Anointing and Sending Forth

5 Lent, Year C, rcl

March 25, 2007

I was working out in my yard yesterday, cleaning out the beds, ripping out a bush and doing some basic spring cleaning in my yard. It was a great day – spent outside with my husband and son – enjoying the weather, enjoying finally being outdoors for a while. I always love this time of year when the greens are starting to break through the dirt, the buds are coming out on the trees, and the promise of summer is near. You see, I just moved here from Southern California where you don’t really have seasons – well, maybe a rainy season and sunny season and - - - and maybe a smog season. Having come from that, I really missed having a spring – that time of year when you are preparing your yard for growth and color and life.

In our Gospel today, we see Jesus and those around him (whether they know it or not) preparing themselves for something new, for a new stage, for what is ahead of them. Jesus has come to Lazarus’ house for what I can assume is a celebration and a thank you. As we are reminded at the beginning of the Gospel, Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead, Mary and Martha are his dedicated followers – and these three friends have thrown this celebration or party to thank him and to show him their gratitude.

Each person here is playing their part as usual. The disciples are tagging along and asking questions. Judas was testing Jesus. Lazarus, a man who is greatly indebted to Jesus, is sharing a meal and conversation with him and they are spending what we would call “quality time together.” Martha, as usual, is busy in the kitchen, rushing about the house, doing her job to make sure that she is hospitable to anyone who enters, but especially to Jesus. And finally Mary, is doing what she normally does when Jesus is around – she is at his feet, soaking up his every word and trying to show her love and gratitude for him. In this moment, she breaks an extremely expensive jar of perfume over his feet, anointing them and rubbing the perfume with her hair. Now, washing feet was a normal thing to do in this culture and even anointing someone’s feet after a long journey was fairly common – but what makes this so shocking is that she does not use the regular oil, but oil that is so expensive that it costs as much as one year’s worth of wages. She is showing not just an act of hospitality, but an act of love. She also loosens her hair to wipe his feet – a shocking thing in that culture as the hair was always tied back to show a person’s dignity. Women took great pride in their hair and to loosen it, to use it for anything would have been considered extremely degrading. Mary is showing her willingness to serve him and her deep love for him.

Actually, each person here is showing Jesus their love in their own way. They are preparing him for his journey by feeding him, by sharing time with him and by anointing him for his difficult journey ahead. Each person surrounding Jesus is doing something to honor him.

When I was in Jr. High, my grammy was dying of cancer. No one really wanted to talk about it, and at the same time, we all knew that it was inevitable. She was really sick, and the writing was on the wall. So each time that we were with her, we made sure that we showed her how much we loved her. Close to the end of her life, she moved into our house rather than spending her last few months in the hospital. Each day, my sisters and I would go in and tell her about our day and what we were doing. She couldn’t say much, but she would squeeze our hand, or pat our cheek or say a simple, “That’s my girl.” Each time we were with her, we were saying goodbye before the final goodbye. We knew our time was special, we knew it was coming to a close.

Those that were around Jesus, and paying any attention at all to what he had been saying and doing, must have known that the end was near. As he sat in Lazarus, Martha and Mary’s house with the disciples, they were beginning to prepare for the end. They did not know when it would come, but they knew it was near. They knew that they should honor him while they had the chance.

A few days before my Grammy died, our priest came and anointed her with oil and said some prayers for her as she ended one journey and began another one. I remember the smell of the oil he used – I remember because it was still hanging in the room the next morning when I went to say goodbye before school.

The smell of this oil always brought me great comfort. Oils are a healing agent. When you apply oil to your skin it slowly sinks in, nourishing you and healing you. You can use essential oils to heal tight muscles, to calm down at the end of a hectic day, to relax, to become energized, to treat stress and depression, to help treat a cold and other illnesses and the list goes on and on. For thousands of years, oils have been used in this way and have been used in anointing as we hear about in the Bible. When you apply oil to your body and it begins to sink in, it can change a person’s whole outlook and can change the way a person functions.

Anytime that I use holy oil as a priest for baptisms or for healing or when I am at a confirmation or ordination and smell the oil that the bishop uses hanging in the air, I think of the time I spent with my Grammy and realize that each time in our lives when we are anointed, we are being sent forth again to serve God. Each time that we are anointed, we are being sent forth to serve in a new way. Anointing Jesus was Mary’s way to honor him, to send him off on the next part of his journey with a sensory reminder that he is loved and that he is not alone. Mary is responding out of her love and acceptance of him – she does not care what it costs.

So, during this last week of Lent, before we head into Holy Week, I wonder what each of us can do to show our love, our acceptance, our dedication to Jesus. How can we honor what Jesus did for us by the way we live our lives? How can we be like any of the people surrounding Jesus in the story.

Mary – anointing and loving him through her actions. Martha – being hospitable and taking care of him. Lazarus – dining with him, being his friend and sharing time together.

I encourage each of us to take time out of our busy weeks to do the things as they three have done. Love Jesus through our actions as Mary did, be hospitable and care for the people around us as Martha did, share time with people and intentionally be together as Lazarus did. All of these people were serving Jesus in their own way. We too, have to serve Jesus in our own way.

I want to share with you the words that my mentor, Bishop Thornton, said to me and to many others that he anointed over his years as a bishop. When we was doing a baptism, a confirmation, an ordination or any anointing he would say these words in order to send people forward on their new journey with God.

I bless your eyes that you may see God’s image in everyone

I bless your ears that you may hear the cry of those who call out.

I bless your lips that you may speak the Word of God.

I bless your hands that everything you give and everything you receive may be a sacrament.

I bless your feet that you may run to those who need you.

How are you being called to serve, honor, care for and love Jesus today, tomorrow and the next day?

The Letter of Love

Lent 4 Year C, rcl
Luke 15:11-32

This story of the Prodigal Son or the Lost son is one of the most well known parables that Jesus told. The premise of the story has been told in story form, plays, musicals, movies and more. It is well known, because at some level I think that most of us can find ourselves in one of the people in the story, if not a couple of them.

