Life isn’t always orderly

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Rev. Molly F. James, PhD
Christ Church Cathedral, Hartford, CT
Advent IV, December 24, 2017
2 Samuel 7:1-11,16; Canticle 15; Romans 16:25-27; Luke 1:26-38

May God’s Word be spoken. May God’s Word be heard. May that point us to the living Word, who is Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.

When I was a kid I spent a lot of time at my grandmother’s farm house. One of our favorite evening activities was to watch old films, and yes I do mean films-  the kind that required a projector. Of course, she had family ones from when she or my dad were young, but our favorites were the Charlie Chaplin ones. We thought they were so funny, especially when we got to watch them go backwards. When the ice cream magically went up out of the women’s dress and back up on to Charlie’s cone on the balcony above. We also thought it was really funny when the projector was set too fast and everything happened in double or triple time. Today might feel a little bit as though someone set the projector on high speed and is running it backwards and forwards on us.

Here we are on the fourth Sunday in Advent, at least for a few more hours. In our Gospel reading today we hear of the Angel Gabriel telling Mary that she will be Jesus’ mother. But before we even heard that Gospel, in the place of the psalm, we said the Magnificat, that wonderful passage from Luke that is Mary’s song when she goes to visit her cousin Elizabeth during the sixth month of her pregnancy. For those of who return in about 12 or 14 hours, we will be celebrating the birth of Jesus. Feel like you have liturgical whiplash yet? Exhausted yet?

I don’t know about you, but I find myself wanting to know where the pause button is. Wait, I cry. How is it already the fourth Sunday of Advent. It feels like we have barely started. How can we possibly go from a not yet pregnant Mary to the birth of Jesus in a 24 hour period. Isn’t Advent supposed to be about contemplation and preparation? I find myself wanting to protest and argue with the lectionary committee and with our calendar. Why did we have to have two Sundays of John the Baptist preparing the way for Jesus’ ministry and then only get to hear about Mary and the Angel Gabriel the morning before we celebrate the birth of Jesus? But then I stop and take a breath, and I laugh. I laugh because it is like real life. How often have we had days or weeks or even months in our lives where things felt backwards and upside down or like they were moving too fast? Turns out it is far more like real life to have things a bit mixed up and out of order as they are today.

Ultimately, I find it comforting. If we are feeling as though life is mixed up or out of order or things are not at all going the way we planned, we are not alone. In fact we are in remarkable company. Do you think Mary was planning on having a baby that year? Considering she and Joseph weren’t even married yet, it is not likely. She had not expected an Angel to appear to her and inform that she was going to have a baby, and not just any baby, God’s Son. And she certainly wasn’t planning on giving birth in a stable miles and miles from her family.

We are in good company when things are not going as we had hoped. And there is an invitation here, today, in our story of Mary and the Angel Gabriel. It is an invitation of acceptance. Invitation to be alert to the ways God shows up unexpectedly in our lives, and to pay attention when that happens. An invitation to go with the flow and trust that there is more at work than we can know. An invitation to believe the Angels who show up in our lives and invite us to follow God on paths that seem far different from what we had planned. Today we are invited to be like Mary, and to say “Yes” to God. It is an invitation to take a deep breath and to be present in the moment. An invitation to pay attention.

There is another invitation in our texts today. It is an invitation to action. It is an invitation to be about living out lives that reflect the desires of God. It is the invitation to bring the world and our own lives more in line with the Magnificat. A world where the proud are scattered, where the mighty are cast down, and the rich sent away empty. A world where the lowly are lifted up, the hungry are filled and the mercy of God is known everywhere.

I don’t know how many of you regularly pray the Daily Office or have the privilege of regularly attending Evening Prayer or Evensong services, but if you do, you will notice that the Magnificat shows up with great regularity. I don’t think that is an accident. Hearing, praying, saying, singing the Magnificat is always a good idea. We need it to be a centerpiece in our lives and in our faith. We need to always be reminded of God’s desires for the world and for those of us who follow Jesus. We need to be reminded that filling the hungry, lifting up our neighbors in need and promoting the mercy of God are what we are to be about each and every day.

