tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-81954429586485804782024-03-18T20:28:27.854-07:00Priest & PoetJamie Parsley+Jamie Parsley+http://www.blogger.com/profile/03475578259480661327noreply@blogger.comBlogger1292125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8195442958648580478.post-58503969769865889492024-03-17T16:48:00.000-07:002024-03-18T04:54:13.138-07:005 Lent<p><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUyWIiixMkfCx9siH5olTgNnAgvxnA2qHeDe9vdhS73sByH09fE2yrLMybPEp2mjAfvfKGYKXeuuCtHVjqWwb0rTAfAjxwFuREQ0L2KNLJ2mDhDSSJwl97XeGcYrCDrqW9kz1Ln84rjhv3DCW81pxxkGrMdrAUC0GGOXmxdFNMY59RHivsB0n3pg363h4/s300/SeekingGod.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="168" data-original-width="300" height="224" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUyWIiixMkfCx9siH5olTgNnAgvxnA2qHeDe9vdhS73sByH09fE2yrLMybPEp2mjAfvfKGYKXeuuCtHVjqWwb0rTAfAjxwFuREQ0L2KNLJ2mDhDSSJwl97XeGcYrCDrqW9kz1Ln84rjhv3DCW81pxxkGrMdrAUC0GGOXmxdFNMY59RHivsB0n3pg363h4/w400-h224/SeekingGod.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />March 17, 2024<p></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><em><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Jeremiah 31.31-34; John 12.20-33</span></em><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">+ I have never made a secret of a simple fact of my spiritual
life: I am a seeker.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">I was talking to someone this past week about my spiritual journey—my
journey from being Lutheran to being Roman Catholic to Zen Buddhism and
Unitarian-Universalism to Anglicanism and the Episcopal Church. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">I said to this person, “I don’t regret any of my journey. All of
those places I stopped at and rested along the way have influenced me in some
way or the other, and I’m grateful for each of them.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">The fact that I found my home here in the Episcopal Church also
doesn’t mean that I still don’t find comfort in other spiritual expressions.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">I still read and explore Judaism deeply, as well as Buddhism. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">In fact, you have heard me say many times that Buddhism and Judaism
have made me a better Christian. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">I find comfort in those places.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">I have a deep respect for other religions, I think we can all
learn so much from other religions. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">The reason I do is because I am seeker. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">I am seeking after God in my life.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Certainly, I am seeking after God in my vocation as a priest, in
my life as a Christian, and as a human being who is part of this world. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">I am seeking, just as you all are seeking. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">We’re here—whether in this building, or joining us through
livestream—s<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">eeking</i> something. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">People who aren’t seekers don’t need to “come” to church.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">They don’t need to listen and ponder the Word. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">They don’t need to feed on and ponder the mysteries of the
Eucharist that we celebrate at this altar.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>People who don’t seek,
don’t come following the mysteries of their faith.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">I have discovered in my own life as a seeker, that my seeking, my
asking questions and my pondering of the mysteries of this life and my
relationship to God, are what make my faith what it is. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">It makes it…faith. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">My seeking allows me to step into the unknown and be sometimes
amazed or surprised or disappointed by what I may—or may not—find there.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">In our Gospel reading for today, we also find seekers. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">In our story, we find these Greeks seeking for Jesus.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">“Sir, we wish
to see Jesus</span></b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">,” they say.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">This one line<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">—“we wish to
see Jesus”—</b>is so beautifully simple. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">There’s so much meaning and potential and…yes, mystery, to it that
I don’t think we fully realize what it’s conveying.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">What is it they think they’re seeking?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Do they know they are seeking Jesus, the divine Son of God?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Do they know they are seeking this Messiah? <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Do they—Greek Gentiles—even know what the Messiah is? <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Or are they seeking the God who dwells in Jesus—the God who sent
Jesus, whom Jesus embodies, the God they see that Jesus shows them? <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Well, we never find out. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">In fact, as beautiful and as simple as the petition is<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">—“we wish to see Jesus”</b>—we never, if
you notice, find out if they actually get to see him. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">The author doesn’t tell us. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">We find no resolve to this story of the Greeks seeking Jesus. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">However, despite it being a loose end of sorts, it does pack some
real meaning. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">What’s great about scripture is that even a loose end can have
purpose.<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">One interpretation of this story is that that the Greeks—as
Gentiles—were not allowed to “see” Jesus until he was lifted up on the Cross.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Remember our readings from the Hebrew scriptures and the gospel from
last week in which we heard the story of Moses lifted up the bronze serpent on
a staff to heal the people, and how Jesus made reference to it? <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Well, h references it again in this reading. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Only when he has been <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">“lifted
up from the earth</b>,” as he tells us this morning will he <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">“draw all people to [himself].”</b><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Jesus’ message at the time of theGreeks’ approaching the apostles
is still only to the Jews.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">But when Jesus is lifted up on the Cross on Good Friday, at that
moment, he is essentially revealed to all. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">At that moment, the veil is lifted. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">The old Law of the Jews has been fulfilled—the curtain in the
Temple has been torn in half—and now Jesus is given for all—for everyone, Jews
and Gentiles alike. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">It’s certainly an interesting and provocative take on this story.<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">And it’s especially interesting for us, as well, who are seeking
to “find Jesus” in our own lives. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Like those Greeks, we are not always certain if we will find
him—at least at this moment.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">But, I am going to switch things up a bit (as I sometimes do). <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Yes, we might be seekers here this morning. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">But as Christians, our job is not only to be seekers. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Our job, as followers of Jesus, as seekers after God, is to be on
the receiving end of that petition of those Greeks. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Our job, as Christians, is to hear that petition—“show us
Jesus”—and to respond to it. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">This is what true evangelism is.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Some might say evangelism is <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">telling</i>
others about Jesus.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Possibly.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">But true evangelism is <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">showing</i>
people Jesus. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">And, let’s face, that’s much harder than telling people about
Jesus.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">So, how do we show Jesus to those who seeking him? <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Or, maybe, even to those who might not even be seeking Jesus?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">We show people Jesus by doing what we do as followers of and
seekers after Jesus. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">We show people Jesus by <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">being</i>
Jesus to those around us. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Now, that sounds impossible for most of us. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">The fact is, it isn’t. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">This is exactly what Jesus wants us to be.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Jesus wants us to <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">be</i> him
in this world. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Jesus want us to embody within ourselves the same God who was (and
is) embodied in Jesus himself. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Jesus wants us to be like him in every way. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">We, after all, are the Body of Christ in this world. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">We are to embody Jesus, and by doing so to embody the God of
Jesus, in this world. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">He wants to be our hands, helping others. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">He wants to speak through our voices in consoling others, in
speaking out against the tyrants and despots and unfairness of this world. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">He wants to be our feet in walking after those who have been
turned away and are isolating themselves. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">He wants us to bring healing to those who need healing, and hope
to those who have lost hope. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">When we seek to bring the Kingdom into our midst, we are being
Jesus in this world. We might not always succeed in doing this. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">We might fail miserably in what we do. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">In fact, sadly, people might not find Jesus in us, at all. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Sometimes, whether we intend it to or not, we in fact become the
“Anti-Jesus” to others.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">But that’s just the way it is sometimes. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">In seeking Jesus and in responding to others who are also seeking
him, we realize the control is not in our hands. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">It doesn’t depend on any one of us. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Which, trust me, is actually very comforting. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">I personally don’t want all that responsibility. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Nor, I’m sure, do any of you. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Who would?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">In today’s Gospel, we find Jesus saying: “Very truly I tell you,
unless a grain of wheat falls on the earth and dies, it remains just a single
grain; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.” <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">In those moments in which we seem to have failed to be Jesus to
those around us, when those who come to us seeking Jesus find, rather, nothing,
or, worse, the “Anti-Jesus,” we find that even then, fruit can still come
forth. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">God still works even through the negative things life throws at
us. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">God still works event through our failures and our shortcomings.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Jesus can still be found, even despite us. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Jesus can still be found, even when we might not even be seeking
him.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Jesus can be found, oftentimes, when we are least expecting to
find him. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Certainly, Jesus is here this morning in our midst. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">He is here in us. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">He is here when we do what he tells us to do in this world<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">He is here when we open ourselves to God’s Spirit and allow that
Spirit to speak to us in our hearing of the Word. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Jesus is here in the Bread and Wine of our Eucharist. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Jesus is here in us, gathered together in Name of Jesus. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">And let me tell you, Jesus is definitely out there, beyond the
walls of this church, waiting for us to embody him and bring him to them. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">He is never far away.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">So, let us, together, be Jesus to those who need Jesus, who are
seeking Jesus. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Let us show them Jesus. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Let us together search for and find God, here, in the Word where
we hear God speaking to us.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Let us search for Jesus in this Holy Eucharist, in which we feed
on his Body and Blood. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">As we near the end of this Lenten season and head into Holy Week (next
week!), let us take to heart those words we heard God speaking to the prophet
Jeremiah:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">“I will
forgive their iniquity and remember their sin no more.”<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Let us, a people whose iniquity has been forgiven and whose sin is
remembered no more, <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>search for God.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">In going out from here, let us encounter those people who truly need
God. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">And, in encountering them, let us also help those who are seeking.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">“We wish to
see Jesus</span></b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">,” the Greeks say to the disciples. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">And people still are saying that to us as well.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">“We wish to
see Jesus.”<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Let us—fellow seekers of Jesus—help them to find him in us.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Amen. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>Jamie Parsley+http://www.blogger.com/profile/03475578259480661327noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8195442958648580478.post-80896512321971795602024-03-10T18:35:00.000-07:002024-03-11T18:38:19.672-07:004 Lent<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBlhl7kSAycLYVQmh4exUgZFXm9TC5Hzs_h4ax4mYsq0IUdR0khGgGYLi74tHhTw5qIACgQPK2igCXNd8FMAv6sex69q9rVd6myJVW4XBGlGL5KglyccCG7MRjngMphh0A4yh4yD3gz1Q1moEByT1kle1gfs7sJbOWJBxe5QVM3_X3rG8TpKrK-BPejJM/s1080/serpentpole.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="675" data-original-width="1080" height="250" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBlhl7kSAycLYVQmh4exUgZFXm9TC5Hzs_h4ax4mYsq0IUdR0khGgGYLi74tHhTw5qIACgQPK2igCXNd8FMAv6sex69q9rVd6myJVW4XBGlGL5KglyccCG7MRjngMphh0A4yh4yD3gz1Q1moEByT1kle1gfs7sJbOWJBxe5QVM3_X3rG8TpKrK-BPejJM/w400-h250/serpentpole.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt; text-align: center;">Lataere</span><p></p>
<p align="center" style="margin: 0in; text-align: center;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" style="margin: 0in; text-align: center;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">March 10, 2024<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" style="margin: 0in; text-align: center;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" style="margin: 0in; text-align: center;"><em><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Numbers
21.4-9; John 3.14-21</span></em><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">+ Well, you know what day it is.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">It’s one of my favorites. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Today is Laetare Sunday, also known as “Rose Sunday.”<br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
<!--[if !supportLineBreakNewLine]--><br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
<!--[endif]--><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Laetare, as I remind everyone every year on this Sunday, is Latin
for “joyful” and it is called this because on this Sunday, the traditional
introit (or the psalm that was said by the priest in the old days when he
approached the altar in the old Latin Mass) was “Laetare Jerusalem”—“rejoice
Jerusalem.” <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">It’s also known by other names. “Mothering Sunday” or “Refreshment
Sunday.” <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">It is, of course, traditional on this Sunday to wear the rose or
pink vestments. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">And to have simnel cake, which we will<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>have at coffee hour, thanks to Sandy
Holbrook. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">It’s a special Sunday. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">It is sort of break in our Lenten purple, so to speak. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">We get to rejoice a bit today.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Notice how I said, rejoice “a bit.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">It’s a subdued rejoicing.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">We’re still in Lent after all.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">We might get a break from the Lenten purple.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">But we don’t get a break from Lent. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">After all, the purple returns tomorrow. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">But this Rose Sunday is a reminder to us. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">We are now passing into the latter days of Lent. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Palm Sunday and Holy Week are only two weeks away and Easter is
three weeks away. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">And with Easter in sight, we can, on this Sunday, lift up a
slightly subdued prayer of rejoicing.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">No, we’re not saying the A-word yet.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">We’re not allowed to be quite <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">that</i>
joyful today.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">But, we’re close. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">The Easter light is within in sight, though it’s still pretty far
off. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Now, I know Lent can be a bummer for us. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">I know we don’t want to hear about things like sin. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">I don’t want to hear about sin. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">I don’t want to preach about sin. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Most of us have had to sit through countless hours listening to
preachers go on and on about sin in our lives. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Many of us have had it driven into us and pounded into us and we
just don’t want to hear it anymore. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Yes, we know we’re sinners sometimes. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">But the fact is, we can’t get through this season of Lent without
at least acknowledging sin. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Certainly, I as a priest, would be neglecting my duty if I didn’t
at least mention it once during this season.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">As much as we try to avoid sin and speak around it or ignore it,
for those of us who are Christians, we just can’t. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">We live in a world in which there is war and crime and recession
and sexism and homophobia and horrible racism and blatant lying and morally
bankrupt people and, in looking at all of those things, we must face the fact
that sin—people falling short of their ideal—is all around us. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">And during this season of Lent, we find ourselves facing sin all
the time. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">It’s there in our scripture readings. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">It’s<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>right here in our
liturgy. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">It’s just…there.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Everywhere. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">I certainly have struggled with this issue in my life. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">As I said, I don’t like preaching about sin. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">I would rather not do it. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">But…I have to. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">We all have to occasionally face the music, so to speak.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">The fact is, people tend to define us by the sins we commit—they
define us by illness—the spiritual leprosy within us—rather than by the people
we really are underneath the sin. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">And that person we are underneath is truly a person created in the
holy image of God. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Sin, if we look it as a kind of illness, like leprosy or any other
kind of sickness. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">It desensitizes us, it distorts us, it makes us less than who were
are. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">It blots out the holy image of God in which we were created. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">And like a sickness, we need to understand the source of the
illness to truly get to heart of the matter.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">So, we need to ask ourselves: what is sin?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Well, let’s take a look at what the Catechism of the Episcopal
Church says. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">We can find right there, in our Book of Common Prayer on 848.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">The question is, “What is sin?”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">The answer is, “Sin is he seeking of our own will instead of the will
of God, thus distorting our relationship with God, with other people and with
all creation.” <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">If we are honest with ourselves, if we are blunt with ourselves,
if we look hard at ourselves, we realize that, in those moments in which we
have failed ourselves, when we have failed others, when we have failed God, the
underlying issues can be found in the fact that we were3 not seeking God’s
will, but our own will. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">This season of Lent is a time when we take into account where we
have failed in ourselves, in our relationship with God and in our relationship
with each other. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">But—and I stress this—Lent is never a time for us to despair. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">It is never a time to beat ourselves up over the sins we have
committed. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">It is rather a time for us to buck up.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">It is a time in which we seek to improve ourselves. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">It is a time for us to seek God’s will in our lives and not our
own wills. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">It is a time in which, acknowledging those negative aspects of
ourselves, we strive to rise above our failings. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">It is a time for us to seek healing for the “leprosy” of our
souls. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">The church is, after all, according to the early Christians, a
Hospital. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">And, in seeking, we do find that healing.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">In our reading from Numbers today, we find a strange story, that
also is about healing. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">The Israelites are complaining about having the wander about in
the desert.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">After Mass, Dan Rice is going to lead a class about the lamenting psalms.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">I preach about the lamenting psalms on a regular basis. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Because lamenting psalms can often sound like complaining.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">And, as I have said, sometimes complaining to God is not a bad
thing.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">I always say, at least it’s better to complain <i>to</i> God, than
to complain <i>about</i> God. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Well, this story in Numbers shows us what happens when we don’t
complain to God, but complain about God. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">According to the story we just heard, God sent poisonous serpents
on the poor, ungrateful people who were complaining about God. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">The people acknowledge their sin—the fact that they maybe
shouldn’t complain when things weren’t really so bad.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">So, God tells Moses to “make” a snake, put it on a pole, and raise
it up so all the Israelites can see it.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">And in in seeing it, they will live. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Now, in case you missed it, for us Christians, this pole is
important.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">For us, this is a foreshadow of the cross. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">If you don’t believe me, then you weren’t paying attention when Deacon
Suzanne read our Gospel reading for today, which directly references our
reading from Numbers. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Jesus then, in that way,
turns it all around and makes something very meaningful to his followers—and to
us—from this “raising up.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Just as the poisonous snake was raised up on a pole, and the
people were healed, so must Jesus be raised up on the cross, and the people
also would be healed. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">As you have heard me preach many times, the Cross is essential to
us as Christians.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">And not just as some quaint symbol of our faith.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Not as some gold-covered, sweet little thing we wear around our
necks. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">The Cross is a very potent symbol for us in our healing. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Gazing upon the cross, as those Israelites gazed upon the bronze
serpent that Moses held up to them, we find ourselves healed.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">And as we are healed, as we find our sins dissolved by the God
Christ knew as he hung the cross, we come to an amazing realization.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">We realize that we are not our sins. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">And our sins are not us. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Our sins are no more us, than our illnesses are. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Our sins are no more us than our depressions are us, or our anxieties
are or our disappointments in life are us. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">For those of us who have had serious illnesses—and as many of you
know, I had cancer once—when we are living with our illness, we can easily
start believing that our sickness and our very selves are one and the same. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">But that is not, in reality, the case. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">In this season of Lent, it is important for us to ponder the
sickness of our sins, to examine what we have done and what we have failed to
do and to consider how we can prevent it from happening again. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">But, like our illnesses, once we have been healed, once our sins
have been forgiven and they no longer have a hold over us, we do realize that,
as scarred as we have been, as deeply destroyed as we thought we were by what
we have done and not done, we have found that, in our renewal, we have been
restored. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">In the shadow of the cross, we are able to see ourselves as people
freed and liberated.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We are able to rejoice in
the fact that we are not our failures. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">We are not what we have failed to do. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">But in the shadow of the cross we see that we are loved and we are
healed and we are cherished by our loving God. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">And once we recognize that, then we too can turn our selves toward
each other, glowing with that image of God imprinted upon us, and we too can
love and heal and cherish. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">See, sin does not have to make us despair. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">When we despair over sin, sin wins out. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Rather, we can work on ourselves, we can improve ourselves, we can
rise above our failings and we can then reflect God to others and even to
ourselves.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">So, on this Laetare Sunday—this Sunday in which we rejoice that we
are now within the sight of that glorious Easter light—let us gaze at the
cross, held up to us as a sign of our healing God. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">And there, in the shadow of that Cross, let us be truly healed. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">And, in doing so, let us reflect that healing to others so they
too can be healed.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">See, it <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">is</i> truly a time
for us to rejoice.</span><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif;"> <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>Jamie Parsley+http://www.blogger.com/profile/03475578259480661327noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8195442958648580478.post-77855807035223492982024-03-03T16:51:00.000-08:002024-03-03T16:52:27.271-08:003 Lent<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8Ifr-FhBLfLqRIGYxneT5jK2ERxVgiOflx5y2KKzWcwHE7z9dqsLLZn1ECsUuW_KfHLJwWdkPs4UQdeHvEcPzjS2_e_6NTcKWZPKgbk7oA-7elkZnuTHJw1H07I4Ou0U303LgeK2ReH3112n9Gd94n5vl6fBeHiQw0wMoUsJWjq55W9_7qyDg9360mpo/s625/cleansing%20of%20the%20temple.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="383" data-original-width="625" height="245" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8Ifr-FhBLfLqRIGYxneT5jK2ERxVgiOflx5y2KKzWcwHE7z9dqsLLZn1ECsUuW_KfHLJwWdkPs4UQdeHvEcPzjS2_e_6NTcKWZPKgbk7oA-7elkZnuTHJw1H07I4Ou0U303LgeK2ReH3112n9Gd94n5vl6fBeHiQw0wMoUsJWjq55W9_7qyDg9360mpo/w400-h245/cleansing%20of%20the%20temple.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: 14pt; text-align: center;">March 3, 2024</span><p></p>
<p align="center" style="margin: 0in; text-align: center;"><span style="color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: 14pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" style="margin: 0in; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><em><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-theme-font: major-fareast;">Exodus 20.1-17; John 2.13-22</span></em><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: 14pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: 14pt;">+ A week ago
last Thursday I gave a reading at Concordia.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: 14pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: 14pt;">Many of you
were there. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: 14pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: 14pt;">It was a great
evening.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: 14pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: 14pt;">I was
impressed by the turn-out<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: 14pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: 14pt;">But I was
celebrating my new book of poems, <i>Salt</i>, a book of poems about my mother’s
death. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: 14pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: 14pt;">And one of the
poems I read that evening was a poem called “Maniturgium”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: 14pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: 14pt;">What is that,
you’re probably asking?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: 14pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: 14pt;">Well, it comes
from the Latin words <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Mani</i> or hand and
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">turgium</i>, which means towel.</span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikrf7Yr63rpkM0GL2KMPeZKTb5phSdF18CflN4rnBKpaOWoUaw9wb0w-bYFmiSXsiaNvEmP8JHJH1dGKY4kOWw90A0DNG9R4ovZp4wjnQ3IIyi_jkHZ6l2X1YDHtcvwajS6zrUA3w5GWKzdi3BhogDnlaj0zqzJuVgFS2A-Y5tt9oHJZuvuUq8S-8DMSA/s1466/maniturgium.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1466" data-original-width="526" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikrf7Yr63rpkM0GL2KMPeZKTb5phSdF18CflN4rnBKpaOWoUaw9wb0w-bYFmiSXsiaNvEmP8JHJH1dGKY4kOWw90A0DNG9R4ovZp4wjnQ3IIyi_jkHZ6l2X1YDHtcvwajS6zrUA3w5GWKzdi3BhogDnlaj0zqzJuVgFS2A-Y5tt9oHJZuvuUq8S-8DMSA/w115-h320/maniturgium.jpg" title="My maniturgium" width="115" /></span></a></div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /><o:p></o:p></span><p></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: 14pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: 14pt;">So, it’s a
hand towel.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: 14pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: 14pt;">But in this
case it’s more than that.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: 14pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: 14pt;">In the Roman
Catholic and in the Anglo-Catholic tradition of Anglicanism, when a priest is
ordained, their hands are anointed with chrism by the Bishop.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: 14pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: 14pt;">Chrism is that
special oil consecrated by a Bishop, smelling of nard. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: 14pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: 14pt;">As they are
anointed, the Bishop prays this prayer:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: 14pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: 14pt;">Grant, O Lord,
to consecrate and sanctify these hands by this unction, and by our blessing;
that whatsoever they may bless may be blessed, and whatsoever they consecrate
shall be consecrated and sanctified in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: 14pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: 14pt;">The
maniturgium is them wrapped around the chrism-covered hands to wipe them. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: 14pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: 14pt;">Well, my <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">maniturgium</i> was nothing fancy.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: 14pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: 14pt;">It was simply
an old corporal—a white altar cloth—that was about to burned.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: 14pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: 14pt;">And my hands
actually weren’t anointed at my priestly ordination twenty years ago in June.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: 14pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: 14pt;">They were
anointed a few years later.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: 14pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: 14pt;">The reason
they weren’t anointed at the ordination was because, when I asked, the clergy
in charge of my ordination raised a bit of protest (I also wanted allowed to
prostrate before the Bishop during the Litany, or to be vested with a chasuble,
or to be handed the chalice that I was given as a gift—which we are using today
by the way, all of which refused) .<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: 14pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: 14pt;">Later, when I
was telling this story, on a whim, they were anointed by a bishop with just me
and a few friends.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: 14pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: 14pt;">And the old
corporal that was being discarded and burned was rescued to wrap my hands after
the anointing.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: 14pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: 14pt;">Later, I
presented this cloth to my mother, which is the tradition.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: 14pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: 14pt;">Because the
tradition is that the priest is then to present the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">maniturgium</i> to their mother. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: 14pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: 14pt;">The <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">maniturgium</i> is then usually buried in
the hands of the mother of a priest when she dies.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: 14pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: 14pt;">Why? You may
ask.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: 14pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: 14pt;">Well, the
tradition states that when the mother of a priest comes before Jesus, he will
as her, “I have given you life. What have you given me?”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: 14pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: 14pt;">(Really terrible
theology there, but…) <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: 14pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: 14pt;">And the mother
is to reply, “I have given you my child as a priest” and then hands him the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">maniturgium</i>. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: 14pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: 14pt;">At this, the
story goes, Jesus grants her entrance into heaven.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: 14pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: 14pt;">(Again, et’s
not even begin to unpack some of the really bad theology behind all of that!)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: 14pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: 14pt;">But it’s a
great story. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: 14pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: 14pt;">And it is one
my mother really loved! <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: 14pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: 14pt;">(I think she
liked the guarantee to get into heaven) <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: 14pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: 14pt;">Let me tell
you: there was no one prouder to have a child for a priest than my mother.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: 14pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: 14pt;">So, you can
imagine why I was a bit upset when, after my mother’s death, I could have that <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">maniturgium</i> there for her when she was
cremated.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: 14pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: 14pt;">I searched
through her dresser and her closet looking for it. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: 14pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: 14pt;">I then
concluded that at some point, maybe she had just accidentally thrown it out. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: 14pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: 14pt;">Which would
have been fine. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: 14pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: 14pt;">So, I shrugged
it off and just let it go (though I do admit I really had hoped it would’ve
been in her hands when she was cremated)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: 14pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: 14pt;">Well, six
years ago today, I happened to open her cedar chest, and guess what?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: 14pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: 14pt;">There it was,
right on the top, neatly folded, still stained with chrism, still smelling of
nard (and cedar).<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: 14pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: 14pt;">So, I ended up
placing it in her urn before I sealed it and buried it in May of that year.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: 14pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: 14pt;">I also have to
believe that that poor corporal really did not want to get burned! <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: 14pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: 14pt;">So, what’s the
point of this whole story? <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: 14pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: 14pt;">Well, it’s
this: cleaning out the clutter is a good thing.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: 14pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: 14pt;">A really good
thing.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: 14pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: 14pt;">Sometimes you
have to clean things out to find things that really matter. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: 14pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: 14pt;">Because if I
held off, I might not have found it until after we buried her ashes. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: 14pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: 14pt;">I think this
story is good for us during Lent. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: 14pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: 14pt;">Lent, as you
have heard me say over and over again, is a time for us to sort of quiet
ourselves.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: 14pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: 14pt;">But it is also
a time to get rid of whatever clutter we might have knocking around inside us
or in our lives. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: 14pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: 14pt;">Clutter is
that stuff in our lives—and “stuff” is the prefect word for it—that just piles
up. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: 14pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: 14pt;">If you’re
anything like me, we sometimes start ignoring our clutter.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: 14pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: 14pt;">We sort of do
that too with our own spiritual clutter. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: 14pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: 14pt;">We don’t give
it a second thought, even when we’re tripping over it and stumbling on it. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: 14pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: 14pt;">In fact, often
we don’t fully realize how much clutter we have until after we’ve disposed of
it. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: 14pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: 14pt;">When we see
that clean, orderly room, we realize only then how clutter sort of made us lose
our appreciation for the beauty of the room itself.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: 14pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: 14pt;">In Lent, what
we dispose of is the clutter of our spiritual lives. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: 14pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: 14pt;">And we all
have spiritual clutter. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: 14pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: 14pt;">We have those
things that “get in the way.” <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: 14pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: 14pt;">We have our
bad habits. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: 14pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: 14pt;">We have those
things that we do without even thinking we’re doing them. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: 14pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: 14pt;">Things like
backbiting, or being passive aggressive or letting our depression and anxiety
get out of control, or eating like crap, or overeating, or not exercising. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: 14pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: 14pt;">And
oftentimes, they’re not good for us—or at least they don’t enhance our
spiritual lives.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: 14pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: 14pt;">Often the
clutter in our spiritual lives gets in the way of our prayer life, our
spiritual discipline, our all-important relationship with God. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: 14pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: 14pt;">The clutter in
our spiritual life truly becomes something we find ourselves “tripping” over. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: 14pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: 14pt;">The clutter in
our spiritual life causes us to stumble occasionally. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: 14pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: 14pt;">And when it
does, we find our spiritual life less than what it should be.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: 14pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: 14pt;">Sometimes it’s
just “off.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: 14pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: 14pt;">During Lent,
it is an important time to take a look around us. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: 14pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: 14pt;">It is
important to actually see the spiritual clutter in our lives and to clear it
away in whatever ways we can.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: 14pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: 14pt;">In our Gospel
reading for today, we find Jesus going into the temple and clearing out the
clutter there. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: 14pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: 14pt;">He sweeps the
Temple clean, because he knows that the clutter of the merchants who have
settled there are not enhancing the beauty of the Temple. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: 14pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: 14pt;">They are not
helping people in their relationship with God. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: 14pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: 14pt;">Rather, these
merchants are there for no spiritual reasons at all, ultimately. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: 14pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: 14pt;">They are there
for their own gain and for nothing else.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: 14pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: 14pt;">In a sense, we
need to, like Jesus, clean out the “merchants” in our lives as well. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: 14pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: 14pt;">We need to
have the Temple of our bodies cleaned occasionally. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: 14pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: 14pt;">We need to
sweep it clean and, in doing so, we will find our spirituality a little more
finely tuned. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: 14pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: 14pt;">We will find
our prayer life a more fulfilling. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: 14pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: 14pt;">We will find
our time at Eucharist more meaningful. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: 14pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: 14pt;">We will find
our engaging of Scripture to be more edifying. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: 14pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: 14pt;">We will find
our service to others to be a bit more selfless and purposeful than it was
before. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: 14pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: 14pt;">We will see
things with a clearer spiritual eye—which we need.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: 14pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: 14pt;">It is a matter
of simplifying our spiritual lives. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: 14pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: 14pt;">It is matter
of recognizing that in our relationship with God and one another, we don’t need
the clutter—we don’t need those things that get in the way. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: 14pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: 14pt;">We don’t need
anything to complicate our spiritual lives. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: 14pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: 14pt;">There are
enough obstacles out there. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: 14pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: 14pt;">There will
always be enough “stuff” falling into our pathways, enough ”things” for us to
stumble over. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: 14pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: 14pt;">Without the
clutter in our lives, it IS easier to keep our spiritual lives clean. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: 14pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: 14pt;">Without the
clutter in our life, we find things are just…simpler.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: 14pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: 14pt;">In our Gospel
reading for today, we also find that the Temple Jesus is cleaning out and
cleansing serves its purpose for now, but even it will be replaced with
something more perfect and something, ultimately, more simple. <br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
<!--[if !supportLineBreakNewLine]--><br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
<!--[endif]--><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: 14pt;">In a sense,
our own bodies become temples of this living God because of what Jesus did. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: 14pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: 14pt;">Our bodies
also become the dwelling places of that one, living God.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: 14pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: 14pt;">We become the
Temples of the living God. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: 14pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: 14pt;">Which brings
us back to Lent. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: 14pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: 14pt;">In this season
of Lent, we become mindful of this simple fact. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: 14pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: 14pt;">Our bodies are
the temples of that One, living God. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: 14pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: 14pt;">God dwells
within us much as God dwelt in the Temple. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: 14pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: 14pt;">Because God
dwells in us, we have this holiness inherent within us. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: 14pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: 14pt;">We are holy.
