Once Upon a Time

Once Upon a Time

Once upon a time, a long, long time ago, in a far away land I was a very young parish priest. Our congregation was part of a community organizing effort to respond to the ravages of urban crisis in an old shabby Boston neighborhood. 

I was at a good size gathering of churches and happened to meet an elderly Greek gentleman who grew up as a shepherd boy in his native land. He was wearing a shepherd’s cap and his tweed jacket looked like he wore it to bed as well as to church and all the rest of the time as well. As he spoke just the stub of a stogie moved around in his mouth. During our conversation I wondered what it took to be a “Good Shepherd”. After all, he was the first real shepherd I ever met and it was near Good Shepherd Sunday and I needed some good sermon material. 

He didn’t hesitate for a moment. 

“Tree tings. First you gotta know de sheep’s names. Second, you gotta have dogs to keep de sheeps togedder. Tird, you gotta have a shepherd’s crook, so when one a dem sheeps steps outa line, you whacken ‘em upside de hed! Dat’s what it takes to make a good shepherd”. I took careful note of what the wizened old shepherd had to say.

Today is Good Shepherd Sunday in the Church Year. Jesus is the Good Shepherd of this flock. Today’s Gospel proclaims; “My sheep hear my voice. I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish. No one will snatch them out of my hand.”

To the casual bystander it may seem that the sheep are indistinguishable one from another but not to the Good Shepherd. Not only does he know the names of each of the sheep, but he knows the background, the history, and the personality quirks of each and every sheep. Jesus knows us not just by name, Jesus knows the secrets of our hearts. Not only does he love us no matter what he sees there, he is willing to lay his life down for us. He did lay down his life for us.

I remember my best teachers, the ones I loved because they loved me. The first thing they did every year in September was to line us up in rows and seats and they’d learn our names. But it was more than names they learned about us. They learned exactly where we were in our learning capabilities. Then they encouraged and cajoled us as they taught us our lessons. 

Sunday by Sunday I take attendance. Every parish priest worth his or her salt does so. Every week Alice sends out an email to Cathy and me taking careful note of who is new, who is visiting, who is missing. Cindy and I do the same thing as we drive home. We count noses because every single life matters. 

You may think of the disciples as the trained sheep dogs keeping us together. God has deployed us all to look out for each other. We tend to stray each to his or her own way. We tend to wander preoccupied grazing with the humdrum of our daily routine. Or when we are wounded, hurt, or sick we may tend to recoil or withdraw in fear. Then we especially need someone to seek us out to keep us together as one in God’s flock. 

There are those times when we may think we know better than the shepherd. We may even head off on a tangent. After all, there is a stubborn streak that runs in the human heart. It may take a quick whack upside the head to wake us up. Or we may come to our senses and return “sheepishly” to the flock. Sorry I couldn’t resist. 

The Scripture knows all this about us. Which is why God sends the Good Shepherd to us. Like Tabitha, something in us may even become sick and die. Not to worry. Peter comes to us kneels down and prays and raises us from the dead. 

To be sure, life is such that something dies in us day in and day out as life wears us down. There is so much tragedy, trauma and death all around us. Where is our life to come from in the world we live in? It comes from the Risen Christ and someone with the courage of Peter and the disciples who are not afraid of kneeling down to pray. “Tabitha, get up.” 

Don’t be afraid to ask the impossible when you pray to God. It is not unusual for God to make possible what we think of as impossible. Just because the answer to our prayers so often is “No” does not mean we should not keep asking. 

Just because violence is a daily reality in the Ukraine or in our neighborhoods does not mean we should work and pray for peace with a sense of urgency. All wars eventually come to an end. At some point God whacks someone upside the head and knocks some sense into the human heart and mind.

