A Thanksgiving Prayer

I told a story to the Vestry at the last meeting

about an airplane pilot who described his experience while he was flying

of an engine falling off the wing.

He said, “You can’t pull over to the side of the road to fix it!

“You have to fly with what is left!”

Then, when you land, you realize how thankful you are for what is left.

Certainly we might think about this for this parish family,

            as we think back to days past or remember those who have died,

but today let’s think about what we are thankful for 

                        despite personal disasters and losses

                        or whatever else might trouble the soul.

For instance, as we age the body is no longer in prime shape.

            Powers weaken.

            Sometimes it’s like an engine falling of the wing.

Or our experiences of life bring us to times of crisis

            in our work or family or relationships,

            and the ride gets rough.

It may seem like an engine falling of the wing.

Or we may wonder if the events in the news, locally, nationally and globally,

            the environmental crisis,

            political ideologies clashing,

            racial and economic injustices all around us.

Has an engine fallen off a wing of our civic and governmental institutions?

And yet we get up out of bed each day 

            because there must be some bit of optimism, 

                        something to keep us going.

                        something we are actually thankful for,

            even if it is just the fact that we can keep flying with what is left.

Through it all we are carried along,

            not by our own strength,

            but by the grace of our Lord Jesus.

So here’s something a little different – 

            sort of a prayer of thanksgiving for flying with what’s left

                        )with thanks to Edward Hays for inspiration).

Blessed are you, Lord our God,

            who in the richness of your Divine Love

                        blesses us with good things.

Your blessings come in times of joy,

            in success and in times of honor,

            and they come as well in times of pain and sorrow,

            in sickness and defeat.

Your blessings, however, always come as life.

We give thanks for your blessings 

that come to us through your mighty acts of creation

                        for your radiant light, your majesty and glory

                                    shining out from within all of creation

                                    as well as from sun, moon and stars

We walk by their light,

            and we walk by your Light, the One who is the Light of the world.

Blessed are you for the light of your creation

            light that all the myriad varieties of green creation 

take as nourishment

and convert into food, light as nourishment to feed upon.

As all those green, growing creatures bend toward the light with their leaves,

as they grow upwards,

            so may we also bend toward the Light, your Divine Light

                        that penetrates the murkiness of our hearts.

Creator God, 

            we thank you for all of our so often unnoticed natural gifts,

for the special gifts of our bodies, and especially for

                        our eyes and our ears, and our ability to maneuver and move.

            And let us give thanks for them even as they fade in their vitality.

Blessed are you, Lord our God,

            for the wondrous gift of sight.

We rejoice especially, now, in our eyes,

            these two tiny but marvelous gifts

            that add so much to the fullness of our lives.

This gift of sight enlarges the world of our enjoyment

            and magnifies our appreciation of nature,

            of great works of art, of the gifts of books and words to read,

            of those persons we love,

            and for this we are grateful.

Even as the eyes dim, and it takes more light to see by,

            and thicker lenses on the glasses,

we give thanks for what we have,

            and for the memories of what we have seen

                        that have both delighted us and enriched us.

We thank you also for the gift of insight

            by which our spirit sees and understands.

For the gift of the third eye,

            the eye of the heart,

            by which we may understand the meaning of life.

We are especially thankful for your Son Jesus,

            whose very coming was a healing light to the world,

            who opened the eyes of the blind

            and gave to a weary world new sight.

Blessed be all those who have taught us to see:

            prophets, poets, writers and movie-makers,

            friends and lovers, all teachers of vision.

May our eyes bless you this day;

            may they be opened-prayers of gratitude,

            as we attempt to overcome today any blindness of heart

            and any dullness of appreciation of the wonder of sight.

Blessed are you, Lord our God,

            for the wondrous gift of sight.

And blessed are you, Lord our God,

            for the gift of hearing.

We are grateful for the marvel of hearing

            by which we can know the songs of creation,

            your unending melody of beauty,

            expressed in words, wind and whispers.

With open ears,

            we take in the joy of music,

            the delight of poetry

            and the simple songs of daily life,

            the voices of loved ones,

            the marvels of communication.

For all of these blessings, we are filled with gratitude.

And even as the sounds become fainter and more muffled,

            we give thanks for all we have heard,

            especially the occasions when we have heard 

the precious word of love.

We rejoice that you have given us a third ear,

            the ear of the heart, the ear of the soul,

            with which we may listen to silent sound,

            to the silent music of your Divine Heart,

                        where we hear most profoundly that expression of Love.

