preachingfromapostulant-blog

[preachingfromapostulant-blog]

Faith, Trying Times, and the Inner Light 9-30-18

In the name of God. Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.

Faith.  There are so many aspects to it, and we can spend so much time debating it.  We also experience such a range of emotions on a daily basis.  We can be elated with happiness or in the depths of despair, and in so many places in between.  We hear today about praying and we also hear about straying from the truth.  Faith is the important act that affects every aspect to these emotions and how we respond to these energies, both positively and negatively.

For me, I can think of a couple examples in my own life, where I have gone through periods of doubt, despair, anger, and anguish.  When we are in our darkest hour, at least for me, I have often asked for God’s help or love. But yet, I didn’t always see it, nor feel it at the moment.  Maybe I was blinded by emotion, or unable to take a step back and see the big picture. Sometimes we have to put up almost a type of front to make everything look ok. Nothing is troubling us, or for what is troubling is us, we pretend it Is nothing we can’t handle ourselves. And it’s in these times that instead of actively looking for God, I find that God is along for the ride.  God ‘s in the car with us.  

   Driving on Tuesday back from Yale, the thought came to me about thinking of God as our co-pilot.  The roads that day were flooded and rain was deluging down.  I thought, hmm in times when we can barely see what’s in front of the car and have to follow the lines in the road, we either ask the person with us in the passenger seat for help or trust that we know the roads, and have faith in ourselves as well.  I think this might be a good analogy for what I’m trying to get at. Through prayer and trust and love, we are provided the necessary strength for faith, whether we know it or not. Recognizing is the first step of the action.  This faith allows us to grow and recognize so much more in our lives and in those around us.  Asking for not just immediate help in our daily lives, but the loving embrace and the guidance for our journeys I think is a good step.  

  Today we see Moses become angry with God.  He expresses his displeasure directly to God.  Who hasn’t amongst us done the same type of thing where we can get so upset, hurt, or furious.  We blame God or utter how exactly we feel or even don’t know what we feel but still yell at God.  This is all so normal.  Thousands of years ago people were disappointed and distressed at God, yet continued to have faith. This faith has been preserved for generation after generation. I find hope that the feelings we have are not new, nor lost on God.  We find ourselves in similar places as even our ancestors faced.  

    James speaks of the emotions we often feel.  Some of us are happy, some sad, some angry, some suffer, some are even more indifferent.  We are told regardless to pray, to have faith, to be in communion with one another.  We as a community are responsible for one another.  Many of us have differences or even vehemently disagree on numerous issues, but we are a community.  We are a group of God’s beloved.  All of us are worthy of love and respect.  James tells us that we are responsible for our sisters and brothers, and we are accountable for holding each other, yes accountable, but also with assistance and love if we stray.  As we look out for one another, our faith, our prayer life, and our love grows.

    If we look at today’s Gospel literally, it sounds pretty painful and pretty severe. But yet, Jesus continues to speak to us in metaphors. All of us have done things we are not proud of.  This can be to ourselves, to others, and to the world around us.  The sins Jesus speaks of, we are asked to cast aside. Acknowledge we have done wrong. We then can move on.  The confession of sin that we say every week allows us to move forward in faith.  We accomplish what Jesus asks us to do.  Faithfully we know we are forgiven and through our prayers try our best to continue in our best ways possible.

    In these trying times that we live in, I am reminded of something I learned from the Quakers and in my own spiritual direction.  It is about the inner light.  This shining joy is the metaphor for Jesus shining in ourselves. There are many names which we can call this.  We can refer to this as the light of Christ, Christ within, inward light, the Spirit of God within us, but for me personally I feel peace with the inner light.   Walking in this light of Christ allows us to acknowledge the presence of God within a person and our direct, personal experience of God.  The Holy Spirit which is dwelling and working within us and around us shows that there is divinity amongst us.  And I’d like to close with this quote, “it is the light within that brightens the deepest darkness and can illuminate the sun as if it were a dim light in the heavens.  Mighty and majestic is the essence of the Light that sustains life throughout heaven and earth.  With a humble heart, I am thankful.” Amen.

