I Believe in the Extraordinary Within the Ordinary Christmas Eve 2018 St Michael and All Angels, Buffalo

+I believe. Do you?
I believe that Jesus is God in the flesh, born of a peasant girl and her betrothed, Joseph.
I believe that this was an extraordinary birth in otherwise ordinary circumstances.
I believe that God chose to come among us in this way because God didn’t want to make a big splash.
 I believe God wanted to come to us in a whisper not a shout.
I believe God wanted to ease into living among us, as one of us.
And I believe we needed to be eased into having God among us, in the flesh.
I believe this was not something to be entered into unadvisedly or lightly. I believe this needed to be entered into cautiously and with restraint.
I believe that God came quietly to live among us, because I believe God really really wanted to know just what it was like to be human.
I also believe that God’s birth in the person of Jesus Christ was so extraordinary in its ordinariness that creation just couldn’t hold back in the restraint God intended.
I believe that the birth of Jesus in that barn was so glorious that the heaven’s opened up, angels descended and the stars shone extra brightly.
Just like it does for every birth.
Yes, I believe a heavenly host descends to earth singing the praises of a new life each and every time a baby is born. Why? Because each and every time a baby is born, it’s a miracle.

I believe that the gift of a new life, no matter what the circumstances, is an event deserving of awe and wonder.
Here’s what I know from my very limited study of biology but my extensive experience of walking the walk of pregnancy and birth with many friends, family members and parishioners. And what I know from my experience of walking the walk of wanting to be pregnant but not being able to conceive. And walking the walk of getting pregnant but not being able to stay pregnant:
Every single pregnancy that leads to a live birth is a miracle.
So much can go wrong, so much does go wrong. Delivering a healthy happy baby is a miracle. Each and every time.
So while we may not think that the world erupts into a chorus of Joy to the World each and every time a baby is born it may just be that we aren’t listening.
You see, Jesus being born to two ordinary people in a somewhat extraordinary circumstance is exactly how the Messiah, the Prince of Peace, Emmanuel, God in the flesh needed to come to us.
Because the sacred isn’t only the gold and shiny, the neat and tidy, and the all put together in colorful paper and ribbons.
The sacred isn’t only the glorious sunsets, it’s also the rain storms.
The sacred isn’t only the fabulous arias, it’s also the tinny tune of a tone deaf child
The sacred isn’t only on Christmas and Easter.
The sacred is every single day.
The sacred is Creation.
All of it.
The sacred is all that God has created, because all that God creates is beautiful, stunning and miraculous.
All that God creates is priceless…
All that God creates is holy…
And all that God creates is wonderful.
This is the wonder and the glory of this holy and blessed night: that God came to be among us in the skin and bones of humanity, in the dirt and dust of the wilderness, in the baying, baa-ing, mooing  and clucking of the donkeys, sheep, cows and chickens of that barn. That God came to be in the hearts and minds and souls of each and every one of us gathered here on this silent night.
I believe that God as Jesus Christ was born to Mary and Joseph and that this birth was revealed with a great heavenly host to shepherds tending their flock in a nearby field because God is in the ordinary and the mundane, as well as the extraordinary and the magnificent.
I believe that Jesus is born to Mary and Joseph each and every year so that maybe, just maybe, a few more people will come to believe that God loves us—US—so much God just can’t stay distant from us.
I believe in the miracle of Christmas, because I believe in the never-ending, all-encompassing love of God, a God who needed, absolutely positively needed to be with us, skin and bones, dirt and dust, baying and mooing and baaing.
I believe in Christmas everyday of every year.
So Merry Christmas today, Merry Christmas Tomorrow, Merry Christmas every single day of your lives.
I believe. Do you?
 Amen.

Mary is My Hero. Advent 4C St. Patrick's 12.23.18

Mary said “My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior.” With this song of rebellion and revolution Mary solidifies herself as my hero. I love Mary.
Year in and year out, I am utterly blown away by the witness of Mary, the mother of Jesus, his first disciple, and the only person present at the birth, death, resurrection and ascension of Jesus…Mary’s little boy.
I love Mary.  But not the Mary of adoration and mysticism. Not the “Holy Mother, ever blessed Virgin.” No, I love Mary, the young woman who was, by all accounts, a faithful servant, a good daughter and well…normal.
Mary was a simple young woman living an ordinary life when, suddenly, her life was turned on it’s ear after a visit from the angel Gabriel. [can you imagine her conversation with her mom and dad? With Joseph? “So….this guy Gabriel stopped by….]
Gabriel was an angel…and you need to know that I have a thing about angels. And not always good thing. I’m just not sure what to make of them.
First of all they have wings. I have no issue with birds flying around outside, far above my head, but when anything larger than a mosquito starts flying around my house, near me? I freak out.
So right there, angels kind of bug me.
And then there’s that whole thing about what an angel is…not human, not divine, but somewhere in between…. Just what is an angel?
All that being said, I do appreciate the role of angels in the history of our faith…but those flapping wings? I prefer my angels to look less like the flying monkeys in the Wizard of Oz and more like Clarence from It’s a Wonderful Life. I am more comfortable with angels who look more like you and me and less like, well…angels….
So that’s why I’m pretty sure I would like Gabriel. I just have a sense that Gabriel would be a more regular type guy, regular enough that his initial appearance to Mary didn’t freak her out.
I envision Gabriel as fitting into the landscape of Mary’s world.
So when he appears at Mary’s door, or when he encounters her at the market or down by the river while she washed clothes or out back as she gathered pomegranates from the bushes, wherever it was that this encounter happened, Mary is receptive to him.
Mary receives the message he gives her, outrageous and fantastic as it sounds she says yes. [although my guess it was more , ‘errrr….ok……” than “Absolutley!”  Mary receives the message. Mary accepts the message. And then Mary waits. And wonders. And ponders.
Yes Mary is my hero because she was receptive to receiving the Word of God through the angel Gabriel.
Mary’s also my hero because not only did she accept the Word of God through Gabriel she literally BORE the Word of God. Mary, the God-Bearer, carried the incarnated God in her womb for nine months. The word of God grew within her until it could no longer be contained and it burst forth, changing the world. Forever.
And Mary’s my hero because after that birth she led the Lord of Lords and King of Kings, the Prince of Peace, the Messiah, her baby boy…through all the trials and tribulations of childhood.
She nursed him.
She weaned him.
She soothed him when he fell.
She encouraged him as he grew into his role, as he learned that he was, indeed
The Lord of Lords…. the Prince of Peace, the Messiah
And she was there when that role reached its necessary conclusion on that hilltop called Calvary, nailed to that tree.
Yes Mary bore the Word of God as her own flesh and blood and together with him she bore the slings and arrows, the jubilation and the joy of being God in the Flesh, Emmanuel.
But most of all, Mary is my hero because she said yes.
She is my hero because she was open to receiving God and when God asked, she said yes.
Would you? Would I?
How does God ask us to bear the Word of God? And when we are asked, do we say yes?
That’s our task during these days of incarnation, these days of a miracle birth in Bethlehem---to ask ourselves, how has God presented Godself to me? Has God come to us like Clarence?
Or like Gabriel?
Or has God come to us in the neighborhood child who could use a smile.
Or the elderly woman in the grocery store who cannot reach the top shelf?
Or the homeless and the hungry?
The destitute and the depressed?
The lost and the lonely?
Perhaps God has asked us to bear the Word of God while we stood in the voting booth, or while we decide where to spend our money, or when we know a friend or family member is in an abusive relationship.
Maybe God asks us to Bear God’s Word at all times. And in all places.
And maybe, maybe that’s the point of God coming to be among us in the first place…to show us, to teach us that bearing the Word of God is not a once in a lifetime thing, it’s a lifetime thing.
Mary is my hero because Mary’s life was spent, being the God-Bearer. In all that she was and in all that she did.
Let us all sing the song of Mary applying all of what it represents, all that she represents and apply it to who we are and to whom it is we wish to be.
Mary is my hero.
May she be yours, as well.
Amen.

Rejoicing for it all. Even the fleas. Adv 3C St Paul’s Springville December 16, 2018