Look at all the multitudes gathered before God as John the Divine does in today’s lesson from Revelation. If this vision of heaven does not whack us upside the head, I don’t know what will. There we are are gathered “from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages” , and we stand “before the throne and before the Lamb, robed in white, with palm branches in our hands”. We have all come out of “the great ordeal”, scripture tells us. All of us are gathered together as one flock before one Shepherd. “The Lamb at the center of the throne will be our shepherd, and God will guide us to springs of the water of life, and God will wipe away every tear from our eyes.”

Thankfully we are never alone. Which is why we need dogs. When I go for my daily walk along Lynn Shore Drive, I get my daily doggie fix. There is such unconditional love in dogs even for perfect strangers. Like a well trained sheep dog each and every one of us is called by God to look out for everyone else and for ourselves. As Jesus so succinctly put it. Love God. Love each other. Love yourselves. Each one of us is charged with keeping the flock together. 

These past few years have really tested us and the test is not over, not by a longshot. But here we are. There are days when we have become very discouraged but just when we may have begun to loose hope a new resurrection brightens our life. 

Take a look at our life here at Trinity. Fridays twice a month Alice Mann, Lynn Peterson, Nancy Morrissey and Bruce Malborn have begun to gather with as many as a dozen folks from Dinah’s House for a Mass in Spanish. I’ve begun sharing my Sermons and Newsletter articles in both English and Spanish so that the Gospel reaches as many as possible within our numbers. There is some exciting, emerging new life in this congregation. And I thank God for each and every one of you and your ministry which makes that life possible. 

We are learning more than each other’s names. We are learning of each others lives. The Good Shepherd knows us each by name and just the wizened old Greek Shepherd taught me so many years ago. Names, dogs and the occasional whack upside the head! It’s all a sign of the degree to which God cares about us and about the degree to which we care about one another.

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

Fr Paul.

The Collect:

O God, whose Son Jesus is the good shepherd of your people: Grant that when we hear his voice we may know him who calls us each by name, and follow where he leads; who, with you and the Holy Spirit, lives and reigns, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Below are the readings for Good Shepherd Sunday with highlights that speak to my heart and soul 

First Lesson: Acts 9:36-43

Now in Joppa there was a disciple whose name was Tabitha, which in Greek is Dorcas. She was devoted to good works and acts of charity. At that time she became ill and died. When they had washed her, they laid her in a room upstairs. Since Lydda was near Joppa, the disciples, who heard that Peter was there, sent two men to him with the request, “Please come to us without delay.” So Peter got up and went with them; and when he arrived, they took him to the room upstairs. All the widows stood beside him, weeping and showing tunics and other clothing that Dorcas had made while she was with them. Peter put all of them outside, and then he knelt down and prayed. He turned to the body and said, “Tabitha, get up.” Then she opened her eyes, and seeing Peter, she sat up. He gave her his hand and helped her up. Then calling the saints and widows, he showed her to be alive. This became known throughout Joppa, and many believed in the Lord. Meanwhile he stayed in Joppa for some time with a certain Simon, a tanner.

Psalm 23

The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.

He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters.

He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake.

Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.

Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over.

Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever.

Second Lesson: Revelation 7:9-17

After this I looked, and there was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, robed in white, with palm branches in their hands. They cried out in a loud voice, saying, “Salvation belongs to our God who is seated on the throne, and to the Lamb!” And all the angels stood around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures, and they fell on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, singing, “Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our God forever and ever! Amen.”

Then one of the elders addressed me, saying, “Who are these, robed in white, and where have they come from?” I said to him, “Sir, you are the one that knows.” Then he said to me, “These are they who have come out of the great ordeal; they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. For this reason they are before the throne of God, and worship him day and night within his temple, and the one who is seated on the throne will shelter them. They will hunger no more, and thirst no more; the sun will not strike them, nor any scorching heat; for the Lamb at the center of the throne will be their shepherd, and he will guide them to springs of the water of life, and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.”