[preachingfromapostulant-blog]

Listening! Yes, we need to do this: let us be doers of the word, and not merely hearers

Sermon 9-2 Trinity Episcopal Church-Brooklyn, CT

In the name of God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.

Please be seated.

Listening. The act of listening stands out this morning. There are several themes which we can find today, but what really pops out of the pages to me is not just hearing what we are called to do, but actually listening. The readings this morning indicate that we are probably good at hearing, but we may not be listening to understand. In the gospel today, we hear Jesus state “Listen to me all of you and understand”. Striving to follow these words, I’d love to be able to learn how to intently listen to what God is calling us to do and realize what our neighbors are truly telling us they might need. This is a goal which I hope we all can strive towards and eventually, with practice, achieve.

So first, I can completely relate to this notion of thinking we really know what we are being told. I have been known, every now and then, to not always be an excellent listener. I’m sure my wife would love to give plenty of examples, such as when I threw out our box of important papers and address books of all our family and friends. She said throw out several boxes except for this one specific box, and my ears heard “oh throw out only the important box”. Often I know that I can give responses such as “yeah” “uh huh” “of course, totally” or probably the best/worst one, I tend to hear the last sentence of the conversation and somehow just reiterate it back to the speaker. Hearing but not understanding.

Another example happened actually on Friday. I was going to work in the evening and surprised I was so early. I then showed up to a completely empty location, wondering where everybody was. I soon realized I had written down the wrong town of where I was supposed to be going, and had to frantically get back in my car. Needless to say, not listening can cause stress. (But don’t worry all ended fine.)

But now how do we listen? And what are we told about this in today’s scriptures?

In the first lesson, Moses at this particular moment, is trying to remind the people that obedience to God is one of the keys to their success. It has helped them in the past, and can help them in the future. Listening is one of the best ways to go about this. The combination of listening, observing, and doing were seen as the ways to be obedient and for the people to reach their full potential from God. If we only hear the words of God, but do not truly understand or acknowledge them, we can’t expect to be always on a desired path. Listening is to acknowledge, and that also means to respect. We can show our love as Christians by listening to God and our neighbors.

We are also reminded again here in this reading that our God isn’t far away from us. It is written that God is in the midst and present. When we need God, God is there. God is listening. If we are to learn to truly listen, we must be able to make ourselves present with whomever we are with. To be honestly present with others is to listen to them, not interjecting, nor immediately handing out advice. We must understand what one needs before we can act to help. In doing so, we are showing that we are truly loving, compassionate individuals. Doing for others is so important, and at the same time, just presenting ourselves as listeners to our sisters and brothers, while maintaining an awareness with someone, is quite necessary.

“Let everyone be quick to listen”. In this letter from the second reading, James is directing this statement to the people in part as a guide. Among other advice, we see an emphasis on the act of doing over hearing. If we are only hearing, this does nothing for us if we don’t undertake our necessary tasks. We must do and we must be active. In the sincere description of true religion, caring for those in times of distress, calls for necessary deeds. To be able to do, you must be able to listen. These are all related to each other and continue to go hand in hand. How are we to help those struggling, if we only act by doing what we think is necessary for them and never pause to take the time to sit, talk, and be empathetic with our neighbors?

In the Gospel, the importance of how we act and treat not just ourselves but others is what makes us true followers. There is a whole list of actions that can defile us. Jesus commands us to listen to him. If we only hear what he says, but do not follow through, or forget, or just remember the last line, this doesn’t benefit us. Our actions in what we do stem from listening. From our hearts to the outside world, these exploits determine how we are as a person. We have the free will to make the choice in how we handle things. We really need to listen. Listen to the scriptures, listen to our heart, listen to Jesus, and listen to where God is calling us.

So let us be doers of the word, and not merely hearers, as we go out into the world, talking with and understanding our neighbors. Doing is a part of listening and this is all a part of love. And these acts are all part of the duty which we are all called to accomplish. Amen.

[preachingfromapostulant-blog]

“There’s so much more to bread than I first thought”

Sermon 8-5-18 Trinity Episcopal Church, Brooklyn, CT,-Morning Prayer

May the words of my mouth and the meditations of all our hearts, be ever acceptable in your sight, O Lord, our strength and our redeemer. Amen.

