When I was in high school, I was able to acolyte pretty much every week. I loved to acolyte; I loved that it gave me a role to play in the service. I loved that I was able to anticipate the needs of the celebrant, and that I knew where everything was in the sacistry. I loved wearing an alb that made me look, if I do say so myself, quite sharp.

I loved that it brought me into a fuller relationship with God as I assisted in the service and contributed to people's worship.

I remember the Sunday that acolyting became an active choice that I made, instead of something that I fell into.

I was carrying the cross for the Gospel procession that day; and the priest was reading the Gospel. I had the words strike me, fully formed: I could do this for the rest of my life. That was the first time that I had ever articulated my call to the priest hood, and from that day onwards, I chose to serve God in that way.

So I spoke to my rector, and fortunately the assistant Bishop of New York was coming to our church in a couple of weeks for confirmation so I spoke to him as well. As I spoke to them about being called to the priesthood, they both gave me very similar advice.

"Do not," they both said, "Major in religion."

They went on to explain that seminary will provide a scholastic background, but If I was not called to the priesthood then I need to do very important things later in life, like buy food, so I can, you know, eat.

So I chose to attend Binghamton University to study chemistry. Binghamton was about two hours from where my family lived, which was he perfect distance. Close enough to go home for the weekend, but too far for my mom to visit without letting me know before hand.

So I attended Binghamton, and planned to take as many religion classes as possible. It turns out that Binghamton doesn't actually offer any Christian courses. Whoops.

They did offer, however, have a robust Judaic Studies department, which was just as good. I took a phenomenal class on Genesis.

This one class, the question was asked "why did God create the world?" The answer is to have a relationship with you. To have a relationship with me, and you and each individual one of us.

They went on to say that that is also why we have free will. We have free will so that we can choose to say yes: without the ability to say no, it means nothing if we say yes.

In Ecclesiasticus the fact that we have a choice is abundantly clear. We can choose, Ecclesiasticus 5 says we have a choice follow the commandments. We have a real option of following the commandments. U can choose to covet my neighbors donkey if I so desired.

We have a choice. We can choose to follow God, and when we follow God's commandments we ate showing God that we are choosing to be in relationship with God. Following God's commandments is a real, outward, and visible sign of our relationship.

We can choose to be in relationship with God. We can choose to follow God's commandments, and when we do, we have every choice in the world.

Be a Light in the Darkness

I wonder if you’re ready to hear a story?

There once was a little soul who knew itself to be the light. This was a new soul and it was anxious for experience.

"I am the light" it said. "I am the light" Yet all the knowing of it and all the saying of it, could not substitute for the experience of it.

And in the realm from which this soul emerged, there was nothing but the light. Every soul was grand and every soul was magnificent and every soul shone with the brilliance of God's awesome light.

So the little soul was like a candle in the sun. In the midst of the grandest light, of which it was a part, it could not see itself, nor experience itself as Who and what it really was.

Now it came to pass that this soul yearned and yearned to know itself.

So great was its yearning that one day God said, "Do you know little one, what you must do to satisfy this yearning of yours?"

"Oh, what, God? What? I'll do anything!" the little soul said.

God answered, "You must separate yourself from the rest of us, and then you must call upon yourself the darkness"

"What is the darkness, Lord?" the little soul asked.

"That which you are not" God replied, and the soul understood.

And so this little soul removed itself from the ' All ' even going into another realm. And in this realm the soul had the power to call into its experience all sorts of darkness. And this it did.

Yet in the midst of all the darkness the soul cried, "Father, Father, why have you forsaken me?"

God replied: "Even in your blackest times, I have never forsaken you, but stand by you always, ready to remind you of Who You Really Are;

Ready.

Always ready to call you home.

Therefore be a light in the darkness and curse it not.

And don’t forget who you are in the moment you are encircled by that which you are not. But instead sing praises to the creation even as you seek to change it.

And remember that what you do in the time of your greatest trial can be your greatest triumph. For the experience you create is a statement of Who You Are - and Who You Want to Be."

This story is from a favorite childhood book titled The Little Soul and the Sun. I was reminded of this story as I went over the readings for this week. As I was in search of good news to tell you I found myself drawn to two themes: The presence of God, and light.

First in Isaiah we hear, “You shall call upon the lord, and he will say, “Here I am.”

What a great comfort to hear those words.

Here I am.

These are the words frightened children are relieved to hear from their mothers and fathers.

The words we long to hear from our spouses and partners in times of need or sorrow.

The words we are so grateful to hear from our friends or co-workers when we realize we have have failed to juggle all of the tasks of our busy lives.

Here I am.

However, it is important to note where God says he is or will be. The people are questioning God’s presence and approval. “We fast and you do not see, we humble ourselves, and you do not notice.”

This passage was likely written after the people of God had been exiled and Jerusalem destroyed. The people are in mourning, and seeking justice. They were praying and fasting in hopes of God answering their prayers.

As an A-type personality, overly-responsible eldest child, I know what it means to follow the rules and do the “right” things. Perhaps you too have been caught valuing yourself not based on who you are, but what correct acts you have followed. It’s easy to do. We place value on our performances, forgetting that that is not how God works.

The people are crying out, asking God why he is not giving them justice, and God replies with a question, why are you withholding justice from others?

As with the story of the little soul, we can burn magnificently, but if we are not in darkness, we cannot experience who we are. If we are not being a light to others we will not know the brightness of our flame.

“Share with the hungry. House the homeless. Clothe the naked. Then your light shall break forth like the dawn. You shall call upon the lord, and he will say, “Here I am.””

