We are a small Episcopal Church on the banks of the Rappahannock in Port Royal, Virginia. We acknowledge that we gather on the traditional land of the first people of Port Royal, the Nandtaughtacund, and we respect and honor with gratitude the land itself, the legacy of the ancestors, and the life of the Rappahannock Tribe. Our mission statement is to do God’s Will in all that we do.

Commentary

Commentary, Pentecost 4C, July 3, 2022

The lectionary readings are here  or individually: 

I. Theme – God’s Call and Response to us, being sent out on mission

First Reading – Isaiah 66:10-14
Psalm – Psalm 66:1-8
Epistle – Galatians 6:(1-6)7-16
Gospel – Luke 10:1-11, 16-20 

Today’s readings focus on the Christian experience of being sent by Jesus to continue his mission. This Sunday’s lectionary readings reflect on God’s call and our response, and how this affects the shape of grace and healing in our lives.

Isaiah speaks words of peace and hope for God’s people because God’s love never fails. Paul closes his letter to the Galatians with some final counsel on behavior within the Christian community. Luke tells of the mission of the 70 disciples and their success in defeating Satan.

How do we live out God’s faithfulness in our lives? How do we witness to others? When we read of the message to the seventy, Jesus is not calling them out to condemn and cause fear but instead to heal and proclaim Good News. God has brought Good News through Jesus Christ, but it is human beings who have drawn the dividing lines. It is human beings who will not receive the message of peace, who turn away from God’s love, who restrict and condemn others. God desires restoration, healing, and forgiveness, and offers us new life, if we choose to accept

Transformation emerges through a dynamic process of divine-human call and response. Our openness and efforts make a difference to the quality and extent of God’s presence in our lives. As scripture says, Christ is always standing at the door, knocking and seeking our attention and partnership in the quest for planetary and personal wholeness. Whether and how we the open the door to God’s graceful, intimate, and visionary energy can make all the difference in the world.

The central message this week is simple but significant – do not despise the saving power of small things. God’s commitment to justice, restoration and healing is proclaimed strongly through the Psalms and Isaiah’s song, but the way God’s saving work comes into being is often through small, ordinary people and actions

The picture of God’s care and comfort in Isaiah is that of an ordinary, familiar domestic scene – a child being nursed by its mother. Galatians speaks about the work of following Christ in the every day terms of our relationships with one another (correcting each other and sharing burdens), taking responsibility and doing good for all. And Jesus sends his disciples out to share the message of God’s reign, while accepting hospitality along the way – a very ordinary practice for travelers. Even when they celebrate overcoming demons, Jesus downplays it.

The power of the church to bring wholeness to society is in the grace, kindness and mutual encouragement that comes form living as the letter to the Galatians instructs. And, in every individual, the willingness to receive God’s grace and healing through ordinary means frees us to become channels. Our impact is often less about how we structure our services or what kind of music we use or how “prominent” we are in our community. Often it is in the quiet work of nurturing care and service within our community, and in doing the slow, transformative work of growing into caring, serving Christ-followers in our homes, workplaces and sports clubs (as Galatians calls us) that ultimately determines how effective our ministry is.

When, instead of pointing fingers at “the world” we are willing to accept its “hospitality” speaking blessing, and offering grace and mercy and justice in every situation and with every person (as the disciples were called to do), then people begin coming to us to learn more about our faith and the One we follow. But, if we fail to do this, then no amount of words or programs will be enough to compensate for our lack of grace and goodness. It’s significant that, even when the disciples were told to “shake the dust off their feet” when they were not received in a village, they were, nevertheless instructed to tell the people that God’s Reign had come to them. It was not that they were “judging” the people, so much as using a graphic and powerful image to challenge them about what they had rejected. God’s love and grace remained available to the people. In the same way, we can confront the small injustices in our communities, while still offering grace. And, in the end, what is important is not the dramatic confrontations, but the people whose names are “written in heaven” – who have discovered life in the dream of God.

