For All the Saints

All Saints Sunday, St. Martin’s Episcopal Church, November 5, 2023, by Sr. Annette Fricke, OP All Saints’ Day “Commemorates all saints, known and unknown, on November 1. All Saint’s Day is one of the seven principal feasts of the church year, and one of the four days recommended for the administration of baptism. All Saints’ Day may also be celebrated on the Sunday following Nov. 1.” In case you weren’t aware, in Church history, there were once three feast days rolled up into one, but each with distinction: October 31—Known as All Hallow’s Eve. And yes, the word ‘Halloween’ means the same thing. Night before All Saints (also called All Hallows or Holies). Think of the phrase “Hallowed be they name”. A time to remember God’s triumph over evil and death and to poke fun at it with cheesy ghosts and pumpkins. November 1—All Saints’ (Hallows). The day to celebrate those Christians who lived exemplary lives of faith and virtue. These are our extended family, the ties to which do not fully break even at death. November 2--- All Souls’. The day to remember and pray for the faithful departed loved and lost, as we and they await the day of resurrection when death’s defeat will be complete, and we all enter the redeemed new Heavens and new Earth. First, the ‘blessed are’ phrasing was common in many religions of the day, in Greek, Egyptian, and Jewish literature. It can mean happy, fortunate, or favored by God. ‘Favored by God’ appears to be the best translation. Who are the favored of God? Who is Jesus’ audience? Matthew says it is the disciples who wait for Jesus to sit down, then they come to him. That means that we are also being addressed as Jesus’ present-day disciples. We are the favored of God, even when we are not able to recognize it. In a sense, we are bundled with Mary who says in Luke that she is that God “has looked with favor on the lowliness of his servant. From this day all generations shall call me blessed.” It’s like saying, because I have been favored to bear the Son of God, the generations to come will also see it that way. The first blessing is for those who are beggars, who are poor. Jesus never degrades the poor. The poor are honored. He tells his disciples to just go with one coat and a stuff. Travel lightly. The poor in spirit are humble and teachable. The second blessing says that those who mourn shall be comforted. Even Mary goes through the sorrows experienced by other humans as we go through life for example her loss of her husband Joseph and son, Jesus. In the generations to come, many families have been wiped out by plague or other illnesses. It also looks ahead to when the women would be preparing Jesus for burial and the rites of mourning. And joy comes when they see that he has risen from the dead! The third blessing is “Blessed are the meek.” Meek does not mean weak but also is inclusive of strength. They are not putting on airs, do not see themselves as self-important, but are considerate of others and humble. The fourth beatitude is about being in right relationship with God. That is the definition of righteousness. To seek and follow where God is leading them. It means taking care to interact and relate to people and the created order in a manner that nourishes and sustains them. The fifth blessing is for those who show mercy to others. It is assuring them that God will show mercy in return. This seems to be related to when Jesus was teaching his disciples how to pray. Showing mercy allows another person to grow to maturity. It helps foster a climate of being given a second chance, just as God gives us even more than a second chance. The sixth blessing is the promise to see God face to face, something that is denied even to faithful prophets. The pure of heart are those who have not sworn falsely nor been idolaters (gone to other gods). The seventh beatitude, those who do as Jesus does and follow his ways of forgiveness and reconciliation share in the same intimate relationship with God as Jesus. The eighth relates to the fourth one. Jesus tells his disciples what types of persecution they will suffer. He also promises that God will reign, the disciples will have the reward of the kingdom of heaven. In the ninth, Jesus tells the disciples that they will suffer from verbal abuse. They are assured their reward is in the kingdom to come and therefore, are to find joy in the middle of many trials. It will be a ministry of rejection. Jesus is telling us that to truly follow him will not be easy, but at the same time, it will be rewarding. We are to keep our courage and keep going. Jesus is always at our side to comfort and bless. As we think about the saints that have gone before us, may we remember most their faithfulness and how they kept their eyes on Jesus, moving forward, not turning back. May we also follow in their footsteps. An Episcopal Dictionary of the Church, Armentrout et al., Church Publishing Incorporated, 2000. The Gospel According to Matthew, Barbara E. Reid, OP, Liturgical Press, 2005.

I am Christian

Proper 24A, St. Martin’s Episcopal Church, Moses Lake; by Sr. Annette Fricke, OP The early church had no building, no money, and no political influence; and they turned the world upside down. JD Greear Imagine you are a man or a woman on your way to work. As you drive over a bridge, you notice a dog in the water that appears to be alone and struggling. There is no other animal or human around. There is no hint as to how the dog got into this situation. The clock is ticking away. The dog is having difficulty keeping its head above water, appearing exhausted. What would you do? Would you strip down to underwear and shirt and swim out to get the dog, even if the water is very cold? What will happen if you don’t act? If you just ignore the dog and drive on to work without even making a call for someone else to rescue the dog? What will your boss say or do if you tell the truth as to why you are so late for work? What if it was Jesus who came upon this situation? What would Jesus do? How does it change things as a human, not Jesus? That is what the Gospel lesson is about. How do we live with the tension of living in this world, yet owing everything to God because God has given us the world for which to care? How do we determine our priorities to distribute justice to all the created world? There is always room for improvement. There is always room to care enough to act. There is always room to change our priorities both collectively and personally. This is what life presents us. There are many dilemmas which we find ourselves in as we go through life. Again, and again different situations call for us to decide and cause us to think about the statement Jesus made, “Give to Caesar that which is Caesar’s and to God that which is God’s.” There are some choices in life that we choose differently depending on the context and what age we are, what we learned along the way. We don’t think the same as we did when we were a few years younger. That is what keeps this text from Matthew fresh. That choice is always before us as we live day to day. What belongs to the government and what belongs to God? Jesus seems to imply that we should give to both. We will have divided loyalties as citizens of the United States and Christians, loyal to Christian teaching which calls for social justice. When there is a moral conflict between the two, we should side with God, what we believe is right in God’s eyes. There are two groups that are trying to trap Jesus. His answer is very clever in that it totally avoids being trapped. They are unable to trap him at this point, so they go away. He can neither be accused of betraying the Roman government nor encouraging others to rebel against Rome. As Ellie mentioned last Sunday, the United States is one of the first countries to be established without a monarchy. We didn’t like the taxes imposed by King George III. We chose to be independent and make our own rules and regulations. If we had remained a British Colony, our money would not have our presidents and other important people on it, it would have a monarch of Great Britain on it, like Canada has. Our government is for the people and by the people, which means we have elected officials working for us and have the right to tell them what we want or vote them out of office. We have a conscience guided by our loyalty to God. The values we hold as Christians should take the lead in what we do in relation to our government. As to our church, we are called to be faithful to God and vote also for those we want as leadership as well as what we want in our mission statement to be as well as how we are choosing to follow that mission statement. It is expected that we will evaluate what it is we want in the mission statement and how we will support that mission statement to the end that God is the one who has the glory. May we always focus on doing God’s work in the world today and into the future. May we always be ambassadors of God’s love. The early church had no building, no money, and no political influence; and they turned the world upside down. JD Greear *This sermon is meant to start as a children's sermon with a dialogue about US coins, asking first whose picture is on each of the coins. I was going to give the Canadian penny to the youngest of the children just to see if he/she noticed that it says "Canada" on it and is a picture of Queen Elizabeth II.

