On Eagles' Wings

 On Eagle’s Wings 

Above; Stellar Sea Eagle

According to Mass Wildlife a Stellar sea eagle paid a recent visit to the Taunton River in Dighton, MA. Never before has such a raptor been sighted in these whereabouts. The bird must have thought he could do better than that so he winged his way to Bar Harbor, ME. That certainly is a cut above Dighton. Birders from near and far have flocked to see this amazing creature that is so far from its native home in Asia and yet has somehow arrived to visit us. 

Watching an eagle in flight is a magnificent experience especially this particular species which dwarfs the American Bald Eagle. Biologists tell us that every feather has a purpose for the flight of such an avian. Its eyesight is able to focus in on prey ten or twenty time the distance we can see. Its talons can lift a victim 4 or 5 times its weight while in flight!

Imagine what we could do as a nation if we were truly to act as one people. This is the essential message of Paul today in his letter to the Christian folk in Corinth. Not unlike many churches down through the ages, factions had developed. Some folks said that they liked Paul, others liked Apollos and so on. All this bickering drove Paul to distraction, and so in today’s epistle, the Apostle reminds his friends that we are all one body in Christ. Christ cannot be divided. Can you imagine if an eagle’s right wing, said to its left, I’ve decided I don’t need you. Or if its eagle eyes said to its talons, I don’t need you either. Duh! How well do you think that would work out for an eagle?

Can you imagine how we would soar if we could be but one?

In some ways we have forgotten what that might mean for us. Take the nation of Israel for instance. They had forgotten the Torah, the Law of God. So long had they been in exile in Babylon that they had no time to practice their faith. Faith itself was discouraged and they took up with foreign gods.

But then the day came when Ezra the priest gathered the people by the Water Gate and read to them from the Law of God. He explained it to them, and gave its sense so that they could understand it. So moved were they that they broke down in tears; tears of sorrow that they had forgotten how much they loved God and how dear they were to each other as a nation and as a people.

But Ezra the priest said to them; “Go your way, eat the fat and drink sweet wine and send portions of them to those for whom nothing is prepared, for this day is holy to our Lord; and do not be grieved, for the joy of the Lord is your strength.” Then the people, remembering who they were and whose they were, soared like an Eagle. 

God restored them and their spirits rose to the heavens as the Psalmist says; 

“The heavens declare the glory of God, *
      and the firmament shows his handiwork.
One day tells its tale to another, *
     and one night imparts knowledge to another.
Although they have no words or language, *
     and their voices are not heard,
Their sound has gone out into all lands, *
     and their message to the ends of the world.
The law of the Lord is perfect
     and revives the soul; *

Is there a lesson in there somewhere for us as a people and for us as a nation?

Which brings us at last to the Gospel for the day. After his wilderness experience and temptation in the desert Jesus returned to Galilee filled with the Holy Spirit. His ministry was in its very beginnings and quite naturally he went to his home town and his own synagogue and there he read from Isaiah a passage he loved; 

“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” And he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant, and sat down. The eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him. Then he began to say to them, “Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.”

Jesus played to mixed reviews in his home town as we all know, yet still his spirit soared. There were so many things in store for him as he set his sites on the work ahead. He focus was on us, the poor, the sick, the outcast. His mission was to offer his life for our sake. His joy was in pouring his life out for the people he met along the way. And thus he began his journey.

His voice calls out to you by name and I know you hear it. You cannot help yourself. Day in and day out you reach out to those you love. That’s the call of Jesus. Family, friend and stranger alike; you let your light so shine before others that they may see the good you do and glorify God in heaven.

The collect puts it so succinctly; “Give us grace to answer readily the call of our Savior Jesus Christ and proclaim to all people the Good News of his salvation”.

Back in seminary days we spoke often of our “call” to one another. Some of us had a clearer sense than others of what that meant. I knew early on that I wanted to be a priest, but I’ve told you that story many times before. Others were not so sure. My friend Gary once confessed to a bunch of us that he had no sense of whether God was calling him. He’d never “heard any voice speak to him”. We tried to explain to Gary that’s not how God works. Rather, we urged him to listen to the Silence in your heart of hearts. Gary was not satisfied. 

