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"Letting go and returning home."

A compilation of Daily Reflections for Lent.

Written by Variouys Parishioners and Friends of

Emmanuel Epicopal Church

On our website:http://emmanuelvb.com/DailyMeditations2012.php

On our blog: http://emmanuelvb.blogspot.com/p/lent-reflections-2011.html

February 5, 2012       John A. Baldwin

This morning's Gospel gives us a glimpse into the healing ministry of Jesus. Not only does he heal Peter's mother-in-law and others in Capernaum, but Jesus also goes about casting out demons. Some have suggested that the term "casting out demons" is a quaint way of saying that Jesus healed people of their mental illnesses - schizophrenia, bipolarity and the like. Perhaps so. Jesus may well have been an early practitioner of psychiatric cleansing and healing.

On the other hand, all of the demons Jesus cast out may not have been quite so exotic as paranoia or obsessive-compulsive disorders. They may have been unclean spirits present and familiar to us in our own lives, yet nonetheless just as powerful and debilitating.

The Gospels portray Jesus as possessing an acute sense of discernment. He had an amazing ability to see into a person's heart & soul, and to know what's blocking their growth towards wholeness & maturity. Jesus knew the names of these demons - envy, fear, hypocrisy, judgmentalism, and the like. He called them forth by name, rebuking them & exorcizing them from people's lives.

Knowledge gives power. Evil flourishes in the dark, and withers in the bright light of the truth. This perhaps is what lies at the foundation of Jesus' casting out demons. Consider an "AHA" experience you may have had in life, when it became clear why you'd been acting the way you were. Effective counseling leads to many "aha" experiences and the opening to transformation in our lives. When the hurts and fears which trouble us are called by name, they become less powerful & menacing. When we become aware that our wounds are shared by others, they become more bearable and manageable.

Adult children of alcoholics, for example, have been known to say, "When others began describing their childhood experiences, it was truly amazing. They sounded just like mine. I had a new sense of awareness & understanding." When we are able to name our demons, they lose their power to control and cripple us.

Jesus was able to name and address unclean spirits with authority because he was as whole and healthy in mind, body and spirit as a human being can be. The unclean spirits knew that they were diseased when they encountered Jesus, and this is what gave Jesus power and authority over them.

Have you ever wondered what it might be like, if we were walking through a park & there was Jesus himself sitting on a bench, inviting us to join him in conversation? Would you expect it to be all warm fuzzies, or would something within our spirit feel mighty uncomfortable. Would Jesus look deep down inside us, recognize some unclean spirits, & call them forth.....spirits we've perhaps become too comfortable with, like excuses for our behavior, laziness, egotism or self-absorption. It's hard to maintain illusions of sweetness & light when we meet health & wholeness in its power & might, and know we have a long way to go.

During the summer before my final year of seminary, I entered a 10 week Clinical Pastoral Education program at Boston State Hospital where I served as chaplain in an acute schizophrenic ward. It gave me plenty of opportunities to see unclean spirits in action, and to reflect on how they might be affecting my own soul as well. The head chaplain for the program, the Rev. Joe Woodson, was a crusty Baptist minister who had a reputation (like Jesus) of being able to see into the souls of the ministers in training, past our defenses & pretensions, and nailing us in our weaknesses & vulnerabilities, so as to enable us to mature and grow strong in our abilities to be pastors in a hurting world.

Fortunately for me, Joe Woodson was retiring at the end of this summer. He was on autopilot, and I escaped his intense scrutiny. This made for a much more comfortable summer experience for me than I had anticipated. In later years, however, I've come to the conclusion that I was actually the poorer for it. Escaping his scrutiny meant my avoiding having to deal with the issues, wounds & liabilities which impeded my full effectiveness as a pastor & minister until later in time.

I have little doubt that Jesus could find traces of unclean spirits in every one of us were he to focus his scrutiny upon us. He certainly saw them in the Pharisees & Sadducees of his day, who though very pious & religious, were lacking in their compassion for the poor, the marginalized, and the “sinners” in their society. They resented Jesus deeply when he named their hypocrisy and self-righteousness.

Unclean spirits do not like being exposed at all. They react with anger, defensiveness and indignation. They are subtle and devious too, masters of the lie, and adept in distorting the truth. I think, for example, of that little demon who whispers to us, “Am I my brother's keeper?” who was surely present when the priest and the Levite stepped around the victim on the road to Jericho in the Parable of the Good Samaritan, and who is present in all of us when we express little concern for the very poor or homeless.

