Creation, Creatures, Creator

 All creatures of our God and King

Lift up your voice and with us sing,

Alleluia! Alleluia!

Thou burning sun with golden beam,

Thou silver moon with softer gleam!

O praise Him! O praise Him!

Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia! 

The above hymn verse is based on the first stanza of a poem, Canticle of the Sun, written by St. Francis of Assisi who died in 1226 at the age of 45. Francis is best known as Patron Saint of animals. His feast day is celebrated on October 3 every year, often with the blessing of animals and pets. This entire poem, all of which I will use to close this column demonstrates that he was certainly all of this and more. 

Francis was born in Assisi in Italy, the son of a wealthy cloth merchant, whose father desired that Francis follow in his footsteps. Francis had other ideas. He joined the army to fight against Perugia and was captured in battle and held in prison for ransom by his wealthy father. While in prison, he had a vision that God was calling him to build his church and to work among the poor and needy, helping them to live a better life, both spiritually and physically. He left his father’s business and founded the Franciscan Order of Friars who vowed to live in poverty to share what worldly goods they had or earned with the poor. 

Francis preached to the common people, inviting them to live as Christ lived and serve there fellow human beings. It is also said that he preached to “brother and sister birds,” and other animals, recognizing the interconnection of all creation. In 1979 Pope John Paul II proclaimed him patron saint of ecology because of his understanding of the intersection of all life and all of God’s creation. Francis is also considered the Patron of animals, merchants, and against dying alone. 

In recognition of God’s call on St. Francis, and to us to care for our brothers and sisters and all of creation, and as a form of meditation and prayer, I leave you with “Canticle of Brother Sun and Sister Moon” by St. Francis of Assisi

Most High, all-powerful, all-good Lord, all praise is Yours, all glory, all honor and all blessings. To you alone, Most High, do they belong, and no mortal lips are worthy to pronounce Your Name. Praised be You my Lord with all Your creatures, especially Sir Brother Sun, who is the day through whom You give us light. And he is beautiful and radiant with great splendor, Of You Most High, he bears the likeness. Praised be You, my Lord, through Sister Moon and the stars, In the heavens you have made them bright, precious, and fair. Praised be You, my Lord, through Brothers Wind and Air, and fair and stormy, all weather's moods, by which You cherish all that You have made. Praised be You my Lord through Sister Water, So useful, humble, precious and pure. Praised be You my Lord through Brother Fire, through whom You light the night and he is beautiful and playful and robust and strong. 

Praised be You my Lord through our Sister, Mother Earth who sustains and governs us, producing varied fruits with colored flowers and herbs. Praise be You my Lord through those who grant pardon for love of You and bear sickness and trial. Blessed are those who endure in peace, By You Most High, they will be crowned. Praised be You, my Lord through Sister Death, from whom no-one living can escape. . . Blessed are they She finds doing Your Will. No second death can do them harm. Praise and bless my Lord and give Him thanks, And serve Him with great humility. Amen 

May God bless us with the joy God gave to St. Francis.

Faith, if it has no works, is Dead.

My Mother’s least favorite book of the Bible is the Letter of James. She said he had quit preaching and started meddling. He implies that it is wrong to talk about other people (gossip), that it could damage their reputations. “That the tongue, like the rudder of a ship is small but can turn the ship completely around. A rudder can turn a ship in a positive direction, or if used incorrectly, it can run the ship upon a rock, causing tremendous damage and perhaps the lose of life. James’ says, the tongue can do the same: it can be used for good, or it can cause irreparable damage and even death. 

Reading today’s scripture from James Chapter two, I can see how some churches may feel the same about him as did my mother: “For if a person with gold rings and in fine clothes comes into your assembly, and if a poor person in dirty clothes also comes in, and if you take notice of the one wearing the fine clothes and say, ‘Have a seat here, please,’ while to the one who is poor you say, ‘Stand there,’ or, ‘Sit at my feet,’ have you not made distinctions among yourselves, and become judges with evil thoughts? My brothers and sisters, do you with your acts of favoritism really believe in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ?” 

