St. James Air

A Sermon Preached December 11, 2011, Advent 3 B

2011-12-12T22:15:00.001-05:00

by the Rev. Frances A. Hills,rector

Isaiah 61:1-4, 8-11 and John1:6-8, 19-28

Advent 3 already! It’s the week for JOY and GLADNESS, theweek when we have our visitors from Ingersoll, Ontario, the week for the pinkcandle, and the week for Isaiah and John.

The passage from Isaiah is beautiful and familiar, becauseit’s what the Gospel of Luke quotes Jesus as reading from the scroll in thetemple. This Isaiah passage is from what we call “Third Isaiah”. Third Isaiahwas written to address the sad situation and people in the aftermath of theBabylonian Exile. They’d returned to their ruined, yet beloved Zion. Thespeaker assures the people that God’s Spirit has given him the power to speak aword of hope and salvation to them in their desolate straits:

“The spirit of the Lord Godis upon me, because the Lord has anointed me; he has sent me to bring good newsto the oppressed, to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to thecaptives, and release to the prisoners; to proclaim the year of the Lord’sfavor, and the day of vengeance of our God: to comfort all who mourn; toprovide for those who mourn in Zion—to give them a garland instead of ashes,the oil of gladness instead of mourning, the mantle of praise instead of afaint spirit.”

In this, Third Isaiah invites God’s returning people to beclothed in salvation and to think about salvation--not so much in terms of “whowill be saved and go to heaven” but as a qualityof life in the here and now! It’s a quality of life that reflects God’sdesire for the human community. In Isaiah 61, salvation means good news,healing, liberty, release, and comfort. It means a “jubilee year”…A year whendebts are wiped away, slaves are freed, fields allowed to lie fallow, and landreturned to its owners.

In Isaiah, salvation is imagined both as a restored city andas an abundant garden.

It says the other nations will see what God has done forIsrael, and they will know,

“That they are people whom the Lord has blessed”. Thisaffirms that God’s mission of deliverance is not just some other-worldlypie-in-the-sky thing. God’s salvation mission is real, tangible and“this-worldly”! In fact, others can actually see it!

As Christians I think we may often think of God’s salvation asbeing about the life of the world to come, and ultimately it is. However, wemust not forget that God’s salvation is also God’s mission. It’s abouttransforming the world— here and now!

We’re invited to participate in this transformative,missional way of life—even in the midst of a fallen world. I’m suggestingsalvation is the reality of our world, as it SHOULD be. The Reign of God NOW! Theworld God imagines, longs for...For us!

If that is so, then how do we participate in God’s mission? Howdo we help bring in the Reign of God in ourday? Isaiah points us, and by quoting Isaiah, Jesus points us, to ourmission…to turning our attention to those he names as recipients of the goodnews: The oppressed. The brokenhearted. The captives. The prisoners. Themournful. The faint of spirit…These are the lowest and weakest, the ones forwhom God and Jesus have special concern.

Notice, this kind of faith and sense of mission has little ornothing to do with many forms of cultural Christianity that would make theChurch an end in itself. Perhaps “John the testifier” as we see him in John’sgospel today, was making a similar statement when he took his testimony andbaptism out from the city, out from the temple, away from the establishedreligion, and into Bethany. As if to say, “It’s out here in the wilderness whereyou will ‘come back to life’.”

This is a far cry from making the Church an end in itself thatexists solely for a building (if we had one!), or our programs, or thefellowship of like-minded folk

we so enjoy. It’s not thatany of these are wrong in and of themselves…They just can’t be the reason for the Church’s existence.

Instead, we need to exist for the sake of the poor,oppressed, brokenhearted, imprisoned, and mournful…in our community. In otherwords, we need more and more to join God’s mission, Jesus’ mission. And if wedo, then I think the nations of the world, or at least our neighbors, will notice that we livedifferently: That we are indeed “A people whom the Lord has blessed”. So wewould actually fulfill SecondIsaiah’s prophecy (Is 49:6) and be, “A light to the nations, that God’ssalvation may reach to the end of the earth.” If we could closely align with God’s mission andlive as a missional Church, seeking to help bring in the Reign of God, then wewould live as people of good news, liberation, justice, and comfort in such away as people would take note and be drawn to the ways of God. In today’s worldChristians often get negatively stereotyped, in spite of how much money we maygive to charity or how many missionaries we might send abroad. Many think ofChristians as a group of people who are divided and hypocritical, who judge,fight, and exclude. If we really lived into God’s mission, we would stand as asign of God’s blessing to all around us in thiscommunity. We would break those stereotypes. We might really be that church the wonderfulHispanic woman at Taft Farm described us as being, “The Church Where All theAngels Fly Around”.

There’s a part of us that isthat Church. We are “People whom the Lord has blessed”, and otherssometimes see it! And I celebrate it!

I hope as we live into these last two weeks of Advent, wewill remember not just that Jesuscame, but also why Jesus came. Hismission, our mission, is to bring in the Reign of God, to testify to the Light,to usher in a jubilee celebration in the here and now, as we await the day ofhis coming. Amen.

This sermon borrowed heavily fromthe “Theological Perspective” article on Isaiah of Scott Bader-Saye in Feasting on the Word, Advent 3 B.

The Subject Comes First

2011-12-07T14:06:00.013-05:00

A Sermon Preached by Lee Cheek, Lay Preacher @ St. James & St. George Episcopal Churches @ Crissey Farm, Great Barrington, MA

Advent 2B, December 4, 2011

I have to say that I am refreshed, sobered, and braced by the monumentality of the proclamations from Isaiah and Mark today. Living deeply with them during the past few weeks, I have come to appreciate their beauty, boldness, and confidence about how humankind has slowly been brought into being: how we humans have been led, guided, and ever so patiently and lovingly pulled into a future not completely disclosed to us, yet assuredly will be for us—each one of us without exception.

It is a future difficult to imagine but the signs of it are already here in the shining moments of grace and reconciliation, glimpsed by us in those moments when we have eyes to see and ears to hear.

I hesitate to even name this Living and Acting Presence—the “Who” that has been with us and for us since before the beginning of time. I could use Isaiah’s “Yahweh” which suggests an activeness, or “I AM” which conveys a sense of something we cannot know everything about.

It is easier to say “God”, though to most people these days “God” often means something more like “Top God”—a god who apparently has needed squads of proud cheerleaders over the ages to shout his name loudly and often and to do some pretty unholy things to prove his power. This mostly ends up having people rightfully reject such a false thing in their lives.

Second or “Deutero” Isaiah, the author of chapters 40-55 of the book of Isaiah, wrote during the 50 odd years following the destruction of Jerusalem by the forces of the Assyrian empire in 597 BC. Leaving a helpless remnant of the tribes of Judah behind in the dust and stones of the flattened city and its wrecked, former home of Yahweh, Isaiah and about 4600 others were deported to Babylon (present day Iraq) into a dazzlingly opulent society with grand temples of their more powerful god Marduk. Into a shiny city complete with hanging gardens.

A few days ago, I was trying to imagine the disorientation and the amazement the deportees might have felt on their arrival in their new surroundings. I happened to see a picture on NPR’s website of the world’s largest casino proposed for construction on Biscayne Bay in Miami at a cost of $3 billion.[1] Apparently Babylon is coming to us!

King Nebuchadnezzar thought that he had gotten rid of Yahweh and thus, put his people in despair and humiliation, stripped of their identity as the sons and daughters of Yahweh-Who-Brought-Them-into-Being-from-Nothing.

To be sure, they were well aware of their part in their defeat, having ignored their prophets’ warnings about being unfaithful to Yahweh’s covenant with them which required living up to the imperatives of a just and merciful society: seek justice, rescue the oppressed, defend the orphan, plead for the widow.[2]

But before they were brought too low as new consumers of the Assyrian profit-at-any-cost society, Yahweh as lover and gatherer of the weak speaks the word of radical forgiveness to them:

“Comfort ye, comfort ye, for I still believe in you. I am not in my temple because I am here with you in the wilderness of your suffering and shame, ready to gently lead you to our new home together. Position and power mean nothing to me. It’s my Word to you that will carry you through and remain with you forever.”

We hear echoes of these words in the bracing opening of Mark’s testament some 400 years since the return of the exiles to Jerusalem. As a result of the Roman control of Palestine in 63 BC, an uneasy peace has been brokered—but at the price of heavy taxes, control and corruption of the temple priesthood, and puppet rulers whose appetites for wealth and staying in power corrupt and harm everyone down the food chain.

You could hear their cries: "Where is Yahweh when we need him! Send us a divine leader to deliver us! Your people are desperate! Restore your Promised Land to us!"

Several groups have given up on the corrupt priests of the temple and have scorned their rituals. Holiness renewal movements emerge and Mark introduces us to John the Baptist who is administering a ritual cleansing of sins to anyone who will come to the wilderness—that is, far away from the sacral structures of the temple.

You could hear their hopes: "Yes, if we clean our hearts, Yahweh will answer us, avenge his honor, save us from our enemies, release us from our humiliation at the hands of the Romans and restore our land to us!"

In Matthew’s testimony, we learn what happens to the Baptizer. John enters into a rivalry with the puppet ruler of Galilee, Herod Antipas, and outs him as a major sinner for marrying his brother’s wife. This lands him in prison and when he hears that Jesus has begun his ministry, he poignantly sends a message to him:

“Are you the one who is to come, or are we to wait for another?”

Jesus answered him: “Go and tell John what you hear and see: the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the poor have good news brought to them. And blessed is anyone who takes no offense at me.”

Ah! So beautiful! So of the Living and Acting Presence, who patiently and lovingly pulls anyone with ears to hear and eyes to see into an unimagined future, into something new.

I wonder if John’s heart was able to receive this message and let himself be undone by it, letting the plug be pulled out of his story that it is our actions which command God’s response, rather than God’s actions which result in our response?

All of this is to say that the Good News that Mark announced to the world with the authority of an imperial decree is from the future that John did not yet know.

You see, Mark wrote his announcement of this Good News from the perspective of someone who had encountered in his crucified and risen brother The One Who Has Always Been For Us, The One Always Coming Toward Us who cannot be destroyed by anything we humans can do.

But I get ahead of the season at hand. What might these texts be saying to us right now, we anxious and desperate humans who want to do something—to ourselves, to others—so God will arrive and save us from the destructive consequences of our personal and societal addictions to the power and patronage of Babylon?

Perhaps something like this:

Beloved! Be not ignorant of this one thing: that one day is with Me as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. There is time. Exhale. Be quiet and allow Me—your I AM—to act first. In ages past, it has ever happened that way.

So comfort ye! Comfort ye, for I still believe in you. I am not in my temple because I am here with you in the wilderness of your suffering and shame, ready to lead you gently to our new home together. Position and power mean nothing to me. It’s my Word to you that will carry you through and remain with you forever.

AMEN.

[1] http://www.npr.org/2011/12/01/142864058/in-miami-plans-for-mega-casinos-bring-hope-and-ire

[2] Isaiah 1:17

In preparing this sermon, the preacher gratefully acknowledges being significantly influenced by the following sources: James Alison’s recorded talks at the 2010 John Main Seminar in Canterbury, UK, The Shape of God’s Affection, available at http://www.contemplative-life.org/ and Fleming Rutledge’s new collection of her Old Testament sermons, And God Spoke to Abraham (Eerdmans, 2011). Thank you, my friends!

A Sermon preached November 27, 2011, Advent 1 B

2011-11-27T20:00:00.000-05:00

By the Rev. Frances A. Hills,Rector

It’s Advent I, and so we beginagain a New Year in the Christian Church calendar.

Four years ago today, on Advent I, 2007, you and I worshipedtogether for the very first time. We were in the building at Main & Taconicwhen we began our life together as parish and priest.

Three years ago today, we were here at Crissey Farm. ‘Glad to be“in out of the cold”. ‘Sort of huddled togetherand basically in shock with what had befallen us.

Two years ago, again at Crissey Farm, we were stressed out byinsurance company deadlines. We were also feeling the stress of being acongregation in transition. We’d been hurled into a journey we hadn’t askedfor. It was a journey from where we’d been to where God was leading us—and wedidn’t know the way! We were starting to discern what the best for our parishwas, and there were many differing ideas!

By last Advent I, we had sold the building, and we were welcoming thepeople of St. George Lee to worship with us here. The people of St. George werein their own kind of transition. They’d said goodbye to their beloved rector,and were in the process of selling theirproperty.

A lot has happened to us in thepast four years, hasn’t it? (!)

Each new liturgical year hasbrought its own joys and challenges for us as communities of God’s people. Yetfor last year and this year, as in every year on Advent I, the themes for the day are perfect: HOPE andLIGHT and KEEPING ALERT.

In our first reading from Isaiah,the people have just returned to Jerusalem from exile in Babylon. Life ischaotic. Nothing like it was before: Theirbeloved city is desolate. Their temple is destroyed. Life in Jerusalem, as theyknew it before the exile, is simplygone. And, having been in exile, the people are different as well. So the people of God call for Godto come to them, to INTERVENE,“O that you would tear open the heavens and comedown!”

They complain and blame whenGod is angry with them or hiding from them, and then their faith weakens, andthey fall away, “We all fade like a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind,take us away.”

They remind God that God has made them and molded them, “We are theclay, and you are our potter; we are all the work of your hand…we are all yourpeople.” They are begging God to come to them, to shed light on their darkness, andto make God’s self known. The Psalmist puts it this way, “show the light ofyour countenance”.

Although they are desperate, there also seems to be a lotof HOPE in their plea: They know God is their God. they are God’s people, and they are hopefulthat God will, in fact, respond. AndGod doesrespond to God’s people…over and over again. And, over and over, the peopleare strengthened…for a while, butthen they fall away. (BTW that’spretty much a brief summary of the rest of the Hebrew Scriptures, if not God’srelationship with God’s people in general!)

As we think of what those newlyreturned exiles asked for in Isaiah: For God to intervene in their plight, for God to forgive them and show upin their lives, we as Christians cansee the coming of Jesus as a new kindof intervention. In fact, it’s God’s ultimateintervention: God becomes flesh anddwells among us as a human being. Itis through this Human Being, who is also God, we see the light of God’scountenance. We arefully forgiven and given relationship with the One who made us and formsus—the potter of our clay.

At this time when our world andlives are dark on many fronts…With war and tumult, greed and scapegoating, crumblingeconomies, inequity, injustice, bankrupt and addicted nations and people, agovernment apparently unable to value the Common Good over partisan politics, andso many natural disasters that leave unspeakable and overwhelming destruction…We are seeing these things take place RIGHTNOW! As those before us have seenthese things.

In the Gospel Jesus says, when we see these signs, we can knowthat Jesus is near…Just as when we see a plant putting on new shoots, we know that summer is near. It’s a naturalpart of God’s plan. Now this nearness of Jesus is not just referring to some cosmic End Time, it is also talking about rightnow…in the midst of our darkness, inthe midst of the many signs we do indeedsee taking place today. And so as we see the signs, as those before us sawsigns, we can live in faithful HOPE: Jesus isnear, and God will bring the LIGHT NOW…In this time in-between Jesus’ coming to earth as a child and when he comesagain in the End Time. It’s a natural part of God’s plan… So we must KEEP ALERTright now, because in the midst of the darkness of our world, a lightwill shine. God will try to intervene again—Right now, today/tonight/tomorrow.Jesus said to those closest to him, “What I say to you, I say to all, “Keepalert”.

We must realize that we are part ofthe “all” Jesus is talking about. So it’s our job to WATCH, WAIT, and KEEP ALERT, because the LIGHT, which is Jesus’ nearness, may very well surface in themost unexpected ways and times, and wedon’t want to miss it! Instead, we want to BE READY to recognize just howGod intervenes in our darkness…and to name it for ourselves and others.

As we begin our 5^th yeartogether, remember God’s nearness will probably come in the most unexpectedways…

Like a child’s innocent question, agrace that may come in the midst of pain and loss, a new path that opens whenanother is blocked, deep values that galvanize when finances get really tight, orperhaps recognizing we’re not alone after all, but part of a community that’sbecome a holy family for us.

No matter where we are physicallyor spiritually, Advent is the time to live in HOPE and EXPECTATION….WATCH!WAIT! BE ALERT for all those times when Jesus is near, when he shows us the light of his countenance, when Godintervenes and brings the LIGHT. Amen.

Sermon, Sunday November 20

2011-11-20T22:11:00.000-05:00

The Rev. Dr. Audrey Scanlan

Canon for Mission Collaboration

The Episcopal Diocese of CT

Christ the King 2011, Great Barrington, MA

Grace andPeace in the name of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.

I bring you greetings from your brothers and sisters in theEpiscopal Diocese of CT… and especially from our bishops, Ian, Jim andLaura. It is an honor to be with youthis morning and I am humbled to be invited to share in this day of celebrationand thanksgiving and deep listening. Thank you.

I knew this place many years ago… when my mother would loadme and my several siblings into the Chevy station wagon on a summer afternoon andcome over to Jennifer House… to buy a gift for someone: a calico apron, a bigwoven basket, or some kitchen goods. Children that we were, we would hang around the penny candy section orgo out and toss pebbles in the courtyard. This was in the days before malls… and the idea of shopping on a“campus” was exciting- I think that mymother used these trips to re-gain her sanity after spending day after day withus playing “war canoe” or re-stringing fishing poles that had tangled lines…and cooking dinner for our family of 11 every night at Twin Lakes… Jennifer House. Now Crissey Farms. And today- and for thepast couple (three?) years on Sunday mornings- home to the worshippingcommunities of St. James, Great Barrington and St. George’s, Lee.

Today in our liturgical year, we have reached the end of theline. This day- the Feast day of Christ the King- is the final Sunday in our churchcalendar… and next week, we will begin again, the annual cycle of feasts andfasts as we enter into the season of Advent. Endings and beginnings. I’d liketo look at both of those ideas- endings and beginnings- in that order.

The gospel lesson this morning talks about a big ending: the coming of Christ in Glory and the FinalJudgment. Students of the New Testamentknow that this is the only place in the Gospels where the Final Judgment isdescribed… and so, as a central idea in our theology, it is good to payattention to this passage! Jesus- theSon of Man- comes again and divides the sheep from the goats. The goats aregathered up and told that they did not measure up … and so they are cast offinto an eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels… The sheep are gathered at the right hand ofGod and are praised for their righteous ways… and they are sent to inherit the Kingdom. There is a distinctseparation where the righteous are rewarded and the others are damned. But… it’s really not that easy. It’s muddier than that- because in the LastJudgment… in this ending… at the endof this line… it is not clear- evenfor the rewarded ones- how they came to inherit the Kingdom. They aresurprised. And Jesus tells them: “I washungry… you gave me food… I was thirsty… you gave me something to drink… I wasnaked… you gave me clothing.” Therighteous have failed to see- even in their goodworks- the unity- the Oneness- of the Kingdom: Christ is present not only inshining robes seated on the throne of glory… but Christ is also present in the hungry, the sick , thepoor and the dirty: there is no dividing line in the Kingdom. And so, while this story describes separationand ending- the Final Judgment- it also holds up another idea- one of Unity andOneness and Wholeness in God’s Kingdom… and the call for us to be evervigiliant of that. It is a call to seekout Christ and to see that in Him, weare One.

As the communities of St. George’s and St. James, you havehad your own experiences of endings. Iwas amazed to learn about the history of St. Georges’ in which the churchbuilding suffered two different fires...in the year 1861 (when it was just 3years old) and again, 18 years later, in1879, and, through the hard work of the people and the grace of God… you cameto re-build and re-claim that space as your worshipping home. Those fires were events that were out of yourcontrol and which for many communities could have served as the real- final- ending. St James’ has a similar story in anuncontrolled event that could have pointed to an ending: the sudden falling of the sanctuary wallthree years ago which demanded sudden and certain evacuation from your worshipspace. And, still, there is another ending to name: the ending of St. George’s as owners of landin Lee- this time, a controlled ending,in which the parish chose in 2010 for the property to be sold.

