Let the Game Come to You!

Dear St. Luke’s Community,

It’s great to be back from my several sojourns over the last month! Between retreat, vacation and surgery it feels as though I’ve run the gamut of experiences and they’ve all been valuable and instructive. I have to say that slowing down on retreat is always a chore. It is hard, sometimes, to shift gears from doing to simply being. By that I mean that even in getting ready to intentionally spend time listening to God, I found myself making lists of just how I was going to do that as if just sitting and listening in the context of the monastery weren’t enough.

The good news is that grace abounds in excess of anxiety and I was able to get to a state of being in fairly short order. I read, I prayed, I slept, I walked, I read some more, I ate wonderful Trappist Preserves with reckless abandon! At the end of a couple of days I was really getting the hang of this retreat thing! That’s when the thoughts of what had to be done upon my return started to seep into my reading, my prayer, my walking and the like. I guess the point I want to make is that we need to guard our being every bit as diligently as we plan our doing. I have hear athletes, artists, writers and musicians talk about how things slow down when they’re really in ‘the groove’, ‘the zone’, ‘the creative place’. I suspect that holds true for the art and discipline of prayer and discernment as well.

I am trying very hard (with dubious success) to really believe that simply showing up and paying attention is all that God requires of me in the daunting task of aligning my life and work to God’s will and plan. Sometimes I want to complicate the simple (don’t think that I mean ‘easy’) instead of just allowing God’s grace to act upon me as an open channel of possibility.

In the rest of the week ahead, I invite you to look at the passage from Jeremiah that we will read in Church this Sunday where the LORD talks with Jeremiah as the clay and God as the potter. It is up to God to form us lumps into the images that reflect the Glory of God that is meant to be ours as God’s children. In order for clay to be shaped, it mostly needs to just be clay. God is working on forming us, you and me, into vessels of His Grace. Wait upon God’s work and expect truth, goodness and beauty to be the product of His forming us all, over and over.

It’s great to be back!! See you all around!

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

More Than We Can Ask Or Imagine

Dear St. Luke’s Community,

I was reviewing the parish website of a seminary classmate today and took the time to read a sermon that she preached this past Sunday. In it she took on the text from Luke not looking back and moving forward into the reality of God without reservation. From putting our hands to the plow, letting the dead bury the dead and dealing with Jesus news that “"Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests; but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head." Let’s face it, taken literally Jesus is claiming to be homeless! Jesus is so completely at home in his own skin that he recognizes that his authenticity is a gift from God and that being in the right place at the right time is a matter of listening to the voice of God leading the way and not clinging to the trappings of security. That’s freedom that I can scarcely imagine. I guess the closest I’ve come is in trusting God to lead our family to Worcester, not even knowing what Worcester was like.

My friend is challenged by that text because, in her own words, “I’m such a homebody.” On some level we’re all like that. We like what’s comfortable. We’d rather stay around the ordinary than to make ourselves available to the extraordinary, spiritually speaking. Jesus uses this occasion in Luke’s Gospel to challenge us to trust God’s presence and passionate desire to bless us ‘more than we can ask or imagine’ (Ephesians 3:20).

I believe we make ourselves available to the best that God has to offer when we trust that no matter where we go, God is. On the fleeting occasions when we’re able to trust God in that way, we find ourselves called to places that we’d never imagine ourselves and being richly blessed to boot.

I believe God is calling the community of St. Luke's Church to some amazing places (that’s easy to say, because I believe God calls everyone and every community to amazing places!!!!!!). I want to challenge us all to allow God to do the unimagined and unbelievable in our midst. There’s only one way for that to happen, in my opinion. That is to pray daily for God to lead us into the realities he has prepared for us.

Will you make that sort of commitment? If so, here’s a prayer to use should you like to have one:

Almighty and eternal God, so draw our hearts to thee, so
guide our minds, so fill our imaginations, so control our
wills, that we may be wholly thine, utterly dedicated unto
thee; and then use us, we pray thee, as thou wilt, and always
to thy glory and the welfare of thy people; through our Lord
and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen. (BCP p. 832 A Prayer of Self Dedication)

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's Yours To Do?

Dear St. Luke’s Community,

As I sit in my office and write this, the mercury is headed for 90 for (I believe) the first time so far this summer. I can’t help but marvel how easily I change my tune from one season to the next. It wasn’t a month ago that I was lamenting the fact that warm weather had been so elusive so far in 2007 here in Worcester. Today, I found my mind wandering to the coolness of the fall already. I have such a hard time being in what is sometimes. Don’t get me wrong, there’s nothing wrong with hoping for an improvement in our lives. Having said as much, I have a hard time remembering the weather is not in my sphere of influence. What’s the old saying? “Everybody complains about the weather, but nobody does anything about it!” As if we really could do something about it.

