Bethesda by the sea rector/pastor address- 1/31/2021 (
@realDonaldTrump @MELANIATRUMP worship under this teaching of Jesus 2016-2021):
Chapter 1: Introduction
hi friends the letter to the ephesians focuses a great deal on the goal and purpose of the church the body of christ the fourth chapter0:088 seconds
emphasizes unity and maturity for followers of jesus the letter states that various people are gifted to help build up that unity0:1717 seconds
and maturity until all of us come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the son of god to maturity to the measure of the full0:2525 seconds
stature of christ you might recognize the phrase the full stature of christ because it forms an important question in our baptismal0:3434 seconds
service the chapter continues like this we must no longer be children tossed to and fro and blown about by0:4242 seconds
every wind of doctrine by people's trickery by their craftiness and deceitful scheming but speaking the truth in love0:5050 seconds
we must grow up in every way into him who is the head into christ from whom the whole body joined and knit together0:5858 seconds
by every ligament with which it is equipped as each part is working properly promotes the body's growth1:061 minute, 6 seconds
in building itself up in love in other words the work of the church is to avoid deceit1:131 minute, 13 seconds
and speak the truth in order to become beloved community god calls us to be too often we lose sight of this basic1:211 minute, 21 seconds
function of the church and i think it's helpful to remind ourselves of it well here we are at an annual meeting1:301 minute, 30 seconds
like no other in a year like no other facing a need to prayerfully examine our life and mission like we never have before1:381 minute, 38 seconds
as i have watched and listened and struggled with my role and our role in our fractious and contentious world i have come to a deep sense of call to1:461 minute, 46 seconds
focus today on this essential identity of the church and to recount some of my personal story of call and growth1:551 minute, 55 seconds
rather than talk about programs and other practical aspects of parish life i want to share more of me my values my2:032 minutes, 3 seconds
boundaries my passions and my vulnerabilities because alongside our traditional and wonderful parish ministry we christians have some important work2:102 minutes, 10 seconds
to do in our world and i believe it would be unfaithful to avoid or deny it the fact is i am not the person i was2:192 minutes, 19 seconds
almost 10 years ago when we began our journey together here at bethesda nor should anyone expect me to be the same person it's not unreasonable to2:272 minutes, 27 seconds
want our clergy to be constantly learning growing and developing spiritually if someone were to ask me how god had2:362 minutes, 36 seconds
been at work in my life over these past several years i would probably sigh and then perhaps laugh2:432 minutes, 43 seconds
and then probably sigh again i i've always loved being the engaging preacher the fixer of systems the shaper of futures for the parishes i've served2:502 minutes, 50 seconds
these are my comfort zone where i feel competent valued and accepted so i would love it if god's work in me would be sharpening and honing those2:592 minutes, 59 seconds
competencies but no after years of saying that we should pray for god to break our hearts3:083 minutes, 8 seconds
Chapter 2: My Journey
at the things that break god's heart i have a profoundly broken heart it seems god has been leading me at best3:153 minutes, 15 seconds
reluctantly and at times anxiously toward a more broken heart and i want to share some of the waypoints on my journey in that3:223 minutes, 22 seconds
i'm so glad to have grown up never having doubted god's presence in my life prayer sacraments worship coffee hour3:303 minutes, 30 seconds
sunday school acolyting singing in the choir youth group all these were part of the fabric of my childhood3:383 minutes, 38 seconds
and my teenage years and who knows why me but when i was 11 during easter service i experienced a sense of call to the3:463 minutes, 46 seconds
priesthood that never left me now don't get me wrong there were plenty of times that i wanted to leave that sense of call but3:543 minutes, 54 seconds
it never left me god works that way sometimes i think it might have had to do with being the fourth of five children4:024 minutes, 2 seconds
often unnoticed in the chaos of everyday life in a large household but i remember feeling amazed that god4:104 minutes, 10 seconds
did notice me and had a particular need for me to do god's work i was too young too much of a child to understand that a4:174 minutes, 17 seconds
call that this call might come with any sort of cost or challenge i just felt joy at a sense of belonging4:254 minutes, 25 seconds
