Every Little Bit...

 

SERMON – JULY 10, 2022

Luke 10: 25-37; Psalm 25: 1-9

I want to begin by telling you all how much your love and caring have meant to me ever since I first arrived at St. Simon’s five years ago. If you can put yourselves back in time you will remember the incredibly robust pounding that you gifted me with. My cupboards and paper product supply area were overflowing. In fact, believe it or not, I am still using the very last of the paper towels.

And then there is the reality that I arrived in a non-ambulatory condition and unable to drive. A broken ankle, which would keep me in a heavy cast and then boot for three months. Never once was I left standing waiting for a ride to work or a ride home. Never once was I unable to get to Publix or the Andrew's Institute where my ankle was being closely monitored.

And then, of course, there was my beloved Devin’s grave illness and, finally, his death in August of 2018. You never missed a beat in your caring and compassion for me, and for him.

Since then, there have been many ways in which you have demonstrated the strength of your love and compassion when it comes to my little life challenges. The most recent of which was my fall in New York City while attending classes at the General Theological Seminary. Emails, calls, and offers to help in any way were so gratefully received by one very humiliated, banged-up student of a ”certain age”. 

So yes, I want to thank you all from the bottom of my heart for what you have and are doing for me. But more importantly, I say all of this to help you understand the power that you as individuals and as a congregation have. The power that only love and compassion can yield. The power of the love and compassion that Jesus handed over to us as he ascended and filled us with the Holy Spirit, and the directive to “go forth.”

It could be that we often lose sight of that power and begin to wonder “what in the world do my little efforts matter in the midst of this troubled world”?

Well, they mean a great deal. Desmond Tutu once said, “Do your little bit of good where you are; it's those little bits of good put together that overwhelm the world.” Those are important words that we all need to remember when we are wondering what we might do to make a difference. “Do your little bit of good where you are; it's those little bits of good put together that overwhelm the world.” In the end, every little bit comes together to make a tidal wave of difference.

As I was slowly but successfully healing from my recent fall, I spent a fair amount of time reviewing life at St. Simon’s both as I have known it and through stories and personal accounts that I have heard about the past life of the congregation. As I was doing so, I put together a timeline of the community service projects initiated by St. Simon’s in the Ft. Walton Beach area over the past 40 or so years. I was overwhelmed by this congregation’s historical and continual outpouring of love and compassion. St. Simon’s on the Sound congregants were instrumental in the development of Children in Crisis, Opportunity Place, Sharing and Caring, One Hopeful Place, and Oasis florida. Many of you spearheaded and served as hosts in the original Cold Night Program. Over the years you housed and fed hundreds of men, women, and children who had no shelter as winter temperatures plunged below 40 degrees Fahrenheit. Each Sunday Father Jack’s Kitchen fed those who had no food a hot lunch; every Sunday, for many, many years. Our partnership with Elliott Point School, has provided snacks, cleaning supplies, and scholarships to children in need over the past six or seven years. The Craft Fair with its infamous bake sale and tasty pickles, and the annual rummage sale opened the St. Simon’s doors to hundreds upon hundreds of community members bent of receiving the hospitality and love offered by the many congregation members who made certain that each event went off without a hitch. Most recently, many of you have once again offered food and compassion to those who seek shelter at One Hopeful Place on nights far too cold to be sleeping in unheated spaces.

The sum of these activities offered in bits and pieces of love may not have seemed important at the time, but as you can see for yourselves, they have added up to form a powerful presence of caring and compassion in the Ft. Walton Beach Community – and that matters. It matters a great deal. Now, more than ever, those bits and pieces of caring and compassion are needed. Urgently needed. While the impact of Covid 19 and the Omicron variant are still very much with us, with God’s help we have developed ways to better handle the effects of this frightening and to many frequently fatal disease.

In sum, it is time to emerge from our Covid hibernation and to resume offering the bits and pieces of love, caring, and compassion that has been our historical identity. 

Our collect today provides a solid prayer to support us in this emergence as a presence in our community. Please refer to it in your service leaflet and let’s pray it together:

O Lord, mercifully receive the prayers of your people who call upon you, and grant that they may know and understand what things they ought to do, and also may have grace and power faithfully to accomplish them; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

A collect is simply a prayer meant to gather the intentions of the people and the focus of worship into a succinct prayer. Each week the collect varies in response to the readings of the week. That is certainly the case with this week’s collect in which the psalmist cries out to God seeking guidance and courage in troubled times:

Show me your ways, O Lord, *
and teach me your paths.

4 Lead me in your truth and teach me, *
for you are the God of my salvation;
in you have I trusted all the day long.

5 Remember, O Lord, your compassion and love, *
for they are from everlasting. 

And then, in the Gospel of Luke we come Jesus’ – God’s - reply to this cry for guidance and courage in the parable of the Good Samaritan. What better example of God’s response to our cry for guidance and courage than Jesus offering this famous story, which concludes with him responding to the lawyer’s question, “Who is my neighbor?” with the words:

“Which of these three, do you think, was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of the robbers?" He said, "The one who showed him mercy." Jesus said to him, "Go and do likewise." 

