November 30, 2016

All in

Moving is a hassle. And this move in particular has seemed to be more of a hassle than my previous moves. There was the 3500 mile trip from Oregon to Maryland. There was the three weeks of living out of suitcases in a different place seemingly every other night, hauling stuff to and from the car, and figuring out what we were doing with the cats. And then there was receiving all our goods, finding a place for them, getting the utilities hooked up, new drivers licenses, and I'm still dealing with the MVA to get the cars licensed.

And then there was the office. The moving company delivered the office goods the same day we received our household goods. I spent the next week unofficially in the office figuring out where to put everything, where to hang my pictures, and Joelene helped me hang my cross collection above the fireplace. I did some pondering and decided I needed to move furniture around, which was more work than it originally sounded like. And for the remainder of the month, the office has been one good bookcase shy of being finished.

That bookcase arrived today courtesy of Roger and Ellen Collins.

Since I didn't really have anything on my schedule for Monday, I spent the majority of the day getting the shelves in the right spot, moving books around from one bookcase to another, and reorganizing the space left over. That included getting the last of the books and clutter that have decorated my office floor during November off the floor and up where they belong. It also meant moving the conference table to a more appropriate spot and placing my files in the file cabinets.

The only problem with all of this is that the mess that is my desk and conference table are all that more noticeable. But, if you look past the mess on the desk and the tabletop disaster, you'll notice something important . . . I'm all in!

My office basically looks like I am a permanent fixture at St. John's . . . I'm all in.

I have easy access to both doors . . . I'm all in.

People can stop wondering when I'll get settled . . . I'm all in.

This little adventure in the office reminded me of Advent. We spend Advent preparing for an arrival. Sometimes it's hard to focus on that arrival when there is so much to do around us. Sometimes it's hard to focus on things that need to get done when you'd rather it were all over and here. Advent reminds us that we need to focus on both. We need to focus on preparing for the arrival, but we also can't be so focused on the arrival that we miss what needs to be done in the present.

This Advent may God grant you the grace to see how your preparations are important to the arrival, and the wisdom to focus on those things which are most important.

And if you can do that, if you can be present and patient, if you can anticipate what's coming without anxiety, if you can live with a few areas of disorganization while being mostly ready, then you'll be able to live comfortably in this time of Advent. In other words, you'll be able to look at Advent and say, “I'm all in!”

Amen.

November 23, 2016

All good gifts around us are sent from heaven above; then thank the Lord, O thank the Lord for all his love.

Hymn 291, chorus

This is probably my favorite Thanksgiving Day hymn, even though it doesn't really fit for the people of most churches, what with its verses of plowing fields, scattering seed, and sending harvests. However, it's a catchy tune, and somebody has to scatter, plow, and reap. But what I really like are those words of the chorus.

Thanksgiving Day is tomorrow. Some will be with family. Some will be with friends. Some will be with friends and family. Some will be with neither. Some will be invited. Some will be ignored. Some will go elsewhere. Some will have nowhere to go. Because of this, Thanksgiving can be a stressful time of year for many of us.

But, just for today, I would like to put on my Pollyanna glasses and hope that everyone reading this will be involved in a drama-free, food-full Thanksgiving Day celebration. And as you are participating in this uniquely American event that officially kicks off the holiday season, take some time and reflect on the words of Hymn 291.

There are good gifts all around us. From friends and family, to homes and jobs, to the food we eat. Pay attention to those good gifts and remember that they are but peripheral items in our God-centered lives, and remember to give thanks for all those gifts and all God's love.

For my part, I am thankful for the Profile and Search Committees – for their dedication to getting it right, for their days and nights working on a vitally important task, and for their willingness to look outside generally accepted parameters. I am thankful for the parishioners of St. John's who were willing to follow the necessary steps in calling a new rector. I am thankful for everyone who took the time to listen to the whisperings of the Holy Spirit.

I am thankful for those who made this move possible. I am thankful for those who made this move, if not perfectly smooth, tolerable and mostly painless. I am thankful for those who are helping me and my family get adjusted to life on the other side of the country. I am thankful for a moving company that only broke two things and lost none.

