Monday Matters (January 23, 2023)

January 23, 2023
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The Collect for the Third Sunday after the Epiphany

Give us grace, O Lord, to answer readily the call of our Savior Jesus Christ and proclaim to all people the Good News of his salvation, that we and the whole world may perceive the glory of his marvelous works; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Almighty God, whose Son our Savior Jesus Christ is the light of the world: Grant that your people, illumined by your Word and Sacraments, may shine with the radiance of Christ’s glory, that he may be known, worshipped, and obeyed to the ends of the earth; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who with you and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

In coming days, Monday Matters will offer reflections on the prayers we say in church on Sunday, the collect of the day. We do this based on the conviction that praying shapes our believing, that what we pray forms us. We do this hoping that the prayers we say on Sunday will carry us through the week.

Vocation

Frederick Buechner on Vocation:

It comes from the Latin vocare, to call, and means the work a person is called to by God. There are all different kinds of voices calling you to all different kinds of work, and the problem is to find out which is the voice of God rather than of Society, say, or the Super-ego, or Self-Interest…The place God calls you to is the place where your deep gladness and the world’s deep hunger meet.

I find much to think about in Buechner’s reflection on vocation. I’ve kicked it around for years, and have always found it helpful. I was struck in this week’s reading of it by the notion that there are all different kinds of voices calling to us.

In my own life, I’ve heard those many voices. They are sometimes extremely noisy. There are often multiple co-existent vocations, some of them in competition, some pulling in opposite directions. Parent. Spouse. Child. Priest. Disciple. Cartoonist. Painter. Employee. Employer. Citizen. Social critic.

How is it that we find out which is the voice of God? There’s a fair amount at stake. We live in a world where too many religious people have done too many horrific things because they believe God told them to do it. In my own spiritual journey, I find those experiences present a real challenge to my faith, sometimes almost enough to make this priest a none. As Buechner points out, the voices of society or super-ego or self-interest beckon. They can speak so loudly that they can drown out what is sometimes the still small voice of the Holy One.

Yesterday in church, the theme in the Collect of the Day (see above), and in readings from scripture had to do with call. It made me think of all the stories in the Bible of call. Some of the greatest heroes of the faith when they were called immediately concluded that the call was a wrong number. Moses wasn’t an eloquent speaker. Isaiah was a man of unclean lips. Jeremiah was too young. Peter was a sinful man. Even Mary, perhaps the most faithful and responsive to God’s call, pondered in her heart and asked how this could be.

So we are asked for the grace to pay attention to the call. We push through competing voices. And according to the collect, if we want to capture that call in a nutshell, if we want a job description, it is to proclaim the good news of God’s salvation. That’s very much like the baptismal promise which asks us to proclaim by word and example the good news of God in Christ. That means we are all called to proclaim (or in other words, we’re all preachers). And that proclamation will get communicated in what we say, how we say it, and what we do, and how we do it.

Walker Percy described the modern world as waiting for news. Our big and beautiful and broken world needs that good news. You and I may not always be clear about the nature of our call. It may be hard to hear amidst all the other noise.

But whoever we are and whatever we’re up to, we can embrace this call to share good news. How would you express that good news in what you say, and in what you do this week? May God give us grace to share that news. May we find in the process the intersection of our own deep gladness and the world’s great hunger.

-Jay Sidebotham

Interested in RenewalWorks for your parish? Learn more about how RenewalWorks works!

RenewalWorks: Helping churches focus on spiritual growth

RenewalWorks is about re-orienting your parish around spiritual growth. And by spiritual growth – we mean growing in love of God and neighbor.
Churches can launch as part of a fall or spring cohort or go on their own schedule.  Sign up now!!
Learn more in our digital brochure.

Monday Matters (January 16, 2023)

January 16, 2023
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The Collect for the Second Sunday after the Epiphany

Almighty God, whose Son our Savior Jesus Christ is the light of the world: Grant that your people, illumined by your Word and Sacraments, may shine with the radiance of Christ’s glory, that he may be known, worshipped, and obeyed to the ends of the earth; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who with you and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

In coming days, Monday Matters will offer reflections on the prayers we say in church on Sunday, the collect of the day. We do this based on the conviction that praying shapes our believing, that what we pray forms us. We do this hoping that the prayers we say on Sunday will carry us through the week.

Let your light shine

I will give you as a light to the nations, that my salvation will reach to the ends of the earth.

-Isaiah 49:6

One of my favorite phrases from the Prayer Book appears when, in the course of the eucharist, we remember a saint. That person is referred to as a light in their generation. It says that we have the freedom and responsibility to be that kind of light, something suggested in the collect we heard yesterday in church, when we prayed for the grace to shine with the radiance of Christ’s glory.

