Circles:

A Reflection for the 4th Sunday in Lent St. Luke/ St Anne’s Roper and Grace, Plymouth March 30, 2025 Thomas E Wilson, Guest Celebrant and Preacher Joshua 5:9-12 2 Corinthians 5:16-21 Luke 15:1-3, 11b-32 Psalm 32 Circles First of all I would like to thank you for allowing me to come back, since I double booked the last time I was scheduled to come here as your guest Preacher and Celebrant. I had double booked to cover for another Priest. In April and May, I will continue the circle of being your guest here on the 1st and 3rd Sundays, but I will not be with you in June since I will be doing the yearly circle of checking in with my daughter and grandsons in Colorado. In July I will be filling in daily for the Priest in Nags Head who will be on his sabbatical. Circles; one of the things I noticed about the lessons for today is the image of circles. In the Hebrew Testament lesson from the Book of Joshua. Jacob, the Wandering Aramaen, is remembered: he had left the land of Promise during the time of famine and went down with his family to join his son, Joseph, to begin a new life there. It was meant to be a short visit. But they overstayed their welcome when, as the writers explain, “there came to pass a Pharaoh, who knew not Joseph”. That Pharaoh saw not the descendants of Joseph who saved Egypt from famine, but now saw only a group of foreign immigrants ripe for exploitation. Moses taught the Egyptians soon that there was a price to pay for exploiting. The Hebrew people were allowed to leave bondage in Egypt, wandering in the wilderness until they were able to cross the River Jordan and return to their Promised land again.. They had returned to the beginning, the circle was completed. They set up an altar, a circle of stones, and called the place Gilgal; the word “Gilgal” in Hebrew means “Circle”. No longer will they eat the tasteless manna of the wilderness, but are able to return to eat the fruit of the crops of the land which they had eaten before their bondage in Egypt. They will now think of building places of worship and returning to Holy places. The Circle of Exile was over. In the Epistle for today, Paul writes to the Corinthians, who spend a heck of a lot of time squabbling with each other. He invites them to take a circle back to God’s love and forgiveness. They are reminded that there is a circle in God’s love, for they came from God’s love and God in Christ is reconciling all of them to the heart of God, in this life and even beyond. Even beyond; I am reminded of that 1907 song that Johnny Cash updated and used to sing Will the circle be unbroken By and by Lord, by and by There's a better home awaiting In the sky Lord, in the sky Paul’s view of a church was a circle of people who belonged to each other and then learned how to believe with each other. He would have approved of a thought written by Dianna Butler Bass. “Instead of believing, behaving and belonging, we need to reverse the order to belonging, behaving and believing. Jesus did not begin with questions of belief. Instead, Jesus ‘ public ministry began when he formed a community," The Gospel gives us another story of the Circle of belonging. Jesus tells a story in the Gospel lesson for today, about which is often given the Title of “The Prodigal Son”. That is the name given by people who want to focus on sin. But what I like to call “The Loving Father” because I like to focus on love. I have a daughter, who I will visit in June, who is in her mid fifties and has two grown up sons. In her, and their, growing up, they did some stupid things, but I never stopped loving them. When you love your children, you can get really annoyed with their actions, but you never really stop loving them. I was one of four children of my parents and they taught me, by example, that there was nothing I could ever do that would stop their love for me. There were more than a few times I would get punished, but love was never withdrawn. No matter what I did, the circle always returned to love. Where are the circles in your life? We all have them and, sometimes, we just neglect to notice the opportunity to complete the circles. Marion Woodman, a Jungian Psychologist, author, poet and mystic, commented on how we miss having connecting circles with other people, and even with our own body and soul. She wrote. Many people can listen to their cat more intelligently than they can listen to their own despised body. Because they attend to their cat in a cherishing way it returns their love. Their body, however, may have to let out an earth shattering scream in order to be heard at all. (To which I would note, sometimes we have to wait for our soul to scream at us before we pay attention.) The churches I find I like visiting the most, are the churches where people greet each other when they come in. They touch and laugh and ask about each other. And they also listen to the answers. They are welcoming back each other into the circle which is the church of people who love, and know they need, Jesus. In contrast, I spend a heck of a lot of time in buildings where grumpy people arrive to attend a meeting where they are supposed to listen and behave and recite the proper responses in the ceremony; getting a weekly dose of religion. They are not spending energy forming a circle, but they are visiting to punch their religion ticket, which they were told could benefit them after they die. Circles are what we do to make life worthwhile in the present moment, ticket punching is for.what we fear we will need after we die There is a phrase used in the religious business: “Conduct a service.” The implication is that we clergy are the conductors, who collect the money and punch the ticket for those on the religious ride. I prefer the words “Preside over” the service. People who come are the ones doing the service. You people do not come alone; you bring those who are in your hearts. My hope is you come in order to be in a holy space to say special words about people you are in a circle with. People with whom you love, or live with, or