The Church always has been and always will be supported by volunteers. Nevertheless, the world often focuses on clergy, specifically paid clergy. In reality, the clergy would be hard pressed to serve Christ in his Church without volunteers and certainly couldn’t serve Christ in the world. The Jesus movement would disappear if it had to depend exclusively on the clergy. Thankfully, God isn’t letting that happen.
At Saint John’s, we have several prayer teams. None are paid; if they were, even at minimum wage, we would not have enough left off to heat and cool the church. Heather Wallace leads our Sunday School, and she just led had an awesome Easter Egg hunt. She’s a volunteer. Many knit prayer blankets — volunteers. The Vestry, Men’s Group, Women’s Group, choir, counters, ushers, greeters, readers, altar guild – all volunteer. No one got paid to do The Watch from Maundy Thursday through Good Friday. Volunteers help with the school – from office duty to reading to students. Volunteers bring treats on Sunday and other times. Our fundraising and outreach teams volunteer their time and are some of the biggest contributors. Part of being Christian is to volunteer time to support the mission of the Church. And by the way, let me put in a good word for those of the cloth—priests and deacons volunteer above and beyond their job descriptions for the Church. We have two fine examples with Fr. Tolley and Fr. Stott – both volunteer; but even before retirement, when they were salaried, they went far beyond what they were paid to do. I’d like to point out one volunteer after receiving his permission to do so on Maundy Thursday, Dean Peters. You’ve seen his work and benefited from his volunteering. A retired electrician, he served in the Navy. His work in electronics is still top secret. He was called a “super-spook”, whatever that means. What I do know is that he loves the Lord, his wife, Rose, and his church. Dean is always willing to serve. I can ask for help and find he’s already started. This past Maundy Thursday service, I needed him for a reading. Two-minutes before the reading he said, “Yes, of course,” in true Dean fashion. He had already prepared, just in case. Tuesday of Holy Week he single-handedly cleaned and trimmed our meditation garden for use on Easter. He was also a part of a conference call talking about a possible solar project. He was present on Monday at our Men’s Group meeting and also at Wednesday’s Vestry meeting. After all that, he looked me in the eye Thursday and asked if I was holding up okay. When I think about what it means to be Christian, I think of Dean and his commitment to his wife in sickness and in health, his commitment to the Lord to serve without being asked. I think the country and Jesus’ Church need more Deans. The country and the Church could also use more Marj’s, Mark’s, Claudia’s, Tim’s, Lynn’s, Gretchen’s, Norma’s, Judy’s, George’s, Wilma’s, Barb’s, Craig’s, Linda’s and David’s. And the list goes on and on from all our incredible volunteers at Saint John’s. Saint Paul told us to imitate him in following Jesus. That’s a hard act to follow. Emulating the lives of the saints, starting with Saint Peter, might mean being crucified upside-down. But, our volunteers at Saint John’s makes it easier to be a Christian. Their Christianity is more approachable than trying to follow Martin Luther, Thomas Aquinas or Desmond Tutu. Our world is desperate for people who love the Lord and are willing to serve Christ and his Church. My hope for this Easter season is that we all be-like-volunteers for Christ. -Fr. Marshall Tradition has it that three nails were used to hold Jesus to the cross – one in his right hand, one in the left, and one for his feet. But there was something else that held him there, too.
