Blog Archives

"Lifted Up"

5/28/2017

Acts 1:6-14

Father Murphy walks into a pub in Donegal, and says to the first man he meets,
"Do you want to go to heaven?"
The man said, "I do, Father."
The priest said, "Then leave this pub right now!" and approached a second man.
"Do you want to go to heaven?"
"Certainly, Father," was the man's reply.
"Then leave this den of Satan," said the priest, as he walked up to O'Toole.
"Do you want to go to heaven?"
"No, I don't, Father," O'Toole replied.
The priest looked him right in the eye, and said, "You mean to tell me that when
you die you don't want to go to heaven?"
O'Toole smiled, "Oh, when I die, yes, Father. I thought you were getting a group
together to go right now."

Last Thursday was the official celebration of the Ascension of the Lord. According to the Gospel of Luke and the Acts of the Apostles, Jesus appeared to many of his disciples during the 40 days following his resurrection. On the 40th day, he appeared again to the apostles and led them out to the Mount of Olives where he instructed them to wait in Jerusalem for the promise of the Holy Spirit. Then, as they were watching, he ascended into clouds. As they continued to watch, two angels appeared and declared to them that, just as he ascended, Jesus would return in glory.

For the ordinary Christian, the day passed without much fanfare. We plan the celebration of Christmas and Easter. But the Ascension of Jesus, the doctrine that Jesus ascended into heaven his last day on earth, barely gets a rise from us. The Ascension is the forgotten step child of the Christian celebrations. Of course we know Jesus is going to heaven. The Ascension undergirds the belief that we too, will go to heaven, because as Jesus promised, he goes to prepare a place for us. Just not now, right?

There are many Ascension Day traditions, such as "the blessing of the first fruits," in which grapes and beans are blessed. Some churches depict the Ascension of Christ by raising a statue of Jesus above the altar and lifting it through a special door in the roof. Other churches have outdoor processions with torches and banners. In an old Ascension Day tradition from England, parishioners carried a banner bearing the symbol of a lion at the head of the procession, and a second banner bearing the symbol of a dragon at the rear. This represented the victory of Christ over the devil.

In modern days the closest we come to discussions on ascension would come from royal enthusiasts or new agers, who describe the ascension of the earth or the individual soul as going from a lower to a higher spiritual plane. Ascension Day didn’t give Jesus anything he didn’t already have: he didn’t need to be crowned and he didn’t need to spiritually evolve any higher on his Ascension Day. However the Ascension does mark a profound change – for us. Just as Jesus spent 40 days of preparation, tempted by the devil, before embarking on his public ministry; Jesus, during the last 40 days on earth, after his resurrection until the day of Ascension, are spent in preparing his disciples for carrying on the ministry of good news and reconciliation that Jesus had started. The time span of forty days indicate that an appropriate amount of time has passed for "completeness".

So the disciples spent those final forty days with the risen Lord, learning, preparing, being tempted and tried, but even at the end, the very end, they still ask, “will you now restore the kingdom to Israel?" That was, after all, what every Jew expected the Messiah to do--restore the political fortunes of the nation of Israel. After all this time with Jesus, they were still focused on earthly solutions to spiritual problems. Jesus tells them that something more grand, more important, something more earth-shaking and astounding is about to happen: God's Spirit is about to fall on them to empower them to become his witnesses. The power of the reign of God is about to unfold in and around them to equip them for their work. The Ascension was key as a stepping stone for them to understand that Jesus was not an earthly king – but King of the Cosmos – and their marching orders was not a conquest of land, or conquering their foreign rulers, but of the triumph of the human heart for the love and reconciliation offered by God.

So, Jesus tells them, rather than worry about the times or seasons the Father has set for the fulfillment of all things, they are to take up their divinely assigned tasks in this new age. They are more than disciples now; they are to become his witnesses to the ends of the earth. For in the Ascension Jesus rules over the past, present and the future--he is Lord. Having returned to the One from whom he came, he is no longer simply Jesus of Nazareth. Ascended to his divine glory, which always was his, Jesus is enthroned as Lord of life. The Jewish Messiah has become the Cosmic Christ. This is the first thing the Ascension proclaims and holds before us. But there is more.

