Approaching-the-Day-of-Pentecost

You can read more of my thoughts about Pentecost in our parish's newsletter, St. James' Weekly Epistle. Let me know what you think or how Pentecost will transform you this year.

Blessings Along The Way, Jim+

Reflection for Passion Sunday

Dear Sisters and Brothers in Christ

This Sunday we will read Mark's entire Gospel account of Jesus' Passion as well as celebrate the Liturgy of The Palms. We don't necessarily think of scripture as being "dramatic" but it is. This Sunday's reading encompass the entire range of human emotions: excitement, anticipation, allegiance, anger, rage, fear, betrayal, loneliness, friendship, compassion, despair, respect, and many more that aren't mentioned here.

I wonder if it isn't worth it to listen to the various voices of the gospel narrative to truly live into what is actually going on. What are the characters actually saying and how do their words impact us as we hear what's going on. How is it that a crowd of people move from exulting Jesus of Nazareth upon his entry into Jerusalem to a place where they scream out for his execution just a few days later. How can someone so loyal as Peter swear his allegiance to his rabbi only to completely abandon him in just a few matter of hours. (the photo is Welcome Home by Gurdon Brewster)


Perhaps most important, observe and admire how God responds throughout each and every scene. When and why is Jesus the Christ silent? How does the Incarnate God act in contrast to Pilate? I find myself amazed at the differences between the two even as I wrestle with the scene's meaning for me as one of Jesus' disciples.

We read the Passion narrative because people may or may not be able to share in Holy Week's liturgies later on. We shouldn't bypass any of our Lord's steps from Palm Sunday's triumphant Entry to Easter Sunday's tomb. Golgotha's Cross and Jesus' mortal death are as much of the narrative as is Jesus the Christ's appearance to Mary Magdalene on Easter Sunday morning. Each dramatic scene is necessarily connected to the others. These emotional and spiritual truths leap off of scriptural pages into our own experiences, our own dramas. Jesus, the Living Word of God is inscribed onto our souls as well as our Christian faith.

Holy Week begins this Sunday. Come, listen, and live into Christianity's more meaningful drama once again.

Blessings Along The Way, Jim

Lent 1B

And the Spirit immediately drove him out into the wilderness. ¹³He was in the wilderness forty days, tempted by Satan; and he was with the wild beasts; and the angels waited on him. (Mark 1:12-13)

A week ago, Fr. Gil Stafford preached about how Jesus often sought solitude so that he could pray with God. Such solitude provided sacred space for Jesus to better understand what God’s will was for him. This time alone was especially vital as he approached his mortal death on “Good” Friday. Seclusion brings us closer to God and to ourselves. It can also be very scary. Isolating. Silence cracks open doors to voices we strive to set aside from ourselves. Murmurings inside of our heads and hearts discomfort us, especially in times of uncertain pain. It’s crazily silent and discomforting in the Wilderness times of our lives. It’s also when and where we can be most close to God. The Holy Spirit draws us there, most typically kicking and dragging our heals into the dust of our day to day experiences.

On Ash Wednesday – Fr. Howell Sasser told the people of St. James that the Ashes of Lent literally fly into our face. The smudges of ash hold potential power to transform the way that we see God. The blackened sign of the cross on our foreheads can’t help but change the way that people view us. You’ve long since washed away those ashes. Perhaps you’ve forgotten about them, or didn’t even receive them. It may be that Lent’s moments of recognizing your mortality haven’t driven you into the wilderness experiences of fasting, repentance, and reflection just yet. It might even be that you’ve been experiencing Lent’s isolating experiences long before this past Wednesday. Regardless, Lent is here, now – providing the presence of God in opportune yet awfully visible, dusty, visceral ways of being Christian that we more often than not would rather avoid.

The wilds of Lent bump up against the world’s emphasis upon ourselves and the noise of our surrounding political and economic complications. The Holy Spirit’s rough invitation in this season of Lent beckons us to examine our faith. God calls once again to communion with God's self and one another. The Creator’s angels and demons alike wander around with us for 40 days. We determine during these difficult days whether or not we truly desire to deepen our commitments to our Christian lives.

There’s a variety of ways to “do Lent” – Traditionally, people give up something. We swear off on eating chocolate even as we proclaim that we won’t swear at terrible drivers as we normally do. We set our hearts and minds to spend more time accomplishing charitable acts just as we dedicate ourselves to spending less money on gasoline or going to the movies. All of these actions however place the emphasis of our Christianity upon ourselves. We become the center and source of personally decided upon commitments. Listen to what Ash Wednesday’s Gospel says. ⁵“And whenever you pray, do not be like the hypocrites; for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, so that they may be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward. ⁶But whenever you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

Jesus didn’t joyfully go racing into the Palestinian Wilderness. God directed him there. Seemingly Jesus’ human personality didn’t comprehend what he should do following his baptism. He wasn’t yet ready to proclaim his presence of God’s Kingdom to the people around him. First, God’s Son, our Lord, goes into the desert because God’s Spirit tells him to go. The desert Jesus entered was and still is a stark and desolate place. Jesus could have fallen in to any number of deep ravines. He spent many nights in cold caves. It’s in the desert of Jesus’ life where he confronted temptations, abided with wild beasts, and lo and behold – was attended to by angels. Fear and love are much more primeval during Lent, especially when we, like Jesus don’t set up the landscape on our own terms, but, on God’s.

I think it was in the Wilderness where Jesus first learned to pray – Our Father – you are holy – Your Kingdom Come – Your Will be Done. Lent isn’t specifically about the good that we can create of our own accord. It is a season of trusting God, waiting for God, and being open to God intentions for us. Lent enables us, however harshly, to be Christ’s followers in our day. These are rarely easy, glee-filled exercises.

