Tag Archives: sacramental life

New birth and a living hope – transformed by Christ

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Second Sunday of Easter (1 Peter 1:3-9)  4/27/2014

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Last week I mentioned the important meaning of this year’s Boston Marathon, especially in light of the tragic events of last year’s race. The Boston Marathon is significant in many ways for those who run the race. There is, first and foremost, hundreds of hours of training…an act of dedication on the part of the runner. Although I have never run a full marathon, I have spent a few months training with friends who have run marathons and I can attest to the commitment they put forth. After countless hours of training and preparation, the day of the big race finally arrives. This year’s Boston Marathon included more than 35 thousand runners (the second most in the race’s history) and was blessed with beautiful weather! Cheering fans lined the streets of the 26.2 mile course and provided excitement and support to all those who pass by. As the moments passed by and after the elite runners quickly ran past, the cheering fans remained to support the competitors who run because they love it; for many runners, the Boston Marathon is a very special moment in their lives. This year, there was a man from Massachusetts who was running in the race and he had nearly reached the 26 mile point, just a few hundred yards from the finish line…and he found that he had run out of energy, the muscles in his legs giving up on him. It is not uncommon to see runners taking a rest during the race, but with just a short distance remaining this man collapsed to his knees, unable to move. I can imagine his lonely agony, surrounded by thousands of people, yet feeling alone in the moment as he slumped to his knees unable to move. Runners continued to pass by, focused on that line just ahead, but there was one man from Illinois who did something surprisingly different – he stopped and supported the slumping man by lifting him under his arm. And then another man from Texas stopped to support the other arm. As the three runners moved slowly forward, unable to sustain their forward movement, two additional runners stopped as well, a man from Minnesota and a woman from Seattle. The group moved toward the finish line, a weary man supported by four exhausted runners: time didn’t matter, the rules of the race that prohibited assisting others didn’t matter, nothing mattered except helping each other, and in helping each other, everyone was dramatically transformed.[i] Continue reading →

Maundy Thursday: care & compassion for others

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Maundy Thursday (John 13:1-17; 31-35)  4/17/2014

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Earlier this week many people took time to remember an event that took place one year ago; a tragic event that ripped through the streets of Boston and ripped through the lives of many, many people. We wish we need not remember days like these, but there is some powerful truth about our common life together that is unlocked and exposed for all to see as we experience events that are beyond our control. The bombing at last year’s Boston Marathon was a day that held this truth for us. The marathon in Boston is not just another sporting event, not just a special day for people who like to run distances that immediately make the rest of us wonder where we left our car keys. No, the marathon is a special part of Boston’s character and spirit; run on a celebratory day that remembers the town’s unique place in the struggle that led to the birth of our nation. The bombs did not simply create the tragic deaths of three people and the injuries of hundreds more, but they shattered the peaceful patterns of people’s understanding of a day that had been celebrated for generations. In the immediate aftermath of the bombs’ destructive force, both people and the community’s sense of peace lie in agony. And if that were the end of the story, it would certainly be a story we would hope to soon forget, but that moment was only the beginning of the larger story that continues to this day and beyond. The larger story is the story of the powerful truth about our common life together, and this is the story we must not forget, this is the story we must remember as we gather together in later days. As the Governor of Massachusetts said to those gathered in Boston this past Tuesday, “There are no strangers here. We are all connected to each other, to events beyond our control, to a common destiny.”[i] The powerful truth of that common destiny is that we are called to serve each other, in times filled with joy and in times filled with sorrow.

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Love and sacrifice: the Holiness of God

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Seventh Sunday after the Epiphany (Lev 19:1-2. 9-18)  2/23/2014

