Monday Matters (January 1, 2024)

3-1

A reading from the book of the Prophet Isaiah (61:10-62:3)

10 I will greatly rejoice in the Lord;
    my whole being shall exult in my God,
for he has clothed me with the garments of salvation;
    he has covered me with the robe of righteousness,
as a bridegroom decks himself with a garland
    and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.
11 For as the earth brings forth its shoots
    and as a garden causes what is sown in it to spring up,
so the Lord God will cause righteousness and praise
    to spring up before all the nations.

62 For Zion’s sake I will not keep silent,
    and for Jerusalem’s sake I will not rest,
until her vindication shines out like the dawn
    and her salvation like a burning torch.
The nations shall see your vindication
    and all the kings your glory,
and you shall be called by a new name
    that the mouth of the Lord will give.
You shall be a beautiful crown in the hand of the Lord
    and a royal diadem in the hand of your God.

This year, during the season of Advent, and now in the season of Christmas, Monday Matters will focus on readings from the prophet Isaiah.

What’s in a name?

Isaiah spoke with deep joy about what had not yet happened. (See reading above, a reading which you may have heard in church yesterday on the first Sunday of the Christmas season.) Not a bad way to begin a new year. He says that righteousness and praise will spring up. He affirms impending vindication, visible for all the world to see. And then he says that his readers will be called by a new name, reflective of divinely given beauty.

The Bible is full of stories of people who get a new name to signify the transformation God brings to our lives. Abram becomes Abraham. Sarai becomes Sarah. Simon becomes Peter. Saul becomes Paul.

One of my favorite name changes in the Bible comes from the book of the Acts of the Apostles. We read that a man named Joseph had his name changed to Barnabas. Barnabas means son of encouragement. The church found him to be such an encouraging presence that that they changed his name to reflect his gifts. Soon after that, he became traveling companion of St. Paul, who I suspect was not always easy to get along with. Barnabas was the guy for the job. Every time I read about his name change, I find myself wondering (with some nervousness) about how my community would change my name. What name would your community give you?

This business about getting a new name is really about stepping into a new identity, not destroying what we are or where we’ve been, but recognizing gifts and building on that, for the sake of the good news. The good news Isaiah anticipates is that God is preparing a new identity for God’s people. We can claim that possibility for ourselves. For those of us who are Jesus followers, in this ongoing Christmas season, that possibility has everything to do with Jesus showing up.

It’s not lost on me that while the reading from Isaiah turns up on the First Sunday of the Christmas season, today we also observe the Feast of the Holy Name, observed on January 1. Holy coincidence. (Happy new year, by the way. How are you doing on those resolutions?)

The Feast of the Holy Name is a day to celebrate the naming of the infant Jesus in the temple rituals of his culture. It’s worth noting what his name means. The name Jesus means God saves.

Throughout the New Testament, as early Christians took first steps as a movement, they were invited to call on the name of Jesus. In other words, they were making the claim, indeed betting their lives, on the promise that God would save. They were called to trust in the power of that name. We are still invited to call on that name, to claim that we are saved not by our good works or our good theology or our good liturgy or even our good taste. God is the one who saves. Jesus comes to make that happen. We are saved by the one whose name suggests grace.

To the extent that we can embrace that, our identity can be transformed. We might even come to feel that we have been given a new name, a new identity. And as we begin a new year, that gives cause to join with Isaiah in rejoicing and in hope. May this coming year be filled with the joy of experiencing God’s saving activity in your life.

-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 25, 2023)

3-1

A reading from the book of the Prophet Isaiah (9:2-7)

2The people who walked in darkness
    have seen a great light;
those who lived in a land of deep darkness—
    on them light has shined.
You have multiplied exultation;[b]
    you have increased its joy;
they rejoice before you
    as with joy at the harvest,
    as people exult when dividing plunder.
For the yoke of their burden
    and the bar across their shoulders,
    the rod of their oppressor,
    you have broken as on the day of Midian.
For all the boots of the tramping warriors
    and all the garments rolled in blood
    shall be burned as fuel for the fire.
For a child has been born for us,
    a son given to us;
authority rests upon his shoulders,
    and he is named
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
    Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
Great will be his authority,[c]
    and there shall be endless peace
for the throne of David and his kingdom.
    He will establish and uphold it
with justice and with righteousness
    from this time onward and forevermore.
The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this.

