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Time….. deep thoughts when your watch breaks

This past Sunday my watch broke.

I found myself carrying my phone around and checking it for the time (isn’t that a statement of our times!?)… I found myself curious about where we were in time, how much longer.

And yes, that was on All Saints’ Sunday.

As people of faith, we mark time.

We live in a liturgical year. Seasons are marked by liturgical events. Some correspond with Calendar dates, some correspond with the Lunar Calendar (Ah, Easter/Passover). Biblically time is marked  by 40’s (days for Jesus in the wilderness and Noah on the ark, and 40 years in the wilderness for Moses). We can think of the  7 days of creation and even the number 12. We mark the  three days after Good Friday, the 50 days after Easter, the four weeks of advent, the 12 days of Christmas. 

We are constantly marking time. Last week in particular my time was marked as a bible study that started the first week we closed the church completed a 31 chapter book. One week at a time, we marked our weeks with a small gathering to talk about the message of hope even in trying times.

We are marking time differently in these pandemic days, perhaps no one other than Dr Fauci knew we were going to be counting time like this for so long.

With hope and lament we realize the differences from now and March. 

We recognize with sadness that we cannot do everything that we might want to do and when we might want to do it.

Reflecting back in our bible study, we realized we have had some rough times. We have lost members of our community and we have also had new beginnings, births, weddings, baptisms. New little Joys that we savor and treasure. 

We know that we are never alone.

As we enter the month of November we journey towards an American holiday of Thanksgiving and our culture emphasizes gratitude.

We are also living in an election season. A time of waiting and process and potential dispute.

The Days are shorter and the nights longer here in the Northern hemisphere, it’s easy to only see the darkness.

In the christian faith tradition, we light candles as we prepare for Christmas. Our Jewish brothers and sisters light candles for Chanukah, celebrating triumph in trying times. In the season of Advent we hear a lot about light shining in the darkness, reminding us we are never alone we are never without help. 

In this season, remember to reach out.
You are never alone.
We are here for each day each other.

Update on my watch: My watch needed to be turned off and rebooted and re-sync-ed with my phone. I had to manually shut it down and then wait while it reacquainted itself with my Phone. It took time, patience and letting go- the re-syncing takes time to do it right.

Where can you see the seasons right now? 

Where can you see the need for light in our anxiety?

Where can you re-sync yourself? Re-Boot? Re-connect?

You are not alone, you are enough, you are connected.
Remember to take time to let that “sync” in.

Enough is Enough

Trinity Church in the City of Boston
Proper 22 Year C
October 5

Lamentations 1:1-6
 Psalm 137
Luke 17:5-10

Almighty and everlasting God, you are always more ready to hear than we to pray, and to give more than we either desire or deserve: Pour upon us the abundance of your mercy, forgiving us those things of which our conscience is afraid, and giving us those good things for which we are not worthy to ask, except through the merits and mediation of Jesus Christ our Savior; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

God of Hidden Seeds
when we feel overwhelmed,
Remind us that even small faith is enough.
Give us courage to forgive,
To risk Love,
to serve without seeking reward.
through Christ who came among us as a servant and friend. Amen.[i]

Enough is Enough.

While the phrase is redundant, the words also quite simply attain your meaning, or are enough!

A funny English word with many letters that “speak and do not speak”- terrifically difficult to intuit how to spell, the word comes from the Germanic.
AND I LOVE the word in German: Genug. (Much easier and shorter in spelling, too!)

Enough is Enough.


How often are we hollering this from our hearts?
How much worse can circumstances become?
How much more?
How much longer?
We lament.
We feel the loneliness, the isolation, the disconnect of the world. We are overwhelmed.

ENOUGH we cry, let us off this merry go round called life.


The readings today from Lamentations and our Psalm describe how desperate and disconnected the community feels. The psalmist takes their pain and, even with hope, moves to violence.

Enough is enough, their souls cry out.

Desperate for community, for flourishing, for joy to revisit their lives.

Much like taking too much wasabi or vegemite on your plate,
the saltiness and bitterness overwhelms everything else.

While the mustard seed illustration in today’s gospel is not unique to Luke’s Gospel (Matthew and Mark include it also), Luke often includes stories that are unique to illustrate his theme. Luke’s message is always about the kingdom of God turning things upside down. Reminding those listening that God’s desire for the world is full restoration of relationship in the midst of the isolation, desperation and despair.

Today, those beloved disciples have been walking with Jesus, walking, walking, walking. They have been listening to parables, to the people around them, to the pleas, the questions.
The Disciples are overwhelmed.

Jesus has been there with them.
Answering questions
Listening deeply
Answering with the right amount of truth.

The disciples, at this point in their hiking with Jesus say “INCREASE OUR FAITH” (which is the equivalent to “Lord have mercy!” in my southern background.) Essentially, they are saying, “You want us to do what? We have had the parable of the lost coin, the lost sheep, the prodigal son, the shrewd manager,- still working that one out- the banquet table seating chart and now, you have just told us we have to forgive more than is required and expected? What more do you want from us? The disciples say “enough!” or perhaps “sure Jesus, how on earth are you going to help us with this? Give us something more……”

Gently and beautifully, Jesus stays with them still.
Jesus says, friends, you already have enough.
Like Andrew looking about and seeing the young boy with fish in his basket,
       look at what you have around you.
Like Jesus sending out the disciples with only their staff and garments,
       You have what you need, the rest will be provided
Like Abraham heading out with family, |
       be with those you love in the uncertain
Like the Israelites following Moses- take what you have…
       God will provide for your daily needs, it will be different.
You, too, have enough and will be transformed.

The faith you already have is enough.
Trust in me.

Know you are enough.
Jesus tells them, “Your faith that you ALREADY HAVE, because it is in God, is enough to move even the dastardliest mulberry bush- rooted, sturdy and situated. Your faith can move even the most immovable things.”

You don’t need a lot of wasabi, vegemite, or mustard to make a huge difference, my friends.

Like Mary’s magnificent song, turning empires upside down.
      Faithful responses with God’s call make the impossible possible.

AND we respond in faith not for accolades,
not for the sabbath rest at the end of the day,
we live faithful lives because it is our calling, our duty.
Jesus’ subsequent story of the servants and roles and expectations, told by Jesus reminds the disciples that because of who we are, we live faithfully.

It’s what we do.

We opt into lives of love,
we lament, we grieve, we get angry
AND we look for the courage to forgive and receive grace of being forgiven.

We have enough within us to learn a new way,
to be guided by the Holy Spirit to see hope in the midst of despair.
To know that our lament is tempered with the joy of God’s presence with us in this very moment.

I love a bit of word play and adore that Jesus is constantly turning even the words the disciples use to help them understand themselves and God’s love for them more clearly.

In the disciples demanding “increase our faith,” Jesus directs them to the faith they already have and then digging deeper to their true desire to be heard and seen. They want Jesus to acknowledge and see their efforts, to affirm their efforts and celebrate that it is hard good work. Jesus reminds them that the work is enough, what they have is enough, sufficient.

Faithfully responding with love,
Planting seeds of hope, presence, joy and grace looks different for each of us.
And yet collectively our lives lived together in community make for kingdom living.

Seeing one another, listening deeply, seeing the faithfulness in each other
Seeing first the lament and pain AND deeper still the love that is in each heart.

As we cry out, ENOUGH is Enough.

Jesus replies to us, even now, what you have is enough.
My love is sufficient, my embrace is wide enough for all of you, I am here.
I know your suffering
        and you have enough to journey this road
You are loved.
You are seen, you are not abandoned.
You are enough.

I close with a beautiful prayer reflecting this gospel reading’s hopes and desires as we head out into the world. Both this prayer and the one I began with come from a community called Heartedge… which invites us to shift from survival mode to flourishing by focusing on relationships, community, and participation in God’s ongoing work in the world.[ii]

God of mustard Seas and mulberry trees,
we bring our small and fragile faith.
Breathe your spirit upon us.
Stretch our imagination.
Strengthen our trust,
Teach us to walk in humility and love.[iii]

Amen

[i] Prayer from the Heartedge  Bible Study for October 5

[ii] Both this prayer and the one I began with come from a community called Heartedge… which invites us to shift from survival mode to flourishing by focusing on relationships, community, and participation in God’s ongoing work in the world https://www.heartedge.org/a-generous-god/

[iii] Prayer from the Heartedge  Bible Study for October 5

Thrones, Chairs, and who sits beside you?

