Author: Rosemary Lovelace

Palm Sunday – George Yandell

This day in our calendar is Palm Sunday / the Sunday of the Lord’s Passion. It moves from pageantry to horror. Our palm procession mirrors the excitement in Jerusalem 1,992 years ago. Jesus was entering the great city, the crowd was chanting, “Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!” His disciples were giddy, I imagine. Then so quickly the joy turns to sadness on Maundy Thursday, then disbelief and horror on Good Friday. 

None of my feelings or thoughts pondering the events of Holy Week comes remotely close to what Simon of Cyrene experienced on the day he ventured into Jerusalem and suddenly found himself carrying a condemned man’s instrument of death. But they are similar, in that reality has intruded on the joy of palms and hosannas, and somewhere in that reality Jesus is going on to die.

We moderns feel helpless about the coarsening of our world. We endure it, we try small survival strategies, we wish for better, but in the end we lock our doors and hope that the angel of death passes by.

Jesus is just as helpless today as we are. The Christian era has witnessed humanity’s worst barbarism – entire populations slaughtered, peoples enslaved, compulsory ignorance made public policy. Lies have been treated as clever, thievery as necessary and cruelty as manly. Much of that barbarism has been done in the name of Jesus, as if he were an angry volcano-god demanding human sacrifices.

All that Jesus has ever been able to do is walk to Calvary. He cannot wave a wand and make history disappear and human choices become benign. He can only walk on to die and hope that we will see him, weep for him, weep for ourselves, and for at least a heartbeat allow ourselves to carry his cross and to know that this cross is the answer, not lock or gun or hatred or bitter nostalgia.

We ache for our children, our country, our friends who struggle, and in all of that, we ache for ourselves. Love is an aching. Love might be patient and kind, a brave tulip on a spring day, but love also hurts…

Love goes to the home of a friend and discovers that the friend has died. Love stands before his tomb and weeps. Love feels that helpless pain that springtime and blossoms bring to the surface. Love stands outside the child’s door and weeps, or outside the hospital room and weeps. Love walks and touches, and knows the pain of absence. Love knows hope, and hope dares to see death.

And we, at our best, walk behind love, carrying his death. By the time love cries out in agony, we might be standing nearby or continuing onward. Either way, we are changed and made less numb. We know through his death that Jesus loves everyone, all people equally, even his tormentors and those who betrayed him.

We’re next going to pray a song, to know that love and live in it: “My song is love unknown, my savior’s love to me, love to the loveless shone that they might lovely be. O who am I that for my sake, my Lord should take frail flesh and die?” We enter the passion of Jesus together, so that we might be renewed in the only love that endures even death- the love of God for us.

Lent 5C – Byron Tindall

Matthew and Mark record an incident in Jesus’s life similar to what we read in John’s gospel today. Both of the synoptics have the event taking place at the house of Simon the leper, also a resident of Bethany, rather than at the home of Mary, Martha, and Lazarus.

Matthew and Mark have an unnamed woman pour the ointment over Jesus’s head rather than on his feet. Both Mark and John said the anointing oil was made of nard.

Matthew, Mark, and John are not in agreement about who complained about the perceived costly waste of money by either Mary or the unknown woman.

For Matthew, it was the disciples. Mark reports, “But some who were there said to one another in anger, ‘Why was the ointment wasted in this way?’” In John’s gospel, it was Judas Iscariot who raised the possibility of selling the nard. The complainers in Matthew said it could have been sold for a large sum of money. Mark valued the ointment at more than 300 denarii while John reported the cost that could have been obtained by selling it at exactly 300 denarii. The denarius was the usual wage per day for a laborer. Any way you look at it, that would have a tidy sum of money for the poorer residents of Palestine at that time.

John has Martha in her apparent usual place — that of preparing the meal and serving it.

For those who are curious, true nard is a flowering plant akin to honeysuckle. It’s found in the Himalayan sections of China, India, and Nepal. There are, apparently, other closely related species which have been known to be substituted for the more expensive nard found in the Himalayan mountains.

All three of the evangelists have the anointing take place shortly before Passover and Jesus’s final meal with his disciples. For them, this was the end of his public ministry just prior to his death.

I have to say it. There are a lot of people who echo Judas Iscariot’s statement today. Think about it. How many times have you heard someone say something to the effect that if the church took all the money spent on constructing magnificent buildings and equipping them with the finest musical instruments available while adorning the walls with almost priceless trappings, the problem of world hunger could be nearly, if not completely, eliminated.

And when you give it serious thought, there’s a lot more than a grain of truth in that statement. There’s so much truth in the statement, actually, that Hollywood made a movie out of it.

“The Shoes of the Fisherman,” starring Anthony Quinn, was produced by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer in 1968. Morris West, an Australian novelist, wrote a novel with the same name in 1963. The movie was based on West’s novel.

Briefly, after being elected to the papacy, the new pope decides to sell all the church’s property in order to feed the Chinese people and avert a world war. Needless to say, the decision did not meet with enthusiastic approval from all quarters. If you haven’t seen it, I’m sure the movie is still available from one of the many streaming services.

There’s an extremely fine line between being overly extravagant on how much we spend on our worship spaces and doing it right and for the right reasons.

First of all, why do we spend so much in building such splendid edifices in the first place?

Our so-called bricks and sticks buildings are supposed to be erected to the glory of God and as houses of worship, not as elegant showcases of how much money we have or how much we can raise.

The organs that have been installed throughout the ages are to be used in helping us praise our creator and redeemer, not just as an instrument in a recital hall.

The stained-glass windows built into the old churches were there for a purpose. The vast majority of the people in the building on any given day were illiterate. The events depicted in the windows referred to stories in the scriptures. These pictures were instructive to those who viewed them.

And I can’t recall ever seeing a plaque near a window that didn’t say, basically, “Given to the Glory of God and in loving memory of… or in honor of….”

I remember a saying about putting on your Sunday-go-to-meeting clothes. These were the nicest duds one had available. Why were one’s best outfits reserved for church attendance or for an important meeting? I think a major portion of the reason was out of respect. Respect for the God who created us, the God who redeemed us and the God who sanctifies us and out of respect for those with whom we were to meet.

Can we worship God in a triple-wide trailer as well as in a beautiful building like we’re in here at Holy Family? Can we worship God in shorts and flip-flops as well as in a coat and tie or a dress? Of course we can! But somehow, I get the feeling that I need to offer God the very best I can. Our creator endowed us with a beautiful planet on which we live and move and have our being so why should we offer him anything less than our best?