Help us, Lord, by quiet prayer and times of silence,

            to open that third ear

            and to heal the other two of all noise.

We are also thankful for those persons who have taught us how to listen:

            for poets, musicians,

            parents, prophets and teachers.

Grateful are we, for that long line of holy people

            from East and West and North and South

            who teach us to listen

            for the echo of your divine voice

            in all words of truth.

For your powerful yet gentle Word, Jesus,

            whose Good News cleanses our ears,

            we are especially thankful.

With listening hearts and grateful prayers

            blessed are you, Lord our God,

                        for the gift of hearing.

And likewise, blessed are you for the gifts of our limbs, our arms and legs.

            for feet that propel us about

            so that we are distinguished from the green, growing creatures

                        whose roots hold them firm in one place.

Thank you for the gift of being able to travel about

            even if now those legs don’t move as swiftly

                        or are as sure-footed

                        or can yet just barely maintain balance.

Thank you for all we have experienced of freedom of movement

            and where that has taken us

            and what we have learned there,

for the fullness of life,

            even the fullness of life that is there when we are more like

                                    the green, growing things, rooted in one place.

And thank you for our souls, our psyches, 

            and their capacity, the capacity of these human organisms

            to make use of nourishment and to live in this environment.

What a total marvel this is!

And even as we give thanks for all these aspects of ourselves

            which for some of us are fading in strength and vitality,

help us, Word Made Flesh, to realize that we are more than our bodies,

            that even when the flesh fails and gives out and drops away

            we continue stronger than ever in You.

And so let us give thanks and bless you, O Lord our God,

            most of all for your great Love

                        which sustains us

                        and in which we live and move and have our being.

May we therefore not be anxious

            what to eat or drink, what or how to take nourishment,

            or what to put on the body 

so that it may be harmonious with this environment.

And may all our gratitude lead us ever more

            to seek first the Kingdom of God and its righteousness.

Blessed are you, O Lord of Life,

            for all your gracious gifts.  Amen.

King???

We Episcopalians are at the end of our liturgical year

and about to begin a new liturgical year with Advent 1.

The theme for this last Sunday in the Pentecost Season

                        in each of the three years in our lectionary cycle

is always Jesus as the King, the Messiah, the Christ.

This comes as the climax to the annual recitation of the story of Jesus

that we go through Sunday by Sunday over the course of the year.

King Jesus

            reigning eternally in the Kingdom of God.

This appears to have wonderful and important implications for all of us here,

            for all who have been marked as Christ’s own forever in Baptism.

As the letter to the Colossians, today’s Epistle reading, tells us,

“God has rescued us and transferred us into the Kingdom of his beloved Son,

in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.”  Col. 1:13

But this is a topsy turvy kingdom with the cross instead of a throne

            that the Gospel reading today accosts us with:

            It is a part of the Good Friday reading,

                        a portion of the story of the crucifixion

What kind of a Christ the King choice for a Gospel reading is this?

We hear about a Messiah who does not save himself;

who is this?

The epistle reading from Colossians is a beautiful hymn 

putting words to the Mystery of this wonder

that we have been drawn into;

            it is a hymn unfolding a description of Jesus.

We have been transferred into the Kingdom of the Son of God’s agaph Love

                                    which is that unitive Love

This passage goes on to say that

Jesus is an eikwn of the God who cannot be seen, 

God made visual, made visible through Jesus;

            the firstborn of creation. 

In him all things were created, 

were called into being, called into individual existence.

All things – the sky above us and all the stars in it,

mother earth and everything on earth,

            whether visible or too small or too great to be seen,

                        all the invisible yet comprehended phenomena:

                        wind, sound, energy

and all the various constructs of power, both human and spiritual:

thrones, lordships, rulers, authorities

through Jesus and for him, or literally into him, were they all created.

Well, we’re not talking about not the earthly Jesus 

limited to a span of years 2 millennia ago,

            but the One whom John’s Gospel calls the Word.

But also the Jesus of human form is the firstborn from the dead, 

the pioneer of Resurrection

                        for all to follow in the Way. 

Jesus was to make clearly manifest all the fullness of God

            to show us the whole breadth and depth and height

            to open the eyes of the heart

to the realization of the truth of all being.

And now the Gospel for this year’s Christ the King Sunday

            is this portion of the Passion, the Crucifixion,

                        in which the title is nailed to the cross:

            “This is the King of the Jews.”

“If you are the King of the Jews, save yourself!” the crowds jeer.

But Jesus wasn’t going to do that.