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One of my favorite books of the Bible is the Book of Ruth, a short book of only four chapters that centers on the life and relationship of two courageous women, Naomi and her daughter-in-law, Ruth. The story begins as a tale of loss and challenge: After the death of her husband and two sons, Naomi was determined to return to her homeland of Bethlehem and seek a better life. Ruth was equally determined to faithfully remain at Naomi’s side, and although Naomi encouraged Ruth to remain in Moab with her people, Ruth joined the journey and left her homeland of Moab behind. These two poor widowed women reach Bethlehem and begin their search for food and shelter, hoping to find favor with relatives of Naomi’s late-husband. In desperate need of food, Ruth approached the servant in charge of the fields and asked to harvest the grain, following behind the reapers in the field. The servant granted Ruth permission to harvest the grain that was left, and she worked from early morning until late in the day. The owner of the field soon arrived and heard the challenging story of Naomi and Ruth, and he said to Ruth, “Now listen, my daughter, do not leave this field and do not harvest in any other field, for I have ordered no one to bother you.” Ruth was astonished and said to the man, “Why have I found favor in your sight, that you should take care of me, when I am a foreigner from Moab?” The owner replied, “All that you have done for your mother-in-law since the death of your husband has been fully told me…May the Lord reward you for your deeds, and may you have a full reward from the Lord, the God of Israel, under whose wings you have come for refuge!” (Ruth 2:8, 10-12) For Naomi and Ruth, their story of loss, challenge and sorrow was transformed; their story became a new journey full of hope, promise, and joy! Continue reading →

Will you keep them or throw them back?

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Presentation of our Lord (Luke 2:22-40)  2/02/2014

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Last Sunday we were called by Jesus to drop our nets and our daily entanglements and follow him – “I will make you fish for people,” promised Jesus. Later that same day, I read an interesting news story about a fisherman who spent his entire life fishing in the Mediterranean Sea.[i] The man had died and left behind several pieces of pottery he had pulled from the sea. The relative who received these items called the Antiquities Authority to obtain guidance regarding the disposition of pottery retrieved from the sea that she thought might be a hundred years old. The experts arrived and after a careful inspection informed her the pottery ranged in age from 1000 to over 3000 years old, likely fished out of ship wrecks from the ancient past. All this talk of fishing starting me thinking of a memorable fishing story I experienced as a young boy during a summer trip to Maine with my grandfather and brother. After a full morning of pulling lobster pots, we gathered up our fishing gear and headed back to sea to try our luck fishing for dogfish. Now, other than a few trips to the local river fishing for brook trout, I really had no idea what I was doing and I had no idea what a dogfish even looked like. An hour of working our drop-line fishing gear proved to be completely disappointing, so we called it a day and started to bring in our lines. As I retrieved my line I began to feel a strong tug and I quickly become worried that I had hooked my line on some underwater growth. Everyone encouraged me to keep pulling, and with the assistance of my grandfather and his friend, the line slowly pulled a large grey object in to sight. And as I saw the three foot dogfish below the water I did the only reasonable thing anyone would do if you had never seen a dogfish before…I yelled “SHARK! There’s a SHARK in the water!” As I continued to yell “shark” and did everything in my power to not drop my line and lose the fish, everyone else in the boat found great joy in my terrified amazement. Continue reading →

Called to dream, Called to serve

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Second Sunday after the Epiphany (Isaiah 49:1-7)  1/19/2014

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I recently watched a very powerful HBO documentary about a young boy, who was actually quite an old man. The documentary was about Sam Berns, a young boy with a very rare disorder called Progeria. The disorder is a rare disease that involves a specific protein that creates a genetic disruption and causes the body to age very rapidly…this young boy of 13 had the body of an 80 year man. The young boy stated quite firmly, however, that the documentary was about his life, not about the disease. But without the disease, there would have been no documentary; without witnessing the incredible challenges of his life, there would have been no obvious contrast for us to see Sam’s incredible strength and hope. As the story unfolds throughout the documentary, the viewer becomes familiar with Sam and his parents (both medical doctors, helping in their own ways to find solutions to Sam’s disease) and you become increasingly aware of the life and character of Sam and his parents; and eventually the disease is merely the context of the story, not the story itself. No, the story itself is a story of courageous hope, courageous dreams, courageous actions that are taken with an abiding faith and confidence that those actions will make a difference. The courageous actions of Sam and his parents create the story, not the disease. Nowhere in the documentary is this fact better illustrated than in the opening few seconds, just as the story begins. We discover a young 13 year old boy, who looks like a man maybe 6 or 7 times that old, intently working on creating something new. He is surrounded by LEGO blocks, LEGO people and entire LEGO creations spread across a very large table. And as he continues to work on his newest creation he says, “When I’m building LEGOs I feel like I can create my own world…” Sam not only created his own world on that large table, Sam and his parents faithfully created a difference in the world at large – in their community and across the globe. His dreams were not simply left on that big table, Sam’s dreams were coming to life because of his courageous faith and his confidence that his actions could make a difference. Continue reading →

