Passion and Persistence

Proper18BPentecost15, September 6, 2015, Sullivan Park Care Center, by Annette Fricke

            My co-workers and I have recently made it a habit to go out with each other more frequently.  I, being the second oldest aid of our employer, sometimes can feel a bit awkward.  What do I have in common with people who are actually young enough to be my grandchildren?  Well, we are all human and our group is only inclusive of the women co-worker aides.  As a once practicing mental health counselor, I sometimes do more watching than taking action.  I am sometimes caught in that paralysis of not knowing what to do to resolve some of the injustices I see around me and so I sit and wait things out.  One of my best friends is a bit younger than I and is Buddhist.  Despite our differing beliefs, we have much in common. Some of our common ground is a result of having lived on the other side of the state. I am going through a process of grieving right now because she told me that she has been accepted into nursing school at Mt. Hood.  Yes, that means she’s moving to Oregon. She is very kind and caring and treats me on an equal basis, as equal as it can be with our age differences.  I will miss her.

            The two healing stories in our gospel text have similarities.  The most glaring of the similarities is that they both take place in non-Jew territories.  These are places where Jews are not welcome and in fact, are rather despised and treated with contempt.  Perhaps the harsh words of Jesus to this woman from the region of Tyre are a reflection of the political imbalance of the wealthy Gentiles and Jewish peasants there.  Beyond that, Jesus was likely aware of the economic hardship that many Jews in that region experienced due to the exploits of the Gentile landowners. We should be asking why Jesus is there at all if he indeed sees his priority as the house of Israel.  Indeed, the Gospel of Mark gives us a vision of the outstretching of God’s kingdom to be that which extends beyond the reaches of the folks of Judaism.  Obviously, one of the major points of the reading is that we are to go beyond our own little villages or social groupings of people in our quest to extend the mercy of God. But note also that this text has nothing to do with converting anyone by means of God directly, nor of our evangelization in God’s name.  Pure and simple, this is about showing mercy to all people. It has nothing to do with imposing values or judgments on someone else.  It doesn’t mean that a person should not issue a marriage license because she does not think that gay men should get married.  It does not mean that if I am a Quaker and believe in pacifism that I will not issue you a permit to have a gun to defend your house and property.  Jesus did not ask her, as far as we know, what she believed in.  He met her at her need and healed her daughter.  We don’t know what happened after that.  We have no “Gospel according to the Syrophoenician Woman.” Perhaps we should; perhaps she would tell us how Jesus paid attention to even her, one who had a sick child among many sick children of the day.

            This woman was not going to just stand by and watch her daughter continue to suffer.  She was passionate.  She knew Jesus was a healer and she was determined to get healing for her daughter.  She knew Jesus had that which she most desperately desired more than anything.  She was prepared to do what it took to get it. Some of us will watch someone like that and say to ourselves, “What a stubborn fool,” but maybe that’s what’s lacking in us at times.  At times, we just give up and become lackadaisical, paralyzed into inaction.  Will God bring healing if we never ask for it or if we always pray meekly, “thy will be done?”  Is it not a step better to even demand that God hear our pleas for mercy?

            Lastly, it is important to notice that the mother pleads for the daughter and the deaf man is brought to Jesus by his friends.  Community is important.  God does not expect us to be the lone rangers and to conduct our prayer life and spirituality as though it’s just between God and me.  Many of my preacher friends have nixed the idea of worship services other than Sunday because there just is no interest in attendance.  Two services outside the regular service on Sunday are offered where I attend when I’m not here, but only a few regulars attend. Some will say things like, “I attended the Saturday service” meaning that they saw no need to be there Sunday morning as though fulfilling an obligation rather than a voluntary fellowship gathering. The prevailing cultural attitude that people can be spiritual on their own has spilled out onto the Church.  I see the same thing happen at work.  We have these forms in order to lodge a complaint or give a compliment.  Nobody wants to fill them out, but will complain about similar things as others.  Everyone sees it as a personal choice.  Nothing is done as a community and those who would seek change, even demand change don’t. The topic of conversation gets changed instead.  Even the James text dictates we go beyond talk to action.  Isn’t that really the essence of the lessons for today?

            Despite my being a reluctant nursing assistant, part of me is proud to be part of the nursing profession although as a candy striper at age 15 you would never hear those words out of my mouth.  The nursing profession is all about healing and trying to find the best way to care for the mental and physical needs of patients or residents, depending on the setting in which they are located. Modern day medicine is only a small part of the healing which is attributed to Jesus.  If we are to look more carefully into the gospel passage, we will find that the imagery of the crumbs which fall from the children’s table is a quite comprehensive picture of the enormity and generosity of God’s love for all humanity.  God’s love or mercy is like a table on which the children eat.  As with both children and some older adults I know, crumbs fall to the floor.  It is common for the family dog to scarf them up so that they disappear from sight.  They are fed from simple scraps just as pigs are given the leftover food the children don’t eat.  God’s mercy and healing is not just for the few, but for the many because God’s children are not just those we most love and admire, but also those who live on the fringes of society and the edges of what we might term unacceptable dress or behavior.  Not only do we put God in a box, but people as well.  We want both God and people to conform to our sense of what’s right and what’s wrong.  We want to be able to control things even though we know that the world is in a state of constant flux and the only constant is change.  We don’t like entertaining the notion that someone else has an idea that might be just as good as ours.  Jesus commends the woman not so much for her belief as for her passion and persistence.  She has a good argument.  She is asserting herself with logic.  Sometimes the smartest people in our midst are those without a formal education.  We are not called to simply repeat what others tell us.  We are to follow our hearts, passionately seeking---no demanding that those in our midst receive healing, remembering that we are all in this together.           

Clare of Assisi--A New Look

Clare of Assisi, for the Cathedral of St John the Evangelist, Spokane, WA Wednesday Eucharist 10 am, by Annette Fricke

                In order that you may understand the culture in which Clare was immersed, think of the world in which she lived as being one of begging.  Martin Luther, although from a slightly later place in time said this, “We are all beggars before God.”  Perhaps this could also be stretched to include before each other.  Women had fewer choices in that time period.  You would get married to someone not of your choosing and falling in love with a future mate was not even thought about.  Clare begged her parents to not marry.  She begged Francis to join his order.  Her story is really about equal rights and a feminine view of spirituality.

In consulting five different sources, I have compiled a biographical sketch of the person known as St. Clare of Assisi, Italy. The sources do not agree as to the birth date of Clare, as is quite common for someone who was born during that era.  One source claims an exact date of birth as July 16, 1194, but another person’s research only gives an approximation of 1193 or 1194, still another as around 1194.  We do know that she lived in the same place and time, roughly, as St Francis and adopted him as her spiritual guide and mentor.  It can also be inferred from my readings that he also saw her as a great source of inspiration.  It seems that they admired each other to a great degree. Francis remained a type of soul mate of hers until his death.  Clare took care of him at the end of his life and was there when he died.  She outlived him by 27 years.

            Similar to Francis, Clare was born to a wealthy family.  She lived in a palace and apparently was taught by her parents to read and write, spin yarn and do needlework.  She learned devotion to God from her mother. We have only her “Rule” and “Testament” plus five letters.  Of the five letters, four of them were written to the same person, Blessed Agnes of Prague.  Although her sister, Agnes joined her at a later date, and possibly also her widowed mother, this Agnes was born to royalty, her brother being King Wenceslaus I of the present day Czech Republic. Agnes and Clare both managed to avoid being married off by their parents as was customary in those days.  Agnes actually established a Franciscan Friary before becoming an Abbess and establishing a Poor Clare Convent in 1234. It seems that Clare was a mentor and spiritual director of Agnes even though separated by several miles.

