The Gospel Imperative

But during the night an angel of the Lord opened the prison doors, brought them out, and said, “Go, stand in the temple and tell the people the whole message about this life.”  Acts 5: 19

     I have been seeing with new eyes recently or at least with one new eye.  I had a cataract removed last week and it is amazing the colors and shapes of things.  The grass and leaves are a deeper green, the sky a clearer blue, and the shapes of things just seem to pop.   It is as though I am seeing the world for the first time.  I had no idea what I was not seeing.  This experience often happens to me spiritually.  Out of the blue, God gifts me with new eyes to see situations.   I see a bigger picture in a situation that I had thought I understood perfectly.

     My surgery coincided with the murder of 9 black parishioners of Emanuel AME church in Charleston, S.C.  This racist, hate crime is hard to digest – no, it is not digestible.  These 9 people had welcomed the stranger in their midst into prayer.  During these holy moments, the young white man stood and began  yelling racially taunting remarks, followed by the massacre.  Just a few days later the church was filled with worshipers.  Parishioners and family members were already publicly forgiving this young man and praying for his soul.

     The people of Mother Emmanuel are living the life of Christ.  They are not imprisoned by the acts committed against them and are telling the world about this amazing life that God has filled them with.   This is the life that the angel of the Lord instructed Peter and his friends to tell the world about when they were released from prison.

     We know this life too.  Sometimes we take it for granted and choose to not see through God’s eyes.  As the Rev. Goff from Mother Emmanuel said on Sunday, “the only way evil can triumph is for good folks to sit down and do nothing.”

     I pray that all of us good people choose daily to break out of our self-made prisons in order to see through God’s eyes and  tell the world about the amazing life we have been called to.  Don’t keep it a secret!

Lord, make me an instrument of Thy peace;
where there is hatred, let me sow love;
where there is injury, pardon;
where there is doubt, faith;
where there is despair, hope;
where there is darkness, light;
and where there is sadness, joy.

O Divine Master,
grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console;
to be understood, as to understand;
to be loved, as to love;
for it is in giving that we receive,
it is in pardoning that we are pardoned,
and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.

Amen.

st. francis of assisi - 13th century

What is your parable?

In my sermon Sunday, I observed that Jesus points us in the direction of God’s mystery in the parables he tells. The parables ask us to open our imaginations because the mystery of God is as close as our breath and as far away as the stars. And yet because we are a part of that mystery, we can have difficulty seeing it. When we encounter the mystery of God, our imaginations are fired, our hearts are quickened, and the windows to our souls are opened so that life-giving spirit blows in to refresh and renew. On Sunday I invited everyone to practice the mystery of God this summer and to start by writing your own parable about that mystery and emailing it to me.

Christ Church Cathedral member Dan McGrath wrote this parable:

“A man was leaning on his fork, in the midst of turning over the soil in the garden

In the fall, preparing it for the following spring’s planting

He looked up and saw an immense flock of migrating blackbirds

They covered the sky from one horizon to the other

The man had a feeling that he was utterly insignificant,

Part of an immense whole, but at the same time safely comforted

Realizing that even death was not to be feared

He returned to his heavy work uplifted and inspired

Knowing he was loved and ready to extend that love to others

Such is the Kingdom of God”

Where do you encounter the mystery of God? What is your parable?

Peace,

The Reverend Brent Owens 

The Practice of Presence

Yesterday I was approached by 5 youth, training to be summer camp leaders. They were seeking to “bless people” in the community and asked if I knew where they might be able to find people bless. It seemed an odd request, and I wasn’t sure what they were looking for.  As there were few bodies to bless here at the Cathedral on a weekday, I recommended they go to Third St. Stuff and talk with the owner who is quite involved in social justice and outreach projects in our neighborhood. Although they seemed satisfied with my suggestion, and quickly went on their way, their presence and desires to “bless” stayed with me throughout the day.

Often people ask me to pray for them, or their family members and loved ones (which I love because it continually invites me into prayer ). But, it is the rare occasion that someone comes up to me asking for a blessing. Certainly I give out blessings at the Wednesday 12:05 healing services or before a surgery, but these pre-prescribed instances of blessing are typically the only instances where I am present with another in prayer, laying on of hands, and blessing. These instances of blessing are so transformative though. As we open ourselves to the power of the Spirit through prayer and laying on of hands we allow ourselves to experience the realness of God in very tactile way, that is different and separate from the prayers we say as we sit alone in the silence of our minds. There is a very moving power that lies in the midst of our connections with others as we seek to connect to God through the ministry of presence.

Blessings are not simply a rite left to our clergy though. Anyone who can open themselves to the Spirit and be physically present to another has the ability to give a blessing. Which made these young person's call to go out into our community and bless those in need of God’s grace, love, and power so moving and powerful. Too often we forget and discount the needed ministry of presence. It is a ministry that many of us participate in without even realizing it. When we sit with a friend in the midst of despair, or call a family member who is feeling low; when we take a meal to co-worker suffering from illness, or lend an ear to a lonely stranger; even when we simply put our hand on anothers shoulder, or accompany another in the silence of despair we are practicing the ministry of presence. Jesus knew this as he said, “For where two or three are gathered in my name, I am there among them.” (Matthew 18:20).

There is a real and powerful healing balm that comes with the ministry presence. Not only to those who seek comfort and healing, but also to those who offer it. When we share with others in the mystery of God’s grace and love through the ministry of presence we are able to experience the awe that is the power of the Spirit through our connection and interaction with others.