1 Lord, you have searched me out and known me; you know my sitting down and my rising up; you discern my thoughts from afar. 2 You trace my journeys and my resting-places and are acquainted with all my ways. 3 Indeed, there is not a word on my lips, but you, O Lord, know it altogether. 4 You press upon me behind and before and lay your hand upon me. 5 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is so high that I cannot attain to it. 12 For you yourself created my inmost parts; you knit me together in my mother's womb. 13 I will thank you because I am marvelously made; your works are wonderful, and I know it well. 14 My body was not hidden from you, while I was being made in secret and woven in the depths of the earth. 15 Your eyes beheld my limbs, yet unfinished in the womb; all of them were written in your book; they were fashioned day by day, when as yet there was none of them. 16 How deep I find your thoughts, O God! how great is the sum of them! 17 If I were to count them, they would be more in number than the sand; to count them all, my life span would need to be like yours.
When I began seminary, Professor James Forbes told incoming students to memorize Psalm 139. (A portion of that psalm turned up in the lectionary for the past Sunday and is also reprinted in this email.) Dr. Forbes said the psalm would change our lives. I did memorize it, though I can’t totally recite it now. But I’ve held it close because it reminds me that God holds me close. That is indeed a life changing insight. In that spirit, this morning I’m sparing you my Monday morning ramblings and deferring to the wisdom of Howard Thurman who wrote a poem that I also hold close. It's a poem that speaks of the ways that God holds us close, even and especially when times are tough.
-Jay Sidebotham
The Threads in My Hand
Only one end of the threads, I hold in my hand. The threads go many ways, linking my life with other lives.
One thread comes from a life that is sick; it is taut with anguish and always there is the lurking fear that the life will snap. I hold it tenderly. I must not let it go.
One thread comes from a high-flying kite; it quivers with the mighty current of fierce and holy dreaming invading the common day with far-off places and visions bright.
One thread comes from the failing hands of an old, old friend. Hardly aware am I of the moment when the tight line slackended and there was nothing at all — nothing.
One thread is but a tangled mass that won’t come right; Mistakes, false starts; lost battles, angry words – a tangled mass; I have tried too hard, but it won’t come right.
One thread is a strange thread – it is my steadying thread; When I am lost, I pull it hard and find my way. When I am saddened, I tighten my grip and gladness glides along its quivering path; When the waste places of my spirit appear in arid confusion, the thread becomes a channel of newness of life.
One thread is a strange thread – it is my steadying thread. God’s hand holds the other end.
-Howard Thurman
Footnote: Since many of you have been watching a lot of tennis over the past two weeks, I thought I'd note that Arthur Ashe concluded his memoir, Days of Grace, with this poem by Howard Thurman. The poem sustained Mr. Ashe in the challenges he faced.
This week's reflection on encouraging prayer comes from Rev. Elsa Worth at St James Episcopal Church in Keene NH. Over the past few years RenewalWorks has worked with the Diocese of New Hampshire to help their churches understand parishioner's needs and to re-orient church activities around deepening their faith. Of participating in RenewalWorks, Elsa writes....
"The pandemic had not yet fully wound down when St. James embarked on the RenewalWorks process. As the priest of the parish, I will admit I was more than a little intimidated by the strong emphasis RenewalWorks puts on the Heart of the Leader. How could I, especially during the pandemic, be in any way a model or example of faith for my congregation when we often had no way of even being together in the same room? How could anything about my heart be conveyed in a written blog post or even over Zoom?
But I knew I had heart to share. I’d experienced an extremely painful personal loss in 2017, and my prayer life had not only helped me through but renewed my life. Then, given more room to grow in prayer during those strange pandemic years, my faith had deepened in new ways even more profound than I could have imagined. So even though my contact with my parishioners had been curtailed, I longed for a way to somehow share the joy of prayerfulness in the midst of that grievous and anxious time. I was hoping I could encourage my parishioners to commit to a regular prayer practice of their own, especially while we were apart so much of the time.
Rev Elsa Worth
It seemed like a daunting task, honestly, because I already knew how challenging it is - even in person - to get people praying. I’ve learned how often people can be intimidated by the idea of developing a prayer practice. Not only is it a sometimes an overwhelming idea to commit time every day to any practice, I’ve come to see that people are often at a loss about how to pray anyway. They may be stuck with the simplistic prayers learned by heart when they were children. They may be put off by the formal language of the liturgical prayers we use at church and wonder why they’d want to just read them at home. They may be shy to speak to, ahem, GOD. (How on earth do you speak the right way to God?)
And they may not be sure what to expect out of prayers, or how to gauge if you’re doing it ‘right,’ and then they can feel bad about themselves for not being more sure about these things - more faithful already. Sadly, sometimes the idea of praying just makes people feel unsure of themselves or even inadequate, and they can simply avoid the whole thing altogether. Let’s leave this for the professionals.
