Take a look! Really take a good look!

Okay, now I’m getting closer to having seen everything.

For what it’s worth, we didn’t have weather like the past three days out in the west. Usually when it snows there, it snows. When it rains there, it rains. When it sleets, you know that something’s really wrong!

I have to admit that on more than one occasion yesterday I caught myself looking out the window in wide-eyed wonder. As I found myself in that state, I wondered why I don’t do it more often.

If we open our eyes at any given time to what’s around us we stand a pretty good chance of seeing something that perhaps no one else will see. Sometimes that witness is a happy thing, sometimes not, sometimes it’s neutral, but the fact that we see it is an experience. Much of what the spiritual life is about is experience. We do liturgy in hopes of having a God-moment. At its best, prayer is putting ourselves intentionally in God’s way so that we might have another, newer and deeper experience of the Divine. Looking out the window at falling rain on top of sleet on top of snow was for me a remarkable experience of God’s imagination and the wonderfully Divine complexity of the Creation that is steeped in God’s own self.

As part of your Lenten journey toward the cross, the tomb and the resurrection, I invite you to really look around you in the midst of your business at least once a day. Take note of what you see. Where is God in what you see? How would God in what you see make a difference? How is what you see revealing in your own life the presence or seeming absence of God? It needn’t take long. Just steal a minute or two each day and think of God, the world and our place in it as the people of God. You might be surprised by what you see.

--Shalom
Warren

St. Brigid

Dear St. Luke’s Community,

The icon you may or not be able to see to the left in this week’s reflection is that of St. Brigid a shining light in the Celtic pantheon of Saints. She is known as the patroness of hospitality and helped maintain Christian identity ahead of the celebrated time of St. Patrick on the Emerald Isle. Her feast day is tomorrow, February 1^st.

She was known to be generous to a fault. One story of Brigid is that she was sent to take the family dairy produce (cheese, butter and cream) to the county fair for judging in competition which would mean a great deal in real terms for her family’s dairy business. Her parents were skittish about sending her alone to do this task as she was known to give anything to anyone who she believed needed it more than she. Their fears were realized (though they would not know) when on her journey to the fair, Brigid came across a poor unfortunate. She shared a bit of her fare with him and went along, determined to have at least some of the dairy products to serve at fair. She came across another poor one and then another practicing her signature generosity along the way. She makes the last stretch of her journey to market and fair noticing that she has nothing left for the judging.

She takes her place in the judging line and opens up her basket one last time to see if she had missed something that she might offer for sampling and judging. Miraculously, the basket appears full and with products of a quality superior to that which she had left Kildare with. Her radical and reckless generosity was rewarded with top prize and orders for all the produce that her dairy could supply.

It’s a marvelous story and fun, no question. I believe there is a deeper reality about the nature of our call of God in Christ that we ignore at our own peril. To give without question and because there is need is the action of a faithful life and a mature faith. This last Sunday in my Annual Meeting address, I called the community to a commitment to practicing the Christian Virtue of Hospitality.

As you enter tomorrow, the shortest month of the year, and stand on the threshold of Lent, remember Brigid and her lasting example on a people who have a heritage of hospitality to the stranger. Remember Jesus in Matthew 25, “Whenever you have done it to the least of these, you have done it to me.” Or Hebrews 13 “Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by doing that some have entertained angels without knowing it.”

Happy St. Brigid’s Day!!!

Preaching the Gospel and Hershey Bars

I ran across the following news item in the ‘Odd News’ section of Yahoo. I was amused and thought it a ‘sweet’ story (pardon the pun) but realized it was something more when Elizabeth Emerson utters this line near the end,

"I couldn't enjoy it if I wasn't able to share."

What if we looked at the love of God and the Good News of the Gospel the way Elizabeth looks at chocolate. Just a thought. Chew on it for a time.

Maine woman, 87, gets a sweet response

Mon Jan 21, 10:36 PM ET

JONESPORT, Maine - When Elizabeth Emerson confessed to a newspaper that her only real indulgence has been an occasional chocolate bar during her 87 years, she wasn't prepared for the sweet response that followed.

The 87-year-old Emerson was featured in a New York Times story about the impact of soaring fuel prices, generating letters from across the country, some with bars of chocolate inside.

She hit the jackpot in mid-December with an assortment from Hershey Co. that was accompanied by a personal note.

