"Consider the Lilies of the Field"

 “Consider the Lilies of the Field”

In Celebration of the Life of Bill Graham

A Meditation by Fr. Paul Bresnahan

Matthew 6:25-29 ~“Consider the Lilies of the Field”

‘Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air; they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And can any of you by worrying add a single hour to your span of life? And why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not clothed like one of these.

“Consider the Lilies of the Field”

“Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow”.

This Gospel was written for an occasion like this.

Bill Graham spent a lifetime making things beautiful. He dedicated all that he had and all that he was so that he could scatter comfort and joy all around the North Shore well beyond anyone’s ability to calculate or measure. What a blessing he was to us. 

Even now I imagine him in a field of flowers gathering up a bouquet for his beloved. But that’s the friend and the priest in me talking. I can’t imagine anything better, unless, of course it were a shop on Essex Street in Salem. That really was lovely.

“Beautiful Things”. That’s what he called the shop. And it was exactly that. You could stop by anytime and there he was out back, surrounded by a grand clutter of flowers and greens and vases and what not of every manner under heaven. And by some miracle he’d pull things from hither and yon and voilà: there was something very beautiful indeed; a bouquet for the eyes and the nose and something about it all moved us to love.

That’s because Bill loved us. And so does Phil. In our particular case, when Cindy and I fell in love and married, Bill prepared the flowers for the wedding. Those flowers adorned the altar at Christ Church, Hyde Park on October 13,1979. And Phil sang. It was a glorious and unforgettable day! Thank you both!

Day in and day out. Year in and year out, you could count on Bill to be there and Phil too ready to greet you with warmth and affection Whatever the occasion, all you had to do was call in and tell Bill what you needed and he would go straight to work, his hands a blur and out of a menagerie of living things he’d gather another bouquet and prepare something special just for you.

So it was for many unforgettable days and special occasions for so many people. It could be the birth of a child, a wedding or an anniversary, the illness of a fried, the death of a loved one, a gesture of kindness, an expression of love, a request for forgiveness. You could always stop by or call in, and Bill was on it. Before you knew it there they were, delivered by my friend Phil. My best friend Phil. What a delight it was to to open the door and see that smile and those flowers.

Talk about beautiful things!

Thank you Bill

Thank you Phil

What a precious thing is life, friendship, love!

And family. I feel like I know you all well. You included Bill in all those Holidays; Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Easter and so on. Phil described those days to me in detail. In infinite detail. He knows every name, every important day in your lives, every school and workplace, every joy and sorrow. He loves every single one of you and so did Bill.  You made Bill family to you. Your kindness and love meant everything to him.

Thank you all. 

And to all his friends too many to number. How often you would stop by in the store just to say hello. You are a tribute to him and thank you for being here. I know how much you cared for him because I know how much he cared for you. 

Every single flower and every single one of us he touched spoke of that love. Not even Solomon in all his glory was arrayed as even one of these.

And then there came the illness. Even then he resolutely continued making beautiful things for as long as he could at the shop, in public speaking engagements, then at home. Only weeks ago he was baking cookies, doing needlepoint. Always something to make this old world a little more beautiful. 

The day he died, I visited Bill one last time. He was in extremis so I stayed with him for some time and said some prayers from my Celtic Prayer Book. I recited some lines from Morning Prayer

“One thing have I asked of the Lord. This is what I seek. 

That I may dwell in House of the Lord all the days of my life.

To behold the beauty of the Lord and to seek him in his Holy Temple."

I have no idea whether he heard me or not but it always puts me at ease to pray. And besides the words seemed fitting.

I got up to leave but just then my buddy Phil arrived with some flowers, naturally. We visited. A kindly woman stopped by with a Golden Retriever named Rosie. It was delightful. Finally, I asked one last blessing: “The Peace of God which passes all understanding” Later that night Phil posted a picture of the seashore; “Good night my handsome” it said.

What next my friends? The priest in me must now speak to our faith as well as to our skepticism in all honesty, in all truth, and with a note of authority. 

