Faith, Veterans, and Friends

Yesterday I attended the funeral of the father of my friend Craig Buckles.  Paul Buckles was plain and simple, a war hero.  The children of Paul all performed a eulogy; a task though filled with love and remembrance, was also filled with tears.  Paul fought under the command of General George S. Patton in France in late 1944.  A member of the 161^st Combat Engineers, Paul, a Private First Class, took over for his commander when the officer fell to enemy fire.  Under fire, Paul completed the mission of securing a bridge.  Though wounded, Paul continued with their mission and thus was awarded the bronze star, and Patton took notice of Paul’s bravery and invited him to play cards.

All I really knew of Paul when I was growing up and getting in trouble with Craig was that he was a loving father.  He had to be with the trouble that Craig and I routinely got into.  I never knew the man until I listened to the children talk about all their wonderful memories of their parents both of whom are now deceased.

Paul’s pastor spoke of baptizing him a few years ago and how he had a deep and abiding love of Christ.  The children told stories of Paul being saved numerous times during the war.  Once he was sitting on a log with a friend eating the usual horrible GI food when a woman approached them from the woods and invited them to her house for a home-cooked meal.  As the two soldiers followed her, they heard an explosion and ran back to the canteen.  The canteen and most of the soldiers were obliterated and the log that Paul had been sitting on a few minutes earlier was ground zero for the German shell.

Craig described Paul’s visions as he lay on his deathbed.  For two days, Paul would occasionally stare off into space and tell Craig how beautiful it was on the other side, the place where he was going.  Craig also heard him talking to his deceased wife who Paul said was waiting in that beautiful place for him.

As a psychiatrist, Craig is trained to diagnose hallucinations.  As a Christian, Craig also has a deep faith in Christ.  Craig admitted that the visions could have been the wishes and hopes or a dying man, or it could indeed be visions of his ultimate destination.  I prefer to believe as Craig, that Paul’s deep and abiding faith allowed him to see his new home.

I am reminded of Jack Cash, the brother of Johnny.  Jack was mortally wounded in an accident at a sawmill.  The fourteen-year-old older brother of Johnny also had a strong faith and wanted to become a preacher.  On his deathbed, moments before his death, he became lucid and asked his mother if she could see the angels.  Jack said he could hear them singing and it was beautiful.  He died peacefully.

During my heart surgery and subsequent repair after I died in ICU, I also saw visions.  I thought I might be hallucinating but I wasn’t under the influence of drugs since a narcotic would hurt my heart.  I saw a group of women, dressed in old time clothes smiling at me and welcoming me.  The feeling of peace was overwhelming.  I believe and I believe strongly.

Sermon for Epiphany

Today we celebrate Epiphany.  What exactly is an Epiphany?  A quick look in the dictionary gives four meanings.  The first definition is a Christian festival observed by the Western Churches on January 6, in commemoration of the manifestation of Christ to the gentiles in the persons of the Magi.

The second definition is the appearance or manifestation of a deity. The third definition is one is used commonly in our language, and that is the sudden, intuitive perception of or insight into the reality or essential meaning of something, usually initiated by some simple, homely, or commonplace occurrence or experience.   The fourth definition is a literary work or section of a work presenting, usually symbolically, such a moment of revelation and insight.

The Eastern churches celebrate the coming of Christ in a festival known as Theophany.  Theophany is the manifestation or appearance of God to a person.  The Eastern churches celebrate Theophany on Jan 19 in accordance with the Julian calendar.

Beginning in Matthew, the Gospel says that wise men from the East came to Jerusalem seeking the child born as King of the Jews.  The three men, Magi, were astrologers and not Kings as legend would have it.  Nowhere in the Gospel of Matthew is it mentioned that there were three Kings.  Indeed, Matthew does not say how many Magi came to see Christ, only that they brought gifts.  The Magi, most scholars presume, were Zoroastrian priests from Persia.

Zoroaster founded a religion in Persia around 600 BCE, and the priest practiced astrology.  The Zoroasters believed in a supreme deity and the cosmic battle between a good spirit and an evil spirit.  The Magi most probably did not come to Jerusalem seeking Jesus at his birth, but two years later. Why do I say that?  Haven’t we been taught that the Magi came to the manger and gave the gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh?  The gifts are full of symbolism; gold is the gift for kings, frankincense is  the gift given during sacrifice in the temple, and myrrh is used as a perfume for embalming the dead.