Trintiy Church in the City of Boston 
Proper 17 Year C 
August 31, 2025 

Jeremiah 2:4-13 
Psalm 81:1, 10-16 
Hebrews 13:1-8, 15-16 
Luke 14:1, 7-14 

Lord of all power and might, the author and giver of all good things: Graft in our hearts the love of your Name; increase in us true religion; nourish us with all goodness; and bring forth in us the fruit of good works; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God for ever and ever. Amen. 

In late July, the Trinity Choir had the privilege of being the choir in residence at Canterbury Cathedral. Each day they walked up the lane from the hotel to the cathedral for both rehearsal and also for leading the music of Choral Evensong.  

For those who have not been to Canterbury Cathedral, this cathedral is the oldest in the Church of England, established in 597. A mammoth building, it incorporates several styles of architecture, endured monarchs and controversy, and has been a place of worship for nearly 1500 years. Majestically the building is encircled by the town. Internally, there is the lower nave (the space for the congregation), then stairs down to the crypt and up to the chancel (fancy words for the lower level with tombs and the upper level for the choir and the original monastic community), more stairs take you up to the altar and then even more stairs take you up to a chair.  

The chair, cathedra, the throne of the Archbishop of Canterbury (ABC) sits at the very top of all of the stairs in the cathedral… A chair for the Archbishop of Canterbury, the position that presides over the entire Anglican Communion. This chair has been around since St Augustine of Canterbury held that first position. Unremarkably, this chair is not gold and large with ornamentation, rather this cathedra is short, made of stone, and only sat in by the ABC. 

To be honest, other than having the best view of the rest of the church, the chair is not very spectacular in architecture when it comes to chairs—it’s positioning though, signals that this position is most supreme, respected and the highest. 

Never fear, none of us mistakenly sat in the chair. In fact, no one sat in the chair while we were there (The cathedra is used rarely and The ABC position is currently vacant.) and yet we could see that cathedra each day during Choral Evensong.  

Who will be the next person in that seat, could it be a- gasp- woman? As a choir “chaperone,” I watched people come and go that week, sitting in the chairs put out, sitting in their favorite seat to see the choir, the priests, the piece of art….. watching processions and people…. come and going. 

What is your favorite chair, where do you watch the world and goings on? 

There is a big yellow overstuffed chair at a lake house that holds my heart… one that you can sit in all day, sleep in all night and if needed work from home…it’s delightful. From that chair you can watch the serene lake and those paddling about for fun. 

We own a couple of chairs in our house that we call the “tiny butt chairs” because they are uncomfortable unless you are tiny and the size of the 18th century Dutch person, for whom they were made. 

I have a sermon chair in my house and a favorite chair in the coffee shop. 

Are they fancy? 

Are they expensive? 

Is that why the chairs are our favorites? 

Nah, these chairs are what they are because of the experiences that were had in them. 

Made of stone, of wood, of cozy materials….. the material is just part of the story but not the actual focal point. 

Growing up, sitting around the dinner table in my assigned chair, I was taught which fork to use when, who should sit at the head of the table and who should be sat by whom.  
There were protocols….. 

And yet, at the end of long long school days complete with after school activities, our dinner would sit at the dining room table ready to be reheated and mom would sit at the table with us for company no matter how grumpy and surly we were as teenagers. 

What mattered most was being beside the person. 

These days, we encounter tables and chairs in different ways.  
Our tables may have stayed the same (or changed- expanded or shrunk due to life circumstances.) 

Our dining room tables now may include empty chairs as children are leaving the nest, because a loved one has died, because relationships have changed, or perhaps because we are always hoping one more person will arrive. 

In our gospel reading this week, Jesus is invited to dinner and after he arrives, he people watches. Just as the pharisees watched Jesus and his actions and movements, Jesus watches the mannerisms of the Pharisees. He watches how they choose the seating protocol, dictating the conversations, perpetuating the status and the contractual obligations of each person sitting by the next. Either expecting something in return or demanding respect, merely because of position. 

Jesus, has thoughts and feeling about these dinner party protocols. (And he shares them outloud!) I can see him smirking, “ya’ll just don’t get it! It’s not about the chair! Friends, you have it all wrong. I am going to tell you a story to make you scratch your head about all this protocol.” 

“Gather around the table to build relationship,” says Jesus. 

Gather to eat with one another, not due to honor and obligation, rather to listen to each other. 

Gather together due to care and compassion, the desire to break bread and be with each other. 

We all eat. 

We all desire companionship. 

A meal is made with love for those you love. 

Graciously accepting an invitation without worry or concern about obligation should be our immediate response. 

The invitation that Jesus gives to us is to make space to be present in the chair we find ourselves,  

Jesus invites us into more deeply discovering the person beside us.  
To learning more about who God is in their life and where blessings can be seen, broadening our own horizons and community. 

The ultimate expression of this banquet table, of course, is the Eucharist.  
Today we will celebrate baptisms, welcoming the newest members into the household of God and then we will move to the table and share this holy meal together. Each person shoulder to shoulder at the rail, unexpected neighbors and family together- equally receiving this gift of love. A meal that is specifically for each of us and all of us corporately.  

The banquet table welcoming all, and the only protocol is your receiving the invitation and saying Yes. Yes, to experiencing the love of a God who has called you, yes even you, into community. A God who loves you enough to want to make you whole and restore you to the fullness of your potential,  

restore you in the midst of the brokenness of this world and the individual hardship within your life. A God who fills each chair, empty or full, around the table with the opportunity for love to guide the next chapter. 

This week I was sitting in my coffee seat in a cafe and I looked up to overhear a small child crying directly opposite me. With my airpods in, I did what I do— SMILED HUGELY and waved at the child who had just been placed in the most restrictive of all seats, the indestructible restaurant high chair. Crushed by his unexpected incarceration, his world was shattered. Wailing was his sole means of consolation. Upon seeing my face, forgetting his newfound prison, he laughed. And then he began a game of hide and seek with his moving the table number in front of his face (and mouth)- he was an expert hide and seek player, btw. His father caught on and started laughing and took a breath when he realized his child was actually interacting with someone else he, too, could see. IT was a fleeting moment, and I found myself in an unexpected seat of joy because we looked up and met each other where we were. 

Jesus loved the people around him, immediately and intensely. He loved those Pharisees, disciples, and crowds. His clever word play this week invited the Pharisees to take themselves less seriously, to think less of the direct results and easily seen tactics, instead he wanted the Pharisees to lean into grace, love, and the “why” beneath the protocol.  
Similarly, we, too are to look up and be surprised by who might be across the table from us. 

Tables are made for all to gather 

Seats should be plentiful 

Positions are for governance not gloating, enhancing the beloved community not exploiting. 

While seats might sometimes be uncomfortable, we are always gathering around the table.  

We have work to do 

And sometimes the seat doesn’t always fit (perhaps it was made for someone else and needs updating) 

Sometimes the chair is just perfect (is that a good thing to encourage moving forward or perhaps a bad thing that evokes complacency?) 

If we start from the seat we are in, I wonder where God will lead us from table to table in chairs and chapters of Love. 

As we head into this new academic year, with the newest members of the church included, what new tables and chairs might your find yourself in?  
Where might your heart be expanded in a new space? 

May our hearts and lives swell with God’s presence gratefully and graciously! 

Amen. 

All We Have is Time: Duty or Devotion

Trinty Church in the City of Boston 
Proper 11, Year C 2025 
July 20, 2025 

Amos 8:1-12 
Psalm 52 
Colossians 1:15-28 
Luke 10:38-42 

Almighty God, the fountain of all wisdom, you know our necessities before we ask and our ignorance in asking: Have compassion on our weakness, and mercifully give us those things which for our unworthiness we dare not, and for our blindness we cannot ask; through the worthiness of your Son Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen. 