The theologian Karl Barth observed that the only thing that changed about Jesus at the mystery of the Ascension was his vantage point, the place, the realm from which he now operates. Jesus moved from our day-to-day world back into heaven- the realm of eternity: but did so without ceasing to be human. Jesus took his scarred physical body with him into heaven. So the Ascension is another step in the work of reconciliation and atonement -- that God set forth when Jesus took on human flesh at the incarnation. God became one with us in Jesus of Nazareth, so that you and I could become one with God in Jesus. In Jesus human life has been assumed into the essence of God. Just as Jesus became Emmanuel – that Hebrew word meaning God with us -- Jesus did this for the healing and reconciliation of humanity -- so the Ascension of Jesus is the elevation of humanity for the sake of all humankind. The Ascension is not only to glorify Jesus, nor only the enthronement of Jesus as the Cosmic Christ-- it points to the ultimate goodness of all human nature—created and redeemed by God. One of the mysteries of the Ascension is that it not only reveals what it means to be truly human, it assures us, as John Calvin wrote, that our flesh, yours and mine is acceptable to God, and destined to dwell in and with God's divine presence. Flesh and blood are welcome in God's presence because of our ascended Lord. Therefore there is no hierarchy between body, mind and spirit – God has created us whole – and the Ascension affirms that wholeness within us.

For those of us who suffer – for those of us who have been tempted – for those of us who are anxious – the Ascension reminds us what Peter encourages us: that the God of all grace, who has called us to his eternal glory in Christ, will restore, support, strengthen, and establish us. God lifts us up and gives us a glimpse of glory. Heaven is open wide – but not for us to stand gazing as the disciples were tempted to do – but for us to bring heaven on earth, to spread the kingdom of God here, in our midst. Even good word and deed we do in the name of Jesus, on behalf of the least of his children, brings the reality of Ascension here on earth.

The award winning poet and humanitarian, Maya Angelou spoke of this ability to bring that vision here on earth. A survivor of racism, rape, psychological trauma, struggling to find her way, a way that led her through low-level jobs, madam of a brothel, drugs, ultimately to theater and writing. It is not surprising in her official death announcement -- her passage home was described as an ascension. Our task is to lift up the human condition through the good news– so that ascension doesn’t have to wait until we die – And this is done, as Dr. Angelou captured in her poem, Touched by an Angel:

We, unaccustomed to courage
exiles from delight
live coiled in shells of loneliness
until love leaves its high holy temple
and comes into our sight
to liberate us into life.
Love arrives
and in its train come ecstasies
old memories of pleasure
ancient histories of pain.
Yet if we are bold,
love strikes away the chains of fear
from our souls.
We are weaned from our timidity
In the flush of love’s light
we dare be brave
And suddenly we see
that love costs all we are
and will ever be.
Yet it is only love
which sets us free.

We do not have to wait to until we die to go to heaven. Heaven is gained, not by staring blankly at the sky, but by creating it, word and deed. With courage and boldness, as we are lifted up and love – there we get a glimpse of heaven – through the eyes of our ascended Lord. amen

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"A Place for You" May 14, 2017

5/18/2017

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1 Peter 2:2-10, John 14:1-14

Last week, Boko Haram militants in Nigeria released 82 schoolgirls out of a group of more than 200 whom they kidnapped three years ago. In midst of the excitement of daughters returned came the realization of the question – can these young women return to the life they once had? It has been noted that the girls had been brainwashed. Many came back with children whose fathers were Boko Haram members. After all this time many believed they were still the legitimate wives of these rebels. Further, many members of the towns these girls came from are slow to receive them back. Weren’t these girls now affiliated with Boko Haram? Would they be a danger now to their villages? Where did these young women belong? What was their place now?

Let us stop and think. What is the place of the estimated 100 million homeless worldwide? What about the 1.6 billion people who lack adequate housing? Is there no place for them to call home in this vast world of ours?

What is the place of the over 65 million displaced persons on our planet? Is there no place we can carve out for them other than crowded tents in refugee camps?
What about the 9 million in prison and their families? What place is there in society for their permanent rehabilitation?

What about the 20-30 million slaves, and 800,000 annual victims of human trafficking around the globe? Is there no place they can ever be safe and call their own? Do we not have the determination to see them set free?

What is the place of the troubled teenagers watching the controversial show, “13 Reasons Why”, a program about an adolescent who completed suicide? Where is the home for teenagers and children bullied, lonely, who feel they don’t belong and are better off dead? Is there a place for them?