and of being needed i am forever grateful to my parents for bringing me up to know god but my faith was a small faith that4:334 minutes, 33 seconds
worked because frankly i lived in a small world surrounded by people who looked and thought just like my family and me4:414 minutes, 41 seconds
so when it came time to pick a seminary some years later i and everyone who knew me expected that i would go to the seminary that aligned4:494 minutes, 49 seconds
with my with our theological outlook in fact i only visited seabury western where i ended up going4:574 minutes, 57 seconds
because i had a cousin getting married in chicago and why not visit the visit was another experience of call rather like what i experienced5:045 minutes, 4 seconds
at age 11 and i enrolled months later it was a beautiful place to study and to pray5:125 minutes, 12 seconds
but it sure wasn't easy for me i remember quite vividly pushing against and looking down on the new liturgical revisions we were using5:205 minutes, 20 seconds
in chapel several weeks each term they were texts that used inclusive language for god drawing on the rich feminine imagery in5:285 minutes, 28 seconds
the bible that had simply been ignored for centuries well i was not used to it i did not like it and i thought that i knew that the5:355 minutes, 35 seconds
correct way to address god was father that's how we'd always done it and it worked just fine i didn't see any need to listen to the5:445 minutes, 44 seconds
stories of women who had been sidelined harassed and abused simply for their gender who had been told time and again that while god loved them5:525 minutes, 52 seconds
they needed to know their place in the hierarchy because it didn't really impact me i just didn't understand how hard it could be6:016 minutes, 1 second
to see that one is created in the image of god if all the images of god were of a different gender6:096 minutes, 9 seconds
thankfully despite my efforts over those years of seminary those faculty and students who differed so much for me whose stories of faith were so6:166 minutes, 16 seconds
courageous and liberating loved me they modeled the kind of love toward me that i experienced from god6:246 minutes, 24 seconds
but didn't easily extend to them i started listening to heartbreaking stories of their and others debasement and relegation to a6:326 minutes, 32 seconds
second-class status in the church because of their gender their race their sexual orientation and it broke my heart i saw in my6:406 minutes, 40 seconds
seminary the beautiful weaving together of the clear rejection of injustice with the joyful love god offers each of us6:496 minutes, 49 seconds
as i studied and wrestled and argued and resisted all the newness of seminary by god's grace i began to realize that my worldview6:586 minutes, 58 seconds
had shaped how i read the bible far more than reading the bible had shaped the way i saw the world the radical idea that my faith7:067 minutes, 6 seconds
might possibly lead me to rethink exactly how the kingdom of god differed from the world i occupied started to get my attention7:147 minutes, 14 seconds
several years later while i was serving on active duty as a navy chaplain the church was fracturing over the blessing of same-sex marriages and the7:247 minutes, 24 seconds
ordaining of gay and lesbian persons i remember sitting in my office in guam one afternoon talking to a colleague back in the states7:327 minutes, 32 seconds
who was telling me about fellow clergy who were leaving the episcopal church and about their duplicitous conduct in doing so these were colleagues who had been7:397 minutes, 39 seconds
mentors to me who had been part of our wedding who i had very much looked up to and they were deciding that all those years of life and ministry7:487 minutes, 48 seconds
were of less value than their being right about this particular issue while like those colleagues i wrestled with the broadening and inclusive7:567 minutes, 56 seconds
understandings of human sexuality i couldn't accept breaking relationship over those differences i found myself heartbroken again8:058 minutes, 5 seconds
yet i hung up the phone and said under my breath thank god i'm not in that mess i realized that one of the best things about naval service8:148 minutes, 14 seconds
was that i didn't have to deal with all that but wouldn't you know as clearly as i sensed god's leading when i was 118:228 minutes, 22 seconds
and god's leading and picking a seminary i clearly sensed god saying to me james you need to be in that mess8:308 minutes, 30 seconds
i wanted to stay in the navy god wanted me back in the messiness of the church i've come to see that this was another huge step in my journey8:378 minutes, 37 seconds
