Fields of Faith: Recent Episodes
St. Martin-in-the-Fields Episcopal Church
God, are you with me when I fall?
God, are you with me when I get hurt?
God, are you with me when I take these next steps?
God’s table is big enough for different people.
God’s table is big enough for disagreement.
God’s table is even big enough for me, and for you.
Each one of us is called to go out into the world bearing witness to the Good News that Jesus Christ is raised from the dead, and that grace and mercy and forgiveness and life and love always have the final word.
Every cross flowers with new life.
Every tomb holds the hope of new birth.
Every darkness is overcome by light.
It’s true. It is absolutely true.
Alleluia! Christ is risen.
The Lord is risen indeed. Alleluia!
That’s the truth of this story.
That’s the Good News of this day.
Death is hell, but Jesus Christ meets us here.
In the intimacy, the vulnerability, and the silence.
In the fear and the grief and the despair.
We’re called to wait.
So many voices cry out for attention.
But the story of the transfiguration says there is only one voice to listen to.
The voice of God called out to Moses.
The voice of God called out to the disciples.
And the voice of God calls out to us.
As a body of Christ and children of God, these choices are in front of us, and we need to decide on which one to pick.
- Love, Empathy, forgiveness, or hate.
- Build bridges or build walls.
- Accepting others or discriminate
- Looking for peace with others or a rift
- Fire or water.
- Life or death.
- Serve God or remain self-centered.
Whichever one chooses will be given.
There are profound implications to being named salt and light.
Salt and light transform things.
Salt and light reveal things.
And we are called to transform human activity in such a way that it reveals God in this world.
Jesus' strategy for facing the road ahead can be found right here in today’s Gospel, in the beatitudes:
Blessed are the poor in spirit.
Blessed are those who mourn.
Blessed are the meek.
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness.
Blessed are the merciful.
Blessed are the pure in heart.
Blessed are the peacemakers.
Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness sake.
This is how we face the challenges, the uncertainties, and the opportunities of life.
This is how we face the road ahead.
The turning points of our lives bring us face to face with Jesus, and they come in lots of ways.
The poetry of Christmas is so much bigger than us. It’s so much bigger than one, isolated story.
It’s God’s story, and it is so incredibly beautiful.
It doesn’t matter that we know the story by heart. Even when we know all the characters and can quote their conversations, even when we know what happens and how the story ends, some stories are worth hearing again.
No wasteland is too far gone for God to restore it.
No person or situation is so dead that God cannot find life in it.
That’s what we’re preparing for this Advent season… for the hope, the joy, and the love of God that is coming to transform this desert world.
The Rev. Paula Jefferson preached the sermon, "All You Need is Love," at the burial Eucharist for Shawn Rees.
And that’s why we renew our baptismal vows on this day.
To remind ourselves that we are loved and chosen and part of God’s kingdom.
To remind ourselves that we take our place in the communion of the saints.
To remind ourselves that we belong.
Whatever is going on in your life, whether death or divorce or pain or fear or shame…that’s the place where Jesus stops, looks up with love and acceptance, and calls you back down into a new life.
Father Alan continues teaching Catechism at St. Martin's, focused on "What is the Church?"
Handouts and notes from each week of the Rector's Forum can be found here: https://www.stmartininthefields.org/rectors-forum/
Father Alan continues teaching Catechism at St. Martin's, focused on "Church History in 45 Minutes."
Handouts and notes from each week of the Rector's Forum can be found here: https://www.stmartininthefields.org/rectors-forum/
In today’s letter to Timothy, Paul uses the image of the race to speak about his walk with God.
Looking back over his life, Paul says, “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.”
I have finished the race.
Notice that Paul does not say that he won the race.
He finished the race.
The life of faith is not a race that can be won. It can only be run.
It can only be endured.
God is telling us this morning, I see you, I believe you, I am with you, your pain is my pain, so keep praying every day. Persist in your prayers and persevere, Our Lord is beside you.
Our God is constant and always the same, and He is with us amid our struggles, and He hears us.
Therefore, let us put our trust in the Lord, believe in Him, pray for everyone and make it our steadfast purpose to be in God’s presence.
Father Alan continues teaching Catechism at St. Martin's, focused on "What is the Book of Common Prayer?"
Handouts and notes from each week of the Rector's Forum can be found here: https://www.stmartininthefields.org/rectors-forum/
Father Alan continues teaching Catechism at St. Martin's, focused on "What is Stewardship?"
Handouts and notes from each week of the Rector's Forum can be found here: https://www.stmartininthefields.org/rectors-forum/
We can argue over values, or debate worldviews, and even disagree on whether some ancient words on pottery should be read left to right or right to left. But if we focus too much on that, it only leads to division and hatred and ruin.
What we are offered, and what we are called to offer the world, is Jesus Christ.
That’s the Gospel.
And that’s the Word that endures.
Who is part of your legacy?
Who are the people that shared and showed the love of God to you?
Who are the people that made you feel welcome, that made you feel important, and made you feel loved?
Who are your Eunice and Lois and Lacy?
This week the Rector's Forum continued its Catechism series, looking at the basics of our faith. This past Sunday we looked at the Bible: what is is, where it comes from, and how we approach it today.
After six chapters of warnings against false teaching and bad behavior and all the ways we can screw things up, he closes with a reminder of what is important.
Of what is essential.
Of what will endure.
These words rang true for Timothy.
These words rang true for the Queen.
