Breathe

 

Thinking of St. Francis whose feast day is tomorrow - Oct. 4

                                                Tree of Life - Mosaic by Irina Charny

For your Spirit woven into the fabric of creation for the eternal overlapping with time and the life of earth interlaced with heaven's vitality I give you thanks, O God. For your untamed creativity your boundless mystery and your passionate yearnings planted deep in the soul of every human being I give you thanks. Grant me grace to reclaim these depths to uncover this treasure to liberate these longings and in being set free in my own spirit to act for the well-being of the world.   Celtic Benediction, Morning and Night Prayer by John Philip Newell 

and, this one too...

Loving Father and Creator of all we come to you today deeply grateful for your creation. As we look around us we are amazed at the greatness and majesty of all that you have made. Nature around us speaks of your greatness - the vast expanse of the sky, the mountains, trees, oceans, lakes and streams speak of your great design. You have given us such beauty in the colors of the rainbow, the beauty of flowers and fields. Words cannot adequately express the magnificence of all you have created. We join in praise with the writer of the psalms when he says, "O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth." May we show our love and reverence to you, our Lord, by caring for all that you have created. We humbly give you praise and thanks. Amen."

To Hold Fast to What Endures

  Painting - 1540 - Marinus Van Reymerswaele

To Hold to What Endures...       

A Sermon for Proper 20 C  September 21, 2025 – St. Mark’s. Charleston - JTCO

I love our collect for today ..it was the collect on the Sunday that followed Hurricane Hugo’s visit to the Lowcountry thirty-six years ago today.  … listen to it again…

Grant us, Lord, not to be anxious about earthly things, but to love things heavenly; and even now, while we are placed among things that are passing away, to hold fast to those that shall endure.

It was hard to not be anxious about earthly things during Hugo and its aftermath. With three pine trees down into the house, a newborn little boy, no electricity or water, a house full of friends and family refugeeing from Charleston – we were in Summerville.  There was severe property damage all over the Lowcountry, and yet, and yet,  we still had many of things that endure.  We had our lives, no one dear to us died and we were all standing together as neighborhoods and community  - all of us waiting for ice and water, people pulling out their grills and cooking what had thawed in their freezers.. people checking on their neighbors…It was great leveler. We were all in the same boat and trying to figure out how to weather the storm after the storm.

Today, in this difficult gospel story and the following sayings about wealth, our Lord is giving us counsel about how to navigate a different kind of storm. So,  we are going to dig in, try to make sense of it, and to see what our God might be saying to each of us today through this Word.

Our gospel reading from Luke is considered one of the most hard to understand stories of Jesus…but one clue to its meaning is where it is placed in the Gospel itself.

It falls right after the three “lost” parables  - you remember from last week—the lost sheep, the lost coin, and the last one – the parable of the prodigal or the lost son-  we will hear in Lent.  Immediately following our reading today, Jesus takes the Pharisees to task about their love of money and their hypocrisy around it and this is followed by the parable of the rich man, dressed in purple who dined sumptuously every day while a poor man, Lazarus, died starving at his gate.. So, you might call todays’ reading a lesson in the economics of discipleship.

Now, before I go any further, I want to give a shout out to the Rev. Dr. Andrew McGowan, author, seminary, and theologian – whose scholarship focuses on early Christian communities and contemporary Anglicanism.  His work on this passage deeply informs the sermon this morning.

A number of bible scholars have said that the meaning of this story has been lost in translation and over time…and  that it is basically unrecoverable…That may be so but it does give us a coherent picture of the socio-economic realities of Jesus’  day..

I want to give you some that background, look at the passage and then draw out some observations and questions for us..

The setting is most likely agricultural and during Jesus’ time, you will recall that Israel was under Roman occupation.  Consequently, in most of the country, the land had new owners.  In some cases, these were Roman citizens or other foreigners who were owed a favor by Rome.  In other cases, the owners would have been the wealthy elite and temple-connected fellow Israelites who were aligned with the Romans.

