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Pentecost 10, August 9, 2009

Post author By vicar
Post date August 12, 2009

The Rt. Rev. Arthur E. Walmsley, Bishop of Connecticut (ret.)

I Kings 19:4-8

Â John 6:35, 41-51

The year is 1955. I was a young priest, serving Trinity Church in St. Louis, Missouri. It was a tense time in that city â€“ very much a southern city confronted by the changes brought on by the decision of the U.S. Supreme Court of the year before which had ordered the desegregation of racially-segregated schools. Trinity Church was in a neighborhood in transition, its sturdy single-family homes in the path of real estate interests which were block-busting, scaring white residents to sell to an expanding African-American population being forced out of neighborhoods closer to downtown which were being bulldozed in a citywide plan of urban renewal.

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Pentecost 9 August 2, 2009

Post author By vicar
Post date August 2, 2009

Exodus 16:2-4, 9-15Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â

John 6:26-35Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â

On my first Sunday as rector of St. Charlesâ€™ Church, the congregation produced a lavish coffee hour â€“ tables laden with sandwiches and pastries, cheeses and crackers. Some of my little nephews and nieces were visiting for the special celebration. â€œThis is cool!â€ one of them pronounced. â€œLetâ€™s go to this church.â€

We do come to church to be fed, but of course not with the doughnut holes of coffee hour, nice as they are. We come to be fed with the bread of life, conveyed to us in the word of God and in the sacraments. Last Sunday in our summer series on worship, Bishop Walmsley talked about how weâ€™re fed by the word. Today I want to reflect a little with you about our response to that feeding, the Prayers of the People, and about our prayer here in church generally â€“ what is called our â€œcommon prayer,â€ because we do it together, in common.

Tags bread of life, intercessory prayer, prayer, prayers of the people

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Pentecost 8 July 26, 2009

Post author By vicar
Post date August 1, 2009

The Rt. Rev. Arthur E. Walmsley, Bishop of Connecticut (ret.)

Ephesians 3:14-21

John 6:1-21

I was very taken by last weekâ€™s service, when Josh Thomas, the Diocese of New Hampshireâ€™s missioner to college and university students, led us through a process of imagining how young people in our very secular culture can begin to connect with Christian faith. “How is God real in your life?” he asked not just them but us.

This morning I want to take you on a similar sort of journey. Imagine that you are living in about the year 100 AD. You are in a small city somewhere on the edge of the Mediterranean Sea, say in Asia Minor or Greece, and you have been invited by friends to attend a religious ceremony.

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Pentecost 7, July 19, 2009

Post author By vicar
Post date July 19, 2009

Jeremiah 23:1-6

Mark 6:30-34, 53-56

This past Friday night my wifeâ€™s office had a party. Over dessert I found myself talking with our hostess, a fascinating woman who was raised in the Congregational Church and converted to Judaism after her marriage to a Jewish man. She is the first convert to serve as president of her synagogue, a position of great honor.

Our talk turned to our children: were they continuing to practice the faith in which they had been raised? We agreed that this depended to a large extent on who they ended up marrying or living with. â€œMixed marriagesâ€ â€“ a Christian and a Jew for instance or, most commonly these days, a person with a religious background and a partner without â€“ usually end up doing nothing about religious faith, for themselves or their children.

In twenty-some years, my hostess told me, their synagogue has had only one marriage, because even Reform Jewish rabbis usually will not officiate at mixed marriages â€“ and all the other marriages of children of this synagogue in those twenty years had been to non-Jews. â€œThis canâ€™t continue,â€ Carol said, â€œor we will all die out. In this day and age, religions have to learn to reach out and engage with other religions or with people of no religion. They canâ€™t just keep to themselves. They have to open up and change.â€ (Or at least thatâ€™s what I heard her saying!)

Which statement I want to use as a way into this morningâ€™s topic, which is about the formation of Christians in a secular society — something that is called evangelization, a Greek word meaning the sharing of the Good News of God. Evangelization is of the very essence of Christianity. We exist as a religion because a tiny group of women and men, St. Peter, St. Paul and the other apostles (a word meaning â€œsent outâ€), went forth to spread the Good News they had encountered in Jesus Christ.