As this day reminds us, things will not always happen the way we would like or in the particular order we would like. Sometimes it will feel as though things are moving far too fast or far too slow. Sometimes it will seem as though things are all mixed up. But that is okay. We are not alone. Some of the best stories started out in confusing and unexpected ways. Today’s readings are a prime example of that. And so we are invited to be like Mary, and to trust in the workings of the Holy Spirit. Even when we feel scared or uncertain. God is present. God is at work. The question for us is, will we be able to live more fully in the present moment, so that we might join with God in that holy work? I sure hope so.

AMEN.

Living Generously

The chapel at Christ Church Cathedral 

Rev. Molly F. James, PhD
Christ Church Cathedral, Hartford, CT
Christ the King, November 26, 2017
Matthew 25: 31-46

May God’s Word be spoken. May God’s Word be heard. May that point us to the living Word who is Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

I have a mug which has a picture of a small child and a motivational quote on it entitled “Priorities.” It reads: “A hundred years from now, it will not matter what kind of car I drove, the sort of house I lived in, or the size of my bank account, but the world may be different because I was important in the life of a child.” I could not help but think of this quote when I read the gospel for today. Jesus tells his followers that the defining characteristic of their lives will be how they have cared for those on the margins, those who, like children, can be considered the “least.”

Yet again, as we were a few weeks ago, we are reminded that living a life of faith means living a life that is focused beyond ourselves. It means living a life where we are not focused on our own achievements or how much we might acquire in wealth and resources. It means living a life that is focused on how we might engage in relationship with each other and how we might be able to share our gifts and blessings in a way that enriches the lives of all.

There is a real invitation here for us to think about the ways that we have been too self-centered. Notice how the followers talk to Jesus. They say, “When was it that WE did this for you?” Notice that they still make it about themselves. They make it about what THEY did or did not do. They keep the focus on their own actions more than about helping someone else. They don’t ask Jesus about those who were served, they ask about themselves. They seem to be overly concerned with their own status and standing. How human!

As I think I have mentioned, I consider myself a recovering perfectionist, and so I can so relate to the followers in this passage who want to know exactly where they stand with Jesus. Please, Lord, tell me am I one of the righteous? I find myself quickly going to the place of fearing how I may have fallen short of being righteous. And this text sets us up to be fearful, because it shows us the reward for the righteous and the punishment for those who fail to care for others.

But even if we are behaving in a righteous manner, even if we are being generous with what we have, we need to also pay attention to our motivations. Notice something about the righteous . . . they ask the same question as the unrighteous. They ask when it was that they did these things, because they don’t remember seeing Jesus sick or in prison. Jesus rewards them precisely because they did something good and right for its own sake. They were not paying attention to who they were serving. They just saw someone in need and responded.

That is Church at its best: seeing a need and responding. Whether it be someone who needs food or clothing, someone who needs comfort and care while facing illness or other personal challenge, providing connection to those in prison. Someone who feels lonely and is looking for a community that will accept them as they are. Churches do this. This Church, this Cathedral community, does all these things. We do them because we know that it is the right thing to do. It is not about our own egos, about getting noticed or racking up some kind of personal reward. It is about being generous with what we have - with our material abundance and with the love in our hearts, because that is who we are and who God created us to be.

Someone need only spend a little time in this remarkable community to realize that it is one that exemplifies the life of generosity that the Lord calls us to in our Gospel today. The statistics about how many people have been fed and clothed because of the efforts of our Cathedral community are remarkable. Thousands of lives have been blessed by the generosity of this Cathedral community. Additionally, over the years this community has supported, in a variety of ways, ministry with those in prison and those newly released. And it says right at the top of our bulletins that wherever you are on your spiritual journey, you are welcome here. This is a house of prayer for all people.

If like me, you have some perfectionist tendencies, you can focus too quickly on what is missing or what you have not done. I do hope in this season of stewardship, as we all are reflecting on how we can live even more generous lives, that we are also taking the time to give thanks for myriad of ways in which we are already living beautiful, faithful, generous lives. Yes, we can, and we should, do more. And we can also celebrate all that is already happening.

