Halloween and Ordination

The Rev. Shannon Ferguson Kelly

October 31, 2007

Today is Halloween. It is a day that people dress up in costumes, some scary, some funny, some, just plain weird. I can remember the fun and excitement of Halloween as a child - the parties at school, trick-or-treating with my friends and family, and the great candy trade at the end of the day so that you got what you wanted. As I grew up, it became more about dressing up and partying. Now, as an adult, it seems that it has become a holiday that I enjoy through my child.

However, today is also the anniversary of my ordination to the priesthood. Eight years ago today, I was ordained at St. Mark’s Church in Palo Alto, California. It was an amazing day. All the kids came dressed up in their costumes. One child told me that I wore my “priest” costume and another told me that I was dressed in my “angel” costume (or my robe). My bishop from the Diocese of Idaho came for the ordination, friends, family and other clergy came to celebrate the day. There are many things that stick out in my head from that day, but one that I will never forget, and one that I’m sure Bishop Bainbridge will never forget, is the picture around the altar at communion. Not only were their priests in their “priests costumes,” but there were 20-30 children in their Halloween costumes, gathered around the altar together. We had Medusa, Pokemon, St. Patrick, ladybugs, princesses and monsters, all gathered at the altar – coming to the place where we are all welcome – at the Lord’s table.

As I reflect on these eight years, I hope that this picture of EVERYONE being welcome at the altar has encompassed my ministry and what God has called me to do.

In the Gospel of John we hear, ^“Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not let them be afraid.” On this day when we are dressing up to scare people or when there are witches hanging in doorways and people jumping out of haunted houses trying to scare us, Jesus reminds us that we need not fear. Our life is not meant to be lived in fear. Rather, our life is meant to be lived in that space of faith and doubt, asking the questions and letting the Holy Spirit move among us and within us. As Christians we are called to be welcoming of everyone, to bring peace to the world and to live in the love of God, knowing that we are a part of God, and God a part of us.

O God of unchangeable power and eternal light: Look favorably on your whole church, that wonderful and sacred mystery; by the effectual working of your providence, carry out in tranquility the plan of salvation; let the world see and know that things which were cast down are being raised up, and things which had grown old are being made new, and that all things are being brought to their perfection by him through whom all things were made, your Son Jesus Christ our Lord; who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, forever and ever. Amen.

- Book of Common Prayer, page 528

God Loves You. Pay Attention.

October 28, 2007

Proper 25, YR C

As I have sat watching the Red Sox play the Colorado Rockies over the last few days, I find myself tense, elated, stressed and disappointed over and over and over again. I am a Red Sox fan – something I became when I met my husband, Tom. For the first few years of our marriage, I watched and got to know the team and slowly got to know the agony of being a Sox fan. The Red Sox are infamous for being ahead in a game, and the loosing it in the end. They are known for making mistakes that take the win away from them. As I sat watching them last night, I realized that this pattern has something to teach us. The rollercoaster that is life – the ups and downs.

There are so many times in our lives when we are doing well, when we are feeling on top of things, everything is going well, we are hitting, we are scoring, as my son would say – we are cookin’ with gas! These times in our lives are joyous and life giving. They are good for our spirit and good for our soul. However, these times can also lull us into a false sense of security, they can lead us to not remember or not think about what we still need to work on and the things at which we are not doing well. When things are going well and we continually live in that space, we can begin to boast and sing our own praises. Now, don’t get me wrong – there are times in our life when we should boast and be proud of ourselves and love that moment. But that is not the whole picture.

In our Gospel lesson tonight, Jesus tells us yet another parable – this time about a Pharisee and tax collector. The Pharisee is someone that was respected in that culture. To be honest, this is the kind of person that most would want to have around. Someone who follows the rules, sometimes even goes beyond them – and in the parable, we hear him praying in an extremely boastful way. ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other people: thieves, rogues, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I give a tenth of all my income.’ I’m sure that I’ve prayed something similar to this – God, thank you for not making me like those people over there, and by the way have you noticed all of the wonderful things that I’ve done in your name lately? I think it’s easy for us to brag when things are going really well – when we seem to be doing things right.