            At the age of 18, she heard a Lenten sermon preached by Francis, the first gathering of the Franciscan Order, at which point she decided to “leave the world.”  As was commonly done in that day, she placed her jewelry and fine outer garments on the altar as an offering to prove her serious commitment to the order.  She officially made vows on Palm Sunday, March 19, 1212 clothed in the habit of poverty at St. Mary of the Angels. And, because there was no such thing as a coed order, she left her home secretly whereupon Francis took her to a Benedictine nuns’ convent at Bastia.  After her temporary stay there, she went to the church of San Damiano where she continued to live the rest of her life. Even though her family begged her to return home, she never did. She became the Abbess in 1216.

            During this time period, there were many people forming religious orders and each one wanted their own “Rule” to follow.  Francis drew up a “way of life” for them that was likely based on the Rule of Benedict.  They followed this rule of absolute poverty which included begging and works of mercy for the poor and neglected.  Clare fought this for many years with the Pope, but was not allowed to have her own Rule until just a few days before her death in 1253.

            The name of the first order was the Order of San Damiano, but ten years after Clare’s death, it was re-named the Order of St Clare.  Today the Order of St Clare numbers over 20,000 and is located in over 70 countries.[i]

            God has blessed the religious orders with people who are dedicated to the gospel of Jesus Christ throughout the years.  We should support them in their work and pray for them. Many of us may see from the outside that this way of life is too difficult.  It requires diligence in study, in prayer, and in works of mercy.  We see the materialism all around us in the junk mail and on the TV.  We are surrounded to the point that we sometimes find it difficult to really discern what is ‘needed’ as opposed to what is wanted. Yet we continue our search and yearn for healing and salvation from God. The religious orders in Clare and Francis’ day were an answer to the lack of Christian witness. That may or may not be where God is calling us to be, but I think the point of their lives is that we are to seek justice where the world is unjust and to make that a way of life. We are to live for the betterment of those around us, both near and far.  We can continue to live in Spokane just like Clare lived only in Assisi, yet like her; we also have the potential of affecting those not a part of our Spokane community. God gives us the kingdom as a gift, freely in the cleansing waters of baptism and the food and drink of the Eucharist.  Let us resolve to continue to celebrate the transformative power of the sacraments that renew and refresh us daily.  God grant that we may walk as Francis and Clare, never looking back to our former lives, but ever stretching forward, the gospel in our hands, our hearts and minds, and the very core of our beings.  May we seek, with eyes wide open, to live out that gospel in all our words and actions, ever faithful, just as God is always faithful. If we remember nothing else from Clare, let’s remember this bit of inspiration that she uttered on her death bed, “Go forth without fear, for he that created you has sanctified you, has always protected you, and loves you as a mother.” Clare’s legacy can live on not just in the order which she, along with Francis helped establish, but in us as well. Thank God for Clare. Thank God that she did not retreat or give up, but lived her faith in such a way as to truly inspire all of us to work together, both men and women to be the Church in the world.

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“Saint Agnes of Prague“. CatholicSaints.Info. 6 July 2015. Web. 8 August 2015.

"St. Clare of Assisi." Bio. A&E Television Networks, 2015. Web. 08 Aug. 2015.

“Clare: Abbess at Assisi, 1253.” Holy Women, Holy Men: Celebrating the Saints. Church Pension Fund, 2010.

“Clare, Abbess at Assisi, 1253.” New Book of Festivals and Commemorations, Philip H. Pfatteicher, Fortress Press, Minneapolis, 2008.

“St Clare of Assisi” Christian Spirituality: High Middle Ages and Reformation, ed. Jill Raitt, Crossroad, New York, 1987.

God Satisfies our Deepest Desires

Proper12B9Pentecost, Sullivan Park Care Center, July 26, 2015 by Annette Fricke

            A woman by the name of Sara Miles is attached to these sentences, “There’s always someone inappropriate at Jesus’ table.  Sometimes it’s you and me.”  Although these two sentences have an illusion to the sacrament of the Lord’s Supper and most certainly to the person named Judas whose reputation as a follower of Jesus was certainly suspect at the very least, we should also consider that any meeting of a group of believers in Jesus or even non-believers has this same dynamic.  Observe if you will, any table with or without food of a meeting, even if gathering to play bingo will occasionally reveal some, who to some of the rest of us appears to be a bit off color in their language or suspect in their actions.  We all have our virtues as well as our vices. But what if what we see as those virtuous actions performed by us as gifts of God.  That way, the focus is off us and more correctly onto that which God has given to us. It begs the question, doesn’t it as to how we measure our lives?  Most of us look at accomplishments and achievements.  Our lives are full of them from the very beginnings of childhood.  The baby books record our first words, our first steps, our first time at feeding ourselves and tying our shoes. About a month or so ago, there was a special on all the high achievers of the local high school seniors.  If you followed the questioning of the interviewer and each student’s responses, your conclusion would also be that we are rewarded in life for our accomplishments and our achievements.  But hold on: the interviewer has one more question, “How many of you have had a job?” Out of a group of around twenty people, only two raised their hands.  My co-worker, who probably has more in common with me that she would care to admit, really disliked the whole story about the success of the elite intellectuals.  She saw through the whole thing stating that the only reason, or at least the main reason that these students were such high achievers academically is because their parents had the money and resources to make it happen.  She is truly jealous of what she sees as someone who has it better in life and she is stuck with a short stick. Sure, you can look at other things, like the interviewer as well as the response of these young, and claim that the parents did not influence their motivation.  In my experience of interviews, I know that this is not true and any interviewer can make what they want by the questions and body language they present. Few, with the opportunity for an interview will argue with the interviewer. But the bottom line is, our education system, as well as different work settings, throughout life is based on competition and performance.  You and I resonate with that premise, if not by our actions, certainly by the results we see. Your performance in your job determines your pay raises.  This is true even if you work for and by yourself as your own boss. Many of us have lived under the principle that if you work hard, you will go far in life. Yet, “life lived under the performance principle makes us slaves to insecurity and anxiety, constantly comparing ourselves to others, struggling to reach a level of achievement which always eludes us. Life seen as “gift,” as grace, can set us free. Once you know you are loved unconditionally by God, there is such freedom (-Br. Geoffrey Tristram).” 

            One of the thoughts someone is bound to think as a result of this story of the feeding of the 5,000 is a parent loudly proclaiming, “That’s my boy!  Isn’t he smart?  I taught him that.  That’s my boy.”  My boy is the one who had the loaves and fish and he shared them with everyone!  Isn’t that great?  Yet the protectiveness of parenting is always an element.  The rationale is that the parents know best and try to instill those values in their children.  But, eventually, the children will find out that there are other ideas in the world.  The truth be told, we constantly live in the midst of cultural values and what the voice of Christianity tells us.  And then we are confronted with a number of interpretations of various passages in the Bible, hoping to glean from them some semblance, some shred of meaning for our existence.  We are children of God as taught from the very beginning of creation and yet we continue to struggle with just what that means to our daily lives.  I know residents where I work who are clearly jealous of a certain bingo player who wins more often than they do.  He seems to know which bingo cards to pick and has more success.  But isn’t that descriptive of life in general?  Given the same conditions, some succeed where others are mediocre or actually fail.  We look for and seek justice to be done, but still the results are uneven.  We want to think that hard work will get us to our goals, but even that premise does not seem to pan out.  Maybe we can just look at the bingo winner’s methods and we can figure it out; maybe not.  You might say that bingo is just a game to trivialize the situation, but you’re still upset that he manages to win and you don’t.  But even winning has its shallowness.  What do we really need in our lives, what really puts us right with God? 

