March 16
Friends,
It is interesting how what we have been taught about God can get in the way of God doing what God does in our midst. At least that is what I find interesting in this week’s gospel. It’s a line the Pharisees dismiss the blind man with, “you were born completely in sin…" You see, at this point in history, our friends believed that disability was a punishment from God. If a child was born with a disability, then the parents must have sinned egregiously. And so these faithful folk came to this encounter standing on different ground than the blind man and God.
By understanding his blindness as an intentional punishment from God, they dismissed the very possibility that God would cure him. They also dismissed this miracle as one of the proofs that God walked among them. They ‘knew’ how God worked and who God worked for. And God came into their midst to shatter that misunderstanding.
It leads me to ask where do I ‘know’ how God is working or for whom God is working? It makes me wonder what miracles I am missing around me? And it helps me to loosen my expectations of God and of God’s people so that I can see God in our midst and the miracles God performs around me.
Mac+
It is interesting how what we have been taught about God can get in the way of God doing what God does in our midst. At least that is what I find interesting in this week’s gospel. It’s a line the Pharisees dismiss the blind man with, “you were born completely in sin…" You see, at this point in history, our friends believed that disability was a punishment from God. If a child was born with a disability, then the parents must have sinned egregiously. And so these faithful folk came to this encounter standing on different ground than the blind man and God.
By understanding his blindness as an intentional punishment from God, they dismissed the very possibility that God would cure him. They also dismissed this miracle as one of the proofs that God walked among them. They ‘knew’ how God worked and who God worked for. And God came into their midst to shatter that misunderstanding.
It leads me to ask where do I ‘know’ how God is working or for whom God is working? It makes me wonder what miracles I am missing around me? And it helps me to loosen my expectations of God and of God’s people so that I can see God in our midst and the miracles God performs around me.
Mac+
March 9
Friends,
What a gospel! I’ll be preaching Sunday so I don’t want to give too much away, yet I hear of a connection between our gospel this week and the conversations we have had at our Lenten Supper series. Many in this bit of John, continue to ask how can there be communion between disparate groups. “How can you, a Jew, ask this of me, a Samaritan woman?” Dividing each other, separating each other. You can hear the cuts in their language as they barb back and forth. The disciples even push her away. Each had an ability to see the others as different. Or had the expectation to see each other as different.
This past Wednesday, the question was asked, ‘when are you separated from nature?’ Many talked about our living conditions, or our food procurement, or our means of travel. But let me ask you, Is the gorge bridge natural? If it isn’t, what is it? Supernatural? We must acknowledge our part interconnected and interdependent upon the Creation God has made. Yes, our capability and invasiveness as a species is beyond compare, but we must not fall to idolatries that claim that we are anything but a part of God’s created order. Our future is the same as the Samaritan women’s, we must allow the barriers we believe divide us, from fellow humans and fellow creation, in order to find the liberty Jesus has been offering the entire time.
Mac+
What a gospel! I’ll be preaching Sunday so I don’t want to give too much away, yet I hear of a connection between our gospel this week and the conversations we have had at our Lenten Supper series. Many in this bit of John, continue to ask how can there be communion between disparate groups. “How can you, a Jew, ask this of me, a Samaritan woman?” Dividing each other, separating each other. You can hear the cuts in their language as they barb back and forth. The disciples even push her away. Each had an ability to see the others as different. Or had the expectation to see each other as different.
This past Wednesday, the question was asked, ‘when are you separated from nature?’ Many talked about our living conditions, or our food procurement, or our means of travel. But let me ask you, Is the gorge bridge natural? If it isn’t, what is it? Supernatural? We must acknowledge our part interconnected and interdependent upon the Creation God has made. Yes, our capability and invasiveness as a species is beyond compare, but we must not fall to idolatries that claim that we are anything but a part of God’s created order. Our future is the same as the Samaritan women’s, we must allow the barriers we believe divide us, from fellow humans and fellow creation, in order to find the liberty Jesus has been offering the entire time.
Mac+
March 2
Friends,
What a week! I am on the mend. Thank you everyone for the grace to be away sick. For those who attended the noon Ash Wednesday service, you had the pleasure of meeting Fr Alan Gibson who was able to step in as I was too ill.
Fr Alan retired to Taos about a year ago and has been extremely faithful in his retirement, worshiping at our 8 am Sunday service. This past November, when Fr Mike and I were quarantined after being exposed to COVID and we did not have a supply priest able to join us, Fr Alan and I filed the paperwork necessary for him to serve in this diocese, if another such issue arose. Well, something like that happened so a very big, Thank you to Fr Alan!
