Ash Wednesday Homily

A Homily for Ash Wednesday                     St. Andrew’s Church, Nags Head, NC 

February 26, 2020                                                 Thomas E. Wilson, Supply Clergy

2 Corinthians 5:20b-6:10                               Matthew 6:1-6,16-21

Years ago, I did six seasons of Outdoor Drama in a couple different places. Like the Lost Colony, they are done outside during the summer when rain is not unheard of. In Outdoor Drama there was this thing called “Rain Pace”.  This was when you knew a rainstorm was coming, but you didn’t want to cancel the show because if you didn’t get through the first act, you had to give the ticket holders their money back. On the other hand, if you made it through the first act and started the second act, then you would give them a “rain check”, which meant that they could come back another night free. Outdoor Dramas run on shoestrings, and too many rainy nights mean a difficult time opening next year. Performing at rain pace meant that you would do every line and hit all your blocking, but you would say your lines fast and move into your blocking fast. The difference is like this “Well (thoughtful pause)… Jack, I hate to admit it (small laugh), Jack- you are right!” In rain pace it would be “Welljackihatetoadmitit (half chuckle) jackyou’reright!” 

The difference between a good performance and one done at rain pace is that in rain pace, you do all the lines and the blocking, but the soul of the performance is missing. In a good - a righteous - performance, the actor is in the character, he understands the character; in fact, the character is part of him. He knows what the character feels, how he acts when no one is looking.  He knows what is in his pockets. He knows the backstory of the character, and the emotion conveyed in the performance comes out of the things the audience does not know but the actor does. The actor lives in the awe-filled mystery of the character. In rain pace, the actor is exhausted because all he has done is earn some money and sell himself out.  After a “righteous” performance, however, the actor is exhilarated for he has lived into another life, and while he might be tired, his soul is refreshed and alive and he looks at the world and his fellow actors in Thanksgiving. In that space he really doesn’t care what the critics say for he has entered into the mind of the playwright, to live fully into the character that he and the playwright have created.

There is a line from T.S. Eliot’s play Murder in the Cathedral: “What is the greatest treason? To do the right thing for the wrong reason.” That is what Jesus is talking about in the lesson from Matthew for today - doing the right thing for the wrong reason. His audience knew what the right things were - “to do justice, love mercy and walk humbly with your God.” The outward and visible signs of this were to fast, to enter into a hunger for God; to give alms as a way of giving thanks for your blessings and helping to create a just society; and to worship and give God the worth of your time and love. He points to some who perform the outward signs but who have missed the point because they want to impress people with their piety rather than grow closer to God.  

They exhibit a “What do I get out of it?” mentality. The difference is that doing the right thing only for the purpose of impressing others or getting a tax advantage will get you rewards, but they are short-lived rewards because they fade away over time. Jesus calls these “earthly rewards” where moth and rust consume, and thieves break in and steal. These are to be compared to what he calls a “Heavenly reward” which is entering into a full relationship with God, and he calls that “Righteousness”. The reward of that relationship is here and now, and he calls that relationship the Kingdom of the Heavens, and it continues long after we die.

Does that mean that, if you do all the right stuff and do it in “righteousness”, everything will turn out rosy for you? Not necessarily. Paul talks about it in the lesson from 2^nd Corinthians where he lists a long, very long list of the things that have gone wrong in his life. Yet he sees that, even in his defeats, he is more than a conqueror. Like Jacob in the Genesis story, it is in the defeats, as we wrestle with God, that we become blessed and live into a whole new way of being. 

If we live a life in which our focus is to impress people, the victories are so small, but if we are defeated by God’s love, then we grow in faith. Usually I write a poem but today I am using a poem by early 20^th Century Austrian Poet Rainer Marie Rilke which sums that up:

The Man Watching 

I can tell by the way the trees beat, after
so many dull days, on my worried windowpanes
that a storm is coming,
and I hear the far-off fields say things
I can't bear without a friend,
I can't love without a sister.

The storm, the shifter of shapes, drives on 
across the woods and across time, and the world looks as if it had no age:
the landscape, like a line in the psalm book, 
is seriousness and weight and eternity.

What we choose to fight is so tiny! 
What fights with us is so great. 
If only we would let ourselves be dominated as things do by some immense storm, 
we would become strong too, and not need names.

When we win it's with small things, 
and the triumph itself makes us small. 
What is extraordinary and eternal does not want to be bent by us. 
I mean the Angel who appeared to the wrestlers of the Old Testament:
when the wrestlers' sinews 
grew long like metal strings, 
he felt them under his fingers 
like chords of deep music.

Whoever was beaten by this Angel 
(who often simply declined the fight) 
went away proud and strengthened
and great from that harsh hand, 
that kneaded him as if to change his shape. 
Winning does not tempt that man. 
This is how he grows: by being defeated, decisively, 
by constantly greater beings. 

This Lent we invite you to not strive for small victories, but to enter into a struggle with God’s love and forgiveness, where defeat brings you life.

Transfiguring

A Poem/Reflection for the Last Sunday after Epiphany                    February23, 2010                
 St. Andrew’s Episcopal, Nags Head, N.C.                              Thomas E Wilson, Supply Clergy     

Exodus 24:12-18     2 Peter 1:16-21       Matthew 17:1-9        Psalm 99

Transfiguring

Last week, I was walking out of the library back to my car with a load of books and there is a woman sitting on the curb, talking on her cell phone. She is plaintively yelling into that phone, “God help me, I tell you. This morning I asked Jesus to fix everything. But today it has gone from bad to worse!”


Years ago, I wrote and gave a couple of sermons where I talked to God and paused to listen. When nothing came back, I repeated my invitation with the same question. Another pause of silence. Then I heard a voice from the back of the church say with a sigh: “I heard you!” and the voice of God started to enter into a dialogue with me. The congregation laughed when they realized that I had written the script and was listening to my wife, Pat, reading the part of God, as the sermon devolved to a skit. “God” told me that I was too busy with my own agendas to stop and listen, so “God” decided she would wait until my brain finished its internal conversation with itself.


 In the Gospel story for today, imagine here is Peter, so full of himself that when he sees the Vision of Jesus being transfigured, he thinks it is all about him and how he can create a shrine to hold the holy moment, trapping it in religious amber, as a center point of a religious theme park. God answers the folly of their hearts by saying,

“This is my Son, the Beloved; with him I am well pleased; listen to him!” When the disciples heard this, they fell to the ground and were overcome by fear. But Jesus came and touched them, saying, “Get up and do not be afraid.” And when they looked up, they saw no one except Jesus himself alone.

When Pat and I were in Israel years ago, we went up on Mount Tabor, one of the hills traditionally claimed as the Transfiguration Mountain. From the top of the Mountain you can see the Valley of Jezreel stretching before you. This is the road of history, a trade route between Egypt and Syria, linking Asia to Africa; from here I could see in my imagination the caravans moving forward in both directions for thousands of years. It is a place that, as the saying goes, “Has too much history.”


I could see armies: from the Book of Judges, on this Mountain, the Hebrew Judge Deborah, sent her commander Barak against the armies of King Jabin, defeating the 900 Iron Chariots under their commander Sisera, bogged down in mud. I could see Sisera fleeing the debacle and finding refuge in a tent where Jael, the wife of Heber the Kenite, drove a tent peg through his skull, nailing him to the ground as surely as his chariots were stuck in the ground. I could see Deborah and Barak coming into the tent later and seeing their enemy defeated.


From the Biblical Books, of Amos, Isaiah, Jeremiah and Kings,  in my imagination the armies of the Egyptian Pharaohs, Tutmose III and Necho II marching up, time and again to fight the Assyrians and the Babylonians and being stopped at Megiddo, the city close by which were, only ruins now. 


I could see Alexander the Great's armies march down after defeating the Persian Emperor Darius III, on his way to overthrow the 31^st Egyptian dynasty, now only a Persian province in 333BC. I could see the blood on the fields of the valley dripping into the ground of of Roman and Byzantine and Arab Conquerors later mingling the blood of soldiers of Crusaders with those of Saladin and other Muslim leaders' armies. In my mind I witnessed Napoleon fleeing from the Battle of the Nile to Syria and Lebanon, the wounded dying on the way. Finally there was the blood of the British soldiers against Turkish soldiers in September1918 at the place called the Hill of Megiddo, or Armageddon, the place where the Book of Revelation prophesied, and the Allied papers hoped, was where the war to end all wars  is to take place. Except thirty years later in 1948, the Israeli army fought the Arab League and the battles continue. 


It was here in the place of slaughters that were, and were to be, that God tells the disciples to listen to Jesus, the Prince of Peace. Jesus tells his disciples to get up, don't be afraid and go down the mountain to spread healing, justice and peace to a broken world; a journey that begins, ends and saturated daily with prayer.

In his preface to his autobiography Now And Then, Frederick Buechner wrote about listening to God:

Because the word that God speaks to us is always an incarnate word—a word spelled out to us not alphabetically, in syllables, but enigmatically, in events, even in the books we read and the movies we see—the chances are we will never get it just right. We are so used to hearing what we want to hear and remaining deaf to what it would be well for us to hear that it is hard to break the habit. But if we keep our hearts and minds open as well as our ears, if we listen with patience and hope, if we remember at all deeply and honestly, then I think we come to recognize, beyond all doubt, that, however faintly we may hear him, he is indeed speaking to us, and that, however little we may understand of it, his word to each of us is both recoverable and precious beyond telling. In that sense autobiography becomes a way of praying, and a book like this, if it matters at all, matters mostly as a call to prayer. ​

Often I find myself in what I think is prayer and then I realize “God” telling me that I am too busy with my own agendas to stop and listen, so “God” decides she'll wait until my brain finishes its internal conversation with itself. When my prayers are nothing but marching orders to my heavenly servant to meet my wants and desires, it is then I realize that the woman on the curb talking about God, that she and I are very much alike for we fear things will always go from bad to worse. It is in those moments when my narcissism falls to the ground. I need to look up and like the disciples, “see nothing but Jesus” at the center of my life and prayer, to listen and then follow where the Divine will lead.

The Transfiguring moments are not limited to one mountain in Israel centuries ago, but they are going on all the time, in every place. We just have to stop with our own agendas and listen, and follow where he will lead.



Transfiguring

The voice behind all life came from the cloud,

thundering loud, knocking those disciples down,

in fear and awe, looking like pratfalls of a clown,

slipping on the banana peel of Peter’s ego proud.

Peter’s narcissism wants to claim his own place

as center of the dance of carpenter and Divine,

like religious theme park, sends chills up spine,

to ensure that dance music is only in this space.

Transfiguration Mount, open for paid sightseer,

calls me, my spirit to pratfall down and recant;

doesn’t seem too different than my own slant,

when I should be listening, I’m filled with fear:

when I’m in the presence of Holy and all I see

or think about, is how prayers will benefit me.

Soul Observations

A Poem/reflection for VI Epiphany                    St. Andrew's Church, Nags Head, N.C.

February 16, 2020                                                      Thomas E. Wilson, Supply Clergy

Sirach 15:15-20          1 Corinthians 3:1-9     Matthew 5:21-37            Psalm 119:1-8

Soul Observations

Today, we are continuing the journey into what is called by many, “The Sermon On The Mount” as reported by Matthew. Last week, I told you of how Pat and I went to the place in the so-called “Holy Land” where Jesus is supposed to have delivered that Sermon. The whole visit, a month long study in my sabbatical of visiting the places where Jesus walked, was a wonderful experience, a check-off the bucket list, an experience which found its way into sermons, lunches, cocktail party conversations and driving other people into intense boredom. It was my fetish to walk on “Holy Ground” as a tourist, but the true Soul Work is not in places of faraway Real Estate, but in the “Holy Ground” of everyday life.



Most of the Organized Religions focus on outward behavior and following the norms of the community. The word religion comes from the Latin of the act of fastening, to tie together. Religion is what can hold a community together. Many states had the practice of killing people who undermined the religion of the community because that behavior would cast disrespect on the Divine and the subsequent withdrawal of the easily offended God's protection. In Organized Religions the goal is obedience, to follow the dictates of behavior as determined by the leaders of that religious organization who assure us that being a good follower would please the far off Divine deity behind the tenants of that religion. It is about following the rules. 

Jesus was not an employee of the organized religion of his time. He doesn't really care if  you put a lot of energy into the dictates of religion; but he is especially concerned in moving us from being followers of the rules to being people who understand that their God is not far off up in heaven but right here; here in every breath we take, here in every space between us and our family, friends, neighbors, enemies and creation itself, here in the depths of our very soul.



Matthew, in his remembrance, combines a series of statements that Jesus passed on to his followers about working on their souls. Matthew sets his collection on a “Mount”, because Matthew has a theme of Jesus being the fulfillment of the Law of Moses given on the Mount in Sinai. Luke in his Gospel puts similar instructions on a plain in his emphasis that Jesus is part of everyday life. 

Clement of Alexandria tells us that if one really knows oneself, they know God.  Jesus in these collections of sayings is telling us to go deeper than just outward behavior.  He is leading us into Soul Work, the understanding and illumination of one's deeper self, the land beyond the recitation of laws, and sins. As Thomas Moore in his classic Care of the Soul writes, “ 'Soul' is not a thing, but a quality or a dimension of experiencing life and ourselves.” 



Jesus looks at the commandments of Moses and says they are fine as they are, as rules go for obedience's sake, but they do not go deep enough to be part of our very soul where love is the norm. Look at Matthew's remembrance of Jesus' view of adultery. The law is about the wife as a man's, either the father or husband, property and not to be used by others for their own enjoyment without paying for her from the father. It is a fine rule for a male-dominated society and is a clarification, a subset of theft. 

Jesus suggests that we go deeper, into the soul's disruption; the disruption where people, other images of God, are seen as disposable and not worthy of respect or commitment to the relationship. In Jesus' view, God does not throw away people, each one is infinitely precious; so precious that truth is sacred, we do not lie to one another. The concern is not about bodies bound together but about souls treating one another with the love that God, who is love, has placed in our very souls.



Love is complex and not always Valentine's day, happily ever after. We live in a world that has its share of darkness and difficulty. Our souls are not immune, and good soul work goes even into the depths of the darkness. Jesus goes there when he says that calling someone a “fool”, or holding on to anger, or allowing an alienation to continue is a sign of a soul flirting with murder. Or looking with lust is a soul's flirtation with adultery, or swearing falsely begins when the integrity of the soul seems not enough.



To do good Soul Work is to daily go deep. Luke remembers Jesus telling the story of the Rich fool who  becomes a stranger to his own soul and the souls of his neighbors in need and says: “And I will say to my soul, Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years; take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry. But God said unto him, Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee: then whose shall those things be, which thou hast provided?”



Moore writes, "Even when I say "I know myself", an infinitesimal ego - the Knowing "I" - is still distinct  from myself." To do good soul work is to go even, and at times especially, to the dark sides of our soul for healing. Moore writes about when one is depressed, the first thing we do is to try to get rid of it by medicine and behavior to heal the body and mind. However, Moore suggests,  “Melancholy gives the soul an opportunity to express a side of its nature that is as valid as any other, but is hidden out of our distaste for its darkness and bitterness.” Jesus,  in the Sermon on the Mount, tells us that disruptions in relationships begin in our souls and that is where true healing needs to visit.



In the 18^th Century, in the Anglican Church, there was a small group of people who decided to augment the Anglican Religious Services with time spent  in prayerful work in small groups. They used a Method,  where each meeting would begin with a question by their leader, an Anglican Priest, Charles Wesley; “How is it with your soul?” They would courageously and truthfully share their soul's progress with each other. Gradually the groups grew, but the establishment of the church sneered and called them “Method-ists”. They took the name as a compliment and broke away from the hidebound Church of England forming the Methodist Church. There they became as hidebound as the church they left, leaving daily soul work for the easier work of being a Religious Organization. 

In 10 Days we will begin the season of Lent with Ash Wednesday. 
 Usually we think we should give up something for Lent, but I'm asking that you take on a discipline of having deep and prayerful discussion with your soul. My brothers and sister; “How is it with your soul?”



Soul Observations

He heard the joke of how dislocating a shoulder

is a result of always patting oneself on the back.

Realizing that hearing himself praised wasn't lack

of pride, but deep desire to make him look bolder.

How he longs for all the people to be impressed

with his holiness, intelligence and great sanctity,

so none could ever suspect an underlying perfidy,

lurking, hiding, great fear of not being suppressed!

He was so busy wearing a mask to look perfect,

that he never quite got around to fully living

into the gift of his soul; only taking not giving,

instead of a deep spirit, his surface was slicked.

It's only when he stopped pretending a perfection,

he's able to accept forgiveness or a resurrection.

Salt and Light When You Have Nothing Left To Lose

A Poem/Reflection for V Epiphany                   St. Andrew’s Church, Nags Head, N.C. February 9, 2020                                                  Thomas E. Wilson, Supply Clergy

Isaiah 58:1-12              1 Corinthians 2:1-12               Matthew 5:13-20        Psalm 112:1-9

Salt and Light When You Have Nothing Left To Lose

For the past couple of weeks Matthew has been telling a story of Jesus moving into his ministry. Matthew tells the story of Jesus getting baptized by John. Jesus joins John’s group, but he needs to find out more about his own ministry. In order to do that, he must confront his own soul. C. G. Jung wrote: “People will do anything, no matter how absurd, to avoid facing their own souls.” As Matthew tells it, the angels drive Jesus into the wilderness, where Jesus must face his own soul.

We will get to that story in three weeks on the first Sunday of Lent, which is a time for the church, and all of us, to confront our own souls.

When Jesus comes back from the Wilderness, he starts to return to John, but John had been arrested by Herod. Jesus has lost his friend and mentor. I imagine that his heart is broken because he is adrift. He wanders and picks up some followers and finds that he is free; he has nothing to lose, because he has lost so much. He has left Nazareth, his home, he has lost his father and the warmth of the company of his mother and family. He has lost his past and now the only thing is his present and God’s future.  Jesus begins to sing the Blues.

I am reminded of one of my favorite songs written by Kris Kristofferson, and sometimes sung by Janis Joplin, “Me and Bobbie McGee.”

Freedom's just another word for nothin' left to lose
Nothin', don't mean nothin' hon' if it ain't free, no no
And, feelin' good was easy, Lord, when he sang the blues
You know, feelin' good was good enough for me
Good enough for me and my Bobby McGhee

In 20^th Century America there developed a style of music called the Blues. It grew out of Gospel Music but was practiced away from the church and sung in places far away from traditional religious settings; but they were also places where people were gathering to be honest in facing their lives. In Blues, one sings of the sorrows to get them out, claiming them without blaming others and then to put them away. Blues is truth telling, in order to see a new hope. Throughout history the oppressed have sung variations of the Blues, based in a faith that life has some sort of meaning.

Being free, with nothing left to lose, Jesus gathers crowds and starts to share his soul. That first real sermon, about the Kingdom of the Heavens as he sees it, is sometimes called "The Sermon on the Mount", on the shore of the northwest corner of the Sea of Galilee. I remember when Pat and I were studying in Israel, one day we went walking up the incline which is the traditional site for that event. There is a church close by, but there wasn’t when Jesus preached, singing the blues. I had a dream a couple weeks ago and in that dream we were back in that spot and it is almost as if I could hear the moaning of a saxophone as Jesus is preaching. In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus starts off with a series of  beatitudes. “Blessed are” he begins each beatitude while he proposes different ways of losing. He claims the sorrow, getting them out in the open with a rigorous honesty and without blaming others in order to claim hope.

Blessed are those no longer able to be full of themselves, for theirs is the kingdom of the heavens.

Blessed are those who are broken hearted, for they will be comforted.

Blessed are those who no longer want to force others to their will, for they will inherit the earth.

Blessed are those who can’t find rest in the smug status quo, for they will be filled.

Blessed are those who no longer seek joy in revenge, for they will be shown mercy.

Blessed are those who are no longer burdened down with anger and greed, for they will see God.

Blessed are those no longer calling for war, for they will be called children of God.

Blessed are those who are not safe because they take God seriously, for theirs is the kingdom of the heavens.

The Greek word that Matthew uses for “Blessed” in “makarioi”, which also can be translated into English as “Happy”. Too often we just want to be happy as our life goal. However, Rabbi Harold Kushner, author of When All You Have Ever Wanted Isn’t Enough, said, “You don’t become happy by pursuing happiness. You become happy by living a life that means something.”

Jesus, our Blues Singer and our Good Rabbi, points us in the direction of Happiness when we live a life of meaning. He tells us that our meaning is found in being the salt of the earth. In the time of Jesus, as well as in our own day, salt has two functions: one is to give a certain savor, an awakening of a pleasant flavor to something that can be seen as humdrum; and two, in the time before refrigeration, something to keep things, like meat, from rotting too quickly, so that it can be stored or transported. We treat salt so casually now when we have refrigeration, but in the time of Jesus it was precious, indeed. If we are to be salt of the earth, we are to be agents where people can savor the deep flavor of creation. If we are to be the salt of the earth, we have a task to keep those things which are precious from being wasted.

Part of my job as a priest of the church is to help people face, taste and cherish their own souls. The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. warned, “Any religion that professes to be concerned about the souls of men and is not concerned about the slums that damn them, the economic conditions that strangle them and the social conditions that cripple them is a spiritually moribund religion awaiting burial.”   

Jesus calls us to be the “light of the world”, shining light to illumine the darkness of this world. To be salt and light is to live into verse 8 of the 34^th Psalm: “Taste and see that the Lord is good; happy are they who put their trust in God.” Jesus is singing the blues. Sing it brother!

In our nation now we have many sorrows. Too often we want to blame others, to find scapegoats and place all the blame on them. Scapegoating is what many of us do to avoid looking at our own souls and sometimes it becomes a classic American art form; “It it were not for those people; we would be happy, safe, secure, whatever it is we want to avoid looking at our own souls to find hope.” It is what happens to Jesus; the scapegoating of Jesus that we remember in Holy Week, when we especially meant to encounter our own souls in order to find meaning in hope. As surely as Easter follows Good Friday, Jesus is singing the blues. Sing it brothers and sister!

Salt and Light When You Have Nothing Left To Lose

Are we free from, and/or free for?

All those thoughts, words and deeds

in the past moments are like weeds,

plucked and thrown out souls’ door,

away from robbing more of our energy,

and sets us free; but free for us to do what?

Am I to pick them back up again, to cut

them up into a salad to feed a lethargy?

Or, throw them away, as a hellova burden

we don’t need, if we’re to do important work,

which for we, in shame, found excuse to shirk;

to bring light, not weeds, to God’s garden.

Reflecting light helping Spirit’s fruits to grow,

so our lives might have a meaning to show.

Simeon and Anna Bless

Poem/ Reflection for Feast of Presentation of Our Lord            February2, 2020

St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church, Nags Head, N.C.                Thomas E. Wilson Supply Clergy

Malachi 3:1-4                Hebrews 2:14-18        Luke 2:22-40                Psalm 84

Simeon and Anna Bless

Last week I was reading the Lecture on December 10, 2019 by the recipient of the 2019 Nobel Peace Prize, the Prime Minister of Ethiopia, Abiy Ahmed Ali, “Forging A Durable Peace in the Horn of Africa”. He is a product of an Ethiopian Christian Mother and a Muslim father which enabled him the understanding to work with people who have differences in their lives. He had been a young soldier in war and had spent the rest of his life working for peace. He said: “I am inspired by a Biblical Scripture which reads: “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the children of God.” Equally I am also inspired by a Holy Quran verse which reads: “Humanity is but a single Brotherhood. So, make peace with your Brethren.”

He said:

 I believe that peace is an affair of the heart. Peace is a labor of love. Sustaining peace is hard work. Yet, we must cherish and nurture it. It takes a few to make war, but it takes a village and a nation to build peace.

For me, nurturing peace is like planting and growing trees. Just like trees need water and good soil to grow, peace requires unwavering commitment, infinite patience, and goodwill to cultivate and harvest its dividends. Peace requires good faith to blossom into prosperity, security, and opportunity.

In the same manner that trees absorb carbon dioxide to give us life and oxygen, peace has the capacity to absorb the suspicion and doubt that may cloud our relationships. In return, it gives back hope for the future, confidence in ourselves, and faith in humanity.

This humanity I speak of, is within all of us. We can cultivate and share it with others if we choose to remove our masks of pride and arrogance. When our love for humanity outgrows our appreciation of human vanity then the world will know peace.

On December 10, 1952 Albert Schweitzer was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize In his Nobel lecture, called "The Problem of Peace," he said: "What really matters is that we should all of us realize that we are guilty of inhumanity. The horror of this realization should shake us out of our lethargy so that we can direct our hopes and our intentions to the coming of an era in which war will have no place."

When we fully understand our own human brokenness, then, and only then, can we work toward healing. In the same fashion is it only when we understand our own blessedness then and only then, can we have hope. 


The Gospel lesson we have for today, Jesus as an infant is taken by his parents to the Temple in Jerusalem  on their way back to Nazareth to offer a sacrifice of Thanksgiving for Jesus’ birth. At that Temple there were two old people who lived on the Temple grounds. Remember their country was under the rule of a tyrant and he was under the rule of another tyrant. They came to the Temple to be free and look deeply into their own hearts and the heart of others. They would bless those in whom they saw peace and blessedness, while praying for healing for those in whom they saw the rise of inhumanity. They had not come to the Temple to get away from the world but to change the world. 


There is a line from the play Fiddler On The Roof where the Rabbi in this Jewish town in 19^th century Russia is asked if there was a blessing for the Tsar. Tsars regularly promoted pogroms to make life difficult to those who were not Russian Orthodox Christians. It is always the case that tyrants want to control the religious minds, inclinations and imaginations of their subjects so they would worship the leaders of the state instead of the creator of the universe. The Rabbi thinks a moment and answers, “May the Lord, blessed be He, bless and keep the Tsar  (pause)  far way from here!”

At the Temple Anna and Simeon look deeply into the eyes of Jesus and his parents and they see the inclination to spread peace and to heal inhumanity. They pronounce benedictions over Jesus and his parents, but this is not a Pollyanna, one size fits all, blessing. The word benediction comes from the Latin- bene = good and diction = speech. The good words are said to give encouragement to stay on God’s path of Peace and Healing in the journeys in the world. Prayerful words have power that stem from those who bless and from the One from whom all blessings and healings come.

I think Luke remembers these people in this story to remind us who would encounter the Risen Christ to follow their work of looking into the souls of people and bless them in their journey toward Peace and healing for the souls of those who are enraptured by designs of inhumanity.


A couple weeks ago, I talked with the children in our Pre-school and I talked to them about Simeon and Anna and how they blessed the baby Jesus and his parents. I gave them an assignment that they would go home and bless someone in their home. They told me of their brothers and sisters and pets and who and when they would bless them. As they left the chapel, I knelt and looked in the eye of each child as they walked out, I held their face, telling them by the name written on their nametag “Bless you”.

Like Simeon and Anna, I live in Holy Space, like all of us do. Like Simeon and Anna, I am an older person, like some of us are. How are each of you like Simeon and Anna?


How would the world be changed if we all stopped and blessed someone or prayed for their healing, even our enemies? What would happen if like Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed Ali, we knew that it takes a village and a world to make peace? Why don’t you try being a part of that village and world this week making peace by blessing and healing? Maybe it will not change them but I promise you, it will change you.





Simeon and Anna Bless

Open our eyes O Lord, that we might bless,

because with open eyes, we see your hand,

shaping a full being, not a mirage in sand,

but a gift to broken worlds saying “Yes!”

Benediction means speaking good words,

not recitations of ritual with flowery cant,

passed on for centuries with catchy chant,

but joy song as a dawn is greeted by birds.

“Yes”, we'll say, when seeing God's hope

underneath outward personas, and between,

Holy Space where lives an uncounted gene,

unknown to a mere geneticist's microscope

“Yes”, live into the miracle that you are,

you, who come from dust of the first star.