Year C Advent 1 2021 New Year’s Waiting: Before, Today, & To Come

 

Year C Advent 1, 28 November 2021

St. James the Less Episcopal, Ashland, VA

“New Year’s Waiting: Before, Today, & To Come”

Collect: Almighty God, give us grace to cast away the works of darkness, and put on the armor of light, now in the time of this mortal life in which your Son Jesus Christ came to visit us in great humility; that in the last day, when he shall come again in his glorious majesty to judge both the living and the dead, we may rise to the life immortal; through him who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

Jeremiah 33:14-16

The days are surely coming, says the Lord, when I will fulfill the promise I made to the house of Israel and the house of Judah. In those days and at that time I will cause a righteous Branch to spring up for David; and he shall execute justice and righteousness in the land. In those days Judah will be saved and Jerusalem will live in safety. And this is the name by which it will be called: “The Lord is our righteousness.”

1 Thessalonians 3:9-13

How can we thank God enough for you in return for all the joy that we feel before our God because of you? Night and day we pray most earnestly that we may see you face to face and restore whatever is lacking in your faith.

Now may our God and Father himself and our Lord Jesus direct our way to you. And may the Lord make you increase and abound in love for one another and for all, just as we abound in love for you. And may he so strengthen your hearts in holiness that you may be blameless before our God and Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all his saints.

Luke 21:25-36

Jesus said, “There will be signs in the sun, the moon, and the stars, and on the earth distress among nations confused by the roaring of the sea and the waves. People will faint from fear and foreboding of what is coming upon the world, for the powers of the heavens will be shaken. Then they will see 'the Son of Man coming in a cloud' with power and great glory. Now when these things begin to take place, stand up and raise your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.”

Then he told them a parable: “Look at the fig tree and all the trees; as soon as they sprout leaves you can see for yourselves and know that summer is already near. So also, when you see these things taking place, you know that the kingdom of God is near. Truly I tell you, this generation will not pass away until all things have taken place. Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.

“Be on guard so that your hearts are not weighed down with dissipation and drunkenness and the worries of this life, and that day catch you unexpectedly, like a trap. For it will come upon all who live on the face of the whole earth. Be alert at all times, praying that you may have the strength to escape all these things that will take place, and to stand before the Son of Man.”

Happy New Year! Today is Advent 1, the first day of our liturgical calendar. Advent literally means The Arrival, Old English, from Latin adventus ‘arrival’, from advenire, from ad- ‘to’ + venire ‘come’. As simple as the meaning, Advent is a conflicted time.

We look back to the Hope we, as the human race, had. 

We look around in Thankfulness for what is. 

We look with anticipation to what is to come again.

More than just both/and, it is This/And That/And That, Too.

Today I will be referring to all three of our readings, and you may want to keep them out. They work together on this New Year’s Day.

But like I said a few times, most recently a couple of weeks ago, Fear Not. Fear Not, even when you do not know what is coming. But in this Arrival, we do. We know what we are awaiting.

When Sojo was a wee one, I know, hard to believe now, she was told early on Thanksgiving that her grandma, my mother, from Newport News was coming. So she got her wee toddler chair and sat it by the front door, maybe a foot and a half away from it. And she sat there the whole morning. All the way through Macy’s Parade, every hour of it. She was well into the Dog Show when my mom arrived. She had been there, in rapt attention for almost 4 hours. Quite the dedication for a toddler. Jesus may stand at the door and knock, but Sojo sat at the door and waited. And waited. And waited. She knew what she was waiting for. 

So do we.

We know how this story ends, but every year in our liturgical tradition we walk ourselves through Christ’s life. The Anticipation with baited Breath. The Birth in holy silence. The Epiphany with Awe and Wonder. The Life of teaching and serving and healing. The Road to Jerusalem of sacrifice and dread. The Holy Week filled with so much passion and heartbreak. The first day of the week when the world was made new. The emerging implication when we as the Church takes his role onto ourselves to bring light and healing and grace into a lonely and hurting world. Then we remind ourselves that Christ is King and always will be, and we start it all over again. 

We do it every year because we need it. The Gospel of Christ is so counterintuitive to the ways the world still works, that the training of us is incomplete. We still try to pull ourselves up by our bootstraps, and rely on works instead of that amazing Grace we sing and talk about but rarely drink ourselves.

Advent is a penitential rite, a time of stripping away the excess, so that when the excess comes it is stupendous and a change. Easter is not as glorious as it could be without Good Friday. Christmas is more Christmas-y when we clean house and step away from the norm in Advent. We prepare our hearts so that they can beat even more and more fully on that sweet morning to come. 

Advent is holy waiting. For centuries people desired a Messiah, a Savior. We look back to the Hope we, as the human race, had. 

