Are We Ready to Welcome the Mystery?

Beloved Brothers and Sisters,

As I prepare to leave for family travels, I wanted to share with you a story.  It is a story shared with me many years ago, a story that gave birth to this beautiful painting---a powerful image of the visitation of Mary with Elizabeth, their presence to one another, and their marveling at the mysterious workings of God.

The Windsock Visitation
 by Brother Michael O'Neill McGrath

The story goes like this---A community of Sisters, The Visitation Order, established one of their homes in the inner city of Minneapolis, responding to God’s call to them to be a place of prayer and presence for their surrounding community, and in particular to the children.

The sisters quickly noticed a need for the children to have a warm, safe, and welcoming place to come to in those crucial after school hours, as well as during some of those long vacations.  And so the sisters began to open up their home---offering a warm welcome, a healthy snack, time and support for homework, as well as a safe place simply to play, to laugh, and to have that sacred space freely to be God’s beautiful children.

The sisters soon realized, however, that they were not always able to serve the children as often as there was need, for there were days and times where their other ministries called them away. Yet they knew that this work they were doing was essential, indeed God-breathed, and that they could not give up on it.  And so they met with the children and what emerged was a beautiful plan. 

Whenever the Sisters were able to offer this sacred space of welcome to the children, they would hang a windsock out on the front porch.  The children would watch for it, and when they saw it they would know that the Sisters were present, ready, and delighted to welcome them in.

Can you imagine being a child and watching for that windsock?  Can you imagine the joy of entering in to the Sister’s home and receiving such a warm welcome?  Can you imagine the joy of the Sisters in welcoming the children?

It’s amazing, really, these two stories---the Sisters and the Children; Mary and Elizabeth--  for they both speak of welcoming the mystery of the very real presence and the very real movement of God in our midst, and that seeming obstacles are no obstacles at all!  God is in our midst! 

My Brothers and Sisters, I see the light of Christ in you!  Let us go forth and serve with that light, entrusting our ministries to the same abundant Spirit that inspired the Windsock Visitation, and that brought forth and brings forth to and from all of us the Blessed Incarnation.

With much love and many prayers for you, and for a blessed journey of Advent and Christmas,

Julia

Being the Light of Christ for Those in Darkness

My Brothers and Sisters,

As we continue to mourn and to be deeply perplexed and troubled by the last week's tragedy in Connecticut, I share with you this clip I came across through the PBS Newshour:

As more details emerge about Friday's Connecticut school shooting, thousands of Americans found comfort in the following touching image and quote from the late Fred Rogers:

Photo by Jim Judkis

"When I was a boy and I would see scary things in the news, my mother would say to me, 'Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping.' To this day, especially in times of 'disaster,' I remember my mother's words, and I am always comforted by realizing that there are still so many helpers -- so many caring people in this world."

My Brothers and Sisters, may we seek, with the gift of God's empowering grace, to be those helping and caring people in this world.  May we seek, in other words, to be the light of Christ to and with all the world.

I see the light of Christ in you.

With love and prayers,
Julia

The Gospel of Abundance

Feeding each other, belly and soul

  

Fruits of the earth, abundant creation

Teaching each other; wisdom comes from faith and knowledge

Christ offers abundant Life

It is a gospel of abundance.  That is what I am struck by again and again, as I have begun my journey with you in this past month.  Do you see it too?  It’s everywhere---people whose hearts and lives are committed to a way of life grounded in generosity and service, in compassion and solidarity.  It is breathtaking.  And at the deepest of levels it is breath giving.  It is the breath and the movement of the Spirit.

It is sometimes easy to forget this abundance of the gospel, along with its truth of the multiplication of the two fishes and the five loaves, and for our spirits to get wrapped up in the tangle of what we sense to be in short supply, or to be lacking.

This morning, I was particularly struck by one of the prayers in my devotions, for it touched on this very dynamic:

I have tasted the fruit of the earth, O God.

I have seen autumn trees hang heavily with heaven’s gifts.

I have known people pregnant with your spirit of generosity.

Let these be guides to me this day.

And may Mary who knew her womb filled with your goodness

teach me the wisdom that is born amidst pain.

May I know that deeper than any fallowness in me

is the seed planted in the womb of my soul.

May I know that greater than any barrenness in the world

is the harvest to be justly shared.