carry in your hearts, even when they are annoying.. The father in the Gospel lesson probably went to the synagogue every week to be in a circle to help hold his absent son up in prayer for God to fill his heavy heart, and for heavenly protection for his absent son. I imagine the father would leave the service, and on the way home, he would stop and look down the road hoping to catch a glimpse of the circle being healed with his son’s return. And then, one day it happens; he sees the youngest son coming down the road and he runs towards him and is all over him like a cheap suit. The past is gone and the circle is complete. Circles are when you come to your real self. Or when you return home from being away. Today when I go back home, my dog will wake up and acknowledge that I had been gone and now it is time for me to take him for a walk. He is an old dog and used to that circle. I remember the summer of 1966, when I had finished my Sophomore Year at Chapel Hill, I got an acting job working at an Outdoor Drama down in Florida and had not come home since Christmas Break and now was to be gone for almost the whole summer. My girlfriend at the time, who spent the summer with me, whom my parents had never met, but had heard about, drove me home from Florida to New York, two days of travel. When she pulled in the driveway, my parents ran out to hug me, my mother cried for joy. My father, the Southern Gentleman, welcomed her, while my mother was polite to this woman in her son’s life. She was then aware that the child circle had been completed and a new circle had already begun.. There is a circle of being aware that we come from God when we are born and we return to God when we die. That is part of my faith and I believe it, most of the time. I look like I arrive alone when I come to your services, but there is someone whom you have not met, but who is with me every minute I am here, whom I married in 1989. I am here with my wife, Pat, in my heart. The first years after I retired she would come with me to the churches in which I would fill in, or do Interim Work, and we would stop for lunch on the way home. When she got weaker, I stopped doing fill-ins. She died almost two years ago, but she is with me in the space between each breath I take and each word I say. She is still part of my circle every day of my life. It is not that I don’t accept her death. I do, but she is still part of my circle in this life. I know I am not the only one who brings the spirits into their own circles, whom we cannot see with our eyes, but whom we know in faith. Will the circle be unbroken By and by Lord, by and by There's a better home awaiting In the sky Lord, in the sky CIRCLES Thinking about the circles in my life. Like walking to and back from school Walking there and fearing the cruel Moments caught in failure or strife, Then when much older in the church, Not always sure I believed that day, Or moment, on what I’d say to pray, Or what Holy sign for me to search. Then on the walk back home to see, Beauties which I could now behold, Reaching me, try to hearten my soul. Now, from all my failures I was free, When in imagining holding my wife Into arms embrace of meaning in life.

I'm Just Passing Through

A Reflection for 2nd Sunday of Lent Thomas E Wilson, Guest Presenter March 16th, 2025 Church of the Holy Trinity, Hertford Genesis 15:1-12,17-18 Philippians 3:17-4:1 Luke 13:31-35 Psalm 27 “I’m Just Passing Through.” There is a play by W. Somerset Maughan, called Sheppey, which is the name of the main character and of the Island from which that character hopes to return to escape death. It has a scene in which the character of Death comes to visit Sheppey before Sheppey is able to run away and hide from death. Death makes a speech based on an ancient Middle Eastern Story. That speech was lifted by novelist John O’Hara, for his Novel Appointment In Samarra. This is the speech given by Death Death replies: "There was a merchant in Baghdad who sent his servant to market to buy provisions and in a little while the servant came back, white and trembling, and said, “Master, just now when I was in the marketplace I was jostled by a woman in the crowd and when I turned I saw it was Death that jostled me. She looked at me and made a threatening gesture; now, lend me your horse, and I will ride away from this city and avoid my fate. I will go to Samarra and there Death will not find me.” The merchant lent him his horse, and the servant mounted it, and he dug his spurs in its flanks and as fast as the horse could gallop he went. Then the merchant went down to the market-place and he saw me standing in the crowd and he came to me and said, “Why did you make a threatening gesture to my servant when you saw him this morning?” “That was not a threatening gesture, I said, it was only a start of surprise. I was astonished to see him in Baghdad, for I had an appointment with him tonight in Samarra." I am not a big fan of dying myself. Edward Albee, a playwright who wrote Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? “, a play I did the summer before I went to seminary, once said: "I take pretty good care of myself, and I have no enthusiasm whatsoever about dying. I think it's a terrible waste of time, and I don't want to participate in it." I thought of these plays when eight days ago, I was at a deanery meeting about the search for good candidates for an election of the next Bishop in this Diocese. Years ago, I had been on the search committee for the present Bishop, and I kept my mouth tightly closed during this discussion, so I would not look as if I wanted to serve. I have to tell you how relieved I was not to be on this committee to search for his replacement. I wanted nothing to do with church politics. I like church and I am proud of the over four decades of work I did as a Curate and Chaplain at one Church and Rector at three other churches and fill-in at others.. I was honored to be a Pastor, Preacher, Teacher and Celebrant, but I was not fond of doing administrative work. Almost