6 Easter Year A
May 21, 2017
Instillation of the Daughters of the King Chapter
In today’s gospel reading, we hear again, Jesus trying to leave the disciples with comforting words. He knows what lies before him, and he likely knows what lies ahead for the disciples as well; he knows about the betrayals to come, the fear that shall almost tear the community apart; he knows that they will need each other to get to Easter morning when God’s truth shall be revealed… he probably also knows that they will likely forget everything he is telling them, at least until Easter morning…
Jesus promises that even when he leaves, the disciples will not be left without comfort and guidance. The Advocate, the Spirit of Truth, of God’s truth shall be with them forever… God’s own Spirit, who is intimately connected to the Father and to Jesus, will also be intimately connected to the disciples, guiding them and assuring them of the power, the love, and the guidance of the Holy Trinity… But again, I am sure as Jesus spoke these words, the disciples were probably confused and afraid. Eventually, it would become clearer… but for now, all they have are Jesus’ words and their incomplete faith.
I remember when I was in seminary, a professor of mine said something that has stayed with me all this time… there are many things I have forgotten from those days, but this I have remembered. He said, that when we pray, it is the Holy Spirit praying in us… I don’t remember if he was quoting Romans chapter 8 or not, which says that the Spirit helps us in our weakness… but I remember being incredibly moved by the knowledge that my prayers were joined with the Spirit’s prayers… that somehow the Spirit was intimately connected to me… just as the Spirit is intimately connected to Jesus and the Father… and that is was through the power of the Spirit that my prayers were conceived and given on behalf of those for whom I prayed…
That’s pretty powerful stuff don’t you think? In our baptism, the Spirit becomes one with each of us, and we become adopted children of the living God… loved and cherished for all eternity… members of the kingdom of God here on earth, sent out into the world to continue the work of Jesus in world. And we know that sometimes the work is scary stuff. We know that the world which God loves is not always the most open and loving place… we know that sometimes we are told that our faith in Jesus has no place in the workings of the world, that it’s silly, a fairy tale… and that’s on the good days. Sometimes what we hear and what some of our brothers and sisters go through because of the Gospel are much worse than ridicule. May ridicule be the worst of it for us…
The Advocate that the Father gave to the disciples is the same Spirit that he gives to us… we are the inheritors of that same Advocate that will help and guide us just as it helped and guided them; we are part of that same kingdom of God, that shall continue to love Jesus and keep his commandments to love God and love our neighbor, so that the kingdom of God might be known here on earth in this time an place…
One of the ways that we do that is to pray. Today, we shall bless and institute a new chapter of the Daughter’s of the King, here in the diocese of Oklahoma. I am so pleased and excited for this time in the life of St. David’s, and for the life of this chapter to begin. Daughters of the King, is a lay religious order for women throughout the Anglican communion. Because it is a religious order, it means that those who take vows today, take vows to pray, to serve and to evangelise, which are all done to reflect God’s love throughout the world. By virtue of our baptism, we are all called to pray, to serve and to evangelise… today, these women take these vows to say that with God’s help, and with the help of St. David’s, they are making these vows a priority in their lives, so that others may know Jesus through them… They are taking vows to pray very intentionally every day; they are taking vows to intentionally serve not just the people of St. David’s, but to help our parish serve those whom God has put in our lives; they are taking vows to live their lives according to the Gospel of Christ, so that others might know where their joy and light comes from. I want to say, that as a person who lives by a rule of life, it isn’t always easy and there will be many days when your rule will escape you, and quite possibly make you feel sad or angry… do not be discouraged… a rule of life should always be challenging enough that we are always struggling a little; and it should be easy enough that we don’t get discouraged often… if anyone in the parish ever wants to craft a rule of life for themselves, I highly recommend it… come see me and we will talk about it!
I am so very honored to walk with this group of women, as well as the women who completed the study and decided that this was not the right time for them to take vows.Discernment is an important spiritual gift within the church,no matter where it might lead us.
What I want to say to everyone today, not just the soon to be members of the Daughters, is that prayer is one of the most important things that you and I do… it allows us to know that God’s Holy Spirit is working in us, to help us and to guide us; prayer helps us to know how much we are loved by God, whose children we are; prayer helps us to know more about who Jesus is, and what he has asked us to do… it helps us to know how much we need and depend on God, and how much we need and depend upon each other… it helps us to know and to love the world that God loved enough to become one of us… and so, since this chapter of the Daughter’s of the King is to be known as the Chapter of St. Clare, which as a Franciscan, makes my heart glad, I want to leave you with a short quote from St. Clare; but first I want to remind you that Clare of Assisi, your patron, was a strong, some might say stubborn woman, who loved Jesus, and took on a life of poverty in order to live closer to Jesus. She was no spiritual lightweight; she went toe to toe with her family, and with the Pope, and went on to be one of the spiritual leaders of the Franciscan way of life. Here is what she said: “We become what we love and who we love shapes what we become”. Let’s listen to that again, “We become what we love and who we love shapes what we become”. If we love Jesus, if we love the Advocate that the Father has sent, we will indeed become more like Jesus, and more like the Spirit. If we love Jesus, then our prayers will rise within us, being strengthened by the Holy Spirit. May all of us this day, as we are fed by the body and blood of Christ, grow in love for Jesus… may his Holy Spirit guide our steps, and may our prayers be joined to Jesus’ prayers in the work of the Spirit who dwells in each of us.
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