January 2008 Newsletter

Shepherd’s Call – January 2008

Advent 1 Year A Be Awake Dec. 2, 2007

PRAYERS
1. Oh God, You have given us the vision to see beyond our time to beyond life that we might accomplish great purposes that out-live us. And, you have given us vision to see beyond the physical to the spiritual that we might not be driven by our possessions but instead by great principle. We give thanks for the gift of vision. May we not become blinded by our smaller visions but hold on to the larger visions that can transform us and therefore transform the world around us? Amen LindyThere is a story of a wise old Rabbi who instructed his students by asking questions. He asked, “How can a person tell when the darkness ends and the day begins?” After thinking for a moment, one student replied, “It is when there is enough light to see an animal in the distance and be able to tell if it is a sheep or a goat.” Another student ventured, “It is when there is enough light to see a tree, and tell if it is a fig or an oak tree.” The old Rabbi gently said, “No. It is when you can look into a man’s face and recognize him as your brother. For if you cannot recognize in another’s face the face of your brother, the darkness has not yet begun to lift, and the light has not yet come.” Dennis Bratcher

All of our reading today deal with Being Light, of the light, in the light sharing the light wearing the light. I am always struck by the image of putting on the armor of light as Paul’s letter to the Romans tells us. Paul says we are doing battle with the beast and so warriors wear armor. But we are called to be very different kinds of warriors and that makes sense because last week we celebrated the Christ as a very different kind of King.
I think the heart of today’s reading lies in the Psalm 122 on page779 or page 498 of the red pew bible. Verse 7 says peace be within your walls, and quiet within your towers.

I believe we are to be in this world just not of it. So it is not realistic to go to a monastery to escape commercial Christmas. Let’s not forget that Christmas was to Christianize the pagan holiday in the 1st place. What we have always done well is adapt to the situation.
If you put on the armor of light, if you keep peace within your walls and quiet within your towers then Advent will prepare you well to be the warrior you are called to be for this unusual King we follow

Christ the King What ya going to do now King? Nov. 25, 2007

One Tin Soldier (The Legend of Billy Jack)
by Lambert-Potter, sung by Coven

Listen, children, to a story
That was written long ago,
‘Bout a kingdom on a mountain
And the valley-folk below.On the mountain was a treasure
Buried deep beneath the stone,
And the valley-people swore
They’d have it for their very own.

Go ahead and hate your neighbor,
Go ahead and cheat a friend.
Do it in the name of Heaven,
You can justify it in the end.
There won’t be any trumpets blowing
Come the judgment day,
On the bloody morning after….
One tin soldier rides away.

So the people of the valley
Sent a message up the hill,
Asking for the buried treasure,
Tons of gold for which they’d kill.

Came an answer from the kingdom,
“With our brothers we will share
All the secrets of our mountain,
All the riches buried there.”

Go ahead and hate your neighbor,
Go ahead and cheat a friend.
Do it in the name of Heaven,
You can justify it in the end.
There won’t be any trumpets blowing
Come the judgment day,
On the bloody morning after….
One tin soldier rides away.

Now the valley cried with anger,
“Mount your horses! Draw your sword!”
And they killed the mountain-people,
So they won their just reward.

Now they stood beside the treasure,
On the mountain, dark and red.
Turned the stone and looked beneath it…
“Peace on Earth” was all it said.

Go ahead and hate your neighbor,
Go ahead and cheat a friend.
Do it in the name of Heaven,
You can justify it in the end.
There won’t be any trumpets blowing
Come the judgment day,
On the bloody morning after….
One tin soldier rides away.

Go ahead and hate your neighbor,
Go ahead and cheat a friend.
Do it in the name of Heaven,
You can justify it in the end.
There won’t be any trumpets blowing
Come the judgment day,
On the bloody morning after….
One tin soldier rides away.