In practical terms, this move toward “ordinary justice” has very significant implications. If we are to reverse the impact of climate change, it will take small but significant shifts in the habits of many ordinary people. If our world is to become more peaceful, it will mean ordinary people must learn to understand and respect one another, recognizing our common humanity. If wealth is to be equitably distributed, it will mean changing the values by which ordinary individuals live from consumerism to simplicity and from accumulating to giving. If these shifts were just taken seriously by Christ-followers alone, the impact would be nothing short of miraculous. As Christians around the world join together in peace-making, hospitality, taking responsibility for the change we can bring and doing small acts of goodness, the Gospel message is preached clearly and powerfully, with very few words necessary.

The one reading that appears to be out of place is the alternative Psalm (66) – but here the focus is on the Exodus, which, although proclaimed through retelling the miraculous story, is about the very ordinary human longing for liberation and salvation – which is, of course, the essence of the message that Jesus’ disciples would have preached.

II. Summary

First Reading – Isaiah 66:10-14

Background – It’s hard to pin down the context and author of this passage, from the third great division of the book of Isaiah, chapters 56-66. It would make sense to assume that some godly person spoke this to exiles returning from the Babylonian Captivity. (That was the period, also called the Exile, when many, but not all, residents were taken away from Judea and held in Babylon for a couple of generations in the sixth century B.C.E. We know from the second part of Isaiah, chapters 40-55, that the rebuilding of their hometown Jerusalem was disappointingly slow.)

Apparently the people were losing faith that God would restore things for them, for the prophet is almost defensive in his assertion “the Lord’s power shall be known to his servants.” And the imagery is quite extravagant. It’s as if the prophet himself is whistling in the dark, to stave off doubt and despair.

Today’s reading develops the image of Jerusalem as the once desolate mother who in the end-time will be the source of all joy and nurture. Its structure is like that of a psalm where an initial idea (joy) is contrasted in the next strophe with opposite idea (mourning

Isaiah 66 explicitly uses feminine imagery to refer to God. As Isaiah often does, Yahweh’s tender care for the people is compared to that of a comforting mother (42:14, 49:15, 66:9). This image of God as a mother carrying her child, comforting a child who is sad or hurt is extremely nurturing and needed for a community that was coming out of exile. Yahweh’s covenant bond is rooted in a love that never fails. The desolate and discouraged people will be comforted and their sadness will turn to joy.

Jerusalem is also seen as a nursing mother caring for her children. The people who have been in exile are like lost children, who have been searching for their mother, but their mother, God, has also been searching and waiting for them. God has not forgotten them, and God will rejoice with them.

Verses 15 and 16 are an oracle of judgment upon the lord’s enemies, who are the idolatrous in Israel (v. 17) rather than the Gentiles, who will come to worship God (66:18-23). God’s judgment will be carried out by fire and sword.

Psalm – Psalm 66:1-8

Psalm 66:1-9 recalls God’s deliverance of the people from Egypt, and they recall this deliverance in song and praise. This is the God of the living, the God of life, who restores life when it is taken, who renews all things. The people remember God’s acts of deliverance in history and find hope in the stories of old. It is a psalm that centers on God, and the foundational acts of Israel as a people.

This psalm of praise and thanksgiving is divided into several parts, which may have been composed or used at different times. The first part (vv. 1-4) is a hymn to God. All of the earth is invited to sing praise to God Verses 5-12 give thanks for the deliverance of people through God’s saving power, as shown in the crossing of the Red Sea and/or the Jordan (v. 6). The acts of God were not just past history but were made present through recollection and reenactment in the liturgy. So the exodus events became a way to understand the return from exile in Babylon (vv. 10, 12). Likewise for Christians, this psalm speaks of participation, through baptism, in Christ’s resurrection.

Epistle –  Galatians 6:(1-6)7-16

Galatians 6:1-16 ends our series of readings from Paul’s letter to the churches in Galatia. Paul has been arguing against those that have received the false Gospel, that requires Gentile converts to keep to the Jewish law first, and Paul has been angry with leaders such as Peter who have been hypocrites about what they practice and how they are seen.

Leaving behind the discussion and arguments concerning freedom and the law, Paul turns to issues of practicality within the Christian life: a) dealing with those who have transgressed (Paul argues for “gentleness” and taking up another’s burdens.