These endings- both the controlled one and the sudden ones-have challenged both of your communities to find creative responses as thepeople of God and they have called youto consider, together, now, the nextsteps in your lives as followers of Jesus and his Way.

Beginnings.

In his Convention Address, your bishop Gordon Scruton talkedabout the new beginnings for the Church and said: “God is looking for clergyand lay leaders in Western Massachusetts who will be willing to let God birthfresh expressions of Christian living and mission outside the walls and current patterns of theircongregations.” I’d say he had you in mindwhen he wrote that line. He also saidthat there is a cost to doing this work: in forging new beginnings there is an element of risk taking. It is hardwork. Not everyone is ready to comealong. And yet, the payoff isamazing. Gordon writes of a “deeper,more holistic life of discipleship withJesus” as a result of risking a new beginning.

I think he’s right. While new beginnings ask us to step out of our comfort zones- you haveknown that in the last year or more- there are also the benefits of a deeperformation and a richer relationship with each other- and, in each other, inChrist.

The writer of the letter to the Ephesians knew that, too. Theletter to the Ephesians that we heard this morning is thought to be a circularletter… a letter written- probably by a student of Paul- and delivered toseveral struggling congregations (in acircle) as a means of encouragement. Thepart that we heard today is a prayer: the prayer of the writer for these congregations: that in their new beginnings that they willbe given the spirit of “wisdom and revelation.. so that the eyes of theirhearts will be enlightened and that they will know the Hope to which God hascalled them.”

Right now, as the communities of St. James’ and St. George’s,you are living in an in-between time. You have moved beyond your variousendings… and are just starting to discern what shape your new beginning willtake. The work that we will do todaywill be offered in the spirit of Thanksgiving for all that you have enjoyed together as One Body in Christ, here onSunday mornings. And the work of the dayis to listen.

I think of St. Paul and his companions as they traveled tonew congregations across Asia Minor… I suspect that they did a lot of listening. The letters that they wrote as a result oftheir visits showed that they did. There is great benefit in hearing another’sstory. And, I suspect, that if the sheepin Matthew’s gospel lesson had slowed down enough to listen to and look at thehungry that they were feeding.. and the naked whom they were clothing… thatthey might have seen that in their good works, they were serving Christhimself.

Today is a gift… it is an opportunity to stand in this placebetween endings and beginnings and to listen.

Every morning when I wake, I make my way out to the rivertrail in my hometown of Collinsville. Iget out there while it is still dark and return in the light of day. And, in the middle, there is the dawning ofthe new day. I stand at the river’s edgeand watch as the grey clouds break open and the new day is born. I look andlisten for God and give thanks.

This is the dawning of a new day. Let us stop, look, and listen for God andgive thanks.

Amen.

A Pink Shirt World

2011-10-10T12:15:00.005-04:00

A Sermon Preached by Lee Cheek, Lay Preacher, October 9, 2011

St. James & St. George Episcopal Churches @ Crissey Farm, Great Barrington, MA

17 Pentecost, Proper 23A

“For many are called, but few are chosen” –Matthew 22:14

Good Morning! Francie asked me to preach this morning and when Pennie Curry found out, she told me that a whole bunch of young people from Gideon’s Garden[i] and Taft Farms and out of town were going to be here this morning. And she also said, please preach them some Good News and some Hope.

Well, I thought that that would be a great thing to do. And that this would be the perfect Sunday to do that. You know why? Because of the Bible passage that Father Ted just read.

I mean really, did you listen to it? It is about a party, a wedding banquet that really turned bad. In fact, quite horrible. But I thought it was a very good story to preach on today because it is a story about bullies and I KNOW a lot of you know something about bullies.

In fact, the Bible is full of stories about bullies because it is a history of how people came to understand that if you’re beating up on someone or making them feel bad about who they are, you can’t blame it on God. In fact, God is right there with the person who is getting beat up, trying to give everyone courage to find their own special way of joining in that will turn the situation around—and—here’s the hard part: not beat up on the bully.

But here’s the other thing I know about you young people. Not only do you know about bullies, you know about how to deal with them in creative ways that don’t beat up on them. There’s a story that some of you may already know. It’s the story of the PINK SHIRTS.

In 2007 in Nova Scotia a 9^th grade boy showed up for his first day in high school wearing a pink polo shirt. Bullies harassed him, called him a homosexual, and threatened to beat him up. Two 12^th grade students heard about this and after school that day, they went to discount store and bought all the pink shirts they could. That night they emailed their classmates about their plan.

The next morning when that 9^th grade boy arrived at school he was greeted by hundreds of students wearing pink, some head to toe. Now can you imagine how that young man felt walking into a sea of pink and having that big weight lifted off his shoulders?[ii]

I think Jesus would have loved that story because he spent the last three years of his life going around saying that God is not a bully. That God just wanted us to stop blaming and hurting people who looked different from us or had different customs from us or had made some small mistakes. Jesus kept saying that the best way to settle our differences was to see everyone as someone to love and not as an enemy to defeat or take advantage of.

In other words Jesus kept talking about how someday, way in the future, there would be a time and place where human beings would have no enemies and no strangers. Let’s go back to the story about the party gone bad.

First of all, Jesus compares—not necessarily “likens”—this Kingdom of God very unfavorably to a new king who wants everyone to suck up to him and give him the power he thinks he deserves because he has his own personal army.[iii]

At first he tries to get this by being real nice and inviting the best people to his son’s wedding. Well some people just blow him off and some get so mad about this power play that they kill his slaves. This gets the BIG DEAL KING so furious that he sets the city on fire and sends out his troops to round up everyone else. He doesn’t care about them at all, he just wants everyone there, even if it’s by threat, because he cannot stand to be rejected. Can you imagine how enraged he was?

Now we have this room full of shocked and very frightened people. It’s a very unstable situation until the BULLY KING fastens his eyes on the one person who is not dressed right for a wedding and asks him about it. The fellow is speechless.

Not one person dares to keep this fellow company, or speak up for him. The BULLY, BIG-DEAL KING gives orders to “bind him hand and foot and throw him into the outer darkness where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”

That sounds pretty horrible. It’s probably a place from which you might never return, which is of course, what the Big-Deal King wants.

At the end of telling this parable Jesus tells his listeners that “Many are called, but few are chosen.” In other words, when someone is making a big power play, they will round up and scare a lot of people, but they will only choose a few to get rid of.

This is a pretty extreme story. But I think Jesus wants us to remember the figure of the speechless, silent man. Because there are a lot of people who are not able to speak up for themselves. Maybe they are afraid. Maybe they are ashamed of being different. Maybe they are getting beat up at home and just learned to be silent all their lives. Maybe they don’t speak English very well.

But when you open your ears, and your eyes and your hearts, you can hear them. And you did. In December 2008 a group of you—Caroline, Diana, Jackson, Garrett, Doree—were making Christmas wreaths at Taft Farms with Pennie Curry.

You heard the voices of people who could not speak for themselves say, “We are hungry”. You said, “Let’s feed them. Let’s grow healthy food for them.” And after Pennie heard you speak for those hungry people she went to farmer Danny Tawczynski and said, “I want you to hear these children.” Not only did he hear the children, but his heart, too, had been listening for a long time to the silence of hungry people.

Together you all helped us to hear the voices of people who were suffering in silence. You made Gideon’s Garden into a place where there are no strangers and no enemies. You reminded us how to live the Gospel of Jesus by living in solidarity with others.

Our lives take on REAL meaning when we understand that we are always looking at a far horizon, the horizon of history that reaches way past the end of my life, and way past the end of your life. And way, way out there, there is a time and place where Love—all the Love that is inside you and all around you—where all that Love has been able to survive every bad thing that humans can think of to do to each other.

And if we can let ourselves be pulled and urged toward this future by a huge, gentle, ever-present force that is always there, the direction of our lives becomes clear and beautiful and vibrant and shimmering. This is the ONLY reason Church exists: to come together to remember this and leave feeling ten feet tall and happy to be a part of history.

And so my young friends, for God’s sake, I hope you will have great fun living in solidarity with others. You have what it takes to do this in ways that are funny, bold and hip, sassy and artsy. Use any talent you have and surprise the world with your ideas. There are a lot of people in this congregation who want to help you do this. Because we all want move into that future where no more people are going to be called, rounded up and frightened, and no one person will ever be chosen to be a scapegoat again.

[i] Gideon’s Garden is a free-access, 1 acre garden managed by three teen supervisors and co-sponsored by St. James Episcopal Church and Taft Farms, a non-profit family run produce farm in Great Barrington. The Garden celebrated its 3d annual harvest despite devastating flooding this fall from recent tropical storms. During the spring and summer vegetables are distributed to a local food pantry, a local weekly community dinner, The Women, Infant and Children’s Program, a multicultural children’s program (BRIDGE) and families who come to the garden in need of extra help putting nutritious food on the table.

[ii] http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/nova-scotia/story/2007/09/18/pink-tshirts-students.html

[iii] http://girardianlectionary.net/year_a/proper23a.htm. ELCA pastor Paul Neuchterlein’s notes for this passage. The preacher is additionally grateful for further insight on this parable through conversation with theologian Michael Hardin and his wife Lorri September 30, 2011. See Michael’s website http://www.preachingpeace.org

A sermon preached September 18, 2011 at Crissey Farm

2011-09-22T22:14:00.001-04:00

By the Rev. Frances A. Hills, Rector

Exodus 16:2-15, Matthew 20:1-16

What astonishing scriptures these are! They seem to fly inthe face of some of our most cherished economic assumptions, like saving. Wevalue saving, being able to have and “put away” more than enough/more than whatwe need for today. Even better is having MUCH more than enough. Enough to lastus months or years or even a good, long retirement.

But then there’s this story about God providing quail and“bread from heaven”, manna. The Israelites had been wandering in the wildernessafter their escape from Egypt. They’re hungry and cranky. They’re complainingand blaming Moses for taking them away from the slave-food they had in Egypt. Theymight have been slave-driven and oppressed, but at least they knew when they’dhave their next meal. So they’re free, buthungry and cranky. Then God tellsthem there will be meat at night and bread in the morning,Here’s the thing though, they can only take what they need for just oneday…JUST ENOUGH. God promises them Godwill supply what they need each day. Godwants the people to learn to TRUST God in all things. To reinforce this, ifthey try to store up quail or manna—more than ENOUGH—then it always spoilsovernight. So the people must learn to TRUST God one day at a time.

Jesus certainly echoes this when he teaches us to pray, “Giveus this day our daily bread”. ‘Such a familiar prayer, but do we think about whatit really means?

We’re admitting we ultimately cannot supply what we need, andwe’re asking God to give us what weneed each day. In the asking, we’reacknowledging that God can supply ourneed. AND GOD WILL!

In the Gospel today, Jesus takes this much further, and againit flies in the face of some of our most cherished economic assumptions. Jesusgives us this parable about how the laborers who worked only one hour were paidthe same as those who worked all day. Now what was paid to each was in fact, “a day’s wage”, which meantit was enough, just enough, to supply that day’s basic needs. Well, of course theones who worked hard all day were furious…It wasn’t “fair”! Yet we mustremember, in God’s economy, in God’sKingdom, what’s “fair” is also what’s “just”. Perhaps for God the “minimumwage” (so to speak) is “a day’s pay”,like the quail and manna in the wilderness.

It’s important to remember here that Jesus always usesparables to give us images of what the Kingdom of God is like. In the Kingdom,God’s economy reigns. Giving all not only what’s fair, but also what’s just. Andeven more…God generously lavishing on us more than we can ask for or imagine, asthe landowner choose to do for the laborer who worked only one hour. In God’seconomy, in God’s Kingdom, there’s nothing for the all-day laborer to resent. Hegot what he needed and what he’d expected to be paid. Justice was done.

Now if the Kingdom of God is when God amazes us with God’sgenerosity, then, as children of this God, made in God’s likeness and image, Ibelieve we are called to help bring in that generous Kingdom, “On earth as itis in heaven”. I believe we are called to amaze others with ourgenerosity. I believe this congregation doesfrom time to time amaze others with generosity. And I want to tell you a couple of stories about that…

As you may know, last weekend I was at the Bishop Search andTransition Committee’s Organizing Retreat with members of the StandingCommittee and with our Consultant for the process. I sat at the lunch tableSaturday with our Consultant, our Chaplain, and with Taylor Albright, member ofthe Search Committee and the rector of the church at Southwick. You mayremember that the Southwick Church was planted just a few years ago. Until lastyear, when it became self-sustaining, it was the major recipient of theDiocesan Alleluia Fund. At lunch we talked about how the oldest and newest churches inthe diocese were represented at our table. (With apologies to the newly formed “AllSaints” in North Adams/Adams, which reallyis the newest church.)

Anyway, Taylor started telling the Consultant about how acouple of years ago

St. James, which was recently homeless and trying to discernwhat to do about our building and about our future, had actually sent agenerous check to the Alleluia Fund to help the Southwick Church get firmlyestablished. To us at the time, this just seemed like a good use of ourOutreach money, but it turns out we actually amazed others with our generosity…Giving them a glimpse of God’seconomy, God’s Kingdom.

You will hear more about this later, but on Thursday night, yourVestry agreed to do what we can to help our friend, neighbor, and partner inmission, Taft Farms. As you know they have been extravagantly generous to us withGideon’s Garden, in helping to nurture youth and feed hungry people. But nowthe recent flooding has nearly pulled them under, and we have offered to help.Some at Taft Farms have told me personally that they are amazed by ourgenerosity.

I know as your rector for nearly 4 years, you never cease toamaze me with your generosity! I think this is truly one of the Spiritual Giftsof this parish, and I hope we will continue to act out of this spirit ofgenerosity even in these times when we might be tempted to try to store up morethan enough for ourselves. No doubt aswe move forward into the future we will continue to be called upon to reflect God’s generous heart, to show the world God’sKingdom, to use our gifts, and to amaze others with our generosity. I pray weare always up to this call. Amen.

Parts of this sermon were inspired bya sermon written by the Rev. Kirk Alan Kubicek, co-rector of St. Peter’sEpiscopal Church, Ellicott Mills, Elicott City, MD.

All the Way to Heaven

2011-09-15T13:44:00.005-04:00

A Sermon Preached by Lee Cheek, Lay Preacher

September 11, 2011

St. James & St. George Episcopal Churches @ Crissey Farm, Great Barrington, MA

13 Pentecost, Proper 19A

Someone wrote this week: “We don’t have to forget, but we should be careful about how we remember.”[i]

September 11, 2001 is a day that is saturated with memory for us. So saturated with memory that the layers of meaning for us will be developed for years to come. For the past ten years, as a nation and as individuals, we have tracked the movements in our souls and hearts in response to our memories of that day.

I was especially grateful this week for the public television rebroadcast of Helen Whitney’s 2002 documentary Faith and Doubt at Ground Zero. There was an interview I remembered but had not meant much to me at the time.[ii]

The photographer who captured many of the images of the stranded people who jumped from the Twin Towers was trying to imagine what was happening to them to enable them to fly down together from a high ledge. “Did they see a beautiful garden with rivers and lakes? Was heaven already there before they jumped? Something must have been going on because a lot of them jumped.”

Well, this was his remembrance, and maybe since then it has changed for him. But it was fresh to him then, and I was able to catch something about how his imaginings at the time were led by his compassionate identification with the jumpers. He sensed that for them a horizon extended out, out, out, and it included everything so that there was nothing to fear and it opened all the way into the freedom that “death need no longer be the end of possibility.”[iii] Whoosh!

What the photographer was describing, this horizon of heaven that he hoped they were jumping into, was what a Loving God of Creation has called us to since the foundation of the world.

When we hear the story of Jesus instructing Peter and the other disciples to forgive seventy times seven times, we are being invited to freely jump into this heaven, leaving behind a world that ends with us and our self-concern and arriving in a larger world that includes compassion for the other.

The hyperbole of the number stresses that it is more important to be kind than it is to exact payment in kind. I will repeat this. It is more important to be kind than it is to exact payment in kind.

Furthermore, Jesus follows with a parable which is a clear warning that if we remain unconcerned about the suffering of others however much we think they owe us, then we will end up tortured and stuck in the world of our own un-kindness, our own hard-heartedness, our own violence.

When Moses tried to call attention to the suffering of his people upon which Egyptian society depended, this caused such disturbances in Egypt that they are recalled and remembered as plagues. The pharaoh finally relents and lets them go, but upon further reflection about the benefits of slaves who can be whipped on a whim, goes off in greedy pursuit.

This time, self-induced fate of the hard-hearted Egyptians is represented by the sea waters, which in many ancient stories represent a crisis of violence that threatens to drown a society: the leakage and seeping of resentments, grudges and fears born greed and envy.

Rescue from the undertow of violence, as victim or perpetrator or both, is surely a miracle. Unimaginable faith in the ultimate power of love is needed to disengage and leave it all behind.

Whoosh! The waters of violence are parted and the Israelites walk through with dry feet, away from the world of hard-heartedness. The challenge for them will be to not only remember God’s loving gift of the miracle of their deliverance from the danger of their oppressors, but to remember—and understand—their deliverance from becoming hard-hearted themselves—which is exactly what will enable them to become a blessing to others.

But make no mistake: the kind of remembering without rancor that makes us a blessing to others is a long, slow, laborious journey for humans. The conversion to a precarious and vulnerable life of faith, hope and love—faith that we are loved more than we can love, hope for liberation from what keeps us enslaved to our own violence, and love that doesn’t end at home—this conversion does not happen by strict adherence to any known system of ethics or law. But, rather, it happens by the excess of love spilling into our lives in nearly inexpressible ways.

So I would like share a story about how love spilled into to one man’s life and transformed the horizons of it. I heard this story first-person in Jerusalem in 2007 on the last night of a diocesan sponsored trip to Israel.

Rami Elchanan, a graphic designer and 7^th generation Jewish Jerusalemite, and Aziz Abu Sarah a Palestinian journalist arrived together to speak to us from an organization called the Parents Circle-Family Forum. This is Rami’s story.

He told us that he had served as a soldier in the 1973 Yom Kippur war and had come away from it embittered, cynical and furious after losing so many of his friends. But he went on to marry and have children and a career. In 1997, his only daughter, 14 year old Smadar, was killed by two Palestinian suicide bombers. For seven days he and his family sat Shiva and were consoled by thousands of people. After that he was consumed with how to react to the murder of his daughter.

One day he met Ytzchak Frankenthal who told him about how his son was kidnapped and murdered by Hamas a few years before and that he established this organization of people who had lost children in the conflict but nevertheless wanted peace.[iv] Rami recognized him as one the people who had come into his home during Shiva and was initially outraged. But Ytzchak calmly proceeded and asked him to come to a meeting of this crazy group of people.

Rami agreed and at the meeting he saw many famous Israelis, all grieving parents. But then he saw “an amazing spectacle”—Arabs, bereaved Palestinian families getting off the buses, coming toward him, greeting him with peace, hugging him, crying with him.

He later wrote of this experience: “I am not religious—quite the opposite—and so I am at a loss to explain the change I underwent at that moment. But one thing became as clear to me as the sun at noon: from that day on … I got a reason to get out of bed in the morning. Since that day I have dedicated my life to one thing only: to go from ear to ear and from person to person and to shout in a loud voice, to all who are prepared to listen, and also to those whose ears are blocked: This is not our destiny! … We can and once and for all must stop this crazy vicious circle of violence, murder and retaliation, revenge, and punishment.”[v]

Love spilled in and opened horizons that were previously inconceivable. Whoosh! And Rami’s way of remembering—stepping out of the damp, dank mire of rancor—becomes a blessing to those who meet him and hear his story.

Finally, let me tell you that 200 families who lost loved ones on September 11^th 2001 have become blessings to the world, too, by following their desire that no one else feel the same pain they have felt. As the September 11^th Families for Peaceful Tomorrows[vi] they are reaching out to families in Afghanistan who have lost family members. Love has spilled into their lives, too, so that the horizons of their compassion do not end here … or here … but stretch way, way out to there …

May such love spill into our lives, so that our concerns do not end so close to home and each morning we get up out of bed to become blessings to the world.[vii]

Amen.

