I returned to St Bede's Santa Fe today. Because I no longer feel like a tourist, I have not given it that title here. Someone on the HOBD list serv recently quoted Verna Dozier " The institutional church found out that following Christ was hard work. It was much easier just to worship Him." I think this sums up the difference between the two churches here.
I think that Gideon's Garden is about following Christ. If our worship does not produce such fruit, then it is just a lot of (well performed) hot air. But worship can nourish human beings and help send us out to perform the work that the Gospel compels us to do.
I have visited a lot of churches and know what it feels like to walk into an unfamiliar one. We are fortunate in the Episcopal Church that our ritual and common prayer help to bind us together. It can ease the anxiety and create a sense of belonging and familiar structure even when details are not the same. But without a warm welcome all this is for nothing really.
Today I received a very warm welcome as I returned to St Bede's having visited for the first time two weeks ago. Several people greeted me by name. Many who did not remember me offered a smile or other friendly greeting as I entered the church. They do not ignore the stranger here! The octagonal shape of the Sanctuary helps to give a sense of being embraced by a community.
I hope that everyone at St James gets a chance to visit other churches and experience what it is like to be a stranger. Of course it is easier for some than others. But I hope that every time I see an unfamiliar face in our congregation that I am able to in some small way make them feel welcome. Otherwise we will end up being a bunch of Mrs Beamishes.
Sunday, July 18, 2010
Sunday, July 11, 2010
The Episcopal Tourist, Santa Fe
Today I attended The Church of the Holy Faith. It is a building that blends southwestern and traditional styles. The interior has stained glass windows and exposed beams above. They have a fine pipe organ and choir.
The greeters at the front door gave me a nice welcome though I had difficulty engaging others I saw along the way.
The organ burst out gloriously for the opening hymn "Love Divine all Loves Excelling". There was a very dignified processional with crosses at the beginning and end. This was all rite one with the most traditional forms used for everything. The language was not gender inclusive.
The woman reading the first lesson had a very large black hat. She spoke with a slight British accent and her words were very clear. The Psalm was done in Anglican Chant and Charles would have approved as it moved in a natural speaking rhythm. The Gospel procession was executed with great precision, the acolytes in perfect sync.
The sermon was delivered by the associate rector the Rev Curtis Norman. He dwelt on a number of points concerning the Luke Gospel of the good Samaritan. Who is our neighbor? It is not just those who live near us. Jesus's parable expands the definition Love depends on deeds. The mission of Jesus was to restore broken humanity. We are those broken people. When we accept his compassion, Jesus takes us off that dangerous road. We are to show that compassion to the world.
The prayers of the people were read by the priest, followed by confession and absolution. The peace was quickly celebrated and the children were led out to Sunday school.
The offertory solo was sung like last week at St Bedes by an apprentice from the Santa Fe Opera program. Mezzo soprano Renee Tatum delivered "There is a Balm in Gilead" with deep and rich tone. I hope all were moved as much as I was.
The Sursum Corda was delivered facing the congregation, but after that the Deacon, Sub Deacon and Celebrant turned to the high Altar. All during the service I needed to pay close attention to the BCP in order to come out with the correct responses.
After the prayer of Humble Access (crumbs under the table and all) we received kneeling at the altar rail. The choir sang Durufle's "Ubi Caritas.
After the recessional, "Joyful we adore thee" the organist improvised a postlude to that tune and I listened with great appreciation for his skill.
The lady in the pew with me engaged me in conversation and complimented my singing. I recognized patrons of the opera who had had our cast to their house last week. But I can not say that anyone else greeted me other than the priests at the front door as I left. And no one offered to take me to the coffee hour which I did not attend.
I found the service very moving on many levels Anglo Catholicism at its finest, great music, liturgy and ritual done with dignity and precision, and beautiful surroundings. But I have grown impatient with rite one with its archaic speech and old fashioned theology. Do we really think that God has "wrath and indignation" for us? I also cringed at the non gender inclusive language," for us and for all men" and God spoken always as "He". I grew up with this and have always admired its majesty and beauty, but now in the 21st century I do not think it represents our idea of what God is. How long will some churches hang on to this?
