Faith and Storms

Clouds

Rev. Molly F. James, PhD

DFMS Noonday Prayer via Zoom

June 30, 2020

Psalm 5; Amos 3:1-8, 4:11-12; Matthew 8:23-27

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. 

Today we get the story of Jesus stilling the storm. Ah wouldn’t that be wonderful? If we could just tap Jesus on the shoulder and say, um Jesus, could you maybe do something about the multiple storms that are brewing in our world and our nation right now? Could you just snap your fingers and have the virus be gone, racist structures transformed and our economic realities stabilized? That would be great. Thanks. 

If only things worked like that. If only. In the midst of the current challenges - in the midst of rising infection rates and in the midst of the ways issues of systemic injustice have been brought to the fore and the ways society and our economy have been so deeply affected by all that is going on in the world - it is easy to wish for a quick solution to our problems. Easy to wish that we could just push a button or flip a switch and have everything be transformed. We know that is not possible. What is happening in our world right now is far more complex than a simple windstorm on a lake. 

So, I think we have a choice. We can either get stuck in the place of wishing things were different, wishing for some kind of magical solution to the problem. Or we can focus on what Jesus said to the disciples in the midst of the storm. He told them to be not afraid and to have faith. 

What does that look like for us? What do we hold on to in the midst of times when we may feel fear, anxiety, uncertainty? 

A favorite prayer in the Compline service reminds us as those who may be wearied by the changes and chances of this world to put our trust in God’s eternal changelessness. That is where we find our hope, our grounding, our rock. In God. It is in a deepening of our relationship with God, a deepening of our connection to God that we find peace and stillness. We can be like Jesus - at peace, at rest - even when there is a storm swirling around us. 

So, today’s Gospel is a reminder to us that our call as a people of faith is to stay grounded and connected to God in the midst of the storms of life. We are never alone in those storms, even if we might feel that way. As we pray at the end of our morning prayer service, Christ is protecting us through the storms. Note it does not say that Christ is preventing the storms or stilling them immediately for us. That prayer reminds us that Christ is with us and protecting us through the storms. 

The invitation then is for us to be attentive to what it is in our lives that help us stay grounded and connected to God. How can we remind ourselves of the all important truth that Christ is with us in the midst of the storms of life? 

I imagine this might look a little different for each of us. And I would guess we have some elements in common. I would guess that we all share a gratitude for this Chapel community, this faithful group of colleagues who pray together to keep us grounded in the midst of things. No doubt all of us have personal prayer practices and other worshipping communities as well. And we have people - beloved friends and family members, and possibly also some professionals like a spiritual director and/or a therapist - all of whom bring their own particular gifts to help us stay grounded and connected to God. So often we can hear God’s Word or feel God’s presence best through the words and presence of another person. 

And as I have mentioned before, I also believe that how we care for our physical selves is a part of keeping us grounded in our faith. Eating well, drinking enough water, getting enough sleep and exercise, being sure we take time off. All of those things help too. 

I hope some of these practices resonate with you. I hope that today you are reminded to continue that practices that have served you well in the past, and possibly invited to pick up a new one to help carry you through this week or whatever storms lie ahead. Do not fear. Keep the faith. God is with us.

AMEN. 

  

Sacrifice and Transformation

Rev. Molly F. James, PhD

St. Alban’s, Simsbury

Proper 8, June 28, 2020

The last time I preached on this text from Genesis, I was wearing Halsted. Yes, I do mean wearing. He was three months old and it was my first Sunday back in the pulpit after maternity leave. It sure made me grapple with this  text in new ways. 

I have always found this to be a challenging text, but to read it, study it while holding our infant son was a whole new level. How could God possibly ask Abraham to sacrifice his son? That does not sound like the God I know and love. The God who desires our faithfulness. Who desires for us to do justice, love mercy and walk humbly. 

Then I remember that this text was written at a time when human sacrifice was a common practice. It was written to show a different way. It was written to stop that practice. It was written to show the world a different way forward. To say that Abraham and his descendants understood the sanctity of life, that it is indeed precious.

The text was designed to convict people of a new way of being. It told a shocking story that was meant to change behavior. It did. The Israelites did not practice human sacrifice. 

Well, my friends, it would seem that we need to be convicted again by this text in our own day. Here's the thing. This text can terrify me as the mother of a son. It can strike the fear in my heart that all parents know, the fear that an accident or an illness would mean that I outlive Katherine or Halsted. But that can be a distant fear for me. The statistics say that it is overwhelmingly likely Katherine and Halsted will live to be a hundred. Because we are white. 

