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Affirmed in Love

Posted on by Fr. Peter

Luke 3:15-17, 21-22

Before coming here as your pastor, I served three Churches here in New England as an interim or temporary pastor. I went into a congregation after the previous Minister retired or left to take on another Church. In the first congregation I served, I had also been the Associate Minister, and when the Minister of 35 years retired, I became the Interim. These were not always easy assignments, but they were necessary.

The Interim is the bridge between the former and the new. The job of the Interim is to tie up loose ends and prepare the people to welcome their new Minster. Part of that process is to spend time, usually a year or more, looking at themselves and doing a deep dive into how they operate as Church. What is essential and what is not. What new ministries would they like to begin, if any, and what old ones do they need to say goodbye to.

In some ways, this is what John the Baptist came to do. John the Baptist came to call the people to repentance, or an awareness that their lives were off the track, and prepare the way for the one who would come after him, Jesus. So in a way, John represents the end of the prophetic period of history; he is the last of the prophets sent by God to prepare the people. John then becomes the bridge between the old covenantal relationship of the people with God and Jesus, the new covenant.

We have heard about John before; he is central to Advent. John is the cousin of Jesus, born to Elizabeth and Zachariah. Elizabeth and Jesus’ mother Mary were related, and Mary visited Elizabeth shortly before John was born. Elizabeth tells Mary that when the babe in her womb heard Mary’s voice, he leaped for joy.

John was a true prophet and told it like it was. He did not pull any punches, which inevitably led to his death. John was calling people away from their sins and toward a new life, not a new life that he would give them but the new life that God was about to give them through his only son Jesus.

The passage we heard this morning from Luke is a rather interesting take on the meeting between Jesus and John. Luke is rather eloquent in his telling of the story of the birth of both Jesus and John, but when it comes to this meeting, he simply states that when the people were baptized, Jesus was also baptized. In the other Gospels, there is a conversation between Jesus and John. Jesus asking to be baptized, and John refused to baptize Jesus. In the end, John submits to the authority of Jesus and does what is being asked of him.

But in Luke’s account, Jesus gets in line with the rest of the people and is baptized. No fanfare, no conversation, just another person in line. In the other Gospels, Jesus wades through the line of people and presents himself to John in a very ceremonious way, but for Luke, the humility of Jesus shows forth. Jesus comes from the poorest of the poor to serve all, so he waits in line with the sinners and the cast-offs. This is an act of solidarity, the solidarity that Jesus has with the poor and the needy, the poor in spirit, and those needy of salvation.

I was ordained in the Orthodox Christian tradition, as most of you know. The priest in the Orthodox tradition is almost, but not quite put up on a pedestal and is always given preferential treatment. For example, after worship at the coffee hour, the people would always insist that I went through the line first. Perhaps it was to make sure the food was safe to eat; I am still not sure. But the idea was that I was the priest, so I had to go first. So I insisted that I go last, not out of some great act of humility but rather from the idea that I wanted them to take what they wanted, and I would be happy to have what was left. The older I got in my priesthood, the more this idea of preferential treatment bothered me. Now, there were always those that kept me grounded and often reminded me of who I was, and I am grateful for those folks, but far too often, clergy get caught up in the trappings of their office and forget what it is all about.

The Church can also fall victim to this mentality. When we care too much for the institution and lose sight of those, we are supposed to serve when we get comfortable rather than uncomfortable; when we say the right things rather than stir the pot when we stop speaking for those without a voice because it might draw unwanted attention to ourselves, then we are failing to live up to our calling as Church. The Church is called to comfort the afflicted and to afflict the comfortable.

Just like the way Jesus was born, through this act of waiting in line, Jesus is identifying with the damaged and broken people who are in need of God. God could have changed the story so that Jesus was born to a royal family in a princely palace. But God chose the birthplace of his son to be the lowest of the low. We, as Church, are not to seek power and privilege and walk the halls of power sidling up to those who hold positions of power in society. No, we are to be like John the Baptist and hold the powerful to account for the decisions that they make. We are not to serve at the throne of power but at the humble seat of the poor.

Luke goes on to describe what happens next. After Jesus is baptized, he goes off to pray. One of the examples that Jesus left for us is this idea of daily prayer in our lives, especially when we feel tempted and weak. Jesus is about to start his public ministry, but he goes off and prays to God for assistance before he does. Luke tells us that the heavens opened, and the Holy Spirit, in the form of a dove, came and rested upon Jesus. God never sends us on mission alone, God through the power of the Holy Spirit, will always be with us.

Everything that we do, be it as individuals or as a church community, should be done in a spirit of prayer and in the knowledge that God will always be with us and help us. When we start to go off on our own, we get into trouble, when we lose sight of the mission, when we take our eyes off God and trust ourselves more than God.

