A Two Goal Lead is the Most Dangerous Lead...

The Rev. Aron Kramer 17 Pentecost Sunday, September 23, 2007 God appeared to this farmer and granted him three wishes, but with the condition that whatever God did for the farmer would be given double to his neighbor. The farmer, scarcely believing his good fortune, wished for a hundred cattle. Immediately he received a hundred cattle and he was overjoyed until he saw that his neighbor had two hundred. So he wished for a hundred acres of land, and again he was filled with joy until he saw that his neighbor had two hundred acres of land. Rather than celebrating God’s goodness, the farmer could not escape feeling jealous and slighted because his neighbor had received more than he. Finally, he stated his third wish: that God would strike him blind in one eye. There is little imagination in this story on the part of the farmer, there is little creativity, it is a story about jealousy, desire and wanting to have more than anyone else. Today’s Gospel left me hanging, is there anyon...

Jeff Smith died, and with him goes much knowledge and joy for Gethsemane. It will be a little more empty without him around, it will be a little more predictable as well. Below is the homily I preached at his burial service. HOMILY FOR JEFF SMITH'S BURIAL SERVICE Matthew 5:2-11 I walked away from last nights time of sharing stories about Jeff with one clear conclusion, I am grateful I was never in the same car as Jeff while he was driving. The other characteristic of Jeff that I heard in stories shared last night, a characteristic most of us knew resided in Jeff’s heart, was his willingness to help others. Jeff would not think twice about helping people, whether it meant getting them home from Church, drying out basements or racing to Gethsemane to turn off the alarm, Jeff never thought twice about such action, it was his nature to help, to heal, to rescue, to be present when others were too busy. Shortly after my son was diagnosed with Leukemia and we had returned home from th...

I preached this last week, the 29th in Duluth. I hope you like it, it created a lot of questions and conversation about prayer and was quite enlightening. I did not finish it, so someday hope to conclude it in a way that is more final and even more clear. Enjoy. Preaching about, much less talking about prayer is a difficult thing. Because what about those unanswered prayers, what about those times when we feel God never got up out of bed to answer the door. Or worse, what about those times when we feel God gave us a snake or a scorpion instead of food and sustenance? Prayer can be a difficult thing, some of us must be more holy than others to have had our prayers answered, while others clearly were not holy enough, and that is why their prayers were not answered. Today’s Gospel is the story of how we came to have the Lord’s Prayer as our central Christian prayer. It is the giving, the teaching of Jesus to his disciples who desired to know how they should pray when they needed a...

The Rev. Aron Kramer 5 Pentecost (Proper 8) Sunday July 1, 2007 I saw a bumper sticker while I was driving around Virginia that said, “God wants Spiritual Fruit, Not Religious Nuts”. It made me laugh. And listen to this story; a new teacher at a local middle school saw a pile of apples at the front of the cafeteria line with many students lined up waiting to get their hot lunches. The teacher quickly wrote out a note and hung it over the apples, the note said, “Please take only one, God is watching.” A shrewd young middle schooler with pen and paper in hand scribbled out and hung another note over the chocolate chip cookies that said, “Take as many as you want, God is watching the apples” Being in Virginia this week was a fascinating exercise in contrasts. On the one hand, it is the birthplace of our nation, it is a place where great minds debated the future of this land and tried to eke out a living that would be an example for all people. On the other hand, as one of our Africa...

So I "wung it" this Sunday, but I did want to post the lyrics to the song I used as the centerpiece of the sermon. The texts were great, OT was Naboth's Vineyard, and the Gospel was the woman with the Alabaster Jar. Both are about forgiveness, reconciliation. Though it will not be obvious, I think I did a fair job of relating the song and the rest of the sermon to the readings... The Song is THE STORY, by Brandy Carlile, the following is the first verse, the crux of my content for the sermon... All of these lines across my face Tell you the story of who I am So many stories of where I've been And how I got to where I am But these stories don't mean anything When you've got no one to tell them to It's true...I was made for you Imagine the woman at the feet of Jesus speaking these stories and her gratitide for the forgiveness of her sins to Jesus. I think it can be quite powerful to sit with these lyrics and that Gospel story and imagine what reconciliat...