God's Continuous Invitation

Proper22A, St. Martin’s Episcopal Church, October 8, 2023, by Sr. Annette Fricke, OP In today’s Gospel text, God is the landowner who builds a vineyard. The tenants are the religious authorities like the Pharisees, chief priests, and elders for example. The slaves are the prophets, and the son is Jesus himself. During Jesus’ time, the tenants would contract to give the owner an agreed-upon portion of the crop, keeping for themselves what was left. This parable is known as the Parable of the Wicked Tenants or Treacherous Tenants. God’s expectation of the tenants is that God and the tenants will enjoy the produce, but this simply does not happen, God is ultimately disappointed. What will God do? Notice the similarity to the Isaiah passage I read today. This text asks the question, “What more was there to do for my vineyard that I have not done in it?” God is pleading the people to be faithful stewards, has even provided all the means to do it, yet the people continue to fail to bear fruit. In Isaiah, the expected grapes are wild grapes. In Matthew, God has a solution to the failure of the tenants. God will take away the kingdom of God from Israel and give it to a people who will produce the fruits of the kingdom. The problem with parables is that interpretation is difficult. Parables about vineyards do not always give the same picture which can make them confusing. You cannot say that that all the parables about vineyards are alike. God is very generous in the vineyard story of chapter 20, but in this one, God appears to be mean and ineffective in getting results. God talks about taking away the kingdom and giving it to others. Is that an allusion to Israel being the chosen, but since they rejected Jesus, it will be given to the Gentiles, the non-Jews? Throughout the Old and New Testaments, we hear about bread and wine as well as the ingredients used to create them. They were a common staple, much the same as bread and milk not many generations ago. Common and essential. In the Old Testament, “Vineyards” seem to have been a frequent metaphor for a lover, an example of that is found in chapters 7 and 8 in the Song of Solomon just in case any of you might be interested in studying this subject further. Think about the Isaiah and Matthew texts as God is the owner and the Church is the vineyard. God loves the vineyard very much, so much that God tries to protect the Church by setting up a fence or wall and built a watchtower. God reaches out many times but is continually rejected. God’s own people fail to be faithful to God and what God wants. The idea is not that God is rejecting Israel; they are still the chosen people of God by way of covenant. It is not that God is rejecting the leaders of Judaism, but their behavior. They are continually sent prophets and teachers and always could listen to and heed God. But they chose to plot Jesus’ arrest. I think the most helpful way of looking at this parable is to think of it in the context that Jesus is getting closer and closer to crucifixion. The parable is a look into the future, a glimpse of what rejecting Jesus looks like. Unfortunately, it appears to be predictive of violence. Jesus is divisive simply by being God’s son. He is born into a world where each faction of Judaism has their own teachings and beliefs. Nicodemus is thought to believe that Jesus may indeed be the Messiah but wasn’t known to commit. Belief is never forced. St. Thomas Aquinas explains it this way: “We love God for himself and everyone else as they are in God or capable of being in him. We love God in loving our neighbor when we love others as they are related to him. Love of God with our whole hearts does not diminish but should enhance our love of others because we will also want the greatest good for our friends and because the love of God enables us to be friends with others all the more, as it is the source of those feelings that are part of friendship.” In this parable, God reminds us of who we are—that we are “responsible for what God has given us.” Even though we will never be the faithful Christians God envisions, and that we will continue to struggle with our baptismal vows, God still beckons us to follow the example Jesus has shown us. Jesus does not promise us an easy life but does promise to walk with us. God is a landowner who owns a vineyard. New Proclamation, Fortress Press, Minneapolis, MN; 2005, p.210 The Gospel According to Matthew, Barbara E. Reid, Liturgical Press, 2005., p. 109. Selman, Francis, “Aquinas 101: A Basic Introduction to the Thought of Saint Thomas Aquinas,” 2005. New Proclamation, Ibid., p. 215.