            Oftentimes, our eyes are open so much to what goes on around us that we fail to see God’s hand in any of it.  We attribute everything to our or someone else’s effort even though we sense there are other factors involved.  We know that this doesn’t work and yet we sometimes act that it does.  For those of you who have ever struggled with occupations and providing for a family, you know that feeling of fear and insecurity.  You know that despite the best efforts, you are never quite secure.  You see the tornadoes, fires, and earthquakes and realize that even what seems most secure around us can disappear so quickly.  No matter how many times we may try to tell ourselves that our lives are secure, we take back that lie every time we are hit with the realization that we do not have security.  Our lives are truly dependant on God.  God is our source as well as our sustenance.  It is God who brings us what we need from heaven.  God is the one who is able to calm our anxieties and fears in a way that simply clinging to the false securities of this world cannot.

            The reason that Jesus was so popular is because people attributed to him what they were unable to do themselves.  Jesus walked with them in their lives as one of them.  He appeared as an ordinary human being with a vision for a new world.  He had many followers because this is one who put them at ease, who calmed their fears and anxieties about life.  He brought healing in the face of sickness and death.  He brought hope in the midst of despair.  Jesus had, above all a compassion that surpassed anyone they had ever known throughout the course of their lives.  And yet, there is evidence in this gospel text that Jesus was not who the people thought he should be.  They wanted him to be their king.  Yet God, in wisdom knew that was a temporary fix as well.  God surpasses the temporary, the fleeting by continuing to give us what we need and satisfies our deepest desires.

God Heals

Proper11BPentecost8, Sullivan Park Care Center, July 19, 2015

By Annette Fricke

            How does God through Jesus Christ view our mortality and our feeble attempt to interrupt the cycle of disease and physical malady?  What does Jesus do and what is our response? 

            Last Saturday was the date I had personally picked for our fortieth class reunion to take place at Comstock Park, thinking that we would have a nice sunny day.  The forecast said we would for the several days beforehand, yet when the day finally arrived, even the “light rain in the morning” prediction was wrong.  A classmate of mine who had been adopted finally tracked down her biological mother, learning that her mother too had Multiple Sclerosis.  Like always, here comes the rumor mill grinding up the same whole grains of truth into flour of questionable integrity. It was like being transported back in time to when we were much younger. Someone had commented that they didn’t know she was that bad!  I’m sure that some could hear me inwardly groan.  Unlike many of my classmates, including myself, she had remained living in Rockford moving only from the Freeman area.  As usual, she put on her strong armor insisting she had done well despite her illness, stating emphatically that she had already outlived her mother who died in her early forties.  She never wanted what she would term a pity party.  She doesn’t like people to feel sorry for her in her so called “condition.”  Come to think of it, when a woman is pregnant, that phrase of being in that “condition” is also used to describe such a state of being.  I have very mixed feelings about the current announcement when a husband states that we are pregnant.  Well, yes, but your body is not undergoing all those changes that produce such annoying nausea and vomiting every morning and your body is not being stretched to the limit ever becoming more and more uncomfortable. If you mean pregnant as in expecting a baby, yes.  We’re all expecting that.

            People can say things that really hurt others whether they hear it from someone directly or in person, face-to-face.  I’m not talking about those moments when the brain is simply having a difficult time coming up with the right intentional, well-meaning words.  I am talking about such statements as, “I didn’t realize she was that bad!”  It was evident years ago that she had MS and as is the course, she still has it and has not recovered.  That is the nature of MS and has been since we, as a people, observed the symptoms and came up with a name for it.  People talk as though she is the illness rather than she is a person with an illness.  She wants, as I am sure also the rest of us, the same respect and recognition as a person, not an illness. We are not our illnesses.

            Who is this God, who in Jesus already has an understanding of disease that is just now coming to be realized in the twenty-first century?  There is a mind-body connection that the medical community largely ignores and many psychiatrists do not believe in God.  The attitude is to prescribe a pill and let people go about their “normal” lives which are anything but normal.  Only certain forms of counseling/therapy and Christianity work at forging the mind, feelings, and body together into one cohesive whole.  They are not separate entities as many modern day practitioners would have you believe; they are interrelated aspects of the oneness of our persons.

            The ancient Hebrews knew that and yet somehow forgot.  Both the book of Job and Jesus fought hard to dispel the belief that people become ill or fall into misfortune because somewhere they or their ancestors sinned.  Many times, when people draw near to death, those who would ordinarily come for a visit stop coming as if death were a disease they could catch.  All relationship ties are severed.  The book of Job is very instructive as well as insightful as to the nature of what people do in the face of someone who suddenly has lost everything.  How can we, as Christians act and feel differently?  Or, more importantly, how can we teach others to look beyond their skewed notions of what other sources tell them whether it be the people in their social circles, the newspapers, the news on TV, or the internet?

            And this is the other aspect of the mind-body connection, "Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick;" he said. "I came not to call the righteous but sinners." (Mark 2:17).  Modern phrasing would probably render this passage as, “I am well, I don’t need your help, God.” Or “I’ll call on you when I really need your help, but in the meantime, I’m busy.”  I am busy doing other things without giving God a second thought.  I can’t be bothered with reading from the Bible and praying every day.  There just isn’t enough time in the day; I will leave it to the religious nuts.  They can pray for me; it isn’t necessary for me to do so as well.  God doesn’t need to hear from all of us. Keep telling yourself that. Keep telling yourself that God is disinterested in connecting with you.  Like parents who continue to be there for their children, so God is there for you. The prayer books, the rosaries, the pilgrimages, and the retreats are aimed at one thing: our connection with God. 

“Come away to a deserted place all by yourselves and rest a while.”  Afterwards, re-engage in the world, have compassion, teach and bring healing to others.  Jesus isn’t here physically anymore, but is still in charge and can work through you in amazing ways.  This past week, I finally managed to take a mini vacation and go out to a lake I hadn’t been at for over forty years.  Of course, it was free then; now, it’s $5.00.  I, one who is guilty of always pushing through and not taking time off, did nothing by the lake for an entire afternoon.  It felt good until I encountered the traffic back-up on the freeway as I drove home.  However, I would not allow that to bother my mood too much.  I got off on the first exit I could into the quiet of residential Spokane.

Until we come to terms with the fact that we are all sick and in need of healing, we do die in our sins.  We can so complicate our lives with the worries and preoccupations of our minds and negative perceptions of our current situation in life that “life” hardly describes our lives.  We become no better than the movies or advertisements we watch on TV.  We can begin to resemble the very things we detest, like repeating the same wording of a favorite game show, limiting our vocabulary to very simple expressions. 

No matter what we think about Jesus being our savior, the word does actually mean both salvation and healing.  The healing dimension is often what we forget, yet is most important in the present moment.  Healing is a bold concept that is meant to be acted out.  Many of you have better connections with people from the Church other than me. If you want a religious representative to do more than what they do, tell them.  Ask them.  At the same time, offer yourself towards the healing of others. Touching is fundamental, going beyond the verbal and intellectual.  Remember this: all who touched even the fringe of Jesus’ cloak were healed.

