Advent 1 sermon

ADVENT I 2009

          Welcome to Advent!

          Welcome to the ‘waiting room’ of the church year!

          Today is New Year’s Day for the Church. Unlike the secular calendar we follow in the world, the Church Year begins today: the first Sunday of Advent.

          Happy New Year!

          Welcome to the waiting room….

          But the ‘waiting’ of Advent is not the tedious ‘waiting’ we all hate. This ‘waiting room’ isn’t like the one at the Department of Motor Vehicles or the dentist’s office or waiting in line at the grocery store or at the inbound George Washington Bridge.

          The ‘waiting’ of Advent is a time to wait for the fulfilling of the Promise of God. We are called to ‘wait’ for the Lord and for the gift God is sending us. It is a ‘waiting’ done on tip-toes, with joyful anticipation and excited yearning. It is a ‘waiting’ to lean into like we lean into a strong wind and to reach out—hands and arms open—to receive the Gift, the Child of Bethlehem, the One who loves us best of all….

          Advent is the place where we wait for the Gift to come with the bright-eyed, amazed and wondrous longing of Children. This space of time is where we wait…and, as we wait, we should reflect on the Gift…and on our ‘gifts’…the gifts we have been given and the gifts we have to give.

          Next Sunday is St. John’s ‘celebration of giving’—when we offer to God some of the gifts God has given us and celebrate both how many gifts we have received and how many we have to give.

          To put us in the mood, let me tell you a story. It’s a story about ‘giving’ and a story about the wonder and magic of giving….

          We had dinner with our friends Andrew and Jane in New Haven just over a week ago. They attended the Roast in September and were very impressed with the people they met from St. John’s. They found you friendly and kind and funny…they loved the ‘good humor’ of the evening.

          Andrew wanted to know about our ministry and I told him a lot about what we do around here—the Outreach and Worship and Education and Pastoral Caring—then I told him about what happens on Saturday morning…about the Saturday Program. I told him about the tutoring by volunteers of mostly Hispanic children and I told him about the games Mike Carroll teaching them—games about community and co-operation and personal growth—and about the worship they do together. Then I happened to mention that Victor Matthews had started teaching guitar to some of the kids on Saturday morning. Andrew was intently interested in that. And I told him I wasn’t sure enough kids had guitars…that there were probably some kids who’d like to study guitar but didn’t have one.

          At the end of the evening, when we were leaving, he brought me a guitar case and said, simply, “This is for one of the kids….”

          I thanked him profusely for his gift and told him it was deeply appreciated and would do good things….

          The next morning I showed the guitar to Wayne Levendoski after the 8 a.m. Eucharist. He played it for a while and told me it was a classical Spanish guitar—very finely made with wonderful tone. Then I showed it to Mike Carroll and he took it home and called me later and told me it was not only finely made with wonderful tone but was quite valuable. He wasn’t sure how much--$1500…maybe $2000.

          After talking to several people I thought maybe we didn’t want to simply hand that instrument to a young person who wasn’t really going to realize its value. And I also thought that if we sold it we could buy several more appropriate ‘starter’ guitars for kids.

          So I emailed Andrew and asked him if we could sell it and buy several guitars of lesser value and lesser linage. I asked him if that was OK with him.

          He emailed back and said two things:

                   *he wanted to send us $500 to buy some ‘starter’ guitars, AND

                   *he wanted the “Ramirez”, (the name of the maker of the guitar) to go to a young person (I’m quoting Andrew now) “whose life it could change…”

          He said he knew it was important to worry about the ‘many’ as well as the ‘one’—but he knew the Ramirez in the right hands could be a life altering experience and he really wanted that to happen if it could….

          Andrew wanted to help ‘many’ AND he wanted his gift to change someone’s life….

          And here is the Truth—as clearly as I can tell it—“each of us, in our hearts, are like Andrew”. We each want to help whoever we can with our gifts. And we each want our gift to change someone’s life for the better.

          Another Truth: we can. We can do that.

          This is the season to reflect on ‘gifts’—the gifts we have received and the ‘gifts’ we have to give. And you’ve come to the right place—the gifts you have to give to St. John’s will help many. The gifts you have to give to St. John’s can change lives.

          We all have a Ramirez of some kind in our hearts—in our talents, in our time, in our treasure. And Advent is the place and time to reflect on ‘how to give them’.

          Welcome to Advent—to the ‘waiting room’ of the heart.

          Prepare your heart to receive God’s Gift and prepare your heart as well to give….

         

On their way...

It's the day before Thanksgiving--my favorite holiday--and Mimi, Tim and Ellie are on their way.

It's 12:43 pm and they left Brooklyn around 11 am. But, since it is the day before Thanksgiving and the only two ways from Brooklyn to Cheshire are I-95 and the Merritt Parkway, we don't expect them for a while. Roads are packed with Thanksgiving traffic.

The dog is already waiting since we told him "Mimi" was coming. He loves Mimi more than treats! We told him about Tim and baby Ellie too, but it's Mimi he's waiting for....