Being the kind of person I am I twinkled my eyes at another friend and he picked up immediately what I was up to. We went to another corner of the room and together we cupped our hands and whispered the name; “GARY”. I wheeled around, looked at Gary and said; “Oh my God, did you hear that!”

It didn’t really help much other than to give us all a good chuckle but Gary did go on to be ordained and he served a mission school in Puerto Rico for many years and was dearly loved and admired by his students. God does have a wonderful way with us when we answer readily his call to serve.

God has called us to this wonderful and sacred ministry. We are Baptized to it. We are nourished to continue it in the Eucharist. 

So may our spirits soar and exult with the Psalmist; 

“He will raise you up on eagles' wings

Bear you on the breath of dawn

Make you to shine like the sun

And hold you in the palm of His hand”

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

Fr Paul

Below are the lections assigned to be read this Sunday with highlights of words, sentences and thought that resonate in my heart.

Third Sunday after the Epiphany

January 23, 2022

The Collect:

Give us grace, O Lord, to answer readily the call of our Savior Jesus Christ and proclaim to all people the Good News of his salvation, that we and the whole world may perceive the glory of his marvelous works; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

First Lesson: Nehemiah 8:1-3, 5-6, 8-10

All the people gathered together into the square before the Water Gate. They told the scribe Ezra to bring the book of the law of Moses, which the Lord had given to Israel. Accordingly, the priest Ezra brought the law before the assembly, both men and women and all who could hear with understanding. This was on the first day of the seventh month.He read from it facing the square before the Water Gate from early morning until midday, in the presence of the men and the women and those who could understand; and the ears of all the people were attentive to the book of the law. And Ezra opened the book in the sight of all the people, for he was standing above all the people; and when he opened it, all the people stood up. Then Ezra blessed the Lord, the great God, and all the people answered, “Amen, Amen,” lifting up their hands. Then they bowed their heads and worshiped the Lord with their faces to the ground. So they read from the book, from the law of God, with interpretation. They gave the sense, so that the people understood the reading.

And Nehemiah, who was the governor, and Ezra the priest and scribe, and the Levites who taught the people said to all the people, “This day is holy to the Lord your God; do not mourn or weep.” For all the people wept when they heard the words of the law. Then he said to them, “Go your way, eat the fat and drink sweet wine and send portions of them to those for whom nothing is prepared, for this day is holy to our Lord; and do not be grieved, for the joy of the Lord is your strength.”

Psalm 19

The heavens declare the glory of God, *
      and the firmament shows his handiwork.
One day tells its tale to another, *
     and one night imparts knowledge to another.
Although they have no words or language, *
     and their voices are not heard,
Their sound has gone out into all lands, *
     and their message to the ends of the world.
In the deep has he set a pavilion for the sun; *
     it comes forth like a bridegroom out of his chamber;
     it rejoices like a champion to run its course.
It goes forth from the uttermost edge of the heavens
   and runs about to the end of it again; *
     nothing is hidden from its burning heat.
The law of the Lord is perfect
                          and revives the soul; *
     the testimony of the Lord is sure
                          and gives wisdom to the innocent.
The statutes of the Lord are just
                          and rejoice the heart; *
     the commandment of the Lord is clear
                          and gives light to the eyes.
The fear of the Lord is clean
                          and endures for ever; *
     the judgments of the Lord are true
                          and righteous altogether.
More to be desired are they than gold,
                          more than much fine gold, *
       sweeter far than honey,
                          than honey in the comb.
By them also is your servant enlightened, *
       and in keeping them there is great reward.
Who can tell how often he offends? *
       cleanse me from my secret faults.
Above all, keep your servant from presumptuous sins;
    let them not get dominion over me; *
       then shall I be whole and sound,
       and innocent of a great offense.
Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my
                                   heart be acceptable in your sight, *
       O Lord, my strength and my redeemer.

