Keeping Watch

“Keep watch, dear Lord, with those who work, or watch, or weep this night . . .”

It now seems long ago that we were meeting online for night prayer during the first year of COVID-19. There was a prayer from the service of Compline that seemed to be the favorite of those who gathered, one asking that the good and merciful Lord keep watch over the world. Over those who work while others sleep; over those who are up on watch through the night watching over those who are not well, sitting beside a friend in need, praying through the night that someone would be delivered from their suffering; over those who are grieving. It is a prayer attributed to St Augustine of Hippo but it is one that is in various ways prayed by many in the course of human life because it expresses our hope when the literal and metaphorical night sets in and we turn to the one who holds all things in his hands. “Keep watch, dear Lord, during these dark times in our personal lives and in all our lives.”

Each of us can name our dark moments. Some of those are in the past but we remember them well and they have left a deep wound. Some of us are currently experiencing suffering and some are shouldering the suffering of others. “Keep watch, over them and us, Lord.”

The prayer continues, “Tend the sick, Lord Christ; give rest to the weary, bless the dying, soothe the suffering, pity the afflicted, shield the joyous.” Jesus was a man acquainted with human suffering. He wept at the death of a friend. Again and again we read that he sees and is moved by something deep within him that the Bible calls compassion. In this prayer, we call upon that eternal love to again behold and be compassionate toward the sick and the weary, the dying and the suffering, toward all who are experiencing the darkness that afflicts human life.

As we move into the season of Advent, we remember the first coming of the one whom we call upon to keep watch over us. We also remember that this is a season for our own watchfulness. Jesus tells us that he is coming again and that his second coming will be swift at an hour that no one knows but his father. His exhortation to his disciples is to be watchful. We watch in peace and in hope for the return of the one who watches over us. We watch in peace and in hope for the one who is full of compassion and mercy. We watch in the night with those who are not well and by the side of a friend whose parent, spouse, or child is not well. We watch and we pray because we believe in a Lord who watches and who hears and answers our prayers. We watch and we pray because we know this is how the Spirit of our Lord often incarnates into those dark hours.

So let us be watchful for that second coming and let us pray “Now and always, keep watch along with us, dear Lord, with those who work, or watch, or weep this night . . .”

Fr. Bill+

Community

I spoke on a recent Sunday about stopping along the way, of pausing to think again. We pause along the pathway of life and we think back, remembering blessings and the presence of God in our lives. When we pause we create a space for calling to mind blessings of the past and a space for becoming aware of blessings in the present. Jesus said to the leper who came back that his returning and giving thanks saved him. The pause and the remembering and giving thanks are a pathway to wholeness, or as Jesus said to salvation.

When Jesus saw that one came back and nine did not, he asked “Where are the others?” I think he is saying something about shared life and community, and not merely questioning their gratitude. These ten lepers had formed a community. They had suffered together and had supported each other. Yes, they were different. One was a Samaritan and the others were Jews, but they had been forced into a common bond by what life had dealt them. Suddenly all their Samaritan-Jew animosities did not matter. They had to lay those differences down to be the community that helped to keep each of them alive. They cried together and cried out together. They were spoken to as a group and sent out as a group. And when they went along the way they were made clean. They were healed. The whole bunch of them, the community.

I wonder what happened to their sense of community. How could the nine not ask the one “Where are you going?” How could the one not stop the nine and ask them to come back with him? Where are the nine, Jesus asks? Was he speaking to the one now former leper?

This story, like the Bible generally, makes me stop and think again. It makes me think about community and shared suffering, shared healing, and shared thanksgiving. It reminds me of coming to Good Shepherd nine years ago and joining this community for sharing in the suffering, the healing, and the thanksgiving. I sat in the pews my first Sunday while Fr. Tim McRee preached. Kathy Wright introduced herself to me as someone with a heart for hospitality and offered to get me a cup of coffee. She and so many others in this community are about community. Fr. Fred Lindstrom preached my second Sunday. It was Trinity Sunday and he referenced the Athanasian Creed. Heaven credit to you if you remember that. They both spoke about community: the earthly community welcoming its new priest and the heavenly community of God. My first Sunday preaching I talked about a seminary friend who was very much different from me but who showed me incredible grace. We were two very different people brought together along the way by the circumstances of seminary and we formed community that helped us and our families through both hard and good times. We needed each other, and we the community of the church need each other.

