Life, Marriage, Death, Baptism, Life

This past weekend, my wife, Lynn, and I went back to the city we consider our second hometown: New Orleans: The Big Easy, The Crescent City. A city whose motto in French is “Lalissez Le Bon Temps Rouler.” “Let The Good Times Roll. New Orleans is a city that prides itself in living life to the fullest and in every moment. This includes all of life, from birth to death and beyond, from Mardi Gras to Lent to Easter and beyond. 

Our reason for the trip included all the above! Thirty years ago, I met a couple in my first week as pastor/rector of St. George’s Episcopal Church. He was fifty-nine and she was thirty-nine. They met in the parking lot of their apartment building and wanted to be married on St. Andrew’s Day, November 30, because the bride’s maiden name was McKenzie. The bride knew she would likely be a widow for a long time. As it turns out, she died this past December leaving her almost ninety-year-old husband widowed. Friends of Nancy’s from all aspects of her life: broadcasting, Caledonian Society, University Education, and St. George’s Church, planned and organized a Memorial Service and Time of Remembrance for her and asked me to participate. What an honor and a pleasure. We prayed, we read scripture and told stories, ate her favorite Petit Fours, and drank her favorite wine. Truly in life there is death and in death life as seen in the following scripture which was read at her memorial.

 

“On this mountain the Lord of hosts will make for all peoples a feast of rich food, a feast of well-matured wines, of rich food filled with marrow, of well-matured wines strained clear. And he will destroy on this mountain the shroud that is cast over all peoples, the sheet that is spread over all nations; he will swallow up death for ever. Then the Lord God will wipe away the tears from all faces, and the disgrace of his people he will take away from all the earth, for the Lord has spoken. It will be said on that day, this is our God; we have waited for him, so that he might save us. This is the Lord for whom we have waited; let us be glad and rejoice in his salvation.” (Isaiah 25:6-9) Rest in Peace my friend.

On the next day, Sunday, as we visited St. George’s where I had been rector for twelve years, we received even more confirmation of God’s presence throughout our earthly lives and beyond. Eliza, nineteen-month-old daughter of a young family was to be baptized and receive the sacrament of new life. Baptism, whether of an adult or child is always a joyful event, a time for all of us to renew our own Baptismal Covenant, and Eliza’s baptism was no different: until it became different, and even better! As we left the church building, we were met by a Jazz Band and led in a “Second Line” around the block on which the church is located.

A word of explanation for those not familiar with the “Second Line” and its importance in the life of New Orleans. The “First Line” is the slow, solemn, and mournful jazz procession to the cemetery. The “Second Line” is the joyful, life affirming procession away from the grave with dancing and waving of handkerchiefs and umbrellas celebrating life and resurrection. In New Orleans the Second Line has come to be a celebration of life on almost every occasion. What better way to celebrate Eliza’s new birth into the death of Christ so that she will be raised with him in his resurrection.

 

 

 

 

 

How do we Pray, Why do we Pray, What difference does our prayer make?

 

(Based on Luke 11:1-13)

 

Jesus was praying in a certain place, and after he had finished, one of his disciples said to him, "Lord, teach us to pray, as John taught his disciples."

I assume since some of disciples had been John’s disciples that they knew about John’s teachings on prayer. In the first chapter of the Gospel of John, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, and another of John’s disciples saw Jesus and asked John who he was. John answered, “the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.” Andrew and the other disciple responded, “see you John,” and ran after Jesus.

How then did Jesus teach his disciples to pray: Jesus said to them, "When you pray, say:

Father, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come. Give us each day our daily bread. And forgive us our sins, for we ourselves forgive everyone indebted to us. And do not bring us to the time of trial.” That’s it: short, sweet and to the point. 

WHY do we pray: we pray to know God’s Purpose in the world, and God’s purpose for us. We pray to know how God meets our needs and protects us, and to know how God can use us to meet the needs of others.             

Let’s elaborate on the why by looking at what Jesus taught them: First you may notice that Matthew’s version (6:9-13) is longer and seems to have been adapted to liturgical worship, while Luke’s version, as mentioned earlier, ‘cuts to the chase.’ For this reason, I want to look at the prayer and learn from it through Luke’s eyes, weaving the how and the why together.

Father, hallowed be your name: the introduction, the reminder that God is Holy; Your kingdom come: God’s Kingdom is Inclusive: Heaven and Earth, “Red & Yellow, Black & White we are precious in his sight.” And as St. Paul, reminds us, “Jew, and Greek, male and female, slave and free.” And I would add, “any other division we humans have come up with in our time on this earth. We truly are praying to help God bring God’s kingdom on Earth as it is in Heaven.