I am thankful for a junior and senior warden who worked to see we were cared for. I am thankful for Mark who not only oversees a fabulous choir, but who works to ensure every liturgy is well-crafted. I am thankful for Melonie who does more than anyone knows. I am thankful for Margaret and her work with the children. I am thankful for all of the liturgical ministers and altar guild who have kept me on track these first few Sundays. I am thankful for the enthusiasm of everyone in the pews.

I am thankful for my wife and daughter who have taken this move in stride and are learning just where it is they fit in. I am thankful for the people who remember to include them.

All good gifts around us are sent from heaven above. I am thankful God sent me here.

Happy Thanksgiving.

November 16, 2016

It is not the strength of your faith but the object of your faith that actually saves you.

Timothy Keller, The Reason for God, pg. 245

On my last Sunday at St. Luke's, the parish held a farewell party where they gifted us with a gorgeous quilt (that will eventually be hung on one of our walls) and a coffee table book about the Rogue River (the author being a former student of my deacon) that was signed by everyone in the parish. It was a lovely party hosted by lovely people.

My senior warden also, in his quiet, unassuming way, presented me with two books by Timothy Keller; The Reason for God being one of them. I began reading it on the move to Maryland, and had every intention of finishing both of them before we arrived. I figured I'd have plenty of time what with changing drivers every so often, and quiet times at hotels and other places. I figured wrong, and I just finished the first one last week.

Timothy Keller is a Presbyterian minister and pastor of a large New York City congregation. The book is basically a recounting of how he has presented the Gospel to the people of NYC, the skepticism with which they view the church and Jesus, and how, by sticking to one message, that church has grown over time. And it is at the end of the book where this sentence appears. I don't agree with everything he says, but there are things he says that are valuable and insightful. This is one of them.

So often we wish or hope for a stronger faith. We see it in the Gospel of Mark when the father of an epileptic boy cries out, “Lord, help my unbelief!” We hear it when people lament, “If I only prayed harder.” Or we feel it within ourselves when we wonder if we really have the faith required to be saved.

But faith, like discipleship, is a journey. If we only focus on the end results, we may miss important events along the way. The two disciples on the road to Emmaus were so focused on one thing in particular (wondering how they could be disciples of Jesus now that he was dead) that they missed seeing Jesus among them.

There is also the possibility that we may injure ourselves. If we compare faith to exercise, we all want to be in the best shape possible. But if we begin our exercise routine by trying to bench press 250 pounds, well, you get the idea. We need to work up to that. Likewise, sometimes we might enter faith with unrealistic expectations and when things take a turn we don't expect, there's a possibility that we give up; thereby injuring, sometimes fatally, our faith.

This is why this sentence from Timothy Keller is so important. We are all at different places in our faith journey. If we begin to focus only on how strong or how weak our faith is, we have stepped away from God and have begun the process of relying on ourselves for salvation. If, however, we understand that our faith centers on God in general, and on Jesus in particular, then it doesn't matter if we have a “weak” faith or a “strong” faith – our faith, weak or strong, is centered on God, not us. When we allow that to happen, it is then we can faithfully sing, “Surely it is God who saves me; I will trust in him and not be afraid.”

November 9, 2016

A wise lover regards not so much the gift of the lover, as the love of the giver.

The Imitation of Christ, Book 3, Chapter 6, Thomas a Kempis

The drawing is crude by artistic standards. Uneven circular blobs with gaping holes for eyes, and the four sticks that impale the head to serve as arms and legs, look nothing like the people they are supposed to represent. In fact, a microscopic amoeba is better formed than what has been portrayed on this piece of paper. But this ill-formed piece of art will be treasured forever because it was given by a three-year old to a mother who was loved dearly.

Or take the story by O. Henry about a young, struggling couple deeply in love. He sold his gold pocket watch to purchase a set of beautiful combs for his long-haired wife. She sold her long hair for a platinum pocket watch chain. The gifts are now both meaningless and eternally meaningful.

