Thanksgiving Exercise

 

Dear Friends

Happy Thanksgiving Day! I just want to share a prayer by Avery Brooke and suggest an exercise to do alone, or with a group, today, or any day.

We have many things to be thankful for God,

and sometimes we remember them and other times we forget.

When something large or small goes wrong, it fills our minds,

and we forget those things for which---when we remember---

we are thankful.

Help us to remember the good things, God.

To name them, to savor them, and be thankful for you. Amen.

So how about using this prayer to take some time and write down the specific things in a word or phrase, that come to mind when we consider the five senses we have been given:

Tastes

Sounds

Smells

Sights

Touches

And finally, as the cartoon which appeared today on my turn a page calendar, quoting Ephesians 1:16 says, today I am giving thanks for you!

John

 

All Leftovers Day

 

Dear Friends

Of course today is All Saints Day. But thanks to some saints, it is also, for me, All Leftovers Day!

The first saints were the kids that didn’t show up at our front door last night and St. Emily who left some beverages we didn’t finish consuming last night. Thus, I began today with a leftover breakfast (see picture above). I am, however, as I rub my stomach, left with a few questions:

Should I be concerned that except for sugar, water, enriched flour, really high fructose corn syrup and Yellow 5 and Red 40, I couldn’t pronounce the other 29 ingredients?

Should I be concerned that the box said “Contains bioengineered food ingredients”?

Should I be concerned that there was a stamp on the box which said “Best used by November 23^rd, 2014”? Just kidding, it was 2015. No, it was 2022.

Now that I have finished my mid-morning alka-seltzer, I am looking  forward to an all leftover lunch and dinner thanks to St. Kathleen! Choices will include her traditional Halloween Chili and Cornbread, her Saturday night oven fried chicken, and Sunday noon’s leftover one half bacon breakfast burrito and leftover one-half BLT and fries plate, ordered by St. Kathleen from Burger Basket, at my request, on our way home from church on Sunday.

Speaking of saints, we are all saints, of course, by virtue of our baptisms, when we were set apart to do our best to follow Christ’s teachings and example. There are so many words from so many hymns I could quote, but I will limit them to these (which I have modified), as a reminder that in spite of the news which over-emphasizes people behaving badly, there are far more who are acting decently, with kindness and great courage, in spite of their challenging circumstances:

They lived not only in ages past, there are hundreds of thousands still

The world is bright with the joyous saints who love to do Jesus’ will

You can meet them in church, or at work or at school,

People doing their best, trying to live by God’s rule

For the saints of God are folk just like me, and I mean to be one too.  

John

Time for a change

Dear Friends

Below is my letter to the editor, just mailed in response to the Press Enterprise endorsement of Ken Calvert this morning.  In case it is not published, I am sharing it now. If it is published, I will ask Kathleen to share it again and maybe some others will also share it to encourage like-minded folk to be sure and vote. I think it is significant that their endorsement was so lukewarm. Maybe some of his past supporters will also wonder if three decades is enough and it is time for a change.  

The Press Enterprise’s lukewarm endorsement of Congressman Ken Calvert, while not surprising, is disappointing. The congressman has done some good things during his 15 terms. But in recent years, he has drifted into the arms and still welcomes the embrace and endorsement of Donald Trump. Waving above the many red flags that point to this disturbing behavior, was his vote, just hours after the insurrection on January 6^th, to try to further delay the peaceful transfer of power. Calvert had been a Trump enabler; on January 6th, he became joined at Trump’s hip.

    After three decades it’s time for a change in leadership. It’s time to elect Will Rollins, a new leader for a new district, someone who can also do some good but is not beholden to Trump and his shrinking base. 

Just doing my part to try and strengthen our democracy!  

John

Well done, your majesty

 

BREAKING NEWS: It has come to my attention that all McDonalds in the UK will be closed on Monday until 5 pm, in honor of the Queen’s funeral. I think this is a Big MacSteak! What about all the Scottish folk who were counting on an Egg McMuffin for breakfast!?

And now back to my irregular blog...

Dear Friends

How can people not think of Queen Elizabeth II, when they hear the opening verse of this Sunday’s second lesson:

"First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions and thanksgivings be made for everyone, for kings and all who are in high positions, so that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and dignity." (1 Timothy 2:1-2)

In the 1662 Book of Common Prayer, people pray that under the monarch, “we may be godly and quietly governed.”

