The Journey Onward – Toward Love and Healing

The season of Lent is indeed a time to reflect on our journey together with Christ to Gethsemane and ultimately to the cross. We have been called to spend quiet time both alone and in community to deepen our relationship with Jesus – to bring him into the center of our lives. What does it mean to be in relationship with Jesus? Fr. Duncan had us ponder that question in his sermon just this past Sunday. Perhaps you have felt dry – disconnected even parched. I would like to suggest as we continue our Lenten journeys that we look for moments to quench our thirst as we spend time with Jesus in the wilderness.

The lectionary this week invites us to accompany Moses as he guided the whole congregation of Israelites through the desert. No water to drink – the people became tired, irritable. They quarreled among themselves. Why did you take us out of Egypt? Such short memories they had – Egypt was not a safe place! Give us water, they cried! Moses, frustrated beyond our capacity to comprehend cries out to the Lord, “What shall I do with this people?” Can you imagine accompaniment on such a strenuous passage?

Our own Lenten journey is nothing like this. In our attempts to grow closer to God – to Jesus, I pray that none of us has reached that kind of bottom – the bottom the Israelites experienced. The bottom so many migrants and asylum seekers reach when they journey beyond what they know – terror and fear for their lives, food insecurity, lack of water and other basic survival resources. But the journeys they take are often just as dangerous as what they have left behind.

We all thirst – we thirst for renewed minds, renewed spirits, for forgiveness of our sins. Our Psalm reminds us that the Lord is a great God – but it also asks us not to harden our hearts like our “forebears did in the wilderness…” How do we grow in love? Paul reminds us that “suffering produces endurance and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us.”

It is time for us all to open our hearts to Jesus. That is just what he wanted from the woman at the well – that she open her heart to him. Just like peeling the layers off an onion to get to the center or even peeling off the petals of a rose to get to its heart, Jesus had to peel off the layers of resistance and bias in this woman to allow – to enable her to accept his offering of living water. Jesus thirsted for her faith and he thirsts for ours also.

Rev. David Chavez, Canon to Border Ministries, Diocese of Arizona

Please join with me in welcoming The Rev. David Chavez, Canon for Border Ministries from the Diocese of Arizona. He will preach on these scriptures on Sunday at both of our services. What an honor it is for us to be able to host him!

Please also join us on Saturday, March 11^th for our Lenten Quiet day, hosted by our Spirituality Group. Fr. Chavez will speak from his deep experiences of the many challenges we as humans face in our world today – a world that feels so broken. And yet – there is hope. “Hope and Healing for a Broken World” 

Beauty for brokenness
Hope for despair
Lord, in the suffering
This is our prayer
Bread for the children
Justice, joy, peace
Sunrise to sunset
Your kingdom increase!

God of the poor
Friend of the weak
Give us compassion we pray
Melt our cold hearts
Let tears fall like rain
Come, change our love
From a spark to a flame

Graham Kendrick 
Copyright © 1993 Make Way Music

Growing together in Christ,
Deacon Claire

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“Life on the surface keeps us judging the circumstances. We look at the circumstances as a picture. If it is pretty, pleasing, and shows us what we want to see then God is good and life is as it should be. When we don’t see what we want then we often look for a new picture. The restless searching, the longing for more, the desire for meaning are not, however, usually answered by changed circumstances. The answer is found in depth, intimacy, and the vulnerability of the interior journey. We do not need to see new things. We need to see the same old things with new eyes. We do not need to hear a different voice. We need to hear the same old voice with different ears. We do not need to escape the circumstances of our life. We need to be more fully present to those circumstances. When this happens life is no longer lived at the surface. These are the transfigured moments, moments when the picture of our life has becomes a window into a new world and we come face to face with the glory of God.” (Michael K. Marsh)

In the Gospel, Peter, John, and James go to the mountain to pray. Jesus' face changed in appearance and his clothes became dazzling white. Then they see Moses and Elijah, talking to him. It is obvious to me that Moses, Elijah, and Jesus and are outside the temporal realm. The bible calls this situation, “the Kingdom of Heaven” and this is the place in our time and space where heaven and earth overlap. Many people can only experience the temporal realm. When you are a believer, God is able to bring the light of Christ to a hurting world through you. When we give of ourselves for the sake of others, we feel the peace that passes all understanding. This is a foretaste of the eternal life that we will experience in the next life.