Where are the nine? I do appreciate that life is hard on aging bodies, that tragic losses happen, that there has been and remains a life threatening virus, and that there are many things we want for our children that set our minds on their earthly needs but might shortchange their spiritual needs. That life and life goals can separate us from the community of the church is not new, but neither is the reminder to think again. “Where are the nine? Where is the rest of our community?” And to those who are the nine, “When will you return?”

These are questions for us in our time. It matters that we gather in person and virtually. It matters that we are a community. It matters when you join us and when you do not.

Grace and peace,
Fr. Bill+

Choices

You didn’t choose me. I chose you. - John 15:16

Speaking on the last night of his mortal life, Jesus reminds his disciples that he chose them, It was usually wannabe disciples who first approached a rabbi seeking to become a student, but here Jesus says “You did not come to me. Rather, I came to you. I was the one who did the choosing.”

Jesus called them from the lakeside and from the boat. He called them from under the fig tree and from the tax collector’s booth. He called them from their homes, from their occupations, from their families, both men and women. The Gospels give few details but it is Jesus who is shown making the first move. This is in the enduring character of God. God chooses to create and God chooses to be in relation with creation, walking in the cool of the morning and talking with our ancient ancestors. And when things get sideways, God chooses to come among us as one of us to set things to rights. God chooses for us and then gives us the opportunity choose, to say yes or to say no.

When God chose to be with us in Jesus, Mary was asked if she would be the mother of God’s holy child. Mary was chosen, but Mary could also choose. To be chosen by God is grace and is an opportunity to choose. Mary can say yes or she can say no. Honestly, it is a very big and scary and dangerous and mysterious thing God is asking by choosing Mary. Yet, Mary chooses yes. She says yes to the incarnation, to God with us and us with God. Mary says yes to taking on the risks and sharing the costs of incarnating God in the world. God’s yes to us is reciprocated.

Then one evening, after Jesus had been preaching, teaching, and healing for some time, he was at dinner with his adopted family in Bethany. He had been saying some concerning words about his betrayal and his death, and one among them seemed to understand what others did not. During dinner, Mary of Bethany takes what may have been her marriage dowry and pours it out upon Jesus, anointing him with expensive perfume, the scent of which fills the house and overwhelms all else. Mary understands the mystery of his words. Mary understands that her beloved rabbi and friend has made a choice. Jesus chooses to give himself totally for their sake and for the healing of all things. Mary understands that he chooses to do this for her and Mary says yes. While others like Peter object to his choice, Mary says yes to his death and burial. Mary says yes to sharing in the costs of bringing God’s healing into the world. God’s yes to us is reciprocated.

And on that Easter morning, a third Mary says yes. His life has ended and hopes have died along with him. Mary Magdalene has gone back to the tomb. It is love, and grief, and a broken heart that have brought her there. It is in this place of death that she encounters the risen Christ. While embracing the one she loves, Jesus says to her to let go and to go tell the world about his victory over death. Mary Magdalene says yes to his resurrection. She say yes to the cost of letting go of her greatest love, the sure thing she embraces, for what the new resurrected life of Christ will bring to her and to the world. God’s yes to us is reciprocated.

For each of these Marys, something was given up and something for the world was gained. For each, there was a cost as there was a cost for God. God chooses and we are also given the chance to choose. In this season of stewardship, we are given an opportunity to say yes when we make choices about the use of our time, talent, and treasure.

God chooses us and says yes to us. What do we say?

Grace and peace,
Fr. Bill

Riches and Purity of Heart

“Today salvation has come to this house.” - Luke 10:9

We have been in the gospel of Luke in this year of our three year Sunday lectionary cycle. Luke, more so than the other evangelists, emphasizes Jesus’ words on power, wealth, and honor. Luke’s Jesus is the one whose mother Mary sings of the overthrow of the status quo, of God casting down the mighty from their thrones and lifting up the lowly, of filling the hungry with good things and sending the rich away empty. Luke’s gospel is the one that many have said shows God’s preferential option for the poor. These are descriptive statements of what is true of God’s Kingdom that may just lead us to question how we think about the world and maybe even how we live. We also recall that Luke addresses his gospel to one named Theophilus who is perhaps a very wealthy man. Luke’s Jesus is inviting Theophilus and us into a vision of God’s Kingdom.

