Are You Enough?

The tree stands so patiently,
Not asking, "What can I be?, What can I be?"
For a tree is as sure as a tree can be,
That its purpose in life is to be a tree,
Without a doubt, it knows its worth,
Roots delving deep into the Earth,
Branches standing strong and proud,
Pointing at the passing clouds,
All of nature loves the tree,
In its beautiful simplicity,
And without speaking, it teaches me,
To be happy with just being me.

I grew up in an environment of comparison. Maybe the same is true of you. From early on, even at the humble level of living in a mobile home, there were some homes that looked better than others and at the top of the hill was the park owner’s brick home where we had our cub scouts’ meetings.

How did things look to you in your early memories? Did the neighbors have more or less? How about the other school children? There are a number of spiritual traditions and philosophical arguments that tell us that our unhappiness stems from desire and desire from comparison.

Many of us have probably seen children fight over a toy, but only after one of them has it in their possession. Philosopher Rene Girard developed the concept “mimetic desire” for the observation that human desire is not autonomous, but rather arises from seeing what another possesses.

Jesus certainly talked much about money and possession and status, about how they can cause us to worry. He told about the folly of a man who stored up his grain in ever larger barns, and about a God who knows what we need before we know. He told us about a God who will provide. He showed us a generosity that is possible when we think of God’s abundant grace and love for all. He told us about a God who loves us equally as beloved children. Yet, we are well socialized into this world’s way of being, and there is comparison. There is sorting and distributing, and haves and have-nots, and we compare. We see possession and its absence, what others have and what we do not.

Others see us in the same way. And some steal, and others hoard, and some fret over where to store it all, and others fear there will be enough, and some work themselves to death. And others still, those blessed by the grace of God find some way in the midst of it all to be generous. By the grace of God they know they are enough because of who God says they are. They are happy because they know that in God’s eyes and heart they are enough.

You are enough.

Grace and peace,
Fr. Bill +

The Lord's Prayer

As we have occasionally changed the form of the Eucharistic prayer, the form of the prayers of the people, the Gloria, the Sanctus, the form of the Creed, and even the sung version of the traditional Lord’s Prayer, we will for a season use the Lord’s Prayer in its contemporary form at the 11:00 AM service. Changes in these elements are small changes in spiritual disciplines that maintain the overall framework of our worship but that may prompt and open up new areas of spiritual growth.

The contemporary form of the Lord’s Prayer that we will use can be found in the daily offices and Rite II Eucharist liturgies of the 1979 Book of Common Prayer. Its most proximate origin is in the late 1960's work of the ecumenical International Consultation on English Texts and the 1970 publication Prayers We Have in Common: Agreed Liturgical Texts. Happy 56th birthday, contemporary form. In part, this form of the prayer comes from the movement of the Roman Catholic Church from a Latin mass to the mass in the language of the people. In part, this form of the prayer is an updating to the contemporary language used by Anglicans and Protestants in their everyday lives. Scholar Marion Hatchett gives as example the change from “thou” to “you.” While “thou” may seem to carry greater reverence, in sixteenth century English, thou was a familiar second person personal pronoun used for intimate relations, for friends, and for God. For those who knew themselves to be children of God, God was thou. For moderns, the equivalent word is “you.”

Our use of the contemporary form does not change the original because there is no original to change. While that may sound strange, consider that the Lord’s Prayer appears in both Matthew and Luke, but those are not identical. Which is original? Early texts of Luke’s version also differ. In either case, the Greek texts of Matthew and Luke would be translations of either Aramaic or Hebrew, the languages of the Lord. The 1789 American Book of Common Prayer changed “which art in heaven” to “who are in heaven,” “in earth” to “on earth,” and “them that trespass” to “those who trespass.” And that familiar doxology beginning “For thine is the Kingdom,” was added to the English Book of Common Prayer 1662, being brought over from the 1637 Scottish Prayer Book.

What we have with the contemporary form is not change so much as updating - like we have with the Rite II offices and Eucharistic prayers.

