Thoughts and prayers
A few years ago, when I was serving in a big urban church, a parishioner who was also a screenwriter explored the possibility of producing a television drama about a church. She interviewed the staff and wisely decided one of two things. Either the show would be really boring or no one would believe what goes on. Maybe her angle was wrong. Perhaps it should have been a comedy. As an aspiring cartoonist who does a lot of drawings about the church, I note no shortage of material.
As an example, the small non-Episcopal Church in which I grew up provided grist for such a show. Our family lore has preserved this story. It has to do with an older woman in the parish, influential in our small community, a bit eccentric. (It's church, after all.) She was glad to let everyone know the depths of her piety. On one occasion, she was speaking with a friend at coffee hour. A third woman approached to share concern about some personal struggle. This older woman, let's call her Jane, said "Oh, I pray for you every day!" As the third woman departed, moving out of earshot, Jane turned to her friend and asked, "Who was that?"
It's easy to say we pray. We've heard a lot in recent days about thoughts and prayers. Tragedies striking our common life (shootings in Las Vegas, fires in Northern California, storms in Puerto Rico, Florida and Texas) have been on our minds and in our prayers. I suspect we all have personal storms, private turbulence that weighs on our hearts, minds and spirits. We know those struggles in the lives of people we love. As we've heard people express their concern, offering thoughts and prayers, the question has been raised: Is that enough? Is that too easy? Is it a dodge? A bromide? A dismissal?
All of this points to the connection of prayer and action. How do we pray not only with our lips but with our lives?
All of this leads me to think about the mystery of prayer, which is more about changing us than it is about changing God. It calls me to draw on the wisdom of spiritual heroes who knew no separation between contemplation and action in the world, people like Thomas Merton and Dorothy Day and Richard Rohr.
And the brothers at Holy Cross Monastery folks. Decades ago, a few of them made their way to South Africa as apartheid was unraveling. Church leaders there invited the brothers to come to the country to model life in community, since the violence of the previous regime had left people without those skills. A few of them went, like many characters in the Bible, not knowing where they were going or what they would find or what they would do when they got there. As they describe that time, they say they went and simply said their prayers, observing the monastic hours throughout the day.
They began with prayer, waiting for God to show them what it is they were called to do. Before long, the tragic death of an unattended child on train tracks bordering the monastery's property revealed the mission. It would be about caring for the poorest in this town, tending to children too often left alone for too long. It would be about starting a school, providing quality education equal to the best schools in the country. It began with thoughts and prayers, which were indispensable. But it didn't end there. They've done something beautiful for God.
These days, our thoughts and prayers are with victims of a mad shooter, victims of nature's fury, victims of abuse by people in power, victims of indifference, victims in a world with devils filled that threaten to undo us. The thoughts and prayers, contemplative acts, are the beginning of a response. They lead us as baptized persons to strive for justice and peace and respect the dignity of every human being. What specifically can we do towards that end?
If you're not sure, pray not only for those who suffer. Join me in prayer, asking God to show us how to respond, how to help, how to heal, what to do.
-Jay Sidebotham
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Heard yesterday in church:
Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice. Let your gentleness be known to everyone. The Lord is near. Do not worry about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Finally, beloved, whatever is true, whatever is honourable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is pleasing, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence and if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.
-From Paul's letter to the Philippians
Action and contemplation are very close companions; they live together in one house on equal terms. Mary and Martha are sisters.
-Bernard of Clairvaux
And when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites; for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, that they may be seen by men. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.
-from the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 6)
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Discipleship Matters Conference 2017
Oct. 16-18, 2017
Contact:
Rev. Jay Sidebotham
jsidebotham@renewalworks.org
RenewalWorks is a ministry of Forward Movement.
www.renewalworks.org
If you'd like to join in this donor-based ministry, donate here.
Have you ever changed your mind? How did that happen?
As is often the case, converging thoughts from separate sources have made me reflect on my own state of mind, what led me in the past to change my mind, how resistant I am to that kind of change.
It started with a friend who reported he was taking a break from social media, convinced that Facebook was comparable to a pulpit, i.e., that piece of furniture that stands six feet above contradiction. My friend wondered: Has anyone ever really changed their political or religious point of view because of something they saw posted on Facebook? We could say the same thing about cable news, where viewers gravitate to punditry that confirms what they already believe.
In my work focused on spiritual growth, I often ask about what has helped people change or grow. Most often I hear that such as an experience has to do with challenge, crisis, or suffering. Often, it has to do with a relational experience, sitting down with someone who has something to teach us, breaking out of the bubble.
The chaotic state of our world right now indicates that we could benefit from that kind of conversation. That same chaos also suggests that we can't keep doing what we're doing, that we need among other things, a new mindfulness, a change of mind.
