On the Feast of Stephen

Proper23A, October 12, 2014, Sullivan Park Care Center, by Sr Annette Fricke, OP

                Good King Wenceslas looked out on the Feast of Stephen.  That is the first line of a popular Christmas song that I learned in my childhood.  Over the past week, one of my friends in Minnesota requested a list from which she could pick out Advent and Christmas songs or hymns to sing for a fundraiser with a holiday theme.  This is the one I picked because of a particular verse.  For those of you who are not familiar with this song or have forgotten much of it like I had, it is about a king who spies a poor man gathering wood for warmth in the middle of the winter.  He asks his page about him—where he lives and what is his dwelling.  The page answers that he lives at the foot of a mountain by the forest fence and a place called St Agnes’ fountain.  The king calls for wine and bread to take to him, assuring that he has food, not just warmth.  The king leads the way followed closely by the page, encouraging him along the way, as the journey is a good piece away and it is quite cold out with snow and ice as mentioned in verse 1.  But the best verse is one I don’t recall hearing before and what makes it a great choice for singing.  It goes like this: Therefore, Christian men, be sure, wealth or rank possessing; ye who now will bless the poor shall yourselves find blessing. Yes, this was a real king, but I cannot verify the story to be historical.  However, that being said, this song talks about the initiative of a king who sees to it that a poor man gets what he needs to sustain himself in the bitter cold in the shadow of a mountain.  This story is quite similar to the one in the gospel text which also tells the story of a king who is even more widely generous with his resources.  Many of you may know Luke’s version which is a bit different in theology and what is emphasized.  Luke’s is a wedding feast whereas this is more specifically a wedding banquet for the son.  Tacked on to the end of this story is a curious little paragraph about a man who comes to the banquet improperly attired and we wonder just what that means in relation to the rest of this biblical passage. 

            I have always liked this particular friend from the first time I met her.  She was in my Systematic Theology class with Fr. Kevin.  Fr. Kevin died of cancer just a couple of years after I left the seminary.  This friend was always gracious and kind apart from the fact that she had a fabulous voice that came from such a small-framed person.  She would have made a far better cantor than I.  The quality I appreciated most was expressed when she helped me by giving me her notes from class.  I found it difficult to even write for exams due to having broken my wrist within a year.  She remains that person.  She asks her friends for different things, her friends respond, she never once tells others she doesn't like our ideas, but takes in silently each person’s contribution.  I don’t know about you, but I could not ask for a better friend than that.  Wisdom and respect is shared on both ends.  There is no “one upmanship,” we are equals with different gifts and we share as equals. She is a perfect example of the message of the King Wenceslas’ song.

            So what does this parable mean?  We are to go out.  If we are not able to go out physically, we are to go out of our comfort zone.  The page in the song actually does both.  He initially likes the idea of following in the king’s footsteps until he feels the bitter cold and the physical strain.  I have watched people struggle with doing the necessary exercise to remain strong enough to not be dependent on the aides physically.  Motivation can wane; both emotionally and physically.  As we age, we begin to question the purpose of our activity.  The closer we get to “the end” however perceived by our own assessment or the doctors of our life span, the more there is a temptation to give up and ask ourselves, what the point of it all is.  We are to go out, forgetting our own needs in order to reach out and to share what we have with others. It is one complete action.

            At the same time, we are to accept the invitation of God to God’s banquet in honor of God’s Son.  This parable is a direct parallel to the one from last Sunday.  God held a feast for the people of Israel, but they all went their separate ways and did not respond to God.  Instead, they went about their lives doing other things, some even persecuted God’s slaves and killed them.  The king actually responds with violence and killed those who killed others, burning their city. 

            God’s response to this is to send out the invitation to all, both the good and the bad.  God’s salvation is meant for everybody.  The king fills the wedding hall.  God’s covenant now extends to all people, not just the Jews because now the chosen people of God are not just the Jews, but the Gentiles as well.  God has opened the kingdom of heaven to all.  We are called to respond to that invitation, to feast with God, but as this parable reminds us, there is more.

            Just what does it mean to feast with God?  Certainly this could be thought to be an allusion to participation in the Lord’s Supper, considering that the Greek word for the supper means thanksgiving and is a celebration of the new life God gives us in Jesus.  It also means enjoyment of life in general, of all that God has given us which certainly includes food, shelter, and warmth.  It means having a thankful heart for each day.  One of the ways some people cope with bad days in their lives is to remind themselves that tomorrow is a new day, a new beginning.  I may have a difficult time making it through today.  Something terrible could happen, but tomorrow I can start fresh with a clean slate. 

            What of the man who shows up to the banquet without a wedding robe?  Scholars think that this may have originally been a separate parable about preparedness, possibly for the end times.  Another scholar suggests that this could be in reference to Romans 13:14 that we are to put on the Lord Christ or Galatians 3:27 because we are baptized into Christ, we are clothed with Christ.  Still another scholar interprets these verses to mean what it says in I Colossians 3:16 that this is a baptismal robe and we are to let the word of Christ dwell in us richly.  If we are to take Jesus’ words seriously, we are to be committed servants who will daily walk in the footsteps of Jesus, our master, who like King Wenceslas leads the way and encourages us and strengthens us to follow his lead.

            Therefore, Christian people, be sure, wealth or rank possessing; ye who now will bless the poor shall yourselves find blessing. As with the parable of last Sunday, we are called to bear fruit.  We are called to be a blessing just as God also blesses us.  God calls us to more than simply contemplation, but action.  Sometimes, the blesser is the one who walks away the most blessed.  Our interactions are all potential blessings because of our maker and redeemer. Amen.

Be Who God calls us to Be

Proper22A, Sullivan Park Care Center, October 5, 2014 by Sr Annette Fricke, OP

            There are clearly times when I feel very alone, as I am sure is the case for most of you.  I feel alone emotionally as well as in my thinking.  There are two recent incidents that come to mind. As I watched and cared for the assisted living unit on which I am assigned this past Thursday, I had the rare opportunity to see my own priest come to visit one of our mutual residents.  I quickly explained to him as I spied him peering into this resident’s room that he was not there, but had gone downstairs for exercise.  I personally thought that this particular resident would have returned to the unit by then, not knowing that his delay was caused by another employee’s time with him.  As we passed through the hallway, he asked me a number of questions one of which was about where I worked, mentioning that he thought I was working in the skilled nursing unit.  I explained to him that actually, when on low census, I floated to virtually every other section of the building.  With a smile on his face, he then guessed correctly that was probably not something I particularly enjoyed.  I agreed that he was correct about that. This day was a low census day and I explained that I was alone on the unit until 6:30 tonight. He then inquired as to when I worked, the answer being 2 pm-10 pm.  Making the astute observation, he concluded that because of my schedule, I was able to help regularly with Wednesday morning Eucharist and hardly ever could make it to choir practice on Thursday nights.  “But you manage to sing in the choir?” He queried. Pondering this information, he thought a bit while I explained that I was a pretty good sight reader and that after a couple of years of difficulty, I learned most of the music.  The point is, there is always something to talk about, whether it is with a priest or a friend, or someone who is both. I feel lucky to claim him as a friend.

