Trinity Church in the City of Boston

Proper 18, Year A,

September 8, 2024

Proverbs 22:1-2, 8-9, 22-23
Psalm 125
 Mark 7:24-37

Grant us, O Lord, to trust in you with all our hearts; for, as you always resist the proud who confide in their own strength, so you never forsake those who make their boast of your mercy; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

God is love, and love enfolds us, All the world in one embrace;
With unfailing grasp God holds us, every child of every race.
And when human hearts are breaking under sorrow’s rod,
then we find that self same aching deep with in the heart of God.

We live in a busy and full world.

It’s September, the streets are full of students, of people visiting, of things to do. Our fall routines have returned and at the same time it is a time to reflect on why are our schedules so full? What have we filled our days with?

Last week we celebrated baptisms, we re-remembered the words of Song of Solomon of God’s deep love for each of us and call for transformation in our lives, we shared in the water of baptism and our own baptismal covenants.

I am reminded of how water can transform, slowly and quickly.

The long transforming power of water being a contributing factor of creating the Grand Canyon in the past 5-6million years ago, creating a long slow beauty.[i] Weaving it’s way creating a chasm that mystifies us still today reminding us of long slow transformation.

Having lived in Florida for eleven years, Labor Day held a special space in my ordained life. In my first Labor Day in Tallahassee, we were hit by a category 1 hurricane. 45minutes inland, Tallahassee rarely saw actual hurricanes, rather they typically got rain and winds. But that year, the entire city was hit hard. Old Oaks lost limbs, power went out and we came out of our homes in the humid aftermath to assess and to recover.

Tears were shed over lost beloved trees, the needs of loved ones, and then there were the simple joys of cooking everything in our freezer on the grill and inviting the neighbors over to feast. Confronted by lack of electricity, we created community on our lawns and spent the days assisting others. Communities coming together. Unexpected things from unexpected places.

As we settle into our fall program year, we have 11 weeks until Advent begins and in those 11 weeks we will walk slowly, chronologically through the Gospel of Mark. We will take our time, as much as Mark allows us (since everything moves quickly in this gospel), letting the words one after another sink in and transform us. A longer slower progression, letting the words wash over us. Today we hear of healings which occur immediately after last week’s gospel of speaking about what should be found in the heart.

And today we hear of the hearts’ desire, to continue that theme.

In Two stories.

We hear of hearts yearning for re-connecting, re-membering into the community.

Two stories that speak of healing that is both long needed through winding journies and also swift in transformation.

Stories of faith from the most unexpected places and spaces.

Today we hear of the Syrophoenician woman. We are in the region of Tyre and we can credibly believe that Jesus was tired. He has been teaching healing and he has gone into a home because he wanted to be away from the crowds. Tyre is important to note because it is in a region of the Greeks, the gentiles, the “other.” This is not his home turf. He is the unexpected in this space.

Amidst the “other,” he seeks to be alone.

To Pause.

Instead of rest, he receives an uninvited, unexpected woman in need.

Her arrival is not like the faith filled Jewish hemorrhagic woman who two chapters previously in Mark who reaches out for her own healing, grasping the corner of Jesus’ garment in the midst of a crowd. NO, this woman today strides right into the home and demands healing for her daughter.

She demands change, swift and immediate. Much more like a hurricane than the Colorado river, she is swift.

She could be seen as the Patron Saint of demanding change. [ii]

She won’t back down.

She meets Jesus where he is and wrestles with Jesus word for word.

For every exclusionary term she embodies (not Jewish, a woman, not of the right space or time) she counters with an opportunity to think bigger, to expand and grow, to live more abundantly.

For Change. The encounter is not comfortable. Jesus’ words are not kind.
She does not back down.

It’s amusing to think for a minute of the 5 weeks of “living bread” gospels and now our gospel is arguing about crumbs— Crumbs: hard to get rid of, even these small morsels are important.

Remember how many baskets those crumbs filled in that feeding of the 5,000?

Swift and unexpected demands for change.

And there is change.

The woman’s daughter is healed by Jesus from a distance by the request of her mother, demons- those defiling the daughter from within are released and this young girl, beloved daughter, is released from her suffering.

Change that would affect her whole life to continue.

The thing about our Gospel today is that is not JUST about encountering the Syrophoenician woman, rather, Jesus continues from Tyre back to Galilee… and while we are being given a geography lesson here (Jesus did not always go the shortest route, by the way) we find Jesus healing a deaf man that was brought to him. And Jesus takes him aside, touches him with the most mundane of resources, his own spit.