The Gospel of Luke does not mention the Magi.  Luke says that an Angel appeared to the shepherds in the field and announced the birth of our savior.  Then the Heavenly host said Glory to God in the Highest and the Angels vanished back into heaven. On a side note, Pope Benedict said that the Angels did not sing, that they spoke, and that to our ears their speech is singing.  Based on personal experience I would say that is true. 

Seemingly, the Gospel of Luke and Matthew therefore disagree on what happened that night that Christ was born.  However, if we take a closer look at Matthew it does not say the Magi came to see the baby Jesus, but the Christ child.  Herod, upon hearing that a child in Bethlehem was supposed to be King of the Jew ordered the massacre of all male children around two years of age.  An angel warned Mary and Joseph and they fled to Egypt.  Now historians do not record the massacre of Jewish children, a catastrophe that would surely warrant some mention in the records of the time.  Herod was a brute; he had some of his own sons murdered because he feared they would take his throne.  Theorists think that given the population of a small town such as Bethlehem that perhaps as few as twenty children were murdered, a small number that could escape the notice of the historians.  However, some churches say that thousands were killed, all the way from a few thousand to 144,000 as postulated by the Coptic Church.  The higher number is surely absurd; such a number of children killed would have brought the attention of the Roman authorities and inclusion in the historical records of the time.

Luke has the couple going to Jerusalem to present the baby at the temple.  Then the family journeys to Nazareth to live.  A flight to Egypt I not mentioned in any of Luke’s accounts or indeed the Gospels of John and Mark.  

So what is the truth? The simple fact is that we do not know. Historical accounts differ from Biblical accounts, especially on the death of the Holy Innocents.

Many sites on the internet explore the contradictions in the Gospels.  The site below http://www.thenazareneway.com/infancy_of_christ.htm  explores the infancy Gospels.

What do we need to take away from the explanations of the birth of Christ?  All we need to know is that Christ was born, made incarnate in the Virgin Mary, came into the world begotten, not made, light from light, true God from true God, of one being with the Father.  It is all there in the Nicene Creed.

If you find yourself troubled by the contradictions in the Gospels, pray for guidance.  Follow Matthew 7:7-8:  Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you: For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.

Ask, Seek, and Knock.

Angels Among Us

In July, I made my second mission trip to the Dominican Republic.  Our mission is to help construct the Church of San Simon in the Barrio of San Marcos, a small Barrio on the outskirts of Puerto Plata.  Puerto Plata is on the north coast of the Dominican Republic is a hot and humid, but also very beautiful.

 

My first trip to San Marcos was spiritually fulfilling and I was with the nicest and most loving group of people I have ever known.  When I returned to the States, I felt sad because I knew that I would probably never see all of them again and I knew in my heart that I had been a part of something special.  I also missed the people of San Marcos, especially the new friends I made, Anna, Stephany, Gary, Padre, and so many more that made me feel at home.

 

The second trip to the Dominican Republic turned into a religious experience. The picture below is what the shoring looked like for the second floor. We were going to poor a few tons of concrete and I and everyone else were very worried. The group the week before said they prayed for the supports to hold.

 

Our group prayed too and I said a special prayer one evening before bed. The next morning I had just shaved and was walking back to my bed when I stopped and had a powerful vision. The vision was of a group of Angels approaching from high up in the sky and as they entered the church, an Angel grabbed each post and held it steady. I told the Dominican priest about the vision and that night at church he told his congregation and they sang a special song about Angels. The next day was the concrete pour.

 

Now, I have had visions before, but the next day was special. When we were about two blocks away from the church site a powerful feeling came upon me. Sometimes I have the same type of feeling when I preach. We pulled up to the church and I was overwhelmed with a feeling of love. I didn't not see the Angels, I felt them, and the feeling was one of peace and love. I have never felt such an overwhelming feeling of love. I started crying, but hid myself so no one could see me.

 

Then something told me the Angels had accomplished their job and would be leaving soon. Almost immediately my mind seemed clouded and jumbled like and then it cleared and a voice and image appeared in my mind and told me that an Angel was staying behind to oversee the church and that his name was Raphael.

 

I didn't know who Raphael was and so I looked him up on the internet and found out he is an Archangel, I guess the church we are building means a lot to God. The next day we went by the church, the concrete had dried, and we could walk on the roof/second floor. I had our translator tell the padre about the Angel and Padre said he was going to hang a picture of Raphael in the church office.