I often don’t feel that bright, spiritually and otherwise. This bit about shining becomes aspirational. It is something that Jesus suggests is the call of disciples. In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus tells his disciples: Let your light shine before others, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven. Which leads me to wonder on this Monday morning: What does it mean to let our light shine? What does that shining actually look like in life these days?

The first thing to note from the collect is that we don’t shine with our own radiance. Rather it is Christ’s glory shining through us. I take that as a relief because in my heart I know that deep down, on my own, I’m a fairly dim bulb.

At the same time, the temptation comes to all of us (especially clergy) to think that we are the light, the star of the story. Our faith reminds us that God is the star of the story, that we shine with Christ’s light.

So what does it take to let our light shine, to open ourselves to God’s light shining through us? Many things may block that shining light. I was interested in this bit of wisdom from Brené Brown, as she speaks of what it means to let our light shine:

Owning our story can be hard but not nearly as difficult as spending our lives running from it. Embracing our vulnerabilities is risky but not nearly as dangerous as giving up on love and belonging and joy—the experiences that make us the most vulnerable. Only when we are brave enough to explore the darkness will we discover the infinite power of our light.

If we’re wondering what it means to let our lights shine, it can help to remember saints in our generation who have done that. We have set aside today as a remembrance of the life and ministry and witness of Martin Luther King, who had this to say about light:

Darkness cannot drive out darkness; Only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; Only love can do that.

Use this holiday as a chance to reflect on the light and love he showed. Perhaps read the dream-filled speech he gave on the mall in D.C. Or maybe read the prophetic speech he gave the night before he died. The letter he wrote from a Birmingham jail cell has a powerful word, especially for clergy and others who hang around churches.

Take stock of what might be getting in the way of letting your light shine. And say a prayer that God will grant you the grace to let that light shine this week.

-Jay Sidebotham

Interested in RenewalWorks for your parish? Learn more about how RenewalWorks works!

RenewalWorks: Helping churches focus on spiritual growth

RenewalWorks is about re-orienting your parish around spiritual growth. And by spiritual growth – we mean growing in love of God and neighbor.
Churches can launch as part of a fall or spring cohort or go on their own schedule.  Sign up now!!
Learn more in our digital brochure.

Monday Matters (January 9, 2023)

January 9, 2023
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The Collect for the First Sunday after the Epiphany

Father in heaven, who at the baptism of Jesus in the River Jordan proclaimed him your beloved Son and anointed him with the Holy Spirit: Grant that all who are baptized into his Name may keep the covenant they have made, and boldly confess him as Lord and Savior; who with you and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns, one God, in glory everlasting. Amen.

Promises made in baptism:

Will you continue in the apostle’s teaching and fellowship, in the breaking of the bread and in the prayers?
Will you persevere in resisting evil, and, whenever you fall into sin, repent and return to the Lord?
Will you proclaim by word and example the Good News of God in Christ?
Will you seek and serve Christ in all persons, loving your neighbor as yourself?
Will you strive for justice and peace among all people, and respect the dignity of every human being?

In coming days, Monday Matters will offer reflections on the prayers we say in church on Sunday, the collect of the day. We do this based on the conviction that praying shapes our believing, that what we pray forms us. We do this hoping that the prayers we say on Sunday will carry us through the week.

What’s a covenant all about?

May keep the covenant they have made…

That line from the collect we heard yesterday in church (a prayer printed above) made me stop and ask exactly what covenant the prayer is talking about. It also makes me think about what a covenant is.

As a parish priest, one of the things I do is meet with couples before they get married. That kind of preparation is something required by the church. Some couples view it as annoyance, a speed bump on the way to a big party, a hoop to jump through. Some regard the priest as judge, and worry that they better give the right answer.

That’s not the intention. Rather it is part and parcel of the call in the marriage service to avoid entering marriage unadvisedly or lightly. One of the big things I discuss with a couple is the idea that they are entering into a covenant with each other (The Prayer Book’s language, not mine). We talk about what that term means, and how it might perhaps differ from a contract or some other kind of agreement. The answer I hope to convey is that covenant suggests relationship, commitment not to a set of rules but to another person, to honor that person with all that you are and all that you have, to daily seek the best for that person in all circumstances, in all the curve balls that get thrown our way. At its heart, a covenant is an expression of love.

The other place we talk a lot about covenant in the life of the church is in baptism, when promises are made. That’s why the word pops up on a Sunday when we remember Jesus’ baptism. To me, like the marriage service, the covenant in baptism suggests a relationship, here between us and God. It is not intended as a commitment to a set of rules, as much as type-A religious types want to view it as such. It is a commitment to love of God and neighbor, the two inextricably bound to each other. It is a commitment to honor God and neighbor, which is what worship is all about, worship with our lips and with our lives.

