tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-323435382024-03-13T22:24:00.883-07:00yearns&groans"We know that the whole creation has been groaning in labor pains until now; and not only the creation, but we ourselves...groan inwardly" Romans 8:22Willhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13108687139103021982noreply@blogger.comBlogger208125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32343538.post-49798510865323062082021-07-08T11:39:00.005-07:002021-07-08T11:39:50.450-07:00Independence Day Sermon at Christ Church<p style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="color: #404040; font-family: Garamond; font-size: 10px; line-height: 12px;"><span style="font-size: 2em; line-height: 24px;">Text of Sermon preached Sunday, July 4th 2021 <br />at <a href="https://christchurchalameda.org/" target="_blank">Christ Episcopal Church, Alameda</a> </span></span></p><p style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="color: #404040; font-family: Garamond; font-size: 10px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 12px;"><span style="font-size: 2em; line-height: 24px;"><br /><i>Old Testament:</i></span></span><i><span style="color: #404040; font-family: Garamond; font-size: 10px; line-height: 12px;"><span style="font-size: 2em; line-height: 24px;"> Deuteronomy 10:17-21</span></span></i></p><div class="ii gt" id=":ng"><div class="a3s aiL " id=":nf"><div dir="auto"><p style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><i><span style="color: #404040; font-family: Garamond; font-size: 6px; line-height: 7.199999809265137px; vertical-align: super;"><span style="font-size: 2em; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">17</span></span><span style="color: #404040; font-family: Garamond; font-size: 10px; line-height: 12px;"><span style="font-size: 2em; line-height: 24px;">For
the Lord your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great God,
mighty and awesome, who is not partial and takes no bribe, </span></span><span style="color: #404040; font-family: Garamond; font-size: 6px; line-height: 7.199999809265137px; vertical-align: super;"><span style="font-size: 2em; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">18</span></span><span style="color: #404040; font-family: Garamond; font-size: 10px; line-height: 12px;"><span style="font-size: 2em; line-height: 24px;">who executes justice for the orphan and the widow, and who loves the strangers, providing them with food and clothing. </span></span><span style="color: #404040; font-family: Garamond; font-size: 6px; line-height: 7.199999809265137px; vertical-align: super;"><span style="font-size: 2em; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">19</span></span><span style="color: #404040; font-family: Garamond; font-size: 10px; line-height: 12px;"><span style="font-size: 2em; line-height: 24px;">You shall also love the stranger, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt. </span></span><span style="color: #404040; font-family: Garamond; font-size: 6px; line-height: 7.199999809265137px; vertical-align: super;"><span style="font-size: 2em; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">20</span></span><span style="color: #404040; font-family: Garamond; font-size: 10px; line-height: 12px;"><span style="font-size: 2em; line-height: 24px;">You shall fear the Lord your God; him alone you shall worship; to him you shall hold fast, and by his name you shall swear. </span></span><span style="color: #404040; font-family: Garamond; font-size: 6px; line-height: 7.199999809265137px; vertical-align: super;"><span style="font-size: 2em; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">21</span></span><span style="color: #404040; font-family: Garamond; font-size: 10px; line-height: 12px;"><span style="font-size: 2em; line-height: 24px;">He is your praise; he is your God, who has done for you these great and awesome things that your own eyes have seen.</span></span></i></p><p style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><i><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px;"> </span></i></p><p style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><i><span style="color: #404040; font-family: Garamond; font-size: 10px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 12px;"><span style="font-size: 2em; line-height: 24px;">Gospel:</span></span><span style="color: #404040; font-family: Garamond; font-size: 10px; line-height: 12px;"><span style="font-size: 2em; line-height: 24px;"> Matthew 5:43-48</span></span></i></p><p style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><i><span style="color: #404040; font-family: Garamond; font-size: 6px; line-height: 7.199999809265137px; vertical-align: super;"><span style="font-size: 2em; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">43 </span></span><span style="color: #404040; font-family: Garamond; font-size: 10px; line-height: 12px;"><span style="font-size: 2em; line-height: 24px;">‘You have heard that it was said, “You shall love your neighbour and hate your enemy.” </span></span><span style="color: #404040; font-family: Garamond; font-size: 6px; line-height: 7.199999809265137px; vertical-align: super;"><span style="font-size: 2em; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">44</span></span><span style="color: #404040; font-family: Garamond; font-size: 10px; line-height: 12px;"><span style="font-size: 2em; line-height: 24px;">But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, </span></span><span style="color: #404040; font-family: Garamond; font-size: 6px; line-height: 7.199999809265137px; vertical-align: super;"><span style="font-size: 2em; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">45</span></span><span style="color: #404040; font-family: Garamond; font-size: 10px; line-height: 12px;"><span style="font-size: 2em; line-height: 24px;">so
that you may be children of your Father in heaven; for he makes his sun
rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the righteous and
on the unrighteous. </span></span><span style="color: #404040; font-family: Garamond; font-size: 6px; line-height: 7.199999809265137px; vertical-align: super;"><span style="font-size: 2em; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">46</span></span><span style="color: #404040; font-family: Garamond; font-size: 10px; line-height: 12px;"><span style="font-size: 2em; line-height: 24px;">For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax-collectors do the same? </span></span><span style="color: #404040; font-family: Garamond; font-size: 6px; line-height: 7.199999809265137px; vertical-align: super;"><span style="font-size: 2em; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">47</span></span><span style="color: #404040; font-family: Garamond; font-size: 10px; line-height: 12px;"><span style="font-size: 2em; line-height: 24px;">And if you greet only your brothers and sisters, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? </span></span><span style="color: #404040; font-family: Garamond; font-size: 6px; line-height: 7.199999809265137px; vertical-align: super;"><span style="font-size: 2em; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">48</span></span><span style="color: #404040; font-family: Garamond; font-size: 10px; line-height: 12px;"><span style="font-size: 2em; line-height: 24px;">Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.</span></span></i></p><p style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px;"> </span></p><p style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Garamond; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">Happy Independence Day! </span></p><p style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px;"> </span></p><p style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Garamond; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">Growing up</span><span style="font-family: Garamond; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">,</span><span style="font-family: Garamond; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;"> my first recollection of celebrating the </span><span style="font-family: Garamond; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">Fourth</span><span style="font-family: Garamond; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;"> </span><span style="font-family: Garamond; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">of July was at a local park, waiting on a blanket eagerly for </span><span style="font-family: Garamond; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">the</span><span style="font-family: Garamond; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;"> firework</span><span style="font-family: Garamond; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">s to begin. I was six years old</span><span style="font-family: Garamond; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">. A</span><span style="font-family: Garamond; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">s I recall</span><span style="font-family: Garamond; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">,</span><span style="font-family: Garamond; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;"> there
was some mention that 210 years had passed since 1776. I also remember
probably most of all the tension in the air, as sitting near us in the
large field was a group of loud and intoxicated people who instead of
waving an American flag were waving a </span><span style="font-family: Garamond; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">C</span><span style="font-family: Garamond; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">onfederate </span><span style="font-family: Garamond; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">battle flag. My father was agitated, and as I learned was his custom, felt the need to politely alert these folks that what</span><span style="font-family: Garamond; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">ever their intentions,</span><span style="font-family: Garamond; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;"> the flag </span><span style="font-family: Garamond; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">they were waving wasn’t patriotic at all, but actually seditious. </span><span style="font-family: Garamond; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">This was of course not taken kindly, and we may have left early</span><span style="font-family: Garamond; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">. </span><span style="font-family: Garamond; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">I don’t remember the fireworks</span><span style="font-family: Garamond; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;"> that day</span><span style="font-family: Garamond; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">.</span><span style="font-family: Garamond; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;"></span></p><p style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px;"> </span></p><p style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Garamond; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">The Fourth of July, of course</span><span style="font-family: Garamond; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">,</span><span style="font-family: Garamond; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;"> commemorates
the Declaration of Independence when the thirteen colonies expressed
their desire to govern themselves, free from the tyranny of Great
Britain. Ever since, Independence Day, has been </span><span style="font-family: Garamond; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">a day</span><span style="font-family: Garamond; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;"> </span><span style="font-family: Garamond; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">of
celebration, but also struggle. Each generation has wrestled with the
meaning of liberty and the unfolding story of these United States. </span></p><p style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px;"> </span></p><p style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Garamond; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">The </span><span style="font-family: Garamond; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">sacred texts</span><span style="font-family: Garamond; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;"> appointed for this day, remind </span><span style="font-family: Garamond; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">us that the God of scripture, and of Jesus, longs for people to liv</span><span style="font-family: Garamond; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">e in ways that provide justice for orphans, widows and strangers --- to love neighbors and enemies. Over the centuries</span><span style="font-family: Garamond; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">,</span><span style="font-family: Garamond; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;"> people
of faith in this nation have struggled with love for country and love
for God. I remember one of my relations giving me th</span><span style="font-family: Garamond; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">is somewhat jingoistic</span><span style="font-family: Garamond; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;"> definition of patriotism </span><span style="font-family: Garamond; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">“my</span><span style="font-family: Garamond; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;"> country, right or wrong.</span><span style="font-family: Garamond; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">”</span><span style="font-family: Garamond; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;"> Later I came to learn more about that quote, and this </span><span style="font-family: Garamond; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">adapted and improved </span><span style="font-family: Garamond; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">version,</span></p><p style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px;"> </span></p><p style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Garamond; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">“My country, right or wrong; if right, to be kept right; and if wrong, to be set right.</span><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Garamond; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">”</span></p><p style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px;"> </span></p><p style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Garamond; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">In </span><span style="font-family: Garamond; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">eighth</span><span style="font-family: Garamond; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;"> </span><span style="font-family: Garamond; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">grade</span><span style="font-family: Garamond; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">,</span><span style="font-family: Garamond; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;"> I remember standing with my best friend in the cold along Pennsylvania Ave</span><span style="font-family: Garamond; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">nue</span><span style="font-family: Garamond; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;"> in Washington, DC for a Presidential inauguration</span><span style="font-family: Garamond; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">. </span><span style="font-family: Garamond; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">W</span><span style="font-family: Garamond; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">e heard the newly sworn in President say these optimistic words “there’s nothing </span><span style="font-family: Garamond; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">wrong with America that cannot be cured by what is right with America</span><span style="font-family: Garamond; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">.” </span></p><p style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px;"> </span></p><p style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Garamond; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">We’re living in a time of profound anxiety</span><span style="font-family: Garamond; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">, fear and despair</span><span style="font-family: Garamond; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">. </span><span style="font-family: Garamond; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">C</span><span style="font-family: Garamond; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">ongregations like this one</span><span style="font-family: Garamond; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">, through our quest to follow Jesus,</span><span style="font-family: Garamond; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">have
a vital role to play in helping cure the ills of our society. But to do
that we cannot ignore the wrongs of the past or be naïve about the
consequences of failing to address contemporary systemic injustices now.</span></p><p style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px;"> </span></p><p style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Garamond; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">Last year, Christ Church youth and adults participated in <a href="https://www.episcopalchurch.org/sacred-ground/" target="_blank">Sacred Ground</a>, a curriculum that help</span><span style="font-family: Garamond; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">s</span><span style="font-family: Garamond; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;"> shed light on the violent</span><span style="font-family: Garamond; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;"> and </span><span style="font-family: Garamond; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">exploitative</span><span style="font-family: Garamond; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;"> evils that are part of our nation’s story from colonialism</span><span style="font-family: Garamond; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">,</span><span style="font-family: Garamond; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;"> slavery, genocide, xenophobi</span><span style="font-family: Garamond; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">a, brutal </span><span style="font-family: Garamond; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">labor practices </span><span style="font-family: Garamond; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">and the</span><span style="font-family: Garamond; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;"> prison industrial complex. There will be opportunities this Fall for those who weren’t able to participate to take the course</span><span style="font-family: Garamond; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">,</span><span style="font-family: Garamond; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;"> and of course there are numerous other ways </span><span style="font-family: Garamond; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">both to celebrate our country’s </span><span style="font-family: Garamond; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">beauty and its successes,</span><span style="font-family: Garamond; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;"> and </span><span style="font-family: Garamond; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">also </span><span style="font-family: Garamond; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">to confront </span><span style="font-family: Garamond; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">America’</span><span style="font-family: Garamond; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">s</span><span style="font-family: Garamond; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;"> ills.</span></p><p style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Garamond; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Garamond; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">Some might say that this</span><span style="font-family: Garamond; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;"> latter</span><span style="font-family: Garamond; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;"> type of exploration is unpatriotic, </span><span style="font-family: Garamond; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">but </span><span style="font-family: Garamond; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">I would argue the opposite. </span><span style="font-family: Garamond; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">L</span><span style="font-family: Garamond; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">earning more about the history of our nation, especially through the perspectives of those whose </span><span style="font-family: Garamond; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">family histories, </span><span style="font-family: Garamond; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">cultures, religions, and beliefs differ most from me or who have been on the receiving end of systemic injustice</span><span style="font-family: Garamond; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">,</span><span style="font-family: Garamond; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">has helped me find a love for this country that is deeper and wider. </span></p><p style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px;"> </span></p><p style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Garamond; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">Now when I celebrate the </span><span style="font-family: Garamond; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">F</span><span style="font-family: Garamond; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">ourth </span><span style="font-family: Garamond; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">of July, I don’t just think of a group of white gentlemen in a room in Philadelphia</span><span style="font-family: Garamond; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">. </span><span style="font-family: Garamond; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">I think of the </span><span style="font-family: Garamond; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">enslaved people</span><span style="font-family: Garamond; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">,
indentured servants, women, and indigenous people whose longings for
liberty would take many decades, even hundreds of years to be realized. I
think of immigrants who</span><span style="font-family: Garamond; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">,</span><span style="font-family: Garamond; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;"> filled with hope</span><span style="font-family: Garamond; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">,</span><span style="font-family: Garamond; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;"> fled
violence and poverty in their homeland to find often the same on these
shores, but also advocates, allies, activists and friends whose
compassion was often motivated by their spiritual values. Like many of
you in this room and watching online</span><span style="font-family: Garamond; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">,</span><span style="font-family: Garamond; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;"> my American family history and present includes stories of refugees, teachers, nurses, and farmers whose own struggles d</span><span style="font-family: Garamond; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">id</span><span style="font-family: Garamond; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;"> not keep them from offering care, help or support to those worse off.</span></p><p style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px;"> </span></p><p style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Garamond; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">Indeed</span><span style="font-family: Garamond; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">,</span><span style="font-family: Garamond; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;"> this country is one made up of orphans, widows, </span><span style="font-family: Garamond; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">strangers and former enemies turned friends. We are a better, more just, and faithful country because of the persistence, </span><span style="font-family: Garamond; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">diligence, resilience </span><span style="font-family: Garamond; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">of</span><span style="font-family: Garamond; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;"> people
from every gender, race, class and culture who resisted tyranny,
jingoism, nativism, xenophobia, white supremacy, and patriarchy. </span><span style="font-family: Garamond; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">Let us pray that in 2021 and beyond, w</span><span style="font-family: Garamond; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">e </span><span style="font-family: Garamond; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">as</span><span style="font-family: Garamond; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;"> </span><span style="font-family: Garamond; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">a nation</span><span style="font-family: Garamond; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;"> will</span><span style="font-family: Garamond; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;"> seek higher ground, and a more perfect union.</span></p><p style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px;"> </span></p><p style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Garamond; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">God bless America.</span></p></div></div></div><table class="cf wS" role="presentation"><tbody><tr><td class="amq"><img class="ajn bofPge" data-hovercard-id="will@christchurchalameda.org" id=":ll_0" name=":ll" src="https://ssl.gstatic.com/ui/v1/icons/mail/no_photo.png" /></td><td class="amr"><br /></td></tr></tbody></table>Willhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13108687139103021982noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32343538.post-19813670924602563882021-06-23T15:17:00.001-07:002021-06-23T15:17:48.779-07:00moves to make<p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Sermon preached on Sunday, June 20, 2021 at <a href="https://christchurchalameda.org/" target="_blank">Christ Episcopal Church, Alameda</a> <br />by Rev. Will Scott, Associate Rector <br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b><span style="color: #880000; font-family: "Garamond", serif;">Luke 4:14-21</span></b></span></p><span style="font-size: medium;">
</span><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="color: #777777; font-family: "Garamond", serif;">14 </span><span style="color: #010000; font-family: "Garamond", serif;">Then
Jesus, filled with the power of the Spirit, returned to Galilee, and a report
about him spread through all the surrounding country. </span><sup><span style="color: #777777; font-family: "Garamond", serif;">15</span></sup><span style="color: #010000; font-family: "Garamond", serif;">He
began to teach in their synagogues and was praised by everyone.</span></span></p><span style="font-size: medium;">
</span><div style="border-color: currentcolor currentcolor windowtext; border-image: none 100% / 1 / 0 stretch; border-style: none none solid; border-width: medium medium 1.5pt; padding: 0in 0in 1pt; text-align: left;"><p>
</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid windowtext 1.5pt; mso-padding-alt: 0in 0in 1.0pt 0in; padding: 0in;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="color: #777777; font-family: "Garamond", serif;">16 </span><span style="color: #010000; font-family: "Garamond", serif;">When he
came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, he went to the synagogue on the
sabbath day, as was his custom. He stood up to read, </span><sup><span style="color: #777777; font-family: "Garamond", serif;">17</span></sup><span style="color: #010000; font-family: "Garamond", serif;">and the
scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him. He unrolled the scroll and found
the place where it was written:<br />
</span><sup><span style="color: #777777; font-family: "Garamond", serif;">18</span></sup><span style="color: #010000; font-family: "Garamond", serif;"> ‘The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,<br />
because he has anointed me<br />
to bring good news to the poor.<br />
He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives<br />
and recovery of sight to the blind,<br />
to let the oppressed go free,<br />
</span><sup><span style="color: #777777; font-family: "Garamond", serif;">19</span></sup><span style="color: #010000; font-family: "Garamond", serif;"> to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour.’<br />
</span><sup><span style="color: #777777; font-family: "Garamond", serif;">20</span></sup><span style="color: #010000; font-family: "Garamond", serif;">And he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant, and
sat down. The eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him. </span><sup><span style="color: #777777; font-family: "Garamond", serif;">21</span></sup><span style="color: #010000; font-family: "Garamond", serif;">Then he
began to say to them, ‘Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your
hearing.’</span></span></p><p>
</p></div><span style="font-size: medium;">
</span><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="color: #010000; font-family: "Garamond", serif;"> </span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="color: #010000; font-family: "Garamond", serif;">Today’s service is adapted from a liturgy compiled by the <a href="https://www.ube.org/Western/northern-california---vivian-traylor.html">Vivian Traylor Chapter of the Union of Black Episcopalians</a> and is part of a larger
effort in our Diocese and throughout the Episcopal Church to add Juneteenth to
our official calendar of feast days. The lessons from Amos, Galatians and Luke
all speak to what <a href="https://www.stmarks.net/learning/dozierlibrary/dozierlife/" target="_blank">Verna Dozier</a> called God’s dream, “</span><span style="color: #010000; font-family: "Garamond", serif;">that all creation will live together in peace
and harmony and fulfillment. All parts of creation. And the dream of God is
that the good creation that God created -- what the refrain says, 'and God saw
that it was good' -- be restored.”</span></span></p><p style="text-align: left;">
</p><p style="text-align: left;">
</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="color: #010000; font-family: "Garamond", serif;">In our gospel today,
we have what some scholars describe as Jesus’ mission statement, we don’t know
for sure whether Jesus chose the section of Isaiah or if it was the portion of
the text appointed for that day. Luke describes the scene almost like stage
directions, and places an emphasis on physical actions. Jesus arrives in
Nazareth, he went to the synagogue, he stood up, he unrolled the scroll…and
after the quote from the prophet, Luke says Jesus “rolled up the scroll, gave
it back to the person who’d given it to him, and sat down.” Then Jesus gives a
very brief but powerful sermon, “today, this scripture is fulfilled in your
hearing.”</span></span></p><p style="text-align: left;">
</p><p style="text-align: left;">
</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="color: #010000; font-family: "Garamond", serif;">Perhaps like many of
you over the course of this week, I have learned more about Juneteenth which
marks the day more than two years after the emancipation proclamation that
enslaved people in Texas learned that they were free and the celebrations that
began and have been passed down ever since. Perhaps like you I have been moved
by the voices and persistence of activists and organizers who for years and
years have worked to make this day a national holiday. The walking, speaking
and organizing done by <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/history/2021/06/19/juneteenth-opal-lee/" target="_blank">94 year-old Opal Lee</a> is a reminder to that for the dream
of God to be realized requires physical actions. We must like Jesus in today’s
gospel, be on the move, get up, unroll sacred texts, and speak up.</span></span></p><p style="text-align: left;">
</p><p style="text-align: left;">
</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="color: #010000; font-family: "Garamond", serif;">But perhaps above all,
we must find a way, like those learning of their freedom 156 years ago in TX
after more than 240 years of slavery in the American colonies, and as Jesus
preached, find a way to hear, to really listen and take in the good news of God
for those in poverty, bondage, or suffering any form of oppression. </span></span></p><p style="text-align: left;">
</p><p style="text-align: left;">
</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="color: #010000; font-family: "Garamond", serif;">Like the saying, it is
always darkest before the dawn, in order to recognize, comprehend, hear and
fulfill God’s dream for all creation, we must be honest about the realities of
our nation’s historic and present systemic injustice, racism, and violence.