Each of us. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: 14pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: 14pt;">Because of
this Presence within us, we find ourselves wanting to cleanse the temple. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: 14pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: 14pt;">We find
ourselves examining ourselves, looking closely at the things over which we trip
and stumble. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: 14pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: 14pt;">We find
ourselves realizing that the clutter of our lives really does distract us from
remembering that God dwells with us and within us. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: 14pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: 14pt;">And when we
realize that, we really do want to work on ourselves. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: 14pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: 14pt;">We work at
trying to simplify our lives—our actual, day-to-day lives, as well as our
spiritual lives. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: 14pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: 14pt;">We want to
actually spend time in prayer, in allowing that living God to dwell fully
within us and to enlighten us. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: 14pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: 14pt;">We
fast—emptying our bodies and purifying ourselves. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: 14pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: 14pt;">We recognize
the wrongs we have done to ourselves and to others. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: 14pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: 14pt;">We realize
that we have allowed this clutter to build up. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: 14pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: 14pt;">We avoid being
overly anxious, we fight our depression we seek help. We become aware of our
passive aggressiveness or our need to control everything. We work hard to not
feel sorry for ourselves. We exercise, and are careful about what we eat. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: 14pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: 14pt;">We realize we
have not loved God or our neighbors. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: 14pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: 14pt;">Or even
ourselves. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: 14pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: 14pt;">Or we have
loved ourselves too much, and not God and our neighbors enough.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: 14pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: 14pt;">Once we have
eliminated the spiritual clutter of our lives, we do truly find our God
dwelling with us. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: 14pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: 14pt;">We find
ourselves worshipping in that Body that cannot be cluttered. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: 14pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: 14pt;">We find a
certain simplicity and beauty in our lives that comes only through spiritual
discipline.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: 14pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: 14pt;">So, as we
continue our journey through Lent, let us, like Jesus, take up the cords and go
through the temple of our own selves. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: 14pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: 14pt;">Let us, like
him, clear away the clutter of our lives. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: 14pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: 14pt;">Let us cleanse
the temple of our own self and make it like the Temple worthy of God.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: 14pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: 14pt;">And when that
happens, we will find ourselves proclaiming, with Psalm 69, “Zeal for your
house will consume me.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: 14pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: 14pt;">For it will.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>Jamie Parsley+http://www.blogger.com/profile/03475578259480661327noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8195442958648580478.post-68269814370619316492024-02-25T17:51:00.000-08:002024-02-28T05:57:06.113-08:002 Lent<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjC251kYibIiGbduGtsJ_Mf27oPF7ZSsdRaLQVTZFvc-BRPEpTa5xIjobIEUrZKZmuCDkClWSWc1R7MU5o-Abg7bQFLI0n86MEJ2dfvHUIUJRwWhfOhAvK2jleogKf_zbPeBca25tcC6-ZecgtKfAYVXopyWhfz5QL-FAIsYIm_oG11Tfs64E1LIih_XAU/s640/takeupyourcross2024.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="640" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjC251kYibIiGbduGtsJ_Mf27oPF7ZSsdRaLQVTZFvc-BRPEpTa5xIjobIEUrZKZmuCDkClWSWc1R7MU5o-Abg7bQFLI0n86MEJ2dfvHUIUJRwWhfOhAvK2jleogKf_zbPeBca25tcC6-ZecgtKfAYVXopyWhfz5QL-FAIsYIm_oG11Tfs64E1LIih_XAU/w400-h300/takeupyourcross2024.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><em style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">February 25,
2024</span></em><p></p>
<p align="center" style="margin: 0in; text-align: center;"><em><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-theme-font: major-fareast;"><o:p> </o:p></span></em></p>
<p align="center" style="margin: 0in; text-align: center;"><em><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-theme-font: major-fareast;">Mark
8.31-38</span></em><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">+ Every week, without fail, I stand here and talk about “following
Jesus.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">After all, it’s the basis of everything I believe as a Christian.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">For me, as you hear me say again and again, being a Christian
equals “following Jesus” or being a “disciple of Jesus”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">And I believe that with all my heart.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">But…but…what I don’t share with you is how difficult it is for me
to say that.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Because, in fact, it is not easy for me to “follow.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">You know me. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">I’m not that guy.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">I don’t like taking orders.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">I don’t do what people want me to do. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">You all figured that out a long time ago. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">And I don’t like following anyone. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">I’m not used to following.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">I find it difficult to follow.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Following, for me anyway, means having to humble myself, having to
slow down. To breath, and to let someone else lead the way.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">And I don’t really enjoy that.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">I’ll be honest: I kind of like doing my own thing. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">It’s like being so used to driving all the time and then finally
having to allow someone else to drive you.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">You find yourself sitting in the passenger seat being critical of
the speed of their driving, how they come up a little too quickly to a stop
sign, how they don’t make the turn signal at the right time.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">When I let someone else drive, I often find myself pumping that
invisible break on the passenger side sometimes. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">For me, that is often the way I feel about following Jesus.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">I often, when following Jesus and trying to live out his teaching,
find myself pumping the invisible break on the passenger side.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">I’m often asking Jesus, “do you know where we’re going? Because it
seems like we’re just circling the block.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">I often find myself thinking, well, I wouldn’t do it this way.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">There are plenty of examples in the Gospels.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Turning the other cheek?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">I wouldn’t normally be all right with that.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Loving my neighbor as myself?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">If I had the choice not to, I’m not sure I would. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Not that one neighbor, any way. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">But this is what it means to follow.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">It means that, pump that invisible break as much as we want, it is
not up to us.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">We are the followers.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">We are the ones who must bring up the rear.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">And doing so is humbling and difficult and hard at times. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">It means we’re not in control. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">And here at St. Stephen’s, where many of us (not just me) have
major control issues, that’s hard for a good many of us. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">In today’s Gospel, we find Jesus explaining to us in very blunt
words what it means to be a disciple. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">For him, being a disciple, means being a follower. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">A follower of him.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">And, as we know, because we’re not the ones in control when it
comes to following Jesus, being a Christian—being a follower of Jesus—means
that we are sometimes being led into some unhappy circumstances.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Being a follower of Jesus doesn’t mean closing ourselves up
intellectually. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">It doesn’t mean we get to stop thinking for ourselves <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Trust me. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">I know too many of these kind of Christians. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">These are the people who think being a Christian means not having
to think anymore. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Just believing that all will be well and there aren’t any
problems. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">I think we all, at times, find ourselves lulled into a false sense
of what it means to be a follower.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">We think that being a follower of Jesus means that everything is
going to be happy-go-lucky and wonderful all the time. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">We think that<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>following
means not really having to think about bad or difficult things anymore.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">It’s easy, after all, to be a lemming. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">But that isn’t the kind of following Jesus wants us to do. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">The kind of follower Jesus wants us to be is not easy. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">For many Christians, they don’t even want to follow Jesus. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">They want to worship Jesus. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">They want to put Jesus up on an inaccessible altar and worship him.
<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Because. . .well. . . as you hear me say on a regular basis, it’s
easy to worship Jesus. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">It’s safe to worship Jesus. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Worshipping Jesus but not following Jesus feels like Christianity.
<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Worshipping Jesus makes one feel like a Christian, without
actually having to do anything as a Christian outside of our own safe little insular
world. world. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Christianity is great when you strive to be pious and holy—or at
least look like you’re pious and holy. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">But actually following Jesus doesn’t have much to do with being
either pious or holy. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">And it sure isn’t safe.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">It’s messy. It’s dirty. And it’s hard. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">It means doing things we might not really want to do because they make
us uncomfortable. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">It means going places we really don’t really want to go.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">And it means thinking in a way that oftentimes seems counter to
what we have been taught being a “good” Christian is and should be. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">It means not just worshiping Jesus as some inaccessible ideal, but
actually trying to BE like Jesus in this world. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">And let’s face it, do we REALLY want to BE like Jesus? <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">It’s hard to have someone else’s standards essentially be my
standards. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">It can be depressing. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Now that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t be joyful in our following of
Jesus. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Yes, we should be filled with a deep and sincere joy. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">But, as the old song goes, no one promised us a rose garden.
Nowhere in scripture have we been promised that life is going to be rosy and
sweet all the time.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Being a follower is not always so much fun. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Being a Christian means not always strolling around in comfort and
joy all the time. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">As we are reminded in this season of Lent and especially in that
week preceding Easter, being a Christian means following Jesus wherever he
goes. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">And where he goes is not to the rose garden. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">It is to the garden of Gethsemane—to that place where he too would
be feeling anguish, where he too would sweat blood, where he too would cry out
in anguish to God.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Following Jesus means essentially being like him.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">And being like him, means having the same relationships he had.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">And when we look at the relationships he had, we realize they were
not normal relationships.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">His relationship with God was intense.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">For Jesus, God was a parent.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">God was “Father,”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Abba!”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">But the relationship was even more than that.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">It was also almost like lovers. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Jesus loved God.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">God loved Jesus.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">And that, too, is what our relationship with God should be like,
as followers of Jesus.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">We should <u>love</u> God.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Our relationship with God should be intense as well. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">It should intimate.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">It should be so intense and intimate that other people will say,
“That’s really weird!” <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">My goal in my relationship with God is that people will say,
“”That’s weird, that relationship Fr. Jamie and God have with each other.” <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">I used to joke about getting t-shirts made for people saying,
JESUS IS MY BOYFRIEND.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">But there is some truth to that.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">We should have a deeply intimate relationship with Jesus, in which
such a t-shirt is funny and weird, but kinda true too. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">But it should be that intense, because God loves us. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Deeply and intensely. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">But it doesn’t end there.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">There is also the relationship Jesus had, because of his intense
and deep love of God, with others. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Jesus loved others. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Intensely.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Deeply.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">He cared for them. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Jesus loves us.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Intensely.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Deeply. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">And because he did, so should we.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Because Jesus loves us, we should love others. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">In everything we do as followers of Jesus, we should let love
always be our driving force. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">It is that love that makes us feel the anguish he feels. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">It is that love that makes us suffer with him. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">It is that love that makes us bleed with him. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Following Jesus means not just following him through the moments
of teaching ministry, not just through the miracles he performed. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">It means following him through the dark days of his last week,
through the blood and excruciating moments of his dying. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">It means that, like him, our love for him causes us take up our
crosses and follow him wherever he might go.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">It means paying the anguished price for love! <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Jesus knew, as we find in our Gospel reading for today, that there
were certain things he had to do. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">He had to “undergo great suffering,” He had to be killed. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">He understood that fully. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">He in turn tells us that we too must realize that we will have to
bear our share of suffering in this life. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">We too will have to take up our own crosses.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">The cross is the reminder to us that following Jesus doesn’t just
mean following him through the rose gardens of our lives. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">It means, following him all the way to that cross. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">It means taking up our own crosses and staggering with him along
that path. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">It means sweating blood with him in the garden of Gethsemane. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">It means crying out with him in anguish. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">It means feeling with him the humiliation and loneliness of being
betrayed—yes, even by one’s own friends and followers, by people we love. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">But, it also means following him to the very end. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Just as the cross is a symbol of death and torture and pain—it is,
for us Christians, also the symbol of the temporal nature of those things. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">The cross is the doorway to the glory that awaits us beyond the
cross. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">The cross is the way we must travel, it is what we must carry, it
is what we must be marked with, if we wish to share in the glory that awaits us
beyond the cross.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">I said earlier that no one promised us a rose garden in scripture.
<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">I should revise that. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">While we might not have been promised a rose garden, we have been
offered glory. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Glory comes to us, when we follow Jesus. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">It comes to us when we let our love for God lead us through the
dark and frightening places this world can throw at us. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">If we let that love guide us, if we let ourselves be led by Jesus,
we will find true and unending glory awaiting us.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">So, as we encounter the crosses of our lives—and we will—as we
allow our love for God to lead us into places we might not want to go, let us
do so with the realization that glory has been offered to us. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">One day, what seems to us a symbol of pain and loss and failure,
will be transformed. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">It will be transformed into a crown upon our heads.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">And, on that day, there all our pains, all of our sorrows will,
once and for all, be replaced with joy. Amen. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>Jamie Parsley+http://www.blogger.com/profile/03475578259480661327noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8195442958648580478.post-51127655165968242502024-02-18T19:35:00.000-08:002024-02-18T19:35:24.824-08:001 Lent<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSqRG268zIcwyNmeIoicXuz4pBSrRwVdlLBDL3vtlXdPmalnSeY5Ui2UvRRx8WxRYCSHDD3aYOoUX3VCM2Wv2xN_ekAzyTJVhWItlPaMlm01eh8tRjGkmpg8_XnnxcC9NRSiXvdFdVgpEFobYmuytwVvXA91Z_olez_j9PfHJgmcOOwbL2tIF1i-0YtEY/s237/Temptation2024.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="237" data-original-width="212" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSqRG268zIcwyNmeIoicXuz4pBSrRwVdlLBDL3vtlXdPmalnSeY5Ui2UvRRx8WxRYCSHDD3aYOoUX3VCM2Wv2xN_ekAzyTJVhWItlPaMlm01eh8tRjGkmpg8_XnnxcC9NRSiXvdFdVgpEFobYmuytwVvXA91Z_olez_j9PfHJgmcOOwbL2tIF1i-0YtEY/w358-h400/Temptation2024.jpg" width="358" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">February 18, 2024</span><p></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><em><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-theme-font: major-fareast;">Genesis 9.8-17; 1 Peter 3.18-22; Mark 1.9-15</span></em><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">+ <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This coming Wednesday at
our Wednesday evening Lente Mass, I will be celebrating an auspicious milestone
in my priestly life. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">I will be celebrating my 2,000 Mass! <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Now I know that probably doesn’t mean a whole lot to anyone other
than me. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">But for me that’s a pretty big deal. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">That’s a lot of masses in my 20 years a priest! <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">I love celebrating milestones like this because they are markers for
our lives. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">They are ways for us to put our lives in perspective. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">They are ways for us to say: this is how far we’ve come. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Which of course is what this season of Lent is all about as well. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">It is a time for us to pause.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">To look around. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">To say, for one moment, here we are. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">We have come this far.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">And we still have something in the future toward which to work. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Most people enter Lent thinking, “it’s going to be doom and gloom
and sadness” all morning at church. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">But, guess what?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">No. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Lent isn’t all doom and gloom. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Certainly, if we were expecting doom and gloom and sadness in our
scripture readings for this morning, well, we don’t get any of that. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Ah, no. Instead, we get… water? <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">We get Noah and the ark? <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">We get a rainbow.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">(Oh, and also the Devil. And temptations. And the desert. But it’s
Lent--what did you expect?) <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Now, this is my way to begin Lent!<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">In our Gospel reading, we get, in a very brief scripture, an
upheaval.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">What? <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">You missed the upheaval in our Gospel reading? <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">You missed the reversal? <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">You missed, in that deceptively simple piece of scripture, a
mirror image of something? <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">It’s easy to miss, after all. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Our Gospel reading is so simple, so sparse. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">But then again, so is haiku.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But let’s look a little
closer at what we’ve just heard and read.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">In today’s Gospel, we find three elements that remind us of
something else. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">We find the devil. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">We find animals. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">And we find angels. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Where else in scripture do we find these same elements? <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Well, we find them all in the Creation story in Genesis, of
course. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">The story of Adam is a story of what? --the devil, of animals and
of angels. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">But that story ends with the devil’s triumph and Adam’s defeat.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">In today’s Gospel, all of that has all been made strangely right. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Jesus—the new Adam—has turned the tables using those exact same
elements. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">We find Jesus not in a lush beautiful Oz-like place like Eden. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Rather we find Jesus with wild animals in that desert—animals who
were created by God and named by Adam, according to the story. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">We find him there waited on by the angels—and let’s not forget
that these same angels turned Adam and Eve away from Eden. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">And there, in that place, he defeats the devil—the same devil who
defeated Adam.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">I have found this juxtaposition between Adam and Jesus to be a
rich source of personal meditation, because it really is very meaningful to us
who follow Jesus. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">In this story of Jesus we find, yet again, that it is never the
devil who wins.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">It always, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">always</i> God
who wins in the end.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">God always wins.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">That is what the story of Jesus is always about—God always winning
in the end. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Jesus tells us again and again that God will always win. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">If we lived with the story of Adam, if we lived in the shadow of
his defeat, the story is a somewhat bleak one. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">There doesn’t seem to be much hope. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">The relationship ruined with Adam hasn’t been made right. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">But today we find that the relationship has been righted. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">The story isn’t a story of defeat after all. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">It isn’t a time to despair, but to rejoice. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">The “devil” has been defeated. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">And this is very important.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Now, by the Devil, I am not necessarily talking about a
supernatural being who rules the underworld. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">I’m not talking about horns, forked tail and a pitchfork. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">I’m not talking about Hot Stuff the Devil. Remember him? (I was
once, back in my twenties, going to get a tattoo of Hot Stuff after someone
jokingly said that Casper the Friendly Ghost would not look so good on my very
white skin).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">By Devil I mean the personification of all that we hold evil.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">This time of Lent—this time for us in the desert, this time of
fasting and mortification—is a time for us to confront the demons in our lives.
<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">We all have them.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">In our wonderful collect for today, we prayed to God to “come
quickly to help us who are assaulted by many temptations.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">The poet that I am, I love the traditional language of Rite I
better here.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">“Make speed to help thy servants who are assaulted by manifold
temptations.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">We all understand that term “manifold temptations.” <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">We all have those triggers in our lives that disrupt and cause
upheaval. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Sometimes this upheaval is mental and emotional, sometimes it is
actual. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">We have our own demons, no matter what name we might call them.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">I certainly have my own demons in my life and sometimes I am
shocked by the way they come upon me. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">I am amazed by how they lay me low and turn my life upside down. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">They represent for me everything dark and evil and wrong in my
life and in the world around me. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">They are sometimes memories of wrongs done to me, or wrongs I’ve
done to others.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Sometimes they are the
shortcomings of my own life—of being painfully reminded of the fact that I have
failed and failed miserably at times in my life. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">They are reminders to me that this world is still a world of
darkness at times—a world in which people and nature can hurt and harm and
destroy. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">And that power and influence of evil over my life is, I admit,
somewhat strong.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Trying to break the power of our demons sometimes involves going
off into the deserts of our lives, breaking ourselves bodily and spiritually
and, armed with those spiritual tools we need, confronting and defeating those
powers that make us less than who we are.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">For me, I do find consolation when I am confronted by the demons
of my life. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">I am reminded that there is no reason to despair when these demons
come into our lives, because the demons, essentially, are illusions. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">I came across a cartoon recently that I had as its caption:</span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6HFUPVAv2BAWPWGXKbYsKi_VxWQZaVpG59m5NHEZqYGDA0gwL0PBWEfTmCNiCEPdnlAm9MANVLVOTNWE4MUmikfBWVSVZwv2etSVNkttwlWcnhMNI4QdPuGdC1QScYrRGdlLy2EXno0FSwKgJD8HL0jZnbg4PUjDs4X7NsxHk0sIkYCRc0_ydzQMLyQY/s1438/Hellisempty.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1438" data-original-width="1153" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6HFUPVAv2BAWPWGXKbYsKi_VxWQZaVpG59m5NHEZqYGDA0gwL0PBWEfTmCNiCEPdnlAm9MANVLVOTNWE4MUmikfBWVSVZwv2etSVNkttwlWcnhMNI4QdPuGdC1QScYrRGdlLy2EXno0FSwKgJD8HL0jZnbg4PUjDs4X7NsxHk0sIkYCRc0_ydzQMLyQY/s320/Hellisempty.jpg" width="257" /></a></div><br /><o:p></o:p><p></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">HELL IS EMPTY! <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">ALL THE DEMONS ARE IN YOUR HEAD!<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">It’s true. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">The demons are essentially ghosts. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">They are wispy fragments of my memory. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">They have no real power over me despite what they make think
sometimes. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Because the demons have been defeated by God.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Again, returning to our collect for today, we prayed, “as you know
the weaknesses of each of us, let each one find you mighty to save.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">God <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">has</i> been “mighty to
save” us. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">The demons of our lives have been defeated by our God. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">So, as we wander about in the spiritual desert of Lent, let us
truly be driven, as Jesus was. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Let the Spirit drive us into that place—to that place wherein we
confront the demons of our lives. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">But let us do so unafraid. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">The Spirit is the driving force and, knowing that, we are
strengthened. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Let us be driven into that place. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Let us confront our demons. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Let us confront the very devil itself. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Let us face the manifold temptations of our lives unafraid,
knowing full well that God is “mighty to save.” <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">After all, Easter is coming.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Lent is not eternal.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Easter is eternal.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">This time is only a temporary time of preparation.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">So, let us wander through this season confident that it is simply
something we must endure so that we can, very soon, delight in the eternal
glories of a morning light that is about to dawn into our lives. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">“The time is fulfilled,” we can say with all confidence.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">“The Reign of God has come near.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">It is time to repent.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">It is time to turn around. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">It is time to believe this incredibly good news! <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Let us pray. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Holy God, bless us. Bless us as we walk this way of self-denial
during these days of Lent. Help us to look ahead—toward the Cross, yes, but
beyond the cross, to the Light, to your Light, the Light that was revealed in
the days following Jesus’ encounter with the Cross. Help us to keep our eyes on
your Light and, in our following of Jesus, to remember that we are following
him not to the death of the Cross but to the eternal life of the Resurrection.
