I learned a new word today, “equipoise.” Theologian C. Clifton Black used it in a sentence and I simply had to look it up. The sentence read, “[The Gospel writer] Mark presents in equipoise human responsibility and God’s grace.” I found out the word means to be in counterbalance, equilibrium, stasis.
The Chargers star quarterback Philip Rivers has learned how to play with equipoise. He is equally fearless and cautious when throwing the football. When I had a pool, I found that chlorine and muriatic acid keep the pool water in equipoise. I have seen relationships in which one partner likes to save and the other likes to spend. Although disagreements arise, they are likely in equipoise with their spending habits. Some who follow politics have said that President Bill Clinton needed House Speaker Newt Gingrich, and Gingrich needed Clinton, to equipoise, or balance out, the shared powers of the executive and legislative branches of government. As we head towards Halloween, I’d like to say that the best candy bar in the world contains chocolate in equipoise with peanut butter. This week we had our annual Clergy Conference. A hallmark of our time together is table snacks consisting of almonds and chocolate covered peanut M&M’s. What can I say – it’s a tradition. I am awed by the Mars Company because they found the perfect balance between peanut, chocolate and candy coating. Somehow they repeat the balance flawlessly from one colorful nugget to the next. At the conference, we were sharing difficulties in our ordination path. I shared that in seminary there were afternoon classes that I needed a certain boost in order to survive. That boost was a particular chocolate bar that I purchased at a liquor store kitty corner from the school’s parking lot. It was 98% cocoa dark chocolate. The bitter and slightly sweet taste kept me alert during the second half of an afternoon class. It brought me equipoise – it balanced out the drudgery of 13th century history and theology. To this day, when I stumble across writing from the Middle Ages I can taste dark chocolate in my mouth. Besides candy, one of the things we discussed at Clergy Conference was why people search and stay with a church. We have found that folks look for a church because they feel as if their life is out of balance. A sense of God in one’s life is often an equipoise against the pressures of life. Back to Professor Black’s assertion that this Sunday’s Gospel lesson presents equipoise in human responsibility and God’s grace. I wonder. Some theologians assert that God’s grace is a reaction to human sin. Others say God’s grace stands alone and is not contingent on the existence of sin. I think Black’s point is that we humans have a responsibility to follow God in Christ but can’t without the Grace of God. I’ll let theologians figure out human responsibility, sin and grace. I am comfortable knowing that Jesus is my equipoise in life. He is my counterbalance; he gives me grace and peace in a world that seems to have little of either. When the cares of the world pull me off balance, Christ brings me to stasis and reminds me to be still and know that he is God. -Fr. Marshall I’ve had continuous cell phone service with the same carrier since the late ‘90’s. I’m probably one of their longest-standing patrons. At the insurance company I worked for, we valued people who had been with the company for a long time. I’m still with that insurance company and when I call, the representative usually mentions we’ve been with them for more than twenty years.
