Faith Perspective

To be changed, to be transformed. By Ed Murphy, Shared Episcopal Ministry East.

     John 3:1-17 talks about a man named Nicodemus. Isn’t that a fun name to say? Nicodemus was a big shot in the Jewish Synagogue. That’s the name for a Jewish church. He came to see Jesus at night because he knew that Jesus had come from God. He knew this because he had seen some of Jesus’ miracles. Jesus told Nicodemus that if he wanted to see the Kingdom of God he had to be born again.

     Now Nicodemus was very confused. He thought I am too old to be born again. I am too big to go back in my mom’s tummy to be a baby again. Jesus tried to explain that He meant it in a spiritual sense. Jesus tried to make him understand that we had to change, or to use a big word, be transformed.

     Look at the mounted butterflies I have here. I borrowed them from a science teacher from school. This one here is a Monarch, this one a Viceroy and this one a Swallowtail. Viceroys like to look like Monarchs because they know that the birds won’t eat the Monarchs. It will make them sick. These little Monarchs eat only Milkweed. They fly thousands of miles all the way to Mexico. Before they were butterflies what were they? That’s right usually yukki, nasty looking caterpillars. Those yukki caterpillars have now changed, or transformed into beautiful butterflies. When I taught 5^th grade we used to catch Monarch caterpillars and they would change into a cocoon, The Monarch cocoons were beautiful green with bright gold dots on them. (Only God could create such a beautiful thing.) They would soon hatch out into beautiful butterflies. We would let them go so they could fly to Mexico . I remember one got hit by the school bus and we had to have a funeral for the poor little guy. Like the caterpillar and the butterfly we have to change, or transform in order to be able to see the Kingdom of God .

     Here’s a baggy for each of you. Maybe we will have enough to share with some of the big kids out there. Inside the bag are 2 chunks of different colored Playdough. Let’s squish them together. That’s right let’s make sure they are mixed up really well. What happened? Yes we have a new color. The Playdough has changed or transformed into a whole other color.

     And at the end of today’s Gospel reading, St. John says, “for God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.” And so someday Jesus will call us back to heaven. We will have to change, or transform and be reborn to be able to live with God in heaven. AMEN!

Faith Perspectives

Seeds, Seeds Everywhere, by Ed Murphy, Shared Episcopal Ministry East.

     In Mark 4: 26- 34 we hear about two parables that Jesus used to teach the people. The first is the story of the Growing Seed and the second is the story of the Mustard Seed. Jesus taught with parables so that the everyday people could understand Him. People were interested in hearing the stories. The parables had a deeper meaning and Jesus would explain the deeper meaning to the Disciples. I remember right after 9-11 I went and opened the church doors for people who wanted to pray. I also dug up the spotty section of lawn and planted thousands of seeds to represent those who had been killed when the World Trade Towers fell.

     In both parables Jesus likens seeds to the Kingdom of God . Both of these stories are meant to be a picture of hope to the world. Biblically the theme means that at the end the earth will become perfect like heaven. The farmer plants the seeds but there are things that he has no control over. God allows the seed to grow. We can weed and do other cultural practices , but only God can create the seed. The farmer watches the seed grow into the various parts of the plant and at harvest time he take the seed of grain off the stalk with a sickle. The farmer learns to be patient for the harvest. Modern day people would find it hard to watch the plant as it grows so slowly.

     The seed is also like the church. Disciples grow slowly. The Disciples need to be patient as we learn how to pray and follow Our Lord’s teachings. The seeds planted by the Holy Spirit then can mature into Disciples who truly love God and their neighbor.

     And then we have the story of the mustard seed. Our yellow mustard is a small plant that we use to make mustard as a spice. I saw a bunch of it growing in a hay field the other day. I wonder if the milk from those cows will have a little different taste to it?  Black mustard grows in the Middle East. This tiny seed grows into a good size shrub of about 10 feet. It is large enough for birds to build their nests in its branches. In the parable Jesus is the patient farmer and He plants the small seeds. Those tiny seeds grew from a small community of believers into a church around the world. We seeds grow by listening to the Holy Scriptures. We are the birds who listen to the Gospels and follow Our Lord by becoming good Disciples. By following Jesus we birds can find refuge in the branches that He provides for us. Just like the branches of the mustard shrub that grew from such a small seed. AMEN!

Faith Perspectives

Help us Father through the Stormy Seas , by Ed Murphy, Shared Episcopal Ministry East.