It is in his name, that we pray. Amen. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>Jamie Parsley+http://www.blogger.com/profile/03475578259480661327noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8195442958648580478.post-75402048410960070892024-02-14T20:30:00.000-08:002024-02-16T08:41:44.201-08:00Ash Wednesday<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhr2rQS4iFuvIRyWc6AdtFEqs8XE0sNEo23_KN2zCP9zBtmxdXDbhLHbjWAXR7HlN3eAVJh-juzGtwtJ6fNaGZfgnsZHd3LjMhfpTN9eNhP2IJ18lQeBnmmXv2ZGA0exxl6PJHBy3LfLfJaS7hAUyasWMDHu-XWFIKpuJbgPh5uO4gaZlB0DMgGKwlrkXs/s550/MomentoMori2024.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="550" data-original-width="550" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhr2rQS4iFuvIRyWc6AdtFEqs8XE0sNEo23_KN2zCP9zBtmxdXDbhLHbjWAXR7HlN3eAVJh-juzGtwtJ6fNaGZfgnsZHd3LjMhfpTN9eNhP2IJ18lQeBnmmXv2ZGA0exxl6PJHBy3LfLfJaS7hAUyasWMDHu-XWFIKpuJbgPh5uO4gaZlB0DMgGKwlrkXs/s320/MomentoMori2024.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14pt; text-align: center;">February 14, 2024</span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14.0pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span><i style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">2
Corinthians 5:20b-6:10;</span></i><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14pt; text-align: center;"> <i>Matthew 6.1-6,16-21</i></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14.0pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></i><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14pt; text-align: left;">+ One of my favorite things to do in preparation
for Ash Wednesday si preparing the ashes we use for this liturgy.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14pt;">Last night, we had our Shrove Tuesday panske suuper.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14pt;">At the end of it, we “buried” the Alleluia, and
then we all processed outside to the front of the church, where we burned last
years palms.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14pt;">This morning I came in and took the ashes of those
palms and shifted them with a sifter and made the fine ash we will be using
tonight to mark ourselves.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14pt;">I love doing things like that.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14pt;">It’s very meditative.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14pt;">And doing so makes me very mindful of the fact that
these ashes we use are important to what this season of Lent is all about.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14pt;">In fact, preparing these ashes reminded me of a meme
that was going around a few years ago.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14pt;">The caption read I JUST TRIED THAT NEW APP THAT
SHOWED WHAT I</span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgU-pckS8UEVV6-usKNt1Ma_0mHFSOo3ZhJ_26xW0NdULC-k2b3X6k_pOPPrfbsyPB08FGuxCyokurFVk2MfNJitLuOtOeDZ9wLvcUHTr8D3mlisI2UFKd0dEgHCfANs_6LS-g8sPJ1hAaKrMDT-bGase78Obn-PZEgskb6GoNV53AqudB0jtoBOdn1gQ/s750/40yearsmeme.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="520" data-original-width="750" height="222" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgU-pckS8UEVV6-usKNt1Ma_0mHFSOo3ZhJ_26xW0NdULC-k2b3X6k_pOPPrfbsyPB08FGuxCyokurFVk2MfNJitLuOtOeDZ9wLvcUHTr8D3mlisI2UFKd0dEgHCfANs_6LS-g8sPJ1hAaKrMDT-bGase78Obn-PZEgskb6GoNV53AqudB0jtoBOdn1gQ/s320/40yearsmeme.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /> WILL LOOK LIKE IN 40 YEARS<p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14pt;">And the photo was of a pile of ashes.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14pt;">It’s kind funny.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14pt;">And it’s kinda sobering.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14pt;">Because, it’s real.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14pt;">It is the perfect meme for Ash Wednesday.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14pt;">Because </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14pt;">Ash Wednesday—and these ashes we are using
tonight—are also ways in which we too face the harsh reality of our lives.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14.0pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14pt;">They
are reminders that we, one day, will die.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14.0pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14pt;">That
yes, in 40 years the bodies of most of us who are here this evening will, in
fact, be ashes.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14.0pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14pt;">Now
hopefully that doesn’t shock you too much.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14.0pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14pt;">I
hate to be the one to tell you that News, just in case you hadn’t realized that
before.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14.0pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14pt;">We
are all, one day, going to die.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14.0pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14pt;">The
traditional phrase for a reminder of our death is Momento Mori.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14.0pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14pt;">Back
“in the day”—we’re talking the medieval and renaissance day—it was common for
people to keep some kind of momenti mori around—a reminder of death.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14.0pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14pt;">Often,
that was a human skull- a real human skull.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14.0pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14pt;">Of
course, when you think of it, what makes a better reminder of death than a
skull?</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14.0pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14pt;">In
those days, one was encouraged to look at the skull as one would look into a
mirror, realizing that what one was looking at was really themselves.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14.0pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14pt;">Well,
tonight, we have our own momento mori.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14.0pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14pt;">These
ashes that we are about to receive are, truly our momento mori—our reminder
that we are al going to die one day.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14.0pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14pt;">To
some extent, as morbid as it might seem, I think it wouldn’t hurt us to think
about and ponder such things in our own lives.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14.0pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14pt;">In
our lives, we do go about oblivious to death.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14.0pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14pt;">We
go around as though we are invincible, that we are eternal, that this moment in
which we are living will last forever.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14.0pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14pt;">As
much as we might wish for that and hope for that, the fact is, it is simply not
the case.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14.0pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14pt;">We
don’t realize that we are bones and ash essentially.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14.0pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14pt;">In
this service this evening, we are reminded in no uncertain terms that one day
each every person in this church this evening will stop breathing and will die.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14pt;">It’s
sobering, but it’s what we are reminded of this evening and throughout this
season of Lent.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14pt;">We
will stop breathing.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14pt;">We
will die.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14pt;">Our
bodies will be made into something that will be disposed of—either by burying
in the ground, or by being cremated.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14pt;">This
coming June, I will be celebrating the 20</span><sup style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">th</sup><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14pt;"> anniversary of my ordination
to the Priesthood.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14pt;">In
these last 20 years of my life as a priest, I have presided over many, many
funerals, with embalmed bodies and cremated bodies.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14pt;">And,
let me tell you, doing so certainly puts into perspective the fact that we are
all physically disposable.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14pt;">With
cremation so prevalent these days, out momemto mori is not so much a human
skull anymore.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14pt;">Our
momento mori is nowadays ashes.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14pt;">That
essentially is what Ash Wednesday and the season of Lent are all about.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14pt;">It
is a time for us to stop, to ponder, to take a look around us and to take a
long, hard, serious look at ourselves and our relationship with God.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14pt;">It
isn’t easy to do.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14pt;">It
isn’t easy to look at where we’ve failed in our lives and in our relationship
with others.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14pt;">It
isn’t easy to look at ourselves as disposable physical beings that can so
easily be burned to ashes or buried.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14pt;">It
isn’t easy to imagine there will be a day—possibly sooner than later—when life
as we know it right now will end.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14pt;">It
isn’t easy to shake ourselves from our complacent lives.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14pt;">Because
we like complacency.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14pt;">We
like predictability.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14pt;">We
like our comfortable existence.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14pt;">However,
we need to be careful when we head down this path.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14pt;">As
we consider and ponder these things, we should not allow ourselves to become
depressed or hopeless.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14pt;">We’re
Christians, after all!</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14pt;">Yes,
our mortality is frightening.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14pt;">Yes,
it is sobering and depressing to think that this life we find so normal and
comfortable will one day end. </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14pt;">But
this season is Lent is also a time of preparation.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14pt;">It
is a preparation for the glory of Easter.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14pt;">It
is a preparation for Easter and the life after death.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14pt;">It
would be depressing and bleak if ashes and the skull were the end of our story.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14pt;">It
would be sad and sorrowful if all we are reminded of when we ponder these ashes
is the finality of this life.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14pt;">It
would be horrible if we were not able to see the momento moris of our lives as
gateways to something larger and more wonderful.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14pt;">But
for us, death is a gateway.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14pt;">Death
does lead not to eternal non-existence, but rather to eternal existence—a
larger life in God, to the resurrected life in God.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14pt;">The
darkness of death leads to the glorious light of Easter.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14pt;">What
I like about Lent is that is shows us that, even though we are living in the
glorious light of Easter, bestowed on us at our Baptism, it’s not always sunshine
and flowers and frivolous happiness all the time.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14pt;">If
our Christian faith was only that, it would be a frivolous faith.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14pt;">It
wouldn’t be taken seriously because it would ignore a very important part of
our lives.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14pt;">But
Lent shows us that, as Christians, we are to reflect about where we have
failed—where we have failed God, failed others and failed ourselves.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14pt;">And
it reminds us that death—death of our loved ones and our own deaths—is simply a
fact of life.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14pt;">An
ugly fact of life, but a fact nonetheless.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14pt;">It
is a part of who we are and what we are.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14pt;">It
forces us to realize that we are wholly dependent upon God for our life and for
what comes after death.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14pt;">Of
course Ash Wednesday is not a time to disparage our bodies, to believe that our
bodies are some kind of prisons for our souls.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14pt;">All
we do on this Ash Wednesday is acknowledge the fact that we are mortal, that
our bodies have limits and because they do, we too are limited.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">Lent is not a time
for us to deny our bodies or see our bodies as sinful, disgraceful things.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">Rather it is
simply a matter of not making our bodies our treasures. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">Jesus tells us in
tonight’s Gospel not to lay up our treasures on earth, in corrupting things,
but to store up our treasures in heaven.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">A lot of us put
more store in our bodies than we need.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">We sometimes
don’t take great joy in our bodies at all, but rather abuse our bodies or
become inordinately obsessed with our bodies and in what used to be called “the
way of the flesh.” <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">We eat too much.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">We drink too
much. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">We get lazy
sometimes.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">And we let our
bodies go sometimes. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">This time of Lent
is a time for us to find a balance with our physical selves as well as with our
spiritual selves. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">That is really
the true meaning of Lent.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">Where are our
treasures? <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">Are they here, in
the corruptible, or in they in the incorruptible? <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">This is the
question we must ask during Lent.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">This is the
question we should be pondering throughout this season. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">Where are our
treasures? <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">What are the
things that really matter? <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">o, as we head
into this season of Lent, let it be a truly holy time.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">Let it be a time
in which we ponder whatever momento mori we might have in our lives.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">Let us remember
that, yes, we are but dust, but that we are also so much more than just dust. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">Let Lent be a
time in which we recognize that as limited as we might be—whether limited physically
or emotionally or spiritually—we are all still fully loved children of our God.
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">With that in mind,
reminded of that, let this holy season Lent truly be a time of reflection and
self-assessment. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">Let it truly be a
time of growth—both in our self-awareness and in our awareness of God’s loving presence
in our life. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">Let us observe a
holy Lent.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">And by doing so,
let us be truly holy. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">Amen. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14.0pt;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14.0pt;"><br /></span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14.0pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p><o:p> </o:p></p>Jamie Parsley+http://www.blogger.com/profile/03475578259480661327noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8195442958648580478.post-35144231391866481772024-01-21T17:56:00.000-08:002024-01-21T17:56:30.302-08:003 Epiphany<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj41YnnPI-eMVQRtw2_QVojAKtrUwtzF0k1FSN0uZlPpRl3bRsoEgajJ-P2SFmLMXQlBrxNGDKR22JZ8VR-_5rJ88n0447_GMYPK69KO3HnX9U_YztI_aH6eLIGPC8usw7smbcQZWUt-bhhATXZu_9ImsCIUq22RhcSLO3CDBrUkkrv2gtIQaZ5dhnydAw/s500/Repent.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="476" data-original-width="500" height="381" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj41YnnPI-eMVQRtw2_QVojAKtrUwtzF0k1FSN0uZlPpRl3bRsoEgajJ-P2SFmLMXQlBrxNGDKR22JZ8VR-_5rJ88n0447_GMYPK69KO3HnX9U_YztI_aH6eLIGPC8usw7smbcQZWUt-bhhATXZu_9ImsCIUq22RhcSLO3CDBrUkkrv2gtIQaZ5dhnydAw/w400-h381/Repent.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt; text-align: center;">January 21, 2024</span><p></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><i><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Mark 1.14-20</span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">+
A few weeks ago I mentioned that I am shocked and appalled by the rise of antisemitism
in this country and the world.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">I
also said that it was something that I simply did not understand.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">I
do not understand how Christians, who follow and worship the Jewish Son of God
can be antisemitic.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">By
doing so, we essentially deny everything about who we are and where we came
from.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">It
is important for all of us to view our Christian faith with a Jewish lens.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">After
all, I am amazed how we have forgotten—and I mean, really forgotten—our Jewish
roots as Christians.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">And
reading scripture with this Jewish lens—both the Hebrew scriptures and the New
Testament—really changes that perspective to some extent.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Changes
it in a wonderful way.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Even
seeing Jesus himself from a Jewish perspective is amazing.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Seeing
Jesus as a Jew—this Jewish Jesus, seeing him as a fulfillment of the Jewish
expectations of the Messiah, the Son of God, the Anointed One of God, just
gives it all more meaning, more depth, more purpose and more history.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">We
are inheritors of a truly rich legacy!</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">And
it’s wonderful.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"> T</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">o
some extent, when we do so—when change our perspective—it feels we’ve turned
around and seen all of this for the first time.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">It
was all right there.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">We
just needed to turn and see it.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Certainly,
this perspective, this “turning around” is what Jesus calls us to do again and
again throughout the Gospel.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">And
in today’s Gospel is no exception.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">In
it, we find Jesus essentially doing the same thing.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">He’s
asking his followers—and us—to turn around, to wake up, to see anew.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">And
he does it with one little word.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"> </span><b><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">“Repent.”</span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">I
think in our contemporary Christian Understanding, we have found this word
hijacked a bit. </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Repent
is often seen as a shaming word.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">We
seem to hear it only in the context of “repenting” of our sins.</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">And
certainly that’s a correct usage of the word.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">When
we turn from our sins—from all the wrongdoings we’ve done in life—we are
repenting.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">But
I think it’s a good thing to examine the word a bit closer and see it in a
context all of its own.</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">The
Greek word we find in this Gospel is μετανοειτε (</span><i style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">metanoiein)</i><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">, which means to change our mind.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">But
the word Jesus probably used was probably based on the Hebrew word, </span><i style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Shubh</i><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">, which the</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">great theologian, Reginald Fuller, translates
as “to turn around 180 degrees, to reorient one’s whole attitude toward Yahweh
in the face of the God’s coming kingdom.”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">When
we approach this word with this definition, all</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">
</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">of a sudden it takes on a whole new meaning and attitude.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">What
is Jesus telling us to do?</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Jesus
is telling us to turn around and see, for the Kingdom of God is near.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Wake
up and look, he’s saying</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">We
must turn round and face this mystery that is God.</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">We
must adjust our thinking away from all the worldly things we find ourselves
swallowed up within and focus our vision on God.</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Or,
rather, we should adjust our thinking, our vision of the world, within the
context of God.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">However
you want to look at it, it is about seeing anew.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">It
is about adjusting to a new perspective.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">It
is about changing the way we think and see and do things.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">As
you can imagine, this kind of command isn’t a popular one.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">We
don’t like change of this sort.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">We
are a complacent lot for the most part.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">We
enjoy our predicable, daily lives.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">I
certainly am the most guilty of this.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">I
find a certain comfort in my daily schedule.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">And
having to see everything anew from this uniquely Jewish perspective is
sometimes hard.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">It’s
hard to re-see things I thought I knew.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">It’s
hard to have readjust and redefine things that I thought I knew well.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">I
was happy in my complacency.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">I
was fine when I didn’t have to think too deeply about God…or anything else for
that matter.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">This
of course brings up probably our biggest point.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">For
the most part, we don’t think.</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">We
don’t have rational, concentrated thoughts about our faith or the world.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">We
are usually thinking about what is right before us right now.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">We
are thinking about what we are going to do next, what we are going to eat or
drink for lunch or supper.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">We
think about what our children are doing or not doing or about what our spouses
are doing or not doing, or about the work at hand.</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">We
are thinking about what needs to be thought about at that moment.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">And
there’s nothing wrong with any of that.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">But,
in that crush of thoughts, thoughts of God don’t come up so easily.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">What
Jesus is telling us in today’s Gospel, when he tells us to repent, is,
essentially, this:</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">He
is telling us to be mindful.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Be
mindful of God.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Be
mindful of the good news.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">And
what is the good news?</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">The
good news is that the Kingdom of God is near.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">God
has drawn close to us.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">God
is near.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">So,
be aware.</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">What
we find here is a very simple lesson in how to live fully and completely.</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Essentially,
Jesus is telling us, </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Repent</span></b><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Wake
up.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Turn
around and see.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">God
is here.</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Jesus
is saying to us, Stop living foggy, complacent lives. Repent.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">He
is saying, Quit being drones, mindlessly going about your duties.</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Wake
up and think.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Open
your eyes and see.</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">God
is with you.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">God
is here, speaking to you words of joy and gladness.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Listen.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Hear
what God is saying.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Look.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">See
God walking in your midst.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">And
when we see God, when we hear God speaking to us, we find that we too want to
do what those disciples in our Gospel reading for today did.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">We
want to follow after the One God sent to us.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">We
want to be followers of Jesus—this Jewish Messiah.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">And
we want to help others be followers of Jesus.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">We
want to help others see that God is near.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Being
followers of Jesus means that we are awake and we see.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">So
let us truly follow Jesus in our lives.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">We
don’t need to do it in a flamboyant fashion.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">But
we can do it in flamboyant fashion if that works for us.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">We
can truly follow Jesus by striving to be spiritually awake.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">We
can follow Jesus by allowing ourselves to spiritually see.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">And
when we hear and see—awake, aware, not sleeping spiritually—it is then that we
can become truly effective fishers in helping others see as well.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Let
us pray.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Holy
God, God of Israel, God of our ancestors, let us heed the words of your
Messiah, your Chosen One. Help us to repent, to turn around, and see so that we
can be aware of the fact that your Kingdom is drawing close to us, and that you
are walking in our midst. We ask this in the name of Jesus our Messiah. Amen.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p><h4><br /></h4>Jamie Parsley+http://www.blogger.com/profile/03475578259480661327noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8195442958648580478.post-53501477610723881412024-01-14T15:00:00.000-08:002024-01-21T17:56:51.723-08:00The Baptism of Our Lord<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKeknT8cyyDYmMNK0o3Wu3d7eXTC1q0XxTDGq4TtAZSYBgTezlLaZZvwt8xKPMsRzp-YCehv0BOZ13igfxJ2oTOmU6ZucBIDBHlmotBxnBIDeb15lGFcf3typLJQOkt_PiDPpcQ8EWtjJj68995i9tU6T8AC56QgPfvLjNou27w6ycQafbo2Yo1kv0Grs/s430/baptismofjesus2024.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="430" data-original-width="360" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKeknT8cyyDYmMNK0o3Wu3d7eXTC1q0XxTDGq4TtAZSYBgTezlLaZZvwt8xKPMsRzp-YCehv0BOZ13igfxJ2oTOmU6ZucBIDBHlmotBxnBIDeb15lGFcf3typLJQOkt_PiDPpcQ8EWtjJj68995i9tU6T8AC56QgPfvLjNou27w6ycQafbo2Yo1kv0Grs/w335-h400/baptismofjesus2024.jpg" width="335" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">January 14, 2024</span><p></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><em><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">Isaiah 42.1-9; Matthew 3.13-17<o:p></o:p></span></em></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">+ Today, of course, we’re celebrating
the Baptism of Jesus! <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">And because we are, it is important for
us to reminded of how important the event of our baptism was in the ministry we
do and the work we are called to do as a congregation. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">Because this is what it’s all about for
us as Christians. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">All ministry—the ministry we all do
together—stems from that transformative event of our Baptism. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In fact, to be baptized means, essentially, to
be called to ministry. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">When we look at our spiritual lives and
our ministries in the “big picture,” we cannot do so without seeing that big picture
circling and being centered on the singular event of our baptism.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">For those of you who have visited my office
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>you have no doubt seen my baptismal
certificate on my wall. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">It is there to remind me and to help me
commemorate that incredible event in my life 54 years ago next month—on
February 8<sup>th</sup>—this event that changed me and formed me as a Christian,
as a follower of Jesus.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">And, this gives me another opportunity
to remind you, if you haven’t done so yet, to do a bit of detective work and
find the date of your baptism as well and to share it with me or James so we
can commemorate it and celebrate it. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">After all, everything we do as
Christians should come from the joy and amazing beauty of that simple event.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">As you all know, as you have heard me
preach from this pulpit many, many times, probably to the point you start
rolling your eyes, Baptism, for me anyway, is not a sweet little christening
event for us as Christians. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">It is not a quaint little service of
dedication we do. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">For us Episcopalians, it a radical
event in our lives as Christians. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">It is the event from which everything
we do and believe flows. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">It was the day we were welcomed as
loved children of God.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">And it was the day we began following
Jesus. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">And when we look at the actual service
of Baptism in the Book of Common Prayer, the words of that service drive home
to us how important that event is.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">For example, after the Baptism, when
the priest traces a cross on the newly baptized person’s forehead, she or he
says, “You are sealed by the Holy Spirit in Baptism and marked as Christ’s own
for ever.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">You have heard me preach on those words
many times before.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">And trust me, I will preach them again and
again.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">Because, these words are important. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">I will preach about them because they are
probably the most important words we are ever going to hear in our lives. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">You are marked as Christ’s own forever!
<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">That is not just some nice little
sentiment. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">Those words convey that something
transformational and amazing has happened in the life of that person. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">This is essential to our belief of what
happens at baptism.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">In baptism, we are marked as Christ’s
own. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">For ever. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">It is a bond that can never be broken. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">We can try to break it as we please. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">We can struggle under that bond. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">We can squirm and resist it. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">We can try to escape it. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">But the simple fact is this: we can’t. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">For ever is for ever.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">On this Sunday on which we commemorate
Jesus’ own baptism—on this Sunday in which we remember the fact that Jesus led
the way through those waters of baptism and showed us a glimpse of all that
happens in this singular event, we should remember and think about what
happened at own baptisms. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">Yes, we might not actually remember the
actual event. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">But the great thing about baptism is
that, our own individual baptismal event was, for the most part, just like
everyone else’s.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">In those waters, God spoke to us the
words God spoke to Jesus in today’s Gospel reading.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">“This is my child, my beloved, in whom
I am well pleased.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">In those waters, the words we heard in
our reading from Isaiah were affirmed in us as well. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="background: ; color: #010000; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Here is my servant, whom I uphold,</span></i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: #010000; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><br />
<span style="background: ;"> my chosen, in whom my soul
delights;</span><br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
<!--[if !supportLineBreakNewLine]--><br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
<!--[endif]--></span></i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">Those words are our words.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">Those words were spoken to us in those
waters. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">In those waters, we were all made
equal. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">In those waters, the same water washed
all of us—no matter who are. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">In those waters, there are no class
distinctions, no hatred, or discrimination or racism or homophobia or transphobia
or sexism or ableism <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>or war or violence.
Or walls. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">In those waters, we are all equal to
one another and we are all equally loved.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">In a few moments, we will process back
to the baptismal font and renew the vows we made at baptism. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">When we are done, I will sprinkle you
with water from the font. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">The sprinkling of water, like all our
signs and actions that we do in this church, is not some strange practice a few
of us High Church-minded people do. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">That water that comes to us this
morning is a stark reminder of those waters we were washed in at Baptism—those
waters that made us who we are as Christians, those waters in which we all
stand on equal ground, with no distinctions between us.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">Here at St. Stephen’s, all of our
ministry—every time we seek to serve Christ and further the Kingdom of God in
our midst—is a continuation of the celebration of baptism. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">Sometimes we lose sight of that. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">Sometimes we forget what it is that
motivates us and charges us to do that wonderful work.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">Sometimes we forget that our ministry
as baptized people is a ministry to stand up and speak out against injustice.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">The water of our baptism is a stark
reminder to us of our call to the ministry of justice. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">There is a reason the baptismal font in
the narthex—the place we actually baptize—is always uncovered and always filled
with fresh, blessed water. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">Again, this is not some quaint, Hug
Church tradition that spiky Fr. Jamie introduced here.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">This is a very valid and real reminder
that in that place, in those waters, we began to do the radical things we are
called to us as Christians. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">It is good for us to take that water
and bless ourselves, and with it to be renewed for our call to justice. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">It is good for us to be occasionally
sprinkled with water as a reminder of what we must still do in this world <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">It is good to feel that cold water on
our fingers and on our foreheads and on our faces as a reminder of our equality
and our commitment to a God of love and justice. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">And, as you have heard me say many,
many times, it is good to remember the date of our baptism and to celebrate
that day, just as we would a birthday or a wedding anniversary. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">Today, on this first Sunday in
Epiphany, we start out on the right note. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">We start out celebrating. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">We start our commemorating the baptism
of Jesus in the river Jordan. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">And by doing so, we commemorate our own
baptism as well.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">In our collect today, we prayed to God
to “Grant that all who are baptized into [Jesus’] Name maybe keep the covenant
that they have made, and boldly confess him as Lord and Saviour.” <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">That should be our prayer as well today
and always. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">We pray that we may keep this Baptismal
covenant in which we seek to follow Jesus and serve all people equally and
fully in his name, no matter who they are. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">We pray that, in keeping this covenant,
we may continue to welcome all those who need to be welcomed, love each other
and those who come to us, to respect and serve each other, and, yes, to honor
the lives of those who have been cast off and abandoned by this world. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">And we pray that we may boldly live out
our covenant by all that we do as Christians in seeking out and helping others
in love and compassion and justice.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">May we always celebrate that wonderful
baptismal event in our lives. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">And may we each strive to live out that
baptism in our radical ministry of love and service of God and of one another. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">Amen.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>Jamie Parsley+http://www.blogger.com/profile/03475578259480661327noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8195442958648580478.post-58031953502137154992024-01-07T11:58:00.000-08:002024-01-07T11:58:44.108-08:00Epiphany<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhS8r63q65-qVodlJ_tQWYjQf9lEcN7LmgI8EsTDVWaPfeVa9BlpyD88f-SnNiULuX60P_CRE-YNVSNkiC4NODkhPbr8TDlSzzkk-gwK9eOFMW5ATNh1tnHdAViaBbEmErxkuc0TNMKIm8pHOrdYvcnEHxQ-e_fIcrqpQ6mARrBGEIKC8qWZxKEttJjOoU/s1440/Epiphany2024.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1440" data-original-width="1440" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhS8r63q65-qVodlJ_tQWYjQf9lEcN7LmgI8EsTDVWaPfeVa9BlpyD88f-SnNiULuX60P_CRE-YNVSNkiC4NODkhPbr8TDlSzzkk-gwK9eOFMW5ATNh1tnHdAViaBbEmErxkuc0TNMKIm8pHOrdYvcnEHxQ-e_fIcrqpQ6mARrBGEIKC8qWZxKEttJjOoU/w400-h400/Epiphany2024.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />January 7, 2024<p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span><i style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Matthew
2.1-12</span></i></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">+
We just heard in our Gospel reading this very strange but very familiar story
about these wise men who traveled a great distance under worse conditions than
anything I could even imagine.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">You
gotta give the Magi credit.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">It
would take great faith and great bravery to load up everything, including
valuables like gold and spices into that time of hijacking and robbery, and
just head off into the unknown. Following a star.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">But
these Magi did just that.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">These
“wise” men did something that most of us now days would think was actually
naïve and dangerous.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Originally,
of course, the word used for these men was “astrologers,” which does add an
interesting dimension to what’s occurring here.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Astrologers
certainly would make sense.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Astrologers
certainly would have been aware of this star that appeared and they would have
been able to see in that star a unique sign—a powerful enough of a sign that
they packed up and went searching for it.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">And
it certainly seems like it was a great distance.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">They
probably came from Persia, which is now modern-day Iran.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">And
they would’ve come in a caravan of others.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">These
Magi are mysterious characters, for sure.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">We
popularly see them as the three wise men, but if you notice in our Gospel
reading for today, it doesn’t say anything about there being three of them.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">There
might have been four or five or even two of them for all we know.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Certainly,
it might seem strange that I am talking about all of this today. </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Why
are we talking about the Christ child and the Magi?</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">It’s
the beginning of January, after all.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Christmas
already feels long over.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Most
of us have put away our Christmas decorations.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Christmas trees
came down quickly in the first few days after Christmas, the rest in the days
immediately after New Years.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">(New
Years seems like a long time ago too)</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Since
we’ve been hearing about Christmas for months, we are maybe a little happy to
see the Christmas season go away for another year by this time.</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">We’re
ready to put those trappings aside and move on.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">The
fact is: the Christmas season, for the Church, began on Christmas Eve and ended
yesterday, on January 6.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Yesterday
was the feast of the Epiphany, which we are commemorating today.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Until
Epiphany, extended one day, it’s still Christmas officially.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">The
greens are still up (at least until after Mass today)</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">But,
I think Epiphany is important for us, and so we’re gonna talk about it today.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">And
we’re still gonna Proclaim the Date of Easter, Bless the Chalk, mark the lintel
and have 3 Kings Cake.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">So,
what is the Epiphany really?</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Well,
the word itself—Epiphany—means “manifestation” or “appearing.”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">In
this context, it means the manifestation of Christ among us.</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">God’s
own Christ, God’s own anointed One, God’s very Son, has appeared to us.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">And
in the story that we hear this morning, it is the appearing of God not only to
the Jews, but to the non-Jews, as well, to the Gentiles, which we find
represented in the Magi—those mysterious men from the East.</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">That
is also is very fortuitous to us on this Sunday in 2024.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">If
you watched the news and paid close attention, you no doubt heard about the
awful rise of anti-Semitism in our country and in the world over the last
several months.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">I
have to say, anti-Semitism is something I simply do not understand.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">I
do not understand how Christians—people who profess to be followers of
Jesus—can be anti-Semites.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">I
hate to break this news to those Christians with anti-Semitic beliefs but—Jesus
was a Jew.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">And
not just any Jew.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">He
was the King of the Jews.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">And
that title alone, inscribed on the board affixed to the cross on which he died,
could also be viewed as a form of anti-Semitism.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">I
am going to be blunt on this Sunday.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">You
cannot be a Christian and be anti-Semitic.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">You
cannot be a Christian and a Nazi.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">You just can’t.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">It’s
just not possible.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">We
are all inheritors of Judaism.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">We
are all children of the God of Israel.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">And
my prayer on this Feast of Epiphany is that that very statement—one cannot be a
follower of the Jewish Jesus and still be an anti-Semite—will come as an “epiphany.”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Epiphany,
after all, is all about the manifestation of God in our midst.</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Epiphany
is a moment of realization.</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">In
this feast we realize that God is truly among us—all of us, no matter our race or
religion or our understanding of this event.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Epiphany
is the realization that God is among us in the person of this little Jewish child,
Jesus.</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Over
the last month or so, we, as the Church, have gone through a variety of
emotions.</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Advent
was a time of expectation.</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">We
were waiting expectantly for God to come to us.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Christmas
was the time of awe.</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">God
was among us and there was something good and wonderful about this fact.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Epiphany,
however, gets the rap for being sort of anti-climactic.</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">It
is the time in which we settle down into the reality of what has come upon
us.</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">We
realize what has happened and we accept it.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">A
bit of the awe is still there.</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">A
bit of wonder still lingers.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">In
this morning’s Gospel, the Magi </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">are
overcome with joy when they see the star stop over Bethlehem.</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">But,
for the most part, despite the joy they felt, we are now moving ahead.</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">There
are no more angels singing on high for us.</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">The
miraculous star has begun to fade by this point.</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">The
Magi </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">have presented their gifts and are
now returning to home to Persia.</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">It
is a time in which we feel contentment.</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">We
feel comfortable in what has happened.</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">But,
in a few weeks, this is all going to change again.</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">We
will soon face the harsh reality of Ash Wednesday and Lent.</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Now,
I know it’s hard even to think about such things as we labor through the cold
of January.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">As
any of you who know; I really despise the month of January. It’s my least favorite
month.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">But
is there is Ash Wednesday—just around the corner. In the middle of next month.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">The
time of Christmas feasting will be over.</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">The
joys and beauty of Christmas will be replaced by ashes and sackcloth and,
ultimately, by the Cross.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">But
that’s all in the future.</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Christmas
is still kind of lingering in our thoughts today and, in this moment, we have
this warm reality.</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">God’s
love has appeared to us.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">God
has sent us God’s love in the form of this divine child. </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">When
we look upon the face of the child Jesus, we see ourselves.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">But
we see more.</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">We
see God’s love in the flesh as well.</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">We
see how God’s very love for us lives and dwells in a unique way in Jesus.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">In
this Child—God’s very divine Son—the divine and the mortal have come
together.</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">And
for this moment—before the denial of our bodies in Lent, before the betrayal
and torture of Holy Week, before the bloody and violent murder of Good Friday,
we have in our midst, this Child.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">We
have God’s love appearing to us, dwelling within the most innocent and most
beautiful form of humanity possible.</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">It
is the Child Jesus we delight in now.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">For
now, we are able to look at this Child and see God’s amazing love in our midst.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">With
Lent coming upon us, we will find God manifested in other ways—in fasting, in
penitence, in turning our eyes toward the Cross.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">But,
for now, in this moment, we are the Magi.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">We
are the ones who, seeking Christ, have found him.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">We
are the ones who, despite everything our rational minds have told us, have
decided to follow that star of faith we have seen.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">We,
like them, have stepped out into the unknown and have searched for what we have
longed for.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">We
are the ones who have traveled the long journeys of all our lives to come to
this moment—to this time and place—and, here, we find Christ—God’s love made
human—in our midst.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">We
have followed stars and other strange signs, hoping to find some deeper meaning
to our lives.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">We
have trekked through the wastelands of our life, searching for God.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">But
our Epiphany is the realization that God has appeared to us where we are—right
here in our own midst.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">And
this is what we can take away with us this morning—on this day after the feast
of the Epiphany.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">This
is the consolation we can take with us as we head through these short, cold,
snow-filled days toward Lent.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">No
matter where we are—no matter who we are—God is here with us.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">God
is with us in all that we do and every place we look.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">So,
let us look for God.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Let
us see God—and God’s love for us—in our midst—here in our lives.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">And
whenever we recognize God—that is our unending feast day of Epiphany.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"> </span> </p>Jamie Parsley+http://www.blogger.com/profile/03475578259480661327noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8195442958648580478.post-2923651312725134192023-12-31T12:56:00.000-08:002024-01-01T16:44:58.028-08:001 Christmas<p align="center" style="margin: 0in; text-align: center;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-N-bFiSP5pd3rtu8xfsBabTWCDRxfJj-MSlz7D2nyugEWPagrhwKBQspcoLHUiojcUsaMQox6VbesGhN3QJFZIvmoxDeGRf-t3B6Qf-RE2w3L3bxaIyHt4bxg_OGUsyZo4oQocE0IFrIC1mqHgn0USFjN7akJLSB0eEa3xj0mm-nn73sWYm0bp5qGm9k/s939/Thewordwasmadeflesh.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="463" data-original-width="939" height="198" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-N-bFiSP5pd3rtu8xfsBabTWCDRxfJj-MSlz7D2nyugEWPagrhwKBQspcoLHUiojcUsaMQox6VbesGhN3QJFZIvmoxDeGRf-t3B6Qf-RE2w3L3bxaIyHt4bxg_OGUsyZo4oQocE0IFrIC1mqHgn0USFjN7akJLSB0eEa3xj0mm-nn73sWYm0bp5qGm9k/w400-h198/Thewordwasmadeflesh.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />December
31, 2023<o:p></o:p><p></p>
<p align="center" style="margin: 0in; text-align: center;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<h3 style="margin-bottom: 8.4pt; mso-line-height-alt: 12.0pt;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; font-weight: normal; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Galatians 3:23-25; 4:4-7; John
1:1-18<o:p></o:p></span></i></h3>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">+ I don’t usually mix my two vocations
here in the pulpit very often.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">For the most part, here at St.
