Learning about Joy and the Good Life

Walkway at Yale Divinity School

Rev. Molly F. James, PhD

St. Alban’s, Simsbury, CT

August 5, 2018, Proper 13B

2 Samuel 11:26-12:13a; Psalm 51:1-13; Ephesians 4:1-16; John 6:24-35

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 spent this past week with fellow clergy, scholars, and teachers at a conference at Yale Divinity School on the Future of Joy and the Good Life. Yale’s Center for Faith and Culture has received a wonderful grant from the Templeton Foundation to study Joy and the Good Life.  This conference was an opportunity for those involved in the project to share some of their learnings and also to invite more of us into that work and conversation. As you might imagine, there was lots of food for thought and a lot of excellent presentations and conversations.

Now, if you are hoping that my experience of this past week means that I have for you some magical key to Joy and the “Good Life,” I am sorry to disappoint you. It is not that simple. True Joy and a “Good Life” is not the stuff of tabloids or magazines you can read while waiting in line at the grocery store. Finding Joy or cultivating a good life is not something you do in ten easy steps or 15 minutes once a week.

They are habits. Like any virtues, like anything worthwhile in life, it takes time and effort to discover joy and to live a good life. The good news is that you already have the tools. And no doubt many of you are already using them well.

The Good Life means, in the language of Paul’s letter to the Ephesians, living “a life worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, making every effort to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.” That is the “Good Life” - the life that is worthy of our calling as followers of Jesus. It is a life lived in the Way of Love, as our Presiding Bishop describes it.

I think this is a truth that most of us know intrinsically, and sometimes it helps to make it explicit and to remind ourselves of this fact. The “Good Life,” the life we seek, the kind of life we want to be remembered for is one that is defined by character and virtue, not by the accumulation of wealth or even of accolades. Of course having nice things and being praised and appreciated for our accomplishments is wonderful, but they cannot provide us with true sustenance or help us to find meaning.

Material goods or outstanding professional achievements do not provide us with the “bread of life” that Jesus describes in our Gospel for today. Those things are just that, they are things. That are transient and tangible. They do not last. Wealth can come and go. If we stake our happiness or our identity or our self-worth on our achievements we will be sorely disappointed. Because someday we will retire. Or someday someone will do what we did, except they will do it faster, better, or more efficiently.

Joy is not fleeting. Happiness is. There is an important distinction here. A new friend I met at this conference, got me to look into the work of the Benedictine Monk, David Steindal-Rast  who writes and speaks about the importance of gratitude. He describes joy as the “happiness that does not depend on what happens.” Hear that again: Joy is the happiness that does not depend on what happens.

This is why it is a habit, a virtue that must be cultivated. It cannot be subject to our whims nor to the ups and downs of our lives. I also think it is really important to note that cultivating joy is not a Pollyana activity. It does not mean that we fool ourselves into thinking everything is wonderful, even when the evidence clearly says that it is not. Being joyful, having joy in our lives does not mean that our lives are free from suffering or free from tragedy. It means that we can always find joy, even in the midst of terrible pain and tragedy. It means holding on to our perspective, holding on to our faith, in the midst of our suffering. We can trust and believe that there is more to life than the darkness of this particular moment. We know deep in our bones that God is with us, and that not matter what is happening we are beloved children of God who will never be abandoned. The light will keep shining in our darkness. Hope is real, and we will not be overcome. Joy is finding and holding onto that hope, every day.

And that is what it means to flourish, to live the “Good Life.” One of the great insights of this conference for me was to be able to live more deeply into the fullness of what flourishing means. On the surface, it can seem strange to talk about flourishing, particularly if we are holding the life of Jesus up as our preeminent example. Think about it. Seemingly average Jewish teacher starts a career late in life (by the standards of his time), which seems to thrive briefly, but then he is deemed to be a problem for the authorities, so he is arrested and crucified. By most outside standards that narrative would not seem to describe a life of flourishing. But how could we not say that Jesus flourished? Here we are, over 2000 years later, a people who in fact believe that his life and teachings can continue transform our lives.

