Tag Archives: Holy Spirit

Homily – Luke 1.39-57, Romans 12.9-16b, Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary, May 30, 2013

05 Wednesday Jun 2013

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Today we celebrate the Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary.  This is the story where Mary goes to visit her cousin Elizabeth, who is pregnant with John the Baptist.  I have always loved this story in Scripture.  There is something so intimate, sacred, and profound about this moment.  In the womb, babies are declaring the messiahship of Jesus; Elizabeth utters words that will be recited over and over again in the “Hail Mary”; Mary sings a song that will be sung in thousands of ways by thousands of churches over thousands of years.  But all of this happens in the most unlikely place – between two women, who we know had little power; by one woman who is pregnant and unwed; and by another who is too old to be having children.  In these unlikely characters, who have little to no power in their world, something revolutionary is taking place – something society would deem only worthy of kings and the powerful.

I have often wondered how much we miss about God because we look in the wrong places.  When we are seeking truth and intimacy with God, we are more likely to consult scholars or religious leaders.  We are so accustomed to experiencing God in particular ways and places that we can miss God speaking to us, or the Holy Spirit circling around us.  We are quick to label a kicking child in the womb as just a kicking child – not the Spirit speaking truth.

To encourage us to live in ways that access God in unexpected ways, we get Paul’s words to the Romans: outdo one another in showing honor, serve the Lord, contribute to the needs of the saints, extend hospitality to strangers, bless those who persecute you, associate with the lowly.  Paul knows that we experience God most in encounters with others, especially those not valued by society or even us.

Knowing what we know about how God works – revealing truth in unexpected ways and through unexpected persons – our invitation today is to be a people actively seeking God in those places.  We will have to risk scary encounters, we will have to step out of comfort zones, and we will have to always be attentive.  Because when we do, the promise of God’s revelation is an awesome ride.  Amen.

Sermon – John 16.12-15, TS, YC, May 26, 2013

29 Wednesday May 2013

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When I was in seminary, I audited a class entitled, “Living Biblically:  Money, Sex, Power, Violence, and The Meaning of Life.”  The title alone made me want to take the class.  The class spent the quarter studying Jesus’ words and actions for some clues.  Of course, I did not leave the class with all the answers.  But the one thing that stuck with me from the class was this:  when looking for answers to “What would Jesus do?” you have to look at not only what Jesus says, but also what he does.  That may sound simple and obvious enough, but what we slowly began to realize is that what Jesus says and what Jesus does are often opposites.  So, if you look at what Jesus says, you find some pretty harsh words about how to live life and who is to be judged.  But if you look at what Jesus does, you find him living in a much more permissive and forgiving way.  We came to see Jesus as one with high standards and a low threshold for forgiveness and grace.  Of course, that did not mean we got all of our answers to our 21st Century questions about money, sex, power, violence, and the meaning of life, let alone answers to our questions about science, technology, and our modern world.

That is why I find our gospel lesson today so comforting.  Our lesson from John today is part of Jesus’ farewell speech with his disciples – his last words during that Last Supper.  You can imagine the hushed room, the feeling of something ominous approaching, the questions by the disciples, and the ever-patient Jesus trying to explain all the things they need to know.  Finally, Jesus utters these words today, “I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now.”  You can almost hear the frustration in his voice, as if he is saying, “I wish I could explain everything to you now fully, but I just can’t.”  In the midst of the weight of such a conversation, Jesus promises something better than they could possibly imagine:  the Holy Spirit.  Jesus explains that Holy Spirit will come and will continue to guide the disciples.  All of the things that they cannot understand now, all of the things Jesus cannot say, will be revealed to them through the Holy Spirit in the years to come.  Though Jesus will be physically absent from them, Jesus will be continually present with them through the Holy Spirit, revealing truth and perhaps even revealing what Jesus would do.

