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Lent 2A - March 5, 2023 Rev Sarah Colvin If you consider yourself a Christian, and chances are you do since we are in a church, or if you are a seeker and have found yourself at this church, I will presume that you all probably have some idea as to what the season of Lent is all about. For many, for years Lent has been a time of denial of worldly desires--linked to giving up something, like sweets, alcohol, chocolate, or all of the above. Lent can also be a time to take on a new spiritual practice. However, Lent as a liturgical season, originally was the time that people who were going to be baptized would receive instruction before their baptism at Easter. It was and continues to be this, and also, a whole congregation would journey alongside baptismal candidates, and so Lent then also becomes a time set apart to take stock of where we all are in relationship with God. Lent’s sister season Advent has the expectant feel, waiting for God to come again and again as a fragile vulnerable baby. Lent instead has more the feel that we are to examine our relationship with God. We become acutely aware of what God through Jesus has done through his suffering—suffering completed at least in order to be in relationship with us. It is then incumbent on us to see how we are making room for God in our lives. … or how we are not. Sometimes congregations in their Lenten penitent practices start Sunday services with a recitation of the Ten Commandments; and yet, our reading today from Paul’s letter to the Romans tells us something much more basic is at stake. It is not that the law is (or commandments are) unimportant, but that what is at stake is our humanity and our relationship with God. Remember that Abraham is Paul’s example of the patriarch who precedes Moses; temporally he comes before the Law comes. Paul also uses the story of Abraham’s reliance and faith in God as a rhetorical tool to include Gentiles into the fold of those following Jesus. It’s as if Paul uses a timeline to get Gentiles in through the back door. Paul doesn’t want to dismiss the law, but he uses Abraham as a person before the law, as proof positive of his acceptance by God as a useful argument as to why Gentiles should also be included. Because God previously accepted one before the law because he believed in God, then all descendants of Abraham would, therefore, also be able to be accepted. Knowing who God is, constitutes having Faith and being in relationship with God. Paul points out that Abraham is before the law to illustrate his point that the most important thing, like it is for Abraham, is the relationship we have with God. Faith IS that relationship. In our passage from Genesis, we have a small part of the stories of Abraham. And this passage is kind of plain and ordinary. It’s nothing flashy. There is a promise of blessings and a promise of curses. But I would draw your attention to the fact that it is not just that Abraham will receive blessings, but that those very blessings received by God allow Abraham to be a blessing to others. We are called more than anything else to be a blessing to someone else. Of course, Jesus takes it a step further… Let’s look the story of Nicodemus. Nicodemus knows that Jesus is the real deal. He calls him Rabbi and states clearly that Jesus couldn’t do these signs if he were not from God. And yet, Nicodemus comes in the night. He is a big deal Pharisee, and he doesn’t want his reputation tarnished by hanging out with the h’ oi peloi, even if it is Jesus who clearly does works from God. So, you see his conundrum. Jesus’ gentle rebuke of Nicodemus is to be born of the Spirit. In other words, to be the type of religious person (or even leader) that sets the world on fire. Jesus could also ask him, “Why are you coming here secretly in the middle of the night? Why is your faith something that doesn’t lead you into what the world needs? Why isn’t your faith helping others connect to God?” And so, we could rest easy with knowing we have the good news; but we are called to be a blessing, we are called to bless others. We can think of it as reciprocal. We believe in God and then God believes in us. It is God’s belief in us that then makes us a blessing to others. That is one of our jobs, to be a blessing to others. However, if this is good news, or Gospel, and we are descendants of Abraham, if we too are made righteous, Jesus then has the same questions for us. Why do we come in the dark? Why aren’t we setting the world on fire? How can our faith lead us into what the world needs? Why isn’t our faith helping others connect to God? We are to be a blessing. When we bless each other with love, and that love becomes a blessing to others, it then turns around and blesses us. To that end, I share a poem with you from Ganga White. What If? What if our religion was each other? If our practice was our life? If prayer was our words? What if the Temple was the Earth? If forests were our church? If holy water—the rivers, lakes and oceans? What if meditation was our relationships? If the Teacher was life? If wisdom was self-knowledge? If love was the center of our being If love was the center of our being, if love was the center of our being… … if God is love, what if God were the center of our being… So make room for your life with God, by making room for the blessing, and looking for God in the very act of loving the other and being loved by the other. We are called to love, as Christ, which is not about what we get, but what we give. For God so loved the world, and how God loves the world is how we are to love the world.

