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

Trinity Church in the City of Boston

Year B Fourth Sunday after Epiphany

January 28, 2024

• 1 Corinthians 8:1-13
• Mark 1:21-28
• Psalm 111

Almighty and everlasting God, you govern all things both in heaven and on earth: Mercifully hear the supplications of your people, and in our time grant us your peace; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

“Home is where the heart is”

Growing up we used to say. “Home is wherever the Army sends you” or “Home is where the household boxes are!” some may see it as cynical, but as my physical structure of home changed every 1-3 years. From this, one learned to be less attached to physical structures and more accustomed to “how then shall we make this space a home- in this place at this time?!”

In our household, we created homes by hanging art immediately on the walls and art was the last to be taken down when we moved. We found groups to join and church was always there in our midst. Wherever we found ourselves, Sundays found us on our way to a service somewhere.

And Church is where I learned that chewing gum in church was a no no, especially if you were in the balcony and singing and well, someone on the lower level got my gum in their hymnal as I sang with passion on an Easter Hymn.

Church is where choirs always sang (small or large) and where we knew we belonged, somehow, in the midst of all the other unknowns. The church said to us, “How are you, how are you doing, come in and be here with us now.”

My first paying job in the church was in Spartanburg, SC. My first day in the office was actually not in an office but hopping into the front seat of a 15-passenger van with 8 middle schoolers and we were off to somewhere called “Johns’ Island” South Carolina for a week’s mission team of home repair.

“Home” for the week would be on the gym floor for 6 nights with 93 other adults and highschoolers, where my sleeping bag resided in the midst of my wonderful middle schoolers as we found our way in this new community and “home” for the week.

And there we found ourselves working with a program called HomeWorks. Yep, middle schoolers signing up for something called “HomeWorks” in the midst of the summer with a new youth minister, clearly a HUGE step of faith on their behalf.

HomeWorks is a nonprofit that worked with lower income households to do home repairs that otherwise would be too expensive or unable to be performed. Tasks were painting, mild repairs and mostly exterior home repair work. As a leader I was given a home address, supplies, printed out instructions to get to the home and instructions for our task.

And off we went on our first full day to Mrs Baxter’s home.

After 2 wrong turns, we made it (me yearning for my lunch already) and met Mrs. Baxter. A wonderful woman whose home was no longer easily accessible for her because she could no longer use her stairs. The stairs were both in disrepair and her physical needs had changed from when she first moved into her home.

Our task was to build an accessibility ramp for her home.

Yep, me with a liberal arts degree (a minor in Habitat for Humanity Sheet Rock floating), and day 2 on the Youth Ministry job was in charge of building an ADA compliant wheelchair ramp.

The words Rise and Run were perhaps the actions my heart wanted to do when I first learned about this task, but they became the essential key to safety with this project. For those of you in building know that with each inch of Rise, you allow a foot of “run”- or length for the ramp. The house measured 2feet off the ground—this structure was going to have some run.

Building a ramp required a lot of wood, a plan, and ….. a sure foundation.

Foundationally, there was trust from Mrs Baxter that we not only going to care for her home, we were going to improve it.

There was trust that we would do this project one step at a time and that we would do no harm.

The First day was spent measuring, destroying (middle schoolers LOVE this), and digging holes (Post hole diggers were the vocab word for the day.) and realizing we did not have quikcrete for pouring our foundations of our posts for the structure.

Delays.

Each morning we began with prayer together. Much like Anne Lamott who says prayer can be from “Help, Thanks, and Wow” our prayers ranged from “From thank you for the sunshine” to “Lord have mercy” and “Give us patience- I didn’t see that coming”

Each morning we all learned something new, and something unexpected definitely happened.

And in the midst of all of the unknowns there was love.

On day three or four thousand of the week, in the midst of a low country rain shower and temps in the high90s, I found myself totally defeated. We did not have the right tool for the next step. The tool required was 45minutes away and we had to stop for the day, way to early for my liking.

Our lead program manager called on our walkie talkies and said, “Checking in on Abi” and I replied, “Yes, Hank” (dreading having to report in and say that our day was done early because I still hadn’t learned how to say fascia correctly) and he replied with the warmest, “How are you doing?”— rather than “Report in and tell me your progress”- he was doing a heart check.

