Existence and Abundant Life

Who Can Exist without God?

The collect for the day makes an extraordinary claim. It says that we cannot even exist without God. Digging deeper into the idea, Paul observed in his conversations with the philosophers in Athens, even they knew that it is "in God that we live and move and have our being". ~Acts 17:28.  As I see it, our being and God's being are inextricably intertwined, for the further we make our journeys within our own hearts so too we come to the heart of God. This is where our being and God's being meet at the heart of things.

Jesus said; "I am the very bread of life". It is as we come to Jesus that all our hunger is satisfied and all our thirst is quenched. 

Lets unpack that statement a bit if you will. It is Jesus himself who said that it is his food to do the will of God. ~John 4:34. And what might that be good friends? What is the will of God for us but that we Love the Lord our God with all our heart and all our soul, all our strength, all our mind. And to love our neighbor as we do ourselves. 

By the way, I do hope that you realize that Jesus said that we are to love our neighbors as we do ourselves. This requires that we do love ourselves, and that we treat ourselves with the kind of dignity and respect that we treat anything that is holy. I can tell you from personal experience that learning to do that is a life long project. Especially in the so-called "helping" professions, sometimes the needs of others come ahead of ourselves. Frankly, this behavior is of the essence of disobedience. Jesus said that we are to "love one another as we do ourselves".

We cannot love anyone else unless we love ourselves. Anyone who has flown an airplane knows that if the cabin loses pressure and the masks fall from heaven; first we make sure we get oxygen, then we administer it to others. This is counter-intuitive especially if you are traveling with a child. Every single practitioner in spirituality or psychiatry knows how important the soul and the psyche is and that before you can see clearly how to help anyone else, you first must learn that essential lesson in humility; help yourself. As Jesus so eloquently put it; "You cannot take the speck out of your neighbor's eye without first taking the log out of your own!" ~Luke 6:42

So then "the Bread of Life" is to "do the will of God".

For me that raises the question; "why are we placed on the planet?" "What are we doing here, anyway?"

In Celtic Christianity, that question was answered very simply; "Organize your life around the needs the people you live with."  

St. Aidan of Lindisfarne, also known as "Holy Island" on the northeast coast of England was the center from which Christianity spread in the 5th and 6th centuries. I wondered how did these folks do it? What's the secret to the growth of our faith.

And the answer is really quite simple.

Organize the church's life around the needs of the people.

Aidan started with the dying. To you have a loved one who is dying? Bring them here and we'll take care of them. Then he recruited folks to help him.

Do you have loved ones who are sick? Bring them here and we'll tend to them and nurse them back to health. People began to be drawn to such a place.

Do you have children who need to be educated? Or do you yourselves need to know more about farming methods and the current state of knowledge which is another word, by the way for "science". Come here. We are among the best scholars in Europe. While the rest of Western Civilization sank into the Dark Ages, the Celts kept the bright light of Civilization burning. Who would not be drawn to such an enterprise? By the way, the Celts brought this method of Christian Evangelism to all of Western Europe. 

Ah, but they didn't stop there. The Celts had more to offer than these very basic and essential responses to human need.

For instance, are you discouraged by life's drudgery? Are your hearts downcast? Are you just plain depressed? Come here and we will cheer you with the merriment of good and cheerful company. After all, they were good cooks and were well known for making some of the finest brew known to those born of woman.

Moreover, there are the artists, the playwrights, the poets, the musicians and the dancing! This is not mere existence my friends; this is what Jesus promised when he said; "I have come to bring you life in all its abundance." ~John 10:10

Not enough? Still not happy? Perhaps you feel lost in a universe as you stare into a starry sky at night and wonder about your place among the starry host. We have good news for you. There is the story of a Child born in Bethlehem under one of those stars. He is The Child born to the maker of all Heaven and Earth. And when he grew to become one of us, he became the very essence of the love that Creator intends us to know. He is the Love God made flesh and blood. And he died for us so that all our sins might be forgiven and moreover so that we might never again be afraid of the universal fear of death, the kind of death that snuffs out hope. 

Now as we stare into the heavens at night our hearts may be filled with the knowledge of God as the waters cover the sea. 

Still not quite enough? Come to the Church with us. Come and be Baptized into that life! gather with us Sunday by Sunday as we break bread together with this very God, because we have come to know that he is the Bread of Life. All who come to Him will never be hungry again. All who believe in Him will never thirst again.  He is moreover the Bread that comes down from Heaven so that those who eat of this bread will never die, but have instead a hold on eternal life.

