Pentecost 2A, 2017: Proclaim. Pray. Heal.

Lectionary: Genesis 18:1-15; Psalm 116:1, 10-17; Romans 5:1-8; Matthew 9:35-10:8



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En el nombre del Dios: Padre, Hijo, y Espiritu Santo. Amen.

During my year-long sabbatical after leaving parish ministry, I discerned a call to increase my ministry as a spiritual director. In this ministry, I get to have deep, meaningful conversations with God’s laborers in the field, both of us listening deeply for the voice of God for them and for the world.

One of my roles as spiritual director is to lay down my own defenses so that I can enter deeply and quickly into a mutually trusting relationship with the directee. This enables me to recognize those moments when the directees walls come up – their defenses – which stop the flow of love between them and God, them and the world, or them and themselves.

When this happens, I mention it, bringing it into our sacred space for reflection and discussion. It isn’t about judgment, but about intention. Both of us are intentionally paying attention so that whatever stumbling blocks or hindrances come up, the directee has opportunity to notice them, listen for the voice of God, then make a choice about how to proceed.

This is precisely the process I see happening in today’s gospel from Matthew. In fact, I see it in the entire 9th chapter of Matthew which chronicles Jesus’ healing ministry in a variety of its forms.

First, Jesus heals a paralyzed man by forgiving his sins, thereby restoring him to his family, his community and his life. Then he calls Matthew, the tax collector (and author of this gospel), who was hated by his own Jewish people, restoring him to wholeness and holding up mercy as a priority over proper religious practice.

Next he raises a dead girl to life and stems the flow of blood, the source of life, from the hemorrhaging woman. Then Jesus opens the eyes of two blind men, and restores the voice of a mute man riddled with demons.

And this is where our gospel story picks up. Matthew summarizes that Jesus had gone to all the cities and villages, teaching as a rabbi would, but his teaching was a new proclamation. He was heralding the good news that the kingdom of heaven was at hand.

I want to pause here and look at those words: “kingdom,” “heaven,” and “at hand.” The Greek word we translate as “kingdom” means “royal dominion.” “Heaven” translates as “overarching, all embracing, including everything that is.” And “at hand” translates as “to draw near, to join one to another.”

Jesus is announcing something we need to hear as much today as they did back then: that the royal dominion of God, which is overarching, all embracing, and includes everything that is, has joined heaven and earth into one, right here, right now.”

See if this sounds familiar... “on earth as it is in heaven…” In Jesus heaven and earth, flesh and spirit, have been eternally joined together - made one - and when we live that truth, we are laborers of the harvest, physical locations of the powerful, healing love of God for the world – just as Jesus was first.

For Jesus, healing wasn’t just about fixing problems. It was about restoring anyone and everyone who was helpless or harassed to wholeness of life, wholeness of spirit, wholeness of purpose.

I think we often hear these healing stories and distance ourselves from them in our ministries, believing surely we can’t do what Jesus did – but that’s a mistake. Didn’t Jesus say we would? “...the one who believes in me will also do the works that I do and, in fact, will do greater works than these...” (Jn 14:28) Greater than raising the dead and healing the sick? Yes. Seriously.

Seriously. If we remember that God is always the actor and we are simply God’s agents, earthly locations of God’s creative love, laborers of God’s harvest, then we recognize like Sarah eventually did, that absolutely nothing is “too wonderful for the Lord.”

Jesus says, “As you go, proclaim the good news…” Check. We can do that… as long as we don’t have to evangelize – right? Jesus says, “…heal the sick.” This is harder, but probably most of us feel like it’s possible. Jesus says, “…raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, cast out demons.” Whoa! Really?

Doesn’t that feel like it’s impossible? Well it isn’t. Consider this: if a person can’t take the next step in their lives, they need to hear the hope we have to proclaim. These are the paralytics we are called to heal.

Then there are those among us who suffer from cultural hatred - the LGBTQ community comes to mind. While some in the religious world justify their continued exclusion by citing proper religious practice, we are sent to show mercy and inclusion, just as Jesus showed Matthew.

I’ve known people who are living on the outside, but dead or dying on the inside, teetering on the edge of suicide or homicide. These are the dead whom we can raise to life.

Have you ever known someone who desperately needs their eyes need opened to the truth of their value to God and to us? These are the blind we are called to heal.

What about someone so tortured by memories of past abuse that their identity as beloved is lost? These are the lepers among us who need cleansing.