growing into the full stature of christ and learning the way of love so i made my way back to parish ministry the following year8:468 minutes, 46 seconds
and a big part of my energy was spent working with the bishop to rebuild relationships and trust once again like in seminary there8:548 minutes, 54 seconds
were wonderful folks around me in the diocese more grace-filled and courageous than i who pushed me to grow up even more in my9:019 minutes, 1 second
faith and in the way of love they let me see and hear that when someone like me piously says something like i can love the sinner9:099 minutes, 9 seconds
but hate the sin it doesn't communicate love i started to see that in encouraging mere tolerance9:169 minutes, 16 seconds
of diverse persons in the church keeping people at arm's length i was actually showing a disrespect for basic human dignity9:249 minutes, 24 seconds
antithetical to the way of love i was effectively calling some people's essential humanity sinful believing that they would be better off9:329 minutes, 32 seconds
being more like me and denying who god had created them to be i could tell that my easy dismissal of9:409 minutes, 40 seconds
these painful experiences broke god's heart and i felt my heartbreak too this way of love has been turning out9:479 minutes, 47 seconds
Chapter 3: Moving to Palm Beach
not to be so easy i can see these amazing turning points where my path to experiencing the depth of god's love9:569 minutes, 56 seconds
has meant owning my narrowness my pride my easy rejection of difference when it came time to leave denver and10:0210 minutes, 2 seconds
moved to palm beach i was tired of the fighting the meanness the dishonesty the manipulation from those who were10:1010 minutes, 10 seconds
leaving the church i even said to eli in the car on our drive across the country i'm so glad to be going to a place where we don't have to fight about10:1710 minutes, 17 seconds
sex well that wasn't completely true i guess but even as we've worked through our calling to be open and accepting to everyone in our10:2510 minutes, 25 seconds
parish life i continue to feel called to ask god for our hearts to break at the things that break god's heart10:3410 minutes, 34 seconds
it's funny too that every time i've said that in a sermon or class people just push back about it as if somehow our faith is supposed to10:4110 minutes, 41 seconds
be simply about our happiness as if being faithful merely involved holding hands and singing happy songs10:4910 minutes, 49 seconds
and that leads me to a tremendous gift i've gotten from living in palm beach living in this beautiful lush10:5710 minutes, 57 seconds
manicured hedged off place i have come to see and cannot unsee now how much the sheer luck11:0411 minutes, 4 seconds
of looking like i do and growing up the way i did shapes and influences how i have understood my faith and how i experience11:1211 minutes, 12 seconds
society even more i am seeing how often i have avoided the hard truths about the dissonance between the way of love11:1911 minutes, 19 seconds
i have been learning day by day and the way of my privileged life i have regularly avoided wrestling with that dissonance11:2611 minutes, 26 seconds
because i was afraid to upset parishioners and to be unpopular too many times i have acted out of fear and felt a forced choice between trying11:3411 minutes, 34 seconds
to make people happy and being true to the gospel way of love and so too often i set out as a priest to be on a different way11:4211 minutes, 42 seconds
a way which was more about benign acquiescence and quiet avoidance than the powerful transformery transforming liberating11:5011 minutes, 50 seconds
truth of the gospel as i turn 55 and count 27 years of priestly ministry 35 years of serving11:5811 minutes, 58 seconds
the church i am starting to experience a faith that is so much more life-giving and life-affirming than the small faith12:0612 minutes, 6 seconds
and small world i grew up with it comes from seeing that my privilege is a reality i can no longer deny12:1312 minutes, 13 seconds
and it's neither a blessing nor a cause for deep shame and guilt no it's a responsibility and a burden12:2112 minutes, 21 seconds
a heavy one it's why jesus said it's easier for a camel to squeeze through the eye of a needle than for a privileged person to enter12:3012 minutes, 30 seconds
the kingdom it's why out of love and to invite to the way of love he told the rich young man to sell12:3712 minutes, 37 seconds
everything and follow him it's why he was in constant trouble with the privileged people of his day12:4412 minutes, 44 seconds
who saw jesus way of love as a threat to their way of life but jesus also said in invitation to us12:5112 minutes, 51 seconds
come to me all you who are heavy laden i will give you rest my burden is light13:0013 minutes
