October 27, 2022

We have a prodigious fig tree in our front yard. This season it has yielded figs by the hundreds. Since the tree is right by the street, we put up a sign that said, “Please Help Yourself to Figs!”. The one who really helped herself to figs was our dog. Every morning in the pre-dawn darkness she galloped out the front door to the fig tree. She claimed all the windfall figs for her own. Although fig season is over, she still races to the tree, only to trot back disheartened after a few minutes of fruitless search.

The psalmist says that blessed is the one who delights in the Lord. “He is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields fruit in its season.” (Psalm 1:3) You may be in the “off season” in some area of your life. You are looking for fruit, but you find none. That doesn’t mean that God is absent or you aren’t delighting in the Lord. It just means that we were not meant to constantly produce fruit. Relax. Your season will come back around.

“Heavenly Father, in you we live and move and have our being: We humbly pray you so to guide and govern us by your Holy Spirit, that in all the cares and occupations of our 
life we may not forget you, but may remember that we are ever walking in your sight; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.” (A Collect for Guidance – BCP)

October 26, 2022

“But my God shall supply all your needs according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 4:19)

It is ridiculous when you wake up at 2am and try to solve a problem. For one thing, you aren’t solving anything; you are just lying inert in bed. For another thing, what seems like a problem at 2am is rarely a problem when the sun comes up. One last thing – the ONLY thing to do at 2am is pray. For in the end, God is the solver of problems, the untangler of knots, the sorter of situations.

To my point, I love Taylor Swift’s new song Anti-Hero.

“I have this thing where I get older, but just never wiser / Midnights become my afternoons / When my depression works the graveyard shift / All of the people I've ghosted stand there in the room /I should not be left to my own devices /They come with prices and vices, I end up in crisis”

Let us pray.

“Keep watch, dear Lord, with those who work, or watch, or weep this night, and give your angels charge over those who sleep. Tend the sick, Lord Christ; give rest to the weary, bless the dying, soothe the suffering, pity the afflicted, shield the joyous; and all for your love's sake. Amen.” (Evening Prayer Collect – BCP)

October 25, 2022

“Don’t work for the food that perishes but for the food that lasts for eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you, because God the Father has set His seal of approval on Him.” (John 6:27)

The effervescence of October beauty is almost too much to bear. And only a week left. This is what C.S. Lewis felt as a child when he read Beatrix Potter’s “Squirrel Nutkin.”

“It troubled me with what I can only describe as the Idea of Autumn. It sounds fantastic to say that one can be enamored of a season, but that is something like what happened; and, as before, the experience was one of intense desire.”

Our desire is ultimately for God, who is the source of all beauty. I hope there is a realm in heaven in which it is perpetually October.

“We give you thanks, most gracious God, for the beauty of earth and sky and sea; for the richness of mountains, plains,and rivers; for the songs of birds and the loveliness of flowers. We praise you for these good gifts, and pray that we maysafeguard them for our posterity. Grant that we may continue to grow in our grateful enjoyment of your abundant creation, to the honor and glory of your Name, now and for ever. Amen.” (For the Beauty of the Earth – BCP)

October 24, 2022

“If you love Me, you will keep My commandments.” (John 14:15)

That’s a verse widely misinterpreted. Loving Jesus is coterminous with keeping every jot and tittle of the Law. If that were the way to understand Jesus here, then it would follow that no one loves Jesus.

Instead, He is just describing how obedience to the Law actually works. It works through love. When you love another human being, you want to do what that person wants – what pleases him or her. Love is the engine.

Same with God! This is exactly what we pray about in this week’s collect.

“Almighty and everlasting God, increase in us the gifts of faith, hope, and charity; and, that we may obtain what you promise, make us love what you command; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.” (Proper 25 – BCP)

October 21, 2022

“I pray that out of his glorious riches, he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith.” (Ephesians 3: 16-17)

You can’t deny the power of Toto. (The band, not the dog in The Wizard of Oz, although that Toto is undeniably cute.) I tried to deny the power of Toto in the 80’s, but recently when Rosanna came on the radio, I saw the light.

“All I wanna do when I wake up in the morning is see your eyes. Rosanna, Rosanna.”

Toto knows. Toto know that we are primarily driven by our appetites and emotions, rather than (as we would like to believe) our reason and our will power. And because our appetites and our emotions often lead us into nowhere good, we find we are in need of Help from the Outside.

The Help whose name is Jesus.