This year, during the season of Advent, Monday Matters will focus on readings from the prophet Isaiah, who provides great material for reflection in anticipation of Christmas.

Christmas Lights

Our Advent series, with prompts from the prophet Isaiah, spills over into the Christmas season (Merry Christmas, by the way) and continues on this holy day, the Feast of the Nativity of our Lord. For your consideration, a reading from Isaiah which you may have heard in church on Christmas Eve, or perhaps a reading you’ll hear today in church. We’ve reprinted that reading above.

Those who selected readings for our worship chose this vision from Isaiah for this particular day. The reading is filled with Christmas sermon material, filled with insight into the character and mission of the Messiah. For our purposes this morning, join me in reflection on the first verses, with the image of a great light shining in a land of deep darkness.

How is it that the arrival of that baby Jesus represents light shining in a world where light seems to be in rare supply? The prologue to the Gospel of John (1:1-18) states in this way: In him was life and the life was the light of the world. What might that light mean for you this Christmas? Let’s look at light.

Light shows us the way. Scripture is filled with stories of wilderness, people wandering aimlessly. We often do that in life. Think this Christmas morning about how Jesus shows you a way forward, what our Presiding Bishop calls the way of love.

Light reveals what is hidden, including those things that we might want to keep hidden. Jesus comes to show us, how shall we say, our growth opportunities. We don’t often see those things in ourselves (though we might see them clearly in others). Again, from John’s prologue, we read that the word made flesh came among us full of grace and truth. Both things.

Light shining can offer judgment, a clear-eyed view of the ways we fall short. Think this Christmas morning about how Jesus casts light on ways we need to grow.

Light dispels fear. I’ve been told that the opposite of love is not hate. The opposite of love is fear. As we stumble around in clueless darkness, fears of what we can’t see can mount. Think this Christmas morning about how the perfect love of God expressed in Jesus’ presence among us can cast out fear.

Light allows us to see that we are not alone. When the light of Christ breaks into our dark night, we can see that we journey with others, and that God is present with us. Think this Christmas morning of the meaning of Immanuel, the name given to Jesus. It means God is with us. Give thanks that we are not left alone.

Light, like the sun breaking the horizon at dawn, represents the possibility of a new start. Each day we’re given that chance. Each new season in the church year gives us that chance. Each New Year’s celebration gives us that chance. Think this Christmas morning about the new thing God might do in your life in the days ahead, remembering that in our worship we recognize a God who makes all things new.

Finally, light brings with it a sense of joy. The psalmist put it this way: Weeping may spend the night but joy comes in the morning. This Christmas, if you happen to sing “Joy to the World”, reflect on how the arrival of the Christ child can lead you to a deeper experience of joy.

Blessings on this holy day. In all the celebrations, presents opened, feasts prepared, take a moment to reflect on the light of Christ in your life, with a spirit of thanksgiving and hope.

-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 18, 2023)

3-1

A reading from the book of the Prophet Isaiah (61:1-4, 8-11)

The spirit of the Lord God is upon me,
because the Lord has anointed me;
he has sent me to bring good news to the oppressed,
to bind up the brokenhearted,
to proclaim liberty to the captives,
and release to the prisoners;
to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor,
and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all who mourn;
to provide for those who mourn in Zion
to give them a garland instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning,
the mantle of praise instead of a faint spirit.
They will be called oaks of righteousness,
the planting of the Lord, to display his glory.
They shall build up the ancient ruins,
they shall raise up the former devastations;
they shall repair the ruined cities,
the devastations of many generations.

For I the Lord love justice,
I hate robbery and wrongdoing;
I will faithfully give them their recompense,
and I will make an everlasting covenant with them.
Their descendants shall be known among the nations,
and their offspring among the peoples;
all who see them shall acknowledge
that they are a people whom the Lord has blessed.
I will greatly rejoice in the LORD,
my whole being shall exult in my God;
for he has clothed me with the garments of salvation,
he has covered me with the robe of righteousness,
as a bridegroom decks himself with a garland,
and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.
For as the earth brings forth its shoots,
and as a garden causes what is sown in it to spring up,
so the Lord God will cause righteousness and praise
to spring up before all the nations.

