Unbind Him: Remove The Scripts that Paralyze Us

Sermon preached on All Saints Sunday at St. Francis Church, Fair Oaks, CA, November 4, 2012

Spirit of the Living God Fall Fresh On Me!  Congregation Repeats!

Jesus said, “Unbind him”!  These two words sum up my ministry with congregations these last five years and probably my ministry for the next 10-15 years.  I am passionate about leading congregations like St. Francis and the people in them, in ways that unbind you, so that you may cherish and embrace the abundance that God has prepared for you.

My first Sunday at St. Francis Church was September 2.  Today is November 4.  I have been with you for two months.  It has been an amazing time for me to come to know you.  I know two thirds of you by name.  I would know more of you by name if the parish directory had more pictures and if more parishioners wore their name badges.  Hint! Hint!! The parish directory and badges have made a huge difference for me.  I have made parish visits to a quarter of the parish.  I have had significant conversations over breakfast and over lunch with parishioners.  I have witnessed your joys, blessings, struggles, questions, anger and even, yes -- your resistances.  I am excited about the abundance I have witnessed that you channel through who you are and as much the abundance you may not recognize or yet name, but that I see. 

Usually in my sermons I tell stories.  Today I want to share with you three metaphors.  Metaphors are like Christmas ornaments that when we look at them they provoke in us and amplify for us powerful messages that otherwise would take many words to describe.  The three ornaments I will share with you today are – scripts, monkeys and saints.  I will weave together scripts, monkeys and saints to conclude with an invitation to each of you and the entire congregation.

We all have scripts, you know the tapes inside of our heads that inform us as to what we ought to do or not do.  Some scripts keep us safe and whole.  Other scripts impede us from the full experience of God’s love.  Some scripts impede us from deeper connections with each other.  Some scripts hold us back from greater intimacy with one another.  To give up some of our scripts takes risk.  Sometimes we have the privilege and courage to let go of our scripts.  At other times in our life our friends and loved one may need to take away our scripts so that we may experience true love, health and God’s grace. 

A sermon is one example of a script.  I thought I was being really clever when I wrote my sermon a week before I went to Vancouver.  When I was away the Spirit told me in my prayer that I needed to preach a different Sunday sermon.  I got home to Reno Friday night at midnight and drove to Sacramento at Noon Saturday.  I had no time to type up another script.  I am tearing up my sermon in front of you as a sign of the way we may need to dramatically let go of our own scripts. 

Last week as we were all dispersing Laura said to me thank you for making eye contact with me as you preached.  Growing up with a tremor in my hands I have learned to depend on scripts to manage and even conceal my tremor.  Yet these very same scripts sometimes have impeded me from making necessary eye contact though I do try when I preach from a script.  It is just not the same when you walk up and down the aisle and stop to pause and compassionately look at members. 

How have some of your scripts held you back from the full experience of God’s grace and abundance?

What scripts might you give up?

This past week a clergy friend told me a wonderful story.  This clergywoman was one of the youngest to be ordained in her diocese.  She confided in me that shortly into her parish ministry she ran out of her life experience stories.  She began to collect stories to tell in her sermons and this is one such story.  She told me about an experiment with monkeys.  The context is a cage of monkeys, a ladder and at the top of the ladders five lovely bananas.  Several times a day five monkeys ran up the ladder but before they could get there the other monkeys sprayed them down off the ladder.  Monkeys kept trying and monkeys sprayed them down.  The experimenters decided to take away the water sprayer monkeys.  It was too late the monkeys stopped trying to go up the ladder.  All the monkeys were deprived of the rich fruit of the bananas.   

Congregations are not monkeys, but we often do spray one another as our scripts impede all of us from receiving the abundance available but not accessible.  You may have had experience as a water sprayer or falling off the ladder.  Priests are not an exception to this experience.  We like you spray and fall off ladders.  You are fortunate as you now have a Priest-in-Charge who knows the way to stay on the ladder and lead a congregation to its abundance.  I will not fall off the ladder when I am sprayed no matter how often or with how much pressure.  That is not a threat but just a fact of who I am and who I have become as a centered leader.  I have done my work in order to stay centered on the ladder.  I have had seven years of therapy, two years of conjoint therapy and 35 years of spiritual direction.

On my first date with Stefani we agreed to do conjoint therapy.  We wanted to co-create a new script not the one we received from our families.  Our families blessed us in many ways, but like most families there were some scripts that needed work.  In my family when my parents were angry at each other they stopped talking to one another for days at a time.  We learned from our therapist the way to maintain our bond even when we are frustrated or angry with one another.  The key is to assure each other of our love.  The alternative is not to say anything that is divisive and in time we would create a false relationship that is not too deep. 

Congregations are the same.  It may often feel like we don’t want to say something that may disturb another or the dominant script, the way we have always done it.  We don’t want to be divisive so we stay silent.  Sometimes in letting go of unhealthy scripts, others may experience us as divisive.  There is a cost to this kind of silence.  Parishes die where the scripts have crippled congregations into a stifling silence of action moving towards the grace of abundance.

As you and I call each other into the full experience of abundance we journey with one another.  I will lead you up the ladder to find the abundance you seek.  At times during our shared journey you will feel uncomfortable, scared and maybe even angry, but undeterred I will still lead you to the abundance.

Today is All Saints Day.  What does all this have to do with All Saints Day?

Growing up as a Roman Catholic I learned that one becomes a saint when they have had at least and preferably two confirmed miracles.  Miracles just get saint candidates into the pool to be considered.  There are no guarantees as the Vatican committee on canonization continues to vet these people.  Roman Catholic theology of saints is about perfection, theirs and ours.  In our Anglican tradition saints are referred to as holy women and men.  We do not expect miracles but we seek people who have lived exemplary lives.  In spite of our very different theology of saints our book of Holy Women and Holy Men still have a lot of priests, monks and bishops.  It took me time to find three ordinary men and women like you and me. 

A decade ago Archbishop Tutu visited a friend’s parish.  He was to give a series of workshops but he became violently ill.  The spouse of clergy leading the workshop series was a doctor.  The Archbishop was brought to the doctor’s office to be seen.  Of course the doctor had a full schedule.  The Archbishop did not demand immediate care, but sat patiently.  The Archbishop left an impression on my friends.  I recall the way he was described to me as a saint.  I sensed he was so much a saint that we were somehow off the hook.  We are not off the hook.   The Archbishop is truly an ordinary man who lives in an exemplary way for us to emulate in our own lives.