I hope that in that celebration we will share the stories of this community out in the world. There are so many stories of hope here. Stories that embody our Gospel for today. Stories that tell of faithful people who love God and care for one another. The world needs tho

se stories. The other communities in which we live, work, go to school and volunteer, need our stories. You never know when someone might be seeking a community or seeking out resources for which they are afraid to ask. Our stories of hope and community, our stories of this remarkable Cathedral community might just be what they need to hear.  I might even be so bold as to modify the saying on my motivational mug to say that “the world might be different because I brought a friend to church or I shared a story of my faith community.”

There are many who are in need, in our midst and beyond these walls. May we give thanks for the myriad of ways this community already seeks to meet the needs of the world. And may we also be inspired to be even more bold in the ways in which we live generous and holy lives.

AMEN.

Life Lessons from the Glove Compartment

Rev. Molly F. James, PhD

St. Alban’s, Simsbury, CT

Proper 27A, November 12, 2017

1 Thessalonians 4:13-18; Matthew 25:1-13

May God’s Word be spoken. May God’s Word be heard. May that point to the living Word who is Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

If you go through my car, you will discover that I am my father’s daughter. You would find jumper cables, a first aid kit, wipes, a sewing kit, a leatherman multi-tool, and a lint roller. When I was a kid, we would often tease my dad about the contents of his car, particularly his glove compartment. He seemed to have everything in there - cups, paper clips, safety pins, note paper, forks and spoons, tools, etc. Elsewhere in his car you could always find paper towels, kleenex, a first aid kit, jumper cables and a tow rope. We would tease him, and he would smile good naturedly, knowing fully well that it would only be a matter of time before we would need one of those items.

When we fell down and skinned our knees he was ready with gauze and band-aids. When we had take out food with no silverware, he was ready with a spoon or fork. When we borrowed his car for an important interview, we would be grateful for the lint roller. And my dad was ready to help perfect strangers when their car batteries died or they were stuck in a ditch.

I can’t help but think that if my dad had been there with the bridesmaids in our Gospel story this morning the unwise bridesmaids wouldn’t have had such difficulties, because he probably would have had extra oil to share!

Although we teased my dad about always having all that stuff, I realize now what an important lesson he was teaching us. He showed us again and again that there was nothing life could throw at us that we could not handle. He also taught us that life would not always be easy, and so we need to be prepared to handle the challenges that will come our way.

This was a lesson my parents taught me on a broader level as well. My parents taught me that being prepared for challenges meant taking care of ourselves physically and spiritually - eating well and exercising, going to Church and cultivating a community of support. This meant that when I was diagnosed with cancer as a teenager that community sprung into action to surround us with love and care. The most tangible expression of that being that they worked together to make dinner for us twice a week for the entire year I was on chemotherapy. My parents showed me that a large part of being prepared for the challenges of life was about cultivating community to ensure that we did not have to face a challenge alone.

It seems to me that our Gospel lesson this morning is about preparation. The wise bridesmaids, who have filled their lamps, are rewarded and praised for their forethought. The foolish ones, who lived too much in the present moment and did not think about being prepared, miss out on the gift of being invited into the banquet with Jesus. The Gospel reminds us that we do not know when Jesus will come. This is the important truth: life is uncertain, and we need to be prepared. We need to have things in our personal “glove compartment” and to structure our own lives in such a way that we have what we need to face the challenges that will come in the course of our lives. My parents’ lessons on this front helped provide me with sense of stability and confidence. They showed me that life would not always be easy, but I did not need to fear that fact. As long as I had community and tools, I would be able to handle any situation.

There are lots of uncertainties in life, and we seem to be increasingly aware of them lately. The new headlines are full of stories of violence, tragedy and disasters. All of us, and particularly the young people among us, can feel overwhelmed by the anxiety and fear that is present in our culture. The world can be a scary place. We need to be prepared to face the reality of uncertainty in our lives and in our world.

I believe that that is one of the great gifts of Church generally, and this community in particular. You are a community that support each other through thick and thin. You are here to hold the faith for each other. You are here to remind each other that no matter the challenges life brings, we do not have to face them alone.

