A Hovering Silence

"A Hovering Silence"

(A Pentecost sermon at the conclusion of the annual gathering of the Anamchara Fellowship at the Passionist Fathers Retreat and Conference Center in Detroit.)

“Come Holy Ghost our souls inspire. Amen”

I have no way to say this but to tell you the truth. The Holy Spirit came to me when I was but a boy. I cannot even begin to describe the fullness of her beauty, but I was quite taken with her early on. 

You see, it was in the bleak mid winter of my 8th year to heaven when my father died. It was Christmas, 1953. There had been a bitter divorce and hurtful words were spoken. The Christians in the family said that my dad couldn’t go to heaven becuase he didn’t go to church. I thought that was cruel and mean spirited. Thank God my grandmother wasn’t a “christian”...she was an Episcopalian.

She sent me to church hoping that might cheer me up. From the moment I entered that place, I knew I was in God’s House. High above the Altar there were the words: Holy, Holy, Holy. Stained glass windows sent tiny rainbows of refracted light to the corners of oak pews. The choir sang a peculiar music called Anglican Chant. There were words of poetic cadence. And a kindly man stood up and spoke of God’s love from the pulpit. Then we said; “Our Father who art in heaven.” I looked up into the clerestory hoping to see him. But he wasn’t there. No God; no dad. So I cried; “Abba, Father”, like Paul told us to do in today’s Epistle. 

I took it all to my bed in the night season and poured out my heart to the Silence who dwelt with me there. I can tell you precisely where She was. She hovered over my heart, I’d say, about a foot or so above me. I spoke to the Silence. More than once tears drenched my pillow as I tried to explain to her what happened. But then when I listened there was nothing there but an Absolute Silence.

Then one day on the way home from church, I mindlessly plucked a solitary leaf off a straggly city hedge and buried my thumbnail into her girth. I looked at down at her green life blood buried there and realized she died for me. That’s when it happened; it was as if the Word of the Lord came to me. She was precise and articulate when she spoke; “Don’t you know there’s a special place in my heart for your dad?” I stopped dead in my tracks. I listened but there was nothing more. Then I gave her voice to all the world around me; “Don’t you know there’s a special place in my heart for your dad?” Imagine, The still small voice of God spoke to me in the sheer Silence.  

I ran home as fast as I could. I burst through the front door and ran into the kitchen where my grandmother was peppering up something to eat; 

“Ma is there a God?” 

“Of course there is” 

“Ma is there a heaven?”

A touch annoyed and a sideward glance; “Of course there is.”

“Ma, is my daddy there?”

I looked at her with pleading eyes. She hesitated, just a moment. The idea of spending an eternity with that Irishman must have been a ponderous thought for a Maine Yankee. But the question remained; “Is my daddy there?”

And that’s when she knelt down to me and held me close. She folded my head into the nape of her neck and it is as if I can still smell the scent of her hair; and that’s when she said; “Of course he is!”

Can you see how beautiful She is? The Holy Spirit entered her heart and God’s eternal now came to life in me in the beauty of holiness.“Come Holy Ghost, our souls inspire, and lighten with celestial fire. Enable with perpetual light the dullness of our blinded sight.”. 

My heart leapt for joy. And when I went to bed that night, the Silence became a Presence to me now. She had a Name. I called her God. We were told to call her him. But she/he/they have always been someone of glory and beauty to me. For me there was a feminine dimension to the Holy Spirit. 

Then, come to find out, Jesus was conceived by the Holy Spirit of the Virgin Mary. All that confused me when it came to the use of godly pronouns.

Nevertheless, now in the night season I could preach to the Presence hovering there because the Gospel message was clear to me now. There is a special place in God’s heart for my dad and for the rest of my family and for all of you and for everyone all the world around.

Mind you, my family was a mess. There were mental health issues. My grandmother was agoraphobic. My uncle was gay. My mom had been through an abortion and three husbands. Working out the particulars of God’s Salvation Plan for my family took years and many controversies in our church....and we’re still working through it all.

