Beyond the Horizon

We seem to give him back to you, dear God, who gave him to us. Yet as you did not lose him in giving, so we have not lost him by his returning. Not as the world gives, do you give, O Lover of Souls! What you give, you do not take away. For what is yours is ours always, if we are yours. Life is eternal; and love is immortal; and death is only a horizon; and a horizon is nothing but the limit of our sight.

Lift us up, strong Son of God, that we may see further; cleanse our eyes that we may see more clearly; draw us closer to yourself that we may know ourselves nearer to our beloved who are with you. And while you prepare a place for us, prepare us for that happy place, that where they are, and you are, we too may be; through Jesus Christ our Lord.            

Rossiter Raymond

This prayer, by Rossiter Raymond, who lived in the early 1900’s, is a wonderful reminder to us of the both the pain and the joy found in the limitedness of our humanity. While it is true that we are limited by our mortality, we also need to be reminded that we are limited as well in our full understanding of reality.

Because of the limitedness of our ability to fully comprehend our existence, our creator became flesh, lived among us, and showed us a glimpse of what lies beyond the horizon of our senses. Because of Jesus’ life and gospel, we know that what lies beyond the horizon is a place of joy and peace, a place of heavenly bliss beyond our ability to describe.

Today, even though Jesus is not physically with us, we are still able to peek beyond the horizon. We see beyond the horizon with the eyes of our heart and the eyes of faith. We see beyond the horizon when we feel the love that we and our departed loved ones still share. Love is not limited by time or space. We see beyond the horizon when we know God’s love and are strengthened and empowered by the presence of the Holy Spirit. That same spirit which also knows no bounds is always calling us to keeping our course true. May it continually guide us until we reach that beautiful land beyond the limit of our sight.

Thy Kingdom Come

At every Sunday worship service, and in just about every liturgy of our church, we pray the Lord’s Prayer. When we pray this prayer, one of the things we say is: “…thy kingdom come, thy will be done…”. Many of us say this phrase without giving it much thought. However, this phrase has recently been taken up by the Archbishop of Canterbury as a challenge for all of us to recommit ourselves to a life of prayer and service in the church.

As we reflect on the phrase, “thy kingdom come”, we are immediately reminded that we are part of something much larger than ourselves. This of course is true when we consider our individual connection to St. Michael’s but even more so when we remember that our small church is part of a larger diocesan community, which is part of a larger denomination, which is part of a larger communion, which is connected to the whole Christian faith itself which expands outward in time and space beginning with Jesus Christ, all those centuries ago.

This simple phrase, “thy kingdom come” also reminds us that we are part of a movement which is larger than just our local mission. We are part of undertaking that is participatory and calls us to be involved by committing ourselves to something greater that we could do on our own. Truly, none of us would know the joys of our faith, the fellowship of our church, or be as effective in helping those in need, without this movement of faith being handed down to us from those who came before. Those people who passed this mission to us have not only given us a great treasure, but also continue to enrich our lives by our memory of them and all they have done for our world.

As we think about these things in the light of the Easter season, I hope many of us will decide to take up the Archbishop’s challenge and recommit ourselves to taking on a greater role in this wonderful movement that began so long ago. Of course, St. Michael’s provides us with many opportunities to take up this challenge. These opportunities range from volunteering in one of our many outreach ministries, to participating in a fellowship group. One might also consider taking on a leadership role or working behind the scenes to help support a wide variety of ministries, all of which work together to expand God’s kingdom. If you would like to have a conversation about how you might recommit yourself and use your gifts and talents to further God’s kingdom, please don’t hesitate to speak with me or anyone on our Vestry or parish staff.  May God bless you in your journey!

If you would like to learn more about the Archbishop’s movement, you can visit his website at: https://www.thykingdomcome.global

The Untethered Soul

As most people know, Christianity in America has been on the decline for some time now. As the number of unchurched Americans increases we are moving into a time when the majority of Americans will have no real connection to a faith community. This lack of community is likely to have a number of serious consequences. One of these consequences that has been on my mind lately is the lack of community support available to people who do not go to a church. In today’s digital world it is often difficult for people who are new to a community to find and develop genuine friendships.

In fact, I was just having a conversation with a young couple two days ago who mentioned how after they moved to town they couldn’t seem to meet people and make friends. They tried to meet people at the library, the gym, and even signed up for a hiking club that treated them like outsiders. Finally, they decided to come to church and were delighted to find a community of people who were happy to invite them over to dinner and even to join our Wednesday Walkers small group.

While this seems like a small thing, humans are not designed to be isolated. We are built to live together and work with one another for our common benefit and happiness. Community, it seems, is a necessary thing for people. This is particularly important when people are facing real hardship in their lives. Left with no support system, people dealing with real difficulty often turn to drugs, violence, and other unsavory methods to redirect their longing for the care and support they are really looking for. Ultimately, they end up finding for a cheap replacement for the love, care, and validation they really need.

It is important for us in the church to remember that all people have this need for love, and that the richest source of love is God’s love; a love found in the heart of the Christian community. It is up to us then to reach out to those people in our lives and in our communities who need us. It is up to us to see the people on the margins and invite them in to a place of love and grace. Perhaps when the church decides to do this with all its energy the world will become a safer, healthier, and more loving place to be.

The Profile for our Next Bishop is Complete!

I have taken some time away from blogging over the last few months to concentrate on my duties as the Profile Committee Chair for our new bishop search here in Colorado. This was an very challenging process involving every region of our diocese. To come up with this profile we held regional gatherings, put together an online survey constructed by a team of people from a mix of different types of ministries, and finally culminated this process by writing the profile with two different teams with some final editing by the standing committee. I certainly felt stretched thin at times but I have come to appreciate the true diversity of our diocese and the strength those differences offer. I hope you will take some time to look over what we have put together. Now, hopefully someone will feel up to the call. CLICK HERE to see the profile.

Anxiety in the System

Over the last decade many clergy in the Episcopal Church have received training in conflict management and family systems theory. Conflict management is easy enough to understand but family systems theory is a bit more complex. In family systems theory one tries to understand the complex social interactions that happen in communities. For clergy, the hope is that by understanding these complex relationships one can manage conflict, help people relate better to one another, create positive change, and focus the group’s attention on the mission and work of the church.

However, knowing a good bit about conflict management and family systems theory has also given me a very interesting lens through which to see all of the conflict we have in the very large system of our country.  I know so many of us were once again devastated to hear about another act of mass violence, this time in the city of Las Vegas. It seems some horrible natural disaster or violent act is happening just about every week.

For those of us who know family systems theory, we know that all of this constant concern over the dangers of our world creates a great deal of anxiety. This anxiety then becomes present, not only in the system of the United States, but even within our own families and also in the system we know as St. Michael’s. The net result of all this tension in our world can have many different effects. This anxiety can cause people to be irritable, to withdraw, to become defensive, argumentative, and a whole host of other negative things. We then tend to project these attitudes (sometimes unknowingly) into our various relationships causing damage and thus increasing our anxiety.

One of the antidotes we have to all this stress in our lives is to be intentional about taking time for prayer, meditation, and worship. All three of those activities have been proven by many studies to lower anxiety and help us to become healthier people. Unfortunately, instead of doing those things, we often choose the flight or fight response by trying to fight or run from the cause of our stress instead of going quietly to God in prayer and seeking his love, peace, and guidance.

If this sounds all too familiar then I would invite you, in these turbulent times, to shuffle priorities around in your life and make time for regular worship, prayer, and simply being still with God in whatever way feeds your soul. As you experience the difference this makes in your life, I would also invite you to share this with the people around you so they can also experience an increased sense of God’s love and peace. For it is only by engaging and then spreading the source of light and love that we can truly lower the anxiety of our all our systems. In doing so, we help our world to be a safer, healthier, and more loving place to live.

Hurricanes and Theodicy

The images of the devastation Hurricane Harvey has had on the people of Texas have been truly difficult to see. People have been killed, their property destroyed, and their lives ruined. Now, as the flood waters are beginning to recede another hurricane is on the horizon and close friends in Florida are fleeing their homes. Many people have asked where God is in all this. Lately I have read more than one article from a prominent Christian leader asserting that God is doing this to punish America for one thing or another. However, this type of thinking is not only poor theology, it is also damaging to the spread of the Gospel, and a crime against common sense.

When we try to understand these types of mega disasters or even the smaller scale disasters that just impact our own lives and families, we need to remember two things. The first is that we live in a fallen world and are subject to its forces; and the second is the theological construct of Theodicy.

The first one is a bit easier to understand. Simply put, the world we live in is not what God created. As the story goes, God created a beautiful garden where there was no death and loss. However, because of our free will and sin, the world was cursed and now there are things like floods and hurricanes and sickness and death. Through all this however, God is seeking to put the world right. God is doing this all the time. One of the main actions God has taken was sending Jesus to live, die, and rise to new life for us. But nevertheless, we still live in that fallen world and are subject to its fallen reality. Jesus even says that God, “makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the righteous and on the unrighteous.” (Matthew 5:45)

This brings us to the concept of Theodicy. The thinking here is that God does not purpose or intend evil. “For he does not willingly bring affliction or grief to anyone.” (Lamentations 3:33) Rather, all of us act and live within the permissive will of God. That is, God does permit evil and terrible things but he does allow them to happen. However, allowing something to happen is very different that causing or purposing it.

What this means is that God loves us so much that he gives us the free will to love him in return. However, that free will comes with the same price it did way back in the Garden of Eden. That price is the consequence of our actions when we exercise our free will in ways that are harmful to us. After all if we are to be truly free to love and show kindness and humility, we have to be truly free to hate and to do evil. It is the price of our freedom and it means that sometimes people will exercise their free will in ways that we loath. It is why sometimes bad things happen to good people.

The people whose lives have been devastated by Hurricane Harvey and the people whose lives will be devastated by Hurricane Irma, are therefore no more good or bad than anyone else. God loves them as much as he loves any of us. God is also not seeking to punish America for anything; rather God is always working to bring good out of evil. God is always working out his will for us gently and lovingly, respecting our free will and always giving us the chance to love him in return. 

May God’s love and grace therefore be poured out on the people in the path of these storms. When the rain stops and the sky clears may they know they are loved and not despair. May they feel the loving presence of God and know “that all things work together for good for those who love God, who are called according to his purpose.” (Romans 8:28)

God the Eclipse

“Jesus shall reign where’er the sun
Does his successive journeys run;
His kingdom stretch from shore to shore,
Till moons shall wax and wane no more.”

These are the first verses of a hymn written by Sir Isaac Watts. The hymn is a paraphrase of Psalm 72, a psalm which considers the majesty of God and his creation. 

For many people, the eclipse was one of those indescribable moments where we looked to the heavens and realized that in fact the earth does not revolve around us. We understood that we are all part of something much larger than ourselves. In that moment many people began catch a glimpse of God’s majesty. 

For me, this moment was also a time of continuity. I was able to share the moment with my family by joining our children at their school. It reminded me of the eclipse I experienced in elementary school looking through my grandfather’s old welding mask. I wonder if one day my children will stand with their children and experience the same wonder and awe. 

May God’s power and glory always be felt through such magnificence.