The days are surely coming, says the Lord, when I will fulfill the promise I made to the house of Israel and the house of Judah. In those days and at that time I will cause a righteous Branch to spring up for David; and he shall execute justice and righteousness in the land. In those days Judah will be saved and Jerusalem will live in safety. And this is the name by which it will be called: “The Lord is our righteousness.” Jeremiah 33:14-16

Yahweh Tsidkenu in Hebrew. We sing carols speaking of the longing for the day to come. [In a Paul Harvey voice] “And now we know the rest of the story.

One of the gifts of Advent is taking the time to not take the Incarnation and the time of the Incarnation, Christmas, for granted. We are intentional in our recreating that emotion in heart lest we take this cruxpoint in human history for granted. And speaking of the heart, it is not just about emotions, it is about preparation. Some friends of mine are about to have a baby, and once again I hear the story of painting the room, building the crib, preparing for the life-changing wonder of the son that is to come. I smile, thinking back to the hope and fear of my two children coming. Collectively we do that as well, thinking back to the days when “at that time I will cause a righteous Branch to spring up for David; and he shall execute justice and righteousness in the land” was still in the future.

But Advent, when the anticipation builds in our hearts, we also pause to look around. We look around in Thankfulness for what is.

...May the Lord make you increase and abound in love for one another and for all, just as we abound in love for you. And may he so strengthen your hearts in holiness that you may be blameless before our God and Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all his saints.

We are gathered together because Jesus already came. We are one, because he made us One. And together we await his coming again.

This is more than just words we say in the Creeds. And so often we use it as a punchline, because after two thousand years we are tired of waiting. I saw a button once in a store in Carytown that said, “Jesus is Coming! Look busy.” Is that all this is to us? Were we to live like the parable of the 10 bridesmaids, 5 keeping their wicks trimmed in their lamps, and 5 not. Which are we?

Are we like Sojo at the door, vigilant, constant, unwavering? Or like me, “Ooh, parade! Wow, look at that dog on the Dog Show.” One of us was ready. One of us was not.

Jesus was clear, even while he was still with us that days would come when times would be dark, and evil would abound.

“There will be signs in the sun, the moon, and the stars, and on the earth distress among nations confused by the roaring of the sea and the waves. People will faint from fear and foreboding of what is coming upon the world, for the powers of the heavens will be shaken. Then they will see 'the Son of Man coming in a cloud' with power and great glory. Now when these things begin to take place, stand up and raise your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.”

Were we to live our lives in the Anticipation that this was real, what would that look like for you in your life? Will you “faint from fear and foreboding”? I think we think on this the way we think on the Afterlife. It is much the same for many.

If you are living today like Jesus is coming tomorrow, what worries could you have? You might be concerned for your friends and neighbors who are not ready, who are not prepared, who might “faint from fear and foreboding.” That is why it is so important never to write anybody off, and as one can, offer Grace and Hope and Forgiveness. We are never promised another day to do the right thing.

And how do we live today like Jesus is coming back tomorrow? Listen to his advice…

“Be on guard so that your hearts are not weighed down with dissipation and drunkenness and the worries of this life, and that day catch you unexpectedly, like a trap. For it will come upon all who live on the face of the whole earth. Be alert at all times, praying that you may have the strength to escape all these things that will take place, and to stand before the Son of Man.”

Or to sum it up, Live your life in such a way as to Fear Not. I started with that, and I finish with that. Live in Faith, Hope, and Love, and Not in Fear. Perfect Love drives out all fear. Amen

Year B Proper 28 WED 2021 Tax Fish

Year B Proper 28 WEDNESDAY, 17 November 2021

St. James the Less Episcopal, Ashland, VA

“Tax Fish”


Collect: Blessed Lord, who caused all holy Scriptures to be written for our learning: Grant us so to hear them, read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest them, that we may embrace and ever hold fast the blessed hope of everlasting life, which you have given us in our Savior Jesus Christ; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Matthew 17:22-27

As they were gathering in Galilee, Jesus said to them, “The Son of Man is going to be betrayed into human hands, and they will kill him, and on the third day he will be raised.” And they were greatly distressed.

When they reached Capernaum, the collectors of the temple tax came to Peter and said, “Does your teacher not pay the temple tax?” He said, “Yes, he does.” And when he came home, Jesus spoke of it first, asking, “What do you think, Simon? From whom do kings of the earth take toll or tribute? From their children or from others?” When Peter said, “From others,” Jesus said to him, “Then the children are free. However, so that we do not give offense to them, go to the sea and cast a hook; take the first fish that comes up; and when you open its mouth, you will find a coin; take that and give it to them for you and me.”

This is a simple story. We start with the Passion prophesied, and the distress that it caused. Then we go into a story about Jesus fulfilling the letter of the law, and a sideways comment about his status.

I have always had a hard time with this story. It just seems, for lack of a better word, ridiculous. It strains my willingness to believe, because it is about getting money from a fish. It is like a fairy tale about the tin soldier. But even if I have a hard time with the factuality of it, I will be the first to admit that anything, absolutely anything, can happen with God. And I was not there.

