Jan 30, 2023 |
Blessed Practice
| The Rev. Philip DeVaul
Blessed Practice
I showed up to my piano lesson one day, and my teacher could
tell that I was really frustrated. She'd been working with me since I was nine and she could tell that I was very frustrated. She asked, what's wrong? I said, I'll tell you what's wrong. I'm listening to Glen
Gould play this invention and I can't play it like that. And she said, Phil,
he's one of the greatest piano players in the history of piano, no one can play
it like that. Don't do that to yourself.
I said, well, I, if I can't sound like him when I play this, why play it at all?
I feel like this is how we get when Jesus tells us what it means to be a disciple. Jesus stands up before us today in the beginning of what we call his Sermon on the Mount, which in the Gospel according to Matthew, is the true beginning of his earthly ministry. And these are the very first words he says. Blessed are the poor in spirit.
I said, well, I, if I can't sound like him when I play this, why play it at all?
I feel like this is how we get when Jesus tells us what it means to be a disciple. Jesus stands up before us today in the beginning of what we call his Sermon on the Mount, which in the Gospel according to Matthew, is the true beginning of his earthly ministry. And these are the very first words he says. Blessed are the poor in spirit.
Jan 23, 2023 |
Come Follow Me And...
| Brett Scott
Come Follow Me And...
He comes in and sits down across the desk from me and he
says, hey, I have got this great plan for your life. I know exactly what you
should be doing from now on. I've got it all worked out. And guess what? You
don't have to worry about the direction of your life anymore. So come on, let's
go. So of course, I get up and I grab my coat and off we go.
It, it's a great, it's a great mental picture and something we would all want to have happen, to have Jesus actually show up and clearly tell us what we should be doing, what our purpose in calling is, right? It's what we would want, right? Isn't it?
Is it though? Because of course, when I really stop to think about it, maybe it's not what I want. I suspect we all want some level of plausible deniability in our relationship with Jesus. If we can claim that we can't really know what Jesus personally wants from us, then it is left up to us to determine all of that. That feels safer somehow.
It, it's a great, it's a great mental picture and something we would all want to have happen, to have Jesus actually show up and clearly tell us what we should be doing, what our purpose in calling is, right? It's what we would want, right? Isn't it?
Is it though? Because of course, when I really stop to think about it, maybe it's not what I want. I suspect we all want some level of plausible deniability in our relationship with Jesus. If we can claim that we can't really know what Jesus personally wants from us, then it is left up to us to determine all of that. That feels safer somehow.
Jan 16, 2023 |
Crushing on Jesus
| The Rev. Philip DeVaul
Crushing on Jesus
One of the most amazing things about crushes is how it's
better off if you don't get to know them at all. As long as someone remains
sort of a mystery and out there in the beyond, you can idealize them. You can
think all sorts of things. They can be all sorts of things for you. Maybe
they've just been just attractive enough to catch your eye and maybe you learn
a couple of things about them, their name, which immediately seems exotic to
you, even if it's a name that 20 people you already know have.
Just a couple of other details and you can start to fill in this imaginary person and their life and what it might be if the two of you could actually know each other. You know, of course, what happens when you get to know a person you have a crush on? It's the best and fastest way to cure the crush.
Maybe it's not a romantic crush. It could be a professional crush, someone you've admired for a long time, someone whose accomplishments you've seen from afar, and you've thought to yourself, I want to be that kind of rockstar in my profession. I want to be like them. And that's where that old maxim comes in, Never meet your heroes. Not because your crush or your hero or the one you admire from afar is actually disappointing in their being. It's just that they're disappointing because they're actually people and not just your idea of what a person could be. You've built up the perfect complement to yourself, and then you're confronted with the reality of their humanity, and it can be crushing.
Just a couple of other details and you can start to fill in this imaginary person and their life and what it might be if the two of you could actually know each other. You know, of course, what happens when you get to know a person you have a crush on? It's the best and fastest way to cure the crush.
Maybe it's not a romantic crush. It could be a professional crush, someone you've admired for a long time, someone whose accomplishments you've seen from afar, and you've thought to yourself, I want to be that kind of rockstar in my profession. I want to be like them. And that's where that old maxim comes in, Never meet your heroes. Not because your crush or your hero or the one you admire from afar is actually disappointing in their being. It's just that they're disappointing because they're actually people and not just your idea of what a person could be. You've built up the perfect complement to yourself, and then you're confronted with the reality of their humanity, and it can be crushing.