Stephen’s, I am a priest.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">I celebrate Mass with you.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">I preach (not always so profoundly
maybe).<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">I make my visitations.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">I talk with you. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">I keep my office hours. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">I am available for you.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">I pray for all of you every single day
in my daily prayers.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">As you have heard me say many, many
times: I love being a priest. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">And I really do! <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">In this coming year of 2024, I will be celebrating
20 years as a priest.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">And I look forward to that celebration.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">And I give thanks to God for every one
of those 20 years.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">But…I am not just a priest of course.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">I am also, as you know, a poet.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">Meaning, poetry isn’t just a little
hobby I do on the side.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">I have a Master’s Degree in it.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">I have published a couple books of
poetry (my 15<sup>th</sup> book of poetry will be published in 2024).<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">I have received a bit of praise for my
poetry by people who know a few things about poetry. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">I’ve won some awards., <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">Yes, I am even an Associate Poet
Laureate for the state, something I take very seriously. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">And I am Poet-in-Residence at Concordia
College, which I also love. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">I don’t necessarily compartmentalize my
twin vocations. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">I have always seen them kind of working
hand-in-hand. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">However, the poet doesn’t always make
his way into this pulpit.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">And I am very careful about not
inflicting my poems on you.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">And, mind you, I am not going to do so
this morning either. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">But I am going to share with you one of
my poetic influences.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">I have a few poets that have influenced
me as few others have.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">There is a personal pantheon of poets I
return to again and again in my life.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">The list is a short one—a fairly simple
one.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">In no particular order they are: George
Herbert, the great Anglican priest and poet; the American poets Elizabeth
Bishop, Walt Whitman, Marianne Moore, William Carlos Williams; <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Rainer Maria Rilke, the great Austrian poet
and, of course, the Chilean poet Pablo Neruda.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">But one poet I find myself always drawn
to and coming back to and relating to on many levels is a fairly contemporary
poet—a poet not a lot of people in the United States know about.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">His name is R.S. Thomas.</span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjnX7ErFgQx9eXL2nda6xQ_p0ECX7c497hdAJC1Lq20RWgPbStepbCGxEl90Qr2uds9X8IVm3rMScDNS92h2vO84zV1SX1USGqZKnS58DDFz49gz9k3YAye7sxU_OqYmwYKFbL-Zc0FZbUyP_kGnCDh_4AG0cm4heVVnQ8afAjdZqJAA5oMQSIaK1HM6o/s580/RSThomas2.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="386" data-original-width="580" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjnX7ErFgQx9eXL2nda6xQ_p0ECX7c497hdAJC1Lq20RWgPbStepbCGxEl90Qr2uds9X8IVm3rMScDNS92h2vO84zV1SX1USGqZKnS58DDFz49gz9k3YAye7sxU_OqYmwYKFbL-Zc0FZbUyP_kGnCDh_4AG0cm4heVVnQ8afAjdZqJAA5oMQSIaK1HM6o/s320/RSThomas2.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><o:p></o:p><p></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">Thomas was a Welsh poet. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">He was an Anglican priest who served at
small, rural parishes in Wales.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">And although on the surface it might
not seem like it, he was very much a maverick.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">A maverick priest<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">And definitely a maverick poet.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">Which is another reason why I love him
so dearly. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">Thomas died in September of 2000 and in
the years since, the full wealth of his poems have only begun to start being
revealed.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">In fact, poems by him are still being
discovered here and there. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">Manuscripts of his poems are still
being found in books he owned and in other unusual places he just tucked his
poems. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">Although his parishioners never really
knew this about him because he never really let on it about, he was actually
very unorthodox in his beliefs as a Christian and as a poet.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">Thomas struggled with some of the intricacies
of orthodox Christian belief.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">For example, he had problems with
belief in Christ as a personal savior and with “convictions about the “afterlife.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">But, strangely, he never let those
doubts come into his sermons, according to his parishioners. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">“I don’t know how many real poets have
ever been orthodox,” he once said. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">For Thomas, he was able to make sense
of the intricacies of Christian belief and theology by maintaining that we need
to look at it all from a poetic perspective.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">In fact, he once got in a bit of
trouble for saying that he had difficulty believing in a supernatural Christ by
saying “At times [Christ’s] divinity, in its unique sense, seems to me a
product of mythopoetic imagination.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">(There’s a word for you for today:
“mythopoetic.” It’s a great term, actually)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">And certainly, for all of us who may
have struggled with some of these spiritual issues in our own lives—you have
heard me say the same thing over the years.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">We Anglican Episcopalians are not
fundamentalists.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14pt;">The way to</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14pt;">maneuver and steer the sometimes complicated
waters of our faith is sometimes by seeing it all with the eyes of a poet.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">Because I, like Thomas, firmly believe
that God is a poet.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">In fact, God is the Master Poet—the
Uber-Poet, dare I say.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">And we, God’s creation, are the Poem.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">And it is all good. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">If you don’t believe me on this, you
need look no further than our Gospel reading for today. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">I love this reading from the first
chapter of John.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">It’s absolutely beautiful.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">But, I love it not only for its
theological statement.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">I love it because, let’s face it, it’s
poetry.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">It’s beautiful poetry.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">It is poetry, plain and simple.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">You don’t believe me?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">Then, listen again, closely.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">In the beginning was the Word<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">and the Word was with God,<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">and the Word was God.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt;">All things
came into being through him, <o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt;">and without
him not one thing came into being. <o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt;">What has come
into being in him was life, <o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt;">and the life
was the light of all people. <o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt;">The light
shines in the darkness, <o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt;">and the
darkness did not overcome it.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt;">Or how about, <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt;">But to all who
received him, <o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt;">who believed
in his name, <o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt;">he gave power
to become children of God, <o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt;">who were born,
not of blood <o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt;">or of the will
of the flesh <o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt;">or of the will
of man, <o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt;">but of God.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">Poetry! <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">As you’ve heard me say over and over
again, if we stop looking at our scriptures and our faith from a poetic
perspective, we miss the real beauty of our faith.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">Our faith becomes cut and dry—black and
white.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">It becomes a burden.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">It gets drained of it subtlety and
beauty and nuance. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">Our faith is full of poetry.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">And if you ever forget that, you need
to look no further than this scripture from the First Chapter of the Gospel of
John. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">Of course, it’s a great summary of
Christian faith and theology. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">And there are just layers and layers of
thought and sentiment in this passage from John. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">The beginning we experience today in
our Gospel reading is a bit different than the beginning we read about in
Genesis. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">The beginning we encounter today even
harkens back further than the creation of Adam and Eve. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">It goes back to before those creation
stories to what God was doing initially.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">“In the beginning…” we hear at the
beginning of St. John’s Gospel, just like at the beginning of Genesis. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">And they are certainly the most
appropriate words if ever there were any. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">Especially on this New Year’s Eve. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">As 2023 ends and 2024 begins, our
thoughts turn to beginnings. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">We think about that New Year and how
important a new year is our lives. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">It heralds for us a sense of joy—and maybe
fear—of the future. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">All of a sudden we are faced with the
future. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">It lies there before us—a complete and
total mystery. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">Will this coming year bring us joy or
will it bring us sadness? <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">Will it be a good year or a bad year? <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">And we step forward into the New Year
without knowing what that year will hold for us.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">But, the fact is, at the very beginning
moment, we can’t do much more than just be here, right now. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">We need to just experience this
beginning. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">And we can’t let that anxiety of the
future take hold. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">We just need to be here, right now, and
take part fully in this new beginning. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">That’s what beginnings are all about, I
guess. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">That one moment when we can say:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">“Right now! This is it! We are alive
and we are here! Now!”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">And we all know that just as soon as we
do, it’ll be past.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">In our reading from John this morning,
it’s also one of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">those</i> moments. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">In that moment, we get a glimpse of one
of those “right now” moments. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">It seems as though, for that moment,
it’s all clear. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">At least for John anyway.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">We encounter, the “Word.” <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">Now, for many of us, raised as we were
in a traditional Christian understanding of what the “Word” is, we might think
it means the Bible.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">The Word of God is the Bible, we have
heard said so many times. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">But C.S. Lewis, our great Anglican
treasure (and a poet himself), wrote in a letter in 1952:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="background: white; color: #111111; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt;">It is Christ Himself, not the Bible, who is the true Word of God. </span></b><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">Yes, the Bible <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">contains</i> the Word of God. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">But Christ is the Word of God. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">Christ is the Word of God incarnate in
the flesh. . <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">Christ is the Voice of God spoken to
us.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">And to take it a step further: Christ
is the incarnate Poem of God. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">This is an appropriate way to begin the
Gospel of John and to begin our new year as well. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">It is a great beginning.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">It sets the tone for us as followers of
Jesus. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">God was speaking in the Word there in
the beginning. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">And God is still speaking in the Word
here, now, with us in our current beginning. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">And in God, we experience a beginning
that doesn’t seem to end.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">In Christ, God’s Word comes forward and
becomes present among us in a way we could never possibly imagine. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">Christ as the Word of God says to us
that God continues speaks to us in a very tangible way.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">Not as God spoke in the Hebrew
Scriptures, cloaked behind pillars of fire or thunderstorms or wind or booming
from a mountain top. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">Instead, in Christ, God’s Voice speaks
to us, with a voice like our own voice. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">God’s word, God’s voice, God’s poem
became flesh. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">The Word spoken to us in this beginning
moment, is a Word of Love. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">The commandment this Word tells us of
is a commandment to love. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">Love God and love one another as you
love yourselves.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">But let’s take it yet one more step
further:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">It is not enough that we recognize
Christ as God’s Word incarnate in this world.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">We too must be incarnations of God’s
Word, as Jesus was.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">We too must speak with the voice of
God, speaking again and again God’s love and acceptance to others<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">We too must be God’s Poem here and now,
in the flesh.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">We can do these because, as we heard in
our reading from Galatians, we, through our baptism, have become adopted
children of God. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">And as loved children of God, we are
able to cry out to God<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt;">“Abba!
Father!" <o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">That word “Abba” is equivalent to
saying, “Daddy.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">And it reminds us of the relationship we
have with God.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">We have a God who loves us like a “daddy”
or a “mommy.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">We have a God who is intimate with us
like a parent. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">Maybe the true message of the Word is
that, in God’s Kingdom, that kingdom of which we are heirs as children of God, that
beginning keeps on and on, without end. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">In God’s Kingdom there is constant
renewal.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In God’s Kingdom it is always like New Year’s
Day—always fresh, always full of hope for a future that does not end or
disappoint.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">As we prepare to celebrate 2024, this
is a great way to live this beginning moment. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">In this beginning moment, let us think
about beginnings and how important they are for us personally and for our
spiritual lives. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">With this encounter with God’s Word,
we, like John, are also saying in this moment, this moment is holy. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">This moment is special. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">This moment is unique and beautiful,
because God is reaching out to us and speaking to us in love.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">It stays with us. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">Always new. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">Always fresh. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">Always being renewed. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">We’re here. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">Right now. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">We’re alive! <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">The future is happening right now. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">The Word of God has come to us and is
still speaking through us. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">We are the poem of God. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">It’s incredible, really. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">This moment is a glorious and holy one.
<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">So, let us, in this holy moment, be
joyful. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">Let us in this holy moment rejoice. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">And let us, in this holy moment, in
this holy beginning, look forward to what awaits us with courage and
confidence. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">Let us pray. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">Abba, you are the poet. And we are the
poem. Your Word, your Christ, is the word that gives the poem of our lives
beauty and substance and meaning. Christ your Word make the lyrics of our lives
sing. So let your Word sing in the poem you have made of us. And let what we do
and say in this world make a difference to those we are called to serve. We ask
this in name of Christ, your living and eternal Word. Amen. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>Jamie Parsley+http://www.blogger.com/profile/03475578259480661327noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8195442958648580478.post-90543954438236126712023-12-25T15:13:00.000-08:002023-12-25T15:13:07.519-08:00Christmas Day<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDWUVWVM3QIFysSy5N81Y4Y7HZIFd4XRSkTIFgBEJ5j3PgWOND1Lv8vEyB05o81uUvLfY6H7BGBpyY_0g1prTCCx5eJf6hLHoWvUPmY-oTdybs_Okr3Dn1TUzJVMtMtjbrTa7FegZdpK3Y5yIRtSuOpOLPzc7N4vdfyhbnk8EqaocAN9wWBjjkIJ0MlIg/s988/MadonnaChildpoem.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="619" data-original-width="988" height="250" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDWUVWVM3QIFysSy5N81Y4Y7HZIFd4XRSkTIFgBEJ5j3PgWOND1Lv8vEyB05o81uUvLfY6H7BGBpyY_0g1prTCCx5eJf6hLHoWvUPmY-oTdybs_Okr3Dn1TUzJVMtMtjbrTa7FegZdpK3Y5yIRtSuOpOLPzc7N4vdfyhbnk8EqaocAN9wWBjjkIJ0MlIg/w400-h250/MadonnaChildpoem.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">December 25, 2023</span><p></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"> </span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">+ I know I say this every year on Christmas Day. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">But one of my greatest pleasures in life is doing the Christmas
morning Mass. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Yes, I know.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Christmas Eve is beautiful.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Really beautiful.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">But Christmas morning. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">I don’t know.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">It’s just just…something special. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">I think that is what Christmas Day is all about. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">This sense of it all being just…a bit more holy and complete.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">This morning, we celebrate the Light of God coming among us. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">And we celebrate the Word of God—the fact that God still speaks to
us. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">That God still communicates with us. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">We celebrate the Light that has come to us in our collective and
personal darkness. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">We celebrate the Light that has come to us in our despair and our
fear, in our sadness and in our frustration.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">And we celebrate this Word that has been spoken to us—this Word of
hope. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">When we think long and hard about this day, when we ponder it and
let it take hold in our lives, what we realized happened on that day when Jesus
was born was not just some mythical story.<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span> <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">It was not just the birth of a child under dire circumstances, in
some distant, exotic land.<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span> <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">What happened on that day was a joining together—a joining of us
and God. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">God met us half-way by sending us the very Son of God. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">God came to us in our darkness, in our blindness, in our fear—and
cast a light that destroyed that darkness, that blindness, that fear.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"> God didn’t have to do what God did.<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span> <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">But by doing so, God showed us a remarkable intimacy. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">I love
this great quote from the great Dominican theologian, Meister Ekhart:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">“What
good is it</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">if Mary gave birth to the Son
of God [two thousand years ago]? I too must give birth to the Son of God in my
time, here and now. We are all meant to be the mothers of God. God is always
needing to be born.”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">I love
that quote and I think it’s very true.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">We need
to be the people through whom the Son of God is born again and again in this
world.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">We need
to bring God into reality in this world again and again.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Why?</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Because
God is a God of love.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Because
we are loved by God.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Because
we are accepted by God.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Because
we are—each of us—important to God.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">We are,
each of us, broken and imperfect as we may be some times, very important to
God.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Each of
us.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">And
because we are, we must love others.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">We must
give birth to our God so others can know this amazing love as well.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Knowing
this amazing love of God changes everything.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">When we
realize that God knows us as individuals.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">That God
loves us and accepts each of us for who we are, we are joyful.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">We are
hopeful of our future with that God.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">And we
want to share this love and this God with others.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">That is
what we are celebrating this morning.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Our hope
and joy is in a God who comes and accepts us and loves us for who we are and
what we are—a God who understands what it means to live this sometimes
frightening uncertain life we live.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">This is
the real reason why we are joyful and hopeful on this beautiful morning.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">This is
why we are feeling within us a strange sense of longing.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">This is
why we are rushing toward our Savior who has come to visit us in what we once
thought was our barrenness.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Let the
hope we feel today as God our Savior draws close to us stay with us now and
always.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Let us
continue to be the mothers of God, bearing God within us, revealing God to
others, giving birth again and again to God in this world.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">When we
do that we can say with all the joy that is within us:</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">God is
here.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">God is in
our midst today.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">God is so
near, our very bodies and souls are rejoicing.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">And God
loves us.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">It wouldn’t be Christmas if I didn’t quote the great Anglican poet
Christina Rosetti</span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhEgu-B3Kl75qC_SrfaUpEa-3K8jrqD8YGK3YXnapE9cyT0BZboHKLYsS5vOuqup-xjF71-GZXuwB9QcdrkyKWPfFXTN5yXzB5VcOxi2vPmjcsva5DYiYlr35ZXOBlGgbPfwxjxYxxSBMz6J0GLy1xbhs2qHTdTIH_Wow1fhlSpxK9h4mN6dpIm3mXLvg/s1080/ChristinaRossetti.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1080" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhEgu-B3Kl75qC_SrfaUpEa-3K8jrqD8YGK3YXnapE9cyT0BZboHKLYsS5vOuqup-xjF71-GZXuwB9QcdrkyKWPfFXTN5yXzB5VcOxi2vPmjcsva5DYiYlr35ZXOBlGgbPfwxjxYxxSBMz6J0GLy1xbhs2qHTdTIH_Wow1fhlSpxK9h4mN6dpIm3mXLvg/s320/ChristinaRossetti.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /> (my mother’s favorite poet) who put all of this more eloquently
than I ever could:<p></p><p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"> </span></p><p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"> <em>Love came down
at Christmas,</em><o:p></o:p></span></p><p style="margin: 0in;"><em><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">love, all lovely, love divine;</span></em><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p style="margin: 0in;"><em><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">love was born at Christmas:</span></em><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p style="margin: 0in;"><em><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">star and angels gave the sign.</span></em><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"> </span></p><p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">That is what we are experiencing this day.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"> </span></p><p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Love came down. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"> </span></p><p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Love became flesh and blood. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"> </span></p><p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">God’s Love for us became human. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"> </span></p><p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">And in the face of that realization, we are rejoicing today. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"> </span></p><p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">We are rejoicing in that love personified. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"> </span></p><p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">We are rejoicing in each other.<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span> <o:p></o:p></span></p><p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"> </span></p><p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">We are rejoicing in the glorious beauty of this one holy moment in
time. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"> </span></p><p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">It really is a glorious morning! <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>Jamie Parsley+http://www.blogger.com/profile/03475578259480661327noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8195442958648580478.post-81988804831828576132023-12-24T19:49:00.000-08:002023-12-24T19:49:07.153-08:00Christmas Eve<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_nvo0t83O5zMfQ1ovL1mGfEtmsacVsLZfehnRcAw2QK5B9zl_Pc15_tBqTzVy8-QtutjIaKgRj2Y1KmfR0XtLzjbOyUDNkuSmlBYdCze9JCFzeu8NQ5Zy9LujKYz_dwZo8g2_AL3CdYqsPWwhg8BLpNwIChwIrOm2F830F1wRpvHj8kW1_SqEbuGXzUU/s582/ChristmasEve2023.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="582" data-original-width="476" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_nvo0t83O5zMfQ1ovL1mGfEtmsacVsLZfehnRcAw2QK5B9zl_Pc15_tBqTzVy8-QtutjIaKgRj2Y1KmfR0XtLzjbOyUDNkuSmlBYdCze9JCFzeu8NQ5Zy9LujKYz_dwZo8g2_AL3CdYqsPWwhg8BLpNwIChwIrOm2F830F1wRpvHj8kW1_SqEbuGXzUU/w328-h400/ChristmasEve2023.jpg" width="328" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14pt; text-align: center;">December 24, 2023</span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14pt;">+ Well, it’s Christmas Eve, in case
you hadn’t noticed.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14pt;">And, well, let’s face it:</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14pt;">This is what it’s all about.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14pt;">This is why we celebrate.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14pt;">This is why we do what we do at Christmas.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14pt;">This is what we hope for.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14pt;">It might be dark and cold outside, but here, tonight, we </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14pt;">celebrate Light.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14pt;">And that is what I really love about
this night!</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14pt;">We celebrate the Light that has come
to us wherever we might be in our lives.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14pt;">We celebrate the Light that breaks
through into our darkness, in the darkness we might have in our own lives. </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14pt;">We celebrate the Light that has come
to us when we’ve been sad or frustrated or fearful.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14pt;">And as it does, no doubt most of us
are feeling two emotions tonight—the two emotions Christmas is all about: hope
and joy.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14pt;">Hope—in our belief that what has come
to us—God has sent Jesus to us as a glorious and wonderful gift.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14pt;">And now that Gift is here among us</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14pt;">And Joy—at the realization of that
reality.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14pt;">As we come forward tonight to meet
with joy and hope this mystery that we remember and commemorate and make ours
this evening, we too should find ourselves feeling these emotions—hope and joy—at
our very core.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14pt;">And it is a mystery.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14pt;">We will never fully understand how or
why Jesus the Messiah, Jesus the Word of God made flesh, Jesus the ultimate
gift of love from God, has come to us as this little child in a dark stable in
the Middle East, but it has happened and, because it happened, we are…different.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14pt;">We are better as a result of it.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14pt;">God has reached out to us.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14pt;">God—this God who truly does love us,
who truly does know us, who truly does care for us---has reached out to us.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14pt;">Just think about that for a moment.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14pt;">God loves us enough to actually reach
out to us.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14pt;">And by doing so, we know
tonight—without a doubt—that we are loved, we are accepted, we are truly known
by our God.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14pt;">Knowing that, what do we feel?</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14pt;">Hope!</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14pt;">And joy!</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14pt;">Because God knows us, loves us,
accepts us, our lives are different because of what happened that evening when
God sent us a sign of that love and acceptance.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14pt;">Yes, we may have known fear before, we
have known dread before, but tonight, with God so close and so near, everything
we feared and dreaded has been driven away.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14pt;">When we look at it from that
perspective, suddenly we find our emotions heightened.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14pt;">We find that our joy is a joy like few
other joys we’ve had.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14pt;">We find that our hope is more
tangible—more real—that anything we have ever hoped in before.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14pt;">And that is what we are celebrating
this evening.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14pt;">Our true hope and true joy is not in
brightly colored lights and a pile of presents until a decorated tree.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14pt;">Our true hope and joy is not found in
the malls or the stores.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14pt;">Our true hope and joy does not come to
us with things that will, a week from now, be a fading memory.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14pt;">Our hope and joy is in a God who sent
us a Baby who, as he comes to us, causes us to leap up with joy at his very
presence.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14pt;">Our hope and joy is in a God who reaches
out to us right now, where we are, and gives us love born in this innocent
child, born to a humble teenager.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14pt;">Our hope and joy is in a God who gives
us love in very concrete terms—love that has a face like our face and flesh
like our flesh—a God who allows love to be </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14pt;">born, like we are born.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14pt;">Our hope and joy is in a God who comes
to us </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14pt;">and accepts us and loves us for
who we are and what we are—a God who does not leave us alone in our hurts and
our pains.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14pt;">God loves us.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14pt;">God knows each of us by name.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14pt;">Each and every single one of us. </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14pt;">We are each precious and loved by our
God.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14pt;">That is what this night and this
season of Christmas is all about.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14pt;">This is the real reason why we are
joyful and hopeful on this beautiful night.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14pt;">This is why we are feeling within us a
strange sense of longing.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14pt;">God is here.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14pt;">God is in our midst.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14pt;">God is so near, our very bodies and
souls are rejoicing.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14pt;">So, let greet God tonight with all
that we have within us.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14pt;">Let reach out to the God who is
reaching out to us.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14pt;">Let us welcome our God and the gift
our God has given us with true hope and true joy.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14pt;">And let us welcome our God into the
shelter of our hearts, so that we can share God with others.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14pt;">Amen.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>Jamie Parsley+http://www.blogger.com/profile/03475578259480661327noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8195442958648580478.post-9213745597675283202023-12-24T11:38:00.000-08:002023-12-26T20:57:35.557-08:004 Advent<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEio6-sOyhFOdRsRc4e3sofNt9zFndKWRJ_HAHgZU2WZx70dlntZSQANGXU30tERKxOngsPzsaylR_RTTPVkCwaFROY-iZWPor__2lEnXTf1eROocZkCfTnLuOSRA2BWTtSAilvTA3ii4NQzYvGCDCq5zap2xJ7bVDl8UG7v2B6hfP_7urnc6yclScLXyTE/s320/4Advent2023.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="320" data-original-width="247" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEio6-sOyhFOdRsRc4e3sofNt9zFndKWRJ_HAHgZU2WZx70dlntZSQANGXU30tERKxOngsPzsaylR_RTTPVkCwaFROY-iZWPor__2lEnXTf1eROocZkCfTnLuOSRA2BWTtSAilvTA3ii4NQzYvGCDCq5zap2xJ7bVDl8UG7v2B6hfP_7urnc6yclScLXyTE/w309-h400/4Advent2023.jpg" width="309" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14pt; text-align: center;">Dec.
24, 2023</span><p></p>
<p align="center" style="margin: 0in; text-align: center;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" style="margin: 0in; text-align: center;"><em><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">Luke 1.26-38<o:p></o:p></span></em></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">+ I know most of you know this, but I
went to a very conservative seminary. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">I know. It’s hard to believe.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">But…to be honest…it was kind of a good
thing for me.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">Even people who are more progressive
can be a bit close-minded about things at times as well.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">And I was a bit of close-minded
progressive before I went off to seminary. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">I learned a lot there. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">A lot about how to deal with people who
have different views and different thinking than my own.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">I didn’t necessarily have accept those
views, but I did understand why people had those views. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">I also learned some interesting
practices at my seminary. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">At the seminary I went to—Nashotah
House in Wisconsin—something happened three times every day.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">Three times every single day the big
bell in the bell tower—named Michael—would chime, once in the morning before
Morning Prayer, once at noon and once in the evening before Evening Prayer.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">Whatever we were doing at that moment,
we were expected to pause and quietly pray as the bell chimed.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">The traditional thing to do was to pray
something called the Angelus as the bell rung.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">The Angelus consists of three Hail
Mary’s—the prayer based, in part, on our Gospel reading from today—interspersed
with vesicles also from our Gospel reading today. It begins with:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">V. The angel of the Lord announced unto
Mary.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">R. And she conceived by the Holy
Spirit.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">Say the Hail Mary<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">V. Behold the handmaid of the Lord. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">R. Be it unto me according to your
Word.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">Another Hail Mary<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">V. And the Word was made flesh .<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">R. And dwelt among us.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">Another Hail Mary<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">Then it ends with a wonderful collect
that summarizes the Incarnation for us:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">Pour your grace into our hearts, O
Lord, that as we have known the incarnation of your Son Jesus Christ by the
message of an angel to the Virgin Mary, so by his cross and passion we may be
brought to the glory of his resurrection; through the same Christ our Lord.
