Saint Bartholomew's Episcopal Church
Livermore, California
6/30/2024
Proper 8
Collect: Almighty God, you have built your Church upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief cornerstone: Grant us so to be joined together in unity of spirit by their teaching, that we may be made a holy temple acceptable to you; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, forever and ever. Amen.
Scripture (Mark 5:29): Immediately her hemorrhage stopped; and she felt in her body that she was healed of her disease.
Reflection: We all need healing. There is not a person on the planet not in need of various kinds of healing of body, mind, and soul. The exact sort may differ from person to person, but the basic need is universal. And healing can be a confusing and maddening enterprise. There are an almost infinite number of voices giving us different diagnoses and different prognoses in terms of what ails us and how it can be fixed. This is what makes today’s story from the Gospel of Mark so extraordinary. The woman at the center of it had, according to the text, spent everything she had on many physicians and only grown worse in her disease. But when she touched Jesus, that all disappeared in the twinkle of an eye. She no longer needed a clear diagnosis from any other person, nor did she need confirmation that she was healed. She felt in her body with utter clarity that what had plagued her for so many years was gone. The question this raises for us is can we share in her faith? Can we trust that when we are utterly confused and hopeless, at the end of our ropes with all the supposedly healing voices around us that never seem to really get to the root of the issue, we still have a divine Healer? The healing will almost certainly not unfold according to our vision and timeline, but when it does it will have as its hallmark utter certainty and completeness. Can we grab hold of such a faith?
6/23/2024
Proper 7
Collect: O Lord, make us have perpetual love and reverence for your holy Name, for you never fail to help and govern those whom you have set upon the sure foundation of your loving-kindness; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, forever and ever. Amen.
Scripture (2 Corinthians 6:1-2): As we work together with him, we urge you also not to accept the grace of God in vain. For he says, ‘At an acceptable time I have listened to you, and on a day of salvation I have helped you.’ See, now is the acceptable time; see, now is the day of salvation!
Reflection: The concluding blessing in our service of Holy Eucharist always refers to “the peace of God which surpasses all understanding.” This is both good and challenging news. The good news is that it is a peace which nothing, truly nothing, can steal away from us. The challenging news is that it often doesn’t look like peace at all by any of the metrics we’re used to using. It’s a peace that guards us not only when outer circumstances are anything but peaceful but even when our inner lives are in turmoil. It’s a peace that doesn’t depend upon our minds being settled. And it resides in a place buried so deeply in us that even we don’t have access to it; God alone does. This is why St. Paul can write so confidently to a church where we can be sure that both individuals and community were often in turmoil that now is the acceptable time, and now is the day of salvation. This peace of God is available to us here and now, even when everything without and within seems unsettled. All that is required of us is surrender. God will not infuse us with this peace without our permission to enter that deep place in us where even we don’t know where to find it. But a simple prayer of assent does the trick.
6/16/2024
Proper 6
Collect: Keep, O Lord, your household the Church in your steadfast faith and love, that through your grace we may proclaim your truth with boldness, and minister your justice with compassion; for the sake of our Savior Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.
Scripture (Mark 4:30-32): He also said, ‘With what can we compare the kingdom of God, or what parable will we use for it? It is like a mustard seed, which, when sown upon the ground, is the smallest of all the seeds on earth; yet when it is sown it grows up and becomes the greatest of all shrubs, and puts forth large branches, so that the birds of the air can make nests in its shade.’
Reflection: In the previous week we had our annual day camp/vacation Bible school at St. Bart’s. So much of this looks from the outside like pure silliness. There are water balloon fights, nerf gun battles, campers try to creep their way through human-made “spiderwebs,” and so on. One might ask what any of this has to do with God and Jesus. The answer is everything. It is actually quite rarely the dramatic and spectacular things that touch someone’s heart and bring them closer to God. More often than not it is something so simple and so small that it goes unnoticed by anyone but the person who was touched. A line from a song sung at camp, a smile offered to a camper having a rough morning, or a simple word of encouragement might be all it takes to engender a life of rich faith in a young person. These things are the mustard seeds of which Jesus speaks in today’s Gospel. Our only job is to scatter them as generously as we know how and then watch as God gives the growth.
6/9/2024
Proper 5
Collect: O God, from whom all good proceeds: Grant that by your inspiration we may think those things that are right, and by your merciful guiding may do them; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, forever and ever. Amen.
Scripture (2 Corinthians 4:17): For this slight momentary affliction is preparing us for an eternal weight of glory beyond all measure.
Reflection: This one verse of Scripture is arguably either the cruelest or the most hopeful sentence ever written. If it isn't true, it holds out the ultimate false hope. But if it is, it changes everything about how we view our lives. Everything that happens to us, without a single exception, is preparing us for an eternal weight of glory beyond all measure. If we can take the leap of faith and trust that this promise is true, it gives us the most essential guiding question we can ask ourselves at each and every point along life's journey: how is this moment preparing me for boundless joy and glory? The answers may not always be obvious or come immediately, but even the act of raising the question and assuming that the underlying premise is true changes everything.
6/2/2024
Proper 4
Collect: O God, your never-failing providence sets in order all things both in heaven and earth: Put away from us, we entreat you, all hurtful things, and give us those things which are profitable for us; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, forever and ever. Amen.
Scripture (2 Corinthians 4:7): But we have this treasure in clay jars, so that it may be made clear that this extraordinary power belongs to God and does not come from us.
Reflection: So often when we dwell upon the really big, wonderful things that happen in the world we tend to give too much credit in some places and too little in others. When spectacular moments of truth and reconciliation appear on the pages of history, we associate certain names with them. Now this isn't to say that the Susan B. Anthony's, Martin Luther King's, and Cesar Chavez's of the world aren't wonderful and important people. They certainly are. But they themselves would probably be the first to admit that they were only tiny cogs in the huge, divinely inspired wheel that leads the world into a higher state of truth, justice, and beauty. So many other saints, other unnamed and unremembered heroes and heroines were the foundations upon which the great divine movements have stood. Let us always remember as we honor the great ones among us that there are so many more great ones, treasures in clay jars, of whose names and contributions we aren't even aware. And that is because the power belongs to God and does not come from us.