We celebrate the Feast of Christ the King on this the last Sunday of the Church year. On this Sunday especially we are faced with the reality that King is not like other King’s. Ironically I call these reality moments come to Jesus moments. We all have these times in our life when we have to face the fact that our waist isn’t what it was , that our age isn’t what it was that our children aren’t always perfect or that our lives didn’t end up quite the way we planned. Those moments for each of us are different.
This Sunday on Christ the King Sunday we have to admit that our King is not like other King’s. Actually, it starts for us in accepting that we have a King in a culture that is based on rejecting such offices and authority. But even if you are ok with having a King wouldn’t you at least want to go back to that second grade argument my dad is tougher than your dad. Maybe second grade girls don’t have this argument but second grade boys do. Wouldn’t you want your King to be the smartest, toughest, wisest, King ever?
So here we are and our King has no army, no Nobel peace prize and died, by human standards, pretty much a failure. Here is the ultimate question, do you want to have your life judged by human standards. When you die, what do you want them to say? What will your legacy be? What do you want it to be? That’s why we celebrate Christ the King. Because at least I want my legacy to be He was given much in heaven and on earth and He used every ounce he was given to spread love, to share the Kingdom and when his joy was spent he was swept up with the angels and God held him tight and said well done, child well done.

You see I follow a King like non-other, A king who eats with thieves and liars and beggars and those whom the society deemed unworthy, I follow a King who broke stigmas and social and racial barriers, I follow a King who with his last breath brought one more person to his Father and asked for forgiveness for those who had killed him. On this Christ the King Sunday the question is this. Are you the mountain people, the village people or the one tin solider. The world can only be different if we are not afraid to make it different first in ourselves and then all around us in little and big ways. May we bear much light because we know the King

In the name of God

Pentecost 24 Proper 27 Give till it feels good Nov. 11, 2007

Sing a simple song unto the Lord, Sing a simple song unto the Lord, Sing it with your heart, sing it with your soul, sing a simple song unto the Lord
The story is told that many years ago when they were building the great Cathedral in Charte France, a Church official was taking a tour and he asked this worker and that what there job was. One said I am a brick layer another was crafting the stain glass, another was a carpenter. Finally he came upon an elderly woman who was sweeping up around the construction. The Official said and you good Lady what are you doing, she said, “I am building a cathedral for the glory of God.
Next weekend is Stone soup Sunday. This weekend, there along with the new directory, is an envelope with hopefully all of your names on it. We ask you to take the envelope and pray with steadfast heart about your estimate of giving for the next year. We ask you to pray over your time and talent survey.
I need you to hear some things as clearly as I can say them. I love you very much. I believe in each of you and in us. Mostly I believe in God and what God has planned for us.This is our simple song. This is our cathedral to the glory of God. Not the building but what we do with the building. This is stone soup. I ask only that if God has blessed you greatly then give to God and the church greatly. Give with abundance knowing that it is God, through our labor that really is providing for us. It is all his and God only asks for a small percentage back.
If we all dig in and give and do what we can then I can promise you that Good Shepherd will have the best year of our history. We will do more mission than we thought possible because as the psalm says we will run and not grow weary, we will fall and not be hurt, and we will soar with the eagle to the glory of God. It is time to put on the armor of light. It is time to follow our hearts and our God out to rock the place.

Theresa of Avila says Christ has no arms but yours, I have no mouth but yours.
I always say that going to church is not a pass card to get to heaven but it was very clear to me why we need to gather together and be good shepherds on Thurs. I was driving to Milwaukee and was passed by a Mercedes Benz with the Wisconsin license plate Demonic, the devil doesn’t even have to be clever the devil has so convinced the culture that evil doesn’t really exist that He can put his name on a license plate and no one blinks an eye. Then I was in a church and stamped on the prayer book was “may not leave this place”. Don’t you think that we should be sending people out the door with prayer books? That’s my kind of unexpected expense.