[i] The Rev. Bill Carroll, Episcopal Café Lead, in comments to “Using This Sunday’s Gospel on September 11, 2011” http://www.episcopalcafe.com/lead/peace/using_this_sundays_gospel_on_s_1.html

[ii] Photographer Luca Babini. Faith and Doubt at Ground Zero can be currently view at http://video.pbs.org/video/2120639608#

[iii] Davies, Oliver. A Theology of Compassion, p. 34 (Grand Rapids, Eerdmans: 2003; UK, SCM Press: 2001)

[iv] Parents Circle - Families Forum (PCFF) is a grassroots organization of bereaved Palestinians and Israelis. http://www.theparentscircle.com/ The PCFF promotes reconciliation as an alternative to hatred and revenge. For Aziz’s story and blog see http://azizabusarah.wordpress.com/about/

[v] http://www.internationalnetworkforpeace.org/spip.php?article43

[vi] http://peacefultomorrows.org/index.php

For a televised interview with David Portorti about remembering 9/11: http://www.pbs.org/wnet/need-to-know/security/video-david-potorti-on-waging-peace-after-911/11420/

[vii] The preacher gratefully acknowledges her indebtedness to Anthony Kelly’sThe Resurrection Effect (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis, 2008).

A sermon preached September 4, 2011

2011-09-04T21:58:00.000-04:00

By the Rev. Frances A. Hills, Rector

As people go back to school, I hope many of you got yourhomework done and are ready to indicate (during the Offertory) the areas ofmission in which you serve in your daily lives. As I look at the Five Marks ofMission:

· Toproclaim the Good News of the Kingdom

· Toteach, baptize and nurture new believers

· Torespond to human need by loving service

· Toseek to transform unjust structures of society

· Tostrive to safeguard the integrity of creation and sustain and renew the life ofthe earth

I am struck that underlying each one is a deep sense ofcommunity and love …for God, for others, for our society, and for all thecreation. It makes me aware of how we are called to be “people of peace” and a“community of love”. We’re not just an assortment of individuals, operatingindependently and in isolation, but we’re called to be a community of God’speople living in relationship with one another, loving one another and all thatGod has made. We are each unique, necessary parts of the same body, thecommunity of love, and we’re called to use our different gifts to contribute tothe common good.

In the Romans reading today, Paul tells us to “love oneanother” and to “love our neighbor as ourselves”. It’s like if we really are people of peace and a community of love, then we will not break God’s commandments, because(KJV) “love worketh no ill to his neighbor”. The thing is we know it’s really hard not to break God’s commandments. It’s really hard to be a person ofpeace and a community of love. Sometimes it seems especially hard to be that inthe church. God knows that about us, and God knows how destructive it is to thecongregation when people in the church are not repentant and reconciled.

This is why in Matthew’s gospel Jesus gives us such anexplicit pattern for reconciliation in the church: First, he says to goprivately to the one who has committed the offense and confront them. If thetwo of you can’t work it out, then take a few others with you to help bothparties speak the truth, hear clearly, and act fairly. If repentance andreconciliation still don’t happen, then take the matter to the church. Nowhere’s the zinger…If the offender stilldoesn’t repent, “treat him like a heathen and publican”. Some might take thisto mean shun him—cast him out of the community. But if we think about what Jesus would do, we must remember he befriended outcasts and sinners. Perhaps this means we shouldsimply start over in the reconciling process and give the one who offendsanother chance to repent. Hopefully in the process, we can begin to see our owncontributions to the problem, because as the saying goes, “it takes two totango”.

In any case when, for Christ’s sake, we work atreconciliation and also whenever we’re engaged in mission, we can be assuredwe’re not alone, because Jesus says, “Where two or three are gathered together in my name, I am inthe midst of them.” With his strengthening presence, we can be people of peace anda community of love. Amen.

A sermon preached August 21, 2011 Proper 16 A

2011-08-21T20:45:00.000-04:00

by the Rev. Frances A. Hills, Rector

This reflection on the scriptures followed a presentation and slide show by Susan Frantz on her mission trip earlier this summer to the Mampong Babies’ Home in Ghana.

“Who do you say that I am?” It’s Jesus’ question for all generations. When I was in seminary, however, we learned this Gospel a little differently: Jesus asks, “Who do you say that I am”, and Simon Peter answers, “You are the Messianic Parousia, the Pre-existent Logos, the Eschatological Anticipation of the Cosmos.” And Jesus says, “Say what?”

Joking aside, who we say Jesus is is all-important to our spiritual lives and to the spread of the Gospel. Notice what impressed Jesus in Peter’s answer was probably first, that he answered at all. None of the others said a word! Jesus was also impressed with the freshness and spiritual correctness of Peter’s words: “You are the Messiah, the Son of the Living God”. No one had ever called anyone that before. It came from Peter’s heart and from his experience with Jesus. They were Peter’s own words…not from text books, seminary classes, theological studies, or what he thought he was supposed to say. Jesus praises Peter for his answer. In fact he blesses him for it, because Jesus knew Peter’s answer was the right answer, and that it had come from God. It was divinely inspired!

So it’s really important when people ask us about our faith (first) that we say something! And it’s important to have a heart-felt, personally experienced response. We don’t have to worry so much about its theological sophistication or about what might be expected. What’s important is that we let God inspire us, not only in our answers, but in our daily lives. So that the Jesus we describe is the Jesus we really know. So that we can pass it on to those who are curious and hungry for truth and hope.

Now in this story, Jesus claims it is God who tells Peter who Jesus really is; but then notice it’s Jesus who tells Peter who he really is. He’s the rock on which Jesus will put together his church. The Message Bible expands this with, “A church so expansive with energy that not even the gates of hell will be able to keep it out…You will have complete and free access to God’s kingdom, keys to open any and every door: no more barriers between heaven and earth, earth and heaven.” That’s who Jesus tells Peter he really is! And I believe Jesus tells each one of us who we really are: Each one a beloved child of God. Each one unique!

In the Romans passage this is expanded by Paul, who says, “For as in one body we have many members, and not all the members have the same function, so we, who are many are one body in Christ, and individually we are members one of another. We have gifts that differ according to the grace given to us.”

Certainly Susan’s mission trip to Ghana, Jake’s teaching mission in Honduras, and what happens in Gideon’s Garden put real flesh on the truth of this: We are all parts of one body with different gifts. The Message notes: “Each part gets its meaning from the body as a whole, not the other way around.” And so we can each consider the abilities we have as gifts, things God has given us and done for us. They are not things we manufacture for ourselves.

Paul encourages us just to do what we’re gifted to do. The Message says it this way, “If you preach, just preach God’s Message, nothing else. If you help, just help, don’t take over. If you teach, stick to your teaching. If you give encouraging guidance, be careful that you don’t get bossy. If you’re put in charge, don’t manipulate. If you’re called to give aid to people in distress, keep your eyes open and be quick to respond. If you work with the disadvantaged, don’t let yourself get irritated with them or depressed by them. Keep a smile on your face.”

These descriptions from Scripture help us know who we are, so that we can better tell others who Jesus is…In our own words, from our own experience. Amen.

A sermon preached August 14, 2011 (Proper 15A)

2011-08-14T20:00:00.010-04:00

By the Rev. Frances A. Hills, Rector

Before this sermon was preached, Ms. Kelsey Wright, a 17-year-old leader in Gideon’s Garden (St. James’ youth-led community garden at Taft Farms), told the congregation about what her experiences working in the garden and with the younger children mean to her.

Thank you Kelsey for helping make Gideon’s Garden a place of Grace and Love where all can enter with dignity.

Today’s readings have to do with people being “inside” and “outside”. Think of how Joseph was so “inside” with his dad and so “outside” with his brothers. Then outside as a slave and inside as a trusted leader. Then outside in a jail because someone inside lied. Then inside again because of his gifts and wisdom…Joseph basically becomes the Prime Minister of Egypt.

Years later his starving brothers, the ones who had cast him out, come to Egypt looking for relief from the famine. It never occurred to them that Joseph was still alive…Much less the Prime Minister of Egypt and the very person they have to ask for help! They don’t recognize him, but he recognizes them and doesn’t say so immediately. Can you imagine that moment when he finally tells them who he is! The inside ones are now outside, hungry, begging for mercy from Joseph. Fortunately, in the years since seeing his brothers, Joseph has matured. He’s been on the outside and suffered much, felt resentments. He’s been on the inside and known power and prestige. In all this, he’s become very wise. He is aware of how God has loved him. So Joseph is filled with compassion for his hungry brothers. He tells them not to be afraid. This act of forgiveness and mercy is almost too much for the brothers to take in, but they finally see it is Joseph, their brother, and he has forgiven them. And they see that Joseph, the Prime Minister of Egypt, is willing to help them through the famine, instead of killing them (which he might have easily done).

Now in spite of all this being INSIDE, tempted by wealth and power; and being OUTSIDE, where it’s easy to blame and be resentful; in spite of jealousy, revenge, guilt, oppression and resentment, God has been able to use evil for good… Joseph mercifully left the door open for his brothers so they could walk through with dignity and find Grace and Love. And so the ancestors of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob are indeed in a position once again to be a blessing to all the people of the earth, to let everyone come inside.

We see this played out again in the Romans passage. Remember in Romans Paul struggles with how most Jews don’t accept Jesus, and he struggles with what is the place of the Jews. (In/Out?) In today’s reading, Paul has come to see the gifts and calling the Jews have received from God are irrevocable. Then Paul reminds the gentile Christians at Rome that before their conversion to Christ, they were on the outs with God. But then when the Jews did not accept Jesus, that opened up the door for the gentile Romans to come inside and believe. So now the Romans are in, and in a sense, the Jews are on the outs. Paul reminds the Romans that because God held the door wide open for them, then it’s still wide open, so the Jews have a way back in. The Message Bible concludes from this section, “God seems to know how to let all of us experience being on the outside, so God can personally open the door and welcome us back in.”

We can walk through the door with dignity and enter a place of Grace and Love!

THE GOSPEL also works with this theme of who is in and who is out. A Canaanite woman asks Jesus to heal her daughter. Now the Canaanites were anathema to the Jews. They were considered unclean, untouchable, like dogs. So by this definition, the woman is “outside” and Jesus and the disciples are “inside”. Jesus seems to think, or at least he says he thinks, his mission is only for insiders, the Jews. The woman doesn’t seem to care, and she crosses the line that divides inside and out. The woman obviously loves her daughter and fully believes Jesus can heal her. I believe it’s the woman who opens the door this time. She doesn’t care about the differences, the prejudices, the who’s in and who’s out-ness of the situation. And Jesus, full of compassion and respect for the dignity of this woman, finally realizes or admits his mission is wider than just to Israel. Jesus steps through the door and heals the girl.

In all these scriptures today, there’s the theme of needing to be outside sometimes so we will have compassion for others when we’re inside. This takes a lot of spiritual work. We must learn to let go of our prejudices, hurts, and resentments. We must quit blaming others. We must learn to really forgive. When we do that, we can learn to leave a compassionate door open for others, so that they may enter into Grace and Love without fear, and with much dignity. Amen.

A Sermon preached August 7, 2011 (Proper 14 A)

2011-08-07T20:00:00.001-04:00

by the Rev. Frances A. Hills, Rector

This is a short reflection on Romans 10:5-15, delivered after Jake Pinkston spoke about his two-year teaching mission in Honduras

Paul says to the Romans, “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!” Jake, your feet are beautiful! Thank you for your word!

In today’s Romans passage, Paul is still struggling with the fact that his own Jewish people have not, by-and-large, been converted by the Good News of Jesus Christ. He poses the possibility, entertains the hope, that perhaps they’ve just not yet been adequately exposed to the Good News: “But how are they to call on one in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in one of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone to proclaim him? And how are they to proclaim him unless they are sent?”

Now in the verses after today’s reading, Paul will let go of this possibility that all the Jews need is to hear the Gospel. He concludes they have heard it, but they’ve rejected it. In our 21 Century world, however, I think this is not the case…There are many out there in our world who have not yet heard and so do not know the Good News of Christ—Crucified and Risen. And our mission, as 21 Century Christians, is to spread that Good News out in our world, in our neighborhoods, where a word of hope and act of love are so desperately needed. We do this in acts of kindness and mercy. We do it when we work for justice. We do it in a million different, loving ways as we “preach the gospel always, and, when necessary, use words”! (Francis of Assisi) This is what Jake did in Honduras, and what Susan did in Ghana. It’s what happens every day in Gideon’s Garden, and if you think about it, it’s what many of us do in our daily lives…Whether we’re aware of it or not.

During August we’re focusing on Mission, so I hope you’ll be here each week to listen to the stories and to become aware of how you are part of God’s great story of redeeming love. We are the ones in our day who have the gift of faith in Jesus.

We must nurture this, train it, so that it is strong and deeply rooted, because we are the ones in our day who can make all the difference to so many others: The people in our world who do not yet know the one to call on; who have not yet believed because they have not yet heard; who have not yet heard, because no one has yet proclaimed. We are the ones to proclaim, because through our baptisms, we are sent by God…“How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!”

During August I think we’ll discover we all have beautiful feet. Amen.

A sermon preached Sunday, July 31, 2011 Proper 13 A

2011-07-31T20:00:00.014-04:00

by the Rev. Frances A. Hills, Rector

‘Just had a vacation that was not at all what I’d imagined, but it was exactly what I needed! Due to an unexpected death in Amarillo, a friend’s severely pulled ankle ligament in Santa Fe, and the 105-degree days in Missouri, I basically RESTED for two whole weeks! Not that the death, hurt ankle, or high heat were directly caused by God, but the opportunity to rest was truly a God-send. I had left here two weeks ago totally exhausted; and if things had gone more according to my plans, I would have spent much more time running around doing things and NOT really resting. It made me aware of how dependent I am on God to give me what I really need. This was the lesson I think Jacob learned as he wrestled with God.

In his rivalry with his brother Esau, Jacob discovered his quest for earthly security had got him exactly a big sense of Emptiness. And he learned that his manipulation, deceit, and striving had got him exactly Nowhere. He learned that the blessing from God that he ultimately wanted/needed could not be won by any deed, contest, or scheme. He was simply dependent, entirely dependent, on God’s grace for God’s blessing, which was the one thing he really needed. It was the most important lesson of Jacob’s life, but it came with a cost: He was marked for the rest of his life with a limp. And from then on, Jacob was known as “Israel”, which means “Perseverer with God”.

Now I think this theme of Dependence on God continues in the Romans passage. Paul is obviously proud of his Jewish heritage: He reminds us God gave the Hebrews eight especially wonderful things: Adoption. Glory. The Covenants. The Law. Worship. Promises. Patriarchs. And the hope of a Messiah from their line. But proud as he is of his heritage, Paul deeply laments that his people, the Jews, have not widely accepted Jesus as the Messiah. This brings Paul anguish. It’s the most upsetting conundrum of his life: In spite of their rich tradition and long association with God as God’s beloved Chosen Ones, the Jews of his day, by and large, are unable to hear the Good News of Jesus. They do not think Jesus is the Messiah they’d been hoping for. Paul is so distraught about this, he’s even willing to sacrifice his own salvation for that of his people—the Jews.

Well, obviously, Paul could not make this happen. God was going to have to work it out with the Hebrews in God’s good way and time. Paul was going to have to just let it go. Paul had to become totally dependent on God’s grace and mercy and trust that God would work out salvation for the Jews in God’s own generous way. Meanwhile Paul was called to continue his work as Apostle to the Gentiles. (The ideas in the section were taken from The Story of Romans: A Narrative Defense of God’s Righteousness by A. Katherine Grieb.) So we can see from our first two scriptures we are totally dependent on God for God’s blessing and for salvation. We don’t cause these to happen.

And we see this again in the Matthew gospel. The huge crowd is hungry. The disciples assume they need to go home to eat, but Jesus has a different idea. He asks the disciples to “give them something to eat”. They know right away this is impossible. They discover they have only five loaves and two fish. They take them to Jesus, probably hoping he’ll come to his senses and see they must send the crowd home. But Jesus takes their loaves and fishes. Blesses them. Breaks them. Gives them back to the disciples to distribute. Over 5,000 people were fed. There were 12 baskets of leftovers!

Now in and of themselves, the disciples were right. They could not have fed this crowd with their five loaves and two fish. They were totally dependent on Jesus to take what they had, and bless and break it so that it would be enough. (Much more than enough!) The disciples’ job was to take what they had to Jesus and to distribute what Jesus gave them.

As the people of St. James and St. George today, I think we really need to hear these scriptures. Our congregations, separately and together, have done a lot to put ourselves in a position to receive God’s blessing. Like Jacob, we have persevered, and we are already blessed in many ways. But any further blessing we receive, and the ultimate blessing we need, will come totally through God’s grace. The future of our congregations and the future of those we serve are in God’s hands. We are totally dependent on God. That doesn’t mean we won’t work hard and do our part,

But ultimately it’s about the future God wants for us. Likewise, any deep questions and concerns we have about why God works or doesn’t work the way we think God should…We’ll just have to let go of and, like St. Paul, give them over to God’s salvific care. Meanwhile we will continue on the path we’re given, knowing God can do more than we can ask for or imagine. And when we come to times when it seems like there’s just not enough—not enough people, money, energy, spirit, generosity, courage, vision, faith, compassion, or not enough love—let’s remember our dependence on God alone. Let’s remember to give what we have, as little as it may seem, to the God who will gladly take it, bless it, break it, and give it back so that there will be plenty for all…and more.

May he who is God over all be blessed forever. Amen.

A sermon preached July 24, 2011

2011-07-24T21:30:00.000-04:00

by the Rev. Howard Seip, UCC Pastor and member of St. James' Choir

I found myself longing for some spiritual encouragement this week that would give me the resources to live my life of faith in a confident way and give me the strength to seek to grow in it. And in our lectionary passages for this morning (except for the Old Testament reading) I found just such resources. At first glance, they are hard to discover, but once we work diligently with them, I am confident they will yield riches for us.

The reading that we had from Romans for example is one of the most profound, yet demanding ones in all of scripture. Would you be able to summarize it? Well, that’s ok because I probably wouldn’t be easily able to do that either. Paul is speaking to the people of the church in Rome, trying to give them both solid theological teaching and practical encouragement as well. And one focus of the passage was a string of seemingly confusing technical theological terms.

He tells them that the people that God foreknew were also predestined by God to be made into the image of Christ. And those who were predestined, were also called out by God, and those who were called, God also justified, and those who were justified were also glorified by God. And you, the people of Christ’s church are the ones who have received all of this. Isn’t this great? And there, mercifully, the string of technical theological terms comes to an end. Those who were foreknown, predestined, called, justified, glorified. What is all this about? Why does Paul use all of these terms in rapid succession? And what do they mean to us? Could you explain or define foreknowledge, predestination, justification and glorification right now?

Once again, that’s ok, because it would be tough for me too. So I’m not going to even try to list and explain the meaning of these terms to you. You’re as relieved about that as I am, aren’t you? But I think that they were intended to convey a very important thing to the members of the Roman church, and to us today. The early church was constantly having problems and encountering opposition. Confidence I’m sure was a great problem. Confidence in the faith, confidence in God, confidence in this Christ they were following. These were real issues, as I think they are for us, in living the Christian life.

And so Paul seeks to encourage them by giving them confidence in what they are doing. Confidence, not in themselves, but in God. Look he says, God has called you to this life. God has already known you and who you are. God has set up the circumstances that will enable you to succeed in this life of faith. God has made you right with life and with Christ by forgiving and saving you. So you can be confident in reaching out and taking the risk to live this life of faith and prayer and love in the church and know that God has been beside you in the past, God is with you now, and God will be with you to the end. With grace and mercy to make all of this that may seem so difficult and demanding now a real possibility in your life that will bring you true and abundant life. That’s what calling and predestination and justification and all the rest are all about.