One of my favorite stories is the story of Jesus walking on the water. You know the story. The Apostles are on a boat, and they see a figure off in the distance coming towards them, walking on water. When they realize it is Jesus Peter, asks Jesus to allow him to walk on water so he can go and meet him. Jesus says, okay, come on. Peter steps of the edge and walks on the water towards Jesus. Then he takes his eyes off Jesus and realizes what he is doing, sees the waves, gets nervous, and starts to sink. He cries out, and Jesus helps him up. Peter took his eyes off Jesus, and he began to sink. As long as Peter’s focus was where it needed to be, he was fine. The moment he looked away and stopped trusting, he sank.

Here comes what I think is the most crucial part of this entire story this week. You have heard me say this before, but it bears repeating. We have already heard that after Jesus was baptized and he went off to pray, the sky opened, and the Holy Spirit came upon him. Yet, at the same time, there was a voice from heaven that said, “You are my Son, the Beloved; with you, I am well pleased.”

Friends, I have said it before, and I will continue to say it, we are all children of God, and we are beloved. God loves us for who we are and for what we are, and don’t let anyone ever tell you any different.

Jesus could have taken on a position of power and a position of privilege, yet he chose just the opposite. He decided to be born poor and to stand in line with the poor. He took on and challenged the establishment. He not only turned the tables, but he also flipped them over to make room for a new way, the way of love.

I am not sure if you have ever read anything written by or listened to anything Michael Curry, the Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church, has said, but he has a saying that resonates with me, and I think it is an excellent way to end today. Bishop Curry says that “the way of Jesus is the way of love, and the way of love will change the world.”

Let us love one another, and let us change the world.

Amen.

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Sermon: The Word Became Flesh

Posted on by Fr. Peter

John 1:1-14

The scene has been set, although we cannot tell if it is day or night, winter, or spring but none of that matters. A couple has been walking for days and has finally reached their destination. They have come for the count, ordered by the state. When they arrive, they find there is no room. Perhaps they are staying with family, and more of them arrived than previously thought. Maybe they know no one, so they are knocking on doors looking for a place to stay. The time is coming close, and the woman is about to give birth.

They happen upon a humble cave, or so the story goes, when in actuality, we do not know, nor does it matter. What matters is they found a place and have settled in; it won’t be long now. The baby is born, it is her first, and they wrapped him in bands of cloth and placed him in the only space available, the place where the animals eat their food.

The origins of this little one are strange, to say the least, and they are about to get stranger as shepherds and others start to arrive to see this newborn baby. They come from far and near with the most amazing stories of how they heard about the arrival of this little one. They bring what they have, but most of them just bring themselves. They kneel and pray and thank God for this miracle, for as St. John has put it in his Gospel that we heard this morning, the Word has become flesh and now dwells among us.

This is the heart and essence of the Christmas story; God poured God’s own self into human form. The eternal Word of God – God’s proactive agent in all of creation, even life itself, in a paradoxical condescension took form as a baby of the humblest origins.

But there are questions many questions.

The answers lie back at the very start of creation itself, for, in the beginning, the Word was with God. The Word was present at the moment of the creation of all and is now physically present at the new creation. The Word is the eternal Son of God; the fact that John wrote that the Word WAS with God indicates that the Word has no beginning and is not created. But John says that the Word was WITH God. The Word is a distinct person from the Creator, but they are in eternal Communion together.

But there is more to the story.

Back “in the beginning,” when everything was being created, the Creator took the dust from the ground and, with the Creator’s own hands, fashioned humanity in the very image and likeness of the Creator. God then breathed the breath of life into this new creation’s nostrils and animated humanity. Of all other living beings, humanity is the only one fashioned by the hands of the Creator and animated with the Creator’s breath.

We read on to see that the Creator then places humanity in a garden, paradise where humanity has everything it will need. However, the Creator also gives this creation something else, free will. Humanity has the freedom to choose, and humanity exercises that freedom which places it outside of paradise and separated from the Creator. Humanity mourns the loss of this intimate relationship with its Creator and longs for the days when they will be reunited.

As Christians, we emphasize the resurrection story, and rightly so. There is much to be celebrated for Jesus once and for all overcomes death. No longer are we just to die, but we will have life everlasting with the Creator and all of those we love. But the resurrection of Jesus was not the incident that repaired the relationship. God did not send Jesus, the Eternal Word of God, to be sacrificed on the cross, the symbol of the state’s power. No, God sent Jesus to walk with creation again and provide the way of eternal life. The strained relationship between God and humanity was not repaired by some horrific, bloody sacrifice but by the birth of a tiny baby, born of the humblest of means to an unwed mother in the poorest of the poorest land. God chose that moment and that place to restore the relationship.

Sometimes it is hard to grasp this concept that God loved creation to such an extent that God willingly took on the form of creation to come and show humanity the new way, the way of love. This was a revolutionary idea, so revolutionary was this idea of love and equality, that humanity rebelled again and killed the Creator. So revolutionary was this idea of love that humanity was willing to kill, kill the very essence of that love.

