Ministry Musings

Countdown to Council

The lobby of the Embassy Suites in McAllen, Texas is filling up and the breakfast area is clearing out as Episcopalians from all over South Texas are gathering for the 108th Annual Council of the Diocese of West Texas. The best part of council is not the myriad of reports or votes on resolutions but rather the friendships rekindled and new friendships made. The wonderful health we share in the Diocese of West Texas is a result of the relationships and partnerships we have with one another in mission and ministry. Stay tuned for updates and other fun stuff! Pray for all of us as we take council for the life of the church and our life together in the Diocese of West Texas.

Homecoming!

Last day of classes.

Tomorrow morning I will leave The Mountain and head home. And I cannot wait to get home! Two more classes today a VERY short stay in a hotel in Monteagle and 5 am airport shuttle and these three wonderful weeks will come to a close.

Of course, I will have some homework to do. And then there is the doctoral project that I have to wrap my head and heart around which will need to begin to take shape over the next 11 months before next summer's classes. But that can wait until the bags are unpacked and the family reunion happens. I am going home.

The old adage tells us that "Home is where the heart is." That is true. But it is not complete. Home is also that place where our calling is made visible. Home is the place where our life's meaning and vocation is manifested and brought to flower.

Home is where our vocation is.

God calls us each by name. In baptism we are "marked as Christ's own forever" and we are named "Beloved." We are beloved in Christ. We are a part of God's life. We are deeply, deeply loved and God desires nothing less than us. US. You. Me. US.

Our true home is in the presence of God in Christ. And in between our birth and the time of our homecoming, we are given glimpses of home. These are the places which bring deep joy and meaning into our hearts. These are the places in we have those "mountain-top" experiences that shape our lives in new and exciting ways. And while it is a temptation to stay and re-experience those "mountain-top" moments again and again, we would do well to remember that Jesus said "No" to tents and went down the mountain to the "real world."

I wonder if Jesus models this in order to remind us that through our vocations we are to offer glimpses of the True Home of all of God's children. When we respond to the call of God in our lives and exercise the gifts of the Spirit given to us to equip that response, we offer others a glimpse of home.

So, I have had a great Mountain-top experience during my time at Sewanee. And, I look forward to the future times of learning, fellowship, worship and joy. But, it is time to go home. I am being called to go home and offer the glimpses of the Homeland and the Homecoming to which God invites us all.

Time for class. The last class. And, then home. Home to family. Home to friends. Home to answer God's call. Home where heart and soul and vocation meet God's desire for the world.

Prayers for Independence Day

Lord God Almighty, in whose Name the founders of this country won liberty for themselves and for us, and lit the torch of freedom for nations then unborn: Grant that we and all the people of this land may have grace to maintain our liberties in righteousness and peace; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.  (Book of Common Prayer, pg. 242)

May the Lord our God bless our nation and our nation's leadership and lift our eyes to a greater vision of freedom and hope for our nation, our selves and our world.

May we remember what God requires of his people - that "love mercy, do justice and walk humbly with our God."  (Micah 6.8)

May we do all in our power as followers of Jesus to bind up the brokenhearted, encourage those running low on hope, give food and water to those in need, clothe the naked and do all such good things as would be pleasing to God.

Let us pray for our nation to move beyond narrow and short sighted public policy to grasp a larger vision of what our country and our world can be for our children and our children's children.

Let us pray that the Holy Church of God would become a beacon of light shining in the darkest of our days calling and leading the way for people to set aside their individual differences and work for the common good.

And let us pray for all those who have sacrificed the everyday life that many of us take for granted to service in the armed forces and for those who have laid down their lives for the safety and freedom of their family and friends.

May our Holy God, upon whom we depend for so much, receive these our prayers on this Independence Day.  Amen.

Feast of St. Peter and St. Paul Sermon

NB:  The gospel text for this day is John 21:15-19.  It is also worth noting that today is the 16th anniversary of my ordination to the diaconate.  One of the lines in the examination reads:  "You are to interpret to the Church the needs, concerns, and hopes of the world."  (BCP. pg. 543)  I pray that this sermon do that on this day.

Jesus said:  “Do you love me?  Feed my lambs.”