Sing a simple song unto the Lord, sing a simple song unto the Lord, sing it with your heart, sing it with your soul, and sing a simple song unto the Lord.

As you pray over your stewardship of time, talent and treasure follow your heart, ask yourself the questions in the bulletin this week and make your commitment out of God’s abundance. Together we will build a cathedral for the glory of God. Together each will throw into the pot from what they have and in God there will be plenty for us to eat.

In the name of God

Pentecost 23 Proper 26 How tall is your tree Nov. 4, 2007

I sing a song of the saints of God,
patient and brave and true,
who toiled and fought and lived and died
for the Lord they loved and knew.
And one was a doctor, and one was a queen,
and one was a shepherdess on the green;
they were all of them saints of God, and I mean,
God helping, to be one too.

2. They loved their Lord so dear, so dear,
and his love made them strong;
and they followed the right for Jesus’ sake
the whole of their good lives long.
And one was a soldier, and one was a priest,
and one was slain by a fierce wild beast;
and there’s not any reason, no, not the least,
why I shouldn’t be one too.

3. They lived not only in ages past;
there are hundreds of thousands still.
The world is bright with the joyous saints
who love to do Jesus’ will.
You can meet them in school, on the street, in the store,
in church, by the sea, in the house next door;
they are saints of God, whether rich or poor,
and I mean to be one too.
This Sunday we transfer the feast that was celebrated on Thurs. All saints day. A day we celebrate those who while walking among us where able to transcend human day to day-ness and live life on earth as Kingdom people. These people did not have perfection in common they had a passion for Christ and the love of God in common. This is my working definition of Holy. To Live and Love God in powerful and extraordinary ways. Another thing saints all share is “Transformative vision.” A challenge or goal that, when lived into, changes our lives. It so changes our lives that it changes who we are. This is the life’s work of 80 year old Gordon Cosby and his wife Mary. Who in his ninth decade is starting a school to teach business men who do business with more than just the bottom line? Gordon Cosby second book is titled Grace Transformed
Gordon Cosby was a young Baptist minister whose vision of church came in response to his service as a chaplain in World War II. As he preached and talked with young soldiers, many who would die imminently, he began to dream of a church that would prepare members to live lives fully committed to Christ, to one another, and to the world.
For some months after the war the dream evolved in the hearts and minds of Gordon, Mary and others close to them and in October of 1947, the first members made their initial commitment. Nine were received into membership that day. The church that came into being has become a beacon of light and love reaching out through its vast array of ministries to make a vital difference within the city of Washington and to inspire individuals and other churches in their ministries to the world
Gordon’s first call to preach came when he was fifteen. He and his brother, P.G., had been wandering through the backwoods of Lynchburg when they came upon an abandoned two-room church. They inquired of an elderly, distinguished-appearing, gray-haired black man, who was passing by, if the church were ever used.
“I’m the chief deacon,” the man said, “but we have no minister.” After giving a convincing account of their activities in two churches, they asked,
“How would you like us to be your ministers?”
The chief deacon made no commitment.
“You can come and preach this Sunday,” he said.
There were a dozen people-men, women, and children-in that first congregation. Gordon Cosby’s text was Rev. 3:15-16: “I know your works; you are neither cold nor hot. Would that you were cold or hot! So, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold not hot, I will spew you out of my mouth.”
The sermon was one that he was to preach again and again in a hundred different ways. Appreciative “Amens” punctuated its first delivery.
…A conference with seminary authorities convinced them that it was right for him to begin seminary training. Gordon soon entered Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky. After several months at seminary he decided to pursue college work at the same time. In 1942 he was graduated magna cum laude from Hampden Sydney College, and in the same year he completed his seminary training and was ordained a Baptist minister. His college and seminary studies had been compressed into four and one-half years. During that time he had also courted Mary Campbell. One week after he was graduated from seminary they were married.
…Their first church was the Ballston Baptist Church, situated in a tiny village in Arlington County, Virginia. This church became the focal point of their dreams. It was the church that Gordon Cosby was serving when he enlisted in the army, and it was the church that he planned to return to when the war was over.
In the Second World War he was to hammer out a concept of leadership that would change the direction of his ministry. As chaplain of the 327th Glider Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division, he saw the church from a new vantage point-outside it. It would never have happened if the circumstances of war had not forcibly placed him there. For the first time he was an observer of the church in the world; he was in the position of receiving people who presumably had been trained by the church for a ministry to the world-to be light in the midst of darkness. Yet these men, who had been in all the training units of the church, were no more ready for a deadly mission than the unchurched. What he observed were “Christian” men who could not stand up under pressure, not even moral pressure. “If they just didn’t go to pieces morally, you could feel grateful for that kind of survival.” What he had thought was character, he began to know was the structure of family, society, law enforcement agencies. When this was taken away life did not hold together because internally it was not held together.