Water, touch and the words “Be Opened.”

And indeed- healing is given.

Similar to those healed in Chapter 5 of this gospel we have juxtapositions of gender, location, distance and proximity. Each detail is significant. Again, we see the similarities, healing given to both individuals because of their receptivity.

Healing given within community.

Change in the unexpected and for the long term.

Change demanded.

IN aggressive and passive ways.

Where do we find ourselves when change is demanded of us in unexpected ways?

Where do we look back and see that we, too have been formed slowly, changed in the space that we have been within?

Soon, we will continue out worship- not only with gathering around this table to be fed with the spiritual nourishment of our Savior’s body and blood. We will then go downstairs and put together meals for those in our community- that they too, might be fed. Boxes of ingredients measured, poured and repackaged to be sent out to those who are hungry.

It’s a process downstairs, a weaving pathway to accomplish the work to be done.

And during that atypical space you will be transformed (hairnets and gloves are amazing–they give everyone a new identity) and we will work shoulder to shoulder, beside a new neighbor to accomplish this task.

Each person with a story and a part of this community.

Each with a role to accomplish the task.

There is a space for you at that table, too. Each of you.

And while our Meal packing event today will not solve all of the hunger in the city of Boston, the impact will matter to those who receive the meals.

And we will continue to strive to listen to the voices that demand to be heard.

With a lot of grace and striving to meet each other just where we find ourselves.

As Jesus commands, “Be Opened” to hear and see

In the familiar and in the new spaces we find ourselves.

In the fullness and stillness of our worlds.

Using the simplest of things that we have around us, water, presence, crumbs and voice.

The winds and water of this world might swirl around us, they also change and transforms us to see God in our midst.

God, who can take our arguments, our demands, and our needs.

God who is both living bread and in the crumbs.

God who takes water and restores both hearing and sight.

In the midst of the swirl and tempest, the fullness of this fall, we, too, become the beloved community of God together.

Make space to listen, to hear, and to be transformed.

Amen.

[i] While Tectonic Plates also contributed, river erosion is very much a part of the story, too. https://www.nps.gov/grca/learn/nature/grca-geology.htm#:~:text=Uplift%20of%20the%20Colorado%20Plateau,Colorado%20Plateau%20occurred%20is%20puzzling.

[ii]I love Padraig O’Tuama’s reflection on this woman in his commentary here: https://www.spiritualityofconflict.com/readings/327/24th-sunday-in-ordinary-time

Trinity Church in the City of Boston
Proper 25 Year B

August 18, 2024

1 Kings 2:10-12; 3:3-14
Psalm 111
John 6:51-58

Almighty God, you have given your only Son to be for us a sacrifice for sin, and also an example of godly life: Give us grace to receive thankfully the fruits of his redeeming work, and to follow daily in the blessed steps of his most holy life; through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

Bacon Eggs and Buttered toast, Praise Father Son and holy ghost. Amen

That is one of the blessings that I learned when I was a camp counselor at Camp, the rule was always be ready to pray…. This prayer distilled the core elements down to a T, bless God and the food, let’s eat!

Having just spent 5 days with our Choir Camp in Connecticut, I could not help but be reminded of this blessing. Simple and blessed, all around our breakfast table.

Standing, Joy-filled with sleep a bit in our eyes, Praise Father Son and Holy Ghost for a new day.

This past week, our Choir did not use this blessing (though I was ready with it just in case), instead, they sang one of the most beautiful songs by William Byrd[i]

each day.

No Nobis

Non nobis Domine Domine,
non nobis Domine,
sed nomine sed nomine,
tuo da gloriam!

At each meal to remind us “to god be the glory.”

 Before we headed into our breakfast, lunch or dinner.

Far more elevated and a bit more reverent than the super man blessing and the aforementioned Bacon Eggs and Buttered toast blessing….

This simple harmony encouraged living into a different beat,

a pause to give thanks for those made breakfast for us to devour, for the fact that we did not have to make breakfast, nor do anything more than eat and clear our dishes.

A beautiful beginning to a day.

To God be the glory.

Now, I am a visual learner and each morning this lovely song was sung from memory and in repetition which means I sang which ever part I chose and also whatever words I chose or grabbed onto…. No Nobis in my little brain often made me think of Dona No Bis Pachem[ii]– the only other latin choral piece that I know….