But even when my rational mind wrestles with the factuality, my heart and soul reads Scripture for my betterment and growth. As we said in our Collect for the week: “...all holy Scriptures [is] written for our learning: Grant us so to hear them, read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest them, that we may embrace and ever hold fast the blessed hope of everlasting life…” So let us hear, read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest this story.

The collector of the Temple Tax comes to Peter to make a cause against Jesus. “Does your teacher not pay the tax?” Peter answers without asking Jesus. “Yes, he does.” But Jesus brings it up. Does a king collect tax from his child, or from others? From others, Peter answers, obviously. Think on what Jesus is saying about who he is.

But because he knows not paying, and even worse his implication that he is the Son of God, would be offensive, he instructs Peter to go down to the sea, catch a fish, and pay the tax for both of them.

This story is about Abundance. I know you hear that word a lot with Stewardship season happening. But think about it. There is a need. Not for necessity, but rather for decorum. “So that we do not give offense.” Jesus even cares that he take care of those who do not understand or follow him.

And what does he ask of Peter? He asks Peter to do something he loves, something he does well. He tells Peter to go fish. And in doing something he loves and does well, Peter and Jesus’ needs are being met.

When we look at the Abundance of God, we are not being asked to do something that we cannot do. We are being asked to do something that we probably love, and are probably good at. We are called to be generous, and we are called to give to something that we care for. That is not hard. It is actually enjoyable.

We give abundantly out of the abundance that we were given.

We follow God’s lead. It is even hard to call it faith when we are just mimicking what we have seen.

What do you love doing? How can you give that back to God? Think on that today. Amen.

Year B Proper 28 2021 "Bode or Birthpangs"

 Year B Proper 28, 14 November 2021

St. James the Less Episcopal, Ashland, VA

“Bode or Birthpangs”

 

Collect

Blessed Lord, who caused all holy Scriptures to be written for our learning: Grant us so to hear them, read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest them, that we may embrace and ever hold fast the blessed hope of everlasting life, which you have given us in our Savior Jesus Christ; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen

 

Daniel 12:1-3

The Lord spoke to Daniel in a vision and said, “At that time Michael, the great prince, the protector of your people, shall arise. There shall be a time of anguish, such as has never occurred since nations first came into existence. But at that time your people shall be delivered, everyone who is found written in the book. Many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt. Those who are wise shall shine like the brightness of the sky, and those who lead many to righteousness, like the stars forever and ever.”

 

Hebrews 10:11-25

Every priest stands day after day at his service, offering again and again the same sacrifices that can never take away sins. But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, “he sat down at the right hand of God,” and since then has been waiting “until his enemies would be made a footstool for his feet.” For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are sanctified. And the Holy Spirit also testifies to us, for after saying,

“This is the covenant that I will make with them

after those days, says the Lord:

I will put my laws in their hearts,

and I will write them on their minds,”

he also adds,

“I will remember their sins and their lawless deeds no more.”

Where there is forgiveness of these, there is no longer any offering for sin.

Therefore, my friends, since we have confidence to enter the sanctuary by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain (that is, through his flesh), and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us approach with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold fast to the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who has promised is faithful. And let us consider how to provoke one another to love and good deeds, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day approaching.

Mark 13:1-8

As Jesus came out of the temple, one of his disciples said to him, “Look, Teacher, what large stones and what large buildings!” Then Jesus asked him, “Do you see these great buildings? Not one stone will be left here upon another; all will be thrown down.”

When he was sitting on the Mount of Olives opposite the temple, Peter, James, John, and Andrew asked him privately, “Tell us, when will this be, and what will be the sign that all these things are about to be accomplished?” Then Jesus began to say to them, “Beware that no one leads you astray. Many will come in my name and say, ‘I am he!’ and they will lead many astray. When you hear of wars and rumors of wars, do not be alarmed; this must take place, but the end is still to come. For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom; there will be earthquakes in various places; there will be famines. This is but the beginning of the birthpangs.”

There is a lot of doom and gloom in today’s readings. Apocalyptic literature is a genre within Scripture, foretelling a time of calamity from which a branch of hope will rise.

Daniel says, “I’m not gonna lie to you. It’s gonna get bad, very bad. But St. Michael, your defender will arise. Your people will be saved along with those in the book of life.”

Hebrews teaches that hanging our hope on other people is gonna fail. Even the high priest who offers up prayers and sacrifices on the Day of Atonement is a sinner, too. But Jesus, the only perfect High Priest, is the one going to bat for us. And no matter how hopeless it seems, Grace Bats Last.

But then we hear from Jesus’ own mouth what will be. Looking at something as timeless as the Temple in Jerusalem, he foretold how it would all be thrown down, each and every stone. What news we will get will get worse and worse and worse. Wars, and rumors of wars. Where can we turn? What hope do we have? But then he says, “These are but the beginning of  birthpangs.”