Grace and peace be with you always,
Fr. Bill+

Rooted in Faith

He put before them another parable: ‘The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed that someone took and sowed in his field; it is the smallest of all the seeds, but when it has grown it is the greatest of shrubs and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and make nests in its branches.’ - Matthew 13:31-32

He said to them, ... For truly I tell you, if you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, “Move from here to there”, and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you.” - Matthew 17:20

“I have a mustard seed, and I’m not afraid to use it.” - Someone, maybe you

A small seed planted in the ground, nourished by the earth and watered by the heavens, begins to sprout in silent darkness. Someone was given that seed - perhaps like a coconut grasped by its husk and dropped by a swallow.* And someone planted it. When given and planted and nourished, it goes from seed to tree. Jesus uses this bit of horticultural knowledge to illustrate the growth of God’s Kingdom planted on earth. He was explaining to those with ears to listen that the Kingdom has arrived, but as a small seed quietly planted and not as a big bang. Yet the bang for the seed will be big, so big that it becomes something beyond its natural limits. What should be the greatest of shrubs by divine inspiration becomes a great tree. The tree in turn provides shelter for all those who like birds need a place of sanctuary, of rest and renewal, before going back out to do the things birds do. Like scatter more seeds and depending on migration and airspeed velocity, maybe even coconuts.*

Jesus often spoke in such parables. Parables tease the mind into thinking. Do you want to know what faith is like? Do you want to know if faithfulness matters? Here is a parable for you. The kingdom of heaven is like four couples who began to meet in each other’s homes, but when that meeting grew over the next 75 years it became a church where birds from all over now land and make their home.

Within that time was a lot of seed planting, a lot of faithful giving of time, talent, and treasure nourished and multiplied by God’s grace. Faith is powerful stuff and this church is witness to that power. It makes trees out of shrubs. It moves heaven and earth.

Someone once said “I have a mustard seed, and I’m not afraid to use it.” As we begin our intentional season of stewardship, we are asked to fearlessly consider what powerful mustard seeds of time, talent, and treasure we might commit to the ministries and mission of the church in 2027. With God’s help may they grow from what is possible into things impossible, providing more than we can ask or imagine, making the Kingdom of Heaven manifested in our region, providing shelter and provision for all the birds who land here.

God’s grace and peace and faithfulness be yours,
Fr. Bill+

Bring Them to Me

When it was evening, the disciples came to him and said, ‘This is a deserted place, and the hour is now late; send the crowds away so that they may go into the villages and buy food for themselves.’ Jesus said to them, ‘They need not go away; you give them something to eat.’ They replied, ‘We have nothing here but five loaves and two fish.’ And he said, ‘Bring them here to me.’ - Matthew 14:15-18

I find the scriptures an endless treasure, riddle, a mystery and an inspiration. “Bring them here to me.” Bring what? The loaves and the fish? The hungry crowds? Maybe both, probably both, because that gracious invitation into God’s abundance about to be revealed stands in sharp contrast to the setting. It was evening, it was late, it was a deserted place. Time was up, resources were gone, and nothing is possible but to fold up the chairs and turn out the lights.

Here they are, and we along with them, in the wilderness. It is a place of peril and a place of death, but also one where God might just show up. See in the wilderness, Moses, Elijah, Elisha, and keep looking. When our eyes tell us that the cupboard is bare, God says to look again. When we start to get concerned that the sun is setting, that it is too late, and there is not going to be enough, Jesus asks that we trust and that we bring to him what we have. Bring to him both the needs of the congregation and the community and bring to him our loaves and fish. Five loaves and two fish, seven gifts from God’s perfectly abundant creation, made for us, given to us, and meant for all of God’s people.

The story of the feeding of the 5,000 men plus women and children says many things but certainly it says that in contrast to the evening of the day, when it is too late and there is too little, God is in the abundance game. In this episode, all are fed and with full bellies, twelve baskets of leftovers remain. That twelve baskets represent the twelve tribes which themselves symbolize the whole community. There is enough for everyone.

