01/05/2023

I hope you had a wonderful Christmas and a Happy New Year’s Day.

What better way to start the first Wednesday after the New Year’s Day but with God calling Moses to lead God’s people out of their bondage to a new land. God gets Moses attention by a burning bush that is not consumed. Once he has Moses’ attention, God tells Moses that he (GOD) has seen his people’s affliction by their task masters and that Moses will lead them out.

There must be numerous reasons why Moses doesn’t want to do this or think he is qualified. He did kill an Egyptian, he left the whole situation behind (who wants to revisit bad situations); he gets along with his father-in-law, living a quiet life in Midian tending sheep, an early retirement of sorts. Moses’ response to God is priceless and I loosely quote.

“Why the heck would I want to do that? Please don’t make me.”

Sometimes, oft times, the call of God to us is inconvenient. Asking us to change our plans, to change our calendar, to change our way of thinking and living, to change in general, is inconvenient. We don’t want to change because we like who we are. But the burning bush lure for some is just to great and they fall in line with God’s will for them. If we, as people of the way, do anything less, we lose out on living life. Peace.

12/21/2022

We are in the last week of Advent looking toward the celebration of the Feast of the Incarnation.

From Luke’s Gospel assigned for Morning Prayer today, we hear the Archangel Gabriel announcing to Mary her favored status with God which will result in the salvation of humankind. Of all the gospels, Luke gives Mary a humanness that brings her closest to our hearts. After Gabriel goes through his explanation of how it will all unfold, he ends with these words. “For with God, nothing will be impossible.” Mary responds, “Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word.”

If we as a people earnestly strived to live into Gabriel’s statement about God and Mary’s response to it, humankind could live in a much more harmonious relationship, that of trust and service, with God and with each other, and the earth. May this year bring us closer to the binding of heaven to earth and of earth to heaven.

12/14/2022

This morning’s Gospel for Morning Prayer is from Mark, chapter 1:1-8. We are immediately introduced to John the Baptist through Mark’s quoting from Isaiah, “Behold, I send my messenger before thy face, who shall prepare thy way; the voice of one crying in the wilderness: Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight”

Most of the time we think of John the Baptist as a gruff, loud, and shouting character wearing strange clothes, with no time to hear complaints or problems, just a demand for repentance. In fact, that is the only way I’ve ever heard or seen John the Baptist portrayed. It’s funny though that the invitation from Isaiah 40, used by Mark to introduce John, begins this way: 1Comfort, O comfort my people, says your God. 2 Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and cry to her that she has served her term, that her penalty is paid, that she has received from the Lord’s hand double for all her sins.

I’m accustomed to the character of John the Baptist portrayed as one that doesn’t feel much and is so focused on mission of his call to repentance. that humanity for him becomes an object to overcome, not rescued. Perhaps that is a false portrayal of John’s totality. It would be probable that John’s path leading to Jesus, the Lord of Love, would itself be a path of love and comfort for those unloved and uncomforted. Even John’s actions of eschewing soft robes and wearing a camel’s pelt instead, and eating locusts and wild honey, could be construed not as barbaric and rough, but actions more consistent with truth and love in its simplest form. John was barbarically beheaded by earthly power for standing by truth and love. John’s stance is an act of a caring feeling man dedicated to God, not through fanaticism, but through love. I offer you this third week of Advent, another way to look at John the Baptist and his ministry. Ben+

December 14th from Expectant: verses for Advent

O come, O come, thou haunting sound that wakes the silenced underground, that gives the dungeoned words hard won to claim their place beneath the sun. Rejoice! Rejoice! The voice enfleshed in word and deed shall free th’oppressesed.

12/07/2022

We are headed toward the third Sunday of Advent. Last Sunday was wonderful with the Baptism of Clara and naming Godparents to Ruth.

The gospel assigned today for Morning Prayer was from John. It was about the woman caught in the act of adultery and certain scribes and Pharisees wanting to stone her. Stoning (with certain loopholes) was generally the prescribed punishment for adultery. (Odd that the man who had to be present with her was not also brought up on charges of adultery.)

If Jesus had agreed with these Scribes and Pharisees, he would become a legalist and would have been known for showing no mercy, therefore his message would have been severely blunted. If he said not to stone her, then he would have been charged with violating Mosaic law. So what did Jesus do? He led. He led by calming the situation as he bent down and wrote in the sand all the while they were asking him the question. And then He stood up and presented a conundrum for the men by saying, “Let him who is without sin cast the first stone.” None did.