…The demands of wartime were shaping the ministry of Gordon Cosby because they were letting him see himself against the back-drop of eternity. A few days after the Normandy invasion they were to make the first serious assault into enemy lines. It was to take place at two o’clock in the morning. They were to cross a little river and take a hill. The assignment was dangerous enough for them to realize that half their number would die. Gordon decided that the best thing for him to do was to visit with as many of the men as he could in the moments before the assault. It was a cold, drizzly night, though it was June, and he could not see the faces of the men with whom he talked. Crawling into one of the foxholes, he started,
“I’m the Chaplain. Just wanted to talk to you a bit.”
“I’m glad you’re here,” returned the soldier. “I wanted to talk to you. I have a premonition that I am going to die tonight-that I will meet God before the night is over, and I don’t know Him. I want you to talk to me about Him.” And then he added, “Don’t give me any stuff about philosophy or theology. I just want you to talk to me about God.”
In that moment the young chaplain discovered that he did not know nearly so much about God as he had five minutes before. He did not know what to say. Uneasiness filled him, but within a few seconds he found himself saying,
“I would like to talk to you about a verse of Scripture which means a lot to me: ‘For God so loved the world . . . ‘”
He talked to the soldier as simply as he knew about those words of Scripture.
The next morning he checked the casualty list. The man was dead. “I wondered about him,” Gordon recalls. “He had been so close to me, and I wondered how those last words had hindered or helped him now that he was in the presence of God. Then it occurred to me that this man was every person. What difference does it make whether it is two hours, or two years, or twenty years? Everyone is going to be in the presence of God one day, and everyone is crying out, ‘Speak to me of things which are eternal. Speak to me of God.’”
In moments like these he knew that he would be the minister of a congregation at home with the great words of the faith-God, Christ, Holy Spirit, grace, forgiveness.
…The church he dreamed of would be ecumenical: It would work and pray for the healing of the divisions between all churches. …The church Gordon envisioned would know that its mission was to take a world for Christ. In this alone there would be unity.
… Between battles of the Second World War, he wrote, with the encouragement and inspiration of new friends, the first prospectus of the Church of the Savior and mailed it home to Mary and Elizabeth-Anne. His covering letter explained that he was not sure that this was their calling, but that he was leaning in the direction of a church which would welcome into its membership persons of any denomination. Its mission, however, would be the quarter of a million unchurched in the capital city of the United States.
Mary and Elizabeth-Anne felt called to the same adventure and when Gordon came home they began to plan for it. They asked their friends who knew God to pray in a disciplined fashion concerning the wisdom and rightness of bringing into existence such a church in Washington, D.C. Their friends did-people in England, France, and Holland as well as in twenty-five states. As they prayed, most of them felt an oneness in the thrill of certainty that this was God’s will. Throughout that first year over one hundred friends were kept in touch with the progress made. These persons continually prayed for members and for the power and spirit the pioneers would have to have.
The first summer after Gordon’s return, he and Mary spent much time talking to Christian leaders, asking for their reactions to the spirit, plans, and direction of the Church of the Savior.
…The first official meeting of the Church of the Savior took place on a Saturday afternoon, October 5, 1946, at the First Baptist Church, Alexandria. …On October 19, 1947, nine people stood and repeated the commitment of membership:
I come today to join a local expression of the Church, which is the body of those on whom the call of God rests to witness to the grace and truth of God.
I recognize that the function of the Church is to glorify God in adoration and sacrificial service, and to be God’s missionary to the world, bearing witness to God’s redeeming grace in Jesus Christ.
I believe as did Peter that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the Living God.
I unreservedly and with abandon commit my life and destiny to Christ, promising to give Him a practical priority in all the affairs of life. I will seek first the kingdom of God and His Righteousness.
I commit myself, regardless of the expenditures of time, energy, and money to becoming an informed, mature Christian.
I believe that God is the total owner of my life and resources. I give God the throne in relation to the material aspect of my life. God is the owner. I am the ower. Because God is a lavish giver I too shall be lavish and cheerful in my regular gifts.
I will seek to be Christian in all my relations with other persons, with other nations, groups, classes, and races.
I will seek to bring every phase of my life under the Lordship of Christ.
When I move from this place I will join some other expression of the Christian Church.
The nine who were received into membership were Gordon and Mary Cosby, Robert and Martha Knapp, Frank and Dorothy Cresswell, Elizabeth-Anne Campbell, Rosalie Grenier, and Esther Zeller.
You see, I don’t believe that a church has a corner on the market of saints or holiness. Do you have to be a Christian to be Holy? What about Gandhi, the Dahli Lama are they saints? Are they Holy? Can we learn from their example?
We should all desire to be saints. To be an example of faith and God’s love. We should never tire of trying to live that example like Pastor Crosby. In as many years as God gives us.