+St Paul tells the Philippians: Rejoice in the Lord always; again I say, Rejoice!
There are times, when I read this passage that I want to yell at Paul—"hey pal, easier said than done!”
Life isn’t easy.
All of us here have had our share of losses: deaths, unemployment, divorce, fear, disappointment. Just last week bomb threats affected schools and businesses here in WNY and across the country. We seem to be living on the edge, nervous, wondering what’s next. These are uncertain times.
It’s as if outside these doors we live in a season of worry and fretting rather than in a season of gratitude and rejoicing.
But then, every Sunday we approach this altar, we lay our burdens down and we rejoice and give thanks for the wonder that is the life, death, resurrection and ascension of Jesus Christ.
You see, this is the thing about being a follower of Jesus ---even in the worst of times, we gather around this altar and offer all that we are and all that we have in a great Thanksgiving of love and community. Amidst the encroaching darkness of this world we find light, we express hope, we experience joy.
But then we walk out these doors and run smack dab into a world that has seemingly gone mad.
It was the 6th anniversary of the school massacre at Sandy Hook this past Friday. And on that day, the newly rebuilt Sandy Hook school was placed on lockdown due to the threat of a gunman on the loose within the school.
On that same day a 7 year old girl traveling with her father is detained by the border patrol and somehow no one notices that she is in dire straits and she dies of dehydration and shock. 7 years old.
Our world is full of darkness, it can be hard to find the light.
Yet Paul says, rejoice. Rejoice!
And you know what, he is absolutely right.
For without hope, without joy, without gladness, how will we ever survive what’s happening in this world? We won’t. And that’s Paul’s point.
The Christians of Philippi were frazzled, frightened and fragmented; outsiders were trying to draw believers away from God, many Christians faced persecution.  Paul wanted them to know that, no matter how rotten things might seem, they would not be defeated.
Paul gives the Philippians and us the secret to finding joy and peace: Thanksgiving.
Thanksgiving is the dynamic, the spirit and the emotion that opens us up to joy and peace and hope.  Gratitude is the one emotion where we are truly focused not on ourselves, but on the gift and the giver. When in a spirit of thanksgiving, we turn ourselves toward God and toward Life and Light and Love.
Gratitude is a matter of perspective, it’s about what we focus on, what we pay attention to in our lives.  The folks I know who project gratitude regularly are the folks who make it a habit to pay attention to whatever is positive in their lives.
The grace of gratitude comes when we’re able to discipline ourselves to develop a healthy perspective, when we learn to be patient and to show our gentleness to everyone.  The grace of gratitude comes when we lose the assumption that life would be better without the obstacles, troubles and deprivations that come our way. Because even in the midst of all that pain, we find gratitude. It may be simple, it may feel fleeting, but it’s there.
Corrie Ten Boom, who with her family lived through the holocaust, often told the story of how she and her sister Betsy survived in a flea-ridden Nazi prison camp.  One day Betsy said “I have found something in the Bible that will help us.  It says, ‘In all things give thanks’.  Corrie said, “I can’t give thanks for the fleas.”  Betsy replied, “Give thanks that we’re together.  Most families have been split up. Give thanks that somehow the guards didn’t check our belongings and we have our Bible with us.”  Corrie gave thanks for that, but she would not even think of giving thanks for the fleas. But later, they found out that the only reason they were not abused by the guards was because their captors were so repulsed by the fleas that they wouldn’t even enter the sisters’ cell.  Corrie allowed as how this taught her to give thanks for all things, because within the greatest darkness lies a spark, maybe even just a sliver, of light…
Gratitude and thanksgiving are not simply about the easy and pretty places in our lives, rather they’re about accepting that all of life, even pain, sadness, grief and loss, is a precious, glorious gift, for so often what emerges from great sadness is new wisdom, greater strength, and overwhelming hope that even the fleas have something good to offer us!
My friends, the world is a chaotic, confusing and hurting place, but there is a way out of this mess. And it is about ready to arrive. A babe in a manger. The Prince of Peace who will, as John tells us in today’s Gospel ,teach us to share…to be kind… and to speak the truth. A babe in whom lies all our hope and all our joy.
How is it that we can rejoice in all things, even in the dark and painful and frustrating things? Because God so loved the world that God sent God’s only begotten Son to walk among us and to teach us that hope always defeats doubt, Light always overcomes darkness and Joy always emerges from despair.
It is Advent my friends, the hope of the world is about to be born Rejoice. Rejoice I say, Rejoice! Amen

Funeral Homily for Richard Cekalske 11.28.18

+St Paul says: So, we do not lose heart. Even though our outer nature is wasting away, our inner nature is being renewed day by day.
It was tough to witness Richard’s failing health these past few years. He was someone who’s outer nature was always moving, always heading toward the next adventure, not being able to do that, had to have been difficult.
Whether it was dancing---oh how he and Lorraine loved their dancing! ---or camping, boating, skiing, riding his motorcycle, Richard squeezed all that he could out of every moment.
He had that twinkle in his eye that suggested a mischievous side, a plan of action, a new adventure to embark upon, Richard was ready.
There may have been times when Richard began to lose heart, but it didn’t last. Why? Because Richard was always renewing---when sick Lorraine couldn’t keep him in bed because he wanted to check on his properties or tinker with his van or make one more trip to the casino---Richard always had places to go and people to see. As a matter of fact, just a few weeks before he died, as Lorraine was heading to work, he called out, “I want to come and help you, I want to volunteer.” His body was failing him, but his spirit was strong—he did not lose heart.
Richard made friends wherever he went---there is the story of the epic bus trip to Tennessee with the dance group. It began with Richard sharing his beloved strawberry pies with everyone and was topped off by, after he missed the tour bus departure to Pigeon Forge, Richard hitch-hiking to Pigeon Forge where, after he and the driver shared a great breakfast and became fast friends,  he miraculously found the group and joined the tour as if nothing at all had gone array!
That was Richard, from his BOLO tie, boots, various and sundry reading glasses strung around his neck ,to that twinkle in his eye, Richard loved meeting people, trying new things, having a good time. Richard loved.  And it showed.
Now if there is one thing, I can’t stand is a funeral homily that makes the deceased sound flawless. Richard had flaws. We all have flaws. But it was really difficult to stay mad at Richard. Because he was too funny, too quick with a laugh, too fast to lend a helping hand to stay mad.
As we hear in our readings today, anyone who hears Jesus’ word and believes in the One who sent him has eternal life, and does not come under judgement, but passes seamlessly from death to life.
Richard wasn’t a church goer, he wasn’t a man who spoke about his faith but let me tell you, he was a man who lived it.
You had to pay attention to see it, but it was there—once a panhandler asked Richard for money, and without missing a beat, Richard told the man he was working this side of the street, so the man needed to get off his turf. Richard then laughed that laugh of his and helped the man out. Richard normalized the situation, engaged the man in conversation and then offered him a helping hand. The last time I checked, that behavior fell under the category of respecting the dignity of every human being. Of loving your neighbor as yourself. As doing what it is Jesus would do.
    Once, about 6 years ago there was a priest and a deacon who always enjoyed seeing Richard. When Diocesan Convention was scheduled for Niagara Falls that year, Richard made a date with this couple to take them to the casino because he was fairly appalled that neither of them had ever been in one. Sure enough, Lorraine, Pete, Richard and I snuck out of convention and much to the chagrin of the Bishop, went across the street to play the slots. Richard took us under his wing showing us the ropes. It’s one of my fondest memories---not because I finally set foot in a casino, not because Pete actually won some money, no it’s one of my fondest memories because of Richard (and Lorraine’s) kindness and their delight in sharing with us something that brought them great joy.
My friends, that’s love. Sharing joy with others, bringing joy to others, wanting joy for others. That’s love.
I didn’t spend a lot of time with Richard, but whenever I did, I felt better for having done it, because when I spent time with him, I felt alive, I felt enthusiastic, I felt love.
I consider it one of the great honors of my priesthood that on the morning of his death I was able to offer him the prayers and the anointing of the church, sending him on his way to the fullness of life eternal.
I don’t know if you’ve ever seen the drawing of Jesus laughing. I have it on my fridge at home…Jesus has his head thrown back and he’s laughing a deep belly laugh, face full of delight. I have no doubt that when Richard took his final breaths early in the morning on October 15th, both he and Jesus threw their heads  back, laughing as they reminisced about an earthly life well-lived, now finished.
After the slight momentary affliction of illness and death, Richard entered the immeasurable, never ending, always glimmering glory of God, accompanied by all the saints in light.
Rest in peace Richard. Rest in Light, Rest in Laughter, Rest in love.
You’ve earned it.
Amen.

A King Unlike Any Other. Christ the King Sunday, 2018 St. Philip's , Buffalo

+Have you caught “Hamilton Fever” yet? All of this Hamilton hoopla reminded me of a wonderful theater experience I had many years ago when I saw the Lion King on Broadway. I was moved beyond belief when those incredible puppets walked down the aisle to open the show. But I was most taken by the Boy Who Would Be King, Simba. And it is his song,  “I Just Can’t Wait to be King,” that sets the stage for this our Celebration of Christ the King Sunday, the last Sunday of the church year and a foreshadowing of the events of Holy Week.
Some of you may remember Simba singing “I Just Can’t Wait to Be King”---He’s just been told by his dad, Mufassa, that one day Simba, would be King. Thrilled by the news, Simba bounds about and runs smack dab into his scheming, evil Uncle, Scar.
[Simba:] I'm gonna be a mighty king! So enemies beware!
[Scar:] Well, I've never seen a king of beasts with quite so little hair
Scar is a bit incredulous as he looks at this little boy, working on his roar, waiting for his kingdom to come. Scar just can’t imagine him as King.
But Simba? Simba sure can:
“No one saying be there
No one saying stop that
No one saying see here
Free to run around all day
Free to do it all my way!
Oh, I just can't wait to be king!”
For lil’ Simba being King means not getting pushed around and finally being able to do whatever he wants.
       While, “I Just Can’t Wait to be King” is a conversation between a King wanna be and his doubtful Uncle, today’s Gospel reading is a conversation between a reluctant King and an even more reluctant, and confused and exasperated Governor—Pontius Pilate.
Today’s Gospel happens on the very first Good Friday. Jesus has spent the night in prison and Pilate is torn. He knows this Jesus is a bit odd, but still no real threat to the empire. On the other hand Jesus has stirred up a lot of passion in folks. And since the governor’s job was to keep the Empire’s massive machine of power running smoothly, offshoot movements were to be squelched…it seemed this Jesus movement was brewing into a rebellion so it needed Pilate’s attention.
Now Pilate was a man with some integrity-- he wasn’t going to sentence Jesus to death without good reason---so what we hear today is Pilate trying to find “cause.” If one were to claim they were King that would be “cause,” because there was only one King: the Emperor.
But, what makes a King (or a Queen, or an Emperor, or a Pharaoh) after all?
To hear Simba tell it, a King is The Boss. If you look it up, besides being the male monarch of an independent state, King is defined as a person or thing considered to be the best, the most important. In other words, Being King is pretty darn good….if your goal is to be the best, the big cheese, the most powerful. At the heart of this type of King is power and the problem is that most people who long for power, who will do anything to gain power are, at their core, afraid. Afraid of not having power. They don’t want others to have power because they are afraid they’ll be left out. They are less collaborative and more authoritarian. Their leadership style is one of intimidation rather than one of encouragement. Often those who hold a lot of power—kings and their ilk---spend a whole lot of time protecting their “right” to that power.
That said, anyone calling Jesus King is a big problem.  Pilate, knows that if Tiberius, the emperor, found out there was a King “wanna be” down in Jerusalem, he would FLIP OUT.
Pilate had to nip this in the bud.
But there’s a problem. This Jesus won’t say he’s King. He won’t say he wants to dethrone the emperor. You can’t even say Jesus was a reluctant King. Jesus was, simply put, a totally different kind of King.
        And therein lies the heart of this Christ the King Sunday. Christ is a totally different kind of King.
The rule of this God in the flesh is something unlike anything else we’ve ever known. If we forget that, if we look at Christ the King through the lens of this world---then we’ve missed the boat. Understanding just what Christ as King means is, in a way, our final exam of the church year.
    The reign of Christ as King is all about power. But not the power of Emperors, or Pharaoh or Queens, or Presidents or Prime Ministers.
The Reign of Christ as King is the power given to the downtrodden, the rejected, the sidelined and the outcast.
The Reign of Christ as King  is the power we hold in our hearts when we proclaim that we will respect the dignity of every creature of God, no exceptions.
The Reign of Christ as King is all about giving power to the disenfranchised. The Reign of Christ as King is about distributing power equitably and fairly.
The reign of Christ as King is about a world where everyone, even poor little Mary’s boy from Galilee, can take the Power of this world and turn it on its ear.
Simba couldn’t wait to be King. And neither can Christ. The difference though is that Simba became king in the old fashioned way, after the death of his father.
The only way Christ can take that throne, the only way Christ can be King of Kings and Lord of Lords is when all of us, each and everyone of us, gives up our focus on the power of this world and turn ourselves over to the power of the next.
It's not easy. It’s not comfortable. But, and hear this clearly, our very lives—the lives of this whole entire world---depends on us turning away from the darkness of this world and turn toward the light and the love of Christ’s world.
Christ can’t wait to be King be he needs us to get there.
Amen.