Tags apostles, evangelism, evangelization, liturgy

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Pentecost 6 July 12, 2009

Post author By vicar
Post date July 10, 2009
No Comments on Pentecost 6 July 12, 2009

Amos 7:7-15Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â

Mark 6:14-29Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â

Childrenâ€™s literature is full of stories in which someone discovers a magic doorway â€“ the rabbit hole in Alice in Wonderland, the back wall of a clothes closet in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe â€“ through which they pass into a world where everything is different. The sacrament of Holy Baptism, symbolized by the baptismal font that stands by the entrance to our worship space, is such a magic doorway into the world of Christ.

Tags baptism, community, kingdom of God, participation

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Pentecost 5 July 5, 2009

Post author By vicar
Post date July 7, 2009

The Rt. Rev. Arthur E. Walmsley

Deuteronomy 10:17-21

Matthew 5:43-48

“that we may use our liberty in accordance with your gracious will. . . “

Collect for the Nation, Book of Common Prayer, p. 258

The Constitution of the United States of America was adopted by a Constitutional Convention which met in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on September 17, 1787. Two years later, on October 16, 1789, the first General Convention of the Episcopal Church met, also in Philadelphia, ratified a constitution for the Church, and adopted its first Book of Common Prayer. These two events are not unrelated: both the nation and the Episcopal Church emerged from the War of Independence from Great Britain sharing a common vision of what independence would mean for our people.

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Pentecost 4 June 28, 2009

Post author By vicar
Post date June 28, 2009

Wisdom 1:13-15, 2:23-24Â Â Â Â Â Â Â

Mark 5:21-43Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â

If we were worshiping in the New Bethel Church in Louisville, Kentucky, two weeks ago, we would have heard a sermon on â€œGod, Guns, Gospel and Geometry.â€* Inspired by this message, telling us that America was built on God and guns, we might have attended the â€œopen carryâ€ celebration at the church last night, at which everyone was invited to come to church carrying their firearms, enjoy a picnic and participate in the raffle of a handgunâ€”chances $1 each.

Instead, we gathered here at Holy Cross for worship this morning have this story from Markâ€™s gospel of two healingsâ€”two stories really, intertwined together.

Tags America, economic system, healing, honor, kingdom of God, shame, status

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Pentecost 3 June 21, 2009

Post author By vicar
Post date June 21, 2009

Job 38:1-11Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â

Mark 4:35-41Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â

The Hebrew people, who wrote the Bibleâ€”both the Old Testament and the Newâ€”were a desert people. Water for them had a double, paradoxical meaning. It represented chaos, threat and danger. On the other hand, it represented life and new birth. Weâ€™ll get to that other hand in a minute, but letâ€™s start with the chaos, threat and danger side of water.

Tags atheism, baptism, chaos, creation, faith, trust, water

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Pentecost 2 June 14, 2009

Post author By vicar
Post date June 14, 2009

2 Corinthians 5:6-10, 14-17Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â

Mark 4:26-34Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â

Anyone who is joined to Christ is a new being; the old is gone, the new has come.

Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â — 2 Corinthians 5:17

St. Paulâ€™s, Concord, has called a new rector. Her name is Kate Atkinson and she was in town last week house hunting. Though it will not be until late August that she takes up her duties, inevitably there will be things the people of St. Paulâ€™s want to consult her about before then. At our Central Convocation clergy breakfast last week, we were talking about the pitfalls of getting sucked into a job before youâ€™re really on the ground. You never know all the ramifications of what youâ€™re being asked to decide. An innocent decision may have unknown and lasting symbolic significance, labeling you one way or another for your entire ministry.

Tags Christ, new self, transformation

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Trinity Sunday June 7, 2009

Post author By vicar
Post date June 7, 2009

Romans 8:12-17Â Â Â Â Â Â Â

Â John 3:1-17Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â

Here I am, Lord. Is it I, Lord? I have heard you

calling in the night. â€“Daniel L. Schutte

All of us, all human beings, have heard that call in the night. The call of something or Someone beyond ourselves, greater than ourselves. A Greater-Than that offers the hope of meaning to our lives here on earth, our struggles, our joys and sufferings.

Imagine two groups of scientists. The one searches the farthest reaches of the universe with powerful telescopes, offering data on what they see, further annotations in technical treatises, passed on to other experts who may be interested. The other group of scientists are standing around the rim of a huge crater in the surface of the earth, or perhaps in a submarine inspecting a deep concavity under the ocean. They are trying to work out what happened, what force, what dimensions and at what speed caused this impact, and what its consequences have been or are or will be for life on our planet.

I owe this analogy of the two groups of scientists to the Catholic theologian James Alison,* who says that it is the second group of scientists, those looking at the crater, who are most like us when we think about God.

Tags doctrine, God, Jesus, Trinity