Until now, I have only shared this experience with a few close friends, however I feel the need to get this out and let people know what happened.  Some will think me crazy, others will think me blessed, but I believe I was part of a special event.

May the peace of the Lord be always with you!

 

 

 

 

Pentecost

Sermon for Pentecost

Let's begin by tracing the Jewish roots of Pentecost.  The festival of Shavout is a Jewish Holiday that occurs on the sixth day of the Hebrew month of Sivan (late May or early June).

Shavuot commemorates the anniversary of the day God gave the Torah to the nation of Israel at Mount Sinai.  This is also a festival celebrating the harvest of wheat.  In Israel, the people harvested barley at Passover and wheat, the last grain to ripen, at the time Shavuot seven weeks later.

The date of Shavuot is seven weeks or forty-nine to fifty days from Passover. On Passover, God freed the people of Israel from their enslavement in Egypt.

In the first reading, we heard the wonder of the Jews who heard the disciples speaking in various tongues.  The reason so many “foreign” Jews were in Jerusalem is that Shavout is a major holiday, one that Jews were required to go to Jerusalem to celebrate.

In the Gospel of John, Jesus told his disciples to wait in Jerusalem and he would send the comforter to them.  He also told them he could not send the comforter unless he left the world. 

Then during the feast of Shavout, the disciples were all gathered together and about nine in the morning, they heard the sound of a rushing wind, and what appeared to be tongues of fire appeared above each disciple's head.  Immediately the disciples started speaking in languages they previously did not understand.  This was part of the great commission; the Holy Spirit empowered the disciples with the languages of the world so they could spread the good news of the New Covenant to all the peoples.

The Jews that heard the speaking of the languages said that the disciples must be drunk.  By tradition, the Jews fasted until ten A.M. and that is why Peter told the crowd they were not drunk.

Pentecost is considered the day the Christian Church was born.  The day the Holy Spirit bestowed spiritual gifts upon the disciples.  From that day forward, at our Baptisms and Confirmations we receive spiritual gifts from the Holy Spirit.  Each of us receives different gifts.  Indeed the Holy Spirit can come whenever it pleases, because it blows were it wants to blow and goes where it wants to go. 

There are many spiritual gifts; Paul pointed a few of them in Corinthians.  The question then arises, how do we know what our spiritual gifts are?  Sometimes other people tell us we have a gift, we receive feedback that we are good teachers, or writers, or speakers. At other times, we discern what our gifts are on our own through what we choose as our vocations.

However, I think that most of us know what our gifts are from the feeling we get when we use our gifts and the sadness we feel when we ignore our gifts.  I feel happiness when I write and joy when I preach.  When I talk of the word of God, I get all tingly inside.  However, when I was a child, I was shy and terrified of speaking in front of a group of people.  To this day, I am still very shy and I prefer solitude rather than going to a party, silence to noise, nature to the big city.  Somehow, I became an instructor, probably because of my desire to help people understand, and that is a gift.  I still felt sadness until the day I could no longer ignore the Holy Spirit and the power of the Holy Spirit lifted me up.  That is why I start my sermons with the verse from Psalm 51, “Open my Lips o Lord and my mouth shall proclaim your praise.”  This is my prayer to the Holy Spirit, the Comforter, to raise me up, to let the love of Jesus show forth, to proclaim the Truth.

When Peter recited the prophecy of Joel he said, “In those days I will pour out my spirit upon ALL flesh, and your sons and daughters shall prophesy, and your young men will have visions, and your old men dream dreams.” 

The gifts from the Holy Spirit are just that—gifts, and we must use our gifts for the betterment of the people.  How would you feel if you give someone a gift, then he hides it in the back of his closet?  How do you think God feels when he sends a spiritual gift and we ignore it? 

Do not ignore your spiritual gifts, if you are not sure what your gift is then ask for help from God, ask help from your spiritual advisor, but do not ignore the fact that we have all received a gift.  The gifts of God are for the people of God and if we love God, we will use his gifts.

Today, let us rejoice in the presence of the Holy Spirit.  The Holy Spirit may blow where it wants to blow, but if you use the gifts bestowed upon us by the Spirit then the Spirit will celebrate with us in Joy!

The following is a copy of the sermon I preached today.  I did ad-lib during the sermon, so this isn't exactly what I said, but it is close enough.  I actually took the lyrics to the song and put some personal experiences and thoughts with each line.

