Juneteenth; Our Freedom Song

 Juneteenth; Our Freedom Song

Juneteenth is a Freedom Song for every American. If ever there were a way to mark our obedience to God, it would be in abolishing slavery. It is as much a celebration for white folks as it is for black folks. On August 1,1858 Abe Lincoln said; “As I would not be a slave, so I would not be a master. This expresses my idea of democracy. Whatever differs from this, to the extent of the difference, is not democracy.” It took until this day, June 19,1865 for General Gordon Granger of the Union Army to announce General Order Number 3 proclaiming freedom for enslaved people in Texas.  Thus Emancipation became complete in America! 

Today is a cause of celebration for all Americans. Much more work to be done to assure the continuation of freedom and democracy for all. So much of our democracy remains under growing threat if we do not remain vigilant.

Our struggles for Justice are always accompanied with music. Whether it is in the Reformation, slavery in this country, or the Great Hunger in Ireland, music has accompanied every struggle for freedom. Anglican chant, the great hymns of the church, , Negro Spirituals, jazz and the blues, or Irish folk; all our music is sacred music. 

The formation of faith itself begins with a song. The Psalter is the Hymn Book of Jesus. 

Today, the Psalmist sings; 

“As the deer longs for the water-brooks, *
        so longs my soul for you, O God.
My soul is athirst for God, athirst for the living God”

My ministry began with a song. When I was first ordained, before marriage and family, I knew I needed three things to engage all the struggles of ministry; a roof over my head, a serviceable means of transportation, and a good hi-fi system. A few months ago we traded out our old TV for a new Roku TV and matching Roku speakers. We love old TV reruns and when that has run its course, we listen to good music on any station we choose on iHeart Radio. This allows us to settle down a bit and rest our souls after a long day of appointments and errands. Thus we can maintain something akin to sanity.

Without sanity there is madness. Jesus’ encounter with the demoniac in today’s Gospel is illustrative of the inclination in the human spirit toward legions of madness. From war in the Ukraine to shootings in Uvalde and now St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church, Vestavia Hills, Alabama there is an inclination toward violence within the human breast. Hatred has infected the human heart and we are loath to allow Jesus to cure our wanton madness. There is too much divisiveness, too much anger, too much hate and way too many guns. White supremacists would take away our freedom in a heartbeat unless we hold them in check. 

I for one want to live in a country where we love one another more than we love our guns. 

Like my Celtic ancestors before me, I go through life unarmed. The only weapon I have is the Gospel. That Gospel is stirringly articulated by Paul in today’s letter to the Galatians. My soul rejoices with the inclusive love of Christ for all in obedience to the God. Paul’s reading of that Gospel is compelling to our spirits. He writes; “As many of you as were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus.” 

Jew or Greek; that means any race, ethnicity or language.

Slave or free; that means all folks no matter how rich or poor.

Male or female; that means you are all one in Christ without regard to gender, orientation or sexual identity. 

All my life I have worked along side you seeking to become a more inclusive church. Bishop Shaw once imagined God embracing humankind in ever widening circles of inclusive love. 

This makes the rise in hate crimes all the more disquieting. There will always be an Ahab and a Jezebel seething with murderous threats against the prophets of God. Just like there are gun toting madmen ready to slaughter innocent children or the elderly at a church pot luck supper. Who wouldn’t recoil in terror?

Elijah fled in fear. After all, Jezebel said; “You’re next!” 

But God pursued the prophet. “What are you doing here, Elijah?”

God said “Go stand on the mountain and I will pass by.”

And God did pass by but God was not in the earthquake the fire or the flood. God was in the sheer silence or the “still small voice” as other translations put it. 

What are we to make of our encounter with God? How can we ever fully understand it. The best we can do is embrace the will of God and do what God would have us do and sing our freedom songs. Without that song we’re lost.

Basil the Great once wrote; “When the Holy Spirit saw that humankind was ill-inclined toward virtue and that we were heedless of the righteous life because of our inclination to madness, what did she do? She blended the delight of melody with Scripture in order that, through the pleasantness and softness of sound, we might come to righteousness unaware that wise physicians might heal the soul as we drink from Christ’s cup rimmed with honey. For this purpose, these harmonious melodies have been designed for us, that we, may in reality be educating their souls. ~freely adapted from Basil the Great.

Today we come to a day of great significance in the lives of Janet and David King, the choir and congregation of Trinity Church. It is time to commend them for their service to this church and providing us with “harmonious melodies” for all these years. As you prepare to retire we wast to say to you; “Thank you”. 