                 -- J. Philip Newell, Celtic Benediction: Morning and Night Prayer

It’s a powerful prayer, transformative really, for it is the miracle of the fishes and the loaves, and the depth of the paschal mystery, all brought together.  It is the gospel of abundance.  It is the gospel of life and possibility and love.  It is the deepest truth of the presence of God with us.

With much love and many prayers.  You are in my heart.

            Mother Julia

Eating the Elephant

Bishop Desmond Tutu once said,  “The best way to eat and elephant is one bite at a time.”

I have to be reminded quite often that all the “elephants” we face in our immediate future can be dealt with, one “bite” and one day at a time.  My friends who are in recovery all will testify that the only way they handle the gargantuan challenge of staying sober is by doing it (with lots of help from God and their friends) one day at a time. I might even break that down a little further  to “one moment at a time,” (or even, "one bite at a time!")

So often we co-opt our present for the sake of imagined fears. Many times, (in my case, especially) our main fear is the fear of failure.  As we encounter challenges our doubts cause us to question our ability to succeed.  Questions like: "Can I be organized enough?" "Am I disciplined enough?" "Do I have enough follow-through?" "Am I faithful enough to be a leader?" often plague those of us called to do the seemingly huge tasks set before us as leaders.

I know that If I stopped at those questions, however, I would be sunk before the ship even takes to the challenging seas spread out before me! 

Scripture is refreshingly familiar with the human propensity for anxiety. Paul says, in his letter to the Phillippians  (who apparently were a very anxious bunch!):

“Don’t be anxious about anything; rather, bring up all of your requests to God in your prayers and petitions, along with giving thanks. Then the peace of God that exceeds all understanding will keep your hearts and minds safe in Christ Jesus.”  (4:6-7, CEB)

Jesus also tells us, in Luke 12:22-25:

“Therefore, I say to you, don’t worry about your life, what you will eat, or about your body, what you will wear. There is more to life than food and more to the body than clothing. Consider the ravens: they neither plant nor harvest, they have no silo or barn, yet God feeds them. You are worth so much more than birds! Who among you by worrying can add a single moment to your life?” (CEB)

God recognizes that to be human is to worry, and yet God also confirms that worry is a waste of time. What a relief that God understands our preoccupation with the future!

I am finding a healthy reliance on some of the “old stand-bys” of Anglican religious practice like The Daily Office (Morning, Noon and Evening prayer and Compline) , Lectio Divina (sacred reading) and Centering Prayer are proving to be very helpful. Even people in other traditions vastly different from our own  are beginning to recognize that our form of Daily Prayer is a healthy way to allow God to help us with stress and anxiety.

Peter Scazzero, an evangelical pastor, writes in his book, “Emotionally Healthy Spirituality,” that:

“The Daily Office and the Sabbath…. offer us a rhythm so powerful that they anchor us from whatever catastrophic blizzard that may be blowing in our lives so we can feel the rope (that is, God himself) and make our way home…” (pg. 156).

I encourage you, as you face challenges that seem “elephantine” here at Incarnation and in your lives to begin handling them first by stopping, praying and (finally) knowing that these challenges can be handled “one bite at a time.”  The more that we rely on prayer, God’s word, and the love of our community, the less anxious we feel (and the more “elephants” we consume!)

Walking the Way: My Holy Land Experience

The Author in Jerusalem

A blog post from Sylvia Hutchings:

When asked to talk about my experience to the holy land, I was puzzled as to what  I could say in short form. I felt I should narrow it down to what I was seeking and what I got from the trip. I believe I had a spiritual awakening that made me closer to God. I have since given up control and truly feel that God is in control. I have replaced fear with faith and now believe faith and fear can not occupy the same space.

The trip went to Dubai, Oman, Jordan, Israel, Egypt and Greece.

My fascination in taking the trip was the leg to the holy land at Easter. To take the walk that Christ took for us  Via Dolorosa (the way of grief)

• Prior to going:

        1. I needed a change in my life

        2. I needed something to take me out of my comfort                 zone

        3. a spiritual connection

        4. an intimacy with God.

        5. a barometer  to measure my faith

to that extent I had tried

• Joining:

        1. bible study

        2. vestry person   

        3. priest class

        4. bible reading

        5. Praying on my knees.

Through all of this I felt something was missing. I felt I did not have the closeness with  God that I have seen in other people. The true faith and belief that what ever happens they had given it to God and they had trust that God would and could handle it.  God has always been in my life. But if I would have to say what I felt I was missing was this type of faith.