First, we have the youngest son, who is working on this father’s farm and decides to ask his father for what will become his when his father dies. A definite insult in that culture, but I don’t care what culture you are in, that is a bold move – asking your parent for what will be yours when they die. It’s saying – Mom, Dad, I don’t care that you are still here, I want what is mine now. He takes all that his father gives him, hoping to spend it on the good life. Instead, he squanders his money away and becomes poor and destitute. As he is the gutter, working with pigs (which would be a terrible thing for a Jewish man to do) and as he is in the dumps, he realizes that even his father’s workers are treated better than he is being treated. So, he decides to go home and beg forgiveness for what he has done and ask for a lowly job on his father’s farm. He is foolish, and learns the hard way what family means, what is important to him, what he gave up to “go live the good life.”

Secondly, we have the older son, who has also been working on his father’s farm for years. He quietly works and works and works, hoping that his father will notice and reward him for his hard work. He never asks for anything and gets extremely jealous when his brother returns and is welcomed with open arms and celebration. He is angry that his father has never thrown such a party for him or even thanked him by giving him a gift. He is stubborn and resentful and does not ask for the simplest thing that he wishes for. He instead stews about it and gets himself all worked up, rather than asking his father for what he desires. He does not see that the farm is his, that he already has his inheritance since his brother took his and ran. He cannot see what he has – only what he doesn’t have.

Thirdly, we have the father. He loves both sons equally and he gives them what they ask. When he thinks that he has lost his youngest son to the temptations of the world around them, he is grieved. However, when he sees this son returning, he is overjoyed – and doesn’t care why he is returning. His is just happy to see him on his way home – no matter what the conditions of his return are. He loves his oldest son, probably is thankful for his steady work and for his being near him as he ages. He is probably thankful that he has someone to hand the family farm to – someone to carry on what he has started.

Finally, as a side note, we have the fatted calf. Someone once pointed out to me that when he reflected on this story, and tried to find his own place in the story, he often found himself feeling like the fatted calf – you know – going on about his business, not bothering anyone, and boom – he is blind sighted by someone barreling him down.

So where do you fit into the story? Where do you find yourself? Maybe a mixture from a, b, c, and d? Maybe you find your somewhere in the middle? Maybe you are the youngest one moment and then turn and become the eldest in the next. I think that this is such an approachable story for many of us, because we can find ourselves in one, two, three or four of these characters.

No matter where you find yourself, the parable is truly about the love of the father – and thus a parable about God’s love for us. In the Gospel of Luke, we hear about God’s relationship with us over and over again. People are constantly coming at Jesus wanting to know the letter of the law and the writer of Luke is constantly turning us to look at the letter of the love, the unconditional love that God has for us. A bit before this parable, in chapter 11 of Luke, we hear, “Ask and it shall be given to you, seek and you shall find, knock and the door will be opened.” God is constantly trying to get that across to us, and this parable is yet another way for Jesus to speak of God’s love for us.

So what is unconditional love? It is a love that is pure, a love that will ask questions, not to find answers - but to get the person thinking about what they are doing. It is a love that holds you through all of the pain, through the joy, through the tears, through the laughter. It is a love that teaches, it is a love that comes and gets you whether you are ready or not. It is a love that is planted in you from day one. Unconditional love is a grace-filled love which we all deserve. The whole aim of God's unconditional love has always been to bring reconciliation to the world.

Fredrich Buechner writes, "Love is to lose yourself in another's arms, or in another's company, or in suffering for all who suffer - including the ones who inflict suffering upon you. To lose yourself in such ways is to find yourself." This is what it is all about. This is what love is. Love is loosing yourself in order to find yourself. In the parable, both of the sons have lost themselves in very different ways. The youngest lost himself to the world, and returned to the father asking forgiveness. The oldest lost himself to his work and still has to learn to find himself again – and I have no doubt that he will get there. No matter how far away we get, no matter what we have done, no matter where we are on our journey we are welcomed back into God’s love again and again.

In the words of poet, Annie Johnson Flint

God has not promised
Skies always blue,
Flower - strewn pathways
All our lives through;
God has not promised
Sun without rain,
Joy without sorrow,
Peace without pain.

But God has promised
Strength for the day,
Rest for the labor,
Light for the way,
Grace for trials,
Help from above,
Unfailing sympathy,
Undying love.

Amen.

Never Give Up

Lent 3, Yr. C, rcl

March 11, 2007

I recently read this story about Winston Churchill who was giving a commencement address. “After enduring a lengthy introduction, Churchill is reported to have risen from his seat, strode to the podium and stared fixedly at his audience of new graduates. "Never give up!" he pronounced solemnly. Churchill then turned, walked back to his chair and sat down. As the stunned students momentarily sat in silence, Churchill, with perfect timing, once again rose from his chair, returned to the podium and again announced, "Never give up!" Now, terrified they might respond improperly, the audience never uttered a squeak as their speaker once again returned to his seat. Sure enough, Churchill returned to the podium again, and again and yet again - five times - each time delivering his single-minded message, "Never give up!" At last, feeling he had exhausted his audience and driven home his point, Churchill himself did give up and returned to the podium no more. But you can be sure that every graduate in that audience never forgot that speech and never forgot that he or she was to "never give up!"” [1]

In our Gospel reading from Luke, we hear this message loud and clear. There are other accounts of the parable of the fig tree, but Luke’s is the most hopeful, the most redemptive, the most promising. God has promised, from the beginning of creation, that God will never, ever, ever give upon us.

- Adam and Eve disobeyed the very First Rule. But God never gave up.
- Abraham wandered, and Sarah laughed. But God never gave up.
- Moses hid and shook with fear. But God never gave up.
- Saul went insane. But God never gave up.
- David plotted against Uriah. But God never gave up.
- Ahaz sold out to Assyria. But God never gave up.
- Israel fell into pieces. But God never gave up.
- The Jewish people became exiles. But God never gave up.
- John the Baptist was beheaded. But God never gave up.
- Peter denied he even knew him. But God never gave up.
- The disciples all ran away. But God never gave up. [2]

God does not give up on us. God does not punish us because we have done wrong. Those are the two messages that we are to take away with us today. Jesus tells those around him loud and clear that the Galileans who died by Pilate’s hand and those that died when the tower fell on them did not die because they were more sinful than the others. It was a common belief then and for some it is still a common belief that when bad things happen, it is God punishing us, that we have brought it on ourselves. From this notion comes the age old question, “Why do bad things happen to good people?” Bad things happen to everyone, good things happen to everyone. All of our lives are filled with good and bad and that is something that we have to live with. Jesus had good and bad in his life – it is part of what it means to be human.