            

Peace is Uncertain

Proper10BPentecost7, Sullivan Park Care Center, July 12, 2015 by Annette Fricke

            The miracle stories of Jesus fail to give insight as to what Jesus is all about or who Jesus is.  This is quite evident when we observe that the people think that Jesus is: (1) John the Baptist, raised from the dead. (2) Elijah (fulfillment of the prophesy presented in Malachi 4:5-6). (3) One of the prophets (perhaps fulfilling God’s promise of a prophet like Moses in Dt 18:15-20). These same three responses are given by the disciples when Jesus asks at Mark 8:27-28, “Who do people say that I am?” I propose that the same is true for people today, especially those who are outside of the Church looking in.  My brother has encountered those who talk about what the Church was in their childhood days, got mad and left, assuming that it is the same now as it was.  They appear to take so little interest in what the Church says or does in regards to Jesus that their judgment of the Church is not only outdated, but quite inaccurate. I find that type of apathy and lack of research labeled to the extremes of calling people stupid, idiots, or needing to “dumb it down” so that even the most uneducated can understand.  The tactic of “dumbing it down” for others doesn’t work either for those who simply do not want to know and have no interest in changing their opinions which are, in fact, not based on reality.  The name of Jesus is tossed around to justify every sort of political or religious argument you could possibly imagine.  One meme on Facebook puts it this way, “Jesus was a radical non-violent revolutionary who hung around with lepers, hookers, and crooks.  He was not American and never spoke English, was anti-wealth, anti-death penalty, anti public prayer but was never anti-gay, never mentioned abortion or birth control, never called the poor lazy, never justified torture, never fought for tax cuts for the wealthiest Nazarenes, never asked a leper for a co-pay, and was a long-haired, brown- skinned homeless community organizing, anti-slut shaming middle eastern Jew (John Fugelsang).”  If you took the name of Jesus out of this, most people, especially those not associated with or no longer associated with the Church, would not recognize and attach Jesus’ name to it.  It is meant to sound ridiculous and at the same time convey what Jesus did and did not stand for or against.  For those who get it, it actually brings a chuckle.  As I said last week, Jesus and culture are not the same and we need to choose wisely if we are to make the choice of culture vs. Jesus less we confuse the two.

            The gospel lesson for today once again presents this dilemma, but in a specific way.  How do we deal with the powers that are above us?  What is my response to rules in the workplace with which I disagree?  And for you as residents, where can I take my grievances about this institution so I feel that I am being heard and respected as one who helps pay for this building and the hired staff?  Either way, as staff or residents, it hits us where we live.  Where I work, we are constantly reminded that there is an eleven story building going up right next to the seven story building where I work and residents I work with live.  It’s not just an eyesore, it actually blocks much of the sunset so cherished by most of us.  One resident suspects that the last three raises in her board and room bill are actually paying for that building next to us, not the one she lives in; one that only others will live in.  She is angry and rightfully so. 

            I mentioned the co-pay that many people are required to pay for medical services.  A co-worker and I were comparing notes on a casual basis one day.  It’s a $10 co-pay to see a family physician, it is $20 to see a cardiologist, it is $200 for an echocardiogram and $250 for a treadmill test.  So you go along with it for a whole year and then get a letter in the mail stating that you need to make an appointment, it’s time for another check-up.  Never mind that you have been seen by 2 cardiologists, one a surgeon all year long.  We both feel like we have been getting the run around, like someone is just trying to make a buck off the poor.  This was my solution:  I remembered that early in the treatment process the cardiologist said that there is no surgical solution.  OK, he said that then proceeded to send me to the surgeon who charged me for two visits, sent me back to the first cardiologist for a treadmill test which I passed.  The bottom line is that there is nothing they can do surgically.  I think I understand what that means.  However, the first cardiologist said that my medication dosage was rather low yet he only bumped up the dosage by 50%.  In light of figuring out what was bothering my stomach and seeing that I am taking double the amount of Lipitor of anybody I know, this is how I dealt with the power over me: I e-mailed my primary doctor and said this, “I want to take 50 mg Atenolol, half of the Prilosec and half of the Lipitor.”  A week later, she agreed.  Time and blood tests will determine if I was right. 

            The gospel story is a gruesome one, much like the modern-day thriller movies of blood and gore and society’s current preoccupation with zombies and the walking dead.  What are we to make of the violence in this story that continues to this very day?  Herod had so much guilt about what he had done to John the Baptist that he thought perhaps Jesus was the ghost of John the Baptist coming back to haunt him and in some ways, he was.  God’s kingdom has a way of continuing to come despite all that surrounds us, despite wars foreign and domestic, in spite of those who continue to inflict violence on even their own children.  Disagreements among people living side by side continue as they have for multiple generations.  As the Jesus movement people, we have a long way to go towards improvement to make this place one that is more civil in its behavior.  As citizens of this world, we have not grown out of responding to our baser instincts of self-preservation at all costs.  Yet self-preservation is not what we are called to by Jesus.  Jesus never talked about self-preservation as a virtue.  He actually said just the opposite.  Jesus’ answer to most situations is that of love and respect above all else.  As TS Eliot said in his play, Murder in the Cathedral, “The peace of this world is always uncertain, unless men keep the peace of God.  And war among men defiles this world, but death in the Lord renews it.” There are some who have difficulty with martyrdom, yet should that be our situation, may the Lord have mercy on those of us who did what we were able to follow our Lord Jesus.  We are called to fight against those who would mock us or prevent us from living a Christian life, but remember that peace is up to us.  The justice and peace of the world is in our hands.  We are God’s children in both life and death and during our time on earth, Jesus is our model.  Many people of his time and ours were against him.  Each moment gives us opportunity to once again follow in that path.

Culture vs. Christianity

Proper9B6Pentecost, Sullivan Park Care Center, July 5, 2015, by Annette Fricke

            My great nephew by way of my oldest brother is now in a similar position to where I was when I was his exact age.  He was born on my fortieth birthday.  Like me, he signed up for and was accepted into the military.  What is different is that I joined the Coast Guard as an enlisted member, but he is a new cadet at West Point.  The social norms of our society identify his position as being slightly more admirable when it comes to comparing military service.  On the down side, there is a risk with any such undertaking entering military service whether it is on a voluntary basis or being drafted.  Most of you know that having lived through all that you have known and experienced in World War II or the Korean War.  For example, there are those who are deemed 4F, unfit for military service and those who are simply weaned out during the process of the first few weeks.  Probably one of the most gut-wrenching events in young people’s lives is when they are eliminated, or more accurately rejected for service.  It’s an automatic discharge for medical or emotional reasons.  You were one of us, but now you aren’t.

            For better or for worse, in sickness and in health, our society as well as others has built into it the pressure to conform to the social norm.  We take our cues from the people around us as to what values we ought to hold, what to believe and what not to believe, what to act on and what to let go.  It is only through the rigors of the testing of our beliefs through time and life events that we come to a more mature understanding of what we really believe or don’t believe.  Each juncture of life calls on us to make a decision that reminds us that we are disciples of Jesus.  What would Jesus do if rejected?  We would do as the gospel lesson dictates; we carry on and continue to preach and teach about the kingdom of God, mindless of the obstacles along the way.  The kingdom of God can only gain momentum as we join with Jesus to spread the news of the kingdom to everyone along the way of our journey through life.  It is our task as his disciples to accept that invitation to draw others into that life-giving reality that is living in and through God and God’s grace. God can do great things through us from the greatest of us to the most ordinary and the least of our society; from the strong leaders down to those who feel the most helpless and from the officers down to the new cadets.  Remember that you all are called to and contribute to the betterment of society by your actions.  It doesn’t matter that you are no longer associated with the military or other social organization; you are still of worth to God and represent God in the world.