Amen.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">The Angelus has a long tradition in the
church. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">You’ve maybe seen the very famous
painting called “The Angelus” by Jean-</span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgiUH_koOVxWJWcnHT_lUKO0MT_ZuHQuXC_Ip2XKdkvgLTw08rUZtMsscRM9Sanix4aFYbEFTri5oelUXsooasweYVTmLPkc-gRtUQOkvv0sVnVlu6jPhz-KOJu-wl0MRAPi7VrveJQo4U9kdJm9enAr4s8mrtlNoBUj3Px_z0Y9HfuTzlVHuMdjTnSZI0/s524/Millet.webp" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="360" data-original-width="524" height="220" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgiUH_koOVxWJWcnHT_lUKO0MT_ZuHQuXC_Ip2XKdkvgLTw08rUZtMsscRM9Sanix4aFYbEFTri5oelUXsooasweYVTmLPkc-gRtUQOkvv0sVnVlu6jPhz-KOJu-wl0MRAPi7VrveJQo4U9kdJm9enAr4s8mrtlNoBUj3Px_z0Y9HfuTzlVHuMdjTnSZI0/s320/Millet.webp" width="320" /></a></div><br />Francois Millet of the farmers pausing in
the midst of their field work to bow their heads in prayer as they hear the
Angelus bell.<o:p></o:p><p></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">I always loved the Angelus.</span></p><p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><br /></span></p><p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">In fact, I love it so much I pray it every morning when I wake up.</span></p><p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><br /></span></p><p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">I love it because, in
a very real way, it is a theological microcosm of what we will be celebrating tonight
and throughout the Christmas season, which begins tonight. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">And it is an important week on which we
are about to embark. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">Today, of course, is the last Sunday of
Advent.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">Tonight is Christmas Eve. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">On the surface level, we, hopefully,
are as prepared as we can be. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">Presents are hopefully bought.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">Cards have been sent. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">Menus have been prepared.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">But spiritually, where are we? <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">This time of Advent was a time for us
to prepare ourselves spiritually for this glorious event. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">Has it been worthwhile? <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">Are we prepared spiritually for the big
day that literally right upon us?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">The truly honest answer to that
question can only be another question: are we ever truly prepared? <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">Or maybe even more honest would be the
question: what exactly are we preparing ourselves for? <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">The answer to the first question finds
its answer in the second question. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">What are we preparing ourselves for? <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">What do we believe about this day that
is about to dawn upon us? <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">Do we believe it is just another
holiday full of trinkets and caroling? <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">Or do we believe that this Day is an
awesome Day—a Day in which, truly God draws near to us. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">And there, I think, is the gist of it
all.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">This day we celebrate tonight and
tomorrow is not some sweet, gentle little holiday, just involving a smiling,
bright-faced baby in a barn.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">Not for us, anyway, who called
ourselves Christians. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">This day is about God’s Word, God’s verySon
has come to us in the form of this baby.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">That is what we are hearing about in
today’s Gospel reading with the Angel Gabriel coming to Mary and that is what
we are celebrating tonight and this coming week in the birth of Jesus. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">In the Gospel reading, we are looking
back roughly nine months from now. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">We are looking back to that moment when
God reached out to us, when God moved—and it all happened because Mary said
“yes” to the Angel.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">Incarnation—God with us and among us—is
at the heart of what we as Christians believe. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">For us, Jesus isn’t just some nice
teacher like the Buddha.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">For us, in Jesus, God’s very Son, God’s
Messiah, <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>has come to us. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">It is the defining belief among us.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is what makes us different than our Jewish
brothers and sisters. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">Yes, we believe in the same God. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">But we believe that this same God has sent
a Son that we believe is the Messiah, the very Word of God present among us. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">It is also what makes us different than
our Muslim brothers and sisters. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">Again, we believe in the same God. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">Yes, they revere Jesus as a great
prophet and Mary as a truly holy servant of God, but they cannot quite accept
the fact that God had a Son who became flesh in the person of Jesus, that God
would have a child. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">We, as Christians, do believe this. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">We profess it every week in our Creed. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">We celebrate it in our scripture
readings. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">And we partake of this belief in a very
tangible way at the altar when we share Holy Eucharist with each other. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">And certainly it is also a major part
of our outreach and ministry.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">Because God has sent us God’s Son, we
now see God presence in those we serve.<br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
<!--[if !supportLineBreakNewLine]--><br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
<!--[endif]--><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">Every person—no matter who or what they
are—is holy and special. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">And we can even see God present in own selves.
<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">Everything we do as Christians
proclaims the fact we believe that God has reached out to us.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">The fact is, most of us probably
haven’t given this whole idea of God-with-us a whole lot of thought. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">Even the early Christians struggled
with this belief and defined it in various ways. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">For us, though, as Episcopalians, we do
believe in this remarkable fact. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">And we celebrate it at every
opportunity we can.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">Certainly every Sunday we celebrate
it—here at the altar. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">Our Eucharist is a remembrance of the
fact that, yes, God continues to reach out to us, to feed us with this bread
and this wine. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">God has come near to us. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">In sending us Jesus, God encompasses
everything we longed for and hoped in. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">In Jesus, we find how God broke through
to us in that event and continues to break through to us now. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">We realize that God has come among us and
dwells among us, that God speaks to us and gives us true hope. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">Ultimately, of course, it’s all, of
course, a mystery. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">It is beyond our understanding and our
rational thought that God could do this. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">But at the same time, for those of us
who have faith in God, we can just easily ask the question: why not? <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">Why couldn’t God do just this? <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">Why couldn’t God reached out to us?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">Why couldn’t God’s Son be present among
us?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">Why couldn’t God’s Word take flesh and
dwell among us? <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">Certainly this is the reality we face tonight
and tomorrow. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">For those of us who have been preparing
ourselves spiritually for this day, this is what we are forced to examine and
face. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">Our faith might not be quite at that
point that we believe all of it. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">But what our faith does tell us is
that, whatever happens on that day, it is God breaking through to us in some
wonderful and mysterious way. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">And all we have to do is not be
stubborn or close-minded and cold-hearted. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">Rather, all we have to do is be open to
that breaking through to us.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">The Word was made flesh. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">And dwelt among us. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">Our response to that Word should be the
words of Mary when this incredible mystery descended upon her.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">Let it be with me according to your Word.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">God <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">has</i>
broken through to us. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">God <i>has</i> reached out to us. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">Let us meet God at that point of
breakthrough rejoicing. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">And let us come away from that breaking
through to us with God’s word being proclaimed in our own voice.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>Jamie Parsley+http://www.blogger.com/profile/03475578259480661327noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8195442958648580478.post-13194132610244746452023-12-22T17:30:00.000-08:002023-12-22T17:30:06.813-08:00Christmas Letter from Fr. Jamie<p> <span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14pt;">My
Friends at St. Stephen’s,</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14.0pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14pt;">As we near the joyous celebration of the
birth of Jesus and prepare to celebrate all that that birth means to us,</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14pt;">we also find ourselves looking forward to the
new year of 2024.</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14pt;"> </span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14pt;"> </span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14pt;">It has been an exciting year at St.
Stephen’s. We began (and just recently, with great joy finished) our sacristy
renovation. As with any building
project, there were frustrations, delays and a battle with impatience. But,
here we are! And the church building has never looked more beautiful! St.
Stephen’s is truly a place which reflects the fact that all we do begins from
the center point of our parish—our altar. We also made a major commitment to
Creation Care and Eco Justice this year with the establishment of the “Green
Team,” a committee dedicated to helping St. Stephen’s become an ecologically
sound place, and a witness to the larger community of the we all should be
striving to do. Also, almost every Sunday we have visitors and potential new
members in our pews. Our church continues to be a holy and welcoming place to
people who need a place wherein they feel welcomed and accepted. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14pt;"> </span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14pt;">As we look forward to 2024, we do so
anticipating a personal dream I have hoped for St. Stephen’s since I became
priest here: the establishment of an Endowment Fund! This Fund will help us to
continue to be the place we are for future generations. More information on
this will be forthcoming in 2024. Let’s
face it: the dust never settles at St. Stephen’s! <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14pt;"> </span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14pt;">Serving as St. Stephen’s continues to
be truly one of the most fulfilling experiences of my priestly life. Our life
together of ministry, worship, music and outreach has been a source of great
personal joy for me and has helped me to see how gracious God is in showering
blessings upon faithful, committed people who truly do seek after God. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14pt;"> </span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14pt;">As we move forward together into this
future full of hope and potential growth, I ask for your continued prayers for
St. Stephen’s and your continued presence on Sunday mornings, Wednesday nights
and whenever else we gather together to worship and to do ministry. Please know
that I pray, as always, for each of you individually by name over the course of
each week in my daily observance of the Daily Office (Morning and Evening celebration
of the Mass. Above all, know that I give God thanks every day for the opportunity
to serve such a wonderful, caring and loving congregation of people who are
committed to growth and radical hospitality.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14pt;"> </span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14pt;">My sincerest blessings to you and to
all those you love during this season of joy, hope and love.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 3.0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14pt;"> PEACE always,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"> Jamie+</span><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-no-proof: yes;"><!--[endif]--></span><div><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><br /></span></div><div><p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "IM FELL English"; font-size: 41.0pt;">Advent- Christmas, 2023 <o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 2.5in; text-indent: .5in;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "IM FELL English"; font-size: 31.0pt;">at St. Stephen’s <o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 2.5in; text-indent: .5in;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "IM FELL English"; font-size: 31.0pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 118%; margin-bottom: 6.0pt; mso-pagination: none;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><u><span style="color: black; font-family: "IM FELL English"; font-size: 18.0pt; font-variant: small-caps; line-height: 118%; mso-contextual-alternates: yes; mso-font-kerning: 14.0pt;">Sunday
December 24<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></u></b><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i><span style="color: black; font-family: "IM FELL English"; font-size: 18.0pt; font-variant: small-caps; line-height: 118%; mso-contextual-alternates: yes; mso-font-kerning: 14.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>4 Advent </span></i></b><span style="color: black; font-family: "IM FELL English"; font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 118%; mso-contextual-alternates: yes; mso-font-kerning: 14.0pt;">+ 11:00 am<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="font-variant: small-caps;">Holy <o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 118%; margin-bottom: 6.0pt; mso-pagination: none; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "IM FELL English"; font-size: 18.0pt; font-variant: small-caps; line-height: 118%; mso-contextual-alternates: yes; mso-font-kerning: 14.0pt;">Eucharist<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 118%; margin-bottom: 6.0pt; mso-pagination: none;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i><span style="color: black; font-family: "IM FELL English"; font-size: 18.0pt; font-variant: small-caps; line-height: 118%; mso-contextual-alternates: yes; mso-font-kerning: 14.0pt;">Christmas
Eve<a name="_Hlk153607134"> </a></span></i></b><span style="mso-bookmark: _Hlk153607134;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "IM FELL English"; font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 118%; mso-contextual-alternates: yes; mso-font-kerning: 14.0pt;">7:00 pm – <span style="font-variant: small-caps;">Holy Eucharist<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p>
<span style="mso-bookmark: _Hlk153607134;"></span>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 118%;"><i><span style="color: black; font-family: "IM FELL English"; font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 118%; mso-contextual-alternates: yes; mso-font-kerning: 14.0pt;"> <o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 118%; mso-pagination: none;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><u><span style="color: black; font-family: "IM FELL English"; font-size: 18.0pt; font-variant: small-caps; line-height: 118%; mso-contextual-alternates: yes; mso-font-kerning: 14.0pt;">Monday
December 25 </span></u></b><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i><span style="color: black; font-family: "IM FELL English"; font-size: 18.0pt; font-variant: small-caps; line-height: 118%; mso-contextual-alternates: yes; mso-font-kerning: 14.0pt;">–<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Nativity of Our Lord <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></i></b><span style="color: black; font-family: "IM FELL English"; font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 118%; mso-contextual-alternates: yes; mso-font-kerning: 14.0pt;">+ 10:00 am <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 118%; mso-pagination: none; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "IM FELL English"; font-size: 18.0pt; font-variant: small-caps; line-height: 118%; mso-contextual-alternates: yes; mso-font-kerning: 14.0pt;">Holy Eucharist<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 118%;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "IM FELL English"; font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 118%; mso-contextual-alternates: yes; mso-font-kerning: 14.0pt;"> <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 118%; mso-pagination: none;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><u><span style="color: black; font-family: "IM FELL English"; font-size: 18.0pt; font-variant: small-caps; line-height: 118%; mso-contextual-alternates: yes; mso-font-kerning: 14.0pt;">Wednesday
December 27</span></u></b><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "IM FELL English"; font-size: 18.0pt; font-variant: small-caps; line-height: 118%; mso-contextual-alternates: yes; mso-font-kerning: 14.0pt;"> –<i>St. Stephen (transferred) </i></span></b><span style="color: black; font-family: "IM FELL English"; font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 118%; mso-contextual-alternates: yes; mso-font-kerning: 14.0pt;">6:00 pm – <span style="font-variant: small-caps;">Holy
Eucharist</span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 118%;"><i><span style="color: black; font-family: "IM FELL English"; font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 118%; mso-contextual-alternates: yes; mso-font-kerning: 14.0pt;"> <o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 118%; mso-pagination: none;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><u><span style="color: black; font-family: "IM FELL English"; font-size: 18.0pt; font-variant: small-caps; line-height: 118%; mso-contextual-alternates: yes; mso-font-kerning: 14.0pt;">Sunday
December 31</span></u></b><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "IM FELL English"; font-size: 18.0pt; font-variant: small-caps; line-height: 118%; mso-contextual-alternates: yes; mso-font-kerning: 14.0pt;"> –<i>1 Christmas <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></i></span></b><span style="color: black; font-family: "IM FELL English"; font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 118%; mso-contextual-alternates: yes; mso-font-kerning: 14.0pt;">11:00 am – <span style="font-variant: small-caps;">Holy <o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 118%; mso-pagination: none; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "IM FELL English"; font-size: 18.0pt; font-variant: small-caps; line-height: 118%; mso-contextual-alternates: yes; mso-font-kerning: 14.0pt;">Eucharist<o:p></o:p></span></p><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"></span></div>Jamie Parsley+http://www.blogger.com/profile/03475578259480661327noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8195442958648580478.post-88306898782049540762023-12-17T17:22:00.000-08:002023-12-22T17:26:58.072-08:003 Advent<p align="center" style="margin: 0in; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWZsZy_gF3bu1HcN0H50WaSq_-Jnk0AGBffng1OihHkCInsV8PdVVYHJBmIc1mfVa3D8-Bkxsy6SpzyxC31W9KX7Bp86009cHXn4KQJ_vX6swQZ16G6pfmeTdXGt0IpqTHn_0PDwMe2MHTgulMtIBY_ubxuh18DrcxIf9O35qsLWQ1RRzV9ZvHLyBEJEo/s299/Gaudete.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="168" data-original-width="299" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWZsZy_gF3bu1HcN0H50WaSq_-Jnk0AGBffng1OihHkCInsV8PdVVYHJBmIc1mfVa3D8-Bkxsy6SpzyxC31W9KX7Bp86009cHXn4KQJ_vX6swQZ16G6pfmeTdXGt0IpqTHn_0PDwMe2MHTgulMtIBY_ubxuh18DrcxIf9O35qsLWQ1RRzV9ZvHLyBEJEo/w400-h225/Gaudete.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />Gaudete
Sunday<p></p>
<p align="center" style="margin: 0in; text-align: center;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" style="margin: 0in; text-align: center;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">December
17, 2023<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" style="margin: 0in; text-align: center;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" style="margin: 0in; text-align: center;"><em><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">Isaiah 61.1-4, 8-11;1 Thes. 5.16-24; John 1.6-8, 19-28</span></em><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" style="margin: 0in; text-align: center;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">+ As you know, I just got back from a
several days in Las Vegas on Friday night<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">I had a great time.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">But yesterday, I posted on Facebook a
photo of a priest in a rose-colored chasuble, and wrote, Tomorrow is Gaudete
Sunday. You know what that means…”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">Fr. John Floberg, the priest who serves
on Standing Rock, responded by saying,</span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwH3hBKsSALDjekcIhR304VBoJLibx5KivsvkD6HuysiTIUPOt5VkPpuHzQ80cquwVTwFZkyjGbP9VcbmwdqIk3qXa_zr6s3wzc7GZFXeNIP0Jifoakka8RKk2nKeAl3hRFP5LenS59TfQEeXvFGgVrtxB5_BQGPlaAlcZ2Zr2YZHjn6Q7qak43aW29gw/s886/wereinthepink.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="886" data-original-width="724" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwH3hBKsSALDjekcIhR304VBoJLibx5KivsvkD6HuysiTIUPOt5VkPpuHzQ80cquwVTwFZkyjGbP9VcbmwdqIk3qXa_zr6s3wzc7GZFXeNIP0Jifoakka8RKk2nKeAl3hRFP5LenS59TfQEeXvFGgVrtxB5_BQGPlaAlcZ2Zr2YZHjn6Q7qak43aW29gw/s320/wereinthepink.jpg" width="261" /></a></div><br /> <o:p></o:p><p></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="background: #F0F2F5; color: #050505; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Segoe UI Historic";">“By
the looks of your facebook posts last week I would imagine that you might not
need to relax your Advent Disciplines very much this week. LOL.</span>”<o:p></o:p></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="background: #F0F2F5; color: #050505; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Segoe UI Historic";"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">I responded:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: ; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; vertical-align: middle;"><span lang="EN" style="color: #1c1e21; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: "Segoe UI Historic"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="color: #1c1e21; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14pt;">“you should've seen how disciplined I was
in Vegas...”</span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">Fr. John then said, <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="background: #F0F2F5; color: #050505; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Segoe UI Historic";">“I
bet you abstained from meat the whole time!</span>”<span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">Which I did!<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">See how ascetic I am! <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">The fact is: I was very disciplined in
Vegas. Trust me.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">I don’t drink. I don’t smoke. I don’t
gamble. And yes, I do not eat meat. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">And this time, my cousins Renaye, Mandy
and I only spent a little time on the Strip. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">We instead explored some strange and
kitschy places like the Golden Tiki, a retro Tiki bar which has amazingly
realistic shrunken heads of celebrities on the walls, Omega Mart and Area 15
which was some kind of psychedelic grocery store that was amazing, saw a
mind-blowing movie at the brand-new Sphere and visited Zak Bagan’s Haunted
Museum. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">But Fr. John Floberg is right. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">Gaudete Sunday is a day in which we get
to take a little break from our Advent disciplines. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">That is, if we have been disciplining
ourselves during Advent. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">Gaudete Sunday, or Rose Sunday, is
always a special Sunday here at St. Stephen’s and for the Church as a whole. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">Traditionally, on Gaudete Sunday, we
light the lone pink candle on the Advent wreath. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">Lighting the pink candle is a sign to
us that the shift has happened. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">Now there are more candles lit than are
unlit on the wreath. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">The light has won out and the darkness,
we are realizing, is not an eternal darkness.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">But most importantly, Gaudete means
“rejoice.” <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">And that is exactly what we should be
doing on this Sunday. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">We should rejoice in the light that is
winning out over the darkness. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">We should rejoice in the fact that
darkness has no lasting power over us.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">We should rejoice in all that God has
done for us and continues to do for us in our lives, in our ministries and here
particularly at St. Stephen’s. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">This Sunday sets a tone different than
the one we’ve had so-far in Advent. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">We find this word—rejoice—ringing out
throughout our scriptural readings today. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">It is the “theme” of the day. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">Rejoice! <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">It is the emotion that permeates
everything we hear in the Liturgy of the Word on this Sunday.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">In our reading from the Hebrew scriptures,
in Isaiah, we hear<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><em><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; font-style: normal; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">I will greatly
rejoice in the Lord,</span></b></em><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p></o:p></span></i></b></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><em><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; font-style: normal; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">my whole being shall
exult in my God;</span></b></em><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p></o:p></span></i></b></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">In our Epistle, we find even Paul—who
seems a bit, shall we say, dour at times— rejoicing. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">“Rejoice always,” </span></b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">he writes
to the church at Thessalonika.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">And, although the word “rejoice” cannot
be found in our Gospel reading for today, the sentiment is there.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">John the Baptist, we are told, was not
the light, but came to testify to the light—that light being, of course, Jesus,
God’s Messiah. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">Again, that is something about which to
rejoice. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">Even when it seems like the Light is
still far off, even then we rejoice. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">This emotion of joy is something we
oftentimes take for granted. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">Let’s face it, joy doesn’t happen often
enough in our lives. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">It certainly doesn’t happen enough in
my life. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">I wish it did. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">It is a rare occurrence for the most
part. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">And maybe it should be. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">It is certainly not something we want
to take for granted. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">When joy comes to us, we want to let it
flow through us. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">We want it to overwhelm us. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">But we often don’t think about how
essential joy is to us. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">Joy is essential to all of us as
Christians. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">It is one of those marks that make us
who we are as Christians.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">Or it should anyway.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">We should be joyful.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">We have a God who loves us, who knows
us, who wants the very best for us.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">We have a God who reaches out to us in
the Light of Jesus, God’s Son and our Messiah, that we celebrate at this time
of the year. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">That alone is a reason to be joyful. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">But, sadly, as we all know, there
aren’t always that many joyful Christians. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">We have all known those dour-faced
Christians, those Christians who are angry or bitter or false. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">And right now we’re seeing a lot of
crazy, insane Christians acting terribly in the name of Christ. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">To me, any act of hate or lawlessness
in the Name of God is nothing less than sacrilege! <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">There are those Christians for whom a
smile is a chore. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">That is not what God intends for us. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">We all should be joyful Christians. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">“Should” is the word. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">Still, as we all know, there are
moments. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">There are moments when we simply cannot
muster joy. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">No matter how much we try to break the
hold the hard, difficult things of life have placed on us, it is hard sometimes
to feel real joy. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">Cultivating joy in the midst of
overwhelming sorrow or pain or loneliness or depression or estrangement can
seems overwhelming and impossible. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">That’s why joy really is a discipline.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">When things like sorrow or pain or
loneliness or depression or anger or resentment descend upon—and they descend
upon us all—we need, in those moments, to realize that joy might not be with us
in that moment, but—and here’s the important thing—joy always returns. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">Joy always returns. <o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">We need to search deep within us for
that joy that we have as Christians. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">And when we search for it, we <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">will</i> find it, even when life seems so
miserable and so overwhelming. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">That joy often comes when we put our
pains into perspective. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">That joy comes when we recognize that
these dark moments that happen in our lives are not eternal. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">They will not last forever.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">Darkness never lasts forever. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">That, I think, is where we sometimes
fail. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">When we are in the midst of those
negative emotions in our lives, we often feel as though they will never end. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">We often feel as though we will always
be lonely, we always be sad, we will always mourn.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">As Christians, we can’t allow ourselves
to be boxed in by despair. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">As Christians, we are forced, again and
again, to look at the larger picture—at God’s larger picture.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">We are forced to see that joy is always
there, just beyond our grasp, awaiting us.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">Joy is there when we realize that in
the midst of our darkness, there is always light just beyond our reach. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">And when it comes back into our lives,
it truly is wonderful… <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">Because that is what God wants for us.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">Joy not always something one is able to
identify in a person. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">Joy doesn’t mean walking around smiling
all the time. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">It doesn’t mean that we have force
ourselves to be happy at all times in the face of every bad thing. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">If we do that, joy becomes false and
forced. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">True joy comes bubbling up from within
us. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">It is a true grace.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">Remember last week when I talked about
grace.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">Last week, I defined grace in very
simple terms:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">Grace is a gift we receive from God we
neither ask for nor anticipate.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">In that way, joy is a gift we are given
that we simply don’t ask for. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">Rather, it comes from a deep place and
it permeates our whole being, no matter what else is going on in our lives or
in the world around us. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">It is a joy that comes from deep within
our very essence—from that place of our true selves.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">And, let me tell you from my own
experience, joy can still be present in times of mourning, in times of
darkness, in times of despair. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">It might not be joy at its greatest
effect, but there are glimmers of joy even in those dark times. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">Advent is, as I said on the first
Sunday of Advent, essentially, a penitential season. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">It is a time, as Fr. Floberg referenced,
a time of discipline. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">It is a time for us to recognize that
we are slugging through the muck of our lives—a muck we are at least, in part,
responsible for. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">But Advent is also a time for us to be
able to rejoice even in the midst of that muck. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">It is a time for us realize that we
will not be in that muck forever. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">The muck doesn’t win out. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">God wins out.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">Christ’s light in this world is more
powerful than any darkness. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">And Christ’s light always wins out. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">Our light—the Light of Christ within us—will
outlast whatever darkness we are experiencing right now in our own lives or in
the world.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">See, even in the face of darkness, we
find hope and we can find joy. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">The joy we carry deep within is too
powerful to die.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">This powerful joy will win out and
outlast any darkness. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">So, this morning, let us remember the
joy we feel at seeing this pink candle lit. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">Let us carry the spirit of this
rose-colored Sunday with us. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">Yes, I will say it: let us look at life
with rose-colored glasses (we can legitimately do that today!)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">We have made it this far. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">The tide has shifted. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">The light is winning out. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">The dawn is about to break upon our
long dark night.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">As we ponder this, as we meditate on
this, as we take this with us in our hearts, let us pay special attention to
the emotion this causes within us. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">Let us embrace that welling up of joy
from deep within. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">And let it proclaim with our lips the
words we, along the prophet Isaiah, long to say:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><em><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; font-style: normal; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">I will greatly
rejoice in the Lord,</span></b></em><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p></o:p></span></i></b></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><em><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; font-style: normal; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">my whole being shall
exult in my God!</span></b></em><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p></o:p></span></i></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 115%;">Let us pray.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 115%;">We rejoice greatly in you, Loving God; even in our darkness
you send us Light—the Light of our Savior Christ. Even when we feel alone and
abandoned, you come close to us and hold us close. We rejoice in you today, and
all our days, who comes to us again and again in the person of Jesus our Lord,
in whose name we pray. Amen. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>Jamie Parsley+http://www.blogger.com/profile/03475578259480661327noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8195442958648580478.post-65141921005566750002023-12-10T12:27:00.000-08:002023-12-10T12:27:00.905-08:002 Advent<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgv_M2KDuEwQeWDbH_ZR4045CrnONgKuMVt9vV9o-DOy6g19io9TuwJWXewxKgLDZofYv8uAUut_Kyj408_MjAhkJpgQYLxILCcashY1G3y_R25uFe2Qx0MGTbFqabHwRVp0ye31yDdfkg6hJgoowGoOMjaolnmBPEXMseT0Exc2WYX1kEOKQBrFNkeABo/s320/Advent2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="320" data-original-width="247" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgv_M2KDuEwQeWDbH_ZR4045CrnONgKuMVt9vV9o-DOy6g19io9TuwJWXewxKgLDZofYv8uAUut_Kyj408_MjAhkJpgQYLxILCcashY1G3y_R25uFe2Qx0MGTbFqabHwRVp0ye31yDdfkg6hJgoowGoOMjaolnmBPEXMseT0Exc2WYX1kEOKQBrFNkeABo/w309-h400/Advent2.jpg" width="309" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt; text-align: center;">December 10, 2023</span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span><i style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Isaiah
40.1-11; Mark 1.1-8</span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">+
One thing we often hear about if any of us have been Christians for any period
of time is the big question:</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">What
must one do to be saved?</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Because
many of us who believe really do have a fear of hell and eternal damnation,
especially those of us who came from churches that preached those things on a
regular basis.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Now,
in many churches, we heard that all one had to do to gain heaven and glorious
eternity was make this simple statement: I accept Jesus Christ as my personal
Lord and Savior. </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">The
rest of us, who didn’t make this statement, were in deep trouble.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Now,
on some level, that makes some sense.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">It
seems simple. </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">If
someone doesn’t accept God, then Godt </span><i style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">should</i><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">
turn away from those who didn’t accept God.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">After
all, we would turn our backs on those who would not accept us, right? .</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">And
there should be a place where we had to pay for the wrongs we did.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">We
simply can’t sin and expect not to pay for it in some way, right?</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">But
certainly for me, in my own spiritual life, as I grew into my relationship with
God and as I started to look long and hard at everything I have believed, I
realize that there is one thing those people who believe that way have </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">missed.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">It
was one simple little word:</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Grace.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Now,
my very simplistic definition of grace is this:</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Grace
is a gift we receive from God that we neither ask for nor necessarily deserve.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">In
the Gospel we heard this morning, we hear the echoing words of John the