But what does that change look like? Is it change for change's sake? Change in what way? What's our compass?
About the time my wise friend chimed in with his social media sabbatical, I came across readings for the first Sunday in October, which have been on my mind since, as they talk about a change of mind. One of the readings was about the children of Israel in the wilderness, GPS deprived, challenged but also formed by that experience. They came out a new people, with a new mindset. Their minds were changed.
That same Sunday we eavesdropped on Jesus' conversation with religious opponents, folks unable to see the new and amazingly gracious thing that Jesus was bringing into the world. The gospel writer says it simply: The professional religious people of the day refused to change their minds. Which makes this professional religious person ask again: How is it that people change their minds? And change to what?
The third reading for the day helped. (It helped so much I included it below) St. Paul writes to the beloved Philippian church about their state of mind. He calls them to be of one mind. (Imagine!) And he invites them to discover a new and different path. He encourages them to have the mind of Christ. Change we can believe in.
What does that change look like? The mind of Christ has to do with an attitude of humility and service, a mindset oriented toward the other. Paul confirms that we can experience that state of mind as well. In another passage from his letters, St. Paul calls his readers not to be conformed to this world but to be transformed by the renewing of their minds (Romans 12). Said another way, by the changing of their minds. Which comes from following Jesus, as simple and complicated as that may be.
It could be said that Jesus came into the world to change our minds. To make our minds repositories of love and compassion. To give us the power to change, when left to our own devices, we're stuck.
Thank God he did.
-Jay Sidebotham
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From St. Paul's letter to the Philippians
Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God,
did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited, but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, being born in human likeness. And being found in human form, he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death- even death on a cross.
Therefore God also highly exalted him and gave him the name
that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bend, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
Therefore, my beloved, just as you have always obeyed me, not only in my presence, but much more now in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who is at work in you, enabling you both to will and to work for his good pleasure.
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Discipleship Matters Conference 2017
Oct. 16-18, 2017
Contact:
Rev. Jay Sidebotham
jsidebotham@renewalworks.org
RenewalWorks is a ministry of Forward Movement.
www.renewalworks.org
If you'd like to join in this donor-based ministry, donate here.
He has been called the most admired and least imitated of all the saints. On Wednesday, we observe the Feast of St. Francis of Assisi. If we ever needed a saint like him, we sure do need him now.
I spent last weekend at a lively church in Connecticut, led by a faithful and fun priest and friend, Peter Walsh. I admire Peter's congregational leadership. As a former ad guy, he has gifts for communication and vision, offering his congregation specific and clear focus. For this program year, here's the theme: What the St. Francis? The Shocking Relevance of Francis Today. Here are a few things Francis has to teach us.
He teaches about spiritual growth and change: Accounts vary on Francis' early life. He grew up with some experience of affluence, on some level savored the good life. Experience in military, as a prisoner of war, and battling illness changed him. He learned. He grew. Are we ready to grow and change?
He teaches about compassion. Far from detached philanthropy, Francis' call to serve the poor was founded in relationship, seeing up close the experience of those in greatest need. What can we learn about those who suffer greatest need? How can we minister to them in Francis' week?
He teaches about creation care. Stories of preaching to birds and calming ravenous wolves, hymns in praise of creation seem timely. This week, many churches will offer blessings of the animals, one way of celebrating the goodness of God's creation. I recall when I served in Manhattan and we held this kind of service on a Sunday evening. I will never forget the surprise when a woman brought a large iguana forward for a blessing. Secure in a Snuggly, she had carried it to church on the subway. After all that effort, I couldn't say no. I'm not a big big reptile fan, but the goodness of creation was evident that night. How can we care for all of creation in the spirit of St. Francis?
He teaches about effective preaching. He told listeners: "It is no use walking anywhere to preach unless our walking is our preaching." He also said: "The deeds you do may be the only sermon some persons will hear today." What kind of sermon will your life be this week? Will it be a sermon with good news? With hope? With love?
He teaches about joy. Maya Angelou noted that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel. I often wonder what it was about Francis that 800 years after his death people still recall his joy. Let's just say it's not an attribute found in all religious people. (Note H.L.Mencken's definition of puritanism, i.e., the haunting fear that someone somewhere is happy.) Joy seems to be the mark of saints, going way deeper than mere happiness. When have you experienced joy? Is there a way you can share some of it this week?
He teaches about hope. Francis offered this encouragement: "Start by doing what's necessary; then do what's possible; and suddenly you are doing the impossible." Where in your life do you need signs of hope? Can you take a starting step, and be ready for what might not seem possible.
Give thanks for the lessons of St. Francis this week. Honor his life and ministry and witness this week, by putting those lessons to work in your world, serving as an instrument of God's peace.
-Jay Sidebotham
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Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.