Earlier this week <a href="https://www.commonwealthclub.org/events/2021-06-03/clint-smith-brittany-packnett-cunningham-reckoning-slaverys-history" target="_blank">I heard an interview with Clint Smith</a>, author of the recently
published, “<a href="https://www.littlebrown.com/titles/clint-smith/how-the-word-is-passed/9780316492935/">How the Word Is Passed: A Reckoning with the History of SlaveryAcross America</a>.” He described visiting the largest maximum-security prison in
the United States located in Louisiana and called Angola. <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/museums/from-a-slave-house-to-a-prison-cell-the-history-of-angola-plantation/2016/09/21/7712eeac-63ee-11e6-96c0-37533479f3f5_story.html" target="_blank">This giant prison isbuilt on the site of a former plantation</a> given that name because so many of the
enslaved there originated from that region of Africa. Over 70 percent of
current inmates at Angola Prison are black, and like many of those suffering
behind bars and within our nation’s criminal justice system are forced to labor
for relatively no pay. But systemic racism and injustice isn’t just happening
far away in Louisiana, a few weeks ago a member of Christ Church brought my
attention to <a href="https://www.sfchronicle.com/opinion/openforum/article/For-more-than-a-century-Alameda-has-been-the-Bay-16211890.php" target="_blank">a recent article by Rasheed Shabazz in the San Francisco Chronicle</a>
with the headline “For more than a century, Alameda has been the Bay Area's
island of racism and police violence.”</span></span></p><p style="text-align: left;">
</p><p style="text-align: left;">
</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="color: #010000; font-family: "Garamond", serif;">For today’s gospel to
mean anything, for the powerful joy of Juneteenth to be heard, requires
repentance, a turning around, a revolution. </span></span></p><p style="text-align: left;">
</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="color: #010000; font-family: "Garamond", serif;">So we have work to do,
we have moves to make, stands to take and voices to hear Christ Church,
Alameda. We have work to do on ourselves, and work to do within and around us.
In closing I’m going to share another quote from the late great Episcopal
theologian Verna Dozier who wrote,</span></span></p><p style="text-align: left;">
</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="color: #010000; font-family: "Garamond", serif;">"We have lost the
capacity to dream great dreams. We reduce God to the personal, private,
’spiritual’ sphere of our lives, and ministry to personal, private, ’spiritual’
acts - a good deed here, a good deed there, a cup of cold water here, a loaf of
freshly baked bread there, a prison visit here, a hospital call there, a night
in a shelter here, a time with a troubled friend there. We see no need to
challenge the systems that make these ‘ministries’ necessary.</span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="color: #010000; font-family: "Garamond", serif;"><br />
The call to ministry is the call to be a citizen of the kingdom of God in a new
way, the daring, free, accepting, compassionate way Jesus modeled. It means
being bound by no yesterday, fearing no tomorrow, drawing no lines between
friend and foe, the acceptable ones and the outcasts. Ministry is commitment to
the dream of God."</span></span></p><span style="font-size: medium;">
</span><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="color: #010000; font-family: "Garamond", serif;"> </span></span></p>
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Continue 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Continue 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Continue 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Message Header"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="11" QFormat="true" Name="Subtitle"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Salutation"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Date"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Body Text First Indent"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Body Text First Indent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Note Heading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Body Text 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Body Text 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Body Text Indent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Body Text Indent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Block Text"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Hyperlink"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="FollowedHyperlink"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="22" QFormat="true" Name="Strong"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="20" QFormat="true" Name="Emphasis"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Document Map"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Plain Text"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="E-mail Signature"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Top of Form"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Bottom of Form"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Normal (Web)"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Acronym"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Address"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Cite"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Code"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Definition"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Keyboard"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Preformatted"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Sample"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Typewriter"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Variable"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Normal Table"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="annotation subject"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="No List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Outline List 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Outline List 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Outline List 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Simple 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Simple 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Simple 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Classic 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Classic 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Classic 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Classic 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Colorful 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Colorful 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Colorful 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Columns 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Columns 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Columns 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Columns 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Columns 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 7"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 8"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 7"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 8"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table 3D effects 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table 3D effects 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table 3D effects 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Contemporary"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Elegant"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Professional"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Subtle 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Subtle 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Web 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Web 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Web 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Balloon Text"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="Table Grid"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Theme"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" Name="Placeholder Text"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="1" QFormat="true" Name="No Spacing"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" Name="Revision"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="34" QFormat="true"
Name="List Paragraph"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="29" QFormat="true" Name="Quote"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="30" QFormat="true"
Name="Intense Quote"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="19" QFormat="true"
Name="Subtle Emphasis"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="21" QFormat="true"
Name="Intense Emphasis"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="31" QFormat="true"
Name="Subtle Reference"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="32" QFormat="true"
Name="Intense Reference"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="33" QFormat="true" Name="Book Title"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="37" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" Name="Bibliography"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" QFormat="true" Name="TOC Heading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="41" Name="Plain Table 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="42" Name="Plain Table 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="43" Name="Plain Table 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="44" Name="Plain Table 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="45" Name="Plain Table 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="40" Name="Grid Table Light"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46" Name="Grid Table 1 Light"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51" Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52" Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="Grid Table 1 Light Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="Grid Table 1 Light Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="Grid Table 1 Light Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="Grid Table 1 Light Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="Grid Table 1 Light Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="Grid Table 1 Light Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46" Name="List Table 1 Light"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="List Table 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="List Table 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="List Table 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="List Table 5 Dark"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51" Name="List Table 6 Colorful"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52" Name="List Table 7 Colorful"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="List Table 1 Light Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="List Table 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="List Table 3 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="List Table 4 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="List Table 5 Dark Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="List Table 6 Colorful Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="List Table 7 Colorful Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="List Table 1 Light Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="List Table 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="List Table 3 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="List Table 4 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="List Table 5 Dark Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="List Table 6 Colorful Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="List Table 7 Colorful Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="List Table 1 Light Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="List Table 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="List Table 3 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="List Table 4 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="List Table 5 Dark Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="List Table 6 Colorful Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="List Table 7 Colorful Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="List Table 1 Light Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="List Table 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="List Table 3 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="List Table 4 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="List Table 5 Dark Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="List Table 6 Colorful Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
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<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-outline-level: 4;">
<b><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Sermon
Preached September 30, 2018 at St. Alban’s Episcopal Church, Albany, CA</span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-outline-level: 4;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Proper 21, Year B, RCL</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<a href="https://www.lectionarypage.net/YearB_RCL/Pentecost/BProp21_RCL.html#ot1">Esther
7:1-6, 9-10; 9:20-22<span style="color: blue;"><br />
</span></a><a href="https://www.lectionarypage.net/YearB_RCL/Pentecost/BProp21_RCL.html#ps1">Psalm
124 <span style="color: blue;"><br />
</span></a><a href="https://www.lectionarypage.net/YearB_RCL/Pentecost/BProp21_RCL.html#nt1">James
5:13-20<span style="color: blue;"><br />
</span></a><a href="https://www.lectionarypage.net/YearB_RCL/Pentecost/BProp21_RCL.html#gsp1">Mark
9:38-50</a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "garamond" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">“let my life be given
me-- that is my petition-- and the lives of my people-- that is my request.”<br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
<br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
</span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "garamond" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">This morning our first appointed reading is from one of the few books in
the entire bible named for and starring a woman, the book or scroll of Esther.
The text tells the story of a strong and beautiful woman who stands up for
herself and her oppressed people, saving their lives and overcoming their
enemies. <br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
<br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "garamond" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">The book begins with the King of Persia, in a scene reminiscent of the
tv show Game of Thrones, throwing out his wife, Vashti, for disobeying his
orders. Queen Vashti refused to be objectified and shown off at a 7-day men’s
only drunken party the King was hosting. Harriet Beecher Stowe, called her
action “the first stand for women’s rights”<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=32343538#_edn1" name="_ednref1" style="mso-endnote-id: edn1;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "garamond" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">[i]</span></span></span></span></a>
and Elizabeth Cady Stanton wrote that Vashti "added new glory to [her] day
and generation...by her disobedience; for "Resistance to tyrants is
obedience to God."<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=32343538#_edn2" name="_ednref2" style="mso-endnote-id: edn2;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "garamond" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">[ii]</span></span></span></span></a></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "garamond" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "garamond" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"> </span></span></span></span> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "garamond" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">The king decides at the encouragement of his staff to host a Beauty
Pageant of sorts in order to pick his next wife. Mordecai, who works in the
King’s citadel and raised his cousin Esther after her parents had died, ensured
that she was among the women competing to be the next Queen of Persia. She’s
favored by the King and becomes Queen Esther. Meanwhile, a new official named
Haman is placed in charge of the citadel and demands all who work for him to
bow to him, but Mordecai due to his piety refuses to do so. When Haman
discovers this, he vows to have all Mordecai’s people killed and gets the King
to agree to and fund the genocide. Mordecai begs Esther to do something. She
requests that Mordecai and their people fast for three days after which she
will go to the King and plead for their lives. Which brings us to today’s
passage in which Esther says, “let my life be given me – that is my petition –
and the lives of my people – that is my request.” She saves the lives of her
people and the man who had sought to destroy them is executed on the very
contraption he was planning to use on Mordecai.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span><br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
<br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "garamond" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">Resistance to patriarchy and women standing up, confronting the powerful
and bringing about a change of fortune for themselves and those they love is
our tradition, not just a part of it. Reading the Book of Esther felt
particularly meaningful this week as Dr. Christine Blasey Ford courageously
spoke of the violence and suffering she experienced as a teenager and as Maria
Gallagher and Ana Maria Archila confronted Senator Flake in the Capitol
elevator. Wealthy, powerful, drunken, xenophobic men ruled the roost in ancient
Persia, and their contemporary counterparts in Washington thank God are being
challenged by numerous Vashti’s and Esther’s.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "garamond" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">That is good news.<br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
<br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "garamond" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">In today’s passage from Mark, Jesus seems to be encouraging his
followers to look inward within themselves rather than being overly concerned
by the actions of others who are casting out demons in Jesus’ name. In this time
of such profound consequence, for some of us it is easier to point out the
wrongs and hypocrisy of others, and harder to look at the ways we ourselves
have fallen short, failed to confront misogyny, been complicit in acts of
violence or defended the powerful rather than the powerless.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
<br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "garamond" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">Esther
said to the King, “let my life be given me-- that is my petition-- and the
lives of my people-- that is my request.”<br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
<br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
</span></i></div>
<span style="mso-bookmark: _Hlk526061573;"></span>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "garamond" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">May we, like Esther and all those within the #metoo movement, find the
courage and the voice to speak our truths and to stand up to those whose
privilege and power keeps them and us from living into our fullness. <br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
<br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "garamond" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">My husband Matt is visiting family in Virginia this weekend and when I
shared today’s readings with him, he reminded me of what a hero Esther is for
the Jewish people and how her triumph is celebrated at the spring festival of
Purim. In Matt’s mind, Esther’s story is forever linked with that of a
Holocaust survivor, Arie Torner, who volunteered as an usher at Matt’s
synagogue until he passed away when Matt was 14. Out of a group of nearly 1000
young men subjected to horrific experimentation by the notorious Dr. Mengele
during the Holocaust, Mr. Torner was one of fewer than 20 survivors. On the day
of Matt’s bar mitzvah, Mr. Torner, who was by then 70 years old, advised Matt,
“speak loud and clear, so everyone will hear you.” Matt wrote later in a poem
for the temple newsletter, “I know why he wanted me to speak up.” People of
goodwill of all faiths recognize the deep importance of the notions of speaking
up for justice and compassion—of remembering the past, and celebrating unity
and the dignity of every person.<br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
<br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "garamond" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">A recent article explaining why a major company’s CEO banned PowerPoint
and bullet points from meetings and instead had employees read lengthy
narratives and customer reviews, reminds us why sharing our stories is so
important, according to the article in <a href="https://www.inc.com/carmine-gallo/jeff-bezos-bans-powerpoint-in-meetings-his-replacement-is-brilliant.html">Inc.
magazine</a> by Carmine Gallo:<br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
<br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "garamond" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">Anthropologists
say when humans gained control of fire, it marked a major milestone in human
development. Our ancestors were able to cook food, which was a big plus. But it
also had a second benefit. People sat around campfires swapping stories.
Stories served as instruction, warning, and inspiration.<br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
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<span style="font-family: "garamond" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">Recently,
I've talked to prominent neuroscientists whose experiments confirm what we've
known for centuries: The human brain is wired for story. We process our world
in narrative, we talk in narrative and--most important for leadership--people
recall and retain information more effectively when it's presented in the form
of a story, not bullet points.<br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
<br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "garamond" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">This Sunday may we deepen our appreciation for the transformative power
of story, the stories of Vashti and Esther, and all those who bravely step
forward to speak their difficult truths of past abuses and violence to save
their lives and this nation’s.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "garamond" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt;"><br />
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Esther said to the King, “let my life be
given me-- that is my petition-- and the lives of my people-- that is my
request.”</i></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="mso-element: endnote-list;">
<br clear="all" />
<hr align="left" size="1" width="33%" />
<div id="edn1" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<div class="MsoEndnoteText">
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=32343538#_ednref1" name="_edn1" style="mso-endnote-id: edn1;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%;">[i]</span></span></span></span></a> <cite><span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Stowe, Harriet Beecher (1878). <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=I8lAAAAAYAAJ&pg=PT123&dq=Harriet+Beecher+Stowe+Vashti&cd=1#v=onepage&q=&f=false">Bible
heroines: being narrative biographies of prominent Hebrew women in the
patriarchal, national, and Christian eras, giving views of women in sacred
history, as revealed in the light of the present day</a>. Fords, Howard, &
Hulbert</span></cite><span class="reference-accessdate"><i>. Retrieved </i></span><span class="nowrap"><i>February 27,</i></span><span class="reference-accessdate"><i>
2009</i></span><cite><span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">.</span></cite></div>
</div>
<div id="edn2" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<div class="MsoEndnoteText">
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=32343538#_ednref2" name="_edn2" style="mso-endnote-id: edn2;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%;">[ii]</span></span></span></span></a> <cite><span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Stanton, Elizabeth (1895). <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=hiTpfBGwNR0C&pg=RA1-PA86&lpg=RA1-PA86&dq=Elizabeth++Cady+Stanton+Vashti#v=onepage&q=vashti&f=false">The
woman's Bible: a classic feminist perspective</a>. European Pub Co. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Standard_Book_Number" title="International Standard Book Number">ISBN</a> <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-0-486-42491-0" title="Special:BookSources/978-0-486-42491-0">978-0-486-42491-0</a></span></cite><span class="reference-accessdate"><i>. Retrieved </i></span><span class="nowrap"><i>February
27,</i></span><span class="reference-accessdate"><i> 2009</i></span><cite><span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">.</span></cite></div>
</div>
</div>
Willhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13108687139103021982noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32343538.post-81361968596865484272017-10-15T14:35:00.001-07:002017-10-15T14:35:26.273-07:00Bank in the Sky - Honoring 5 years of ministry at Church by the Side of the Road by the Rev. Dr. Ambrose Carroll <br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><b><span style="font-family: "Garamond",serif;">Sermon preached October 15th, 2017 at <a href="http://www.cbsor.org/" target="_blank">Church by the Side of the Road, Berkeley</a></span></b></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><b><span style="font-family: "Garamond",serif;">Exodus 20:18-26</span></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><sup><span style="font-family: "Garamond",serif;">18</span></sup><span style="font-family: "Garamond",serif;">When all the people witnessed the thunder and lightning, the sound of the trumpet, and the mountain smoking, they were afraid and trembled and stood at a distance, <sup>19</sup>and said to Moses, “You speak to us, and we will listen; but do not let God speak to us, or we will die.” <sup>20</sup>Moses said to the people, “Do not be afraid; for God has come o nly to test you and to put the fear of him upon you so that you do not sin.” <sup>21</sup>Then the people stood at a distance, while Moses drew near to the thick darkness where God was. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><sup><span style="font-family: "Garamond",serif;">22</span></sup><span style="font-family: "Garamond",serif;">The Lord said to Moses: Thus you shall say to the Israelites: <b>“You have seen for yourselves that I spoke with you from heaven.</b> <sup>23</sup>You shall not make gods of silver alongside me, nor shall you make for yourselves gods of gold. <sup>24</sup>You need make for me only an altar of earth and sacrifice on it your burnt offerings and your offerings of well-being, your sheep and your oxen; in every place where I cause my name to be remembered I will come to you and bless you. <sup>25</sup>But if you make for me an altar of stone, do not build it of hewn stones; for if you use a chisel upon it you profane it. <sup>26</sup>You shall not go up by steps to my altar, so that your nakedness may not be exposed on it.”</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Garamond",serif; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br />When Pastor Carroll invited me to preach this week on his 5<sup>th</sup> anniversary as your pastor and told me what the passage of scripture was that you have been studying, I was honored and delighted to say yes. Pastor Carroll has been an important friend and ally during my 3 ½ years as Program Director at California Interfaith Power & Light, he’s served as a member of our steering committee and has been a key connection between our work to address climate change as a moral issue and the wider church, both locally and nationally. This passage of scripture we read this morning is a reminder that the liberating God our ancestors came to know as sojourners in the wilderness, is profoundly connected as Creator of all things with the earth and sky, and cannot and will not be contained in any way by our man-made objects, the scripture says, “You shall not make gods of silver alongside me, nor shall you make yourselves gods of god.” <br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Garamond",serif; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">We might wonder what is the relationship between silver and gold --- what is similar about them, they are both things that take a great deal of effort to find, they are extracted from the earth through mining and blasting and this activity requires violence and slavery, even to this day, the extraction of gold, silver and other substances from under the ground including oil and gas requires economic exploitation and a kind of violence to the earth. This God our ancestors worshipped did not free slaves just to have them worship idols made from the violence and sweat of gold and silver mining.<br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Garamond",serif; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Perhaps God was like some of the climate activists that Pastor Carroll and I work with who chant slogans like “keep it in the ground.” They know that continuing to extract and burn fossil fuels is dangerous for our health and this planet’s. Every year average global temperatures are getting higher and higher which scientists know is a consequence of the buildup of greenhouses gases in the atmosphere. A large amount of those gases come from the burning of fossil fuels, from cars, trucks and airplanes. The work Pastor Carroll and I have been doing together has been to help faith communities understand the serious reality of global warming and advocate for change. It’s a good thing that many of </span><span style="font-family: "Garamond",serif; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%;">our faith traditions’ roots are in the story of counter-cultural communities, cells of resistance to the oppression, violence and idolatry of empire. Pastor Carroll is among a growing number of faith leaders all over the world who are standing before God’s people and saying we must connect the dots, we must realize that our collective actions have consequences, that our attachment to certain ways of life, our addiction to fossil fuels, our consumerism and throwaway culture is idolatry and we are all paying far too heavy a price. Catholics, Buddhists, and Baptists, Episcopalians and Hindus, Methodists and Congregationalists, Unitarians and Trinitarians, Jews and Muslims, more and more religious leaders are speaking up and saying what we know:<br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Garamond",serif; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%;">That the earth has a fever --- and parts of our once vital and vibrant body are already dead. A few years ago at the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art an artist powerfully illustrated the extinction of the once abundant passenger pigeon.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Elizabeth Kolbert in her sweeping book The Sixth Extinction--which scientists say we are in the midst of--writes about how humanity’s transformation of the ecological landscape is suddenly and dramatically reducing the diversity of life on earth. Because we are so profoundly interconnected and reliant on our common home --- acidifying and rising seas, extreme weather events, drought, floods, wildfires and the spreading of vector-borne diseases are already having profound human implications. Author Rebecca Solnit says we should call it what it is: violence she writes: “Climate change is global-scale violence, against places and species as well as against human beings. Once we call it by name, we can start having a real conversation about our priorities and values. Because the revolt against brutality begins with a revolt against the language that hides that brutality.”<br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