In his 30+ years of construction work, he knew that a task is just a task…. How your heart is working in that midst is far more important to the work you are doing. And I said, “Hank- it’s a hard day” and we moved from there… he helped us trouble shoot the rest of the day and reminded us that while the ramp was important, Mrs Baxter was far more important- use the time to build relationships and then head back into our “home” for the day.

We finished the ramp by the end of the week. I am pretty sure none of those middle schoolers had built a ramp either before that week, not sure they have built one since either, and yet they worked with what they had, dug down deep from their inner being and the knowledge of love in their heart to build something a bit bigger than the ramp (which was remarkably huge.)

They were invited into a home that was different than their own home, they were part of a community that was strangers on day 1 and by day 7 relied on each other as a team. We might have thought we were not the “right” people at the time, but we figured our roles out as a team and asked for lifelines as needed. Everyone found their spots from “who will make sure the water is in the van” to “Who will count noses each time we get into the van” to “Who is our resource for quikcrete.”

We dug into our beings and we tried our best to always act in love. And when we failed, we got up and started again as a community.

In our reading from the Letter to the Corinthians, we hear about food (my personal favorite topic of the bible!) knowledge and love. The writer is speaking to behaviors around food customs. The community in Corinth is figuring out how to live in their community as followers of Jesus. The advice given is to “live out of love for one another.” Live examples of faithful, persistent love that was given to you by God, through the life and teachings of Jesus. Let that love be your outward practice.

“Knowing things” is marvelous and wonderful and even helpful, but it is relationships and love that are most important. Preaching the good news in the practices you maintain matter, so live with building relationships first. Meet people where their heart is, first. Your behavior should model this for those around you.

I think it is fair to say that you will learn something new and most likely unexpected each and every day, you will need to call a life line, not matter how wicked smaht you might be, AND you just might be that life line for someone else- a reminder: respond in love first.

In our Gospel reading today, Jesus speaks and acts in one of my favorite Greek words evah. “ekousia”-

Ek- out of
and “ousia”-being.

He speaks and teaches from his inner most being. His “authority” or ekousia is both knowing God, not from book study BUT because he embodies who God is- fully human (remember Jesus needs naps, prayers, has a sense of humor, compassion, and even loses his patience) and fully divine (the power to heal, the knowledge of who God is.)

Jesus speaks and heals from his heart space, his true nature: love. The words he speaks in the gospel reading in the synagogue are familiar but heard in a new way because the reading is being understood in a new way, through the lens and voice of God’s love- Jesus himself. Jesus speaks openly and even the demons understand this fully and obey. His words fill people with awe and wonder and re-establishes relationship.

In the church, we are always building up things, metaphorically and literally. Church is space for finding a spiritual home. As Kit shared in her sermon 2 weeks ago, church is a space for you to belong and be fully you. As Morgan shared last week, it’s a space to struggle with faith and love. The church is a space where you can learn not only the practical of the consequences of chewing gum while singing but also the gift of God’s love, mercy, and grace and where your distinct gifts and talents are called together.

For the past 8months as I have preached and celebrated, I have looked out at a pile of dirt slowly moving about in Copley Square. There is a plan out there for what that square will look like eventually and I am definitely not the one called to move that dirt around. I am praying for them though and watching as we will partake in the end product. The work is dusty, dirty, inconvenient and we want to rush through it…but they have to get the foundations right for the final product.

Here inside the walls and systems of Trinity, we too have been building community in so many ways within the ministries of the church. We are building framework so that you might be able to find your spiritual home and ministries. The work of creating Trinity’s Ministry Council has been a very intentional process so that the foundations of the council are able to foster accessibility for all at Trinity to find their spiritual home and ways to engage faith and action.

Howard Thurman said, “Ultimately there is only one place of refuge on this planet for any person- that is in another person’s heart.” In building Christian community we strive to live out a place of the heart. Speaking from the heart, inviting others in, and remembering that we as a community are part of one larger body, the body of Christ.

Love builds up.
Love endures through hardship, challenges, and longer than we hoped.
Love invites, teaches, and heals.
Love is the common ground that makes a household flourish.

I wonder where in this new year, you will find your space in this household and where you might most come alive, where love is speaking to you, too.

Unpack and settle in, breathe in and out-

Have patience and continue to love.

Trinity Church in the City of Boston
Christmas Day, 2023

Christmas Day I

Isaiah 9:2-7 
Titus 2:11-14 
Luke 2: 15-20 

O God, you make us glad by the yearly festival of the birth of your only Son Jesus Christ: Grant that we, who joyfully receive him as our Redeemer, may with sure confidence behold him when he comes to be our Judge; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.