Many’s the night I spent pouring out my heart to the Presence. I call him/her/them God. Jesus. Holy Spirit. They are a whole community of distinct persons to me. But it his Her beauty that first and foremost caught my eye and dwelt within my heart and soul.

So I became a priest and served congregations in Massachusetts, Ohio, West Virginia and South Carolina. Since retirement I’ve served more congregations than I did while I was working. And next Sunday I retire for the eighth time. And the Gospel I preach is still the same; “There is a special place in God’s heart for you.” And on Pentecost, that message was proclaimed to every race and nation in every language and tongue. 

The Gospel proclaims the love of Jesus. Do you have any idea how beautiful you are? I mean really? You are a reflection of the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. I well know how wounded and broken your hearts are, like mine. But the healing power of Jesus has touched us and that’s all it takes. That plus a little kairos time and eternal life living in you and me. You are beautiful, becuase you reflect the image of God.

Today I take it upon myself to invoke the Holy Spirit. In Eastern Christianity they call her Sophia. Now that’s a pretty name; a beautiful name! The Hagia Sophia; the Holy Wisdom. Her dwelling place in Constantinople, now Istanbul, still stands as a sign that She was at the center of Eastern Christianity for a thousand years. Like my grandmother She is a storyteller of Shakespearean and Biblical proportion. She imparts Wisdom to us in the story she tells of God’s saving deeds in history. She imparts Wisdom to us in the stories we tell to one another.

Mind you, as beautiful as she is, The Holy Spirit is not to be trifled with. Remember, Jesus sent The Advocate to be with us forever. So, for instance, when I took up the cudgels for the homeless in West Virginia we built a shelter. There was controversy. The NIMBY syndrome kicked in. Somebody was so mad they called my wife and threatened to kill me. You have to know Cindy to fully appreciate how she said it: “Oh yeah; take a numbah, I want to kill him too sometimes.”

The Holy Spirit gave her those words. The threat was real; it was frightening. But God diffused the threat! For the rest of my life, I’ve taken up the cudgels for all sorts and conditions of folks. Just like you do. 

Paul said that when we are in Christ there is no Jew or Greek, there is no slave or free, there is no male or female. Do I have to spell that out? When Paul says “Jew or Greek” he means all races and ethnicities. When he says; “slave or free”, he means everyone, no matter how rich or poor. And when he says “male or female” he means everyone else for that matter. Do I have to spell that out?  LGBTQ-AEIOU...everyone in God’s magnificent kaleidoscope of human identity. If you get bullied about, I’ll be there to take up the cudgels on your behalf. 

Come Holy Spirit come, She came to us on that first Pentecost with flames of fire above our heads. She gave us power to speak plainly in every language on earth of the mighty acts of God, and of Jesus’ power over sin and death. But when it comes to the language of the heart; there’s a language all the world hungers to hear. We all understand that. We can all speak that language. When I sit down across from you, I can look into your eyes and say; “There’s a special place in God’s heart for you too!”.  

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

Mary's Tears

Mary's Tears

“Marie-Madeleine se tenait debout en pleurant devant la tombe.” Mary Magdalene stood weeping outside the tomb.

“Notre Dame se dresse aujourd'hui comme une tombe à Paris.” Notre Dame stands today like a tomb in Paris. 

“Nos cœurs sont rempli de tristesse à cause du feu à Notre Dame.” Our hearts are filled with sadness because of the fire at Notre Dame.

How fitting that if this tragedy had to happen, it happened in Holy Week. Because she will rise again, perhaps not bigger or more beautiful than she once was, but she will be filled with faithfulness more than ever before. Nothing reminds us of what we have more than when we loose it. Loss and death is a stark reminder of what and who we treasure in our hearts and how much.

Christ has died. So have so many loved ones. We remember them, sometimes wishing we could see them one more time. There is something left unsaid, undone. Perhaps one more hug!

As I watched the news from Paris Monday night transfixed by what I saw; I heard someone say; “Incroyable!” as the spire fell into the vault of the cathedral

“Unbelievable”. 

As we hear the news this morning from Sri Lanka, we stand transfixed; "Unbelievable". The Good Friday fact of human tragedy ultimately gives way to the fact of human love. This is the Resurrection. 