I sing a song of the saints of God,
patient and brave and true,
who toiled and fought and lived and died
for the Lord they loved and knew.
And one was a doctor, and one was a queen,
and one was a shepherdess on the green;
they were all of them saints of God, and I mean,
God helping, to be one too.

2. They loved their Lord so dear, so dear,
and his love made them strong;
and they followed the right for Jesus’ sake
the whole of their good lives long.
And one was a soldier, and one was a priest,
and one was slain by a fierce wild beast;
and there’s not any reason, no, not the least,
why I shouldn’t be one too.

3. They lived not only in ages past;
there are hundreds of thousands still.
The world is bright with the joyous saints
who love to do Jesus’ will.
You can meet them in school, on the street, in the store,
in church, by the sea, in the house next door;
they are saints of God, whether rich or poor,
and I mean to be one too.

Pentecost 23 Proper 25 Falling on our knees Oct. 30, 2007

Oh Lord hear my prayer, oh lord hear my prayer. When I call answer me. Oh lord hear my prayer oh, lord hear my prayer, please come and listen to me.
The melody is haunting, it is a pleading, a begging of God
There are three examples of prayer offered in Luke’s 18th chapter, 1) persistence of the widow 2) the self righteousness of Pharisee 3) and the humility of the tax collector. This reminds us that God alone grants salvation and prayer begins with our recognition of the need for God’s mercy.
The Pharisee went to the temple to make his appearance, the publican to make his request
We are given a mirror to quietly and privately look in and reflect on which person most reflects our prayer. Ask yourself, is my prayer most like the widow of last week, persistent. Most the like the Pharisee, self righteous or most like the Publican, sincere and humble. Ask your self why am I here, because of how it looks, because it counts toward the good person check list or because we need all the help, example and support we can get to fall deeper in love with God and try and follow Gods way.
The publican had a broken, repentant and obedient heart.
God’s glory is to resist the proud and give grace to the humble.
You will not be deemed righteous in God’s sight if you are already deemed righteous in your own sight.
In Luke’s gospel he draws a picture of what life could be like where those with power give some of it up in order to give those who have very little a little more
Matthew’s gospel, being more spiritual is put against Luke’s more social gospel in a very real sense, Luke is describing where, for him, we pray from the center of the margin. Isn’t this a place most of us could live? Not selfishly rich and justified and not to be counted in the world’s poor. But able to give up some of our power and blessing in order to move us closer to the middle with those who have less.