I also know that people are praying all the time without even noticing that what they are doing could be framed as prayer. I thought - maybe I can make some short videos that help people recognize their own way of praying and maybe also try on some new ideas. So, with my uncut, unflattering pandemic hair and sitting in my own prayer chair at home in my pajamas, I made this series of short videos, each suggesting a different way to think about prayer. The pandemic had required me to learn this new skill of video editing, and I thought, why not put it to work? And it turned out that not only were these videos popular with our own parish, they have been watched hundreds of times all over the world by virtue of our website and Facebook page.
Here is one of our favorite of Elsa's 2 min prayer prompt examples:
I’ve come to think that if it had not been such a vulnerable time and I had not been so casual in my appearance and approach, they might not have caught on so much. And I realized that no one wants a really together looking clergy person telling them how to pray. What all people need is a seasoned companion in the exploration of faith. Until people come to know Christ as that very companion, they are in need of onramps that are not intimidating to find their own way there - safe people and pathways to encourage them to experiment and stretch.
The pandemic has been over for a while, but my experience sharing myself vulnerably as a person of sincere prayer helped me to understand why my heart as a leader is so important. Like anything important, faith is caught, not taught. If people aren’t able to see the church leaders’ spiritual life in action, that leader will have a hard time getting people to be curious or intrigued about putting their own spiritual life in motion. My approach to teaching has remained casual and personal ever since. I am not as shy about revealing my love for God and far less concerned about having the ‘right words.’
And because I have an active prayer life, I always have new questions. I always have new struggles and doubts with Scripture and tradition. I share these struggles and how I’ve made ‘sense’ of them as well as sharing the obvious joys of my spiritual life. I’ve learned that my heart does matter very much in my parish, and by tending to it and to my own faith practices, I encourage the faith of others."
Psalm 81:1, 10-16
1 Sing with joy to God our strength and raise a loud shout to the God of Jacob.
10 I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt and said, "Open your mouth wide, and I will fill it."
11 And yet my people did not hear my voice, and Israel would not obey me.
12 So I gave them over to the stubbornness of their hearts, to follow their own devices.
13 Oh, that my people would listen to me! that Israel would walk in my ways!
14 I should soon subdue their enemies and turn my hand against their foes.
15 Those who hate the Lord would cringe before him, and their punishment would last for ever.
16 But Israel would I feed with the finest wheat and satisfy him with honey from the rock.
(This year, Monday Matters will focus on wisdom conveyed in the treasures of the book of Psalms. We'll look at the psalms read in church before Monday Matters comes to your screen. Please note that these days in the church, there are two tracks of readings in the lectionary, offering a choice of psalms. Your church may or may not have read the psalm included in this email.)
Ah, Wilderness
The wilderness is a persistent image in scripture. After dramatic escape from Egyptian slavery, the children of Israel wandered in the wilderness for 40 years. Trace the journey and you’ll see that there was nothing direct about the route. Seems they had little idea of where they were going. Years later, when Israelites were exiled to Babylon, prophets promised a way home, but it would have to pass through the wilderness. John the Baptist took his ministry not to Times Square but into the wilderness where he prepared the way of the Lord and called his congregants a brood of vipers. Interesting approach to preaching. Before Jesus began his public ministry, he spent forty days in the wilderness where he was tested.
So wilderness experience does not just appear in the psalm you may have heard in church yesterday (reprinted in this email). That psalm describes people wandering in desert wastes, not finding their way, hungry and thirsty, spirits languishing until the Lord put their feet on a straight path, leading them to a place in which they could dwell.
I suspect that the image of wilderness persists because everyone knows something about wilderness. Have you ever found yourself in that kind of circumstance, literally or figuratively? Those circumstances come in great variety. Maybe you’re there this Monday morning.
In the scripture, and in life, the wilderness is a place of challenge. One of the great challenges described in scripture is that the desert was described as a tractless wasteland. In other words, there were no roads or signage or GPS. One would have no idea if they were headed in the right direction. Meanwhile, sources of refreshment were in short supply. Those are just a few reasons why wilderness experiences are hard. I know from years of parish ministry the many ways that people find themselves in the wilderness, experiences which can often be beyond overwhelming.
It's why this oft-cited prayer of Thomas Merton is so important. It reflects a certain experience of wilderness:
My Lord God, I have no idea where I am going. I do not see the road ahead of me. I cannot know for certain where it will end, nor do I really know myself, and the fact that I think I am following your will does not mean that I am actually doing so. But I believe that the desire to please you does in fact please you. And I hope I have that desire in all that I am doing. I hope that I will never do anything apart from that desire. And I know that if I do this you will lead me by the right road, though I may know nothing about it. Therefore will I trust you always though I may seem to be lost and in the shadow of death. I will not fear, for you are ever with me, and you will never leave me to face my perils alone.
If we can embrace that prayer, owning its wisdom even just a bit, we can see that the wilderness is not only a place of challenge. It can be a place of formation. The children of Israel entered the wilderness a nation unformed. As they traveled, they learned what it meant to be a faithful community, courtesy of hard lessons along the way. They learned to trust, even when trust seemed foolish. They wandered around until they were ready for the promised land, ready to be a community.
