Giving thanks

This afternoon I did the first ever 5:30 p.m. Saturday Eucharist at St. James in Higganum. They're going to try it for a while, twice a month. There were more people there than last Sunday, so it may be a winner. Still summer, we'll see.

We had a silent prayer of thanksgiving at the end--to give thanks for all God's gifts to all of us and each of us.

So, I came home and found this Thanksgiving Sermon and thought I'd share it with you.

Give thanks. Always. Give thanks.

THANKSGIVING SERVICE

          Do not 'worry', Jesus says in tonight's gospel. Do not 'worry' about what you should wear or eat. “Worry,” I believe, is the opposite of 'being thankful'. That is why Jesus tells us not to 'worry', because Jesus wants us to be thankful.

          In my tradition of Christianity, we celebrate the “Eucharist” on each of the Lord's days, each Sunday and many other times we gather as the People of God. “Eucharist” in Greek, means “to give thanks”.

          Giving thanks, it seems to me, is the very heart of being a Christian.

          The older I get, I have told people, the fewer things I find I HAVE to 'believe'. I think I've got it down to the basics of my creed.

          *God loves me (and US) unconditionally. Everyone, no matter how twisted, or even evil, is a child of God. I believe that.

          *Treat others as you want to be treated. No matter what. I believe that.

          *Welcome the stranger always, even if the stranger may mean you harm. I believe that.

          *Give to those in need—always and however you can. I believe that.

          *And this: be thankful always, for everything, even things that challenge you and give you pain. Be thankful always, for everything. I believe that.

          Not that many years ago, there was the song and the saying, “Don't worry, be happy.” I would change that to “Don't worry, be thankful. Always.”

          Consider the lilies of the field....Consider the birds of the air....

          Why should we worry? We should be thankful.

          In our Eucharist service, there is a prayer after communion. It is a prayer of thanksgiving. But it is very general. So often, I invite the congregation into a time of silence and ask them to give thanks to God in their hearts and minds, for the many gifts God has given to each of us and all of us.

          In my heart and mind, in that silence, I picture my family and my friends, the people of the congregations I serve and have served, my dog and cat and parakeet, the freedom and prosperity of my life, my life itself, and all the good those I know and love have done in this dark-ling world. I sometimes give thanks for Key Lime Pie and sausage gravy and biscuits, but the seems a little selfish.

          But that's the thing—being thankful for God's goodness isn't selfish at all. Key Lime Pie and sausage gravy and biscuits are gifts that merit our thanks.

          Remember, in my short list of beliefs, I said to be thankful for everything, always.

          It pains me, in a way, that we get so involved in being thankful in November of each year when we should be 'thankful to everything, always'. All the time. Every moment of life, we should be thankful. 

          Don't worry, be thankful.

          Consider the lilies of the field, consider the birds of the air...they do not worry, they do not fret. And we are worth more to God than flowers or birds.

          Be thankful.

          I practice the prayer of the heart—also known as the “Jesus Prayer”.

          It is a prayer of breath—and since we breathe always, we can pray always.

          The Jesus Prayer goes like this: as you inhale, you say in your mind and heart, “Jesus Christ, Son of God” and as you exhale you say, “have mercy on me a sinner.”

          It's that simple, as simple as breathing, which we do all the time.

          But some time ago, being an Episcopalian and not being fond of being reminded I am a sinner, I changed the way I prayed the Jesus prayer.

          I started saying, in my heart and mind, as I inhaled, “Lord Jesus Christ” and as I exhaled “thank you so very much”.

          When I'm driving, I pray that. I give thanks with every breath.

          We should, I think, give thanks, not just at this time of year, but with every breath.

          Why don't we try it for a minute or so? Join me in paying attention to your breathing, what keeps you alive. We should give thanks for breath as for so many things.

          Join me for a while.

          When you breathe in say in your heart and mind: “Lord Jesus Christ”. And as you exhale say in your heart and mind: “thank you so much”.

          Let's try it, if you don't mind.

          Inhale: “Lord Jesus Christ”.

          Exhale: “thank you so much”.

          Happy Thanksgiving to you all. Give thanks always. Don't 'worry', give thanks.

Amen

 

Growing up with baseball

I'm sure I've told you that some patriot gave my father and several of his buddies tickets to a World Series game in New York when they were soldiers waiting to sail to England.

The only major league game my father ever saw was between the Brooklyn Dodgers and New York Yankees. He decided that which ever team won would be 'his team'. The Yankees won.

So I grew up in southern West Virginia as a Yankee fan.

The sportscaster on channel 6 in Bluefield would begin his broadcast by saying, "let's see who the Yankees clobbered."

This was Ford and Mantle and Maris and Kubeck and Richardson and Skowren and Elston Howard's Yankees. They clobbered a lot of teams.

This year the Yankees have the second best record in baseball, just below the now Los Angeles Dodgers.

And they're doing it with lots of injuries to major players and lots of heroics from very young guys.

Could the Yankees be rebuilding their dynasty? I hope so.

(Here's a secret: I hate, I mean 'hate' the Red Sox! That could get me in trouble with lots of people I know and like in Connecticut. But it's true.)

The Red Sox are playing the Dodgers tonight. In spite of my father's loyalties, I say, "Go Dodgers!!!"

And the Yankees are clobbering Toronto 4-0 after 7.

Go Yankees!

I love them.....Sorry Boston fans....

HWWNBN gives up!!!

The President (He Who Will Not Be Named) today announced he's giving up on getting the "Is this person a Citizen of the U.S." question into the 2020 census.

The Commerce Department days ago accepted the Supreme Court's ruling and is already printing the form without the question.