In every human heart beats the desire to belong. To be a part of something. We join clubs, fraternities, gangs, even. If we are fortunate, we have a loving partner, a close-knit family, a circle of friends, special colleagues we can hang out with. In addition we crave a significant place, a house or dwelling we can go to every night. A place with familiar mementos, the same comfy couch or bed that gives us stability and comfort. Ultimately however, we know a house is not the same as a home. It is the stable, enduring relationships with people, even pets or plants that we live with that transform the house into a home. Tak         en together, we truly have a place to be ourselves where we find acceptance and renewal. It reminds us of John Howard Payne’s famous saying:

Mid pleasures and palaces,
Though oft I may roam;
Be it ever so humble,
There's no place like home.

For people of faith, home takes a level deeper, wider, broader. Although Jesus considered Capernaum his home town, his ministry led him across the countryside and villages and he found himself depending on strangers and disciples for temporary lodging. Jesus even replied, "Foxes have dens and birds have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head." (Luke 9:58). Even so, going from place to place, not knowing where he would sleep at night, Jesus found a home. He traveled with his disciples. He lived the Gospel. He created what Peter describes, that each of us is a “living house,” a “living stone.” Jesus wants us to dig deeper in our beings and find that we have a spiritual home that doesn’t depend on a physical house. It is our connection to our faith in Jesus that lays a foundation that transcends any house we reside in. This faith connection binds all the circles of people and places we belong to – and holds it all together. It anchors us as Jesus declares there is a place for you-not just in heaven, but reflected in this world God created. A place for you no matter what human society dictates. No matter how alone we feel, out of place we feel, Jesus insists that we hear the Good News – and Peter reminds us:

you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s own people, in order that you may proclaim the mighty acts of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people;

You are chosen. You are God’s people. Because of this, Jesus tells us, “Do not let your hearts be troubled. Believe in God and believe also in me.” Jesus assures us of a heavenly home --- where Jesus is preparing a place, and where he will personally take each of us on that day, we are called to our eternal home. There is a place for us. It is prepared. The disciples are terrified that once Jesus is gone there will no longer be a home that they have known, because Jesus has been their home. They are losing their anchor, their compass. What will they consider home now? “They echo the sentiments found in the words of poet Maya Angelou: “I long, as does every human being, to be at home wherever I find myself."

        Jesus knows this. So Jesus tells them all they need to know: He says: “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life.” They have Jesus, even when he is not there. That is because they have been with him for three years. They have crisscrossed Galilee, Samaria and Judea with him. They have listened to him, ate with him, watched him heal, confront, comfort, teach.   Now, they too, would take the fateful journey – a journey that is home. A journey that gives them a place of belonging – the journey is home, as the saying goes, because it brings them in deeper connection with one other. It turns strangers into friends, and makes creation the housemates to treasure. And this would continue to live within them. The way was etched into their hearts by love.    It was the way of truth. The way of life. It was a place that transcends whatever house we find to live in – and calls us to make strangers into friends. We may call this the “homing instinct” the Holy Spirit has placed into our soul, to find our place in the world.

Consider this. "Taken from its hive, the bee knows its way home and makes a `bee line' back. An eel travels down the Rhine to the sea and keeps right on till she reaches the Azores, lays her eggs, and dies. Her progeny return to the Rhine and the process is repeated. Terns were carried in a hooded cage from their nesting grounds off the coast of Florida to Galveston, released, and in less than a week returned... Salmon... leave the sea, enter fresh waters, and ascend far inland, deposit their eggs and die. . . .Young salmon return to the briny deep, grow up, and then find their way up the very same river to pay their debt to their kind and to nature... In the spiritual nature of humanity there is that homing instinct. Something within says, `Not here, not here, but back to God.'

We all have a “homing instinct” – to embrace the multi-faceted layers of home rooted in us. We dedicate time to create a home in this earth. As people of faith we find our spiritual home in many ways. Not only where we lay our head to sleep at night. But our home and sense of security is within ourselves because that is where the Holy Spirit resides.   Our home is with each other on the journey of faith that Jesus leads on us. So there comes a time in the journey when it’s time to go house hunting on the inside.
        Peter, in his letter, tells us what the disciples learned from their life with Jesus: that we are each living stones, chosen and precious in the sight of God, and our journey in this life is to create a spiritual home together. That may be church or a Fellowship. A company of faith. That’s just the start – where we come together to worship, pray, learn to grow in faith through study, service and developing our faith together, discover that in Jesus we have the blueprint to create true home.   A home where everyone feels safe. A home where everyone is affirmed and loved. A home where there are real connections between people and among creation. Because we are a living building, Peter says, home spreads out to our neighborhoods, our cities, our country and the world. That is Jesus’ vision: there are many dwelling places that encompass heaven and earth.   It is our task as home builders to forge heaven on earth as the way to heaven.