So think this morning about the covenant(s) you have made in life. What kind of commitments have you made, spiritually speaking? Have you consciously made any? Maybe if you were baptized as an adorable, clueless infant, you have never thought about it. But the life of a Christian, the baptized life, is rooted in this covenant, expressed in promises which describe what the covenant looks like in life. The five baptismal promises are printed in full above. They indicate a commitment to continue in the life of community, to recognize that we mess up and seek to find a way back, to share good news with those around us, to serve all persons, and to be a force for justice and peace.

As the new year begins, as you reflect on the content of this covenant, ask as the collect does for the grace to live into those promises, which as the Prayer Book indicates, we can only do with God’s help. Our faith tells us it is the way of life, the way of love.

-Jay Sidebotham

Interested in RenewalWorks for your parish? Learn more about how RenewalWorks works!

RenewalWorks: Helping churches focus on spiritual growth

RenewalWorks is about re-orienting your parish around spiritual growth. And by spiritual growth – we mean growing in love of God and neighbor.
Churches can launch as part of a fall or spring cohort or go on their own schedule.  Sign up now!!
Learn more in our digital brochure.

Monday Matters (January 2, 2023)

January 2, 2023
3-1

The Collect for the Feast of the Holy Name

Eternal Father, you gave to your incarnate Son the holy name of Jesus to be the sign of our salvation: Plant in every heart, we pray, the love of him who is the Savior of the world, our Lord Jesus Christ; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, in glory everlasting.

Amen.

In coming days, Monday Matters will offer reflections on the prayers we say in church on Sunday, the collect of the day. We do this based on the conviction that praying shapes our believing, that what we pray forms us. We do this hoping that the prayers we say on Sunday will carry us through the week.

What’s in a name?

Checked off the bucket list: New Year’s Eve in Times Square. It happened a number of years ago. I went with a group of friends to a Marx Brothers Film Festival then to Times Square to watch the ball drop. It was cold and crowded. I don’t need to do that again. Once was a gracious plenty.

But the turning of the year is always worth marking, with opportunity to reflect on the past year, with its joys and challenges, successes and failures, gratitudes and regrets. It’s also a chance to look forward and commit to hopes and intentions for days ahead.

Yesterday in church, we marked the new year by celebrating the Feast of the Holy Name, always on January 1. The collect for that day appears above. I’m told that the feast began as a way for Christians to mark the new year. The observance has Gallican origin. A church council in 567 set apart the day to counteract pagan festivities connected with the beginning of the new year, perhaps a sixth-century version of New Year’s Eve, sans Anderson Cooper and Andy Cohen.

The church’s feast has as its focus the rituals associated with a newborn child, and specifically the name given that child. The prophets in the Hebrew Scriptures, the gospels and other writings in the New Testament all speak of the importance of name of the messiah. So as we begin 2023, we might ask: What’s in a name? Why do we repeatedly read that the name of Jesus matters?

The name literally means “God saves.” More competent scholars can talk about the importance of naming in the culture into which Jesus was born. I have been struck with what that name, “God saves” indicates. These two words say a lot.

For starters, the name says something about God. It says that God is graciously active in our world. While many of us may be locked in what has been called an “immanent frame” which regards divine intervention as a quaint and antiquated idea, the name of Jesus suggests that the transcendent power of God comes to us still and that it has salvific significance. As theologian Andrew Root puts it: God is the star of the story (not us, not the church.) As mystic Evelyn Underhill put it: God is the interesting thing about religion and people are hungry for God. Might we begin 2023 with an expectation that God, by grace, will act in our lives and in our broken world in a saving way? What if we lived our lives in the coming year in awareness that our lives unfold in the presence of the Holy One? What if we lived with daily expectation of holy activity, when sometimes some of us (yours truly included) live as functional atheists?

Second, the name of Jesus says something about us. I’ll put it this way: We need help. We need to be saved. We need a savior. Again, a culture celebrating self-sufficiency and independence may resist that notion. But the fact is when we claim the name of Jesus, we are admitting a need for a power greater than we can muster. Seen in this light, salvation is much more than just a ticket to heaven. I’ve been told that one way to understand the word salvation is to see it as suggesting healing and wholeness. Each one of us knows something of that kind of need, as I believe we each are familiar with some kind of brokenness. We experience it in body, mind, spirit, memory, relationships, not to mention our political and social contexts. Our faith tells us that those experiences need not be the last word about us. They need not define us. Help is on the way.

Finally, the name of Jesus says something about what we are called to do. As Ted Lasso tells us (Sidebar: When do we get the third season?), we are called to believe. We are called to trust that God is active and interested. More to the point, we are called to believe that God is love and that the Holy One’s intention toward us is loving, to place our confidence in that love.