Suffering is not a consequence of being sinful – there is not a direct, one-to-one correlation between sin and suffering. Don’t get me wrong, when we are doing things that are hurtful, things that draw us away from God, there may be natural consequences of our behavior, but God does not will bad on us, rather God is willing to give us one more chance.

There are many times in our lives when we experience something that serves as a wake up call to us. These wake up calls usually come when we are suffering in our own lives or in the lives of those we love. You don’t know how many times I heard this theology when I was serving as a hospital chaplain. People were blaming the sickness of themselves or others on their actions. One mother told me that her son had cancer because she had stopped going to church and stopped praying. She told me that this was God’s way of getting her back.

But Jesus tells us loud and clear today that is not how God works. God does not make bad things happen in order to get our attention – it just so happens that when bad things do happen, we finally start paying attention, we finally wake up to the fact that we have to change our lives, change how we are living, change what we are doing in order to be the person God is calling us to be.

Amendment of life – that is what Jesus is talking about. Not merely saying sorry and moving on, but truly and radically changing how you live your life so that you will not continue to make the mistake over and over again. A few of my dear friends who are in AA talk about amendment of life. You see, in Alcoholics Anonymous, they make the distinction between giving up what you are dependent on and changing your life. One can give up the dependency, be it alcohol, drugs, food, whatever it might be, and still not be a changed person. True recovery or healing comes when they stop their dependent behavior AND take inventory of their life by looking at their anger, their mistakes, and their dysfunctions, and then asking God to remove them all.

Amendment of life means digging up those things that are not healthy and replacing them with something new, something nurturing, something which will ground you and cause you to live your life with God.

For the Jewish people of the time, the fig tree is a well known symbol of the peaceful and good life. When this tree is not producing fruit, it has no use and is to be torn down. I don’t know if any of you have ever taken care of a tree that bears fruit, but when I was living in California, we had a lemon tree in our back yard. It took lots of pruning, watering, fertilizing, etc. just to maintain the tree. When we talked to our friend who was a landscape architect about adding an orange tree, he said, “Sure, but you probably won’t see fruit anytime soon.” Trees that bear fruit often take a while to produce anything because they have to be nurtured and cared for – they have to take root before they can produce anything worthwhile. The fig tree in the parable may have been taken care of like the other trees around it, but for whatever reason, was not producing fruit yet. The Gospel of Luke gives us hope in that in the parable, the man lets the tree remain for another year in order to pay special attention to it and hope that it will bear fruit. The gardener plans to dig around it and add fertilizer, to remove the dirt that isn’t giving life, and to tend to the tree so that it will produce fruit.

There is still time for the tree to bear fruit. There is still time for all of us to bear fruit. Each Lent, we are given the opportunity to loosen the ground around us that may not be feeding us and to replace it with good soil, good ground that is nourished in God’s unconditional love for us. God never gives up on us. This parable is an invitation for us to repent, to amend our lives and grow in God’s love for us. God has not given up on you. Don’t give up on God and the opportunity to see what kind of fruit you are to bear throughout your live.

So to quote Winston Churchill, “Never give up.” “Never give up.” “Never give up.” “Never give up.” “Never give up.”

---

[1] From Homiletics Online, 3/19/1995

[2] Ibid.

God's Undiminishing Love

2 Lent, Year C, rcl

March 4, 2007

Today’s Gospel lesson from Luke places us in the midst of the Jesus’ travels. He has begun doing his work and knows what lies ahead for him. As the Pharisees try to warn him of what may happen to him, he does not run away, rather he tells them that he is ready, and nothing will stop him. (Sort of a bring it on attitude – the I’m not scared, so give me what you’ve got.) He has much to do and is not afraid to do what he was sent to do. And, as he is doing his work in the world, he finds himself saddened by Jerusalem’s turning away from God. We hear his lament loud and clear today.

“Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often I desired to gather your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing!”

Jerusalem, the holy city, the city of David, the city of God, the city of the temple and worship, the place where may people journey toward. In this lament, Jesus is telling us that Jerusalem is going in the wrong direction, that they are not following God’s call to them, that they are being tempted and led in the wrong direction. Jerusalem, Jerusalem…we can hear the grief in Jesus’ voice – sadness at seeing a loved one go astray. Jesus laments that he is powerless to stop them even though he has tried. It is a sad image, and a beautiful image.

In this moment, we can see Jesus’ deep affection for the Holy City and its people. How he would love to save them and protect them just as a hen protects her chicks.

Barbara Brown Taylor, an Episcopal priest, tells about a window in a small chapel at the place where Jesus wept over Jerusalem. This high, arched window is centered above the altar. The window looks out over the city. The iron grillwork divides the view into sections, so that on a sunny day, you wonder if it is a stained glass window. What is different than other stained glass windows we have all seen, is that the subject is alive! It is not an artist’s rendering of the holy city, but the city itself, living and moving, going about its business.

Below that live window is a mosaic of a white hen with a golden halo and seven baby chicks. The hen has her wings spread to shelter the chicks, and she has a fierce look for anyone who would harm them. The inscription says in Latin, “Jerusalem, Jerusalem…How often I have desired to gather your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing!”

Haven’t we all felt this way? I mean, don’t we all have times in our lives where we look at our beloved, like one would look out the beautiful window – and then when we realize that they are hurting themselves, we plead with them to stop? There is nothing more horrible than watching someone that you love go astray, self-destruct and hurt themselves. It happens so often – to people all around us – in our community and in our families. It happens all over the world.

Jesus’ lament over Jerusalem is instructive. It tells us that no matter what we might do, God’s love is undiminished. Jesus is longing to give Jerusalem the same protective care that a hen gives to her chicks. His arms are spread, waiting for us to come and enter into God’s love, and it is up to us to make the move toward God, toward this relationship with the divine. God gives us the freedom to choose between good and evil – and with the freedom comes accountability and responsibility.

We have to help ourselves and one another get out of our patterns. About 13 years ago, one of my best friends growing up, was arrested and put in jail for drug use among other things. For about a year, his life had been spiraling out of control. He had been taking crystal meth, staying up all night, partying and hanging out with people who were spiraling downwards with him. One night right before his arrest, he called me so drugged out, that he was saying really hurtful things to me and saying hurtful things about people that I loved. When I hung up the phone, tears were streaming from my eyes. After the initial shock was over, I swore to myself that I would just write him off, that I would never talk to him again.