An old movie about the life of Jesus depicts Jesus writing the sins of the accusers in the sand. Scripture doesn’t say what Jesus wrote in the sand, but I like that movie imagery. Many of us have found ourselves being the accuser and have then been reminded of our own faults and sins. Christ does not ask us to feel guilt or shame. Christ asks us to change and follow Him in the way of love, compassion, and mercy for others and for ourselves.

10/26/2022

I think most of us remember growing up hearing, “sticks and stones may break my bones, but names will never hurt me.”

We know now that words hurt and can cause great harm to individuals, groups, and the very fabric of our society. This screaming at each other and attempting to destroy another person as happens in today’s political climate is the worse I’ve ever experienced. Accusations abound, repugnant ideas against individuals and groups, which subsequently allow repugnant and abhorrent actions against individuals and groups, are now mainstream. The word that comes to mind is Slander.

In today’s Morning Prayer Old Testament reading of Ecclesiasticus (28:14-26), slander is the subject. “The blow of a whip raises a welt, but a blow of the tongue crushes the bones. Many have fallen by the edge of the sword, but not as many as have fallen because of the tongue.”

Merriam-Webster defines slander as “the utterance of false charges or misrepresentations which defame and damage another's reputation.”

The writers of Ecclesiasticus say that those who slander forsake the Lord and fall into the power of slander and it will burn against them and will not be put out. How do we stop from slandering? Again the authors of Ecclesiasticus say that as we build fences around our property, also make a door and bolt for our mouths. After having weighed and locked up your silver and gold, so make balances and scales for your words.

I don’t think destroying a person and saying “it was just Politics” is going to be a valid excuse as we stand before the gates of heaven.

10/12/2022

This morning's Old Testament reading was from The Book of Jonah, specifically that The Lord provided a huge fish to swallow Jonah.

Jonah has been asked by God to go to Nineveh and preach repentance so they might be saved. He refused and ran away aboard a cargo ship. A huge storm arose and the crew decided to toss Jonah overboard since it was deemed his fault and at Jonah's own request.

Then we pick up this morning that Jonah became encapsulated by a huge fish provided by the Lord. Encapsulated, protected there for three days and three nights during which he reflected and prayed. Much like Francis reflected in his encapsulated time on his sick bed when things weren't going according to his plans.

So that period of time between Jonah drowning and Jonah being vomited by the fish back on dry land, he was protected by the slimy insides of the fish's stomach, from which Jonah prayed for deliverance, and prayed that the Lord would remember him.

How much like our own calls to ministries we would prefer not to heed but what a grand adventure awaits between the call and the fulfillment of the call. That time between isoften messy and laden with prayers of deliverance from our own dark slimmy places.Heeding the call to bring the Kingdom of God ever more fully upon the earth is part of our own health and salvation as we tend to the health and salvation of our neighbor.

10/5/2022

Our celebration on Saturday of the Feast of St. Francis was fantastic! The weather turned out much nicer than expected earlier in the week and many people in the neighborhood joined us in celebration. I want to thank all those working to make it a hospitable event. Those who cleaned and polished the campus, those cooking for and serving our guests, those preparing and running the games, and those who late in the night were emptying trash cans and putting away tables and chairs. We thank you!

This morning’s Gospel reading is from Luke. One section in particular, out of the rich pericope, is a question posed by Jesus when describing John as being thought to be demon possessed because he wouldn’t eat bread or drink wine; and Jesus, thought to be a glutton and a drunkard because he did eat bread and drink wine. Jesus said, “To what then will I compare the people of this generation, and what are they like?” His answer uses child play techniques, “We played the flute for you, and you did not dance; we wailed, and you did not weep.” In other words, they cursed and moaned against each other, taking the other side “just because” to thwart any good the other offered. This truth in 1st century Palestine rings just as true for us in 21st century America. Jesus said, “Blessed is anyone who takes no offense at me.” Amen.

9/28/2022

Well, I for one was looking forward to having a big party on the lawn this Saturday but Hurricane Ian has changed our plans, but the spirit of the celebration of our patron saint with our bishop will still prevail. We will have this Saturday, a Bishop’s Forum at 4 pm and a service of Thanksgiving for Francis with Pet blessings at 5 pm.

