Posts Tagged ‘trust’
Inevitable Little Sins – Br. Lain Wilson
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Br. Lain Wilson
Today’s Gospel lesson at first glance seems straightforward: you get what you give, Scripture’s guidance is clear, therefore you should change your ways. What more do you need? I for sure don’t feel myself to be living a life like the rich man, so I guess I’m doing okay?
But when I look at the shape of my life, when I examine my own actions and inactions, my thoughts and feelings and attitudes and prejudices, I find myself, inevitably and endlessly, falling short of the mark. I may not be the rich man lording my wealth and status over poor Lazarus, but I’m not innocent. Read More
God’s Purpose for Us is Joy – Br. Keith Nelson
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The only shepherd I have ever met outside the pages of Scripture is a Navajo elder with a heart on fire for Jesus. I’ll call him Edward.
At the end of six weeks of crosscultural ministry with Navajo Episcopalians last summer, my supervisor invited me to spend several days helping Edward tend the sheep on her family sheep-camp. I spent time in a hogan, a traditional, eight-sided, dirt-floor dwelling reserved for ceremonies. In the sweltering heat of midday and early afternoon, I sat in silence, listened to the creatures around me, prayed, and wrote about what I had learned. The rest of the time, I followed Edward around. I siphoned water for the sheep from a huge tank into long metal troughs twice a day. I accompanied Edward in his ancient Chevy pickup along a circuit of bumpy dirt trails, watching the sheep with binoculars and listening to Dolly Parton on cassette tape. At the hottest times of the day Edward would materialize in my doorway with an orange popsicle, or an ice-cold bottle of water.
And when it grew dark, Edward brought light.
I remember most vividly my first night there. I had prayed Evening Prayer at the top of a ridge overlooking a dry creekbed, and I lingered as the stars came out, followed by swooping owls and bats.
As I made my way back to the camp, I was astonished to see the ramshackle outbuildings and sheep corrals had been utterly transformed: thousands of solar-powered Christmas lights and garden lanterns, invisible by day, now laced the deepening darkness. They were the only lights for miles, as if the stars above each had a twin here below, blinking and dancing amid the chicken-wire fencing, the rusty rain barrels, and the sleeping sheep. Read More
The Ultimate Worth of Life – Br. Curtis Almquist
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Br. Curtis Almquist
In the calendar of the church we remember today a medieval princess named Elizabeth, born in year 1207 into immeasurable privilege as the daughter of the King of Hungary. At age 14 she happily wed a German nobleman, Ludwig. Meanwhile the poor surrounded her on every side, especially because of a famine and epidemic that had ravaged the population in 1226. Elizabeth was smitten by the endless needs. With her husband’s blessing, she built a hospital, then gave away her dowry, crown, jewels, and royal attire all for the relief of the poor and sick.
The following year her husband died and her in-laws descended, accusing Elizabeth of squandering the royal purse on the vagrants of the land. There was a palace coup and she was put out. The poverty which had been her passion to alleviate now became hers to bear. She became a Franciscan tertiary. In the succeeding years her dwelling places varied, sometimes with charitable relatives, and sometimes in a pigsty, literally. Elizabeth lived in poverty, her life a self-offering. She was deeply loved and revered. She died at age 24 on this day in 1231, and was canonized four years later. Her name, Saint Elizabeth, has been remembered through the centuries for her gifts of healing, and help, and hope, especially for the poor and the infirm.
We hear in the gospel lesson appointed for today, “Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.” Our ultimate treasure, the end for which we have been given the gift of life, is in God. And therefore everything in life – every relationship, every distinction or responsibility, every ability, every trinket or property to which we have been entrusted – are not our possessions. They are temporary means to realize our end, which is “to know God, and to love God, and to serve God.”[i]
This is ultimately the distinction between an idol and an icon. An idol is some thing to which we cling and to which we may give ultimate worth, which is called “worship.”[ii] It can be anything: our youthfulness, our good name or good looks, our title, our privilege, our chest of money. An idol is some thing we fix on, clutch at, possess, or are possessed by. Whereas an icon is like a window through which to experience something More, something larger that belongs to God. It makes a world of difference to see life as “iconic” (like an icon), that is a window through we experience the most amazing people and other gifts of creation which come from God as channels to and from God. All that we are and all that we have are not our possessions but rather are gifts from God and for God. Life is not a possession; life is an invitation, a recurring invitation. Life is like an icon, a window to and from God.
Emulating Saint Elizabeth, two practices are helpful for living life freely and faithfully:
- At various points in life, it is helpful to intentionally dispossess ourselves of what we may be clinging to – what may take up inordinate space in our treasure chest, or in our closet, or in our hands – to make space for deeper things, the beginning and end for which we have been created, which is in God.[iii] Dispossess things.