Andrew McGowan says, “… many peasant farmers had been bought out or displaced by wealthy supporters of the regime, but unlike in modern cases of consolidation of farmland by large owners, labor was still required even after the land was taken. We can think of other Gospel stories and parables where landless peasants wait for day-labor jobs, or wonder where their daily bread will come from; often they simply worked what had formerly been theirs, and handed over much of the product.”  The former owners had been forced into becoming sharecroppers.

The role of the  steward was, in part, to collect the rent which mostly would have been a portion of the crop or whatever the tenant farmer produced.   The steward would have been expected to take a cut of produce as their salary..and, as you can imagine, some of them exploited their position not  unlike the tax collectors of same time who were hated because of how they enriched themselves at the cost of their fellow Jews.. Remember St. Matthew?  He fell into this category

And, Remember, too, that Jesus is the master of the teachable moment, so I wonder if a story like this had been in the news of the day… and Jesus took the opportunity to use it to teach his disciples.

Now to the passage… the rich man, the master, ( probably the absentee landlord) heard that his steward was squandering his goods.. and so, he says to the steward – the jig is up, turn in your records…

Then we switch to the inner dialog of the disgraced steward – and there is an important thing to note – all of the actions he describes – going to the various tenants and writing down their debt – are in past tense. You can’t see in English but you can in the Greek.  I think, and this is me, that he is talking with himself.. reviewing his stewardship and describing what he has already done..before not after he got fired… As we heard, if someone owed 100 measures of oil, he had told them to write it down as 50 measure owed…in other words, he was working with  the tenant farmers to outsmart, to stick it to the absentee landlord.. and basically he was putting the interests of the tenant farmers, and his relationship with them,  above that of the absentee landlord.  Perhaps this had been his ongoing practice and that was the word that got back to the Landlord.. that his tenants, in contrast to many others, seemed to be managing, perhaps were even  able to step up out of the grinding poverty that had become normative for everybody else. Somebody noticed and somebody reported it to the Landlord.

Now, to Jesus -  the way the story sometimes is read, it appears that Jesus is commending the steward for being dishonest …and people have a hard time with that.. but what if Jesus is commending the steward for coming up with a way to help people survive under a grossly exploitative socio-economic system - one in which all the cards were stacked against them.  Jesus comments that the sons and daughters of the light need to be shrewd in dealing with the realities of life where economic oppression is the rule of the day.    And, this reminds me of what Jesus said in Matthew as he sent out the seventy on mission – ““Behold, I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves; so be smart as a snake and innocent as a dove.” (Mt. 10.16).

There is a particular danger when we are in a grossly unfair economic system, like that of the tenant farmers in the Israel under Roman occupation.  It’s this – that when we get a chance, we may reproduce that same system in our relationships with others..that is, we become just as exploitive as the powers that be.  The oppressed become the oppressors -We become servants of unrighteous mammon in this.  

Case in point, did you hear what was happening in the reading of Amos? The powerful were trampling on the needy and bringing ruin to the poor of the land. – the poor were bought for silver and the needy for a pair of sandals.…There is danger to our souls when greed takes over.

Or, can we, listening to Jesus’ warning, come up with creative ways  to sustain life even under an oppressive system without falling into the trap of chasing after unrighteous mammon?..

The followers of Jesus have dealt with this kind of challenge down through the ages in many different ways. 

 They built their own networks of support, like Blessed Absolom Jones and Richard Allen did when, in 1787,  they founded the Free African Society - a mutual aid society for African Americans in the city of Philadelphia.  The followers of Jesus created systems  (and continue to do so) for caring for the poor, like the early church did as it built hospitals.  Did you know that, while the Romans and Greeks had places of healing, “ Public hospitals,  did not exist until … towards the end of the 4th century, when the first Christian hospital was founded by Basil of Caesarea? During the middle ages, almost every monastic community or religious foundation built hospitals.