That question would have caused a remarkable under count of Hispanics and affected the distribution of money and House of Representatives seats to many states. That was the President's plan all along.

God bless Chief Justice Roberts who has become the swing vote on the court.

And long may Justice Ginsberg live so the President can't appoint another justice before the election.

As tenuous as it is, it feels like the Supreme Court and the House of Representatives are all that stand between our country and the abyss.

I hate to sound so negative, "half full" being my middle name (that's for Charles), but just like in parts of California, the ground is very shaky these days.

And, please God, Democrats quit fighting!!!

I'm a democratic socialist, but beating the Incumbent (who will not be named) is more important right now than doctrinal purity. I hate to say that because I agree with Bernie and AOL and all the ultra-progressives, but we democrats have to get the priorities straight--that means taking back the Senate, holding and increasing the House and winning that other house (the White One).

Focus people.

Focus and organize and fight.

The abyss is near.

walking on the edge

This is something I wrote in 2001--18 years ago in the newsletter for St. John's, Waterbury. But in these times, it rings true still. We need to be edgy. We really do.

THE VIEW FROM ABOVE THE CLOSE

                               Walking to the edge, then walking off…

          In my sermon on September 9, I used a quote Jennifer Hornbeck, St. John’s seminarian in 2000-2001 wrote to me.  Jen neglected to tell me who said or wrote the quote—though I intend to ask her the next time she calls—but so many people asked me about it I felt I should include it in this month’s VIEW.

                             “When we walk on the edge

                                 of all the light we have

                              and step off into the unknown,

                               we must believe that one

                                 of two things will happen:

                             There will be something solid

                                  for us to stand on

                                        or

                               we will be taught to fly.”

          Walking on the edge is an apt metaphor for the life of faith.  We are called by God out to the margins both to touch and be touched by those ‘on the margins’  of life and to risk walking off into what is unknown.

           I used to have a poster on the wall of my office in my first parish. The poster was a beautiful picture of sailboats at anchor in a harbor surrounded by beautiful hillsides. The water was glassy still. The sailboats were new, well built, shining in the sun.  The words on the poster said: SHIPS IN A HARBOR ARE SAFE, BUT THAT’S NOT WHAT SHIPS ARE FOR….

          The Life of Faith calls us to the open seas, to unknown waters, to encounter storms and risk the wrath of the winds.  But what we want—deep down—is to rest at anchor. What we want is to “be safe….”  Stepping off the edge requires courage and trust and faith.

          I have come more and more lately to believe that God is calling each of us as Christians to "walk on the edge…then walking off” in our lives. To be Jesus People we must live with risk and commitment and adventure. The tricky part of it all is that we aren’t all called to the same edge.  You may be called to a vastly different “edge” of your life than the person sitting beside you on Sunday morning. You may be called to take your moral stand into the political realm—fighting for some noble cause.  Or you may be called to endure with patience and courage some illness in your life or the life of someone you love.  Or you may be called to stand up against racism or discrimination in your workplace. Or you may be called to sacrifice higher pay and a more prestigious job in order to spend enough time with your children. Or you may be called to befriend someone who needs your support even though it is costly to you in terms of time and energy. Or you may be called to make a change in your personal habits in order to enhance the lives of those who love you.  Or you may be called to resist gain that you could achieve by “bending the rules”.  Or you may be called to give more generously—even sacrificially—to help those in need.

          I could go on and on. Each of us must discover the edge God is calling us as a person to walk off of into the unknown. But I know this in a powerful and profound way—each of us is being called, in some important way, to ‘take a risk’ for God.  It is simply the nature of the Christian life.

          Every Tuesday at 9:30 a.m. and Wednesday at noon, the Eucharist is celebrated in the Chapel of St. James next to the north wall of the church.  The readings we use come from a remarkable little book called Lesser Feasts and Fasts. Week after week, year after year, we recall those who are on the Calendar of Saints of the Episcopal Church.  All those folks walked to the edge and then off into the unknown. Many of them gave up their freedom, their security, even their lives for their faith.  Not all of us are called to be martyrs—in fact, only a scant few of all Christians are called to that ultimate risk.  But we are all called to the ‘edge’.  And we must all believe that when we finally accept that call, one of two things will happen. Either there will be “something solid” to stand on or “we will be taught to fly….”

          Listen for God’s call. Seek out the ‘edge’ of life God is calling you to. And have faith—your foot will hit something solid or God will teach you to fly….

                                                          Shalom,

                                                                             Jim

Zoom

 I have been on two Zoom calls in the last two days.

I wasn't even sure I could do it, but I did. A bit proud of myself, by the way.

It's much better than phone calls because you can see all the people and watch their faces. There were 18 or so of us, filling my computer screen and two folks who called in who were called by name on two black screens.

It was not the way I would choose to spend an afternoon from 3 until 5:30, but (and this is a compliment--not awful.)

I really care for all the people on zoom--some I have known for years and so just since the Forgiveness workshop in NY I wrote about earlier.

I'm not given much to do--either in the workshop or on the call today--since I haven't really been involved in designing the workshop. And that's fine. I enjoy watching the other leaders do their thing and learning from them.

And learning most of all from the participants.

The best way to be, I have learned over my life and almost 40 years of priesthood, is what I know from all my reading of mystery novels--the best way to learn what you need to know is to listen.

And I mean 'listening' like a commitment, not just like most 'listening' which is a time of silence composing what you intend to say next.

"Listening" is the key to life, if we do it correctly.

Clear your mind of proposed comments on what is being said and don't imagining what you would say in response. Just 'be in the moment' and 'listen'.

I promise you, it's worth it.