Jan 2008; October 2008; December 2008; December 2008, May 1, 2009, Sept 27, 2009, November 2009

Jan 27, 2008

Good Morning

The Old Testament lesson in Isaiah chapter 9 today speaks of a people living in a land in deep darkness; it paints a bleak picture of the lives they must have led.  And it specifies this place as the land of Zebulun and Naphtali.  Then - On them a light will shine. Isaiah is saying that there will be a time, in the future, that the light of the Messiah will come and shine on them, on us all and we will rejoice.  In Psalms this same Light, the God of my salvation, is called upon.  I think this deep darkness can be where ever we are, if the Light of Christ is not there with us. 

Hear What the Spirit is saying to the Church –

This is a statement that is repeated in many denominations following the Old and New Testament lessons. Hear what the Spirit is saying to the Church?  So what is it that God is trying to tell me specifically in today’s lessons?  What is the Spirit saying to Christ Episcopal Church in Grand Rapids Minnesota?  What is the Spirit saying to the Church world wide?  Does God have my full attention?

We all know reality series are very popular on television now.  So will you imagine with me the newest series?  The series started about a month ago, on Christmas Eve.     It is called “Can you hear me know?  Jesus – The reality action Series.   

In recent episodes - Jesus was born, was visited by the magi, escaped to Egypt, returned to Nazareth, grew to manhood, his cousin John preached and prepared the way for Jesus’ ministry, was baptized by John, spent 40 days being tempted in the desert and finally began his ministry.  This all happened in the last month or so. 

Now in today’s episode Jesus hears of John’s imprisonment and in fulfillment of the prophecy (read in Isaiah) retreats to an area between Naphtali and Zebulun.   The scene opens with Andrew and Simon a couple of local boys.  They are hard at work.  They are laborers – maybe lower class.  Probably not well educated, not dressed in clothing from the best of shops - possibly Salvation Army or Goodwill.  They probably even smelled like fish (being fishermen).   When they went to work that morning (like they did every morning) expecting to work from sun up till long past sun down.  This is their life and it is what they do.  Everything is normal – They are in their comfort zone.

Now here walks Jesus near where they are working.  He addresses them.          Jesus didn’t look at them and think They are the wrong social class for me or they have the wrong type of job.  They are just not right for the job at hand.  Instead he simply said “Follow me and I will make you fish for men.  And away they went with him.  They heard him – they heard him and they followed him.  Not only would they fish for men but they would be pretty good at it. They didn’t once stopped to think - I don’t have the qualifications for this job or I am not comfortable doing this.  They simply followed him. 

They had been asked to step out of their comfort zone.  They had been called. They followed their calling.

During the next three years their lives would be forever changed.  They would be doing things they had never in their wildest dreams imagined they would be doing that morning they trudged off to work.  That morning they received Jesus’ call. 

Like Simon and Andrew our congregation has been called to step out in faith, to follow a different path.  - To boldly go where this congregation has not gone before.  We have stepped out of our comfort zone.  We have been called.  I am fairly certain that God doesn’t necessarily call the qualified.  But God will qualify the called. 

Some might think that this new concept (total ministry) affects only the team members or perhaps just the vestry will have to deal with things.  But Christ Episcopal Church, our team, our vestry, each and every one of our members is part of the body of Christ.  What affects one affects us all.  This is Total – Shared – Team Ministry

I, for one, am so far out of my comfort zone that I need a map of the universe if I am ever going to get back to it. 

In our own reality series, the one we live in each day God is continually asking “Can you hear me now?”  As we are sitting at our desks at work, making lunch for our families, shopping at the local grocery store or driving in our cars, can we hear his call?   Is that God tapping me on the shoulder or is he possibly shaking me to get my attention?   “Can you hear me now?”  Is he asking me   what I can do to step out of my comfort zone?  How can I be a fisher for man? 

Let us pray- (From the Women’s Uncommon prayer –

                     Rev Canon Kristi Philip)

Ever-present God,

You call us on a journey to a place we do not know.

We are not where we started.

We have not reached out destination.

We are not sure where we are or who we are.

This is not a comfortable place.

Be among us we pray.

Calm our fear, save us from discouragement,

And help us to stay on course.

Open our hearts to your guidance so that our journey to this

Unknown place continues as a journey of trust.