Gospel: John 10:22-30

At that time the festival of the Dedication took place in Jerusalem. It was winter, and Jesus was walking in the temple, in the portico of Solomon. So the Jews gathered around him and said to him, “How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Messiah, tell us plainly.”Jesus answered, “I have told you, and you do not believe. The works that I do in my Father’s name testify to me; but you do not believe, because you do not belong to my sheep. My sheep hear my voice. I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish. No one will snatch them out of my hand. What my Father has given me is greater than all else, and no one can snatch it out of the Father’s hand. The Father and I are one.”

Red Heads and Whiskey

Red Headed Women and Whiskey!

Imagine this: there is someone willing to give their life for you! Mother bears are known to be fierce if someone were to come between her and the cubs. Mothers and fathers will often set themselves in harm’s way when their children are at risk. 

But what about you? Me? What about the vulnerable in our midst? Or the rejected and sinful? The lonesome, the elderly, the poor, the sick, the foreign born? The unloved of the social order? Is there someone who will give their life for them? For you? Whoever you are?

Today’s Gospel gives us an unequivocal answer to that question. Jesus did. This is why we have Good Shepherd Sunday. We proclaim that whoever you are and whatever you’ve done, whatever your status, whether upright and righteous, or a miserable sinner, there is Someone who will give their life for you.

Jesus said, “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. And again; “I am the good shepherd…And I lay down my life for the sheep. And I have other sheep that do not belong to this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd.” Ever wonder, as I do, who those “other sheep” are? It seems Jesus continues to gather us in ever widening circles of God’s inclusive love.

And yes, the Good Shepherd knows the sheep each by name. I’m still working on that and your name tags and the photos I’m taking at coffee hour are helping enormously. Thank you. 

I once met a real shepherd from Greece years ago. I was involved in community organizing efforts in Hyde Park during the Busing Crisis. I met this fellow at a meeting then, and discovered that he had been a shepherd boy as a youth, I asked him what it takes to be a “good” shepherd. He was a grizzled, short, stocky fella. He was well worn in years and attire. He responded to me in an instant;

“Tree tings; First, you gotta know de sheep’s namzz. Dey don’ trus you ‘cept you know dey namzz. Two; dogs…you gotta have dogs. Trained dogs. Dey keeps de sheeps togeddah. Tree, every once ‘en a while you gotta whacken de sheeps upside de hed when dey steps outta line.”

That last one reminded me of my family elders. They taught me to keep a low profile. And they taught me to mind. 

Jesus is our Good Shepherd. And he gives his life for us. Think about that. You. Your life is worth the Savior’s life. God’s only son! Period. Full stop. Each and every one of you. The constitution says we are equal to one another. But in God’s Kingdom, your citizenship confers much more than mere equality. Each one of you is infinitely precious to God. You are not just equal but infinitely and unconditionally beloved of God. Got that? Not up here intellectually, but in here in your heart of hearts!

Jesus is your Good Shepherd. He knows you each by Name. He loves YOU so much he will lay his life down for you. Say that, pray that every day of your life until you believe that!

Likewise John tells us in today’s Epistle; “We know love by this, that he laid down his life for us-- and we ought to lay down our lives for one another.” Now, as a parish priest, I am certainly willing to take some reasonable risks, but I have a wife and family and giving up my life for the likes of you? (A shrug of the shoulder here.)

In point of fact, my life has been threatened twice during my professional priesthood.  The first time, I was in Hyde Park, Boston during Phase Two of the Busing Crisis. On the eve of my first Sunday on the job, I received a phone call and the woman on the other end of the line said; “You say one word about busing and we will kill you.” It was a very hot summer’s night, and the next day was hot and humid as I began my first service at Christ Church. There was but a handful in church. I will admit to you, I was downright terrified.

The second time was different. Allow me to tell this story.

When I was at St. Mark’s Church in West Virginia, I found myself in the hotbed of controversy over the building of a homeless shelter. Our church operated what was called Christ’s Kitchen, a free breakfast and lunch program for the poor in our midst. There were a number of homeless folks who ate there and who lived along the riverbank and under a bridge. One especially stormy night a small band of homeless folk put together a makeshift shelter of cardboard boxes. They set a fire to keep warm. Things got out of control and when the smoke cleared three people had died. 

