The Proper of Yesterday: Pentecost VII

Yesterday was the Seventh Sunday After Pentecost, and in this Year of Luke we heard the very well-known Parable of the Good Samaritan. I was filling in at All Saints' Hoboken. Here was my sermon. I welcome your comments and feedback, as always!

May only God’s words be spoken, and only God’s words be heard. Amen.

I recently had an experience that was rather troubling to me. You may recognize similar encounters in your own lives. I was coming home from an evening in the City. It was perhaps 11 PM or so. As I was unlocking the door to my apartment, a man dressed in slacks, a nice shirt, and a tie came up to the porch. He startled me a bit when he spoke to me. He told me that his car had broken down in the next block and he was trying to get some money to take the Light Rail and PATH back to Newark where he lived. I was in my collar, and he asked if I was a priest. I said yes, and he went on to tell me he was Catholic, had gone to St. Peters’ Prep in high school and asked if I could help him out.

Now remember it was 11 o clock at night and my key was literally in the door. I was not in the most comfortable of situations. I did something that was perhaps foolish – I got out my wallet and pulled out a bill - a five, I think – and handed it to him, telling him the light rail was down the block. He walked quickly off, and I got inside and locked the door as fast as I could. I just wanted him to go away as quickly as I could get him to do so. I was relieved when he went off in the direction of the light rail.

Now I can imagine what some of you are thinking. Was I nuts? How could I possibly have done that? How could I have believed his story? It’s almost exactly like the ones the you hear downtown. You know, I need bus fare to get to Philadelphia or Boston or Memphis or wherever. Or my family was burned out of our home. Could you help? I admit I was very skeptical about my friend’s story. I could have said I’m sorry I have nothing for you and sent him on his way. Of course, I was in my collar after all. That’s did make things a little different, at least from my point of view. I felt like I had to do something.

Why was that? Why did I think it was important for me to do something in this situation? Well, it’s because I am informed in my thinking by today’s Gospel, the very well known, perhaps even famous, Parable of the Good Samaritan. Many of use have heard it countless times. A lawyer asks Jesus about how to inherit eternal life. They have a theological discussion, and the lawyer actually has the right answer from Jesus’ perspective. The lawyer, being a good lawyer, then asks what’s actually a very reasonable question: Well, who is my neighbor then, that God commands me to love so much? Jesus tells the story of how a man was robbed and left for dead on the dangerous road between Jerusalem and Jericho, which was a good day’s journey away. A priest passes by and ignores the dieing man, and then a Levite, who also looks the other way. A Samaritan comes along, and he rescues the poor victim, and goes out of his way to take care of him, even spending two day’s wages to make sure the man would get decent treatment at the hotel. And then Jesus turn’s the lawyer’s question around: He doesn’t ask if the man who was robbed was a neighbor, he asks who was a neighbor to the man? And the lawyer answers that it is the Samaraitan who is the neighbor. Jesus then gave the famous command: “Go and do likewise.”

Jesus is saying to his listeners then and to us today that the important question is not who our neighbors are but how we act toward them. He de-emphasizes the object of the love we are to show and instead emphasizes how we are to show it. By turning the question around, Jesus seems to be saying that it’s more important to deal with one’s inner motivations then in quibbling who should receive the love we’re commanded to show. What’s important is being a neighbor, and in the context of the parable, being a neighbor to one in need.

My sense is that this is pretty important. Jesus hung out with all sorts of folks considered undesirable in his day, as I’m sure you know. Especially in Luke’s Gospel, women, Samaritans, Romans, slaves, all seem to get special notice in teaching and in action. In short, every person and group that traditional Jewish culture of the day – or sometimes even Jewish law – said was outside the pale were the kinds of people Jesus pointed to as enjoying God’s favor just as much as the Chosen People of Israel did. And notice that Jesus spent no time commenting on how dumb the robbery victim was for taking the road alone. His hearers would already have known it was dangerous. Jesus himself took that road on the way to Jerusalem, passing through Jericho on the way. Jesus very particularly critiziced the priest and the Levite who did not stop to help. Remember, though, that on one level it was perfectly understandable why the first two passers-by didn’t stop. Their work, their vocations, their very reasons for being, called them to be ritually pure so they could serve in the Temple without offending God. Even to touch a dead person was to make a priest of a Levite ritually impure and unable to serve for perhaps a week or more. So given the victim’s injuries, one might have cut the priest and the Levite some slack. But Jesus didn’t. In fact, he picked one of the most hated ethnic groups he could have to show the contrast between all three of them. Samaritans were considered barely better than Romans by Jews. Samaritans and Jews didn’t mix, and Jews considered the Samaritan beliefs in the Torah only and that it’s OK to worship Yahweh on Mt. Gerazim and not only in Jerusalem to be essentially heresy. So for Jesus to show up a Jewish priest and a Levite with a Samaritan would have been startling for his listeners. And to top it off, Jesus has the Samaritan go overboard in generosity – showing mercy, as the Scripture has it. And so the lawyer is commanded to go and do likewise – be like the Samaritan and bend over backwards in generosity.