-Matthew 11
(one of the readings selected for the Feast of St. Francis)
The collect for the Feast of St. Francis of Assisi
Most high, omnipotent, good Lord, grant your people grace to renounce gladly the vanities of this world; that, following the way of blessed Francis, we may for love of you delight in your whole creation with perfectness of joy; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
A prayer attributed to St. Francis (found in the Book of Common Prayer, page 833)
Lord, make us instruments of your peace. Where there is hatred, let us sow love; where there is injury, pardon; where there is discord, union; where there is doubt, faith; where there is despair, hope; where there is darkness, light; where there is sadness, joy. Grant that we may not so much seek to be consoled as to console; to be understood as to understand; to be loved as to love. For it is in giving that we receive; it is in pardoning that we are pardoned; and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.
Amen.
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Discipleship Matters Conference 2017
Oct. 16-18, 2017
Contact:
Rev. Jay Sidebotham
jsidebotham@renewalworks.org
RenewalWorks is a ministry of Forward Movement.
www.renewalworks.org
If you'd like to join in this donor-based ministry, donate here.
A special edition of Monday Matters
I've been writing these emails for a few years now, a way of checking in each week to explore ways to put faith to work in the world. It's been good for me. (Preachers really preach to themselves.) The opportunity to connect with you each week has helped me grow. I am honored when anyone reads this Monday message, and grateful when people comment in response.
I've tried to keep the focus on faith, what I call the so-what factor. What difference does our faith make during the week? I've tried to avoid political rants, advertisements for programs, solicitations of support in these emails. You get enough of those.
But every so often, folks ask what I do when I'm not writing these messages. They also ask what RenewalWorks is all about and how this work is supported. So I'd like to take this opportunity to talk about the work we do, and invite you to help us if you'd like.
I serve as Director of RenewalWorks, a ministry of Forward Movement . We began this work four years. It was a bit of a leap of faith, hoping to help congregations make spiritual growth a priority. The RenewalWorks process includes an online inventory taken by parishioners, which asks about their own spiritual journey, their beliefs and practices. Then a small team in that congregation answers questions, with the help of the data generated by the inventory. They ask: Where are we as a congregation? Where is God calling us to go? Our RenewalWorks staff helps those congregations chart a course forward. We try to help them build cultures of discipleship in their churches. Monday Matters is just one way we do that. You can find out more about this work on our website (www.renewalworks.org).
I love this work, and we're making headway. In fact, we're expanding in a number of ways, running conferences like the one described below. We're launching a new resource called RenewalWorks For Me, an individualized approach to RenewalWorks. (It's kind of like a spiritual fitbit, creating a spiritual fitness plan for a person to apply.) We've got a new ministry called Revive which focuses on spiritual leadership, helping clergy and lay leaders like Vestry members develop a prayer life, engage with scripture, and explore a sense of call.
After four years at this work, I'm convinced there is lots more for us to do, as we seek to support spiritual growth in our churches. And there are ways you can help. Please spread the word about RenewalWorks wherever you worship. Pray for us in our work. (Unless the Lord builds the house, they labor in vain who build it. That's in the psalms somewhere.) And consider offering financial support to RenewalWorks.
Our ministry has been sustained so far by donors, many of whom I know through this Monday email. I am so thankful for that help. There are also folks who made five year commitments to get this work launched. Again, my gratitude is deep. We're nearing that five year mark, and so we are looking to fund the next three years. If you'd be willing to help us, you can make a one-time donation at https://renewalworks.org/donate/. You can sign up for monthly contributions. Or you can talk with us about being part of a group that will commit to keep us going for three more years. Feel free to contact me at jsidebotham@renewalworks.org to learn more about our hopes and our needs.
If Monday Matters matters, consider supporting this work, in whatever way you can. As we sometimes say in the Anglican world: All may. None must. Some should. We take on this work, often challenging work, for the sake of our beloved church, and in support of our dedicated clergy, as together we seek to grow in love of God and neighbor, which is what we mean by spiritual growth.
Thank you for your prayerful consideration of this email. Talk to you all next Monday.
-Jay Sidebotham
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A scripture passage that has guided our work: Ephesians 4:1-6, 11-16
I therefore, the prisoner in the Lord, beg you to lead a life worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, making every effort to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to the one hope of your calling, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is above all and through all and in all.
The gifts he gave were that some would be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until all of us come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to maturity, to the measure of the full stature of Christ. We must no longer be children, tossed to and fro and blown about by every wind of doctrine, by people's trickery, by their craftiness in deceitful scheming. But speaking the truth in love, we must grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and knitted together by every ligament with which it is equipped, as each part is working properly, promotes the body's growth in building itself up in love.
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Discipleship Matters Conference 2017
Oct. 16-18, 2017
Contact:
Rev. Jay Sidebotham
jsidebotham@renewalworks.org
RenewalWorks is a ministry of Forward Movement.
www.renewalworks.org
If you'd like to join in this donor-based ministry, donate here.
