Christ Chapel Sermon from February 19th

A little late but here is my sermon from the 19th of February for a Lenten Feria day Eucharist in Christ Chapel at Seminary of the Southwest…

Text: Matthew 6:7-15

“When you are praying, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do; for they think that will be heard because of their many words. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.”

In our tradition we have many prayers.

We have prayers that we learned as small children.

“Now I lay me down to sleep, I pray the Lord my soul to keep; but if I should die before I wake, I pray the Lord my soul to take.”

We have prayers that for much our lives we only heard once a week.

“Lord, we pray that in your goodness and mercy your Holy
Spirit may descend upon us, and upon these gifts, sanctifying
them and showing them to be holy gifts for your holy people,
the bread of life and the cup of salvation, the Body and Blood
of your Son Jesus Christ.

Grant that all who share this bread and cup may become one
body and one spirit, a living sacrifice in Christ, to the praise
of your Name.”

We have prayers that we say once a day.

“Guide us waking, O Lord, and guard us sleeping; that awake
we may watch with Christ, and asleep we may rest in peace.”

We have prayers that we say multiple times a day.

“Holy God,
Holy and Mighty,
Holy Immortal One,
Have mercy upon us.”

We have prayers that we pray almost continuously.

“Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy upon me.”

We have prayers that we do not pray nearly enough.

“Thank you.”

But there is one prayer that Jesus of Nazareth gave to us.

“Pray then in this way:
    Our Father in heaven,
        hallowed be your name.
         Your kingdom come.
        Your will be done,
            on earth as it is in heaven.
        Give us this day our daily bread.
        And forgive us our debts,
            as we also have forgiven our debtors.
        And do not bring us to the time of trial,
            but rescue us from the evil one.”

This is perhaps the first prayer that we learn to pray.

There is so very much within this simple prayer that given a life to ponder nothing more than it, I do not think that we should ever completely grasp the power of these fifty-eight words.

Father Alexander Schmemann has a small book where he breaks the Our Father down into eight petitions, now there is not time today to speak about each part of this prayer, but there are three that I think are especially important during this season of Lent.

The first, “Our Father in heaven.” One of the most amazing things to me about this prayer that Jesus gave to all of us, is how personal it is. Our Father. Abba. Amma. Papa. This is not a prayer addressed to a God that is removed from us, this is a prayer addressed to our parent. A parent whose only desire is for us to be drawn into their being and to feel their love. During this time in the wilderness, even though we may not see or feel the presence of God, our loving parent is there with us.

The second, “Give us this day our daily bread.” This parent, our God will provide for us. As we fast and cut out excesses during this time of Lent, God will provide all of the nourishment that we need. As our reliance on the earthly and temporal pass away, the God sized hole in our hearts will be filled and our cups will runneth over.

The third, “And do not bring us to the time of trial, but rescue us from the evil one.” I have found in my life that frequently the only thing keeping me from the fullest relationship with God that is possible… is me. I have been, and perhaps you as well have been your own worst enemy, the one thing that is separating us from the love of God.  As Saint Brendan said, “You are the veil that hides the paradise you seek.’ As we walk the pilgrim road that is our journey in faith,   we must let God remove the stumbling block from our path. We must be quiet and listen for the heartbeat of God, the heartbeat of our Mother, the heartbeat of ourselves.

For as the Apostle Paul said “In Him we live, and move, and have our being.” This prayer that Jesus gave to us serves to draw us fuller into the life of God. God is not far away from us, God is beside us. God is not something we want, God is something that we need. God is not the end of the pilgrimage, God is the pilgrimage.

Now I ask you sisters and brothers to stand, to take the hand of the person nearest to you, and join me as we pray; Our Father…

Third Sunday after Epiphany

This is my sermon from my last Sunday at the Trinity Center in Austin.

The Third Sunday after Epiphany

1 Corinthians 12:12-31a
Luke 4:14-21

Most of you know that for the last three weeks I have served as an intern here at Trinity Center. For the month of January this has been my classroom and it has been a most wonderful experience. Last spring I heard a lecture at seminary where the speaker, a priest from England, spoke about the difference between a with and a for ministry. In a for ministry you do something for people and then go back to your life. In a with ministry you know the people and you do things with them, it is an ongoing relationship not a one off interaction.