Finding Abundance in Scarcity, Joy in Despair and Light in Darkness: A Personal Sermon of Grief and Thanksgiving. November 18, 2018 (Thanksgiving Propers) St John’s Grace

+I have to be frank with you, writing a sermon based on the Thanksgiving Day propers was a challenge for me this year. It hasn’t been a terrific year. As a matter of fact it’s been the most painful, heart-wrenching and terrifying year of my life. I suppose I should be thankful that I have survived—that I am upright and functioning---but the effort it has taken to just get up and get out each and every day? Well, it required and requires strength I never knew I could muster.
But a sermon is not about the preacher. Or at least it shouldn’t be about the preacher.
But when I looked at the readings for today—the propers for Thanksgiving ---and tried to write a sermon that was only about abundance and gratitude and joy, I got nothing.
And then I realized that maybe, just maybe, what I’ve experienced and what I’ve learned is exactly what I need to say.
And what I’ve learned is this: throughout all that I have been through these past months, the intense grief associated with the death of my wife Pete, throughout all of it, God has been with me every step of the way.
When my eyes opened in the morning and the heart-breaking, gut-wrenching grief flooded my consciousness and all I could do was sob until I was all sobbed out, God was there.
When I was faced with decisions I needed to make, decisions that had two options: lousy and worse, God was there.
When I walked into the darkness of grief, the seeming hopelessness of grief, when I raged with anger toward everyone, everywhere, including and especially God.
God was there.
God wasn’t just there, God was in it, right smack dab in it, with me. Crying with me, raging with me, longing with me, God was there.
And God is with you, too.
So although (perhaps) a Thanksgiving sermon should be about gratitude for all the good, abundant things in our lives, I can’t ignore the fact that sitting in these pews this morning, walking those streets outside the doors this morning, sitting around Thanksgiving Dinner Tables this Thursday are people experiencing intense grief and loss and fear and doubt and anger and sadness. How does one preach an attitude of gratitude to those people…to people like me, people like some of you?
How do we provide a word of hope to this increasingly dark and lonely world? How do we live in abundance when dignity and respect and joy seem to be in such short supply?
Because we do. Because we must. Because we have and because we will.
Why? Because we are Christians and Christians are people who find life in death, who find wholeness in brokenness, who find peace in terror.
And we always have.
From the horrors of living through the exile comes the words of Joel:
“Do Not Fear, O Soil, Be Glad and rejoice,” says Joel to a land that had been ravaged by drought and pestilence. Why should that soil rejoice? Because the fields will again be green, the trees will again bear fruit, the threshing floors will again be full of grain.
Because somehow out of loss and change, out of sorrow and bitterness, comes a new life. Not a resuscitated life that moves us along the same path we’ve always been on, but a resurrected life, a brand new life, a different life, a life that may not take us where we expected or planned to go, but a life that will indeed take us to exactly where it is we need to go.
Why? Because as we read in Timothy: God our Savior desires everyone to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.
And just what is that truth?
That God is with us. Always and in everything.
Even the darkness. Even the sorrow. Even the intractable grief, even in the worry, and the anger.
God is with us.
God was with the Israelites in exile as they sowed their lives with tears and God was with them when they reaped their new life with songs of joy.
       My friends, I don’t know what you have an abundance of this year---my prayer is that you have an abundance of joy and gratitude for the great and good fortune you have experienced. May you praise God for all of those good things and may you give out of your abundance to those who need a helping hand.
I also don’t know who among you may be feeling more scarcity than abundance, more fear than joy, more despair than hope, more bitterness than thanksgiving. But I do know what that feels like, I do know what it is to walk that walk and for you-- for all of us--- I have this message:
God is with you. God has been with you, God will be with you. For God does not only reside in the hearts of the joyful, but also, and maybe even more especially, in the hearts of the not so joyful.
God resides there with you so that when your sowing with tears ends, God can lead you in the reaping with songs of great joy.
      A Preacher is not to preach about herself, but sometimes, sometimes, that’s all you can do.
Thank you for indulging me and may you too find abundance in scarcity, joy in sorrow and light amid the darkness. As you go out of this place into your own lives with your own challenges and victories, with your own joy and sorrow remember this:  our loving, life-giving, liberating and abundant God loves us more than we can ever ask or imagine. And for that we say Alleluia and Amen.

The Rose Doesn’t Know Fear. Proper 25B Trinity Church, Buffalo 21 October 2018

What happened to tolerance? To embracing difference? To the Golden rule? To Love?
When did we become such a me first, I’m the best, we’re the greatest, supersize it, it’s huuuuuge culture? When did bigger and louder become synonymous with the best? And when did being the best go from being the result of hard work to the result of knocking those around us down? Demeaning them in an effort to build ourselves up? Hating more and Loving less? Somewhere we have lost our way, somewhere we’ve become driven by fear instead of hope, hate instead of love.
Perhaps it’s where we find our culture today that leads to the “make the disciples great for eternity” tone of James and John in this morning’s reading from Mark’s gospel, so jarring.
But I really don’t think James and John were that narcissistic…I think they were that unmoored and terrified by what was happening in their world.
In the previous few verses of Mark’s gospel, verses that lead us to our excerpt for this morning, Jesus predicts his death three times.
The boys are freaked out and who can blame them? It’s a lot easier to be full of bravado when standing in the broad shadow of Jesus, it’s a whole other thing to think about carrying on without him physically leading the way.
They’re scared. Their world is being turned upside down and inside out. And they’re desperate to make sure they’ll have a place at the table when it all comes crashing down. They’re afraid. And fear makes us do all sorts of unattractive and destructive things.
I think this is why all this “Make us Great Again, I am right and anyone who says I’m wrong is lying, fake, weak, and worthless” rhetoric has gained a foothold in our world today. We’re scared.
And when scared we become insular and reactive. When we become insular and reactive we jockey for some position of false security--- James and John looking for power in paradise ---and in our own time letting the slogans of a separatist, dog eat dog, the only way to get ahead is to knock others down movement become the narrative of our country.
Today’s American narrative is the same narrative as the Roman Empire in the time of Jesus. The Haves will do anything to ensure that the Have Nots remain separated, shut down, and silenced.
Why? Because change is terrifying. The unfamiliar is threatening, the new is not to be trusted.
But, and this is what Jesus is teaching us, it’s what Mary Oliver is reflecting in her poetry, it’s what I’m sure Matt preaches week in and week out.
The way of Christ, the way of faith is a way of Love.
Which is great. But, Love isn’t exactly predictable. Love  has a tendency to cause us to do things we never thought we could or would do. Love has a tendency to open our hearts to compassion and sensitivity unlike anything else in our lives. Love makes us the best version of ourselves. But love is also wild and unpredictable and untamed. Love, when set loose, turns our world upside down and inside out.
To trust such an out of control, unpredictable emotion goes against our human desire for control.
But, when we do trust it we become eneveloped in  the perfection of God.
You see, when we walk the way of love, when we follow the teachings of Jesus we will defeat the powers of darkness and evil in our world.
What Jesus is challenging James and John with what Jesus is challenging us with today is this:
Can we move forward in Love?
Many of us want to counteract the hateful narrative of our national discourse by screaming louder, by marching farther, by beating the ruling class at their own game.
When will we learn?
Shouting louder never works.
An eye for an eye never works.
Violence never works.
Intolerance never works.
There is only one thing that works.
Love.
The Bishop of West Louisiana, Jake Owensby says it this way:
“We struggle to get our hearts around this way of living. That’s not surprising. Jesus’s first disciples didn’t exactly catch on all at once, either. James and John wanted to be at the head of the table. You know, higher up than everybody else. Jesus had good news for them and bad news for them. Nobody would have a higher place at the table than them. But, then again, their place would be no higher than anybody else’s. The table, as it turns out, is round.”

