This week's sermon

 

        I want to talk about Independence Day—the birth date of our nation.

        In the Declaration  of Independence, Thomas Jefferson wrote: “All men are created equal and endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.”

        That would have been true had he said “all WHITE men.”

        Slavery continued in the newly formed nation for almost 90 years before the Civil War.

        And women had to wait for decades after that to achieve ‘equality’ that still isn’t ‘equal’ to this day in things like equal pay, equal treatment and equally sharing the burden of raising children.

        And that’s not even considering native Americans who are still not fully equal.

        So don’t get all teary eyed with pride on July 4^th—there are many things left to rectify.

        The over-ruling of Roe vs. Wade, the economic diversity, the hatred of people of color and GLBT folks and Jews is rampant—all these things and more make our nation as divided as it has ever been.

        It’s as if our body politic, like Naaman, has leprosy.

        The story of Naaman is fascinating. He is the leader of the army who has leprosy. A servant girl, stolen from her county, tells him to go to the land of Israel and be healed by the prophet.

        He goes to the King of Israel, bearing much gold and silver and asked to be healed. The King can’t heal him and rends his clothing.

        But the prophet Elisha tells the king to send Naaman to him. He goes and the prophet sends out a message to him to go and bathe seven times in the River Jordan and wash seven times.

        Naaman, a bit of a hot head, is insulted that Elisha didn’t come to him personally and criticizes Elisha’s instructions. But Naaman’s servants ask him, “if he had told you to do something difficult you would have done it—but all he asks is that you bathe in the Jordan.”

        So, Naaman does what he was told and is cured.

        We Americans are not asked to do anything difficult either, just to listen to those we disagree with and seek to find common ground.

        In that way we will be cured of our afflictions.

        In the Epistle, Paul tells the church, “my friends, if anyone is detected in a transgression, you who have received the Spirit should restore such a one in A SPIRIT OF GENTLENESS.”

        Gentleness is what is needed in dealing with people we disagree with, not strong words or conflict.

        Finally, in Luke, Jesus tells the 70 to always say, “peace to this house’. And if anyone is there who shares in peace, your peace shall rest on that person.”

        As we come to July 4^th we need to listen, to find common ground, to be gentle and share the Peace of God.

        That’s what our country needs more than anything.

 

 

Irony can be good

At the Wednesday study group at Trinity, Milton today, we were discussing having a Sunday Service in September to honor a long-time Trinity member who moved to Wilmington, NC and died in May.

Just then a Fed-Ex truck pulled into the parking lot and delivered an overnight envelope.

Trinity has a post office box in Litchfield and doesn't get mail at the church. And, if it had come any other day, no one would have been there.

It was from the man's widow, a lovely letter and a check for $5000 that he left to Trinity in his will.

His two favorite things about Trinity, his widow said was the music and Bible Study!

Talk about irony!

Then, as we were wrapping up the day, a wonderful state policeman came. Trinity had been defaced in Spray paint on Saturday--a Nazi symbol and the word VAR.

The policeman let us know there had been a similar defacing of a bridge in Litchfield, so the defacer is probably local.

Good to know the state police are on it.

Quite an eventful study day!

 

weight loss

I'm not sure how much, but I've lost 30 some pounds.

Friends ask me what was my secret.

I have no secret, I guess when under stress from the pandemic, I eat leas while most people eat more.

I've had to replace most of my pants and some of my shirts, that used to fit, look like I'm wearing drapes. I went from 40 inch waist size to 36 and a belt Bern bought me for Christmas wouldn't fit then, but now I'm on the third hole!

I feel better, I know that.

Except for having to buy new clothes!

 

Coming back--I hope

I'm really glad I didn't stop writing Under the Castor Oil Tree, as I thought I might last month.

I've had 1700+ views this month so far.

A long way from the 5500 I had in March, but over 800 more than in April and May combined.

Maybe you're coming back.

I hope so.

I really do.

I enjoy writing these things so much that I want to keep doing it for as long as I can.

Thanks so much for logging in to read.

You give me joy by reading UtCOT.

I'll try to write everyday until we go on vacation the last week of August and first week of September.

So, keep reading....

 

His Shadow Falls

 The former President (whose name will not be printed here) is out of office. But his shadow fell over the Supreme Courts over turning of Roe v. Wade.

It was primarily the justices he appointed that voted to overturn in the 6-3 decision.

