6/14/2023

Dear friends in Christ, greetings to you and peace. Today I take off for Florence for my sabbatical. There's a timeline in the corner of the Parrish Hall to let you know where I should be if I have successfully kept up with my walking pilgrimage.

This morning's reading from the Second Letter of Paul to the Corinthians did not lessen any of my anxiety about my trip. Paul says that he had been beaten, shipwrecked, faced danger from rivers, robbers, from many people he is encountered; that there was danger for him in the city, danger in the wilderness, danger at sea, danger from false people, and that he faced many a sleepless night in hunger and thirst in cold exposure, and he was under pressure and suffered anxiety for caring for the church.

Hopefully I will face none of that. I will face the challenge of walking a hilly road with my own thoughts for 25 days. I will not carry too much anxiety for St Francis the church. I know you will love each other and support Caroline and the vestry in doing what is best in doing the will of God. What is best in doing the will of God? It is always to love. If there's not love in it then it's not the will of God. That's my take on our scripture story.

6/8/2023

One week from today, I take off for a grand adventure. My plan is to post a timeline in the parish hall so that you may follow me on my route from La Verna to Rome.

This walking route begins in Tuscany, at the La Verna monastery, where St. Francis received the signs of the stigmata. The route then crosses Umbria from north to south and finishes in Rome. It will take me 29 days to walk 310 miles with two days in each of the places of Sansepolcro, Assisi, Reitti, Spoleto, and Rome. I plan on communicating at least once per week.

While I am walking I will be contemplating and praying. Yes, praying to get over the next hill, and also praying for St. Francis Episcopal Church. I ask you to pray for me, Arthur, each other, and our community; and to love one another. Please aid the Sr. Warden and vestry in keeping St. Francis a vibrant, spiritual, safe, and holy space. We carry the kingdom of God within us as long as we love

05/31/2023

The Day of Pentecost was a lot of fun last Sunday! The worship vibe was deep, and the grilled chicken lunch that followed was great as well. It was a good day! Thanks to all that made it happen.

Today is The Feast of the Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary. The gospel reading this morning for Morning Prayer was from John 3:25-30. In it, a discussion arose between John the Baptist and some of his disciples who were concerned about people going to Jesus to get baptized instead of going to John. John reminds them that he told them that he was not the Christ. Then John says something that all of us who proclaim faith in God through Jesus the Christ, and which seems to get lost among many, he says, “He (Jesus) must increase but I (John) must decrease.”

For our service through word and deed in bringing forth the Kingdom of God on Earth, we remember that we are not central to the Kingdom of God but do the work and live the gospel. From doing this our fulfillment of joy dwells within, so that our words and actions always reflect that inner joy. In doing so, the Kingdom of God increases and we decrease. We decrease primarily in our ego and in our self-importance.

5/10/2023

On Thursday, May 18th at 6:30 pm we will have the Ascension Day Service. Instead of having it in the church, I would like to have it in the parish hall. It would involve having a short conversation about the readings, then communion, followed by a simple dinner. This might be a prelude to having a service during the week that is short, with communion, and followed by a simple dinner. I invite you to try it. We won’t know until we try it.

This Morning Prayer’s Gospel is Luke 8:16-25. Jesus tells the disciples that no one lights a candle and then hides it. In our own context that would be like turning on our living room lamp and then sticking it in the closet and closing the closet door while you remained in the living room, and wondering why you or your guests couldn’t see.

The candle in the passage is light but also it represents Jesus, the truth and love of God, and the light God gives to the world in and through that love. It is the light that leads us into safety so that we don’t stumble and leads us out of darkness so that we don’t cause others to stumble. The candlelight illuminates our visible humanness to others and allows us to reach out to others for relationship. When it is concealed, bad things happen, and can happen in the dark, in the void. In the dark, we assume things about ourselves and others. What we don’t know, see, or experience, especially of others, we generally make up, and fear reigns and diminishes any possibility of right relationship. The light of Christ, God’s love, masters the darkness and calms the storms.

5/7/2023

Greetings Franciscans, I hope all is well.

When I say “I hope all is well”, I know that each of you has things going on in your life that may not be fulfilling or may be downright fearful. What I mean is that you be given the strength to face them with the knowledge that you are loved and that you possess a peace that can only come from God.

The Gospel (Luke 6:27-38) for today’s Morning Prayer is counterintuitive for our culture but it does, if we live into it, give us the strength to go forward when all else tells us that it is futile. Jesus says.

“Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you. If anyone strikes you on the cheek, offer the other also; and from anyone who takes away your coat do not withhold even your shirt. Give to everyone who begs from you; and if anyone takes away your goods, do not ask for them again. Do to others as you would have them do to you.