The press came by to investigate. We went over to the site of the fire and in what was one of the most shameful things I’ve ever seen, I watched as a garbage truck from the department of Public Works cleared the scene of all the worldly possessions of the homeless and the police gave tickets to them for littering and vagrancy. Not only had they lost their friends in the fire, all their worldly possessions were gone and they were facing court action and fines for the crime of being homeless. The reporter and I documented and published the sequence of events.

We went back to Christ’s Kitchen to collect ourselves in the aftermath the trauma. And then in a moment of inspiration, I said to the remaining band of homeless folk; “Give me your tickets!”. The reporter and I went out to the front steps of the church and I brandished the tickets in front of a camera and announced that the police had harassed the homeless at the direction of city authorities, and that I had taken the tickets into my possession and if the courts wanted to collect fines they’d have to get the money out of me. The story hit the front page of the Charleston Gazette.

The response from the city was predictable. The next morning I arrived at my office to find my secretary in tears and she told me that the President of the City Council had called and and was in a state of outrage. He said to her and I quote; “Those Irish, the only thing they brought to this country was red headed women and whiskey”. The press were there waiting for a quote from me. I was ready;

“I’ll have one of each!” 

The conflict in the early stages was palpable. Nobody wanted a homeless shelter in their neighborhood. I faced the fury of the NIMBY syndrome and even a lawsuit. One night Cindy received a phone call from an especially hostile person, and the voice said; “We’re going to kill your husband.” Cindy being Cindy, replied as only Cindy can; “Yeah, take a numbah, I want to kill him too sometimes!” We both laughed heartily if also somewhat nervously. She did seem to take some of the steam out of the threat. 

Thus began a sequence of events that led to the building of a homeless shelter. I shall never forget all the parishioners, community leaders, lawyers, police, civic leaders and so on who became a part of a collaborative effort to build that shelter. What had begun in controversy and confrontation, eventually became a galvanizing rally point for constructive cooperative ministry.

Folks, we hope it doesn’t always come to the “last full measure of our devotion”, but truth be told we may have to put our lives on the line for our neighbors, our families, and especially the vulnerable in our midst, and God knows there are plenty of those these days.

Salvation come to us in the willingness to love one another as Jesus loves us. So lets be careful when today’s lesson from Acts tell us; “There is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among mortals by which we must be saved, but the Name of Jesus.” Let’s be clear, we are not talking about two syllables; “Je-sus” that is to say the name alone, we are talking about what that Holy Name stands for, namely, the Holy One who lays down his life for us. And so too we are called to lay down our lives for one another if in fact it comes to that. Salvation then, is living the life Jesus lived as the Good Shepherd of his people, willing to put ourselves on the line for the God’s flock.

There are those times when we face the fury of those who feel threatened by our willingness to love the unlovable. Whether it is in a busing crisis, or the homeless, or the many more who find themselves outcast in our contemporary social order. We are not alone either in these moments of personal risk or even in the long last road of our suffering. The Good Shepherd is always with us. When Barbara Bush faced her long last hours she did so with grace, humor and above all, faith. 

For as the magnificent and stirring words of the Psalter say; 

“Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me…Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the LORD for ever.”

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

Fr Paul

Next: Good Shepherd, Reading

Greetings in the Name of God!

If the Paul the Apostle had a vision calling him over to Macedonia, then  Paul the parish priest had an email and a phone call inviting him to come on over to Reading to help out with you folks. I do hope I can be of some service to you while I am here. And so it is that on the first day of May in the year of our Lord 2016, we introduce ourselves to one another. As I wondered how to do so I thought perhaps I’d use something Biblical since that is always a good beginning, something theological since that only seems to make sense, and something personal since it always helps to put flesh and bones on our thoughts and prayers as we come to know one another.

