"I Cannot Believe"

"I Cannot Believe"

Like Thomas, Elaine could not bring herself to believe. But it wasn’t just the resurrection of Jesus she could not believe, she couldn’t even bring herself to believe in God. 

Elaine was a bit of an introvert and sat in the last pew in the far corner of the church as far away from the pulpit and the altar as she could get. She came late and left early. It took the longest time to find out who she was. 

As it turned out she began coming to church after her mother died. Apparently she was trying to make sense of things. It took quite a while but one day, she worked up the courage to get into the receiving line and greet me. I thanked her for being there and invited her for coffee but she was clearly not ready for that. And so it continued week in and week out for what seemed to be a very long time.

One Sunday, as we greeted each other, she asked if we could make an appointment. We did that. We had quite the conversation. She told me of her mother’s death, and how much she appreciated our church services, the preaching and the liturgy. But then she confessed to me with a heavy heart full of anxiety and guilt that she simply could not believe in God. She simply did not see how she could build a case to support the idea of God when to her way of thinking there simply was no evidence for the existence of God. 

In getting to know Elaine I found out that there were secrets in her family of origin especially involving her father that left some deep scars. She could not tell me exactly what the nature of those traumatic moments were like but I had my suspicions. For Elaine, God was not there when most urgently needed and that’s when I began to understand the nature of her unbelief. 

One day she did confess that she wished she could believe the way I believe. She told me that one of the reasons she came to church as regularly as she did was that she liked hearing stories of faith. Oh how she wanted to believe!

I tried the one about the father of the boy Jesus healed; “I believe, help my unbelief”.

Elaine laughed, “Fr Paul, I can’t even get that far.” 

To which I finally said; “How about this? God and I both admire your honesty. What if I were to tell you that God believes in you irrespective of your ability to believe in God!” 

That one stopped Elaine in her tracks. She began to wonder. “What if God believes in me? Do you suppose that’s even possible?”

To which I smiled and said; “I wonder!”

This is what happened to Thomas on that Second Sunday of Easter. Thomas was Honest to God and to the Disciples about his doubt. “Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands, and put my finger in the mark of the nails and my hand in his side, I will not believe.”

It was Jesus who believed in Thomas. “A week later his disciples were again in the house, and Thomas was with them. Although the doors were shut, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.”

“Thomas; Put your finger here and see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it in my side. Do not doubt but believe.”

To which Thomas said; “My Lord and my God!”

The idea of belief whether it be in God or Heaven or the Resurrection rests not so much on what my puny human mind can fathom but rather on the power of Jesus to believe in me.

It was Jesus who called us one by one to follow because he believed in us. It was Jesus who broke bread with us in the upper room and got to know us one by one. He was the one who healed the sick, fed the hungry, reached out to the leper, the prostitute and the outcast. It sure wasn’t the likes of us. We couldn’t, we wouldn’t do any of that. We did not; we could not believe. Jesus was the one who did that!

It was Jesus who taught us that God shows no partiality to any one kind but that all are one in Jesus. When I think back I realize how true is that is. I think  of all the churches I have served in these almost 50 years and the people in them. What a crowd of characters. As Cindy likes to remind me, I’ve served more church since I “retired” than I served during my career.

Last week as I celebrated my 49th Easter Sunday as a Priest I found myself blessing the incense “in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning is now and will be forever.” I found myself caught up in the notion of Jesus as “the Alpha and the Omega; the Beginning and the Ending who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty”, exactly as the Book of Revelation puts it today. 

Jesus showed us the way to the Father.

It is the way of Love. 

Heaven begins in our Baptism; “in the Paschal mystery established in the new covenant of reconciliation” as the Collect for the day puts it. The compelling fact of heaven is that we don’t have to wait until we die to know what it's like, we begin living heaven in the way we come alive now in the Living God.

This is how we learn to Believe! God. Heaven. Eternal Life. It is all a Way of Life we live now that we have become children of the New Covenant of Reconciliation. 

If I were to wait until I could understand God, I’d never believe. The same is true of any and all of the Great Mysteries of Heaven. I don’t even fully understand the forgiveness of sins but I’m duty bound to forgive as I am forgiven.

Doesn’t his prayer say as much; “Forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us?” That what a “trespass” is. It is a sin, an offense against God and our neighbor. 

