Dear Friends in Christ -
The Gospel lesson for today is Matthew 12:1-14, the story of the Pharisees confronting Jesus and his disciples about harvesting grain (they were picking wheat kernals in a field for breakfast) and healing on the Sabbath. Clearly the "facts, only the facts" of the law had gotten between them and the truth: that it's good for people to do what's right. Sometimes, it's even better to do what's right than to play by the rules.
The trick is to listen to God enough to know what's what and when's when.
The author of today's reflection in "Forward Day by Day" said something that I found clear, helpful, and inspiring on this point, so I share it with you here . . .
"The amassing of facts--trivial or otherwise--may be an impressive trophy in the human world, but facts should not be confused with the truth of God's all-encompassing grace. A fact in my possession is a small thing. It might save me some time or some money; it might help me save face. But the truth is something else. The truth is immense. The truth saves my life."
May living and doing truth save your life today.
Faithfully yours,
Janet+
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
Sunday, October 18, 2009
Three Babies Get Wet . . . and . . .
Dear Friends in Christ -
Today, we baptized three little ones at the 10:00 a.m. service. So adorable, these little ones.
The miracle is not just that God welcomes these little ones - after all, who wouldn't?! they're so amazing! - but that he welcomes each and every one of us, too. Even after we grow up and lose our innocence, He welcomes us. Even when we make mistakes and choices so bad that we can't stand ourselves, He welcomes us.
As we renewed our Baptismal vows today, I really experienced the second-chance-ness of His love. During the confessions we say during Lent, we ask God to forgive us for the "pride, hypocrisy and impatience" of our lives. There's not a day that goes by that I don't participate in at least one of those; how about you? And yet, God welcomes us. And not only welcomes us, but rejoices in our return to Him, again and again.
The babies we baptized today know nothing yet of this cycle of repentance and renewal. But they'll make their own mistakes soon enough, because they, too, are human.
My prayer for myself and for all of us this day is that we will indeed fulfill the commitment we made to them today: to show them, by word and example - by returning to God again and again and again to receive His welcome - the way to God in Christ.
Faithfully yours,
Janet+
Today, we baptized three little ones at the 10:00 a.m. service. So adorable, these little ones.
The miracle is not just that God welcomes these little ones - after all, who wouldn't?! they're so amazing! - but that he welcomes each and every one of us, too. Even after we grow up and lose our innocence, He welcomes us. Even when we make mistakes and choices so bad that we can't stand ourselves, He welcomes us.
As we renewed our Baptismal vows today, I really experienced the second-chance-ness of His love. During the confessions we say during Lent, we ask God to forgive us for the "pride, hypocrisy and impatience" of our lives. There's not a day that goes by that I don't participate in at least one of those; how about you? And yet, God welcomes us. And not only welcomes us, but rejoices in our return to Him, again and again.
The babies we baptized today know nothing yet of this cycle of repentance and renewal. But they'll make their own mistakes soon enough, because they, too, are human.
My prayer for myself and for all of us this day is that we will indeed fulfill the commitment we made to them today: to show them, by word and example - by returning to God again and again and again to receive His welcome - the way to God in Christ.
Faithfully yours,
Janet+
Friday, October 16, 2009
What I learned . . .
Dear Friends in Christ -
Remember back when we were kids . . . on the first day back from summer vacation, you had to tell your story, "What I did on vacation was . . ."
Ed and I just returned from our anniversary vacation, a celebration of a decade of marriage on our 13th anniversary. We had some celebratory catching up to do, so we decided to do it big - with a trip to Barbados. This was a big adventure for me. I had never been to a far away sunny, sandy island before.
In addition to the sheer beauty of the place, what struck me most was the change of pace. For the entire time we were there, nothing and no one moved quickly. The pace was a marked contrast with life in Connecticut. What did I learn? Simply this: there's another way of living. Another good way of living.
Clergyman Max Warren once said, "It takes the whole world to know the whole Gospel." Indeed, I encountered something true and good that I wouldn't have understood without travelling to another place and experiencing, even for a short time, how some of God's other children live.
May God continue to help us all to encounter places and people that challenge our assumptions and catapult us into new Life.
Faithfully yours,
Janet+
Remember back when we were kids . . . on the first day back from summer vacation, you had to tell your story, "What I did on vacation was . . ."
Ed and I just returned from our anniversary vacation, a celebration of a decade of marriage on our 13th anniversary. We had some celebratory catching up to do, so we decided to do it big - with a trip to Barbados. This was a big adventure for me. I had never been to a far away sunny, sandy island before.
In addition to the sheer beauty of the place, what struck me most was the change of pace. For the entire time we were there, nothing and no one moved quickly. The pace was a marked contrast with life in Connecticut. What did I learn? Simply this: there's another way of living. Another good way of living.
Clergyman Max Warren once said, "It takes the whole world to know the whole Gospel." Indeed, I encountered something true and good that I wouldn't have understood without travelling to another place and experiencing, even for a short time, how some of God's other children live.
May God continue to help us all to encounter places and people that challenge our assumptions and catapult us into new Life.
Faithfully yours,
Janet+
Wednesday, October 7, 2009
Making Peace
Dear Friends in Christ -
Did you know that over 30 people in Connecticut were killed as a result of domestic violence last year? The youngest of these people was under a year old. The oldest was 85.
I never know what to do with statistics like that when I encounter them on mail in my mailbox - or in the newspaper - or at events like this. Or . . . do I?
Last night, I went to the Umbrella Shelter's Candlelight Vigil of the victims of domestic violence in Connecticut. With dozens of other people who came out in the crisp fall air, I prayed for those who have died and gave thanks for those police officers and court advocates and shelter staff people and counselors and friends who give their time and even put their lives on the line to help those who are in danger.