I think of that little demon who was present in Jesus' parable about the Pharisee who stood up in the temple flushed with pride that he was not like other men - extortioners, unjust, adulterers or like that miserable tax collector over there, and who is present in us whenever we look upon others with scorn or contempt.

When we read, mark, learn, reflect upon and inwardly digest the parables and teachings of Jesus, it seems clear that he is getting at all of the ways in which we allow demons, unclean spirits, fears and anxiety, selfishness and greed, to impede our growth towards health, wholeness and closeness to the heart of God. We make a huge mistake when we only see the flaws and impediments getting in the way of others, and don't discern them within ourselves.

Perhaps it may seem too scary for us to make honest, moral inventories of ourselves, but therein lies the only sure and certain path to spiritual health and wholeness. I believe we may draw deep courage to face and overcome our demons and unclean spirits in this scripture passage from the First Epistle of John: “God is love, and he (or she) who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him. …..There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and he who fears is not perfected in love. We love, because he first loved us.” (1Jn 4:16,18).

Last Sunday after the Epiphany B

The Rev. Marguerite Alley

February 19, 2012

Are You My Mother?

Let me tell you a story. It is a short story, but a touching story. It is not a true story, but it is very much the truth. It is not a story about anyone in particular, but it is a story about us. Once upon a time there was a bird, and she laid an egg. She left her nest in search of food for the day when the egg would hatch. While she was gone, the egg did indeed hatch. The baby bird couldn’t find its mother, so rather than patiently wait, and being somewhat impulsive and of a mind that surely he could do anything, he set off in search of his mother. He asked everyone he came upon, including a large assortment of animals and even an old car. Each said no they were not it’s mother and the baby moved on.  Finally the baby came upon a steam shovel named Snort and it was Snort who returned the baby bird to his nest where he finally met his true mother.  You may recognize that as being the wonderful and charming children’s book by P. D. Eastman called “Are you my Mother?”  I sometimes wonder if we aren’t  metaphorically just like this baby bird. We are born hungry and we begin looking for our mother the moment we are born because we know deep down that she is the only ne who can feed us. If we don’t immediately see her, we begin searching. Since we do not know what she looks like we don’t really know what we are looking for. So, we ask everyone and everything “Are you my mother”?  Metaphorically speaking we ask money “are you my mother”? We also ask fame, education, status, cars, jobs, titles and a host of other things “are you my mother”? Can you feed me?

Each of these replies  No! I am not your mother”! So we are faced with a dilemma: we can “bed down” with one of these folks, knowing full well that they are not our mother, and cannot fill that role or we move on and keep asking. Some of us choose the former, and some of us choose the latter. To carry this metaphor a bit further, let’s say that we come upon a flock of birds. We are excited because they look just like we do…assuming we know what we look like. And we immediately latch onto them because they look and sound so much like ourselves. After a while though, we begin to notice some differences….their song is not exactly the same as ours. Their looks are not exactly a match….and most important none of them has lost their baby. Again, we are faced with a dilemma: do we stay because them seem familiar or do we go? They are so much like us…but not quite…and they are not looking for us or welcoming us to their flock. Finally, we encounter Snort the Steam Shovel. Snort is big, ugly, noisy and very scary. He scoops us up and deposits us right back where we started and right then our mother returns with food for us and we are united. In our metaphor the role of Snort can be played by any number of big, scary, noisy things. Addiction, health scares, relationships, loss, grief, anger. Really the list is endless.  I hope you can see the many ways this children’s story is our own story!

Now let’s look at the Gospel. Just before our passage for today begins, Jesus is in the villages of Ceasarea Philippi with his disciples. He asks them “who do you say that I am”? It is almost as though the disciples had asked “are you my mother”?  They answer as best they can, he teaches them more about what will happen in the days to come. Now, in today’s passage, Jesus gathers Peter, James and John and leads them out away from the others, to a secluded place on a high mountain. (we know how God loves this sort drama on big, high cloudy mountains! Kind of like Snort!) Right in front of them, he is transfigured into something other. This moment serves as another teaching tool in the revelation of who and what Jesus really is. He is standing with 2 of the most important prophets of the Jewish faith …….yet he is the one is glowing, He is the one who is brilliant white.  Peter, being very excited and touched by this revelation suggests that they build three dwellings so that they can stay and savor the moment.  And  suddenly, a voice from the clouds proclaims “This is my son, the beloved, listen to him”.  In this moment we are led to some very important revelations. Of course, we immediately see that God demands to have the last word. We all know what lies ahead for Jesus…so God chooses this moment to transfigure “hell” Jesus’s suffering, into heaven for a moment. But there are other revelations in this moment as well. Of particular note is the fact this transfiguration does not occur in private. It is not an affirmation for Jesus. Jesus has known all along that he was God’s beloved…or that God is “his mother” so to speak. This revelation is for the witnesses. It is for the public.