Thank you Janet. Thank you David. “Music is praying twice.”

No mediation on music would be complete it without remembering what Johann Sebastian Bach wrote of all his prodigious efforts;

“Music is an agreeable harmony for the honor of God and the permissible delights of the soul.” “I play the notes as they are written, but it is God who makes the music.” “The final aim and reason of all music is nothing other than the glorification of God and the refreshment of the human spirit.” ~J.S. Bach

We are deeply grateful to you for honoring God the way you have done with your music. May it always be part of our Freedom Song. Glory be to God.

In the Name of God the Most Holy, Undivided and Everlasting Trinity. Amen

Fr Paul

Below are the reading for the Second Sunday after Pentecost with thoughts and words highlighted that speak to my soul.

Second Sunday after Pentecost

The Collect:

O Lord, make us have perpetual love and reverence for your holy Name, for you never fail to help and govern those whom you have set upon the sure foundation of your loving-­kindness; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

First Lesson: 1 Kings 19:1-4, 8-15a

Ahab told Jezebel all that Elijah had done, and how he had killed all the prophets with the sword. Then Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah, saying, “So may the gods do to me, and more also, if I do not make your life like the life of one of them by this time tomorrow.” Then he was afraid; he got up and fled for his life, and came to Beer-sheba, which belongs to Judah; he left his servant there. But he himself went a day’s journey into the wilderness, and came and sat down under a solitary broom tree. He asked that he might die: “It is enough; now, O Lord, take away my life, for I am no better than my ancestors.”  He got up, and ate and drank; then he went in the strength of that food forty days and forty nights to Horeb the mount of God.

At that place he came to a cave, and spent the night there. Then the word of the Lord came to him, saying, “What are you doing here, Elijah?” He answered, “I have been very zealous for the Lord, the God of hosts; for the Israelites have forsaken your covenant, thrown down your altars, and killed your prophets with the sword. I alone am left, and they are seeking my life, to take it away.” He said, “Go out and stand on the mountain before the Lord, for the Lord is about to pass by.” Now there was a great wind, so strong that it was splitting mountains and breaking rocks in pieces before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind; and after the wind an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake; and after the earthquake a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire; and after the fire a sound of sheer silence. When Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his mantle and went out and stood at the entrance of the cave. Then there came a voice to him that said, “What are you doing here, Elijah?” He answered, “I have been very zealous for the Lord, the God of hosts; for the Israelites have forsaken your covenant, thrown down your altars, and killed your prophets with the sword. I alone am left, and they are seeking my life, to take it away.” Then the Lord said to him, “Go, return on your way to the wilderness of Damascus.”

Psalm 42 and 43

1 As the deer longs for the water-brooks, *
        so longs my soul for you, O God.
2 My soul is athirst for God, athirst for the living God; *
        when shall I come to appear before the presence of God?
3 My tears have been my food day and night, *
        while all day long they say to me,
        “Where now is your God?”
4 I pour out my soul when I think on these things: *
        how I went with the multitude and led them into the
                              house of God,
5 With the voice of praise and thanksgiving, *
        among those who keep holy-day.
6 Why are you so full of heaviness, O my soul? *
        and why are you so disquieted within me?
7 Put your trust in God; *
        for I will yet give thanks to him,
        who is the help of my countenance, and my God.
8 My soul is heavy within me; *
        therefore I will remember you from the land of Jordan,
        and from the peak of Mizar among the heights of Hermon.
9 One deep calls to another in the noise of your cataracts; *
        all your rapids and floods have gone over me.
10 The Lord grants his loving-kindness in the daytime; *
        in the night season his song is with me,
        a prayer to the God of my life.
11 I will say to the God of my strength,
   “Why have you forgotten me? *
        and why do I go so heavily while the enemy
                              oppresses me?”
12 While my bones are being broken, *
        my enemies mock me to my face;
13 All day long they mock me *
        and say to me, “Where now is your God?”
14 Why are you so full of heaviness, O my soul? *
        and why are you so disquieted within me?
15 Put your trust in God; *
        for I will yet give thanks to him,
        who is the help of my countenance, and my God.

1 Give judgment for me, O God,
   and defend my cause against an ungodly people; *
        deliver me from the deceitful and the wicked.
2 For you are the God of my strength;
  why have you put me from you? *
        and why do I go so heavily while the enemy
                               oppresses me?
3 Send out your light and your truth, that they may lead me, *
        and bring me to your holy hill
        and to your dwelling;
4 That I may go to the altar of God,
   to the God of my joy and gladness; *
        and on the harp I will give thanks to you, O God my God.
5 Why are you so full of heaviness, O my soul? *
        and why are you so disquieted within me?
6 Put your trust in God; *
        for I will yet give thanks to him,
        who is the help of my countenance, and my God.