About a week later, his dad called and left me a message, telling me that he had been arrested and leaving me with his address. I sat down that night and began to write him a letter. It began as a rant about what an awful person he was, about halfway through, it turned into a letter of love from a friend to another friend. I gave him an ultimatum, turn yourself around, or I will never speak to you again. I told him that I loved him too much to see him hurt himself or others, and I could not stand by him any more – even though we had faired much over our many years of friendship. With his addictions and low-self worth, I figured I would never hear from him again. Instead, about a month later, he called, one of his weekly 5 minute calls from prison. The first words from his mouth were, “I am sorry, please forgive me.” That five minute phone call was a blur of emotion, but what I do remember is that we said to one another that we would help each other through this. He now has a wonderful job, a fabulous wife and three adorable children and we are tight friends who see each other through everything.

In this story, I was not the hen, trying to protect the brood, but rather one of the fellow chicks, helping another chick out. God is our hen, wanting to protect us, being there for us when we are ready to come under that protection and love. We, however are the brood, we are the chicks, the community that has to help each other get there. If you ever see young chicks, they will follow one another around in a little line. When one goes astray, usually one of the other chicks will help that one find its way back. We have to help one another find our way toward God.

No matter what we might do, God is there as the hen and is counting on us to help one another find the way. God’s purpose is always to redeem us, to bring us back to the fold, regardless of how far astray we have gone. No matter what we do in our life, God’s love is undiminished. Even though Jerusalem has killed prophets, even though they have gone astray, God does not give up on them. God will not coerce us to come back to God’s ways, but rather will plead and call us back. What we do is left to us which means that one of the things that we are all called to do as people of God is to love and help ourselves and one another on our journey toward God. We have to proclaim God’s love in and for God, our community and one another. God calls us to love and care for one another just as God loves and cares for us.

God’s judgment is tempered with grace, mercy and hope of redemption. God patiently invites us and then waits to see where our journey will take us – when we get lost, God calls us back again and again out of God’s undying love for us. This Lenten season, how are going listening to God’s call for you? How are you journeying toward God and God’s undiminishing love for you?

Journeying through Lent

Lent 1, Yr C, RCL

February 25, 2007

My friend, Wilma Jakobsen told me this joke a few years ago…

A priest was confronted by a mugger while walking down a dark alley. The thief demanded the priest’s wallet. As the priest opened his coat to reach for his wallet, the thief saw a clerical collar and realized this was a priest. Immediately he apologized and said, “Forget it, Father, keep your money; I had no idea you were a priest.” Both nervous and relieved, the priest took out a cigarette and offered one to the stranger. “No thank-you,” the thief replied, “I gave up smoking for Lent!”

Ever since the beginning of the Church, after Christ’s death, Lent was a time of penitence or repentance for those who had turned away from their faith and been excluded from their faith communities. It was a time for reconciliation and a welcome back to the community at Easter. Since that time, Lent has become more a time of devotion, penitence and preparation for the entire community.

At the beginning of the service we did what is known as the Great Litany, a set of intercessory prayers. It has been used from as early as the fifth century in Rome. It is used at various times of the year and in various services, but most noticeably, it is used at the beginning of Lent. It is a roadmap for us this Lent as we continue our time of devotion, penitence and preparation for Jesus’ passion, death and resurrection. It is a set of prayers that reminds us that God is with us, and intentionally asks for God’s presence in our lives.

I remember the first few times that I heard this when I was old enough to remember what was really going on in church. I kept wondering, is it ever going to end? Aren’t they repeating things? What is going on? Are we going to start doing this every Sunday? Etc. Yes, the Litany is long, but if you think of all the ways that we can separate ourselves from our Creator, you can see that it could go on much longer to cover all the bases. The Litany is not about calling God to come to us, for God is already with us. It is about us calling upon God so that we might see God’s presence in our lives. We ask God to have mercy on us, to spare us from evil and sin, and from all other offenses.

Some people don’t like to talk about sin, thinking that it is an outdated term, thinking that it doesn’t mean anything anymore. However, sin is real, sin is what separates us from God – sin can be anything. Today, during the Litany, sang, “Good Lord, deliver us.” Deliver us from sin, blindness of hear, pride, hypocrisy, hatred. Deliver us in all that we do, that we might find you again and again, in all that we do. We sang, “Beseech thee to hear us, Good Lord.” HEAR us. When you hear someone, it is not merely listening to them, it is receiving what they are saying and sharing that burden, that petition, that sadness, that emotion, that piece of their lives with them. We are asking God to hear us, God to be near us, God to guide us.

The Litany reminds us that we are continually on a journey with God. Each of us here and the people around us are all journeying with God, be it consciously, or unconsciously. During Lent, we call upon God to help us make that journey a conscious journey, one that can change us, one that can call us into a new life.

On the first Sunday in Lent, we always hear about Jesus’ temptation in the wilderness. Jesus has just been baptized and is then sent away into the wilderness. When I think of this particular series of events, I always smile to myself, because it seems that is often how it is in our very own lives. We have an incredible experience and then, come crashing down and have to deal with the wilderness in our lives. This is often the case because once you have had an incredible experience, once you have seen God in a new way, you cannot go back, you cannot stay there, but you have to go forward and try to figure out what all this means. That is exactly what Jesus is doing today. Jesus goes into the wilderness to find himself. To come to terms with who he is, to discover what it means to be human and divine. He is tempted by food, power and pride. The devil is trying to get him to use to the powers that he has not for good, but for gain.

Now, I don’t want you to think that the devil is the usual, red horned, red tailed, evil grinned devil, but the devil is that thing that causes any of us to use our powers, our lives for our own gain rather than for the good of the world. When I am being tempted to do something, it often feels like I do, in fact have the devil on one shoulder, saying, “Go for it, this is cool, what can it hurt” and an angel on the other shoulder saying, “You don’t need that, what good will this do, will this hurt anyone.” When this is happening to all of us, we feel the tug inside of us, we feel we are being torn between a choice. That is one of the joys and struggles of being human, we do have to make difficult choices. Who, what, where do we turn for a guide? Whenever you are wondering what the right thing to do is, look at what is in front of you and ask yourself, what will this accomplish? Does this thing bring me closer to God, does it bring me closer to knowing love, does it bring me closer to my neighbor? Remember Jesus’ commandment, to love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind and strength and love your neighbor as yourself? That is our guide, that is the way for us to follow.