I want to tell you about three other ordinary men and women – Jonathan Daniels, Florence Nightengale and Frances Perkins.  Jonathan was a seminarian. Florence was a nurse. Francis was a lawyer and public servant.  St. Francis Church has had a seminarian.  God willing Janine will soon be a priest.  This parish is filled with nurses.  St. Francis has many retired executives and the parish has had a deep political history with Fair Oaks Village and the city of Sacramento. 

Jonathan went to the seminary I went to in Cambridge, MA, the Episcopal Divinity School.  He was a student during the civil rights protests in the sixties.  One day in his prayer he felt called to Selma and he went with several other companions.  He crossed a picket line and was arrested.  Jonathan crossed the picket line because he was against the script that held that white people have privileges that persons of color do not.  He and his companions were arrested.  They were released in hours, though his biographers have said that he and his companions would have been safer in jail.  In less than a few hours of their release they encountered an angry person with a gun.  The gun was pointed at one of Jonathan companions.  Jonathan stepped into the line of fire saving his companion’s life.  Jonathan was part of our nation’s achievement of civil rights for all men and women

Florence Nightenghale was a nurse who felt called to help people who were dying due to poor hygiene.  Florence led the way to modern day nursing.  Through her leadership and formation of nurses deaths dramatically declined. She left her mark on nursing.  Florence changed the script about women in nursing and women as leaders in the health profession.

Francis Perkins was the first member of a presidential cabinet.  You recall the stir that women priests had for The Episcopal Church and for this parish.  Francis caused a stir in the halls of power.  She became passionate about legal reforms and started an institute that she eventually gave to the church as a gift before she died as her lasting legacy.

[As I told the story of Jonathan, Florence and Francis I kept moving towards the back of the church. People did not immediately turn towards the back, but eventually they did.]

Today is the first Sunday of November.  Next month the first Sunday will be the first Sunday of Advent.  The scripture for the first Sunday of Advent is always about our need to turn from our old ways and our scripts to prepare the way of the Lord, the way of abundance.

Jonathan, Florence and Francis pushed against the dominant scripts of their time.  It cost Jonathan his life.  We are not certain of the costs for Florence and Francis but we can imagine the cost based on our experiences of those who break ceilings in business and the church today.

What scripts might you be called to change and be willing to bear the costs?

What scripts does this congregation need to change in order to embrace its abundance and new life?

We cannot attract enough new members to St. Francis Church unless we first focus our efforts on our scripts that keep this congregation from realizing its full abundance.  The abundance is right here.

We must do our work together.  It is demanding work.  It is work that will make you uncomfortable and sometimes feel like everything is falling apart.  Yet I will be there with you and lead you.  The abundance is here.

[Move back towards the front of the church to close.]

Scripts, monkeys and saints – I invite you to journey with me as we try to stay on the ladder to reach the abundance that God has uniquely prepared for this congregation.

There is much more to say, but for now I will stop.

God bless you! 

The Unexamined Boundary Between The Beggar and US

Sermon preached on Sunday, October 28, 2012 at St. Francis Church, Fair Oaks, CA

Spirit of the Living God fall Fresh On Me!  Congregation Repeats!

Gospel Text: Mark 10: 46-52

I am really pleased that our two congregations have come together this morning for one liturgy.  You are very different congregations too.  I have enjoyed coming to know your different liturgical practices and the gifts you each bring to worship.  Both services are splendidly different.  Occasionally I suggest that you might venture from one service to the other to experience some of these differences for yourself.  To know St. Francis Church as a whole you have to experience both.  I am blessed to have done so.

One of the lovely aspects of the 11am service is the way together as a community of faithful we talk about what we hear in the readings of the day.  A few weeks ago one of our members talked about the way Jesus sometimes asks his disciples to do impossible things.  The reading of that day was to sell all your things, give your money to the poor and follow Jesus.  This member had the insight that Jesus knew that what he was asking was impossible.  It was this member said a way of teaching us that we must place our complete trust in God and in nothing else. 

I recalled this rich insight when I read today’s Gospel as I started to prepare my sermon.  The Gospel story is different today.  Today instead of Jesus asking the impossible of us, the blind man asks the impossible of Jesus. 

Asking even begging for the impossible is a sign of faith.  Every day beggars around the world ask for food, drink and shelter.  Most of the time beggars hear the word “no” from us or we just pass them by as we completely ignore them.  Beggars know the way it feels to ask for the impossible from others.  Beggars who have gone without food for several days have a passionate desire even lament sounding desire to be fed.  Some beggars are so desperate they resort to stealing food.  There is no way we are able to intellectualize such a longing for food, water and shelter. 

Bernie Glassman is an American Buddhist who wrote The Zen Peacemaker’s Diary.  Glassman leads urban retreats in NYC and San Francisco to offer people a firsthand experience of what it feels like to live on the streets. I have not done these retreats.  In Reno for an entire year I served as a part-time Street Priest working with the homeless.  I met men and women who had never before been homeless.  These women and men had lost their jobs and had failed to save enough money to carry them through long periods of unemployment. 

The people I met had no safety nets like family in the area.  The people I met had deep shame and often hid their faces from me.  As weeks passed you could see the way those new to homelessness would change after a few months of living on the streets of Reno.  These people became desperate and learned to be street-wise beggars.  They learned to find ways to meet their needs.  They learned to ask for the impossible with the hope that at least one in a hundred people would give them something to eat or to drink. 

When I was a chaplain last year in Philadelphia at a Level 1 trauma center, on a daily basis I witnessed people who experienced such pain that they literally cried out to be healed.  Some cries will never leave me as they were so wrenching by those who suffered in body and mind.  The desires were clear ones from those who yelled out in psych units and those who were just coming into the ER after a horrific unexpected trauma. 

Beggars and victims of severe trauma know their needs and they yell their needs out to God as the beggar did so in today’s Gospel, “Jesus, Son of God, have mercy on me.”  The beggars and victims of trauma I met were completely in touch with their needs for healing.  They knew where they hurt and why.  They trusted in the healing power of Jesus. 