Or those whose early lives were so crazy they can’t make sense of a sane world, so they can’t live functionally in the present? The good news we herald is the means by which today’s demons are cast out.

We are called to notice and heal the pain of the world.

This week we witnessed the raw pain of Philando Castile’s mother at the acquittal of the police officer who killed her son. It’s also the anniversary of the mass racist murders by Dylan Roof at Mother Emanuel Church in Charleston. Whatever you believe about these events, racism lives, and the pain of the African community is real.

Our Baptismal vows call us to strive for justice for all people, respecting their dignity. I don’t know what the answer is here, but I do know we have much work to do, and prayer is where our work begins, but not where it ends.

Meantime, there are laborers already working on the harvest right here at All Saints. I know of at least two laborers who devote themselves to those who are helplessly addicted to alcohol and drugs. These two know and herald the good news that there is freedom from addiction and new life worth living. I know of two others here who are voices for the voiceless.

Our world offers us plenty of harvest, if we choose to be laborers. What hinders us?

I think we assume that we really can't heal the blind or the mute and raise the dead; or that we don’t have demoniacs anymore (now we have psychiatric diagnoses). I also think that many of us believe that God isn’t doing today what God did in the days our Scripture was being written.

But I’m here to tell you, that’s just not so. God is working miraculous healings all the time, right here, right now, through the laborers who choose to be sent into the harvest.

There is preparation for us to do, however, before we head out there healing the world in Jesus’ name. First, we must answer Jesus’ summons to us to come to him in prayer. There is where we receive the power to intentionally notice what is hindering someone from the free flowing of God’s love in them and through them to the world.

We don’t remove the hindrance. God does. God is always the actor. We are simply the physical locations of the powerful, healing love of God for the world. Jesus embodied this first. We embody it now.

Secondly, we must be willing to give as freely as we have been given. The good news was given to us as a gift. We didn’t earn it and we can’t lose it. It’s ours because God loves us all and desires wholeness for us all. It’s unfortunate that this translation of Scripture uses financial language here: “You received without payment; give without payment.” It’s a poor rendering of the message. A better translation is: “Freely you have received; freely give.”

So I say to you: freely give to anyone and everyone who needs the good news that they are included in in the over-arching, all embracing royal dominion of God… the good news that everything that is, in heaven and on earth, has been joined as one in Jesus the Christ.

This means that redemption is God’s response to all the pain in the world, and we, as agents of Jesus Christ, are co-creators of this redemption, if we choose to be sent into the harvest.

Now, let’s make and partake of the holy food and drink that strengthens us for our work: the body and blood of Christ. We must take Jesus in, not just in our thoughts and beliefs, but into our very bodies, which is our invitation to him to work through us to heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse lepers, and cast out demons.

For truly nothing is too wonderful for the Lord. Amen.

Trinity Sunday, 2017: Hearts on fire

I enjoyed supplying with my St. Mark's Chester (SC) family again today. Here is my sermon - extemporaneous, therefore, in audio only. Enjoy!

Lectionary: Genesis 1:1-2:4a; Canticle 13; 2 Corinthians 13:11-13; Matthew 28:16-20

If the player below won't work on your device (it's mp4), click HERE (mp3).

Easter 6, 2017: Entering the heart of the other

I had the pleasure of supplying again at St. Mark's, Chester, SC. This was our interactive homily. Below are the audio file and notes for this extemporaneous sermon.

Lectionary: Acts 17:22-31; Psalm 66:7-18; 1 Peter 3:13-22; John 14:15-21



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St. Francis of Assisi: The result of prayer is life. Today we hear Jesus’ prayer…

“On that day you will know that I am in my Father (trans: originator, progenitor, founder of a race. Plural: father and mother), and you in me, and I in you.”

Jesus = first advocate and in this gospel, promises to send ANOTHER advocate whom the world won’t be able to see b/c he won’t be incarnated.

You will know this advocate who will dwell in you – the Spirit of truth. (Note: week’s gospel: Jesus said, I AM the way, the truth, and the life) This is the Spirit of God who dwells in each and every one created of God, connecting us, making us one.

At Celtic retreat yesterday, we asked this question: HOW DO WE ENTER THE HEART OF THE OTHER?

Regarding God --- Our example is Mary – who demonstrated the process for us: prayer, invitation, & reception of the Spirit of God.

Chant: ARISE MY CHOSEN LOVE, MY BEAUTIFUL ONE… ARISE, BE ONE WITH ME.