But this is only one part of our relationship with God, and it may very well be the easiest part to grasp and to accomplish.

Jesus referenced the other part of our relationship with our heavenly father when he said, “…You always have the poor with you, but you do not always have me.”

During his earthly ministry, Jesus cast his lot with the outcasts of society. He seemed to favor the poor, the sinners, the lame, the sick, and even on occasion, the dreaded Gentiles.

The rest of our relationship with God rests on the way we treat the other parts of creation. How do we care for the environment? How do we treat our fellow human beings, especially those with whom we differ politically; those who don’t look like us; those who don’t speak like us; the poor; the sick; the lonely; the widow and the orphan; those who don’t worship like us; those who don’t believe like us? I think you get the picture.

When we spend lavishly on our buildings and everything that goes along with them and forget the rest of God’s creation, we totally miss the mark of what it means to love God and follow Jesus. Jesus said that whatever we do to the least of our brothers and sisters, we do to him. Do we give him our dead level best?

Lent IV: “Laerte” – Ted Hackett

Today is the Fourth Sunday in Lent,
Since Lent has five Sundays then add Holy Week, and this is about half-way through the season of penitence.  

Today has a number of names…Mid-Lent, Refreshment Sunday, Mothering Sunday and Laerte Sunday…  

“Mothering Sunday” because Monastic Lenten austerity was given some relief and mothers would bring cakes to their monk sons. This developed into the custom of visiting the local Cathedral on this day…the cathedral clergy were “canons” under Monastic obedience.  

The name ‘Laerte” comes from the first words of the old Roman Mass “Entrance Song”: “Laerte Ierusalem”… “Rejoice Jerusalem and gather ‘round all you who love her…”  

And it led to the custom of “lightening up” the somber vestment colors of Lent…some parishes use Rose instead of purple today.  

O.K….that’s the Liturgical Factoid lesson for today!  

Let’s talk about the Gospel.  

I have been conversing with the “Parable of the Prodigal Son” for around 50 years…  

It was part of my Ph. D. Dissertation and I have been fascinated and confused by it ever since…  

I am still trying to make sense out of the realism and insight of the story on one hand…  

And the bizarre, jolting backbone of the thing on the other.  

I still am not sure what to do with it!  

Why?  

Well, let’s go back to the story and see.  

There is an elderly Palestinian who owns a family farm.       
He has two sons…    
       The elder is responsible and hard-working.
                 The younger…his father’s favorite…  
                         Not so much.  
In those days, small farmers were coming under enormous pressure from what we would call Agri-Business…  

Big, rich companies that bought up failing family farms and because they could hire lots of cheap labor, were making big money.  

The law said that each child had a part of their family fortune when the father died.
                      
If there were two boys, the elder got 2/3s and the younger 1/3.  

After they were divided like this for a few generations the farm was so small that it usually went bankrupt and was sold.

So farmers tried to keep the farm intact  

Maybe by keeping the boys close to home, sharing the farm.  

O.K…..now, one day the younger son goes to his father and says: “Father…give me my share of the farm now.”

The father doesn’t have to do this…  

He could say: “Wait till I die, maybe you will come to your senses.”  
But he doesn’t…this is his Golden Child.  

So the kid goes to the bank and sells his 1/3 of the farm.  

To literally “seal the deal”, he gives the banker his family signet ring which proves he is a land-holder. It’s the ring he uses to stamp all business documents.  

The banker makes him sign and seal a quit-claim deed so when the father dies the bank will get the land.  

And he leaves…
With the money, and Without the ring.  

He goes off to the city…and burns through the money pretty fast…     Fancy clothes, good wine and fancy women…. cost!        

Now he is penniless and homeless, what is he to do?  

Well….he goes and gets the only job he can find…herding pigs!

                    A nice Jewish boy….living with pigs!!!
                        And to make it worse…eating pig-food!                                  

So, in his hunger and shame, he says to himself: “Back home, everyone has a warm bed and food. Maybe my father will hire me on as a farm-hand.”  

Now please note…this is not repentance.  

There is no sign that he “gets” what he has done and the injury it is causing…no sense of his father’s pain. No sense of responsibility or guilt.  

For centuries the Church has used this story in Lent to urge repentance but this is not repentance!
                    This is pure, selfish, self-interest.  

So he hits the road back home…dirty and tattered…

      And smelling of pigs!  

Apparently his father has been spending a lot of time on the front porch looking up the road, waiting for this kid to come back, because he spies him at a great distance…and then…  

With his burnoose flopping in the breeze in an undignified manner, this elderly Jew runs…he runs to meet his son!   

And when he gets there, the son starts his well-rehearsed plea for a job and the father cuts him off.

He says to the amazed slave who has followed the father out: “Quickly, bring the best robe and put it on him…put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet! And get the fatted calf and we’ll have a feast! For this son of mine was dead and is alive, was lost and is found!”  

Please note… “put a ring on his finger…”  

Back then, Jews wore very little jewelry except for signet rings if they owned property. This means the kid owns property again.

And if the father is endowing him with property…
             Where could it come from?  

Of course….only from the elder brother’s share!

                            Oh….and where is the elder brother?

Naturally, he is out in the field…working.  

He comes back to the house and in the yard he hears sounds of the feast…. he asks a slave what is going on…              

The slave tells him the whole story…                     

And the guy is furious…  

Not only is the kid getting a banquet without even saying he is sorry… But his father has given the kid his brother’s inheritance!      

Who wouldn’t be furious?  

He won’t go in and celebrate this unfair event…
      The father comes out to plead…
             The elder gives him an earful!  

“All these years I have slaved faithfully and you have never thrown even a small feast for me. But this brat of yours, who has wasted the family property…him you treat like a king!”  

The father wants to assure him…
      “Son…You are always with me…and all that is mine is yours…but it is right we should do this because your brother was dead and has come to life.”  

Did you hear that?
      “All that is mine is yours”
             What is that ring doing on his finger?
                    He sold his property…  

If he has property it must have come from my inheritance…So what’s this “all I have is yours” stuff…You must be lying to one of us!  
By every human standard…this is unfair…
      By every way we can calculate…
             this is actually impossible…  

You can’t get three pieces of pie out of two pieces…  

I don’t get it…  

I do, I think, get part of it…  

The father….who we naturally associate with God,
             Gives the kid what he asks for…  

He trusts him, even if at some level he knows he is irresponsible…

                           And then he leaves…
                                 Leaves the love of the father…

                                         The father grieves…

                                                His son …of his body…  

Seems not to love him      

Has turned away from him…  

And the Father grieves but cannot force him to return.  