This Gospel for Morning Prayer today is from Luke. Jesus has just healed a paralytic, called a new disciple (Levi, a tax collector), and is now eating with Levi and Levi’s friends. The Religious Authorities of the time (stung by the healing) are questioning Jesus as to why he eats with Sinners and Tax-collectors and why he doesn’t make his disciples fast and pray like their disciples do and like the disciples of John The Baptizer’s do? Jesus’ answer, “You cannot make the guests fast while the bridegroom is still present, can you? One cannot take new cloth to use to mend old cloth, nor use old wineskins for new wine. New wine must be put in new wineskins.” (see Luke 5:29-32).

The whole text here is a radical statement. I don’t think we realize how radical a statement Jesus is making here. It requires from us a change of mind and heart as to whom the kingdom of God belongs, as to who will drink the new wine, and as to who Jesus seeks out, the sinners and tax collectors to be the new inhabitants of the Kingdom of God. If the old wine is good enough, then walking with Jesus may not be as fantastic and fulfilling as it is for those sinners who do walk with Jesus.

9/21/2022

Today we celebrate Saint Matthew, Apostle and Evangelist. Here is the story of Matthew’s calling from the Gospel of Matthew.

As Jesus was walking along, he saw a man called Matthew sitting at the tax booth; and he said to him, “Follow me.” And he got up and followed him. And as he sat at dinner in the house, many tax collectors and sinners came and were sitting with him and his disciples. When the Pharisees saw this, they said to his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?” But when he heard this, he said, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. Go and learn what this means, ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’ For I have come to call not the righteous but sinners.”

It is doubted that Matthew wrote the Gospel but it is thought that his sayings about Jesus were incorporated into it by the author of the Gospel.

The Collect for St. Matthew’s day says, “we pray that after his (Matthew’s) example, we may with ready wills and hearts obey the calling of our Lord to follow Him (Jesus).”

That’s a pretty tall prayer. I think that to honestly do this is to be so far away from community, so far down in hurt, pain, and confusion, that any kindness, any outreach, would resonate in the command to follow Christ. It is not because there isn’t anything left to lose but rather it is instead because there is everything to be gained, everything that is meaningful in our life with God on earth. I suspect that Matthew was like our Patron Saint Francis. Neither was poor, they both had money, but they had to become poor in order to gain the greatest gift of all, Life in service to God. They had to remove the obstacles placed between them and the love of God. May we resonate so well with the command to follow Christ.

9/14/2022

I hope this message finds you in a place of peace.

September is Suicide Prevention Month. Just this past week, our Episcopal community in Macon suffered a suicide death. People of all ages experience suicidal thoughts, but it is important for us to remember that suicide is preventable. According to American Foundation for Suicide Prevention (2020) and the CDC (2020), suicide is among the ten leading causes of death in the U.S. among persons 10-64 years of age. It is the second leading cause of death among children and adolescents aged 10-14 and adults aged 25-34. Some factors influencing suicidal thoughts are isolation, stress, economic insecurity, worsening substance use, and mental health. If you or someone you know are having thoughts of suicide, please reach out to a friend or counselor, or call 988 to reach the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline.

Peace to you all, and let’s look out for one another and those around us.

9/7/2022

This morning’s gospel for Morning Prayer is from John. It is the story of the death of Lazarus. Jesus is very close to the Bethany family of Lazarus, Mary, and Martha. Martha has sent word to Jesus that Lazarus is sick. Jesus delays going to the village of Bethany in Judea but then decides to go some days later. He knows that Lazarus has now died. Remember two Sundays ago that some Judeans tried to stone Jesus after he said “before Abraham was, I am”. The disciples were very nervous about returning to Judea but they decide to go back with him to Judea. That is when Thomas said to the other disciples, “Let us also go, that we may die with him.”

This last Sunday, Luke’s Jesus gave a very focused account to the crowds following him concerning what discipleship meant to Jesus. Part of what discipleship meant for Jesus was to “deprioritize our own lives.” This sounds callous and scary at first hearing but to be a disciple of Jesus means that we possess a necessary willingness to carry the cross, an emblem of sacrifice, death, and exaltation. Being willing to carry the cross in service to God through helping neighbor means that our lives do become primary by becoming secondary in bringing the Kingdom of God on Earth.

Jesus returns to Bethany and raises Lazarus from the dead. Nothing dead is beyond God’s reach. There are those who view death as the worst thing that can happen to a person. The worst thing is being alive and to have never lived.

August 31, 2022

Recently I was discussing Tick-Tock, the crocodile in the story of Peter Pan, with a fellow parishioner. To me, Tick-Tock, as I view him in my adulthood, represents the passage of time, and his jaws, the end of my mortality. As a child Tick-Tock was just a crocodile with a clock in his stomach always after Captain Hook, the bad guy.

