TEN WISE LESSONS I LEARNED AND STILL LEARNING

TEN NUGGETS OF WISDOM I LEARNED (AND STILL LEARNING)

10. Only God can bring you  from the dark night of the soul into His marvelous light.

9. Where God guides, God provides; God’s work, in God’s time, in God’s way will lack nothing.

8. God did not give us the spirit of fear but the power of love and common sense.

7. Heaven is not a pie in the sky by and by but a divine-human encounter here and now.

6. God will not renew something whose beginning He was not a part of.

5. When the devil locks the door, God provides the master key.

4. When the storm hits, seek shelter and enjoy your sleep (or set your sail and enjoy the ride).

3. When the going gets tough, hope in God will keep you toughly going.

2.  When you lost your way, listen to God’s GPS speaking “recalculating, recalculating…” (God speaks in ordinary events and you can see God in all things.)

1. Often say, “take care” but sometimes also say, “take risks.” Life is more of a journey than a destination!

BLESSED TO BE A BLESSING: A Steward's Choice

When a child is born into this world, the position of the hand is often a clenched, and the first thing the baby learns is to "close-open, close-open" her hands, as if to say "I will acquire, I will acquire, I will acaquire."

BLESSED TO BE A BLESSING: A Steward's Choice

(From the Parable of the Rich Young Ruler -Mark 10:17-31)

(Sermon by the Rev. Dr. Winfred B.. Vergara at St. Michael & All Angels Parish, Seaford, New York, 10.13.2012)

“There is one thing you still need to do. Go sell everything you own. Give the money to the poor, and you will have riches in heaven. Then come, follow me.” When the man heard this, he went away gloomy and sad because he was very rich. Jesus looked around and said to his disciples, “How hard it is for rich people to enter in to God’s kingdom.”(Mark 10:21-23

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The rector announced on the pulpit one Sunday, “Brothers and sisters, I have good news and bad news for you. The good news is that we now have the money to do the needed repairs in our church, we now have the money to feed the hungry in our neighborhood, and we now have the money to hire a Youth Director.” What’s the bad news Father? , the congregation asked, “The bad news is,” he said, “the money is still in your pockets!”

That is exactly the situation here with the rich young ruler. He has followed almost every commandment. He probably went to the temple regularly. But he asked Jesus to have eternal life, Jesus made the challenge, “Go and sell all your possessions and give it to the poor and come follow me.” That was bad news for him; he went away sorrowful because he has great possessions.

Today, we start a series of  stewardship  reflections called “Blessed to be a Blessing,” as recommended by the Office of Stewardship. This is in preparation for the coming year when we renew our pledges to pray and support the ministries of our church. Every Sunday, the readings and the reflections are designed to remind us, that all that we have and all that we think we possess, are actually God’s and that we are stewards of His great and manifold blessings.

It is important to understand that in this gospel today, the focus of Jesus was not on the wealth of this rich young ruler. The focus of Jesus teaching was on his attachment to wealth. We must also understand that the Bible does not say that “money is the root of all evil.” What it says (in 1^st Timothy 6:10) is “the love of money  is the root of all evil.”  In this example the rich young ruler was unwilling to let go of his possessions in exchange for the vocation that Jesus offered. He had fallen in love with the gifts and forgot the Giver. He failed to realize that wealth is not eternal but God is eternal.  He failed to realize that when you have God, you have everything and when you don’t have God, you have nothing. It is God who gives us knowledge and skills and good health and strength to get wealth. Jesus said, in John 10:10 “I come that you may have life and have abundantly.” The apostle John also wrote to a friend, Gaius, “I wish above all else that you may prosper and be of good health even as your soul prospers” (III John 2)

As stewards, God’s blessings upon us are not meant to be hoarded but to be shared.  This story about the rich young ruler also reminds us of a parable of Jesus (Luke 12:13-21) where the man was blessed to have plenty of harvest but instead of sharing some the blessings, he built a big barn to store them. Then he had many more harvest but again instead of sharing with others, he built and built more barns. When finally he filled all the many barns that he had built, he said to himself, “Now I am ready to enjoy it” but that very day that he was to enjoy them, God took his life. It is interesting that this parable was called “parable of the rich fool.” It seems that the “rich young ruler” is also a rich fool.

John Wesley, the founder of the Methodist Church said, “there are three things we can do with money: first, we must earn as much money as we can; second, we must save as much money as we can; third, we must give as much money as we can.”The problem of the rich young ruler as well as the man who built so many barns is that they were able to do the first two things; they earned what they can; they saved what they can; but they failed and refused to do the third---they did not give what they can. Again the focus of Jesus is not their wealth per se but their attitude towards wealth.