Jesus was not crucified to fulfill some long-ago debit meted out by a vengeful blood-thirsty God; no Jesus was killed by an establishment that was so afraid of losing its power and influence that it had to resort to violence and coercion to stay in power and relevance.

God charted a much different course for humanity and came to show us this new way. We are to love and care for all of humanity. In the birth of this baby, we are reminded that all of humanity is created in the image and likeness of God and that divine spark is the reason for this love and care that we are to show to one another.

The miracle of the birth of Jesus is that it transcends and race or nationality, and no one group can claim ownership of the Creator, for the Creator of all belongs to all regardless of the station of their birth. The Good News of the love of God is now available to all irrespective of the ability of one to pay for it.

The story of Christmas, the real story of Christmas, is about love, for all of humanity and for all of creation.

Christmastide has now entered the 9th day. Many of us have probably taken the decorations down and packed them away for another year, and stores have moved on the next holiday on the list. But the Spirit and message of Christmas cannot be contained to only 12 days, the Spirit and message of Christmas transcend time, and it is up to us to make sure that message of love continues.

In a few moments, we will metaphorically gather around this table where Jesus will become present to us in the gifts of bread and wine. We will ask the Holy Spirit to come upon these gifts and all of us to sanctify and make them and us Holy. We will share from the common loaf and common cup this union of Creator and creation. We do not determine who is worthy to come, for none of us are worthy of our own doing but only by the grace of God poured out can we become worthy.

We do not use this Sacrament of love as a means of separation or reward but as a balm that heals the soul and brings us closer together. If we take nothing else away from this Christmas season, take away the knowledge, the true knowledge that God loves each of us just the way we are and wants us to make sure others know that they are loved just the way they are.

The heart and essence of Christmas is love, the heart and essence of the Gospel is love, the heart and essence of our spiritual life is love, love of God, and love of everyone.

Amen.

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Moving with Mary’s Song

Posted on by Fr. Peter

Luke 1:39-45 (46-55)

I am a lover of Christmas Carols, as long as they are played during the Christmas Season. Of course, I like a carol that tells a story, but I genuinely appreciate theologically correct carols. I mean, who can forget that theological masterpiece, Dominic the Christmas Donkey. Or that old-time favorite that pulls at the theological imagination, Grandma got run over by a reindeer. Then, of course, there are also those carols that folks want to imagine that have theological significance to them, but it turns out it is just a good sing like the 12 days of Christmas.

But today, we stumble up the answer to the age-old theological conundrum; Mary, did you know?

We have to back up a few months to put it all in context. We have to go back to a small room in an equally small house in Nazareth to where a young girl, probably no more than 13 or 14, is living with her parents. Tradition tells us that her parents, Joachim, and Anna, were childless and constantly prayed that God would bless them with a child. God did, in fact, bless them in their old age, and they had a daughter and named her Mary.

Continuing with tradition, Mary was a unique child and grew up in the Temple hearing the prophets being read and hearing the many stories of the coming Messiah. When it came time for her to be married, she was betrothed to a man named Joseph.

Scripture does not have much to say about Joseph, but tradition tells us he was much older than Mary, a widower, and had children from that previous marriage. Joseph agreed to marry Mary, and a date had not yet been announced for their wedding.

Mary was in that small room one night, and an angel appeared to her. The Angel told her that she had found favor with God and that God had chosen her to be the mother of God’s Son. As one would expect, Mary had some questions, but all she wanted to know was how after all, she was still a maid and was not married yet. That was the only question. Mary agreed.

We must pause here for a moment to take in the gravity of what just happened. The first striking thing that has happened, apart from the Angel and whatnot, is that this young girl decided for herself. Understand how counter-cultural this is. A young girl, such as Mary, would not make any decisions for herself, let alone one that would change her life. Her father and then her husband would make those decisions.

But the other part of this is what is most amazing to me; Mary agreed to become pregnant, without an explanation that she could share, knowing that the penalty for such a crime would, at a minimum, be banishment from the community and at the maximum, she would have been stoned until she was dead. Mary would have known this, yet she placed herself in this danger.

When Joseph found out about this, he was a little concerned, as one can imagine. The story she was telling was utter nonsense. How could this happen? He wanted to end the engagement and send her off someplace, quietly, to have her child. Although he was upset, Joseph also did not want any harm to come to Mary. Joseph shows great compassion for Mary.

That night, the same Angel comes and visits Joseph and tells him that it will all be okay. This will not be the last time this Angel comes and tell Joseph all will be well. But Joseph trusts God, and this messenger is sent from God and takes Mary as his wife.

Now we come to today’s story. After some time, Mary goes off to see he kinswoman Elizabeth. We do not know the actual relationship, but Mary and Elizabeth are related, as best we can figure, Elizabeth is Mary’s aunt. There is joy when they meet; they are both expecting and both because of God’s promise. Elizabeth greets Mary and tells her that the baby in her womb leaped for joy when the baby heard Mary’s voice. Elizabeth questions her kinswoman about the visit and calls Mary, the mother of her Lord. This is the first acknowledgment of what is happening.

