At prayer in the fields of Okahumpka
After getting back from Kanuga and the Province IV deputies meeting, I’m preaching and receiving new members at Corpus Christi in Okahumpka: “Even if the step in faith is small, take it!” Then off to visit dear friends Monty & Greer McBride at their ranch. Purple shirt for the people at Corpus Christi, then jeans for the McBrides and their cattle. All a joy!
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From the sermon — a reflection on confirmation, reception and the reaffirmation of our baptismal vows:
A mature Christian may or may not be someone who has lived a long time as a Christian. A Christian may or may not be someone who can quote a lot of Bible or really knows his or her way around the church, and be able to identify things like the Stations of the Cross or some of the other features in a service, like why we have the Episcopal and U.S. flags.
None of that knowledge means that they are mature in their faith. They may have some experience, but as anybody who’s raised a child knows, experience and maturity do not necessarily go hand-and-hand all the time, right? I hear it. What is maturity?
The mature Christian is literally is someone who has thought through what it means to be a Christian and is beginning to reorient his or her life toward that end.
For those of us not fully mature as Christians, life is geared and oriented toward “me taking care of me and mine.” That’s my purpose. That’s my focus. Even if I’m Christian, I actually look at the Christian life through that lens. In other words, I’m here at church, why? Because I actually get something out of it. I’m here because I enjoy the people.
It’s not that those things are bad, but that’s just not maturity. Maturity is a commitment to service, and a willingness out of that to say, “Lord, how can I serve you?” That’s not just a question that one raises around stewardship time in a church calendar, but it actually becomes a way that we reorient or lives so that first thing in the morning.
When I think of living for me, what do I do first thing in the morning? I look at my schedule. What am I supposed to get done today? What do I need to do? Are there obligations that I have? Should I be calling particular people or even record TV shows to watch later. Well, all of that is a focus around the things that I like to do. Again, none of that is actually bad, but what’s missing in that equation is, “Lord, what would you have me do today?”
To cultivate an openness that God might want to use you today in a specific way, can be in the simplest of ways. Making a phone call to somebody who needs to hear your voice, and trusting that when that person’s name pops into your mind or you’ve written it down on your to-do list, that’s something that you’re actually supposed to do. A religious way of saying it: that’s something that God’s asking you to do. Whether it’s convenient for you or not is actually secondary. This person needs help and you’re willing to do it.
God, what would you have me do today? I want to tell you that the most remarkable things can happen if you walk into your day thinking that way. You can wind up talking to strangers, even if that’s not your proclivity, who will tell you some rather remarkably personal things, because they sense that openness in you. That becomes an opportunity for you to say, not, “I’ll be thinking about you,” no, you’re a Christian, you’re to be available for God. What you say is, “I’ll be praying for you, if you’d like.” See, that’s a very, very different offer and a different way to serve God.
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Sunday, 6/7/15, 10 a.m.
Corpus Christi Episcopal Church,
3430 County Road 470, Okahumpka 34762
Second Sunday after Pentecost, Proper 5
Holy Eucharist
Red stoles
1 Samuel 8:4-11, (12-15), 16-20, (11:14-15)
Psalm 138
2 Corinthians 4:13-5:1
Mark 3:20-35
The Rev. Amanda Bordenkircher and her husband, Daniel
Four parishoners were received:
Nancy Ackley
Al Fusco
Marge Buxbaum
Barbara Nichols
A reception followed in the church’s parish hall at 11 a.m.