The invitation for all of us in today’s Gospel is to be prepared, because life is uncertain. I believe this invitation is two-fold. It is an invitation to stock our glove compartments, so that we have band-aids and spoons when we or someone else might need them. It is also an invitation to cultivate support around us. We human beings were created to be in community. We are created to support and care for each other. The invitation is to deepen our connections with each other and with God, so that we feel grounded and supported as we go about our lives. It is worth remembering that Jesus did not go it alone, so neither should we.

May our Gospel be a reminder for us to give thanks for all those in our lives who helped us be prepared for the challenges we have had to face, and may we seek to help each other be prepared for whatever challenges may lie ahead.

AMEN.

On Suffering

“So, what do you study?” or “What did you write your dissertation on?” These are pretty common questions when you have the initials PhD after your name. Since I wrote a doctoral dissertation on suffering, I have had to come up with a succinct and (hopefully) interesting way of summarizing my work. The subject matter pretty much guarantees that I will only have about thirty seconds before my questioner will desperately seek out greener pastures or begin to joke about how the ordeal of doctoral work is in and of itself a dissertation on suffering. While some of you may have heard the “elevator speech”version of my dissertation, I think it bears sharing here as well.

Our collective hearts break at the reality of yet another mass shooting, and again like with Sandy Hook, innocently people were gunned down in a place of sanctuary, a place that should always be safe. I find myself returning to my own research for comfort and for a theological framework with which to move forward when what I really want to do is curl up and weep. So, here it is, in the hopes that it might help you think theologically about the reality of suffering whether in Sutherland Springs or your own lives and communities. I also hope that it will motivate us to action to work for a different future.

“My dissertation develops a contemporary theology of suffering in conversation with five theologians who almost span the history of the Church: Gregory the Great, Julian of Norwich, Jeremy Taylor, C.S. Lewis and Ivone Gebara. I chose them because they all write theologically out of personal experiences of suffering. If you take Ivone as a starting place, then she asks the very important question: is this suffering endemic to the human experience (like disease or natural disasters-things we can reasonably expect to encounter in our lives) OR is this suffering the result of injustice? If it is the latter than we, as Christians, are called to fight against it, to speak out and to prevent it. Suffering that is the result of injustice is not some cross we have to bear; it must be stopped. If it is suffering that is endemic, then we can return to Gregory, Julian and Jeremy for wonderful resources and spiritual practices to help us cope. We can also read Lewis, so that we can have permission to be angry in the midst of our suffering.”

I hope you find comfort when your suffering is endemic, and I hope you remember that Jesus calls us to action whenever we encounter injustice in the world.  

_________

If you are interested in the full length version, my dissertation became the book pictured above, available from Wipf & Stock and on Amazon. 

The other triduum

Halloween, All Saints Day, All Souls Day. These three days can be called the other triduum of the Christian calendar. Rather than being days that take us through the reality of Jesus’ suffering and death, they are days that point us toward our own mortality and the finite nature of our own lives. What a good idea. No really.

There are lots of ways we could talk about the death defying nature of American culuture, from the statistics about how many Americans die in hospitals or institutions (death is no longer a part of our home lives) to the amount of money spent on healthcare in the last few months of someone’s life. Or just look at the articles and advertisements in a men’s or women’s magazine next time you are standing in line at the grocery store. Most will be offering some variation on “a life free from suffering in ten easy steps” or “simple home remedy to keep you looking young.” We seem to be willing to go to enormous lengths to pretend that death does not exist  least to try to pretend that it won’t happen to us.

Except on Halloween. On Halloween we, Americans, immerse ourselves in reminders of the mortal nature of human existence. And for those of us who are Christian, we spend two more days honoring the faithful departed, both the famous saints everyone knows and also those whose remarkable deeds are only shared in family stories at Thanksgiving dinner. We willing surround ourselves with death. The question is, will we really let it sink into our souls?

I believe there is a gift in acknowledging our mortality. Sure, as with all things we can go too far, and become depressed and fearful. Or we can choose to let the knowledge of our own death inspire us to live life more fully. We can stop saying, “Oh, I’ll do that next year.” The only guarantee we have is the here and now. 

Let us carry our mortality from this triduum into the coming days and weeks. May the reality of death be inspiration to live more holy lives that are filled with joy and gratitude.