Friends, we are sinners in a sinful world. We want something better. God wants better for us. In all of this apocalyptic language, we can get bogged down by the weight of it. It is hard to understand. It requires us to do some research and homework. The audience was the recipients of the day, but it still can speak to us. Think on apocalyptic literature like one would reading hundred-year-old political and editorial cartoons. The imagery may make no sense to us. They use hyperbole and caricature to make a point. Apocalyptic doom and gloom readings are much the same. We have to read them for what they are. But their utmost purpose is to convey a sense that in the meaningless destruction that there is someone still in charge and they will get the last word. We read these things to have hope, a hope in the one in whom we trust.

Hope is about our feelings when the evidence may point otherwise. As the poet Emily Dickinson penned,  “Hope is the thing with feathers that perches in the soul and sings the tune without the words and never stops at all.” As hope sings on in our souls, we are not Pollyanna only seeing a silver lining. Apocalyptic literature is there to give us truth, it’s bad and will probably get worse, but then things will get better. Have hope in the darkness for the dawn will come. It always has and it always will. But feelings are fleeting, like an ember they need fuel and fanning to burst into flame. If not, they grow cold and can die. So hope cannot be just about feelings.

Preparing for today, I ran across a quote from Jonas Salk, the inventor of the polio vaccine which gave hope to so many during a disease ravaging children. “Hope lies in dreams, in imagination, and in the courage of those who dare to make dreams into reality.” Have the dreams. Feel the feelings. Then get into action. Acting when days are dark is one of the greatest testimonies of what we really believe that we have. Standing for the light and working for what is right, even when the world is going to hell in a handbasket, ESPECIALLY when the world is going to hell in a handbasket, is what preaches the loudest to a hurting world.

There is an Audacity to Hope, as a former president said. It goes against the grain of the times, it shines a light when all seems dark, and it is what Scripture repeatedly instructs us to do. Having Faith when all seems hopeless, and having Hope when all seem faithless, is our call and the hallmark of the people of God.

Hope is not something that is an option. Can we truly say we believe and not have hope? And we cannot hold it at arm's length. We don’t have hope as something internal, we have to reside in hope. Novelist and essayist Barbara Kingsolver put it this way. “The very least you can do in your life is figure out what you hope for. And the most you can do is live inside that hope. Not admire it from a distance but live right in it, under its roof.”

So people of God, people of Hope, where do we lean when days are dark? Jesus said these dark times are but the birthpangs. What are we giving birth to? 

Dark times are still with us. These are just some headlines from this week’s news. When people spew fear and hate at the school board meetings, and say they are doing it in Jesus’ name. When congressmen make videos depicting them killing their colleagues and say it is merely symbolic. When someone says book banning is not enough, but that book burning would solve anything. When the world leaders gather to save the planet there is more finger pointing and finger wagging than solutions. And that is just the headlines from this last week. The human heart has not changed. The heart is the problem. And Jesus came to change our heart. Light drives out the darkness, and the darkness will NEVER overcome it. John 1:5 

The first words out of any of God’s messengers tends to be, Fear Not! Angelic and otherwise. I may need to start all my sermons that way. When things get bad, I hear a phrase. “Crisis of Confidence.” It could be the stock market or political leadership. Words mean things. Con-fidence. Con- meaning with, and fidence coming from Fide, faith. With faith we can do anything, the word itself means that. And if we have faith, the attitude we have around that is Hope. Hope lets us breathe when we are being crushed. Hope lets us give when we do not have much. Hope lets us live even though we die. Hope lets us act when it may seem pointless. For our faith is in the One who has conquered death and overcome the grave itself.

As our Senior Warden said a few weeks ago, all things considered in this epoch of the unprecedented, we are thriving. It is easier to have faith when things are going well. But what do we do when things are not?

Two of my dearest friends from college grew up around here, and went to Chamberlayne Baptist Church. You may know the story of their faith that came out in the press this last summer. The congregation gave a public testimony of their hope and faith in an eternal God when they gifted their property and everything in it to Bethlehem Baptist, an African-American congregation from the East End. They met together on June 13 last year (2020) for a final worship service for one, and the start of something new for another. I remind you of the racial tensions happening during this time, which is another reason this story resonated with me so much. I take this from an article written by my friend, Steve Allsbrook.  

Chamberlayne Baptist Church did not start until 1953, but the believers who planted it also started it among the people it sought to reach. Following World War II, metro Richmond expanded into what had once been rural spaces. Neighborhoods like Chamberlayne Farms turned into communities of new suburban homes. Hatcher Memorial Baptist Church and Northside Baptist Church saw the need for a new church in this growing community. Chamberlayne started in a tent and the basement of a home.

Soon it had property with a house, built a chapel, and started to thrive. People typically gather where they feel comfortable. That often means they gather with others of similar culture, language, or appearance. They also usually live in the best place they can afford. Over time, demographic changes occur naturally. People age in place. Children grow up and leave home. What was a neighborhood with children turns into a community of older people.

When one household moves away, the one that moves in usually moves to the best place they can afford but may have a different culture, language, or appearance. Chamberlayne Baptist Church had served a growing community with children that changed into a community with a mixture of ages and ethnic backgrounds. The houses remained, but the people changed.