The Generosity of God

Proper 20A, September 24, 2023, St. Martin’s Episcopal Church, by Sr. Annette Fricke, OP o It’s all about the generosity of God. This gospel passage is all abou the generosity of God and so are the other lessons. Jonah tried to run away from God. Instead of heading north-east to Nineveh (about 725 miles) he set off for Tarshish which is present day Spain (3,000 miles away). Jonah did not want to preach against the city. God saved the city of Nineveh because they turned from their evil ways. Then, God provided a bush for Jonah to give shade over his head, to save him from discomfort. The next day, the tree died, it became hot, and Jonah became angry. God confronted him and said, “Is it right for you to be angry about the bush?” Then God pointed out that Jonah didn’t do anything with the bush. Why should he be angry? God asked Jonah, “Should I not be concerned about the city of Nineveh that has 120,000 persons and many animals?” God decided that Nineveh should be saved. Generosity. o Add to this the Psalm which ends with verse 8, “The Lord is gracious and full of compassion, slow to anger and of great kindness.” Generosity. o In the Philippians passage, Paul is probably in prison and can’t decide if he wants to continue preaching the gospel or depart from this life and live with Christ. He then states he will continue and admonishes the congregation to live their lives in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ despite the congregation also living a life of struggle. Generosity. o Matthew is writing to a congregation described as ‘mixed’. It includes both long-time Jewish Christians and others who have joined just recently, likely Gentile converts. This congregation has ex-Lutherans, ex-Catholics, and a few cradle Episcopalians. Some, like me, have been here less than ten years. Sometimes in our humanness, we may grumble about some who do a great deal of work for St. Martin’s and others who don’t do so much. o But just like our coffee hour, God always gives us what we need and “everyone has plenty”, but not too much. The same for the invitation to partake in the Eucharist. Remember the manna given to the people in the wilderness when it rained down from heaven? When the people tried to gather more than their share, it became spoiled and wormy. Both leaders and servants received the same amount. The physically fit as well as the disabled both receive the same equally, people who work all day and those who don’t. It is a gift from God. Jesus is at work to create a new order where all are the same, not this person above that one, but all are recipients of God’s generosity. The social order is not based on competition and inequality. There is room for everyone in God’s kingdom. To our minds, it seems upside down. God’s equality is not ours. We tend to compare one person to another and rank who is better than others, whose occupation is worth more to society. o But this parable is not about our sense of justice, but God’s vision of justice. Although it seems that the most natural fit, the most visible and hard-working people should get a bigger reward, they don’t. The people who have believed in Jesus for a much longer time should have a bigger reward than those who converted near the end of their lives. Here is where it is spelled out in very plain language to be not true at all. o It would not likely work at a job to give daily pay as happens in this parable. If so, all would clamor to get a job as one of the first employees of a job site. However, we can work towards seeing that other people have enough food, clothing, shelter, access to medical and social services, job training. The generosity of God is to be distributed through us who believe that Jesus is the Christ and is worthy of being followed and imitated. Our stewardship of resources, of food and offerings help accomplish the generosity of God so that all may know and live in the grace that God gives so freely to all. Always remember that God wants us to treat all the same. No one person is better than another because we are all each an individual with different gifts, talents, and resources. And it takes many people working together to do the ministry of God. When we all work together, we can accomplish so much. o As we come to the end of another church year, consider carefully how you can help this congregation or the diocese to do the work of God’s generosity. It’s all about the generosity of God.

Put on the Lord Jesus Christ

Proper18A, St. Martin’s Episcopal Church, September 10, 2023, by Sr Annette Fricke, OPA “Owe no one anything, except to love one another; for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law. Put on the Lord Jesus Christ.” St. Paul-Romans 13:8, 14 As St Thomas Aquinas would put it, because God is Love, we are created out of Love and for the purpose of love. With that in mind, what is Paul saying to us about love? There are some who look at this passage and immediately think about owing debts, in a monetary sense. Some of us have had the experience of borrowing money or items from another person and struggled to pay them back. We know the agony of owing, especially if that person is a friend, someone who is quite dear to us. Even if we don’t know to whom we owe, like financial debt for a mortgage, there remains an albatross over our shoulders until that debt is paid in full. It is a seemingly inescapable moral and/or emotional burden. It carries with it a strong sense of guilt or enormous responsibility. It is something so burdensome that it impedes any action or progress. In the world of finances, we simply need to say “no” to all other financial obligations until the one big debt in our lives is paid off. Most people cannot afford to owe for both a house and a car at the same time without feeling totally buried, under extreme stress and pressure. No one wants to deal with foreclosure or repossession. Nobody likes the feeling of agony either in the present, nor the future. However, once a house and car or cars are paid off, there are still monthly bills of some sort. A recent visit to a new widow pointed this out to me. The thing she misses the most about her husband is figuring out the finances and having him there for consultation on financial decisions. Consider for a moment the way the Presbyterians pray the Lord’s Prayer. In the Lord’s Prayer, we and many others pray “forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.” That very phrase which sounds so inclusive is a phrase not used by our brothers and sisters in the Presbyterian faith. Instead, they say “forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors.” The other version in modern use is “forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us.” Some pastors have mentioned that it really depends on the congregation they pastor as to the preferred wording used. Although every single one of us may think to ourselves that our chosen way of saying it is the correct one, the truth of the matter is, in the original Greek text they are all valid translations. When we prayer the Lord’s Prayer, or the Our Father, we are always in that realization of knowing that our transformation in Christ is now, but not yet. We continue to struggle with a sense of being both oppressor and the oppressed, the giver and the receiver, the one who hurts and feels hurt as we live our lives out day to day. We are the strong and the weak and everything in between in all our thoughts, verbal interactions, and behaviors. We question ourselves, “How can I turn a conflict into an understanding, a perceived enemy into a friend? Why must there be this painful aberration in our dealings with others?” We know of Christ’s presence in our daily lives, yet we also know that this bane of existence, what some still call a veil of tears, will someday become whole and complete again in Jesus. We were created for love by Love. We are to walk in that love day to day, allowing God to transform us into the loving beings that we were meant to be from our births and from the beginning of creation. It may seem, at times, that our lives are full of sorrow. But life is both a bane and a blessing. There are many times of blessing, if we would only open our eyes to that which is good around us. Take note of the songbirds, the blossoms, and the colors of nature all around you. There are children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren, nieces, and nephews. There are healthy relationships for which to give God thanks. Whenever we get caught up in a conflict or struggle of some sort, we should remind ourselves about all the good in our lives. We should consider the loving relationships we have with others. Dwelling on the negative will only drive us downward, possibly into a depressed or angry mood. We should remain open to God’s work through us to be the initiator of reconciliation between us and our source of conflict. Rules are rules, but we must look beyond them and be flexible, showing love and support to those we don’t always agree. Even if we think they are wrong, others may still have some wisdom they can teach us. We should not be quick to judge because from the perspective of others, we could be just as wrong as we perceive them to be. This is the main point of both the Romans lesson as well as the lesson from Matthew. Be slow to judge and quick to reconcile. And how does Paul say we are to accomplish this task? He says that we are to put on Christ. Paul writes about the second coming of Jesus to be an event that is coming soon. It hasn’t happened and we may even poke fun at Paul, just as people have done with the several groups that have predicted the end of the world, we now also know was wrong. Think of it this way, what if we were to think of the end of our lives here on earth as Jesus’ second coming? What if, as some believe, Jesus already came a second time by coming to us in the form of the Holy Spirit? What if God’s restoring us in the end happens when we die? If that is the case, we should be thinking about how we honor Christ in our daily lives, knowing that sometimes sudden death occurs. There are some for whom it is difficult to predict or expect with any accuracy a date and time of death. Both a second coming of Jesus and our own time of death remains a mystery. We are unable to predict the future. The good news is that even though we sin, trespass, or are indebted daily, we are justified by the grace of God. The good news is that our faith will count as righteousness just as it was for Abraham. The good news is that in Christ, we have hope, having been included as God’s chosen ones and the ending to the story of Adam and Eve’s banishment is reversed. The good news is that the law can be both a guide and a sword. It informs us where we have gone astray and guides us into daily faithfulness. We were created for love by Love. Because of God’s gracious and overflowing gift of abundant love towards us in Jesus, we can live in confidence knowing that as Jesus walked in love, we too have potential for that capacity. We too can be shaped into and transformed by that love by putting on Christ. As in I John 2:5b-6, “By this we may be sure that we are in him: whoever says, “I abide in him,” ought to walk just as he walked.

