Prayers the size of mustard seeds

Proper 12 Year A

July 30, 2017

8th Sunday after Pentecost

    As you might imagine, I get asked a lot about prayer; how to pray, when to pray, why pray… all sorts of interesting questions that we all desire answers to.  If you’re like me, sometimes those questions come from a place of wanting to get it right; I like knowing what I am doing, and the more experience I get in life, it seems the less I know.  Parenting is one of the world’s most humbling experiences near as I can tell, and I know that I often feel like I’m making it up as I go along; priesthood is similarly humbling many days… there’s just no way to “know” in any kind of way that makes sense how to parent, or how to be in any kind of close relationship with people; you just have to do it; and some days are going to be ok, and others, not so much… but hopefully we learn from our experiences… prayer is very much like that, I find.   Our Catechism defines prayer as “ responding to God, by thoughts and by deeds, with or without words”.

    Sounds like other relationships we have, doesn’t it?  Our lives are a series of responses to other people, and of course the more invested we are in the relationship the deeper the response.

    So, how invested are in our relationship to God?  Are our responses to God the deep longing for God of our souls, or just merely responses that we give out of a sense of duty?

    Prayer, is our life’s work.  Whether our prayers are part of corporate worship or the private groanings that we would never share with anyone, prayer is what we were created to do.  The goal for Christians is to “pray without ceasing”, that is, our lives are to be a constant, unending response to God.  Sounds a bit daunting, right?  There are so many distractions, so many things that demand our attention, that it seems impossible to respond to God all the time.

    Paul tell us thing morning, “The Spirit helps us in our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but that very Spirit intercedes with sighs too deep for words.”  I have talked before about the Spirit praying within us, and it’s obviously a concept and image that means a lot to me.  Not sure I have ever mentioned it so many times in one year, but for whatever reason, I think it bears some repeated reflecting on.  If I look at some of the parables in today’s gospel, prayer is how we access the kingdom of God.  Prayer is sometimes that mustard seed that is so small, and seems so insignificant, at least compared to whatever else has our attention; maybe we just give God a passing thought as we go on to the next thing.

    Yet, the Spirit still uses that small seed of our prayer.  The Spirit can can help our prayer to grow so that it’s not just a passing thought or something that we do because we think we should.  Our prayers, even when they seem small and insignificant, can still help us to respond in ways that God asks us to respond.  Even if we start small, prayer is important.   I always tell people that if they want to build a relationship with God, there isn’t a wrong way to pray.  What we need to do, is show up to worship, just start talking.  Our prayer book includes so many wonderful prayers, including all of the biblical psalms, if we need some help or ideas.  But we can also just start talking.  There is so much in our lives that we need to talk about… the joys, the stuff that’s hard, the stuff we love, the things we need help with, our fears… it all matters to God, and when we can talk to God honestly, when we can let God’s Spirit move and pray within us, the journey to pray without ceasing has begun, and when you and I can pray without ceasing, our spiritual lives become rich; we live closer to God as the Spirit prays within us.  When we pray without ceasing, we no longer cans stand by while God’s people are in need; our prayers, our connection to God, helps us to respond to God and to God’s people.  Prayer, remember, isn’t just about what we say (or don’t say) but it’s about what we do.  When we pray without ceasing, when the mustard seed of our prayers grow, we are able to be the great shrub that provides for those who need it.

    How is the Spirit calling each of us to listen to the stirrings in our soul?  What might those stirrings be asking of us?  I pray that even if we think our prayers aren’t enough, we will pray them anyway, and let the Spirit help them to grow our relationship to God may deepen, and we can continue the work Jesus has begun.

Abba

Proper 11 year A

July 23, 2017

7th Sunday after Pentecost

    Anyone who has ever had small children in their lives, knows how sweet and wonderful it is to have a small child raise their arms toward you so that you can pick them up.  The look of longing and desire that comes across their faces is so real, especially if they are in pain or in need; sometimes it’s an occasion of pure joy for the child and for the one who is being reached for.  Those are certainly some of the best moments life has to offer.