I'll let others, more savvy than I, do the details for you.

If you turn on the news you'll hear them all.

I'll just say that the audacity of over turning what has been the law of the land for 50 years has plunged our country back into the 1950's==bad times for women.

I've said before but will say again, just to be clear--I do not like abortion.

However, what I truly 'hate' is any branch of government telling us what we can and cannot do with our bodies.

My body is mine and yours is yours.

The right to 'choose' is a sacred right.

And the court has ripped that right away from women today.

The motto of Planned Parenthood is "We Won't Go Back!"

That should be our motto to as we work to reclaim reproductive rights for women.

Refuse to 'Go Back'!

Refuse and stand up for women's rights!

birds

Scientists tell me that birds are the last of the dinosaurs.

If so, I like dinosaurs.

Not ones that could destroy my house or eat me.

Glad they're gone.

But birds.

I love birds.

This spring and early summer we have so many birds in our back yard, I can't count them.

Flying marvels!

All colors and shapes.

Amazing!

Send in the birds and give me joy.

 

How butterflies fly

 I've heard that butterflies and moths fly in such uneven patterns is because of natural selection.

Those who fly straight are easy prey for birds.

The ones with defective flight get away.

So, over time, only butterflies that flew in an erratic ways were producing young--who inherited their flight pattern (or non-pattern, as it is).

Humans could take a lesson from that.

Don't be so predictable your next action can be taken for granted. Then people will have you 'figured out' and you never surprise them.

Flit this way and that way from time to time.

Keep others guessing and not sure how to take you.

Works for me.

This week's sermon

DO THE NEXT THING

          When I was Rector of St. Paul’s in New Haven I became the unlikely good friend of Bob, the Rector of Christ Church, New Haven.

          It was an unlikely friendship since Christ Church was the extremely Anglo-Catholic, “high church” that had smells and bells and chanting and more genuflecting than is good for your knees full of academics from Yale and successful business people and lawyers. St. Paul’s, on the other hand, was a rather low-church full of social activists who would protest most anything at the drop of a hat.

          Nevertheless, Bob and I became good friends.

          The week before he was retiring and moving to Cape Cod, we had a farewell lunch.

          During lunch, Bob told me a remarkable story.

          “For thirty years,” he told me, “I’ve prayed everyday for God to speak to me out loud and in English and tell me what I should do with my ministry.”

          It was an odd prayer, I thought, but I accepted it from Bob.

          Then, after a few bites, he said, “and last week that prayer was answered.”

          I choked on my wine when he said that, and sitting my glass down with trembling hands.

          Then Bob said, “God spoke to me out loud and in English with a slight Southern accent and said, rather annoyed with me, ‘Bob, DO THE NEXT THING!’”

          In today’s extraordinary lesson from 1^st Kings, Elijah is fleeing in terror and makes a long journey, with the help of an angel who feeds him, into the wilderness to Mount Horeb. He’s awakened in his cave and told the Lord would be passing by.

          After a great wind, and earthquake the a rain of fire there comes a sound of ‘sheer silence’, God spoke to him and told him to go home and ‘do the next thing’ of his mission.

          Then, in the Gospel, Jesus is in a Gentile land and frees a man possessed by a ‘legion’ of demons. A ‘legion’ is a large number. Jesus sends them into a herd of pigs who run into the lake and drown.

          Not good for the pigs or their swineherds.

          (Would Jesus had allowed the demons to enter cattle or a flock of ducks? I don’t know. But the Jewish rejection of pork may have played a role. Who knows?)

          Jesus was told by the people of that land that they were afraid of him and he must leave. But Jesus left the healed man who proclaimed his holiness to all the land.

          And Jesus returned to Galilee to DO THE NEXT THING in his ministry.

          That’s what you and I are called to do, beloved. We are called to ‘do the next thing’ in our ministry.

          On this Juneteenth, that means to do our part for racial equality and equal treatment for people of color.

          Just as we must ‘do the next thing’ in proclaiming the Good News to the people of Litchfield and beyond by feeding the hungry, clothing the poor, seeking justice for all and reaching out to all people with love and acceptance.

          We must ‘do the next thing’ in our community and in our world.

          We must proclaim and do the work of the gospel.

          But we must also “BE” the gospel, the good news, to ourselves.

          The next thing is to BE the gospel, my brothers and sisters.

          Be the ‘Good news’—today and always….