And so the world’s definition of flourishing does not stand. It is not about how long we live or about how much we earn or how much we accomplish in our lives. Flourishing, living the “Good Life” is about the kind of life we live. It is about the intangible aspects of life. It is about seeking out deep, nourishing, and life-sustaining relationships. It is about seeking to empower others. It is about recognizing the interconnectedness of our world and the need for community and collaboration. It is about living a life that reflects the belief that we cannot flourish if others are oppressed.

In case you were wondering, our reading for today from 2 Samuel provides a wonderful example of how not to live our lives. Right? It is the story of the prophet Nathan holding up a mirror to King David to show him how he has failed and fallen short of his own calling. David was so narrowly focused on his own selfish desires he did not care who got hurt in the process. He was even willing to kill to get what he wanted. This is not a life of joy or flourishing.

So that seems a pretty straightforward place to start. Cultivating joy and living the “Good Life” means not doing things we clearly know to be wrong, i.e adultery and murder. And yet clearly there is more to it than that. The Good Life cannot just be about abstaining from what is wrong. It is more active, more positive than that.

Perhaps one of the most valuable insights from this past week for me has been the awareness that joy does not happen in our lives by sheer force of will. We cannot just all of a sudden decide that we are going to be joyful. It really is a virtue and a habit. In some ways it could be said that joy is something that happens to us, when we are open and aware. So what is it that makes us open and aware? How might we, in the words of C.S. Lewis find ourselves “surprised by joy”?

I think there are two main things that we can do to ensure that there is plenty of joy in our lives. And note, you already have and do these things! You are doing them right now by being here in this community. I hope that like me, it is just helpful to be reminded of how incredibly valuable they are.

1. PRACTICE GRATITUDE - This can happen in lots of ways. You might keep a list or a journal. You might just make a practice of saying “Thank You” a little more often. You might just get in the habit of making gratitude the focus of the first prayer of your day or of your dinner table conversation. And no doubt many of you may have lots of other practices you find helpful. The how is not important. What matters is that you feel grateful on a daily basis.
2. DEEPEN RELATIONSHIPS WITH GOD AND WITH EACH OTHER - When we feel connected, rooted, and as though we belong, we flourish. We are ready to withstand whatever life can throw at us. Like a well built house we are not rattled by the storms of life. And so we need to take time for prayer, time for worship, time for conversation, time for deepening our connections.

Jesus came that we might have life. Jesus came that we might have good life. Jesus came that we might flourish. I truly believe that Jesus desires us to live well. We have what we need to live lives that are marked by joy and gratitude. Flourishing lives. Together we can live the Good Life. Thanks be to God. AMEN.

David, Bathsheba, General Convention, and God's Miracles

Standing with members of the House of Deputies Special Committee on Sexual Harassment and Exploitation 

Rev. Molly F. James, PhD
Christ Church Cathedral, Hartford, CT
July 29, 2018, Proper 12B
2 Samuel 11:1-15; Psalm 14; Ephesians 3:14-21; John 6:1-21

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

Oh my. There is so much going on in today’s readings it is hard to know where to begin. We have adultery, murder, and then miracles upon miracles - Jesus feeds the five thousand, walks on water and makes the boat go immediately to the other shore. Phew. It is overwhelming.

Well, it seems to make sense to start with the complex and challenging story of David and Bathsheba. This seems like the stuff of a summer beach read or a Hollywood movie. Powerful man has an affair with a beautiful woman, impregnates her, and ends up “arranging for” the death of her husband, so as to cover his tracks and prevent the affair from being discovered. But if we just retell it that way, we miss out on some really important issues and lessons for us. As often happens with Scripture, if we stay on the surface, we can miss out on the deeper lessons. 

On the surface we can think this is just a story to remind us why adultery and murder are wrong, and on some level it is. And don’t worry, David does get his comeuppance for his sins. The OT reading in next week’s lectionary is the story of the prophet Nathan holding up a mirror to help David realize how gravely he has fallen short of who God has called him to be.