Yes, it is unbelievable not only our loss of Notre Dame, not only of churches belonging to black congregations in Louisiana, but also our very own fire here at Trinity, some years ago. So much was lost. But the buildings rose again.  Moreover so did our faith.

Within days a billion dollars was raised for the rebuilding of Notre Dame de Paris. Thankfully, at the same time, millions have poured in for the rebuilding of the churches in Louisiana. Trinity Church stands today as a sign of our faith in Jesus.

Naturally folks raise questions; If we can raise a billion dollars that quickly, that easily for the rebuilding of a Cathedral, what about the poor for whom Jesus gave his life?

Remember; Blessed are the poor, the mournful, the meek, the righteous, the merciful, the pure in heart, the peacemakers and the persecuted?

If we can rebuild a great Cathedral dedicated to the honor of our Lord’s mother, surely we can raise the funds for those for whom Our Lady sang her song;

 “He has cast down the mighty from their thrones, *

     and has lifted up the lowly. 

He has filled the hungry with good things, *

     and the rich he has sent away empty.”

I grew up in the hood and have served congregations in the inner city. I have served in rural churches where so many live in poverty. What breaks my heart is that, in so many places, the forgotten live without the hope of a future; of work, a place to live, or even enough to eat. What about them?

Across the political spectrum, there is general agreement that America needs an enormous investment in infrastructure projects. If we choose, there are good jobs for everyone to rebuild our bridges, roads, and transportation systems.  After World War II we put all those returning soldiers to work building the Interstate Highway System. What an opportunity we have today!

There is death but there is also resurrection. Paul guides us through them both in today’s Epistle; “Since death came through a human being, the resurrection of the dead has also come through a human being; for as all die in Adam, so all will be made alive in Christ.”

In Adam all die. Yes, divided, enslaved by the sin of hate, recrimination and blame we all die. But in Christ all shall be made alive. Imagine being filled with such love for one another that we put aside our differences and mobilize all our efforts and figure out a way to put all our citizens to work. Imagine filling our young with hope in all inner city neighborhoods like the one we live in, or in rural areas. Unemployment in the coalfields of West Virginia still hovers around 70%. There is too little hope in too many places. 

Life or death? Die to sin? Rise to life? Is there a Resurrection? Part of the answer to that question rests on our willingness to become obedient to God together.

There are those who, in all honesty,  do not believe in the Resurrection. My stepfather used to say; “When you’re dead, your dead.” He said that as an engineer might. He was a practical man; hard, true, honest and full of integrity. On the other hand, he loved my mother. There was nothing practical about that! That was a miracle, given the sharp edges of her personality. I often told him; “HK”, using his initials; “For living with my mother, you’re going to heaven, whether you believe in it or not.”

There are many others who are not so full of true, honest integrity and faithful love for the likes of the vulnerable in our midst. They honestly think that they can get away with whatever chicanery they can dream up. There is a thing called theft, fraud, dishonesty, violence and criminal behavior. There are those who think there is no accountability in this life or in the life to come. If you are rich enough you can probably get away with it in this life. If you are poor, you will likely be incarcerated.

But God will not be mocked! Do you suppose that the secrets of our hearts are not indeed disclosed to God? It must be of considerable comfort to those who have said in their hearts that there is no God. Boy, are they in for a surprise!

My son Michael often looked askance at some of the shabbiness of this world and he’d say to me as we drove by; “Dad, did it ever occur to you that this whole God thing might be a crock!”

“Oh there are times.” I’d tell him in all candor. 

But then I read the Gospel again. Every single day. Every single Sunday with faithful folk like you.  Matthew, Mark, Luke and John; and the person I meet on these pages comes to life again for for all who look to him for hope. Not for this life alone, but for the life to come as well.

The ancient symbol of the Resurrection is the butterfly. The idea of death and life is woven into the fabric of the created order. In winter all seems to die a cold and rock hard death. In Spring all of nature is born again. A common grub finds itself inside a tomb like cocoon. It emerges to the glory of a butterfly. 