However, we also hear from the tax collector, a person who was despised and hated in that culture. Someone you didn’t want around. He comes to the temple, with his head down, praying, ‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner!’ When I’m in that place in my life – I believe that my prayer goes something like, ‘God I don’t know what to do – help – I need you.’

Then Jesus says, ‘I tell you, this man (the tax collector) went down to his home justified rather than the other; for all who exalt themselves will be humbled, but all who humble themselves will be exalted.’ The tax collector is raised up as the person to emulate - not because he is down and out in society, but rather because he opens himself to God in a way that the Pharisee did not. The tax collector comes to the temple in a vulnerable, humble, self-effacing manor. He comes asking for God’s forgiveness and love.

A relationship with God is about opening yourself to God rather then boasting about what a good job you are doing following God. We are not to play God, but to follow God. It is in following God in a way that allows us to admit our short-comings, allows us to admit who we are and who we aren’t in such a truthful way that we are completely giving ourselves over to God and God’s love.

This is one of the reasons why I have us all say together the collect at the beginning of the service. Almighty God, to you all hearts are open, all desires known, and from you no secrets are hid: Cleanse the thoughts of our hearts by the inspiration of your Holy Spirit, that we may perfectly love you, and worthily magnify your holy Name; through Christ our Lord. God, you know our hearts, you know our desires, you know everything about us – therefore, cleanse us that we may love you absolutely and fully and come to know you in a new and different way.

This is a very different prayer from the one that the Pharisee was praying. The Pharisee did not ask God for anything – did not come to God in a relationship or to form a connection, but he came with an update – to tell God of all the wonderful things that he had done. He has not opened himself to God, but rather reports to God. On the other hand, the tax collector comes to God yearning to make contact, desiring a relationship and does that through being honest about himself and his life. In this moment, I believe that the tax collector is getting at a more fundamental question – one that he was probably not ready to ask. He says, ‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner!’ but his real question is, ‘God, do you love me, even though I have sinned?’

Do you love me? This is a fundamental question that each and every one of us are born with. Whether we know it or not, we ask this question of every relationship that we have with each other, with God and with ourselves. As humans, we are created to be in relationship, to be in connection, to be in communion with the world around us. Do you love me? Over time, this simple, yet difficult question gets transformed into questions like – What can I do to earn your love? and/or Am I worthy of being loved? When this question does get transformed then we begin to focus on earning God’s love, earning each other’s love, earning the love that we give to ourselves, we begin to think that we have to prove that we are worthy, that we are good enough, that we are doing all the right things so that we can be loved. However, at its core, the answer to this question cannot be earned. The Pharisee is so focused on earning that love and being worthy of that love, that he forgets to ask for it, that he forgets that is his real goal behind all of his actions and his lifestyle. The tax collector, in his vulnerable moment, stops to ask the question by admitting fully who he is, and asking for God’s love anyway.

One of my friends just told me a story about her son who is about 11 years old. They were in the church where she is a priest and her children were with her. At one point her son got up into the pulpit and was standing there looking out over the empty pews. She said to him, “What does mommy do when she is up there?” Now she didn’t know what to expect, but wanted to know what he thought. The boy stopped, pointed his finger out to the empty pews and said, “God loves you. Pay attention.”

Our Gospel lesson today is saying just that. No matter how broken, how lost, how low we feel – God loves you. No matter how joyful, how happy, how on the right track we are feeling – God loves you. It is not an easy thing for most of us to understand. I’m not sure that I fully understand it to tell you the truth. But I do know that I came closer to understanding it when I became a mom. No matter what Malcolm does, no matter how wonderful or rotten he is being in a given day, I love him. I love him so deeply that I cannot fully express my love.