            The other incident that I think about at this time is the putting together of puzzles on our unit.  The Activities Department puts out puzzles on each floor as something for the residents to do.  Most of the puzzles take some time and skill to do, so the residents who put them together have decided by that assessment to put them together as a group, often three residents at any one moment.  This operation has involved employing even staff and visitors to the unit in an effort to facilitate the process.  One day, I pulled out a puzzle that I had never tried and proceeded to figure out the best way to begin.  It seemed that nobody wanted to help me until I complained enough that my fellow co-worker decided to attempt to put together the border pieces.  This is a known technique from the days of my childhood and probably back much further.  As I neared the edge with the other pieces, it became obvious that the time-honored way to do a puzzle did not, in fact, produce the most efficient way to put this particular puzzle together.  I needed the help of my other co-worker to rearrange the border pieces to fit with the inside pieces. There are clearly certain projects that we are unable to complete without help from others.  From my first illustration, friendship is a human need which may or may not involve something as complex as working together to complete a puzzle.  Secondly, the puzzle-making involved more than one person to accomplish the finished product.  Being friends is not a pre-requisite, but working together towards the intended goal is.

            In today’s gospel text, God is the landowner who builds a vineyard, later Jerusalem which is the center of worship for Israel. 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 this time period, 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 since 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 that produce the fruits of the kingdom.  Jesus will become a stumbling block for those who fall on him as well as will crush those whom he falls on.  Even if we skip over the words, “They said to him, ‘He will put those wretches to a miserable death,’” the concluding sentence remains: God will lease the vineyard to other tenants who will give him the produce at the harvest time. 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.  God expects them to behave in a certain way. God wants people who produce fruit.  How do we produce fruit?  We do it by keeping the Great Commandment: You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, your entire mind, all your soul, and all your strength and your neighbor as yourself.

            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 a part of friendship.[1]

            For the time of Jesus, it was a warning to the Jewish leadership, but during the time of Matthew’s writing, it was a warning to the early Christians to be the bearers of fruit.  The gospel of Matthew is full of these stories which served many Christian communities as a catechism or book of instruction designed to elucidate and articulate for Christians the components of what it means to lead a Christian life.  God claims us by way of creation and baptism to walk, not just talk as the people of God.  God expects and we are obligated when we profess to be Christians to live in such a manner that befits the name of Christian.  We are called upon daily in our walk with God to live as Christ has bidden us to do.  We are to make friends and we are to work together to build the kingdom of God even now here on earth.  We still have the power to make choices within our communities as well as with each election concerning the leadership of this country.  The best way to have a friend is to be one.  The best way to work together is to make friends with everyone as best as we are able.  If we are able to meet and speak with the candidates for office, the better we can make choices and the better our world will be.  Be who God calls us to be.

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[1] Selman, Francis, “Aquinas 101: A Basic Introduction to the Thought of Saint Thomas Aquinas,” 2005.

Practicing Perfect Forgiveness

HolyCrossDay, September 14, 2012, Sullivan Park Care Center, by Sr. Annette Fricke, OP

            Today, the Church calendar reads that it is Holy Cross Day.  This is the actual day; it is not a transferred Christian Feast.  The Roman Catholic Church calls this day, The Triumph of the Cross.  Whatever title you should choose, I think we are talking about the same thing.  It is a festival of Christ’s passion and cross, giving opportunity for a joyous commemoration of his redeeming death with a festal emphasis not appropriate during Holy Week.  “The message about the cross, in reference to I Cor. 1:18, is the central affirmation of Christianity, demonstrating both the depth of human sin that made the death of Christ necessary and the infinite value of every human being that caused God to act to redeem the human race.  The cross is shorthand, symbolic language for the redemptive passion and death of Christ.”  This feast day of the cross is a celebration of the Gospel of John’s view of the crucifixion of Christ as the time of his glorification as opposed to his resurrection.  The moment of death is seen as Christ’s moment of triumph and victory.  This day was very important in Church history, being originally one of just three feasts, the others being Pentecost and St. Lucia, after which there were days of repentance, fasting and prayer—those days being the following Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday. These days of repentance were meant to correspond to the changing seasons, being originally agricultural festivals.[1]

            The passage I mentioned above, I Cor. 1:18 reads, “For the message about the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.”  Basically, Paul’s argument is that in the wisdom of the world, the cross of Christ is foolishness.  Who wants to follow a Jesus that sacrifices for all, with no discrimination whatsoever?

            In our Bible Study on Wednesday mornings, we are currently studying the book of Revelation.  One thing that was pointed out about that book is the view of the early Christians.  The early Christians were not a bit about compromise. Being a Christian meant absolute loyalty to Jesus.  You were not to allow any pagan worship or adherence to the Roman Empire.  It was a time in which the Jewish community hated Christians to the point of turning them in to the Roman government, to be tortured, imprisoned, and killed.  We can see how early Christians became anti-Semitic, why they hated Jews. This anti-Semitism is spread throughout the gospel of John, which in other ways is highly revered.  Unfortunately, this hatred of Jews continued in the Christian community for several generations.

            Hatred in some form of various individuals or groups of people continues to this day.  We still have much to learn of what it means to be a Christian.  You can tell much about a person by the stories they tell.  It is not so much the details that are the giveaway, but the emotional content indicators.  One story I heard goes like this, “One night, on the way home from the football game, my dad was driving and the teenagers behind us kept tailgating, so he stomped his foot on the brake quickly and hard.”  For what purpose?  “To teach them a lesson.”  What lesson is that?  “That they shouldn’t tailgate.”  Another person kept telling me about all the things that bothered her and yet, not once did she try to see these situations in a different way or consider letting go of something that happened many years ago until she had gone through the whole litany in my presence one more time.  At that moment, she stopped.  At that point, she began a long healing process.  Prior to that, she was convinced that everyone else in her environment was an obstacle or hurdle.  Helping people through anger and grudges is a delicate task.  Sometimes serious counseling is needed to work through those feelings as well as learning to build relationships rather than being destructive or ignoring, moving on to so-called “better” things.  Forgiveness is about mending hurt feelings in the now, not holding onto angry and hurt feelings about that other person or interpersonal situation. It’s learning that the world does not revolve around me, but the people around me.  God made all of us and we are equally all God’s children.  The world around us wants us to believe that it is only about ourselves, but that is only 50% of the picture.  It is about the community in which we live and work; our relationships with our neighbors, our relationships one government to another government.  It is about taking care of our environment so that we can leave this earth with a good place for our children and our children’s children to live, work, and play.  We are not called to conquer others, to rape and pillage the land, to get all we can for ourselves.  Christianity is not about self-love and damning the rest of creation.