Luke’s gospel is noted for providing stories that contrast how people handle wealth especially in light of the presence of God’s Kingdom. Not many Sundays ago, Luke’s Jesus told us a story of a rich man whose land produced a surprise surplus so large he did not have sufficient barns for storing this windfall. So the man, seemingly unaware that he has been blessed by an act of grace, does not respond with an act of thanksgiving or charity but builds larger barns. There is no evidence of gratitude or that his unmerited windfall might be used to help others. The man dies before he can either enjoy this gift or use it to show God’s love to others.

In another story Jesus encounters a rich ruler who is living a seemingly pious life. When he asks what he must do to inherit eternal life, Jesus mentions several of the commandments, to which the ruler says he has kept these since his youth. He sounds like a good community member. He is law abiding, studied in the scriptures, and serious about keeping covenant with God. Then Jesus challenges him to give all his money to the poor. The text says that the man became very sad because he was very wealthy.

It can be very hard to give away money in large amounts - amounts that are costly and sacrificial. Surprisingly, we then read about a man named Zacchaeus, a chief tax collector and wealthy. He is not a pious ruler who knows and lives by the commandments, but a traitor and enemy of his own people. Expect nothing good of this man, yet here we find that a notorious sinner sees and responds to the presence of God. Zacchaeus sees and questions and changes how he thinks about his life and his wealth. Responding to Jesus’ acceptance of him, Zacchaeus pledges to give away half his wealth to the poor and pay back four times what he has cheated from anyone. My guess is that he will soon be broke, yet at the same time he has gained everything. Jesus tells everyone with ears to hear, “Today salvation has come to this house, because this man, too, is a son of Abraham.” Welcome to the fold, Zacchaeus.

There is an irony that this man’s name is Zacchaeus. The name means “pure” or “innocent,” something he was not until he met his salvation in the Lord. When he did, he really did become Zacchaeus. He was rich in charity and pure in heart like the people of God should be. Zacchaeus, the little man up a tree, provides for us a model of reflecting on where we are and what we are doing with our time, talent and treasure, of seeing the better thing that Christ offers, and responding to the gift of salvation with a greater generosity.

As we move into our fall stewardship season, let us keep the story of Zacchaeus fresh in our thinking, and may salvation come again and again to this Good Shepherd house of worship and to all our homes.

Fr. Bill

Keeping Faith

“When you come to the land that the Lord will give you, as he has promised, you shall keep this observance. And when your children ask you, ‘What do you mean by this observance?’ you shall say, ‘It is the Passover sacrifice to the Lord, for he passed over the houses of the Israelites in Egypt, when he struck down the Egyptians but spared our houses.’” Exodus 12:25-27

Rituals are occasions for remembering and reaffirming, or with a good dose of humor and humility, of realizing that we have forgotten something that we would like to recall.

Several weeks ago I saw that one of our major retailers was putting out school backpacks. A sign of things soon to come. “What do you mean by this observance?” It seems far too early for summer vacation to be over for our young people. Two years of pandemic weirdness should merit them another month or two off in compensation. Working moms and dads may not find that helpful.

Most of us are far removed from those days of backto-school, but we likely remember some of the rituals we had. Rituals in preparation and rituals of the first day and weeks to begin the new year. Like shopping for school clothes and wrapping textbooks in brown paper bags. Like finding our bus stop and classroom, wearing name tags, and seeing friends we had not seen much in the summer. Like lamenting that our best friends are together in a different class. And then all the learning or being reminded of norms and what we should have learned the year before. There was the standard warmup exercise: “Please take out a sheet of paper and write an essay on ‘What I did on my summer vacation.’”

All of this is to say that we are familiar with the rituals of regathering and restarting, with checking where we are before moving forward, of rituals of remembering and reaffirming the basics. That these are tradition signifies that they are helpful, that they work.