i have come to see that my privilege lays on me a responsibility to be uncomfortable to be discontent to be angry in the face of injustice13:0813 minutes, 8 seconds
injustice that i have never personally experienced i need to see the truth that in the kingdom of god the first will be last and not only to13:1613 minutes, 16 seconds
be okay with that but to celebrate it if i am to be the person god sees within me i need my heart13:2513 minutes, 25 seconds
broken i need a heart that breaks when hearing the story of henry simmons lynched on this very piece of land less13:3213 minutes, 32 seconds
than a year before it became a church a heart that breaks when parishioners take offense at the telling of the story or insist that it is untrue or13:3913 minutes, 39 seconds
irrelevant it's neither a heart that breaks in watching the life choked out of a beloved child of god13:4813 minutes, 48 seconds
under the knee of a police officer while other officers watch a heart that breaks when parishioners insist that george floyd would be alive today13:5613 minutes, 56 seconds
if he hadn't tried to pass a fake bill as if that makes his murder okay a heart that breaks when confederate14:0414 minutes, 4 seconds
flags and other symbols of hate are paraded through our capital building as those carrying them search for elected officials to kill14:1214 minutes, 12 seconds
all based on lies a heart that breaks when parishioners cast that heinous event merely as a few people taking things a14:2014 minutes, 20 seconds
bit too far now if you're thinking i'm advocating for a particular political party that's not my intention partisan14:2814 minutes, 28 seconds
Chapter 4: A heart that breaks
differences on how we address these injustices are something that church members have embraced and debated faithfully and if you're hearing me call anyone a14:3714 minutes, 37 seconds
racist i'm not nor have i ever intended to do so by the way if you believe any of the clergy have done that14:4514 minutes, 45 seconds
we would really love to know exactly when and where so we can correct it but if we haven't done so as i believe we haven't14:5314 minutes, 53 seconds
i find myself wondering why people are hearing that i wonder what's going on in people's own conscience what kind of call to self-examination and growth into the15:0115 minutes, 1 second
full stature of christ that the holy spirit might be stirring up within believe me i would much rather live in a15:0915 minutes, 9 seconds
Chapter 5: The world we live in
world where we all just magically agree where everyone has food and a job and an education15:1715 minutes, 17 seconds
and respect and dignity i know how much i fear angering and hurting people i love and i know how much i long for peace but15:2415 minutes, 24 seconds
too often not so much real peace what i often actually long for is just superficial happiness as i said holding15:3415 minutes, 34 seconds
hands and singing songs as if the world is all just fine but that's not the world we live in is it that's not the kingdom of god15:4215 minutes, 42 seconds
Chapter 6: The way of love
that's not the way of love to which we're called no the way we are called to live invites ongoing growth and transformation15:5115 minutes, 51 seconds
the way of love promises to turn us and our world upside down and more importantly right side up you probably know that our15:5915 minutes, 59 seconds
presiding bishop talks about the way of love and building the beloved community pretty much every time he speaks if you haven't listened to him you16:0816 minutes, 8 seconds
should he's both encouraging and challenging to us in our journey as a church like so many church leaders he wrote a16:1516 minutes, 15 seconds
piece in response to the riot at the capitol at the beginning of this month he's blessed with a wonderful way to say hard truths16:2316 minutes, 23 seconds
in that statement he reminds us for example that jesus way of love is the way of sacrifice the way of unselfishness the way of selflessness16:3116 minutes, 31 seconds
that seeks the good of the other as well as a self he talks about the hard journey on the way of love16:3916 minutes, 39 seconds
in south africa as an example for us to follow here where courageous leaders including anglican archbishop desmond tutu16:4716 minutes, 47 seconds
guided that nation from what could have been a bloody nightmare in civil war to the way of love that could build a nation16:5416 minutes, 54 seconds
Chapter 7: Facing painful truths
but bishop curry cautions as well that this way of love is not sentimental it requires facing painful truths he offers this amazing quotation from17:0217 minutes, 2 seconds
archbishop tutu love forgiving and being reconciled to our enemies and our loved ones is not about pretending that things are17:1117 minutes, 11 seconds
