January 15, 2025

Wednesday Word . . . Fire Relief

We have all seen the devastation of the wildfires in California, and while I can’t be sure, I think it will become one of the biggest natural disasters in our history, if not the biggest.  Pictures of lost homes, businesses, churches, and schools are almost beyond comprehension.  And while we know firsthand the devastation wildfires can inflict, we were fortunate to not have the destruction seen in California.

If you are able to financially donate to relief efforts, here are a few links which I think would do the most good:

https://support.episcopalrelief.org/wildfire-2025

https://diocesela.org/fire-response/

https://www.directrelief.org/emergency/california-wildfires/

https://www.cafirefoundation.org/what-we-do/for-communities/disaster-relief

https://www.ncjwla.org/lafire/

https://secure.projecthope.org/site/SPageNavigator/FY25_01_LA_Fire_and_General_Unrestricted_Support_Web_LO_12860.html

A Prayer for Victims of the Fires

Gracious Lord, surround all those who have lost homes, businesses, livelihoods, schools, churches, and family members with your never-failing love.  Give them hope amid despair.  Give them space for mourning and resilience to carry on.  Deliver them from the bitterness of eternal death, and give them the strength of your presence that they may know and find life from death.

A Prayer for Emergency Workers

Lord God, our strong deliverer:  When those charged with responding to crises feel overwhelmed by the numbers of those suffering and the vastness of devastation, uphold them in their fatigue and banish their despair.  Give them comfort, and renew their energy and compassion, for the sake of Jesus in whom is our life and our hope.

Blessings,

January 8, 2025

Wednesday Word . . . Sunshine

On January 5 we had our first real snow of the year.  Coming on the 12^th Day of Christmas, I guess, technically, we still got our white Christmas.  But even with the snow, both Sunday and Monday were rather dreary days. 

Yesterday, however, was glorious!  The sky was bright blue, the sun was shining, and the sunlight reflecting off the new snow was almost blinding.  Although the temperature only reached 26, it felt much warmer than that.

One of the things I really love is a calm and bright sunny day after a winter storm.  People smile.  Attitudes are much improved.  And if you have any cleanup to do, the sunshine even makes that tolerable.  In this winter sunshine there was a sense of joy and life in the people I encountered on my walk downtown.

The Christmas season began with the birth of Christ.  The Gospel of John tells us that “in him was life, and the life was the light of all people.  The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it.”

Monday was the Feast of the Epiphany, when we celebrate the arrival of the wise men from the East who followed a star to the home of Mary and Jesus in Bethlehem.  They followed a light that shone in the darkness which eventually led them to a life found in Christ Jesus.

Christmas and Epiphany are about the arrival of God’s light in a darkened world. 

This winter, may the light of Christ shine in and through you like sunshine after a winter storm so that you may bring joy and life to all those whom you touch.

Blessings,

January 1, 2025

Wednesday Word . . . Silence

[An angel said to Elijah], “Go out and stand on the mountain before the LORD, for the LORD is about to pass by.”  Now there was a great wind, so strong that it was splitting mountains and breaking rocks in pieces before the LORD, but the LORD was not in the wind, and after the wind an earthquake, but the LORD was not in the earthquake, and after the earthquake a fire, but the LORD was not in the fire, and after the fire a sound of sheer silence.  When Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his mantle and went out and stood at the entrance of the cave.  Then there came a voice to him that said, “What are you doing here, Elijah?” – 1 Kings 19:11-13

Today is January 1, 2025.  It is New Year’s Day.  It is also the Eighth Day of Christmas and the Feast of the Holy Name.  There’s a lot going on today.  In addition to continuing the Christmas festivities, this is the day we celebrate the naming of Jesus (taken from the Jewish tradition of naming male children eight days after their birth).  And if you’re like me, to be honest, there are a number of Bowl Games to follow and overeat on chips, dips, and the like.

Despite offices being closed today, there is plenty to do and plenty which to keep us busy.

In the midst of everything – Christmas, New Year’s, our 12^th Night Party, Annual Meeting prep, and, and, and – the above passage of Elijah’s encounter with God popped into my head.

As we navigate all of the busy-ness in our lives, remember to take time and listen for God, remembering that God cannot be heard through the noise of wind, earthquakes, fire, or Bowl Games.  God, it seems, is heard in the silence. 

In the midst of all that is going on, find time to slip away.  Find time for quiet.  Find time for silence.  In that silence you just might hear the voice of God speaking to you.  And in that silence you just might be able to answer God’s question:  What are you doing here?