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<span style="font-family: "Garamond",serif; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Churches like this one, synagogues, mosques, temples and sanghas, faith communities of all sorts can provide spaces for us to come to terms with this violence and idolatry, by confession and prophetic confrontation. Together we can grieve the tragedy of what we humans have done and confess our complicity in and our idolatry of a system that is causing violence every day to our fellow human beings and to our shared home. I encourage you when you pray for the victims of hurricanes and wild fires to add a prayer of confession, for our blindness to the reality of climate change and our need to repent, to change direction and commit to become better educated and to choose more wisely.<br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Garamond",serif; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Later on, in Scripture, Moses says to the ancient Hebrews our adopted ancestors just before they cross over into the land of promise, “See, I have set before you today life and prosperity, death and adversity.” Moses urges them to “choose life so that you and your descendants may live” and warns them “if your heart turns away and you do not hear, but are led astray to bow down to other gods and serve them, I declare to you today that you shall perish; you shall not live long in the land... I call heaven and earth to witness against you today that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Choose life so that you and your descendants may live.”<br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Garamond",serif; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Can you imagine on this day, if Moses came among us and turned to the witness of heaven and earth to ask whether we have chosen life and death, blessing or curses? <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If Moses were to see the devastating wildfires of Northern California, the powerful record breaking storms that have hit the Caribbean, Florida and Texas displacing thousands of people, what would he say? Surely, Moses would not want us to dig up more coal in Utah--one of the dirtiest of fossil fuels--carry it through already polluted communities on trains and ship it overseas where it will be burned further warming our planet and harming ourselves and our global sisters and brothers? Moses would urge us to choose life, and hopefully be encouraged to know that Pastor Carroll and other East Bay pastors have worked hard to urge the city do all it can to keep coal out of our communities and fossil fuels in the ground. Moses would hopefully witness the many ways that Pastor Carroll, Green the Church and Church by the Side of the Road are choosing life, by advocating for green workforce development, by speaking up on behalf of science, and standing up for environmental protection. <br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Garamond",serif; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">One of the most powerful experiences I’ve had at CIPL has been working with a USF student from China, Judy, who was not at all acquainted with the complexity of American religious life but she needed no introduction to the ways our work related to the dangerous air of her homeland, where she said in some cases children rarely see a blue sky or stars at night. When she graduated from USF a few years ago Judy was so grateful for her time serving with us at CIPL that she wore a sash declaring her support for our cause, a young woman born in a country with no freedom of religion and serious environmental and health problems aligning herself with our movement. Pope Francis, tweeted back in August, “The Gospel is Good News filled with contagious joy, for it contains and offers new life.”<br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Garamond",serif; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">For me the story of Judy is all about the good news, she saw that the work of IPL was good news to her people, to all people and this became contagious. Who doesn’t want and deserve clean air, clean water, and a safe and comfortable environment in which to live?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Today we are celebrating the prophetic ministry and leadership of the Rev. Dr. Ambrose Carroll, who for the years that I have known and worked with him been an essential friend and partner to the interfaith climate movement. Not only is he a gifted spokesperson and highly networked disciplined organizer, he is a man of deep faith who in whatever meeting or assembly whether with legislators in Sacramento or before a crowd at a climate rally in Oakland, speaks from a place of compassion and care -- for justice and what is right. He has been courageous, like Moses before Pharaoh, and challenged other pastors to recognize the peril that our planet is in and our moral responsibility to speak out and act if we are who we say we are. Pastor Carroll’s good news message, that all people of faith, can be bearers of hope, can be people who are a blessing and not a curse to one another and to God’s creation. <br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Garamond",serif; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">One of the things I’ve appreciated most about my work with Pastor Carroll is his putting up with my fascination with golden era gospel music, one time he said to me, when I asked him about a particular piece of music, he said yes, that’s the music my grandmother listened to, so I guess he thinks I have dated taste. I will always cherish the time we spent planning the Green Jobs Fair held at Mount Zion Missionary Baptist Church this spring, after Pastor Carroll mentioned that the church was connected with the Pointer Sisters nearly every time I was on my way there on BART I’d put in my earbuds and put on their hit song, “Yes we Can, Can” which for me was a kind of mantra. Here are the words:<br /></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "Garamond",serif; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Now's the time for all good men<br />To get together with one another<br />We got to iron out our problems<br />And iron out our quarrels<br />And try to live as brothers<br />
<br />And try to find peace within<br />Without stepping on one another<br />And do respect the women of the world<br />Remember, you all had mothers<br />
<br />We got to make this land a better land<br />Than the world in which we live<br />And we got to help each man be a better man<br />With the kindness that we give<br />
<br />I know we can make it<br />I know darn well, we can work it out<br />Oh, yes, we can, I know we can, can<br />Yes, we can, can, why can't we?<br />If we wanna, yes, we can, can<br /></span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Garamond",serif; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Clara Ward and the Famous Ward Singers have provided me with a kind of soundtrack these past few years. There have been many gospel singers, especially women who have given me a kind kick in the rear to keep working on the difficult and sometimes confusing effort of getting the faith community involved in the climate movement. Mahalia Jackson, Aretha Franklin, and even Whitney Houston each came out of and stayed closely connected with the church. I think for me Clara Ward and the Famous Ward Sisters’ unique approach to gospel music in their time, of bringing the church’s music into the world, putting away the church robe and wearing dinner party clothes I especially relate to because in my work with IPL I have been seeking to bring something of the church into the world, and vice versa the world into the church. I’m no scholar of this music, but I am a fan and I find myself now more shaped by this music than the music I learned at church growing up or at church camp. <br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Garamond",serif; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The Clara Ward song with lead vocals by Henrietta Waddy, Bank in the Sky, to me is a reminder, like our passage from Exodus, that we human beings have a responsibility to consider how our lives are either a blessing or a curse to others and ourselves.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>God brought the people out of bondage to school them on the way of freedom and blessing, how they could create among themselves a community with God alone as ruler, and the people sharing and living in a way that ensured that the vulnerable were cared for, the earth and debt were kept in balance and the stranger respected. Bank in the Sky is a song that feels especially appropriate in our era of climate disruption, of rising seas, and toxic air, it’s a song that challenges our human greed and idolatry and reminds us to put our faith in the God of Heaven and Earth, here are just a few of the lyrics:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Garamond",serif; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“Do you have an account? In the bank on high? In the bank in the sky? If you have an account, you can put in tears, if you have an account, your vision will clear, you can put in sorrow, and get joy tomorrow. You can deposit weeping... <br />You can put in prayer."<br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Garamond",serif; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Faith leaders like Pastor Carroll, movements like Green the Church, congregations like Church by the Side of the Road have an essential role to play in this time of climate chaos, of idolatry run rampant. Together climate minded people of faith can remember our roots and our call to choose life, to seek to be a people of blessing rather than curses. We can maintain our accounts in the Bank in the Sky ---- where we can deposit great riches for our souls, "that are more precious than silver and gold.” If our bank is in the sky, then it’s not in the ground or industries that are a curse to our planet’s health. Together we can climb higher mountains, and we can get over.<br /> </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Garamond",serif; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><i>-Rev. Will Scott </i></span></div>
Willhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13108687139103021982noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32343538.post-91597026014119350862017-10-08T21:24:00.002-07:002017-10-08T21:27:58.560-07:00pouring out for healing & liberation<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;">Sermon preached Sunday, October 1st at St. Mark's Lutheran Church, San Francisco</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><b><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><a href="http://bible.oremus.org/?passage=Philippians+2:1-13">Philippians 2:1-13</a></span></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://bible.oremus.org/?ql=278149894">Matthew 21:23-32</a></span></h2>
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<span style="font-family: "garamond" , serif; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%;">St. Mark’s, I am delighted to have the opportunity to visit with you today. Your congregation has for years been a place I have felt is my Lutheran home away from home, perhaps because I’ve spent a lot of time here these past 11 years since moving to the Bay Area from Virginia. I’ve never been to a Sunday service here before, but I’ve been to countless meetings here with the San Francisco Interfaith Council, with the Bay Area Organizing Committee working to save St. Luke’s hospital in the Mission, a World AIDS Day Service and even for a little while once a month into the early morning, I answered phone calls for the night ministry in your Urban Life Center. I know little facts about your church: for example, that portions of the movie version of the Broadway musical Rent were filmed in this sanctuary before your renovation. But I’m not here just to sing your praises, I did want you to know that I think of you fondly and appreciate your commitment to being a church of inclusive love and active engagement in the world. <br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "garamond" , serif; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Paul’s letter to the Philippians and Matthew’s gospel together remind us that faithful living is about pouring one’s self out, the Greek word is Kenosis, especially in the face of powerful forces of opposition, oppression, and hypocrisy. Paul’s letter was written as he was awaiting sentencing for as Acts of the Apostles simply states “turning the world upside down.” The immediate crime may have been Paul’s liberating a slave girl from possession, who was making her owners rich by telling people’s fortunes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Rather than being grateful that this girl was no longer possessed, they were angry to lose their source of wealth. In the portion of Paul’s letter we heard read today he is encouraging his followers to see his imprisonment and suffering as a consequence of his faithfulness to the way of Christ and to, in their own way with fear and trembling, continue turning the world upside down by placing Christ at the center of their lives. <br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "garamond" , serif; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%;">For me kenosis, is about vulnerability and trusting that God’s knowledge, power, wisdom, providence and presence are more powerful than any other force in the universe and that true humbleness is real strength. The good news of God in Christ is this way of vulnerability. Jesus throughout the gospels models a life of accessibility to the high and mighty and to the weak and hurting. It seems that Jesus’ unique relationship with God is connected to his unique relationship with other human beings and the whole of Creation. Jesus’ teachings whether the Beatitudes or along the roads of First Century Roman occupied Palestine or from the cross, are about living a life of communion, connectivity and mutuality. On this day as we give special attention to animals, who in their own way embody kenosis, I am reminded of James Weldon Johnsons great interpretation of the Creation story which begins: </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "garamond" , serif; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%;">And God stepped out on space,</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "garamond" , serif; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%;">And he looked around and said:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "garamond" , serif; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%;">I’m lonely—</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "garamond" , serif; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%;">I’ll make me a world.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "garamond" , serif; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br />Some theologians might argue with whether we are anthropomorphizing God to suggest that the Divine Creator could be lonely. But loneliness is a real problem in our time, and our pets, our companion animals do much to ease our loneliness and communities like this one help remind us that the way of Christ is one we must seek to walk with others--not alone. Too often at least in my journey I’ve experienced churches and church people as inquisitors instead of comrades. Sometimes though religious communities can feel like the loneliest places of all, as Jesus himself discovered.<br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "garamond" , serif; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%;">In Matthew’s gospel Jesus’ dialogue with the chief priests and elders in the Temple where his authority is questioned reminds us that Jesus too experienced alienation from the very places and people one might have expected to greet him and his teachings with open arms and hearts. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Matthew’s gospel reminds us that as we seek to follow the way of Christ we too will endure suffering, misunderstanding, and alienation. Jesus’ says at the end of today’s gospel lesson that those whom the pious and righteous most feared, rejected and despised are the first to experience the divine realm he calls the Kingdom of God.<br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "garamond" , serif; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Here are a few questions to consider in light of our lessons: What turning the world upside down activities might St. Mark’s be up to these days? How are you as individuals and as a congregation practicing kenosis, pouring yourselves out for the healing and liberation of others? A spiritual director of mine many years ago asked me a great question, “if you were arrested for following Jesus, would there be enough evidence to convict you?” Which leads me to two last questions: How have you as a congregation and as individuals felt misunderstood or even suffered or been alienated because of the ways in which you have sought to follow Jesus? And when that happens, are you there to comfort and support one another through that lonely and difficult time?<br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "garamond" , serif; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%;">For the past 3 years and a few months I’ve worked with California Interfaith Power & Light seeking to help congregations all over the state better understand and respond to the reality of climate change.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’ve witnessed climate activists, organizers, policy analysts, scientists, and clergy of every faith pouring themselves out for the sake of our common home. And yet there's so much more for you, for each of us to do, to recognize the way in which this issue really does exacerbate every other concern and that despite our state and this city in particular being far ahead of many others around this nation, we can't put this too high on our priority list. The devastation of this year’s record hurricanes just being one front page reminder that right now, people are suffering the consequences of our imbalanced relationship with God's good creation and there really isn't too much attention we can pay to trying to correct that.<br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "garamond" , serif; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Truly confronting the climate crisis with eyes wide open will mean that some people will lose their sources of income, like the owners of the slave girl whom Paul liberated. Pouring oneself out in the fight to protect our common home may mean being willing to find ourselves alienated from places and people we would expect to be our comrades. We may even find ourselves called to risk arrest in acts of nonviolent civil disobedience.<br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "garamond" , serif; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%;">In closing I want to thank your congregation for being a place of comradeship to the climate movement in California. For pouring yourselves out in service to others, let us give thanks for all those who help us, including our pets, follow the self-giving way of Jesus, living lives of communion, connectivity, and mutuality. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "garamond" , serif; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%;">-The Rev. Will Scott</span></div>
Willhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13108687139103021982noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32343538.post-57571518598872522292017-10-08T21:17:00.000-07:002017-10-08T21:17:49.435-07:00last will be first, and the first will be last.<span style="font-family: inherit;">Sermon preached Sunday, September 24th <br />Our Savior Episcopal Church, Mill Valley <br />Lessons</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><span style="font-size: 10pt;"><a href="http://bible.oremus.org/?ql=176001126" target="_blank">Exodus 16:2-15 </a><br /><a href="http://bible.oremus.org/?ql=277916843" target="_blank">Matthew 20: 1-16</a></span></b></span></div>
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="envelope return"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="footnote reference"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="annotation reference"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="line number"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="page number"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="endnote reference"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="endnote text"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="table of authorities"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="macro"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="toa heading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Bullet"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Number"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Bullet 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Bullet 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Bullet 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Bullet 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Number 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Number 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Number 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Number 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="10" QFormat="true" Name="Title"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Closing"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Signature"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="1" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" Name="Default Paragraph Font"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Body Text"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Body Text Indent"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Continue"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Continue 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Continue 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Continue 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Continue 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Message Header"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="11" QFormat="true" Name="Subtitle"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Salutation"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Date"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Body Text First Indent"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Body Text First Indent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Note Heading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Body Text 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Body Text 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Body Text Indent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Body Text Indent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Block Text"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Hyperlink"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="FollowedHyperlink"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="22" QFormat="true" Name="Strong"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="20" QFormat="true" Name="Emphasis"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Document Map"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Plain Text"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="E-mail Signature"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Top of Form"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Bottom of Form"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Normal (Web)"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Acronym"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Address"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Cite"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Code"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Definition"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Keyboard"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Preformatted"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Sample"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Typewriter"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Variable"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Normal Table"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="annotation subject"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="No List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Outline List 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Outline List 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Outline List 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Simple 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Simple 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Simple 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Classic 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Classic 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Classic 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Classic 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Colorful 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Colorful 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Colorful 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Columns 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Columns 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Columns 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Columns 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Columns 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 7"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 8"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 7"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 8"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table 3D effects 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table 3D effects 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table 3D effects 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Contemporary"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Elegant"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Professional"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Subtle 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Subtle 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Web 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Web 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Web 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Balloon Text"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="Table Grid"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Theme"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" Name="Placeholder Text"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="1" QFormat="true" Name="No Spacing"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" Name="Revision"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="34" QFormat="true"
Name="List Paragraph"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="29" QFormat="true" Name="Quote"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="30" QFormat="true"
Name="Intense Quote"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="19" QFormat="true"
Name="Subtle Emphasis"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="21" QFormat="true"
Name="Intense Emphasis"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="31" QFormat="true"
Name="Subtle Reference"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="32" QFormat="true"
Name="Intense Reference"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="33" QFormat="true" Name="Book Title"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="37" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" Name="Bibliography"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" QFormat="true" Name="TOC Heading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="41" Name="Plain Table 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="42" Name="Plain Table 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="43" Name="Plain Table 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="44" Name="Plain Table 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="45" Name="Plain Table 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="40" Name="Grid Table Light"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46" Name="Grid Table 1 Light"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51" Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52" Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="Grid Table 1 Light Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="Grid Table 1 Light Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="Grid Table 1 Light Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="Grid Table 1 Light Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="Grid Table 1 Light Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="Grid Table 1 Light Accent 6"/>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="line-height: 150%;">I am really grateful to be joining you this morning in your beautiful sanctuary in a town that to me has always exuded the magnificent charm of Northern California. A few weeks ago, my husband Matt and I stopped in at your local market to pack our bags for a hike around Mt. Tam for the birthday of a dear friend, and during my three years and a few months as program director of California interfaith power & light I have easily taken for granted the climate mindfulness, commitment and awareness of congregations like yours. In many ways your congregation, and many other CIPL member congregations in Marin county are like those early laborers in the vineyard: you've installed Solar, I assume based on those who represent you, that you vote by and large for climate conscious legislators. But the truth is there's so much more for you, for each of us to do, to recognize the way in which this issue really does exacerbate every other concern and that despite our state and your region in particular being far ahead of many others around this nation, we can't put this too high on our priority list. The devastation of this year’s record hurricanes just being one front page reminder. Right now, people are suffering the consequences of our imbalanced relationship with God's good creation and there really isn't too much attention we can pay to trying to correct that. </span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;"> </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="line-height: 150%;">In today's readings from Exodus and the Gospel, I strongly identify with the grumblers. Since moving to the diocese of California from Virginia, mainly because back in 2006 a gay priest like myself really couldn't be out and in a relationship and serve a parish. I've grumbled that the status and size of the Episcopal Church just isn't like it was in the Old Dominion. Like other east coasters who have come out this way, I ran into some last week at clergy conference, I have grumbled at how few full-time jobs there are available in the church and the fact that the ones that do exist always feel a bit tenuous. How easily, like the Israelites and like those early laborers, I neglected gratitude. While the Episcopal Diocese of Virginia is no Egypt, not then and certainly not now, and California is not the promised land not for me and certainly not for many others ---- would I really want to turn back?</span></span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 150%;">The parable Jesus tells this morning is a challenging one. We don’t live in a world where we find employers willing to pay a full day’s pay for less than half a day’s work. But Jesus starts this out by saying, “For the kingdom of God is like…”. And with few other words at the very end we have perhaps found the keys to the door, “the last will be first, and the first will be last.” </span></div>
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The Jewish New Testament scholar Amy Jill Levine wrote:</div>
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“It was once said, "religion is designed to comfort the afflicted and to afflict the comfortable."</div>
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Jesus' parables -- short stories with moral lessons -- were likewise designed to afflict, to draw us in but leave us uncomfortable. These teachings can be read as being about divine love and salvation, sure. But, their first listeners -- first century Jews in Galilee and Judea -- heard much more challenging messages.” She says of this particular parable: </div>
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“Jesus' first listeners heard not a parable about salvation in the afterlife but about economics in present. They heard a lesson about how the employed must speak on behalf of those who lack a daily wage.</div>
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They also discovered a prompt for people with resources: Attend to those who do not have jobs, and make sure everyone has what is needed.</div>
