My contract with Trinity, Milton is that I work three Sundays a month.
I should be glad to get a Sunday off--but I will miss them!
I've really become attached to this little parish as I have to all the parishes I've ever served.
Being a priest means being with great people and serving them as best I can.
What could be better than that?
I've ever done it before--but today we started reading the Book of Revelation at Bible Study at Trinity, Milton.
It didn't take long to realize why I'd never done it before!
"Revelation" comes from the Greek word, "apocalypse" which was translated that way in the early church.
Now, in English, it means, almost literally, "the end of the world".
And the study group was an 'apocalypse' in the modern meaning.
It makes almost no logical sense and no matter how you choose to interpret it, it makes less sense than that.
People had their brains burned today.
But we're going to keep reading for the next two weeks. The group chose that over moving on to something else.
One member said, "I want to finish it because I'll never read it again."
How true. How true.
The former president seems to be being hung out to dry by some former allies. I think he's in very hot water up and down the East Coast.
But Biden/Harris doesn't seem to be doing well either. A whole bunch of Democrats want an option though I don't know where it will come from.
News from Russia is so contradictory that it defies definition. Was it a rebellion or not?
The south and southwest of the country is burning up with heat while here in CT it feels like late spring.
A lot is 'going on' but I have trouble understanding it.
(Not a new place for me to be in!)
Today, after church, some of us walked the hundred yards or so to the Milton Congregational Church to share brunch with them.
The food and wine were incredible as were the conversations.
The pastor who is there is married to a woman who works at Westover school and knows my friend and former musician, Bob H.
That was a great connection.
The people at the Congo church were a lot like those at Trinity.
We had a great time.
Congregations meeting are a wonderful idea in this time where Christianity is on the wane in our country.
Great to meet with folks who are, somewhat, on the same track as you are.
A friend of ours gave us some kitchen towels that had names for groups of animals on it.
It's incredible. Here they are:
"A hum of bumblebees.
A bouquet of pheasants.
A herd of cows.
A scurry of squirrels.
A kindle of kittens.
A paddling of ducks.
A parcel of hogs.
A drove of donkeys.
A mischief of mice.
A group of guinea pigs.
A peep of chickens.
A drift of sheep.
A pounce of cats.
A piddle of puppies.
A business of ferrets."
Cool, huh?
June 25, 2023
Matthew’s Jesus must have gotten up on the wrong side of the bed on the morning of today’s gospel.
He says some things we don’t want our Savior to say ever.
Listen: “Do not think I have come to bring peace to the earth; I have not come to bring peace, but a sword.
For I have come to set a man against his father,
And a daughter against her mother,
And a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law,
And one’s foes will be members of one’s own household.”
He goes on to say if you love your father or son or daughter more than me ‘is not worthy of me’.
I’m going to let us off the hook on all of that.
When Matthew wrote his gospel—in the late 70’s or early 80’s of the first century—the Christian church was already dividing families. If one person in a family had become a Christian, the others would turn their backs on that person or even shun them.
So, Jesus’ dire warning in today’s Gospel rang true to the early church.
And that was true even before the Romans began persecuting Christians.
But it’s not true today in our country.
Only 41% of Americans consider themselves Christian. Most of Americans—especially young Americans—are not affiliated with or even identify with Christians.
We are not ‘in danger’ for being Christians—mostly we are ‘ignored’ and ‘tolerated’.
Now, I’m not going to suggest that there is something we can do about that.
Only 1.2% of Americans are Episcopalian.
We’re a rare breed!
What I want to point out is that we are on the sidelines of America. There is no way we’re going to turn that around and become ‘significant’ again. In fact, it’s just going to get worse as time moves on.
What I do want to say is that we can use being ‘ignored’ as a way to do the things Jesus told us to do. We’re ‘under cover’ and can act with integrity and passion.
I see the food and clothing you bring to the back of the church. I know your work in soup kitchens and other forms of charity. You bring Christ to the world—whether or not the world understands that.
Do invite people to church—but don’t worry if they ever show up.
Let me tell you about a phone call I had with Sherry Shoblom on Friday. She said she visited 40 churches before she found Trinity and that the care and love she found her has put an angel that had been missing on her shoulder.
Hear that: you put an angel on her shoulder.
That’s what being a Christian is all about.
I humbly applaud you. Ponder your gift to the world.
Amen.
These lovely yellow/orange flowers come up in our front yard every year.
I love them.
But I didn't know their name until today.
Bern told me they were Australian poppies.
"But they're not 'real' poppies," she added.
Since I wouldn't know a real poppy from a fake one, I didn't respond.
But the flowers are beautiful.
Whatever they are.