Baptist.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span><b><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">The one who is
more powerful than I is coming after me;</span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">He
is that lone voice calling to us in the wilderness.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">It
is a voice of hope.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">It
is a voice of substance.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">It
is a voice of salvation.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">More
importantly, John’s message is a message of Grace.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">This
powerful One is coming!</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">There’s
no avoiding it.</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">God
is coming to us.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">This
is the ultimate grace in a very real sense.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Although
we have been hoping for God to come to us and save us, it is not something that
we have necessarily asked for or deserve.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">God
comes to us in God’s own time.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">It
is this one fact—grace—that makes all the difference in the world.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">It
is what makes the difference between eternal life and eternal damnation.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Now,
there are those who believe that there is an eternal hell. </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">And
if you’re not right with God, they say, that’s exactly where you’re going.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">The
fault in this message is simple: none of us are right with God. </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">As
long as we are on this side of the veil, so to speak, we fall short of what God
wants for us.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">We
have all sinned and we will all sin again. </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">That’s
the fact.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">But
that’s where grace comes in. </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Grace
is, excuse my language, the trump card.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Grace
sets us free.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Grace
involves one simple little fact that so many followers of Jesus seem to
overlook.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">And
this is the biggest realization for me as a follower of Jesus Christian:</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span><b><u><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Just because one doesn’t
accept God doesn’t mean that God doesn’t accept us.</span></u></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">God
accepts us. </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Plain
and simple. </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Even
if we turn our backs on God. </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Even
if we do everything in our limited powers to separate ourselves from God, the
fact of the matter is that </span><b style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><u>nothing</u></b><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">
can separates from God. </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">God
accepts every single person—no matter what we believe, or don’t believe, no
matter if God is some abstract concept to us or a close, personal friend.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">That’s
right, I did say “personal.” </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Because,
yes, it’s wonderful and beautiful to have a personal relationship with God. </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Our
personal relationship with God is essential to our faith, as you have heard me
say many, many times.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">But
the fact is, God or Jesus isn’t the </span><i style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">personal</i><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">
savior to any </span><u style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">one</u><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"> of us in this place. </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">God
saves all of us, equally.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">That</span></i><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"> is grace.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">That
is how much God loves us.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Now,
I have preached this message my entire adult life as a Christian, and certainly
as priest.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">And,
as you can imagine, there have been, shall we say, a few critics.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">And
some of these critics—actually quite a few of these critics—have been quite
vocal.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">They
don’t like my “universalism.”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">In
fact, I once preached this very same message one evening not long after I was
ordained to the priesthood in a very diverse venue of</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">what I thought were somewhat progressive
Lutherans.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Later,
I learned, I was essentially blackballed from that venue for that sermon.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">I
also preached it once at another congregation, at which I was a guest.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">After
I preached it, the presider at the service actually got up and “corrected” my
sermon in front of everybody.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Critics
of this message say that what I am talking about is “cheap grace.”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Cheap
grace?</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">No,
I counter.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">And
I still counter!</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Again
and again.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">No,
</span><u style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">not</u><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"> cheap grace.</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">It’s
actually quite expensive grace.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">It
was grace bought at quite a price.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">And
no, I’m not being naïve or fluffy here.</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Trust
me, I have known some truly despicable people in my life. </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">I
have been hurt by some of these people and I have seen others hurt by these
people.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">The
world is full of people who are awful and terrible. </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">And
sometimes the most awful and terrible person we know is the one staring back at
us in our own mirrors.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">But
the fact is, that even when we can’t love them or ourselves, when we can’t do
anything else but feel anger and hatred toward them, God does love them. </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">God
accepts them, just as God accepts each of us.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">God
doesn’t necessarily accept their actions. God doesn’t accept their sins, or
their failings, or their blatant embrace of what is wrong.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">But,
not even their despicable nature can separate them from God’s love. </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Nothing—not
even priests or bishops—can separate us from God’s love. </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">That
is how God works in this world.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">That
is why God sent Jesus to us, to give us an example of how to live our lives as
beloved children of God. .</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">I
believe in that image we hear from our reading from the prophecies of Isaiah today:</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span><b style="text-indent: -24pt;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">[God]
will feed [God’s] flock like a shepherd;</span></b></p><p class="poetrytext" style="margin-bottom: 3.0pt; margin-left: 30.0pt; margin-right: 24.0pt; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: -24.0pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">
[God] will gather the lambs in [God’s] arms,<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="poetrytext" style="margin-bottom: 3.0pt; margin-left: 30.0pt; margin-right: 24.0pt; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: -24.0pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">and
carry them in [God’s] bosom,<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> W</o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">e
will be gathered up by our God, and we will be carried into our God’s bosom.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">I
love that image!</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Because
it conveys God’s true and abiding love for us.</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">It’s
a hard concept for those us who were taught otherwise. </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">But
I do believe it. </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">I
believe it because of the personal relationship I have with God. </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">The
God I have come to know and to love and to serve is simply </span><i style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">that</i><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"> full of love.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">So,
do I believe we’re all going to heaven when we die?</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Well,
yes.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">I
really do believe that.</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Why?</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Because,
the love of God is just </span><i style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">that</i><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"> big. </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">It
is just that wonderful and just that all-encompassing.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">It
is just that powerful. </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">If
one person is in some metaphysical, eternal hell for being a despicable person,
then, you know what? </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">the love of God has
failed. </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Something
has, in fact, come between that person and God.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">I
do not believe that hell or Satan or sin or the Church or </span><i style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">anything</i><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"> else is big enough to separate us fully and completely
from God.</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Not
even we, ourselves, can turn our backs on God because wherever we turn, God is
there for us.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">So,
listen. </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">In
this Advent season of hope,</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">John’s voice
is calling to us from the wilderness. </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">He
is saying,</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">God
</span><i style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">is</i><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"> near.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">God
is coming to us.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Let
us go out, in grace, to meet our God!</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Let
us pray.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Come
to us, Holy God. Come soon to us. Come to us with power and glory. And grace. And
let us know that no matter how often we may turn our backs on you, you have
never once turned your back on us. You have always been with us and remain with
us. And that nothing in all the world can separate us from you. For this, we
are truly thankful today. Amen.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>Jamie Parsley+http://www.blogger.com/profile/03475578259480661327noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8195442958648580478.post-27537987674757163032023-12-09T11:08:00.000-08:002023-12-09T11:08:15.159-08:00A Letter from Fr. Jamie<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFWjHZY6lT_iwpALviwSYEJ1Os_r7frcZNxqLoH0Rs_ON3zFoYK9NJISOkO5zbUVAAAs2n7qHKLob7tEJaYzEKH92Nnff6qWZIMPhrX0t8XjvaA-cqE6cHsrMLW1hRovzjEK4JQ0sepmc3_2ptHXkXHyj_f_YmtfceMiY-Zg57tY5QlZUxyRcRQ0zr9ok/s1212/Stewardship-header-960x350-1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="494" data-original-width="1212" height="163" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFWjHZY6lT_iwpALviwSYEJ1Os_r7frcZNxqLoH0Rs_ON3zFoYK9NJISOkO5zbUVAAAs2n7qHKLob7tEJaYzEKH92Nnff6qWZIMPhrX0t8XjvaA-cqE6cHsrMLW1hRovzjEK4JQ0sepmc3_2ptHXkXHyj_f_YmtfceMiY-Zg57tY5QlZUxyRcRQ0zr9ok/w400-h163/Stewardship-header-960x350-1.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype", serif; font-size: 14pt;">December 9, 2023</span><p></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Palatino Linotype",serif; font-size: 14.0pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Palatino Linotype",serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">Dear St. Stephen’s family,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Palatino Linotype",serif; font-size: 14.0pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Palatino Linotype",serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">The other day I was told I
was a “rebel priest.” At first, I didn’t know how to respond to that. But as I
thought about it, I realize: yes, I am. And rather than evade that monicker, I
need to embrace it.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Palatino Linotype",serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">But I also realized: I am a
rebel priest at a rebel parish. We are rebellious and defiant and passionately
trying to live out the message of the Gospel, and the revolutionary commandment
of God to love God and love others as fully and completely as we can. We have Christ
in our Eucharist, in the hearing and proclaiming of the Word and in our
presence with one another. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Palatino Linotype",serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">In addition, we have a
beautiful High Church liturgy. We have bells and music and, at our Wednesday
evening Mass, incense. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Palatino Linotype",serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">Most importantly, we have <b>passion</b>
and <b>commitment.</b><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Palatino Linotype",serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">And we not only radically welcome
people, but we also <u>include</u> them fully and completely. No one is ostracized
here. No one here is turned away. No one here is snubbed or shunned or looked
at strangely. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Palatino Linotype",serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">We are gay and straight,
trans and cis, asexual or non-sexual, straight or “out there.” We are normal
and weird, staid and radical, old and young. And everything in-between. We are
imperfect but striving to be better than we are and in doing so to make the
world a better place as well—to make the Reign of God real and present in this
world. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype",serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">Everyone knows
we are welcoming. It is not secret that we are fully accepting. We are also
very strong and committed. And when we stand up for something, we STAND UP. And
we speak out loudly! <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype",serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">We were
inclusive before inclusivity was expected of the Church. We welcomed and
included people when other churches discarded or turned away. And we continue
to do that. And we do so unapologetically. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Palatino Linotype",serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">That is what St. Stephen’s
is. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Palatino Linotype",serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">As I write this, we are
getting ready to have our Pledge In-Gathering, which finishes the one time of
the year in which we ask for your help to help being the unique, eclectic
parish we are. We cannot do it without your pledges. We cannot do it without
your time and your talent. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Palatino Linotype",serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">If you have already pledged,
<b><u>THANK YOU</u></b>!! Thank you for contributing to the unique ministry we
do here. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-indent: .5in;"><b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Palatino Linotype",serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">For those of you who have not pledged or have simply forgotten, it
never too late. <span style="text-transform: uppercase;">But, <u>please do so</u>.</span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></b><b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Palatino Linotype",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Please consider filling out
a pledge card and returning it so we can continue to do what we do.
Or simply fill out our name and the amount you can pledge and send it by email
to Laura Nylander at </span></b><span style="color: black; mso-color-alt: windowtext;"><a href="mailto:laura.nylander56@gmail.com" target="_blank"><b><span style="color: blue; font-family: "Palatino Linotype",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">laura.nylander56@gmail.com</span></b></a></span><b><u><span style="color: blue; font-family: "Palatino Linotype",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></u></b><span style="color: #050505; font-family: "Palatino Linotype",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Or you can do a one-time
pledge through our Paypal account at Ststephensfargo.org or by simply sending a
check (also marked “pledge”) to 120 20 Avenue North Fargo. All pledges are
strictly confidential. Only Laura knows who gives what.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Palatino Linotype",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">People assume pledging is so much harder than it really is. A
pledge can be as little as $10 or #25 or $50 a month. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Palatino Linotype",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Or you can give a <b><u>one-time pledge</u></b> of the amount
you feel most comfortable with. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: #050505; font-family: "Palatino Linotype",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span></span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Palatino Linotype",serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">Your pledge is not about
paying my salary. Your pledge is not only about paying the bills of St.
Stephen’s. Your pledge is about contributing to a parish that makes a
difference in this community, in the world and in our individual lives. It
helps us be the place we are. It helps us as we continue to grow, continue to
welcome new people each week in our doors, continue to be a place where God’s
Spirit is alive and is shared with ALL people, no matter who they are. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But more importantly, we <b><u>do</u> </b>what
we say we do: when dire situations happen within the lives of our parishioners,
we are there to help, to lend support, to be a supporting presence. That is
what your pledge supports here. </span><span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype",serif; font-size: 14.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Palatino Linotype",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-color-alt: windowtext;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>More
than anything, however, please know how grateful and humbled I am to be serving
as your Rector and priest. I am truly blessed by God to be serving a parish
that is excited about what it is doing, that is renewed by its energy and
committed to its very radical following of Jesus. Thank you for all you have
given to me.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Palatino Linotype",serif; font-size: 14.0pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Palatino Linotype",serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">-peace,</span><span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype",serif; font-size: 14.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Palatino Linotype",serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">Fr. Jamie+<o:p></o:p></span></p>Jamie Parsley+http://www.blogger.com/profile/03475578259480661327noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8195442958648580478.post-78117824757704044222023-12-03T19:19:00.000-08:002023-12-03T19:20:42.025-08:001 Advent
<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5zdtB-vDDDUzdQE_C5wmAtZLidFXWAFzo3kbqsquYe5ZZ9L2deMwaPU3znc2lk_-K1pLhhjXKDnmcsrVPCbhFoLF9S5T_pg7ep5cequidtoidS5nvqxjt7ho016HP7cH7jcEHlkSVnWZnoAYvcQtx37RNeOhRfJwITk38ZDoslqOGpVmVbyvJGV8Yu_c/s384/1Advent23.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="131" data-original-width="384" height="136" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5zdtB-vDDDUzdQE_C5wmAtZLidFXWAFzo3kbqsquYe5ZZ9L2deMwaPU3znc2lk_-K1pLhhjXKDnmcsrVPCbhFoLF9S5T_pg7ep5cequidtoidS5nvqxjt7ho016HP7cH7jcEHlkSVnWZnoAYvcQtx37RNeOhRfJwITk38ZDoslqOGpVmVbyvJGV8Yu_c/w400-h136/1Advent23.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">December 3, 2023</span><p></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><em><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">1 Corinthians 1.3-9; Mark 13.24-37</span></em><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">+ Well, it is the </span><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">first
Sunday of Advent.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">This season in which we, as the Church, turn our attention,
just like the rest of the world, toward Christmas. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">It’s important to remember: it’s NOT Christmas yet. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Advent is its own season. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">But this season is a season of waiting. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">It is a time of
preparation.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">It is a time to
remind ourselves that our time is limited.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">It is a time in which
we realize we need to get our affairs in order.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">And there are many
ways we can do that.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">We are forced, during
this season, to realize that in God’s own time, in God’s own ways, everything
will one day be made right.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">The imbalances of
this life will one day be balanced.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">And that those things
that divide us will one day be healed.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">And that when all of
that happens, there will be a true and abiding joy.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">I am grateful on this
first Sunday of Advent for the reconciliations in my own life.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">I am grateful to have
a relationship with others that have been healed.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Life seems a little
less lonely now.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Life seems a little
less dangerous and dark.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">And, for me anyway,
that is the real message of Advent.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">We go through Advent
as a way of preparing, spiritually,</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">for
Christmas, for the birth of the Messiah.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">We do so by striving
to shed ourselves of those dark things in our lives.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">We do so by striving
to shed darkness and division and anger and fear.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">And in this way, I
think the Church year reflects our own lives in many ways.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">That is what Advent
is like.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">We know this joyous
event is coming, but to truly enjoy it, we need to prepare for it the best we
can.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">To truly enjoy this
great Day, we need to try to shed those things in our lives that prevent us
from feeling true joy.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Advent then is also a
time of deep anticipation.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">It is a time of waiting.
</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">And in that way, I
think is represents our own spiritual lives in a way other times of the church
year don’t.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">We are, after all, a
people anticipating something.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">We are hoping for
something</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Something.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">But what?</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Well, our scriptures
give us a clue.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">But what they talk
about isn’t something that we should necessarily welcome with joy.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">In our reading form
Isaiah this morning, we find the prophet saying to God,</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span><span class="initcap" style="text-indent: -24pt;"><b><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">O</span></b></span><b style="text-indent: -24pt;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"> that
you would tear open the heavens and come down,</span></b></p><p class="poetrytext" style="margin-bottom: 3.0pt; margin-left: 30.0pt; margin-right: 24.0pt; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 24pt 3pt 30pt; text-indent: -24pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">
so that the mountains would quake at your presence--<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="poetrytext" style="margin-bottom: 3.0pt; margin-left: 30.0pt; margin-right: 24.0pt; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 24pt 3pt 30pt; text-indent: -24pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">as
when fire kindles brushwood<br />
and the fire causes water to boil--<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="poetrytext" style="margin-bottom: 3.0pt; margin-left: 30.0pt; margin-right: 24.0pt; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 24pt 3pt 30pt; text-indent: -24pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">to
make your name known to your adversaries,<br />
so that the nations might tremble at your presence!<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">That doesn’t sound
like a pleasant day to be anticipating.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Even Jesus, echoing
Isaiah, says in our Gospel reading:</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"> In those days, after that suffering,</span></p>
<p class="poetryindent" style="margin-bottom: 1.5pt; margin-left: 60.0pt; margin-right: 24.0pt; margin-top: .75pt; margin: 0.75pt 24pt 1.5pt 60pt; text-indent: -24pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">the
sun will be darkened,<br />
and the moon will not give its light,<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="poetryindent" style="margin-bottom: 1.5pt; margin-left: 60.0pt; margin-right: 24.0pt; margin-top: .75pt; margin: 0.75pt 24pt 1.5pt 60pt; text-indent: -24pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">and
the stars will be falling from heaven,<br />
and the powers in the heavens will be shaken.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="lessontext" style="margin-bottom: 5.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 24.0pt; margin-top: 2.25pt; margin: 2.25pt 24pt 5pt 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="lessontext" style="margin-bottom: 5.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 24.0pt; margin-top: 2.25pt; margin: 2.25pt 24pt 5pt 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Then they will see <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">“the Son
of Man coming in clouds”</b> with great power and glory. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Well, that’s maybe a
bit better, but it’s still pretty foreboding. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">However, it doesn’t
need to be all that foreboding.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Essentially, all of
this is talk about “the day of the Lord” or the day when the Son of Man will
come in the clouds” is really </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">all about
waiting for God, or for God’s Messiah.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">It is all about God
breaking through to us.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">That is what Advent
is all about.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">God breaking through
to us.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">God coming to us
where are we are.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">God cutting through
the darkness of our lives, with a glorious light.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">For the Jews in
Jesus’ time, waiting like we are, for the Messiah, they had specific ideas of
what this Messiah would do.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Oppressed as they
were by a foreign government—the Romans—with an even more foreign
religion—paganism—, they expected someone like themselves to come to them and
take up a sword.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">This Messiah would
drive away these foreign influences and allow them, as a people, to rise up and
gain their rightful place.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">And for those hearing
the prophet Isaiah, the God who came in glory on that day would strike down the
sinful, but also raise up those who were sorry.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">The fact is, as we
all know by now,</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">God doesn’t work
according to our human plans.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">We can’t control God
or make God do what we want.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">And if we try, let me
tell you, we will be deeply disappointed.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">The Messiah that came
to the people of Jesus’ day—and to us—was no soldier.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">There was no sword in
his hand.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">The “Son of Man” that
came to them—and to us--was a baby, a child who was destined to suffer, just as
we suffer to some extent, and to die, as we all must die.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">But, what we are
reminded of is that God’s Messiah will come again.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">It is about what
happened then, and what will happen.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">This time of Advent
is a time of attentiveness to the past, the present, and the future.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Attentiveness is the
key word.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Actually, in our Gospel reading for
today, we get a different way of stating it.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">We get a kind of verbal alarm clock.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">And we hear it in two different ways:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">“Keep alert.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">“Keep awake.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">Jesus says it just those two ways in
our reading from Mark: It seems simple enough.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">“Keep alert” and “keep awake.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">Or to put it more bluntly, “Wake up!” <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">But is it simple? <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">Our job as Christians is sometimes no
more than this. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">It is simply a matter of staying awake,
of being attentive or being alert, of not being lazy. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">Our lives as Christians are sometimes
simply responses to being spiritually alert. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">For those of us who are tired, who are
worn down by life, who spiritually or emotionally fatigued, our sluggishness
sometimes manifests itself in our spiritual life and in our relationship with
others. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">When we become impatient in our
watching, we sometimes forget what it is we are watching for. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">We sometimes, in our fatigue, fail to
see.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">For us, that “something” that we are
waiting for, that we are keeping alert for, is none other than that glorious
“day of our Lord Jesus Christ,” that we hear St. Paul talk about in his epistle
this morning. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">That glorious day of God breaking
through to us comes when, in our attentiveness, we see the rays of the light
breaking through to us in our tiredness and in our fatigue. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">It breaks through to us in various
ways. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">We, who are in this sometimes foggy
present moment, peering forward, sometimes have this moments of wonderful
spiritual clarity. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">Those moments are truly being alert—of
being spiritually awake. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">Sometimes we have it right here, in
church, when we gather together.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">I have shared with each of you at times
when those moments sometimes come to me.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">There are those moments when we can
say, without a doubt: Yes, God exists!<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">But, more than that.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">It is the moments when we say, God is
real.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">God is near.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">God knows me.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">God loves me. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">And, in that wonderful moment, in that
holy moment, the world about us blossoms! <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">This is what it means to be awake, to
not be lazy.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">See, the day the prophet talks about as
a day of fear and trembling is only a day of fear and trembling if we aren’t
awake.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">For those of us who are awake, who
truly see with our spiritual eyes, the day of the Lord is a glorious day.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">For us, we see that God is our Parent.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">Or as Isaiah says,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"> O <span class="lordsmallcaps"><span style="font-variant: small-caps;">Lord</span></span>,
you are our Father;<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">We are God’s fully loved and fully accepted children. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">And then Isaiah goes on to say that <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">we are the
clay, and you are our potter; <br />
we are all the work of your hand.</span></b><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">Certainly, in a very real sense,
today—this First Sunday of Advent— is a day in which we realize this fact.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">Advent is a time for us to allow God to
form us and make us in God’s image.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">It is a time for us to maybe be kneaded
and squeezed, but, through it all, we are being formed into something
beautiful. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">The rays of that glorious day when God
breaks through to us is a glorious day! <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">And it is a day in which we realize we
are all God’s loved and accepted children. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">In this beautiful Sarum blue Advent
season, we are reminded that the day of God’s reaching out to us is truly about
dawn upon us. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">The rays of the bright sun-lit dawn are
already starting to lighten the darkness of our lives. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">We realize, in this moment, that,
despite all that has happened, despite the disappointments, despite the losses,
despite politics, despite the pain each of us has had to bear, the ray of that
glorious Light breaks through to us in that darkness and somehow, makes it all
better.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">But this is doesn’t happen in an
instant. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">Oftentimes that light is a gradual
dawning in our lives. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">Oftentimes, it happens gradually so we
can adjust to it, so it doesn’t blind us. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">Sometimes, our awakening is in stages,
as though waking from a deep, slumbering sleep.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">Our job as Christians is somewhat
basic. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">I’m not saying it’s easy. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">But I am saying that it is basic. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">Our job, as Christians, especially in
this Advent time, is to be alert. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">To be awake. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">Spiritually and emotionally. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">And, in being alert, we must see
clearly. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">We cannot, when that Day of Christ
dawns, be found to lazy and sloughing.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">Rather, when that Day of our Lord Jesus
dawns, we should greet it joyfully, with bright eyes and a clear mind. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">We should run toward that dawn as we
never have before in our lives. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">We should let the joy within us—the joy
we have hid, we have tried to kill—the joy we have not allowed ourselves to
feel—come pouring forth on that glorious day. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">And in that moment, all those miserable
things we have been dealt—all that loss, all that failure, all that
unfairness—will dissipate like a bad dream on awakening.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">“Keep alert,” Jesus says to us.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">“Keep awake.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">It’s almost time. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">Keep awake because that “something” you
have been longing for all your spiritual life is about to happen. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">It is about to break through into our
lives. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">And it is going to be glorious.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">Let us pray.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">O God of glory, our God and Parent, we
are longing for you in the darkness of our lives to break through to us; to
come to us in this place and shed your Light upon us. And we know that when you
do, it will truly be a glorious Day. We ask this in the name of your Messiah,
Jesus our Savior. Amen. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>Jamie Parsley+http://www.blogger.com/profile/03475578259480661327noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8195442958648580478.post-88505137057414095102023-11-26T15:52:00.000-08:002023-12-02T15:55:35.218-08:00Christ the King -- Christ in Majesty<p> </p><p align="center" style="margin: 0in; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhCdwncsnrxFKuZSwy-8eyaTC7yh0V9NumQ_wpRY7S46o69nlhEQChtd2jAiMfQPn8DHPYNKp1fp7neoW3DysjQAosFNqTBQzO4HoOmuuuZEyBOPpTtYisyHM2m2TEtT7Q4m-WKxy35XIfZpKTBNt-doXpNuIt1mnbSy007yh62FFaeX-Zd0UFXFG7ecU/s1181/Christ_the_King_8.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1181" data-original-width="985" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhCdwncsnrxFKuZSwy-8eyaTC7yh0V9NumQ_wpRY7S46o69nlhEQChtd2jAiMfQPn8DHPYNKp1fp7neoW3DysjQAosFNqTBQzO4HoOmuuuZEyBOPpTtYisyHM2m2TEtT7Q4m-WKxy35XIfZpKTBNt-doXpNuIt1mnbSy007yh62FFaeX-Zd0UFXFG7ecU/s320/Christ_the_King_8.jpg" width="267" /></a></div><br />November
26, 2023<p></p>
<p align="center" style="margin: 0in; text-align: center;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" style="margin: 0in; text-align: center;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">Ezekiel 34.11-16, 20-24; Matthew 25.31-46<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">+ Today is of course Christ the King
Sunday.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">Now, as most of you know, I have issues
with authority.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">I bristle at talk of rulers and kinds
(and Presidents).<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">But for some reason, I don’t have much
of an issue with the idea of Christ as King, despite my deep-seated issues with
authority.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">I love this idea of God as Ruler. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">And, as you know, I love preaching
about the Kingdom or Reign of God.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">Jesus did it all the time.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">The Reign of God is a good thing to
preach about. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">But, it’s an important Sunday for
another reason. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">It is the last Sunday in that very
long, green season of Pentecost. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">Today, for the Church, it is New Year’s
Eve. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">The old church year of Sundays—Church
Year A—ends today. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">The new church year—Church Year
B—begins next Sunday, on the First Sunday of Advent. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">So, what seems like an ending today is
renewed next week, with the coming of Advent, in that revived sense of longing
and expectation that we experience in Advent.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">Today, we get a great reading from the
Prophet Ezekiel.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">We hear God saying things through
Ezekiel<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>like, <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">“I will seek out my sheep. I will rescue them from all the places
to which they have been scattered on a day of clouds and thick darkness.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">And (I love this one)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">“I feed them with justice.”<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">We also get to hear Jesus tell us that
story of the sheep and the goats, echoing in many ways our reading from Ezekiel.