 Christ to thee with God the father, and O Holy Ghost to thee, hymn an chant and high thanksgiving, and unwearied praises be; honor, glory, and dominion, and eternal victory evermore and evermore. Amen.

Well, MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Froliche Weinachten, Joyeaux Noel, and Feliz Navidad.

In German, French, Spanish and English- our greeting today and for the next 12 days expresses joy, happiness, and merriment about today, the day that Jesus was born. Navidad means nativity, Noel comes from the old French and latin for nativity, Weinachten literally means “holy night” and Christmas- well, even in English it is clear who and what we are talking about. No matter in which how you say it, our Christmas greeting expresses JOY about the birth of Jesus.

And what a Holy night it was, filled with unlikely pairings in unlikely places. Mary, the god-bearer, with no where to rest, God made flesh in the form of a vulnerable baby, this newborn king’s first visitors were smelly shepherds who came in with their flock in tow. And then there were Angels. Heavenly hosts with awe striking news, songs from the realms of glory….. what an incredible gathering of all of humanity. I wonder what sorts of conversations took place? Could they even find words to say?

Many of you know that I do not have any biological children of my own. AS it was said in Gone with the Wind, “I don’t know nothing about birthing no babies” and yet many years ago this is exactly what I found myself doing. As a peace corps volunteer in tiny village called Yendemillimou (no spell check does not like the spelling of this word)……I found myself working alongside of two incredible sagefemme or midwives- though I do like the literal translation from French which is “wise women”….. Susan was a refugee from Sierre Leone and spoke pigeon English and a dialect called Malinke and Fatima was from Guinea and spoke incredible French and the same dialect, Malinke.

Communication was tricky with these two. In order to share a story with these two wonderful women, I first told the story to Susan in English and then I would turn to Fatima and tell the same story but in French. Or Susan would translate the story into Malinke. Either way one of us would wait…listening to the other translation…watching for the same emotions we had when we first heard the story…..and usually the story ended in laughter because of my mishaps in a foreign land.

Every third night, we three spent the night at the health clinic and were on duty for birthing babies. Women would arrive in the quiet of night seeking the skills of these women as they delivered their babies. My friends would gently wake me up and I became “flashlight girl”… in a health center where there was no running water or electricity. My 4 Dcell battery MAG light was far better than the kerosene lantern. And here I was the western woman who towered over my colleagues by a good foot in height- but I was not the sage femme. I knew very little and learned so much. In the quiet of the night, I witnessed my first birth….none of the words were familiar to me- dialect was being used for speed and conversation between the young mother and the mid-wives. And Yet there was trust there, I did not need to know the words- these women knew what they were doing.

And boy was I not prepared for the visible pain of the mother- the hard work, the labor and time., Nor was I prepared for the messiness of birth- there is a lot of things they don’t tell you when you are growing up about all of that. And I was not prepared for the custom of this region when the baby was born.

I was soooo excited to see the outcome of all this effort that I started to talk, asking the questions I was dying to ask and I was immediately shushed….. the custom in this culture was to not say a word until that newborn made the first sound….. here we stood, midwives, mother, all holding our breath until this little newborn gasped and squealed on its own… and then… then we danced, we sang and squealed in joy too.

We were an unlikely group of people, a Sierra Leonean, Guinean, First time mother, and Southern white-woman with a flashlight and found ourselves covered in the messiness of birth and bound together by the universal gift of breath and laughter. Unlikely people in unlikely places, helping to bring new life into this world.

Today our readings speak of birth and new life. We hear of a new beginning coming, 2 chapters later we will hear the familiar words of Isaiah, “For a child has been born to us… Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of peace…..” the same hope for freedom is expressed in the baby lying in the manger in Bethlehem. A new thing, a new life and while the continuation of the same love of God, a new thing.

In the ordinary, God takes human form and lives with us.

Emmanuel, God with us.

Throughout scripture we hear the message of God’s love for God’s people. Each prophet translates the message into their context and then here in a manger, God comes down to tell that message in and through Jesus. A baby who in the very beginning has no words but grow into the man who tells us how to live, how to love, how to better understand who God is. Living with us through the pains and messiness of life, Jesus gives us new breath and laughing and dancing with us in the delight of new life.

Even when we do not have the words, God provides comfort and new way.