I think why I find this passage so comforting is not simply because we are promised the presence of God with us.  What I find comforting about this passage is that truth is not locked away in some book or some person from two thousand years ago.  Truth is accessible here and now through the Holy Spirit.  We call our scriptures the Living Word because the Holy Spirit enlivens the Word and speaks truth to us, even today.  This is also why we still have the community of faith– because the Holy Spirit creates for us fresh encounters with the revelation of Jesus.[i]  Jesus knew that our changing circumstances would bring new questions and challenges that would require us to think afresh, and Jesus promises the Holy Spirit will get us through.

On this Trinity Sunday, I am grateful that we get this passage.  Although we just had Pentecost, the Church is not always great about talking about the Holy Spirit.  Sure, we regularly say the Trinitarian combination “Father, Son, and Holy Spirit,” liturgically, but rarely do we give the Holy Spirit the credit the Holy Spirit is due.  I think the challenge is that we fear the Holy Spirit a little too much.  When we hear talk of the Holy Spirit, we are afraid someone is going to start acting strangely and then claim they were slain in the Spirit.  We are afraid that “the movement of the Holy Spirit” is just code for the movement that a particular person or group wants.  We are afraid our worship will become some seventies, hippie version of God to whom we cannot relate.  I know we are afraid or at least uncomfortable because I cannot remember the last Episcopalian I know, including myself, who began a prayer addressing the Holy Spirit as opposed to God or Jesus.

But this is how I know that the Holy Spirit is still present among us, guiding us to all truth.  One of the primary areas I see the movement of the Holy Spirit is in the practice of preaching.  I always say that somewhere between the preacher and the congregation is the Holy Spirit.  Preaching does not work without the Holy Spirit.  I cannot tell you the number of times I have sat down after preaching a sermon and thought that the sermon was probably the worst one I have ever preached.  But without fail, the sermons I think are the worst often receive positive feedback.  I also cannot tell you the number of times I have gotten into the pulpit with a specific message in mind, only to have a parishioner speak to me later about how something I said was so meaningful to them – only I swear I never said what they think I said.  Somehow the Holy Spirit helps the preacher to glean truth, and the Holy Spirit helps the congregation to glean truth.  Those truths may not be the same truths, but they are truths that lead us closer to God – which is what Jesus promises in our gospel lesson anyway.

Now, I do not mean to insinuate that this revelation only comes through preaching.  Revelation comes throughout our lives together.  The revelation of the Holy Spirit comes in that friend, coworker, or schoolmate who says something so profound that their words stick with you for weeks, and leads you into deeper prayer.  The revelation of the Holy Spirit comes in Bible Study or in an outreach activity when some experience leaves you with a profound sense of the holy in your life.  The revelation of the Holy Spirit comes in the mouths of our children, who say the most sacred and surprising things that open up new truth in unexpected ways.

This is why we dedicate an entire Sunday to celebrating the Trinity.  Without the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit, we would not experience our spiritual journey in the same way.  Perhaps we are not truly comfortable labeling the Holy Spirit in our lives or praying to the Holy Spirit, but that does not mean that the Holy Spirit is not ever present in our journey – in fact, making that journey possible in the first place.  We take today to celebrate the mysterious nature of all three persons who make up the one substance of the Trinity[ii] because only through this relational nature of the Trinity is our faith enlivened and is truth revealed.  So today, your invitation is to figure out your invitation.  Perhaps your invitation is to pray with a person of the Trinity that you have been avoiding for a while.  Perhaps your invitation is to listen for the ways that the Holy Spirit is revealing truth to you.  Or perhaps your invitation is to see the movement of the Holy Spirit through others this week.  On this Trinity Sunday, there is no way of avoiding invitation.  The question is which invitation is for you?  Amen.

[i] Eugene C. Bay, “Pastoral Perspective,” Feasting on the Word, Yr. C, Vol. 3 (Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 2010), 46.

[ii] Philip Turner, “Theological Perspective,” Feasting on the Word, Yr. C, Vol. 3 (Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 2010), 44.

