Venturing from Safe Waters

ONLINE REFLECTION, ST. PAUL’S, FOLEY

OCTOBER 21, 2020

 

LESSON:       The Prayer of Sir Francis Drake

 

 

As we begin to emerge from the chaos that has surrounded us in the next several months, our tendency might be to play things safely.

 

When political chaos, economic clouds, pandemic threats, and storms on the horizon have subsided, we may want to find safe harbors in which to live.  An old saying in psychological theory says that stress brings on regression.  That may be very tempting to us, in light of all that we have endured.  Seafarers, such as Paul in his journey to Rome, found rest in a quiet harbor.

 

But there is another way to view life – and that is to dare greatly.  A new world will be awaiting creation.  We cannot craft and mold it from our warm, safe places.

 

That sense of risk and adventure was close to the heart of the 16^th Century English Sea Captain, Sir Francis Drake. His bold embrace of life led him to circumnavigate the globe, when that was a very dangerous thing to do at that time, and serve as the second in command in the British defeat of the Spanish Armada.

 

He wrote a poem that I first heard quoted by the Reverend Frank Wade, rector of St. Alban’s Church, Washington, when he was chaplain to the House of Deputies at General Convention.  It is both stirring and encouraging. Listen to his words.

 

Prayer of Sir Francis Drake 

 

Disturb us, Lord, when
We are too well pleased with ourselves, 

When our dreams have come true 

Because we have dreamed too little, 

When we arrived safely
Because we sailed too close to the shore. 

 

Disturb us, Lord, when
With the abundance of things we possess 

We have lost our thirst
For the waters of life;
Having fallen in love with life,
We have ceased to dream of eternity 

And in our efforts to build a new earth, 

We have allowed our vision
Of the new Heaven to dim. 

 

Disturb us, Lord, to dare more boldly, 

To venture on wider seas
Where storms will show your mastery; 

Where losing sight of land, 

We shall find the stars.
We ask You to push back
The horizons of our hopes;
And to push into the future
In strength, courage, hope, and love. 

 

AMEN 

 

Those are good words – and a strong sentiment – to keep in mind as we come out from under this cloud of chaos.

  

The Source of Blessings

 HOMILY, ST. PAUL’S, FOLEY – PROPER 24, YEAR A

OCTOBER 18, 2020 

 

TEXT:                        Matthew 22:15-22

 

 

My brother, Jerry, is an accomplished retired attorney.  His wife is a determined woman who once was the first female head of the Highway Patrol in Mississippi.  There is little that she has not delved into.

 

My brother once described their division of responsibilities in this way: Louisa is an expert on everything and I handle the rest.

 

That is kind of a perverse illustration of what Jesus says to us in the gospel lesson from Matthew today.

 

In the gospel lesson, the Pharisees and the Herodians – people tied closely to the Roman puppet king – are trying to lure Jesus into a trap. “Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar?”

 

The gospel tells us that Jesus is aware of their malice and trickery.  He asks them to show him a coin, and they do so – a common coin of the day a denarius. “Whose image is on it?” “Caesar,” they respond.

 

“Give therefore to the emperor the things that are the emperor’s, and to God the things that are God’s.” Simple enough, right?  His response confounds the challengers.  They have nothing on which to charge him with a spiritual or civil offense.

 

I used to see a clear dichotomy between spiritual blessings and secular possessions. I work hard. I earn what I make. I have accumulated these possessions rightfully. Life is what I make of it. Sure, I made my pledge to the church each year and felt quite righteous in doing just that.

 

But, over the years my perspective changed.  My spiritual journey has taken me to great depths, for which I am thankful. My heart is filled with gratitude. I recognized – as we say when we approach the Eucharistic table – All things come of thee, O Lord.  My life, my health, my family, my breath, my vocation, whatever gifts I have – they all come from God.  Everything. I wonder: Do we mean what we say?

 

So, if we are honest with ourselves, we recognize that none of us is a self-made person.  We recognize – again, if our journey has taken us deeply enough – that all of our blessings come from God.

 

That is a meaningful concept to have in mind as we approach this season of giving.  

 

Quite a Fish Tale

 ONLINE REFLECTION, ST. PAUL’S, FOLEY

OCTOBER 14, 2020

 

LESSON:       The Book of Jonah

 

 

Nearly every person that has attended Sunday School as a young person knows one thing about Jonah:  He was swallowed by a whale.

 

But not exactly.  He was, scripture tells us, swallowed by a great fish. And, of course, a whale is not a fish!