Transfiguration/Anglican Order of Preachers

Proper13A The Transfiguration, St. Martin’s Episcopal Church, August 6, 2023, by Sr. Annette Fricke, OP. "If you truly want to help the soul of your neighbor, you should approach God first with all your heart. Ask him simply to fill you with charity, the greatest of all virtues; with it you can accomplish what you desire." -St. Vincent Ferrer, O.P. The transfiguration has always been a mystery to me since the first time I was called upon to preach on it. I believe it’s not the toughest challenge in my life, but darn close. This is not about me and yet it is all about me because everything before us is not just about God and God’s saving grace, but how we are to access that grace and what we do with it. During our annual Chapter meeting which I attended the better portion last week, we discussed what it was like to be Episcopalian and Dominican and the various traditions we all came from. There was a common theme, and it could be summarized in the following way: ‘You are saved! That’s it!’ (pause) But what comes after that? Why do congregations die or become just a social club? For that very reason. We fail to deal with that last question. What comes after that? How do we share that faith in the world around us? And don’t put it all on the priest? Lay people and clergy alike are called to always share the gospel of God’s kingdom in all places. That is a profound difference in the Anglican Order of Preachers. We are not separated into men and women, and it is also inclusive in that membership includes married as well as unmarried, clergy as well as laity. Yes, you are also called upon to study, learn, and research ways to address the modern world as it informs evangelism. The Transfiguration, according to St. Thomas Aquinas is this: “It is a Eureka moment—one that makes a lasting impression. Jesus’ human soul and body is transfigured, communicating the clarity and the glory of his divinity is a miracle.” Instead of Jesus performing miracles pertaining to other humans, “Jesus performs a miracle on himself. Jesus’ soul and body are human and fallible like us except it is united to his divine nature. We share in the divinity of Christ in the Eucharist.” Thus, receiving the Eucharist is empowering. We receive Christ’s divinity in the Eucharist, giving us the strength to go out into the world and witness to God’s saving grace. We become like Jesus. But, in the life of a Dominican, it does not begin with evangelism, it begins with prayer. “Prayer is a reference point through which we all better know God. And for Dominicans in particular, it forms the very center of our lives and the starting place for our mission. The liturgy draws us out of ourselves, to pray with Christ and the Church and so to grow in compassion for all. The Dominican cross is flanked by the motto of Latin words meaning, “to praise, to bless, to preach (AND (not part of the Latin) to contemplate and hand on to others the fruits of contemplation.” Our bishop uses a method in our studies with the church meetings of both lay and clergy. It is the ancient method of studying the Bible which is termed Lectio Divina. Lectio Divina was the ordinary way to read the Bible even before ordinary non-clergy and non-religious community people had the chance at an education. It has these steps: “Reading. Read a passage slowly and carefully within the bible. ...Meditation. Thinking deeply or dwelling upon a spiritual reality within a text. ...Prayer. Having a loving conversation with God. Contemplation. Resting in God’s presence. Action. Go and do likewise.” My vows: “In the name of God, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Recognizing the sovereignty of God, and desiring to be ever in his service, and in deeper fulfillment of my Baptismal vows, I now come before the Divine Majesty and before you my Brothers and Sisters, most solemnly to make a humble profession of my Life Vows. Before God the Creator, Redeemer, and Sanctifier, I vow, for the rest of my earthly life, to carry out in my life the love and example of Jesus Christ as understood by the Anglican Order of Preachers. Specifically, I vow: -To be obedient to Almighty God by placing myself under the authority of the Anglican Order of Preachers and the direction of my superiors in the Order. -To be chaste and pure according to my state of life being unmarried. -To live simply, not going after gain of temporal things, but using all things given to my charge for the building of the Kingdom of God. -To be diligent in the reading and study of the Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments; to uphold their authority, and to seek to understand them in the light of the Holy Spirit; to proclaim the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, by word and example, unto the salvation of souls and building up of the Church, the Body of Christ. -To be diligent in regular and catholic prayer; for intercession for the Church and for the world before God, for the strengthening of my faith, and for the formation of my soul.” “If you truly want to help the soul of your neighbor, you should approach God first with all your heart. Ask him simply to fill you with charity, the greatest of all virtues; with it you can accomplish what you desire." -St. Vincent Ferrer, O.P.