It’s a difficult passage. It strikes directly at ego, at self-preservation, at fairness. One facet of this gospel passage is to put in focus what we cling to, what is important to our very being, and what will sustain us in a world that is often cruel, hurtful, and harmful. This passage does not set well with hammers but it may be just what our relationship with God the provider, the comforter, the protector, and the sustainer needs to go deeper into the mystery of divine love. Peace. Ben+

4/26/2023

This Saturday, Appleton Episcopal Ministries (AEM) will host Keep/Watch: Suicide, Christ, and Community. It is a workshop to be held at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church and addresses death by suicide that touches us in a grievous way, even when that person was unknown to us. When that person is known to us, it is even more devastating. The invitation and the registration are in this E-news addition.

The death of anyone by suicide in or around our community leaves an impact severely felt and can never be fully understood. I invite any that wish to join me at this workshop to attend. I will pay your registration fee. I think AEM will need to know by this Friday.

4/19/2023

So back in the summer of 2019, pre-pandemic, I took two months of a three months sabbatical. Each vestry since 2019 has been gracious in allowing me to push that last month of sabbatical down the road until I (and the world) was ready for me to take it. The time is nigh.

Arthur and I plan on taking a week of vacation in Florence, Italy in June. From there, Arthur returns to Macon, and I will leave from Florence to arrive in La Verna (where Francis received the stigmata) to begin a thirty-day walking journey to Rome, arriving there on July 26th. I will be a pilgrim on the St. Francis Way traveling through Assisi, Gubbio (St. Francis and the wolf story), Spoleto, and Rieti to name a few of the towns along the way and in the life of St. Francis. I do have some money, from your previous sabbatical support, to assist me in doing this.

I have an idea. If you want me to take a crucifix necklace, medal/pendant, or a rosary belonging to you, along with me to have them blessed along the way and at the Vatican, I would like to do that. So, in a small way, St. Francis Macon would accompany me, not only fully in spirit but somewhat physically as well. Just an idea. I promise I will not hock your jewelry or rosaries for chocolate.

During my absence, the Sr. Warden will be the ecclesiastical leader supported by the vestry. Fr. Bob will cover some Sundays and the well-seasoned Morning Prayer officiants will cover some Sundays. I will share more about my journey as time gets closer.

4/12/2023

It appears that my enthusiasm for Icon writing was not contagious-yet. We have postponed the Icon Writing class that was to begin this Saturday until possibly sometime in June.

However, we will have on Saturday, April 22nd, an Introduction to Icon Writing hosted by Melise Fahti from 10:30 am to 12 noon. I want to emphasize that Icon writing is a contemplative practice, a practice of prayer, and one does not need to be a painter. An Icon is not painted, it is written. Similar to pushing a pen or pencil across a sheet of paper to convey a thought, Icon writers push and pull little lakes (Petite lochs) of water across outlined boards and watch an image appear from the layers of pigment. Icon Writing is not just making art, but a spiritual discipline and a form of prayer.

My vision is to have icons by parishioners celebrating our new space one day soon. If you have even the slightest interest in contemplation and creation, please join Melise on April 22nd in the parish Hall of St. Francis.

4/5/2023

I hope this message finds you well.

I invite you to experience Tenebrae with us tonight. It takes a congregational presence in the experience to experience Tenebrae well. In other words, if you can, please join us tonight at 7 pm for the service of shadows and darkness, with the light of Christ, never extinguished, always burning.

In this Holy Week, we are getting ready to head into the great three days (The Triduum), where, no matter how many times one has experienced it, one can go deeper into the mystery of Christ’s suffering, death, and resurrection. I know that the services may not have changed, but we have.

He who is rich made himself lowly for our sakes: who would not be struck with wonder at the height of thy knowledge, which no mind can understand nor tongue describe! Thou, the Creator of all, hast drawn near to thy creatures of clay, and washed their feet and dried them with a towel. --Byzantine Liturgy

Lord Jesus Christ, as we kneel at the foot of your cross, help us to see and know your love for us, so that we may place at your feet all that we have and are.

Crucified savior, naked God, you hang disgraced and powerless. Grieving, we dare to hope, as we wait at the cross with your mother and your friend.--New Zealand Prayer Book

3/28/2023

Holy Week is almost here. The schedule is printed in the E-news. I hope to see a whole lot of you this week but especially on the great three days (Triduum) of Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, and the Easter Vigil.