The abundant life is filled with experiences outside the temporal realm. This fleeting presence of “the Kingdom of Heaven” is a foretaste of what we will experience in eternity after our resurrection. In today’s lesson, Jesus crosses the temporal realm so that the disciples may have this foretaste, but the disciples are not in the right place to understand. Most people believe that they will go to heaven, but my experience is that non-believers don’t think that God can come into our time and space.

In the fifties and sixties, while I was growing up, practically everyone I knew believed that Jesus Christ was the Son of God. The church was filled and when we went out of church, we felt like servants of Jesus Christ on a mission. The times were tumultuous in the sixties, yet the Episcopal Church was a great place to be. We felt good that we were changing the world in a positive way to the problems of the environment, war, women’s rights and racism.

I imagine that most of us miss out on the deep joy and peace that we are offered by God because we are too distracted by our egos, our anger towards certain individuals, and other “stuff.” The trick in life for me is to let go of the “stuff,” give of ourselves to others, and to forgive others as we are forgiven by God. This deepens our relationship with God and our neighbor and allows us to experience the full benefit of God’s love and mercy. We are able to not only recover from bad things that happen to us, but somehow the glue that puts us back together makes us stronger than we have ever been. Once we see each other as broken vessels in need of the love and mercy of God, we love all our neighbors because we know that they are just as broken as us. We begin to walk the path that our Savior walked, who hung on a cross that he might know our pain and we might know the hope of the resurrection. 

In Christ’s love,

Fr. Duncan

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God, Help us to live slowly:

To move simply:

To look softly:

To allow emptiness:

To let the heart create for us. Amen

Michael Leunig

The lectionary for this week, the sixth Sunday after Epiphany,  is deep and rich – inviting us to a more profound understanding of who we are as followers of Jesus. Indeed, these scriptures could inspire several sermons, but I will focus on the overall theme of being a beloved community- and as we honor Black History month, it reminds us of our call to grow together in the spirit of the law – to enter into deepness and wideness of God’s love – a challenge to go beyond simple dichotomies of rights and wrongs. 

In Paul’s letter to the Corinthians, we learn about a community that is squabbling over which spiritual leader is better – Paul or Apollos. Their fighting and confusion point to the fact that they have not understood the deeper message -- human wisdom alone is unable to attain the knowledge of God. It is the Holy Spirit that equips us to know God – and to know God’s will for our lives. The problem with the Corinthians is they have been fully depending upon wisdom from the wrong sources. We do need teachers and guides to help us along the way to spiritual maturity, yet we must  be receptive to the voice of Jesus sent through the Holy Spirit.

In our old testament lesson, Moses attempts to illumine the path that will lead the Israelites to life and prosperity – if only they obey and follow the commandments of the Lord their God. Sometimes, when faced with two roads, both seemingly desirable and good, we need someone with vision to point us in the right direction. We always have a choice, but Moses reminds his people that part of choosing is knowing God and keeping his commandments. The decalogue is not just a list of laws to blindly follow – it is a gift from God which invites us into relationship with each other and with God. We are asked to know God’s heart – to love God and to walk in ways of justice, righteousness, and loving kindness. Into the fullness of the law.

 What does God’s love really look like? Jesus is inviting us into a wider view for building community and righteousness. It is more than just following specific rules. Righteousness is about being in right relationship with our God and our community and this is a righteousness that exceeds that of the Pharisees and scribes who live into the letter of the law. We are called to live into the spirit of the law – as we allow the Holy Spirit to guide us in our everyday decisions about how we treat each other and grow into a beloved community.