Whenever we have cried out to God in petition for guidance, strength, and the courage to live our lives in a holy manner, God has always responded. Ultimately out of love and compassion he sent Jesus to lead us, to show us how to love; how to have courage; how to be a light our darkness. We have it all - God’s never ceasing love of all his children, and Jesus’ example of how to give that love to the rest of the world – even if it is in bits and pieces.

Currently, we are in the process of planning for fall and winter events that include many new and exciting opportunities to resume of role of lighting the community with God’s compassion and love. I will be publishing information about what is in the works and how you can join in each week in the Epistle. Please look for this information and please remember the words of Archbishop Desmond Tutu as he pastored a community painfully torn asunder by apartheid:

“Do your little bit of good where you are; it's those little bits of good put together that overwhelm the world.”

 

 

 

 

 

What is your cup?

 

 

SERMON Maundy Thursday

April 14, 2022

“They went to a place called Gethsemane, and he said to his disciples, ‘Sit here while I pray.’ He took with him Peter and James and John and began to be distressed an agitated. And he said to them, ‘I am deeply grieved, even to death; remain here, and keep awake.’ And going a little further, he threw himself on the ground and prayed that, if it were possible the hour might pass from him. He said, ‘Abba, Father for you all things are possible; remove this cup from me; yet not what I want, but what you want.” (Mark 14:32-36)

Tonight, is the night that Jesus exits our lives. Betrayed by Judas and taken prisoner by Roman Centurions, he has been tried and condemned to death. Multiple beatings have weakened him. He is in pain as he struggles to walk the road that winds up the hill to the cross upon which he will be crucified. He will suffer even greater pain as nails are hammered into his hands and feet, and as he hangs upon the cross, waiting to die, cajoled by the crowd. 

In his account of the passion, Mark tells us that just a day earlier, after a last supper with his disciples, Jesus had withdrawn to the Garden at Gethsemane to pray. Mark describes Jesus as distressed and agitated. Leaving his disciples to keep watch, he withdrew into the garden, threw himself on the ground, and wept in anguish. He prayed "Abba, Father, for you all things are possible; remove this cup from me; yet not what I want, but what you want."

Following this he exited the garden to speak with his disciples only to find them sound asleep. He was frustrated, disappointed by their inability to stay awake at such an important hour. He said to Peter, "Simon, are you asleep? Could you not keep awake one hour?"

Twice more Jesus went up into the garden to pray, and twice more his disciples failed to stay awake. Twice again, they failed him. They abandoned him in his hour of deepest anguish. An hour during which he had asked them to remain awake. Awake to what was about to occur. 

Despite all his teachings, they were unable to comprehend what the immediate future held for him. Sleep trumped being present with their Lord in his hour of despair.

And then, the centurions arrived. The hour had come. Jesus could stay in the Garden no longer. Now it was time for him to rise from prayer, to exit the garden, and to go to the cross. He accepted his "cup" as he gave himself up for the sake of the world.

John's gospel portrays a far different version of Jesus' last night with his disciples. There is no garden scene. No throwing himself to the ground in anguish. No praying in despair, asking to be relieved of his cup. No sleeping disciples. Rather, in an upper room somewhere in Jerusalem, Jesus, knowing that his time had come and that he was going to God, sat at a long table, his disciples gathered around him for a last supper. As they concluded their meal he rose and began the incredibly humbling task of washing the disciples' feet, and then demanding that the disciples do likewise. That they wash each other’s feet. And that they wash their Lord's feet.

Jesus said to them, "…You call me teacher and Lord – and you are right, for that is what I am. So, if I your Lord and Teacher have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet. For I have set you an example, that you should also do as I have done to you. Very truly, I tell you, servants are not greater than their master, nor are messengers greater than the one who sent them. If you know these things, you are blessed if you do them." 

The task of this foot washing ritual personifies so graphically the servanthood of Jesus, and makes crystal clear his expectation of servanthood for those who follow him. "You should also do as I have done to you". To be a disciple of Jesus Christ is to be the humblest of servants to each other and to the world, just as Jesus was a servant to the world.

In his walk to the cross and through his painful and humiliating crucifixion Jesus' servanthood reconciled the world to God. Now we, as Christians, are called to commit ourselves to that stance of humility and servanthood as we in our own small ways attempt to reconcile the world to God.

These two gospel passages that tell of Jesus' last hours with his disciples, although different in most ways, both show us that if we are to be disciples of Jesus Christ we must accept his "cup" of servanthood as our "cup" of servanthood. We must commit ourselves to servanthood; and through that servanthood we must love and serve one another and the world just as Jesus loved and served us.