Epiphany 2, January 15, 2023 The Rev’d Shirley Smith Graham Today, we follow up on last Sunday’s Big Reveal. John the Baptist turned to Jesus and said, essentially, “Wait, you do know who you are, don’t you? You came to be baptized by me, but Jesus, I’m the one who should be baptized by you.” And in that cousin-to-cousin way of speaking short-hand, they work out an understanding. Though Jesus clearly is The One, nonetheless John will serve to initiate the action that will culminate in their Heavenly Father saying, “This is my Son, the Beloved, with whom I am well pleased.” But what does it mean to have God’s Son, the Beloved, walking the earth? Perhaps it’s this question that the organizers of the lectionary had in mind. Because, not only does this Sunday’s gospel answer this question, but the lectionary takes a detour to do it. Today is the only Sunday until March 5 that we read from a gospel other than Matthew. Today we read from John. But during all the other Sundays, we will be reading from Matthew. So, why the detour? One answer is this: we need to know what kind of difference it makes that Jesus walks the earth, and John tells us what that is. Clues to the answer pop out immediately. John’s Gospel, chapter 1, v. 32 recounts the same story of Jesus being baptized, but then goes on to immediately show the consequences of God’s Son walking among us. The very next day after the baptism, John is hanging out with his disciples. John sees Jesus walking by, and he exclaims: “Look, here is the Lamb of God!” Immediately, no hesitation, two of John’s disciples start following Jesus. Following, not in a philosophical kind of way like a student learning and following the teachings of a master-teacher. Oh no, this is literal following behind. Walking. We know this because Jesus turns around and sees them following him. Now, I want to pause here and invite you to be a little playful with me. (We know being playful is holy because God created the universe and us. And God would have to have a sense of humor to create us!) So, let’s use holy imagination a moment. I invite you to visualize a scene with me, and you can close your eyes or keep them open. You’re standing alongside John the Baptist. Maybe you’re a shopkeeper who supplies the disciples with bread. Maybe your kid has been hanging out with John, and you wonder what he’s all about. Maybe you are one of his students. So, you’re there with John. Suddenly, John sees Jesus and says, “Look, here is the Lamb of God!” And immediately, two people start walking behind Jesus. Jesus doesn’t even realize they are doing this, at first. Watching this reminds you of when David the goat-herder walks through town, and the neighborhood dogs start to follow him because they can smell what they like on his clothing. The pups always follow David down the street for a good while before he turns around and shoos them away. But you see something different. Jesus turns around to those two people, pauses, and says something to them. He doesn’t shoo them away. You can see, even from a distance, that he is talking to them. Actually talking to them, not like you’d imagine God’s Annointed to act — remote, distant, or from a seat of power and prestige. Instead, he is really talking to them. They respond. And then, the two people start to walk alongside Jesus, directly beside him. You watch them until they become specks in the distance. And now, coming out of our time of imagining we can open our eyes [if they’re not open already] and hear the conversation that we watched happen. Jesus said to the two, “What are you looking for?" If Jesus had been David the goat-herder and the two people had been pups, the answer would have been obvious— meat. But Jesus isn’t the goat-herder, so the question is necessary. What are they looking for? The answer Jesus gets seems like a non sequitur. They reply, “Where are you staying?” Hmmmm. Question: What are you looking for? Answer: Where are you staying? The answer only makes sense if what they are looking for is found in the person of Jesus, and they must be with Jesus to get what they need. So, perhaps they are like the neighborhood pups who follow the goat-herder. Jesus has something they need that is as essential and elemental as food. Yes, that sounds right. For Jesus will nourish them and us. He is the bread of heaven. Wisdom from Raymond Brown, from his commentary on the gospel, describes what’s happening spiritually in this way: Humans have a basic need that causes them to turn to God. Humankind “wishes to stay [to abide or dwell] with God; [they] are constantly seeking to escape temporality, change, and death, seeking to find something that is