Thoughts from Bishop Jake

Dear Sisters and Brothers,                                      

At one time or another we have said, or at least have heard it said, "I am a creature of habit."

When we take the habitual route to work instead of heading for the grocery store as we intended, we may be admitting that we are distracted or absorbed in our own thoughts.

If we have trouble acquiring a new way of accomplishing old tasks or find ourselves resisting an innovation, we say it to admit that we have trouble adjusting to change.

We frequently speak of our eating habits, our exercise habits, or our television habits as something we want to change, since the habits we have accumulated are diminishing our sense of vitality.

Given our usage of the word "habit" you might think that habits are bad. While some habits do in fact decrease our enjoyment of life, habits themselves are not bad. Habits are an essential element of happiness. We are indeed creatures of habit, precisely because God created us this way. God created us to accumulate the habits that draw us close to him and close to one another.

What makes great batters or golfers great? They have practiced their swing so much that, in the midst of play, they never have to think about it. It's second nature. Their swing has become habitual.

God created us to accumulate the habits of love. That's right. The habits of love. God does not want us to live a life enslaved to the whims of the moments. Today I may feel a bit grumpy or on edge.   I might be a little distracted or overwhelmed. If my love for God and for neighbor depended upon how I happen to feel at any moment, my love would be episodic and unreliable.

By contrast, our loving behavior arises from long-accumulated habit, we share our love no matter how we happen to feel about God, our neighbor, or even ourselves that day. Love, after all, is not merely a particular set of affections or passions. For love of God we give our lives to him even on the most ordinary days. We love our neighbors by seeking their good even when they wish we would eat rat poison.

How do we accumulate the habits of love? Like batters and golfers, we have to practice. Each day we have to exercise our hearts and minds and bodies to prepare for the big game, in other words, for ordinary life at home, work, and school. That exercise consists of having a Rule of Life.

A Rule of Life is a pattern for living. It includes devotional practices and acts mercy. Our personal devotions and community worship shape our love for God. Giving our time to serve the poor, visit the sick, defend the weak, and welcome the stranger shapes our love of neighbor. A rule of life shapes our spiritual habits.

The essence of happiness is love. Yes, we need to be loved to be happy. But we also need to give love freely to be happy. Giving our love regardless of our external circumstances is a matter of habit. That is why God has made us creatures of habit: that we might know his joy and that our joy might be complete. (John 15:11)

In Christ's Love, 

The Rt. Rev. Jacob W. Owensby, Ph.
          

E.Y.C. Hoop Fun

The E.Y.C. - Episcopal Youth Community - had a great game day today at Grace Episcopal School's Gym. We played basket ball and had a great lesson on getting along with one another by Ms. Dee. Daniel brought delicious cake and and drinks for everyone.

Will and Halley's teams battled to 6-6 tie in our half-court b-ball game - at least according to Fr. Whit's count...No cheating was allowed.

Photo by Ms. Dee...

Thoughts from Bishop Jake

Dear Sisters and Brothers,                         

How can I help? We have had more occasion to ask that question recently than we would wish.

As last year was winding down, Hurricane Sandy ravaged the northeast, especially parts of New Jersey and New York. The shootings at Sandy Hook Elementary School happened as we were preparing to celebrate Christmas.

There are many worthy ways to provide aid and comfort. Among them is Episcopal Relief and Development (ERD). Nearly 90% of each donation goes directly to the intended recipients. Costs for administration and for fund raising take up the rest. This is a remarkable ratio in the world of charitable giving.

You may certainly give to ERD as individuals, but let me suggest that you help lead your congregation to become a contributor to ERD. Whether you do this as need arises or you sustain the ongoing work of ERD in our nation and around the world, giving to ERD is a highly effective way to put the Gospel into action.

To learn more about ERD, please click this link: ERD.

Consider designating loose offering, providing a special giving opportunity, or apportioning part of your outreach budget to ERD. Acting as a congregation rather than as an individual is especially valuable in our Christian walk. It reinforces for us that we are parts of a body, the Body of Christ.

Following Jesus is not a solo performance, it is a group project. Christian life is life in community.

I encourage you to make as one of your resolutions this year to ask what we can do: we as a Christ following community. In addition to the tragedies and disasters that grab media attention, consider the ongoing challenges of your town and our state.

For instance, a shocking number of children did not want to take the Christmas break. They would not be fed regularly without the school nutrition program. Those same children need basic school supplies but also everyday things we take for granted like socks and underwear. Consider contacting a school in your town with economically struggling parents and children.