This year, during the season of Advent, Monday Matters will focus on readings from the prophet Isaiah, who provides great material for reflection in anticipation of Christmas.

Jesus’ Job Description. And Ours.

If it’s true that you get only one chance to make a first impression, what do you imagine was the impression Jesus made when he read from Isaiah 61? He did so at his first sermon in his hometown of Nazareth, a sermon which got mixed reviews, to put it mildly. You may have heard that same reading from Isaiah yesterday (a portion of which is above) on the Third Sunday of Advent.

As a good preacher, Jesus knew how to keep it short, so he didn’t read the whole passage, just the first verses, which he claimed had been fulfilled in his presence, his advent. In fact, as far as we know, the sum total of his sermon was the following: “Today this has been fulfilled in your hearing.” (You can read the whole story in Luke 4.) Would that current preachers (including this author) could model such succinctification.

As we prepare for the arrival of Christ (One week away, folks), in this last full week of the season of expectation called Advent, what kind of Messiah are we expecting? What are we looking for? What clues do we get from this Isaiah reading?

According to Isaiah, the expectation is for one who is anointed to bring good news to the oppressed, healing to the brokenhearted, liberty to captives, release to prisoners, comfort to those who mourn. That is what the Messiah will be about. That is what Christians believe Jesus is about. How does that square with your impressions of Jesus?

We can take that job description literally. In Jesus’ time, as in ours, there were plenty of people who were oppressed, brokenhearted, captive, prisoners. Many people were in mourning. Jesus’ ministry is filled with moments when he brings healing to those situations. And the question for us then becomes how we will continue that work as part of the Jesus movement, as part of the body of Christ.

Our baptismal promises call us to seek and serve Christ in all persons, to strive for justice and peace and respect the dignity of every human being. Pete Buttigieg, a faithful Episcopalian, gives us a place to start, as he speaks in a movie to be released in January, a movie called The Case for Love. It’s inspired by Presiding Bishop Curry’s focus on the way of love. Secretary Buttigieg notes his many encounters with people who disagree with him wholeheartedly and even treat him with disdain, not uncommon in our current political climate. He says in the movie that he is called to remember that God loves his opponents just as much as God loves him. Keeping that in mind is a good way to begin to fulfill this Isaiah reading.

I’m wondering specifically how we might live into Isaiah’s vision in this Christmas season. There are plenty of opportunities to strive for justice and peace in our broken world. There are great needs for healing. Who do you know who is feeling broken-hearted, who is gripped with grief? The holidays can be especially difficult for those who bear that burden, whether the loss is recent or happened a long time ago. Who do you know who is held captive, by resentment or a sense of injury, by addiction or compulsion, by hatred or fear? Meeting those needs is the work we are given to do as members of the body of Christ, as his hands and feet in the world.

As you ask God to show you ways to be a healing presence, reflect on the wisdom of Howard Thurman, who wrote a poem called The Work of Christmas. Here it is:

When the song of the angels is stilled,
When the star in the sky is gone,
When the kings and princes are home,
When the shepherds are back with their flock,
The work of Christmas begins:
To find the lost,
To heal the broken,
To feed the hungry,
To release the prisoner,
To rebuild the nations,
To bring peace among brothers,
To make music in the heart.

Let this poem guide you in the celebration of this season.

-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 11, 2023)

3-1

A reading from the book of the Prophet Isaiah (40:1-11)

Comfort, O comfort my people, says your God. Speak tenderly to Jerusalem and cry to her that she has served her term, that her penalty is paid, that she has received from the Lord’s hand double for all her sins. A voice cries out: “In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God. Every valley shall be lifted up, and every mountain and hill be made low; the uneven ground shall become level, and the rough places a plain. Then the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all people shall see it together, for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.” A voice says, “Cry out!” And I said, “What shall I cry?” All people are grass, their constancy is like the flower of the field. The grass withers, the flower fades, when the breath of the Lord blows upon it; surely the people are grass. The grass withers, the flower fades; but the word of our God will stand for ever. Get you up to a high mountain, O Zion, herald of good tidings; lift up your voice with strength, O Jerusalem, herald of good tidings, lift it up, do not fear; say to the cities of Judah, “Here is your God!” See, the Lord God comes with might, and his arm rules for him; his reward is with him, and his recompense before him. He will feed his flock like a shepherd; he will gather the lambs in his arms, and carry them in his bosom, and gently lead the mother sheep.