Today is the last Sunday of the Epiphany season. During this season we have learned about Jesus and the role he was meant to play and we have been called to be “light for the world”, a role which becomes really important in the dark days of Lent to come. Today also happens to be World Mission Sunday where we remember our mission projects and missionaries around the world. If we might look back to our metaphor for a moment, I think we sometimes get a bit mixed up as to what our mission really is. Is it our mission to show others who our mother is even though their mother may look a lot different than our own? Are we to assume and say to them this is our mother, therefore it must be yours as well? Is our mission to find out for ourselves who our mother is because we have not yet met her and we are hungry for what only she can give us? Or is our mission to re-affirm for ourselves who our mother is because we do know who she is and what she looks like, but because she doesn’t look like other mothers, we have begun to question?  As a church what exactly is our mission? The Gospel says (at least to me) that we are called to seek out the transfigured Christ in each other and in the world.  It also says that we are called to “listen” to the voice of Jesus, and to each other. No where does God say, “preserve his words in a book and treat them like an historic artifact. Look at them, adore them and them go home a glow with the knowledge that you have seen them.” God says “listen to him”…..subtext, absorb, think about, reflect upon, incorporate. 

 Here at Emmanuel we have recently taken some important steps to be transfigured before our witnesses. We have made intentional steps to be more welcoming, to be better stewards of creation, and to care for each other more intentionally and carefully. This is our public transfiguration. Each of us also has many opportunities in our daily lives for individual public transfigurations. The trick is to see them for what they are, to listen for the voice of Jesus, and to be willing to stay on that high scary mountain until we are certain whose voice we are following. As we begin our Lenten journey this year, I pray you will consider the ways in which you might be transfigured. This transfiguration might involve some anxiety. It will also involve letting go of our impatience, our strong willed independence, and our constant need to ask  “are you my mother”? And when we return home, perhaps in the bucket of a Steam Shovel named Snort, we will have learned that if we had been a bit more patient, we would have been fed, by the only one who can feed us.

Leper

Mark 1:40-45 : The Leper. Then and Now.       