Your congregation can provide support for the poor, the handicapped, and the dying. Contact the St. Luke's Mobile Medical Ministry, Solomon House, the Shepherd Center, or your local hospice to see how your congregation can support the good work being done.

The Gospel is not merely something we think or even believe. The Gospel is something we do. Something we do as the beloved community of Jesus followers.

As I finish writing this reflection, palpable joy is welling up in my heart, and there is a smile on my face, as I think of all of you. The Lord has filled me with love for you all and with enthusiasm for the work he is doing in, through, and among us. What a privilege it is to be your bishop!

In Christ's Love, 

The Rt. Rev. Jacob W. Owensby, Ph.D 

    

Thoughts from Bishop Jake

Dear Sisters and Brothers,

Happy New Year!

Some of us have made resolutions for the coming year, many of which aim at self-improvement. We intend to eat less and to exercise more. Replace watching TV with reading. Learn a foreign language or be more patient.

We all need to make life-adjustments from time to time, and resolutions can play a worthy role in that process. But I find that resolutions often focus merely on the periphery of our lives. They rarely dig into the deep core of our values.

Before we get too far along in this year, let's take a little time to reflect on what we make the center of our universe. Think about these questions, or something like them:

What am I really about in this life? On what do I depend for my sense of significance? Where do I seek security?

Now, let's remember what Jesus taught us:

"'You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.' This is the greatest and first commandment. And a second is like it: 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.'"   (Matthew 22:37-39)

Jesus urges us to nurture our relationships. Our relationship with God is our starting point, and that relationship expresses itself in our relationships with other people.

But it would be a mistake to consider the Summary of the Law as a goal to achieve, something that we can accomplish. Too many religious people fall into this error of thinking. They figure that being good enough and being spiritual enough will make God love them. And so they miss the point entirely.

God already loves us. He forsook all his infinite glory to be born for us in a manger and to die for us on a cross. He did this for us precisely because we cannot fulfill the Summary of the Law on our own.   As Anne Lamott put it, "If I were going to begin practicing the presence of God for the first time today, it would help to begin by admitting the three most terrible truths of our existence: that we are so ruined, and so loved, and in charge of so little." (from Help, Thanks, Wow)

The life devoted to and inscribed by love is the life that God gives us through Christ, not the achievement that God will grade in the end as if life were a great exam. It is the destination to which Jesus will lead us if we follow him, even if we often follow by shuffling or dragging our feet or stumbling headlong in a daze.

Blessings to you all in this New Year! It is so exciting to imagine what Jesus has in store for us!

In Christ's Love,

+Jake

The Rt. Rev. Jacob W. Owensby, Ph.D.
The Diocese of Western Louisiana

Archbishop Rowan Williams' Final New Year Message

               
                   

The Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams pays tribute to the silent and often invisible church volunteers who make a difference to other peoples' lives. In his final final New Year message before stepping down he says religion should not be seen as an "old-fashioned embarrassment" but instead a "wellspring of energy."

The 62-year-old Williams has now officially departed as the 104th Archbishop of Canterbury or leader of the Church of England and spiritual head of the 77-million-strong Anglican Communion world-wide. Williams left on December 31, 2012 following a 10-year tenure.

He will go on to take up the posts of master of Magdalene College, Cambridge, and chairman of the board of trustees of Christian Aid, the international development agency.

Williams will be replaced by 56-year-old former oil executive the Rt Rev Justin Welby, the Bishop of Durham, who will be consecrated in March at Canterbury Cathedral as the new archbishop of Canterbury.

Thoughts from Bishop Jake

Wednesday, December 19, 2012            
Dear Sisters and Brothers,

The tragic events in Newtown, Connecticut, have left us all stunned and sorrowful. You can read my initial response from Friday by clicking this link. Later, I provided a theological reflection about this violence and the love of God in the sermon "Where Was God in That?" and you can read it by clicking this link.

Many have wondered how to celebrate Christmas when so many of our fellow citizens find themselves stricken with grief. The dissonance between our usual seasonal gladness and the horror of the shootings at Sandy Hook Elementary School suggests to some that we should forgo joy and celebration this year out of respect for and solidarity with those who mourn.

This is an understandable but misguided impulse. In all things--especially in the face of sorrow, pain, and death--followers of Jesus help each other remember, and announce to the doubting world, that God's love conquers death and his light dissolves all darkness.

Our celebration of the Nativity of Jesus Christ reminds us that God enters even our darkest, most harrowing places. When we find ourselves in such a place--and Newtown brings us all to such a place--there is no more fitting time to remember Emmanuel. God with us.

We do not dishonor those who have died or turn an indifferent heart to those who grieve when we experience with joy the birth of the Son of God. Instead, we realize with greater depth and clarity why this birth was necessary for us and what an unspeakably wonderful gift we have received.