In early December 1967, Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. unfolded his vision for the Poor People’s Campaign, his next protest in Washington, D.C.. Assassinated on April 4, 1968, he never made it to the mall in Washington, but thousands traveled there to honor King’s memory and pursue his vision. The Rev. Ralph Abernathy picked up the torch lighting the way for the erection of Resurrection City. He is quoted as saying, “We’re going to build this city…a community of love and brotherhood. The American Indians, Puerto Ricans, Mexican Americans, white poor Americans from the Appalachian area of our country and Black Americans will all live together in this city of hope.” It remained intact for 42 days before being disbanded. It was a community of people who had often been set against each other now living in love and action- looking down new roads of possibilities – challenging the status quo. This was a place where people felt a profound hope for beloved community.

Jesus has called us to live into a deeper understanding of God’s love, which may require that we struggle a bit in the gray areas – where we are called to live into a much broader and glorious way of loving.

Dear God,

We pray for another way of being:

another way of knowing.

Across the difficult terrain of our existence

we have attempted to build a highway

and in so doing have lost our footpath.

God lead us to our footpath:

Lead us there where in simplicity

we may move at the speed of natural creatures

and feel the earth's love beneath our feet.

Lead us there where step-by-step we may feel

the movement of creation in our hearts.

And lead us there where side-by-side

we may feel the embrace of the common soul.

Nothing can be loved at speed.

God lead us to the slow path; to the joyous insights

of the pilgrim; another way of knowing: another way of being. Amen

Michael Leunig

In the spirit of God’s Love, 

Deacon Claire 

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“You are the salt of the earth; but if salt has lost its taste, how can its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything, but is thrown out and trampled underfoot. “You are the light of the world. A city built on a hill cannot be hid. No one after lighting a lamp puts it under the bushel basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven.”(Matt. 5:13-16)

Jesus went out to the margins of society respected the dignity of everyone, healed the sick, forgave the penitent, and ate with sinners and outcasts. His words were so revolutionary that they transformed the community. His action of giving up his life on a cross that they might have life was also transformative because it means that we are loved and forgiven and loved by God, even when we mess up. I ask you today to come to church, to listen to the Gospel, to be transformed by the revolutionary words of Jesus Christ, to regain that belly burning salt, and to shine the light of Christ so brightly that it will transform others to the love of God. The focus for the coming year at St. John’s will be Spirituality, Evangelism, Children, Youth, and Young Adult Ministries, Outreach, Hospitality, and Pastoral Care.

I would like to thank all our parishioners who made this year deeply spiritual for one another. The Rev. Claire Mis, Deacon has certainly been an inspiration to all of us. Fr. James Reiss, our curate, has brought energy, enthusiasm, and a deep love of Jesus Christ to our community. Our Morning Prayer group met every weekday at 9 AM (260 times in 2022) and has prayed for our friends, neighbors, and for all in need. Prayer is the foundation of everything we do at St. John’s. Thank you for your leadership, your generosity, your ministry, and your continued faith in Jesus Christ. We are very blessed by your presence. I would also like to thank Coral, who has done an outstanding job as our administrator, Alex our talented musician and choir director, Jenni, our St. John’s Nursery School Director, and our wardens, Rob and Sean, who have led this parish with our vestry and committee chairs. May God continue to bless your ministries!

This week our service times on Sunday are 8:00am and 10:00am and we will have our annual meeting after the late service in person only! We will elect one warden and four vestry members. Our theme for this year’s Annual. Please live out your Baptismal Covenant by coming to church, worshiping with us on zoom, helping those in need in our community, donating to our Thrift Shop, volunteering in our Thrift Shop, striving for justice by supporting our racial reconciliation and social justice committee, and getting involved in a ministry of St. John’s such as our Altar Guild. 

I ask each committee to personally invite new members to join their group. If you are a new member or would like to help out please consider joining our Altar Guild, Thrift Shop, EFM, Racial Reconciliation and Justice Committee, HiHi, ECW, Lay Eucharistic Ministers, Youth Group, Christian Education, Readers, Spirituality Group, Nursery School Steering Committee, Ushers, Lay Eucharistic Visitors, Prayer Shawl Ministry, St. Hilda’s Guild, Laundry Love, or one of our other committees. Our mission team met this week to prepare for our trip to Puerto Rico in April. We are also planning a trip to Iona, Scotland in late September. This will be a restful and wonderful pilgrimage with Leslie Valentine. We still have 2 spots open!!

