Tuesday, February 14, 2012
Lenten Invitation
Follow this link to an invitation to observe Lent with us: http://youtu.be/-tyeu5mE0UY
Sunday, January 1, 2012
Arise, shine; for your light has come, and the glory of the LORD has risen upon you. Isaiah 60:1
It was the summer of 1967. My brother and I sneaked into a showing of “Wait until Dark”. Before the movie, we saw the following warning: During the last eight minutes of this picture the theatre will be darkened to the legal limit, to heighten the terror of the breathtaking climax which takes place in nearly total darkness on the screen. If there are sections where smoking is permitted, those patrons are respectfully requested not to jar the effect by lighting up during this sequence.
The film stars Hepburn as a blind woman who is being stalked by a bad guy who wants to kill her (short synopsis of a long plot here). In the closing scene, she is alone in the apartment at night. As she flees her would-be killer, she smashes the bulbs in all the lamps, making the apartment increasingly darker. As she is doing this, the theater is dimmed, light by light, so that at the film’s climax, the audience is in the dark too, and now we are all on a level playing field with the blind woman. Every sound from the movie elicited screams from the audience (including yours truly!)
How scary to be stalked in the dark, where every sound could mean death at the hands of the villain.
It is against the backdrop of darkness and sin that the Magi (Wise Men, Astrologers) seek out the newborn Messiah by the light of a star. Save for the star, the world was otherwise dark. Scary, this being stalked by sin in the dark.
The light comes. So much hope wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger, and illuminated by a distant star.
What happens to this light today depends on those who are illuminated by it. You and I speak the message of light and hope to a world stalked by sin in the dark. As a people of the Epiphany, may our light shine and give glory to God and hope to all people! We are free from fear in the light that is Christ.
Pr. Bill Barter
Saturday, December 24, 2011
Saturday, September 3, 2011
One Potato, Two Potato
Every September, I remember potato harvest in Aroostook County. When I was pastor of Wallagrass, Soldier Pond, Daigle, and Guerette, many of my parishioners were potato farmers, and many more were dependent upon the potato industry. To ensure that enough workers are available for harvest, school starts in August, so that the high school kids can get out for the month of September for “harvest recess
For three or four weeks each fall, I would trade my collar for farm gear to help with harvest. It is backbreaking work! It starts before daylight and goes until dusk. The only break is for Sunday morning Mass. For a city kid like me, it was a real education. I now know more about potatoes than I ever thought possible.
· Before walking into and out of a field, and when mounting and exiting the harvest equipment, boots are sanitized in a special solution to prevent potato diseases.
· A new pair of kid gloves lasts about one day during harvest
· Dust and dirt can collect in the tiny folds of your eyelids and between your lashes.
· After 12 hours on a moving harvester, your body will still feel like it is moving for about 8 hours.
· Harvesters will not work in the rain.
· There are a gajillion varieties of potato. Some are harvested and sold for seeding the next crop.
· If the potatoes are not harvested when ripe, they quickly rot, and the crop is lost.
Of all of the above factoids, I believe the last one is most critical. You simply need enough harvesters for a timely harvest, or all is lost. No workers=no harvest=rotten potatoes=no potatoes.
When Jesus talks about harvesting, he is not describing potatoes. He is describing people. In a world of confusion, noise, greed, and hate, harvesters are needed more than ever. As workers in the field, we have the privilege of bringing a message of love, grace, and hope to everyone. Can any of us do this alone, or does it take a whole church, working together, to make this happen?
As our congregation continues to grow, let us be renewed. All of us need to listen carefully to the words of Jesus. Are you ready to work the harvest? What gifts and talents can you bring to the field? Can you encourage others to join us in the important work of harvesting?
Pr. Bill Barter
Sunday, May 29, 2011
Wednesday, March 2, 2011
Lent is an opportunity for renewal as a congregation and as individuals.
We are in cycle “A” of the lectionary this year. The Lenten readings for cycle “A” were chosen as a series of texts for people preparing for baptism at Easter. We generally baptize infants, but in churches with a significant number of adults preparing for baptism, it is recommended that the cycle “A” readings be used regardless of the actual cycle we are in, so powerful are the images of these readings.
On the five Sundays of Lent we meet: Jesus, hungry and tempted in the desert; Nicodemus with his questions about rebirth; a thirsty Samaritan woman at the well; a man born blind who can now see; and Lazarus, a dead man unbound and raised from the dead. These are among the richest images in the Gospels. During our weekly Wednesday Lenten prayers, we will focus more deeply on these passages and what they signify for the Christian who is hungry for knowledge and truth.
When I was in seminary in the 1970s, I got to know Sr. Mary Aidan Curran, a Sister of Divine Providence and a retired school principal. Sr. Mary Aidan worked the switchboard at the seminary. She was a character! Born in Ireland, she came to America in the early 1920s to teach in the Catholic schools in Kentucky, because the Congregation of Divine Providence, based in Alsace-Lorraine, did not have enough English-speaking nuns in the U.S. after many of them emigrated here to flee World War I.
In her eighties, Sr. Mary Aidan was diagnosed with Macular Degeneration, a disease of the eye that often leads to total blindness over time. She was told that, given her age and the limited treatments available (this was 30 years ago), she would likely lose her sight in five years. When many people would have despaired, Sr. Mary Aidan made a life-changing decision. She decided that she would use her remaining years of eyesight to teach reading to adults in Appalachia. She came OUT of retirement at 82 and taught reading until her death at age 90! This has always stood out in my experience as an example of rebirth, of finding something extraordinary despite the frailty of our mortality.
What will our Lenten discipline yield? Despite our human frailty and sinfulness, where do we find meaning? How can we use Lent as a time to see how we are raised up and reborn in Christ? It all starts with acknowledging our hunger, our brokenness. Then we attend to the Word of God and we apply it to our lives. Repentant sinners, we are reborn as children of God in Christ. This is an amazing gift. Why not share it?
Join me and the Christian Church as together we use this Lenten time to reflect, to be hungry for truth, and to celebrate and proclaim the unbounded grace that lives in God’s love.
Pr. William Barter
Wednesday, January 5, 2011
Follow the Light!
The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.” John 1:5
I live with my aunt in a big house. It is a VERY big house! Aunt Katherine lives in an “in-law” apartment in the back while I occupy the front of the house and the second floor with my living quarters and home office. The living arrangement works very well with one exception: When I am away, the house seems very dark and a bit scary for Aunt Katherine. It does not help that I have had to re-move old “knob and tube” electrical wiring, leaving some portions of the house without electric power.
As the electricians restore power to more and more of the house, it is not quite so dark. For example, we now have a front porch light for the first time in two years. Now, when someone rings the bell at night, we can at least see their face and other identifiable features. New automated lights in the yard are switched on by motion, so that when Aunt Katherine walks her dog, her path is well lighted. There is fear in darkness and security in light.
During the cold, snowy months of January and February,we move into the Epiphany season. It can be rather dark. But as the days now get longer and lighter once again, we are reassured. In celebrating the vision of a star guiding the Magi to the baby Jesus, we see in the coming of Christ a light in the darkness.
Are we still fearful in the corners of darkness? Do sin and the gloom-and-doom messages of today’s world seem too frightening? If so, we need only look to the star that glows above the stable. As the wise men found their way to Jesus, the Word made flesh, so too we
follow the light of Christ as people of hope and vision. Once you see the light, don’t hide it! The star burns brightly in you as you point others to Jesus!
Happy season of Epiphany!
Pastor Bill Barter
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