“Stir up your power, O Lord, and with great might come among us; and, because we are sorely hindered by our sins, let your bountiful grace and mercy speedily help and deliver us; through Jesus Christ our Lord, to whom, with you and the Holy Spirit, be honor and glory, now and for ever. Amen.” (Third Sunday in Advent – BCP)

October 20, 2022

“Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.” (Ephesians 3:20-21)

In a book called The Artist’s Way, we read “By its very nature, discipline is rooted in self-admiration. We admire ourselves for being so wonderful. The disciple itself, not the creative outflow, becomes the point….. It is joy, not duty, that makes for a lasting bond.”

So good!  Anyway, it is God who is at work in us to do more than we can ask or imagine. Way, way, way better than attempting to flex our paltry spiritual muscles.

“Almighty God, you alone can bring into order the unruly wills and affections of sinners: Grant your people grace to love what you command and desire what you promise; that, among the swift and varied changes of the world, our hearts may surely there be fixed where true joys are to be found; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.” (Fifth Sunday in Lent – BCP)

October 19, 2022

We’ve been doing a lot of funerals, baptisms, and weddings recently. It’s interesting to me that people want to experience the most meaningful moments in life in the presence of God, which the church represents.

There is a yearning for God inside each one of us. C.S. Lewis says, “If I find in myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world.”  Don’t you feel this sometimes?

The psalmist puts it this way. “As the deer longs for streams of water, so I long for you, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When can I go and meet with God?” (Psalm 42: 1-2)

“Eternal Father, you gave to your incarnate Son the holy name of Jesus to be the sign of our salvation: Plant in every heart, we pray, the love of him who is the Savior of the world, our Lord Jesus Christ; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, in glory everlasting. Amen.” (The Holy Name – BCP)

October 18, 2022

“Yet you, LORD, are our Father. We are the clay, you are the potter; we are all the work of your hand.” (Isaiah 64:8)

Big decisions can be scary. Decisions that will change the course of your life, like moving or a job change or change in relationship. You think somehow that all the onus falls on you to make the “right” choice.

Yet, what if you saw your life through a different lens? The lens given to us by the Bible? That you are not the primary actor, but instead a cast member of a play directed by God Himself? What if you were clay molded into a beautiful shape by the Loving Potter? Wouldn’t that take the pressure off?

“Direct us, O Lord, in all our doings with thy most gracious favor, and further us with thy continual help; that in all ourworks begun, continued, and ended in thee, we may glorify thy holy Name, and finally, by thy mercy, obtain everlasting
life; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.”

October 17, 2022

A classic headline from The Onion: “Picture Most Closely Resembling Actual Self Immediately Deleted.”

Monica Arquette is quoted as saying, “God, I hate this one,” said Arquette, promptly wiping from her phone’s memory the most authentic photo of her currently in existence, both in representing her physical form and in capturing her overall essence as a person. “I look so weird. Not a chance I’m showing this hideous thing to anyone.”

We read in Hebrews that wiping memory is a waste of time. “No one can hide from God. His eyes see everything we do.” (Hebrews 4:13). And everything we are. Fortunately for us, He sees us as people who have already been made perfect by the blood of Christ.

“O God, the protector of all who trust in you, without whom nothing is strong, nothing is holy: Increase and multiply upon us your mercy; that, with you as our ruler and guide, we may so pass through things temporal, that we lose not the things eternal; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.” (Proper 12 – BCP)

October 14, 2022

I’m officiating the funeral of a dear woman today – someone I’ve known and loved for 30 years. Hours before she died, I asked her if there was anything she wanted to tell me or if there was anything she felt she needed. With her characteristic wit she replied, “Yes- a new self.”

That’s a remarkably accurate theological answer. When we die, we are still ourselves; yet we are made new. Paul says it this way. “So will it be with the resurrection of the dead. The body that is sown is perishable, it is raised imperishable.” (1 Corinthians 15:42)

All that is wonderfully you will still be you; all that weighs you down will be cast off forever.

“Grant that all who have been baptized into Christ's death and resurrection may die to sin and rise to newness of life, andthat through the grave and gate of death we may pass with him to our joyful resurrection. Amen.” (Burial of the Dead – BCP)

October 13, 2022

“See now that I myself am he! There is no god besides me. I put to death and I bring to life.” (Deuteronomy 32:39)

The myth of linear progression is soul-killing. That is – thinking that slowly, over time, you get better and better, less sinful, more holy. Through discipline and devotion, you are becoming the person you were meant to be. That is a deeply mistaken view of sanctification. And out of touch with your own reality. When the person you thought you had forgiven does something reminiscent of the original offense, you are all the sudden back at square one with your resentment and outrage. Even though years have passed.