Elizabeth continues and tells Mary that she and her child are blessed. Then we find out what Mary knew.

Mary says that she is blessed by God, and she is humbled that she has been chosen for this honor. She says that all generations will remember her, which is true since here we are some 2,000 years later still talking about her.

Then Mary starts to preach, God’s mercy extends to all who believe from generation to generation. God will exalt the humble and scatter the mighty. God will fill the hungry with good things and send the rich away empty. God will care for all and love all.

In her own way, Mary lays out the Good News that her Son will one day preach that God loves everyone and cares for everyone. God is sending this child to change the way we think and act towards each other and show us a new way of love. Mary knew that this tiny baby was the Son of God and the Messiah; Mary knew it all!

But while we focus on the greatness of the Child that Mary is carrying, we forget what happened in that small room in her house before this. We lose focus of that yes of Mary. God chose Mary, but Mary still had to consent to the plan. Yet, Mary’s courage, trust, and yes, changed the world!

This story is about trust, the trust that we need to have in God. Mary took a risk with the understanding that God would not abandon her. Mary risked her life trusting God, and God did not leave her. It is the same with us. We are being called to trust God with the assurance that God will never abandon us.

Let us pray that we might have the same trust that Mary had, and when God asks us to do something, we simply say yes.

Amen.

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Rejoice in the Lord Always

Posted on by Fr. Peter

Philippians 4:4-9

“Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!”

We have come to the third Sunday in our Advent journey. On this day we are reminded to rejoice always in the Lord.

The Third Sunday of Advent is traditionally called Gaudete Sunday, which comes from the Latin Introit for the Service on this Sunday.

“Gaudete in Domino semper: iterum dico, gaudete. Modestia vestra nota sit omnibus hominibus: Dominus enim prope est. Nihil solliciti sitis: sed in omni oratione et obsecratione cum gratiarum actione petitiones vestræ innotescant apud Deum. Benedixisti Domine terram tuam: avertisti captivitatem Jacob.”

The introit is translated:

“Rejoice in the Lord always; again, I say, rejoice. Let your forbearance be known to all, for the Lord is near at hand; have no anxiety about anything, but in all things, by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be known to God. Lord, you have blessed your land; you have turned away the captivity of Jacob.” Philippians 4:4–6; Psalm 85

Advent began as a 40 day fast in preparation for Christmas and Gaudete Sunday as a break from the harshness of the fast for one day of feasting. Laetare Sunday is the counterpart of Gaudete Sunday that falls on the Fourth Sunday of Lent.

The appointed readings for this Sunday focus on this idea of rejoicing always and the continuing mission of John the Baptist.

Renowned theologian Henri Nouwen describes the difference between joy and happiness. Nouwen says that happiness depends on external conditions. At the same time, joy is “the experience of knowing that you are unconditionally loved and that nothing – sickness, failure, emotional distress, oppression, war, or even death – can take that love away.”

As a reminder of that joy, we light the one rose candle in the Advent Wreath as a sign of that joy.

Rejoice in the Lord always; Again, I say, rejoice!

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Shepherd of Souls: The Season of Light

Posted on by Fr. Peter

This past Sunday, Christians around the world celebrated the First Sunday of Advent. Advent is the season of expectation, preparation, and waiting for the birth of the Christ child. The First Sunday of Advent is also the beginning of the new Church Year, and so we turn the page on a new year with expectations and hope for the coming year.

Traditionally, candles are lit during each of the Sundays of Advent. Each Sunday has a theme; hope, love, peace, and joy, all of which lead up to Christmas Eve, when the Christmas Season begins. In the past, Advent was a penitential season, much like the days of Lent are leading up to Easter. Time would be spent in prayer and meditation to prepare ourselves spiritually for the arrival of Jesus in the Manger.

But Advent is also the season of Light. As Christians, we are called to bring the light of Christ into the darkened world. The candles we light each Sunday represent, in an authentic way, that light. Each week more light is brought into the world to lighten the darkness. Each week, the darkness diminishes just a little until finally, light has overcome the darkness at Christmas. But this requires us to be that light in the world.

This year we are bringing even more light into the world as our Jewish brothers and sisters celebrate Hanukkah. Hanukkah is also the season of light, and each night, a candle is lit to dispel the darkness for eight nights. The Festival of Hanukkah celebrates the recovery of Jerusalem and the rededication of the Temple in the 2nd century BCE, and the miracle that took place during the rededication.

The Miracle of Hanukkah was that the single pot of oil supposed to last one day lasted eight. Therefore, candles are lit on the nights of Hanukkah not to illuminate the house from within but to illuminate the home from without so that those passing by will remember and celebrate this miracle.

It is fitting that this year, Jews and Christians celebrate this festival and season of light together. If there was ever a time to bring light into the world, this is the year. Our world so desperately needs the light of hope, the light of love, the light of peace, and the light of joy. This year, we can join forces and bring that light to the world.