There is something else I can do: I can make peace. As St. Francis of Assisi reminded me this past week, as we celebrated his saint day, peace is made by refusing to stand still and leave it to other people to help, by refusing to remain silent when truth needs to be spoken. Simple acts of helping and truth-telling bring hope, liberation and LIFE to those most in need around us.
Join me in refusing to be too busy to do the right thing. Today might be the day someone needs you to notice their need for encouragement or help.
Faithfully,
Janet+
Did you know that over 30 people in Connecticut were killed as a result of domestic violence last year? The youngest of these people was under a year old. The oldest was 85.
I never know what to do with statistics like that when I encounter them on mail in my mailbox - or in the newspaper - or at events like this. Or . . . do I?
Last night, I went to the Umbrella Shelter's Candlelight Vigil of the victims of domestic violence in Connecticut. With dozens of other people who came out in the crisp fall air, I prayed for those who have died and gave thanks for those police officers and court advocates and shelter staff people and counselors and friends who give their time and even put their lives on the line to help those who are in danger.
There is something else I can do: I can make peace. As St. Francis of Assisi reminded me this past week, as we celebrated his saint day, peace is made by refusing to stand still and leave it to other people to help, by refusing to remain silent when truth needs to be spoken. Simple acts of helping and truth-telling bring hope, liberation and LIFE to those most in need around us.
Join me in refusing to be too busy to do the right thing. Today might be the day someone needs you to notice their need for encouragement or help.
Faithfully,
Janet+
Friday, October 2, 2009
Blog Birthday
Dear Friends in Christ -
The truth is, I don't know what the blog's birthday is. My goal in celebrating the blog birthday today is to give it yet another new start.
It's first start was just getting it off the ground. The second start was recreating it when the first blog blew up in cyberspace and was never heard from again. The third start was in June of this year, after I took a writing class and wanted to make the blog better by writing consistently on a more focused theme - and failed.
So now, I'm celebrating this blog birthday not by changing it up or by starting it over, but by starting to just give thanks for all I've learned in the process of writing it so far and by choosing to enjoy the inherent messy-ness of a communication tool that is multi-purpose and for a broad audience.
If there's something you would like me to write about, please let me know. If you have comments of encouragement or suggestion, please don't hesitate to share those either - revjanet@stpaulsct.org.
Continuing this journey of writing . . . faithfully,
Janet+
The truth is, I don't know what the blog's birthday is. My goal in celebrating the blog birthday today is to give it yet another new start.
It's first start was just getting it off the ground. The second start was recreating it when the first blog blew up in cyberspace and was never heard from again. The third start was in June of this year, after I took a writing class and wanted to make the blog better by writing consistently on a more focused theme - and failed.
So now, I'm celebrating this blog birthday not by changing it up or by starting it over, but by starting to just give thanks for all I've learned in the process of writing it so far and by choosing to enjoy the inherent messy-ness of a communication tool that is multi-purpose and for a broad audience.
If there's something you would like me to write about, please let me know. If you have comments of encouragement or suggestion, please don't hesitate to share those either - revjanet@stpaulsct.org.
Continuing this journey of writing . . . faithfully,
Janet+
Thursday, October 1, 2009
The next great adventure
Dear Friends in Christ -
What does God have for us next, following Faith Alive? I'm not sure, yet. It's a time of listening. As I listened to God in prayer before Faith Alive, the word I heard from God was "relationship." During Faith Alive, the power of the Spirit we experienced together confirmed the specialness, not only of our relationships with God, but also our relationships with each other. Since Faith Alive, the "buzz" I've heard has been about ways in which we might go deeper with God, especially together, in groups large and/or small.
I don't know about you, but new possibilities mean change, and change makes me nervous. Even good change.
Whatever happens in our parish, I know what God is inviting me to: deeper relationships, with Him and with others. That means changing some of my habits. God's calling me to spend more time with Him (in prayer) and with others (for starters via this blog and -gulp - Facebook). Studies show that Christians who go online to find prayers and faith-building resources and connections with other Christians attend church MORE. For the faithful, e-connections enhance in-person connections instead of substituting for them.
Here's the tricky thing: in order to add some things in, I have to cut some things out. What's going to go? I haven't figured that out yet. But I'm working on it. May God give me grace never to sell myself short, grace to risk . . .
Faithfully,
Janet+
“We fear failure more than we love life, so we refuse the great adventures. We are careful to do only what we have always done and know how to do well, so we never break the dull repetition of the old routine for the new creation of God.”
-- C.S. Lewis
What does God have for us next, following Faith Alive? I'm not sure, yet. It's a time of listening. As I listened to God in prayer before Faith Alive, the word I heard from God was "relationship." During Faith Alive, the power of the Spirit we experienced together confirmed the specialness, not only of our relationships with God, but also our relationships with each other. Since Faith Alive, the "buzz" I've heard has been about ways in which we might go deeper with God, especially together, in groups large and/or small.
I don't know about you, but new possibilities mean change, and change makes me nervous. Even good change.
Whatever happens in our parish, I know what God is inviting me to: deeper relationships, with Him and with others. That means changing some of my habits. God's calling me to spend more time with Him (in prayer) and with others (for starters via this blog and -gulp - Facebook). Studies show that Christians who go online to find prayers and faith-building resources and connections with other Christians attend church MORE. For the faithful, e-connections enhance in-person connections instead of substituting for them.
Here's the tricky thing: in order to add some things in, I have to cut some things out. What's going to go? I haven't figured that out yet. But I'm working on it. May God give me grace never to sell myself short, grace to risk . . .
Faithfully,
Janet+
“We fear failure more than we love life, so we refuse the great adventures. We are careful to do only what we have always done and know how to do well, so we never break the dull repetition of the old routine for the new creation of God.”
-- C.S. Lewis
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