    The image of a child reaching for a beloved adult or older child ran through my mind as I read our reading from Paul’s letter to the Romans.  Paul speaks of our being adopted as children of God, and as children our spirits join with Jesus’ Holy Spirit as we cry out to God, “Abba, Father”.  As children of God, our cry of Abba is one of deep love and intimacy.  We are not reaching toward a cold, impersonal God who knows nothing about us, but rather, as a small child reaches towards someone they love, we too, reach toward the One who loves us more than we can ever imagine; Our God knows each of us deeply, and intimately, and takes great joy in reaching towards us to embrace us as cherished, beloved children.

    The Spirit of God lives within each of us; and it is that Spirit that helps us to move in God’s world to do God’s work.  There was much in Paul’s world that caused pain and suffering; Paul speaks of the earth’s birth pangs, and that the earth would be made free from its bondage to decay… what a powerful image that is; there is so much in our lives and in society and the world that leads us to decay; the search for happiness in things that do not matter… money, power, sex, addiction… any of those whether on a personal level or a national level, lead down a path of absolute destruction for us and for those around us…

    But we don’t have to be ruled by those things; we are adopted children of God, heirs of the kingdom of God… we have been given the gift of the Holy Spirit so that our search for happiness is simple; we know that it is God alone that fills those places of emptiness that we all have in our hearts… but if we put aside our pride and greed and whatever else stands in the way, when we reach for God, our desires and needs are fulfilled beyond what we thought was possible.

    So, we are adopted children of God… adopted into the very life of God through Jesus… and in us, God’s Spirit dwell… so, now what?

    It’s get to work time my friends.  The world will continue to head towards decay unless you and I let the Spirit within us do it’s work.  You and I have to listen, we have to put our trust in the hope that God will indeed act; but we also have to hope that we will be inspired to act;  this life and this world were gifts from a God who loves without limit; that kind of love extended towards us is what propels us into the world to act on behalf of the world that God loves.   If we are paying attention when we worship, when we pray, when we read scripture, then God’s Spirit should stir within us prompting us toward some action to lessen the pain around us.  And here’s the thing; the Spirit dwells in all of us; doesn’t matter what our political views are, what we look like, what our favorite color is;  God’s Holy Spirit is delighted to dwell in each of us, and we don’t have to agree on anything that the world might try to divide us with; all we have to do is agree to follow the Spirit’s leading, follow the example of Jesus by loving all whom we come in contact with, and those things that divide us will no longer be important.   And who knows, as we work together, side by side, maybe we will learn something about each other; maybe we will understand what divides us and search for ways to lessen the divide.  It’s hard to focus on issues that divide us when we are working together on a common cause to help further the kingdom.

    May we all rejoice in our adoption as children of God; may we find joy in reaching towards God who is Abba, the One who loves us and knows us more than we can love or know ourselves or each other… may our hearts, souls and minds be on fire for the work that the Spirit is leading us towards as individuals and as a community; may we always celebrate the world that God loves and may we love all God’s people…in the words of Presiding Bishop, Michael Curry, “All means all”.  Love is our inspiration, and love is our work… so let’s get inspired, let’s get to work...

   

God's a lousy farmer

Proper 10 Year A

July 16, 2017

6th Sunday after Pentecost

    As most of you know, I am not much of a gardener.  I really don’t enjoy playing in the dirt, but I do admire people who do.  My dad, loved to garden.  He would spend hours outside tending to his tomato patch making sure that everything was just right.  What I did enjoy, was going with him to the garden center to get his supplies.  He always made sure that he had everything he needed to ensure a good tomato crop; and, he also was willing to share  his crop with our neighbors.

    I was in conversation this week with a friend of mine, who since his retirement has taken up cattle farming.  He lives in a farming community in New York State.  There are several small farms in the area and it sounds to me like there might be different kinds of farms, so that the community can have much of what it might need to feed local families by the cooperation of the local farmers.

    The story of the sower from today’s gospel is one we have certainly heard before, and I am certain that I have said on more than one occasion that God is a lousy farmer, at least by typical farming standards.  It seems to me that according to the story, seed is plentiful, and it is scattered rather haphazardly all over the place.  No one, who desires a decent crop would scatter seed that way; certainly when my dad was growing plants from seed, he would’ve never have just thrown the seed everywhere… plants that don’t grow and produce don’t do anyone any good, do they?  And, it just creates a huge mess, and more work…