I am thankful that Christ Church, Albertville, has always welcomed all who want to come and worship God and love their neighbor as they love themselves. I believe we are truly a church that not only sings “Jesus loves the little children, all the children of the world: red and yellow, black and white,” and I would add, rich and poor and everyone in between. When I look around Christ Church I see not “God’s frozen chosen” as we are sometimes called, but God’s sons and daughters of all shapes and sizes and races and incomes and beliefs and political persuasions, gathered together to worship God and to serve one another and the world around us. 

James continues, “God has chosen the poor in the world to be rich in faith and to be heirs of the kingdom that he has promised to those who love him.” I do not believe that God has chosen only the poor, but all of us who love God, or struggle to love God, and that James is reminding us that we all have something to learn from each other as well as a responsibility to one another. He is reminding us that we are to work for justice and peace for all people, rich or poor,  and as God’s people to fight oppression wherever we find it. 

James is reminding us that Christianity is not a Jesus and me, everyone person for him or herself kind of religion, but a community joined together by Christ, called to “love your neighbor as yourself.” Then to make sure we understand, he writes: 

“What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if you say you have faith but do not have works? Can faith save you? If a brother or sister is naked and lacks daily food, and one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and eat your fill,” and yet you do not supply their bodily needs, what is the good of that? So, faith by itself, if it has no works, is dead.” 

I have been so excited to see that Christ Church has added “a little food bank” to its caring and justice ministry: the Beans and Rice Ministry, and the Little Free Library. 

Everything James tells us looks good on paper and I know no churches who in theory would disagree. The challenge comes when we face the “person with fine clothes and rings and the other with rags, “live and joining us for worship. I share one such experience with its challenges, failures, and blessings, and invite you to reflect on your own experiences. 

For twelve years, I was the Pastor of St. George’s Episcopal Church in the middle of New Orleans, Louisiana, a city with a tremendous diversity of people. The church is on St. Charles Avenue, a boulevard with mansions under the trees as for as one can see. Four blocks away we enter neighborhoods with much smaller homes and in some cases very poor families inhabiting them. The church is also just a streetcar ride from the French Quarter and therefore easily reached by street people, beggars, and those who dance in bars and sometimes moonlight as prostitutes. 

For several years we had a wonderful midweek book study held in the homes of various members who lived near the church. The studies were open to all, usually involved a light lunch, and were an important and enjoyable part of our life together. And then they were not. Two of our French Quarter members, a man who sold books on the street and his friend, a bar dancer and sometimes prostitute showed up for the study at the home of one of our wonderful uptown ladies. And she truly was a wonderful person. The two “new” people were also wonderful, if somewhat dirty and smelly and, to say the least, different from most of the people in attendance. This woman, came to me and said that she did not want these two people in her home. I understood, so we moved the book study to church, which I believed would be an acceptable solution for all. As in so many situations in which theory and even scripture become practice, the simple solution was not as simple as we believed it would be 

The woman quit the church, she truly wanted to host the Book Study in her home, but with restrictions. She later returned, remained a friend, thanks be to God (my wife and I have several of her paintings in our home) but it was touchy and ugly for a while. This is what happens when we commit to live a Gospel without favoritism: it is not easy, but worth it. It is what I believe Jesus would do. 

Do Justice, Love Mercy, Walk Humbly with your God

 

“Take your Bible and take your newspaper and read both. But interpret newspapers from your Bible”

“Take your Bible and take your newspaper and read both. But interpret newspapers from your Bible”

 Every Good Gift is From God; How we use them is up to us 

Theologian, Karl Barth is quoted as saying, “Take your Bible and take your newspaper, and read both. But interpret newspapers from your Bible. (Time Magazine, 1961) Today we might add, “and take your hand-held device, your television, your online news services and even social media and watch and read them. But interpret them from your Bible." 

As I look at and read, in one form or another, the news of this past week relating to Afghanistan, especially the accounts of the bombings at the Kabul airport and those killed and wounded there, I want to first read part of the Bible and then look at the news through the lens of Holy Scripture. 

I begin with Psalm 15, looking at an important question asked by the people of Israel between 1000 and 500 years before the birth of Jesus: “who are your people? How do I become one and live in your presence?” The question and response follow.

 “Lord, who may dwell in your tabernacle? who may abide upon your holy hill?

