This week's sermon

 

APRIL 7—My favorite Biblical People

          I have a favorite character in the Old and New Testament.

          My OT favorite is Jonah.

          You probably remember his story. God tells him to go to Ninivah  and tell the people if they don’t repent God is going to destroy them.

          Jonah gets on a boat going in the opposite direction but his presence makes the boat begin to sink. The sailors throw him overboard to save their ship and he is swallowed by a whale which throws him up on the shore of Niniviah.

          So he tells the people there about God’s wrath toward them and lo-and-behold they repent and God spares them.

          Jonah goes and sits on a hill because he is disappointed that they repented.

          God makes a Castor Oil tree to grow and shield Jonah from the sun. Then God sends a worm to kill the tree.

          Jonah is angry and asks God why he killed the tree.

          God replies, “you care about a tree more than you cared about all the people of Ninavah?”

          So, Jonah sits on the hill and ponders the ways of God. That’s how the story ends.

          The blog I write is called “Under the Castor Oil Tree” and in it I ponder many things.

          In the New Testament my favorite character is “Doubting Thomas”

          I identify with him because in my life I have had many doubts.

          Some of them have been resolved, but not all.

          I also like him for his stubbornness. My wife could tell you I can be stubborn from time to time.

          Not stubborn enough to be around a whole bunch of friends who have seen the Risen Lord and maintain that I won’t believe until I touch his wounds.

          Thomas must have annoyed them a lot—refusing to take their word for it and share in their immense joy.

When Jesus came back into the upper room, without having use

a door, and offered his wounds for Thomas to touch.

Thomas exclaimed: “My Lord and my God!”

          Then Jesus said, “Do you believe because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen me and yet have come to believe.”

          That’s so true. And my friends we are among those who have not seen the Risen Lord and yet have come to believe.

          Robin Williams, the comic who was an Episcopalian once said, “no matter what you believe you can find and Episcopalian who agrees with you.”

          So, Believe Beloved. Believe and you will be blessed….

Shalom and Amen.

 

         

         

great Easter

We had both our children, their mates and our 4 grandchildren for Sat and Easter.

Since our house in Cheshire only has three bedrooms (we turned the 4th into a TV room) we rented a house in Thomaston, which was Great!

Lots of room, great kitchen, huge dining room and only 15 minutes or so from Trinity Church in Milton where I did the Easter service along with my son, daughter-in-law and their 3 kids.

Great Easter dinner, including our friend J. who came up from New Haven.

Two huge TVs to watch basketball on.

An enormous back yard with a zip-line, a basketball goal, lots of swings and a tampoline. 

Great place--great two family days....

 

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.)