Sermon – Acts 16.9-15, E6, YC, May 5, 2013

10 Friday May 2013

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This Eastertide, I have been thinking a lot about evangelism.  The bishop asked us to have a conversation about our mission and evangelism efforts here in Plainview during Eastertide.  The Vestry just started reading a book about evangelism as a spiritual discipline.  And our Vestry retreat in April was about the tangible practices of evangelism we could employ.  For a topic that makes most Episcopalians very uncomfortable, evangelism seems to be everywhere I turn.  But as I was thinking about the theme of evangelism this Eastertide, I realized that the theme’s prominence makes quite a bit of sense.  Eastertide is sort of the “so what?” of the resurrection.  Throughout Eastertide, we are hearing the stories of the disciples’ reaction to the resurrection, and what life was like after this pivotal moment.  What better time to think about evangelism than while the disciples are doing just that – taking the Good News of Jesus’ resurrection and sharing that Good News with others.

What I appreciate then about our lesson from Acts today is that the practice of evangelism in biblical times was not exactly precise.  You would think that the book of Acts would tell the story of how after Jesus’ death the disciples knew exactly how to spread the Good News.  You would think after all those years with Jesus, the disciples had clear instructions for moving forward, and were able to draw up a structured evangelism plan.  But our stories from Acts this year have included nothing of the sort.  So far we have heard stories of a brutal persecutor of Christians being dramatically converted, of Peter realizing that Gentiles should also be included in the Christian community, and today we hear of this foreign woman of power coming to Christ.  I am pretty sure if the disciples sat down and planned their target audience for the Good News, Paul, Cornelius, and Lydia would not have been on their list.  And yet, this is the story of evangelism we hear during Eastertide: a story of unlikely and unexpected people hearing and responding to the word of God.

On the surface, this sounds like good news to us.  These stories of conversion give a sense of confidence that no matter with whom we share the story of Jesus, they will be converted.  But looking at the end of the story glosses over the actual experiences of those on the evangelism journey.  If you remember, when Paul is converted, and his eyes are scaled over, the Christian who goes to talk with him is scared to death.  God tells him to go to Paul, but that is little assurance when that instruction means walking into the lair of a nasty murderer of Christians.  And for Peter, his interaction with Cornelius means that he must surrender all that has been familiar to him – the necessity of circumcision and all that he has known as being central markers of faithfulness – and let go of that familiarity.  Even with this interaction between Paul and Lydia today, Paul must take on a long journey based on a few words in a dream, only to find not a Macedonian man who is asking for help, but a foreign woman.[i]

These stories during Eastertide only highlight our own anxieties about evangelism.  As modern Christians, we have a hard enough time sharing the Good News with our friends and family.  Religion is one of those primary topics to avoid at dinner parties.  At the slightest hint of discomfort from someone else, we immediately drop the topic, not wanting to drive away a friend or colleague.  We do not want to become known as some Jesus freak who everyone avoids at parties.  Quite frankly, there are even times when we feel uncomfortable even talking about our faith within Church.  How in the world could we ever then expect ourselves to be able to talk to those who are hostile, unchurched, or strangers to us?

Before I went to seminary, I participated in a group at my parish called EFM – Education for Ministry.  The program was a four-year program where a small group of people gathered and each year covered a different topic – Old Testament, New Testament, Church History, and Theology.  During one of the scripture years, I was traveling by plane alone and I was sorely behind in my scripture reading.  I carried a large study bible with me, and that trip I found that I had more interesting conversation than you could ever imagine.  I had a slightly uncomfortable conversation with a young evangelical male who started telling me about his conservative views on scripture.  I had a businessman ask me if I was a minister or theology student.  When I told him no, he seemed bewildered as to why I would be reading the Bible, and kept eyeing me suspiciously the rest of that flight.  I had a middle-aged woman start telling me about her church and Bible Studies she had enjoyed.  And of course, there were tons of people who just stared at me warily trying to figure out what my angle was.  You would think the lesson from my trip would be, “Take a Bible with you, and see what evangelism opportunities it creates.”  But to be honest, I found myself wanting to never carry a Bible with me again in an airport.

