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| Photo by Smithsonian.com 💛 “To grow a church preach from the heart, work for the poor, welcome the stranger, embrace the Spirit. Laugh more than cry. Fail more than wait. Give more than keep. Be unexpected love and trust the becoming to God.” ― ~~Cloud Walking:: A Spiritual Diary |
Have you ever seen this segment on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon? (Music Up)
Thank you, adorable bird family, for the special gifts you left us just outside our front door.
That’s right, a bird family has taken up residence under the roof of our front porch. This happens every year.
It can be a little inconvenient to host these families. In an effort to deter them, we’ve tried the spikes. But these resourceful birds are somehow able to construct their nests between them! Some of these nests are engineering marvels, really. This year’s is gorgeous. It’s very tidy with kind of a contemporary feel – mid-century modern maybe.
Inevitably, though, fragments of the nest make their way to the porch floor. (Sigh.) I just sweep them up. There’s also the issue of bird poop.
Despite the mess, we have come to enjoy hosting these guests. Especially now that we have a Ring camera on the porch. We get to watch the parents come and go as they care for their newborns, and as the babies eventually grow and leave the nest. We get to watch them as they spread their wings and take flight for the very first time. It’s thrilling.
One year, a pair of mourning doves arrived. A lovely couple, their comforting coo serenaded us morning and evening, as they made themselves at home under the shelter of our porch. Mourning doves are generally in and out fairly quickly. They can build their nests in just a few hours, lay their eggs, and before you know it, they’re gone. Mourning dove mamas usually lay two eggs per clutch.
One day, I noticed there was only one chick in the nest. Mom was there too. She seemed to be poking and prodding her offspring who may have been starting to show signs of failure to launch. Suddenly, I realized - brilliant - she was defeathering her nest. As mom painstakingly deconstructed the home she had built for her family, one tiny twig at a time, junior showed no signs of leaving. He was a squatter. Finally, there was nothing but a mess of nesting debris scattered about. Baby bird, perched perilously on the edge of a ledge, finally gathered his courage, spread his wings, and left us with a tenuous flutter.
Sometimes we need a little push. It’s a scary world out there. I get it.
So often we find ourselves waiting for just the right moment. There is no perfect time to have a baby, leave an unhappy workplace, or quit an unhealthy habit.
In a way, Jesus pushes his followers out of their comfort zone, sending them, according to Matthew’s Gospel, to the “Lost Sheep of Israel,” perhaps before they feel entirely ready. First, he sends out the twelve, two by two, with specific instructions – take nothing with you. Talk to no one on the road. Offer your peace at each home. Heal the sick, cast out unclean spirits. If you are rejected, shake the dust off your feet, but let them know in no uncertain terms that the Kingdom of Heaven has come near to them.
Jesus sends the disciples out like “sheep among wolves.” They must be wise as serpents, but harmless as doves. Luke’s is the only Gospel that includes the sending out of the 70, or 72, depending on which translation you read. Some argue that 70 represents the 70 nations that emerged in Genesis chapter 10. However, in the Greek version of the Hebrew Bible, the Septuagint, there were 72 nations.
Surprise! The Bible has inconsistencies!
Luke, however, is consistent with Jesus’ rather unusual, very specific instructions: take no purse, no bag, no sandals.
Does this give anyone else anxiety? Those 70 (or 72) disciples, many of whom were likely women, were thrust into a deeply vulnerable position. Jesus sends them out in a state of utter dependency. Sure, they’re sent to spread the good news; they are likely up for that, but Geez Louise, discipleship is hard!
(Music up) Thank you, Barbra Streisand, for 'people who need people, cause they’re the luckiest people…'
But are they? Just ask the young man in the grocery store, short on enough cash to buy baby formula for his newborn. Ask the unhoused, LGBTQ, people of color, immigrants, senior citizens, someone with a chronic health problem, a victim of domestic violence …Vulnerability is no picnic. It’s not always easy to be on the receiving end of someone else’s hospitality.
But, God knows, a vulnerable experience can teach us empathy. Literally, God knows.
Grassroots, one of the outreach programs supported by St. Mark’s, is acutely aware of the daily challenges faced by some of our more vulnerable neighbors. Howard County’s primary homeless shelter, Grassroots, provided beds for 547 people last year. In December, thanks to the generosity of several local congregations like ours, Grassroots added twenty more beds to its Cold Weather Shelter Program, increasing its capacity by 40 percent.
St. Mark’s also supports the Grassroots Crisis Center by supplying meals for more than fifty people on the second Friday of every month. The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few.
Do you feel called to this ministry? For more information about Grassroots, please contact our own Cynthia Scourtis. She can point you in the right direction.
Sometimes we need that little push or encouragement to start the next thing, even before we feel ready. Some of theHebrew prophets, including Moses, Isaiah, and Jeremiah, expressed deep feelings of inadequacy before accepting their call.
Way back when, before I answered a call to vocational ministry (trust me, that phone rang for a long time), way back then, there was my first solo Lay Eucharistic Visitation. I remember it as if it were yesterday. Trained well by Deacon Diane Fadely, I felt mostly prepared. Still, I was anxious about that first visit.
I must have looked scared because I recall our rector giving me some specific directions. “Give them communion, but don’t stay too long,” she told me. This dear soul was in the final stages of Alzheimer’s, and although her memory seemed to be gone, she was somehow able to say the Lord’s Prayer. Afterwards, I felt satisfied with the visit. And I reported back as much when I returned the communion kit to the church. Our priest was not impressed. There were plenty more people who needed a visit.
Anyone who answers a call to Lay Eucharistic Ministry will find that it feels great doing this work. But that’s not the point. It’s about the peace of God moving from soul to soul. It is in this flow that Episcopal Priest and contemplative Cynthia Bourgeault calls the imaginal realm, that the Kingdom of Heaven comes near. Jesus understands this and wants his disciples to experience it too.
An early Church Father, Bishop Irenaeus, wrote that Jesus became like us so that we might become like Him. Remember the Wedding at Cana? You may recall that Jesus was unsure about the timing of his first miracle. It was his mama who gave him the push he needed, and suddenly, good wine-the very best wine-was flowing freely.
That wine is the joy of God, the peace of God, the merciful love of God, and the mystery of the Holy Spirit flowing through us and among us when we are brave enough to live fully into our discipleship. Friends, we are called to bring Shalom, Peace, the love of Christ to others in many different ways, large and small. And sometimes this might require that we start before we are ready.
If you need a little push, we’ve got you. One of the many benefits of belonging to a loving community of faith like this one is we will push you out of your comfort zone. And you will never go it alone. No thank you note necessary.
Amen.
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