Holy Guest and Gentle Host, 

draw us to your feet until 

our hearts are quiet in your presence; 

then send us to the sink, 

the streets, the spreadsheets 

not driven by need but carried by love. 

May our listening deepen our labour, 

and our labour return us to listening, 

until every breath and every task 

speaks one language: 

your abundance. 

Amen.i 

The old saying goes, “Timing is everything.” 

What comes to mind when that phrase is said? I love pondering all the things that rush into my mind…. 

If you are in the Trinity Choir you have learned “If you are early, you are on time, if you are on time you are late, and if you are late- you are left behind.” 

If you are musical-ly inclined, you might think of Les Misérables’ “The Time is now” in the the chorus of “One Day More” sung right before all of the storylines head into battle- the entire company gathers singing this line for various reasons of love, passion, and rebellion.ii 

If you are a baker, you (and if you are me) set a timer to know the exact time to check on whatever is cooking, rising, setting, or cooling. Because I get distracted by one more project… 

Timing is everything. 

And so we hear in our reading from Amos today.  
God says, “Behold Amos, a basket of summer fruit.” 

Like the peaches coming into season right now- the fruit is juicy, it is ripe for the picking. NOW is the time to harvest the fruit. Amos, everything around you is showing you that your work of care/planning and preparing is time for action, time for the doing. 

The intentionality of the growing season has born fruit and much like a ripe avocado- the time is now, use it wisely. Do not delay. 

In our Gospel reading today, we hear an exceptional and yet very familiar story. A story that only appears in Luke. 
A story of two sisters and a home. 

A story that appears smack in the midst of Jesus’ journey towards Jerusalem and his beginnings in Galilee. We are in the midst of Jesus teaching about the practices of faith. From parables to gatherings, Jesus is seizing the moment to share what the ripe fruit of discipleship looks like. He is direct and pointed. Jesus does not waste time with pleasantries. Calling to whoever will listen, disciples, crowds and even in the most intimate of spaces, a home, Jesus speaks to the time is now to live out the life and call of God. 

Mary and Martha, we are told that they are sisters by birth and we see, like siblings often are, that they are so different. 

Mary- meaning the beloved- coming from the Hebrew name Miriam, the sister of Moses who sang the song of joy on the far side of the Red Sea.iii 
Martha- meaning mistress of the house- coming from the Aramaic for head of the household.iv 

Curious how even the names root themselves in faith and function. 

As we hear this familiar story, it is easy to side with one sister or the other. 

One can naturally feel compassion for Martha- I mean the disciples just received a parable about hospitality and caring for each other. Martha is just doing the hospitality work that needs to be done, and her name literally commands her to do. Feelings of justification, of appreciation for the faithful doer are desired. We will hear echoes of Martha in the older son when we hear the parable of the prodigal son in Luke 15. The Faithful doing what must be done. 

We hear also of Mary, the one who sits at Jesus’ feet to listen, to share in the teaching. A woman sitting at the feet of the master, breaking the rules of a patriarchal society and being fully accepted by the master. 

It’s easy to side with one or the other, I mean, Jesus in fact says that “Mary has chosen the better part.” Which, on the surface, seems to nullify all those of us who do a lot. Those who are busy being busy.  

While Jesus’ words directly point to Mary’s devotion over Martha’s tasks, Jesus is not dismissing hospitality as unimportant. Jesus is digging deeper below the surface. His direct words challenge Martha’s core motivations for the work she is doing. Pointing out her distraction and worry. 
Much like the lawyer of last week asking about “what I must do for eternal life” and subsequent description of what loving your neighbor looks like, hospitality, neighboring, life as a disciple centers itself in prayer, in listening, and then the life of action follows.  
Making time in our lives to center upon our relationship with God compels us to action. Compels us to open our hearts and doors to those around us. Invites us to gather in community each as we are, jumping in to be present, use our gifts, and care for those around us. 

To all of this action in our lives, Jesus sees through Martha’s indignation and asks Martha and us “what drives our busy-ness?”  
Duty first or devotion first? 

Mary and Martha do not embody the right or wrong solely in this one setting. In pointing out their actions, Jesus reflects on the motivation behind all of these sister’s actions. What bears fruit in our lives? Now is the time, Jesus says, now is the time to center downv, to listen AND then commit to action. 

Mary’s actions of contemplation, of listening to the teachings of Jesus, does not mean that she never got up to do the dishes, never cleaned the house, never helped out. Rather, in her prioritizing her time with the divine she was centered for the things that lay ahead.  

In Martha’s frustrations with her sister- Martha’s work had become exactly that: Work only. Duty. Obligation. Distraction and Worry. Rather than the fruit of devotion and a gift of care and compassion- Martha’s work became the burden rather than the joy. 

Jesus speaks desiring our whole heart.  
He calls Martha out on being distracted- or fragmented, or disconnected from the whole. 

Forgetting whose she was.  
Forgetting that the gift of hospitality comes from the love we have received and the desire to share that love with those we encounter.  

There is a saying attributed to Mother Teresa that when she was asked “how do you prepare for a full day” she answers with “I get up earlier to start that much more in prayer”- Mother Teresa set her day apart beginning with centering herself in the life of prayer with God before heading out into her day. 

We gather weekly around this table bringing all the things that are fragmented in this world. The things that threaten to tear the fabric of us all apart. With tremendous amounts of grief of the loss of a loved one, the uncertainty of the economic and environmental climate, and the stress of the roles and responsibilities of daily life, it is understandable that we are tired, exhausted, exasperated with ourselves and others. 

AND 

We, too, desire to be whole. 

Weekly, we gather seeking restoration and wholeness. 

We gather for prayers, for scripture, for listening. 

We Listen so that we might bear fruit. 

Might serve from devotion rather than duty. 

Might bear fruit with our prayer driving our actions 

We gather and we then scatter- sent out into the world- to take the portion of wholeness out into the world. 

To take our peace/piece of restoration into the world. 

We each embody Mary on our best days and Martha, too! As we continue to be transformed by God’s love in our lives, I invite you to reflect on what this love looks like in your life. 

Set the timer to make time for prayer and reflection. 

Sing the rallying chorus with the actors, “the time is now.” 

Show up early and see what you might find in that grace of being in the midst rather than rushing. 

Timing is everything, especially when it comes to savoring the knowledge that God loves you, calls you and inspires you to do the next thing with grace, humility, and courage. 

Holy Guest and Gentle Host, 

draw us to your feet until 

our hearts are quiet in your presence; 

then send us to the sink, 

the streets, the spreadsheets 

not driven by need but carried by love. 

May our listening deepen our labour, 

and our labour return us to listening, 

until every breath and every task 

speaks one language: 

your abundance. 

Amen.vi 

Hot and Bothered: Following the Path with Jesus

Trinity Church in the City of Boston 
Proper 8, Year C 2025 
June 29,2025 

Almighty God, you have built your Church upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief cornerstone: Grant us so to be joined together in unity of spirit by their teaching, that we may be made a holy temple acceptable to you; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen. 

2 Kings 2:1-2, 6-14 
Psalm 77:1-2, 11-20 
Galatians 5:1,13-25 
Luke 9:51-62 

Welcome to summer, my friends! 

As our temperatures fluctuate from delightful to uncomfortably warm, I find myself delighting in sunshine and also seeking shelter from the heat. We shift from warming ourselves to attempting to find ways to stop the sweat from dripping down our backs incessantly. 

It’s that time of year.  

Similarly, our church year has shifted- from the reassuring Easter Gospels, where Jesus appears and reminds the disciples of his teachings. We have entered that time of year when we shift from the comfort of Eastertide to the just as affirming and yet some what uncomfortable gospels of Ordinary Time. 

Ordinary time is that season between the high holy days, From Pentecost and Trinity Sunday to the first Sunday of Advent. Some call it “the growing season,” the time when we often hear parables that talk of seeds, plants, sheep and goats, and our Gospels often conclude with consequences and the gnashing of teeth. If the heat weren’t enough, crossing these parables should make even the most faithful squirm. 