I think why we get so uncomfortable about evangelism is we imagine evangelism as knocking on the doors of strangers, presenting some uncomfortable script, and then having doors slammed in our faces.  But our lesson from Acts today shows us a different model.  Our lesson from Acts tells us is that yes, evangelism will entail going places that may be uncomfortable or interacting with people you would not expect.  Paul goes on a long journey expecting to meet a man and gets something quite different.  Lydia goes seeking a place to pray with her familiar girlfriends and hears something entirely new.  But evangelism is not just about the evangelizer and the evangelizee.  The other major actor is the Holy Spirit.  The text tells us that the Lord opened Lydia’s heart to listen eagerly to Paul.  Evangelism is the intersection between human faithfulness and divine guidance.  “Paul would not have been guided to this place at this moment, were he not first of all at God’s disposal, open to being guided, sensitively attuned to being steered in one direction and away from all others.  Lydia would not have arrived at this place or time, had she not first of all been a worshiper of God, a seeker already on her way.  Peter does his part and Lydia hers, but it is God who guides all things and works in and through all things, not just for good but for what would otherwise be impossible.”[ii]

What is so liberating about this understanding of evangelism is that even if we thought we had to or could do evangelism on our own, we realize today that our work of evangelism only happens with God.  The book our Vestry is reading says that “Evangelism is a spiritual practice of expressing gratitude for God’s goodness and grace.”[iii]  That does not sound so bad, does it?  A spiritual practice of expressing gratitude for God’s goodness and grace.  He does not define evangelism as saving souls or self-righteously driving away your friends.  He says that evangelism is about expressing gratitude for God’s goodness and grace.  Knowing that definition of evangelism and knowing from scripture that evangelism happens as a partnership between our faithfulness and God’s guidance makes the whole enterprise seem a lot less scary.

I want you to take a moment to think about the best vacation you ever had.  Think about all the reasons why the vacation was wonderful and why you enjoyed yourself.  Think about the happiness and peace that the vacation brought you and the warm smile that just recalling the trip brings to your face.  Imagine the enthusiasm in your voice as you share that story with someone else and the great conversation your sharing might evoke.  Now, take a moment to imagine the same experience with a conversation about your faith journey.  Think about the great joy you have had in your relationship with God.  Think about the happiness and peace you have at times found in God.  And now think about the enthusiasm in your voice as you share that story with someone else and the incredible conversation your sharing might evoke.  That is all that happens between Paul and Lydia.  That is all that God invites you to do today.  Because the Holy Spirit will take care of rest.  Amen.

[ii] Ronald Cole-Turner, “Theological Perspective,” Feasting on the Word, Yr. C, Vol. 2 (Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 2009), 476

[iii] David Gortner, Transforming Evangelism (New York: Church Publishing, 2008), 29.

Homily – Luke 12.4-12, Bishop Alphege, April 18, 2013

01 Wednesday May 2013

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I have been thinking about the Boston Marathon a lot this week.  The more stories I hear, the worse it gets.  The story of the 8 year old who died has captured my attention the most – mostly because I cannot imagine losing a child, having a daughter lose a limb, and having a seriously injured spouse all at once.  For many of us, the tendency might be to shut down:  if it is not safe for us at even the Boston Marathon, an occasion of great joy and triumph, then maybe it isn’t safe anywhere.  Why risk the danger?  We tend to close ourselves off, moving into protection mode, even if only emotionally – and in so doing, cut off others as well.

Archbishop Alphege, who we celebrate today, could have done the same.  In the late 900s, he was a monk and abbot.  He could have stayed in that life, protected and cut off from others.  That would have been a respectable life.  And later, when he became bishop, he could have hidden from the Scandinavian invaders, hoping to save his own life or the lives of his parishioners and priests.

