This afternoon

I was out on the porch this afternoon and saw a huge-huge mosquito fly by.

Well, not everything about things getting warmer is good.

I also heard a bird call that, though I'm not a good whistler, I got to respond to my whistle three times!

I saw our next door neighbor, Mark, push his bike out in his bike riding gear. 

"Getting ready for the Tour de France?" I asked.

He laughed. "Not nearly," he said, though I know he rides more than 20 miles whenever he goes out.

I talked to Bern about 'ordering out' for dinner since she cleaned the house today and it's her turn to cook.

She said she couldn't think of anything she wanted but had some frozen bean soup from last week.

It was a good meal. Soup, salad, corn muffins and fried zucchini. 

I admired Bern's back yard, so full of flowers and bushes and other plants. Lovely.

The back porch and deck in the Spring is a great place to be.

 

my Sunday sermon

 (If you're coming to Trinity, Milton, don't read this.)

Easter 5, 2021

 

          Today’s lessons are rich and wondrous. Acts tells us of Phillip’s journey to a ‘wilderness road’ to baptize an Ethiopian eunuch who was in charge of the treasury of the queen.

          Phillip interprets Isaiah, baptizes the man and is mystically transported to Azotus, where he preached the gospel all the way to Caesaea.

          Psalm 22 has the beautiful and hopeful verse:

          “The poor shall eat and be satisfied,

          And those who seek the Lord shall praise him:

          ‘May your heart live forever.’”

          Then the Epistle of John teaches us about love. Love.

          And in John’s Gospel, Jesus asks us to ABIDE with him.

 

          Today, I want to talk about LOVE and ABIDING.

          You probably know that there are three Greek words that are all translated into English as ‘love’.

          (I may have even mentioned that in my first sermon with you. People often ask me about a sermon from several weeks before and I usually don’t know what they’re talking about! Sermons are ‘in the moment’ and I don’t often remember what I said.)

          The three Greek words that are all translated in English as ‘love’ are “Eros”, “Phileos’ and ‘Agape”.

          The words have very different meaning.

          “Eros” we can figure out—‘erotic love’…the love between two lovers.

          “Phileos” is ‘brotherly or sisterly love’—as in the city Philadelphia.

          But “Agape” is the love that gives itself away—love that is total and complete, love that knows no limits or bounds.

          Near the end of the Gospel of John, you might recall, Jesus asks Peter three times, “Peter, do you love me?” And three times Peter answers, “Lord you know I love you”.

          Seems odd in English, that exchange, but in Greek it is different story. The first two times, Jesus askes, “Peter, do you ‘agape’ me” and Peter replies, “Lord, you know I ‘phileos’ you.”

          The third time Jesus asks he says “do you ‘phileos’ me?” and Peter responds, “Lord you know I ‘phileos’ you.”

          Peter didn’t feel worthy to give ‘agape’ love.

          But ‘love’ in today’s epistle of John is always “agape”!

          We are to have ‘agape’ love for each other, for those around us, for everyone on the planet!

          We are to love without bounds, without limits, without any restrictions.

          And we are to BE ‘agape’ in the world because ‘agape’ is from God and ‘whoever does not ‘agape’ does not know God.’

          A heavy responsibility for us—to give ourselves away to ‘agape’ so we might know God.

          There’s so much hate in our country and our world right now that we are needed by God, to give ourselves away to love and love and love.

          And we must support and…hold each other in our hearts so we might ‘love’ as God calls us to ‘love’.

 

          But what I really want to talk about today is ‘to abide’.

          “Abide” has been a part of the English language since the 11^th century. It sounds a little dated, but it is a word I love.

          Webster’s dictionary has a lot of meanings to “abide”.

          One is ‘to obey’, as in ‘abide by the law’ or ‘abide by the court’s decision.

          But that’s not what Jesus meant.

          He meant “to wait or await”, “to continue in a place—to ‘sojourn’ there”, to “remain with and stay around”—or as teens would say, to ‘hang out with’.

          I grew up in Southern West Virginia and when I would walk around the neighborhood in Spring and Summer and Early Autumn, people would be sitting on their front porches and often they would say, “Jim, come up and ‘bide a spell.”

          Nothing was expected in ‘biding a spell.

          No questions were asked. No conversation was required. You were just invited to sit in a rocking chair and ‘abide’ for a while.

          That’s lovely. And that’s Jesus’ invitation to us—to come up on the porch and take a rocking chair and ‘abide’ with him, so he can ‘abide’ with us.

          Jesus invites us to be ‘a part of the vine’.

          I am someone who does not think ‘individuality’ is more important than ‘commonality’.

          The American concept of ‘individuality’ is the root of many of the problems in our country.