The Confession of St. Peter, Leader of the Church

Proper 16A, St. Martin’s Episcopal Church, Moses Lake by Sr. Annette Fricke Immediately after Jesus tells his disciples to beware of the teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees, the discourse changes. Pharisees claimed Mosaic authority for their interpretation of Jewish religious law, while Sadducees represented the authority of the priestly privileges and prerogatives established since the days of Solomon, when Zadok, their ancestor, officiated as high priest. Jesus made it a habit to meet with just his disciples during his ministry. This is one of those moments. He asks an important question. “Who do people say that I am?” It appears that Jesus is asking for feedback. The disciples say that they are comparing him with other important figures in history including a contemporary, John the Baptist. The others in the list have long since died. Perhaps he wants to know this information to get a read on how his teachings are being received. He is also getting close to the time when he will be crucified, and he is aware that his time is short. He is also keenly aware that it is the disciples who will be left to carry on his ministry. He wants them to be prepared. He is testing the disciples. He has been with them a few years now. So, he asks the disciples point blank, “Who do you say I am?” Now, Jesus moves to a related topic where Peter is significant. But why Peter? Isn’t he the one who later denies he even knows Jesus? Peter and the other disciples fell asleep as Jesus prayed before being crucified. Isn’t he also the one quick with his tongue, not thinking about what is coming out? Why is Peter the chosen one out of the disciples? And remember the disciples fighting about who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven and who will be sitting in the seats of power? What’s so great about Peter? Jesus calls him a rock. And perhaps Peter is dumb as a rock as well as having the right answer rock. It is a nickname, that is not a real name during Jesus’ lifetime here. Martin Luther firmly believed that this passage of scripture does not mean Peter is the first of the popes. Martin felt that the important succession was the teachings of Jesus and that we are all to carry on teaching others about God in the same way that he did. Another view is that it is the belief of Peter that is important. Belief, because Peter’s actions aren’t exemplary. Jesus here mentions that “flesh and blood has not revealed this to you!” Along that same line of thinking is the catechetical instruction in Luther’s Catechism that states, “The Holy Spirit calls, gathers, enlightens, and sanctifies the whole Christian church on earth.” It means that God is always at work in the church here on earth. God is always at our sides to lead and bless our ministries despite our blunders, our awkwardness, our foolishness, and our mistakes. Peter is declared to be right in that he experienced Jesus as the gateway to the kingdom of God. Jesus is the Messiah. Messiah means ‘anointed one.’ Jesus is anointed like the kings of old who were anointed to rule over earthly kingdoms. To be anointed is to be set aside for a special purpose. But what does all this mean for us? It means that we are also anointed for ministry to lead others into the kingdom of God—baptism, confirmation, ordination, what is called the last rites before dying we are anointed with oil. It means that we are sent out like the disciples in our various ministries. It means that we are part of a team like the disciples and are to work together for the common purpose of teaching and preaching about the kingdom of God and gathering God’s people together. The Holy Spirit calls, gathers, enlightens, and sanctifies all of us. We are all Jesus’ modern-day disciples. It means sharing in the ministry of the church, participating in what goes on here and in the world where we live and work. Peter was chosen because he was a leader and believed in his heart that Jesus is the chosen one of God. Peter testified that Jesus is the Christ. Many years have passed now since the disciples were first sent out. Now it is our turn. There are structures within each of the Christian churches at local levels and above, each designed to push us forward, to encourage us to grow both individually and corporately. We are able, like Peter to grow to a mature faith that works to figure out a way to study and act, pray and navigate our ways both within and outside of these walls. We are strengthened when we come together for worship. We grow when we learn from each other. God has blessed us with many gifts and talents in this small gathering of people, but it always has the potential to become a vibrant presence in our community and reaching beyond our small corner of the world. That’s really what this gospel lesson is all about. It’s about us as a group and us as individuals. It is about us willing to let God lead us forward. The world is waiting. We have the keys. We have the authority. We have the promise that God goes with us everywhere and will never abandon us.

A Dixie cup of Cold Water

Proper 8A, Immanuel Lutheran Church, Moses Lake by Sr. Annette Fricke, OPA “The alien who resides with you shall be to you as the citizen among you; you shall love the alien as yourself, for you were aliens in the land of Egypt; I am the Lord your God.” (NRSV Leviticus 19:34) Today’s gospel “verses come at the end of Jesus’ missionary discourse to his disciples (10:5-42). Up to this point, Jesus has been talking about what the disciples are to do and the difficulties that they will face. In our verses, the focus is what others will (or won’t) do for the disciples. Will they welcome the disciples or not? What then will God do?” “Whoever welcomes you welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me.” What does it mean to be welcoming? For the day in which this was written, it was meant to be the same as if in the presence of the sender. Whoever welcomes you welcomes Jesus, and whoever welcomes Jesus, welcomes the Father; for all of these are one and the same. These words recall the Hebrew Scripture readings of sending messengers out between kings. They did not have phones equipped with text messages or email. They used people who delivered messages in the quickest form they knew. Everything sent by a messenger was the same as that person speaking directly to you. Even in the Middle Ages, the tradition continued. If the king sends a messenger, it is the same as if the king was speaking directly to you and held authority. With that in mind, if we see ourselves as disciples of Jesus Christ, our ministry is Jesus himself. We are not just the messenger or gopher. We are not simply middle management. We are not the poor laborer or slave of our master. Just as we are in Jesus, just as Jesus is in the Father, we are God to the person to whom we minister. People know God through us as Christian believers. ---Yet even though we are in the community of Christ, we are amongst a sea of unbelievers and atheists which are numerous and growing. If we do not make attempts to reach them, how can we claim to be faithful to our Lord? Have we failed because we walked away from the compulsory state churches of the old country? One Lutheran pastor I knew from my seminary was chosen to be a church planter as his first call. From the very beginning of his career went door to door recruiting children for Vacation Bible School which had morphed into the church’s camping program with counselors sent from the base camp to congregations, a different congregation each week. At his age, he still scoured the neighborhood for children to attend each year. It also didn’t matter if some belonged to the Seventh Day Adventist Church or had no church. A Roman Catholic couple, in addition to taking in a camp counselor, took in children that parents left with them while taking a vacation of their own. They also had those children attend our Day Camp. In fact, they not only took children to our Day Camp, but to other congregations holding similar programs throughout the summer. They also modeled the example of saying grace before each meal. Those two examples are simple, yet profoundly effective ministry. We too, can make a difference. We can be that difference. Just one more thing; after inviting the children, listen to them and the camp counselors. Camp counselors know the kids well because they work with kids throughout the summer. Just for Life was the theme for that summer. One of the exercises we asked the children to do was to make a list of “Needs” and a list of “Wants”. Water is a basic need. A counselor gave an example of not washing his camp shorts for a whole year. Many of the campers snickered and said things like, “Gross!” The point is, there are ways we can reach out and make connections with our community. “And whoever gives (even a Dixie cup of cold water) to one of these little ones in the name of a disciple—truly I tell you, none of these will lose their reward.” “You shall love the alien as yourself, for you were aliens in the land of Egypt; I am the Lord your God.” (NRSV Leviticus 19:34) *Brian Stoffregen, notes on the lessons of the day.