Josh and Cathy and our other three granddaughters are in California, with Cathy's brothers. But they'll all be here for Christmas.

Our friend John is coming to dinner tomorrow. Bern's getting ahead with a sweet potato dish right now. I'll make the dressing later this afternoon. Apples, raisins, walnuts all go in it. It's a recipe I learned in the early 70's when I was in seminary and working at Christ Church, Capitol Hill. Christ Church was made up, mainly, of people who worked in the government and couldn't leave to go to all the places they were from for Thanksgiving. So about 100 people ate together at the church. It was wondrous.

I love Thanksgiving.

I think if the most common human emotion were gratitude, the world would be about as wonderful as Thanksgiving itself.

I sometimes say the Jesus Prayer ("Lord Jesus Christ" on your inhale and "Have mercy on me" on your exhale). But I've altered it to "Lord Jesus Christ"/"Thank you so much."

Gratitude could transform the universe....

something about parting....

Something silent, something sweet

When souls meet, something silent passes by.

Not like when 'people' meet.

People ask questions,

seek to find connections,

disagree,

fall in love,

battle with each other,

reunite or part in anger and regret.

When souls meet, none of that matters.

When souls meet, something silent passes by

and they travel together—side by side--

or one behind the other, or the other way around--

until they part.

And when souls part, something sweet passes by.

Gratitude, people might call it,

or even Joy.

But it is sweet to travel on

apart.

Silence and sweetness:

what could be better?

What could be more right?

JGB/8-16-2013

Winter?

This morning was really chill. Some random flakes of snow blowing. Most of the leaves are gone after two days of high wind.

Perhaps winter has come.

It's strange how we change as we go through life. I used to hate winter. I mean HATE IT!

The dark, the cold, the ice and snow--all of it inspired hatred in me. I never had any interest in winter sports at all. I just wanted to find somewhere warm and wait it out....

It was summer and heat I loved. People would say, "hot enough for you?" and I'd answer "No! Not nearly hot enough! And how about a little more humidity while we're at it!"

My fervor for heat gradually changed. I came to appreciate shade and air conditioning. And the older I got, the less I liked hot days.

As one love diminished, I began to have affection for chill mornings, for snow (within reason!) and for the quiet darkness of the wintertime.

One thing I figured out along the way--you can always put on more clothes to combat the cold. But when you're nearly nude and still feel hot and sweaty, you can't take off your skin. (I guess, technically, you could flay yourself, but that would cause more problems than it solved!)

So, on this first day that feels like 'winter', I welcome you. I invite you into my life. I will be patient and understanding about all the inconveniences you bring. And I will sleep through much of your Darkness....

Open letter to granddaughters #5

Dear Emma, Morgan, Tegan and Ellie,

Today is a beautiful fall day in New England. Just enough chill in the air and still lots of leaves waiting to fall. You can tell it is Autumn here in Connecticut--the sound of leaf blowers sound through the land!

A great thing about New England in November is that most days you can wear shorts and a sweater! Since I still have a brace on my right leg (though I'm walking with a cane) I take advantage of that fashion statement....

Do you know the saying: "did you wake up on the wrong side of the bed?" People usually say that if you are grouchy in the morning.

After 11 days of pondering the election of Donald Trump as our next president, I realized I've "woken up on the wrong side of my country...."

What Trump has stood for during the campaign is the opposite of most everything I believe.

I believe in global trade--he's against it. I think it raises the standard of living everywhere and he thinks it hurts people in the US. Nevermind that our standard of living is still one of the highest in the world.

I believe in the diversity of our country and in welcoming immigrants. He doesn't seem to.

I believe in equal rights and equal pay for women and in a large increase in the minimum wage. He doesn't seem to.

I believe in upping taxes on the wealthy and I think his tax plan will lower the taxes of the rich.

I believe in building up the social network: welfare, health care, education. I'm not sure he does.

I could go on and on. Really.

So I woke up on the wrong side of my country on November 9th.

Now I have to ponder what to do about that. I hope you won't mind if I share my ponderings from time to time here.

Love you so, Granpa

Harvest

(Something from a while ago for this time of year....)

HARVEST FESTIVAL

OCTOBER 21, 2003

          A friend of mine in New Haven once worked for a group that helped new immigrants from Russia. She and a translator took a middle-aged woman who had just arrived in this country to a local Stop and Shop so she could buy some initial groceries for her family. The entrance to the store put them in the produce section and my friend and the translator were pushing the grocery cart toward the fruit area when the Russian woman, turned around and practically ran out of the store.

          They found her outside, weeping, terribly distraught. The Russian woman was so upset that it took several minutes before she could tell the translator what was wrong. Then the translator embraced the woman and tried to comfort her. The Russian kept crying, saying the same phrase over and over.

          My friend kept asking, “What’s wrong? What is she saying?”

          The translator shook her head and smiled a sad but knowing smile. “She is saying, ‘too much…too much…too much…,’ “ the translator said. “she has never seen so much food at one time….”

          My friend told me this: “I’ll never look at a super market the same way again. What we take for granted is simply too much….”

