Saturday, October 12, 2019

Si Tuvieras Fe.Como un Grano de Mostaza!

Lucas 17:5-10 :  
Los apóstoles pidieron al Señor: --Danos más fe.  El Señor les contestó: -Si ustedes tuvieran fe, aunque solo fuera del tamaño de una semilla de mostaza, podrían decirle a este árbol: 'Arráncate de aquí y plántate en el mar', y les haría caso."Si uno de ustedes tiene un criado que regresa del campo después de haber estado arando o cuidando el ganado, ¿acaso ledice: 'Pasa y siéntate a comer'? 8 No, sino que le dice: 'Prepárame la cena, y dispónte a atenderme mientras yo como y bebo. Después podrás comer y beber.' 9 Y tampoco le da las gracias al criado por haber hecho lo que le mandó.  Así también ustedes, cuando ya hayan cumplido todo lo queDios les manda, deberán decir: 'Somos servidores inútiles, porque no hemos hecho más que cumplir con nuestra obligación.' " 

 El Valor de la Fe

Los Apostoles piden a Jesus Señor, aumentanos la fe; Quizas esta peticion viene a raiz de limitacions que cada uno de ellos ve en su vida personal , Jesus les habla del valor de la fe aunque parezca insignificante!

En nuestros dias la mostaza viene en convenientes envases ya preparada para el uso, y la mayoria de nosotros jamas ha visto una semilla de mostaza. Es descrita en la Escrituta como una semilla pequeña, nada de impresionante, no como la semilla del mango que es grande y elegante, ni la de el aguacate . Lo interesante es el valor tan immense que Jesus le otorga a una fe diminuta, tan pequeña que es de poco valor a nuestros ojos! Esa fe, segun El, es capaz de mover hasta un arbol!

Nos hace falta mas fe…o poner en accion la fe que tenemos? 

Cosas grandes se han hecho aun con una fe pequeña en un Dios grande! La poca fe del padre que necesitaba el milagro para su hijo epileptico, la poca fe de Pedro, que le sirvio para caminar sobre las aguas. Hay gran poder que se desata cuando ponemos nuestra fe aunque fuera como un grano de mostaza, en un Dios que es Todopoderoso. 

Valor del servicio 

Aqui me parece que el Señor nos invita a una re-evaluacion radical de la manera en que vivimos nuestras vidas y como miramos nuestro servicio a Dios y el  projimo.
Donde reina lo pesimo , lo mediocre es visto como virtud! Donde reina la haraganeri que uno trabaje es virtud. Nuestra cultura se ha deteriorado de tal manera en sus valores y principios, de tal manera que lo incorrecto , lo mediocre es lo normal.  

Es de esperarse que una madre ame y crie a sus hijos, que un padre proteja y provea para su familia, que los hijos amen y respeten a sus padres! Es lo natural, con la ayuda de Dios, buscar lo mejor de esta vida! No es nada raro ni extraordinario decir del joven, se graduo de sus estudios, se caso virgin, nunca se metio en problemas legale, no falta a misa, hace obras de caridad, diezma! Nada de eso es extraordinario, es lo normal


Asi pasa en el servicio a Dios…..llega a ser algo secundario en la vida de muchos Tenemos un concepto equivocado, de la importancia de nuestro compromiso y servicio a Dios. Quien de ustedes, pregunta Jesus, recompensa a su siervo por hacer lo debido? " No hemos hecho más que cumplir con nuestra obligación.'  Pongamos a Dios siempre primero y sirvamosle con alegria y sencillez de corazon!  

 Valor de Paciencia.

Jesus Tambien les recuerda a sus discipulos que no toda la recompensa o los resultados que queremos en la vida vienen delante! Hay un primero y un despues!  'Prepárame la cena, y dispónte a atenderme mientras yo como y bebo. Después podrás comer y beber.'

Salmos 37:7  Guarda silencio ante el Señor; espera con paciencia a que él te ayude.  
 Hebreos 6:15 Abraham esperó con paciencia, y recibió lo que Dios le había prometido.  

Que Dios nos ayude a recordar estos sencillos principios y ponerlos en practica!
Bendiciones

Seraph

Friday, January 11, 2019

Gay and Happy?