Our Sunday school starts at 9:45am and we will have confetti cake and ice cream cake after class. 1st Communion classes are beginning on Thursday, March 2nd at 5:00 and 1st Communion will be April 16th at the 10:00 service. Next Week, February 12th is the Souper Bowl of Caring and our Youth Group is collecting donations to fight hunger in the Huntington Community. If you are interested in volunteering for the Thrift shop on Tuesdays, Thursdays or Saturdays, please drop by on one of those days from 12-3.

In Christ’s love,

Rev. Duncan Burns

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The Spirit of the Beatitudes

“The feast of Epiphany invites us to listen to the voice of God and step forth on a spiritual pilgrimage; to enter a new secular year forgetting all that lies behind and ignoring all that seems reasonable today; to trust in the possibility of God’s dream…” (John H. Westerhoff III, A Pilgrim People)

We continue our epiphany journey - pilgrims listening to and learning more about God, as God is revealed to us through Jesus. What does the Kingdom of God look like and how can we grow more fully into Easter people.  Before Easter, however, we must make our way through the darkness of Lent. Growth is never easy. Our pilgrimage path may not be clear or straight. You may remember experiencing physical growing pains as a child. But even as adults, we are being called to step out of our comfort zones – out of safety to trust that God’s plan through Jesus is one in which we as individuals become blessed. We do not do this alone. We are called to grow into Christ’s likeness within this blessed community – to pay attention for God’s activity in and around us, making it possible to reveal the present reality of God’s Kingdom to others in our midst.

Isn’t it interesting that Jesus chose to preach his longest sermon on a mountain top? Moses also ascended a mountain to receive the Ten Commandments. Those commandments were about creating social order in our world – important and necessary. The eight Beatitudes, however, bring us to a different level of consciousness revealing the idea of grace. How to grow in humility as we seek to become a blessing to others. Who IS this Jesus. What IS His kingdom all about? Important enough to preach from the mountaintop – not just to his recently called disciples, but to all within hearing. We remember mountaintop experiences.

All of us have been called by Christ – or we wouldn’t even worship together in this beautiful and hospitable community called St. John’s. But as Paul reminds us in 1 Corinthians, while none of us is perfect, God does call each of us, imperfect as we are to point us in the direction of Christ crucified. Skill and wisdom that seem so important to the world do not get us into the Kingdom – simple faith does. Christ is the one who has made us acceptable to God.

The Beatitudes open for us a vision of the Kingdom of God that moves beyond the 10 commandments. They are counterintuitive to the ways we operate in the world. We have been called to be humble and faithful. As we pay attention to and follow Jesus more closely we too will go beyond the letter of the law to its more profound spirit to develop the habit of thinking, acting, and loving like Jesus. We will forgive one another, give up our own need for power and control and make space for all peoples. When it seems impossible, be reminded that all things are possible with God. May you be blessed!

“Sometimes I need only to stand where I am to be blessed.” (Mary Oliver)

Peace as we journey together!

Deacon Claire

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The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who lived in a land of deep darkness— on them light has shined. You have multiplied the nation, you have increased its joy; they rejoice before you as with joy at the harvest, as people exult when dividing plunder. For the yoke of their burden, and the bar across their shoulders, the rod of their oppressor, you have broken as on the day of Midian (Isaiah 9:2-4).

Fr. Dan preached last week on the season of Epiphany, The season is not a time for complacency between Christmas and Lent.  Jesus calls the disciples out of their comfort zone into the Kingdom of God. In this week’s Gospel Jesus says. “Follow me.” Fr. Dan reminded us that Jesus will draw us out through the beatitudes to places that we may not want to go. There is no better example (in my opinion) of this than this week’s Gospel. Jesus says, “Follow me, and I will make you fish for people.” Jesus asks us to turn from idolatry and selfish desires and follow the path of teaching, healing, and proclaiming the Good News.

