My Dream World: A Disjointed and Irrational Reverie on What Never Was and Never Will Be (and that is probably a good thing!)

"My Sweet Rose" by John William Waterhouse (English 1849-1917)
Everyone needs a place to dream.

This morning I picked the first of the garden peas.  Rebecca served them for supper in a medley with new potatoes, turnips, and onions, all from our garden.  But life is not all blessing.  In the last week I've had at least three hens killed by predators, probably raccoons.  I suppose life at best is always a mixed bag.  Happy is that man who can learn to take it all in stride, the good as well as the bad.  I appreciate the opportunity to live on a farm, because it is hard to be insulated from things like death and cutworms and late frosts when you grow much of your own food.  But there are always compensations like a trilling beagle or the joyous galumphing of a spaniel puppy.  There are the beautiful and clever things we use everyday: shotguns and tillers and spades and those wonderful trimmer/saw combinations mounted on the end of an ever so long pole.  And then there is the quiet.  It gives one time to think, and just to be.  I'm sure some folks find a way to do those things very well in towns and cities, but I've never been able to manage such things when there are too many people around.  I imagine my inability stems from flaws in my own attitudes and outlooks.  But about a week ago, I walked Oscar, the spaniel pup, from the church down to the post office, about two blocks away.  He was a nervous wreck- so much noise, so many harsh distractions.  We've not done that again, and probably won't.  Better to lose the collar and lead and take our constitutionals in the fields and woods at Briarwood.

entertainment in my dream world: pastoral and gracious

The flowers this year have been beautiful.  Yesterday, a single white tea rose bloomed on faithful Pat's grave.  It made me smile, and brought a tear to my eyes.  Were Pat still on duty, there is a good chance that those hens wouldn't have been killed.  But he was more than just a worker here, he was a friend and a member of the family.  This was his place as it is mine, and both of us would rather be here than anyplace else on earth.  It is a good thing to belong, and to have a sense of place.  There is comfort to be had in a place such as this.  So much in modern society seems so impermanent and alone and transient.  Certainty seems to have vanished with the old ways (which were often far from perfect.)  But here at Briarwood, so much of what might once have been seems so close and real.  If only for a moment, it is good to escape the harsh realities which abound in a disintegrating culture and imagine a more humane and gracious world. 

Religion in my dream world: All the tribes willingly united under King Jesus
Where "Every knee shall bow and every tongue confess Jesus Christ as Lord"
of course with Orthodox Anglican Bishops! And enough Benedictine monks to keep us balanced and in good humor.

Chesterton has our Lady say that in days to come the seas will run higher and higher, but we who eat the flesh of God will never be without hope, because our knowledge of Christ's ultimate victory makes us willing to face the defeats which seem to dog our days- face them with a more profound knowledge of a deeper truth and a certainty of eventual triumph.  It is so easy to believe that here.  Here I can close my eyes and for just a moment live the delusion that baseball and horse racing still define our national character, and that steward kings like Arthur and Alfred still represent Christ on his earthly thrones, and that a gentle, rational, and orthodox Anglicanism is the established faith of the realm.  If it all sounds a bit like Tolkien's Shire or Narnia after the defeat of the witch, I suppose it is.  But we are all entitled to our dreams, however fanciful or silly they may be, and it is easy to have dreams in a place like this.


Alfredus Magnus: Ever King in my dream world until Jesus Claims his Crown

May we all find a place to dream, and a place to escape the unpleasant realities which surround us for just a little while.  May God give us the grace to see enough of the good that we are not overwhelmed by the bad.  And might our outlooks be so transformed by the grace of our baptism that we can always see through the present darkness to experience the brightness of Christ's return.

