Sing with the Angels

What would Christmas be without angels? We sing the songs of angels. Many of us top our Christmas tree with an angel. Christmas cards often carry their image. And what would Christmas pageants be without angels?

In Luke’s telling of the birth of Christ, angels play a prominent role in the lead up to the incarnation and its heralding. An angel comes to Zechariah who is serving in God’s Temple and announces that his barren wife Elizabeth will bear them a son whose name will be John. Zechariah sings a song of God’s plan of salvation to their son who will prepare the way for the son of God.

An angel comes to a young woman named Mary who is pledged in marriage to a man named Joseph and announces to her that she will bear God’s son. Mary sings a song of praise for God’s faithfulness. Angels come at night to shepherds in the field and announce the birth of God’s son. They sing a song of God’s glory and peace.

In the Christmas story, the angels are speaking of God’s grace to the old and the young, men and women, the pious and those often considered at that time to be on the outside of respectability. While usually outnumbered in our Christmas celebration by greeting cards, bows, bulbs and ornaments, angels play a significantly more important role. They are messengers speaking God’s blessing to all.

As we enter the seasons of Advent and Christmas, I wonder about how we will hear and who will hear their message this year. With all our personal and collective struggles, what does the message of God’s blessing to all people mean at the end of 2024? Of what are we again reminded? Toward what are we called?

Scripture is God-breathed, living, and speaking both reminder and fresh inspiration. The prophet Isaiah tells us that the angels are still singing their song of God’s holiness. “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty.” The angels are always telling us of God’s holiness and grace, of God’s love and blessing upon all people. Do we believe that for ourselves, our family and friends, and even for those we might feel are opposed to us?

When the shepherds heard the message of God’s love incarnate, they went to see the thing they had been told. As the angels told them it would be, they went and found the child wrapped in bands of cloth lying in a manger with his mother and father by his side. They understood. These poor, disreputable, outcast shepherds - folks who lived a hard life and likely had right to bear many grudges - now understanding that unfathomable grace has been shown them, in turn became messengers. I wonder what the respectable folks in their tidy homes thought when these dirty faced shepherds appeared as angels to say “God loves you, too.”

Angels are messengers, and messengers are angels. We are reminded in this season of Advent and Christmas of God’s love for all people, and if we dare to share that good news, we might just be angels too. Sing your Christmas song. Sing with the angels.

Merry Christmas,
Fr. Bill+

Identity

Let us make man in our image, in our likeness. Genesis

I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Psalms

The Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship. And by him we cry, “Abba, Father.” The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ. Paul’s Letter to the Romans

Who are you and how does your self-understanding affect how you live? The Bible is clear about this. You are God’s handiwork, the very temple in which God chooses to reside. You are God’s chosen, the one whom God picks to be a son or daughter. You are God’s heir, designated by God to inherit a kingdom. This I know from scripture and believe it to be true. I have both heard these words spoken by others and have preached them myself, but ...

There is for me, and maybe you, always a but. There is always a pause, a hesitancy, a thought or impulse that something is missing in me or more is required of me.

Along with members of our healing prayer ministry I am currently reading a book by Rev. Dr. Sharon Lewis. Dr. Lewis is a leading voice in the healing prayer ministry in the Episcopal Church. Her writings on identity, especially hurtful false identity, got me thinking about all the identities I, and maybe you, carry that keep us from living free and generous lives. They got me thinking about what we might become as a parish if we could be healed of, unburdened of, our false identities and live more regularly out of our true identities.

Whereas the Bible says we are an icon of the Divine, some may not see themselves that way. They may have been told they are less than that. They may have told themselves they are less than wonderfully made. Mass media defines goodness and beauty in a very limited way. Society often defines our worth and worthiness in what we do and accomplish and contribute. Parents are not always loving and affirming. Children and teenagers can be cruel. In God’s eyes however, we are infinitely valued and love simply because we are.

Whereas the Bible says we are beloved sons and daughters, some may not see themselves that way. Instead, they may see themselves from the perspective of our broken human relationships where imperfect moms and dads sometimes are not able to be what children need them to be. Feeling unloved and unprotected as children, some may now see themselves as unworthy of love and constantly vulnerable. Unloved and unprotected as children, some may struggle with unresolved feelings toward parents and self.

These are burdens. Rather than living and loving freely in the assurance that we are the beloved children of God, we carry the past as a nightmare. A nightmare that Jesus can heal. To all to whom this may resonate, Jesus says “Come to me.” “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” Jesus invites us to bring to him all that burdens us physically and spiritually. Talk with him, ask him who you are, and tell him what burdens you.