Epistle: 1 Corinthians 12:12-31a

For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. For in the one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and we were all made to drink of one Spirit. Indeed, the body does not consist of one member but of many. If the foot would say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. And if the ear would say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. If the whole body were an eye, where would the hearing be? If the whole body were hearing, where would the sense of smell be? But as it is, God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as he chose. If all were a single member, where would the body be? As it is, there are many members, yet one body. The eye cannot say to the hand, “I have no need of you,” nor again the head to the feet, “I have no need of you.” On the contrary, the members of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, and those members of the body that we think less honorable we clothe with greater honor, and our less respectable members are treated with greater respect; whereas our more respectable members do not need this. But God has so arranged the body, giving the greater honor to the inferior member, that there may be no dissension within the body, but the members may have the same care for one another. If one member suffers, all suffer together with it; if one member is honored, all rejoice together with it.

Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it. And God has appointed in the church first apostles, second prophets, third teachers; then deeds of power, then gifts of healing, forms of assistance, forms of leadership, various kinds of tongues. Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Do all work miracles? Do all possess gifts of healing? Do all speak in tongues? Do all interpret? But strive for the greater gifts.

Gospel: Luke 4:14-21

Then Jesus, filled with the power of the Spirit, returned to Galilee, and a report about him spread through all the surrounding country. He began to teach in their synagogues and was praised by everyone. When he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, he went to the synagogue on the sabbath day, as was his custom. He stood up to read, and the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” And he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant, and sat down. The eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him. Then he began to say to them, “Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.”

Overturning Tables in The Temple

In the Name of One God; The Holy, Undivided and Everlasting Trinity.

“Over-turning the Tables in the Temple!”

What a Sunday to begin! Somebody; if I start turning tables over at the coffee hour, remind me not to take the Bible so literally!

My son David is the Senior Warden at St. Mary’s Church in Dorchester. So last week being my last “free” Sunday for a while, we worshipped with him and later went to brunch. Naturally, I had to search out the indoor plumbing. You know you’re in Boston when you go to the “men’s room” and discover it is not the men’s room after all. Where you would typically see the universal symbol for men or women on a bathroom door, instead you see a symbol half of which is for the male of the species, and the other half, female. The sign below the curious symbol reads; “Whatevah”.

The conversation we’re having in the church and the culture around it about gender and orientation is reaping interesting and renriching ways of looking at one another. I hope we are also learning that the old pigeon holes we put each other into are beginning to disappear. 

The phenomenon is not new to us. It is as old as the Gospel. St Paul put it this way; “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.” ~Galatians 3:27,28.

When Paul references “Jew and Greek” he is not merely speaking of those two racial/ethnic delineations, he is speaking of all races and ethnicities. “We are all one!”

When Paul speaks of “slave and free”, he is not only speaking of those with freedom and those without, he is speaking of all folks in every economic class; rich and poor and everyone in between. “We are all one!”

And when Paul speaks of “male and female”, the same spirit is present. I would argue that Paul speaks up for all of us in the entire rainbow of human identity, inclusive of the LGBT community, which for so long has been persecuted and marginalized inside and outside the church. Did you not notice? There it is; right at the outset, in the beginning, as it were; the Gospel proclamation; “We are ALL one!”

Jesus overturned many tables and not just those in the Temple that day. The Gospel overturns our whole way of looking at one another. The Church Jesus planted overturned the tables of all human hatred. Right here at the heart of our love for one another; Jesus places himself on the Cross. Race, class, gender, orientation; this is not how Jesus saw us. Like an old Arab woman once told us when on Pilgrimage in the Holy Land in answer to the question; “What is the color of God?”

She replied; “The color of God is the color of water!” 