And of course we, who are followers of Jesus and want to imitate him, want to go and do likewise too. But it doesn’t seem so easy in 2007. Maybe it wasn’t so easy in Jesus’ day either. We have to dig into the parable to get the nuances of who was who and why they might have acted like they did. But the command and the sentiment seem clear. Go and Do likewise. No need to investigate the worthiness of the recipient of your giving. No need to check and see if he or she really needs it. Jesus did not have the Samaritan teach the victim how to be more aware of one’s surroundings in dangerous situations or to give him judo or tae –kwon-do lessons. Maybe that came later. What the Samaritan did first and foremost - which Jesus clearly commends here - is take care of the man’s immediate needs for medical attention, safety, and lodging. The rest of it can come later.

In the Sermon on the Plain, which is Luke’s version of the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew’s gospel, Jesus says this: ^“Give to everyone who begs from you; and if anyone takes away your goods, do not ask for them again” (Luke 6:30) And again: ^“give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap; for the measure you give will be the measure you get back.” (Luke 6:38) Here is a specific teaching that says very straightforwardly to give to anyone who asks. Don’t ask questions, Jesus seems to be saying, don’t worry about if the person is worthy or not. Just do it. And in Luke chapter 12, Jesus tells the crowd and us not to worry about stuff, because God already knows we need them. Rather, he says, “Instead, strive for God’s  kingdom, and these things will be given to you as well.”

And that, my sisters and brothers, is a tall order. If we give like that, pretty soon we’ll be out of resources ourselves, right. The poor will still be poor and the scam artists will be rich and won’t give anything back when we ask for it, because they sure aren’t going to follow the Gospel. So what, is Jesus crazy or what?

I could stand here and contextualize away and maybe suggest that the context of the Sermon on the Plain was about being radically open in spirit and didn’t necessarily mean to just dissipate one’s resources in giving. I could point out that the Samaritan, as good as he was, didn’t check the robbery victim into the Westin Hotel and give him an unlimited credit card. He did what he could, as far as we can tell. And all of that would be true and would be reasonable conclusions to draw. At the same time, the tone of the Parable here, coupled with the stuff from the Sermon on the Plain and the later teaching on worry, does lean in an unmistakable direction of giving generously, even radically. The whole Gospel of Luke does, actually. Luke’s Gospel is the social Gospel in many ways, because in it Jesus is constantly showing an awareness, an openness, a mindset toward those less fortunate in his society. And it seems to me that’s what we can take from today’s parable too. One’s giving starts from the heart and is habit forming. When one actively cultivates a habit, an awareness, an openness to the other, that’s actually living out the Good News that God loves all people. If God loves me, then I can turn around and do that too. So Jesus encourages us to be neighbors for the other by helping out, by giving of what he have, perhaps even radically. It doesn’t necessarily mean we have to go bankrupt ourselves. It doesn’t mean that we ought not be wise with our resources as we live in to that new mindset. It does mean that a steady habit of giving will transform each and every one of us just as much as, even more so, than those we give to.

So that’s why I gave money to someone who may well have not needed it. I didn’t do it for him, although I do hope he really did have a broken-down car. But I did it more for me. I’m trying to cultivate a mindset of giving and openness to the other, in the same way that Jesus gave so much for me and for each of us. It isn’t easy at times – I’m only human, after all. But actively working towards my own transformation – a continuous conversion to the mind of Christ that today’s parable lays out for us – will allow me to do my own little part to make God’s economy real today. So I hope that man used the money well. If he did, great. If he didn’t, there’s not much I can do. But I’m going to try to keep giving to whomever asks. I’m going to try to be the neighbor that God calls me to be.

In the Name of the Holy and Undivided Trinity. Amen.

RFSJ

Shenanigans at St. Thomas?