But instead burrowing into a hole, Alphege went out into the world.  He brought the Norse King to King Aethelred to make peace.  And when he was captured by the Danes in 1011, he refused to allow a ransom to be paid for him, knowing the financial burden it would put on his people.  He was brutally murdered seven months later.

Our gospel lesson today encourages this kind of boldness.  “Do not fear those who kill the body, and after that can do nothing more.”  Jesus knows our tendency to fear the wrong things.  We get so attached to what we know and the life we experience that we can become paralyzed with fear or even fight vigilantly to protect that life.  But Jesus knows there is much more to life than this earthly life.

This is our invitation today: a life of boldness.  Such a life will cost us.  But Jesus promises us the Holy Spirit will be with us at the very moment we need the Holy Spirit.  Our rewards for such boldness will be better than we can imagine!  Amen.

Save me a seat…

06 Wednesday Feb 2013

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empty pewsYesterday I was reminded of a practice I picked up in seminary.  At VTS, we were required to attend chapel and daily lunch together.  Like any good Episcopalians, seminarians and faculty all had their “regular seats” in chapel.  And like any insecure adolescent, we often had a similar worry at lunch – wanting to make sure we had someone (preferably someone we liked) to sit with at lunch.

With that in mind, by my senior year, I developed a practice that brought much joy to my seminary life.  When I went to chapel, instead of bee-lining my way to a familiar seat with a friend, I would pick a pew and sit by myself.  I was always pleasantly surprised with the result.  Sometimes I ended up sitting alone the entire service – a practice that allowed me to become much more focused on my prayers.  Sometimes the most wonderful friends snuck into the seat beside me just as the service was starting.  Their presence brightened my day and lifted my joyful heart in worship.  And sometimes someone I was not as excited to see would sit beside me.  Inevitably though, we would end up chatting after the service and something about that conversation softened my heart into a much more Christ-like way of loving all my neighbors.

The same was true at lunch.  If all the tables were full, instead of squeezing in one more seat, I would pick an empty table and sit down.  This was the biggest gamble because up to seven people could join you.  Again, sometimes the closest of friends and professors would join me, leading to much laughter and enjoyment; sometimes an odd conglomeration of individuals would join me, leading to intriguing conversations; and sometimes total strangers or even those who I was not so fond of would join me, but the interactions were no less rich, and always opened me up to something new.

So yesterday, at our Diocesan clergy day, I sat in a row by myself.  To be fair, I did sit behind a set of clergy I really like, but I did decline their invitation to squeeze in, just so that I could enjoy my old seminary practice.  And the experience did not disappoint.  I enjoyed a great pew of colleagues with some stimulating conversation after worship.

Driving home, I began to wonder where we make room in our everyday lives.  Where do we leave space for others to join us?  Certainly, this applies to our church pew and coffee hour sitting behaviors, but the question is bigger than that.  Where do I make room for holy interaction with others, talking about my faith, listening to their sacred story?  How do I make room for the movement of the Holy Spirit to act in the open space I create?  This pattern of behavior is not easy or even comfortable.  Making room for others takes intentionality, vulnerability, and a willingness to sit alone until someone else arrives.  I invite you today to ponder where you are leaving space in your life, and how God is already using that space for good.

Full…

30 Wednesday Jan 2013

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I am having one of those “full” weeks at church this week.  Full weeks can be stressful and overwhelming, but they can also be wonderfully full of grace and blessing.  So far, this week has been the latter.  It started on Sunday.  We had our usual worship services, and both were filled with real energy and life.  Between the services, I trained a new lector – not only reminding me of the blessing of this particular ministry, but also reminding me of the new members here at St. Margaret’s that becoming incorporated into our family.  After the services, I said a few quick hellos at Coffee Hour, and then was off to a Worship Committee Meeting.  I am so grateful for the mirror that this committee provides, helping me to assess what is working and what needs work.  We added two younger members to the committee and their contributions were especially meaningful.  The committee is full of the Spirit and deeply thoughtful about our worship.  Finally, later that night I came back to church for Confirmation Class.  Our six teens and two mentors are an incredible group, with some thought-provoking questions (topics included hell, sin, and judgment, just to name a few).  I left wishing we had more time to keep feeding our young adults.