And then finally, after all of this, Paul turns poetic as it were, and reassures them again of God’s faithful, loving presence with them that can give them all the confidence they need to live the Christian life. What are we to say about all this, he asks? If God is for us, who is against us? Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will anything negative in all the world? And just as we might be ready to say – maybe, Paul says, No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through the one who loved us. For he was convinced that nothing in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

And so we can live our Christian lives of faith with boldness and confidence, knowing that if God is for us who can be against us? For all its initial difficulty, doesn’t this passage turn out to be exciting and inspirational? It reminded me of a great little song, based on this reading, that I sang in our church choir when I was a little boy in Whittier, California in the 1960s that really captured the spirit and feel of Paul’s message. And part of it goes something like this, (Mike sings)

If God be for us, who can be against us, Who can be against us.

If God be for us who can be against us.

Who can separate us from the love of Christ?

If God be for us, who can be against us, Who can be against us,

If God be for us who can be against us.

It still moves me today. And now we turn our attention to the gospel lesson. And once again we encounter difficulties. For again we encounter a rapid fire sequence of words, only this time they are phrases, the images and metaphors of the parables of Jesus. He is teaching the crowds, and tells them that the kingdom of heaven (or God) is like a mustard seed. Oh, but it is also like yeast that is made into bread. The kingdom is heaven is like a treasure hidden in a field, but you know it is also like a pearl of great value. This is what the kingdom of heaven is like.

And then Jesus asks the big question of us – Have you understood all this? And as we begin to answer honestly, no, we all of a sudden hear the crowd say, yes, and we ask, what? They understood this cacophony of words and phrases, images and metaphors that are tumbling rapid fire from this gospel story? Do you? For the second time this morning, if you find yourself at a loss, do not fear or be dismayed. For I initially felt the exact same way. A mustard seed, a lump of yeast, a treasure in a field, a fancy pearl. What are they trying to tell us? What do they mean? And what if anything do they have to do with one another, since Matthew has strung them in a line for us?

Well, the message of Jesus was about the coming of the reign of God, the kingdom of heaven. And he was convinced that God was the most important thing in life. What is the first and greatest commandment? To love God with all your heart. And God’s will and desires were of tremendous importance as well. Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven, as the prayer has it. And the coming of God’s will and desires to be on earth among God’s people was of highest importance as well. This along with other things was what God’s reign was all about, the coming to be of things in the way that God wanted, a way of goodness and life and love. And Jesus thought that was happening in his midst and that if they were to be saved, people had to see that and get on board with it or they would be left behind.

And so he told stories, parables, about mustard seeds, and yeast and treasures and pearls. And they all had to do with getting people to turn around in their lives and get on board with God’s reign and be a part of it through their lives of faith and prayer and love.

It might seem a small, even invisible thing in your life or in the world around you, but Jesus insists that just like a tiny mustard seed or a little bit of yeast, because of God’s action, this reign could grow into a gigantic, massive thing that could take over the world. So don’t sit on the side lines, get involved, be a part of what’s happening and take God and God’s doings seriously in your life.

Because this, God and God’s doings is what is really important in life. Your faith and life in God is truly the center and focus of everything else. It’s like a great treasure that might come your way, or even an incredibly expensive pearl that could be yours. It’s the highest and the greatest thing in life. And again, because of that, it’s urgent that you get involved. That you do whatever it is that you need to do, whatever you have to sell, to make this thing of God’s at the center of your life.

Again, like the reading from Romans, from an initial inability to understand what was going on, this series of confusing parables from Matthew in the end turns into an incredibly practical and inspiring call to us. To have the confidence to plunge into the life of faith that we have, our relationship with God, and to put it at the heart of our lives and center ourselves and our priorities around it. When I was reading this series of parable images in Matthew, again I thought of a song that was familiar to me.

There’s a Spanish folk hymn in The New Century Hymnal of the United Church of Christ that uses this exact same device, mirroring Matthew’s style in today’s lesson. It too was confusing to me when I sung it at first because it too strings together a long series of images that again at first seem unconnected and leave the point unclear. But once you see how he is mirroring scripture to lead us to commit our lives anew to God and Christ and the Church, it becomes a moving and inspirational tribute. The hymn is called “You Are the Seed”, and part of it goes like this - (Nancy sings)

You are the seed that will grow a new sprout, you’re the star that will shine through the day;

You are the yeast and a small grain of salt, a beacon to glow in the night.

You are the dawn that will bring a new day, you’re the wheat that will bear golden grain;

You are a sting and a soft, gentle touch, my witnesses where’er you go.

You are the life that will nurture the plant; you’re the waves in a turbulent sea;

Yesterday’s yeast is beginning to rise, a new loaf of bread it will yield.

There’s no place for city to hide, nor a mountain can cover its might;

May your good deeds show a world in despair a path that will lead all to God.

To lead all to God. A seed that will grow a new sprout. Our readings today are calling on us and inspiring us to begin our lives of faith again as this new week begins. Tomorrow as we rise from bed. No, no, today as we worship together and go forth from this place. And they call on us to deepen and strengthen that faith, wherever it may be at this time. For some of us, it may be a small mustard seed barely visible. For others, it might be a treasure buried in the ground. But with God’s grace and love ever beside us, it can grow, it can become something great and large, and it can become something of a great and valuable treasure in our lives and for the world. We just need to respond to the word that we hear and the reassurance that God will be with us to give us the strength that we need to live this life.

Let us let the words of song be our guide again, our inspiration that will lead us from this place into God’s world to live a new life of faith and hope and love. (Nancy and Susan sing) –

Go my friends, go to the world, proclaiming love to all,

messengers of my forgiving peace, eternal love.

Be, my friends, a loyal witness, from the dead I arose;

Lo I’ll be with you forever, till the end of the world.

Amen.

St James Gideon's Garden Float goes down Main St

2011-07-19T12:30:00.002-04:00

A Sermon Preached July 10, 2011 Proper 10 A

2011-07-10T20:00:00.018-04:00

by the Rev. Frances A. Hills, Rector

Perhaps this is more the summer for the preacher to wrestle with Romans, study Romans than to preach a steady diet of Romans!

Today I want to focus mostly on the Gospel…“A sower went out to sow…”

A sower of course is someone who plants seeds so plants can grow. In this story from Matthew most people think the sower is God.

In a gardening book I love, (Bringing a Garden to Life, Carol Williams, p.82) it says about planting seeds, “Having drawn lines in the soil with a finger, I place the seeds—pressing each one firmly down in staggered rows with about four inches between seeds and four inches between rows. In the end there will be a patch of plants in a kind of honeycomb pattern.

“The general rule for covering seeds is twice the depth of their own thickness. I crumble the soil carefully between my fingers so that no heavy clod will bury a seed. Then, very gently, I tap the soil lightly down with the palms of my hands, the way one might tuck in a baby, securing the seeds in their bed.”

What a difference from the way the sower planted seeds in today’s Gospel! God has a different way of sowing than most of us! God’s way is with wild abandon. God Freely scatters the seeds anywhere and everywhere.

I’m reminded of a story I heard about a grandmother. She was showing her young granddaughter how to plant flower seeds—carefully in rows—not unlike my gardening book suggests. The granddaughter watched attentively. She obediently, painstakingly planted the first row or two. Then, without warning, the little girl just gleefully threw the rest of the seeds into the air, letting them fall where they would! Apparently the little girl wanted to garden, not so much like her grandmother, but more like God—with wild abandon! Somewhere between her grandmother’s careful training and the girl’s obedient row planting, she let go of the need to control where every seed fell. Like the sower, she let go of caring if the soil was rich and well-prepared; or too rocky, sandy, or poorly-drained.

Now even if the sower doesn’t plant by the book, there are many things in my gardening book the sower knows the truth of…like this:

“Making compost is rather like living. If you wait until you can do a perfect job, you’ll never get started. Better to make a start and learn as you go.” (Ann Mendenhall in Bringing a Garden to Life).

The sower has grace for us when we don’t do a perfect job. The sower knows we can actually live and learn and become more loving. The sower is Good and Wise.

The sower has Good Seed. The sower knows the spark of life that’s hidden in each seed, so the sower is always Hopeful. Expectant. The sower gives the spark of life to all, gives all a chance to learn, become richer, more fertile. The sower sows good seed with wild abandon. The sower’s supply of seed is abundant. ‘Seems unlimited. It’s out of this sower’s generosity and abundance that we are sustained physically and spiritually, day after day, year after year.

We say at the offertory, “All things come of thee, O God.” And they do!

ALL THINGS are from God…Not only the things that supply our physical needs but also the spiritual things we need.

Now that does take me back to today’s Romans! In Chapter 8 v. 2, The Message translation says, “The Spirit of life in Christ, like a strong wind, has magnificently cleared the air, freeing you from a fated lifetime of brutal tyranny at the hands of sin and death.” Such freedom! Such lavish grace! Such forgiveness and new life offered, even when we don’t do it perfectly!

What are we to do in response to such generosity, abundance and grace?

Perhaps the sower can show us a way of sharing, giving and forgiving out of the great abundance God showers on us. There’s really no telling what God the Holy Spirit can grow in the soil of our souls, if we accept the seed, the compost, the watering, the tilling, and the Grace. And if we accept these with the humility that admits they are not from us but God, then perhaps we’ll know the truth of the rest of that offertory sentence, “And of thine own have we given thee.”

We can give generously of ourselves and our possessions. We can offer mercy, love, and forgiveness when someone needs it. We’re not meant to hoard our strengths, gifts and spiritual freedom but to share them with the community…

Perhaps in “random acts of kindness”. Perhaps in “giving someone who is wrong a soft place to land”. (James Alison) We, like the sower, are meant to scatter our seed with wild abandon…Not being too picky about who might receive it. With the Holy Spirit at work, there’s no telling what might spring up! Even in the most unlikely of places, we, like the sower, can be Hopeful and Expectant. Amen.

A sermon preached July 10, 2011 at St. Paul's Episcopal Church, Stockbridge, MA

2011-07-10T06:43:00.003-04:00

by the Rev. Tom Damrosch, Rector of St. Paul's

Jesus went out of the house and sat beside the sea. Such great crowds gathered around him that he got into a boat and sat there, while the whole crowd stood on the beach. And he told them many things in parables, saying: “Listen! A sower went out to sow. And as he sowed, some seeds fell on the path, and the birds came and ate them up. Other seeds fell on rocky ground, where they did not have much soil, and they sprang up quickly, since they had no depth of soil. But when the sun rose, they were scorched; and since they had no root, they withered away. Other seeds fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked them. Other seeds fell on good soil and brought forth grain, some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty. Let anyone with ears listen!”

Later, Jesus spoke to his disciples privately in the house and explained this parable to them. “Hear then the parable of the sower,” he said.

“When anyone hears the word of the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what is sown in the heart; this is what was sown on the path. As for what was sown on rocky ground, this is the one who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy; yet such a person has no root, but endures only for a while, and when trouble or persecution arises on account of the word, that person immediately falls away. As for what was sown among thorns, this is the one who hears the word, but the cares of the world and the lure of wealth choke the word, and it yields nothing. But as for what was sown on good soil, this is the one who hears the word and understands it, who indeed bears fruit and yields, in one case a hundredfold, in another sixty, and in another thirty.”

The Gospel of the Lord.

In the Name of God: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Amen.

Our scriptures today speak to us of God’s abundance, of our struggles to let that abundance fill our lives, and of the power of God’s Word and Holy Spirit to nourish the faith that has taken root in us.

I have just spent ten days experiencing the abundance of God’s love and seeing how that love overcomes many human and natural obstacles. Our mission group from the Diocese of Western Massachusetts spent this time on the island of Hispaniola, up in the mountains which form the border between the two nations which share that island.

In the eastern, larger part, is the Dominican Republic, where European culture first established itself in the New World. We ended up spending our first day in its capital city, Santo Domingo, waiting for our luggage and supplies to catch up with us after nearly 20 hours of travel much disrupted by summer weather.

Coming from a country where we think of the Pilgrims as early settlers, it is daunting to step into a city of great stone buildings, including its Cathedral, which had been in place a hundred years before the first settler ever stepped ashore here.

Then we travelled west across the country to the border town of Jimani where we were to live and work for the rest of our stay. The Dominican countryside is lush and fertile. The language is Spanish. The society is a mix of first world and third world life. We saw comfortable homes and simple shacks. We also saw banana groves interspersed with cactus.

Finally, we reached Jimani, where we were welcomed by Padre Naftali, a priest from Haiti who has served for many years in the Dominican Republic. The church of San Pablo Apostol – St. Paul the Apostle – is typical of the Episcopal Church in that country – new, vibrant, evangelical and rapidly growing. Resources are limited but put to maximum use. There’s electricity in most places much of each day.

Water is delivered periodically by truck and pumped up to roof top cisterns when the electricity is available, though it’s not actually drinking water. There is no air conditioning, but the fans work much of the time and there is usually a breeze.

The church is new, airy, and beautiful in a simple way. It serves both the established population of the town and also Haitian refugees. Over the church are a parish hall and a small apartment for the priest.

Next door is a new medical clinic next door with dorm rooms on the second story for mission teams and for relief teams crossing into Haiti. There is also a church school under construction next door.

Here we lived for the next week. Our team of 12, with four Spanish speakers among us, worked with 10 local teens and one awesome grandmother, conducting Vacation Bible School for 175 children every day. The kids would begin lining up an hour early, and part of our team would lead them in singing as they waited, with more kids flocking down the roads to the church by the minute. After they were all checked in, we began each day with music and a skit.

Jim Munroe, the dean of our cathedral, was a show stealer in these skits, playing a sheep, then Satan, and many characters in between.

Then the kids were divided into three large groups by age, and distributed among thematically designed craft in the church, music and food upstairs (for some, their principal meal of the day), and games outside in the yard of an apartment building under construction. Then all came back together for a brief closing time and dismissal. My modest task was to get all three groups moving on time for each rotation.

We’d then have a meal with our Dominican collaborators and begin adjusting all our plans for the next day based on the many surprises we constantly encountered. As this was the first VBS every to be held in this town, this was a work in progress all week long.

The final weekend was a time of contrasts. On Saturday, we all piled into a small bus with Padre Nafatli and crossed into Haiti. For many miles within the Dominican Republic there are army checkpoints, watching for Haitian refugees. The border itself was well guarded and daunting.

A very large lake in Haiti sits in the mountain pass at the border, and its water level has risen greatly over the last year. So the larger buildings at the border sit abandoned in the flood waters, along with many trucks.

The road though this pass – the main road for relief supplies going into Haiti – is in poor condition on the Dominican side. On the Haitian side, it’s been totally swallowed up by the lake and now consists entirely of crushed rock from the mountain side pushed into the lake to make a rough temporary roadway. Down this road was heading a steady stream of trucks – including an electrical supply truck from western Massachusetts

Then we were deposited, with all our supplies, in the no man’s land between the Dominican and Haitian border gates. We were intensely aware of how often neighbors are divided and at enmity in our world – Israelis and Palestinians, Greeks and Turks, Northern and Southern Sudan, Protestant and Catholic Ireland.

This reality has echoes for me in our first scripture reading today, where the future patriarch Jacob schemes to trick his older brother Esau out of his birthright. That kind of enmity has been deep rooted between Haiti and the Dominican Republic.

Fortunately – blessedly – God has a way of entering such impossible conflicts and working through all our human stubbornness and creating something new. Last year’s cataclysmic earthquake in Haiti has led to such changes. And the two Episcopal dioceses of Haiti and the Dominican Republic have been pioneers in building the new bridges their great island so desperately needs.

And in a sign of this, a Haitian bus pulled up to our forlorn little group. Two Haitian Episcopal priests jumped out and embraced their Dominican colleague and the rest of us, and we were all to pile onto their bus and enter Haiti at last.

Immediately we saw great differences. On the Dominican side, cattle and goats were wandering about, grazing in the foliage on sides of the highway.

On the Haitian side, the mountains were deforested and cattle and goats were attempting to forage in lifeless soil and rocks. From the Dominican Republic, a country struggling for stability to find stability, we entered Haiti, the poorest nation in the entire Western hemisphere. And instead of four of us twelve speaking the language, we were all helpless in Creole.

Soon we came to the village of Fond Parisien. The church there was established many years ago by the sisters of St. Margaret, from Roxbury. The buildings of its school are rudimentary, and show many cracks from the distant earthquake in Port au Prince, the capital city of Haiti. We’ve been able to provide them with $ 8,000 for repairs, with more to come, and we brought several suitcases full of school supplies.

The priest for the area, Pere Valdema, had until last week been serving six churches with a thousand worshippers on Sunday. In the last week, two of the churches, including this one, have been taken over by a young priest, Pere Frederic, who also teaches one day a week in the our seminary.

Outside the church there is abject poverty and then a habitat-for-humanity style development of perhaps a hundred tiny, pastel colored houses for people who were both injured and displaced by the great earthquake.

We were welcomed warmly, and fed, and shared enthusiastic and beautiful worship with the people of Fond Parisien. Their resources are meager in the extreme. But the Episcopal Church is deeply rooted and vitally important in Haiti. It is by far the largest diocese of the Episcopal Church, and its schools – preschool to university level – have resumed functioning where the public institutions have simply been unable to do so. Educational aspirations remain very high, and the music sung by two groups of young people at our worship was breathtakingly beautiful. We came back from that day sobered, moved and deeply concerned to help these brothers and sisters rebuild what little they have, and for us to learn from their faith and determination.

Our final full day in the Dominican Republic began with the parish Sunday Eucharist at St. Paul the apostle, which was also the closing service for the Vacation Bible School. It was exhilarating. Indeed, introducing VBS in the Dominican Republic increased Sunday attendance at church by 50%.

Bathed in music and prayer and praise, I looked out at the Body of Christ at work, alive and growing and vibrant. It was clear that God had planted many seeds in those young people, and in our team, and in the team of Dominican young people with whom we had worked.

It was not easy for the community that had formed that week to disperse. There were many, many tears. But we came away from that place changed and more deeply aware than ever that the Body of Christ is indeed one body. We all have so much to receive from each other. And while our primary location for mission for each of us in the place where we live, we also know in a new way that our connectedness to the needs of the world and to the power that God’s love is generating throughout the church and the world matters.

Jesus challenges his disciples today with a question: What kind of soil are you for the word of God that has reached you, that tiny seed of faith that has been planted in your heart and in your mind and in your life? And he gives several examples and explanations.

If we’re honest, we will probably admit that all of Jesus’ descriptions apply to each of us some of the time. The real miracle of the sower, for me, is God’s patience with us. God only needs one tiny grain of faith to really take root in us. And God only needs us to allow God to keep nurturing that seed as it turns into a green and vibrant shoot.

That was one of the activities that our children did in their VBS – planting one bean seed in a plastic cup with a few cotton balls and some water. Five days later, the Altar at the Church of St. Paul the Apostle was covered with green shoots. A couple of hundred children had experienced the love of God springing up as they were seeing it in those plants. And we of the American team and our Dominican partners had seen and experienced that springing up of new life in ourselves and each other. And each of us from western Massachusetts has come home a lot more aware of our individual and collective blessings, and a lot more aware of the power of the faith that is in us and in our brothers and sisters here and abroad.

Life seems overwhelming sometimes, here and in the Dominican Republic and in Haiti. And yet God calls us continually to faith, to new life, to joy and to abundance. And so St. Paul the Apostle says to us today that the Spirit of God who raised Jesus from the dead indeed is dwelling in us, and God will indeed give us new life through that Spirit. Let us not be rocky ground. Let us not be a briar batch. Instead, let us cherish and share the faith that is growing in us.

Amen.

A Sermon Preached Pentecost 3A, July 3, 2011 @ St. James & St. George, Crissey Farm

2011-07-07T08:16:00.006-04:00

by Lee Cheek, Lay Preacher

Genesis 24: 34-38, 42-49, 58-67;
Canticle: The Song of My Beloved (Song of Solomon 2:8-13)
Listen to the music here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1L69774G10Q
Romans 7:15-25a; Matthew 11:16-19, 25-30

“Arise, My Love, my fair one, and come away. O my dove, that dwelleth in the clefts of the rock, in the covert of a steep place, let me see thy countenance. Let me hear thy voice, for sweet is thy voice and thy countenance is comely.”