This means to restore one another with a spirit of gentleness (in other words, to forgive) understanding and the sharing of difficulties, to work together for the good of all. b) “Sowing good – in the Spirit”, arguing that we should in our works of righteousness do that which is right, working for the good of all, and c) Knowing that in which to take pride. He warns that it is not born of the traditional pride of circumcision, but rather the cross of Christ.

Paul’s blessing to them is that they remain strong in Christ, and that all are a new creation in Christ, where the law, where the divisions of Jew and Gentile, male and female, slave and free do not exist any longer. Christians are submitted to “the law of Christ,” not a legal code but a Persno

Paul urges the community to provide for its teachers and to persevere in doing good. He summarizes the theme of the letter, declaring that it is participation, not in circumcision, but in crucifixion with Christ (2:19, 5:24) and thus in the new creation, which is the Christian’s only glory. This is the true continuity with the past. Those, both Jew and Gentile, who follow Christ, are the true chosen people, “the Israel of God.”

Paul himself bears the evidence of this commitment to Christ; the word translated “marks” is in Greek stigmata, meaning a scar (2 Corinthians 4:8-10) or a slave’s brand of ownership. The use of stigmata to refer to the marks of the crucifixion came much later. He closes the letter, which began so harshly, with a blessing upon the recipients.

Gospel –  Luke 10:1-11, 16-20 

The larger reading is made up of five smaller units: a) Instruction for “the Seventy” (verses 1-12), b) The Impenitent (not in our reading, excepting verse 16) (verses 13-16), c) The Seventy return (verses 17-20), d) a Thanksgiving (not in our reading) (verse 21), and e) Blessings (verses 22-24 also not in our reading). Our reading focuses in on the mission of the seventy and what the learned in their service.

The first part, the mission of the 70 disciples, is recorded only by Luke. This reading recalls a similar mission of the “Twelve” in the previous chapter ( Luke 9:1-5). What is the meaning of the numbers? The twelve are the disciples, of course, their number symbolic of Israel. The number seventy (“seven” denoting perfection, and the multiplication by ten indicating a great number) was a term used to describe “the Nations”. Thus these couples are sent out to all the world.

Luke understands their mission as foreshadowing the later mission of the Christian community to the world. They are to go out two by two as witnesses into the harvest, the final gathering of God’s people. They are to rely upon God to protect and provide for them.

Jesus sent 70 disciples out to towns he was about to visit, warning them he was sending them out “like lambs into the midst of wolves.” Jesus was able to survey that sorry landscape, the dusty roads, abject poverty and skeptical people and see a golden field, glowing richly with harvest. He tries to convey his vision to his followers, makes them his forerunners, and instructs them in actions he himself would be likely to take.

There are practicalities to be observed: simplicity, focus, observation, and thankfulness . They are to travel light and bring peace to each household they visit. They come bringing no goods with them, nor an agenda, but simply to say, “Peace to this house! If they are not received, they are to wipe the dust off of their sandals, which Jesus already told the twelve to do in their previous mission in 9:1-6.

They should be adaptable, following local eating and drinking customs, not demanding special treatment. Curing the sick, they should encourage people that God’s reign was close enough to touch, even in their midst. Their primary message, then is one of healing and encouragement.

This passage today contains also when the seventy have returned. They are called to go and share the Good News and to do deeds in the name of Jesus that proclaim that Good News. They are not called to condemn, or to preach hellfire and brimstone like John but rather leave the worrying about who receives the message of God’s love up to God. That’s not their concern. Their concern is to do the Good News: to preach, heal, bless, and bring the message of peace.

Rejection, it appears, was not to change the focus of the journey – namely the message that the kingdom of heaven was at hand. Jesus counsels persistence and non-attachment. Your work is not about your success or achievement but faithfulness to God and the well-being of those whom you serve. If people treat you well, be faithful, and let the power of God flow, enriching and deepening their lives and possibly even transforming their bodies and social standing. If people turn their back on you, scorning your message, continue on your journey, letting go of any sense of failure or desire for revenge. We are responsible for the fidelity of our message and our spiritual well-being; the rest is up to the gentle providence of God and the decisions of those to whom we minister.