This trip was planned over a year and a half ago. Three months before the trip I learned that I needed a total hip replacement. my choices were:

• cancel trip
• have surgery before the trip.  (But, I couldn't rehab in time.)
• take the trip in pain.

as we know I  took option 3..... go in pain.

The group that I was traveling with was 78 in number and was very helpful and mindful of my limitations. Dubai, Oman and Jordan were enjoyable, and I did all the touristy things in these countries.

Then came Israel and the Holy Land and taking the walk that Christ took for all of us when he paid  the price for our salvation. I felt that if I was going to have a connection, perhaps this was the perfect time and the perfect place. We were divided into groups and each of us went on the walk on one of three days. I went on the last day. Each day, members of the daily group would meet up with me and tell me about the terrain of the walk. They related to me that this was not going to be easy for me- in fact, many said, it may even prove to be impossible. The terrain is rocky and  hilly and the day we were there was Greek Orthodox Easter, which made it even more of an issue.

The night before the walk, my room mate asked me what was I going to do. My answer was, “I didn't come this far  not to try.” Somehow I knew I was not going to fail.

The next day, with a plenty of Percocet (and my cane) ,our group

headed for the walk that Christ took for all of us. Our Israeli

guide took me aside and told me the terrain was rough and hilly

and  that it was going to be crowded. He also said that could not  hold up the group just for me. Perhaps I needed to think about staying on the bus  when we got there. My response was that  I didn't come this far not to try.

I would like to interject that in this region only 10% of the population are Christians. So, for the Israeli guide this was a tourist attraction and did not have the same meaning that it had for me.

Little did anyone know that the night before I had prayed that

my trip would not be in vain. I wanted to take this walk.I

needed to take this walk.Maybe I would find the intimacy I was seeking. Maybe the void would be filled with something..... (hopefully, faith).

As Christ said in Matthew 17:20  "If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you."

Surprisingly, to me my hip was less painful that day than any

day of the trip. Yes, the hills and the terrain were rough but

because of the crowds nobody could hurry through the course.

This gave me time to catch up to the waving flag of our guide. I could rest through the guide's explanation of the stops. For instance,  there is a hand print on a wall representing where Christ stumbled. Again, we paused at Veronica’s veil (station 7) and when Jesus faltered and the man from Cyrene called Simon was petitioned to picked up the cross for Jesus. I was so into what  God gave all of us that day that the pain of my hip was not in the forefront.

When we arrived at the square where the cross was raised ( no pictures were allowed) there was not a dry eye among us. Our Israeli guide came over and said I didn't think you would make

it. I said I didn't think I wouldn't.  I felt full of God's presence in a way I had never felt before. I felt  I was touched with the holy spirit. Most importantly, I realized that religious feeling doesn't arise from going to church or reading the bible but from interior experiences, either of great joy or of staggering pain. I felt I needed both the pain of my hip and the joy of a spiritual experience to feel closer to God. It was without a doubt a life changing experience for me. I discovered faith and had a spiritual awakening.

Living for Christ represents that exact sort of humbling that  "I" needed in order to die my old conceited self.  (Yes, I use the word conceit. The conceit came in that I thought  I was in control).

It has been 3 months since I had my hip replacement surgery. Praise the Lord I am doing well. But, the day before I was to leave  for the Middle East I got a call saying that my mammogram did not look good and I that needed to have it repeated. I did not have time to go before leaving so I postponed the repeat until after my trip. I repeated the mammogram to learn that it still did not look good and I needed a needle breast biopsy. (This took place 6 days before my hip replacement, so I had to wait again until I had the surger, went to rehab for 3 weeks and went home.) I had the biopsy. Thank God, the biopsy was benign. Now that I can turn and move more I noticed a dark spot that look like it could have been a melanoma on the side of my foot. So off I go to the dermatologist for another biopsy. She tells me that nevi (another name for moles) usually do not appear past the age of 35. So, this doesn't make me feel good because- Hello! I am past 30 years! So, I had the biops,  and it was a nevus. However, now I see a dermatologist once a year.