Often when someone came to Jesus to ask a tough question or to plead for his help, we’re told that Jesus looked at them and loved them. He didn’t yell at them or dismiss them or belittle them or even lecture them. He loved them.
Right now in our world we have hate and fear and intolerance staring us in the eye. We can battle back with our own version of hate and fear and intolerance or we can learn from our teacher and stare back with Love.  
God’s love, Jesus’ love restores, renews, and remakes this violent, prejudiced and greedy world into a place of peace and equity and safety for all.
And it does it through us: one kind, peaceful, respectful and above all else, loving act at a time.
May we go out into the world staring down the fear and intolerance looking back at us with the love of our Creator as given to us through our teacher of all things, Jesus Christ. For when we do that, this world, our world, will become like the rose in Mary Oliver’s poem never knowing and therefore never being influenced by fear. Amen.

“Receive God’s Love or Try and Thread that Camel through the Eye of a Needle. Your Choice” Oct. 14, 2018 St Luke’s

+ Have you ever thought about how we receive communion? We come forward, often smiling at friends we pass along the way, then we either kneel or stand at the rail and stretch out our hands, palms up, ready to receive the body of Christ and the cup of salvation. Ready to receive God’s Love given to us as God’s only begotten Son. Ready to accept this amazing gift... 

Now imagine for a moment that you came forward to receive communion with clenched hands and a closed mouth? I tell you, it would be easier for a camel to get through the eye of a needle than for us to receive the gifts of God through clenched teeth, closed hands and hardened hearts.

You see, although God is deeply invested in who we are, we cannot receive God’s gift of never-ending Love unless we are open, receptive and willing to let go of everything that keeps us clenched and closed and clouded over: the stuff of our lives. To accept God’s love, we must be willing to let go of everything that keeps us closed and distracted and afraid. 

Everything. Because without open-ness and willingness, we can't fully receive God; without open-ness and willingness the Gifts of God will fall to the floor, discarded, unused, and unappreciated.

“Jesus said, ‘You are lacking one thing. Go, sell what you own, and give the money to the poor.’ ”

What Jesus is saying to us in this morning’s parable of the Rich Man is that God’s investment in us can only bear fruit if we in turn are invested more in God than in the stuff that binds us.

Because to completely turn our life over to God, to completely believe all that Jesus is saying, to be willing to live as God wants us to live, we must discard all that stands in our way and invest our hearts and our minds and our souls in that which does matter---loving God and loving our neighbor which, in turn, results in us loving ourselves in a way that isn’t egotistical or selfish, but true and genuine and God-given.

Now hear me clearly—Jesus isn’t telling us to become destitute, he’s not saying that having stuff---even being wealthy--- is BAD, He’s saying that when we allow the stuff of life—our material possessions, our petty jealousies, our worries, our fears, to get in the way of God’s love for us, we’re unable to invest in the life God intends for us.

 Jesus is saying, open those hands, unclench those teeth and let me in.

Jesus is telling us that what stands in the way of our spiritual health, are our attachments. 

To make his point Jesus references the material attachments the man had---his stuff--- But if you read more carefully, Jesus isn’t suggesting a pauper’s existence but rather a life of richness, abundance, and love. That is, a life that begins and ends and dwells in God. A life where we remember that all Love flows from God. That our love of spouse, parents, children, friends, fellow parishioners all comes from God. Jesus wants us to remember that to fully receive the love that surpasses all understanding we must be open, willing, and eager to receive it, to live a God-infused life. To do that, we must be free. And the only way to be free to do the investing we need to do in the gifts God has given us, is to trust God.

Which is precisely Jesus’ point.

Those things that close us up and shut us down, these are the things that keep us from entering the fullness of God’s Love.

When our fear of scarcity takes center stage, we block out God.

God’s love is abundant, it's expansive, it's never ending and it’s available to all of us, all the time, no matter what.

We just have to be open and attentive enough to let God in and be invested in where that love can take us.

      As St. Luke’s continues to be a place of welcome for all people, all the time, no exceptions, as St Luke’s becomes more and more of a leader in this community and this region, St Luke’s needs as many of you to let go of all those things that hold you back so that you can be open to the grace and wonder and joy of God that moves in and through and out of this place.

     October marks the beginning stewardship campaigns across the church. It's when rectors and stewardship committees try to come up with just the right catch phrase and theme to garner the greatest investment of people’s time, talent and treasure.

I asked Luke about the stewardship campaign here at St Luke’s and he said, it’s about opening up space for people to realize and invest in what really matters. For it’s when we realize—really realize---what matters to us that our hearts and our souls are broken wide open, letting all that God offers us, room to roam.

My wish for you, the wonderful people who are St Luke’s Jamestown is that this year you give out of your gratitude, not out of some misplaced guilt. That you give back to this community which has soothed you, supported you, loved you, infuriated you and frustrated you not because you should, but because you want too.

This year I pray you’ll act as Jesus has taught us: detaching from all the things that stand in your way and with open hands and unclenched teeth, welcome the outlandish Love from which all other love flows: God. I believe that if you do this---if you invest in this crazy dream that God has for our world—miracles, like camels squeezing through the eye of a needle, will continue to unfold among you. Amen.

Proper 22 Yr B St Martin’s Grand Island God’s Listening? Are we Talking?

+“Truly I tell you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will never enter it.”

For us to fully and truly be who it is God created us to be, for us to be the followers of Jesus Jesus wants us to be, we must receive the glory and wonder and grace of God----with as much excitement, as much innocence as a child who is reaching out for a hug. 

As a matter of fact, I encourage all of us, when we consider presenting ourselves to God to remember that God sees us as little children and that when we pray, God receives us just as we receive a small child who runs towards us, arms outstretched. We open our arms to receive the fullness of their being, whether it’s sobs of fear, shouts of glee or cries of pain, we wrap them in our arms and soothe them with all our might. This is exactly what God does whenever we engage God.

The trick is. The problem is. The issue is….engaging God. You see, we just don’t reach out to God nearly enough. So many of us put caveats on our prayer life---"I’m not worthy enough, God doesn’t want to hear my petty concerns, God has bigger fish to fry.” Right? WRONG.

Listen to this morning’s collect again: 

Almighty and everlasting God, you are always more ready to hear than we to pray, and to give more than we either desire or deserve: Pour upon us the abundance of your mercy, forgiving us those things of which our conscience is afraid, and giving us those good things for which we are not worthy to ask. 

God is ALWAYS more ready to hear than we are to pray. 

In other words, whenever we pray, whenever we reach out to God…no matter how long it’s been since we’ve reached out…God is ready, willing, eager to receive  our prayer…regardless of what we’ve done or left undone. No Matter What.

At the end of the day, God is ready to receive all of it from us including, as our Collect states, 

“those things of which our conscience is afraid.” The level of our heartache, the depth of our difficulty, the breadth of our mistakes will never diminish the complete, thorough, perfect Love of God. Be not afraid Jesus says throughout the Gospels. Do not be afraid, I will not turn away from you. 

And you know what? He didn’t, he hasn’t and he won’t.

In this morning’s Gospel, as Jesus welcomes the children who ae clamoring for him Jesus is telling the disciples, the Pharisees and everyone within earshot---including us--- “all my Father wants, all the Creator of all things wants is…. You. Warts, doubts, worries, joys, hopes, dreams and all.” 

God wants us.

On this first Sunday after Fr. Earle’s retirement. On this last Sunday before the Bishop and I entrust you to the weekly care and concern of Fr. Chris, the message I have for you is this:

All is well. God hasn’t blessed this place because of Fr. Earle. Nor is God blessing us today because of the Bishop or me, nor will God bless you next Sunday because Fr. Chris is standing in this pulpit, no God’s blessing is poured upon us because this is what God does…this is what God wants….this is what God longs for….

To be in a wondrous, honest, ongoing and glorious relationship with us.

God wants to hear from you, God wants to walk with you, God wants to sit with you. God wants to be with you. Even when it feels weird, or scary, or different because Earle isn’t here. Earle and Paula have taken their leave of this place because it was time. 

For them and for you. 

No matter how wrong that may feel, no matter how scary it may seem, no matter how unsure you may all feel---change is here and a new day has dawned.This morning my great neohew awakened his grandfather VERY early by patting his Buppy’s cheek and saying, “Buppy, it’s a new day, wake up and watch the sunrise with me.” 

Friends It’s New Day, A Bright Dawn—get up, God has some stuff in store for you! All of it may not be joyful, all of it won’t be easy, some of it will be tough, some of it will wonderful, some of it will be astounding and all of it will take you from where you are right now, to where it is the Holy Spirit is calling you to go. 

And how do you find out where it is the Holy Spirit is leading? How do you discern God’s will for you at this time and in this place? How do you know if what you are doing is “right?”

Well, it’s right there in the Collect I mentioned before:

Almighty and everlasting God, you are always more ready to hear than we to pray, and to give more than we either desire or deserve: Pour upon us the abundance of your mercy, forgiving us those things of which our conscience is afraid, and giving us those good things for which we are not worthy to ask….

Folks: 

Pray whenever, where ever, however. God doesn’t care how we do it, God just wants us to do it. For when we pray God listens. When we pray, it’s just us and God. It’s just us, arms outstretched running toward the One who never thinks we’re too messy, too confused, too full of doubt, too angry, too scared, too lost, too ANYTHING, to not be welcomed into the presence of the One who simply loves us more than we can ever imagine. 

Let us pray:

Holy God of All, I present to you the people of St Martin’s: faithful followers who want only to do your will. Open their hearts and their souls to You;  pour the Holy Spirit upon them leading them to places they may never thought they could go and to reach heights they’ve not even imagined.  We pray all this through your Son, our Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen. 