And I pray these words ring true for you and for me…
“But as for you, children of God, shun all worldly things…
Shun power and riches and fame and control and division and hatred and ego…
And pursue good things…
pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, gentleness, endurance….
Fight the good fight of the faith; take hold of the eternal life, to which you were called…”
The Reverend Ayo Omoniyi is preaching today and the sermon is entitled, "The Dishonest Manager."
In the person of Jesus, we meet a God of abundant grace. And, words like “sinners” and “outcasts” are gone because all are welcomed at God’s table.
I say that every week. Everyone is welcome at God’s table.
Everyone.
Even me, and even you.
Because Jesus found us all.
Therefore let us keep the feast.
Jesus calls us to get rid of anything and everything that comes between us and God and each other.
That is why the picture Jesus draws in today’s Gospel is so vivid.
Following Jesus is hard.
Following Jesus is costly.
Because Jesus calls us to be all in…
Are you ready to cross that line?
It’s time to see the world the way God sees it. With everyone created in the image of God.
We can no longer just see the people who can do something for us, and instead look for the people the world overlooks.
And we need to see that we all are in equal need of grace and mercy in the eyes of God.
And we’re all equally loved in the eyes of God.
And if we are in equal need of grace, and we’re all equally loved, we can no longer participate in a system that places more value on some people and less value on others?
As we accept Christ’s invitation to join him at Table in the Kingdom of God we must admit that we are only there because of God’s grace and mercy and love.
We are called to love, recklessly.
And when we love recklessly, we participate in God’s miraculous power today.
The world keeps piling things into the backpack, until we can hardly carry it any more.
But we aren’t made to carry this backpack.
We’re made to carry Jesus Christ inside of us.
Fearless faith isn’t a straight line where we decide to follow God and never doubt or question or fail or want to turn back.
Fearless faith doesn’t mean we never struggle with our faith.
Fearless faith doesn’t mean we never deconstruct our faith.
Fearless faith is taking the next step, knowing God is there.
Fearless faith means trusting that God is here, with us, even when we don’t feel it.
Fearless faith is believing that God continues to be present, even when we lack the certainty of a vision, or the certainty of direction, or the certainty of anything.
Our historical marker this week is BOLD PRAYER.
Followers of Jesus are marked by bold prayer.
Despite our enslavement to sin and brokenness and pride and shame, we pray boldly.
Our circumstances don’t always change when we pray.
But we change.
Our hearts and our minds change, as we boldly proclaim that God has been, is, and always will be working in and through us.
We practice the radical welcome of Jesus who crosses boundaries.
We practice the radical welcome of Jesus who breaks down walls.
We practice the radical welcome of Jesus who proclaims there are no insiders or outsiders.
We practice the radical welcome of Jesus who turns the world upside down.
Everyone is welcome in God’s kingdom.
And everyone is welcome at St. Martin’s.
Loving our neighbor isn’t an exercise of semantics (as in the Gospel): “Who exactly is my neighbor, Jesus?”. Our neighbors are the ones we like, the ones we abhor, and the vast majority who fall between those extremes. Human Flourishing invited us to grow empathy for all people: to imagine the sociocultural obstacles that prevent our neighbor from living into the fullness of the person God created them to be.
I have a friend who has the word “hope” tattooed on her arm. It’s a reminder to her of God’s presence and faithfulness in times of gut-wrenching pain and grief. For her, it calls to mind 1 Thessalonians 4:13…”we do not grieve as those who have no hope.”
Even when we don’t feel it, we are people of hope.
Even when we’re all tears and broken hearts, we are people of hope.
Even when it seems like a pinprick of light down a really long hallway, we are people of hope.
The Church is not created by us. It is created—and has its meaning—through the incarnation of Christ. God is the Gardner of the Church. And we are called to be partners with God in this great mission. We are here to grow in our own Christian discipleship, to flourish, to discern God’s calling and to answer, “Yes! And…”
And God’s love and care and concern for us…each of us…is unimaginable.
It’s unbelievable.
It’s unbearable.
The Gospel of John invites us to belief…to live with Faith, Hope, and Love…to walk through this life with a Holy Companion who meets us where we are, but does not leave us where it found us…to have abundant, everlasting life.
The Holy Spirit is here, among us. Like Lion and Buddy, we are free to choose relationship when we are ready and open to it. But for us, this companionship is with God. God is always waiting, open to us.
May the companionship of the Holy and undivided Trinity be known to us in the breaking of the bread.
How long, oh Lord!
We lament. We yell. We grieve.
But we don’t grieve as the world grieves. We don’t grieve as people who have no hope.
Even in the midst of weeks like this…. Even in the midst of heartache like this…
We hope.
We have Easter hope.
The world tries to label us and fit us into the boxes where the world believes we belong: Paralyzed and stuck at the side of a healing pool, a slumping baseball team with no hope of winning, a carpenter from the backwoods of Galilea.
The paralyzed man anticipates being well for 38 years. He’s still coming to the pool. He’s batting 0 for 38 years…yet he still comes to the plate…expecting to hit a home run…to be healed. To do that, he has to let go of every previous outcome…and believe that Today is the Day.
He dreams big. And he does it with faith that flies in the face of odds.
Take up your mat and walk. This is your day.
Love Makes All Things New (a Sermon for Easter 5C, 2022)May 15, 2022
St. Martin-in-the-Fields Episcopal Church (Keller, Texas)
Revelation 21:1-6
John 13:31-35