 It’s not supposed to be easy.  If it was going to be easy then Peter would not have been forewarned by the Risen Jesus that his hands would be stretched out, that he would be bound and led someplace where he did not want to go.

 Today is the Feast of St. Peter and St. Paul.  And a day on the Church’s calendar is not all they shared in common.  Paul had his own moment of forewarning at the home of Philip the evangelist.   (Acts 21.10ff)  There Agabus the prophet takes Paul’s belt and binds his own hands and feet saying, “This is how the man who owns this belt will be bound in Jerusalem.”

 Peter and Paul are apostles, evangelists, missionaries.  They are men who, by the grace of God, were able to set aside their rebelliousness and times of denial to become proclaimers of the Good News of Christ Jesus.  They are men who, forewarnings notwithstanding, lived their lives feeding and tending the early church, the beloved flock of Christ.

 Jesus said:  “Do you love me?  Tend my sheep.”

 I have been wondering how in the world I as preacher can say anything meaningful in four minutes.  Can anything monumental happen in four minutes?

 In four minutes around the world there will be:

-          21 newly diagnosed cases of HIV/AIDS

-          1,838 new cases of malaria

-          89 new cases of diabetes

 In these four minutes:

-          130 people will die of cardiovascular disease

-          58 will die of cancer

-          10 will die in traffic accidents

-          20 will die from preventable food and water issues

-          7 will die of malaria

 During these four minutes:

-          85 violent crimes

-          7 cars stolen

-          721 identities stolen

 In four minutes:

-          40,319,000 SPAM emails will hit inboxes

-          1,524 of those will be notices of a large sum of money you can have if you can help get it out of Nigeria.

 We who are leaders in Christ’s holy church, who are the inheritors of the foundational work done by Peter, Paul and a host of other holy women and men, live in a world engulfed in bad news.  Every second of every minute brings life-altering tragedy and joy; peace and turmoil; chaos and tranquility – all of which, like the Sewanee rain, falls equally on the just and the unjust.

 Jesus said:  “Do you love me?  Feed my sheep.”

 It will be good to remember that in four minutes grace can and does happen.  In four minutes – and often less, sometime in the “twinkling of an eye” – God can touch our hearts and change the course of our lives and the lives of those around us.

 In four minutes or less:

-          A bishop can examine and consecrate a deacon, priest or bishop

-          Water can be blessed and a person baptized into the risen life of Christ Jesus

-          Marriage vows can be exchanged

-          The Eucharistic prayer can be prayed

-          And for us today, a body of the gathered faithful can eat and drink and experience the very real presence of Christ

 And, then, who knows what can happen?

 As we walk out of this chapel, fed and reminded to follow Jesus, we might:

-          Smile at a lonely person just on the edge of despair giving them cause for hope

-          Give a cup of water to the thirsty or a plate of food to the malnourished

-          Write a check to buy a mosquito net

-          Be “bound” in conversation with someone who needs companionship and a word of encouragement so that they can get “unbound.”

 We will realize, with Peter and Paul, that it’s not supposed to be easy.  It is not easy to feed, to tend, to serve, to lead, to preach, to encourage, to live and to respond to the call of Jesus in our lives.

 Easy?  No.

 Simple?  Yes.

 It is as simple as trusting Jesus when he speaks those simply powerful words of invitation:  “Follow me.”

Follow me.  Follow me.

Ecce, quam bonum!

"Oh, how good and pleasant it is, when brethren live together in unity!"

(Psalm 133.1, BCP pg.787)

The Mountain is pretty unique.  Unless you have lived in a small town or village you probably will have a difficult time relating to what I am about to write.  But stick with it for a bit.  And do not think I am deceived into thinking that there is no brokenness or imperfections on the Mountain.  It's here even if one does not easily see it.  That being said, there is much here upon which to reflect and from which to learn.

I walk to the seminary just about everyday.  In fact, I walk just about everywhere.  Yesterday I walked to "downtown," also known as "The Village," to catch up with a friend over yogurt from the only chain food place in town (although you would be hard pressed to recognize it as such).  As we visited, people, some of whom we knew and some of whom we did not, walked by (it was a pretty busy little place) and acknowledged us.  And by that I mean they said "Hi!"