Trinity Center is a with ministry. There is a beautiful relationship between the neighbors, volunteers, and staff. Thank you for welcoming me into that relationship. I can truly say that I will miss you. On the wall over there is a painting of Dr. Cornel West, it also has a quote of his written on the painting. “You can’t lead the people if you don’t love the people. You can’t save the people if you won’t serve the people.” I have looked at that painting and dwelled on that quote daily during my time here and it has not been far from my mind on the days that I have been away.

“You can’t lead the people if you don’t love the people.”

This is perhaps a pretty obvious statement, but Jesus loved the people. And it is his love for the people that we are called to imitate. That day in Nazareth he came into the synagogue and read the words of the prophet Isaiah. With those words he was beginning a new thing, grounded in an old thing. He was not casting off the tradition that he had been raised in, he was speaking prophetically and calling that tradition back its roots.

He read words that the people knew. He was saying to them, this is what we are supposed to be doing. The people of God need to be reminded of the basics of our call to common life. In the synagogue that day, Jesus spoke rather clearly as to what that common life is supposed to look like.

“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
        because he has anointed me
            to bring good news to the poor.
    He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives
        and recovery of sight to the blind,
            to let the oppressed go free,
     to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” (Luke 4:18-19 NRSV)

He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free. This is a wonderfully vague line. It could, and I would assert does, refer to any number of things. What are we held captive by? What is it that makes us blind to the love that God has for us? What is it that is oppressing us? Pride? Alcohol? Gossip? Drugs? Lust? Sin. Sin is what holds us captive. Sin is what makes us blind. Sin is what is oppressing us.

It is from the clutches of sin that Jesus releases us. By loving us Jesus leads us from sin.

“You can’t save the people if you won’t serve the people.”

Is the second half of the quote from Dr. West. The Apostle Paul in his first letter to the church at Corinth speaks to the importance of this. “For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. For in the one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and we were all made to drink of one Spirit. Indeed, the body does not consist of one member but of many.” (1 Corinthians 12:12–14 NRSV)

We exist as the body of Christ in this world. “You are the body of Christ and individually members of it.” (1 Corinthians 12:27 NRSV), writes the Apostle. We have been knit together as the body of Christ. Our successes and failures are not individual, they are collective. “If one member suffers, all suffer together with it; if one member is honored, all rejoice together with it.” (1 Corinthians 12:26 NRSV)

This is why it is so important that places like Trinity Center exist. When one suffers we all suffer. And in this space the work of Christ is happening. We are given an example of how Jesus’ ministry looks in our own time. Feeding, clothing, being with each other. Daily through this place we are reminded of our role in the world. We must serve each other, because that is the only way to save each other.

Further in serving the other members of the body of Christ, we serve ourselves as members of the whole. If one member is honored, all rejoice together. If one is freed from sin, all will be freed.

William Blake wrote “Everything that lives, lives not alone nor for itself…” (The Book of Thel) Cornel West, Paul, and Jesus all spoke to this same thing. After Jesus read from the scroll he sat back down and said ““Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.”” (Luke 4:21 NRSV) The way for us to fulfill that same scripture is clear but we are not alone, we are here together on this journey supporting each other and being called back to the same foundation. Proclaim release, restore sight, and free the oppressed; we can, and we must, do these things together.

“You can’t lead the people if you don’t love the people. You can’t save the people if you don’t serve the people.” Loving and serving has been the foundation of the ministry of the people of God since the very beginning. We have succeeded and we have failed, and we will continue to succeed and fail; but we do so together. We weep and rejoice together.
This day and all days; love and serve each other, and let yourself to be loved and allow others to serve you. Amen.