As in Thomas Merton’s prayer, we may find ourselves not knowing where we are headed. The promise of our faith is that we have a faithful guide. We may not know the future, but we know the one who holds the future. We who swim in the Christian stream are not promised to know all that lies ahead. We’re simply called to hear Jesus’ call: Follow me. As we figure out what that means in our own context, may the challenge of wilderness also bring about formation. And whatever our variation of wilderness experience, may we be assured that we move forward trusting that we are not in it alone.
-Jay Sidebotham
Psalm 103:1-8
1 Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless his holy Name.
2 Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits.
3 He forgives all your sins and heals all your infirmities;
4 He redeems your life from the grave and crowns you with mercy and loving-kindness;
5 He satisfies you with good things, and your youth is renewed like an eagle's.
6 The Lord executes righteousness and judgment for all who are oppressed.
7 He made his ways known to Moses and his works to the children of Israel.
8 The Lord is full of compassion and mercy, slow to anger and of great kindness.
(This year, Monday Matters will focus on wisdom conveyed in the treasures of the book of Psalms. We'll look at the psalms read in church before Monday Matters comes to your screen. Please note that these days in the church, there are two tracks of readings in the lectionary, offering a choice of psalms. Your church may or may not have read the psalm included in this email.)
A memory from Y2K. (For youngsters, at the turn of the century, anxiety was high with concern that computers would crash as they were not programmed for a date that began with the number 2, i.e., 2000.) For some folks, the anxiety prompted reflection on the spiritual life. A young man came to my office at church. He said that he had not been interested in things religious. But he had been walking on the street, had sneezed loudly, and a passerby said: God bless you. It triggered something for him, amid Y2K anticipation. He asked me: What does it mean for God to bless? Our conversation was his first step into deeper commitment to the church and the Christian path.
We hear a lot about blessings in scripture. Most often it is God who does the blessing. When we offer gifts in church, we praise God from whom all blessings flow. We close liturgies with blessings in God’s name. And there are places, especially in the psalms, when we are the ones who do the blessing. What does it mean to bless the Lord (as in the psalm reprinted in this email, one you may have heard in church yesterday)?
I wasn’t sure, so I wondered if it would help to look at the original language. In Hebrew, the word bless (barak) suggests praise or adoration. In the Greek translation of the Hebrew scriptures, the word bless (eulogein) literally means to speak well of. Let’s work with those and think about what it might mean for us to bless the Lord this week.
To bless the Lord is to note the character of God, leading to praise and adoration as suggested by the Hebrew meaning of the word. We offer praise for the character of God revealed in the complex beauty of nature, which seems to rise above all that we might inflict on this fragile earth, our island home. We offer praise for the character of God revealed in the gift of life, the amazing ways our bodies work. We offer praise for the character of God revealed in unconditional love, the grace and mercy of God’s care for us. We offer praise for the character of God revealed in defense of those who are oppressed. That seems especially praiseworthy in our current season of politics of cruelty. We praise the character of a God who cares for those who are ill treated (e.g., these days we are mindful of immigrants, refugees, the unhoused, hungry children nearby and far away, those vilified for their sexuality). How amazing, how praiseworthy that the God we praise and adore came to live among us as refugee, unhoused, finally done in by religious and political powers!
Praise leads to gratitude, related to praise. We bless the Lord when we look in the spiritual rear view mirror and see how God has acted in our lives in the past. We tell stories of scripture to hear how God has been gracious over the generations. In the eucharist, we give thanks for all the good things God has done. Gratitude in the attitude is one way to bless the Lord.
Then going with the Greek meaning, when we bless the Lord, we speak well of the Lord. We do that in community when we worship, a reminder that worship is not a spectator sport. In the vision of Soren Kierkegaard, worship is a drama in which clergy and musicians are prompters, congregants are actors and God is the audience.
When we’re not in church, we bless the Lord by fulfilling the baptismal promise to proclaim by word and example the good news of God in Christ. To proclaim good news by word means we speak well of the Lord. That’s not always the most comfortable thing for Episcopalians to do, partly because so many of us have been on the receiving end of disrespectful, heavy handed proselytizing. (As Dave Barry asked: Why is that people who want to tell me about their religion never want to hear about mine?) I learned from one of my youth groups that an effective way to talk about our faith is to speak of God-sightings: I-statements about where we have seen God at work in our lives. Can't argue with that.
We also bless the Lord by example, living into St. Francis’ maxim that we should preach the gospel at all times, if necessary use words. We bless the Lord when we act in service to those who have been marginalized, those who are being oppressed. We're told that's what God does, and imitation is the highest form of flatter (a.k.a. praise).
All of which is to invite readers to think this week about what it means to bless the Lord. Offer praise for the marvel and mystery of creation. Give thanks to the one from whom all blessings flow. Proclaim good news, especially to those who need to hear it. those on the edges. Offer that good news not only with our lips but with our lives.
-Jay Sidebotham
PS: I totally understand if life's circumstances make blessing, praise, adoration, gratitude difficult to offer. Perhaps the topic for another Monday morning. Meanwhile, I commend to you two books: Uncommon Gratitude: Alleluia For All That Is, by Rowan Williams and Joan Chittister, and Hallelujah Anyway by Anne Lamott.