We can reasonably assume from this scripture that the disciples also had some bad experiences, although Luke reports only the disciples’ immediate success, from which they returned in joy. Jesus told them their joy was misplaced. The divine protection and power they experienced was only a fringe benefit. True joy comes from knowing “that your names are written in heaven.” Furthermore, he gives them a steely strength from which to draw. They are empowered to do great deeds, to confront evil and remain unharmed.

Their urgency calls attention to the belief in the nearness of the promised end times, and their poverty and peaceableness echoes that urged by Jesus in the Sermon on the Plain (Luke 6:29-49). For Luke, “peace” is particularly associated with the salvation Jesus brings (1:79, 2:14, 29, 7:50, 8:48, 19:38). There is to be no quibbling over dietary rules (such was an issue in the Gentile mission, for example in Acts 11:1-18, Galatians 2:11-14 and 1 Corinthians 10:25).

The disciples proclaim Jesus’ own message, “the kingdom of God is at hand for you” (10:9, 11, 11:20), rather than the Christian post-Easter proclamation about Jesus. The final defeat of Satan that will characterize the end times is foreshadowed by their mission and begins to occur because of it. 

Commentary, June 26, 2022, Pentecost 3

The 2019 sermon was derived mostly from Psalm 16 is about “True Freedom”, apropos with July 4 coming up this week.

“True freedom is from God, the gift that God has freely given us through the liberating life, death, resurrection and ascension of Jesus…

“In Psalm 16, the psalmist helpfully describes the true freedom that comes from knowing and living as if God really is our Lord.

“When God is our portion and our cup, we will never go hungry.

“When we accept God’s gifts to us, we dwell in God. Even if we have no place to lay our heads on this earth, we are at home in God and cared for by God.

“When we bless the Lord, who gives us counsel, we come to know God’s wisdom, because God teaches our hearts, so that we are no longer are held captive by or distressed by the erratic and unpredictable tyranny of human wisdom that is uninformed by God’s love.

“When people betray us and those tools of anger and revenge seem to be the only way out of our prisons of resentment and distress, remembering that the Lord is always with us will keep us from falling on our own swords as we try to take out our enemies.

“Therefore, the psalmist says that even in the worries and sorrows of this life, “my heart, therefore is glad, and my spirit rejoices; and my body rests in hope.”

Our readings this week are about focusing on the mission of establishing God’s kingdom presence in the world in contrast to a focus on one’s own desires and in an atmosphere of great change. Rev. Canon Lance Ousley of the Diocese of Olympia has said this about today’s readings. “Stewardship is not only about the giving of one’s self and one’s resources, but it is also about living our lives “by the Spirit” devoted each day to the presence of God’s kingdom here and now through sharing ourselves and our resources for this purpose. For those who do, they will find the nearness of God’s kingdom come on earth.”

The readings show different responses to change. In the Old Testament reading, Elisha accepts the mantle of leadership from Elijah whose mission was soon to be over which he did not complain about. He seems sanguine about it. We sang today the hymn in Levas “Trust and Obey” relevant for this scripture. In the Gospel passage while Jesus knew what lay ahead in Jerusalem, the disciple did not and this became a learning process but it wasn’t as smooth in the Old Testament reading. Discipleship was not for cowards. Paul is the consumate teacher spelling out the role of disciples in the reading from Galatians and what is not discipleship. Discipleship is “fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.” Discipleship is NOT “fornication, impurity, licentiousness, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, anger, quarrels, dissensions, factions, envy, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these.”

The Gospel reading begins a large section of Luke’s gospel, the great travel narrative (9:51–18:14) telling of Jesus’ journey from Galilee through Samaria towards Jerusalem. Today’s selection, which is filled with explicit and implicit references to Elijah, continues to broaden the sense in which Jesus was perceived as a prophet.

It is the turning point of Luke’s account, where Jesus “resolutely set his face toward Jerusalem” and his destiny there. Luke packs the passage with explicit and symbolic statements about the costs of being Jesus’ disciple, in view of Jesus’ journey toward his death. To prepare us for hearing the gospel challenge, the church recalls the call to discipleship of Elisha.