First then, on to the Biblical.

Jesus said to Judas, not Iscariot, I hasten to add; "Those who love me will keep my word, and my Father will love them.” This is the example that Jesus sets for us. “Love one another as I have loved you.” And so, let me introduce myself to you by saying, I will love you exactly as you are and whoever you become along the way. This is how Jesus wants it. This is what God has had in mind all along. And moreover, as a church we are coming to discover that there are no exceptions to the essence and centrality of this proclamation. We are to love one another exactly as we are and whoever we become. In this journey, in this pilgrimage we call life, the core of the Gospel proclamation is set into the center of the human heart with these words of Jesus; “Love one another!”

That being the case within our faith communities we discover yet another dimension of the Gospel. And Jesus says as much in today's Gospel, “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives.”

Having said this to you, I do not mean to make the proclamation sound glib or facile. You and I both know how difficult and challenging it is to live out the mandate of the Gospel in family or in faith community. For the truth is that we do find ourselves in conflict with some regularity. And there are times when this Peace of which Jesus speaks seems elusive and somewhat beyond our grasp. It is indeed a Peace that passes all understanding.

Which bring me to the second part of my self introduction.

Think for instance of what we have been through, indeed what we are going through culturally among the nations of the earth, within this nation and indeed within this church. Just in my lifetime I can name the struggles;
1. The struggle for Civil Rights.
2. Gender equality
 4. Prayer Book revision
3. Inclusivity of the LGBTQ community and marriage equality.
4. Class and economic disparity.

Every one of these struggles is an ongoing one. The church and the culture around is immersed gridlock. Instead of recognizing that God will bear us up on Eagle's wings, to soar as we are intended and destined to do, we deny either the left or the right wing it's right to even exist. No bird can fly, let alone soar without both wings.

Ultimately the biblical and theological reference I come back to time and again is from the Gospel of Paul the Apostle is in his letter to the Christians in Galatia in the third chapter and in the 28th verse; “For in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith. As many of you as were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus.”

Ultimately our biblical and theological pilgrimage must bring us to The Cross and the Crown of Jesus. You will remember that when Jesus entered Jerusalem in great triumph, and he was greeted with joy by those who sang “Hosanna to the Living God. Blessed is he who come in the Name of the Lord, Hosanna in the Highest!” Events took a sudden turn after this greeting. For Jesus entered the Temple precincts and found the money changers and dealers in pigeons and rather unceremoniously overturned their tables and said “My house shall be a house of prayer for all people, but you have made it a den of robbers”.

I found something interesting about this passage when I looked it up. For when Jesus says; “My house shall be a house of prayer for all people”, he was actually quoting a passage from the Prophet Isaiah, which he often did. Isaiah was in fact, the most frequently quoted of all the prophets. In this case, when he confronted the dealers in sacrificial commodities, Jesus was not impressed with their approach to sanctification. It was only money, and the weightier issues of justice were far from their minds.

Some day, maybe even today, when you have a moment or two, read the passage from the 56th Chapter of the book of the prophet Isaiah.  Foreigners and Eunuchs wonder where they stood with God. Foreigners always have had a difficult time among the majority. There has often been an unpleasantness and an unwelcome dimension between natives and those born elsewhere. Likewise Eunuchs, those whose sexual identity was certainly ambiguous; whether physically or functionally so, there have always been folks among us who do not fit into the convenience of the male/female category. Jesus refers to this passage then when he confronted the Temple merchants.

From Isaiah 56:
“Do not let the foreigner joined to the Lord say,
   ‘The Lord will surely separate me from his people’;
and do not let the eunuch say,
   ‘I am just a dry tree.’
For thus says the Lord:
To the eunuchs who keep my sabbaths,
   who choose the things that please me
   and hold fast my covenant,
I will give, in my house and within my walls,
   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 the Lord,
   to minister to him, to love the name of the Lord,
   and to be his servants,
all who keep the sabbath, and do not profane it,
   and hold fast my covenant—
these I will bring to my holy mountain,
   and make them joyful in my house of prayer;
their burnt-offerings and their sacrifices
   will be accepted on my altar;
for my house shall be called a house of prayer
   for all peoples.”