St. Thomas Fifth Avenue is the premier Anglo-music parish in the US. Its Choir of Men and Boys is world-renowned and with good reason. The rector there was formally accused of some misdoings last fall. The Diocese of New York investigated and found nothing wrong. However, The Advocate has got some good background. An excerpt:

In December 2006, nine gay Episcopalians filed a complaint against the rector of New York City’s St. Thomas Church alleging that he made derogatory comments about a fellow clergyman’s homosexuality. It was one of 16 charges leveled at the Reverend Andrew Mead, leader of the prominent Episcopal congregation at the corner of Fifth Avenue and West 53rd Street whose wealthy, influential parishioners include Newsweek editor Jon Meacham and Standard Oil heiress Minnie Mortimer—who married Oscar-winning screenwriter Stephen Gaghan at the church in May. Among the other accusations in the complaint: that Mead paid for cat litter for his own cats and “large quantities of alcohol” out of St. Thomas’s kitchen budget; and that the rector, while dressed as Santa Claus, forced female employees to sit on his lap to receive presents at a staff Christmas party.

The complaint, signed by 12 people altogether, was investigated by the New York diocese’s governing committee this spring and ultimately dismissed, the matter declared formally closed at St. Thomas’s 11 a.m. Sunday service on May 20. For the gay complainants, it was a “crushing defeat,” in the words of one, Bruce Gilardi—and the final straw in a series of questionable events at St. Thomas since Mead arrived over a decade ago. “If the church feels it can sweep us under the rug,” says Gilardi, an entrepreneur who had attended the church regularly since moving to New York in 2000, “then that’s an indication that this isn’t a place for me anymore.”

Read it all, and pray for the church.

RFSJ

A Blog and a Rant

I just discovered Jared Cramer's Scribere Orare Est. Check it out for yourself. He's an excellent writer and well worth checking in on from time to time.

He is friends with another blogger friend of mine, The Postulant, who writes in his blog Ember Days a very moving post about a recent Eucharist he attended. I encourage you to read it. It comes from a place of deep pain for him and for many, but it is in our pain that truth often emerges, it seems to me.

Both blogs are listed in All Sorts and Conditions of Sites at the left as well.

RFSJ

Anglicanism explained?

Terry Mattingly is a journalist who writes a weekly column on religion.

In an recent interview, he said this:

The heart of the Anglican compromise boils down to putting St. John Chrysostom and John Calvin in the same pew. But neither one of those men want to be there. There are things on which they do not agree with each other, and they would not compromise. And yet the Anglican compromise tried to have both sides of a Protestant and ancient equation be equal. You simply can’t pull that off.

I think he has it mostly right. Read the whole interview here.

RFSJ

The 2007 Baseball All-Star Game

For the 11th year in a row, the American League has won it again, this time 5-4 over the National League. Box score from the New York Times:

NL Boxscore MLB-American vs. MLB-National

Final 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E MLB-American « 0 0 0 0 2 1 0 2 0 5 10 0 MLB-National « 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 2 4 9 1 Preview | Matchup | Lineup | Log | Wrap | Box W:J.Beckett(1-0) L:C.Young(0-1) S:F.Rodriguez (1) HR: AME- I.Suzuki (1), V.Martinez (1), C.Crawford (1) NAT- A.Soriano (1)

MLB-American	AB	R	H	RBI	2B	3B	HR	W	K	AVG
Ichiro Suzuki CF	3	1	3	2	0	0	1	0	0	1.000
Torii Hunter CF	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000
Francisco Rodriguez P	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000
Derek Jeter SS	3	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	.333
CC Sabathia P	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000
Mike Lowell 3B	1	1	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	1.000
David Ortiz 1B	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000
Justin Morneau 1B	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000
Alex Rodriguez 3B	3	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	.333
Justin Verlander P	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000
Grady Sizemore RF-CF	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	.000
Vladimir Guerrero RF	3	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000
Johan Santana P	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000
Victor Martinez PH	1	1	1	2	0	0	1	0	0	1.000
Jonathan Papelbon P	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000
JJ Putz P	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000
Alex Rios RF	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000
Magglio Ordonez LF	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000
Carl Crawford LF	2	1	1	1	0	0	1	0	0	.500
Ivan Rodriguez C	2	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	.500
Carlos Guillen SS	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000
Placido Polanco 2B	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000
Brian Roberts 2B	2	1	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	.000
Danny Haren P	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000
Manny Ramirez PH	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000
Josh Beckett P	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000
Jorge Posada PH-C	3	0	1	0	1	0	0	0	0	.333
Totals	36	5	10	5	1	0	3	1	1
MLB-National	AB	R	H	RBI	2B	3B	HR	W	K	AVG
Jose Reyes SS	4	1	3	0	1	0	0	0	0	.750
JJ Hardy SS	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	.000
Barry Bonds LF	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000
Cole Hamels P	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000
Derrek Lee 1B	2	0	1	0	0	0	0	1	0	.500
Carlos Beltran CF	3	1	1	0	0	1	0	0	1	.333
Orlando Hudson 2B	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	1	.000
Ken Griffey RF	2	0	1	2	0	0	0	0	1	.500
Aaron Rowand CF	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	.000
David Wright 3B	3	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	.333
Freddy Sanchez 3B	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000
Prince Fielder 1B	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	.000
Chris Young P	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000
Francisco Cordero P	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000
Matt Holliday PH-RF	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	.000
Russell Martin C	3	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	.000
Brian McCann C	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000
Chase Utley 2B	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000
Takashi Saito P	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000
Carlos Lee PH	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	.000
Billy Wagner P	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000
Trevor Hoffman P	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000
Dmitri Young PH	1	1	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	1.000
Jake Peavy P	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000
Brad Penny P	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000
Miguel Cabrera PH	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	.000
Ben Sheets P	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000
Alfonso Soriano LF	3	1	1	2	0	0	1	0	1	.333
Totals	35	4	9	4	1	1	1	4	9