Running Toward God in Genesee County LEROY Running Toward God In Genesee County STAFFORD Proper 21B

STAFFORD
+There’s an image from today’s readings that I just couldn’t shake all week.  It’s from the Collect of the Day—reading, in part:
“Grant us the fullness of your grace, that we, running to obtain your promises, may become partakers of your heavenly treasure.”
I love the image of us running toward God.
What makes you run toward God? What draws you? What implores you to move toward, rather than away, from the Divine?
The truth for me is that I run toward God when my own way of doing things, my own best efforts, have failed and I find myself in a bit of a mess.
I think what stuck with me this week, a week when our country seems to be at war with itself, a week when the pain of so many was put on full display, is that God doesn’t want any of this for us, for the world. But God needs us to participate in making the changes needed to bring God’s promises to their fullness here on earth.
I think that’s what this collect is reminding us about---that God doesn’t just swoop in whenever God feels like it. No God waits for us to come forward, arms outstretched, ready to receive the grace, mercy, pity and promise of God.
       Faith is a two-way street. God doesn’t want us to be passive receivers of God’s grace, God wants us to be active seekers of God’s Grace and then active purveyors of God’s love in our world.
When we fail to run toward God, when we fail to be eager seekers of God’s grace and love, when we insist that we can Do It Ourselves, we find ourselves in a mess.
And what a mess it is.
Watch the news, it seems as if all we do is yell at each other, insult each other, accuse each other, demean each other.
Look around, it’s as if life itself, that incredible gift bestowed upon each and every one of us by and through our loving, life giving and liberating God (PB Michael Curry), has become disposable in our world. Murder rates are high, mass shootings have become commonplace and intolerance? Well intolerance seems to permeate throughout our culture.
It’s not pretty, is it?
Why God hasn’t given up on us, why God hasn’t just turned that Divine back on us is beyond me. But here it is, right there is today’s Collect, God pours mercy upon us, God has pity for us, God loves us, God roots for us, God longs for us to accept the offer of grace upon grace, hope upon hope and love upon love.
      I don’t know about you, but I need to hold onto this promise of God with all my might. I need to be washed in the fullness of God’s grace, I need to revel in the heavenly treasure, because left to my own devices, left to our own devices we will—we have---made a mess of our world.
        OK, so I know this may not be the most uplifting sermon you’ve ever heard, but bear with me, for out of the darkness and despair of the world I see glimmers of hope. Right here. Right now. In Stafford NY
         You se, you have the secret. We have the secret. We have the way forward, we know that in spite of the anger and the discord and the hopelessness displayed in our world we know there’s another way, a better way, the only way:
The Love and Peace of God as given to us by and through the person of Jesus Christ.
We know that God has hope for us, that God’s promise is possible. One kind act. One hopeful act, one dedicated, loving act at a time.
I know that here at St Paul’s money is tight, worries keep multiplying and that it can feel as if you are out here in this beautiful countryside alone. That if only someone from the diocese, or the wider church, or the latest church growth book would tell you how to fill these pews, balance your budget and lift the burden of worry off of you, all would be well.
The bad news is, I don’t have that. But what I do have is a story-- one I tell all the time. It’s story of what I witnessed here two years ago when I last visited. The details may not be wholly accurate but this is my memory:
During announcements someone stood up and said that the previous week they had passed the Methodist Church during their weekly free meal. The line was especially long because they didn’t have enough help. The man who announced that here said, “can’t we help our neighbors, help our neighbors? I’m going to be there next week, who else would like to join me?” One by one well over ¾ of you raised your hands.
It was one of the most remarkable things I’ve ever seen. You were asked, and your neighbors received.
That’s grace in action. That’s God’s promise being obtained, that’s partaking in the heavenly treasure of God. For the heavenly treasure is nothing more—and nothing less—than loving your neighbor as yourself. It’s what we’re called to do. Love God. Love Neighbor. And you exemplify it. Perfectly. Keep it up. Look for the dark places, the hurting places, the lonely places in your world and enter those places, with light, with love, with hope. I know you are burdened --how can you keep it all going? We struggle with this worry every single day at the Diocesan offices. And I know at times it’s hard to see the forest of Love among the tress of worry, but, my friends, you are changing this world through your acts of love. What you do does make a difference. Thanks be to God.  Amen.

LEROY
+There’s an image from today’s readings that I just couldn’t shake all week.  It’s from the Collect of the Day—reading, in part:
“Grant us the fullness of your grace, that we, running to obtain your promises, may become partakers of your heavenly treasure.”
I love the image of us running toward God.
What makes you run toward God? What draws you? What implores you to move toward, rather than away, from the Divine?
The truth for me is that I run toward God when my own way of doing things, my own best efforts, have failed and I find myself in a bit of a mess.
I think what stuck with me this week, a week when our country seems to be at war with itself, a week when the pain of so many was put on full display, is that God doesn’t want any of this for us, for the world. But God needs us to participate in making the changes needed to bring God’s promises to their fullness here on earth.
I think that’s what this collect is reminding us about---that God doesn’t just swoop in whenever God feels like it. No God waits for us to come forward, arms outstretched, ready to receive the grace, mercy, pity and promise of God.
Faith is a two-way street. God doesn’t want us to be passive receivers of God’s grace, God wants us to be active seekers of God’s Grace and then active purveyors of God’s love in our world.
When we fail to run toward God, when we fail to be eager seekers of God’s grace and love, when we insist that we can Do It Ourselves, we find ourselves in a mess.
And what a mess it is.
Watch the news, it seems as if all we do is yell at each other, insult each other, accuse each other, demean each other.
Look around, it’s as if life itself, that incredible gift bestowed upon each and every one of us by and through our loving, life giving and liberating God (PB Michael Curry), has become disposable in our world. Murder rates are high, mass shootings have become commonplace and intolerance? Well intolerance seems to permeate throughout our culture.
It’s not pretty, is it?
Why God hasn’t given up on us, why God hasn’t just turned that Divine back on us, is beyond me. But here it is, right there is today’s Collect, God pours mercy upon us, God has pity for us, God loves us, God roots for us, God longs for us to accept the offer of grace upon grace, hope upon hope and love upon love.
     I don’t know about you, but I need to hold onto this promise of God with all my might. I need to be washed in the fullness of God’s grace, I need to revel in the heavenly treasure, because left to my own devices, left to our own devices we will—we have---made a mess of our world.
OK, so I know this may not be the most uplifting sermon you’ve ever heard, but bear with me, for out of the darkness and despair of the world I see glimmers of hope. Right here. Right now.
In LeRoy, NY.
         You see you have the secret. We have the secret. We have the way forward, we know that in spite of the anger and the discord and the hopelessness displayed in our world we know there’s another way, a better way, the only way:
The Love and Peace of God as given to us by and through the person of Jesus Christ.
We know that God has hope for us, that God’s promise is possible. One kind act. One hopeful act, one dedicated, loving act at a time.
I don’t know who manages your Facebook page, but bravo! A couple of times a week I get a notice that St Mark’s has a new post and when I click on it I find God’s Love on display, in action, right here, right now. Whether it is a word of scripture, a beautiful photograph, the summer lunch program or an invitation to the community gathering at St Mark’s as you grapple with how engage in civil, loving, respectful discourse and active and open listening, St Mark’s is a beacon in this area of what our Presiding Bishop calls the Way of Love. The Way of Love, the Way of Christ, the Way of Light, the Way of God is a way of peace, a way of understanding, a way of respect…It is a way of Grace, a way of promise, a way of treasure. The answer to the problems which face most of the churches in this region, in this country, in this world is right here, among you. A willingness to tackle the tough issues, a willingness to reach out a helping hand, a willingness to bring dignity to every single human being in this area.
 I know you are burdened by building issues, money issues, church growth issues. I know at times it’s hard to see the forest of Love among the tress of worry, but, my friends, one kind act at a time, one reach across the aisle at a time, one loving, life giving, and liberating act at a time you, the people of St Mark’s are running toward the promise of God. And for that we rejoice and thank our wondrous, awesome and grace-filled God. AMEN.

Ephphatha and the Syro-Phonecian Woman: A Lesson in Guts and Openness Proper 18B Sept. 9, 2018 Final Sermon Trinity Hamburg

