13 Dec - The Light Is Coming

Philippians 4:4-7, Luke 3:7-18

What’s different about this Sunday than the other three Sundays of Advent? I’m wearing pink. We lit the pink candle. Today is Gaudete Sunday, a day midway through a penitential or preparatory season. It is a reminder that light is coming, light is there, that God is with us and, in particular today, to be joyful and filled with gladness. And how did it get the name Gaudete Sunday? From the Latin; it starts Gaudete in Domino semper:

Rejoice in the Lord always. Again I say rejoice; let your forebearance be known to all, for the Lord is near at hand; have no anxiety about anything, but in all things, by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be known to God.



Sound familiar? It was the Epistle from today.

When I was thinking about these readings, a phrase came to me: Rejoice, rejoice, you brood of vipers! Because the first lesson is all about “rejoice” and the second lesson is about “rejoice” and then the line that everyone remembers from the gospel is “you brood of vipers!” I think that’s okay because John is actually spreading good news, even though he calls us a brood of vipers. He prepares us by challenging us to repent and to be humble. How does he do this?

John Pilch writes: “What is an American believer to make of the Baptizer’s exhortations? Greed, selfishness, and abuse of power and position are still with us.” Indeed they are. So prepare and be humble. Prepare by repenting, by living by the ethical code that John sets out for the crowds and the tax collectors and the soldiers; in that way you show that we’re preparing; we show our good works – the fruits.

John’s humility shows up in that he discerns the hearts of those around him as thinking: “Hey! Is this the Messiah?” He responds: “No. I am but the one who’s been sent to prepare the way. One far, far greater than me is coming.” Also he humbles himself by not withholding baptism. He baptizes with water to help prepare us and help us to be humble.

This time of year sometimes the light, the joyfulness, the gladness can be overwhelming and, for some, be unwelcome. Some have experienced a loss…of someone important to them, of a job and the last thing that they want to do is rejoice. And you know what? That’s okay! I’m reminded of what Bishop Lee said in his sermon to us five weeks ago: “grief is the price we pay for love”. In experiencing the love, we’ve had the joyfulness and the gladness and we can rejoice in that, even within the grief. Let the memories of the joy seep in.

Today is about a reminder of the light coming.

Try to let it in, remembering that God is with us always.

And for that…that is something for which we can indeed rejoice.

Peace,

The Rev. M.E. Eccles, LPC

6 Dec - God Is At The Heart Of Events

Philippians 1:3-11, Luke 3:1-6

In this season of Advent, we meet John the Baptist. John is preaching in the wilderness, calling people to purify themselves as a preparation for being involved in the new kind of society he believed was coming. To get his message across, John echoed the prophet Isaiah, who had spoken to Israel centuries before, when a wholly new future awaited their return from exile – to Jerusalem.

John believed that a great change was coming again to Israel. God was bringing about that change. So John called men and women to offer themselves to God’s service in bringing about this new age.

Does any of this sound familiar to us today? It should, because there are many signs that we are a generation who is asked by God to move through much change and danger and discovery – to a new kind of society and a new chapter in history. If that is true, what is there that we can learn from this passage in Luke? The great lesson we Christians can learn from the genius of Judaism, and it is important that we do, is that throughout their history, no matter what was happening: whether is was good or bad, joyous or terrible, successful or failing, the Jewish people always saw God at the heart of events.

We can attempt to apply this vision to our time, and to our lives. We are faced with immense change, in society and in the church. In that change is not only immense threat and danger, but also tremendous possibility. The question haunting us all is “How are we human beings going to respond to this time?” fearful as it sometimes is. As followers of Christ, we have every motivation to respond with confidence and a sense of “call,” of vocation. If God is at the heart of all that is happening, then we are called to nothing less than the formation of a new future with God. What an incredible calling for us, both individually, and communally, in this parish family!

Peace,

Fr. Bob+

29 Nov - What If We Don't Worry?

Advent is a time of paradox for Christians. Society is focused on getting ready for the holidays – Black Friday…Cyber Monday – time to get all the deals at the stores and online. But Advent is actually theologically focused on the future. It’s not focused on the Nativity. The Nativity is passed; God has come among us already. But rather, it’s focused on the Parousia – a fancy word for the second coming; that’s the future.

