Chris Yaw

I watched a woman pull out a Kleenex and dab a tear from her eye as she read the latest update on the tragedy in the Ukraine.

I saw a post from a pastor on Twitter garner thousands of likes earlier this week when he lobbied for an end to U.S. imports of Russian oil.

And I heard the news reports of unprecedented unity in our congress, especially these days, around legislation poised to constrain the aggressor in Ukraine, as well as aid war victims.

The Russian invasion of Ukraine has set off a barrage of strong emotion, and not simply vengeance, violence, and retribution, but of sympathy, compassion, empathy, and heartfelt lament.

Putin's flagrant power grab has revealed an amazing depth of worldwide compassion and care for others that we must highlight and build upon.

The outrage we are feeling against Injustice and innocent suffering must be channeled to build the peaceful world that Jesus asks us to bring down from heaven. And that world is not built by selfishness, greed, and taking from our neighbor something that isn't ours.

It is built upon the shoulders of our better angels, mutual respect, honesty, and a determination to work for the common good.

A peaceful world, a compassionate world, a world that I want to live in, evolves not from vice, but virtue.

So, in this second week of Lent, our season of studying and mirroring the virtues of Christ, what does this say to us?

How are we being called to resist selfishness and division, and to not resist a generous, empathetic, and compassionate urge?

What does that look like for you and me? What can we do, today, to obey those inclinations of generosity, care for others, and empathy not just for Ukraine, but for our own worlds, our own daily lives?

We know that love is inside us, how are we going to let it loose?

(Image: The rock on a mount near Jericho where Jesus allegedly stood during The Three Temptations)

Sharing a pizza with a friend the other day I asked him if he wanted a third slice. He said he really did, but he refused because he was sticking to a new diet.

I asked him why he was dieting, and he said that he'd recently been to the doctor and the doctor had noticed some health markers were off and said that if he wanted to stay healthy he'd stick to this new diet.

So my friend said he was going to alter his diet because he wanted to be around for his wife and kids.

Today, Ash Wednesday, many of us will hear the familiar words of the prophet Isaiah who had similar reasonings when he chastised Israel for fasting solely for themselves, and not fasting for other people: Is this not the fast that I choose - to share your bread with the hungry,

and bring the homeless poor into your house;

The true fast, Isaiah says, is done so that our discomfort benefits other people.

Today many of us are altering our diets, in the Episcopal Church fasting is recommended twice a year, Ash Wednesday and Good Friday. And in our individualistic and narcissistic world we're tempted to think that fasting is just about us, our own spirituality, our own personal Jesus - and we can forget that God's plan is not about one of us as much as it is about all of us.

So as we go through this sacred, holy day and season of awareness, sanctification, and commitment, how is God calling us not just to improve ourselves through our spiritual practices, but in the next 40 days, how can we improve the world we live in?

May our fasting be intentional, inspiring, and even joyful, as we seek first not our own well-being, but the well-being of others.

What kind of change do you want to make?

Do you want to be more fit, physically, spiritually, mentally? Do you want to be more of a peacemaker, reconciler, advocate for justice? Do you want to be more resilient in the face of change? Do you want to be more empathetic towards others? Do you want to find a way to let go of the things that bother you?

I ask this because a week from today we are going to kick off the holy season of Lent. Research shows that when we look to a season, look to a specific day, like New Year's, a birthday, or Ash Wednesday and the season of Lent, we can find a solid foundation for transformation.

This Sunday in church we will hear the epic story of Jesus ascending a mountain with his best friends and being transformed before them into an image of light, offering these close friends an icon of encouragement and faithfulness for the difficult times that lay ahead for Jesus and the Jesus movement, suffering, death, and resurrection.

It is a transfiguration that is so obviously linked with the divine. And you and I wonder how the transformations we want to make are also linked to the Divine - if taking intentional steps to draw nearer to God can help us make the kind of changes we'd like to see?

In the week ahead, let's think about Lent, and the transformation God is calling us to.

Let's think about what we would like to be like, advocate for, and take action about in 40 days time. Let's think about the virtues and habits we will need to get there. The good news of the Gospel is that yes, things can change, we can change, we can make decisions and take actions that bring more justice, reconciliation, healing, and love into the world: how can Lent 2022 help us so to do?

Ever notice how the Bible is chock-full of people we're supposed to love?

Love your parents, love the poor, love the immigrant, love your neighbor, even love your enemies. But the Bible doesn't talk much about loving ourselves, and what that actually looks like. After all, psychology experts like tell us that we can only love others to the degree that we love ourselves.