The Rev. Julia W. Messer
2.12.2012

~~~

When I was studying to become a priest, I met with some opposition, not only because of my age, but because of my gender. I got everything from, “What is wrong with you that you want to be a priest,” to “Why don’t you just marry a minister?” And the one that stood out in my mind was when I was down in New Orleans doing some mission work following Hurricane Katrina.  I was to stay at a conservative/’Anglican’ parish but I was warned before I went down not to tell anyone I was in the process to become a priest. However, the moment I got there I was introduced as a seminarian, to which several people stated “You know we don’t believe in you.”  To them, I replied, “That is your choice. I’m down here to work, not to be your seminarian.” At that time, I really didn’t understand what my presence meant to them and how troubled that presence made them. The good news is that by the end of the week the church had invited me to be the first woman to serve behind the altar, to read Good Friday’s Gospel, and to be a chalice bearer.  I believe this change happened because the church got to know me, not the hypothetical crazy female whom they feared was out to destroy the Episcopal Church.  Regardless of age or gender, I was one working with them to assist, in the small ways that I could, as they healed after Hurricane Katrina. The Holy Spirit moved them and they came to see me as not someone to fear but as a person who believed in and worshipped the same God in the same way.

This memory stands out in my mind when I read today’s Gospel.  I realized that I was someone that people viewed as not fully fit to serve God, they saw me as an “other” and that got me thinking about what in our lives do we feel makes us an “other”, a leper, and what ways do we view others as lepers. This circular thinking sent me to reflect on how people, including me, view “others”.  I know that in some ways I can be viewed as a dork. Let’s face it, I’m officially a Church Dork. And on top of that, when I turned thirteen, all of a sudden—at least it seemed that way to me—I got curly hair, braces, glasses and acne.  I like Jane Austen to Star Wars, I like sports and being slightly preppy. Growing up I did not fit into a stereotypical stereotype, so dork covered it all.  I was the same “me” inside but I was so dismayed with all the awkwardness that I was sure others saw me as “other”. How often do we all—I know I do it-- see someone who looks or acts differently and label them with our own 21^st century label of leper?

Today, leprosy is known as Hanson’s disease, but in Jesus’ time, leprosy was a word that encompassed many diseases.  The label, leprosy, would have been used for anything that made a person look deformed, especially any disease that affected the skin, and particularly anything exposing raw flesh.   These people were considered unclean, not necessarily because they committed a sin, but because they were viewed as not fit to worship God. The culture saw them as unclean and therefore they were treated as such, and came to believe that they too were unclean.

In today’s Gospel the leper went up to Jesus, and I can almost hear his voice sounding deflated, begging Jesus, he said “If you choose, you can make me clean.” The leper did not ask Jesus to heal him; it is almost as if he did not think he was worthy of it. And Christ was moved with pity, not because of the man and the burden he bore, but I believe Jesus was moved with pity because the leper despised himself and felt he was worth nothing, not even worth asking Christ to heal him. 

The leper had to deal with his own internal struggle of not only the disease, but how he viewed himself. And on top of that, he had to deal with how others felt about him--how they turned from him, rejected him, and how they viewed him as not even worthy of God.

To not even feel worthy enough to worship God is an absolutely horrible place to be.  Yet there are people who have been in this position because they have done something or they are viewed as not worthy.

Today leprosies and their manifestations can come in many different forms. People with self-esteem issues can feel like everyone is watching them and that they aren’t worthy enough to be heard or cool enough to be in a particular situation. There is also the leprosy of social rejection from the want to separate us from the people who are different from us, especially from the homeless, who are the unclean of today. Leprosy today can be dismissing someone because of a mental or physical illness or disability. Or it can take on other forms—such as the animosity and bitterness between Democrats and Republicans today who won’t listen to each other, but reject, out of hand, based on political affiliation.

Modern day leprosies can be self-inflicted or they can be placed there by other people. Yet what I love in today’s Gospel is that in one second, Jesus made the leper clean. Can you imagine being able to be healed of our burdens, to put down the burdens that we have been carrying for a long time… and just be healed? It’s miraculous….and in most cases miracles don’t work like this. To put down the leprosy that we have been carrying for years is not something easily done.  But it can be done.

What the leper did was he acknowledged the issue he was carrying. In a week and a half Lent begins…the season of conscious acknowledgement of the areas in our lives that pull us from the love of God.   Now is the perfect time to begin to look at the areas in our lives that need to be cleaned, to be healed. What do we do or what burden do we carry that makes us feel unworthy of God’s love? What opinions, or whose opinion do we hold that keep us from reaching out to others?  What areas and reasons do we find to judge others as less-than ourselves?

We are ALWAYS worthy of God’s love and forgiveness.  All we have to do is approach God and be honest with Him and ourselves. It is that easy but it can be a challenge to lay down the burdens we have carried with us thus far. Today, all we have to do is to see the “us” that God sees and loves, and to see the person in our neighbor that God sees and loves.           

~~~

In the name of God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. AMEN.

Happy New Year to EEC and all our readers!

Happy 2012!

May this year be filled with joy, love, best of health, good luck, and unlimited possibilities for you and those you love!  And may the blessing of God Almighty, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, be among you , and remain with you always. Amen.

Go in peace to share in the joy and power in life in Christ! Alleluia, alleluia!

Christmas Day 2011

Christmas Day Sermon
The Rev. Julia W. Messer

Merry Christmas!

Some of my fondest memories happened on Christmas; there is nothing more magical than this time of year. I especially remember and cherish two very special Nativity Crèches! My Swiss Grandfather was a civil engineer by profession, but loved nothing more than creating things from wood.  He built a swing set for me and a train table for my brother.  But the thing we treasure the most that he built was a crèche.  It is wood, fits nicely on a table, and has a little bit of a Swiss look to it.  For the next many years as my grandparents traveled, they would find wooden figurines to fill the crèche. W hen I was older my godmother started sending me for Christmas exquisite Hummel figurines for another crèche.   I can’t explain the joy as each of the figurines would come in as a present, year by year, and they got to be put into the crèche. For me when I got these figurines, they were like getting a piece of a greater story. I loved hiding little baby Jesus until Christmas day, or having the wise men cross the room until they made it the manger on the day of Epiphany.