Now, this is not a fire and brimstone sermon, I am not here to frighten you- my words today are here to invite us into the ordinary time to listen deeper, to engage in the uncomfortable, to find the faithful path in the journey in the world where everything is heating up from the weather to the global tensions. 

Today we hear both in our Old Testament and Gospel readings that the leadership is focused on their final days. Elijah knows his work here on earth has come to an end; he is preparing for his own departure. He knows he will be departing, and much like the disciples later in the gospels, Elisha asks for what he needs when Elijah departs. Elisha desires to lead and lead well and knows the power of the Lord will guide and give that power and authority. Elijah knows that God will provide as God will provide. 

Leaping from Elijah and Elisha, we hear Jesus “turn towards Jerusalem” telling us that he too is focusing on his departure. Luke’s gospel has spent his first 5 chapters telling us of Jesus’ birth story, teaching and healing and now there is a shift- Jesus is heading to Jerusalem. This journey takes Luke another 15 chapters to tell the whole story and during these chapters Jesus’ tone shifts.  

Jesus teaches while walking, he shares parables with consequences, he articulates the hard truth of discipleship and at the same time confirms the endurance of God’s love and presence through hardship and challenge. All while doing the ordinary, going from one place to the other. 

Today, I picture the road that Jesus and the disciples are on is long road with many uphills. The temperature is warm, the people are not. It’s dusty and a pebbled walk.  

Jesus fills the time with looking forward. He does not reflect back on what an amazing job the work of God has done in people’s lives. He is not commending the disciples on their sacrifice and faithfulness following him.  

Jesus is doubling down, he is taking the disciples on the advanced course- they are diving into the deep end and realizing that they do not know how to swim in these waters. The disciples think they are ready for the olympic events and Jesus points out that their swimming is still a lot like dog paddling in the shallow end. 

Today we hear that a Samaritan town does not welcome Jesus. 

In response, the disciples want to retaliate by “smiting them”- it’s the first we heard that the disciples could do this (cool super disciple power, right?) and Jesus rebukes them. WRONG ANSWER. Keep walking my friends. 

Lack of hospitality, while a statement of lack of grace and countercultural, means moving on, not retribution. 

Then Jesus encounters three more people who want to follow Jesus and join in the movement BUT: 

One is told that following Jesus means being willing to move about and have no permanent residency. 

One is told to ignore family responsibilities (also counter cultural to the norm) in order to join the group. 

One more is told that you must come now, there is no going back to say goodbye to family. 

One could wonder, did the heat get to Jesus that day?  

Did the disciples ask one too many questions?  

Did Jesus need a nap?  

He surely isn’t sugar coating things as he describes and invites these newcomers to following God. 

Jesus’ words make me uncomfortable, the asks by the newcomers were simple and pastoral even. Caring for one’s family and closing up chapters in our lives makes sense to us and Jesus is saying …. this call is uncomfortable, immediate, and requires all of us- undistracted, focused, and 100 percent of our mind, body and spirit. 

Without any sugar coating Jesus speaks truth, both for the disciples and for these newcomers. God’s love is counter cultural, leaves things behind and at the same time goes beyond the ordinary to endure, re-create, and build up community. 

One of my favorite writers, Debie Thomas, states that Jesus is a horrible salesman. He sells “rejection and forbearance, inconvenience and hardship, disruption and disorientation. Come and Die with me, so we can live.”i  In his truth in advertising, Jesus is preparing his disciples for the road ahead and inviting the newest members into a countercultural path. 

So too, we are guided in this world today. In a world of rejection and violence, retaliation and revenge- we, too, are called into the uncomfortable truth that peace in this world requires counter cultural change. Leadership that will collaborate, building up community rather than arsenals, and leaving things behind. 

In the midst of the sweltering heat, we are uncomfortable with the fact that many in our community will be without shelter, that there are those who live in fear in our own neighborhoods, and those in the midst of wars globally, innocent people live in fear of surviving the night. 

This path of living faithfully, is hard, bewildering. There are sharp edges where families will disagree, countries will battle, people are left without homelands. 

In the midst of these divisions and uncertainty, we too, are like the disciples- people finding faithfulness amidst this ordinary time. The easy answer is wipe them off the map, (even the disciples themselves wanted to do so.)  

And yet.  

Jesus invites us into the deeper dive, the harder work. 

To persevere faithfully despite the hostilities. 

To pray, to stay in community, to invite others into a new way that is the harder yet more enduring way of love. 

With so many opportunities for seeking peace in prayer and action, we too continue walking the path together to gather, pray, be light in this world and know that much like the disciples- we, too can follow and witness. Through the disruption and disorientation of our times, God persists.  
There is an opportunity for being joined together in the unity of the spirit as our collect of the day persists. 

We gather for prayer for the larger world, we sing joining the songs of those who have weathered the wars and the pain of the past, we continue to have children, marry, and bury those whom we love- using what we have been given to strive to be part of God’s creation reconciling and restoring the divisions that exist. 

Even in the heat, even in the disorientation, we too walk the dusty hot road. 

Faithfully. 

Seeing the endurance of the faithful before us, around us, and those who are to come. We too, embark on this hot and dusty journey holding in common the love of God who created each of us, the sacrificial love of Jesus and the sustaining love of the Holy Spirit inviting us to continue on the path of hope and new beginnings. 

Amen 

Algorithms, Runners and Fishermen, There is no Try…just do.

Trinity Church in the City of Boston 
May 4, 2025 
Easter 3, Year C 

  • Acts 9:1-6, 7-20 

O God, whose blessed Son made himself known to his disciples in the breaking of bread: Open the eyes of our faith, that we may behold him in all his redeeming work; who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen. 

God who is with us 
in the locked room, in the empty nets, in our inner conflicts, 
help us to embrace our vulnerabilities, we pray. 
May we allow ourselves to be naked with you, 
all our weaknesses and flaws laid bare before our Maker, 
the One who knows and loves us best of all. 
Be our strength and our guide, 
as we determine how to place one foot in front of the other. 
Provide us with what we need for the journey: 
for our bodies, minds and spirits, 
and grant us the right companions 
to accompany us on the road. 
Amen.i 

This year was the first year where I experienced that divine astronomical occurrence… When the first Sunday after the first full moon after the vernal equinox aligned with the same weekend as the Sunday before the third Monday of April. Otherwise known as Easter Day occurred directly before the Boston Marathon Monday. The pinnacle of the Christian faith and a massive event in the Boston and running community. 

It was a THING. 

And because of this THING, the algorithms in my social media were broken open with cheesy Christian memes and all things running. And the theme continues still today….. 

From cheeseey Jesus jokes about BRB to silly sign recommendations at the marathon like “Lamest parade ever”  

Even two weeks post these major events I am still getting this theme running through feed. 

One short clip had me laughing and thinking a bit further……  
The reel (a 45sec video clip with words or not words) proposed “What if”ii 

What if the relay baton was not a slim cylindrical metal tube. 

(Now as a distance Runner, Sprinters have always amazed me…  They finish quicker than I can actually lace my running shoes. In college, the distance runners actually willingly ran a relay. We only ran it once. We ran a Race of 4x10k. Our teammates who were sprinters were not amused. It was long, it was boring, and seriously holding onto a baton for 6.2miles is ridiculous- and you can rest assured that this will never become an olympic event) so with this mindset I leaned in… what are these sprinters going to do? 

What if the baton was……a bunch of balloons 

What if it was a traffic cone 

What if it was a watermelon 

What if it was a HUMAN 

With each one, you saw the word before the person came running onto the screen with the item. 
The typical baton was passed seamlessly between the two athletes who were serious about their task. They just did it. 

The Balloons gave some resistance, the hand off was exquisite.  
Wind resistance was real. 

The Traffic Cone- awkwardly passed with a small delay….forcing the person who would carry it forward to turn a different way. 

The watermelon—- the hand off included almost a granny throw and carry blindly behind the person (also it fell and splattered) 

The Human…. involved a third REAL person who held themselves very very rigid and they literally passed the person along, also resulting in a tumble and a lot of laughter. 

I was struck by the person who always carried it forward and the person who always received it…… no shock, no delay, just carrying things forward as best they could.  