Pentecost 20 Proper 23 Grateful Oct. 14, 2007

11On the way to Jerusalem Jesus was going through the region between Samaria and Galilee. 12As he entered a village, ten lepers approached him. Keeping their distance, 13they called out, saying, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!” 14When he saw them, he said to them, “Go and show yourselves to the priests.” And as they went, they were made clean. 15Then one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, praising God with a loud voice. 16He prostrated himself at Jesus’ feet and thanked him. And he was a Samaritan. 17Then Jesus asked, “Were not ten made clean? But the other nine, where are they? 18Was none of them found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?” 19Then he said to him, “Get up and go on your way; your faith has made you well.”rad•i•cal
14th century
1: of, relating to, or proceeding from a root: as a (1): of or growing from the root of a plant (2): growing from the base of a stem, from a root like stem, or from a stem that does not rise above the ground b: of, relating to, or constituting a linguistic root c: of or relating to a mathematical root d: designed to remove the root of a disease or all diseased and potentially diseased tissue 2: of or relating to the origin : FUNDAMENTAL3 a: marked by a considerable departure from the usual or traditional : EXTREME b: tending or disposed to make extreme changes in existing views, habits, conditions, or institutions c: of, relating to, or constituting a political group associated with views, practices, and policies of extreme change d: advocating extreme measures to retain or restore a political state of affairs
4slang : EXCELLENT, COOL
- rad•i•cal•ness noun

thank•ful
Date:
before 12th century
1 : conscious of benefit received 2 : expressive of thanks
3 : well pleased : GLAD
- thank•ful•ness noun

grate•ful
Etymology:
obsolete grate pleasing, thankful, from Latin gratus – more at GRACE
Date:
1552
1 a: appreciative of benefits received b: expressing gratitude 2 a: affording pleasure or contentment : PLEASING b: pleasing by reason of comfort supplied or discomfort alleviated
- grate•ful•ly \-fə-lē\ adverb
- grate•ful•ness noun
gra•cious
Pronunciation:
\ˈgrā-shəs\
Function:
adjective
Etymology:
Middle English, from Anglo-French gracieus, from Latin gratiosus enjoying favor, agreeable, from gratia
Date:
14th century
1 aobsolete : GODLY barchaic : PLEASING, ACCEPTABLE2 a: marked by kindness and courtesy b: GRACEFUL c: marked by tact and delicacy : URBANE d: characterized by charm, good taste, generosity of spirit, and the tasteful leisure of wealth and good breeding 3: MERCIFUL, COMPASSIONATE -used conventionally of royalty and high nobility
- gra•cious•ly adverb
- gra•cious•ness noun
I do love the story Jesus tells in the Gospel today. As I prayed over the story two words and a phrase kept kicking around in my head. Thankful, Grateful and Radically Gracious.To be thankful according to Webster is to be conscious of the benefit received. I believe all ten lepers where thankful. I believe we are usually in a thankful state for our lives and the benefit given unto us as the rite one service says.

Grateful according to Mr. Webster is to be appreciative of the benefit and the root of the word is the same root as gracious. I believe the lepers were appreciative. I believe we are appreciative.

But to be radical means, to stem from the root, both essentially fundamental and extreme. Gracious means marked by kindness and courtesy. It used to mean Godly but that, according to Mr. Webster, is obsolete. It also means graceful, merciful and compassionate.

I believe only one leper was radically gracious. I believe that we are at times radically gracious. I believe there are many examples of people among us who are always radically gracious Harriet Davison is one, Thelma Sutton is another. I believe that I am sometimes radically gracious.

