December 19, 2018

Advent III – Rejoice

This past Sunday was Gaudete Sunday, so named because the opening antiphon of the Mass began, “Gaudete in Domino semper,” that is, “Rejoice in the Lord always.”

Advent, and the whole holiday season for that matter, can be difficult for people. There could be painful memories of family and/or friends who have died. Jobs could be scarce. Finances may be imperiled. Unexpected bills can suddenly appear. There are many reasons why this is a difficult time for so many people.

And yet, with all of those things going on, with the general busy-ness of the season as we prepare for Christmas and the coming of the Messiah, we are called to rejoice in the Lord. We are called to be joyful in the Lord.

This can seem to be problematic, though, because too often we have a tendency to equate rejoice and/or joy with being happy. I heard a sermon recently in which the preacher advocated that people “just get over it” as a way to work toward joy/happiness. But working to “just get over it” is simply a band-aid offered by some who are eager for others to get back to normal. The problem is that what's normal for one person may not be normal for another person.

So . . . back to joy and rejoicing. These two things are not about happiness. They are not about good feelings. It is something much deeper. I think the quote from Frederick Buechner sums it up best, “Your vocation in life is where your greatest joy meets the world's greatest need.” When these two things meet, the process of restoration begins – restoration of yourself as well as restoration of the world around you.

Another way to look at it is to answer the question: Where is God calling you?

When we gather to worship God in the beauty of holiness, there is joy. When we welcome people as they are, respecting who they are, there is joy. When we gather for Community Cafe to serve food to our guests, there is joy. When we see a person's potential and encourage them to pursue it, there is joy.

When God is present in what we do and how we do it, there is joy. No, we may not always be happy, but if we are aligned with God, there will be joy. If we are looking to always be happy, we will probably be unhappy. But if we are looking to be joyful and to rejoice, then we need to spend time searching for that place where we and God meet. It will be in that meeting where we find joy, it will be in that meeting that we will rejoice, and it will be in that meeting where we begin to see God's kingdom on earth, as it is in heaven.

Rejoice in the Lord always, again I say, Rejoice!

Blessings,

December 12, 2018

Advent II – Peace

That's the word hanging from the Advent wreath this week.

It seems as if there is precious little peace in the world right now. Besides the usual wars, famines, natural disasters, and political turmoil that rage around us, there also seems to be the decidedly un-peaceful time of the Advent season as we make our preparations for the celebration of the Incarnation both at church and at home.

What is peace? Is it the absence of conflict, wars, and/or turmoil? Is it a place of quiet? Is it a place of equilibrium? Is it your bathtub?

Peace includes all of the above and more.

Sunday we heard from Baruch. In that reading he is looking forward to the restoration of Jerusalem and says that that city will receive the name, “Righteous Peace, Godly Glory.” He also prophesies that those who have been taken away will return, and mountains and hills made low and the valleys filled up. In this return and in this leveling out, the people will experience peace.

In Luke we heard John proclaiming a baptism of repentance as John prepares for the coming of the Lord. He announces that every valley shall be filled, and every mountain and hill shall be made low. This is also a form of leveling out as the rough paths are made smooth and all flesh will see the salvation of God.

As I was thinking about this idea of peace and the leveling out, the idea of peace was more than an end to wars, famines, disasters, and turmoil of all kinds. Peace also has to do with how we experience God in our lives.

The Hebrew word Shalom, which is often translated as Peace, delves into this peaceful experience of God.

The root of Shalom is to be safe in mind, body, and/or estate. It gets at the idea of developing an inward sense of completeness and wholeness. Our peace, then, isn't dependent on outside forces (or the lack of them), but is completely dependent upon where God is in our lives – or maybe I should say, where we allow God to be in our lives.

Those mountains and hills that are to be brought low, and those valleys which are to be filled in, are more than making the road to Jerusalem smooth. They are more than the social-political-economic systems of which I preached about on Sunday. They also have to do with our inner turmoils.

As we meditate on the word Peace in this second week of Advent, there may be no better words to contemplate than those spoken at the end of the Rite I Communion service:

The peace of God, which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in the knowledge and love of God, and of his son Jesus Christ our Lord.

Blessings,

December 5, 2018

Advent I – Hope

Advent has arrived, probably unnoticed by most of our society. While stores have been selling Christmas decorations for a month or two, and radio stations are beginning to slip Christmas music into their play lists, and cities are putting up holiday decorations and have had tree lighting ceremonies, the church calendar remains purple or blue and declares that we are in the season of Advent.

We are in the season of the already and not yet. It is the season of hopeful expectation. It is the season of learning to slow down in the midst of all the noise and activity. We prepare for the coming of Christ which has already happened in ancient Bethlehem. We prepare and hope for the future coming of Christ that has been promised. We try to find space to breathe when this time of year often takes our breath away.