The passage of time during the pandemic has been especially odd. As I said in my sermon last Sunday, the trash pick-up on Fridays was the most consistent event for the first year of the pandemic. But now that I think about it, it is a consistent demarcation event in the time of a household during any week. Many of you are probably going to say, “Ben, you need to get out more.” That may be true.

Jesus doesn’t say a lot about time as recorded in the Gospels, at least directly. The implication as I interpret is that. the time for change is now, the time for living is now. This morning’s Gospel from John, had the religious authorities chastising Jesus for speaking of eternal life. In their hearing, they understood Jesus as saying that the body would not die, and were mocking Jesus for talking about Abraham in the first person as if he had known him. Then Jesus said it, “before Abraham was, I am.” And there it is, a non-linear time scale presented to them and us. It didn’t go well; they were going to stone him but he escaped.

Recently I read an article about the continuing expansion of the universe from the Big Bang (regardless as to what you may have heard, the Big Bang Theory has not yet been debunked). When the expansion stops, and all begins to collapse back in on itself, some think that time may go in reverse. Time as we think we know it and try to measure everything by it, and make everything march to the second hand on our wall clocks and cell phones, including making God keep up with our stride, may not be as linear as we think, even before the collapse of the universe. A good thought for me though is that I may actually hit 39 again.

August 24, 2022

The official end of summer is September 22nd but the unofficial end of summer was when school started this month. For St. Francis, many of our programs will begin again in September, after Labor Day. Adult Christian Formation and Path to Shine will commence in mid-September.  I am hoping to begin a Contemplative prayer group and a Eucharistic offering on Thursdays with scripture study and fellowship.

There’s a song that was my theme song on a personal profile I had to create after I was ordained. It was “Sundays will never be the same” by Spanky and the Gang. I choose that song primarily just because of the title and boy has that title been correct and I have loved that it was true.

“Sunday’s will never be the same” has new meaning now after three years of pandemic, civil unrest, and the “big church” vying for power and working for prestige in order to gain power and with power, money. It appears we, “The big we” have lost sight of what the church is. The church is the body of Christ, not a meeting of the politically like-minded. The purpose of the church is to make God known through the ministry of Jesus the Christ and “in and through” the workings of the Holy Spirit. From that gained insight, we serve.

St. Francis has a unique ability to continue to do just that. We have to think outside the box and we have to let our light shine. We can maintain our identity as Anglican and Episcopalian with our ancient rites that expose the Trinity and we can still be innovative, but it will take all of us. It will take our money, our time, and our abilities throughout the week. Sundays will never be the same.

August 17, 2022

This Morning Prayer’s gospel reading is from John. It is the feeding of the five thousand. When Jesus sees the mass of people coming toward him he asks Philip, “Where are we to buy bread for these people to eat?”

So this is what I hear in the following exchange between the disciples and the people.

Philip throws up his hands and says we don’t have enough money. Even six months’ wages wouldn’t be enough to buy them each a little. Andrew found a boy with two fish and five loaves of bread but he throws up his hands and says it is not even close to being enough. Jesus then asks the people to sit so that all may focus on the issue, blesses what is available, and then a miracle happens.

Now many think that Jesus performed magic and created more fish and bread. I’m not sure that serves any purpose for us in 2022. I think that through focus and starting with what was presented before them, people began to share what they had with them. Yes, I think that is the miracle. For human beings to share from their excess and abundance is to become generous. For human beings to share out of their scarcity, is to become fully human, a child of God.

We are presented with this scenario every day with people in need, whether it be money, time, presence, or concern. May we choose to be children of God.

August 14, 2022

This morning’s gospel for Morning Prayer was from John. Jesus was traveling in Samaria and asked the Samaritan woman at the well to draw water to give him a drink of water. Thus began one of the most serious theological discussions in the New Testament and it was between Jesus and a woman.

Many people get fixed on the number of husbands the woman had, as Jesus pointed out to her, but that loses total sight of the relationship established between Jesus and this woman. What we should remember is that God asks us to do things, some of which call for great courage as was the martyrdom of Laurence the Deacon by being burned to death because he would not abandon his call of being a deacon in service to the sick (today is the Feast of Laurence), or this woman being asked to give water to someone thirsty; being asked to come out of her comfort level, out of her past, and out of her protection in being alone at the well. No one draws water at noon, a hot time of the day unless it’s an emergency or you don’t want to engage anyone at the well. But that request from God for a cup of water changed this woman’s life. I don’t think Jesus ever got his cup of water.

