I didn't have Bible Study Wednesday and I'm off from church this Sunday. That's nine days off!
I know I'm retired (my pension check came today) and only work on Sundays and Wednesdays, but 9 days seems like a long time off.
Not that I'm complaining. I have lots of stuff to do around Cheshire.
I'll go to Trinity on November 5 for Bible Study.
Truth is, I miss the people of Trinity. I like them a lot....
I woke up from a restful sleep into a nightmare.
The nightmare has a name--Donald J.
Not only is he wandering around Asia making fo-pas left and right, he's torn down the East Wing of the White House and is trying in many ways to tear down our democratic republic.
Lots of attention has been made by the reliable media that his mental skills are slipping.
What's not slipping is his commitment to do harm to any and all opponents.
It would be laughable if it weren't so terrible.
We have to stand up and speak out for what is right.
I only hope enough people will.
His poll numbers are encouraging that hope....
My least favorite day of the year is coming up--The End of Daylight Savings time.
We get an extra hour to sleep--but who does?
What the End of DST means is more darkness and the earth growing chill (at least in the northern hemisphere.)
And the only thing I dislike more than darkness is the cold.
Both at once makes me a little crazy.
We should have DST in the fall and winter--a bit more daylight.
But that's not how it works.
I hate that.
This Sunday I preached about 'The Gift of Humility'.
Jesus tells a parable about a Pharisee and a tax collector who go to the Temple to pray. The Pharisee brags about what a good man he is and compares himself to lesser folks--like the tax collector.
The tax collector bows his head, beats his breast and prays, "God have mercy on me a sinner."
Jesus tells the crowd that the tax collector is exalted because he humbled himself and the Pharisee is humbled because he exalted himself.
I tried to think of how I have been humble.
No luck there.
And bragging about being 'humble' isn't humility at all.
My thinking is that Humility is a gift from God when we confess our sins. Which in the Episcopal Eucharist we do before receiving communion.
I even talked about the Jesus Prayer.
It goes like this: (inhale) 'Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God...'
(exhale) 'Have mercy on me a sinner.'
You pray it in your head and heart, not out loud, and keep repeating it with each breath.
A visitor came up and told me he'd learned that prayer when he was in college and has used it for 40+ years.
That made my day....
That's the title of a book I haven't gotten hold of yet.
But I already know when Jesus became God.
I know it because of the Wednesday Bible study we have at Trinity.
We talked about the council of Nicea--where the Nicene Creed came into being and the Doctrine of the Trinity became part of the belief of the church.
Until 325 a.d. some Christians believed Jesus was 'chosen' by God to be the Savior. But the Council made clear that Jesus was 'begotten' by God, created from God's own being.
That's when Jesus became God.
If you haven't looked into the Council try it out on line. Wikipedia has a good recounting of it.
Very interesting stuff to dig around in.
Today at Bible Study, we didn't have an agenda.
They asked me to suggest something to discuss.
I had two questions. I told the folks there that they didn't have to answer out loud, I just wanted them to ponder the questions in their mind and heart.
Here are the questions.
*"What is 'faith'?"
*"What do you believe?"
We sat in silence for a couple of minutes, but then they began sharing and it was remarkable.
The depth and meaning of their pondering was astonishing.
People said things they had never shared before.
We all left humbled, enlightened and deeply moved....
M.F. is the musician at Trinity, where I celebrate and preach.
I've been around the Episcopal Church for quite a while and I think he's the best musician I've ever worked with--and I've worked with some good ones. He could be in any church, yet he stays at our little one out in the boondocks!
He had surgery last week and missed this Sunday and the next.
It was weird to do the Eucharist with no music.
Brought me back to my 21 years at St. John's and the 8 a.m. services in the chapel.
At least I faced the congregation--in the chapel my back was to them because the altar was against a wall.
I miss him so.
Come back to us soon, M.....