Today the birth story is told again in our Gospel reading….for the first time.

Angels share the message with the Shepherds. In words and language and presence that the Shepherds understand. Angels, celestial bodies of the heavenly realm- close to God- share the news with those who are in the field- working while others sleep… tending livestock. Shepherding was an Essential but by no means a heavenly occupation. And they receive the same joy as if it were priests or kings who had been visited that night.

God is with them, right then and right there — and they spring into action….with haste they go to see the baby Jesus. Unlikely people in unlikely places receiving news of great joy.

And the story has been told over and over and over again. For over 2000 years we tell this story.  We may not understand all of the words all of the time, we may identify with different portions of the nativity at different moments in our lives, but one thing is sure….. god is with us.

In our messiness, our grief, our brokenness, and in our joy, God is there and will triumph over this broken world.

We, too, are called to be midwives, sharing this story with all who are around us, using words that others might understand. Words that shed light in the midst of a world so desperate for unquenchable hope and joy. Sometimes our task is messy, sometimes we will have to wait anxiously, sometimes we will need someone else (even the most unlikely of folks) to hold the flashlight for us to show the light…….the light for new birth and new hope.

Veiled in flesh the Godhead see, hail the incarnate deity.
Pleased as man with us to dwell; Jesus our Emmanuel.

Merry Christmas indeed, my friends.

Amen.

Trinity Church in the City of Boston

Christ the King Sunday

November 26, 2023

Psalm 100
Ephesians 6:10-24
Matthew 25:31-46

Almighty and everlasting God, whose will it is to restore all things in your well-beloved Son, the King of kings and Lord of lords: Mercifully grant that the peoples of the earth, divided and enslaved by sin, may be freed and brought together under his most gracious rule; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

Holy, Holy, Holy- though the darkness hide thee,

though the sinful human eye they glory may not see,

only thou art holy, there is none beside thee, perfect in power, in love and purity.

One of the legend stories my family received as children was about how to cut a pie.

I mention this because in the past week, many of you partook in a dinner that concluded with pie. Whether it was apple, pecan, pumpkin or sweet potato pie is a whole other conversation.

The legend we received was that my father and grandfather before him were given the duty of cutting the pie into equal slices. Their role was to divide the pie equally amongst those who wanted pie for dessert. If 5 people wanted to eat pie, the pie was cut into 5 equal pieces. If 8 people wanted pie, 8 equal pieces were cut. One person at the table was given the job and had to do it well, or the person receiving the not quite equal piece would be upset and there would be much gnashing of teeth.

Pie, into slices.

Fairness.

One person in control of the dividing.

As children, we gave great thanks that this tradition did not trickle into our Thanksgiving meals. Instead, the pie was just plain old cut into equal pieces no matter how many people wanted to eat the pie and then there were pieces left over for snacking and after other meals.

The other place of major division on holiday meals was who sat at the “kiddie table” adjacent to the larger table. (It isn’t until later that we realized these kiddie tables were far more fun.) Divided by age and plate size, we, children, were sat adjacent or even in a different room. As a child, I always wanted to be at the other table, little did I know that right where I was, was the right spot to be.

Shoulder to shoulder with family.

Divisions made for us, demanded of us.

Decisions that included and excluded others.

Our opening collect today reminds us that it is God’s will to restore all things through God’s well beloved Son, that all peoples of the earth might be freed from sin and enslavement and be brought together into one body.

And yet, in today’s gospel we hear one more parable ending one more time with eternal punishment. And.

Division.

Or.

Perhaps, this is not the final point of the parable.

Is there something more?

Like every parable before it does, this parable’s foreboding punishment means to remind us of the path we should follow. This Eternal punishment is a guidepost along the way to remind us that our goal is not to assume the role of judge nor ignore those in need rather to look with new eyes on the world around us.

The king, in our gospel today, claims all of the nations and is inviting them into seeing each other as one, all within the kingdom of this King.

And as any King might do, he sorts them.

He sorts them not by tribe or nationality, rather- he sorts them by action.

He sorts them by the grace, the compassion, the love that each has had for one another and more importantly for not just one another, their people within their peoples, but how they have treated the “other.”

The person not familiar to them, treated them with dignity and care.

In this final parable shared with us on the Reign of Christ Sunday, we learn of God’s desire that we live so that others might live,

that our actions are governed from love rather than scarcity

and that we might have eyes to behold family right where we are.