So the father waits…watching every day to see if his son will come home…
             He waits and watches and yearns…
                    And when he sees the kid…
                          Dirty and smelling of Pigs…
                                 He runs to greet him…  

A love and joy all out of proportion!  

One thing the parable is saying is “that is how God is”
      Letting us go to do what we will…
           But loving us and yearning for us while we sin,

                     While we turn away…  

I have trouble getting my head around that kind of love…but I can sort of get it…and be in wonder and awe that God could so love and want even me!  

But the other thing…
      about the share of property…
             Makes no sense…
                    I admit it kind of delights my heart…
                          It comes out wonderfully…
                                 An ending worthy of Disney…

                                      Everyone gets what they want

                                               Including the selfish kid.  

I wonder…
      Could I be on to something..
              Something strange and weird?
                    In the kingdom of God…
                          
Everyone is accepted no matter their Sinfulness…their insensitivity…their selfishness…their sin?  

That runs against my sense of justice…but then…I don’t make the rules.  

Years ago, the great theologian Paul Tillich preached a sermon which finished:
      “Now, know you are accepted…
      If you know nothing else…know you are accepted.
      Nothing more is asked of you…just know you are accepted.       

Later, much may be asked of you…
      But for now….just know that you are accepted.”
             Words for Lent!

Lent 3C – George Yandell
I want to talk about changing hearts and community. It all starts in the passage from Exodus- God speaks to Moses from the burning bush. God recounts to Moses who God is in the lineage of those who preceded Moses. Abraham, Isaac and Jacob all encountered God, but Moses’ encounter was personal, direct and terrifying. God gives Moses his marching orders, to rescue God’s people from Egypt. And Moses says, timidly, terrified, I think, “When I tell the Israelites you sent me, and they ask, ‘What is the name of the one who sent you, what shall I tell them?’ God said to Moses, in a voice like the Wizard of Oz in capital letters, “I AM WHO I AM. Tell them I AM has sent you to them.” The name I AM in Hebrew comes out as ‘Yahweh,’ a verb. That moment changed the course of Hebrew history, and one can argue, the course of salvation for humankind. The gospels tell us Jesus is descended from Moses, sent to rescue God’s people forever and for good.  

The gospel story of the fig tree follows grim pronouncements from Jesus. Galileans whose blood Pontius Pilate mingled with their sacrifices, the 18 killed when the tower of Siloam fell on them. “Unless you repent, you will all perish just as they did. Don’t think you’re any better– Repent or perish!” says Jesus. Luke has Jesus warning about a ruthless God, which is unlike Jesus in the other portions of the gospels.  

I have a hard time connecting the warnings of Jesus to the parable about the fig tree. The obvious connection is that Jesus seems to compare his unrepentant hearers to a fig tree that produces no fruit and is threatened with being cut down. But that doesn’t seem to explain things.  

Paul tells the followers of Jesus in Corinth that God was not pleased with many of Moses’ people, and struck them down in the wilderness, about 23,000 people falling dead in a single day. And about some who put Christ to the test and were destroyed by serpents. The key for getting behind Paul’s exhortation is realizing how often he uses the words “destroy” and “testing.” Paul says the dire events happened to others as examples to the followers of Jesus. It’s like Jesus and Paul’s teachings are stringing people along like they were yo-yos- up and down, up and down.    

‘Testing’ can also mean ‘being tempted.’ The difference for Paul is that he always means the whole community of Christians is being tested, not individuals. Testing from God aims for the whole community to be built up, the heart of the community changing as we help our fellows when we lag or falter. Only by supporting one another and relying on God’s faithfulness can the body of Christ be built up. Combining the dire warnings from Jesus and Paul, it sounds like God plays with God’s people like a yo-yo. There’s another understanding: It’s about the fig tree.  

I heard a story sixteen years ago from the archeologist on a pilgrimage to study Paul in Turkey at the sites where Paul was active. It was led by Marcus Borg and John Dominic Crossan. A life-changing time for me. Haluk the pilgrimage archeologist told us something only folks from the Middle East would know- he said, “If you want to play a bad joke on your neighbor, go at night into his garden and plant a fig tree. It will take over everything, and when you try to cut it down, it just grows back more prolifically. You can never rid your garden of the fig tree- it grows everywhere!” Immediately it changed my thinking about the parable.   

Now do you hear a different meaning from Jesus? His hearers would have laughed and laughed at the vineyard owner- they identified with the tree. They knew that even if the gardener had cut it down, it would spring right back up. Jesus is telling a joke, putting an end to the threats with a moment of relief in the fig tree parable. The joke means to disarm and reassure his followers- even if dire things happen, you will rise above them. You can’t be suppressed. Add in Paul’s perspective: even when the community of followers is being stressed and tested, God provides the way up together, and the community thrives as a result.  

What we need to hear over and over, is that the followers of Jesus had already engaged the kingdom of God. They knew the humor and compassion of Jesus were leading them into the heart of God. In all Jesus and Paul did they turned peoples’ hearts anew to God, leading them into the joy of God’s kingdom now. They preached it could only happen as a community. Changing hearts happens together- I rely on you, you rely on me, the fig tree flourishes, and it is us. No yo-yos here, just a string of tests for us that yields the kingdom.

Lent 2 – George Yandell

In 1984, I ran a 10 K race with Jim Ryan. How many of you know who Jim Ryan is? First man to run a mile in under 4 minutes. He was the hero of my generation in distance running. Jim Ryan had come to Nashville to promote the Music City 10-K; the charity was one of his favorites. When I say I ran a race with him, what I really mean is I ran in the same race as Jim Ryan. Mine I ran in 56 minutes, not too bad for an overweight guy. He ran his race in under 28 minutes, and did not win; but when he finished, he ran back along the race route, giving encouragement to those of us struggling to finish under 1 hour.

Running has never been easy for me, but I kept at it almost all my adult life until about 9 years ago. I realized early on when training for my first marathon in 1990, that runners come in all sorts and conditions. The fleet ones who run near the head of the pack in every competition just amaze me. How can they go that fast for that long? And then there are those of us who run more slowly, who don’t have that naturally fluid style. They struggle, yet keep at it. An 80-year-old man ran in the Memphis marathon of 1990; he finished behind me, but not by much. A marine corps unit had run the entire race with him, encouraging him, helping him through the hardest last miles. I learned early on as I trained at longer and longer distances that I appreciated anyone who decides to get out and “just do it”, as Nike promoted. I still feel kinship with anyone I see, running along the road. Since I no longer do so, it’s a wistful feeling. 