Remember the 4 keys
1) Be
2) Do
3) Build
4) Buy
We need to, as a community, make this one of the corners of our place . My aunt Lucille and Uncle Don are radically gracious. But it’s a little easier for Uncle Don because Aunt Lucille would have it no other way.
At my cousin’s wedding, her youngest, this woman in her 70’s made countless dishes and gave me a bucket of tomatoes to take home.
Radical hospitality and graciousness is here. I just think we need to make it an art form.
It should affect every aspect of our life. It is how we treat each other when we don’t necessarily like each other. It is how we react when we are tired or stressed. It is how we say sorry when we make a mistake it is how we walk with others living with the knowledge that we are living in the kingdom of God and no one else’s. May we commit our hearts and souls to Jesus Christ and as he calls us to commit our lives to being radically gracious in that Kingdom

Pentecost 19 Good enough! Oct. 7, 2007

5The apostles said to the Lord, “Increase our faith!” 6The Lord replied, “If you had faith the size of a mustard seed, you could say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and planted in the sea,’ and it would obey you. 7″Who among you would say to your slave who has just come in from plowing or tending sheep in the field, ‘Come here at once and take your place at the table’? 8Would you not rather say to him, ‘Prepare supper for me, put on your apron and serve me while I eat and drink; later you may eat and drink’? 9Do you thank the slave for doing what was commanded? 10So you also, when you have done all that you were ordered to do, say, ‘we are worthless slaves; we have done only what we ought to have done!’”The gospel begs the question, what is possible?
We are minded that we only need the faith of a mustard seed. I begin my reflection with a collection of saying from different sources. Some from Kids and some from great minds of the world.

In small matter trust the Mind in Large matters trust the heart. Sigmund Freud
Human speech is like a cracked kettle we tap crude rhythms for bears to dance to, while we long to make music that will melt the stars. Gustave Flabert – Madame Bovary

Dear God I didn’t think orange went with purple until I saw the sunset you made on Tues. That was cool, Eugene

Dear God, I don’t think anyone could be a better God. Well I am not just saying that because you are God, Charles
Dear God: It’s great how you always get the stars in the right places.
Dear God in school we learned that Thomas Edison invented the light but in Sunday school we learned you did so I bet he stole it from you Sincerely, Donna

Dear God, I don’t ever feel alone since I found out about you. Nora
Dear God, if you watch in church on Sunday I will show you my new shoes. Mickey D

Dear God, I think the stapler is one of your coolest inventions

Ask a child what wasting time means. They can’t tell you because for a child there is only the present. The past is two weeks ago and the future, depending on the month, is Christmas. They are now people. So much for our sophistication. Christ calls us to faith, even a little can do mountain moving size things. Faith without action is dead faith. We sat down last week as the exec leadership to plan this week’s Bishop Committee agenda. We took a first look at next year budget and I instantly started getting nervous. The sailor’s prayer comes to mind. God the sea is so large and our boat is so small. I need to shift back; I think we need to shift back to our child mind, not an unsophisticated and immature mind but a mind made perfect by God for the task at hand. A mind that is undistracted and completely focused and achieving the most from the moment. I know this doesn’t happen in your house but on occasion in the Tess house we have to call each other or ask a question more than once. Sometimes my children, well trained from school, will say Dad please put your eyes on me so I know you’re listening to me. They learned that in guidance. I thought guidance was what my parents or the priest gave me.
As we celebrate new life at our Tess welcome picnic, at Holden Greer’s baptism and Joe and Jackie Datka’s new baby boy let’s commit ourselves to resting in the Shepherd. The good Shepherd. Our logo has a sheep around the neck of the master. Let’s be the body of Christ. Let’s live the now and be on fire for we are not the future of the church or the history of the church we are the present of the church.