The conversations I need to have with my children as they grow up, as they are more and more out in the world on their own are about how to be aware of their own privilege. They are about helping them notice injustice to speak up about it and to use the privilege they were born into to transform unjust systems. I do not have to have a conversation with Halsted about how to behave when he meets a police officer. I do not have to worry that Katherine might not be safe answering her door or going to ask for help after a car accident. I do not have to fear what might happen to them if they went jogging around our neighborhood. The list of conversations I do not need to have goes on and on for them and for me. 

But the parents of Freddie Gray or Breonna Taylor or Ahmed Arbery or Eric Garner or Michael Brown or Trayvon Martin or any other people of color who have been victims of violence never had such a list. This story, our story, today’s story of the near sacrifice of Isaac would likely affect them in an entirely different way. I imagine they would feel anger and indignation. If this story is meant to stop us from allowing innocent people to be unjustly harmed or killed why aren’t we Christians living according to its teachings? Can’t we see the ways our structures of white supremacy and white privilege have required a terrible and unjust sacrifice of black and brown bodies? 

The Genesis story of Isaac has a happy ending because there was an intervention. An intervention was made to change the ending.  My friends, we have the power to change the ending of the story we are currently living. We are the people with the power, the resources, and the privilege to be a part of changing the system, changing the story. We can do it through our own education and learning - the change starts with the transformation of our own hearts and minds - by engaging with friends and colleagues who can hold a mirror up and help us see all the ways we have been taught and caught racist ideas (often without our even realizing it). We can learn more about the history of the organizations of which we are a member. We can do it by asking who is not at the table and how we can ensure that the meeting tables we sit at - the places where decisions are made for our local communities or for a global organization - are more fully representative of the world in which we live. We can be a part of the change with the voices we choose to amplify on social media. We can be a part of the change with how we spend our money and how we vote in local and national elections. 

Every parent deserves to have the reasonable expectation that their children will outlive them. Together we have a role in making this happen, in making God’s dream for our world into a reality. We have an opportunity to be a part of transforming our world. May today be the day in which we commit even more fully to doing this work, remembering that this work is a marathon, not a sprint. It is work we will need to do for the rest of our lives. And it is good and holy work that will transform us too. Amen. 

Cultivating What Lasts

Bogart in 2020

Rev. Molly F. James, PhD

DFMS Noonday Prayer via Zoom

Nativity of John the Baptist

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. 

"The grass withers, the flower fades; but the word of our God will stand for ever." So says the good news of Isaiah today. The prophecy we celebrate on this nativity of John the Baptist. It has gotten me thinking about what fades and withers and what lasts. 

Our freshman year in college my roommate bought a plant. She named it Bogart. She cared for it all through college. After graduation, it was decided that Bogart was not going to make the long car trip to Miami, so he went to live with my wonderfully green thumbed mother. That was in 2002. Bogart is still thriving at my parents house, eighteen years later. It is a reminder to me that things (like grass, flowers, and plants) may wither, and it is also possible to care for and cultivate something to make it last. 

So, my friends, as we are in the midst of these tumultuous times, our Scripture for today invites us to think about what we should let wither and what should last - in our lives, in our Church, and in our society. In recent weeks, we have come to realize more fully just how many things  must wither and die for God’s kingdom, God’s dream for this world to be realized. The realities of systemic racism and white supremacy need to die. The complicity of people in positions of power in the structures and the sin of racism, needs to die. This means we have hard work to do. This withering will not happen by us sitting and waiting. This requires action. It requires us taking a hard look at our systems and structures and figuring out how to do things differently. No doubt there will be challenges and loss in that work. It will be painful at times, and yet it is work that is essential to realize a future where we are all free and thriving. 

There are structures that will need to die in order for us to move forward. There will also need to be withering in our hearts and minds. Building a new future requires us to be doing our own internal work with colleagues and friends with whom we can be honest and vulnerable. We need people who can hold a mirror up and help us to realize all the racism we have been taught and caught without even realizing it. We need to be looking at the world with an analytical lens. We need to be asking ourselves in all facets of our lives, personal and professional, what we can be doing differently. 

The fact that so much in our world is changing right now means that we have an opportunity. A remarkable opportunity. An opportunity to pause and reflect - to decide what we are going to carry forward. What from the old way of living and doing things are we going to keep and what can wither? From here on out, how can we cultivate habits that are life giving? 

Which are the facets of our lives that need water, need more sunlight, need a little bit of fertilizer? Which are the ones that no longer serve us, that are in fact, pulling away nutrients from where they are needed most? 