As we sit here this evening witnessing Jesus' last moments with us as the altar is stripped and Christ exits our lives, I wonder: At this moment in time what is the cup that God is calling us to drink from – the cross that he is asking us to bear? 

Our world trembles with instability and insecurity. The effects of climate change; the war in Ukraine; massive tensions throughout the Mideast regions; the long-term effects of the Covid19 pandemic; and here at home crippling divisiveness that has disrupted precious relationships through the politicization of almost every aspect of our daily lives. All of these issues swirl around us – continually – invading our hearts, our minds, and our souls. And we must ask ourselves: How do we serve in love? How do we reconcile this troubled world to God?" What is our "cup"? What is our cross?"

Will we stay awake in the Garden, or will we succumb to sleep?

Perhaps it is best to start right here. Right here at home where the heart is. Home being our St. Simon's community as it emerges from two traumatic years of Covid19 isolation; two years of loneliness and apprehension. Two years of Covid exile, forced from our church, our friendships, and our way of life. Forced to flee into a land of unknowing and fear of being with each other.

Now it is time to emerge; to return to the community we were forced to flee two short – but yet, very long – years ago.

Returning is not easy. Everything has changed. We must reorient ourselves to a much-changed context as we work to re-establish our beloved St. Simon's community; as we reconnect with friends; and as we gather to worship with imagination and faith. Our cup is the cup of community building and our cross the many challenges we will face if we are to ensure that the light of Christ shines brightly in the hearts, and souls, and minds of all St. Simonites, and through us into the surrounding community and the world.

God is calling us to assemble as a community and to re-build ourselves as a called people, disciples, who manifest our Christian faith through concrete ways in our daily lives. We are called to be stewards of the discipleship that Jesus has bestowed on us.

Christ will depart, yet through us he will live on.

There is no doubt – we will have many Gethsemane moments. Moments where we will prefer sleep over the challenging task of staying awake, but Jesus expects us to awaken and to emerge from the garden with our head held high ready for the challenge that He has placed before us.

Are you ready to take up this call?

Brother, sister let me serve you, 
let me be as Christ to you; 
pray that I may have the grace to 
let you be my servant too.

We are pilgrims on a journey 
and companions on the road; 
we are here to help each other 
walk the mile and bear the load.

 

I will hold the Christ-light for you 
in the night-time of your fear; 
I will hold my hand out to you, 
speak the peace you long to hear.

 

I will weep when you are weeping; 
when you laugh, I'll laugh with you; 
I will share your joy and sorrow
till we've seen this journey through.

 

When we sing to God in heaven 
we shall find such harmony, 
born of all we've known together 
of Christ's love and agony.

Brother, sister let me serve you, 
let me be as Christ to you; 
pray that I may have the grace to 
let you be my servant too.

 

 

Hearing God's Voice

 

Sermon

O3/27/2022

This is a challenging time to write sermons. The world is suffering. The people of the world are suffering. God's children are suffering. What can we, the clergy, who are called to deliver the Good News of Jesus Christ say in response to this suffering?

Frankly, for me at least, it has been hard to know what to say. As I watch the dangerously escalating situation in Ukraine - the suffering and death of so many men, women, and children, the destruction of entire cities, the displacement of millions - I feel myself becoming numbed by it all. And yet I know that I cannot allow that to happen.

What I/we are seeing and hearing about the war in Ukraine is real; a real and continual act of terrorism of the worst kind, and as Christians we must respond. We must pray for peace to descend upon Ukraine and for the safe haven of the now approximately four million of God's beloved children who are now fleeing from all they know and hold dear. Fleeing in the hope that they will live to be counted among the survivors of the terrifying destruction of their country. And we must join with our global partners to provide humanitarian disaster relief in ways that help and do no further harm. We must seek and serve Christ in all people of Ukraine and strive for their justice and peace.

To avert my potential numbness -of running away from what is a massively complex and tragic situation - I knew that I must dig deep into my faith and to listen closely for what God is saying to me, to all of us, as we witness this tragedy. And so, I have committed to daily readings of scripture and set aside time for reflection and prayer after each reading.  I have focused my reading and reflection not only passages from the New Testament, but also from Exodus and Deuteronomy, two books of the Hebrew Bible that deal with God's deliverance of the Israelites from the oppression of Pharaoh and the commandments and promises that God instructed Moses to convey to them on his behalf.

As you may remember, in Deuteronomy God sends Moses down from the mountain with instructions to speak with authority to the Israelites saying:

“Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God is one Lord;^[a] 5 and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might. ⁶ And these words which I command you this day shall be upon your heart; ⁷ and you shall teach them diligently to your children and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. ⁸ And you shall bind them as a sign upon your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. ⁹ And you shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates. (Deut 6:4-9) 

God had "set his people free". He heard their desperate cry for deliverance from the domination system of slavery imposed by Pharoah, and God took notice. He observed the misery of his people who were in Egypt and he "came down" to deliver them. But in return for this deliverance from oppression, from the domination system of Pharoah, God insisted upon an exclusive 24/7 relationship with his people. He demanded that their commitment to him, and only him, be securely and eternally in their hearts and souls – forever; and that his commandments, the Law, be followed religiously as part of that commitment. 