At the same time, the followers of Jesus become well versed in how to navigate existing systems.  And, the Church has been the place where  faith communities of mutual love and care are built– forging relationships with brothers and sisters with whom the ties of Holy Baptism are as strong if not stronger than the ties of blood. 

These communities could withstand the turmoil and collapse of governments all around them  … And all with merciful justice at their heart… They organized economically and, as in during our own civil rights times, undertook boycotts. They embraced those standing on the outside – drawing them in- and at the same time, going out to care for neighbors, those in need around them.  I know that many of you know these things and have done them and continue to live by them..

So to today, whether you are on the right or the left of politics- republican or democrat, progressive or conservative , you will have to admit that things are deeply unsettled in our country at present as everything around us becomes monetized  and even the most basic requirements of life are seen as an opportunity to enrich a corporate entity.  

 I believe we can look at this particular teaching of Jesus – and his warning – that in the storm of oppressive economic times-  we need to remember that we are called to serve God and not Mammon.. and we can look at how the Church has managed to move through similar storms .. all the while we can remember that this too will pass away.. and it will…

 In short, and circling back to the collect, we are surrounded by that which will pass away – both materially and politically -  but we are called to hold fast to that which shall endure – that is, the true wealth that is ours in Christ Jesus – our  love for God  and our faith in him… and to hold onto God’s eternal love for us, the creation – every atom of which shimmers with life… to hold onto our love and care for each other as a faith community, and the priceless treasure to be found when we serve those beyond us. These are the main things, these are what will endure.

So, beloved… How can we keep the main thing, the main thing?  How will you and I and St. Mark’s do this?  Think about this question this week, think about what will endure … May you be blessed in doing so.  AMEN.

Sermon  starts at 22.51   - apologies for the audio drop out at various points.

Link to Video

Big News!

Hi Friends, I am very happy to announce that I have been called to be the Interim Rector of Calvary Episcopal Church in Charleston. I am so excited to see what God will do with them! Please pray that it will be a productive time for us all. Blessings, Jennie+

Proper 7B - God, Don't You Care? -2024

 Christ in the Storm on the Sea at Galilee - Rembrandt

Audio Version can be found HERE

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; Amen.

This morning, with God's help, I want to try to weave together some threads:  the Gospel text which has some genuinely good news for us; and some thoughts about the commemorations of this past week – I am speaking of the Mother Emmanuel shootings nine years ago and the loss of nine innocent lives… and also making the our newest national holiday – Juneteenth.

In our reading from Mark today, the disciples are struggling, having a very bad time..in fact, they are afraid for their lives – “Teacher”, they cry, “do you not care that we are perishing?”

They have set out to cross the sea of Galilee after a long and very demanding day of ministry…they had probably been doing crowd control…Jesus had been teaching and healing all day and he must have been exhausted.  I love the detail that St. Mark gives us…Jesus is asleep…in the stern of the boat, sleeping on a cushion…this is the kind of detail that lets us know that  an eyewitness account really does stand behind this gospel account.

And so they were heading home - most likely leaving from the northwestern side of the great lake and  heading straight across the top to Bethsaida, home base…it was probably one of those beautiful slightly breezy late afternoons, just perfect for a sunset sail when they set out…but , as you may remember, the sea of Galilee is a very unpredictable body of water because of how the mountains at the north can funnel down a storm in an instant and this is apparently just what happened….a squall blew up, the boat was in trouble…The waves were washing in …the boat seemed like it was about to sink…and Jesus?  Was he bailing with the rest of them?  No…he was sound asleep and they must have yelled at him…Jesus, wake up…we are going down…don’t you care…don’t you care?

I wonder if you have ever found yourself in a storm- maybe not a physical one …but one of those storms of life that come along every now and then… and felt that your little boat was about to go down…Jesus, don’t you care?  I am perishing...