Jesus continues, give us each day our daily bread. This is a two-fold meaning: a reminder that God desires for us to be nourished for today, and that we have a place reserved for us at the Heavenly banquet.

Next, we have a somewhat, to me, confusing phrase: “forgive us our sins, for we ourselves forgive everyone indebted to us. I do not believe that our forgiveness of others earns God’s forgiveness, but I do believe it inspires us to forgive others and is likely a condition of our continuing forgiveness by God, and our part in bringing about God’s Kingdom on Earth.

Finally: do not bring us to the time of trial: God does not bring us to trials and temptations, but they exist, and we ask God to protect us, now and in the life to come                                                                                                      

Perhaps the most important of our three questions is: What difference does it make? Does prayer protect us from all of life’s problems: cancer, auto accidents, divorce, job loss, or natural disasters? We know it doesn’t, so why pray, what difference does Prayer really make?

For answers, we again turn to Jesus. Prayer in the bible is not only a mystical experience, but also one of the ways we work with God to bring about God’s Kingdom on Earth as in Heaven. God’s purpose for us is health, wholeness, and peace. Life on this planet sometimes prevents this. Jesus’ prayer we just looked out reminds us that we are joined with God and one another through Holy Spirit. Through this prayer relationship we become co-creators and co-caregivers and co-peacemakers with God.

Good News, Bad News, Good News 

Some reflections on how to survive as a Church, Nation and World

The Good News about the Episcopal Church is that there’s room for everybody. The bad news about the Episcopal Church is that there’s room for everybody. The Good News of Gospel is that it can teach us how 2 live with everybody, even if our faith leads us to see the world differently from one another. In the Gospel of Luke 10:1-11, 16-20, we see Jesus send out the seventy disciples two by two throughout the land to invite people into a relationship with God and with one another. He sends them out with these instructions: “the harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few, so pray that the Lord will send more laborers into the harvest.” Then Jesus admonishes them be those laborers, to “travel light”: “Carry no purse, no bag, no sandals; and greet no one on the road.

“Whenever you enter a town and its people welcome you, eat what is set before you; cure the sick who are there, and say to them, ‘The kingdom of God has come near to you.' Yet know this: the kingdom of God has come near. But whenever you enter a town and they do not welcome you, go out into its streets and say, Even the dust of your town that clings to our feet, we wipe off in protest against you. Yet know this: the kingdom of God has come near.'” So, whether the people welcomed the disciples or not, the Kingdom of God had come near to them.

The following prayer from the Episcopal Book of Common Prayer sums up in this Gospel in one small Paragraph. “O God, you have taught us to keep all your commandments by loving you and our neighbor: Grant us the grace of your Holy Spirit, that we may be devoted to you with our whole heart, and united to one another with pure affection. Amen.” 

How can we live out the Gospel and this prayer in a church where there is room for everybody? How do we, the Body of Christ, proclaim this good news in a country where there is so much division, even among those of us who follow Jesus? Answer: refer to the above prayer! 

I want to refer to politics, but this is not a political statement. This a statement about faith, about how the good news of the Gospel of Christ can shape our politics and our relationships. As we look at political actions and relationships, we first remember the words of Jesus that “the Kingdom of God has come very near you. 

Having said that, I want to reflect on our responses to the many decisions handed down by the Supreme Court this past week. Decisions affecting abortions, gun rights, carbon emissions, and immigration. The reactions by the citizens of our country and the members of our religious communities have been quick and emotional and diverse. Many people have been thrilled and excited and joyful. Others have been disappointed, angry, hurt and heart broken. Many of the people on all sides of these important issues are people of faith, who have made their decisions based on their faith and their life experiences, just as you and I have come to our decisions based on our own faith and life experiences. Many on all sides are members of your faith community. 

This piece is not about who is right and who is wrong about any of these decisions, even though I have my opinions about that just as you do and will work faithfully towards those ends. No, this piece is about how we as people of faith relate to God and to one another. So, I do not leave you with answers to difficult questions at this point, I leave with a prayer that I hope and pray will lead us into right relationship with God and one another in a church, a country and in a world where “there is room for everybody.”

“O God, you have taught us to keep all your commandments by loving you and our neighbor: Grant us the grace of your Holy Spirit, that we may be devoted to you with our whole heart, and united to one another with pure affection. Amen.”