The Church of St. Paul in the Desert, Palm Springs CA, Candlemas (transferred) Feb4 2023

Darkness can not drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate can not drive out hate; only love can do that. Martin Luther King Jr

By now you have seen images and heard words coming not only from Minneapolis, but Maine and Ohio, and you have seen images of resistance from all over the county. It may look mighty dark right now, it may feel like Good Friday, but Sunday is coming. That’s what we’ve taken to reminding ourselves as we embrace hope. 

The reality is that we in Minnesota are living under occupation. We have witnessed Immigration and Customs Enforcement removing people from homes, work, and school based on door-knocking in random neighborhoods and swarming schools, health care facilities, Mexican restaurants, child care centers or gas station parking lots all in hopes of finding someone, anyone, to detain. And murdering protectors and kidnapping observers in the midst of it. We are witnessing a spectacle of cruelty and brutality. Again, this is our reality. 

As people of faith, we must step into the breach with faith, love, and most of all hope, to do what the gospel compels us to do - welcome the stranger, feed the hungry, protect those who are at risk. I don’t have to convince any of you of that. This past Sunday’s Old Testament reading was from Micah, a passage with which you are so very familiar. “What the Lord really needs of us is to do justice, and to love kindness and mercy, and to walk humbly with our God.” In the midst of the chaos I am observing, I have also witnessed incredible acts of justice, kindness and mercy, walking humbly with God.

Friday morning a week ago my clergy colleague Susan, and I, with a wonderful handful of people from Grace Episcopal Church, were at the airport to raise our voices demanding that Delta and Signature stop being complicit in removing people from our state to detention centers God knows where. That action was about disrupting the flow of money and commerce. We cheered, and we prayed, and sang as 100 of our colleagues were bused off to jail after kneeling in the cold for at least an hour. 

Then, with at least 50,000 of our closest friends, in -20 cold, we gathered downtown Minneapolis, we watched out for each other, we shared hand and foot warmers, we sang, and were kind to one another as we became Minnesota fierce. My colleague Susan, and her partner Brian, went to US Bank downtown, one of the leading financial institutions in Minnesota, to be part of a sit-in, to ask that they lead the way in standing up to injustice.

This past Friday morning we gathered at the BIshop Whipple Federal Building, where those who are kidnapped off the streets are first taken. We again stood in the cold and spoke out for those who have been taken because they were witnessing - taking video, blowing their whistles. And just that morning two journalists were detained. People stand outside the Whipple building so that when they let someone go, there is someone waiting and prepared with warm clothes and a ride home. Last Saturday I delivered food to families who no longer leave their homes to go to work, or to go to the grocery store or the gas station for fear of being grabbed by ICE. That food ministry has over the last two weeks has tripled the number of people that still come to the church and to whom groceries are delivered. You can help with that, Rev. Jessie has that information for you

A statistic I discovered this week, and a reflection for you to consider.  90% of the community activation in Minneapolis is neighbor care.  Not protest. Not legal observation. But community response work: feeding the hungry, protecting schools, getting medicines to people who need them. Singing in the neighborhood so people stuck indoors, fearful of authorities, will know they are not alone. When what is happening in Minneapolis, and soon in Maine, in Ohio, and all over is called protest, you flatten the level and diversity of the response. You play into the framing of a violent regime.  

We are resisting, and there is something else happening here that’s not just resistance. It's a paradigm shift.  Minnesota has been abandoned by the federal government, so the people have taken over, and it is incredible. 

We are the hands and feet of Jesus in the way of embodied, fierce, resilient, defiant, love. We show up with compassion and resolve. The grief is palpable. And what do we see? People, neighbors, clergy, gathering together in neighborhoods and breweries and being community, increasing the light, rising up, with hope. There are candlelight vigils in every neighborhood. This occupation is nowhere near over, I just read that eight more observers were arrested at gunpoint yesterday morning, but we will continue to love fiercely, and walk the way of Jesus, together. 