In return to city life, my daily singing this beautiful tune does not create an amazing breakfast to appear at my table.

Instead, we all know that here in Boston, Boston runs on…….DUNKIN

With three Dunkin’s within .25miles of us here, coffee and donuts are in abundance (and mildly confusing by app if you are not careful!)

We love our regulah coffee- with 2 milks and 2 sugars ….

waking up with a bit of a different cadence…on the go.

Sipping my dunkin regular since my return from camp, I am still basking in the afterglow of the Olympics that just concluded in Paris. Wondering just how many croissants were on those breakfast tables, appearing each morning …

Do Olympians even eat croissants? Surely at least the fans and their families do!

While Paris perfected the Croissant, it’s origin was not French.

The Croissant was first created in Vienna Austria and was called the Kipferl- or Crescent due to it’s shape- the viennese roll was more similar to a bagel- yeasted wheat dough and is often served with sugar and almonds. Legend dates this first form of the croissant began back to the 17^th  century and others back to the 13^th century- regardless it is Vienna where the Kipferl began.[iii]

And it is not until the 19^th Century that the French took the Kipferl and made it their own and into what we now call the Croissant. (using the French word for crescent due to its shape)[iv]

Now a croissant is a curious thing.

It’s Flaky (in a good way)

It’s light and airy

It is delicious.

AND it is quite a process.

Croissants are not a quick and easy and done.

Rather the notes of flavor, complexity of texture takes time, energy and precious.

You see with croissants, first you create a dough and THEN you literally fold the dough over cold butter and then press the dough flat and then fold, fold, fold, and the put it away in the refrigerator to rest.

Then repeat and rest,

and repeat and rest.

All of those layers are because someone took the time to fold, fold, fold, and refold the dough and then took the time to rest.

Patience, embracing the task, practicing.

This folding process is called “Lamination” and once it is completed, the dough is cut and shaped. (Adding Chocolate in the roll shaping process gives a little more fun and a new name) shapes and sizes can be made and the final product is cooked in the oven.

When baked the butter creates steam which in turn creates the air pockets and layers… and the croissant is created.

The key to a beautiful croissant is temperature, folding, resting and repeating or practicing.

As we head into the finale of our “bread week” gospel series, I could not help thinking about the both the history and the discipline of the croissant, the energy that is needed and the patience that for the finished project.

Jesus is repeating himself over and over again, turning a corner, seeing a new group, talking about the same concept: his ultimate sacrifice for all of humanity in his ultimate rising from the dead. (Sorry, the puns were rampant at camp!)

Think about it though,

We are told the same stories all of our life, every three years we hear the same gospel read to us and yet each time we hear this gospel, the story we hear is enfolded into our lives in a new way, embraced and resonates with a new layer into our being. The context where we are met is different than three years ago and yet our need for grace, mercy, and love still remain.

We rest in this knowledge of love and promise.

When Jesus speaks, he knows that he will have to repeat himself.

He knows that the disciples will not fully understand.

He invites them to be embraced by what he is saying.

Jesus invites the disciples to rest in that embrace.

Jesus, himself, takes moments to step away and rest himself.

Jesus knows that it takes time to understand what he was saying, to sink in and become one or abide.

He knows that we are all projects being transformed by new teachings, ones we have heard for the millionth time to the very first time.

Jesus invites all of the disciples, and in turn us, to listen one more time, to turn towards him and to abide in the knowledge of the love of a God who comes so close to you that you are embraced, wrapped up and in becoming one, become more than you can alone.

In times of loneliness, in times of sorrow, God in your midst, creating in that empty space a place for love to be developed, to know you are surrounded by others who know the same.

We hear of breaking bread constantly through scripture.

God is in the business of providing bread for his people. From the bread needed for Elijah as he was tired, to the manna – just enough for the Israelites each day, to Jesus’ explaining that while bread of today is going to fill your tummies for now, the nourishment our souls really need can be found through the imperishable love that Jesus has lived and died for.

And while sometimes the project might feel tedious and taking too much time and we just want to run on donuts or the quick and easy Bacon Egg and Buttered Toast blessings, let’s let this year’s reading in bread week remind you that each layer builds upon the previous layer and each moment matters.

For God loves you.

Has spent time with you in the valleys and the mountain tops

And will continue to be with you in this walk of Faith.

