May 8th wedding

I am working on two sermons at present. One for May 8th for a wedding and one for Good Shepherd on May 9th. I am attempting to stay on topic and flip flop my way to two decent sermons.

In the chosen selection from Mark there is a word that grabs at me to some thinking that I am doing about this sermon. That word is unite. In marriage we become united. To unite is to make one and immediately what jumps to the fore is the Eucharist service itself where we hear that through the sharing of bread and wine that we are united" in Him and He in us" In Rite II form B of the Great Thanksgiving it writes, "We pray you, gracious God, to send your Holy Spirit upon these gifts that they may be the Sacrament of the Body of Christ and his Blood of the New Covenant. Unite us to your Son in his sacrifice..."

Form A writes, which is not as strong in this unifying theme does state, "All this we ask through your Son Jesus Christ. By Him, and with Him, and in Him..."

Yet it is Rite I that best speaks to this idea of unity in Eucharist where in the Great Thanksgiving this is highlighted when the priest asks that all present who receive the" body and blood of thy Son Jesus Christ, be filled with thy grace and heavenly benediction and made one body with him, that he may dwell in us and we in him."

So as two become one it will be into what one will that unity be maintained, enriched, made full? For while these Eucharistic prayers remind us in worship that we need continually to recognize who fill us up so that we may serve and witness as Christians in the world, the same need is made present in marriage. Where and how will you recognize that it is God who unites you to himself in marriage so that as two made into one you may reaveal Him in the world. Where and how exactly will you do that?

I think now of two becoming one is really the willinging action of two to become bound to one another. Now bondage is a tricky word from the pulpit. You say bondage and some in the audience might travel in all sorts of mental directions... for example Uncle Frank who may not come to church often might think this might be a better topic for the honeymoon than for the marriage itself... Hey don't blame me, blame uncle frank... he's the one with the issue.

Or if I say bondage one might think of people being tied up and there is some type of bad person who has limited the freedom of some hero or heroine. The task in that mental scenario is to get out of bondage as quickly as possible. Certainly with a mental image like this the concept of bondage seems silly or neive. In fact one of the reasons I think that marriages that end in divorce is because of the fact that it is just as the marriage needs to remain bound one or both of the participants chaff at the linkage. We joke about this and our very joking reveals a sort of negative vision of this unity. We might call her the old ball and chain. Either might joke of being whipped... suggesting this sort of Master/ Servant relationship where power is held by one or where the one can not break free. Again it is negative but it does draw attention to the fact that there is this established unity and to be and remain in unity there is a challenge. The individual and his or her needs and wants will be tempered by the collective needs and wants... and at times this bond does chaff.

What comes next is to flesh out the mental image that it is when there is the most strain that the link that unites two to become one... must hold. That is the strength and need of the bond that is most essential and often where one or both become cognizant that there is another player who can bring blessing out of derision.

Joke that might fit- purpose is to listen that you don't have to figure out everything yourself.

A bear, a rabbit, and a fox go out hunting for deer. They have a successful day and come home having bagged a deer. The bear asks, "how should we divide this deer up to eat?" The rabbit pipes up, " I think we should divide it up evenly three ways." Upon hearing that the bear reaches over, grabs the rabbit and eats him. The bear then asks the fox, "how should we divide up this deer to eat?" The fox answers "I think you should figure that out." The bear now pleased asks, how did you come up with such a good idea? he asks the fox. The fox answered.
The rabbit taught me that one.


Next- The wedding service / Sacrament/ what it says about Unity

Mothers day service

I wonder...I am thinking aloud about a possibility for an upcoming church service... this is intentionally a children's service for us. That means for me that we will be seeking to have the message be appropriate for children. The day's Gospel speaks of Jesus as the vine and ourselves as the branches.

I wonder if we could make this visual? Would it be possible to stretch some type of string or rope from some type of centerpiece to every row in the church. If we were able to do it would it then be possible to hand out small sections of string to each parishioner and have them tie it on the main rope (vine) so to speak. Thus the center of the sermon would be the implied and demonstrated reality that we are all tied together and only effective if we as a community are tied to Christ.

We could even decorate the doors leading into the sanctuary with vines, leaves, and grapes.

I might even come out in farmer clothes....

hmmmmmm?

Beginning the work

How does God's love abide in anyone who has the world's goods and sees a brother or sister in need and yet refuses help? Little children, let us love, not in word or speech, but in truth and action. And by this we will know that we are from the truth and will reassure our hearts before him whenever our hearts condemn us; for God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything. Beloved, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have boldness before God; and we receive from him whatever we ask, because we obey his commandments and do what pleases him

I stand convicted from the above. The truth of the matter is that I have not formed the correct foundation. Since beginning this walk of mine as a priest I have struggled with where God has been leading. Mind you that God has not been overtly pressuring me to do anything... at least as I can tell... what has been happening has been a lot more subtle. Since becoming a Priest there has been this gentle pressure to take up or create for myself a foundation. And the rationale for such a foundation? Simply to allow God access to a life commited to His ministry yet fearful of really turning it over to him. My outsides have done better than my insides.

I was able to steal away for a few days after Easter. I ended up having the opportunity to spend some time at my folks house. It was good not because I did anything but because I really did nothing. For three days it rained. This was terrible for golf but good for the soul. The gem of the time away was my stepfather pushing a book in front of me. It was a short book and supposedly about Golf. Enough to spark my interest and far enough away from church work to have me look at it on my vacation. The books title is Golf's Sacred Journey... Seven Days at the Links of Utopia by Dr. David Cook. It turns out the book was a lot more than an interesting account of Golf. At it's center was a text about coaching and what one needs to be taught. One of the many things that got my attention was its assistance on preparation and building a proper foundation. One line that struck me was "If you want to lead a successful organization, you better build a bullet proof foundation for why you do what you do and how you do it."

The conviction of course was that as a man of faith and religious title, I have been building my foundation on sand. I mean intent is good but intent only gets one so far. Eventually one has to transform work into discipline and get to work. While there are many ways I could go deeper from the above quote from Sunday's epistle the key one that stood out for me was action. What actions am I taking on a consistent basis to sustain me in God to live through all the complexities and stressors of full time ministry? The reality is that I have not been disciplined as I could choose to be. And that is the knock that God has been knocking on my heart for some time. It is time to get to work in building such a foundation...