Luther’s Chicken

WARNING: This article contains sermon spoilers. Come on Sunday to hear the rest of the story!

Jesus sought me when a stranger,

wandering from the fold of God;

he, to rescue me from danger,

interposed his precious blood.

This Sunday, we will hear a beautiful passage from the Gospel often called Jesus’ Lament Over Jerusalem. Warned by the Pharisees that Herod was out to get him, Jesus says “Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often have I desired to gather your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing!” What a wonderful image of the tender care that God extends to each of us in Christ. It’s also one of the passages in Scripture where God’s love is described in feminine terms, and it had a significant influence on Julian of Norwich’s extensive (and famous) meditations on Christ as Mother. 

Now, my dad grew up on a farm in Mississippi, but I grew up in the suburbs where both eggs and chickens come in a package from the grocery store. In preparing for this week’s sermon, I spent some time doing some extremely intellectual research, by which I mean watching videos of chickens on YouTube. Like this one: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ocvs3rKaWiQ

Before I did my chicken research, I read that passage of Scripture as only about nesting, about how the mother hen keeps the chicks warm in the nest. That’s part of the story, but it’s not the whole story. There is something much more dynamic at work. Outside the nest, the mother hen spreads her wings over her chicks to protect them, and in fact places herself between her chicks and any perceived danger. She is willing to come to harm first in order to protect her babies. 

This image also shows up in Martin Luther’s description of what he calls imputed righteousness, where God sees us through Christ, and reckons Christ’s perfect righteousness to us despite the fact that we remain sinners in this life. He writes, “On account of this faith in Christ God does not see the sin that still remains in me. For so long as I go on living in the flesh, there is certainly sin in me. But meanwhile Christ protects me under the shadow of His wings and spreads over me the wide heaven of the forgiveness of sins, under which I live in safety.” (Commentary on Galatians)

I think I’ve shared this with you before, but here’s a video that Sonia and I put together on imputed righteousness and infused righteousness, which is the more Catholic view. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JYor6YJMdJA

Thanks be to God that in Christ, we are kept safe from every danger by his own willingness to sacrifice everything for us, in love. Come back on Sunday for the rest of the story!

In Christ,

Kara

An Invitation to a Holy Lent

I invite you, therefore, in the name of the Church, to the observance of a holy Lent, by self examination and repentance; by prayer, fasting, and self-denial; and by reading and meditating on God's holy Word. – BCP p. 265

Dear friends,

This season of Lent is an opportunity for each of us to turn and return to God. It’s a time to slow down and re-focus our lives on the things that really matter. Most importantly, it’s a time for deepening our relationship with God in Christ through worship, learning, and fellowship. I invite you to join us at Trinity Church as we walk these holy days of Lent together.
Here’s a schedule of what’s going on at Trinity during this season:

Sundays at 9:30 AM: God of Grace and God of Glory

The hymn “God of Grace and God of Glory” was written in 1930 by Harry Emerson Fosdick for the occasion of the opening service and dedication of the Riverside Church in New York City. It is a prayer that God will grant to the Church wisdom, strength, and courage to be witnesses to God’s grace in challenging times – and all times are challenging in their own ways. Join Paul and Kara for the Adult Forum during Lent, as we discuss the verses of this hymn and what they may say to us today. 

Sunday afternoons: Confirmation Classes

There will be programs for both youth and adults to prepare for confirmation at the Easter Vigil, but you don’t have to be planning to be confirmed in order to participate.

• Youth: Confirmation class with Donte at 6 PM on Sundays

• Adults: Episcopal 101 with Kara at 2 PM on Sundays in the Thomas Room. Adults interested in confirmation, reception, reaffirmation of faith, or just interested in a refresher on the Episcopal Church are warmly invited to attend. 

Mondays at 5:30 PM: Book Discussion on Passions of the Soul by Rowan Williams 

Join Madeline Polhill for a discussion of the short book Passions of the Soul by Rowan Williams. In this book, former Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams explores how the writing of Eastern Orthodox Christians can help us understand our lives today. The publisher’s description explains, “With compelling and illuminating insight, [Williams] shows the cost of living in a culture that is theologically and philosophically undernourished, working with a diminished and trivialized picture of the human self. The Eastern tradition teaches us how to develop our self-knowledge and awareness, so that we can relate to the world without selfish illusions. Only then can we be ready for our eyes to be opened to God, and avoid destructive patterns of behaviour.” For more information, contact Madeline at madeline.polhill@ptsem.edu. 

Wednesdays at 5:30 PM: Eucharist, Dinner, and Lent program: Tbe ‘I am’ statements of Jesus

Our Wednesday evening program begins with Eucharist at 5:30, followed by dinner at 6 and program at 6:30. Each week, we will focus on one of the “I am” statements of Jesus. 