            There is no more of a logical conclusion to living and growing as a human being than to continually engage in loving and forgiving despite all that would have us say, think, or behave otherwise.  God accomplishes the fulfillment of forgiveness by transforming us into vehicles of forgiveness.  Think about all the people who have shown kindness to you in the past, even when you clearly felt you did not deserve it.  There are few other things that help to erase past injustices. Our baptisms unite us to God in such a way that we are to die to sin daily, and rise again to lead a Godly life.  Sin continues to get in our way, but we are to do what we can to brush that aside to be the forgiving people that God bought us back through Jesus Christ to be.  When St. Paul said to “Imitate me,” what he really meant was to imitate Christ.  In fact, there is a whole book with the title, “The Imitation of Christ” that I highly recommend.  Jesus is our model in all things.  Remember, but forgive; repeat that process every day.  Never tire of reminding yourself of God’s purpose for your life.  Live and breathe the words of forgiveness into every word and action, giving thanks to God for the forgiveness given so abundantly.

            How often are we to forgive?  Seventy times seven or seventy seven?  Seven is a perfect number.  What Peter is really asking is this, “Must I practice perfect forgiveness?”  Jesus implies that it is way more than a specified number of times; we must always forgive, not because it makes us feel better, but because God forgave us and expects us to do the same with others.

            Let us remember this: “We do not live to ourselves, and we do not die to ourselves.  If we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord; so then, whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord’s.  For to this end Christ died and lived again, so that he might be Lord of both the dead and the living.”  Do not pass judgment and do not despise your brothers and sisters because we are all accountable before God. Amen.

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[1] Pfatteicher, Philip H., New Book of Festivals and Commemorations: A Proposed Common Calendar of Saints, Fortress Press, Minneapolis, 2008, pp 443-448.

To Walk as Christ Walked

Proper18A, Sullivan Park Care Center, September 7, 2014 by Sr Annette Fricke, OP

            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. 

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.  If any of you have ever borrowed money or items from another person and have struggled to pay them back, you know the agony of owing, especially if that person is a friend, someone who is quite dear to you.  Even if you don’t know to whom you owe, like financial debt for a mortgage, for example, there remains an albatross over your shoulders until that debt is paid in full.  It is a seemingly inescapable moral 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, you simply need to say “no” to all other financial obligations until the one big debt in your life is paid off.  Most people cannot afford to owe for 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.  Once house and car are paid off, and you no longer have need of them, 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.

I’ve been thinking lately about 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.”  I think about my fellow Presbyterians often because there are a couple of them in my care.  I often wonder if when they are gathered here for worship if there is a sense of alienation or feeling left out.  The other version in modern use is “forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us.”  Some pastors have mentioned to me 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. 

But our lives are not always full of sorrow.  Life is both bane and 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 song birds, 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 you get caught up in a conflict or struggle of some sort, think about all the good in your life.  Think about the loving relationships you have with others.  Dwelling on the negative will only drive you downward, possibly into a depressed or angry mood.  Allow God to work through you to be the initiator of reconciliation between you and your 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 with. Even if we think they are wrong, they 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 to be 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.  

Where is Your Heart?

Proper22B, Trinity Lutheran Church, Tacoma, WA by Annette Fricke, MA Psychology, MA Theology

Reconciliation is a six syllable word and probably one of the most difficult things we are called to do as Christians.  What does reconciliation mean?  If I look it up in my electronic dictionary, the definition comes up as 1. Cause to be friendly again, 2. Adjust or settle, 3. Bring to acceptance.  A further definition comes in the thesaurus and states "establishment of harmony" with synonyms listed as "harmonizing; rapproachment; reconcilement.  The definition of rapproachment is the "state of having or establishment of cordial relations."

If we look at the first definition, "cause to be friendly again," we realize that it implies something other than a previous friendly state.  Indeed, prior to reconciliation, people often feel offended, incensed, angered, miffed, frustrated, disappointed, and a whole host of other feelings.  In definition number two, "adjust or settle" we may think of settling an argument or a disagreement possibly by adjusting our thinking, our feelings and our behavior.  Sometimes our hearts are in the wrong place.  Sometimes our hearts do not match our feelings and behavior.  Sometimes we simply have conflicting values.  We know that we should give to the ministry of our church, but we hesitate.  We hesitate with our money, we hesitate with our behavior, we allow our non-humble, non-sacrificing self to take over.  We even agree to vows in baptism and marriage and then break them.  We agree to accept the children of the world, the vulnerable, the weak, those who have different values than us; the people that society considers to be somehow "less than".  But our actions betray us.  We draw lines of inclusion and exclusion.  We are judgmental.  We sometimes fail to see the big picture and are encased in narrow-minded navel-gazing.  As in Mary Poppins, we can't see past the ends of our noses.  We want to help in the ministry of Trinity, but we are waiting for someone to ask us.  We don't want to volunteer because we already have too much on our plates.  Sometimes it is a matter of balancing our priorities and taking the initiative.  God has blessed us with many gifted people here at Trinity.  Whether you realize it or not, you are one of them.  You have gifts.