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Jesus does not invent this idea of advocating for the unemployed and sharing resources. The same concerns occur in Jewish tradition from King David onward.”</div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="line-height: 150%;">How might this parable seen through this approach be speaking to us today? For many of us the Kingdom of God isn’t solely concerned with the sweet by and by but with how we live in the here and now, for as Jesus said elsewhere, the kingdom of God is within and among you. What would it mean for us to take to heart the words, “the last will be first and the first will be last? “ </span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 150%;">The lessons from Exodus and the Gospel perhaps are inviting us to see things from a different perspective, to live with a deeper sense of connectivity and gratitude with a God who liberates captives and with each other, each one of us equally valuable whether we got here for worship at 8 a.m. or at 10 a.m. </span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="line-height: 150%;">Connectivity and gratitude, with a liberating God, with one another, each equally valuable in God’s eye. I know that Our Savior is a strong parish that is connected and that is grateful. But might there be ways that these ancient sacred stories are prompting you to, as Professor Levine suggests, “ attend to those who do not have jobs and make sure everyone has what is needed”? </span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="line-height: 150%;">Perhaps my visiting today is a reminder to you of your parish’s connection to California Interfaith Power & Light, and an invitation to consider getting more deeply connected with the work we do with congregations all over the Golden State? Yesterday I visited a Catholic church in the Central Valley, a region that is feeling the consequences of our warming planet in very different ways than those of us on the coast. Just spending a few hours there in Stanislaus County reminded me of how valuable having a Central Valley organizer would be to work with our member congregations in the region. Increased support from congregations like yours in Marin County could make a difference in our efforts to reach out and engage more people of faith in districts whose political leaders are not as climate-minded as those here. </span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="line-height: 150%;">Or perhaps these texts and this visit is a reminder of how blessed we are to be in a Diocese that is at the forefront of essential movements for social change from LGBT equality to environmentalism. While we as Episcopalians may not be large in numbers, and our Diocese may only represent a portion of the Bay Area, I can assure you that our leadership as individuals, parishes and together as a region have and continue to make a huge difference. Sometimes our size can work in our favor, especially on something like climate change, imagine if every one of our Diocesan churches were to strive for carbon neutrality or even took out more carbon from the atmosphere than we release? Imagine if each of our churches was powered by 100 percent renewable energy, was committed to zero waste and people either, walked, took transit, or commuted to services in zero emission vehicles? Imagine if we did all that and at the same time created a fund to help congregations in other parts of our state and the world do the same things? What if our beautiful Diocesan conference centers not only strove to be models of sustainability but worked to help every Episcopal conference center in the U.S. become leaders in their dioceses for zero waste, carbon neutrality and sustainability? At the end of the day hopefully we won’t mind that we all get paid the same wage which in this case might simply be a habitable planet for our children and grandchildren.</span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 150%;">In closing I’d like to share with you the powerful words of the late great Verna Dozier, an Episcopal lay woman. She wrote: </span></div>
<span style="line-height: 107%;"><i>"We have lost the capacity to dream great dreams. We reduce God to the personal, private, ’spiritual’ sphere of our lives, and ministry to personal, private, ’spiritual’ acts - a good deed here, a good deed there, a cup of cold water here, a loaf of freshly baked bread there, a prison visit here, a hospital call there, a night in a shelter here, a time with a troubled friend there. We see no need to challenge the systems that make these ‘ministries’ necessary.<br />The call to ministry is the call to be a citizen of the kingdom of God in a new way, the daring, free, accepting, compassionate way Jesus modeled. It means being bound by no yesterday, fearing no tomorrow, drawing no lines between friend and foe, the acceptable ones and the outcasts. Ministry is commitment to the dream of God."</i><br />
<br /> </span></span><b><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;"><br /></span></b>Willhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13108687139103021982noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32343538.post-18159723432758224172017-10-08T21:12:00.001-07:002017-10-08T21:12:26.619-07:00costly revolutions of the heart<div class="passageref">
Sermon preached Sunday, September 17th <br /><a href="http://diocal.org/congregations/christ-church-sei-ko-kai-san-francisco" target="_blank">Christ Church Sei Ko Kai, San Francisco </a><br />Lessons: <br /><a href="http://bible.oremus.org/?ql=369102142" target="_blank">Exodus 14: 19-31 </a></div>
<div class="passageref">
<a href="http://bible.oremus.org/?ql=176000381" target="_blank">Romans 14:1-12</a></div>
<div class="passageref">
<a href="http://bible.oremus.org/?ql=181829292" target="_blank">Matthew 18:21-35</a></div>
<div class="passageref">
<br /></div>
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Body Text Indent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Body Text Indent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Block Text"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Hyperlink"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="FollowedHyperlink"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="22" QFormat="true" Name="Strong"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="20" QFormat="true" Name="Emphasis"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Document Map"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Plain Text"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="E-mail Signature"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Top of Form"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Bottom of Form"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Normal (Web)"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Acronym"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Address"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Cite"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Code"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Definition"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Keyboard"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Preformatted"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Sample"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Typewriter"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Variable"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Normal Table"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="annotation subject"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="No List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Outline List 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Outline List 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Outline List 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Simple 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Simple 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Simple 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Classic 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Classic 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Classic 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Classic 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Colorful 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Colorful 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Colorful 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Columns 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Columns 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Columns 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Columns 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Columns 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 7"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 8"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 7"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 8"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table 3D effects 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table 3D effects 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table 3D effects 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Contemporary"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Elegant"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Professional"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Subtle 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Subtle 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Web 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Web 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Web 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Balloon Text"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="Table Grid"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Theme"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" Name="Placeholder Text"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="1" QFormat="true" Name="No Spacing"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" Name="Revision"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="34" QFormat="true"
Name="List Paragraph"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="29" QFormat="true" Name="Quote"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="30" QFormat="true"
Name="Intense Quote"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="19" QFormat="true"
Name="Subtle Emphasis"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="21" QFormat="true"
Name="Intense Emphasis"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="31" QFormat="true"
Name="Subtle Reference"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="32" QFormat="true"
Name="Intense Reference"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="33" QFormat="true" Name="Book Title"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="37" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" Name="Bibliography"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" QFormat="true" Name="TOC Heading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="41" Name="Plain Table 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="42" Name="Plain Table 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="43" Name="Plain Table 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="44" Name="Plain Table 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="45" Name="Plain Table 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="40" Name="Grid Table Light"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46" Name="Grid Table 1 Light"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51" Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52" Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="Grid Table 1 Light Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="Grid Table 1 Light Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="Grid Table 1 Light Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="Grid Table 1 Light Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="Grid Table 1 Light Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="Grid Table 1 Light Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46" Name="List Table 1 Light"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="List Table 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="List Table 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="List Table 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="List Table 5 Dark"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51" Name="List Table 6 Colorful"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52" Name="List Table 7 Colorful"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="List Table 1 Light Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="List Table 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="List Table 3 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="List Table 4 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="List Table 5 Dark Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="List Table 6 Colorful Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="List Table 7 Colorful Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="List Table 1 Light Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="List Table 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="List Table 3 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="List Table 4 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="List Table 5 Dark Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="List Table 6 Colorful Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="List Table 7 Colorful Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="List Table 1 Light Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="List Table 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="List Table 3 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="List Table 4 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="List Table 5 Dark Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="List Table 6 Colorful Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="List Table 7 Colorful Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="List Table 1 Light Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="List Table 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="List Table 3 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="List Table 4 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="List Table 5 Dark Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="List Table 6 Colorful Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="List Table 7 Colorful Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="List Table 1 Light Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="List Table 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="List Table 3 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="List Table 4 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="List Table 5 Dark Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="List Table 6 Colorful Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="List Table 7 Colorful Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="List Table 1 Light Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="List Table 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="List Table 3 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="List Table 4 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="List Table 5 Dark Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="List Table 6 Colorful Accent 6"/>
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Yesterday was my Dad’s birthday, we talk once a week or so, he lives on the East Coast and often the topics we discuss include politics, what’s happening at the Episcopal Church where I grew up that just celebrated their 50<sup>th</sup> anniversary as a parish, and family history. When I told him that I couldn’t talk long because I needed to work on my sermon --- he asked what the readings were and then went on to tell me a few stories. He talked about his long deceased father, my grandfather’s panic attacks driving at night and how he thought those were connected to his experiences serving as skipper on a boat, an LCT Craft during World War 2 in the Solomon Islands, my Dad isn’t sure what sort of combat his father had experienced during the war, because his Dad didn’t like to talk about it, but he did say that carrying coffins and gasoline around at night on the open sea must have been scary. My Grandfather died relatively young perhaps a consequence of alcoholism and diabetes, we believe he suffered from PTSD at a time few people understood what that was or what could be done to help.</div>
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My Dad went on, despite my having said, I need to go, I’ve got this sermon to write, to talk about an NPR story he’d heard awhile ago about an African American WWII veteran who had returned from the war and in a southern city, perhaps Jacksonville where his mother, my grandmother was raised, and where her Dad my great grandfather had served as an Episcopal priest. The black veteran who was in uniform saw that there was a whites-only cafeteria and that Italian and German prisoners of war were being seated there, the black veteran couldn’t find the black only section and went inside to ask where he could find it, the management of the cafeteria began harassing him and called the police to have him arrested for coming inside. <br /></div>
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When I told my Dad that I was preaching at your historic congregation he knew something of your community’s story without my needing to tell him. He immediately said how outrageous and wrong it was that so many Japanese Americans had to endure internment camps but very few Italian and German Americans did.<br /></div>
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Today’s lessons from sacred scripture give us much to consider, the iconic story of God parting the sea allowing Moses and the Israelites to cross over and then drowning Pharaoh’s army and Jesus insisting on forgiveness being an essential part of the life of the church.<br /></div>
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Starting with the story from Exodus, as someone raised in a family committed to nonviolence, despite having or perhaps because of significant military experience all the way back to the Revolutionary War, the idea that God would drown the Army of Pharaoh has always left me uncomfortable. Wasn’t Pharaoh’s Army just carrying out their leaders orders?<br /></div>
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The biblical narrative seems to suggest that God is not a fan of empires, whose ever they are, and that the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob favors the underdog and chooses to work with particular communities of human beings so that they might be a blessing to all the families of the earth. Pharaoh and the Egypt he ruled were brutal task masters, who behaved like many empires before and after them considering themselves almighty and even divine, oppressing the weak and ruling unjustly.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Hebrew slaves had no weapons, all they had was faith in God and trust that by following God’s liberating voice coming from Moses and a burning bush life outside the empire of Egypt would be better than life in bondage.<br /></div>
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Jesus in today’s Gospel like Moses seems to believe that God was calling him to lead a revolution, but one that required no weapons but trust and faithfulness. A revolution of the heart, one that could reach wealthy lords as well as slaves.<br /></div>
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Today’s gospel seems to suggest that forgiveness is not something that we can demand of others only something we can seek humbly, offer, and practice. A great hymn that has always fed me is “its me, its me oh lord standing in the need of prayer…Not my father not my mother but its me oh lord, not the preacher not the teacher but its me oh lord.” Our nation seems to be at a critical moment when each one of us is being challenged to live into our better natures, to work for a more perfect union inviting us who call ourselves Christians to seek humbly, offer and practice forgiveness. Forgiveness doesn’t mean denying the truths of our nation’s brutal history current or past, in fact in order to really know we need forgiveness we must be confronted with the wrongs we have committed or come face to face with those who have harmed us.<br /></div>
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Dietrich Bonhoeffer in his profound book the Cost of the Discipleship distinguishes between cheap grace and costly grace. Cheap grace he says and I am paraphrasing a bit is: the preaching of forgiveness without requiring repentance, church discipline. confession. Cheap grace is grace without discipleship, without the cross, without Jesus Christ. Costly Grace Bonhoeffer says confronts us as a gracious call to follow Jesus, it comes as a word of forgiveness to the broken spirit and the contrite heart. It is costly because it compels a person to submit to the yoke of Christ and follow him.</div>
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That’s why I feel so grateful for having been part of the Episcopal Diocese of California these past 10 years, even as it has been far from easy. I have learned so much from my own and others struggles, challenges, misunderstandings, and earnest pursuits of truth, justice and love. We are thanks be to God a rainbow of congregations, institutions, organizations, and individuals who are hopefully growing more and more in our awareness of the need to seek and practice forgiveness. May we with no weapons, armed with our trust and love of God continue to pursue a future in a land of freedom and not bondage, may we be able to distinguish the voices of Pharaohs from the voices of Prophets and may we together find ways to be a blessing to all the families of the earth, siblings in Jesus’ revolution of the heart.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
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-The Rev. Will Scott</div>
Willhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13108687139103021982noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32343538.post-8816400274813642672017-10-08T21:04:00.002-07:002017-10-08T21:30:49.887-07:00sometimes you have to take all the drawers out...<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<h4 class="passageref">
Sermon Preached September 10th, 2017</h4>
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<a href="http://diocal.org/congregations/christ-church-sei-ko-kai-san-francisco" target="_blank">Christ Church Sei Ko Kai, San Francisco </a></div>
Readings: <br />
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<a href="http://bible.oremus.org/?ql=369094376" target="_blank">Exodus 12: 1-14</a></div>
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<a href="http://bible.oremus.org/?ql=371558153" target="_blank">Romans 13:8-14</a></div>
<a href="http://bible.oremus.org/?ql=371610694" target="_blank">Matthew 18:15-20</a><br />
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<a href="http://bible.oremus.org/?ql=371610694" target="_blank"><br /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "garamond" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Perhaps you have heard the phrase by the novelist James Joyce, “in the particular is contained the universal.” This idea might be helpful to keep in mind when considering today’s readings. The portion of Exodus is all about the details of the Passover ritual meal, Paul’s letter to the Romans reminds us that love is the fulfilling of the law, and the Gospel of Matthew gives instruction on how to deal with difficulties between members of the church. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "garamond" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Over the course of a few months I noticed that a set of drawers were not functioning properly, with some effort I could get them to work but then after a little while of using them they’d not work again. Eventually I took all the drawers out and realized that a tiny but important part was missing. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "garamond" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">A life of faith can sometimes feel like that, we can forget that in the very details of our daily lives is where we find God. We can forget to ask what’s missing --- we assume it’s all there and sometimes we need to get back to the basics, turn things over, look for the original instructions.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "garamond" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Rituals help us slow down and pay attention, whether that ritual is Passover or simply saying a short prayer before we begin eating a meal. Perhaps those who put together the lectionary wanted us to see that practicing forgiveness is as important a ritual as Passover and requires a level of discipline, patience, planning and intention. Just like the Israelites were given specific instructions about how to prepare the Passover meal, from how to cook the lamb to what to wear while eating it, the Gospel of Matthew gives a step by step process for how to confront someone who has hurt us. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "garamond" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">1)</span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"> </span><span style="font-family: "garamond" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">First talk to them. </span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "garamond" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">2)</span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"> </span><span style="font-family: "garamond" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">If they don’t listen, bring a few folks with you </span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "garamond" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">3)</span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"> </span><span style="font-family: "garamond" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">If that doesn’t work, bring it before the whole community, and if that doesn’t work</span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "garamond" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">4)</span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"> </span><span style="font-family: "garamond" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Treat them as you would a non-believer or a tax collector.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "garamond" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Of course, Jesus hung around a lot with nonbelievers and with tax collectors but I think the point is that this means you just move on, and let go of the matter regardless of how you feel about it, don’t let that wrong pollute your heart and mind or take you away from your walk with God. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "garamond" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">This has been a profoundly challenging time for our nation and for the world. In the midst of so much fear and anxiety, from hate groups marching on Charlottesville to multiple deadly storms, heat waves and wildfires, remembering who we are, and whose we are can provide us with courage and hope. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "garamond" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Our reading from Exodus today reminded me of a story that former President Barack Obama shared at his last Hanukkah celebration in the White House recalling a story of Ellie Wiesel: </span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "garamond" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">In one of his memories of the Holocaust, Elie watched a fellow prisoner trade his daily ration of bread for some simple materials with which to piece together a makeshift menorah. And he wrote that he couldn’t believe the sacrifices this man was making to observe the holidays. A stunned Elie asked him, “Hanukkah in Auschwitz?” And the man replied, “Especially in Auschwitz.”</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "garamond" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "garamond" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">The Passover, is the most important of all Jewish holidays, and is about remembering God’s liberating power, freeing the Hebrew slaves from bondage in Egypt. This story is foundational to our faith tradition as well, much of our Eucharistic language surrounding the meal of bread and wine we share each week in Protestant and Catholic Churches is connected with Passover. While communion is a reminder of and mysteriously an enacting of Jesus' last supper the very meal Jesus shared with his disciples was Passover. There are so many things to say about Passover and about the connectivity of this powerful tradition with our own. But there's also a danger I think in many of our Christian traditions to over explain, to say far more than needs to be said, forgetting to honor the simplicity, the earthiness, and the mysterious timelessness of these ritual meals of liberating power.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Whatever the context we are in, or our world may be in, the Passover and communion meals in staying pretty much the same over many century's hold an immense power to shift things in human minds and hearts toward hope and courage. As Paul might say, these rituals, can awaken us for loving our neighbors as ourselves. Imagine for a moment all the places Passover or communion has been observed, from those in mortal danger to those at the front lines of movements for human rights. One of my seminary professors often reminded her students of when during the Vietnam war era seminarians and clergy opposing the war held a service of communion at the entrance to the Pentagon. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">As a priest working with faith communities of all sorts on addressing the moral questions of the climate crisis these readings remind me that our faith traditions have so much to share with movements for positive change. A Berkeley artist friend who has made a life of helping activists communicate their messages through the visual arts reminded me once that faith communities are so valuable because we know the importance of sharing stories. Without stories our faith traditions would be largely long lists of dos and don'ts, and the same is true for social movements. If we don't tell stories of how we got from one place to another, how humanity has overcome mighty empires, systemic evil and unbelievable suffering than how will we find our way through our current struggles?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">So today we are reminded to tell stories of liberation, to share food and to reach out to those who may have wronged us. One of the gifts of my current job is I get to visit many communities of faith and hear the stories of their engagement on climate change, from planning a solar rooftop project to championing fossil fuel divestment and clean air protections. What has been so inspiring is discovering that these communities by doing these things are remembering and embodying values they've always had, love for neighbor, concern for the suffering and a commitment to work across difference for the sake of the common good. I am so glad to know the Sei Ko Kai is exploring solar and I hope that as you embrace this shift in how you power your building that you think through how this connects to your community’s long history of advancing human progress. Add this new 21st century development to the powerful narrative of your community’s resilience, perseverance, and enduring commitment to love your neighbor as yourself.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">I look forward to hearing your stories after the service this week and next. Thanks so much for welcoming me.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Amen.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><i>-The Rev. Will Scott </i></span></div>
Willhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13108687139103021982noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32343538.post-80389174356614491232017-03-12T15:01:00.000-07:002017-03-16T11:25:37.727-07:00born from above <!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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Name="footnote text"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="annotation text"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="header"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="footer"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="index heading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="35" SemiHidden="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="table of figures"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="envelope address"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="envelope return"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="footnote reference"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="annotation reference"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="line number"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="page number"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="endnote reference"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="endnote text"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="table of authorities"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="macro"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="toa heading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Bullet"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Number"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Bullet 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Bullet 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="10" QFormat="true" Name="Title"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Signature"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="1" SemiHidden="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Body Text"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Body Text Indent"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Message Header"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="11" QFormat="true" Name="Subtitle"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Body Text First Indent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Body Text Indent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Block Text"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Hyperlink"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="FollowedHyperlink"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="22" QFormat="true" Name="Strong"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="20" QFormat="true" Name="Emphasis"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Plain Text"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="E-mail Signature"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Top of Form"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Bottom of Form"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Normal (Web)"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Acronym"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Address"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Cite"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Code"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Definition"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Keyboard"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Preformatted"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Sample"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Typewriter"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Normal Table"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Outline List 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Outline List 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Outline List 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Colorful 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Colorful 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Columns 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Columns 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Columns 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 8"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table 3D effects 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table 3D effects 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Contemporary"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Elegant"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Professional"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Subtle 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Subtle 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Web 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Balloon Text"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="Table Grid"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" Name="Placeholder Text"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="1" QFormat="true" Name="No Spacing"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" Name="Revision"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="34" QFormat="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="29" QFormat="true" Name="Quote"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="30" QFormat="true"