I was glad when the movers finally carried our piano into our living room, but somehow we couldn't locate the box with sheet music. So I decided I'd go shopping, finding something simple I could play. At the time, I was new in town as I went looking for a music store. I saw a likely spot in a strip mall. I noted as I approached that the place looked kind of dark.
As I walked in, I could immediately tell that I wasn't going to find Bach Inventions or Chopin Nocturnes. This was really heavy metal. Really heavy. A few unfriendly faces behind the counter gave me the once over. They checked out my clerical collar, and deduced that I was probably not their target audience. The total effect of the place was to make me feel that I didn't belong. I took a quick tour of the merchandise, feigned interest and made a hasty exit. I ordered music online.
But I have thought about my experience in that store. I wondered if people ever feel like that in church. I wonder if people ever summon the courage to walk through red doors, dare to believe ubiquitous signs: "The Episcopal Church welcomes you", find themselves in a pew and feel they don't belong. Maybe they can't figure out which book to use. Maybe they need a coach in liturgical aerobics. Maybe they feel under-dressed. Maybe they make their way to coffee hour, where a friendly gaggle of congregants talk to each other in friendly huddles as newcomers orbit the periphery, looking at dated bulletin boards, feigning interest in printed materials, checking out clouds in the coffee, the way I faked my way through the music store.
As you may know, I vent by cartoon. One of the cartoons that gets a lot of Episco-response depicts a young couple awaiting an 8am eucharist. They are seated by the aisle, though the church seems pretty empty. A well-dressed elderly woman approaches, perhaps a pillar of the parish. She taps the young man on the shoulder and says: "You look like you're new. Welcome to our church. Oh by the way, you're in my pew."
This cartoon appeared on some Facebook page. A person commented that it was dumb, that the artist was feeding an unfair caricature of the Episcopal Church. The comment: "That would never really happen." Almost immediately, from all over the country, people responded that they had had exactly that experience. I wondered if that imaginary (or perhaps real) couple felt like I felt in that dark music store.
We sometimes sing in our church this hymn: "All are welcome in this place." It's a wonderful biblical aspiration, with roots in ancient Israel instructed to welcome the stranger, all the way to the gospels, where Jesus says: 'Whoever welcomes you welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me."(Matthew 10:40), all the way to the end of Paul's letter to the Romans where he says: "Welcome one another as Christ has welcomed you, for the glory of God."
Fact is, we are all strangers (some stranger than others). We all probably share Woody Allen's angst, noted in his refusal to attend football games because he was convinced that in the huddle they were talking about him. We all probably have moments, individually and collectively, when we fail to welcome as Christ has welcomed us.
Spiritually vital congregations are able to get people moving in the spiritual journey. That begins with welcome. What are the welcoming opportunities available to you? When this week will you have the chance to practice hospitality, in church or outside of church? What would it mean for us to welcome one another as Christ has welcomed us?
-Jay Sidebotham
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Let all guests who arrive be received like Christ, for he is going to say, "I came as a guest, and you received me." -The Rule of St. Benedict
A story said to originate in a Russian Orthodox monastery has an older monk telling a younger one: "I have finally learned to accept people as they are. Whatever they are in the world, a prostitute, a prime minister, it is all the same to me. But sometimes I see a stranger coming up the road, and I say, 'Oh, Jesus Christ, is it you again?'"
-Kathleen Norris, Dakota
For the Lord your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great God, mighty and awesome, who ... defends the cause of the fatherless and the widow, and loves the alien, giving him food and clothing.
-Deuteronomy 10:17-18
Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a great battle.
-Philo of Alexandria, quoted in Dan Wakefield, How Do We Know When It's God?
That is our vocation: to convert ... the enemy into a guest and to create the free and fearless space where brotherhood and sisterhood can be formed and fully experienced.
-Henri J. M. Nouwen, Reaching Out: The Three Movements of the Spiritual Life
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Discipleship Matters Conference 2017
Oct. 16-18, 2017
Contact:
Rev. Jay Sidebotham
jsidebotham@renewalworks.org
RenewalWorks is a ministry of Forward Movement.
www.renewalworks.org
If you'd like to join in this donor-based ministry, donate here.
Just because
Recent travels gave me the privilege of dropping in on a lively Bible study (not an oxymoron). Turns out I needed to be there. The topic du jour was forgiveness, based on the gospel read yesterday in church. The topic of forgiveness has been coming up a lot on Sundays. It's also been brought to my attention in other settings recently, which reinforces my own need to do spiritual work in this area. I'm not that good at forgiveness.