            Rejection is a real and sometimes very strong feeling depending on how strongly attached you have become to a previous association.  It is associated with the feeling of loneliness and isolation.  It is based on the norm of society that we need each other.  Fortunately, needing each other is also a Christian value.  I have seen that feeling of rejection where I work when a person is newly admitted to our floor.  It feels like you have been cut off from your friends and that your friends are in the place where you were.  Even though from one perspective it is a natural consequence of change due to physical and/or mental deterioration of the body, our emotional attachments are not easily discarded.  Making new friends when that feeling of rejection is clouding our senses is not an easy task.  Sometimes we need help to overcome that feeling of rejection.  We find ourselves asking, “Whom can we trust with our feelings or who can sympathize with our plight?  Who can empathize with our dilemma?”  This question comes from another reality I have seen.  I have observed staff members and residents who are actually quite cruel to residents who are having a difficult time with their emotions and thinking processes. Perhaps there are some who are unaware of their remarks which are perceived by others as mean.  I would suggest that it is our role to say something about it.  Our text tells us to press on.  We are not called to simply sit back and say or do nothing.  This is just the equivalent of bullying among young school-aged children.  Despite whatever fear is involved, when we are in need of help, in order to become stronger, we need to ask for help.  We need each other.  When we are unable to ask for help, we need others to become our advocates; the perceived strong helping the perceived weak.  The problem of rejection is that we can allow fear to overtake us and paralyze us, stopping us from asking for help. Beware of fear because fear of the unknown will keep us in a state of inaction. Fear causes us to think erroneously that everything will remain the same no matter what we do or say, so we do or say nothing. Fear is our enemy more times than not.  I might add that the basis for all foreign policy is fear—fear that other countries want to harm us, so we need to strategize so that does not happen.  Of course the real premise is that they are out to get us, therefore we need to do something first.  Whether you deem that to be good or bad is up to you. It is basically self-preservation for the country.  There are some very good reasons why a country would want to remain intact as a united entity just as there are good reasons to fight for the preservation of the propagation of Christianity.  It is the means by which that is accomplished that is sometimes questionable to a Christian way of thinking.

            Finally, do not allow yourself to be confused between culture and Christianity.  They are not one and the same.  Our country has made many errors in the past and some of them have been quite inhumane such as holding our own citizens, those of Japanese descent, hostage during war and not allowing black people or women to vote in local or national elections. Let us take a good strong look at our past as a nation and learn from the mistakes, mistakes that have caused people to feel less than human and rejected.  It’s certainly OK to be proud of our country and its citizens, but be wary of giving blind obedience.  We are still a young country growing towards maturation.  We have yet to understand and put into action equal rights for all people and to not discriminate among different classes of people.

            The words of Jesus are just as challenging today as they were during the years he walked this earth in the flesh.  There are many obstacles, many potholes in the road of our journeys on this earth, yet we all must walk it if we are to be his disciples like those of long ago.  We are to move forward anyway.  Fear is merely a fleeting reality when we have God and our fellow believers at our side.  Fear is only a permanent problem if we allow it.  Don’t allow it, but be strong in the Lord.  Robert Frost wrote a poem about two roads diverging in a wood and as one being the better choice.  Let me suggest that it is true that one is the better choice, but that there is always that option to come back to the better choice. There may be two roads, but I think scripturally speaking there is always the option of re-setting our courses in life. Each day, each hour, each moment has the opportunity to make a choice.  Make life better for your neighbor.          

God's Transformation

TrinitySundayB, Sullivan Park Care Center, May 31, 2015 by Annette Fricke

            As I stepped into the treatment room in one of the evenings of this past week, I went about my scheduled routine.  Just before any ointment was put upon my resident, we suddenly saw a bright flash, like that of a very large camera.  He says to me, “Did you see that?”  I work on the dementia unit, so questioning what one sees or hears is frequently a way to test one’s hold on reality. I confirmed that what he saw, I also saw and then we saw another.  It was the beginning of a powerful, but short-lived rain and wind storm.  The usual conversation ensued when I mentioned that my hope was that it stops by the time I get off-duty so I don’t get doused on my way to my car that sat in the parking lot below. Being the perfect gentleman, trained in the proper way from many years before me, he offered to allow me to borrow my umbrella.  I declined the offer, mentioning that I had an umbrella.  Unfortunately, my umbrella was in the trunk of my car, in a place that wasn’t of much use should the storm continue for a few more hours.  Fortunately, the storm raged for just an hour afterwards, the aftermath consisted of the gently groomed and laid beauty bark spilling out onto the sidewalk and roadway.  As I and my co-workers walked around it on my way to the parking lot to get into my car to drive home, I thought to myself that the groundskeepers would definitely need to put it back in the intended space.  Later in the week, I received the news that a portion of my home town, Rockford had a flash flood covering the street by the city park with rushing, muddy brown waters as well as running straight up to the basement windows of the Rockford United Methodist Church.  A new pastor had just moved into the parsonage and apparently reported that the toilet downstairs had regurgitated a bit.  She was told to not be concerned, the water was receding.  My thoughts went back to the flooding in Texas which was of a much greater amount and more widespread.  On Wednesday morning, a father and son came to visit during our mid-week Eucharist from Houston, at least temporarily escaping the devastating effects.

            Although in our day and age, we may dismiss such happenings in the weather as just a meteorological event, our ancestors would see these quite clearly as acts of God.  As kids, I remember my dad telling us every time it would thunder that God was bowling.  Other kids were told similar stories or explanations.  In Old Testament times, for example in Psalm 29 that I just read such nuances in the weather were seen as the almighty God at work.  God was showing us that God is the God of all creation, as well as the heavens.  God was God over people, the world, and all of the heavenly places and was throned in heaven as the King of kings.  There was no one greater than God. There are no small gods, for example one for the weather, one for the crops, one for fertility. That is what God through the prophets and preachers was trying to impress upon the people throughout the ages before Jesus, during Jesus’ stay here on earth, as well as now. Because there are no small gods, those are merely idols and things which people somehow think are more important.  We, as people want to manipulate and control, not heeding the Biblical witness to God who is in control and ultimately has the final say in what happens to us in our lives.  The minute we step out of the Biblical thinking and into our own is when we enter the world of delusion and self-deception.  God has the final say.  No one yet has been able to harness the tempestuous sea or the earthquakes and tornadoes.  We somewhat have the ability to predict when these happenings will occur, but controlling them remains elusive.  God does not take sides.  We are told that the rain falls on both the good and the evil.  Compared to God, we are small, just as a baby is small compared to fully grown adults.

            God gives us the freedom to go with God or against God, although God remains in control of our lives and all that is around us.  Within that freedom, it is by God’s grace that we can trust in God who nurtures us to become more and more transformed into what it means to be God’s people.  We are always living in the context of God’s being our refuge and strength, a very present help in times of trouble. We are admonished by the words of St. Paul, “For you did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received a spirit of adoption.  When we cry, ‘Abba! Father!’ it is that very Spirit bearing witness with our spirit that we are children of God.”  Our greatest temptation in life is to fall back into our old selfish ways of being in the world and following after things and ideas that draw us away from God.  We must always be engaging in self-examination.  Am I listening to the voice of God in my life?  Or am I so wrapped up in my own thoughts and problems that I can’t see beyond them? The challenge of dementia is that it can overtake a person’s memory, but there can still be pockets of clarity.  One resident offers the use of his umbrella and another resident offers to pray for my safety to get home during the storm. Another way that God works is our ministry to each other, to be thankful enough for others that we show it by acts of offering practical action or praying for them. Still another question we can ask ourselves is this: how can I be the love of God to this person, at this moment?  Am I open to the Spirit of God’s movement within me?  How can I show God’s compassion to those around me?  You and I are children of God today and into eternity.  As children of God, we are joint heirs with Jesus, the same Jesus who died for us on the cross.  Through the blood of Christ, we are brothers and sisters, called to walk in the way of God.  There will continue to be challenges along the way in our attempts to be compassionate to our brothers and sisters.  The road is not an easy one.  It has many obstacles, many rocks and pot holes that threaten to steer us away from God.  Sometimes people will be mean and rude to us; they will take exception to or outright oppose our words and our ethics. Yet still, this is our calling.