A much closer to reality paradigm of sanctification is the pattern of death and resurrection – biblical and true to life. Life (i.e. – God) brings you to death in some area of your life. You are at the absolute end of your resources and your rope. You are likely back at square one. You cry out for help, simply because you are desperate and out of any other conceivable options. Then God resurrects – brings life where there was no life. And this is not of your own doing.

Sanctification simply means that as you experience this repeat cycle of death and resurrection, you may stop trusting yourself with your own life, even as you may start trusting God a wee bit more. The school of hard knocks is also known as the school of grace.

“We thank you, heavenly Father, that you have delivered us from the dominion of sin and death and brought us into the kingdom of your Son; and we pray that, as by his death he has recalled us to life, so by his love he may raise us to eternal joys; who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.” (Saturday in Easter Week – BCP)

October 12, 2022

This week’s Collect is a goodie. Grace precedes us and follows us – we are always and forever inside a luxurious buffer of grace. When grace penetrates your pores, then you are given to “good works” – i.e., acts of love and kindness, which, btw, are decidedly NOT random, despite the bumper sticker.

Good works are not random because they are already prepared by God. That is what Paul tells us in Ephesians.  “For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” (Ephesians 2:10)

Alert Episcopalians will recognize this verse from our post communion prayer: “And we humbly beseech thee, O heavenly Father, so to assist us with thy grace, that we may continue in that holy fellowship, and do all such good works as thou hast prepared for us to walk in.”

Time to pray.

“Lord, we pray that your grace may always precede and follow us, that we may continually be given to good works; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.” (Proper 23 – BCP)

October 11, 2022

“The earth is the LORD’s, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it.” (Psalm 24:1)

A poem called October 10 from Wendall Berry today. A day late, but not a dollar short.

Now constantly there is the sound,
quieter than rain,
of the leaves falling.

Under their loosening bright
gold, the sycamore limbs
bleach whiter.

Now the only flowers
are beeweed and aster, spray
of their white and lavender
over the brown leaves.

The calling of a crow sounds
Loud — landmark — now
that the life of summer falls
silent, and the nights grow.

I hope you enjoy the day!

“O heavenly Father, who hast filled the world with beauty: Open our eyes to behold thy gracious hand in all thy works;that, rejoicing in thy whole creation, we may learn to serve thee with gladness; for the sake of him through whom allthings were made, thy Son Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.” (For Joy in God’s Creation – BCP)

October 10, 2022

“Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, to all the exiles whom I have sent into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon: Build houses and live in them; plant gardens and eat what they produce. Take wives and have sons and daughters; take wives for your sons, and give your daughters in marriage, that they may bear sons and daughters; multiply there, and do not decrease. But seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the Lord on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare.” (Jeremiah 29:4-4)

God’s people are in exile – bereft and estranged from all that gives them identity and comfort. And yet God directs them to put down roots – plant gardens, build houses, marry their neighbors. In other words – go live your life.

Living the life we’ve been given to live tempers the urge to go find better pastures. “What you don’t have - you don’t need it now.” (Beautiful Day)

There is great comfort in that, yes?

“Lord, we pray that your grace may always precede and follow us, that we may continually be given to good works; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.” (Proper 23 – BCP)

October 7, 2022

“Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the LORD God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the LORD God among the trees of the garden.” (Genesis 3:8)

There is a viral video of a man caught cheating at a walleye fishing contest. His fish are cut open to reveal weights stuffed inside. The guilty fisherman stands stoically while the judge reveals his shame. His fellow competitors go wild: outrage, profanity, abuse, accusation, disbelief. Someone videos the entire episode as the man is asked “What do you have to say? Do you have anything to all to say?” Not a mumbling word from the man. What could he say? He was caught “lead-handed.”

Eventually the man posted an apology. "Disgusted guys and gals, I’m sorry for letting you down for so long and I'm glad I got caught cheating.” Sometimes the worst thing is the best thing, isn’t it? When your hand is forced, there is no place to hide.

And though others may condemn, God always forgives and protects you.

“Stir up your power, O Lord, and with great might come among us; and, because we are sorely hindered by our sins, let your bountiful grace and mercy speedily help and deliver us; through Jesus Christ our Lord, to whom, with you and the Holy Spirit, be honor and glory, now and for ever. Amen.” (Third Sunday of Advent – BCP)

October 6, 2022

“Now we see things imperfectly, like puzzling reflections in a mirror, but then we will see everything with perfect clarity. All that I know now is partial and incomplete, but then I will know everything completely, just as God now knows me completely.” (1 Corinthians 13:12)

A friend’s grandfather was fond of saying, “It’s what you learn after you know everything that really counts.”