But the additional, deeper lesson here is one about power dynamics. A lesson our Scripture passage almost seems to gloss over. Note how the passage describes the interaction with Bathsheba, “So David sent messengers to get her, and she came to him, and he lay with her.” Hmm. That sure makes a very messy situation seem quite simple. David was king. David wanted this thing to happen, and so it did. Bathsheba has no agency in the situation. She has no power. There is no possibility that she might not want to commit infidelity. No question about what her own needs and desires might be. It is all about David and what he wants.

And just in case it was not abundantly clear this is a lesson about what NOT to do. This is a lesson about the improper use, and really the abuse, of power. David abused his power and authority to satisfy his own desires without regard to the effects it would have on those around them.

There is a cautionary tale here for those of us who enjoy positions of power and privilege to be very careful about how we exercise that power. We are not to confuse our own desires with what is best for the community or the whole. And just because we can do something does not mean that is what we should do. Good leadership is not about satisfying our own needs or desires. It is about putting the needs of the community above our own.

I have to say that I find it particularly powerful to have this passage in our lectionary so soon after General Convention. I had the privilege of serving as a Deputy to General Convention and serving as a member of the House of Deputies Special Committee on Sexual Misconduct and Exploitation. For me, one of the more inspiring things that happened at and through General Convention was the way in which the Church as a whole, and particularly those in positions of power and privilege in our Church, took responsibility for the sins of the past, for the ways in which women have been and are abused and mistreated by the Church. Along with that came resolutions, policies, and covenants that point to a different way forward. A way forward that promises more transparency, justice, and sensitivity to the reality of power dynamics. I truly believe we are at a turning point as a Church. Like David, we have sinned and abused our power. And like David, we are being invited by prophetic voices into a new and different future. One in which we exercise our power with grace and compassion. I am tremendously hopeful that our future will look very different than our past, particularly as it concerns women and those who have been previously marginalized and hurt by the Church.

So that’s the story of David and Bathsheba. Then we have those miracles. Kind of makes you wonder why the lectionary committee put these together. What does the feeding of the five thousand and Jesus walking on water have to do with murder and adultery? Actually, I don’t think it is a complete fluke that these lessons are paired together. Our Gospel lesson shows us the abundance of God, and the myriad of ways that God can surprise us with possibility and opportunity, even when we feel doubtful or fearful. How often have we been like the disciples? How often have we looked around at what we have and said this won’t work? This can’t possibly be enough. I cannot make this work with these scarce resources. Or how often have we been stuck in a place of fear, convinced that whatever is coming towards us cannot possibly be good?

There is an invitation here, an invitation to join God in finding abundance and hope, even in the midst of times when we feel overcome by fear or scarcity. God is at work and will often surprise us if we can be open to the possibility.

So, today, I hope those of us with power and privilege will feel challenged by the story of David and Bathsheba. Challenged so that when we are in positions of power and privilege, we might always use our power for good and never fall into the temptation of using our power to selfish ends. I hope those of us who have been victims of the abuse of power will feel heartened by the events of General Convention and the newfound willingness of the Church to hear and face the sins of the past, and hopeful in the opportunity for different way forward. I hope we are all comforted and inspired by our Gospel, by its invitation to see abundance instead of scarcity, to live from a place of hope and possibility rather than a place of fear. I do believe the future can be different. Let us go and join with God in making it so. AMEN.

Cultivating Hope

Our Garden Containers

Rev. Molly F. James, PhD

Christ Church Cathedral, Hartford, CT

June 17, 2018; Prober 6B

2 Corinthians 5:6-10,[11-13],14-17; Mark 4:26-34

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.

It is that time of year again. Planting and growing season! We don’t have a large lot, so we opt to be container gardiners. Thanks to a friend, we have a great system that involves two five gallon buckets with a piece of PVC pipe and a yogurt container. The result of this contraption is that the containers end up watering themselves for days at a time. This is a really good thing, because as anyone in my family will tell you, I do not have a particularly green thumb. This system means that we actually grow herbs and tomatoes as opposed to ending up with a lot of dried out plants.