——————

There sure is a lot of talk about bread in the readings these days. Last week, we hear of Jesus feeding the 5,000, today we have the Israelites speaking of their need for bread to survive, and Jesus calling himself, the bread of life. And for the next two weeks, there will actually be more bread on its way. When I was trying to write a sermon for today, it took some time for me to understand the significance of bread in our lives today. I did a google search on bread and actually came across some interesting facts, recipes, quotes, and other bits of information that I never knew on the making and the impact of this ancient food. Anyways, it didn’t come easy, but here is what I think.

It really is a gift of what we are reminded of in today’s Gospel. The gift of bread, which when given to us at the altar rail, is not only for our own solace, but also for our own strength. This bread of life, which when consumed at the rail, can be made from ingredients in our own kitchens. It usually isn’t too difficult to make, and one altar bread recipe that I’ve personally used, calls for flour, oil, salt, baking powder, milk, honey, and water. Some of these recipes have far less ingredients than what I used and are very basic. Some recipes have a little bit more. Simple ingredients are all we need to make what holds Jesus for us at the table. Again, it’s nothing extravagant, nor anything expensive. The most basic ingredients can be used to make bread, and God comes to us in this simplest form. How cool, that in our own kitchen, wherever we live, we have what is necessary to eventually bring us the presence of Jesus and know that very little is needed from us to experience God.

Another thing that I noticed in these readings is a theme of looking for signs. In the first reading today, the Israelites are wandering out in the wilderness. After trusting Moses, they get to a point of hunger and are closing in on a point of no return. They need to eat, and are reaching a breaking point. In our own lives, we often are put in situations where we think we’ve reached our tipping point. We are tired, we are angry, we are lonely, whatever the situation may be, we often look for signs from God. I don’t remember a time when bread rained down from heaven for me, but I know instances where in the midst of crisis, all of a sudden, God’s presence, seemingly out of the blue, was able to feed and sustain me. I came across a quote actually from Ghandi while I was browsing bread information online. He said, “There are people in the world so hungry, that God cannot appear to them except in the form of bread.” For the Israelites, this is exactly true. God rained bread from heaven with the morning dew. This group was wandering, disheartened, with barely anything left for them to survive, and through bread, they are comforted and live. These weary humans experienced God. They were shown love and the way in their time of need. We, in our best way possible, should keep trying to find these bits of heaven in our own lives. It’s definitely not easy, we miss these signs many a times, but when we realize we’re experiencing something with God in our times of need, gosh does it make a big difference. Knowing that we can have a “raining bread moment” should provide us the strength to keep us on our mission.

In the Gospel, the remaining crowd from the 5,000 who were fed, ask about signs. They want to know what to look for in order to confirm their beliefs. They want to know that they are seeing the work of God. I still am a bit curious on how feeding 5,000 isn’t a total convincing argument, but I think this is definitely representative of how we often feel. I know I can be oblivious to God’s presence around me particularly when I have lots of distractions or things on my mind or just too focused. These people are just like many of us. We should know that God is here, yet we just aren’t always convinced. The people want this heavenly bread. Jesus doesn’t scold them or say anything condescending for not realizing the truth. He simply tells them that he is the bread of life. Calmly , coolly, and fully, Jesus is there as their rock and ours.

The second reading today speaks of love. The love of God and the love of Christ. This love is the bread of life. Without love, there is no bread of life. Love feeds us, and love feeds our neighbor. No matter who our neighbor is or where they come from, we show them the humility, the kindness, the patience, and the gentleness that we are called as Christians to demonstrate. When we love, we grow, and when we love we experience what Jesus tells us in the Gospel. We are given gifts of mission, task, and strength through our belief. These gifts power us through life’s ups and down, all with love alongside us. We will never be hungry and we will never be thirsty as long as we have our belief and the ever presence of love.