Jesus said: On that day you will know that I am in my (originator, progenitor, founder of a race. Plural: father and mother), and you in me, and I in you.

Regarding other people (especially those whom we rather not) --- the process is the same: prayer, invitation, reception.

Story of maximum security prison visits… Serial rapists, murderers… My expectations of them… their expectations of me… I spoke from my experience – not blaming or condemning them (society had already done that). I simply spoke truth - the truth of how it felt (to me) to be dominated, violated, and disrespected, the humiliation and the degradation. Inner story: the “Mountain Man.”

In response, most of the men spoke of their early childhood abuse. And suddenly, all labels of distinction (male-female; perpetrator-victim; free-imprisoned) disappeared --- and we were one.

Chant: I AM IN GOD AND GOD’S IN YOU, SO LET US LIVE AS ONE.

Bp. Bennett Sims, Henrí Nouwen spoke of us, as followers of Christ, as wounded healers. Each of us living our own,unique vulnerability - our cross, which becomes the strength of our evangelism.

THAT’S HOW WE ENTER THE HEART OF GOD & THE HEART OF THE OTHER.

For we truly are in Christ, who is in us, who are in God…and THERE is life.

Easter 5A, 2017: Oneing as a royal priesthood

I had the privilege of supplying again today at St. Mark's, Chester, SC. My sermon was extemporaneous, but the voice file failed to capture properly. So... I post my sermon notes instead.

Lectionary: Acts 7:55-60; Psalm 31:1-5, 15-16; 1 Peter 2:2-10; John 14:1-14

Rhythm of life: crucifixion, death, resurrection. Our story never ends at death - no matter how bad the circumstances look. Jesus speaking to his disciples, preparing them for what is about to happen (his arrest, trial, execution, death, and resurrection). They don't get it. How could they?

Jesus says over and over (6x) Believe... Believe = trust. Trust me. Trust God. No matter what happens. Don't get stuck in the death. Let the rest of the story unfold. Trust God. Trust me...

The end of our story is always resurrection and new life.

Plan of God: love and redemption. Always. At all times.

SALVATION: The Greek word translated as “saved” literally means to make sound, that is, in good condition – free from injury or disease. It meant to preserve someone from danger, loss, or destruction. It was used by our forebears in the faith to mean being delivered from the consequences of sin and death and it included the bringing in of blessings in the place of condemnation.”

ONEING: Julian of Norwich: Her concept of the Trinity. “For the almighty truth of the Trinity is our Father, for he made us and keeps us in him; and the deep wisdom of the Trinity is our Mother in whom we are all enclosed; and the high goodness of the Trinity is our Lord and in him we are enclosed and he in us.”

Her concept of “oneing” confirms that we can never be completely cut off from love. “For he says… ‘I am loving you, and you are loving me: and our loving shall never be parted in two.’”

CHRIST THE MOTHER OF MERCY: she describes the wondrous kindness and tenderness of God’s maternal love. “And therefore he is compelled to feed us, for the precious love of his motherhood makes him a debtor to us. The mother may suckle her children with her own milk (see 1Peter reading for today), but our precious Mother Jesus, he may feed us with himself…he may lead us homely into his blessed breast by his sweet open side and show within part the Godhead and the joys of heaven, with spiritual certainty of endless bliss.”

ROYAL PRIESTHOOD: (See 1Peter reading)
"let yourselves be built into a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ... But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s own people, in order that you may proclaim the mighty acts of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light."

Jewish temple priests served as intermediaries between God and the people of God - bringing God to the people. They conducted animal sacrifices meant to please God.

Jesus seeks different from us: the sacrifice of ourselves - our praise and thanksgiving. To move from a concept about God to the indwelling of God.
• Holy Eucharist - taking the body of Christ into our bodies, which metabolize, and literally become part of us - our very cells. The concept becomes an embodied reality.
• We do this regularly, together, to help us "grow into our salvation" - maturing our Christianity all our lives.

The Psalms:
• God also called for “a sacrifice of thanksgiving” (Psalm 50:14, 23).
• “The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit” (Psalm 51:17)
• “Let my prayer be set before you like incense; the lifting up of my hands like the evening sacrifice” (Psalm 141:2).

Romans:
• “to present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service” (Romans 12:1).

Hebrews:
• “Through (Jesus), then, let us offer up a sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of lips which proclaim allegiance to his name. But don’t forget to be doing good and sharing, for with such sacrifices God is well pleased” (Hebrews 13:15-16).