I know that some of you are very uncomfortable with foot washing at the Maundy Thursday service. So no one has to get their feet washed. Remember our saying, “All may, None must, Some should.” If foot washing is not for you, I very much encourage you to still attend the agape meal beforehand and then head into the church. The agape meal is a time of fellowship and a time of hearing scripture read aloud in an unfamiliar setting during a meal. Please sign up a head of time so preparations can be made for a wonderful meal celebrating the last supper of Jesus with his disciples and the giving by Jesus of a new commandment.

"A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another"

3/21/2023

Holy Week will soon be here. I hope you are able to make room on your calendars for Holy Week activities such as Palm Sunday, Stations of the Cross at noon on Monday and Good Friday, Tenebrae on Wednesday evening, Maundy Thursday Agape meal and foot washing, Good Friday evening service, and the Great Easter Vigil at 8 pm on Saturday, with of course Easter Day, April 9th. Maundy Thursday begins The Great Triduum (Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, and the Great Easter Vigil). It is not with certainty I make this statement but with confidence, that those participating in the Great Triduum will see a glimpse beyond the veil of mystery of our God story.

The Great Triduum represents the most intimate three days in the life of the Church. In this time, we have a “front-row seat” to the passion, death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus. Through it, we enter more deeply into the Paschal mystery of Christ’s redeeming love. It is not a mystery to be solved by human reason, but one which can only be revealed by God and received through grace.

I also urge you to make an appointment with me for the Rite of Reconciliation (Confession). The Rite of Reconciliation (page 446 BCP) may be used at any time but many find that coming out of Lent and through Holy Week is the right time for them to remember, reflect, and begin the journey of repairing their broken relationships with God and their neighbor. Sometimes it is good to say things out loud in a safe space outside of our own silos.

3/16/2023

Today is what may be referred to as the ides of March, if one is using the ancient Roman calendar. Ides means roughly “the middle of the month” depending on the full moon. In Act 1, scene 2 of Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar, the soothsayer says to Caesar, “Beware the ides of March.” The next day, on the Ides of March, Caesar is stabbed by sixty senators, the last one stabbing him is Brutus. Caesar says to Brutus, “Et tu, Brute?” Hopefully, no misfortune such as that will occur to any one of us today or ever.

In today’s Morning Prayer Gospel according to John, Jesus is again having a time with certain scribes and certain Pharisees. Just before this, Jesus was being put to the test by these scribes and Pharisees in an attempt to publicly humiliate and then possibly stone to death a woman said to be caught in adultery. (Of course, her man partner was not present to be publicly humiliated or stoned).

They kept asking Jesus what should be done. If he said “yes, stone her”, then he would show himself to be just like many of the scribes and Pharisees, showing no mercy. In addition, if he said “yes, stone her” it would be against Roman law because only the Roman authorities could give death sentences. Thus, he would have been handed over to Roman authorities at that moment.

If he said “let her go”, he would then have been portrayed as someone who didn’t care about the law of Moses, God’s law, and not who he says he is. Jesus’ answer (also a condemnation of the men) is ‘Let anyone among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.’ If anyone would have said that they had no sin, they would condemn themselves to be what they were condemning Jesus for, being on the level of God. The only one present that could have thrown a stone was Jesus. In today’s Morning Prayer passage, Jesus says: “I judge no one.” From my understanding of God’s love, God desires us to be reconciled to God and that can only happen by being reconciled to our neighbor through forgiveness, repentance, and being brought back into community that acknowledges God’s love for all of us.

3/8/2023

I write you from Brunswick Georgia where I am attending the Georgia Sheriffs' Association Chaplaincy training. I hope Lent is going well for you. Our Lenten series started off talking about Jesus' temptations by the devil in the wilderness. The second session was "Night Questions" with Nicodemus, and the third will be Jesus' long conversation with the theological woman at the well. Then two more sessions. I hope you can join us in conversation and good soup at one or more of the remaining three sessions.

The Gospel for today's Morning Prayer is from John. Jesus asks a man who's been sick for 38 years if he wants to be made well. The man doesn't say yes but instead gives his scenario of why he is not well. He says that he comes and lies by the pool, that supposedly has healing qualities, but is never able to get in because no one is there to help him. After 38 years the man and his disease are one.

After spending time with ourselves and getting comfortable or at least agreeable with ourselves and our state of being, the question before us is, do we really want to change or have we grown comfortable with who we are? I'm not talking of the physical but of the spiritual. Sometimes our only way forward appears to be that we just accept our status or condition. We begin to think that there is no way to change. For the man at the pool, the healing event happened anyway despite his thoughts. Jesus doesn't berate him for having waited so long or doesn't scoff at him for his acceptance of what he thought wasn't changeable. Jesus just heals the man. In our complacency about healing, about being made whole, about change, may Jesus do the same for us out of his mercy and love for us, even when we are hesitant or unsure of what we need and of the way forward.