Jan 09, 2023 |
Born Again
| The Rev. Melanie W. J. Slane
Born Again
Every year, every month, every moment is an opportunity to
be born again. Every time we show up, every time we resist evil, when we repent
and return. Every time we proclaim the Gospel and seek and serve and love. Every
time we strive to be and help others see God's dream for humanity, this is how
we live a baptized life.
Those of us who are already baptized know that it's not always sunshine and rainbows and puppies. It's just as messy and complicated as the life we were first born into. Being a Christian doesn't mean that there is suddenly no pain or fear or struggle. Oftentimes it means we see more of these things because we're paying attention as we press up against an individualistic consumer culture.
And if you're human like me, you won't only see more of them, you will experience them. Our baptismal covenant reminds us that we will mess up. It supposes we will sin. It says whenever you sin, not if you happen to sin once or twice in your life.
Those of us who are already baptized know that it's not always sunshine and rainbows and puppies. It's just as messy and complicated as the life we were first born into. Being a Christian doesn't mean that there is suddenly no pain or fear or struggle. Oftentimes it means we see more of these things because we're paying attention as we press up against an individualistic consumer culture.
And if you're human like me, you won't only see more of them, you will experience them. Our baptismal covenant reminds us that we will mess up. It supposes we will sin. It says whenever you sin, not if you happen to sin once or twice in your life.
Jan 01, 2023 |
A Story About People
| Guest Speaker
A Story About People
And I'm standing here today because of this place. It's very significant, but ultimately because of you, the people. The story today of the naming is a very important story about names and Jesus's name, and there's so much to unpack and what his name means. There's so much to unpack about Jesus' life and how this marks the beginning of a new kingdom.
In a new age, in a new era. There's so much to unpack about this story of the Holy Name, about Jesus's circumcision. We can tie it, Jesus being circumcised, God's salvation is in the here and the now, in the physical, in the flesh, in our every day. We can do all that. But the story of the name is about people being faithful to God and to each other.
I think that's the story of Church of the Redeemer. I know it's been the story. I know it will continue to be the story of Redeemer, and I thank you personally for being faithful to that story.
In a new age, in a new era. There's so much to unpack about this story of the Holy Name, about Jesus's circumcision. We can tie it, Jesus being circumcised, God's salvation is in the here and the now, in the physical, in the flesh, in our every day. We can do all that. But the story of the name is about people being faithful to God and to each other.
I think that's the story of Church of the Redeemer. I know it's been the story. I know it will continue to be the story of Redeemer, and I thank you personally for being faithful to that story.
Dec 25, 2022 |
The Birth of Salvation
| The Rev. Philip DeVaul
The Birth of Salvation
We have this idea of how God should save us. We as a people,
we pray for salvation, and on tonight we celebrate the birth of Jesus, which we
say is the salvation of the world. The people who are begging for salvation in
Jesus' story, they're not talking about wanting to go to the right place when
they die.
They are hoping that the place where they live in the here and now will be saved. They're not praying for something special and magical to happen to their souls later. They are praying for peace now, for justice, now, for reconciliation and healing for people to get past the ways that we harm each other, now.
So, if God's going to save us in that way, God should send someone in who's going to really clean house and take care of business. And I mean now. And God sends a baby, the audacity of God.
They are hoping that the place where they live in the here and now will be saved. They're not praying for something special and magical to happen to their souls later. They are praying for peace now, for justice, now, for reconciliation and healing for people to get past the ways that we harm each other, now.
So, if God's going to save us in that way, God should send someone in who's going to really clean house and take care of business. And I mean now. And God sends a baby, the audacity of God.
Dec 18, 2022 |
Love Letters
| The Rev. Philip DeVaul
Love Letters
...maybe one of the most frustrating things for me about God, and I mean genuinely something I really get frustrated with God about is that God's existence and presence is always deniable if you want it to be. It is a matter of faith. God shows up in Jesus Christ and you can look at Jesus and go, nah, I don't buy it.