E_P.Fielder. LOB_MLB-American 5, MLB-National 9. 2B_J.Posada, J.Reyes. 3B_, C.Beltran. HR_I.Suzuki (1) off C.Young, C.Crawford (1) off F.Cordero, V.Martinez (1) off B.Wagner, A.Soriano (1) off J.Putz. SF_K.Griffey. SB_A.Rodriguez (1), J.Reyes (1), D.Lee (1). GIDP_D.Jeter. DP_National League All-Stars 1 (J. Reyes, C. Utley and P. Fielder).

MLB-American	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	HR	PC-ST	ERA
Danny Haren	2.0	2	1	1	1	2	0	39-25	4.50
Josh Beckett (W 1-0)	2.0	1	0	0	0	2	0	30-18	0.00
CC Sabathia	1.0	1	0	0	0	0	0	9-5	0.00
Justin Verlander	1.0	2	1	1	0	0	0	21-13	9.00
Johan Santana	1.0	0	0	0	0	2	0	10-9	0.00
Jonathan Papelbon	1.0	1	0	0	0	2	0	17-14	0.00
JJ Putz	0.2	2	2	2	1	1	1	24-14	27.00
Francisco Rodriguez (S 1)	0.1	0	0	0	2	0	0	14-6	0.00
MLB-National	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	HR	PC-ST	ERA
Jake Peavy	1.0	1	0	0	0	0	0	16-9	0.00
Brad Penny	1.0	0	0	0	0	0	0	7-5	0.00
Ben Sheets	1.0	2	0	0	0	0	0	14-9	0.00
Cole Hamels	1.0	2	0	0	0	0	0	10-7	0.00
Chris Young (L 0-1)	1.0	1	2	2	1	0	1	15-9	18.00
Francisco Cordero	1.0	1	1	1	0	0	1	15-11	9.00
Takashi Saito	1.0	0	0	0	0	0	0	13-9	0.00
Billy Wagner	1.0	2	2	2	0	1	1	15-10	18.00
Trevor Hoffman	1.0	1	0	0	0	0	0	22-13	0.00

PB_J.Posada.
T_3:06. A_43965.
Umpires_Home,Bruce Froemming; First, Charlie Reliford; Second, Mike Winters; Third, Kerwin Danley.

RFSJ

At the All Star Break

Well, at the half season, RFSJuniors is in second place, RFSJ II is in sixth place, and RFSJ II is in 4th place. I have to admit that it's getting a little difficult to keep up with three leagues, but I'm doing my best.

AllOutBulls, who is now ranked 26th worldwide, has proposed an excellent trade to acquire another reliever that will solidify his lead enormously. It's a smart move and I applaud it. something I've been thinking about for a while, but he beat me to it. I still hope Joe Nathan is going to come through, but that looks increasingly unlikely. On the other hand, my trade of a few weeks ago for some guys who steal bases has helped significantly - I'm now third in that category and continuing to do well.

RFSJ II is in sixth place and doing OK, although batting performance could and I hope will improve. I have three marquis players and I am hoping they will improve their own performance and mine. I don't need anything in particular other than that at the moment - I've just got to hang in and hope. Islanders IV, the first place team, is very far ahead with 110.5 points to 2nd-place Wright Stuff with 83 points.