Merry Christmas,

December 25, 2024

Wednesday Word . . . Merry Christmas

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.  He was in the beginning with God.  All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being.  What has come into being in him was life, and the life was the light of all people.  The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it.”

The days are once again getting longer and we are reminded that light shines in the darkness and the darkness did not, and will not, overcome it.

May the light of Christ scatter the darkness from before your path, and may your light so shine that you become a beacon to those around you.

Merry Christmas,

December 18, 2024

Wednesday Word . . . Sacrifices at the Altar of Molech

On Monday I was in Sheridan for a hospital visit.  The good news is that the necessary procedure was a success and the patient should make a full recovery.

While I was waiting for them to come out of recovery and be allowed to visit, the news channel in the waiting room was reporting on yet another school shooting in Madison, WI, at Abundant Life Christian School.  The latest report is that at least five people were killed in the attack.

Once again we are reminded that we, as a society, value the unrestricted freedom to obtain firearms over the lives of children and teachers.  Once again we, as a society, are told to not politicize gun violence.  Once again we do nothing more than send empty truckloads of “thoughts and prayers.”  We are reminded that schools based in a Christian curriculum, where daily prayers are offered, where chapel worship is offered weekly (if not daily), and where the Ten Commandments probably hang on the walls, are not immune from gun violence.  And once again we are reminded that our willingness to sacrifice children on the altar of the Second Amendment is a price we must pay for our personal freedoms.

In the Hebrew Scriptures there are several references to Molech (or Moloch) as a pagan deity requiring child sacrifice.  Other scholars have proposed that the name wasn’t a deity, but a verb signifying the act of child sacrifice.  But whether a deity or a verb, what is clear is that God demands an end to child sacrifice.  We first get a glimpse of this in the story of the binding of Isaac (Gen. 22), and then with specific commandments of God to end the practice.

After yet another school shooting, when will we decide to listen to God and end the practice of sacrificing children on our own modern altar of Molech?

May God grant us forgiveness of our sins,

December 11, 2024

Wednesday Word . . . Perseverance

Yesterday during Noonday prayer (when the church is open from 12:00 – 1:00 for people to come in and pray, meditate, or just sit quietly), I read the Psalms appointed for the Tenth Day of the Month – Pss. 50-55 in the BCP.

This group of psalms has to do with sin, wickedness, persecution, and abandonment.  They are the cries of someone who is having a very bad stretch in their life.  They are also psalms to which we can all relate, as we have all had those feelings and times at one point or another in our own life.

But despite the torment and anguish of which the psalmist writes, there is always a sense of union with God.  There is always the sense that, no matter what troubles are swirling, thanksgiving, salvation, and unity with God are always the end result.

This persistent belief that God will not abandon us, or the belief that God perseveres with us, is a comfort in the very presence of trouble, for God is with us.  And, let’s face it, there are times in our lives when that is the only hope we have.  There are times in our lives that, when all seems to be going to hell in a handbasket, our persistent faith in God’s presence is the only thing that keeps us going.

To borrow from an old saying, “If your journey takes you to the depths of hell, keep on walking.”

So be persistent.  Keep on keepin’ on.  And may your faith give you the strength to persevere in all things.

Blessings,

December 4, 2024

Wednesday Word . . . Holy Conversations

As a priest, I have been blessed to have many conversations with many people over the years.  Time spent with the sick and dying, the grieving, and the sorrowful have all been holy times and holy conversations.  But those times aren’t limited to the downcast.  I’ve also had those times with joyful first-time parents, with couples preparing for marriage, and with students celebrating an accomplishment.  They have included the formal confessions of parishioners who come to me seeking absolution for sins both great and small.  And more often than not, they are accidental.

At the morning prayer group led by Joan Smith this past Monday, she asked those of us gathered something along the lines of, “What are you thankful for this past year?”

When I interviewed with the two churches I eventually ended up serving in Montana, I was asked if I would be willing to visit the local bars while wearing my collar.  And that was the beginning of my monthly bar visits.  Over the course of my time in Oregon and Maryland, bar visits just weren’t the same.  I think a lot of that had to do with the size of the city, as well as my personality.  But when I arrived here in Buffalo, I returned to the local bars. 

My answer to Joan’s question was, “I’m thankful to be back in the bars.”

Holy conversations aren’t limited to hospitals, funerals, or the confessional.  Sometimes a holy conversation finds its way into the local bar, transforming it into one of the most holy places in town.

So yes, I’m thankful to be back in the bars and I’m thankful for people willing to have a holy conversation in a holy place with a guy they normally wouldn’t talk to.

We can’t make a conversation holy; but we can keep our eyes and ears open for the presence of God that will infuse a conversation with holiness.

Blessings,