The greeters at the front door gave me a nice welcome though I had difficulty engaging others I saw along the way.
The organ burst out gloriously for the opening hymn "Love Divine all Loves Excelling". There was a very dignified processional with crosses at the beginning and end. This was all rite one with the most traditional forms used for everything. The language was not gender inclusive.
The woman reading the first lesson had a very large black hat. She spoke with a slight British accent and her words were very clear. The Psalm was done in Anglican Chant and Charles would have approved as it moved in a natural speaking rhythm. The Gospel procession was executed with great precision, the acolytes in perfect sync.
The sermon was delivered by the associate rector the Rev Curtis Norman. He dwelt on a number of points concerning the Luke Gospel of the good Samaritan. Who is our neighbor? It is not just those who live near us. Jesus's parable expands the definition Love depends on deeds. The mission of Jesus was to restore broken humanity. We are those broken people. When we accept his compassion, Jesus takes us off that dangerous road. We are to show that compassion to the world.
The prayers of the people were read by the priest, followed by confession and absolution. The peace was quickly celebrated and the children were led out to Sunday school.
The offertory solo was sung like last week at St Bedes by an apprentice from the Santa Fe Opera program. Mezzo soprano Renee Tatum delivered "There is a Balm in Gilead" with deep and rich tone. I hope all were moved as much as I was.
The Sursum Corda was delivered facing the congregation, but after that the Deacon, Sub Deacon and Celebrant turned to the high Altar. All during the service I needed to pay close attention to the BCP in order to come out with the correct responses.
After the prayer of Humble Access (crumbs under the table and all) we received kneeling at the altar rail. The choir sang Durufle's "Ubi Caritas.
After the recessional, "Joyful we adore thee" the organist improvised a postlude to that tune and I listened with great appreciation for his skill.
The lady in the pew with me engaged me in conversation and complimented my singing. I recognized patrons of the opera who had had our cast to their house last week. But I can not say that anyone else greeted me other than the priests at the front door as I left. And no one offered to take me to the coffee hour which I did not attend.
I found the service very moving on many levels Anglo Catholicism at its finest, great music, liturgy and ritual done with dignity and precision, and beautiful surroundings. But I have grown impatient with rite one with its archaic speech and old fashioned theology. Do we really think that God has "wrath and indignation" for us? I also cringed at the non gender inclusive language," for us and for all men" and God spoken always as "He". I grew up with this and have always admired its majesty and beauty, but now in the 21st century I do not think it represents our idea of what God is. How long will some churches hang on to this?
A Sermon Preached July 11, 2010, Proper 10 C by the Rev. Frances A. Hills, Rector
‘Don’t know why, but I never tire of the story of the Good Samaritan. It always makes me remember a Vacation Bible School one of the first summers I was ordained. We told the story of the Good Samaritan to the children and then asked them to dramatize it. I remember the man who was attacked by robbers was played by a very small little boy. And I remember not the faces, but the attitudes, of all the others…The robbers, the Priest, the Levite, and the Good Samaritan.
Now according to the children, the robbers were sort of mean thrill-seekers… ‘Just roughing up a guy they didn’t even know for the heck of it and to get his money in the process. It was basically an impersonal thing, just something they did maybe because they were bored. The Priest and Levite were a different thing: One actively sneered at the injured man, as if to justify his indifference, and the other just pretended not to see him at all.
The Samaritan’s attitude was a bit of a surprise to me. He was played by a tall, lanky teenager, and he did what he did quite matter-of-factly. There was no great emotion or gushing, like, “You poor, wretched thing.” He simply applied the appropriate first aid, and then gently picked up the victim and placed him over his own shoulder (there was no pack animal in their play!) and carried him off to the inn. As if to say, “He ain’t heavy, he’s my brother.” As if to say, “Here is another human being. Regardless of our ethnic and social differences, this brother human being needs help, and I gladly take it on myself to help him. It’s the least I can do, and it’s certainly what I’d want someone else to do for me in the same circumstances.” Well, the children got all this across without a word! Their body language and acting said it all. (My hunch is the way we act and our body language often “says it all” about us as well.)