An Important Read About The Persecuted Church

 

I came across this article http://theweek.com/article/index/244665/christians-in-the-arab-world-a-guide# in "The Week", a news magazine ranked as "moderate" on Wikipedia's list of political magazines http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_political_magazines.  If it is even close to being accurate, and it does seem to line up with other articles I have read and with the few anecdotal accounts I have heard from Christian brothers and sisters living in the region,  we Christians need to pray that God would give strength to our fellows, resolve to our governments, and better minds and repentance to all those who persecute others for their faith, and especially for those who assault our brothers and sisters.  If you are not sure how to pray, I suggest the following:

Heavenly Father, continue with our brothers and sisters who are undergoing persecution for their faith.  Give them strength in their trials to be true to Jesus, and send your Blessed Holy Spirit to assure them that they are loved, and that we pray for them.  Preserve them and those they love. Inspire the people of our world in their governments and assemblies to eschew religious persecution and to oppose it however they can.  Bring those who persecute others for their faith to see the evil of their ways, and give them repentance and better minds.  Teach us to live as Christ in this world, that all people might come to see the truth of our faith, and might come to you without coercion, through the gentle and loving draw of the Holy Spirit and the example of your Son's love for us.  Lord have mercy, Christ have mercy, Lord have mercy.  In the Name of Jesus Christ our Lord and Saviour, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, One God, now and forever.  AMEN.

Sermon: Trinity Sunday 2013

To be preached at St. John's, Lancaster on 26 May, 2013

Trinity Sunday has always been one of my favorite religious holy days, because it speaks not only of God’s nature, it also speaks about our relationship to each other. In his very nature, God illuminates how we ought to relate to each other. He models what our relationships ought to be in his very being. Athanasius of blessed memory wrote (in Four Letters to Serapion I.20)

“Therefore, given the conjunction and unity in the holy Trinity, who would dare to separate the Son from the Father or the Holy Spirit from either the Son or the Father? Or who would be so bold as to suggest that the Trinity is a combination of different natures, so that the Son would have a different substance from the Father? And who would argue that the Spirit is alien to the Son? If anyone asks how it can be that when the Spirit is in us, the Son is said to be in us too, and when the Son is in us, the Father is said to be in us too, or how a Trinity can signify unity, so that when it is said that there is one God in us, this one God is a Trinity- if anyone, I say, should ask this sort of thing- let him first divide brightness from light and wisdom from the wise person, and then he will be able to explain how this can be. But if these things are impossible, how much more daring and absurd must it be to attempt the same in the case of God? The truth is that divinity is not communicated by arguments but by faith. It is not linked to reason but to godliness.”

The blessed persons of the Holy Trinity, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost each retain their own “personhood”, but they are ever one in nature and purpose and being. So it ought to be with us who are named as the blood bought Church of Jesus Christ. We maintain our own personalities and vocations and hair color. But because Jesus died and rose again, and because we have believed that he is the Christ, the Son of God, and that God the Father has raised him from the dead; because we have asked for and received his forgiveness- we are united in a common family called his Church, and we are bound to share one Lord, one faith, and one baptism. We are called to exhibit all of the signs of visible unity and cooperation as the family of God. We are called to be unified in our individuality even as the Holy and Blessed Trinity is unified although retaining the individuality of the three persons. All of us who will receive Holy Communion today have been cleansed of our sins as we have followed Him in the obedience of Holy Baptism. We have been signed with the Blessed Cross and marked as Christ’s own forever. We have been ontologically changed from what we were because of our own sin and selfishness into what God originally designed us to be. We are redeemed and restored to the fullness of fellowship with God the Father, through Jesus Christ the Son, in the power of the Holy Ghost.

And that means that we have to get along and love one another. Jesus prayed for such unity in his high priestly prayer in John 17: 20-21 , when he said “Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word; That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me.” Isaiah 11:13 speaks of a time when “The envy also of Ephraim shall depart, and the adversaries of Judah shall be cut off: Ephraim shall not envy Judah, and Judah shall not vex Ephraim.” In 52:8 he says of the leaders of God’s people, Thy watchmen shall lift up the voice, with the voice together shall they sing: for they shall see eye to eye, when the Lord shall bring again Zion.” Jeremiah expands this vision of unity among God’s people in Chapter 50, verse 4 when he proclaims, In those days, and in that time, saith the Lord, the children of Israel shall come, they and the children of Judah together, going and weeping; they shall go, and seek the Lord their God.” Jesus himself declares how he proactively seeks to bring together all of us who are among the elect of God in John 10:16. “And other sheep I have, which are not of this fold: them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice; and there shall be one fold, and one shepherd.” St. Paul might well have been speaking to us directly when he wrote to our brothers and sisters in Ephesus (2:13-14) “But now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ. For he is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us…”