Commentary, June 19, 2022, Pentecost 2

Today’s readings focus on the understanding of how Jesus’ presence changes our lives. Isaiah describes God’s necessary judgment and promise of final deliverance and cleansing for the people. The psalmist yearns for God’s presence, especially in times of suffering. Paul writes to the Galatians of their unity and freedom in Christ Jesus. Jesus’ begins his mission to the Gentiles with the expulsion of many demons.

1. Old Testament – Isaiah 65:1-9

Today’s reading comes from near the end of the second part of Isaiah’s prophecy (chapters 40-66) that is primarily composed of words of consolation and encouragement for the exiled Jews. But even here, the Jews are reminded that they must show the proper reverence for God. The long history of improper conduct in response to God’s sacred presence in their midst cannot be forgotten. It will certainly bring God’s judgment.

But as Isaiah emphasizes over and over, this moment of judgment will give way to a time of blessing and restoration for the chosen people and their land. God’s loving faithfulness overrides the demand for judgment and punishment. So, despite the long catalogue of the people’s failures in relation to God, Isaiah once again affirms God’s promise of fidelity and restoration.

2. Epistle -Galatians 3:23-29

This passage is part of Paul’s message that faith in Christ fulfills the law of Moses. Through baptism into Christ, all are now “children of God” (v. 26), the Old Testament designation given to anointed kings (Psalm 2:7) and to the whole people of Israel (Exodus 4:22).

Verses 28-29 are probably based upon a baptismal liturgy. The baptized clothe themselves with Christ and adopt a new personality and a new way of life. Even today the new white baptismal garment reminds us of our incorporation into Christ’s body, the church. Baptism makes us all God’s children and so heirs of the promises to Abraham made long before the law was given to Moses.

The sermon in 2019 took up the above passages.

“What brings God joy? God’s great hope is that we come to know, through Jesus, that all our divisions have come to an end and that we are ONE in Christ Jesus.

Paul says it this way. “There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male or female; for all of you are ONE in Christ Jesus.”

“I like this idea that we are all one in Christ Jesus, because our oneness points toward the Trinitarian nature of God—one in three and three in one, Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

“When we are one in Christ Jesus, we are showing to the world what God is like—God, Son and Holy Spirit dwelling in eternal intimacy, One God. That’s why Paul says that we in the church are clothed in Christ. Christ Jesus and his healing, freeing love—Christ Jesus is our uniform. The man possessed by demons in today’s gospel who ran around naked and lived in the tombs ends up clothed and in his right mind at the feet of Jesus after Jesus sends the demons out of him. Jesus has clothed this man with healing love.

“Since the days of the early church, people who decided to follow Jesus and to become a part of the church spent several years in preparation, and when the day of their baptisms came, they took off their old clothes, and entered the water naked. After their baptisms, they came out of the water and were clothed in white robes. Everyone could see that they were now clothed in Christ. And everyone rejoiced.”

“Baptisms are joyful. We are celebrating because we get to witness the person being baptized getting dressed up in Christ. The person being baptized gets to put on the uniform that we are already wearing.

“Yes, good news, a cause for celebration, now and in the world to come! Our places are waiting for us, and our robes are ready.

“The Good News is news we want to share, like the man who has been freed of his demons and clothed in Jesus’ healing love, who goes and proclaims throughout the city how much Jesus has done for him.

“So remember, when we rejoice in our ONENESS, God rejoices too! And God’s joy makes our joy complete.”

3. Gospel – Luke 8:26-39

Jesus turns his attention to the Gentiles by crossing the Sea of Galilee into their territory. From the Jewish perspective, such a ministry would demand enormous cleansing since Gentile territory would have many possible sources of ritual impurity or “uncleanness” that would prohibit Jews from taking part in worship services. Thus it is not surprising that Jesus confronts a man who is possessed by a multitude of demons—so many that they are identified as a legion (the name for a large Roman military unit of 3000 to 6000 men).