Epistle: Galatians 3:23-29

Now before faith came, we were imprisoned and guarded under the law until faith would be revealed. Therefore the law was our disciplinarian until Christ came, so that we might be justified by faith. But now that faith has come, we are no longer subject to a disciplinarian, for in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith. As many of you as were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus. And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to the promise.

Gospel: Luke 8:26-39

Then they arrived at the country of the Gerasenes, which is opposite Galilee. As he stepped out on land, a man of the city who had demons met him. For a long time he had worn no clothes, and he did not live in a house but in the tombs. When he saw Jesus, he fell down before him and shouted at the top of his voice, “What have you to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I beg you, do not torment me”— for Jesus had commanded the unclean spirit to come out of the man. (For many times it had seized him; he was kept under guard and bound with chains and shackles, but he would break the bonds and be driven by the demon into the wilds.) Jesus then asked him, “What is your name?” He said, “Legion”; for many demons had entered him. They begged him not to order them to go back into the abyss. Now there on the hillside a large herd of swine was feeding; and the demons begged Jesus to let them enter these. So he gave them permission. Then the demons came out of the man and entered the swine, and the herd rushed down the steep bank into the lake and was drowned. When the swineherds saw what had happened, they ran off and told it in the city and in the country. Then people came out to see what had happened, and when they came to Jesus, they found the man from whom the demons had gone sitting at the feet of Jesus, clothed and in his right mind. And they were afraid. Those who had seen it told them how the one who had been possessed by demons had been healed. Then all the people of the surrounding country of the Gerasenes asked Jesus to leave them; for they were seized with great fear. So he got into the boat and returned. The man from whom the demons had gone begged that he might be with him; but Jesus sent him away, saying, “Return to your home, and declare how much God has done for you.” So he went away, proclaiming throughout the city how much Jesus had done for him.

Who are YOU?

 Third Sunday in Lent

Who are YOU?

Above, the traditional "Burning Bush" at St. Catherine's Monastery

All right class; name those gods! To review; for the Canaanites god was Baal. The sun goddess of the Hittites was Arinitti and her consort was the weather god Taru. The god of the Amorites, of course was Amaru, son of the sky god. All we know about the Perizzites is that they were a rural people who probably worshipped a host of nature gods but who knows for sure? The Hivites were equally obscure and probably worshipped a bunch of Canaanite deities. The Jebusites worshiped a god by the name of El Elyon, which is close to the name Eli; a name the Israelites used for God. And of course the Egyptians had a pantheon of gods: Osiris, Isis, Horus, and Seth god of chaos, violence, deserts, and storms. Re, of course was the great and exalted sun god.

For every nation on earth the immediate and existential question is who is our god? Who will fight for us and defend our right to exist? And because the answer to that question has always been national in origin, the resulting conflict has led to the rise and fall of many empires and the tragic reality of human bloodshed.

Since the twentieth century we have seen two world wars and subsequently a host of proxy wars fought under the tutelage of Britain, the United States, Russia and China. I hate to say it but here we go again. 

In today’s first lesson, Moses brings us to the central question all history; “Who are YOU?” Moses addresses God in the second person. “YOU”. For the Ancient near eastern mind God is not a he, she, them, or an it. God is YOU. This is a direct encounter not just for us as individuals but for all of us as human beings. 

One day Moses was minding his own business and tending the flock of his father in law, Jethro. An angel brings a message. “I have seen the misery of my people. I know their sufferings, and I have come down to deliver them…to bring them up out of that land to a good and broad land, a land flowing with milk and honey”.

It has always been God’s way, to see our suffering and our misery and in far too often our slavery. It is God who will deliver us and set us free and give us a good land to live in. 

Moses has come to the Holy Mountain of God. He steps aside to see this marvel; the bush that burns but is not consumed. He is standing on Holy Ground. Moses take his sandals off and stands in silent awe. God speaks to Moses and tells him what he already knows somewhere deep in his heart; “I want you to go to Pharaoh and tell him to let my people go”. 

Naturally Moses protests; “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh”. I am sure that behind that question was a concern for his own personal safety. Pharaoh, after all was just another absolutist in the pantheon of absolutists. He did not like being questioned.