This year as I see those backpacks, I wonder about our beloved faith community and how we are doing spiritually. I wonder about what traditions, what ritual observances, are necessary and helpful to us and to you. Is there something that we are doing that helps you? Is there something you miss that you would find helpful if we brought that back? And about the good news of the Gospel, I wonder about what remembering and reaffirming would be helpful. Can you tell the story of the Gospel in less than five minutes? Can you explain the hope in Christ that you have?

I wonder about what questions of faith are on our hearts and what reassurances are needed. What are your big faith questions? Where do you find your faith, your hope, your dreams most challenged and in need of spiritual support?

I welcome hearing from you. You need not “take out a sheet of paper” but drop me a note by email rectorgsec@brmemc.net or call me 828-389-3397 at church if there is something on your heart that you want to share.

Grace and peace,
Fr. Bill+

Catechism

The Prayer Book provides a catechism - a summary teaching - for use by clergy and laity alike. It is based upon the major points of faith identified in the Apostles’ creed. It is meant to provide a framework and an entry point into deeper discussion and reflection. It is not meant to cover all topics and every aspect of faith and Christian living.

Employing a brief question and answer format, the Prayer Book catechism can be a helpful tool for those new to the Episcopal church and for those who want to once again ponder the foundations of our faith after years of spiritual formation. Summertime is vacation time and there is vacation reading to do. Maybe add the catechism to your summer reading list.

Our catechism begins with a question of what we are. It asks, “What are we by nature?” and answers, “We are part of God’s creation, made in the image of God.” As I think about that question and the answer provided I am looking out a window of my home. I consider for a moment God’s creation and I see various shades of green, sunlight dancing off the water in the creek, a faded purple umbrella, and a pale blue sky with disorganized but gathering clouds. What I perceive is that God is an artist and God’s creation is a work of art. It reveals God as a God who appreciates beauty, goodness, and life.

As part of God’s creation we are made from that same material as the trees, the sky, and the water. and with that same imprint showing the character of God. That is to say, each of us is a work of art, a thing of beauty, a being of original goodness because that is what the Good Artist does. As a clergy mentor once said “God does not make junk.” Our human standards are not God’s standards and while we might divide things and people into more or less beautiful or good, God does not.

I remember a movie from some years ago with a scene where an African man was coming upon a shapely blond western woman who was using some bushes as cover while changing her clothes. His thoughts were not “how lovely” but “Yuck, she has no color and looks dead. And look how tall she is. She probably eats a lot.” Cultural standards vary. Those of God the artist do not.

In a culture like ours that promotes a narrow image of attractiveness and where that causes so much anxiety, it may be helpful to remember that all of us are a handmade work of art, beautiful to the God who made us, and beautiful to those who see with Godblessed eyes.

Next, our catechism asks, “What does it mean to be made in the image of God?” The answer centers on the gift of freedom given to us by God. To be created in the image of God is to be free to make choices: to love, to create, to reason, and to live in harmony with creation and with God. Freedom is a cherished value in our nation and many others. Coming up very soon on July 4 we will celebrate once again the freedom sought by our founders in the war for independence. On other occasions we remember and give thanks for those who sacrificed to maintain our freedom and to gain freedom for the unfree. We were created to be free to make choices and it is Christ-like for us to work to set others free to make choices.

I will leave this with you to reflect on the gift of choice. Freedom to choose comes with much responsibility, with blessing and with pitfalls. The freedom to choose is also the freedom to choose poorly. God bless your summer and your summer reading.

Again, consider the catechism.
Fr. Bill+

A Letter to the Parish

Dear Friends,

Those who recall the history of this parish, know that Good Shepherd was established when four local families attending Church of the Messiah in Murphy formed their own fellowship at the encouragement of their priest. They met in each other’s homes and shared welcome and hospitality along with prayer and worship. In each family only one spouse was an Episcopalian, meaning that from its beginning this parish has been ecclesiastically and theologically diverse. At its genesis moment, then, openness and welcome and hospitality were there as the foundational spirit that has established, built, and sustained this parish. It is no surprise to me that the people of this parish are so friendly toward each other and our many visitors. It is in agreement with our foundational spirit to do so. It is also no surprise that the last parish renovation focused on the parish hall and parish kitchen. They are wonderful assets for expressing the gifts of welcome and hospitality that are defining gifts of this community.