Eucharistic Prayer:
• We offer our sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving...

Why this matters: WE are the dwelling places of God in God's household. The spirit of Jesus dwells in us - as individuals, as a faith community, AND as this moment in Christian history - that we might carry it into the darkness of the world.

Easter 4A, 2017: Listening for the divine voice like crazy Christians

I had the true privilege of supplying at Trinity Episcopal Church in Spruce Pine, NC. Below is my sermon in audio and text for Easter 4-A.

Lectionary: Acts 2:42-47; Psalm 23; 1 Peter 2:19-25; John 10:1-10



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En el nombre del Dios: Padre, Hijo, y Espiritu Santo. Amen.

When my daughter was little I was the Brownie troop leader. As an expert in the field of abuse prevention, I was called upon every year to help teach the children how to stay safe. I used to begin by telling those little ones that there are some grown-ups who may try to trick them and do them harm, and because they are grown-ups they can trick them.

Then I would do this demonstration (asks for a coin) and ask them as I ask you: If you get it – don’t say anything until I explain the trick. Tosses a coin. Heads I win, tails you lose. Call it! (explains the children’s response) These Brownies, however, had a community of family and friends who were committed to helping them stay safe - good grown-ups – who want to protect them from the grown-ups who intend to do them harm.

I want to make a plug here for the Safeguarding God’s Children, People, and Church curriculum.
If you haven’t been trained, PLEASE DO. If your certificates have expired, PLEASE RENEW. People who perpetrate harm aren’t easy to identify. They don’t look like perpetrators and they often seek out and hold positions of trust that give them access to their victims. Positions like: teachers, youth leaders, police officers, pastors…

In today’s gospel story from John, Jesus makes these same points, but most of us today don’t have much real experience with sheep or shepherds, so here’s a little background about sheep, shepherds, and sheep-gates. In those days, sheep roamed freely during the day, but at night the shepherd would gather the flock and bring them into an enclosed area, so they would be protected while they slept.

Most shepherds would put planks across the gate to keep the sheep from walking back out during the night. But the really devoted shepherd would lay himself down across the gate and sleep there. That way no sheep could leave, nor a predator enter, without him knowing. Of course, lying across that gate also meant that the gatekeeper was vulnerable to the predators.

Jesus was claiming to be THAT sort of shepherd – the Good Shepherd who is willing to lay down his life for his sheep.

Jesus identifies himself as the gate as well. This makes sense if we remember that Jesus is the second person of the Trinity, who is fully divine AND fully human, the Word made flesh through whom all things were made and reconciled into the unity of the Trinity. Whoever enters into this way of living and being will be saved, Jesus says.

I want to stop right here and do a quick word study, because who hasn’t been asked, “Have you been saved?” The Greek word translated here as “saved” literally means to make sound, that is, in good condition – free from injury or disease. It meant to preserve someone from danger, loss, or destruction. It was used by our forebears in the faith to mean being delivered from the consequences of sin and death and it included the bringing in of blessings in the place of condemnation.”

Jesus says, “Whoever enters by me will be saved (now does that change how you understand that sentence), and will come in and go out and find pasture” …the kind described so beautifully in Psalm 23.

We are the sheep who follow the voice of the Good Shepherd, AND we are his shepherds in the world today – the church. As such, it is our job guard the gate – to make sure it opens every time a sheep comes in or goes out following the voice of God – and to keep it closed to protect the flock from those who intend to do harm.

The key in this story, for the sheep and the shepherds of the sheep, is listening – knowing how to hear the voice of God. So how do we do that?

Luke tells us in Acts, that the early church “spent much time together in the temple.” We are called to do the same. The reason is we discern the voice of God individually AND in community. Listening for the voice of God is something we must choose to learn and practice,
and church is where we do that.

So, I have a question for you – do you hear the voice of God? Do you hear Jesus calling you by name? If you don’t, why not?

The divine voice speaks to us all the time in so many ways: in our bodies (we are, after all embodied spirit), in our dreams (just like in Scripture), in sudden insights during our prayers, in the reading of Scripture, in the voice of a friend, in the smile of a child, or in the beauty of a sunset.

Some people worry about be able to recognize that it is God’s voice. It’s true, we are all vulnerable to being tricked, but having been marked as Christ’s own forever in our Baptism, we know that we can never (ever!) be tricked out of God’s loving protection.

