Thoughts on Lent and Baptism

What is shrove Tuesday?

-        Shrove – shrive – confess

-        Mardi Gras – fat Tuesday – give up meat, fat, dairy, fish

o   Use them up before lent

o   Last chance to party

When did lent first get celebrated?

-        4^th century

-        Ash Wednesday

What does the word “lent” mean anyway?

-        Spring

What do we do during lent?

-        give things up

o   TV

o   Desert

o   Video games

o   Food – remember, meat, fat dairy, fish

-        do things we usually forget to do

o   pray

o   go to church

o   say grace at meals

o   be nice to people

o   obey our parents

Why do we do this?

-        To show that we can do it ourselves?  (no)

-        To open ourselves to the holy spirit.

-        To show ourselves that we need help

o   Open to the holy spirit

o   We need God

o   Jesus went through everything that we do

§  Birth

§  Death

§  Temptation

§  Eating

§  Sleeping

§  Resurrection

·        Yes we go through that too

Do you remember what baptism means?

-        We are baptised into Christ’s death

-        Our old life dies at baptism

-        We are reborn as members of the Body of Christ

-        Members of the church

-        Resurrection – life

Do you know when you were baptised?

-        Who are your godparents?

-        What are godparents supposed to do?

-        What do we promise in baptism?

-        What do you do to keep those promises?

Repeat after me prayer:

Holy and gracious God,

We come to you on our journey.

Help us in this time of lent

To remember that you are with us.

Help us to remember

To ask you for help.

Help us to remember

That we cannot do it ourselves.

Help us to remember

That we are not alone.

We have chosen

To accept you in our lives.

Help us to remember.

Amen.

A Blessing and a Blessed People - Christmas Eve 2012

Doesn’t the church look lovely today?  I would like to thank everyone who helped decorate.  You are a blessing to us all.

Blessing … what does that mean?

How does the Bible talk about blessing.

Do any of you say grace before you eat?

NRSV Matthew 26:26  While they were eating, Jesus took a loaf of bread, and after blessing it he broke it, gave it to the disciples, and said, "Take, eat; this is my body."

Does God bless us?

NRSV 2 Corinthians 9:8 And God is able to provide you with every blessing in abundance, so that by always having enough of everything, you may share abundantly in every good work.

Do we bless God?

^NRSV Psalm 115:18 But we will bless the LORD from this time on and forevermore. Praise the LORD!

Is there any other way we use the word bless?

^NRSV Psalm 37:26 They are ever giving liberally and lending, and their children become a blessing. ²⁷ Depart from evil, and do good; so you shall abide forever.

This is the most important.  What does it mean to be a blessing?

Letting Go

I speak to you in the name of the one true and living God; the Alpha and the Omega; our Source and our Sustainer.  Amen.

What does it mean to have visions?

What does it mean to have vision?

Is Martha or Mary the better disciple?

How are they different?

Why do we fear death?  What is it that we fear?

Why do we have such trouble letting go of things that we no longer need?

Why have we all become hoarders?

How do we know when it is time to say goodbye to something that has been important to us; to our parents; to our community?

How do we then acknowledge the tradition it represented?  How do we grieve its passing?  How do we let it go?

There have been so many losses in this community.  In my time here I have buried 29 people and watched as two other members of this parish were buried.  I have seen the death of one legion branch.  I have seen people move away.  I have prayed as the fisheries continue to struggle and the parks cut back; as people lost their jobs.  I have sat with you in this church and its counsels looking at our present struggles and our hope for the future.

How do we know when it is time to let go?  This day, the Feast of All Saints, is a day when we honour those who came before us; when we honour those who have built what we call the church and those who continue to work within and for God through his church.  We honour them when we use what they built to work for God’s purpose here in this community.

All of you have a very difficult task ahead of you.  You are going to have to look at everything you have in this parish and prayerfully ask that question.  Are we using this to honour God?   I expect that sometimes the answer might be “no.  We are just trying to preserve the memory of what it used to mean.”  If that is the answer, it does not honour those who came before and it does not honour God.

I pray that you will have the support you need from God and from the diocese to mourn their loss; to remember their traditions and their meaning to this community; and to let them go so that you can move on worshiping and serving God for generations to come.  Amen.

God calling ... is anyone home?

May the words of my mouth and the meditations of all our hearts be acceptable in your sight, our rock and our redeemer.  Amen.

“Then the Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind.”  Job asked and God answered.  It wasn’t the answer that Job wanted, but it was an answer directly from God.  When is the last time God answered you?