    But here’s the thing; it seems to me, that God doesn’t much care.  As I was looking at our lesson from Isaiah, and as I was driving around town this week, I had a thought… sometimes haphazard seed scattering is really quite lovely.  I was thinking about wildflowers and even some flowering weeds…. Now, the gardeners in the group, don’t yell at me; but I can remember the absolute joy of several small children near and dear to my heart, in picking dandelion flowers, and when the cool fuzzy seed puffs sprouted, how they enjoyed blowing them away… anyone who has ever received the gift of a dandelion bouquet knows just how special they are to the child picking them; and I love wild flowers; the colors, the crazy places they grow, how pretty they can make even a junk yard look. There’s a lot to be said for seeds that just kind of land where they will, and where the wind blows them.  Maybe God has the right idea…

    If we think about the spiritual life in terms of the parable of the sower, don’t you think it feels like that sometimes?  Sometimes we hear the Word of God and it motivates us for a while, and maybe it’s only temporary, or maybe something really strikes us, and so like the somewhat more careful gardener, we try to do what we think needs to happen so that scripture might take root in us in a deeper way, in a way that leads to us being more responsive to the world around us.  Having “ears to hear” for us is not simply about hearing, but about doing… when we truly hear the Word of God, when we truly listen to the life and ministry of Jesus, we aren’t merely hearing with our ears, but we are hearing with our hearts and minds and we are doing… we cannot possibly be considered disciples of Jesus without being moved to action when our lives intersect with his; and, as disciples, we also become sowers… but maybe the way that we become sowers is a bit different; for us I think it’s often a matter of someone seeing Jesus in us that helps to sow seeds in them; at least I hope so; but I also think that maybe we need to scatter the seeds that God gives us a little more haphazardly; God provides all the necessary care… prayer, worship, relationship, sacrament… all of those things help the seeds of God’s Word to not only take root in us, but to help us tend to the spiritual gardens that God has given us to take care of… and honestly, it’s none of our business to really know what kind of seeds we are given; maybe it’s tomatoes… but maybe it’s wildflowers… whatever soil is in another’s hearts to receive the seeds, isn’t our business… and lest we think that dandelions are a disappointment, I shall remind you that guinea pigs love dandelions… and, I had neighbor who used to harvest dandelion greens from her yard and ours because she knew we didn’t use weedkiller.  Dandelion salad can be pretty tasty…

    All that to say, some days our spiritual lives produce amazing things, and sometimes it seems like it’s just weeds but I find that God can use all of it.  No one is at the top of their spiritual game all the time, and I think that even the wildflowers of our hearts are beautiful and can bring joy to us, to God and to others… and in those relationships, fed by God’s love and the prayers of the holy Spirit welling up inside us, even dandelions can be useful and grow into other and perhaps more useful things…

    I hope we will all spend some time feeding the gardens of our souls, listening with the ears of our hearts to God’s Word and to God’s voice… I pray that we will let God’s extravagant, careless even whimsical farming transform us into something that blooms and brings spiritual joy and nutrition to ourselves and to those we meet along the path.

The faith revealed to infants

Proper 9 Year A

5th Sunday after Pentecost

July 9, 2017

    Last week, I told you about the emerging theme from my time with other Third Order Franciscans.  We went back to basics, remembering that Br. Francis’ vision was that the Friars minor, (and all Franciscans, regardless of which order they were in) were to simply live the Gospel.  Francis himself, as he turned religious life upside down, gave up a life of status and relative wealth to live the simplest life possible.  Denying himself possessions helped him to focus on relationships and on people.  He was known to say, that if we had possessions, we would have a reason to defend them.  Being someone who desired radical peace, it made sense to him that the simplest life possible would keep him from being distracted from his true purpose, which was to “simply live the gospel”.

    It seems to me, that simply living the gospel means that we have to be paying attention to relationships.  I can remember when my daughter was in grade school, and there was a collection going on for Hurricane Katrina victims.  She emptied her beloved piggy bank and all of it’s treasures that she had saved up into a ziplock bag and said she was bringing it to school for the collection and asked if we wanted to help too.  She was in the first grade, and I remember how determined she was to help…. Years later, when tornadoes hit Shawnee and Moore and other areas, a friend of ours was collecting some toys that a family with young children had lost… Rachel read the request and proceeded to go tearing through boxes in our basement.  She emerged a few minutes later with several stuffed care bears and some other things that were on the list and let the person know we had those items.  I remember her saying how she hoped that having some of their toys replaced would help the children feel less afraid…

    Jesus said, “I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and the intelligent and have revealed them to infants; yes, Father, for such was your gracious will.”  Simply living the gospel isn’t always easy, but all of us, not matter who we are, are capable of doing it… children, I think are especially good at it because they pay attention to relationships.  They aren’t as distracted as adults are by responsibilities, the need to make a living, etc.  Adulthood, for many of us was a trap… we were told we would granted more freedoms, but really, wasn’t it much simpler when our biggest responsibility was how large to make the sand castle?