Name="Intense Quote"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="19" QFormat="true"
Name="Subtle Emphasis"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="21" QFormat="true"
Name="Intense Emphasis"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="31" QFormat="true"
Name="Subtle Reference"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="32" QFormat="true"
Name="Intense Reference"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="33" QFormat="true" Name="Book Title"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="37" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" Name="Bibliography"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" QFormat="true" Name="TOC Heading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="41" Name="Plain Table 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="42" Name="Plain Table 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="43" Name="Plain Table 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="44" Name="Plain Table 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="45" Name="Plain Table 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="40" Name="Grid Table Light"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46" Name="Grid Table 1 Light"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51" Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52" Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="Grid Table 1 Light Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="Grid Table 1 Light Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="Grid Table 1 Light Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="Grid Table 1 Light Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful Accent 4"/>
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<b><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 18.0pt;">Genesis 12:1-4</span></i></b><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">12Now the Lord said to Abram, ‘Go from your country and your
kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. <sup>2</sup>I
will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you, and make your name
great, so that you will be a blessing. <sup>3</sup>I will bless those who bless
you, and the one who curses you I will curse; and in you all the families of
the earth shall be blessed.’<sup>*</sup> </span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-outline-level: 2;">
<b><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 18.0pt;">John 3:1-17</span></i></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">3Now there was a Pharisee named Nicodemus, a leader of the
Jews. <sup>2</sup>He came to Jesus<sup>*</sup> by night and said to him,
‘Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God; for no one can do
these signs that you do apart from the presence of God.’ <sup>3</sup>Jesus
answered him, ‘Very truly, I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God
without being born from above.’<sup>*</sup> <sup>4</sup>Nicodemus said to him,
‘How can anyone be born after having grown old? Can one enter a second time
into the mother’s womb and be born?’ <sup>5</sup>Jesus answered, ‘Very truly, I
tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God without being born of water and
Spirit. <sup>6</sup>What is born of the flesh is flesh, and what is born of the
Spirit is spirit.<sup>*</sup> <sup>7</sup>Do not be astonished that I said to
you, “You<sup>*</sup> must be born from above.”<sup>*</sup> <sup>8</sup>The
wind<sup>*</sup> blows where it chooses, and you hear the sound of it, but you
do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is
born of the Spirit.’ <sup>9</sup>Nicodemus said to him, ‘How can these things
be?’ <sup>10</sup>Jesus answered him, ‘Are you a teacher of Israel, and yet you
do not understand these things?</span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">11 ‘Very truly, I tell you, we speak of what we know
and testify to what we have seen; yet you<sup>*</sup> do not receive our
testimony. <sup>12</sup>If I have told you about earthly things and you do not
believe, how can you believe if I tell you about heavenly things? <sup>13</sup>No
one has ascended into heaven except the one who descended from heaven, the Son
of Man.<sup>*</sup> <sup>14</sup>And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the
wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, <sup>15</sup>that whoever
believes in him may have eternal life.<sup>*</sup> </span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">16 ‘For God so loved the world that he gave his only
Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal
life. 17 ‘Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the
world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.</span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><br />I am grateful for the opportunity to
get to know your parish St. Alban’s, Albany. I read recently that your town in
part was founded when a group of women mounted a protest against garbage
dumping. Serendipitously, as you may know, I work as a staff person at
California Interfaith Power & Light an organization founded and led by
women seeking to halt planet warming pollution, our focus is helping people of
all faiths understand and respond to climate change. While the danger to
planetary health was significant before our nation’s current political crisis,
the policies, tweets and cozy relationship held with the fossil fuel industry
by this Administration are threatening to make things even worse, and so have
amplified the importance and urgency of our work. The lessons appointed for today
the 2<sup>nd</sup> Sunday in Lent particularly from Genesis and John’s gospel
offer us an opportunity to remember not just who we are, but <b><i>whose</i></b>
we are and the saving and blessing work we are invited into as people born from
above.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Like many of you perhaps, I was
raised in a context where the term “Born Again Christian” was thrown around as
a way of distinguishing one group of Christians from others. However, I would
like to invite us to look at this gospel text and the lesson from Genesis
whether we consider ourselves believers or not, as doorways into a conversation
about our common humanity and our common home.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><br />Abram in the text from Genesis is
given a promise, despite being old and childless at the time, that through him
and his offspring all the families of the earth will be blessed. A little later
Abram along with his wife Sarai will receive new names, becoming Abraham and
Sarah. He will be told that his descendants will be as numerous as the
stars in the sky. In case you are wondering there are about 100 billion stars
in our Milky Way galaxy alone. When we consider old poetic stories about
spiritual ancestors I hope we are able to open up to awe and wonder, which if
these characters existed at all, must have been what they felt. When we read
these stories by candle light in our church buildings, I hope we are able to
imagine their context or at least some of the places in which they may have
originally been told perhaps at first by word of mouth. Can we even just a
little bit see and feel those rugged deserts, the deep dark blue skies
unpolluted by electric lights or smog. The short passage from Genesis we heard
read this morning comes just after the Tower of Babel and a description of
Abraham’s forebears. Perhaps we are given this snippet of text to remind us of
the wildness and audaciousness of our spiritual ancestors. Abram leaves all
that is familiar to him to go to where ever it is that God shows him. Here in
this little fragment of Genesis we are shown what faith looks like. In Hebrew
the word for faith is really best translated as trust. To leave all that is
familiar, to go on a journey to literally God knows where. That’s what biblical
faith, biblical trust looks like.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">And trust is what Paul is going on
about in Romans. Lent, this season we are living into together the hymns, the
prayers, the poetry of our liturgy are all in a way are invitations to nurture
within ourselves and our communities trust. Trust in and for God, trust in the
strange wisdom of our wild traditions that if we work at it, if we allow
ourselves to open up to that something greater we can find access to an eternal
spring of hope and possibility, an abundant renewable resource that can allow
us to confront the darkness of our time with hope.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><br />Nicodemus comes under a star
speckled night sky to talk with Jesus. He is a man connected with some of the
powerful people who will ultimately be part of Jesus’ execution. Perhaps like
Nicodemus we are confused about our relationship to Jesus and to the salvific
vision that he has for us and the world. Perhaps we don’t feel very clear about
our identities as people born from above.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">I don’t think that Nicodemus is a
dense man who when he asks Jesus about being born again basically saying
“that’s impossible a person can’t climb back into their mother’s womb.” I think
he’s trying to get to the If that’s not it, what are you talking about Jesus?
Perhaps Jesus is telling the truth by ruling out the obvious. Perhaps Jesus is
saying that in order to experience eternal life, and eternal of course doesn’t
mean life after death, but lasting forever without beginning or ending, we must
remember the wild and audacious trust of our forefathers and mothers in the
faith and cultivate that same awe and wonder. Theologians sometimes talk about
the difference between Kairos time and chronos time, chronos being our linear
day to day lives and Kairos being God’s time since God is eternal for God all
time is present all at once. When we cultivate a relationship with the Divine,
we can find ourselves at least inwardly perhaps in other ways as well set free
from fear, liberated from all limitations. That kind of faith is good news to
the oppressed, good news to the poor, good news to the broken hearted, good
news to all of us wondering what is really going on in our nation. When we
remember whose we are, people born from above, we can act in the world more
boldly for healing, for justice, for peace and take risks that we might not
otherwise take.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><br />So by showing up in this place on
this day by walking the path of Lent by coming in our own way like Nicodemus to
Jesus with our questions--with our anxieties--we can find renewed strength and
vigor.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><br />Since the election I have been
working at creating more space in my life for prayer which I find comes more
naturally when I am outdoors, near water, plants, and animals. In the morning
I’ve stopped turning on the news which I used to do all the time, not because I
don’t care what’s going on but because I know I will need strength from
something and somewhere and someone else to face the news and my work later in
the day. While I sit often in silence for a good while, I will occasionally
read something. I’ve just finished Mary Oliver’s book of essays called
“Upstream” and she has a whole section about the time she built a little house
in her yard nearly entirely out of discarded wood she found at the dump.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><br />Nicodemus’ late night chat with
Jesus to me is an invitation to look at ourselves--<b><u>and one another</u></b>--as
people born from above, who are as Jesus says not about condemning but abo<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;">ut</span>
saving. Saving discarded wood and also discarded people.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><br />The other day I was walking in San
Francisco and ran across a poster honoring the work of an early LGBT group
called <a href="http://www.foundsf.org/index.php?title=1966_Vanguard_Sweep" target="_blank">Vanguard</a> who in 1966 organized a cleanup day of Market Street where many
queer homeless community members were being swept out by police. Pushing brooms
the activists wore signs that read “All Trash is before the broom.” In their
way saying what <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethel_Waters" target="_blank">Ethel Waters</a> did, “God doesn’t make no junk.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">In that spirit the organization I
work for <a href="http://www.interfaithpower.org/greenjobs/" target="_blank">California Interfaith Power & Light</a> is hosting a jobs fair on
April 15<sup>th</sup> in Oakland to connect those who have experienced barriers
to employment with opportunities in the growing green economy. We hope that
this jobs fair will inspire even greater efforts to challenge our throwaway
society, one that treats so many of God’s creatures human and other wise as
disposable. We must challenge the idea that some lives are more valuable and
worthy of protection than other. Caring for the earth, our fragile island home
is as much a justice and human rights issue as it is an environmental one.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><br />We as people born from above, must
learn as Jesus teaches us to ground our identities not in our close
associations with the earthly powerful and well connected but with the source
of all power and who connects us with all creation. On Ash Wednesday our Lenten
journey began with ashes on our head, the same dust that makes up the stars in
the night sky. Being born from above ---- means taking on a new identity fueled
by eternal life, by Kairos time, by God: <u>available to us here and now</u>.
In closing I’d like to share the last two verses of a poem by Percy Dearmer:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /><i>4 For righteousness<br />
and peace will show their faces<br />
to those who feed<br />
the hungry in their need,<br />
and wrongs redress,<br />
who build the old waste places,<br />
and in the darkness shine.<br />
Divine, divine,<br />
divine it is when all combine!</i></span></div>
<i>
</i><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<i><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">5 Then shall your light<br />
break forth as doth the morning;<br />
your health shall spring,<br />
the friends you make shall bring<br />
God's glory bright,<br />
your way through life adorning;<br />
and love shall be the prize.<br />
Arise, arise,<br />
arise! and make a paradise!</span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<i><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">The Rev. Will Scott, preached March 12, 2017 St. Alban's, Albany, CA </span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
Willhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13108687139103021982noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32343538.post-45784008994517718802014-06-08T20:12:00.001-07:002014-06-08T21:50:48.918-07:00Pentecost with St. Aidan's, San Francisco<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-WnMEiFFpNBA/U5U84X6rLgI/AAAAAAAAA5I/oQG7zNvueec/s1600/firelight.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-WnMEiFFpNBA/U5U84X6rLgI/AAAAAAAAA5I/oQG7zNvueec/s1600/firelight.jpg" height="320" width="320" /></a></span></div>
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">Acts 2:1-21</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">When the day of
Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place. And suddenly from
heaven there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind, and it filled the
entire house where they were sitting. Divided tongues, as of fire, appeared
among them, and a tongue rested on each of them. All of them were filled with
the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages, as the Spirit gave them
ability.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">Now there were
devout Jews from every nation under heaven living in Jerusalem. And at this
sound the crowd gathered and was bewildered, because each one heard them
speaking in the native language of each. Amazed and astonished, they asked,
“Are not all these who are speaking Galileans? And how is it that we hear,
each of us, in our own native language? Parthians, Medes, Elamites, and
residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia,
Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, both
Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabs—in our own languages we hear them
speaking about God’s deeds of power.” All were amazed and perplexed, saying
to one another, “What does this mean?” But others sneered and said, “They are
filled with new wine.”</span><br />
</div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">But Peter, standing
with the eleven, raised his voice and addressed them, “Men of Judea and all who
live in Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and listen to what I say. Indeed, these are not drunk, as you suppose, for it is only nine o’clock in
the morning. No, this is what was spoken through the prophet Joel: ‘In the
last days it will be, God declares, that I will pour out my Spirit upon all
flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men
shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams. Even upon my slaves,
both men and women, in those days I will pour out my Spirit; and they shall
prophesy. And I will show portents in the heaven above and signs on the earth
below, blood, and fire, and smoky mist. The sun shall be turned to darkness
and the moon to blood, before the coming of the Lord’s great and glorious day.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">Dear
St. Aidan’s, what an honor to celebrate this amazing liturgical feast of
Pentecost with you, and happy birthday! They say this day is the birthday of
the church--not just this church, but all churches. St. Aidan’s, though, has
been listening to and attempting to keep up with that same revolutionary Spirit,
described in our reading from Acts as sounding like rushing wind and appearing
as strange fire on the heads of that odd group of aspiring Jesus followers,
since your founding. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>At age 60 this
year, you are still one of the youngest churches in the Diocese of California
and the second youngest in the city of San Francisco. Your congregation’s
profound authenticity and courage through the years has borne witness to the
Divine Spirit’s eagerness to embrace humanity--each and every one of us--and
put us to joyful work for the common good. Whether it was protesting for civil
rights, or welcoming earlier than others the leadership of ordained women like Deacon
Phyllis Edwards and the Rt. Reverend Nedi Rivera, or ministering to, with, and
for the LGBT community before, after and during the HIV/AIDS crisis, St. Aidan’s
has shown the whole church and the city of San Francisco what following the
Spirit can look like.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">In
recent years you and your bold Rector have continued to provide robust and
creative leadership, modeling what neighborhood engagement is all about: supporting
the Night Ministry, Sojourn Chaplaincy, Sacred Space San Francisco, your food
pantry, and getting not just your congregation prepared, but the whole Diocese
prepared for disasters. By the way, Father Tommy told me yesterday that he’s
got quite a packed schedule today befitting the significance of Pentecost:
visiting the historic Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta where The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther
King Jr. preached the gospel, attending a Methodist church with a friend, and then
a gospel drag brunch at a restaurant called Lips.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">The
Spirit of Pentecost, the Spirit that animates all life and that does something
particular it seems with folks like you and me who are interested in the way of
Jesus, puts us in strange places with strange people and asks us to do some
tough stuff as we together seek to turn the world around. It doesn’t mean we are
going to end up healthy, wealthy and wise, at least not in the ways that the
world measures success.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Most of the
individuals I’ve known in my life that were really noticeably living in the Spirit
have scars and wounds from having put themselves out there for justice, truth,
compassion and the dignity of others. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If
they haven’t literally been shot at, they have been the victims of cruelty,
gossip, been ignored and persecuted or are flat broke, but all the while they
have carried that flame, that fire with them, and that has made all the
difference. That flame, that fire doesn’t always make a church large, doesn’t
always make a crowd fall on their knees, and isn’t contained by an institution
or its trappings.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That fire, that flame
abides with each one of us uniquely and inspires us to listen and pay attention
to the particulars of our story, our community, our day-to-day lives. That
flame, that fire, empowers us to be ourselves where we are and to be witnesses
to the love and liberating power of Christ.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">The
other day I was visiting a friend of mine in Berkeley who works for the
Bancroft Library. He told me about what was going on there this past week, an
event called BREATH OF LIFE / SILENT NO MORE Language Restoration Workshop for California
Indian Languages hosted by The Advocates for Indigenous California Language
Survival and The Survey of California and Other Indian Languages. I thought of
Pentecost as my friend spoke about the profoundly moving experience of watching
people come into that large, venerable academic institution, many for the first
time, and open up archives and discover recordings of their ancestors. To me it
is the Holy Spirit, the Divine Spirit that helps us individual human beings
appreciate in a deep way the experience of others. When we are in touch with
the Spirit we are like those flaming in Acts.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>We are able to be in touch with our authentic selves, our roots and
at the same time understand and comprehend the meaning and significance of others. We may not
know their language but we can “get” the pain, joy, grief or experience of
another. It is a failure to listen, a failure to appreciate, a failure to be in
and of the Spirit that leads us astray that allows us to be cruel, inhumane,
and oppressive of others --- that allows us to say my language is better than
your language, or my religion is truer than your religion, that forces my way
on another. The genocide of indigenous peoples that many of our
Episcopal/Anglican ancestors were part of, were complicit with and in some
parts of the world may still perpetuate –is a consequence of our human failure
to honor the dignity and worth of every human being, a failure to walk in the
way of Jesus and a failure to take in the meaning of Pentecost.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">In 2009
the Episcopal General Convention repudiated the Doctrine of Discovery. </span><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">The Doctrine of
Discovery is a key premise for non-Indigenous government claims to legitimacy
on and sovereignty over Indigenous lands and territories. It is used in
particular by former British colonies, specifically Canada, Australia, New
Zealand and the United States. In 2012, Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts
Schori issued a pastoral lettering saying, “We seek to address the need for
healing in all parts of society, and we stand in solidarity with indigenous
peoples globally to acknowledge and address the legacy of colonial occupation
and policies of domination.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Our
Christian heritage has taught us that a healed community of peace is only
possible in the presence of justice for all peoples.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We seek to build such a beloved community
that can be a sacred household for all creation, a society of right
relationships.” So much of the Christian Church, both Catholicism and
Protestant operated for centuries with such a wrong approach to engagement with
other peoples. Our church’s acknowledgement of that wrong belief by repudiating
the doctrine of Discovery should make us wonder what other destructive ideas
and interpretations is the church still clinging to that contaminate our
witness to a God of love, justice and peace? Are we failing by not collectively
and individually embracing more dramatic changes in our contemporary lives
relating to climate change and gun control? In both cases, science and
technology point us towards healing and right action, yet we are far too slow
to act. Perhaps we need to welcome and ask the Spirit to set us ablaze with a passion
strong enough to become the organizers and activists needed for our time--to
challenge ourselves, businesses, organizations and schools to dramatically lower
our carbon footprints, switch to clean energy technology and encourage divestment
from both gun making and oil drilling. What could be a more Pentecost-like
agenda than advocating for solar, wind and a world with fewer weapons?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">So what
is our Pentecost lesson today? That life in the Spirit is different. When we
are set ablaze something happens to us. We experience a sense of belonging and
solidarity with others and the cosmos that transcends all divisions, and at the
same time gives us a deeper awareness of our distinctiveness as individuals
with unique gifts, stories, opportunities and experiences. We are moved, as Peter
was, to speak prophetic truth about the Divine’s embrace, quoting Joel:</span></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">In the last days it will be, God declares
that I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh, and your sons and your daughters
shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall
dream dreams. Even upon my slaves, both men and women, in those days I will pour
out my Spirit; and they shall prophesy… everyone who calls on the name of the
Lord shall be saved.</span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">Our
work, it seems, is to give voice to the inclusive love of God, and to open
ourselves up to hearing that message come back to us from anywhere or anyone. Yesterday
I was in a book store and discovered an interesting title, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">In Search of the Christian Buddha</i>, which is about an Islamic legend
called Barlaam and Josaphat that is actually a retelling of the story of Siddhartha
Gautama that was ultimately embraced by both western and eastern Christianity. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">Just as
the Apostles went out from Jerusalem to engage the life of the Spirit with
others, to sell what they had to share with those in need, to care for the sick
and challenge the powerful to greater compassion, we too have work to do.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That work is fueled by the fire of the Spirit
within us and not our own egos or institutional agendas. This Pentecost, let us
take in both the good news and the challenging word that moves us to be witnesses
to the love of God, and that also challenges us to acknowledge where we have
gone astray—or how we have failed to really “get” the message and allow it to
change us. Perhaps the antidote to our past Christian triumphalism is to work
in solidarity with sisters and brothers from other faith traditions, to acknowledge
our past inhumanity, seek deeper understanding of how much we have in common, and
pay attention to how the Pentecost story of Acts might still hold lessons for
us and our communities.Happy Birthday!</span></div>
Willhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13108687139103021982noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32343538.post-86756781277304638252014-04-29T17:08:00.000-07:002014-04-29T17:42:37.389-07:00the truth in front of us...Easter 2<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-BDccOZg8DAA/U2A7j99ZISI/AAAAAAAAA4I/YJB7tF5lrbE/s1600/thomasfinger.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-BDccOZg8DAA/U2A7j99ZISI/AAAAAAAAA4I/YJB7tF5lrbE/s1600/thomasfinger.jpg" height="162" width="400" /></a></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> John 20:19-31</span></i></div>
<i>
</i><br />
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<i><span style="font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">19When it was evening on that day, the first day of the
week, and the doors of the house where the disciples had met were locked for
fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with
you.” 20After he said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the
disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord. 21Jesus said to them again, “Peace
be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.” 22When he had said
this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. 23If you
forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any,
they are retained.” 24But Thomas (who was called the Twin), one of the twelve,
was not with them when Jesus came. 25So the other disciples told him, “We have
seen the Lord.” But he said to them, “Unless I see the mark of the nails in his
hands, and put my finger in the mark of the nails and my hand in his side, I
will not believe.” </span></i></div>
<i>
</i><br />
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<i><span style="font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">26A week later his disciples were again in the house, and
Thomas was with them. Although the doors were shut, Jesus came and stood among
them and said, “Peace be with you.” 27Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger
here and see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it in my side. Do not doubt
but believe.” 28Thomas answered him, “My Lord and my God!” 29Jesus said to him,
“Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not
seen and yet have come to believe.” 30Now Jesus did many other signs in the
presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book. 31But these are
written so that you may come to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of
God, and that through believing you may have life in his name. </span></i></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">This
season of Easter—of death defying hope—messes with our very human desire for
predictability, logic and control. Christ’s resurrection insists that we open
ourselves up to mystery and transcendence; that we make room in our grown-up
lives for child-like amazement, wonder, curiosity and playfulness. Easter is
the circus of faith invading our sleepy dull dust-bowl town of doubt,
entertaining us with dazzling feats of grandeur (empty tombs, angels, strange
gardeners who can walk through walls) insisting that we too join in the fun—and
find our way out of despair into laughter. Easter is more than a spectacle, a
carnival, an amusement—it is an earnest truth that provides hope and light,
rekindling the flames of faith when it seems all hope is lost.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">For
me, Easter is above all about God’s infinite forgiveness. The excruciatingly
violent public execution of a rabble rousing homeless prophet is not left out
of this story—no, it’s all there in painful realism in the first few words of
the first sentence. There they are, that motley crew</span><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;"> of </span><span style="font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">fisherfolk, tax collectors, imperial sympathizers, would-be zealots,
and prostitutes who left homes, jobs and families to wander around with that
odd wonder working teacher.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There they
are, hiding out behind locked doors, sorry leftovers of a clumsy revolution, a
literally put-down, dragged-out revolution, fearful for their very lives.
