Contributing Clergy: Bishop Kevin W. Vann, Father Glenn Baaten & Deacon Jim Merle
How many of you have green thumbs and can grow everything? How many of you have brown thumbs and wish you could grow anything?
Every time I hear this parable from Saint Matthew’s gospel, I hope I am a green thumb in God’s vineyard, able to grow something no matter what the growing condition is. However, I also know that I am often a brown thumb who falls short in all growing types.
Everyone with whom I have talked, listened to or read about has a distinct perspective on what they define as a burden in their life and how they manage it. Reasons for such happenings are often blamed on others or circumstances as the cause. Most solutions they sought were based on what worked for others in similar situations but still left them with corrections that did not solve their dilemma.
In the 21 years I have been ordained a deacon, I have baptized a thousand or more children under the age of seven. In the early years I immersed or “dunked” them. As time goes on, I now pour water over their heads so I do not drop one by mistake, should my hands become too wet.
If I could offer a survey to all my blog subscribers that asked the question: Have you ever been afraid as a child, teenager, or adult, most, if not all, would answer yes. The range of responses might be about monsters living under one’s bed that will take you away, asking someone out and being rejected or losing a job if you made too many errors.
It is interesting to watch people who approach the sanctuary to receive Eucharist at Communion time. Most are respectful in the reverence they illustrate in bowing, receiving and blessing themselves. They realize that in addition to what they normally do to partake, that the physical presence of the resurrected Jesus is “actually” in the consecrated bread in whatever form it takes.
The first of the seven Ecumenical Councils of the undivided Church was the First Council of Nicaea. Convened in 325 AD by Roman Emperor Constantine the Great with the support of Pope Sylvester I, the council met from May through July in the Greek-speaking city of Nicaea, located in Asia Minor, modern-day Turkey. More than 300 bishops from across the Christian world—both East and West—gathered to address one of the most pressing theological crises of the time.
Mysteries can be fascinating if you have a mind that enjoys being challenged. Though finding a result of this may be what is sought, the real satisfaction seems to lie in the varying paths one is led down to receive a solution of what is meant by each twist and turn. The hope is one will have a clear picture of what is meant at the end of the journey.
God’s perfect plan for our involvement might seem over the top with the original Pentecost filled with a “strong driving wind,” “tongues as of fire” and speaking in different tongues, but why shouldn’t it be? Pentecost is an invitation from God the Father and God the Son to accept a partnership involvement with the Trinity under the auspices of the Holy Spirit. We are created out of God’s love to build up the Kingdom of God by bringing people to God. Without God’s help, we would not be able to accomplish this. We need to be of the same Spirit to spread His commissioned message of love through preaching, healing and forgiving.
In my earlier days, I travelled for work. Sometimes I was gone for a few days and at other times for a week. My wife, Candi, travelled extensively for years leaving on Sunday evening and returning Friday night. For many years, she averaged 30 to 35 weeks annually. Our standing joke is that it kept us together as a couple because we always have new stories to tell one another to keep our relationship fresh and alive.
For those of us who have relatives and friends that are facing mental or physical problems that bring them closer to death, we often contemplate how we will conduct our lives after they pass. Aside from our memories, will we be able to adjust to do some of the things we did when they were alive? That is certainly the dilemma of the Apostles as Jesus tells Him of His leaving earth and returning to heaven to be with His Father at the Ascension.