This week we are kicking off the Fall 2025 cohort of RenewalWorks churches, which will run through the first week of December. In wrapping up our January 2025 cohort this past spring, we asked them to give one piece of advice for new churches planning on doing RenewalWorks. Despite doing RenewalWorks for many different reasons, the churches recommended reading Signs of Life with their vestry or parish prior to beginning RenewalWorks.
The book, written by Jay Sidebotham, and published in 2023, summarizes the findings of RenewalWorks specifically around the Episcopal Church. It also gives information and examples of how churches have taken that information to re-focus themselves on creating cultures of spiritual vitality, or simply a deeper love of God and neighbor. Sometimes RenewalWorks can seem daunting – spending 13 weeks determining a spiritual strategic plan – but Signs of Life makes the process seem relatable, hopeful and achievable. It also starts to build common language and discussion around the notion of spiritual leadership. What does it mean to serve on the Vestry versus other non-profit boards? What does spiritual leadership look like at church?
The Rt. Rev. Thomas James Brown, Bishop of Maine said the following in his review of Signs of Life:
“Signs of Life is written by a pastor for any person, lay or ordained, who cares about congregations. Jay’s decades of experience in parish churches, as well as his vulnerable witness that developing “more programs” is not the same as deepening faith in Jesus Christ, grounds this work and makes it both practical and beautiful. If you don’t yet know Jay Sidebotham, I’m pretty sure that after you read this book, you’ll want to have coffee with him to learn more.
This book affirms the truth that attending to tasks that hold up basic, common-sense, and faith-filled practices WILL strengthen a local church. The warmth of leaders (clergy and lay), getting people moving, embedding scripture in everything, empowering others, and caring for the entire local community are honest-to-goodness keys to the kingdom.
Jay Sidebotham inspires me every Sunday. When I visit congregations in Maine, two common questions are, “how can we grow?” and “what can we do?” My response always includes aspects of what he writes here!
A decade ago, I began working alongside Jay. At the time RenewalWorks was just starting. I was the rector of a suburban Boston parish who wanted to go deep with their faith. Jay’s wisdom gave us capacity for courage and enthusiasm, and within a few months, lay leaders were saying, “I can see now—-God is helping us put God at the center of it all.”
You can find Signs of Life wherever you buy your books – but when you purchase directly from Forward Movement, your purchase supports our ministry. This month Forward Movement is offering a 50% discount on purchases of Signs of Life. Use the coupon code SIGNS at checkout to get Signs of Life for only $11 through the end of August. If you or your church is considering RenewalWorks, or just want more information on Episcopal Church characteristics, challenges and successes, we invite you to look further at Signs of Life.
Psalm 80:1-2, 8-18
1 Hear, O Shepherd of Israel, leading Joseph like a flock; shine forth, you that are enthroned upon the cherubim.
2 In the presence of Ephraim, Benjamin, and Manasseh, stir up your strength and come to help us.
8 You have brought a vine out of Egypt; you cast out the nations and planted it.
9 You prepared the ground for it; it took root and filled the land.
10 The mountains were covered by its shadow and the towering cedar trees by its boughs.
11 You stretched out its tendrils to the Sea and its branches to the River.
12 Why have you broken down its wall, so that all who pass by pluck off its grapes?
13 The wild boar of the forest has ravaged it, and the beasts of the field have grazed upon it.
14 Turn now, O God of hosts, look down from heaven; behold and tend this vine; preserve what your right hand has planted.
15 They burn it with fire like rubbish; at the rebuke of your countenance let them perish.
16 Let your hand be upon the man of your right hand, the son of man you have made so strong for yourself.
17 And so will we never turn away from you; give us life, that we may call upon your Name.
18 Restore us, O Lord God of hosts; show the light of your countenance, and we shall be saved.
(This year, Monday Matters will focus on wisdom conveyed in the treasures of the book of Psalms. We'll look at the psalms read in church before Monday Matters comes to your screen. Please note that these days in the church, there are two tracks of readings in the lectionary, offering a choice of psalms. Your church may or may not have read the psalm included in this email.)
A couple weeks ago, I noted that wilderness is a theme that runs throughout the Bible. Here’s another recurring theme: vineyards. It shows up in a psalm you may have heard in church yesterday, but also in a bunch of other places. The fact is, the Bible begins and ends with gardens. In between, the vineyard emerges as a way of describing the synergy of God’s activity and our activity in the world.
The psalm before us (reprinted in this email) describes a vineyard which had been established by God. God had planted the vineyard in a marvelous, miraculous way, bringing a vine out of Egypt’s captivity, planting it with a prospect of new vitality. Apparently, the vineyard had become something of a mess. Walls broken down. Beasts of the field running all over the place, eating all the profits. The psalmist asks a question often heard in scripture: Where did you go, God? What on earth are you up to? Behold and tend your vineyard. Get to work. I’m wondering if you’ve ever asked those kinds of questions. A look at the daily news is enough to make you ask.
Jesus told stories about vineyards, stating that we are to see ourselves as those who take care of the vineyard. The vineyard is not our creation. We don’t own it. We’re meant to care for it. We’re meant to see the produce of the vineyard as belonging to God. In those parables, vineyard workers often get confused, imagining that the vineyard belongs to them, that they are entitled to all that it produces. As they buy into that perspective, it doesn’t end well. Do you know any vineyard workers like that?