But God tells Moses; “I will be with you; and this shall be the sign for you that it is I who sent you: when you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall worship God on this mountain.”

I’m not sure how reassuring Moses found that “sign”. If it were me, I’d be quaking in my bare feet on the hot burning desert sand. 

Moses works up the nerve to ask this question, “If I come to the Israelites and say to them, ‘The God of your ancestors has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ what shall I say to them?”

God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM.” He said further, “Thus you shall say to the Israelites, ‘I AM has sent me to you.’”

In Hebrew the Name is rendered “YHWH”. Hebrew scholars have debated for centuries exactly what those four consonants mean. Whatever or however you translate the word, it always comes back to the mystery of BEING. God’s BEING and ours. The Great "I AM” as well as our own somewhat more diminutive “I am”. 

Some say God is whoever God chooses to be at the time. God will deliver us in our time of need. Time and again God is present to us in history. God was there in the time of our ancestors. God was there to bring us out of slavery in Egypt to freedom in the Promised Land. God gave us a Law to live by. 

And in these last days as Christians have always put it, God gave us Jesus to share our suffering and then to rise again in glory.

But back to Moses and this encounter with the Holy of Holies. Back to the Sacred Name and the four consonants “YHWH”. There are no vowels in ancient Hebrew so we have to introduce what scholars call “breathing symbols” 

The translation of the Sacred Name breaks the consonants into two syllables. “YaW” and “WeH”. There is a sense in which the consonants are unpronounceable without breathing symbols. The Holy Name is such that throughout Hebraica we are do not say it. We typically use Adonai or Elohim when we wish to say “God.”

But what if we were to breathe the Name. 

Perhaps the encounter with God is a prayer. 

The Breath Prayer par excellence.

Perhaps “YaH” is the silence inhale.

Pause then exhale “WeH”  

Perhaps the Holiest moment is life is the moment you take your first breath, the breath you take now, and every breath you take until you breathe your last. 

Understood in this way all life is Holy. God is God of all life, God of all Being, God of every human being. 

Taking a human life has always been contrary to the will of God. 

Those who refuse to see all life as holy are delusional children of the Evil One. They become agents of destruction. Paul urgently pleads with us today; “We must not put Christ to the test, as some of them did…and were destroyed by… the destroyer”. This is yet another historic fact. The children of the Evil one are agents of destruction. 

The root of all grounded sanity is in the simple, sacred act of prayer; being and breathing. This is who God is. I AM. And me too. I am too. This is who we all are. 

There is only one God and the only way to Peace is by returning to the Holy One in Prayer. 

If I ask who are YOU? 

The answer is always; “I AM WHO I AM”

In the Name of God; the Most Holy, Undivided and Everlasting Trinity. Amen. 

Fr Paul.

Below are the readings assigned for the Third Sunday in Lent with those words and thoughts highlighted that speak to my heart and soul. 

The Collect:

Almighty God, you know that we have no power in ourselves to help ourselves: Keep us both outwardly in our bodies and inwardly in our souls, that we may be defended from all adversities which may happen to the body, and from all evil thoughts which may assault and hurt the soul; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

First Lesson: Exodus 3:1-15

Moses was keeping the flock of his father-in-law Jethro, the priest of Midian; he led his flock beyond the wilderness, and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. There the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire out of a bush; he looked, and the bush was blazing, yet it was not consumed. Then Moses said, “I must turn aside and look at this great sight, and see why the bush is not burned up.” When the Lord saw that he had turned aside to see, God called to him out of the bush, “Moses, Moses!” And he said, “Here I am.” Then he said, “Come no closer! Remove the sandals from your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground.” He said further, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” And Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look at God.

Then the Lord said, “I have observed the misery of my people who are in Egypt; I have heard their cry on account of their taskmasters. Indeed, I know their sufferings, and I have come down to deliver them from the Egyptians, and to bring them up out of that land to a good and broad land, a land flowing with milk and honey, to the country of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites. The cry of the Israelites has now come to me; I have also seen how the Egyptians oppress them. So come, I will send you to Pharaoh to bring my people, the Israelites, out of Egypt.”

But Moses said to God, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh, and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?” He said, “I will be with you; and this shall be the sign for you that it is I who sent you: when you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall worship God on this mountain.” But Moses said to God, “If I come to the Israelites and say to them, ‘The God of your ancestors has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ what shall I say to them?” God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM.” He said further, “Thus you shall say to the Israelites, ‘I AM has sent me to you.’” God also said to Moses, “Thus you shall say to the Israelites, ‘The Lord, the God of your ancestors, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you’: This is my name forever, and this my title for all generations.