I've been wondering why forgiveness gets so much biblical and liturgical airtime. Not only did Jesus talk a lot about it. He practiced it at the crucial moment of his life. On the cross he prayed: Father, forgive them.
In our worship, forgiveness seems to be the threshold we must cross to grow in relationship with God. When we gather for eucharist, we precede Holy Communion with the confession, recognizing we have been forgiven. Before we receive bread and wine, we claim forgiveness as we have forgiven others. The Lord's Prayer, repeated in every liturgy in our tradition, holds forgiveness at the center.
As the discussion about forgiveness unfolded at the Bible study, one person mentioned Anne Lamott's well-circulated insight about resentment. She compares withholding of forgiveness to drinking rat poison and hoping the rat dies. I have a photo by my office door, a reminder in my comings and goings. It's a picture of the small jail cell where Nelson Mandela spent 27 years. Soon after his release, he spoke of how he had forgiven his captors. Someone asked how he could possibly do that. He said if he failed to forgive, they would still have him in captivity.
That principle was echoed by Desmond Tutu who affirmed that there was no future without forgiveness. The study group noted recent examples in Amish communities or in Charleston where unspeakable injury was met with forgiveness. Amazing grace.
Our discussion ranged to include the challenges around forgiveness, the myth that you can forgive and forget, the annoying (or worse) difficulty of forgiving someone who is clueless or careless about the injury that person has inflicted, the depths of injury human beings inflict on each other, often most painfully in families. And sometimes in churches.
In my work, as we explore movement in the spiritual journey, a key topic we consider is forgiveness, beginning with the good news that we have been forgiven. We observe that an inability to practice forgiveness can be a stumbling block, an obstacle thwarting spiritual growth. I have a feeling that Jesus knew that, when he said (as we heard yesterday) that we are called to forgive, not just once, not just seven times, but seventy times seven. He calls for limitless forgiveness. Which of course, makes no sense.
Which brings me to the comment made by one of the participants in the study. This wise person (also wise guy) said that, in the end, he was committed to being a forgiving person just because Jesus said to do it. He compared it to his own family when he was growing up. At certain points, his parents instructed him to do something he wasn't inclined to do. In lively adolescent rebellion, he asked why. They said: Just because.
From his point of view, Jesus' call to forgiveness had little to do with whether we wanted to forgive, whether we felt like it, whether it was just or fair, whether it even felt possible. It was a matter of listening to our teacher who said that forgiveness is good for us. It was a matter of obedience. As followers of Jesus, we sometimes are led to practice forgiveness just because Jesus taught us to do it, trusting that Jesus knows stuff we don't, trusting that Jesus knows who we are, trusting that Jesus knows what it means to build loving, liberated lives.
Just because.
-Jay Sidebotham
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No one is incapable of forgiving and no one is unforgivable. -Desmond Tutu
Always forgive your enemies; nothing annoys them so much.
- Oscar Wilde
To be a Christian means to forgive the inexcusable because God has forgiven the inexcusable in you.
- C.S.Lewis
Forgiveness is the fragrance that the violet sheds on the heel that has crushed it.
- Mark Twain
Resentment is like drinking poison and then hoping it will kill your enemies.
- Nelson Mandela
Be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ has forgiven you.
-Ephesians 4:32
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Discipleship Matters Conference 2017
Oct. 16-18, 2017
Contact:
Rev. Jay Sidebotham
jsidebotham@renewalworks.org
RenewalWorks is a ministry of Forward Movement.
www.renewalworks.org
If you'd like to join in this donor-based ministry, donate here.
Faith at work: Thoughts on Labor Day
Along with Thanksgiving and Independence Day, Labor Day is one of three national holidays that has made its way into the church calendar. Why so few? Why these three? What's the spiritual dimension to Labor Day, as prayers and scriptures selected for the day pose questions about the work we do?
A reading from Ecclesiasticus celebrates the variety of kinds of work that people do, smiths and potters and such. What kind of work would that passage talk about today? How can today's work be so celebrated, so honored?
A reading from Paul's letter to the Corinthians focuses on what it means to build a life. It asks about the work we do, paid or unpaid, about the kind of foundation on which we build. What would it mean to build on Jesus Christ, as St. Paul recommends?
In the gospel, an excerpt from the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus challenges the disciples to think about where they are giving their hearts. Jesus says: Where your treasure is there will your heart be also. In our work, do we give our hearts to that which will not satisfy our hearts?
(We've listed those readings below. Take a few minutes on this national holiday to reflect on those passages.)
I'm particularly taken with the prayer crafted for Labor Day, mindful that our praying shapes our believing. This Monday morning, pray it with me. It's found below. Parse that prayer a bit, beginning by noting that our lives are linked one with another. Recently, I've been reminded by three ways that we are all connected.