 So good! Like Bono in The City of Blinding Lights: “The more you see, the less you know/ the more you find out as you go / I knew much more then/ Then I do now.” I wonder if wisdom is the realization that you lack it? Certainly, Paul’s word about knowing (not knowing, really) grounds us in both wonder (so much more to learn!)  and humility (so much that I think I know that I really don’t).

“O God, by the leading of a star you manifested your only Son to the Peoples of the earth: Lead us, who know you now byfaith, to your presence, where we may see your glory face to face; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reignswith you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.” (The Epiphany- BCP)

October 5, 2022

“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.” (Galatians 5:22-230

Sacheen Littlefeather has just died.  She was the Native American who spoke on behalf of Marlon Brando at the 1973 Oscars, declining his award for best actor due to the treatment of Native Americans in Hollywood. She was booed, mocked, and ultimately blacklisted.

When the Academy finally issued an apology to her 50 years later, she said “Regarding the Academy’s apology to me, we Indians are very patient people—it’s only been 50 years! We need to keep our sense of humor about this at all times. It’s our method of survival.”

Patience and humor. I have no authority to add to Paul’s list of the Spirit’s fruit, but if I did, I would put humor near the top of the list.

“O God, you made us in your own image and redeemed us through Jesus your Son: Look with compassion on the wholehuman family; take away the arrogance and hatred which infect our hearts; break down the walls that separate us; unite us in bonds of love; and work through our struggle and confusion to accomplish your purposes on earth; that, in your good time, all nations and races may serve you in
harmony around your heavenly throne; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.” (For the Human Family – BCP)

October 4, 2022

“I am reminded of your sincere faith, a faith that lived first in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice and now, I am sure, lives in you.” (2 Timothy 1:5)

That’s Paul writing to Timothy, a fledgling minister. First off, we see ours is not a patriarchal faith. Lois, Eunice, and a whole host of powerful women were leaders of the early church. Jesus treated women with counter-cultural equanimity and respect.

But having done two baptisms over the weekend, I’m thinking here about how faith is communicated from generation to generation, as it was from Lois to Eunice to Timothy. Believing parents long for their children to know the grace and security of Jesus Christ. Seemingly wayward children hurt the hearts of their parents and often cause them to wonder what went wrong.

All I know is this: children belong to God. As we say at a baptism, while making the sign of the cross on a baby’s forehead, “You are sealed by the Holy Spirit in baptism and marked as Christ’s own forever.”

Marked as Christ’s own forever. As a parent and a Christian, I believe that is true.

“Almighty God, we entrust all who are dear to us to thy never-failing care and love, for this life and the life to come, knowing that thou art doing for them better things than we can desire or pray for; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.”(For Those We Love – BCP)

October 3, 2022

“The apostles said to the Lord, "Increase our faith!" The Lord replied, "If you had faith the size of a mustard seed, you could say to this mulberry tree, `Be uprooted and planted in the sea,' and it would obey you.” (Luke 17:5-6)

This passage from yesterday’s lectionary is enormously comforting. Not, obviously, because we are able to fling trees into the sea like Eleven in Stranger Things. At least, I’m not able to.

It is comforting because Jesus confirms that most of our lives is shrouded in doubt. Moreover, there is no faith without doubt. But even the presence of a mustard seed sized speck of faith is all that is needed. And, the disciples, apparently, don’t even have that! So perhaps it is just the seed of a seed that registers as faith.

Just to want to want to want to believe is a plenty – and even that is the work of God.

“Almighty and everlasting God, you are always more ready to hear than we to pray, and to give more than we either desire or deserve: Pour upon us the abundance of your mercy, forgiving us those things of which our conscience is afraid, and giving us those good things for which we are not worthy to ask, except through the merits and mediation of Jesus Christ our Savior; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.” (Proper 22 – BCP)

September 30, 2022

“Even to your old age and gray hairs I am he, I am he who will sustain you.
I have made you and I will carry you; I will sustain you and I will rescue you.”  (Isaiah 46:4)

Incredible testimony from the late, great Kobe Bryant when interviewed after a difficult experience in his life.  He simply said, “God is great.”  The interviewer asked, "Did you know that? The way you know it now after that incident?”

 Kobe responded, “You could know it all you want until you got to pick up that cross that you can’t carry and then He picks up it up for you and carries you and the cross – then you know.”

Wow! There just is no cooler cat than Kobe and yet even he needed to be carried by God.  RIP, dear Kobe.

“O merciful Father, you have taught us in your holy Word that you do not willingly afflict or grieve us: Look with pity upon our sorrows. Remember us, O Lord, in mercy, nourish us with patience, comfort us with a sense of your goodness, lift up your countenance upon us, and give us peace; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.” (For a Person in Trouble or Bereavement- BCP)