We are on a journey – this journey does not end – because it is a journey of relationship. Like any relationship, it will grow, change, go astray, find its way again and continue on. It is not a straight journey, it is not an easy journey, and during Lent, we are deliberately on this road, looking for where God is in our lives. On this journey, we will all face times in the wilderness, when we feel we are alone, when we feel like we have nothing left, when we have to go again and find ourselves and who God is calling us to be. One of my favorite lines of the Great Litany says, “ That it may please thee to inspire us, in our several callings, to do the work which thou givest us to do with singleness of heart as thy servants, and for the common good.” We do no figure out who we are once and for all and be done with it, God calls upon us to do different things all through our lives. Each time we find that we are being called to do something else, is often the time that we will once again find ourselves in the wilderness, or at least in a place where we have to discover who we are once again. Each time we change, we have to rediscover ourselves and our lives with God. That is why prayer is so important – it is a constant conversation with God, a time for us to find direction, comfort, our calling – a time for us to continually find ourselves and our direction on the journey. It may not be comfortable or easy – Jesus’ journey was not comfortable or easy – but it is who we are and we cannot avoid that.

So on this journey, May the Lord Bless you and keep you. May the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you. May the Lord lift up his Countenance upon you and give you peace, both now and evermore.

The Road of Love

Luke 9:28-36

February 18, 2007

Every year, on the Sunday before Lent begins, we hear this story – the story of Jesus going up the mountain to pray with some of the disciples. Even though the disciples were exhausted and sleepy, they managed to stay awake and through their sleepy fog, they witness Jesus being transfigured and transformed as his clothes changed to a dazzling white. In the midst of this, appear Moses and Elijah. They witness a meeting point between heaven and earth right before their very eyes. They witness, see, and feel God’s presence.

As I reflected on this, I kept coming back to the questions, how is God present in my life - in your life?

For me, one of these moments did happen on a mountaintop. I was hiking with a bunch of my friends, a steep, rocky, dusty hike. We thought we were lost and people were starting to get really tired. The guy in front, Mike, who had arranged the hike and planned it kept telling us, “I swear we are close,” but we knew that most of the landmarks the guide book had talked about, we had not seen. It would be dark in about 3 hours and we had been hiking for 4 hours. There was nowhere in sight to pitch camp because we were on a steep incline. We were all frustrated, wondering when Mike was going to give up and turn around. So we stopped and talked about the situation and finally decided that if we did not see then next landmark, which was supposed to be an open field, that we would stop and turn around. As we all began to hike, ready to turn around, essentially having given up on our fabulous trip, there it was. It was not just an open field like it had been described, but a lush, green meadow with wildflowers and trees surrounding it. We dropped our bags, screaming and yelling, thanking God for this sight, for this wonderful place. Some wanted to go on, some, including me, wanted to stay and camp there – we wanted to preserve that moment when it had all come together. I wanted to preserve that moment, because it was in this moment that I felt my heart change, I felt God rush through me, I felt at peace. Well, we didn’t stay, and we moved on to the campsite another mile away which was by a lake, a beautiful lake, but all I could think about what that incredible meadow we had walked through and I wanted to go back and stay there forever. Why? Because in that moment, my life made sense. I was working with young people in the outdoors, I was with friends and I felt like I never wanted it to end.

I was like Peter – wanting to stay, wanting to keep that moment just as it was, not wanting to forget or move forward or anything because that moment had overwhelmed me and filled me with a sense of the presence of God in my life. But the thing is, we cannot stay there – we get that message loud and clear in the Gospel message today. We have to move on to the mission that God has given us to do in this world.

On that mountaintop, we see Elijah and Moses, with Jesus. Moses, a man driven from his home in Egypt who fled because he killed another Egyptian who was beating on a Hebrew. He fled from Egypt in fear for his life and made a new life for himself as he married and settled down. He is far from the place he knows as home, and in that place, he finds God. God calls out to him from the burning bush, not just to reveal himself, but to give Moses a mission.

Elijah, a prophet, a man whom people did not like to see coming around because he usually had something to say that they did not what to hear. Elijah is alone – or seems to be – and spent a lonely night in a cave where he encounters God, not in a burning bush, but in the sheer silence. God also does more than show God’s self to Elijah, God gives him a mission, to go and find a new leadership that will restore true religion and true justice. He is to be God’s hands in the world, working to initiate a new beginning.

On that mountaintop with Moses, Elijah and Jesus are the trusted disciples that Jesus brought with him – Peter, James and John. These are men who have been called out of their lives to follow Jesus. These are men, who, like the other disciples, are confused and not sure that this future brings for them. And now, on this mountain top, they see something they have never seen before. Jesus is transfigured before them. Jesus is changed, made into something they had not seen before.

Our faces tell what is inside of us. Our faces can tell the world if we are tired, having a bad day, if we are hopeful, if we are joyful, if we are scared. Our faces can tell the world about the state of our soul, the state of our being. Today, Jesus’ face shows his inner glory, his true nature – heaven and earth, God and human coming together in Christ.

So, what is the power that transfigures us? If we look to the epistle lesson, Paul is very clear about what should be our guide, what should direct us in this world. Paul tells us that no matter how the world around us elevates people, no matter what score we get on our test, no matter what degrees we have, no matter what you give away and do for others – none of this matters if you don’t have love. Love is the thing that gives real meaning to our lives. Love is the power that truly guides and directs us. You can see it when someone is newly in love – it is written on their face and in their actions. You can see it when someone is doing something that they love – you can see it in how they do their job and how they treat others. You can see love emanating from people. I’m not talking about the love that is the mushy, sentimental, buy someone diamonds and chocolate love that we see depicted on commercials for valentines day. This is the love that is a verb – the love that is not easy, but it is necessary. The love that keeps people together even when they are fighting. The love that guides us through difficult times and helps us elate together in good times.

Paul reminds us that love along with faith and hope, are eternal – and it is love that wins the day. Love is what we are remembered for, love is what transfigures and transforms us in to people of God.

One of the priests that I worked with liked to tell us about his seminary professor who told him that one of the most important things that we could do is to lead the people around us to be able to “epiph” – the root word of epiphany. To “epiph” means to show forth or to manifest the holy that is within you, so “epiphing” meant so show forth or manifest the beauty that is within each of us. This is the last Sunday of the Epiphany and I wonder how each of us is showing forth the glory of God within us? How are we transfigured by God? How do we show our love, God’s presence, to the rest of the world?