            Although the traditional viewpoint of the story of Nicodemus is that he was just an inquirer of Jesus, not a real follower, there is an aspect of this story that points to promise and openness.  He is open to what Jesus has to say and later argues with the Sanhedrin against arresting Jesus, stating that Jesus had not been given a fair hearing.  So despite the supposed secrecy of his meeting with Jesus at night, he did risk his own life by defending Jesus.  He knew enough and considered what Jesus had to say that the seed of his belief in Jesus grew and caused him to grow as a believer in Jesus and Jesus’ teaching. He demonstrated openness to God that allowed him to see God’s work in Jesus, perhaps even to the point that he believed Jesus to be the incarnation of God.  Regardless, he remains an example for us to be open always to God’s transformation of us.

            

United We Stand

PentecostB, Sullivan Park Care Center, May 24, 2015 by Annette Fricke

            Raising a family can be seen as a time of years of preparation.  A woman becomes pregnant, the couple announces the pregnancy after a couple months, and family and friends show their interest.  As the months go by, family and friends hold a baby shower or two to show their support both emotionally and financially. In addition to gifts, the couple also gathers clothing, diapers, blankets, bibs, and other essentials that ease the process of raising a baby.  In the meantime, the baby grows in its mother’s uterus till the water breaks and labor begins.  There is great joy expressed when the baby is finally born. The transition from infancy to toddler, to pre-school and kindergarten can either be enhanced or complicated at any given time by the presence of others. Some friends and relatives may even be called upon to babysit so the parents can get a break and because most people love babies and the promise and laughter they bring. If the child has siblings, the children learn to share their lives and perspectives with the new baby.  They learn practical tools of language and socialization which will be needed before stepping into the first grade classroom.  But this is only the beginning of growing to maturity into adulthood when the children themselves become parents and the parents become grandparents, and so on.  That is the cycle of life, generation after generation, as we have more babies; we also lose those we love as they pass on into eternity.

            The life of the Church can be seen in the same manner.  Luke’s narration which spans the two volumes of the Gospel according to Luke and the Book of Acts predates the actual Church year, both as it was initially formed as well as in its current usage.  One of the ways of viewing the Gospel according to Luke is to see it as a preparation.  The Gospel of Jesus Christ is the formation of our knowing who Jesus is according to his teachings and his life.  It is a biographical sketch, descriptive of God’s purpose to gather together and bring salvation, making it available to not just the Jewish people, but to all.  At the completion of Luke’s telling of the story of Jesus, the incarnation of God, he does not stop there.  There is more.  There is a lot more.  He insists that there is far more than just the life of Jesus to write about.  He sees that the life of Jesus continues beyond his physical life on earth.  After the resurrection, Jesus promised the gift of the Holy Spirit to be with us forever.  In today’s world, after the pageantry of processions and extraordinary music of Christmas and Easter, Pentecost not only seems to be a letdown, but culturally, with all the graduation hoopla and the distraction of warmer weather, it can be viewed as an absolute anti-climactic blip. Most people could articulate what Christmas and Easter are all about, but are a bit fuzzy when it comes to the celebration of Pentecost.  Well, they wear red, put up balloons and the altar hangings are red.  The red is for fire—you know the tongues of fire that were on people’s heads and they also spoke in tongues.  Some will recall the speaking in tongues as mentioned by Paul, but don’t realize there is a distinct difference.  In the Pauline literature, speaking in tongues is in need of interpretation. In Acts, everyone hears and understands in their native language without interpretation. In recent times, the churches tried to get the point of Pentecost across by having various readers from the congregation read the lessons for the day in different languages. There was a time in this country when this was not possible because immigrant congregations were groups who spoke the same non-English language, attending the same church.  For example, there were German Lutherans and Irish Catholics.  The reason there were so many churches of the same denomination is because they were necessarily separated by a language barrier.  English was not a language that could be learned overnight; it took a couple of generations to learn it well enough to be understood and to speak it fluently.  For some, the transition to English wasn’t soon enough and they demanded services in English.  A Lutheran bishop in Pennsylvania actually told congregants that if they wanted a service in English, they should join the Episcopal Church! Some congregations, in order to accommodate the earlier immigrants and those who had already learned English to transact business, offered services in both the native tongue and English. The result was a much divided Church, just the opposite of our account of the gift of the Holy Spirit in Acts.  The work of the Holy Spirit is always meant to be uniting rather than dividing. The message of the gospel was proclaimed so all could understand, even though all were gathered in the same place.

            Just as those who gather around the arrival of a new baby are a uniting force for good for the baby and the family, so also is the family of the Church.  It doesn’t matter so much if they are speaking the same language, such as English or German, what matters is that they are there to show that they are united for the welfare of the baby, to love and nurture the baby to someday make his or her choices in life independently, yet also interdependently as a member of society.  Growing up is a time of deciding what is just and compassionate, living in the midst of people who may see things in a different light than we do.

            Tomorrow, we commemorate once again the wars and conflicts that our nation fought in.  More importantly, we remember the sacrifice that many soldiers made, some who were members or friends of our families.  Although the national holiday is meant to honor all those who served in the Armed Forces of this country, we are also reminded of the many families that were affected.  Through the years, as a nation, we have supported or declined to support a draft, certain wars or conflicts.  Our consciences have been challenged as to the rightness or wrongness of any war.  Some are conscientious objectors or will serve only non-infantry positions.  Some think about all the children and others in countries that suddenly become part of the warring nation, who had no say in its country’s strife.

            In any case, as a Church family we are also citizens of this country which was created mostly by those disillusioned by the governments of other countries.  It is based on the freedom built into separation of Church and State, where we can vote for what we believe is right.  We are called by God to continue to wrestle with ways to be peaceful citizens, yet also to seek justice for all people because that is how the salvation of God is made known to all and for all.

            We are simultaneously citizens of the City of God and of the United States.  Various configurations of the Church will seek to be a witness to Jesus Christ, but it remains that we act and believe according to our conscience as it is informed by our understanding of God and by God’s Spirit.

Grandma's Gift, Part II

7EasterB, Sullivan Park Care Center, May 17, 2015 by Annette Fricke

            Grandma, the organist for the church in Fairfield, was confirmed in the year 1904 in the German language in Hendricks, Minnesota. The church she was a member of still stands and was renamed Trinity. She did not talk about her early life to me except to say that I shouldn’t be too eager to grow up and get married.  She said she made her husband wait.  That was an accurate statement because she did not wed my grandfather until she was thirty-one and a half years old.  They lived in adjacent counties, one in Minnesota and the other in South Dakota. At some point, they came to this area and were married in 1923 in Spokane.

            I mention her confirmation because this is the time of year when those confirmations took place.  Confirmation is a profession of faith, similar to what is termed “believer’s baptism.”  Unfortunately, it is also approximately the time for people to graduate from school.  The concepts of confirmation and graduation seem to get confused along the way. Several in the church do not see the need to continue to attend any sort of Sunday School or Bible Study which quite possibly result in an arrested spiritual development in their maturity as Christians.  As to whether or not these same non-Bible Study attendees read their Bibles or pray is not known to me. I have not taken a survey or verified such behavior.  I suspect not, because most of them also no longer attend church.  Memberships and attendance have both dropped in our churches today, especially among the young. The prevailing attitude is that one can be spiritual without the church even though the church remains the way to follow Jesus as a guide and provider of fellowship among believers as well as an inspiration and actual action of living out that faith. Our gospel lesson for today is an important one in that it points out Jesus’ prayer for his disciples and models for us a lifetime practice of praying for our ministry and the ministry of others, one that is strengthened by prayer.  The Psalm for today focuses on the need to continue the study of the teachings of the Bible. Praying and studying is in no way childish.  It is our anchor in life, a life that is rarely smooth sailing, frequently beset with stressors and changes.

