Weekly Reflections

WHAT A WEEK! Read all the amazing things going on at St. Margaret’s last week! Music Camp, A Concert, Prayerbead Workshop, A Stewardship meeting, Wednesday & Sunday Services, and more – all the things you are all doing to support St. Margaret’s efforts to live the Good News!

Doing the will of the God who loves us and only longs to do good for us is eminently pragmatic, even beyond the invitations in Scripture and in our faith to follow God’s way. Truly, we cannot live without God, who daily creates us and creates for us all we need in order to live.  

I encourage you to pray fervently for the bishops meeting in Lambeth. And for the opening of hearts to the movement of the Spirit. I ask you to pray, too, for our LGBTQ+ brothers and sisters who may be feeling that the church is once again excluding and judging them.

Although summer traditionally is a bit quieter and slower, I have some exciting events to share with you. Please add to your calendar and share with others. On Sunday, August 7, at 1:30, several of us will be going to Legend Senior Living in Macungie, to provide a short service for them. Saturday, August 11, from 10:00-3:00, I will be doing a Prayerbead Workshop at the St. Barnabas Center in Kutztown. October 20, 21, 22 and potentially 23 we’ll be having an Icon Workshop at St. Margaret’s in Emmaus.

This Sunday is not only the second Sunday after Pentecost, but it is also Juneteenth. “Just what is that?” you ask?  Juneteenth is a holiday celebrated on June 19th to commemorate the emancipation of enslaved people in the US. The holiday was first celebrated in Texas, where on that date in 1865, in the aftermath of the Civil War, slaves were declared free under the terms of the 1862 Emancipation Proclamation. Two and a half YEARS to get the liberating and soul-saving word that people who had been enslaved their whole lives were now free!  But for many people of color, even today, 159 years since President Lincoln’s Proclamation, true equality is still a dream.

Sunday!  One of the biggest and best celebrations of the year, second only to Easter in my mind. I hope that many of you will be with us in person as well as online as we celebrate the coming and the presence of the Spirit! Wear fiery colors on Sunday. And get ready for a few surprises—there are ALWAYS surprises when the Spirit’s involved!

And so we come to the last Sunday of Easter. After today, no more of those fun (annoying?) Easter jokes. A change in the color of the church. Different music. And in a couple of weeks, a different Eucharistic prayer. It’s part of the way that the church processes time. We are reminded that while we watch the clock and turn the calendar pages in the ordinary world, the world of faith keeps to a different timetable. 

One of the things that gives us courage is the knowledge that Jesus is with us. And Jesus is the one who is able to calm the storms of life. You recall how frightened the disciples got when they were sailing in the midst of the storm and Jesus spoke to the elements saying, “Peace, be still.” The disciples asked, “Who is this that even the wind and sea obey him?” 

Psalm 148 is one of the most glorious and poetic of the Psalms of Praise.  Instead of focusing on individual things for which we praise God, it is giving the voice of praise to all sorts of beings. And not just what we like to call “living creatures”. The sun, moon, stars, oceans, mountains and, of course my favorite sea monsters, give praise to God. I wonder how God feels about us wantonly destroying Creation, which we ourselves are also part of?

This week’s lectionary readings are full of references to sheep and lambs. Those of you who know me well or have heard me preach before on this Sunday, typically called Good Shepherd Sunday, know that I have an attitude about sheep, having grown up in farm country. And that attitude is not entirely favorable. Maybe because the sheep I grew up with were also pastured with goats and learned lots of mischief from them. Can you guess where I’m going with this?