Likewise, the reign of Christ is not one seeking to condemn and sentence people to eternal damnation.

Instead, the reign of Christ is invitational,

inviting us to reframe our perspective and see more clearly the opportunity we have to share generously what we have with those around us.

A King can do whatever a King wants to do. (Remember Mel Brooks’ “It’s nice to be King” which is a clear example of how not to use the powers of being King) and this King invites those listening to realize that in this kingdom, each person matters to the other.

Every single person represents the King,

which in turn means each person is set apart,

beloved, and royal in the eyes of this King.

And this King cares so much for his kingdom that he is willing to pass judgement upon those who do not follow this philosophy.

All, though different, responsible for caring for each other.

All are charged with sharing what they have with those who are immediately before them, right where they are.

Each and every person is to be seen as beloved children of God, regardless of which table they are sitting at or if at some point they have been left off the table completely.

ALL are invited to join in the feast, to be fed, to have their thirst be quenched, and to be invited into the family to which they already belong by being born on this earth.

Our world right now is a multitude of divisions.

Tribes, peoples, political parties. Family tables fraught with unspoken tensions.

Each moment seeming to be in competition, always striving to elevate one over the other.

We see hope breakthrough in moments of cease fires, in moments of leadership and change, in moments where dignity of each human being in restored to wholeness.

This King is inviting us to see that the kingdom is stronger when we realize that we are all a part of this family, each moment is a moment to share what we have with the nearest person- regardless of the chair we are sitting in or at the table we find ourselves.

Each moment is a moment to be present with each other.

when we are hungry for justice,

when we thirst for peace and

when we are in desperate need to be clothed with the warm embrace of the assurance that no matter the size of our table, we are never alone, never less than and never without someone who deeply understands our needs.

Michael Franti puts the concept into words:
People need, people need, people need people
No matter where in the world that you go
Don’t you know that you’re not alone?
No matter where in the world that you go
Don’t you know that you’re not alone?
‘Cause people need people

Our hymnody and scripture puts it as this:

This King of Love, my shepherd is.

This King of sheep and goats

This King of the lost and the strays.

This is the reign of Christ. A reign that invites each of us and all of us to a table that has a chair for each of us with food enough for all.

Listen to the shepherd calling you in to be fed, to be clothed, to be transformed by a love that is so deep and broad that divisions dissipate and are overrun by the concept of sacred companionship.

People need People. Each and every one.[i]

God of the losers,
who inhabits the hungry, the thirsty,
the naked, those in prison,
whose kingship is one of love,
enable us to find a way
in this world of restrictions and fears,
to build friendships,
to find time for each other,
to lift the phone or make a contact, and,
in sharing our brokenness and restrictedness
may we find divinity in that moment with each other.

Through Christ the King,

Amen[ii]

[i] https://www.google.com/search?q=people+need+people+lyrics+franti&sca_esv=585237898&rlz=1C5CHFA_enUS977US977&sxsrf=AM9HkKkjyAdz_GAGj41ldRBzoF_axEo3Ww%3A1700914986825&ei=KudhZYz0Md-w5NoPsqWJmAE&ved=0ahUKEwiMsdSMkt-CAxVfGFkFHbJSAhMQ4dUDCBA&uact=5&oq=people+need+people+lyrics+franti&gs_lp=Egxnd3Mtd2l6LXNlcnAiIHBlb3BsZSBuZWVkIHBlb3BsZSBseXJpY3MgZnJhbnRpSJgeUNYCWPkbcAF4AZABAJgBX6ABsweqAQIxNLgBA8gBAPgBAcICChAAGEcY1gQYsAPCAg0QABiABBiKBRiwAxhDwgINEC4YgAQYigUYsAMYQ8ICEBAuGIAEGIoFGNQCGLADGEPCAhMQLhiABBiKBRjIAxiwAxhD2AEBwgIWEC4YgAQYigUY1AIYyAMYsAMYQ9gBAcICBRAuGIAEwgIKEC4YgAQYigUYQ8ICCxAAGIAEGIoFGIYDwgIjEC4YgAQYlwUY3AQY3gQY4AQY9AMY8QMY9QMY9gMY9wPYAQLiAwQYACBBiAYBkAYNugYECAEYCLoGBggCEAEYFA&sclient=gws-wiz-serp

[ii] https://www.spiritualityofconflict.com/readings/283/reign-of-christ