Jesus, in his lesson to the disciples, is trying to prepare them for the Parousia. And he warns of three things that can get in the way of that preparation. The first is dissipation. Dissipation is the opposite of stewardship. It is wastefulness and consumption for just that purpose. Then, there’s drunkenness and I’m not sure that Jesus means specifically alcohol. I think he means anything that dulls our senses and that gets in the way of our mental and physical abilities. And finally, he says: “the worries of this life” – this life. Worry is the opposite of faith. Worry is spending a great deal of energy on nothing. There is nothing to show for worry.

Life is full of changes. There are marriages, births, graduations, changing jobs, retirement, even death. And all of those – even though they’re endings – are also new beginnings filled with hope and joy.



Worries. I’m a worrywart; I fully admit it. And though I’m not going to share all my worries with you, know that I hope to move through and let go of them this Advent. I think it’s interesting to think about the focus of worry. What’s our perspective? Lindy Black, a theologian, wrote about the parable that’s in Luke’s gospel about the fig tree. One might look at that parable and think: oh, it’s a warning for the doom. But Lindy writes that she views the fig tree as a promise of hope. It’s really hard to let go of the old. But if we let go of the old, we make room for God who is already present.

What worries do you have?

What might happen if you let them go?

Peace,

The Rev. M.E. Eccles, LPC

22 Nov - Practicing Thanksgiving

Before it was a noun, “thanksgiving” was a verb. The difference matters.

A desert father once said:

“If you have a chest full of oranges, and leave it for a long time,

the fruit will rot inside of it.

It is the same with the thoughts in our heart.

If we do not carry them out by physical action,

after a while they will spoil and turn bad.”

Living thankfully is not essentially about feeling thankful, or even being thankful. To live thankfully is to act differently day by day because we are compelled by the Spirit to participate in the generous life of God-with-us, constantly practicing thanks-giving.

“Have a good Thanksgiving,” we say to one another beforehand. And afterward, we ask, “How was your Thanksgiving?” assuming the word to be a noun.

But as a verb, as a spiritual practice, what is thanksgiving all about?

Giving thanks is actually central to the practice of Christianity.

It is a golden thread, woven through and uniting all we do as Christians.

At Thanksgiving, we celebrate the gift of the harvest. We do so actively. As Charles Winters put it in his wonderful prayer, which is offered by many just before the Great Thanksgiving in celebrations of the Eucharist:

“We make, O Lord, our glorious exchanges.

What you have given us, we now offer you,

that in turn, we may receive yourself.”

From "Sermons That Work," Steve Kelsey, missioner of the Greater Hartford Regional Ministry in Connecticut.

15 Nov - They Become Dust

Hebrews 10:11-14, (15-18), 19-25; Mark 13:1-8

Jesus’ disciple points out how big the stones are and Jesus says: it will all be dust.

We create and we destroy. The temple is created by humankind and it became an idol and Jesus said: it will become dust. And we see evidence of this not just with the fall of the temple but with the fall of other beautiful buildings: the Parthenon, the Coliseum. What will be left from our journey in civilization? I don’t know.

When Jesus says it will all be dust, the disciples say “well, when? When is this going to happen? What are the signs going to be?” It might sound like he answers the question of what the signs are going to be – that there’s going to be war and earthquakes and famine, but that’s not what he’s saying. He’s saying there’s going to be wars and earthquakes and famine, but that those are just the trials that we have to live through and that we have to be hopeful through, because they are the things with which the earth, Mother Nature and humankind are about. But Jesus doesn’t know when the end-time is going to be. Even he says: only the Father know. So there are no signs.

Jesus says to be careful, to not be led astray, to be careful of distractions. Many have been led astray by religious zealots – Jim Jones for example, and others. But they’re not the only ones who lead us astray. There are financial gurus and self-help people and politicians that distract us and all say that “we have the answer. We have the answer to happiness. We have the answer to wholeness.” Jesus says: discern.

And Jesus says to be hopeful. To hopeful through all of these trials; there are things that we have to live through – that’s just the way it is. This chapter precedes the Passion and he exemplifies what he says by living through the trial, the scourging, the walk to the cross, the crucifixion, all so he could get to the resurrection so he could save us.