I cannot think of a sorrow deeper than the sorrow of one who loses a child. Like David did with the loss of Absolom, his third child, a handsome and swaggering son, a rebellious child who sought to overthrow his father, still when fortune overtook him and he got caught up the the branches of a mighty oak, he met his end at the edge of a sword.

No one had the courage to tell the king but the Ethiopian slave, the "Cushite" and David made lamentation. "O my son Absolom, my son, my son Absolom. Would that I had dies instead of you. Oh my son, my son Absolom."

In this exquisite Hebrew poetry, David calls out from the depths of his soul. Ironically the name Absololom literally means "Father of Peace". When David held the baby in his arms, that was his Dream; and that the Dream would come to this.

God had a Dream for his Son too, and God knows too what it is like to loose a Son.

God still has a Dream for his Church. Perhaps like the Celts we might be like the church of merry old England. Perhaps we might be like those who organized themselves around the needs of all those around them.

In community organizing circles, if you wish to organize folks you begin with the leadership of the community and through a series of systematic interviews, you identify those in positions of public trust. What are the needs you see out there. You interview the members of the church. What are the needs you see in the church and in the community. What are your concerns.

Just as I ask the question, I begin to hear the stories of the church; the many blessings as well as the stories of hurt. The joy as well as the anger. The stories of the people, the clergy, the bishops; just as I can tell you stories of all the people, the clergy and the bishops it has been my joy and otherwise to know and love. But above all, you can hear the stories Jesus can tell of what the church did to him; the Sadducees, the Pharisees, the Lawyers and the Scribes; we know what they did to Jesus. And the stories Jesus tells us we now know as the Gospels. They have become the Good News.  

Far and away, by far and away, the blessings of this life outweigh all sorrows, but those sorrows, and somehow we seem to hunker down and focus on the sorrows, just as we do on the Cross of Christ. How do we move forward? The answer is in the very Cross on which Jesus was crucified, since the cross is the Way, the Truth and the Life.

It is in that Cross that we come to know the Dream of God. Without the Dream of God in our hearts this is impossible. For we are the Jesus of God's Dream. We are the Body of Christ. We are the Absolom; the "Fathers and the Mothers of Peace".

And we cannot exist without God, for it is in God that we live and move and have our being. Jesus is the very Bread of Life and once we organize our lives around the needs of all humankind, God's Dreams begin to come true. As Jesus said, this is my food; to do the very will of God. Otherwise we merely exist. We cannot really exist without God.

And now may the Grace....

Once in a Blue Moon

The moon was magnificent on Friday July 31, 2015. I cannot help but stand in awe of such events as these. Here are some reflections on that glorious moment, 8:03pm at moonrise.

Once in a Blue Moon

It is a rarity but it does happen. Once every 30 months astronomers tell us. The reference is not so much to the color of the moon, although Friday night's moon was magnificent and changed in hue from red, to silver and to bluish/silver depending on how long you watched it. In fact a true "blue moon" appears blue only when there has been an event like a volcano somewhere on the planet. I got some fairly good shots of the full moon from my vantage point at the Boardwalk in the evening as the sun set in the west and as the moon rose in the east. There were all sorts of folks watching down by the marshlands from the parking lot to the footbridge to the beach. 

The reference to the Blue Moon is to the occurrence of a full moon twice in one month. The last full moon was on July 2, this one on July 31st. The next Blue Moon will not occur until January of 2018.

She rose brilliantly in the sky and the poet within could not help but remember the words of the Psalmist;

"The heavens declare the Glory of God*

and the firmament shows God's handiwork.

One day tells its tale to another*

  and one night imparts knowledge to another

Although they have no words or language*

and their voices are not heard,

Still their sound has gone out into all lands*

and their message to the ends of the world.

~Psalm 19:1-4

And these magnificent words;

"When I consider your heavens,

the work of your fingers,*

the moon and the stars you have set in their courses,

Who are we that you should be mindful of us?*

the children of humanity that you should seek us out?"

~Psalm 8:4,5

I know my astronomy and God knows I know and love Carl Sagan for what he did years ago to educate us in the magnificence of the cosmos with its billions and billions of stars and galaxies, its dark matter and its black holes and so many other wonderful imponderables.