But as I think about this parable Jesus told, I really wonder what message he intended. Why was the “good guy” the despised Samaritan? If the Vacation Bible School children were right, and Jesus simply wanted us to understand how important it is to do acts of mercy, it wouldn’t matter to the story who the people were. We wouldn’t have needed the detail that they were a Priest, a Levite and a Samaritan. And if Jesus was wanting to poke at the hypocrisy of some ordained types, the third man should have been a Jewish lay person, and that would have made the point much better. If Jesus was wanting to illustrate that we are to love our enemies, then it seems the victim, not the mercy-giver, would have been the Samaritan. But, the mercy-giver was a Samaritan, so perhaps the parable’s propose is to shake us out of being too smug about our own particular religion or ethnic group.
However, today my mind goes back to the little boy who played the man who was beaten, robbed, and left half dead. He had no choice in the thing (about being hurt or being helped). He was basically unconscious and no doubt in pain when Grace came to him, and in the most unlikely way…Through the mercy of a Samaritan, a person considered detestable by Jews.
I wonder if that’s really the main point of this parable: That we have to “be in the ditch”, a low/desperate place, or at least, we have to be like a little child in a helpless place…a place where we don’t really expect that anyone can/will/would help us, before we can receive God’s full grace and mercy.
Think about times in your lives when you may have been “in a ditch” or weak and helpless. And think about how help came to you. What happened that made you better? Who helped make you better? My hunch is it came in a most unexpected way and through the mercies of people you might never have imagined. That’s how God’s grace works. We don’t earn it or deserve it. Sometimes we don’t even ask for it. Grace just IS!
Now today we will all be witnesses to such Grace as we baptize Aidan into the Body of Christ. Aidan’s certainly not “in the ditch”, but he is small and helpless. He’s going to be baptized here not because he’s earned it or deserves it, but because his parents and godparents and all of us are here, as mercy givers, are asking God to bestow upon Aidan this priceless gift of Abundant Life. This Child of God will be marked as Christ’s own forever, as were his siblings Gabriel and Olivia before him.
And today there will be yet another Grace as the twins receive Holy Communion for the first time. Not because they’ve earned it or really deserve it but because they desire it, Olivia and Gabriel will be nourished in an unexpected form—a tiny piece of bread, which will become for them, and for all of us, the Body of Christ, the bread of heaven!
As I think back on that Vacation Bible School drama of so long ago, I have a new understanding of why the children chose a tiny boy to be the victim. I thought it was just so the teenaged-Samaritan could carry him more easily. But today I think those children understood something I did not: It’s not the big and strong who are able to receive God’s Mercy. It’s the ones “in a ditch”, the helpless, the desperate, and the little ones who are truly receptive to the healing gift and treasure or God’s Amazing Grace.
Amen.
Now according to the children, the robbers were sort of mean thrill-seekers… ‘Just roughing up a guy they didn’t even know for the heck of it and to get his money in the process. It was basically an impersonal thing, just something they did maybe because they were bored. The Priest and Levite were a different thing: One actively sneered at the injured man, as if to justify his indifference, and the other just pretended not to see him at all.
The Samaritan’s attitude was a bit of a surprise to me. He was played by a tall, lanky teenager, and he did what he did quite matter-of-factly. There was no great emotion or gushing, like, “You poor, wretched thing.” He simply applied the appropriate first aid, and then gently picked up the victim and placed him over his own shoulder (there was no pack animal in their play!) and carried him off to the inn. As if to say, “He ain’t heavy, he’s my brother.” As if to say, “Here is another human being. Regardless of our ethnic and social differences, this brother human being needs help, and I gladly take it on myself to help him. It’s the least I can do, and it’s certainly what I’d want someone else to do for me in the same circumstances.” Well, the children got all this across without a word! Their body language and acting said it all. (My hunch is the way we act and our body language often “says it all” about us as well.)