Believing for Thomas and Elaine and me and you is not about anything we can figure out, comprehend, or understand. If we are honest to God and one another, we won’t really believe it until we see it with our own eyes.

Which is why Jesus appears to us in the Upper Room and says; “Peace be with you.” Notice in today’s Gospel. Jesus says that three times. God knows our unbelief. Which is why he manifestly appears to us time and again to say; “Peace be with you”. 

To which I reply as Thomas did; “My Lord and my God.”

I might add this prayer that You might whisper those words into the hearts of all Christians, Jews and Muslims the whole world round. “Peace be with you”.

Below are the readings for this Sunday with those words, phrases and thoughts highlighted that speak to my heart and soul

Second Sunday of Easter

The Collect:

Almighty and everlasting God, who in the Paschal mystery established the new covenant of reconciliation: Grant that all who have been reborn into the fellowship of Christ’s Body may show forth in their lives what they profess by their faith; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

First Lesson: Acts 5:27-32

When they had brought them, they had them stand before the council. The high priest questioned them, saying, “We gave you strict orders not to teach in this name, yet here you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching and you are determined to bring this man’s blood on us.” But Peter and the apostles answered, “We must obey God rather than any human authority. The God of our ancestors raised up Jesus, whom you had killed by hanging him on a tree. God exalted him at his right hand as Leader and Savior that he might give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins. And we are witnesses to these things, and so is the Holy Spirit whom God has given to those who obey him.”

Psalm 150

Hallelujah!
Praise God in his holy temple; *
      praise him in the firmament of his power.
Praise him for his mighty acts; *
      praise him for his excellent greatness.
Praise him with the blast of the ram’s-horn; *
      praise him with lyre and harp.
Praise him with timbrel and dance; *
      praise him with strings and pipe.
Praise him with resounding cymbals; *
      praise him with loud-clanging cymbals.
Let everything that has breath *
      praise the Lord.
      Hallelujah!

Epistle: Revelation 1:4-8

John to the seven churches that are in Asia: Grace to you and peace from him who is and who was and who is to come, and from the seven spirits who are before his throne, and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth. To him who loves us and freed us from our sins by his blood, and made us to be a kingdom, priests serving his God and Father, to him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen. Look! He is coming with the clouds; every eye will see him, even those who pierced him; and on his account all the tribes of the earth will wail. So it is to be. Amen. “I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.

Gospel: John 20:19-31

When it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and the doors of the house where the disciples had met were locked for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.” After he said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord. Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.” When he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.” But Thomas (who was called the Twin), one of the twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord.” But he said to them, “Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands, and put my finger in the mark of the nails and my hand in his side, I will not believe.”

A week later his disciples were again in the house, and Thomas was with them. Although the doors were shut, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.” Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here and see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it in my side. Do not doubt but believe.” Thomas answered him, “My Lord and my God!” Jesus said to him, “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe.” Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book. But these are written so that you may come to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that through believing you may have life in his name.

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.’”

Peace, perfect peace

I have never had a dream quite like the one I had the night before last.

It was Wednesday December 12, 2018.
David's 38th birthday and the Feast Day of our Lady of Guadalupe.

Joshua and Lizzie have a difficult decision to make.
It may be that Al's time has come...a time to love him to the end.

We spoke for about an hour on the phone while I drove home from Trinity Church in Haverhill.
Our hearts were breaking as we spoke.

And then that night I slept in peace, perfect peace.

In my dreaming, I stood at Your altar and there was a beautiful linen cloth there with perfect iron folds lovingly, carefully, made pure and clean by devotion and love. Betty from our Altar Guild was there.
Cindy and David were there. Family, my family and God's family gathered all around.
There was the color of Rose. It was a deeper Rose than one would expect for Gaudete Sunday.
It was the Rose of Our Lady.

David and She were most prominent in my dreaming at first.
I seem to remember spreading the Table as Cindy looked on. She smiled.
Michael was there being Michael and that made me smile.

And then I stood at Your Altar.
I continued doing as You would have me do.
I placed the paten on the linen cloth.
It cradled the Priest host and several rice wafers.
I prepared the chalice with wine, and a ceramic cup with juice and sanctified the water with Your blessing.
I spread my hands in prayer and said the words of remembrance.
And there You were. And here You are.
And I did not waken. I slept on in peace, perfect peace.
Amen.
Fr Paul

The Sacred Now

The Sacred Now

In the Sacred Now I am mindful of You

In my heart of hearts where Heaven Reigns

Here is Peace that strengthens me to do your will.