This year, during the season of Advent, Monday Matters will focus on readings from the prophet Isaiah, who provides great material for reflection in anticipation of Christmas.

Ah, Wilderness

A favored, savored New Yorker cartoon depicts a woman in business attire, a tiny, lone figure out in the wild, in the middle of nowhere. The title: A Voice Crying in the Wilderness, the caption: “Get me the hell out of the wilderness.” We all know something about wilderness. For many, it’s a place from which we’d like to escape.

“Get me the hell out of the wilderness!”

The Advent season takes us to the wilderness, as noted in the reading from the prophet Isaiah, which you may have heard in church yesterday. Wilderness imagery shows up in a number of places in the Bible. Moses spent 40 years in the wilderness watching sheep before he heard the call from the talking burning bush. The children of Israel wandered for 40 years in the wilderness after their deliverance from Egyptian oppression. Elijah made his way to the wilderness when he thought the world was out to get him. The children of Israel living in exile knew that if they were to find their way home, it would mean traveling through wilderness. John the Baptist chose to offer his ministry in the wilderness. Jesus began his public ministry with a time of testing in such a place. Throughout the history of the church, people of faith have found themselves in the wilderness, by choice or not,

The wilderness is undoubtedly a place of challenge, where we are tested. It can be a place where comforts are stripped away. It can be a place of loneliness. For many in scripture, the wilderness could be a fearful place, filled with menacing beasts. For some the greatest fear was that it was tractless. No clear roadways. No clear sense of direction. No way out. No way forward. I suspect we all know something of experiences like that.

At the same time, the wilderness is a place of formation. In the meandering of the children of Israel over those forty years, apparently walking in circles, they were formed as a people. Jesus’ time in the wilderness strengthened him, equipped him for the public ministry about to be launched. Distractions removed, it can be a place where clarity increases. People of faith over the centuries have attested to the fact that the wilderness is a place where they have come to know what really matters, a place where God’s presence and power in new ways.

Reflect this morning on your own wilderness experience. Maybe you’re there now. Acknowledge that it’s a place marked by challenge. Know that people have faced the challenge before and come out on the other side.

And see what can be learned in the moment, how you might be experiencing formation. Advent as a season reminds us that we are not always going to be in the wilderness, that there will be a way prepared, with rough places plain. But it also tells us that there can be learnings as we wait. My hope and prayer in this Monday offering is that your time in the wilderness, whatever that looks like, will prove to be helpful in that way.

-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 4, 2023)

3-1

A reading from the book of the Prophet Isaiah (64:1-9)

O that you would tear open the heavens and come down,
so that the mountains would quake at your presence—

as when fire kindles brushwood
and the fire causes water to boil—
to make your name known to your adversaries,
so that the nations might tremble at your presence!

When you did awesome deeds that we did not expect,
you came down; the mountains quaked at your presence.

From ages past no one has heard,
no ear has perceived,
no eye has seen any God besides you,
who works for those who wait for him.

You meet those who gladly do right,
those who remember you in your ways.
But you were angry, and we sinned;
because you hid yourself we transgressed

We have all become like one who is unclean,
and all our righteous deeds are like a filthy cloth.
We all fade like a leaf,
and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away.

There is no one who calls on your name
or attempts to take hold of you,
for you have hidden your face from us
and have delivered us into the hand of our iniquity.

Yet, O Lord, you are our Father;
we are the clay, and you are our potter;
we are all the work of your hand.

Do not be exceedingly angry, O Lord,
and do not remember iniquity forever.

The potter and the clay

It’s an image that comes up in several places in scripture. The Lord is the potter. We are clay, ready to be shaped into something useful, maybe something beautiful. According to this image, we find our identity as God’s creation, or as the letter to the Ephesians puts it, we are God’s workmanship created for good works which God has prepared to be our way of life (Ephesians 2.10).

The prophet Jeremiah used the image, as he reflected on the inexplicable hardship being visited on his people. St. Paul used the image as he puzzled about why some folks had faith and others didn’t. And the image pops up in the reading from the prophet Isaiah (above) a reading you may have heard in church yesterday on the first Sunday of Advent. Let’s just say it’s an interesting way to start the church year.