"I couldn't believe it. I laughed more than anything. All that fuss over little old me," Emerson told the Bangor Daily News.

The story about how the low-income elderly endure harsh Northeast winters gave a snapshot of Emerson's life: married for a half-century, grandmother and great-grandmother to 52, former aide at a nearby nursing home, now struggling to live on a $683-a-month Social Security check.

The final line disclosed her secret: "My greatest vice is Hershey bars."

This weekend, Emerson displayed what remains of her chocolate collection at her kitchen table.

"This isn't even all of it. I've given boxes and boxes away," she said. "I couldn't enjoy it if I wasn't able to share."

Besides, she said, "I can only eat so much chocolate."

Peace and Good,

The Rev. Warren Earl Hicks, Rector
St. Luke's Episcopal Church
921 Pleasant St.
Worcester, MA 01602
508-756-1990 (Office)
508-756-8277 (Fax)

Blog Address www.frwarren.blogspot.com

What Gift Do We Bring?

Dear St. Luke’s Community,

The dust is finally starting to settle. I’ve gotten at least a few of the boxes that filled the house broken down. The tree’s still up, but hey, it’s not Valentine’s Day yet and besides, it’s artificial. I’m really not ready to move on from the Christmas Season yet, but the calendar says the Epiphany is a matter of hours away!

During Christmastide we spend a lot of spiritual energy (or at least I have) on coming to grips with why God sends such a gift as Jesus to a bunch of folks (we humans) who so consistently seem to miss the bloody point. In fact I usually do so at the expense of forgetting to imitate the Magi in their Epiphany response. Moving between the sacred and profane aspects of Christmas (by profane, I’m not talking about my language) often diverts me from realizing that the new birth of Jesus into my life each Christmas ought to inspire some kind of thankful response. Let’s face it, the Magi were late, talked to the wrong people before heading to see Jesus and weren’t ‘the right sort of folks’, and yet we remember their faithful response to the coming of the Everlasting King by bearing opulent gifts to a poor child who appears to needed a place to stay more than gold, frankincense and myrrh.

As we prepare to Celebrate the Feast of Epiphany and the Sundays that follow before Lent comes (very early this year I might add), I want to invite you to search your experience of God over the past weeks in the liturgy, in your family, in the parish, at work, count some blessings and make an offering to God. Make an offering that may seem insignificant but that nags at you. Make an offering from the heart and see what God does with it. What good is the birth of a King if we just sit around and say how cool it is? Jesus has always called his disciples to reflection AND action. Let us as the people of God do both in hearty measure and with prayerful intention.

Blessed Epiphany!! Jesus the Light of the World awaits your gift. What do you bear for the coming of a King?

On the Advent Way--Just Be

Dear St. Luke’s Community,

Let me begin by thanking you all for your prayers and support as we have been traveling the journey of letting go and grief with the passing of Mary’s mother from this life to the next. There were many challenges and graces along the way and the support of a faith community is the difference between despair and a commitment to hope for me. I think I can speak for Mary in that as well.

One thing I can say for certain is that this Advent season has been a poignant one for me in preparing for new life and the reign of hope in the midst of grief and sorrow. That brings to mind a special event that I want to bring to your attention. This Sunday at St. John’s in Worcester (166 Holden St.) will be having a “Blue Christmas” service at 6 pm. The reality is that for many it is hard to embrace and feel the joy that is so much a part of the holiday and Christmas season. For those who grieve, on whatever level, the images of family, home and hearth are not comforting as much as they are a reminder of happier times. I want to invite you to be attentive to the folks around you during this season. It’s not incumbent upon us to entreat folks to ‘cheer up’ but rather to simply be present with people wherever their life circumstances have led them. What we can do, simply by our presence in most cases, is be with folks. We as the Church, The Body of Christ in the world, are given an opportunity to be with folks just as we prepare and celebrate the coming of Emmanuel, God with us, in the season.

In whatever circumstance you find yourself in this season, be present to the movement of God and to the position of others on their journey. Hold each of the folks in your lives in God’s presence and seek to be that presence for them in whatever way you can.

On the Advent journey, I bid you..