In the words of the prophet Hosea, God said to his people, "I desire steadfast love and not sacrifice, the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings". (Hos. 6:6)

God wanted to be known and obeyed.

The point of reading these ancient texts was to study and reflect upon the same sacred scripture that Jesus read and studied as a child. The scripture that he drew upon as he developed a voice of "authority" and became "rabbi", "teacher", and finally savior. As a result of reading and reflecting upon these ancient texts, I have developed a far deeper understanding of the God in whom we profess our faith; the God to whom we have committed our hearts and souls; the God from whom we seek strength, courage, compassion, love, and salvation. 

The God that Jesus spoke of was the God of the Hebrew Bible. The God who demanded no less than total commitment from his people if they were to be set free - to be saved - centuries earlier from the oppression of Pharoah's domination and exploitation system and, in Jesus' time, the domination and exploitation system of the Roman Empire. 

In his teachings, Jesus affirmed God's commandment as the Greatest commandment and added to it saying, "Which commandment is the greatest of all? "The first is, Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God is one; you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength. The second is this, You shall love your neighbor as yourself. There is no other commandment greater than these." (Mark 12:26-30) 

From the first books of the Hebrew Bible to this very moment in time God commands that we are to have only one God and to love him with all our hearts, and with all our souls, with all our minds, and with all our might. And as followers of Jesus, we have been given an additional commandment to love one another as Jesus, as God, loves us. These basic teachings – obedience to God and love of the other are repeated for centuries on end, by Moses, by the Prophets, By Jesus, and by Paul. They have never changed and will never change – at least on God's part. The big question is, of course, have we, are we, keeping these commandments?

Paul in his Second Letter to the Corinthians creates some theology based these two great commandments for us to consider. He writes to his beloved church, "If anyone is in Christ there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see everything has become new!" Paul is urging the Corinthians to grasp the depth of their commitment to Jesus Christ. He explains that through our baptism and our commitment to Christ – our “Being in Christ” – we become "new" – and in this "newness" we commit to an all-encompassing relationship with Christ. We are reconciled to God, made new,  through Christ; and through our reconciliation with God, we have become Christ's ambassadors. We have been given the task of bringing reconciliation – a change in relationship between God and the world  - to the world.

Through our reconciliation to Christ – to God – we are called to love the Lord our God with all our heart, and with all our soul, and with all our mind, and with all our strength; and to love our neighbor as ourselves. We are called to follow Jesus on his way to the cross, and beyond. And we are committed to holding God's commandments in our heart; to teaching them diligently to our children, and to talking of them when we sit in God's house, and when we walk by the way, and when we lie down, and when we rise." This is what God commanded through the voices Moses and Prophets, and now it is Jesus himself who issues these commands to us.

Reading and reflecting on God's words as expressed in the Hebrew Bible and comparing them to the teachings of both Jesus and Paul in the New Testament has given me a deeper understanding of God’s relationship with us and a renewed spiritual strength as I seek, in some small way, to participate in the healing of a suffering of the world. This spiritual strength that stemmed my journey into numbness, generated by so much violence and tragedy. I now have a clearer focus as I continue to discern how I might best offer support to not only Ukrainians, but to all of the people of the world who find themselves displaced by conflict, oppression, and terrorism.

Several of you have expressed your frustration over what feels like the passivity and, yes, perhaps the uselessness of offering just prayer for Ukraine at this moment in time. I understand that frustration, but I disagree. I believe study, prayer, and reflection are critical first steps to creating a "boots on the ground" response to any of the massive number of world tragedies that have occurred, including the war in Ukraine.

In his little, but extremely powerful book on the importance of prayer, Silence and Honeycakes, the former Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams says, "A monk's cell is like the furnace of Babylon where the three young men found the Son of God. And it is like the pillar of cloud where God spoke to Moses." 

Through prayer God reveals himself to us and we begin to hear our call to action. Without prayer that seeks God's voice, without hearing God, we have no mandate. We are directionless.

My prayer today is that together, we may so direct our prayers that God's voice makes clear a call, a path, a way for us to help Ukraine – to help the world – find the peace of reconciliation with God; and that the leaders of the world as they are reconciled with God find ways to govern and to live in unity.

 

 

 

 

Religion vs. Spirituality

 

Sermon -- 01/23/2022

Is religion giving way to spirituality?

This is a hotly debated question these days and it is an accurate descriptor of what we talked about in a recent week-long, Zoom-based class undertaken in my determined march toward the acquisition of a Doctor of Ministry degree. 