In a recent Consumer Report magazine, an interesting article about cell phones said customer service varies between carriers, but the signal itself is very close across the board which negates the main reason I went with my current carrier back when coverage was not a given. The advice was to look at deals offered by carriers and once your contract is up to negotiate with your existing carrier. We found out that changing carriers could drop our bill by almost 40%! Our two-year contract expired in September so I walked into my current carrier’s store to find a better deal and was told that what we are paying is their best rate. They didn’t seem concerned that we’ve been customers for twenty years. I’m wondering what God thinks about longevity. We are told in Scripture that there is rejoicing in heaven when someone who has left the faith returns. But what about people who have been believers since birth? An interesting note about Islam – a new believer is held in higher regard than one who was born into the faith. The rationale is that the new believer has seen other ways and has decided to follow the five pillars unlike one who was born into it and knows nothing different. Performing a baptism is one of the best things about being a priest. Of all baptisms, there is something extra special about baptizing an adult. I even had the privilege of performing a baptism for someone lying on a hospice bed. That was extra, extra special. If I listened closely, I could actually hear the celebration in heaven. Does Jesus welcome the newly-baptized 85 year old differently from the one who was baptized as a baby? Or, does God prioritize prayers based on how long someone has been a believer? Probably not. Faith is not a commodity that you can switch for another like gasoline, copper, lumber, or even cell phone carriers. There are benefits of having longevity with Christ – living with the knowledge that God loves you, forgives you, and gives the gift of grace and peace. There are benefits in belonging for a lifetime to a church, too. But, when it comes to God, it’s just like the parable that Jesus told about the workers hired in the morning and those hired in the late afternoon. They all get paid the same amount regardless of how long they worked. It’s not like the dinner buffet at a casino that lets the high rollers skip the line. So, if you are counting on taking cuts in the line at Heaven’s gate because of membership at Saint John’s, I rather doubt that will occur; and I can even see a rationale for letting that newly baptized 85 year old in line ahead of us. Once our hearts turn to Jesus, we are received in the same manner. The joy from heaven and the peace from God is enough for each believer. Maybe that is where “the first shall be last and the last shall be first” comes in — those of us who are cradle Christians will be so overjoyed to see those who have come to Christ later on in their lives it won’t much matter about the order of things. -Fr. Marshall I learned a great deal in graduate school which for priests is called seminary. Upon graduation, my class pondered how much of what we learned would come in handy in ministry. Currently, I’d say it hovers around 23%. Although a very important percentage, it’s not near the 100% we had hoped for. The percentage increased slightly this week because on Sunday, we get a reading from the Book of Esther. And so, I get to use a seminary phrase I thought would never see the light of day, "non-interventionist objective special divine action." Or, to get rid of the seminary lingo, “How, when and why does God work?”
The Book of Esther doesn’t mention God. There are no ceremonial rites or Jewish customs, nothing from Levitical law, no special dietary restrictions or any sort of prayers. It is a story about the release of the exiled Jewish people. Esther, a woman of Jewish descent, becomes queen. When the King asks what he can do for her, she asks for the release of her people. This has caused some to ponder if God has a particular non-interventionist objective – or, does God simply wait to work through God’s people. Was God waiting for someone like Esther to rise to power and instead of seeking selfish gain work for the benefit of her people or, was God’s invisible, and unmentioned, hand working the whole time. The science community has pondered the question of special divine action. The quantum physics community has considered if miracles (unexplainable events that happen on a quantum level) that appear to be non-interventionist because what happens is so small are in fact, directed by divine action. The theological community has pondered the effectiveness of prayer. If God is simply waiting for people to do-the-right-thing, then what effect does prayer have? Some believe that prayer affects and effects the one who prays and God simply waits to intervene. For instance, if everyone in the whole wide world, and I mean everyone, prayed for peace, would it happen? And, if we all did that, is that a part of God’s noninterventionist approach to divine action? In other words, is it God’s plan for everyone to pray for peace at which point it will happen? We might want to call the result “the Esther effect.” Now that I’ve been out of the seminary community for eight years, the answer to how/when/why does God work seems even more obscure. We have a monthly healing service. At that service, people get prayed for – some by intersession some by direct laying on of hands – and healing occurs. The intercessory prayers (praying for someone who is not present in the group) are especially astounding. Many non-present recipients have noted that at the very time we are praying for them something happened. And sometimes, the healing we pray for actually happens. Some healings have surprised medical doctors. What we prayed for may have happened on a molecular/quantum level; like it is so small that it looks as though God didn’t do anything. What doesn’t seem obscure is this: we are called to pray. Whether it changes only the one praying, or whether God does divine intervention, or practices “noninterventionist objective special divine actions,” or all three, we are called to obedience in prayer. Even though the Book of Esther doesn’t name God, or mention anything at all about prayer, God’s name is praised for the redeeming works that happened in the book and in history. And maybe the end result of seminary education, prayer, and even quantum physics is this, praise of God. -Fr. Marshall The virtue for this month at our school is determination. When our religion team came up with this lead off virtue, we wondered if it was too secular. We pondered how determination fits into a religious studies program.