Grace and peace be yours,
Fr. Bill+

Walk in Love

Our 2025 Stewardship Campaign theme is Walk in Love. Walk in love as Christ loved us and gave himself for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God. In the coming weeks, the bulletin insert will include brief reflections based upon a portion of one of the Sunday readings. Please use these in your private devotional time as you prayerfully consider how your walk in love will be made manifest in 2025 through your gifts of time, talent, and treasure to the ministry and mission of God in this parish.

“Who is wise and understanding among you?”

John said to Jesus, “Teacher, we saw someone casting out demons in your name, and we tried to stop him, because he was not following us.” But Jesus said, “Do not stop him; for no one who does a deed of power in my name will be able soon afterward to speak evil of me. Whoever is not against us is for us.”

When I was young, some unknown people were for me. I was not one of theirs, not a Baptist, not a member of their congregation, but that did not matter. Some unknown people provided a way for me to know the love of God. We are called to walk in love as Christ loved us in a selfless and sacrificial way. As we reflect upon that call and how others have been Christ-like for us, we also prayerfully consider how we in turn will use our gifts of time, talent, and treasure to be for others in this faith community and beyond our walls.

Spiritual Growth

Years ago I was invited into a spiritual direction group - a group helping each other grow in relationship with God and others because that is what spiritual growth is and what spiritual direction helps facilitate.

That group experience was unusual for many reasons but one is because spiritual direction is usually one-onone where one seeking direction meets alone with a trained spiritual director. We did it as a group. It was also unusual because I felt like I knew near nothing while my four fellow participants had been on their journeys for years. One was clergy and a trained spiritual director using this as her own spiritual direction time. Another was a deeply spiritual senior medical doctor. The two others were women of deep faith who served the church in many ways including in the healing prayer ministry. And there I was, an academic who they once said “had an interesting alternative way of looking at things.” I think that was a compliment. Anyway, I remained a member of that group for several years, meeting about monthly.

I cannot say that I saw it did much for me, but I came to understand that we are not always good at seeing how we have grown spiritually. You see, before becoming a participant in this group I had met with our diocesan assisting bishop to talk about a call to ministry. When I saw him again three years later, he said “Something has changed. You are different. What have you been doing?”

Spiritual growth is like that. It is a slow process of becoming closer to God, to love of God and love of neighbor, through disciplines practiced again and again over a long time. Disciplines like reading and meditating on scripture, like regular times and rituals of prayer, like regular and purposeful acts of service. Once or twice will not change much, but like running or weightlifting or playing golf or painting or playing an instrument, little by little changes happen and accumulate. Only after some time might others say “You have changed.”

We all start somewhere and end up somewhere closer to love of God and neighbor. For some of us, spiritual growth begins by learning basic beliefs and practices. Our Episcopal 101 classes do some of that as well as our Lectionary Bible Study and our Lenten Supper Series. For those who have the basics, spiritual growth moves toward also learning prayer practices like how to pray the Anglican Rosary, Lectio Divina, Contemplative Prayer, praying the Daily Offices, and developing a deeper understanding of the Eucharist.

Our recent RenewalWorks parish assessment suggests that 67% of our congregation fall into these two groups: (14%) those just starting out and who are exploring basic beliefs and practice and (53%) those who are growing deeper in their relationship with God by developing a toolbox of varied prayer practices.

And the other 33%, these are people who have largely filled in their beliefs and practices buckets and are now growing spiritually by living out their faith as mentors and models to others and as evangelists. They are disciples who grow by making disciples.

Spiritual growth is for everyone and it begins with a commitment to engage. But where? That is something you will need to discern for yourself. How confident are you in your knowledge of basic beliefs and practices? How full is your spiritual practices toolbox? Are you ready and willing now to teach and mentor others? Your Adult Spiritual Formation Committee and I will be meeting soon to talk more about promoting spiritual growth at Good Shepherd. Please know I welcome your thoughts as we all seek to walk more and more in love as Christ loved us and gave himself for us, an offering and sacrifice to God.

A work in progress,
Fr. Bill

Walk in Love

Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children. And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God. - Ephesians 5:2

Take a moment and think about these questions. “Who among those you know are icons of the sacrificial love of Christ.” “What is it that they do or did that demonstrated in their way of life, loving others as Christ loved others.”