Overall, the 40 hours of Zoom presentations did little to lend an answer to this complex question. However, some of the readings and perhaps more importantly almost all of our class conversations caused me to reorganize my way of thinking about this heated discussion. A discussion that centers on the apparently failing church, the emergence of alternative spiritualities, and the not so new class of “nones” – those with purportedly no religious or spiritual affiliation.

Meeting this question head-on, Robert Withnow in his book After Heaven, writes, “At the start of the twentieth century, virtually all Americans practiced their faith within a Christian or Jewish tradition…Now, at the end of the twentieth century, growing numbers of Americans piece together their faith like a patchwork quilt. Spirituality has become a vastly complex quest in which each person seeks in his or her own way,” (p. 2) 

Heelas and Woodhead in their book The Spiritual Revolution summarize by stating, “We are interested in the idea that the great historical bond between western cultures and a Christianity whose characteristic mode is to make appeal to a transcendent authority is rapidly dissolving, and that in its place we are seeing the growth of a less regulated situation in which the sacred is experienced in intimate relationship with [the person].” (p. 10)

These interpretations of today’s church represent only two out of the many expressed in the diverse books and articles required as reading for the course. However, they do summarize the central argument: Organized religion may very well be giving way to personal spiritual seeking. In other words, worshipping God through a hierarchical religion is being overtaken by seeking spiritual peace through self-directed activities.

This approach is too black and white. It allows for no shades of grey. It becomes one versus the other – either this or that. Three separate groups are formed – religious, spiritual, and nones.

Class discussion was also black and white in approach – God-seeking ways versus the spiritually seeking ways that are attracting those who have “fallen away” from church. Yoga, spiritual direction, counseling, nature walks, crystals and tarot card reading – the list goes on forever.

In the end however, these discussions revealed that even class members, five priests and me – utilize at least one, if not several, of these spiritual/self-directed outlets in combination with hierarchical religion to help us find some kernel of peace as we encounter the stresses of everyday life. As the week went along the boundary between religion and spirituality grew fuzzier. In the end, we wondered: who is seeking what and from whom and how?

It seems evident that at this moment in time we are all seeking no matter which group we identify with. We are all wandering in the desert, a landscape massively transformed by an entrenched Covid19 pandemic, the increasing globalization of our economy and supply chain, digital tsunamis that threaten us in multiple ways, and the divisiveness of a highly politicized world that is focused on power and discord not love and inclusion.

Perhaps we have moved beyond the simplistic black and white classifications of religious vs. spiritual vs. nones. Perhaps we have now entered a time in which it is of critical importance that we allow artificial boundaries to fall away and work together to be united with the God of peace and love whom we are all so desperately seeking.

Pondering this question, I thought of Desmond Tutu and his use of Ubuntu as a way for us humans to become a community reconciled with God. Archbishop Tutu recognized that human beings are called to be persons in community precisely because we are all made in the image of the triune God – three persons in one… Tutu believed, “God says, it is precisely our diversity that makes for our unity. It is precisely because you are you and I am me that [God] says, ‘You hold on together.’…It is absolutely necessary for us to share certain values. Otherwise discourse between us would be impossible for we would be without common points of reference.” (p. 29-30, Battle, Ubuntu)

Rowan Williams says it quite simply, “How do we build a common life with those with whom we believe we have nothing in common? Learning about the world depends on conversation.” (YouTube – How to Change the World)

That brings us to Paul who writes to the Corinthians, “For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. For in the one Spirit, we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and we were all made to drink of one Spirit. Indeed, the body does not consist of one member but of many.”

And to Jesus’ proclamation in the Nazarene synagogue, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor." 

And finally, to the Collect of the day: Give us grace, O Lord, to answer readily the call of our Savior Jesus Christ and proclaim to all people the Good News of his salvation, that we and the whole world may perceive the glory of his marvelous works; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen. 

Jesus calls us to acknowledge the other and to be in healing conversation with them. Paul makes clear that in our one body we are a diverse many that must be recognized and honored if we are to make the body whole. The collect calls us to alert the whole world of God’s marvelous works.

None of these tasks can be done if we continue to define the world in black and white terms.  Healing of the world cannot possibly be accomplished without acknowledging that we are all persons through the triune person of God. We are because of God.

I am because WE ARE, and we are because I AM. Ubuntu. 

As I reflect on my week of study, I am more certain than ever that it is critical to see the world, our neighbors, through the concept of Ubuntu and to recognize that we are all seeking. And perhaps more importantly that we are all persons created and loved by God. That is what we should be focusing on, not which way or where we worship to seek spiritual peace.

To do this means that we must take time to reorganize our thinking about religion and spirituality based on the realities of 2022 – a world far different from the 50s, 60s, 70s, and 80s. Decades in which many churches still find themselves. Old paradigms are not necessarily relevant any longer. Do we have the courage and imagination to design new paradigms of seeking God that are inclusive and build and sustain communities? 