But this light is not static, remaining in only one place. We have to bring that light and be that light in our world that has grown so dark. The lighting of the Advent Candles and the Hanukkah candles is the symbol. It is our job to take that light and let it shine bright in the world. We can accomplish this by adopting the themes of the season in our lives, and then it will naturally spread out from there into the world.

Blessed Advent and Happy Hanukkah!

This article originally appeared in the Hull Times December 2, 2021

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Sermon: Make Ready

Posted on by Fr. Peter

Philippians 1:3-11
Luke 3:1-6

Many, many years ago, my father was teaching me how to paint. Of course, I wanted to get right to it and start to slap the paint on the wall but, he told me about preparation. First, we had to clear out the room. Then, put down drop cloths to catch any paint that might get spilled. Next, remove the hardware from the doors and all receptacles and switch plates.

Next, we had to remove all of the nails or anything else that might be sticking out from the wall. After all of that, the holes were filled with putty. That was it for the first day. The next day, we sanded everything and then ran our hands over the wall and sanded any rough spots that we might find. The next step was to wipe everything down to remove any dust from the walls and baseboards to be painted. That was the end of the second day.

The third day began with getting all of the supplies we might need, paint, brushes, rollers, poles, stirring sticks, rags, etc. Now it was finally time to put the paint on the wall. So it was day three, and we finally got to the task at hand, slapping the paint on the wall.

My father explained that putting the paint on the wall was only a tiny part of the job. If you wanted the job to look right and last, you had to prepare. Preparation, he said, was 90% of the job.

Preparation is what Advent is all about, and that is precisely what we hear from the lips of John the Baptist this morning in the Gospel reading, prepare the way of the Lord.

John was the cousin of Jesus. It is unclear if they knew each other, but my guess is they did. Jesus’ family and the family of John did not live far from each other. Mary, the mother of Jesus, visits Elizabeth, the mother of John, in a story that we will hear in a few weeks. John’s job was to prepare the way for Jesus. He called the world to repentance in preparation for what would happen next.

Repentance is one of those strange things. No one likes to admit when we have done something wrong, but acknowledging our wrongdoings is an essential part of our spiritual life. Of course, we do not want to talk about sin; sin is one of those words that is not polite; however, it applies to all of us. 

Now, I do not believe there are any murders among us this morning, but there are other ways of sinning, not just big ones. Sin is simply missing the mark. The goal of the spiritual life is to be more Christlike and, if you are anything like me, we fail at it daily. That is what sinning is, striving for the goal and not quite making it.

However, we know that God forgives us in those times of failing. The system was set up that way. God says, “I’m going to give you an example to follow, and I know none of you will be able to follow that example completely so, I have made provision for that, it’s called forgiveness.” This is great, but it comes with a bit of a caveat.

For forgiveness to be complete, there needs to be an acknowledgment of our incompleteness. Therefore, in the Lord’s pray we pray, “forgive us our trespasses,” that is, acknowledging our need for forgiveness before God. This is not to say that if we do not ask for it, God will not forgive us, certainly not. But we acknowledge that we need forgiveness for ourselves, for it helps us not to make the same mistakes.

The other part of repentance is the promise to try not to do whatever it is again and to strive to be a little better tomorrow than we were today. This is where growth in the spiritual life comes in, the daily task of being better than we were yesterday.

So, what is the mark we are trying to achieve?

Jesus left us with two simple commandments. First, he summarized all of the law and the previous teaching when he said, Love God with your whole heart, your whole mind, and your whole soul and love your neighbor. So, we love God with all that we have and love and care for those around us. It is that simple. Love God, love everyone.

In effect, Jesus wiped away all of the liturgical sacrifice and other such things that had been imposed on the people. There was no longer a need for sacrifice for forgiveness; we had direct access to God to seek forgiveness. The sacrifice is us and our desire to put God first in our lives and to care for those around us.

We need to strive to put God first in our lives. Study God’s word and spend time in prayer each day. These might seem like easy tasks, but I think we can all agree that it is not as easy as it sounds.

Caring for others has to go past the idea of taking care of their material wants and needs. Of course, there is nothing wrong with feeding, clothing, and housing folks; Jesus talks about that as well. But how do we feel about others in our hearts?

Who are we to love? Close your eyes for a moment. Think about the one person you know or know of that makes your blood boil to be around. The person that if they were on fire, you would put it out by banging on them with a stick. That is the person you are called to love. It’s easy to love those who love us back, but we are not called to take the easy road.

A moment ago, I mentioned the Lord’s Prayer and our asking for our trespasses to be forgiven. I purposefully left off the second part of that line, “as we forgive those who trespass against us.” Forgive us as we forgive. Forgiveness of others is essential in our lives for spiritual and psychological reasons.