Earlier, I said that you have to  let go of fear and replace it with faith. When I was in the Middle East people all around me were doubting my ability to walk 2 miles. When I elected to take the trip there were people who said I should postpone my trip. I wanted  to move forward with the trip in spite of my hurting hip. I felt something was drawing me to the Middle East at this time in my life and I needed to go.... As scared as I was, the hot bed of the Middle East was not a deterrent. In the time I was in the Middle East-19 days- I had a spiritual awakening. I came to believe that walking in faith replaces living in fear. I knew I would complete the walk that Jesus took. I knew when I came home that my surgery would go well even though Jeff ( my son) needed to return  home to North Carolina and that  Joan (my daughter) works every day. I felt with the 2 cancer scares that what ever I had to do, I was not doing it alone. God would and did pull me through. If I had breast cancer and had to take chemo, so be it. I would not be alone.

I felt terribly tired, weak and vulnerable  after surgery, but God sent some angels because each time I opened my eyes and had a need I had a willing smiling face. All my needs were met without me interfering. I had an inner peace that all was well and I had Jesus holding my hand then, now,  and always.

I don't know where this new found faith and awakening will take me. I know it will not be where I want to go but where I am led. Giving up control is a relief. Having faith puts many fears to rest

I once read an explanation of  the simplisticity of faith. What if the meek really do inherit the earth? What if the truth was simple, so that everyone could grasp it and not complex so that you needed a Master's degree? Maybe the truth can be perceived through an organ other than the brain and that wasn't that what faith was all about?

Faith is a no cancel contract signed by God.

Getting in and Fitting In

 I loved our Parish Forum on Sunday. Patricia and I had some bittersweet news about our departure, but in spite of that (and perhaps because of it) I felt great energy in the room. The presence of God was in our church on Sunday.

In particular, I loved something James Pettigrew said right at the end. (I love it when someone gets the floor and ends a meeting better than I could! Makes my job easy. Funny how that works- the Lord gives a word to just the right person at just right time sometimes, huh?)  He said, “You get in where you fit in…”

A few people voiced some legitimate concerns.  Barbara talked about how we need to do better with the grounds. We also heard several people talk about how we needed folks to step up and commit to getting things done around here. But James’s pithy statement really summed up how I feel about work at the Church. I think some passion was displayed about some issues- in particular apathy, a few people doing most of the work and the building and grounds. However, in the end, Sunday’s forum was a healthy church on display. Words and ideas were shared with love and with a common vision towards God’s kingdom.  We gathered and were the Church.

The Church is different from other groups. God’s Church is not a civic organization or a social club- she is not a fraternal order or a sorority- she is not even an outreach organization. The Church is the Body of Christ- God’s body! Gathered together-  we make up the very substance of who God is on this earth.  (Think about that for a second.  Whoa….)

I love what the Apostle Paul says about the Church being God’s body. He says, in 1 Cor 12: 12, “Christ is just like the human body—a body is a unit and has many parts;and all the parts of the body are one body, even though there are many.” (CEB)

Some of us are hands that operate weed whackers or lawnmowers, fingers that knead dough, chop vegetables or braise legs of lamb. Quite a few of us are heads: people who think,  have great ideas and share practical skills that are put to great use. Just about everyone here is the heart- we never fail to see great passion for not only the survival of Incarnation but the desire for her to flourish. We are God’s body!

So, when you contribute time and talent to Incarnation, you are doing so for the betterment not of a building or a liturgy or a social event or even a group of really nice people who gather, sing and pray each week- you are doing your part to bring and keep God’s body in good health. Every second you spend here working, thinking, teaching, singing, pulling weeds, pressure-washing, studying scripture (and whatever else you can think of) is a blessed miracle!

I don’t know about you, but I find it thrilling to be able to take part in being God’s visible presence in this world. All of the tiny things you do here are building God’s Kingdom, one tiny act at a time. Every weed you pull, every bean you cook, every blade of grass you cut and every bulletin you fold, you are moving as a part of God’s body.

Hurry Up and Stop!

 Jesus with some Fans... Taking a Moment to chat with some really well-dressed little kids. 

(They look like they are in Scotland or something... How strange).

Quiet and stopping....

 So easy to forget about these two "inactivities."  All of us get busy very quickly- especially folks with families or other people of any sort who depend on us daily. From waking until sleeping, so often we are scheduled for every minute.