How does that unity express itself in your life today? Have you forgiven the other members of our parish for those things that they did in those difficult days of the past? And are you willing to give them the benefit of the doubt and another chance when you work with them in the garden or at the altar or on some committee of the parish? If you haven’t, and if you’re not, then don’t take communion today, because it will jeopardize your soul. Have you determined in your heart to be kind and caring to everyone here today? Are you willing to forgo judging and accept as your brother or sister in Christ everyone who stands and confesses the Faith in the Nicene Creed and asks for forgiveness when we say the general confession today? If you can’t do that, then you shouldn’t take Communion today.

But if you are willing to forgive, and to try to work together, and to set aside your dislikes of someone for the sake of God so that the world will see the love of God manifested among us, then come to this altar and receive the blessed body and blood of Jesus today, and he will give us strength to do those things, and to have those attitudes that we cannot quite manage on our own. It is hard to forgive. It is even harder to work next to someone who we believe wronged us and continues to wrong us. But if they come to this place today and proclaim publicly that Jesus is the Christ and that God has raised him from the dead; if they confess their sins to God and repent; if they receive the life changing sacrament of the body and blood of Jesus, then they are on the same road we are on, and someday, some way, the blessed Holy Spirit will awaken their conscience to see the error of their ways, just as he will awaken our consciences to see the error of our ways, and reconciliation will occur, and friendship and brotherhood will be restored, and the world will look upon us and say as they said of those early Christians, “Behold how they love one another.”

In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. AMEN.

　

Closer to God in a Garden...?

Attached are a few pictures of the garden at St. John's taken by friend Laura Sims, home for deputation from the mission field.  I think she has a wonderful eye for perception and form, and count her as a true artist with the camera.

Back in the 1980's, I remember talking with my predecessor, Fr. Robert Rademaker, about his vision for the corner of Broad and Wheeling street, where our parish church is located.  He envisioned, and I quickly saw, the possibilities for a property which seemed a bit of heaven in the middle of downtown Lancaster.  We imagined a place, consecrated by our Bishop as a chapel, where people would be drawn to meet God, and every approach to the church would naturally employ the beauty of God's creation to draw us to His font and altar.  

Over the years, people have seen the possibility of this vision and have given of their time, their talent, and their means to accomplish this wonderful vision.  The gardens and their accompanying memorial inscriptions are to me a constant reminder of the many people over the years who have served God faithfully in this place.

But the garden is also a reminder of the glories that await us in heaven.  The luxuriance of the plants, the preponderance of Biblical herbs and medicinals, and the ever flowing fountain combine with the architecture of the building to remind us that there is a home prepared for us, a place not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.

I hope that our garden, our slice of heaven, designed and planted with vision and tended with constancy and love, might be a place of peace here in the heart of Lancaster, and that in it people might find God.

Many thanks to all those who donated their labour, their time, their plants, their money, and their prayers to make this year's St. John's garden and clean up day such a success.

The Aroma of Holiness

Rector’s Rambling: June 2013

With Tristan’s departure for summer studies in Luxembourg, our dog count at Briarwood has risen to four. Imagine two completely undisciplined terriers, a beagle who wants to dash off at every hint of rabbit scent, and one relatively well behaved spaniel, with me, on the way to the barn for chores. Things can get a bit complicated, especially if a chicken gets out of the pasture or we jump a rabbit or a gate gets left open when we are moving the horse between pastures. Perhaps we should change the name of Briarwood to “Mayhem,” or perhaps “Malfunction Junction.” But I still take the time to enjoy the beauty all around me. Tonight, my gaggle and I walked around the south end of the house on the way back from the barn and greenhouse. The combined scent of honeysuckle and lilac was overpowering, and it got me to thinking, “I wonder what holiness smells like?”