You know, I just couldn’t believe it when Francie and I settled on July 3d as the date when I would preach and be commissioned as a Lay Preacher in the Diocese of Western Massachusetts. I looked at the assigned readings for this morning and thought, “Good Lord, what a dense bunch of stories!”

As I was pondering this, Francie noted that we had a choice of Psalm 45 or the canticle from the Song of Solomon. I recognized some of the words from a piece which John has sung on most of his recitals and which he sang, entirely appropriately, at our niece’s Christian marriage ceremony last summer. Without a second thought, I opted for hearing John sing it again because I thought you would enjoy it.

Little did I know how over these past three weeks the depth of beauty in Richard Hundley’s setting would open my eyes and my heart to the deep, profound message of these words.

I think Mr. Hundley captures quite perfectly the spacious, unhurried sweetness of the way Love communicates to us in the worst of our times—when we are dwelling in fear, resentment, or inadequacy. Or when we are covered over by the depth of our despair. Or when we are anxiously perched on the precipice of a too busy life.

“Arise, My Love, my fair one, and come away. O my dove, that dwelleth in the clefts of the rock, in the covert of a steep place, let me see thy countenance. Let me hear thy voice, for sweet is thy voice and thy countenance is comely.”

The actual author and dating of The Song are unknown and perhaps this is just as well because the words have been able to bear many interpretations over the centuries. Yet its soft gesture of a gently extended hand and the graceful tone of its invitation have remained the same. When the heart hears it, lives are changed. Even the world is changed as we saw last week in the foundational story of our faith.

“Abraham! Dear Abraham! Step away from what the unmerciful god of violence wants you to do. Let me see your face and hear the sweetness of your heart that does not want to kill an innocent child, your son.”

Spacious, unhurried sweetness. And Isaac, the precious son, was unbound, the blood of a ram was spilled instead, and the arc of human history began to bend away from the injustice of human sacrifice.[1]

Today’s reading from the 24^th chapter of Genesis is a telescoped compression of the story of Abraham’s servant who has been sent on a journey to find a wife for the now 40 year old Isaac.

I hope you will afford yourself the delight of reading the entire chapter, because in addition to enjoying the stretched out pacing of its repetitions and the richness of its detail, you will see that it is really the trusted servant who has a bead on who the True God of Love’s next matriarch should be.

On his quest, the servant stops at a well near the city of Nahor and feverishly prays to God that he will meet a girl with an outsized sense of hospitality who will offer to draw water for him and his ten camels. Before he even stops speaking, Love has quietly responded as a very fair young girl, Rebekah, comes out of the city and approaches the well to fill her water jar.

Though the text indicates she quickly lowers her jar for him to drink and that she quickly fills the trough for the camels, the story has a spacious sense of being deliberately drawn out as the servant gazes at her in silence.

“Arise, My Lord, from your anguish, and drink from the well. I will draw also for your camels, until they have finished drinking.”

Some of the verses that have been left out of today’s excerpt are about Rebekah’s brother Laban and they tell another story. His hospitality is extended only after he sees the jewelry that the traveler has given Rebekah. Negotiations follow and by the time Rebekah leaves with the servant, the contrast between a world of extraordinary generosity and the world of envious greed is clearly drawn.

And that brings us to Paul’s dense rhetoric in today’s excerpt from his letter to the Romans. These verses are essentially about the temptations of turning a divine warning about the consequences of envy back into a system of religious violence that the warning was designed to prevent in the first place.[2]

As Francie said last week, it was important to Paul, in anticipation of his visit to the Roman Church, that they understand what he now understood about love and mercy. When reading Paul’s letters, it is helpful for us to keep in mind how he came to his new understanding of love.

Some years earlier, Paul was on the road to Damascus was breathing threats and murder to Jews who were following the Way of the rabbi who caused so much trouble by eating and drinking with sinful tax collectors and other outcasts.

That rabbi—the one who had been scapegoated and lynched by a coalition of powers in Jerusalem—became alive to Paul right there on that road to Damascus. Unhurriedly and sweetly, Love Himself invited Paul into a recognition of his own loveliness and into the world of love that Paul had tragically lost hope of ever knowing.

“Paul! Paul! my fair one, my Love. Arise, and come away with me. Come out of the dark place of your blindness and let me see your beautiful face. Let me free your lovely voice to sing the song of the Real World of Love where no one is beyond loving.”

Paul began to see and understand what Jesus had been saying all along, especially as lined out in the verses we read from today’s gospel:

“You can’t make lovers of people by punishing them when they fail to love—you just have to love and forgive them as I do. If you continue to follow the trends of the marketplace about who is good and who is bad, who to include and who to exclude, who is worth loving and who is not, you will tire yourself out and end up in the same old stagnant place of un-Love you were desperately trying to avoid.”

Sadly, we all know firsthand that the voices (which include our own!) in the vicious, snarky world of tit-for-tat, me-first, blame-the-other-guy, and violence-as-usual—these voices are exceedingly compelling, much louder, and much more convincing, than the sweet, unhurried voice of Love.

That is why it is so terribly important for us to help one another by telling stories about how Love’s voice has broken through and how lives are changed by its invitation. So I want to tell you one more story, a very recent one of how Love’s Song can be heard even when it seems impossible.

About two weeks ago I was drawn to a story and accompanying video which appeared on the front page of the New York Times website because I recognized the name of mental health expert Marsha Linehan, whose treatment for severely suicidal people is used worldwide.[3]

She was at the Institute for Living in Hartford on June 23d to address friends, family, and doctors and for the first time to tell her personal story in public.

In 1961, Dr. Linehan had been hospitalized at the Institute as an extremely disturbed and suicidal teenager. In 1963, after 26 months of agonizing treatment, she was discharged with little hope of survival. In 1967, after two more suicide attempts and another hospitalization, she found a room in a Y.M.C.A. in Chicago and often visited a chapel in the Cenacle Sisters Retreat Center nearby.

In a video interview for the Times, she describes her complete and total despair one evening as she sat outside the door to the chapel. Knowing that no one could help her, she entered the chapel and knelt down.

When she looked up at the crucifix above the altar, suddenly everything went gold. The crucifix began to shimmer gold. Then the room was shimmering gold when, she says, “I had the unbelievable experience of God Loving Me!” She jumped up and ran out. When she got to her room she said out loud, “I love Myself!”

And the minute she said that out loud, she knew she had been transformed.

Of course, after that, her life, like Paul’s or Abraham’s, was not without challenges and trials, but the trajectory had bent in another direction and she knew she would never cross the line again to being, in her own word, crazy.

Can you imagine being so loved when all the voices of the world, including your own, are saying you are undeserving, unworthy? Yet, incredibly, the stories keep coming to tell us that Love, in its unhurried sweetness never gives up on us and never fails to see what we thought was impossibly lost or corrupted.

[1] Girard, René, Evolution and Conversion: Dialogues on the Origins of Culture, (New York: Continuum, 2007), p. 203.

[2] For an expansion of this, please see Robert Hamerton-Kelly’s Sacred Violence: Paul’s Hermeneutic of the Cross (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1992).

[3] http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/23/health/23lives.html?scp=1&sq=marsha%20linehan&st=cse

A Sermon Preached June 26, 2011 at Crissey Farm

2011-06-26T20:00:00.003-04:00

by the Rev. Frances A. Hills, Rector
Proper 8 A 2011 - Romans 6:12-23

When Paul wrote this letter in the mid 50s CE, a strong Christian community was already established at Rome, but not by Paul. So he writes this letter from Corinth because he’s hoping to visit Rome on his way to an important mission in Spain. Although he’s never met them, Paul acknowledges the faithfulness of the Roman Christians, “You have become obedient from the heart…and have become slaves of righteousness.” So his words to them, which explain his theology, are not so much meant to teach or correct, as other letters did, as to help them see they’re all on the same page. As allies in Christ, Paul wants their prayers and support for his upcoming mission trip to Spain.

Now part of their common faith in Jesus is the fact that they live in constant spiritual peril. Although they’ve been baptized into Christ (Both his death: They’re dead to sin and his resurrection: They’re alive in Christ) it is still possible for sin to reign in their lives (And in our lives). Although by baptism we have indeed been transferred from the powers of the world to the lordship of Christ, we still have the spiritual limitations and selfish desires and behaviors that all human beings have. Paul says we must resist these, and he says we have a choice: We can present ourselves to Sin, or we can present ourselves to God.

He gives us courage when he says the power of sin will have no dominion over us because we are under grace not law! So as Christians our way of life purely relies upon the Grace of God. That’s it!

Frederick Buechner says about Grace,

“It is something you can never get but only be given. . . There’s nothing you have to do. There’s nothing you have to do. There’s nothing you have to do. The grace of God means something like: Here’s your life. You might never have been, but you are because the party wouldn’t have been complete without you. Here is the world. Beautiful and terrible things will happen. Don’t be afraid. I am with you. Nothing can ever separate us. It’s for you I created the universe. I love You . . . There’s only one catch. Like any other gift, the gift of grace can be yours only if you’ll reach out and take it. . . (Buechner muses) Maybe being able to reach out and take it is a gift too.”

Paul says because we’re under grace, not law, the power of sin will have no dominion over us. But I wonder how is it really possible for us that sin would not have dominion, because there are certainly daily instances of sin making inroads into our lives…Just read the Bible, or the lives of the saints, or think of our own daily lives. We all sin! Yet Paul says we ultimately share the destiny of the resurrected Christ. We can rely on it! Paul promises sin will not be Lord. The Law will not be Lord. Christ is Lord, and the one who is in Christ is “under grace”. So we’ve been transferred from the old era of sin and death into the new era of righteousness and life. At the same time, we’re still beset by the power of the old age. Somehow we actually belong to Christ and his resurrected destiny, but we also live in the old world of sin and death, which is still present. And the old world still thwarts our life of righteousness. Paul says the old world must be overcome.

Those who have died through baptism are no longer under the power of sin, for they are under grace and share the destiny of the risen Christ. So if we’re baptized, we cannot be slaves to sin, because we have become slaves to righteousness…and we seek to please God. So when we use ourselves— our souls and bodies—for righteousness, when we live out our baptismal covenants—remaining faithful in worship, renouncing evil, proclaiming the Good News, loving our neighbors, striving for justice and peace, and respecting the dignity of all others—when we do this, we become sanctified. We become holy.

But does that mean we ourselves become pure and spotless? (Don’t know about you, but I personally have not gotten to that point!) If not pure and spotless, then what does it mean that we are “set free from sin” and “sanctified”? It seems Paul is saying if we are “set free” then we’re no longer under sin’s power, so we don’t have to fall into it without defense. And if we’re out from under its power, we can fight against it.

Paul reminds us we are “slaves” to whatever we obey…We have a choice: We can obey sin, which leads to death or we can obey God, which leads to righteousness and sanctification. So the struggle against sin must go on. Paul urges us to persevere in faith and obedience. We can do this because the Spirit empowers us, because we are under Grace, and because we ultimately share in Christ’s resurrected destiny.

One way to think about this comes from 12-step Recovery Programs. We human beings have a great capacity to become addicted to almost anything: Drugs, work, sex, porn, abusive relationships, money, status, gambling, electronics, you name it. But because we are baptized and under Grace and freed from sin, we are not compelled to be enslaved to our addictive passions. We have a choice, but frequently we enslave ourselves anyway. Sometimes we remain enslaved— even when we know how to resist, where to get help, and how to break free. It’s a terrible thing to be in that place. And how many times we have gone there or seen someone we love go there? We will hang on to our addictions, be their slaves, for what?

So we don’t have to become God’s slaves? So we don’t have to admit we are powerless and that our lives are unmanageable? So we don’t have to say we need God’s grace? So we don’t have to come to believe that God and God alone can restore us to sanity? So we don’t have to admit, “I can’t. God can.”? So we don’t have to decide to give our will and lives over to God’s care?

But why would we not want to give ourselves to God? Are we afraid of how powerful God’s Grace can be? Why wouldn’t we want just to reach out and take Grace by the hand? Remember we’re enslaved to anything we obey, including our addictions, and the end of enslavement to anyone or anything but God is death. The end of enslavement to God is freedom, sanctification, and eternal life.

“Like any other gift, the gift of grace can be ours only if we’ll reach out and take it…Maybe being able to reach out and take it is a gift too.”

(Paraphrase of Buechner)

O God, give us the gift to choose the grace that’s already ours, so we can share in your resurrection destiny both now and always. In Christ’s name, Amen.

Parts of this sermon came from:

Paul’s Letter to the Romans: A Commentary by Arland J. Hultgren. Erdmans 2011.

Wishful Thinking, A Theological ABC by Frederick Buechner, as quoted in Synthesis, June 26, 2011.

Some of the thoughts on addiction from “Promise and Rewards are Gifts: Wages are Earnings” a sermon by the Rev. Marc Lawrence Britt, June 26, 2011.

2011-06-15T21:44:00.000-04:00

As part of the Partnership for Missional Church process, members of St. James imagined our congregation's location and activities five years in the future by taking an imaginary hot-air balloon ride around the Great Barrington area. Each person then reported what s/he saw on the journey. All of the notes were put into the wordle-maker and this is what came out.
Future Vision

Pentecost at Trinity Saint Louis

2011-06-12T14:01:00.004-04:00

This is actually my 3d visit to this church. I had intended to visit others, but something kept pulling me back here. I guess it felt like home.

It was a sea of red when I entered the Sanctuary. There were red shirts ties, hats, shoes, dresses, the works. These folks were into Pentecost in a big way.

The celebrant this morning was the Very Rev Ronald Clingenpeel , retired dean of the Cathedral here who is a member of the parish. He is also a clergy deputy to General Convention and I am familiar with his writing on our list serv. This was his last official Sunday as he is moving away.

The opening hymn was #225 Hail thee festival day in the shorter pentecostal version, only 4 verses. Organist Jeffery Nall introduced it with a fanfare and played it with great spirit.

The thurifer was working hard this morning and the Church was filled with heavenly scents. The Gospel procession featured Deacon Leip only however. When he reached the words "He breathed on them and said to them Receive the Holy Spirit" I became aware of murmurs all around me in the congregation. I am not sure how many languages there were, but the effect was stunning.

There followed a most memorable sermon, not so much for the content or delivery though they were both excellent but for the opening. The Dean said "lets get right to it" and proceeded to light a small torch from the candle and SWALLOWED IT SEVERAL TIMES finally putting it out. He then told us (alluding to the Gospel) that he was not drunk. The essence of Christ is in our hearts. The list serv of GC Deputies has been having a discussion about titles. What do you call a priest, father, mother, pastor, reverend etc? The first Christians had no titles but preached urgently from their hearts as we should do. God has touched you he said, or you would not be here today taking in the music of our liturgy and the prayers of the people. Preach the Gospel, use words if necessary. Share our story, evangelism is not crazy TV preachers or people yelling in the street. Ask someone to come to church with you. You have the power to show God's face with a simple loving honest invitation. He repeated his fire swallowing trick one more time and said Amen. The people loudly echoed this.

The prayers of the people featured an intercessor dressed in a red skirt wearing a red hat, matching shoes and reading from a red folder. After the prayers of the people and the peace, the Dean was given some farewell gifts that included a very nice guitar strap, so I guess he plays one.

The choir sang Everett Titcomb's lovely setting of I will not leave you comfortless which our choir has done several times.. They began somewhat timidly but grew in confidence and tone as the anthem progressed. The rising lines in the latter part reminded me of incense rising and indeed it was also.

The Dean began Eucharistic prayer B. He is one of the best chanters I have heard, his pitch was rock steady, words clear and sung with rich well supported tone.

I noticed in the creed and in the words of the Eucharist that some were using She for He as the God pronoun.

As i customary here, two hymns were sung during communion. One I was not familiar with was #505 O spirit of life O spirit of God. Look it up, very interesting words. The other was the well loved Come down O love divine.

The Thurifer showed off in the recessional with several triple front and back 360s.

The last hymn was Ye Holy Angels bright. The organist made this an event, it also danced with joy!

After the recessional, I introduced myself to Dean Clingenpeel who I will see at General Convention in Indianapolis in 2012. When I told him that I was a deputy from Western Mass, he told me that he was friends with Sarah Shoftstall as they grew up together in Nebraska, and roommate at seminary (or was it college) with Bill Coyne. The Episcopal world is small.

Coffee hour was full of people and featured very nice croissant sandwiches, shrimp, fresh fruit, and cakes. People were as always here, very friendly and I had a number of nice conversations. Several people have seen or will see the opera. I met Martha Baker a writer and editor who is on the Standing Committee for Liturgy and Music. It turns out we have been at two meetings together, one in Concord, NH and one in Atlanta. More small world. She writes frequently for Episcopal Life. Here is a link to one of her stories.

I will miss this friendly little church. Today's service had such energy and spirit that I felt greatly uplifted as I left.

A Sermon Preached at the Feast of the Ascension June 5, 2011: How Love Got Through

2011-06-06T15:35:00.012-04:00

by Lee Cheek, Lay Preacher

And they worshipped him, and returned to Jerusalem with great joy –Luke 24:52

I was so glad when Francie asked me to preach this Sunday and gave me the option of using the Ascension propers this morning, because unless you attended services in Pittsfield on Thursday, when David Pott was received into The Episcopal Church, you may have missed the Feast of the Ascension this year.

Unlike Christmas and Easter, there is no cultural holiday or ado made of this feast which celebrates the end of the forty days that Jesus spent with his disciples in those paradigm-shattering experiences of a dead man who comes back not to haunt them, but to forgive them.

Interestingly, most Christian churches don’t make a big to-do about the Ascension either. That’s too bad, because the moment of the Ascension is the moment of joyful recognition of the disciple’s HUGE discovery that they—even THEY!—had been loved into being a part of God’s true purposes, a part of God’s dream for the world that was much, much bigger than they had ever been able to imagine before.

Just to recap prior events, let us recall that the young rabbi Jesus had been going back and forth for three years between Galilee and Jerusalem inviting everyone without exception to God’s project of love: the complete elimination of violence which requires giving up the idea of retribution and vengeance.[i] This was not popular with the powers that be, then as now, who were politically skilled at using resentments and revenge for their own purposes. So sensing an uprising during Passover they chose to channel the energies of various conflicts in one direction, executing the one person they could agree to hate.

Jesus’ commandment to love was too demanding for his disciples to follow at that point … for they might be killed, too, hated and reviled by association with him. They betrayed him, lied about knowing him, and abandoned him to suffer alone what they saw was a degrading, humiliating end.

What they could not see then was that Jesus shared God’s eye-view of the world which was, of course, Love’s eye-view of them and thus was much more interested in expanding their ideas about love than their goodness or badness.

So when confronted with the risen Jesus, they came to gradually discover and trust that indeed, they had been entirely wrong about who and how God loves. For forty days they were saturated with the wisdom and knowledge that comes from the forgiving nature of love.

And according to the accounts we heard this morning, it ended for them in the scene depicted on our bulletin covers.[ii] I like that the woodcutters captured the sense of joy, not only for the disciples whose imaginations had been cut loose, blasted apart from the old paradigm about who can be loved, but for Jesus, too, at the sight of it all. He is doing some happy dance on that cloud!

And we see not only Jesus’ joy, but choirs of angels most likely singing Alleluias at the top of their lungs that Love had finally been able to free these people. Maybe that would be the original praise music! I think a crazy mix of East 17’s “House of Love” (you know, the song on the T-Mobile Royal Wedding spoof) and Handel’s Hallelujah Chorus would fit the occasion.

Since that day, one person at a time, Love has been blowing apart earth-bound imaginations about who is lovable—or as we might say in the Christian language, who is in on God’s dream for the world. I would like to tell you one of those stories about how Love got through.