Even if we walk away from God or the Church, mad about something, or disapproving of another thing, we are still one family, one flock, being constantly gathered back into the fold by our Good Shepherd.

We, like those early Christians, need to be devoted “to the apostle’s teachings and fellowship, to the breaking of the bread and the prayers.” Imagine with me for a minute what it might be like if Christians today looked and acted like those Christians described in Acts…

What if wonders and signs were being done by the followers of Jesus today? Why aren’t they?

Maybe they are. I think they are, but we don’t talk about it very openly. I do healing work and so I hear many, many stories of miraculous healings of body and soul, as well as powerful stories of forgiveness and reconciliation - but they’re told to me in secret, because of a fear that other people wouldn’t understand and might judge them as crazy or something. Well, as our Presiding Bishop says, we are crazy! We’re crazy Christians!

What if church members had all things in common, (this is the hard one…) selling their possessions and distributing the proceeds so that everyone had what they needed?

For one thing, we could do away with annual pledge drives completely and churches wouldn’t be just one more charity its members support. Members would actually BE the church and would give with glad and generous hearts to the greater cause. We’d also purge our churches and their members of shame and empower them to respond without judgment and with compassion to someone who has need.

And what if we truly had as a priority the goodwill of all the people?

I think it would free our churches from the self-centeredness of a survival state of mind. Once freed from that we could actually fulfill our divine purpose! It would also help us remember, especially in these present circumstances, that what we do to “the least of these” we do to all of us – and to God.

That is the nature of living in Trinitarian unity.

What if our churches were full of Good Shepherds who provided a place where all – Archbishop Desmond Tutu’s “all, all, all, all, all” people could find green pastures, still waters, and blessings in the place of condemnation?

The good news, as we read in Acts, is that, like that early church, this would add to our numbers day by day, those who were being saved – and isn’t that ultimately our divine purpose?

I truly believe that if we were to learn once more to listen for the voice of our Good Shepherd, we would let the way of the world go - it kills and destroys by infecting our hearts and our churches, and we would embrace the Way of Jesus, a way of verdant pastures, still waters, and blessings in place of condemnation – abundant life, as Jesus calls it.

If we did that, don’t you think our churches would be busting at the seams with people seeking to be saved? Don’t you think they’d want to be a part of that?

Let us pray: Good Shepherd of our souls, open our ears to hear your voice, our hearts to respond to your leading, and our eyes to see where to carry the light of your love into the world so that all people may have the lift abundant you came to bring. Amen.

Easter 3, 2017: Purify your souls

This is an extemporaneous sermon I offered while supplying at St. Mark's in Chester, SC. It is, therefore, available only in audio. I have posted this in two audio formats, one of which will work in most devices.

Lectionary: Acts 2:14a,36-41; Psalm 116:1-3, 10-17; 1 Peter 1:17-23; Luke 24:13-35



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Easter 2: Balm for our wounded world

I preached this while supplying at St. Mark's Church in Chester, SC, a small parish with a mighty heart for mission.

Lectionary:Acts 2:14a,22-32; Psalm 16; 1 Peter 1:3-9; John 20:19-31



Note: if the above audio player doesn't work for you, click HERE for a different format.

En el nombre del Dios: Padre, Hijo, y Espiritu Santo. Amen.

What follows are my sermon notes. V+

(Story of priest who never doubted.)

Doubt is a good thing for a believer to experience… it’s a doorway to deeper faith.

(Story of Doubting Thomas)
Jesus demonstrated three very important lessons for our work as witnesses:
1) that God accepts us where we are and leads us to where we need to be;
2) that there are many ways to come to faith and many ways of being faithful;
3) that God is present and acts in the gathered community of faith.

Thomas was a believer – a follower of Jesus. He thought he needed to touch the crucifixion wounds, so Jesus gave him what he needed. Jesus didn’t get mad at Thomas for doubting. Instead, he invited Thomas to come into his presence and confront his doubt.

And no one kicked Thomas out of the disciples club for not believing right. They preserved their friendship with him, kept him close to them, and let God do the rest.

Some people know about Jesus from their earliest childhood. Some people don’t. Some people will have resurrection experiences, like Theresa of Avila (sorry - I meant to say Julian of Norwich!) who saw visions of Christ, or John Wesley whose heart was strangely warmed when he encountered Jesus in prayer.

Others will say they never experience the presence of God. They don’t “see” Jesus. To them, Jesus said, “Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe.”