Each Sunday of Advent has a theme attached to it which is usually attributed to one of the four virtues Jesus brings. When you are at church you can see a banner hanging from the Advent wreath naming the theme of the day; Advent I is Hope.

If you were at church this past Sunday you will recall that the gospel passage came from the apocalyptic portion of Luke (Chapter 21:5-38 if you're following along at home). “There will be signs in the sun, the moon, and the stars, and on the earth distress among nations . . . When you see these things taking place, you know that the kingdom of God is near . . . Be alert at all times . . .”

We only heard a portion of Chapter 21 on Sunday, but that portion, and all of the chapter, make it seem as if the end days are upon us. And in reading this chapter, we may hope to be removed from the trials and tribulations that are to come. We may hope to escape the devastating nature of those last days. We may hope that Jesus comes soon to clean up this mess. But that is less about hope and more of an escapist fantasy.

Are these the end times? As I've said more than once, it's always the end times for someone.

In the end times we hold to hope: hope for a better world; hope for things to come; hope for the kingdom of God to be revealed and fulfilled.

The kingdom of God has come near. This is not the time to hope for an escape or for our miraculous removal. Rather, this is the time to “stand up and raise your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.”

In these end times of the already and not yet, remember that we have a role to play in the coming kingdom – that role is to continue in the fellowship, to persevere in resisting evil, to proclaim the Good News, to love our neighbors as ourselves, to strive for justice, to respect the dignity of every human being.

In other words, that role is to help instill hope.

Blessings,

November 28, 2018

Thank you.

Last week on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving, I wrote about being at the HARC Thanksgiving service and, especially, the opening remarks by Buddhist monk, Temm Bikle and his litany of thanksgiving for things which we would not normally think as a places to give thanks.

This week on the Wednesday following Thanksgiving, I want to be more specific about things for which I am thankful.

I am thankful for having the opportunity to serve this amazing community of believers.

I am thankful for Mark and his skill and dedication to the overall liturgy and to the music program.

I am thankful for all those in the choir who give of their time and talent that helps make our worship the beautiful experience it is.

I am thankful for the acolytes and LEM's who allow the liturgy to flow seamlessly so that the congregation can worship without distraction.

I am thankful for Joyce and the altar guild who do all the hard, behind the scenes work in preparing for worship.

I am thankful for all those who participate in the liturgy, whether vested or not, who offer their thanks and praise as we worship God together.

I am thankful to the members of the Vestry who give of their time to do the business of the church.

I am thankful to the members of the Service and Outreach Commission who work to find ways to benefit the community around us.

I am thankful for all those who organize, prepare, serve, and clean up at Community Cafe.

I am thankful for difficult and lighthearted conversations that remind us we are all trying to do our level-headed best as we walk this journey.

I am thankful for Melonie's hard work in the office and everything she does, seen and unseen, that keeps us from being a paperwork disaster and, maybe, being arrested.

I am thankful to all those who work with our younger parishioners in so many ways.

I am thankful to all those who look for ways to be the face, hands, and feet of Christ in the world today.

I am thankful to Joelene and Cece who have put up with me and shaped me in so many ways.

I am thankful for where we have been, and hopeful for where we are going.

For all this and much more, I am thankful.

Blessings,

November 21, 2018

Thank you.

What are you thankful for? I would imagine you are thankful for family and friends, a place to call home, health, food to put on the table, and any number of other things.

But as the holiday season begins in earnest with Thanksgiving tomorrow, there also comes stress. The stress of travel, either far or near. The stress of serving meals for more than the usual crowd. Some people experience the stress of extended families.

This past Sunday I attended the annual HARC Thanksgiving service, held this time at John Wesley UMC. Buddhist monk Temm Bikle offered opening remarks. During his time, he said that Buddhists give thanks for everything, not only the good stuff but also the bad. And then he began a litany of sorts of what he/we were thankful for.

We are thankful for gun violence. We are thankful for the opioid epidemic. We are thankful for global warming. We are thankful for racism. We are thankful for these things, he said, because they are reminders of the opportunities we have to work for a better world. We have the opportunity to help control gun violence. We have the opportunity to help reduce dependence on opioids. We have the opportunity to care for God's creation. We have the opportunity to reflect what it looks like when all people are treated with dignity and respect.

We have many things for which to be thankful; both good and bad. And, as Temm reminded us last Sunday, if we are only thankful for the good things, we miss the opportunity to help create a better world.

This Thanksgiving, may you be thankful for all that is around you – from travel issues to burnt stuffing to weird uncles to new babies to seeing old friends and everything in between.