You can have a moment of deep and utter spiritual clarity and understand that you belong to God completely, and then the next day you can go, ah, I was just in a good mood, I don't know what that was about. We are completely capable of denying God's presence as it changes our lives because we want everything to be perfect when love shows up, it needs to feel exactly the way I expected it to feel and look exactly the way I want it to look. That’s how I'll know when love shows up.
Maybe this is why we have such a hard time with Christmas. I'm one of those people who loves Christmas season. I've got my Christmas playlist all queued up and ready to go, and day after Thanksgiving I put it on and I drive myself nuts all until Epiphany. Don't forget, Christmas season goes for 12 days, right?
So I just go and go and go and get the tree up and do everything. And yet, each year. I'm like, that was it. Was that it? Did it happen? Was it Christmas? Was I joyful enough? Did I feel it? Did I feel it? Did it happen? I better get teary-eyed during O Come All Ye faithful, or it's not really Christmas.
Did I feel the love from the right people? Did I love the right people? Call the right people, text the right people. Was the steak cooked the right way? Was it all perfect?
You can have a moment of deep and utter spiritual clarity and understand that you belong to God completely, and then the next day you can go, ah, I was just in a good mood, I don't know what that was about. We are completely capable of denying God's presence as it changes our lives because we want everything to be perfect when love shows up, it needs to feel exactly the way I expected it to feel and look exactly the way I want it to look. That’s how I'll know when love shows up.
Maybe this is why we have such a hard time with Christmas. I'm one of those people who loves Christmas season. I've got my Christmas playlist all queued up and ready to go, and day after Thanksgiving I put it on and I drive myself nuts all until Epiphany. Don't forget, Christmas season goes for 12 days, right?
So I just go and go and go and get the tree up and do everything. And yet, each year. I'm like, that was it. Was that it? Did it happen? Was it Christmas? Was I joyful enough? Did I feel it? Did I feel it? Did it happen? I better get teary-eyed during O Come All Ye faithful, or it's not really Christmas.
Did I feel the love from the right people? Did I love the right people? Call the right people, text the right people. Was the steak cooked the right way? Was it all perfect?
Dec 04, 2022 |
A Reexamined Past
| The Rev. Philip DeVaul
A Reexamined Past
Paul believes that the Messiah did not just show up to bring
justice to Israel, but in fact to the whole world, to every single person and
all the inhabitants and all of the creation. God has brought justice through
Jesus.
This creates tension, not because Paul's Jewish siblings are bad, but because they're human and humans, we don't like change. We don't like when people mess with us. And we definitely don't like when people tell us to reexamine our past and have a different relationship with our past than we've had before.
We get really protective of our history. We get really protective of how we became what we are. I remember when my wife and I had our first child and we were talking about how to actually raise this human in real life, not abstractly. Now here it is, what are you going to do? And I was the person who was saying, well, my parents did it this way and I turned out all right... I found myself being very protective of the things that I had been raised with, and the ways that I understood, because I felt nervous. If I was going to treat my child differently, what did that mean about my past? Was there something wrong with it? Was there something wrong with my parents and something wrong with me? You get nervous.
We're seeing this played out in our country as we reexamine our history. There are people who think, don't look at our history like that, that makes me uncomfortable when you look at the breadth and the wholeness of the things that are true about us, let's just focus on the parts that make me feel good about myself.
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This creates tension, not because Paul's Jewish siblings are bad, but because they're human and humans, we don't like change. We don't like when people mess with us. And we definitely don't like when people tell us to reexamine our past and have a different relationship with our past than we've had before.
We get really protective of our history. We get really protective of how we became what we are. I remember when my wife and I had our first child and we were talking about how to actually raise this human in real life, not abstractly. Now here it is, what are you going to do? And I was the person who was saying, well, my parents did it this way and I turned out all right... I found myself being very protective of the things that I had been raised with, and the ways that I understood, because I felt nervous. If I was going to treat my child differently, what did that mean about my past? Was there something wrong with it? Was there something wrong with my parents and something wrong with me? You get nervous.
We're seeing this played out in our country as we reexamine our history. There are people who think, don't look at our history like that, that makes me uncomfortable when you look at the breadth and the wholeness of the things that are true about us, let's just focus on the parts that make me feel good about myself.