Recalling and restoring this ancient symbol, we present to you these butterflies. Your Sunday School has made them for you. We are all in for a wonderful surprise. The common grub has no way of understanding that it will become a glorious butterfly. How can you and I know what we shall become? And what God has in store for us?

Every time I stand at the grave with the bereaved among my family, friends and parishioners, I proclaim the ancient words; Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, and without hesitation, I proclaim the Resurrection of Jesus. 

Christ has died

Christ is risen

Christ will come again.

Now we go to the font and renew our Baptismal Covenant.

I so love it when I sprinkle you with holy water and remind you who you are and whose you are. We cannot help but smile and be filled with joy. Thanks be to God who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ! 

Alleluia! Christ is Risen! 

The Lord is Risen indeed! Alleluia

Please come with me to the font as we renew our Baptismal Covenant. 

Fr Paul

"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)

It's Complicated

It’s Complicated

Today’s Gospel takes us to that complicated place where family dynamics occur. It all begins when the younger son took his inheritance to set out on his new life. Aha! Free at last from the constrains of family obligation and tiresome rules. Now he was in charge. Apparently, he sowed a few wild oats and squandered the inheritance. A famine set in and he began to be in want. Ultimately he came to himself and realized that if he returned home and threw himself on the mercy of his father there might be a chance for him to be treated at least as well as one of the servants.

But the father’s abundant love was more than generous. It was extravagant. It was like God’s love for a sinner who returns to God; it was Eucharistic! Bring the best robe, the fatted calf and a celebration fitting for the joys of heaven.

However, the father’s unconditional love was problematic for the older brother, and with some justification. He spoke right up; you’re throwing a party for this ne’er do well son of yours, and you’ve never so much as done anything like it for me and my friends.  

Many of us have been in that position; the position of a sibling who looks resentfully at our own blood brother or sister. There is something deeply out of synch here. If it isn’t resentment, there’s something else that tears at the fabric of the relationship, to the point that the damage done may be irreparable.

How is the father to convince his older son that such generosity of spirit is the way to forgiveness? Some say this parable is about the extravagant love of the father. God knows fathers and mothers often want nothing more than for everybody in the family to get along. When the father realized that the older brother refused to extend that same generosity of spirit, he  came out and began to plead with him; come in and join the festivities.”

But the older brother was angry. He refused.

“The father said, 'Son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours. But we had to celebrate and rejoice, because this brother of yours was dead and has come to life; he was lost and has been found.’”

Besides, too much anger is not good for us; as the old saying goes; “Anger is the punishment we inflict upon ourselves for someone else’s mistake”.

We are left to wonder; was there reconciliation? Or was the family finally and irrevocably torn apart. Each of us is left to complete the story as we live out our lives in our own family relationships. I’ve seen the story go on in so many ways.

To see the Gospel in its fullness I invite you to see yourself in each of the roles being played out in the parable. A father or a mother who pleads to keep the family together.

Likewise the sinner who comes to his/her senses and asks for forgiveness. The Psalmist says; “Happy are those whose sins are forgiven”. Tragically, there are those who never do come to their senses; making forgiveness problematic.

And there are those, who like the older brother, are faithful and diligent; it is as though they are taken for granted. Whers’s their party? 

The parent, the sinner, or the older brother; which are you? Or have you been all of the above at one time or another? 

It's complicated. When Jesus tells us this parable he confronts us with the predicament we often find ourselves in as we seek to love, forgive and reconcile. 

I’m reading a wonderful book now by Tara Westover called “Educated”. A woman grows up in an abusive family. Her father, mother and brothers leave permanent scars during her formative years. She grew up in a family with undiagnosed and untreated mental illness. She had to battle with all her might to extricate herself from the abuse. For those who work with victims of abuse, we know how difficult that work is. The statistics are not encouraging. It is like tearing part of your soul in half to come to terms with your parents and siblings especially when the abuse is so traumatic, persistent and systemic in formative years. 

And yet, if you can come to terms with your family of origin you can take on the world. Especially with your mother, father and siblings; if you can deal with them, you can free yourself from the slavery of repeating the same sins and offenses with those you become responsible for. Being human, you’ll probably think up new ones!