In RFSJ III, I continue to hope my batting will improve. I'm doing well in everything except average and saves, and I way ahead in wins at the moment. there is a trade proposed for Grady Sizemore for Fransisco Cordero, but I don't think I can afford to give Grady up just yet, so I'm looking for a reasonable compromise.

Here's my personal All-Star Roster, those players on the All Star Teams who I also own:

Batters:

Prince Fielder
David Wright
Carlos Beltran
Barry Bonds
Torii Hunter
Alex Rios
Grady Sizemore
Derek Jeter
Brian Roberts
Miguel Cabrera

Pitchers:

Francisco Cordero
C.C. Sabathia

Figuring out which of these players are on which of my teams is left as an exercise for the reader. On to the ASB!

RFSJ

The Proper of Yesterday: Pentecost VI

Yesterday was The Sixth Sunday after Pentecost, Proper 8C in the liturgical calendar. We heard the story of the Syrian general Naaman and his leprosy, a final warning and benediction in the letter to the Galatians , and the Sending of the Seventy (or maybe 72) in the Gospel. Of course we celebrated the Presnese of Christ among us in the Holy Communion, and had a nice coffee hour as well.

I will be supplying (i.e., substituting - I don't know why we use the word "supply" in this context) at All Saints' Hoboken next Sunday, while their rector is on vacation. They have two services and the lessons are here. I welcome ideas on how to make the Parable of the Good Samaritan relevant in 2007 when so many of us have heard it so often. Maybe we just need to keep hearing it to make it sink into our heads and into our hearts.

RFSJ

iWhat?

RFSJ

If Only We Could!

This takes me back to grade school when sometimes we really did get to go outside!

RFSJ

The Mighty Have Fallen

Well, C.C. Sabathia (left) had a horrible outing yesterday against Detrit - 7 ERs over 4 IPs for a 15.75 ERA. Tim Hudson (right) did worse: 6 ERs over 3 IPs for a whopping 18.00 ERA. I only lost three points in RFSJuniors and remain second there (6th for RFSJ II and 2nd as well for RFSJ III) but it still gave me a sickening feeling to check the scores.

RFSJ

A Sad Review

I know I've been linking the NYT a lot recently, but today's editorial on the recent Supreme Court term gets it right:

In the 1960s, Chief Justice Earl Warren presided over a Supreme Court that interpreted the Constitution in ways that protected the powerless — racial and religious minorities, consumers, students and criminal defendants. At the end of its first full term, Chief Justice John Roberts’s court is emerging as the Warren court’s mirror image. Time and again the court has ruled, almost always 5-4, in favor of corporations and powerful interests while slamming the courthouse door on individuals and ideals that truly need the court’s shelter.

Read it all.

RFSJ

From Defeat, an Empire

Here's a very interesting op-ed piece in today's NYT from a retired British general, on the global implications of the US War of Independence. Does this sound familiar?

Instead of trying to isolate the rebels and gain the support of the loyalist and uncommitted colonials, the British spent much of their time defending their bases and maintaining their supply lines, only occasionally venturing out on punitive expeditions. They never succeeded in cutting off the heartland of rebel resistance in New England by taking control of the Hudson River Valley. Nor was the British Army — the finest in the world — ever able to establish sufficient security in the countryside or counter rebel propaganda. It soon came to be regarded as foreign occupation force.

Finally, the British were never able to prevent a steady flow of arms, ammunition, instructors and fighters from entering the colonies from abroad. Thus Washington, whose Continental Army was down to a few thousand fit soldiers, managed to survive the harsh winter of 1777-78 at Valley Forge and rebuild his military strength. When the British switched their main effort to the Southern colonies, Nathanael Greene, probably the most successful insurgent leader in military history until Mao Zedong, was able to wear down Cornwallis’s army in the Carolinas to a point where Washington, now reinforced by the French, was able to beat the British in a conventional battle at Yorktown.

General Rose's conclusion:

Today, of course, the United States finds itself in much the same position as Britain in 1781. Distracted and diminished by an irrelevant, costly and probably unwinnable war in Iraq, America could ultimately find itself challenged by countries like China and India. Unless it can find a leader with the moral courage of Pitt, there is a strong probability that it will be forced to relinquish its position as the global superpower — possibly to a regime that does not have the same commitment to justice and liberty that the United States and Britain have worked so hard to extend across the world over the past two centuries.

Who shall that leader be?

RFSJ

God 3.0?

In his op-ed column today, Thomas Friedman of the NYT makes an interesting statement:

Two trends are at work here: humiliation and atomization. Islam’s self-identity is that it is the most perfect and complete expression of God’s monotheistic message, and the Koran is God’s last and most perfect word. To put it another way, young Muslims are raised on the view that Islam is God 3.0. Christianity is God 2.0. Judaism is God 1.0. And Hinduism and all others are God 0.0.