+The Syro-Phonecian woman had guts. Some might even say gall. She bested Jesus in a debate about who deserves God’s mercy. At the time of this encounter with the woman, Jesus didn’t know he was the Messiah for all people—she, through her debate with him--- enlightens Jesus. This encounter between Jesus and the woman comes early enough in his ministry that Jesus is still finding his way….realizing that he’s not only the messiah for the Jewish people but is indeed the messiah for everyone, everywhere, always.
But in today’s gospel, Jesus still thinks he’s only been sent for the Jews, which is why he rudely—and I mean rudely—dismisses this “unclean woman.” She’s unclean, according to Jewish purity laws, because she is not Jewish, she’s a foreigner, a gentile, a Syro-Phonecian (called a Caananite in Matthew’s Gospel)!
Now, you may be surprised to hear me say that Jesus didn’t know something but, it’s clear to me---and you are free to disagree---that Jesus is corrected, taught, enlightened by the Syro-Phonecian woman.
I actually find it refreshing, that Jesus could be wrong about something. But more than Jesus being wrong, what I find most amazing in this reading is the grace with which the woman responds.
Jesus insults her--- really insults her---yet she doesn’t yell at him, she doesn’t cry, she isn’t struck dumb by his insolence, she simply replies to him calling her a dog with a logical argument: “you may think of me as a dog, she says, but even dogs get the crumbs. I’m not asking for the fullness of your glory, I’m just asking for the crumbs. For the crumbs are better than nothing and I know what you can do, so I’ll take even just a portion.” This display of great faith in Him and great love for
 her daughter turns Jesus’ heart and ultimately changes his mind.
It’s a startling Gospel story and one that has infuriated women for generations. All our readings this morning are about the danger of judging a book by its cover, the danger of excluding people from our lives because of the size of their paycheck, the color of their skin, the name of their God, the gender of their beloved, the party affiliation on their voter registration card.
Culminating with this Gospel reading we’re told--- compassion, wisdom, and love can come from all sorts and conditions of people. Be slow to judge and quick to welcome…for there are angels all around us, eager to teach us exactly what it is we may need to learn, even –especially- when we don’t know we need to learn it! Just like Jesus.
But that’s not all I want to talk about  this morning.
No on this morning, the last morning before your new Priest arrives, I want us to talk a bit about where you’ve been—where we’ve been---as you ready yourself for where you and Shannon will go from here!
In August of 2016, when I drove out here to meet with Gretchen and Cami after Blane’s hospitalization in I had never been here, never worshipped at Trinity , Hamburg before. But over the course of the next two years we came to know each other well. We walked through some tough times together--- and now, like a parent leaving her child in his freshmen dorm room, I am turning y’all over to Shannon and I am turning Shannon over to you. It’s a time of great expectation and hope.
Friends, while you look forward to all that is new don’t forget what has been and what you’ve been through---the great times, the bad times, all of it. Because all of it has lead to this moment in time. All of it makes Trinity Hamburg who she is. Embrace who you have been as you embark on who you will become.
I’m honored to have walked part of this walk with you and I promise to be back as much as Shannon can stand having me around!
Now, back to the Gospel for a moment, because the encounter with the Syro-Phonecian woman is only the first half of our gospel for today. The second half of the story is about the deaf man coming to Jesus for healing. It is about Jesus opening the man’s ears.
Jesus says, Ephphatha. It means “be open.”
 To you, the faithful of Trinity, Hamburg: EPHPHATHA be open, be open to your past, be honest about it, learn from it, but do not stay in it for staying in it is to close you off from all that is and all that can, should and will be.
Ephphatha. Be open… be open to try new things, be open to risk failing for when you are willing to fail, you quite often succeed.
 Ephphatha be open and be brave enough to speak the truth. To yourselves and to one another.  
Ephphatha:  be open to all sorts and conditions of people that come through these doors and more importantly be open to all those whom you encounter outside these doors. Invite them to come in and to be opened—opened to the amazing, outlandish, incredible, and abundant love of God as experienced through Jesus Christ in this place.
Because when you do that, when speak honestly and hear openly you become a safe place for an increasingly hurting and lost world. A world looking for a place to safely be in the presence of truth. The truth that is Jesus Christ. My friends, I love you all and I can’t wait to see what happens next. May God bless you and may God keep you and may God continue to pour out Divine grace on each and every one of you.  Amen.

Allow the Cart of Rules to Help, Rather than Hinder, the Horse of Faithful Living.

+As a child I was terribly shy, had school phobia, and was basically afraid of my own shadow. It was a tough way to grow up and anxiety remains something I live with daily. The difference is, I’ve developed coping strategies to manage the symptoms. One of those strategies is learning what the lay of the land is before I embark on something new. As a young professional looking for work, I would drive to the site of an interview the day before so I could scope out the route to the building. Why?
I don’t like surprises; I like to know what I’m getting into. It’s one of the reasons I like rules so much. I may not follow them all the time, but I like to know what the rules are before plunging in. Knowing what the expectations are—knowing what is acceptable and what is not---is a coping strategy I utilize to manage my chronic anxiety. It works and my life got a lot easier once I figured this out.
That’s what rules, expectations, guidelines do for us…. they help us to manage our behavior so that nothing gets out of hand. My checking out the lay of the land before I go to an unfamiliar place is a functional coping mechanism but, if I needed to go to the place sixteen times before feeling comfortable then this coping mechanism would go from functional to dysfunctional.
It’s a matter of degrees.
So when the Pharisees in today’s Gospel get upset over the cleanliness practices of the disciples they’re putting the cart of rules ahead of the horse of living. As Jesus says, if what comes out of your mouths is vile, than what goes into it doesn’t really matter. If your “coping mechanism” your “rule” your “guidelines”, your “ we’ve always done it this way,” get in the way of being a compassionate, loving, responsible, caring person, then what is the point?
Which brings us to our reading from the Epistle of James. A very short letter, the excerpt from today is brilliant: “But be doers of the word, and not merely hearers who deceive themselves.”
James is onto something here---don’t just spew commandment after commandment, rule after rule, rather allow these guidelines to lead you into living a good, a Godly life.
According to James all we do that is good---the big stuff--like helping the poor and the needy, standing up against injustice and caring for our environment-- to the small stuff like holding the door open for someone—all of these actions come from God.
Think about this: when you’re driving to work or to school and wave a car into the lane ahead of you; when you help a classmate or a co-worker with a problem, when you lend your Wegman’s or Tops card to the person in front of you in line; when you thoughtfully choose the candidate to vote for based on what they say they will do for the needy of our community---every single good thing you do comes directly from God, directly from, as James’ puts it: above.
We are all INSTRUMENTS of God’s Love, of God’s Grace, of God’s Goodness. All of us. In all we do. All the time. Wherever we find ourselves— work, school, volunteering, recreating, socializing, God is at work, through us.
In all we do, God is there, USING us to further God’s purpose: to bring the entire world --all 7 1/2 billion of us-- within God’s Loving and enduring embrace. This is James’ message. Specifically he tells us behaviors to avoid: not listening, being quick to lose our temper and lavishing in sordidness. He then suggests behaviors to embrace, to cultivate:
-- be quick to listen, slow to speak, and eager to care for those most vulnerable.
  The good news about James’ message is this---all of these things are within our reach. What parent doesn't want to be slower to anger with his or her children? What friend doesn't want to be a better listener? Who doesn’t want to help and support those in need?
James encourages us not just to think the faith, but to do it.”  To allow the cart of rules to help, rather than hinder the horse of faithful living.
James is reminding us that our faith isn’t something to be exercised once a week on Sunday, within these walls, but is, instead, something to be lived 24/7.
Which makes this such a good reading for Labor Day weekend. Because faith is at work in all we do, including our labor. As theologian David Lose states: Sunday is not the pinnacle of the Christian week, it’s intended to serve and support our Christian lives the rest of the week–Monday through Saturday. On Sundays we’re refreshed and renewed through the Word of God, the Food of God, the forgiveness of God and the Fellowship of God. Then, once refreshed and renewed, we’re called, commissioned, and sent back into the world to work with God for the health of the people God has put all around us.”   We are God’s instruments of Love in this world. Us. You and me
God gives us work to do, tasks large and small. Our Labor Day message, our everyday message, the message I want to give you, on this last Sunday before the next chapter of life here at St Paul’s Cathedral is this:  go out into the world, seeking and serving God in all whom you encounter, out in the world and within the walls of this storied church.
To you, the faithful of St Paul’s: labor on in God’s vineyard, continue to be a beacon of hope and love for this city and for this region and with Dean Derrick, Labor On in the vineyard of our Lord, igniting the Beloved Community, right here and right now.  +

The Bread of Life and the Armor of our Faith Strengthens Us to Do What is Right While Changing What is Wrong Proper 16B Grace Lockport Aug 26 2018

+Today we come to the end of what is commonly referred to as the Bread of Life Discourse in John’s Gospel. The stage was set on the last Sunday of July when we heard the story of Jesus feeding the 5,000. In this story Philip is unbelieving---overwhelmed by the prospect of feeding over 5,000 people with a couple of fish and a few loaves of bread---so Jesus begins to compare and contrast the food that perishes vs the food that doesn’t. And then for the next four Sundays endless rhetoric about Jesus being this Bread of Life. At first Jesus was being somewhat vague in exactly what he meant by “I am the bread of life.” It seemed he was just riffing on what had happened with the feeding stories— that the physical hunger we feel can never be fully and forever satisfied, but that belief and faith in the eternal food—the Bread of Life--  will stave off our spiritual hunger forever. 

But then, especially the last two Sundays, Jesus gets real graphic—- we must eat of his body and drink of his blood in order to be in full relationship with him and therefore, with God. 

“Eat my flesh, drink my blood.” Even though we celebrate the Eucharist every week, even though we hear “Take, Eat and Take drink” every week, there is something about how John phrases it or perhaps it is how relentless the message has been, that by this week, the last Sunday of the bread of life discourse, many of us are at the point of shouting “all right already….we get it. You are the bread of life, unless we eat of your body and drink of your blood we’ll never enter the kingdom of God. Got it…can we move on now?” 

But…being a former psychotherapist I can’t help but remember one of the first things I learned in counseling school—-if a client keeps coming back to a particular topic, regardless of what they identify as their presenting issue——the topic they keep returning too? That’s the real issue, that’s the real point.

      So, in that vein, I have resisted the temptation of many a preacher these past weeks who have avoided John’s Gospel, focusing instead on the literature of the Hebrew prophets and the poetry of the letter to the Ephesians. I can’t let people repeatedly, week in and week out, hear things like:

“Those who eat my body” and just let that go. So here I am, for the fourth straight week, diving into the Bread of Life!”

     Today, as Jesus winds down the 50 plus verse soliloquy on how his body is food indeed, and our reading from Ephesians emphasizes the importance, the absolute necessity, of clothing ourselves in the armor of God’s love to combat the forces of darkness and evil in the world, we can connect what Jesus is saying through John to what Paul is saying to the church in Ephesus. 

      You, Jesus, crucified and risen, is indeed the fuel of our faith. Abiding in, dwelling in him, and he in us clothes us with an armor that can—and does—protect us from what ails this lost and increasingly hurting world. 

Abiding in God is what protected the ancient Israelites as they fled the slavery and oppression of Pharaoh, it’s what protected Mary the mother of Jesus as she lived into saying yes to God, it’s what protected Joseph as he refused to turn his back on Mary but instead stood by her side doing the right thing for her, the right thing for God. 

Abiding in God through Christ, wearing the full armor of God is what gave Martin Luther King the courage to have a dream, it’s what fueled the men at Stonewall to confront the brutality of the police, it’s what fills our hearts, minds and souls when we stand up against hatred, bullying and violence. It’s what makes our hearts sink and our tempers flare when we hear some Roman Catholic leaders seemingly defend child molesters instead of ensuring that God’s children are always safe in their churches. 

