Costly Listening

At a clergy retreat we were asked to introduce ourselves and share one recent guilty pleasure. I must say that your clergy are a boring bunch. Walking in the woods, watching reruns of sitcoms, and listening to music are far from what most would call the wild life and guilty pleasures. For me, I listen to podcasts. A lot of them. Probably too many of them even if they are primarily on Bible exegesis and theology. I learn much from all this listening, and perhaps some of it ( I hope) finds use in my priestly work.

One thing I heard recently seems like it could be cautionary and helpful. The speaker noted how with the proliferation of media types and outlets, and the easy access we all have to information, that information has become very cheap. Information is everywhere and is easily accessible. Access it yourself, collate it yourself, analyze and synthesize it yourself, or let some of the many, many growing number of professional and amateur journalists, authors, streamers, podcasters, influencers, advertisers, entertainers, opinion writers, or broadcasters do it for you. Any way you wish, information is plentiful and so is very cheap. In this context, what is costly is attention. Our attention. What we now have is costly listening.

I think that it true in at least two senses. First, costly listening means it costs more for those trying to be heard to get heard. Loud, bombastic, and outrageous messaging are necessary to drawing attention, to being heard. To keep attention requires “flooding the zone” so to capture the attention space, and to overwhelm and silence other voices. The term “doom scrolling” accurately describes the behavior sought by those who know listening is costly. Provide a continuous feed of outrage to keep listeners attentive and listening for the next outrage.

Second, costly listening means that the listener also pays a cost. What is the effect on our souls and on our relations with others when we are feeding on a diet of outrage and bombast, a diet of gloom and doom, a diet of us against them?

As Christians we are directed to listen to Jesus. “This is my Son, whom I have chosen; listen to him.” Luke 9:35. If we were to do a time budget of our listening, how much listening to Jesus do you think we do compared to our listening to other voices? How much time reading and reflecting on God’s word compared to time given to the news, entertainment, and podcasts?

My guess would be that we are far out of balance. Yet, we are told “listen to him.” Think about that and consider again to what we have turned and tuned our ears. While it is important to be informed about the world, and to make informed decisions, it is necessary that we listen first to Jesus and that we interpret the world in terms of what he says. He is our first and primary influencer and opinion leader.

I read recently that “Since your ear is shaped like a womb, whatever you listen to, good or bad, is conceived and will be given birth to in due time and season.” “Listen to him,” we are told, and we will birth what is of God, remembering as we walk this Lenten season that listening was costly to Jesus, to his disciples, and may also be costly for us.

Grace and peace,
Fr. Bill+

Light

Almighty God, whose Son our Savior Jesus Christ is the light of the world: Grant that your people, illumined by your Word and Sacraments, may shine with the radiance of Christ's glory, that he may be known, worshiped, and obeyed to the ends of the earth; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who with you and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

I have been growing plants in hydroponic units for several years now. A friend got me started, sending me my first unit as a Christmas gift. Since then, I have many times started, grown, sometimes transplanted, and harvested a bounty. They are simple devices. Seeds are placed in small organic cones which are held in plastic cages suspended in plant food enriched water. Key to the whole system appears to be the constant aeration of the water and the light system. Above each unit is a panel of red, blue, and white lights that cycle on and off stimulating plant growth. These make great night lights, by the way.

Together, living water and light bring growth and a harvest. But there is something more. There are times when those lights reveal things that do not belong. Anyone else battling with Asian ladybugs and stink bugs? If not the occasional bug, the lights sometimes reveal yellowing, stunted growth, algae and other funky stuff. The light brings growth but also reveals when and where correction is needed.

In this Epiphany season, light figures prominently in our prayers and our Sunday lectionary. The wise men are guided by the light of a star to find the Lord. John the evangelist says that the Light shines into the darkness. John the Baptizer says he is not the light but has come to testify to the Light that has come into the world. In this Epiphany season, light is shed upon the one who is the Light, revealing to us who he is. And this Light, who is life-giving, shines upon us and the world.

What happens when we turn on and turn up the lights? There are occasions when I will be puttering around in the basement and go into a closet or drop something that rolls under the workbench. Out comes a flashlight to help me peer into the darkness. YIKES! Bugs and dust and whatever that thing used to be! And what was that thing that scurried away?

Like turning on and up the lights in our homes, the Light shines upon us, upon our lives as individuals and as a faith community. We should ask ourselves what the light reveals. An honest answer might say that we see some good, healthy life and growth in our faith and practice, but also some sign that there is decay, there is some clean up required, but also the potential for new growth if we recommit ourselves to the life-giving path of following the light of Christ, living and loving and serving as he did and as he calls us to do likewise.

So, in this season of light, what does the Light shining upon you and us reveal? I cannot say what is the answer for you, but read the word of God and your heart will.
Epiphany illumination be God’s gift to you,
Fr. Bill+

Happy New Year!

This is the day which the LORD has made; Let us rejoice and be glad in it. Psalm 118:24

This is the minute, the hour, the day, the week, month and year that the Lord has made. How will we live it? With what will we fill it? We might choose lamentation or anger over what is. We might choose grieving or despair over what was but is no more. Life certainly gives us many opportunities for choosing how we will respond to and live with circumstances of our own making and circumstances handed to us by forces beyond our control. The psalmist and the ancient people of God knew of life’s joys and hardships. They made their song “This is the day which the LORD has made; Let us rejoice and be glad in it.”

Some will recall the not-long-ago visit by Bishop Porter Taylor where he offered his wisdom on spiritual living in our senior years. His mantra that day was “This is the day which the LORD has made; Let us rejoice and be glad in it.” As we are, as the senior-blessed and golden years congregation we are, where those in their 60s are the youth group, this is the day we have from God. With what will we fill it?

Our wise Bishop encouraged us to rejoice and be glad because this is the only day we have, not some idyllic dream world of the past or the future. We rejoice and are glad in the moment we are given because that present moment is where God resides with us.

I came across a social media post last week from a clergy I knew years ago. They do consulting work and so are attuned to what is happening in the church generally and the Episcopal church specifically. They cited recent data on the steady decline in baptisms and marriages in the church. To what point? They concluded “the church is dying.” “Old friend,” I want to say, “this is the day ...” Counter to their dismal conclusion, that same day or the next I was listening to a podcast where one of the clergy spoke of the church not as dying but as undergoing a healthy pruning that is not yet complete.

How small can it get? It was all of twelve members at one point. Painful, yet purposeful. Healthy pruning is biblical and necessary to fruit bearing. Many of us can identify times when God taken something from us or blocked us from some path, only to reveal to us some unexpected kingdom fruit. Failing health for some has slowed them down, but has resulted in a richer prayer life in that slower pace of life. This is the day they have and they rejoice in it. As with individuals, so with the community - a good and healthy pruning.

Which of these is correct? This is a new year and we are a strong parish of senior saints. Dying or pruning, only God knows and only as God wills. Our response, as the psalmist says is to proclaim “This is the day, the only day that matters. Forgetting the past and not worrying about the future, let us rejoice. Let us recall God’s presence with us. Let the eyes of our hearts be opened to seeing God’s grace abounding. And let us be glad in the day we have been given.”

Happy New Year to all. May your days and all of 2025 be filled rejoicing and gladness.
Fr. Bill+

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+