    I think to live the gospel life, sometimes we all need to return to the basics.  We need to remember who Jesus is… we need to remember that he is the center of our lives and the one whom we follow.  That relationship is the most important relationship that any of us are in; and it is our relationship with Jesus that helps us to live into our other relationships as well.  The yoke of Christ which may not always seem easy, is light because it is simple.  St. Francis knew this, and his life, while difficult in so many ways, was joyous because he knew that simplicity made it far easier for him to follow Jesus.  When he came upon the Lepers, who previously had been a source of disgust for him, he realized that they were also loved by God and that as a result, should be loved and cared for by him…

    Maybe that sounds extreme to us… and perhaps it is, but it is what we are to do as disciples.  The joy my child showed in giving away her money and some toys to others was a beautiful thing to witness… and she never got to see the response on the other side, but it didn’t matter.  It was the right thing to do, especially because she had so much in comparison to those who had lost everything.  Francis became poor, not to glamourize poverty, but because by being poor he could be free and he could be generous with what he was given by others.  He  didn’t have to live with the complications of ownership or greed; poverty allowed him to see the poorest of the poor as children of God; his own poverty allowed him to give everything to others… it allowed him to be closer to God who gave up everything to become human in Jesus…  I think it’s fair to say, that Francis believed that the more people had, the cloudier their perceptions of God and the world God loved were…

    The Gospel life was revealed to infants, to those who were not rich and worldly, so that the simplicity of the Gospel life could be readily seen… all through Jesus’ ministry, it seems that there is a tension between simplicity and wealth; and Jesus is constantly calling on those around him to see more clearly what God is asking of them; and we know, that sometimes those who see the clearest are those who are blind, until they encounter Jesus and allow their lives to be changed.

    There will always be tension for us between living the Gospel and living as society would ask us to live; that tension between God’s kingdom and the empire of national wealth and pride that constantly surrounds us.  And believe me, God loves this world… creation, at least as Francis understood scripture, is good… very good.  And humanity is the most beautiful and beloved of God’s creatures… And that means all of humanity; the lepers, the poor, those displaced by hurricanes and tornadoes… and it means that you and I have to pay attention to relationships above our own fears for our comfort… sometimes we just have to let Jesus take the burden and we have to take the risk that it will all be ok… and not just ok, but that we might actually become better people because we dared to love and we dared to live the gospel life…

    In the time of Francis, lepers wore bells so that people could hear them coming and get out of the way… can you imagine how lonely an existence that must have been?  What about the poor, unshaven guy on the corner with the old dog, both of whom are needing some food?  What about the Muslim woman who is wearing a hijab at the grocery store who is afraid to ask someone for help because of how her family has been treated in the past?

    There are modern day lepers for us?  Who are those people we are afraid to engage with because they challenge our feelings of security?  Today, we aren’t called to overthink our commitment to Jesus… like children we are called to be in relationship and to give what we have, extravagantly and with joy; we are called to see the poverty whether it is spiritual, physical, financial, and alleviate it as best we can, even if it’s only for one person… and certainly for more if we can.  God gave up everything for us so that he could be as close to us as possible, allowing us to become part of God’s very life.  Today, we are asked to throw off all of the attitudes that we hide behind in the name of pride and self importance, and take on the vision of children so that we might see more clearly the people that God loves, and see who our own modern day lepers are, and embrace them with love and joy.

A cup of cold water...