He says, “They need not go away; you give them something to eat.” They replied, “We have nothing but ...” Can you hear the contemporary people of God saying something similar? “We used to do _____ but we can’t do that anymore.” “There’s a need over there but we can’t do that because _____.” It is evening, it is late, it is a deserted place. That sounds familiar to me. That sounds like the place where God shows up, and like a risky place that might call for some trust, and a place where something like disbelief might die. Jesus does not ask about what we do not have. He does ask that we see the needs of the world and that we bring those needs and our loaves and fish to him. It is his work to save the world. It is our work to trust and to share what he provides.

I am aware that living conditions are hard for many. Prices are high and rising and incomes for many have not kept pace. Your household expenses have increased and the costs of running this church have increased. Outreach organizations have seen increases in need and in expenses. God asks us in this time to trust in God’s abundance and to continue to “Bring them to me.”

Grace and peace,
Fr. Bill +

Where are you?

Someone or some persons are missing. They are not where they are expected to be. They are not doing what is expected of them. There is a purpose unfulfilled. Early in the story of God’s people, we find God looking for the man and woman he created. God had placed them in a garden with responsibility for its stewardship. And now they are missing, now not doing what they are meant to do. And God calls out, “Where are you?” To each of us, to us as a parish, to us as the Episcopal branch of the Jesus movement, and to all who call themselves followers of Christ, God calls out, “Where are you?” What do we say in reply?

In his book Lessons in Leadership, Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks, chief rabbi of the United Hebrew Congregations of the Commonwealth, interprets the early chapters of the book Genesis as a story of responsibility, of largely failed responsibility. You probably know the stories. Eve eats the apple and offers it to Adam who does as well. When God asks if they ate of the tree, Adam blames Eve and Eve blames the serpent. There is a failure of personal responsibility. A short time later, we read that Cain is jealous of his brother Abel. Cain is warned to fight off sin, but he kills his brother nonetheless. God asks Cain about Abel’s whereabouts and Cain replies “Am I my brother’s keeper?” Cain confesses to the murder, and so he takes personal responsibility, but he has failed in his moral responsibility for the welfare of his brother.

And then we get the story of Noah. Noah is living during a time of great violence and corruption. He is described as “righteous in his generation.” It seems that while everyone else is off track, there still is one who is righteous. As directed, Noah builds an ark, gathers his family and animals and then shuts out the rest of the world. Noah is called righteous but that righteousness has no apparent effect on his neighbors. Nowhere is Noah shown pleading for others to prepare, to change their ways, to repent. And nowhere is Noah shown to grieve the tragedy. Noah did not show collective responsibility and so is known as “a rich man in a fur coat.” You see, when it is cold one can think of oneself and put on a coat or one can light a fire and warm both oneself and others.

Rabbi Sacks writes that the first Hebrew is Abraham. He comes when God called, he rescues his nephew Lot when kidnaped, and he questions God for the well-being of people who are not his own. He shows personal, moral, and collective responsibility. He takes responsibility. He acts. He acts for the sake of Lot and he acts for the sake of those he does not even know. He shows us what is expected of all who are his descendants, all who are children of his God, and all who follow the most notable of his children, Jesus our Lord. “Where are you?”

We have set a vision for the parish that says as God’s shepherds, we the people of this parish will engage with the world through the sharing of our blessings, and by that sharing would strive to make manifest the reign of Heaven on earth. It is a lofty vision and one that all are invited into pursuing. It is a vision that calls for personal, moral, and collective responsibility in using our time, talent, and treasure to meet the needs of this faith community and the needs of our neighbors and beyond.

What will we say when God asks “People of Good Shepherd-Hayesville, where are you?”

Grace upon grace be with you,
Fr. Bill+

Recognizing the Good

Grace and peace and all God’s love be with you now and forever. There is a Hebrew expression for gratitude ha karat ha tov which translates “recognizing the good.” To recognize the good is an act of awareness and an act of response. It is both to look for and name the good and to say or do something with or about the good recognized. How are we Good Shepherds doing with our personal and collective ha karat ha tov? What is the good you see around you and among us and how do we or how shall we respond?