People here help one understand what is meant by the term "Southern Hospitality."  They will look you in the eye and say "Good morning!" and "Hi!" as they walk by.  Standing in line in the dining hall, a perfect stranger will engage in a conversation about their day.  And it will be interesting since there are so many conferences and camps happening that draw people, both young and old, from all over the country.

I have met many folks participating in  a myriad of activities.  The rector of a parish from Maryland in the Letters program.  A high school student attending a three week math and science camp.  School alums of all sorts visiting friends or participating in conferences. I am getting reacquainted with folks I knew when I was here and planning of visiting with still others whom I have not seen yet.  I have even been reunited with folks from the Diocese of West Texas and I get to have coffee and coversation with a young person from the parish who has grown up, married and move on to another part of the country.  I have met several gifted muscians from their teens to college aged who are here as part of the Music Festival.  And, of course, I have met a host of new friends and colleagues who are in classes with me.

"Oh, how good and pleasant it is, when brethren live together in unity!"

Ecce, quam bonum!

This verse is a part of the University seal.  Unlike the "tag lines" of many companies and, sadly, many churches, one can see this verse being lived out in classrooms, dining halls, bookstores, yogurt shops, streets and in the several worship spaces which dot this 13,000 acre campus.  Brothers and sisters living in unity is not an ideal, not a pipe-dream.  Rather, it is a practiced habit of noticing and acknowledging, of speaking to the person and to the "Imago Dei" ("Image of God") that animates that person.

Whom have you noticed today?  What stranger received a smile and a gracious "good morning" from you?  What words of kindness did you speak to the person at the cash register?  In what ways did you work to make real and tangible in the places you "live and move and have your being" the joy of brothers and sisters living together in unity?

The Mountain may be a unique place.  But it is not the only place where deep and gracious community can happen.  In fact, God offers this little glimpse of what could be to those of us who wander on this holy ground for short intervals of time so that when we venture back home we can take a bit of Sewanee with us to share with others.

I am experiencing much joy in being a part of the community on this Holy Mountain.  But I am also looking forward to the joy of reuniting with the communities I have back home.  With God's grace I will be able to bring a little Sewanee home and help others begin to understand just how good and pleasant it is when sisters and brothers can look beyond their differences and live together in the perfect unity of God: Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

Ecce, quam bonum!

I wonder...

I wonder.

I wonder if the weather will now become rainy and cool instead of dry and hot.

I wonder if all this extreme weather is the fault of human carelessness with nature.

I wonder if my garden will start to re-fruit.

I wonder if my grass is happy.

I wonder if the wife and kids will be able to get the lawnmower cranked up.

I wonder how God feels about the way we treat his creation.

I wonder how God feels about the way we treat each other.

I wonder how God feels about the way I treat myself.

I wonder if there will be professional football this fall.

I wonder how much money is enough.

I wonder if the abundance of money stifles the abundance of God.

I wonder what God thinks about all my stuff.

I wonder what God wants me to do with all that stuff.

I wonder if God has a big dumpster outside the gates of heaven for us to dump our "treasures" before we enter the Kingdom.

I wonder how God will speak today in class, at worship and through others.

I wonder what God has in store for this day.

I wonder how I will be moved.

I wonder how God will transform me to be more of what he wants.

I wonder.

I wonder.

"Immersed in God"

Day one is completed and I must say that my brain feels pretty full already.  The remaining 12 days of classtime should be interesting!

I have heard some really intriguing things today.  Probably the most compelling is the Eastern notion of the baptized life as being "immersed in God."  Our instructor added that there is "no shallow end in God's pool, only the deep."

This place is in deed a holy place.  It is holy, not because it is a place where God is glorified in architecture or in worship, but rather because many of us are actively listening for and responding to the call of God in our lives.  There is a tacit acknowledgement that we are placing our very lives in the hands of the Living God who desires for us "more than we could ask or imagine."  In doing so we become aware of God's presence in our lives when we thought he was far from us - or to put it more accurately, when we were far from him.

Probably the most wonderful thing I heard today is that no matter what is going on in my life or in the lives of those around me, we are immersed in God.  God is not just carrying us across the sandy beach leaving footprints.  God is in fact bathing us in the waters of his love, holding us in the protective womb of the baptismal waters.

