St. Francis of Assisi, Some Reflections

Saint Francis of Assisi lived from 1181 until 1226. He was born in Italy and founded the Order of Friars Minor (the Franciscan Order) for men, Poor Clares for women, and the Third Order of St. Francis for men and women not able to live the lives of itinerant preachers. These orders exist to this day and Lay Persons, married or single may be members of the Third Order. Francis was the son of a wealthy cloth merchant and grew up as a lover of music and pleasure and fine things.  His father was not thrilled by Francis’ spiritual conversation which happened while Francis was off at war in 1201 through 1203, during which time he spent a year as a prisoner of war. After his conversation he became disillusioned toward the world that surrounded him.

His disillusionment is demonstrated by the story told of a beggar who came and asked for alms while Francis was concluding a business deal on behalf of his father. When he concluded the deal he ran after the beggar and gave him everything he had in his pocket. His father was less than happy with this event. His father attempted to change his mind with threats and beatings. Francis finally renounced his father, publicly laying aside even the garments he was wearing.

Francis claims to have had a mystical vision of Jesus Christ in the country chapel of San Damiano, just outside of Assisi, in which the Icon of Christ Crucified said to him, “Francis, Francis, go and repair My house, which, as you can see is falling into ruins. “ He took this to mean the ruined church in which he was praying, and so he sold some cloth from his father’s store to assist the priest there for this purpose. Later, Francis decided that Christ also meant for him to repair “the church, the body of Christ in the World.”

It has been argued that no one else in History was as dedicated as Francis to imitate the life, and carry out the work of Christ. Francis had a love of the Eucharist and the Stations of the Cross, even though the latter brought him great sorrow. He and his followers celebrated and even venerated poverty, and he believed that nature itself was the mirror of God. In his “Canticle of the Sun” he mentioned Brother Sun, Sister Moon, the wind, water, and Sister Death. He considered himself no friend of Christ if he did not cherish those for whom Christ died.

Because of his love of Creation, he is known as the Patron Saint of animals and the environment. It is for this reason that many Roman Catholic and Episcopal Churches hold ceremonies blessing animals on the Sunday closest to his feast day of October 4. 

As we approach his feast day on Sunday, I leave you with one of Francis’ most profound writings, Canticle of the Sun

Most high, all powerful, all good Lord!
All praise is Yours, all glory, all honor, and all blessing.

To You, alone, Most High, do they belong.
No mortal lips are worthy to pronounce Your name.

Be praised, my Lord, through all Your creatures,
especially through my lord Brother Sun,
who brings the day; and You give light through him.
And he is beautiful and radiant in all his splendor!
Of You, Most High, he bears the likeness.

Be praised, my Lord, through Sister Moon and the stars;
in the heavens You have made them bright, precious and beautiful.

Be praised, my Lord, through Brothers Wind and Air,
and clouds and storms, and all the weather,
through which You give Your creatures sustenance.

Be praised, my Lord, through Sister Water;
she is very useful, and humble, and precious, and pure.

Be praised, my Lord, through Brother Fire,
through whom You brighten the night.
He is beautiful and cheerful, and powerful and strong.

Be praised, my Lord, through our sister Mother Earth,
who feeds us and rules us,
and produces various fruits with colored flowers and herbs.

Be praised, my Lord, through those who forgive for love of You;
through those who endure sickness and trial.

Happy those who endure in peace,
for by You, Most High, they will be crowned.

Be praised, my Lord, through our sister Bodily Death,
from whose embrace no living person can escape.
Woe to those who die in mortal sin!
Happy those she finds doing Your most holy will.
The second death can do no harm to them.

Praise and bless my Lord, and give thanks,
and serve Him with great humility.

Change, an Invitation to Life: The Rich and Poor Have One Thing In Common

Change, an Invitation to Life: The Rich and Poor Have One Thing In Common: “The rich and the poor have this in common: the LORD is the maker of them all.” (Proverbs 22:1-2) Yes, we all have one thing in common an...

