FROM THE DESK OF THE PRIEST-IN-CHARGE

Dear friends in Christ,

For the past two weeks I have given you some idea of what the devil might include if he had a creed. The first was, "It makes no difference what you believe as long as you believe something." The second was, "I am only one person so I don't count."

The third which I want to have you consider today is, "That is just the way he/she is and you cannot change them." To accept the concept that a person cannot change is to accept all the racial and ethnic stereotypes. It also flies in the face of all that Jesus teaches us in the Bible. He changed Peter from a fisherman to a fisher OF men. He changed sinners into saints. Paul was changed from a persecutor of Christians to a leader of the church. Every day we see how God changes people. God uses you and me to implement change. The church is all about change--changing you and me into the servants of God.

Peace,

GJK

P.S.

During Advent it is a tradition in many families to use advent wreaths. We will be making some this coming Sunday, November 28, 2010. As the wreath is lit in your home, may I suggest one of the following prayers: 1.Come Lord Jesus be our guest and may all our gifts to you be blessed. Amen. (This is good for smaller children to learn.) 2. God is great. God is good. And now we thank Him for our food. Amen. 3 Lord, keep us mindful of the needs and wants of others. Bless this food to our use and us to your loving service. Amen.

FROM THE DESK OF THE PRIEST-IN-CHARGE

Dear friends in Christ,

In the world of computers there is a phrase "GIGO" which means "garbage in garbage out". It reminds us that if we put incorrect information into a computer incorrect solutions will result. At one time data was entered into computers by "keypunch" operators. Their work was truly "key" to the success of data processing. The term GIGO also applies to our personal lives. If we make poor decisions in terms of diet we can expect poor results in terms of our results--high blood pressure or diabetes for example. A far more dangerous GIGO regards our spiritual life and that of our families. You are the key punch operator for those you love. People who are very conscientious in watching the diets of their children and loved ones may not be as careful about the garbage allowed into their homes via TV or books. We have an obligation to be vigilant regarding what our children see and hear. (Remember most vocabulary is learned at home including profanity.) One way to combat the garbage over the TV is to monitor it. Another way is to insure that you and your children are exposed to healthy food and healthy ideas. The best food for you and your children is served at Good Shepherd --the body of Christ which is the bread of heaven. The best literature for you and your children is read every Sunday--the word of the Lord. The bread of heaven with the word of God is the perfect diet for everyone. Invite your friends and relatives to share in the best "happy meal in town."

Peace

GJK

FROM THE DESK OF THE PRIEST-IN-CHARGE

Dear friends in Christ,

A famous 20th Century author named Ernest Hemingway wrote a book entitled A MOVABLE FEAST. It is interesting and worth reading. However, it does imply that there may be such a thing as an immovable feast. In fact the Christian church since the time of the apostles has been observing both moveable and immovable feasts. Each type of feast impacts the way we worship and the theme of the bible lessons we read.

An immovable feast is one that is set on a calendar date. For example, Christmas which is celebrated on December 25 is an immovable feast. Likewise the Feast of the Epiphany which falls of January 6 (12 days after Christmas) is immovable. Christmas is important not only for the observance of Jesus' birth but also as the key to the start of each new church year. The four Sundays before Christmas make up the season of Advent. Depending on what day of the week December 25 falls on Advent can have as little as 22 days or as many as 28. The primary moveable feast is Easter. Easter is always on a Sunday but can be as early as March 22 or as late as April 25. Since Easter is a movable feast it affects most of the church year. If Easter is early then Ash Wednesday is as early as February. Pentecost the season in which we are now can be very long (26 weeks) or relatively short (22 weeks) The goal of this structure is to insure that we as a community of believers hear the word of God as expressed in the bible to the fullest extent possible. During the various seasons teachings of the church are stressed--the spread of the gospel in Epiphany, the need for repentance during Lent, the joy of resurrection at Easter and the teaching of the spirit filled church during Pentecost. During the three year cycle of the church year all of the gospels and epistles are read as well as the psalms. Just for your information all saints’ days are immovable feasts--St, Patrick -- March 17, St. Francis -- October 4. All Saints Day and the Feast of the Transfiguration are major immovable feast days and observed in a special manner.