Paul’s words are important - the body has many parts; however, they manifest themselves, but the body is ultimately one in God. We have much to learn from and give to the other - if we can be in conversation. If we can understand that each in our own ways are all seekers of God’s grace. It would be much the best for the world if we understood it and lived it as the work of one body created by God. I in you and you in me. AMEN

 

Pilgrims in the Borderlands

 

Pilgrims in the Borderlands

Authored by The Rev. Clelia Pinza-Garrity, LCSW

By situating ourselves within concrete experiences, by being with the people there where they live, with caring and fraternal attitudes, as virtuous beings, we expose ourselves to the richness and to the limits of their human and social experience. We are transformed in our way of looking at the world. We are strengthened in what makes their lives and our lives meaningful. (Andrea Vicini, S. J. in Scharen and Vigen, Ethnography as Christian Theology and Ethics. P. 180)

Early this fall, the Diocese of the Central Gulf Coast engaged in a partnership agreement with the Rio Grande Border Ministries, a program of the Diocese of the Rio Grande. The agreement aims to create ways in which pilgrims from the Diocese of the Central Gulf Coast can journey to the Rio Grande Borderlands. A journey of listening and learning – of seeing and hearing – of being present with the people of the Texas, Arizona, and Mexico border communities – the Borderlands.

Most importantly, it will be a journey in which we see God Incarnate at work in and through the people who are struggling mightily to escape poverty, oppression, and fear; to find a place of safety and peace. And it will be a journey in which we develop relationships with clergy and lay leaders in Texas, Arizona, and Mexico who need our hearts, hands, and feet to assist and support them in their various borderlands ministries. Rio Grande Borderland Ministry Opportunities

As I reflect on my many years of work in Haiti and my most recent project in the desert bush of Zambia, Africa I can safely say that those of us who travel to the Rio Grande Borderlands will be transformed in our understanding of the complex immigration situation imposed on this area and the people who are struggling mightily to reach safety and peace. I am also quite certain that as Christians we will be transformed as we experience God Incarnate through the stories, the hearts and souls, and the work of those who inhabit this amazing and sacred place.

Our work will begin in earnest in early 2022. We have already had one extremely informative meeting with the U.S. Border Patrol at the El Paso bridge. We intend to schedule other Zoom meetings in January and February, with an in-person pilgrimage in the spring.

If you are interested in joining the Diocesan Borderlands group email list and perhaps volunteering when opportunities arise, please contact Deacon Clelia at garritycpg@gmail.com (561-271-2890)

God from God...

 

Sermon – 12-05-21

Luke 3:1-6

Former Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, opened a lecture on his thoughts about the meaning of Christmas by referring to the second verse of the popular Christmas Hymn, O Come All Ye Faithful.

The second verse he claimed gets, decisively, at the question, "Who is it that is at the center of the Christmas story?"

"God from God…Light from Light eternal, lo! He abhors not the Virgin's womb; only begotten Son of the Father." Hymnal #83, v. 2

Williams goes on to say, "It is the King of Angels, it is God who is at the center of the [Christmas] story. But not simply God as such, but God from God. God's life boiling over from eternity into time. And when we've sung God from God, we go on to use one of the most ancient and powerful images for what that means, Light from Light…The light of God truly flows out into the world and yet leaves God undiminished, like a candle lighting another candle…Action, energy that flows out from God and is no less than God, and yet does not diminish God… the God we believe in, as Christians, is a God who holds nothing back. That is the Divine nature. God gives what God is." Rowan Williams - Christmas

God from God. God's life boiling over from eternity into time. The image is of God flowing from God. God steadily infusing us with the light and the love that is only his to give, while remaining, in all ways, undiminished, fully God. God from God. Light from Light.

Centuries earlier the Medieval Desert Father, Meister Eckhart, one of the most brilliant and controversial mystics in the history of Christianity, in his densely packed writings alluded to the very same concept of the “boiling over of God into humanity.” He wrote, “The created world is a ‘boiling over’, spilling out from God’s inner ‘boiling.’…God finds delight and satisfaction where he finds sameness. He finds it a joy to pour his nature and his being completely into the sameness, for he is this sameness itself.” (Harmless, W. Mystics; pp.116-117)

As we journey through this Advent season these are important theological musings. Musings that envision a God who so delights in our being that he continually ‘boils over’ with Light and Love. Unceasingly it pours into the world and thus into our lives. This interpretation of God’s continual offering of Light and Love is central to the soul-healing and faith-healing that must take place in today’s world. A world deeply wounded, traumatized, and, sadly, questioning of their faith, of God.

I say this as a preface to thinking about what Christmas means for all of us – the St. Simon’s family – as we hope, cautiously, to emerge from almost two years of Covid 19 inflicted trauma; yet, not knowing at all what is “around the next corner.”