          ‘Individuality’ is at the root of racial inequality, childhood poverty, the divide between right and left, the lack of attention to the ‘common good’.

          We need community, we need to be ‘part of the vine’, part of the whole.

          And we need to ‘abide’ in the vine, ‘abide’ with all people, ‘abide’ with God, ‘abide’ with each other.

          I want to invite you for a few moments, just to ‘bide with each other. No expectations, no requirements. Just ‘be’ with each other in silence. Join me.

(silence)

Thanks for ‘abiding’ with me.

Amen and Amen.

 

It's disconcerting

It's disconcerting how big the world is.

While there is sun and breeze and 60 degrees in Connecticut, India and Israel are in peril.

So many Covid-19 cases in India and so little supply of much needed medical supplies, never mind vaccines.

And India is one of the world's primary producers of vaccine, but it's own government didn't put in orders and most supplies went abroad. Plus they had thought--and even said--they had defeated Covid.

Until now.

And in Israel, over 40 people dead and over 150 injured at a religious ceremony in the north of the country involving mostly ultra-Orthodox Jews. 

I don't know about you, but I can think of few worse ways to die than being trampled on by other human beings.

But that's what happened.

Tragedy in India and Israel...sunlight and breezes in Connecticut. 

It doesn't seem fair.

 

I didn't write yesterday

 I had to finish our taxes and take them in during the morning.

It was my turn to fix dinner so I spent the late afternoon doing that.

Then I watched the President's address--very informative and often moving.

I tried to watch Sen. Tim Scott's response, which seemed to be MAGA-talk, until he, a black man from the south, said "America is not a racist country".

The Vice President responded that the 'country' might not be racist--but racism is all around us in this country. Well said, Madam Vice-President.

I was impressed that Biden acknowledged that 'no president has ever stood at this podium with two women behind him.' Harris and Pelosi did look right in their chairs.

Mitch McConnell sat like a petulant school kid, barely applauding anything.

Ted Cruz seemed to fall asleep at one point.

We are so politically divided that Biden will have to do whatever he can without Republican support.

A good day--but I didn't write....

 

I have nothing to say tonight...

 ...Except this.

Republicans have got to get back in gear and think about Truth.

Several Republicans have said or tweeted or put on Facebook, that Biden's bill on rebuilding America would limit us to 4 pounds of red meat a year.

A total and absolute lie.

They also, in many states, keep passing bills to limit free speech in peaceful protest, limit abortion rights and restrict voting rights.

How in holy hell can they be doing that!!!!!

We need to move to a place where all people are equal, women have control of their bodies and everyone can vote.

Get off it, Republicans!!!

It is time for unity, not division and hate and restrictions that rob people of their rights.

It is time.

Do Republicans realize that?

I think not.

But I have nothing to say tonight....

The Moon is full and the birds are back

 The moon is wondrous tonight. Bright and round in the sky.

When I took Brigit out for her last pee, she looked at the moon for a long moment.

The moon is like that.

I used to fear a full moon when I was Rector of St. John's in Waterbury. The term "lunatic" is not wrong.

Every full moon the people who came to the soup kitchen were on edge and sometimes a fight would break out, though Barbara handled that with no need for help.

But it is beautiful. I love it.

And birds are back. We've had crows for a month, but now there are robins and sparrows, the occasional blue jay and a cardinal or two plus some lovely little bluish birds I need to find in my bird book.

At one point today there were a dozen birds of different kinds in our back yard, pecking at the ground and taking turns at our bird bath.

Birds give lightness and joy to my heart.

I love the birds. Even the crows and the occasional hawk high above.

Birds and the moon, what could be better as a source of wonder?

Uncle Russel's Rocker

At Easter, one of our long-time friends asked, "where's Russel's rocker?"

After my mother died and Uncle Russel's wife died, Russel moved into his brother's (my father's house) in Princeton, West Virginia.

Russel brought some furniture with him, including his rocking chair.

When I moved my Dad to CT, I brought some of Russel's furniture, including the rocker.

It was in our house for over 20 years in Cheshire.

My Dad and Russel were watching TV one night and my Dad said, "Russel, I'm going to bed."

Russel answered, sitting in his rocker, "I'm going to watch the 11 o'clock news, good night."

The next morning, my Dad got up to find Russel dead in his rocker.

Yet another reason not to watch the11 o'clock news.

Anyway, we had it for decades, first in New Haven and then in Cheshire.

But a few years ago, in one of her 'downsize' moments we put it out on the street and someone took it.

They don't know they're sitting in a rocker where someone died watching the news. 

We always knew.

Whenever I sat in it I remembered Russel and Sidney and Del and my Dad--all the Bradley brothers.

It was odd, but comforting.

I miss it.

Just as our Easter guest did.