I was just on the annual clergy retreat and this year it was lead by Fr. Gregory from the Order of Julian of Norwich. He is a man of deep faith and love and he is a man that exudes God and God’s love for the world. I’m not sure that I will be able to describe it, but as I listened to him and as I talked to him over the three days we had together, it became clear to me that he had been through some deep struggles in his life and in his faith, and the only thing that got him through all of that was God’s love – even when he didn’t know what was guiding him. In his deepest struggles, in his darkest moments, it was only when he brought himself back to the center, back to God’s love that he was able to move forward and find his way. It is through God’s love that he was transfigured.

I don’t know if you have ever been up to a really high mountain peak, but if you have, you will know that the growth at the top of mountains is sparse. The place of growth in our lives does not come from our mountain top experiences. We have to take these moments with us and allow them to burn the image of God onto our hearts so that it will emerge and show on our faces and in our actions. We have to take these moments with us and bring God into our everyday lives – into the muck and the mundane, into the boring and the scary, into the joy and the fear. I often struggle with this, because I get so busy living that I forget to bring God along. So, this week, since I have returned, I have been trying to constantly remind myself, when I’m driving, when I’m changing a diaper, when I’m working, when I’m washing dishes and making dinner, when I’m playing with my child, when I’m not feeling particularly motivated to do anything, when I’m grocery shopping – no matter what I’m doing, God is there and God is a part of it. When we bring God into our everyday, we are transfigured into a person of faith, hope and love. When we bring God into our everyday, the people around us will be transformed and transfigured.

I want to end by sharing something with you that my friend, Ed Bacon once shared with me. He said, “I believe that each of us is faced with some decision or discernment. Perhaps today that decision or discernment in your life is relatively minor. But tomorrow the discernment or the decision you face may be completely life changing. I have come to believe that every decision is a fork in the road and though every decision or discernment may have many different factors or many different complexities, yet in almost every discernment or decision all of those factors can be seen as a choice between the road of fear and the road of love.

“My friends, love is the best road to take every time. The most fruitful road to take every time. Love is the most empowering road to take every time, the most lasting road, the road that will help you grow. The road of love leads to glory. The road of love lead to the epiphany of the divine within you. The road of love is the road that Jesus chose. The road of love is the road to take this Lent.”[i]

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[i] The Rev. Ed Bacon, The Best Road to Take Every Time, Sermon preached at All Saints Church 2/22/04

The Times are a Changin'

February 11, 2007

Epiphany 6, Yr C, rcl

Luke 12:6-31

You may have noticed that I added verses to the Gospel lesson as I read it this evening. It wasn’t a mistake in the bulletin, but rather something that I felt that I had to do the more that I thought about this passage. This evening, we were supposed to just hear what is referred to as the Sermon on the Plain, or the Beatitudes. The blessings and woes part of the Gospel lesson. However, the more that I read, thought, prayed about this particular section, the more I realized that I had to include what comes before and after this.

The Gospel of Luke is all about story telling, about weaving a picture of Jesus and his ministry through how each piece dove tails on the next. We cannot hear the Sermon on the Plain without knowing that he has just called his disciples and that this is their first real lesson on what it will mean to follow him and what he is about.

You see, for me, it is difficult to just hear the Sermon on the Plain and not hear anything else, because I don’t believe that it gives the whole picture of what is happening and what Luke is trying to tell us about Jesus. But, if we read what comes before and what comes after, we see Jesus is forming his ministry, we see that he is telling the disciples that times are a changin and that everything is going to be different now that they are following him and now that he is in the world.

So let’s walk our way through this and see what story it tells us through the words of Luke.

Jesus has just been up on the mountain praying. He is taking a time out. He is taking a breather. He in silence, spending time with God before he continues on the journey. As he comes down the mountain, he calls the disciples, those who will follow him and help him in his ministry. He doesn’t call the most powerful or the most tight knit crowd, but rather a motley crew of people with different occupations, different backgrounds and no one who had power in the society around them.

He chose the twelve and took them to a level place – took them to a place that is not too overwhelming, but a place where they can gather and discover more about this man they have just left everything for. On this level place, he begins to teach them as others are gathering around. He begins to teach by telling them that things are not going to be the same. That those who, in this society, are down and out – they will be glorified and raised. And those who seem to have everything – they will loose what they have and will be sorrowful and lost.

These sayings of “blessings” and “woes”, are not Jesus glamorizing poverty and suffering – nor is he calling us to go become poor or make ourselves sick or weak. There is something much greater in this message.

Jesus knew that being poor and sick and on the outs can lead to despair and lead to a life that is full of pain and more suffering, but he also know that when we are in our greatest need is often when we find God. When we are in need, we are more likely to turn to God than when we feel that we have everything. That is where the woes come into the picture. The woes are to get the attention of those who do have everything – or those who think that they have everything. When we have everything, and when we are happiest, is when we are in the most danger of loosing our way, thinking that we know best, thinking that we are in charge. When we are in a position where we have what we need and we are powerful and independent, we often run the risk of forgetting what we really need – and that is life with God our Creator, God who walked among us, and God who dwells among us each and every day.

Jesus is telling his disciples that they don’t need anything but God in their lives. That it doesn’t matter what they were before, because with God, they will find power they never knew they had. It doesn’t matter where they have come from or what they are dealing with, because God is with them to lead them, to comfort them, to guide them and to give them what they need in this life and in the next.

God is with them and will continue to be with them no matter what they encounter, no matter what life brings their way.

Jesus continues to prepare them for their new life by telling them how to live differently, how to live as God wants us to live. “Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you. If anyone strikes you on the check, offer the other also; and from anyone who takes away your coat do not withhold even your shirt. Give to everyone who begs from you; and if anyone takes away your goods, do not ask for them again. Do to others as you would have them do to you.”

This, is a radically different world view – love our enemies? Do good to those who hate us? Bless those who curse us? Pray for those who abuse me? What is Jesus talking about? This isn’t how the world is run. Ahhhh – but for Jesus, this is how the world is run. God is calling them, and in turn us, into a different way of life. When you are struggling with someone, pray for them, love them, and send them good thoughts. When you know that someone hates you, do something nice for them, and treat them well. When someone is speaking ill of you, bless them. And when those around you are abusing you in whatever way, turn and pray for them. How in the world will this help us? And what does this have to do with God?