Today’s story; The Cleansing of the Temple occurs in all four Gospels. In John it occurs at the outset of Jesus’ ministry in the second chapter, and sets the tone for his whole life. In the Synoptics on the other hand; Matthew, Mark and Luke the event occurs at the conclusion of Jesus ministry. The confrontation of Jesus with the money changers and the Temple Authorities seals his fate and in a few short days there is a trial, a crucifixion, a death and a glorious resurrection! Talk about turning the whole world upside down!!!

I remember when we were in Seminary we fought for civil rights. Jonathan Daniels, a senior student had been shot to death the previous year to my matriculation, for protecting a young black girl. Violence and guns have been around for a very long time and has taken a vast toll on human life. We alone among developed countries kill one another off at the alarming of rate of tens of thousands each year. When I returned from Canada to attend seminary, gun deaths there could be counted in multiples of 10. Still can. Why is that? The young people of Parkland High and our Bishops call us to action. What part of “Thou shalt not kill” do we not understand anyway? Bad enough that there are well over 300,000,000 weapons out there. Worse still that we do not execute the full measure of the Second Amendment which calls for “A well regulated militia”. Until we make sure that the Second Amendment exists under the authority of that clause, the slaughter will continue. Folks we need to join the kids from Parkland and “March for our Lives”!

During the struggle for racial equality John Burgess was elected the first Black bishop in the Episcopal Church. He ordained me a priest in the church of God more than 45 years ago. I thank God for that for so many reasons. His consecration raised many an eyebrow among lots of white folks. 

Then it fell to us to begin exploring the possibility of the ordination of women. The church had fits over the ordination of the Philadelphia eleven and the Anglican Communion has yet to get over it in many quarters.

Then there was this. My uncle was what we called then “a confirmed bachelor”. This was way back in the 1950’s. More recently two of my children broke it to me; “Dad I’m gay”. One was afraid of how Cindy and I would take the news. The other told us to take it or leave it. More recently, I officiated at the wedding of one of Cindy’s sisters and her partner is another woman and they too love one another very much! Good heavens, and I say that advisedly, I’ve been around the LGBT community all my life. If ever there were a non issue in our family, this is it. Yet, in some quarters, the Church and the culture around it have gone downright apoplectic over the idea of celebrating God’s embrace of all people. 

We’ve been over turning tables in the Temple for a very long time. By what authority do we do this? Under what authority did Jesus make his whip of cords and chase out the money changers and those who traded in pigeons and the like? 

In the synoptics, when Jesus cleansed the Temple he told them plainly; “My House shall be a House of Prayer for ALL People” (emphasis mine). Jesus did not pick that turn of phrase out of thin air. He quoted scripture to show by what authority he did these things; specifically Isaiah chapter 56. The prophet considered the question of foreigners and eunuchs in the household of God. Both the Levitical and Deuteronomic Law Code separated foreigners and eunuchs from the sacred assembly. But not Isaiah and certainly not Jesus!!! Listen to this passage from the Prophet Isaiah; 

“Do not let the foreigner joined to the Lord say,

   ‘God will surely separate me from his people’;

and do not let the eunuch say,

   ‘I am just a dry tree.’ 

For thus says the Holy One:

To the eunuchs who keep my sabbaths,

   I will give a monument and a name

   better than sons and daughters;

I will give them an everlasting name

   that shall not be cut off. 

And the foreigners who join themselves to God,

   I will bring them to my holy mountain,

   and make them joyful in my house of prayer;

for my house shall be called a house of prayer

   for all peoples.”

And then in the next verse the Prophet says;  

“Thus says the Holy One,

   who gathers the outcasts of Israel,

I will gather others to them

   besides those already gathered.”

There have always been persecuted outcasts among those God loves and cares about. God requires care and love among us as well. Lots of folks don’t like foreign folks, and want to build walls to keep them out. I often wonder how high that wall needs to be since so many foreign folks get here by air. Antipathy to the “other” has a long history. My grandmother used to say that it was the Irish who ruined Boston; which tells you what she thought of my dad. And she made me promise on the family Bible, that I’d never marry an Italian. I promised. I later broke that promise. But that’s all right. Ma has all that straightened out now that she’s in heaven. “Don’t you, Ma?” 

