Sunday, January 27, 2013
Epiphany 3C
Today we had our annual meeting at Trinity Church (Jeffers). Consequently, I found myself looking at the day's lessons in the light of what we might need or want to focus on, as a parish, in 2013. Interestingly, the lessons (which generally are not related to each other thematically) actually worked well together. You can find the sermon here:
www.dailymotion.com/video/xx2pb4_epi-3c-vid00002_lifestyle#.UQXhVWfheSo
Sunday, January 20, 2013
Epiphany 2 - What God Can Do
Fr. Keith addresses Jesus' first miracle at a wedding in Cana of Galilee. The important thing to remember, says Jesus: Faith is not about our limitations, but about God's infinite capacity to meet and exceed our needs.
The Sermon can be found here: http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xwwsa8_second-sunday-after-the-epiphany_lifestyle#.UPySIWfheSo
Wednesday, January 9, 2013
Enter the Magi
On the Feast of the Epiphany, I examined the visit of the Magi to the Christ Child and spent some time discerning what we can learn from them about our own faith journey.
The sermon can be found here: www.dailymotion.com/video/xwmkk4_vid00001_lifestyle#.UO4Og3fheSo
Making a Kinder World
Life is NOT about getting what you want … Life IS about
sharing more of what you already have. – Steve Dropkin
There is a prayer where we confess we have done things we
ought NOT to have done, and where we have failed to do things we ought TO have
done.
Isn’t that the human condition? We know for the most part
what we ought to be doing (loving God and neighbor, taking care of business,
being honest, kind, and gentle, and so on), and we mostly do those things, for
being good really is a big part of our character (if we have any character),
and being good really doesn’t take much effort.
It doesn’t take a lot of thought to tell the truth. In
fact, when we tell the truth we don’t have to devote much memory space to
remembering our lies and to whom we told them. So, even if telling the truth
might be a bit awkward (“Yes, I forgot to pick up that birthday card while I
was at the store”), it beats trying to remember any lie you would tell to
explain away your omission.
It doesn’t take much energy to be kind, either. When
driving down Main Street, it doesn’t slow the rotation of the earth to stop and
let someone back out of their parking space. Providing a safe cushion in which others
may back out “blind” potentially saves money, time, and trouble in the long
run. That makes it worth the effort in my book.
So what keeps us from doing the right thing every so
often? If we are able to do them most of the time, why don’t we do those things
“all” of the time?
Part of the problem, I suspect, is thoughtlessness. I don’t
mean “thoughtless” as a character defect as much as I mean there are times we
simply don’t pay attention to what’s going on. I don’t listen to the radio when
I am in the car or truck (for the most part), but I do find myself deep in
thought, and that takes my mind away from my primary task – driving.
When I am driving down Main Street, I’m not looking to be
kind; I am thinking about what I need to get at the store, or what I need to do
when I get to the church. My mind is everywhere but on the road, and so I miss
opportunities to “make a difference” and I run the very real risk of having a
mishap, instead!
Another issue that keeps us from living up to our kind and
gentle potential is a matter of ego. We tend to want what we want when we want
it, and we often filter out the needs, desires, and perspectives of those whose
goals and plans may thwart our own. Consequently, sometimes we trample on
others, not out of ill-will, but simply because we don’t think of ourselves as
being part of a community where sharing is an important component. We don’t
think in terms of “we” but of “me.”
Again, it’s not our fault we think that way; it is simply part
of the fabric of our being human. We cannot deny the ego (or that we have one),
but we can make efforts to reign it in and remember that there are others with
whom we must learn to get along if we are going to make our world a better
place.
To say we have not done so well in being all we can be is
the first step to being honest with God and ourselves. It is a step away from
ego and toward humility – which simply stated says, “I am not God, so I can’t
do everything, but I am human, so there are things I can do. I think I will.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)