Among my grandmother’s remaining items is some organ music she actually played.  Of what survives is a piece specifically written for Confirmation.  There is only one verse to it, which makes me believe that it was part of the actual ceremony, perhaps a choir anthem since it is written much higher than a hymn, not a congregational hymn.  I have no idea as to author or composer because all that is on the sheet are the initials “MD” at the bottom of the page.  The words are these: “Lord, look down upon Thy children, Gathered here before Thee now.  Pour on them Thy richest blessing, Let them not forget their vow.  At Thine altar, Lord, they promise Steadfast to remain in faith.  Help them, rather than to leave Thee, Suffer all things, even death.  Thou hast promised those who love Thee, And in faith endure the strife, Thou would’st give to them salvation, And, at last, the crown of life.”  It is similar to another confirmation hymn, leaving out the return by grace when one has fallen away. People do fall away and sometimes we feel the darkness of a prayer life that seems empty and hollow. Some people continue to worry about past sins, forgetting that God is always receptive to our pleas for mercy.  I suggest that the verse from a third hymn best expresses the idea with these words, “And through the years thy wondrous grace Has followed all the way; Thy love has never let us go, Though we are prone to stray.”  Regardless, the intent is to sum up the Christian journey of faith, a journey that continues throughout our lives, in no way is it a graduation or a completion.  We continue to need God’s grace and support to grow towards maturation in our understanding of what it means to be a Christian as well as discernment to guide our actions.

This leads me to our first lesson from the book of Acts.  It is the beginning of the church after Jesus has ascended into heaven.  The disciples find the need to replace Judas.  Judas, to say the very least, has proven to be unfaithful to Jesus and Jesus’ teaching.  Although we might actually be appalled at the way Matthias was chosen as Judas’ replacement, by casting lots, the rest makes sense in choosing leaders of the church even today.  They looked for qualifications and they prayed about it.  It is still common practice when choosing church leaders to pray for discernment.  Despite our own experience of and misgivings about prayer in our own prayer lives, this remains the community standard.  Prayer still has meaning as a connection to and communion with God and all that God has given and continues to give.  God’s presence is made known to us in prayer.  Some strong Christian leaders see it very clearly as a means of God’s grace.  Prayer should never become a burdensome chore or obligation as much as it is an invitation to enter into God’s realm.  It is where we meet God, as much as we are able in our own limited way of knowing and perceiving as human beings.  The silences in corporate prayer are not meant to be awkward because the one leading the prayer doesn’t know what to say, but your chance to say a prayer for certain situations or people that are just as important to God as any pre-written prayer.

And finally, I would like to say this.  Notice that Matthias is never mentioned again in the Biblical text or anywhere else.  It is as if he just melted into the background.  He is similar to Andrew who is overshadowed by his much more popular and dynamic personality, Peter.  Don’t let that kind of detail scare you or make you think that you are less-valued by God.  Remember that we are all God’s children, all made of the same substance.  We are all loved to love those around us in whatever way we can.  We are called to tell about the love of God to all around us, to plant the seeds from God who propels us forward in our lives, who causes the seeds to grow in due season.  Just as God is patient with us, so we too need to be patient with others, yet remain available to encourage and support the children of the world as they go forth into the world, a world that can be very challenging, a stumbling block to their faith.

Matthias is just a name and a record of being an apostle.  We know nothing about him after that.  He probably never established a congregation or became a great preacher.  My grandmother also wasn’t very important in the world.  She only raised two children and only had seven grandchildren.  But she passed on the gift of music to Mom who played the trumpet in high school concerts, to me who became part of a cathedral choir, to my nephew who won a music scholarship for college. My grandmother wasn’t much to the world, but she planted the seeds of music that continue to spread the gospel.

Grandma's Gift, Part I

6EasterB, Sullivan Park Care Center, May 10, 2015 by Annette Fricke

            I am a quilt.  My job is to become the soft, comfortable place where people can meet, tell about their dreams and their sorrows.  My journey began when I was made by Grandma.  She gave me as a wedding present to Mom and Dad. I was brand new.  I had a garden of flowers on me and was brightly colored in shades of pink, yellow and red with green stems that reached from corner to corner, from side to side. On the bottom were the words, “Abide in my love.  John 15:9b.” I was special and meant for special work.  Mom and Dad were married in 1943, during World War II.  Love was in the air but even though finances were tight, they had dreams of a farming business and many children to help on the farm.  Mom had no idea what she was getting into because she had never lived on a farm and only had one brother.  She worked hard cleaning chickens, but needed the help of her more experienced sister-in-law getting the chicken feathers off the bottom of the cupboards and kitchen floor. At the end of each day, Mom and Dad settled in for the night under the quilt.  It was a gift of comfort for all those long days.

            Before long, the quilt was there for the first child, Son #1.  He was born in 1943. I held him, providing a soft place to change his diapers and to cover him when he was nursing on Mom. An accident occurred when he was just two.  He was playing in the yard when Dad didn’t see that he was there and somehow backed the truck over his head.  He was rushed to the doctor, but they were unable to do anything.  His eyesight was permanently damaged.  He would need stronger and stronger eyeglasses every year.  School was difficult.  He felt isolated and alone because Mom and Dad didn’t have the opportunity for education past high school.  His dream of becoming a doctor would never be realized because math and Latin were just too difficult to learn. I cried for him and encouraged him to seek a way to serve God in the world.  I wondered if I would go with him to his family, but that was not to be.  Mom cried at his wedding.  The silver gloves she wore were oh so pretty and sparkling, but the silver ran onto her arms and face as tears of love and sorrow flowed freely.

            Son #2 came on a cold, snowy day in 1946.  His personality was entirely different.  This son was quiet and shy, but very smart and independent.  He was soon joined by Son #3 who was born in 1947.  I was disappointed when they became best buddies and picked on Son #1.  They liked to conspire and pull tricks on Son #1 and laugh and laugh.  They thought it was funny and that Son #1 in their opinion was way too serious.  Son #1 thought at one point that he wanted to be a pastor.  It remained a mystery as to why that never panned out.  Maybe he was thinking about the words on me that read, “Abide in my love” and thought that would best serve the Lord, to abide in God’s love.  Forgetting the family history, Sons #2 and 3 decided to join the military voluntarily before the government had the chance to draft them.  Son #3 had flunked all his college courses except Golf, so he was definitely at risk for the draft. They didn’t have the option of evading military service, like Uncle Charlie who went to Canada.  I’m sure that by now they had heard that their great-great grandfather came to this country so he wouldn’t have to serve in the Prussian Army. Mom and Dad worried about them, especially when one of their friends was killed in a helicopter in Viet Nam in 1969.  That made the whole family sad.  Despite that, Son #3 stayed in the Air Force and met a woman in Spain on one of his tours of duty.  They were married not long afterwards in the States.  Mom wanted him to marry in a church, like she did; but instead, they were married by a military chaplain.

            Daughter #1 arrived in the late fall of 1951.  She became the apple of Dad’s eye.  Nothing she could say or do was wrong in his sight.  He bragged about her all over town.  She was his favorite and everyone knew it, including Son #4 and Daughter #2.  She stayed close to home and after being jilted by her steady boyfriend of four years, married another guy.  She became a nurse, but if you asked Dad, she was smart enough to be a doctor. 