You know my story Phil. You know what my grandmother said about all this. When my dad died at Christmas in 1953 I was only 8 years old. I wanted to know if I’d ever see him again. The “christians” in the family said my dad couldn’t go to heaven because he didn’t go to church. Thank God my uncle was an atheist. He told me not to worry because he said my dad would get to heaven a whole lot sooner than anybody in that crowd would.

My grandmother was the authority in the family on all matters theological. After all, she was the one who sent me to church.

So I asked her

“Ma, is there a God?"

“Of course there is” she said

“Ma, is there a Heaven?”

“Of course there is” she said.

Then I said; “Ma, Is my daddy there?” 

Ah there was a moment’s hesitation. After all she was a Yankee from Downeast Maine and my dad was an Irishman from Butman St in Beverly. And there was that nasty divorce. The prospect of spending an eternity with that man must have given her pause.

A lot was riding on what she did next. 

I remember it like it was yesterday

She knelt down right there on the kitchen floor in Somerville and held me close and said;

“Of course he is”

Because of that here I am today to proclaim the power of love over death whether we believe it or not, understand it or not.

There is a special place in God’s heart for Bill.

For you and me. For all. No exceptions. 

To prove it, here I am to embrace you with these words.

So consider the lilies of the field how they grow. From the dust of the earth they rise and live again. And not even Solomon in all his glory is arrayed as even one of these. That’s not just my uncle or my grandmother or me talking. That’s Jesus.

“Good night Bill”

“See you on the other side”

“Amen”.

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

Amen.

"Let me help you"

A Good Friday Meditation

A little girl bends over to help him with his cross.

It is the most natural thing in all the world to do.

She will follow him and help him all the way to the end.

That’s just the way she is. 

She will watch with him even when he dies. 

She will not leave him.

She will stay with him. 

On the third day, she and her friends will go to the garden to prepare him for burial.

But the stone will be rolled away.

The gardener will greet her.

She will ask; “Where have they taken him?”

It is then she will remember; “It’s you! You are the one I stooped over to help when first you fell.”

Only then will it dawn upon her that he lives! 

They won’t believe her but she knows the truth.

He lives!

You and I will not fully understand this for a very long time. But it’s all true and more besides;

In the meantime, there is this from Celtic Daily Prayer for this Good Friday

Go peaceful
in gentleness
through the violence of these days.
Give freely.
Show tenderness
in all your ways.

Through darkness,
in troubled times
let holiness be your aim.
Seek wisdom.
Let faithfulness
burn like a flame.

God speed you!
God lead you,
and keep you wrapped around His heart!
May you be known by love.

Be righteous.
Speak truthfully
in a world of greed and lies.
Show kindness.
See everyone
through heaven’s eyes.

God hold you,
enfold you,
and keep you wrapped around His heart.
May you be known by love.

~Celtic Daily Prayer, Paul Field

(The image from above is from the Episcopal Cultural Network)

Is that You Jesus?

Is that You Jesus?

This Sunday in the Church Year we often read “On the Road to Emmaus”; the story of Jesus walking with yet unbeknownst to his disciples. He asks what they are talking about. They hasten to tell him the story; “Are you the only one in Jerusalem who doesn’t know what’s been going on?”  They tell the stranger their amazing story. When they stop for supper Jesus gives thanks, breaks bread and then they realize, this is Jesus. Suddenly he vanishes. In the fullness of time an even fuller recognition dawns upon them that Christ often appears in a stranger’s presence.

Look around you, day in day out, here in this sacred space, or out there in that sacred space; at work, at school, at home and out and about running errands. If you take a moment you may recognize that Christ is present in friend and stranger alike in some extraordinary and in some very ordinary moments. 

“Be known to us in the breaking of the bread. Jesus, open the eyes of our faith!” today’s Collect invites us to pray. So too in in today’s Gospel Jesus is known to his disciples in the eating of a piece of broiled fish. Then he opened their minds to understand. 

