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+

27 June - Faith

When we gather on Sunday mornings for our celebration of the Holy Eucharist, an important part of the service is the affirmation of our faith. We use the Nicene Creed, a statement of Christian beliefs that dates back to the 4th century. We say those words in community, joining a long string of people that have said the same words over the centuries.

The words are familiar, sometimes too familiar. It is all too easy to say them in rote fashion, without giving much thought to their meaning. I find it helpful to occasionally experience (and say) statements of faith that use new and different phrases. I offer you an example, one that I experienced at the conference of the North American Association of the Diaconate that I attended this week.

Affirmation of Faith

We are not alone, we live in God’s world.
We believe in God:
who has created and is creating,
who has come in Jesus,
the Word made flesh,
to reconcile and make new,
who works in us and others by the Spirit.
We trust in God.
We are called to be the Church:
to celebrate God’s presence,
to live with respect in Creation,
to love and serve others,
to seek justice and resist evil,
to proclaim Jesus, crucified and risen,
our judge and our hope.
In life, in death, in life beyond death, God is with us.
We are not alone. Thanks be to God.

Peace,
Deacon Sue

20 June - Banishing Demons

This Sunday’s Gospel – Luke’s version of the healing of the Demoniac – raised an interesting question when we studied the passage at Vestry last Tuesday: is this story meant to be taken literally or figuratively?

My answer was: “Yes.” It doesn’t matter if you believe in “real” demons or want to try to understand the story by putting the modern medical label of schizophrenic on the Demoniac – either way the story is still incredibly powerful. Jesus’ authority is abundantly clear. Legion knows who Jesus is and how powerful he is. The real question is: do we? And are we willing to let Jesus banish the “demons” in our lives? We are all, in one way or another, resistant to change – especially self-change. Equally, we are all comfortable with the phrase: “better the devil you know than the devil you don’t”.

I think this story is inviting us to look at our demons (addictions, times we dig in our heels, etc.) and question whether or not we trust that Jesus has the power to banish them. We are loved by God now. And we will be loved by God if and when we change and let go of our demons. But do we love ourselves now? Do we really trust in God’s love?

Peace,

The Rev. M.E. Eccles, LPC

13 June - Forgiven

A theme constantly in Jesus’ teaching and very near to his heart was the necessity for forgiveness in human relationships. The day Jesus’ disciples asked him to teach them to pray he put the issue of forgiveness at the heart of our relationship with God. In two simple and inseparable petitions, he teaches us for all time that forgiveness is conditional. We cannot be forgiven unless we ourselves are forgiving people.

We mention this because something very like it is at the heart of the story in the gospel. It was customary at a meal in the Greco-Roman style for strangers to stand around the edge of the room in the shadows. They might be poor or in some other need. They might be trying to attract the attention of a prominent guest from whom they wished a favor. In Jesus’ case, a woman wants to thank him. She does so very effusively and passionately. Jesus’ host is silently appalled by her behavior and Jesus notices.

How does Jesus deal with the situation? From what he says, we can assume that he and the woman have had a previous encounter. She is known as a sinner, possibly a prostitute. It is obvious that Jesus has made all the difference in her life, probably making it possible for her to deal with the anger and self-hatred which are part of her existence. Anger and self-hatred are part of many of our lives and to get this point across, Jesus tells a story. Its message is that the greater a person’s sense of being forgiven, the greater the gratitude will be. Jesus then applies this to our inner lives. The key statement Jesus makes is in verse 47. “I tell you, her sins, which were many, have been forgiven; hence she has shown great love. But the one to whom little is forgiven, loves little.”

This theme obviously was central in Jesus’ thinking. We hear it in the parable of the Pharisee and the publican in the temple. We hear it again in the story of the prodigal son. On each occasion, Jesus seems to be saying that to realize without illusion who we are, to realize how little we can claim to be, yet at that same moment to realize that we are accepted by God precisely on these terms, is to discover the secret of inner freedom and inner acceptance. To taste this is to taste the Kingdom of God.

Peace,

Fr. Bob +