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Blessed are you who are poor,
for yours is the kingdom of God.
Blessed are you who are hungry now,
for you will be filled.
Blessed are you who weep now,
for you will laugh. (Luke 6:20-21)
“This kingdom about which Jesus speaks is upside down. It’s reverse. It’s inverted. It’s countercultural. It’s another way of being and living in a world. In this new kingdom, the power of God is manifest in parents making a modest offering for their tiny child, in the woman at the well, in the leper who comes to be healed, and in the women at the tomb. These are the very people Jesus points to as icons of the holy. Friends, we live in a world in which the enemy is bound and determined to sow division among us, to make us forget who we are and to what kingdom we belong. God did not come among us as a strongman. God came among us first as a child. We too easily turn on one another, succumbing to our need to regard people as other. We’re seduced by a world that tells us our worth and our value has to come at the expense of someone else. We forget that we were once strangers in a foreign land, and we fail to love our siblings who were created by God.” (Presiding Bishop Sean Rowe)
Our Presiding Bishop ended his sermon by asking all of us in the Episcopal Church, “What if Jesus Christ is among you?” Would our relationship with one another change if we knew that Jesus was present in our community? I truly believe that Jesus can be found in those who weep, in those who are poor, and in those who are hungry. As we write a new mission statement at St. John’s, we should be asking these questions to one another. We should treat one another with respect and dignity. Next week two singers from St. Augustine’s will be joining our choir. As part of Black History Month, we should give our fellow Episcopalians from Brooklyn a taste of the radical hospitality that we are known for.
We will be preparing meals next week, Friday February 21st at 3:00 PM. Please join us to bring the light of Christ to a group of Immigrants that are among the most vulnerable in Huntington. Your heart will be glad and you will be doing exactly what our Presiding Bishop is asking us to do. Will you see the face of Christ on your brother? I do not know, but you will be blessing a group of very hungry and scared men. I would also ask that you visit our Thrift Shop in the next few weeks. There are many bargains and treasures in our Thrift Shop that waiting for you. Please bring in a bag of nice clothing, a handbag you don’t use any longer, or a few pieces of jewelry that are collecting dust in your drawer. All gifts are tax deductible and really benefit our church and our community.
At our clergy day the bishop asked us to follow the rubric or rules of the Book of Common Prayer and NOT say alleluia after the dismissal except in Easter. Alleluias may never be said during lent and only during Easter season for the opening and dismissal. The Bishop also emphasized that there are to be no ablutions during the service. I will adhere to the bishop’s request and the rubrics, and I ask you to do likewise.
In Christ’s love,
Fr. Duncan
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