Nelson’s New Illustrated Bible Dictionary defines “Holy” as “moral and ethical wholeness or perfection; freedom from moral evil. Holiness is one of the essential elements of God’s nature required of His people. Holiness may also be rendered “sanctification” or “godliness.” The Hebrew word for “holy” denotes that which is “sanctified” or “set apart” for divine service…While “holy” is sometimes used in a ceremonial sense, the main use is to describe God’s righteous nature or the ethical righteousness demanded of His followers. Originating in God’s nature, holiness is a unique quality of His character…”

The Dictionary continues, “Jesus was the personification of holiness.” And again, “The theme of sanctification, or growing into God’s likeness and being consecrated for his use, is prominent throughout the Bible. Like Jesus, the apostles taught that sanctification, or true holiness, expressed itself in patient and loving service while awaiting the Lord’s return.” Paul’s prayer in I Thessalonians 3:12-13 concludes the article and provides the ultimate definition of how holiness looks, or smells, in the life of the believer. “And may the Lord make you increase in love and abound in love…so that He may establish your hearts blameless in holiness before our God and Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with all His saints.”

As summer begins, how are you doing at holiness? Do people see the character of God in you? Is your life spent in patient and loving service as you await the coming of Jesus? Do you believe in the second coming of Jesus? Do you have a sense of being “set apart” to do God’s work in this world? Does love dominate your motives and your actions and attitudes? Are you closer to moral and ethical wholeness as defined by the Bible than you were say ten months ago? Are you able to honestly say that evil does not have a controlling grip on your life? Are you growing to be more like Jesus every day?

Most of us know the answers to these questions in our own lives. And we are all better off if we worry about how we answer those questions and don’t worry about how we think other people ought to answer them about their own lives. Judgment of others is merely a distraction that the devil sends into our lives to keep us from making the kinds of changes we need to make to be more like Jesus. If we honestly ask the right questions, if we search the scriptures and pray to have God’s Spirit and motives, He will guide us, and people will see his character revealed in us, and be drawn into fellowship with Him. And in years to come, those people who knew us best will say that we truly possessed the aroma of God’s holiness.

"A Great Day To Be Alive" (with thanks to Travis Tritt for a great song title and a great song)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d4tSE2w53ts
I've been having some computer issues lately, or at least some errors related to operator ignorance which are blamable on the machine, and so I worked from home to finish up a couple of projects while everything was up and running.  It turned out to be a wonderful day.  A close early morning inspection and removal of burlap netting revealed that the cold temperature of the preceding night did not damage any of the fruit.  God willing, we will have good harvests of grapes, peaches, and apricots this year, and a fairly good showing of apples and cherries on the younger trees.  A quick trip to the church to open up revealed that our volunteers were hard at it doing the work of the kingdom, and enjoying the same!  Then it was back to spend the rest of the morning working on a leaflet for the funeral of William George Lantz, who lived well, worked hard, enjoyed the beauty of music, and loved his family.  At noon, Tristan and I broke for a lunch picked freshly from the garden, accompanied by a glass of California claret.  Rebecca joined us on her break, and we were mesmerized in good conversation as we laughed in the sunshine.  The mid-afternoon brought another trip in to the church for a consultation about the funeral and to load some necessary props for the evening's fund raiser for Young Life http://lancaster.younglife.org/Pages/default.aspx, a parachurch Christian youth ministry with which our town has been recently blessed.

After a trip to Dr. Kitzmiller DVM for Oscar's Rabies shot, it was off to Newark to meet Ashley and the children at City Barbecue for dinner.  Tristan leaves later this morning for his summer term in Luxembourg, and this was his send off dinner of sorts.  We laughed and ate and played hide and seek on the patio with the girls, and little George slept through most of the meal.  It was a magical time.  When Momma told the girls to wish Uncle Tristan a safe and happy trip, almost five year old Margaret teared up and said "I'm sinking into sadness."  Momma assured her that this was nothing like when Captain Joe went to sea, and that it was going to be a happy trip with presents from Europe and regular Face book messages from her uncle and godfather.  Everything was fine then, and we said our goodbyes.

I thought at the time how right she was.  This was nothing like when Tristan, or Matthew, or Joe went off to war.  And for that I am ever so thankful.  All of the men in my grand children's lives are home now, and we are thankful.  Some of you may remember the posting of when Joe put to sea from the Port of San Diego http://thecountryparson-rector.blogspot.com/2012/09/godspeed-captain-joe.html.  He and the fleet are home safely now, so I can post some of those old and dated pictures that I did not post before because of operational security considerations.