First and foremost, one is not born into Christianity; The Way requires a choice. I had a Jewish friend in High School. She didn’t choose the faith but was born into it. Her choice, however, was to practice and live out that faith, or not. So the virtue of determination was as important to help her live faithfully as it is to my choice to serve God. Many around the world celebrated St. Mary’s birthday this past Tuesday. Happy Birthday Mary! When I think of displaying the virtue of determination, I think of Mary. I can think of five marks of determination: sticking with something until it is finished, asking for help, believing what you are doing is important, setting goals, and resisting distractions. Mary listened to what the angel Gabriel said about how God chose her to give birth to the Messiah. She pondered those things and after discerning it said, “I am the Lord’s servant. Let it be with me, according to your word.” Imagine what it would be like for her – an unmarried 14 or 15 year old Jewish girl living in occupied Palestine in the first century. It is difficult enough for an unmarried pregnant teenager in our day and time but the difficulties Mary faced were far harsher. Joseph, the man to whom she was engaged, had the option to stone her to death (to save his name from shame) or to break the engagement. An angel spoke to him in a dream and said to stick with Mary. Mary’s story goes far and beyond the pregnancy and birth. We have a rare opportunity in the Bible to follow a female from her teenage years until she is at least 45. She stuck with what the angel had told her. She was present at Jesus’ trial. She watched him die on the cross and held his dead body in her arms. She participated in placing him in the tomb and then waited from Friday night until Sunday morning to finish the burial proceedings, preempted because of the Sabbath. She witnessed his resurrection and, according to some, saw Jesus ascend into heaven. She stuck with the plan. She was determined. Mary had a goal, to let it be with her as to God’s plan. She believed in what she was doing. I believe she must have prayed for help. And, she resisted becoming discouraged. They didn’t have social media back in her day, but they certainly had a social gossip system. Everyone knew she was pregnant and not married. Was Mary teased, bullied, and cut off from her friends? I imagine she was. And, let us remember that when Joseph went back to his hometown, there was no room at the inn, which, in my mind says, Joseph’s family didn’t want him to stay with them. Yet, despite all that, Mary was not distracted, she was determined. Mary is many things to many different people. To me, she is an excellent example of living a faithful life. I venerate Mary, which means I regard her with utmost respect and honor, because of who she is and how she chose to live her life. May it be with all of us as it was for her. -Fr. Marshall Each Sunday during the month of September, we are going to hear from the Letter of James. It is a strange letter. Sandwiched between the letters attributed to St. Paul and the Letter to the Hebrews in the New Testament, James combines Jewish thought with a black and white approach to life in Christ. It both condemns and uplifts. There appear to be no general theme, intended audience, connection with the audience (unlike saints Paul and Peter who directly and personally connect with their hearers) or application to a particular time and place. Some call it a paraenesis – device and exhortation to continue in a certain way of life – that reads like a diatribe. On the positive side, because it has no specific audience and is removed from any place and time, it reads like it might have been written last week with many useful applications to our modern lives.