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Nov 27, 2022 |
Wake Up to the Opportunity of Love
| The Rev. Joyce Keeshin
Wake Up to the Opportunity of Love
Maybe some of you have relationships that are troubling if we're ever going to encounter them. It can be over the holidays. Maybe Some of us have situations in that we're just stuck. We just don't know where to go. And I think in those situations we can become something akin to sleepwalking. We just go through it. We just show up, but we're not awake. Sometimes we need to recognize our own sleepfulness to wake up to the opportunity to love...
I found myself reflecting on how the term woke is frequently heard in political and cultural discourse. Today I found myself looking it up, in the dictionary. Webster had a full page of definitions online because it is used in different ways. Sometimes it's a positive descriptor of someone aware of and seeking to respond to injustice in our culture. Sometimes it's used as a challenging descriptor of someone who expresses woke views but does not follow through with them with action.
Sometimes woke is used with harsh judgment against individuals and systems who challenge old systems and values. Yet being awake is inherent in our baptismal vows, it is inherent. Shortly, we will be asked, will you see and serve Christ in all persons loving your neighbor as yourself? Will you strive for justice and peace among all people and respect the dignity of every human being and we will respond, I will with God's help.
We couldn't do it otherwise, but we can with God's help
I found myself reflecting on how the term woke is frequently heard in political and cultural discourse. Today I found myself looking it up, in the dictionary. Webster had a full page of definitions online because it is used in different ways. Sometimes it's a positive descriptor of someone aware of and seeking to respond to injustice in our culture. Sometimes it's used as a challenging descriptor of someone who expresses woke views but does not follow through with them with action.
Sometimes woke is used with harsh judgment against individuals and systems who challenge old systems and values. Yet being awake is inherent in our baptismal vows, it is inherent. Shortly, we will be asked, will you see and serve Christ in all persons loving your neighbor as yourself? Will you strive for justice and peace among all people and respect the dignity of every human being and we will respond, I will with God's help.
We couldn't do it otherwise, but we can with God's help
Nov 20, 2022 |
Forgive and Remember
| The Rev. Philip DeVaul
Forgive and Remember
Are we capable of forgetting the things that have harmed us? Honestly, if we're being real? No. So then we actually just go, well, forgiveness is this thing I'd like to be able to do, but it's not going to happen. And then Jesus, instead of being a person, we're meant to follow down the way of love. Jesus just becomes some religious superhero that can do things we couldn't possibly imagine, like forgive people. Except that we are meant to forgive people. Even when forgetting is not part of the picture, we are meant to forgive. What then is forgiveness if it's not about forgetting?
The reason I'm harping on this for us is it damages our relationship with God if we think that God needs to forget everything we've done in order to forgive us. Think about that for a moment. God can only love me if God forgets all of the things I've done wrong. Or God loves me so much that God just forgets all of the ways I've harmed God and my neighbor and my world.
If we think like that, then that's how we will live in our relationship to forgiveness with others. I don't know how to forgive them because I can't forget it completely. They will never be able to love me fully unless they can forget the terrible, stupid things I've done to them.
What an impossible place we've placed ourselves.
The reason I'm harping on this for us is it damages our relationship with God if we think that God needs to forget everything we've done in order to forgive us. Think about that for a moment. God can only love me if God forgets all of the things I've done wrong. Or God loves me so much that God just forgets all of the ways I've harmed God and my neighbor and my world.
If we think like that, then that's how we will live in our relationship to forgiveness with others. I don't know how to forgive them because I can't forget it completely. They will never be able to love me fully unless they can forget the terrible, stupid things I've done to them.
What an impossible place we've placed ourselves.
Nov 06, 2022 |
Saints Right Now
| The Rev. Philip DeVaul
Saints Right Now
That's the most interesting thing to so many people about
children, the promise of what will be. I hear people who think they're well
intentioned say, oh, the children are the future of the church. No, they're the
present of the church. They're not the future. They're here right now. They're
not our future. They're the present. But we have this tendency to look at
everything as what could be, or might be, or will be, when right here and now these
people are blessing us. The people that we love who have died that we now call
Saints. Did they walk around on Earth acting like what we would consider Saints
acting like then?