Follow the Path

In Today’s Gospel, a man begs Jesus to cure his leprosy.  Jesus was full of compassion for the man and cured him of the leprosy.  Jesus then told him to go to the temple priest and offer the sacrifices that Moses commanded for the cleansing. 

For information, by touching the man with leprosy, Jesus was considered defiled under law.  Leviticus 5-2 states that anyone who touches an unclean person is considered unclean.  Therefore, in one sense, Jesus defied the law, but at the same time, he sent the man to the priest to comply with the law.  By sending the man to the priest, who would look at the skin and make a judgment of cleanliness, Jesus was asking the priest to verify the cure.

Jesus also told the man to keep the cure a secret.  Why?  When we look at the previous Gospel readings Jesus cured Simon’s mother-in-law in Capernaum.  Then all sorts of people came to the house and it appears they kept Jesus up all night healing and chasing out demons.  The next day Jesus, after seeking solitude to pray, told his disciples he needed to go to nearby villages to preach.  Jesus told them his mission was to preach.

As happens so many times the cured man immediately tells anyone with an ear that Jesus cured him. Once again, the throngs of sick people would come to be cured of Jesus.  For Jesus, a man full of compassion and love, the healing became a burden, and detracted from his mission to preach the love of God.   “As a result, Jesus could no longer enter a town openly, but stayed outside in lonely places, yet people still came to him from everywhere.”

Throughout the Gospels, we hear of Jesus curing people, chasing out demons, drawing the ire of the religious authorities in the process.  The Pharisees were upset that he healed on the Sabbath, forgave sins, and most of all ignored the established norms and conventions. 

What I find interesting is that Jesus said he was not sent to heal, but to preach.  His main mission in life was to preach the good news of God, of the new covenant and the forgiveness of sins.  In death, he saved us all.  In death, he healed us all, not of our illnesses and infirmities, but of the stain of the original sin.  

With his death, he created the promise of eternal life.  With his death, he knocked down the gates of hell and released the prisoners.  With his death, he opened the door to heaven.  And with his resurrection, he promised eternal life to all who would follow his commandments.

The commandments that Jesus gave us were only two.  Jesus tells us to “love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.  The second is to love your neighbor as yourself.”

The second commandment is easy to understand and very hard to accomplish.  The first commandment is not easy, but I think easier to accomplish.

For the next few minutes, I would like to try a little exercise.  I call it finding God.

Close your eyes imagine you are on a dirt path, surrounded by trees.  Now listen to all the noise around you, coughs, sniffles, belly-rumblings, and think of the noise as the wind whispering through the trees, gradually the noise fades into the background.  Now picture yourself walking the path, in peace, until you find a door in a mountain, a mountain that encompasses all that is.  

Do you knock on the door?  Are you afraid to open the door?  Do you love your life so much that you would rather keep what you have?  So many decisions, but what will you decide?  Jesus said to seek and you shall find.  But what is it you seek, Happiness, love, wealth, knowledge.  

Now open your eyes.  Practice this often, imagine the door, talk to God, let him know your fears, but let him know that you love him and he will let you know that he loves you.  Seek and you will find the door and when both you and God are ready that door will open.

There is a hymn, Will You Come and Follow Me, which is very near and dear to me.  The lyrics mean so much to me personally that I want to share them with you.  Think about each verse as I read it and see if you can answer the question?

1. Will you come and follow me if I but call your name?
Will you go where you don't know and never be the same?
Will you let my love be shown? Will you let my name be known,
will you let my life be grown in you and you in me?

2. Will you leave yourself behind if I but call your name?
Will you care for cruel and kind and never be the same?
Will you risk the hostile stare should your life attract or scare?
Will you let me answer prayer in you and you in me?

3. Will you let the blinded see if I but call your name?
Will you set the prisoners free and never be the same?
Will you kiss the leper clean and do such as this unseen,
and admit to what I mean in you and you in me?

4. Will you love the "you" you hide if I but call your name?
Will you quell the fear inside and never be the same?
Will you use the faith you've found to reshape the world around,
through my sight and touch and sound in you and you in me?

5. Lord your summons echoes true when you but call my name.
Let me turn and follow you and never be the same.
In Your company I'll go where Your love and footsteps show.
Thus I'll move and live and grow in you and you in me.

In order to find God, you must first open your heart, gather your courage, still your mind, and let you soul lead you in love, to the creator of all.