Camino de Santiago Pilgrimage

Greetings friends…

    One of my least favorite/ enjoyable things in the world is asking people for help. That is exactly, and perhaps more specifically, I hate when I am forced to ask for monetary assistance, which is exactly why I am sending you this communication. Last spring in a church history course, we read about the Camino de Santiago, the way of St. James. It is the pilgrimage route that ends at the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela in northwest Spain. The earliest records of visits to the shrine of St. James date to the 8th century and the Camino has been walked almost continuously ever since.
    When we read about the Camino, something inside of me moved and I knew that I needed to take this pilgrimage. This coming summer I am planning on taking the pilgrimage from Saint Jean Pied de Port in France to the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela and hopefully onto Cabo Finisterre (the edge of the world). Walking that route I will cover 500 miles. The journey will probably last 5-6 weeks. During that time I will be staying at Monasteries, Hostels, and of course the occasional night spent under the stars of Northern Spain.
    This will not be an easy journey; mentally, physically, or spiritually. The journey will be a time of prayer and reflection, struggle and growth, and separation from family and friends. Annie will not be able to take that much away from work, and she said that walking 500 miles is not exactly her idea of a good time. Our hope is that we will be able to raise enough money to support my going on the Camino, so that we as a couple can take a trip to the United Kingdom. We are hoping to be able to visit London, before traveling to Northern Ireland to reunite with some friends of mine from the Ulster Project. This summer will be 10 years since I served as a counselor for the Ulster Project in Madison after graduating from Hanover.
    If you are able to donate to this fund, know that your donation will be put towards the Camino. Any excess funds that are raised will be donated at the end of the Camino to an organization that supports the upkeep of the Camino and the Pilgrims who undertake the journey. I have researched the cost of flights, trains, and daily lodging while on the Camino; the total cost will likely be around 4,500 dollars. Any amount that you donate will help.
    Thank you for taking the time to read this letter. I have set up a Paypal donation site.  There is a link at the bottom of this message, as well as on the sidebar of the blog (http://padreteejay.wordpress.com/). If you would like our address, if you prefer to send something via mail, please feel free to send me an email (scotsman43 (at) gmail (dot) com).
    Again thank you and know that you are all in my prayers daily.

Blessings and ‘Buen Camino!’…
T.J.

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Sermon First Sunday after Epiphany.

After Morning Prayer this morning I realized that I never posted my sermon from last weekend. This was delivered at a prayer/ worship center at St. David’s, Trinity Center, here in Austin. It is an outreach center serving the local population, largely homeless, in the downtown area. My January term is being spent serving there and I am really enjoying it.

P.S. This is also the sermon that I was told really wasn’t preaching because I didn’t bring the fire and brimstone. The same person also told me that he was pretty sure that I wasn’t saved after hearing it, I didn’t think it was that bad.

The First Sunday after Epiphany
Isaiah 43:1-7

Growing up I spent much time camping with my family. Some families went to Florida or to Hawaii; my family went camping. Most of the time we would pack up our tents and head to one of the state parks in southern Indiana; Clifty Falls, The Shades, or Shakamak. We would sleep in our tents and dad or mom would cook our meals on this old Coleman camp stove.

Every couple of years we would take a trip up to a friend of my grandparent’s cabin in Wisconsin. There we had these awesome bunk beds to sleep in and there was a dock that went out into the lake where I remember fishing with my dad and grandfather. We would catch bluegill and smallmouth bass, and the most beautiful trout. Rainbow and brown trout, I can still recall the way that they glimmered in the sun.

My college campus was surrounded by 600 acres of woods. Beautiful hills and valleys, a bluff overlooking the Ohio River, and plenty of places to hide from the world. When school and homework would become too much I would run into those woods to escape. By the time I graduated I could have hiked most of those woods blindfolded.

I still love to camp and hike. The week before last I went with a classmate from seminary to Guadalupe Mountains National Park. We hiked miles and miles, eventually setting up camp under the shadow of the pine trees. We watched the sun set over west Texas and the stars dance across the blackest sky that I had seen in a very long time. I saw a shooting star that burned brightly for at least 5 seconds as it traced an arc across that beautiful canvas.

That night I did not sleep very well though. I could have sworn that there was something prowling around the outside of our tent. The ranger told us while we were getting our camping permit that we needed to make sure to put our food up in the trees away from the camp in case anything smelled it and came to investigate. He told us that raccoons and skunks have been known to get into packs looking for tasty treats, that deer will sometimes take sweaty shirts off of trees for the salt; and then of course he mentioned mountain lions and bears.