When anxious thoughts and fearful feelings strike

I forget You

Blind to the Sacred Now

In the occupations and distractions of the day

Do not forget me

Remind me in some surprising way

That You are always here in the Sacred Now.

Amen.

Terrorism & Jesus

Listening to Jesus in a Time or Terror!

Good morning folks. It has been one year exactly since I came to serve here in your midst. Thank you so much. You are such a joy to be with. There have been sorrows too, mind you. There have been a few trials and tribulations, but most of all, we live and move and have our being under the most gracious rule of Christ our King. Which brings us to this day; this moment.

Imagine a world brought together under the most gracious rule of Jesus. Imagine a world filled with the Peace that passses all understanding which only King Jesus can bring.

God knows I've never quite fully seen evidence of either the Kingship of Jesus or the Peace that passes understanding in the present time.

In my own lifetime for instance, memory begins with the death of my father, the threat of Communism and McCarthyism, the Korean War, Brinksmanship in a Nuclear Age, The Vietnam War, urban guerilla warfare in Belfast, the struggles against Aparteid in South Africa, and of course the Arab/Israeli conflict in the powderkeg we know of as the Middle East. Afghanistan, Iraq, Iran are houshold words now; and terror strikes on 9/11 here, over the Sainai Peninsula a Soviet jet explodes, scores die in Beirut, and in Paris, hundreds more die, and now Mali! And on and on and on it goes.  

The most gracious rule of Christ the King and the Peace that Passes all understanding? How does that square with the reality we live with day in day out?

Terror strikes and fear is the first to seize the hearts. Just as Mary and the Shepherds were seized with Terror at the enormity of it all so many years ago. They like us, were afraid.

But the first message of the Angels at the Advent of Christ is "Fear not!"

The message is the same at his death and resurrection; "Fear not!"

Take heart and be of good courage. As the French would say "encourage" literally, "take heart". The French word for "heart", you see,  is "couer". 

So how shall we come to terms with the Reign of Christ or understand the Peace that passes all understanding?

It will take more than courage. It will also require intelligence.

It is so easy to retreat into fear, God knows I can. It is so easy to give in to the rage that drives us to reprisal. And again we fall back into that tiresome ethic; "an eye for an eye; a tooth for a tooth" and the whole world becomes bind and toothless. Sigh!

But what did King Jesus say?

"Blessed are the poor and those who mourn."

         "Blessed are the peacemakers and those who are persecuted for

         righteousness sake." 

         And most maddening of all, he says; "Love your enemies!"

In our public, private, and religious life, it seems to me that very little credence is given to King Jesus and the more we live into the Presence of our history, the Peace that passes understanding seems further and further away from our grasp than ever. Instead we are surrounded by acts of terror and reprisal and I, like you, am tempted to throw up my hands in exasperation as we ask ourselves; "How does a Christian live in a world like this?"

Before I give in to total capitulation, allow me to suggest that we return again to Jesus, as we struggle to come to terms with that question. 

"Love your enemies."

OK King Jesus, show me how to do that!

As I prayed thus this week in this dark and dangerous world, I heard an interesting little factoid on NPR (National Public Radio) that floored me. 

In Afghanistan, the government pays it soldiers about $400 per month to serve in the army and in its security forces. They are paid sporadically, if at all, they are poorly trained and equipped; and often even have to pay for their own ammunition and provide for their own weapons.

On the other hand ISIS or DAESH or whatever these wish to be called, pay their soldiers about $700 a month. They pay like clockwork, train and equip their recruits very well with state of the art Kolesnikovs and ammunition, hand grenades, suicide vests and so on. They train the children from the age of 7 and teach them about Jihad and killing in the name of Allah so that a glorious Caliphate will be established around the world. A Caliphate, by the way is ruled by the successor to Mohamed. They begin by killing all other Muslims.

Compare and contrast such a rule with the Kingship of Christ!

It was an eyepopping education for me to watch a special edition of Frontline on Wednesday evening. Somehow an Afghan reporter was able to get inside the world of ISIS/DAESH culture and learn how its done.

Imagine yourself young and afraid in a war torn world looking for a way to provide for your family. To whom will you turn? $400 on this hand working for the government? $700 on the other hand working for Allah in the glorious Jihad to establish a Caliphate to restore the rule of Mohamed to the earth.