The weather is but one of the objects of a certain kind of magical thinking in my world from time to time. I have to admit finding myself concerned about ‘big issues’ while at the same time being unwilling to act in the small ways I can around me sometimes. There are many examples I could give, but here are two.

1. I decry the lack of Sabbath time in our lives. Weekends are full with all sorts of things, and yet I find myself available by phone and/or email almost all the time. Sometimes, despite my protestations to the contrary, I act as though I am indispensable. “For thus said the Lord GOD, the Holy One of Israel: In returning and rest you shall be saved; in quietness and in trust shall be your strength.” (Isaiah 30:15).

2. I am concerned about the fact that our culture preaches the ‘more is better’. I know that the scripture tells us that “where our treasure is, there our heart will be also” and yet, I have to admit that I really like my things. I’m trying to work on that but it’s a tough one for me.

Sometimes our deep concern about the big issues can be an excuse for not doing the things we can that are right before us with regards to our personal transformation. Let’s face it, worrying about the big, hard problems can be a way of getting out of doing anything.

There are times when I can grasp the deep faith in St. Francis’ dying words, “I have done what was mine to do”. What sort of world might we be able to create if we could all say that at our last? Better, I’m guessing. We all have something to do. May we all have the strength to do it, no matter how small it may appear. Many small acts, done faithfully, are what ultimately can change the world. I leave you with the following classic prayer by Reinhold Neihbur, an acclaimed 20^th Century Theologian. Note, if you will, his prayer for temporal happiness is qualified, he prays only to be reasonably happy in this life. Oh that we could be so easily satisfied!

The Serenity Prayer

God grant me the serenity
to accept the things I cannot change;
courage to change the things I can;
and wisdom to know the difference.

Living one day at a time;
Enjoying one moment at a time;
Accepting hardships as the pathway to peace;
Taking, as He did, this sinful world
as it is, not as I would have it;
Trusting that He will make all things right
if I surrender to His Will;
That I may be reasonably happy in this life
and supremely happy with Him
Forever in the next.
Amen.

What is this World Hungry For?

Dear St. Luke’s Community,

It’s been just now a year since you extended the call for me to be your rector. My how time flies!! One of the things that made a big impression on me from the first was the Mission Statement of St. Luke’s. In the I’ve been here I find myself attaching it to all kinds of things. This weekly (or almost weekly) update. The Blog that contains these updates. It’s amazing how something can fade into the background in a short time. The Mission Statement above has done so a bit for me.

I was having a conversation with a couple of folks the other day and we started talking about the Mission Statement and we spent an awful lot of time concentrating on the first phrase. ‘Nourished by God’s Word and Sacraments,’

The assumption that it makes is that we, all of God’s people, have a hunger that only the experience of God can satisfy. That seems to me to be the easy part. The more challenging reality at hand is twofold.

1. Invite people to the table and let them express their hunger.

2. Prepare, from our best ingredients of faith and truth, wholesome, nourishing food for the soul.

During the remainder of our conversation we were quite taken with the feeding metaphor that nourishing conjured up for us. I want to encourage you to sit with that image as well as the summer unfolds. It seems to me that it connects beautifully with our self-identified gift of feeding, eating and hospitality. We do those things well, but we can always do all things better and more faithfully. Sit with this question if you will.

”With what shall we feed the stranger at our door who hungers for the transformative power of God in Jesus Christ?”

This, it seems to me, is a great question because there are a whole number of ‘right’ answers. Let’s reflect on this and talk about it as we encounter one another through these languid summer months.

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

Gardens, Gardens, Everywhere!

Dear St. Luke’s Community,

Memorial Day has come and gone and Independence Day is bearing down upon us. The days are longer, the flower, oh my the flowers here are truly a sight. You must remember that I am used to living somewhere where 9 inches of rain is a year’s worth. The green, verdant and colorful gardens everywhere are such a treat to the eye!