In the name of God

Pentecost 18 Between the Angels and the Saints Sept. 30, 2007

This Sunday we find ourselves in the middle of two of my favorite feast days in the Church year. The 29th of Sept is the Feast of St. Michael and all Angels, the warrior and his troops, and Oct. 4th is the Feast of St. Francis of Assisi, the rich kid turned pauper peace maker.
With those as our supporting walls we hear the Gospel call us to make sure we keep our perspective. I thought of this balance as my kids were watching Saturday TV and starting to make the Christmas list and wanting every toy they see. I thought, am I teaching them balance? Are we adopting a Christmas child instead of one gift? Are we volunteering at the community thanksgiving meal? Are we visiting shut in and going caroling to the nursing home? I don’t hear Lazurus being called out for being rich but he was chastised for being unaware of those less fortunate. He is chastised not for his success but for his selfishness and the last line is so true, Let me go tell them send someone to tell them to change their ways. Even if one would rise from the dead they would not listen.
I have a question, how long is our memory? How long did we remember 9-11? How long did we remember Katrina, how far away does the tragedy have to be before we can ignore it? My challenge to us is this, take time today, or this week, put it on the calendar and plan for 5 to 10 minutes on how as a parish family and a nuclear family we are going to intentionally enter into the season ahead of us.
The archangel stands with his troop of angels on one side. St. Michael says there is no room here for those who are not on fire for God. St Francis sits on the other side saying remember to not let it own you. He says make me an instrument of peace, where there is hatred let me sow love, where there is sadness, joy and where despair lives, let me sow hope. Let me Lord not so much be loved as to love, not be heard as to hear. Who among us has said in the last 5 days or 5 hours sorry, I just don’t have time. Really are you ready to take that to your God who is the only Bank the eternal have to cash the check at. I brought some money to our old bank last week and the teller who has called me Mike for 6 and half years called me Fr. Mike for the 1st time. How much more important to me that God knows who I am and how to call me. May, like St. Mike and St. Francis, our names be written on the heart of God and may God’s name be written on oursIn the name of God.

Pentecost 16 What we going to do about that Sept. 16, 2007

This gospel is so near and dear to my heart. I believe it is a core foundational teaching for us. Christ came for the sick not the well. Once we are on the team it becomes not about us. That does not mean that we do not have needs or get to be heard and cared for but it does mean that every decision we make should be filtered through how it affects the people outside of us and the visitors.
A once famous monastery had fallen on hard times. People no longer came to the monastery to be nourished by prayer. The monks had a heavy heart because they were aging and their numbers were diminishing.
One day, the abbot visited the Rabbi who had a hut nearby and who came to pray and fast in the woods on occasion. The Rabbi sensed how sad the monks were and knew that the abbot had come to ask him for a teaching that would help. The Rabbi told the abbot he would give him a teaching but the abbot could only repeat it once and then it must never be said out loud again. The Rabbi said: “The Messiah is among you.”
When the abbot gathered all the monks and repeated the Rabbi’s teaching to the monks, the monks were startled and immediately began to ask, who is the Messiah? Is Brother John the Messiah – or Father Thomas? Am I the Messiah? What in the world did the Rabbi’s teaching mean, they wondered.
Within a year, the monastery was a completely different place. Visitors, occasional at first, immediately noticed there was something special about the monks. The monastery was a good place to be – and as the word spread, more and more people came to pray. The number of monks expanded as young men joined the monastery. Happy ending.
I had a great meeting by accident with the pastor from 1st Presbyterian in Waunakee. They were at 60 on a Sunday 17 years ago. And now they are 800 members strong. They just finished their third addition. He said as we talked I am going to tell you what a Sr. pastor told me all those years ago. 4 rules for ministry
1) Be
2) D0
3)Build
4) BuyLets find Jesus and invite him to church. Let’s be Jesus to someone who just needs to have someone care or listen. Let’s ask ourselves two questions every time we start. 1) What are we going to about that 2) How can we help you God