3/1/2023

We began last night (Tuesday), our first Lenten class in the series. It is titled “Jesus Makes the Difference.” The session was about the difference between Jesus and the devil specifically in the Gospel of Matthew 4:1-11. In the video, we heard that the voice of the devil (the call of the world to trust in the world and listen to ourselves thinking of our needs only), comes to us in times of silence, suffering, and vulnerability.

Here’s the rub, so does the voice of God come to us as well in the silence, in the suffering, and in our vulnerability. I would say that it is only in our vulnerability that we hear God. So which voice can we trust, and which voice can we discern to be God’s voice and not the world’s voice? God’s voice is the one that says, we are loved, that we are enough, and doesn’t demand a transaction except to love others. We trust the voice that doesn’t feed our fears and doesn’t ask us to deprive ourselves of our humanity or deprive anyone else of their humanity. We trust the voice that says, hurting someone else doesn’t heal us. Yes, we trust the one that says to be kind and forgiving to those around us and to ourselves. The voice of the world promises us (at a high cost) power and an abundance of lifeless things, and an illusion of immortality based on the subjugation and objectification of others; but God’s voice promises us life and freedom, beginning now and lasting always.

2/22/2023

Today is Ash Wednesday and the reading from the Old Testament for Morning Prayer is from The Book of Jonah. Jonah has succumbed and acceded to the Lord’s request to proclaim the Lord’s word concerning the destruction that lies ahead for the city of Nin’eveh. The Nin’evites heard the word given by Jonah and repented and God did not destroy the city.

One might think that Jonah would have been pleased with the work that God and he had done, but no. It is written that Jonah is exceedingly displeased and he was angry, so angry that he wanted to die. This comedic story has a great deal of psychology exposed in it and a lot of truth as most good comedy does.

Perhaps Jonah didn’t think the Nin’evites were worth saving? Perhaps Jonah thought he knew who was in and who was out of God’s reach based on his own limited and self-serving understanding of God? How this book rings so true of our own current society. Each of us seems to know who deserves God’s favor and who doesn’t and for some, they twist and pervert the spiritual stories of our ancestors to make them fit their own selfish myopic view.

My take on this story and others in our canon is that good and bad things happen to God’s children. It is in our constantly growing relationship with God that we learn to celebrate with God, the good things, the life giving things that come from God. It is in our constantly growing relationship with God that we learn to place our trust in God, that her love will be with us to the end forever, and that’s a long long time. If that makes us angry, then there’s a story to share, it involves a rather large fish.

2/15/2023

The Gospel for Daily office today was from Mark 11:27-12:12. In it the religious leaders ask Jesus by what authority he does these things? Or who gave him the authority to do these things? “These things” might mean his entry into Jerusalem (our Palm Sunday liturgy) or “These things” might mean his healing and teaching ministry, or maybe both his entry and his ministry.

The Status Quo religious leadership had fear of both. The people seemed to like Jesus. If one wants power on earth, chaos is your friend. If one is already holding earthly power, chaos is not your friend. Jesus was bringing chaos, divine chaos and the leaders wanted Jesus to admit it so they could brand him as crazy, disruptive, and then dismiss him, thereby destroying him and the Good News. This tends to be what we do best in our interactions with people who threaten us. We brand and dismiss, in order to destroy the person. In the end, Jesus uses the perceived destruction of himself to construct a way forward for all of God’s children.

2/7/2023

This week I attended a pre-Lenten clergy retreat at Camp MiKell. The bishop was with us for part of that time. He led us in scripture study for the upcoming Sundays in Lent. 

Speaking of Lent, we will have a Lenten Study at St. Francis during the weeks of Lent.

The gospel for this morning's office is from Mark. Jesus is being questioned by the religious leaders about divorce but He notices that children are being kept away from him by his disciples. Mark says Jesus became indignant and said to them, "Let the little children come to me; do not stop them; for it is to such as these that the kingdom of God belongs. Truly I tell you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will never enter it." And he took them up in his arms, laid his hands on them, and blessed them.

I remind you that earlier in Mark, chapter 9, “Jesus took a child in his arms and said, “Whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes not me but the one who sent me.”

