Pentecost 8, July 19, 2015 (full size gallery)
This week we fed 81 at the Village Dinner. We not only had Johnny’s produce that he procured (onion, potatos, cucumbers, egg plant) but also the rainbow soup from Vacation Bible School. We distributed about 500 pounds of food. Next week during gleaning we support Feed More which is a supplier for Northern Neck Food Bank where Johnny buys the produce
We also received a card from the AME Church in Charleston where the murder of 9 took place in June. We rang the bell 9 times (thanks to Charles McGuire) in solidarity with other churches against both the violence and in support of that loving church. Catherine showed the card in church this morning.
Don’t forget to put Sept 15 on your calendar for the Flamenco Concert. Not only do you get a great concert of guitar and dancing but Mary Ann Betchy’s Tapas will start the whole show at 6am. Having recently sampled some of these from Mary Ann, they are a meal in themselves. We have articles this week on Leah Kruszewski the talented guitarist. You will see different articles on both her and the dancer, the Israeli born Yolit in the August newspaper coming out soon.
A small service today – only 27 in the middle of summer. We did have a surprise guest, Joe Hensley rector from St. George’s who was on vacation.
A lot of church related things going on so announcements were longer than usual.
We commissioned the mission team to go gleaning. This is going on all next week and unfortunately the heat is picking up.
Betty received a bag from General Convention about our UTO grant. One booklet shows our grant published.
We wished BJ a happy birthday. BJ prepares our weekly communion bread – a wonderful ministry.
We celebrated Stanley’s return from the hospital after his recent stroke.
Joe announced the ECM picnic next Saturday at 5:30pm at Reynolds Pavilion.
We are two months from Pentecost and Jesus and the disciples are getting weary. (The readings are here). Thanks to Debi Thomas for this wonderful setting of the Gospel. " Mark 6:30-34 describes the return of the disciples from their first ministry tour — their inauguration into apostleship. Exhilarated and exhausted, they have stories to tell Jesus — thrilling stories of healings, exorcisms, and effective evangelistic campaigns. Perhaps there are darker stories in the mix as well — stories of failure and rejection. Hard stories they need to process privately with their Teacher.
"Whatever the case, Jesus senses that the disciples need a break. They’re tired, overstimulated, underfed, and in significant need of solitude.
"Jesus, meanwhile, is not in top form himself. He has just lost John the Baptist, his beloved cousin and prophet, the one who baptized him and spent a lifetime in the wilderness preparing his way. Worse, Jesus has lost him to murder, a terrifying reminder that God’s beloved are not immune to violent, senseless deaths. Maybe Jesus’ own end feels closer. In any case, he’s heartbroken.
The sermon considers the above- the tired weary disciples.
"Rest seems to be in short supply these days. All of those things and people that demand our time can be like thieves that steal our lives away from us. We have too much to do and we’ve convinced ourselves that we have to cram even more into our already packed days."
"And like the disciples, we can get so busy thinking about how “I did this and I did that” and even telling God how much we’ve done for God that we forget that God sent us out to start with and what we’ve gotten done is through God’s grace and strength, not our own.
"And as a result of any or all of these things, we don’t rest and we get worn out and discouraged or maybe even depressed and hopeless.
"Meanwhile, Jesus seems to have plenty of energy…My guess is that Jesus had all that boundless energy because he knew how to rest in God, and a side effect of that sort of rest is to be constantly restored and renewed by God."
"So I’m betting that Jesus knew and must have loved Psalm 23. In fact, Mark tells us that Jesus had compassion for the great crowd who needed so much because they were like sheep without a shepherd, an image straight out of the psalm. And so he cared for them—as a shepherd cares for his sheep.
"Psalm 23 must have reminded Jesus of how God was loving and caring for him as he walked this earth; how God loved and cared for him as he at last walked through that lonesome valley, that valley of the shadow of death that only he could walk on his way to the cross…"The deeper promise of the psalm, though, is that God has been available to us all along and that God is waiting and longing to lead us gently into rest."
The sermon considers Ronald Rolheiser… Rolheiser says in his essay “Praying through a Crisis” that “prayer is a focus on God, not ourselves…and when we pray in a crisis we must force ourselves to focus upon God or Jesus…resisting entirely the urge to relate that encounter immediately to our wounded experience” (page 130).
"The twenty-third psalm is the perfect description of what Rolheiser describes as being held by the mother. It’s about resting in God, about being content simply to be with God, to be held, fed and led by God, and ultimately to know nothing but God’s goodness and mercy.
"Just as it did for Jesus, the 23rd Psalm holds our promises from God as well.Those promises are revival, fearlessness, comfort, abundance, goodness, mercy, and resurrection energy–not just when we take our last breath, but right here and right now."
Lectionary commentary by Canon Lance Ousley, Diocese of Olympia
I often ask people what they love about their church, and after they answer I ask them what they are willing to do to make that true for others. This simply is stewardship, sharing blessings have you found in your life that you hope others might find, too. In our Gospel lesson this week from Mark 6 we hear what people are willing to do to make what they have found in their lives to be true about Jesus true for others. In our reading from Ephesians we hear Paul reminding them and us what he loves about his faith and the truth of it for us all.
The Gospel lesson opens with the disciples so excited about what "they have done and taught" that they gathered around Jesus to tell him about it. And as we hear about them traveling to the other side of the lake others recognize them and are willing to do whatever it takes to get to them. After they arrive on shore we hear about how people from all over the region brought those who were sick to Jesus so that they, too, could experience the truth of what they have found in him. They even were willing to carry the sick on mats to help others to be blessed by Jesus. Their sense of blessedness compelled them to share their faith with others, especially those who they felt needed Jesus most.
I can’t help but wonder as I read both the Gospel and Epistle this week what answers to my two questions above might be given in our churches today. What is it that we love about our faith and our churches? Are we making known what God is doing in our lives and in the world through Christ? What are we willing to do to make this true for others? I don’t think we can shy away from asking these questions. Sometimes just asking the questions helps people to internalize how deeply blessed they truly are. And these last two readings this week lead us into this dialogue laying the foundation for one’s own sense of blessedness and our corporate blessedness, and therefore, the foundation for responsive stewardship. But after we ask the questions, we are compelled as leaders to follow up with the answers we are given and empower people to make their answers to these questions true for others. This simply is stewardship because if it is where our heart is, then our treasure will be there also.