A Christian psychotherapist once shared this vision of mental health; “Our challenge is to love God first, love your neighbor as yourself beginning with your parents, and at the same time discover how to love yourself like God loves you.” That’s a spiritual challenge that takes a lifetime.

For all too many the challenge is to stand up for yourself without allowing yourself to be dragged back into the old family dynamic of mental illness. Easier said than done! 

In today’s parable the father, the younger son and the older brother faced it. All parents, children and siblings face similar challenges. Forgiveness does not come cheaply. We must work at it. And it is very hard work indeed.

All of which brings us back to the ministry of reconciliation. It is a ministry we are given by virtue of our faith. Jesus spent untold hours in conversation with his disciples. In today’s Epistle, Paul points to this ministry; “in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting the message of reconciliation to us. So we are ambassadors for Christ; we entreat you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.”

It's complicated.

How in heaven’s name are we to be reconciled to one another? 

In our families, with friends, at work, and God help us in political and international relationships?

Jesus points us toward unconditional love, and extravagant forgiveness. If there is to be a heaven it will have to begin with us. Jesus said: “The kingdom of heaven is at hand”. “The kingdom of heaven is within you.” “The kingdom of heaven is among you.” 

Sin is easy. For there to be the kingdom of heaven we will have to work at being open to the miracles of love, forgiveness and reconciliation.

It's complicated. 

Like the children of Israel as they wandered aimlessly forty years in the wilderness,. Moses had to come up with 613 laws to get them to the Promised Land. They kept thinking up dumb things to do. Moses was just about fed up with that crowd. But God fed them with the bread of angels; Manna from heaven. When they arrived at Gilgal; an interesting place with yet another mini-Stonehenge like stone circle, the manna ceased.

When Jesus breaks bread with us at God’s Altar, he invites us to recognize that something is broken in each of us. Perhaps something in your family of origin has probably left a scar. Live long enough and you will have a plenty more scars to show for it. Jesus came to heal those very scars. Jesus healed the lame, the blind, and the deaf. And the scars in our souls he healed when he taught us the way to love and forgiveness. Or when he reached out to the poor, the heartbroken, the persecuted, and the marginalized. This kind of unconditional love, this extravagant forgiveness that he so freely shared with everyone, this ministry of reconciliation that he entrusted to us was to change the world.

Frequently, he took bread, blessed and broke it, likewise after supper he took the cup and did the same. He became the Bread of Heaven for us. At this altar rail, he feeds us with the healing touch of eternal life.

Jesus did not escape unscathed from this world; he wore scars into the Resurrection Life. Jesus also took that which is complicated and made it simple. 

“Love one another”. 

“Forgive one another”.

“Be reconciled to one another”.

With the Bread of Heaven he feeds us at this Altar Rail and rejoices as we live our our lives with earthly love, forgiveness, and reconciliation both to humankind and to God. For the more we practice the one, the more we live into the other. 

God’s love is extravagant; for each and every one there is the finest robe, bring on the fatted calf; let the Eucharistic festivities begin; as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be. Amen.

Fr Paul

Who Are You?

"Who Are You?

If you want to watch this episode of Godspell, click on this link (and scroll down)

The encounter with God comes in ways that may surprise you. For Moses, it was at the burning bush; for me it is in the keeping of my daily journal. For both of us it is a matter of urgent and immediate concern. 

Moses had seen the way the Egyptians treated the Children of Israel. One day when an Egyptian was abusing one of his kinfolk, Moses flew into a rage. He killed the taskmaster and and hid the body in the sand. But word got out somehow, Somebody saw what happened and Moses fled for his life and went into the land of Midian. There he tended the flock of his father-in-law Jethro. Injustice and guilt weighed heavily upon him and he had plenty of time to be alone with his thoughts. 

He came to the mountain of God where an Angel appeared to him out of a burning bush which was not consumed by the fire. And God spoke; “remove the shoes from your feet Moses, because the very ground on which you are standing is holy ground.” 

God launched immediately into the presenting issue; “I have seen the misery of my people and I have come down to deliver my people and I am sending you to Pharaoh. You will tell him to let my people go.”

