July 27, 2022

While on retreat last week I read a book called One Thousand Gifts, in which the author makes the argument that it is only through giving God thanks for all things that allows us to relearn to see the presence of God all around us. She is not an Episcopalian, but she stumbles upon the word eucharisteo, the Greek word for thanksgiving. We are obviously familiar with this word through our service of Holy Eucharist. Throughout the book she makes use of this word as the foundation and centrality of giving God thanks in all things.

“What if,” she says, “the Fall wasn't a result of eating the forbidden fruit and blaming the other (Adam blames Eve who blames the serpent), but what if the Fall was a result of our ingratitude to God?” In other words, the serpent said if we ate the fruit from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil our eyes would be opened and we would be like God. What really happened, though, is that the serpent caused us to doubt God's goodness that we could see all around us, and eating the fruit opened our eyes to see what we had NOT been given. We went from being grateful and able to see all of God's gifts, to being ungrateful and focused on what we did not have, or on what we were missing. It was with that new vision of ingratitude or ungratefulness which left its mark on us and with which we now see.

As you all know by now, I am scheduled for my third back surgery next week. I am hopeful that this one will eliminate, or at least relieve, the ever-present pain that makes daily living difficult and Sundays almost unbearable. But in that pain, I'm not sure I have ever given thanks.

After reading this book, I have found a way to be thankful. I am thankful for a new understanding and empathy toward people with chronic pain. I am thankful to have eyes to see things in a new way. I am thankful for moments of painlessness. I am thankful for support. I am thankful I am still walking.

The worship service that begins on pages 323 and 355 of the BCP is titled: The Holy Eucharist. It can also be called The Holy Thanksgiving. The second half of the complete service, the rite of Holy Communion, is sub-titled The Great Thanksgiving. Eucharist, Thanksgiving, is the name of the entirety of the service, with a great thanksgiving occurring in the rite of Holy Communion.

What if we saw this service not as something we do on Sunday, but as preparing us to give thanks in the week to come? What if we saw it as a way of opening our eyes to the goodness of God all around us? What if we saw it as setting the tone for the upcoming week rather than as a brief respite from a fallen world?

This is the call of all God's children: to give thanks and praise in all things, learning to be thankful for all our gifts in all circumstances. In learning to do that, in learning to give thanks in all things, in making a daily practice of giving thanks and praise, it just might lead to a transformation of our selves that relearns to see the world as God created it – very good.

Blessings,

July 20, 2022

O God, make speed to save us:

Our help is in the name of the Lord:

This coming Sunday the Christian Formation Commission is hosting the first Sunday Fun Day and will revolve around prayer. In the upcoming gospel reading the disciples ask Jesus, “Lord, teach us to pray like John taught his disciples.” In response Jesus gives them, and us, what has become known as the Lord's Prayer.

I've been meeting with a couple over the past several months in preparation for their wedding at the end of October. This past session dealt with prayer and we talked about times and styles of prayers. Everything from when to how often to formulas to simple liturgies. I told them a story about a monk who, when asked what was the right kind of prayer, said, “The kind you do.”

In other words, prayer forms and styles and times change over time. The trick is to keep at it. And if one form or style or time no longer works for you, then make a change – but keep praying.

Show of hands: How many of you, when you read the first two lines up there, answered either in your mind or out loud, “O Lord, make haste to help us,” and, “The maker of heaven and earth?”

These are part of the opening lines to Evening Prayer and Compline as found in the Prayer Book. If you pray these Daily Offices regularly you probably automatically filled in the response when you read those opening sentences. That's part of the beauty of the BCP and daily prayer – the words become a part of you.

There's an old saying that goes, “lex orandi, lex credendi.” That is, “what we pray is what we believe.”

Prayer isn't a list of requests we send up to God. Prayer isn't the 75 cents we put into the holy vending machine so we can get item C7. Prayer is the daily conversation, the daily formation, that helps shape our lives. How we pray and what we pray shapes how we interact with those around us. If we pray, “deliver us from hatred, cruelty, and revenge,” on a daily basis, that will most likely have a different outcome than if we pray, “may God utterly demolish my enemies” on a daily basis.

May we all have a set of prayers that grounds us, informs us, and guides us. And may that give us the strength to follow Christ on this difficult road of discipleship.

Blessings,

July 13, 2022

This isn't so much a Wednesday Word as it is a Wednesday Update.