I was 15 years old in early June 1964 when I was caught pulling a long face during lunch at the Egyptian Music Camp in DuQuoin, Illinois. My piano ensemble teacher asked me why I was sad. With no sense of irony about being north of the Mason-Dixon line, this culturally blinded daughter of the Old South told her that I heard on the radio that the end of segregation was near.[iii]

To this day, I remember her deeply compassionate eyes as she asked me sweetly, without reproach, what that meant for me. I said that my school would be integrated, as if that were the most unheard of thing in the world.

But something in me was put off-kilter by the kindness of her unblaming gaze which signaled regard for me and who, from that moment, I would be on my way to becoming.

I like to think that looking at me just so, she knew that one day I would come to know the joy and delight of being in the company of people whose skin was darker than mine. In that most promising moment when she did not point the finger back at me for being a teenage bigot, her reproach-free imagination gave birth to my gradual discovery of mercy.

This mercy would enable me to begin forging a new story for myself that did not involve making someone else wrong or bad or dirty or stupid so that my place in society behind the Cotton Curtain, or anywhere else, would be secure.

Another way of saying this is that my teacher’s unconcern for my goodness or badness gave me room to eventually see that yes, I was wrong to transfer my anxiety and conflicts on to a repugnant, reviled other who would bear the blame.

And after some time, I came to be very happy indeed to be wrong, for I was able to share in some measure God’s eye-view of the world, where no person is to be called profane or impure[iv], not even me!

No wonder the disciples returned to Jerusalem with great joy. They were happy to discover that their hope of redemption and reception of mercy did not depend on their goodness or badness, or on the whims of a rescuing or avenging god, but solely on Jesus’ commandment of love that teaches us to pay no heed to the judgment the world makes concerning precarious, marginal people.

There is so much to say about what it’s like to be on the path of Love—the courage needed, the empowerment of the Spirit of Truth, the Love that got us here this morning, the Love that planted Gideon’s Garden yesterday morning, the Love palpably present at the celebration of Ruth Ide’s life yesterday afternoon, the Love that the world is still aching for, that we are aching for. But we can offer all that up in prayer in our petitions and thanksgivings.

So for now let us tarry here just a moment longer on the under-celebrated Feast of Christ’s Ascension which I like to believe that the Anglican priest and poet George Herbert had in mind when he wrote “Love (3)” which appeared the year of his death, 1633.

Love bade me welcome: yet my soul drew back,

Guilty of dust and sin.

But quick-eyed Love, observing me grow slack

From my first entrance in,

Drew nearer to me, sweetly questioning,

If I lacked anything.

A guest, I answered, worthy to be here:

Love said, You shall be he.

I the unkind, ungrateful? Ah my dear,

I cannot look on thee.

Love took my hand, and smiling did reply,

Who made the eyes but I?

Truth Lord, but I have marred them: let my shame

Go where it doth deserve.

And know you not, says Love, who bore the blame?

My dear then I will serve.

You must sit down, says Love, and taste my meat:

So I did sit and eat.

AMEN.[v]

[i] Matthew 5:38-40.

[ii] Free access and non-commercial use of over 31,000 woodcuts from The Digital Archives of Pitts Theological Library of Emory University, Atlanta, are available online: http://www.pitts.emory.edu/dia/woodcuts.htm; this image from Antwerp, 1646, by Christoffel van Sichem II and his son

[iii] The Civil Rights Act of 1964 passed the Senate on June 11 and was signed into law by President Lyndon Johnson June 19.

[iv] Acts 10:28

[v] The inspiration for this sermon was from Catholic priest and theologian James Alison, especially his Raising Abel (New York: Crossroad, 1996).

"An Accomplishment For Us All" from Jake Pinkston on teaching mission in Honduras

2011-05-31T12:02:00.005-04:00

Mike, Damaris' Mother, Damaris, Betty and Jake after giving Damaris her gifts for her upcoming study in the United States.

Passport..Check
Flight tickets…Check
Visa Application…...Check ;D
Yes thank God everything is perfect so far!
Visa approved! Yay ;D

Damaris

At the beginning of the school year, I gave my students my cell phone number should they ever need to contact me with questions (excuses) regarding assignments. I have seriously questioned this judgment after several late night rambles and misdials, but on Friday, I was jumping for joy. Damaris, my top student in the tenth grade class, texted me as she walked out of the United States Embassy in Tegucigalpa, the Honduran capital. She was finally, for sure, going to the United States.

The process began in back in mid-February. Two months removed from Christmas vacation, two months away from Holy Week vacation and the end of the term bearing down fast, we were in the no-man’s-land part of the school calendar. The students were dragging. I was balancing on the edge of sanity. And dry season has begun so it was screaming hot (recall we have no AC in the classrooms). Times were good.

Into my email pops an update from the Bishop’s office about a summer program in Tennessee. The University of the South, also known as Sewanee, runs a three week math and science intensive program for students entering their senior year in high school. The Bridge Program comes with a full scholarship but a competitive admissions process and only 20 participants. As the one of the nine Episcopal affiliated universities in the United States, Sewanee and the Bridge Program were working to expand their international admission and invited the students from the schools within the Honduran Diocese to apply.

Veronica, the rector at Holy Trinity, was excited about the prospect of international experience for our students and put me in charge of the application process. Veronica set up a meeting with the parents of possible applicants to explain the program and the student’s responsibilities. Unfortunately, her mother became very ill and for the next three weeks, she was out of school and out of contact. The meeting never happened. The due date arrived and went.

Shoot.

Veronica and I regrouped. We reread the fine print. The website did not say explicitly that late applications would not be considered. Recognizing the level of academics achieved so far at our school, we were not sure that our students stood much of a chance anyways. We decided that regardless of the odds and our tardiness, we would have the students apply, if only for the experience of filling out a school application, and put it in God’s hands. I rounded up the best students in the 10th and 11th grades, Damaris included, and I gave them the application.

With third term final exams wrapped up, I had their full, though fragmented attentions. We were getting this done. Now. We walked through the questions on the application, highlighting the information they needed to find out from their families. We brainstormed the two essays and made outlines. I sent them home for the weekend to write their drafts.

Monday afternoon rolled around and the computer teacher graciously gave us full access to the computer lab, the only classroom in the school that is air conditioned. Alleluia! We began the editing process after lunch. The students reworked their drafts then sent them to me via facebook (how the times change). I marked them up, sent them back, and they got back to work while I put together the recommendations and transcripts. In the process, I checked the website to find Sewanee had extended the due date. Things were looking up.

Just before 7:00 pm, the printer haltingly spat out Damaris’ final draft. The other students had finished a few minutes before. I folded it carefully into the envelope. We both stumbled out of the lab and were met by a blast of humid evening air. We had done all we could do. The following morning I dropped off the whole package at FedEx and it was gone. The waiting game began.

Unfortunately, Sewanee did not post an acceptance date. After about a week, every morning I was assailed with a variation on the question, “Have you heard anything yet?”. Damaris especially was giddy with excitement. I was chewing my fingernails off. Knowing that 20 students from the Honduran diocese alone applied, our odds were long at best. The fact that these competing students came from schools that regularly had students accepted into 4 year programs made me even more apprehensive. This is not even accounting for all the US applicants. The wait continued.

I was playing tennis on a Sunday afternoon in April when I got a call from Damaris. The first thing that popped in my head was she was calling about a Biology presentation that was due the following day. Straining to comprehend through the static of my cheap cell phone, I heard her say something about Sewanee. My heart almost jumped out of my chest as I asked her to repeat, nearly jamming the junky thing into my ear canal. She had been accepted! I pulled the phone away and whooped for joy, my tennis partner giving me a quizzical look. I was on cloud nine. After overwhelming her with a flood of congratulations at a volume completely inappropriate for phone conversation, she finally got me off the phone. I immediately called Veronica to tell her the news and was met with the full Alleluia chorus, praising God for his great works. My face hurt from smiling.

That Monday, Veronica and I were both brought back a little closer to Earth as we accessed what the next steps were. Damaris needed a passport. She needed a visa to enter the US. With two months to go before she took off, this needed attention. But most of all, she needed a plane ticket.

Damaris comes from a family modest means; her father is an evangelical priest at a small church and her mother a public school teacher (the government recently gutted the pension fund and withheld pay for the last 6 months). Damaris has been our star student since she joined in elementary school. She has maintained an average above a 95% for her entire career while serving a class president and playing on the volleyball team. For these reasons, Damaris is on full academic scholarship. I could tell that the administrative costs were going to be a challenge for her family and the prospect of an $800 ticket was a major hurdle.

Ultimately however, a hurdle it was not. After asking Francie to spread the word, the St. James congregation once again blessed me and my students with their generosity and support. Damaris’ mother was in tears when I shared with her the great news that her plane ticket was covered. Mike and Betty, missionaries for three years and visiting, surprised Damaris with more funds they had raised to cover her airport expenses.

Damaris got her passport, we bought her plane ticket, and then filled out the visa application. After answering the tough questions as to whether Damaris was a terrorist, prostitute, drug smuggler, disease carrier, or wanted criminal, we sent off it off. Damaris drove the 7 hours trek to Tegus for her interview at the Embassy. After a 15 minute conversation, she was officially cleared to go to the United States to study.

Everyday I am here in Honduras, I am reminded of the loaves and fishes story, of Jesus’ disciples looking over a vast crowd and realizing their message had got the people hungry, but now the disciples had to feed them. It is hard enough to energize and inspire, to convince people that they can succeed. Finding the resources to sustain it is often an even more difficult challenge. Yet everyday God provides when we need it most. I emailed Francie with hope and faith, as I have many times before. Once again I was astounded by the response. I have been so blessed by the parishioners of St. James in my 2 years in Honduras. Words cannot describe the gratitude I owe to all of you. You have shown much faith and confidence in me and my mission work, and it has driven me to give my students the very best I have had to offer. Damaris’ accomplishment is one that we all can share in: her family, her teachers, Holy Trinity, and St. James. Just as an engine needs fuel, the body needs the spirit. I could not have done it with out you.

Thank you.

“And taking the fives loaves and the tow fish, he looked up to heaven and blessed and broke them, and gave them to the disciples to set before the crowd. And all ate and were filled. What was left over was gather up, twelve baskets of broken pieces.”
Luke 9 : 16-17

Below I have included a thank you letter from Damaris. I will post her updates on the blog as she sends them to me.

Dear brothers and sisters of the Saint James Episcopal Church,

A fraternal greeting in the love of Jesus. I thank God for you and for the opportunity that you have given me to study in the United States.
Thank you for the financial contribution and support you have given me to attend the summer program of Math and Science at the University of the South in Tennessee. It is a blessing from God. Knowing how special Mr. Jake is, I can say that so are you. I am looking forward to giving you updates of my studies and experiences. May the Lord bless you and keep you safe.

Sincerely,
Damaris

Episcopal Tourist, Trinity Church

2011-05-22T15:37:00.004-04:00

Yes, I am Still in St Louis. Last week I was at the cathedral. This week I chose Trinity, a small parish within walking distance. They describe themselves as Inclusive, Diverse, Anglo Catholic. When I entered about 10 minutes before the service there were only a few people, but just like at St James they all came in at the last minute. There were 75 or so in all. The congregation did appear to be as advertised, gay, straight, black white, economically diverse etc., and very friendly.

The organist began with the majestic Nimrod movement from Elgar's Enigma Variations. It begins softly and lyrically but swells eventually to a great and sonorous fortissimo. Again I was very moved by the beauty and tonal splendor of the "King of Instruments."

All the elements of high church were present here incense, bells, chanting, procession, vestments etc. The priest chanted in a rather small voice and it was a bit hard to hear. The opening hymn was 368 Holy God we praise thy name.

There was a bit of drama, the first reader did not appear and at a signal from the rector an acolyte quickly went to the lectern. By this point the assigned reader had realized her error and was coming down the aisle. But she was too late and had to slink back to her seat.

After a chanted psalm and the second reading we had a full tilt Gospel procession. Again, they stopped right in front of me. The Gospel book was censed and Deacon Leip read John 14:1-14.

The Deacon also preached the sermon. He began by welcoming us to the day after the rapture provoking quite a good laugh. He them immediately plunged into the text which can be so troubling to non fundamentalist Christians. It is so often used to exclude Here is the circle. We are inside and you are not. Then in presenting the importance of context, he explained that this Gospel was the last to be written some 90 years later. Community was of great importance to the Jews and to the early church. To be cut off was devastating. The Jews were beginning to expel the Christians from the Synagogues. John sets forth a new community with Jesus at the center. The other implication , that those who do not profess faith in Christ are dammed to hell was not the intent. Our Presiding Bishop got into a lot of trouble with our own theological conservatives when she said that to say that God was not working in other ways was was putting limits on Him. He asked ironically "Does God hate the same people you do?"

Deacon Leip spoke also of his work in a local hospital with other ministers and rabbis, of the respect they gave to each other and then asked "does not God hear all who work for justice, compassion, and transformation of suffering. Is he not present in nature, in a baby's cry and in our last breath?" Amen!!

The children came in with exuberance and were welcomed by all.

We exchanged the peace after the short prayers of the people. The small choir made a valiant attempt at a Samuel Sebastian Wesley anthem O Lord my God. The Eucharist was celebrated, Rite II form B. The Sanctus was the familiar Schubert but the fraction was the Welsh hymn all through the night sung to "For the gift of earth and heaven thanks be to God." I received kneeling at the altar rail. Fresh baked bread was used and gluten free host was also available. The final hymn was 375 Give praise and glory unto God. This was not the recessional as the altar team waited for the postlude From the South Sea Islands by Alan Rideout. This was a delightfully rhythmic and syncopated piece. The numerous children danced happily as did the rector Anne Kelsey as she processed out. Everyone in the congregation enjoyed this immensely and applauded organist Jeffery Nall with enthusiasm.

Several people came up to me and we had some nice conversation. I spoke with the rector and deacon. They and others invited me to coffee hour where I met several others , some of whom were big opera fans who either attended or worked as volunteers or as board members. Eventually we had to leave as they were setting up a soup kitchen in that room.

This is a lovely, very friendly small, parish and the Anglo-Catholic ritual was dignified and well done without any hint of stiffness.

Episcopal Tourist, Christ Church Cathedral St Louis

2011-05-16T11:48:00.006-04:00

Sunday I went for services at Christ Church Cathedral in downtown St Louis. It was a cold, rainy, windy, and gloomy morning but there was nothing gloomy about the greeting I received as I entered the narthex. A jolly usher, obviously oblivious to the cold dressed in shorts and Hawaiian shirt, gave me a bulletin as others also said hello and held the door for me.

As I came in to this large Gothic church my eyes were immediately drawn to the magnificent Reredos a 35 foot high wall of intricately carved stone. It presents much of the history of Christianity with Saints, Apostles, Prophets, Patriarchs, Martyrs, Angels, Archangels and nearly all the company of Heaven, with our Lord in the center of it all. Here is a link to a guide.

This appears to be a diverse urban congregation White, African American, straight, gay, etc. There were around 150 or so.

The prelude on "St Columbia" gave me a good opportunity to hear the 65 rank Aeolian Skinner organ opus from 1965. Tears welled up as I again realized how much I miss this beautiful sound.

The processional was #645 The King of love my Shepherd is. I have been sick the past few days and struggled a bit in singing it. The Gloria was by Richard Proulx not familiar to me but a very good setting. The readers were excellent, I needed no text and none was provided. We sang the Pslam in simplified Anglican Chant. The Gospel procession stopped right beside me as we sang #343 Shepherd of Souls.

The sermon was delivered by a young Seminarian Jonathan Stratton on his last Sunday before graduation. He was a fine speaker, passionate and with a clear message. Most of his references came from the Acts 2:42-47 reading with its vision of the early church whose members sold their possessions and pooled their resources so that all needs were met. It was an idyllic vision of harmony which he pointed out was not the reality we usually now find in church. But Luke may have embelished the story leaving out the conflict. Luke spoke of three important needs for a spiritual community , community life, immersion in spiritual discipline, and frequent Eucharist. This fine sermon got me to thinking what this bright young man's future might bring. At a recent discernment seminar in our diocese those considering the priesthood were reminded over and over that it was unlikely that they would be able to earn a full living and would need another source of income in order to live and pay off Seminary debts. We are so fortunate that there are good dedicated, intelligent people willing to take on this difficult and uncertain path!

The prayers of the people were short, but the peace went on for a long time. People were very friendly and I did not feel lost.

The Eucharist was celebrated and I went up to receive at the high altar. Most people were communed by name but the priest not knowing mine said with great warmth "Brother , the bread of Christ".

Announcements were after the Easter Blessing and before the recessional which seemed sensible.

Afterwards I listened a bit to the postlude and spoke with a number of people. The choir was quite shorthanded thought they did a fine job. They have six sopranos but only one was well enough to sing today which explained why they had scrapped the Orlando di Lasso communion motet for a simple plainchant with some nice improvisations between verses.

A Sermon Preached Easter Vigil, April 23, 2011: Greetings!

2011-04-25T11:08:00.009-04:00

by Lee Cheek, Lay Preacher

at St. Paul's, Stockbridge, MA (St. Paul, St. George, St. James, Good Shepherd Episcopal Churches)

Good Evening—or is it Good Morning? I’m not quite sure. I’m kind of dizzy from all the time travel we’ve done this evening from the beginning of creation to Matthew’s empty tomb.

These and all the other stories in the Hebrew Scriptures are the rich record of a people who heard the voice of a God different from their friends, families, and enemies. They all began, about 4000 years ago when our forbearers—the elderly Abraham and Sarah--left their fathers and the idols of their fathers to follow the God of Love wherever faithfulness to this God would lead them.

And what a journey it has been with this God who was gradually shorn of violence and sacrifice and discovered to be the one, true God of Love! These are holy stories of the spectacular ups and tragic downs of a people remembering and forgetting who and whose they were. Desire for mammon. Desire for God. Temples built, destroyed, rebuilt. Humiliating defeats and painful exiles. Feasts. Famines. Self-serving retribution. Gracious benevolence. Eyes for eyes, teeth for teeth. Joseph, Job, Esther, Jezebel. Judges, Kings, and Prophets. Laws and punishments. Treachery. Lies. Murder and salvation.

Think of it! All those stories have brought us here to sit in this lovely sanctuary of St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Stockbridge, Massachusetts, 2011 years this side of a Passover Feast in Jerusalem, when human desire went wrong (again) and converged in a vortex of violence that ended in a tomb of a murdered man.

A murdered man, who if we are to believe our witness Matthew, emerges from that tomb of tombs and says to the first people he meets, “Greetings!” Imagine that! “Greetings!” “Hi!”

That just slays me! I mean isn’t what we expect from a murdered man something like, “Wooooo, I’m going to get you!”? Something like the ghost of John the Baptist that visited the guilty Herod?

No. Matthew clearly does not want us to think that this is a ghost, for he writes: “And they--Mary Magdalen and the other Mary--came to him, took HOLD of his feet (!), and worshiped him.” You can’t hold on to the feet of a ghost.

This realness that Matthew and all the gospel witnesses insist on, is how they are saying to us that even though they were with Jesus for three years and hung on his every word, they were not able to piece it together and really know Jesus and what he was doing in any real way until after the events of that horrible, wrenching week in Jerusalem.

“Jerusalem, Jerusalem! The city that kills the prophets”¹was a city on the brink of disaster then: a brutal occupying Roman army, rival factions at each other’s throat about how to deal with it, a volatile mob tired of it’s most recent celebrity, bitter memories of captivities and exiles, and a handful of desperate leaders whose only common interest was to quell the surging waters of violence that threatened to overflow and destroy them all.

They succumbed to the temptation, not unreasonable, of selecting a common enemy to draw all the violence in one direction. “It is better that one man should die for the many.”²

Who better, then, for the accusing finger to point to than that charismatic young rabbi whose life for the past three years had been a living interpretation of their own holy scripture—their holy stories of being called out by Love on a journey to a Promised Land where no one’s life or dignity or well-being would ever be sacrificed for the good of the order.

So then, the shameful spectacle of trumped up charges and trials. At no point did the young rabbi run away from his teaching of absolute non-violence. Not even in the face of empire, temple, crowd, and faithless friends.

