Timely Headlines

 

Dear Friends

Just home from five wonderful weeks in Almaden Valley (just outside San Jose), I am now looking forward to continuing my “Sunday Substitute” role  through October (with just one Sunday off). My driver (Kathleen) will be taking me to Irvine, Riverside, Redlands, Fullerton and Carmel Valley.

As some of you know, I am always on the lookout for PSI’s (possible sermon illustrations), though sometimes they just appear, ready to go, without warning. Such is the case for tomorrow and next Sunday. For tomorrow, I was already planning on preaching on Jesus’ answer to his disciples’ request---“Lord, teach us to pray”. And then three days ago, the headline pictured above appeared: “FALLEN ANGELS HAVEN’T (A) PRAYER”. Of course, I will make the point that every Sunday we pray “…for angels, archangels and all the company of heaven…” just before the Eucharist prayer! What makes this especially fun is that the parish I am preaching at, is just a few miles from Anaheim Stadium.

And then, after seeing the recent picture taken by the Hubble telescope and reading the accompanying op-ed appearing in the LA Times last Sunday---“A WONDEROUS ANTIDOTE TO TODAY’S GRIM WORLD”--- how can I not preach on these words from the second reading appointed for next Sunday: “Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth…”

Illustrations don’t always come “just in time”. But it has happened more often than I would have ever expected when I started preaching 40 years ago. Thanks be to God that they are not just still coming, but that I still have some opportunities to share them from time to time.

John  

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

 

 

Take a vote!

Dear Friends

First, let us pray these words from the Burial Office found in our  Book of Common Prayer:

O God, whose beloved Son took children into his arms and blessed them: Give us grace to entrust _______ to your never-failing care and love, and bring us all to your heavenly kingdom; through Jesus Christ our Lord...Amen.

I had planned to send out a 70^th Birthday Blog today, but that can wait. I, perhaps like some of you, am trying to balance my mixed emotions of “weeping with those who weep” and dealing with some real anger.

Thanks to President Biden, Senator Chris Murphy and Warriors coach Steve Kerr for expressing some of the anger I am feeling.

As for action, I have called my two senators to summarize my letter below, which was published in the Press Enterprise last Sunday:

Senate Democrats seem to care more about a woman’s choice to have an abortion than my choice to go grocery shopping or to church (and now to drop off someone I love at school), without the fear of being shot. It took them just a few weeks to write, debate and put the “Woman’s Health Protection Act” to a vote, in response to a leaked memo. They knew it wouldn’t pass, but they wanted to get Senators’ votes on the record.

In the meantime, HR 8, the bipartisan universal background check bill passed by the House well over a year ago, continues to collect dust on Senator Chuck Schumer’s desk. And nothing has been done for decades to reinstate the ban on assault weapons which are made to and continue to kill many people quickly.

Why would we send our current Democrat Senators back to Congress with our votes, if they aren’t even willing to take a vote on overwhelmingly popular, common sense gun legislation? Are they afraid of being on the record for supporting such measures?

John Saville   Corona, Ca.

Lord have mercy upon us.

John

                  Letter to the editor and the headlines that inspired it

 

 

 

 

 

 Dear Friends

Forty years ago yesterday, I graduated from General Theological Seminary in New York City, the oldest of our Episcopal Seminaries. (In the picture, I am on the far left.) It has been a wonderful 40 years of ministry, including the last five being retired. And the retirement opportunities continue---I will be doing vacation supply for 15 of the next 16 Sundays at five different churches. I am glad to provide some rest and respite for my still front line colleagues! 

And now back to the blog: 

Question: What do Petula Clark, the Mamas and the Papas and Alvin and the Chipmunks have in common?

Answer: They all recorded versions of the 1964 Billy Page hit song called, “The In Crowd”

I used this as an illustration last Sunday when I was preaching on the lesson from Acts (11:1-18). It includes the story of Paul’s vision which helped him understand the radical idea that God had poured out the Holy Spirit on the once excluded Gentiles also, that “God has given even unto the Gentiles the repentance that leads to life.” Words from the lesson which especially stuck with me included “The Spirit told me to go with them and not to make a distinction between them and us.”

In other words, with God, there is no “in crowd”. God plays no favorites. “God shows no partiality” to quote from Acts 10:34.

I could share more of my sermon (to help you get to sleep tonight) but here is something better. A member came up to me after the service. She has a habit of taking notes during the sermon and fashioning them into a poem and giving it to the preacher immediately after the service! Here it is:

With God there is no “in crowd”

So we say it clear and loud

God doesn’t care about your pedigree

Doesn’t discriminate between me and thee

Clean or unclean it matters not

We need to share the good news we got

So toss out the labels, fully embrace

Anyone, everyone receives God’s grace

It starts when we stop with us and them

Until the whole family of God can shout “Amen”.

 

Needless to say, I was blown away! Her 10 line poem summarized the message I took 12 minutes to deliver.

Most importantly, in light of recent events in Buffalo and Laguna Woods, it is a critical message we need to continue to share and spread and act upon.

John

P.S. Below is the poem she handed me

 

 

 

Pen is mightier than sword

 

Dear Friends

I agree that some pictures are worth a thousand words. Of course, some pictures leave us speechless, (not to mention our emotions which have been so disturbed and drained by pictures coming from Ukraine over the last few weeks).

But words can be powerful too. The quote “The pen is mightier than the sword”, according to Wikipedia, was spoken by English author Edward Bulwer-Lytton in 1839, indicating that “the written word is more effective than violence as a tool for communicating a point.”

The world has been moved by the powerful words which have and continue to be spoken by President Zelensky. I would simply like to share some other words, written about a madman named Hitler, words which also speak to a current madman named Putin, words which are currently making the rounds on social media.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer, the martyred pastor and theologian who stood up to Hitler wrote,

“If I sit next to a madman as he drives a car into a group of innocent bystanders, I can’t, as a Christian, simply wait for the catastrophe, then comfort the wounded and bury the dead. I must try to wrestle the steering wheel out of the hands of the driver.”

Along with prayers for all who are suffering, and all those negotiating for some kind of peace, I pray for those in a position to wrestle the steering wheel out of the current madman’s hands.

John