Three of the Gospel writers say that passers-by who saw Jesus on the cross derided him saying things like, “Save yourself and come down from the cross.” I think that some of those folks were mocking Jesus but I imagine others wanted to see him perform another miracle. That is interesting because it suggests they thought Jesus had the power to remove himself from the torture instrument of the cross and to save his life. Why anyone would mock that kind of power from God is baffling to me. I believe, as most of us do, that Jesus is God in human flesh; that God has total power and that God through Christ can do anything. Certainly making the nails disappear would have been well within Jesus’ power. After all, Jesus calmed the storm that nearly sank the boat the disciples were on. The disciples said to themselves in amazement, “Who is this; the winds and water obey him.” (Lk 8:25) Speaking of power over water, Jesus actually walked on it. (Matthew 14, Mark 6, John 6) The devil tempted Jesus to turn a stone into bread indicating the devil believed Jesus had power to change one object into another. (Mt 4:3, Luke 4:3) Speaking of molecular physics, Jesus turned water into wine. (John 2) He turned two loaves of bread into enough to feed more than 5,000 people. (Mt 14, Mk 6, Lk 9, Jn 6) And then there are the numerous, uncountable, healings – withered hand, leprosy, sickness which leads to death, high fever, hemorrhaging, blind to seeing, lame to walking, severed ear, dead to life. The reading of minds – “Jesus, knowing their thoughts said, ‘Why do you think evil in your hearts?’” (Mt 9:4) And, one of my favorite miracles, the ability to disappear. (Luke 4:30, John 5:13, 8:59, 10:39, 18:6-7) With the power to do those things, Jesus could easily have removed himself from the cross. In addition, there were angels who helped Jesus during his forty days in the wilderness. I believe angels were present with him on Golgotha. Jesus said that at his command, twelve legions of angels would protect him. (Mt 26:53) But, he goes on to explain that if he used his power to benefit himself that the Scriptures would not be fulfilled. Unlike angels, Jesus had free will. The nails would not have held him had he been inclined to remove himself from the cross. So, what held him there? It was explained to me that compassion, mercy and love held Jesus to the cross. And thus, even if we’ve tried to remove ourselves from God, Jesus won’t leave us, ever. Even in our disobedience, those things that hold Jesus to us are compassion, mercy and love. -Fr. Marshall The reflection for this week was written by Richelle Thompson who wrote it based upon Jesus’ words in Matthew, Chapter 25, “I was sick and you took care of me.” It is published in the book, Meeting Jesus in the Margins.
Flesh-eating bacteria. Have to cut until it’s gone. Critical condition. The doctor’s words arrive in my head but jumbled around, almost nonsensical. Down the corridor, my thirty-five-year-old husband lay in intensive care, covered in sweat but shaking with cold. I sank to the chair in the family waiting area. At a new church in a new city, our support network was nascent. I called a friend and then the deacon of the congregation. At 9 p.m., we were allowed into the ICU for ten minutes. I leaned down to kiss his forehead, and his eyes fluttered. But in his delirium, I’m not sure he knew who I was. I held his hand and held back tears as the deacon said the words of Compline. The Lord Almighty grant us a peaceful night and a perfect end. Amen. Our help is in the Name of the Lord; The maker of heaven and earth. I looked up. The words fell out of his mouth. Mumbled but coherent. He began to pray with us. Almighty God, our heavenly father… As the prayer ended, the tears flowed freely. The tests showed later that he didn’t have the flesh-eating bacteria – necrotizing fasciitis – but a wicked infection. He still spent two more weeks in the hospital and came home with an IV for another long round of antibiotics. But he was home and, eventually, well. I met Jesus that night in the liturgy, as it provided words when my husband couldn’t form his own. It gave him structure and form so he could offer prayers of petition, contrition, and thanksgiving when sickness took everything else. When we comfort the sick, we meet Jesus, and we meet him again when he comforts us right back, embracing the hurting and the worried alike. Thanks be to God. -Fr. Marshall I had a poster in college that had a number of sayings on it. “Happiness is a choice” was one of them that has stayed with me. Yet I am now wondering if that is really true. There were many happy times in college and some that were not. Despite the unhappy times, my poster would suggest that I had a choice – to be happy or not. But what about happy or unhappy times that are often thrust upon us. One of those times came at the return of my first English paper. I worked hard on it and thought it was one of the best things I’d ever written. The professor handed it to me, ungraded. He said it wasn’t worth grading; emphasizing “worth” with his New England accent. It was hard to make the choice to be happy with that. Somehow I still got a “C+” in his class and thus started my love/hate relationship with writing. The next year, after finals were over, I had a great conversation sitting on top of the roof of our three-story residence hall with folks who are my friends to this day. We watched the sun rise on that June morning and pondered our futures. That was a happy time. Not much of a choice needed there but it is important to note that I could have chosen to be unhappy in the very midst of a happy time.