Peace, GJK

Easter 6C May 9, 2010
“Will you come and follow me if I but call your name?Will you go where you don't know and never be the same?Will you let my love be shown? Will you let my name be known,Will you let my life be grown in you and you in me?”
The words of this song from the Iona community in Scotland call us into Christian discipleship. They describe the sort of call Jesus made to his very first disciples. They inquire about a willingness to prepare for the tasking of “giving away” our faith—something we are called to do as disciples.
Our gospel lesson comes from near the end of Jesus' ministry—he was addressing his disciples. If you are willing to be my disciple, Jesus said you will show it by loving him. Loving him means keeping his word. His word to the disciples who followed him was to love God and love our neighbors. And by the way, Jesus added that he wouldn't be around much longer. In his absence his disciples would be given the Holy Spirit by God to look out for them and teach them and remind them about what he said.
Jesus' absence would give his disciples a chance to experience the divine power of new life in Christ through the resurrection. That divine power within each follower happens, because Jesus promised that God and he would “make our home with them.” With this indwelling of the Father, Jesus and the Spirit, one's life would be transformed.
This transformation means that one who places his or her faith in Jesus' way of life is promised the peace of Christ and a non-anxious heart. This does not mean that the difficulties or challenges of life will pass us by? No, but we can be sure of Christ's abiding presence with us at times.
That’s the theology of our gospel reading. So how can we expect to see this happen “on the ground?” We have a picture of how it can happen in the story of Lydia's conversion from the book of Acts. We heard this morning that Paul and some companions—probably including Luke—felt compelled by a vision Paul received to leave Asia Minor and travel to Macedonia in southeastern Europe. This was new territory for the Christian mission, and there may have been few Jewish people there who would know about the promised Messiah.
So on the Sabbath Paul finds his way to a place of prayer near a river and outside the gate of the city of Philippi. Perhaps there are not enough Jewish men in the city to build a synagogue. Anyway, in this informal setting Paul and his companions begin to talk to some women gathered for prayer.
Talking to women in public—in Christ's name?? Jewish men were not to be talking with women in public! How could this be o.k.?? Because Paul had given his life to the mission of spreading the good news of Jesus Christ. Out of love for Christ he broke the rule about not to speaking to women in public places!
No record was made of what he said. But whatever words he spoke, through the power of God, touched Lydia's heart. Lydia had been a person of prayer. Now she had been convicted of the power of the resurrected Jesus in her life—and her life was transformed.
Through baptism Lydia and her whole household became Christians—the first baptism recorded in Europe. And this was not simply a transformation of her beliefs. Much more, it was a transformation of how she lived—she and her household joined with Paul and his companions to create a partnership. This partnership began the church at Philippi.
Paul's willingness to cross the gender boundary in this instance and Lydia's generosity and hospitality as she responded to Paul's teaching about Jesus mark this moment as a time when “things were never the same” for those people involved.
Lydia, as a dealer in purple cloth, sold fabric to those in power. As a successful businesswoman, she led a household, probably with servants and children. Yet she sought, through prayer, what she lacked—the peace of God, a relationship with God. Paul had found that peace and that relationship, but he had been called to spread the gospel—so he needed willing listeners. God brought them together and God's saving grace dismantled the social-cultural barriers between them.
What was the key that unlocked the way to this partnership in Christ? I see the key as “willingness.” Paul was willing to take a long journey with no promise of success and speak of his faith to a woman. Lydia, probably a Gentile, was willing to listen to a stranger with an unusual message. “Willingness” helps open our lives to the power of God, so God's Spirit can indwell and empower us.
Is there a message here for us at Good Shepherd today? What does each of us have to offer when we are called by God into community, into partnership with each other? What will God be able to use to strengthen this community and draw others into it? What barriers need to fall? What change do we need to accept? What should our “willingness” look like? What support should we offer? These are rhetorical questions today, but we should be thinking about them.
Good Shepherd will soon be moving from the ‘safe harbor’ of St. Nicholas.’ What will happen to our congregation as we move apart and resume our separate journey? This will very much depend on our “willingness” to be open to God's leading and to support this community in its path forward.
Let me end by re-phrasing the song with which I began:
“Will all of you [at Good Shepherd] come and follow me if I but call your name?Will you all go where you don't know and never be the same?Will you all let my love be shown? Will you let my name be known,Will you all let my life be grown in you and you in me?”