One of the factors driving Muslim males, particularly educated ones, into these acts of extreme, expressive violence is that while they were taught that they have the most perfect and complete operating system, every day they’re confronted with the reality that people living by God 2.0., God 1.0 and God 0.0 are generally living much more prosperously, powerfully and democratically than those living under Islam. This creates a real dissonance and humiliation. How could this be? Who did this to us? The Crusaders! The Jews! The West! It can never be something that they failed to learn, adapt to or build. This humiliation produces a lashing out.

I hesitate to assert over-simplistic explanations for far more complicated circumstances, but this seems to make some sense. What do you think?

RFSJ

Almost the Same....

Today, RFSJuniors is still first by one-half point, but RFSJ II fell to 4th and RFSJ III rose to 2nd. I'm very very pleased and will just ride this as long as it lasts.

I do wish there was a feature to track rankings over time. If I don't check every day how my teams are ranked, I'll miss it and can't go back to see what happened.

RFSJ

The Hot Dog Eating Contest!

I'm watching ESPN carry the Nathan's Famous Hot Dog Eating Context at Coney Island at the corner of Surf Avenue and Stillwell Avenue today. It's really kind of funny - they're treating it like the Olympics or something. Everyone is very serious, they have profiles of the contestants, and I did not know you have to qualify at one of 13 qualifying events to come to Coney on July 4! Amazing!

What's kind of ironic is that (and this is NY heresy here) that I don't even think Nathan's Famous are that great....

More to the point: what does it say about us, when people in the US are hungry, when 35.1 million people in the US do not know where their next meals will come from, when right now the Church of the Holy Apostles Soup Kitchen in NYC just today - yes they were open on July 4 - served nearly a thousand meals to anyone who showed up, that on national live TV we show a contest about which single individual can eat as much much food as possible without throwing up in 12 minutes?

RFSJ

PS - Joey Chestnut, the American challenger, set a new record and won over the favorite Takeru Kobayashu with 66 dogs eaten.

The Proper of the Day: Independence Day

Today, July 4, the Episcopal Church observes Independence Day as a Major Feast of the Church. There are proper Morning and Evening Prayer lessons and Psalms, and a Eucharist is appointed for today. I think it's an excellent thing, in the midst of our fireworks and barbecues, to thank God for that true Freedom we ultimately have, and to use that Freedom for the good of all people.

Lord God Almighty, in whose Name the founders of this
country won liberty for themselves and for us, and lit the
torch of freedom for nations then unborn: Grant that we and
all the people of this land may have grace to maintain our
liberties in righteousness and peace; through Jesus Christ our
Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one
God, for ever and ever. Amen.

I commend today's readings to your attention. Seems to me the Evensong readings in particular are a bit triumphalist, a la America as Manifest Destiny, even eschatalogical in some ways. One doesn't have to read them in that light of course, and perhaps it's my own disquietude over the state of our affairs as a nation that is coloring my own reading. But see for yourself. Happy 4th!

RFSJ

Random Funnies

If you've flown more than just a few times, you'll understand this exactly:

Doonesbury still has it when ti comes to what's going on in Washington:


The Supreme Court got it wrong yet again. I can't even mention the school desegregation case. Brown vs. Board of Ed? Um, that's a footnote case from the 1950s, right?

How true.....
I had to look at this one for a bit, but it made me laugh!

Ah, would this out all those call centers out of business - and Microsoft too? You wonder if maybe this is really true sometimes.....


RFSJ

1st, 2nd, and 4th

Well, RFSJuniors is now in first place, by exactly one-half point! RFSJ II is in second place in its league, but the first place team the Islanders IV (seems like people are just as creative with team names as I am) has 114 total points to my 78. That's a huge lead this early in the half-season. RFSJ III is in 4th place with 79 points in its league, and given that my batting average in this league is the worst in the league, I'm very happy with that! I still am looking for closers for RFSJ III, and took a look at Houston's closer Dan Wheeler, but he's only had three save opportunities in June, so I took a pass for the time being.

RFSJ

Baseball Update July 1

Yesterday was a pretty good day all in all:

In RFSJuniors, I had 4 wins in 4 starts with no ERA higher than 2.57 over 29 IPs. Fantastic! Gaudin, Hudson, Sabathia and Francis all earned wins yesterday, and Joe Nathan earned a save. Every pitcher of mine who pitched got a win or a save. and it shoed in the overal rankings: I'm tied for first place for the day with 95 points, along with perennial first-place AllOutBulls.