In the same way, God loves me, God loves you in that same way – no strings attached. God loves us so deeply, so fully, that we can and are expected to come to God as we are and ask for that love, come to God in relationship, connection and in communion – knowing that we are fully loved just as we are. Then, in that love, in that relationship, we can become who God has called us to be. God loves you. Pay attention.

St. Francis

St. Francis Sunday
Oct. 7, 2007

I want to share with you the story of Francis as told by Robert Ellsberg in his book All Saints Daily Reflections on Saints Prophets, and Witnesses for our Time.

“St. Francis was born in the city of Assisi in 1182. He was one of the privileged young men who was attracted to adventure, frivolity and romance. He was about 20 years old when he donned knights armor and went off to war. Hew was captured, imprisoned for about a year and then ransomed. When he returned, he became seriously ill and his recovery was slow. These experiences provoked a spiritual crisis which was ultimately resolved in a series of dramatic episodes.

“Francis had always been a fastidious person with an abhorrence for paupers and the sick. As he was riding in the countryside one day he saw a loathsome leper. Dismounting, he shared his cloak with the leper and then, moved by some divine impulse, kissed the poor man’s ravaged face. From that encounter Francis’s life began to take shape around an utterly new agenda, contrary to the values of his family and the world.

“While praying before a crucifix in the dilapidated chapel of San Damiano, Francis heard a voice speak to him: “Francis, repair my church, which has fallen into disrepair, as you can see.” At first inclined to take this assignment literally, he set about physically restoring the ruined building. Only later did he understand his mission in a wider, more spiritual sense. His vocation was to recall the church to the radical simplicity of the gospel, to the spirit of poverty, and to the image of Christ in his poor.

“Francis gave away all that he had, including the clothes off of his back. The bishop hastily covered him with a peasant’s frock, which Francis marked with a cross. And so his transformation was complete.

“The spectacle which Francis presented – the rich boy who now camped out in the open air, serving the sick, working with his hands, and bearing witness to the gospel – attracted ridicule from the respectable citizens of Assisi. But gradually it held a subversive appeal. Before long a dozen other young men had joined him. They became the nucleus of his new order, the Friars Minor. The beautiful Claire of Assisi was soon to follow, slipping through the city walls in the middle of the night to join the waiting brothers.

“Francis left relatively few writings, but his life – literally the embodiment of his message – gave rise to numerous legends and parables. Many of them reflect the joy and freedom that became hallmarks of his spirituality, along with this constant tendency to turn the values of the world on their head.”

In today’s Gospel, Jesus also was turning the world on its head. “Come unto me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”

This might be one of the verses that Francis looked to often as it talks about turning things around and turning the upside down. The yoke of life is hard and our burdens are heavy, so what does this mean? Jesus wants us to turn our lives so that we can identify with the love of God which he experiences each day and once we can do that, our lives will look very different.

Francis did just that and his life radically changed. In today’s world, Saint Francis is one of the most “popular” of the saints. He may be seen in gardens around the world. His is enshrined on bird baths and bird feeders. “Lord, make me an instrument of your peace,” are words that we remember him by. He is the patron saint of animals, of animal lovers, of peace-makers and ecologists. He is remembered for his mercy to the poor and marginalized.

He marched to the beat of a different drummer. The rhythm of his walk continues to attract and fascinate people. He lived a radical life that makes some people nervous, and they would prefer to look at Francis from a perch in the corner of a garden, as a companion to our flowers and the world we love outside.

For me, Francis’ life story is an amazing challenge. He preaches the gospel not in words but in his actions and in his story. I think that is why people both love and fear him. Some want to pass him off as crazy – and let’s face it, he was a bit “out there”, but that doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t pay attention to him. We could call Jesus and all of his outrageous actions crazy as well.