What might it look like for us to look at our lives with that question in our hearts: Is this of God? Is it something I want to last? If so, then cultivate away. If not, then cut it off or at least stop feeding it valuable nutrients. 

What might it look like for us to cultivate the kingdom, to cultivate God’s dream in our hearts and our communities? It think it might look a lot like this chapel group. I think it looks like taking time for prayer and reflection. I think it looks like prioritizing relationship and community as an equally important “task” in our workday. I think it looks like cultivating the habits of curiosity and kindness, so that they are our first reactions rather than judgment or fear. I think it looks like choosing to follow the Way of Love, to seek joy, to seek that which is life giving and to be willing to stand up and speak the truth when we experience or witness actions that are not life-giving for ourselves or for our siblings in Christ. 

May today be a day that we focus on cultivating the things that endure. Amen.  

Juneteenth, Ida Wells, and Adelaide Case

Rev. Molly F. James, PhD

DFMS Noonday Prayer via Zoom 

Adelaide Case, June 19, 2020

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. 

On the recommendation of her fourth grade teacher, we got Katherine a book called “The book of Gutsy Women: Favorite Stories of Courage and Resilience.” It was created by Hillary and Chelsea Clinton. It is stories of women from all around the world who have been gutsy and done remarkable things. It arrived yesterday. I was looking at last night. Katherine looked over my shoulder and said, “Will you read about Ida B. Wells, she’s a favorite?” And so I did. I read about Ida’s refusal to give into the organizers desire for a segregated Women’s March in 1913. I read about her work as a journalist to tell the stories of the lynchings of friends and strangers. Of her work to help found the NAACP. Of her efforts to ensure that the voices of women and of black people were heard. 

I guarantee that when I was nine years old I did not know who Ida B. Wells was. It gives me great hope that Katherine already did and wanted to learn more. She is growing up with a more accurate and full understanding of our complicated American history. I had childhood books about women who did great things, but they were largely or exclusively about white women. Ida wasn’t there. 

I have been thinking about that contrast of Katherine’s and my childhood books on this day, this day that is Juneteenth and a day we honor Adelaide Case, the first woman to teach at an Episcopal Seminary. It is a day we celebrate the end of chattel slavery in the United States. We celebrate that the good news of the emancipation proclamation finally reached the state of Texas. And it is a day we honor the importance of education in our tradition. 

But these two celebrations also highlight the failures and shortcomings of our institutional system. Here we are 155 years after the end of the Civil War, after the end of slavery was finally realized in all the States, and the vision of equality that was celebrated on that day has not been realized. Ida Wells marched in 1913, over 100 years ago for women’s equality. It took seven more years for women to get the vote, and even longer, decades in some places, for women of color to get the right to vote. And we know that getting the right vote and actually being able to exercise that right are not the same thing. To this day, 100 years after women got the right to vote, there are still problems with voter suppression, often based on race or age. Adelaide Case became a seminary professor in 1941, almost 80 years ago. And if you look at the current landscape of theological education, the faculty is still overwhelmingly male, and overwhelmingly white. The dreams of Juneteenth, the dreams of Ida Wells, the dreams of Adelaide Case, have not been realized. We still have work to do - we who hold positions of power and privilege have work to do. We who are white have our own internal work to do. Our own education, our own transformation, our own personal unlearning of the structures of white supremacy. AND we have work to do as leaders and those who sit at the tables of power to change our systems and our structures. 

I have hope for the future, because I am watching my children grow up with a different mindset. I have hope because they are learning things now that I didn’t learn until I was an adult. 

Martin Luther King, Jr. often reminded the world that the arc of history bends toward justice. On this historic day, when we see how much work there is still to do, 155 years later, that bend can seem very slow indeed. But then I look at my children, and I think that it is possible for that arc to bend further, and faster, because the generations coming up behind us are strong, resilient, and motivated. They are going to push us, and inspire us all, into a more just and more beautiful future. AMEN.  

God Will Wipe Away Every Tear

Rev. Molly F. James, PhD

DFMS Noonday Prayer via Zoom

Commemoration of Bernard Mizeki, June 18, 2020

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 would generally say that I am not a big fan of the Book of Revelation. Of course it is our Scripture. It has an important and valid place in our tradition. It is just not one that generally speaks to me in my own spiritual journey. Until today. As usual the Holy Spirit has done that thing the Holy Spirit does. Provided just what I needed to hear:

“They will hunger no more, and thirst no more;

   the sun will not strike them,

   nor any scorching heat;

for the Lamb at the centre of the throne will be their shepherd,

   and he will guide them to springs of the water of life,

and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.’”