While these containers can go untended for a few days, they cannot be ignored completely. They need weeding, they need water, and they need fertilizer. Not to mention picking! Particularly with the herbs, if we don’t keep up they will all go to seed and be no good for eating.

This gardening experience makes me want to push back a bit on our Gospel reading from Mark. This parable of the mustard seed makes it all sound far too easy. It talks about how the earth just produces and all you have to do is plant it. Now my gardening knowledge is somewhat limited, but I think there are very few plants that you can just plant and ignore. If there are such plants, I would like to know more about them. They sound like the perfect fit for those of us lacking a green thumb!

No, I think our Gospel is missing the middle. It is not as though we plant a seed and presto we have a bush big enough for birds to nest in it. It takes time, care, and attention. And so it is with our faith lives. They too take time, care, and attention. We do not magically grow in our understanding of God or ourselves. The Kingdom of God does not just magically appear without us working to help build it.

Our reading from 2 Corinthians reminds us, “So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new!” Absolutely. Our lives and our hearts are transformed by being in relationship with Jesus. And that transformation requires work. Harvests don’t just happen.

So, I think there is a two fold invitation in our readings today. First, there is an invitation to be on the lookout for what is new. Where is God at work? What seeds have been planted that are just beginning to sprout? Where are we finding signs of hope and possibility? Then, the second part is to see how we might be God’s hands and feet in the world to cultivate those seedlings into strong and sturdy plants.

I hope you all have a good long list in your own lives of how you see signs of hope and transformation at work in the world. We need those lists. We need to share them with each other, so that we do not become disheartened or overwhelmed by the challenges or losses we will inevitably encounter in our lives.

Here is my list for today, and I hope you might share some of your lists with each other in the coming days.

I find hope in:

• The beauty of God’s creation and the tenacity of plants to grow in adverse conditions.
• The joy and laughter of our children.
• The steadfast commitment of the young people (particularly the students of Marjorie Stoneman Douglas High School) who are working for change in our government and our society.
• The myriad of ways, particularly in recent days and weeks, religious leaders and lots of faithful followers of Jesus have become more public in affirming that the way of Jesus is first and foremost a way of Love.
• My daily work of helping to form future leaders of The Episcopal Church who are inspiring and who see so much possibility in the midst of change.
• All the ways I see hardwork and faithfulness result in growth, whether it is in meaningful relationships or at the gym.

I am sure that by tomorrow I will have more things to add to that list. And I hope I will always remember that I am more aware of the signs of hope that are ever present around me when I take time to pause and reflect. When I ground myself in the abiding love of God and the presence of the Holy Spirit. When I remember that I am a follower of Jesus. I do not need to be out there trying to figure it all out on my own.

Being aware of the signs of hope is the first step, and then we must cultivate them. The wonderful thing is that it is just like working toward any good goal. It is like eating better, praying more, sleeping more, getting more exercise or prioritizing more family time over work. If we can just get started our practices will become their own reward. We will feel so good that we won’t stop, even if it is hard work.

So, be on the lookout for signs of hope. They are everywhere. Be on the lookout and be ready. Be ready to help those tentative seedlings grow into sturdy plants. Just imagine all the wonderful growth we can inspire together! AMEN.

Trinity Sunday 2018

At our son's preschool on December 14, 2017

Rev. Molly F. James, PhD

Christ Church Cathedral, Hartford, CT

Trinity Sunday, May 27, 2018

Psalm 29; Isaiah 6:1-8; Romans 8:12-17; John 3:1-17

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.

Ahh. Here were are on the oddity known as Trinity Sunday. It is the only feast day where we honor a doctrine, a belief of our tradition, rather than some particular event in the life of our Lord or a particular Saint of the Church. For those of us who love a good intellectual argument, it can be tempting to add to all the ink that has been spilled over the years trying to define the Trinity or trying to find an adequate way to put the mystery of who God is into a neat and tidy metaphor or formula.

As you might guess, I do love a good intellectual argument, so it is tempting to do that, and if any of you would like to do that, I would be happy to have a discussion after the service or to recommend some of my favorite reading on the Trinity. But given the state of our lives and the world, it seemed to me it would be a better use of our collective time today to focus on the Good News that in our readings today.