This Sunday in church, we are going to hear one of those iconic Biblle passages where Jesus charges us to love those around us, those who are in need, friends, enemies, even those who are ungrateful.

If you're like me, and talk more negatively about yourself than positively - and find certain parts of you, frankly, unlovable, then it makes me wonder if Jesus's strategy is this: when we do the work of loving others, especially those who are difficult to love, we also do the work of loving ourselves.

There is a saying I like that goes like this, who we are and who we become depends, to a large degree, on whom we love.

So when we choose to reach out and love those around us, especially those who are hard to love - we do the work of Jesus - the work that made Jesus who he was.

When we show forgiveness, encouragement, pardon, and good cheer, especially to those who we don't really like, we become the kind of people we want to be, that is, forgivers, encouragers, peacemakers, people who will be part of the solution and not part of the problem.

We all know this is really tough work! In our cancel culture we're much more likely to avoid, ignore, and denigrate, then we are to turn the other cheek. But how is that working out for us?

Because we know that when we do the more difficult work of trying to love, forgive, and care for those around us, we actually love ourselves - and do us and the world around us a whole lot more good.

Making things better starts by changing the only person we can change - ourselves - so let’s do that by loving others.

One of the strategies operators who answer phone calls at suicide prevention organizations use is to remind distressed callers of the cyclical nature of life.

When someone calls who is in dire straits, unstable, and deeply depressed, using this strategy, an operator will point out that the deep, dark place the caller is inhabiting is not a place of permanence, but is temporary, and that this, too, shall pass.

The operator will try to help the distressed caller think of times when things were better, vacations, job promotions, or the birth of a child, and let the caller see that despite life's ups and downs, things even out and life is worth living.

Having the fortitude to remember the good times when we're in the midst of bad times, is as important as having the humility to remember the bad times in the midst of good times.

Fortitude and humility are two traits you and I need as the ups and downs of life come and go. And it's at the heart of the famous words we hear from Jesus this Sunday.

That's when you we'll hear that familiar Bible passage commonly called the Beatitudes in which Jesus says 'Blessed are the poor, 'Blessed are the hungry,' etc. and then says, 'Woe to you who are rich,' 'Woe to you who are full,' etc.

One way to read this is as a description of the daily rhythm of life, noting that we all go through times of need and sorrow as well as fullness and joy - so that the message is of fortitude and humility.

As we go through good times, how can we stay grounded and thankful?

As we go through tough times, how can we remember that things will likely get better?

My friend Jim gets up early every morning, and gets dressed with a white shirt, a suit and tie. And he's done this for 60 years.

Of course it's a habit, but it's a habit that's rooted very deeply in his understanding of who he is and what he is on Earth to do.

"I spent my life in business, and I think if a person wants to be taken seriously, they need to look the part," he once told me.

Now I'm not sure if Jim's dress code is a result of his confidence or if his confidence is a result of his dress code, but either way I've always been envious about Jim's close connection with his purpose.

And this is what lies at the heart of our Gospel on Sunday, this is when you and I will hear the familiar story of Jesus calling his disciples. He will perform a miracle with a couple of fishermen and Peter will be so impressed that he'll fall at Jesus's feet and declare that he is not worthy to be in his presence.

In doing this, Peter will tap into our own feelings of inadequacy.

Who are we to be called by God? - to start a business, be a parent, wear nicer clothes, or speak up for the vulnerable?

We, like Peter, are programmed to always undervalue ourselves and overvalue others.

What we can find here is that a lack of self-worth and significance is related to our understanding and ownership of our purpose: our feelings of inadequacy are related to our disconnection with purpose.

So Jesus responds to Peter by telling him not to be afraid and to come and embrace his purpose - to be a fisher of men, to live a life rooted and grounded in God and in God's call and purpose, which only Peter will be able to fulfill.

To get nearer to Jesus means to get nearer to ourselves, to who we are, and what we're called to do. And it is Peter's example of taking Jesus's hand, amidst his fear, his poor self image, and his doubt, and following.

When we follow Jesus, when we move to order our paths after God, when we make our pursuit of God our first priority, and walk in the confidence that God has called us, equipped us, and is using us to do the work of love in the world, that only we can do, our sense of inadequacy can be greatly diminished.

Jesus' call to St Peter is the same call to you and me, that we put our feelings of poor self-worth and inadequacy aside and look to get busy with what we're called to do.

In what ways is God inviting us to double down on our calling, to take our lives in Christ more seriously, and to engage the purposes for which we've been called?

What Are You Looking For?

What Are You Leaving Behind?

These are the first two questions pilgrims to the Holy Land are frequently asked: what did we come to Jerusalem seeking? What are we hoping to leave behind here?