So happy new year. You’re only 24 hours into 2023, still time to make a resolution or two. Maybe one of those might be a commitment to think about what the name of Jesus actually means in your life and mine.

-Jay Sidebotham

Interested in RenewalWorks for your parish? Learn more about how RenewalWorks works!

RenewalWorks: Helping churches focus on spiritual growth

RenewalWorks is about re-orienting your parish around spiritual growth. And by spiritual growth – we mean growing in love of God and neighbor.
Churches can launch as part of a fall or spring cohort or go on their own schedule.  Sign up now!!
Learn more in our digital brochure.

Monday Matters: December 26, 2022

December 26, 2022
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The Collect for the Feast of the Nativity

Almighty God, you have given your only-begotten Son to take our nature upon him, and to be born of a pure virgin: Grant that we, who have been born again and made your children by adoption and grace, may daily be renewed by your Holy Spirit; through our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom with you and the same Spirit be honor and glory, now and for ever.

Amen.

In coming days, Monday Matters will offer reflections on the prayers we say in church on Sunday, the collect of the day. We do this based on the conviction that praying shapes our believing, that what we pray forms us. We do this hoping that the prayers we say on Sunday will carry us through the week.

Born again

O holy child of Bethlehem, descend to us, we pray; Cast out our sin, and enter in, be born in us today.

Mild he lays his glory by, born that men no more may die; Born to raise the sons of earth, born to give them second birth.

Last week, my laptop went on strike. I started getting messages that I was not allowed to open documents, that I needed permission from who knows who. I didn’t know what to do. I was ready to buy new software. Maybe a new laptop. A new career. A friend gave me the number of a tech guy who asked if I had tried restarting. I did. The problem went away. My laptop just needed a new start. Sometimes I need that too.

A friend, a clergyman, found his seat on the plane. Wearing his clerical collar, the passenger next to him dove into conversation about religion. As the flight continued, my friend was held captive, subject to inquisition. When the passenger found out he was Episcopalian, it was time to check bona fides. So my friend was asked: “Have you been born again?” My friend answered: “I have been born again. And again. And again.” He made the point that renewal is something that happens repeatedly.

Theologian Karl Barth had a similar exchange with an American evangelical. He was challenged to name the exact time and place when he had been born again. The questioner was quite sure the eminent theologian couldn’t do it, which would indicate that Dr. Barth was not really a Christian after all. Dr. Barth answered: “I was born again. At three o’clock on the first Good Friday on a hill outside of Jerusalem.” He made the point that being re-born is God’s work, not our own.

Carols of Christmas make the same point. Two examples are found above.

Admittedly, the notion of being born again carries baggage in our culture. It can be loaded language. For some, it has become a litmus test. The phrase ‘born again” originates in Jesus’ late night conversation with Nicodemus in the Gospel of John, chapter 3 (a.k.a., Nick at Nite). Jesus tells this religious leader, someone on in years, that he must be born again or born from above or born anew. Nicodemus doesn’t get it. His systematic theology did not leave room for this idea that we need to start again, that the Holy One needs to be born in each one of us, again and again and again.

Christmas comes as a season of new life. As carols indicate, it’s all about the moment in time when one particular child was born in Bethlehem. But as the collect printed in the intro indicates, it’s also about the moment in time when we can be born again, or born anew, or born from above. As my friend indicated, that can happen again and again.

As we move through this Christmas season (It’s more than just one day!), what new thing might be born in you? How might you be open to new life, to God’s gracious and creative work? Once we recognize that that work has been done, how will we live into it, growing and deepening a life with God? O holy child of Bethlehem…be born in us today.

-Jay Sidebotham

Interested in RenewalWorks for your parish? Learn more about how RenewalWorks works!

RenewalWorks: Helping churches focus on spiritual growth

RenewalWorks is about re-orienting your parish around spiritual growth. And by spiritual growth – we mean growing in love of God and neighbor.
Churches can launch as part of a fall or spring cohort or go on their own schedule.  Sign up now!!
Learn more in our digital brochure.

Monday Matters (December 19, 2022)

December 19, 2022
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The Collect for the Fourth Sunday of Advent

Purify our conscience, Almighty God, by your daily visitation, that your Son Jesus Christ, at his coming, may find in us a mansion prepared for himself; who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen

In coming days, Monday Matters will offer reflections on the prayers we say in church on Sunday, the collect of the day. We do this based on the conviction that praying shapes our believing, that what we pray forms us. We do this hoping that the prayers we say on Sunday will carry us through the week.