Whoever leads a blameless life and does what is right, who speaks the truth from his

heart. There is no guile upon his tongue; he does no evil to his friend; he does not

heap contempt upon his neighbor. In his sight the wicked is rejected, but he honors

those who fear the Lord. He has sworn to do no wrong and does not take back his

word. He does not give his money in hope of gain, nor does he take a bribe against

the innocent. Whoever does these things shall never be overthrown. “ (Psalm 15:1-7) 

The Psalmist gives answers that are just as important and valid for us today as they were 3000 years ago: those who abide in my presence are the ones who are truthful, who do not use their words to destroy the lives and reputation of other people, who do no evil to friend or neighbor or stranger. Those who love their neighbor because they have promised God to do so are included in that number, and those who do not base their decisions on “quid pro quo,” or sellout or destroy the innocent, ordinary people. This covers a lot of ground as will the next passage from James, the brother of Jesus, I want to read together before we look at the news from yesterday through these very important lenses. 

James writes, “Every generous act of giving, with every perfect gift, is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change. In fulfillment of his own purpose he gave us birth by the word of truth, so that we would become a kind of first fruits of his creatures.

You must understand this, my beloved: let everyone be quick to listen, slow to speak, slow to anger; for your anger does not produce God's righteousness. Therefore rid yourselves of all sordidness and rank growth of wickedness, and welcome with meekness the implanted word that has the power to save your souls.

But be doers of the word, and not merely hearers who deceive themselves. For if any are hearers of the word and not doers, they are like those who look at themselves in a mirror; for they look at themselves and, on going away, immediately forget what they were like. But those who look into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and persevere, being not hearers who forget but doers who act-they will be blessed in their doing. 

If any think they are religious, and do not bridle their tongues but deceive their hearts, their religion is worthless. Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to care for orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world.” (James 1:17-27) 

Now we look through the Bible at the news of bombings and killings and woundings, and just as important, we must look at our reactions toward this news and how we speak (myself included) to and about each other and the leaders of our nation and former leaders of our nation.

The news these past two weeks out of Afghanistan has has been truly horrible and frightening. The take over of the government by the Taliban, the airlifting of over 100,000 American citizens and the effort to bring home the rest of the Americans who want to return as well as many of the Afghan people who worked with and aided the United States over the past twenty years. 

Ending a war is never easy, emotions are high and climb higher as many of us express differing opinions as to what should have been done, or could have been done differently, or done differently by a different person or administration. Many of these questions can never be answered nor can the statements be proven. It is not unlike former New Orleans Saints football coach, Jim Mora said, “no more coulda, shoulda, woulda.” 

We start with what is and we work to be good enough to make it better. This is true in football; it is even more true in life. We don’t know what coulda happened with a different president, we all know what we believe shoulda happened, and we don’t know what woulda happened if we had used plan B or started sooner or from a different perspective. 

What we do know is what happened yesterday, and how horrible it was; how sad and angry it makes us. We cannot control, “coulda, shoulda, woulda.” What we can control is howe we communicate our feelings about what happened and what we believe could have happened. What we can do is listen to peoples’ opinions, knowledge and beliefs, about our relationship with Afghanistan, especially the people with whom we disagree, and do our best not to over react (sadly I have failed at this already), to realize that we are, in fact, on the same team. 

Going forward I want to suggest to all of us, myself included, that we look through the lenses of Psalm 15 described above, and James 1: 

“You must understand this, my beloved: let everyone be quick to listen, slow to speak, slow to anger; for your anger does not produce God's righteousness. Therefore rid yourselves of all sordidness and rank growth of wickedness, and welcome with meekness the implanted word that has the power to save your souls. . . If any think they are religious, and do not bridle their tongues but deceive their hearts, their religion is worthless. Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to care for orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world.” 

Lord of all power and might, the author and giver of all good things: As we pray for all who have died in this tragedy, we ask that you graft in our hearts the love of your Name; increase in us true religion; nourish us with all goodness; and bring forth in us the fruit of good works. Amen.

 

Gathered Together in Unity by Your Holy Spirit

 I want to begin with a prayer, followed by Peter’s Proclamation at the end of chapter six of John’s Gospel, and see what happens.

The Prayer: “Grant, O merciful God, that your Church, being gathered together in unity by your Holy Spirit may show forth your power among all peoples.” And Simon Peter: “Lord, to whom can we go? You have the words of eternal life. We have come to believe and know that you are the Holy One of God.”