Peace and Good,

The Rev. Warren Earl Hicks, Rector
St. Luke's Episcopal Church
921 Pleasant St.
Worcester, MA 01602
508-756-1990 (Office)

When Just Resting Is Enough

Dear St. Luke’s Community,

This week is one when something unusual besets me. I find myself, at least today, at a loss for words. As most of you know, we have been marching through some difficult times at the Rectory. With the stark diagnosis of pancreatic cancer for Mary’s mother, Patricia, the untimely death of a family pet and all that goes with having houseguests, I’m at fairly low energy.

In the section of the Prayer Book entitled Daily Devotions for Individuals and Families, there is this little nugget that seems appropriate right now.

O God, you will keep in perfect peace those whose minds are

fixed on you; for in returning and rest we shall be saved; in

quietness and trust shall be our strength. Isaiah 26:3; 30:15

That’s about all I have for you today. In fact, it’s not anything that I have for you, but it is the sustaining promise of the God of all creation. That God, expressed in the Father, Son and Holy Spirit is deeply interested in your peace, your rest, your quietness, your trust and ultimately your salvation. For today, for me, that’s going to have to do. I hope and pray it works for you as well.

Thank you all for all your prayers and support during these times.

Peace and Good,

The Rev. Warren Earl Hicks, Rector
St. Luke's Episcopal Church
921 Pleasant St.
Worcester, MA 01602
508-756-1990 (Office)
508-756-8277 (Fax)

Blog Address www.frwarren.blogspot.com

Play Ball!!!!

Dear St. Luke’s Community,

Most of you will know by now that I am a huge baseball fan. The Grand Old Game has been on stage in a number of my major life events. Some of those stories are unlikely, but true. Some are mundane, yet profound. The love of baseball seems to be something of a family obsession around here too. Mary, Jonathan and I are quite captivated by the game. I think part of what makes baseball so appealing is that it is not bound by time or space. Here’s what I mean.

Baseball games only end (except by weather or other forces) when the prescribed number of innings are completed with one team clearly ahead. A game can be brief or very long and still comprise only the prescribed number of innings. When asked how long a baseball game takes, the right answer is always, “it takes as long as it takes.” There is no time limit.

Baseball diamonds also have only two real boundaries of play, the first and third base foul lines. Some of you may have seen the play made in this year’s Little League World Series when a player jumped over the fence and caught the ball that was apparently headed for a home run. That’s an out. That’s an out in any baseball field. Theoretically, Manny could regularly scale the Green Monster (or even sit there) to rob home run balls. Each field intersects each other field in some way abstractly. Have you ever considered that?

Baseball is also the only game I know of (besides cricket) that the offensive team does not possess the ball in order to score. Baseball, at its most ‘equitable’ is 9 players against 4.

By now, I hope you’re asking yourself, “What does this have to do with Church or the spiritual life?” Well I think there are some things that are worth noting. Like baseball, the spiritual life is one of practice on personal skills that ultimately benefits the team.

No matter how deep our prayer lives are, the Church is never a Church of one. Community and team are both ways of saying that I need the skills and talents of others in order to be successful. None of us, by our lives of personal prayer, devotion, service and worship, is going to point as effectively toward the coming of the Kingdom as will the whole church. On the other side of that coin, no one else can develop our relationship with God in Christ for us. Times of personal prayer, in spite of the personal benefits on our souls, are never a complete response to the action of God’s coming to the world in the person of Jesus. We can only ‘play the game’ meaning be the Church, if we all work together.

One last analogy if you’ll indulge me. By the time you read this, either the Colorado Rockies or New England’s beloved Boston Red Sox will be World Champions. This is a year unique in my experience and I hope that we all can experience something like it one day.

Part of the problem with baseball, despite all its intrinsic symmetry, anomaly and beauty is that we become attached to particular teams in a way that can blind us to the beauty of the game itself. I suspect that, whether in Colorado or New England, there are going to be despondent folks after one of the two teams wins four games in the Series. I however, see this as no lose. I love the Colorado Rockies, I am quite fond of the Boston Red Sox, but most of all I love baseball. Whoever wins, I suspect I’ll be happy to celebrate with either bunch. Not because I don’t care or am wishy washy, but because I love the beauty of the game.

What if we all were so in love with our Triune God that we didn’t worry about whether or not our ‘Team’ wins? What if we all recognized that our spiritual lives, both individual and corporate are no lose situations? I suspect if we were ever to live into that, even a little bit, the skeptical world would find Christianity so appealing that they wouldn’t be able to stay away and the whole world would win! I'm betting on Jesus in seven thrilling games.

—Fr. Warren