 

The back story about Jonah, though, is an interesting one – and one that most people don’t know.

 

The Jonah whose story is told in the eponymous book is the story of a reluctant Galilean prophet.  He was called by God to go a preach repentance to the massive city known as Nineveh – located in modern-day Iraq.

 

But, Jonah didn’t want to do that.  So, he boarded a ship to flee to Tarshish – a city 3,000 miles away in Spain.  During the journey, a storm arose. Lots were cast, and he was selected as the one to be thrown overboard.  It was then that he was swallowed by the fish.

 

After three days, the fish vomited him up on dry land.  The reluctant Jonah proceeded to walk across Nineveh, proclaiming its coming destruction.

 

Jonah must have been satisfied with himself, and he sat down to watch the city’s destruction. Unexpectedly, the people repented – and all put on sackcloth, sat in ashes, and refused to consume food or water… animals and humans.

 

The fact that the city repented and that destruction did not come displeased Jonah.  He expressed his anger to God, essentially saying, “I knew you would do this!”

 

But, the book concludes with God expressing compassion for the penitent city: “Do you not care for this great city and all its inhabitants? People who do not know their left hand from their right?” And humorously, the last verse of Jonah says that Nineveh also has “many animals.”

 

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The upshot of this story: It is important for us to remember that we worship a merciful God.

The Virtue of Patience

HOMILY, ST. PAUL’S, FOLEY – PROPER 23, YEAR A

OCTOBER 11, 2020 

 

TEXT:                        Exodus 32:1-14

 

 

In the first lesson today, Moses had ascended Mt. Sinai.  Unknown to the mass of Hebrews he had liberated from slavery in Egypt and was leading through the wilderness, he had received the a covenant from God while he was up the mountain.  They assumed he was lost; they did not know where he was and if he would even return. The biblical expression of 40 days and 40 nights was mean to convey an indefinitely long time.

 

These are the same people who had been fed by manna and quail in the wilderness, had been delivered through the waters of the Red Sea, had been given water from a rock, and had been led by a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night.  They had much to look back on – and much to be thankful for.

 

Yet, in Moses absence they had grown impatient.  They felt lost and abandoned.  They were like sheep without a shepherd – and even without a border collie to guide them.  They were at wit’s end.

 

So, they turned to their own devices. Their sense of being alone led them to abandon the hope for a Promised Land that Moses had instilled in them.  They asked Aaron to forge an idol for them.  And he did.

 

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How quickly people become impatient.  How soon they lose their sense of perspective and hope.

 

These days – our time now – can lead to such impatience and grasping at straws.  Just in the past week I have encountered three major automobile accidents that were, in all likelihood, caused by someone who had become so impatient that the driver took dangerous actions.

 

I know we all feel impatient.  I, myself, have commented that I am so tired of all the chaos – with Covid, political divisions, economic struggles, the threat of destructive weather, and its aftermath.  I suspect we all know that feeling. And we wonder if it will ever end.

 

Let me share a theological point here:  Moses came down from the Mountain. More importantly, Jesus came down from the cross and out of the tomb.

 

We are a people of patience and a people of hope.  On matters eternal, we see the grave is a gateway to greater life. On matters of less importance, our waiting patiently will allow us to enter a new world and a deeper relationship.

 

Known by the Fruits

 ONLINE REFLECTION, ST. PAUL’S, FOLEY

SEPTEMBER 30, 2020

 

LESSON:       Luke 7:18-35

 

We are to assume that John the Baptist and Jesus went separate ways once Jesus had been baptized.  Jesus, of course, had gone into the wilderness afterwards.  John, it is believed, continued his ministry of preaching and baptizing in the Jordan River.

 

John the Baptist had offended Herod Antipas – the son of Herod the Great, and king of the region of Israel where John preached.  John had criticized Antipas for marrying Herodias, his brother’s wife. So, Antipas had him imprisoned and would ultimately have him beheaded.

 

But at the point of this lesson, John is in prison. Prison, I suppose, does strange things to a person’s mind.  That was certainly true of John.  He is wondering whether Jesus is “the one who is to come” – a point he had emphatically proclaimed at the baptism. Imprisonment and knowledge of impending death have caused him to doubt.

 

So, John sends two of his disciples to see Jesus.  “Are you the one who is to come?  Or should we wait for another?”

 

Jesus response is telling: “Go and tell John what you have seen and heard: The blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, the poor have good news brought to them.”