During my years of Jesuit formation I heard my spiritual director ask me, “Joseph, what is it you desire?”  “What is it you desire from Jesus or Mary or God?”  I have to tell you I came to hate that question.  I met weekly with my spiritual director and weekly he would ask me, “Joseph, what do you desire?”  Honestly, I had no idea what I desired! I thought a nice piece of filet mignon, but that was not what my spiritual director was after! I was always relieved when our conversation moved away from this initial question.  I had no idea even the meaning of the question. 

In time I came face to face with my own lack of faith.  I had no answer to my spiritual director’s question about desire because I doubted that Jesus or God could do anything for me to make any substantial change in my life.  Why ask when you know you will get nothing back?  How different I was from the beggar in today’s Gospel.  Do you know what you desire from God?  Do you cry out to God in your prayer to be healed with the urgency and depth of trust as beggars and trauma victims?

By living an examined life we are able to develop the beggar’s trust in God. To live the examined life means that we come to know ourselves, as we are, particularly where we are most vulnerable.  We come to know and accept that we are powerless without the Eucharist the Word and the healing power of Christ. 

Living the examined life is hard work! As a priest and as a spiritual director, people in AA and Al Anon have reported to me that they have had a much greater experience of living the examined life at their 12 step meetings than they have ever found in their local church communities.  Many people who have been to 12 Step meetings never go back to church because they have crossed an important line. The line they have crossed is to choose to live rather than to actively choose death.

The twelve steps are one means to live an examined life.  The first step leads to the other eleven.  We admit that we are powerless.  The beggar today in his crying out admitted that he was powerless. As the beggar reached out to Jesus he practiced the second step to trust in a higher power than himself.  The beggar made a choice to turn over his life to Jesus following the third step.   For those of you who have done Cursillo you know what I am talking about too.

I think the other steps are worth our hearing.

Make a fearless moral inventory of ourselves.

Admit to God, to ourselves and another human being the exact nature of our wrongs.

Desire God to remove all those defects of our character.

Ask God to remove our shortcomings.

Make a list of all persons we have harmed and make amends to each.

Make direct amends, unless doing so causes greater harm.

Continue to take a daily inventory and when we are wrong promptly admit it.

Improve through prayer our conscious contact with God.

Having had a spiritual awakening through these steps, we practice these principles in all of our affairs.

There is much for us to learn from the beggar in today’s Gospel.

There is also much for St. Francis Church to learn about the way to live an examined life as a congregation from the 12 steps. 

People in recovery often stop going to church.  Churches live an uneasy relationship with AA groups.  Congregations often don’t understand why AA members don’t come back for church.  One common reason I have heard is that after one has experienced the depth of relationship, trust and deep sharing in AA churches, churches feel comparatively shallow.

You and I share in the ministry of fellowship that retains newcomers as members, like this woman I spoke to last week. Through Christian fellowship we don’t just hang out together.  To have a vital fellowship ministry we frequently meet to share our redemptive stories with each other. As a priest I have the privilege to hear redemptive stories all the time. 

It is not enough to tell your priest.  You need to tell your redemptive stories to each other.  Why? People yearn to hear and be fed by our redemptive stories.  If we the people of St. Francis Church aspire to be like the beggar in today’s Gospel we need to share our redemptive stories of when God healed us. We also need to pray for those who cry, “Jesus help me” and seek to be redeemed.  We all need to constantly admit our powerlessness before God and like the beggar place our trust fully in the healing ministry of Jesus Christ. 

God Bless you!

The People of St. Francis Church Believe In The Resurrection: We Will Persevere!

Sermon preached on Sunday, October 21, 2012 at St. Francis Church, Fair Oaks, CA

  

Gospel text: Mark 10: 34-45

Spirit of the Living God Fall Fresh On Me!  Congregation Repeats!

“Teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we ask of you.”

I love the simple honesty of James and John!  I know that I like what I want too.  In that way we are all like James and John.  We probably don’t quite reveal our intentions with such clarity as James and John. When we pray with our lists of requests and favors of God, don’t we sort of say, “teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we ask of you”.  On the other hand, how often do we pray, “Give me only your love and your grace, that is all I need”?

It is apparent that James and John did not understand what they were asking for. They wanted to be equal to Jesus in position and power AND share his glory.  Bold, bold men do not know what they are asking!  Actually they don’t know what they are asking for!

Without saying so, Jesus prepares his apostles and disciples for his passion and death.  Jesus knows that James and John know not what they are asking of him. 

A Joe Confession! I dislike movies that move back and forth in time without giving me the viewer any preparation.  Life is complex enough with its own multiple plots. Typically when Stefani and I are watching a complex movie, about 20 minutes into the movie, I hear Stefani saying to me, “Joe, did you catch that?”  Catch what?  Oh, OK, no I did not get that. By the time I get it, I have lost the last ten minutes and now I am doubly lost! 

I find that many of the Gospel stories are like complex movies because we have to constantly remind ourselves that what the disciples don’t get, they have not yet experienced.  Jesus knows what is coming because the Father has told him and he is trying to prepare the naïve disciples for what is to come. We read the Gospel stories knowing the sequence of the biblical story. As you see there are three story lines here – James and John, Jesus and us.  Although we know the story we share the disciples’ naiveté, but for different reasons adding to the interpretative complexity. 

We are more accountable than James and John for we should know better. To be servants in Jesus’ name means we follow Jesus in his hidden life, public ministry, passion, death and resurrection.  Jesus’ hidden life story is told through the nativity and his travels with the Holy Family. Jesus’ public ministry begins with the teaching in the temple and then includes all of his parables and healings. These are the stories that James and John have had access to at this point in today’s Gospel.  We on the other hand know the rest of the story.  Jesus’ passion and death begins with the Passover meal and concludes with Jesus’ crucifixion and being laid in the tomb. We are not certain when or under what circumstances Jesus resurrected, but the story told is that the women did not find him in the tomb and later he is revealed to his disciples in a variety of contexts.

Jesus tells us that, “whoever wishes to be great in the kingdom of God must be servant and whoever wishes to be first among you must be servant of all.”  Given what we know and the disciples did not know yet, the call we receive today is even more demanding than the call to the disciples.  I don’t think there are many of us asking Jesus to sit at his right hand.  We do say in our own ways, “Teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we ask of you.” 