I find that it is the truth of science that inspires me to appreciate the poetry and the mystery of all space and time. For to me, existence itself is a creature of God. To say that God "exists" doesn't quite hit the nail on the head because God, to me transcends existence. The mystery of God is in of the Being of God, as well as in the being of humanity. It is in our Being that we are connected in the deepest places of the human heart where God's heart meets ours.

Science is no threat to our knowledge and appreciation of God and God's creation. Science provides the basis of truth that enhances our appreciation of the magnificent complexity and detail of the universe. We grow to grasp something of what space and time are as their intertwined reality turn about on each other.

Einstein had a marvelous appreciation for the relationship between science and faith. It was he who once said of both; "Religion without Science is blind, but Science without Religion is lame." Science cannot even walk without an appreciation for the wonder and mystery of existence and life.

It is in this context that we gather as the church week by week to proclaim the wonder and the mystery of it all. We come to church, we faithful, not because coming to church is an end in itself. It is being the church that matters. Being the Body of Christ for the sake of the world, this is what matters. You know me well enough by now to know, that our faith is more, much more that a mere gathering of folks who repeat by rote a ritual that we've been observing for century after century, millennium after millennium. We are here, we gather to be the church, to be the Body of Christ. We're here to be changed and to be the agents of change so that we may confront human suffering and injustice with the healing power of Jesus.  Paul, for instance begs of us to become one in spirit and in the bond of love, with these words;

"I therefore, the prisoner in the Lord, beg you to lead a life worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, making every effort to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to the one hope of your calling, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is above all and through all and in all."

In this period of transition, I believe God is calling each of you to consider how you might be part of building up the Body of Christ in this place. What do you bring to this faith community? What gifts can you share? How is God tugging at your heart? And to do what? 

Moreover God is calling us to be someone for each other. We are to be One, "bearing with one another in love". We are called to be Christ for the world and to organize our lives around the needs of the community in which we live.

Jesus noticed that the people were hungry in the Gospel. Wishing to respond to the immediate need, he instructed the disciples to respond to the hunger of the people in the immediate vicinity. 

And then he encouraged us to remember that we hunger for a great deal more than the food that perishes but for the food that nourishes us to eternal life.

That kind of food is passed on from one to another until all human needs are met and not just physical needs but all human need for spiritual, emotional and physical sustenance. As we organize our lives around these wants we satisfy the needs of every living creature. This is how God is with us. This is how God wants us to be with all creation. As the Psalmist says;

The eyes of all wait upon you, O Lord, * 

and you give them their food in due season.

You open wide your hand *

and satisfy the needs of every living creature.

  ~Psalm 145:16-17

Let me tell you this, as you live out your lives as a congregation in this manner, you will become a beacon to the whole community and many will be drawn to you. And yes, one more thing; as you search your hearts and souls for who might be your next priest, so too you will also search your hearts and souls to discern how God is calling you to be involved in building up the Body of Christ as St. John's Church. When your new priest comes, there will be a new burst of energy and excitement. What I pray for then as I pray for now, is that each of you will want to say from the bottom of your hearts, "You can count on me to do whatever needs to be done to strengthen the vitality and vigor of this congregation." This discernment is as important if not more so than the discernment of who your next priest will be.

God will also call you to be a prophetic voice, in the way God called Nathan to speak the truth to David, you will also have something to say to the world about how it treats the poor, the suffering, the vulnerable. You will be called to courage on behalf of those who have no voice. You and I are always called to be the voice of the voiceless.

Once in a Blue Moon, we have this opportunity; a time between priests, a time to search our souls as well as the souls of those we search to become the next rector of St. John's. It is the good old summertime. Take the time my friends to pray.

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

Is There a God?

It is a haunting question for those of us who believe, but it must be asked. Here follows just one reply; 

Is There a God?

Not long ago I had lunch with a dear friend, someone I have known since seminary days. We have always been able to be honest with one another and our friendship runs very deep. Near the end of our time together, my friend became somewhat reflective and began to lament the fact that some of his friends have been dying off. And he also began to tell me of his own thoughts in facing his mortality. He has fought depression for many years and there was a time for some silence between us.

I responded; "You do know that there is a God?"

"Ah well, sometimes I wonder!"

I continued; "You do know that there is a heaven?"

"Ah well," said he, "I do not have the faith you have."