Imagine the thoughts racing through their traumatized minds, the painful images
of their beloved teacher being humiliated, stripped, beaten, crucified still
vivid for some, the second guessing “why did I follow him?,” shame for having
run away, guilt for having betrayed him, disturbing questions about an empty
tomb and what Mary Magdalene said she saw. Into that dark locked room of
failure, intense anxiety and crushing despair, the disciples hear those gentle
words from that familiar voice: “Peace be with you.”</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">I
don’t know about you, but what I find just as difficult to believe as the
physical bodily resurrection, is Jesus’s forgiveness. The first thing out of
Jesus’ mouth isn’t “Where were you people? When I was up there dying?” or “How
could you lie about knowing me?” or “Man, that really hurt!” Nor are the first
words “Surprise, we won!” <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>No, it’s the
simple “Peace be with you” and a commissioning, “As the Father has sent me, so
I send you.” And this odd line about reconciliation. “If you forgive the sins
of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are
retained.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What the heck does that mean?
Sounds a bit Buddhist, a bit Taoist.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Jesus
breathes on this odd assortment of characters who anyone watching closely would
say kind-of-sort-of let Jesus down, and gives them this profound gift—this
significant freedom to bind and release sins. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">There’s
that word. Sins. Now, I’m an Episcopalian and you folks out there are I’m
assuming, since we’re at Old First Presbyterian, that most of you are probably
Presbyterian or are leaning that way.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I
hear your forebears Calvin and Knox used interesting terms like ”total
depravity” to describe the human condition (which, by the way, sounds like a
bar on Polk Street or in SOMA) —our human incapacity to do anything about our
sinfulness aside from accepting the grace of God freely given. The best
definition for me of sin is anything that separates a person from the love of
God, which could just about be anything really, including the study of
theology. But I digress—this is not a lecture about original sin or
predestination.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Let’s go back to the
story. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">So
Jesus has breathed on the disciples, and given them this commission, saying
just as God, the Source, the Creator sent the Word, the logos, the Divine
reason into the world, Jesus sends these huddled, fearful, confused, and
disorganized people out to transform the world and to get in trouble much the
way he did. So just as God at the beginning of creation breathed life into
Adam, Jesus breathes on the disciples. Jesus breathes on the embers of a nearly
completely stomped out fire, and that same breath continues to breathe life
into us—into our huddled, fearful, confused and disorganized groups of aspiring
Jesus followers. And what does that life look like? It looks like real life but
with more love, more grace, more forgiveness, more compassion, more generosity,
more connectivity and probably a keen awareness of human suffering too. As
Calvin and Knox would remind us, it doesn’t mean we aren’t still sinners, but
through God’s grace we are able to become more and more Christ-like. We are
able to forgive one another, because we have been forgiven. We are able to
stand up for truth, justice, hope and peace (and pay a price for doing so)
because Jesus showed us how in his life, death, and resurrection, and gives humanity
the Holy Spirit, as a companion and guide for the hard work of reconciliation. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The
second part of today’s gospel is odd.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Thomas,
one of the Apostles, missed out on the whole thing. The text doesn’t tell us
what he was up to, just that he wasn’t there in that dark locked room. Perhaps
he needed some time alone, or was unsure about continuing to hang around with
those Jesus people. Who in their right mind wouldn’t be off signing up for a vision
quest, self-help seminar or hastily updating their Linkedin profile after a
mess like that? The first thing the Apostles do, emboldened by the Spirit, is
go find their missing friend and, using the same words Mary Magdalene first
proclaimed, they say, “We have seen the Lord.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>You can’t blame Thomas for not taking his friends’ word for it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>These are people who have experienced
collective trauma, anguish and despair.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>They could be on something, which would be completely
understandable.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So human, reasonable,
rational, sober, Thomas, who much later is made patron saint of architects,
wants more information, details, data…</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Amazingly,
Thomas’s demand for proof is met. Jesus again appears to the disciples saying
“Peace be with you” and Thomas is shown the mark of the nails in his hands, and
puts his finger in the mark of the nails and his hand in Jesus’s side. The
vulnerability of both Thomas and Jesus in this scene exemplifies the trusting,
honest, and sometimes quite painful work that all of us must undertake to be
reconciled with our sisters and brothers. Again and again life presents us with
unimaginable pain, disappointment, injustice, failure, oppression, grief,
confusion, heartache.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Again and again we
must, like Thomas, ask for more information, must speak our truth, lay down our
burdens, admit our doubt and our fears, open ourselves up to criticism and
ridicule. And as Jesus did, there will be times when we will have to show our
scars, and also get up close and personal with others who have endured the
worst kinds of suffering. Too often, it seems the church doesn’t want to go
there, we are afraid of being real with one another about just how hard it is
to believe, to keep the faith, to stay in community with one another.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This city is full of people like Thomas, who
just aren’t showing up anymore, if they ever did, to breathe with one another
and to be breathed on by Jesus—unless you count yoga or crossfit, which might
just qualify. I wonder, though, if we who do gather in churches on a somewhat
regular basis are feeling emboldened, do we experience amazement, are we
witnessing lives transformed by the Spirit, people who have stared oppression
and death in the face and found life on the other side? Do we, like the
Apostles, have reason to share our faith and hope with friends and families?
Perhaps we aren’t making enough room to share our stories, to be vulnerable, to
expose our wounds—to show and tell one another about the ways of the cross we
and our fellow human beings have been walking? </span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">We
don’t have to go very far for more information—for data on the human suffering
all around us and also to find stories of resilience and hope. We could ask the
victims of the prison industrial complex which locks up more African Americans
in the U.S. today than were ever enslaved. In the last 30 years, California has
built 20 new prisons and just one new college campus. Fortunately, there is a
growing movement to bring about profound change in this state and across the
country. Perhaps there are ways for Old First and other congregations to create
spaces for conversations about these efforts to dismantle what has been called
the “New Jim Crow.” We could ask veterans who have given heart, body and soul
for this nation and continue to suffer, often silently, from PTSD, leading some
to take their own lives at a staggering rate. Or we could ask a child whose
parents have been deported due to our country’s “detain and deport” policies. Or
we could more aggressively and honestly speak up about economic inequality, and
lift up the voices of those who have endured enormous hardship from one
generation to another. Or we could talk with victims of human trafficking and
learn more about ways to be part of a contemporary abolitionist movement. We
could talk with scientists about climate change and the opportunities that
abound for cutting emissions and investing in clean energy. One might say, wait
a minute, wait a minute, this is politics! <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What does this have to do with the gospel?
Everything. These are the stories of real life human beings, perhaps even the
stories of people you and I both know or pass by on the street or sit with on
the bus or participate in your inspiring Interfaith Food Pantry. These stories
may even be your story.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They are
certainly the story of our world, nation, state and city.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And most importantly to us who gather each
week in Jesus’s name, these are the stories of the living breathing Body of
Christ. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>These are some of the scars and
wounds suffered, endured and hopefully, with God’s help, overcome. It is
through reaching out and allowing ourselves to be moved by the witness of
others that we encounter the truth in front of us—the resurrected One in our
midst.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Today,
instead of an abstract theological discussion of sin, predestination or bodily
resurrection, the church throughout the world listens to the story of
frightened disciples becoming emboldened apostles, of a man left out, finding
his role in leading others to Jesus. May we hear from Thomas and Jesus an
invitation to deeper conversation, greater vulnerability, more honest
engagement and living hope—not just for ourselves, but for the world that God
so loves. May we, when we doubt, find truths, even if they be painful reminders
of our total depravity, in front of us, inviting us to life in Jesus’s name. May
we become witnesses to resurrection by giving loving attention to the human
details of one another’s real lives.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">In
closing I want to share a poem by a Presbyterian/Episcopalian from Yale
Divinity School named Thomas Troeger. </span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">These
things did Thomas count as real:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">the
warmth of blood, the chill of steel,</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">the
grain of wood, the heft of stone,</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">the
last frail twitch of flesh and bone.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The
vision of his skeptic mind</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">was
keen enough to make him blind</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">to
any unexpected act</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">too
large for his small world of fact.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">His
reasoned certainties denied</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">that
one could live when one had died,</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">until
his fingers read like Braille</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">the
markings of the spear and nail.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">May
we, O God, by grace believe</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">And
thus the risen Christ receive,</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">whose
raw, imprinted palms reach out -</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">and
beckoned Thomas from his doubt.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">-Thomas
Troeger</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">copyright
1994 Oxford University Press</span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">sermon preached Sunday, April 27, 2014 at Old First Presbyterian, San Francisco </span></i></div>
<i><span style="font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">by the Reverend Will Scott</span></i>
Willhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13108687139103021982noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32343538.post-36314290030950964392011-11-14T10:58:00.000-08:002011-11-14T11:06:37.613-08:00New Priorities<div class="MsoNormal">This morning I spent some time at City Hall talking with a number of people connected with the <a href="http://newprioritiesnetwork.org/resources-by-category/">New Priorities Network</a>, and the Bay Area <a href="http://newprioritiescampaign.org/">New Priorities Campaign</a>. The hope is to encourage local communities across the country to collectively speak up for a shift of resources away from war-making towards jobs, healthcare, and education. As one person said of this effort, “This is an opportunity to bring a policy issue that represents the 99% before an elected body."<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-NSlEVC-C--4/TsFmV8FpldI/AAAAAAAAAl8/TDecUO555VU/s1600/investinpeople.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-NSlEVC-C--4/TsFmV8FpldI/AAAAAAAAAl8/TDecUO555VU/s400/investinpeople.png" width="299" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Poster from <a href="http://www.afsc.org/resource/occupy-signs" style="font-size: medium; text-align: -webkit-auto;">http://www.afsc.org/resource/occupy-signs</a></td></tr>
</tbody></table>Below, is what I plan to say to our Board of Supervisors in the coming weeks. Wherever you are, consider connecting with this effort. Join folks all over the country asking our elected officials, at every level, to speak up for funding the priorities we share. <o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Members of the Board of Supervisors,<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">My name is Will Scott, I am the Vicar of St. Cyprian’s Episcopal Church in the Western Addition of San Francisco and live in Bernal Heights. Faith communities in the city of San Francisco as in every part of this country share the challenge of caring for those Jesus called “the least of these” --- we are one of the places people go to seek support in times of economic stress. A few examples:<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"></div><ul><li>In my faith community, congregation members are struggling to keep their homes. Young families are leaving because they can’t afford to stay.</li>
<li>In our neighborhoods the lines at food pantries are getting longer and longer. </li>
<li>The already far too lean budgets of non-profits serving the vulnerable, youth, elders, veterans, the working poor, those who are homeless, mentally ill, and addicted are being cut --- in a time when there are more and more people who rely on these services.</li>
<li>Many people with valuable skills are unemployed or underemployed and have been for years now --- isolation, depression and hopelessness have become daily struggles.</li>
</ul><o:p></o:p><br />
<div class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal">Sometimes our church is able to provide some alleviation, counsel, comfort and advice to those who are feeling the deep pain of this economic crisis, the most severe since the Great Depression, and we aspire to do more --- but the reality is that the struggles so many are facing demand more than charity, or attentive pastoral care. Communities of all shapes and sizes are crying out for justice. <o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Holy Scripture from the Book of Isaiah paints a hopeful picture of the future when there will be judgment between the nations,<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal">the nations, shall beat their swords into ploughshares,<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"> and their spears into pruning-hooks;<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal">nation shall not lift up sword against nation,<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"> neither shall they learn war any more.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">The resolution before you calling for cuts in war spending & redirection of those funds to domestic needs is an important step toward that hopeful vision of the future expressed by the Prophet Isaiah.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">On Sunday mornings at St. Cyprian’s new and longtime members are speaking up and out clearly and passionately about the need for a reevaluation of our national priorities. There’s a shared recognition that we need our government to invest in the fabric of this country, we need a new New Deal. I believe strongly that we must stop spending trillions of tax dollars a year on the instruments of war and redirect those funds towards “the things that make for peace. “ I say all this as the grandson of a WW2 veteran, and my maternal grandfather spent his entire career at the Pentagon serving there through three wars--- but his heart broke during the Vietnam War, and he suffered a nervous breakdown. During his long retirement his children and grandchildren witnessed not a defeated old military man but one passionate about education, the arts, empathy for the suffering and the beauty of nature. I believe our country is going through its own nervous breakdown --- we need to regain our passion, as my grandfather did, for education, the arts, care for the vulnerable and creation.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Thank you.</div>Willhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13108687139103021982noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32343538.post-45438717390462559052011-08-08T16:57:00.000-07:002011-08-08T16:58:23.086-07:00yearning & groaning continues...Dear Yearning & Groaning Readers,<br />
<br />
You may have noticed for some time now that I'm just not posting much here anymore. That's not because I've stopped yearning and groaning. In fact, I'm yearning and groaning more than ever, focusing my energies at St. Cyprian's Episcopal Church in San Francisco. I'm not planning on closing this blog down, but do want to encourage you out there in cyber space to stay connected through the <a href="http://archive.constantcontact.com/fs093/1104275337827/archive/1104886134958.html">weekly e-news</a> I put together for St. Cyp's and our related <a href="http://www.saintcyprianssf.org/news/">websites</a>. Light a candle, say a prayer for us every once in a while, and if you are in the Bay Area stop by Turk & Lyon.<br />
<br />
Peace,<br />
Will<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
Willhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13108687139103021982noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32343538.post-62489207449696037282011-06-27T09:21:00.000-07:002011-06-27T09:30:26.436-07:00on being in the paperA little over a week or so ago I got a phone call from a lovely person,<span class="byline"> <a href="http://thebolditalic.com/bold-locals/reyhan_h">Reyhan Harmanci</a>, </span>at <a href="http://www.baycitizen.org/about/">The Bay Citizen</a> (a great local non-profit news site that partners with the New York Times). I later learned she grew up in the same area as my <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mennonite">Mennonite</a> grandmother in Mifflin County, PA. I think <a href="http://archive.constantcontact.com/fs093/1104275337827/archive/1105078995047.html">Nana</a> from her hammock in heaven sent her my way, she always loved surprises. <br />
<br />
Reyhan said she was working on a story collecting quotes from different parts of the gay community, on the gay community for Pride. My first reaction was, how come there aren't ever any articles on the "straight" community --- is there such a thing? Then I went on and on talking to her like the opinionated blabber mouth I am (don't worry, I'm getting myself signed up for some real media training some time soon). After that the friendly reporter said she'd be in touch next week, "we'd like you to come downtown to our offices so we can take your picture." Let me tell you that was fun, it is not often that a poor urban priest gets treated like a celebrity. The gifted photographer <a href="http://annietritt.com/blog/">Annie Tritt</a> was so sweet, hilarious and taught me that my left side is my best side (according to her some really famous people actually never let the other sides of their faces get taken pictures of).<br />
<br />
You can check out the article <a href="http://www.baycitizen.org/gay-pride/interactive/spotlight-gay-community-today/">here</a> & <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/slideshow/2011/06/26/us/26BCFACES.html">here</a>. Just for the record, Matt and I got married in October 2008 at City Hall & had a wedding/blessing of the marriage at Grace Cathedral (my former employer) in October 2009. Thank you to everyone at the <a href="http://www.baycitizen.org/">Bay Citizen</a> for including me in your story, along with such interesting and inspiring other queer people I'd really like to get to know some day. Hopefully, a little attention like this will inspire a few more folks to peek in the door of <a href="http://www.saintcyprianssf.org/">St. Cyprian's</a>, God knows we've got lots of good reasons for one to do so. Reyhan, coincidentally did a <a href="http://www.baycitizen.org/visual-art/story/sign-times-hand-painted-signs-see/">fabulous story</a> <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/17/us/17bcculture.html"></a>on St. Cyprian's friend Damon Styer owner of New Bohemia Signs, who made our hot new sign.Willhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13108687139103021982noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32343538.post-33289284284025485162011-05-10T13:06:00.000-07:002011-05-10T13:09:54.036-07:00Letter to SFMTA about Masonic & Turk Streets<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: black;">Below is a letter I sent to the SFMTA recently about changes to Masonic & Turk Streets. You can read all about the plans to make this street safer for everyone over at <a href="http://ibikenopa.blogspot.com/">Bike NOPA</a>. This is not an official church endorsement of the plan, but written as an active member of the neighborhood. This was written before the most current collisions and fatality. If you are inclined to write a letter/email as well send them to </span></span><span style="font-size: small;"><span class="gI">: <a href="mailto:sustainable.streets@sfmta.com">sustainable.streets@sfmta.com</a>, with "PUBLIC HEARING" in the subject line. </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">Jesus walked. That's not just a song by Kanye West, it's true.</span><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;"> </span><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;"><br />
<br />
As a priest at St. Cyprian's Episcopal Church on the corner of Turk & Lyon Streets, my congregation and I are particularly sensitive to those who walk, bike, run, drive and park on the roads, sidewalks and bike paths near our church building. Their safety is often compromised because of speeding motorists on streets that look and function like freeways.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">I choose not to drive regularly but walk, bus, and occasionally bike to get around the city. I am keenly aware of just how vulnerable pedestrians and cyclists can be on Masonic and Turk Streets. Both are excessively wide and cars, trucks, and buses often move far too fast through our residential neighborhood. My congregants feel they often risk their lives getting to the church. I regularly witness elderly members dodge speeding vehicles on Turk Street, and I see the same on Masonic. Not long ago one of our members was hit by a vehicle outside our doors following Sunday service.</span><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;"> </span><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;"><br />
<br />
Last fall my congregation and I joined community members in a vigil to mourn the loss of a 22-year-old man, a visitor to the city, who was struck and killed by a motorist on Masonic at Turk, just two blocks from our church. In our grief for this terrible loss, we also resolved to work harder for safer streets, especially Masonic and Turk streets. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">This tragecy on Masonic brought back the difficult memories of my mother being hit just three years ago at a dangerous intersection in downtown Washington, DC, My family’s lives have not been the same since. Though we are lucky she is alive, my mother's life as an avid dancer, cyclist and hiker is dramatically different since her accident. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">I have reviewed the city’s plan for a safer, more livable Masonic as outlined in the Boulevard design. I support, along with many members of my congregation, this bold reworking of a dangerous street. We understand that parking will be removed to make these changes possible. For some this will be an inconvenience, but we believe the city has a responsibility to design streets that are safe for all users. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">The Boulevard plan also proposes to add parking along Turk street between Central and Baker streets, and we very much support this action as a traffic calming measure badly needed on Turk Street. </span><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;"><br />
<br />
Remembering that Jesus, Gandhi, and Martin Luther King Jr. walked --- as do City College and USF students, children and parents on their way to the SF Day School or to Pacific Primary School, donors to the Blood Centers of the Pacific, and church goers -- I encourage you to make everyone safer, by implementing the proposed improvements to Turk & Masonic Streets.<br />
<br />
Faithfully,<br />
<br />
The Reverend Will Scott<br />
Pastor<br />
St. Cyprian's Episcopal Church</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">2097 Turk Street</span></div><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">San Francisco, CA 94115</span><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;"><br />