When I look around, I see plenty of good. Your vestry and I met recently on a Saturday to talk about the good we see in this parish. That good is in part the warm and welcoming spirit that I believe is part of the origin DNA of this parish. This faith community was established by people of different denominational traditions who sought community. Good Shepherd has been a welcoming meeting place from its inception. We discerned that this is a good thing, a special charism from God, that we can and should capitalize upon and grow. You will hear more about one gentle way we will do that by being present on the square, Thursday mornings, this summer.

When I look around, I see plenty of good. I see a Sunday parish hall welcoming community to gather and share their lives. I see a choir vibrant and growing in new ways under our excellent new music director. I see faithful parishioners practicing the ministry of presence both in the pews and on-line. Your faithful gathering matters to those who seek community. I see saints who have “been there and done that” - who can tell you all about the challenges of life and aging - and yet their faith and faithfulness are unshaken. I see a community that continues to respond when asked, that continues to serve when called upon. I see new leaders stepping forward to care for this church and its people. There is so much good to recognize and to be thankful for. Thank you, God and thank you, Good Shepherds.

Years ago, I completed a first spiritual biography. Think of that as a time line of significant life events. I found that exercise helpful for becoming aware of the good that is always present and identifying who to thank. Grace abounds and it is up to us to recognize the good and respond. Today, I think about how that time line has changed over the past twenty years. Two decades ago this June, I left my secure, happy, academic position at the College of Charleston. That was a good gift from God made possible by people I know and some I will never know. Seventeen years ago, I was back in my wonderful home parish, the one that sent me off to seminary, to be ordained. My goodness, the blessed saints of that community and the things I learned from them. And then, thirteen years ago, I was sitting at the back of our nave listening to Fr. Tim McRee lead worship on my first day at Good Shepherd. It was Pentecost Sunday. Fr. Fred Lindstrom led worship the next Sunday and made the traditional reference to the Athanasian Creed on Trinity Sunday. Highlights, grace, and good things along my spiritual journey. Now begins the fourteenth year of my ha karat ha tov in this place.

With gratitude for the good we have shared, now share, and the good we will share,
Fr. Bill+

Seeking Good News

One of the many ministries through which I have been blessed is working with children. In my former parish, I worked not only with our parish member children and their parents, but also served as the chaplain to our parish day school. As chaplain, I would try to meet at least once a week with the children during their daily chapel service. The service was very much a liturgical service with an opening litany, the confession and then some words about God’s love for them from “Father Bill” as they knew me, followed by a song and prayers.

It seemed rather easy at first to share with them the more obvious ways that we know God’s love for us, but then after a few months came the challenge when the obvious ways appeared to be exhausted. Rather than repeat what has already been said, how would I first discover for myself the new, unobserved, hidden in plain sight, ways that God loves us and then how would I share that with these very young people? It was a growth experience for me, and perhaps also for them.

In the end, I may have received more spiritually from this experience than they did, and I would not be surprised if that is what God intended when he led me to serve as chaplain to a day school so far from my southern home. He opened my eyes and stretched me to see his love for me and others and gave me words and the opportunity to share that with his littlest lambs. What a blessing!

Our ministry as the parish of the Good Shepherd is not so different. As individuals and as one body - a parish, a diocese, a church - we are called to share the good news of the Gospel with others, but we need to first see and know that for ourselves. Can you see that? Do you know that? That good news is God’s love for all people and all creation. The good news is good news whether times are good or not as good as they might be.

It is the latter times that provide for us what might be the greater opportunity for us to discover the unobserved, hidden in plain sight, ways that God loves us and calls us to love others. It may be for us a daily practice to discern the good news amidst the often frequent and very bad news surrounding us. How is God showing love to you where you stand in these times?

It is Eastertide, the season of the resurrection, where the grief, the fears, and the dashed hopes of the disciples run into surprise encounters with the risen Lord. Grief and fear are replaced by joy. Hope renews. The context is one of continuing Roman oppression, corrupt political and religious elites, ethic tensions, and other less than good news. As then, like now, there is very good news to share with a world that needs some good news. Some may be obvious, some may be hidden, some may bear greater fruit through discernment and discovery.