Be discerning. Be hopeful.

There’s a collect in the Anglican Book of Common Prayer (I couldn’t find it in ours), that I think speaks to this:

Eternal God, who committest to us the swift and solemn trust of life; since we do not know what a day may bring forth, but only that the hour for serving thee is always present, may we awake to the instant claims of thy holy will, not waiting for tomorrow, but yielding today.

Peace,

The Rev. M.E. Eccles, LPC

8 Nov - The Upside Down Perspective

Hebrews 9:24-28; Mark 12:38-44

Several years ago, someone recommended a book to me titled The Upside Down Kingdom. The book provides a framework for looking at Jesus’ teachings, pointing out how he frequently turns conventional thinking upside down. Think about it. A consistent theme in Jesus’ teachings is: “The first shall be last and the last shall be first.” Throughout his ministry, Jesus reached out to those who were considered lower, less worthy in the structure of society. He gave them the message through his words and his actions: ‘You are important. You are valued.’

But Jesus does more than simply reach out to people who were generally considered lower or less valuable. Sometimes he lifts them up, using them as a positive example for others. An example of this is the poor widow in the Gospel of Mark. Jesus singles her out in a crowd of people making donations at the temple in Jerusalem. People dropped their money into large metal containers. One could easily tell if the donation was large because heavier, more valuable coins made a louder sound. The widow, dependent on others to support her and with no rank in society, puts in two small coins, worth about a penny. Her contribution probably made little or no sound when she dropped it in. Jesus says to his followers, “Truly I tell you, this poor widow has put in more than all those who are contributing to the treasury. For all of them have contributed out of their abundance; but she out of her poverty has put in everything she had, all she had to live on.” A poor widow, ignored by most. A person who gives openly, without reservation. Generosity of heart. A lesson learned from an unexpected source.

Generosity of heart. Something we should all hope to have.

Peace,

Deacon Sue

1 Nov - Let's Be Saints-In-Progress

Hebrews 9:11-14; Mark 12:28-34

November 1st was All Saints’ Day, a major celebration in the Church. An occasion for us to look back and celebrate the great figures of the history of the Church. People who dared to speak out, to name injustices. People who proclaimed by their words and actions God’s love for all of God’s creation—especially those who were forgotten and ignored. All Saints’ Day. A time for us look around us. To recognize the people who seem larger than life. People who advocate for positive change in society. People whose strong faith and willingness to reach out to others provide an example for us.

What does it mean to be a saint? A saint is someone with broad vision, someone who firmly believes that God is at the center of life. That God is in us, around us. God is everywhere, in all of life. In our own lives, we are called to stretch our vision beyond our own lives and embrace God’s vision for the world. We call that vision the Kingdom of God. We are called to move beyond our own self-interest and follow Jesus’ commandment to love one another.

Saints are not just the great figures of the past, or people of the present that we think of as bigger than life. Saints are ordinary people, like you and me. People who are faithful. As people who are trying to be faithful, we can claim ourselves to be “saints-in-progress.” That is part of what we celebrate on All Saints’ Day: ourselves as potential saints.

Peace,

Deacon Sue

25 Oct - What Would We Ask For?

Hebrews 7:23-28; Mark 10:46-52

I’ve told you before, I think, that one way to read scripture is to try and put yourself in it; try and imagine yourself in it. The story of the healing of Bartimaeus is perfect for that exercise. Are you one of the crowd? Are we hushing people, not wanting them to come forward? And are we willing to let Jesus soften our hearts and bring those people forward to him?

Are we Bartimaeus? Are we blind, but we know that we can see…we can sense that there’s something out there? Are we calling to Jesus to have mercy and to heal us so that we can see clearly? Do we have the courage of Bartimaeus to throw the cloak off, get rid of earthly things, and concentrate on what Jesus is calling us to do?

Are we Jesus? Are we standing in front of someone in need, someone in pain, but not assuming we know what they need and are we asking: “what is it you want me to do for you?”

There is no right answer.