The late Terry Parsons the former Stewardship Officer of the Episcopal Church said that “the desire to have more possessions than what we need are the primary temptations that come with money. Mansions, flashy cars, walk-in closets full of rarely or never-worn clothing, cabinets full of things that are seldom used but need to be dusted, all of the non-essentials that wealth tempts us to accumulate can become not signs of God’s blessings, but the barriers to a life-altering relationship with God. As prosperity grows, our decisions about using money move slowly from an emphasis on needs to wants. We have it not because we need it, but because we want it. “if you’ve got it, flaunt it..” The motto of this generation is “shop till you drop; the one with the most toys win.”

Terry continued, “As we watch the rich young man walk away, some recall the widow whom Jesus applauds when she, among all the people bringing substantial offerings, gives only two small coins. In Mark 12 we read: “Truly I tell you, this poor widow has put in more than all those who are contributing to the treasury. For all of them have contributed out of their abundance; but she, out of her poverty, has put in everything she had, all she had to live on.” Ironically, the widow has done what the Rich Young Ruler could not. Can it be that it is easier not to possess many things?

“Consider this lesson on how to trap a monkey. The story goes that African hunters wanting to capture monkeys unharmed would use as a trap a bottle with a long narrow neck, just large enough so a monkey could put its hand in it. In the evening the bottle would be tied to a tree, and in the bottom of the bottle they would place several good-smelling nuts. In the morning they would find a monkey with its hand clutching the nuts, held securely in the bottle. At any time, the monkey could have released itself simply by opening its hand and letting go of the nuts.”

Years ago as a seminarian, I served at student chaplain in a hospital in connection with my CPE (Clinical Pastoral Education). I had the privileged of witnessing births and deaths and gaining pastoral insights. I observed that when a child is born into this world, the position of the hands is a close fist and the first thing that she learns is to “close-open, close-open” her hands. It seems to say that from birth, we have the tendency to “acquire and to acquire.” But when people die, the position of the hands are often open palms, as if saying “everything I acquired, I left behind.”

“That we can’t take things with us” does not mean that riches can’t be seen as coming from God. They can be and are. But our attitude to them is like that of the late Jaime Cardinal Sin of the Roman Catholic Church who said, “money is the manure of the devil but in the vineyard of God, it is good fertilizer.”

Riches can be seen as God’s gifts– just as we see time, talent, wisdom, good health, right opportunity and a host of other things as blessings from God. But again, they are marked for stewardship. God’s gifts carry with it God’s hope that they might be used by His stewards wisely for the kingdom of God. The rich your ruler was like the monkey who got trapped in the bottle because he cannot let go of his nuts. In the process, he failed to enter into a great adventure that will carry him surely to the kingdom of heaven.”

It is amazing that the fisherman “who left everything and followed Jesus” had his name written for all eternity--“St. Peter”  while this rich young ruler who clung to his possessions had his name buried with his bones, in complete oblivion and anonymity.

On this Sunday, think about what God’s blessings on you and ask, “How can I be a blessing?”

THE KITTEN AND THE DOG: Who is my True Friend?

The Kitten and the Dog: “Who is my True Friend?”

(Adapted from the Parable of the Good Samaritan- Luke 10:25-37)

Once there was a naughty little cat.  He does not like to go to school.  He only wants to play and play.  He always quarrels and quarrels with his friends.  He disobeys his father and mother.  He destroys all toys given him by his parents.

So the mother-cat got angry with the little cat and the father-cat also got angry with little cat.  The mother-cat scolded little cat.  The father-cat scolded the little cat.  The little-cat cried, “Meow, meow, meow.”

And the little cat said, “Since my mother and my father treated me this way, I am going to run away from home.”  So as father-cat and mother-cat were watching television, little-cat sneaked outside and ran away into the streets and into the city.  He roamed around the city, saying “meow, meow, meow.”

But as he was in the middle of the city, he got lost.  And he wanted to return home but he could not remember his way.  He tried to search for the alley he passed through but he could not find it and it was getting dark. The little-cat got worried and he cried, “meow, meow, meow.”

The little cat got hungry and thirsty and he had no money to buy food.  So he went to a restaurant owned by the rabbit.  And the rabbit asked the little-cat: “Ik, ik, ik, ik.  What kind of food do you want to buy?”  The little-cat answered, “I have no money to buy food.  But I am hungry and thirsty.  Can you give me fish and milk?”

The rabbit said: “Ik, ik, ik, ik, no, no, no.  We do not give food.  We sell food.  No money, no fish; no money, no milk.”