I hope you all are finding some disciplines fruitful so far this Lent. Last night I was able to attend our Lenten Simple Supper series and boy did it produce fruit. Of course, as our first gathering was spent with most of our time dining and getting to know each other. We then moved to an open discussion, guided by our small book and our facilitator, about what Scripture says regarding us and Creation. That conversation was only the beginning, and the right place to start, but will only continue to grow. The evening ended with worship and our taking leave to go out into the night to ponder and grow. I hope you will take the opportunity to be with your fellow pilgrims in new and life giving ways this Lent.
What a week! I am on the mend. Thank you everyone for the grace to be away sick. For those who attended the noon Ash Wednesday service, you had the pleasure of meeting Fr Alan Gibson who was able to step in as I was too ill.
Fr Alan retired to Taos about a year ago and has been extremely faithful in his retirement, worshiping at our 8 am Sunday service. This past November, when Fr Mike and I were quarantined after being exposed to COVID and we did not have a supply priest able to join us, Fr Alan and I filed the paperwork necessary for him to serve in this diocese, if another such issue arose. Well, something like that happened so a very big, Thank you to Fr Alan!
I hope you all are finding some disciplines fruitful so far this Lent. Last night I was able to attend our Lenten Simple Supper series and boy did it produce fruit. Of course, as our first gathering was spent with most of our time dining and getting to know each other. We then moved to an open discussion, guided by our small book and our facilitator, about what Scripture says regarding us and Creation. That conversation was only the beginning, and the right place to start, but will only continue to grow. The evening ended with worship and our taking leave to go out into the night to ponder and grow. I hope you will take the opportunity to be with your fellow pilgrims in new and life giving ways this Lent.
February 23
Friends,
Let’s talk a bit about fasting. Raised as a baptist, Lent and fasting were not part of my early experiences of faith. And for the first years they were present, it seemed to me that most fasted in the same way every year by giving up sugar, or alcohol, or fast food, etc, and that rhythm of regular fasting is wonderful. It allows us to may connections over the years by noting differences and similarities from fasts past.
I have two regular fasts, many of you know I have a strong sweet tooth and so I try to abstain from as much sugar and dessert during Lent. And, I also try to fast from the music that I regularly listen to. I know it isn’t dietary but music feeds me, feeds my soul. And so to fast from familiar music requires me to find new music. And in the same way I eat a lot more apples and pears and pineapple during Lent, as I wrestle with my sweet tooth, hearing new artists, new genres, new modalities of music requires me to appreciate new tastes and new textures. And I also try to add something new. This year, I will be trying to reduce my carbon imprint as part of our parish Lenten series. I drive a lot, I am going to try to cut back and walk more around town. You may see me out walking, honk and give me a wave. And come join us on Wednesday nights during Lent, 5:30-7:30pm, for a supper and conversation about how we can each make a difference in our impact on God’s creation.
And, sometimes a fast is chosen for us. My sincere gratitude to our staff, vestry, clergy, and volunteers. This was the first Ash Wednesday I had not been gathered with the faithful in two decades. As our kids are back in school and programs, as our families travel and visit, we are returning to those old realities that we get sick. This bout, that knocked me down and kept me from Shrove Tuesday and Ash Wednesday, was still a good reminder of my mortality and of God’s providence. And that is what these days are about. Thank you!
Mac+
Let’s talk a bit about fasting. Raised as a baptist, Lent and fasting were not part of my early experiences of faith. And for the first years they were present, it seemed to me that most fasted in the same way every year by giving up sugar, or alcohol, or fast food, etc, and that rhythm of regular fasting is wonderful. It allows us to may connections over the years by noting differences and similarities from fasts past.
I have two regular fasts, many of you know I have a strong sweet tooth and so I try to abstain from as much sugar and dessert during Lent. And, I also try to fast from the music that I regularly listen to. I know it isn’t dietary but music feeds me, feeds my soul. And so to fast from familiar music requires me to find new music. And in the same way I eat a lot more apples and pears and pineapple during Lent, as I wrestle with my sweet tooth, hearing new artists, new genres, new modalities of music requires me to appreciate new tastes and new textures. And I also try to add something new. This year, I will be trying to reduce my carbon imprint as part of our parish Lenten series. I drive a lot, I am going to try to cut back and walk more around town. You may see me out walking, honk and give me a wave. And come join us on Wednesday nights during Lent, 5:30-7:30pm, for a supper and conversation about how we can each make a difference in our impact on God’s creation.
And, sometimes a fast is chosen for us. My sincere gratitude to our staff, vestry, clergy, and volunteers. This was the first Ash Wednesday I had not been gathered with the faithful in two decades. As our kids are back in school and programs, as our families travel and visit, we are returning to those old realities that we get sick. This bout, that knocked me down and kept me from Shrove Tuesday and Ash Wednesday, was still a good reminder of my mortality and of God’s providence. And that is what these days are about. Thank you!
Mac+