In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

Amen

Today I wrote an article about two Saints who did not act very saintly before their conversions.  St Olga was a mass murderer and destroyed an entire town in revenge for her husband's murder.  Olga's grandson, St Vladimir, had his brother murdered and put his sister-in-law in his harem. 
http://larry-putt.suite101.com/murderous-saints-st-olga-and-st-vladimr-a399782

Happy Reading!

My sermon, given at Trinity Episcopal Church, 12/4/2011

O Lord Open My Lips, and My Mouth Will Declare Your Praise (Psalm 51:15)

Today in our Gospel and Old Testament readings we heard the prophecy of Isaiah; A voice of one calling in the desert prepare the way for the Lord, make straight in the wilderness a highway for God.

Four hundred years before John, the prophet Malachi (4) said, “See, I will send the prophet Elijah before the great and dreadful day of the Lord comes.  He will turn the hearts of the Fathers to their children and the hearts of their children to their fathers.”  Many thought this to mean that John the Baptist was Elijah.   Malachi (3) also said, “Behold, I will send my messenger, and he shall prepare a way before me: and the Lord, whom ye seek, shall suddenly come to his temple, even the messenger of the covenant, whom ye delight in; behold, he shall come, saith the Lord of Hosts.

John the Baptist was born six months before Jesus.   The Gospel of Luke says that John was the son of Zachariah, a priest in the temple of Jerusalem, and Elizabeth, who had been barren.  The angel, Gabriel announced to Zachariah that Elizabeth would bear him a son.

Like the early childhood of Jesus, next to nothing is known of John’s youth.  The first we really hear of John is that he is out in the desert preaching baptism of water for the forgiveness of sins.  The Apostles Andrew and John were followers of John, giving evidence that those two were actively seeking a closer relationship with God.

John preached that the one who would baptize, not with water, but with the Holy Spirit would follow him.   The day that Jesus appeared in the desert to and asked John to baptize him John demurred and said, it is I who should be baptized by you.”   None-the-less John performed the Baptism of Jesus and at that moment, God spoke from above, and the Holy Spirit descended upon Jesus.  Thus began the ministry of Jesus.

Although John denied being Elijah when questioned by the religious authorities, Jesus later proclaimed that John was indeed Elijah.

John continued to preach, although two of his disciples, John and Andrew, left to follow Jesus.  John also continued to annoy King Herod and the King grew tired of John’s criticism of his morality and of his growing political influence.  In the end Herod’s lack of morality cost John the Baptist his head.  There just never seems to be a good ending when one is a Jewish Prophet. 

In the Gospel of John, Jesus tells Nicodemus that to enter the Kingdom of Heaven one must be reborn with a birth of water and Spirit.  Before his ascension, Jesus tells his followers, “Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost.”

Holy Baptism incorporates us into the mystical body of Christ. The effect of Baptism is threefold:

1.       It remits all sin, original and actual.

2.      It bestows sanctifying grace, and gives our souls the heavenly virtues of Faith, hope, and charity.

3.      It makes the recipient a member of Christ, the Child of God, and an inheritor of the kingdom of heaven.

By making our baptismal vows we agree to three basic principles:

1.      We renounce Satan and all his evil works.

2.      We affirm our belief in God.

3.      We agree to serve him.

Jesus realizes that by our very nature, we are weak creatures.  We cannot hope to persevere against evil by ourselves.  During the baptismal ceremony, when we make our vows, we say, “I will with God’s help.”

That I think is the major difference between John’s baptism and the Baptism of Jesus.  John’s baptism was one of repentance of sin and asking for forgiveness.  The baptism of Jesus is more powerful, for with his sacrifice, our sins are forgiven and he sent the Holy Spirit to be our comforter.

This morning I came across a writing by Henri Nouwen that is pertinent to this sermon.  Henri said,” The knowledge that Jesus came to dress our mortal bodies with immortality must help us develop an inner desire to be born to a new eternal life with him and encourage us to find ways to prepare for it.

It is important to nurture constantly the life of the Spirit of Jesus - which is the eternal life - that is already in us. Baptism gave us this life, the Eucharist maintains it, and our many spiritual practices - such as prayer, meditation, spiritual reading, and spiritual guidance - can help us to deepen and solidify it. The sacramental life and life with the Word of God gradually make us ready to let go of our mortal bodies and receive the mantle of immortality. Thus death is not the enemy who puts an end to everything but the friend who takes us by the hand and leads us into the Kingdom of eternal love.”