There is symbolism in sharing a meal, as sociologists tell us. A study at UCLA shows; “In every society, food is highly symbolic, in the sense that members imbue particular kinds and qualities of food with sentimental, moral, religious, and health-related meanings.” This and other studies show that sharing a meal changes relationships qualitatively. Go to dinner with somebody you care about and the bond between you changes, deepens. Jesus knew this obviously, when he broke bread with us. 

The Eucharist then is essentially missional in nature to Jesus. As the Gospel says as they eat the Body and Blood; “Go forward and tell the whole world the good news about repentance and forgiveness, beginning right here” in Haverhill and then to all nations. The word liturgy in the ancient Graeco-Roman world means “public service” like road building or bridge building. We’ve got work to do to proclaim the Gospel right here, right now! This is our Liturgy; our Public Service.

And since the Lectionary does not tell the Emmaus story today, I’d like to tell you another story. It has a contemporary ring to it because it deals with a very current reality; the epidemic of depression. Depression is what my Spiritual Director calls; “The common cold; or the influenza outbreak of the Modern World.”

St. Francis and Brother Leo; I love the story and it goes like this;

One day Saint Francis and brother Leo were walking down the road. Noticing Leo was depressed, Francis turned and asked, “Leo, do you know what it means to be pure of heart?”

“Of course. It means to have no sins, faults or weaknesses to reproach myself for.”

“Ah,” said Francis, “now I understand why you're sad. We will always have something to reproach ourselves for.”

“Right,” said Leo. “That's why I despair of ever arriving at purity of heart.”

“Leo, listen carefully to me. Don't be so preoccupied with the purity of your heart. Turn and look at Jesus. Admire Him. Rejoice that He is who He is—your Brother, your Friend, your Lord and Savior. That, dear brother, is what it means to be pure of heart. And once you've turned to Jesus, don't turn back and look at yourself. Don't wonder where you stand with Jesus.”

“The sadness of not being perfect, the discovery that you really are sinful, is a feeling much too human, even borders on idolatry. Focus your vision outside yourself, on the beauty, graciousness and compassion of Jesus Christ. The pure of heart praise Him from sunrise to sundown.”

“Even when they feel broken, feeble, distracted, insecure and uncertain, they are able to release it into His peace. A heart like that is stripped and filled-stripped of self and filled with the fullness of God. It is enough that Jesus is Lord.”

After a long pause, Leo said, “Still, Francis, the Lord demands our effort and fidelity.”

"No doubt about that,” replied Francis. “But holiness is not a personal achievement. It's an emptiness you discover in yourself. Instead of resenting it, you accept it and it becomes the free space where Jesus can create anew. To cry out, ‘You alone are the Holy One, you alone are the Lord,' that is what it means to be pure of heart. And it doesn't come by your Herculean efforts and threadbare resolutions.”

“Then how?” asked Leo.

“Simply hoard nothing to yourself; sweep the house clean. Sweep out even the attic, even the nagging, painful consciousness of your past. Accept being shipwrecked. Renounce everything that is heavy, even the weight of your sins. See only the compassion, the infinite patience and the tender love of Christ. Jesus is Lord. That suffices. Your guilt and reproach disappear into the nothingness of non-attention. You are no longer aware of yourself, like the sparrow aloft and free in the azure sky. Even the desire for holiness is transformed into a pure and simple desire for Jesus.”

Leo listened gravely as he walked along beside Francis. Step by step he felt his heart grow lighter as a profound peace flooded his soul ( a story from Brennan Manning).

Yes. Exactly. Peace. 

This is what Jesus said to us in his Risen power; “Peace be with you.” Peace, the Peace that passes all understanding. It is no further away than turning to him in every fear, anxiety, and preoccupation of your life.

I will confess to you a certain agitation of spirit whenever we launch airstrikes in a foreign land. Naturally, the risk of military escalation is always present. Naturally, I am anxious and preoccupied with the prospect of further conflict. Likewise in our political life. The failure of civil discourse and loss of the art of conversation concerns me. 

I feel much like the Psalmist in today’s Psalm; 

“On that we might see better times!” 

Still, notice how the Psalmist deals with this universal lamentation as the prayer continues into the very next verse?