Jesus was a really unscheduled dude!

One of my favorite scenes in the Gospels is the one in which little children come running up to him.  I imagine that it came at the end of a long day- his robe grimy with the dust of the town, little street urchins running up all around him, probably begging for alms or food.  His disciples shoo them away like so many pests… One of the guys says something like, “Yeshua, we have to find someplace to sleep tonight before it gets dark… We just don’t have time for this nonsense!! ” Jesus stops, though,  and asks one of the little children her name…. Gives some of them whatever food or money he has…. He squats down to talk with them- these nobodies… He stops in the middle of a busy day! 

Jesus didn’t have a schedule, other than the weekly rhythm of Sabbath that was central to the life of all Jewish people. Given how we are so time obsessed, it is kind of surprising (and not a little bit funny) that we never read about any of the apostles keeping a calendar. In fact, in the few instances where he is challenged with a “We don’t have time for this!” from one of his people, he often  answers them with a rebuke.

In the Gospels, Jesus is someone who knows how  to stop. He naps (Luke 8:23, Mark 4:37-38). He takes time off  (Matthew 12:22-23, Luke 6:12-13, Mark 6:30-32.) Jesus even hides on occasion during a stressful time  (Mark 7:24). Jesus, by today’s standards, might even be considered to be quite the slacker!

I was reminded of how essential stopping and being quiet with God is just this week. I was at the church all alone and for some reason, I found myself sitting in the second row of the nave. I just sat there. My mind raced around for a while, but finally I began to breathing and saying a favorite centering prayer, “God of love, Mother of my soul, Send me your peace.” I think I might have prayed about some other things, but I am pretty sure I just sat there. Nothing hugely miraculous happened: no voices, visions or revelations. However, in the stillness a genuine presence of love and peace settled upon me. (God, perhaps??)

All the rest of this week, that time has anchored me and drawn me back to silence and stopping at different times of the day and in the midst of my busyness. Once I remember to stop and be quiet, I am reminded of how natural, life-giving and all present our Living God really is. (The only trouble is, until I actually get to “the quiet place,” it seems like the hardest thing in the world to do!)

I encourage you to find your quiet place right now. Take 5 minutes- go for a short walk, stare out the window, or just remember to breathe in and out as you are driving along. Try a centering prayer that is keyed to your breath.  (For some good suggestions, visit http://www.kyrie.com/cp/  or www.contemplativeoutreach.org )

As you have success or failure with your quiet time, stopping and/or centering prayer, share them with someone else. (If anything, come and talk to me about it- I would love to learn how you are doing with this practice). I pray that you find time to “stop” and take in the love our God has for you!

As always, I love you and am praying for you

Father Tim+

Interdependence Day

Incarnationally Speaking… July 6^th Edition

 

Some of you probably remember the  bicentennial. 

I was 10 years old. My Mom has this great picture of me pulling a float I designed and constructed for my neighborhood’s parade. I made a chicken wire and crepe-paper birthday cake and my dad constructed a rolling platform for it. On the 4^th, the kids and adults in my neighborhood congregated on a cul-de-sac and we had a parade from one end of High Harbor Lane to the neighborhood pool and tennis courts.

I got Mom to make me a pair of breeches out of some old pants by cutting them off below the knee. I got a pair of white, knee-high socks and tucked the pants in them. I borrowed a button-on ruffle from my brother’s hot handbell-choir tuxedo, co-opted a vest from one of my plaid Sears wash-n-wear suits, stapled the sides and back of a felt cowboy hat I won at a county fair into a tricorner and, by golly, I made a convincing Johnny Tremain. I was an exuberant patriot at 10 years old, because I rang a bell as I paraded, yelling, “Happy Birthday, America!”

I am, as I was back then, grateful for the USA.

 I love this place and the opportunity, safety and abundance it has afforded all of us. Who can complain? Even on our worst days in the USA, the poorest among us is safer and healthier than many people with money in developing nations. At the very least, we live reasonably sure that we are not going to be blown up by an IED or hunted down by a drone.  The great majority  of us have access to clean water and sanitation and our stores feature an uninterrupted supply of readily available (if often unaffordable) food and goods. Life is easy, safe and (on some days) fairly pleasurable in Good Old America.