For myself, I feel kind of like Bartimaeus. But I’m a little scared to be Bartimaeus because, while he seems totally energetic and 100% on board, jumps in front of Jesus and says “heal me!” I feel overwhelmed and scared when I hear the question “what is it you want me to do for you”, So I know that I need to pray about that and figure out what I’m pushing and pulling from.

My hope is we can be like Bartimaeus. I hope that we can follow Jesus on the way. I hope that we can see what’s around us. And there’s a lot around us that we don’t like to see. There’s homelessness, disease, gun violence, war, domestic violence, abuse – you name it, the list goes on and on and on – the things that we hush. We need to bring them forward. We need to care.

So, I encourage you to pray about this passage. I encourage you to be like Bartimaeus – to be excited, to ask Jesus for mercy and for sight, and to follow him on the way.

Peace,

The Rev. M.E. Eccles, LPC

18 Oct - On The Way

Hebrews 5:1-10; Mark 10:35-45

Followers of Christ

“Faith in Christ is not first of all a matter of having felt something, or having had an experience. It is, rather, the simple willingness to stumble along behind Jesus – a willingness to be behind - - Christ. The Faith is in the following.

You may remember that the earliest name for followers of Jesus, according to the Acts of the Apostles, was: “the People of the Way.” The point is, the imitation of our apprenticeship – the way we got on the journey with Jesus – is not the most crucial matter. The crucial matter is that we are “on the way.”

To be on the way means to be, as a disciple, imitating the moves of the Master, Jesus, in all we do. Wherever you are, whatever you do, you are a disciple of Jesus. Following Jesus is not a matter of learning to do a few religious things – on top of the other things we do, but rather, a matter of doing all that we do, not for ourselves, but for Jesus. That makes for a seismic shift, a change in living, doesn’t it!

That’s surely why Jesus parables are stories about real life, and his teaching is about matters like anger, forgiveness, ordinary injustice, disappointment – the “stuff” of real life. Surely Jesus meant for us to follow him now, in this life, not just some other, far away time and place. And the world is right in judging Jesus, based on the sort of lives he produces. The only proof we have, the acid test for the validity of the gospel, is whether or not it is capable of changing lives, producing lives that are a credit to Jesus, the Master, to whom we are apprenticed.”

Peace,

Fr. Bob +

11 Oct - Sharper Than A Two-edged Sword

Hebrews 4:12-16; Mark 10:17-31

“Then who can be saved?” they asked Jesus.

How often we ask ourselves that very question. Oh yes, day to day we put on a good face and project an image of confidence to the world around us. Like the man in today’s gospel reading who seeks Jesus to ask how he might inherit eternal life, we like to believe we know all the answers and have done all the right things.

Jesus asserts that when the rubber meets the road, one must give it all away and follow him; but that strikes us as simply impossible. And like the man in the story, we are shocked and go away unhappy at best, frustrated and defeated at worst.

How true are the words from Hebrews:

“The word of God is living and active, sharper that any two-edged sword, piercing until it divides soul from spirit, joints from marrow; it is able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart. Before him no creature is hidden, but all are naked and laid bare to the eyes of the one to whom we must render an account.”

Deep down inside we know this to be absolutely true. We just wish Jesus, the Word made flesh, would save his ability to judge our thoughts and intentions for someone else. Anyone else.

Perhaps this can lead us to a closer understanding of what Jesus answers when they ask, “Who then can be saved?”

“For mortals it is impossible, but not for God; for God all things are possible.”

Drawing near to God seems to be the best way to make the journey. In the end, the meaning of life cannot be learned or understood. What is needed is fidelity to a way of living that transcends understanding.

The Rev. Kirk Alan Kubicek, rector of St. Peter's Church in Ellicott City, MD

4 Oct - Let The Children Come To Me

Hebrews 1:1-4, 2:5-12; Mark 10:2-16

What are the roots, the building blocks of your faith? In reading through the rich treasure of readings for last Sunday, the final part of the Gospel lesson caught my attention. Jesus has finished a long discussion with the Pharisees and his disciples about marriage and divorce. People are bringing children to him, so that he can touch them. The disciples object and speak sternly to them. Angered by their response, Jesus says to them, “Let the little children come to me; do not stop them; for it is to such as these that the kingdom of God belongs.” Then he gathers the children up in his arms and blesses them. “Let the little children come to me. . .” Those words evoked a strong childhood memory of hearing those words, probably in a Sunday School class As a small child, surrounded by a world where grownups were the important people and could do all kinds of things that I couldn’t, those words assured me. Children were valued. Children had a place in the world. Those words gave me an image of Jesus as someone who loved and welcomed children. It wasn’t much of a leap to figure out that, if Jesus welcomed children, he welcomed lots of other people as well.