The Rich and Poor Have One Thing In Common

“The rich and the poor have this in common: the LORD is the maker of them all.” (Proverbs 22:1-2) Yes, we all have one thing in common and that changes everything else. The rest of this passage gives us an idea how our common creation and common Creator affect (or should, or could, or can) how we live and how we see others.

"Whoever sows injustice will reap calamity, and the rod of anger will fail.Those who are generous are blessed, for they share their bread with the poor. Do not rob the poor because they are poor, or crush the afflicted at the gate;for the LORD pleads their cause and despoils of life those who despoil them." (Proverbs 22:8-9, 22-23)

If the Lord is the maker of us all, then all are affected by what happens to the other. The world is in the middle of a major refugee crisis, a major migration crisis. People from the Middle East are doing their best to get to Europe to escape violence, death and injury caused by terrorists and by evil governments alike.  In the West, people are coming from Central America and Mexico, running from the dangers of drug cartels, human trafficking and poverty. Some are coming legally and others illegally. 

As we look closer to home we also see those in our own country who live in rural areas or inner cities with poor school systems, few job possibilities, the resultant unemployment and often serious drug problems.  The problems can be huge and the solutions allusive. Often good people, ourselves included, frustrated by the difficult situations give up and settle for finding blame instead: “people are lazy, the just want a handout from the government, I worked for mine, they can work for theirs.” I understand the frustration, I understand the anger, though I also understand that there are those in our nation, including some of our politicians and some of our news media, who foment this anger.  I also live in Alabama, less than eighty miles from Wilcox County which is one of the poorest counties in the United States, with over 16% unemployment, so I have some sense of the challenges some people face in overcoming poverty.

What are we to do? Remember most of us are good people; most of us really do care and do want to do what is right. As Christians we are called to welcome the stranger. To care for the hungry, the homeless, the orphan and the widows. 

I don’t have an answer to that question. Well, actually I do. I have an answer, but not a solution. If the Lord is indeed the maker of all of us, then any injustice or bias we demonstrate toward the poor because they are poor is unacceptable. We must also think get the facts and consider them seriously before blaming the poor for the economic problems of our society, or blaming them for being poor and unemployed and hungry.  This demands that we give the best that we have. Any solution demands serious thought, prayer and study on our part, as well as cooperation with other people of good will.

As I struggle with these questions, I reflect on Roman Catholic Archbishop of El Salvador, Oscar Romero, who said before he was assassinated while celebrating Holy Communion, “when I feed the poor, people called me a saint. When I asked why so many people were poor, they called me a communist.”

As human beings, we truly are tribal creatures. We care first for our families, and then for those who look and act and think as we do.  This is good and important, but at times we are blinded to the biblical reminder that the “Lord is Maker of us all.” It is important to remember that Jesus, himself, was also limited by his human vision to a narrower understanding of the scope of his life and ministry.

It took the Syrophoenician woman, whose story we read in Mark 7:24-37, to teach Jesus that all of God’s people are connected.  When she approached Jesus and asked him to heal her daughter of demon possession, he told her that “it is not fair to take the children’s food and give it to the dogs,” pointing out to her that she, as a Gentile, was not worthy of the blessings God had sent him to bring to the Jews.  As she pointed out to Jesus that “even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from the children’s table,” I can almost see the “scales” fall from Jesus’ eyes. Later, as recorded in the Gospel of John, Jesus, in talking with the Samaritan woman at the well, a person a Jewish male should never interact with, shared with her that the “day is coming, and now is, when true worshipers will worship God in Spirit and in Truth.”

Yes, rich and poor, Jew and Gentile, male and female, immigrant and native, Muslim or Christian, all are reminded, that “the Lord is the maker of us all.”

Do We As Christians Really Show Favoritism?

Some Reflections on My Favorite/Least Favorite Book of the Bible: James 2:1-17

Do we as Christians really show favoritism? Do we really prefer wealthy new members in our congregations? 

As the pastor of a wonderful Episcopal Church that has a desire to grow and to bring more people into a living relationship with God through Jesus Christ, I hope that the answer to these questions is a resounding NO. I do, however, believe that James, the brother of Jesus, in his letter to the Churches of his time asks some very, very important questions.

