Graduation Sunday is always bittersweet. We are so very blessed by the young people in this church, as well as their families. Year after year, we celebrate our graduates’ extraordinary character and goodness, which attest to how very well-grounded they are in their faith. That is largely a product of God’s hand on them, their families and their church.
Read MoreThis morning, we join Jesus and the Disciples at the Last Supper, during which, for five full chapters of John’s Gospel, Jesus is preparing and reassuring His friends for His imminent departure and death. In the midst of what must have been an anxious time for the Disciples, Jesus makes a mystifying promise to them… that He will not leave them, but will give them “another Advocate” who will be with them forever. And… whoever this “another Advocate” is, He will actually come to live in them… forever! Even 2,000 years on, we strain to fathom the wonder of all Jesus promised them (and us) on that evening before His death.
So, especially on this Sunday when little Oliver Joseph is baptized and receives his own Gift of the Holy Spirit “Advocate”, Jesus gives us an ideal moment to reflect upon who God’s “another Advocate” is. Today is Olive’s new-birth day, and he will be “sealed and marked as Christ’s own forever” … and everything will change for him.
Read MoreMeg and I were on vacation out of the country last week. Before boarding our flight home, they checked our passports six times before we boarded our plane for the flight home. Six times, and three of those included scanning them electronically.
We had no problem with that. We appreciate the security assuring our safety and well-being. But six seemed a lot, and all of that to ensure that she was her and I was me, that we belonged on this flight and were cleared for international travel. And that we pose no threats to others’ safety.
I’ve been vetted way more deeply than that along the way to ordination and for each position I’ve held in the church, including being your rector. You need to have confidence that I didn’t just show up and take this job without education, training, experience, background checks and character references and on and on. Our identity matters.
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