God will wipe away every tear. Yes. Please. God, there have been so many tears in recent days and weeks and months. Yesterday in Chapel we read 34 names of people who had died. And those are just the ones close to us. We know there are thousands more. Those who have died of the virus and those who have been victims of violence and brutality. Those who have been persecuted and martyred for who they are or what they believe, like Bernard who we remember today. Dear God we are so very aware of death and loss in this time. Our souls are parched. We are longing for relief, for healing, for justice, for the water of life. 

Indeed I do believe God is guiding us to the water of life. God is present with us in the midst of our pain and suffering. I think there is an important distinction to make here, and it is something that is making me appreciate this passage from Revelation all the more. It is important to note that the passage does not say there will be no tears. It says that God will wipe them away. 

If you have ever had the blessing of having your tears wiped away, you know what a gentle, intimate act that is. It is a very tangible way for someone to say, “I love you. I am here. You do not have to endure this alone.” That is perhaps one of the most powerful things we do for each other. We bear one another’s burdens. We stay with each other through suffering. Right? That is how we know who our true friends are. The loved ones who will sit with us when things fall apart and all we can do is cry. The ones who will wipe away our tears. 

It is a false hope and a false expectation to think that life will be free from tears. Nowhere are we promised a life free from suffering. Our Gospel from Luke today even tells us to expect suffering. What we are promised again and again in our Scriptures is that we will never be alone in the midst of it. 

The reality of suffering is at the forefront of our minds and our hearts in this time. But it does not need to be all encompassing. We cannot let it overwhelm us. God is here. God is in our midst, guiding us to the water of life. 

God is here in this holy online space where we gather to pray. God is in our work in the ways in which we empower the Church to be Christ’s hands and feet in the world. God is in all the people whose eyes have been opened and who are standing up for justice, for what is right, for a future that looks so different from our past and our current reality. God is in the selfless acts of kindness we see everyday. God is in the gentle touch of all those who wipe away tears. 

So my friends, take heart. Be alert to all the ways God is present in the world and in our lives. Cultivate the connections with those who matter most. Let them wipe your tears away. And on the days when you feel strong, be that gentle presence for someone else. There will be tears. That is the truth. And we need never cry alone. Thanks be to God. AMEN.

Perspective, and the holy work of Dismantling White Supremacy

Rev. Molly F. James, PhD

DFMS Noonday Prayer via Zoom

Boniface, June 5, 2020

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. 

“Not to us, O Lord, not to us, but to your Name give glory; *because of your love and because of your faithfulness.” So begins our psalm today. 

If you asked me for a list of my favorite psalms, I could name a few (139, 23, 46 to start), and today’s, 115, would not have been on my list. Until now. I think that verse may become a new favorite. It is a rather succinct summary, and it is often the reminder I need. One of the things I cherish about worship - about gathering in community, about hearing our Scriptures, about reciting together prayers that have been said for centuries by our ancestors in the faith - is that it is an experience which gets me out of my own head. It gently nudges me to remember that God and the world are so much bigger than whatever it is I am struggling with in this moment. 

However it might be that I am stuck in my own pain or my own privilege, worship reminds me that it is not all about me. That is what we do when we are at our best as people of faith. We bear one another’s burdens. We hold the faith for each other when our doubt and our fear seem to overwhelm us. And - this is a very important “and” - we hold each other to account for our behavior and how we are living out our lives as followers of Jesus. We speak the truth to each other in Love. Our faith is not just meant to be a comfort in affliction. Our faith also calls us to live lives worthy of Christ. Our faith calls us to be our best selves.

This is a time when those of us who identify as white have some accounting to do. We have to reconcile with the realities of a white supremacy culture in America. We have to reconcile with the fact that we have benefited for centuries from systems and structures that privilege us. We have to reconcile the fact that we have been complicit in perpetuating injustice. We have failed our black and brown siblings. We have failed to live as we have been called. We have work to do. It is the hard and holy work of transforming unjust structures and systems. It is work that may feel costly to us, and it is also invaluable and absolutely necessary. We will lose our privilege, as we should. And we will be given the opportunity to actually fully, truly live into who we are meant to be - as the Church, as beloved children of God. 

As we begin this work, we can see that structures of a white supremacy culture are far removed from God’s dream for the world. We can see that the path forward is one of love and faithfulness. Imagine that. Imagine a world where our lens is not that of competition and scarcity, but one that is firmly grounded in God’s abundance. 