- And secondly, to identify a need or needs that seizes your own heart. Is it children in need, or those without a home or a homeland, or the imprisoned, or those who are discriminated against?[iv] There are endless needs, as you well know. But what particularly seizes your heart’s attention? We cannot do everything, but we can do something. What now is that for you?
And in thanksgiving for blessed Elizabeth of Hungary, whom we remember today.
[i] These words are the “Foundation and First Principle” of The Spiritual Exercises of Saint Ignatius Loyola (1491-1556), the founder of the Society of Jesus, the Jesuits.
[ii] The English words “worth” and “worship” come from the same etymological root.
[iii] In our appointed Gospel (Luke 12:32-34), Jesus says: “Make purses for yourselves that do not wear out, an unfailing treasure in heaven…”
[iv] Our appointed Psalm (146:4-9) names many different people of need.
Zealous for God – Br. Lain Wilson
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Feast of Saint Simon and Saint Jude
Today, one week before Election Day, is a day that I didn’t expect I needed Simon and Jude.
We don’t know much about these apostles—we know their names, and that early tradition consistently linked them together in mission to Persia and Armenia. We know that Simon was called “the Zealot” (but not what is specifically meant by this), and that Jude has come to be venerated as the patron saint of desperate or lost causes.
We don’t know much about them, but these small, memorable associations are somehow exactly what I needed today.
I’m sure many of us have felt, or maybe are feeling even now, a sense of despair—that we are going down a road with no return, that there will be something about who we are that is irrevocably broken. Here in the US, our major party candidates promise two very different visions of tomorrow—you may despair that the other side may win, or you may despair that neither vision speaks to the challenges that you and your loved ones face. I’m sure many of us feel like we’re facing one of the most desperate of lost causes. Read More
You do not know what you are asking – Br. Jack Crowley
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You do not know what you are asking. I can’t imagine the feeling of having Jesus Christ himself say that to me. It’s a real conversation stopper. Yet that’s exactly what Jesus said in this morning’s Gospel.
You do not know what you are asking. You have no idea what you are talking about. You do not know what is best for you. You do not understand the bigger picture.
We’ve probably all been in situations where some version of these words is said to us. It’s an awkward place to be in, when what we think we know to be true or ideal, suddenly is full of doubt. When our own side of the story starts to slip away and we feel exposed. These moments are often full of fear and shame.
You do not know what you are asking. Jesus says these words to James and John, the famous sons of thunder. Staying true to their nickname, James and John had boldly approached Jesus with an ask, they wanted to sit at the right and left hand of Jesus in his glory.
Whenever I pray with this passage, I always try to arrive at a place of sympathy for James and John. I always try to get a sense in my own self of when I’ve thought I’ve known was best for me and everyone around me. I remember all the times I’ve gone to God with my bright ideas. Read More
Considering Mary’s Response to God’s Call – Br. David Vryhof
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Br. David Vryhof
Common of the Incarnation
It has been the custom in monasteries such as ours to honor Mary, the Mother of our Lord, on the Saturdays in Ordinary Time between the seasons of Pentecost and Advent. Mary’s example – particularly the graciousness, generosity and humility with which she responds to God’s call – has been an inspiration to monastics throughout the ages, and to all who have sensed that God is summoning them to a particular task or way of being in the world.
The call that comes to Mary is a daunting one. God promises, through the angel Gabriel, to bless her with a son, who “will be great, and will be called the Son of the Most High,” and through whom God’s people will be established forever. This, despite the fact that she is a virgin. Remarkably, she accepts the intervention and the promise with openness and trust, and responds with those familiar words, “Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word” (Lk 1:38). Read More
Who Is It that Conquers the World? – Br. Keith Nelson
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For your homiletic dessert I have whipped up 500 words about one word. The word is nīké, if you enjoy New Testament Greek; or Nike, if you have ever heard of basketball. “To conquer.”
The word “conquer” makes me uncomfortable generally, and even more so when it appears in Scripture. But for those of us who place the Johannine witness at the center of our discipleship, it is a word to be reckoned with.
In our reading from the First Letter of John, we heard: “And this is the victory that conquers the world, our faith. Who is it that conquers the world but the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?” (1 John 5:4-5)
Do you think of yourself as a world-conquerer?
This isn’t an isolated use of that word. In John’s gospel, we hear Jesus at the Last Supper say, “I have said this to you, so that in me you may have peace. In the world, you face persecution. But take courage: I have conquered the world!” (John 16:33). Read More
Death and Life – Br. Lain Wilson
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Acts 5:27-33
Psalm 34:15-22
John 3:31-36
Have you ever faced a life-or-death situation?