But as I think about this parable Jesus told, I really wonder what message he intended. Why was the “good guy” the despised Samaritan? If the Vacation Bible School children were right, and Jesus simply wanted us to understand how important it is to do acts of mercy, it wouldn’t matter to the story who the people were. We wouldn’t have needed the detail that they were a Priest, a Levite and a Samaritan. And if Jesus was wanting to poke at the hypocrisy of some ordained types, the third man should have been a Jewish lay person, and that would have made the point much better. If Jesus was wanting to illustrate that we are to love our enemies, then it seems the victim, not the mercy-giver, would have been the Samaritan. But, the mercy-giver was a Samaritan, so perhaps the parable’s propose is to shake us out of being too smug about our own particular religion or ethnic group.
However, today my mind goes back to the little boy who played the man who was beaten, robbed, and left half dead. He had no choice in the thing (about being hurt or being helped). He was basically unconscious and no doubt in pain when Grace came to him, and in the most unlikely way…Through the mercy of a Samaritan, a person considered detestable by Jews.
I wonder if that’s really the main point of this parable: That we have to “be in the ditch”, a low/desperate place, or at least, we have to be like a little child in a helpless place…a place where we don’t really expect that anyone can/will/would help us, before we can receive God’s full grace and mercy.
Think about times in your lives when you may have been “in a ditch” or weak and helpless. And think about how help came to you. What happened that made you better? Who helped make you better? My hunch is it came in a most unexpected way and through the mercies of people you might never have imagined. That’s how God’s grace works. We don’t earn it or deserve it. Sometimes we don’t even ask for it. Grace just IS!
Now today we will all be witnesses to such Grace as we baptize Aidan into the Body of Christ. Aidan’s certainly not “in the ditch”, but he is small and helpless. He’s going to be baptized here not because he’s earned it or deserves it, but because his parents and godparents and all of us are here, as mercy givers, are asking God to bestow upon Aidan this priceless gift of Abundant Life. This Child of God will be marked as Christ’s own forever, as were his siblings Gabriel and Olivia before him.
And today there will be yet another Grace as the twins receive Holy Communion for the first time. Not because they’ve earned it or really deserve it but because they desire it, Olivia and Gabriel will be nourished in an unexpected form—a tiny piece of bread, which will become for them, and for all of us, the Body of Christ, the bread of heaven!
As I think back on that Vacation Bible School drama of so long ago, I have a new understanding of why the children chose a tiny boy to be the victim. I thought it was just so the teenaged-Samaritan could carry him more easily. But today I think those children understood something I did not: It’s not the big and strong who are able to receive God’s Mercy. It’s the ones “in a ditch”, the helpless, the desperate, and the little ones who are truly receptive to the healing gift and treasure or God’s Amazing Grace.
Amen.
Sunday, July 4, 2010
A Sermon Preached July 4, 2010, Proper 9 C by the Rev. Frances A. Hills, Rector
Today’s Gospel is familiar to many of us at St. James. We used it as our “Dwelling in the Word” passage for the entire first year of the Partnership for Missional Church process.
Jesus sends out 70 disciples, Two by two to spread God’s peace to the towns and to cure the sick. Now when these disciples are welcomed and well-received, God’s peace is shared, hospitality is offered and gratefully received, and the sick are healed. When this happens, Jesus tells the disciples to say to the town, “The Kingdom of God is come nigh unto you.” (The King James Version we heard today). I love that phrase…“The Kingdom of God is come nigh unto you” or (the more familiar from the New Revised Standard Version) “The Kingdom of God has come near.” It’s almost like the Kingdom walks by and dusts us with the fragrant hem of its garment.
And aren’t there times in our lives when the Kingdom of God seems to “dust” us: When it has indeed come near to us, when we or someone else has been open and receptive to God’s deep peace and healing? The place where I am most aware of this right now at St. James is at Gideon’s Garden.
The Spirit nudged our young people to have a garden to feed the hungry. Parishioner Pennie Curry took the word out, and the wonderful people of Taft Farms offered gracious hospitality to help make it happen. And so young people from all over the area go out two by two by two to plant, tend, stake-up, and water.