Foreign folks have often been given the cold shoulder here and around the world: and too the “eunuch”; those who raise gender and orientation questions. Talk about cold shoulder!

To our credit the Episcopal Church has handled these matters with something approaching Grace, albeit with the notable occasional brouhaha. 

The world doesn’t get what we’re doing sometime. Neither does so much of the church. As Paul so well puts it in today’s Epistle. “The message about the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing.” And “God’s foolishness is wiser than human wisdom, and God’s weakness is stronger than human strength.”

The core proclamation of today’s Gospel is: “We are a House of Prayer for ALL people”. This is because when Jesus stretched out his loving arms on the hard wood of the cross he did so in order that everyone might come within the reach of his saving embrace. 

God may surprise us from time to time in delightful kinds of ways just as happened last week after I returned to the lunch table with Cindy and David. “You’ll never guess who I met in the bathroom just now!” It doesn’t matter any more. Jew or Greek, slave or free, it doesn’t even matter any more if we are male or female. Because we are all one in Christ Jesus our Lord and we shall always be “A house of prayer for ALL people”

In the Name of One God; The Holy, Undivided and Everlasting Trinity.

Where is Heaven?

Where is Heaven?

I remember like it was yesterday. We were sailing across the Sea of Galilee toward Capernaum. Off in the distance the guide pointed out the mountains toward the north by west. They were called the Horns of Hittim. They have figured in history a hundred times because of their geography. On the 4th of July in 1187, for instance, Saladin the Magnificent decisively defeated the Crusaders putting an end to the Crusader’s Kingdom in the Holy Land.

But what fascinated me was that for Jesus to go from Nazareth to Capernaum to set up headquarters,  he would have had to go through the Horns of Hittim. It was an area overrun by jackals, marauders and robbers. And if Jesus came that way, he would in all likelihood, have been set upon by this band of hoodlums. He was in all likelihood robbed and beaten and left to die. This is all conjecture, but there is a plausibility to it. A priest and a levite may have come by, but it would have been “ritually unclean” for them to touch him. They walked by on the other side of the road. 

But then perhaps, a Samaritan happened by and even though it is clear that Samaritans and Jews are utterly untouchable to one another, this Samaritan bandaged up his wounds, ministered to him, brought him to a nearby inn, and out of his own pocket provided for him until his recovery allowed Jesus to continue on his way.

What if the Parable of the Good Samaritan were an autobiographical account of a reality show moment in the life of Jesus. Does this explain how is it that Jesus has such a place in his heart for the Samaritans? Does this account for how Jesus came to understand that there are no outsiders and no outcasts in the Kingdom of God and in the Kingdom of Heaven. 

We know that the Samaritans and the Jews have nothing to do with each other. They consider each other “untouchable”. The name “Samaritan” literally means “The guardians of the Law and the Torah”. The Samaritans use a variant of Hebrew that predates the Hebrew used after the Babylonian exile. The spiritual one-upmanship of the two may seem foolish to us perhaps, but not to them. It was dead serious. People often take their religious differences to deadly extremes. 

Thus the parable of the Good Samaritan strikes me as all the more remarkable and especially if you consider it as perhaps a reality in the life of our Lord. And too, it makes this moment in the Gospel passage we read today all the more remarkable.

Here we are at the well at the noon of the day, a time when respectable women are home with their families. The time to get water is at the break of the day, when it is cooler. What is she doing at the well? What is he doing at the well? The event raises the eyebrows of the disciples and other respectable townsfolk.

Then Jesus crosses the great divide and asks her for a drink. The woman wonders why he crosses the divide?  Jesus doesn’t even have his own bucket. It would be scandalous for him to drink from the same backet or the same ladle as this woman, God forbid. But then, remember, a Samaritan had crossed the great divide to minister either to Jesus, or perhaps to someone he knew, the one who had been set upon by robbers.  So Jesus tells the woman, “Give me a drink of water, and then he says, if only you knew the Gift of God and the one who is speaking to you now, you could have the gift of living water and never thirst again.”