        So we assemble the tools of building, the saws, the axes, the hammer and nails as we advocate for homes for the homeless, we speak up for people in need of employment or health care, we visit prisoners and their families. This is how we make home on earth. It is a mirror of what Jesus says “In my father’s house there are many dwelling places, if it were not so would I not tell you that I prepare a place for you?” Jesus, the Way, was at home wherever he was on earth because -- as in heaven, earth has many dwelling places. Places that Jesus shows us how to prepare. Yes, God has a place for us here as God does in heaven.

Our greatest strength lies in this: home is in our hearts, in the love Jesus poured out on the crossed as he claimed each of us. Henry Longfellow tells us:
"Stay, stay at home, my heart, and rest;
Home-keeping hearts are happiest."

All great movies, myths stories tell us this. Life is a journey whose destination is home, and is home along the way. We need to gather and make this journey together because none of us has all it takes to get where God is calling us to be. And this is a blessing. We don’t have to be alone. As we help another we help ourselves further along the path. Together we voice our concerns. We face the dangers. The longing. The fear. We discover a capacity to care for each other, to lean on each other, to leave no one behind – to build an open house on the cornerstone, Jesus. As we build this home we discover you have found a glimpse of heaven, here, in this place for you. Amen.

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"A Place for You"

5/14/2017

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1 Peter 2:2-10, John 14:1-14

Last week, Boko Haram militants in Nigeria released 82 schoolgirls out of a group of more than 200 whom they kidnapped three years ago. In midst of the excitement of daughters returned came the realization of the question – can these young women return to the life they once had? It has been noted that the girls had been brainwashed. Many came back with children whose fathers were Boko Haram members. After all this time many believed they were still the legitimate wives of these rebels. Further, many members of the towns these girls came from are slow to receive them back. Weren’t these girls now affiliated with Boko Haram? Would they be a danger now to their villages? Where did these young women belong? What was their place now?

Let us stop and think. What is the place of the estimated 100 million homeless worldwide? What about the 1.6 billion people who lack adequate housing? Is there no place for them to call home in this vast world of ours?

What is the place of the over 65 million displaced persons on our planet? Is there no place we can carve out for them other than crowded tents in refugee camps?
What about the 9 million in prison and their families? What place is there in society for their permanent rehabilitation?

What about the 20-30 million slaves, and 800,000 annual victims of human trafficking around the globe? Is there no place they can ever be safe and call their own? Do we not have the determination to see them set free?

What is the place of the troubled teenagers watching the controversial show, “13 Reasons Why”, a program about an adolescent who completed suicide? Where is the home for teenagers and children bullied, lonely, who feel they don’t belong and are better off dead? Is there a place for them?
In every human heart beats the desire to belong. To be a part of something. We join clubs, fraternities, gangs, even. If we are fortunate, we have a loving partner, a close-knit family, a circle of friends, special colleagues we can hang out with. In addition we crave a significant place, a house or dwelling we can go to every night. A place with familiar mementos, the same comfy couch or bed that gives us stability and comfort. Ultimately however, we know a house is not the same as a home. It is the stable, enduring relationships with people, even pets or plants that we live with that transform the house into a home. Taken together, we truly have a place to be ourselves where we find acceptance and renewal. It reminds us of John Howard Payne’s famous saying:
Mid pleasures and palaces,
Though oft I may roam;
Be it ever so humble,
There's no place like home.

For people of faith, home takes a level deeper, wider, broader. Although Jesus considered Capernaum his home town, his ministry led him across the countryside and villages and he found himself depending on strangers and disciples for temporary lodging. Jesus even replied, "Foxes have dens and birds have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head." (Luke 9:58). Even so, going from place to place, not knowing where he would sleep at night, Jesus found a home. He traveled with his disciples. He lived the Gospel. He created what Peter describes, that each of us is a “living house,” a “living stone.” Jesus wants us to dig deeper in our beings and find that we have a spiritual home that doesn’t depend on a physical house. It is our connection to our faith in Jesus that lays a foundation that transcends any house we reside in. This faith connection binds all the circles of people and places we belong to – and holds it all together. It anchors us as Jesus declares there is a place for you-not just in heaven, but reflected in this world God created. A place for you no matter what human society dictates. No matter how alone we feel, out of place we feel, Jesus insists that we hear the Good News – and Peter reminds us:

you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s own people, in order that you may proclaim the mighty acts of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people;

You are chosen. You are God’s people. Because of this, Jesus tells us, “Do not let your hearts be troubled. Believe in God and believe also in me.” Jesus assures us of a heavenly home --- where Jesus is preparing a place, and where he will personally take each of us on that day, we are called to our eternal home. There is a place for us. It is prepared. The disciples are terrified that once Jesus is gone there will no longer be a home that they have known, because Jesus has been their home. They are losing their anchor, their compass. What will they consider home now? “They echo the sentiments found in the words of poet Maya Angelou: “I long, as does every human being, to be at home wherever I find myself."