When we really look at Francis’ life, he does not just speak the truth of the Gospel, but he lives it. In Francis’ life, we see the gospel made flesh – another incarnation story. Now, for us a call to serve like Francis does not have to mean a call to poverty or a call to leave behind our families. It is a call to live our lives differently, to turn things on their head – to live life as Micah charges us today, when he says “… and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?” Micah 6:8b

To do justice – the definition of justice as it is used here is the fairness or reasonableness, especially in the way people are treated or decisions are being made. So, in today’s world how can we do justice - how can we contribute to the just treatment of people, the environment and the gifts that God has given us?

To love kindness – how can we practice being sympathetic or compassionate? How do we help those around us, how do we bring the Gospel into every interaction with people, either people we know or don’t know? How can we do the random acts of kindness that will change the world? Where do we start?

To walk humbly with God – how do we modestly, respectfully, lovingly walk with God each step of the way? How do we bring others on that journey with us?

Marcel Proust wrote “The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new lands, but seeing with new eyes.” These are not new things that we are talking about today. Justice, kindness, humbleness on our walk with God are things that most if not all of us have thought of before. Today, Francis calls us to look at them in a whole new way. Since Francis is our patron saint here at the house, I’m hoping that we can take some time today, during dinner to look at ways that we can live out our call to justice, kindness and humbleness on our walk with God in innovative and creative ways. My hope is that we can all find ways to be instruments of peace in the world.

Where we place our Energy, Passion and Heart

Sept. 30, 2007
Proper 21, Yr C, rcl

At some point in all of our lives, we will have to face up to the truth about ourselves. We will have to be honest with ourselves about who we are and who we aren’t. We will have to look at our shortcomings and at our accomplishments. At some point, or more likely at many points along our long journey of life, we will have to look at ourselves, see who we are and see who we want to become.

In today’s parable, Jesus is giving us such a moment – a moment of honesty. In the ancient world, a favorite way of getting people to look at who they were and who they weren’t was to reflect with them what it would be like when they died. Would they go to hell? Would they go to heaven? How would their accomplishments and failures be judged?

Jesus is telling this parable to the Pharisees who loved their money. They believed that money or wealth was a sign of God’s favor toward you, it was a sign of God’s blessing and that if you were poor and without money, it was a sign of God’s displeasure with you. What Jesus is doing today in the Gospel is flipping that on its head and letting people know that money is not the ticket into heaven, and being poor is not the ticket into heaven either. This parable is really about values. Yes, you can be wealthy and enjoy God’s love, blessings and gifts – we can see that in the stories of Abraham and Sarah, David and Solomon. This is not a parable about money, but about who you love and where your energy, where your heart lies. It is about what role money plays in our lives. If you are constantly thinking about money – whether you are rich or poor, money is running your life, money is where your heart and your energy lie. The rich man in the parable is not an overtly evil man, but he is so preoccupied with money that he does not have the energy or the desire to care for others as he has cared for himself. It is only after the fact that he sees that he has been the servant of money and not the servant of God.

This parable is not about going to hell and what happens when you get there, but it is more about our lives, how we live them and where we place our energy, passion and heart. I was recently watching a show about what people who have won millions in the lottery do with their money. There were some who, of course, bought the extravagant houses, cars, and simply spent the rest of their life on vacation. Then there were those who chose a different route. One family put away enough money for what they would need in the future and then with the rest – which was about 4-5 million dollars – established a foundation and support network for kids who have cancer. It supports families during their crisis and helps with their financial needs along the way. Another young man who won, bought a modest house and then decided to go back to school to study and make himself a better person for the world. He used some of his money to help the people around him improve their lives, sharing his wealth. Today’s Gospel gives us a parable about sharing in God’s concern for the poor and reminding us that we need to see Lazarus in our midst.

It is not only about material wealth, but about all kinds of wealth – material, emotional, spiritual, intellectual. What do we do with what we have? Do we hoard it like the rich man? When we keep our material, emotional, spiritual and intellectual wealth to ourselves, it won’t do us or anyone else any good. However, if we share, give away, and spread our wealth, we are able to further the kingdom of God.