As we rejoice over ever more equality  for LGBT persons, there is are aspects of life in the gay community we would rather not see. Here is an interesting article that helps us see needs beyond equality, to issues of the heart, of self acceptance, image and health. 

These are things the gospel and Christians should have at least some answers for!That is, if as we proclaim, we believe in a God of love, we believe in the dignity of every human person, we accept that humans bear the divine image and all are called to abundant life in Jesus.

Should these stories be true, there is also a need for more study and attention from the medical and mental health community to the needs so sincerely expressed in this article

TOGETHER...ALONE!

For years I’ve noticed the divergence between my straight friends and my gay friends. While one half of my social circle has disappeared into relationships, kids and suburbs, the other has struggled through isolation and anxiety, hard drugs and risky sex.None of this fits the narrative I have been told, the one I have told myself....

CLICK ON LINK FOR FULL ARTICLE
https://highline.huffingtonpost.com/articles/en/gay-loneliness/

Blessings

Seraph

Thursday, June 14, 2018

Pride and Contradiction


After nearly a decade in the Episcopal Church as a priest in a diverse parish and one who is committed to the life and health of our church, there are a few things I feel great liberty to comment on how I perceive our health to be! 

I speak about my faith and family! We are an interesting bunch, a lovely part of the body of Christ! Episcopalians have so much potential, so much energy; there is so much beauty and mystery in our church! Yet we live among…such contradictions, which more often than not, we refuse to acknowledge or very expertly explain away! 


We pride ourselves on being progressive and cutting edge, yet are probably the most aged of all denominations. 

We take the Bible "too seriously to take it literally" yet ignorance of the Bible is rampant among Episcopalians...and sadly for many clergy, functionally irrelevant in modern life. 

We pride ourselves on diversity, yet are among the least racially and ethnically diverse of all Christian groups. 

We are a branch of “the Jesus” movement yet have a cafeteria approach to his actual words. 

We speak incessantly of inclusion yet are a bastion for a very narrow set of political and theological views of a progressive nature. 

We have signs that boldly proclain, The Episcopal Church Welcomes You! Yes, surely but on whose terms? I have found as a Latino, that often that welcome is on someone else's terms,  as if simply translating a document into Spanish, somehow made what was offered culturally appropriate or desirable.

We have plenty to say about fundamentalism, and how that puts people off to the church yet, some of the churches we critique, continue to grow as ours wither. 

We are all about Evangelism…this year, which of course has to be the Episcopalian version, yet a storefront church in my city, with no branding or refined techniques, has reached more unchurched people, in a decade than we have in a century! Currently there are churches all through the US and Latin America that have more people regularly in attendance on Sunday than entire dioceses of our church!   

We are ardent advocates for refugees and undocumented people, yet have scant diocesan resources to help these same people adjust to life in a new country, to help with financial burdens, to do paperwork for legalization or pay for legal fees. 

We speak of tolerance, have all sorts of patience and even admiration for people who, within our church, deny the major tenets of the Christian faith, as well as for those follow other religious traditions. Yet have an undeniable disdain for other Christians whose faith we deem too primitive, fundamentalist…and now, heaven help us, evangelical. 

We defend the rights and dignity of every human being, even the right to life for convicted criminals yet are silent on the killing of unborn humans. Even worse many clergy vocally defend the right to abort a child at any stage of development.

We balk at any change in the liturgy and the form of the sacraments, have a high regards for a host of Anglican customs yet, without blinking have, by vote, without regards to most in the Anglican Communion, re-imagined sacramental acts in the church.

I think we have an overdose of education, more skepticism than is healthy for people of faith and definitely an overarching pride in who we are, who we feel we are meant to be! This undermines any real attempt at change! 

Perhaps we need a dose of humility! Maybe we need to teach less, preach less, have less echo chamber seminars and listen more to others who have succeeded where we are failing! 

Maybe what God told Solomon after the dedication of the temple, when fire and glory filled the place of worship could also apply to us! There was in that grand occasion, no note of congratulations, no mention of the beauty of the music or the adornment of the temple…but rather a reminder to be humble! 

 2 Chronicles 7:14 "...If My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, then I will hear from heaven..."

Whether the present heirs of the “church of beauty” can do that, and change the course our church has been on for decades, remains to be seen.  I sure hope the new generation of Episcopalians pause, notice and remember …If my people humble themselves and pray...!

Blessings

Seraph