I cannot help but think of the joy of jumping carefree into a swimming pool.  Can you imagine doing a cannonball or watermelon into God?  For me a "preacher's seat" might be appropos.  Of course, I have belly flopped on many an occasion - and sometimes on purpose!  That image of free flying into God and getting immersed in him is as inviting as a swimming pool on a 105 degree San Antonio day!  It sounds fun.  It sounds joyful.  It sounds refreshing and reviving.  There is no shallow end in God's love, only a deepness both satisfying and terrifying to those of us called to jump on in.

Immersed in God?  Sounds like a plan!

Who's ready to jump on in?

From The Mountain...

Today is registration day!

I am about to toss all my stuff in a van loaned to me by a seminarian family from the diocese and head up to get myself registered for school.  Then I am going to move myself into my dorm room - yes, I am staying in a dorm room for the first time ever in my life - and get ready for three weeks of community worship, classes, lectures, study groups, papers, writing sermons for grades and who knows what else.  I will once again walk the wonderfully holy ground in Sewanee and explore that important spiritual topic of vocation and call.

This time around will go much faster than the last time I was here pondering vocation and call.  It will also not be as nerve-wracking.  To be a seminarian in seminary with the question of whether or not all this effort and sacrifice will end with ordination is a stress-inducing activity.  I have felt the weight of the bishop's hands and the nauseatingly powerful stirring of the Holy Spirit that made me a deacon and priest. So that pressure is not there for me this time.  I can enjoy learning for learning's sake.  I can use this time in those specific ways of which one can on become aware after some time "in the saddle."

Yet, I cannot but help to sense that this is God's time to teach me as much as it is my time to learn.  I cannot say why, but this feels "right."  This feels like "God's time" to open my eyes to see what it is that he desires me to see.  This feels like "God's time" to redeem and heal the tough times of ministry past and offer a glimpse of a "ministry future" which redeems, heals and builds.

Today has begun and I am about to officially become a student again - even if the school term is only three weeks.  I am ready.  I have my books.  I have my paper and pens.  I have my laptop.  I have all the stuff I need (and then some) to go back to school.  But even more importantly, I am ready to let God teach me what I need to learn to be whom God desires me to be so that I can do what God desires me to do as his servant and priest in his Church.

Time to go....

What is so good about Good Friday?

“Why is it called ‘Good Friday’?”If I had a nickel for every time I have been asked that question – well, you know.

But it is a “good” question for us to ponder today.  And we might consider this – what do we mean when we use the word “good?”  The Oxford Dictionary lists way more definitions than I care to recite and most likely more than you care to hear today.  “Good” can be used as an adjective, noun and adverb.  It can be descriptive, exclamatory or attributive.  How we understand “good” depends on the context in which we use the word.

It is tempting to view “good”, as in “Good Friday,” as an adjective – this Friday is good as opposed to other Friday’s which are bad or perhaps mediocre.  I would suggest that before we can understand “good” as an adjective, we might consider looking at “good” in a way that might make grammarians cringe.  What if we understood “good” as a noun?

As a noun, the Oxford Dictionary defines “good” as “that which is morally right, righteousness” and a “benefit or advantage to someone or something.”  Perhaps we could call today “Righteousness Friday” since on this day Jesus takes upon himself the darkness of the world and the sin of humanity.  Note, I said, “sin” and not “sins.”  We think of “sins” as those things we do which cause separation between us and God and between us and others.  “Sins” are those innumerable acts that cause hurt and pain, “things done and left undone” as the traditional language of the confession puts it.

Sin on the other hand is that which infects our souls and is a deep part of the human condition.  It is that orientation which leads us in a direction away from God and puts us on the path where “sins” are the result.  Where “sins” cause separation, “Sin” is separation.  Sin is the seed from which grows the tree which bears the fruit of disobedience, accusation, division and, ultimately, death.

Righteousness Friday is the day when Jesus removes that which keeps us from being morally right.  It is the day wherein we are allowed to lay down the “sins” of our lives and recognize that even as Jesus dies on the cross, Sin dies with him.  The disease of Sin is healed.  The power of Sin, Death, is defeated.