Five year old Liam Ramos and his father were finally released. There is reason to hope, light in the darkness is dispelled in and through neighbors and community. We show up for each other, Jesus shows up in flesh and blood, we show up for our neighbors, God in our midst, the one who stoops to pick us up off the ground. This is where hope lives. 

Friends, we follow Jesus because we are convinced of God’s love for us, God’s love for all of creation. We follow Jesus because we are convinced that Love wins. We follow Jesus because we are convinced that embodied, resilient, defiant love is what God offers, and we in turn offer to our neighbors. 

We come here, to this place and we offer our own brokenness to be forgiven and healed, we are filled with bread and wine that are Jesus’ body and blood. In the mystery that is God’s love for us, we recognize blessing, we receive mercy, and we enact justice. And together we are emboldened, we can be brave and courageous as we witness to God’s amazing love for all God’s people. 

And therein is hope. We build hope in ourselves and in our community as we intentionally walk with Jesus. We build hope as we do justice, love kindness, and walk humbly with our God. We build hope as we recognize the blessedness that is all around us. Everytime you carry God’s light and love you conspire with God to hope. Everytime you carry this light out into your community you participate in God’s beloved community.

 

4 Epiphany Yr A February 1 2026 St. Martha and Mary Episcopal Church Eagan MN

4 Epiphany Yr A February 1 2026 St. Martha and Mary Episcopal Church Eagan MN
Micah 6:1-8, 1 Corinthians 1:18-31, Matthew 5:1-12, Psalm 15

I am convinced the prophetic voices we hear in today’s readings can guide our walk with Jesus, and can guide us in the work of resistance in which we find ourselves as Minnesotans today. We must listen to them. In Matthew’s gospel is Jesus’ sermon on the mount. This is the opening proclamation of Jesus’ ministry to follow, and in it Jesus shows us what the kingdom of God looks like. And in Micah we hear words that many of us are most familiar with. The voice of the Lord calls us to remember, we are to remember what has happened and to remember the saving acts of the Lord. And how shall we come before the Lord? Shall we bring burnt-offerings, rivers of oil, our first-born child? And then there it is, what the Lord really needs of us is to do justice, and to love kindness and mercy, and to walk humbly with our God. 

Do justice, love kindness, and walk humbly with our God. This is what God’s kingdom looks like, and this is also what it means to follow Jesus. Humbly isn’t quite an accurate translation, it should be more like walk intentionally, walk deliberately, with your God. Do justice, love kindness, and walk intentionally with God.

In Matthew we learn how to recognize blessing. We’ve heard these beatitudes so many times, haven’t we? You know, for a long time I taught children using Godly Play story telling. Godly Play is a way to tell the sacred bible stories. So, I’d tell this story about Jesus teaching his friends when the children were in first grade, and then they’d hear it again in second grade, and by third grade they’d say, we’ve heard that one before! And I’d respond with, of course you have, but what’s different about it this time? Because you see, each time we hear these stories, we are in a different place and a different time, so we hear something different from them. Friends, we are in a different place and a different time, we must hear these beatitudes differently.

Jesus is speaking directly to his disciples with this teaching. You and I are really just eavesdropping. Jesus is teaching his disciples about how to recognize blessing. This isn’t about who is blessed, it is about how to recognize who and what God has already blessed. God has already blessed the poor in spirit, and theirs is the kingdom of heaven. God has already blessed those who mourn, and they will be comforted. God has already blessed the meek, and they will inherit the earth. God has already blessed those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, and they will be filled. God has already blessed the merciful, and they will receive mercy. God has already blessed the pure in heart, and they will see God. God has already blessed the peacemakers, and they will be called children of God. God has already blessed those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, and theirs is the kingdom of heaven. And God has already blessed those who are reviled and persecuted.

You see, our job, as followers of Jesus is to get with the program, God is already doing great things, our job is to see that and join forces, to be a co-conspirator with God to be a blessing. And one of the things that makes it so hard is that God has already blessed those whom some would not think are blessed. Sometimes, when people talk about someone who is blessed that might be someone who is wealthy or powerful or famous or successful or beautiful or enviable. Blessing, at least according to the standards of this world, is most often of the material kind. Blessing is missing the close call, or getting something someone else doesn’t get. But that’s not what is revealed in Matthew’s story about Jesus teaching the disciples. God blesses in ways that the world rejects. 

