A Good Man is Hard to Find on Ash Wednesday

Flannery O'Connor On Ash Wednesday, I’m going to weave my sermon together with Flannery O’Connor’s short story, A Good Man is Hard to Find. This story follows an escaped murderer, the Misfit, and his encounter with a family on their way to vacation in Florida. The grandmother of this group is tranformed in a moment at the end of the story as she’s facing death at the hands of the Misfit and reaches out to include him as one of her own children in a moment of sheer grace. The Misfit recoils and shoots her, later saying, ” “She would of been a good woman,” The Misfit said, “if it had been somebody there to shoot her every minute of her life.”

I believe this is a powerful statement on the way death can tranform our lives. When we are aware of our mortality, it profoundly changes the way we live. I think this is sort of what Ash Wednesday is all about. In the midst of life, we are slowly (or not so slowly) moving closer to death. Let’s hope we don’t need someone there to shoot us every minute to remind of us of this fact and to inspire us to life a life filled with grace, love, joy, and peace. Remember that you are dust and to dust you shall return.

Happy Feast of Berhtwald!

I pray that you have a blessed day as you celebrate the oft-forgotten “Feast of Berhtwald!” What?! You haven’t heard of Berhtwald? Well then, let me pull out my handy Oxford Dictionary of Saints and fill you in. Berhtwald was a monk and the archbishop of Canterbury in the late 7th and early 8th century. The Venerable Bede, in one of his not so venerable moments, described him as, “learned in Scripture and ecclesiastical and monastic sciences, although far inferior to his predecessor (p. 43).” Take that Berhtwald.

I suggest we celebrate him as the Patron Saint of those Inferior to their Predecessors. I figure as itinerant United Methodist clergy, we will all need intercession (I know, I know, we’re not Catholic…make that inspiration), from someone like that. After all, even though he was far inferior to Theodore of Canterbury, he’s still a saint!

Epiphany and Membership Vows

The Magi came from the East (presumably) and unwittingly embodied the membership vows of the United Methodist Church. They traversed a great distance simply to be in the presence of a new king foretold by creation itself. Once finding this anointed one, they fell on their knees and worshipped him in a form of kinesthetic prayer. Of course, we all remember their gifts: gold, frankincense, and myrrh. Yet how many of us think of their allegiance and service to this new king? Instead of serving the so-called “king” Herod by serving as his informants, they listened to the message and call of God to protect the Christ-child by returning unannounced to the place from which they came. It’s enough to make one wonder about the decisions they made once they returned home. Did they continue to live out this four-fold pattern of allegiance to the new King? Did they try to share their experience with others and become proto-evangelists? Our lives fill in the answer to these questions. Our life with Jesus isn’t over just because we answer yes to these vows. We’re called to continue to live in this four-fold pattern of discipleship. We’re called to extend this offer to others. Let’s finish the story of the Magi in each one of our lives – that will be our Epiphany gift to the Christ-child.

Advent Resource

This year for Advent I’m using a resource by Blair Gilmer Meeks: Season of Light and Hope: Prayers and Liturgies for Advent and Christmas. I struggled to find a good resource for Advent services this year, since I wanted to use something other than the Book of Worship this time around. So far, I’ve been very pleased with Meeks’ resource. It is scripturally-grounded and a very rich place to gather materials for worship.