As we prepare for our annual meeting on February 5th after the 10:00 service, let us think about how we might follow Jesus Christ in 2023. We have been listening to women’s voices for the past eight weeks. Will God raise up a woman to be our next warden? Will God raise up a deacon in our congregation? What new ministries lay before us? If we refurbish the kitchen, will there be volunteers to help our breakfast committee and will we make meals again for the homeless? Who will represent us in the movement for creation care in Huntington and who will speak up against hate in our town? Will our Thrift Shop continue to flourish? The answer from our Baptismal Covenant is, “I will with God’s help.”

Last week Fr. Dan asked, “What kind of God do you want?” This week I ask the question, “Will you follow Jesus even if he draws you out where we can never return?” Fleming Rutledge asks us to look for God in his Word. The world has become a dark place. Lots of folks see the cross as foolishness. We are a parish in an ever secular, fast moving, polarized, and violent world. Yet there is a small, still voice that asks, “Give us grace, Oh Lord, to answer readily the call.” At St. John’s, we can witness to our faith by coming to church, worshiping and praising God, caring for God’s creation, striving for justice, and being sent out to the community to love and serve Christ. Please be confident that God has the strength to bring us to the Kingdom, that place where heaven and earth intersect, if we will only allow ourselves to see the light of Christ and be drawn out to where we can never return.

"Does anyone have the foggiest idea what sort of power we so blithely invoke? Or, as I suspect, does no one believe a word of it? The churches are children playing on the floor with their chemistry sets, mixing up a batch of TNT to kill a Sunday morning. It is madness to wear ladies' straw hats and velvet hats to church; we should all be wearing crash helmets. Ushers should issue life preservers and signal flares; they should lash us to our pews. For the sleeping god may wake someday and take offense, or the waking god may draw us out to where we can never return" (Annie Dillard).

In Christ's Love,

Fr. Duncan

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Martin Luther King, who we celebrate this weekend, helped a whole generation see where the ways of heaven begin to get an unlikely foothold on this earth. He helped us remember that walking with Jesus means working for justice--revealing in our midst already a world where love reigns, a realm of God's shalom--of wholeness--where nothing's broken and no one's missing, where a table is spread and all are welcome. We are called, just as the disciples and Martin Luther King Jr. were called to point to the living truth that through living the Gospel, in the love of Jesus Christ, we can overcome hatred, racism, sexism, homophobia and greed. We are called to go out into the world and shine the light of Christ to the world. We need to be confident that the path that Christ chose is the path that we are to follow. We need to see that the path of greed in our culture is eroding our souls and leading to a long term distortion of our values. Only in the light of God’s love can we change our path. By giving of ourselves for the sake of the poor, we can deepen our faith and point to Jesus Christ.

Epiphany is the manifestation of Jesus Christ. Who was and is and will forever be, the Son of God. John points to Jesus and says, “Here is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world! ...and John testified, "I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and it remained on him. I myself did not know him, but the one who sent me to baptize with water said to me, `He on whom you see the Spirit descend and remain is the one who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.' And I myself have seen and have testified that this is the Son of God."

The two disciples heard him say this, and they followed Jesus. When Jesus turned and saw them following, he said to them, "What are you looking for?" They said to him, "Rabbi,” "where are you staying?" He said to them, "Come and see." They came and saw where he was staying, and they remained with him that day. It was about four o'clock in the afternoon. One of the two who heard John speak and followed him was Andrew, Simon Peter's brother. He first found his brother Simon and said to him, "We have found the Messiah.” God, John, and the disciples all point to Jesus and exclaim, “this is the Son of God, the Messiah.” The Epiphany season begins with the appearing or manifestation of Jesus Christ. I pray that each of you will have a deepening faith and that you can point to the manifestation of Jesus Christ among us.

