Tomorrow Never Knows

Evensong on the Day of Pentecost 2009

In our first reading we heard how Moses instructs the people of Israel to celebrate the feast of seven weeks, known as the feast Pentecost. The feast was celebrated 50 days after the start of the harvest. The celebration that Moses orders is meant to be regular – celebrated every year, exactly 50 days after the first day of the harvest – presumably until the end of time.

This Jewish feast of Pentecost is picked up by Saint Luke in the Acts of Apostles and attached to the day when Jesus’ followers received the Holy Spirit. Like the Jewish feast that it is rooted in, Pentecost has become a feast celebrated each year, exactly fifty days after Easter Day – it is not so much a feast day rather than a celebration and culmination of the Easter Season.

I know that today is Pentecost, next Sunday is Trinity Sunday, after that Corpus Christi, and beginning this week we begin to settle into Ordinary Time for the Summer and Fall. I can look at a calendar and I know what to expect because I have done it before and I know what its going to be like.

It’s the same every year and I find comfort in such regularity. Somewhat contrary to this type of routine is the second reading. Jesus has told his followers that he is leaving, but he will leave them his Peace and give them the gift of the Holy Spirit. The disciples do not know what will happen next. They have questions and the answers that Jesus gives only begin to make sense after his Resurrection and the pouring out of the Holy Spirit.

I believe that in the midst of the regularity of the church year, as well as in the midst of the daily routine every single one of us cherishes, each of us encounters God working our lives in unexpected and mysterious ways.

A few examples: We scheduled Confirmation with Bishop Grein at this morning’s 11:00 AM Solemn Mass – Here we are tonight at what may be the first and only service of Evensong, Confirmation and Benediction that most – if not all – of us have or ever will attend. Bishop Grein is not here, but thankfully Bishop St John is. This entire evening is an unexpected blessing for all of us.

Two and a half weeks ago my wife and I celebrated the birth of our second child, Nicholas. Whatever daily routine we had developed has been completely shattered – I used to enjoy planning dinner each night of the week, now I am thrilled if the four of us are able to be in the same room together at the same time without someone crying. Life with a newborn and a 2-and-a-half year old who is delighted that he is suddenly a big brother has brought more challenges and blessings than I can count – all of them unexpected, but all of them filled with the mystery and love of God working in our lives. I never imagined that I would hear my older son Liam say: “I’m the one who gets to say: Lord Jesus make Nicholas a good boy.” I never saw that coming.

The most recent example, I can think of comes from a conversation I had this morning at Coffee Hour. At Solemn Mass a young boy was baptized and there were lots of other children present. A little girl who is in church every week named Joanna – no more than four years old – came up and asked me what Baptism was. I was caught off guard, but I gave my best answer. Baptism is when you begin a new life in Christ and when you get baptized you become part of the church. “Why do we get baptized”, she asked. I was basically ready for this after the last question: We get baptized because Jesus himself was Baptized and because he told us to Baptize others. Maybe not the most profound answers, but I thought it was ok for a four year old. Her last question caught me off guard again. “Why water?” I thought of quoting some passage of scripture or church doctrine about dying and rising and being cleansed from sin, but what I said was far less profound: “Its like a bath, you come out new. But you only have to take it once.” It wasn’t a perfect answer, but she got that I think.

When I think about it, every day of my life has served as a reminder that I can plan for what I think might happen next, but I do not know what tomorrow will bring. We don’t need to have answers to every question or a plan for every situation; the apostles didn’t, but every time I confront the unexpected and ask for God’s help I’ve found that the Lord is present in unexpected and mysterious ways.

I believe part of making a Christian adult affirmation of faith in Jesus’ death and resurrection is understanding that you and I will continually be faced with unexpected questions and situations that fall far outside out regular routine. As a Christian who continues to learn, I think the best advice I can give to any other Christian is this: continue to ask for God’s help and guidance and continue to pray for the Holy Spirit to fill you with wisdom, courage, and strength; and continue to spread the Good News of Christ to those around us.

2 minutes of prayer

Sermon preached at Evensong & Benediction, Easter 5, Year 1, May 10, 2009.

There are a number of different facets to my prayer life. In the morning and in the evening I say the Daily Office. Most days I celebrate at least one Mass. I pray before meals and at night with my family. And I pray alone. The environment that I am in influences how I pray and what I pray for.