There’s a richness to the image of the vineyard. The image has all kinds of interpretations and applications. This Monday morning, I’m wondering in what kind of vineyard do you find yourself. Maybe your vineyard is the household in which God has placed you. Maybe it’s the crisis you now are navigating. Maybe it’s the work you do, for compensation or as a volunteer. Maybe it’s your faith community. Maybe you can think of the vineyard as the society in which we all live. Maybe we are all part of a global vineyard.
From one point of view, all of them are God’s creation, and we look to God to restore them when they seem like they are a mess. I suspect we all know how households, families, workplaces, churches, nations can be a mess. We might look at any of those vineyards and echo the psalmist in thinking that the vineyard is in need of restoration, that God has taken a sabbatical, or as one friend recently put it, God does not seem so chatty at 3 in the morning when anxiety takes over. In Psalm 80, of which we only read a portion, this refrain is repeated: Restore us, O Lord God of hosts. We might even dare to imagine that it’s our job to tell the Holy One how to straighten things out.
There’s actually a wonderful synergy in the image of the vineyard. The vineyard is God’s creation. We are invited to participate in that creation, to go to work. It’s captured in a beautiful synopsis of the gospel in Paul’s letter to the Philippians: Work out your salvation with fear and trembling. For it is God who is at work in you to will and to do of God’s good pleasure. Perhaps if we sense that the vineyard is in disrepair, we are being invited, or even challenged, to participate in restoration. To bring healing to our household. To be a light of integrity in our workplace. To foster growth through kindness. To stand against the rampant and random cruelty we read about in the news, taking place in our own nation and around the world.
Take time this week to think about whether you can see your current life, your current circumstances as one of God’s vineyards. How might God be calling you to serve in the vineyard in which you find yourself? And if that vineyard seems to be a mess, in disrepair, missing God’s attention, is there something you can do to help the garden grow?
-Jay Sidebotham
(For another image of growth, read I Corinthians 3 in which Paul says the church is really God’s field, and that it is God who gives the growth.)
Psalm 50:1-8, 23-24
1 The Lord, the God of gods, has spoken; he has called the earth from the rising of the sun to its setting.
2 Out of Zion, perfect in its beauty, God reveals himself in glory.
3 Our God will come and will not keep silence; before him there is a consuming flame, and round about him a raging storm.
4 He calls the heavens and the earth from above to witness the judgment of his people.
5 "Gather before me my loyal followers, those who have made a covenant with me and sealed it with sacrifice."
6 Let the heavens declare the rightness of his cause; for God himself is judge.
7 Hear, O my people, and I will speak: "O Israel, I will bear witness against you; for I am God, your God.
8 I do not accuse you because of your sacrifices; your offerings are always before me.
23 Consider this well, you who forget God, lest I rend you and there be none to deliver you.
24 Whoever offers me the sacrifice of thanksgiving honors me; but to those who keep in my way will I show the salvation of God."
A sacrifice of thanksgiving. The phrase pops up a couple of times in the psalms. When I run across it, I’m struck by the paradox. What does thanksgiving have to do with sacrifice? What comes to mind when you think of a sacrifice? Dictionary definitions underscore the idea that sacrifice often involves violence, killing something. Hard to connect that with thanksgiving.
Dig a little deeper, and sacrifice can simply suggest offering something of value. Apparently, as the psalm indicates (as reprinted in this email and heard in some churches yesterday), a sacrifice of thanksgiving is what God wants from us. So what is sacrificial about thanksgiving?
If we think of sacrifice as offering something we value, what do we surrender in thanksgiving? Perhaps we give up the idea that we are in charge, that we take credit for the good things that come to us in life. A sacrifice of thanksgiving recognizes that all good gifts around us are sent from heaven above. It is letting go of the idea that we are the center of the universe, credited for our successes, to blame for our shortcomings.
Maybe in this paradoxical phrase we don’t need to think about putting something to death, but of bringing something to life. In the second century, St. Irenaeus said that the glory of God is the human being fully alive.
In the 12th chapter of his letter to the Romans, Paul invites his readers to offer themselves as a living sacrifice. That offering, that living sacrifice of thanksgiving comes as response to the first 11 chapters of Paul’s letter. In those first chapters, Paul has described the mystery of amazing grace, God’s great gift of a love from which we can not be separated, a gift meant for all people. A sacrifice of thanksgiving simply recognizes that gift.
In response to that gift, as living sacrifices, we are called to a new way of life. Reflect this week on Romans, chapter 12 to find out what that new way of life looks like. Here’s a sample of grateful sacrificial living from that chapter:
Let love be genuine; hate what is evil; hold fast to what is good; love one another with mutual affection; outdo one another in showing honor. Be ardent in spirit; serve the Lord. Rejoice in hope; be patient in affliction; persevere in prayer. Contribute to the needs of the saints; pursue hospitality to strangers. Bless those who persecute you. Rejoice with those who rejoice; weep with those who weep. Live in harmony with one another; do not be arrogant, but associate with the lowly; do not claim to be wiser than you are.