Where is your heart?  What do you value the most?  Jesus told the Pharisees that they were very hard hearted.  Jesus was pointing out that the original covenant of marriage as it was established by God from the beginning, was to be a lifelong commitment.  But it was replaced by allowing a writ of divorce.  And in the Jewish teaching of that day, only men were allowed to get a divorce.  Women were not.  Jesus goes on to explain that Moses gave this law because you (the Pharisees) were hard hearted.  The Greek work for this actually is one compound word and kardia is the second of the words used.  The heart is thought to be the seat of emotions.  People who have had heart transplants have reported taking on the personality of the donor.  We talk about people who have a good heart and wearing your heart on your sleeve.  When we talk about someone having a soft heart, we see that person as someone who is easily taken advantage of.  We think of people who show emotions, people who wear their hearts on their sleeves, as being weak and vulnerable.  So we hide our emotions from others for fear of rejection.  Yet, if we hold our emotions inside, we can be contributing to depression.  When children are abused by others, they are often told by the abuser to promise to not tell their parents.  They will often keep that promise.  Sometimes the demand of an abuser is coupled with the threat of death if the abuser is discovered.  That is why there is sometimes a delay of years before a child will speak up about the abuse.  Some children who don't feel they are heard or who are abused can and do turn to alcohol and drug use.  That's why talking about things openly and making a connection with your children is greatly needed.  Talking about everything, not just abuse, drugs, and alcohol.  We live in a busy world, but we must take the time to be involved with our children and our grandchildren.  We have a role in nurturing children into adulthood.  As a popular song from the Dixie Chicks states, "they are watching us."  Children see us as a role model.  If we want our children to be involved in the ministry of the church, we need to take ownership and be involved ourselves.  God values children and that is shown to us when Jesus blesses the children.  We should value them as much as God does.  We need to advocate for them because they are vulnerable and need our guidance.  One of the problems we see in mental health is the after effects of neglectful and abusive parenting.  We need to support preventive mental health as well as the treatment of adults and children who have been affected in or during their upbringing.  Those are issues that involve all of us, regardless of whether we are or were recipients of abuse or neglect, are or were perpetrators of abuse or neglect.  Some of us are or were neither.  Some of us do not have children, but that does not excuse us from the responsibility of caring for and advocating for children.

Families are important.  They make up the fabric of our communities.  Families are intergenerational.  People my age are what is called the "sandwich generation", taking care of both children and parents.  Many my age do not want to see our parents be placed in an institution because of all the stories we hear about the abuse and neglect that go on in these facilities.  We fear that if they are abused or neglected, we cannot help but feel guilty.  We fear that in our busy lives, if they are abused or neglected in a facility that we will not find our till the damage is done, so we try to do it all--children on the one hand and parents on the other, keeping them in home environments for as long as possible.  Often, parents live together until one of them dies.  After that, the oldest child is frequently called upon to take care of the living parent.  There are no easy answers.  Globally, in Africa, small children take care of their parents dying of Aids.

It is also common in today's world that grandparents are taking care of the children so the parents can be free to work.  It saves money, but sometimes it is a real burden for the grandparents who find it difficult to say "no" to their children.

There are no easy answers.  We all sin.  We are all broken people.  We have all grieved God over and over again.  We have all sinned against each other.  As God has provided reconciliation for us in Jesus, so we can start once again with a clean slate.  We are free to bring reconciliation to others, put aside our prejudices, our judgments, our dislikes.  Free to once again live in covenant with each other as with God as it was meant to be form the beginning of creation, when God created us male and female.  We are free to be servants of each other, to give blessing, not negative judgment.

Where is your heart?  Reconciliation is not an easy thing.  We need to admit that we could be wrong about things, about people, about various issues.  We need to set our egos and our "rightness" aside.  Our hearts need to be in the right place.  Just as Jesus was angry about the disciples' disallowing the children to be blessed, let our attitude be the same.  Let us be welcoming, supportive, and nurturing.  Let us stand up for the children in our midst, for the children of God young and old, large and small.  Let us seek justice for all people in our midst and in our community and our world.  May we use our gifts to that end.  May we be a blessing to others as God has blessed us, redeemed us, and forgiven us.  God strengthens us.  God heals our thinking, feeling and behavior to be God's people.  God goes with us in our ministry.  May we be united in that ministry, despite our differences and work together to spread the gospel of God's saving grace.

For Mental Health Sunday, Pentecost 18/Proper 22A

When our Faith Falters

Proper14A, Sullivan Park Care Center, August 10, 2014 by Sr Annette Fricke, OP

            The summer, for me, began at the beginning of July when the retired priest, now age 89 is taking his usual two months off before resuming his scheduled return in September.  He is our primary pastoral care provider as well as the pastoral visitor for his former parish. I am only seeing part of the list, so I know it’s long. This year, more than ever, his time off is very valuable.  His wife’s dementia is worsening and if life continues as expected for him, he will soon outlive their approximately 53 year old daughter.  She has pancreatic cancer, the same diagnosis as another even younger member of the congregation who just died yesterday at a hospice house on the South Hill. The task of providing pastoral care is a daunting one, especially for someone who is going through his own walk with grief and loss.  A person in this situation is a prime candidate for both administering excellent care as well as succumbing to the hurt that is within, ever in danger of leaking out at an inopportune moment.  Worst case scenario, this can occur when someone who is really struggling needs you to be strong the most.  No one is immune, if indeed you have any feeling at all for another’s pain in life.  This is why there are spiritual directors and why they also have spiritual directors.  There are certain predicaments in our journeys here on earth, which demand the assistance of others, most of which have an element of emotional pull. To put it bluntly, we are all vulnerable to the temperamental waves of life’s ocean.  Most of us are fearful of climbing out of the safety of the boat, because we fear the force of the wind and the waves.  We may not be aware, as children, but as mature adults, we do know what’s out there, beyond our comfortable seats in the boat. And if we don’t know, it is surely pretty close to our imaginations, based on our past experiences.

            Similarly, the crafting of a particular British television series makes the point of trying to balance one’s stressful work life amid the crises in one’s family.  The murder mystery series is known by the title, ‘Wallander,’ Kurt Wallander being the full name of the key performer.  He plays the part of a detective whose job description is to solve serial murder cases.  He is a devoted policeman who pours himself into his work one hundred percent.  He follows every lead till it is exhausted in pursuit of the truth of the identity of the killer in each case.  His character is that of a man who is absolutely driven by the quest to solve that murder as quickly as possible; a man who sits in a chair at night, unable to sleep, partially because of the alcohol he is convinced will in some way help him think.  “He notices every detail about a crime scene but cannot be bothered to notice when a loved one is suffering.  He is always on the edge of collapse.  The danger is not that he’ll torture or kill a suspect; it’s that his own life is always within an inch of falling apart.  [The] relentless pursuit of justice proves to be a demanding idol.”  He is single-minded and spends every waking moment of his time on duty relentlessly tracking the suspect, determined to heed his demanding desire for justice.[1] 

            Wallander finds himself torn between taking care of his own aging father and at the same time going about solving the murder cases of elderly men.  Further down the story line, he is investigating the murder of several young women while dealing with a conflicting relationship to his own daughter.  The fact of the matter is, like the title of this article in the magazine, Christians are “never off the clock.”  This is how life comes to us in reality.  The boundaries become blurred because at the same time that we are in process of comforting someone in their painful moments, we are going through our own conflicts, our own struggles, and our own monumental strife.  As much as we might like to give as a valid excuse for not being involved in the pastoral care of those around us, that we have our own problems, that simply will not cut it.  There are no credible reasons for not caring.  We are never off the clock because we are not called to compromise our caring for each other as well as the entire world if we indeed have decided to follow Jesus.  It is Jesus who commands us, like he did Peter, to come out of the boat.  Our attitude should be that of Peter’s: “Jesus, is that you?  I want to be where you are.  If that is you, command me to come to you.”