Not only that, but in spite of the nasty rhetoric we read from the right and the left making “the other guy” out to be the next great Satan, we have a competent political system that enables a peaceful (if not often controversial) transfer of power. We do not have dicators who cling to power through violence and we don’t usually take up arms and murder folks who disagree with us.

So, I am most thankful for the many blessings we have here in the USA, many of which I am probably forgetting.

However, I am also praying for this country as well.  I don’t want to tip my hand for this week’s sermon, but I am praying that we are less independent, and more interdependent as a nation.

As Annie Lamotte once said, God, unfortunately, does not have the same taste in people as we do. So, that means that all the folks out there who give me a pain in my neck: lunatics on the fringes of political issues, that hatemongers, Ayn Rand libertarians,  Fundamentalist “Christianists, “ anti-abortion crusaders,  ultra-righties and the ultra-lefties,  break-away Anglicans and  lovers of top-40 radio- all of you-  (and I mean  all of you) are Children of God and precious in her sight. Perhaps my greatest sin (and I am sure I am not alone in this) is that I frequently forget this as I get my daily dose of “truthiness” from various news sources. I am interdependent  upon (and with) all of  you in one way or another.

I pray, as our country enters a new year of existence, that we begin to remember our interdependence. With God’s help, may all of us, as our prayers say, “be one.”

Father Tim

A God Who Listens

A God who Listens

 

Aidan and I took Alice, (pictured above) our Australian Shepherd puppy, to her first obedience class last night. She did really well, I am happy to report.  She’s a smart pup. What makes Alice smart, however, is not so much that she is obedient. What our trainer, Allison, told us last night was that Alice watches and listens. When we tell her to “sit” or lie down, she looks us in the eye and awaits her next instruction. When we look at her, we can tell she is waiting to hear what we have to say. Alice is a good listener.

Keep in mind, though, that she is pretty keyed in to the fact that the whole time we are working on her obedience stuff, I have a treat concealed in my hand. The technique we have been taught is all reward-based, so whenever she sits, or lies down, or stays, she gets a nice treat. As long as she thinks I have a treat in my hand, Alice’s eyes never leave mine.

The young humans we live with are no different many times.  One of the things I have noticed about young humans is that requests for assistance in the kitchen, or with the laundry or with the trash, must be repeated several times. I cannot throw any stones in the listening department, however, because I sin frequently. I usually have to ask someone his or her name at least twice. I also will catch myself during intense conversations thinking of what I will say next to my conversation partner. I don’t know about you, but I am not always a great listener.

How great it is, then, that we follow a God who always listens. Unlike many of us, God does not have “selective hearing.” In the Gospel of Mark, Jesus hears and sees people who are sick, and he responds with deep listening. Namely, he heals them. In our Gospel reading from Mark 5 this week, he walks through a crushingly large crowd and he “feels the power go out of him” because a sick woman touches the hem of his garment. “Your faith has made you well…” he tells her. She brought her need literally “out in the open” and tugged not only on Jesus’ ear but on his robe!

What might you share with Jesus if you were in the crowd? We cannot always listen well, but God can and does. A listening God is one who urges us to be honest and open with our pain. Many times, we feel as if we cannot share some things like anger, broknenness or sickness with God, but our Gospel for this week shows us that we can! We do not have to hold "treats" in our hand, either. We feel many times that we must be righteous, or prayerful or good in order for God to listen to us. God does not listen selectively- God listens, all the time!  AMEN

God is Messing with Us!

I love it when God “messes with us.”

 I recently read “Jesus Freak,” by Sarah Miles. Sarah does some gorgeous theological reflection about her work at the food pantry at St. Gregory’s Episcopal Church in San Francisco. She describes how she begins to notice God’s presence in the every day. When she would tell her priest, Paul Fromberg, about the times when she felt that God was showing up, he would say, “God is messing with you…”

As followers of Christ, I think we believe in a God who “messes with us” and who is with us and among us and within us. However, we sometimes become blind and deaf  to God’s work with us and for us. (Some  might even say that we should call anything that makes us blind or  deaf to God “sin”). The air we breathe and the sunshine that filters down upon us in the morning is God communicating with us. The question is, do we notice God's work around us?