This is why he was here this day on the cross: 

to pour himself out completely like this.

But here at the end, in his last hours,

            pressing upon him even as his body weakens and is dying,

people are either railing against him

            or seeking something from him.

As at all the other times during Jesus’ ministry

            people were reacting to him

                        either rejecting

                        or responding.

They, and we, have had fixed expectations about Jesus 

            that are limited and focused on solving a problem immediately

                        to our own liking;

that’s one response.

Or people were opening to a radically different kind of Kingdom of God,

            a Kingdom that exercises power by serving

            where the principle at work is to give away life 

                                    instead of clinging to it

                        and thus paradoxically one finds life opening to Paradise.

Always we are called to a radical and fearless trust,

                        even in the face of death itself.

Christ the King, nailed to a cross, 

            and hanging between two criminals.

You know, the Romans put him there between the criminals

            as another way to degrade him

                        and to mock the “King of the Jews.”

But as usual Jesus does not shrink from association with sinners,

            and even as he dies, he responds in utmost love 

                        to whatever need it is that is being expressed.

So one of the criminals recognized that Jesus, 

even in the midst of crucifixion,            was innocent, 

maybe he even recognized that he was righteous, holy.

He knew just enough about Jesus in this extraordinary encounter

            to have a sense that this Kingdom that Jesus was King of

                        was not a temporal realm,

                        but a spiritual reality that transcended death.

I don’t think it was to humor Jesus about delusions of being a King

that this dying man said,

            “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.”

And even while in the process of dying Jesus ministers 

life and the opening of awareness 

to this man.

The penitent criminal is promised a walk in the garden of Paradise with Jesus.

            This is a privilege that a king would bestow,

            the highly prized place of honor and close companionship

                                                                                                with the sovereign.

Jesus wouldn’t tell James and John 

whether they could sit at his right hand and his left,

            but he said to the criminal hanging next to him,

“Today you will be with me in Paradise.”

In all the Gospels this is one specific place 

where Jesus intentionally says to a particular individual 

that they were assured, promised, guaranteed 

to be with Jesus beyond death. 

Well, apparently it’s never too late to repent, to turn to Jesus.

We may not necessarily be desperate criminals,

but what is it that we wish we had done differently during our lifetime?

What do we remember about ourselves that leaves us feeling regret?

            or embarrassment? or shame?

Where do we fear for our souls?

Confess it to this King; bring it to Jesus.

It’s never too late, apparently.

It’s always the right time.

The criminal companion of the cross with a last minute conversion

            received a precious promise from our Lord.

Who knows if this might not be our last moments, our own end of life.

So may this be our prayer also,

            “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.”

Read, Mark, Learn, and Inwardly Digest

Blessed Lord, who caused all holy Scriptures to be written for our learning: 

Grant us so to hear them, read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest them, 

that we may embrace and ever hold fast the blessed hope of everlasting life…

                                                                                                                              Amen.

 The collect for today is such a familiar old favorite.

How many of you were told to approach the Bible in this way:

            to read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest the words of Scripture?

The Episcopal Church isn’t usually thought of as a Bible Church,

            certainly not in the way biblical literalists would use that term,

but the Bible has been central in our theology and identity,

            so central and important 

                        that our Book of Common Prayer is loaded with scripture texts;

                        indeed, we include the entire book of Psalms,

                                    most of the canticles are straight scripture passages,

                                    and a multitude of the prayers contain scriptural references.

But to distinguish us from other “Bible” churches,

            the Bible is not our only source of authority.

How many of you have heard about the Anglican three legged stool?

            That’s the illustration used for talking about the voices of authority we use:

                        Scripture

                        Tradition

                        and Reason

These three balance each other 

            so that we don’t proof text or use Bible verses out of context,

            and we consider the wisdom of our spiritual leaders over the centuries,

            and we also use our own reasoning skills in openness to the Holy Spirit

                                    to discern what is appropriate in how we read the Bible

                                                                                                    for our own situations.

Nevertheless the Bible is our source book, where we go first,

            and we get a whole chapter on that in our study book, Being Christian.

Your senior warden has been commenting about how great that chapter is!

All that being said, 

            here we are with a Gospel reading that is outright apocalyptic.

We Episcopalians tend to recoil from end of the world talk, 

            the book of Revelation, 

and Second Coming passages that give rise to speculative discussions about
                                   the Rapture and the mark of the beast and such exotic beliefs.

Couldn’t we instead just look at that beautiful passage from Isaiah? 