Abiding in God through the nourishment of all that Jesus was and is strengthens us to fight the good fight, to walk the lonely mile and to sing the song of faith through the words of our Eucharistic Prayer: Take Eat, this is my body, given for you. 

Folks, we are to take and remember. 

We are to remember the faith and the courage of Abraham and Sarah, Isaac and Rebecca, Jacob, Leah and Rachel. We are to remember how Ruth and Naomi, David and Jonathon, Tamar, Deborah, Judith, Elizabeth, Zechariah,J ohn, Joseph and Mary all wore the armor of God protecting themselves against those who said no while following God’s urging to say yes,  to do the right thing.

By taking and eating we remember Jesus.By taking and eating we are clothed in the armor of God. 

By coming to this altar to be fed, we are emboldened, strengthened, prodded and pushed to turn this world, through our own acts of kindness, justice and mercy, into the vision and dream God has had for us since the beginning of time.

The Bread of Life and the Armor of our Faith strengthens us to do what is right while changing what is wrong. Right here and right now, the world needs us to do this. So, take, eat and do the work that we have been given to do. Love God, love our neighbor and change the world.

Amen.

Take and Eat: For Alone We are Nothing, But Together We Are Everything Proper 15 St Martin-in-the-Field Grand Island Aug 19, 2018

+Bishop Bill shared this story with me: he was officiating at a funeral for people who were not familiar with the church. But the family, for reasons unknown to the Bishop, but clearly important to them, wanted communion at the service, so in a funeral chapel, not one of our churches, Bishop Bill officiated and celebrated the Holy Eucharist. When the time came for communion, the Bishop said that anyone who felt drawn to receive communion was invited to do so. As he distributed communion he noticed a little boy in the back of the chapel…it was clear that the boy was “feeling drawn” but didn’t come forward. Later at the reception, the Bishop spoke to the boy’s father who said the boy desperately wanted to receive communion but said, “I can’t, we’d be eating Auntie’s body.”
It makes sense. For someone who wasn’t raised in the church and was at a funeral with communion for the first time, how must it sound to hear “Take Eat, this is my body” …while staring at a casket with the body of your Aunt in it? Of course, the boy was torn, bewildered, scared.
And even for those of us familiar with the ways of communion and the celebration of the Holy Eucharist today, this whole Bread of Life thing gets kind of creepy doesn’t it?
Jesus says:  only those of us who will eat his body and drink his blood will have eternal life.
Of course, we use this imagery and almost exactly these words, each and every time we celebrate the Eucharist “This is my body, take eat, this is my blood, take, drink….”but somehow, because we’ve heard it for so long, because we haven’t thought about it that much, because we just excuse it as one of those “mysteries of faith,” we let those words roll of our back. But there’s something about how John words it in today’s Gospel that makes me understand how freaked out the temple authorities were then, and how freaked out that little boy was last week.
Back in Jesus’ day and in the early days of Xnty this concept of eating of Jesus’ Body and drinking of Jesus’ blood was downright scandalous. The creepiness, the discomfort with which many of us heard the words of today’s Gospel was magnified as they heard Jesus speak them…it smacked of cannibalism and cannibalism then, just as it is now, was taboo, forbidden. It was horrifying, disgusting, evil.
And yet, it is one of the foundations of our faith—to take to eat, to remember.
 How do we explain this—to those unfamiliar with our faith and, if we want to be honest, to ourselves.
how to understand it?
     Well, I didn’t have a good answer until I read some words written by Elizabeth Kaeton, an Episcopal Priest in Delaware who, while searching for inspiration as she prepared her third sermon in a row about the Bread of Life discourse, pulled out her Oxford Dictionary of the English language and looked up “bread.” By doing that she, and in turn I, discovered that the word we use to describe bread wasn’t always bread, and by understanding that, this whole thing   becomes a lot less creepy and lot more poignant and life giving. (many thanks to Elizabeth's weekly email of last week: Telling Secrets, I am the Bread of Life, August 12, 2018 received via email)

 Let me explain:
The substance we commonly refer to as bread was, before 1200 or so, called hlaf---loaf.
It was only around 1200 that the common usage switched from the old middle English word hlaf or loaf gave way to the Germanic based word, brud or bread.
Hlaf meant one whole thing ---- while brud, bread, meant a portion of, a piece of….
When I read this, it hit me---Jesus is talking to us about the interconnectedness of God’s creation, of the desperate need we have for each other and for God. And the desperate need God has us. Think about it---God so longed for us, so wanted to understand us that God became one of us, taking flesh and bone to to walk among us as Jesus. I suppose it’s easy to think of us as needing to be in relationship with God through Jesus Christ, but how often do we consider how much God needs/wants/longs for us?
    This change in the word that we use for bread highlights that for me---when Jesus said he was the bread of life he most certainly wasn’t speaking English. And when John wrote about Jesus’ life he most certainly did not write it in English BUT when the Bible was translated into English ---in the 16th century—the word used was not Hlaf—the whole thing---but brud, bread, a piece of, a portion.
  I am the Bread of Life, says Jesus, only those who eat my flesh and drink my blood will be a part of me, a part of God.
My friends, we are part of something much bigger than ourselves. We are part of something much bigger than our friends and our family, bigger than this parish and this diocese, bigger than this state or this country. We are part of God’s creation and God longs for us, aches for us to do our part within it, because if we don’t do our part, if we don’t partake of our portion than we, than us, than this creation, God’s creation is incomplete.
      I am the Bread of Life says Jesus, all who partake of me will have eternal life, all who eat of my flesh and drink of my blood will be a part of me and I will be a part of them.
Dear people of St Martin’s, we are hungry, the world is hungry, Jesus is hungry, God is hungry and you know what? We all hunger for the same thing---each other, together in peace and in love. Take and Eat: For Alone We are Nothing, But Together We Are Everything.
Amen.

Get Up! God has Plans. Proper 14B St Matthias

+Jane was finished. The pain too much, the efforts to relieve it too much, the hate she had for her very being, toooo much. So, she drove partway across the bridge and stopped. With a deep breath and a resolve she hadn’t been able to muster for years, she got out of the car, climbed over the guardrail and looked down, prepared to jump.

But, as is so often the case, God had other plans.

There was a hesitation—not really doubt, not even fear, Jane couldn’t explain it, but something caused her to pause and in that moment she heard Joe say “it’s not hopeless. Please don’t jump.” Suddenly, gentle giant of a man wrapped his mammoth arms around Jane and lifted her to safety. Jane says it was a Holy Spirit moment….Joe, the truck driver who saved her life, agrees. “I don’t know what came over me-- It had to have been a higher power. I did the rescuing, but it wasn’t me, someone/something else took control.

Yes, God had other plans.


Elijah’s toast. He’s done. He dared to disagree with Jezebel and neither she nor the king were amused. Elijah’s running for his life. He knew there was nowhere to hide, he knew eventually the King’s guards would find him and that would be that. So, Elijah, exhausted and disgusted with himself collapses under the broom tree—begging death to overtake him.

But God had other plans.

A divine messenger awakens Elijah and says, “Get up! Eat something!”
Elijah opened his eyes and saw bread and water right by his head. He ate and drank, and then went back to sleep.
A second time the messenger awakens Elijah, saying, “Get up!”
“Eat something, you have a difficult road ahead of you.” Get up!
Elijah got up, ate and drank, and refreshed by that food, carried on.

Because God had other plans.

Several years ago I heard Katharine Jefferts Schori preach a wonderful sermon on the gospel story of  Jairus’ daughter. Remember the story? Jairus comes to Jesus, begging him to heal his daughter. Jesus dilly dailies and when he finally reaches the girl, everyone says she is dead. Jesus clears the room, takes the girl’s hand and says, “Talitha Cum” which means, Little Girl, Arise, but which Bishop Katharine translated as “Get Up, Girl!”
This girl was as good as dead, but God?
 God had other plans.
Through messengers, prophets, apostles, the Holy and Undivided Trinity calls to us all the time, telling us to
“Get up girl, get up boy, get up man, get up woman, get up church, get up world, there’s work to do!”
And my friends WE’RE  just the people to do it.
God has plans for us:
Get up, woman!
That’s what the Holy Spirit was saying to Jane as she climbed over that guardrail.
Get up, man!
That’s what God was saying to Joe, the truck driver who prided himself on not getting involved but who got involved and pulled Jane from the edge.
Get up, prophet!
That’s what the messenger was saying to Elijah, “your work is not yet done.”
And yes, by the way, the road will be long, the journey tough, but GET UP, for I need you---yes YOU---to do this work and to do it now.
It’s a good message and it’s one we’d all be wise to heed.

Get up girl.  “I am the bread of life.”

Get up boy. Those who come to me, fully and completely, will never ever be thirsty.



 Get up woman. Follow Me.
 Get up…
What’s that, you’re too tired? You’ve tried everything and nothing works? Well, get up ---through me you’ll find your way. I need you… there’s work to be done.

Throughout this month of August we read what’s known as the Bread of Life Discourse. In these 50 + verses Jesus repeatedly tells us that he’s all the nourishment we need. That the strength we find sapped from our very being; that the hope we find elusive at best and utterly absent at worst isn’t gone, it hasn’t run out, it hasn’t been removed.
It’s still there.
It’s always there.

Jesus is telling us in John’s Gospel, Elijah is showing us in the reading from Kings that hope and strength aren’t things we create, or earn, or acquire. They’re gifts, given to us by and through the unending, outrageous, abundant love of God.

It can’t be said enough. God loves us beyond all measure.
But God’s love of us doesn’t mean that the road won’t be long, bumpy, scary and full of detours.
It will be. It is!