Many have asked throughout the centuries, who is the author? Three men named James are mentioned in the Gospels. There is the Apostle James who is the brother of Andrew and son of Zebedee, the second James is the obscure “James the less,” and lastly is James, the brother of Jesus. Century after century, theologians continue to assert that the author is one of the four brothers of Jesus mentioned in the Gospels of Mark and Matthew. The brothers seem reluctant, at best, to accept Jesus as the messiah. In fact one story shows they went to “seize” Jesus because he was “out of his mind”; the only thing that stopped them was that they could not enter the house because there were so many people. It was in that house that the well-known story takes place of the paraplegic man who was lowered down through the roof. St. Paul writes that when Jesus made his many resurrection appearances, he met with James alone. Many, including me, believe this post-crucifixion visit was the turning of James’ heart to Jesus as Lord. After Jesus’ ascension, his brother James became a major figure in the early Christian church. He presided over a bi-lingual Greek/Hebrew congregation in Jerusalem. And, he was the pastor of both gentile and Jewish converts to the faith of Christ. In this setting, James writes about how to live and worship together. He writes, “Let everyone be quick to listen, slow to speak, slow to anger.” (1:19) I wonder if James wrote this because Jesus said, “A prophet is not recognized by his own kin,” which seems to be a comment made directly at him. (Mark 6:4) It appears those were times when James was quick to speak in anger. Later on, after rising from the dead, Jesus was able to speak to his brother one-on-one. I imagine then James was quick to listen and worked past his disbelief and anger. Do you know someone who is quick to listen? I had such a person on my discernment committee in my home church. She would listen to me and to what everyone else had to say. Before she spoke, she’d take a moment, long enough to breathe in and out. I never saw her angry. Her listening produced righteousness. Imagine how different our American culture would be if all Christians followed James’ example of being quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to anger. I imagine that is the world as Jesus wants it – one that is slow to anger and always willing to listen. -Fr. Marshall On Tuesday of the first full week of school, I picked up Elijah from Kindergarten. He was hungry so we sat at the round tables in the courtyard. While Elijah ate the remainder of his lunch, we watched his brother, Ethan, and his 7th grade class in a competitive game of kickball, boys versus girls.
This year, we have our first student from China. Her name is Pei Ling. She is staying with a host family and when she graduates from Saint John’s, she plans go to one of the top high schools in the county and then off to an American college. I find her courage and tenacity awe inspiring. Although she is bi-lingual, there is a lot about American culture that she is learning, including kickball. If it’s been a while since you’ve played kickball, it’s like baseball, played with an inflated rubber ball, but unlike baseball, you can throw the ball at someone to get them out. Pei Ling was hiding at the back of the line-up. In the second inning, it was her turn to kick. The girls were in the lead by a run, with one out and a runner on third. Coach Montijo said, “Okay, next up.” She shook her head and tried to become invisible in the group of girls. He said, “Everyone kicks; come on, step up.” The girls reassured her and told her just to kick it, “don’t worry about where it goes, just kick.” She timidly stepped up into the batter’s box. George, the pitcher, rolled a good ball to her – not fast but certainly not slow. Pei Ling put her shoulders back and kicked a bouncing line drive past George and to the shortstop. The girls yelled, “RUN!” and off she went. Ethan was covering first and had his outstretched hands to get the ball. The shortstop threw it across the infield and made it to Ethan on the third bounce but Pei Ling was already standing safely on the base. The girls cheered and then the boys joined in and everyone applauded and cheered for her. She stood on the base beaming. It was her first base hit in kickball. I had goose bumps on my arms because of the support and cheering they gave a shy student from China that they’ve known for only a few days. The teacher didn’t tell the students to cheer and support her, they just did. During my middle school years, I never witnessed anything like that. When I was in school, the new person would be made fun of until they tried kicking the ball and then someone trying to prove a point would go out of their way to get the new person out. Unfortunately, that’s just how things happen in most middle schools. Saint John’s is no ordinary Middle School. How can we learn from these students? How can we act more like them in our life? Each Chapel service at Saint John’s this year starts with the phrase from Jesus, “You are the light of the world. Let your light shine before others so that others may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven.” (Mt 5:14, 16) I saw some of that light on the play field. And I give glory to God for being a part of it. May God give me the courage to let my light shine for others to see. -Fr. Marshall At my home church, Church of the Resurrection in Spokane Valley, there is a way to serve the church called “pig duty.” The church doesn’t have a pet pig but rather an industrial vacuum that looks like a pig. It has a short nozzle that looks like a snout and a large faded-red bag that inflates to the size of a beach ball. The bag inflates above the stainless steel vacuum canister which is supported by four stout wheels that resemble hoofs, and a curly electric cord for a tail. Someone once said it looks like a pig and the name stuck. As you may have guessed, pig duty consists of vacuuming the church. Like an usher schedule, pig duty is listed in the bulletin with a rotating schedule of five people.