The brutal public execution and burial in a sealed and guarded tomb brings us just this side of something extraordinary. Matthew sets the scene:

Earth-quake! Angel that looks like “lightning! Fainting soldiers! Angel rolls back the stone of the tomb. Waits for two Marys. Tells two Marys, “don’t be afraid, look inside, and run tell the disciples that Jesus will be waiting for them in Galilee.” Two Marys dash off to Jerusalem. Two Marys met in road by Jesus.

And then--after all the tortured, wretched, sorry business of the past three days—Jesus tosses out the word that sets the world in forward motion again, spinning out Love’s light from the abyss of the tomb of tombs, so that we, each and every one of us since then—betrayed and betrayer, tortured and torturer, slave and enslaver, liar and lied to—is miraculously back on the road to the Promised Land, inconceivably forgiven and loved.

“Greetings!” The word, evacuated of anger, reproach, even triumph, that gives us—we who have turned out to be wrong!—a very soft place to land. A soft landing where our nervous systems can relax.

Surprised and gentled by the infinite friendliness and patience of this forgiveness, we can feel the tension draining away, and it becomes possible for us to love others back into their dignity, as well.

“Greetings!” he said then, and still says to us today,

“I know your pettiness, your distorted desires, your tightly held grudges, your pride and your prejudice. I like you anyway! Now, go. Be on your way, and play your part: Tell everyone I’m coming, because, My Dears, when you waste Forgiveness and Love on them, I will already have arrived!”

AMEN.

¹Matthew 23:37

²John 18:14

The preacher gratefully acknowledges:

James Alison, http://www.ravenfoundation.org/projects/making-religion-reasonable/james-alison-s-forgiving-victim-dvd-series

Anthony Bartlett, Virtually Christian, O-Books, 2011

Nina Simone who preached it in song at Montreux 1976 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5dlrXCYrNYI&feature=related

A sermon preached Easter Sunday, April 24, 2011

2011-04-25T09:17:00.001-04:00

by the Rev. Frances Hills, Rector

Colossians 3:1-4, John 20:1-18

It’s always so good to hear the “alleluias”, to see the lilies, to sing the Easter hymns. And hearing the Easter Gospel is always astonishing! The empty tomb. The angels. And the gardener, who turns out to be Jesus himself! There’s a poem I love about this Easter Day Gospel of John. It’s by Janet Morley and called “They have taken away my lord”.

It was unfinished.

We stayed there, fixed, until the end,

women waiting for the body that we loved;

and then it was unfinished.

There was no time to cherish, cleanse, anoint;

no time to handle him with love,

no farewell.

Since then, my hands have waited,

aching to touch even his deadness,

smoothe oil into bruises that no longer hurt,

offer his silent flesh my finished act of love.

I came early, as the darkness lifted,

to find the grave ripped open and his body gone;

container of my grief smashed, looted,

leaving my hands still empty,

I turned on the man who came:

‘They have taken away my Lord—where is his

corpse?

Where is the body that is mine to greet?

He is not gone

I am not ready yet, I am not finished—

I cannot let him go.

I am not whole.’

And then he spoke, no corpse,

and breathed,

and offered me my name.

My hands rushed to grasp him;

to hold and hug and grip his body close;

to give myself again, to cling to him,

and lose my self in love.

‘Don’t touch me now.’

I stopped, and waited, my rejected passion

hovering between us like some dying thing.

I Mary, stood and grieved, and then departed.

I have a gospel to proclaim.

(Janet Morley, All Desires Known: Prayers Uniting Faith and Feminism, p. 54.)

Mary had a gospel to proclaim. We have a gospel to proclaim—and not just those of us who are called to preach. As followers of our Risen Lord, all of us have a gospel to proclaim. I’m reminded of something attributed to St. Francis of Assisi, “Preach the Gospel always. If necessary, use words!” Francis realizes that the way we live our lives—all that we say and do—has the potential of showing forth the Gospel, the Good News of Jesus Christ, our Risen Lord! So, we all have a gospel to preach and proclaim, with our without words.

With that in mind I want to turn to today’s short lesson from the letter to the Colossians, because this letter gives us strength and direction for proclaiming the Gospel. Hear it again, but this time from The Message translation (Eugene Peterson):

He Is Your Life

^1-2 So if you're serious about living this new resurrection life with Christ, act like it. Pursue the things over which Christ presides. Don't shuffle along, eyes to the ground, absorbed with the things right in front of you. Look up, and be alert to what is going on around Christ—that's where the action is. See things from his perspective.

^3-4Your old life is dead. Your new life, which is your real life—even though invisible to spectators—is with Christ in God. He is your life. When Christ (your real life, remember) shows up again on this earth, you'll show up, too—the real you, the glorious you!
The writer reminds us, we have been raised with Christ. We are Easter People! If we’re really serious about it, we have the opportunity to live into the fullness of the “resurrection life”. Right here. Right now! So we can indeed proclaim the Good News by all that we say and do!
But do we have a deep, passionate sense of being Resurrection people? Are we truly alive and walking in the light of the Risen Christ? Or are we more like people who hang out in the tomb?
The Colossians writer says, to be the Resurrection People we already are, all we have to do is act like it. Just do it! Act like Easter People! Then he gives us some clues about how to do it. He tells us to pursue the things Jesus presided over. Maybe that means to love what Jesus loved, things like justice, love, peace. andacts of mercy and compassion to those who are poor and suffering.
Our life in the Risen Christ calls us to a new set of values and actions centered on God. These are acts of courage to protest death and darkness in our world and acts of self-giving for the victory of life and love. In Colossians we’re told to get out of ourselves, to look beyond “what’s next” in our lives and to join whatever is going on around Jesus! That’s where the action is.
So we’ve got to figure out what Jesus is up to in our world. Where is Jesus acting in our day? Where is the real action? It takes time to discern these things, but living in the Resurrection, we’re empowered to see things as Christ does. So we can discern God’s mission and join it! Colossians says as Resurrection people, we are transformed, set ablaze, and empowered to live lives that are real and glorious—Lives that embody the resurrection in all we say and do. We have a Gospel to proclaim! Right now, in this life! So let’s do it…

Alleluia. Christ is risen. (The Lord is risen indeed. Alleluia.) Amen.
(Part of the inspiration for this sermon came from Synthesis, Easter Day 2011.)

A sermon preached Maundy Thursday 2011

2011-04-21T21:04:00.002-04:00

by the Rev. Frances A. Hills, Rector of St. James, Vicar of St. George

at Christ Church Episcopal-Trinity Lutheran Church, Sheffield, MA

Foot Washing is in both the Book of Common Prayer and the Lutheran Book of Worship. In fact it’s the Lutheran’s beautiful service we are using this evening for our liturgy. So since it’s in our prayer books, we can conclude this action of foot washing is important to the Church. And yet, it’s not an official “sacrament”. Now that puzzles me because it is an outward and visible sign of an inward and spiritual grace, and besides that Jesus told us to “do it”!

But I suppose it’s just as well it’s not considered a sacrament…If foot washing were called a sacrament of the Church, then just think about all the various standing liturgical commissions that would have had to have endless debates: Where to do it. Who could do it. When to do it. Exactly why we do it. If the water should be warm or cool. If the towels should be white or red or gold. Which foot should be washed first! And then, of course, church architects would have to figure out some special kind of drain for all that the dirty water! So this gracious act happily flies slightly under the radar of all that scrutiny, and we are left to do it in whatever way the Spirit moves us.

Now we’ve all come here this evening after our various long days with the stresses of jobs, homes, school work, or even Spring Break leisure. The concerns of the world are probably heavy in our hearts. We’re frightened by the unending wars, natural disasters, and economic instabilities that seem to compound daily. And as we gather here tonight, we probably bring a variety of opinions about how these things might be helped or resolved. Some of these ideas we might discuss here, others we probably do not.

And we come here tonight with concerns in our hearts for our friends and families.

Some are in pain, sick, and/or dying. Some are in transition or on the verge of new possibilities. Some are perhaps estranged from us. Some in this church tonight share our joys and burdens with us as close companions. Others have no idea.

And there are all our more practical thoughts about what needs to be done between now and when Easter Dinner’s on the table…and who will be at that table.

And then there’s our thoughts and feelings about being here together tonight…Lutherans and Episcopalians from four congregations joyfully sharing this very holy Maundy Thursday. Some of us have a lovely church building. Others of us are homeless, by circumstance or choice or a complicated mixture of these. Some of us here tonight have shared an earlier history. Some of that was joyful.

Some of it—not so pretty.

So we’re here this evening with all this (and more) going on inside us. We’re not unlike those first disciples that night at the supper and foot washing. They gathered there after their various busy days. They lived in a world of political and religious chaos. Both the Romans and the Jewish authorities were breathing down their necks because their teacher, Jesus, was such a threat to the established order. They were afraid. They didn’t understand. They disagreed sometimes. At least some of them clung tightly to the idea that their friend Jesus was the Messiah. They believed he would set things right. For them that meant he would overthrow the Roman oppressors. After all, that’s what happened in the Moses story. When God delivered their ancestors out of bondage in Egypt, the Egyptians were overthrown. That’s how they expected God to act. So they thought Jesus would reign as an earthly king, who would forcefully overthrow the Romans. Then they would be in the new king’s “inner circle”. So this band of 12, who knew Jesus better than anyone, mostly just didn’t get it! There were power struggles among them. Personal agendas and concerns. Hopes. Fears. Worldly aspirations. Strong opinions about the way things should have been, are, and will be.

On the night before he suffered, Jesus tries again to show them what he was really about. and he chooses to do it in an ordinary way with both actions and words. He removes his robe, ties a towel around his waist, takes a basin of water, and begins to wash the feet of the 12. This is a task normally and routinely done by a household slave when a dusty guest arrives. So when their master and lord Jesus does it, it transforms an ordinary gesture of practical hospitality into a revolutionary act. It’s an act of humility and self-emptying, and it epitomizes the paradox of the Gospel. Jesus, their teacher, lord, and master turns their hierarchical expectations upside down. He shows them the way of his Kingdom is not one of worldly power, prestige and control. It’s not one with military might. Instead it’s a Kingdom built on lowliness and self-sacrifice. To follow his example is to create a community of equals in which all are served—Faithful and unfaithful alike.

Remember John’s Gospel is careful to let us see that Jesus even washes Judas’ feet, although he knew he would later betray him. But for that time and moment all were at the table together being physically shown what following Jesus would require.

What’s required is nothing short of total surrender: Letting go of our resentments about past hurts and disappointments. Putting things right and letting go of our guilt about past wrongs. Letting go of our plans and ideas about the way we think things should be. Letting go of our cherished hopes and dreams about what the future will be like. The 12—and we—are called to this kind of radical self-emptying. We are called to do this so we can follow Jesus’ New Commandment…To love one another.

If we’re full of our own self and our own hopes, fears, ambitions, and agendas, then we need to protect these things. We are easily threatened. So our responses to others will often be ones of defense, anger, blame and resentment. These are not responses of gracious, spacious welcome, where we have lots of room to offer hospitality and love to all God’s people, no matter who they are. For me the inward grace of the foot washing is that it makes us vulnerable to one another. We become able to admit we need to be cleansed. We need to be forgiven. We need to be served. We need to be emptied out so that God can fill us with God’s love. I think the only way we can put down our swords, hurts, and resentments is if we are able to accept that we are—each and every one of us—God’s beloved one. If we can appropriate our belovedness, then our belovedness becomes the most important fact of our lives. We don’t need to protect or defend anything. So no matter who disappoints us or hurts us or threatens us in any way, we always have at our core that belovedness, which is the one thing that’s eternally essential to us. Our belovedness is the one thing that we can’t afford to lose.

I think that’s what Jesus was trying to show his disciples when he washed their feet…They are beloved, and their mission in the world is to help everyone know they are beloved as well. If we can live in that place of belovedness, then we don’t need to use force. We don’t need to feel threatened. We don’t need to blame anyone. We don’t need to let anyone hurt our feelings, because we have the one thing that we really need…GOD’S LOVE; and we will do the one thing we really need to do…LOVE OTHERS. May we do these things this night and always in remembrance that Christ died for us. Amen.

(Inspiration for this sermon came in part from Synthesis Maundy Thursay 2011 and also from the ideas of Henri Nouwen.)

Episcopal Tourist, Palm Sunday with the Lutherans

2011-04-20T10:58:00.004-04:00

I am down in South Carolina near my birthplace Greenville staying with my old college roommate John and his wife Marise who arranged a recital and master classes for me here. I attended their church Joy Lutheran for Palm Sunday services.

Marise was singing in the choir so John and I arrived just as the service was beginning out on the front lawn. We were warmly greeted and given palms and bulletins. I was identified as a visitor and invited to fill out an information card.

We joined the liturgy in progress led by the “vicar” a young woman seminarian who read the Matthew Gospel. There was a donkey lead by a local farmer.

We processed into the church as the farmer took his donkey away to a waiting trailer. There was a musical prelude with instruments. As we came in the choir began singing “All Glory Laud and Honor”. Their version is slightly different in melody and rhythm and I needed to pay attention. We came to the front, left our palms by the altar and took our seats.

There was an anthem Hosanna Loud Hosanna played on the hand chimes, quite lovely.

After brief prayers Pastor Lane Bembenck welcomed us and made a number of announcements.

This is a church plant. The area was once farmland and is now rapidly becoming residential. In 1998, Pastor Lane went house to house and invited people to come to his new church. First they met in a home but soon outgrew it. They now have a fine new Sanctuary and church buildings. There were at least 125 present at this service. There are many activities and very active outreach including a shelter for homeless in the church.. Next month they will vote to refinance their mortgage.

The service continued with a reading by four people of the St Matthew Passion, after which we sang “Were you there”. There was no sermon though Marise tells me Pastor Lane is an excellent speaker.

The prayers of the people were read by the Pastor and were quite brief.. After the offering we celebrated Holy Communion. The only thing that made it really different for me was that intinction was the only option, no drinking from the cup. After the blessing we left the church in silence.

The silence was quickly broken as we lined up to greet the Pastor and Vicar. I was recognized as a visitor. The pastor said “you must be Episcopalian”. Somewhat taken aback I asked how he knew. He said “your cross. I was wearing my Jerusalem Cross that Lee brought me from the Holy Land.

John and I continued outside into the warm sunshine and spoke with several people. One couple came up to our car as we were leaving to say how much they had enjoyed my singing.

As we drove out of the driveway to the highway we passed a sign that said “You are entering the Mission field.”

SUNDAY OF THE PASSION; PALM SUNDAY

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April 17, 2011 by The Rev. Howard Seip

In 1610, Francis de Sales proclaimed the following in his first major book, “Be conscious of the love with which Jesus Christ, our Lord, suffered so much in this world. You were the object of this love. Remember, the heart of our Lord saw your heart, and loved you surely from the tree of the cross. By this love he obtained for you all the good things that you will ever have. His divine goodness has prepared in his love and mercy all the means for our salvation. This loving heart of God thought of us, loved us, and obtained for us a thousand means of salvation. How much then should we love, cherish, and make good use of all this for our benefit! Imprint this on your spirit.”

As we gather here for worship today, with all of the hustle and bustle and joyous celebration of Palm Sunday, and with all of the quiet and painful and somber reflection of the reading of Christ’s Passion, if we are thoughtful and wonder what the meaning of this day is for us with all of its contradictory thoughts and feelings, I think that we could do no better than to internalize what Francis de Sales is saying to us. For he is saying that this whole life and passion of Christ that we participate in is a picture to us of God’s loving care for us and God’s desire for our salvation and new life. And perhaps more than that, he says that it is a call to us to respond and reach out to God in love and wonder and to grow into new life because of that. In the cross God reaches out to us in love, and in seeing it, we reach back in our own love and are transformed by it.

I want us to spend a little time with Francis de Sales this morning because he was the focus of my reading and meditation during this Lenten season, and as I have suggested in my quote from him, I think that he can guide us to the meaning of our worship celebration today. But I also think that he can give us practical guidance in living our Christian lives right here and now. Because Francis was committed to preaching the truth that the spiritual life of seeking God is something that is the calling of every Christian person and the heart of our life in the church. He lived in a day, somewhat like our own, in which people thought that serious religious life was just for professionals like priests and nuns, and not for the ordinary person in the pew. But Francis saw that the life of faith with God was for everyone, and was something relevant to our real lives everyday in this world. It wasn’t just some heavenly vision or something just in a monastery.

That means that he is calling us to a life in the church that goes beyond what it ordinarily can be. There is a spiritual reality beyond the politics, the business meetings, the problems and personal conflicts, and the trivia that can so dominate and choke up our lives in the church. And he not only calls us to that spiritual life, he also clearly identifies what it is. For, he says, it is nothing beyond two simple, but terribly important things – an inner transformation of our hearts and spirits by a devotion that is nothing other than a sincere and true love of God. He is utterly convinced that we will never find the true fulfillment of our lives or their deepest meaning until we let go of the surface things of life and seek a true inner transformation of our hearts and spirits by seeking to love God with all of our hearts and minds.

And for Francis as a Christian leader and member of the church, that search for God and making God real in our lives focuses on the person of Jesus Christ whose life is at the heart of our worship today. In fact, de Sales had a very short motto that summarized his whole approach to the spiritual life. And that motto was “Live Jesus”. Live Jesus. He wanted to see us grow in our hearts of devotion until we get to the point where we are so close to Christ in our lives that we have a sense of him living in our hearts and spirits so that we could live a life of love as he did.

But how do you do that? After calling us to the spiritual life, and then giving us a sense of what it is and its meaning, he also gives us practical advice about just how then we go about beginning that process in our lives and cultivating and growing it. In the course of his major works, he has many suggestions that cover many hundreds of pages, but for him, the central thing is prayer. But not just prayer in the sense that we usually think of it as prayers for ourselves or for others like we have in the prayers of the people each week. He believes that we will really be able to enter into the spiritual life and begin to transform our hearts so that we can be close to God by meditation and contemplation. Meditation and contemplation.

Now those long, fancy words are just technical terms for two really quite simple notions. Francis wants us to come close to God by entering into the stories of Christ through our imagination and make them ours so that we can gradually identify ourselves with Christ and grow closer to him with devotion and affection. That is the process of meditation, and our stories of Christ’s entry into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday, or the story of his Passion with all of its profound elements are good examples of ones to use to do this. Contemplation on the other hand is a form of prayer that is simpler, less imaginative and connected with words, that is a prayer of simple being in God’s presence and attentiveness to God’s loving reality in silence and solitude that is done to awaken us to our closeness to God.

That still might seem like a hard thing for us busy people to do all by ourselves. So after encouraging us to pursue this spiritual life of devotion that would bring us to love God and to live close to Jesus, Francis declares that this is actually something that is really possible for us and can become a reality in our lives. It is no mere dream of fantasy. For he is convinced that God is alive and working in our lives through grace and love to make these things a possibility. And he uses a delightful and strikingly contemporary image to get his point across and help us to see that we are not alone in the world in our spiritual struggles but are accompanied by a divine presence that is active and gracious and loving.

For as we seek to pursue the spiritual life, de Sales says that God is like a woman who is expecting a baby. What does such a pregnant woman do? She lovingly prepares for the coming of this new life into her world. She selects a special place in her home for the new baby, she builds or procures a beautiful cradle as their new dwelling place, and collects soft and comfy sheets and blankets and pillows to make them happy and secure.

And Francis declares that this is just what God is like. For as he says, God is like that expectant mother, only God is pregnant with us. And desires your new life and fulfillment, salvation and spiritual riches. So like the woman in the story, God in grace and love provides all the spiritual dwelling places, cradles, blankets and pillows that we will need in our pilgrimage to travel the spiritual path and come to seek and love our God. And this connects us back with the quote that we read at the beginning of how in his life and in his passion on the cross, Christ shows God’s love for us, but also creates for us all of the spiritual conditions and blessings that will make salvation possible for us.