On humility, generosity and thermodynamics

 View from my childhood home 

Rev. Molly F. James, PhD
Christ Church Cathedral, Hartford, CT
October 29, 2017
Proper 25A, Deuteronomy 34:1-12, Psalm 90, 1 Thessalonians 2:1-8, Matthew 22:34-46

May God’s Word be spoken. May God’s Word be heard. May that point us to the living Word who is Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

My mom spent her whole professional career as a teacher. She started her career teaching math to elementary students and ended it teaching writing and literature to high schoolers. In between, and for much of my childhood, she spent it teaching adults how to build their own houses. She and my dad built the house I grew up in, and then she joined the faculty of that school. They hired her because she has gifts for teaching and because she has an undergraduate degree in history. They wanted a teacher whose professional training was not as an architect or an engineer or a carpenter. The mission of the school was to show people that anyone could take the three week course and learn to build their own house; it did not require any previous training. My mom taught Heat, Climate, and Foundations. In one particular session, she had a student who was a kind and thoughtful older gentleman who asked insightful questions during her lecture on the varieties of ways one could heat a house and what were the most efficient options for various locations. After the lecture he came up to chat with my mother. It turned out he had a PhD in Thermodynamics and was a professor at an Ivy League University. He had spent decades studying and teaching. He was far more qualified to give the lecture my mother had just offered. He could have hijacked her class or he could have spent all of the lunch break telling my mother what she did wrong. He did neither of those things. Instead, he complimented her on how accessible she made the material and offered a few polite suggestions on things that might be helpful to consider for future lectures.

My mom and I have talked often about that thermodynamics professor and what a wonderful example he set of humility. He was by far the expert in the room that day, but he did not need to announce that to the class. He didn’t ask those “questions” that were really just an opportunity for him to show the class how much he knew. That professor understood a very important truth: it wasn’t about him.

I thought of this story again this week as I reflected on our readings for today. Our readings also remind us of that all important truth: it is not about us. It is about God. It is about loving our neighbor. These are truths that Moses and Paul understood well. Poor Moses. He spends all that time leading the Israelites through the wilderness, hearing them complain about how life was better in Egypt, trying to help them and get them to understand God’s desires for them. He gets to lead them to the Promised Land. He even gets to see the Land in all its glory and beauty. But he does not get to go to it. God tells Moses, “I have let you see it with your eyes, but you shall not cross over there.” Now, we can imagine that Moses might have wanted to rant and rave about that. How unfair! He spent all that time and energy getting the people to this point, and he does not even get the reward of even a day in the Promised Land. We could easily construct a whole monologue here, but Moses doesn’t say any of that. Because Moses knows that it is not about him. Moses is a faithful servant of God. He understands that it is not about his own desires or his own glory. It is about God. It is about the people of Israel. Moses’ mission in life was not to achieve personal greatness, it was to give glory to God and care for the people.

And Paul knows this truth too. He tells the people in Thessalonica, “So deeply do we care for you that we are determined to share with you not only the gospel of God but also our own selves, because you have become very dear to us.” Paul is willing to give of his very self for the people. He fully understands that living a faithful life means taking your ego out of the equation. It means letting go of our own desires for personal glory. It means seeking the good of the whole community above all. As our Gospel today reminds us, we are called to love God and to love our neighbors as ourselves. There is the key. We are called to LOVE.
If love is our motivation then we cannot be solely focused on ourselves. Love requires relationship and giving of oneself.

We are called by God to lives of generosity. We are called to lives that are holy. We are called to live lives that point to God, because as Moses, Paul, and that thermodynamics professor knew, it is not about us. It is about God. It is about living lives that are grace filled and humble.

I trust that each of you have stories like my mom’s, stories of someone who has inspired you by the humble and loving way they have lived their lives. I hope you will share these stories with each other, and whenever possible, tell the person who inspires you too! The world can always use more stories that inspire us to live more generously.

I hope each of us will keep these stories of grace and humility in our minds as we go about our daily lives. In this stewardship season we, the Cathedral community, are called to reflect on how we can live more generous lives. How can we be more generous with our time, with our hearts and with the material wealth with which we have been so richly blessed? Because, after all, it is not about us. It is about God. It is about loving our neighbor. It is about being generous so that our neighbors can thrive.