One of the parishioners said that pig duty was one of the most spiritual activities that she does all month. It’s a time for her to be alone, in the house of God, and to serve. She feels refreshed and at peace when she is done. I attended a Benedictine university which believes in St. Benedict’s rule of life, which says, in part, that praying to God and laboring for God are equally important. Fr. Killian, a professor of church history and an avid runner, would tell his students that it is important to study for a test but it’s also important to take a break and do physical exercise. One day I took him up on his offer. Instead of cramming for a test, I went for a run around the wooded campus. It worked – my test score was higher than if I had crammed. Later on, when I’d go for a run, I’d tell my roommates that I was studying. The parishioner who enjoyed her spiritual “pig time” understands that prayer and labor are intertwined. Instead of laboring in a field (like what Benedict originally declared as labor), she was actually laboring in a church, which, in her mind, was like praying twice. That reminds me of something my seminary professor of church music said: “When you sing in church, you pray twice.” Some changes have been made in the way that Saint John’s gets cleaned. We are using a cleaning company to clean the church for Sunday. This provides a considerable cost savings for us. It also gives us flexibility. When there is a wedding on Saturday, we can contract with the company to clean after the ceremony; likewise for other events in the church. This change has also provided us an opportunity because the company is not vacuuming the pews (because we didn’t know how often they’d need to be vacuumed and thus didn’t know if we should spend the additional $600 per year for that particular service). Saint John’s offers many ways to serve Christ, the Church, and the world. And now, we have a new way – Pig Duty. We have a special, hand-held unit that vacuums the pews. It’s small, portable, and while it looks nothing like a pig, you can use your imagination to identify with Resurrection up in Washington. If you are willing to labor thirty minutes a month in service, and therefore prayer, maybe this is the opportunity for you. Friday afternoons from 3 pm to 5 pm is the window and if you are interested, let me know. God calls us to labor and to prayer. After all, Jesus said, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore ask the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.” I think this includes parishioners who care for our rose garden, folks who labor making food for the needy, those who raise their voices in choir, our ushers and acolytes, those who deliver donated food, our knitters and prayer blanket makers, committee, group and Vestry members, those who volunteer their time in the office, Sunday school, and for fellowship set up and clean up; it’s all serving God through labor. -Fr. Marshall What do you like best about vacation? Is it traveling to a new location, relaxing, being with loved ones, reading a good book or all of the above? The Marshalls had a week-long vacation on the coast of Baja California, 73 kilometers south of the United States, in a rental house. The compound was big enough to sleep all twelve of us – my mother-in-law and father-in-law, who graciously underwrote the rental, Christi’s sister, a brother-in-law and our nephew, our daughter Victoria, her husband Douglas, their almost-three-year old Dougie, and the four Marshall crew. The main attraction of the compound was the deck and a short, sandy walk to the beach.