For many of us, the honest answer will be no. Proportionally few of us serve in the armed forces, or are subsistence farmers, or fetch water by walking down long, dangerous roads. Or do as Peter and the apostles did, defying the authorities to preach in the name of Jesus, witnessing to the truth and risking death for it (Acts 5:28-29).
What allows those facing such danger, such precariousness, to go on? Need, for sure—the need to act or harvest or fetch or preach that impels them forward. But more than that. Trust. Trust in training and comrades; trust that the earth will bear fruit; trust that the spring will provide water. Trust, as the psalmist sings, that God is near to the brokenhearted, that God will deliver the righteous out of all their troubles and will keep safe all their bones (Ps 34:18, 19, 20).
And while we may not face life-or-death situations, trust is still embedded deeply in our lives. Trust in government and economies, in safety nets and supply chains, in smartphones and airplane doors. We trust these things will always exist, that they will provide or support or protect. We trust, until something shakes that trust and reveals that we may be closer to life-and-death situations than we think. The chapter in our Rule on “Holy Death” gets at this: in our “hardships, renunciations, losses, bereavements, frustrations, and risks . . . death is at work in advance” in our lives.[1]
But if what results when trust fails—all the bad and scary parts of life—can point us toward death, so can trust that succeeds, trust in what won’t fail us. And that trust points us to a death that is not final but transformed: “Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life” (Jn 3:36) and “has passed from death to life” (Jn 5:24). If our daily experiences of loss and failure and frustration prepare us for the certainty of our deaths, our daily experiences of trust—and the hope and joy and love that accompany them—do so as well. The also prepare us for death, show us how death is at work in advance in our lives, but a death transformed by Jesus’s saving work: “In Christ we are still one with [the departed],” our Rule goes on, and we believe, we trust, “that we will be reunited when Christ gathers all creation to himself, so that God may be all in all.”[2]
You may not face a life-or-death situation every day. But our trust that “God is true,” that God hears our cry, that God is near to us, that God saves us, makes every day a death-and-life proposition.
Amen.
[1] The Rule of the Society of Saint John the Evangelist (Lanham, MD, 1997), 97.
[2] Ibid.
Stars and Rock – Br. Luke Ditewig
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Br. Luke Ditewig
When will it happen? How much longer? What’s coming? Part of our trouble is waiting, not seeing answers or provisions as we expect.
God promised Abram a son. Years had passed. Still nothing. God comes again in a vision and says: “Don’t be afraid.” Abram says: “What? You haven’t given me a son! I’m still childless. So my heir will have to be Eliezer, a slave born in my house.” How do you hear and see the tone? Perhaps angry, blowing up and shaking his fist. Perhaps dejected and slumping with head down.
God’s response is accepting and gracious: No. My promise is true. It’s ok you’re upset. Look up and count the stars. You will receive that much. Every day, look up and remember I am with you. I will provide.
Abram believed God. Here “believed” has the connotation of ongoing, not a one-time thing.[i] Abram continued to believe. While angry or dejected, while questioning with shaking fist or slumping head, Abram believed. While waiting for years, Abram believed. Belief and trust include doubt and struggle. They are not blindly ignoring the hard. Like Abram, believing and trusting God is an ongoing reliance and assured confidence in the midst of struggle. Trust does not deny struggle but indeed names the pain with continued expectation. Read More
Hoping Against Hope – Br. David Vryhof
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Br. David Vryhof
Genesis 17:1-7, 15-16
Romans 4:13-25
The promise first came to Abram when he was already 75 years old! God said, “I will make you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great…. In you, all the families of the earth will be blessed” (Gen. 12:2-3). It was unthinkable even then, unimaginable, impossible, given his age and the barrenness of Sarai’s womb. But Abram believed God.
The second promise came eleven years later, when Abram was 86 years old! This time, Abram questioned God, “You have given me no offspring… [Is one of my slaves to become my heir]?” (Gen. 15:3) and God replied, “[No]. Your very own issue will be your heir… Look toward heaven and count the stars, if you are able to count them. So shall you descendants be” (Gen. 15:5). And, once again, Abram believed God.
But as time went on and there was still no heir, his faith wavered. Abram and Sarai decided to help God out by taking matters into their own hands. So, Abram slept with Sarai’s servant and she conceived and bore him a son, Ishmael. But this was not God’s plan.
The third and final promise came thirteen years after the second. Abram was 99 years old and Sarai 90. Still, they had not conceived. Their dream of having a child had withered over time and finally evaporated completely. They knew it was now physically impossible. They had no reasonable hope. But God insisted, “You shall be the ancestor of a multitude of nations. I will make you exceedingly fruitful; and I will make nations of you, and kings shall come from you” (Gen. 17:4,6). This time, Abram laughed (Gen. 17:17). Read More