            When you feel God’s absence in your life, when it seems that everything is crashing down around you, when you are feeling totally abandoned, this gospel reading emphasizes that God’s presence is always there.  God is there even when we don’t feel that God is present.  God will do more for us than just be there in our joys and sorrows.  God will defend us and lift us up when our faith falters, just as he lifted Peter when Peter began to sink.  God raises our whole beings to a new level of faith when we become weak, when we unite our lives to Jesus.

            There is just one more thing that God illustrates for us in this gospel text and that is this: the importance of spending time in prayer.  If you follow the timeline, you will notice that it appears that Jesus sent the crowds away in the late afternoon.  We are told that Jesus was alone for most of the night.  He was there praying.  He does not come back to the boat where the disciples are until 4:00 am.  Prayer is our connection with God just as it was for Jesus while he was here on earth.  It is prayer that grounds us for ministry to and with others, allowing us to see that we are truly on equal terms with others.  There is no hierarchy of this or that person being of a higher spiritual plane, because we all have the potential, in our own lives, small as they may seem to the world, to help lift others when they are sinking from the turbulent waves of life.  Let the love of God in Jesus Christ be our sole motivator for our actions towards others.

            As in the words of Julie Hausmann, Lord, take my hand and lead me upon life’s way; direct, protect, and feed me from day to day.  Without your grace and favor I go astray; so take my hand, O Savior, and lead the way.  Lord, when the tempest rages, I need not fear; for you, the Rock of Ages, are always near.  Close by your side abiding, I fear no foe, for when your hand is guiding, in peace I go.  Lord, when the shadows lengthen and night has come, I know that you will strengthen my steps toward home, and nothing can impede me, O blessed Friend!  So, take my hand and lead me unto the end.[2]

            God is indeed there to sustain us to the end: in the midst of all that troubles us, in the ordinariness and in our joyful celebrations.  God never abandons us; and even though at times we sense that perhaps God is absent, help us in faith, to look up to you, Lord Jesus. 

---

[1] Christian Century, June 11, 2014, p. 42

[2] Lutheran Book of Worship, Hymn #333

The Kingdom of God is like...

Proper12A, Sullivan Park Care Center, July 27, 2014 by Sr Annette Fricke, OP.

            The kingdom of God is like a child who becomes a drug addict.  The child imitates the behavior of her mother, a mother who is a role model and supplier of drugs.  The child has no known will as a child separate from her mother, because she has not lived outside the confines of her childhood.  She then adopts the lifestyle of her parents and not only abuses drugs, but abuses herself by her behavior.  She becomes depressed, begins cutting, binging and purging and simply not eating.  She brings into the circle many male friends.  The male friends are not so much an object of desire, but a way of coping with her parents’ physical and verbal abuse. She begins stealing and sneaking out at night.  Stealing becomes a way to obtain more drugs.  She knows nothing else because she imitates her parents to a ‘T’.

            The kingdom of God is like an atheist who clings so tenaciously to the idea that God does not exist that an entire defense of his behavior is built around this belief.  There is nothing else.  It’s just us.  We choose our own destiny.  People who believe in God are simply ignorant.  They haven’t figured it out yet.  Science has proven that there is nobody out there.  Space is just one dark void after another.  There are no rules to life, because we are our own masters.  It’s all up to us.  That stuff in the Bible is just fiction.  Jesus never existed.  Nobody ever found his bones.  There is no such thing as resurrection. That part is fiction, too.

            The kingdom of God is like a young, just graduated nursing assistant who is asked to take a blood pressure on a woman.  The woman has not had a stroke or a mastectomy.  She properly assesses the patient who has very thin arms, so uses a small blood pressure cuff.  She places the stethoscope in the correct position at the inside of the bend to the elbow; but she hears nothing.  She sees the needle bouncing all right, but no sound comes forth.  She proceeds to easily find the pulse in the wrist of the same arm, but still wonders why it is she can’t hear the blood pressure.  She tries the other arm with the same results.  She tries again and again, and then finally discovers a blood vessel in the right arm that surfaces near the skin a couple of inches below the bend in the elbow.  She becomes elated when she hears the blood pressure. She is no longer an embarrassment to the charge nurse or her co-workers.

            The kingdom of God is like an experienced nurses’ aide who was asked to get a blood pressure and pulse on a woman.  The woman tells the aide where to take the pulse.  The woman reasons with the aide that she is a nurse and knows her own body.  Against her own sensibilities yet figuring if there is anyone she can trust, it’s a nurse.  The aide puts her fingers where the nurse, who is also the patient, directs: halfway up the right arm where two blood vessels appear to intertwine.  She is surprised that she can get a pulse at that location.

            The kingdom of God is like an older woman who looks like a cleaning lady.  She is shabbily dressed and wears no make-up.  She gets up to sing and the immediate impression of the judges is that it is some sort of joke.  How could this woman possibly sing for an actual contest?  They do a quick interview as with every other candidate, still doubtful.  When she mentions that she wishes to sing like a well-known British recording artist, the panel snickers and look at each other.  They ask, “And what are you going to sing for us tonight?”  She replies that she will sing a piece from “Les Miserables.”  As her mouth opens and she sings her finest, the crowd and the judges are overwhelmingly amazed.  Their attitude is transformed from outright judgmental disrespect for her appearance to an enormous admiration for a woman who has a fabulous voice, far superior to their imagination.

            The kingdom of God is like a young male singer, who at the behest of his girlfriend, auditions because of his unique voice.  She has been urging him to do this for the last couple of years.  The moment has finally arrived when he comes out on stage to perform in front of a live audience and a panel of critics.  The preliminary introductions past and the audience is silent in anticipation.  He sings in falsetto, not sounding like a man singing falsetto, but like a female opera singer.  He is so convincingly singing like a woman that one of the judges sincerely asks him if he swallowed Jackie Evancho, a popular young girl who also has an older mature woman quality to her singing voice.