        Jesus knows this. So Jesus tells them all they need to know: He says: “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life.” They have Jesus, even when he is not there. That is because they have been with him for three years. They have crisscrossed Galilee, Samaria and Judea with him. They have listened to him, ate with him, watched him heal, confront, comfort, teach.   Now, they too, would take the fateful journey – a journey that is home. A journey that gives them a place of belonging – the journey is home, as the saying goes, because it brings them in deeper connection with one other. It turns strangers into friends, and makes creation the housemates to treasure. And this would continue to live within them. The way was etched into their hearts by love.    It was the way of truth. The way of life. It was a place that transcends whatever house we find to live in – and calls us to make strangers into friends. We may call this the “homing instinct” the Holy Spirit has placed into our soul, to find our place in the world.

Consider this. "Taken from its hive, the bee knows its way home and makes a `bee line' back. An eel travels down the Rhine to the sea and keeps right on till she reaches the Azores, lays her eggs, and dies. Her progeny return to the Rhine and the process is repeated. Terns were carried in a hooded cage from their nesting grounds off the coast of Florida to Galveston, released, and in less than a week returned... Salmon... leave the sea, enter fresh waters, and ascend far inland, deposit their eggs and die. . . .Young salmon return to the briny deep, grow up, and then find their way up the very same river to pay their debt to their kind and to nature... In the spiritual nature of humanity there is that homing instinct. Something within says, `Not here, not here, but back to God.'

We all have a “homing instinct” – to embrace the multi-faceted layers of home rooted in us. We dedicate time to create a home in this earth. As people of faith we find our spiritual home in many ways. Not only where we lay our head to sleep at night. But our home and sense of security is within ourselves because that is where the Holy Spirit resides.   Our home is with each other on the journey of faith that Jesus leads on us. So there comes a time in the journey when it’s time to go house hunting on the inside.
        Peter, in his letter, tells us what the disciples learned from their life with Jesus: that we are each living stones, chosen and precious in the sight of God, and our journey in this life is to create a spiritual home together. That may be church or a Fellowship. A company of faith. That’s just the start – where we come together to worship, pray, learn to grow in faith through study, service and developing our faith together, discover that in Jesus we have the blueprint to create true home.   A home where everyone feels safe. A home where everyone is affirmed and loved. A home where there are real connections between people and among creation. Because we are a living building, Peter says, home spreads out to our neighborhoods, our cities, our country and the world. That is Jesus’ vision: there are many dwelling places that encompass heaven and earth.   It is our task as home builders to forge heaven on earth as the way to heaven.

        So we assemble the tools of building, the saws, the axes, the hammer and nails as we advocate for homes for the homeless, we speak up for people in need of employment or health care, we visit prisoners and their families. This is how we make home on earth. It is a mirror of what Jesus says “In my father’s house there are many dwelling places, if it were not so would I not tell you that I prepare a place for you?” Jesus, the Way, was at home wherever he was on earth because -- as in heaven, earth has many dwelling places. Places that Jesus shows us how to prepare. Yes, God has a place for us here as God does in heaven.

Our greatest strength lies in this: home is in our hearts, in the love Jesus poured out on the crossed as he claimed each of us. Henry Longfellow tells us:
"Stay, stay at home, my heart, and rest;
Home-keeping hearts are happiest."

All great movies, myths stories tell us this. Life is a journey whose destination is home, and is home along the way. We need to gather and make this journey together because none of us has all it takes to get where God is calling us to be. And this is a blessing. We don’t have to be alone. As we help another we help ourselves further along the path. Together we voice our concerns. We face the dangers. The longing. The fear. We discover a capacity to care for each other, to lean on each other, to leave no one behind – to build an open house on the cornerstone, Jesus. As we build this home we discover you have found a glimpse of heaven, here, in this place for you. Amen.

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"Awe Together" May 7, 2017

5/11/2017

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Acts 2:42-47; John 10:1-10

I would like you to look at your hand for a minute. Fix your gaze at the center square inch. That square inch of your body contains more than four yards of nerve fibers, 1,300 nerve cells, 100 sweat glands, 3 million cells, 3 yards of blood vessels, and 32 million bacteria. Amazing, isn’t it?