So, I challenge the notion that anything is coincidental. A friend of mine used to call coincidences “God-Incidents.” I am not that corny, but I think he had a point. Yesterday, for instance, I was standing in line at a government window. I was wearing my collar, so the man in line next to me asked me where I worked. I told him about Incarnation,  gave him my card and invited him to church. Later, when I asked him what he  did, he told me (with some discomfort) that he was a priest in a ACNA Anglican Church (one of the groups that broke away from TEC in the last few years).  Weird!

As we waited in the slow-moving line, we  had a great conversation. (I think we might have even struck up a friendship). I imagine that I am one of just a few Episcopal priests he has talked to recently , given some of the realities of how estranged certain branches of the Anglican family have become. However,  we agreed about many things and even stumbled upon some places where we probably would not agree. However, in that government queue God made a new connection  that could someday further her kingdom or even (one can dream) help to heal some broken places in the Church! (Plus, I met a nice person who is passionate about the Gospel of Jesus Christ!) 

If I say that all these "weird" coincidences are just happenstance,  I am really behaving as a "functional atheist." If I do not acknowledge God at work in happy meetings like the one I had yesterday, I am saying that God is not at work. What abundant grace we find, however, when we become conscious at all times that God is "messing with us!"

Look at your life and see where “God is messing with you.” Perhaps she is talking to  you through a friendship, or something you are reading, or even on the radio. When we cease to see the miraculous as “coincidental” we begin to find God at work in our lives and in the lives around us. God is still speaking  (and messing) with us!

Thanks be to God!

As always, I Love you and am praying for you-

Father Tim+

Is Greed Good?

IS GREED GOOD??

I recently watched the Oliver Stone film “Wall Street…” again. There is an iconic speech from the antagonist of the film, Gordon Gecko (pictured above, and played by Michael Douglas). Gecko is a Wall Street financier who will do anything for a buck- even if it is illegal or unethical or harmful for people who get in his way. Gecko says, in a key scene in the movie in which he gives a shareholder speech:

“The point is, ladies and gentleman, that greed, for lack of a better word, is good. Greed is right, greed works. Greed clarifies, cuts through, and captures the essence of the evolutionary spirit. Greed, in all of its forms; greed for life, for money, for love, knowledge has marked the upward surge of mankind.”

 But is greed really good? Is greed in accordance with who we really are as followers of Christ?

 Greed is the hoarding of resources that we all do out of fear of not having enough (or needing more). What lies at the heart of greed is fear and anxiety. Greed happens when we are afraid of losing what we have!

I should know, because right now, I am sitting in the living room of a huge, luxurious house we built about 8 years ago. One evening, Patricia and I were talking, and we figured out that we only really use about 1/3 of the space we have in our house! We determined that one of our goals in the next year is to move to a smaller, more manageable house.  Why do we want so much space that we cannot possibly ever use? We are greedy for space!

Also, owning a big house means that we often have felt compelled to fill it with “stuff.” So, we have been gradually emptying out unneeded “stuff” and are trying to be more conscious of what we buy and bring in to our home. We have spent hours disposing of all the “stuff” that has collected in our too-big house by giving it away and (in a couple of weeks) having a yard sale, and will have to spend many more hours until we get it down to manageable levels. Greed for space and “stuff” has resulted in our spending many hours we will never get back dealing with all our "stuff."

With God's help, however, we are offered liberation from greed.

 In Mark 10 a “rich young man” asks Jesus what he must do to enter God’s kingdom. Jesus says, “ … Go, sell what you own, and give the money to the poor. Then you will have treasure in heaven. And come, follow me. ”  Jesus later says that it is “easier for a camel to squeeze through the eye of a needle” than for a rich man to go to heaven (and by the standards he was using back then, we are all rich!) If we stop there this spells doom for us all. However, there is grace and mercy aplenty, because Jesus  says, in verse 27, that “it is impossible [to be saved] with human beings; but not with God. All things are possible for God.”(CEB)

Our challenge, especially as Christians who live in a place as wealthy as the USA, is to be grateful for what we have while being conscious of how much we have. As we cut down on our consumption, it frees up more of our resources to spend on building God’s kingdom. When we get God to help free us from the bondage of  having “too much stuff” we have more time, energy and money to share with those who have very little.  The gospel offers us hope and a way out of the greed that we all struggle with in our lives.

Oh, and by the way, Mr. Gecko, greed is definitely not good.  However, God is!

Shalom

Father Tim+