In that reading, Isaiah addresses the Lord and basically asks: Where have you been? You used to show up for us, but lately you’ve been absent. It’s similar to the question posed in Psalm 22: O God, why have you forsaken me? That question is echoed on the cross. Is it a question you’ve ever asked?

In this reading, it sounds like Isaiah may even be blaming God for ways that the children of Israel have messed up. After all, God had been absent. (Because you hid yourself, we transgressed. V.5) Some of that blaming of God goes on elsewhere in scripture. When the Lord confronts Adam in the garden, noticing that he’d been snacking on forbidden fruit, Adam says to the Lord: The woman you gave me made me do it. When Aaron was brought up on the carpet because he made a golden calf, he said he did it because Moses and God were off on the mountaintop having a 40-day conversation. It was their fault. It underscores that human tendency to look for anyone to blame, anyone but ourselves. It’s the tendency to dodge responsibility, to dodge accountability.

At the same time, we also acknowledge the human tendency to imagine that we are in charge, that we call the shots, that we have a better idea of how to run the universe than God does. We imagine that we are the potter.

Peculiar sort, we human beings.

In the end, there’s one critical word in Isaiah’s passage. After Isaiah gets through with his complaining, he says: Yet. Yet, O Lord you are our father. You are the potter. We are the clay.

What’s the lesson for us? I struggle with the image of potter and clay, mostly because I want to be the potter, thank you very much. I want to be in the driver’s seat, the one shaping things. Which is why it is important to remember that in the history of God’s relationship with us, starting in the book of Genesis, we are not the star of the story. The church is not the star of the story. God is the star of the story.

That could be tough to swallow if separated from the promise that the one who is the potter is also the one from whose love we can never be separated, one whose creative energy is shaping us into a beautiful vessel to be filled with God’s spirit and to be used for God’s glory. That’s probably not a bad message for us as we begin a new year. As the year unfolds, and as our world seems at times to spin out of control, can we trust in the one who is shaping us with holy and loving intention?

-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 27, 2023)

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The Collect for Sunday November 26

Almighty and everlasting God, whose will it is to restore all things in your well-beloved Son, the King of kings and Lord of lords: Mercifully grant that the peoples of the earth, divided and enslaved by sin, may be freed and brought together under his most gracious rule; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

These days, Monday Matters offers 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.

Restoration

Restoration. Apparently, that is God’s intention, according to the collect we heard in church yesterday, a prayer included above. It suggests a return to the goodness God spoke into being at creation. Please note: Not just goodness, but very goodness. The book of Genesis reports that as God finished the holy creative work on the sixth day, God noted that it was not simply good. God said it was very good.

What has happened to that very goodness? The prayer says that the peoples of the earth have become divided and enslaved. We’re talking about a loss of community and a loss of freedom.

Division is easy to see, whether you look at the border of Ukraine and Russia, the border of Israel and Gaza, the aisles in the House of Representatives, the aisles of many churches, or the political conversation when families sit around a table for a holiday meal. The outward and visible signs of division can be seen in barbed wire, border walls, and gated communities. We see it in societal systems. We see it in individual relationships.

Enslavement is also a fact of our time, its most egregious expressions found in human trafficking, mass incarceration, crippling poverty and rising authoritarianism. But dehumanizing confinement can be seen in patterns of addiction or refusal to offer forgiveness. (Nelson Mandela said upon release from 27 years in prison that if he didn’t forgive his captors, they still had him in prison.) We see it in the habits of our hearts, where we may feel that we can’t help ourselves from hurting ourselves and others.

Yesterday’s collect says that Jesus can address the loss of community and loss of freedom. How does he do that?

To see how he begins to restore community in the face of division, we eavesdrop on his words to his disciples at the last supper, as recorded in the Gospel of John. As he was preparing to leave them, he stopped calling them servants and began to call them friends. He gave them a new commandment, which was to love one another. That love in action would be the way that outsiders would recognize their discipleship. He brought into being a new community, a movement where dividing walls could come down (see Ephesians 2:14). St. Paul captured that notion when he said that in Christ there is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, a vision that the church has yet to fully realize.

To see how Jesus comes to restore freedom, we turn again to words offered in John’s gospel. Jesus said that everyone who commits sin is a slave to sin. He goes on to say that if the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed. (John 8:34, 36) Again, St. Paul spoke of this freedom in his letter to the Galatians, when he said that it was for freedom that Christ has set us free.