What are Jesus’ expectations for us as his companions?

It is timely for us to reflect on this question as we prepare for our first healing celebration as a congregation.  Last Sunday I preached that the glory of God is the human person fully alive. When we seek healing there is usually a part of us that is wounded, hurt, not quite right, out of synch or you put your words in there to express your own feelings or sense of your inner being.  

Jesus’ expectations for us are well outlined for us in the baptismal covenant.  Please take your prayer book and turn to page 304.

The faith basis of our companionship with Christ is outlined in the Apostle’s Creed.  The Apostle’s Creed is followed by a few important questions.

Will we continue in the apostle’s teaching and fellowship, in the breaking of the bread, and in the prayers?  Before you respond, I want to underscore and amplify “the apostle’s teaching”. 

We believe in the holy catholic church.  By this we mean that we believe that we are a part of a larger Body of Christ than any one church.  The Nicene Creed instructs us that we are members of the one, holy, catholic and apostolic church. Even more so through the communion of saints we are members of the Body of Christ. Later in the prayers of Baptism, the universal church is referred to as “the household of God”. 

We believe in the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting. These faith statements are important for all Christians.  These faith statements have different meanings for us at different times in our life.  At this point in St. Francis Church’s history as a congregation these faith statements must be a part of our conscious and intentional prayer. 

You might consider saying in your daily prayer every day, I believe in the resurrection of the body.  No matter the future of St. Francis Church as one of The Episcopal Churches of this diocese, the body that is the people will be resurrected.  There is no question that this Body of Christ will be resurrected.  We do not yet know in what form resurrection will take. 

Remember the creed is not talking about those churches that stay open or those that close. The creed leads us to something much deeper.  In this deeper experience we share with Mary, the women at the tomb and the disciples at Emmaus the firm belief in the power of our immortality with Christ through resurrection. These faith statements are not lofty theological ideas or pious spiritual thoughts.  These faith statements have fleshy results in our being fully alive as persons and as a body of people as St. Francis Church.    

Now say with me – I believe in the resurrection of the body!

Will you continue in the apostle’s teaching, and fellowship, in the breaking of the bread, and in the prayers?

Will you persevere in resisting evil and whenever, you fall into sin, repent and return to the Lord? 

Even beyond resisting evil, let us as a congregation say, “we will persevere”.

Will you proclaim by word and example the Good News of God in Christ?  I will with God’s help.

Will you seek and serve Christ in all persons, loving your neighbor as yourself?  I will with God’s help.

Will you strive for justice and peace among all people, and respect the dignity of every person?  I will with God’s help.

Did you sense in yourself any resistance as you responded to each of these questions?  It is normal to experience some or even a lot of resistance.  James and John were displeased with Jesus’ expectations of them.  While we know the story that James and John did not, we sometimes share in their lack of readiness with our own resistance to follow Jesus on Jesus’ terms.   If you felt this way, you could come forward today for prayers of healing to open you up to new life. 

There are lots of reasons why you might come forward today.  As I said last week all you need to do is name your desire for healing or just come forward in silence.  I will listen for your need and or your desire for healing.  Then I will invite you to smell the oil.  The oil has a beautiful scent that is a part of the healing you will experience.  I tell those parishioners I visit in their homes that after I leave them I want them to remember the scent of the oil as the scent of the healing Christ who persists in their midst.  Then I will anoint your forehead with the sign of the cross.  If you ask I will anoint your hands as I anointed Louise Biddle’s hands a few days before she died.   

In coming forward you would seek to renew yourself not only as we have already done by word through the renewal of our baptismal promises but also with the seal of the Holy Spirit through consecrated oil.

As I bless you I will pray with you that the Holy Spirit uphold you in the service of Christ.  I will pray that through this healing ministry that you experience less resistance to persevere in your faith and that with all your mind, body, heart and soul together we may continue to believe in the power of the resurrection of this body and of the sanctifying power of the Holy Eucharist that transforms our lives.     

God bless you!

The Glory of God is The Human Person (and St. Francis Church) Fully Alive

Sermon preached on Sunday, October 14, 2012 at St. Francis Church, Fair Oaks, CA

Gospel text: Mark 10: 17-31

Spirit of the living God Fall Fresh on Me!  Congregation repeats!

Sell what you own and give it all to the poor.  This text is truly an impossible Gospel message for most of us to live by.  So what do we make of this Gospel?  How do we find meaning in this text so that we might grow and deepen our relationship with Christ and give glory to God through all that we are and have?

For starters I doubt that if the rich young man sells everything that he will be happy or even solely on this one action gain eternal life.  As a Roman Catholic religious I sold all that I had twice in my life.  I am not aware of any personal spiritual gain from this exercise.  Given my own experience of poverty my sense is that poverty is far overrated as a virtue. 

Growing up our family was working class poor. My dad had three jobs to keep us all fed, clothed and educated.  My parents worked hard so that we could enjoy the rewards that they did not know.  As my parents made these efforts they also constantly taught us that to the one much is given much will be expected.

A few weeks ago I shared with you about my time as a Jesuit in the Dominican Republic.  I learned in the Dominican Republic the way to rely on the providence of God rather than solely on my will power.

It is my sense that my parents’ influence and my Jesuit experience in the Dominican Republic has substantially influenced the way I read the text of the rich young man.

It is too easy to read this Gospel as a condemnation of wealth. I come to this text in a very different way that may benefit you as well.  Let’s first review the details from our scripture text.  What do we know?

The rich young man is in a hurry as he “ran up” to Jesus.

The rich young man attempts to flatter Jesus and peppered him with questions.

The rich young man has kept all the commandments, but still seems unhappy and wants Jesus to tell him how to flourish.

Jesus says, “sell what you own, and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven, then come, follow me.”

The question I hear deeply embodied in this text is in what do we treasure?

We cannot read any scriptural texts literally without missing the full impact of God’s message.  If we read, “sell all that you have” without attention to “you will have treasure in heaven” then we risk overly simplifying the Good News.     

Another way to think about what we treasure is to think about that which owns us?

Sell all you own or sell that which owns you are completely different messages.