Amen

Paula Gillman- October 2008
I thought it was interesting that out of all the members of team that could preach and all the Sundays in the three year lectionary cycle I would be the one to get this Sunday where all the readings involve food and or feasting.  I didn’t always have a healthy relationship with food so it was enlightening to study these readings.

In 1985, when my daughter, Laura, was almost 5 years old, my father passed away.  Laura was very close to her grandfather and was, at times, inconsolable.  Her little 4 year old heart was broken.  But, one day after Sunday school that following year, she announced that heaven was like a great Thanksgiving dinner and when she went to heaven she was going to get to sit by her grandpa – all the time.  A notion she maintains to this day.  My guess is that the lesson they were taught that day must have been from Isaiah 25 and not Matthew 22.  Isaiah is often read at funerals because it is very comforting.  -  We and our loved ones having a wonderful banquet with all the best food and wine.  Our Lord will swallow up death and wipe the tears from faces.  That sounds pretty great!  I don’t have to do a thing – just show up and I get a banquet.  Had my daughter heard today’s gospel in Sunday school so many years ago I doubt that she would have been so comforted. 

It has become a regular part of my routine after I do my morning prayer to check to see if there is a comparable reading in any other gospel.  I use a book called Gospel Parallels – A Synopsis of the First Three Gospels.  I do it to see if there is a different way of looking at the reading of the day.  Sometimes this does not work because John is not included in this Book.  Sometimes, I do get a different take on the lesson.  For today’s Gospel lesson, Luke chapter 14 gives us an easier to understand and easier to handle version of this same parable.  In Luke’s version folks are invited to a celebration, they send back their RSVP’s saying they are busy, not interested or whatever – So the man doing the celebrating goes out into the street and invites anyone and everyone to celebrate with him.  Luke leaves it at that.  This was very simple, cut and dry. 

Being a person who likes to keep it fairly simple I found it easy to understand Luke’s version of this parable.  So why is Matthew’s version so different?    What is he getting at, what about it don’t I understand and WHY?  Why do I have such an uncomfortable feeling about Matthew’s version?  I found this parable was not a feel good sort of reading and IF I was to try to relay that sort of message to you as a congregation I was not going to be able to do it. 

The banquet from Luke’s gospel becomes a wedding in Matthew’s version – and not just any wedding, but, the wedding of the King’s son, THE EVENT OF THE YEAR!  Back in the day it would have been an honor to have been invited to THAT celebration.  Imagine Prince Charles and Diana’s wedding.  No one would have turned down that invitation.  But in this case no one was particularly interested in going to this party.  They were golfing or at the cabin or maybe just not into that sort of thing that day.   The Undem family and our family know the disappointment this king must have experienced.  Both our families had weddings this past summer and we invited all the people we were close to and wanted to share this special and important day in the life of our families.  But, much to our surprise, some people we felt surely would come, had other things to do.  More importantly to the king in the parable it probably was a slap in the face.   Now this king loved his son so much (and probably to save face) he wanted the hall filled with people celebrating.  He wanted this to be the most wonderful celebration.  He sent his servants out into the street and invited everyone to the party.  Matthew specifically mentions “good and bad”.  Why would these “bad” people be invited?  Why are some parables are just confusing to me?  After spending some time in study and prayer the light bulbs started going on. 

The Jewish people, God’s chosen people, were the originally invited guests, the people who received the first formal invitation.  God so wanted these special people to be guests at His celebration.   These were the gold embossed and engraved invitations, printed on the finest paper with the fancy calligraphy letters.  The rest of us, the Gentiles (the good and bad from the street) were invited as an after thought, receiving a verbal invitation.    We were “called out” after the original invitations were sent.  We are the people who actually showed up at the King’s celebration.  We are the good and the bad. We are not perfect and our own goodness is not good enough for the king’s son’s wedding. 

* The word church comes from the Greek ekklesia which means “called out”.   So- we are a group of “called out” people.  We just happen to meet in this building we (in our modern language) call a Church.  We, the members of this congregation, are actually the church, not the building itself.

