<\/p>\n
Note to self: the next time I am asked if I would like to conduct morning prayer remind me to check the gospel first. Today’s gospel struck me as something that Eric Cartman would say on South Park or Mel Brooks in The History of the World Part 1! <\/span><\/p>\n No offense to Luke, I had no chance of understanding these lines, especially after having the commandment that says, \u201cHonor thy mother and father\u201d drilled into me in Sunday School.<\/span><\/p>\n Let me read these passages from the Gospel again and I think you will understand my confusion. <\/span><\/p>\n The 14<\/span>th<\/sup><\/span> chapter of Luke, beginning on the 25<\/span>th<\/sup><\/span> verse. \u201cNow large crowds were traveling with Jesus and he turned and said to them, \u201cWhoever comes to me and does not hate their father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters yes and even life itself, cannot be my disciple. Whoever does not <\/span>carry<\/span> the cross and follow me cannot be my disciple.\u201d \u00a0 \u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n What ever happened to \u201cJesus loves me\u201d? Was there something I missed growing up? The example of Heavenly Love calling out hatred as a prerequisite for his followers? I could not just accept those passages, so I did a little research. I started with a periodic email I receive called \u201cSermons That Work.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n They published a sermon that discussed this reading. When I finished reading their sermon, I was the proud owner of a blazing headache. Never one to give up I Took a moment and considered grabbing my King James Bible, then out of respect for Dan Seaborne, I put it away.<\/span><\/p>\n Ginny wanted to find things to do after she retired. The Southbury Senior Center offered a class on the Bible, which she joined. I am not sure of the denomination of the leader of this class, just remembered that one of her most painful sessions was from the book of Revelations.<\/span><\/p>\n That caused me to review the reading and had to admit, her version of the Bible was easy to understand. The Bible she bought for her class is <\/span>The Living Bible Paraphrased. <\/span>Their translation or interpretation of Luke\u2019s words make more sense to me, so let me read them to you now.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cGreat crowds were following him. He turned around and addressed them as follows: \u201c<\/span>Anyone<\/span> who wants to be my follower must love me more than he does his own father, mother, wife, children, brothers, or sisters- yes, more than his own life otherwise he cannot be my disciple. And no one can be my disciple who does not carry his own cross and follow me. \u201c<\/span><\/p>\n I must give Ginny credit, she found a good translation or interpretation of the Bible, at least making it simple enough to understand and a joy to read. The negative connotation of hate is removed from Jesus\u2019s words, changed to a love of Jesus that is more than family. <\/span><\/p>\n Now let us step back into chapter 15 and try to expand on what Luke tells us. <\/span><\/p>\n Jesus is in the home of a member of the Jewish council one Sabbath, surrounded by a spiteful crowd of Pharisees. The Pharisees are a strict Jewish order, following Jewish Law to the tee! They knew of His healing powers and had a man, suffering from a foot disorder, referred to as dropsey -I suppose a very painful affliction. They were waiting, anxious for Jesus to heal this man, which he finally did. The furor started and Jesus simply shut it down by asking which of them does not work on the Sabbath. After all they are leaders of their respective groups. It would seem to me that the Sabbath is the day they all studied for! Of course, no answer.<\/span><\/p>\n Jesus insisted that the man dine with them, using this as another opportunity to teach. The other guests tried to hobnob with the host at the head of the table, we have experienced this. Jesus gave them this advice-when at a wedding do not head for the best seat. The host may bring a favored guest and have you move, causing you embarrassment. <\/span><\/p>\n Once again Jesus is delivering a parable that expresses the importance of basing our faith in the Lord first, with prestige and wealth second. Along the same lines Jesus reiterated the first great commandment, identifying Himself as Lord.<\/span><\/p>\n Love the Lord your God with all you heart, with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and great commandment, the second is like unto it; Love your neighbor as yourself.<\/span><\/p>\n Last week I had an experience that brought those 2 commandments to life.<\/span><\/p>\n Tom and Jesse asked if I would visit Becky Nelson with them and serve communion. As some may know there is a service titled \u201cCommunion with Special Circumstances.\u201d\u00a0 <\/span>Becky was delighted that the 3 of us brought her communion and took time to pray with her. <\/span><\/p>\n And what about her roommate? We asked her if she would like to join in the service. Interesting timing, she has been asking that a member of her church in Waterbury simply visit her, hoping for her minister. Our simple invitation filled her heart, reminding me that this is what carrying our Lord\u2019s message is all about. <\/span><\/p>\n On that, let me take a moment to compliment each of you in our congregation. You bring a special level of Christian love to our Lord\u2019s world. And we are doing this without adult supervision! <\/span><\/p>\n Well forgive my sarcasm, I could not think of a way to express how well we are doing without an assigned parish priest. When we finally find one, they will find an unmatched congregation!<\/span><\/p>\n We have members who need our in-person support. The prayer shawl team does fantastic work delivering them comfort. Dan has done a yeoman\u2019s job visiting homebound and those in rehabilitation centers. With everyone\u2019s help we can find and visit those in need. And as we have shown in the past, we can unite to spread the load, becoming even more active and echoing the love that our Lord has taught us, as we practice our commitment to our respective communities.<\/span><\/p>\n Examples abound of how this extraordinary congregation carries Christ\u2019s message. Our periodic free community meals are incredible, touching so many. We now have young, Eucharistic Visiting Ministers who requested to do more and ask how they can help. Each are serving unselfishly, ready to carry the message to home bound or hospitalized congregants when asked. Then the Father William\u2019s scholarship fund, helping those who are advancing their education. It is obvious-St Peter\u2019s Trinity is dynamic and a blessing for so many!<\/span><\/p>\n And yesterday was another example of St Peter\u2019s Trinity love of the Lord by directing love through donations-a true example of a love of God\u2019s creations over the excesses of man.<\/span><\/p>\n What is our next step? Whatever we do we will do it together, gracefully, and humbly as taught by our Lord.<\/span><\/p>\n Do me a favor-give yourselves a hand!<\/span><\/p>\n ","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Full Version of Jim Todd’s wonderful Homily for Morning Prayer Service on September 7, 2025 Note to self: the next time I am asked if I would like to conduct morning prayer remind me to check the gospel first. Today’s gospel struck me as something that Eric Cartman would say on South Park or […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3594","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/stpeterstrinity.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3594","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/stpeterstrinity.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/stpeterstrinity.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/stpeterstrinity.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/stpeterstrinity.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3594"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/stpeterstrinity.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3594\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3605,"href":"http:\/\/stpeterstrinity.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3594\/revisions\/3605"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/stpeterstrinity.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3594"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/stpeterstrinity.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3594"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/stpeterstrinity.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3594"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}