It is those same gifts of welcome and hospitality that fuel the outreach of this parish. All that is done to bring the love of God to those with bodily and spiritual needs are ways of extending the welcome and hospitality of God’s kingdom. The hungry are fed, the unsheltered are housed, those in danger are provided sanctuary, and more as signs of God’s welcome and hospitality.

My prayer for this parish is that we neither lose sight of that foundational spirit nor fail to practice that spirit. May we continue to be people who give thanks for and celebrate these gifts and continue to seek new ways of expressing them. To that end, your vestry and I are mindful of an opportunity we have for doing so. For some ten years we have carried a mortgage on God’s house that is now down to about eighty thousand dollars. Imagine those mortgage payments, about one thousand dollars a month, being used to show welcome and hospitality to those who are experiencing shelter insecurity: additional support for the only homeless shelter in within one hundred miles of our parish; additional support for sheltering women and children in crisis, and; additional support for the increased number of transient people passing through our area.

Your vestry and I have made our gifts to paying off the mortgage and becoming Debt Free in ‘23. We invite your gift, large and small, with gratitude for anything you can prayerfully and sacrificially contribute. We have designated June and July for this effort and will be hosting a special coffee hour on June 5 in celebration. Please join us for that and be sure to note on your gift that you are giving toward “mortgage payoff.” With your help and God willing, we will enter 2023 with only an ongoing debt of gratitude to God for all God continues to do for and through this parish.

Grace and peace be yours,
Fr. Bill+

Homecoming

In that day the Lord will reach out his hand a second time to reclaim the surviving remnant of his people from Assyria, from Lower Egypt, from Upper Egypt, from Cush, from Elam, from Babylonia, from Hamath and from the islands of the Mediterranean. He will raise a banner for the nations and gather the exiles of Israel; he will assemble the scattered people of Judah from the four quarters of the earth. Isaiah 11:11-12

‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: I will take the Israelites out of the nations where they have gone. I will gather them from all around and bring them back into their own land. I will make them one nation in the land, on the mountains of Israel.’ Ezekiel 37:21-22

The story of the people of God is a story of returning. Those among us who love gardens and gardening may be pleased to know that the story of the Bible both begins and ends in a garden. Those who long to know and experience the full presence of God will delight to know that God lives with us in the garden at both the beginning and the end. Intentional or not, the music group Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young are biblical when they sing “We are stardust, we are golden, we are billion year-old carbon, And we got to get ourselves back to the garden.”*

We have got to get ourselves back to the garden. We have to come home. That appears to be God’s dream, too. We should want to come home. Multiple times, the people of God find themselves scattered, exiled to foreign lands, and under the control of foreign powers. The people of the northern Kingdom of Israel are exiled to Assyria. The people of the southern Kingdom of Judah are exiled to Babylon. But this is not their home. This is not where they are meant to be and it is not God’s dream for them. Through the prophets, God calls them home. Homecoming is God’s wish, God’s heart, and God’s will. Yet, as time is spent away and the generations pass, the people settle in and make their way in a foreign land. Some forget their home. Some have found what they believe is their new home. Some have found what they believe are good reasons for not returning.

While these are ancient stories, they are our stories, too. In our own time, exile happens. We get separated from home, we develop new patterns of life, and we may even tell ourselves that this is okay.

This beloved parish is home in many ways. We call the church family the household of God. It is a household in the sense of an economy with roles and relationships as in the Greek word oikos. But even more so, this parish is home because it is where so many of us center our lives and share our lives. It is home because in the absence of nearby consanguineal or affinal kin, as is true for most of us, this parish is the home where we gather with our adopted family.

After two years and more of COVID or other caused exile, God’s dream is still the same. If you have been away a while, God is calling you home. In this season of sacrifice and resurrection, come home for Holy Week and stay for the Easter Season. We are having a parish brunch between the services on Easter day. Come join your family at the Easter table. And then join us for Country Fare. There will be a place for every one in the household to serve. Things are looking green outside my office window. Flowers are dancing in the breeze and the buds on the trees are starting to pop. It is time to get ourselves back to the garden.

Grace and peace,
Fr. Bill+

* Lyrics by Joni Mitchell

Why Lent?