Be honest, we love them in their death. When they were alive, were they perfect? That's not how sainthood works. It's not about perfection. It's about responding to the love that God has placed within you and sharing that love with the world around you, however imperfectly you can. However imperfect you are, we recognize our sainthood.
Every single one of us. We proclaim it. Not as saying we're all good, but as saying, we are all, every single one of us loved. Snd we are set apart in this world to share and spread that love to help it grow, to participate with God in the reconciliation of this world.
What would it look like if we saw these ones around us as not as what they will be, but what as they are right now, how they bless us currently?
Read Transcript Here
Be honest, we love them in their death. When they were alive, were they perfect? That's not how sainthood works. It's not about perfection. It's about responding to the love that God has placed within you and sharing that love with the world around you, however imperfectly you can. However imperfect you are, we recognize our sainthood.
Every single one of us. We proclaim it. Not as saying we're all good, but as saying, we are all, every single one of us loved. Snd we are set apart in this world to share and spread that love to help it grow, to participate with God in the reconciliation of this world.
What would it look like if we saw these ones around us as not as what they will be, but what as they are right now, how they bless us currently?
Read Transcript Here
Oct 30, 2022 |
Through the Eyes of Jesus' Love
| The Rev. Joyce Keeshin
Through the Eyes of Jesus' Love
Our narrow views limit us, imprison us. When we allow ourselves
open to God's view, we can see each other's humanity. We can respond in love
and open to the possibility of God's healing grace, for all. Undoubtedly, many
of us have strong feelings about what's going on in our world today.
At this time nearing elections, political rhetoric is fierce. Words that are calling out hatred, that are calling for violence, that are disrespecting and wanting to take away the freedoms of people are said loudly. And this is not to condone any of those words. It's not to condone them. They are not respectful of human dignities, individual rights.
Those expressions of hatred and cause to violence clearly run counter to Jesus's teaching to a baptismal covenant. But it is to say that the views we hold may also be very limited views of fellow human beings. Labeling individuals and groups, treating them as outcasts, are also directly counter to Jesus's teaching....
These very folks who we want to label sinners may very much be the lost Jesus seeks to save.
At this time nearing elections, political rhetoric is fierce. Words that are calling out hatred, that are calling for violence, that are disrespecting and wanting to take away the freedoms of people are said loudly. And this is not to condone any of those words. It's not to condone them. They are not respectful of human dignities, individual rights.
Those expressions of hatred and cause to violence clearly run counter to Jesus's teaching to a baptismal covenant. But it is to say that the views we hold may also be very limited views of fellow human beings. Labeling individuals and groups, treating them as outcasts, are also directly counter to Jesus's teaching....
These very folks who we want to label sinners may very much be the lost Jesus seeks to save.
Oct 23, 2022 |
Contempt
| The Rev. Philip DeVaul
Contempt
Jesus told this parable to some who trusted in
themselves that they were righteous and regarded others with contempt. I'd
always thought of this story as how we approach. Do we stand before God proud
of ourselves? Or do we stand before God humbly asking for mercy? And that is
part of the story, but I'm reminded today when I hear it that Jesus felt the
need to tell this story because he saw so many of his siblings, so many people for
whom he cared so deeply, holding others in contempt. And I realize how capable
I am of somehow thinking that my relationship with God is one thing and my
relationship with everybody else is another thing entirely. That I can have a fantastic relationship with God regardless
of what my relationship with you is like.
What Jesus reminds us of over and over again, but especially today is that the way we love one another is the way we love God. The way we treat one another is the way we treat God. It's become another cliche in our time to talk about what a divisive time we live in. And like many cliches, it's true.
I have noticed in myself, in my own deep conviction of what I believe to be true and right in this world, that as I am feeling this strong sense of conviction about what justice looks like, about what is right, about how to treat one another, what rises up alongside that clear understanding of what is right, is a bunch of contempt. A bunch of hatred, not just anger, anger is something else, but contempt. How could other people be like this? Don't they know better? Jesus is speaking directly to me today and reminding me that the way that I love others is how I love God.
What Jesus reminds us of over and over again, but especially today is that the way we love one another is the way we love God. The way we treat one another is the way we treat God. It's become another cliche in our time to talk about what a divisive time we live in. And like many cliches, it's true.