</span>Willhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13108687139103021982noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32343538.post-59268168249404850632011-04-24T20:18:00.000-07:002011-04-25T09:30:34.379-07:00Easter 2011 St. Cyprian's<div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-N0E4nSkoc9Q/TbToyxnALKI/AAAAAAAAAeM/fAaNIKsDWFY/s1600/MaryMag.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-N0E4nSkoc9Q/TbToyxnALKI/AAAAAAAAAeM/fAaNIKsDWFY/s320/MaryMag.jpg" width="251" /></a></div><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><h2 class="passageref" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://bible.oremus.org/?passage=John+20:1-18&vnum=yes&version=nrsv">John 20:1-18</a></span></h2><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-size: small; line-height: 150%;">Mary’s persistence and insistence on finding Jesus throughout today’s gospel, her emotional vulnerability, and rawness of presence leads her to be the first one to experience the resurrected Christ, in the face of a stranger. Resurrection is a strange thing, yet faith in this unexplainable mystery is at the heart of Christianity. The testimonies of wise ancestors and elders of the faith all teach us that when we persist and insist on finding Jesus we will be surprised and delighted to discover the resurrected one in the face of strangers. If we like Mary Magdalene, are present to our pain and suffering, our hearts deepest yearning, if we are vulnerable we shall discover that new life is possible, is right there beside us opening us up for a new adventure. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-size: small; line-height: 150%;">Resurrection is the opposite of preservation. When Mary arrives at the tomb early in the morning, while it is still dark, does she come as the other gospels suggest to anoint the body of Jesus with oil? That admirable gesture of affection and care is about preserving a dead body, not about discovering a living one. Preservation is not resurrection. To preserve is to protect and defend, resurrection is about letting go and opening up --- preservation is about what was, resurrection is about what is and is to come. Mary Magdalene through her persistence and insistence after being shocked by an empty tomb and then interrogated by angels shifts her focus --- she changes how she sees things. We too if we are to really experience the transformative power of the resurrection in our lives --- we must change how we look at things, people and circumstances. We must let go of one way of operating and embrace the wild, uncontainable, liberating Spirit of the resurrection. Like Mary we have to move from preservation to resurrection. Preservation and resurrection are very different --- preservation is about living anxiously in ways that keeps the story of our lives, circumstances and communities closed and predictable, the best days are behind us, resurrection is about constant change (the gardener Jesus tells Mary don’t hold on to me) resurrection is about an open, ongoing, story one that invites participation, interaction and new adventures. Resurrection reminds us that we don’t and can’t know everything, and that what might appear to be a lost cause may really be the starting place of major revolution --- a baby is being born in a morgue. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-size: small; line-height: 150%;">As Wendell Berry’s poem, which we heard read at the beginning of today’s service, illustrates resurrection takes practice. We humans would rather have something “ready made” safe, secure and easy than wild, uncontainable, challenging and free. But resurrection is all about asking questions that have no answers, loving someone who does not deserve it, being joyful though you have considered all the facts. When my mother was hit by a car a few years ago, the only thing I could read in the ICU was poetry, and a wise old mentor of mine, said that’s because poetry is the language of the heart. We contemporary Christians might want to read more poetry, we may need to appreciate what one expert on joy describes as “the poetic principle.” Jacqueline Kelm writes that the poetic principle suggests “we can find whatever we want in every situation and whatever we choose to notice is fateful. All is present in every moment, from love to fear, good to bad, beautiful to ugly, joy to sorrow. Whatever we focus on from unbound possibilities defines experience. In this sense reality is like poetry, it can be written in any manner conceivable and is open to infinite possibilities.”</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-size: small; line-height: 150%;"><br />
The early followers of Jesus could have chosen a different end to their story, they didn’t have to choose resurrection, the didn’t have to believe Mary Magdalene, they didn’t have to trust the strange visions and happenings around them. They could have believed that death, cruelty, injustice, violence, wealth and power were the definers of reality. That actually would have been easier, safer, and more comforting. But they practiced, whether conscious or unconscious, the poetic principle, they practiced resurrection. They told stories that shifted the focus from a dead guy on a cross to a living one, present everywhere including the face of strangers and supposed enemies. St. Cyprian’s has to me been practicing the poetic principle for a long time. There have been artists and poets in this community’s story since the beginning. Today we are continuing to practice resurrection, we are like Mary insistent and persistent in seeking Jesus and we are being surprised again and again how our resurrected teacher comes dressed as a gardener, stranger, cyclist, mother, activist, neighbor, supposed enemy ------</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-size: small; line-height: 150%;">Yesterday I visited Ruth Maloof briefly at a hospital she has been in for a long time. Mrs. Maloof is one of our community’s many elders who was a very active leader not just at St. Cyprian’s but throughout San Francisco. Her husband who is daily by her side, shared with me notes and photographs, booklets and programs that she had saved from her years of service at this church. I was moved by the handwritten notes, and newsletter announcements that she had penned many about a tutoring program she helped start downstairs for youth from Wallenburg High School in the early 90’s. Familiar names were among her notes, Dr. Matthews, Mrs. Jones, and Dr. Daniels. But these materials were not stale artifacts of old, they bore witness to an active, engaged, connected faith --- and inspired within me an appreciation for the spirit of resurrection among us in this place today --- when any one of us is nearing the end of our life someone I bet will pull out a folder giving testimony to our, your active, engaged, and connected faith. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-size: small; line-height: 150%;">Before I close I want to share a few more words about Mary Magdalene, there are many stories about her --- some call her the Apostle to the Apostles because she was the first to proclaim she had seen the risen Christ, some incorrectly claimed she was a repentant prostitute --- but one thing is clear her life was made completely different when she decided to follow Jesus. At the foot of the altar is an icon of Mary Magdalene, she’s holding an egg, the story goes that ...</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-size: small; line-height: 150%;">following the death and resurrection of Jesus, Mary used her position to gain an invitation to a banquet given by Emperor Tiberius. When she met him, she held a plain egg in her hand and exclaimed "Christ is risen!" Caesar laughed, and said that Christ rising from the dead was as likely as the egg in her hand turning red while she held it. Before he finished speaking, the egg in her hand turned a bright red, and she continued proclaiming the Gospel to the entire imperial house. May we each one day be as bold, confident, provocative, creative, and poetic as Mary Magdalene. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-size: small; line-height: 150%;">Let us ask unanswerable questions --- what will St. Cyprian’s be like in 50 years from now, in 2061? Let us every day do something that won’t compute, let us Love the Lord, love the world, love someone who does not deserve it --- Let us practice the poetic principle, let us practice Resurrection. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: small;">image by Br. Robert Lentz, OFM</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: small;">Wendell Berry's poem can be found <a href="http://www.context.org/ICLIB/IC30/Berry.htm">here</a>.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: small;">story of Mary Magdalene & the egg is from <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Magdalene">here</a>. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div>Willhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13108687139103021982noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32343538.post-47450261738920883042011-01-23T06:58:00.000-08:002011-01-23T06:58:25.019-08:00click here for hope<div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Here's a few links that caught my attention this morning and made me smile.</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><b><a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/martin-thielen/whats-the-least-you-can-b_b_811353.html" id="title_permalink" title="Permalink">What's the Least You Can Believe and Still Be a Christian?</a></b></div><h4 class="leadtitlemark" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><b><a href="http://www.episcopalcafe.com/lead/dioceses/diocese_of_virginia_and_samese.html">Diocese of Virginia and same-sex blessings</a></b></h4><h4 class="leadtitlemark" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><b><a href="http://www.colbertnation.com/the-colbert-report-videos/371416/january-18-2011/cornel-west">Cornel West on Colbert </a></b></h4>Willhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13108687139103021982noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32343538.post-61465235613936345432011-01-03T20:58:00.000-08:002011-01-03T20:58:58.597-08:00Notes from Sunday's Homily<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">This morning I took a look at the CNN news ticker, noticing that all the stories were discouraging, here’s just a sampling...</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>Latest news</b></span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><ul style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><li>200,000 affected by Australia floods </li>
<li>Birds fall dead from Ark. sky</li>
<li>Foot-and-mouth spreads in S. Korea </li>
<li>Deputy killed in shootout in Ohio </li>
<li>Raunchy videos shown to Navy crew </li>
<li>Fire shuts ride at Florida theme park </li>
<li>3,605 Iraqis killed in 2010 </li>
<li>4 dead after fire on Russian plane </li>
<li>Death toll from storms rises </li>
</ul><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Closer to home...</div><ul style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><li>Man fatally shot in Tenderloin on New Year's Day 9:05 PM </li>
<li>Homicide up in S.F. </li>
<li>North Beach fire leaves 48 homeless in S.F. </li>
<li>7-member family, 2-bedroom apt.</li>
</ul><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"> The stories of our faith stand out, give meaning and hope not because they avoid real world challenges like these, all the stories of Christ nativity are told in the midst of difficult, and discouraging political, economic and social realities --- the stories of our faith nurture and stimulate within us, as for generations of believers new possibilities. If we read the stories of our faith closely, not with a fundamentalist, literalist approach (things had to happen this way) but with open, generous, and inquiring eyes we can discover safety, peace and comfort in surprising places, wise strangers are bringing us important gifts, and within us there is an eager, rebellious, creative character full of questions for history and the status quo. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Perhaps with a bit more awareness, attentiveness to the bad news around us, and an equal focus on the stories of our faith we may discover what good news might be taking shape within us, and around our little faith community. Too often people of faith look like those funny images of ostriches with their heads in the sand, or the fundamentalist, reactionary religionists are putting on a history play in costumes of scared villagers with pitch forks and torches ready to burn the unbeliever or supposed sinner. In this new year of 2011 we don’t know what the story of St. Cyprian’s will be, but my hunch is, if we strive together to be present to our local context, to the people and circumstances around us, doing our best to listen closely not just to familiar voices but those of strangers as well, if we are equally attentive to the stories of our faith from scripture and history we will find that in midst of all kinds of calamities and challenges new hope, new possibilities, good news will take shape in us and around us.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Last week, I went to visit one of our long time members at Laguna Honda hospital --- now I don’t know if you’ve ever been to Laguna Honda, but when I first visited there a few years ago within a few months of first moving to San Francisco I was very discouraged and depressed by the dilapidated building, you could tell by looking around that at one point it was probably state of the art, but that would have been in the 1930s at the latest. When I went back last month, I didn’t notice the building so much, because I could see signs that the new building was on the horizon at near completion, I did notice the people more, and the care that seemed to be going on all over the place. My mind and heart shifted a bit from being appalled by the conditions, to being moved by the compassion --- and then this last week entering that new hospital, something shifted again --- the place is amazingly beautiful, state of the art, clean --- the people seemed as though they were still getting used to the place, figuring out how to use the new equipment, how to get around. But I was encouraged also to recognize that even in the finest of facilities, people can feel lost, ignored, unloved and uncared for --- </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">The good news must be grounded in reality, in order for us to really know hope, joy, and the blessings of Christ’s presence we need to be present to the conditions of our own lives, we don’t want to be like ostriches with our heads in the sand, or lost in some reactionary historic drama. We can be a community who bring light, life and hope to others by taking time to notice what’s happening around us, listening to the stories of our faith, and imagining new possibilities for ourselves and others.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">So what will 2011 bring for St. Cyprian’s? Let’s strive to be a people who are honest with one another about the conditions of our lives both personally and together, lets notice and pay attention to the circumstances, challenges, hopes and dreams of ourselves and others beyond our walls and let’s spend time being nurtured by the stories of our faith. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">As the great theologian Howard Thurman proclaimed, </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">When the song of the angels is stilled,<br />
When the star in the sky is gone,<br />
When the kings and princes are home,<br />
When the shepherds are back with their flock,<br />
The work of Christmas begins:<br />
<br />
To find the lost,<br />
To heal the broken,<br />
To feed the hungry,<br />
To release the prisoner,<br />
To rebuild the nations,<br />
To bring peace among brothers,<br />
To make music in the heart.</span></div>Willhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13108687139103021982noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32343538.post-13971409201921585792010-12-25T14:29:00.000-08:002010-12-25T16:10:36.154-08:00Christmas Day @ Grace Cathedral<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: 12px;">Once upon a time, about ten years ago, a group of eager American college students visiting rural Tibet set out to visit an elderly monk who had been meditating in a cave for over 15 years. The students had been told that the monk would introduce them to a guide who could lead them to somewhere truly special. The guide, they were told, would lead them to another cave, but this other cave was not found on many map. In this secret cave, the students were told that the famous Milarepa, the first Tibetan to reach enlightenment, had meditated.<br />
<br />
The students could hardly contain their excitement as they approached the monk's cave. One student suggested they could all end up on the cover of a Buddhist journal. Another student speculates that all of them could easily be accepted into graduate school with a story like this under their belts. At the entrance to the elderly monk's cave, the eager students were welcomed inside to sit by the holy man's fire, and to share a cup of tea and some potatoes he had cooked for breakfast. Time passed, and the impatient students ate potatoes and sipped tea. Eventually, through their translator, the students learned from the old monk that the guide was not able to join them that morning. The students were disappointed, but they thanked the elderly monk for his hospitality and left. Only years later did it occur to one of the students that the other cave really wasn't that important after all, and that the breakfast with the elderly monk was infinitely important on its own.<br />
<br />
Today with people all around the world we come together in this sacred cave of sorts to celebrate Jesus of Nazareth’s birthday. Many scholars believe that the holy family if the birth stories are to be taken as fact likely found shelter in a cave in Bethlehem since caves were the customary place where animals would have been kept and if the new born baby was really placed in a manger, an animal feeding trough, then a cave makes sense.<br />
<br />
We could go on at length about the significance of caves and our human ancestors emerging out of them, we could talk about cave paintings, and sacred rituals that take place in caves even to this day in some cultures. As interesting as that exploration and investigation might be --- what does Jesus’ birth, the son of Man, Jesus the savior, liberator, prophet, teacher, and king --- the eternal word/logos/reason of God, the second person of the Trinity made flesh --- what real difference does this make beyond a festive fun filled family holiday full of carols, good food and good cheer? What’s the big idea?<br />
<br />
Well, theologians would call it the incarnation --- the divine taking on flesh. The incarnation though is not just about a single event long ago, but is about the elevation of human life for all time. As St. Athanasius of Alexandria wrote in the 300s, "God became man so that humanity (man) might become god."<br />
<br />
So we need not head to Palestine to find a particular cave where X marks the spot: here is the "sacred cave" where you can experience the fruits of the incarnation. No, the truth of the incarnation is that there are many caves to be explored, an infinite number of places where we humans may discover the divine presence ---- the invitation is to seek the nativity, new life, everywhere among everyone most especially in the context of our actual daily lives.<br />
<br />
As Dean Shaw quoted Meister Eckhart in her introduction to the cathedral Christmas concerts “What good is it that Christ was born 2,000 years ago if he is not born now in your heart?<br />
<br />
St. Francis of Assisi who invented Christmas pageants by dressing up his hometown like the holy family --- seemed to understand that in order for us human beings to get the significance of the incarnation we long to somehow see, touch, and feel the divine presence --- we can’t just be told God abides with us --- we have to be shown. St. Francis told his followers --- preach the gospel, the good news at all times if you have to use words. Francis, our city’s patron, privileged the embodied word over the spoken --- whether it was his rebuilding of an abandoned church, standing naked before the questioning crowds, wandering through a battlefield to meet face to face with the supposed enemy of his people. The nativity --- the cave where Christ is born is not somewhere else, far away but within you, within us in the very fabric and context of our lives.<br />
<br />
We often seem to refuse this gift --- the gift of the incarnation --- we would rather believe that God is somehow very far away --- difficult to reach, some place other than where we are. The ancients believed that if a person beheld God they would die. There is a privileging of the transcendent within the tradition, perhaps because to really appreciate the incarnation we have to let go of a certain kind of ambition, we have to accept life on life’s terms, we must deal with that difficult neighbor, we must deal with ourselves.<br />
<br />
This Advent I’ve been reading and re-reading a poem by E.A. McLaughlin a poet, artist, and African American Episcopal priest who built the current church building of <a href="http://www.saintcyprianssf.org/">St. Cyprian’s Episcopal Church</a> at the intersection of Lyon and Turk Streets in San Francisco and later served as a canon at Grace Cathedral but I’ve been told he never preached from this pulpit ---- here’s a portion of McLaughlin’s poem,<br />
<br />
“Love” cries out for a human self, and waits for a response;<br />
It remains but a theory, until given human expression.<br />
A word is only an idea unless it’s acted out.<br />
“Love” is a passive symbol, without embodiment.<br />
<br />
So as we approach the cave, to discover the light of the world, may we be truly present and not anxious about getting some place else, or making some significant gain ---- let us simply appreciate the gift of love embodied in the eyes and actions of a newborn stranger.<br />
<br />
What might life be like if we were always seeking Christ in one another, including our enemies, what might life be like if we lived fully with the conviction that Christ is within us? What fears would we let go of? What hopes would arise? What new possibilities could emerge? How might we welcome and care for the immigrants among us, how might we provide healthcare, shelter, education and food to those in the greatest need.<br />
<br />
<br />
May we like Francis discover ways to act out the nativity --- not just in pageants but also by walking across the battlefields of our daily lives, finding ways large and small to embody love.<br />
<br />
Christmas is about love being given a human self, not just in a baby born in a manger but also in our own dark and damp caves. In time we may discover there a fire has been lit, and that tea and potatoes are waiting for us.</span></span><br />
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</span></span> <br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: 12px;">_____________________________________</span></span><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: 12px;">A personal note:</span></span></b><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: 12px;"><br />
</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: 12px;">At the end of December, I will leave the staff at Grace Cathedral to focus my work at St. Cyprian's Episcopal Church in San Francisco whose congregation leadership have called me to serve as Priest-in-Charge and in time as Vicar. I will be part-time there, and seeking employment in the surrounding neighborhoods. I am very grateful for the four years I have been at Grace Cathedral, and am excited about the adventure ahead. One of the sadness about leaving Grace for me is not having the opportunity to work closely with the new Dean, Dr. Jane Shaw whom I appreciate and admire very much. However, the histories of the cathedral and St. Cyprian's are intertwined and my hope is in the years ahead these links will continue to be sources of mutual joy, growth and inspiration. Please keep us all in your prayers. Merry Christmas!</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: 12px;"><br />
</span></span>Willhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13108687139103021982noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32343538.post-26866311240112398382010-11-21T07:46:00.000-08:002010-11-21T08:49:22.562-08:00Christ the King/Reign of Christ<br style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;" /><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Today in churches all over the world folk will be celebrating Christ the King, some places will have long processions, triumphant hymns, and lots of hoopla. At St. Cyprian's we'll be sharing a <a href="http://www.jesusforpresident.org/propaganda/index.html">Litany of Resistance</a> as published in "Jesus for President" by Shane Claiborne & Chris Haw which was created with the help of their friends Jim Loney (<a href="http://www.cpt.org/">CPT</a> Reservist) and Brian Walsh (activist theologian). When I look at the litany I am reminded of the pledge of nonviolence written by MLK and signed by those who marched with him in 1963.</span></div><div class="content"><ol style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><li><span style="font-size: small;">As you prepare to march meditate on the life and teachings of Jesus<br />
</span> </li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;">Remember the nonviolent movement seeks justice and reconciliation - not victory.<br />
</span> </li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;">Walk and talk in the manner of love; for God is love.<br />
</span> </li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;">Pray daily to be used by God that all men and women might be free.<br />
</span> </li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;">Sacrifice personal wishes that all might be free.<br />
</span> </li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;">Observe with friend and foes the ordinary rules of courtesy.<br />
</span> </li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;">Perform regular service for others and the world.<br />
</span> </li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;">Refrain from violence of fist, tongue and heart.<br />
</span> </li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;">Strive to be in good spiritual and bodily health.<br />
</span> </li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;">Follow the directions of the movement leaders and of the captains on demonstrations.<br />
</span> </li>
</ol><pre style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Print Name ______________________________
Signature _______________________________</span></pre><pre style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"> </span></pre><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: small;">There's some interesting discussion of Christ the King/Reign of Christ <br />
over at <a href="http://www.episcopalcafe.com/lead/christian_formation/christ_the_king_of_what_precis.html">Episcopal Cafe</a> as well. What does this day mean to you? <br />
<br />
As I was getting ready to head out the door this morning, Pandora Radio played a </span> <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br />
Dar Williams song that somehow fit this day, "The Great Unknown." <br />
Here are the lyrics,<br />
</span><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br />