Following Jesus is about doing justice, loving kindness, and walking intentionally with God. Following Jesus is to recognize blessing when it is staring us in the face. I think recognizing blessedness is about walking with God. I think recognizing blessedness has something to do with living in a community, a church of hospitality, a place where people of all stripes can come and find justice, and kindness and mercy. It is about standing with our neighbors when they are hungry and in need. 

I was one of the clergy who stood in the freezing cold a week ago, standing up for justice, kindness, and mercy. Now, some of you may not agree with me that what is happening in our city, in our state, and in our country is outright intimidation and occupation. You may make the argument that the federal government is justified in arresting those who have broken the law. And as far as adhering to the law of this land I would agree with you. However, that is not what we are witnessing in our cities and on our streets. We are witnessing the round up of people who don’t look like us or talk like us, and those who are standing up for their neighbors. If you listen to what these scriptures say, if you listen to what Jesus says, you can no longer abide this spectacle of cruelty and brutality.

Friends, we follow Jesus because we are convinced of God’s love for us, God’s love for all of creation. We follow Jesus because we are convinced that Love wins. We follow Jesus because we are convinced that embodied, resilient, defiant love is what God offers, and we in turn offer to our neighbors. 

We come here, to this place and we offer our own brokenness to be forgiven and healed, we are filled with bread and wine that are Jesus’ body and blood. In the mystery that is God’s love for us, we recognize blessing, we receive mercy, and we enact justice. And together we are emboldened, we can be brave and courageous as we witness to God’s amazing love for all God’s people. 

And therein is hope. We build hope in ourselves and in our community as we intentionally walk with Jesus. We build hope as we do justice, love kindness, and walk humbly with our God. We build hope as we recognize the blessedness that is all around us. Everytime you stand up for your neighbor by witnessing to the injustice. Everytime you stand up for your neighbor by donating money and food and clothing to all the places you do. Everytime you stand up for your neighbor by delivering groceries to those who cannot get out of their homes. Everytime you bring God’s light and love you conspire with God to hope. 

You are loved, go out into the world to do the work you are called to do, to do justice, to love kindness, and to walk humbly with God. Amen. 

Blessing

May God give you grace never to sell yourself short; grace to risk something big for something good; and grace to remember the world is now too dangerous for anything but truth and too small for anything but love. And may the blessing of God, Creator, Christ, and Holy Spirit be upon you now and remain with you forever, Amen

Second Sunday of Christmas Jan 4 2026 St. Martha and Mary Eagan

Second Sunday of Christmas Jan 4 2026 St. Martha and Mary Eagan
Isaiah 60:1-6, Ephesians 3:1-12, Matthew 2:1-12, Psalm 72:1-7,10-14

A New Year dawns, and with it hope and promise, light and love. Even in the midst of this present darkness, more light has already begun to shine, I can see it and I can feel it. And yet life continues to feel hard, sometimes even scary. We live in a world now in which we expect violence, no longer is cruelty a thing to be vanquished, its spectacle is forever before us. The gospel story we have today took place in a time not unlike our own, as it opens we are placed in the middle of King Herod’s Judea. 

This gospel story, unique to Matthew, is a story with peculiar characters, with wisdom from outside of the mainstream, gentiles, powerful, politically savvy people. And King Herod who looms large as a despot, for whom power, instead of love, wins, and who is afraid of this baby, a threat to his empire. God’s presence in Jesus is going to upend the powers that be, and thwart Herod’s plans. And yet we are reminded of God’s activity – God’s intervention; these wise ones from the east were warned in a dream to go home by another way. 

How does this story, the story of God in the flesh, the manifestation of Christ in the world, change things, change us? And how do we make Christ known in the world? You see, there is so much hope, so much promise, so much light, so much love. God bursts into our world, stoops into our lives, and continues to break into our world, and walk with us in the flesh. What does that mean?

