Singing for your supper

 

Dear Friends

You’ve heard the expression, “Sing for your Supper”?  Well, at the rectory we are staying at, as I complete sabbatical and vacation supply for a friend, the dishes we use require us to sing for our meals three times a day! In case you can't read the words, they are

The Holly and the ivy when they are both full grown

Of all the trees that are in the wood, the holly bears the crown.

And sometimes, we end up singing more than once at each meal. These lyrics appear on the dinner plates, the salad plates, the soup bowls and the cereal bowls.

Of course, when the temperatures are in the high nineties, it’s kind of nice to be reminded of Christmas and cooler weather.

It makes you wonder about the news we heard a couple of days ago. I wonder what the "plate heard round the world" looked like. Below is someone's guess.

Well, I’ve got to go ketchup on washing the dishes and in Heinz-sight, I probably should wash the walls too. 

John

 

Have sermon will preach

Dear Friends

Five years ago today, June 4, 2017, I presided at my last service as rector of St. John’s. I trusted the Holy Spirit would open some new doors. I have not been disappointed! I have served in 14 parishes in four dioceses including the Dioceses of Alaska, El Camino Real, Hawaii, and of course, Los Angeles. I have done sabbatical coverage, interim ministry, vacation supply and single Sunday supply. I have served where there is a band providing the music (soloist and drums included!), where incense and Sanctus bells are used and where people come bare-footed.

While St. Michael’s, Anaheim, was my “home” parish growing up and St. John’s, Corona, is still my “home” parish, I try to consider, wherever I am on any given Sunday, my “home” for that day. I’ve had to let go of picking all the hymns and embrace and enjoy whatever local traditions are being practiced. Everywhere, the people have been wonderful and welcoming.

While willing to consider any opportunity that might come along, (“Have sermon, will travel/preach”) I am also enjoying being home more often, still being ready to serve on any given Sunday as needed. 

Excuse me now as I go and finish my Pentecost sermon for tomorrow. Visual aid---Red fruit punch POWER ADE to remind us of these verses:

"Stay in Jerusalem until you are clothed with the power from on high..." (Luke 24:49)

May the God of hope fill us with all joy and peace in believing through the power of the Holy Spirit…(Romans 15:13)

Glory to God whose power working in us, can do infinitely more than we can ask or imagine…(Ephesians 3:20)

John

 

 

 

Don't give up

Dear Friends

Last Sunday, in Taft, Oklahoma, after an argument, one person was killed by gunfire and seven were injured at an outdoor festival. The owner of a café just 100 feet from the shooting said, “We are upset, but everything is getting back to normal…the danger has passed.”

But just four days later and 45 miles away in Tulsa, Oklahoma, four people were killed by someone who was angry because he was still in pain after back surgery and decided to murder his surgeon. (It is reported that he bought one of the guns he used just hours before the shooting.)

Everything is not getting back to normal. The danger has not passed.

And I’m not just talking about daily mass shootings (20+ since Uvalde). The following report sadly and soberingly reminds us of the lingering, endless toll on those not included in death and injury statistics:

“Comfort dogs have been deployed to Ulvalde, Texas.” The article describes various groups that train handlers and their dogs to be sent out after traumatic events, including Lutheran Church Charities’ “Comfort Dog Ministry.” LLC’s president and CEO shared a powerful, bittersweet experience he witnessed shortly after Sandy Hook. He was at a community center with his dog, Howe, when a couple arrived with their young son. Howe looked up at the boy, got up, walked over to the boy, rolled into his legs, and the boy came down on top of him. They just laid there, he recalled. After about 10 minutes, the boy lifted Howe’s ear and told him everything that had happened in his classroom; his first words in four days, according to his parents.  

To mark National Gun Violence Awareness Day today (official color is orange for this movement), I ordered the shirt pictured above. The slogan “You have more power than you think” was a marketing tool for the old Cal-Fed bank and I used it often in my Pentecost Day sermons, as I will this Sunday. We have been empowered by the Holy Spirit to act. Just one call or letter or e-mail to a representative, represents hundreds of like-minded voices, and they know that. Your actions have more power than you think!

It will take time, but don’t give up. Keep on calling and writing and doing whatever you are led to do. We owe it to the next generation.

In the meantime, once again, Lord have mercy upon us.

John