In fact, perhaps the best thing I can say about believing that God is Trinity (besides that it is a mystery, of course) is that we know God is Trinity through our experience. We know God as Creator through the incredible beauty of this world and through our relationships with each other. And our relationships, particularly the moments of joy and beauty in our lives, show us that God is present in the midst of us as the Holy Spirit. And, of course, we encounter the fullness of who God is through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus.

I don’t know about you all, but I need some experiences of God in my life right now. I need that tangible connection that grounds me in the midst of chaos or challenges. The news is getting to me. I am weary and heartbroken at the story of yet another school shooting. I am disheartened by the ways in which our society seems polarized. And as our clergy conference recently reminded us, the sin of racism is far too real in our nation. If I really let the news get to me, I could be overwhelmed. It could be tempting to become a pessimist and to give into a belief that the good cannot win. But that is not the way of Jesus. That is not what we believe. We are a people of Hope. We are a people of Love.

This is what our readings remind us today. Our reading from Romans reminds us that we are beloved children of God. We have been blessed by God’s spirit. And that spirit is all about love for the world. Our beautiful, familiar Gospel passage reminds us that Jesus came into the world, precisely because of how much God loves the world. Really. God loves us so much that he is willing to send his only son to prove it. God is willing to turn his Son over to the worst humanity can do just to demonstrate to us that Love always has the last word.

There it is. That is what we need to hear, or at least what I need to hear. I need to be reminded and grounded in the all important truth that God’s love is more powerful than anything else in all creation. All evil that humanity can create. All those things in the news headlines that fill our hearts with fear or pain. None of them are more powerful than Love.

And it would be tempting to stop here. To withdraw from the world. To just rest in that truth of the reality of God’s love. It would be tempting to say that since God loves us so much, and God is in charge then we can just rest and wait on God.

But then we have our reading for today from Isaiah, where Isaiah says: “Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, ‘Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?’” Uh oh. No resting for us. We don’t just get to turn it over. We are called to join God’s work in the world!

This is gd news for those of us who aren’t very good at just waiting, we get to funnel our anxiety into activity! Ultimately there is a profound and beautiful gift in our call. It is indeed a gift to be about the holy work of building up God’s kingdom.

Ultimately there is a holy invitation in all of this. It is an invitation to imagine the world differently. As Bishop Curry so inspiringly stated in his sermon at the Royal Wedding:

“When love is the way, then no child would go to bed hungry in this world ever again.

When love is the way, we will let justice roll down like a mighty stream and righteousness like an ever-flowing brook.

When love is the way, poverty would become history.

When love is the way, the earth will be a sanctuary.

When love is the way, we will lay down our swords and shields down by the riverside

to study war no more.

When love is the way, there’s plenty good room.  Plenty good room. For all of God’s children.”

There we have it. An invitation to imagine a different world. And an invitation to be a part of creating that world. Here we are. May God send us forth from this place renewed, to be about the holy work of transforming our world into one where Love is the Way. AMEN.

Complicity and a different future

Rev. Molly F. James, PhD
Christ Church Cathedral, Hartford, CT
Palm Sunday, March 25, 2018
Isaiah 50:4-9a; Philippians 2:5-11; Mark 14:1-15:47; Psalm 31:9-16

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 was a psychology major in college, and one of the cases that has stayed with me from my studies is that of Kitty Genovese. It is a case many of you may know. Kitty was murdered in the courtyard and vestibule of her apartment building in NYC. Many of her neighbors saw what was happening and only one neighbor came to help. Others seemed to think it was a domestic disturbance and want about their evenings. While the exact facts of the case have been debated over the years, its lessons in herd mentality still ring true. How easy it is for us to look at problem - large or small - urgent or long term - and think “Oh, I am sure there is someone whose job it is do something about it.” Or just say, “Not my problem.” And then go on about our lives. Out of sight, out of mind. It is all too easy for us to fall in with the crowd. All too easy for us to be influenced by the culture around us without stopping and asking ourselves: “Is what I am doing really in line with my own principles and values?” I would guess that ultimately many of Kitty’s neighbors found themselves feeling guilty that they had not called the police or tried to intervene.