lasting. Jesus answers with the all-embracing challenge to faith: ‘Come and see.’” Brown goes on to make the connection for us between dwelling with Jesus and the trajectory of our eternal life: later in John’s gospel, in chapter 5.40, 6.40, and 6.27, “eternal life is promised respectively to those who come to Jesus, to those who look on him and to those who believe in him — three different ways of describing the same action. If the training of the disciples begins when they go to Jesus to see where he is staying and stay on with him, it will be completed when they see his glory and believe in him (2.11).”1 I wonder if this story can give us the permission to get in touch with our own hunger to be with Jesus. Or if we are not aware that we are hungry to be with Jesus, perhaps we will take up the invitation to become hungry. To be with Jesus, simply to be conscious of being in the presence of God’s Son, the Anointed. To revel in the wonder of being so loved by God that God turns around, sees us, and invites us to be with him. To be in the presence of the holy, like Moses was invited up the Mountain to experience God’s majesty, to feel the marvel of being so invited, so loved. Being with God, in a conscious way, is a classic practice central to Christian spirituality and Anglican theology. To consciously spend time being aware of God’s presence and to create an environment where, even for a short-time, the only thing we’re thinking of is being with Jesus. Each person will experience this differently. For myself, I usually need quiet, and a candle, and sometimes a steam vaporizer helps too. When I create space to feel myself in the presence of Jesus, if I sit still for a few minutes and focus on Jesus (not thinking but being), I feel cocooned in love, a sense of warm radiance around me, a feeling of safety and calm comes over me. Sometimes I also feel warm in my belly, or a little tingling in my hands and feet. And being with Jesus makes me feel grounded and rooted again — and also, like all of life is worship and exquisitely tender and valuable. In those moments, I can understand why the answer to “What are looking for?” is “Where are you staying?” Because I too want to stay with Jesus. We often emphasize that following Jesus means learning to trust God, acting like Jesus acted, and doing as God would have us do to be revealers of God’s realm on earth. And I’m not at all diminishing these aspects of discipleship. In fact, most days, you can watch me go from belief to action very quickly. And yet, it is also valuable to yearn to be with Jesus. So I am hoping that this Sunday’s gospel will give you permission, if you don’t already have a daily practice, of taking a few moments each day to be with Jesus. And, if this feels very foreign to you, perhaps the way in is to visualize you walking behind Jesus, then seeing him turn around and say to you, “What are you looking for?” and you replying: “Where are you staying? I want to be with you.” I’ll wrap up by saying this: when churches have said goodbye to a clergyperson, they sometimes feel like the ground has shifted beneath their feet. They can feel a bit unmoored, even when they, like you, are clear about their vision for ministry and how they feel called to practice that ministry. And, inevitably challenges come up, challenges that you would have had even with your familiar clergyperson here, but challenges for which you would have had the benefit of their guidance or pastoral care. It would be normal for you, the people of All Saints Sharons Chapel to be feeling some of these things, especially with the recent change of coming back to your worship space. So I think it’s a grace-filled gift that God has given us this reading from the Gospel of John — as if to underscore what is true: Yes, following Jesus means making the Realm of God known in the world through acts of ministry, justice, and service. And following Jesus also means making time to be with him. May this be a season when you do both, and especially this Sunday, be with Jesus. Brown, Raymond. The Gospel According to John I-XII. Anchor Bible series. 1966. pp. 78-79

Blessings on this 4th Sunday of Advent! As we look ahead to next weekend, here is our Christmas Services Schedule. We look forward to worshiping with you! Christmas Eve There will be a Hybrid service on Christmas Eve, Saturday 12/24 at 5:00 pm. Here is the link for online Christmas Eve worship: ZOOM HYBRID WORSHIP Christmas Day There will be an “in-person only” service on Christmas Day, Sunday 12/25 at 10:30 am. There will be no Catechesis of the Good Shepherd. Catechesis of the Good Shepherd will resume on Sunday, January 8th, 2023 at 9:00 am.