</span><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Once upon a time there was a nuclear family,</span><br style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;" /><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> And we lived in a family time, we'd unite in a family way.</span><br style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;" /><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> And off the ancient mountain, they were splitting every nucleus. They said "don't be alarmed, just don't try this at home." And they were the mystery that made the world run</span><br style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;" /><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> And we had the power, 'cause they were the sun</span><br style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;" /><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> And we called them our heroes, and the future had come.</span><br style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;" /><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> They said,"look at the light we're giving you,</span><br style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;" /><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> And the darkness we're saving you from."</span><br style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;" /><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> Soon they were bringing it into our showroom,</span><br style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;" /><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> And they'd unveil it with it's title,</span><br style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;" /><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> Bring your family, bring your family,</span><br style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;" /><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> It's the Great Unknown.</span><br style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;" /><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> You can look, but you can't fathom,</span><br style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;" /><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> It's the Great Unknown.</span><br style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;" /> <br style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;" /><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> I'm no ordinary princess, I was born in the cold war,</span><br style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;" /><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> And my team is the Rockets. Go team, it's a dangerous time.</span><br style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;" /><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> And I dream of the moon and building lunar clone colonies.</span><br style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;" /><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> And I build my peace with strength, that's the best weapon you've got.</span><br style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;" /><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> Oh, I am the brainchild, I am the mortar,</span><br style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;" /><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> With a plastic trophy and an eating disorder,</span><br style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;" /><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> And vision as big as a great big wall,</span><br style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;" /><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> And they tell me that I'll move forward for the good of us all,</span><br style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;" /><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> And the good of nuclear families all.</span><br style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;" /><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> And they think I think I am important.</span><br style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;" /><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> I know I never was, I wasn't.</span><br style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;" /><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> No I never, and how could I be?</span><br style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;" /><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> It's the Great Unknown.</span><br style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;" /><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> Now we've built it, now it's ticking,</span><br style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;" /><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> It's the Great Unknown.</span><br style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;" /> <br style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;" /><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> And I am your children, I am millions.</span><br style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;" /><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> And I wanted to sell out, I wanted to try,</span><br style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;" /><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> But you know the sky got too low, and the ocean got too high, and, I had to take God into my own hands.</span><br style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;" /><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> Am I too late? Is it over?</span><br style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;" /><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> Have I sacrificed my family to the Great Unknown?</span><br style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;" /><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> There's a war between my conscience and </span><br style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;" /><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> The Great Unknown.</span><br style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;" /> <br style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;" /><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> So I walked out into the Gamma fields </span><br style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;" /><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> Out in Mercury, Nevada.</span><br style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;" /><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> Where I stood in circle and that circle started to pray.</span><br style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;" /><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> And the wind at the nuclear test sights floats the data at the radiation, from the underground testing,</span><br style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;" /><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> Cross the line, you'll get arrested.</span><br style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;" /><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> And we came from all over in a silent appeal</span><br style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;" /><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> As the drill comes down like a presidential seal.</span><br style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;" /><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> And we stand for the living, and we stand for the dead,</span><br style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;" /><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> And we looked out to see your enemies,</span><br style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;" /><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> And we see that you're looking all at us instead.</span><br style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;" /><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> You think I am being disruptive?</span><br style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;" /><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> But no I'm running home, I'm running,</span><br style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;" /><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> 'Cause I'm trying to put the atom back together.</span><br style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;" /><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> It's the Great Unknown.</span><br style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;" /><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> I'm just trying to put the atom back together.</span><br style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;" /><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> It's the Great Unknown.</span><br style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;" /> <br />
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</span> </div>Willhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13108687139103021982noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32343538.post-88915690968359846972010-11-01T14:40:00.000-07:002010-11-01T14:42:49.864-07:00getting out of the tree<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: 12px;">Notes from yesterday's (October 31, 2010) sermon</span></span><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_C-UJD4_Pihk/TM80R6H2QzI/AAAAAAAAAdg/jKxdKqOQgYg/s1600/sycamore.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="144" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_C-UJD4_Pihk/TM80R6H2QzI/AAAAAAAAAdg/jKxdKqOQgYg/s200/sycamore.jpg" width="200" /></a></div><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: 12px;"><i><b>Luke 19:1-10</b><br />
He entered Jericho and was passing through it. A man was there named Zacchaeus; he was a chief tax collector and was rich. He was trying to see who Jesus was, but on account of the crowd he could not, because he was short in stature. So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore tree to see him, because he was going to pass that way. When Jesus came to the place, he looked up and said to him, “Zacchaeus, hurry and come down; for I must stay at your house today.” So he hurried down and was happy to welcome him.All who saw it began to grumble and said, “He has gone to be the guest of one who is a sinner.” Zacchaeus stood there and said to the Lord, “Look, half of my possessions, Lord, I will give to the poor; and if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I will pay back four times as much.” Then Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, because he too is a son of Abraham. For the Son of Man came to seek out and to save the lost.</i>” <br />
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Love changes things, relationships change things, paying attention, doing uncomfortable things like making friends with supposed enemies, and inviting yourself over to strangers houses changes things, showing hospitality, opening ourselves up to other people’s perspectives changes things. <br />
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Now we may not be particularly interested in being changed, we may not really be into the idea of being transformed by the Spirit, or climbing out of our trees, or making surprising friendships --- that’s okay but we’re not going to be saved by fear, we’re not going to be saved by our self protective illusions of security, we are not going to be saved by minding our own business and ignoring what’s going on around us.<br />
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In today’s gospel we meet Zacchaeus a short guy with deep pockets, who was rich and may have gotten that way by collecting taxes for the enemy, the Roman occupiers. I say may have, cause who knows he may have inherited that money or got it some other way. The gospel just says --- this little guy was a tax collector, and was rich. So Zacchaeus saw a crowd gathering around Jesus and something must have made him want to find out who that person was, and what they were saying. So Zacchaeus climbs up in a sycamore tree to get a better look. Now Sycamore trees are not just any old tree, they can grow quite large having a dense round crown of spreading branches and they were cultivated almost exclusively by ancient Egyptians. The Egyptians of course once enslaved the Jewish people, these are the same Egyptians that Moses, Miriam and their people escaped from --- I don’t think the author of this gospel accidentally tells us that the tree was a Sycamore, that was intentional. The author perhaps wanted those reading this gospel to notice, wants us to draw a connection between this rich, tax collector in the tree, and those old, distant oppressors of the people. But there’s also another interesting thing about the sycamore --- the leaves are heart shaped.<br />
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Perhaps this tree climbing was 1st century surveillance, but instead of remaining inconspicuous Jesus notices Zaccheus and seems to know him, calling him down and inviting himself over to his house. Maybe Jesus likes a little luxury every once in a while, I mean as scripture says, “foxes have holes, and the birds have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head” --- or perhaps Jesus knows just how significant, how transformative being in relationship with this wealthy guy might be. The grumbling, anxiety and fear begins immediately though --- the crowd doesn’t like what they see, Jesus the revolutionary teacher, the rumored savior and redeemer of the people becoming pals with that rich traitor. Jesus doesn’t seem to be bothered by the whispering, they’ve barely spent much time together, haven’t even made it to Zaccheaus’ pad, but Zaccheaus hears the crowds horror at the sight of Jesus hanging out with him that he is moved to give away half of his possessions, to the poor; and pay back four times as much to those he may have defrauded. <br />
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This is one amazing story. But what does this story mean to us here at St. Cyprian’s Episcopal Church on the corner of Turk & Lyon Street as we approach our 50th anniversary in this spot? How are we to respond to this story of strange friendship? Who are the Zaccheaus’ we as the body of Christ may be called upon to befriend? Or are we up in the tree just checking things out, minding our own business ---- how do we respond to Jesus taking an interest in us, are we prepared to be transformed, to give away stuff so that salvation may be experienced in our house? Or are we like that poor crowd anxious, offended, and scared by the very thought of a relationship between that rich traitor and Jesus? What transformative things might happen in our lives, homes and communities if we open ourselves to unexpected blessings. What might happen if St. Cyprian’s more and more became a community who befriended tax collectors, traitors and sinners, what might happen if we instead of watching Jesus from the sidelines, accepted his intrusion into our homes, what shift would happen in us, could we be in for a similar redistribution of our resources ? What if instead of being hostile to the surprising friendship between that rich guy and Jesus, we too sought out our opposites --- if we’re doing okay financially, what would it be like for us to individually become friends with someone who is struggling? Or if we’re having a tough time, what if we made a point of really trying to become part of the life of a rich person? In a city like this one, there’s plenty of wealthy and plenty of poor to befriend --- perhaps those of us in the middle need to make some introductions? <br />
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From where I stand, up here in this pulpit --- I see a lot of befriending going on, a lot of new relationships emerging, I’ve actually been quite surprised by who has taken a look at our little community, sometimes checking us out from above, sometimes from below, and on the side --- my prayer is that we together can become more and more comfortable being joyfully surprised by these new friendships, open to whatever might happen in our hearts and in the hearts of others --- ready to experience salvation in our lives and community. </span></span>Willhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13108687139103021982noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32343538.post-1548817681488959582010-09-05T20:30:00.000-07:002010-09-13T09:40:32.381-07:00Sunday Sermon @ Grace - Whole Self In<span style="font-size: x-small;"> <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: small;">Jesus the home wrecker, anti-consumerist, varsity coach invites us to jump into the deep end of the pool.</span></span><br />
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</span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">You can listen to Sunday's sermon <a href="http://www.gracecathedral.org/church/sermon/ser_20100905.shtml">here</a>.</span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
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</span>Willhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13108687139103021982noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32343538.post-12603908245550959942010-07-29T15:07:00.000-07:002010-07-29T15:07:50.745-07:00getting real with Jesus & each other<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px;">I preached today at Grace Cathedral's 12:10 Eucharist, I don't always type out my homilies but did today. So here it is. </span></span><br />
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<!--StartFragment--><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: 12.0px;"><b>Mary, Martha, and Lazarus of Bethany<br />
</b>John 11:1-7, 17-44<br />
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Today, the church honors a peculiar family of two sisters and brother. The strangeness doesn’t just lie in this arrangement, of two unmarried women needing the protection of a male relative in a patriarchal society. But strangely Jesus their rabbi, guru, healer and teacher with a revolutionaries following doesn’t race back to heal his friend. But instead delays his journey almost as though he’s wanting the situation to get worse for these vulnerable siblings. Talk about nonanxious pastoral presence, Jesus is nonanxiously absent from the scene. <br />
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With the typically confused disciples Jesus finally arrives at Mary and Martha’s. Lazarus has been dead 4 days and the whole community is gathered around in mourning. Martha and Mary both in their grief express frustration and disappointment with Jesus “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.” You can feel the pain, the anger. As the story unfolds we see Jesus himself grieving the loss of his friend, and finally Jesus puts flesh on the words he said to Martha, “I am the resurrection and the life. Those who believe in me, even though they die, will live.” Jesus asks that the stone of the tomb be rolled away and he cries out to the dead man “Lazarus, come out”, wrapped in strips of cloth, like someone in mummy costume Lazarus walks out.<br />
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This is one of the famous stories of our faith, prefiguring Jesus own resurrection from the dead. But what does this story, of confused, anxious disciples, disappointed, grieving sisters, curious, pesky neighbors, a dead man and Jesus have to say to us today? <br />
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I think this story reminds us that our journey of faith if we are really attentive to it, does not deny the reality of death, loss, confusion, disappointment or pain but helps give meaning and purpose to our lives and our deaths. This perplexing story tells us that those who were the closest to Jesus, his disciples and friends were often afraid, anxious, and disappointed -- and Jesus responds to their honest, blunt, and angry words with solidarity, compassion and care. Being close to Jesus means we can be real with him. This story can help us discover the presence of Jesus who raises the dead in the context of our actual daily lives --- not as an abstract, distant, far off, fancy concept but as a living reality rooted in the here and now, as part of a tangible community that breathes, weeps, cries, flexes its muscles, and rolls away stones together.<br />
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Jesus’ raising Lazarus is a provocative sign that God’s concern is real life, life with all its joys and sorrows, struggles and confusion. Jesus, the incarnate word made flesh --- that presence at that tomb, those tears, transforms the boundaries between life and death. Christ’s presence in our lives, at our tombs, in our tears, transforms the world not just in abstract and philosophical ways but in concrete, tangible actions of compassion and solidarity. <br />
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Being a follower of Jesus, means eventually showing up to the pain, oppression, sadness, disappointment, grief, complexity and confusion of our real lives wherever those dark places may be. As the saying goes there can be no Easter with out Good Friday, there can be no transformation with out pain, no true reconciliation with out truth telling, no hope with out grief. <br />
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Being close to Jesus means we can be real with Jesus. Being a faithful community means we can be real with each other. Martha and Mary, Lazarus too this families honesty, their raw vulnerability creates space for Christ to enter the picture and do holy transforming work in words, tears, and sweat. May we find the same courage to be ourselves, to be real with Jesus and with each other. <br />
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The queer Episcopal lay theologian celebrated by the Archbishop of Canterbury on his visit to our last General Convention said <br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial;"><blockquote>"Being holy, becoming and being a saint, does not mean being perfect but being whole; it does not mean being exceptionally religious, or being religious at all. It means being liberated from religiosity and religious pietism of any sort. It does not mean being godly, but rather being truly human." </blockquote><blockquote>-William Stringfellow, A Keeper of the Word</blockquote><br />
Thank you Mary, Martha and Lazarus for showing us yourselves, for inviting us to be ourselves in our tears, at our tombs in all our confusions, longings, disappointments, sorrows and helping us discover Christ right there, right here with us. </span> <!--EndFragment-->Willhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13108687139103021982noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32343538.post-26758101488769751082010-04-26T10:40:00.000-07:002010-05-02T17:49:24.039-07:00Gathered LambsYou can listen to last Sunday's sermon <a href="http://www.gracecathedral.org/church/sermon/ser_20100425.shtml">here</a>.<br />
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This little guy joined me in the pulpit.<br />
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I also mention, this event/book <a href="http://jesusforpresident.org/">Jesus for President</a>, you can see a <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1tw_aVbWea8">video</a> about the San Francisco part of the tour and a <a href="http://jesusforpresident.org/blog/?p=108">blog posting</a> about what happened at Grace Cathedral on a Friday a few years back.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_C-UJD4_Pihk/S9XP6_MpEDI/AAAAAAAAAcc/Q1XhuusZxNQ/s1600/lamb.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_C-UJD4_Pihk/S9XP6_MpEDI/AAAAAAAAAcc/Q1XhuusZxNQ/s320/lamb.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>Willhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13108687139103021982noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32343538.post-78227802853382592502010-04-18T16:22:00.000-07:002010-04-20T08:14:16.804-07:00I am still here.<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px;">It has been a long Sunday, and it is only 4:15 p.m. Today, Saint Cyprian's welcomed a new member into the household of God and celebrated the 95th birthday of one our community's oldest members. Below is the sermon I prepared to preach, but today with so much going on (more on that some other time) I didn't stick to it word for word. </span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px;">Blessed Easter Three. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: 12px;">A few months short of a year ago, I called one of the oldest members of this congregation, Ruby McDowell to set up a visit with her, and one of the first things she said to me, very clearly and deliberately was “I’m still here.” Each time since that first phone call I have walked into her lovely home carrying communion from St. Cyprian’s, Ruby has said these words again and again “I am still here.” with clarity and commitment. There is a connection between the words of this amazing typical Jamaican as Ruby calls herself --- “I am still here” and the powerful proclamation that Christians throughout the world make again and again about Jesus’ resurrection, “Alleluia, Christ is Risen.” Just as her beloved St. Cyprian’s Church says again and again to everyone who passes her by, or walks into her doors, or hears about something new going on within, we say clearly and deliberately “we are still here.” “Alleluia, Christ is Risen” Resurrection is about the persistent and insistent Spirit of God made known to us in Jesus, it’s a belief that despite all evidence to the contrary there is a powerful life force lifting us and all creation up, giving us hope, giving us peace and helping us embrace change. Jesus says to us in the resurrection, just as Ruby does, just as this little church does “I am still here.” Despite all the challenges, pain, sadness, betrayal and disappointment of life, the Risen Christ persistently and insistently clearly and deliberately says again and again “I am still here.” <br />
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Today in addition to celebrating the inspiring and long life of Ruby McDowell, this little church --- aka the little church that could --- from that famous old children’s book called “the little engine that could,” welcomes into the household of God Lukas, baptizing him in the name of the Father, and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Lukas and his family are communicating something profound to us and to God --- they are saying with clarity and commitment ---- we love, we trust, we believe in that persistent and insistent life force --- we love, we trust, we believe that sharing our lives with the wider community and wisdom of the church is a gift worth giving --- this family is saying something profound to us St. Cyprian’s, their saying we’re drawn to you, we feel a connection with your story and we see not only that you are still here, but that the Spirit of resurrection is overflowing, is spilling out of our doors and down the street. Lukas will one day hear the story of his baptism, he may even remember it, wherever he may be and he will learn about Ruby McDowell about the warmth and love of this little church that could, and this community will be part of his story and part of his own Easter proclamation “Alleluia Christ is Risen.” <br />
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The gospel this morning is one of my favorite stories in the entire New Testament, I love the image of Jesus making his disciples breakfast on the seashore. Now, the gospel tells us this is the third time Jesus has appeared to the disciples --- there’s a lot we could explore in this story , lots of questions we could ask like “why do the disciples go back to their fishing boats in Galilee?” and “what about that miraculous catch of fish?” but for today lets just appreciate how this story insists that we be prepared to run into Jesus anywhere and everywhere --- in the familiar and in the extraordinary. The disciples returned to Galilee a place they knew well, where they began there journey with Jesus and there he said to them “ I am still here.” but even in that well known place, the extraordinary happens in the catch of that giant net of fish so in the surprises, in unpredictable Jesus also says to us “I am still here.” At the end of the gospel, we here again that insistent and persistent Spirit of the Resurrection communicating to us, as Jesus speaks with Peter about his own death --- that even in the pain, struggle, confusion and terrifying perhaps most of all --- Jesus is still here. <br />
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Baptism is a powerful rite of initiation into the community of faith --- it’s a sacrament an outward and visible sign of an inward and spiritual grace. Like all sacraments, its polyvalent --- has many meanings and values. On this day though, this Earth Sunday as we pour this water, say these prayers, and make these commitments let us keep in mind all the ways that water serves us --- all the ways that water communicates to us the power, love, and the enlivening Spirit of God. Listen closely to the prayer over the baptismal waters --- and consider water in your own life --- the water of showers, and baths, of pools and oceans, the water of rain and leaks, and garden hoses. Think of all the rain we have been having this spring, think of all the places that water goes, all the ways it gets in and under and around. The resurrection spirit of God --- is like that water --- it goes all over the place --- and affects everything. May the water we pour on this day, and all the water of our lives communicate to us as Ruby and this church do regularly and persistently that we are still here, that Christ is still here --- may the whole world see and know “Alleluia, Christ is risen.” </span></span>Willhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13108687139103021982noreply@blogger.com0