So now I am starting to understand the parable, little by little.  I am called out and I show up for the celebration.  If I am reading Luke’s Gospel, I am done. I have done what I was called out to do.   – or have I?    Matthew’s version of this parable, as I said earlier, takes it one step further.  Not only do I have to show up, but I have to suit up.  Is this a dress code for coming to church?  Maybe is a way.  One man did not wear the appropriate wedding robe he was tied up and tossed out into the dark.  There was weeping and gnashing of teeth.  This is not a good thing by Biblical standards.  I did take note that not one of the guests at the wedding mentioned to this improperly dressed person that he was not dressed appropriately.  The only person that said anything about the dress code was the king.   

None of us is righteous without Christ “the wedding robe”.  Our own clothing is not appropriate for the wedding feast.  But through the grace of Jesus Christ we are given not only a wonderful feast in the Eucharist, but, we are also given the appropriate attire, the righteousness of our Lord.  We are all – the good and the bad – given these gifts……. They are free by God’s grace…..  Yes, some of us will still not show up - because we are too busy, we have jobs and families and possibly some shopping to do or whatever the excuse of the day is.  Some of us will show up in our tattered old blue jeans and scuffed up tennis shoes.  This is our own righteousness and we will go through the motions because it looks good.  

In our Morning Prayer service one of our supplications is “Clothe our ministers in righteousness.  We are not just praying for Fr Ken to be clothed in righteousness.  We are all ministers by virtue of our baptism.  We are invited to wear this righteousness, the wedding robe.  God gives us the opportunity everyday to change the status quo, what always has been.  To change the way we are and become the new being we are capable of being, the being that our Lord longs for us to be. 

While I was reading Philippians 4:4-9, the New Testament lesson, it occurred to me that this is the step by step directions on how to grow in righteousness.  Please bear with me as I read the New Testament lesson again.   “Rejoice in the Lord always.  I will say it again:  Rejoice! Let your gentleness be evident to all.  The Lord is near.   Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.  And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts in Christ Jesus.  Finally brothers whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable – if anything is excellent or praiseworthy – think about such things.  Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me – put into practice.”

  Sally, in a sermon a few weeks ago used a phrase that is fairly common.  Her sermon was on an entirely different subject.  But that phrase applies almost everywhere.    “Talk the talk and walk the walk.”  It is used in many recovery programs because talking the talk is very easy.  The walk is the hard part. …  A police officer was following a car that was driving erratically, making rolling stops at stop signs, honking the horn, making hand gestures out the window of the car and obviously screaming at other drivers. After a few blocks the officer decided to pull the woman over.  When he approached the window to ticket her, she asked,” Why did you stop me, officer?  Did I do something wrong?”  He said.  “Ma’am, The bumper sticker on the car said ‘Follow me to church’ and your behavior didn’t seem to fit the sentiment of the bumper sticker. I thought maybe the car had been stolen.”   It is very easy to talk the talk.  The walk is the difficult part.   This is the part that the world sees.

As I stated earlier – I have not always had a healthy relationship with food.  But food is a necessity to stay healthy.  This can be a very fine line to walk.   I feel that we, as humans, try to find things to fill the God shaped holes in our lives.  But as much as we try we will never be able to fill that hole ourselves.  Only through God’s grace are all the holes in our souls filled.  The walk becomes so much easier when God is walking with us.  When we allow God to be the most important invitation we accept, that is when the real celebration begins.

To participate in this celebration all we have to do is raise our hands together at the Eucharist and accept the sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving given by our Lord and Savior and be clothed in the wedding robe. 

Please pray with me a prayer I pray daily;

Heavenly Father, at the first sign of temptation, let me turn to you first for fulfillment.  Fill me with your love.  Fill me with your truth.  Fill me with your compassion.  Fill me with your wisdom.  Fill me with your peace.  Fill me with your joy.  Help me to preserve this holy temple you have given me.  Help me make healthy choices.  Help me to discern my true craving.  Do I seek nourishment for my body or nourishment for my soul?  Let me seek you first, knowing everything else will be given to me.  Amen. 

December 14, 2008
Third Sunday of Advent
Canticle 15
Isaiah 61:1-4, 8-11
1 Thess 5:16-24
John 1:6-8, 19-28


Advent was one of my favorite times of the church year when I was in Sunday school. Our youth group leader always had a special project or activity that would help us as young people prepare for the birth of Jesus. It was time of reflection and hope.