“Lift up the light of your countenance upon us, O Lord.

7 You have put gladness in my heart, *

more than when grain and wine and oil increase.

8 I lie down in peace; at once I fall asleep; *

for only you, Lord, make me dwell in safety.” ~Psalm 4

You see, turn to this Mighty God and find rest for your souls, “for my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” (From Matthew 11:28-30)

Thankfully we have one another to share our hearts concerns and love, and more thankfully still we can turn to Jesus and come to this altar rail and receive him into our eucharistic family life. Here Jesus becomes known to us in the breaking of the bread. Here we become one in our diversity of life; whoever you are, wherever and whenever you are from. Here we meet and we become one with each other and one with Jesus at this altar rail. 

Look at the extraordinary claims John makes in today’s Epistle. “See what love the Father has given us, that we should be called children of God; and that is what we are… Beloved, we are God's children now” This is what Leo was just coming to understand. Sin is lifted away the more we live into the life that is Jesus the Risen Christ. John explains the reality of redemption in this way; “Everyone who commits sin is guilty of lawlessness; sin is lawlessness. You know that he was revealed to take away sins, and in him there is no sin. No one who abides in him sins”.

The sin is wiped away and so is all the guilt…but remember this is not your doing or your achievement. Jesus did all that. The love of God does all that. Live your lives there and you will be freed from the power of sin’s merciless, depressing, grasp. Like Leo…you will come to discover this deep and abiding joy; 

“Leo listened gravely as he walked along beside Francis. Step by step he felt his heart grow lighter as a profound peace flooded his soul.”

And so may it be for us all, Amen.

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

Fr Paul.

Resurrection & Reality

The Business of Eternal Life

Part I-Beginning with Reality

Clergy often take a break after Easter. And so my wife and I went to see our son Joshua who recently moved to Charlotte, to see my brother and his wife and their daughter, and to see friends at St Mark's Church, in Saint Albans WV. We covered quite a bit of territory. 

While we were at St Mark's we met up with Chris and his beloved and their daughter. What a joy that was. As a parish priest, I had been through some good times and bad times with Chris. But then one day I reminded him that his name "Christopher" means, literally, "Christ Carrier". I am so proud of what Chris is doing with his life. He has chosen the way that leads to life.

Chris had told me of two friends who OD's on heroin on Easter day, leaving three children motherless and fatherless. They were good people. They were friends but they made some bad choices. And then they died. Their bad choices led to the way that leads to death.

This is precisely what I had preached on Easter Day. The Early Church taught that there are only two ways; the way that leads to life and the way that leads to death.

This is reality.

When we speak of Eternal Life and Resurrection, which I plan to do in the weeks to come, let us always begin with Reality. This is the only place for spirituality to begin. In the REAL.

Reality. The present world clouds any hope we have of seeing eternal life or resurrection.  We live in a world filled with warfare and terror, inequality and injustice, religious fundamentalism and extremism which justifies violence in the name of God. We live in a world that is so secularized that we ourselves have our doubts of the Easter proclamation. We find ourselves often sympathizing with Thomas. “Not till I see it with my own eyes, not till I touch it with my own hands, will I believe it.”

We live between two realities; there is a way that leads to life and a way that leads to death. The Way that Leads to Life is the Easter Reality and the Way that Leads to Death is the given reality of the world we are born into. This is why the Church teaches that we must undergo a Baptism to a second birth so that we can die to sin and rise again to newness of life.

This is such an urgently vital teaching. It is a matter of life and death, and particularly of the many millions of us whose lives are so vulnerable.

How can we even begin to talk about eternal life and the resurrection of Jesus in such a world? 

Lets try Easter on as a Reality too! Peter claims to have been a witness to it as do the other disciples in today's first lesson. 