As we begin the holiday season in earnest, what are you thankful for?

Me? I'm thankful for this place and everyone who makes it what it is.

Blessings,

November 14, 2018

“Confirmation is a significant transition moment within the household of God, a moment that both cannot be repeated and yet is always reaffirmed, not least of all in the Daily Offices and holy communion.” – Drew Nathaniel Keane, “A Reconsideration of the Continued Practice of Confirmation in the Episcopal Church,” Anglican Theological Review, Vol. 200, Number 2, p. 263

This Sunday we will welcome Bp. Chilton Knudsen to St. John's. She is our Assistant Bishop and, as part of her primary duties, focuses on western Maryland and small churches. She will be retiring at the end of this year, so this is one of her last official parish visitations.

Lots of things happen when a bishop officially visits a parish – meetings, inspections, conversations, and at the top of the list, Confirmations. We are blessed to have eleven people being Confirmed and one person being Received (that is, officially moving from the Roman Catholic church to the Episcopal church). It's going to be a big day with a big celebration, and I encourage everyone to attend.

Confirmation as we perform the rite is uniquely Anglican in that we have fully separated it from baptism and reserved it for the hands of a bishop. But I don't want to get into various understandings of what it is or isn't here. I want to, instead, focus on the above quote.

When we are Confirmed we reaffirm and agree with what happened at our (usually) infant baptism, and we promise to live into the baptismal vows often spoken for us. And while we are adopted into the household of God at our Baptism, it is at our Confirmation that we are given more rights and responsibilities as members of that household. As Keane said, it is a significant moment of transition, never repeated but constantly reaffirmed.

It's like getting your driver's license: you only get it once, but you are constantly improving/learning through every day driving.

The other aspect of Confirmation is that, by the laying on of hands by the bishop, the Confirmand is connected to the wider body of Christ through apostolic succession. Apostolic succession isn't just from Knudsen to Sutton to Claggett to Seabury to Cranmer to Augustine to Gregory to Clement to Peter. It's also the recognition that we are connected to those very people, and each other, in a significant way.

This Sunday I invite you to attend the 10:15 service to be part of and witness this very important life event for twelve people of our family. If you can't attend, I invite you to pray for those being Confirmed that they will be led by the Holy Spirit into the knowledge and obedience of God's holy word.

And for those who will experience the laying on of hands by the bishop, know that this isn't the culmination of all those Confirmation classes but, like a wedding, ordination, or getting your driver's license, it is only the beginning.

May you continue to grow in God's wisdom and grace, and increase daily with the power of the Holy Spirit.

Blessings,

November 7, 2018

The church as the body of Christ shares in Christ's universal relevance as the place of the gathering of redeemed humanity through whom the whole world are to be reconciled to God. Such an exalted ecclesiology is antithetical to a conception of the church as a ritualistic vehicle to facilitate the private spirituality of individuals, withdrawn from the affairs of the world. – Alexander J.D. Irving, discussing theologian Henri De Lubac, Anglican Theological Review, Vol. 200, Number 2, p. 270

Every Sunday we gather together as the body of Christ to worship God. We come to sing, pray, repent, forgive, and be fed. We also do this at other times, such as Evening Prayer and the Wednesday healing Eucharist. But our primary day is Sunday. We do this, not because we are good people, but because, quite literally, it is (as Rite I says) our bounden duty.

The Catechism states that our duty as Christians is to follow Christ; come together week by week for corporate worship; and to work, pray, and give for the spread of the kingdom of God. This is in line with our baptismal covenant when we promised to continue in the Apostles' teaching and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in the prayers.

Another way to look at it, and remembering our All Saints' celebration last Sunday, is that we are the physical representation and manifestation of the kingdom of God. When we gather, we gather with angels, archangels, and all the glorious company of the saints in light, both in ages past and those yet to come. This points to the catholicity of our faith – that what we do, we do for all; and that what we do is not individualistic worship among many, but worship by the gathered body for the whole of both church and world.

Worship can be spiritually uplifting. Worship can bring us comfort in difficult times. Worship can bring us a glimpse of the holy mysteries where we touch the thin space between heaven and earth. And worship can remind us that we are the connecting point between all humanity and God.

We do not come together week after week to withdraw or escape from the world. We come together week after week to draw the world to us and to God.

So the next time you are tempted to evaluate worship and the church community based on whether or not it meets your needs, remember that we gather with angels, archangels, and all the company of heaven for the reconciliation of the world to God. We gather not to meet our needs, but to meet the needs of the world. We gather as the unified body of Christ, not as a random collection of cells.

This gathering, this body, this manifestation of the kingdom of God on earth, is stronger with you than without you, and we are diminished by your absence.

Blessings,