Sometimes I pray for very general things: bless my family, keep them healthy – that sort of thing. At other times, I pray for specific things, very specific things. I think sometimes people have trouble with that type of prayer because it often doesn’t deliver the desired results. Someone can pray all they want for something specific to happen – I imagine that many people in the last year have been praying to get a new job, or to be more specific, to get that new job. If those prayers are not granted, what does it mean?


Jesus tells his disciples to ask, and it will be given. Knock and the door will be opened. He also says that through prayer they can do anything, heal people, cast out demons, even move mountains. As a person who prays and has not yet moved any mountains, what am I supposed to think about Jesus’ teaching on the power of prayer?

First, I don’t discount the power of God to do things that I might think are impossible. I know people who really have been miraculously healed through prayer. But beyond that, I think when we pray for those specific things, even if we don’t expect our prayers to act like magic wishes, we recognize those things in our life that are consuming us, and we can begin to ask for God’s help in moving through them or taking them on as challenges that we can face.

To use the job example – if someone is looking for a job and is not praying about that, isn’t that a lot like ignoring an 800 lb gorilla in the living room? If someone is sick and doesn’t specifically address that sickness in her prayers, what exactly is the person praying for?

I can a great deal about world peace and Christian unity, but my wife is going to have a baby any day now – I pray for her health, I pray for the baby, I pray for myself so that I can be a good father, and I pray for our 2 year old son so that he can be a great brother. I pray for specific things at specific times. By addressing the biggest and most obvious issues in my life, I am able to ask God for the power to help me focus on those issues. I am able to ask God for guidance and help in my life in very specific ways.

All of us have specific challenges in our lives that are standing in front of us like a big closed door. We don’t always know what is on the other side of that door, but at some point we need to go through the door. Recognizing that the door is there is the first act of prayer. You might pray for the strength to open it, or the courage to knock, or the persistence to keep knocking. Ignoring the door or pretending that it isn’t there isn’t going to make it go away and it certainly isn’t going to get the door opened.


One of the blessings that I have discovered each week is the 2 minutes of silence at Benediction – two minutes we will all be given in a few moments. I use that time to pray fervently about everything and anything that comes to mind. Sometimes my prayers are very specific, sometimes they are very general and vague, sometimes I simply stare at the Blessed Sacrament in adoration. Whatever I do, I am spiritually fed for two minutes in a way that is unique to the rest of the week. With that in mind I would like to offer a suggestion. Open your heart and soul completely to the love and power of God in prayer tonight. Take that two minutes as the blessing that it is and take a good long look at whatever doors you know are in front of you and then knock.

A solid foundation

Sermon preached at Evensong & Benediction, Easter 4, Year 1, May 3, 2009

I often use the example of the wise and foolish house builders from today’s Gospel passage when I officiate and preach at a wedding. I think that the passage works well with trying to live out the vows the couple makes to each other. Its more common than you might think for couple to ask to write their own vows at a wedding. Often the vows that people want to make are things that are impossible to live up to.

A few examples that I have heard:
I promise to show you my love for you every day of my life.
I promise to bring you flowers when you are sad.
I promise to remember every birthday and anniversary.
I promise to be there whenever you need me.
I promise that we will never disagree again.

I always steer couples toward the vows in the BCP, by explaining that these things sound nice and some of them may be very sentimental, but honestly, after 5 years of marriage, I can tell you that, if any of those were vows I had made, I would have broken all of them – many, many times.

Sentimental things don’t necessarily last. Every husband will forget to bring flowers more than once. Every couple will have very painful arguments. In the same way, many things that people think are essential also don’t always last. Money and a great job sometimes disappear. Physical looks change and fade as decades pass. Everyone eventually develops health issues. To build a marriage on any one of those things, to vow to do something that cannot realistically be done is no different than building a house on a foundation of sand. The foundation isn’t solid and the house will eventually fall down.

What doesn’t change, fade or end is the love that God has for each of us. By dying and rising from the grave, Jesus conquered all the powers of this world, including death and by his rising we know that not even death can separate us from the love of God. Modeling a marriage on the love that God has for each us is like building a house on a rock solid foundation. I encourage couples to understand that the vows the church authorizes recognize that life changes, but with the help of God, love can continue to grow through those changes.

I know that not every person here is married. I know that many people will never get married. Still, I believe this image can be used by every single one of us in every relationship that we have. Looking at each other less with eyes that see only temporary details and more and more as a co-heir in Christ and a child of God makes all the difference in the world. My marriage has been greatly helped by the fact that it was built on the foundation of Jesus Christ and his love for all people. May the Holy Spirit fill us all so that we can begin to build all of our relationships on the love of God and see and treat every person as a child of God.