In today’s Gospel, we have an account of Jesus’ resurrection. He begins with these words; “Peace be with you”. A startling beginning! In the reality of the disciples’ experience there had been so much turmoil; from the jarring moments when Jesus entered the Temple precincts to overturn the tables of the money changers, to his trial and crucifixion; and then to the reports that the women brought to his rising again and then this: his first resurrection appearance! In the midst of all this overwhelming intensity of inner wonder and amazement, Jesus comes and stands in their very midst and says to them “Peace be with you!” Shhh, Peace, be still and know that I am God, as the Psalmist puts it. ~Psalm 46:10.

This is the second Reality. There is the Reality you and I live with every day. Then, there is the Easter Reality. I wondered how I would approach the Easter reality since the reality we live with every day is so much at dissonance with who Jesus is for us and for the sake of the world we live in. The Gospel’s mandate is that we proclaim forgiveness of sins to all nations beginning with Jerusalem. And I wondered, how well are we doing with that job?

Therefore I am preparing a series of reflections on the Reality of the world we live in as well as the Reality of the Resurrection of Jesus. I will be sharing these reflections with you in the coming weeks.

But let me begin with the simplicity of my own experience of resurrection and eternal of life.

What is Eternal Life?

For me, it is a life focused on the care and love of the I-Thou relationship within and among us all.

What I mean by that is precisely this; when I pray I become aware of the Other within me. The "Thou" within my heart. It is what the 12 Step programs call the “Higher Power”. It is what I call God. 

When I pray I become aware of a Peace that is within me, I become aware of the fact that I am not alone but that there are many with me who also pray near and far away.

But more immediately, I become aware of the I-Thou relationship within me. And then of course by extrapolation that I-Thou relationship is not only within me but also among us all. 

Eternal Life then for me is a focus on the care and love of the I-Thou within and the I-Thou among us all.

It is indeed the Way, the Truth, and the Life. It is an indicator of Eternal Life and Resurrection. 

The Love of God, the I-Thou within and the love of all our neighbors, and the love of the I-Thou among us all.

We are, in this way connected to the All in All and forever by reaching out our hands and hearts to one another in  every small and significant way we can find or discover. 

This is the All in All forever.

This is how I begin to think of Eternal Life. It is alive within us now as we dare to Love. Love God, Love our neighbors, and love ourselves as God loves us. 

But the problem is that I still find myself living in the first Reality, where warfare, terror, disease, inequality, and oppression still exist and exist with a vengeance. 

And I find myself quite vulnerable in this Reality. That vulnerability makes me doubt the Easter Reality to tell you the truth. I know what Jesus says of all the conflict, violence and vulnerability we experience as a matter of daily truth. How can I love my enemy? How can I turn the cheek when he or she so violently strikes me on the first. Even more urgently how can I stand by when we face Genocide among Armenians, the Holocaust of the Jews, starvation among the millions of our brothers and sisters near and far away, or a thousand other indignities inflicted upon humankind by the agency of Evil. 

How can I stand by and watch Greed go hog wild, or the planet we live on be put to death by our own self indulgent appetites? How can I stand by and watch those I love die to the inevitability of one disease after another. And how can I stand by and live with my own vulnerability knowing where that ultimately goes to?

So we begin with the first Reality. It is there. It will not go away.

But there is Easter. There is the way that leads to Life just as there is the way that leads to death. This is serious business. Easter is a matter of urgency. The survival of humanity depends on it as does the survival of the planet as does the survival of young people or older people caught up in the snare of violence, despair, drugs, disease and depression.

Reality is with us but there is not just the first reality.

We have Easter too. We have the Resurrection of Jesus and Eternal Life. We are known down through history as the Easter people because we know this; Alleluia, Christ is Risen. Christ is Risen indeed, Alleluia!

And now may the Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Love of God and the Fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with us all evermore. Amen.

Fr Paul

Alleluia, Christ is Risen

The Great Vigil of Easter 2015

Finally! There is the faintest glimmer of hope. We gather in the chill of the night and warm ourselves around the fire. We remember what he tried to tell us time and again but we would not listen. We simply could not understand it. So, counting hope against hope we light a candle and process into our gathering place and instead of cursing the evil in the darkness, we light all our candles. At least we’ve learned that much. We gather around this marvelous flame. We sing the ancient song of our Passover. 