other than they are it is not about patting one another on the back or turning a blind eye to the wrong true reconciliation exposes the17:2017 minutes, 20 seconds
awfulness of the abuse the hurt the truth it could even sometimes make things worse for a while17:2917 minutes, 29 seconds
Chapter 8: True reconciliation
it is a risky undertaking but in the end it is worthwhile because in the end only an honest confrontation with reality17:3717 minutes, 37 seconds
can bring forth real healing superficial reconciliation only brings superficial healing17:4417 minutes, 44 seconds
Chapter 9: Deep reckoning
i believe we are at a point of deep reckoning a reckoning i believe we are called to embrace as strongly as i believe that i was17:5217 minutes, 52 seconds
called to be a priest at age 11 or that i was called to live in the mess of our fights about human sexuality or that i was called to serve here as18:0018 minutes
rector and let's face it the need for and the painful difficulty of engaging in this reckoning18:0718 minutes, 7 seconds
have been magnified and amplified by the extraordinary confluence of a pandemic of seeing painful videos of undeniable18:1418 minutes, 14 seconds
racial injustice and of the cultivation of rhetoric that validates white supremacy and thrives on abject lies18:2218 minutes, 22 seconds
Chapter 10: Pandemic
any one of these three would be enough to cause a truth-seeking reconciliation practicing community to buckle and struggle18:3018 minutes, 30 seconds
any one of these three would be enough for good faithful people to feel alienated and estranged and angry18:3818 minutes, 38 seconds
but all three a perfect storm of circumstances that have bred mistrust and self-perpetuating echo chambers of18:4618 minutes, 46 seconds
misinformation so much so that it's seeping into our life as a parish normally during these addresses i talk18:5318 minutes, 53 seconds
Chapter 11: Spiritual Vitality
about all the programs we have planned i thank all kinds of people we celebrate another year of spiritual19:0219 minutes, 2 seconds
vitality as evidenced by the numbers the numbers of people in pews dollars and offering plates baptisms weddings funerals members and on and on and19:1019 minutes, 10 seconds
believe me we have indeed experienced amazing vitality in this pandemic time as you heard in our annual meeting today19:1919 minutes, 19 seconds
and i am grateful even more this year for our staff our vestry our ministry leaders my family19:2819 minutes, 28 seconds
and each one of you and 2021 will i assure you bring glorious worship excellent education19:3519 minutes, 35 seconds
joyous fellowship compassionate outreach and all those other components of parish life we love so much now because we hear of more and more19:4319 minutes, 43 seconds
people every day getting sick from the coronavirus we are going to carry out our ministry following the best science and keeping people safe and we will be19:5219 minutes, 52 seconds
able to learn a new normal when vaccines have been distributed and immunity is commonplace but more than any of this my dear20:0120 minutes, 1 second
sisters and brothers i want each of us to decide to be on the way of love and to become beloved community20:0920 minutes, 9 seconds
we've got to be people of truth and people who are ready to reconcile not walk to walk away angry or hurt20:1620 minutes, 16 seconds
we've got to be ready to grow into the full stature of christ i have never believed as strongly as i do today that the church and bethesda in20:2420 minutes, 24 seconds
particular offer a life-saving beacon of hope that we and our world desperately desperately need to experience from us20:3220 minutes, 32 seconds
as i look back on my amazing journey of faith and ministry i am so grateful that i can be liberated from the small narrow20:4120 minutes, 41 seconds
cultural faith i grew up with and i'm grateful for my broken heart because that is where i most genuinely20:4820 minutes, 48 seconds
meet god with my whole heart my broken heart i offer you what i've been called to20:5520 minutes, 55 seconds
give to lead faithfully by seeking truth admitting my own wrongs being ready to do the hard work of reconciliation21:0321 minutes, 3 seconds
ministering the sacraments to strengthen us for this journey and deepening my life of prayer21:1121 minutes, 11 seconds
our life is not and will not be easy but i want you to know the joy of growing into the full stature of christ21:1821 minutes, 18 seconds
even including the joy of a broken heart let's build up the kingdom of god at bethesda by the sea21:2521 minutes, 25 seconds
let's be on the scary joyful upending and life-giving way of love i love you all21:3321 minutes, 33 seconds
god bless21:4021 minutes, 40 seconds
you21:5521 minutes, 55 seconds