That’s the thing. White supremacy culture tricks us into thinking that there is never enough. That we have to fight each other for resources. That I can win or you can win, but we cannot both win. It tricks us into thinking it is all about achievement and perfection. It tricks us into hoarding and seeking after glory. But that is not God’s dream. It is not the world that the Scriptures or Jesus’ teachings call us to create. 

We are called to build something beautiful together. We are called to join with God in the transformation of our world. We are called to join in the work of reconciliation and healing. We are called to bring about wholeness for all God’s people. 

We can only do that good and holy work of healing creation, healing each other, together. English Missionary, Max Warren, said, “It takes the whole world to know the whole gospel.” Indeed. We need all our wisdom and experience. We can only know the fullness of God, the fullness of Jesus, the fullness of the gospel when we hear a variety of perspectives. The way forward is not found in my understanding or my answers, nor is it found solely in your answers. The way forward is found when we engage deeply, learn from each other and create something together. 

My friends, God is calling us to bring the fullness of who we are, the fullness of our experience to our work. For that to be possible we have to be willing to listen and to honor that we do not all see or experience the world in the same way. And that is okay. The diversity we bring together only adds richness to our understanding. May God give us the gifts we need to be able to create the holy space that allows each of us to bring the fullness of ourselves. May we all have the tools and the grace we need to be about the work of reconciliation and transformation each and everyday.  

AMEN. 

Visitation of Mary - Clothe yourselves in Love

Rev. Molly F. James, PhD

DFMS Noonday Prayer

Visitation of Mary, June 1, 2020

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. 

“Above all, clothe yourselves with love.” Indeed. I don’t know about you all, but I needed that word today. I needed our whole passage from Colossians. I came to our Scriptures today carrying the anxiety, the fear, the deep grief of this time, which has only been intensified by the recent events. The truth of racism, that systemic sin which infects our society, has been brought to the fore by the terrible disparities of infection and death rates from COVID. And by the horrific recent deaths of innocent people of color in Georgia, Kentucky, and Minnesota. 

It is enough to overwhelm or unmoor us. It is enough to make us lose our footing. And so I am all the more grateful for our Scripture readings today, from Colossians and from Luke. We need to be reminded that we are called to peace, to love, to “compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience.” That is what God desires for us. That is how God desires for us to be with one another. Now I think it is important to note that “meekness” and “patience” do not mean that we sit idly by in the face of injustice or sin. They do not mean that we just wait for someone else to fix the situation. They do not mean that we ignore the realities in front of us. Colossians goes on to remind us that we are to: “teach and admonish one another in all wisdom.” 

Indeed. We followers of Jesus are called to a high standard for how we live out our lives. Our passage from Luke today provides us the beginning of the Magnificat. That beautiful song of Mary that elucidates God’s dream for the world. A dream that is about filling the hungry and bringing down the powerful. A dream that is about scattering the proud and lifting up the lowly. Mary’s hymn is all about undoing the status quo. All about equality and justice. It is just as relevant to us in these days as it was 2000 years ago. God’s dream does not involve power and wealth being concentrated in the hands of the few at the expense of the many. 

Our Scriptures today paint a beautiful picture of the world as it could be - where love binds all things, where compassion and wisdom are our guideposts. And when we hold that picture up against the realities of our world, especially evident in these past days and weeks, the contrast is jarring. There is a call to action in that contrast. A call that is particularly meant for people like me. People whose skin color, class, and heritage mean that my life has been full of privilege in a myriad of ways. It is a call that asks me to learn, to listen, to pray, and to act. A call that asks me to always be challenging myself, what can I do today to bring about the transformation of the world? 

The violence and suffering of these times, and recent days especially, can be overwhelming. The work in front of us can seem insurmountable. And so we also need the reminder of Colossians to be thankful. To give thanks to God in all that we say and do. This is also reminder to be alert and attentive to the ways in which God is at work in the world. To all the ways that we are reminded that not only is transformation possible, it is happening in our world. 

We need to be reminded of the ways that the transformation of our own hearts, the small acts of kindness, the moments of humility and generosity, moments of care and compassion that we say, that we do, that we witness each day matter. Transformation of ourselves and our relationships is the beginning of transforming our structures and our systems. 

There is work ahead of us. Challenging and holy work. It will be hard. And yet the good news is that we do not do it alone. We are in this together. We have each other and the Holy Spirit is with us. May that truth grant us the courage to keep going, to incarnate the compassion and wisdom of God in all that we say and do. Amen.