I am from Indiana, we do not have mountain lions and bears. I cannot count the number of nights that I have laid in camp listening to the coyotes singing along the ridges surrounding me. Coyotes however are not mountain lions and bears.

So there I was laying awake, imagining mountain lions and bears about to rip through the canvas and make a midnight snack of me. Despite my buddy being in the tent with me I felt alone and vulnerable.

This is where the people of Israel are when God speaks through the prophet Isaiah. They are in the midst of the Babylonian Exile. They have been marched away from their homes and the lands that they love; the lands that God promised them. Their way of life and culture were under attack, they cannot see the things that they know and trust.

They felt alone and abandoned by the God they loved and trusted. There is no hope, the light of day is not going to come again.

It is to a people in the depths of darkness that God is speaking.

“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 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.”
(Isaiah 43:1–3 NRSV)

There is no darkness, river, or fire that can separate us from the love of God. God does not promise that we will not have to go through these trials or that we will not sit in darkness without any glimpse of the light upon the horizon. God promises us that we will never be alone, we will never be totally lost in the darkness; the Spirit of God will always be with us.

God tells us not to fear because we are never alone.

But it does not stop there, God then speaks these words.

“Because you are precious in my sight, and honored, and I love you.”
(Isaiah 43:4 NRSV)

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

God is not promising love and faithfulness to those who are sitting comfortably in their childhood homes. These words are spoken to a broken people; who have stumbled and fallen, who have sinned and continue to sin, who are hungry, homeless, and not sure of what will come next.

When God speaks these words to us, it is not because we are perfect. God speaks these words out of love for us. No matter the darkness of the night or the self-perceived gravity of our sins, God loves us and is with us.

So fear not.

Know that God is with you.

With each of us.

God loves us.

And most importantly; God loves you.

Advent Day 23

And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father’s only son, full of grace and truth. (John 1:14 NRSV)

There is a lot of build up to Christmas Day, it started around Thanksgiving here in the United States. We have been wrapping, planning, prepping, and praying. Our country has seen a horrible storm ravage the East coast and we wept with a small town in Connecticut at the unnecessary loss of 28 precious lives. If we watch the news we hear the political vitriol surrounding the impending “fiscal cliff” and we see the weather forecasts of potentially heavy snow and turbulent storms across much of our country.

But in the midst of all of this we will gather in churches and homes across the nation and world to celebrate the birth of a child. A small baby boy wrapped in swaddling clothes, not looking much like a King, when the Word came into the world this was not what we expected. Power made strong in weakness. God meeting us exactly where we are. God with us.

I pray that each of you has a very Happy and Blessed Christmastide. As we go forth we must be what Jesus was… God with us. We must be the presence of God with the people who need Him. It is the teaching and example that we were given. This is blessing of the Incarnation, this is our task in the world. The love of God, our love, must be written on the hearts of those around us, so that that love can soak in when those hearts break.

(Special thanks to The Rev. Sam Wells and Brother Curtis Almquist for thoughts they inspired in this post)

Advent Day 22

I am about to do a new thing;
now it springs forth, do you not perceive it?
I will make a way in the wilderness
and rivers in the desert. (Isaiah 43:19 NRSV)

In the Incarnation God did a new thing. An amazing thing. A thing that had not happened before. That is what we are being called to perceive anew each Christmastide. We will be in the wilderness and we will lose our way in the desert. God will come to us where we are and He will meet us in the places where we are lost and hopeless. In the darkness of the night, the light of God entering the world will shine through into our lives. We have only to open our eyes and hearts to see that light.

Advent Day 21

“Then the king will say to those at his right hand, “Come, you that are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world; for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me.”” (Matthew 25:34-36 NRSV)

When we were driving back to Indiana yesterday we came across a man at intersection with a sign, “Very desperate and hungry. Please Help. God Bless.” It was about 28 degrees outside and he had no gloves only a very light coat and tennis shoes. His hands were dry and cracked, he was obviously very cold, freezing perhaps. I saw no blankets, or bags, or any extra thing.

When did we do these things Lord?

When I was hungry you fed me.

When I was thirsty you gave me a drink.

When I was a stranger you welcomed me.

When I was naked you clothed me.

When I was sick you healed me.

When I was in prison you visited me.

We should do likewise…