This helps us to recognize that today then is the “Friday of our Benefit.”  The process of our becoming right with God and each other has begun.  Jesus suffers.  Jesus experiences deep pain.  In this we recognize the degree to which God understands our own suffering and pain. We recognize that our suffering and pain are forever entwined with Jesus’ suffering and pain.  And we are assured that as we take up our cross and follow Jesus on his path of suffering and death we will just as surely be raised with him to a new life.  We “benefit” from that which Jesus undergoes today.  We “benefit” in the form of new life, new hope, new joy and a new awareness of how deeply we are loved by God.

“Good” has a Germanic origin.  In German, the word “gut” and is spelled “g-u-t”.  Gut.  Good Friday is a day that hits us in the gut.  Good Friday gets our attention in order that we might become aware of what Jesus is experiencing.  It is a day like no other.

Yet there is another day even more profound.  Good Friday is a day that is but prelude to the Day of days which occurs in three days.  On that day, bright and shining, we will look back on the pain and suffering of Jesus on this Friday and recognize that “good” (as adjective) is indeed descriptive of a day where God proclaims his deep love and desire for his people to be in unbroken relationship with him and each other for eternity.

And that is why Good Friday is good.

"Rebellious" - Mid-week sermon 7 April 2011

            It starts out cute.  “No!”  Unless you are the parent, this little word can bring a bit of a grin when it first comes out of a child’s mouth.  “No!” means the first step towards developing a sense of a separate self and is a natural part of a child’s growth.

            BUT, it does not stay cute for long.  Soon it can become a test of wills.  Liquefied vegetables end up spit out on the plate.  Sippy cups get tossed onto the floor.  Little bodies throw themselves on the floor of HEB screaming and fussing.  Homework gets shoved off the desk.  Doors get slammed.  Curfews get disregarded. Sneaking out happens.  Cars get “borrowed.”  Deadlines are ignored.  Words get harshly spoken.  Forgiveness withheld.  Hearts get hardened and life gets unpleasant.

            We were born to be rebellious.

            “Go down, for your people, whom you have brought up out of the land of Egypt, have corrupted themselves.  They have turned aside quickly out of the way that I have commanded them,” the LORD says to Moses. (Ex. 32.7-8a)  The people turned aside by fashioning a golden calf towards which they offer worship and sacrifice.  The people point to this calf as their “gods…who brought [them] up out of the land of Egypt!”

            Like a parent with an errant teenager, God desires to throttle his rebellious children.  “I have seen this people, and behold, it is a stiff-necked people.  Now therefore let me alone, that my wrath may burn hot against them and I may consume them, in order that I may make a great nation of you.”  (vv. 9-10)  Thankfully, Moses is able to convince the LORD to show mercy to his people.

            In our collect for today we pray that God “drive from us all weakness of body, mind, and spirit.”  Most of us do not want to admit weakness – even when the evidence clearly shows we are weak.  In fact, in order to deny the discomfort of weakness human nature seeks to lay hold of anything that feels strong.  When uncertainty sets, we grab for anything that seems certain, be it money, power, a relationship, food or drink.  In the case of Israel, they grabbed for their stock of gold and fashioned a golden calf to be their sign of certainty in a time of uncertainty in the wilderness.

            Notice that God does not just call their action a poor decision from which they should learn and not repeat.  He declares that the people, his people, have “corrupted themselves.”  And when we hear this word, we might want to think beyond just a lack of ethics and morals among political, business and religious leaders the world round.  We might want to grab hold of a more archaic definition.

            To corrupt means “to altogether break and to decay.”  In other words, the people have altogether broken their connection to God by their desire to connect with a false God and now they are in a state of decay.  Picture, if you can, a people who exist as living beings yet in a state of physical decay.  Think zombies.  The price of human rebelliousness is not a spiritual “timeout” or “grounding.”  The price of human rebelliousness is to become the “living dead.”

            Thus we pray to be delivered from a state of weakness to “being restored to wholeness, [in order that] we may with free hearts become what [God] intend[s] us to be and accomplish what [he] want us to do.”  The answer to our weakness is not power grabs but surrender.  The remedy for being a spiritual zombie is to forget about a golden calf or anything else we might concoct in our frenzied uncertainty.  We should remember who we are, whose we are and who has brought safe thus far.  As we continue our march with Jesus toward Jerusalem and the cross, let us hold fast to the certainty of God’s desire for us to be made alive, truly, fully alive, in Christ Jesus our Lord.