Falling

 (Yankees won last night--in case you're interested.)

The first 4 people to show up at my Bible class today are my age or older and we talked about falling.

All of us have episodes and stories to tell about falling.

As you get older, beloved, all of us have a falling risk.

Some of the stories were horrible and some funny.

My friend M. who was going to help me lead a distinction at a Making a Difference reunion tomorrow on zoom, fell and damaged her face going up stairs.

So, S. is going to take her place. S. has falling stories too.

Falling is awful. It happens without warning and can result in injury.

But as you get older the risk of falling increases.

It just does.

Just hope you fall safely....

Yankees vs. Red Sox

 It doesn't get anymore heated than this: the Yankees will be in Fenway tonight to play the Red Sox.

When I was at Harvard, I went to several Yankee/Red Sox game.

I was putting my well-being at risk!

I've been a Yankees fan my whole life.

When my father was in NYC getting ready to ship out to Europe for WW II, some people gave him and a couple of buddies tickets to a Yankee/Dodger World Series game.

My dad decided which ever team won would be 'his' team.

Needless to say, the Yankees won.

So I grew up in Southern West Virginia rooting for the Yankees.

Ironic, huh?

When I went to Fenway and rooted for the Yankees, people gave me looks that could have been murderous....

Tonight they play.

Go, Yankees!

When People Die

Next Sunday we're going to have a service to honor the memory of a man I never met who was a long-time and faithful member of Trinity.

Others will be speaking.

I'm only going to read a poem by a friend in college who wrote it for her friend who died in Viet Nam.

It goes like this:

WHEN PEOPLE DIE

When people die

It's like a bird flying into a window

    On the coldest day of the year.

When people die

It's like the bears have escaped from the zoo

     And are eating children on the street.

When people die

It's like a maniac has taken over the power station

    And the lights go off and on and off

    And on and off.

When people die.

 

I'm also going to read the Prayer of St. Francis, which is probably my favorite prayer.

It goes like this:

"Lord, make us instruments of your peace. When their is hatred, let us sow love; where there is injury, pardon; where there is discord, union; where there is doubt, faith; where there is despair, hope; where there is darkness, light; where there is sadness, joy. Grant that we may  not so much seek to be consoled as to console; to be understood as to understand; to be loved as to love. For it is in giving that we receive; it is in pardoning that we are pardoned; and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life. Amen"

Not much more to say.

 

Losing weight during Covid

    When the pandemic began I wore pants that were 40 inches in the waist. 

    Now I wear 36.

    I weighed 211 pounds.

    Now I weigh 171.

    I didn't eat much.

    Part of it is I lost my sense of smell. So food doesn't taste as good as before.

    My doctors don't know why that happened. It started before the Covid scare.

    I had my third booster today.

    Hopefully, I'll lose another 10 pounds or so.

    I feel very healthy.

    I like weighing less.

 

9/11

 It's hard to believe that tomorrow will be the 21st anniversary of the terror attacks on our country on 9/11.

Hard to believe, but it is true.

Bern had gone to the grocery store.

I was brushing my teeth when the news broke.

I went into the TV room, toothbrush still in my mouth to watch it unfold.

Both our kids were in NYC.

Mimi came out of the subway just in time to watch the first tower fall.

Cathy, Josh's law school sweetheart and now his wife and our daughter-in-law was on a subway that would pass through the Twin Towers station.

Mimi and Cathy had to walk home across the Brooklyn Bridge because everything had been shut down.

I heard Bern's truck squeal into the driveway.

And I mean 'squeal'.

Then she came running up the steps.

"Have you tried calling the kids?" she shouted.

Of course I hadn't.

It took several hours to get in touch with them.

After that, I went to St. John's in case anyone needed to talk and mourn.

Lots more on the TV at the church about the ongoing tragedy.l

Talking to friends and parishioners took up the rest of the day.

21 years ago tomorrow.

Hard to believe.

And harder to believe it actually happened....

Today's loooong meeting

I was at the Cathedral in Hartford today from 9 a.m. until 3:43 p.m. for an all day (required) meeting on abuse.

The first part was about clergy abuse and the rest about abusers in the parish and abusers of children, the elderly and the disabled.

Parish priests are mandatory reporters of any abuse they discover.

You have only a few hours to report it to the proper agency.

The day was very, very long. We sat at tables on uncomfortable chairs.

Luckily, the presenters were very good and there were slides on a big screen.

We all had to wear masks for the whole thing.

I was glad when I got away.

Either I haven't been paying attention or I haven't been paying attention or I haven't seen much abuse in my 40+ years of priesthood.

And since I was a social worker in child protection for several years, I think I would know it if I saw it.

All in all, a looong day!

 

This Sunday's sermon

LOST AND FOUND

          Today’s lessons are like visiting the Lost and Found department in a store or an airport.

          In Jeremiah we hear these dire words: “For my people are foolish, they do not know me; they are stupid children, they have no understanding. They are skilled in doing evil, but do not know how to do good.”

          Foolish, stupid, skilled in doing evil.

          Poor lost souls.

          In today’s Psalm, it’s not any better.

          Listen to what the Psalmist says: “The fool has said in his heart, ‘there is no God.’ All are corrupt and commit abdominal acts; there is none who does any good.”

          And a little later the Psalm says: “Every one has proved faithless; all alike have turned bad; there is none who does good; no, not one.”

          Talk about being ‘lost’!

          In Paul’s letter to Timothy, we began to find out about being ‘found’. Paul writes: “The saying is sure and worthy of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners—of whom I am the foremost.”

          So, if someone like Saul (Paul’s original name) who persecuted Christians and had them killed, can be found, so may we all.

          Saul was blinded by Jesus on the Damascus Road. He was blind for three days until the Lord gave him new eyes, a changed heart, a new name and made his apostle to the Gentiles.

          Lost and found indeed!

          But Luke tells us the real Lost and Found story.

          He was preaching to sinners and tax collectors and hears the grumbling of the Pharisees and scribes. He tells them the story of the lost sheep and lost coin and how the shepherd and the woman searched until the lamb and coin are found and how finding that which was lost gives them great joy. “Just so, I tell you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”

          I don’t know about you, but sometimes I feel ‘lost’.

          And when I do, I just remember, God is searching for me and longs to find me.

          We are all, in our way, lost and found.

          Let’s have a few moments of silence to ponder that….

          Shalom and Amen.