In our Collect today, we asked God to help us “show forth in our lives what we profess in our faith.” Mother Theresa of Calcutta showed us how: she confessed living most of her life in a dark night –
a state of feeling totally absent of the presence of God. She struggled to believe, but never stopped serving as she knew her faith called her to do.

There are many ways to come to faith and many ways of being faithful.

This prayer by St. Theresa of Avila, 16th century Spanish mystic, shows us how to begin:

“Christ has no body now on earth but yours, no hands but yours, no feet but yours,
Yours are the eyes through which to look out Christ's compassion to the world
Yours are the feet with which he is to go about doing good;
Yours are the hands with which he is to bless [people] now.”

This is a call to witnesses the redemptive truth we say we believe: that the spirit of Christ lives in us, and as bearers of the divine, we are called to continue his redeeming work in the world until he comes again at the last day.

In the Good Friday service, we prayed….

For those who have never heard the word of salvation (e.g. - the true word, not the coercive one)
For those who have lost their faith (e.g. - due to life circumstances or bad experiences with “Christians”)
For those hardened by sin or indifference (e.g. - un-rescued abused persons often become abusers)
For the contemptuous and the scornful (e.g. - elitism destroys the souls of the rich and powerful)
For those who are enemies of the cross of Christ and persecutors of his disciples (e.g. -Christians are dying right now in countries around the world. This is still happening!)
For those who in the name of Christ have persecuted others (e.g.: religious or cultural leaders who call for the violence against people or groups they have judged as sinful or unlawful)
That God will open their hearts to the truth, and lead them to faith and obedience. (BCP, 279)

God does the work. God leads people to faith and obedience – not us. As Peter said to his listeners in Jerusalem, we are witnesses to the redeeming work of God in Jesus Christ.

We don’t save anyone. Jesus did that once for all. What we do is go to those…. (refer to the italicized examples above).

We aren’t called to coerce or threaten or frighten or cajole anyone into believing. That wasn’t Jesus’ way and it musn’t be ours.

What we are called to share is the “indescribable and glorious joy” (I Ptr 1:8) of the hope we have in Jesus. We are called to bring ourselves, and therefore the presence of Christ that dwells in us, into the world outside of this holy sanctuary and witness the truth we heard in our Scripture today: that Jesus accepts people where they are even when they doubt, even when they’ve been previously hurt by life or the church, even when they sin - because who hasn’t?

Whatever their story, whatever their wounds, Jesus invites them to touch his wounds and believe.

Gentleness, acceptance, invitation - rare commodities in the world today, but they are our currency – our currency of love.

Each Sunday you gather together in this beautiful space a space that smells like prayer and invites a person to simply rest in love a space where a person can truly enter into the presence of God. So, invite your friends to church: On Sundays to worship… On Tuesdays for lunch… Hold a Bible study, or offer Centering Prayer (talk about a gentle invitation!) Or be Episcopalian about it and have a party! We’re great at those!

The world has become a very scary and unsafe place for many people. For some, it has always been scary and unsafe.

Story of my African American friend and me shopping… Or my other African American friend who cried as he told me how he had to prepare his mixed race son (who looks black) to respond in the case of his arrest.

But we know we are all one in Christ, and our relationship to God in Christ is our witness, and our witness is the balm for the wounding of the world even when that means sacrificing our own comfort or our reputation or our financial resources for the sake of the other.

We are the eyes of Christ in the world today – eyes that see and notice someone who is falling, or frightened, or rejected and hands that reach out to catch them, comfort them, and welcome them. It is through our hands that God offers healing touch to someone who is broken in body or in spirit. We bear the light of Christ which dispels their darkness.

We are Christ’s feet in the world today – feet that will go willingly to those places where acceptance and compassion need to be spoken into public conversations that have become so rude, vulgar, and disrespectful anymore; feet that carry us into the public realm where the truth of Christ’s redeeming love for ALL needs to be witnessed to confront the ramped up oppression of people due to their race, gender, religion, economics, or sexual orientation.

We are the body of Christ in the world today. We are the witnesses of redemption in Jesus, the Christ.

I ask you, therefore, to pray with me now: Loving God, who is a balm for our wounded world, grant that as we gather today to worship you, and be fed by your Word and Sacrament, we will accept the grace you are offering us and allow you to make us into one body, one spirit in Christ, that we may worthily serve the world in the holy name of your Son, our Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.