 
Welcome home Joe, and God bless you all.  How I look forward to the day when wars will cease, and all people, under the Lordship of King Jesus, will live in peace and harmony.

It was a good day, and today promises to be every bit as wonderful, with friends, family, and things to do for our Holy Mother the Church and for the kingdom of Jesus Christ.  May your day be as blessed, and may you find peace, and hope, and purpose.  AMEN!

"Hannibal ad Portas" -Cicero "Philippic"

Marcus Tullius Cicero pleads for the Republic

The quote from Cicero's Philippic (I v ii) sticks in my mind like a bad dream, or recollections of some early undergraduate sociology class.  Roman matrons used to frighten their children into submission with it the same way my cousin Helen, the daughter of Irish immigrants, used to keep us children away from the railroad tracks with stories about changelings and the maleficent Tuatha De Danin.  "Hannibal is at the Gate!" was calculated to chill the blood of any Roman who knew his or her history.   While I generally seek to keep this blog open for the posting of sermons and light devotional ephemera, today I sense something of a responsibility to point out that it is a personal blog and not a church or parish blog, and to speak as a citizen who, like the others members of his family for many generations, has served this Republic faithfully.  I stress that these are personal opinions, and do not reflect the opinions of my employers, my ecclesial or fraternal memberships, or any other relationships I may have now or in the future.  People who disagree with me are not necessarily un-Christian or un-American.  These are my personal concerns.

My parents reared me to believe that government should be "of the people, by the people, and for the people."  Those sentiments were reinforced in Public schools in Randolph County Indiana, at Asbury College in Kentucky, and in the Army.  While I've never been a real fan of pure democracy (it smacks a bit too much of mob violence and electoral oppression of minorities for my liking), I've always thought that Constitutionally limited Republics which took into account the great lessons of western history, and considered the intellectual and spiritual traditions of the Jews and the Christians, were probably the best form of government we are likely to ever have, given the propensity of our species to sin and selfish behavior.  And even as the least bad option, I've considered them almost certain to produce the greatest good for the greatest number of people, particularly if they take seriously the concepts enshrined in "The Wealth of Nations" and "Democracy in America."

The headlines of the last few weeks have seriously troubled me, and caused me to ask whether or not "Hannibal" and those forces of despotism and tyranny which he represented to the average Citizen of Rome, is not indeed "at the gates."  First there was the debacle at Benghazi.  Try as I might to understand the deeper events of that week, it looks to me like our government left soldiers and diplomats on the ground to die when the outcome could have been different, and then lied to all of us about it.  And then there is that ongoing bit about the expanded domestic use of drones and how long it took an appointee to high office to simply say that he did not believe that the US government has the right to kill an American citizen who is not actively involved in operations against the United States.   And now the Internal Revenue Service admits what has been rumored for years, that groups of citizens were knowingly targeted for audit because of their political opinions.  And I cannot omit the propensity of many of our elected leaders (a majority in fact) to excuse themselves from the laws they pass for the benefit of the rest of us.

When I was much younger, elected and appointed officials of the US government were brought to some semblance of justice for abuse of authority and the arrogance which led them to think themselves above the law.  I am always slow to make assumptions, because to do so is not logical, but I wonder if we are not close to that point again, and I wonder how our nation will respond this time around.  I cannot believe that this is a one party or single administration issue, and my gut tells me that we have a serious systemic presence of evil in our nation which regularly considers itself above the rule of law and constitutional authority.   I pray that in the weeks and months to come, justice will prevail and the constitutional heritage of this Republic will again be triumphant.  Great reforms which seek to overthrow or change systems scare me to death, but given our historic commitment to the belief that the law is for everyone, and that the purpose of the constitution is to limit the excesses which often flow from the possession of power, popularity, and wealth (none of which are necessarily bad things when used according to the precepts of natural law and revealed religion), I am unwilling to give up hope that we will work through our problems and hold the guilty responsible both at the polls and in the courts.

Pro Republica!
Bill