<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">Now, I actually love this parable—not
because of its threat of punishment (which everyone gets hung up on), not
because of its judgment. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">I love this story because there is
something beautiful and subtle going on just beneath the surface, if you take
the moment to notice. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">And that subtle aspect of this story is
this:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">If you notice, the reward is given not
to people who <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">work</i> for the reward. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">The reward is not given to people who
help the least of their brethren because they know they will gain the reward. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">The reward is granted to those who help
the least of their brethren simply because the least need help.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">The reward is for those who have no
regard or idea that a reward even awaits them for doing such a thing. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">Now I don’t think I need to tell anyone
here who the least of our brethren are. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">The least of our brethren are the ones
who are hungry, who are thirsty, who are naked, who are sick and who are in
prison.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">I think this ties in beautifully to our
own ideas of why we do what we do as followers of Jesus. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">I preach this a lot!! <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">Why do we do what we do, we must ask
ourselves? <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">Do we do these things because we think
we’re going to get a reward for doing them? <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">Or do we do these things because by
doing them we know it goes for a greater reward than anything we ourselves
could get?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">In our Gospel reading today, we find
that the Kingdom of God is prepared for those who have been good stewards, who
do good for the sake of doing good. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">It is prepared for those who have been
mindful of what has been given to them and have been mindful of those around
them in need. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">It is a great message during this
stewardship time<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">For us, we need to realize that the
Kingdom is prepared for us as well. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">It is prepared for us who have sought
to be good stewards without any thought of eternal reward. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">For us who strive to do good for the
sake doing good. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">It is prepared for us who have simply
done what we are called to do as followers of Jesus.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">To love God, and to love others.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">That is why we do good.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">For us, in our own society, we find
that these same terms found in Jesus’ parable have a wider definition. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">Hungry for us doesn’t just mean hungry
for food. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">It means hungry for love, for healing,
for wholeness.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">Hungry to be included, and treated as
equals. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">It means hungry, also, for God. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">Thirsty doesn’t just mean for water. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">Thirsty for us means thirsty for
fairness or justice or peace.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">And thirsty for God. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">Naked doesn’t just mean without
clothing. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">It means, for us, to be stripped to our
core, to be laid bare spiritually and emotionally and materially, which many of
us have known in our lives.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">We have known what it means to be
spiritually and emotionally naked.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">To be sick, doesn’t necessarily mean to
be sick with a disease in our bodies. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">It is means to be sick in our hearts
and in our relationships with others.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">It means to be sick with despair or
depression or anxiety or spiritually barrenness. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">And we all know that the prisons of our
lives sometimes don’t necessarily have walls or bars on the doors. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">The prisons of our lives are sometimes
our fears, our prejudices, our anxieties, our addictions, our very selves. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">To not go out and help those who need
help is to be arrogant, to be selfish, to be headstrong. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">To not do so is to turn our backs on
following where Jesus leads us. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">Because Jesus leads us into that place
wherein we must love and love fully and give and give freely—of ourselves and
of what we have been given.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">It means to “feed with justice,” as God
tells us in Ezekiel. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">I like that because that is definitely
what we have all been striving to do here at St. Stephen’s. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">We practice our radical hospitality to
everyone who comes to us in any way. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">And, I think, we accept everyone who
comes to us fully. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">Here, we not only welcome people, but I
think we allow people to be the people God created them to be—without judgment,
without prejudice, just as the Kingdom no doubt will be. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">And is.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">Again, that brings us back to Jesus’
parable. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">The meaning of this story is this: If
you do these things—if you feed the hungry, if you give drink to the thirsty,
if you welcome the stranger, if you clothe the naked, if you visit the sick and
imprisoned—if you simply respond to one another as loving human beings—if you
do these things without thought of reward, but do them simply because you, as a
Christian, are called to do them, the reward is yours.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">The Reign of God is not only awaiting
us in the next world, on the other side of the veil. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">The Reign of God, when we do these
things, is <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">here</i>. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">Right now.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">Right in our midst. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">As Christians, we shouldn’t have to
think about <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">doing</i> any of those
things. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">They should be like second nature to
us. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">We should be doing them naturally,
instinctively. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">For those of us who are hungry or
thirsty, who feel like strangers, who are naked, sick and imprisoned—and at
times, we have been in those situations—we find Christ in those rays of hope
that break through into our lives.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">It is very similar to the hope we are
clinging to in this moment as we enter Advent—that time in which the Light is
seen breaking into the encroaching darkness of our existence. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">And we—in those moments when we feed
the hungry, when we give drink to the thirsty, when we welcome the stranger,
when we clothe the naked, when we visit the sick and imprisoned—in those
moments, we become that light in the darkness, that hope in someone else’s
life. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">We embody Christ and Christ’s Reign
when we become the conduits of hope.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">So, as we celebrate the end of this
liturgical year and set our expectant eyes on the season of Advent, let us not
just be filled with hope. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">Let us be a true reflection of Christ’s
hope to this world. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">Let us be the living embodiment of that
hope to those who need hope. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">And in doing so, we too will hear those
words of assurance to us: <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">“Come, you that are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom
prepared for….”<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">I am going to close today with the
prayer they pray at All Saints, Pasadena on this Christ the King Sunday.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">It’s a beautiful prayer.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">So, let us pray, <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><em><span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; font-style: normal; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-color-alt: windowtext;">Most Gracious God, who in Jesus of Nazareth
showed us an alternative to the kings, queens and emperors of history, help us
to revere and emulate Jesus’ leadership: To love, and to seek justice for all
people. Help us to recognize the true grandeur and life-changing power based in
loving you and all of our neighbors. In Christ Jesus with you and the Holy
Spirit, may we co-create a world ruled not through domination, but in that
radical and all-powerful compassion and love. Amen.</span></em><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>Jamie Parsley+http://www.blogger.com/profile/03475578259480661327noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8195442958648580478.post-37468408230379493922023-11-19T12:16:00.000-08:002023-11-22T12:19:42.077-08:0025 Pentecost<p><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh108gapxC9nioJCJ_Rsg8ChFZ3rk7PeGcseKcgLedxOKjqZ-vmvBOR8IqZRd6BPBLnO15RJb6Zeq75lOjIrYtqcn0Zbl9YYa5jnUyKZJnYhp6naNaqQOgLJZ29I6NQVNW5BuDfut2OflTzbVsw4slYENw63PSVa8bVy3_2ug7ZXS3AEh28UumdyKo8dNs/s1000/welldonegood.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1000" data-original-width="750" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh108gapxC9nioJCJ_Rsg8ChFZ3rk7PeGcseKcgLedxOKjqZ-vmvBOR8IqZRd6BPBLnO15RJb6Zeq75lOjIrYtqcn0Zbl9YYa5jnUyKZJnYhp6naNaqQOgLJZ29I6NQVNW5BuDfut2OflTzbVsw4slYENw63PSVa8bVy3_2ug7ZXS3AEh28UumdyKo8dNs/w300-h400/welldonegood.jpg" width="300" /></a></div><br />November 18, 2023<p></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><em><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">Matthew 25.14-30</span></em><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">+ As a a priest, and especially as a
Rector of a congregation, people say things about me.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">Sometimes those things are
complimentary.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">Sometimes they definitely are not. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">Once, many years ago, at another
congregation, I heard that a parishioner there told someone else that I was
full of hubris. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">That person later became a very dear
friend of mine and has since passed on to the nearer Presence of God. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">But, at the time I have to say I
offended by that statement. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">I will say, there have been much worse
things said about me behind my back (and to my face)<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>than being accused of hubris.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">And one of the curses of my life is
that when people say things behind my back, I usually end up hearing about it.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">Somehow inevitable it always comes back
to me. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">But, the reality is this: as you may or
may not know, the priest is often the catch-all of a congregation.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">If something doesn’t work well in a
congregation, the priest often is the one who gets the blame, whether or not
she or he really is the problem (usually the priest is NOT the problem).<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">If people want to complain about things
in a congregation, it is often much easier to complain about a priest. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">Now, I knew this fact long before I
ever went into the priesthood.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">I tell anyone who is heeding a call to
ordained ministry that the first thing they need to develop is a very thick
skin.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">Luckily, here at St. Stephen’s, I have
not had that issue much.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">People here seem pretty content with me
for the most part.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">And I’m grateful for that.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">And if there are criticisms, which
trust me, usually get back to me (they just do), I usually can go with it.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">But there is one accusation that cuts
through the thick skin of my “Priest armor.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">Actually, maybe I shouldn’t even share
my personal Kryptonite with you, but, most of you know it anyway…<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">The one accusation I don’t handle well
is actually one that has never been leveled at me here at St. Stephen’s (at
least I haven’t heard it).<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">It’s an ugly word.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">It even sounds ugly.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">And it cuts deeply.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">Words with the letter “z” often seem to
have a razor-edge to them.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">The word is…<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">lazy.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">I despise that word.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">Now, you can say I’m full of<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“hubris” all you want. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">But, I think we can all agree: I am NOT
a lazy priest. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">All this talk of laziness ties in well
with this strange, difficult parable for this morning. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">We get this parable of the talents, of
money lent and the reward awaiting those who were entrusted with the money,
complete with its not-so-subtle wag of the finger at us. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">Trust me, I did not purposely pick this
scripture for this Stewardship Season; it just happened to come up in the
lectionary today. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">But, man, is this parable is a very
good story for us today! <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">Most of us can relate to it. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">We understand how good it is to have
people invest money for us and to receive more in return. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">But, this parable isn’t <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">really</i> about money at all, as we
probably have guessed, just as Stewardship I just about money either. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">The parable is about taking what we
have—and in the case of today’s reading Jesus is talking about the Gospel—and
working to expand it and return it back to God with interest.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">We, as Christians, are called to just
this: we are called to work.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">We are called to do something with what
we’ve been given. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">And the worse thing we can imagine as
Christians is being called by that ugly word I mentioned earlier: <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">“lazy.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">Lazy.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">See. The word cuts like a razor. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">I hate that word! <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">None of us want to hear that word
directed at us, especially regarding our faith.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">It is that shaming admonition we hear
in this parable: “You wicked and lazy slave!” <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">It’s not what we want to hear. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">Rather, we want to hear: <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">“Well done, good and trustworthy
servant; you have been trustworthy in a few things, I will put you in charge of
many things; enter into the joy of your master.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">Over and over again in Scripture, we
find this one truth: God is not really ever concerned with what we <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">have</i>; but God is always concerned with
what we <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">do</i> with what we have. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">And we should always remind ourselves
that it is not always an issue of money that we’re dealing with when we talk
about what we <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">have</i>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">The rewards of this life include many
other things other than money—an issue we sometimes forget about in our western
capitalist society. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">The fact is, God is not always
concerned about who we are or what we do.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">God does not care about our ego.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">God does not care about your ego! <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">But, God <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">is</i> always concerned with what we <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">do</i> with who we are and what we have. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">And when we’re lazy, we purposely
forget this fact. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">When we’re lazy, we think we can just
coast. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">We think we can just “get by.” <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">We think we can just give lip service
to our gratitude and that is enough. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">We expect others to do the hard work
while we sit back. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">But it isn’t enough.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">To be "good and trustworthy”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>is to take what we have and do something
meaningful with it. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">By doing something good, we are showing
our gratitude for it.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">In this week leading up to
Thanksgiving, we might find ourselves thinking about all the things in our
lives we are thankful for. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">And we <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">should</i> be expressing our thanks to God for those things. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">And I hope St. Stephen’s is one of
those things for which we are thankful. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">And lest we forget, we are also now
well into the short but very meaningful time of Stewardship season. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">It is a time in which we look hard at
ourselves and ask ourselves the important questions of what St. Stephen’s means
to us, and how we contribute of ourselves and our resources to St. Stephen’s.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">For some churches, stewardship time is
a difficult time.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">It is a time of uncertainty.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">It is a time when people kind of groan
and inwardly complain.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">“The priest is going to talk about
money!”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">But for us at St. Stephen’s, it’s never
really like that.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">For us, here, people LIKE to be members
here.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">And people here LIKE to help our
congregation out.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">People here like to step up to the
plate.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">Why?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">Because people can see what we do.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">People can see that although we are not
a mega-church, we are not a giant church, we do make a big difference.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">We are a place where we don’t just
“talk the talk,” we very much “walk the walk.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">We don’t just pay lip service to our
commitment to making a difference in this world.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">We actually work hard to make a
difference.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">Let me tell you, no one can call St.
Stephen’s a lazy congregation.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">We are not some idle parish. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">We do things. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">We are kept active. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">It is never boring here. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">And we should be thankful for all of
that. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">But being thankful for this active,
vital parish that we are is more than just the priets standing up at the pulpit
and saying it. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">What God seems to want from us more
than anything else is to let that thankfulness be lived out in our lives. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">Yes, we should give thanks to God with
our mouths.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">But we must give also thanks to God
with our actions.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">We should also give thanks to God with
our time and with our talents—with our resources and with our hands and labors.
<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">Our thankfulness should not simply be
the words coming from our mouths, but also the actions we do as Christians. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">As Christians truly thankful to God for
all we have been given, we are to live a life of integrity and purpose and
meaning. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">Integrity.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">Purpose.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">Meaning.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">And standing up again and again to what
is wrong. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">We show our thankfulness to God in our
stewardship—in the fact that we are thankful by sharing what we have been
given. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">By sharing the goodness we have been
given. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">And in that sharing, we find the true
meaning of what it means to be <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">gracious</i>.
<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">In that sharing, we find purpose and
meaning in our lives. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">In that sharing, we find true contentment.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">We all have our treasures in this life.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">We all have these special things God
has given us. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">It might be our talents, it might be
our know-how, it might be a blessing of financial abundance. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">It might just be our very selves. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">We have a choice with these treasures. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">We can take them and we can sit on
them. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">We can store them away and not let them
gain interest. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">And in the end, all we have is a
moldering treasure—which really isn’t a treasure at all. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">Or we can take a chance, we can invest
them and, in investing them, we can spread them and share them.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">During this stewardship season, the
message is not “Give”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">The message of this stewardship time is
“be grateful.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">Be grateful to God for the treasures of
this life.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">These are the things we have—our
talents, our God-given abilities, the material blessings of our lives—and to be
truly thankful for those things, we need to be grateful for them and to share
them. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">We can’t hoard them, we can’t hug them
close and be afraid they will be taken from us. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">And we can’t go through life with a
complacent attitude—expecting that others are going to take of these things for
us.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">We must share what we have.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">And we must share what we have with
dignity and self-assurance and with a graceful and grateful attitude. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">We must be gracious<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">We must not be the lazy slave who
hoards what is given him, afraid to invest what he has. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">We must instead be like the wise
servant, the one is alert and prepared, the one who is truly gracious. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">That is what Stewardship is really
about.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">It is about giving of ourselves, even
when the times are tough.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">And it is about making sure that we at
St. Stephen’s can continue to do that and be that place in the future. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">So, let us be the wise servants this
Stewardship season.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">Let us continue to step up to the plate
and do what we must do.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">Let us make sure that we as a
congregation can continue to be a place of safety, of integrity, of holiness
and love, when times are good and when times are bad. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">Let us give thanks to God for all that
St. Stephen’s does and is and continues to be. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">And let us make sure that we can
continue to be this radical place we are, this unique and eclectic and Holy
Spirit-filled place we are.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">And let us all do what we are called to
do in our service of God and one another. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">And if we are, we too will hear those
words spoken to us—those words we all truly long to hear—“Well done, good and
faithful one…enter into the joy of your master.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 115%;">Let us pray.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 115%;">Abundant God, you provided us always with just what we need;
we ask you during this Stewardship time to continue to provide this
congregation of St. Stephen’s with the resources we need, with the time and talent
needed, to do the work you have called us to do, to be a place of love and
acceptance to those who need shelter, to embody those principals in this often
dark and uncertain world, and to make a difference among those who need us; we
ask this in Jesus’ name. Amen. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>Jamie Parsley+http://www.blogger.com/profile/03475578259480661327noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8195442958648580478.post-20025593453185918702023-11-05T19:17:00.004-08:002023-11-05T19:18:21.104-08:00All Saints Sunday<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg76nPj94POCC5YXXOPS1EUZER1yFJ3TylQbPY9CxxO6pisEjdRydnjg7TnEB7xRbTtBc92mUV37QcIlxplQBjj3eQ1lAHbbxX0yykMD78nizlTa690RJ4040bNIHtiIpmzAnV-1_8zgDHkB4_0YZ8mjEAlLjOJNK8Vvq6TMrXyZpZ3nTvDnRzD7gHY_ww/s736/AllSaints2023a.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="252" data-original-width="736" height="138" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg76nPj94POCC5YXXOPS1EUZER1yFJ3TylQbPY9CxxO6pisEjdRydnjg7TnEB7xRbTtBc92mUV37QcIlxplQBjj3eQ1lAHbbxX0yykMD78nizlTa690RJ4040bNIHtiIpmzAnV-1_8zgDHkB4_0YZ8mjEAlLjOJNK8Vvq6TMrXyZpZ3nTvDnRzD7gHY_ww/w400-h138/AllSaints2023a.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><em style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt; font-style: normal;">November 6, 2023</span></em><p></p>
<p align="center" style="margin: 0in; text-align: center;"><em><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></em></p>
<p align="center" style="margin: 0in; text-align: center;"><em><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">1 John 3.1-3; Matthew 5.1-12</span></em><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" style="margin: 0in; text-align: center;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">+ In case
you might have noticed it, today is a very, very special Sunday.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">All
Sundays, of course, are special.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">But today
is even a bit more special, if you haven’t noticed.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Out in
the Narthex, we do have the All Saints altar.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">We have
the Book of Remembrance, with the names written in it of all our departed loved
ones.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Last Wednesday
we had a very full All Souls Annual Requiem Mass at which we remembered the
names of our departed loved and processed out to the memorial garden where
candles burned on the graves of the 21 people whose ashes buried there.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Wednesday
night’s Mass, I have to say, was moving on so many levels.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Especially
for those of us who read those names aloud.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">For us,
we just randomly read a column of names, not knowing which ones we will get.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">But sometimes
we get the names of our own loved ones.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">And we found
ourselves choking up because no matter how long it has been since they’ve been
gone, we realize how real what we are doing when we commemorate those people
really is.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Today,
here in the Nave, we have the paraments on the altar, and of course I’m
all decked out in as well (as you can see).</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">The first
class relics of the saints have been brought out from where they usually lie
inside our altar.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">A first
class relic, by the ways, means that it is an actual part of the saints—in this
case we have actual pieces of bone from St. Elizabeth Ann Seton, St. John
Neumann (not the Anglican priest who became a Roman Catholic cardinal, but rather
the Bohemian Bishop of Philadelphia), and St. Francis Cabrini, better known as
Mother Cabrini. Inside the altar are still the relics of our unknown saint,
whom we just affectionately call, St. Incognito.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">And we
are celebrating even a bit more than we usually do.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">In just a
few moments, we’ll renew our Baptismal vows.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">You’ll
get sprinkled with water.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">We’ll
take joy in our baptism.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">And in
all the company of the saints. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">See, it’s
a Sunday to celebrate.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Which, as
you all know, I LOVE to do.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">I love to
celebrate.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">I will
look for any little opportunity to celebrate.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">And,
today we have plenty to celebrate.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">First, we
are celebrating the saints.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">We are
celebrating all those saints that we know of, like the Blessed Virgin Mary and
our own St. Stephen.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">We are
celebrating the saints we have remembered in our beautiful windows.</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">We
celebrate the saints whose relics rest inside our altar and which are exposed
today for veneration.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">We
celebrate those saints because they are held up to us as examples of how to
live this sometimes difficult life we live as Christians.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">And, as
those saints would no doubt tell us,</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">it
is hard to be a Christian sometimes.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">It is
hard, as we all know, to follow Jesus, and to do what Jesus tells us to do—to
love God and love others.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">It is
hard to be, as John says in our epistle for today, the children of God, as
Jesus himself is the divine Child of God.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">The
saints have shown this fact to us.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">They have
shown us how to be these very children of God.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">We
celebrate that today.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">We
celebrate, by our baptismal vows, that we are loved children of a loving and
accepting God.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">We are
also celebrating the saints we have personally known.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">We are
celebrating the saints we have known who have come into our own lives—those
people who have taught us about God and shown us that love does win out, again
and again.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">The
saints in our own lives are those who have done it, who have shown us that we</span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgt80CVaO-7pNwsaGIbsxvo_GP8MfS1I-O9o0SJ4PRT_aTJpdq64Q_BylXskOiEkvPHgQxZhI_B8va00GYtuujs3dZlXMx27soyGjcRjSdyjfEl4SVWoHf9rLUboNj1KMuz8ipt1Lpy-1TTHBMNunG2nNhaJU8Cn18bbG9E4Kzq5p1hWhru6xsx3xhovV8/s538/AllSaints2023b.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="538" data-original-width="308" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgt80CVaO-7pNwsaGIbsxvo_GP8MfS1I-O9o0SJ4PRT_aTJpdq64Q_BylXskOiEkvPHgQxZhI_B8va00GYtuujs3dZlXMx27soyGjcRjSdyjfEl4SVWoHf9rLUboNj1KMuz8ipt1Lpy-1TTHBMNunG2nNhaJU8Cn18bbG9E4Kzq5p1hWhru6xsx3xhovV8/w229-h400/AllSaints2023b.jpg" width="229" /></a></div><br />
can be successful in following Jesus, even if they weren’t always successful at
times in their own lives.<p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">But,
before we go any further, we do need to ask ourselves: what is a saint?</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Well, a
few years ago I came across this great story.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">It is
about the great Dorothy Day, who is also being considered for canonization in
the Roman Catholic Church.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">This
story is one we can relate to here.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: ; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 12.0pt; margin: 12pt 0in 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-color-alt: windowtext; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">During the 1970s, in those days after Vatican II and the liturgical
reform that Churches like the Catholic Church and the Episcopal Church were
going though, some priests were becoming rather casual with the liturgy. One
afternoon, a priest came into the soup kitchen in which Dorothy Day was
working. He wanted to offer a Mass for the homeless. He went into the kitchen
and grabbed a coffee mug to use for the chalice.</span><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: ; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 12.0pt; margin: 12pt 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-color-alt: windowtext; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Dorothy, although frustrated at the irreverent use of houseware for
the liturgy, prayed throughout the mass with the priest. After the liturgy
ended, she quietly got up and started to cleanse the vessels. Then, she walked
outside with the mug and a shovel.</span><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: ; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 12.0pt; margin: 12pt 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-color-alt: windowtext; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">A man followed her and asked her what she was doing. It is said she
kissed the mug and then buried it. She told him that it was no longer a mug,
but a chalice. It was no longer suited for coffee- it had held the Blood of
Christ. She didn’t want anyone to mistake it for a mug again. Once something
holds the Body of Christ, it is no longer what it was. When the mug held the
Blood of Christ, it changed its vocation forever. It could no longer hold
anything less than Christ again.</span><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: ; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 12.0pt; margin: 12pt 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-color-alt: windowtext; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The story goes on to say this:</span><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: ; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 12.0pt; margin: 12pt 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-color-alt: windowtext; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“We are common mugs. Simple, functional, practical, and good
people. We have a capacity to hold good things. But when Christ entered our
lives, we became more. We became Chalices. We started to hold Christ—who is
fully divine--within our hearts. Now that we have held the Body of Christ
within our bodies, we are no longer common, but rather extraordinary.”</span><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">That is
what a saint is.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">A saint is a common mug that has holds within
it the very Presence of God, and by doing so is transformed into something
different and wonderful—a chalice.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">That is
why we celebrate the saints.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">That is
what we celebrate today.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">And when
we start pondering who a saint is, we then can start looking at ourselves.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">We can
find the saints are not only in church, in stained glass, or on ikons, or their
relics we put out.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">No,
rather we find saints looking back at us from our very mirrors.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span><i><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">We</span></i><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"> are the future saints.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">We
celebrate ourselves today—we, the future saints gathered here to worship God,
to hold within us the very Presence of God.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Together,
we strive to follow Jesus, to love God and each other and to serve those we
encounter.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">That is
what it means to be future saints.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Often, as
we have known, saints are hidden from us.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Saints
often are the ones we least expect to be saints.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">But we
have all known saints in our lives.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">This
morning, on this All Saints Sunday, and on a fairly regular basis, I think
about the saints who have worshipped with us here at St. Stephen’s.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Today, we
are reminded that they are still with us.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">I
occasionally look out and I can see still them with us at times.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">I can
still see Harriet Blow’s wheelchair.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">I can see
Betty Spur in that back pew.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">I can
still see Greg Craychee as an acolyte up front.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">I can
still see Angel Brekke and Betty De La Garza and her mother Georgia Patneaude, and
Jim Coffey and Jonathan Gilbert and Tom and Ruth Stickney and Marlys Lundberg, </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">here with us, smiles on their faces.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">And many
of you might not know who those people are because you have become members here
since they passed.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">For those
who might not know who these people were, it’s just a reminder that ordinary
people worshipped in these pews and in this building over the years and are now
gone, but are still, in some amazing holy way, with us.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">I have
shared with you many times that despite all the loss of several close people to
me in my life over the last decade, the times when I often feel them closest is
when I am standing at this altar, right after I break the Bread and am looking
down into that chalice of Christ’s Blood.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">When
Jesus says in our Gospel reading for today that “blessed are those who mourn,
for they shall be comforted,” we can be assured of that comfort in whatever way
it comes to us. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">It is
then the veil between this world and the next is lifted for one moment.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">This is
why we celebrate the saints.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">That is
why we celebrate the saints with the different commemorations we have of them
at our Wednesday night Masses throughout the year.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">That is
why they are in our windows.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">That is
why their bones are in our altar.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">And that
is why we celebrate them especially on Sundays like today.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">We
celebrate the saints because they lead the way for us.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">They show
us how to live this sometimes difficult life as Christians.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">They show
us in their successes and they show us in their failures.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">They
remind that we are all chalices, holding within our common, sometimes worn-out
and broken bodies, the very Presence of God in our midst.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">And we
celebrate the saints as well because we too are the saints.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">We are
the future saints, who will one day be gathered around the altar of the Lamb,
where we will partake of that glory without end.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">I just mentioned
that “veil” that separates us from those who have gone on before us.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">I mentioned
that that veil is actually a very thin one, even though it often seems like a
very thick curtain. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">But there
are moments, like the Holy Eucharist, </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">when that veil is sort of lifted and we can
see that very little actually separates us from those saints who have gone on
before us who now dwell in the nearer Presence of God.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">This
morning, we are actually able to see that veil lifted.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Of
course, we see it lifted every time when we gather at the altar to celebrate
the Eucharist, and God draws close to us.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">At the
Eucharist, those saints who are now worshipping God in heaven and those who are
worship God here on earth—we are, in that one holy moment, together.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">The
distance between us, in that moment, is brought close.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">And we
catch a clear glimpse of what awaits.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">This is
not some isolated act we do, here in St. Stephen’s Church in north Fargo on
this morning in November of 2023.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Every
time we celebrate the Eucharist, we do it with every Christian on this earth
who also celebrates it.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">And when
we celebrate the Eucharist, all we are doing is joining, for this limited time,
the worship that is going on in heaven for all eternity.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">We are
reminded this morning that our true vocation as Christians is to be chalices,
to carry within us the very Presence of Christ.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Our
inheritance is to be children of our loving God.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">We are
all called to be saints.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">It is a
wonderful vocation we are called to.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">So, let
us—the future saints of God—truly celebrate today.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Let us
celebrate the saints who have gone on and who are still with us in various
ways.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Let us
celebrate the saints who are here with us, right now, on this joyful morning.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">And let
us celebrate ourselves, as we look into our future with God with delight and
true joy.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Let us pray.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">God of all ages, you are truly glorious
in your saints; fill us with the Presence of your Christ, so that we, mere
houseware that we are, may be chalices of your Presence to those around us who
need your Presence; we ask this in the name of Jesus our Lord. Amen. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>Jamie Parsley+http://www.blogger.com/profile/03475578259480661327noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8195442958648580478.post-8002213999233289592023-10-29T20:04:00.002-07:002023-10-29T20:04:09.531-07:0022 Pentecost<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1KQDWl4ioUMAqTBTJ5TJn-rGKodcL05s1Y2xqbVbL9SQ6QXrK-MWWrsxYrisFiZrkR4FcRCxy7jfctSiwYz2ADCXEWHLF1g-yu19yza9Rlzc3LXFJtTYgQVIqglvrDCPAoUChbyPnYPaVqgmmEvI7YR1Q4bXguJYhZHKcIc8q-ltlvy5NE1DTIgrZgOY/s704/shema2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="400" data-original-width="704" height="228" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1KQDWl4ioUMAqTBTJ5TJn-rGKodcL05s1Y2xqbVbL9SQ6QXrK-MWWrsxYrisFiZrkR4FcRCxy7jfctSiwYz2ADCXEWHLF1g-yu19yza9Rlzc3LXFJtTYgQVIqglvrDCPAoUChbyPnYPaVqgmmEvI7YR1Q4bXguJYhZHKcIc8q-ltlvy5NE1DTIgrZgOY/w400-h228/shema2.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><em><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt; font-style: normal;">October 29, 2023</span></em><p></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><em><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></em></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><em><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Leviticus 19.1-2, 15-18; Matthew 22.34-46</span></em><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">+ I was originally planning on having Deacon John preach this
morning.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">As some of you know, I haven’t been feeling well recently. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">And Deacon John has been biting at the bit to preach here. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">So, I was thinking, I’ll let him preach this Sunday, because next
Sunday is, of course, All Saints Sunday, and I LOVE to preach on that day.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Then I remembered what our Gospel reading is for today. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">And I said to myself, nope. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">I have to preach on this one. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Because, as you all know, this, for me, is what it is all about. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">This scripture is it for me. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">But I’ll get into all of that in just a moment. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">First, as you may remember, last week, in my sermon, I preached
about the Shema.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">The Shema is a profession of faith from the Deuteronomy 6.5-9 that
goes like this: <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt;"><b><span style="color: #1d2936; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Hear O
Israel, the Lord is our God, the Lord is One. </span></b><b><span style="color: #1d2936; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">You shall
love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all
your migh</span></b><span style="color: #1d2936; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">t. </span><span style="color: #1d2936; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">The Shema is the prayer all Jewish men are required to pray twice
each day, once in the morning and once at night.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Although I’m of course not Jewish, I also do that.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">I also pray the Shema each morning upon waking up and each night
before bed.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">It’s a good spiritual practice. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">But it’s more than that.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">It’s the heart of what we believe as followers of Jesus and
believers in the God of Jesus. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">For me, as you all know, as you have heard me preach over and over
again from this pulpit over the many years I’ve been with you here, this is
what it’s all about. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">This Gospel reading isn’t just a summary of the Law.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">It is a summary of Christianity itself. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">This is what we must do as Christians. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Plain.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">And seemingly simply (but maybe not so simple). <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Now, I once was scolded a bit—this was at another congregation,
mind you—for preaching too much about love.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">“You always preach about love,” this parishioner told me.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">This parishioner is now dwelling the nearer Presence of God, and
so is, ironically, literally surrounded, in this moment, by the overwhelming divine
love and is no doubt saying what most people end up saying, “Yup, Jamie was
right.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">But she also was right. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">I ALWAYS preach about love. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">I sure do.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">And if it was meant as a criticism, I do not take it that way. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">I wear it proudly as a badge of honor. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Because the fact remains that this is essentially all Jesus
preached about as well. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">And it it’s good enough for him, it’s sure good enough for me. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">The gist of everything Jesus said or did was based solidly on what
we hear him summarize in this morning’s Gospel. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">In fact, <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Every sermon and parable he preached, was based on what we heard
today. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Every miracle, and even that final act on the cross, was based
solidly on what we heard this morning.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">In today’s Gospel Jesus is clear. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Which commandment is the greatest? he is asked. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">And he replied: <b>“You shall love the Lord your God with all your
heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the greatest
and first commandment. And a second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor
as yourself.’ On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.”<o:p></o:p></b></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">He can’t get any clearer, as far as I’m concerned. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">And it is these two commandments, both of which are solidly and
unashamedly based in love, that he again and again professes.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Every day of his adult life, Jesus prayed this prayer.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was the basis of his
entire spiritual life. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">And this commandment, along with the commandment to love others,
is the basis for his entire teaching. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">When he says, “On these two commandments hang all the law and the
prophets,” we can also add the Gospel. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">The Gospel, along with the Law and the prophets, is based on these
commandments. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">And so is our entire faith as Christians. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">I don’t think I can get any clearer on this.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">I hear so often from Christians—not a whole lot of Episcopalians,
but other Christians—that their faith as a Christian is based solely on
accepting Jesus Christ as their “personal” Lord and Savior. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">I actually have no problem with that, for the most part, in
actuality. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">I don’t think making Jesus a personal savior to any one of us is
good theology, mind you.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">And nowhere in scripture is there any reference that accepting
Jesus as a personal savior that only way to salvation. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">But having a personal relationship with Jesus, who is our Savior,
is a good thing. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Our Baptismal promises in the Book of Common Prayer are based on
accepting Jesus as our Savior as well. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">In the Baptismal promises we are asked that all-important
question: <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">“Do you turn to Jesus Christ and accept him as your Savior?” <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">And, of course, we do.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">But, for Jesus, the real heart of the matter is not in such a professions
of faith. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">He never commands us to make such statements for salvation. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">What he does command us to do again and again, to love. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">To love God. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">And to love one another. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">And, as you’ve heard me say, Sunday after Sunday from this pulpit,
when we fail to love, we fail to be Christians. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Any time we fail in these two commandments, we fail to be
Christians. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">We turn away from following Jesus and we turn away from all that
it means to be a Christian. I think the organized Church sometimes misses this
fact. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">And we, as Christians, sometimes miss this fact as well.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">We sometimes think: maybe this is too simple. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Love God, love others. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">It’s just too simple. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Well, first of all: it is not. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">It is not easy to love God. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">It is not easy to love Someone who is, for the most part,
invisible to us. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">And, as we struggle with all the time in our lives, it is not easy
to love others. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">I don’t need to tell anyone here this morning that is sometimes
very hard to love others. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">So, it is not too simple.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">But we still want something more occasionally. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">We sometimes fall into the trap of depending on things like dogma,
or the Law, or Canons (or Church Laws), or liturgical rubrics, or gurus, or any
of the other rules that define it all for us specifically. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Certainly, when we start doing so, we enter dangerous territory.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">The fact is, all of those things—confessional statements, dogmas,
church laws, rubrics, or any of those complicated rules—are pointless if they
are not based on these two laws of loving God and loving others. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">If anyone wants to know what Christians believe and who we are,
these two Laws are it. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">They define us. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">They guide and direct us. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">And when we fail to do them, let me tell you, they convict us and
they judge us.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">So, yes, I know I am guilty of preaching the same thing all the
time. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">But I do unashamedly. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">I do so proudly. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">I do so without any sense of remorse. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">This former Lutheran, on this Reformation Sunday, echoes Martin
Luther today: <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Here I stand. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Because all I am doing when I preach about loving God and loving
others, is what Jesus did. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">I am following Jesus when I preach those laws.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">But more importantly than preaching about them, I hope we can all
strive to <u>live</u> those laws in our lives, <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">I try to in my own life as Christian and as a priest.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">I try to help others to do that as well.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">So, let us love unashamedly. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Let us love without limit. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Let us love radically. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">As our reading from Leviticus tells us, “let us be holy” because
our God is holy. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Let the love that guides us and directs and, yes judges us and
convicts us, be the one motivating factor in our lives. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Let it be the foundation and basis of each ministry we are called
to do. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Let love—that radical, all-encompassing, all-accepting love—be
what drives us. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">And let us—each of us—be known to everyone by our love.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Let us pray. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Holy God, help us in our following of your Son Jesus that we me
might embody and fully live out the Law of loving you fully and loving others
with a true, all-encompassing, all-accepting love. We ask this in his name.