          Today we celebrate the Harvest Festival. There are at least two reasons for this celebration. The first is to remember how gracious God has been to us and how bountiful God’s good earth is. It is to remind us that all good gifts come from God and that we should be thankful and grateful in our hearts and lives. We have been given, as were the Hebrew Children in today’s lesson from Deuteronomy, a “good land”. And like them, we must “bless the Lord for the good land he has given” us.

          But the second reason for this celebration is even more important than that. It is good and right that we acknowledge the gifts God has given us—but the more compelling reason for celebrating the Harvest is this: how are we to respond to God’s goodness?

          Being “thankful” is a beginning—but it is only a beginning.

                                                          *

          A story…that’s what we need…a fable to teach us what to do.

          Two tramps named Aaron and Silas—poor men with no future—were sleeping in a field one night. Silas couldn’t get comfortable because there was something under him. He woke Aaron up and the two of them dug, with their hands, in the soft ground beneath Silas’ tattered blanket.

          Lo and behold, they uncovered a treasure of diamonds and gold and fine pearls—a treasure worth a kingdom. They divided the treasure equally and then both of them fell on their faces and thanked God for such an astonishing blessing. The two tramps—now rich beyond imagining—embraced and told each other that they had been richly blessed by God.

          Then they parted at the dawn, each carrying their blessings with them. In the years to come Aaron used his wealth to accumulate more wealth. He became richer—rich enough to buy power and influence and become a man of importance.

          Silas lived out his life well, but simply, sharing his blessings with those he had known as a tramp and giving away most of his treasure, keeping only enough to be warm and safe and content.

          As fate would have it, Aaron and Silas died in the same moment—Aaron in his mansion and Silas in his humble but comfortable home—and they appeared simultaneously before the Judgment Seat of God.

          God spoke and said, “Aaron, you must go away from me into the Great Darkness. And Silas, you must come closer to me into the Light Eternal.”

          Aaron was incensed and confused. “How can this be, O Holy One? Silas and I were blessed by you at the same time. Surely that blessing shows that we were equally righteous. And we both gave praise to you for your gracious gift to us. So why must I leave your presence now while Silas enters in nearer to your Glory? We were both blessed….”

          And the Great God Almighty sighed in sadness. “Oh, Aaron,” God said, “I do love you as I love Silas and I did bless you as I blessed Silas. And I gloried in both of your thanksgivings to me. But there is this: my blessing wasn’t to reward you for what you had done to deserve it—my blessing was to reward you for what you would do with it....”

          As we celebrate God’s goodness and blessings to us today our hearts are full of thanksgiving. The praise we give to God today for all God’s gifts to us will be treasured in the heart of God. And that is a beginning.

          But it is only a beginning.

          God hasn’t blessed us to “reward” us for what we have done to deserve it. God has blessed us to reward us for what we will do with the gifts we have received.

          The blessing isn’t ours until we give it away. The only gift that matters is the gift we pass on.

          This is not the way our world works. Our world works on accumulating and saving and “having” and keeping.

          But this is the way God’s economy works. God’s economy works on distributing and sharing and giving away.

          We are blessed, not because we deserve it.

          We are blessed for what we will do with our blessings.

         

          Symbolically, we will give away the richness of the Harvest on the altar today. The bounty of the harvest from the Sharon House Garden and from the food individuals have brought today will go to the Soup Kitchen and to Jubilee Harvest. We do that as a symbol. Symbols are powerful things because they are visible and point to and include something else that is not visible.

          We can see what’s on the altar. All that “symbolizes” what we can’t see—the “blessings” God has given us, the “treasure” of our lives and resources and energy and talents and our time.

          What’s on the altar today POINTS TO AND INCLUDES all that we are, all that we have, all that we can be.

          What we “do” with all that is what really matters.

          I want to give us a few minutes of silence so that we can reflect on and acknowledge and give thanks for the many blessings and gifts and treasures God has given to each of us.

          Give thanks to God for all that God has given you.

          Your thanksgiving is a beginning. But it only a beginning.

          And then ponder, ponder for a moment, what you are going to do with those blessings and gifts and treasures.

          Ponder and consider and reflect on what God would have you DO with all that you’ve been given….

           

walking

Yesterday, for the first time since September 28, I walked and drove a car!

To say I felt 'liberated' would be to say too little, but to say felt 'humbled' might be spot on.

After a month and a half of being so dependent on Bern and some friends, I could finally go out--I went to a meeting!--by myself.

But the freedom reminded me of how much--how very, very much--Bern has done for me for the last 6 weeks. I told  her I'd never be able to repay her and she said, "I know it!" Another time I asked if there was any way I could make it up to her and she smiled in a way that made me nervous and said, "I'm working on it...."

I'm going to another meeting tonight. I'll drive myself to Physical Therapy tomorrow. I'll go to the store for us. I'll start cooking every other night, I'll help take out the dog....

But I did learn that being 'dependent' teaching us more than to enjoy 'independence', it taught me to truly recognize how much I need others in my life.

That, I would suggest, may be a better reaction to walking again than shouting 'YEA!"

(I'll see some of you out and about....)