June 23, 2021

It's the final countdown – Europe

In five days the J2A group will be leaving for their trip to Oregon. This trip has been in the works since early 2019 (if I'm remembering correctly) when the kids were brainstorming what they wanted to do to close out the program. Following God's commandment to care for the earth, they decided they wanted to do some beach clean up and, for a variety of reasons, the Oregon coast was chosen.

If you've been reading Soundings and the J2A updates, you'll know that beach clean up and working with the artist from the Washed Ashore art gallery are a big part of this trip. You will also recall that this trip was scheduled for the summer of 2020, but then delayed thanks to the COVID pandemic.

But now the time has finally arrived and we are on the final countdown to leaving Hagerstown, the east coast, and pretty much everything these kids have ever known and head off to a different time zone, different coast, different weather, different everything.

For those of you who have supported this program over the years, thank you. For those of you who have contributed financially through the Flamingo Flocking and other random donations, thank you.

Today isn't so much a Wednesday Word as it is a Wednesday Request.

Joelene, Christina, Rachel, Brent, Nate, and myself will be leaving for BWI this coming Monday earlier than I want to think about to catch a 7:15 flight. We will spend time exploring, working, and learning. We will arrive back home early Sunday morning, July 4. And on July 11, they will make a presentation to the congregation at the 9:30 service.

All next week I ask your prayers primarily for safe travel, but also that they may be touched by God in a way that stays with them for the rest of their lives. I also ask that you pray for Haley who was unable to go on the trip but is still a vital part of the group.

We are all looking forward to this upcoming adventure and hope you will join us either in person or online on Sunday, July 11, to hear all about it.

Blessings,

June 16, 2021

Written originally as a word of comfort and hope, it has become for many a word of fear and despair. Catherine Gunsalus Gonzalez and Justo L. Gonzalez, WBC: Revelation

This is the second sentence of the introduction to this commentary on the book of Revelation. I am currently doing a study of Revelation on Zoom every Sunday at 1 pm. I had been asked to do this for several reasons, but, I think, primarily because we as a church spend precious little time with this last book of scripture. Between the four horsemen of the apocalypse, scrolls of judgment, bowls of disease, hail and fire mixed with blood, avenging locusts, and earth being burned up by fire and falling stars, it's no wonder people are afraid to delve into this book. It's no wonder that people view this book as a book of fear and despair.

Earlier this week I had a conversation with a man who wanted to know why the Episcopal church suddenly began allowing gays and lesbians to marry and get ordained. During that conversation he quoted Leviticus 20:13. I pointed out to him that people were quick to condemn others with those so-called “clobber verses,” but those same people were just as likely to ignore Leviticus 19:9-10, 19, and 33-34 (among others).

The totality of scripture is the story of God trying to bring humanity back into unity with God and others. I'm reminded of Eucharistic Prayer C: “Again and again, you called us to return. Through prophets and sages you revealed your righteous Law. And in the fullness of time you sent your only Son, born of a woman, to fulfill your Law, to open for us the way of freedom and peace.”

For too long holy scripture has been used as a club to pound people into submission, as a horror novel used to sell fire insurance, or as a blueprint for self-satisfaction. None of these views are correct, and all of them neglect to view the bible as the above authors described Revelation.

We are hopefully coming to the end of the COVID-19 pandemic. We are hopefully coming to a place where we can regather and worship without fear. That full return may yet be a ways off, but I am hopeful we are getting there.

In that return we have something to share with the world around us. In that return it is up to us to present scripture and our faith as expressed here at Saint John's as words of comfort and hope. Because really, there is enough fear and despair in the world without Christians adding to it.

Blessings,

June 9, 2021

Spiritual reading is reflective and prayerful. – Marjorie J. Thompson, Soul Feast

I sat in on Dcn. Sue's Zoom-group discussion of Mark last night. Every Tuesday evening at 7 she leads a group of people on a journey through that gospel (except for next week when she will be out of town on a retreat) as they “read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest” what the author is telling us about Jesus.

Mark's gospel was, we presume, the first canonical gospel written. It's also the shortest of the four. It moves quickly from one scene to another, famously punctuated by the word “immediately.” It reads like a travel diary, hence the early Church tradition that this was a written recording of stories that Peter told.

Last night we read the story of Jesus going to the country of the Gerasenes where he was met by a man possessed by a demon(s) named Legion. After a brief discussion, Jesus casts the demons into a herd of swine who then rush off the cliff into the sea where they are drowned.

We also read the story of Jesus raising Jairus' 12-year old daughter from the dead and the healing of a woman who had been suffering from hemorrhages for twelve years.

We spent a good deal of time discussing these three stories. During the discussions there were any number of ideas as to the meaning, comparisons to other biblical stories, and how these stories might apply to any/each of us today.

Now, whether or not you join Dcn. Sue for her study on Mark, or join me for my study on Revelation, isn't the point. The point here is to remind you that, as you read through scripture, there are a variety of ways to read the text. One way is to simply read through it as a story; which is fine if you're simply looking to familiarize yourself with the text.

But another way is to read it slowly, prayerfully, and reflecting on how the text can be tied to other biblical texts as well as how it might be applied in your life today.

So read again the story of the demoniac in the country of the Gerasenes and ask yourself, “What things in my life would I rather be chained to than be freed from?”

Take your time with scripture, spend some time in prayerful reflection on passages, and listen to what the Spirit is saying.

Blessings,

June 2, 2021

In my experience there are four kinds of mornings: the kind of normal rush to get out of the house to make it to work/school/wherever on time; the kind where things come together just right and you get all the green lights; the kind where nothing goes right; and the kind where things are going right but then something happens to ruin it all.

This past Sunday was a morning of the fourth kind.

I was getting ready to head to the office for Sunday services and everything was falling into place. That is, until I was at the garage door and realized I left my glasses laying upstairs. I ran up to get them and . . . no glasses. They weren't on the bed. They weren't on the dresser. They weren't on the sink. I was sure that's where I left them. So I ran downstairs. They weren't on the couch. They weren't on the side table.

Back upstairs. They weren't on the dining room table. They weren't in the living room. They weren't in the kitchen. Back up to the bedroom. Again. Not there. In fact, they were nowhere. And to top it off, today was Rite 1, so I couldn't even fake my way through service. Back downstairs with my frustration rising ever faster.

Until Joelene hollered from upstairs. I had, for some unknown reason, decided to hang them on the back of the door while brushing my teeth. Things hanging on the back of the door don't get seen when you pop in to look for them.

Off I went. Frustrated. Annoyed. Late. And ready to stew the whole way into town and wonder what else would go wrong today.

As I started to drive out of the garage in a less-than-holy state, Taylor Swift's “Shake It Off” came on the radio. In short, it's a song about not letting outside influences control your behaviors and/or reactions to things you can't control, so just shake it off.

Sometimes things don't go exactly as planned, and sometimes little things can set you off. But we have a choice as to how we are going to react. In the end, my misplaced glasses weren't worth the overreaction on my part, so on my drive into church I shook it off.

What are some things in your life that you might want to shake off?

Blessings,