Newsflash: We’re not there yet. We continue to grapple with division and enslavement on a global and systemic level, and within our own hearts. Sometimes it seems that we’re not making progress at all. But we keep at it.

As we come to the end of a church year, we begin again, with another trip around the sun. We’re presented with more opportunities to participate in the intention of the Holy One to restore community and freedom. With a new year starting (in the church calendar), make a resolution to participate in the holy work of restoration, working for community and freedom. What will that look like in your life 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 20, 2023)

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The Collect for Sunday November 19

Blessed Lord, who caused all holy Scriptures to be written for our learning: Grant us so to hear them, read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest them, that we may embrace and ever hold fast the blessed hope of everlasting life, which you have given us in our Savior Jesus Christ; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

These days, Monday Matters offers 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.

Bible believer

A word from the newly elected Speaker of the House: “I am a Bible-believing Christian. Someone asked me today in the media, they said, ‘… People are curious. What does Mike Johnson think about any issue under the sun?’ I said, well, go pick up a Bible off your shelf and read it – that’s my worldview. That’s what I believe and so I make no apologies for it. That’s my personal worldview.”

I don’t expect I’ll ever have the opportunity to sit down with Speaker Johnson and talk about how he understands what it means to be Bible-believing. I’m guessing we would mean different things by that, but I nevertheless count myself as a Bible-believer, serving in a denomination that is Bible-believing.

That might not be people’s first impression of the Episcopal Church, but the words of scripture are woven into the fabric of our church culture. I get a chuckle when Episcopalians begin to explore the Bible and marvel at how much of it was swiped from the Book of Common Prayer.

Our Sunday worship involves the reading of lots of scripture. Similarly, the Daily Office (Morning, Noonday, Evening Prayer) all include big chunks of the Bible. When a priest is ordained, at the beginning of that grand liturgy, that person commits to an understanding of scripture as the word of God, containing all things necessary for salvation.

Thoughts about the Bible are prompted not only by the new Speaker of the House, but also by the collect heard yesterday in church (see above), which is focused on scripture. As we say in our tradition that our praying shapes our believing, consider what this prayer says about us as Bible-believers.

It says first of all that God caused the scriptures to be written for our learning. It doesn’t say that it’s got science nailed, or that it provides a map for political party. It does say that it’s there for our learning. And since another word for learner is disciple, we as disciples take this mosaic of texts and see what they have to teach us. We think about how they help us grow.

We take scripture seriously, if not literally. A measure of that seriousness is reflected in the process outlined in the collect. We hear, read, learn, mark and inwardly digest the words of scripture. In other words, we work them through and take them in, so they become part of us. I’ll be the first to admit that many of these passages are hard to swallow. We grapple with them anyway, and as we do, we discover that they begin to shape us.

And why do we go to all that trouble? Because scripture will enable us to embrace and hold on to hope. Lord knows, we all could use more hope. It’s the hope that comes through the story of creation, when we read that God saw what God had made and declared it to be very good. It’s the hope we share with the children of Israel wandering in the wilderness. We all know something about wilderness and we all have the hope of being led to a promised land. It’s the hope we share with exiles who were eventually brought back home. It’s the hope we share with the women who went to the tomb on Easter morning and found their grief turned to amazed joy, their dead end into a threshold.

Jurgen Moltmann, great theologian, posed the question this way: Where would we stand if we did not take our stand on hope? The premise, the promise of our faith is that we make that stand as we take the words of scripture to heart and find in them a guide into a life marked by hope, a life marked by confidence in the God who is in the business of making things new. Think this week about the rewards and challenges you have experienced in encounter with scripture. What might you do to go deeper, for the sake of embracing a deeper hope?

-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 13, 2023)

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The Collect for Sunday November 12

O God, whose blessed Son came into the world that he might destroy the works of the devil and make us children of God and heirs of eternal life: Grant that, having this hope, we may purify ourselves as he is pure; that, when he comes again with power and great glory, we may be made like him in his eternal and glorious kingdom; where he lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

These days, Monday Matters offers 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.

Speaking of the Devil

Margaret Mead was an active Episcopalian. She walked around New York City, short of stature but clearly in charge, wearing a long cloak (not unlike a cope) and brandishing a long walking stick (not unlike a crozier). One might have even mistaken her for a bishop.

