Very bad day

 Yesterday after Bible study, my car broke down in Litchfield.

I called Triple A and they sent a tow truck.

He was a nice guy and looked at the engine and saw a belt was broken--the belt that makes everything running.

I wanted towed to Cheshire to English Auto. But he told me that would cost a lot and found a place about 7 miles away.

This was at 2 o'clock and they worked on the car until 5!

The only reading material in the lobby was about guns and bows and hunting.

No public bathroom either, so I had to a store next door.

Nothing to read for 3 hours and no bathroom--a very bad day, indeed.

Trouble on the internet

 For the first hour I had on my computer I was disconnected from the internet--all I could do is play hearts.

After turning off and restarting 5 times, I'm back on for now.

I need to get my friend J. up here from New Haven to figure out what's wrong. He's a computer genius while I'm a computer 5 year old!

Hope you get this.

I still can't access my email but Bern will look into it when she gets off her Zoom call to our 7 year old grand-daughter.

She's an computer college student.....

Rain, rain, go away....

It has rained all day and is promised until late tonight.

I hope that's it because tomorrow, on Palm Sunday, we're supposed to begin on the Milton Green with our neighbor, the Congregational Church, to bless the palms. Then we'll go to our own churches for the services.

I love Palm Sunday...and all of Holy Week.

This is the most vital week of the Episcopal year.

Pray that the rain will "go away and come again another day."

 

Bible Study

We had 8 people at Bible Study today--more than usual.

We begin with a brief communion and then dig into Luke.

We're almost finished with Luke but there were so many comments and questions we aren't through.

We did get through Palm Sunday and Jesus' arrest,

The crucifixion  and resurrection next week.

Just in time for Easter!

Amazing how that works out....

 

I dislike Costco

 I more accurately should have written--I hate Costco.

But I have a Costco Visa card and every January they send me a gift certificate that is a % of my purchases in the last year.

This year it was $364.

So we went to Costco to buy things with it.

Bern is in charge and makes a list.

We spent over $320 on huge things: 30 rolls of toilet paper, 12 rolls of paper towels, 20 boxes of tissue, 2 hams for Easter dinner, 16 metal pans for cooking, more flossing stuff than I'll ever use--stuff like that.

I hate Costco because 1) it's so huge; 2)there are so many people there; the parking lot is always too full; and 4) I don't know where anything is in the store.

Once a year I can stand it--but no more than that.

(p.s. Don't tell Costco--I love getting a gift certificate.)

This week's sermon

 

PALM SUNDAY 2024

          It probably wasn’t as big a deal as we make it out to be.

          We call it THE TRIUMPHAL ENTRY INTO JERUSALEM.

          It was probably more like sneaking in the back door.

          Who was it, after all? A country bumpkin of a rabbi (what good can come from Nazareth?) along with his equally provincial followers—ragged and dusty from three years of traveling—and the riff-raff hanging around the gates of the Holy City, looking for some entertainment.

 

          Oh, it caused a stir—Jesus arriving and going immediately to the Temple. The Pharisees were nervous because the rabble seemed to love him and the rabble could never be trusted to toe the line. The ones who welcomed the strange prophet from the sticks were uncontrollable by the authorities of the Temple. So the Sanhedrin—the equivalent of the Bishops in our church—watched and waited and bided their time. This troublesome Teacher was a problem that could be dealt with successfully.

 

          Oh, it caused a stir….The Zealots, those “freedom fighters” of the Jews—the ones the Romans saw as “terrorists”—had a breath of hope. Perhaps Jesus was the figure around which a popular rebellion could be mounted. Perhaps he could be the one to restore the Throne of David and return the land of Israel to the Israelites.

 

          Oh, it caused a stir….Pilate was troubled because his wife was having nightmares about this Prophet Jesus and when Pilate was troubled the Roman Legion was troubled. It was almost Passover and the city was full of pilgrims who were full of religious fervor. And religious fervor is always a threat to the “status quo” and the rule of the occupying army.

 

          Oh, it caused a stir….The common folk were mesmerized by the wisdom and the miracles of Jesus. He brought them something that touched them deep in their souls, something so long missing from their lives, dashed by oppression and almost extinguished: he brought the faint, almost bitter sweet hope that God still loved them.

          But it was probably still much less spectacular than we make it out to be. A little band of people—dispossessed, powerless, mostly poor…outsiders of all the political and religious intrigue of the day—laying palm branches and, yes, their own cloaks, on the path up to the city for this strange, eccentric, inscrutable rabbi who had “rocked” their marginal lives with the possibility of love.

 

          In his letter to the Philippians, St. Paul wrote that Jesus “emptied himself out”. The Greek word is lovely. Kenosis: “to empty out”.

          It seems to me that Jesus was practicing “kenosis” all the way up to Jerusalem.

          He was emptying himself of pride and ego and whatever ambitions he might have had.

          He was emptying himself of anger and resentment and petty disagreements.

          He was emptying himself of power and influence and the ability to “change the world” in some profound way.

          He was emptying himself of the hope that clings to life against all odds, of the longing to “make a difference”, of the glitter and attraction of worldly things.

          He was making himself completely empty—cleaned out, purged—creating a vacuum within his heart that could hold LOVE for the whole world, for all of it, every single bit of it.

 

          It was LOVE that entered Jerusalem by some side gate, riding on a colt, listening to sounds of “Hosanna!”, being fanned by fronds of palm.

 

          It was LOVE—love for the Pharisees, for his close friends and companions, for Pilate and the Romans, for the Zealots who would make him King, for the common folk who ran beside him, guiding him toward the Temple Mount. Love for you. Love for me.