This leads me to these words from an Op-ed in last Sunday’s LA Times, titled “Her Majesty was a pretty nice queen without a lot to say”:

“In an age when everyone has an opinion---when everyone in public life feels an urge to tell all about their grumbles and gripes and grievances, she never did. That is exactly why she---and the monarchy---became a stabilizing factor in a time of upheaval…Perhaps the late queen’s lasting lesson is that we still need the illusion of steady leaders onto which we can project our own complicated feelings.”

Like you, I certainly have my convictions and opinions, but try to share only the most important ones, at appropriate times and in appropriate ways. Perhaps we can remember that under the crown and all the other trappings of the monarchy, (see picture above), Elizabeth had a secret power. She didn’t have to comment on everything! As a world leader for 70 years, through more changes and challenges than we can imagine, she remained steady and calm and collected, first and foremost a beloved wife, mother, grandmother and child of God, who lived and led, to quote 1 Timothy again, “a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and dignity.” 

After all the majestic fuss and beautiful traditions and liturgies are over on Monday, she will surely and finally get to rest in peace.

John

P.S. And speaking of keeping calm, and carrying on, here is a timely prayer:

 

 

 

 

The Heat is On

 Dear Friends

Are you feeling the heat?  Are you going to Sizzler’s this week?

Talk about sunny side up! I wonder how long it would take for an egg on the sidewalk to become poached, or an egg still in the shell to become hard boiled. How about roasting marshmallows---easy! No stick or hanger or long fork required. Just drop the mini sized ones on the sidewalk, wait ten seconds, turn them over, wait ten more seconds, and then pop them in your mouth. Jesus may have changed water into wine, but this coming eight days in Corona, we can change iced tea into hot tea, change chocolate milk into hot chocolate…the possibilities are endless.

Well, in the meantime, may I suggest some hymns, actually Christmas carols, for this coming Sunday?

How about #110, “The snow lay on the ground”?  Or the first verse of #112:

In the bleak mid-winter, frosty wind made moan,

Earth stood still as iron, water like a stone;

Snow had fallen snow on snow, snow on snow,

In the bleak mid-winter, long ago.*

And whatever else you do to cope this week, visualize and keep in mind this refrain: Let is snow, let it snow, let is snow. 

But while we are coping and waiting for cooler temperatures and perhaps praying for rain, we need to also be praying for those from Pakistan to Mississippi, where there is far too much rain, causing so much pain and suffering and death.

Finally, I am reminded of a lady who was asked what her favorite weather was. She said, "Next Tuesday", meaning that whatever each day brings, she embraces and makes the best of it. Talk about maintaining a positive attitude!

Lord, help me keep a positive attitude too.

John

*Many scholars, by the way, believe Jesus’ birth was in the spring.

Be like Vin and you always win

 Dear Friends

I want to simply add my “two cents worth” as the tributes to Vin Scully continue to roll in. When he retired six years ago, I put the following message on our church signboard, seen by hundreds of people every day:

BE LIKE VIN SCULLY

NOTICE AND PRAISE

THE GOOD IN EVERYONE

Needless to say, I was happy that a reporter noticed the sign and used it to begin his article. (See pictures below)

I use the same words today because even if he had never called a single baseball game in his life, he was a good and decent human being, a role model to emulate. Character counts and Vin Scully’s life counted and inspired millions.  

At the conclusion of the final game he called in Dodger Stadium, he shared the following Irish Blessing:

May God give you for every storm, a rainbow,

For every tear, a smile,

For every care, a promise,

And a blessing in each trial.

 

For every problem life sends,

A faithful friend to share,

For every sigh, a sweet song,

And an answer for each prayer.

 

So beyond all the great baseball calls and stories and memories that filled my childhood (and continued throughout my life), thank you “Vin” for reminding us of all that is good and decent and true, and showing us how to treat each other with kindness and respect.

Now the cry is not just Vin’s opening line “It’s time for Dodger Baseball”....

It’s time to be more like Vin Scully. 

Be like Vin and you always win!

John

 

 

 

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