If someone has done us wrong, and we withhold forgiveness, we give them power over a bit of piece of our lives. When we forgive, we take that power back. We can forgive the other even if they do not acknowledge that they have wronged us; forgiveness is for you, not for the other person. Let me say that again; when we offer forgiveness, it is for us, not for the other person.

And forgiveness does not mean forgetting. Just because we have forgiven someone does not mean we need to forget what they did or did not do. We are not called to take everything thrown at us, and we are not called to be doormats that are taken advantage of. Seeking justice is part of forgiveness, so we can forgive the person or persons but still wish to see justice done.

In a few moments, we will partake in the Sacrament of Communion. We will be asking Jesus to dwell in each of us in a very tangible and physical way. We need to make ready; we need to prepare; therefore, on Sunday’s when communion is served, we recite a prayer of confession. We acknowledge that we have missed the mark, ask for the forgiveness of God and others, and hear an assurance that we have been forgiven.

Friends, the act of acknowledging that we have done wrong is not designed to make you feel bad; it is simply an awareness that we can and will do better, and we seek God’s help in doing just that, being better.

John came to call us to repentance to make the crocked place straight and the rough places smooth. Let us strive to do just that and to use this time of Advent to prepare for the coming of the Christ Child.

Amen.

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Sermon: Sign of Things to Come

Posted on by Fr. Peter

1 Thessalonians 3:9-13
Luke 21:25-36

Today we turn the page to a new Church year. Today we begin a journey of discovery and a journey of Hope. Today begins the Season of Advent, the season of preparation. The time of the year when we prepare our homes and our hearts for the coming birth of the Christ child.

This journey begins with and in Hope. Hope is difficult to have these days because it is hard to know what to have Hope in. Growing up, we had Hope in the Church and the leaders of the Church. But for some of us, we were let down by that Church and those leaders. Perhaps it was because of the person we chose to love. Maybe it was because of a situation that caused our marriage to dissolve. Maybe it was a clergy person that caused us to lose Hope.

Growing up, we also had Hope in the institutions of government. Government is not and should not be the answer to every problem that arises, but lately, the government has been more concerned with itself and the perpetuation of jobs of the leaders rather than of jobs for others. It seems we have lost our focus, and rather than one nation with liberty and justice for all, we have become many nations with liberty and justice for a few.

But there is one sure foundation for us to have Hope in, and that is the story we are here to share. A story that began in a backwater portion of the Roman Empire in 1st century Palestine. It started when a very young girl answered the call to do something extraordinary. So our story of Hope begins with a young girl who says yes.

All that this young girl knew was that God had asked. She did not need any assurance; although she had questions, she would find those answers on the journey. The story continues with a man, a simple man, a carpenter by trade. Tradition tells us he had been married before and that his spouse died and left him with children. This man is a provider and, at first, was not too keen on the idea that the woman he had pledged to marry was now in the family way.

He wanted to put her away quietly, but that same angel came and told him to have Hope that everything would be okay, and it was. He had Hope when they set out to be counted, and he still had Hope when they could not find a place to sleep. He had Hope when he looked into the eye of God, the eyes of love that had just become flesh and entered the world.

He was about to lose Hope when the angel came again and told him to get up and take the child and flee. To leave everything he had behind and take the child and his mother to a far-off land that was not his own. They would have to face unimaginable hardships on that journey and arrive in a place that was hostile to them just because they were from another place. But he had to protect his family, so he did what he had to regardless of the risk for life, and life was better than certain death.

You see, this journey of Hope began long before the baby was born. This story of Hope started “in the beginning” when God, the source of all life and love, created humanity in God’s own image and likeness and breathed God’s very breath into God’s creation. The journey began in that garden when humanity disobeyed God and set humanity on this journey we are now witnessing.

Advent is a season that has all but been forgotten. Advent gets skipped over for its more important cousin Christmas but, we cannot have the birth without the preparation. Advent comes from the Latin adventus and is translated as coming or arrival. Advent is the time, as John the Baptist put it, to prepare for the coming of the Savior of the World and the Prince of Peace. Advent is the time to prepare ourselves spiritually for what is about to happen.

 Advent is also a journey. Each week of this season has a theme, and we will light one candle each week as we count down. We begin in Hope, expectant Hope; the following weeks are faith, joy, and peace. All four weeks teach us to have these themes in our hearts and our lives.

Just as the story of Mary and Joseph began with Hope, our Advent story begins with Hope. I spoke earlier of what we used to have Hope in, but we quickly found that this Hope was short-lived. But we still need to have Hope. Hope is vital to the life of the Christian, and it is that Hope that we are called to bring into this world that we live in.

Our ancestors in faith had Hope; their Hope was in the Messiah that would come and free them from their bondage. They thought this Messiah was coming to free them from their physical bondage, but rather the Messiah came to free them from their spiritual bondage. The Messiah came to show them a new way, the way of love. The Messiah came to indicate that all were equal in the eyes of God and that no matter their circumstances, we, his followers, were to love and care for them.