God wants us to understand and feed our faith in ways that allow us to taste and see that life is good and death is not the end.[v]

God wishes us to make sense of our communion and allow us to taste and see the grace and mercy and love that is our midst.

Amen.

[i] A Simple Recording can be heard here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QbOogwu6NOA

[ii] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9fhJ6XrZ4jg

[iii]https://www.google.com/search?q=kipferl+word+meaning&rlz=1C5CHFA_enUS977US977&oq=kipferl+meaning&gs_lcrp=EgZjaHJvbWUqCAgBEAAYFhgeMgkIABBFGDkYgAQyCAgBEAAYFhgeMgoIAhAAGA8YFhgeMgoIAxAAGIAEGKIEMgoIBBAAGIAEGKIEMgoIBRAAGKIEGIkFMgoIBhAAGIAEGKIE0gEINDUzOGowajeoAgCwAgA&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8

[iv] https://www.ice.edu/blog/brief-history-croissant

[v] Spiritualityofconflict.com

Trinity Church in the City of Boston
Proper 11 Year B
July 21, 2024

2 Samuel 7:1-14a
Psalm 89:20-37
Mark 6:30-34, 53-56

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.

Drop thy still dews of quietness, till all our striving cease;

Take from our souls the strain and stress,

and let our ordered lives confess the beauty of thy peace. Hymn 653 v.4

AMEN, let it be so.

What beautiful words we will receive today that we will sing in our Communion Hymn.

Written by a local boy, John Greenleaf Whittier grew up just up in Haverhill, Massachusetts in the early 1800s. A farm boy, John grew up a quaker, attended the Haverhill Academy and took to writing. A man of faith contemporary with Edgar Allen Poe and a little bit older than Phillip Brooks, John thrived in learning and in turn writing. He was a poet and journalist, abolitionist, and then settled back into poetry in his final segment of life. This hymn comes from a longer poem published in 1872, clearly reflecting John’s Quaker roots- seeking the divine in the midst of the quiet. A prayer for us today in the midst of our strife and stress filled days.[i]

How often has the prayer of your soul been “take from my soul the strain and stress” of these recent days?
Where can you find that peace described within this hymn, within scripture?

Several weeks ago, when I read the lessons for today I will confess, I was a bit disappointed.

The gospel for today does not name a specific person, while it speaks of healing it is not the Samaritan woman nor is it the miracle of the feeding of the 5,000. (Spoiler alert- that is next week and it is the segment of the gospel that is omitted for today.)

Our gospel speaks to the in between.

In our Gospel today, we hear that Jesus has been and is always on the move.

The story today is not scandalous, miraculous, it is down right ordinary.

Jesus begins today not with doing but inviting the disciples to stop doing.

“To come away and rest”

Like a two-year-old resisting naptime, I was resistant to this gospel.

I wanted the politics, the drama,

to this Jesus says, “Stop, being the drama, come away, and rest”

Our gospel follows directly after last week’s gospel of persuasion, pain, and politics.

Jesus is still on the move, staying alive, seeing people where they are and speaking truth.

“Come away and rest a while with me” he says.

You see, we have to remember that rest, too, is political.

Keeping sabbath, given as a command within the 10 commandments, was a political statement to the Israelites against the Pharoah’s command to work, work, work, work. Keeping sabbath, reminds us that our worth is not measured in the amount of bricks that we could produce, rather than our worth rests in our identity as children of God. Our worth is found within our relationship with God.

Today, Jesus is taking that sabbath from the work he, too, that has consumed his every hour.

The incessant need for love, for healing, for answers.

While Jesus meets everyone where they are, he reminds the disciples that he, too, needs to reconnect and step away.

Press pause, stop, on the chaos of the world.

Reclaim his rhythm, his anchor, let go of his frustrations and be refilled.

He gets on a boat and they go to a deserted place…. A place without everything else.

A place without the drama.

A place, also, full of God.

And you can imagine the gift of peace that was felt once they pushed away from the shore

Once they were upon the water

Once they felt the familiar waves on the boat and found that new place to land.

To merely Be.

It is beautiful. It is divine.

And then….. Humanity interrupts.

People in search of care

The quiet moment is short.

The joy and need of the people is great and once again has found this little group.

Jesus had compassion for them.

He does not throw the tantrum of the two year old abruptly awoken from a nap cut too short.

He breathes in and leads with his heart.

He teaches what their hearts need.