As Christians, what we’re looking for is Jesus. We are looking for love. Pilgrims are looking for the footsteps, the fingerprints, the vestiges of God’s presence in the place God once walked. And we find it in a myriad of places. We see it in the sacrifice Jesus made to devote his life to others - to heal, teacher and organize for justice. And we see it in the way he gave himself to us — to go off to torture and death, unjustly killed for facing off with injustice. And we are looking for ways to imitate and embody that love. We come seeking love.

What are we hoping to leave behind? All that keeps us from loving. Selfishness, personal ambition, idolatry, misaligned priorities, anger, disunity, and distrust. We come hoping to shed those filters and blinders that detour and distract from loving others. All of our biases, fears, and hesitations that keep us from being the force of love and reconciliation to which we are called, we seek to cast off and leave behind.

However these questions aren’t just applicable to pilgrims, but to everyone. When we awaken in the morning, can we ask, ‘What are we looking for?’ I find this a really effective way to frame the day’s journey — it helps me prioritize and to think more deeply about what I am hoping to accomplish.

And when I ask myself each morning what I want to leave behind, I am inspired to think about why I’m doing the things I’m doing: should I be spending my time in the meetings, on the calls, and engaged in the activities I’m undertaking?

What would tomorrow look like if we asked:

What am I looking for?

What am I leaving behind?

Like most of the sacred sites in the Holy Land, believers through the centuries have marked these places by building churches over them.

This is the case with the synagogue, or local church, where Jesus worshiped here in his hometown of Nazareth.

The synagogue is only a stone’s throw from where I’m sitting right now - and it's where a Malkite church now stands.

This Sunday, when we head to worship, we are going to hear about this synagogue.

Our gospel will tell us the story about Jesus when he went there, unrolled the scroll from Isaiah and announced that Isaiah's prophecy would be fulfilled in him.

This is a story about Jesus coming into his own, Jesus finding his own unique voice.

2,000 years ago, the overwhelming response of those people in that local synagogue was to reject Jesus, question his authority, not believe in him, even to try to kill him.

Subsequently Jesus hiked a day and a half over to Capernaum, where he moved, to launch his public ministry. That's where he found people who believed in him, that's where he found people who would support him.

And so what if Jesus hadn't done this? What if he had based his success on the opinions of those first hearers of his first sermon, just how far would he have gotten?

Not very far!

I think this teaches us something very important about how you and I are to live.

Be careful about how much public opinion we internalize.

Pay close attention to our hearts are telling us.

Listen to and respect our own unique voice.

Going against public opinion for you and me is no less controversial today - it means being hopeful, being understanding, negotiating, and turning the other cheek - it means loving our neighbor as ourselves.

In our divided and anxious society, this behavior is laughed at and scorned.

And this is why we need the same thing Jesus needed to move forward with our unique gifts of reconciliation and love.

May God give us courage, patience, and strength to carry out our call.

I'm here in Nazareth this Sunday so I won't see you, but I will miss you.

A question I get quite often, is, 'Why did you leave the religion of your youth to become an Episcopalian?'

Because Jesus called me.

Why did you leave sunny Southern California to take your first call as a clergyman to go to Battle Creek Michigan?

Because Jesus called me.

Why am I serving the same beloved parish in Southfield, Michigan for 13 years now and counting?

Because Jesus has called me.

Today I celebrate the 20th anniversary of my ordination into the Episcopal priesthood. And if there's anything I have learned through all of my mistakes, failures, and foibles, is to do my best to follow Jesus - to trust Jesus, to prioritize my attempts to imitate his example and heed his call.

We see a shadow of this in Sunday's gospel, which tells the story of Jesus' very first miracle, turning water into wine at a wedding reception. The story features an interaction between Mary and Jesus in which Mary gives probably the best instruction in Christianity I know of when, referring to Jesus, she tells the gathered servants, "Do whatever he tells you."

I realize how difficult it is to discern God's voice, especially amidst the noisy environment of social media, digital technology, and an increasingly fast pace of modern life; we live distracted lives.

I also realize how imperfect we are (I am!) at figuring out what God wants us to do at any specific point.

But how much more important it is for you and I to follow Mary's advice and 'do whatever he tells you.'

How might we do that?
What does that sound like in your life today?

See you Sunday - and thank you for your terrific support!

What do you do with a flower?

Does your scientific curiosity overwhelm you, and one by one you remove each petal, making note of stem and the stamen, in a quest to truly understand the beauty before you?