There we have it, the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. A prayer for Christian Unity in the midst of our many differences, a unity which can only be achieved by the action and power of God’s Holy Spirit. Followed by an affirmation of faith by Simon Peter.  

After five weeks of scripture (John Chapter 6) and sermons on Jesus the bread of life, beginning with the feeding of the five thousand with 12 baskets of leftovers, and ending with Jesus proclaiming that he is, the bread of life and that if we “eat him,” take him into our heart and souls, that we will never be hungry or thirsty.

This feeding of the five thousand people who are physically hungry, sets up what is to follow. First feed the body, then feed the soul with Jesus, the “Bread of life come down from heaven.”

When some remind Jesus that “Moses, gave their ancestors manna in the wilderness, Jesus says to them, “it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, but it is my Father who gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is that which comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.” They said to him, “Sir, give us this bread always.”

Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.” (John 6:31-40) I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats of this bread will live for ever; and the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.’”

Because of this many of his disciples turned back and no longer went about with him. So Jesus asked the twelve, ‘Do you also wish to go away?’ Simon Peter answered him, ‘Lord, to whom can we go? You have the words of eternal life. We have come to believe and know that you are the Holy One of God.’” (John 6:66-69)

 

This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you

I have seen such a lack of love recently, especially as the Delta Variant of Covid-19 has increased and spread throughout the land and I see so many of us looking for someone (else) to blame rather than looking for a community of love and solutions and asking ourselves, “what would Jesus Do?”

So, I asked myself two questions: “What would Jesus do?” What would Jesus have me do.” To answer these questions, I turned first to the Gospel of John 15:9-14 in the section of the Gospel in which we are told that Jesus knows his end is approaching and he is giving his disciples instructions about how to live and teach and heal after his death. Jesus’ words follow and give me, and hopefully you, a place to begin to answer to two questions I have asked myself.

“As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you; abide in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love. I have said these things to you so that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be complete.

‘This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you.”

Jesus proclaims that the answer is love, but not the easy, romanticized love that we often see in novels or movies, but an “its not all about me, lay down my life for my friends” type of love. The type of love in action that we see Jesus demonstrate not long after he gave these final instructions to his friends.

I sense and believe that this is the kind of love Jesus is calling us to live, not just believe, but live today. Let’s look more deeply at Jesus’ words. Jesus commands us to abide, to wrap ourselves, to rest in, to accept and live into his love, which he tells us is God’s love. Jesus tells the disciples, his friends, and through them, us, that if we abide in this love, that his joy will be in us and that our joy will be complete. I believe that joy is more than a feeling of happiness, I believe joy is a sense of wholeness, of completeness, of union with God and our neighbors. This joy, this connectedness will hopefully bring us back to loving one another as Christ loves us, rather than blaming one another for all our problems. It will not be easy. I believe Jesus knows this, based on his instructions to the disciples. I also believe it is necessary if we are to bring healing and wholeness: physical, emotional, and political, to our Nation and our World.

Jesus closes this teaching by reminding us that we are his friends if we do what he asks/commands us to do, and that, what he commands us to do may lead to death. That death my be physical when we attempt to save a person’s life, either from an accident or even a pandemic. That death my also be the death of an idea, or a long-held belief, either political or medical or even religious. All these deaths hurt someone; all of these deaths lead to the ending of relationships. But all these deaths also lead to resurrection! And maybe, just maybe, one of the things resurrection looks like is a renewed community founded on God’s love in which it is not all about us, but about loving one another as Christ loves us, and that in this community we are Jesus’ friends, so full of Joy that we must share that life of Joy with the world.

You are no longer Strangers and Aliens, but Members of the Household of God

So, Jesus came and proclaimed peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near; for through him both of us have access in one Spirit to the Father. So then, you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are citizens with the saints and also members of the household of God, built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the cornerstone. In him the whole structure is joined together and grows into a holy temple in the Lord; in whom you also are built together spiritually into a dwelling place for God.

The title for today’s reflections comes from Ephesians 2:12-22, written by Paul or one of his followers as instructions to both Jews and Gentiles in the 50’s or 60’s AD, on how to live together as God’s people, and perhaps even like each other and cease being hostile to one another, even though they came from different backgrounds and spiritual traditions.