Paul’s vision of the sacrificial life of St. Paul is reflected in our liturgy. In the eucharistic prayer, we say: We celebrate the memorial of our redemption, O Father, in this sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving. Recalling his death, resurrection, and ascension, we offer you these gifts. In this eucharistic context, our sacrifice of thanksgiving is prompted by recalling the grace-filled story of Jesus.
So sacrifice does not require violence. But it can be seen as a matter of putting to death an old way of looking at the world, a perspective that puts self at center. (As my wife reminds me, the word “ego” is really an acronym for edging God out.) In a few places in Paul’s letters, he talks about putting to death that old way of life (e.g., Romans 6:4: We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.).
Our sacrifice of thanksgiving, then, may be a matter of getting ourselves out of the way. As we say goodbye to that old way of life, faith opens the door to new, resurrected life. What does God want from us? A sacrifice of thanksgiving. Let me conclude with a few ideas about what that could look like:
I’ve often suggested beginning the day by listing ten things for which to be thankful. I met a rabbi who said that was nothing. She told her congregation to list a hundred things each day.
Make a commitment to regularly attend a service of Holy Eucharist. The word eucharist really means thanksgiving. We are fed when we give thanks.
Mostly it’s a matter of noting where we have seen grace at work in our lives. As we come to know grace, look for ways to show grace in a world that is grace-starved.
What other ways can you think of? Give them a try this week.
-Jay Sidebotham
This week’s post was written by The Reverend Maureen Martin, Associate for Parish Life and Community Engagement at Christ Episcopal Church in Grosse Pointe Fams MI. Maureen recently led her church through RenewalWorks for the second time this spring. Here are her reflections on the process:
“When I first arrived at Christ Church Grosse Pointe (CCGP) to serve as the Priest Associate for Parish Life and Community Engagement in February of 2022, I was tasked with offering the RenewalWorks inventory to the Parish, and creating a committee of key leaders to engage with our results who would then make recommendations based on our findings and reflections to the Vestry. I was not sure at first how I felt about this task or even how I felt about RenewalWorks as a concept, but I plunged in and found the experience to be an excellent way to begin a new ministry. Whether or not you are new in a call or seasoned, RenewalWorks is a strong tool for examining the spiritual vitality of your Parish. In this post I will focus on what RenewalWorks can do for those who are new to a parish based on my own personal experience.
The Opportunity to Understand Ourselves
One of the challenges I faced was getting to know a large congregation at the tail-end of the pandemic. How they had functioned during the shutdown was a great unknown to me and, I think more crucial, what they had looked like prior to the pandemic, as well as who they believed themselves to be. RenewalWorks was a unique opportunity to look under the hood, so to speak, and an opportunity to build a foundation of trust during my first years as a spiritual leader for the particular needs of CCGP. Hopefully we will not encounter anything like a pandemic in the years to come, but, in any new ministry context, there is always going to be a bit of a perceptual mismatch between who a parish believes themselves to be, and how they are experienced by new clergy in their midst. Rather than having to wait for this complex issue to arise over time, RenewalWorks gave me permission to begin asking serious questions about the spiritual vitality of this community.
Maureen Martin
Being new on the scene, there were a few folks who questioned my motives behind administering the Inventory, but it was only a handful. For the most part, people saw it as an opportunity to engage with their new priest. I was careful to explain to them that the results are anonymized and that the work that follows is communal and participatory. We had a higher percentage of our membership take the Inventory the first time than we did the second, which I attribute to this honeymoon effect.
The Work of the Workshop Team
Parallel to individual participation is the work of a committee pulled from the various ministry areas in the parish. Creating this committee helped communicate to the Parish that my leadership style is inviting and collaborative. I would highly suggest to anyone embarking on RenewalWorks that they have this committee in place before the Inventory is launched because they will play a huge role in driving member participation.
The committee members may reach out on your behalf directly to the membership to encourage them to take the coming Inventory and share with them the benefits they are already feeling from having done the Inventory themselves. Add to that, the one to one contact allows church members to ask questions about the new priest on staff. Because the materials for RenewalWorks are well organized and backed up with considerable research and data, the committee will have positive information to share about the new clergy person’s leadership style from the very beginning. The types of questions on the Inventory get people thinking about spiritual vitality long before the results roll in and will already begin to provide the committee with new and thoughtful language in their conversations, scaffolding the new priest’s lay leadership partners from the beginning.
In the years to come, the RenewalWorks data serves to strengthen the leadership’s position on new initiatives within the Parish. Referring back to our data I have been able to make my case to the Vestry a number of times as we begin new endeavors. They find it reassuring to know our decisions are supported by what we learned about ourselves through our participation in RenewalWorks and the feedback that we received from their staff at Forward Movement.
Learning We Are On A Journey
Once the results were in I met with our committee on four separate occasions for dicussions which led to our recommendations to the Vestry, based on the strength and growth areas of the congregation. The first meeting centered on a exploration of what it means to be on a spiritual journey. Contained within the materials provided by RenewalWorks is an insightful exercise for helping the committee members understand where their own spiritual growth has ebbed and flowed over the course of their lives.