Then we read of our deliverance at the Red Sea, the valley of dry bones, and of our calling to be God’s people. 

We remember how he raised Lazarus from the dead and his many miracles and his healings which were all daily occurrences for him; those with mental and physical ailments. How we wish we could heal those who are sick now and suffer so. For when we had our hopes up the faintest bit, we must now admit just how real suffering and death are even on this side of the resurrection.

Still, we set the Table as he taught us to do. We remember him but not as if he lived and died a long time ago. But we remember him now as the one who died and then rose again. Well, lets face it there are those who are not quite convinced on that point. That’s why we have Thomas the Doubter who famously said: “Not until I see it with my own eyes, touch it with my own hands, not until then will I believe.”

The Surprise of Faith, let me tell you, you are in for a wondrous and mighty surprise not just if you doubt, but even for those of you who believe! Such a Surprise that will fill your hearts with indescribable joy! A joy that will change your life! Right here, right now!

This is because Jesus brought us into eternal life beginning with our Baptism. All he asks of us is to die to sin and to rise to newness of eternal life both in this life and in the life to come. So lets not wait ‘till we’re dead. Lets get at it right now. For the time to do eternal life is here in our midst

This is the essential Teaching or Didache of the Church. The first document we have after the New Testament writings is a brief “catechism” if you will of teachings used for new converts to the faith including and especially directed to our young people. This document is called the Didache, a word which shares the same word as “didactic” or “teaching”.

All this is because in those days the world these kids grew up in was an especially dangerous one. Therefore all converts and members of the church were required to be mindful, to understand, and to master the essential teachings of the Didache; The Teachings of the Church.

Those essential teachings begin with this extraordinary statement;

There are only two ways to live; the way that leads to life and the way that leads to death. 

You can see that choice all around you if you but open your eyes to what is going on around you.

There is the way of violence, hatred, warfare, oppression and bigotry. Good heavens there is abundant dosage of that all around us. And much of it supposedly in the “name of God”. But we know such things lead to the destruction and death of God’s creatures. We are called to renounce them.

Instead we are called to peace with justice, love, compassion and an open heart that leads to life.

There is the way of fear, anxiety, and depression. That sure sounds like current events to me. But such a life leads to darkness and despair. That approach doesn’t make much sense to me and besides it will shorten you life, will it not?

But there is also courage, joy, good humor, gracious affection and good cheer. Such an internal reorientation leads to much, much more life, a life that leads to an eternal life like Jesus lived.

There is, of course self centeredness. One the other hand there is a life that we can live in concern and care for others. The former will destroy the latter builds up.

Need we point out the difference between greed and its antithesis generosity? Seldom have we seen such a stark reminder of the difference than we see in our own present historic context.

There is the matter of self indulgence and self discipline. Life will teach you that lesson sooner or later. Let’s keep one another in eternal life. 

All we have to do is read the papers or watch the news to see what destroys human life near and far away. Sin, by the way, is the only doctrine in our catechism we have abundant proof for. Everything else we believe in we have to take on faith. Ah but not sin…look around you. Its everywhere! It is no wonder so many take to the way of sin.

But still ultimately, it only leads to death and God is pretty consistent on this point; “As I live, says the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from their ways and live; turn back, turn back from your evil ways; for why will you die, O house of Israel?” ~Ezekiel 33:11

Back now to the “remembrance of  him”. Back to that surprise and that joy! That Greek word “anamnesis” means to remember not as if we were recalling some ancient sadness or tragedy; the word means to remember as if we were bringing that ancient moment into the living present, as if we were invoking the presence of Christ as this very Table, which is exactly what we do in the Eucharist.

This remembrance is as real and as joyous as today right here among your friends and your family.  We have this joy, this now, this eternity right here for all of us to see. 

For Christ is alive in this glad Easter tide. We have seen him with our own eyes.

Alleluia. Christ is Risen

The Lord is Risen indeed! Alleluia!

And now may the Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Love of God and the Fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with us all evermore. Amen.

Fr Paul