Dismissals

A young man, perhaps ten or eleven, came to me after a service and said, “I’d like to be a deacon.” I replied with encouragement and asked him why. “Because if I am a deacon I can wear a cross and read the Bible to everybody in church and then go around and help people.” That’s it! … an excellent, albeit bare bones, understanding of being a deacon. Go in peace to love and serve The Lord! Josh

Last Sunday found me in a Lutheran church in Loudonville, Ohio. There we read from the 85th Psalm, that God will “speak peace” to his “faithful people.” I have heard words of this psalm elsewhere, in the film of Isak Dinesen’s story, “Babette’s Feast.” The people of that tiny Danish congregation, quarreling and contentious, come together and find peace at the sumptuous feast provided by Babette. General Lowenhielm lifts his glass and offers words of thanks, ending his toast with the 10th verse of the 85th psalm: “Mercy and truth have met together; righteousness and peace have kissed each other.” Go in peace to love and serve The Lord! Josh

In my Bible, in the Letter of James, I keep a scrap of newspaper titled “The Daily Scripture.” In big type, it bears this quote from James 4:4a: “Don’t you know that friendship with the world is hatred toward God?” My sister, Lorinda, thrust that clipping at me years ago. She asked, “What is that supposed to mean?” She was displeased because she loved this world, with all its beauty and possibility, with all its delight and despair. My attempt to answer her question – “What is that supposed to mean?” – was my first real reckoning with the Bible. I found some answers but I never did share them with her. She is gone now and I am still…

“Never war, never war. Please stop. I ask you with all my heart, it’s time to stop. Stop, please!” These are the words of Pope Francis, spoken this week, about the terrible, ongoing conflict in the Middle East. We do not often hear ‘words from the heart’ but these words are precisely that, a plaint, a lamentation, a soft wail. I am not confident that the leaders in the conflict will hear these words, or even acknowledge them. But I do. Go in peace to love and serve The Lord! Josh

Saint Bernard of Clairvaux, a Cistercian monk, lived one thousand years ago. Among other writings, Bernard wrote of the Four Loves. Therein, an understanding of our passage to the fourth stage of love, the love of self that God intends for us all: Loving yourself for your own sake. Loving God for your own sake. Loving God for God’s sake. Loving yourself for God’s sake. Go in peace to love and serve The Lord! Josh

My father told me stories. I do not know where they came from, whether tales he heard, his own inventions, or stories from his own life. I wish I could ask him…. A schoolboy was summoned by the principal to come to the school with his mother. The principal said to the mother, “Your son is keeping company with an unruly and disreputable crowd. Please speak to him about this.” “Very well,” said the mother and turned to her boy, “Son, you must continue to be a good, Christian influence on these ruffians.” Go in peace to love and and serve The Lord! Josh

There is an old joke about a man who prays daily, “God! Please, please, let me win the lottery! Please!” This goes on for years until, one night, kneeling by his bed, praying to win the lottery, the thunderous voice of God cries out, “At least buy a ticket!” And so we go into the world in search of that ticket. We find instead that we are agents of God’s Love and Mercy and no ticket is needed. Go in peace to love and serve The Lord! Josh

Every week at coffee hour, years ago in another church, a man would pour himself a cup, take a few cookies and sit at an empty table. I figured him a curmudgeon and thought it a kindness to sit with him. We had a delightful conversation and then, at last, I asked him why he never sat with anyone. “Oh,” he said, “I never know who will come sit with me. I like that. Today it’s you!” Go in peace to love and serve The Lord! Josh

As a boy, I spent time with my grandmother. In her hallway, a small wooden stand with a rotary dial telephone. When it rang, the first and second ring elicited no response from Grandma. On the third or fourth ring, she set aside her reading or knitting … Fifth …. Sixth ring, she levered herself from her chair … Seven … Eight … Nine … Grandma stood next to the telephone …. Ten … Grandma picked up the receiver, “Hello?” I asked her why she waited until the tenth ring. “If I answer any sooner, people come to expect it. I will not be made to race about.” Go in peace to love and serve The Lord! Josh

I live in an apartment. My windows all face east. There is no view to the west. Storms and clouds, wind and rain, the brightening sky after the rain, all are blown across the land by the west wind. Most days, I see from my windows not what is coming, but what already is. “The wind blows where it chooses, and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes.” [John3:8a] Go in peace to love and and serve The Lord! Josh

In this week’s New Yorker, an article titled “No Time … How Did We Get So Busy?” We have so much to do, so little time. How might we slow down, find time to think, to do nothing, to journal, meditate, keep watch or simply pray? Beautiful – and very short – Daily Devotions for Individuals and Families are in our Book of Common Prayer. There are four: Morning, Noon, Evening and Close of Day. As a remedy for harried and hectic, start the day at page 137, end the day with page 140. Go in peace to love and serve the Lord! Josh Daily Devotions: In the Morning At Noon In the Early Evening At the Close of Day

Among the rich traditions of our Episcopal Church is the Daily Office, prayers and scripture for family and personal devotions. In The Book of Common Prayer, beginning on page 934, readings from scripture are set out for every day of the week, in a two year cycle. The pamphlet Day by Day lists the scripture for each day with a short (about 150 words) reflection. From today’s scripture readings, the words and phrases that have leapt to greet me …. Leviticus: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” 1st Thessalonians: “Admonish the idlers, encourage the fainthearted, help the weak.” Matthew: “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” And so the day begins, thanks be to God!…