Walking with Jesus

Collect for Saturday in the Fourth Week of Lent

Mercifully hear our prayers, O Lord, and spare all those who confess their sins to you; that those whose consciences are accuse by sin may by your merciful pardon be absolved; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Walking with Jesus

As I reflect on our walk through Lent, and as we get closer to Holy Week, I wonder how our walk with Jesus has been going this Lent.  This week I was volunteering in my son's kindergarten class and they were talking about what they were doing differently for Lent (he goes to a Dominican School.)  Each child got to say what they were working on and how it was making the more helpful, respectful, strong, healthy, etc.  Their responses were wonderful and all were heartfelt.  "For Lent, I an cleaning my room, so I'm being helpful to my mom and dad."  "I gave up ice cream cones, but I still eat the ice cream, just not the cone.  But I'm trying to be more healthy."  "I gave up whining, and that makes me more respectful to my parents."

All of these kids had been working on something and no matter how small it seemed to us "adults" as they were sharing you could tell that it really made a difference for them.  It gave them focus and it allowed them to know that this season was really different and that it was about doing things that not only effected them, but others as well.  

This weekend, I'm at St. Mary's Church in Dousman with 45 other youth and adults doing the Happening Youth Event.  This event is meant to give youth the chance to take time out of their lives to have a similar focus, to pay attention to their walk with Jesus, to pray, sing, laugh, talk, dance and come to know God in a new way in their lives.  Having this during Lent is so powerful as it gives them time during this holy season to pause and look at their journey, to hear about what others are experiencing on their own journeys, and to meet others who may be struggling with similar issues.  This youth event gives all of us the opportunity to Walk with Jesus in a new way.  

I pray that during your Lenten Journey, you have had or will have the time to pause and reflect on your journey, to meditate on your walk with Jesus.  No matter how small, no matter what you are doing to draw closer to Jesus, it is enough.  God wants us to journey with one another because it is only together that we can come to know who God really is.  

I offer a prayer that I have prayed every day of Lent (one that reminds me of this walk with God and with one another) is a prayer for Compline.

"Guide us waking, O Lord, and guard us sleeping; that awake we may watch with Christ, and asleep we may rest in peace."  

Go in peace.  Walk with Jesus.  

The Rev. Shannon Kelly

Bishop's Assistant for Christian Formation

Diocese of Milwaukee

House of Prayer

Collect for Friday in the Fourth Week of Lent

O God, you have given us the good news of your abounding love in your Son Jesus Christ: So fill our hearts with thankfulness that we may rejoice to proclaim the good tidings we have received; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

House of Prayer (Matthew 21:1-27)

Then Jesus entered the temple and drove out all who were selling and buying in the temple, and he overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who sold doves.

He said to them, “It is written,

             ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer’;

              but you are making it a den of robbers.”     (Matthew 21:12-13)

The great Temple in Jerusalem was regarded as “God’s house,” the place where God’s glory rested, where people came to worship and offer sacrifice.  When Jesus came to this sacred place as a boy of twelve, he called it “My Father’s house.” (Luke 2:49).

When he came to the Temple again, as an adult, he was offended by the sight of people buying and selling the animals for sacrifice.  In his righteous anger, he quoted the ancient scripture of the prophet Isaiah (56:7): “My house shall be called a house of prayer.”

This phrase, “house of prayer,” points us toward the mystery of seeking to enter into the presence of God.  Where and how can we do this?

Our place of encounter with God is not a building, even though we do have buildings where we gather for prayer.  It is Jesus himself, the Crucified and Risen One, who is now and forever our “house of prayer.” 

How do we enter that “house”?  We already belong to Christ through our Baptism, and need only to become aware of our deep union with Him.   This can happen when we learn to enter into silence and to open ourselves to the Holy Spirit.  There, in the silence, we may begin to know Jesus and—knowing Him—begin to know God.

When we join ourselves to Jesus in humble faith we are brought into relationship with the living God—a relationship of intimacy and peace, where our sins are forgiven and our whole being may be filled with the joy of God.   Our prayer, then, is not merely or even mainly “asking for things,” but it is the receiving of Love, giving praise,  and surrendering gladly to the One who holds us in being.