Now the woman is intrigued. “Tell me where I might get this living water”. So the conversation continues. 

“The kind of water I will give you will become a living spring welling up within you, in fact gushing up within you toward eternal and everlasting life.” Another intriguing statement. 

Quite reasonably, the woman says; “Yes, give me that water so I don’t have to come here every day and lug a heavy load on my shoulder in the heat of the day.” She doesn’t yet get it.

In Jesus' heart there are all these untouchables; Jews, Samaritans, and the woman at the well at the noon of the day. Jesus learned early on that there was no such thing as an untouchable. He cured the lame, he gave sight to the blind, he called the tax collector, and the fishermen, even the leper was the beloved of God to Jesus. The poor and the rich alike, those who both hunger and thirst for God belong to the fold in Christ’s flock.

Perhaps Jesus even said so. Perhaps she began to have an inkling as to what Jesus was driving at. You’re getting warmer now, here is the water that wells up within us to eternal life. In our own wilderness we may complain to the Moses in our midst; how are we to make do in this wasteland? Where and how are we to make provision for our lives out here in the nothingness of the present? How can we get water out of a rock?

Well, as a matter of fact you can. If you know where to strike the rock, you will discover that there is plenty of water underneath the limestone layer in the dessert, which, by the way there is. Strike the rock in the crevice in just the right spot and yes, it is a well known fact, you can get water out of a stone.

What now of this particular Samaritan woman, married five times and now the one she is with is not her husband, and here she is at the well at the noon of the day with this man Jesus. Interesting undertones going on in this story. But Jesus keeps his focus on eternal life for this woman and for the rest of us looking on. Shameful and scornful sin was no barrier to eternal life for Jesus. Forgiveness is that well gushing up to eternal life. He fixes his gaze on the water that wells up from within. That’s the kind of water she really thirsts for. It is the only water that will quench her thirst for life. How can she love a man? How can she find a man who will love her? How can we break through all the barriers that separate us from one another, find forgiveness, and reconciliation? How can we come to the eternal within, between, and among us?

This is what Jesus points us to. There is a way. And to tell you the truth, Jesus is the way and the truth and the life. Well, like I say, the disciples were astonished at seeing Jesus talking with this woman at the well. By now, he probably did have a drink. I wouldn’t be one bit surprised if he drank from her bucket and her ladle right there in front of God and everybody. As I say, they were astonished.

So then they encouraged him to have a bite to eat. But by now Jesus had their attention. This business of the untouchable quality of Jews and Samaritans and women who come to a well at noontime, poor, lame, blind folks, lepers and a host of other outcasts, brought Jesus and his disciples to this critical teaching moment. 

“I have food to eat you know nothing about.” You no doubt notice that Jesus is oftentimes quite abrupt and direct with his disciples. So while they were wondering if he had squirreled away something to eat when nobody was looking, Jesus tells them, “My food is to do the will of the one who sent me and to complete his work.” 

So then he goes on to say that the kingdom of heaven is not a harvest somewhere in the future. Look around you he says. Here it is here and now, among these Samaritan townsfolk and this Samaritan woman.

In the meantime the woman at the well goes to the village and tells them all about Jesus and about how he was a great prophet who had come into their midst, and about how he knew all about her and all her secret lives, and still he loved her. He forgave her. He gave her water to drink welling up within her to eternal life. Yes, Jesus said, look around you. Here it is right here, right now. 

The villagers came to understand who this Jesus was. They believed him and began to see that he was not untouchable and neither were they. In fact, we are all children of God, the beloved of God, the redeemed of God. 

For Jesus this learning is a matter of life and death as it was the day he or somebody he knew was set upon by robbers and left to die. The priest and the Levite walked by on the other side of the road but not the Samaritan. 

Look around you, Jesus said. Here it is. The kingdom of heaven is life a well gushing up within you.

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.

Fr Paul