• March 12: “I am the bread of life” with Paul

• March 19: “I am the light of the world” with Noa

• March 26: “I am the resurrection and the life” with Richard

• April 2: “I am the way, the truth, and the life” and “I am the true vine” with Paul

• April 9: “I am the Good Shepherd” and “I am the door” with Kara

Fridays at 12:15 PM: Friday Concert and Eucharist

Joseph Ferguson, Trinity’s Associate Director of Music, is curating a series of brief lunchtime concerts for Lent. Each concert will be followed by a simple service of the Holy Eucharist. It’s a wonderful way to end the week in the presence of God and in celebration of the beauty of holiness.

Weekdays at 7:45 AM and 5:00 PM: The Daily Office

If you’ve never experienced the Daily Office, and if you’re curious about a regular prayer practice in community, join us at 7:45 AM or 5 PM for Morning and Evening Prayer, either in the Michael Chapel or on Zoom. It’s a wonderful way to start or end your day. 

I encourage each one of you to choose at least one of these programs and make a commitment to attend weekly. On behalf of the entire staff, Wardens, and Vestry, I wish you every blessing in this most holy season.

Yours in Christ,

Kara+

Members of the Body

My friend Robert Hendrickson, rector of St. Philip’s in the Hills in Tucson, recently put together this chart for his annual meeting. It tracks what are called ‘deaths of despair’ (ie, deaths from suicide and addiction) compared to the introduction of particular technologies. The “50% mark” indicates the point when 50 percent of households in America had Internet access. 

If we think of our nation as a body, there are certainly parts of that body that are ill indeed. The social fragmentation that can come with certain technologies seems to play a role, although correlation certainly isn’t proof of causation. But something has caused an increasing number of Americans to feel that their lives aren’t worth living, or that they need to escape from their pain through self-medication. 

The Church is a body, too, and we are not immune to the struggles of society as a whole. But there are no parts of the body that are superfluous, or un-needed, or unworthy of love. In our Epistle reading for this Sunday, St. Paul writes, “there are many members, yet one body. The eye cannot say to the hand, ‘I have no need of you,’ nor again the head to the feet, ‘I have no need of you.’ On the contrary, the members of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable.” We need everyone in order to be who we are, the Body of Christ in Trinity Church. 

Being a member of the body of Christ means being conjoined with one another in the same way that one limb is joined to another. When we’re members of the same body, we find that we can’t dis-member ourselves by cutting parts of ourselves off.  But neither can we participate in a crushing uniformity, without the joys of difference within that unity. Unity is not sameness. 

Without the body, without our other limbs, without each other, we find ourselves cut off from who we truly are. Without the body, we can’t live out our own calling. To be who we are called to be, we need each one of you to live out your calling, too. We are all connected. This year, as we walk together as followers of Jesus, I invite you to discern what your role in this body is. I invite you to participate in that body ever more deeply, whether that’s helping the liturgy, participating in a fellowship group, or joining us for the Daily Office. We need each one of you, and we’re not complete without you. 

Yours in Christ, and Christ alone,

Kara+

P.S. Join me on February 9th and February 16th for a special forum series on technology, including artificial intelligence, and its implications for Christian life. 

Baptism

Each year, on the Sunday after the Epiphany, we celebrate the Baptism of our Lord. This year, we will have much to celebrate as we welcome two young Christians into the household of God. It will be a joyous morning, and I hope you will come! 

But what is baptism for? What does it do? The Catechism in the back of the Prayer Book tells us that “Holy Baptism is the sacrament by which God adopts us as his children and makes us members of Christ's Body, the Church, and inheritors of the kingdom of God.” (BCP p. 858) Like all sacraments, it is an outward and visible sign of an inward and spiritual grace. The outward and visible sign in Baptism, of course, is the water in which we are baptized in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The inward and spiritual grace is “union with Christ in his death and resurrection, birth into God's family the Church, forgiveness of sins, and new life in the Holy Spirit.” (BCP p. 858) 

Baptism is about inclusion in the household of God, to be sure. It’s about God accepting us and about our accepting Christ as our Lord and Savior. But there are also things to be rejected: the powers of death, the forces that draw us from the love of God, all those things that corrupt the creatures of God. In baptism, we say no to death and yes to life, passing by God’s grace through death to life in Jesus’ cross and resurrection. This no and yes is the ground of our Christian lives. 

The 20th century Episcopal lay theologian William Stringfellow wrote that “the vocation of the baptized person is a simple thing: it is to live from day to day, whatever the day brings, in this extraordinary unity, in this reconciliation with all people and all things, in this knowledge that death has no more power, in this truth of the resurrection….What matters is that whatever one does is done in honor of one’s own life, given to one by God and restored to one in Christ, and in honor of the life into which all humans and all things are called. The only thing that really matters to live in Christ instead of death.” (Instead of Death, p. 112) In the end, this radical re-orientation from death to life is what this Sunday is about. It’s also what every Sunday, and every day of our lives as Christians, is about. Won’t you join me in this holy adventure? 