The Rev. Wayne Fehr

Retired Priest and Teacher

Diocese of Milwaukee

Servant Leadership

Collect for Thursday in the Fourth Week of Lent

Almighty and most merciful God, drive from us all weakness of body, mind and spirit; that, being restored to wholeness, we may with free hearts become what you intend us to be and accomplish what you want us to do; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Servant Leadership (Matthew 20:17-34)

As a young adult coming of age in an era characterized by increasingly polarized and violent political rhetoric, I am comforted by the quietly powerful words of St. John Chrysostom: "This is the rule of the most perfect Christianity, its most exact definition, its highest point, namely, the seeking of the common good . . . for nothing can so make a person an imitator of Christ as caring for his neighbors." Regardless of denominational affiliation, socio-economic class, or political party, we are all charged with the task ensuring that our actions and intentions better the lives of others.

Chrysostom’s summary of Christian duty parallels Christ’s call to his followers in today’s reading. Jesus challenges his followers’ idea of leadership, saying that to be like him they must abandon their quest for personal power and instead focus on how they could use their lives to serve others. This call is central to our identity as Christians, but I would be lying if I didn’t admit that I find this task incredibly daunting. Over the course of history, people have justified horrible atrocities for the “betterment of humanity.” With so many loud, clamoring voices claiming that they alone have the truth that will fix our troubled communities, it is incredibly challenging to discern how best to serve others as Christ commands us to. 

The idea of servant leadership has been on my mind as the ideological battle between the public-sector unions and Governor Scott Walker rages a few blocks from my front door. Both sides of the debate are certain that they are ultimately doing what is best for Wisconsin and its citizens. It is times like these that I feel like one of the blind men sitting on the side of the road waiting for Christ to help me see things clearly.

However, to “let our eyes be opened,” we must be willing to follow Christ. Jesus teaches us that leaders do not use power to set themselves above those who follow them, but rather they must be servants of the public. One cannot serve the people while refusing to listen to their needs.  And so I will do my best to lead through service, advocating for the working families of Wisconsin and following Christ through the dark.

Kate Siberine

Student at UW-Madison

St. Francis House Episcopal Student Center

There is No "Other" in God's Kingdom

Collect for Wednesday in the Fourth Week of Lent

O Lord our God, you sustained you people in the wilderness with bread from heaven: Feed now your pilgrim flock with the food that endures to eternal life; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

There is No "Other" in God's Kingdom (Matthew 19:1-20:16)

In his book The Rules are no Game,  Ken Wilden writes: “ in every situation and in every trade there was a code of rules to abide by.  In every code, the Rule of Rules told you how to protect yourself against the unexpected.  Bad luck aside, these rules guaranteed that you wouldn’t lodge a hook in someone’s ear, or lost your fingers to a machine, or get caught on a lee shore or blow your foot off.  These rules were no game.  They were all legitimate, and still are.  Some codes of rules, like some authorities, are legitimate, some are not.  The test of legitimacy is the actual effect of a rule in a real context.  Legitimate codes of rules enable people to express their creativity and to protect themselves and each other.  Illegitimate rules serve the tyrants who create them.  They drive people to destruction.”  

My family had rules- rules about fairness and equity, worthy and unworthy, integrity and shame, friend and foe.  I was raised with clear certainty that if folks had two good hands and weren’t lazy, they could get a job and support their family, and with a clear imperative that it was a matter of integrity to give more than a good days work for a good days pay. 

I don’t like this piece of the gospel because it not only points out the illegitimacy of my closely held rules; it puts me squarely in the camp of the tyrant.  My rules require that I blame the poor for being poor (lazy) which gives me “permission” not to become involved when programs that serve the poor are slashed in the name of “the good of the whole” (balancing a budget).  I have “permission” to remain silent rather than to speak out against the systems and structures that created, and are widening, the gap between the “haves” and the “have not’s.” (tax cuts for business paid for by reducing benefits to the middle class and slashing programs like Medicaid for the most vulnerable).  I can look out my window, watch the police calls to the Homeless shelter and think, “Good riddance” as someone is taken off in handcuffs. 