Blessed are the Peacemakers: the harmony of Advent

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Advent 2 (Romans 15:4-13)  12/08/2013

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This week has been a busy and joyful week at St. John’s! There are many varieties of busy weeks, but this past week would rival any beehive at the height of the honey season. The work of the Christmas Festival was quite amazing and the efforts of Annabel and everyone who worked in the many areas of the Festival was a wonderful blessing. Today marks the ingathering of our gift bags in support of our participation with the VNA Christmas Sharing program. And for the crescendo of the week, we will celebrate an Advent Procession of Lessons and Carols this evening! As wonderful as the food, crafts and other items of the Christmas Festival were; as important as our shopping for the Christmas Sharing program was; as important as the music of the Advent Lessons and Carols will be; the most important aspect of all of this, the most grace-filled and sacramental aspect of this incredibly busy week was and is the spirit of generosity toward others and the gathering of the Christian community, in God’s name, for the nourishment of our lives together. The season of Advent brings many messages for us to consider, but the gathering together as a community of faith in the presence of God is among the most powerful of all the Advent lessons…the sacred gathering together of God’s children as we anxiously await the coming of our Saviour Jesus Christ. Continue reading →

Finding Balance in Generosity and Joy

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Christ the King (Luke 23:33-43) 11/24/2013

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I was away from the office this past week for a few days as I participated in a clergy retreat, and I am very thankful for the gift of this time to listen, learn and reflect with my clergy colleagues. The retreat was a time to learn about healthy practices of body, mind and spirit, and personal finance, leadership and ministry; how to create a proper balance in your life. Although all of these components of the retreat were insightful, the most nourishing and nurturing was the time spent in community with others; moments of simple social gathering and moments spent in worship. We gathered together each day in worship and one of my most memorable moments was during Morning Prayer of the third day. After hearing the Scripture readings appointed for the day, the preacher stood in front of the group and explained that there were some rather obvious topics for reflection, but instead she wanted to share some thoughts with us about “vestibulo-ocular reflex.” The unexpected topic created a bit of laughter among the surprised group, but the preacher, a priest and medical doctor, pressed ahead with her story. Without the benefit of medical training, I must admit that simply remembering the name “vestibulo-ocular reflex” was about all that I might manage…but fortunately we have the internet to refresh my memory! Vestibulo-ocular reflex is the human body’s amazing ability to provide clear and stable vision, even as our heads are in constant motion. As the head moves in one direction, the eyes respond by moving in a direction of equal and opposite motion to compensate and ensure accurate and clear vision through perfect balance. This reflex action may appear simple at first, but as you imagine the near constant motion of your body and the complexity of the movement, the reflex action of the eyes is nearly miraculous in practice. Vestibulo-ocular reflex is the body’s gift of stability of sight and clear vision, but this gift is only effective if two completely opposite actions are in perfect balance and experienced as one. As I sat with my friends in worship that morning, we encountered an unexpected story, but a story that was filled with the miraculous blessing of balance and clear vision. Continue reading →

Connected as children of God – All Saints Day

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All Saints Day (Ephesians 1:11-23)  11/03/2013

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This past weekend, I joined the group of folks from this parish and hundreds of delegates from other churches throughout the Connecticut Diocese as we gathered for our annual convention. After arriving in Stamford and registering at the convention desk, Colin and I set off to accomplish one of the most important tasks of convention…finding a really good seat! We picked the perfect table and as we began to settle in we introduced ourselves to the one person  already sitting at the table, the Deacon from Trinity Church in Newtown, Tom Mariconda. After a brief conversation about convention topics, I asked Tom the question that is on everyone’s heart and mind, “how are the people in Newtown?”…and I mean, how are you all, really? Tom replied, “Good days, bad days; still a little bit of everything, and the one year anniversary is coming up in December.” We expressed our concern and assured him of our prayers, but the expression and emotion of his words simply hung in the air. The convention room slowly filled in as people arrived and our table was quickly filled with delegates from St. John’s, Grace Church (Hartford), and Trinity Church (Newtown). Throughout the convention we discussed many topics; topics big and small, official and personal, and some serious and some quite funny. But throughout our time, sitting at our table, there remained an awareness of the journey the folks in Newtown were traveling, made incarnate before us in the delegates from Trinity Church. Saturday morning, Kathie Adams-Shepherd, the Rector of Trinity Church, addressed the Convention. Kathie gave her thanks for the continued prayers and support of so many people; and she eloquently expressed the experiences of Newtown and the connection of their journey with the everyday journey of so many others grieving and in need – a connection with people who experience loss nearly everyday in Hartford, in New Haven, and in so many other places throughout our country and the world. She also expressed a connection with gracious acts of mercy from others, from people in Newtown, and in CT, and gracious acts from the helping hands and hearts of the wider world. As she spoke to the delegates of the Convention, she was thoughtful and heartfelt, her voice moving with emotion; and those in attendance that morning were connected to her, our hearts moving up and down with her, connected with great emotion and gratitude. Continue reading →