            You also may have your own parable of what the kingdom of God is like.  It could be almost anything in particular, yet descriptive of God’s kingdom.  It is like a drug addict, because the addict seeks to find what he or she values and follows what role model is laid before her.  It is like an atheist whose world is void of light, has no real sense of a basis for morality, yet seeking the truth and has an air of certainty that it is all up to us to make choices.  It is like a nursing assistant who is delegated the task of obtaining blood pressures and pulses that goes by the book, yet discovers that going by the book does not always give the answers.  It is like a singer who appears to be entirely different from what comes out of his or her mouth.

            The kingdom of God is like a treasure that someone dug up in someone else’s field, buried the treasure he found back into the field again, sold all he had, and then bought the entire field.  Why would he do that when the treasure was all that was essential?   What could this possible mean? Our clue is at the end of the gospel reading, “Therefore every scribe who has been trained for the kingdom of heaven is like the master of a household who brings out of his treasure what is new and what is old.”

            If we look more intently at the I Kings lesson about Solomon, we realize the value of wisdom that was present even way back in Old Testament times during the reign of King Solomon.  God blesses Solomon’s request, “Because you have asked this…for yourself understanding to discern what is right, I now do according to your word.  Indeed I give you a wise and discerning mind…”  Could it be for Jesus’ day that the treasure chest and its contents is the wisdom of the Old Testament and the field that holds it and surrounds it is the New Testament?  Could it be for our own day that the treasure chest is the faith and traditions of Christianity handed down to us through generations and the field is the world in which we share the rich treasure of Jesus?

            All of the parables are told for a specific reason: they point us to God.  They do not tell us in an exact fashion---that will be revealed in time.  Our faith in Jesus is the most important treasure we have and we will discover that time and again every day in our faith journeys.  God has many surprises in store for us.

The Boy filed under 'Strange"

Father John Powell, a professor at Loyola University in
Chicago, writes about a student in his Theology of Faith class named Tommy:

Some twelve years ago, I stood watching my
university students file into the classroom for our first session in the
Theology of Faith. That was the day I first saw Tommy. He was combing his long
flaxen hair, which hung six inches below his shoulders. It was the first time I
had ever seen a boy with hair that long.

 I guess it was just coming into fashion then. I
know in my mind that it isn't what's on your head but what's in it that counts;
but on that day, I was unprepared and my emotions flipped. I immediately filed
Tommy under "S" for strange... Very strange.

 Tommy turned out to be the "atheist in residence"
in my Theology of Faith course. He constantly objected to, smirked at, or whined
about the possibility of an unconditionally loving Father/God. We lived with
each other in relative peace for one semester, although I admit he was for me at
times a serious pain in the back pew.

 When he came up at the end of the course to turn in
his final exam, he asked in a cynical tone, "Do you think I'll ever find God?"

 I decided instantly on a little shock therapy.
"No!" I said very emphatically.

 "Why not," he responded, "I thought that was the
product you were pushing."

 I let him get five steps from the classroom door
and then I called out, "Tommy! I don't think you'll ever find Him, but I am
absolutely certain that He will find you!"

 He shrugged a little and left my class and my life.

 I felt slightly disappointed at the thought that he
had missed my clever line -- He will find you! At least I thought it was clever.

 Later I heard that Tommy had graduated, and I was
duly grateful. Then a sad report came. I heard that Tommy had terminal cancer.
Before I could search him out, he came to see me.

 When he walked into my office, his body was very
badly wasted and the long hair had all fallen out as a result of chemotherapy.
But his eyes were bright and his voice was firm, for the first time, I believe.

 "Tommy, I've thought about you so often; I hear you
are sick," I blurted out.

 "Oh, yes, very sick. I have cancer in both lungs.
It's a matter of weeks."

"Can you talk about it, Tom?" I asked.

 "Sure, what would you like to know?" he replied.

 "What's it like to be only twenty-four and dying?

 "Well, it could be worse." "Like what?"

 "Well, like being fifty and having no values or
ideals, like being fifty and thinking that booze, seducing women, and making
money are the real biggies in life."

 I began to look through my mental file cabinet
under "S" where I had filed Tommy as strange. (It seems as though everybody I
try to reject by classification, God sends back into my life to educate me.)

 "But what I really came to see you about," Tom
said, "is something you said to me on the last day of class." (He remembered!)
He continued, "I asked you if you thought I would ever find God and you said,
'No!' which surprised me. Then you said, 'But He will find you.' I thought about
that a lot, even though my search for God was hardly intense at that time. (My
clever line. He thought about that a lot!) "But when the doctors removed a lump
from my groin and told me that it was malignant, that's when I got serious about locating God. And when the malignancy spread into my vital organs, I really
began banging bloody fists against the bronze doors of heaven. But God did not
come out. In fact, nothing happened.

 Did you ever try anything for a long time with
great effort and with no success?

 You get psychologically glutted, fed up with
trying. And then you quit."

 "Well, one day I woke up, and instead of throwing a
few more futile appeals over that high brick wall to a God who may be or may not
be there, I just quit. I decided that I didn't really care about God, about an
afterlife, or anything like that. I decided to spend what time I had left doing
something more profitable. I thought about you and your class and I remembered
something else you had said: 'The essential sadness is to go through life
without loving.' But it would be almost equally sad to go through life and leave
this world without ever telling those you loved that you had loved them."

 "So, I began with the hardest one, my Dad. He was
reading the newspaper when I approached him.

 "Dad."

 "Yes, what?" he asked without lowering the
newspaper.

 "Dad, I would like to talk with you."

 "Well, talk."

 "I mean. It's really important."

 The newspaper came down three slow inches. "What is
it?"

 "Dad, I love you, I just wanted you to know that."
Tom smiled at me and said it with obvious satisfaction, as though he felt a warm
and secret joy flowing inside of him. "The newspaper fluttered to the floor.
Then my father did two things I could never remember him ever doing before. He
cried and he hugged me. We talked all night, even though he had to go to work
the next morning. It felt so good to be close to my father, to see his tears, to
feel his hug, to hear him say that he loved me."

 "It was easier with my mother and little brother.
They cried with me, too, and we hugged each other, and started saying real nice
things to each other. We shared the things we had been keeping secret for so
many years. I was only sorry about one thing --- that I had waited so long."