Jesus says in the gospel, “On the third day I finish my work. Yet today, tomorrow and the next day I must be on my way, because it is impossible for a prophet to be killed outside of Jerusalem.” When Christians in American today read this passage, they come up with widely varying interpretations of its meaning. Often our brothers and sisters in Christ emphasize the part- “finish my work.” Others emphasize “it is impossible for a prophet to be killed outside of Jerusalem.”

They suggest that Jesus meant to tell his original hearers, and us through them, that Jesus knew he was walking to his death. He had to confront the authorities. Others suggest that salvation necessitated his willing sacrifice.  Some of us play down the whole salvation thing, because God doesn’t desire anyone be sacrificed. We believe salvation has already been settled by the death and resurrection of Jesus.

This is much the way the early Christians wrestled with the salvation question. And more often than not, those who would impose restrictions on entry into salvation life won the day. Is God really like that? Is the messianic age nothing more than new rules for an old game? A new elite supplanting an old elite, but the same reality: an elusive prize chased by many and won by few? “When the roll is called up yonder,” will the winner’s list be short?

The Christian era has proceeded along those lines. Unable to imagine that God truly was doing a new thing in Jesus, the early disciples fell back into the old hierarchies. They tightened up the membership requirements that Jesus had relaxed. They changed other rules, ousted the old players, installed themselves as God’s new chosen, and continued the familiar rituals of demanding and dispensing favors for salvation.

Jesus wanted something entirely different. When asked about score, he responded “strive.” Trying is what matters, not winning. In God’s kingdom, the last can become first, outcasts can draw near, the ancient hierarchies do not apply, grace is freely dispensed, and the skills that lead to worldly success do not count for anything special.

If the door to salvation is “narrow,” it is not because God loves only a few or because God demands perfection. It is narrow because it requires difficult choices. Anyone can make those choices.

So first of all, what is salvation, really? Frederick Buechner writes: “Salvation is an experience first and a doctrine second. Doing the work you’re best at doing and like to do best, seeing something very beautiful, weeping at somebody else’s tragedy– all these experiences are salvation because in them all two things happen: 1) You lose yourself, and, 2) you find you are more fully yourself than usual. You give up your old self-seeking self for somebody you love and thereby become yourself at last. You must die with Christ so you can be raised with him, Paul says. You do not love God and live for God so you will go to heaven. Whichever side of the grave you happen to be talking about, to love God and live for God is heaven. It is a gift, not an achievement.”

So then, what are the difficult choices that open salvation for us and for all? 

1) We choose to run the race, doing the necessary training, keeping the central goal always before us. The goal: to love God, and love others as oneself.

2) We choose to be companions with all God places beside us on the way. We stay with and support those who may run more slowly, because the race is in the running, not the winning.

3) We strive to stay the course. We all fall down, we all falter. When the way gets rough and you feel left behind, ask for help, confess your shortcomings, accept God’s forgiveness, and get back in the pack.

4)We stretch our limits. Test new ways of praying, of caring, of being Christ to all you meet.

5) We choose to pause along the way and refresh ourselves. Moments of grace often come when we look back and realize how far we’ve come together.  What we find is that we’ve been living in God’s domain without knowing it. We can’t claim credit, since it is God’s gift. In the striving is the winning. In the hand we give to those who need, we feel God’s own touch. That’s salvation. Thank you, Jim Ryan, for coming back along the race route to encourage us. 

Lent 1 C          George Yandell        

Did you hear the parallels? One trek in the wilderness is ending, another just beginning. In Deuteronomy, the Hebrew people are concluding their 40 years in the wilds, and Jesus is just beginning his wilderness sojourn. Moses is giving his final instructions to the people of God before they enter the promised land.  They have finally reached their destination.  Jesus was led by the Spirit in the wilderness, where for 40 days he was tempted by the devil. He was just beginning his ministry.  

In his book The Solace of Fierce Landscapes: Exploring Desert and Mountain Spirituality (Oxford University Press, 1998), Belden Laneoffers an understanding of wilderness I never heard before. He says, “Yahweh is a God who repeatedly leads the children of Israel into the desert, toward the mountain…. The God of Sinai is one who thrives on fierce landscapes, seemingly forcing God’s people into wild [places] where trust must be absolute.” (p. 43) 

Instead of leading the people of Israel out of Egypt along the easier, more direct coastal route to the land of the Philistines, they had been pointed toward a longer route, more deeply into the desert, toward Mt. Sinai.  God intentionally opted for the more difficult landscape, as if this was God’s usual preference. God’s people were deliberately forced into the desert, taking the harder, more hazardous route as an exercise in radical faith.  (ibid, adapted, p. 44) “Perhaps others can go around the desert on the simpler route toward home, but the way of God’s people is always through it.” (ibid)  

Luke’s gospel tells of Jesus “being led” into the wilderness by God’s Spirit.  Luke bases his account on Mark’s gospel.  Mark uses a tougher descriptor- it tells of Jesus being “driven” into the desert, a harsher word.  It has the sense of Jesus being roughly thrown or violently propelled.  Jesus, like all of Israel before him, is forced to take the hard way, going directly from his baptism into the wilderness of temptation… The Son of God, still wet from the waters of the Jordan, impelled into the wilds, is [already] going to his death, headed already toward the cross. Yet Jesus finds renewal and comfort in subsequent ventures into the mountains and desert places. It leads to miraculous nourishment and hope.  _(ibid)

Jesus resists all the devil’s temptations- Luke’s passage ends with the words, “When the devil had finished every test, he departed from [Jesus] until an opportune time.”

After those 40 days, Jesus continued to seek the wilderness throughout his ministry.  As often as he retreated to the desert, seeking some quiet away from the crowds, people followed him.  They were curious, captivated, drawn to the edge of their experience.  It is in desert places that thousands were fed, and new community took form.  In the presence of Jesus, the desert created a sharing and openness that would be repudiated by the authorities.  They shunned the openness of contact and fellowship that characterized the Jesus movement.  The place of scarcity, even death, Jesus revealed as a place of hope and new life. (ibid, adapted pp. 44-45) The desert bloomed with Jesus.  

I suspect you know where I’m going with this.  Lent beckons us to explore the wilderness of the soul. It’s a time when we can confront what tempts us away from being centered in Christ.  We are offered a renewed sense of orientation.  It’s like finding true north after being disoriented.  Where better to encounter Jesus than in the challenging landscape of doubt, uncertainty, temptations.  He has been there before us. 