     It seems logical to me that today I try to combines Fathers and Stormy Seas . I have a feeling it is going to be a busy, interesting day. I celebrate Eucharist in Carthage at 8:30 AM, a baptism at Lowville at 10AM, and will miss both Father’s day brunches at the two churches. I am to do the opening prayer at the Chatterbox gathering in Carthage at 6:30PM and then give the welcome and opening remarks at the Carthage H. S. Baccalaureate service at the school at 7PM. I keep thinking that a simple barbeque would be a fun way to celebrate father’s day.

     At Eucharist we worship God our Heavenly Father by following Our Lord’s command to remember the Last Supper and do as He did. Today we baptize a father on father’s day. In Baptism the priest asks those to be baptized (or the parents and godparents) “Do you turn to Jesus Christ and accept Him as your Savior? And the priest also asks “Do you put your whole trust in His grace and love? And when life gets too rocky and stormy do we worry ourselves sick or do we put our trust in God? And do we try to live in the present moment and let go and let God be in command of everything? At the Chatterbox gathering we have a special treat tonight. We have the musical group “Tribe Judah.” This family group will leads us in music and witness as we worship Almighty God. And in my welcome at the Baccalaureate Service I am sure that I will include asking Our Heavenly Father to help us with the little and big storms and life.

     Speaking of storms, today’s gospel (Mark 4:35-41) is the story of Jesus calming the sea. One of the hymns that I asked to have played is “Our God, Our help in Ages Past.” The first verse says:

Our God, our help in Ages past, our hope for years to come, our shelter from the stormy blast, and our eternal home.

The last verse says:

Our God, our help in ages past, our hope for years to come,

Be thou our guard while trouble lasts, and our eternal home.

      Jesus had just told the crowd some parables and He was exhausted. He needed (as did the Disciples) some quiet time to pray and rest. They set off in a boat to get away. Jesus fell asleep in the boat and all the Disciples got was a raging storm. They still didn’t realize who Jesus was and feared for their lives. They woke Jesus up and He calmed the storm.

     Many times we think that Our Heavenly Father doesn’t care for us. We figure that God should make everything easy for us. How could He let a loved one die, or allow us to become so ill? Through the small and large storms we need to realize that we can rely on God to help us through those storms. The help comes in ways which may be unclear to us at the time. God also sends others to help us through the tough times. It’s tough to realize that we have to give up control and let God take over. AMEN!!

Faith Perspectives

Tough job being a prophet, by Ed Murphy, Shared Episcopal Ministry.

     I’ve heard it said that an expert is anyone who lives  at least 50 miles from home. This way people who didn’t grow up with you can see you for who you have become. They can see you for the knowledge you have gained and not for the bratty little kid you were.

     Mark 6: 1-13 talks about prophets and disciples. Jesus and the Disciples go to His hometown. He preached in the Synagogue and the people were amazed by His wisdom and miracles. The people gossiped about this Jesus being Mary’s son and named His brothers and sisters who were among them. The locals thought Jesus was being pretty upiddy. The people did not have faith in Him because they knew Jesus before He began His public ministry.

     Many prophets have been shunned and exiled and some have been killed. After all who wants someone to tell us our faults? Who wants someone to be brutally honest and say we have sinned and need to repent? Do they think they are better than us? I am sure that most prophets asked, why did I get picked to do this unpopular job? It is certainly not easy to have to tell people that they are wrong, after all none of us is perfect.

     Most of us are familiar with the Biblical prophets Isaiah and Jeremiah. We are also familiar with Abraham Lincoln trying to heal the country after the civil war. Thomas Yorty  says, that Lincoln called for grieving over the immense loss of life. Lincoln told the truth, although it was hugely unpopular. He could have gloated over the fact that the North had won the war and that the South should be punished. He did neither. It took a lot of guts for him to say what he had to say as the president of the whole, although broken, United States . And many laughed at him for being so foolish. And many disagreed and wanted the South to have to pay for their leaving the union. And one man even went so far as to shoot him to death.

     And so these are ways in which we know that being a prophet is a difficult job. Another hard job is seen in the way Jesus sent out the disciples to spread the Good News. He told them, “ Take nothing for your journey, except a staff, no bread, no bag, no money in your belts. Wear sandals but not an extra tunic.” Jesus knew that these things would be a distraction to their mission. Jesus knew that His Grace would supply their needs. I think that He was also letting them know that life as a disciple on the road would be very tough. Good thing Jesus sent them out two by two. At least they had each other to lean on when tough times came. Tough job being a disciple, tough job being a prophet. AMEN!