Flashes of Heavenly Light

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Pentecost 19 (Luke 16:19-31)  09/29/2013

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Abraham said to the rich man, “Besides all this, between you and us a great chasm has been fixed, so that those who might want to pass from here to you cannot do so, and no one can cross from there to us.” (Luke 16:26) There are many, many images of heaven in the Bible; some images are glorious, open and expansive, while other images are rather foreboding and exclusive. This morning’s story of Lazarus’ place in heaven and the rich man’s tormented existence in Hades is of the foreboding and exclusive variety. We have a difficult time trying to state with great certainty what any place is truly like when that place remains so elusive, just beyond our earthly grasp. If we desire to know the secrets of the heavenly dwelling place of God, the many and seemingly contrasting images from the Bible do not help us create the one true image we seek. These images may be fruitful inspiration for the artists and authors throughout the centuries who have brought their talents to the fertile ground of capturing the secrets of heaven in their many forms of art and literature. But what about the rest of us? What about our practical daily existence as we live our days with the doors of heaven just beyond our sight? Roger Ferlo, an Episcopal Priest and author, recently edited a collection of thoughtful essays on this very subject in a book appropriately titled, Heaven. In the introduction of his book, Ferlo suggests an earthly method of searching for the mysteries of heaven: “Only by considering closely the things of this world can we have any clue about the things of the next. This is an ancient insight, what the medieval theologians called the analogy of being. It is the conviction that in the [very being] of God’s creation we discern, if only by analogy or metaphor or indirection, a glimpse of the divine beauty and the divine splendor, what the poet T.S. Eliot called ‘a wink of heaven.'”[i] Ferlo’s suggestion is that in the very world in which we live, there are flashes of heavenly light, undeniable moments of God’s grace breaking in to our world. These moments are there for our inspiration and understanding, unless we choose to look the other way. And this brings us back to the rich man and Lazarus. Continue reading →

Stealing some moments for God

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Pentecost 18 (Luke 16:1-13) 9/22/2013

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I am very happy to report that the Boston Red Sox have clinched the American League East and are heading to the playoffs! I like to say that football season does not officially begin until the Red Sox have finished playing for the year…so the NFL will have to wait a little longer. College football is a different story; college football seems to be an integral part of the beginning of fall. College sports retain various elements of the rich history and traditions of the school and watching the game allows us an opportunity to be connected with those who have gone before us. Just last weekend I was watching a Navy football game on TV, the first home game of the season: the bright blue and gold uniforms, the old cannon firing with every score, and the Navy goat dutifully standing on the sideline. The entire picture could be repeated at many colleges throughout the country, except perhaps for the goat…why a goat, you might wonder. We just heard last Sunday about the shepherd and the sheep, the lesson of how the shepherd know their sheep; but we have a goat on the sideline of the big game! As with many traditions, especially funny college traditions, there are many stories to tell. One story of the goat involves the very first Army-Navy football game, played at West Point in 1890. As the Navy football players approached West Point, they realized they were heading to a very important game and they didn’t have a mascot…every team needs a mascot! There on the side of the road, tied up next to someone’s house, was a goat…so they simply untied the goat and headed off to the big game with their new mascot. A bit dishonest perhaps, but the act of borrowing the goat showed some interesting insights, an understanding that the odd act of taking the goat might just rally the team. Certainly, the theft of a goat would not seem to be Navy Football’s finest moment, but the lesson is not too far from the odd story we find in the Gospel lesson this morning. Continue reading →