The rich young man has done everything and his heart is still not at peace. We see that the rich young man runs up to Jesus.  He has a sense of urgency.  There has been a constant theme in my preaching, in my liturgical leadership and in my evolving leadership of this parish.  I have invited you to slow down. 

Several weeks ago I invited you to do less, so you could hear the faint whisper of the Spirit. With greater attention to the solemnity of the Eucharist through more silence you will also see my desire to slow us down as a congregation.  Today we will not rush from the reception of Holy Communion to the post-communion prayer.  Today we will hear Dr. Tog play the clarinet as he leads us in singing Amazing Grace. 

Jesus’ answer to rich young man might have been to slow him down.  In slowing down the rich young man might realize the great potential he has to serve the poor through his possessions without selling everything.   The problem is not that the young man is rich.  The problem is that the young man is not at peace with God.  He lacks purpose with and through his possessions.  His lack of purpose is due to his misplaced treasure.

We all at one point in our lives share the rich young man’s distorted treasure.

So how do we avoid the rich young man’s dilemma?

We do so by discerning the difference between all that we own and that which owns us.

Before we begin this individual and communal discernment I want to equip you with some foundational principles to enhance our discernment.

First, God wants all of us to flourish.  I love the words of Ireneaus of Lyon, “The glory of God is the human person fully alive.”  Upon a quick reading of this text and the common interpretation is that the rich young man will not be following Jesus until he sells everything.  I think such a reading merely scratches the surface of the text and does not reveal the power of Jesus’ teachings.  Jesus invited the rich young man to rediscover a means for the young man to flourish.

Second, all of creation serves one purpose and that is to give glory to God.  Everything that God has created is good and created so that we may give glory to God.  Our purpose is to give glory to God through who we are and that which we have been blessed by God. 

Sometimes it has been helpful for me to make a list of all that I own.  Then as I review the list, I note those things that own me.  That is, what are those things that I could not possibly live without?  I exclude those things that address my basic needs.  I exclude a few special treats and privileges.  

A few times a year I ask myself these questions:

What do I need?

What must I have?

What can I not live without?

And then as part of my daily self-examination, I ask myself, what owns me?

This kind of self-examination process has helped me name those things in my life that hold me back from full flourishing in the glory of God.

Next Sunday is healing Sunday.

Each week there is a prayer station where fellow congregants pray for one another’s needs.  I encourage you to participate in this ministry.  The ministry of healing through anointing is intended for far more than for those who are infirm or sick.  Healing is also about healing our spiritual heart, our spiritual bodies and during my time with you, healing this Body of Christ, St. Francis Church. 

Healing prayers and especially anointing is one passageway to spiritual freedom.  The rich young man was not spiritually free. The rich young man’s heart was paralyzed.  His possessions were not the basis of his purpose, his ministry or the way he gave glory to God. 

In my parish ministry I have witnessed the ways that healing ministry has helped people recover their sense of purpose and freed people to give glory to God.  One way that today’s Gospel will help you to prepare yourself for healing Sunday is to ask yourself what owns you. 

It might be some of your possessions own you like they did the rich young man. 

It could be a broken relationship or loss in your life that has paralyzed you. 

It could be that the past distracts you from feeling hope for the future, maybe even hope for this church’s future. 

It could be a disappointment that you never recovered from that still depletes your inner energy.

It could be that you are carrying so much inner pain that you might doubt the power of the resurrection or the efficacy of the Eucharist. 

Most of us carry things in our hearts, minds and bodies that hold us back from fully flourishing and giving glory to God.  We carry these burdens often alone and tell few people.  Sometimes our burdens are channeled like the rich young man’s anxious cynicism with Jesus.

There is a process of spiritual healing:

If the rich young man was more aware of his own spiritual brokenness he might have encountered Jesus differently.  Are we willing to admit that we hurt inside? Admitting that we hurt might just mean coming forward next Sunday in total silence without naming exactly the cause of our pain, just asking to be anointed.  You may not even be able to name that which hurts, but you know there is some area in your life that prevents you from fully flourishing and giving glory to God.

As we continue to discern what owns us, we will at some point be able to name it and locate and name our pain.

Through the healing ministry I hope in time you will trust your priest, as you whisper to me your pain and the healing you seek through anointing. 

As this congregation’s healing ministry continues, I pray with you that we will be freed up from that which owns us and embrace the gift of healing where we fully flourish as human persons and as a congregation that is fully alive.

Once we are fully alive, we will be ready to share our blessing with others.  Unlike the rich young man we will not go away sad.  We will give glory to God for we will be fully alive! In being fully alive we will have a renewed glimpse of Christ’s resurrection and the resurrection possible in our individual lives, collective lives and in the life of St. Francis Church.

God Bless You!

Compassion On The Other Side of Mourning

St. Francis Church, Fair Oaks, California, Sunday, September 23, 2012

Text: Mark 9:30-37

Spirit of the Living God Fall Fresh on Me!  Congregations Repeats

In the Gospel the disciples argued over whom was the greatest as nobody wanted to be last, indeed the least.  Jesus responded, “Whoever wants to be first must be last of all and servant of all”. Restated the one who wants to be first must have the experience of being last. We learn the grace of humility and compassion at its deepest and most transformative levels when we have had an experience of being last.

My preaching these last few weeks has been very intentional. Through building block themes I have wanted to give you confidence in the journey you have been on, the journey we are beginning and the journey ahead.

On Sunday, September 9 I invited you to join me on a journey where we honor God’s time and resist any sense of urgency about having to name where we are going or why.  That sermon was titled, “Spirit of God: Lead Us Towards Your Feast”. Last Sunday building on my first sermon, I invited you to literally do less, so that in time we might do more with greater joy. We do less so that we might spend more time listening to the Spirit of God who is leading us on our shared journey. 

Today I want to leave you with the sense that there has been a coherent sense of purpose and direction in all you have done throughout your history, including over the last decade. 

I want to affirm for you that even in the midst of a variety of ministerial disruptions including the death of a rector you have continued with a stable unity and singleness of purpose.  As I read today’s Gospel through the lens of your history I see a congregation who has for quite some time been going through a process of being prepared for something else.  In your individual and corporate losses you no doubt have had a sense at times of going from being a vibrant parish to the feeling of something much smaller, maybe sometimes even feeling less than who you were before. 