Making room

Lord, let not our souls be busy inns that have no room for thee or thine, but quiet homes of prayer and praise, where thou mayest find fit company, where the needful cares of life are wisely ordered and put away, and wide, sweet spaces kept for thee; where holy thoughts pass up and down and fervent longings watch and wait thy coming.

-Julian of Norwich

This Advent season, I’ve been thinking a lot about what it means to prepare the way of the Lord. Hymns and scripture and liturgy tell us it’s the reason for the season. But what does that actually look like in life? The prayer we heard yesterday in church, and the prayer from Julian of Norwich printed above tell us it’s about making room for Jesus. Again, what does that look like?

Does it call for a spiritual bulldozer? A teardown? Do I need to park a dumpster in my spiritual driveway to get rid of junk? How can I envision my life as a mansion prepared to welcome Christ, when my life often feels like a small studio apartment with no closet space?

One of the ways we might begin to create that space is to enter into the counter-cultural, contemplative call of the season. During Advent, the church invites us to slow down and be quiet when almost every other message we get tells us to hurry up, take in all the noise and do a lot of stuff, fueling the anxiety that we maybe did not do enough. Even in the church, we don’t always get that message right. A friend who worked in a big church used to sport a button around this time of year. The button read: Jesus is coming. Look busy. It got a chuckle but I think it’s the exact opposite of what we’re called to do.

Centuries ago, mystic Julian of Norwich crafted the prayer which helps us think about what it means to get that mansion ready. She recognized that the inner life can be very much like a busy inn, a “No Vacancy” sign prominently displayed. Lots of coming and going. Nothing settled. Does your life ever feel like that? Do you enjoy that feeling?

The alternative Julian presented was a quiet home of prayer and praise, with company fit for God’s presence. She envisions our cares put aside. Wide, sweet spaces are kept. (I love that phrase: Wide, sweet spaces. I want those spaces.)

We’re just a few days away from Christmas. How will you prepare to welcome Christ into your life in this holiday season, and in the coming new year? How can you create space for that to happen?

It might begin with asking God for help, adding to those prayers an attitude of gratitude, which can often give breathing room. It can also involve a rigorous look at the ways we spend our time. Can we carve out quiet time each day this week, even if it’s only a few minutes, to reflect on the miracle we’re about to celebrate?

It may involve rigorous choices about what we will do and what we decide we won’t do. Take a walk each day to think about all this. Jot down thoughts to clarify your thinking. The church, with its variety of worship opportunities, can help. And one of the key ways to make room for Jesus at any time of year, is to figure out how to be of service, to take a moment to look around at the needs that surround and ask: How can I help?

This week’s prayers suggest that we have agency in all of this. We can choose to make room for the Christ child. What will that look like in your life in these days before Christmas?

-Jay Sidebotham

Interested in RenewalWorks for your parish? Learn more about how RenewalWorks works!

RenewalWorks: Helping churches focus on spiritual growth

RenewalWorks is about re-orienting your parish around spiritual growth. And by spiritual growth – we mean growing in love of God and neighbor.
Churches can launch as part of a fall or spring cohort or go on their own schedule.  Sign up now!!
Learn more in our digital brochure.

Monday Matters (December 12, 2022)

December 12, 2022
3-1

The Collect for the Second Sunday of Advent

Stir up your power, O Lord, and with great might come among us; and, because we are sorely hindered by our sins, let your bountiful grace and mercy speedily help and deliver us; through Jesus Christ our Lord, to whom, with you and the Holy Spirit, be honor and glory, now and for ever. Amen.

In coming days, Monday Matters will offer reflections on the prayers we say in church on Sunday, the collect of the day. We do this based on the conviction that praying shapes our believing, that what we pray forms us. We do this hoping that the prayers we say on Sunday will carry us through the week.

Sorely hindered

Often when I meet with groups, I ask people to talk about their own spiritual journeys, specifically their experience of spiritual growth. I like to ask them to think of a time when they have experienced spiritual growth and follow up with a question about what it was that helped them grow. What were the catalysts? What would you say to those questions?

After we get through that, I ask them to think of a time when they were spiritually stuck or stalled. We all have those times. Automotive metaphors are useful, imagining a time when a person ran out of gas, had a flat tire, or ended up in a ditch, spiritually speaking. As follow-up, I ask them to think about what might have caused them to experience that kind of thing as well. How would you answer those questions?

In the language of the collect we heard yesterday (printed in the column on the left), this dynamic of being spiritually stalled may be a matter of being sorely hindered by our sins, by the ways in which we fall short of the mark. When I pose questions to groups about their spiritual journey, I get a lot of answers. Not all of them appear obviously connected to sins. There are all kinds of things that hinder us in our spiritual lives.