She played a key role in the shaping of the service of Holy Baptism in the 1979 Book of Common Prayer book. She was initially invited to offer a guest consultation with the committee working on the liturgy. She ended up in charge of the committee and brought her own wit and wisdom to the proceedings.

I’m told that when they came to the part in the service when the renunciation of evil was framed in a series of questions, she argued for preservation of language about Satan. Some in her group said that modern people didn’t believe in Satan any more. Dr. Mead disagreed, informed not by her theological training as much as by her work as anthropologist. She insisted on the inclusion of this question: Do you renounce Satan and the spiritual forces of wickedness that rebel against God?

Granted popular culture has made discussion of the devil into something slightly comical, large red elf with barbed tail, pointy ears, pitchfork in hand, perhaps marketing hot sauce. Easy to dismiss. New Yorker cartoons which depict businessmen checking in at the front desk of Hades don’t help. But our Prayer Book, in the baptismal liturgy and in the collect we heard yesterday in church (see above), as well as our scripture, call us to take seriously the works of the devil, to recognize that we live in a world with devils filled that threaten to undo us, to borrow language from Martin Luther.

Dismissing cinematic or cartoonish renderings of the devil, we might want to note that the scripture sometimes refers to this destructive presence as an angel of light. The gospels tell us that Jesus came into the world to meet and beat that destructive presence. Jesus’ ministry couldn’t get off the ground until he had encountered this presence himself. In the wilderness, when Jesus was hungry and tired, the devil came offering food and power and worship, all good things. Jesus resisted, and began a ministry that sought to overcome the forces that would do us in, forces he met with arms stretched out on the cross, forces vanquished on Easter morning.

Our collect tells us that such a victory means the world to us. It means we can be children of God, heirs of eternal life, that we may be made like him. We need to hang on to that promise in our world with devils filled. The daily news shows how around the world forces of death and destruction fueled by greed and fear are breaking hearts, are breaking lives. We can see those forces at work not only far away, but also close to home and in our hearts. When G.K.Chesterton was asked in an interview what he thought was the problem with the world, he said: I am.

The victory we claim in Jesus is clearly not yet fully realized, which is why we are a people of hope. There’s a lot we have to hope for. A lot we have to wait for. But in our own encounter with forces that would threaten to undo us, we can claim the power of Jesus that can transform our hearts, that can heal our relationships, that can move us toward being a reconciling presence in our world. As the collect says, we can indeed become more like Christ. What might that look like for you 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 6, 2023)

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The Collect for Proper 26

Almighty and merciful God, it is only by your gift that your faithful people offer you true and laudable service: Grant that we may run without stumbling to obtain your heavenly promises; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

The Collect for All Saints Day

Almighty God, you have knit together your elect in one communion and fellowship in the mystical body of your Son Christ our Lord: Give us grace so to follow your blessed saints in all virtuous and godly living, that we may come to those ineffable joys that you have prepared for those who truly love you; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who with you and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns, one God, in glory everlasting. Amen

These days, Monday Matters offers 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.

Running the race

Yesterday was one of my favorite days in New York City. The marathon took place with thousands of runners gathered from all over the world, participating in a great parade through all five boroughs. Many if not all runners had folks standing on the sidelines cheering them on, a great cloud of witnesses.

I don’t know how often it is the case that the NYC marathon coincides with observance of the feast of All Saints. I suspect given the calendar it’s more often than not. I am struck with the overlap between the two.

Our scriptures, as they reflect on the ministry of saints in the world, often frame that ministry in terms of running a race. St. Paul, at the end of his life, writes as mentor to Timothy and says “I have run the race. I have kept the faith.” The letter to the Hebrews speaks of Jesus running the race that was set before him. It invites us to do the same.

Our liturgy picks up the theme. In one of the prayers as part of the eucharistic celebration of all saints, we speak of saints as lights in their generation who have run the race. And the collect which may or may not have been read yesterday in church, printed above, asks for the grace to run without stumbling to obtain God’s heavenly promises. (Note: no extra charge this week to get the collect for yesterday, as well as the collect for All Saints observance. A two-fer this Monday morning!)