“My God”, Francis asks, “how deeply this truth should be fixed in our memory. Is it possible that I have been loved, and loved so tenderly, by my Savior?” And this reflection on Christ’s love for us brings us back to our celebration for today, because his vision of Christ’s love centers on his passion. In the conclusion of his last major writing, published in 1616, de Sales shares with us some profound words. May they guide our way through the meaning of this Palm and Passion Sunday, our way through Holy Week that is to come, and our vision of the spiritual life that we are called to embrace.

He says,“Our Lord’s passion and death form the sweetest, strongest motive capable of moving our hearts in this life. Calvary is the mountain of lovers. Love that does not spring from the Savior’s passion is perilous. In our Lord’s passion love and death blend so inextricably that no heart can contain one without the other.

One path alone our feet must tread

While this life lasts, and God holds sway;

Eternal love or death – the choice;

And God has left no middle way.

Eternal love – my soul demands it; my choice is made! Yes, come Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your faithful and kindle in them the fire of your love. Death to all other loves, to live for love of Jesus. Living in your eternal love, Savior of our souls, let this be our song forever:

All for Jesus! All for Jesus, my love, living and reigning forever and ever. Amen!”

A Sermon preached April 10, 2011, Lent 5 A 2011

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By The Rev. Frances A. Hills, Rector

Texts: Ezekiel 37:1-14, John 11:1-45

When Lent began this year, I talked about it as a “Come as you are party”. . . Come as you are to God…with all your flaws, insecurities, doubts, and fears. I talked about Lent as an opportunity for honesty and self-examination, a time to grow spiritually.

Well, here we are, starting the last week of Lent before Holy Week. How have you done in terms of growing spiritually? If you’re like me, perhaps you haven’t come as far as you’d hoped. But take heart. It’s not too late. Today Jesus calls us to a “coming out party”! He stands at the tomb of our hearts and says “Lazarus, Harry, Mary, Francie…Come out!” Quit hiding behind the deadly tomb of unresolved relationships, old grudges, insecurities, resentments, fears of failure, depression, anxiety grief, and isolation. Quit hiding, and COME OUT! Come into the light! Believe in the awesome power of a God who can give you new life! It’s the God who puts new flesh on dry bones and breathes the breath of life into them. It’s the God who raises Lazarus from the tomb, after he was dead for four days. It’s the God who gives hope to the depressed, when they fear they’re doomed to exile, desertion or isolation. It’s the God who eventually brings forth the reality of a brand new future.

Now, of course, if we allow ourselves to hope and allow our powerful God to call us forth from whatever keeps us from living fully, we might actually stink a bit… But probably not for long! Over time we’d be much fresher, more alive than ever before. But somehow human beings are reluctant to heed God’s call to “come out.”

We tend to withdraw from people, pain, effort, and from the risks of trying something new. We avoid things that might threaten our status-quo. But God persists, “Come Out!” Don’t miss your own growth. Your own becoming! Your own BEING! Don’t wish yourself and the world dead with negativity and hopelessness.

Jesus summons us to LIFE. HOPE. HUMOR. COMPASSION. LOVE. CREATIVITY. SOLIDARITY—Things that make the cynic recoil and that make God glad! We may try to resist, but ultimately, Jesus’ call is too strong, “Come out!” So we come forth from our timidity toward life, perhaps wrapped and bound, and smelly; but we do come out! And then there’s the next call, “Untie him/ Unbind her. Let them go free.” There’s no end to the ways God can set us free—as individuals, and as a church. And there’s no end to the trouble God will go to in order to set us free.

Today’s Gospel is a great example: On a previous trip, Jesus and the disciples were almost stoned in Judea, so they’d withdrawn to a safer place. But now, in spite of the disciples’ reluctance, Jesus puts himself and them in great danger. He returns to Judea in order to raise his beloved friend Lazarus.

In the process of our spiritual growth, we must sometimes go back to places we’d rather not…Places where we were not accepted or places where we’ve felt unsafe.

Sometimes we must revisit painful relationships, or topics that feel threatening, or a grief that won’t heal. And in our churches, there are also places we don’t like to revisit: Perhaps a difficult chapter in our history, or the fact of empty pews, or a shortage of money. Even if our instincts, like the disciples’, tell us to avoid these places, our God tells us to GO THERE:

These are the places we must revisit, if we want the healing and new life our powerful God can give us.

Jesus goes there willingly, to give us resurrection and life. He goes there to open the graves and to call us forth. Even if we’re not really sure we want our graves opened, our powerful God does it to break our isolations, and to bring forth healing and hope and all manner of New Life. Jesus goes there willingly, and invites us to join him…To be part of his saving ministry.

Some of you know that yesterday six church vestries in South County met for a Joint Retreat. Over the past few years, each of these churches has become paired with one of the others- Some formally, some only informally. Each pair is in a different place in their relationship. So yesterday we met:

· CCE-TLC, a conjoined parish;

· St. Paul and Good Shepherd,

Churches that are in the process of merging;

· And us— St. James and St. George,

Churches that are worshiping together, sharing a priest, and in conversation about how our relationship might continue to develop.

At the retreat, each pair of churches told its unique story of how they began to be in relationship. Sometimes the stories were funny. Sometimes they were sad, but they were always Holy. They all showed the most incredible work of God’s Spirit.

I think it caused all of us to revisit some painful things… About finances, buildings, dwindling numbers, and previously failed or dissolved relationships with each other. We had to go places that perhaps felt dangerous…

Obviously for congregations to be in or even entertain the idea of becoming something new together upsets the status quo. But for whatever reasons, God has called us back to Judea. And more than that, as I listened to the stories of all our congregations, I was in awe of the new life and hope that was gathered in that space. For the Episcopal-Lutheran Churches in South Berkshire County, God has called us out of our tombs of death and isolation! God has come to us and bid us be unbound...To come into the Light! Not just for our own sakes, but that we might roll away the stones for others, so that they may also live in the light! Amen.

Parts of this sermon are adapted from an article in Homily Service, March 2005, by Hilary Hayden, O.S.B.

A Sermon Preached Lent 2 A, March 20, 2011

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By the Rev. Frances A. Hills, Rector

Text: John 3:1-17, Romans 4:1-5, 13-17, Genesis 12:1-4a

Once upon a time there was a woman who taught special needs teenagers. She and they loved to do creative things. One spring, they decided to stage a production of “My Fair Lady.” The 16-yr-old girl she cast as the lead, Eliza Doolittle, was a person we might categorize as “confined to a wheel chair.” The girl loved the part. It was perfect for her! It didn’t occur to the teacher or the students that the audience was so conditioned to life’s “categories” and “boundaries,” what’s possible and impossible, that the audience would weep when the girl rolled herself across the stage, spinning and turning and joyfully belting out “I could have danced all night.”

No doubt there were many reasons for the tears. Maybe some had known her for years, since she’d entered the school just after the crippling accident. Or maybe others had known her even before the accident. Maybe they were joyful because of her strong spirit and progress. But, I’d venture to say, some had wet eyes because they’d been confined to their categories of what’s possible and impossible…people with impoverished imaginations. People, perhaps, not unlike Nicodemus, the Pharisee in today’s story from the Gospel of John.

Nicodemus was a leader of the Jews, but he, like many other leaders, was stuck in the externals of life. In the First Century, there was a Pharisaic Mindset that valued things like sitting at the head table, wearing long robes, being spoken to with respect in the marketplace, having the right answers at hand. These are things we hear a lot about from Jesus, especially in some of the other Gospels. It’s a tangible, concrete mindset, and it led Nicodemus to hear and interpret Jesus in a concrete way. No wonder what Jesus said to Nicodemus about being “Born from Above”

was understood by him to mean literally, physically, “Born Again”. He asks,

“Can (an old man) enter a second time into the mother’s womb and be born?”

I can imagine Jesus was pretty frustrated with this concrete thinking. He wanted Nicodemus to “get it”. Not to “come by night” and “stay in the dark”. Jesus wants Nicodemus, and us, to realize there’s an inner way of understanding. It’s a way that’s about God’s Kingdom. It’s a Way that breaks us out of the confines of our minds and physical categories. It’s a way that helps us let go of the need to think of things as physically impossible, and instead to be open to the incredible possibilities God offers us. . .

We see this in today’s other readings as well. Just imagine the God Paul describes

in the Letter to the Romans, “Who gives life to the dead and calls into existence the things that do not exist!” We’ve just got to let go of our categories of possibilities

to begin to open our minds to this amazing kind of God.

Like Abram did when God asked him to go forth from his father’s house, leave all he’d known, go to a place God would show him, and to be patient until God revealed the place. Then God would bless him, give him many children, and through him, all the families of the earth would be blessed…What a promise!

Now I’d say those of us from Sts. George and James know something about God’s call to “go forth”, leave all we’ve known, and enter a future God will reveal to us. It’s a future we cannot yet see. God calls us to trust in God’s promise to bless us, so we are a blessing to all God’s people.

Now, for whatever reason, when Abram received God’s call, he didn’t question

what was possible and impossible, he just embraced it. He was faithful to the incredible possibilities God was opening up for him. Abram’s faith enabled him to be open. I know there are times when we too are faithful and open to the possibilities God offers. In fact, our being here at Crissey Farm is a sign of that faithful openness!

But sometimes we’re more like Nicodemus, and we’re resistant to being open.

We may have a lot invested in living our lives with an external mindset…Valuing the concrete, outward things... things we live in the illusion that we control. Thinking of opening to a different, unknown dimension may give us a sense of

being out of control, like being in a free fall. Jesus basically affirms this…We are out of control!

He says being “Born from Above,” is being “Born by water and Spirit.” Then he talks about the Spirit as Wind. He explains, “The wind blows where it chooses, and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.” When we let go of the things that confine our minds and open to categories of what might be possible with God, we are out of control. The Wind indeed “Blows where it will”. That’s really what’s behind that great 12-step slogan, “Let go and Let God.” This must have really threatened Nicodemus. If we’re attached to our neat and tidy concrete categories, it threatens us as well.

Perhaps some in the “My Fair Lady” audience had tears in their eyes because that young lady playing Eliza had danced right up to their boundaries and challenged them to dream, think beyond what’s physically possible, and to let go of their neat and tidy worlds. This is where we are today at St. James and St. George. God has called us to GO FORTH, and like Abram, to be patient as God reveals to us where God wants us to go. It is at once inviting and frightening! But letting go and going forth is what it takes to get out of the dark and to come into the light of morning.

To glimpse the Kingdom of God we’ve got to be open to the way the Spirit moves, and we’ve got to accept we don’t control it. We’ve got to be humble enough to admit we can’t fully comprehend God’s Spirit. “You do not know where it comes from or where it goes.” But if we can do this, we might, just might, come into the light and actually glimpse God’s Kingdom right here on earth. After all, isn’t that what we’re praying for each time we say, “Thy Kingdom come. Thy will be done.

On earth as it is in heaven.”?

When we put aside our categories, our boundaries, our knowledge of what’s possible, and our need to control the future, we too can step out in faith and DANCE ALL NIGHT…until the morning comes. Amen.

Mardi Gras Ball

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A Sermon Preached March 13, 2011 Lent I A

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by the Rev. Frances A. Hills, Rector

Text: Matthew 4:1-11

When I was a fairly new priest in Ohio, a woman called the church office. She was considering attending one of the services, but she knew next to nothing about the Episcopal Church. She didn’t know what to expect, so I told her about the service. Then she wanted to know what to wear. It was a working-class congregation, and I told her people would be there in anything from work clothes to coats and ties. I said, “Don’t worry about it, just come as you are.”

I was talking about clothes, but I think “Come as you are” is a good way for us to think about Lent. In a sense, Lent, (This church season in which we prepare for Easter) is like a 40-day “Come-as-you-are-party”! Has anyone ever been to a “Come-as-you-are-party?” It’s something teenagers used to do. They were usually picked up at their house early in the morning, so they had to “come-as-they-were”. I remember going to one once as an adult. It was on a Saturday evening, and the invitation said, just come wearing whatever you have on at 6 o’clock. I went with dirty fingernails and my rubber shoes because I’d been working in the garden all afternoon. So in Lent we have a 40-day (+Sundays) opportunity to “Come-as-we-are” to God.

It’s a chance to put away our Mardi Gras masks and costumes and bear our souls to the One who made us and already knows us, just as we are. Now there’s a sense in which “coming as we are” goes against what the world teaches about always looking good and appearing successful, because if we really “come-as-we-are,” confessing our sins, our grief, our doubts and failures; if we’re honest about the things that tempt us; if we tell God about where we’re broken, unsure and afraid…If we do that, it’s counter-cultural! (And frankly, it can be really invigorating!) If we “Come-as-we-really-are” to God, we’ll be able to shed our super-person, multi-tasking, perhaps even robotic selves, and celebrate our true HUMANITY! After all, it is God who made us human in the first place…So, I’d say God intends for us to be human!

What better time than Lent to get back to the real, fleshy, fallible person God knows and loves? We might even discover we know and love that person as well! We might find we like living without the mask and armor of “Super Person.” So how do we “get real” so we can “Come-as-we-are”? Of course the classic routes of the Church are prayer, fasting, alms-giving, study, self-examination and penance. These may be ancient ways, but I highly recommend them to 21^st Century people.

What would it be like to set aside 15-minutes, half-an-hour, or even an hour each day to sit in silent prayer with your God? Or to take that time to read a passage of scripture and meditate on it. It just might help us get in touch with our own wonderful humanity and God’s awesome divinity. Or what would it be like to actually fast on Wednesdays and Fridays in Lent? I don’t mean not to eat at all but to reduce our intake somehow, and as our stomachs growl or we feel hungry, ask God, “What is it in my life I’m really hungry for?” We might be surprised at the answer.

Or what would it be like to give something extra—to help build a house for someone in need, to put food on a hungry person’s table, to contribute to the Heifer Project. In addition to giving something extra, what would it be like then to pray for the recipient of our gift, whether we know them or not? ‘Might be amazed at the gratitude we feel for the blessings of our lives and at the compassion we find we have for those in need.

What if we got out a spiritual book we’ve been meaning to read? If you’re like me you have a fairly large collection of these on your shelves! But what if we got out one of those books and set aside some time each day not only to read but also to reflect… perhaps even do some journaling? Our minds and hearts could be opened to new ways of understanding ourselves and our God. We might discover new ways of living our lives….as we really are.

And what if we did some real self-examination…Perhaps using as a guide the Great Commandment of Jesus…Love God. Love your neighbor. We could think about how we do that/or not in all the different areas of our lives. Or we could prayerfully go through the Ten Commandments (see Exodus 20 or the “Decalogue” in the Book of Common Prayer).We could go through these and think about how we do or don’t measure up. Last week I took a 24-hour time of real Sabbath from Sunday afternoon until Monday afternoon. I realized how I often tend to treat that “keeping the Sabbath” Commandment as optional! God knows we’re human beings and knows we must have those regular times of rest and refreshment. God knows I’m not Super Woman and you are not Super Man or Super Woman! Remembering the Sabbath is a Commandment, NOT an Option! Another way to do self examination is to think of the temptations of Jesus in today’s Gospel. What are ways we may be tempted to think and act like bread and other material things are all we need? What are ways we may test God or nature? (Do we take unnecessary risks?) What, besides God, might we “fall down and worship” by giving it a very high priority in our lives? What are the priorities in our lives? One way to answer this is to look at our checkbooks and our appointment calendars. Where we spend our money and time can show us our real priorities. If you do some self-examination, please know I am available to talk with you and to offer the sacrament of Reconciliation, if that would be helpful.

In Lent we have a 40-day opportunity to “Come-as-we-are” to God. We can be naked before God and not ashamed. Yes we can! We can do it! We can be this honest and truthful because of God’s Grace. So, in these 40 days, let’s just do it. Let’s be that honest about our lives. We don’t have to do it alone. We can gather here each week for strength and nourishment. Then after the 40 days of Lent, we can come to church on Easter morning more alive, more real, and more ready to greet our Savior as He is…Alive. Risen. Risen indeed! Amen.

A Sermon Preached March 6, 2011 Epiphany Last A – The Transfiguration

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by the Rev. Frances A. Hills, Rector

Matthew 17:1-9

I’m a little amused at what happens to Peter at one point in today’s story from Matthew. Peter, James and John are Jesus’ inner circle, and Jesus takes them up on a mountain top where they witness his astounding Transfiguration. His face shines. His clothes dazzle. Lawgiver Moses and the great Prophet Elias (also called “Elijah”) are there as well, talking with Jesus. In his usual, impetuous way, Peter observes, “It’s good to be here!”

But, instead of being content with “BEING there” and just trying to take it in, Peter wants to kick into action mode: “Let’s build three tabernacles for you guys,” as if he could forever capture this holy moment in a physical structure! Now what’s amusing to me is how while Peter is so enthusiastically talking about his building project, God sort of interrupts him, as if to say, “Peter, that’s so not what it’s all about”.

Then a bright cloud overshadows them all and a voice from the cloud, like the voice at Jesus’ baptism, says, “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” This voice is different from the Voice at the Baptism however because this voice also says, “Listen to him” (in the King James Version, “Hear ye him.”). With that, the disciples are not just awestricken, they’re AFRAID…Shakin’ in their boots…Fallin’ on their faces. Then Jesus so tenderly, so pastorally, touches them and says, “Arise and be not afraid” When they finally dare to look up, no one else is there—except Jesus. Just imagine what that must have been like for these good Jewish boys— Peter, James and John! Shining faces. Dazzling clothes. The appearance of two of the greatest men in their Hebrew history. A great enveloping cloud. The very voice of God…And then…just Jesus. The cloud was gone.

Could it be they were starting to see WHO JESUS REALLY IS, and that in recognizing Jesus’ divinity, they would have to re-order everything they’d come to believe? Could it be that this Jesus, their friend, teacher and companion, was God’s beloved Son. A Son who really did fulfill and supersede their sacred Law and Prophets? It would change everything. ‘Turn their world upside down. It would take some real getting used to.

Some of you know the language of “technical fix” and “adaptive challenge”. This is something I’ve worked with for years in the Clergy Leadership Project. “Technical Fix” is something you can change outside yourself. It’s like Peter’s building tabernacles to try to capture holiness. On the other hand “Adaptive Challenge” is something that changes inside yourself. It’s the kind of challenge Peter, James and John had as the reality of WHO JESUS WAS soaked in. They had to let go of the maps of the world as they’d known it because the maps no longer represented the reality of what they were experiencing on the ground.

This is an adaptive challenge. It requires a change from the inside out.I think it’s what happens to us as our faith grows and deepens, and we start to learn again

WHO JESUS IS. It causes us to realize the maps we’ve been using (perhaps from our very good childhood Sunday school classes) just don’t match what’s on the ground anymore. We, like the three disciples on the mountain, must learn again to really “listen to him”. And what he’s so desperate to have them (and us) hear, is that he, an innocent man, God’s very Son, must go to Jerusalem and die and on the third day be raised…Conquering darkness, violence and death, and giving us the opportunity for Light and Life and Love in unimaginable abundance!

To embrace this message deeply, to let it have its way with us, is an adaptive challenge, because it requires us to change from the inside out. By the grace of God and through the wisdom of the Church, we have the Season of Lent with Holy Week and Easter to help us along the Way. During this time, which starts this Wednesday, we have the opportunity to be changed from the inside out. We have the opportunity to learn and commit or recommit to a prayer practice—For the sake of just being in God’s presence. We have the opportunity to examine our lives, confess our sins, and make our amends. We have the opportunity to give alms or in some way reach out beyond ourselves. We have the opportunity to read and study holy scripture and other challenging books.

These practices enable us to become people full of Light. It’s not Light for our own sakes that we might try to store up or bottle or build a tabernacle for, but it’s Light that shines through us and spills out into our world that so desperately needs the Light, a word of Hope, a heart of Love, a spirit of Reconciliation, and a soul of Peace. This Light cannot be contained: It’s the Light of Christ! And if we give ourselves to be the vessels of this Light, we too will be transfigured, so that all can see WHO JESUS IS. Amen.