Nothing we say or do can make whole again what was shattered last Friday in Newtown. Lives and hearts and souls lie in pieces on the ground. And yet, what is beyond our capacity to repair God himself has begun to restore through the birth of Jesus. He makes himself vulnerable to our deepest sorrows and our most agonizing pain in order to bring us joy and healing that we cannot produce for ourselves.

And so I bid you to celebrate this Christmas with joy, because we are celebrating the healing power of the manger. Heaven has bent low to touch the earth. To turn death into eternal life. To exchange crushing sorrow for tender, undying jubilation. To redeem even and especially the tragedy of Newtown.

Joy and the whole Owensby family join me in wishing you every Christmas blessing. May the joy and peace of Jesus Christ be yours this day and forever more.
In Christ's Love,

+Jake
              

Choose Joy

Here's the sermon I preached at St. Alban's last sunday:                       

Stir up your power, O Lord, and with great might come among us; and, because we are sorely hindered by our sins, let your bountiful grace and mercy speedily help and deliver us.

That’s the collect we prayed just a few minutes ago, the one we pray every third Sunday of Advent. It goes with the lighting of the third candle of the Advent wreath, the pink candle of joy.

And that makes perfect sense, because what could bring greater joy to the hearts and minds of God’s people than the expectation that God will once again be stirred by our plea and with great might come among us?

The early part of this week—after turning in my grades in the nick of time Monday—I spent many of my spare moments thinking about what I might say about that today.

I thought of the great joys of this season, the anticipation of children of all ages, the eagerness with which we look forward to not only gifts under a tree and a feast with our families, but the moments sharing familiar carols and kneeling at a manager gazing in wide-eyed wonder at God become flesh to dwell among us.

And then came Friday, and the cruel and senseless deaths of 20 mere babes and a number of adults in Connecticut.

How can we light the candle of joy when our hearts are broken?

How can we sing—at all, much less “Joy to the World”—when the worlds of so many have been dealt a blow that will color every remaining moment of their lives?

How can we pray and believe that God has and does and will always come among us with great might when we continue to be so sorely hindered by the evil and tragedy that is so a part of the human condition?

I have just two responses that make sense to me this sad morning.

The first is that joy is something we choose, even when we do not feel joyful.

In other words, we tend to think of joy as only an emotion, something we must feel. And we do feel joyful when things in our lives go well, when our children make good grades or graduate from college. When our work is appreciated. When sick people get well. When the love we feel toward another is returned in kind. When the world makes sense.

But when things do not go our way, when our love is rejected, when good people suffer… and most of all when those we love are snatched from us and this life in the most senseless ways, then frustration, sadness, and deep grief drive the joy from our lives. We are bereft. We cannot imagine ever feeling joyful again.

Yet even then, we can choose joy. Especially then, joy is a choice we make in faith. As children of the living, Incarnate God, we go to the graves of our dreams and plans and exalted expectations, even to the graves of family and friends, and ultimately to our own grave, saying, Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia.

The second response that makes sense to me this morning is to claim for our own what John the Baptizer offers to those who had gathered to hear him preach so long ago (Luke 3:7-18, NRSV). What should we do? they ask.

Now the context of today’s Gospel story is somewhat different from our own. John has been doing what John did so well, namely preaching hellfire and brimstone. Indeed, he has just called at least some of his listener’s a brood of vipers!

Those remarks were most likely directed at the religious leadership of the day, who did not take kindly to crudely dressed prophets drawing ordinary folks away from official religion, telling them the good news of salvation at hand and baptizing them in a river on the edge of the wilderness. John was clearly a threat to their power and influence.

But as is often the case, the ordinary folk, the ones with the least power and influence, are the ones who take John’s message most to heart. To them, calamity was at hand. And so they ask John, What should we do?

And John gives them simple, gentle instructions about how to live as those who have accepted God’s love and mercy, as those who have chosen joy in faith that God is with us.

Give your second coat to one who has none, says John. Share your food with those who are hungry. Don’t cheat. Don’t bully. Care for one another as God cares for you.

These are the same instructions Jesus the Christ gave us over and over: Welcome the stranger, visit the prisoner, love your enemy. And today, especially in light of Friday’s calamity, find someone who grieves and be with them in their grief.

We cannot all rush off to Connecticut, or to the many places worldwide where violence and suffering abound. But we can reach out in love and kindness to those who suffer in our very own community. It is how we express the joy we have chosen in faith, even when our hearts are heavy.

Stir up your power, O Lord, and with great might come among us.

AMEN