This season of penitential solitude is often shrouded in the sufferings of our own personal tribulations as well as those of the people near us. Our response should recognize that suffering is embedded in our human nature. We can’t and shouldn’t oppose it. Rather, we need to find God’s presence and our faith in and through it.

I invite you, therefore, in the name of the Church, to the
observance of a holy Lent, by self-examination and repentance;
by prayer, fasting, and self-denial; and by reading and
meditating on God's holy Word. May God transform you and may you be born anew in the midst of the unknowable but blessed adventures of your Lenten wanderings

Blessings Along The Way - Jim+

'Approaching the Fifth Sunday Following the Epiphany'

Here's our parish's weekly e-mail. I offer some thoughts about worrying and such.

'Approaching the Fifth Sunday Following the Epiphany'

January 15, 2012--Listening–Have you got the time?

Here's my Second Sunday after the Epiphany Sermon.

January 15, 2012--Listening–Have you got the time?

I look the whole notion of "call" -- especially in our day and age when people search for a job, or yearn for success. Is it more difficult for us than it was for Jesus' 1st Century CE disciples? Are we more preoccupied than they were?

Perhaps the most challenging aspect of call is facing our own sense of fear and failure. Maybe we are too selfish. Nonetheless, people, young and old continue to search for meaning. Many believe that God is beckoning them to search beyond themselves to the needs of other people and causes. God is beckoning some people to be more prayerful. Generally, I think, God is calling us all to dig deeper, search more broadly, love one another more compassionately. Jesus calls us to follow in his manner of life and continue to offer the Good News of God's reign, boldly and unselfishly.

There are three "steps" to any call process. The first is to listen; to have open ears for God's voice in the midst of the babble and noise of daily living. The second is to respond; to affirm with the people around us that we are not listening to our own egos but to the Will of The Divine who yearns to draws us nearer to God and to the world around us. We must "Go and See." Finally, we being the pilgrimage of discernment, a journey that never ends and is hardly ever, direct in nature.

I hope that these words and sermon bring you encouragement as well as send you further along the path of holiness and happiness.

Blessings Along The Way, Jim+

Giving or receiving - which "gift" is easier for you?

I was reading a remarkable article by Methodist Bishop William Willimon this morning. He was differentiating between being the giver and the receiver, especially at Christmas time. He suggests that, generally speaking, people in our culture are more comfortable with giving rather than receiving. Folks like to give gifts to other people this time of year because, in Willimon's opinion, we enjoy thinking of ourselves as basically generous, benevolent giving people...Christmas is a season to celebrate our alleged generosity." (Willimon, Watch for the Light, page 143."). He adds that "we" (I infer he means educated, somewhat wealthy to wealthy White adults) are better givers than getters not because of our generosity but because of our pride and arrogance. He concludes that such negatively reinforced generosity is completely contrary to the sort of giving the Bible describes as taking place at the very first Christmas.

I think that Willimon is correct in some ways but I don't think our holiday generosity is so much about our pride as it is about our disdain for vulnerability and receptivity. All of us possess some sense, if not a great deal of vanity. The more money that I spend on someone else's gift will make it (and me) more valuable to them. That's one way of thinking, however misguided such manipulation may be. We may also think that the quantitative value of our present is more meaningful than the value of our presence to someone. The folks at Advent Conspiracy suggest this is not the right way of thinking about generosity as Christmas draws nearer. The proper response: spend less on gifts and give more of yourself to those you love.


I'd suggest there's an equally if not more important aspect of giving vs. receiving. Mary, Jesus' mother, provides a perfect example of being a recipient rather than a giver. It's not uncommon to hear about Mary's obedience and humility. Both of those traits are assuredly true about her response to Gabriel's announcement of her selection as the mother of The Son of The Most High. However, let's look at her way of being in a different manner. Mary was an excellent recipient of God's Grace. She was willingly vulnerable to accept whatever the future held for her, God's Son, and God as well. Whatever God's will is.... she's willing to let it happen, freely, unconditionally. Would it be as easy for a 15 or 16 year-old girl to respond this way today? What about us? When God calls in this Advent Season, are we so busy shopping for someone else that we miss God's invitation to receive and share Grace rather than worldly goods?

Receiving Grace on our parts requires relinquishing control and power over the situations we confront. I think this reality is probably why many Christians speed up and stay busy during Advent, rather than slowing down and just "being." Remaining still and allowing God to be God within us requires a HUGE leap of faith in God's providence as well as an equally large dose of "Letting Go." Non-stop giving, well, this is very charitable activity but it may not necessarily be an extension of God's love as much as we desire it to be.

Bishop Willimon writes "This is often the way that God loves us: with gifts we thought we didn't need , which transforms us into people we don't necessarily want to be. ...this stranger comes to us, blesses us with a gift, and calls us to see ourselves for who we are, empty handed recipients of a gracious God who, rather than leave us to our own devices, gives us a baby." (Willimon, Watch for the Light, page 149.)

I share my wishes and prayers for you that you'll live into the Grace of freely and responsibly accepting the beauty and holiness of God's presence in the dwindling days of Advent. May you find at least one opportunity each day between now and Christmas Eve to receive rather than give. Open yourself up to the living possibilities of welcoming the Christ-child into your presence with a somewhat unexpected hope that an angel will find you prepared to faithfully believe in God's surprising Love.

Blessings Along The Way, Jim+

December 4, 2011 Sermon-- Prophets and Professors - Check out what's in the Wilderness Box..

Here's what I thought might be the good news of John the Baptist for the people of St. James this morning:



December 4, 2011 Sermon-- Prophets and Professors - Check out what's in the Wilderness Box..