I have noticed in myself, in my own deep conviction of what I believe to be true and right in this world, that as I am feeling this strong sense of conviction about what justice looks like, about what is right, about how to treat one another, what rises up alongside that clear understanding of what is right, is a bunch of contempt. A bunch of hatred, not just anger, anger is something else, but contempt. How could other people be like this? Don't they know better? Jesus is speaking directly to me today and reminding me that the way that I love others is how I love God.
Oct 16, 2022 |
Will We Pray
| The Rev. Melanie W. J. Slane
Will We Pray
Food, as it turns out, is one of those things that often
elicits prayer between strangers and friends. And aside from praying some short prescriptive
verses over meals at dinner parties, I can't think of many times when my friend
and I prayed together and realized that we were praying.
But several years into our friendship when they came to stay for the weekend... Since they're Lutheran and we're Episcopalian, we picked something we thought the kids might all know, something Jesus taught us. Our mother who art in heaven, hallow would be thy name. All the kids joined in, thy kingdom come. That will be done on Earth as it is in heaven. Here comes the food part. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses, sins, debts, and all that bad stuff as we forgive those who trespass against us. They were really on a roll by this point and lead us not into temptation but deliver us from emails.
For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever and ever, amen. Marjorie and I looked at each other and giggled a bit and silently decided not to correct them. Emails after all had recently become the bane of my existence, and with their words, the mundane had become sacred. The reality of life had become a prayer.
As I look back over the many years of our friendship, I realize we've actually been praying together all along for companionship, for sleep between feedings. For kindness, for non-judgment, for guidance for strength, and for liberation, for breaking the mold on what it means to be a mom.
Looking to Jesus' parable today, I'm struck by the reality that if we are to pray always as Jesus asks, then we need to allow everything to become a prayer.
But several years into our friendship when they came to stay for the weekend... Since they're Lutheran and we're Episcopalian, we picked something we thought the kids might all know, something Jesus taught us. Our mother who art in heaven, hallow would be thy name. All the kids joined in, thy kingdom come. That will be done on Earth as it is in heaven. Here comes the food part. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses, sins, debts, and all that bad stuff as we forgive those who trespass against us. They were really on a roll by this point and lead us not into temptation but deliver us from emails.
For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever and ever, amen. Marjorie and I looked at each other and giggled a bit and silently decided not to correct them. Emails after all had recently become the bane of my existence, and with their words, the mundane had become sacred. The reality of life had become a prayer.
As I look back over the many years of our friendship, I realize we've actually been praying together all along for companionship, for sleep between feedings. For kindness, for non-judgment, for guidance for strength, and for liberation, for breaking the mold on what it means to be a mom.
Looking to Jesus' parable today, I'm struck by the reality that if we are to pray always as Jesus asks, then we need to allow everything to become a prayer.
Oct 09, 2022 |
Go As You Are
| The Rev. Philip DeVaul
Go As You Are
Phil got roped into being a line judge This was very funny
until I saw the picture of myself and said, Is that how I look? Can someone
please delete this picture? And you all, I don't mind saying that to you
because I don't know a person I've ever met who is happy with every picture of
themselves. And by the way, the pictures that we don't like of ourselves, it's
very often not because they don't look like us, it's because they look like us.
Could you have shown a picture that looks less like me to people? That way I would feel better about me, but I guess that's me looking like that. Meanwhile, my friends are laughing because they love me. And because they think it's obviously ridiculous that I've gotten roped into this job I didn't intend to have, and we're all having a laugh and I'm taken out of the experience of communal enjoyment because I'm thinking, is that what I look like?
And this is how we do; this is how we are as people. Am I, as I am, someone anyone should be looking at or being in relationship with? This is a thing that people do to ourselves. Am I enough as I am? Can you imagine a God loving me just like I am? And even if we don't want to admit it we're drawn to this reality; we're attracted to this idea that there's a certain way you've got to be if you're going to present yourself before your God. And if you're going to share real life with people you love, what do you have to be? What do you have to become?
Could you have shown a picture that looks less like me to people? That way I would feel better about me, but I guess that's me looking like that. Meanwhile, my friends are laughing because they love me. And because they think it's obviously ridiculous that I've gotten roped into this job I didn't intend to have, and we're all having a laugh and I'm taken out of the experience of communal enjoyment because I'm thinking, is that what I look like?