This morning’s Gospel is addressed to you.  The first must be last.  It is my sense that as a congregation you are being prepared to be first in a new and different way.  It is my sense that on the other side of this congregation’s mourning and grief you are being taught another, even deeper level of compassion.  In time this experience of compassion will offer clarity for your future purpose and the mission of St. Francis Church.  St. Francis’ future must necessarily be connected to a mission that complements your congregation’s signature gifts and bring long-term viability.

With this awareness that I have just outlined for you, let me now try to unpack the Good News for us in today’s Gospel.

The Beatitudes are an excellent place for us to turn to be reminded of where we might gain a firsthand experience of being the last. The Beatitudes experiences of being last include:  the poor, those who mourn, the meek, those who hunger and thirst and the

Persecuted.

In Jesus’ logic, those who mourn are comforted. It is also true that the comforted know how to comfort through the compassion they have experienced.

Jesus wants St. Francis to continue to learn from your experience of mourning so the quality of your compassion may grow. 

When I was studying to be a Jesuit priest we were sent to a place where we could not speak the language.  I was sent to the Dominican Republic.  A fellow Jesuit who spoke fluent Spanish was sent to Belize where they speak French.  We along with others were sent with very little money in our pockets.  We lived with a poor family of little means.  We were not allowed to introduce ourselves as Jesuits.  Our superiors knew that if we were known as Jesuits than we would be treated very well because of who we were. 

The Jesuit tradition behind this pilgrimage formation was that we were to have an experience of being poor.  Our Jesuit superiors did not want us to theorize about poverty, but rather have a firsthand experience of being poor.  The formation we received was so that as priests we would more passionately serve the poor.  With the Jesuit pilgrimage as an example of a formation process,  in what way is this congregation being prepared to be first through an experience of being last? 

What has your mourning and loss taught you about compassion?

Several of you have already told me that there has been a lot of healing going on here at St. Francis over the last few years.  Behind all this healing are experiences of suffering.  Healing and suffering go together.  In your mourning you have comforted each other.  In an even deeper and more profound way you have been growing in the depth of your appreciation for the spiritual gift of compassion.

It was striking for me to learn that in the spiritual gifts group every person who took the spiritual gifts questionnaire had among many other gifts the gift of mercy.  It would be wonderful for all members of this congregation to have the experience and opportunity to go through this spiritual gifts discernment process.  It is a ministerial priority of mine to find ways for all of you to have the opportunity to discern your spiritual gifts.  It is my very strong suspicion that these few women in the congregation who already completed the spiritual gifts questionnaire are not alone but probably joined by many of you who also have the gift of mercy and compassion. 

It is amazing to me the way many of this congregation’s ministries are easily understood through the lens of compassion.  It is not unusual for Episcopal congregations to be compassionate.  The people of St. Francis are compassionate in a distinctive manner.  As a congregation in the past and still today you have always prioritized those who society has often forgotten.

The red wagon brought cheer to children in the hospital.

The Quilts of Valor bring joy and pride to veterans not often enough celebrated for their service.

Clearly compassion has played a major role in your outreach and also in your history in community with each other.  This week one member told me a wonderful story about Louise Bittle.  In one Maundy Thursday service past, this member recalled the way Louise washed and then kissed Irv’s hands. 

This memory of Louise symbolizes for me the simplicity and sanctity of compassion rendered to another, to those we know, like Louise’s beloved spouse, Irv, and also to those who are strangers, like those who receive the quilts of valor.  Compassion sometimes is about the simple act of touching one another through the healing touch of Christ and providing for the needs of others.

Some forms and expressions of compassion are counter-intuitive.  For example one form of compassion is the healthy setting of our emotional and care-giving boundaries.  I first learned this taking care of my mother who had Alzheimer’s for eleven years.  Care-givers often give to others out of their grief.  I learned to differentiate between my insatiable need to care for versus my mother’s actual needs.  Persons with Alzheimer’s present enough care needs without our adding our need to do more. In learning this I was able to sustain myself for the eleven years of caring for her with my brothers and sisters. 

During my six years of consecrated religious life I lived with some men who were alcoholics. In those years I learned the necessity of setting healthy boundaries for myself and also for my vulnerable brothers in Christ. Only then was I able to exercise self-discipline and honor my brothers through setting clear boundaries that my brothers could not set for themselves. 

I know you each could tell your own stories of the way you too have compassionately set healthy care-giving boundaries. Whoever wants to be first must offer compassion in these ways to serve a completely dependent mother with Alzheimer’s, vulnerable alcoholics and so many more needy. Sometimes to be effective compassionate ministers, we need to take care of ourselves.

As you see compassion is a demanding ministry that requires both love through both the simple ministry of presence and sometimes a ministry of absence through self-discipline.  As the Gospel teaches today, in order for us to be first we must go through these experiences of being last and learn to be even more compassionate.

It is too early to know for certain, but I have an intuitive sense that compassion in all of its richness and blessing will contribute in some significant way to this congregation’s viability through a new signature ministry. To live into the next form of St. Francis Church’s ministry, we must stay open and continue to learn from each other through the spirit and fruits of compassion. 

Spiritual Freedom: Doing More With Less With Greater Joy

St. Francis Church, Fair Oaks, Sunday September 16, 2012

Text: Mark 8:27-38

Spirit of the Living God Fall Fresh On Me! Congregation Repeats.

Jesus tells his followers if any want to be my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.

Deny yourselves! 

I don’t know about you, but I am not very fond of self-denial.  For most people life is hard enough without voluntarily giving things up.  Growing up working-class, my dad always said, “We don’t have to give anything up because we have got nothing anyway to give up.”  In a different way you may resonate with these sentiments.  You all experienced so many losses these last few years of members and of a rector.  I have so much empathy for you.  It is time for the people of St. Francis Church to have joy, peace and abundant gifts.

So does self-denial have any meaning for this congregation at this time?

I believe self-denial has a very important role in bringing you greater joy.  First, we have to rehabilitate our notion of self-denial.  Many forms of self-denial lead us to following Jesus as a spectator sport.  Many forms of self-denial turn us in on ourselves as we give up things or abstain from something.  Our self-denial often takes energy and sometimes leaves us exhausted.  Jesus has taught that his yoke is easy and his burden is light.  We too often have interpreted self-denial as self-mortification, purification and the work of self-cleansing leading to greater perfection.