Most of you are aware of my many back issues I've had over the past few years. As a reminder, I have experienced back pain to the best of my memory all of my life – not all of my adult life, but all of my life. That problem was getting progressively worse as I got older.

In 2019, at the recommendation of a physical therapist, I made a visit to a surgeon connected with the University of Maryland Medical Center. After x-rays and consultation, it was decided to perform surgery to correct the excessive spinal curvature as well as improve the spacing between some of my vertebrae. That surgery took place on November 13. And then in July of 2020, for the first time in my life, I was pain-free. That lasted through August.

But then in September I started experiencing pain once again. Without going into all the details, I suffered a collapsed disc immediately below the original surgery point. More appointments and attempts to solve the problem in a variety of other means followed. Unfortunately a second surgery was the ultimate outcome of this; but due to COVID that surgery didn't happen until August 4, 2021.

Another rehab followed. This time, however, I didn't even get to experience two months of painlessness. More x-rays, MRI's followed which showed that I developed a herniated disc immediately below the second surgical site. After more consultations I am going in for my third surgery.

This third (and hopefully final) surgery will take place on August 3 – three weeks from today. The plan is to remove my last disc and insert a cage and supporting hardware which should provide the support needed to prevent anymore collapses and/or problems. Since this is happening at the base of my spine, I am quite literally at the tail end of this.

I have put out a message to clergy colleagues in the diocese letting everyone know of what is happening and asking for supply clergy for the four Sundays in August since I will be taking all month off to recover/recuperate.

I don't normally make my health a topic of conversation, but this was the best way for me to let all of you know what was happening without having to have multiple conversations and possibly miss someone. I also wanted to give you all a heads up as to where I would be come this August.

Deacon Sue and the Pastoral Care Team, amazingly led by Dusty Graham, will be available for pastoral emergencies. Senior Warden, Bob Speelman, and Junior Warden, Deanna Soulis, will also be available to assist as needed. And as always, Melonie Orr, our fantastic Parish Administrator, will be around to help.

Thank you for your prayers and concerns, and I'm hoping that I will finally get to a place of, if not no pain, at least a dull throb.

Blessings,

July 6, 2022

I was talking with a parishioner recently about the state of everything and how easy it is to become discouraged.

From Supreme Court rulings that stripped away a woman's right to bodily autonomy, that allowed for more people to carry concealed weapons, that curbed the EPA's ability to require reductions in power plant emissions thereby valuing profits over people, to the relatively uneventful apprehension of Bobby Crimo (the white man who killed six people in Highland Park, IL), to the Akron police killing the unarmed black man Jayland Walker (who had sixty bullet holes in his body), to the police shooting of John Crawford (another black man) for carrying a toy gun, to the inaction of the Uvalde police department, to the rise of white supremacist groups such as the Proud Boys whose goal is to intimidate people of color, to people and politicians continuing to falsely claim a stolen election, to any number of other actions, it is easy to become discouraged. It's easy to simply barricade yourself inside. It's easy to give up. It's easy to do nothing but cry.

In our lamentation he mentioned that he hoped for a better future. My response was, “We have to be hopeful, because right now that's all we've got.”

Paul wrote, “Faith, hope, and love; and the greatest of these is love.” But I wonder if hope isn't foundational to everything.

Paul also wrote, “But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.” Which is true when speaking about God. We patiently hope for a resurrection we do not see. We have not yet seen the fulfillment of God's kingdom, but we hope for its arrival and wait patiently for its coming.

But to hope for better days without acting on those hopes, or refusing to act out of fear, is nothing more than by and by pie in the sky wishful thinking. To see basic rights continually stripped away, to watch as our citizen's health is seen as an inconvenience, or to witness the resurgence of white supremacy without doing anything but hoping for better days, makes us complicit in those crimes.

Paul also wrote: Let love be genuine; hate what is evil, hold fast to what is good; love one another with mutual affection; outdo one another in showing honor,. Do not lag in zeal, be ardent in spirit, serve the Lord. Rejoice in hope, be patient in suffering, persevere in prayer. Contribute to the needs of the saints, extend hospitality to strangers.

Hope for better days, hope for full equality, hope for full inclusion, hope for an end to hatred and abuse are all worthwhile goals. But our hope for those things must be tied to actions which will work to ensure all people experience the rights and privileges espoused by this country's founding documents and which all people should experience by virtue of being created in the image of God.

Let us hope for better days. But let us also be willing to work to make that hope a reality.

Blessings,