This letter celebrates the author’s vision for the church and how the life, death and resurrection of Jesus brought together a new and unified community. When it was written it expanded the vision of God for both Jews and Gentiles, giving to all a greater understanding of the “bigness of God and of God’s inclusive Kingdom. I believe we today can learn from this timeless writing how we, like those in Paul’s day, continue to put God in a box, limiting, not God, but ourselves. As we open our boxes and let God be God to us, God will open our hearts to see God’s universal love for “all the Children of the World.”

The more I read the Christian and Jewish Scriptures on which I have been nourished from my youth, the more I realize I am not qualified to determine “who is in and who is out” of God’s kingdom based solely on their religion or lack thereof, or their politics and whether they agree with me or not. I do believe that our allegiance to God comes before our allegiance to country, and that being first a citizen of the Kingdom of God will give us the vision necessary to be a citizen of our country of birth or choice as well as a citizen of the world.

For those of us who are Christians, the idea that “Jesus is the cornerstone of the temple onto which we are all built together spiritually into a dwelling place for God,” is an image that opens our minds and imaginations, as well as our hearts, to the possibilities of being co-creators with God in the building of the Kingdom “on Earth as it is in Heaven.” The following episode from the Gospel of Mark can give us an idea about where and how and with whom we can begin or continue this partnership with Christ. 

“And the Disciples and Jesus went away in the boat to a deserted place by themselves. Now many saw them going and recognized them, and they hurried there on foot from all the towns and arrived ahead of them. As Jesus went ashore, he saw a great crowd; and he had compassion for them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd; and he began to teach them many things. As people recognized him, they rushed about that whole region and began to bring the sick on mats to wherever they heard he was. And wherever he went, into villages or cities or farms, they laid the sick in the marketplaces, and begged him that they might touch even the fringe of his cloak; and all who touched it were healed.” (Mark 6:30-56)

My prayer for all of us today is that, like Jesus and the early disciples, wherever we go and whatever we do, that all whose lives are touched by ours will be healed.

 

 

 

With Boldness and Compassion

Keep, O Lord, your household the Church in your steadfast faith and love, that through your grace we may proclaim your truth with boldness and minister your justice with compassion Amen. (BCP, p. 230)

What an absolutely wonderful prayer: a prayer asking God to be with us always, to give us faith, and to love us always. A prayer that not only ask God’s presence but reminds us that God is present with us, even when we do not remember to ask for that presence. God’s steadfast faith and love is the firm foundation for our lives that Jesus tells us about in the parable of the wise man who built his house, not on sand, but on solid rock.

Through this promise God gives us the strength and courage to live into His plan for us. God’s plan and desire for us is two-fold. First, God desires for us to “Proclaim his truth with boldness. Secondly and just as important, God desires for us to minister his justice with compassion. Boldness and compassion! Two foundational characteristics of God and for God’s People.

According to St. Paul, it is “the love of Christ that urges us on, so that those who live might live no longer for themselves, but for him who died and was raised for them. So, if anyone is in Christ, he or she is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new! (2 Corinthians 5:14-17) Being made new, we pray that we see the world and other people through the eyes of Christ: that even though different in knowledge and skills, in background and opportunity, we see that we are all God’s children and therefore brothers and sisters in Christ.

As new creations in Jesus Christ, we proclaim God’s truth with boldness, not only when we affirm “Christ has died, Christ has risen, Christ will come again, but also when we give “one of these, God’s Children, a cup of water in Jesus’ name, thus proclaiming by world and example the good news of God in Christ.” Truth, proclamation, and ministry cannot be separated: As James the brother of Jesus proclaims in his New Testament letter, “what good is it, my brothers and sisters, if you say you have faith but do not have works? Can faith save you? If a brother or sister is naked and lacks daily food, and one of you says to them, ‘Go in peace; keep warm and eat your fill’, and yet you do not supply their bodily needs, what is the good of that? So, faith by itself, if it has no works, is dead. Some will say, ‘You have faith and I have works.’ I say, ‘Show me your faith without works, and I by my works will show you my faith.’” (James 2:14-18)

I leave you with two questions that all of us who follow just must ask ourselves:

“Will you seek and serve Christ in all persons, loving your neighbor as yourself? Will you strive for justice and peace among all people, and respect the dignity of every human being?

I pray that God will give us all the grace to answer: “I will with God’s help!”