He feeds them (this is left out this week but DON’T WORRY- you will hear all about it next week!)

He heals the people.

This too, is beautiful, divine, and God is fully present there.

Unnamed, unnumbered, in the midst of the ordinary day of water and rolling hills of Galilee.

I imagine hot and sweaty Jesus trying to navigate his way through the crowds, putting others first as he encounters them.

It’s ordinary and yet right there in their midst.
God is always present.

We, too are in the midst of our own hot and sweaty ordinary time.

We too are on the move, Many are traveling for vacation, for college visits, for camps.

Many of us are trying to navigate the sweltering temperatures of both politics and humidity.

We might feel like we are in the midst of the unnamed,

the massive number of people going to and fro. A bit Lost.

Yet in this ordinary time, these words of rest call to us too.

Come away and rest with me.

Stop and breathe in the peace that passes all understanding, seek me first.

In the moments we steal away from the scheduled.

In the moments we create and safeguard.

Short or long.

God is there, here, and in the in between, in the travels, in the myriad of activities and in the rest.

Creating time to pause, reconnect and refresh our faith speaks to whose identity we claim.

Beloved Child of God.

Another locally known man, theologian Howard Thurman puts it like this, “there is in you something that waits and listens for the sound of the genuine in yourself and sometimes there is so much traffic going on in your minds, so many different kinds of signals, so many vast impulses floating through your organism that go back thousands of generations, long before you were even a thought in the mind of creation, and you were buffered by these, and in the midst of all of this you have got to find out what your name is. Who are you?”[ii]

Have you lost yourself in the midst of the comings and goings?

Has the traffic (not just on our streets) muffled and muted the sound of God’s light and love in your heart?

John Greenleaf Whittier grounded himself in writing poetry and reminding others that the divine is always in their midst and reconnecting with the divine requires intention, practice and rhythm.

Jesus sought out the space to be refreshed, renewed and be restored.

Humanity will persist.

Will interrupt

Will continue to need

And each day, moment, we will do our one small thing to continue to reconnect the world with a love that can transform, that is greater than the placations of this world that falls short.

A love that stays with them, transforms them.

Each blessed humid, ordinary, unremarkable day, is a day for reconnecting and living within the in between. Being on the move and always moving toward God, being formed through the practice of prayer and listening.

O sabbath rest by Galilee! O Calm of hills above,
Where Jesus knelt to share with thee the silence of eternity interpreted by love. (Hymn 653 v 3)

This week, Jesus says to each of us, “Come away to a deserted place all by yourselves, and rest a while.”

The world that he and we have been living is nonstop. 

Healing, teaching, encountering those in need… make time and come and step away from the rushed paced.

Be restored and become the peace that the world needs as you do the work you, too, are commended to do.

To bear fruit not as the world measures, instead as God delights in you and creation.

[i] https://www.britannica.com/biography/John-Greenleaf-Whittier

[ii] https://www.dailygood.org/story/1846/the-sound-of-the-genuine-howard-thurman/  Howard Thurman served as the chaplain at Marsh Chapel on the campus of Boston University from 1953-1965. https://www.bu.edu/thurman/about-us/who-is-howard-thurman/

Trinity Church in the City of Boston
Proper 5 Year B

June 9, 2024

1 Samuel 8:4-11, (12-15), 16-20, (11:14-15)
Psalm 138
Mark 3:20-35

O God, from whom all good proceeds: Grant that by your inspiration we may think those things that are right, and by your merciful guiding may do them; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

“United we stand, divided we fall.”

What comes to mind with this phrase?

Football (soccer) teams?

Airlines?

Churchill?

Country music songs?

Race and reconciliation?

When I think about divisions, my mind often goes to the concrete,

And for me this means literally concrete walls.

Many of you may or may not know that growing up in the mid 80s, I lived in West Berlin, a walled city in the heart of East Germany.

A space where you could only get so lost, because if you went too far in the wrong direction, you would literally run into a wall.

The city was encapsulated by the effects of war and division, dating well before I was born.

The divisions were political and also familial. Families were separated by a wall created by military powers exerting their strength against each other.

A wall meant to keep some within and others without.

Those living within the walls living within a system vastly different than the system outside the walls.

While those within the walls could go freely about the city as they chose there was also a sense of fear just beyond the wall restricting our movements and an ever-present reminder to us that we were unable leave the city without paper work and checkpoints, permissions and angst.