So after all of this thinking of bread recently, the idea of it physically as food, symbolically to our personal beliefs, and spiritually as Jesus, this food remains important in our lives. Bread has been a sign throughout history that shows us God is with us. Bread is equal to love in many ways. God loved the Israelites by giving them bread in their time of hunger. God manifests in the Eucharist as love, allowing Jesus to abide within us. Love is the bread of life which sustains us, and loving will be the bread of life which will continue to hold us. Amen.

[preachingfromapostulant-blog]

“You don’t need to do anything sensational to be loved”-sermon 7-8-18

In the name of God the Father, God the Son, and the Holy Spirit.  Please be seated.

Good Morning, I’d actually like to begin today with a short reflection.  I want you all to sit back, get comfortable, and just hang out. We’re going to take a few moments to ourselves, and I want you to think of somebody special who has helped you on your journey.  Whether it’s on the spiritual path you are on, or out there beyond these walls in the world.  Take a few moments to close your eyes and remember this person.  I’ll keep the time.  Let’s begin:

Whoever you are thinking of, whether they are close by to you, live far away, or are even in heaven, imagine how proud and grateful they would be to know that you just spent your reflection time thinking of them.  These special people who have loved you and encouraged you, no matter where they are, are inside and always apart of you.  

I recently came across a quote from the beloved television icon, Mister Rogers that said, “You don’t need to do anything sensational to be loved”.  I thought to myself, “my gosh, how simple and true, yet how so easily lost on ourselves in our lives.”

I also think that just by living our daily lives, we are in fact completing sensational acts.  By loving and being open to love, we are living sensationally.  Often times, we are caught up and lost, and forget how much God loves us.  Sometimes we think we need to go out and find god somewhere in someplace in some spectacular fashion, but yet God is here, amongst us, within us, abiding in us.  God comes to meet us.  We don’t need to do anything sensational for God to love us.  No matter what we are doing or where we are going, god’s abundant love flows to and through us, and we only have to be open and readily willing to accept that.  There is nothing we have to do and nothing for that matter that we can’t do to stop this gracious, unconditional love.

As the people we reflected upon a few minutes ago gave us unconditional love, we see this in our readings today.  God comes to Ezekiel and says “I will speak with you”.  God doesn’t say I will speak to you, at you, or for you.  God is with.  Just as in Ezekiel’s day and this day, God is with, and the love of God is with.  

In our second reading, Paul speaks of weakness and problems being faced.  Again, I think what we can take from this lesson, is that we have nothing to fear if we know we don’t need to be perfect.  We don’t need to be sensational.  Paul says he was told “my grace is sufficient for you, for power is made perfect in weakness.” This is more to backup that we are perfectly made in God’s image, and we need to keep practicing our trust in God and in ourselves.  

Jesus in the gospel reading today, isn’t recognized for his tremendous knowledge or his skill set. When people hear what he is saying, they take offense at him.  They call him “just a carpenter”.  They say “he’s only the son of Mary”.  Then he starts with the healing! Even curing a few sick people of their illnesses were not enough to impress.  If even Jesus, who was unable to dazzle to this crowd, why should we be worrying about much of our troubles?  I almost picture this scenario in this passage like the film critics from the Muppet Show.  As Jesus does more and more, the crowd is continually unimpressed.  I imagine each response is more negative and by the time Jesus is done, he’s the worst teacher to ever come through the synagogue doors.

The gospel passage finishes today with Jesus sending out the disciples in pairs.  Such a sensational act of living off of people and the land could seem daunting, but somehow with Jesus’ love and confidence they were able to complete such acts.  No food, no extra clothes, no housing.  After what happened prior in the synagogue, think of how hard that must be to think you now need to go out with nothing to change hearts and minds.  With strenuous tasks at hand, we know we have the love of God. In the above example, if even Jesus did not astound in his first attempts in his message, this should give us hope. We are sensational people, as we are, as we are made.

So knowing that we can be Ezekiel, and knowing that God is with, or being like Paul and “for whenever I am weak, then I am strong” or like Jesus, feeling like an outcast in his hometown. Remember, that we are all sensational people, and do not need to go looking for sensational acts, as we are loved and cared for, and can meet God on the road right in front of us.  Amen.