I am hoping this Fall that we, as a community, can truly focus on spreading God’s love, on sharing the material, emotional, spiritual, and intellectual wealth that we have. My hope is that we, as a community of committed individuals, can make our contribution to making the Millennium Development Goals a reality. The eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) – which range from halving extreme poverty to halting the spread of HIV/AIDS and providing universal primary education, all by the target date of 2015 – form a blueprint agreed to by all the world’s countries and all the world’s leading development institutions. They have galvanized unprecedented efforts to meet the needs of the world’s poorest. We are being called to make our contribution. How can we do that? I want to explore that as a community and figure out ways that we can work together to make these goals our goals.

On your way in, you got a pamphlet about the Millenium Development Goals. I’d like for you to keep that and bring it to dinner where we can talk more about ways that we can spread our wealth – whatever kind of wealth that is and make a difference in our world.

One way that we can begin to make a dent in our contribution to the world is to sign up for the CROP Walk that is only two weeks away. Giving a brief part of your day can change the life of those who are hungry and those who do not have enough food. We, as a community, raised almost $1000 last year and this year, I would like to try to double that. It’s easy. Go online, register, and then send emails to all of the people you know asking them to sponsor you for the walk. This not only raises money, but raises the awareness of those around us to the issues of world hunger and that there are very real, very immediate things that we can do to help. There is more info on the walk that you will get when you leave, so, please, do your part, come walk with us and raise money to help fight hunger.

What else can we do? That is up to us.

For the next few minutes, I’m going to ask you to take the piece of paper that was in your pew. Write down ways that you, that we, that your communities can share our material, emotional, spiritual, and intellectual wealth. When you are done, please come forward and place it in the basket and we will offer it up to God as our way of committing ourselves to not be like the rich man who hoarded what he has, but to be a person who shares our wealth, a person who has concern for all of God’s children and a person who realizes that it is up to us to change the world around us and raise people’s awareness of these issues. In the Gospel, the man asks if he can go back to warn his brothers – our calling, as the people of God, is to be a prophet and to spread the word now, to get involved now, and to get out there and share. It is a basic concept that our parents began teaching us at an early age and there is no reason to forget that or to discard it simply because we are older.
How can we share what God has given us?

Ted plays music as the students write.
Bless the offerings at the beginning of communion.

Transformation

Proper 18, Yr C, rcl
Sept. 9, 2007

As much as I love summer break and getting to do different things that what I normally do during the year, I am truly glad to have you back and to be back. Probably like many of you, summer consisted of travel for work and for play and for seeing family (which is a mixture of work and play). At the beginning of the summer, I got to attend the National Chaplain’s Conference out in Seattle, Washington. I signed up and went because I wanted to meet other chaplains and get to know some of the people who were doing the same thing that I am and see what they are doing in their ministries. However, I got a whole lot more out of the conference than just meeting people. Sitting in a room with hundreds of other people who all do work similar to mine, I realized that I was not the only one in the room that both loved what I do and at times struggled with what I do. I remembered that I am not a minister, that I do not follow Jesus and that I do not feel called to work with youth and young adults because it is easy. I do this work, I live this life because it is what I am called to do. I’m not talking about being a priest, because that’s only a part of it, I’m talking about being a Christian. I’m talking about following God’s will and trying to remain faithful each and every day no matter where I am or what I’m doing.

In our Psalm today, we hear the words, “O Lord, you have searched me and known me. You know when I sit down and when I rise up; you discern my thoughts from far away. You search out my path and my lying down, and are acquainted with all my ways. Even before a word is on my tongue, O Lord, you know it completely.” It continues on, describing how the Lord knows us, even if we try to hide, the Lord is there. At times in my life, I have read this and felt rather suffocated or tied down knowing that there is not any moment in my life when I am not alone. God knows me, knows my thoughts, knows me so completely that I cannot hide. Then, I remember that yes, God knows everything about me AND God still loves me, God still seeks me out, God still wants me around, imperfections and all. No matter how screwed up we can get in our lives, God still wants us to be faithful followers and disciples.