Somewhere along the life’s road the preparation, the anticipation of the Christ child turned into shopping frenzy, a rush to get the best deals and to do our part in greasing the economic wheels. Reflection and hope was replaced by 5:00 a.m. stampedes at Wal-Mart and 10 more shopping days till Christmas.

The word Advent means “moving toward”. So what are we moving toward? We can move day by day, hour by hour or we can move spiritually toward Christmas.

I woke up on the Saturday morning after Thanksgiving (the day before the first Sunday of Advent) to a bleak, grey, cold and miserable day. Many people I suspect were having a shopping hangover that day. I wanted to pull the covers up over my head and say “not another icky day – just let me sleep until summer! Will the sun ever shine again?” The economy was down, my moral was down, things just seemed to be difficult and grey, like the weather.

I imagine that the people of John’s day lived in a grey world. Life was exceptionally difficult unless you were a Roman citizen. They had none of the amenities that make our lives easy. They were oppressed and most were struggling to keep it together. They were looking for their Messiah as promised in Isaiah. They were people whose hope was fading. Then John came along witnessing that the “true light” was coming into the world. People dreamed of that day when their wretched existence would change. Dreaming and Hoping are very different concepts.

We are now in the middle of the waiting season of Advent. The days are shorter, we are waiting for light. The weather is cold, we are waiting for spring. We, as Christians, are waiting for the birth of the Christ Child. We KNOW that Christ was born. God’s promise, spoken of in Isaiah, DID happen. “We have the assurance of things hoped for and the certainty of what we do not see.” (Hebrews 11:1)

With all the waiting and anticipating are we to sit and look out the window at the winter beauty and do nothing? It is nice to soak in the serenity is nice sometimes; to get our bearings and regroup, and prayer and mediation are also an important part of our spiritual life. But Isaiah’s reading is far form watching chestnuts roasting o’er an open fire. John didn’t sit in his living room and warm his hands by the fire and wait. There was good news to be spread to the poor, broken hearts to be bound, freedom to be proclaimed and people in mourning to comfort. He was a busy man out baptizing.

John 1 verses 19-22 explain that the people then were desperately trying to find this Messiah to lead them to victory over their oppressors, to lead them to happiness. With all the commercialism that comes during Advent it is probably safe to assume that people are still seeking things to give them the happiness they crave. This week in the Gospel we hear John quoting Isaiah, warning people to make straight the way for the Lord. This is the same lesson we heard last week in the Old Testament lesson.

We decorate our homes and offices with assortments of ornaments we have collected over the years. We sing nostalgic Christmas Carols and watch the perennial Charlie Brown’s Christmas and How the Grinch Stole Christmas during this time of wonder and hope all the while the Prince of Peace is getting ready to make an entrance. NORAD is not tracking Mary and Joseph on their trip to Bethlehem.

The Evangelism and Outreach Committee for Christ Church has decided to do a 12 loaves project in 2009. Each month, as a church, we will donate in some way whether cash or some type of necessities for another local charity (I will list the ones we decided on here.) This is a great way to “Go Tell It on the Mountain” and shows others the Light of Christ shining in our lives. We don’t want to hide this light under a basket.

As we move hour by hour, day by day through the season of Advent toward Christmas. My hope for each of us is to have a Christmas kind of hope, one that is born in Christ not on sale at Best Buy; that we prepare not only our homes for Christmas day but our hearts for the Light of Christ that comes into the world.

Let us pray.

O God, may the light of your Holy Spirit shine into every dark place – especially the dark recesses of our hearts. Teach us to lead simple lives that reveal that we are awaiting our “Blessed hope”. Amen

December 28, 2008
Christmas 1
John 1:1-18
Galatians 3:23-25; 4:4-7
Isaiah 61:10-62:3
Psalm 147

Good Morning and Merry Christmas

Just two short weeks ago we were smack dab in the middle of Advent.  That is the time of the year we spend waiting and anticipating.  That time is full of wonder and excitement.  We might picture small chubby cheeked children with their little noses pressed up against a frosty window pane.  Their innocent little faces are searching the sky for ------àSanta.  We as Christians were waiting also.  We were awaiting the birth of Emmanuel, God is with us.  Now that waiting is over.  The Light of Christ has come into the world. 