This account, which shows Jesus’ power  must have been especially encouraging in the early days of the  church  when the disciples were so terribly vulnerable…with Paul, then Saul the Pharisee,  and other religious authorities chasing them out of town, throwing them in jail, and killing them…they must have wondered if they would survive…they must have wondered what would become of them when because of persecution, they were scattered all over the middle eastern world and beyond…from Antioch to Egypt to Greece to Rome ….and years later under the Roman emperors Nero and Diocletian, when they were being put to the sword and dying daily, they must have wondered if the little ship of the church could survive….could make it across the lake? 

And we, when we are in the storms of our lives…both as a church and as individuals and it seems  like disaster is straight ahead and that we are going down…we may want to yell out with the disciples…don’t you care, Lord?

In the anguish of the hours and days that followed the Mother Emmanuel shooting, I heard from several quarters --"God, don't you care?  How could you let this happen?"  I heard this question at the vigil prayer service the following Friday night at the C of C-- I saw it on social media and I  heard it at home...God, you let them perish..you let the boat go down...how could you let this happen?  

And, as we contemplate Juneteenth and slavery – the owning of another human being – it’s still going on in many places in the world – we have to ask, "God, you let countless souls be kidnapped, enslaved, perish for the purposes of human greed How  could you let this happen, Lord?"

Job has the same question (to jump readings just for moment).. our reading this morning from Job is God's response to Job's question -how could you let this happen? Job had lost everything - all his children died, his crops failed, his health failed and he was left only with his cynical and embittered wife who counseled him to curse God and die. He shook his fist at God and yelled -- how could you let this happen?

I want to suggest to you that when it comes to the shooting Mother Emanuel, when it comes to greed, and division, and the hatred and violence that seem to beset us almost daily, I suspect God has the same question for us -- How could you let this happen?

 How could we let these things happen?  That is the question I want us to think about.  Because, beloved, we do have agency.

What has gone awry in our common life-  in the common life we help create in our own time and place,  and in which we participate - what has gone so wrong in our common life that something like the murder of nine innocents at a bible study ,at their church , the  nine who welcomed a stranger into their midst.... how could  that happen?  We can talk about flags and guns, and drugs, poverty, immigration, abortion and systemic racism all we want but we are not going to get to the heart of the problem until we get to the state of the human heart and of our hearts in particular...and of our tendency to go for fear rather than love.. suspicion rather than trust...blaming rather than seeking to take responsibility for how we may be complicit...

God says to Job -- 'scuse me...where were you when I created the universe?  

When the disciples cry out to Jesus -- he says “Why are you afraid?  Have you no faith? - In the Greek he calls them -- "Little faith people"  and then he says to wind, the waves, the violent storm --  Peace, be still...at his word, the Peace was given... 

He had them.. he had them all along..just as God had those precious nine.. alongside all who perished in the Middle Passage and under the iron boot of slavery, those who have suffocated under the forces of dehumanizing brutality, and so many others down through time.    God has them now...they are with the Lord, the one who created them and who loves them and he has restored peace to them...they are fine...because God did not let go of them and God will not let go of us...of St. Mark’s, of you and me...

Paul writes, In Romans 8, Who can separate us from the love of God? Shall tribulation, distress, persecution, famine, nakedness, peril or sword.. as it is written -- for your sake we are being killed all the day long - regarded as sheep for the slaughter - No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.. for I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come nor powers, nor height nor depth nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

God had the nine, God had the disciples in the boat and God has us.. and he will not let go...we are his.   This is reality.  This is the truth.

Dr. Martin Luther King said this -- " I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word in reality. This is why right, temporarily defeated, is stronger than evil triumphant."

Unarmed Truth and unconditional Love are what is most real- evil, sin and death may beat us up and take our boat down in this life...but that is only temporary-- because we belong to the God of love and truth who will not let us go.. if we can hold onto this -- plant it in our hearts and minds -- and let it grow...then it will crowd out the fear and hate that want to lay claim to us...

it doesn't mean that there will not be difficult days or that people will not go down - but it does mean - that we are called to hold up the reality which we know -- that Love not hate wins...and  life not death and evil, triumphs...