Easter’s Empty tomb has been empty for 2 weeks and here we are..  

The JOYFILLED algorithm of God’s love is still in our minds, still in our memories, still popping up when we see the flowers around us, the days are beautiful and the challenges persist, the message of this journey still with us and also the unexpected as we process where God has met us in our midst. Where God calls us to carry forward the hope that a broken open empty tomb gives us. 

Today is one of those days where we have an abundance of riches in our scriptures to read, mark and inwardly digest. Stories of transformation, stories of God’s love and life carried forward in the most unexpected ways, the message of hope and love handed off to the next person in some of the most puzzling instruments. The normal is broken open into the next chapter. 

We begin with Saul – fresh and breathing threats and murder against the disciples- being passed the baton of love… not hate.  
Join them do not fight them.  
God striking Saul down literally, physically- passing a message of new chapter of his life. Persecution transformed into proclamation. I am pretty sure Saul did not see that coming as he passionately set about his day. 

Coupled with Ananias, the faithful man called to go and care for the very man the newly forming Christian community lived in fear of coming to their door. Ananias, also called by name to step out of his threshold, receiving the same message of God’s love to care for this murder breathing man, to carry the baton of love and then share it with the community around him. 

And like the two runners in the reel- seamlessly Saul and Ananias do it. In the midst of the awkward, “the who woulda thunk to do that?” God created a new way and they carried the message forward…..  

Today is a day where we hear that God interrupts and engages, and in so doing, disrupts and creates a whole new pathway. While it is a-w-w-kward…..  
the forward movement continues. 

And if Saul and Annanias weren’t good enough, in our gospel reading today we hear about Peter and the disciples doing what they know best. 

What are you doing in these past few days since those last days of Jesus’ life, since the tomb has been cracked open and found empty? The range of emotions are the roller coaster you are living in….disciples, what do you do? 

You do what you know to let your mind body and soul find some peace. 

They aren’t runners, they are fishermen.  
They go fishing. 
Go back to the water 
Go back to know what you know. 
Dropping the nets, watching the sunrise, sweating, doing something you knew how to do….. 

And in all that ordinary known-ness- Jesus appears. 
Waving from the coastline….  
Annoyingly, he asks “Did you catch any fish” (FWIW, You can literally SEE if a boat has caught fish by how high it is sitting in the water….. didn’t we talk about seeing and believing last week?) 
Finding their audible confession of No, Jesus says,  
“Do it again, this way.” 
Sigh……I can hear the exhaustion of the disciples….You want me to do what? 

 
And trying that new and different way, they achieve more than they can imagine.  
The fish are so abundant that the nets are breaking, the boat is swollen with the catch. While they met Jesus with fatigue and doubt, their joy and re-energized demeanors had Peter jumping out of the boat in wild abandon. 

They broke bread together.  
Breakfast on the shoreline of the Sea of Galilee. 
And Peter’s thrice denial is transformed into a threefold affirmation to leave fishing and be a shepherd-care and feed the sheep. 

Jesus is passing the baton of love, of God’s call and accompaniment on this journey, the gift that we in turn are to pass along too. The awkwardly creative, new pathway creating, passing of worthiness and wholeness that no other can provide. 

Today is a day of things being passed along and cracked open. 
The old way re-envisioned and carried forward. 
The love of God changing the ordinary and being shared with the unexpected. 

Being broken open within community. 
Being affirmed in community 
Being cared for in community. 
Being offered in new and different ways inviting each of us to carry the baton together. 

Today we (will) bless those in our community who are graduating this year and celebrate with them as they begin a new chapter in their lives. As their world of “known” are broken open in the next chapter and new ways are presented to know and be known. 

My words to them and to you are the same- to be broken open reveals God’s presence in our lives, even when we are exhausted, even when we feel unworthy, even when we have made the most horrible mistakes, even when what we are being asked into is so different- God says to us -”Do it Again” (a little like Yoda, there is no Try- Do”) 
“Go and care for”  
“Be with” 

To every “what if or Even when” God says “And” 

AND Saul gets a new name AND new community; he gets credit for writing even more letters than Dear Abby. 
AND Ananias did not die, gained a friend, AND survived. 
AND the disciples caught more than they could carry 
AND Peter was forgiven, affirmed, reincorporated, AND commissioned to lead. 
AND you, too, called by name, are invited to have your own heart broken open to receive the sometimes awkward, always creative, reliably present, love of God. 

AND to go and pass the baton to those whom you encounter. 

Be Creative. Be Loving, Be Kind. Be Unexpected. 
AND know that in each moment of being broken open, there – too- is the Easter moment, that the story is not over, we keep on this journey together. 

Like the bread we will share soon, in being passed the broken bread, we too receive forgiveness, affirmation, AND call to the hope that all is being transformed by the love we have received and we will too, will pass along to those we encounter. 

We too are called by name in the unknown times to share this baton, to let the algorithm of love govern our actions…..even if it seems the world is topsy turvey and stacked against us. 

Lace up your shoes and receive the love of God that has been passed from person to person since the beginning each time in a new and creative way. 

Amen. 

LOVE THAT DIRTY WATER

Trinity church in the City of Boston 
Easter Vigil, Year C 2025 
6pm 

Exodus 14:10-31; 15:20-21 [Israel’s deliverance at the Red Sea] 
Zephaniah 3:14-20 [The gathering of God’s people] 
Romans 6:3-11 
Psalm 114 
Luke 24:1-12 

O God, who made this most holy night to shine with the glory of the Lord’s resurrection: Stir up in your Church that Spirit of adoption which is given to us in Baptism, that we, being renewed both in body and mind, may worship you in sincerity and truth; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen. 

I’m gonna tell you a story 

I’m gonna tell you about my town 

I’m gonna tell you a big fat story, baby 

Oh, it’s all about my town 

Yeah, down by the river 

Down by the banks of the river Charlesi 

Many of you might recognize these words as the words of “Dirty Water” written by the Standellsii and sung with wild abandon at Boston Sports events.  The chorus continues with  

I love that dirty water (I love Boston) 

I love that dirty water (have you heard about the strangler?) 

I love that dirty water (I’m the man, I’m the man) 

I love that dirty water (oh) 

I love that dirty water (come on) 

I kinda love that dirty water (come on) 

The song has a very interesting story. It comes not from a native Bostonian, not someone singing of a space that was home… rather it is written by Ed Cobb, the band’s producer. A native of Los Angeles, Cobb wrote this song after walking with his girlfriend down by the Charles river and being mugged.  An unfortunate event and from that event, comes this song acknowledging the wrongs and beauty of the dirty water that Boston surrounds. 

It’s home. 

It’s dirty, it’s full of all of humanity- gorgeous beauty and brokenness. 

And it’s beloved. 

Each day beginning new. 

Each day a chorus of I love that dirty water. 

Tonight, we gather to hear the story of water in our midst.  

And the water we here of is also murky, dark and muddy water. 

We are reminded through storytelling of God’s presence in the dirty water of humanity. 

The need for God to save us and lead us through the challenges and brokenness. 

We hear of the Israelites, given a pathway where none previously existed, through the dirty, muddy water of the Red Sea, parted for their path and trapping those behind them.  

Miriam gets out her tambourine, once they are safely on the other side, singing about the water through which they were saved, of God’s provision and coming to them in their midst. 

In our reading from Romans, we are reminded of Jesus’ own baptism that we too are baptized into. We remember John the Baptist baptizing Jesus in the River Jordan. A river that is really a muddy marshy, water way running through the land. This baptism was not with a font and lightly warmed water, the water was muddy, murky, dirty. In this water Jesus is baptized and we too, are baptized. 

Into the muddiness of life, into the muck of living in close proximity to one another, we are reminded of the story of God’s deep undercurrent of love calling to us, inviting us to be washed by this water and be in the midst of the messiness of being a neighbor and a beloved child of God. 

We are called by baptism to be in the midst, these candidates will soon commit themselves – as we too will renew our own baptismal covenant with them –  to being washed anew in the waters of baptism. 

Baptism doesn’t mean that any of us become perfect. While we are washed clean, we are reminded that each day we renew our promises to live faithfully as God’s beloved. 