These are two examples of what Thomas a Kempis was getting at. How many times do we receive a gift and wish it were bigger, smaller, a different color, more useful, more pretty? Might this be the reason that giving gift cards at Christmas has come into fashion – because the receiver won't have to suffer the indignity of the exchange line while the giver won't have to worry if the receiver likes it or not.

But gift cards and second thoughts miss the point. We give gifts to people mainly because we love them. There are, of course, exceptions – a housewarming gift to our new neighbors, for instance; but even that could be classified as, “Love your neighbor.” But on the whole, we give because we love. And if we evaluate the gift more than we value the love behind it, we are missing the point.

The point is this:  we are loved enough by another to warrant a desire by the other to give us a gift that represents their love for us.

If we take the time to look around us, we will see a variety of gifts that we have been given; and no gift is greater than that of the love of God bestowed upon us and exemplified in the person of Jesus Christ.  Through the creative powers of God, and through the life of Jesus, we can see that we have been gifted with hospitality, acceptance, forgiveness, and a desire to be brought within God's loving embrace.

On this day when it seems as if the forces of division, hate, exclusion, and fear have won, let us remember that we have never lived in a perfect world.  Let us remember the words of former Presiding Bishop Edmond Browning, who said, "There will be no outcasts in this church."  Let us remember that God so loved the world.  Let us remember to follow the example of God and continually offer a place of hospitality, acceptance, inclusion, welcome, and love.  Let us continually offer our poorly drawn stick figures that aren't so much about the perfectness of the gift but represent the quality of love.

Amen.

November 2, 2016

For to your faithful people, O Lord, life is changed, not ended

            Preface of the Commemoration of the Dead, BCP 382

Today, November 2, is the Commemoration of All Faithful Departed, otherwise known as All Souls’ Day.  This may be stating the obvious, but today falls after November 1, All Saints’ Day.

As with any commemoration and tradition in the Church, the origin of All Saints’ Day has been clouded over time.  A form of remembrance of martyrs is attested to as early as 270 and John Chrysostom referenced a festival of All Saints in the late 4^th or early 5^th Century.  This practice evolved as a way for the members of the Holy Church to remember and commemorate those people who, through virtuous and godly living, and especially those who had professed their faith through a heroic death, were the heroes and exemplars of Christian living.

Over time people came to realize that there were many virtuous and godly people who had lived faithful lives worthy of commemorating in the life of the Church, but who were known only to God.  In other words, people just like us – people who were virtuous, godly, and faithful; people who had problems and issues and trials; people who were a mixture of success and failure; but people who, through it all, remained faithful.

Today is the day we honor all faithful departed; today is the day we honor all souls.  We will do some of this on Sunday, November 6, during our celebration of the Feast of All Saints when we read the necrology of those who have died this past year.  We will remind ourselves that, even though they are no longer with us on this earthly pilgrimage, they are alive in Christ.  We will be reminded that, for those who have died and for us yet to die, life is changed, not ended.

Today I am reminded of Mary, Bobby, Lester, Lucille, Paul, Tom, and others whose names I can no longer recall.  I am reminded of those people who have no Feast Day in the Church year.  I am reminded of people who gave of their time, talent, and treasure for no other reason than a sure and certain hope in the resurrection.  And I am reminded that, for the vast majority of us, we toil for the gospel and mission of Christ in anonymity or, at best, short-lived recognition. 

But that’s okay.  We don’t strive for the recognition of men.  We don’t give of our time, talent, and treasure for the sole purpose of putting our name on a plaque.  We do this, as those plaques say, for the glory of God.  Everything those saints of old did, everything those souls whom we commemorate today did, everything we do today, was and is to be done for one reason – to proclaim the message of Christ crucified and resurrected.

Today we remember all those people who have passed before us into glory.  Today we give thanks for their lives and witness that provided the foundation of this church we love.  Today we also remember that what we do now will become the foundation for the church of tomorrow, because at some point we will also pass into glory.

Gone but not forgotten; changed but not ended.  On this day let us remember that we are indeed surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses, and let us give thanks for their lives in Christ.

Amen.