I want to remind you of a little verse that speaks to this...perfect love casts out fear...(1 Jn. 4:18).  This is a very good memory verse and I leave it with you. 

Let us pray..

 Lord Jesus, when we find ourselves in the middle of a storm, and we fear that we are sinking - perishing - fill our hearts with your love -- show us how to love as you would love even as we are fearful..we bless you and thank you that you are always with us..help us to know that we really have nothing to fear but the loss of you.  and help us to know down in our bones -- that you do not ever give up on us or let us.. for the sake of your son Jesus Christ our Lord.

 

 Proper 7B 2024 - St. Mark's Episcopal Church- Charleston, SC- JTCO

Someone I Know has Died Suddenly - A Booklet for Teenagers and Their Parents

I put this booklet together several years ago. It explains complicated grief arising from trauma and feel free to downlord if it can be of use. - JTCO

Someone I Know Has Died Suddenly - A Booklet for Teenagers and Their Parents by Jennie Olbrych on Scribd

Branches and Vine- Stability

Have you ever tried to discourage or remove a wisteria vine?  It is a tough task because the vine doesn’t want to give up.. even if a small section remains on the ground, even if it’s cut off from the rest of the vine, it will root where it is and keep on growing. The problem with wisteria, as you know, is that despite its verdancy and beauty – despite its purple or white grape like flowers and fragrance - it can easily choke and ultimately kill a tree.
      Contrast that with a grape vine with its branches.  This image Jesus uses speaks to the heart of our relationship with God and it is, without a doubt, one of the most beautiful images in scripture.  Jesus says in John 15, I am the true vine ..and my Father is the vine grower…Jesus is like the grape vine, the sturdy trunk, we are like the branches and, unlike wisteria, if we get cut off from the main vine, we can’t bear any fruit.  So Jesus says, stay connected – remain in me, and I will remain in you…In this brief meditation, I’d like to invite you to think about that word – remain.  You can hear our English word in the Greek verb – meno – it means abide, persevere, remain, stay…
       It’s also the idea of stability or, as Eugene Peterson puts it,  a long faithfulness in a single direction.   Abiding or remaining is one of the core ideas that St. Benedict embodied in his 6th century guide or rule for living as part of a monastic community.  I wonder..did you know that Benedictine spirituality is at the heart of our Anglican tradition?
Stability is the idea of remaining committed to place and people - to stay where you are, to stay focused.  to not go roaming around.  For a monk or a nun, it’s a direct commitment to stay in the monastery where they will live out their lives. For the rest of us, it means staying committed to our families, and communities – to make a long term commitment to their well being – and to remain – to stay the course for better or worse.
      You and I live in a time which seems to be pretty commitment phobic. We want to be able to bail if it gets rough and yet, there are many things in life which need long standing commitment to bring about good fruit.
      I am so thankful that our God has practiced stability -  remaining with us.  For, we are his long view, his long term project and Jesus calls us to persevere in our commitments not only with him but also with each other.
     In a church setting, this means not giving up on the body of believers in that place but being willing to stay together through hard times and good times…through seasons of plenty as well as seasons of drought.  And, why?  Jesus reminds us that this is so that we can bear fruit – beautiful lives and life-giving, long lasting works that tell about the love of God for all people and for the whole creation.
     Here’s a thought – our remaining in Christ, our stability in Christ is what makes it possible for us to have stability with each other. 
      That we might bear fruit and remain, that is, that we might abide in Christ - this is my prayer for you and for me this week.  Let us pray.

Lord God, Creator of the universe, grant that we might ever  abide in you and you in us. So that we might come to glorious flower and bear bountiful fruit for well being of your people and the sake of the kingdom. This we ask in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Sprit AMEN.