For starters, I'm mindful of the ways that life came to a halt on a Monday afternoon as the sun sped across the continent, eclipsed by the moon. In a time when our nation seems more divided than ever, for a brief darkening moment, there was unity forged in the presence of a force greater than ourselves. The cosmic scope of the event evoked a sense of wonder. We were united by beauty and maybe a bit of holy fear. For once, something was genuinely awesome.
And in a nation in which one in three people knows someone personally affected by Hurricane Harvey, we've seen a different way in which our lives are linked with others. That unprecedented weather event has called people from all walks of life to pitch in to help. Schools and sports arenas, bowling alleys and mattress stores, mosques and megachurches opened doors to strangers, a recognition that in the face of powers greater than ourselves, we are bound to each other.
Then last Monday, ministers from around the country gathered in DC to remember Dr. King's march on Washington. Their trek, their tribute reminded me of Dr. King's letter, written from a Birmingham jail, addressed to mainline clergy who he thought were, how shall we say, under-performing in pursuit of justice. He wrote:
"We must all learn to live together as brothers or we will all perish together as fools. We are tied together in the single garment of destiny, caught in an inescapable network of mutuality. Whatever affects one directly affects all indirectly. For some strange reason I can never be what I ought to be until you are what you ought to be. This is the way God's universe is made; this is the way it is structured."
So what is the so-what factor? Given that we are all in this together, the work we do is intended to be done, not for ourselves alone, but for the common good, done not only mindful of what we get out of it, but what we can offer to the wider community. We're in this together. That's something to celebrate on Labor Day. Something to work on this fall.
-Jay Sidebotham
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May the graciousness of the Lord our God be upon us; prosper the work of our hands; prosper our handiwork. A prayer for Labor Day Almighty God, you have so linked our lives one with another that all we do affects, for good or ill, all other lives: So guide us in the work we do, that we may do it not for self alone, but for the common good; and, as we seek a proper return for our own labor, make us mindful of the rightful aspirations of other workers, and arouse our concern for those who are out of work; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen. Readings for Labor Day:
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Contact:
Rev. Jay Sidebotham
jsidebotham@renewalworks.org
RenewalWorks is a ministry of Forward Movement.
www.renewalworks.org
If you'd like to join in this donor-based ministry, donate here.
Angels help us to adore him
16th century saint, Teresa of Avila, was a live wire, reflected in her request: "God save us from gloomy saints." Legend has it that while she was traveling to visit monasteries, her cart overturned and she ended up sitting in a mud puddle. With fist raised toward heaven, she addressed the Almighty: "Lord, if this is how you treat your friends, it's no wonder you have so few of them."
Offered in the same feisty, faithful spirit, she prayed: "God, I don't love you. I don't want to love you. But I want to want to love you." That prayer gives me strange comfort, as I'm aware of the limits of my love for God. I'm not always sure what it means to love God. But I gather it's pretty important.
I'm reading my way through the gospel of Mark and came upon a passage last week that made me remember Teresa's prayer. After a series of testy encounters with opponents trying to trip him up, Jesus is approached by a scribe who asks: What is the greatest commandment? Maybe it's a trick question. Maybe it's a trap. Maybe it's a sincere wondering. It sounds to me like the scribe is telling Jesus, after a lot of discussion and dispute about religious rules: "Cut to the chase. Tell me what's expected, what's important, what matters."
Jesus reaches back into his tradition, and recites the summary of the law. (The encounter is printed below.) The greatest commandment is simple, if not easy. It is one thing, except it's two: love of God and love of neighbor. A succinct answer indicates limitless engagement: Love with all our heart and mind and soul and strength. The scribe agrees with Jesus, and Jesus commends his questioner with words I'd like to hear: "You are not far from the kingdom of heaven." Often I feel pretty far. I'd like to be closer.
Apparently Jesus thinks that the fulfillment of the greatest commandment is not about right doctrine, not about right political point of view, not about right understanding of the liturgy, not about right advocacy or activism, not about right understanding of scripture. Teresa of Avila put it this way: "The important thing is not to think much but to love much and so do that which stirs you to love."
In other words, it's about right relationship. All that Jesus wants from us is love, to be in loving relationship with God and neighbor. Jesus doesn't seem to want us to know about God. Jesus wants us to know God. Jesus doesn't seem to want us to love our understanding of God. Jesus wants us to love God.
Sometimes when Episcopalians hear this kind of talk, they balk at phrases that suggest a "personal relationship with God" or "a relationship with Jesus." Sometimes they say: "That's not how we talk." The old hymn "What a friend we have in Jesus" does not show up in our 1982 Hymnal. I know well the pitfalls of boasting of relationship with God. That old ego can creep in anywhere, especially into religious observance. Case in point, as I've mentioned before, my beloved younger sister once gave me this tongue-in-cheek bumper sticker: "Jesus loves you but I'm his favorite."