 

Jesus is basically saying, I am known by the fruits I produce. These are my fruits…

 

We know and recognize plants by their fruits.  An apple comes from an apple tree. Pecans come from a pecan tree.  Lemons come from a lemon tree.  And so forth.

 

Analogously, we produce the fruits of our true beliefs.  Jesus’ works are more dramatic.  But scripture describes the other fruits that the followers of Jesus are to produce and live the characteristics of the children of God:  Blessed are the pure in heart; blessed are the peacemakers; blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness; blessed are the meek, among others.  We feed the hungry, we clothe the naked, we welcome the stranger, we comfort the grieving.

 

The popular hymn has the refrain, They will know we are Christians by our love. Our faith produces attitudes and fruits that serve to identify us.  Those attitudes and fruits will bear witness to others who wonder.

 

Being True to the Gift

 HOMILY, ST. PAUL’S, FOLEY – PROPER 22, YEAR A

OCTOBER 4, 2020 (First Sunday of morning services)

 

TEXT:                        Matthew 21:33-46

 

 

The Gospel lesson today – the Parable of the Vineyard – is a well known but a widely misunderstood teaching.

 

Popular understanding has been that this parable is an allegory – meaning that Jesus’ teaching anticipated his death and the son who was killed by the wicked tenants of the vineyard.  That interpretation has led to a vilification of the Jewish people.

 

A more accurate and faithful interpretation is broader and more general.  And, like many of Jesus’ teachings, its truth is particular to its time, but also transcends the many centuries to potentially judge us today.

 

You know the story.  The landowner leases the vineyard to some tenants.  They refuse to pay the lease with a portion of their produce. The landowner sends slaves to collect the produce. The tenants beat and throw them out.  So, the owner sends his son – assuming that the tenants would respect him.  They do not. Instead, they kill him.

 

Jesus goes on to quote the 22^nd verse of Psalm 118: “The stone that the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone.”  I would contend that it is not the Messiah the religious leaders rejected, but the timeless holy call – spoken by God through his word and the prophets – that Jesus was saying they ignored.

 

Yes, it stung the ears of the chief priests and Pharisees.  They knew he was talking about them.  They knew that he was alleging that they were emphasizing minor points at the expense of major points.  They were trying to remove a speck from others’ eyes while ignoring the beam in their own eyes.

 

It is important that we be mindful of this teaching.  The key words in Jesus’ confrontation of the religious leaders were these: “the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people that produces the fruits of the kingdom.” That warning could be just as cogent for us as it was for the religious leaders to whom Jesus addressed it.

 

We need to always be mindful that what we do – as individuals and as a parish – emphasizes the essence of the way of salvation.  And, as Jesus noted, it is not always the way we think that is true to the Gospel.

 

 

Entertaining Angels

ONLINE REFLECTION, ST. PAUL’S, FOLEY

SEPTEMBER 30, 2020

 

Tuesday, yesterday, we observed one of the major feast days in the church year – St. Michael’s and All Angels, also known as Michaelmas.

 

It serves as our salute to the archangels Michael, Gabriel, and Raphael.  They are remembered for their role in salvation history, and most specifically, in scripture.  Keep in mind that it was Michael the Archangel whose armies defeated the dragon in the Book of Revelation’s battle of heaven.

 

The angel Gabriel appeared to the prophet Daniel, to explain his mysterious visions.  Likewise, Gabriel makes appearances in the Gospel according to Luke – appearing to Zechariah, foretelling the coming of John the Baptist, and to Mary, telling her of the coming of Jesus.  The cave which tradition holds was the site of that visitation – the Annunciation – is revered today in Nazareth.

 

The feast day we observe can be traced to the fifth century, when a St. Michael’s Church was dedicated in Rome.  The most significant early Anglican observance was on the Isle of Skye in Scotland.  Celtic festivals are still observed there.

 

The feast day, of course, comes close to the Autumnal equinox and is viewed by many as the beginning of fall.  Schools and colleges have marked it as the day of student matriculation.  In fact, that was the day on which we “signed the book” to officially enter seminary.

 

We may think that as a modern culture we are beyond such things as angels.  We should not be so arrogant.  There is much that we do not know; volumes that we do not understand.

 

Keep in mind that the author of the Letter to the Hebrews wrote these words:

 

^13:2 Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by doing that some have entertained angels without knowing it. 

 

For sure, angels are a mystery.  But we never know when we are present with one.

 

Everlasting God, you have ordained and constituted in a wonderful order the ministries of angels and mortals: Mercifully grant that, as your holy angels always serve and worship you in heaven, so by your appointment they may help and defend us here on earth; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.