In our case - and I suspect this is a usual finding - people were surprised to discover how often their biggest growth phases happened in response to some of the hardest moments in their lives, and how during those periods of time God’s grace carried them through. They could see that it was grace which propelled them spiritually, not their own might, as each one of them had been through similar periods of exhaustion and despair. It also created an appropriate venue for me to share moments of growth and hardship in my own life. As I was new and we had no water under the bridge my offering to them was seeing them with fresh eyes which helped them to see themselves that way too.
Worship at Christ Episcopal Church, Grosse Pointe
I repeated this exercise with other groups of people and found that we had similarly powerful experiences across the board. If I were to go back to that point in my ministry I would repeat this exercise in our other ministry areas from Altar Guild to Formation Leaders to the Vestry. I think the biggest discovery for people is that everyone is on a spiritual journey and that the spiritual life is not some kind of black box within us, an unmeasurable mystery.
In order to address a concrete area of exploration let us take Biblical literacy as an example. Like so many Episcopal churches, our church learned that we needed more time with the Bible. I suspect that many people feel uncomfortable admitting that their relationship with the Bible is an uneasy one. However, learning, as a whole, that they are not alone in this helped people overcome their shyness around this topic. I offer specific classes on the Bible every year, alternating between Old and New Testament topics and the response had been exactly what RenewalWorks said it would be, which I happily point out from time to time. People are hungry for the Bible and in need of instruction on the transformational nature of Scripture. In addition, I made it a point to tailor my preaching to their need for direct teaching on the weekly texts.
How Had We Changed?
When we repeated the Inventory this spring we saw that our congregation had matured quite a bit in just three years with many people shifting from exploring a relationship with Christ to growing in their relationship with Christ. Being able to point that out to various leaders in the coming years will help them feel confident that we are on the right track and will help them support new endeavors designed to help people move from growing in Christ to deepening in their relationship with Christ; the next step, and the hardest one to take on our journey to becoming centered in Christ.
RenewalWorks is a powerful tool for building the spiritual vitality of a congregation and on that I found very helpful at the beginning of a new ministry in the Church. I would love to hear from others who may have used it themselves in this fashion and see if their experience has been as positive as mine here at Christ Church Grosse Pointe.”
Psalm 107:1-9, 43
1 Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, and his mercy endures for ever.
2 Let all those whom the Lord has redeemed proclaim that he redeemed them from the hand of the foe.
3 He gathered them out of the lands; from the east and from the west, from the north and from the south.
4 Some wandered in desert wastes; they found no way to a city where they might dwell.
5 They were hungry and thirsty; their spirits languished within them.
6 Then they cried to the Lord in their trouble, and he delivered them from their distress.
7 He put their feet on a straight path to go to a city where they might dwell.
8 Let them give thanks to the Lord for his mercy and the wonders he does for his children.
9 For he satisfies the thirsty and fills the hungry with good things.
43 Whoever is wise will ponder these things, and consider well the mercies of the Lord.
Ah, Wilderness
The wilderness is a persistent image in scripture. After dramatic escape from Egyptian slavery, the children of Israel wandered in the wilderness for 40 years. Trace the journey and you’ll see that there was nothing direct about the route. Seems they had little idea of where they were going. Years later, when Israelites were exiled to Babylon, prophets promised a way home, but it would have to pass through the wilderness. John the Baptist took his ministry not to Times Square but into the wilderness where he prepared the way of the Lord and called his congregants a brood of vipers. Interesting approach to preaching. Before Jesus began his public ministry, he spent forty days in the wilderness where he was tested.
So wilderness experience does not just appear in the psalm you may have heard in church yesterday (reprinted in this email). That psalm describes people wandering in desert wastes, not finding their way, hungry and thirsty, spirits languishing until the Lord put their feet on a straight path, leading them to a place in which they could dwell.
I suspect that the image of wilderness persists because everyone knows something about wilderness. Have you ever found yourself in that kind of circumstance, literally or figuratively? Those circumstances come in great variety. Maybe you’re there this Monday morning.
In the scripture, and in life, the wilderness is a place of challenge. One of the great challenges described in scripture is that the desert was described as a tractless wasteland. In other words, there were no roads or signage or GPS. One would have no idea if they were headed in the right direction. Meanwhile, sources of refreshment were in short supply. Those are just a few reasons why wilderness experiences are hard. I know from years of parish ministry the many ways that people find themselves in the wilderness, experiences which can often be beyond overwhelming.
It's why this oft-cited prayer of Thomas Merton is so important. It reflects a certain experience of wilderness:
My Lord God, I have no idea where I am going. I do not see the road ahead of me. I cannot know for certain where it will end, nor do I really know myself, and the fact that I think I am following your will does not mean that I am actually doing so. But I believe that the desire to please you does in fact please you. And I hope I have that desire in all that I am doing. I hope that I will never do anything apart from that desire. And I know that if I do this you will lead me by the right road, though I may know nothing about it. Therefore will I trust you always though I may seem to be lost and in the shadow of death. I will not fear, for you are ever with me, and you will never leave me to face my perils alone.