 

          It was LOVE…love and love only, always love, already love, total love, all-embracing love, love to fill his heart and break it too, love beyond imagining, love beyond pain or suffering or life or death, love “once and for all”. Simply LOVE and nothing else at all….

          Just that.

          Love on the back of a colt entering the Holy City.  

          So, I guess it was a “big deal” after all….

doing taxes

 It's that time of year--I have to do our tax stuff.

I've got everything I need--income and expenses--on the main table in our dining room.

I dread starting.

I'm more of a 'big picture' person than a 'detail' person.

It's a pain.

But it must be done.

And, eventually, I'll do it.

But not without mental agony....

Doctors every day

 When you get to my age you spend lots of time with doctors.

I had 3 appointments this week but missed the one on Wednesday because I was a the funeral for my friend's wife.

Cardiologist on Tuesday and Cancer doctor today.

Good news from both.

But the beat goes on.

I'm not getting younger.

More doctors to come.

Funeral for a friend's wife

I went to a funeral for a friend's wife today.

I never met her, but he is a good friend and I needed to be there.

It was at a church I'd never been to and the church was packed--200 people, I'd say.

A bishop was there to lead the service and celebrate communion.

I knew bishop's came to priest's funeral--but priest's wives?

I won't tell Bern, she wouldn't like to know that.

A sad but hopeful day.

I don't really know what I think about the afterlife--but I'll hope for the best.

 

Yelled at and insulted at Stop and Shop

 I almost always go to Big Y--one of the two large supermarkets in Cheshire. But I needed ground beef and rice to make food for Brigit and I went to Stop and Shop because it's closer.

I only had two pounds of hamburger and two bags of white rice so a kind lady let me go ahead of her.

The guy in front was putting his large order in bags, along with the store cashier. He was and elderly guy--or 'another elderly guy.'

He came to put his credit card in the machine and thought I was too close.

"Back up!" he yelled. "Don't stand so close to me."

I was about a yard away and didn't get it.

"Honor my personal space!" was his last comment before telling the cashier how rude I was.

I told the woman who had let me ahead of her, "all the good folks are back here."

He was still mumbling as he left.

Another reason I like Big Y.

I am soooo sleepy....

Daylight savings time started today.

I lost an hour's sleep.

I was afraid to sit down in church because I thought I'd fall asleep.

Driving the 33 miles up and back to Milton was a challenge.

I love to sleep.

I should have had a nap today when I got home.

Don't think I can stay up and watch the Oscars tonight.

 

This week's sermon

 

LIFTING THINGS UP

        The title of this sermon is “Lifting things up.”

        It’s the Old Testament lesson and the Gospel that the title comes from.

        Remember how in Numbers the people of Israel had turned against Moses and God because they thought they had been too long in the Wilderness.

        So, God punished them by sending poisonous serpents to bite them and make them die.

        When the people repented God told Moses to make a poisonous serpent of bronze and ‘lift it up’ onto a pole and when anyone was bitten, they needed only to look up at the bronze serpent and they would be healed.

        Then in John’s Gospel, Jesus reminded the people that Moses had “lifted up the serpent” in the wilderness and tells them “the son of man must be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.”

        He, of course, is talking about being ‘lifted up’ on the cross to be crucified and how, after he is Risen, he will be “lifted up to heaven” to sit on the right hand of God.

        That got me thinking about what we ‘lift up’ in our lives.

        I came up with quite a few and want to share them with you. I’ll begin with the mundane and move up to the holy.

1.  A thoughtful man lifts up the toilet seat when he’s going—oh, you know what he’s going to do….

2.  We lift up a hat to put it on our head.

3.  We lift up windows to open them on a warm day.

4.   We lift up our bodies getting out of bed or up off a chair.

5.  We lift up our glass to drink our wine.

6.  We lift up our pets to put them on the table when we visit the veterinarian.

7.  We lift up flags and banners to show our patriotism or display things we like.

8.  We lift up our children as babies to hold them or lift them up over our heads to give them joy.

9.  We lift water from the baptismal font to put on someone’s head to baptize them.

10.       We go out of our way to lift up a friend or a little child who has fallen.

11.       The priest lifts up the bread and the wine during the communion service.

12.       As we will do after the Nicene Creed, we lift up our hearts to God in prayer.

You probably have other examples.

“Lifting Things Up” has many uses.

So, lift yourself up, stand up tall and offer your life and your belief to God.

 

Shalom an Amen.

 

 

 

The cashier at Big Y

 I was going through the line and a cashier said to me, "you look like a sea captain!"

I told her I was an Episcopal priest.

She thanked me for my work.

I had her again today and told her my story, since no one was in line behind me.

How I was and English major and wanted a Ph.D. and to teach in a small liberal arts college somewhere north of Virginia.

How two of my professors nominated me for a Rockefeller Fellowship for a trial year in seminary. I got it and when they asked 'where?" I said, "Harvard".

I stayed another year to get a degree--rather useless "Master of Theological Studies."

Went back to Morgantown, so Bern could finish college, and started an Episcopal House Church in our attic.

Then Maria Cartledge told me to go back to seminary...and I did.

The cashier is an Episcopalian and said, "God guided you...."

I guess she's right.

A poem from college

 Two people in my life have died in the past two weeks, so I remembered a poem I printed in the student magazine, which I edited in college.

It was written by a friend of mine after someone she loved was killed in Viet Nam.

Here it is.

Lean into it.

    When people die

    It's like a bird flying into a window

        On the coldest morning of the year.

    When people die

        It's like the bears have escaped from the zoo

            And are eating children on the street.

    When people die

        It's like a maniac has taken over the power station

            And the lights go off and on and off

            And on and off...

    When people die.

I agree.