James is concerned about what we do as well as what we say. He seems to believe that our faith has as much, perhaps more, to do with how we act than with what we believe. Today he might even say, “sure, you talk the talk, but do you walk the walk?” He even borders on Heresy when he says, “So faith by itself, if it has no works is dead.”

In our prayers in the Episcopal Church we acknowledge that God’s people come in all shapes and sizes, stages of belief and unbelief, from every race and nation. We pray for “all sorts and conditions of people.” It can, however” be difficult to communicate with people whose backgrounds and life experiences are so very different from ours.

Years ago, in the mid 1990’s in New Orleans, the Episcopal Churches in the metropolitan area formed a feeding ministry for transients, the “semi-homeless,” and the homeless. We filled in the one day a week not covered by other churches or organizations. One of our commitments was to eat with “our guests” as well as to serve them. This was sometimes a challenge because our current life situations were so different: after lunch most of the servers were going back to work or back home. We were going to pick up our children from school and coach their soccer teams; we would eventually go home to a warm house and a good meal and other evening activities.  Most of the people we served would go back out to the parks or the library or a fast food restaurant, any place to stay warm and dry and to pass the time away.

Yes, it is easier to welcome people into our assemblies whose backgrounds are similar to ours. But James is not talking about assemblies only. He is talking about welcoming people into the kingdom of God, of which our assembly is a part, an outpost, perhaps even a “Missionary Outpost.”  From yesterday’s reflections on Proverbs 22:1-2, I am reminded that “The rich and the poor have this (one very important thing) in common: the LORD is the maker of them all.”

With this in common, all differences can be overcome, but respected. In fact, we can learn from one another and our various life experiences, our successes and failures, our words and actions. Our faith will be stronger and as James tells us, “we will really fulfill the royal law according to the scripture, "You shall love your neighbor as yourself."

Change, an Invitation to Life: The rich and the poor have this in common: the LOR...

Change, an Invitation to Life: The rich and the poor have this in common: the LOR...: Some Reflections on Proverbs 22:1-2, 8-9, 22-23 A good name is to be chosen rather than great riches, and favor is better than silver o...

The rich and the poor have this in common: the LORD is the maker of them all.

Some Reflections on Proverbs 22:1-2, 8-9, 22-23

A good name is to be chosen rather than great riches, and favor is better than silver or gold.
The rich and the poor have this in common: the LORD is the maker of them all.
Whoever sows injustice will reap calamity, and the rod of anger will fail.
Those who are generous are blessed, for they share their bread with the poor.

Do not rob the poor because they are poor, or crush the afflicted at the gate;
for the LORD pleads their cause and despoils of life those who despoil them.

The first of three scripture readings for Sunday, September 6, all of which deal with not only how we treat other people, also who we see other people and distinguish them one from another.  This is one of those Sunday’s that is truly a “preacher’s nightmare.” How do, we preach the Gospel, the God News, of God about our responsibility to the poor and God’s judgment of us when we fail to do so, without, in the United States of seeming to preach one political party over another?

First, the preacher has to determine, as Jim Wallis of Sojourners Magazine states, “that God is not a Republican or a Democrat.  Next, having done our best to understand this, then we all, not just preachers, look at the second sentence of the above proverb:

            The Rich and the poor have this in common: the Lord is the maker of them all.”

If the Lord indeed is the maker of all of us, then any injustice or bias we demonstrate toward the poor, because they are poor, any blaming of the poor for the economic problems of our society (yes, I know, politics again) or blaming them for being poor and hungry and unemployed demands more thought, prayer and study on our part.  I do remember that Roman Catholic Archbishop of El Salvador, Oscar Romero stated just before his assassination, that “when he fed the poor, people called him a Saint, and that when he asked why there were so many poor, people called him a communist.”

Our Lectionary Readings this week, beginning with this one from proverbs and including James 2:1-10, [11-13], 14-17 and Mark 7:24-37 will challenge both our understanding of politics and religion.  I will continue to share my thoughts with you and welcome your comments as I struggle with God’s call to us as creatures both rich and poor “who have all been made by the same Lord.”