Into the messiness, into the continued promises that God has given us to be present with us in our midst, calling us into community, calling us into relationship with those who are familiar and those who make us uncomfortable. 

On this holy night, in the most ancient of services –when the first baptisms of converts took place in the early church, we remember not only the story of God coming to save God’s people over and over again, we hear the culmination of the Easter story. 

From the waters of the Jordan river to the fresh dew of Easter morning, we see the completion of Jesus’ earthly ministry with the empty tomb. The messiness of the unexpected, the murky fog of confusion, the tears of disappoint and the unexpected revelation of God’s presence in their midst- renewing hope in a world of muddy water, brokenness and incompleteness. 

In that story we are invited and included through baptism. (it’s our home) 

Into that story we are adopted, each as children of God, no matter our age. (You are the child) 

Into that dirty water, we too sing  

I love that dirty water (I’m the man, I’m the man) 

I love that dirty water (oh) 

I love that dirty water (come on) 

I kinda love that dirty water (come on) 

For we understand where we are is imperfect and yet here we are- each day striving to live with God’s help into being the beloved that God has called us. 

It’s the rest of the story that we are invited into. 

Into the waters of baptism, into the waters of Easter Sunday, resurrection and new beginnings. 

We ring those bells with each alleluia and dance and sing together. 

Knowing that there will be more mud to wade through 

And we are together on this journey, we are companions- sharing story like Miriam, like the women who saw it first at the tomb, inviting others into the muddy waters of hard work and hope. 

I will with god’s help. 

You will say so too. 

In this muddy murky world, let’s remember the songs and story that have preceded us when we feel most stuck, reminding us to take one step at a time with Easter hope. 

Alleluia Alleluia 

Letting go to live more fully- Ash Wednesday

Trinity in the City of Boston 
Ash Wednesday, Year C, 2025 
March 5, 2025 

Almighty and everlasting God, you hate nothing you have made and forgive the sins of all who are penitent: Create and make in us new and contrite hearts, that we, worthily lamenting our sins and acknowledging our wretchedness, may obtain of you, the God of all mercy, perfect remission and forgiveness; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen. 

Create in us clean hearts Oh God and renew a right spirit within us. 
Turn our eyes towards you, our hearts and minds, that we know you with all that we are. AMEN 

Good morning/mid day/Evening on this Holy Day. 

As we begin this day and season, I want to invite you to think for a minute: 
When was the last time you looked deeply into someone’s heart and held time with them? 
When you held the gift of their brokenness and put your own needs aside to just be present. 
To see the other’s pain and belovedness? 

Not to fix, not to advise, not to judge.. 
Rather, to be present with, to listen to deeply,  
To remind the other that they are not alone, (without or without words) that there is God’s light and love within them despite everything else that is being said to them, despite the world falling on their shoulders, in spite of their own thoughts of inadequacy, that they are enough. 

Our world is filled with too much judgement, brokenness, and heart wrenching circumstances to ignore those around us….  

It is easy to fill our schedules with things that we think will make our hearts happy, make our hearts sing, or perhaps unintentionally bring more heartache. We can find ourselves doing things for the sake of doing things, over and over and over again.  
Dissatisfied and frustrated, numbed and isolated. 

St Augustine is attributed to saying that our hearts are restless until they rest in God.i 

Restlessness, that insatiable craving of something more, something else…… 

Each year we gather on this holy Wednesday to begin our season of Lent, to listen, to reflect, to pray and to pause…….  

Together we begin an intentional period of time for pausing, praying, and making space to see God in our midst and wonder how does God’s sacrificial love call to each of us? 

We slow down. (or attempt to) 
We change our habits… 
Our liturgy shifts…… 
Our music changes 
We take on things and we let things go 

And like our Scriptures today, we ask the question“why” 

Our reading from Isaiah today speaks volumes of the joy of our faith that we are called to..we are to shout with joy! (It is OKAY TO HAVE JOY IN LENT!) To sound the trumpets- those raucously joyful instruments that announce royalty, that punctuate our Christmas and Easter services, be loud with this sort of joy about the God you not only love but LOVES YOU more than you can imagine 

Isaiah continues, as any good prophet would, to share the how.  
Inviting his listeners, the writer speaks to the practices of the people.  

Let all that you do be done with love, otherwise stop what you are doing.  

God wants your heart’s devotion, not your mindless recitations. If your actions are not from the depths of your heart, perhaps it is time to change what you are doing.  
Give it up! 

Jesus speaks likewise, in his depiction of the tax collector and the Pharisee, Jesus illustrates to his disciples that your actions are not for others to see your piety and be full of awe of your works,  
Rather, your actions should be such that your neighbors, and you, might see God more clearly,  
that your heart be restored in right relationship with God.  
Do those things.  
Be seen not for the amount of church you go to, rather be known because of the faith and hope that you live out in the world. 

God looks to our hearts, to love us into transformation. 
God sits with our hearts, holding us deeply as we need to be still, to be known, to be loved. 

In this letting go and being still, we too are transformed. 
In the mini deaths, the endings, the things we let go of, we too can be reborn in the ashes and be a new creation, a new chapter, a new understanding of the God right in our midst. 

 
God, accepting us right as we are, in our brokenness, our feeble attempts to do right, also gently calls us to let go, to stop creating our own madness and live fully into our belovedness. 

My prayer for you is that in this holy season of Lent, the season may give you opportunities to make space to listen to the indwelling of the spirit in your own heart.  

May your restless soul find rest in God and may the practices you set upon this season nourish your relationship with God and those around you as you too embrace the trumpets joy of God’s Love. 

Amen. 

A light unto the Nations

Trinity Church in the City of Boston

Feast of the Presentation

Feb 2, 2025

Almighty and ever living God, we humbly pray that, as your only-begotten Son was this day presented in the temple, so we may be presented to you with pure and clean hearts by Jesus Christ our Lord; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

Light from Light

A light to the Nations

Blinded by the light

It is the season of Epiphany- the in between time where we find ourselves waiting-

Waiting with fear?

With hope?

Waiting with the need for light.

A mere 40 days ago, we gathered in this space to light the candles of Christmas Eve as we sang “Silent Night” sharing the light from the Advent Wreath one by one into the congregation, from candle to candle. It’s the favorite part of the service for many…the beauty of the simple flame lighting this space as dim the lights. “Will we light candles as this service?” a young child asked me as they entered the space at the service. There was a joy in her expectant face—the glee about the chance to hold that small candle with fire- a holy amazement, joy and mischief was on their face.

They knew….. something would be trusted to them that night as we told the story one more time…..

A small little light…..

Thinking forward, we know that on Holy Saturday, the eve before Easter Day,  we will light the candles again, this time starting from the newly kindled fire on the west porch- to the the paschal candle, the light of Christ which illuminates the story of God’s salvific nature will be shared from one person to the next until the whole space is awash with the light of Christ’s resurrection. Listening intently from story to song, from Genesis to the Gospel….lights of hope burning brightly…

An ordinary little candle which gives light to such a large space, yielding a thin whisp of light that together with those around us assists in our seeing more clearly the words, the way, the hope.

Today we find ourselves in a special space,

Today is February 2nd.

Every 5-6 years February 2nd occurs on a Sunday which means that rather than reading “the rest of the story” from last week- we instead “interrupt this lectionary course” to celebrate the Feast of the Presentation, sometimes called Candlemas, we hear of the ordinary tradition of a couple presenting their first born male child at the temple.

Mary and Joseph, the travelers, 40 days after being in Bethlehem, return to Jerusalem as the law of their faith commanded them so to do. Returning to Jerusalem from Nazareth, they come to give thanks to God for the birth of their first-born child. This rite was twofold. Jesus was presented and Mary was allowed to return to the worshipping fully post birth. Mother and child, fully welcomed into the faith community.

Birth, naming ceremonies 7 days after birth, and now the presentation….. normal, standard, similar to the well baby check ins that are scheduled before you leave the hospital with your newborn child- the community checking in with you and caring for you, supporting you in prayer and in presence.

And yet, in this journey

This travel.