Circumstances and people change, but God does not change. God sends messengers to show and tell others about His love. God’s people move as God sends us to nearby neighbors and far beyond. That may mean a church moves with the people. It may also mean church people move. Chamberlayne Baptist Church stayed put, and Bethlehem Baptist Church moved several times. Their holy paths have intersected on Wilkinson Road. 

The members of Chamberlayne Baptist Church have served faithfully and well for 67 years. They have shared the Gospel and baptized many. The church ordained 24 ministers who have served near and far in God’s Kingdom. Before public schools offered kindergarten, Chamberlayne had one. They started a group home and a Friends Class for persons with special needs. They have loved each other like a family, sharing and celebrating life events and supporting each other in times of grief and pain. Members moved. Members died. Pastor Dave Peppler helped the people who remained at Chamberlayne discern God’s voice. They understood God saying the time of this church family on Wilkinson Road has come to an end. What does a church do with the place it called home and all the things in it? They considered their options. The people of Chamberlayne Baptist Church believed that God wants a church on Wilkinson Road, even if they cannot continue to serve there. Giving their church facility and the things in it to keep a Gospel witness on Wilkinson Road would be their last act of faithful service as Chamberlayne Baptist Church. 

[From River City Faith Network, written by Steve Allsbrook: https://d08d5598-300f-4285-a108-a24d513f85a2.filesusr.com/ugd/3fb328_d3efa5664a8a4760a58c9aac4e809271.pdf]

I cannot hear the story of the final act of Chamberlayne Baptist without hearing the words from our funeral Rite. 

All of us go down to the dust; yet even at the grave we make our song: 

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia.

Give rest, O Christ, to your servants with your saints,

where sorrow and pain are no more,

neither sighing, but life everlasting.

The story of Chamberlayne Baptist, the new story of Bethlehem Baptist, the final words in our funeral Rite. Testaments of faith, choices of Hope.

[Pause]

All of us, if we live long enough, will see days of dissension and times of upheaval. Those days are dark. I believe we are in the throng of one of these times right now. But we can cower in fear, or see them as the birthpangs of something new. Only with Hope can we see it that way, like Jesus taught his disciples to do. 

I posed the question, but never answered it. What is being birthed? I know what I think, but what do I do to make that real? Do I run away or cower in fear, saying, “Miss Scarlett, I don’t know nothin’ ‘bout birthin’ no babies!” Or do we catch glimpses of the Kingdom of God in our dreams and in our prayers, and roll up our sleeves to make it reality.

Everyone laughed at Noah, but it was his diligence in the face of scorn that saved us all. Jesus on the cross forgave his executioners because they did not know what they were doing, but in his death we can be reborn eternally. Times may be dark, and the road ahead hard to see, but the God who was with us before, is with us now. Why would God not be with us in the days to come?

Fear Not! Have Hope! The Lord is with us, and always will be. Amen

Year B Proper 27 Stewardship Sunday Broken Open

 Year B Proper 27, 7 November 2021

St. James the Less Episcopal, Ashland, VA

Stewardship Sunday “Broken Open”

Collect: O God, whose blessed Son came into the world that he might destroy the works of the devil and make us children of God and heirs of eternal life: Grant that, having this hope, we may purify ourselves as he is pure; that, when he comes again with power and great glory, we may be made like him in his eternal and glorious kingdom; where he lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Mark 12:38-44

As Jesus taught, he said, “Beware of the scribes, who like to walk around in long robes, and to be greeted with respect in the marketplaces, and to have the best seats in the synagogues and places of honor at banquets! They devour widows’ houses and for the sake of appearance say long prayers. They will receive the greater condemnation.”

He sat down opposite the treasury, and watched the crowd putting money into the treasury. Many rich people put in large sums. A poor widow came and put in two small copper coins, which are worth a penny. Then he called his disciples and said to them, “Truly I tell you, this poor widow has put in more than all those who are contributing to the treasury. For all of them have contributed out of their abundance; but she out of her poverty has put in everything she had, all she had to live on.”

Friends, today is Stewardship Sunday. Today is the day we focus on our Giving, and give thanks for what is being brought in for the year to come. And I might even mention money. Wow! Not a surprise in the slightest, I know.

But seriously, we do ourselves a disservice when we hear money when we say Stewardship. As Lou, our Senior Warden, said last week, “Stewardship is using the gifts God gives us to do the work God gives us to do.”

Stewardship is about Giving and Serving. And for us to give it has to be about Faith. We have to believe that we have been given enough for us to have extra, and that when what we have is gone there will be more to come.

