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  

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