But we are also people of action. We live in hope, but we must be the ones who make that Hope a reality for others. Jesus came to give us a new way, but that way requires something of us.

It first requires the love of God. We express that love by the following requirement, loving everyone. This is not just passive love but love in action. We have shown that love here with our food collection and for the collection of items for Fr. Bills. We put that love into action by our openness to others regardless of where they come from, who they are, how much money they have, or who they love.

Friends, the season of Advent needs to be a season that we welcome and a season that we celebrate. I know it is difficult as there are all sorts of distractions this time of year that pulls us in many different directions. But take time, real-time, to prepare our hearts and minds for the journey that is ahead of all of us. Take time to journey with Mary and Joseph on their way to Bethlehem for the birth of their child. Prepare the room in your heart for Jesus to come and dwell.

But then, take that move that preparation into action. There are people in the world living in Hope, hoping that someone will come along and help them. So be that Hope for someone this season and give the gift of Hope, the Hope that can change lives.

Amen

Blog

A Proclamation on: Thanksgiving Day, 2021

Posted on by Fr. Peter

Thanksgiving provides us with a time to reflect on our many blessings — from God, this Nation, and each other.  We are grateful for these blessings, even — and especially — during times of challenge.

That is why George Washington declared a day of Thanksgiving for his troops as they marched into that dark winter at Valley Forge.  It is why in the midst of the Civil War — in proclaiming the Thanksgiving holiday we now celebrate today — Abraham Lincoln urged us to remember our “fruitful fields and healthful skies.”  Just as 400 years ago when the Pilgrims were able to celebrate a successful first harvest thanks to the generosity and support of the Wampanoag, today we too express our gratitude for those who have helped us get through this difficult past year. 

We are grateful for the farm workers and frontline workers, many of whom are immigrants, who make sure our food is harvested and shipped, keep our grocery stores stocked, and keep our cities and towns clean and safe.

We are grateful for the educators who are welcoming children back into their classrooms, helping them make up for lost learning and lost time, both academically and socially.

We are grateful for the parents who have carried their families through this challenging time, helping their children navigate this difficult chapter in our Nation’s history.

We are grateful for the health care professionals working to vaccinate our Nation, the nurses who comfort and help people, and the doctors who provide care and compassion.

We are grateful for the researchers and scientists who have developed safe and effective vaccines and treatments, allowing us to safely enjoy a Thanksgiving this year with more family around the table.

As always, we are grateful for our troops serving far from home, keeping us safe and defending our values.

For the First Lady and me, Thanksgiving has always been a cherished time to enjoy annual traditions that have evolved into sacred rituals with our children and grandchildren:  throwing the football, preparing family recipes, lighting candles, and setting the table.  For many Americans, this Thanksgiving will be the first time gathering with loved ones in person since the start of the pandemic — a time of full tables and full hearts.  

As we celebrate, we will also be thinking of the many families feeling the pain of an empty chair at the Thanksgiving table.  You are not alone, and our Nation stands with you. 

NOW, THEREFORE, I, JOSEPH R. BIDEN JR., President of the United States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and the laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim Thursday, November 25, 2021, as a National Day of Thanksgiving.  I encourage the people of the United States of America to join together and give thanks for the friends, neighbors, family members, and strangers who have supported each other over the past year in a reflection of goodwill and unity.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this twenty-fourth day of November, in the year of our Lord two thousand twenty-one, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and forty-sixth.

JOSEPH R. BIDEN JR.

Blog

Attitude of Gratitude

Posted on by Fr. Peter

Traditionally, the month of November is the month we remember, and the month we are thankful. We begin the month with the commemoration of all Saints Day when we recall the men and women who have done extraordinary things. This is followed the next day with All Souls Day, the day we remember all of those who have gone before us.

November is also the month we remember our Veterans, those men and women who have served, and those who continue to serve our country and ensure that our freedoms extend to all. I was proud to have participated in the Veterans Day ceremonies in Hull and equally pleased to see the number of Hullonians who turned out on that beautiful day. Hull is a military town, and it is nice to see the residents supporting our Veterans.

The end of the month brings the time when family and friends will gather and share a meal and give thanks for all that we have. Thanksgiving is just that, a time to be thankful. It has been a difficult couple of years, and we have had to sacrifice much, but we can also be thankful for all the gifts that we have received. Even on the darkest of days, there is still something to be thankful for.

But we should not limit being grateful to just one day of the year; we should be grateful all year long. This is because adopting an attitude of gratitude is not only good for our soul, but it is also suitable for our physical and mental wellbeing. In other words, being grateful all year long is a good thing.

One of my favorite spiritual writers is Diana Butler Bass. She has written several books on gratitude and how to adopt this attitude of thankfulness and gratitude. Bass has this to say about why adopting gratitude is so important. “Gratitude undoes evil by tunneling under its foundations of anger, resentment, and greed.” Gratitude changes the way we think and act and, there is some evidence, that extended gratitude rewires our brains.