A story is told of children who had escaped the horrors of the holocaust in the Nazi concentration camps when they were treated as less than human. We cannot even imagine. They had suffered so much and their trauma was so deep. In one orphanage for these kids, they had a situation. Many of the children woke in the night in terror, screaming that the nightmare they had lived was still with them. But one of the people running the orphanage they were in came up with a simple but genius solution. They sent the children to bed with bread. A simple roll made all the difference. Why? When they awoke in the dark, not knowing where they were, they would find the roll they were clutching and know that they were safe, and loved, and had enough. They had gone to bed content, and that tomorrow there would be enough again. The orphanage stewarded the resources so that the childrens’ needs, physical, emotional, spiritual, were taken care of, so that they could move beyond where they had been stuck.

We are convinced by the powers that be to worry and feel like we do not have enough, and that we need more and more and more. We have a consumer economy, and are bombarded with the message to CONSUME, CONSUME, CONSUME. That goes against the message of a God of Abundance where we have all we need, where we have no need of worry, where we have enough to share.

Stewardship is not about money. Stewardship is hearing the call, and doing something about it. The Steward of a household anticipates the needs of the Lord of the Manor and makes it happen with the resources the Lord of the House provides.

Stephanie and I enjoyed watching Downton Abbey, the PBS show. Not everyone’s cup of tea, pun intended, but we did. All the silliness and heartbreak, and the comedy of manners and the tragedy of class. It was fun.

One of my favorite characters was Charles Carson, the Butler of the House. He kept the downstairs (the servants’ area) flowing, and the upstairs meticulous. While his title was Butler, he was actually serving as the steward of the household. The definition of butler is one who buttles, a butler is a manservant having charge of wines and liquors. In this most trusted position, he kept the wine cellar and the liquors, and held the keys to the entire household. Buttling was a small part of Carson’s responsibilities. A steward is a person who manages the property or affairs for another entity. Carson was a Steward who buttled.

When Carson did his job well, he knew what his Lord wanted before being told, maintaining and anticipating where the next need would be and preparing in advance the desired outcome. He showed, repeatedly, that spontaneous magic takes a lot of behind the scene work. Just ask the Altar Guild here. Much the same.

We come together to worship in the Lord’s House. We use the resources of the Lord to be of service to the Lord’s desire. Even our form of worship, liturgical, comes from the word which means the work of the people. We come together to be of Service to our God, singing praises, raising and educating the next generations, encouraging and strengthening ourselves for the trials of this life, deepening our discipleship to help us more closely follow Jesus, and serving and giving to our community with love and grace. It takes all of it. It is like the old act on variety shows, the plate spinner who could never rest or slow down. He would get one going, then another, then another, adjusting, correcting, maintaining on and on and on. Some days it may feel like we are spinning plates. But we are Stewarding, this facility, this community, our very lives to the glory of God. We have been given so much, and it takes work to keep it going. We steward these things because that is what we do. We are responsible and will answer one day for how we have cared for the Lord’s House. We steward this parish to the best of our abilities, and we anticipate and fulfill the Lord’s desires in the place that has been put in our charge. May we do so as well as Carson did on Downton Abbey.

Today’s Gospel lesson is perfectly timed for Stewardship Season, and I see no accident or coincidence in that. This is the right time of year to be looking ahead.

We are given two pictures in the reading. One of the Scribes who like to have the best, and take from widows to have more. And one is a widow who gave all she had, trusting that she would have enough and more would be on the way.

This powerful witness resonates still today because we all can picture it. We might feel like we do not have two pennies to rub together, but for the widow that was true. When she dropped them in the box, she was stepping out on faith that God would provide. The Jewish name for the God-who-provides is Jehovah Jireh or YHWH Jireh. 

The biblical account is replete with stories of God’s provision. The first I mention is where the name comes from. Think on these...

Picture Abraham with knife raised, God provides. Don’t kill your son, here is a ram stuck in a bush. Jehovah Jireh, God provides.

Like Moses leading the people into the desert. Daily, for years, manna from heaven appeared. Jehovah Jireh, God provides.

Joshua in the battle of Gibeon prays for God to stop the sun and moon so that they can continue to fight in daylight. Jehovah Jireh, God provides.

The Prophet Elijah and the Widow at Zarephath, she was down to her last meal but somehow her flour and oil remained, feeding the prophet, her son, and herself miraculously. Jehovah Jireh, God provides.

Like Jesus feeding 5,000 with a young boy’s lunch. Jehovah Jireh, God provides. 

Friends, if God is calling you to do something, God provides. We have to step out in faith. The widow did, and we are still talking about it. Did her two mites make that much of a difference? To the Treasurer and the Temple Treasury, probably not. But it did to her, and it does to us, when we look through the eyes of faith.

Stewardship is about Giving, giving of our very selves, and Giving takes Faith. We have to see the need, and we choose to respond to the need. And like all good stewards, may it be said of us, “Well done, my good and faithful servant.” We are all limited in what we can do and what we can give individually. But collectively we can accomplish great things, in the power of God and to the glory of God. The only thing that is up to us is how we give, the attitude in which we give to the Lord.

Do we give thankfully? Do we appreciate the gifts of God, from the moment we are given another day on this beautiful earth to the moment we snuggle into a bed with a roof over our head and everything in between? Are we thankful? Do we give our portion back with Thanks?