I have been reading a book by a man named N. Graham Standish who is a pastor of a Presbyterian Congregation in Pennsylvania. He says that congregations and churches are like gardens. Some he says are like English Gardens, requiring lots of upkeep and planning to maintain their character. Some, he says, are like herb gardens that add flavor and fragrance to the world about it. Others are vegetable gardens, that feed those in the church and the many neighbors as well with hearty and simple fair grown from fertile, loamy earth. Another variety is the cottage garden whose plants are simple and often serve the purpose to create separation and space from noisy and nosy neighbors. Others are like wilderness gardens. Wilderness gardens are grown on large tracts of land, require a bit of planning and maintenance, but are often allowed to grow wild. They have incredibly lush areas and some dead spots as well. Standish thinks that much of New Age Spirituality is like this. Finally Standish offers the conservatory model. It is a garden that has many varied zones and may contain all of the above types (save maybe the wilderness garden). It can be confusing, it takes enormous amounts of time, planning and money to maintain and is not easily accessible or necessarily a place of prolonged respite.

I have been wondering what sort of garden we are at St. Luke’s. I see elements of several and I’m not sure there’s any ‘right’ answer. What is far more interesting to me is to deal with the question, ‘What sort of Garden does God wish for us to plant in this fertile soil?’ I point you all back to the parish profile where there is mention of fertile soil and tilling. Could it be that part of the Holy Conversation into which God is inviting us is to plan, prepare, plant and tend a particular kind of garden (either literally or metaphorically)? I’m not sure of the answer but I’m loving the question.

Shall we all grapple with the question together in the coming months? During the summer we are likely to have the chance to experience some different church settings in our vacation travels. Why not try and find out what kind of garden you’re visiting? See what kind of plants seem to be flourishing there and bring back your stories. Who knows, we might be able to do some transplanting to make this Garden Spot of God more lush, diverse and inviting?

Have a great summer. Bring back your ideas, but most of all, rest in the lushness of God’s garden, wherever you may find it.

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

Heresy!!!!!!!!!

Dear St. Luke’s Community,

This Sunday is Trinity Sunday. As I mentioned last weekend, it has been said that it is likely impossible to talk for more than a few minutes about the Trinity without uttering some sort of heresy. I suspect that’s true. It is most certainly true if we adhere to the following definition of heresy from the American Heritage New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy:

heresy--a belief or teaching considered unacceptable by a religious group.

If we apply this definition it is little wonder that Christians down through the ages have cried ‘heresy’ to those who have the temerity to announce the just possibly God is doing a new thing. Before we get to wrapped up in the heresies (and heretics) of the Christian Church after establishment under the Emperor Constantine in the 4^th Century, it may be worthwhile to examine the Scriptural record (both Hebrew and Christian Testaments) and see that ‘heresy’ (as defined above) is a common trait among many whom have become for us examples of faithful living.

Nearly all of the prophets, beginning with Moses, got into trouble (at least in part) for challenging the religious establishment’s understanding of who God is and what God does, who God likes and how those who don’t behave are going to upset things. There are many others, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Hosea, Amos, Obadiah, Nathan, David, Jonathan, and of course Jesus. Each of them, in one way or another, were the heretics of their day.

In Christian history the Common of Saints is littered with those who, in their day, were accused of heresy only to be vindicated as the conversation about the nature of God pushed beyond its present limits to widen the understanding of God’s nature, character and attitude to the entire Creation that is God’s Magnum Opus. Whether proved (?) forever beyond the reach of orthodoxy (that is right belief) or not, each of those who utter heresy (in the best scenario) help bring clarity to the discernment of the Body of Christ about what the authentic nature of God is as we can understand and experience it at any given time. The ancient heresies of the Church weren’t useless. They, each in their own way, help to bring to clarity the expression of God’s nature by the faithful. Vindication, for some, was/is a long time in coming.

There is no little bit of anxiety about being ‘right’ about God’s nature even in our day. In many ways, nothing much ever changes. While the conversations are important, they primary importance has to do with our faithful living and is not a threat to the authentic nature of God. The reality is that God is as God is whether or not our descriptions, understandings or pronouncements are accurate. The moving toward God is always a process, never a completed action.

So I suspect it is not only preachers who stray into heretical waters when daring to talk about the Living God, it is all of us who dare to wonder about God’s nature. To be called a heretic (at least potentially) is a small price to pay for coming to any kind of depth of experience and understanding about the Divine Nature that gives life and breath to everything in heaven and on earth. I hope you’ll join me in daring to be wrong in daring to approach God. To my way of thinking it’s not only worth it, but one of the risks that faith requires.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not suggesting that we want to be reckless and challenges the accepted and time-tested understandings and experiences of God's nature. For example, I'm not suggesting that we challenge the reality of God's nature as a loving and nurturing Creator, I'm simply saying that for us to push on the accepted boundaries of God's goodness and what it means for the life of the world is part of the theological project. I'm not interested in doing reckless and bad theology, but I'm not interested in 'safe' theology either. To push to the edge of understanding is the pioneering spirit that has led God's people into the presence of the Divine throughout the ages. I, for one, am not sure we should harden the edges. In fact, someone told me recently, that most of really good spiritual growth entails softening our edges while strengthening our center.