Faith was an early gift for me as most of you will no doubt know. When I lost my dad at an early age, I was forced into a decision as to whether there is a God and whether there is a heaven. I was guided by my grandmother to the kind of "Yes!" that has led to my priesthood and to this very day. God's "Yes!" and my "yes" in reply.

But there are people who suffer. In fact we have some right here at St. John's at this very moment. The suffering may be of a minor sort that requires day surgery, or something more serious like the loss of independence; a serious loss for very independent Yankee sorts, or the loss may be of the final sort that we all ultimately face.

That's why I always come back to those two great question; "Is there a God and is there a Heaven?" And if there is, how can I know its true? 

The first way to know anything about God is through human love. Jesus himself made it clear; "Love God and love one another; that is the sum and total of Law and the Prophets."

As I plum the depths of my soul in all my hopes and all my fears, here is where my heart settles itself; I have come to know God because someone loved me first. In my case it was my grandmother who came to my rescue. She made it clear to me that there is a God, there is a heaven and the way to know it is so is through the love God has sown into our hearts.

And then I learned to pass it on to my wife, my children, my congregations, the neighborhoods where I have served, the poor, the hungry, the homeless and so on, and so on. This is because they all loved me. There is no limit to the love God pours into our hearts and through our hearts to others.

Through my years as a parish priest, I have spent a good many hours in hospitals and nursing homes, on the telephone and in my office, sharing the love that God shares with me. 

I cannot begin to tell you how many times I've entered a hospital room to tears of gratitude and hope. All I have to offer is a smile, a hug, a prayer and a blessing, but somehow this will suffice.

I can also tell you that there are times I entered a hospital room just as a matter of course, and the patient might say; "Oh my God, I didn't think it was that bad!"

Alas it is just what a priest will do, to make his or her rounds at times when the questions arise? 

Suffering?

God?

Heaven?

And the only answer I have is the love of God. And the only pathway I know to the love of God is through human love. And the only way that I can see God is through the love I bear toward my dad, my grandmother, my mom, and hundreds and hundreds more who are gone from us here; I love you all. I miss you all. 

Sometimes, when I say my prayers, take my walks, or lay awake at night in contemplation, I think of those living and gone toward God, as I think of them, love and joy fills my heart. Those who first loved me, I now love because God loves us all. We are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses!

The dividing line between us is broken by such love. The dividing wall between Jews and Gentiles, Slave and Free, Male and Female, the living and the dead. All these dividing walls are broken by the love of God in the person of Jesus Christ, as we see it in Christianity. Only the love of Jesus can break the dividing wall between the races, the rich and the poor, the genders and so on.

My friend with whom I had lunch happens to be gay, as was my uncle as are two of my children. Finally, finally, the dividing wall between those of the LGBTQ community and the rest of us is also broken by this love. My uncle has been waiting for this day, even though he is long gone.

Is there a God?

Is there a Heaven?

Only love can make it so.

And from the Christian witness, only the love of God in the person of Jesus can make it so.

Anyone who has ever brought communion to the sick knows the power of the ancient prayers; 

"Almighty God, to you all hearts are open,"

"Lord have mercy, Christ have mercy, Lord have mercy,"

"Holy, Holy, Holy Lord"

"O Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world,"

"The Body of Christ, the Bread of Heaven"

"The Peace of God which passes all understanding."

Even in the bleakest moment, these words bring hope because they bring love; human love as well as the love of God because Jesus lived, Jesus died and Jesus rose again. 

Is there a God?

Is there a Heaven?

Only as I build a pathway to love, can I possibly see it, taste it, live it and know it. 

The world we live in with all of its suffering and all of its violence, demands the courage of those who will love one another, and not just those who are easy to love...but those who wish us harm as well. 

It is the only way to turn their hearts and ours. As Jesus did, on the cross, dying for the sins of the whole world. There are so many who do not understand the pure simplicity of God's love, God's mercy, and obedience to God's Law requiring us to love one another.

The rise of Fundamentalism in Islam is matched only by the rise of Fundamentalism in Christianity and Judaism and in other religions worldwide. Fundamentalism capitulates to a primitive ethic in the Abrahamic religions; an ethic that declares "an eye for an eye". This approach to retributive justice justifies killing in the Name of God and making the whole world blind to the love of God

Fundamentalism is a renunciation of the pathway to God which Jesus articulated on the cross.