No doubt many who stood in the crowd in Jerusalem and yelled “Crucify him! Crucify him!” felt a bit differently when they later saw what their words really meant. When they heard the cries of agony from Jesus and the two thieves who were crucified with him or saw Jesus’ limp and lifeless body taken down from the Cross. Or when they woke up the next morning and realized they would have to live with the fact that they had contributed to the death of a man. A man who had been a teacher and a prophet.

There were those in the crowd who cried out. And there were those in the crowd who merely stayed silent. They let others speak for them. If there were any who raised their voices to protest the death of Jesus, their voices were drowned out by those who were angry and wanted Jesus to die.

I cannot help but draw parallels between our Gospel narrative and our own time, our own lives. In recent weeks and months, in the wake of yet another school shooting, so many young people of our nation are rising up and speaking out. They are holding our leaders, and all of us, to account for our actions. They are asking us why we have not done more to stop the scourge of gun violence. They are asking us why schools are not safe. Schools should be sanctuaries of learning. Places of hope and possibility that embody the best of the future. Instead, in far too many places, they have become places of death and destruction.

And so we must ask ourselves about our own roles in the unfolding stories of our nation, our communities and our own lives. Are there places and times when we have stood idly by? When have we fallen in with a crowd, even when the statements or actions of the crowd have run counter to our own values and principles? How have we failed to stand up for the rights of others when we have been in positions of power and privilege?

Our Gospel narrative today invites us to take a hard look at ourselves and our own behavior. That look may be painful. No doubt on many occasions we have fallen short of who God is calling us to be. I know I have.

And yet this invitation is not without hope. Embedded within it is also an invitation to a different future. There is an invitation to repentance and amendment of life. There is an invitation to be a part of change. It does not have to be this way. We are not powerless. We are empowered. We are beloved of God and each and everyone of us is endowed with gifts by God to contribute to the building up of God’s kingdom and to making a different future for ourselves and our children.

There may have been times when we have failed to use our gifts as well as we could have, but I believe that marevelous and important change is afoot. If you were with us on the lawn of the capitol yesterday or if you saw those remarkable images of crowds of people at the various sites of the March for Our Lives from around the country, then you know in your bones that hope is real and change is possible.

Last Sunday afternoon, I sat in a conference room in West Hartford with about one hundred others to hear about the work of the advocacy group Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America. In that room were a lot of women who looked like me. White, suburban, middle and upper class women. Women who, like me, are the ones who have had the luxury of saying, “Not my problem.” Because gun violence didn’t happen our neighborhoods. Because we didn’t fear what would happen to our children when they went to the store for candy or were pulled over by the police. But something really important has happened in the weeks since the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, FL. Many more of us who are white and privileged have finally woken up to reality that so many of our black and brown sisters and brothers have known for far too long. America has a gun violence problem, and it is going to take all of us, together, to change the future.

I am deeply and profoundly hopeful that things will be different now, because those of us in positions of power and privilege are waking up to the realities, and we are joining with the advocacy work that has been ongoing in communities of color for so long. It pains me deeply that this change has not come sooner, and that more of us did not wake up sooner. And I believe that pain can motivate us to work for change.

So whether it is advocacy on the local or the national level around policies regarding gun violence or other issues that are close to your heart, whether it is speaking up when someone makes a rude comment or reaching out with a smile and a helping hand when someone is struggling, our Gospel today is inviting us into a different future. A future where we are not complicit in the suffering of others, but where we live out and boldly proclaim the amazing truth that Jesus came so that we might have life and have it abundantly. God desires each and everyone of us to flourish. Together, and only together, can we make that belief a reality. Together we can build a different future.

AMEN.