God speaks to us … Diocesan council … youth mission to Puerto Rico … Praying “What do you want from me, Lord” … vision of an weather worn woman in a floral dress … see that woman the next day and walk by … embarrassed to admit vision … go back …

What do we do when we hear God speaking to us?  Anyone who has had a call to ministry knows this one … ignore Him as long as possible!  Eventually, grudgingly, give in to God’s call.

Another thing the youth did while they were in Puerto Rico was to collect garbage from a popular beach … later they saw a picture of themselves posted to facebook saying “If people can come from other countries to clean our beaches, we should be able to take care of them too.”

I think that most of the time God’s call is so obvious that we don’t realize we are being called.  When was the last time you saw some small piece of garbage in a ditch?  … God was calling you.  Did you listen?  When was the last time you saw a tourist sitting on the side of the road looking at a map?  God was calling.  Did you listen?

Most of the time when God calls us it is for little, everyday things.  How can we expect to hear the big call when we ignore the small?

The good news is that God will not give up.  There is still time for us to learn to listen.  And once we know how to listen, who knows what we will be called to do.

Thanks be to God!

What Must I Do To Inherit Eternal Life

“What must I do to inherit eternal life?”

Go to church?  Follow Christ?  Be a good person?  Give away all of my money?  Give away everything I own?  -- No!

“It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.”

I stand up here regularly and tell you that we are all wealthy.  We give thanks for the abundance that God gives us.  So what does this mean for us?

No kingdom of God?  No ….  We can’t do anything to inherit eternal life.  It’s up to God.

So why do we do all of this?  Why do we baptize?  Why do we go to church?  Why do we spend our time and our money on this thing called the church?

To help God bring about the kingdom of heaven on earth.

How do we do that and what does it mean?

We support each other.  We learn about what it means to be made in the image of God.  We work for justice.  We look for Christ in everyone here and everyone we meet.

One of the reasons we are wealthy is because God gave us the church.  The church is our family in Christ.  Help when we need it.  Companionship.  Peace.

We are here because of love.  Our love for each other.  Our love for those who came before us and those who will come after us.  Our love for our community.  Our love for God.  … And most of all, God’s love for us!

 

Thanks be to God.

No One and Nothing Left Behind

How was your summer?  I hear linger by the sea was a great success.

We had a great August.  Good family time.

Well now summer is over.  Many of our friends who summer here have gone away.  The kids are back in school.  The rain and the wind have come.  Everyone is starting to settle into their fall routines.  Life is getting back to normal.

Our readings today would be easy to interpret in the summer.  During the summer we would be talking about paying attention to each other and forgetting about the strangers among us.  These readings are not nearly as comfortable once the tourists have gone.

All of our readings warn us not to neglect anyone for any reason.  Poverty, disease, age, because we just don’t like them.  Even Jesus had to be reminded … Syrophoenician woman.

Who deserves our care?

Meetings to develop a community safety plan for N of Smokey.

Support each other.  No one left out.  No community left out.

Good start, but I think we need to go much further.  Has anyone heard of Silent Spring?  (by Rachel Carson about the dangers of over use of pesticides such as DDT, published 50 years ago, led to the modern environmentalist movement and the EPA, she was sued by Monsanto and others for publishing it)

Our actions and our inactions, things done and left undone, have consequences. ….

And so we pray – Gracious God, we give you thanks for this wonderful community that you have put in our care.  Help us always to be mindful of the needs of your people and show us how to care for your creation.  This we ask in Jesus name.  Amen.

Temptation and the Armour of God

Temptation – Armour of God
August 26, 2012 - Sandy Cove

Be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his power.

Last week I spoke about representing God to the best of our abilities.
This week I will speak about one way that God helps us.

 

Temptation … we live as broken people in a broken world full of temptations.

Some of mine are procrastination, logic puzzles, sci-fi / fantasy books / movies / TV.
Some of yours …?

Most temptations, like most things in life are OK in moderation.

What do we do when they begin to rule our lives?  (Adiction)

Reformation – Michael Sattler – Schleitheim Confession … Led to the Baptist and Mennonite denominations.  Those who follow it most strictly resist temptation by shutting themselves away from the outside world … think of the Amish and Anabaptists.

I think they missed the point of the Armour of God.

Paul is telling the Ephesians not to avoid temptation, but rather to accept it as part of our lives and to depend on God to help us live in the midst of it.

Long before 12 step programs, Jesus told us that we can’t do it alone.  With God’s help … give in to temptation in moderation because we are human … resist and recover from our addictions (we all have them) and be beacons of hope to the rest of the world … representing the power of God in our lives.