Do we give prayerfully? Do you pray about what God is doing and how you can best serve and give to God’s service? Do you pray for this place, and the Gospel Life we share? Please pray for me, and Becky+, for our bishops and all other ministers. Do you pray for the role of the Church Universal in Ashland and Hanover, in our state and country and world? Do you feel connected to the greater good and the one holy catholic and apostolic Church? Yours may be a drop in the ocean, just like the widow’s mites, but an ocean is made of drops!

Do we give faithfully? When you give, do you do it trusting that your needs will be met? Do you do it believing in the God who gave you all you have to continue to be the Jehovah Jireh, the God who provides?

This year’s theme across the diocese is the Broken Open. It has a beautiful logo which is on your pledge card. It comes from the image of Jesus at the Last Supper. “While they were eating, Jesus took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to his disciples, saying, ‘Take and eat; this is my body.’” Matthew 26:26

Just as Jesus pointed to the widow’s mite and made a case for faith in giving, I point to Jesus as the ultimate example of what we are talking about today. Faithful giving is what Jesus did himself, giving up himself in loving commitment to us and all humanity, relying on his faith in the God he knew, the Lord he served, the Father of himself and all of us. Jesus pointed to the elements of the Passover Meal, and we remember it weekly reminding ourselves of him and his ultimate Stewardship of all that he had been given, his very body and soul.

And just as Jesus blessed and broke the bread at the Last Supper, transforming the plain bread into something special we celebrate today, Jesus continues to bless us and give us for the sake of the world in need of his love. We are Broken Open not to be hurt, or lessened, or sacrificed, but to be transformed, and multiplied, and blessed.

So fellow Stewards, as we bring our gifts, let us do so with joyful and thankful hearts. If you are not able to do so today, that is okay. We shape our budget and planning for the year ahead on the pledges we receive, we would encourage you to get those in as soon as you can. 

We have been blessed and cared for in this time of upheaval to what became our normal. The God who has been with us in the past, is with us now, and will be in all that is to come. Jehovah Jireh, God provides. Thanks be to God! Amen

Year B Proper 26 WED 2021 Our Part In Miracles

 Year B Proper 26 WED 2021, 3 November 2021

St. James the Less Episcopal, Ashland, VA

“Our Part In Miracles”

Collect: Almighty and merciful God, it is only by your gift that your faithful people offer you true and laudable service: Grant that we may run without stumbling to obtain your heavenly promises; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen. 

Matthew 13:53-58

When Jesus had finished these parables, he left that place.

He came to his hometown and began to teach the people in their synagogue, so that they were astounded and said, “Where did this man get this wisdom and these deeds of power? Is not this the carpenter’s son? Is not his mother called Mary? And are not his brothers James and Joseph and Simon and Judas? And are not all his sisters with us? Where then did this man get all this?” And they took offense at him. But Jesus said to them, “Prophets are not without honor except in their own country and in their own house.” And he did not do many deeds of power there, because of their unbelief.

We do not think of it this way, but our belief is one of the key elements of our working with God. I do not know why. Our belief was not there when God created the cosmos. But when God works in our world today, repeatedly this idea of belief shows up. Without it God does not do what only God can do.

Today: “And he did not do many deeds of power there, because of their unbelief.” 

Blind Bartimaeus from a few weeks ago, “Go; your faith has made you well.” 

In book club yesterday I mentioned the second death mentioned in Revelation in an offhand comment, and one of the folks asked me what that was. I read the verse, Revelation 21:8 of the things that will cause eternal death, “But as for the cowardly, the faithless, the polluted, the murderers, the fornicators, the sorcerers, the idolaters, and all liars, their place will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death.” Now do not hear me saying that this is literal. Revelation should not be read that way. But look at the top two “sins” mentioned, “the Cowardly, and the Faithless…” We have some skin in this game.

Faith is one of those things that cannot be taught. Faith is a choice. We choose to believe, or not. We choose to follow, or not.

When we interact with someone, and I no longer give them the benefit of the doubt, that is my red flag that our relationship needs work. I may not have consciously decided to no longer trust them, but my gut is telling me something is wrong. I see that when I am not trusting, a breach has occurred. And that is when I need to get to work to rebuild that relationship.

When people stop giving me the benefit of the doubt, the same has occurred. There has been a break in our relationship that needs some attention. I think that is one reason why Jesus tells us to leave our gift at the altar and go clear things up. Faith is the foundation of relationships. 

The same is true with God. We do not have faith at times. That is true for all of us. Often for me it is not conscious. But something will catch my attention that I am relying on my own strength and power, and not leaning on God. I have to make it a conscious choice. That is how I see prayer. The rattling around in my head can turn internal and just be an unhealthy echo chamber, or I can take those same thoughts and give them over to God and let them go. That is a choice. That is faith.