Psalm 63:1-8

O God, you are my God; eagerly I seek you; *
      my soul thirsts for you, my flesh faints for you,
      as in a barren and dry land where there is no water.
Therefore I have gazed upon you in your holy place, *
      that I might behold your power and your glory.
For your loving-kindness is better than life itself; *
      my lips shall give you praise.
So will I bless you as long as I live *
      and lift up my hands in your Name.
My soul is content, as with marrow and fatness, *
      and my mouth praises you with joyful lips,
When I remember you upon my bed, *
      and meditate on you in the night watches.
For you have been my helper, *
      and under the shadow of your wings I will rejoice.
My soul clings to you; *
      your right hand holds me fast.

Epistle: 1 Corinthians 10:1-13

I do not want you to be unaware, brothers and sisters, that our ancestors were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea, and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, and all ate the same spiritual food, and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank from the spiritual rock that followed them, and the rock was Christ. Nevertheless, God was not pleased with most of them, and they were struck down in the wilderness.

Now these things occurred as examples for us, so that we might not desire evil as they did. Do not become idolaters as some of them did; as it is written, “The people sat down to eat and drink, and they rose up to play.” We must not indulge in sexual immorality as some of them did, and twenty-three thousand fell in a single day. We must not put Christ to the test, as some of them did, and were destroyed by serpents. And do not complain as some of them did, and were destroyed by the destroyer. These things happened to them to serve as an example, and they were written down to instruct us, on whom the ends of the ages have come. So if you think you are standing, watch out that you do not fall. No testing has overtaken you that is not common to everyone. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tested beyond your strength, but with the testing he will also provide the way out so that you may be able to endure it.

Gospel: Luke 13:1-9

At that very time there were some present who told him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. He asked them, “Do you think that because these Galileans suffered in this way they were worse sinners than all other Galileans? No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all perish as they did. Or those eighteen who were killed when the tower of Siloam fell on them—do you think that they were worse offenders than all the others living in Jerusalem? No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all perish just as they did.”

Then he told this parable: “A man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard; and he came looking for fruit on it and found none. So he said to the gardener, ‘See here! For three years I have come looking for fruit on this fig tree, and still I find none. Cut it down! Why should it be wasting the soil?’ He replied, ‘Sir, let it alone for one more year, until I dig around it and put manure on it. If it bears fruit next year, well and good; but if not, you can cut it down.’”

Remembering Desmond Tutu

 Remembering Desmond Tutu

“Let Freedom Ring!”

(From The Washington Post 

January 1,2022)

The Bishops of the Diocese of Massachusetts asked us to ring the church bell in honor of Desmond Tutu last Friday at noon and I’m asking Tom to do that again right now. And as I do that let me say; 

Let Freedom Ring! Ringing of the Church bell!

It is a long hard road to freedom. Ask the children of Apartheid what it was like. Or the children of Slavery in America, perhaps we might listen to that story. Native Americans can tell you the story of what it was like to lose land and life. The Irish fled famine. Italians and Germans fled war. And so it goes. Here we are today. We are a people of conflict caught between a struggle for freedom while at the same time agents of oppression. The truth must be told. And I invite you to walk the way of Love. 

Yesterday, Desmond Tutu was laid to rest at St. George’s Cathedral in Cape Town, South Africa, may he Rest in Peace and Rise in Glory. 

I am no stranger to White Supremacy in America. When I became the Rector of Christ Church, Hyde Park in Boston the city was in the throes of Phase II Desegregation. On the eve of my first service I received a phone call from a woman I later learned was a parishioner. When I said “Christ Church rectory, good evening” she said; “You say one word about integration and we will kill you.” Click. And such was my welcome to that chapter in my ministry. 

Many years later, while serving as Rector at St. Mark’s Church in Saint Albans, WV a black teen age boy asked a white teen age girl to go out on a date. That night there was a cross burning on the black family’s front lawn. The next morning after our services I went to St. Paul’s Missionary Baptist Church. I wanted the black community to hear the news from me. I promised as God is my judge to do what I could. Pastor Mike Poke and I organized a march for the following Friday evening to go from one church to another to denounce this evil in the strongest terms possible. Hand in hand we marched. We carried the cross of Jesus right down Main St. Local officials and even Joe Manchin, then governor of the state of West Virginia joined in prayer with the whole community to renounce this and all wickedness having to do with racism.

The struggle for equality continues. 