Of all the things I love about vacation, and in particular this one, spending time with family is number one. A close second, however, is television. The house had a fifty inch TV with a monstrous sound system, quite a set up with two amplifiers, one inside and another for outside speakers. The owner walked me through how to access the various components that could turn this sleepy Baja fishing village into a beach party scene to rival MTV. Although the sound system was on for most of the day and night, the television never made an appearance. My kids saw it, were impressed but then realized it was a “Mexican TV” so nothing would be in English. I did nothing to dispel that thought (even though I knew it was connected to a well-known American satellite company which offers hundreds of English-speaking channels). Likewise, I brought a converter that would take a Samsung tablet or smartphone and display it through an HDMI cord. I could have shown their favorite shows on the giant TV through Netflix or YouTube. But I did not tell them I had the cord. Does that omission make me a bad person, parson, or papa? Regardless, it was an easy decision to spend an entire week with my boys with no TV interruptions. The result of having no television was awesome. Our evenings were spent on the spacious deck watching the waves roll onto the white sandy beach, enjoying the stars at night, and having meaningful conversations (and one crazy night when someone, I won’t mention who, bought fireworks). We had mornings with no TV – so no reminders of the tragedies of the world to start our day. Instead, we played card games, made Play-doh creatures, walked on the beach, played pool, listened to music, drank coffee, and talked. … while pondering where to buy more fireworks. There was a Cantina five houses down the gravel road, just past the massive security gate. There is a shuffleboard game there that the boys enjoyed playing. Oddly enough, we went during the recent presidential debate which was shown on several televisions placed strategically around the darkened room. It was the first bit of television that we saw in a while. It looked and sounded jarring and alien in small Mexican village cantina. When we arrived home, no one noticed our own television. It didn’t get turned on for a while. We had gotten used to not living around it. Vacations are important. It’s good to get away and spend time with loved ones. Although we have settled back into our routine, which includes television, one thing that remains is the time spent together. It reminds me of Mary and Martha – the latter spent time in the kitchen while Mary spent time at Jesus’ feet. Time spent with family is short but, as Jesus said, it is the better part, the one thing that remains. -Fr. Marshall Parenthood is not a spectator sport. One of the joys (and frustrations) of parenting is watching children choose what to eat and what not to eat. I am really happy when they get excited about a particular food, especially when it’s healthy. On the other hand, I get frustrated when one of the kids says, “I don’t like it,” which usually prompts me to say, “But you haven’t even tried it yet.” Never, ever has that logical argument worked.
When Elijah was an infant, he had difficulty sleeping in his crib. A parishioner gave me The Scientist in the Crib, a book about babies. It did nothing to help. We found out later Elijah had acid reflux. With nightly medicine, and blocks to prop up the head of his crib, Elijah began to sleep. The Scientist in the Crib theorizes that babies are little scientists who test everything, including food. This “testing” is pre-programmed into the brain to avoid ingesting poisonous things. A different parenting book suggests parents introduce new foods by placing them on the child’s plate and on theirs. The child supposedly will see the parents eating it and, after several days the child will eventually try it. Wait, did I just hear you sigh while reading that? Yeah, me too. In the real world, that plan might work just before the child heads off to college after 18 years of hot dogs and chicken nuggets. When do we reinforce a child’s testing of new foods and when do parents simply insist? I had a co-worker who would wrap up the plate of un-tried dinner food and put it in the fridge. The next day, that plate was brought out for the child who refused to try it (folklore/office gossip on this is that she and her son had a stalemate that lasted five days). I know another parent who sat patiently with the child every night because she could not get up from the table before eating her green vegetable… for hours the mom sat and waited with the child. By the way, green beans do not get better after an hour on a cold plate. When do we trust our taste buds and when should we just dive in and try something new? When should children be encouraged to use independent thinking and control what they eat and when should they simply trust their parents? The Psalm for this Sunday has the phrase, “Taste and see that the Lord is good, happy are they who trust in God!” Fewer and fewer people in our country are willing to taste and see what the Psalmist declares. That might be because so many Christians toward the end of the 20th Century wanted to tell everyone else what tastes good and what is not. I think that makes people unhappy, for the most part, and I believe people who taste God are happy when they do it on their own rather than under explicit instructions. I’ve seen and experienced the God-of-all-patience who places a little bit of his goodness on a plate and waits. God never forced me to eat. In fact, God is so patient we are allowed to eat even of the sweet and poisonous food of self-righteousness, resentment, and greed; all the while God waits at the kitchen table for us to return to see that God is good. -Fr. Marshall |