Moses, of course, shrank away from the task. Who wouldn’t! The dialogue between Moses and God is compelling and honest. “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh?” 

God replies “You will go for me and I will be with you, and this shall be the sign for you…when you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall serve God on this mountain.”

Moses needs more than that. He needs to know what to tell the Israelites when they ask for the Name of God. 

He must have wondered “how am I to face Pharaoh? How am I to persuade the Israelites that I have been talking to the living God?

Moses continues; “Who are you? What shall I tell the people? What is your name?” 

Every other people in the Ancient Near Eastern world had a god with a name. The Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, the Jebusites, and the Egyptians: they all had gods with names.  What about you?

What is your name?

Who are you?

You and I might add; “Are you?”

As with Elijah, so with Moses, I imagine a sheer silence as Moses contemplates this awesome encounter with the Living God. 

Then comes the answer to the question “who are you?”

“I AM WHO I AM.” God said, “Say this to the people of Israel: ‘I AM has sent me to you.’”

This reply resonates in my very soul. “I AM.” The ancient manuscript writes the Hebrew letters JHWH. There are no vowels between the consonants. The word presents a verb in what the Greek language calls the aorist tense; thus the manuscript presents the Holy Name as undefined and with infinite possibility. And remember; the Holy Name is a verb; not a noun. We have nothing equivalent in English grammar. Thus God is not definable and of infinite possibility. That makes sense to me especially if we are talking about God. This is the moment of encounter between Moses and God. Therefore we can render the Holy Name:

“I AM or I AM THAT I AM or I AM WHAT I WILL BE or I AM WHOEVER I WILL BE.” 

It is as if God speaks and says; “YOU WANT TO KNOW WHO I AM? I AM WHO I AM, THAT’S WHO I AM”,

In other words God is and was and always will be whoever God chooses to be; as in the beginning, is now and ever shall be. 

And more besides. My meager attempt to describe God cannot be contained any more than the Holy Name can be contained in the encounter Moses had in the Burning Bush. Nor can it be contained merely in language.

God is infinitely present and real for us no matter who we are or who we become or for that matter, whatever predicament we find ourselves in.

God is there for us; real and present in the specifics of our lives. Whenever presented with injustice and oppression of any sort God is there. When presented with sickness, life or death; God is there too. Gods acts and sends us to act. God is a verb, not a noun!

In Moses’ case, God saw the misery of the people. God brings the people out of slavery into freedom in the Promised Land. God gives the people a Law to live by. And Moses was God’s chosen servant.

Throughout history God does the same time, after, time after time.

God gave us Abraham Lincoln, Martin Luther King and more. God gave India Mahatma Gandhi. God gave the folks in South Africa Nelson Mandela and Desmond Tutu. And on and on it goes.

So when I ask God; who are You? I discover you are the “I am who I am.” The “I am with you”. The “I have always been with you. I will always be with you”. That is God’s Name for ever, and more besides!”

The great Jewish thinker Martin Buber postulated the thought, that the best way to think about God is in the nature of our relationship with God. It is best understood in dialogue. He used the German “Ich-Du”, or “I-Thou”. The English doesn’t quite have a word for it, the “Thou” is not so formal but intended to be intimate. In German the pronoun “du” is used for family and relatives, close friends, young children, and God. In other words, if you seek God, go deeper to that “Honest to God” place within your own heart. There is where the dialogue with God best takes place. The deeper you go into your heart of hearts the more likely you will delve into the heart of God. That is where you will find God’s love for you; your love for God and moreover God’s guiding hand in the specific reality of your life. God will lead you to love others as God loves all. 