A common answer is crisis, some difficult experience. Those kinds of things come to all people. Interestingly enough, a crisis can also be the thing that helps us grow as we recognize our dependence on God. But we can definitely be hindered by such. For example, our collective experience with COVID in recent years has definitely been for some a spiritual hindrance.

I read a study that said that one great impediment to spiritual growth, something that sorely hinders us, is the busy schedules we maintain, the ways we equate busyness with value. Advent as a season can be a good antidote to all of that, with its counter-cultural call to slow down and be quiet.

Speaking specifically of sins, perhaps the root of sin is the disordering of love, loving self more than God or neighbor, imagining a self-centered universe. Our own egos can hinder spiritual growth, mindful that ego can be seen as an acronym: Edging God Out. When we put ourselves at the center of the universe, it makes spiritual growth, a relationship with God, harder to come by. The confession found in our prayer book helps me understand the ways in which I am caught in the power of sin. It reminds me that I have not loved God with my whole heart. I have not loved neighbor as self. That’s true for me, every day.

I suspect we all know those things that can sorely hinder us. The recognition of those things is a first step. (Advent, with its call to slow down and be quiet, can give space for that kind of self-awareness.) Once we recognize things that hinder us, we are then called to recognize that we need help to be liberated from those things. That’s where we get the cry for help captured in the phrase “Stir up your power.” The prayer affirms our belief in the “bountiful grace and mercy” of God. The power is there.

Just maybe the door opens to spiritual growth when we open ourselves to that grace and mercy, forgiving ourselves as much as we forgive others. How might you open that door, even just a crack, this week?

-Jay Sidebotham

Interested in RenewalWorks for your parish? Learn more about how RenewalWorks works!

RenewalWorks: Helping churches focus on spiritual growth

RenewalWorks is about re-orienting your parish around spiritual growth. And by spiritual growth – we mean growing in love of God and neighbor.
Churches can launch as part of a fall or spring cohort or go on their own schedule.  Sign up now!!
Learn more in our digital brochure.

Monday Matters (December 5, 2022)

December 5, 2022
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The Collect for the Second Sunday of Advent

Merciful God, who sent your messengers the prophets to preach repentance and prepare the way for our salvation: Give us grace to heed their warnings and forsake our sins, that we may greet with joy the coming of Jesus Christ our Redeemer; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

In coming days, Monday Matters will offer reflections on the prayers we say in church on Sunday, the collect of the day. We do this based on the conviction that praying shapes our believing, that what we pray forms us. We do this hoping that the prayers we say on Sunday will carry us through the week.

Messengers

I am your message, God. Throw me like a blazing torch into the night, so that all may see and understand.

-Mother Maria Skobtsova, Eastern Orthodox monastic

As you reflect on your own spiritual journey, who were the people who guided you along the way? Who informed that journey, shining light on your path? Asked another way, who have been God’s messengers in your life?

The prayer we heard yesterday in church, printed in the column on the left, speaks of the ministry of messengers. It makes the point that God uses people (like us) to speak the truth, to hold folks accountable, to share good news. In the same way that St. Francis prayed to be an instrument or a channel of God’s peace, the prophets were used by God to help people think about the direction in which they were headed.

In this season, we hear a lot about John the Baptist, whose whole ministry was summed up in the call to prepare the way. He brings new meaning to the word eccentric. If he walked into one of our churches, we’d probably call security before we paid any attention to his message. But he is remembered as one who pointed beyond himself to Christ, bringing the message of a new day. In Advent, we also hear from the prophet Isaiah who centuries earlier brought words of challenge and possibility. There are a whole bunch of other messengers in the Bible that prepare the way for Jesus.

But those prophets, those messengers, are not just a thing of the past. Throughout the history of the church, up until our present time, we’ve been blessed by those we call prophets. We’re not talking about people who gaze into crystal balls and predict the future, as intriguing as they may be. We have in mind those people who fulfill a prophetic function, a ministry of analyzing the present. The word propheteia in Greek means the interpreting of the will of the gods. That’s something we all could use, in all seasons.

Last Friday night, I had the privilege of hearing a contemporary prophet, Sister Joan Chittister, who reminded the congregation that religion is not a spiritual jacuzzi. In her timely book, THE TIME IS NOW, she asks these good questions: What does the prophetic tradition, the prophetic dimension of the spiritual life, have to do with us? How will it affect our lives? What will it mean to our own development and spiritual authenticity? What are the gifts that come to those who hold the Word of God up to the injustice of our own time?

To those questions, I’d add: What’s the message? Like many other prophets of the scriptures, John the Baptist called on people to repent. That word suggests both direction and movement. As Pope Francis said, there’s no such thing as a stationary Christian. The prophets come to us to tell us when we might wittingly or unwittingly be headed in the wrong direction. It is no act of kindness to let someone keep doing that. When John the Baptist called people to repent, he was really telling them to turn around, to head towards that place where they could find grace. His harsh rhetoric may have been the ultimate kindness.