Walking through those tough passages opens us to mystical encounters with the cosmic Christ.  He is in the still and the quiet, waiting to nourish us.  He is with us in our hardships and frustrations. The tough landscapes of our past and future open us to honest, challenging relationships with God and one another. Jesus has bonded us as body of fellows. He keeps company with all who undertake his desert path. His trust in us is absolute. He invites us in turn trust him absolutely.  That trust yields transformed people, transformed fellowship of sharing and openness. Transformed more and more into the beings God created us to be. 

As Paul puts it in the epistle to the Romans, there are no distinctions in the company of Jesus.  “Jesus is Lord of all and is generous to those who call on him.”  

Epiphany 7C – George Yandell

“Who are your enemies?” I’ve been asking this question of people close to me this week. None of them reports having anyone s/he regards as an enemy. Thus I conclude we miss the point of what Jesus says- “Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you, do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return.” I want to talk about enemy, balance, and more. I want to show you what’s at stake when we miss the point Jesus makes. 

These enemy/hatred sayings are the very core of the gospel Jesus taught. The Greek word ‘enemy’ comes from a root meaning “to hate.” It’s hard for us to admit hating anyone. Except maybe the driver who cuts us off, the politician who rubs us the wrong way, the drug dealer who sells to those who are addicted. But if we hear these sayings the way Jesus said them, then it’s not so hard to figure. My enemy is anyone who hates me. Anyone who hates me is the enemy. Jesus enjoins me to love that one. Love and pray earnestly for anyone who curses me, anyone who insults me, uses me spitefully. 

What possible benefit can there be for me in loving those who wish me ill? It’s not for a reward, although the gospel led the Beatles to sing, “In the end, the love you take is equal to the love you make.” Jesus clearly says, “Do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return.” So there’s some deeper intent in the transaction Jesus commands. 

I am reminded of growing up in E TN, where many looked down on our neighbors up north of the Mason-Dixon line. We called them ‘carpetbaggers’ when they moved in amongst us. We ourselves were held in disregard by our neighbors to the north who called us slow, racist, backward, hillbillies, hicks. Having enemies fills a strong human need. If enemies don’t exist in reality, then we create them in our minds.

Maybe there is a need to hate that we can’t admit to. But I think of it more as a need to blame. Blaming we hear all the time. What’s wrong? It’s them. Why is one’s world such a confusing place? It’s their fault. Why is the former order breaking down? It couldn’t be because it was flawed and is collapsing of its own weight. Why do I feel pain? It’s somebody else’s lack of empathy.

Not only do enemies explain what we otherwise can’t, but they provide the perfect hiding place. Why did I get cut from the team? The coach played favorites. Why am I short of funds? The evil banks forced credit cards on me. Why try if the deck is stacked against me?

The trick in loving one’s enemy is not just to take a new attitude toward the other guy, but also toward oneself. To love an enemy, you must love yourself. To accept the other, you must first accept yourself and stop forcing some other person, race or type into the enemy role. To stop blaming the other, you must take responsibility for your own life. Even if the enemy is real and dangerous, before you can make peace, you must make peace with yourself and stop clinging to a warped self-image. Jesus insists that his followers work for a balance between really knowing and accepting oneself, and really knowing and accepting the enemy.

Maybe, just maybe, the enemy gives a gift. Not the neurotic hiding place or blame target, but something worth receiving. The gift of humility, of course. Maybe more. An opportunity for compassion – that is a gift. An opportunity to see the world through another’s eyes – that is a gift. An opportunity to experience the agony of severed relationships – an agony far worse than losing belongings to thieves, an agony that instructs.

Striking back, then, could be seen as an act of ingratitude. A strange way to view things, perhaps, but Jesus had strange views. He did not see his accusers as enemies, but as ones to love. He did not strike down his tormentors, but carried his cross to Calvary. He did not conquer the Roman centurion through might of arms, but through the greater might of submission.

I think Jesus was encouraging his friends to go deep. He saw more in them than they saw in themselves. Once they saw that more, then they would be more like him, more accepting, more loving. As long as they were superficial in themselves, then their relationships would be superficial – utilitarian, quid pro quo, tit-for-tat back-scratching. We might even begin to laugh at the truth Walt Kelly spoke years ago in the comic strip Pogo: “We have met the enemy and he is us.”

Loving one’s enemy probably is not the first thing one does on the road to wholeness, but the last. So much other work must proceed it. Self-regard seems to start in knowing oneself as flawed – and knowing that God loves one anyway. Other-regard flows from seeing the other as flawed, too – and no less loved by God.

I want to give you a simple assignment.  It’s a simple addition to your regular prayers: Pray for everyone who might have a hard time with you.  Pray for anyone you blame for anything gone wrong. Pray for the one who gives you a hiding-place from admitting your own flaws. I believe you’ll find a peace you’ve been searching for. You just may find yourself transformed. That’s what Jesus intended.

Epiphany 5C – George Yandell

Janet was in my classes from 1^st to 5^th grade. Even so young, I knew she was poor. She wore the same thread-bare dress every day; in cold weather, she had a thin jacket, no coat, and her legs were bare to the weather. I used to think on the playground- “Her legs must be awful cold.” Janet shrank from attention- she rarely spoke, except when the teacher called on her. One January, just after Christmas break, Janet had on a new dress. Then she was wearing it every day. Soon it was wearing out. One of the girls who sat with Janet at lunch told me that the dress was her Christmas present. That third grade Christmas I’d gotten a shiny new bike with built-in horn and lights, plus sweaters and gloves and cowboy boots and hat. I remember feeling guilty, tho’ I probably wouldn’t have called it that at the time. I think Janet was so embarrassed at being poor that she wanted to fade away from us middle-class kids in the new suburbs. I don’t know where she went after 5^th grade. 

When we hear blessed are the poor, what do we make of it? The first people to hear Luke’s gospel would immediately have heard it as destitute– Blessed are the destitute. That’s what the Greek word means. They would have thought of two separate groups of destitute people and poor people– the nameless poor peasants all around them who lived from hand to mouth each day were destitute. Maybe even some poor folk they knew who followed the Way of Jesus were destitute. AND they would have thought of a legendary community of people who were called “The Poor Ones” or simply, “The Poor” in Jerusalem. This group of followers of Jesus grew up soon after his resurrection, and included Peter, John, and James the brother of Jesus. James was the hub of that group. These disciples shared all their goods, possessions and salaries and did what they’d seen Jesus doing- they tended the sick, no matter their background or religious practice. They fed the hungry who were the destitute. They told the good news of Jesus in small groups, and they preached it in the marketplace. They lived in joy, in spite of their elected poverty. They prayed, gathered in new disciples who found their way of living compelling, and each Sunday morning, shared the common meal, the Eucharist, knowing the resurrected Jesus was present with them. 

So when those early Christians heard ‘Blessed are you poor’, or better translated, “Congratulations you destitute, yours is the kingdom of God,” what they knew Luke meant was, the destitute were the ones for whom the Poor Ones’ community existed.  The destitute were blessed, because the community of Poor Ones was reaching out to them, embracing them with God’s love and care. 

The Son of Man lived in their midst, and they understood that for them, resurrection life had begun in the here and now. And in their community, the Poor Ones knew they were living in God’s kingdom since they were doing the work of Jesus. Do you hear how the destitute and the Poor Ones depended on one another to be followers of Jesus?

We stumble when we of means come up against the Janets of our days, and so we should. The discomfort, even embarrassment we feel because of the wealth we control just may be the Spirit of Christ nudging us, getting our attention, prompting us to change. Why might that be? Because the Spirit of Christ wishes us to experience the joy of living fully the Way of Jesus, as the Poor Ones did in Jerusalem. 

The Poor Ones were respected even by those Jews who collaborated with the Roman Empire. Those Jews, Pharisees and Saducess who’d worked to have Jesus crucified by Rome- they respected the Poor Ones. The enemies of Jesus respected them because the Poor Ones lived God’s justice the way the prophets and the psalms had foretold time and time again. Their living, no, their being Jesus together was a witness to God’s righteousness- witness to God’s justice opening up to all. What a compelling Way to live! The gospel suggests our days are to be lived the same way.

When Jerusalem was destroyed by Rome during the peasant revolts 40 years after the resurrection of Jesus, many of the Poor Ones were crucified with thousands of their fellow Jews. The remaining Poor Ones dispersed across the Empire. Some of their descendents are here with us today. 

Those are followers of Jesus who’ve lived the woeful existence of receiving their rewards now, and finding those rewards to be hollow and self-serving. Woe is living comfortably, wondering what to do regarding our discomfort at not being poor. Some of the woeful have turned toward the community of faith, eaten the common meal at the Holy Table, and begun to pool their resources with others, giving freely of themselves, and finding holy joy in this community/ joy they can find no where else. I am humbled to be in their company. They know deep within them the church is itself to be a blessing. You can be one of them. The tug of the Spirit may mean that today, you are standing on the threshold of God’s kingdom. I hope you will enter it.  I wonder about Janet. I hope she found a community where she was welcomed, and she was set free, no longer embarrassed by her poverty. Maybe she is the emblem for me of my discomfort. If so, I thank you Janet. You offer me the nudge of the Spirit to change. I pray we all will come to live fully the Way of Jesus with the Poor Ones as our guides. 

Epiphany V 2022 – Ted Hackett

Today is the fifth Sunday after the Epiphany.  

Epiphany is the season of the revelation of Jesus as the Son of God, so it is fitting that we should move from the immediate revelation of who Jesus is…  

You know…His baptism, water into wine at the wedding and so forth…  

To stories of people who are “sent” by God. Sent…Sent to tell of God’s saving action.  

Now I must warn you…this sermon is going to trace some sometimes complicated theology…and I hope you aren’t bored…  

And if you are, there is a centuries-old custom during boring Sermons…going to sleep…  

I won’t be offended.                     

In today’s readings we began with the “call” of the Prophet Isaiah…about 700 b.c….  

And then we read a section of Paul’s Epistle to the Corinthians…which ends with: “so we proclaim and so you have come to believe.”  

And finally, the call of Simon Peter…Jesus told him: “from now on you will be catching people.”  

Peter and Paul were Apostles…and Isaiah was too….                     

Because “Apostle”…from the Greek “apostello” means: “One who is sent”  

Isaiah, Paul and Peter were all sent by God to say what was God’s will.  

Of course we know about the Apostles….  

They all went around the Mediterranean world and preached the “Good News” of Jesus’ Resurrection and His return. And they invited all who heard them to be initiated into Jesus’ Church by baptism.  

But…from that point on, things get a bit muddier. Jesus did not come back immediately and the apostles, one by one, died off…many martyred.  

In response…the church elected leaders…“Shepherds” for the people…we call them “Bishops.”  

Now in Greek episcopos can mean shepherd…or overseer…as Paul was an overseer to many congregations…  

A bishop was in the line of Peter and Paul…who had known Jesus personally…  

He (and they were all men then)…he was the guardian of that Good News, and had responsibility for spreading it and keeping it faithful…  

In addition, as the leader of the congregation, each Bishop Presided at the weekly celebrations of the Eucharist. Furthermore, each successive Bishop was supposed to guard and teach that original Good News.  

It was the Same Good News that they had heard from other Bishops who heard it from Bishops who had heard it from Jesus  

They were ordained by several other Bishops to guarantee that would be so…  

That is what we call Apostolic Succession  

And Bishop Wright is in that “line.” So when he visits us he presides at the altar.  

He embodies the identity of the Church From Jesus through Peter through history to now. He is supposed to guard the Faith and preside at the Eucharist for the Church.   

Yes, preside at the Eucharist for the whole Church!  

Well by the early 4th century there were 8 churches in Rome alone…and the Bishop was not going to be able to be at all of them every Sunday and Feast Day…He did preside in each of them in rotation…but that was not the same.  

So the Church decided to add help…  

First by ordaining Priests who would “fill in” for the Bishop as pastors and Presiders at the Altar….so that every time the Rector or another Priest presides at the Eucharist, we are really “standing in” for the Bishop…  

And the Bishop is standing in for Jesus and all the Apostles.  

I said “Presider” at the altar…Because really all of us are the celebrants when we have Eucharist. The Presider…Bishop or Priest, speaks for all of us.   

O.K. you may be saying… “Interesting…maybe…but so what?”  

Lets go back to the Apostles…  

When Jesus called Peter and the other eleven, he often sent them out to preach and to heal the sick as a sign of the Kingdom.  

“One who is sent” in Greek is apostelos…  

Thus the original 12 were Apostles.  

Now interestingly, the Aramaic for this sort of person was Schaliach. A Schaliach is a person sent by a ruler on a mission to direct some activity…taxation or some such…in a provincial town. He carries with him a sign or an icon of the King to prove he’s the real thing. On this mission he speaks for the King…he actually embodies the king. Custom says he should be seen and treated as the King…  

A schaliach embodies…re-presents the King. To deal with the Schaliach is to actually deal with the King!  

In Collosians (1:15) Paul calls Jesus the “Icon of God.” He means that when you look at Jesus you see…mysteriously…the invisible God. Jesus is the ultimate Schaliach.  

Another way to put that is to say that Jesus is the Sacrament of God.  

St. Augustine said that a Sacrament is: “The visible sign of invisible grace.”  

Just as to see Jesus is to see the Invisible God, to see a Sacrament…  

To participate in a Sacrament…is to be joined to the invisible God…  

So…when we are baptized…we are joined to the Invisible God…we are baptized into the Church…  

Which, as Paul explains in Corinthians…is the Body of Christ.  

This is not just a metaphor…Paul isn’t saying that being baptized is like joining Christ…  

He says it is becoming part of Christ…      

And Paul further says in Corinthians that he hears there are members of the Church who treat each other badly…  

Who don’t honor the less honorable…who don’t share with the less fortunate. Who actually over-eat and drink too much at the dinner which was Eucharist.     

He says these people sin because they “don’t discern the Body” of Christ…  

That is, they don’t discern Christ in the Church as it celebrates Eucharist and re-calls from eternity into the present…the whole Jesus Christ…Crucified and Risen…who was and is and will be forever…  

The Icon, the image…the very Sacrament of God.      

Now…what I am saying is a rather startling claim.  

Paul, and the Church ever since has said: “To be baptized is to be joined to the Church…”  

and the Church is the very Body of Christ…  

So to be initiated into the Church is to be joined to Jesus as fingers are to a hand.  

And since Jesus is the Sacrament of God…  

All who are joined to Him…  

Share in that Sacramentality!  

So…Every one of us…is a walking, talking, living, breathing Sacrament of Jesus…  

And so…a living, breathing Sacrament of God!  

Can you imagine, as you look around this room,  

That all these people…every one of us…  

Is a sacrament of Jesus?  

Many of us have known one another for years…  

And we know that others can be ornery…can be mean-spirited…can be, in fact are,…sinners…  

Well…at least I speak for myself…  

I know I am a sinner…  

Often not able to treat my neighbor as myself…  

Often turning my back on someone who is in need of something…  

Often something I could provide…a moment of kindness, of really listening…of feeling sympathy.  

Or maybe really sharing something wonderful…  

A recovery from sickness…  

A grandchild born healthy…  

Even an exciting vacation trip… (Yes, they will come again after COVID)  

And in each of these moments of sin…  

I have forgotten that person…or those people…Are Icons of Christ…who is the Icon of the Invisible God.  

Maybe..more important…  

I have conveniently forgotten…  

That I am a walking, talking Sacrament…  

A Sacrament of Jesus…  

And to see me…  

God help me!   To see me…  

In my humanity  

Is to see God!  

Which…to say the least intimidates me…  

And I often deal with that…by ignoring it…  

But I forget Augustine’s definition of a Sacrament…  

“A visible sign of an invisible grace”  

Being a sign comes with empowering grace…  

And part of that grace is God’s loving, never-failing understanding of our human sinfulness.  

Some years ago the late, wonderful Archbishop Desmond Tutu was a visiting professor on the Theology School faculty at Emory.  

He was there for several years and his office was next door to mine…so I got to know him pretty well.  

One day, after he had taught a class dealing with third-world poverty, an earnest young man caught up with him in our hallway.  

He was noticeably agitated and sort of stammered as he talked. It may have been that he was intimidated by talking face-to-face with a famous Archbishop.  

He made a kind of confession: “Bishop…Sir…after your class today I felt really bad…I still do. I feel like I should do something about all those poor people but I don’t know what. I’m married and have two kids. We have very little income and I’m in debt for school…I feel so guilty…I don’t know what to do! I’m not doing anything to help!”  

The Archbishop listened quietly and with sympathetic patience…and then he laid his hand on the guy’s shoulder and broke out in that absolutely wonderful smile of his…a smile that lit up a room and sang: “Love and Joy”…and he said: “Don’t worry my son…you have no idea of how low God’s standards are!”  

He smiled again, patted the young man on the shoulder and said softly: “Go in peace!”  

The student smiled back and just stood there.  

Bishop Tutu went into his office.  

I was witnessing a moment of Sacramental Grace…  

I was looking at God’s Grace of Forgiveness.  

I was looking at two Sacramental       
Icons of God…              
I was looking at what I…
                 And each of us…         
                  Are…and can be!  
                                Walking Sacraments!
                                        Giving God’s Grace and love…
                                              And accepting it!            

Annual Parish Meeting Rector Report – George Yandell In my annual reports over the past eleven years, I have said these words, and I’ll say them again: This is your parish. I serve God with you, guided by the Spirit of Jesus. I want to tell what I perceive God has done, is doing, and what God may be leading us to do together.   If there’s a slogan that sums up the past year, it’s “bridge over troubled water.” That’s how I have experienced the life and ministries we’ve extended during the covid era. If the parish is a bridge for us in living into our baptisms in the company of Jesus, you have done remarkably well. The results of our pledge campaign have surprised me and made me most grateful.    Where is the bridge carrying us? That’s what the newly reconstituted vestry will continue to discern after they start their work in the meeting after this all-parish meeting.    We are now into our 36th year as a parish- the founding parents are almost gone. New members are finding Holy Family and becoming part of the ministering body. We added 6 new members in 2021 during Covid. There were no Marriages, 2 Baptisms and 3 Burials in 2021. 6 members/families moved away, and 7 died since last year’s annual meeting. We’ll remember them in the annual meeting.    Our average Sunday attendance in 2019 was 169. In 2020, our average attendance before we began worshipping outside and online was 146. It was tailing off by early February.   Last year average attendance for our Sunday services was 86.  For Adult Education online @ 12. Online Evening Prayer, Morning Prayer and Evensong engaged both parishioners and non-members.  I am so grateful to those who’ve stepped up and are leading those services.    Plus over 100 people who participate in some way in the parish but are not members. Even during Covid, people are finding Holy Family who might not have been aware of us before.     Online participation for Sunday and Holy Day services Facebook: 4403 views YouTube:    645  Website: More than 2023Views. Unique viewers:175   Those who watched all the way thru:377   We probably have around 266 active adult members, but there’s no way to be absolutely sure since we’re not able to have many activities in person.    Just to note- it’s not difficult to join the parish. Talk to me if you’re interested in joining.   In the diocesan council virtual meeting in November, the financial report showed that in 2020, Holy Family had the 27th largest budget in the diocese of ATL, out of 115 worshipping communities.   You will hear in the annual meeting about the finances in 2021 and the budget the finance ministry approved for 2022 and forwarded to the vestry- the vestry accepted it unanimously on January 25. Because of increased pledges and a good end to last year with good income and less than anticipated expenses, Holy Family is in good condition financially. You are the reason- your pledges have exceeded past years’ tallies, and you’ve set the table for enhanced ministries in this new year. 113 pledges totaling $445,000. These totals are remarkable when we cannot gather for most activities except via zoom.   Four years ago, a group of us started strategizing with the diocese to accomplish the final goal in the parish Long Range Plan: “Eliminate the mortgage before refinancing is due in 2023.” Members of the 2019 vestry unanimously endorsed this major step. We reasoned that without mortgage payments we can free the parish for new initiatives in outreach, in ministry, and build a strong platform for Holy Family to thrive into the future.   Gifts from over 60 members brought in more than anyone anticipated. Just over $468,000. The balance on the mortgage was just slightly less than $601,000. That left $135,000 needed from the Diocese. The diocese lent us that money, we paid off our commercial mortgage and the diocese loan was initiated at a much more favorable rate- @ 2%. This is saving the parish over $15,000 in mortgage interest and principal payments each year. It’s a major reason our budget for 2022 is conservative and balanced. This without any solicitations or without a campaign. I’ve never before had this experience in any of the other parishes I’ve served. Today the remainder of the diocesan loan is $54,692. It was $130,000 at the beginning of 2021. The numbers are published each week in the service sheet.   I am grateful for all of you, even when we’re not together as much as in pre-covid time. You keep me focused on what’s most important, and you challenge me and one another to love like Jesus. You can read about the work the vestry and parish leaders have been engaged in over the past year in the annual meeting booklet.   We have added new members to our ministries. They’ve brought strength and purpose. You can read about each ministry’s report in the annual meeting booklet. Worship: The Worship Ministry is chaired by Ric Sanchez, chief verger. With input from the clergy, vergers, altar guild chair, organist/choirmaster, usher chair, greeters, flower guild and others, we evaluate how services are working, and plan future worship.    After the third Sunday in Lent two years ago, we started taping the services. A crew of us with no experience used cell phones to tape and process the services through Good Friday. Then we had to move out of the nave and have solo worship recording. Michael DeCamp, Steve Franzen, Allan DeNiro and I (sequentially) sweated through the taping sessions, then spent hours trying to upload the services onto Vimeo. Sometimes the uploading took hours and hours. It was harrowing. We dropped our smart phones on occasion. Didn’t help the production quality.   Bit by bit we learned and gained more experience and recruited more volunteers to produce the services. We were able to move back into the nave in early summer under strict diocesan guidelines for recording and streaming. The team leaders contracted with 3Stage Design to record and process the services until the production volunteers could take on more of the taping.    Using restricted funds for building furnishings, the production booth was constructed by Terry Nicholson and Jacques LeBlanc. Holy Family purchased the equipment for us to produce on our own. The volunteer producers were trained and assumed leadership and kept us online. We have missed only two Sundays in the past 18 months because of equipment failure.   There are now 5 producers, 10 camera operators and 6 sound board operators. They can use 2 more sound people. Please consider joining the production team as we will need additional folks who can use laptops to stream live education classes. If you sign up, you get a reserved seat in the production booth.   Because of our online presence, folks who didn’t know about Holy Family are seeking us out. Some are contributing online. It is evangelism.   Thank you everyone engaged in our services for keeping our liturgy dignified, meaningful, and challenging. You can read Ric’s report in the booklet.   Vestry Initiatives –   Long Range Plan: The new vestry needs to revisit the Plan and make some adjustments. The LRP guides our work and keeps us on task. The Parish Development group was created to move us to having a more visible presence in our area and more intentional planning for gathering newcomers.   Working with this year’s vestry has been grace-filled. I am most grateful for all they’ve done. See more in Sr. Warden Phil Anderson’s report of the vestry. I find it hard as Phil, Patricia Stimmel and John Rowan and rotate off. All of the vestry have done exceptional work over the past year. The calls you made on parishioners, the follow-up calls during the pledge campaign, kept folks plugged in and contributing, against all odds. Phil’s leadership has kept us on track, has generated plans for developing the parish, and has kept me accountable for the whole year. I’m pleased I get to continue to serve with those remaining on vestry. We actually have fun together, even when we’re focused on sometimes difficult tasks.    Enhancing Stewardship of Money:   In 2021 the vestry refined the Every Member Canvass. The response in turning in pledge cards in fall 2021 was stronger than last year. The Canvass co-chairs Jeannine Krenson and Allan DeNiro gave excellent leadership in planning and carrying out the stewardship of money campaign. It was thorough and participatory. Along with vestry and finance ministry leaders they met with all the ministries to solicit their plans and needs for 2022. Those meetings gave us more data sooner than any year before in preparing a budget that met nearly every goal the ministry chairs submitted. The canvass just ended was exceptional during the Covid restrictions. Your pledging has equipped the vestry to meet almost all the requests from parish ministries for funding. You can hear more about the pledge results from Treasurer George Miksch and Finance Ministry Chair Jim Braley in the annual meeting.   Finance Ministry: Read the report of the Finance Ministry to learn the details of our use of your pledge dollars. I am most grateful for your work and especially for the leadership of Jim Braley as chair, and our treasurer George Miksch.   Clergy Colleagues: Holy Family is graced with three clergy who volunteer in service to our parish. Their ministries for us are grace-filled, generous and essential to our spiritual and emotional health. To have colleagues like these is an asset beyond measure. Not only do they preach, serve at the altar, lead EFM classes, and serve in the Worship Ministry, do pastoral calls and push outreach efforts, but we also have fun together. I am daily grateful for Katharine, Byron, and Ted.   Conclusions: How are we doing in accomplishing the mission of the parish: “Creating Christian Community: Engaging people in vibrant ministry”? Your input gives direction and support as parish leaders plan for stronger ministries. Your volunteering puts the plans into action. During Covid, your participation is a gift of community we all need more of. You can read about all the ministries’ accomplishments in the annual meeting report.   Most important question: Are you engaged in vibrant ministry? If not, volunteer. Engage yourself in the work of a ministry or committee. Seek a higher plane of engagement with the Spirit of Christ. Speak with the leader of the ministry. Your ministries through Holy Family help fulfill your baptismal promises. You find colleagues and friends you haven’t known before. Being engaged multiplies your joy as you work with others in company with the Resurrected Lord of Heaven and Earth.   This is a remarkable community of love, support and nurture, not only for one another, but for the wider community. I am honored to serve as your rector.   G. Yandell