So the little-cat went out feeling sad.

The he met a horse.  He said to the horse, “Meow, meow, meow.  Can you give me one dollar to buy food?  I am so hungry and thirsty.  And I have no money to buy fish and milk.”

The horse answered: “Me, he, he, he.  I do not have money yet.  You see, it is only Friday and Saturday is the day of races.  Sorry, me, he, he, he.”  And he left hurriedly afraid that the little cat would pressure him to give money.

Then the little-cat grew more worried because the night was getting deeper and there was going to be a rain.  He was not only feeling hungry and thirsty but he was feeling cold too.  So he went to a small house to cover himself from the rain.  In the house, he was met by a chicken and a turkey.  The chicken and the turkey did not like cats.  So they drove out little-cat from their house.  The chicken shouted, “pot, pot, potak!  Get out of our house!”  The turkey followed “Kalakalakala, get out of our house.”  And they pushed little-cat out into the rain.

So the little cat walked into the rain feeling hungry, rejected and lonely.  Then at the corner of the street, he cried: “Meow, meow, meow.  I do not have a friend here in the city.  The rabbit did not help me.  The horse did not help me.  The chicken did not help me.  The turkey did not help me.  Who is going to be my friend?”

As he was crying at the corner, a dog came along.  The dog looked frightening.  He was wearing a coat like a gangster.  He was biting a slice of bread and from his mouth you can see big, sharp teeth.  He was considered a “terror” in that street. His name was "Pit Bull.” And as this dog walked heavily into the street, he saw the little-cat crouching in the corner.

The little cat became scared and terrified.  He was even more scared when the dog said: “Groarwl, what are you doing here?”  The little cat, trembling said, ““Meow, meow, meow.  I left our house because I was angry with my father and my mother.  And now I’m lost.  I do not know the way back home, and I am hungry and cold but nobody helped me.”

Then the dog said: “Poor little cat.  Come, I’ll bring you to your home.”  And the dog gave the little cat the slice of bread he was biting and shared him his coat.  Then they walked together into the little-cat’s house where his mother and father were waiting for him.

Now, which of the animals did he met was the true friend to little-cat?

(Note:  I wrote this “parable” for a Sunday School some years ago and found it in an old file..-Fred Vergara )

HOLY EUCHARIST AND LIFE'S MEANING

HOLY EUCHARIST & LIFE’S MEANINGS (John 6:53-69)

(Sermon by The Rev. Dr. Winfred B. Vergara, St. Michael & All Angels Episcopal Church,                                              2197 Jackson Ave,, Seaford, NY 11783.August .26,.2012)

“Lord, to whom shall we go? You alone have the words of eternal life.” (John 6:68)

In the early ‘60’s, there was a famous word introduced and popularized by a Jewish psychiatrist, Viktor Frankl . The word was  Logotherapy. It is a combination of the Greek word logos, which to Frankl means “meaning” and therapy meaning “cure.” In other words, logotherapy is the cure or healing through meaning.

In essence, logotherapy is founded upon the theory that it is “Man’s Search for Meaning” (the title of Frankl’s book originally published in 1959) that drives and motivates human beings to live and to survive even in the most difficult of circumstances.  Frankl drew from his own personal experiences and the experiences of his fellow Jews in the concentration camps during Nazi Germany (circa 1933-1945).

Frankl discovered that many like him who survived the Holocaust were people who had great meanings to their lives.  Either they dreamt of serving God and humanity whenever they come out alive; they wanted to write or tell their stories; they believed they have  friends or loved ones waiting for them outside the camps. Their deep commitment to that dream, their profound sense of mission, their confounded longings for love fulfillment, enabled them to survive forced labor, maltreatment, starvation, loneliness and the fear of death.

Applied to physical or mental sickness, Frankl concluded that the search for meaning, is a major factor in healing. Those who survived surgeries, those who survived terminal cancer, those who were healed of psychosis, were those who have meanings. They have a mission to accomplish, a project to fulfill, a relationship to mend or a dream to pursue.  

Meanings to our lives give us the reason and the will to live. We struggle to drink the bitter medicine in order to get well.  Patients miraculously wake up after a coma because their loved ones whispered they would be waiting at the recovery room.  Cancer patients brave the pain of surgery, the difficulty of chemotherapy or radiation because they want to live longer and fulfill their purpose.

Meanings to life also enable martyrdom . Prior to his assassination, Martin Luther King, Jr.  spoke rather prophetically about his death, in a speech in Memphis on April 3, 1968, “And I've looked over, and I've seen the promised land. I may not get there with you, but I want you to know tonight that we as a people will get to the promised land. ”  The following day, he was killed from an assassin’s bullet.