Advent is a season to think about where we might need course correction. Ask yourself in the quiet of this season: “In what direction am I headed? Are the things that I value helping me get there?” Give thanks for the messengers in your life who help you take a look at such things.

And then consider the possibility that God might be calling you to be a messenger, to help others think about the direction they are headed, and maybe to point them in the direction of Jesus, who comes to us full of grace and truth. (We need both those things.) We can be that messenger by what we say and what we do, with our lips and with our lives, as we offer ourselves to God’s work in the world. How might you do that this week?

-Jay Sidebotham

Interested in RenewalWorks for your parish? Learn more about how RenewalWorks works!

RenewalWorks: Helping churches focus on spiritual growth

RenewalWorks is about re-orienting your parish around spiritual growth. And by spiritual growth – we mean growing in love of God and neighbor.
Churches can launch as part of a fall or spring cohort or go on their own schedule.  Sign up now!!
Learn more in our digital brochure.

Monday Matters (November 28, 2022)

November 28, 2022
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The Collect for the First Sunday of Advent

Almighty God, give us grace to cast away the works of darkness, and put on the armor of light, now in the time of this mortal life in which your Son Jesus Christ came to visit us in great humility; that in the last day, when he shall come again in his glorious majesty to judge both the living and the dead, we may rise to the life immortal; through him who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

In coming days, Monday Matters will offer reflections on the prayers we say in church on Sunday, the collect of the day. We do this based on the conviction that praying shapes our believing, that what we pray forms us. We do this hoping that the prayers we say on Sunday will carry us through the week.

Turn to the Light

Happy new year!

We begin with grace, not a bad place to start. The prayer offered yesterday for the first Sunday of Advent (printed above) launches a new year in the church calendar. It says right up front that our dependence on grace is the heart of the matter. We rely on God’s free gifts, on love from which we can’t be separated. If we can remember that each day of this coming year, I suspect we’ll be in pretty good spiritual shape. And that gift of grace is just the start, as I channel the wisdom of Anne Lamott who described the mystery of grace as meeting us where we are but refusing to leave us there.

Truth be told, I often almost instinctively resist the foundational nature of grace. I often default to my own teeth-gritting Christianity, the belief that I’m going to arrive at spiritual health the old-fashioned way: I’ll earn it, thank you very much. For too much of the time, I’m not entirely certain that I need to rely solely on grace. After all, God is kind of lucky to have me on the team. So why do we need to ask for grace? The rest of yesterday’s prayer helps us find an answer.

It asks for the grace to cast away works of darkness. We need grace to say no to those things that are drawing us from the love of God. They come at us all the time, from all directions.

One of the great starting points in church life is baptism, when the person being baptized renounces those things, says no to them. The person being baptized is asked to renounce the spiritual forces at work in the universe, a recognition that we contend with powers greater than ourselves. We need grace for that contest. We’re also asked to renounce evil forces in the world, which we witness every day in every news outlet. Then here’s the kicker. Those forces aren’t just out there somewhere. They take up residence in each of our hearts. When G.K.Chesterton was asked to name the source of the problems in the world, he simply said: “I am.” We’re asked to renounce those powers inside of us.

It’s a lot to contend with. We are invited to shed those works of darkness, just as in the early days of the church, a baptismal candidate took off his or her old clothing, went into the water buck naked and came out to be clothed in new, clean white garments. But it’s not just about that to which we say “no.” It’s also about what we affirm.

That’s described in yesterday’s collect as taking on the armor of light, again implying a contest with forces that would threaten to undo us, to steal a phrase from Martin Luther. In baptism, taking on the armor of light can be described in three affirmations. We’re asked to turn to Jesus, to put our whole trust in God’s grace and love, to follow Jesus as Lord and Savior. Turn. Trust. Follow. Not a bad program for the new year. We ask for the grace to set out on that new path. And a new year, a new church year is an excellent time to launch out in that way.

Use the quiet of the contemplative season of Advent to do some spiritual inventory, asking for the grace to take that inventory. It can be challenging work. Think about what you need to cast off. What you need to say no to. And think about what you might take on, as you try that armor of light on for size.

I lost a good friend last year, a spiritual advisor with sharp wit, deep faith, and a keen sense of the power of grace. When I’d get all wound up about what was wrong with the world or with the church or with my soul, he would calmly say: Turn to the light. That’s what we all get to do in this beautiful season of Advent.

-Jay Sidebotham

Interested in RenewalWorks for your parish? Learn more about how RenewalWorks works!