Yes indeed, “My house shall be called a house of prayer for all people”. This is how the Episcopal Church and her congregations increasingly see themselves. Over the great west doors of the National Cathedral in Washington; since the very day it was built, these very words proclaim this vision.

So you see, I am under the very mandate of Jesus when I say to you “I will love you whoever you and and whoever you become.”  I hope I can live up to that noble proclamation as we live into our unfolding relationship.

And then thirdly, allow me to introduce myself to you with this vignette from my family.

One very hot and humid summer’s night while I was serving a church in West Virginia, my youngest son and I sat outside being honest with each other the way families need to be from time to time. He was feeling awkward, I could tell. There was something he needed to tell me but he was reluctant to say what it was for fear of how I might take it. After all, we were in West Virginia where families, schools and churches easily rejected people for the very reason he needed to tell me. He knew I often spoke about my unconditional love for him and for all people. But…

So I said; “Michael, what is it?”
There was a long delay.
Finally he told me. There were tears in his eyes, and his voice quavered with anxiety.
“Dad I’m gay”.
I confess, I din’t see that one coming. I wondered how he knew. He was still quite young. I wondered if somebody had “turned him that way.” But there he was. My own flesh and blood. I kinda wished he’d get married, settle down, have kids, because I think I’d make a fabulous grandfather. I wondered how Cindy would take the news. It did take time for us to get used to the idea. But my son sat there beside his father and he was teetering on the edge of love and rejection. It was then that God gave me the grace to say; “Michael, I love you exactly as you are, and I will love you whoever you become.” We embraced. We shed a few tears.

There was never a question in our home about the love. And there never will be. We will always work our the particulars of our salvation under the authority of the Gospel. Because Jesus loves us all whoever we are and whoever we become. This is how I seek to introduce myself to you: with the unconditional love of God. And so it is, that this I can say; “I will love you exactly as you are and whoever you become"

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

Economic Justice on Mother's Day

Good Shepherd Sunday

and

Mother’s Day

This year’s Most Valuable Player award for the National Basketball Association went to the Oklahoma City Thunder star player Kevin Durant. In his acceptance speech on Tuesday night of this week, the six foot nine inch tall forward spoke of his mother as being the real MVP winner behind that award. The big tough guy, stopped to pay tribute to his mom.

She was his Good Shepherd. 

In his own words, this is what he said;

“I think you know what you did,” he said, as the camera cut to his emotionally overcome mom. “You had my brother when you were 18-years-old. Three years later, I came out. The odds were stacked against us. Single parent with two boys by the time you were 21-years-old. Everybody told us we weren’t supposed to be here. We moved from apartment to apartment by ourselves. One of the best memories I had, is when we moved into our first apartment – no bed, no furniture – and we just all sat in the living room and just hugged each other, because we thought we made it.

“And when something good happens to you, I don’t know about you guys, but I tend to look back to what brought me here. And you’d wake me up in the middle of the night in the summer times, making me run up a hill, making me do pushups, screaming at me from the sideline of my games at eight or nine years old. We weren’t supposed to be here. You made us believe. You kept us off the street. Put clothes on our backs, food on the table. And when you didn’t eat, you made sure we ate. You went to sleep hungry. You sacrificed for us. You’re the real MVP.”

This now brings us to Good Shepherd Sunday, Mother’s Day and the Fourth Sunday of Easter. Here, on this side of the Resurrection, we take note of the sacrifices we make for those we love. They do not end because Jesus rose from the dead, indeed our sacrifices take on new, joyful, generous and abundant dimensions.