Even as a child I learned early on about gender inequality. I used to love hanging around the kitchen table or when shooed off to bed to hang by the upstairs bannister and listen in to all the family gossip. I vividly recall my mother telling the story of her pay scale at the First National Bank of Boston. She worked data processing in payroll and because of her position she learned that she was being paid at a different rate than a man working exactly the same job in the very same office. When she confronted the boss, he said that the man had a family to support. My divorced mother said; “What am I, sliced liverwurst! I have two boys at home and I’m the breadwinner for my family”. That argument made no difference whatsoever and to this day the pay scales between men and women remains unequal and unjust. If being a feminist means, “equal pay for equal work”, among other things, then I am a feminist. 

Desmond Tutu was also a leader in LGBTQ rights and equality. I was no stranger to the fact of same sex relationships at a very young age. After my dad died my uncle and his “friend” Jimmy let me tag along with them on day trips all over the state of Massachusetts. On special occasions they took me to Frank Guiffrida’s Hilltop Steak House up on Route #1. Many of you will remember the plastic cows who kept us company while waiting to get to get a table. 

My uncle was gay, but I never thought of him that way. He was just my uncle, Jimmy was Jimmy and they were both good friends. But when I went to seminary our relationship began to change. Al did not hold back his feelings about the church which he considered a safe harbor for superstition and bigotry. My uncle freely and vigorously expressed his opinions. I learned some vocabulary from him which I found useful when I drove taxi in New York City and Boston; which I did to help pay my way through seminary. My grandmother took exception to much of my uncle’s vivid and colorful idiomatic epithets. She often said, that man swears like a stevedore. I had to look that word up too when I first heard it. 

Not long before I graduated from Seminary and prepared for Ordination, my uncle confronted me. This was way back in 1972, by the way, long before the church came around to deal with many of the issues of inclusivity which many of us take for granted now. He summoned me front and center as only my uncle could; “You with the turned around collar” he said, dripping with sarcasm, “I don’t give a good blankety blankety blank about what that church of yours thinks, I want to know about what you think of me.”  Immediately, I said; “Geez Al, you’re just fine with me.” “Then stand up for me and Jimmy in that blankety blankety blank church of yours some day!” And I did just that. And many more did just that. And Desmond Tutu did just that and together we moved the embrace of Jesus in ever widening circles of love to include all people by whatever color, gender, orientation, language and so on. 

Not that Jesus didn’t embrace us all in unconditional love from before time, now and forever, but it takes humankind so long to learn the way of love. 

Nelson Mandela, Desmond Tutu land many others led South Africa from Apartheid to Freedom and Justice. He led the Truth and Reconciliation Commission which required confession, forgiveness and restitution, where possible.

Today we remember the time when the Three Kings bring their gifts to the Christ Child. We celebrate the gifts of Desmond Tutu and the Freedom he brings to our souls. It was a privilege to meet him in person, just once, but it was an unforgettable moment. I think of the great gift he was to this world. Martin Luther King was a great gift. And I think of your family and mine as a gift, as I do each and every one of you. 

So let the church bell ring as our lives lead us to embrace Freedom with Justice for All. This is not just an American Dream. This, as Desmond Tutu so often said is the Dream of God. 

Amen.

Fr Paul

Below, the readings appointed to be read on the Second Sunday of Christmas, January 2,2022.

The Collect:

O God, who wonderfully created, and yet more wonderfully restored, the dignity of human nature: Grant that we may share the divine life of him who humbled himself to share our humanity, your Son Jesus Christ; who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

First Lesson: Jeremiah 31:7-14

For thus says the Lord: Sing aloud with gladness for Jacob, and raise shouts for the chief of the nations; proclaim, give praise, and say, “Save, O Lord, your people, the remnant of Israel.” See, I am going to bring them from the land of the north, and gather them from the farthest parts of the earth, among them the blind and the lame, those with child and those in labor, together; a great company, they shall return here. With weeping they shall come, and with consolations I will lead them back, I will let them walk by brooks of water, in a straight path in which they shall not stumble; for I have become a father to Israel, and Ephraim is my firstborn.

Hear the word of the Lord, O nations, and declare it in the coastlands far away; say, “He who scattered Israel will gather him, and will keep him as a shepherd a flock.” For the Lord has ransomed Jacob, and has redeemed him from hands too strong for him. They shall come and sing aloud on the height of Zion, and they shall be radiant over the goodness of the Lord, over the grain, the wine, and the oil, and over the young of the flock and the herd; their life shall become like a watered garden, and they shall never languish again. Then shall the young women rejoice in the dance, and the young men and the old shall be merry. I will turn their mourning into joy, I will comfort them, and give them gladness for sorrow. I will give the priests their fill of fatness, and my people shall be satisfied with my bounty, says the Lord.