What we read today in the Biblical narrative is that God seeks a home in which to dwell in Zion. Paul seeks to develop a home for God in community; a structure built in the hearts of all those drawn to Jesus. Ultimately in today's Gospel, Jesus sees his own temple built upon the needs of the people who seem to him like sheep without a shepherd, and he has compassion on them and for them. Jesus loves them all. 

Is there a God?

Is there a Heaven?

It all depends of our willingness to love one another. 

As Jesus made so abundantly clear; 

"Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven

Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God

Blessed are the peacemakers for they shall be called the children of God". Amen.

If there is to be a God or if there is to be a heaven, there is much at stake, and it all depends upon our willingness to say "Yes" to God for first said "Yes" to us. 

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

God Bless America?

On the 4th of July I put this question to our congregation;

God Bless America?

If I were to say to you; "God Bless America", what version of America would come to you mind?

Would it be a Republican or Democratic version?

A Conservative or Liberal version?

Would there be a free market or fair distribution of wealth in your version of America?

Would your America be in gridlock or would you be able to engage in open and honest dialogue with those you most vehemently disagree with?

When the holidays came around to our home and all the aunts and uncles gathered back with us, my grandmother, who was the matriarch of our clan, pleaded particularly with my uncle, "This year no talk politics or religion, please!"

"Ma, if we can't talk about politics or religion what else is there to talk about; the weather?" And so it went then. So it goes now.

The country is bogged down in political deadlock in Congress. We seem unable to find a way forward, but what is the more serious is that we seem unable to hold civil discourse with one another.

We tend to demonize one another, alienate one another, and push one another further away into one camp or another.

But we say; "God Bless America!"

We have our pancake suppers, our parades, our cookouts, and for the most part we seem civil to one another; until those irascible moments come where we find ourselves on edge over one issue or another.

The problem is that we often get stuck rather than find a way to talk our way through the problems or issues that divide us.

In is our pledge we state that we are "One nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all". By the way those words; "under God" were not part of the original pledge. They were added in 1954. And, by the way, the author of the pledge was a Socialist Cristian Baptist minister, Francis Ballamy. And the pledge itself was not written until 1892, and wasn't popularly used in the nation's schools until the year of my birth, 1945. It may be useful to remind ourselves of the history of this pledge and the facts surrounding it. 

If I really mean it when I say; "God Bless America", then it follows as night follows day that I believe in "One nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all." That Credo puts me under the authority of those words, and as such I cannot allow myself to merely believe in my version of America, but of America in all its diversity; with all of its versions, and all people who dwell with us here. 

That becomes problematic when we discuss the matter of legal and illegal immigration. Given my own history, I find the debate a bit strained. The English side of the family came here a very long time ago and if you were to consult with the native or first Americans who welcomed them to these shores, I'm sure that they would articulate a chronicle of shabby and violent treatment. 

By the time we got the the Irish or Italian parts of our family, to tell you the truth all you had to do was buy passage on one of the many thousands of ships that came to these shores and get yourself processed at one of the many points of entry on this side of the Atlantic. And we were not always welcome on these shores either.

Given that record of immigration policy it seems a bit disingenuous to suddenly insist on somebody's notion of "legal" immigration when that just didn't seem to be a factor when my countrymen arrived on these shores.

Alas; we still say; "God Bless America."

When Jesus came to his home town, he tried to preach the Gospel there, he tried to heal them, but to tell you the truth, he found them wanting in faith. In fact the Gospel makes it sound as if he could not, was not able, to do any great miraculous deeds there, such was their want of faith. We are told that he was amazed at this. To tell you the truth, so am I. Typically, when I think of Jesus as the Son of God, I think that his miraculous powers were and are unlimited. But in this case, it seems that their want of faith also played a role in what Jesus could do.

Thus when I say; "God Bless America," or when you use that expression, I hope you do so with a somewhat more expansive view as to which version of America you would like God to Bless; your version the version of someone who is diametrically opposed to you politically, or to a version which embraces all of who we are as a nation.

To tell you the truth, I lived in Canada for 11 years and often think of my friends there as I did on Canada Day just a few days ago on July 1. I think too of my British friends on the Queen's birthday. I made some wonderful friends growing up as I did with so many Jewish folks and think of them by name at the high holidays. Now I am making friends of many Arabic folks and take special thought for them during Ramadan. 