You have 45 miles of nerves just in the skin of your body. There are 60,000 miles of blood vessels that run throughout your body. All of this is an intricate part of a larger community of cells. There are anywhere from 10 trillion to 100 trillion cells that come together to form you. Each one of these 10 to 100 trillion cells is a community in its own right: made up of a membrane, a nucleus, mitochondria, cytoplasm, different types of membranes and interconnected tubes and enzyme sacks all working together, to process and connect information, feed and support internally and externally to the rest of the body.    All that in one cell. One cell in you, one member of one species on earth. One species out of perhaps 5-50 million species of life on this planet. One galaxy out of anywhere of 50 billion galaxies, containing about 50 billion stars in this universe.
From the sub-atomic level, to complex eco-systems and social systems, all of life, matter and sprit are interconnected. The matter that formed our bodies is the same matter that formed the great stars of the universe.

All this abundance and diversity around us and in us is ours to behold. Like the great mystics, how could we not contemplate all this and not weep? How can we not be in awe at the power and creativity, and wonder of the creator? As we celebrate Stella’s baptism, how can we not fall on our knees praising the power of love, our love for one another, for Stella and all our children, our new members, all which represent God’s love for us. A love that stretches from the sub-atomic to the galactic.

Jesus’ word to us today is that he came that we would have life, life abundantly. Our scriptures today show us the awe of abundance that is embedded in our spirit as we choose the spiritually abundant life. The psalmist depicts God as a shepherd who feeds, shelters, protects, leads and guides; who journeys faithfully at the side of a single soul through the green pastures and the deepest, darkest valleys of life – and still lays the table before us, even in the presence of enemies. Because of this relationship of care and protection, the soul is filled with awe; as her cup runs over and mercy and goodness become companions all the days of her life. That is the description of an awe-tinged life.

We see Jesus in the gospel describing himself as a protective gate for the sheep, and a shepherd who lays down his life for his flock, to protect them from thieves and bandits who would invade the community and destroy it for selfish purposes. That care, day in and day out, night and day, is awe inspiring. We are awe filled to be the sheep of the flock of Jesus, the Shepherd, we know his voice – just as a newborn baby knows its mother’s voice.
The early Christian community described in Acts, is modeled on the life and teaching of Jesus. It cares for each other, worships and eats together. Their common life is the vehicle through which awe, wonders and sign occur. This common life creates glad and generous hearts. Awe is at the heart of our interconnected life together.

The striking commonality among these texts is the various and creative expressions of awe in the act of relationship and sacrificial caring. We see it in the holy hand of the Good and protective Shepherd. We see it in the spiritual handprint of the example of the life of the early church,   and like the great mystics, how could we not contemplate all this and not weep? How can we not be in awe of the creator and those believers who dedicate their lives to emulate, day by day, trillions of cells of good works?

We live in a world where counterfeit awe is cultivated: at the abundance of money in the hands of billionaires, at catwalks such at the Met Gala last week, at the strength of militaries and fire power to control countries and dominate peoples. This worldly awe always ends up with vast numbers of people loosing and being hurt. This isn’t the awe that God calls us to.      God would have us find awe in 7 billion human beings devoted to fellowship. God would have us find awe in the millions of prayers lifted up together. God would have us find awe in when communities that share its endless yards of resources, holding all in common, and distributing to those in need. God would awaken awe in us as we break bread together and distribute it to the hungry—those who bellies need bread and those whose hearts are famished for spiritual bread, needing to know the love of God and finding a place in community and creation. God would have us find awe together, not just because we have in common blood, nerves and cells, but that we have come to have identical glad and generous hearts.

Stella’s baptism, and the reception into membership, beckons us to find awe together. Awe that we can still find in the triumph of the power to love and care -- in what often seems a turbulent and frightening world where bonds are broken and where community is forgotten.
Together we have vowed to raise Stella to know the love of God, and participate in the life of “the Church that Shares and Cares,” as Union is known for.   So let us pursue awe together. Let us look in our hearts at the vessels that lead us to follow Jesus: as protectors and advocates for the voiceless, as holy Shepherds who lead the weary to green pastures and still waters, and as a church that holds all things in common so that all are together and lack nothing. May that awe of such life inspire us and bind us together, bringing true abundance for all into our world.   Amen.

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"Lifted Up"

"A Place for You" May 14, 2017

"A Place for You"

"Awe Together" May 7, 2017

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