Amen. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>Jamie Parsley+http://www.blogger.com/profile/03475578259480661327noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8195442958648580478.post-83449440505270002992023-10-22T18:10:00.001-07:002023-10-23T18:16:16.441-07:0021 Pentecost<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCtDOd8g-lGVNPg5HPyqtWLEedyN9soOtDsYY7o-JLNWTDpm1aIu_xNgUZM5oMNBfHX1wlN2JrEfFqJ2FVHNpiL4sLRRr_Zr7DIZpxZvRIx7HioF9QOMKTH4zwbf54W8N7apNoXepgWRNq3lZAW5bCmKpz7NFFdNbsRFKnb3Y5JR7wa0M1-7AB83Dfq4k/s318/render.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="159" data-original-width="318" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCtDOd8g-lGVNPg5HPyqtWLEedyN9soOtDsYY7o-JLNWTDpm1aIu_xNgUZM5oMNBfHX1wlN2JrEfFqJ2FVHNpiL4sLRRr_Zr7DIZpxZvRIx7HioF9QOMKTH4zwbf54W8N7apNoXepgWRNq3lZAW5bCmKpz7NFFdNbsRFKnb3Y5JR7wa0M1-7AB83Dfq4k/w400-h200/render.png" width="400" /></a></div><br /><em style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt; font-style: normal;">October 22, 2023</span></em><p></p>
<p align="center" style="margin: 0in; text-align: center;"><em><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></em></p>
<p align="center" style="margin: 0in; text-align: center;"><em><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">Matthew 22.15-22</span></em><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">+ Last week, in our Gospel reading, I
was blunt—and honest—with you.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">I told you then that I did not like the
parable we were told by Jesus.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">It was a difficult story that, by
today’s standards, would’ve been torn to pieces by critics. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">But if we’re patient in our faithful
listening to these Gospels, we can almost be assured that for every one story
we might not like—like last week’s story—there will be one that we really get.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">Today, is one of those Gospel readings.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">I like this Gospel reading. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">In it we find Jesus being confronted by
the Herodians and the Pharisees, both of whom are enemies of each other, but
for this brief moment, they are ganging up on Jesus. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">I love it when Jesus and the Pharisees
go head-to-head.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">Actually, I feel kind of sorry for the
Pharisees.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">They think they’re really smart and
clever, but they’re really not. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">They begin their argument with a
compliment of course. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">Yes, that’s the way to begin. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">They know: a compliment will truly
throw off the person you are about to trap.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">But Jesus is too smart for them of
course. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">He turns their question back on them.
Jesus asks about the coin. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">He asks about a coin he, if you notice,
does not carry. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">Nor does he ever touch it. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">As we know, Roman coins were ritually
unclean in the Jewish culture. <br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
<!--[if !supportLineBreakNewLine]--><br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
<!--[endif]--><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">The emperor Caesar was viewed as a god,
and that made them unclean to good, pious Jews.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">Using the coin as his reference, he
lets them have it.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">Give to God’s what is God’s, he says.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">Give to Caesar what is Caesar’s.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">It seems he is making a clear
distinction between the religious and the secular to some extent. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">He seems to be making that distinction
between God and government. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">But…not really.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">The real point he is making here can be
found when we put it all in perspective. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">Jesus and every good, loyal Jewish male
there on that day—including the Pharisees— was required to pray a prayer every
day. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">Jesus no doubt prayed that prayer that
morning, as did every devout Jewish male (and no doubt many Jewish females)
that day. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">The prayer is a simple prayer. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">It’s called the Shema<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">“Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is
one Lord; and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with
all your soul, and with all your might.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">The Shema is, of course, the summary of
the Law. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">It is a summary of all belief for a
Jew. It essentially renders to God, what is God’s. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">But if you listen closely to what the
Shema says, you realize: Jesus’ statement really isn’t an either/or statement. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">He’s simply saying that once what is
God’s is rendered to God, there is nothing else. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">There are no other options for those of
us who belong to God. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">For those who love God with all their
heart, all their soul and all their might, there is nothing else. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">Rendering anything to Caesar’s is
simply not an option.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">For us, it is a matter of realizing we
don’t have the option of turning our Christianity on and off. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">We are always followers of Jesus, we
are always children of a loving God, in everything we do. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">Everything we do and say begins and
ends in following Jesus. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">We don’t have the option of being a
Christian when it suits us and being secular when it doesn’t. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">We are a follower of Jesus all the
time—in everything we do and every aspect of our lives. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">And it is important to remind ourselves
of this.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">So what does it mean to live a life in
which we give to God what is God’s? <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">It meant to do what we do best as
Christians.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">It means to love fully.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">It means loving God fully.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">It means loving others fully.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">It means loving ourselves fully.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">It means living that love out in our
lives.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">For this love that we have received
from God is God’s love.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">And we must render that love to God and
to others.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">I know.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">It sounds so simple.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">It sounds so basic.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">We wonder why we ever thought it was
hard or why others thought it was hard. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">But it is a lot harder than it sounds. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">Rendering the things that are God’s to
God is not easy. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">It is much, much easier to render the
things to Caesar that are Caesar’s. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">It is easy to let the establishment
stay established. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">It is easy to be chameleons to some
extent, to change ourselves to suit whatever situation may arise so that we can
quietly fade into the background, or so we can hold on, for a moment, to the
control we have worked to maintain.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">It is easy to be a Christian on Sundays
and to be a “regular” person the rest of the week. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">It is easy to say we’re Christians, but
it’s not always east being a Christian. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">But for us, who follow Jesus, being
anything other than a follower of Jesus is a sell-out. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">It truly is a turning away from Jesus
and all he stands for. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">It is, essentially, a way in which we
turn our Christianity on and off like a switch to suit our own personal needs. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">It is hard to be a Christian in every
aspect of our lives. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">It hard to love God in all things. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">It is hard to love our neighbors in all
things. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">It is hard, very often to love even
ourselves in all things. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">But that is what it means to render to
God the things that are God’s. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">It means giving to God all that is
God’s. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">And we belong to God. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">We are the conduits of that all-loving,
all-accepting God. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">We are the bearers of that radical,
all-powerful love of God.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">So let us truly render to God what is
God’s. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">Let us live out our lives in the love
we have received from God. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">Let us live fully in this holy and all-consuming
love, sharing what we are nourished on here with everyone. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">And with God’s love within us, let us
be that radical Presence of love and acceptance to all those we encounter.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">Let us pray.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">Holy and loving God, help us in what we
render to you, that it will be fruitful and will further the Kingdom you have
established here among us; we ask this in the name of Jesus your Son. Amen. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>Jamie Parsley+http://www.blogger.com/profile/03475578259480661327noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8195442958648580478.post-43986578086491918512023-10-15T18:30:00.002-07:002023-10-16T05:32:39.078-07:0020 Pentecost<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxwMYbW9RgL-gLErpD9eF4-ylPFViLZYNap1OBulvl0uwCxEeynOHpFO9FhOZX2GM_O-rDbEOs_VOPnM2E4M_Nu-jAB7INuh1r0lwZ8XC8zekIqm1UONC19tEaVnd584cTwsitdyBZjhjmof5u3xhyEDLONZYYswRsx6zpjryrtyNk3fopk72qhTaiakw/s1024/OutsideLookingIn.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="640" data-original-width="1024" height="250" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxwMYbW9RgL-gLErpD9eF4-ylPFViLZYNap1OBulvl0uwCxEeynOHpFO9FhOZX2GM_O-rDbEOs_VOPnM2E4M_Nu-jAB7INuh1r0lwZ8XC8zekIqm1UONC19tEaVnd584cTwsitdyBZjhjmof5u3xhyEDLONZYYswRsx6zpjryrtyNk3fopk72qhTaiakw/w400-h250/OutsideLookingIn.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /> <span style="background-color: ; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt; text-align: center;">October 15, 2023</span><p></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="background: ; color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 115%;">Isaiah 25.1-9; Matthew 22.1-14<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="background: ; color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">+ </span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">I believe
I’ve shared this with you before, but in case you haven’t heard it, I’ll tell
it again.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">When I was finishing up my Master of
Fine Arts some twenty+ years ago, I did my critical thesis on my view that
there were two types of writers.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">There were those writers who were on
the inside looking out.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">And there were those who were on the
outside looking in.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">If you think about it, it’s actually
quite true.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">Think about your favorite writer or
poet or playwright or novelist or filmmaker or theologian.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">Think of about their perspective on
life or the world. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">And you can guess about where your
favorite poet-priest is on that spectrum (it’s not hard to guess)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">If you examine them closely you will
see that they are either on the inside looking out, or on the outside looking
in. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">And since the writer’s perspective is
all-important to literature, these perspectives are vital.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">Essentially then there are the “insiders”
and the “outsiders.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">It was fun for me to explore these two
perspectives in literature for that thesis. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">But, later, as a priest, I have
discovered that these perspectives—literature itself—truly does reflect
reality.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">As you look at your own life, you no
doubt think you have a pretty clear understanding of where you stand on that
spectrum.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">You probably think either that you are
the outsider or the insider.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">But, I always caution people on this.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">Don’t be quick to claim one or the
other, because this perspective might change in your life.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">Circumstances might often put you in
the opposite perspective.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">Or sometimes, your own choices put you
in that perspective<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">I’ve seen it happen again and again. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="background: ; color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">And I see it very clearly in our Gospel reading
for today—a reading that caused a great amount of personal struggle this past
week. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="background: ; color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="background: ; color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">And “struggle” is definitely the right word for
this reading. </span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="background: ; color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 115%;">It’s a weird story, to say the
least.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="background: ; color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 115%;">It’s just such a pointless story
isn’t it?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="background: ; color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 115%;">I know, I shouldn’t be saying
that about a parable.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="background: ; color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 115%;">But, to be honest, I just don’t
like it. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="background: ; color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 115%;">The structure is so off. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="background: ; color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 115%;">There’s almost nothing, at face
value, worth redeeming. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="background: ; color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 115%;">I just don’t like the story. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="background: ; color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 115%;">But…let’s not throw it out yet. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="background: ; color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 115%;">Let’s not completely abandon this
story just because we find it unpleasant. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="background: ; color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 115%;">If we did that every time we read
the scriptures…well…I’ll just leave it there. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="background: ; color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 115%;">First of all, it definitely seems
that Matthew has an agenda in this story.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="background: ; color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 115%;">Obviously Matthew is directing
this to his fellow Jewish believers. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="background: ; color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 115%;">And when we see it from that
perspective, it kind of starts making a bit of sense.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="background: ; color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 115%;">So, let’s reframe the story a
bit: <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="background: ; color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 115%;">The first guests, as we discover,
are Israel. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="background: ; color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 115%;">The first slaves represent the
prophets, who were also beaten up and killed for trying to tell them what God
wanted. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="background: ; color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 115%;">The second slaves are the
apostles.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="background: ; color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 115%;">And, if you notice, the second
group of people are very different than the first group.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="background: ; color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 115%;">That’s because they’re the
Church.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="background: ; color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 115%;">At this point, “everyone” has
been invited. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="background: ; color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 115%;">“Everyone” is a very important
clue to this story.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="background: ; color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 115%;">“Everyone” means everyone. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="background: ; color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 115%;">So, what Matthew is trying to
have Jesus tell us is that Israel ignored God’s message, and as a result, the
Kingdom was given to others.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="background: ; color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 115%;">Last week, I preached about how
sobering that thought is—the fact that the Kingdom of God can be given to
others. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="background: ; color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 115%;">So, we have these slaves going
out and inviting. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="background: ; color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 115%;">The apostles were called by Jesus
to do just that.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="background: ; color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 115%;">They were called to invite <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">everyone</i>—not just the elite.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="background: ; color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 115%;">Not just the best guests.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="background: ; color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 115%;">Not the fancy wedding guests.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="background: ; color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 115%;">Everyone. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="background: ; color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 115%;">To echo my original thought: for
Jesus, everyone is invited to be an “insider” in the Kingdom of God.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="background: ; color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 115%;">You don’t have be on the outside
looking in to this Kingdom. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="background: ; color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 115%;">That’s great. That’s wonderful. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="background: ; color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 115%;">But, what happens next in the
story is the real pivot here. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="background: ; color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 115%;">The second coming happens.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="background: ; color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 115%;">This is the “final judgment.” <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="background: ; color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 115%;">The King arrives!<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 115%;">Now, that sounds great.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 115%;">We’re all looking forward to the Second Coming.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 115%;">We’re all looking forward to the King—Jesus—arriving.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 115%;">But wait….<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 115%;">It’s not all pleasant and beautiful.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 115%;">Why?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 115%;">Because someone gets thrown out.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 115%;">This poor guy who isn’t wearing a wedding robe
gets thrown out. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 115%;">What?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 115%;">Wait!<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 115%;">Didn’t Father Jamie just say that Jesus invites
everyone to be an “insider” in the Kingdom?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 115%;">So, what’s this now?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 115%;">If everyone gets invited, who cares if someone is
wearing a robe or not?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 115%;">Now it sounds terrible to us.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 115%;">But, but, but…<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 115%;">Let’s keep it in the context of its time. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 115%;">At that time, not wearing the wedding robe that
was provided to the guests was an insult.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 115%;">It was essentially a way of saying that, Yes, I’m
here at the wedding, yes I’m going to eat and drink, but I’m not really going
to participate.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 115%;">I’m going to get what I need out of this, but once
I do, I’m gone.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 115%;">I’m not really going to make a commitment to this
feast.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 115%;">I’m going to be a bad guest. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 115%;">And this is the real gist of this story.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 115%;">Now, we’ve all known bad guests.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 115%;">We’ve seen them at weddings.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 115%;">We’ve had them at parties. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 115%;">We’ve seen them here in church.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 115%;">They’re people who come and take and take and
take, and expect the host (or hosts) to do everything for them, but then don’t
participate.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 115%;">They stand off to the side, and complain, and
backbite and fold their arms when something doesn’t go THEIR way.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 115%;">They nitpick and complain over and over again
about every little detail. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 115%;">They refuse the wedding garment—they refuse the
gifts that have been given to them. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 115%;">Now, the good thing about this is that, it’s all
about choice.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 115%;">We all have a choice.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 115%;">We choose to go to “the wedding.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 115%;">We choose to be a good guest or a bad guest.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 115%;">God did not make us into mindless robots. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 115%;">But there are ramifications to what we choose. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 115%;">The fact is, by not wearing the robe, we’re not
really present. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 115%;">We’re saying “no” to the King. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 115%;">For us, it’s kind of the same.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 115%;">We can be here.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 115%;">We can sit here in our pews or watch at home. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 115%;">But we don’t <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">have</i>
to be a part of it all.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 115%;">We can be obstinate.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 115%;">We can cross our arms and critique everything
about the sermon or the liturgy or the music or the way the altar is set up,
etc. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 115%;">We can close our minds and hearts and be bitter
and complain.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 115%;">We can nitpick or backbite or stomp our heels
because we don’t like it.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 115%;">We can “choose” to be the outsider. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 115%;">We’ve all known those kind of people in the
church. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 115%;">You know what, sometimes I am that person in
church.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 115%;">I, the priest, am often that way in regard to the
larger Church at times. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 115%;">Sometimes I am obstinate, and I complain about
things. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 115%;">I’ll confess: I pride myself on being the
“outsider.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 115%;">After all, I’ve been an outsider for a long time. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 115%;">And to be brutally honest, I’ve been made an
outsider for a long time. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 115%;">More often than not, it’s a choice I made.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 115%;">And there are consequences to that choice. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 115%;">I can be continue to stand aloof, my arms crossed
and frown at everything. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Or I can be
a part of it all.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 115%;">And not just here, in church on Sunday.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 115%;">As we know, it’s a lot more than just church on
Sunday that makes us Christians—that makes us good or bad Christians.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 115%;">Ultimately, it is about what we do out there.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 115%;">If we are jerks to people, if we are close-minded,
if we judgmental, if we’re sexist and homophobic and mean-spirited, or if we
support fascists and Nazis, <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>then we’re
not really doing a good job as Christians.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 115%;">If we refuse to love, we’re refusing the wedding
robe. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 115%;">The fact is, everyone is invited to the banquet.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 115%;">I say it again and again.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 115%;">We’re all invited.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 115%;">And, here’s the rub:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 115%;">it really isn’t hard to get in.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 115%;">At all.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 115%;">But sometimes it is really hard to be a good guest
at the banquet.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 115%;">Sometimes, we really just don’t want to
participate.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 115%;">Sometimes, you know what, I just don’t want to be
a part of it. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 115%;">Sometimes it’s just easier to cross my arms and exile
ourselves to the corner. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 115%;">Sometimes it’s just easier to critique and
complain and find fault. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 115%;">Sometimes it’s easier to not love and respect
others. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 115%;">Because, we’ve so often not been loved and not
respected by others. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 115%;">Sometimes, we’re just used to being on the outside
looking in.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 115%;">And sometimes it’s just hard to make the
transition to being an “insider” after being outside for so long. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 115%;">And that’s our choice to react like that.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 115%;">But it’s not what is expected of us.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 115%;">We’ve been invited to the banquet!<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 115%;">We have an easy “in” to the banquet! <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 115%;">We are invited, finally, to be an “insider.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 115%;">We should be glad!<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 115%;">We should be excited.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 115%;">We should don that wedding robe and do whatever
else needs to be done to be a good guest.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 115%;">Because, here’s the other stark reality of it all:
<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 115%;">It’s not fun being the outsider.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 115%;">I can tell you that by first-hand experience.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 115%;">It is not fun being all by one’s self on the
outside of the party, looking in at everyone who’s there.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 115%;">But, that’s sometimes where we put ourselves. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 115%;">That’s where we often go because that’s all we
know. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 115%;">Luckily God, who truly does love us, who truly
does want us at the banquet, never lets us stay out there—outside the party—for
long.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 115%;">God does not let us stay the “outsider” for very
long. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 115%;">The invitation from God keeps coming.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 115%;">“Come in,” God says to us. “Come in from the cold.
Come in from the dark. Come in and join my party.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 115%;">Because, it IS a party.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 115%;">And all he have to do accept the invitation. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 115%;">All we have to do is put on the wedding garment. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 115%;">That’s all the bad guest had to do to rejoin the
party.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 115%;">So, let’s do just that. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 115%;">Let’s put on the wedding robe.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 115%;">Let us not cast ourselves off into the exterior. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 115%;">Let us not alienate ourselves with our bitterness
and anger. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 115%;">But let us join the banquet in love.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 115%;">Let us heed the invitation.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 115%;">Let us celebrate, and be joyful and be glad.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 115%;">That’s what our Host wants from us. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 115%;">And when we do, we can truly echo those words we
hear today from Isaiah:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 115%;">“This is our God, the one for whom we have waited…<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 115%;">Let us be glad and rejoice in our salvation.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 115%;">Let us pray.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 115%;">Holy God, gracious God, as we await anxiously the
coming of your Reign, help us to make welcome all those who seek this Kingdom
especially to those who are on the outside looking in. Only then, when we are
all gathered together with you, will we actually be your Kingdom; we pray this
in Jesus’ Name. Amen.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>Jamie Parsley+http://www.blogger.com/profile/03475578259480661327noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8195442958648580478.post-42381620049220109592023-10-13T14:32:00.002-07:002023-10-13T14:32:41.037-07:00<p> </p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 93%; mso-pagination: none; text-align: center;"><b><span style="color: black; font-family: "IM FELL English"; font-size: 35.0pt; font-variant: small-caps; line-height: 93%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-font-kerning: 14.0pt;">Fr. Jamie Parsley/ Marjorie Schlossman<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></b><span style="color: black; font-family: "IM FELL English"; font-size: 35.0pt; line-height: 93%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-font-kerning: 14.0pt;">/<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="font-variant: small-caps;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 93%; mso-pagination: none; text-align: center;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "IM FELL English"; font-size: 35.0pt; line-height: 93%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-font-kerning: 14.0pt;">Art<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>&<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Poetry<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> s</span>how <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 93%; mso-pagination: none; text-align: center;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "IM FELL English"; font-size: 35.0pt; line-height: 93%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-font-kerning: 14.0pt;"> </span><span style="color: black; font-family: "IM FELL English"; font-size: 24.0pt; line-height: 93%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-font-kerning: 14.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 118%; margin-bottom: 6.0pt; mso-pagination: none; text-align: center;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "IM FELL English"; font-size: 20.0pt; line-height: 118%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-font-kerning: 14.0pt;">Celebrating the<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>publication
of<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 118%; margin-bottom: 6.0pt; mso-pagination: none; text-align: center;"><b><u><span style="color: black; font-family: "IM FELL English"; font-size: 48.0pt; line-height: 118%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-font-kerning: 14.0pt;">Echo<o:p></o:p></span></u></b></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 93%; margin-bottom: 1.0pt; mso-pagination: none; text-align: center;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "IM FELL English"; font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 93%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-font-kerning: 14.0pt;">Poems by<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 93%; margin-bottom: 1.0pt; mso-pagination: none; text-align: center;"><b><span style="color: black; font-family: "IM FELL English"; font-size: 20.0pt; line-height: 93%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-font-kerning: 14.0pt;">JAMIE PARSLEY<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 93%; margin-bottom: 1.0pt; mso-pagination: none; text-align: center;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 93%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-font-kerning: 14.0pt;"> </span><span style="color: black; font-family: "IM FELL English"; font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 93%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-font-kerning: 14.0pt;">Paintings by<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 93%; margin-bottom: 1.0pt; mso-pagination: none; text-align: center;"><b><span style="color: black; font-family: "IM FELL English"; font-size: 20.0pt; line-height: 93%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-font-kerning: 14.0pt;">MARJORIE SCHLOSSMAN<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 118%; margin-bottom: 6.0pt; mso-pagination: none;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 118%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-font-kerning: 14.0pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 118%; margin-bottom: 6.0pt; mso-pagination: none;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 118%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-font-kerning: 14.0pt;"> </span><span style="color: black; font-family: "IM FELL English"; font-size: 24.0pt; line-height: 118%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-font-kerning: 14.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 93%; margin-bottom: 1.0pt; mso-pagination: none; text-align: center;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "IM FELL English"; font-size: 24.0pt; line-height: 93%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-font-kerning: 14.0pt;">Saturday <b>October 14, 2023<o:p></o:p></b></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 93%; margin-bottom: 1.0pt; mso-pagination: none; text-align: center;"><b><span style="color: black; font-family: "IM FELL English"; font-size: 26.0pt; line-height: 93%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-font-kerning: 14.0pt;">1:00—7:00 p.m. <o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 93%; margin-bottom: 1.0pt; mso-pagination: none; text-align: center;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "IM FELL English"; font-size: 26.0pt; line-height: 93%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-font-kerning: 14.0pt;">with talks at <b>1:30, 3:00 & 6:00 <o:p></o:p></b></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 93%; margin-bottom: 1.0pt; mso-pagination: none; text-align: center;"><b><span style="color: black; font-family: "IM FELL English"; font-size: 26.0pt; line-height: 93%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-font-kerning: 14.0pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 93%; margin-bottom: 1.0pt; mso-pagination: none; text-align: center;"><b><span style="color: black; font-family: "IM FELL English"; font-size: 20.0pt; line-height: 93%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-font-kerning: 14.0pt;">ROBERTS STREET CHAPEL<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 93%; margin-bottom: 1.0pt; mso-pagination: none; text-align: center;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "IM FELL English"; font-size: 20.0pt; line-height: 93%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-font-kerning: 14.0pt;">333 Roberts Street North<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 93%; margin-bottom: 1.0pt; mso-pagination: none; text-align: center;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "IM FELL English"; font-size: 20.0pt; line-height: 93%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-font-kerning: 14.0pt;">Fargo, ND <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 93%; margin-bottom: 1.0pt; mso-pagination: none; text-align: center;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "IM FELL English"; font-size: 26.0pt; line-height: 93%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-font-kerning: 14.0pt;"> <o:p></o:p></span></p>Jamie Parsley+http://www.blogger.com/profile/03475578259480661327noreply@blogger.com0