Here’s a take on welcoming those like children into the Kingdom of God. In 1st century Palestine, children were not considered worthy to be welcomed, they did not have banquet parties for children or anyone for that matter who was considered weak. There was perceived no benefit in it. Jesus, through this passage of Mark’s, was showing another way. God does not welcome the powerful that are powerful only for themselves but does welcome those who exchange their power for service to the kingdom of God. God is not perceived in powerful things as we tend to think and expect but God is experienced in things we perceive as common and weak; like a baby in a stable, like wine and bread, like the hand of one who has fallen but stands again, lifting up another who has fallen.

2/1/2023

We had a wonderful annual meeting last Sunday. Thank you to those who helped prepare, set-up, cook, attended, and clean-up. It’s good to get together as community!

Congratulations to our new vestry members Brittney Kish Lightsey, Brantley Nicholson, Robert Goodman, and Susan Locke.

This Thursday, Feb 2nd at 6:30 pm, we will have a worship service with Eucharist for the Feast of the Presentation of our Lord Jesus Christ in the Temple, also called Candlemas. I hope many of you can make it.

The gospel for Morning Prayer this morning is from Mark 8:11-16. In it Jesus is being harassed by some religious leaders. They are requesting a sign that he is from God. They are actually creating a space to deny his authority to do the things he is already doing, such as feeding and healing. Why would they want to deny Jesus that opportunity?  There were many false prophets wandering around in 1st century Palestine. Care had to be made by religious and civil authorities that these prophets and preachers were not taken too seriously by the people. Order had to be maintained, so asking for signs of authenticity was quite common and cleared the field of any challenge to power to authority. Jesus said he wouldn’t give a sign, thus upping the ante in challenging the power to the establishment.

For Mark, Jesus’ works of power, the actions of feeding the hungry and healing the sick, were signs of God’s work. What more signs were needed? So, what if Jesus had given a mighty sign of his power to show the establishment who He was? If Jesus had given in and showed a mighty sign, then I believe the whole ministry of Jesus would have been about the sign; and his ministry would have been hijacked by those demanding a sign and they would have used the sign to govern, to control. We’ve seen the ministry of God in the past and the present attempt to be hijacked, without the mighty sign that every generation seems to request. God’s work of governing is about building relationship between hearts, through love, not controlling people’s actions. I have no knowledge of a theocracy that was ever about love. Peace. Ben+

1/22/2023

A reminder that our Annual Parish Meeting is Sunday, January 29th immediately after the 11 am service. I hope as many of you as possible can attend. It is potluck with the church providing the pulled pork or fried chicken. Please bring sides to share.

At this meeting we will have a wrap up of how we ended 2022. The budget for 2023 will be presented along with the general fiscal health of the parish. A spiritual health report of the parish by the rector will also be presented. We will also vote on the slate of four candidates for vestry. The slate includes Susan Locke, Brantley Nicholson, Brittney Kish-Lightsey, and Robert Goodman.

This morning’s gospel for Morning Prayer is from Mark. It is the parable of the sower. In that parable we hear that depending upon where the seed fell and how it was nourished by the ground upon which it fell, determines the health of the plants and thus the yield of the crops.

It is not unlike our relationship within the worshipping community of St. Francis Episcopal Church. St. Francis, the community, and the work God asks of us, is the seed and we, the individuals of the community, are the ground. How shall we nourish each other and the community to yield our crop of service to a loving God and to the larger community?

1/11/2023

Happy Epiphanytide!

So I want to encourage you to make plans to attend the Annual Parish Meeting on Sunday, January 29th right after the 11 am service. It will be a potluck with the church providing the meat/entrée.

This morning’s gospel from John, for January 11th morning prayer, was multilayered but contained the story of Jesus walking on the sea as the disciples rowed their boat against the wind during a storm. At first they were afraid seeing Jesus on the water coming near to them but he said to them, “It is I, do not be afraid.” John says that the disciples were then glad to take him on, and the boat immediately made it to land.

Here’s one take on this pericope. We are often afraid of doing what God calls us to do. I can come up with a lot of reasons not to do something, not to intervene for good, to do something that I should for the Kingdom of God, for God’s will of Love and purpose. It is the ongoing, “constantly growing in maturity” relationship with Jesus, with the Trinity, through fellowship, worship, and study that lets me hear in the chaos, Jesus words, “do not be afraid.” It is those words and the model of ministry that Jesus showed us, that allows us to go forward into the storm and somehow get through it. And getting through it may not mean what we expect it to mean. Getting though it may result in something totally unexpected and life changing for ourselves and our community. Yes, often our fear overrides the call of God to do the right thing and we fail to love. We fail to be human. God forgives and we as people of the way, earnestly endeavor to do better through fellowship, worship, and study. We grow and mature in and through community nourished by the Triune God.