Something else happens.

Mary and Joseph arrive with their 40day old child and are greeted by Simeon, the respected and wise old priest who upon encountering the baby begins to sing and dance with joy.

Simeon KNOWS immediately that this is something more.

This is the light to the Gentiles and to your people Israel.

In one fell swoop Simeon declares this child is hope to all people.

A 40day old child

will be so much.

A child who will cause the falling and rising of many in Israel

A sign that will be opposed

And

   a sword will pierce Mary’s soul, too.

And if that weren’t enough, we hear of Anna also.

Anna, the widow.

Anna, the prayerful one

Anna, the one present everyday –

there to pray, there to care, also begins to sing and praise God.

She, too, sees this child as so much more

and shines more light upon what is to come.

The Feast of the Presentation is full of juxtapositions:

Keeping the law is both ordinary and can be incredibly transforming- while obligation and duty might bring us to a space, the Holy Spirit has this funny way of showing up and knocking the socks off of us sometimes.

Like Kit said last week- the divine is always present within and around us. I am pretty sure it took the divine to get Mary and Joseph to Jerusalem and it was the Holy Spirit that opened the eyes and awareness of Simeon and Anna.

We encounter the young couple with their first born who are greeted by the wise and respected, establish priest Simeon- who sees the light of hope in this newborn child and this young couple that will care for this child until he is able to begin his ministry.

And with Simeon we see Anna, the woman without a family nor children, who also announces and celebrates the presence of the Holy Family in their midst.

In this young child

an established people and empire will be challenged and transformed.

In this new beginning, death will also occur.

The Song of Simeon that we hear today is read or sung in every evening prayer, evensong, and compline service. The song reminds us at the close of the day that we let go of the day,

The hurt, the disappointment, the suffering

And at the same time, we like Simeon,

give thanks for the light we have seen in our day

and we know that God will provide.

We close the day, as Simeon did at the end of his life-

with hope, gratitude and grace.

Praising God for each moment,

even, as I am sure,

that Simeon still had to live through temple politics, hurt and threats to his own safety.

The joy of that moment reminded him that even in those dark days,

God was there,

in this baby,

This tiny light

in the life to come,

 in the space where they stood, prayed and did even the ordinary prayers at 40 days of life.

We go about the ordinary every day.

We get up, we go about our business, we encounter the good, the bad, and the godly……

In this “in between time” where the world holds its breath in fear,  

there is also hope.

I hold up for you the example of Mary and Joseph with Simeon and Anna:

In the midst of the routine a new beginning can occur in the most unexpected of ways.

Not matter how old or young you might be,

 there is a new beginning about to happen

An invitation to join the story

A reminder that sometimes you need to let go for a new beginning to occur.

There is a light to the nations,
to all of God’s people

As a people of faith, we know God’s endurance to be true through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus and in all of his life, teachings, and love.

As we continue to mark time in the ordinary, and in the “in between”

be reminded of the amazement of Mary and Joseph

and the fullness of joy of Simeon and Anna…

The holy wonder of the unexpected transforming of the whole World.

May God shine the light of love in our own lives,

illuminating our paths to awash our world with hope in our midst.

May the light of the faithful light our own hearts with the fire of God’s love

A love that endures through suffering, through hardship,

through the challenging times

And is a light for others.

Lighting the path forward – one step at a time.

One light of hope, sharing the story, shedding a little light

A light for you and me

A light unto to the nations

When the world seems dark and dim,

look for the light

and see the reminder of God’s faithfulness in the darkest of times.

A baby, a man, a savior for this world.

Magi, Making Lists and Following Hope

Trinity Church in the City of Boston

II Christmas Year C

 Jan 5, 2025

The Collect

O God, who wonderfully created, and yet more wonderfully restored, the dignity of human nature: Grant that we may share the divine life of him who humbled himself to share our humanity, your Son Jesus Christ; who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Brightest and best of the stars of the morning,
dawn on our darkness, and lend us thine aid,
star of the east, the horizon adorning,
guide where our infant Redeemer is laid.
Hymn 117 verse 1&4

Happy New Year My friends!

And Happy 12th Day of Christmas

We sing and hear of the Magi today, this day before January 6th– the day of Epiphany. Leaning into the proximity of tomorrow’s feast day we celebrate fully this story in that greatest story told to us.

Let’s pause for a moment,

As we turned the page on 2024, I don’t know about you- but I kept seeing the invitation to create the “best of 2024 lists”- I saw the best books, the most read headlines, the events of the year.

With each list, we were given the invitation to pause and remember.

Now their lists, often times, were to encourage you to purchase something that you might have missed, to invite you into an acquisition, addition into your lives…..

I invite you instead-

to remember the connections, the relationships, the conversations.

In the final week of the year/ first week of the new year,  I often take a moment to sift through my digital archive of photos from the past year to remember the images of the events. The flowers, the sticks, the people who visited, the places we visited, the food, the events of the year…. It’s a journey of sorts and a bit of a gift to remember “that happened this year??”

Our annual journeys can be right in one place or take us physically traveling for work, for pleasure, for discernment, to visit family, to visit friends, to see those who are dying and those who are newly birthed. Of unexpected disasters and unexpected moments of grace.

Do you delight in the journey?

Growing up, car trips punctuated my life. We did not actually travel for vacation, we moved. Our car trips often were from one home to the next, packed to the gills with all our possessions, often my parents would pack us up and drive at night to decrease our distracting “HOW MUCH LONGER” and “I AM HUNGRY” wails.

Despite their intentional departure times, We would still awake as they attempted to stop for coffee and sneak a snack along the way.

We would be reminded we were on a journey, go back to sleep, rest, the adventure would be there when we woke up…

Getting older, driving to and from family for vacations and holidays became it’s own adventure. There was the year we surprised my mother for Thanksgiving driving from where my sister and I lived outside of Atlanta all the way to Detroit, Michigan. We called at each state line speaking in code to my father on speaker phone letting him know where we were. We showed up with bows on our heads and singing some song made up song about Turkeys.

My mother was indeed surprised and amazed.

In our journeys, we had people who had certain roles.

One person always read EVERYSIGNOUTLOUD.. a horrible habit that I became known for on college team road trips.

One person was in charge of snacks

One person counted noses (were we all there? Who was still in the bathroom or discerning their snack?)

One person was in charge of navigating

One person was in charge of actually driving (All else served this person)

Remembering our repsonsibilities was important and essential as a family, group, team.

Simple and yet community.

The Magi that we hear of today, travelled a long distance to meet the young Jesus. I use each of these words carefully. While our hymn sang of Three Kings- the Greek is actually more expansive.  Magi represents a less definite number- more than one and could be much more than two or three! While the noun is masculine, the plural is like other languages where if one male is present the whole group becomes masculine in grammar not excluding women but because grammar rules are grammar rules- the entire group becomes masculine in its grammatic identity….

This group of seekers following a star is a bit of an unknown mass who traveled for quite some time, following a star, they studied the skies not the prophets for this new beginning

……to seek this new King.

I wonder who was the navigator

Who read the signs

Who was in charge of the snacks?

Who reminded them to rest?

Who was the annoying one who made up songs along the way to keep them amused?

Who counted noses?

Who stayed behind and worried about their arrival and return?

Who KNEW that they had indeed arrived at their destination?

Who doubted the whole trip and still wasn’t quite sure they were there?
Who did not want to go at all but felt they HAD to go?

Who forgot all the bad things but delighted in each moment as it arrived?
Who reminded them of all the bad things and still kept one foot going at a time?

Who remembered to tell the story and reconnect them to where they came from and where they were going?

Today is the 12th Day of Christmas, the final day of the season- the day where the final greens of the Christmas Season are taken down, if they are not already removed.

And we turn the page on a new season of the Church year.

With January 6, we begin our journey in the season after the Epiphany.

And the traditions of Epiphany are many, ways to mark this part of the journey.

In Spain the “three kings” are celebrated by giving of gifts on this day.

Many will bless the house with the chalking of the door frame, inviting God’s blessing on this new year for all those who will travel through the threshold.