God loves us, he sent his only son to save us, and all he asks in return is that we obey his commandments:

Love God with all your heart, and mind, and soul, and strength.

Love one another as he loves us.

In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost,
Amen.

Today I wrote an article about St. John of God.  The idea came from a book I am reading, Saints Behaving Badly, by Thomas Craughwell.  Like most saints, John wasn't a very nice fellow in his youth.  Obviously things changed though and in the end he became a saint.

The point being, that many of us can overcome the same bad behaviors and turn our lives around.

A reading from the Book of Wisdom in the Apocrypha:

The beginning of Wisdom is the true desire to receive teaching,

and a longing to be taught comes from a love of her;

The one who loves her will keep her laws.

Observing the laws of wisdom assures immortality,

and immortality brings one nearer still to God:

So the desire for wisdom leads to the authority of the one who rules.

Solomon’s canticle on the desire for wisdom is a beautiful song.  The desire to seek wisdom requires a self-awareness that we humans do not know enough to even begin to comprehend mystery of God.  In order to become nearer to God, we must gain wisdom.  That means never being satisfied that we found the final truth.  Seek and you shall find.  Keep seeking, and asking, and learning, ever learning. God reveals his presence in different ways to different people.   When you think you have found God, that is when your true journey begins.

Seems I have come full circle in my life.   In 1977, I signed up for a hitch in the Navy and ended up staying in eight years.  The first five years I detested the service and then, after advancing through the ranks, grew to like it more each year.  Then I hurt my knee and out to the civilian world I emerged, forever changed by my experience.

Now, after twenty-six years, I find myself working for the Navy again, albeit as a civilian.  I used to think of Naval Reactors as the bad guys while I was in the service.  They always seemed to cause us consternation and stress.  Now I am one of them, although so far down on the food chain as to be almost invisible.  I started my career in the Navy and I hope to end my career supporting the Navy.

Of course, the journey has not been without a few interesting twists and turns.   After my discharge from the Navy, I helped clean up the mess at Three Mile Island; twenty-five years later, I was cleaning up the mess at Hanford.  In between, I fathered a beautiful daughter, worked in two nuclear power plants, garnered two college degrees, and became a writer.  Somehow, this entity called the Holy Spirit called me, guided me, and comforted me the entire time.  No matter how bad thought things were, the Holy Spirit prevailed against the temptations and tribulations thrown my way.  Not every time mind you, but enough to win the war, despite losing a few battles along the way.  Now, I realize that not every lost battle is a defeat; no, it is a learning experience, and makes us stronger for the future.  The best is yet to come!  

And then I hear the price of peanut butter is going to skyrocket!  Must be Jimmy Carter's revenge.

The following is a sermon I preached at Trinity Episcopal Church today.

O Lord Open My Lips, and My Mouth Will Declare Your Praise

(Psalm 51:15)

In the Gospel reading today, the Pharisees try to trick Jesus with a question about paying taxes.  Jesus responded with the famous render unto Caesar what is Caesar’s and unto God things that are God’s.  (Matthew 22:21)

Although this seems a simple premise, what does it mean to give unto God the things that are his?  God’s currency is not money, nor does he collect a tax.  What then does God demand of us?

Jesus tells us there are only two commandments we need obey.  In Mark 12:30, Jesus tells us to “love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.  The second is to love your neighbor as yourself.”

The old practice of sacrificing animals was no more.  In the past, the sacrifice of animals and of the harvest was an honor that God had required. However, with the arrival of the Son of God that requirement changed.  Jesus sacrificed himself for all of mankind.  He did not sacrifice a ram or a goat or a portion of his food … no, he sacrificed himself.  No greater love does a man have than to sacrifice himself to save his friends.

Therefore, if we owe our taxes to the government of man, what do we owe God?  The answer is simple and in the words of Jesus.  “Love God!”  Nothing less is accepted and nothing more is required. 

Seems like a simple answer does it not?  Nevertheless, as every person sitting in this church knows, it is not that simple.  We have a hard time showing love for our neighbors and some of us cannot love others as we love ourselves because we do not love our self.   And if we cannot love our neighbor how can we love God?

Thus, such a simple concept of love becomes such an ominous burden that we seem incapable of ever fulfilling the commandments of Christ.

God so loved the world that he sent his only begotten child to sacrifice himself for us.  Yet we find it burdensome to love him back.