Psalm: Psalm 84:1-8

How dear to me is your dwelling, O Lord of hosts! *
       My soul has a desire and longing for the courts of
                                the Lord;
       my heart and my flesh rejoice in the living God.
The sparrow has found her a house
   and the swallow a nest where she may lay her young; *
       by the side of your altars, O Lord of hosts,
       my King and my God.
Happy are they who dwell in your house! *
       they will always be praising you.
Happy are the people whose strength is in you! *
       whose hearts are set on the pilgrims’ way.
Those who go through the desolate valley will find
                                it a place of springs, *
       for the early rains have covered it with pools of water.
They will climb from height to height, *
       and the God of gods will reveal himself in Zion.
Lord God of hosts, hear my prayer; *
       hearken, O God of Jacob.
Behold our defender, O God; *
       and look upon the face of your Anointed.

Epistle: Ephesians 1:3-6,15-19a

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, just as he chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world to be holy and blameless before him in love. He destined us for adoption as his children through Jesus Christ, according to the good pleasure of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace that he freely bestowed on us in the Beloved.

I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love towards all the saints, and for this reason I do not cease to give thanks for you as I remember you in my prayers. I pray that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you a spirit of wisdom and revelation as you come to know him, so that, with the eyes of your heart enlightened, you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance among the saints, and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power for us who believe.

Gospel: Matthew 2:1-12

In the time of King Herod, after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, wise men from the East came to Jerusalem, asking, “Where is the child who has been born king of the Jews? For we observed his star at its rising, and have come to pay him homage.” When King Herod heard this, he was frightened, and all Jerusalem with him; and calling together all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the Messiah was to be born. They told him, “In Bethlehem of Judea; for so it has been written by the prophet: ‘And you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; for from you shall come a ruler who is to shepherd my people Israel.’” Then Herod secretly called for the wise men and learned from them the exact time when the star had appeared. Then he sent them to Bethlehem, saying, “Go and search diligently for the child; and when you have found him, bring me word so that I may also go and pay him homage.”When they had heard the king, they set out; and there, ahead of them, went the star that they had seen at its rising, until it stopped over the place where the child was. When they saw that the star had stopped, they were overwhelmed with joy. On entering the house, they saw the child with Mary his mother; and they knelt down and paid him homage. Then, opening their treasure chests, they offered him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. And having been warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they left for their own country by another road.

Speaking the truth to Power and Money!

Go Down Moses!

In a few more minutes from now, we will baptize Logan and Makenna Franey. Last week, we baptized four youngsters and today we will baptize two more. If I had my way, I’d baptize as many kids and adults as I could get my hands on almost every Sunday of the Christian year. It is especially appropriate to baptize folks on Pentecost as we did last week, on All Saints Sunday in November, on the great Feast Day of the Baptism of our Lord in January, on Easter Eve and on the occasion of a visit from our Bishop.

As Pentecost celebrates the gift of the Holy Spirit to the church; a time when the Spirit of God fills our lives and thus the church is born, so now we come to the great feast day of Trinity Sunday. 

On this day we celebrate the great mystery which is in the Name of God. 

In the former instance, Moses was minding the flock of his father in law Jethro, just passing the time of day as it were, when he happened upon a mysterious sight. There before him was a burning bush and yet it was not consumed. It was on fire, yet it didn’t burn up. 

“What’s this?” Moses mused.

God answered from somewhere deep within Moses’ heart. “Take your shoes off Moses. The very land on which you are standing is holy ground. I have seen the sorrow and the suffering of my people in slavery. I want you to go and tell old Pharaoh ‘Let my people go!’”.

Moses reasoned with himself; “What then shall I tell the people? Who are YOU. What is your Name. “Every god has a name. Who then are YOU? 

God said; “I AM. That’s who I AM.”

Moses and God spoke together and began a dialogue which we continue up to this day. It is a dialogue of the inner heart. The "I am" who I am is always in conversation with the "I AM" of who God is. You see, it is a conversation of the inner heart. It is a conversation born out of the discovery of "Being" itself. I discover that I am. If I look deeply enough, I discover that God IS too. 

Yet having established the obvious is not enough. There is something to be done about the fact that God IS and so am I. God and I both have noticed that there is suffering, oppression and injustice. And when God in my inner heart notices such a thing God wants me to do something about it. God wants me to go to Pharaoh and tell him; “Let my people go.”