Homily at Good Shepherd on January 3, 2010

By The Rev. Elizabeth Masterson
Matthew 2: 1-12
So how's the year going so far?
I was reading a column by Paul Greenberg in the News Journal on from Thursday's paper about how often predictions of editorial writers are wrong. He closed the column by saying, “I think I'll just stick to observing. . . that the future lies before us. You can quote me on that.”
“The future lies before us” said in a certain context could imply hope for something better than one experienced in the past. In another context it might imply that the quest one is starting on promises to be exciting.
Might one of the Wise Men have said to the others, “Let's get started following this star, the future lies before us?” It wasn't reported by Matthew if he did!
These seekers after the King of the Jews hardly seemed like the politicians or editorial writers who may be prone to spouting that sort of empty, but pretentious, statement. Rather, Matthew presents them as seeking truth from ancient prophecies by talking to those who should have known what these prophecies meant—serious people on serious business. That serious business was to find a child whose claim to the Jewish Messianic title made men and women want to worship him.
For the Wise Men, worship involved leaving their usual activities and duties. Perhaps they turned these over to others. Perhaps they just allowed some things to go undone. Perhaps they left family and friends behind to worry about them. Whatever they gave up was the price they paid for their quest.
The Wise Men also worshiped through gifts carefully selected for value and for their meaning. We do not know why they chose these gifts, except that they were gifts worthy of a king. Looking back, we can speculate about their meaning. In other words, why would we give such gifts to the Messiah. For us they may symbolize kingship (the gold), priesthood (frankincense), and anointing in death (myrrh)—three aspects of Jesus' messiahship.
Yet most of all their worship was not in what they gave up or in the economic or symbolic value of their gifts, but in how “diligently” they sought the child. The faith they showed as they undertook and persisted in this quest and their attentiveness to God's message in a dream afterwards made them examples for all of us who seek God and long to worship God faithfully. Yes, to worship faithfully as the Wise Men did with reverence and with generosity.
“Christian faith” is a word some folks fling about all too readily in regard to someone's holding a certain set of beliefs. Do you believe . . . can be how someone starts a question about someone else's faith. Do they believe as we do about certain important issues or doctrines. And if they don't??
Rather, we need to understand faith, including Christian faith, as a gift from God that sends us out into a land of uncertainty and challenge, just as the Wise Men were sent. And our faith then becomes our persistence in seeking the Messiah, the Christ and our attentiveness to God in the midst of uncertainty and in a time of challenge.
Timothy Mulder, who has pastored both Episcopal and Reformed congregations, gave this advice to those of us who see ourselves on this sort of faith journey. Wise people should pray “for the gift of faith that we may see Christ in the world in the most unlikely of places.” Perhaps even in someone or in a situation that we dislike and would rather avoid. But being certain that in these “unlikely places” God will provide us with opportunities to grow in our faith and to trust God more fully than ever.
Where is your comfort zone? What sort of worship would you chose if you could choose anything? Yet what might God use to reach out to you?
No more wonderful worship experience could be imagined than the moment the Wise Men knelt and opened their gifts. And yet soon afterwards they had to leave and not in the way they had planned. But attentively they listened for God's leading and left, I expect, with more uncertainty and challenges ahead. Given their obvious faith, however, mostly like they would meet these uncertainties and challenges by continuing to trust in God's leading.
How might the example of the Wise Men's lives be seen in our lives or in the lives of our families or in the life of Good Shepherd? Different answers may come to various folks. Various answers may come at different times. But God will guide us to answers—if we remain attentive.
Pastor Mulder offered this observation on the Wise Men's journey—which I present as a New Year's gift—a principle that can inform our answer to 'How's the year going so far?': “Faith is traveling wherever, resting in hope that it is God who is leading us and our travels are not in vain.”
So how's the year going so far??