We live now, but not yet

Proper7A, June 25, 2023, Immanuel Lutheran Church, Moses Lake by Sr. Annette Fricke, OPA We live now but not yet. As you may or may not know, Luther loved the book of Romans because it helped him to understand the gospel as well as the underpinnings to the preaching of Paul. Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? This was a misinterpretation that Paul was trying to correct. He would answer that as a ‘no.’ It’s like asserting, ‘well, I need something to confess, so what’s the point in keeping God’s law?’ People continue to distort what God would have us do and be. During Paul’s missionary days as well as today, we have experienced the splintering of the church. The splintering resulted in a West Church, an East Church, then Catholic, Protestant and the churches somewhere in between. Even the Jews separated into Orthodox and Reformed. As much as we may want to see unity and somehow feel right about it, there is much about the Church and our world that is not unified. The world continues to suffer from conflict and chaos. The Southern Baptist Church recently voted to oust 2 congregations they had because their leaders were women pastors. The countries of the world continue to practice on some level racism, sexism, discrimination, paying women less for the same job as a man. Justice does not have a chance if we don’t fight for it. The placement of this section of Matthew is known as the Missionary Discourse, the second of five major discourses in Matthew. This one is all about how the disciples might be received as they carry out their mission and what it means to be a disciple. The word disciple means learner, or student. Following Jesus is a commitment that exceeds commitment to family. This concept is also reflected in the other 2 lessons from Jeremiah and Romans. We should always follow this principle: “A disciple is not above the teacher, not a servant above the master.” Along the same lines, we should be like Jesus. Jesus frequently lived his life in conflict with others. Some would rather avoid conflict and engage in talking about people behand their backs, not wanting to engage in communicating face to face, fearing the worst. Even though Jesus came as the Prince of Peace, his interactions with people were not always peaceful. It is important for us to know where we stand as Christians. How can we be the hands and feet of Jesus? Be mindful that there is nowhere in the New Testament that Jesus tells us to go out and do our own thing. Remember when Jesus sent out the disciples two by two? There are practical reasons he did that. For one, we should help each other and support one another in ministry and pray for each other concerning our ministries. We are not called to do whatever we want. If a ministry is a product of just one person and it continues for years, burnout occurs. We are not called either to individually develop a ministry without discernment and other people to join in. If we leave, is there someone who will carry on a needed ministry? Or will it die with the person who left the congregation? Discernment and strategy should always be the precursor to any proposed ministry because it is not this or that person’s ministry, but the congregation’s ministry. Unlike Japanese culture, we, as Americans sometimes forget this because individualism is ingrained and preferred in our thinking. In academics, yes, we ought to be doing our own work to prove we are doing the work and learning the materials required to graduate, but the Japanese group think is a good model for congregations. But even when we discern and allow the Holy Spirit to guide us, it doesn’t guarantee all will run smoothly. Jeremiah felt abandoned and overpowered. He assumed that God had left him, yet what he had to say about God was like a fire within him. He felt all alone in his suffering and said his friends were watching for him to stumble. The psalmist also looks for God to answer his prayers due to his distress. Jeremiah suffered. Paul suffered. David suffered. We suffer. But most of all we need to remember that Jesus suffered. God is always with us even when we are unable to sense God’s presence. Even when we feel that God has abandoned us. God is here and ever present. We have been buried with him by baptism into death, so that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the father, so we too might walk in newness of life. Our lives are not brought to perfection in this life; even the saints have told us about their struggles, but that does not mean we should let sin reign. We are to live on, clothing ourselves in God’s righteousness, fighting for the salvation of the world, knowing that God is ever at our sides. We walk in the resurrected light of Christ knowing that some day we will see God face to face. We live now, but not yet. Feasting on the Word, Year A, Volume 3 Commentary on Romans, Martin Luther, translated by J. Theodore Mueller New Proclamation, Year A, 2005