And with today being Christmas, everyone has their own favorite Christmas memories. Christmas memories and traditions help to make today a powerful day. When Jesus came into the world He did not come as a full grown being and made a difference, he was born into a family. A family that had its own traditions and created new memories together. God sent his son not only into the world as a part of a family, but also into the larger human family. So no matter what family you were born to or what life you have experienced, we can all try to find grace in our lives. We are all a part of the story of Christ’s birth and therefore a part of a greater family.  In a season where we are acutely aware of traditions, I want to invite you to think of your family Christmas traditions and briefly share your most favorite one with us. Or share with us one of the great moments of grace you have felt during a Christmas season.

In the name of God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

Christmas Pagents Advent 4 2011

December 18, 2011
Advent IV
The Rev. Julia W. Messer

‘Tis the season of Advent and Christmas pageants!  There are many ways to tell or share the story of Jesus’ birth.  One way is through nativity plays or Christmas pageants, and another would be nativity scenes or crèches.  Since we are having our Christmas pageant at the 11:00 service, today is a perfect day to examine nativity plays.

Emmanuel, along with perhaps thousands of other Christian churches, will present their versions of a Christmas pageant sometime in December before Christmas day.  Why do we do it?  Where did they come from?  Where does this tradition come from?

I bet most of us remember either being in one as a child or being the adult on the hunt for the perfect bathrobe to represent the king’s robes….or perhaps both are memories.

By a show of hands, how may of you have been apart of a Christmas pageant? … I can relate.

Since I can remember, some of my earliest memories of church were being in a Christmas pageant. I can remember almost every Christmas pageant I participated in as a child.  There was almost a rite of passage as my brother and I grew older because we took on more responsible roles with lots to memorize.  I started as a lamb and grew to become a little angel, then a reader, and finally, the archangel Gabriele and narrator. But I would like to point out that my brother began on a similar path.  He started as a lamb, then became a shepherd, and ended as the donkey—a point I’ve reminded him of on several occasions.  Despite my ribbing him about his role, we both realized that our roles were to be taken seriously.  That’s the amazing thing about nativity plays-- we are a part of the greatest story ever told!  We get to interact and be a part of the story of the Messiah coming into the world.

Each year we do this to remember the story of the night that the Light of the world came into the world and the darkness did not overcome it. We remember the day over 2,000 years ago when a baby was born in a stable. He would go on to change the world forever. He offered God’s saving grace; He taught people to live their lives in a radical way --that we are loved by God and we are called to love our neighbors as ourselves.  This tiny baby boy was God incarnate, and it can be hard to imagine that when the Savior came into the world, He would come in such a common and uncommon way.

Jesus was born to a young woman named Mary; a woman visited by a messenger of God and told that she would bear the savior of the world.  Mary was betrothed to a man named Joseph, who made the decision to stay with her and raise this child as his own. Then Jesus was brought into the world, in a manger among animals, yet his birth was heralded by angels and a star lead wise men to his cradle.

It is an amazing and powerful story, which can get covered up in the hustle and bustle of all that we do around Christmas time. We may put more focus on what we will eat, what gifts we have bought others, and we may get so caught up in expecting the Christmas ‘magic’ to happen that we may forget the simple yet powerful story of Christ’s birth.

In that way we are no different than our ancestors hundreds of years ago. Saint Francis of Assisi is credited with creating the first nativity play on Christmas Eve, 1223. While St Francis was born to a wealthy family he gave everything up and led a life helping lepers and building monasteries to help the poor and sick of his community. St. Francis was said to be a wonderful preacher, but he wanted people to focus on and to remember the story of Jesus’ birth.  At that time when most people could not read, St. Francis wanted a way to convey the powerful story of Christ’s birth and he wanted people to feel even more a part of the Christmas story.  So some monks and he, along with an ox, donkey and a recreated manger, reenacted the Nativity.

There you have it; we are a part of a long historical tradition, which of course we Episcopalians are known to be proud of. By being a part of a Christmas pageant, we carry on one of the most interactive ways to be a part of the greatest story ever told -- the story of Christ’s birth into this world.  So on this 4^th Sunday of Advent at our 11:00 service, our children will perform a Christmas pageant, helping Emmanuel to carry on a tradition credited to St. Francis of Assisi almost 800 years ago.

~~~~

In the name of God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit