Making Time

December 24th, 2021

Luke 1:67-80

Then his father Zechariah was filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke this prophecy:

68 “Blessed be the Lord God of Israel,
    for he has looked favorably on his people and redeemed them.
69 He has raised up a mighty savior for us
    in the house of his servant David,
70 as he spoke through the mouth of his holy prophets from of old,
71     that we would be saved from our enemies and from the hand of all who hate us.
72 Thus he has shown the mercy promised to our ancestors,
    and has remembered his holy covenant,
73 the oath that he swore to our ancestor Abraham,
    to grant us 74 that we, being rescued from the hands of our enemies,
might serve him without fear, 75 in holiness and righteousness
    before him all our days.
76 And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High;
    for you will go before the Lord to prepare his ways,
77 to give knowledge of salvation to his people
    by the forgiveness of their sins.
78 By the tender mercy of our God,
    the dawn from on high will break upon us,
79 to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death,
    to guide our feet into the way of peace.”

80 The child grew and became strong in spirit, and he was in the wilderness until the day he appeared publicly to Israel.

Making Time

As a bishop, I spend a lot of time in the car. With congregations spread out all over our state and diocese of Oklahoma, and a different one to visit each Sunday (plus some midweek services and meetings away from Oklahoma City), it is common for me to drive several hours, each way.

Visiting congregations is my favorite part of my ministry, without question. But one of the things I’ve had to learn is how to make good use of the time in the car there and back. Sometimes I’ll need to make a phone call while driving, or participate in a Zoom meeting (audio only!). But most drives, I’ll listen to a podcast, or an audio book, or music.

For me, the difference is between wasting time and making time. I try to see my long drives as blessings, opportunities to make time for things I enjoy. What I listen to is fun and entertaining, sometimes thought-provoking, and often not religious. In the car is when I get to nurture some of my other interests.

There are different kinds of waiting. There’s the waiting we do that is not enjoyable or productive: we’re just watching the proverbial paint dry. There’s anxious waiting, as we have been doing in this COVID pandemic, desperate for it to end. And then there’s purposeful waiting, using the time well, finding meaning in the anticipation, or patiently getting ready for what is to come.

When I was a child, the season of Advent was excruciating for me because I couldn’t wait for Christmas Day. I dreamed impatiently of piles of presents, under and around the Christmas tree. Now, as an adult, I appreciate the preparation that (ideally) comes with Advent. I relish each of the four weeks. In fact, I often wish Advent were longer.

My friends, here we are, at Advent’s end.

Christmas Eve.

What is done, is done, and what is not, will not be. Did we make good use of Advent to prepare in our hearts room for the Savior’s birth? Did we pray, read the Scriptures, give to those in need, offer hospitality, seek silence, value ‘enough’ over excess, and do those other things that invite God to prepare the way within and through us for the long-expected Christ?

Or did the brief season get away from us in the hectic dashing around? Were we bogged down in grief or anxiety or pandemic exhaustion? Was our waiting for Christmas lacking intention and purpose this year, a mere running down of the clock? Either way, with things done and left undone, Christmas has arrived.

Prepared or not, our Advent time used well or wasted, our celebration of Jesus Christ’s birth is here. And there is nothing, nothing at all, that God expects of us now to earn God’s loving presence among us. It is a pure and holy gift: Immanuel, God With Us, for the unprepared and the undeserving. For you, and for me.

The Advent journey was never ours to make. Not really. It was always God’s journey, to us, for us, from heaven to earth, from before time, and in an instant. The God who made Time has entered into it. At Bethlehem, now, and forever, until Christ returns in glory.

A Child is born.

A Son is given.

Come, let us adore Him.

The Right Reverend Poulson Reed, Bishop of Oklahoma

The Episcopal Diocese of Oklahoma

His Name is John?

December 23rd, 2021

Luke 1:57-66

57 Now the time came for Elizabeth to give birth, and she bore a son. 58 Her neighbors and relatives heard that the Lord had shown his great mercy to her, and they rejoiced with her.

59 On the eighth day they came to circumcise the child, and they were going to name him Zechariah after his father. 60 But his mother said, “No; he is to be called John.” 61 They said to her, “None of your relatives has this name.” 62 Then they began motioning to his father to find out what name he wanted to give him. 63 He asked for a writing tablet and wrote, “His name is John.” And all of them were amazed. 64 Immediately his mouth was opened and his tongue freed, and he began to speak, praising God. 65 Fear came over all their neighbors, and all these things were talked about throughout the entire hill country of Judea. 66 All who heard them pondered them and said, “What then will this child become?” For, indeed, the hand of the Lord was with him.

His Name is John?

Holden Caulfield loves his sister, Phoebe, and her innocence. He desires that her innocence go unchanged, yet he knows that every experience will change her to one degree or another. Reflecting on her many trips to the museum to view the same paintings that he has enjoyed, he thinks, “I thought how she’d see the same stuff I used to see, and how she’d be different every time she saw it. It didn’t exactly depress me to think about it, but it didn’t make me feel *** as hell, either. Certain things they should stay the way they are. You ought to be able to stick them in one of those big glass cases and just leave them alone.”

(The Catcher in the Rye, J.D. Salinger)

In many respects, the Church had come to see itself as one of those items that should be curated in a big glass case. It should occasionally be brought out to remove the fine layer of dust that had accumulated, along with any unwelcomed spider’s web, and the glass it set upon also properly dusted. But then it should be set back unhindered in its proper place in that big glass cabinet.

Close to two years ago, something came along and smashed the cabinet.

When it hit, we all lunged forward from our comfortable seats and dashed to catch the Church before it struck the ground and burst into thousands of unrecognizable shards. By the grace of God, we caught it, but then what were we to do? Build another glass museum case?  Set it out of reach on some high pinnacle? Place it on the nearest flat surface and quietly walk away? No. None of the above. Besides, this is God’s Church and if we were not to care for it, then He would raise up from the stones those who would.

The Bishop, clergy and people of the Diocese of Oklahoma took their Church and began taking a much closer look at it. They peered into stained glass windows and found the wonders of God and signs of a life that they had not anticipated, but one they would embrace. This was something new. In a sense, within the Church, the events of the last few years are like Zechariah giving his newborn son a name that none of his family had ever received, and it was God saying, “Behold I make all things new.” And truthfully, we were all amazed. We were perhaps afraid in trying, but we were doing things that we had not ever imagined. We were speaking to the world in new ways, being creative in how we fulfilled the Great Commission. Sometimes those new ways worked and sometimes the internet signal was not strong enough; but we have persevered and will continue to do so, for we believe that the hand of the Lord is with us.

At the naming of John, Zechariah’s neighbors asked, “What then will this child become?” We can ask the same of the Church in this new era. What will we become? The answer: exactly the Church of which God desires for us to become. Let’s just not go and put ourselves back in another big glass cabinet. Let’s continue to seek new and innovative ways to proclaim the Gospel of Jesus Christ to a world that has also changed. Let’s follow John out into the wilderness and be witness to Love.

The Rev. Dr. John Toles

Rector, St. Matthew’s Enid

Episcopal Diocese of Oklahoma

The Magnificence of the Song of Mary

December 22nd, 2021

Luke 1:39-56, The Magnificat

39 In those days Mary set out and went with haste to a Judean town in the hill country, 40 where she entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth. 41 When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the child leaped in her womb. And Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit 42 and exclaimed with a loud cry, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb. 43 And why has this happened to me, that the mother of my Lord comes to me? 44 For as soon as I heard the sound of your greeting, the child in my womb leaped for joy. 45 And blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what was spoken to her by the Lord.”46 And Mary said,

“My soul magnifies the Lord,
47     and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,
48 for he has looked with favor on the lowliness of his servant.
    Surely, from now on all generations will call me blessed;
49 for the Mighty One has done great things for me,
    and holy is his name.
50 His mercy is for those who fear him
    from generation to generation.
51 He has shown strength with his arm;
    he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts.
52 He has brought down the powerful from their thrones,
    and lifted up the lowly;
53 he has filled the hungry with good things,
    and sent the rich away empty.
54 He has helped his servant Israel,
    in remembrance of his mercy,
55 according to the promise he made to our ancestors,
    to Abraham and to his descendants forever.”

56 And Mary remained with her about three months and then returned to her home.

The Magnificence of the Song of Mary 

         The Magnificat is in effect the announcement of a “new normal”. What will this Messiah do to bring about the new normal that will ultimately lead to the cross?  God’s mercy is for those who fear him from generation to generation.  God has shown strength of his arm and has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts.  God, through Jesus has performed mighty deeds and brought down the powerful from their thrones and lifted up the lowly.  He has filled the hungry with good things and sent the rich away empty.  He has helped his servant Israel in remembrance of his mercy, according to the promise he made to the ancestors, Abraham and his decedents forever. 

         God is, through Christ, creating a new normal in which the world will never be the same.  And so, we wait on Christ while we wait on this new normal.  And we ponder whether there will ever be a new normal in the face of pandemic.  Like the angel who spoke to Mary, we seek not just a new normal from the expectation of Mary’s praise or God’s faithfulness and ancient promise. We seek it because we actually believe.

         Mercy and grace are coming while we wait again with Mary in the hope of redemption; not just in the present, but in the world yet to come. 

         Can Advent continue to be the anticipation of joy in this time?  We have to experience this joy or we are lost at sea. Covid has not put an end to the good news of the gospel of Jesus.  Rather, the gospels give us reason to anticipate the magnificence of Christ’s redemptive ministry.  We cannot detour around the cross, or the manger. And as the gospels inform us, we should not fear anything.  Instead, regardless of circumstances we should continue to anticipate the celebration of new life in Christ and embrace that joy. 

The Rev. Dave Thomas

Transitional Deacon, Episcopal Church of the Resurrection

Episcopal Diocese of Oklahoma

Waiting...With Mary

December 21st, 2021

Luke 1:26-38

26 In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a town in Galilee called Nazareth, 27 to a virgin engaged to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. 28 And he came to her and said, “Greetings, favored one! The Lord is with you.” 29 But she was much perplexed by his words and pondered what sort of greeting this might be. 30 The angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. 31 And now, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you will name him Jesus. 32 He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give to him the throne of his ancestor David. 33 He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.” 34 Mary said to the angel, “How can this be, since I am a virgin?” 35 The angel said to her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be holy; he will be called Son of God. 36 And now, your relative Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son; and this is the sixth month for her who was said to be barren. 37 For nothing will be impossible with God.” 38 Then Mary said, “Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word.” Then the angel departed from her.

Waiting…With Mary

Talk about turning one’s life upside down.

Covid has done just that to us, kind of like Gabriel turned Mary’s life upside down with his visit and news for her. I do not think we have adjusted as easily to our situation as Mary seems to have adjusted to hers. During this brief conversation with Gabriel, Mary was perplexed, quiet, and then accepting of the entire situation. Clearly, we as a whole have not acted with such equanimity during this COVID time. While there is less denial about the disease, there are still many who do not accept the limitations it has placed upon us—the masking or social distancing requirements or the need for vaccination. We could learn much from Mary’s response.

She is a reminder that while this virus is definitely not of our choosing, it is here, and we must accept the changes it has already brought about and will continue to make in our lives. Perhaps, like Mary, we should listen and accept our situation; accept the changes, even as we work to return to a new ‘normal’ than we ever knew before. After all, the news Gabriel imparted to Mary changed everything about who she was and who she would be from that time forward. As we accept the changes wrought in our lives, how can we move into acceptance of our new normal? How do we respond to God in the same way as Mary, when she said, “Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word.”

I think the answer lies in our ability to wait. Luckily, that is something we get to practice every year during Advent. In reality, we have spent the last almost two years waiting. And—while we are all tired of it—I suggest that we settle in and wait a little more. Wait for people to realize vaccinations work and take them. Wait for the understanding that we have just about reached our new normal and recognize when we are there. Like Mary, who waited on the birth of her child, we are waiting for the birth of ‘normal’. We can fully be together again, live in peace together, and not be afraid of this virus. That time is coming and I feel we are almost there. As Bob Dylan reminds us, “the times they are a-changing.” Let us hope they are changing for the better, that as with Jesus’ birth, a new time will arrive. Things will be different. It is up to us to live into those new times. Let us grow in this time of waiting. Let us prepare ourselves to be the Lord’s servants and follow wherever God leads us.

Let us pray…

Holy and Gracious God, help us to be like your servant Mary, who though she was perplexed was ready to do your will with every fiber of her being. Help us in this time of waiting. Be with us as we learn from you during this time. Join with us when our time of wait is over so that we can celebrate our new normal like we celebrate the changing of our lives with the birth of Christ. All this we ask through your Holy Spirit and in the name of Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen

Deacon Ann Murray

St. Michael’s, Norman

Episcopal Diocese of Oklahoma

The Worthwhile Wait

December 20th, 2021

Luke 1:1-25

1 Since many have undertaken to set down an orderly account of the events that have been fulfilled among us, 2 just as they were handed on to us by those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses and servants of the word, 3 I too decided, after investigating everything carefully from the very first, to write an orderly account for you, most excellent Theophilus, 4 so that you may know the truth concerning the things about which you have been instructed.

5 In the days of King Herod of Judea, there was a priest named Zechariah, who belonged to the priestly order of Abijah. His wife was a descendant of Aaron, and her name was Elizabeth. 6 Both of them were righteous before God, living blamelessly according to all the commandments and regulations of the Lord. 7 But they had no children, because Elizabeth was barren, and both were getting on in years.

8 Once when he was serving as priest before God and his section was on duty, 9 he was chosen by lot, according to the custom of the priesthood, to enter the sanctuary of the Lord and offer incense. 10 Now at the time of the incense offering, the whole assembly of the people was praying outside. 11 Then there appeared to him an angel of the Lord, standing at the right side of the altar of incense. 12 When Zechariah saw him, he was terrified; and fear overwhelmed him. 13 But the angel said to him, “Do not be afraid, Zechariah, for your prayer has been heard. Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you will name him John. 14 You will have joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth, 15 for he will be great in the sight of the Lord. He must never drink wine or strong drink; even before his birth he will be filled with the Holy Spirit. 16 He will turn many of the people of Israel to the Lord their God. 17 With the spirit and power of Elijah he will go before him, to turn the hearts of parents to their children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the righteous, to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.” 18 Zechariah said to the angel, “How will I know that this is so? For I am an old man, and my wife is getting on in years.” 19 The angel replied, “I am Gabriel. I stand in the presence of God, and I have been sent to speak to you and to bring you this good news. 20 But now, because you did not believe my words, which will be fulfilled in their time, you will become mute, unable to speak, until the day these things occur.”

21 Meanwhile the people were waiting for Zechariah, and wondered at his delay in the sanctuary. 22 When he did come out, he could not speak to them, and they realized that he had seen a vision in the sanctuary. He kept motioning to them and remained unable to speak. 23 When his time of service was ended, he went to his home.

24 After those days his wife Elizabeth conceived, and for five months she remained in seclusion. She said, 25 “This is what the Lord has done for me when he looked favorably on me and took away the disgrace I have endured among my people.”

The Worthwhile Wait

It’s December 20th with FIVE days ‘til Christmas!  I’m sure that you’re just idly sitting at home waiting for Christmas Day to arrive, right?  Yeah, sure.

         How many gifts left to buy?

         What on earth can I get Uncle (fill in the blank)

         Will Amazon and FedEx make it in time?

         Will the tree make it five more days?  It’s not taking water anymore!

         Will COVID ruin this Christmas, too?

The Church tells us that Advent is a season of preparation.  Are you ready?  Are you prepared?  How are we supposed to prepare?  Is it all about waiting?  How do we wait?

I grew up with Luke’s story about Christmas.  Chapter two of this Gospel was memorized because I heard it so many times, describing the birth of Jesus.  Luke painted a picture of Mary, Joseph, shepherds, angels, Bethlehem, an inn with no vacancy, and a manger.  We know it so well.

Let’s take a step back.  What does Luke tell us before he gets to chapter two?  If Advent is truly about preparation, what does Luke tell us about preparing for the birth of this child in a manger?       

Luke begins his Gospel telling a person named Theophilus (and us) about the priest Zechariah and his wife Elizabeth, two good people in the sight of God.  One day Zechariah was performing his appointed priestly duties in the temple alone.  The people were required to wait for him outside.  For some reason, this time it was taking Zechariah a lot longer as they awaited his exit from the temple. 

There was a very good reason for the delay.  Zechariah was having an unexpected conversation with Gabriel, God’s angel.  A good reason, right?  Gabriel was telling Zechariah that he and his wife were about to become parents.  Understandably, Zechariah was a bit skeptical at this news.  Zechariah informed Gabriel that he and his wife were too old to have kids. 

I have a feeling that Gabriel and God were already aware of that piece of information.

While we might think that Zechariah’ doubt might have been justified, this was an angel of God sharing the news!  Gabriel declared that as a result of that doubt, Zechariah would not be able to speak again until the child was born. Now, Zechariah had to leave the temple and explain to the people (and eventually his wife) why he had remained in the sanctuary so long this time.  And remember, he was mute!  Where there’s a will (and God is involved), there’s a way.  Apparently, without his voice, he was able to get the message across to the people.  And how did his wife, Elizabeth, take the news?  Oh, blessed Elizabeth.  To paraphrase, “The Lord has looked with favor upon me.” 

And, spoiler alert, the baby turned out to be John the Baptist.  You know, John, never known as one who quietly sat still very long.  He prepared for the coming of the Lord by preaching to a crowd he called a “brood of vipers” that they’d better repent…or else.  As Isaiah foretold, John prepared for Jesus as a “voice crying in the wilderness” imploring the crowds to prepare for the Lord by turning to God.  Jesus is coming!  Get ready!

Yes, Advent is a time when we wait for the coming of Jesus.  It seems that in the first words of the Gospel of Luke, waiting for Jesus does not mean waiting by, sitting idle.  Luke proclaimed to Theophilus that momentum was actively building as the world anticipated the coming of the Messiah.  Gabriel, Zechariah and Elizabeth were not sitting still.  They were at work following what they knew God called them to do…even while waiting for the Lord.  Isaiah, while waiting, proclaimed the coming of one who would preach that everyone must prepare themselves for the coming of the Lord.  John the Baptist never sat still as he prepared for the coming of the Lord. 

Yes, Advent calls us to prepare for Jesus by waiting.  Advent also calls us to prepare for Him while we wait. 

As Isaiah proclaims: They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; they shall walk, and not faint.

In waiting during Advent, may we prepare ourselves and the world for Jesus by proclaiming to the world (including those standing right next to us) the best news the world has ever known.  God loves you (no exceptions)!  And, He’s just about to prove it again. 

Prepare ye the way of the Lord……even as you wait!                 

Mr. George Justice

Aspirant to Holy Orders

Episcopal Diocese of Oklahoma

Temptations Run Amuck

December 19th, 2021

John 3:16-21

16 “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.

17 “Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. 18 Those who believe in him are not condemned; but those who do not believe are condemned already, because they have not believed in the name of the only Son of God. 19 And this is the judgment, that the light has come into the world, and people loved darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil. 20 For all who do evil hate the light and do not come to the light, so that their deeds may not be exposed. 21 But those who do what is true come to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that their deeds have been done in God.”

Temptations Run Amuck

Last week, while on retreat, I had the opportunity to see the movie, “The Way.”  It is a powerful movie about a father who, in his deep grief, finds hope and healing as he undergoes an unexpected hike on The Camino de Santiago. While on this pilgrimage, three fellow pilgrims connect with him at different stages on the journey; and for the last half of the journey they share the experience together. Although they were walking a trail to a destination, the true destination was found in a deep darkness within each one of them. The journey would be painful at times, but grace was there in that they did not journey alone. At times, they pointed the way towards the light for one another; and at other times they confronted the darkness in each other.  They helped one another navigate out of the wilderness and towards the light, towards healing, and towards life.

It’s a fitting movie for Advent. After all, light and darkness permeate the weeks of Advent - inviting each of us on a pilgrimage into the wilderness as we experience anew the birth of the Light, of Christ in our hearts. 

However, we don’t all get the opportunity or have the means to be a pilgrim on the Camino. Nevertheless, the journey into the wilderness awaits you. Here’s one example of how the wilderness can present itself. You are no doubt familiar with the controversy surrounding the slogan, “Put Christ back in Christmas.” Over time, this has morphed from people complaining about all things “politically correct” to people intentionally looking straight into your eyes and with emphasis and attitude will say “Merry Christmas!” There are many reasons why "Put Christ back in Christmas" is charged with lots of emotions. I, however, get curious when people tell me to put Christ back into Christmas without knowing anything about me or how I relate to the Divine. Blaming, judging, and finger pointing are at the least signs of emotional/spiritual immaturity and at the most signs of a culture in darkness or perhaps both. Regardless, the seduction to such an argument is that it gives us an out. If I can distract myself by assuming that you are leaving Christ out of Christmas, then I don’t have to look at all the ways I leave Christ out of, not only Christmas, but also the many areas of my life. Do not trick yourself into believing that this is an easy temptation to avoid. We live in a world where distractions literally exist everywhere, which is what makes our environment a true modern-day wilderness.

As disciples, we are called to know the terrain of the wilderness and know it well enough to not only survive, but to be able to point the way out for lost pilgrims. Knowing the terrain means knowing yourself well enough to know where you become vulnerable to temptation, because the truth is that the enemy, (the darkness or absence of Light), knows these places in you well. The more you know and do healing work around these places, the more you are available to help lost pilgrims navigate out of the wilderness. Our healing work begins by being open to the Advent journey, being open to the invitation to enter the wilderness where distractions, noise, and temptations run amuck. The path will be revealed to you in often surprising ways, such as a fellow pilgrim connecting with you just when you need a bit of Light. Do your advent work (repent), for the Kingdom of Heaven is indeed near as there is a voice crying out in the wilderness. Go therefore and prepare the way, make the paths straight so that the Light can shine forth and the path be made clear.

The Rev. Tammy Wooliver

Priest in Charge, St. Luke’s Ada, OK

Episcopal Diocese of Oklahoma

The Bottom Line

December 18th, 2021

Matthew 25.31-46 

31 “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on the throne of his glory. 32 All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats, 33 and he will put the sheep at his right hand and the goats at the left. 34 Then the king will say to those at his right hand, ‘Come, you that are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world; 35 for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, 36 I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me.’ 37 Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry and gave you food, or thirsty and gave you something to drink? 38 And when was it that we saw you a stranger and welcomed you, or naked and gave you clothing? 39 And when was it that we saw you sick or in prison and visited you?’ 40 And the king will answer them, ‘Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me.’ 41 Then he will say to those at his left hand, ‘You that are accursed, depart from me into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels; 42 for I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, 43 I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not give me clothing, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.’ 44 Then they also will answer, ‘Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not take care of you?’ 45 Then he will answer them, ‘Truly I tell you, just as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.’ 46 And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”

Give Me the Bottom Line

Give me the bottom line.  You may be the type of person who prefers this approach. Cut through all of the extraneous and just tell me what I need to know.  Religious culture isn’t exempt.  We have a tendency to codify the truths that have been hard-won so that they will be repeatable for others, particularly for those generations rising in the ranks after us.

Here are some examples from the Bible’s greatest hits album:

“What must I do to be saved?”, the Roman jailer asks Peter and Silas.

“What must I do to inherit eternal life?”, asks the rich young ruler.

“What is the greatest commandment?”, the religious leaders ask Jesus.

“What is it that God requires of you, o’ human being?”, Micah asks his listeners.

“Care for widows and orphans”,  James says is pure religion.

Believe me, I’m sympathetic.  All of these quotes are trying to take the complexity of some of life’s hardest questions and simplify it.  That is comforting, at least at first.  But usually, upon further consideration, those truths that we have distilled down to their simplest form require that we complicate them again. 

This teaching of Jesus about the nature of the final judgment is one of those simple-not-simple teachings.  This is a bottom-line sort of sermon, isn’t it?  All the nations are gathered together and will be separated out, one to punishment, one to eternal life.  And what will the criteria for who goes where be?  Maybe I’m reading this wrong, but it sounds a little bit like a bottom line.  Feed the hungry, give water to the thirsty, clothe the naked, befriend the stranger, visit those in prison.

Those things.

Do those things. 

As a chaplain at one of our Episcopal schools, I have the honor of being part of the interview process for new faculty.  Part of my task is to make sure they have some sense of what it means to teach at an Episcopal school.  My opener is not intended to be a gotcha question, but rather a starting place to give me an idea of what they might know.  I ask them, “What do you know about the Episcopal Church?”

One of the recent candidates was a Baptist, and her son a Baptist minister.  She said she asked him about the Episcopal Church and he told her that we were a Matthew 25 church more than a Matthew 28 church, a Sheep and Goats Christianity more than a Great Commission Christianity.  I was so delighted with her answer I sort of made a gleeful snort!  She was immediately concerned she had said something untoward.  “Not at all,” I replied, “That is a delightful answer!” 

Matthew 28 refers to one of Jesus’ final exchanges with the apostles before his final ascension, where he tells them he is going to send them to the ends of the earth to teach others what he commanded and to baptize them in the name of the Trinity.   He is commissioning them to go and make new disciples.  This exchange could very well be considered yet another place where one of those bottom lines is offered.   

But none of these bottom lines aren’t simple.  Perhaps on the surface, they seem to be, but any thoughtful consideration of what they look like in practice will have their complications re-emerge.  Simple-not-simple.  But take comfort in that God loves cares for you enough that he gives you these solid entry points to live into his mission.  And trust his never-failing grace as you work it out. 

The Rev’d Canon Tim Sean Youmans

Vicar of St. Edward the Confessor Chapel, Casady School

Canon for Youth and Family, St. Paul’s Cathedral

Episcopal Diocese of Oklahoma

The Haves and Have-Nots

December 17th, 2021 

Matthew 24: 14-30 

14 “For it is as if a man, going on a journey, summoned his slaves and entrusted his property to them; 15 to one he gave five talents, to another two, to another one, to each according to his ability. Then he went away. 16 The one who had received the five talents went off at once and traded with them, and made five more talents. 17 In the same way, the one who had the two talents made two more talents. 18 But the one who had received the one talent went off and dug a hole in the ground and hid his master’s money. 19 After a long time the master of those slaves came and settled accounts with them. 20 Then the one who had received the five talents came forward, bringing five more talents, saying, ‘Master, you handed over to me five talents; see, I have made five more talents.’ 21 His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and trustworthy slave; you have been trustworthy in a few things, I will put you in charge of many things; enter into the joy of your master.’ 22 And the one with the two talents also came forward, saying, ‘Master, you handed over to me two talents; see, I have made two more talents.’ 23 His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and trustworthy slave; you have been trustworthy in a few things, I will put you in charge of many things; enter into the joy of your master.’ 24 Then the one who had received the one talent also came forward, saying, ‘Master, I knew that you were a harsh man, reaping where you did not sow, and gathering where you did not scatter seed; 25 so I was afraid, and I went and hid your talent in the ground. Here you have what is yours.’ 26 But his master replied, ‘You wicked and lazy slave! You knew, did you, that I reap where I did not sow, and gather where I did not scatter? 27 Then you ought to have invested my money with the bankers, and on my return I would have received what was my own with interest. 28 So take the talent from him, and give it to the one with the ten talents. 29 For to all those who have, more will be given, and they will have an abundance; but from those who have nothing, even what they have will be taken away. 30 As for this worthless slave, throw him into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’ 

The Haves and Have-Nots

All is gift.  Nothing is mere transaction.  Even parables that smell of banking metaphors – they, too, are all about gift.  The property entrusted to the slaves by the journeyman?  Gift.   

When the nature of the world is love, then you begin erasing the world’s final and forever attempt at ensuring that all scratched-backs in this world are a two-way street.  You want yours scratched?  Then scratch mine first, says the world. 

 This is where the Christian instinct and inflection point differs. 

In every situation, Jesus turns the world on its head.  And because of Jesus, Christians can escape the entrapment of the catch-22’s of this life, because they see the world for what it truly is.  The world’s favor is too manipulative and fair-weather to be trusted, and so they seek the favor of God.  The world’s hunger for creature-comforts is too self-serving, and so they seek the comfort of others.  The world’s suspicion of relationships is too rooted in being ‘mutually beneficial,’ and so they find relationships which are sometimes one-sided.  “Where can I give and only ever give?” they ask.  Mere reciprocity??  Everyone likes that.  A disciple of Jesus asks, “Who could never repay?  I’ll serve them.”  It’s Jesus, through and through.   

That sense of the ‘giftedness’ of all of life is what drives the first two servants to make good on their gift.  They took the initial gift, and by taking it out into the world, doubled its effect.  An initial gift became a greater gift.  And notice that the initial gift given becomes the larger gift returned.  All of life is a series of gifts—given and received as an effusion of love for the community of faith.  Joy given, and joy received.  Spiritual service offered, and spiritual comfort received.   

A step further.  Notice that the slaves are the ones returning the greater gift.  Oftentimes, we think that those of greater means are the ones serving those of lesser.  That the nature of Christian love—charity—is from the haves to the have-nots.   

Sometimes, yes. 

But more often than not, it’s the have-nots who return the greater gift to the haves.  The first two slaves in today’s story returned more to the owner than the owner offered them.  He who was rich was the greater beneficiary of charity when the two social classes collided in today’s story. 

Such is our own lives.   

Finally, we ought to remember that Jesus is the first and last gift-giver, and that the best and brightest gift of all is his own person.  It is because of Jesus that the world has been remade in the shape of ‘gift’, for that is the very nature of God-with-us.  What are we expectantly waiting for in Advent?  

Christ.

The Rev. Nathan Carr

Vicar, St. John’s Episcopal, OKC

Episcopal Diocese of Oklahoma   

The Oil of Readiness

December 16th, 2021

Matthew 25: 1:13 

25 “Then the kingdom of heaven will be like this. Ten bridesmaids took their lamps and went to meet the bridegroom. 2 Five of them were foolish, and five were wise. 3 When the foolish took their lamps, they took no oil with them; 4 but the wise took flasks of oil with their lamps. 5 As the bridegroom was delayed, all of them became drowsy and slept. 6 But at midnight there was a shout, ‘Look! Here is the bridegroom! Come out to meet him.’ 7 Then all those bridesmaids got up and trimmed their lamps. 8 The foolish said to the wise, ‘Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.’ 9 But the wise replied, ‘No! there will not be enough for you and for us; you had better go to the dealers and buy some for yourselves.’ 10 And while they went to buy it, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went with him into the wedding banquet; and the door was shut. 11 Later the other bridesmaids came also, saying, ‘Lord, lord, open to us.’ 12 But he replied, ‘Truly I tell you, I do not know you.’ 13 Keep awake therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour.  

The Oil of Readiness

What does it mean to be ready for the coming of Jesus? Our justifiable joy regarding the birth of Jesus somewhat obscures the very unexpected nature of the nativity. Of course, the birth of the Jewish Messiah along with the expectation of the Messiah being a military and political leader was well established. But Jesus was born in an obscure stable near Bethlehem to the blessed virgin Mary, not in a palace or in a family of notable influence. The King of the Jews, as the magi would call him, was not born with any fanfare, but in the dark of night with only a few shepherds coming by to pay a visit (cf. Luke 2).

The world was not truly ready for the birth of Jesus to happen the way it did. Will we be ready for Christ to come again? Let us consider what the parable of the ten bridesmaids in Matthew 25:1-13 might teach us about being ready.

These bridesmaids, which many translations call virgins, are all preparing for the arrival of the groom and the procession to the wedding proper and the associated feast. Many scholars suggest that the description in the verses accurately depicts traditional marriage customs in the first century. The feast would typically follow sometime after the legal exchange of vows, but might begin at any hour of the day or evening.

It is worth noting that all ten of the young bridesmaids are depicted in identical language except regarding their preparation. They all took lamps to help light the way in the darkness. They all expected the groom to arrive sooner than he did and they all slept. It is only due to the unexpected delay that the error of the foolish maidens of not bringing extra oil becomes a crisis. For fear of missing the festivities themselves, the wise maidens do not share their limited oil supply and the foolish maids venture off to try to purchase some, only to miss the grand event.

Jesus declares early in this parable that the scene depicted reflects what the coming of the kingdom of heaven will be like. Some will be ready, others will not. Jesus, the groom, will likely arrive at an unexpected time. We, brothers and sisters, are invited and encourages to “stay awake” and thus to be ready. Unfortunately, the parable isn’t followed by a private conversation between Jesus and his disciples about what these various symbols mean, but we are not yet without hope in better understanding the passage.

We dive deeper by remembering that all ten are describes as bridesmaids/virgins. They are all marked by purity and as having an invitation and expectation to attend the wedding festivities. Thus, as Saint Augustine suggests, it is feasible if not likely that the passage is describing Christians who have a professed faith in Jesus. Certainly, Jesus has not yet returned to lead the faithful to the great marriage feast imagined in the Book of Revelation. With this delay, many Christians have indeed fallen asleep, used in the sense that Saint Paul uses it to describe those who have died. So far, so good, but what about the oil? Or more significantly, what about the lack of oil?

For this, Augustine directs us to consider that the oil of our faith is the love he described as charity. This is that self-sacrificial love for others which we Christians are frequently implored to show for one another and those around us. Saint James would encourage us in a similar fashion. In James 2:14-26, he declares that our faith is not good if we do not also have works. Or as Rich Mullens once phrased it, faith without works (charity), is “as useless as a screen door on a submarine”.

Do you want to be ready for Christ to return? By all means, start with faith in Jesus and a deep love for God. That is the first great commandment. But let us also provide the oil by which we inflame our faith by remembering to love our neighbors as ourselves. Let us be charitable to others not only in this Advent and Christmas season, but always.

The Rev. Andrew Johnson

Associate Rector, All Souls’, Oklahoma City

Episcopal Diocese of Oklahoma

The Second Advent

December 15th, 2021

Matthew 24:45-51

Who then is the faithful and wise slave, whom his master has put in charge of his household, to give the other slaves their allowance of food at the proper time? Blessed is that slave whom his master will find at work when he arrives.  Truly I tell you, he will put that one in charge of all his possessions.

But if that wicked slave says to himself, ‘My master is delayed,’ and he begins to beat his fellow slaves, and eats and drinks with drunkards, the master of that slave will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour that he does not know.  He will cut him in pieces and put him with the hypocrites, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.  

The Second Advent

         Today it is nine days until Christmas Eve, and we anticipate hearing again the ancient story, singing Christmas hymns, and lighting candles. Yet in today’s reading, Jesus warns us of the uncertainties of the end times, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. It doesn’t seem right to hear this message nine days from the breathtaking incarnation. This text leaves us uneasy, concerned.

         Advent is a time of anticipation. We center the season on the nativity of our Lord, and only peripherally do we recognize that Advent also anticipates the second coming of our Lord. As the Matthew text indicates, individual outcomes of the second coming are not a given. Advent is also the time for us to rediscover our blessings and the opportunities to recommit our lives and work to Christ.

         For this last part, may we be inspired by the lives of Mary and Joseph as they brought forth and nurtured the Son of God. These two seemingly ordinary people were chosen to do the extraordinary work of parenting the long-expected Messiah. It was never a glorious mission, and their lives, with their holy son, were rarely without distress.

         Their journey began as Gabriel announced the news to Mary. And she wondered, how? Why? Yet, she acquiesces, “I am the handmaid of the Lord.” Joseph, too, was troubled at the news. Again, the angel visited and informed Joseph that he had been chosen by God to be the father of Jesus. Despite his misgivings, Joseph agreed. He and Mary would raise the Christ child.

         With this understanding, Mary and Joseph anticipate raising the baby in their village of Nazareth, surrounded by family.  Even before they can begin that life, they are called to Jerusalem for the census. It is a rugged journey for Mary, and there is no place for them to rest. Consequently, the Jesus was born in a cave. And within two years, they fled to Egypt to protect their child from Herod’s edict.

         We hear this story every year. As we sing “silent night, holy night” and “glory to the newborn king,” on Christmas Eve, we may overlook the rich complexity of the story. Parenting the Messiah was never easy for Mary and Joseph.  Nor was there a happy ending for this faithful couple. Joseph did not live to see his son as an adult, and Mary watched him die on the cross.

         There is no doubt Mary and Joseph will receive their reward at the second Advent. Their perseverance and faithfulness—their efforts to live and work in faith through the doubts, the troubles, the fears of their earthly lives—is what Jesus is expecting of us.

         In today’s text, Jesus is not asking extraordinary acts of us. He is simply expecting us to live each day in faithfulness to God and with love for others. We are not called to heroic acts, but to common, consistent, acts of life, which may help others survive, if not thrive.

May each of us be blessed and renewed

 in Christ this Advent season.

The Rev. Dawn Enderwood

St. Michael’s, Norman

Episcopal Diocese of Oklahoma

Maintaining Community

December 14th, 2021

Matthew 24: 22-34

22 And if those days had not been cut short, no one would be saved; but for the sake of the elect those days will be cut short. 23 Then if anyone says to you, ‘Look! Here is the Messiah!’ or ‘There he is!’—do not believe it. 24 For false messiahs and false prophets will appear and produce great signs and omens, to lead astray, if possible, even the elect. 25 Take note, I have told you beforehand. 26 So, if they say to you, ‘Look! He is in the wilderness,’ do not go out. If they say, ‘Look! He is in the inner rooms,’ do not believe it. 27 For as the lightning comes from the east and flashes as far as the west, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. 28 Wherever the corpse is, there the vultures will gather.

29 “Immediately after the suffering of those days

the sun will be darkened,
    and the moon will not give its light;
the stars will fall from heaven,
    and the powers of heaven will be shaken.”

30 Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see ‘the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven’ with power and great glory. 31 And he will send out his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.

32 “From the fig tree learn its lesson: as soon as its branch becomes tender and puts forth its leaves, you know that summer is near. 33 So also, when you see all these things, you know that he is near, at the very gates. 34 Truly I tell you, this generation will not pass away until all these things have taken place.

Maintaining Community

I don’t think many people like to wait. I certainly don’t.

For me, waiting is counterproductive. Sitting on hold with banal music on the phone, standing in line in the school cafeteria, wondering how quickly my number will be called at the customer service desk…each of these is torture to me and seems to be a waste. You can imagine, then, that this time of pandemic with a self-imposed isolation has taken me to places of despair, sadness, and impatience. Often, I have prayed “how long, Lord, how long”?

Jesus tells us that there will be signs of his return, like the fig tree showing us that summer is near. The availability of vaccines to fight Covid is a sign that our struggle is coming to an end, isn’t it? I certainly hope so.

But signs are not the only thing. Jesus also tells us that we do not know the hour and the day of his coming. We certainly were like the folks in Noah’s time before the flood:  before the pandemic we were eating and drinking, going wherever and whenever we wanted. But on that fateful day in March of 2020, when the flood of the wretched virus forced us into an “ark” to protect us from it, we have been compelled to do other things… 

Wait.

Hope.

Think.

Pray.

Waiting for good news of family and friends. Hoping that there will be enough resources to see us through the mess. Thinking about how to maintain our sense of community when we are unable to be together in person. And praying that God will give us the strength to face the challenges of our lives.

It has not been easy. Yet, it has been productive. We have found new ways of connection with one another through our virtual worship and study opportunities. (Who knew zoom would be a verb in daily usage!) We have worked to reach out beyond the doors of the church when those doors were closed to us. And we have learned just how much we depend upon God to guide us through this time of expectation.

Wait, and hope, and think, and pray…and watch. Are we ready?

The Rev. Kay Boman-Harvey

Deacon, All Saints’ Episcopal Church, Miami

Episcopal Diocese of Oklahoma

Christ is Found

December 13th, 2021

Matthew 24: 15-31

15 “So when you see the desolating sacrilege standing in the holy place, as was spoken of by the prophet Daniel (let the reader understand), 16 then those in Judea must flee to the mountains; 17 the one on the housetop must not go down to take what is in the house; 18 the one in the field must not turn back to get a coat. 19 Woe to those who are pregnant and to those who are nursing infants in those days! 20 Pray that your flight may not be in winter or on a sabbath. 21 For at that time there will be great suffering, such as has not been from the beginning of the world until now, no, and never will be. 22 And if those days had not been cut short, no one would be saved; but for the sake of the elect those days will be cut short. 23 Then if anyone says to you, ‘Look! Here is the Messiah!’ or ‘There he is!’—do not believe it. 24 For false messiahs and false prophets will appear and produce great signs and omens, to lead astray, if possible, even the elect. 25 Take note, I have told you beforehand. 26 So, if they say to you, ‘Look! He is in the wilderness,’ do not go out. If they say, ‘Look! He is in the inner rooms,’ do not believe it. 27 For as the lightning comes from the east and flashes as far as the west, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. 28 Wherever the corpse is, there the vultures will gather.

29 “Immediately after the suffering of those days

the sun will be darkened,
    and the moon will not give its light;
the stars will fall from heaven,
    and the powers of heaven will be shaken.

30 Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see ‘the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven’ with power and great glory. 31 And he will send out his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.

Christ is Found…

“For at that time there will be great suffering, such as has not been seen from the beginning of the world, and never will be. And if those days had not been cut short, no one would be saved; for the sake of the elect those days will be cut short.”—Matthew 24:21-22

Is this Jesus predicting the coming doom of the world? The whole dark passage speaks of suffering, fear, destruction. It also warns of the coming of false messiahs: “Then if anyone says to you ‘Look! Here is the Messiah!” or ‘There he is!’—do not believe it. For false messiahs and false prophets will appear and produce great signs and omens, to lead astray, if possible, even the elect.”—Matthew 24:23-24.

Matthew prefaces this frightening passage with a prediction of the desecration of the great Temple of Jerusalem, and adds these parenthetical words: “Let the reader understand.”—Matthew 24:15. This suggests to us that these words are directed to the readers of Matthew’s Gospel, which, according to most scholars, was written in in the 80s AD, some fifty years after the life, death and resurrection of Jesus. What was the reader in the final decades of the First Century AD to make of these words?

Anyone reading or hearing this passage in the late First Century could not help but remember the horror of an event that took place in 70 AD: the Roman siege of Jerusalem. As the legions gathered outside the city, the people suffered and starved. When the Romans finally breached the walls, there was widespread slaughter, ending with the destruction of the Temple, the central shrine for the worship of Israel’s God. So the audience of Matthew’s Gospel was hearing not just a prediction of a tribulation in the indeterminate future, but a description of events in the living memory of many of the faithful. This was not just something that would happen in years or decades or centuries ahead—it was a description of what they had lived through themselves.

The biblical trials of the faithful are not set in a hazy time to come, neither for the believers of the First Century, nor for us in our time. We see war and suffering throughout the world in our time. We know fear in our time. We seek to defend ourselves and flee from disaster in our time.

As for the most immediate effect of tribulation in our own lives, we find ourselves well into the second year of a global pandemic. Some of us have experienced the death of those we love. Some have suffered from COVID-19 ourselves. We have all had to adjust to disruptions in our daily lives, new rules and regulations and precautions. And it seems never-ending.

There is also no shortage of false messiahs and saviors. We hear daily that our freedoms are being curtailed. There are those who preach that this or that remedy will free us from the burden of having to deal with the illness that stalks our country and the world. Many claim to be experts, and that “they” are suppressing information that might protect us and save us.

We, like our ancestors in the faith of the First Century, face a crisis of our own time. We do not wait passively for some distant revelation of God’s will. We look for its unfolding in our world, here where we live not.

Will a mighty Son of Man appear on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory? Perhaps. But we experience Advent here and now, in our own lives and world. While we may look to the heavens and the distant future for salvation, let us lower our gaze to our present condition.

Where is that mighty Savior? Where is the One who will bless us with relief from suffering? The Christ of Advent is here, now. Christ is found in the strength with which we face each day of an uncertain world. Christ is found in the love and compassion and support we offer to the suffering. Christ is found in the welcoming of the stranger and the refugee who flees from war and terror. Christ is found in our striving for a more just and loving society, caring for those who have no helper. Christ is found in each of us, in our daily calling to reach out a hand and a compassionate heart.

May we not wait passively for a time of suffering, and the Advent of Christ to save us. May we share the love of Christ within us in the time of our own world’s tribulation.

The Rev. John Borrego

Episcopal Diocese of Oklahoma

Do Not Be Afraid

December 10th, 2021 

John 5: 30-47

30 “I can do nothing on my own. As I hear, I judge; and my judgment is just, because I seek to do not my own will but the will of him who sent me.

31 “If I testify about myself, my testimony is not true. 32 There is another who testifies on my behalf, and I know that his testimony to me is true. 33 You sent messengers to John, and he testified to the truth. 34 Not that I accept such human testimony, but I say these things so that you may be saved. 35 He was a burning and shining lamp, and you were willing to rejoice for a while in his light. 36 But I have a testimony greater than John’s. The works that the Father has given me to complete, the very works that I am doing, testify on my behalf that the Father has sent me. 37 And the Father who sent me has himself testified on my behalf. You have never heard his voice or seen his form, 38 and you do not have his word abiding in you, because you do not believe him whom he has sent.

39 “You search the scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that testify on my behalf. 40 Yet you refuse to come to me to have life. 41 I do not accept glory from human beings. 42 But I know that you do not have the love of God in you. 43 I have come in my Father’s name, and you do not accept me; if another comes in his own name, you will accept him. 44 How can you believe when you accept glory from one another and do not seek the glory that comes from the one who alone is God? 45 Do not think that I will accuse you before the Father; your accuser is Moses, on whom you have set your hope. 46 If you believed Moses, you would believe me, for he wrote about me. 47 But if you do not believe what he wrote, how will you believe what I say?”

Do Not Be Afraid

“Maycomb was an old town, but it was a tired old town when I first knew it…People moved slowly them.  They ambled across the square, shuffled in and out of the stores around it, took their time about everything.  A day was twenty-four hours long but seemed longer.  There was no hurry, for there was nowhere to go, nothing to buy and no money to buy it with, nothing to see outside the boundaries of Maycomb County.   But it was a time of vague optimism for some of the people:  Maycomb County had recently been told that it had nothing to fear but fear itself.” 

Writing in early 1930s Depression-Era America, Harper Lee offers perspective regarding the terrified malaise of Southern Alabama in my favorite novel, To Kill a Mockingbird.  Throughout these last twenty-one months, humans have come face-to-face with our own humanity. 

The trials we have faced in the last two years have been nothing new in the scope of human existence, but they have been OUR trials, new to us.  Amidst all the cancellations and changes and challenges, these last months have forced us to re-evaluate how we function in the world, in our friend groups, and in our families.  We have watched and waited.  We are tired, and having come face to face with our own humanity, we are afraid.

But you know what?  I cannot help but think of what our Gospel readings have been these last months.  Jesus, awakened from a swift slumber in the boat, questioned his terrified disciples: “Why are you afraid?”  Again, Jesus asks in Matthew why those surrounding Him have so little faith; He encourages them not to be afraid.  Jesus tells Simon not to be afraid, that soon he will be fishing for men.  Jesus calls to His disciples as He walks on water not to be afraid.  He tells Mary and Martha not to be afraid that their brother Lazarus has died.

We are not the little four-year-old shrieking child shivering and shaking from a soul-sucking nightmare padding into her parents’ or grandparents’ bedroom needing to be shown that there is no boogeyman under the bed.  We are not that sweet innocent being told, “There’s nothing under the bed.  There’s nothing in the closet.  See?  There’s nothing to be afraid of.”  No, we are not that child. 

For us, Jesus speaks to this emotion.  When he asks why the disciples are afraid, He never tells them that the source of their fear doesn’t exist.  He never tells them that there isn’t anything to be afraid of.  As a matter of fact, Jesus knows the source is real.  He knows it will bite and sting and burn.  However, He also knows that Who He is and Who sent Him are vastly more that any fear or dread. 

Jesus says that we seek the Scriptures and they testify on His behalf.  They testify that there will be wars and disease and natural catastrophes.  These events are not new.  And even with the study of Scriptures, we refuse to come to Him.  Perhaps we refuse to believe in Him and in His glory.  After all, couldn’t He make this all stop if He wanted to?  Perhaps we refuse to believe that He is actually in control of the chaos we have lived in these last months.  Perhaps we cannot bear to go to Him with our fear, our grief, our rage, our loneliness; after all, if we believed in Him, we shouldn’t have these horrifying emotions, should we?

The Rev. Janie Koch

Rector, All Saints’ McAllister

Episcopal Diocese of Oklahoma

Endings and Beginnings

December 11th, 2021

Matthew 24: 1-14 

24 As Jesus came out of the temple and was going away, his disciples came to point out to him the buildings of the temple. 2 Then he asked them, “You see all these, do you not? Truly I tell you, not one stone will be left here upon another; all will be thrown down.”

3 When he was sitting on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately, saying, “Tell us, when will this be, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?” 4 Jesus answered them, “Beware that no one leads you astray. 5 For many will come in my name, saying, ‘I am the Messiah!’ and they will lead many astray. 6 And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars; see that you are not alarmed; for this must take place, but the end is not yet. 7 For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and there will be famines and earthquakes in various places: 8 all this is but the beginning of the birth pangs.

9 “Then they will hand you over to be tortured and will put you to death, and you will be hated by all nations because of my name. 10 Then many will fall away, and they will betray one another and hate one another. 11 And many false prophets will arise and lead many astray. 12 And because of the increase of lawlessness, the love of many will grow cold. 13 But the one who endures to the end will be saved. 14 And this good news of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the world, as a testimony to all the nations; and then the end will come.

Endings and Beginnings

“Not a stone here will be left on another; every one will be thrown down … what will be the sign of your coming and the end of the age? …  There will be famines and earthquakes in various places.  All these are the beginning of birth pains … and then the end will come.” 

If I’m honest with myself, the vivid imagery offered at the beginning of the twenty-fourth chapter of Matthew’s Gospel is disturbing for me to read.  And yet, in the middle of these images of the world coming to an end is the phrase “birth pains,” which catches my attention as a mother of two. 

I remember throughout my pregnancy being in utter awe of my body and all it was equipped/designed to do/create to bring to life.  I learned early on that it was best to pay attention – eat before I became hungry, rest before I collapsed, marvel when it struck me, and take it one day at a time.  It was hard work, and I wasn’t exactly a spring chicken.   

Finally, the day arrived and I spent the first half of it in disbelief it had really arrived.  As it was my first, my body too seemed slow to pick up on how the “process worked.”  My birth attendant got me settled in at home with plans to check in early in the morning; things picked up hours after she left and it seemed I was ready to head to the hospital.  At the hospital the nurse declared, “you aren’t in active labor,” which meant there wasn’t a bed in the hospital for me; I returned home.  Back at home, a little more time passed and things intensified, so we trekked back to the hospital where I was again yet told, “you aren’t in active labor.”  Suffice it to say, it was a long, long night.  

Early in the wee hours of the morning, I could take it no more.  We set off for the third time to the hospital.  We must have found every crack in the road between our house and the hospital, and each one felt like running into pothole after pothole.  I was well over 24 hours with no food and could barely ride across town without shrieking, much less walking.  My arrival at the hospital was not a quiet affair; nor did the nurse need check to make sure I was in “active labor.”  And, I finally got a bed.   

I remember being in such pain and asking my birth attendant upon her arrival, “Is it going to get worse?”  “Yes,” she said, to which I begged her for an epidural.  This is the same person I rated at 9.5 out of 10 on a scale of the importance of birthing naturally to me just the previous week.  “I can’t do this! I can’t do this!” I told her in a state of panic while looking her square in the eyes as our faces were nose to nose.  It didn’t get any better.   Eventually with her help I figured out how to endure through the birth pains because there was no stopping them.   They just kept rolling through my body with less and less time in between - this baby was coming one way or another and my body and my life would never look or be the same.  My world, as I knew, it would end.  

And yet, the end was really a beginning. 

I think back on my experience of carrying two babies in my womb during the season of Advent and the coming beauty the “birth pains” set in motion.  I think back and remember all the excitement, the fear, the questions – can I really do this, the tiredness, the waiting, the risk and the dependence on others, not to mention the physical pain and messiness.  All of these “birth pains” and more were required to bring my little ones into the world.  There was only one way through. 

And it is not only how my children and every other child has entered the world since the beginning of time, but it is how God - Emmanuel, God with Us - chose to enter into our world to dwell with us.   

And our world has never been the same.  

May you endure through the “birth pains” encountered this season of Advent, trusting in the new beginning that awaits you in Christ. 

The Rev. Stephanie Jenkins

Rector, St. Andrew’s, Lawton

Episcopal Diocese of Oklahoma

Praying through the Apocalypse

December 10th, 2021

Matthew 23:27-39

27 “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of the bones of the dead and everything unclean. 28 In the same way, on the outside you appear to people as righteous but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness.

29 “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You build tombs for the prophets and decorate the graves of the righteous. 30 And you say, ‘If we had lived in the days of our ancestors, we would not have taken part with them in shedding the blood of the prophets.’ 31 So you testify against yourselves that you are the descendants of those who murdered the prophets. 32 Go ahead, then, and complete what your ancestors started!

33 “You snakes! You brood of vipers! How will you escape being condemned to hell? 34 Therefore I am sending you prophets and sages and teachers. Some of them you will kill and crucify; others you will flog in your synagogues and pursue from town to town. 35 And so upon you will come all the righteous blood that has been shed on earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah son of Berekiah, whom you murdered between the temple and the altar. 36 Truly I tell you, all this will come on this generation.

37 “Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were not willing. 38 Look, your house is left to you desolate. 39 For I tell you, you will not see me again until you say, ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.’]”

Praying through the Apocalypse

We like to think that the apocalypse is about the end times, but really it is about revelation. We all have been wondering of late, “what is revealed when things end?”

We have endured/are still enduring a period of great ending. These pandemic months have ended friendships, good habits and bad. Jobs have ended, life as it was once lived was ended. 

And what was revealed?

 A great revelation for us all was that we can do hard things. We can adapt and shift, which is incredibly difficult, and yet, we did it. 

For me, prayer was a constant presence through the great revelations of the past many months. And while I would never wish to repeat a global pandemic, there has always been something about praying through the revealing moments in my life that brought me closer to God. In this great revealing I have been led again and again to the reminder that God is, to quote Jeremiah, “in the midst of us” (14:9). 

As we continue through the season of Advent, expectantly waiting for the revelation of God among us, may we remember that we are well practiced in praying through the end of life as we know it. May we apply this practice in praying our way into new beginnings as well. 

The Very Rev. Katie Churchwell

Dean, St. Paul’s Cathedral

Episcopal Diocese of Oklahoma

Holy Questions

December 9th, 2021

Matthew 23:13-26 

‘But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you lock people out of the kingdom of heaven. For you do not go in yourselves, and when others are going in, you stop them. Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you cross sea and land to make a single convert, and you make the new convert twice as much a child of hell as yourselves.

‘Woe to you, blind guides, who say, “Whoever swears by the sanctuary is bound by nothing, but whoever swears by the gold of the sanctuary is bound by the oath.” You blind fools! For which is greater, the gold or the sanctuary that has made the gold sacred? And you say, “Whoever swears by the altar is bound by nothing, but whoever swears by the gift that is on the altar is bound by the oath.” How blind you are! For which is greater, the gift or the altar that makes the gift sacred? So whoever swears by the altar, swears by it and by everything on it; and whoever swears by the sanctuary, swears by it and by the one who dwells in it; and whoever swears by heaven, swears by the throne of God and by the one who is seated upon it.

‘Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint, dill, and cumin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faith. It is these you ought to have practiced without neglecting the others. You blind guides! You strain out a gnat but swallow a camel. 

‘Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you clean the outside of the cup and of the plate, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence. You blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup, so that the outside also may become clean.”

Holy Questions

Jesus has come to the end of his patience with the very people who ought to be the first ones to recognize who he is and what he’s up to.  The scribes (“lawyers” in older translations) were the educated class, trained as readers and interpreters of the Torah, the teachings and traditions of the faith of Israel.  As such, they ought to have understood that the Messiah, the Chosen One, God’s Special Servant, would not be in the mold of a political or military power broker, but rather one who would step away from such aspirations.  This peculiar Redeemer would even go so far as to allow himself to be put to death, rather than resort to the tools and techniques of imperial violence and domination.  (At the very moment of his arrest, Jesus will order his followers: “Put your sword back into its place; for all who take the sword will perish by the sword.” (Matt. 26:52)  A strange sort of Savior indeed! 

For their part, the Pharisees were devout and earnest lay people.  They wanted to make the ways and practices of faith available to all the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob—not just the clergy and the elite classes.  “As a lay movement outside of the Temple administration, the goal of the Pharisees was to renew and extend the observance of Jewish practice in society.” (The Jewish Annotated New Testament, p. 64) They appear most frequently as opponents of Jesus and his followers in the Gospels, perhaps because they have the most in common.  “Adherents of a particular group or set of beliefs often polemicize most strongly against those who share similar, but not identical, beliefs.” (TJANT, p. 41) Beliefs and practices of all sorts, ranging from proper Sabbath observance, to customs around washings and meal rituals, to acts of charity and healing—all these mattered to Jesus and his followers, and to the Pharisees as well.  So, they too, in the estimation of the author of the Gospel of Matthew, ought to have been among the first ones to understand what Jesus was doing during his earthly ministry.

This passage, and indeed most of the Gospel readings appointed for the Daily Office during Advent, do not feel particularly ‘Christmassy’ to us.

Because in the Gospel, it’s not Christmas.  It’s Holy Week.

Time is up—for Jesus and his followers.

The Advent—the Coming, the Visitation—of God is upon them all.

The Last Supper, and Jesus’ crucifixion and death and burial, are just around the corner.

Jesus is on a bit of a rant at the moment.  “How is it that you do not understand?” he cries out in frustration at the seemingly willful resistance he encounters, from both trained scholars of the scriptures, and from well-meaning and serious-minded people who are committed to the practices of faith in daily life.  And yet even with all that training, in spite of all those good intentions, they have somehow missed the point.  “You tithe…[but] have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faith. It is these you ought to have practiced without neglecting the others.…You strain out a gnat but swallow a camel!”

What would Jesus say to us?  I wonder. How have I been “Pharisaical”, commending faithful behaviors and habits to others, while neglecting them in my own life and practice? How have I ignored the connections and conflicts between my own awareness of Holy Scripture, and my lived experience? How have I refused or neglected to acknowledge Christ’s presence in my encounters with others, in even the most ordinary circumstances? What gnats have I strained out of a cup, while consuming entire camels without noticing?

Lord, have mercy.

O Wisdom,

coming forth from the mouth of the Most High,

reaching from one end to the other mightily,

and sweetly ordering all things:

Come, and teach us the way of prudence.

Amen.

The Rev. Dr. Jason Haddox

Priest at Trinity Church, Guthrie

Episcopal Diocese of Oklahoma

Phylacteries and Fringes

Wednesday, December 8

Matthew 23:1-12

Then Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples, “The scribes and the Pharisees sit on Moses’ seat; therefore, do whatever they teach you and follow it; but do not do as they do, for they do not practice what they teach. They tie up heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on the shoulders of others; but they themselves are unwilling to lift a finger to move them. They do all their deeds to be seen by others; for they make their phylacteries broad and their fringes long. They love to have the place of honor at banquets and the best seats in the synagogues, and to be greeted with respect in the market-places, and to have people call them rabbi. But you are not to be called rabbi, for you have one teacher, and you are all students. And call no one your father on earth, for you have one Father—the one in heaven. Nor are you to be called instructors, for you have one instructor, the Messiah. The greatest among you will be your servant. All who exalt themselves will be humbled, and all who humble themselves will be exalted.”

Phylacteries and Fringes

This should be a difficult text for Episcopalians, particularly for the clergy. We generally like to dress up, and we are often given seats of honor. We have exchanged phylacteries and fringes for collars, but we still stand out in a crowd. We are called mother or father, and one of our primary roles is that of a teacher. All of this should give us pause and invite us to reflect on how these practices shape our soul, our life, and our ministries. I’ll leave it at that.

If we can get past reducing this text to a proverb: “Do as I say, not as I do.” and get past the all too apparent challenges to Episcopal piety, we can hear the two great commandments upon which the ministry of Jesus is founded: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.” This is the greatest and first commandment. And a second is like it: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” (Matthew 22: 37-39)

I don’t believe that anyone who tries to love God and their neighbor intentionally sets out to make themselves an idol. I think that this happens over time as we gradually lose focus. Phylacteries and fringes started out as a reminder of the most important aspects of faith. However, phylacteries and fringes are easily seen. God is not. I don’t believe that faithful people start out seeking recognition, but I do think that recognition is an addictive distraction and that we oftentimes use it as a measure of success, and it can feed the emptiness within us.

Bishop Claude Payne used to say, “Let’s keep the main thing the main thing.” That’s what I hear Jesus saying. His words in Matthew 23 provide practical focus for those who seek to love God and to love our neighbor. In order to love God above all things, we must love our neighbors as ourselves. In order to love God above all things, we cannot love God as ourselves.

Laying aside the incidentals, we should endeavor to expand our “contact lists” and allow our lives to be affected by those we don’t know, but are called to love. I have little doubt that Jesus held the words of the prophet Micah in his heart when he spoke: “He has told you, O mortal, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?” (Micah 6:8)

Come Lord Jesus!

The Rev. Dr. Mark Story

Rector, St. Mary’s, Edmond

Episcopal Diocese of Oklahoma

ONE MORE TIME...LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR

December 7th, 2021

Matthew 22: 34-46 

34 When the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together, 35 and one of them, a lawyer, asked him a question to test him. 36 “Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?” 37 He said to him, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ 38 This is the greatest and first commandment. 39 And a second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ 40 On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.”

41 Now while the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them this question: 42 “What do you think of the Messiah? Whose son is he?” They said to him, “The son of David.” 43 He said to them, “How is it then that David by the Spirit calls him Lord, saying,

44 ‘The Lord said to my Lord,
“Sit at my right hand,
    until I put your enemies under your feet”’?

45 If David thus calls him Lord, how can he be his son?” 46 No one was able to give him an answer, nor from that day did anyone dare to ask him any more questions. 

One More Time…Love Your Neighbor

Advent readings are always a combination of reflecting on the coming of a baby in Bethlehem and an anticipation of Christ coming again in glory.  In between those two events are the here and now of our present with Jesus who lives among us and in us.  We remember his birth and look forward to his coming again, but we are faced with what it means to live with Him now. Yes, we wait, but the tension of the present is ever with us.

The tension seems even greater in this time in our nation and world. It is as if our frustration with a never ending covid pandemic has made us so angry as a people that we lash out looking for someone or something to blame.  The polarization seems greater than ever.  Today, as I write, an unpopular court decision has come down that is seeming drive us even further apart.  We are rushing headlong from one election to the next with our slogans, our frustration, and our fears without even taking a moment to catch our breath and truly rest…and wait. 

So once again the Gospel reminds us that Jesus said to love God and love our neighbor.  The inevitable question arises…Who is my neighbor? As Episcopalians we are fond of quoting this scripture and reminding others that this means love your neighbor, regardless of the color of their skin, their sexual preference, their nationality, and their political party.  We invoke our baptismal covenant and our commitment “to strive for justice and peace among all people, and respect the dignity of every human being.”

And well we should, but what about this:  Love your neighbor even if they hold views of white supremacy, regardless of their position on masks and vaccinations, and even if they hate everything we stand for.  We know what Jesus would say, for He already has.  Love your neighbor, even the ones you don’t like. When Jesus says to hate the sin but not the sinner, this is what it means.  We don’t have to like what they do, but we do have to love them. 

There is only one way that happens.  We have to “love the Lord our God with all our heart, with all our soul, and with all our mind.”  When we do that, His love flows to us, through us, and to those around us.  We are to recognize that He loves them all.  But we have no promise that our neighbor will love us, only a command to love our neighbor.

That is not easy but this Covid waiting time is presenting us with an opportunity to be real.  We have time while we wait.  I have a proposition.  When you are watching or reading the news, try praying for the person who is causing your blood to boil.  Ask to see that person through the eyes of Jesus.  Put it to the test.  This isn’t easy but with His love flowing through us, it is possible and…love your neighbor.

Mother Gloria Walters

Vicar, St. Luke’s Idabel and St. Mark’s Hugo

Episcopal Diocese of Oklahoma

Righteous Rage

December 6th, 2021 

Matthew 22:23-33 

23 The same day some Sadducees came to him, saying there is no resurrection; and they asked him a question, saying, 24 “Teacher, Moses said, ‘If a man dies childless, his brother shall marry the widow, and raise up children for his brother.’ 25 Now there were seven brothers among us; the first married, and died childless, leaving the widow to his brother. 26 The second did the same, so also the third, down to the seventh. 27 Last of all, the woman herself died. 28 In the resurrection, then, whose wife of the seven will she be? For all of them had married her.”

29 Jesus answered them, “You are wrong, because you know neither the scriptures nor the power of God. 30 For in the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven. 31 And as for the resurrection of the dead, have you not read what was said to you by God, 32 ‘I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’? He is God not of the dead, but of the living.” 33 And when the crowd heard it, they were astounded at his teaching.

Righteous Rage

I have been filled with rage a lot lately. That might be a strange thing for a priest to admit, but it’s true. And I suspect that I’m not the only one. My rage is usually at the injustices of the world and how truly awful humans can be to one another. Or how many people just don’t even seem to care. I can easily get on a soapbox and tell you all the ways the world should be. And there’s truth there. There’s plenty of reason to rage. Seriously...  just look around at the world. And yet, I need to be careful. I’ve noticed that righteous rage can easily turn petty. It can go from disagreements about important issues to simply picking apart everything someone says. It can go from listening and trying to understand someone, to just trying to make them look like an idiot. If I don’t put rage into action, if I don’t channel for good, my rage ends up hurting others and myself.

When rage takes over, I certainly don’t make the world a better place. 

Now, don’t get me wrong, I don’t plan on giving rage up this Advent season. I’m not turning all Jingle Bells and sugar cookies. Rather, I’m going to live into what Advent is all about. Advent is about acknowledging the darkness. It’s about seeing the injustices of the world. It’s about reading the prophets and their fiery proclamations and recognizing that they are speaking to the world not just back then, but today. So, this Advent, I’m going to rage at it all. I’m going to feel deeply why humanity needs a Savior. I’m going to cry out for Emmanuel, God with us. 

Then, and only then, I’m going to also look for signs of hope and light and beauty in the world.

I’m going to watch for the many ways God continues to show up. This Advent season calls us to take all of the rage and all of the heartache and follow God in doubling down on love. After all, God could have given up on us, but instead God went all-in at Christmas. So, this Advent, I will do my best to follow. I will show up and speak up in ways that matter. And I will also step down from my soapbox and simply listen and try my best to understand. I will give of my time, money, and heart to spreading love. I will put words into action. This is what it means to follow God in Advent…and every other day. We must feel the rage, and then, we must double down on love.

With God’s help, we really can make the world a better place. 

The Rev. Kirsten Baer

Chaplain, Casady School

Episcopal Diocese of Oklahoma

We Live or Die by the Clock

December 5th, 2021

Luke 1: 57-68 

57 Now the time came for Elizabeth to give birth, and she bore a son. 58 Her neighbors and relatives heard that the Lord had shown his great mercy to her, and they rejoiced with her.

59 On the eighth day they came to circumcise the child, and they were going to name him Zechariah after his father. 60 But his mother said, “No; he is to be called John.” 61 They said to her, “None of your relatives has this name.” 62 Then they began motioning to his father to find out what name he wanted to give him. 63 He asked for a writing tablet and wrote, “His name is John.” And all of them were amazed. 64 Immediately his mouth was opened and his tongue freed, and he began to speak, praising God. 65 Fear came over all their neighbors, and all these things were talked about throughout the entire hill country of Judea. 66 All who heard them pondered them and said, “What then will this child become?” For, indeed, the hand of the Lord was with him.

We Live or Die by the Clock

The movie, Cast Away, starring Tom Hanks who serves as a troubleshooter for FedEx, stresses the importance of accomplishment and speed. He tells employees, “We live or die by the clock.” So dedicated is he to this mantra, that he isn’t able to celebrate Christmas with his girlfriend (played by Helen Hunt) trading presents in the car as he is whisked away to fix another problem. Tragedy strikes and he is the only survivor of a plane crash that leaves him stranded on a deserted island for four years with only Wilson, a volleyball, as his companion. Half of the movie, 80 minutes, is essentially a silent movie. Suddenly the clock becomes meaningless. 

Deserted Island is a game where you imagine if you only had one restaurant, one food, one book on a deserted island what would you want it to be. I wonder after you had read “Lonesome Dove” for the umpteenth time what would you think about on a deserted island?

Zechariah, John the Baptist’s father, was unable to speak for the 9 months that John was in his mother’s womb. In those moments of silence, unable to speak, what did Zechariah think about? We got some clue in the Song of Zechariah—his response after the power of speech is returned to him. 

Zechariah did not believe God when he was told his wife, in her old age, would bear a child. The silence was a discipline placed on him so he could reflect on and learn to trust in God. When John was born, people assumed he would be named for his father, but instead Elizabeth names him John. The people worried she has made a mistake go and ask Zechariah what the child’s name is and he writes “John”, the name that was given to them by God. In those nine months of silence, Zechariah had learned to trust in God and be obedient to God.

One of the toughest parts of this past year, for me, is the realization of how little control I have on much of my life. As I reflect back on the times, I see how I was angry at how people were, or more generally were not, reacting to the virus. I needed the illusion of control, progress, certainty, and the past 18 months have taught me that most of those are mirages.

Dr. Kara Slade reflects on the modern Christian tendency to think the world is ours to save and fix when, in reality, humans are more often the problem, not the solution. She writes, “And Jesus Christ must be at the heart of our conviction that the kingdom of God is his to bring in, and not ours. The world is not ours to save. The church is not ours to preserve. God does that in a continuous and sovereign act of Providence. God is the acting subject of our theological grammar, not us.”

This is at the heart of our conviction of Jesus, that we need something outside ourselves to save us. As they say in AA, “My best decisions led me here.” Zechariah in those nine months of silence realized it is God who saves and delivers.

 Maybe we all need some silence.

The Rev. Everett C. Lees, DMin

Vicar, Christ Church, Tulsa

Episcopal Diocese of Oklahoma