seven years ago when I was about to turn 72, the mandatory retirement age of a Parish Priest came and I was so happy that I did not have to do any more Church Budgets, Pledge Drives and Committee Meetings any more. Yes, it was work that needed to be done and I was good at it, but it was so good to see that work in my rear view mirror. While I did some full time Interim Work to help a Parish search for a new Rector and had to do administrative work, I was so glad when they hired a Rector, so I could be set free from offices. Now, to keep me off the streets, I do some fill-in work of preaching, pastoring and celebrating, like I am doing today. One of the problems is that I almost messed up being here because I had double booked, but your Warden, and my friend, Frank straightened me out. This summer I will do a short term Interim for that Priest who will be doing some Sabbatical work, so I will have to spend some time in an office. I owe this Priest a lot, he is the Pastor of the church I attend and pledge when I am not filling in at other churches like today. This Priest is the one who visited my wife when she was going through Hospice at home and dying. She liked him because he was young and cute and had a good heart and listened well. He visited me when she died, and he presided at my wife’s funeral almost two years ago; he was there for me and my family. He is one of the few people I trust enough to cry in front of. I owe him a great deal. In 1989, my wife and I got married in the church I was serving in Virginia and we started the journey of faithfully passing through life together; and in so many ways it was a dance. Now, there is no one I take care of, besides myself and my dog. My daughter is hinting for me to move out to Colorado where she can watch over the old man. While I think I am in good health, I am increasingly aware that now I am at a stage of my life where I am just passing through alone until I have my appointment at Samara, whenever and wherever it will be. And as I pointed out a few minutes ago, there seems to be times when I double book. “Passing through”; it is a theme in the lessons for today.. We begin with the “Passing Through” of Abram. God calls him from Ur of the Chaldees and Abram will spend the rest of his life passing through. Just before this lesson, Abram has come out of Egypt and now in this lesson Abram is told, he will continue his life “passing through”, but his descendents will one day claim the promise and occupy the land west of the Jordan as the gift from the loving God. For Abraham, passing through is the way he is able to go deeper in his relationship with God and a deeper understanding of himself. Paul, in the Epistle, writes to the people in Philippi, where the people who belong to the church live in houses. Yet, while they stay in one physical place, they are just “passing through”, for they must go deeper into their hearts and souls, until they come to rest in the Risen Christ. Paul may visit them, but he trusts that the lay leaders and members will be the ministers of God’s love to each other. Every member of the community treasures the moments that they spend together, but they fully understand that they are all just passing through until they rest in Christ. In the Gospel lesson for today, the people tell Jesus that he should find a place to hide away from the wrath of the religious and political authorities. Jesus tells them that he is just passing through, for he has an appointment in his heart with his death in Jerusalem. Each step he takes is a step into a deeper understanding of what his life and death means. Passing through is not about strolling through, but about living each day working to make ourselves better people and the world a better place. Henri Nouwen wrote in “You Are The Beloved: “Whenever contrary to the world’s vindictiveness, we love our enemy, we exhibit something of the perfect love of God. Whenever we forgive instead of getting angry at one another, bless instead of cursing one another, tend to one another’s wounds instead of rubbing salt into them, hearten instead of discouraging one another, give hope instead of driving one another to despair, hug instead of harassing one another, welcome instead of cold-shouldering one another, thank instead of criticizing one another, praise instead of maligning one another...in short, whenever we opt for and not against one another, we make God’s unconditional love visible; we are diminishing violence and giving birth to a new community.” But there are so many of the places to pass through where I still have appointments in my heart. I want to visit the Shwedagon Pagoda in what used to be called Burma and climb the stairs to revere the sacred hairs of the Buddha; one holy step at a time. I read an article about that Temple that reflected that Western consultants wanted to put in escalators and elevators for the pilgrims to visit the holy shrines quickly and easily, because they reasoned that the point of a pilgrimage is the end product. But the Eastern view, which is truly Christian, is that each step on a spiritual journey is a Liturgical step, an act of worship. Passing through faithfully is what worship is about. Each time I show up here, we do a service, we pass through a liturgical service. The point of the service is not about getting rewarded with a piece of bread and a sip of wine, but about slowing ourselves down, to live faithfully into each moment of mindfully passing through the Holy dance we have with each other.. I’m Just Passing Through Looking if Samara is on my calendar, Next week, or next month, or decade, Maybe getting an appointment made, To meet at the Temple in Myanmar Climbing the steps at the Shwedagon, Each step being a Holy step landing On Holy Ground, full understanding To fill in the places where I’ve gone. Same’s true as a Holy Trinity broker When breathing in Holy with others, Seeing them as sisters and brothers, And wine as ways to be more sober. Passing through is a way of dancing Faithfully, while we live enhancing.