As I have reflected on the memory of that childhood experience of the phrase from the Gospel of Mark, I am struck by how important such experiences are. They take root in us and thrive. They form a foundation for our faith, as we continue on in our journey into adulthood and old age. In my ministry as a hospice I spend a lot of time with people with dementia and with people who are so weak that they cannot communicate very well, if at all. When I read Scripture to them, especially the King James version of the 23rd Psalm, often they will respond. People who are confused and can barely put together a coherent sentence, will say along with me, “The Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want. . .” I have a similar experience when I say the Lord’s Prayer with these people. From somewhere deep within, those people call up their earliest experiences, the deep roots of their faith.

The roots come from other sources besides early religious training and other formal education. The building blocks of our faith come from all kinds of experience: experiences in our families, in the community where we grew up, in our travels. We learn by observing others. We learn from our own actions, by taking risks and succeeding, by taking risks and failing.

I invite you to reflect on your own life, your own experiences—especially ones from your childhood. Try to identify the deep roots of your faith.

Peace,

Deacon Sue

27 Sept - Seeing the Square

James 5:13-20; Mark 9:38-50

In today’s gospel, we hear the intriguing story of Jesus’ disciples trying to stop a man who had been casting out demons in Jesus’ name. They seem to have become especially upset because the offender was not one of them. In the eyes of the disciples, he was not part of the inner circle, and he was acting differently from what they considered to be the norm.

As soon as Jesus heard about it, he turned the tables on his closest followers and rebuked their blind, unbending exclusiveness. He told them not to stop the man, because whatever good is done in Jesus’ name would put him in a situation of not speaking evil of the Lord. And tellingly, Jesus concluded, “Whoever is not against us is for us.”

Jesus seems to be telling the disciples something like this: “Look for the commonality. Recognize that there are many among you who might work or think differently, but don’t jump to the conclusion that that makes them against you – or against me.”

The story of today’s gospel is about the disciples’ attempt to draw a circle around Jesus and themselves – shutting out the one who was casting out demons in Jesus’ name. Perhaps a concise, powerful poem by Edwin Markham can help us remember that Jesus ordered the disciples not to exclude that man and to recall that those who are not against us are for us.

In his poem “Outwitted,” Edwin Markham writes:

“He drew a circle that shut me out –
Heretic, rebel, a thing to flout.
But Love and I had the wit to win:
We drew a circle that took him in.”

-- The Rev. Ken Kesselus, author of John E. Hines: Granite on Fire
From "Sermons That Work"

20 Sept - Earthly Things

James 3:13 - 4:3, 7-8a, Mark 9:30-37

The collect today is, I think, apropos for our times. "Grant us, O Lord, not to be anxious about earthly things." In this time of economic and financial crisis, that speaks to me.

We’re taught to be ambitious; and ambition should lead to success, should lead to reward, which we often interpret to be financial reward. Where did Jesus say that our reward was financial? James writes about this in his letter. He’s writing to a community that’s clearly in conflict and he says to them: “you ask, but you ask wrongly, because what you get, you’re going to spend selfishly.” Ambition leading to the wrong things. For James, envy and selfish ambition lead to wickedness and chaos and open the doors to sinfulness.

I think today many of us have fallen prey to Prosperity Theology, or what is called the Prosperity Gospel, which has some roots in the Old Testament: those who have much have been blessed by God and those who don’t have been cursed by God - our godliness is reflected in our success.

But Jesus turns things upside down.

I picture Jesus walking behind the disciples as they’re walking to Capernaum and arguing over which of them is first over the others. They get to a house and Jesus invites the twelve inside. I imagine that there are other people in the house, servants, women preparing a meal, children wandering around... and in front of them all Jesus totally busts the disciples by saying: “so, what were you arguing about on the road?” And it says that they were silent. The translation that The Message uses is that “the silence was deafening.”

