Saturday, December 5, 2009
The 2nd Sunday of Advent - Preparing for Salvation
It snowed here in Winchester today, which gave me a lot of time to ponder the themes found in our readings for the 2nd Sunday of Advent. Tomorrow is also the Feast of St. Nicholas. Millions of people know who Santa Claus is, even if they don't know that Santa Claus is really St. Nicholas mispronounced in English from the Dutch, Sinter Klaas. How does all this relate to John the Baptist, you ask? Well, John called people to repent and turn to God; he wanted them to live life in a way that displayed the faith they claimed, or wanted to claim, for themselves. St. Nick was a man, who became a bishop, who lived in such away that he is still remembered today, by many who know little about the Christian faith...this is of course not a good thing one hand...but on the other hand, it shows what living our faith can do...how it can prepare the way for others to learn about the love of God. Many people celebrate Christmas because of Santa Claus - it is our job to work with the secular nature of our culture and link it back to God and to the faith that gave us Christmas...that gave us Jesus Christ.
Saturday, November 28, 2009
The First Sunday of Advent
Hope to see all my people (SPOTH people that is) at church tomorrow. Advent begins! Tomorrow the sermon addresses our Advent Faith, our Advent Hope, what the season is all about...how it is countercultural.
Saturday, November 21, 2009
The Gift of God's Love
This week I had a sense of the great gift of love God seeks to share with all. I met someone who had never been to church or been part of any religious tradition. She asked me what it's about - Christianity. Great question. I really felt God's gift to me in that moment - that she was a gift. What could I say in a few minutes to convey what I think it is all about! I think I talked about God's love and the community of the Church. This week's sermon is the result of that conversation and my reflections about it.
Saturday, November 14, 2009
The Present and the Future - this week's sermon
As much as I would love to control the future, I know that's not happening. Just staying connected to everything going on the present can be a challenge. In the Gospel reading this week, Jesus cautions his followers about listening to those who talk about the end of time. Do not be led astray, Jesus warns.
We also have a reading from the Book of Daniel. Daniel speaks about an apocalypse when the resurrection will occur. While he is talking about the future, Daniel's words are really meant to bring comfort those in the present who are suffering. The point being, that ultimately God will bring justice, and ultimately the righteous will have all that they deserve in God's kingdom.
It is amazing to me that so many have taken these readings and used them to incite fear in others - sometimes to control members of religious groups and sometimes to exploit the fear for personal gain. There is actually a website, Eternal Earth-Bound Pets that offers to take care of your pets after the rapture. It costs only $110 for the first pet and $15 for each additional pet. The $110 fee is good for ten years, if the rapture does not come in that time, you have to pay $110 more, and so on every ten years.
Jesus encourages us to focus on the present, and trust that God will take care of the future.
We also have a reading from the Book of Daniel. Daniel speaks about an apocalypse when the resurrection will occur. While he is talking about the future, Daniel's words are really meant to bring comfort those in the present who are suffering. The point being, that ultimately God will bring justice, and ultimately the righteous will have all that they deserve in God's kingdom.
It is amazing to me that so many have taken these readings and used them to incite fear in others - sometimes to control members of religious groups and sometimes to exploit the fear for personal gain. There is actually a website, Eternal Earth-Bound Pets that offers to take care of your pets after the rapture. It costs only $110 for the first pet and $15 for each additional pet. The $110 fee is good for ten years, if the rapture does not come in that time, you have to pay $110 more, and so on every ten years.
Jesus encourages us to focus on the present, and trust that God will take care of the future.
Sunday, November 8, 2009
Appearances vs. Reality
This Week's Sermon: Appearances vs. Reality
Theme: Doing things for the sake of appearances is a waste of time for those who seek to grow close to God and who want to live a faithful life. Check it out at www.spoth.org.
Theme: Doing things for the sake of appearances is a waste of time for those who seek to grow close to God and who want to live a faithful life. Check it out at www.spoth.org.