Another way to look at this idea is that it takes more energy to be negative than it does to be positive. Negative energy weighs more than positive energy. Another way of putting it is that it is harder to be negative than it is to be positive.

I know that it is not always easy to be positive or grateful these days, and that is all the more reason to try and adopt this attitude. If we ever hope to make a difference in this world or make this world a better place, we need to take the chance by giving gratitude a try.

So let us make an effort to pick one or maybe two things each day that we are grateful for. Write them down, or perhaps post them on Facebook to let the world know you are grateful. If we can, each of us changes our little part of the world, then all of us, together, make a difference.

This essay originally appeared in the Hull Times November 18, 2021

Blog

Sermon: A Wise Reign

Posted on by Fr. Peter

Revelation 1:4-8
John 18:33-37
Feast of Christ the King

Have you ever been so frustrated with a situation that all you want to do is walk away? Sometimes walking away is the best thing we can do for our spiritual and mental health. Sometimes one needs to walk away to make a point. But sometimes, we walk away too fast.

In the last decade, there have been all sorts of studies related to the decline in attendance in the Sunday morning worship service. However, I am sure many here today can remember a time when this church was filled. It may have been some time ago, but the reality of the situation is that time is gone, and it is never coming back.

People walk away from church for various reasons, and some walk away because they could not have things their way. People are people, and we all have our wants and desires, and the desire to get our way can be frustrating if it does not happen.

Although people have been walking away from the institutional church since the 1960s, the good news is people are not walking away from the faith. On the contrary, studies show that people are more faithful today than when churches burst at the seams. And the even better news is, people are being church whether there is a building or not.

Today we celebrate the Feast of Christ the King. Although this idea of Christ being King of the Universe has been around since the very early days of the church, it was not until 1926 that it appeared on the church’s calendar. Then it was for political rather than theological reasons.

Secularism, Nationalism, and Nazism were on the rise, and Pope Pius XI declared this feast a Universal Feast of the Church. He stated this feast was a response to the evil and destructive forces making their way across Europe and would eventually lead the world into another war.

I call these forces evil and destructive because they break down the very nature of what it means to live in a community. These dark forces call us to individuality and to care only about what is good for me, even if it is at your expense. With his declaration, Pius was saying there is another way, the way of the Kingdom of God where we care for each other, sometimes at the expense of self.

In the Gospel passage we heard this morning from John, Pilate was trying to discover if Jesus was the King of Jewish people. Jesus had been brought before Pilate by the Jewish Temple Authorities claiming that Jesus had said he was King. This would be treason, and treason used to be a severe crime. At one point in history, attempting to overthrow a legitimate government with deceit and lies was a severe crime, and this is what Jesus faced.

Jesus responds to Pilate’s questions with questions and explains that the Kingdom that Jesus belongs to is not of this world. Ultimately Jesus and his followers belong to a Kingdom that is not earthbound. Ultimately, Jesus and his followers belong to the truth. Thus, Jesus is redefining the terms “king” and “kingdom” in terms of the belief in the one who came into the world to testify to the truth.

Truth is something that is supposed to be valued by those who claim to follow Jesus; truth is absolute and not some version of the truth that is bent to fit a particular ideology, regardless of what that ideology is. Proclaiming the truth is what makes Jesus King.

The past several years have seen the truth bent and twisted in some cases beyond recognition. The truth is not always pleasant, but the truth, none the less is the truth.

Several times in Scripture, after Jesus presents a teaching, people cannot understand to believe what he has just said, and they walk away. So ingrained is their belief that nothing, even the words of Jesus, will change their minds.

But we also see this in a contemporary way. Those same teachings of Jesus have been so manipulated from a position of love and care for all to we have the right to exclude people for whatever reason we decide is necessary. We humans have this mistaken belief that we have to defend God and be the keepers of who gets in and who does not get into God’s Kingdom. Truther be told, that is the very thing Jesus came to show that we were doing wrong.

When we decide that we will be followers of Jesus, we give up some of our individualism and focus more on the community. At the time Jesus was walking the earth, there was a communal understanding of everything. The idea that what is good for me regardless of what it does or does not do for the community was not something they thought of. There was this awareness of the group and what was good for the entire group and not just some of the group.

When Jesus speaks to Pilate about those who listen to Jesus’ voice belonging to the truth and are a part of the Kingdom, he says that belonging is less about individual decision making and more about collective participation in a community, and this participation transcends the individual.

The Kingdom of God is present wherever Jesus is, and Jesus is present wherever his followers are. It is present whenever we feel God’s presence through invitation, healing, and restoration, but this is not an induvial thing. Nowhere in Scripture does it say we have to have a personal relationship with Christ. Our relationship with Jesus comes in and through the community.

Our belonging is up to God. That is the new reality that Jesus comes to proclaim. That is the new truth to which all of us – the community of those invited, healed, and restored – belong.

Amen.

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