The dramatic healing is only the prelude, though, to the further development of the characteristics of Jesus’ mission. Jesus confronts the demons, requires that they reveal their name—thus giving Jesus power over them—and then grants their wish to infest a herd of swine rather than return to the underworld.

The community is rightly afraid of a man like Jesus who has demonstrated the power and control over demons. This kind of power could be very upsetting to their community and its traditions. So because of their fear, they ask Jesus to leave. The healed man, knowing how his life has been changed for the better, wants to follow Jesus and continue to be with him. Jesus, however, speaks the words that might become the guideline for all his followers, reminding them that the first and most obvious place for their mission is their own household.

So What does this say to us ? Lutheran minister David Lose wrote the following this week:

“I was struck very much by the tail-end of verse 27: “he did not live in a house but in the tombs.” The details of this man’s life are already bleak. Completely dominated by what has mastered him, unable to restrain himself or be restrained, naked and alone, we discover he is also homeless, abandoned, and lives among the tombs; that is, among the dead, in a wasteland, in territory considered unclean, unsafe, and unapproachable

“Horrible. And yet, if we’re honest, not unfamiliar. There are very likely folks in your congregation who have experienced homelessness or been on the brink of that experience. Others “live in the tombs” and in the place of death more metaphorically, but no less painfully. Those trapped by mental illness or addiction. Those in abusive relationships. Those who feel terribly alone. Those who feel that something they’ve done, or something that has been done to them, disqualifies them from acceptance. Those who have been rejected because they do not conform to the norms and identities with which we are most comfortable. Those who struggle to find any sense of value in themselves or purpose in life.

“And the list goes on. Indeed, broadening what it means to “live in the tombs” in this way, there is likely not a single person who has not had this experience.

“What’s easy to overlook in this odd story of eventual healing is that this whole encounter between Jesus and this man lost and living in the tombs is the result of a nearly inexplicable and totally unnecessary detour. This larger scene is set in motion by Jesus’ decision to cross to the other side of the lake. Luke’s narration makes it sound so incredibly happenstance: “One day, Jesus got into a boat with his disciples, and he said to them, ‘Let’s go across to the other side of the lake’” (v. 22). That’s it. No rationale, like pressing crowds or the need for rest. It’s not a shortcut to some ultimate destination. And no plan or purpose is made apparent. Just a desire to cross from the familiar to the unfamiliar, from the known countryside of Capernaum and Galilee to the land of the Gerasenes… and to this man.

“Which may mean that Jesus’ whole point with this detour is to seek him out. To rescue him from his occupation, to return to him his life. While it may seem utterly unnecessary to us, that is, it is absolutely necessary, even crucial, to Jesus and his mission. This is what Jesus does – seeks out and finds the lost. Even more, this is who Jesus is – the one who is: the one who brings good news to the poor, proclaims release to the captives, recovery of sight to the blind, and lets the oppressed go free (4:18).

“And here’s the thing: Jesus is still doing that. He is still going out of his way, still taking the long route, still crossing boundaries, still daring to meet us in the middle of our tombs, in order to heal and restore us. To put it another way, if Jesus goes so far out of his way to encounter this one man, what will keep him from seeking us out, from meeting us where we are and accepting us as we are, from inviting us to come out of the tombs, from daring us to imagine life in abundance, from bidding us to share the news of what has been done for us. The answer, in short, is nothing. Nothing will keep Jesus from reaching out to us, finding us, accepting us, releasing us, calling us, loving us. Nothing.”

The Connection – Sunday, June 19’s Gospel, Juneteenth and World Refugee Day (June 20)

Luke 8:35–39

Image is from
Léonard Gaultier (artist) French, 1561 – 1641, Scenes from the New Testament

Sunday is Juneteenth, the day in 1865 when enslaved people of Galveston, Texas, learned they were emancipated, although it had been the case since 1863. This observance is “about the journey and achievement of African Americans — from a horrific period of sanctioned enslavement to the pinnacle of human endeavors” (Juneteenth.com). So, it is fitting that Sunday’s Gospel (Luke 8:26-39) is about healing and freedom: A man possessed by demons, ostracized and “living in the tombs,” is made whole by Jesus. It’s the drowning pigs story

Today, we tend to understand demons as a metaphor for personal struggles — such as addiction, disease, or chronic illness. But demons can be systemic in society as well, such as our country’s addiction to guns, white supremacy, and income inequality. These societal demons perpetuate the fear that keeps us divided. We see systemic fear of freedom in Sunday’s Gospel as well. The Gerasa community is seized by fear at the man’s healing and restoration, and they banish Jesus, the healer and restorer.