 

         

 

Holy Cross

 The monastery is a holy and peaceful place.

Shane and Maggie and I led the Making A Difference workshop for 18 participants. 

But I couldn't sleep well there and didn't like the monastery food!

So, I am doubly thankful for being home.

Bern fixed a great dinner last night and I had a waffle, bacon and an egg for breakfast.

Besides that I slept more hours last night than in the 3 nights at the retreat house.

There is no place like home!

Rest and good food is there, as is the companionship of Bern and our dog, Brigit.

 

Going to Holy Cross

 I'm leaving in the morning to lead the Making A Difference workshop at Holy Cross Monastery in West Park, New York.

Won't be back until Friday afternoon.

So expect a few days of silence on my blog since I don't have a lap top computer and do all this on my desk top.

See you when I get back.

Shalom, Jim

Cool June Day

It was, today, cool for June.

No rain but lots of clouds.

The January 6 committee had it's first prime time hearing this week and another on Monday at 10.

They are breaking down the insurrection on the Capital and things might just lead (looking like they will!) to the former President.

God knows we need clarity and answers.

The committee might just deliver both.

I hope so.

We are so divided as a nation we need clarity and truth--though not all will believe it.

Our divide is over how we see reality.

I pray the committee will give us reality that is not hard to see.

That's what I hope.

 

I've not been writing much here

My readership on this blog has fallen off so much I've been thinking more about what went wrong than about writing blogs.

In March I had over 5100 views. So far, almost half way through June, I've had 734, which is up from the 540 in May and the 499 in April, but nowhere near the over 5000 views in March.

I don't know what's wrong or what I wrote that turned people off.

I wish I knew and if I could do anything about it.

If you can think of a reason, let me know in a comment or by email at Padrejgb@aol.com.

I'll keep writing though and sharing my ponderings.

I'll be gone leading a workshop from the 14th to the 17th. And in the back of my mind I'll be pondering what caused such a precipitous drop.

Keep dropping by.

I miss the ones who are not.

 

Sunday's Sermon

 

TRINITY SUNDAY 2022

          For most of my career, I’ve been able to avoid preaching on Trinity Sunday.

          At St. James in Charleston, West Virginia, I had a retired priest helper and a deacon, so they got Trinity Sundays.

          At St. Paul’s in New Haven, I had lots of seminarians to assign the day to.

          At St. John’s in Waterbury, there were clergy aplenty—active and retired, seminarians and a lay assistant to give Trinity Sunday to.

          At my time in the Middlesex Cluster all I could do was call in sick or mumble a non-sense sermon on this day.

          It’s time I faced up to the Truth—the Trinity baffles me and I don’t know what to say on this day.

          Two stories that give proof to my point.

          Eldridge Cleaver, in his autobiography Soul on Ice, tells how, when he was in prison, he saw the opportunity to be in a Roman Catholic confirmation class. He knew it would get him out of his cell for a couple of hours a week, so he signed up.

          At some point the priest who was leading the course asked if anyone could explain the ‘mystery of the Trinity.”

          Eldridge was about to raise his hand after a time of silence and say something about ‘three-in-one oil’ when the priest proclaimed, “of course you can’t, it’s a ‘mystery’!”

          Cleaver dropped the class.

          A second story.

          St. Augustine was on a beach pondering the way to figure out the Trinity, when he saw a small boy, with a bottle on the shore.

          The boy was actually an angel!

          Augustine went over to him and said, “what are you trying to do?”

          The boy/angel answered “I’m trying to get the ocean into my bottle.”

          Agustine laughed and said, “You can’t get the ocean into that bottle!”

          And the angel boy replied, “then how can you seek to comprehend the Trinity?”

          And, along with his bottle, disappeared.

          Three in one and one in three makes very little sense to me.

          One plus one plus one is three—not ‘one’. Yet in the doctrine of the Trinity, all three are One….

          But ponder this: one times one times one is One!

          The Trinity defies our logical mathematics.

          Paul writes to the church in Rome: “and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us.”

          All I can pray for is that hope and that love and that the Holy Spirit will pour into our hearts.

          You’ve probably noticed that in my blessing at the end of each service, I don’t say ‘Father, Son and Holy Spirit’—I say instead, ‘God, our creator, Jesus our Savior and the Holy Spirit, our companion.’

          That’s the best I can do about the Trinity.

          I just hope it is enough….