Before we know it, the harvest is truly plentiful, and more laborers are always welcome and needed. And true to the kids’ original mission…HUNGRY PEOPLE ARE FED. The bountiful produce goes to the People’s Pantry, Breaking Bread Kitchen, the Stockbridge Open Table, and others in the community who need food. But I think what’s going on with these young people, and with all the other people who even hear about this garden—I think these people may be the REAL harvest!
The young people of St. James are involved. It’s their garden! And they also bring their friends. There’s also some youth from St. Paul’s Stockbridge, and several young people from the wider community. So Gideon’s Garden is a place, not unlike a traditional church, where a variety of people gather, who might not know or even like each other otherwise, but they learn to care for each other because they’re all Children of God. As with big people, sometimes this learning to care takes awhile…it isn’t easy. Boundaries must be set. But when it happens for them (as for us big people), true community is formed. There is healing, reconciliation, peace—the Kingdom of God has come near.
And the Kingdom is near as well when young people find their strengths, and learn how grounding and good it is to get their hands dirty in work that ultimately feeds hungry people. When this happens, again there is healing: Hungry people are literally nourished; and the children are nourished, and they grow at least as much as the plants! All this going out and nurturing and healing and growing and transforming and feeding is ultimately the work of God’s Spirit of Mission.
Last year we know there were several individuals and families who would go to the garden to work and to pray. Sometimes we knew who they were. Sometimes not. It seems this year the wider community is becoming very interested in our garden. So, Pennie and Garden Foreman Brendan Farnam are going out, two by two, to tell people about it. They’ve spoken with the Railroad Youth Project boards. As a result, they are sending some young artists to paint the garden in all seasons. Pennie and Brendan have also spoken with the Brookside School, a close neighbor to Gideon’s Garden, Brookside wants to start a garden of their own, and asked us for ideas. And they’ve talked with the People's Pantry board. Soon they will talk with the Breaking Bread Kitchen board, Women in Crisis in Pittsfield (WIC). They will also set up meetings with contacts in the Hispanic Community through Fairview Hospital and also the BRIDGE organization. Senior Citizen groups in Sheffield and Housatonic want to hear about the garden as well. So as you can see, people in the community are excited about our garden! I’d venture to say Gideon’s Garden is bringing healing, peace, and a sense of God’s Kingdom to many we’ll never even know about.
I hope you can see Gideon’s Garden is not about recruiting a lot of new children and families to come to Crissey Farm for worship. In a sense, Gideon’s Garden is a church in itself already. It’s a church without walls. It is a place where people come together in community and get in touch with the earth, each other, themselves, and God. . .for the sake of feeding the hungry.
(Sounds pretty much like a church to me.)
Now the garden even has—not a pew— but a meditation bench. Perhaps its icons are the amazing Scarecrows the children made last Thursday. The liturgy is literally the work of the people, young and old. The mission and offering is the bounty from God’s good earth. The Peace of the Lord is what prevails.
I hope you will all go there at least to visit (if not to get your hands dirty!). Take some time to sit on the bench, experience the hospitality, feel the peace, and say your prayers. I think you’ll find the Kingdom of God has come very near.
Now it would be great if we could just stay in the Garden or the Kingdom all the time, but Jesus knows we can’t, and I will speak about this briefly. Remember in today’s Gospel, when the disciples are not welcomed…When their peace and ministry are not well-received, and there’s no hospitality for them? Jesus tells them not to force themselves, God’s Peace, or their healing ministry on anyone. Instead, Jesus says, “Your peace will return to you… and you should shake the dust from that town from your sandals and move on.”
There is a message here for us about TOUGH LOVE. As Jesus’ disciples we are called to offer Peace, to do what we can to help someone or a situation be healed. It may be a person or situation in our personal lives, in our church, in our community, our nation, or the world. But it’s always a two-way street…The other person/entity must offer us hospitality, and must be willing to receive God’s peace and healing from us. Sometimes the people we most want to share God’s love with and the people we most want to get better and be healed, just cannot receive our ministry and love. It’s perplexing, heartbreaking, maddening to us…
Why won’t they take love and peace and healing?