RFSJ II: Also had 4 wins in 4 starts, this time from Hudson, Sabathia, Sosa (now on the DL, sigh) and Lowry. Highest ERA of the day was 5.50 by NYM Sosa, but he still earned the win, which I'll gladly take. I gained 11 points in the standings and am now third in this league.

RFSJ III: An OK day, with 1 win from Francis in three starts. Still, I'm currently 5th in the league, but I desperately need some better relief pitching. I've put up some hitters and starters on the trading block - we'll see if anyone is interested.

BTW, on Friday OF Kenny Lofton (texas) had 4 stolen bases in four ABs - amazing!

RFSJ

The Proper of the Day: Pentecost V

Today is the Fifth Sunday after Pentecost. Trinity Parish uses the Revised Common Lectionary and the Scriptures for today are here.

Almighty God, you have built your Church upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief cornerstone: Grant us so to be joined together in unity of spirit by their teaching, that we may be made a holy temple acceptable to you; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

I offered the following reflection on the excerpt from the letter to the Galatians:

May the words of my mouth, and the meditations of all our hearts, be always acceptable to you, O Lord, our Rock and our Redeemer. Amen.

These past few weeks we’ve heard a lot in the news about freedom. The Supreme Court just this week decided that it was not an infringement of a student’s freedom to punish a student who put up a sign saying “Bong Hits 4 Jesus” at a public rally that was school sponsored. Recently the CIA released some of its Family Jewels, documenting how in the 1960s and 1970s it had systematically tried to deny freedom to all sorts of people the US government didn’t like at the time. We are debating what freedoms that immigrants, illegal and otherwise, may have in the country. There’s a continuing controversy here in Bayonne about whether requiring student uniforms in the public schools is an appropriate infringement of freedom or not. The rights and freedoms of enemy combatants that we have captured in the course of the war on terror are on our minds, especially after the bomb scares in London this weekend. And of course I can’t not mention Paris Hilton: she regained her freedom when she was released from jail recently.

All of those examples of what we usually think of as freedom are one kind of freedom, political freedom. The dictionary defines freedom as:

1.	the state of being free or at liberty rather than in confinement or under physical restraint:

2.	exemption from external control, interference, regulation, etc.

3.	the power to determine action without restraint.

4.	political or national independence.

And that’s usually what we think of, especially during this time of year when we celebrate the independence of our country from England on this coming Wednesday, the 4^th of July, Independence Day. We fought a war over our right, here in what would become the United States, to decide our own affairs without interference form England or anyone else. Throughout the 231 years of our independence, we’ve gone to war several times to protect or regain freedom on behalf of those who have lost it. We think it’s so important an ideal that we are willing to risk lives and money when we think freedom is threatened, especially our own. And I think we as a nation can be proud that we enjoy the freedoms of speech, the press, religion, and the other political rights guaranteed to US citizens in the Constitution. We have much to be thankful of, although there are many even today who seem bent on abridging our own freedoms.

But regardless of the state of our political discourse, regardless of how you or I might agree or not on the issues of immigration, school uniforms, taxes, free speech and all the rest, as Christians, you and I also enjoy another kind of freedom entirely. That’s the freedom that Jesus Christ won for each of us in his life, death, and resurrection. It’s both a freedom from and a freedom to. At its basic level, what Jesus did was free us from fear. See, in the usual state of affairs, we as human beings get afraid. We’re afraid we’re not good enough. We’re afraid no one likes us. We’re afraid no one loves us. We’re afraid God doesn’t love us. And that fear then lay on each of us like a wet and freezing cold blanket that stops us from being who God wants us to be. If I think I’m not good enough, I probably won’t try to reach forward and try things that maybe I’m perfectly capable of doing but don’t think I’m worthy enough to go for. And if I’m afraid that I’m not loved by other people, I will stop loving and appreciating my own self as well. That can into a downward spiral, compounding in on itself into disease, depression, or even merely quiet and daily despair over the state of my own life. Perhaps some of you know folks who are in that vicious cycle of self-hatred. I’ve been there at times. Perhaps you have too.

This is what St. Paul means when he says in today’s excerpt from the letter to the Galatians when he says, “For Freedom Christ has set you free. Stand firm, therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.” In the death and resurrection of Jesus, he says to us, God is here, and God is with you, and God loves you. Each and every one of you. You and You and You. And so you can let go of the fear that froze you in its wet cold grip. You are freed from that fear by God’s love. You don’t have to be a slave, in Paul’s word’s, to self-hatred, to fear.