In the words of the Psalmist; "Your praise, like your Name, O God, reaches to the world's end; * your right hand is full of justice."

On and on it goes.

Oh yes, may "God Bless America!" 

But when God created the world and all that is in it, when God formed humankind in the image of God, there were no political boundaries yet drawn. There had to be many, many wars fought to define those lines. When we look at this fragile earth, our island home from a satellite, there are no lines with countries drawn in different colors as our maps define them.

We are all one.

Just as we are all one in this country. To be sure we will all have our versions what would make the country better, God knows I have mine, but let's begin with a more expansive version that transcends my particular version and remember our Creed, namely that we are; "One nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all".

In the meantime lets have our pancake breakfasts, our parades, our cookouts, our family gatherings and get togethers with our friends. Let us travel and take our vacations and enjoy God's good earth and the blessings that have been bestowed up on us in this good land...

Never forgetting that it is God's good intention that this very Blessing extend itself to all nations and to all peoples in the world God created for us all to share.

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 

Marriage Equality, Health Care and The Beloved of God

Marriage Equality, Health Care and The Beloved of God

And thanks be to God, that would be YOU! 

As a long time and outspoken advocate of the poor and for marriage equality, I greet the recent decisions of the Supreme Court with joy! Not everyone will. God knows that in the world of “faith” there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth over these decisions. But not from me. 

I have been and will continue to be an activist priest. And it was more than a decade ago that I wrote  “Everything You Need to Know About Sex in Order to Get to Heaven”; an outspoken satire about the church’s skittishness over human sexuality. Naturally I was excoriated by the right wing of my church, but most of the Beloved of God appreciated the work I was trying to do. 

(NB: You can have your own autographed copy by contacting me: paulbresnahan@gmail.com)

Most of the Beloved of God in our tiny corner of the world of faith understood that EVERYONE must come within the saving embrace of Christ. We’ve paid the price; we’ve reaped the benefit; and now I must say, many of us will feel vindicated.

Which brings me to the subject of “The Uneven Sidewalk”

As a  child I was fond of walking with my hands clasped behind my back and my head down. Many wondered why I seemed so sad and what could be done about it. And it is true that there were things in my life that made me sad, but that’s not the reason I carried myself the way I did.

Truth be told, there is a practical reason for the way I walked then and the way I walk now. The sidewalks are uneven. Even when the town of Sandwich finishes this repaving project along Main Street, and please God, they’ll finish it before the 4th, even then, I’ll walk the way I do with my hands clasped behind my back, and my head down. God knows I’m not that steady on my feet or sure footed. A mountain goat I’m not!

But pensive yes, I am a pensive sort. I’ve always loved a long walk through the city streets of my home in Somerville and Cambridge. And then when I was older through the city streets of Toronto and Boston. I have my favorite walks and currently going up to the boardwalk here in Sandwich or walking by the seaside in Lynn; these I find so deeply satisfying. And yes I am a pensive sort. 

There is a deep place in my spirit that turns itself to God when I write, when I pray, and yes, when I walk with my hands clasped behind my back and my head down to keep a careful watch out for uneven sidewalks and streets pock marked with potholes; such is the Pathway to God’s inclusive Love for ALL.

Yes, I am a pensive sort and I like to take whatever time I can to be with God. And it is out of that deep place where my heart turns itself to the Beloved of God; the poor and my family. We grew up poor. My uncle and two of my boys happen to be gay. And I knew many years ago that God loves the poor, and that God loves my uncle and my children. 

So I practice the Presence of God when I pray, when I write and when I walk. I discover that I have acquired the gift of approachability through all this Practice.

The last few days have been difficult for me. Family, friends, colleagues, parishioners, turn to me with some regularity for counsel on the matters of difficulty, of depression, anxiety, and that persistent panicky feeling that I find intrinsic to much of human experience. In the past few days, the intensity and frequency with which folks have turned to me has increased significantly. 

I hear in these voices a lamentation like the one David made for Saul and Jonathan. “O how the mighty have fallen.” It can be the death of a loved one or a mighty warrior like Saul. It can also be that certain nameless fear, that chronic feeling in the pit of your stomach that will not go away. It can be testy relationships between those we care about. On and on and on it goes.

The Psalmist speaks to the matter; “Out of the depths have I called out to you O God” “O God hear my voice!”