What story do you have to share with friend and stranger about how God is loving you and all others in our day?

Fr Bill+

Prince of Peace

Then said Jesus unto him, “Put up again thy sword into his place: for all they that take the sword shall perish with the sword.” - Matthew 26:52 KJV

The above comes from the scene in the garden of Gethsemane when Jesus is being arrested. He had told his disciples several times that he will be betrayed, handed over, killed, and rise again, yet one of his followers does not understand. Thinking that Jesus needs defending, he pulls out his sword, strikes and cuts off the ear of a slave of the high priest. Jesus intercedes and stops the immediate violence from escalating. Different conclusions may be drawn from this. Some might say that Jesus is prohibiting violence and that would be consistent with others things he says such as turning the other cheek and praying for enemies and persecutors. Others might say that Jesus is pointing to the necessity of his dying as well as the general truth that violence begets violence. With two thousands years for reflection, the conclusions are many more. What do you say?

On a much larger scale, Christians have been confronted with the question “Is it ever morally correct for a Christian to go to war?” There is no single answer to this question but the church has spoken at various times to provide guidance. Several of the early Church Fathers, such as Justin Martyr (d. 160 AD), Tatian (d. 185 AD), and Tertullian (d. 220 AD), argued for Christian passivism. Christians should not serve in the military as that could result in taking life. Similarly, serving as a magistrate with authority over capital offenses was also prohibited. Note however, that the Bible points to righteous Roman soldiers - Cornelius the Centurion for example and perhaps both the centurion at Capernaum with the ill servant and the centurion at the cross. It is likely that the real issue was a strongly held belief in the sanctity of life as well as the command to love one another.

Later, Augustine of Hippo (d. 430 AD), drawing upon earlier pagan writing, developed a set of principles that became known as Just War Theory. His argument recognizes that it is morally correct (“just” or “righteous”) to come to the aid and defense of the innocent, and that to do so may require the use of deadly force. His principles are the classic statement on warfare, setting out the standards for a morally justified cause for engaging in warfare and the morally justified execution and outcome of warfare.

These principles came to shape our modern international relations and the Geneva Convention. In short, Just War Theory says that deadly force is a last resort option used to stop aggression against the innocent. It must have peace as its goal, not vengeance nor territorial gain nor enrichment. That force must be proportional and not excessive, differentiating combatants from the innocent, and that only in cases where success is probable is war justified. Lastly, justice requires that resumption of peace, rehabilitation, restoration, and rebuilding, rather than punishment be the outcome of war. One might wonder who is to decide. What do you say?

As we are a nation currently at war, and there are more than 130 active armed conflicts worldwide, I say we pray.

O God, you have bound us together in a common life. Help us, in the midst of our struggles for justice and truth, to confront one another without hatred or bitterness, and to work together with mutual forbearance and respect; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Peace to you,
Fr. Bill+

Heart Matters

Once upon a time in the rainiest part of the rainy season, an old monastic began her pilgrimage to the holiest shrine on the holiest mountain in the land. Forced back by fierce winds and driving rain, she stopped at the foot of the incline to check directions one last time.

“Old woman,” the inn master scoffed, “this mountain is deep in wet and running clay. You cannot possibly climb this mountain now.”

“Oh, sir,” the old monastic said, “the climb to this shrine will be no problem whatsoever. You see, my heart has been there all my life. Now it is simply a matter of taking my body there, as well.” (Sr Joan Chittister in keynote address to the Assembly of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious, Atlanta, GA, August 18-22, 2006)

This season of lent is a season of self examination and a season of journeying with Jesus to the cross, the grave, and the resurrection. It is a season for examining our hearts as we see the heart of God revealed to the world and for all the world. Do we have hearts aligned with God’s heart?

Maybe not. Maybe, we find ourselves in a wilderness where the troubles and lures of this world have disfigured our hearts. God so loved the world, as it was, so that it could become what it was meant to be. If you have read the Bible, you know that the world in which the Word incarnated was a mess. It was a world of extreme inequality, brutality, oppression, and death. It was a world lacking compassion. A world of fear and tribalism. It was a world of bad shepherds who stirred up the masses to have Jesus murdered. Yet, it was a world and its people whom God loved with the greatest of all loves.