The spiritual journey is definitely more of a marathon than a sprint. It calls for training, for discipline, for practice. Unless you are the spiritual equivalent of Rosie Ruiz (a generational reference) or George Santos (a more contemporary reference), there is no faking participation. It calls for practice. It is not a matter of circling a track dozens of times. It is a movement from here to there. Perhaps we can describe that destination as becoming more and more like Christ in the words of our mouth, the meditations of our hearts, and maybe most of all, in the ways we act. How would you describe the aim of your spiritual journey?

This spiritual marathon involves challenges like heartbreak hills. There may be moments when the runner hits the wall, even if we feel like we’re in good spiritual shape. That has happened to the best of the saints. If you want to get a vision of what the marathon looks like for people of faith, read the letter to the Hebrews, chapter 11. And while it is in many ways an individual pursuit, there is also great encouragement that one does not run alone.

The Feast of All Saints makes sure we recognize that, as we not only join with saints around the world, we claim to be part of the great communion of time linking us with those we love but see no longer, linking us with great heroes of the faith who have gone before. Think of them like the crowds lining the streets of the city, cheering the runners on, saying things like: “You’ve got this!”

All Saints observance invites us to think about the race we are running. Where is it headed? Where do we find energy? How have we trained for it? What’s the prize at the end of the race? St. Paul, spiritual marathon runner, described the prize in his letter to the Philippians. He said he was pressing on toward the high calling of God in Jesus Christ. Maybe we can claim that same goal this week. What would that mean for you?

-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 30, 2023)

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The Collect read in church on October 29

Almighty and everlasting God, increase in us the gifts of faith, hope, and charity; and, that we may obtain what you promise, make us love what you command; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

These days, Monday Matters offers 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.

Faith, Hope and Charity

If you’ve been to a few weddings, there’s a good chance you’ve heard a reading from Paul’s letter to the Corinthians, chapter 13. It’s a beautiful hymn about love. I hate to disappoint, but the fact of the matter, Paul did not write it about marriage.

Full reading of Paul’s letters indicates that he didn’t always think marriage was all that great an idea. That’s his issue. Paul wrote this hymn about love in a letter to a community of faith, to a church.

He had his work cut out for him. The community he was addressing faced all kinds of challenges. There was discrimination between poor and rich people. There were arguments about sexual ethics, about money, about leadership, about religious rules. In other words, there’s nothing new under the sun.

With all those arguments taking place, Paul proposed the image of the church as the body of Christ, a compelling vision of unity out of diversity. What will make that functional? Paul says it’s all about love, detailed in this chapter that is at once realistic and also hopeful about human interaction, especially in a faith community.

This hymn to love is punctuated by the mention of faith, hope and charity (love), referenced in the collect we heard in church yesterday, printed in the column on the left. Paul writes: And now faith, hope and love abide, and the greatest of these is love (I Corinthians 13:13).

Yesterday’s collect suggests that faith, hope and love are gifts. As we gathered yesterday as a faith community, we prayed for those gifts. That’s good for us to remember, as religious/quasi-religious/spiritual folks. Sometimes we take our experience of spiritual virtues like faith, hope and love as merit badge, as if God is lucky to have us on the team. And maybe, just maybe, God should show a little more gratitude.

As I reflected on what it means to pray for these virtues, I was reminded of Jesus’ conversation with his disciples on the night before he died. He told them he was giving them a new commandment, that they should love one another. That will be the mark of their discipleship. It’s always struck me that my own vision of love was not something that could be commanded.

But the kind of love which Jesus referenced is clearly what is expected of us as followers of Jesus, as part of the Jesus movement. It comes as decision. It comes as commitment. It’s as much an action as emotion. It’s not always easy, especially in the church. Left to my own devices, I fall short of fulfillment of that commandment. So we pray for the grace, the strength, the equipment to love what God commands, to love love.

And as St. Paul tells us, the greatest of faith, hope and charity is love. Both faith and hope will someday not be needed. Some day we will walk by sight, not by faith. Someday, hope will be fulfilled, not deferred. But love will always be at the core, central to our life with God and with each other.

Pray this week for an increase in the gifts of faith, hope and love. To the extent that you have those gifts, give thanks for them by exercising them. To the extent you wish to grow in those virtues, ask God to increase them in you, that we may more and more each day obtain what God promises.

-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.