And that’s just what Jesus is trying to get across to us in these endless verses about being the Bread of Life.
Life isn’t easy. We’re faced with challenges all the time. Scary things.
Difficult things.
Heartbreaking things.
There are times when we want to give up.
There are times when we, just like Elijah, want to set ourselves down under a broom tree and fall asleep, hoping to never wake up.
There are those of us who, like Jane, have contemplated ending it all by our own hand.
There are those of us who’ve lost the ones we love because they became overwhelmed, heartbroken and at the end of their rope.
Life is most definitely NOT EASY.
But, as the Church in Iona says in their invitation to communion and as Jesus is telling us through the Bread of life verses and the messenger told Elijah and Bishop Katharine told us in the sermon:
“Come to this altar, we have a holy meal to share.
Come, those of you who have much faith and those who feel you have none.
Come, those of you who have tried to follow Jesus, but believe you’ve failed.
This is the feast of Jesus our Lord;
holy food for holy people.”
So get up folks….come and be fed, God has plans for us.+

Just Walk. Just Reach. Just Touch. Proper 13B Trinity Hamburg Aug 5, 2018

+People do amazing things when hungry.
This morning, the people Jesus fed last week are hungry again, so they’ve piled into boats, crossed the water and have tracked Jesus down.
Although Jesus isn’t surprised that they’ve come… he IS a tad annoyed at their shortsightedness—happy to have their stomachs filled but completely oblivious to the real reason for His presence in their lives. Just as we often are, these folks are clueless as to the real reason for Jesus’ presence in their lives.
Jesus didn’t come to fill our stomachs, Jesus came to fill our souls. But, and Jesus knew this, it’s really difficult to pay attention to one’s soul if one’s stomach is growling. So, he filled their stomachs hoping—maybe even assuming---that once their stomachs were full, they’d realize just how empty their souls remained.
But to do that, to realize how empty we may feel, is not so simple. There’s no definitive signal---like a growling stomach---to tell us we’re spiritually empty, that we need some spiritual nourishment. It takes awhile to figure it out.
And, apparently, it takes awhile to explain it as well.
In John’s gospel, Jesus spends FOUR Sundays trying to get his followers, those then and us now, to distinguish between physical and spiritual hunger. It’s annoying as we hear, again, again, again and AGAIN that the manna from Exodus and the multiplication of loaves and fishes in the gospels is nothing…NOTHING compared to The Bread of Life...the bread that is Jesus.
And while in theory we may join with the folks from the gospel and say, “yes Jesus give us this spiritual bread forever,” it’s a lot more involved than just saying yes. We can’t just say it. We have to live it. We have to believe it. We have to accept it. We have to receive it.
     You see, since time began we’ve been separated from God. And God has been, since time began, trying to bridge that gap, trying to reach us, trying to touch us.
According to philosopher Louis Dupre (wiki preacher) religion is how we reach out to God. It’s how we try to bridge the gap from our end of this divide.
Remember Michelangelo’s depiction of Creation on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel? In it is the iconic image of Adam-- stretched out on the ground, dazed and confused, one arm, one hand, reaching out toward an old and slightly wild looking God, who’s also stretching out an arm, a hand, with one finger almost touching Adam’s. In between is a teeny space separating God from humanity. Separating us from God.
Dupre says that our entire life is lived in that tiny space between God’s finger and Adam’s hand. Trying to bridge that gap.
The problem is, we don’t know how. We try to be good and faithful Christians, but it doesn’t always work. It doesn’t work because we forget to do what Jesus told us to do---- believe and trust in him.
It doesn’t work because instead of letting go and trusting God, we hold on and try to do it on our own: “Just show us how to do it and we’ll do it ourselves, God. We really don’t need this Jesus fellow…just give us the magic formula and we’ll take care of things.”  That never works. It doesn’t work because it isn’t about us, it isn’t about our filled bellies, it isn’t about what we can do. It’s about what God does. And what God has done is given us Jesus.
Jesus says, “Do not work for the food which perishes, but for the food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of God will GIVE you” And the people respond, “OK, so how do we learn to get this food ourselves?”
Jesus tries again. “This is the work OF GOD: That you believe in the one God sent. It’s a gift. God does the doing, the sending. We do the receiving. The accepting.
You see, Jesus is the one who fills up that tiny space between God’s finger and Adam’s hand. Jesus bridges that gap, so tiny in the painting, so vast in our lives. What we need to do is walk across that bridge between God and us, reaching God, touching God, being one with God.
It really is that simple: walk. Reach. Touch.
As many of you know, my mom’s health has been failing quite precipitously for the past 18 months. I just returned from Chicago where mom entered into a higher level of nursing care. Mom’s most debilitating symptom of kidney failure is unrelenting fatigue. She said to me the other morning. “I just want to be able to walk on my own and get to where I want to go. I just want to walk.” Of course, the only way she’ll be able to walk without lots of assistance is when she transitions from this life into eternal life. When that happens she will walk, she will run, she will be free. She will walk, she will reach, she will touch, she will be one with God, forever.There is great wisfon within her lament.
Just walk. Just Reach. Just Touch.
This is really it. It’s the wisdom of God, manifested in my mother’s waning days on earth, the wisdom of our Savior: Just walk. Just Reach. Just Touch.
My friends, we are hungry. Let us, fueled by the Bread of Life,  walk, reach, touch and be filled. Amen.

Proper 12B Always enough…and more July 29, 2018 St Luke’s Jamestown

+“Family hold back,” was a familiar refrain in my family. My parents entertained a lot and always, before the guests arrived, Mom would say, “I don’t think we made enough potatoes, so family, hold back.” To Mom, there was nothing as horrifying as running out of food so no matter what, “family, hold back!” Of course, I never remember a time when there wasn’t enough food for everyone around the table. Never. Yet, up until Mom stopped cooking a few months ago, she would still warn “hold back, there might not be enough.” My mother like so many of us, is afraid that there simply won’t be enough.
     Mom would have fit right in with Philip in today’s gospel who, when asked by Jesus to provide food for the gathered 5,000, immediately looks at the whole situation from a stance of scarcity—there’s no way! It will cost too much!! It’s impossible!
Even when Andrew notices the boy with the barley loaves and two fish…Philip is still catastrophizing—"what good will that meager amount be with ALL THESE PEOPLE?” Philip wasn’t wrong…in normal circumstances the boy’s meager groceries wouldn’t have made a dent, but when is anything with Jesus normal? One might expect that Philip would have figured this out by now…
but no one ever said the disciples were quick…
now the boy is another story….as far as we know he knew nothing about Jesus…when Andrew approached him about the food the boy had to wonder what difference his little bit of food would make… I can imagine him thinking…“There are so many and I have so little.  All that will happen is I’ll have to go hungry along with everyone else.  Better to keep what’s mine and let the other people take care of themselves.”
It’s easy to think, “What difference will it make?  I barely have enough for myself, how could I possibly give to others? “There isn’t enough” is a familiar refrain isn’t it? It certainly was with Philip, and my mom and so many of us sitting here today.
But that boy didn’t flinch. He offered what he had, not worrying about whether his gift was enough.

      Instead of “never enough,” our readings today talk about always enough…and more! They call us to have enough faith in God to share what we have and enough trust in God to fill in the rest.
In 2nd Kings, because of a famine, the traditional offering of first fruits is paltry-- 20 barley loaves and a handful of other fresh grain--- “a family hold back” offering meal if there ever was one! But Elisha doesn’t bat an eye. “Give it to the people.” he says, “The Lord has promised, ‘Eat and there shall be leftovers! ”
Right there--in the midst of scarcity-- faith and abundance!
 And again, in today’s Gospel, the boy hands over his meager groceries to Jesus.  And, once again, somehow, someway, God provides.
There’s plenty, more than enough for everyone. Jesus makes a rich feast out of a peasant’s dinner, no one holds back and everyone is filled. PLUS there’s leftovers!
     We often think we don’t have much to offer God or the world, either personally or as a congregation. We see ourselves as poor, small, weak, unworthy or otherwise inadequate. We hold back, thinking no one will want what we have, for it’s simply NOT ENOUGH. You know what God says to that?
“Hogwash.”
     Ours is a God who takes our little and turns it into a lot.  We often try to hang on to what we have because we don’t really trust God’s promise that if we turn everything over to God we’ll be all right, we really will.  Deep down, most of us don’t believe that God will take what we grudgingly, almost reluctantly, hand over and turn it into more than we ever imagined possible.
But God has done and will do just that. You see,
God doesn’t really want our treasure, God wants our trust.
God doesn’t really want our finances, God wants our faith.
 God doesn’t really want our things, God wants us.
God wants us to let go of everything else and truly believe that we can rely on the fact that the divine and holy love that made our universe also made us and that this immense love, a love “that is beyond all knowledge,” (Ephesians 3:19) will provide for us and will use us to provide for others.
     7 years ago there were 17 people attending the Church of the Ascension in the city of Buffalo…instead of giving up, four of those parishioners---FOUR---under the direction and inspiration of Deacon Pete Dempesy Sims began a pet food pantry. In the past seven years that little pet food pantry has distributed over 15 TONS of pet food. And that pet food pantry has spawned four other pet food pantries in this diocese and more in other dioceses. All because a handful of people in a struggling congregation decided that they could make a difference in this world. And they did. And they do.
I’m sure to many folks, all the work that goes into the Children of the Book reading camp doesn’t seem worth it…after all, I can hear them say, what difference will it make in the pervasive system of poverty in this region…. but ask anyone who is involved in it and they’ll regale you with stories of how it has made a difference and how it will continue to do so.
How does this happen? How do we find ourselves doing more than we could ever imagine possible?
Through Trust. Through Faith, and through Love. That’s how. My friends, when we trust in God, when we have faith in God, when we love God enough to give all that we are and all that we have, “family hold back” is turned inside out and upside down and suddenly, from our meager and simple offering, God’s makes an amazing, abundant and outlandish feast.  Amen.