Friday, November 6, 2009
The Bazaar
Tomorrow from 8am to 2pm, St. Paul's on-the-Hill will host its Bazaar. There will be lots of great food to buy, a tasting room and cookbook that goes with admission, and items to buy that make great gifts. Come and have lunch with us.
It takes a huge amount of time and energy to plan and carry out this event. It is a great community effort. Through such parish life events, we get to build connections within the church, and we get to meet those who will come to the Bazaar.
It takes a huge amount of time and energy to plan and carry out this event. It is a great community effort. Through such parish life events, we get to build connections within the church, and we get to meet those who will come to the Bazaar.
Tuesday, November 3, 2009
Spiritual Direction/Discernment
First - thanks to the 10 of you who are officially following this blog!
I'm at the Episcopal Seminary in Alexandria VA, VTS, for today and tomorrow meeting with the people for whom I serve as a spiritual director. It is a joy for me to be able to work with seminarians from around the country. As a spiritual director, I am a companion with others as they seek to deepen their relationship with God.
Of course, deepening our relationship with God, or one could think of it as expanding our vision of how God is already deeply in relationship with us, is something every Christian can do/hopes to do/might want to do. We are always growing in faith and our understanding/experience of faith. One way to do this is to meet with a spiritual director one-on-one, but most people don't have a spiritual director. So how can one "do spiritual direction or discernment" in any situation. I recommend practices described in the book Sleeping with Bread by Dennis, Matthew and Shelia Linn.
I think the full title is Sleeping with Bread: Holding What Gives You Life.
The authors describe how children at the end of WWII were given bread to keep with them at night so that they could feel secure, knowing that they would have food in the morning. What is it that gives us life and helps us feel secure? Answering that question requires discernment, prayerful consideration of our situation in life, what is happening in the situation, what do we hope will happen, and how God is involved with it all.
While matters of discernment can seem complex, the Linns make to easy to at least get started. They suggest that at the end of the day, we consider what is that gave us energy and also what drained our energy that day - what gave us joy or did not give us joy. Much of the time, what gives us energy and joy is something we are called to. Those things that drain our energy maybe be bad for us in some way or at least not what we are called to do. This is a great exercise to do with children. The Linns make the point children can understand what it is to feel good about something and as they reflect with their parents about what is going on in their lives, they are learning about this thing we call discernment - which gives them (and us) confidence to choose wisely among the many options life presents everyday.
I'm at the Episcopal Seminary in Alexandria VA, VTS, for today and tomorrow meeting with the people for whom I serve as a spiritual director. It is a joy for me to be able to work with seminarians from around the country. As a spiritual director, I am a companion with others as they seek to deepen their relationship with God.
Of course, deepening our relationship with God, or one could think of it as expanding our vision of how God is already deeply in relationship with us, is something every Christian can do/hopes to do/might want to do. We are always growing in faith and our understanding/experience of faith. One way to do this is to meet with a spiritual director one-on-one, but most people don't have a spiritual director. So how can one "do spiritual direction or discernment" in any situation. I recommend practices described in the book Sleeping with Bread by Dennis, Matthew and Shelia Linn.
I think the full title is Sleeping with Bread: Holding What Gives You Life.
The authors describe how children at the end of WWII were given bread to keep with them at night so that they could feel secure, knowing that they would have food in the morning. What is it that gives us life and helps us feel secure? Answering that question requires discernment, prayerful consideration of our situation in life, what is happening in the situation, what do we hope will happen, and how God is involved with it all.
While matters of discernment can seem complex, the Linns make to easy to at least get started. They suggest that at the end of the day, we consider what is that gave us energy and also what drained our energy that day - what gave us joy or did not give us joy. Much of the time, what gives us energy and joy is something we are called to. Those things that drain our energy maybe be bad for us in some way or at least not what we are called to do. This is a great exercise to do with children. The Linns make the point children can understand what it is to feel good about something and as they reflect with their parents about what is going on in their lives, they are learning about this thing we call discernment - which gives them (and us) confidence to choose wisely among the many options life presents everyday.
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