And this is how we do; this is how we are as people. Am I, as I am, someone anyone should be looking at or being in relationship with? This is a thing that people do to ourselves. Am I enough as I am? Can you imagine a God loving me just like I am? And even if we don't want to admit it we're drawn to this reality; we're attracted to this idea that there's a certain way you've got to be if you're going to present yourself before your God. And if you're going to share real life with people you love, what do you have to be? What do you have to become?
Oct 02, 2022 |
We Want More
| The Rev. Joyce Keeshin
We Want More
Can any of us not relate to that idea of wanting more? I think our culture is almost built on this idea of more, we want more skill, we want more knowledge, we want more experience.
We want more time. We want more to be more prepared. There's that more, again. Phil talked a bit last week about our desire for more security, more accomplishment, more earnings. We want more, it's almost built into the Western culture. And in this wanting of more, we're also confronted with all the noise around us.
I remember a couple of years ago when I returned to town to face toilet paper shortages. I'd never thought of wanting more toilet paper, but I was in line and showing up at the beginning of stores being open. Back in my marketing days, we were always coming up with the latest promotion. Buy one, get one free.
You know, buy one the second one is at half price. I find myself as a shopper still succumbing to that. There is only me and my dog in my household, and yet there I am. Buy one, get one free. I am right there in line. We want more. And my trip this past summer to see my family in Salt Lake City, we needed to make a stop at Walgreens. My granddaughter, who does have a bit of a sweet tooth, saw this giant box of Junior Mints. She wanted it.
We want more time. We want more to be more prepared. There's that more, again. Phil talked a bit last week about our desire for more security, more accomplishment, more earnings. We want more, it's almost built into the Western culture. And in this wanting of more, we're also confronted with all the noise around us.
I remember a couple of years ago when I returned to town to face toilet paper shortages. I'd never thought of wanting more toilet paper, but I was in line and showing up at the beginning of stores being open. Back in my marketing days, we were always coming up with the latest promotion. Buy one, get one free.
You know, buy one the second one is at half price. I find myself as a shopper still succumbing to that. There is only me and my dog in my household, and yet there I am. Buy one, get one free. I am right there in line. We want more. And my trip this past summer to see my family in Salt Lake City, we needed to make a stop at Walgreens. My granddaughter, who does have a bit of a sweet tooth, saw this giant box of Junior Mints. She wanted it.
Sep 25, 2022 |
Wealthy Now
| The Rev. Philip DeVaul
Wealthy Now
We want to be okay. We want to know that we are taken care
of. We want to enjoy life, but also our pursuit of that can sometimes make us
forget about the people around us. And if we make the pursuit of wealth and the
pursuit of power and the pursuit of luxury, if we make that the center of our
lives, then its Hades and torment coming our way, plain and simple.
This is powerful on a number of levels for us. On one level it's very powerful because by the way, when Jesus talks about heaven and hell, he's not talking about people believing the right things or acting the right way or going to synagogue, or going to church. He's literally talking about how we treat each other in this life.
And he's not just talking about being kind to one another or being understanding and tolerant of one another. He is literally talking about the fact that we live in a space of deep inequity, and we are completely complicit in it. And this is Jesus talking 2000 years ago. This isn't just an America problem or a Cincinnati problem. This is a human problem.
This is powerful on a number of levels for us. On one level it's very powerful because by the way, when Jesus talks about heaven and hell, he's not talking about people believing the right things or acting the right way or going to synagogue, or going to church. He's literally talking about how we treat each other in this life.
And he's not just talking about being kind to one another or being understanding and tolerant of one another. He is literally talking about the fact that we live in a space of deep inequity, and we are completely complicit in it. And this is Jesus talking 2000 years ago. This isn't just an America problem or a Cincinnati problem. This is a human problem.
Sep 18, 2022 |
The Robinhood Parable
| The Rev. Melanie W. J. Slane
The Robinhood Parable
One of the films though actually turned out to be a lot like our Gospel lesson for today. Spoiler alert, it wasn't the one where the woman loses her voice and needs to kiss a prince to get it back. The story I'm thinking of is the story of a shrewd little fox who befriends the poor, the orphan, and the widows, while their coins are collected for taxes, as they search for food and safety and security.