Do not focus on earthly things.

And to prove his point, Jesus drags a child who was playing nearby and pulls him into this circle in the midst of this circle of men and says: “the first will be last, the last will be first; and one who welcomes a child such as this welcomes me, and not only me, but my Father.”

Now, our society greatly values children. But let’s look back to the way that society viewed children all the way up into the Middle Ages. Children were worth something between a woman and a slave. Thomas Aquinas in the Middle Ages taught that if a house is raging with fire, the husband is obligated (obligated!) to first save his father, second save his mother, third save his wife and fourth save his child. That’s the relative value of a child to the disciples - how shocking it was for Jesus to pull this child in and say: this is who you should be spending your ambitions helping.

One of the questions in the Wired Word reading for this Sunday is: “is your fear and anxiety around your financial status a comment on the state of your faith?”

Is your fear or worry about your financial status a comment about the state of your faith?

Something to think about.

Though easier said than done, the prayer of our collect says:

help us not to be anxious about earthly things,
but to love things heavenly…to follow Jesus’ example.

Peace,

The Rev. M.E. Eccles, LPC

13 Sept - Be The Rock For Jesus

James 3:1-12, Mark 8:27-38

Jesus offered no easy religion to his disciples and he offers no easy religion to us. We don't much like that. So often we think of faith as some sort of insurance policy against suffering, hurt, betrayal, sickness, and death itself. Like Peter, we don't want a faith that goes there. We want a return for our investment. We want our rights. We want our freedom. The list of our wants go on and on. Like Peter, we don't want Jesus to suffer, but is that in part because we don't want to be caught up in his suffering?

It is easy to deal with the sufferings of others at a distance. We may support causes, write checks, travel to meetings in our nice cars, and utter revolutionary thoughts. We may be attacked by those who oppose our views. What a comfortable martyrdom. Yet always there, behind the altar, on the wall, however tasteful or ornate, is the Cross. "If any would follow me they must take up their cross."

Yet even at the gate of death we cry Alleluia. So speaks the language of our Prayer Book. If our faith isn't an escape from hurt, isn't a faith about a Messiah who comes to do it all for us, it is a faith that brings us extraordinary joy in walking the way of the cross through death into life. Peter was crucified, legend tells us, upside down because he was not worthy to suffer as his Lord did. Poor Peter. He couldn't prevent his friend's death, and he suffered the same fate.

If Mark repeats Peter's own testimony in this passage, he demonstrates an honesty we would wish to emulate. Yes, we believe. Yes, we seek to avoid suffering: keep Easter but not Good Friday. Yes, we want to liberate those who suffer just as long as we don't suffer ourselves. Yes, we want our rights and fail in our duty. But just as Jesus used the fallible St. Peter as the rock on which he built his Church, so he uses the smaller, often split rocks of our uncertain faith to spread the gospel to a needy world.

-- Fr. Tony Clavier, rector of St. Paul's Episcopal Church, La Porte, Indiana, in the Diocese of Northern Indiana.
(from Sermons That Work)

Ephphatha - Expand Your Horizons.

James 2:1-10, (11-13), 14-17, Mark 7:24-37

In the accounts of Jesus’ ministry in Scripture we encounter many stories of healing. In one of them from the Gospel of Mark, Jesus heals a man who is deaf and also has a speech impediment. Jesus touches the man’s ears and his tongue and says to him: "Ephphatha” which means, “Be opened.” Ephphatha. Be opened. What a wonderful expression for healing. We can also think of those words as Jesus’ message to us: Ephphatha. Be opened. Broaden your horizons. Stretch the boundaries of your world, your interests, your compassion.

Ephphatha. Be opened.
Open your ears. Listen to the world. Pay attention to the voices that cry out, but often go unheard. The voices of the marginalized, the unseen and ignored. They want to be recognized. To be regarded as worthy of love. To be treated with respect.

Ephphatha. Be opened.
Open your heart. Jesus commands us to love our neighbor. Neighbor means everyone, including people who are different from us. People who annoy us. People whom we might prefer to avoid. These are all people whom God loves. We should show them our love too.

