So much better

 The Trump trial (I almost wrote 'trail'--like the mix!) is going well.

And my pulled tooth place is great--no pain at all, taking a pill for infection and mouth wash, no pain pills--just a huge gap in my mouth.

Democrats are blocking Majorie Taylor Green.

No hurricanes here.

CT is solid Blue.

The Voice is on tonight.

Wednesday's short Eucharist and Bible Study was great.

I have physical therapy on my knees tomorrow.

God's in his heaven and all's right with the world.

(Not really--but I'm hoping....)

This week's sermon

 

Easter 6

        If you were here last Sunday, you know I talked about two words: “love” and “abide”.

        At the time, I thought I had talked out love and abide.

        Imagine my surprise when I read today’s lessons.

        The letter and the Gospel of John weren’t through with love and abide.

        “Everyone who loves the parent loves the child.”

        Then Jesus tells his disciples: “As the father loves me, so I have loved you; abide in my love”.

        But a new word stands out—commandment.

        “…we know that we love the children of God when we love God and obey his commandments. For the love of God is this, that we obey his commandments.”

        Then in the Gospel: “If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love.”

        “This is my commandment, that you love one another….I do not call you servants anymore , because the servant does not know what the master is doing; but I have called you friends, because I have made known to you everything I have heard from my father.”

 

        Jesus also says that there is no greater love than to lay down your life for your friends.

        And that is exactly what he is going to do for his friends.

 

        I don’t take well to be given commandments.

        Ask any bishop I’ve ever served with!

       

        But Jesus’ commandment is not like that. He commands us to love one another and to abide in his love.

 

        It is ‘agape’ love we are called to. Complete and total love—love that gives itself away and allows us to abide in love.

        One story from last week because we need to hear it again. I told you how, as a boy in Southern West Virginia people would say from their porches, “Jimmy, come up and ‘bide’ a spell.”

        It was an invitation to just ‘be’ with them, no expectations or requirements—just to ‘be’ on the rocking chairs on their porches.

        That’s what Jesus means by ‘abide’—to just ‘be’ with him, in his presence, on his front porch.

        So, a command to ‘just be’ is a commandment I don’t resist or object to.

        To just ‘be’ in the presence of love….

 

        We all know it isn’t easy to ‘love one another”.

        Some people don’t seem lovable. They can be harsh and vindictive and terribly wicked.

        So, we need the light to get in so we can see them in a different way.

        I’m reading a book by the Canadian novelist, Louise Penny. This one is called “How the Light Gets In”.

        The title is from a poem/song by Lenord Cohen that goes: “Ring the bells that still can ring./Forget your perfect offering./ There’s a crack in everything./ That’s how the light gets in.”

        It’s crack in our brains that lets the light get in and into our hearts.

        Let the light get in, beloved. Abide in the light. Vanquish darkness. And live into our love for each other.

        Let the Light of God flood your hearts.

Shalom and Amen.

       

       

 

toothless

I had a tooth removed today.

It's on the right side, near the back.

It's still bleeding, though there is a stitch in it that will disappear in a few days.

I can't have an implant or a bridge because my gum is retracting in that area.

I have pain pills, but no pain yet. And another set of pills to take for 5 days, plus a mouthwash to use in 3 days.

The dentist and his assistant were great. A painless procedure if you don't count the shots to numb it.

But it's on the side where I normally chew and I won't learn for a while what that will be like.

Altogether, not a great day.

Hope yours was better.

Shalom, Jim

 

my two plastic friends

 We have two plastic owls on our back deck.

I've named them Oliver and Olivia. "Olli" is short for Oliver.

I talk to them when I'm alone on the deck.

Don't tell Bern--she's be thinking about putting me in 'the home'.

Olli has a moveable head and I have to straighten it up from time to time.

Olivia used to have wings and live on a pole in our back yard. When the wings fell off I put her through a hole in a round table and she's happy there.

Olli sits on the banister in a flower pot.

We have very valuable conversations....

Dreaming

 I used to dream more than I do now.

Don't know why that is--no idea.

But I do have a waking dream.

The former President is convicted and sent to prison and out of our country's life.

That's my dream.

For sure.

 

This week's sermon

Easter 5, 2024

 

          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 Caesarea.

          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’.

         

          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.

 

Not much to say

 I haven't had much to say the last few days.

After my Thursday physical therapy, my knees hurt so bad I couldn't do the 'at home' exercises. I told my therapist today that I thought it was from riding the stationary bike for 10 minutes, so I didn't have to do it today.

Friday, I missed my appointment at Waterbury Hospital to get my allergy shots. Called in Monday and got an appointment this Friday.

Church was great on Sunday. I love Trinity, Milton--but I've loved all the churches I've served.

They are great people and so liberal that they put up with my far-left antics!

Hope to have more to tell you tomorrow.