 "Here I was, just beginning to open up to all the
people I had actually been close to. Then, one day I turned around and God was
there. He didn't come to me when I pleaded with Him. I guess I was like an
animal trainer holding out a hoop, 'C'mon, jump through. C'mon, I'll give you
three days, three weeks.' Apparently God does things in His own way and at His
own hour. But the important thing is that He was there. He found me! You were
right. He found me even after I stopped looking for Him."

 "Tommy," I practically gasped, "I think you are
saying something very important and much more universal than you realize. To me,
at least, you are saying that the surest way to find God is not to make Him a
private possession, a problem solver, or an instant consolation in time of need,
but rather by opening to love. You know, the Apostle John said that. He said:
'God is love, and anyone who lives in love is living with God and God is living
in him.' "

 "Tom, could I ask you a favor? You know, when I had
you in class you were a real pain. But (laughingly) you can make it all up to me
now. Would you come into my present Theology of Faith course and tell them what
you have just told me? If I told them the same thing it wouldn't be half as
effective as if you were to tell it."

 "Oooh.. I was ready for you, but I don't know if
I'm ready for your class."

 "Tom, think about it. If and when you are ready,
give me a call."

 In a few days Tom called, said he was ready for the
class, that he wanted to do that for God and for me. So we scheduled a date.
However, he never made it. He had another appointment, far more important than
the one with me and my class. Of course, his life was not really ended by his
death, only changed. He made the great step from faith into vision. He found a
life far more beautiful than the eye of man has ever seen or the ear of man has
ever heard or the mind of man has ever imagined.

 Before he died, we talked one last time.

 "I'm not going to make it to your class," he said.

 "I know, Tom."

 "Will you tell them for me? Will you...tell the
whole world for me?"

 "I will, Tom. I'll tell them. I'll do my best."

 So, to all of you who have been kind enough to read
this simple story about God's love, thank you for listening. And to you, Tommy, somewhere in the sunlit, verdant hills of heaven --- I told them, Tommy, as best I could.

 With thanks,

Rev. John Powell, Professor, Loyola University,
Chicago

Outright Refusal

Proper10A, Sullivan Park Care Center, July 13, 2014, by Sr Annette Fricke, OP

          There are certain scriptures that are not as easily decipherable as others due to the separation of time and culture.  The Parable of the Sower is one of them.  There were many farmers in Jesus’ day.  In our day, that occupation has changed dramatically, even from when I was a child to this day.  There are people I converse with who have no idea what I mean when I talk about bucking bales or planting potato cuttings from the back of a plow.  Now, the bales are much larger and heavier so that a machine is necessary to lift them from the fields and transport them to where they need to go.  Many people get caught up in the method of the sower scattering seed all over the place as a poor method of farming and forget that this is a parable and is not to be taken literally.  This parable is not about farming or sowing seed to produce an edible crop.  Jesus told this parable to communicate the difference between those who actually hear and heed the gospel as opposed to those who allow other people or things in their lives to draw them away from the gospel and its influence.  It has everything to do with receptive hearts and God who is the giver of the gift of receptive hearts.  Hearing and acting on the gospel calls on us to consider that what we have in mind may be entirely different from what God has in mind. It is as Frantz Fanon has written, “Sometimes people hold a core belief that is very strong. When they are presented with evidence that works against that belief, the new evidence cannot be accepted. It would create a feeling that is extremely uncomfortable, called cognitive dissonance. And because it is so important to protect the core belief, they will rationalize, ignore and even deny anything that doesn't fit in with the core belief.”[1]

            Another reason that I see expressed in my day-to-day work setting is simply, “I do not want to change.”  Nobody ever really says that, but that is the honest truth. Time and again I see the dietary staff or physical therapy staff comes up with a “solution” to perceived deficits only to be met with the resident response of outright refusal.  I also see the aides I work with express the same idea from a seemingly sympathetic understanding, “Why should the residents have to do anything?  Why can’t they do what they want to do?”  I see that sentiment in three different ways.  1) It is their home and they are paying to stay here. 2) That statement has nothing to do with the resident, but is a reflection of the staff member’s values. 3) The refusal has nothing to do with the treatment or lack of treatment, but is a reflection of lack of control over their lives or simply unresolved grief over the loss of a loved one. 

            It is my contention that it doesn’t matter about whether or not it goes against anyone’s core values.  A person cannot be forced to change.  God can love us with an enormous love that is overwhelming and over-flowing, but we cannot be forced to love in return. A person has to want to change before any change can occur. You cannot hit people over the head with the gospel and expect to get positive results.  Nobody wants to have anything beat into them. Receptivity is the key to allowing the seed of God’s word to grow in us. And no matter how we respond to God, God’s loving purpose in Jesus Christ is always for good.  Therefore, we should always seek God’s love to work in us.  For that to happen, we must become the good soil of allowing that to take place in our hearts and actions.

            There is good soil and there is not so good soil and those who are not so good soil have the potential to be good soil.  However, whether we are good or bad soil is not so much the point as God is the sower.  God sows anywhere and everywhere because God knows that we all have the potential to become good soil.  God sows everywhere because God’s love and grace is for everyone, even those whose hearts currently reject that love.

             What then, as God’s disciples are we to do?  Should we plant only in what we might know or guess to be good soil?  We know that the answer to that question is a “No” because we have read ahead.  Matthew, in the last chapter makes it very plain that we are to make disciples of all nations, not just those we think might be receptive to the word of God.  God will surprise us sometimes, because we are not always able to tell who might be good soil. I am reminded of words spoken by the Amish in the movie, “Witness” where the grandfather speaks to his grandson, “Can you see into the heart of a man?” In other words do we know the good people from the bad people?  It isn’t all that clear. We are not required to make that judgment. As Jesus’ disciples, we are not called to pick and choose to whom we bring the gospel and we are to teach all people to observe all that Jesus has commanded us. To those who are good soil, Jesus says, “Blessed are your eyes, for they see, and your ears, for they hear.  Truly I tell you, many prophets and righteous people longed to see what you see, but did not see it, and to hear what you hear, but did not hear it.”

            Read and re-read.  Listen and re-listen.  Immerse yourself in the word of God and believe with all your heart.  Challenge your core beliefs to find that which is essential.  Be open to what God has to say to you in this time and in this place because God is speaking to you even here, a place you may never feel you are at home.  But also hold firm and do not allow others to lead you astray.  Lead others also, to Jesus.