The self-denial that Mark emphasizes through Jesus’ words and teaching is a posture that fosters in us a very specific way and manner of being and action. The self-denial that Jesus invites us to participate in is a way that we might be spiritually free.  Jesus’ path always leads from the cross to resurrection. 

When we deny ourselves in healthy ways, we lighten the spiritual baggage that we carry. When we are spiritually free we are not burdened or distracted with our unhealthy desires. We see God’s desires in God’s time. 

Spiritual freedom opens us up to new possibilities and liberates us from our self-imposed burdens, if you will our self-imposed crosses.

For my college graduation in 1978, Bill, my eldest brother took me to Rome, Italy and Dublin, Ireland for a two-week trip.  It was my first trip out of the country.  Bill was an experienced traveler.  Even if he went away for a month he only carried one very small bag with a few changes of clothes that he constantly washed.  I on the other hand packed a reasonably big bag. Our trip was before the days of wheels on bags.  We were on our last day in Rome.  We had checked out of our hotel with our bags and spent the day touring.  My bag was heavy.  At one point I said to Bill, my bag is heavy, will you help me carry it?  Bill, said to me, “you packed it, you carry it”. 

At the time I was a little frustrated with my brother.  Bill, knew it and said to me, you will be able to travel far in life if you manage your needs, desires and travel lightly.  On that last day I was not able to walk around as much as my brother Bill.  It is human to carry more than we need.  Too often we confuse our needs with our desires.  Desires evolve into must have and we lose clarity to our basic needs.  The more we need the less physical and spiritual distance we are able to travel. Lightening our spiritual load is more of a challenge.

The focus of spiritually mature congregations is always on growing their relationship with Christ in community through worship, ministry and fellowship.

Are you familiar with the activities of the Diocese of Northern California? As members of the diocese, we are:

Focused on mission.

Seek to stay together.

Keep moving forward in the name of Christ.

The activities of the Diocese are my desires for St. Francis Church too.

I want to help you focus and reflect on your future mission in ways that responsibly use the resource of your campus so that you may continue your journey in this place. In doing so fellowship that grows your staying together is vital.  It is also vital to keep moving forward in the name of Christ.  One way to move forward with revitalized mission and the privilege to stay together is through spiritual freedom.

Don’t confuse spiritual freedom with the popular psychological notion of letting go.  It is possible to let go and still not be spiritually free.  Letting go requires our human intention.  After that trip to Rome with my brother I quickly learned to pack less and live out of one small bag on my future trips. 

Spiritual freedom requires a shift in what we choose to rely upon and from where we draw our strength.  When we self deny in healthy ways we travel more lightly so that we do not load up our spiritual trucks with lots of unnecessary stuff.  We travel lightly.  To follow Jesus congregations have to travel lightly.

How does St. Francis Church become spiritually free so that its mission for a new generation will be discovered anew?

The first step is to lighten your baggage.  When congregations lose many members as St. Francis Church has over the last decade those who are left often feel an enormous sense of responsibility.  Indeed their/your sense of responsibility is unrealistic.  When people leave churches, those who remain with the church tend to give more and more to make every effort for ends to meet.  Often this process of generous giving of more time and more money exhausts and depletes congregations of all their spiritual and physical energy.  When congregations deplete their energy they are less likely to hear the still voice of the Spirit of God leading them to new forms of wholeness.

I would like to suggest that self-denial for St. Francis Church in this time and in this place is about each of you taking on less.  And feeling better about yourselves as you let go of some things.  It would mean looking for ways to do more with less.  Sometimes it is necessary to find a smaller bag or take a few less things on the journey.  When we do choose to travel more lightly we are amazed by the places we are able to go. 

Empty nesters know this experience.  When all the children leave the home for college and leave to get married, parents often down size because they want to be free to travel lighter.  By carrying less they can do things they never did before.  Money once spent on healthcare and education can now be spent on a special trip.  It may mean just sleeping later for some living more freely without a daily agenda.

I invite each of you to lighten your load and take on a little less individually and collectively.  To borrow from Paul, as we become less, then Christ will become more.  As Christ becomes more we will discover some new pathways through the Spirit’s direction versus our limited capacity to just do more and more. It is a paradox.  As we do less and take better care of ourselves we will be capable of more.  We will see more possibilities.

I am giving you permission to take care of yourselves and of each other.  You don’t need my permission, but sometimes it is helpful to have another person cover us in our blind spots.  We need the most care from each other in our blind spots.  When congregations keep on taking more with fewer people they are operating out of their blind spots. 

In our blind spots we do as we typically do, but the results are not always pleasant.  When we are driving if we do not see oncoming traffic in our blind spots there is great potential for an accident.  Our blind spots create different kinds of accidents where our spiritual energy and capacity is depleted.  Through healthy spiritual denial we grow in our spiritual freedom and diminish our blind spots.

The good news today is that we have the privilege to self deny and so grow into deeper joy through our spiritual freedom.  Only then are we able to take on our ministerial responsibilities and the mission to which we are called.  Jesus was called to carry his cross, as this was his mission.  We will in time know our cross that is our mission.  The first step in picking up our cross is to deny ourselves in this healthy way of doing less.

Spirit of God Lead Us Towards Your Feast

St. Francis Church, Fair Oaks, California, Sunday September 9, 2012

Spirit of the Living God Fall Fresh On Me!  Congregation Repeated with me!

The opening words of today’s collect -- “Grant us, O Lord, to trust in you with all our hearts” simply and eloquently sets forth my vision for the way I will co-minister with you and lead this congregation as your Priest-in-Charge.  Today I want to share with you a few reflections on my role at St. Francis and the way some of my life experiences have prepared me to be with you on your journey at this time in your parish’s history.  Over the next 4-5 weeks I will continue to preach about the journey we are beginning. 

A Priest-in-Charge has all the canonical authority of a rector, but unlike a rector, the Priest-in-Charge position is not a tenured one.  Rectors often stay with congregations for 20-30 years. The Priest-in-Charge is typically with a congregation for a period of 3 years renewable at the end of each year.  Our time is precious!