It ALL comes back to faith. I have to choose to have it. I have to choose to live by it and step into it. Looking back, I can clearly see where it did not take much faith, but it did take what little I could give. In those faith-filled moments, God had been working all things to my long-term good. In the moment, that perspective was hard if not impossible to see, but the flashlight of faith looking back shows me God has been with me all along the way.

When Jesus went home, they knew him too well. They could not have faith in the known and it became a self-fulfilling property. Jesus could do nothing because of the lack of faith.

We are in a season where much faith is required, both in our church and in our society. We are asking this congregation to have faith in the leadership of the parish. As a society, we are wrestling in what and who to have faith in as well.

We cannot be Cowardly. We cannot be Faithless. Worry is a way to suffer twice if things turn bad, and worry often becomes that self-fulfilling prophecy that can very well seal our doom.

May we have faith, dear friends, for that is the only way to see miracles. Amen

Chapel Service for St Catherine's School 28 & 29 October 2021

All Saints’ Day Chapel Service for St. Catherine’s School
October 28 (Middle School) and October 29 (High School)
St. Catherine’s School, Richmond, VA


Hebrews 12:1-2
Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight and the sin that clings so closely, and let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus the pioneer and perfecter of our faith, who for the sake of the joy that was set before him endured the cross, disregarding its shame, and has taken his seat at the right hand of the throne of God.

This time of year, people are never sure if I am in a costume or not. Not a costume, this is my uniform as a priest. Happy Halloween! Now why would a priest talk about Halloween, we will go through it. The name comes from the Evening before All Saints, or All Hallows as it used to be called. It is actually a contraction, Hallows Evening became Hallowe’en. It is a religious day when one gives it the proper meaning.

Today we are going to take a journey, not to another place, but through time.

Today we are sitting in the chapel at St. Catherine’s and some of you are in your classrooms watching the feed. When was this school founded?

1890! Right! For 131 years many souls have walked these halls, and different things have been taught over the years. But the spirit of the place remains the same, excellence and quality education. 1000s have walked these halls, just like you, with similar thoughts and feelings, worries and fears. We all might seem so very different, but in many ways we are all so very similar. We are bound together in our similarity, especially one.

Scientists announced about 15 years ago that we are all connected through a single common ancestor, an Eve they called her. Written in the coding in a little part of all your cells called the mitochondria is a snippet that goes back to about 155,000 years ago. In every living human, this snippet of coding is in every cell. The common ancestor is called the mt-MRCA, the mitochondrial-Most Recent Common Ancestor, which scientists called mitochondrial Eve, from the Bible Story. They think she lived on the plains of central Africa, and they watched the diversity spread and grow from this common source. Fascinating!

But this means that all of us, no matter how different we are, we are truly brothers and sisters, one human family. We are truly bound together with a little snippet of coding in a tiny part of every cell in your body.

So what does that have to do with Halloween? Stay with me. It does!

As Christianity spread from the Middle East, to and through the Roman Empire, and then up into Europe, especially northern Europe, it encountered new peoples and different faiths. In Britannia Christianity encountered the faith of the Druids. This time of year they felt a closeness between this world and the next. They called it a “thinness.” This was their New Years’ celebration and was called Samhain (pronounced So-win). It was a time when they would welcome the spirits of their ancestors and try to ward off the evil spirits that might come during these “thin” times. When Christianity would go into new areas, they would connect with the beliefs that were similar and sometimes incorporate them. This is called Syncretism, and the belief in our eternal connection with our ancestors was a biblical belief. In our reading today it was called the “great cloud of witnesses.” We are bound with those of the faith who have already passed, and we are in the great chain of belief that goes all the way back to Abraham, Moses, and Jesus.

In the 700s, Pope Gregory III moved the remembrance day, the Feast of All Saints from March to November 1 as a way to encourage those for whom this time of year was full of meaning. So November 1 became All Saints Day, and November 2 became All Souls Day. We honor and remember those that came before and especially those who recently passed. LatinX culture still celebrates it with Dia de los Muertos. It is not scary, it is a way to celebrate and reconnect with those who have come before.





Listen again to the words from Hebrews:
Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight and the sin that clings so closely, and let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus the pioneer and perfecter of our faith…

Connecting with those who came before can help us in three ways.

When we remember our forebears, we are INSPIRED with HOPE. They did great and mighty things, and because of that we stand on their shoulders.

We are also ENCOURAGED to do our BEST. Nobody aims for 2nd place. We all should strive and accomplish what we can.

Lastly, we are helped to PERSEVERE through the hard times. We have an eternal cheering section rooting for us and pushing us on to do in our day what they did in theirs.

We stand on the shoulders of giants, who are still with us! We are bound together, and we are all one. But even in that unity, in all the time since our first mother mitochondrial Eve, and with all the saints of the faith that have gone before us on the path, of all that have come before you are the only you who has ever been born. You are unique in all of history, and have something to contribute to this race, this Human Race, that only you can bring. Have fun, be safe, and Happy Halloween. God bless you! Amen