If we can embrace that prayer, owning its wisdom even just a bit, we can see that the wilderness is not only a place of challenge. It can be a place of formation. The children of Israel entered the wilderness a nation unformed. As they traveled, they learned what it meant to be a faithful community, courtesy of hard lessons along the way. They learned to trust, even when trust seemed foolish. They wandered around until they were ready for the promised land, ready to be a community.
As in Thomas Merton’s prayer, we may find ourselves not knowing where we are headed. The promise of our faith is that we have a faithful guide. We may not know the future, but we know the one who holds the future. We who swim in the Christian stream are not promised to know all that lies ahead. We’re simply called to hear Jesus’ call: Follow me. As we figure out what that means in our own context, may the challenge of wilderness also bring about formation. And whatever our variation of wilderness experience, may we be assured that we move forward trusting that we are not in it alone.
-Jay Sidebotham
Psalm 138
1 I will give thanks to you, O Lord, with my whole heart; before the gods I will sing your praise.
2 I will bow down toward your holy temple and praise your Name, because of your love and faithfulness;
3 For you have glorified your Name and your word above all things.
4 When I called, you answered me; you increased my strength within me.
5 All the kings of the earth will praise you, O Lord, when they have heard the words of your mouth.
6 They will sing of the ways of the Lord, that great is the glory of the Lord.
7 Though the Lord be high, he cares for the lowly; he perceives the haughty from afar.
8 Though I walk in the midst of trouble, you keep me safe; you stretch forth your hand against the fury of my enemies; your right hand shall save me.
9 The Lord will make good his purpose for me; O Lord, your love endures for ever; do not abandon the works of your hands.
How much time do you spend thinking about your purpose in life? I suspect most people are too busy to stop and reflect on that. Maybe folks don’t want to because they won’t come up with an answer. Or won’t like the answer they come up with. The psalm you may have heard in church yesterday (reprinted in this email) speaks about the amazing grace that God has a purpose for us (v.9). I’m wondering what you think that purpose might be.
According to Simon and Schuster, the study guide called The Purpose Driven Life has sold more than 50 million copies, making it one of the best selling nonfiction books of all time. Its author, Rick Warren, led one of the biggest non-denominational churches in the country. While my own spirit seems to be better fed by a quiet 8am Rite I Service of Holy Eucharist than the worshipping community he led, I think it’s obvious that Pastor Warren was on to something.
One may not prefer his style, theology, or views on social issues, but I think it’s worth identifying the five purposes he believes God has for us, as described in his book. I find them helpful. As Ted Lasso said in that famous dart game: “It’s better to be curious than to be judgmental.” So here’s my curious take on Warren’s five purposes:
You were planned (purposed) for God’s pleasure, which is why we come together for worship, and why God looked at creation and said it all was very good. It's why the first and greatest commandment is to love God with our whole heart.
You were formed for God’s family. Apart from hermits, we are called to live in community, as exasperating as that may be at times. It's why we are commanded to love neighbor as self.
You were created to become like Christ. That’s why the old fashioned word “christening” matters. It means in baptism we are set on a journey to become little Christs.
You were shaped for serving God. Just as Jesus said he came not to be served but to serve, so in this Christening journey, our purpose is to be of service, to look around our broken world and ask: “How can I be of help today?”
You were made for mission, or as the baptismal covenant says, we are called to proclaim by word and example the good news of God in Christ.
This focus on purpose is not the exclusive province of evangelical preachers. Consider these various voices from across theological and philosophical perspective:
Ralph Waldo Emerson: “The purpose of life is not to be happy. It is to be useful, to be honorable, to be compassionate, to have it make some difference that you have lived and lived well.”
The Buddha: “Your purpose in life is to find your purpose and give your whole heart and soul to it”
Thomas Merton: “If you want to identify me, ask me not where I live, or what I like to eat, or how I comb my hair, but ask me what I am living for, in detail, ask me what I think is keeping me from living fully for the thing I want to live for.”
Friedrich Nietzche: “He who has a why to live for can bear almost any how.
Apparently, after a while, Pastor Warren felt led to add to his popular book, describing what gets in the way of the purpose driven life. He said it has to do with envy, related to both regret and resentment. And it has to do with an excessive focus on people pleasing. That’s a special challenge for clergy. I speak from experience.
Maybe you want to see whether those obstacles surface in your life, and if they are keeping you from living into the purpose God intends for you. That self-examination can involve some work, holy work. The good news is that God is with us in that process. I’m grateful for this insight from the Rev. Phillips Brooks, a great Episcopal preacher. He said: “You must learn, you must let God teach you, that the only way to get rid of the past is to make a future out of it. God will waste nothing.”
That holy work was captured in Paul’s letter to the Philippians, in which we find a marvelous summary of the entire Bible, and great insight into the journey of faith. Paul writes: “Work out your own salvation (Note: Might that be another way of saying find your purpose?) with fear and trembling, for it is God who is at work in us willing to do of his good pleasure. (Philippians 2:12,13)
Those are my thoughts this Monday morning on purpose. What are your thoughts?
-Jay Sidebotham
An offering from
Forward Movement
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Cincinnati, OH 45202