For whatever reason, they just can’t (at least not at that time). Jesus makes it clear when this is the case, there comes a time when he expects us to let it go, to let our peace return to us, to quit agonizing and trying to make them change, and to shake their dust from our feet.
Jesus wants us to spend our time and energy and lives spreading the Kingdom where it can be received, where the ground’s fertile. I know it’s sometimes painfully hard to “shake dust”, but it’s what Jesus calls us to do. But we can take heart because even when we “shake dust”, Jesus says, “The Kingdom of God has come near.” Think about it…When we speak the truth in love, even if it’s not well received, it is heard, at some level. So we can let go with confidence that God’s Spirit will use what we’ve said and done in some way…Only God knows how or when. And so, even for the one who cannot yet receive, who cannot yet offer hospitality to God’s peace and healing, even for that one the Kingdom has come near, if we speak the truth in love.
Let us pray…
O God, keep sending us out two by two, speaking and doing your Truth in love. Give us hearts to offer your healing and peace. And when it’s there, as it is in Gideon’s Garden, help us see it and celebrate it, always thanking you for your grace and goodness. And when there’s no hospitality for your healing and peace, help us let go graciously, knowing your Kingdom is always there and your goodness is always at work. In Jesus holy name we pray, Amen.
Jesus sends out 70 disciples, Two by two to spread God’s peace to the towns and to cure the sick. Now when these disciples are welcomed and well-received, God’s peace is shared, hospitality is offered and gratefully received, and the sick are healed. When this happens, Jesus tells the disciples to say to the town, “The Kingdom of God is come nigh unto you.” (The King James Version we heard today). I love that phrase…“The Kingdom of God is come nigh unto you” or (the more familiar from the New Revised Standard Version) “The Kingdom of God has come near.” It’s almost like the Kingdom walks by and dusts us with the fragrant hem of its garment.
And aren’t there times in our lives when the Kingdom of God seems to “dust” us: When it has indeed come near to us, when we or someone else has been open and receptive to God’s deep peace and healing? The place where I am most aware of this right now at St. James is at Gideon’s Garden.
The Spirit nudged our young people to have a garden to feed the hungry. Parishioner Pennie Curry took the word out, and the wonderful people of Taft Farms offered gracious hospitality to help make it happen. And so young people from all over the area go out two by two by two to plant, tend, stake-up, and water.
Before we know it, the harvest is truly plentiful, and more laborers are always welcome and needed. And true to the kids’ original mission…HUNGRY PEOPLE ARE FED. The bountiful produce goes to the People’s Pantry, Breaking Bread Kitchen, the Stockbridge Open Table, and others in the community who need food. But I think what’s going on with these young people, and with all the other people who even hear about this garden—I think these people may be the REAL harvest!
The young people of St. James are involved. It’s their garden! And they also bring their friends. There’s also some youth from St. Paul’s Stockbridge, and several young people from the wider community. So Gideon’s Garden is a place, not unlike a traditional church, where a variety of people gather, who might not know or even like each other otherwise, but they learn to care for each other because they’re all Children of God. As with big people, sometimes this learning to care takes awhile…it isn’t easy. Boundaries must be set. But when it happens for them (as for us big people), true community is formed. There is healing, reconciliation, peace—the Kingdom of God has come near.
And the Kingdom is near as well when young people find their strengths, and learn how grounding and good it is to get their hands dirty in work that ultimately feeds hungry people. When this happens, again there is healing: Hungry people are literally nourished; and the children are nourished, and they grow at least as much as the plants! All this going out and nurturing and healing and growing and transforming and feeding is ultimately the work of God’s Spirit of Mission.