Divisions, created by earthly powers.

Divisions of family, senselessly by who was inside and who was outside.

A city divided and surrounded by a wall, complete with watchtowers, no man’s land, and guard dogs.

I remember wondering about our neighbors who one day were able to travel to see family and then the next unable to even send word without worrying about if the letter will ever be received, much less seeing their loved ones again in their lifetime.[i]

IN our Gospel reading today, division seems to be central theme of the moment.

The Scribes, the community, Jesus’ family.

We are only in chapter three of the Gospel of Mark and Jesus did not waste time in stirring things up.

To catch us up, Mark (who never wastes time nor words) begins with Jesus’ baptism by John, his 40days in the wilderness and temptation, the calling of disciples, Jesus has taught and healed in various locations and those known and unknown, he has already made people uneasy with his statements and people are beginning to ask questions.

And last week, we hear he is starting to share how different God’s plans are for God’s people.

Restoration to wholeness, completeness, fullness.

Divisions are occurring in the here and now.

Scribes and Pharisees are feeling their authority being threatened and they are closing in with theories as to who Jesus really might be.

Disciples will begin to get anxious about all of this talk of death that is coming.

And today, there are actual walls up between Jesus’ biological family and friends and those who are nearest to him.

Jesus addresses all of these divisions with words of firmness and invitation in his parable responses.

Jesus talks to the Scribes about how ridiculous their theory of his being of the devil really was. Their theory of that sort of power defeats their own theory.

As Jesus will tell his disciples later, he and God are one. Unified not divided. The authority can be no other authority and has been given to restore humanity to wholeness and oneness with God. There is no other way, division is not who God is.

God’s will is in Restoring community, not dividing it.

Forgiveness is something that is both of God and unifies community. Forgiveness requires the Holy Spirit and hard work, recognizing that in building relationship there is vulnerability and desire for transformation, a new path.

A path that Jesus not only lives but is constantly redirecting those who will listen to hear- the scribes, the disciples, his family, and those who are the closest to him on this day where they are gathered.

To his family, who care for him deeply, but find themselves outside of the walls of the assembly on this day, Jesus says they too have to re-vision their identity. Not meaning they mean less to him, rather, he is speaking to those directly around him that they are just as important to him as those he has grown up with and to whom he has called personally as disciples.
Coming together and recognizing that community is found through unification of those around you destroys division and brings people together amidst walls and physical separation.

The Berlin Wall fell in November of 1989. While my family had moved from that space just 5 months earlier, the shock, awe, and joy was palpable through the television and through friends who were still living there.

Freedom was available for both sides of this one wall.

Families could visit freely.

And yet.

Reunification took time and the after effects were deeply felt and can still be seen today.

For a city and country that was divided for nearly 30years, the inequity of housing, medical care, and wealth was deeply and painfully felt.

Tearing down the wall was just the beginning of the work that needed to be done for unification.

And while it was one step, it was a very important one.

And the hard work continues.

We live in a world of walls literally and metaphorically.

This past week we remembered the 80^th anniversary of D-Day. We remembered the lives lost and the concerted effort to not only remember – the desire to prevent wars such as those to happen again and yet…

We live in a world where war still rages in the Holy Land, in Ukraine, Sudan, and here in our own country there are communities that live in constant fear and angst.

Jesus, today, spoke boldly to those seeking community.

Scribes who wanted control and authority for the sake of power.

Family who wanted to belong and be close were invited to revision who is family

And each of us, were invited into restored relationship as we stand in need of forgiveness and healing.

Wherever you find yourself in this story,

as someone who is just trying to follow the rules that have been handed down,

as someone who has been following Jesus all of your life and wanting to be close,

to those who have heard about Jesus just recently and received hope…

to the person who might have just seen the crazy masses and wondered what is going on.

Jesus says to you, God is doing a new thing.

You have to open your hands to receive it.

You have to unclench your death grip on how you think you are to be

And lean into the transformation of what love can do, inviting you into community in a new way.

Inviting you to breath in deeply, be yourself, your true self.

The walls you have created around yourself or imposed on others will be torn down.

Community can come together, and work towards restoration of that beloved community of when Adam and Eve walked in the garden with God in the cool of the night.

United we stand, divided we fall[1]– regardless of what imagery comes to mind for you, Aseop[ii] is attributed to sharing this axiom for the first time in his fable the 4 oxen and the lion. In the fable the oxen were undefeated when they gathered tails together and their horns facing outward. The lion could not attack any of them because they together defended each other. When the oxen wandered out on their own, then the lion succeeded.