Ephphatha. Be opened.
Stretch the boundaries of your comfort zone. In the week ahead, I invite you to take a risk. Make a commitment to at least one new action that will broaden your horizons. Pay attention, really pay attention, to a news story about issues in a developing country. Reach out in an act of kindness to a stranger or a person you consider diasagreeable. Listen with your heart to someone’s need. Make a promise to pray for that person—and keep that promise.

Ephphatha. Be opened.

Peace,

Deacon Sue

30 Aug - Nurturing Love

Ephesians 6:10-20, John 6:56-69

People living in Jesus’ time were expected to follow an elaborate set of laws and codes, guiding principles that had been in place for years. The reality is that observance of the laws had become empty. Following the laws satisfied one’s pride, but not one’s spirit. Jesus offered a new kind of law, a law that finds its place in the heart. Once settled there, that principle shapes how people look at one another. The way that they treat one another. That law, that guiding principle, of course, is love. Jesus taught that God is a God of love. A God that loves all people—whether they are healthy or sick, old or young, rich or poor.

The challenge for us as people of faith is to continually affirm the law that Jesus has given us: to love one another. To be ever mindful of its place deep within us, at our core. To nurture its growth, so that it becomes stronger and stronger. To be aware of how it shapes us. To make it visible in what comes out of us: our words and our actions. And when we fail in our intentions, when we utter hurtful words or do harmful things, then we return to God. To acknowledge what we have done and ask God’s forgiveness. Then, to then to try once again to pursue the work we have been given to do: to love one another.

The Collect for this week is a prayer for God’s help in our effort to be faithful.
I offer it to you for your own prayer life:

Lord of all power and might, the author and giver of all good things:
Graft in our hearts the love of your Name; increase in us true religion;
nourish us with all goodness; and bring forth in us the fruit of good works;
through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you
and the Holy Spirit, one God for ever and ever. Amen.

Peace,

Deacon Sue

23 Aug - The Armor Of God

Put on the whole armor of God so that we can stand against evil.

Powerful images in Ephesians. He writes and hopefully makes those that he’s writing to feel invincible.

Do we feel invincible? How do we know what the wiles of the devil are, who the rulers and authorities are? Those are some tough questions and they spread into all of our life. For example, when we shop, how do we know that what we buy is really environmental or is it just the company putting “green product” on the item as a marketing scheme? How do we know when we invest in our 401k that we are investing in companies that have Christian morals and don’t exploit the weak? Difficult questions…and I don’t have the answers.

But Paul writes with such certainty – such certainty – that we can discern the answers to these kinds of questions. One way we can discern this comes from an idea written by William Loader, and that is that if something is putting up barriers, then it’s unlikely that it’s part of good. What is good is things that break down barriers. That’s what Ephesians is all about: reconciliation and love and faith. Breaking down the barriers – earlier in the letter it talks about the Gentile and Jews and the circumcised and the uncircumcised – so Paul is writing about breaking down barriers – destroying them so that we can become the family of God.

So if you’re worried about this lesson and what Paul is writing, take comfort. Take comfort because you can get this armor. Where can you get this armor, you ask? In church! Paul is writing to a community, not to an individual, because community is stronger than individuals. Talk to each other; share good ideas and share the Good News.

Come to church. Be reminded of salvation, of God’s love, of peace and of faith. If you look at how Paul describes the armor, these are what make up the armor. And if we put those on and join in the community we can stand strong against evil.

The Rev. M.E. Eccles, LPC

16 Aug - From Everywhere, United In The Liturgy

John 3:22-36

Each time that we participate in the Eucharist, we become part of the ongoing life of God. We celebrate the sacrament of Holy Eucharist, not just on Sunday mornings in gatherings of Christian faith communities, but on many other occasions as well. Many years ago Dom Gregory Dix, an English monk, published a wonderful description of such occasions. He wrote:

from The Shape of the Liturgy, by Dom Gregory Dix, p. 744

For century after century, spreading slowly to every continent and country and among every race on earth, this action has been done, in every conceivable circumstance, for every conceivable human need from infancy and before it to extreme old age and after it, from the pinnacles of earthly greatness to the refuge of fugitives in the caves and dens of the earth. People have found no better thing than this to do for kings at their crowning and for criminals going going to the scaffold; for armies in triumph or for a bride and bridegroom in a little country church; for the proclamation of a dogma or for a good crop of wheat; for the wisdom of a Parliament of a mighty nation or for a sick old woman afraid to die; for a schoolboy sitting an examination or for Columbus setting out to discover America; for the famine of whole provinces or for the soul of a dead lover. In thankfulness because my father did not die of pneumonia. . . for the settlement of a strike, for a son of a barren woman, for Captain So-and-so, wounded and prisoner of war. . .One could fill many pages with the reasons that people have done this, and not tell a hundredth part of them. Best of all, week by week, month by month, on a hundred thousand successive Sundays, faithfully, unfailingly, across the parishes of all Christendom, the pastors have done this just to make the holy common people of God.

Peace,

Deacon Sue

9 Aug - The Bread Of Life

John 6: 35, 41 - 51

The Bread of Life

Most of us were told that if we worked really hard, it was going to bring “the good life.” Or if we had the right looks or the right kind of resume.

Or the right exercise program or the right body fat level.

Or the right investment portfolio or contacts in the right places.

Or the right church, the right theology, the right political persuasion.

We’ve all searched down a few of life’s paths - - for “the good life,” and perhaps come out just as lost as before.

And maybe just as hungry as before.

So what can the answer finally be? Today’s readings teach us simply that pursuing these “good things” as ends in themselves, is anything but the pathway to “the good life.” The authentic life – the life of depth and meaning – is rooted in our relationship with God, and how that life is lived-out with those God gives to us.

The bread of the world, while necessary, will only turn stale.

The Bread that Christ gives, in the Word, and in Christ’s body that is broken for us, lasts forever.

That is the living bread that nourishes us, and leads us: To be kind to one another; To be tenderhearted with those close to us; To forgive one another when we hurt each other; and finally, to help one another on our journeys together in Christ.

Jesus teaches that when we do these things, we will find that we have discovered “the good life,” the abundant life, in living that way.

And of course, we will find that this is not the soft life, or the easy life, but it is the life of Christ, lived in and through us!

This is the life that relieves the hunger - - beneath all hungers, and Jesus maintains that it’s the only life worth anything – to anybody!

It’s the “good life” rooted in Grace. For that reason, it is a life which we ultimately would not trade for all the tea in China! Amen.


Peace,

Fr. Bob +

2 Aug Weekly Thought

Last week, as I was greeting people at the door, one person said to me, “Why do we have to listen to Old Testament readings like that?”

Well, because they are good stories to learn from. In this case, we learn about King David. And because I believe they are stories of hope.

When we think of King David, we tend to think of him as a great king, the father of Solomon (another great king) or as the one who wrote all the Psalms. But let’s look at this David. When the story begins, he is lustful. He’s an adulterer. He’s a murderer, or an accessory to murder.

This is where Nathan comes in. He’s a prophet, sent by God and prophets weren’t always welcome or treated well. So Nathan begins by telling David a story. David, who as king, is used to hearing stories and making judgments. And Nathan doesn’t tell him that the story isn’t real. So, when David hears how this wealth man exploits the poor man, his reaction is that it is unconscionable. Then Nathan says: “it’s you!” Well, that must have caught David up short. But to his credit, he didn’t kill Nathan or make excuses or say things like “Well, I didn’t mean…”. He acknowledged his sin: “I have sinned.”

We are quick to judge the behavior of others, but not so good at recognizing our own bad behavior. Who are the Nathans in your life? Who are the ones who are brave enough to hold up the mirror for you? And how do you treat them? Some friends take great risk, like potentially losing a friendship, when they call you on your stuff.

What Nathan does is allow David to acknowledge his sin, and by doing so, David is then open to God’s grace and forgiveness. That doesn’t mean there weren’t repercussions later in the story; he doesn’t get off scott free. But he is able to receive God’s forgiveness.

We should give thanks for the Nathan’s in our lives. When we recognize our sins, we should acknowledge them, and by doing so, we open ourselves up to the grace, the love and the forgiveness of Jesus Christ.


Peace,

The Rev. M.E. Eccles, LPC