Or does your sense of wonder get the best of you as you gasp in admiration of its beauty, finding the perfect vase then the perfect place to set this wondrous item to further your sense of sacred respect and awe at what is before you?

It is in this latter tradition that the Magi from the East teach us as they come not to interrogate or dissect the manger scene before them, but to bow down in adoration and worship of the beauty they have discovered.

What a mystical story this is!

The magi, from where we get the word magic, pin their hopes on a star, pack their bags to go God-knows-where, and are rewarded for following their intuition, their inner conviction, they're innate, God-given senses, by making the greatest discovery in the world.

Here is where you and I are prompted to do the same - to take that word in our heart, that inner voice, that intuition, and to go for it. Trust it. Take action on it. Get up and go, as the old preacher says, ‘God can’t steer a parked car.’

What does that mean to you? Where’s the hesitation in your life? What are you waiting for?

Ours is a religion of faith and action - so let us trust, let us follow as the Magi did, believing that something truly incredible awaits us.

One warm, spring day an oak sapling wiggled his way through the soil and spread his budding leaves toward the sun.

"Welcome!" said a mature oak that was growing quite heartily just a few feet away, "How does it feel to finally emerge from the ground and grow into who you are?"

"Actually," said the sapling, "I'm scared to death! I've never seen this place before! Where am I going to get food? Where do I get a drink around here? What if the sun doesn't come out? What if a big wind comes and blows me over?"

"Oh you saplings are all the same, so worried, so stressed out," chuckled the big oak tree, "The sun will rise, the water will come, and I am right next to you to protect you."

"Oh yeah?," said the sapling, "And why should I trust you?"

"Well, as you can tell, I've been around for a while and in my experience, things always work out. Plus, it may not look like it but you're actually my son. I made you from me. And I've planted deep in your heart an intuition, to assure you that you're on the right path. So trust in that."

"Well, now that you put it that way, do you have any sunscreen?"

Our worries about our survival may not be shared by trees, but they have been shared by all of us down though the ages, most certainly by the Holy Family, whom we meet in this Sunday's Gospel.

Baby Jesus, Mary, and Joseph find themselves in mortal danger as they face death threats from none other than the mighty King Herod. What should they do? Where should they go?

God provides for this family in a rather unorthodox, but effective way, by sending Joseph dreams, which he readily heeds. It's as if God was telling them, "Don't worry, I've got this covered, just follow my gentle guidance, follow the intuition that I've planted deep in your hearts, and things will work out."

Friends, faced with huge fears of our own, God invites us to trust that intuition, awakened at our baptisms and strengthened as we follow Jesus more intentionally, that God knows what we're facing, God is right beside us through it all, and will guide us along the right path.

Our job is to walk closely with Jesus in this confidence, this trust, this faith, that God is right here always.

Two hikers prepared to cross a wilderness.

They knew the journey would take weeks, so they packed lots of food.

They knew the weather would be harsh, so they packed a super-strong tent.

They knew the path would be rocky, so they packed sturdy boots.

They knew the trail would be disorienting, so they brought an expensive compass.

They knew wild animals would be a threat, so they packed weapons.

They knew the route spanned rivers, so they brought an inflatable raft.

And they knew the risk of injury was real, so they brought a first aid kit.

Yet despite their best preparations, 10 days into their trip, our two hikers got lost.

"Help us!," read the distress message, "We're completely turned around and hopelessly lost."

The 3-person rescue squad jumped into action and sent the only person who knew the terrain, the only person who knew the weather, the threats, and the danger.

It was someone who'd been in that situation before, was committed to rescuing any hiker in distress and who had saved every hiker who'd ever asked for help.

His name is Jesus.

When Christians talk about what it means for Jesus to' 'save' us, this is what we mean: All of us get ready for life's journey the very best we can, yet in spite of our most thorough preparations, we still get lost, we still get in trouble, we still find ourselves in scary places and unable to get back home - and it’s Jesus who rescues us.

Christmas tells us that God doesn't want us lost, but God wants to help us find our way, to find ourselves, to find our way home - So God became human to show us that God understands and God is able to help us get there.

So Christmas invites us to articulate the ways we have lost our way - from peace, joy, patience, and harmony - and to remember that there is one who has the means and desire to come to our aid.

How are we not yet home - and how can Jesus help?

Chris Yaw

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A Peaceful World Evolves Not From Vice, But From Virtue

The Deal with Fasting

Lent: Time to Make a Change

Loving Others: Loving Yourself

Roller Coaster

Inadequacy and Purpose

Looking and Leaving

Claiming Your Voice

Do Whatever He Tells You

What do you do with a flower?

Advice from Trees

Getting Lost, Getting Found

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