Coming together, in our brokenness is what the household of God does day in and day out. Daily striving to receive, be transformed, and share the love of God to those we encounter.

We will get lost and we will run into walls. My prayer is that we might, with grace and humility, always work together to be vulnerable enough to seek a way to build up rather than divide and to seek and work towards forgiveness and restoration together.

Jesus, invites us closer, accepts us as we are, and welcomes us in to do this work together as companions in the household of God.

[1] Aesop Fable

[i] For more information: https://www.stiftung-berliner-mauer.de/en/topics/berlin-wall#building-the-wall-in-august-1961

[ii] Aesop’s fable https://etc.usf.edu/lit2go/35/aesops-fables/392/the-four-oxen-and-the-lion/ and more interesting notes on Aesop https://www.thecollector.com/who-was-aesop/

Trinity in the City of Boston

Easter Vigil Year B

March 30, 2024

Romans 6:3-11
Psalm 114
Mark 16:1-8

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.

This is the night.

Rejoice and Sing hosts and choirs of angels

This is the night

Rejoice and be glad now Mother Church

This is the night when heaven and earth are joined and we are reconciled to God.

Great things begin in the quiet and stillness of the darkness.

Think about it.

In the quiet we can hear better, we can be still, we can discover what really needs to be heard and seen.

Tonight,

One still voice began our liturgy in prayer and lit the fire

and then in singing the exsultet.

Singing out to bring us together.

To remind us why we sing

To remind us why we walked so slowly through this past week.

We are gathered together to remember.

In the darkness, we sit.

We sat in the stillness of the quiet and incompleteness of Palm Sunday.

A service that began in a parade that led us into silence and sadness.

We remembered each final moment of Jesus’ days on this earth

As the disciples, Jesus’ closest friends, were broken apart with decisions, guilt, fear.

We sit with our small candles listening, re-membering on this night…

And then.

Led by the women, Mary, Mary Magdalene and Salome-

who we could call the first spice girls.. bringing the funeral spices to the tomb, what they really really wanted was consolation in their darkness.

We remember how, in the midst of their despair, disappointment, shame, guilt and fear.

They remembered how to take one step at a time

We, too, remember the routines, in a new light.

The Women came to the tomb coming to honor a beloved member of their community.

Then they remember

         one more thing

They remember there is a stone to be moved.

One more thing to worry about, one more thing to take care of….

And there,

They find

The stone is already moved.

They can’t quite remember all of the story but the vague glimmer comes back to them.

The young man in the tomb reminds them

And the lightbulb goes off.

What Jesus promised has come true

Life can come even from death

The story did not end, instead the story continues

Remember, the young man says, remember the promise Jesus told you about

Remember the story is not over.

God is in the business of remembering and helping us to remember…….

This evening, we heard the beloved story of God’s faithfulness and love for God’s people.

God’s saving the Israelites from the Egyptians through the parted waters of the Red Sea.

“Remember whose you are.”

God’s faithfulness from the words of Zephaniah:

“You shall fear disaster no more.. I will bring you home”

“Remember you are not alone.”

No matter the situation

The story is not complete ….

Without the meeting of God in our midst, the meeting of heaven and earth.

In the fire, the readings, the songs this evening,

We remember.

We remember that wars, pain, disaster have always been a part of the human story.

We are a mess

We act in hate and division rather than in love and compassion

And God

Re-members humanity.

Reknitting humanity when they feel frayed and tangled up.

Re-connecting us with God’s self through the deep love and compassion of Jesus.

In Baptism, we remember the words of Paul

We are splashed with the water of baptism.

It’s messy.

We, too, are washed in the waters,

We, too, die to the death of sin

and are re-connected, re-membered as a member of the body of Christ.

We remember our promises as God creates in us anew.

In Jesus’ resurrection, the chasm between God and humanity is re-membered-

re populated, re connected.

Connected by the love that knows disappointment, despair, isolation, fear and guilt.

Re-membered by the connective tissue of love that yokes us together as a community defined by our need for a savior and by a God who believes in persistent resurrection.

This night

If you find yourself in the midst of darkness

Still sitting

Know that your story matters

Know that God is here re-membering you, too to this ancient story

Even if all you can do is the familiar, taking one step at a time,

Know that you, too, like the women at the tomb on that early morning, are showing up.