If we are to learn how to love our enemies, we'd first need get to know them better. In the world of "Realpolitik", a German word indicating the realistic art of political diplomacy, we begin with an intelligent approach to the complexities of our international situation. We will need to have some very skillful and intelligent leadership to engineer our way through this dangerous time in our history. In a democracy, that requires a well educated and intelligent public.

In the meantime we live on in this world; a very real world indeed. As our national political life heats up in yet another electoral season, the world is ablaze with a struggle of a very complex sort. May I suggest that we all educate ourselves in the coming months so that we may cast our ballots wisely. Watching Frontline, for instance, which you can do from any PBS (Public Broadcasting System) website may be a beginning. But remember, intelligence requires study and homework.  Our Civilization and our way of life is under attack. By the way, so is the vast majority of Islam. This tiny sliver of the Islamic world is, in no way representative of how most folks around the world serve and worship Allah. As we respond to the very real threat of ISIS/DAESH, we must be careful not to paint too broad a stroke as we respond to this very real threat. We the people must educate ourselves and be smart about it. 

The danger for Holy War and for yet another series of Crusades is real. It was not the point of Jesus to establish a Kingdom on Earth or for us to wage war in his Name. Rather, it is clear to the careful reader of Scripture that the rule of Jesus begins in our hearts. Jesus told Pilate in today's Gospel that his Kingdom is not of this world. His kingdom is of the human heart. It is within each human heart that the Reign of Christ is to be established. It is only here that Peace can take root even if it is a Peace that passes all understanding. The careful reader of the Hebrew Scriptures and the Holy Koran will come to very similar conclusions.

All the Holy Writings require that we greet one another in Peace. 

It is the traditional greeting of Christians; Peace be with you.

It is the traditional greeting of Jews; Shalom.

It is the traditional greeting of Muslims; As-salam alaykum.

It is the ancient greeting of all three Abrahamic religions to the dwellers on earth and in Paradise. "Peace be with you."

We crown the Christian Year now with a celebration of the Reign of Christ in our hearts. As I read the history books and as I read the papers, the greatest challenge of my life is to enthrone Jesus in my heart. And for us here at St John's, we do something as simple as fill out our pledge cards to demonstate that Christ is King in our Hearts and that His Peace remains firmly rooted within us. 

In the Name of the Holy, Blessed and Undivided Trinity. Amen

Fr Paul

A Pot of Gold at the End of the Rainbow

Pentecost

"A Pot of Gold at the End of the Rainbow"

The day of Pentecost has come. Fifty days from Easter and counting. The word Pentecost means fifty days and so we move through time and as we do we encounter God the Father, God the Son and now God the Holy Spirit. The Hagia Sophia as she is known in Eastern Christianity. “She” because the word “Sophia” is obviously in the feminine form. And so it it from the beginning that the church has taught that our encounter with God is a complete experience, one of totality, in which God is more than a static Being but one in dynamic community.

God is One.

God is the One who creates us.

Jesus is the One who saves us

And the Holy Spirit is the One whose breath comes to us like a mighty wind.

There is another word from the Hebrew Scriptures the word “ruach”. It can be rendered “breath” or “wind” and in the account of the Pentecost experience from the book of Acts the breath and winds of God have a significant force behind them, so much so that they are called “a mighty wind”. 

The very sound of the word “ruach” has the quality of imitative harmony because its sound reflects the reality it seeks to describe; hence “ruach” sounds like what “breath” and “wind” are. And yet the meaning of the word involves holiness, sanctification and wisdom. The words “ruach” and “Shophia” are used in the Hebrew Scriptures to describe the Wisdom Literature.

The Pentecost experience challenges some of the stricter teachings of Judaism.  God’s Spirt and Wisdom are not only for the select, the elect or the chosen of God. No, this spirit and this experience is a generous outpouring of God’s mighty breath and wind upon all flesh and in every language, so that God’s mighty work could be understood by all including; “Parthians, Medes, Elamites, and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabs-- in their own languages.” And so on, and so on, and so on for ever and all around the world, even to the far reaches of Old Cape Cod in a language we can now understand.

The word “ruach” and “Sophia” also contain within them the overtones of prophecy. It took a while for Paul and Peter get the point, but in this moment in Acts, Peter hits the nail on the head. He understands well what the prophet Isaiah says 

`In the last days it will be, God declares,

that I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh,

and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy,

and your young men shall see visions,

and your old men shall dream dreams.