That freedom is the priceless gift that God gave us in Christ Jesus. It’s worth far more than all of the political freedoms we have. If today I were arrested and put into prison, I know that I am still free from the fear that I am worthless, that I am unloved, that no one, not even God cares for me. Because God does care and love me, and everyone of you too. I am loved by God, and as St. Paul says in his letter to the Romans, nothing can separate me from the love of God. No matter what! That goes for everyone!

And that freedom is powerful and absolute. No court can take it away. It can never be abridged. It’s granted by God in Jesus and we know it by the action of the Holy Spirit in our lives. So the question is, what to do with it? Remember the dictionary definition: “the power to determine action without restraint.” That certainly seems to apply here. That’s the second freedom that that as Christians have. We have granted freedom from, and we have been granted freedom to – to what? To do whatever we want? After all, God loves me, no matter what, right? So that means I can do whatever I want to do in my life and it will all by OK, right?

Nope, not at all. That idea is one that Paul addresses in several of his letters, not just this one to the Galatians. It turns out that lots of the early Christians thought the same thing, the Corinthians especially. And so Paul points out to both them and us that our freedom to is actually the limiting one, oddly enough. We are freed from fear and even death, true. And we are freed to be who God created us to be. Paul suggests that the best way to do that is to “use your freedom as an opportunity for self-indulgence, but through love become slaves to one another.” So we are freed by Jesus from fear and to be who God wants each of to be. And then we’re supposed to voluntarily give up that freedom to be slaves? To each other? That sounds weird. And to the ears of the Galatians, that was positively scandalous.

But that’s just it. If God loves me and wants to be in a restored relationship with me, then God wants the same thing for each of us. And God asks us to use our freedoms – our unrestrained power to determine action without restraint – to choose to be in restored relationships with those around us too. Our brothers and sisters, co-workers, parents, students, teachers, friends, everyone. If I am freed from fear, I don’t have to worry is someone is or is not going to respond to the relationship I offer someone. Remember, I already know that nothing can separate me from the love of God. So without fear of rjection, without fear of alienation, I can go ahead and work on restoring the relationships in my own life that are broken, just like how God, in Jesus, is constantly restoring my relationship to God. My relationship with God is constantly breaking – I can’t help it, because I am a human being. And God in God’s love is constantly fixing it, so that it’s whole and right again.

So now re-read that long list that we heard just a few minutes ago – the so-called works of the flesh: “fornication, impurity, licentiousness, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, anger, quarrels, dissensions, factions, envy, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these.” It’s a mistake if we hear this passage and think of the flesh as our bodies and the Spirit as our souls. In reality, what Paul is referring to when he talks about the works of the flesh is that power of sin and separation in the world today. It’s more than a metaphor or a figure of speech. This list is a description of what happens when people are afraid – when they have not understood they are freed from fear in Jesus Christ. And that other list? That’s what the world looks like when we are freed to be who we are created to be: “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.” These fruits of the Spirit are also more than a metaphor or a figure of speech. They describe what being in restored relationship with God and each other and the world and our own selves actually looks like. We are freed to be who we are created to be, and what God creates us to be is in whole relationships. And that’s what those look like.

My sisters and brothers, is isn’t as if God does not want us to have a good time. God does. I am aware that many of our sisters and brothers in other faith traditions do say that. But remember the wedding at Cana. Jesus made more wine so they could continue the celebration. There is a time and place for having a good time, of course, and just because we are freed from fear does not mean we are freed from the laws of mature – we can still over-indulge in any number of ways. When we do that, of course, we still have to face the consequences of living in a broken relationship with our own selves, because that’s the consequence of too much anything. And we have to face that too. But today’s passage from Galatians is not a laundry list of does and don’ts. We have freedom from and freedom to because of the impossible love of Jesus for each of us. We have freedom from fear and sin and even death. We have freedom to be as God has created us to be. If you see something from that first list in your own life, perhaps it’s an indicator of a broken or bending relationship that you might not have been aware of. When you see something from the second list, you can be sure that it’s happening in relationships that you are in that healthy and sound and as God desires.

On this 4^th of July week, we as nation remember the political freedoms we have fought for and won. As you go to the fireworks or to the shore or are having a barbeque or whatever it is you are going to do, remember, too, that we have, in Jesus, far more valuable freedoms that Jesus fought for and won for us. We are freed from fear, and we are free to be who created us to be.

In the name of the Holy and Undivided Trinity. Amen.

RFSJ