This Foxy protagonist of the film, who I had a crush on as a kid, hangs out with misfits and crippled old men, rambunctious kids, and friars, like Francis. He sleeps in the trees of the forest owns only one outfit as far as I can tell. And he's always on the move. Any guesses to which Disney hero I'm thinking of? Yes, Robin hood! Many of you remember the famous tagline of this infamous hero, he stole from the rich to give to the poor, or maybe just possibly, was he a shrewd manager who gave back to the people, what was rightfully their own?
Sep 11, 2022 |
Holy Credit Score
| The Rev. Philip DeVaul
Holy Credit Score
We think of our relationship with God in an arbitrary way. We say, God is mysterious and yes, God is mysterious. But we act like the whole thing is completely up for grabs and we think, I just hope that I have done enough good. That when God sees me, my credit score will allow me into heaven, and hopefully, I haven't accrued so much bad behavior, so much debt...
...We are not defined by some scale of good or evil. We are defined by the God who has become one with us in Jesus Christ. Jesus is the answer to the question, Am I worth it? Because Jesus is God joining us in this life, sharing our life, sharing our pain and our fear and our sorrow and our anger. Sharing in our joy and our laughter, our affection and our care. Jesus is God living for us and with us, dying for us and with us. And then raising us all up into the truth of our utter and unconditional belonging to God.
It is not that Jesus gives you the right credit score and if you believe in him, your number will go up. It is that Jesus explodes that idea of value altogether and reminds you of your primary identity as beloved. This is the work of Jesus Christ.
...We are not defined by some scale of good or evil. We are defined by the God who has become one with us in Jesus Christ. Jesus is the answer to the question, Am I worth it? Because Jesus is God joining us in this life, sharing our life, sharing our pain and our fear and our sorrow and our anger. Sharing in our joy and our laughter, our affection and our care. Jesus is God living for us and with us, dying for us and with us. And then raising us all up into the truth of our utter and unconditional belonging to God.
It is not that Jesus gives you the right credit score and if you believe in him, your number will go up. It is that Jesus explodes that idea of value altogether and reminds you of your primary identity as beloved. This is the work of Jesus Christ.
Sep 04, 2022 |
The Costs We Incur
| The Rev. Joyce Keeshin
The Costs We Incur
...Our minds start processing cost. We start processing costs
in our decisions, and we're recognizing at times when the cost may be rising or
already too high. But lots of times we need to make cost assessments in order
to move forward.
We all face choices throughout our daily lives. And even the most positive choices have a cost to them. We may decide to pursue a new career opportunity, but the cost may be forsaking the familiarity and the competence we have developed over years. We may be losing the companionship of colleagues who we treasure.
We may be facing longer hours in a steeper learning curve. We may choose to move to a new home, but the cost may be the expense of a move and a higher mortgage. Or if downsizing the decisions as to what we are prepared to let go of. And in either case possibly the loss of dear neighbors who will become part of our lives, even those things that pull us forward, have a cost to them.
We may be confronted with painful choices for ourselves, or loved ones. Decisions about best treatment approaches for an illness. Or even when to cease treatment. Best care arrangements for a family member needing more support, we can look at the pluses and minuses of each option. Whatever our choice is, there is a consciousness that there is a cost, a cost of the path not chosen.
We all face choices throughout our daily lives. And even the most positive choices have a cost to them. We may decide to pursue a new career opportunity, but the cost may be forsaking the familiarity and the competence we have developed over years. We may be losing the companionship of colleagues who we treasure.
We may be facing longer hours in a steeper learning curve. We may choose to move to a new home, but the cost may be the expense of a move and a higher mortgage. Or if downsizing the decisions as to what we are prepared to let go of. And in either case possibly the loss of dear neighbors who will become part of our lives, even those things that pull us forward, have a cost to them.
We may be confronted with painful choices for ourselves, or loved ones. Decisions about best treatment approaches for an illness. Or even when to cease treatment. Best care arrangements for a family member needing more support, we can look at the pluses and minuses of each option. Whatever our choice is, there is a consciousness that there is a cost, a cost of the path not chosen.