Yours in Christ, and Christ alone,

Kara+

Epiphany

It has been a glorious Christmastide for me, and I hope it’s been wonderful for you as well. We have been blessed with beautiful worship services through Advent, on Christmas Eve, and at Lessons and Carols. I am tremendously grateful to our music program and to all the volunteers throughout all our ministry areas who put in long hours to help us worship the newborn King. THANK YOU for all you do. 

We’re almost ready to turn from feasting to what’s next. But at Epiphany we stand in awe before “the plan of the mystery hidden for ages in God who created all things” (Ephesians 3:9) Epiphany is a day of encounter, when we recall three visitors from far away, coming to a place they had never been, not entirely sure what would happen next. The wise men knew that they were being led to something important, to the child born king of the Jews. But until they met Jesus, they wouldn’t truly understand what any of this really meant. Until they met Jesus, they had no idea of how their lives were about to change.

We are called to look for the newborn Jesus, to look for the light to the gentiles, to look for God’s incarnate grace, in the circumstances of our own lives. We’re called to look for him at work, at the grocery store, at home with our families and friends, in fellowship shared, and in our church. These are the places where God presents himself to us, the places where God's truth is revealed. These are all places where we may bring our gifts to the King and cast them before his throne. These are the places where we bring our gifts to the giver.

And what happens when we do just that? What happens when we meet Jesus? Scripture tells us that the wise men were warned not to return to Herod, and so they went home by another road. Once you meet Jesus, there's no going back. The old certainties, everything we thought most reliable, we find them vanishing like smoke. All we thought was the solid world melts into air. But what replaces it is built on solid rock. What replaces it is the path of love, of life, and of light.

We truly have had a wonderful season of Christmas here at Trinity Church. Having met the Christ child, we stand at a fork in the road. Will we try to go back the way we came? Or will we live as people who have seen the one who is the Way the Truth, and the Life face to face?

Yours in Christ, and in Christ alone,

Kara 

Holiday Schedule for Daily Office

Due to the seminary break, there will be no Evening Prayer until Monday, February 3. Morning Prayer continues on weekdays at 7:45 AM on Zoom (not in person). However there will be no Morning Prayer from December 24 to December 31. Zoom Morning Prayer will resume on Monday, January 3. 

If you haven't tried praying the Daily Office, our Zoom services are a wonderful way to try it out. Join us to find out how much it can add to your walk with Jesus. 

New Diocesan Website for Formation

The Diocese of New Jersey has set up a new website focused on formation for all ages. If you'd like to check out their resources, see https://www.growinfaithnj.org. It's truly wonderful to see the work that Canon Susanna Cates and her team have done to make formation resources available to congregations. 

All Glory, Laud, and Honor

Did you notice the out-of-season hymn on Sunday? It was “All Glory, Laud and Honor,” one that we generally associate with Palm Sunday. It’s even prescribed by the rubrics of the Prayer Book for that day - one of only a few instances where the Prayer Book recommends a particular hymn. As Meg noted in her article last week, Bach’s church in Leipzig included Palm Sunday music in its Advent observances. Doing so marks the parallels between the coming of Christ into Jerusalem before he was crucified, the coming of Christ in his birth that we observe at Christmas, and the coming of Christ that we expect at the end of days. It also reminds us that Christ comes to us every time we receive the Eucharist. “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord,” we sing at the Sanctus during the Eucharistic Prayer, and in so doing we echo the song at Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem. 

Advent is a season when we try to think of past, present, and future at once - which is really hard for humans to do! But this is how God’s time works. One of my favorite illustrations of God’s time is in the TV comedy The Good Place, where Ted Danson’s character explains eternity as “Jeremy Bearimy.” He says, “Things in the afterlife don’t happen while things are happening here, because while time on Earth moves in a straight line — one thing happens, then the next, then the next — time in the afterlife moves in a ‘Jeremy Bearimy’.”

A “Jeremy Bearimy” loops and doubles back on itself, and the dot above the “i” is a pretty good representation of how Augustine describes eternity, where all time is present to God. 

This is where we live, especially in this season of Advent where past, present, future, and eternity loop around, double back on themselves, and where God beckons us onward in expectation of Christ’s coming. 

Come, Lord Jesus!

Kara+

P.S. I’m writing this from London, where I just saw part of a Roman wall that was built about 80 years after Jesus was raised from the dead. I also got to touch John Wesley’s pulpit at the church he founded. It reminded me in a very tangible way of the beautiful story we are caught up in, the story of God’s action for us in Jesus Christ.