When I reflect upon Ephesians 5:2 and these questions, many teachers, other adults who work with youth, people I have met in church, and my parents are among the people who immediately come to my mind. While it is no excuse for not paying them adequately, teachers are often people who go into their profession because they have a love for learning that they want to share with younger minds. They are, then, people who generally have chosen a career path that will never earn them much in salary but one that can and does make a profound and lasting impact on many young lives. I remember Mr. Charles Stanton, one of my high school teachers as such an icon of Christ’s sacrificial love. Apparently many others felt the same because the announcement of his passing received a huge outpouring of testimonials to his impact on a generation of students. Mr. Stanton was not an athlete, nor was he hip or elegant. But he abounded in compassion and a desire to engage students, all students, in relationship. His care was genuine. He also played a mean game of Nerf Hoops. “Tenacity of purpose” is a phrase I recall first hearing from him. It is still with me. As did Christ, Mr. Stanton had tenacity of purpose, to walk in love always.

When I think about those icons, I remember former scout masters, those men who gave generously of their time to take a bunch of 11 year olds on monthly camping trips. They were all military men. First Major Hooper, the man who taught me how to build rope bridges and repel from heights; then Chaplain Jerry Lamb, the man who gave me the life changing opportunity to serve at the altar; and lastly Steve Desiderio, who from the perspective of a then 13 year old seemed all grown up but was probably not more than 21. Imitating God who is our shepherd, these men gave of themselves for the sake of a bunch of boys not their own, loving us as Christ loved them.

Walking in love is like that. It is committing oneself to being a self-sacrificing servant of others, returning God’s love for ourselves in our loving others. I see much of that here at Good Shepherd where all members are called to be ministers of the Gospel, sharing the love of Christ with those among us and those beyond our walls.

So, who among us and those you know are icons of the sacrificial love of Christ? What is that they do? And how have you been inspired to be an icon too?

Grace and peace,
Fr. Bill+

Walk in Love

Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children, and walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God. (NRSV) - Ephesians 5:1-2

Familiar words to those steeped in the Eucharistic liturgies, those ancient rituals of thanksgiving to God for the abundance of God’s grace and for our salvation through the life, self-oblation, and resurrection of his son. They are one of the standard offertory sentences said by the officiating clergy before our gifts of gratitude are collected and presented to the Lord. An exhortation to a way of Christian life, they direct us to the model of Christ’s way of love and service that we might be encouraged to examine our own lives and continually raise our own love and service to that of a closer and closer imitation of Christ.

In the Hebrew sense that Paul would have had in mind, to walk in the way meant a way of life. It had a strong ethical component which in this case was that of love. Love for God and neighbor and self were to be the guide for how the Christian should live their life. The right way to live, the right way to walk through life, is the way where what we think, say, and do is directed by an ethic of love. Love God, love neighbor, and love self.

This way of love, we are told, is seen most clearly in the life of Christ. Just as he loved us, we are to love others. Again as elsewhere, we find that the word for Christ’s love is agape. Agape is that special kind of love that God has for us and the world. It is the special kind of love Jesus had for his father. It is a selfless, other-centered love. It is love for the sake of the other. It is love that manifests in giving up something of our self for the benefit of another. No wonder the text of Ephesians says “just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us.” That is the character of agape and it is what we are called to emulate as we walk in the way of love.

I like Eugene Peterson’s paraphrase of these verses in The Message. He writes, “Watch what God does, and then you do it, like children who learn proper behavior from their parents. Mostly what God does is love you. Keep company with him and learn a life of love. Observe how Christ loved us. His love was not cautious but extravagant. He didn’t love in order to get something from us but to give everything of himself to us. Love like that.”

Read the Bible and study the life of Christ. Adopt his ways and be a child of his father as he was, the child imitating and showing the character of the parent. Note his abundant, extravagant, and costly love. Love like that. It is a high calling and one that is a life long journey where we may feel like we are always just beginning. But we know the model and we know the goal and we have a choice to make. With all that we have been given. With all our time, talent, and treasure. Will we strive to walk in love as Christ loved us and gave himself for us or will we be satisfied with something less than doing and giving our very best, something that could likewise be a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God?

God bless your walk,
Fr. Bill

Belonging Matters

I recently spoke with some seminary friends about a situation in their once multigenerational congregation. They wondered what they might tell their faithful senior-laden flock about how to invite their adult children (and their grandchildren) back to church. It appears that somewhere along the years these adult children, while raised in the church and still living in the area, had quit attending and never returned. What can be said to get them to return? What can be said to the one they quoted to me who said “I don’t need a faith community. I can talk directly to the ‘Big Guy’.”