May each of us find enumerable ways in the coming days and weeks to live more generous lives. And may we draw daily on the depths of God’s love and grace, so that we can be a people of love and generosity in the world.

AMEN.

Render to Caesar . . . Sermon for October 22, 2017

Rev. Molly F. James, PhD

Grace Episcopal Church, Hartford, CT

October 22, 2017

Proper 24A, Matthew 25:15-22

May God’s Word be spoken. May God’s Word be heard. May that point us to the living Word, who is Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

"Render to Caesar that which is Caesar's. Render to God that which is God's."

Probably one of the most familiar passages in Scripture. But as one of my seminary professors said, "Never confuse familiarity with understanding."

And so I find myself trying to see this passage with new eyes and to figure out what it is this passage is saying to us, the people of Grace, at this time.

It could be that is just a reminder to do our civic duties and to be faithful citizens who exercise their right to vote, to make our beliefs and values known to our elected officials, and pay our taxes. Those are important things indeed. I do believe we are called to be participants in our common life and in our republic. Participation is part of the privilege and responsibility of living in this nation.

And I find myself wondering if the text isn't also trying to tell us something deeper as well. I wonder if there might also be an invitation here for us to do some deeper reflection about who we are, what we value, and where our priorities are.

I don't know about you, but I find the questions of values and priorities resonating with me right now. Whether it is the scourge of gun violence in our nation, the seeming unending news headlines about natural disasters - hurricanes, fires, floods and earthquakes, the continued political polarization in our government and our society, or the budget crises in our state and our city, not mention whatever challenges and losses we are facing in our own lives, I have times of feeling adrift or even overwhelmed.  The magnitude of human suffering we witness in the news and on our own social media streams can seem like too much to bear.

I am grateful for this text because it invites me to pause and reflect. It invites me to think about what is actually my responsibility and what can I let go of, what I can turn over to God.

"Render to Caesar that which is Caesar's. Render to God that which is God's."

Render to God that which is God's. Hmm. That which is God's. Well, if we think about it, what is God's is actually quite a lot. What do we say when the gifts are brought to the altar? "All things come of thee O Lord, and of thine own have we given the." ALL things come of thee O Lord. All things indeed.

And so, I find this text being an invitation to let some things go. An invitation to remember whose we are and the finite nature of our own existence. To put it bluntly this text puts us in our place. Of course, it could be easy to let that fact depress us and to complain that we don't want to feel small and insignificant. But I think there is actually a lot of freedom here.

The good kind of freedom - the kind that means we are free from bearing all the burdens and responsibility. The sheer magnitude of human suffering we have witnessed in recent weeks - from Texas to Puerto Rico to Las Vegas to Somalia and Afghanistan and so many other places - can seem positively insurmountable and beyond the pale. There is no way any one of us can possibly fix all that seems wrong with the world. The very good news for us today is that we don’t have to fix everything. We can turn it over. We can give our heavy hearts to God.

Now, this doesn't mean we are off the hook, as though we get to just wash our hands of everything and go on vacation. We are still called to be responsible citizens. We are called to be participants in civic life, to share our resources for the benefit of the common good. And of course, ultimately, we are still called to be followers of Jesus, and as such we are commanded to love God and to love our neighbor.

Now it might seem that there cannot be much freedom in being “commanded” to do something, but it is worth remembering that we freely chose to be followers of Jesus and that God commands us not ought of spite or anger, but out of love. Yes, God is commanding us, but it is like the command of a beloved mentor or coach. God commands us to strive toward a higher standard, because God believes we are capable of achieving it. God commands us to live holy and righteous lives and to live lives that exemplify love in the world, because that is who we are, because it is what we were created to do.

And so I hope we can all find a way to hold on to the challenge and the invitation in today’s Gospel. I hope we can simultaneously feel inspired and strengthened by God’s command to be faithful people in the world, people who live lives that show God’s love to the world. And I hope that we can feel a bit unburdened by the invitation to turn things over. I truly believe that we can live out more faithful, grace-filled lives when we are willing to let go and turn things over to God. May we have the strength and courage to do so each and every day.

AMEN.