The fullness continues this week.  Last night, our Cemetery Committee met.  These passionate parishioners and staff continue to amaze me with their thoughtfulness and care.  Their ministry is a vital part of work here in Plainview.  Tonight, I meet with our Study, Sup, and Serve group, who is discussing Nickel and Dimed, by Barbara Ehrenreich.  So far, our discussions have been inspiring, challenging, and thought-provoking.  I cannot wait to see what the group does tonight.  Tomorrow, I meet with our hard-working Wardens, who always find a way to mix business with humor.  They are a blessing to me in my ministry here, and our meetings are truly a joy.  Finally, we will round out the week with our next installment of “Movies with Margaret.”  This week we are watching Saved, a dark, provocative comedy about a high school student at a Christian High School who accidently gets pregnant and how the pregnancy affects her relationships and faith.  I imagine we will all wince from time to time, but also see a lot hope and encouragement.

So, yes, a full week.  Of course, add in a special trip to the train station with my lovely husband today (his car is getting some regular maintenance), and a “treat” at a favorite doughnut shop today with my awesome daughter, and this week is truly full.  Keeping this kind of pace would not be a good a long-term plan.  Rest is a God-given gift too.  But I am grateful that this week feels full in a grace-full way, not in a stressed-out, stretched-thin kind of way.  I can only attribute that to the Holy Spirit surrounding me on every side and carrying me through this week with a sense of joy instead of burden.  Thank you God for the joyful, crazy, full life you have given me this week!  Help me to hold onto that joyful perspective in the coming weeks!

Making plans…

16 Wednesday Jan 2013

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Holy SpiritDuring this program year, we have created a partnership between our formation and mission efforts.  Focused on the issue of hunger, our adults and children not only have been learning about the causes and experience of hunger, we also have been working to serve the hungry in our community.  The idea is that both our learning and our service would be richer if we had both in mind simultaneously.  In other words, as we are learning about hunger, or considering Christ’s call to feed the hungry, we might remember a specific person we had met, or the stories we had heard while at the local feeding ministry.  Or, while making peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for our low-income earning neighbors, we might remember the book we read about how hard making ends meet on minimum wage is.

What I have loved about this partnership is the way that God is working in spite of us.  For example, this Epiphany, we are reading a book called Nickel and Dimed by Barbara Ehrenreich.  I had the sessions planned out before Christmas – five reading sessions followed by a work or learning day at our local food pantry where we regularly make donations.  Then, at the beginning of January, we received word that another of our regular ministries, making sandwiches for a local feeding program, had been scheduled in the middle of one of our classes, unbeknownst to us.  We all panicked for a moment – I did not want to lose students, and the Outreach coordinators did not want to lose sandwich-makers.  But then it occurred to us – why couldn’t we do both?  If we were supposed to be integrating our service and learning, what better way than to make sandwiches for an hour, and then sit to discuss the challenges facing the kinds of people who would be eating our sandwiches?

What often feels like a conflict or inconvenience is instead the movement of the Holy Spirit.  The Holy Spirit is gracing us with an abundance of opportunities to affect change – change in others, change in the world, and change in ourselves.  We just need to listen.

This spring we are working on forming a new ministry, and I am ever aware of the need for guidance from the Holy Spirit.  I have ideas.  Many of our parishioners have ideas.  But what might be critical is for us to also hear what the Holy Spirit is doing among us – which might be different (and ultimately better) than anything we could have imagined on our own.  Lord, keep us open to the movement of your Spirit.