your servant Harriet Ross Tubman. Give us vision and courage to stand against oppression and injustice and all that works against the glorious liberty to which you call all your children; through Jesus Christ our Savior, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Prophets - March 8, 2023

Today’s readings: AM Psalm 72; PM Psalm 119:73-96; Jer. 3:6-18; Rom. 1:28-2:11; John 5:1-18

Prophets really fascinate me. As a kid, I watched fantasy flick "The Neverending Story". I loved that film. While reading a book, the boy is compelled on an amazing adventure in search and fulfillment of a prophesy to bring hope to the world by giving the princess a new name. There are oracles, amusing characters, and perilous challenges.

Today we read from the prophet Jeremiah. It is another of our appointed passages perfectly suited for Lent. Jeremiah speaks the truth of the day to the people of God, who continue to go astray from God. Here is the part I am most drawn toward:  

Return, O faithless children,

says the Lord,

   for I am your master;

I will take you, one from a city and two from a family,

   and I will bring you to Zion.

I will give you shepherds after my own heart, who will feed you with knowledge and understanding. (3:14, 15)

Jeremiah's words speak of how God will move faithful people from place to place at times, and yet they will be cared for and nourished. These poetic verses are beautiful as I sit with them on a Wednesday morning, preparing to head out of town for a conference in Jacksonville, Florida, with the leadership of our parish.

May you and I know and feel the compassionate care of God today, as we repent of the ways we have been astray. As we have been stubborn and self-focused. God waits for us to return to fix our hearts on the Divine. There is hope and healing in store for us on this adventure.

Katherine+

Challenge and Self-Reflection: In the season of Lent, when we talk about repentance and returning to God, what characteristics of God do you imagine? What do you feel when you think about God?

"Everything I had ever Done" - March 6, 2023

Today’s Readings: AM Psalm 56, 57, [58]; PM Psalm 64, 65; Jer. 1:11-19; Rom. 1:1-15; John 4:27-42

Have you ever tried to keep something from God?  I know this sounds silly, and we know that all things are known to God, but I would wager that all of us have things only known to ourselves and God, things done and left done in the past that we have kept buried deep down.  The idea of sharing everything we have ever done with a person, every selfish thought, every judgmental word or consideration.  And yet this is preciously what happens to the woman who encounters Jesus in the fourth chapter of John.  She doesn’t leave feeling guilty or compelled by shame. Instead, she wonders if he is the Messiah, and her testimony drives others on a quest. 

I shared a few weeks ago that Confession is an act that Episcopalians can use as a tool to help deepen their spiritual lives.  When a person confesses to God, it is not that they are sharing with God what God doesn’t know.  Voicing that confession to God by offering it in front of a priest, is allowing what has been done to no longer live hidden in the closet of someone’s ego, slowly wearing someone down with guilt or shame.  Confession helps someone to know that God’s love is even larger, and salvation has no limits or boundaries. 

The Samaritans are deeply moved that this woman is testifying that Jesus has told her everything that she has done.  And the Samaritan people don’t run and hide, they actively seek out Jesus and invite him into their lives. 

Lent is a season where we are called to self-exploration, intentional reflection on our own limitations, where we have not done our best, where we have left things undone, and where we have done wrong.  The reminder of Jesus’s encounter with the woman at the well is that this is Good news.  Self-reflection leads to fully knowing God’s love and grace, no matter how long that list is.  And she said, “He told me everything that I had ever done!”  And she found life and salvation and so did many in her community.   Thanks be to God.

John+

Questions for Self-Reflection:  Are there things that you are too difficult or painful to look back on?  Consider if these memories have kept you from the fullness of life.

Daily Challenge:  It’s not too late to make an appointment with a clergyperson to hear your confession.  This is where the bind of confidentiality between clergy and parishioner exists (unless someone is confessing future harm).

A Very Lenty Moses - March 1, 2023

Today’s Readings: AM Psalm 119:49-72; PM Psalm 49, [53]
Deut. 9:13-21; Heb. 3:12-19; John 2:23-3:15 

How very Lenten that our Old Testament readings this week take us through a portion of Deuteronomy. Moses has the floor. He preaches a long sermon of truth. He admonishes the Israelites for their sinfulness and implores them to remain faithful to God – to follow the commandments. He reminds them to stay humble and grateful to the Lord, even when life is going well, for it is God who brought them through Egypt and out of slavery.

Moses issues warnings that if the Israelites forget the Lord as their God, following other gods and idols, perishing and punishment will ensue. He reminds them of the times when they have angered God, provoking holy wrath. Each time, Moses goes to bat on behalf of these stubborn, stiff-necked people. He lays prostrate before God, denying himself bread, water, and earthly pleasures – to pray, protect, and defend them to the Lord God. Moses reminds the people that God was so angry at them for making an idol – the calf – while Moses was upon the mountain getting the two stone tablets of the covenant.

Each time, Moses lays on the ground, face down, not moving before the Lord. He lowers himself and prays. This bearer of the Law tells the people what his prayer is: “Lord God, do not destroy the people who are your very own possession, whom you redeemed in your greatness, whom you brought out of Egypt with a mighty hand. Remember your servants, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; pay no attention to the stubbornness of this people, their wickedness and their sin, otherwise the land from which you have brought us might say, ‘Because the Lord was not able to bring them into the land that he promised them, and because he hated them, he has brought them out to let them die in the wilderness.’ For they are the people of your very own possession, whom you brought out by your great power and by your outstretched arm.” (Deut. 9:26-29)

Moses is one bold man. He speaks truth. He stays grounded. He stands tall with the commandments of the Lord. And he is willing to humble himself before God, representing the people of Israel in a more faithful manner than they deserve. Moses shows the Israelites what faithfulness can truly look like, when grounded in the one and only Lord.