Indeed, even as I wrote this homily the day after Thanksgiving 2021 the trauma continued. News outlets were delivering reports of a new Covid variant – one perhaps more contagious and deadly than its predecessor. The financial markets reacted to this news with a massive plunge. Travel restrictions were once again put into place. Suddenly the future looked more ominous than it did just the day before when we were enjoying our Thanksgiving holiday.

The trauma to our souls continues, unceasingly.

I do not use the word trauma lightly. Trauma is real. It results from exposure to an incident or series of events that are emotionally disturbing and potentially life-threatening. Trauma has lasting adverse effects on one’s functioning. On one’s mental, physical, social, economic, emotional, and spiritual well-being.

Covid19 and its variants were, and still are, for us and for all the world an ongoing traumatic event. Our ways of functioning have been, and in many cases still are, being massively disrupted and severely compromised by the ongoing trauma imposed by the presence throughout the world of a rapidly spreading, potentially deadly illness. Trauma that has deeply affected our mental, physical, social, economic, emotional, and spiritual well-being.

Trauma is the root cause of the anxiety, depression, panic, and fear of death that many in our community and in the world have and are continuing to experience.

The antidote to trauma is often referred to as post-traumatic care. Central to this care is a stable, caring, inclusive, and trustworthy environment that provides a community focused on healing. The kind of community that God envisions for his loved ones, his children.

This is where St. Simon’s and its thoughts on Christmas enter the picture.

On Christmas Eve through the birth of his Son Jesus, “God’s giving to us what God is”, our Christian faith takes on a new dimension. God enters our lives in a new way. With the arrival of Jesus, God chooses to be among us. God choses to live as fully human. Human in every way, just like you and me.

As the carol Hark the Herald Angels sings out, God is “Pleased as man with man to be.”

And in Jesus, God with us, we begin to see new and expanded ways in which we can exist in the world. Ways that are filled with divine love and deep compassion for the entirety of humankind. Ways in which every citizen of the world is recognized as God’s beloved child. Everyone equal in the eyes of God. Ways that have the possibility of creating stable, loving, and life-giving communities both at St. Simon’s and throughout the world.

Advent is a time to empty our minds of daily confusions and to spend time in prayerful reflection. It is a time to reflect on, to contemplate the meaning of God’s incredible gift of Christmas. Advent is a time to discern how to prepare for the arrival of ‘God from God, Light from Light’ into our lives.

The gift of God from God; Light from Light is our call to lay aside beliefs and behaviors that lead us away from the Light and the Love that will arrive on Christmas Eve. It calls us to grow as compassionate human beings, as loving healers, and as faithful disciples. It calls us to create stable and caring communities that offer a place for those who suffer from the effects of this traumatized world.

Through the gift of Christmas, we are called to love each other as God loves us, with a ‘boiling over’ love filled with action and energy.

The Apostle Paul lived his life spreading the word of this gift throughout the Roman Empire. In his Letter to the Philippians he wrote, “For God is my witness, how greatly I long for you all with the compassion of Christ Jesus. And this is my prayer, that your love may overflow still more and more with knowledge and full insight to help you determine what is best, so that in the day of Christ you may be pure and blameless, having produced the harvest of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ for the glory and praise of God.” (Phil. 1:8-11)

In this passage, Paul prays that the Philippians might be filled with the fruits of righteousness - be acceptable to God. He goes on the say that it is only through experiencing God IN us that we are equipped to bear the gifts of these fruits– to walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. (Rom. 8:4)

Paul prays that his followers in Phillipi will be filled with a love that overflows. A love through which they produce 'the harvest of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ for the glory and praise of God.'  A harvest of light and love that brings to the world the Light and Love of God that is present in Christ.

As usual, definitive marching orders from Paul. As Christians we are to walk not according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. According to God’s way of loving us. According to the way of Jesus.

In light of all these thoughts, today’s passage from Luke’s gospel pops out with new meaning and incredible power as we hear John the Baptist cry out:

"Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight, every valley shall be filled, and every mountain and hill be made low, and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough ways be made smooth, and all flesh shall see the salvation of God.’ (Luke 3:5-6)

‘Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.’

Get ready for Christmas. Clear ample space in your heart, in your mind, and in your soul to be amazed at the incredible arrival of God from God, Light from Light. Get ready for the arrival of God made man – Jesus and all that his birth as our human savior means.

Christmas is thrilling, amazing – but it is only a beginning. The beginning of a journey in which we as Christians, disciples of Christ, are formed by and must act according to the reality and the theology of Christmas.

As we gather each week at St. Simon’s, as we interact with family and community, will we open our hearts and minds, recognizing the trauma that all have suffered? Will we work together to create a stable and caring community in which all are equally valuable in the eyes of God – in which healing, compassion, love, and forgiveness are a priority?