And then Jesus pulls me up short by reminding me that there is no “other” in God’s Kingdom.  We are all children of God, without exception, and that God is infinitely generous, showering us with blessings without the slightest regard for our deserving.  Our job is to set aside our rules and concentrate on being faithful; to allow ourselves to be taken out of the tiny neighborhood surrounded by the walls of our rules to live more deeply into the abundant community of all persons, to experience a whole new level of wholeness.

Leanne Puglielli

St. Andrew’s, Madison

Searching for What Has Been Lost

Collect for Tuesday in the Fourth Week of Lent

O God, with you is the well of life, and in your light we see light: Quench our thirst with living water, and flood our darkened minds with heavenly light; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Searching For What Has Been Lost (Matthew 18:1-35)

I spent the month of January in Myanmar with six classmates from Virginia Theological Seminary.  Upon arrival in Yangon, we managed to negotiate for a taxi, which turned out to be an old van that we then piled into along with our suitcases, bags, backpacks, and other luggage.  I thought the biggest adventure of the evening would be the fact that it took four men and lots of rocking, rolling, and pushing to get the van going, but instead we had an experience that illustrates what I think Jesus meant when he taught about going after the lost sheep.

           

In the chaos of suitcases, bags, and bodies getting in and out of the old cab, my friend lost her new camera.  She did not realize it was missing for several hours, and it was only after helping her search her entire room, the hotel lobby, the parking lot, and everyone else’s bags that it became clear the camera was in the old taxi van.  While my friend went back to her room in tears, the night manager at the hotel noticed her distressed and called our trip leader around midnight.  The night manager and our trip leader went back to the airport together to search for the taxi driver.  Finding the airport gates locked, they asked around and learned the address of the airport’s international terminal taxi manager lived.  They found him at home and explained the situation.  Wanting to help my friend, he gave them the address of the driver who had picked up our group at the airport.  Our trip leader and the hotel manager finally found the driver of the taxi.  He eagerly led them to the van.  We had been his last fare of the night, so the camera remained just where it had fallen on the floor of his taxi.  They returned astonished and triumphant at about 4am. 

The next morning my friend awoke to find her camera returned after a long and dedicated search.  The community of support for my friend was wider than she could have imagined, and we all shared in her joy the next day.  Truly I tell you, the shepherd rejoices over the lost sheep more than over the ninety-nine that never went astray.  When the journey to recovering that which was lost involves the unwavering dedication, love, and support of an entire community, it is impossible not to rejoice.  May we be as eager to help one another and search for that which has been lost, whether it be a sheep, a camera, or a dream.

Dorota Pruski

Seminarian studying at Virginia Theological Seminary

St. James’ Episcopal Church

What to Do With a Vision

Collect for Monday in the Fourth Week of Lent

O Lord our God, in your Holy Sacraments you have given us a foretaste of the good things of your kingdom: Direct us, we pray, in the way that leads to eternal life, that we may come to appear before you in that place of light where you dwell forever with your saints; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

What to do with a Vision: 

The Transfiguration and what follows

           

Early this morning as I looked outdoors, the sky was transformed by beauty.  The sunrise offered an Easter morning, instead of the ordinary gray dawn.  Yet before I’d even finished my coffee, the colors had faded and winter returned.

           

I should apologize.  Anyone who has had a spiritual experience knows that it cannot be reduced to an allegory.  Nor can the kingdom Glory which transfigured our Lord on the mountain be compared to natural beauty, either spiritually or theologically.  The Transfiguration parallels the Resurrection, the theologian cries… glimmering with promise as the disciples journey between two painful and confusing predictions of Jesus’ death. 