 

Whatever does Jesus Mean, ‘Eat my flesh?’

Jesus said, "I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats of this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh. . . .Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood abide in me, and I in them. Just as the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so whoever eats me will live because of me.” (John 6:51-58)

What are we hearing in the Gospel of John, whatever was Jesus trying to communicate with these words?  Many of us in liturgical churches believe that this is a reference to the importance of the Eucharist in our lives and worship and the joining together with Christ and one another.  I certainly believe this is true but somehow I feel that Jesus was communicating more than just this.  Thanks to my friend, the Rev. Evan Garner, Rector of St. John’s Episcopal Church in Decatur for providing “food for thought.”

So, what does it mean to eat food?  According to Evan Garner, “food is substantive, it nourishes us, it delights us, and it unites us every single day.  If this is what normal food, normal bread, does then perhaps Jesus is suggesting that eating him (figuratively or metaphorically of course) has the same effect.  That “eating Jesus” sustains us, nourishes us, delights us and unites us every single day.

If this is the case, then the sustenance, nourishment, delight and unity that comes to us from this “eating” will give us the strength and energy to proclaim the kingdom of God which Jesus proclaimed and share this nourishment with those around us just as Jesus shared that same nourishment with us.  Two examples might help put flesh on these bones.

Last Saturday, August 15 was the 50^th anniversary celebration of Jonathan Daniels and the Martyrs of Alabama.  Jonathan Daniels, a 26 year old, white Episcopal Seminarian, was gunned down in Hayneville, Alabama after having been arrested for helping African Americans register to vote.  After a week in jail, Daniels, Roman Catholic Priest Richard Morrisroe and two black teenagers, Ruby Sales and Joyce Bailey, were released. As they entered Varners Cash Store for a soft drink, a shotgun wielding volunteer deputy sheriff shot at them, killing Daniels as he stepped in front of Ruby Sales, saving her life.

The Pilgrimage began on Friday evening with a talk at St. John’s Episcopal Church in Montgomery by Morris Dees, Jr, of the Southern Poverty Law Center.The Southern Poverty Law Center works for the day when the ideals of equal justice and equal opportunity are a reality.  On Saturday morning, young Episcopalians and young people from Lowndes County gathered for breakfast with the Rt. Rev. Michael Curry, Presiding Bishop Elect of the Episcopal Church.

                                                    

In memory of all of those who worked for justice, freedom and peace in the Civil Rights struggle, especially Daniels and the others who lost their lives, the participants walked from the square to the jail to the site of Varner’s Cash Store, where a historical marker was dedicated.  The procession then filed to the Lowndes County Court Room where Daniels’ Killer was tried and acquitted by an all white jury of men. A role of Civil Rights Martyrs was read. Holy Communion was celebrated from the Judges Bench turned Altar.

A few days before the Pilgrimage, the Board of the Episcopal Church Women of Alabama worshiped at Christ Church in Fairfield. Fairfield is an old steel mill town which has fallen on hard times since the closing down of the steel industry in the United States. (The following week, U.S. Steel announced the closing of the last mill in the area.) The purpose of the visit was to present a check from the National Episcopal Church Women for the building of a commercial grade kitchen in the old church building.  The importance of this kitchen to this Community is invaluable. During July and August  the women of Christ Church fed all reduced lunch school children five days a week Their goal for the new kitchen is to be able to feed all the community once a month, and open a food pantry. Currently they are feeding their parish members once a month.

The congregation is made up of “all sorts and conditions of people,” old and young, black and white, and mostly poor.  When the Presentation of a check for $36,400 dollars was made to pay for the new kitchen, you could have heard a pin drop in the otherwise lively worship service.  And then, all received Holy Communion, sustained, nourished, delighted and united by God so that they might sustain, nourish, delight an unite others.

As Jesus said, “my flesh is food indeed and my blood is drink indeed.  Yes, Holy Eucharist, but much, much more.  We, Gods people, like Jesus, have become food so that we might sustain, nourish, delight and unite God’s people every single day.