We hear Jesus go on a rant today in the Gospel, which at first seems so counterintuitive to all the other things that we hear Jesus say – Love your neighbor, Love yourself, be kind, etc. But Jesus, at this point in his ministry is surrounded by people who are following him and are not thinking about what it means to truly follow him and what it means to live the new kind of life that he is asking them to live. Jesus is getting down to business and telling those around him, that unless they are ready to detach themselves completely from anything and everything that holds them back, either physically or emotionally, then they cannot be his disciple. Jesus tells them that they must give up their family, that they must hate their family, in order to be his disciple. Rather harsh words, and Jesus knew what he was saying. In that society, family was your identity. Family defined who you were or weren’t, it defined who you could marry, it defined how rich or poor you were. Family had great power in that society. Jesus is trying to let them know that in no uncertain terms, they have to give up some of the things in our life that get in the way of truly following God.

This is not just a test to see if you’ll do it – it’s not a hazing ritual to see how far you’ll go – this is about transformation. To transform is to undergo an extreme change, to shift into a new way of being. Transformation, the true kind of change that Jesus is calling for in today’s Gospel is a process of opening yourself to the new and putting the old away. It is about giving up so that you can receive. It is about leaving things behind, both good and bad things that get in the way, in order to find your direction, in order to journey without being held back.

When you come to college, when you leave your family at home and travel off to go to college, you are going through a transformation, whether you know it or not. The moment that you leave your home and go to your first class, attend your first activity, drink your first cup of coffee in your own room or apartment, your transformation begins. You have left family behind, you have left friends behind, and you have left countless numbers of other things behind as well. You left those things behind so that you can do something new, so that you can find a new direction in your life, so that you can pursue dreams and find your own journey.

At first this transformation can be exciting and exhilarating - the newness, the freedom, the differentness of it all. Then, the road can get a bit bumpy because you don’t have your family to fall back on, or because your old friends aren’t there to go talk to if you need them. Transformation is not easy, there will be bumps along the way, there will be joys along the way. But the outcome – what you get on the other side of the hard times and see the rewards along the way, it all makes your transformation worth while.

The good news also is that we don’t need to do our transformation alone. We don’t need to feel like we are the only ones in the world having these ups and downs, that we are the only ones who have ever wished that we could go back, or go forward in order to get through it and done. In times of transformation, like the ones that you are experiencing and like the ones that the disciples experienced when they left everything behind, you will find new teachers and mentors, new friends and new communities, you will find others who will walk with you and be with you no matter what. The disciples had each other. The first followers of Jesus had each other. My hope is that here at St. Francis House, that we can be a community for each other to grow, transform, journey, and experience our ups and downs together. My hope is that we can be a community in which we know that we are loved, held in prayer, joined together by God’s love and walk together as we undergo these important transformations ahead of us.

As you begin and continue your studies, you are on a path of learning and discovery that will lead you to find yourself and your path in life. You may be good at math, writing, sharing, teaching. Whatever it is that you find that you are good at and enjoy doing – that is your calling. A calling is when your God given skills and joys meet the needs of the world around you. Each of you are called to do something, teach, design, create, write – whatever it might be, you have a calling – something that is yours that you are to give the world. This summer, as I sat in that room with the hundreds of other chaplains, I realized once again that I do what I do because it is what God calls me to each day. God calls each of us to be faithful, God calls each of us to journey through our transformations, and God calls each of us to serve one another and in turn to serve God no matter where we are or what we are doing.

In a few moments, we will pray and ask God’s blessing on our studies, on our time together and on our service to the world around us. My hope is that you will take this prayer, this blessing with you and know that you are loved by God, that you have a community to journey with on your transformation and that God is here to guide you as you discover and live into your calling each and every day.