In our baptismal covenant we state that with God’s help we will seek and serve Christ in all persons, loving our neighbors as ourselves. That we will strive for justice and peace, and that we will respect the dignity of every human being.

If we truly mean what we say, then it is not just God to us saying, “Here I am.”

But it is me to you saying, “Here I am.”

And you to me, “Here I am.”

And us to them, and them to us, "Here we are."

God says, "Here I am", not after the people have followed the rules, or fasted the appropriate amount of time, but after they have sought to help those around them. He is not looking for proper doctrine, but empathetic behavior.

Barbara Brown Taylor in a sermon about the Good Samaritan states, “Right belief means nothing if not followed by right actions."

During my time in Omaha, both at St Andrew’s and with my nonprofits I have seen compassionate people complete wonderful tasks for others, but there is more work to be done.

In Montana we have a saying that goes, “There is no such thing as bad weather, only soft people.”

As we lean down to help our neighbor up. As we comfort those in deep sorrow. As we pray for those in need. As we volunteer to feed the hungry, house the homeless, and friend the friendless we will encounter darkness. We will at times be grasping and crawling to try and get back into our comfort zones.

But we are not soft people.

We are an Easter people, and we with God’s help will call upon us the darkness, if only so we can be a light to others, and that they in turn can be a light to us.

And we must remember we are never alone.

“Then you shall call and the Lord will answer; You shall cry for help, and he will say, Here I am.”

Right here.

Right now.

Breathe deeply the breath of God.

Amen.

Get Ready for the Picture, and Say Cheese!

For every major life event, rest assured my parents were there with a camera, ready to take a picture. Although because of technology today, taking a picture and sharing it instantly; it isn’t a big of deal. But when I was four or five it felt like taking a picture was truly a big deal. My parents were capturing every special moment, a memory we could keep forever. My family used a film canister camera, which meant we had to wait for the pictures to be developed. And when we finally received those new pictures, it was so exciting to go through them, and we did so ritualistically. We had to hold each picture only at the corners, ensuring not to smudge it. And we had to keep the pictures in the exact order we took them or else! My parents emphasized caring for the pictures because they knew that one day, I would want to show someone those pictures. So we took great care in handling them.

Today’s gospel reading is full of those precious picture taking moments for Jesus and his parents; it was Jesus’s presentation, which was a big deal in Jewish tradition. During our preaching group this past Monday, Father Tom explained that the presentation of Jesus actually consisted of three separate ceremonies, not just the one presentation ceremony, which is what I initially thought. In those times it was Jewish tradition that the mother wait 40 days after the birth of her child to be ritually cleansed. So the first ceremony was the ritual purification of Mary. The second ceremony, was the presentation the first born child to God. And finally third ceremony, was to dedicate the firstborn child into the Lord’s service; three ceremonies one day.

When Mary and Joseph arrived at the temple for Jesus’s presentation ceremonies they met an older man named Simeon, who was to perform the ceremonies. He was described as “righteous and devout” individual, but there was something else unique about Simeon. Through the Holy Spirit, God made a promise with Simeon that he would see the Messiah before his death. So when Simeon held Jesus, he knew that God’s promise was fulfilled, and he could die in peace, we understand this when Simeon says, “Master, now you are dismissing your servant in peace, according to your word; for my eyes have seen your salvation” To me this is an impressive display of pure faith. He was an older man, who could have just given up, become cynical, and dwell on the idea that God wouldn’t provide. Instead he simply had faith. He had faith that the Lord would provide. After Simeon’s revelation, he describes Jesus as, “a light for revelation to the Gentiles and for glory to your people Israel” emphasizing to Mary and Joseph the miracle Jesus will be in the lives of others. At this point, if Mary and Joseph were carrying a camera, this would be a picture perfect moment.

After the ceremonies were performed in the temple, Mary, Joseph, and Jesus walk out of the temple and pass Anna a prophet. From the reading, don’t know much, be we can understand that she was definitely an older woman. In one of the commentaries, it said she could have been around 100 years old. Even in her old age, Anna was dedicated to worship, and had a strong faith in God. So when she came across Jesus and his parents, she understood how significant Jesus was. There in front of her was the Messiah. Perhaps because of her age, she couldn’t walk around to spread the word, but she didn’t let that stop her. She simply spread the word just by talking to others about Jesus. If there was a picture taken at this moment, I imagine it would be Anna taking a picture of Jesus, so she could share it with everyone.

Today, there are lots of people that encompass both a pure devotion to faith like Simeon and a willingness to spread the word of God like Anna, but a particular person that pops into my mind this week is Shirley Cummings. When I first met Shirley, she told me about her faith journey and how she first began to attend services at Church of the Holy Spirit. Then she immediately switched to telling me about all of her children and grandchildren. Each of them having a special place in her heart. I could feel how devoted she was to her faith and family simply listening to her. Although Shirley has passed on, her devotion to God and love of others hasn’t stopped. It has been passed onward to her children and grandchildren. And I find this incredible, no matter how old or young, the love of God can be passed on.
God’s grace may always be within us, but we can learn to develop a deeper understanding of faith by listening to those who are wiser and have more experience with faith. Simeon, Anna, and Shirley were all prime examples of strong faith, and through their willingness to share their faith, they help develop everyone else’s.

Another great part about pictures is their ability to help reminisce about memories. By turning the pictures into a scrap book, putting them in a photo album, and even framing them and hanging them up. By sharing our memories with others, we learn more about who we are and others; ensuring that those precious memories stay close to our hearts.