In 1955 in Montgomery, Alabama, the issue of the day was forced segregation on city buses. Pastors gathered at a local Baptist Church--strategizing. Rosa Parks was arrested for refusing to give up her seat on the bus to a white person and moving to the back of the bus. They tossed a few ideas around, but couldn’t settle on a single strategy until a young pastor volunteered to lead a boycott and civil disobedience against the culture in power. This culture gave white people a better seat on the city bus and segregated everything from the school to the drinking fountains. Martin Luther King Jr. was not a perfect person, but when he accepted his marching orders to a path of truth, he radically changed this country. He was called by God to lead the people of this nation to a new place and it wouldn’t come without a cost. Martin Luther King Jr. said, “It's alright to talk about streets flowing with milk and honey, but God has commanded us to be concerned about the slums down here, and his children who can't eat three square meals a day. It's all right to talk about the new Jerusalem, but one day, God's preacher must talk about the New York, the new Atlanta, the new Philadelphia, the new Los Angeles, the new Memphis, Tennessee. This is what we have to do.” King knew that his words might lead to his death and yet his words have led to a better life for millions of African Americans. He glorified God through his words and actions. His boundary crossing, self-giving love is exactly what Jesus was talking about. How do you manifest Jesus Christ through your action?

In Christ’s love,

Fr. Duncan

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And when Jesus had been baptized, just as he came up from the water, suddenly the heavens were opened to him and he saw the spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on him.

This Sunday, our church celebrates The Baptism of our Lord. Lectionary-wise, this is kind of a strange jump for us; the last time we checked in with our infant Lord, we had just celebrated the eight days following his birth. So we had the infant birth, circumcision, the three wise men who brought gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. And so, naturally (that was sarcasm), we jump over a quarter of a century later to Jesus, in his mid/late twenties. I must say, to me, this really makes no sense. 

Many, if not most of us, were baptized as infants. A majority of us in church this Sunday will not remember the baptismal promises that were made, as they were made on our behalf by god parents. As some of you may know, my sister gave birth to a beautiful baby girl just days before Christmas and as a Christmas gift, I was gifted a Christmas ornament with a picture of the movie title screen from The Godfather. As I mentally pieced together my gift, I was moved to tears and in awe of my gift, as this brought me so much joy and bliss. As I look at my new niece Hazel, I am reminded of the importance of bringing this child into the faith.

Many of us take for granted the gift of baptism in our lives. Some view baptism as membership into the Christian club. It’s how we sign up for donation envelopes and get onto the Parish Register where we can receive weekly emails, like this one. Some are afraid of baptism for this reality - and I proclaim: this is not the meaning of baptism! 

Baptism is one of two sacraments handed down to us through scripture, by Jesus. The other sacramental rites in our Book of Common Prayer are important: Reconciliation, Confirmation, Marriage, Anointing of the Sick, Ordination; but the two that Jesus teaches us firsthand by his actions are Holy Communion (which we celebrate each Sunday), and Baptism (that we hear in our scriptures this Sunday morning). 

Jesus showed us by his example at the River Jordan with his cousin, John, that this was a new rite that in fact initiated Jesus’ public ministry. It was the proclamation in thought, and word, and deed, that Jesus belonged to God, the Creator of Heaven and Earth. We may explain away the connection with baptism to Jesus’ birth narrative because of our modern-day practice of baptizing infants. Another way to look at baptism is within the parallel of how a child looks at the world with awe and openness, is in fact the way God wants to have a relationship with us - with the faith and openness of a child.   

Children are quite remarkable in that way - they trust what is told to them. Why do they have any reason to doubt? I challenge us all this week, as we prepare to hear about baptism this Sunday, may we have the faith of the littlest members of our community, whom Deacon Claire gives our dismissal with on Sundays at our 10:00 am Eucharist. As adults, it is challenging to imagine the heavens opening up and the Holy Spirit descending like a dove. I believe children can see this much more clearly with their imaginations and unconditional trust in the Divine, as God has known them since God knit them together in their mothers’ womb. 

God calls us to new life in Him, through Jesus Christ and through baptism. Do we have the same openness to relationship with Jesus as adults, that infants do for new life? How do we get back to having the faith of children? How do we dwell there? How can we proclaim in thought and word and deed that we belong to God?

Your sibling in Christ,

Fr. James