At work in the world about us

 

I just love it when I have those “Aha!” moments in church.  Sometimes they’re comedic, sometimes I feel like the worst person on the planet and that perhaps I ought to wear steel-toed boots to church, because of my feet being stepped on by some representative of God.  Sometimes I get validated with a sense of “I think I got the be like Jesus thing down pact.”  Then there are times when I am like OMG!  This was the case for me as I was in the first Eucharist of the academic year at work.

The Holy Eucharist is the crescendo of any worship service.  But for some of us, it’s just “what we do.”  Whether it be every time the doors swing open for service or once a month.  In the Book of Common Prayer’s Rite II Holy Eucharist, there are four Eucharistic Prayers A (my favorite), B, C and D.  For most churches, the standby Eucharistic Prayer is Prayer A.  Until last week, Eucharist Prayer C was not necessarily my favorite prayer, but I was profoundly moved by this prayer in an inexplicable way.  In the past, I always referred to Prayer C as “the lame U.F.O. prayer.”  By the end of the prayer, I feel like I’ve gone on an Apollo mission with the mentioning of Ruler of the Universe, interstellar space, galaxies, suns and primal elements.

For some reason as Chaplain Bonner-Stewart was praying this prayer, I was more alert to what was actually being said, and could have possibly been slain in the Spirit if I were Pentecostal.  My “Aha!” moment came when we got to the part of the prayer that goes like this “Lord God of our Fathers; God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob; God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ: Open our eyes to see your hand at work in the world about us.”  Those simple lines sealed the deal for me.  

Beloved, our job as people of faith is not only to be like Jesus and love our neighbors as ourselves, but we also have a responsibility to look for the hand of God at work about us at every waking moment.  Glory to God!   It’s easy to see God moving and at work when all is right with the world, in moments of joy and happiness.  However, it is difficult to see God’s hand moving the midst of tragedy, crisis, and malaise.  Those are the times when we want to say “God, why me?”  I challenge you to conscientiously sit back and watch the hand of God at work about you, in both good and bad times.  You may become overwhelmed with a sense of great blessings and gratitude.

Peace,

Karsten

Dead seeds

 

Ok, so I really had to read through today’s gospel reading from John 12 a couple times for it to set in.  After all, who likes talking about death and dying?  I’ve recently come to grips with the fact that death is as much a part of the cycle of life as being born.  Death typically tends to be somber or sad, because there are loved ones left behind.   In today’s gospel, Jesus has an interesting conversation with Andrew and Philip.  In the conversation, Jesus says “Unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains just a single grain; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.”  I don’t know about you, but I had to do a holy eye roll and shoulder shrug on this one.  I thought to myself “Jesus, what are you talking about?”

Then it hit me.  As Christians we memorialize the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus, often times mentioning these events in our Eucharistic prayers.  In today’s Forward Day by Day, I was given further insight.  Jesus was not talking about physical death, but simply how we live our lives with each other.  See, it’s like this.  When we accept Jesus into our hearts and conscientiously decide to follow him.  There is a death to ourselves, our desires and wills that take place.   

In this death, we are imbued with fruits of the Holy Spirit: love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.  Some of us exemplify these gifts more so than others.  When we die unto ourselves and yield to God, our creator, Christ our redeemer and the Holy Spirit our guide.  The possibilities are boundless.   We are not perfect, but when we die to ourselves and are resurrected into the glory of Christ, the fruits of the Holy Spirit that spring forth are not just for us to hoard over alone but meant to be shared with the whole world, even the least of these that are frequently left out of many circles.  Go share your dead seeds and fruit!

Peace,

Karsten

 

For the facing of this hour...

It’s safe to say that September 11, 2001 is a day that everyone remembers where they were and with whom they witnessed those horrific events unfold before our eyes.  I was a much younger and novice teacher at Broughton High School in Raleigh, about to give my first test of the academic year.  It was a crisp Tuesday morning bursting with the hopeful promise of a robust autumn which would alleviate the summer’s heat. 

Fast forward eleven years into the future.  Osama Bin Laden is no longer a threat to us.  But that did not come with an easy price.  The aftermath of wars and conflicts, some of which are still in progress was a by-product of that one single event.  A very unstable national economy, corporate greed, overly inflated gas prices and soaring unemployment rates have beset what I believe to be one of the greatest countries on the planet.  Beloved, these are praying times.

At today’s chapel service at Saint Mary’s School, we paused during the Prayers of the People to remember the victims and events of September 11, 2001.  At the conclusion of the service, I was reminded by hymn # 594 in The Hymnal 1982, that God is a god of Grace and of Mercy.  Through him, the redeeming power of Christ and the renewing work of the Holy Spirit, we will be given wisdom and courage for the facing of this hour and the living of these days.

“Grant us wisdom, grant us courage,
For the facing of this hour.

Grant us wisdom, grant us courage,
For the living of these days.”

From: Hymn # 594 – The Hymnal 1982

Peace,

Karsten