            God sent Jesus out into the world to spread the news of God’s love for all people, but people despised the word of love and chose to take their own paths of lies and deceit.  Some people developed hardened hearts that God’s word was unable to penetrate.  Not only did the seed stay on top of the ground, all the rain that brought nourishment ran off the smooth surface and into the ditch where some was carried off to another location.  Before the rain, some of the seed was engulfed by the powerful words and actions of bullies such as Napoleon or Hitler.  Other seed fell on rocky ground where it quickly sprouted, but without the proper balance of sun and nutrients and a lack of soil, it became weak and died. Still other seed began to grow in a place of many thorns.  The thorns made it difficult for God to nourish the plants.  The thorns produced more seeds than the plants so the thorns spread quickly and aggressively crowded out the plants. Finally, the seed fell into good soil where it flourished.  It was nourished by the word of God daily, was tended and cared for by the disciples, producing more disciples. But wait.  What happened to the seed that was carried off to another location?  God was there, too.  The seed was once again in search of a home in someone’s heart.  God is knocking at your heart’s door.  Will you let Jesus in or pretend you don’t hear him knocking?  Listen! Let anyone with ears listen.

---

[1] ― Frantz Fanon, Black Skin, White Masks

Yoke Yourself to Jesus

Proper9A/3Pentecost, Sullivan Park Care Center, July 6, 2014, by Sr. Annette Fricke, OP.

                Just a couple of days ago, as a nation we celebrated again our independence from the King of England.  Yesterday on PBS, I watched a representation of a debate that happened within the colony of Virginia.  And so the bantering continues to this day.  When and how do we defend ourselves?  How do we live independently with our own resources and not so dependent on other countries?  How do we keep intact a nation that is truly a melting pot from becoming divided to the point that it breaks out in another kind of civil unrest and possibly war?  The nation is still fighting over a variety of opinions as to what constitutes killing as an outright sin, versus a just war, killing human life as in where does life begin and what forms of birth control are acceptable morally?  Should companies who employ workers who do not share their religious beliefs have to follow their dictates?  Should an employee always follow conscience or the practice of the place where they find themselves?  Should we follow John the Baptist or Jesus or reject both out of hand?

            John the Baptist is representative of a lot of rules, primarily that one must live a simple life, wear simple clothing, fast and repent.  Most of us would reject a diet of locusts and honey.  Here is this quirky guy out in the middle of nowhere preaching loudly, “Repent, for the kingdom of God is at hand!”  Yet despite the rejection of many, he had many followers.  Jesus, on the other hand, seems to be doing just the opposite and says that the kingdom of God is here, in your midst, “Eat drink, and be merry!”  The church has been confused ever since.  The confession of sins is included in every service except that of Easter.  During the 50 days of the Easter celebration, there is no confession of sins!  So which is it?  Should we follow the strictness of John the Baptist or follow Jesus who eats and drinks?  I think one of the strong points of this text is that it doesn’t really matter which we do, because there will always be someone who thinks we are doing it wrong and feels the need to be critical of our words and our behavior.       

Two days ago, I learned that we are hiring another nursing assistant to work the day shift on our floor.  The conversation among the staff was concerning the fact that the person hired was a black female.  We mused about how many complaints we would hear among the residents due to the color of her skin.  We knew all too well the prejudicial views of some residents.  But yesterday was my experience of an opposite view.  I went specifically to visit someone who had been an active member of the cathedral in Fr. Hay’s stead.  She mentioned to me an aid she greatly enjoys who is from the Ukraine and speaks with a heavy accent.  I mentioned to her that she and I were still good friends.  Learning to love takes a special person.  It takes a person who is sure and positive about one’s own identity as a person, in this case, who knows her value in God’s sight.  Vera the aid also speaks about her faith to me.  They are both faith inspirations.  It’s never too late to change.  My brother-in-law shocked me when he told me a week ago on Sunday afternoon that it is better to respond to people with love. I was flabbergasted and speechless.  I never thought I’d see that day.  He actually admitted that he was wrong.

As the second lesson today points out, we continue to struggle with what we know to be the right thing to do and still do what we know is not right.  We are frequently in agony in this life because even when we do have a real sense of what it right, we chose to do what isn’t.  Paul truly understood the human condition.  As a pastor whose pulpit I once preached in used to say to me, “It don’t matter.”  Yes, he purposely used bad English.  Many of the things we stress over in life really don’t matter.  The more we object and want things a certain way, the more we suffer and cause our own grief.  Misery many times is a result of our own inability to let go of past arguments, disagreements, and grievances.  We can cling so tightly to what happened yesterday, last week, or even forty years ago that we forget that we are called to love just as God loves us.  Jesus tells us, “Come to me, all you who are weary and are carrying heavy burdens and I will give you rest.”  Rest is the answer to our troubles in this life.  The only law you are called to keep is the law of love. 

As Pope Leo I has written, “Let every Christian scrutinize himself, and search severely into his inmost heart: let him see that no discord cling there, no wrong desire be harbored.  Let the light of truth dispel the shades of deception; let the swellings of pride subside; let wrath yield to reason; let he darts of ill-treatment be shattered, and the chidings of the tongue be bridled; let thoughts of revenge fall through, and injuries be given over to oblivion. In fine, let “every plant which the heavenly Father hath not planted be removed by the roots.”  For then only are the seeds of virtue will nourished in us, when every foreign germ is uprooted from the field of wheat.”

Despite all struggle in our corporate and individual lives, Jesus offers us rest.  For all those who are burdened physically, burdened by trying to keep the law of love, those who are emotionally fatigued and discouraged, ready to give up and lose heart: take heart.  Take heart; because Jesus will give you rest.  In that rest, we are in a right relationship with God.  It is like the rest of God who created the world and on the seventh day rested.  We can look forward to that ultimate rest when all things and all people will be restored to God, the source of transformation, all comfort, and all peace.  It is God who will end all oppression and death, who will end all war and strife.

Take my yoke upon you and learn from me; for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.  Learning is much more than an intellectual assent to what Jesus is saying to us.  We are not merely pupils in a classroom, but apprentices.  We are Jesus’ disciples to learn how to be disciples from Jesus. We are not just to think about what Jesus says, but to also do what Jesus does.  We are not to just listen to Jesus’ words, but watch what Jesus does.  The yoke is not one that Jesus imposes but one he wears.  We are the yoke mate of Jesus, working beside him.  We must allow him to help us with our loads. Keeping the law of Jesus’ love is easier when we remember that Jesus is beside us, knows us inside and out.  Jesus will always be there helping us with our struggles.  We never walk alone.

Circle us, Lord. Keep darkness out, keep light within.  Keep fear without, keep peace within. Keep hatred out, keep love within. Amen.