We still need volunteers to work with Path to Shine. Other ministries of the church could use some volunteering as well. If you are so inclined to engage in relationship outside your day-to-day routine, we can use your talents. Prayerfully consider where your talents may be used as we walk this journey together in community.

August 3,2022

After having returned from San Francisco with two chaperones and four out of four of our youth, I ask myself- “What did I see, what did I experience?” I can only answer that for me. I cannot answer for anyone else on the trip, nor should I try.

By that question, I mean what touched my spirit in a way that produced change in me? I saw magnificent Red Woods, some over 500 years old, sentinels standing guard of human time but are only momentary thoughts in the mind of the universe, time we can’t comprehend.

I saw the waves of the Pacific Ocean lapping on the rocky shores of Pacific Grove. The mesmerizing tidal pools filling up and then releasing their fill over and over and over, going on for eons. Another measure of time incomprehensible.

And then there was Grace Cathedral. A structure built by humans in which to worship and adore God. A finite structure, momentarily existing, in which a community has its own ebb and flow; and the community of Grace is not just for those who call themselves Episcopalians, its members are those who enter into it every day for respite, for prayer, for help, for sight-seeing, and for visiting youth groups, such as was our own. Its members include those who serve the people of Tenderloin district and the people of the Tenderloin district. The bounds of the cathedral, while not as grand (and it is pretty grand) as Muir Woods, home of a Redwood Forest, or as vast as the Pacific Ocean, has in its own way, embodied a sense of spiritual connectedness to the land and the people that inhabit it, making it all a little more, ever so slightly, comprehensible.

Spiritual connectedness can be experienced in the forest, the ocean, and the mountains. We are part of creation. But in my experience I always feel like an interloper there, no matter how much I enjoy the refreshing and awe provoking experience of mountains, oceans, deserts, and forests.

It is in serving and accepting hospitality from others, as we did at Grace Cathedral, that takes all my sensory experiences of the whole creation and embodies them in a temporally understandable moment, that connects me to the incomprehensible spiritually of the Universe. That Universe in my way of thinking is God. That momentary connection produces a change in me, a positive change in wanting to serve more, more often, more people, and thus serving God.

July 20, 2022

This spring I planted several American Giant Sunflower (Helianthus giganteus) seeds. Usually the animals get them before they sprout but this year I think every one of them germinated this year. They are huge (12-14 feet tall) with a single large head that droops over facing the ground. They remind me of humbleness and gratitude. They are beautiful flowers nurtured by the sun from which they take their name and then in what seems like obeisance, they humble themselves before that which nurtures them, as they then nurture bees and birds, humans, and other creatures.

Being humble, whether pronounced “H”umble or “umble”, is not a great topic of conversation these days. I would make the charge that our ability to say whatever is on our minds and send it to the other side of the world in seconds, with no responsibility for the devastation and hurt these words might cause, has brought humbleness to extinction.

So I leave you with what may be calming words, but words of action none the less, for these tumultuous times, from the prophet Micah (6:8)

He has shown you, O mortal, what is good.

And what does the LORD require of you?

To act justly and to love mercy

and to walk humbly with your God.

May we be like these giant sunflowers with their personification of showing humbleness and gratitude. These two attributes are the cornerstones of our faith journey. Peace. Ben+

Additional info:

• Sunflowers are one symbol of the apostle St. Bartholomew who supposedly was flayed alive in Armenia for his belief in Christ. Armenia was a land of sunflowers.

• Sunflowers are symbolic of truth and honesty

• In Greek Mythology, Clytie (a nymph) was in love with Apollos, the sun god. He scorned her and turned her into a sunflower but even then she longed to gaze upon his image and followed his golden chariot across the sky each day. Most Sunflowers, while they are growing, follow the sun’s trajectory during the day.

July 13, 2022

Last Sunday and this upcoming Sunday we will hear from the prophet Amos. Amos comes off as pretty gruff with his responses to the ‘Yes man’, Amaziah, priest to King Jeroboam of the Northern Kingdom of Israel.

The northern kingdom was faring pretty well. Lots of commerce, lots of money. Unfortunately, the money was staying at the top levels of that society. There was no justice for the poor. The rich laid on their couches with pillows and ate sumptuous feasts in their richly adorned palaces, while the poor were sold into slavery. Priest Amaziah tells Amos to return from whence he came and quit talking. Amos then prophesied what shall happen to Israel and it wasn’t pretty. This wasn’t a curse from Amos but a warning as to what God is going to let happen to Israel because of the injustice in the land.