Jesus was not wearing rose-colored glasses when he directed his followers to love their enemies, to be merciful, to be gentle, to be peacemakers. The world we inhabit is not so much different because people are the same now as then, and the troubles and lures we face are much the same now as then. And in the same way, the call of Jesus to follow in his way is the same now as then. We do not get to pick our times and our circumstances, but we do get to choose whether or not we will follow in the Way.

Where is your heart in this season of lent? King David took another man’s wife and had that man killed in an attempt to cover up his transgression. Herod, a weak man wanting to save face in front of his important guest, had John the Baptist beheaded. Pilate, in his disregard for human life and especially that of those Galileans, murdered a group of Galilean worshipers. Wanting to save their power and privilege, the religious authorities crucify the Prince of Peace. Powerful people doing terrible things is not new. Do not be dismayed. Do not lose your hearts. Jesus says love is the answer.

During this season of lent, through prayer, fasting, and alms giving - practices that return us to God, our true selves, and outward to the needs of others - we return to the heart of the matter. Hearts aligned with the heart of God will lead us in the way we should go even as the world remains as it is. Where is your heart in this season of lent?

Fr. Bill+

The Celtic Way

It goes by several names: the Emerging Church, Emergence Christianity, the New Monasticism. Take your pick, they all are used to describe a modern and growing form of Christianity community that looks to the future largely by looking to the past. Recovering what they believe to have been true of the earliest faith communities, these contemporary faith communities adapt and adopt ancient principles and practices to life in the modern world.

What they have recovered is the church that existed before dogma and doctrine, the church before creeds. What they have recovered is the church grounded in practice - a way of life - more so than one resting upon correct doctrine. This is a church of relationships, a church about the business of caring for others, and a church that was passionate about sharing what it had with others. Luke describes it this way in the Book of Acts:

“All the believers were together and had everything in common. They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need. Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.”

Meeting people in community, sharing with and caring for the needs people, and praising God for that privilege and all else they were given - these were the hallmarks of the first Christian communities, and people joined them in large numbers. More a movement than an institution, the earliest Christian communities were communities in the world, responding to the love of God and sharing the love of God. They were communities that fully embraced what we mean when we say “Go in peace to love and serve the Lord.” To go was to go out from the church into the community and to minister the grace of God to those in need.

In their ministry to and conversion of the pre-Christian people of Ireland, St Patrick and the Celtic monks who followed him, employed a model of evangelism (there is that scary word) that brought them into close relationship with the Irish people. They lived on the land with the Irish. They listen to their stories and came to see the world through the eyes of the Irish. They took care of the basic needs of the Irish and explained the Gospel to them in a way that made sense to the Irish world view. They gained credibility among the Irish because they knew the Irish and the Irish knew them. And they did not seek to turn the Irish into non-Irish people. They did not seek to make them follow the Roman way, learn Latin, follow Roman church practice, and so forth. Rather, they entered into the Celtic world and developed an indigenous Celtic Christianity. Like the Celtic monks, new monastics are a people who are sent out in peace to love and serve the Lord.

For a long time, the church has been trying to figure out how to get people into the church. The church has developed programs and advertising and a number of other tools for drawing people in, but it seems to take more and bigger attractions to grab attention and pull new people into community. There is another model and it helped turn Ireland and Scotland toward Christianity. It is a model of going out to where the people are living and working. It is a model of coming alongside others, getting to know them and helping them with their needs, and sharing with them in terms they understand the good news of God in Christ.

My hope in the coming year for our Good Shepherd family is that we can begin to find our future in something that looks very old. That we can talk about going out and being a faith community in the community, and then do it. May it be for us as we pray on Sundays, “And now, Father, send us out to do the work you have given us to do, to love and serve you as faithful witnesses of Christ our Lord. To him, to you, and to the Holy Spirit, be honor and glory, now and for ever. Amen.”
Fr. Bill+