Juneteenth is a time to celebrate what has been done to make our world better for all and reminds us to recommit ourselves to the healing work we need to do before we can all truly be free. It also reminds us to attend to the systemic forces that prevent change, keep oppression in place, and distract us with the falsehood that one person’s freedom must be another person’s loss. As the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. said, “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly.”—Ruth Frey

Jesus disturbed the comforted and comforted the disturbed – Ryan W. Clayton

The story of the Gerasene demoniac in Luke pushes us to reflect on questions of identity. Immediately preceding this story, Jesus calmed violent wind and raging waves with a word. His disciples ask, “Who then is this, that he commands even the winds and the water, and they obey him?” (Luke 8:25) Who is this, indeed? He masters the storm when the disciples cry out for help, he masters the demons when they cry out to be left alone. Junteenth gave a legal identity to those caught by slavery.

Juneteenth is also related to World Refugee Day.

Junetenth is about personal freedom. World Refugee Day also proclaims the value of each person as a unique child of God and commit ourselves to the healing and wholeness of all persons.

There is a community element as well. As the Bishop of Atlanta writes “God rejoices when we celebrate the truth-that we were made for each other and for God’s glory. “How good and how pleasant it is for brothers and sisters and siblings to dwell together in unity.”

Juneteenth also preserved the integrity of the family by allowing families to stick together without the possibility of being sold. World Refugee Day remembers and honors the families and individuals made homeless by disasters, wars, poverty, and intolerance around the world

Easter 7, May 29, Commentary

In today’s readings, we catch a glimpse of the glorious unity of God’s people. This week is the seventh Sunday of Easter, and the Scriptural texts reflect the tensions and juxtapositions that are so characteristic of this time in the Church calendar. We read of freedom from bondage, extravagant divine power and sovereignty, the eternal and eschatological reign of Christ, and the invitation to respond to Christ – to live in the unity and love at the heart of the Christian story

At the same time, such triumphal and exuberant words and themes may be experienced as alienating, clanging loudly in the ears of those who do not experience freedom, joy, belief, and love. This is a tension worth remembering, acknowledging, and grappling with openly and honestly: how do we recognize and affirm the reality of the Gospel’s power and the centrality of Christ’s life-giving love, even while we (and parishioners) may be existing in darkness, pain, doubt, bondage of all forms?

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Meditation for March 16, 2020

Meditation for March 16

In Psalm 80, the psalm appointed for today, the psalmist prays, “Restore us, O Lord God of hosts; show the light of your countenance, and we shall be saved.” To “restore” something is to return it to its original state; to renovate something old to a good state of repair.
The psalmist’s petition reminds us that in all things, God is the One who can and will restore and save us. And the light of God’s face is shining all around us. But sometimes, in our own blindness, we miss the light. This week, open your eyes and look around. Look for the light of God’s love shining in the faces of the people who love you. Look for the light of God’s love shining in the beauty of this early spring season. Look for God’s love shining in the ways that people are determining their actions based not on their own needs, but on the good of the community. Look for God’s light shining in the sacrificial work of those on the front lines of our health care system. Look for the ways that God’s light is shining in new possibilities and ways of being the church, to fully restore us to our mission of loving God and our neighbor here and now, under these new circumstances. God’s light IS shining, and we SHALL be saved.

Prayer based on Prayer for the Absent in The Book of Common Prayer
O God, your merciful and compassionate love reaches around the world: We humbly ask you graciously to behold and bless those we love, even though we cannot gather as one body to worship you during these uncertain times. Defend us all from the dangers of soul and body; and grant that we all, drawing nearer to you, may be bound together by your love in the communion of your Holy Spirit and in the fellowship of the saints, through Christ our Lord. Amen.