Showing Mercy

Proper5A, June 11, 2023, St. Martin’s Episcopal Church, by Sr. Annette Fricke, OP There is a glaring obstacle to interpretation of this gospel passage. We do not live in Jesus’ day and the scientific advances that have transpired between when this portion of Matthew was written and our own understandings of evil and healing, that which would bring us down and that which brings restoration are different. Some would use this part of Matthew to pit science against Jesus. This was a part of the heritage of a not-so-distant past. Groups of people believed that healing only came from prayer and scientific medicine was more miss than hit. Other folks believed that the cure for mental illness is not science, but exorcism. However, this is not the moment for debating something that will probably continue to be debated for some time. Jesus is not calling us to a debate. Following the Sermon on the Mount, Matthew chapters 5 through 7, is a series of healing stories and calling / discipleship stories. The gospel for today has 1) Calling the tax collector, Matthew (9:9-13), 2) Healing a woman who had been bleeding for 12 years, and 3) bringing back to life the daughter of a synagogue leader (9:18-26). Jesus is not only an inspiration but puts his words into action. There is a quote attributed to Carl Jung which states, “You are what you do, not what you say you’ll do.” We are called to be more than a cheerleader; we are called to be a player. But for those of us with a scientific and modern medicine understanding, it is crucial to focus NOT on the actions, but on the inter-actions - the relationships - between Jesus and those who come to him. Matthew, a leader of the synagogue, and the hemorrhaging woman are all people of faith. The voiced objection to the calling of Matthew and associating with Matthew’s friends is a social illness whereas the other two are physical illnesses. They believe that Jesus can and will heal them and Jesus responds with healing. But let’s back up a bit. There is a whole paragraph on the social criticism of Jesus. This is really the over-arching theme of today’s Gospel. What matters most is how we treat other people. Why? Recall that very first commandment given to Moses to deliver to the people, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.” How would God treat others? Equally welcoming to everybody in every walk of life. Jesus treats us all the same just as he did the tax collectors, the synagogue authorities, and the women. Jesus saw the injustices of the world around him, but as always, the first step is developing a relationship, practicing hospitality. God desires mercy, not sacrifice. The religious rituals in Jesus’ day were restrictive and Jesus was known more than once to heal of the Sabbath. Healing on the Sabbath was against Jewish law. “Jesus demonstrated that the power of God's presence was embedded in mercy and not in religious rituals (Matthew 9:13). But one had to stop being hopeless and hapless, stop being isolated; and start connecting and trusting. Because ‘mercy’ is a relationship.” Jesus demonstrates how to push through social barriers and dare to go beyond the norm of this group and that group, this person or that person, pushing beyond our comfort zones. We too, can be the conduit of God’s love to each other and to the community beyond. We too, can be God’s compassion in our community and our world. If [we] stop and really think about it, the most difficult "miracle" in today's text is not the raising of the girl from death, nor the healing of the woman who had been bleeding for 12 years. The most difficult healing was including the despised tax collector, Matthew, back into community.” Matthew, the woman Jesus called ‘daughter’ and the synagogue leader had in common, not just their social and/or physical illnesses, but the belief that God can and does transform all of us, so that we, too can be in the transformation business. We begin with what we have in common. We are God’s children. We are all related. When we shake hands at the passing of the peace, look each other in the eyes. We don’t need to say much, just make a connection. This is what God’s example in Jesus is. This is how we bring healing to each other. We face each other, we are vulnerable to each other, we make amends when we have been the cause of hurt. This is our invitation to live as the people of God. Footnote:David Ewart, www.holytextures.com.

Resurrection Hope, 2EasterA, Immanuel Lutheran Church, Moses Lake, WA by Sr. Annette Fricke, OP

Luther loved this letter, 1 Peter, with its imagery of the royal priesthood from which he developed his crucial doctrine of the priesthood of all believers. Evangelism is the work of both clergy and laity as well as the religious orders. Yes, the Lutherans have those, too here in the United States, not just Europe. ‘Blessed are those who have not seen and yet believe.’ For those who have not seen the physical Jesus, which is likely to be all of us since none of us lived in Jesus’ day, these lessons from 1 Peter and the Gospel of John are for us. We weren’t there when he walked this earth or when he rose from the dead and appeared to several of his disciples, including those not of his original 12. We were not there for Jesus’ ascension. The reason we know about Jesus is from others who have passed on this knowledge from one generation to another. We may have been gifted with a King James Bible from our Godparents. We may have attended Church, Sunday School, and Vacation Bible School. We may have attended church camp such as Lutherhaven. We may have had grandparents who were part of the founding folks of the congregation. Your grandmother may have been a church organist. We may have ancestry that we can trace back to places like Norway or Germany. This is how many of us have been guided as Christians to live in the light of the resurrection. It came through relationships we had with several pastors, teachers, and counselors. Others may have come to the faith from outside the ethnic community. It was certainly very different from Jesus’ day. It is also very different from today in 2023. And so, the question comes up, because it is different, how can we reach out to our communities to spark an interest in Christianity and more to the point, our congregations who are not of the fundamentalist variety of what it means to be a Christian? The meaning of Christian varies widely at this specific point in time, including this community we call Moses Lake. How can we reach out to those who do not believe as we do with the good news of Jesus Christ? It does begin with building a relationship and respecting what others have to say, inviting them to come with you to church. It also means that some will reject what we have to say, just like when Jesus was mentoring his disciples on “mission trips”. How do we learn to follow and love the risen Jesus? Prayer and study of the scriptures perhaps. Living a life of confession and forgiveness. And what does ‘living hope’ of his resurrection presence look like in our world today? Meeting the needs of the community and beyond. What organizations already exist? Are there unmet needs? How can we meet them? This Christian letter of hope holds great relevance. Its rich store of images can speak to multicultural communities and people who have experienced dislocation or displacement. We are called to living as a hope-filled counter-community in the face of a dominant culture. Hope is one of the most vibrant themes of this entire letter. Hope gives people a sense of future. 1Peter is a vision of a hope that is a living hope. It is a call to always be ready to give an account of the hope that is in us. According to Donald Senior, a Catholic scholar, ‘begotten anew’ refers to the “entire inaugural experience of the Christian, not just to baptism. The letter is addressed not to baptismal candidates but to the entire community. The notion of a Holy Land is superseded by that of a Holy Community. ‘New birth is not an individual experience, but rather a community experience.’ All of us have been born anew. All of us have been birthed or begotten anew. It is not ‘Jesus is my personal Lord and Savior’. “It is new birth that has happened through the resurrection of Jesus Christ. It is not a matter of “I was born again at baptism, or ‘I was born again on September 4, 1954.’ 1 Peter says that we ‘were born again at the moment of Jesus’ resurrection.’ We must learn to say, ‘We were born again in Jesus’ resurrection.’ ‘The power of this letter comes in its persuasive picture of how together, as a community, we can experience the intensely personal and transformative life of ‘new birth’ to a ‘living hope’ and how we can love Jesus in the world today.’ About Thomas,'We first meet Thomas in the story of the resurrection of Lazarus, when he blurts out, “Let us go too so that we might die with (Jesus)! (11:16) At Jesus’ farewell discourse, when Jesus says, ‘And you know the way to the place where I am going.’ Thomas is the disciple willing to risk admitting, ‘We don’t know’ Thomas is showing his honesty and longing for proof to which many Christians can relate. Doubting is not a bad thing and neither is 'yes, but...' ‘In the Gospel of John, the beloved disciple is the only person who believes without seeing. All others, like Thomas, have to be brought from some degree of misunderstanding to full faith.’ Eight days later, Thomas’ request to be able to see and touch Jesus is given by Jesus from which he says the well-known words, ‘My Lord and my God’, one of the most powerful confessions in John. As John Wesley has stated, ‘I have come to see that to declare as a gift of God that which I do not fully possess is, nevertheless, a duty of obedience.’ Is God’s grace to be measured by my inventory? No. Is the great catholic faith of nineteen centuries to be reduced to my interior dimensions? No. Again, ‘Blessed are those who have not seen and yet believe.’ ~New Proclamation,Year A, 2005 Easter through Pentecost, Barbara R. Rossing, pp. 16-25, Fortress Press, Minneapolis, Copyright 2005.