Last year we know there were several individuals and families who would go to the garden to work and to pray. Sometimes we knew who they were. Sometimes not. It seems this year the wider community is becoming very interested in our garden. So, Pennie and Garden Foreman Brendan Farnam are going out, two by two, to tell people about it. They’ve spoken with the Railroad Youth Project boards. As a result, they are sending some young artists to paint the garden in all seasons. Pennie and Brendan have also spoken with the Brookside School, a close neighbor to Gideon’s Garden, Brookside wants to start a garden of their own, and asked us for ideas. And they’ve talked with the People's Pantry board. Soon they will talk with the Breaking Bread Kitchen board, Women in Crisis in Pittsfield (WIC). They will also set up meetings with contacts in the Hispanic Community through Fairview Hospital and also the BRIDGE organization. Senior Citizen groups in Sheffield and Housatonic want to hear about the garden as well. So as you can see, people in the community are excited about our garden! I’d venture to say Gideon’s Garden is bringing healing, peace, and a sense of God’s Kingdom to many we’ll never even know about.
I hope you can see Gideon’s Garden is not about recruiting a lot of new children and families to come to Crissey Farm for worship. In a sense, Gideon’s Garden is a church in itself already. It’s a church without walls. It is a place where people come together in community and get in touch with the earth, each other, themselves, and God. . .for the sake of feeding the hungry.
(Sounds pretty much like a church to me.)
Now the garden even has—not a pew— but a meditation bench. Perhaps its icons are the amazing Scarecrows the children made last Thursday. The liturgy is literally the work of the people, young and old. The mission and offering is the bounty from God’s good earth. The Peace of the Lord is what prevails.
I hope you will all go there at least to visit (if not to get your hands dirty!). Take some time to sit on the bench, experience the hospitality, feel the peace, and say your prayers. I think you’ll find the Kingdom of God has come very near.
Now it would be great if we could just stay in the Garden or the Kingdom all the time, but Jesus knows we can’t, and I will speak about this briefly. Remember in today’s Gospel, when the disciples are not welcomed…When their peace and ministry are not well-received, and there’s no hospitality for them? Jesus tells them not to force themselves, God’s Peace, or their healing ministry on anyone. Instead, Jesus says, “Your peace will return to you… and you should shake the dust from that town from your sandals and move on.”
There is a message here for us about TOUGH LOVE. As Jesus’ disciples we are called to offer Peace, to do what we can to help someone or a situation be healed. It may be a person or situation in our personal lives, in our church, in our community, our nation, or the world. But it’s always a two-way street…The other person/entity must offer us hospitality, and must be willing to receive God’s peace and healing from us. Sometimes the people we most want to share God’s love with and the people we most want to get better and be healed, just cannot receive our ministry and love. It’s perplexing, heartbreaking, maddening to us…
Why won’t they take love and peace and healing?
For whatever reason, they just can’t (at least not at that time). Jesus makes it clear when this is the case, there comes a time when he expects us to let it go, to let our peace return to us, to quit agonizing and trying to make them change, and to shake their dust from our feet.
Jesus wants us to spend our time and energy and lives spreading the Kingdom where it can be received, where the ground’s fertile. I know it’s sometimes painfully hard to “shake dust”, but it’s what Jesus calls us to do. But we can take heart because even when we “shake dust”, Jesus says, “The Kingdom of God has come near.” Think about it…When we speak the truth in love, even if it’s not well received, it is heard, at some level. So we can let go with confidence that God’s Spirit will use what we’ve said and done in some way…Only God knows how or when. And so, even for the one who cannot yet receive, who cannot yet offer hospitality to God’s peace and healing, even for that one the Kingdom has come near, if we speak the truth in love.
Let us pray…
O God, keep sending us out two by two, speaking and doing your Truth in love. Give us hearts to offer your healing and peace. And when it’s there, as it is in Gideon’s Garden, help us see it and celebrate it, always thanking you for your grace and goodness. And when there’s no hospitality for your healing and peace, help us let go graciously, knowing your Kingdom is always there and your goodness is always at work. In Jesus holy name we pray, Amen.
The Episcopal Tourist, Santa Fe
This morning I attended St Bede's Church in Santa Fe. The church is located just off a large suburban street. Like most buildings here, it has adobe walls and the sanctuary is in an octagonal shape with large windows looking out at the desert and mountains.
