MoAmy+

Words from the Interim Dean • May 21 • In-between

Times of transition often cause us to feel anxious or uneasy. We wonder if we're doing the right things, if we're overlooking some important thing, and we worry about what will happen to 'life as we know it.' These times of change thrust us into that which is unknown--and the unknown can be an uncomfortable place to have to spend too much time.

Beverly and George Thompson write about this "in-between" time in their book, "Grace for the Journey." They encourage congregations to remember that transition also offers profound spiritual opportunities.  

“Think about the profound spiritual opportunity that transition offers. Biblical stories remind us that the people of God are a people on a journey, often living through in-between times. When they failed to create sacred time and space, our biblical ancestors found it difficult to focus on God’s leading, God’s providing, and God’s calling them to a specific purpose in that specific moment. Just as God calls each believer into a life of love and witness, so too does God call each congregation. That call might express itself a certain way for years; but eventually the circumstances that gave rise to a particular church will change...God invites congregations to imagine how their past might influence God’s call today and into the future.”

The choices we make during this time can bring us to exciting places of transformation, allowing us to reflect on who we are and how God is calling us into mission at this particular time and place. The transition time can open for us opportunities for us to share a "vital witness."  

The Thompson offer this spiritual exercise:

Read through these words slowly.  Take a deep breath.  Read through them again and replace "Jacob" and "Israel" with your own name.  Know how dearly God loves you!

But now thus says the Lord,
who created you, O Jacob,
who formed you, O Israel:

Do not fear, for I have redeemed you;
I have called you by name, you are mine.

When you pass through the waters, I will be with you;
and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you;

when you walk through the fire you shall not be burned,
and the flame shall not consume you.

For I am the Lord your God,
the Holy One of Israel, your Savior.

I gave Egypt as your ransom …

Because you are precious in my sight
and honored, and I love you.

—Isaiah 43:1–4a, adapted

 

Excerpt From: Beverly Thompson & George B. Thompson, Jr. “Grace for the Journey.” 

Words from Interim Dean

Saying goodbye is hard--that's why there are so many bad songs and cringe-worthy poems written on the subject! Even Kermit the Frog and friends lament the task in this musical number. But saying goodbye is also important.

Easter Vigil Sermon

Easter Vigil Sermon 2013

Text is below

Maundy Thursday 2013

Maundy Thursday 2013

Here's the Leonard Cohen song, Anthem, I reference:

 

 

Epiphany 2C, 20 January 2013

We continue along in the season of Epiphany, the time in the church year when we hear stories that help us get to know Jesus better.  God has come among us as a baby born to a teenage Palestinian girl in a manger in an animal stall behind a sold out motel.  Wise men of the day have sought him out and we too seek him.  Week after week, we’ll hear stories that help us understand more about this God who has made himself known in the person of Jesus Christ.  Today we hear one of the most famous stories of Jesus’ power--his miraculous turning of water into wine at the wedding feast in Cana.

These Epiphany stories will give us signs of Jesus’ promise of presence, and God’s enduring promise of hope and abundance.  

They will also show us that again and again that in God’s hands there is no limit to what is possible.

This week the Epiphany season also shares the holiday on which we honor Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.--the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.  Dr. King was above all a Christ follower and we cannot know his story fully without entering into the story of God made known in the person of Jesus Christ.  

Every year on the King Holiday I make sure to re-read his Letter from a Birmingham Jail.  I first encountered it in high school and it changed my life. 

Christmas Eve Meditation

This piece was published as part of the Advent Meditations of the Office of Young Adult Ministries

Luke 1:67-79

It’s Christmas Eve! We’ve been waiting and preparing and hoping and wondering and longing for this night for weeks now.

Tonight we join in Mary’s last moments of waiting. Tonight we, the Church, are like young Mary–very pregnant, stretched full with impossibility made possible, full of confusion and wonder and hope and expectation. Like this young woman, we are ready to give birth.

We join Mary in her expectant-ness. Tonight the Church takes deep breaths; tonight the Church pushes so hard against the heavens that God slips right through and into our very own world. God becomes like us.

See, we know that humans are made in God’s image. But we’re not always particularly good at actually being images of God. So God helps us out. God decides–chooses–to give us some more information. God comes to live with us, to walk around in a body just like we have in a world just like ours. In the life of Jesus, we’ll see how God would live life. We’ll see that it means hanging out with people nobody else likes; we’ll see that it means giving up what we want or what is easy for what is right and what is good; we’ll see that love and forgiveness and truth can beat anything. We’ll see that they can beat confusion, disappointment, betrayal, injustice, and even illness and death. And in the end, Jesus will do all that for each of us.

How do you feel in these last few hours before the big arrival?

What have you learned during Advent that helps you anticipate Jesus‘ arrival?

What has God been preparing in you–how is your heart different now than a few weeks ago?

What new things are you about to give birth to in your own life as a follower of Jesus?

Tonight we celebrate that God chose to become human for a while.

Tonight:

Mercy–being kind and forgiving–has a face.

Hope–trusting in God’s promise to be with us always–has a heart and lungs.

Love–LOVE–has hands and feet and eyes and ears.

Tonight God’s story becomes a person we can know.

 

Posted with Blogsy

Advent 4C + 23 December 2012

As any of our children can tell you--it's still not Christmas!

 

Here we sit on the fourth Sunday of Advent. Here we sit in our fourth week of waiting.

 

We’ve been waiting and preparing and hoping and wondering and longing for weeks now. And we've almost arrived.

Looking for Jesus

 

Above is the video I submitted for the Bishop Suffragan search process in the Diocese of North Carolina. (We could do whatever we wanted, within a 5-7 minute time frame.) More info below!

Spanish Translation          English transcript

Social Media for Social Justice

Maybe you've seen this already, but...one more example of why the Church can't ignore social media: it has power!  It tells the story! 

 

Turning Toward God

I have a post up today on the Advent blog for the Episcopal Church's Office of Young Adult Ministries:

During Advent, we are preparing our hearts to experience the arrival of the Word of God. We’re told to keep watch and to stay awake.  We are supposed to pay attention to what God is up to in the world.  In this passage from Luke, a young adult named John is hanging out in the wilderness, trying to learn more about who God is.

Read the rest here.