25 July - The "Us" In The Lord's Prayer

It is amazing to me how deep a prayer can be in our memories, in our hearts. Sometimes it seems like I have always known the Lord’s Prayer. And it is always a Spirit-filled moment when I’m praying with someone who is semiconscious and fairly non-responsive that, when I begin the Lord’s Prayer, that person joins in.

Even though the Lord’s Prayer is the basic way we learn to pray individually, it is important to notice the plural. The prayer uses the words “us” and “we,” not “I” and “me,” because community is where we find Christ. If you pray this prayer alone, I guarantee you that somewhere in the world, someone else is praying with you.

Because the words can be rattled off from memory without much thought, I’d encourage you to take time with praying the Lord’s Prayer. Really think about what you are saying. Really think about the blessed relationship we have with God that we can pray this prayer with confidence – especially the confidence that God is listening.

Peace,

The Rev. M.E. Eccles, LPC

18 July - Sides

Mary and Martha
Luke 10:38-42

This story from Luke’s gospel wants us to take sides, between these sisters, Mary and Martha. Taking sides is often what we need to do: lukewarm is not a gospel temperature. But this story is not one of those cases where taking sides will be “life-giving.” Why pit the sisters against each other, or their ministries of domestic management and hospitality on the one hand, and attention to the living Word on the other?

Of course, we busy ourselves with too many things, today more than ever, and we need to refocus our attentions. But the story as it meets us should fill us with holy suspicion: What is the cost of taking sides here? For whom will there be a cost? How can we converse with each other, with our homegrown traditions, and with Christ, in a way that will build a church in which all ministries are honored, and in which the very shape of ministry can change in response to the world’s needs? Perhaps we will find the answer to those questions sitting at Jesus’ feet, with Mary, and with Martha, after the evening banquet.

(With thanks to Jane Redmont for her inspiration)

Peace to you this week,

Fr. Bob+

11 July - The Good Samaritan

Today’s Gospel lesson is one of the most well known stories in Scripture: the Good Samaritan. Even people who are not familiar with the Bible or have not participated in a formation program as children recognize the term “Good Samaritan.” Hospitals and laws concerning actions to help others in trouble bear his name. We have memorialized this nameless man, known only by his ethnic identity, for his willingness to help someone in need.

I think we need to look at this familiar figure from a slightly different perspective: how he moves through life. We see him traveling on the road from Jerusalem to Jericho, alert to his surroundings. Perhaps he is somewhat wary, watching for possible danger. The priest and the Levite who have preceded him have exhibited the same alertness. But when they come to the man who has been beaten by robbers lying at the side of the road, the first two see him and move on. They travel with their eyes open, but their hearts closed. Not the Samaritan. He moves with his eyes and his heart open. Seeing someone in need, he responds with compassion and generosity of heart. He reaches out to help.

On this “Good Samaritan Sunday,” I suggest that we reflect on how we move through life. Do we travel along with our eyes open, but not our hearts? Or do we proceed with hearts and eyes open? What is your answer to those questions?

Peace,

Deacon Sue Nebel

4 July - Curing Dis-Ease

Jesus began his ministry by drawing around him a small circle of new disciples; it was the number of Israel’s tribes. Because he felt that his task was to form a new people of God, a new Israel, he took this number as symbolic.

Now Jesus takes the next step in his mission to the world. He selects seventy people and sends them into the surrounding countryside two by two. One thing we can’t help noticing is that there are very few directions. They are “to greet no one on the road.” They are to say “Peace to this house.” They are to accept hospitality. If they are not received they are to leave. In addition, they are told to heal the sick, and say to them “The kingdom of God has come near to you.”

It is significant for Christian life today that the only specific action Jesus commands is to heal the sick. Increasingly for contemporary Christians, the healing ministry is strong and widespread. We can be thankful that healing ministry is an important part of our ministries at St. Simon’s. And then, there is a realization that in a frantic and tense and fearful world, the great power of Christian faith can be to bring healing to the lives of individuals– the healing of fears, angers, anxieties. Perhaps just as valuable is the ability of Christian faith to bring a renewed sense of meaning and purpose into people’s lives.

Our generation of Christians may well be called to a ministry whose primary task is healing, both in individual lives as well as in social and political situations. As we watch Jesus send people out on an essentially healing mission, we realize that healing may be a Christians’ primary vocation in a world of great “dis-ease.”

Peace,

Fr. Bob Dekker+