But, like Moses, who wouldn’t be afraid of going to Pharaoh and telling him to release the foundation stone of his economy? Who wouldn’t be afraid of going to the power holders, and the money holders of any age and telling them, “Let my people go”? Telling the truth to power and to money is a terrifying challenge. Look what happened to Jesus when he spoke to the money holders in the Temple precincts!

When God’s people suffer from the rod of oppression, my heart will not be silent. God’s heart will not be silent. And we must then be on our way to Pharaoh. We may resist doing so out of our fear. Pharaoh will resist complying with the mandate for justice. He will not give up without a fight. Power and money will resist mightily against the call for justice.

But God will make known the way and the truth and the life, there is no possible way to make your way to God if you are the agent of suffering and injustice, and somebody must be willing to say so. 

“Go down Moses; and tell old Pharaoh; ‘Let my people go!’”

That’s why God’s flames burned within the bush where Moses stood without consuming its leaves. This is why God’s flames burned over the heads of the disciples at Pentecost. This is why God’s flames of loving justice burn within our hearts today. It is to catch our attention. It is no magic trick. It is God’s heartache over the suffering of God’s people.

Does your heart not ache with God that so many suffer in the throes of warfare, poverty, unemployment, crime, natural disaster and disease? It is bad enough when we suffer from the caprice of nature. “The thousand natural shocks that flesh is heir to” (Hamlet 3:1) as the Bard would say cry out to our hearts and our prayers. Yet so much suffering is caused by the print human hands. 

Do you not want to speak up to Pharaoh?  Are you looking for a place to speak your heart or God’s heart? Then follow the money. Speak to power. That will guide you to where God wants you to go. God has seen the suffering of his people. So have you. Look at inner city Philadelphia or Reading and ask yourselves; “What’s this? What is this suffering?”

Why not just give everybody in America a good job with full benefits. Surely if we can bail out banks too big to fail, we can put our own people to work...don’t you think?

Life is a prayer obviously. We’re always speaking to our own hearts and in our own hearts and to the hearts of others. God’s heart is within and among our hearts. Calling us again and again to go to Pharaoh.

My prayer is a conversation with you much like I do every Sunday. No need to bow your heads or close your eyes when you pray, especially when we pray out loud like this, or when we are alive to God and our brothers and sisters. If I were to pray in this moment I might begin to use some of the words of Richard Rohr, a Franciscan who speaks widely in ecumenical circles; a wonderful prayer for Trinity Sunday:

“O God your name is veiled in mystery, yet we dare to call you Father, your Son was begotten before all ages, yet is born among us in time, your Holy Spirit fills the whole creation, yet is poured forth now into our hearts.” ~Richard Rohr

I like that prayer for this day. You have created us. You have redeemed us. You fill us with your gifts of the spirit and fill us with your wisdom. And now you speak to us and say; “I have noticed the suffering of my people. Go to Pharaoh and tell him; ‘Let my people go’”.

When I Baptize Logan and McKenna today, I will ask them as I ask you to seek justice and to respect the dignity of every human being. You and I must go to Pharaoh to make possible the Dream of God in which we can “do justice, love mercy and walk humbly with our God.” ~Micah 6:8

This is not just a fanciful dream. It is a fire burning in the bush, and God tells us to take the shoes we’re wearing and remove them because the very ground we’re standing on is holy ground. 

God wants us to see what he sees. He wants us to see the suffering of God’s people. He wants us to go to Pharaoh and tell him “Let my people go!”

On this Memorial Day weekend we remember those who have paid a dear price for our freedom and who had the courage to speak up to the power of an oppressor of another time. We have come to another time in our Nation’s history where more is to be done to bring justice to the poor and to the suffering. It will be a different kind of struggle. It will be a different kind of warfare. So much of the suffering of our people is now from a place that presents itself to us in many disguises.

Seems funny when even Congress notices that Apple and Google pay next to nothing in taxes. The British Parliament is beginning to catch on to the same phenomenon there. You and I pay our taxes. Why not them. Yet, it's all perfectly legal. We voted for our representatives. They voted for the tax code. Mmm! Something fishy is going on in our democracies.

But there is plenty of time for all that. For one thing I do know, someone will go for God and tell old Pharaoh to let my people go. Right now, lets get on with something to gladden our hearts. Lets baptize Logan and Makenna in the Name of God; Father, Son and Holy Spirit.  Amen

Fr Paul