But I think we need to reclaim language of relationship, as a way to enter into the mystery of figuring out what it means to love God. It's why we sing: "Angels help us to adore him." We need help to grow in this way. Scripture offers assistance, as it claims that love of God can't be separated from love of neighbor. One of the letters to John at the end of the New Testament pointedly asks: "How can you say you love God who you can't see when you fail to love your neighbor who you can see." Maybe that means if we're struggling to figure out what it means to love God, a place to start is by showing love to those around us.
Think about what it means to love God, how that love is demonstrated, how it grows and how goes to work in your world this Monday.
-Jay Sidebotham
Note: Just happened to run across this article which talks about actor Andrew Garfield and how preparation for the movie "Silence" caused him to fall in love with Jesus, much to his surprise.
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If it ain't about love, it ain't about God. -Presiding Bishop Michael Curry
One of the scribes came near and heard them disputing with one another, and seeing that he answered them well, he asked Jesus, 'Which commandment is the first of all?' Jesus answered, 'The first is, "Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God, the Lord is one; you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength." The second is this, "You shall love your neighbor as yourself." There is no other commandment greater than these.' Then the scribe said to him, 'You are right, Teacher; you have truly said that "he is one, and besides him there is no other"; and "to love him with all the heart, and with all the understanding, and with all the strength", and "to love one's neighbor as oneself",-this is much more important than all whole burnt-offerings and sacrifices.' When Jesus saw that he answered wisely, he said to him, 'You are not far from the kingdom of God.' After that no one dared to ask him any question.
-Mark 12
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Contact:
Rev. Jay Sidebotham
jsidebotham@renewalworks.org
RenewalWorks is a ministry of Forward Movement.
www.renewalworks.org
If you'd like to join in this donor-based ministry, donate here.
Monday, August 14, 2017
On vacation a few years ago, my wife and I stayed in a hotel overlooking the water. Each room had a balcony, with enough privacy so you didn't see neighbors, but not so much that it cut off views, enough to see that each balcony had the identical birdfeeder hanging over the rail. As I looked right and left, I noticed that some feeders were apparently quite popular, birds on every perch. Others could have hung a big old vacancy sign over them. The difference? The birdfeeders that got attention were the ones with birdseed in them. The empty ones? No birds. The birds went where they were fed.
Because as a preacher, I'm like a shark, always feeding, always looking for material (Be warned!), I immediately compared this line of birdfeeders to churches. I know it's not a perfect analogy, but it got me thinking about why some churches are filled with folks and others not?
I'm not entirely sure. There are many reasons which many people are studying. It's easy for this mainline clergyman to get dismissive, even jealous of more popular churches. One may be tempted to think: They just offer spiritual junk food or just tell people what they want to hear or just provide entertainment. After all, we live in a consumerist society, where church can easily become a matter of how enjoyable it is. We may go to a place as long as it is pleasing to us. We gravitate to communities of agreement the way we choose cable news channels. We placate aesthetic or political sensibilities, salvation by good taste.
Whether it's Bach or Bono or banjo, all can be offered for the glory of God. But there's probably some part of all churchgoers that do go for entertainment. Preachers, liturgists and musicians all need to watch that the offering is not about us. (After all, ego is an acronym for edging God out.)
I have noted in conversations that something deeper may be going on. It may be about finding a place where people are being fed in the spiritual life, where hunger is met. Being fed is different than being entertained.
I think it's why Jesus spent so much time at meals with both followers and detractors, as if to note parabolically that he would fill the empty place in each one of us, address the hunger. I think it's why we find that participating in the eucharist is transformative for folks as they launch on an intentional spiritual journey. It's about being fed. We live in a world filled with people who are spiritually hungry, on a deep level. How is that God-shaped space inside of us going to be filled?
Where are you being fed in your spiritual life? Early in my ministry, I asked that of a parishioner. She got all teary, which caught me off-guard. She wanted to be fed. It wasn't happening. When I speak with folks about finding a place to worship (church shopping to be crass about it), I encourage them to go where they are fed, noting that we can be fed by many things: beauty, silence, prayer, music, teaching, hospitality, architecture, outreach, tradition, scripture, preaching, challenge, solace, and of course, bread and wine.
Again, where are you being fed in your spiritual life? What have been sources of spiritual nourishment in the past? Are those still working for you? A feast may be right in front of you, in your community. It may be you have to look further afield. But events in our broken world make it all the more important for us to be fed, sustained, equipped with strength and courage.
We now have a couple birdfeeders at our house. At first, we weren't getting much business. It turns out the seed I bought would clog the openings. Nobody, not even inventive squirrels, were being fed. Perches were vacant. A few weeks ago, I found seed that apparently works better. I'm proud to report extraordinary popularity. Standing room only. I may get more feeders. I guess the birds now being fed are telling friends that our house is the place to go to be fed.