Changing Likeness

Last Sunday of Epiphany Reflection St. Luke’s/St Anne’s, Roper, Grace, Plymouth March 2, 2025 Thomas E Wilson, Guest Preacher Changing Likeness Exodus 34:29-35 2 Corinthians 3:12-4:2 Luke 9:28-43a Psalm 99 This is the Last Sunday of the Season of Epiphany. The word “Epiphany” means a sudden manifestation or perception of the essential nature of something. The “Oh Wow, that is what is really going on!” It is like when you hear a joke and you don’t get it- until a couple hours later, and then you start to laugh. It is not that you are stupid; it is just you didn’t get it at the punchline; you needed to work it out. Epiphany is the season right after Christmas and in the Bible most of the people in the story don’t understand the meaning of the birth of Jesus and they have to work it out for themselves, in order to work on going deeper in the time of Lent to prepare for a life of resurrection. Let me give you an example of an epiphany. It’s Christmas and your old maiden Aunt sends you a sweater. You look at it and you say; “Well; (putting on a smile) That’s nice”.You write the thank you note and you put the sweater away. But then one day in January, it gets cold and your mother says; “It’s cold, why don’t you put on the sweater my sister gave you. “ You sigh, and then as it gets even colder, you break down and dig up the sweater. And you put it on. And, it feels so good, not to be shivering. The longer you wear it, the more you like not being cold, the more you think kindly of you aunt. Then your mother takes a picture of you smiling wearing that sweater and sends it to your aunt. Epiphany is the time when we start to have some idea of the gifts in our lives. Especially what this gift of Jesus is all about and how do we faithfully live into it.. This is the Last Sunday of Epiphany, so that means that this Wednesday is the beginning of the Season of Lent. Lent is a time when we look at our lives and realize how blessed we have been, and we make a decision that we can start seeing about how we might make a difference in the world we live in. Is there someone who we need to help? Is there some difference we need to make in this world? Jesus makes his way into Lent to fulfill his destiny in Jerusalem. We all have a destiny. One of the themes for today, seems to me, is about how we are changed when we have an encounter with the Holy. In the Hebrew Testament lesson, Moses is changed physiscally; his face is shining because he had a conversation with God. In the Psalm, people tremble because they have heard God is present and God has a loving concern for Justice to be done. In the Epistle, Paul writes to the Corinthians:”And all of us, with unveiled faces, seeing the glory of the Lord as though reflected in a mirror, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another; “ In the Gospel lessonm Peter, James and John see Jesus transfigured; he becomes a Holy light shining in the darkness, as he is talking with Moses and Elijah. The disciples want to stay on the mountain and make a living off building a shrine. But Jesus is telling them that the hard work is to done, not on Mountain Tops - but in the embracing of the crosses in our, and others’, lives. There can be no Easter, unless we first embrace our crosses, giving ourselves away. Changing likenesses! Likenesses are the personas we have; what we allow people to see. What we spend our energy projecting to the rest of the world. What are the likenesses that you have had and used in your life? I had an older brother, Paul, who was a year and four days older than I was. He was tall dark and handsome, I was shorter, red haired and dumpy. He was cool and an extrovert. I was socially awkward and an introvert. For years, I wanted to be him, but I could never pull it off. . Going away to college was one of the best things that happened to me, because I did not have to compete against him, I started to learn who I was and learned how to better live into my likeness, instead of trying to fit into his. When I graduated from college, I became a Social Worker, then a therapist and then a Professor. I was doing all right, but I came to realize there was a spiritual dimension that was being negleced in my work with people. I went to seminary to explore what it was to help people, and myself, deal with a life as a Person of Spirit. You are here, in this place, for many reasons, but my hope is that you have come because you have found your need to grow deeper in spirit, and you join with other people who are doing the same thing. When you are here, take a look at some of the other people and see if you can help them claim their spirit, or if they can hele you claim God’s spirit, shining through you. Changing Likeness Day in, night out, searching for light. A light to shine into our deepest time, to help make sense, reason or rhyme, of a hopeful meaning in darkest night. Turning to see persons in nereby pews, questing for what might be hints of soul, allowed to escape and try to score a goal, by touching other livea with good news: that life is not something to be borne as a heavy burden each day and night, but as precious gift to hold on tight, then given away before time to mourn. For lives are too short to hide away, a joy of love that can be ours today.