And then there’s me. Some years back, I was recovering from a severe manic break; or what we used to call a complete nervous breakdown. In the helping professions, self care is often overlooked. We’re so busy taking care of others, we forget how important it is to take care of ourselves. Both my therapist and spiritual director agreed; it was time for me to keep a daily journal. In it I would pour out my soul. I would record the events of my life and describe them; especially those that seemed to be the most concerning. In short, the presenting issues of my life. Then I would reflect on the feelings these events would generate within me. I came to understand what my spiritual director meant; feelings are angels God sends to invite us into further growth. Unbeknownst to me, I was tracing the face of God on the pages of my journal. I was practicing the Presence of God, as Brother Lawrence described in his little masterpiece in Christian Spirituality. My life became much more manageable. Between the meds and the journal and my prayer life, I was discovering that the Burning Bush for me was is and always will be the fact that God IS WHO GOD IS. God is there in the bleakest mornings. God is there in every joy, every sorrow and every moment of my life. I began to keep a journal faithfully on St Patrick’s Day, 1990. That’s 29 years of Practicing the Presence. Almost three decades of standing in wonder at the Burning Bush in conversation with my heart of hearts. When I go back and read some of my journal entries now, I marvel that i would let myself be bothered my such trivial matters that used to bother me.

Moses at the Burning Bush

Jesus and the Fig Tree

Me and my Journal

It is one and the same; it is the sacred name.

The still small voice of God speaks if we but take the time to listen.

I AM. I HAVE ALWAYS BEEN. I ALWAYS WILL BE.

With you. In you. Above you. Under you. Around you.

As it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be, world without end

Amen.

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

Fr Paul

One God

"Is it not true that we all have but one God?”

~Patrick of Ireland. 

It has all happened before. Time after time, after tiresome time. Hatred has its day. Emmanuel AME Church in Charleston, The Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburg, and now two Mosques in Christchurch, NZ. It has all happened before.

My heart sinks to sorrow. I am at a loss: what to say? So I reach back into our faith tradition to see if I can find the words. There was a time when St. Patrick’s heart sank, more than a thousand years ago. Slave traders killed those who came to worship in Ireland. Patrick’s Lamentation sounds much like our own today;

“What can I say of those who are dead; these children of God whom the sword has struck down so harshly? It Is written, "Weep with those that weep,” and again "If one member grieves, then all members should grieve together." Because of this, we all cry out for our sons and daughters who have been so senselessly murdered…My voice is raised in sorrow and mourning. Oh, my most beautiful, my lovely brothers and sisters. I have lost count of your number, what can I do to help you now? I am not worthy to come to the help of God or humankind. "We have been overwhelmed by the wickedness of unjust men," 

~St. Patrick, Letter to Coroticus. 

St Patrick’s Day is often observed with parades and merriment and yet with scant regard for what Patrick faced or how he confronted the evils of his time. Patrick was born in Britain, truth be told, and Irish marauders captured him and sold him into slavery. He was but a boy, 16 years of age. Eventually Patrick escaped and, called by God, he returned to Ireland to face the slave trade: Coroticus and his soldiers. They murdered the newly baptized Christians: Patrick writes; “They were dressed all in white, anointed with chrism, even as it was still gleaming upon their foreheads, they were cruelly cut down and killed by the swords of these sons of the devil.” 

Throughout history, Christians, Muslims, and Jews have faced into the jaws of violence time and again. Intemperate statements of blame, fear and anger are often hurled back and forth to each other, and we play into the hands of those who wish nothing more than to incite us to war and more hatred and more violence.

Some say Sharia Law is unconstitutional. Others say that Jews are the diabolical nerve center, who use their infinite wealth and power to reduce and weaken the white man. And others still say that Muslims, Jews and Blacks seek to replace the White man. Islamophobia, Anti-Semitism, and Racism is an unholy trinity of evil and has a strong hold on many. In the extreme these fears erupt into violence. An editorial in yesterday’s New York Times helps spell it out. There is a thing called White Supremacy and we’d best wake up to the danger it poses.

The Law in our common Abrahamic faith traditions seeks to describe our duty to both God and neighbor. The Law calls upon us to reverence one another. And foundational to all Sacred Law is God’s Command: “Thou shalt not kill!”

I have worshipped in in all sorts of Churches, Mosques and Synagogues. In all my experiences of worship, I have been struck by the sense of the holy. A deep satisfaction fills the soul when your heart is filled with prayer. It may be said, spoken, chanted or sung in the ancient and/or modern idiom of faith. It is deeply moving to share the Holy with one another. 