I think there is a difference between happiness and joy. Joy requires no choice. Joy happens. I didn’t choose joy when we walked off a plane at Sea-Tac airport with our newly adopted girls. Joy happened. There were a lot of elements about international adoption that required us to choose to be happy when circumstances could have taken us in a different direction. But, on that day, joy showed up. No choice required. When Ethan and Elijah were born, I didn’t have to choose joy. Unrestricted and free flowing joy just showed up. Happiness may be a choice; but I think joy is a gift from God. When the Wise Men saw the star in the sky, they were filled with joy. (Mt 2:10) They didn’t choose joy; it just came upon them like a gift from God. The father of John the baptizer was tending to his priestly duties one day in the Temple when suddenly the angel of the Lord appeared. The angel told him that his wife will bear a son and, “You will have joy and gladness and many will rejoice at his birth.” (Lk 1:14) The word for “joy” appears at the beginning of Luke’s Gospel in this passage and in the second to last verse of the Gospel. The disciples witnessed the risen Jesus ascend into heaven, “And they worshiped him and returned to Jerusalem with great joy.” (24:52) Same word, same gift from God. Saint Paul would probably agree with me. He wrote that the Spirit gives love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness. (Gal 5:22) I was told a simple formula if you are looking for the gift of joy. It is as follows. J – Jesus O – Others Y – You The gift that God gives us is in Jesus, in others, and experienced in you. Now that is something to be happy about. -Fr. Marshall Astronaut Scott Kelly recently returned to earth after living 340 days in the International Space Station. He set the record for the longest time an American has lived in space. It was inspiring to see him lifted out of the capsule and take his first steps in earth’s gravity.
Kelly is a modern-day explorer and guinea pig for space travel. The goal for this 52 year old astronaut was to see what life would be like up in space for that long. His twin brother, Mark Kelly, a retired astronaut, is also a guinea pig. Since their bodies are remarkably similar, multiple tests have been taken both on Scott and Mark over the past year to see what, if any, changes happen to the human body in space. The question NASA wants to answer is what will happen to astronauts in flight to Mars, a trip that would take more than two years. After touching down on earth, Kelly was immediately put through physical endurance tests to see what he could do. This was a simulation of what would happen on Mars. It dawned on me that on Mars there will be no helpers to lift him and his crew out of the capsule. They’ll have to do it all themselves. What will it be like for the first humans on Mars to try to stand and walk again. One of the first reports (as of this writing) is that Scott has grown two inches taller than Mark. Apparently, being freed from gravity will do that. I do need to point out that it is impressive what Scott Kelly has done in the name of science and for America. Nevertheless, to put it into perspective, former cosmonaut and space agency chief Talgat Musabayev said to Kelly, “Congratulations on your record. Of course, it was already done 28 years ago.” Back in the mid-1990’s, Russia set the still standing record in space at 438 days on the Mir space station and prior to that, two cosmonauts stayed in space for a full year. Scott and Mark’s contribution to space travel, however, has added important understanding of the changes that happen to the human body in space flight. Scott Kelly’s partner, Amiko, told a story about talking with him on the phone one day – she was in Houston, he was 220 miles above earth. He told her that they were about to fly over Houston. She ran outside and watched the station pass by – all the while screaming, waiving and jumping up and down. He didn’t see her but mentioned in an interview that the hardest thing about extended time in space is being away from family and friends. Scripture tells us that Jesus is not of this world. We are told that we are citizens of another Kingdom – one that belongs to God. I’ve often wondered if there is gravity in heaven. Will we be taller there than on earth? And if there is no gravity in heaven, when Jesus returns, how will he deal with the change? Will one of us be there to help him move around and get used to it again. Or, what if he’s already here; what if he’s our neighbor that we pass by every once in a while. After all, time in space is hardest because of separation from loved ones. He loves us more than we can ask or imagine. Something tells me he’ll be quite familiar with our own gravitational forces when he returns. -Fr. Marshall |