They are very friendly. When I entered the building, there was a welcome desk where I was warmly greeted, given a blue ribbon to identify me as a visitor and a very informative pamphlet about the parish, mission, fellowship, services, as well as a welcome for all people. There was a rainbow flag out front also. Others greeted me as I received the bulletin and entered the sanctuary.
I found a seat in one of the large wooden pews and took in the simple but lovely space and the views of the mountains. Tom Woodward, a retired priest and deputy to GC came over and introduced himself.
The organ was an undistinguished electronic one, but it was well played with nice spirited tempos for the Hymns. There were two young singers from the Santa Fe Opera program there one of whom sang "If with all your hearts" from Elijah.
The Gospel read by the Deacon was ever so familiar to me as we have used this for meditation and reflection in the Partnership for Missional Church process. The sermon given by the rector the Rev Dr. Richard Murphy tied in the OT reading, recounting the miracle of Naanan's cure merely by taking a bath.
For the Luke passage he said that the most important thing was that the 70 were bringing the message that the Kingdom of God has come and that the world will begin to be healed. He then recalled another miracle concerning the gathering of a bunch of disagreeable men in Philadelphia who protested against injustice and began the process of founding our nation
The Eucharist was celebrated and bells (no smells) were used. As we went up to receive we sang Fairest Lord Jesus followed by all 3 verses of America the Beautiful. I choked up as I looked out the window at the real " purple mountains' majesty" while I sang those words.
There were some prayerful celebrations of birthdays and anniversaries. Prayer shawls were brought to the front. The church had hosted a party for Gene Robinson at his visit last week for the gay pride march here and that committee was given a round of applause. Then Tom Woodward came forward and told a remarkable story of healing through prayer of a young person with severe brain damage
After the service I spoke with many many people including the musicians of course. I met the rector and spoke for some time with Tom. He is a fascinating and multi -talented person who also writes plays. As a blogger, a Deputy, and in other venues he has been a tireless advocate for full inclusion of all the baptized, evangelizing strongly to the gay community.
This seems like a wonderful warm church, and I hope to come back often.
John Cheek
They are very friendly. When I entered the building, there was a welcome desk where I was warmly greeted, given a blue ribbon to identify me as a visitor and a very informative pamphlet about the parish, mission, fellowship, services, as well as a welcome for all people. There was a rainbow flag out front also. Others greeted me as I received the bulletin and entered the sanctuary.
I found a seat in one of the large wooden pews and took in the simple but lovely space and the views of the mountains. Tom Woodward, a retired priest and deputy to GC came over and introduced himself.
The organ was an undistinguished electronic one, but it was well played with nice spirited tempos for the Hymns. There were two young singers from the Santa Fe Opera program there one of whom sang "If with all your hearts" from Elijah.
The Gospel read by the Deacon was ever so familiar to me as we have used this for meditation and reflection in the Partnership for Missional Church process. The sermon given by the rector the Rev Dr. Richard Murphy tied in the OT reading, recounting the miracle of Naanan's cure merely by taking a bath.
For the Luke passage he said that the most important thing was that the 70 were bringing the message that the Kingdom of God has come and that the world will begin to be healed. He then recalled another miracle concerning the gathering of a bunch of disagreeable men in Philadelphia who protested against injustice and began the process of founding our nation
The Eucharist was celebrated and bells (no smells) were used. As we went up to receive we sang Fairest Lord Jesus followed by all 3 verses of America the Beautiful. I choked up as I looked out the window at the real " purple mountains' majesty" while I sang those words.
There were some prayerful celebrations of birthdays and anniversaries. Prayer shawls were brought to the front. The church had hosted a party for Gene Robinson at his visit last week for the gay pride march here and that committee was given a round of applause. Then Tom Woodward came forward and told a remarkable story of healing through prayer of a young person with severe brain damage
After the service I spoke with many many people including the musicians of course. I met the rector and spoke for some time with Tom. He is a fascinating and multi -talented person who also writes plays. As a blogger, a Deputy, and in other venues he has been a tireless advocate for full inclusion of all the baptized, evangelizing strongly to the gay community.
This seems like a wonderful warm church, and I hope to come back often.
John Cheek
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