I appreciate that there are many reasons why they would want a return of families. Some likely want the family togetherness they used to share. Others are probably concerned about their grandchildren not being raised in the Christian faith and taught Christian values. Some are likely concerned about the longevity of the church, wondering who will fill various ministry roles when they are no longer able and who will take care of the place when they are gone.

We might honestly say that we have some of those same concerns. They are common to most aging congregations who say “We need families to join us.”

My question back to my friends was “Why are those attending still attending?” I image that some would say they do so because they seek relationship with God and find that in the church. I imagine that some come for the inspiration or sense of peace they get, and others to say thank you and to worship. Some may find a sense of purpose and an avenue for living out their faith in service to the church and world through their attending. All good and holy, those things. But I believe there is more.

I asked that question because I believe being active in a faith community brings many benefits but we may not be fully aware of those benefits. We may not be aware of how belonging matters and it could be that knowing those and sharing them with others can make a difference. Yes, we can “talk directly to the ‘Big Guy’” but there is so much more to be gained from doing that in community.

Did you know that people who actively participate in a faith community benefit not just spiritually but mentally and physically. Recent studies have shown that participation in a faith community promotes better health. Those active in a faith community appear better able to deal with stresses, are more optimistic, and have greater resilience. The social support given and compassion shown in faith communities appear to positively affect mental and physical well being as those who are active participants have a lessened chance of mortality. Other studies report that those who actively participate in a faith community are also happier. More resilient, better health, greater longevity, and happier.

All of these benefits and more can be part of the answer to “why are we still attending?” Yes, we gather to worship and to give thanks, to hear God’s word and to be spiritually patched up, fed with the sacrament and sent out to love and serve the Lord. These are important reasons for participating, but I am also mindful that people report a lot of stress, anxiety, loneliness, depression, and that there is a high suicide rate among our young people. It does seem to me that belonging matters, that belonging and participating can be a significant help to stressed out and unhappy parents and their children.

If you ever hear someone say “I don’t need a faith community” let them know why they might. It is not so much that we need their help, their service, their contribution, their carrying on the tradition as it is what church can do for them.

So, what would you say? Why do you belong and what would you say to others who think belonging does not matter?

Grace and peace, belonging and community, health and happiness to you,
Fr. Bill+

An End is a Beginning

When Jesus died, they thought it was over. They hid in the upper room behind closed door and windows. All except Thomas, that is, who said he wanted to go and die with him. Maybe he was out trying to do just that. His own way of saying it was over. Some left Jerusalem on a sad journey home. They had hoped and now they believed what they had hoped in was over. The women in the group went to the tomb carrying spices for the burial of a dead person. It was over except for the formalities and the grief and the healing. There they encountered the darkness of the tomb that became the darkness of the womb. The end was not the end but a new beginning. “Tell my disciples to go to Galilee and they will see me there” Jesus tells them. It is back to the beginning, back to where it started, but not as things were before. The end is the beginning of something new. We know this is true and we embrace this transition at critical times in life. It reassures us and gives us renewed hope when it seems something merely terrible has happened.

In our service for the Burial of the Dead we pray this:

Through Jesus Christ our Lord; who rose victorious from the dead, and comforts us with the blessed hope of everlasting life. For to your faithful people, O Lord, life is changed, not ended; and when our mortal body lies in death, there is prepared for us a dwelling place eternal in the heavens.

Life is changed, not ended. Death is for us the gateway to eternal life. The end of this mortal life is the door we all pass through to begin an eternal life. Jesus has shown us that this is true and has promised that this will be true for us also. The end is not the end but a new beginning.

Losing a loved one, a dear friend, a neighbor or even an acquaintance often is a painful experience. The grief can be deep and long burning. Many of you know this and you know that the grief does not end. We love deeply and we lose deeply. It is the price we pay and would gladly pay again.

In those moments of grief and recurring grief, we might recall the end is not the end but a new beginning for us and our loved ones who have gone before us. Jesus promises that there will be one flock under one shepherd, that he will gather us all together, that there will be a new beginning for all of us.

Meanwhile, let us remain aware of the sacredness of this mortal life and life in all its forms. Every member of this church and all God’s people are infinitely valuable in God’s eyes. God gave his very best for them. We might treat each other with the same very best care while we have the opportunity. In doing so, may we all end well as good and faithful servants of the Lord before we start our new beginning.