The Rev. Aron Kramer 2 Pentecost (Proper 5) Sunday, June 10th 2007 “There is a kind of death which we all expect to feel that carries terror in the very sound, and all its circumstances are shocking to nature. The ghastly countenance, the convulsive agonies, the expiring groan, the coffin, the grave, the devouring work, the stupor, the insensibility, the universal inactivity, these strike a damp to the spirit, and we turn pale at the thought. With such objects as these in view courage fails, levity looks serious, presumption is dashed, the cheerful passions sink, and all is solemn, all is melancholy.” This is the opening to a sermon written by Samuel Davies, at one time the president of the College of New Jersey, otherwise known as Princeton. Deaths uncertainty, its randomness, its unexpectedness does nothing to make us feel better about the life we live. We are told to live life to the fullest, to eat dessert first and to do those things that make us happy. If dea...

We went fishing last week, and it rocked, I caught the first fish, and I think it was one of the first fish Eliot and for sure Naomi, has ever seen... Very cool, here are some pics.

I love this little story I stumbled across in preparing my sermon, I think it is exactly what is wrong and what is right with the Church today... Let me know what you think. A young brother went to an elder and confessed he was constantly enduring impure thoughts. The older monk, who himself had been spared such temptations, told his visitor that he was not fit for monastic life. Agreeing that he was unworthy, the young man set out to return to the world. In God’s providence Abbot Apollo was coming toward him, saw his despair, and questioned him about its cause. “Think it no strange thing, my son, and do not despair, for I too, even at my age and in this way of life, am hard pressed by just such thoughts as these,” Abbot Apollo confessed. “Therefore do not give up when tested in this way. The remedy is not in our anxious thoughts but in God’s compassion.” The young monk took heart and returned to monastic life. But the story goes further. Abbot Apollo walked directly to the cell of the...

“A disciple went to see Abba Joseph and said to him, ‘Abba Joseph, as far as I am able I say my little office, I keep my little fasts, I pray my little prayers, I live in peace and as far as I can, I purify my thoughts. What else can I do to be holy?’ Then Abba Joseph stood up. He stretched his hands toward heaven. His fingers became like ten torches of flame and he said to him, ‘Why not be turned completely into fire?’ ” This weekend, the Rev. Brian Prior, who is the vice president of the House of Deputies of the Episcopal Church, the House of Deputies is the body of our Triennial Church wide Convention made up of Lay People, Deacons and Priests, it is the check to the House of Bishops in the Church, Brian said this of those gathered for the CEPVA conference here in the Garden: “What are you on fire about?” His question got me thinking, “What am I on fire about?” Some days I am as clear as a bell about what I love to do, what I love to see the Church doing. Some days I have no idea...

When I first began to sense a call to the ordained ministry in my own life, I felt as if I had been sent out into the great and vast wide open sea in a small insignificant life raft. It was mostly scary, it was sometimes fun, it was, to say the least an adventure. At one point when I was asking questions about how God was working in my life, I emailed an Episcopal Priest who was the Episcopal Chaplain at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. I had met him at a young adult conference in St. Louis and was drawn to his wisdom. He wrote to me shortly after that and, during a particularly bumpy time in my life, said: If you are confused – Thank God! If you do not have all the answers – Thank God! If you do not know exactly what God is up to – Thank God! If you have to wait up on the Lord – Thank God! There are no shortcuts to grace. Our home is NOT the destination, but the journey St. Anselm said, “I do not understand so that I may believe, I believe so that I may understand....

Greetings All, May GOd's blessing be upon you and your beer! Here is some more info about the blessing of the Maibock on Saturday, I hope I will see some of you there! LINK TO MORE INFO... Be well, Aron

I have been meaning to post this for some time, thanks to Joe who emailed it to me and thanks to the person at "Fr Jake stops the world" Read this.

Before my junior year in college, the fall of 1995, I had a vision. Not like Peter’s in today’s Acts reading, but one that was transformational. The vision I had took place one starry night on a dock, somewhere in Wisconsin. You see, I had discovered a calling I thought I would enjoy, I was about to embark on my first year of being a resident advisor. I was excited, and eager to find out what the year would have in store; I was looking forward to being a leader, being present to the students in the dorm, and to the opportunity to be transformational in some way. That evening, shortly after arriving at the cabin, I wandered down to the dock to get away from all the energy and extroversion of my friends. As I lay on the dock, I decided to pray. I had discovered a piece of my calling, and being an introvert, it required me to take some time to reflect, so on the dock I began to reflect about my life, about the gifts I had as a child of God, about the joys I was beginning to anticip...