As Priest-in-Charge it is my desire to shepherd you into your next generation of ministry and mission in The Episcopal Church. In all I do, I will put a spotlight on your distinctive parish identity and on resurrection, Christ’s resurrection and the resurrection of St. Francis Church. The unique gift that I bring to you the people of St. Francis Church is to continually point you towards resurrection. 

Yesterday 75+ people came here to celebrate the life of Moton Bryant Holt.  I preached my first sermon yesterday.  My sermon was on resurrection.  I preached that due to our faith in the resurrection death is transformed.  Some deaths are final.  We all will experience one day the end of our life in death.  Other deaths are a part of our spiritual journey.  A little piece of us dies when we lose somebody we love.  Over and over throughout life we die little deaths that helps us experience resurrection.  

To journey towards resurrection, in the next couple of years we need to steward our time together.  Let’s take a few minutes to reflect on the nature and quality of our specific shared journey that we are beginning with one another.

You have just made an extraordinary journey that not many congregations ever have to face.  You lost Pastor Marcia, your rector.  Several of you have already shared with me that the ministry Pastor Marcia offered to St. Francis Church, led this congregation to a place where you were equipped with the spiritual gifts to grieve her loss.  In this last year you held together in unity as a parish.  You compassionately ministered to one another. 

There is abundant reason for celebration and joy to have come through this year as whole as you have done so.  There is a sense of relief I am sure that you all feel to have completed the journey so well. 

(Take a deep breath)  Let’s celebrate where you have come from.

The Good News is that your spiritual journey has matured you as a congregation.   God however is not done with you or with this congregation or with this church. 

Vacation-like journeys have a beginning and an end.  Spiritual journeys have no end.  Spiritual journeys deepen our connection to God and to one another.  In our spiritual journeys we enter places of greater intimacy with God.  It is through our spiritual journeys that God matures us to become the one we are called to be. 

The one we are called to be is often not the one we planned ourselves to be.  We influence some of the parts of the way we live our life as people and as communities, but God always has surprises for us. When we are willing to trust, God always leads us to places we did not expect to go and sometimes even initially resisted going.  When we follow Jesus we like the disciples at Emmaus always discover Christ resurrected.

Our spiritual journeys are unlike all other journeys that we take. 

My journeys as a kid were always short ones. As a kid I always knew where I was going before I got there. I did not go far, but I knew where I was going before I got there!

Now I think of journey very differently than I did as a kid. The way I thought about journey began to change when I left the Jesuits, the Society of Jesus.  I left the Jesuits with my heart torn between staying and leaving the Society. 

My head told me to stay but the Spirit told me to leave.  As I sat waiting outside my Jesuit superior’s office to sign my papers that would release me from my vows, a priest friend passed by and comforted me. I told my friend that I intended to return to the Society in a year or two.  My friend, a more spiritually mature Jesuit priest, smiled at me and said, “the Spirit has led you to leave the Society of Jesus, Joe, trust the Spirit to lead you and do not turn back unless the Spirit leads you back to the Society.” 

Oh how much I wanted to set the terms of my journey as I left the Jesuits, but I could not.  My life questions required my generous patience and complete trust in the Spirit of God to lead me through a life maze that has led me to many unexpected, grace-filled places on the journey. I had to submit my will and take time to discover God’s hand and direction for my life. I learned to be patient with all that was unresolved in my heart and to love the questions.  That statement I just made has a lived value of 10-15 years of life.  I struggled to give up my hasty, self-willed answers and to cease to manufacture my answers in God’s name. 

All too often I was like the little boy who could not wait for the caterpillar to become a butterfly. The little boy breathed warm air on the caterpillar so that it would quickly become a butterfly.  Indeed, the butterfly soared at the boy’s command. The boy was all a glow with smiles for his achievement.  Then the butterfly crashed to the floor, unable to move its wings and no longer living.  The gestation period from caterpillar to butterfly is typically ten days.  When we are patient with God’s process then we have the privilege to see the glory of God. 

Many times throughout my spiritual journey I was that little boy who hastily breathed warm air on the caterpillar to bring about my desired beautiful butterfly in my time, on my terms and under my power and control.  After several similar tragic errors of judgments I learned to let go.  I learned to patiently live into God’s timing.  I learned to live my questions rather than try to hastily solve my questions.  As I did this I gradually, without noticing it, I lived into who I am today. My journey is not unique. 

St. Francis Church is on a similar spiritual journey. You may be tempted to quickly breathe warm air on the caterpillars in our midst to feed a desire to immediately see a beautiful butterfly fly.  You know better though. You have traveled far and well over the last year. I encourage you to take your time as a congregation and to continue to go deeper.  As we go deeper in our lives and rely more on God and less on ourselves we will be ready to dream more daring dreams with the Spirit who leads us in new and unexpected ways.

St. Francis Church is a mature congregation of fifty plus years.  Your maturity has evolved through your struggles. The Spirit will continue to call you to places that you have not been before.  St. Francis Church is half the size of the congregation it was five years ago.  Loss of membership has not separated you from the love of God or the abundance of God’s grace and blessing.  St. Francis Church continues its spiritual journey as all its members continue to discover new depths of individual and collective meaning with all its associated new and yet unknown possibilities. 

I am here to remind you that as we walk forward into an unknown future, that God is all around us, especially ahead of us. Due to the spiritual journey that I have made in my life I am prepared to be with you on your journey. With you I will listen for the Spirit’s direction manifested in the resources and gifts that are in your hands today. My promise to you is to point each of you in directions where you are more likely to encounter the resurrected Jesus. 

I pray that we let God lead St. Francis Church to the feast God is preparing for you.  I am confident that God has uniquely prepared a very special place for the people of St. Francis Church.  The place God prepares for all of us is always a feast of heavenly and earthly delights.

To witness the glory of God’s feast requires patience with God’s time.

Resist my temptation to return to what was.

Resist the little boy’s urgency to see glory.

Resist seeing St. Francis Church’s best years in the past.

Celebrate your history, but walk with me as we anticipate the future that God is leading us towards.  The Spirit of God will lead us.

As we begin this shared journey together, O Lord, increase our trust in you so that we as a congregation may be ready to sit at your table, in your time, and joyously accept the feast you have prepared for us.