Deriving its name from the Anglo-Saxon word “lencton” - meaning lengthening - the season of Lent occurs at a time of year when the days are lengthening. It is a most appropriate name for that reason but even more so because it is the time of year in which the light that has come into the darkness is made most manifest in the passion of Jesus Christ and it is the time of year during which people turn toward and make preparation to receive that light anew on Easter Sunday.

Because it is the season of reparation and preparation, it became the time in the Church year in which notorious sinners underwent public penance and were readmitted to communion before the Easter feast and the time of year in which those seeking for the first time admission into the church would undergo their final preparation for baptism at the Great Vigil of Easter.

While the church has moved away from excommunicating and then readmitting notorious sinners the feel and themes of Lent remain penitential and it is now the whole body of the faithful who share in corporate confession and reparation. With practices brought forward from the Old Testament, where repentance is given symbolic expression in the donning of sack cloth and ashes, Lent begins on Ash Wednesday with the declaration that God hates nothing that God has made and forgives the sins of all who are penitent, and the imposition of ashes for those desiring an outward expression of their inward penitence. While sack cloth is not in keeping with current fashion, churches do something parallel in the veiling of crosses and statuary and the use of unbleached linens. In our readings for the season, we listen for, hear, and reflect on messages of conversion, baptism, and the promise of new life.

This Ash Wednesday we will again take blessed ashes out of the church into the world for those whose work and whose school schedules keep them from attending the traditional service at noon that day. Please join us at 7am in the courtyard if you are in that former category and invite your friends to Ash Wednesday at Good Shepherd. During the forty days of Lent we will be gathering on Wednesday evenings at 5:30 pm for a simple supper and a teaching on the Book of the Maccabees I and II. Those books tell the story of God’s faithfulness to God’s people and their faithfulness to the covenant during a time of severe hardship. The theme of faithfulness is an appropriate one during the Lenten season when our lectionary readings amplify the faithfulness of Jesus during his time of severe hardship.

Holy Week is the final week of Lent. Holy Week takes us from Jesus’ humble entry into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday through his death and burial on Good Friday and the Great Vigil of Easter where we welcome back the light of Christ. Keep an eye on the announcements and newsletter for information on these and other opportunities to experience the meaning of Lent. And because it may be the most appropriate time for them to do so, I encourage you to invite someone you know who has slipped in their faith journey to reconnect with God this Lent. Invite them to come and see, and let the Holy Spirit do the rest.

“I invite you, therefore, in the name of the Church, to the observance of a holy Lent, by self-examination and repentance; by prayer, fasting, and self-denial; and by reading and meditating on God’s holy Word.” - Book of Common Prayer, p. 265.

Grace and peace, Fr Bill+

Happy New Year

“Do not remember the former things, or consider the things of old. I am about to do a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert. The wild animals will honor me, the jackals and the ostriches; for I give water in the wilderness, rivers in the desert, to give drink to my chosen people, the people whom I formed for myself so that they might declare my praise.” Isaiah 43:19- 21

The prophet Isaiah brings a message from God to his people who are suffering in exile. It is a message of hope. There is a better future now breaking forth. Yes, things have been hard, mistakes were made, and the people are suffering the consequences of their actions and the actions of others that have impacted all the people. God says, “let it go.” Do not remember those former things. They poison the soul. They keep us from looking forward and seeing the new opportunity and new blessings because they keep us anchored in past. God says, “let it go, lift up your heads and see the new thing before you.”

As we enter this new year, do reflect on what is past, give thanks and make your confession, but then let go of memories that do not bring light and joy to your life. Look to the present moment for the new thing God is doing and with anticipation of blessing, look for what good thing God is bringing into your life.

We likely all have our wilderness and desert experiences, times like in the wilderness and desert when circumstances were hard and our resources sparse. Times when we and others were not our best selves. Learn from those, but remember that you are not meant to stay in the wilderness. The Lord has a made a way forward. That means you should take the way out, not stay there. The way out is to forget the former things and look for the new thing. Some may need more help with this than others. The former things can be very difficult for some and your prayers for them are a help.

A friend recently said to me that “You do not have a choice but to go through this. The choice you do have is how you will do it.” His name is not Isaiah, but he also is saying to look for the new thing, to remain a person of hope. I will carry that with me into this new year. I will look for the new thing. I will offer praise to the God of our salvation.

Grace and peace be yours in this new year,

Bill+