The hospitality and love of Muslim, Jewish and Christian friends at the High Holy Days breaks barriers and help us become one as God wants us to become one. After a good meal rich with the flavors of our diverse ethnicities and races, our bodies and spirits are filled with affection for one another. We are filled with God.  We share our amazement at how alike we are in our love and reverence for God, whatever tradition we proclaim. As Patrick pleaded so long ago; "Is it not true that we all have but one God?”

How then do we respond to the hatred and the violence?

Jesus faced it in today’s Gospel. “Some Pharisees told him; Herod wants to kill you.” 

Jesus reply? "Go and tell that fox for me, 'Listen, I am casting out demons and performing cures today and tomorrow, and on the third day I finish my work.’” 

Then in words that echo directly into our present moments; Jesus speaks to the hopes and fears of all Christians, Muslims and Jews; “Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often have I desired to gather your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing!”

Here is an image of Jesus transcending male and female notions of God, Jesus becomes a hen gathering her chicks together as a mother gathers her children under her wings. Alas, the tragedy of history strikes violently against the Law of God’s Love; “We would not!”

When Patrick faced the immediacy of violence, he had no weapons but the language of God. He was at a loss as we are in the wake of the horror of hate.  In the raw aftermath of “The Christchurch Massacre” what can anyone say?  

But Patrick wrote this; “I am at a loss to know whether to weep more for those they killed or those that are captured: or indeed for Corotocus and his soldiers whom the devil has taken fast for his slaves. In truth, they will bind themselves alongside the evil one in the pains of the everlasting pit: for ‘he who sins is a slave already’ and is to be called ‘son of the devil.’” ~John. 8:34, 44

The Devil, the Evil one, Satan; call it what you will, it is hatred pure and simple. Taken to the extreme, it seeks to kill. Hatred is a violation of all God’s Law; be it Sharia, the Law of Moses or the Law of Jesus. 

In Seminary, we used to say that the only Doctrine we can prove is Sin. All other Doctrine we must take on Faith. 

But I can prove Sin. Read all about it in the papers! Watch it 24/7 on TV, any network. The heinous crimes of hate in Houses of Worship, Schools, Movie Theaters, Concert venues or on the mean streets of any American City. Or, the Wickedness of Human Trafficking in Florida massage parlors and elsewhere, or just the pervasive greed that pays the way of the rich and famous into Ivy League schools. And all that is just one week! Call it for what it is: Sin!

Its not enough to pray anymore. We must act. Common Sense teaches us that we must change our ways. The Second Amendment, for instance, calls for a “Well regulated militia”…there is nothing “well regulated” about the white supremacist militias being formed all across this and other lands. Common Sense will tell you that. Its not enough to pray anymore.  I suspect action will be swift in New Zealand. Prime minister, Jacinda Ardern, said on Saturday; “Our gun laws will change, now is the time,”

But there is something else Sacred History teaches us in our shared Legal tradition. There is the Law of Humankind. There is also the Law of God. We are accountable to one another in this life but we are also accountable to God both in this life and in the life to come.

The modern secular world may take some comfort in thinking that there is no God, that there is no Heaven or Hell and that there is no Godly Judgment. We may as well come right out and say it; how we live our lives makes a difference and not just by human standards. We also live by God’s standards. God holds us all accountable. All God seeks of us is that we turn to God and live. Love God and Love one another.

As for those who choose death and murder; I hate to think of what is to become of them. But Patrick didn’t mince words when it came to holding the slave traders and murderers to account;

I quote; “And so, now you, Coroticus and your gangsters, rebels all against God, now where do you see yourselves? You gave away girls like prizes… All for some petty temporal gain that will pass in the very next instant. "Like a cloud passes, or smoke blown in the wind," so will "sinners, who cheat, slip away from the face of the God. But the just will feast for sure" in the eternal habitations. Make your choices. Repent now before it is too late. 

Armed with just this language of God, the soldiers of Coroticus, laid down their weapons, the slave trade ended for a time in Ireland. Patrick drove those “snakes” out of the Emerald Isle.

O Jerusalem, Jerusalem the City that binds us together as one; Jews, Christians, Muslims. Obey God. Submit to God. Love one another.

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