Proper 8 Year A

July 2, 2017

It’s good to see you all today!  I had an amazing time in Cincinnati with other Franciscans.  We stayed in what was once a convent for the Sisters of Divine Providence; it was a beautiful place; and as is usually the case at these sorts of gatherings, the worship and the fellowship between members of the community is life giving.  I was finally able to meet some members of my community that I have corresponded with by email or facebook in person; what a wonderful gift!   The staff at the facility we were staying in were so kind and wonderful to us.  I watched staff members help older community members or those who had mobility issues; at every meal they were there to help, always smiling, always asking what ways they could make us more comfortable… it helped make little inconveniences like slow elevators and the occasional cold shower even littler.   I could tell by everything they did, that they considered their work at St. Anne’s a ministry of hospitality and they were very good at it.  It was also a joy to watch members of my community from all over the Americas be together.

    One of the themes that emerged from our time together, was something that St. Francis said about the Friars with whom he lived and worked;  he said that the rule of the Friars Minor, was to simply live the Gospel.

    It sounds so incredibly easy at first listen, doesn’t it ?  In this long church season, we will hear stories from Matthew’s gospel about the ministry of Jesus… As we already know, these stories will challenge us to figure out how to “simply live the Gospel.”

    In today’s gospel Jesus speaks about giving a cup of cold water to one of these little ones… it’s hard for me not to read that gospel and not remember a very moving scene from the movie, “Schindler’s List”.  If you have never seen this movie, or even if it’s been a long time, please see it.  Oskar Schindler is a member of the Nazi party and a businessman who hopes to make his fortune in Poland as WW2 is underway.  He has hired a Jewish accountant and many other Jews from the Krakow ghetto to work in his factory, because the labor was cheap.  While walking through one of the concentration camps, he sees a little Jewish girl in a red coat, and later on recognizes her coat and her body on the top of a pile of corpses that are being moved through the camp.  He is changed… and he begins a journey that will take him places I am certain he didn’t want to go.  The scene in the movie that has always reminded me of today’s gospel, is a scene where Schindler is talking to one of the SS soldiers on a train platform.  The train that is there is filled with Jewish people, men, women and children who are literally stuffed into the train cars, unable to sit, unable to rest, hot, tired, and I am certain extremely thirsty.  They are being transported to somewhere else, probably to their deaths.  Schindler, complete with his Nazi Party pin on his lapel, grabs a hose, and sprays water into the train cars, and if I remember right, it’s under the pretense of making the occupants uncomfortable… but his real plan was to make them cool and give them something to drink,,, and we see people opening their mouths to catch the water as it pours down from the top of the cars; people are crying in gratitude for this small kindness shown to them by this German man…

    It’s an incredibly moving scene.  It is a moment in the life of a man who was definitely changed by the circumstances around him and I imagine he was also changed by his own Christian faith which recognizes that all people are created in the image and likeness of God.  Toward the end of the movie, as the War ended, Schindler has lost most if not all of his wealth by using it to bribe various Nazi’s so that he could save the 1,200 Jewish workers in his factory… the workers in Schindler’s factory decide to give him a gift.  It is a ring, and on the inside of the ring is engraved a saying from the Talmud,  a collection of Rabbinic writings;  The engraving says, “whoever saves one life, saves the world entire”.  Whoever saves one life, saves the world entire.  

    Every person matters to God and when one of us is suffering we all suffer… When one of us delights, we all delight, because we are all connected through God and through creation.  Every person matters equally regardless of who they are.  God created humanity because life is perhaps the greatest gift that can be given by a God who loves the whole world…  and if God loves the whole world, than we as God’s beloved must also love the whole world… not just the parts we like.  Giving some water to one who thirsts is a life saving act; we cannot live without water, and Jesus even refers to himself in various gospels as living water, water that will never leave us thirsty… you and I might have to settle for plain old water… but if you and I are to simply live the Gospel, then we are to do what Jesus does.  

    There are many who thirst among us; those who literally thirst for water, and those who thirst for justice and basic human needs.  To simply live the Gospel means that we who have water must share it; we who have social status must help those who do not… you and I are in the business of saving lives, even if it is one life at a time; “whoever saves one life, saves the world entire”.   What water do we have to share with others?  Who is Jesus asking us to save?  I pray for each of us, that we won’t need the sign of a dead child in a red coat to change our lives, but that coming to this place, hearing the gospel and taking the body and blood of Jesus into ourselves will help us to see those in our midst who are desperate for a drink, for a word of hope, for a meal or some kindness.  Even if all we can do is help one person, it’s one person who has seen Jesus today, for “Whoever saves one life, saves the world entire”.