The story we have before us today, this story of the wise ones from the east who follow the Light to the child born in a barn, helps us to see the cosmic importance of this birth. This birth happened in a particular place at a particular time in the context of a particular tribe, but the arrival of these wise ones from the east shows us that it wasn't just for a particular people at a particular time in a particular tribe. Matthew's intent in telling this story in this way with these characters is to show us that this birth changes the world, this birth confronts empire, the wise ones from the east know that.

God does whatever it takes to reach out to and embrace all people. God announces the birth of the Messiah to shepherds through angels on Christmas, to Magi via a star on Epiphany, and to the political and religious authorities of God’s own people through visitors from the East. From a manger, where a child lies wrapped in bands of cloth, God’s reach, God’s embrace in Jesus, gets bigger and bigger and bigger. Jesus eats with outcasts and sinners. Jesus touches people who are sick and people who live with pain and suffering. Jesus even calls the dead back to life. Ultimately, Jesus draws all people to himself as he is lifted up on the cross. In Jesus, no one is beyond God’s embrace.

God’s radical grace is wondrously frightening. The Light that shines in the darkness is wondrously frightening. That is also what this story is about. God comes to us in wondrously surprising ways. Ways we do not expect. Ways which we would never choose for ourselves. We are changed, we are transformed, the world is turned, and we must go home by another way, a different way, the way of Love. 

Or not, the alternative, of course, is to join Herod in not seeing God’s ever-expanding embrace, or feel threatened by it, and instead giving way to just plain fear: “When King Herod heard this, he was frightened, and all Jerusalem with him”. Herod jealously reached out himself, far enough to violently protect his place and preserve his power.

But I would suggest not being like Herod, and instead of living in fear of what is next, what is new, what could happen, we live in God's embrace, we live in God's light, we live in confidence that Love prevails. Instead of living in fear of what the future may bring to us, we live in God's abundant and amazing grace. Instead of holding fast to that which someday we will lose, we get on board with God's mission in the world of healing and reconciliation.

Taking the way of the wise ones from the east, going home by another way, going home by Jesus' way, surely provides a life of adventure, of risk, of surprise. Jesus leads us in a radical route. It takes us through green pastures, and more dangerous waters, it is a route that is filled with wolves and sheep. This is a route that calls us through transformation to wholeness; it is a route on which the adventure is not about you, but about whom we are together, the people on the adventure with us, and it is about how we are related to God. On this route home we are called to be Light bearers. We are called to be Love bearers. We are called to bring God’s Love to dark corners, to mountaintops, to raging waters.

My most recent viewing obsession is Stranger Things. I got on the roller coaster late in the ride, and the drop to the finish is thrilling. A major motif in Stranger Things is darkness and light. But, as it is with the best of storytelling, sometimes it takes some work to find the cracks of light that will bring healing and hope. I think Stranger Things is a great story, not only because of the landscape of dark and light, there’s so much more to be said about community and communion, friendship and love, looking beyond oneself and into oneself to find belovedness, and - much of that must wait for another day. Today’s story, the story in Matthew’s gospel, shows us the light breaking through, it calls us to follow that light, to find the path that brings us home. 

We are called to bring God’s Love to a dark and broken world, to a culture that is pulled apart by greed and fear. We are called to bring God’s Love to a fearful world. 

You see, God’s Love, God’s Power, is the most powerful integrating force in creation. God’s Love moves us from brokenness, from fragmentation, to wholeness, to healing and it is the only way.

How do you bring God’s Love and God’s Light into the world, how do you bring God’s wholeness into your work or your school? It is our call to bring God’s transforming love to those who have not yet seen or felt or known that love. It is our call to bear the Love that wins into the world. What glory will you manifest?

And, it is God's dream that we do this together. After all, it was three wise ones, not just one, who came to see Jesus. We don't go this life on our own, we journey together, we go home by another way, together. 

Amen

Epiphany blessing

May Almighty God, who led the Wise Ones from the east by the shining of a star to find the Christ, the Light from Light, lead you also, in your pilgrimage, to find the light and love. And the blessing of God Almighty, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, be upon you and remain with you for ever. Amen.