Changing Direction

Embed from Getty Images

 Rev. Molly F. James, PhD
1B Lent, February 18, 2018
St. Alban’s, Simsbury, CT
Genesis 9:8-17; 1 Peter 3:18-22; Mark 1:9-15; Psalm 25:1-9

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 dad has an amazingly good sense of direction. He has been known to say, “Wait, stop. We need to turn around. We are going northeast, and we should be going southwest.” Mind you he can say this on a two lane road in the middle of the New England woods. Once he has driven or walked or ridden his bike to a place he could return there without any directions or a GPS.

Nowadays most of us don’t have to rely on our internal sense of direction, we merely need to type the address into our smartphones or our car’s GPS and start driving. We do not need to cultivate our own internal sense of where we are in the world and whether or not we are going in the right direction.

But I wonder if we do need to cultivate that internal compass of ours? Perhaps not in the literal sense, but in the metaphorical. Lent is an opportunity to do just that. To pause and reflect. To be aware of our sins and our transgressions. To be reminded of our mortality. Yes, all of that. And it is an opportunity to also ask the hope-filled, possibility-opening questions about whether or not our whole lives are going in the right direction? Our time is precious, our lives are a gift. Are we using the days we have in a way that is life-giving and fulfilling? As the poet Mary Oliver asks, “Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?”

At the close of our Gospel reading today, Jesus says: “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news.” There we have it. Repent and believe in the good news. What does it mean to repent? It means to change direction. To change our thoughts, our behaviors. Our Rite I language is helpful here, where we talk about “amendment of life.”

This is the invitation to us today, in our readings, in our litany, in this season of Lent. Of what do we need to repent? Or what in our life needs to change?

Many of you may already have a Lenten discipline. Something you are giving up or a new practice you are taking on during this holy season. That is wonderful! And I hope you might consider the broader invitation in this season to reflect on your life and to hear the call for repentance, for a change of heart, a change of behavior.

Clearly we as a nation are in need of repentance. Something needs to change, so that we are no longer seeing headlines of children gunned down in schools. In schools. Places where all children should be safe. Places that should be filled with hope and possibility, not with gunfire and death. My heart broke on Wednesday evening as news broke of the horrors of the the shooting in Parkland, FL. Those horrors are all too familiar to us here in CT.

I hope that none of us are dealing with something so tragic or heart wrenching in our own lives. And yet we do not have to wait for tragedy to happen to make a change in our lives.

In fact, it is tragedies like Parkland that remind us how important it is to make changes in our lives, to ensure we have our priorities straight, to ensure that we are living into who God calls us to be. Life is short. We never know how long we have.

No doubt there are things in our lives that are not going the way we would like them to go. No doubt there are things in the world and in our own communities that are not going the way we would like them to go. The invitation in our readings and in this season is to identify those things and to take ownership of what is in our power to change.

A number of years ago, the parish I was in at the time read a book called A Complaint Free World by Will Bowen. We read it during the season of Lent, and one of the great lessons I took away from it was the invitation to notice how we can fall into the habit of complaining about the state of our lives or the state of our communities or the state of the world in a rather detached way as though it was all someone else’s responsibility to fix. The book invited me to catch myself when I did that and to ask myself what I could be doing in my own heart and mind, in my own community to address the problems about which I was so eager to complain.

I found that to be a very helpful and hopeful reminder. I have power. We have power. We can make a difference. We can change things, in our own hearts and in the world around us. It reminds me of that wonderful Margaret Mead quote: “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it's the only thing that ever has.”

So, this Lenten season can be a time for giving up something that we will go back to on Easter. That is a good and holy spiritual practice. It can also be a time to try on a new practice that we might very well keep for the rest of our lives.

In this holy season, I invite you to reflect, to pay attention to that inner voice that nudges you when you are going in the wrong direction. I invite you to feel empowered by your baptism, by the fact that you are a beloved child of God, to be a force for good in your community and in the world. Jesus is inviting all of us to repent and believe the Good News. And if we believe that Good News. If we believe that we are called to be agents of God’s reconciling, redeeming love in the world, then we know that there is much work for us to do - in our own hearts and beyond these doors.

AMEN.