I imagine that many of us are suffering the effects of over indulgence of many kinds.  Presents, wrapping paper scraps, candy, cookies, turkey or ham and all the other trimmings are in abundance in many of our homes.  Maybe some of our credit cards and stomachs are stretched a bit also.  But, the Christ child has arrived!  All that time of waiting during Advent and it happened!

While I was preparing this sermon I did a little comparing of the four Gospels’ version of the birth of Christ.  In Matthew a star brought the Magi from afar.  In a dream Joseph is warned by an angel to escape to Egypt because of Herod’s wrath.  There is no mention of shepherds or angels except the one who spoke to Joseph.

In Mark’s Gospel Christ’s birth is really only alluded to as the event referred to in Isaiah.  Christ’s life is not chronicled until he is baptized by John the Baptist.

Luke tells us of angels proclaiming Christ’s birth appearing to shepherds out in the field.  Not a mention of wise men or a star.

These are three very different snapshots, if you will, of the same event.  We, Christians, have put all these “snapshots” together to make a panoramic view of Christ’s birth.  In the stable we have Mary, Joseph with baby Jesus in the center, probably sleeping a bed of straw made in the trough the animals ate from, of course.  Behind them, we see the ox and sheep.  Coming from the fields the shepherds with their sheep and from the east we have the three wise men atop their camels being guided by the star.  These folks are all showing up about the same time.  The angels in the heavens are all singing “Glory to God in the highest”.   This is a nostalgic Christmas picture. 
John’s Gospel Chapter 1, verse 1-5 paints yet another picture. 
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning.  Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.  In him was life, and that life was the light of men.  The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it.”
Isn’t that beautiful? I think it is such a well written and descriptive passage.  John paints this beautiful picture not with oils or pastels but with words.  Could any five verses have so much “stuff” packed into them?  In just 5 verses we are taken all the way back to a time before creation and then given a peek into the future, namely Good Friday or Easter Sunday.
In the beginning was the Word -à this is before Genesis 1:1, before God created the heavens and the earth.  In the beginning was the Word, God incarnate, Jesus, was in the world before it was the world.  John’s Gospel sounds a little like a creation story. 
…and the Word was with God and the Word was God.  He, Jesus, was with God in the beginning and that “creation” continues in John’s Gospel. 
Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made -à This is a concept of monumental proportions, at least to me, and maybe a difficult statement to fully comprehend.  As I get older and see more and acquire more experiences, the power, wisdom, creativity and yes, sense of humor God has, becomes more and more apparent.  The beauty, majesty and always diversity of the creation of, not only this earth, but, endless places we may never know gives me cause to stand in awe at the infinite imagination of God.  And Jesus was there, before the beginning.  Genesis Chapter 1 v. 26 says “Then God said let US make man in OUR likeness… and verse 27 “ So God created man in His own image… Male and female He created them.”  Jesus was also there when man was first thought of. 
Genesis chapter 1 also states “God said let there be light…and the light was good.  Then John writes, “In him was life, and that life was the light of men.  The light shines in the darkness”.   John is referring to Jesus.  Jesus was and is that light.
John goes on the say, “but the darkness has not understood it.”  John had the benefit of hindsight.  Christ, the Light, had been crucified by the time John writes the Gospel.  We did not understand the being of Christ.  We didn’t recognize who he was and is.  We were listening, but, we did not hear.  “He was in the world and though the world was made through Him the world did not recognize him.”  “The Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us.”…  Amazing!  This God who made everything, who knew hunger, loneliness, love and fear and every true human emotion, came and lived as we do and yet…… we didn’t have a clue.  We rejected him.
So as we put away our special memories and pack away our treasured memorabilia of Christmas’ past, as we clean up the torn wrapping paper and Christmas feast leftovers, let us remember the real reason for this glorious celebration;  the real reason for this season.  Although we can never truly understand God, we can “Go Tell It on the Mountain”.  We can let “The Light of Christ” shine through us so that others can see Him.  We can recognize Christ in others, let His light shine in the darkness and make Him known.
Let us pray.    O Loving Creator, for our sake you became human and were born in a lowly stable:  Help us always to remember the forgotten, uplift the lowly and give strength to the powerless, all for your love’s sake; in the name of the Source, the Word, and the Spirit.   Amen.  (Women’s Uncommon Prayers)