The Philippine hero, Ninoy Aquino was teaching at Harvard University as an exile in the United States, and  recuperating from heart surgery but the call to liberate his country from the dictatorship of Marcos was so strong.  He prepared to return to his homeland, aware of the danger which he brushed aside, saying, “The Filipinos are worth dying for.”  On that fateful day of August 21, 1983 he was martyred  on the tarmac of Manila International Airport.

Life’s meaning is not confined only to living long or dying by martyrdom. Years ago while serving at a parish, I was visiting an elderly woman in the hospital.  For several weeks, I would visit to give her Holy Communion and to pray for her healing. One day, as I was about to pray, she held my hand and said, “Father, please don’t pray for my healing anymore.” Pardon me, Ma’am, what did you say? “Please don’t pray for my healing anymore. I am now alone, all my friends and family are gone, there is nothing else to my life. I think this cancer is God’s way for me to go. Please, I want to rest; I want to die; I want to be with the Lord. Give me a favor; pray that the Lord will take me soon.”

For a moment, I could not say anything. I wondered if I was being asked like Dr. Jack Kevorkian, to be a “priest of death.” All the while, I was hardwired to always pray for healing whenever I am with the sick. But this time, I believed in her sincerity. And that very moment, I prayed for God’s will. The following day, the nurses told me, she died peacefully.

Life’s meanings have meanings. According to NYC City Health Records, there are an average  of 500 deaths by suicides in New York City alone, a good percentages of them, in the subways.  The rate of suicide in the United States of course ,pale in comparison to that of Japan, which reported suicide as the “leading cause of death” especially  for Japanese males from ages 28 to 44. The reasons of suicides in New York and Tokyo, are varied but many of them are due to the loss of jobs, loss or loved ones, depression---and the lack of life’s meanings. Without meaning, life is not worth the living. And money has no correlation in life’s meanings, as megarich celebrities who committed suicides  illustrate.

The Gospel this morning is about meaning to life. Jesus said, ”I tell you the truth, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man, and drink his blood, you would have no life in you. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day.” Some of his listeners thought that he was crazy and left. Jesus turned to Peter and the twelve disciples, “are you going away also?” And Peter replied, “To whom shall we go? You alone have the words of eternal life.” 

Had those listeners waited for a while, they would have known the real meaning to life.

The Holy Eucharist which we celebrate today is about meanings to life. As children of God, we are engaged in a ritual filled with symbols and meanings. The Church is the Body of Christ where Christ is the head and we are members of that one Body.  That is why we have a Body exercise:  we stand to praise God, we kneel to pray, and we sit to listen.  But more than the physical calisthenics, is the very meaning of the Eucharist. At the Altar of the Lord, we proclaim: “Christ, has died, Christ is risen, Christ will come again.” The altar of the Lord is also the Altar of the world, where Christ had been offered for human sin in all its protean forms.

The Eucharist on Sunday is therefore the alpha and omega, the beginning and ending of Christian mission that gives meaning to our lives. On Sundays, we come to the Table to be nourished by the Bread of Life and the Wine of Salvation.  Then we depart to serve “like bread broken and given to the world. “ We are sent into the world to witness to Christ’s message of love, peace and reconciliation.  The message of Christ that we bring is clear:

John 10:10 - I come that you may have life in all its fullness.  John 14:27 Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid. John 16:33 “In the world you have tribulations but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.” Revelations 3:20  “Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me.”   “I am the Bread of Life; they who come to me shall not hunger; they who believe in me shall not thirst. No one can come to me, unless the Father draws near. And I will raise them up on the last day.”

Today, as we gather in this Holy Eucharist, we are heirs of God’s promise in Christ. The joy of the Christians is two-fold: we have the gift of eternal life and we are called to be bringers of this gift to others. As we partake of the Body and Blood of Christ in this Holy Communion, may we gain meanings of His Word, knowledge of his will, and bearers of His salvation.  Amen.

(Photo Caption: In 2008 while on a study tour of "Palestine of Jesus," I was invited to preside at a Holy Eucharist in the Church of the Primacy of Peter, by the lake of Galilee. The chapel is owned by the Roman Catholic Church, which explains the background of the amazing portrait of Pope John Paul II. The spot where the chapel is located, is the spot where Jesus asked Peter (three times) , "Do you love me more than these?" And Peter replied, "Yes, Lord, you know that I love you" to which Jesus said, "feed my sheep." It was a great honor as well as a humbling experience for me to celebrate the Eucharist on the Holy Land.)