January 6th, Epiphany Day, begins the season of Mardi Gras, king cakes are baked and devoured as we celebrate the joy and delight in the celebration of hope in a world of brokenness.

Epiphany begins a season in the church year that emphasizes the birth of Christ and the punctuation of light in the darkness. The manifestation of God in our midst. In this season, we will hear of baptisms, calls to discipleship and new beginnings.

The Magi traveled to a distant and foreign land, they risked their lives because they believed that there was something more calling them through the desert, through the danger of life on this earth- principalities and authorities.

We too, live in a world where the wildness of life might seem overwhelming. Where the threat of violence and uncertainty can overwhelm us. And yet, we begin this season again- following like the shepherds and magi did- with hope, wonder and amazement. Showing up just as we are, bringing what we have to share with Jesus.

On this journey in this new year

We remember where we have been and where we are going.

We remember that we must pause and rest in the midst of the travels that the year has brought and will bring.

We remember the names of those who have died and those who are just beginning.

We remember to break bread together

We remember we are not alone on this journey

We remember to read the signs (out loud or in your head)

We remember to visit with family (biological or chosen)

We remember that the journey is long and can be full of surprises

We remember, too, that our plans may change.

The magi returned to their homes, by a different route- changed, taking home with them an experience that welcomed them as they were and changed them completely.

This group of outsiders were invited into Jesus’ home and welcomed fully by Mary and Joseph.

Matthew is the only gospel writer who includes the Magi and it is a reminder to us that all are invited to hear this story, even this group of outsiders who followed a star, not the prophets of old, to encounter Jesus.

Remember their moment of awe,

Remember the moment Mary and Joseph opened the door and said welcome.

Remember these moments of light as we grow in faith this coming year and travel the road that will be by following in faith – finding the unexpected and experiencing welcome as we too

Open the door and say welcome

Stand and the door as the outsider seeking welcome.

Together we are family, together we follow the light, in this new year.

Together we bring our own unique gifts to glorify the Lord.

And together we will faithfully acknowledge the power, the life, and the hope of who God is in our world, even on the darkest of nights-

We too will follow the star of hope.

Amen.

Sweet Baby Jesus, Lying in a Manger- Advent 1: Vulnerability: Love Laid Bare

Trinity Church in the City of Boston

Advent 1 Year C

December 1, 2024

Almighty God, give us grace to cast away the works of darkness, and put on the armor of light, now in the time of this mortal life in which your Son Jesus Christ came to visit us in great humility; that in the last day, when he shall come again in his glorious majesty to judge both the living and the dead, we may rise to the life immortal; through him who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

Born thy people to deliver, born a child and

yet a king born to reign in us forever,

now thy gracious kingdom bring.

Hymn 66 v. 3

In Love enfold us. Hymn 53, V. 2

Congrats Ya’ll we are here, we made it through the first of many holiday gatherings.

Just as we are, fully human, fully exhausted from the cooking and eating of the Thanksgiving Holiday or perhaps still aglow from the time around the table of laughter and gathering.

Here we are.

Regardless of if you ate pumpkin or pecan pie,

we gather here.

Today.

Gathering around the table we share a common meal,

At our feasting tables, we make the recipes we delight in and the dishes that bring back memories and stories.

For some of us gathered here, this year’s holiday revealed to us the sharp pangs of those who were not around the table for the first time, whom we love and see no longer.
Our tables were filled with guests even as they may have included empty places of members who were not there.

Each Chair, revealing to us where our heart’s love lie.

Perhaps we had a quiet peaceful holiday, perhaps it was too busy and full.

Perhaps it was a dull ache or a marvelous celebration….

Here we are today.

The flip of a calendar.

The first Sunday of Advent.

The First day of December (the year where our Advent Calendars match with December 1 as the first day and thankfully only 20 more days until our daylight starts to return minute by minute)

The twinkly lights shine more and more around us,

brightening our days,

brightening our pathways and revealing to us that even in the darkness,

the hard times, there is light, hope, peace and joy.

The winter season is a season of vulnerability.

Trees lose their leaves and we enter into the Season of Sticks…

Things lie bare, silhouettes of their former selves.

The knots and branches of tree trunks are revealed without foliage to cover it.

The imagery carries over to our own understanding of self, too.

We, too, become vulnerable. Not only because it is colder outside and we put on layers, but we are coming to the end of the year and we look back at the year past and the year to come.

We feel this vulnerability within the changes of our lives: the empty chairs that once were filled at out tables, the uncertainty in the change in politics, the changes in our own lives with the progression of age or annual checkups where we literally stand in our birthday suits- awaiting wisdom from those who know more than we do about our own health.

To be vulnerable is to stand revealed,

willing to risk judgement and hoping for community,

putting all of our trust in those around us.

Vulnerability takes courage- the baring of one’s heart- to share the most important things in our lives with those gathered around the table with us. Those who are invited to hold that treasure with us and BE with us in that midst of whatever emotional swirl that might invite you into.

Being vulnerable is scary. When I worked with youth on summer mission teams doing home repair, the thing that made me most afraid were the words, “we need to take up for the floorboards and repair the joists.” In the heart of South Carolina, this was akin to “let’s go ahead and redo it all.”

Every time that we took away the floor boards, that outer protective layer… laying bear the essential framework of the foundation of the house, we found that not only the joists needed replacing but so did x,y,z and oh by the way while you are there Q needs replacing too due to the humidity.

Taking up the floor boards revealed sooo much more work to be done.

My anxiety about the work came from a place of fear, of not knowing what to do and completely forgetting that in community we are not alone in the work that is to be done. We are with each other. While we might not be able to fix the problem all in one fell swoop, all at once,

 In revealing the challenges, we were able to help along the way in the ways that our gifts and talents could be used. I came to realize that my part of the story was to be present, listen, and take one step at a time. The homeowner vulnerably opened their home to us and shared all that they had with us trusting us to build it back up with them.

In the season of Advent, we hear prophets speaking of hope, speaking of what is to come. Their words peel back the layers of work that is to be done. Many of our readings will be apocalyptic. Apocalyptic is the Greek word that literally means “revealing”— and what is the purpose of these readings? To strike fear? To make us anxious?

I do not believe that this is God’s intention to make us afraid, rather these readings reveal God’s presence in creation, revealing our roles in community and reveal that vulnerable encompassing love of God who wants to enfold humanity.

God’s desire to be in community is revealed in the risky birth of his Son, as a baby. A vulnerable, trusting, fully exposed human baby- love fully enfolded in the arms of humanity. A manger, a young family, shepherds and innkeepers (and before I get in trouble for preaching a Christmas sermon and not an Advent sermon)…. Advent is all about the preparations, the revelations we have right in front of us –that God is at work in God’s kingdom.

A full-grown Jesus speaks to us about these preparations in our gospel reading today. We can see the signs around us about when to plant or cut down trees, and yet, why is it when we are faced we hardships we question where God is? Why do we think that we have been abandoned and not see community and where hope and new chapters can begin?

Jesus reminds the people of the physical seasons around them and that even if visible fruit is not being born, this delay doesn’t mean that it won’t bare fruit later. Jesus is speaking not to scare the disciples into believing but to remind them that even in the darkest of times, God is there.

God in the form of the most vulnerable.

God in the form of a king born in a manger, lived amongst us, and turning everything upside down- showing love in the most ultimate form- love that through vulnerability reveals community, salvation, and triumph amidst the darkness.

Jesus gathered around so many tables.

So many tables where people did not agree with him.

So many tables where the courage to ask questions and reveal their curiosity and opposition was welcomed.

Jesus stood, sat, and sauntered about in this community reminding us that in community we can be builders of the community in the midst of the most challenging times.

We may not have the answers or the talents for fixing the challenge but we do have the heart and the presence to be with each other. To hold the treasure of one another to seek wholeness as we peek at what all of the world reveals to us, bidden and unbidden.

In this holy season of Advent may the revelation of God’s hope for you, and for us,

hold us together in common,

seeking to “guard out hearts so that they are not weighed down”

rather that we might carry them together.

As we sing in our opening hymn, O Come O Come Emmanuel, God be with us, reveal in us that we too are yours.

Amen.