           

“Tell no one about the vision until after…” Jesus directs.  When Matthew adds this word “vision” to Mark’s account, he treats it as a spiritual experience.  The Holy Spirit encounters some souls, preparing them with visions, or strange knowledge.  If you have them, you know yourself to be among these mystics.  If not, there were only three watching on the mountain that day.  “Tell no one.”  Guard these things in your heart as blessed Mary did.  When the questions come, the scribes, Elijah?, take the questions to Christ.  It will not be clear, as Peter’s quick interpretation shows.

           

What else not to do?  Build dwellings.  Faithful Israelite, responding with the Feast of the Tabernacles to the vision of Messiah with Moses (the Law) and Elijah (the Prophets.)  Do you recognize this Peter?  Have you seen this tendency we sometimes have to enshrine the places where we have perceived God’s glory:  Anglo Catholic ritual, Cursillo fervor, those long silent hours at the monastery.  In my church it’s the music:  we all love best that music where God came to us and we knew it. 

Perhaps we do this because we long for that encounter.  “This is my beloved Son… Listen.”  Pay attention.  He will yet, perfect what you saw today.  Live in kingdom hope. 

Some do: a father comes and hopes for his son to be healed of his seizures.   Some don’t:  the disciples cannot. This raises for me a lot of questions.  Which of us, however faithful, could heal epilepsy?  Why call it demonic?  Medical knowledge at the time argued “it is not, in my opinion, any more sacred or divine than other diseases” (Hippocrates LCL2.127-83).  Perhaps the disciples had their own questions.  They cannot heal the boy.  They have “little faith.”  So… faith must not be this vision of Jesus transfigured on the mountain. 

But it turns out, “little faith” is not a terrible judgment.  Faith like a seed is sufficient for many things:  following Jesus into Holy Week, paying head-taxes to our religious institutions that we may not scandalize them, turning again to Christ Jesus in the prayer of faith.

The Rev. Paula Harris

Rector

St. Luke’s, Madison

From Galilee to Jerusalem

Video for Week 4 – From Galilee to Jerusalem
 
(Matthew16:12-21:46)

April 3-9

 

How Do We Use Our Keys?

Collect for the Fourth Sunday in Lent

Gracious Father, whose blessed Son Jesus Christ came down from heaven to be the true bread which gives life to the world: Evermore give me this bread, that he may live in me, and I in him; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

How Do We Use our Keys? (Matthew 16:13-16:28)

The Cathedral Church of All Saints in Milwaukee is built on the corpse of a dead church.  Mt. Olivet Congregational Church in Milwaukee was a faith community that was outgrowing its space in the 1860s.  They decided to build a new church.  The building process brought out so much dissention in the congregation that they disbanded and never moved into the building.  The Mt. Olivet congregation sold the building to us.  It was consecrating in 1873 and has been in use since then.

When Jesus gave Peter the keys to the kingdom, he did not also supply a perpetual maintenance contract.  That is our task.  We have the keys, and we also have the task to keep the church in good order.  And while we are called to be good stewards of the resources that God has entrusted us with, keeping the church in good order has very little to do with the roof, the furnace or the lawn. 

When Jesus entrusted the keys to the kingdom to Peter, his intention was that Peter’s mission would be the proper tending and feeding of the flock.  Our Book of Common Prayer clearly summarizes this mission on page 855.  “The mission of the Church is to restore all people to unity with God and each other in Christ.”

The Book of Common Prayer also gives detailed instruction on how to accomplish this mission on pp. 304-5.  The Baptismal Covenant clearly articulates the core doctrine of the Church and clear instructions on how to live the Christian life—how to make sure the flock is adequately fed and tended.

We profess to be a church that is apostolic.  That means we are to continue in the apostle’s teaching and that we, like Peter, are inheritors of the keys.  What we do with those keys is up to us.  We can mount them on the mantle and show them off like an exhibit in a museum.  Or we can use those keys to unlock the grace and power of God to work wonders in a world that so sorely needs them.  We can also use those keys to lock up ignorance and bigotry of every kind.

If we use the keys properly we can be unbelievably power agents for change in the world.  If we do not use them properly, eventually some other church might build on our corpse.  The choice is up to us.

The Very Rev. Kevin Carroll

Dean

All Saints' Cathedral, Milwaukee