Jesus said, “Do unto others as you would have them do to you.” If we look to the Muslim faith, they have a similar saying, “Live in harmony, for we are all related.” And the Jewish faith says, “What you yourself hate, do to no man.” Each of the major religions are guided by what many call the “golden rule” – or the way that we are to treat one another and live in the presence of God. I remember this from my kindergarten Sunday school class, but it is not a child’s lesson. This is a lesson for us all. Think about it – if we truly treated everyone around us how we would want to be treated, the world would be a radically different place and that is the place that Jesus is teaching about, that is the place that God wants us to live in and that is the place that the Holy Spirit is leading us to.

Our world needs us to live into what Jesus taught in order for us to bring the Kingdom of God here on earth. And how do we do that?

I’m not going to answer that, because for each of us, it will be something different. I’m asking for each of us, myself included, to go somewhere and be quiet with God, to pray, to find some space in this next week and intentionally be with God. Jesus did this often, especially as he was about to embark on a new journey or when he needed direction. Prayer is about opening yourself to what God might be asking of you. I’m asking you to do this now, so that we can all be more prepared for Lent which will be here in less than two weeks. Lent is a time of soul-searching and repentance, a time what we intentionally are brining ourselves closer to God. It is a season for taking stock of your life and for reflection. I’m asking us to take this next week and a half to prepare ourselves for Lent, to prepare ourselves for what Jesus is asking of us at this time in our lives.

How are you going to change your life to more closely live with God? What can you do differently, or what can you start doing in order to bring the kingdom of God here on earth? Pray, be in silence, be with God, find that space each day where you can pause and ask God what you are to do with your life so that we do not need to live with blessings and woes, but rather with equality and love, treating one another with respect and love.

Peter and Finding Nemo

Epiphany 5, Yr C, rcl

February 4, 2007

As I spoke to a few of my colleagues this week about the text for today, many of them said things like – oh yeah, the calling of the first disciple, or the fishers of people story. Many of us hear this gospel and think – oh yeah – I remember this one. And if you are at all like me, sometimes that makes you tune it out. If we’ve heard something before or if we are familiar with something, it makes it all the easier to tune it out, to let our minds go to something else, or to just sit back and not really take it in. This was my attitude as well as I started to work on the text this week, then, something happened. I watched Finding Nemo for the millionth time with my son, and something between the two very familiar things clicked. Something new happened in my head, heart and soul as I was thinking about this text and watching Finding Nemo.

Yes, Jesus does call Peter into discipleship. But what we cannot ignore is that Jesus comes to Peter where he is, in his everyday life. Jesus begins to teach the crowds near Peter’s boat. Then, Jesus hops into his boat and teaches from there. Jesus is teaching the multitudes from the shallow waters, he is teaching them new things, things that they may not have heard before, things that will begin to change their lives. Now, he turns to Peter and asks him to take is boat out further and fish in the deep waters. Peter, protests mildly, saying he has already been fishing all night, but in a moment of grace and faith, Peter does as the Lord asks and takes the boat out into deep waters.

The imagery of water, the use of water is all throughout the Bible, it is all throughout literature, and it is all throughout history. Water is a symbol of new life. Water teams with life with creatures, with new waters flowing in and waters flowing out all the time. Water is a life-giving, life-changing thing for all of us. Water gives us food, water allows things to grow, water is our life source.

When Jesus asks Peter to go out into the deep waters to fish, he is not merely asking him to fish, but asking him to go to the waters where you cannot see the bottom, go to the waters where you don’t know what you will get and cast your nets. I don’t know if you’ve ever been swimming in deep waters, but you never know what you will find, what you will discover.

Jesus is asking Peter to go where he has not gone before – to go into unchartered waters. This is where Finding Nemo comes in. If you haven’t seen the movie, it’s about a clown fish, Marlin, who is scared of the ocean because of an event in the past. Now, his son, Nemo, is swept off by a diver, and Marlin has to leave the safety of his home and what he knows and go into unchartered waters to find his son. Throughout the movie, Marlin is constantly being challenged pushed to a place he never thought he would go, both physically and emotionally. Jesus is taking Peter into unchartered waters, asking him to trust him and go places he never thought he would go.

A few years ago, one of my mentors, Ed Bacon gave me this image of going where we haven’t gone in order to find ourselves. He talked passionately about Dr. Mary Pipher who is a psychiatrist and psychotherapist in Nebraska who wrote the popular book Reviving Ophelia: Saving the Selves of Adolescent Girls. A few years after, she came out with a new book entitled Letters to a Young Therapist. In this book, she writes about what she has learned as a therapist. In one of the chapters, called “Deepening Therapy,” she talks about connecting what are surface complaints to deeper issues. It is about challenging the denial with which most people live so that they can come to terms with the impact that it has on themselves and those around them. She says that good therapy moves people out of compartmentalizing their lives and helps them find a richer and greater self knowledge. For her, therapy is about inviting people into a deeper way of living so that the things that get in the way, the things that block us from living fully can be removed and each of us can find who we truly are created to be.

For Ed, and for me, this is a very engaging way to understand our journey with God. “God loves us so much that every day is about God’s love posing questions to us or placing you and me in circumstances where we can go deeper into the beautiful life that God has envisioned for each member of the human family and for the human family together.” (Ed Bacon, Sermon 2/8/04, All Saints Church, Pasadena, CA)

Today, we hear in the from Luke’s gospel that Jesus loves Peter so much that the way Jesus calls Peter is to send Peter into the deep waters of life. God loves us so much, that God calls us into the deep waters of life. In the movie, Finding Nemo, it is only by swimming through these deep waters that Marlin is able to find himself, his son and the world around him. It is only by swimming through these deep waters that he was able to find who he truly is meant to be.

As Jesus calls Peter, and thus you and I as well, into these deep waters, we are being called into the places in our lives where we are often in over our heads. It is in these places that we can be challenged and where we can begin to decompartmentalize our lives in order to find who we truly are and who God is calling us to be.

If you know anything about Peter, you know that he was far from being a perfect disciple, and Jesus knew that the day that he called him from the shores into deep waters. God does not call us because we are perfect, God calls us because are part of God’s creation for the world. That’s right, you and I, just like Peter are called by God to go into the deep waters.

When Jesus called Peter to “fish for people,” it was much more than evangelism. In the Old Testament, Amos and Jeremiah talk about “catching people,” but in this context it is more about getting people to amend their lives and turn toward God. Jesus is calling for Peter to turn his life toward God in order to find what and who God has made him to be.