2018 Ash Wednesday Homily

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Ash Wednesday 2018

Rev. Molly F. James, PhD

Joel 2:1-2,12-17; Matthew 6:1-6,16-21

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

As some of you know, I get up early in the morning multiple times a week to go to CrossFit, which is a fitness program that combines weight lifting and gymnastics. And in lots of ways, CrossFit is like Church. We all have our usual spots in the gym. My spot means that I spend a lot of time looking at poster of “Fitness in 100 words” by Greg Glassman, the founder of CrossFit. There is one sentence that stands out on this poster. And it is meant to. It is in a different color than all the rest of the text. It says, “Routine is the enemy.” I have been thinking about that sentence this week, as I have been reflecting on the fact that we are about to enter Lent, and on this Ash Wednesday, to be reminded of our mortality.

At first this statement, “Routine is the enemy” could seem completely counter to our common life as Episcopalians. We are, after all, people of the book, the BCP. Our worship is meant to follow a set pattern each time we gather. That is part of our shared identity. We could say that our worship follows a “routine,” but I think that would be missing the point. The point of Glassman’s statement about avoiding a routine is to avoid doing the same thing over and over again. It is to keep the act of caring for our bodies from becoming rote, merely routine, something we do without thinking about it. Our worship is not, and should never be, rote. Even if we are following the book, each time we worship it is different in someway - the readings, the prayers, who is present, what is going on in the world or in our own lives. And if we ever find that worship feels rote, as though we are merely going through the motions without any thought for what we are doing, it is time for a session with our therapist and our spiritual director, because something is missing in our lives.

For me, the statement, “Routine is the enemy” is really about embracing change. And actually, I think that is what Ash Wednesday is about. It is about coming to terms with the finite nature of human existence. We are mortal beings. At some point our bodies will give out. Nothing in this world lasts forever. Everything changes.

Now, change is tricky. I think many of us don’t really like it. It can certainly produce anxiety and fear. I know for myself, as someone who likes to plan, that I can get grumpy and frustrated when things don’t go according to plan. I try (and sometimes I even succeed) to remember how many wonderful blessings have come to me in my life when things have not gone the way I planned. No doubt those of you here from St. Andrew’s know all too well the challenges and multitude of emotions that can come with change. You are have had to change a lot this past month as you have been out of your building.

There is no way around it. Change is hard. AND (and this is a very important AND) change is a blessing. The fact that things do not stay the same is what adds richness and texture, depth and meaning to our lives. As many of you know, my children used to be wearable. They fit right here, between my chin and my belly button. Now they talk in paragraphs and do all kinds of things for themselves. Are there moments when I wish they still fit here? Of course. But now I can have conversations with them and do things with them that were never possible when they were infants.

Change gives us something for comparison. I can marvel at Katherine’s performance in her swim meet this past weekend precisely because I remember when she was an infant.

Or perhaps it helps to think about other rhythms in our lives. Think about how much we savor a vacation or even a sabbath day, when we have been working for many days straight. If everyday were a vacation, we would cease to value it so highly.

Or think of the act of fasting (fitting for this holy day and season). Part of the point of giving something up or choosing not to eat for a particular time is so that we will appreciate it all the more when we do. And the richness of that appreciation is because we know what it is like to be without.

In a few minutes you will come forward to receive ashes and will hear the words, “Remember that you are dust and to dust you shall return.” Yes, that can seem a morbid reminder of the fact that you too will change, but I hope you will see it as in invitation to find joy in the richness of life. Yes, I am suggesting that you find joy on Ash Wednesday, and I do not think that is contradiction.

I think the joy comes in having our priorities straight. In remembering that nothing lasts forever. We are dust and to dust we shall return. This is temporary. We never know how long we will have. May the knowledge that nothing lasts forever be a source of hope for us in the midst of challenges. May it inspire us to savor all the blessings of our lives.

While the ashes too will soon disappear from your forehead, may their memory linger throughout Lent. May you find this to be a season in which you can slow down and pay attention. Savor today. Remember that nothing lasts forever and there is always joy to be found, even in the midst of all the challenges and all the changes.

AMEN.