Eliot has arrived at his, I WANT TO EAT EVERY HOUR OF THE NIGHT BECAUSE THAT IS WHAT STEROIDS DOES TO ME phase. Saturday night Sara had him, and I told her that I would take him on Sunday night since I was going to be at Clergy Conference all week. Anyway, he woke up earlier than usual and we sat at the table eating pasta with his little fork talking to each other and just hanging out. What got me was as he cleaned his plate, picking up every scrap of pasta leftover, he looked at me and said "Eyot go to sleep now." I asked him if he wanted to have me help him get down and he said, "Eyot got it." Then he looked at me again and said Daddy, Eyot go to sleep now" as if he was telling me something, I asked him if he wanted me to carry him up to his bed, and he said, "Eyot got it." As he crawled up the stairs, carrying his blanket I was amazed by him, just watching him and thinking about how much he has gone through and how strong he has been through the ...

More ?proof? that theology flows from mission. Our current idea of the mission field, of the mission we have to do is that it is out there, in some distant land, far away from us, far away from this place. It is a place that is only visited by the bold, the people called to uproot themselves and be changed. The people that are called to explore. Our current theology is a God that is far away from us, think Bette Midler's song, "From A distance, God is watching us". God is distant doling out punishment and forgiveness upon other people, people we do not know. God's work here is done, we have civilized this country and made it in the image of God and therefore God is no longer needed, at least no longer needed in an intimate way. So what if the mission field is in our back yard. What if the mission field is here and now, what if we are surrounded by the other, surrounded by people and places that have never experienced the Good News of God in Christ? Or have neve...

Monica met with me today to talk about all that is going on for us around family and children ministry. She always causes me to think about very profound things, thank you Monica! Anyway, today's thought is Mission is the mother of Theology. It hadn't occurred to me, but this is a VERY profound thought. Mission is the mother of theology. Out of our mission comes our theology. Out of how we see mission comes our theology, out of mission comes our theology. It is what we do that shapes our theology, maybe not quite that, but it is what we do that helps form our theology. All of this was from a conversation about the Theological Position Paper drafted recently and the fact that we started not with our mission, not with what we do as a Diocese or even as a local judicatory in the midst of many organizations in this state, but rather we started with theology. We started with the heady theological stuff that always gets in the way of doing and being mission. Paul Allick and I had...

Are you ready? You better get ready! May 19th, around 6PM. The blessing of the Maibock!!! Yeah! Townhall Brewery, here we come! I have 6 special seats, whoever donates the most money to Gethsemane before then will get a special seat! WooHoo! Be well, A+

Got a call today asking if I would do the Blessing of the Maibock. At the Town Hall Brewery again. WooHoo!!! Churchy stuff, beer, people singing and saying things really loud. Blessing beer... Mmmm, blessing beer. Haven't heard a confirmation if they want lil ol ME back, but even if they don't, May 19th. Time to be determined. Y'all come ya hear! For beer! Be swill, A+

"There are plenty of good reasons for fighting," I said, "but no good reason ever to hate without reservation, to imagine that God Almighty Himself hates with you, too. Where's evil? It's that large part of every man that wants to hate without limit, that wants to hate with God on its side. It's that part of every man that finds all kinds of ugliness so attractive." This is from Mother Night, written by Kurt Vonnegut. I have never read anything by Vonnegut, apparently I have been missing out. It looks like he has some really fun quotes. Bishop Jelinek spoke these words at the UEC last night, in his homily, it was the first time I had heard the quote. Sunday's Gospel talks about how Jesus said to the disciples, "everyone will know you by your love for one another". At our Good Friday service, I talked about how instead of everyone knowing us Christians as a loving group, we tend to be more filled with hate for one another. I am reading ano...

It is amazing how many things you can fit into a day. 6AM - Wake Up 7AM - Church Service 8AM - Call to the National Church for advice 9AM - Breakfast 11:30AM - Lunch 1PM - Clergy Support Group 3:30PM - Selling the Garden as a good place to rent office space 5PM - Growing our Music and Arts in Elliot Park program to include some really cool stuff. Then, to top it all off Sara and I went out to dinner at 7:30PM. I am not sure how the day filled up like that, it suddenly happened and while it was exhausting, it was quite fun. On Monday, I spent the day in Rochester, meeting with parishioners, yes we have parishioners in Rochester and meeting with Douglas Sparks at St. Luke's to talk about the Gethsemane Plan. Today I get to hang out and prepare for everything else that is coming this week, like the National Cathedral Young Adult Event here at the church this weekend. You know, nothing too much. Then to top it off, we start the last phase of Eliot's treatment tomorrow, which is s...