I don’t know how God is calling you into deep waters in your life right now. I only know that God loves you so much that everyday God is calling you to a new place in your life, telling you that no matter where you are, if you follow God’s calling and delve into the deep waters, you will find yourself and you will find God. Jesus gets into the boat with us. We are not on this journey alone, but we have to take that first step and take the boat into those deep waters, into those unchartered waters so that we too can find new life with God, new life with each other and new life within ourselves. Go deep and see where it takes you, see where you find God in those new waters.

Calling

January 28, 2007

Epiphany 4, Yr C, RCL

I almost always preach on the Gospel, but today, I’m going to focus on the Old Testament lesson from Jeremiah. I do this because I believe that it has something important to say to all of us. God comes to Jeremiah and says I need you. Jeremiah begins to tell God why he cannot serve God – I am too young and I do not have the words to speak of you as you deserve. I think that we can read into this – send someone else – you clearly must be mistaken by choosing me – I cannot do what you are asking me to do – there are others who can do this much easier than I. God comes back and says – I don’t care what you think or say, I’ve chosen you and you will serve me – it will not be easy, and I want you - I am calling you.

I could be wrong, but I think that it is safe to say that none of us have been called to be a prophet as Jeremiah was. Even when we have heard or felt a call from God, I don’t think that it was this intense, or that we were called to be a prophet to the nations. (If I’m wrong, please see me afterwards.) Thing is, it doesn’t matter that we haven’t been called like Jeremiah. What is important is that we are all called in one way or another. We have all been called to serve, we have all been called to a ministry, because God has a vocation or ministry in mind of all of us. I know from my experience that when I have felt called by God to serve in a new way, many times I argued just as Jeremiah and the other prophets did. Let's see how many of these phrases ring true for you today. . . "I am too young," "I am too old" "I don't have enough experience" "I am too busy" "You know, I think that so and so would be better at this than I would" "I am too tired" "I am too small for this big job" "No one will listen to me" "Maybe next year when this project is out of the way I can do that" I know that those are all things that I have said to myself, to others and to God when I am trying to justify not wanting to do what God has placed in front of me.

I make excuses, we all make excuses as to why we can’t do things, why we think someone else would be better for this, but the bottom line is, we are just as good as anyone else. The problem is that many times we don't believe in ourselves. The good news is that God believes in us, God calls us to be prophets in today's world, and God gives us the tools to be a great prophet. The only problem is, that we tend to sell ourselves short, we don't believe in the gifts that God has given us, and we can easily come up with excuses to try and work our way out of a situation. We question ourselves, our call to ministry, and our relationship with God.

That’s okay, because when we question God and what God has called us to do, we are joining a large group of people. Some you know well. Moses who stammers, Jonah with his misguided notion of what needs to happen, Jeremiah who is overwhelmed by the call and is sure that he’s too young and inexperienced, Isaiah who does not think that he is worthy enough for the job, Mary questioned God, Sara laughed at God, Peter who was fearful and impetuous. I could go on and on and those are just the people in the Bible. Questioning God and our place in the grand scheme of things is part of the journey of finding ourselves and God.

Here’s what it comes down to… God knows us better than we can know ourselves. For many that is rather scary, but if we look at it from a different angle, there is great comfort in knowing that God knows us, that God understands us - even when we do not understand ourselves.

Your calling to serve God does not happen when you are ready, but it happens when God is ready. The only thing that we can do on our part is try to be open to the conversation. If you really think about it – God does not need us because God is God. However, God has chosen to work through God’s own creation – that’s you and me. Our job in the midst of our lives is to find ourselves and thus find where God is calling us to be in the world. What is your truth, your passion – where do you put your heart and soul?

The first time that the thought of becoming a priest entered my head was not in prayer or in church, but rather standing in the kitchen at a youth event when I was 17 years old. The bishop was hanging out with us and simply said, “You will make a great priest someday.” I laughed – almost spewing coke out of my nose and said – no thanks – I’m going to go be a physical therapist. God works in mysterious ways and through the people around us and in the everyday of our lives. You never know when or where you will find God.

Let me share with you a few people in my life and their various ways of serving God through doing what they are called to do.

My mom is a nurse. When she is helping people, she is in her element. She glows when she is taking care of people and hates it when administration and other things get in the way. Her calling is to be a nurse and to bring God’s love and healing to those around her.

My friend Amy is a mother and a lawyer. I have known her since eighth grade and she has always been one to try to improve the world around her either by making it a more cheerful, fun, beautiful place, or by changing things that weren’t right. She is now a lawyer who does water law – thus is working for the environment and saving God’s creation from ruin and from greedy people who are not thinking of the future.

My friend David, is not afraid to say that he truly loves Jesus. Jesus guides him, Jesus is his friend and savior. He is currently serving as a youth minister and that is a true calling. He is so gifted in bringing people out of themselves, into the group and into talking about their faith, their journey, their questions about God.

My friends Ron and Steve are the maintenance guys – the guys that take care of the buildings and grounds of my old seminary. They are people who are truly committed to making the world a better place for those around them. They will do whatever it takes to make the place run more smoothly, to make it function better and to take care of the students and faculty there. This is a true and deep calling for them. They have been doing it for years and see it not only as something that they do, but something that they live each day.

I could go on, but I think that these five people give you a picture that you don’t have to fit into one box or another in order to serve God. Serving God means living into what God has made you to be. God knows what that is and it is our job to find where God is calling us to be, where we will find our passion, our faith, our truth.

One of my favorite Simpsons episodes is one where Lisa declares that she is no longer a Christian and that she is going to find a faith that truly speaks to her. She goes on a quest to find who or what she believes. There are many people troubled by the fact that she has stepped away from the way she was brought up and they keep trying to pull her back in. Rather than allowing that to happen, she continues on – no matter what anyone says. Finally, she discovers that she is a Buddhist and finds great peace in that and is once again at peace with herself.

Our journey and our calling are one in the same. They are about finding ourselves and thus finding what God created us to be. God needs us in the world because God has chosen to use – no matter who young or old we are, no matter where we live or what we study or what our job is – God has chosen us to be in the world and God has chosen us to change the world through how we live our lives.

God, grant us ears to hear,

Eyes to see,

Wills to obey,

Hearts to love.

- Christina Rossett