That’s the missing piece for so many in our time. When we cry out of our depths, we often act as though we have no one to cry out to. So many live without God. Not everyone has a Jesus to turn to. And many forget that the indwelling of the Holy Spirit can cheer the downcast spirit. And for those of us who do have a God, it is often the case that we simply cannot find a way fit all the pieces together as we make our way to the kingdom of God

In this context today, we have David’s Lamentation for Saul and Jonathan, we have the poetic Lament of the 130th Psalm. And Paul’s plea for the generosity of the church in Corinth to make provision for the church in Jerusalem. We’ve been trying to fit the pieces together for a very long time and when we try to do so on our own we often get lost or mired in the muck of our own making. 

Thankfully in the Gospel we have two folks who understand that there is a profound difference in spirituality between the Lamentation of David and the Psalter and the Hope of the Gospel.

Jarius turns to Jesus.

And so does the woman who had been suffering from hemorrhages for a dozen years or so.

"My little daughter is at the point of death. Come and lay your hands on her, so that she may be made well, and live," says the former
And the latter; "If I but touch his clothes, I will be made well, she reasons to herself.

Jesus, aware that the woman had touched him with her faith, turns to her to say; “Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace, and be healed of your disease.”

The matter of Jarius’ little girl posed a more difficult problematic. The poor child had already died. “Why trouble the teacher any further?”

Not so quick. It is not yet time for lamentation. It is time to demonstrate the power of God over sin and death. It is time to show who Jesus is for us. It is time for us to come to see why it is so central to our faith that he is the One to turn to with our problems, all of our problems. 

The Gospel passage continues with these words; 

"Do not fear, only believe." When they came to the house of the leader of the synagogue, he saw a commotion, people weeping and wailing loudly. When he had entered, he said to them, "Why do you make a commotion and weep? The child is not dead but sleeping." And they laughed at him. Then he put them all outside, and took the child's father and mother and those who were with him, and went in where the child was. He took her by the hand and said to her, "Talitha cum," which means, "Little girl, get up!" And immediately the girl got up and began to walk about (she was twelve years of age). At this they were overcome with amazement."

Then he told them not to go telling every Tom, Dick and Harry what just happened. It is not yet time for him to go up to Jerusalem to fulfill God’s intention for Jesus and humankind. That will come soon enough. For now, just give the girl a little something to eat. God knows she’s been through a lot today and so have you all.

You see, the question is this; “Who do we have to turn to in all our sorrows, our lamentations, our confusion, our hurt, our perplexity, our sadness and melancholy?”

There is God. The one who is at the center of our souls, the Holy One who is closer to us than the very next breath we take.

There is Jesus. The One who gave his life for his Beloved. That would be you and me.

There is the Holy Spirit. The continuing Presence of God our Creator, Savior, and the Holy Wisdom from on High.

We have a whole community of God to turn to.

The essence of this turning is pure simplicity.

That is why I write and pray and take long walks. 

The human community may turn to the Community of God and I rejoice that The Beloved of God is growing in its inclusivity. 

Yes, I am a pensive sort. 

I love my long walks especially at this time of year when so much serendipity surrounds us.

As I walk along, or write or pray I find myself in what Paul Tillich called; The Eternal Now"; the Now that never ends but is always alive in the heart of God and in our hearts as well. Thus we are joined heart to heat in the "Now" of God.

Words keep coming to me like these; 

“Thou leadest me beside the still waters.

Thou restorest my soul.”

And yes.

“Out of the depths of my soul cries out to Thee”

O God hear my prayer”

Poetry comes to mind. My own poetry. Words of my own like these;

The Beloved of God

A moment with You.

A moment with God.

Time to walk

Time to breathe

In-Yah

Out-Weh

The Holy Name

Just the faintest breath of a prayer.

Being alone in the Silence

Being alone in the Presence

Being with You

The God of my Being

Never alone with You.

The uneven sidewalk

The pock marked potholes 

Of the sacred pathway

We tread together.

The salt air

The marshland waters

The birdcall of the morning

The glorious rising of the Sun

The glorious rising of the Lord

And Jarius' desperate prayer for his Beloved

That Jesus would take a thought for him

And his little girl?

“Arise little girl”

The Beloved of God

She and you and me

ALL, The Beloved of God.

The uneven sidewalk 

The pock marked pathway

To God.

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

Fr Paul