Thank you for making our return Sunday to All Saints Sharon Chapel so wonderful and joyous. Our relaunch of in-person Catechesis of the Good Shepherd Montessori Atrium was a success, and we are looking forward to welcoming back more of you in the coming weeks. A big thank you to everyone who worked tirelessly to create such a beautifully-prepared space in the weeks leading up to our first day back. With a newly formed group of volunteers we will embrace with joy CGS this Advent Season and its Christ centered nurture of children, with its holistic and developmentally appropriate approach. Level I PreK-K (3-6 Years) Level II Grades 1-3 (6-9 Years) Level III-IV Grades 4-6, 6-8 (9-12,12-13 Years) We will offer initially for our children PreK-K up to grades 6-8 entering middle school in preparation for confirmation. We hope to form a Parent Toddler Group 18 to 36 Months in Spring 2023. COVID-19 & Safeguarding Children In preparation for welcoming the children, we will have a safe environment observing best practices and training for adult volunteers along with layered COVID-19 prevention measures. All adults in contact with children will have completed Safeguarding God’s Children training through the Diocese. Mask wearing while not required is welcome and encouraged as we monitor community numbers this winter for COVID, flu and RSV, particularly among young children. We are installing air purifiers and have contracted a company for regular weekly cleaning of the environment, hand sanitizing stations and masks will be available for children and adults in the atrium for those who wish. We invite children, families and those with a heart for the child seeking to be formed and trained as atrium guides to our new community of CGS. Hybrid CGS will be available soon as well. Contact Davette Himes for more information. Take home Advent wreath kits will be available at coffee hour. In Advent Peace and Thanksgiving, Davette Himes

Hello All Saints family! We look forward to relaunching All Saints Sharon Chapel worship on First Advent, Sunday, November 27, 2022. For this first Sunday we will have one service at 10:30 AM with CGS for the kids offered at 9 AM and fellowship at that time for the adults. We will also have coffee hour after the service in Gunnell Hall. Our chapel space will be undergoing a transformation over the foreseeable future as we work to update the space to support our services so please bear with us! We are looking for volunteers for many ministries so please reach out to the vestry or the people identified below if you are interested in helping! We need all hands on deck to make this happen! Below are some of our greatest needs: CGS: We need supporters (crafts, food prep, and more), volunteers, and catechists. The Catechesis of the Good Shepherd is centered on the deep bond between God and the child, a relationship that continually nurtures in the child the desire to draw near to God. The role of the CGS volunteers is not to “fill” the child with information, but to prepare an environment that responds to the needs of the child and to share elements that help “call forth” a response from the child. Together the catechist and child listen, ask, and wonder together. Contact: Davette Himes at CGS@sharonchapel.org Alter Guild: We need volunteers for a group of the parish whose ministry is to care for the altar, vestments, vessels, and altar linens of the parish. Altar Guild members prepare the sanctuary for services, and clean up afterwards. Altar Guild members frequently supervise the decoration of the sanctuary of the parish with flowers. Contact: Michael Neuhardt at michaelneuhardt@me.com Communication Coordinator: We need volunteers who coordinate messages to the parish-usually weekly bulletins with key information. Contact: Nick Lombardo at lombardo.nick@gmail.com Greeters and Coffee Hour Volunteers: We need volunteers who greet congregants to the parish servIces and provide fellowship after services. Contact: Cindy Stanley at cbuxton7@yahoo.com Technology Volunteers: We need volunteers who oversee and operate the equipment to communicate with our parishioners for a hybrid service through Zoom. Contact: Jim Taylor at jimetaylor@aol.com Thanks and see you soon!