            Daughter #2 arrived in 1957.  Son #4 arrived in 1960.  Daughter #3 arrived in 1969.  At that point, Mom was tired and suffering even more from heart disease.  Having all those kids and being involved in all those lives took its toll.  It was time for Mom to have a hysterectomy.  It was medically necessary. Though Mom, loving kids as much as she did, wanted more children she was actually almost forty-four years old when Daughter #3 was born.  The structure of the family changed immensely at that point.  Daughter #1 began cooking all the suppers and helped taking care of Daughter#3.  Daughter #2 did all the baking.  Daughter #2 and Son #4 did the dishes after every supper and meals on weekends.  By this point, after seeing seven children and going through the wedding anniversaries, I was tattered and torn, worn to pieces in places I’d never imagined.  The flowers I so gracefully displayed had become faded and some were ripped off from baby’s hands, hands that clung tight to me and rolled and played on me.  But through it all, the words on the bottom remained, “Abide in my Love.”

            Son #4 decided that he wanted to be a veterinarian.  Never mind that he never seemed to be around when Daughter #2 helped Dad with the pigs, sheep, cows, and chickens.  He despised chickens.  They were just stinky, pooping things that pecked at your hand when gathering their eggs. They were messy when you had to pluck their feathers and clean out the insides to prepare for cooking.  I never understood why Dad allowed all those 4-H projects for the kids.  He’s the one that did most of the work.  He’s the one who brought spoiled grain slop home from work and cat food for the cats.  What a menagerie!  There were animals all over the place!  But still, this was his way of abiding in God’s love.  He loved his wife, the people of the town, the kids, and the animals on the farm.  This was a way of life he grew up with and continued as he grew older.

            And Mom grew up in the little church just six miles down the road where Grandma lived until her death in 1970.  Grandma was an organist at one point, serving God in that way and being an ear for all of Mom’s heartaches, all seven of them.  I see her bringing comfort to Mom just like I did.  I hear the organ swells, the powerful pipe organ, so loved by her and the congregation.  I see her eyes light up in joy as she leads the congregation in singing.  I savor the words I longed to drive home to all her grandchildren as she plays the beloved hymn in the last verse, the foot pedals fully engaged: “Hold thou thy Cross before my closing eyes, Shine through the gloom, and point me to the skies; Heaven’s morning breaks, and earth’s vain shadows flee; In life, in death, O Lord, abide with me.  I sigh deeply as I remember Grandma and remember how hard it was to learn English and wish I could join in the final sung Amen, but alas, I am just a quilt.

I Triumph Still

5EasterB, Sullivan Park Care Center, May 3, 2015 by Annette Fricke

May is a month of flowers and flowering fruit trees.  Most people know the phrase, “April showers bring May flowers” and for the most part, those living in the Northern Hemisphere, it is a truism. Although today’s gospel imagery probably has grapes in mind as opposed to apples, apple trees are more familiar to those who have lived in this area for any length of time.  Washington is a leading producer of apples in the nation and in order to keep that production going, there needs to be people who are invested in keeping that reputation as the years go by.  Just this past week, on the front page of the local daily newspaper was an article about apples.  It piqued my interest.  This story was about a researcher whose goal was to search for “lost” varieties of apples.  What do I mean by that?  Apparently, some apple trees left from orchards of earlier settlements were still alive, not noticed due to present location.  For example, one lost variety was found inside a state park. It is estimated that there are indeed 17,000 of these lost varieties of apples that originated in the hands of early European immigrants.  Even a nursery that once existed near present day Oakesdale, WA through historical records has been identified as a source of these lost apple trees. These so called “heirloom varieties” are being recovered and will continue to feed the already 100 million boxes per year of apples grown in Washington State.[1]

What do apples and grapes have in common?  They are both fruit.  As fruit, both grow at the tip of the branches and contain seeds (never mind that what we actually see on the market now are seedless grapes), in Jesus’ time, grapes were not seedless.  It was the seeds that produced apple trees until it was discovered by cultivators of this fruit, that one could also graft different varieties onto the same apple tree.  Thus we get out the Gurney seed catalog, whose nursery is located in Yankton, South Dakota and discover that we can order an apple tree with five different varieties. Though each fruit, if left long enough can rot and die, each still has the potential to live through the seeds it produces.  Similar to this, my mind takes me to Jesus cursing the fig tree that did not produce figs.  It wasn’t about the figs at all since it was not the season for figs to appear.

The bottom line is this: Jesus calls us to not only abide in him, but to produce fruit and it is not just here, but in several other Biblical passages that we are asked to bear fruit, as early as Genesis where God tells us to “be fruitful and multiply.  For a long time I tied the two together as if multiplying and being fruitful were one and the same.  It also seems to have been a misconception of the Church, because that became its form of evangelism rather than reaching out to others to invite them to believe in Jesus Christ.  This cannot be done if you say nothing to others outside the faith and outside this worship service.  We are not alone as individuals to affect this task.  We are each the fruit and branches attached to the vine, equally.  There are no distinctions here between clergy or laity or various positions in the Church.  We all bear the name, “Christian” and are called to walk as Jesus’ body here on earth.  Jesus is the vine.  Jesus supports us at all times, having the everlasting support of God.  Like the tap root of an apple tree that will help stabilize a hillside, keeping it from sliding downward, God holds us firmly, through every storm of life.

First and foremost, we are a community of believers.  Whatever we are able to contribute to the whole of the community and reach out as a community, this is our vocation.  My ministry here is not so much as an outreach of the cathedral of which I am a member as it is as a Christian who is to bear fruit, just as all Christians are called to bear fruit.  In that sense, it doesn’t really matter to what denomination I belong either.  When I am at work, I interact with many different denominations, supporting them in their faith.  I also have conversed with a companion who is still exploring Christianity and the Bible.  You also have opportunity to do that.  You don’t need to be profound or know all the answers.  Don’t be afraid to say anything because you might not know how to answer certain questions.  Remember that Jesus is the vine who supports you in all that you do and loves you more than anyone here in this world. But most of all, remember that many others believe as you do.

Sometimes I see the artificial barrier of age.  Remember, there are no boundaries and we are all equal in God’s eyes.  Don’t allow a difference in age to discourage you from sharing your faith with others.  They need to know that God loves and cares for them in a way that surpasses all their other relationships, especially that relationship some have with their phone.  Real relationships face-to-face are of ultimate importance in sharing the love of God.  There is no substitute for that.  You can teach them how to connect one-to-one rather than through the social media via electronic devices.

And, finally, the image that John paints for us is one of anonymity.  If you were to look at the grapes or apples while they are still attached to the branches of a live plant or tree, you will notice that they look pretty much the same.  In a box also, the grapes and apples are of a relatively uniform size and color, if, of course, they are of the same variety.  All the grapes get thrown into the same vat and all the apples into boxes and more boxes.  They are essentially without distinction.  We are as well.  God does not make exceptions for what we have or don’t have, our personalities, talents, or gifts.  We are to use all that we are given so that we produce fruit for God.  The mark of the body of Christ is that it bears fruit, that we love as God has loved and continues to love us.  It doesn’t matter who we are in the world, but only that we love.  Any branch is able to love if it remains with Jesus. We are all God’s children, united in God’s love for us.  We need to see beyond being a tree and see ourselves as part of a forest of believers because that is who we are.  We are an orchard of apple trees.  We are a vineyard.  We are God’s vineyard rooted in God’s love.  Be fruitful—every day.

Allow God to work in your life daily to prune away the dead branches so there will be potential for more fruit.  Practice repentance as a daily discipline, for it will put your heart in a place to accept God’s pruning and enable you to be more humble before others.  As in the words of a favorite hymn of mine, “I fear no foe, with thee at hand to bless; ills have no weight, and tears no bitterness.  Where is death’s sting?  Where, grave, thy victory: I triumph still, if thou abide with me.”

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[1] http://www.appleblossom.org/about/legend-of-the-apple.html