How Shall I live my life, Jesus?

Fourth Sunday after Epiphany, Year A: St. Martin’s Episcopal, Moses Lake, WA by Sr. Annette Fricke, OP Last Sunday and the Sunday before that, we read in the Gospel lessons about the calling of Jesus’ disciples Andrew, Peter, James, John, and an un-named disciple. Last Sunday, the gospel was from Matthew, Chapter 4. However, the last two verses at the end of chapter 4 were left out. Chapter 4:24-25 reads: “So his fame spread throughout Syria, and they brought to him all the sick, those afflicted with various diseases and pains, demoniacs, epileptics, and paralytics, and he cured them. And great crowds followed him from Galilee, the Decapolis, Jerusalem, Judea, and from beyond the Jordan.” Jesus’ teaching had wide appeal. Worshiping at the temple in Jerusalem was a pilgrimage for Galileans that they despised because of the way they were treated by the Judeans. Unlike most of what we find in Matthew, Mark, and Luke, this is not a set of parables; this is direct teaching from Jesus. There is no disguise here. Here are nine beatitudes, short and succinct. The same first words are on each one, “Blessed are…” Blessing in Jewish thought is a divine action, sometimes coming through an intermediary, like a priest, a rabbi, or a parent. The pattern is similar for Christians today. However, much like long ago, we live also in an atmosphere when blessings come to those who succeed, often at the expense of others. To be poor in spirit, peaceful, merciful, and meek will get us nowhere in a culture that is grounded in competition and fear. At first glance, these teachings of Jesus seem to be quite impractical. How could anyone but the saintliest people live these out? And so, we look to people like Dorothy Day, who took in the poor for a long time without the blessing of the Catholic Church or Martin Luther King, Jr. who was shot and killed because he advocated for civil rights for all people or Desmond Tutu who worked for non-violence, justice, and against the oppression of the poor. All of them worked for some of the same things in a world that still ignores their positive mark on society. There are still poor people and people are still discriminated against, and countries still go to war. So, is it impossible to live the beatitudes? What are we to make of this teaching? What does all this mean? They are an invitation into a way of being in the world that leads to specific attitudes. There are three principles for living into the spirit of the beatitudes: simplicity, hopefulness, and compassion. Think about the three people I named. These people all defied the people around them. These people acted on their convictions. They were leaders in a society of people who either sat back, doing nothing for the causes they led or worked against them. How can we live in simplicity? One thing Dorothy Day did was to buy all her clothes at discount stores. She did not rely on her parent’s money for school but worked for her own living. Is there a way to see Jesus’ teaching in the simplest form without reading into it our own values and desires? What if we tried our best to be open to hearing this teaching for what it simply is so that we don’t obscure it’s meaning remembering Jesus’ promise, “You are blessed in this life whenever you demonstrate humility, bring a peaceful presence, open your heart to others, and show mercy on those who cry for it.” The second principle is hopefulness. Jurgen Multmann once said that the death of the church is when the overall attitude moves from anger to cynicism. Cynicism accepts what ever is, regardless of consequences. It is like the common phrase I still hear, “It is what it is.” Cynicism offers little hope that things will get better. Another word that’s equivalent is apathy. The beatitudes invite us to the opposite attitude which is hopefulness. Hope brings the possibility of change. When we are hopeful, we stand in the world sure of the possibility that the day will come when mercy, humility, peace, and love are the descriptions of what it means to live. The third principle of beatitude living is compassion. This is the overarching principle for every Christian interaction with the world as well as fellow believers. Everything that we do or say needs to be born out of compassion for the world in which we live and work. According to Henri Nouwen, compassion “grows with the inner recognition that your neighbor shares your humanity with you. This partnership cuts through all walls which might have kept you separate. Across all barriers of land and language, wealth and poverty, knowledge, and ignorance, we are one, created from the same dust, subject to the same laws, destined for the same end.” Finally, God’s reign is what matters. Persecution, insult, and even martyrdom may come from living a life united to Jesus. Those who receive God’s favor are those whom Gold deems worthy, not by virtue of their own achievements or status in society, but because God chooses to be on the side of the weak, the forgotten, the despised, the justice seekers, the peace makers, and those persecuted because of their beliefs. Here we see that the unvalued are at last fully valued as human beings.