First, we must look inside and realize that God in an act of love created us.  God loves us and wants us to love him back.  We are his children and he sent Jesus to show us the way, to teach us how to love him.  When we realize that God created us in love it is easier to love ourselves, despite our flaws and our sins.  We are each unique and yet we are each the same.

You cannot love a government for if you try the love is unrequited.  The love of God is not unrequited, it is real, it is sustainable, and it is eternal.  Governments rise and fall, the face on the coin changes every so often.  However, God does not change, he just is!

Once we love ourselves, it becomes easier to recognize our spiritual gifts.  These are gifts given by God to help us help others in the journey on this rock we call Earth.

In Corinthians 12:8, Paul talks about the Spiritual Gifts that the Holy Spirit has distributed among the believers of God.  There are numerous gifts that the Spirit has given, the power of persuasion, writing, counseling, prophecy, even the gift of getting in front of a group and speaking about the Lord … that is a gift which can be frightening, but with the help of the spirit the fear disappears and the love of God shows forth.

Henri Nouwen talks about the gifts that God bestows upon on at our Baptism; God gives us the Holy Spirit as our Counsellor, Helper and Comforter. God’s gifts to us at our baptism are:

• Love
• Joy
• Peace
• Hope

But for us to fully enjoy these gifts, we have to accept the fruits of the Holy Spirit [which are “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, trustfulness, gentleness and self-control” (Galatians 5:22-23 NJB)] into our hearts. How do we do that? We have to chew, mull, reflect and understand these fruits and let them sink into our hearts so that they become ours. Every morning we should then pray for the Holy Spirit to help us to do His will and not our will. We must spend time to ask for God’s help and to consistently concentrate on nurturing these fruits and, whenever the occasion arises, choose to:

· Be gentle

· Be patient

· Be kind

· Be good

· Be faithful

· Have self-control

As we focus on the Holy Spirit to generate these spiritual gifts in us, we will in time find that our lives will be more loving, joyous, peaceful and hopeful

So if God has given each of us a gift, how do we repay him?  Do we hide the gift?  If you give your spouse, a special gift and they throw it in the back of the closest how does that make you feel.  If we ignore the gifts, delivered by the Holy Spirit how do you think God feels?  Do you think he feels loved?

In order to use your gift to please God, you must first love yourself, for only with love can you gift be manifest.  I was raised a Baptist and I heard the fire and brimstone speeches when I was very young.  I had a nightmare of hell on Earth.  In retrospect, I think that preacher did me a favor, because when I later heard the message of love that Jesus preached it was if a flower bloomed in my soul.  I realized I did not need to be afraid of evil, nor the Devil, nor of going to hell.  And all because I believed in Jesus and his message and I felt his love.

When I was thirteen, I thought I would grow up to be a preacher.  The Holy Spirit had other plans for me though, and for a while, a long while, I stumbled in the dark and I hid my talents, and wallowed in sin.  My spirit though bound in darkness, yearned to be free and to find Jesus again.  The journey was long, there was a time that I knocked on the proverbial door, and a voice said, “Not yet, you are not ready.”

So I stumbled on, blinded by sin, corrupted by the world, yet longing to be one with God.  The journey has not been easy, for the longest time I did not love myself, nor could I love others.  Despair gripped my soul and depression set in. Oh how insidious the power of the Devil.  Through our despair, he makes us loathe ourselves, and that loathing becomes hate for ourselves and for the world. 

Love does set us free.  Love sets us free in so many ways.  Once we let Jesus into our heart, the Holy Spirit into our Soul, and God into our Mind, then we find the strength to love the Three-In-One with all our being.

Once I found love, once I opened my heart, and my mind, and my soul, I found the door opened for me.  I know my final destination even though I  do not know how long the journey will last.  Once I discovered the love of Jesus, I found the strength to use my spiritual gifts.  My gifts are still evolving and the strength of my soul has become a fortress for God.  The Devil still attacks, and sometimes with a vengeance, for he does not like to lose, but there is truth in the statement that Love Conquers ALL.

God gave us free will.  I believe this planet we live on is a test.  We can choose love or we can choose hate.  For most of mankind’s existence, it seems hate has won.  When we die, we do not take anything physical with us.  The body remains here, where it was created.  Our spirit goes on and it is love or hate that determines the direction we go.

Tomorrow morning when you wake up, look in the mirror, and ask yourself this simple question, “Do I choose love?”   

AMEN