You, too, are invited into the story of resurrection

Of hope

Of more than the here and now

Into the unexpected

Into God’s loving embrace

And into this space where hope can co-exist in the midst of despair.

We are re-membered into the embrace of God

Because this night we, too, see the empty tomb.

We, too, do not fully understand it all

And yet we know Alleluia this not fully grasping the totality of God’s love is part of our story here and now.

The journey is not over

Like Mary Magdalene, Mary, and Salome, we depart in amazement and a bit of fear and the light of Christ shining.

Amen.

Christmas Day Homily Year C 2021

God of fear, God of the night, God of the Expectation,

You visited the angels in the night with songs and sights of joy.

In all of our nights, turn us towards hope, because hope might just keep us alive. Amen[i]

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

We have lived through the night and here we are on this Christmas morning.

We began with the hymn, Oh Come All ye Faithful!

And truly ye faithful are here, a smaller crowd than last night and yet no less faithful, indeed.

Oh come let us adore him, oh come let us adore him. Christ the Lord.

It’s a wonderous and mysterious thing we celebrate each year, this mighty king born in a manger with the most unique visitors showing up to be amazed and in awe and wonder.

A wonderous pregnancy, no room in the inn, and a band of angels singing messages to the community tending sheep.

And the Angel said, “Do not be afraid, for see I am bringing you good news of great joy for all people.” In the middle of the night, angels, shepherds, mangers, good news.

Do not be afraid is the most commonly used greeting by Angels….. the phrase is used over 365 times. To me, this means there was a lot to be afraid of in those times.

Fear of death, fear of punishment, shame, the government, illness.

We live in similar times of fear, fear of death, illness, economics, daily life and choices.

And yet in the midst of this darkest of nights, the Angels appear and say to the shepherds- do not be afraid. These same words Gabriel said to Mary and to Joseph. “Do not be afraid….” This birth is indeed good news for all the world.

In the midst of these fears there is joy.

God is with us. Emmanuel.

God did not immediately rid the world of fear.

Rather, God transformed that fear to showing the world how one can live in the midst and not give in to fear. God bore God’s love for the world in this tiny baby we celebrate each year as that baby grew into a man, grew into a movement, grew into the call to each of us to live in the same way that God was born to us, each year- starting small and transforming one heart at a time.

God, in the midst of a manger, born amongst us, changed the world through love.

Born in the midst of the messiness of life on earth, these anxious times, God came near and dwelt amongst us.

God is with us and that gives joy and hope.

God with us makes Angels sing, shepherds hustle their flocks to the manger, and a couple who were bewildered by their first born, be amazed at those who arrived as their child was more than their child, their child was a gift of love for the whole world.

I wonder what the shepherds said as they left the manger, as they tried to retell the story of their evening to those who were not there.

I wonder how their faces might have shone with the deep joy of being invited to “Oh come all ye faithful” after so many times of not being invited or otherwise occupied with duties.

I wonder the joy the angels felt in being part of the story that night of being able to sing and share such exciting news and show the way to the manger, the beams of light shining from their fingers and toes.

Oh come all ye faithful, come and adore him, Christ the lord.

The Christmas Carol itself is a beautiful collaboration of many translators and theologians. Rather than being written in one sitting by one composer. The latin words and music were date back to 1743 written by John Francis Wade, but he is not the only composer. So inspired by this work, the Fredrerick Oakley added three verses, and the Frenchman Abbé Etienne Jean François Borderies  added 2 more verses. The lyrics place you in the role of shepherds who rushed to see the christ child and remind us of all the faithful ahead of us who have come to adore the newborn in the manger.

The fifth verse: Child, for us sinners poor and in the manger,
Fain we embrace thee, with awe and love: Who would not love thee,
loving us so dearly?[ii] Reminds us of the love and embrace God has given us on this holy day.

Wherever you might see yourself in the story, the one who needs the reminder to not be afraid, the one who needs to be invited, the one who is reminded that God is right here with us, know that on this Christmas morning- new beginnings still occur and even in the darkest nights, we are turned towards hope, because hope will keep us alive. Amen

Angels, Shepherds, Mangers, Oh MY!

[i] Daily Prayer by Padraig O Tuima Canterbury Press 2017, page 9

[ii] https://www.umcdiscipleship.org/resources/history-of-hymns-o-come-all-ye-faithful-1