Abraham J. Heschel, was a civil rights, and anti-war activist, who fled Nazi Germany, and held a professorship at the Jewish Theological Seminary in New York. In his book, “The Prophets”, he said, “prophets are sensitive to evil and make much ado about paltry things. So what if there are poor people who are treated improperly by the rich?” Thus Amos’ cry “Hear this, you who trample upon the needy.., you who make the ephah (a measurement) small and the Shekel (money) great. The Lord will not forget you.” In other words, the rich of Amos’ time have become rich by cheating. They sell less for more and deal deceitfully with false balances, in dealing with the poor.

This Sunday, Amos is again asked what he sees when the Lord shows him a basket of summer fruit. Amos says he sees a basket of summer fruit. The Lord sees something different, The Lord sees the end of business as usual. I believe we refer to it as “The Exile.”

Abraham Heschel continues, “Indeed, the sort of crimes and even the amount of delinquency that fill the prophets of Israel with dismay do not go beyond that which we regard as normal, as typical ingredients of social dynamics. To us a single act of injustice-cheating in business, exploitation of the poor—is slight; to the prophets, a disaster. To us injustice is injurious to the welfare of the people; to the prophets it is a deathblow to existence: to us, an episode; to them, a catastrophe, a threat to the world.”

July 06, 2022

We have a moral obligation to address gun violence.

Bishops United Against Gun Violence, a network of nearly 100

Episcopal Church bishops, urges our cities, states and nation to adopt

policies and pass legislation that will reduce the number of people in the

United States killed and wounded by gunfire.

• The Gun Violence Archive has counted at least 314 mass

shootings in the US so far in 2022.

• More than 22,000 people have died due to gun violence overall in

2022, according to the Archive.

When the righteous cry for help, the LORD hears and delivers them out of all

their troubles. The LORD is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in

spirit. Psalm 34:17-18

We pray and we act. Prayer calls us to action. What action? I believe the first

action is to consider our own actions (or inactions) that lead to violence or

perpetrate violence.

Another action is to let our representatives in all levels of government know

that something must change. If the cost of owning a gun is 22,000+ deaths so

far this year, including grocery shoppers, elementary school students, and the

parents of toddlers, then obviously something has gone incredibly wrong.

We cannot stand by and say there is nothing we can do. Those who walk with

God can never believe that there is nothing they can do, because “With God

all things are possible.”

June 30, 2022

Today is the feast of St Peter and St. Paul. Tradition has it that they were both martyred under the reign of Emperor Nero. Paul, since he was a citizen of Rome, was beheaded and Peter was crucified upside down. There’s nothing in the scriptural canon that records this. There are some non-canonical references alluding to the deaths of these two saints. But let’s not get caught up in “how or where” they died, they were pillars of the early church. Paul was educated, Peter was not. Paul and Peter were at odds sometimes but in the end, they were both ambassadors for Christ. Paul’s description of love in his first letter to the Corinthians (13:4-8) has to be some of the most beautiful words written. Of course, when Paul writes that he doesn’t boast, it comes off as boastful. About half the books in the New Testament are attributed to Paul or about Paul. But scholars are now sure that many of the words attributed to Paul were written by others in Paul’s name in certain letters. Some of us have been hurt by the words of Paul, or those words attributed to Paul. Taking Paul’s experiences out of context and making them hurtful and dehumanizing, does nothing to expand the kingdom of God to those desperately seeking it. The weaponization of Paul’s words out of context seeks to expand the power of those seeking power and thus divides the body of Christ into “us vs. them”. Those seeking power forget the command to serve but rather insist upon being served. Peter sometimes looked foolish. Peter stumbles and falls following The Christ, the Messiah, as is demonstrated in his denial of Christ three times the night before Christ’s Crucifixion; or his desire to build a structure on the mountain during The Transfiguration to contain God in a certain place, to compartmentalize God so to speak. Peter is considered the apostle most like us. Possibly because, we deny God in our actions toward others and in our unique ability to compartmentalize God in our daily thoughts and movements. I’m an expert at it. Christ called Peter to be the foundation of the church. God through Christ and with the help of the Holy Spirit calls us, with all our flaws, to continue building that foundation through Christ’s love shown to us by apostles, martyrs, and all that witness to that love