If our center remains on the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, I suspect that we'll survive our theological wanderings and the Good Shepherd will stop at nothing to bring us back to our heart's true home.

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

Planting, Growing and Producing

Dear St. Luke’s Community,

Memorial Day is upon us and the Program Year for St. Luke’s is coming to a close. Over the course of this first year (nearly) I have been very impressed at the diversity of ministries here and the passion that surrounds them. I want to thank you all for the way in which you embraced our first Ministry Fair which we held in September. I’m looking forward to many more of them. The day provided me (and many others) with an opportunity to see all that goes on here at St. Luke’s in a way that is easily accessible and inviting.

Having said that, I am still aware that we are at our best when we are diligent about inviting folks to ‘Taste and See’ that life here at St. Luke's Church can be very nourishing indeed. When we do this, however, we also have to be aware of how deeply rooted we are in the ‘success’ culture of our environment. Jesus seems to make very clear that the exercise of being faithful is about ‘doing the work’ more than it is about ‘getting the results’. Perhaps just having come of the traditional ‘Rogation’ or planting days, of the church, we’d do well to revisit some of Jesus’ parables that have to do with planting, tending and harvesting.

“Jesus said to them, "My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to complete his work.

35 Do you not say, 'Four months more, then comes the harvest'? But I tell you, look around you, and see how the fields are ripe for harvesting.

36 The reaper is already receiving wages and is gathering fruit for eternal life, so that sower and reaper may rejoice together.

37 For here the saying holds true, 'One sows and another reaps.'” (John 4:34b-37)

2 Jesus began to teach them many things in parables, and in his teaching he said to them:

3 "Listen! A sower went out to sow.

4 And as he sowed, some seed fell on the path, and the birds came and ate it up.

5 Other seed fell on rocky ground, where it did not have much soil, and it sprang up quickly, since it had no depth of soil.

6 And when the sun rose, it was scorched; and since it had no root, it withered away.

7 Other seed fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked it, and it yielded no grain.

8 Other seed fell into good soil and brought forth grain, growing up and increasing and yielding thirty and sixty and a hundredfold."

9 And he said, "Let anyone with ears to hear listen!"

10 When he was alone, those who were around him along with the twelve asked him about the parables.

11 And he said to them, "To you has been given the secret of the kingdom of God, but for those outside, everything comes in parables;

12 in order that 'they may indeed look, but not perceive, and may indeed listen, but not understand; so that they may not turn again and be forgiven.'"

13 And he said to them, "Do you not understand this parable? Then how will you understand all the parables?

14 The sower sows the word.

15 These are the ones on the path where the word is sown: when they hear, Satan immediately comes and takes away the word that is sown in them.

16 And these are the ones sown on rocky ground: when they hear the word, they immediately receive it with joy.

17 But they have no root, and endure only for a while; then, when trouble or persecution arises on account of the word, immediately they fall away.

18 And others are those sown among the thorns: these are the ones who hear the word,

19 but the cares of the world, and the lure of wealth, and the desire for other things come in and choke the word, and it yields nothing.

20 And these are the ones sown on the good soil: they hear the word and accept it and bear fruit, thirty and sixty and a hundredfold."(Mark 4:2-20)

Our work is to keep telling the story. Our work is to keep casting the seed out there. We cannot always ensure that it will take root. The fact of the matter is that no gardener makes anything grow, not really. All any gardener can do is put plants in fertile soil in places where they have the best chance of taking root, thriving and producing flowers, fruit and seed all in due season. We (God’s gardeners) cannot make anything grow faster than it will grow. We cannot make plants that love the sun grow in the shade. We cannot make the lemon tree produce oranges….you get the idea.

What we can and must do is pay attention to soil conditions, rainfall and the suitability of our garden and put the seeds of ministry in the most likely places for them to take root and grow. We can fertilize. We can weed and we can water to a certain extent. But growth itself is a matter between the plant and its very nature. Nature is God’s work the best attention we can pay is the nurture that gives the implanted word its best shot at flourishing.

Keep inviting folks to find their place in the Garden of Life. Bask in the warm sun that gives growth in due season and continue to grow well where God has planted 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)
508-756-8277 (Fax)

Blog Address www.frwarren.blogspot.com