Even upon my slaves, both men and women,

in those days I will pour out my Spirit;

and they shall prophesy.’

I hope you appreciate how stunning this proclamation would be to the people within the hearing of the Apostle at that time.

I’m sure even then folks would ask; “Where then do we draw the line?” But the Pentecost experience is a generous one. Peter and Paul and increasingly all the others came to understand that the Gospel’s largesse was not for the chosen, the elect or the select, but for all.

The Psalmist understood how generous God’s compassion and love were. You cannot spend much time at sea without an appreciation for God’s amazing diversity and creative joy.

In the appointed Psalm for today we hear this exultant refrain;

“Yonder is the great and wide sea

with its living things too many to number, *

creatures both small and great.

There move the ships,

and there is that Leviathan, *

which you have made for the sport of it.

All of them look to you *

to give them their food in due season.”

~Psalm 104:26-28

Yes, you heard right; God made a whale just for the pure joy of it; just for the pure fun of it. Who can say that God does not rejoice in the creation when we become fully alive to what God intends for us?

The Holy Spirit continues to pour out on us and the whole world we live in. In overwhelming numbers the Irish have voted for equal access to marriage for all her citizens. Ireland is the first nation on the planet to vote that way in direct referendum. God’s love is not only generous, it is inclusive and unconditional. Sometimes that love will be proclaimed more persuasively outside the teachings of the prevalent church. The Roman Church was officially against it. But the Pope has recently introduced a Spirit into our discussions and treatment of one another that is entirely different in tone than what has gone before. Thanks be to God! Perhaps someday we will all catch up to the teachings of the early church and her experience of God’s comprehensive and unconditional love. In the meantime, today in Ireland, there is a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow!

It is a new day for St. John’s, I hope you don’t miss it. It is a brand new day. God’s mighty winds are moving among us. God’s breath is breathing within us. In fact, it has been said that God is closer to each of us than the very next breath we take.

But the Pentecost experience is not confined to a personal experience but to one that moves among us like a mighty wind. God is searching every heart for joy. More than joy God is looking forward to what is coming together for us. Paul’s words apply directly to this congregation; “forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on towards the goal for the prize of the heavenly call of God in Christ Jesus.” 

I do hope you are praying for your church as you pray for your search committee. Pentecost is celebrated in so many places as the birthday of the church. Our finances are lagging behind just now, probably as much as $48,000 or more in reference to what it will take to provide for a full time parish priest. The question for us as we move toward our next stewardship campaign, do you really want a full time parish priest? God knows this church needs one. Given the fact that your current interim priest is serving with you on a part time basis, you can easily afford the budget you have for this year.

But when you have a full time parish priest and pay for housing on the Cape, health coverage, and pension, then you’ll be incurring some significant expenses.

For this great Feast Day of Pentecost all we need to ask of one another is prayer. We’re doing fine just now. But if we want to maintain our position as a full time parish with a full time parish priest, if we want to pay a sexton, and a youth minister, or a christian education director, we’re going to have to consider what the Holy Spirit is stirring us up to do with the mighty winds of her sanctifying wisdom and her prophetic utterances.

For now all we need is your prayer. When a church rests on prayer she rest secure indeed. Jesus refers to the Holy Spirit as our Advocate. I find it reassuring that Jesus is our Advocate and that God’s Holy Spirit has been poured out upon us all.

There is a birthing among us of God’s Holy Spirit. Such a birthing provides for God’s Church. We are and have been a family for a good long time. Two thousand years as a matter of fact. This particular portion of God’s family, like all families, has had its good days, and its not so good days, its trials and tribulations as well as those times of triumph and satisfaction.

God knows you folks have been through plenty in these past few years but look back at our history. The Reformation or now what our brother and sister Christians in Egypt and other parts of Africa are enduring. We do not have the luxury of resting in our past, whatever side of the fence you may rest your sentiments. We only have today and tomorrow. There is only this Pentecost and this birthing we have to work with.

Jesus sends us this Advocate for a reason. Your prayers are needed as I said for this church and for your search committee. God is at work among and God is about to do a new thing.

I hope you are aware of it as fully as I see it in you.

And now may the Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Love of God and the Fellowship of the Holy Spirit be among us this day and for evermore. Amen

Fr Paul