Peace and hope be yours,
Fr. Bill+

Episkopoi

We are a people called Episcopalians because we are a church led by bishops. In Biblical Greek, they are called the Episkopoi. We are a church that believes bishops are not merely a good, yet possibly dispensable, way to organize our church, but that bishops are essential to being the church. This was the opinion of the ancient church as read in this statement from Saint Ignatius of Antioch, d, 108 AD, who wrote “Wherever the bishop appears, there let the people be.” The church is the community gathered around the bishop who stands in the line of bishops tracing their episcopal office back to the apostles who were anointed by the Holy Spirit at Pentecost. Many consider Pentecost as the birth of the church.

That Pentecost moment is remembered in the attire worn by a bishop, in particular the mitre, the hat a bishop wears that is shaped like the flame of a candle. It is a reminder that the Holy Spirit was given to the apostles to empower them for doing the ministry of God’s Kingdom on earth. That same Pentecost Spirit has been handed on from bishop to bishop since those early days by the laying on of hands. On April 7, Bishop José will bring that Spirit to Good Shepherd. It is the same Spirit that hovered over the chaos at the beginning of creation. It is the same Spirit that anointed and fortified Jesus for his ministry. It is the same Spirit that Jesus breathed upon his disciples to give them peace and courage. It is the same Spirit of God that breathed life into the first humans, that brought dry bones back to life, and still does.

Bishop José will be with us on April 7 to lay hands upon those being confirmed, received, and who are reaffirming their confirmation vows. The presence of the Spirit in these saints will be affirmed and strengthened. And as my former Bishop Ed Salmon once encouraged me, when the bishop comes we will ask him to be the bishop who brings the holy fire of God. We have a gracious plenty of saints among us who are tired, suffering, or needing a renewal of their spirits. I have asked Bishop José to bless all who would come forward for a blessing and he will do that for us. Prepare yourselves. As we were coming out of our Covid restrictions and could gather as the clergy of the diocese, Bishop José called us forth one-by-one for a blessing. It was powerful and it was needed.

If possible, please join us on April 7 at 10:00 AM for Bishop José’s visitation and come receive a blessing from our chief pastor and the one who carries the fire of the Holy Spirit to bless, to heal, and give new life.

Come Holy Spirit,
Fr. Bill+

Bearing Fruit

Very truly, I tell you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains just a single grain; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. John 12:24

Not long ago I started again to garden. A friend sent me a hydroponic growing system for Christmas and some heirloom seeds. It is a compact unit with twelve circular spaces for holding seed bearing cones. Inside the unit is water mixed with a small measured amount of plant food, parts A and B. Above the unit is an extendable lid with multicolored lights that produce the light spectrum optimal for growth. A small motor circulates the water to keep it aerated. A combination of seeds, cones, water, plant food, and light has produced many greens. With such success, I added a second unit and have begun to transfer young plants from the hydroponic units to my outdoor garden.

Another part of my new adventures in gardening was to build a couple 8'x4' raised bed boxes. My friend who started me on hydroponics came from her home in St Louis and helped me plant some seedlings from her garden. I had filled those boxes with a combination of rich materials including cow exhaust, mushroom compost, and ash from my substantial burn pile. Wow, did those plants produce. With help.

Jesus says, “unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains just a single grain.” So true. But if put into the ground, it bears much fruit. True as well. My black cherry tomatoes, the ones that fell to the ground instead of being harvested, produced more volunteer plants than I had originally planted. But they only did so with help. Seeds need help to die and bear fruit. They need fertile soil. They need water and sun. They often need support and protection from disease and pests and natural elements.

And so it is with you and me. No one dies to self without the loving support and reassurance of others that they are loved for who they are and not only for what they can do. No one bears much fruit without help from others who are to them the rich soil that feeds them, the water and the sun that replenish them, the sturdy stakes that support and protect them.

As we move into March and the planting season, and as we follow Jesus to Jerusalem, let us be mindful that our fruit-bearing depends on each other, that some need us to help them bear fruit by providing them with loving support and encouragement. Jesus does his part going to the cross. It is an act done in love and by love, empowered by the Holy Spirit, and with the assurance of his father’s love for him. It is his father’s love that brings him back from the dead. The fruit his death and resurrection bears is a group effort. As it is for God, so it is for us.

Grace and peace,
Fr. Bill+