Where God says:

I am about to create new heavens
and a new earth;…

be glad and rejoice forever in what I am creating; 

for I am about to create Jerusalem as a joy, and its people as a delight.…

The wolf and the lamb shall feed together,
the lion shall eat straw like the ox; …

They shall not hurt or destroy
on all my holy mountain, says the Lord.

But no, that’s not the picture given in the Gospel reading for today:

            Not one stone shall be left upon another…

And what follows in this selection from Luke, Chapter 21,

            is a description of what is to come:

                        wars, natural disasters, and severe persecutions.

Now, I want you to understand the context for these statements –

            This is after Palm Sunday and just before the whole events of the Crucifixion.

And to whom these words are directed – the disciples.

Jesus is telling them what is going to happen to THEM.

            This is what’s up for them in the aftermath of the Crucifixion and Resurrection.

The disciples are being rewarded for following Jesus

            by losing their religion and their nation,

                        literally in the year 67 

            when the Romans destroy the Temple and raze Jerusalem.

Read the rest of Luke 21 and you will see what Jesus is referring to.

But it goes beyond that for the disciples.

And here is where we move from actual historical facts

            to something so cosmic that it can only be described 

                        through the utter destructive end of life as we know it,

                                    of the whole natural world,

The heavens and the earth will be shaken,

            and then Jesus comes and redemption is drawing near.

The new creation.

When I have my meditation groups read scripture after meditating,

            I watch for how that spiritual process of meditation

                        can shake us loose 

            from preconceived ideas about what the passage is saying.

Can we see with new eyes?

How are we being moved from the limitations 

            of head knowledge and theological ideas and familiarity with the passage?

Is there room for the Resurrection Presence of Jesus, the Holy Spirit there

            to give us a second touch so that our eyes can see clearly and more widely 

                        the brilliance of Transfiguration,

                        the New Creation,

which we are already in but unconscious to its Presence?

So that, even if what Jesus said to the disciples also becomes your experience:

            “You will be betrayed even by parents and brothers, by relatives and friends;             and they will put some of you to death. 

            You will be hated by all because of my name. 

            But not a hair of your head will perish. 

            By your endurance you will gain your souls."

That’s how this Gospel reading selected for today ends,

            and that is what our ears hear and we take away from the reading.

So it is very important to ask,

            what is the endurance through which we will gain our souls,

                                                            through which we will know we are saved?

There are seven places throughout the Gospels where Jesus tells us how:

            “Take up your cross and follow me.”

If you wish to follow me, you must deny your very selves,

            take up the instrument of your own death and follow in my footsteps.

Seven places:  Matthew 10:34f, Matthew 16:24f, Mark 8:34f, 

                        Luke 9:23f, Luke 14:26f, Luke 17:33, and John 12:24f.

                                                Matthew, Mark, Luke, John!

When something gets repeated that often in the Gospels,

            wouldn’t you think that means 

            “this is important; pay attention” ?

Death is so significant in the central story of our faith – the Crucifixion – 

            that we have to look at death as much as we look at Resurrection.

There is the natural, physical death that all living beings face,

            but usually death doesn’t occur all of a sudden – 

                                                                        unless there is an accident, of course.

Death happens through a long process of disintegration,

            one loss after another of the use of the parts of the body,

                        until finally the lungs and heart give out and brain waves cease.

There is a tremendously useful parallel in our spiritual lives.

Traditionally spiritual directors have called these the minor deaths,

            when we don’t get our own way,

            when we realize our self deception,

            when we experience loss of something or someone we hold dear,

            when we accept doing something God’s way instead of our own,

            when we pray the Amen that says, not my will but Thine be done.

These are the ways of endurance that will gain us our souls.

This is the nature of conversion;

            even the Apostle Paul’s encounter 

                                                            with the Risen Christ on the road to Damascus

                        was not the first step or the last step in his conversion.

It is a lifelong process of minor deaths,

            usually taking us where we wouldn’t want to go 

                                                            or wouldn’t usually choose for ourselves.

But it is always in a trajectory 

            toward that place where we can be most at home, 

                        not in the world in the state that it is currently in,

                        but in the New Creation as Isaiah described it.

And so in this Gospel passage we move from actual historical facts

            to something so cosmic that it can only be described 

                        through the utter destructive end of life as we know it,

                                    of the whole natural world,

The heavens and the earth will be shaken,

            and then Jesus comes – 

                        comes clearly into our perception

            for, of course, he has already and always been right there.

When we see that

                                    Redemption has drawn near.