Advent is the time to think about all of this. Christmas is the time to joyfully receive our gift and allow it to boil over into the world through the King of Angels – God – in us. AMEN

 

The Priests of Haiti

 

The Priests of Haiti

"We are alive, but we are still fighting for [our] life. Even though the situation is very, very difficult, we continue to work very hard. Perhaps another time I might have more to say to you, but for now the shaking continues. The buildings shake. The shaking is everyplace. That is why it is difficult to stay in one place. Right now, I stay under this tree. My bed and my car stay here. But God knows everything. We always, always have hope. The situation in Haiti should be changed. I don't know how long, but we [can]not continue, continue the life like that. It is not a human life. I think it is very difficult…but we continue to work. We continue to pray…we are all one in Jesus Christ." Jean Berthold Phanord, Episcopal Priest, Bondeau, Haiti. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pr6XTeQjOMw

I first traveled to Haiti in 1999. It was a spur of the moment trip. I was working in Palm Beach County as the HIV/AIDS clinical program manager and was increasingly curious about the Haitian culture and Haitian attitudes regarding healthcare. One afternoon I said to my husband, "I need to go to Haiti", and literally overnight, I found a group that was headed there the following week. I booked my flight, met them at the airport, and was in Haiti the following Thursday afternoon. 

As our plane sped down the runway for the brief 90-minute flight to Port au Prince, the tiny nation's capital, I was blissfully ignorant of what was about to happen to me. To say that I fell in love with Haiti would be doing an injustice to the complex feelings that welled in my heart and in my head throughout five brief days of meeting, visiting, and caring for countless souls -all of whom welcomed us with open arms, loving hearts, and incredible hospitality. 

I returned home stunned by all that I had encountered – the crowds, the poverty, the lack of infrastructure, the absence of medical care…the list went on and on. And yet, despite conditions in what was most clearly a "third world" country, a people so vibrant, so talented, and so in love with God. Perhaps to say that I fell in love with Haiti would be far too simplistic. Perhaps, more accurately, I could say that Haiti entered my soul, and it has never left.

I write this little piece two weeks following the devastating 7.2 earthquake Haiti experienced on August 18, 2021, only 11 years after the 2010 7.0 earthquake that leveled much of Port au Prince and Leogane, Haiti's two largest cities. Although political unrest and Covid 19 have prevented me from traveling to Haiti since the fall of 2019, I have not ceased to care deeply for the many friendships and projects that were an integral part of my life for 20 years. And so, uppermost in my mind and central to my prayer life these days are these relationships and projects.

And, while I pray for all of Haiti, today it strikes me that it is the priests of Haiti - men and women whose commitment to their vocation is without parallel – for whom I am the most concerned as I write this brief reflection.

Paul in his Letter to the Ephesians writes, "Therefore take up the whole armor of God, so that you may be able to withstand on that evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm. Stand therefore, and fasten the belt of truth around your waist, and put on the breastplate of righteousness. As shoes for your feet put on whatever will make you ready to proclaim the gospel of peace. With all of these, take the shield of faith, with which you will be able to quench all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God." (Eph 6:13-17) 

I do not believe that one can know or understand the life of a Haitian priest without having had the honor and the opportunity to work closely with them over an extended period of time. To be embedded among them if you will. I was so blessed with that opportunity and today as I read Pere Phanord's comments and I await word from my good friend Pere Kesner Ajax I find myself overwhelmed with grief as I think of the grief and trauma that these souls have endured over the years and their commitment to never question God, but rather to always, with the armor of God, to live in hope and faith.

I remember Pere Kesner who several weeks after the 2010 earthquake stood beside me at the collapsed cathedral in Port au Prince. He was pointing to a small cross in what appeared to be a newly cleared area beside the rubble of the cathedral. He said, so quietly, "This cross is for the children who died here. I listened to them crying for help, but we could not reach them." (Personal communication) I take a look a Pere Kesner's Facebook page this morning and watch him in a series of photos standing straight and strong as he hands out food and water to hundreds amidst the rubble of Les Cayes, his home, a smile on his face and I would bet love in his heart.

Pere Phanord sent out a short video this morning, the opening quote above is extracted from his recorded comments. In the video he is seated in a plastic chair under a tree, his car behind him. His entire community, including his house, is now rubble. Many people have died. There is no food or water. They are miles from anywhere that might offer significant help. Yet he continues to hold services to which many people flock, in the hope that God will bring relief to a life that, as Pere Phanord says, "is not human." 

It is clear from the video that Pere Phanord is not well. He is struggling to breath. Perhaps he had Covid and is suffering aftereffects. I will have to ask him when we next communicate. But despite it all, there he is in his collar, ministering to his flock and advocating for their needs. 

Paul encourages us to be warriors in a battle to remain steadfast in our love of Christ. I can think of no greater example of what these warriors might look like other than the priests of Haiti. Let us keep them in our prayers.