CHRIST - Key Persons
Job Titles:
- Music Director and Organist
Job Titles:
- Public Affairs Attorney and Author of "Just Mercy, " Notes These Sobering Statistics at End of the Book [Page 317]
The last month has been tough. Seeing the writing on the wall, I took to my bed the evening of November 8th and might still be there if the boys hadn't finally insisted it was going to get ugly if I did not get up and see to them. My distress was not just about politics or about the fact that my candidate lost. That's happened before without this deep sense of malaise. More than any other time in recent memory, we seem to be at a turning point. Change is coming, and I don't just mean politically. As a people, our story is more than a political saga. It is a story of our countless generations, those who have passed to glory, those we journey with now, and those yet unborn. This is the story of a country and a people of every hue and persuasion who toiled and cried, celebrated and worshiped and in the process built a great nation.
My malaise is rooted in the realization that the national narrative once grounded in limitless possibility has changed, becoming one of fear and hopelessness, of a deep distrust of the other. It is a sense that the glass is not only half empty, but the odds of it ever being filled are seen as stacked against a broad spectrum of the population. In the face of all that, my next gambit was to declare that Christmas was cancelled. If Christmas never came, then neither would the new year and all the changes it would bring. Then I realized I'd be preaching during advent on Rose Sunday, what Pope Francis calls the Sunday of Joy.
Who can feel joyful when our nation has become an alien landscape in which language and action against those who are different is seemingly more acceptable? Though I have no illusions that matters of race, or gender, or orientation were issues of the past, the current social climate seems to have given license to speak what was once at least politically incorrect and publicly unspeakable. Then I remembered what Ghandi said:
As some of you know, the last few months have been… I could be profane here, but I'll opt for saying they have been trying at the very least. I've been in a weird place since my father died 33 years and three days short of the day in April that my mother died. This all amplifies thoughts about family relationships and commitments, about love and loss and the ties that bind us. It brings so much of my life full circle, and of course it's set to a musical theme. As I reflected on the gospel lesson a thread of music, really what I thought was a lyric kept running through my head "what we do for love." Of course the song really is "What We Won't Do for Love," but nonetheless, it gave me a focal point to reflect on my journey these last few months, and indeed most of my life.
This journey is about we do out of love and thankfulness for God's grace and His singular gift of peopling our lives with such extraordinary personalities. Though I won't talk about them in this sermon, it includes my four footers. A child of divorce, I was raised among a company of women who gave me a unique perspective on self and service, on love and commitment, on struggle and self-worth, in essence those things that make a life of worth. Like the women in our gospel, they gave a full measure of themselves, their gifts and their talents, without counting the cost. They loved expansively; supported each other; served with grace; nurtured and gave direction to me and countless children and adults. They taught me and challenged me to understand that life is full of good and one must be open to seeing and accepting that goodness. They also taught me that walking by faith and in the spirit is more difficult than following an outward law. It's about listening for the voice of God and then responding obediently to his call.
Dr. Carol Franklin is a retired higher education professional and is a member of Christ Church.
Given the lessons appointed for this day on which we celebrate the lives of the saints all I can say is WOW!! First up was Revelations and the image of a new heaven and a new earth and of all things made new and of God, God himself coming to dwell among us. The Gospel of John then reminds us that if we believe, we will see the glory of God. That vision of a New Jerusalem and of God among us speaks to the heart of me - a heart too frequently broken recently by the realities of our world:
Dr. Carol Franklin is a retired higher education professional and is a member of Christ Church.
I have to tell you that I have struggled this week. To be honest, I have felt at a loss for words, which you know is not typical of me. It's not that God hasn't spoken. She has spoken volumes through her tears, the tears of a mother. I started in one place and you will hear some of that riff on the theme "What's love got to do with?" But more and more I heard not Tina Turner but Roberta Flack asking plaintive "Where is the love?"
Dr. Carol Franklin is a retired higher education professional and is a member of Christ Church.
You know that old saw that it is difficult to serve two masters? Well this Sunday, I feel pulled in multiple directions. First of course is the pull of today's lessons and how God illuminates them for me. Second is the fact that I was asked specifically to preach today as part of an Outreach Sunday event. But then a few weeks ago Peter reminds me that it is also stewardship season, and finally he encouraged me to be short and succinct. My response to him about that last bit was it depends on how she chooses to speak to me. Thankfully she did speak, revealing that the heart of today's lessons was about serving and giving. Don't you just love it when a plan comes together and all the stars seemed to align for this Outreach and Stewardship Sunday? Now let's see if I can be succinct.
As I read the lessons appointed for the day, especially Mark's Gospel, the first thing that popped into my head was "Clueless in Jerusalem." With their minds more preoccupied with petty thoughts of self at the top of the table, the disciples couldn't see Christ's true purpose or understand his service and his sacrifice. Clearly, clueless the sons of Zebedee and the rest of the crew just didn't get it, didn't get the difference between worldly greatness and spiritual greatness. Then it struck me that many of us, even those of us in the church, can fall prey to that clueless syndrome.
Jack Shelley is a parishioner of Christ Church and o member of our church leadership, the vestry.
As we reach the end of Lent, it seems appropriate to look back at what sort of Lent we've had and what we might have learned. I have been thinking how the life I lead on a daily basis matches up with the sort of life that God would want me to live. It also occurs to me that we are in a time where living our faith outside of church is more important and more difficult than it has been in a while.
Katie Ong-Landini is Project Director for the new Retreat Center in Wakeman, Ohio, a property acquired and being developed by and for the Episcopal Diocese of Ohio. Ms. Ong-Landini is also a member of Christ Episcopal Church.
Job Titles:
- Director of Christian Formation
Last week, a Facebook friend shared a post that about a Christian minister in Uganda who felt he was so holy that he would not let himself be contaminated by the church floor. He demanded his parishioners to lie on that floor so he could walk into the church on their backs. The story was accompanied by a picture of a man in a suit being balanced by men on either side of him as he made his way across a sea of human backs. Probably a lot of like how it feels to lumberjacks when they traverse logs floating on water, rolling a few, I suspect along the way.
Was this story real news or fake news? Anymore, who knows? But my immediate reaction, as a retired minister, was, "Why didn't I think of that?"
What is the Church of the 21st century called to be, do and look like? In my work for the United Church of Christ National Offices, I have the frequent opportunity to travel in order to ask this question. The resulting conversations are fascinating, fruitful, continuously complex, and inevitably lacking consensus (which is the beauty of the Church, in some ways).
Simon Peter's denial of Jesus happened during a time of fear and uncertainty for Jesus' followers. The full weight of the religious authorities had been brought to bear on Jesus and once he was arrested, his followers were on their own. They no longer had the comfort of Jesus' physical presence and they knew how things were going to end. Simon Peter had the courage to follow Jesus to the high priest's house, but when he was asked whether he was a disciple, he lied. He lied for the same reason that any of us might lie in a similar situation. If we feel our lives or our freedom hinge on giving the "right" answer, we're going to tell our questioner whatever we think they want to hear.
What does this have to do with Jesus' appreciation of what it is to be human? We have to look a little earlier in the story for the answer. Simon Peter's denial of Jesus has its origins at the Last Supper. After Jesus tells his disciples he will not be with them much longer, he tells them that they cannot follow where he is going. No one else says anything, but Simon Peter responds to this news by saying "Why can't I go with you? I'm ready to die for you!" There is no doubt in his mind, he's a true believer. He's sure he'll never waiver.
Jesus says to him. "Are you really ready to die for me? I am telling you the truth: before the rooster crows you will say three times that you do not know me."