Katherine+

Questions for Self-Reflection:

Read chapters 8 and 9 of Deuteronomy. Take in the scope of Moses' words to the Israelites. Listen for the questions that arise in you. Where do you respect Moses? Where do you wish to interject? What prayer do you have for yourself and others after sitting with this holy scripture?

A Work in Progress - February 27

Today’s Readings: AM Psalm 41, 52; PM Psalm 44; Deut. 8:11-20; Heb. 2:11-18; John 2:1-12

Many years ago, when I was a youth minister, we used to have a large fundraiser every year to help our young people go on pilgrimage.  The fundraiser was a fancy dinner cooked by our youth and included a wonderful silent and live auction.  One of the families involved would always donate an extremely large bottle of wine, which if my memory serves me correctly was nine liters, the equivalent of an entire case of wine.  I’d never seen anything quite like it before, an enormous offering and certainly only appropriate for a party.

I think of those large bottles of wine when I read the wedding miracle at Cana, our Gospel reading for this Monday. In this reading, Jesus takes six large stone jars, each that would hold twenty to thirty gallons of water, and turns the water into wine. For comparison’s sake, these jars were probably three to four times the size of one of the large bottles of wine from the youth fundraiser. I am betting it was one lively celebration. 

Six is an interesting number in the Christian faith.  It is one just shy of completion.  Seven is a number that symbolizes completion and perfection. God creates the heavens and the earth in seven days.  Yes, the day of rest is necessary for the creation process.  In Luke, Jesus offers seven statements from the cross as he completes his earthly life, and in the Gospel of John, there are seven signs that point to the miracle of Jesus, and seven “I am” statements so that we come to know the meaning of Jesus for each of us. But in the wedding narrative, there are only six stone jars. 

One reading of this text could be that the story is yet to be finished, or the party is yet to be complete.  That is a wonderful reminder of our own lives too in the season of Lent.  We have a chance to reflect on our mortality, to reflect on ways we can grow and be more faithful, all because the story of God’s work in our lives is not quite complete.  God still has work to do, and we still have others to invite into the story to make it more complete. 

Our Christian faith is a journey.  And while God’s love is made fully manifest in each of our lives, our life lived out in faith is a work in progress.  In a penitential season, this is remarkably good news, because it means the work that we confess is left undone, is not the last bit of work.  And the banquet that God has invited us to is still waiting for us to arrive.  And there is more wine to be had, the gift of God being made fully manifest.

Faithfully,

John+

Questions for Self-Reflection:  What parts of your own faith story do you see in progress?  How do you anticipate growing in your faith?
Daily Challenge:  There are many ways of growing in your faith at Saint Stephen’s.  You can read the program guide here, talk to a clergyperson, or sign up for a class. If you don’t live near Saint Stephen’s consider doing one of our online classes or a class at your local church.

'What are you looking for?' February 24

Today’s Readings: AM Psalm 95 & 31; PM Psalm 35; Deut. 7:12-16; Titus 2:1-15; John 1:35-42 

Today’s Reflection

In today’s Gospel passage, John comes to a new orientation when he gains divine clarity about who Jesus is and what he had come to do. What is John’s response to taking on this new orientation? He wants others also to know that Jesus is the Lamb of God. The next day, when John is out with Andrew and another disciple, he cannot help but proclaim excitedly, when he sees Jesus passing by, “Look, here is the Lamb of God!”

John proclaims to his friends that Jesus is the Lamb of God. And how do they respond? They go off to follow Jesus as he keeps walking down the road. Jesus notices them following him and asks them, “What are you looking for?,” but knowing of course that they were looking for him. The two disciples ask, “Rabbi, where are you staying?”

Jesus over-accepts and says, “Come and see.” Come be with me. Come spend time with me. Come see for yourself and listen and wonder anything you want.

So, when I say Jesus over-accepts, what does that mean? In the world of improvisational theatre and comedy, there’s a concept called over-accepting. In improvisation, one improviser makes an offer the next. In order the keep the improvisation going, the person to whom the offer will say “Yes, and…” In a first-year seminary class, we read a book about how all this helps us make sense of the Christian faith and how we are to live that out: “When someone makes us an offer, or gives us a gift, it leads us to wonder: How can this gift be understood or used in a good and faithful way? What does the way we accept this gift say about the kind of people we are and want to be? What can or has this gift become in the kingdom of God? Where is it perceived to fit into the story of the way God deals with his people and how that fitting in takes place?” (Wells, Improvisation, 2015).

To me, how Jesus’ offer to “Come and see” is a truly clarifying moment in Jesus’ incarnation. Jesus came to be with us. Jesus was open. Instead of feeling bothered by these two men following him up the street and wanting to know where he was staying, Jesus was ready for them. He didn’t just tell them where he was staying or half-heartedly suggest they stop by tomorrow. Instead, he says, “Come and see.” As in right this very minute. Even though it was four o’clock, maybe a great time to finally get back to the house to take a nap or do something relaxing at the end of a long day. But Jesus says, come on over. Let’s talk. Come find what it is you are looking for with me.

Becky+

Moment for Reflection

When has someone responded to something you have shared or something you have done with over-acceptance? I wonder how that choice to over-accept influenced or deepened your sense of connection and friendship.

Today’s reflection is an excerpt from my January 15 sermon, which you can listen to here.