RenewalWorks: Helping churches focus on spiritual growth

RenewalWorks is about re-orienting your parish around spiritual growth. And by spiritual growth – we mean growing in love of God and neighbor.
Churches can launch as part of a fall or spring cohort or go on their own schedule.  Sign up now!!
Learn more in our digital brochure.

Monday Matters (October 3, 2022)

October 3, 2022
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What happens on Sunday morning is not half so important as what happens on Monday morning. In fact, what happens on Sunday morning is judged by what happens on Monday morning.

-Verna Dozier

For some reason, the most vocal Christians among us never mention the Beatitudes (Matthew 5). But, often with tears in their eyes, they demand that the 10 Commandments be posted in public buildings…I haven’t heard one of them demand that the Sermon on the Mount, the Beatitudes, be posted anywhere. ‘Blessed are the merciful’ in a courtroom? ‘Blessed are the peacemakers’ in the Pentagon? Give me a break!”

-Kurt Vonnegut

Summing up the Sermon on the Mount

Now when Jesus had finished saying these words, the crowds were astounded at his teaching, for he taught them as one having authority and not as their scribes.

-Matthew 7:28-29

The two verses printed above show how the gospel writer sums up the Sermon on the Mount, a sermon which has been the focus of these Monday reflections in recent days. There are two things I notice about this summation.

First, I notice that the gospel says that there were crowds that had been listening to Jesus’ astounding teaching. When the sermon was introduced (Matthew 5:1), it seems that Jesus had left those crowds to go to the mountaintop. It was just the disciples that he was teaching in this sermon. By the end of the sermon, the crowds were listening too. Does this matter? Maybe it’s not all that significant, but I take it to mean that the good news has a way of spreading to an ever growing audience. In fact, that is what it’s supposed to do.

I think of the great effect this sermon has had on the world in the time since Jesus first spoke on that mountain. Just one more indication that scripture has transformative power in helping people grow spiritually. Case in point: Leo Tolstoy read the sermon and it changed his life, causing him to take on a life of poverty. Mahatma Gandhi read what Tolstoy had said about the sermon, and it became a key part of his strategy of non-violence, which had liberating impact on the Indian sub-continent. Martin Luther King noted the ways that Gandhi had incorporated the sermon into his political strategy and applied those insights to the non-violent civil rights movement in this country. Again, transformation.

All of that points to the widening influence of this sermon, as it moved from the small audience of 12 disciples on the top of a middle-eastern mountain to change our world. My intent in spending recent months reflecting on this sermon is to see how that sermon can continue to shape our world, shape our individual lives, shape our church. My hope and prayer is that attention paid to each verse in these three chapters (Matthew 5-7) can help us grow, can help us share the good news of God’s love known to us in Jesus, our teacher.

The second thing I notice is the amazement of the crowd, their surprise at the authority Jesus exhibits (much more powerful than the clergy of the day). In many places in the gospels, people listen to Jesus, scratch their heads and say: “Where did he get all this? Where did he come from? How does he speak with such authority?” It raises the question of what we regard as authoritative. These days, we hear a lot about a rise in authoritarianism in our world. But as we note that rise, we may be facing a decline in an appreciation for authority. All kinds of authorities are faced with questioning.

When the gospel says that people thought Jesus was speaking with authority, I imagine them thinking: “This guy knows what he’s talking about.” I imagine them perceiving that Jesus is someone they could trust, someone worth following. I mean, what was it about Jesus that he could walk up to busy fishermen or tax collectors and say “Follow me” and they would get up and do it?

As I reflect on the Sermon on the Mount, there are a number of things that surprise me. Some things strike me as mysterious, border-line baffling. But as I read these words, I pick up on the authority with which Jesus teaches. It makes me inclined to say that the way of Jesus is the way I want to go. As the old hymn goes, I may not know what the future holds but I know who holds the future.

It’s been a gift to spend time reflecting on the Sermon on the Mount, bit by bit. I hope that there have been edifying moments. Truth be told, a main reason for doing it was for my own edification, to see how I can draw closer to understanding what Jesus has to say to me today. I’m not entirely sure what comes next for Monday Matters. I’m thinking I’m going to take a few weeks off to think about that. But I trust that we can all continue to see how the way of love, the Jesus movement, intersects with our daily lives.

-Jay Sidebotham

Interested in RenewalWorks for your parish? Learn more about how RenewalWorks works!

RenewalWorks: Helping churches focus on spiritual growth

RenewalWorks is about re-orienting your parish around spiritual growth. And by spiritual growth – we mean growing in love of God and neighbor.
Churches can launch as part of a fall or spring cohort or go on their own schedule.  Sign up now!!
Learn more in our digital brochure.