He who came into the world so that we might have life in all of its abundance, has become our Good Shepherd. He is the gateway into a way of life that makes of sacrifice our joy and our gratitude. We know what it takes to have children, and send them on their way; it takes everything we have.

But then if you want to give birth to anything worthwhile, you will have to sacrifice a great deal. You may write a book, build a shelter for the homeless, expand a soup kitchen and a food pantry, argue for an inclusive church, or a hundred other things, but you will be giving birth, and making sacrifice to do so.

In this sense you are embracing that abundant life that Jesus came to bring us. The joy and the generosity of Jesus involves great words like forgiveness and repentance, love and compassion, the equally sacrificial and demanding word reconciliation. It is not just his attitude toward us that gives flesh and blood to our redemption, it is our attitude and sacrifice toward one another within which his body shape and substance. 

Those who bring us to the knowledge and love of God may have been our mothers or grandmothers, our dads or grandfathers, our aunts or our uncles, but whoever they were they have become for us a whole constellation of spirits we now come to call the “Communion of Saints”.

They led us to God the Creator, Jesus the Savior, and the Holy Spirit the Holy Wisdom and gift giver from on High. The Holy Trinity then also become an abundant and dynamic community dwelling with and among us.

There is nothing static about discipleship. Like that dazzling new model of the universe expanding over time that the students at MIT have developed, we are an ever evolving and emerging force for good in a world in desperate need of Good News.

It has all happened before time and again. In salvation history it happened to Mary, the Mother of our Lord. May marks her month for our Roman Catholic friends. The angel came to her and informed her that the Holy Spirit would “overshadow” her. 

Please remember she too was a single mother and that Joseph considered sending here away quietly so as not to scandalize everybody, but something or somebody told him in his dreams that this was all God doing the kind of thing that God does.

Mary then discovered a great deal more about God than what was within her as a baby. She discovered a message; a song that sang within her spirit. It is a song we will sing at Evensong in a few short weeks with others members of the Churches of the Collaborative in the Merrimack Valley. We will join and sing with her a song She has been singing since even before the Baby’s birth. Anglican Christians have a special love for her song because, for Anglicans Evensong has won within our hearts a special place for our spirituality. You know those words;

My soul doth magnify the Lord, *
    and my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Savior.
For he hath regarded *
    the lowliness of his handmaiden.
For behold from henceforth *
    all generations shall call me blessed.
For he that is mighty hath magnified me, *
    and holy is his Name.
And his mercy is on them that fear him *
    throughout all generations.
He hath showed strength with his arm; *
    he hath scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts.
He hath put down the mighty from their seat, *
    and hath exalted the humble and meek.
He hath filled the hungry with good things, *
    and the rich he hath sent empty away.
He remembering his mercy hath holpen his servant Israel, *
    as he promised to our forefathers,
    Abraham and his seed for ever.

Mary’s sacrifice, God’s sacrifice, Jesus’ sacrifice are made good in the message given and received and then shared

I find it interesting that the number one best seller on the New York Times list of non fiction hard cover books right now is “Capital in the Twenty First Century” by Thomas Piketty, the renowned French economist. This business of income and wealth inequality is reaching proportions that pose a danger to democracy and capitalism. 

I hadn’t realized that Mary or Jesus could be thought of as economists until I started connecting the dots

He hast put down the mighty from their seat

And exalted the humble and meek

I have come to bring good news to the poor.

Blessed are the poor, and the meek.

Insofar as you have done it to one of the least of these, you have done it to me.

A basketball player and his single mom make it from the mean streets of Washington DC, a single mother becomes the mother of God, Jesus becomes the Good Shepherd for the likes of you and me.

What differentiates us now is not just the forgiveness, the love and reconciling power of God, it is the message that God has sown into our hearts and our willingness, yes our courage to communicate that message.

And if we are to mark Good Shepherd Sunday & Mother’s Day, never forget the message the Holy Spirit put into Mary’s heart the day she heard the Spirit’s message.

He has filled the hungry with good things.

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

Fr Paul