I've seen that happen in churches, too.
-Jay Sidebotham
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As evening approached, the disciples came to Jesus and said, "This is a remote place, and it's already getting late. Send the crowds away, so they can go to the villages and buy themselves some food." Jesus replied, "They do not need to go away. You give them something to eat." "We have here only five loaves of bread and two fish," they answered. "Bring them here to me," he said. And he directed the people to sit down on the grass. Taking the five loaves and the two fish and looking up to heaven, he gave thanks and broke the loaves. Then he gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the people. They all ate and were satisfied, and the disciples picked up twelve basketfuls of broken pieces that were left over. The number of those who ate was about five thousand men, besides women and children. - Matthew 14
He gives food to every living thing. His faithful love endures forever. Give thanks to the God of heaven. His faithful love endures forever.
- Psalm 136
Jesus said: Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air; they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And can any of you by worrying add a single hour to your span of life?
- Matthew 6
Clean and unclean birds, the dove and the raven, are yet in the ark.
- Augustine
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Contact:
Rev. Jay Sidebotham
jsidebotham@renewalworks.org
RenewalWorks is a ministry of Forward Movement.
www.renewalworks.org
If you'd like to join in this donor-based ministry, donate here.
Don't let him know, but I stand in awe of a friend, Jim Stephenson, extraordinarily gifted musician and composer. He has a big heart that complements his big talent. He was so deeply moved by tragic events in Charleston several years ago that he composed a piece of music entitled There Are No Words, a piece offered in the confidence that music heals, or as Hans Christian Anderson put it: "When words fail, music speaks."
I'm late with Monday Matters this morning. Like many clergy colleagues up late on Saturday night revising sermons in light of events in Charlottesville, I found myself wondering what to say today. I found myself with a heavy heart. I listened to a portion of Jim's music.
I'm on retreat in the mountains of North Carolina, removed from newspapers and cable channels. Days and dates are not top of mind. This morning, I was on a walk in the woods, with a different Monday Matters message ready to be sent. Then I remembered that today is August 14. In the Episcopal Church it is a day we remember the life and ministry and witness of Jonathan Myrick Daniels.
He grew up in New Hampshire, and as a young adult had a profound conversion on Easter Day, 1962. He entered the Episcopal Theological School in Cambridge, Massachusetts and in March 1965, answered a call to travel to Alabama to help secure the right to vote for all citizens. He was jailed for joining a picket line. Then he and his companions were unexpectedly released. Aware that they were in danger, four of them walked to a small store. As sixteen-year-old Ruby Sales reached the top step of the entrance to the store, a man with a gun appeared, cursing her. Jonathan pulled her to one side to shield her from threats. He was killed by a blast from the 12-gauge gun.
We remember him on this day. In light of the weekend news, it may be a day in which we wonder who we are and how we got here. We may wonder what has changed since the 60's. It may be a day when words fail.
And then there is music.
You see Mr. Daniel's willingness to confront danger, part of his work for justice and peace, came in part from an experience of Evening Prayer when he took the words of a song, the Magnificat, to heart: "He hath put down the mighty from their seat and hath exalted the humble and meek. He hath filled the hungry with good things."
Pray this Monday for our nation and our world. Pray for a young woman who lost her life over the weekend, for those who mourn for her, for all who are injured in body, mind and spirit. Pray for faithful and loving leadership. Pray for all whose hearts harbor hate. Pray for those who are indifferent. (That may mean praying for ourselves.) Pray that the Spirit will show us how we can work for justice and peace and healing of our land.
And if words fail, read the words of the Magnificat below. It's a song with the power to heal.
-Jay Sidebotham
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The prayer for the Feast of Jonathan Myrick Daniels
O God of justice and compassion, you put down the proud and mighty from their place, and lift up the poor and the afflicted: We give you thanks for your faithful witness Jonathan Myrick Daniels, who, in the midst of injustice and violence, risked and gave his life for another; and we pray that we, following his example, may make no peace with oppression; through Jesus Christ the just one, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
The Magnificat
My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, for he has looked with favor on the lowliness of his servant. Surely, from now on all generations will call me blessed; for the Mighty One has done great things for me, and holy is his name. His mercy is for those who fear him from generation to generation. He has shown strength with his arm; he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts. He has brought down the powerful from their thrones, and lifted up the lowly; he has filled the hungry with good things, and sent the rich away empty. He has helped his servant Israel, in remembrance of his mercy, according to the promise he made to our ancestors, to Abraham and to his descendants forever.
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Contact:
Rev. Jay Sidebotham
jsidebotham@renewalworks.org
RenewalWorks is a ministry of Forward Movement.
www.renewalworks.org
If you'd like to join in this donor-based ministry, donate here.
