Bringing Heaven to Earth
Bringing Heaven to Earth By Ruth Richter, Certified Lay Preacher
This past weekend I attended a 3-day Cursillo seminar, it was the 25th session held in Nebraska and the experience was transformational. “The Cursillo Movement is to proclaim the best news of the best reality: that God in Christ loves us.” There were 16 in the class, including myself and Bishop Barker, along with 22 volunteers who gathered at a Monastery in Norfolk. The attendees turned in our phones and watches when we arrived and for 72 hours we were living on God’s time, worshiping Him at every waking hour through the fellowship, song, liturgy, time in nature, walking the labyrinth and praying. Transformation happens when you are given a chance to see life in a new way and most of the time it does take a mountain top experience to see - hear - comprehend. I can’t really explain what it was that I heard or read as there were a combination of inputs that weekend, but the result was that the “should’s and shouldn’ts” that I had placed in the way of the Gospel are no longer there for me – and for the first time I was able to plainly receive God’s unconditional love in all its glory. You may have heard this passage from Ephesians “for it is by grace you have been saved, through faith – and this is not of yourselves, it is the gift of God- not by works, so that no one can boast.” It’s ironic that this is my Mother’s favorite passage, and I’ve quoted it countless times in sermons. I think this is a beautiful passage, I believe it’s true, but I realized that I did not really understand it on a deep, meaningful level until this past weekend. I’ve been a member of this community since I was six, I’ve been preaching for the Gospel now for seven years and you all know that I am very faithful. But there has been a small grain of doubt that I was carrying, I’m not even sure I can call it doubt because it was more of a collapse or mix-up of how my relationship with God is supposed to be. Maybe I was thinking about more like a human to human relationship. In any event, whatever that was it made my experience as a Christian, my sense of God’s love fluctuate and vary. I don’t know if any of you were trying to get on the internet since the big storm, but along with the power outage, the connection to the internet super spotty. I was trying to use google and there were times where it was down and I would see this spinning like it was trying to connect to no avail, then there were times that it was slow but then the page would appear, and sometimes it just worked. That’s basically what my connection to God was like before the weekend. The result was that my faith in God was spotty, and through the pressure Bob and I have had with the growth of our business, it’s been a difficult time. These difficult times actually ended up being a blessing because it highlighted the faulty connection I had. In his second letter to the Corinthians, St. Paul wrote “By the death of his beloved Son, God reconciled every human being to himself, whether they knew it, believed it, accepted it or not.” When I read todays lesson from St. Paul’s letter to the Romans, I saw that his words completely articulate exactly what I just experienced. Since we are “justified by faith, we have peace with God… [I no longer need to doubt or prove anything, I can finally relax, rest, have peace. And this was made possible] …through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have obtained access to this grace in which we stand.” God’s sent His Son Jesus Christ to give us access to God. Think of this illustration. There was a young boy whose family who was on vacation in England and he was super excited to tour Buckingham Palace. The tour started inside going through the state rooms. After, watching the official changing of the guard the boy went up to one of the guards and asked, “when will the Queen be coming out?” When the guard told the boy that the Queen would not be making an appearance that day, the boy started to cry. His upset did Yr A Pentecost 02 (RCL)
Page 1
dissipate a great deal when by chance Price Charles was on the grounds. He noted the commotion, came over. Feeling compassion for the boy, he offered to take the boy and his embarrassed parents to meet the Queen. Through Jesus, we have unlimited and forever access to God’s “grace in which we now stand.” Jesus was obedient and faithful and he sacrificed His life to prove to us that God exists and love us to no end. St. Paul says that no matter what happens to us in our lives, no matter the trials and tribulations we will all are suffering, have suffered and those we will suffer, we can endure, and this will build character and character produces hope because “God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us.” This is the foundation of our Christianity, that there isn’t anything more we need to understand, learn, do or know. We just need to have faith that God loves us just the way we are, it is not based upon what we do. This is why He sent Jesus and this is what Jesus wanted us to learn when he sacrificed his life on the cross. By accepting this gift, faith justifies you, once and for all! Jesus sent the Holy Spirit to be our advocate and to remind us what he taught. The Cursillo curriculum discusses what will equip us as we strive to live a Christian life - Piety, Study, and Action. Before each discussion we prayed for the Holy Spirit to be sent forth to bring Heaven to Earth and renew the face of the earth. Piety is what we do to communicate with GTF, GTS and GTHS and includes fellowship, song, meditation, being in nature, worship, prayer and so on. The talks on Study and Action where particularly insightful for me. Gaining wisdom is a natural response to a desire to deepen our unconditional relationship with God, through study, we can develop a deeper understanding of our faith. (And there is a bonus, when we fill our minds and hearts with knowledge and love, it leaves less room for junk!) What should we study? It’s very important that we choose options feeds our soul, and if you aren’t sure, pray about it or ask someone you trust to make suggestions. For instance, I highly recommend the Education for Ministry program which has a four year program to support Christian formation meets weekly from September to May and I now also recommend the 3-day Cursillo weekend that will be held again next year, I believe the first weekend in June. When can you fit that in? There is no question making time for study will take sacrifice. Gaining wisdom is an access to continued transformation, and I thank God that no matter how burdened my schedule has been, I have been continuing to study. Because had I not gone to Cursillo last weekend, I’m not sure how long it would have taken for me to discover what I did. In our Gospel lesson today, Jesus summons the 12 disciples, gave them the authority to act on his behalf and the new apostles were sent out with specific instructions to proclaim the good news to the lost sheep of the Israelites, “The kingdom of heaven has come near.” As baptized and confirmed Christians, we too are called into action through the promise we made to “proclaim by word and example the Good News of God in Christ.” The volunteers at the Cursillo weekend made a huge difference with me and many others by providing their time and the space for transformation. Our church on a regular basis takes action to show the love of Christ in this world. This weekend there are several youth, youth leaders and clergy who have answered God’s call to take action by embarking on a mission trip to Rosebud. While they are there, they will be on his time, being God’s hands. We are called to as the Apostles were called, to spread the good news of His love. And when we do, we bring Heaven to Earth. Yr A Pentecost 03 (RCL)
Page 2
This past weekend I attended a 3-day Cursillo seminar, it was the 25th session held in Nebraska and the experience was transformational. “The Cursillo Movement is to proclaim the best news of the best reality: that God in Christ loves us.” There were 16 in the class, including myself and Bishop Barker, along with 22 volunteers who gathered at a Monastery in Norfolk. The attendees turned in our phones and watches when we arrived and for 72 hours we were living on God’s time, worshiping Him at every waking hour through the fellowship, song, liturgy, time in nature, walking the labyrinth and praying. Transformation happens when you are given a chance to see life in a new way and most of the time it does take a mountain top experience to see - hear - comprehend. I can’t really explain what it was that I heard or read as there were a combination of inputs that weekend, but the result was that the “should’s and shouldn’ts” that I had placed in the way of the Gospel are no longer there for me – and for the first time I was able to plainly receive God’s unconditional love in all its glory. You may have heard this passage from Ephesians “for it is by grace you have been saved, through faith – and this is not of yourselves, it is the gift of God- not by works, so that no one can boast.” It’s ironic that this is my Mother’s favorite passage, and I’ve quoted it countless times in sermons. I think this is a beautiful passage, I believe it’s true, but I realized that I did not really understand it on a deep, meaningful level until this past weekend. I’ve been a member of this community since I was six, I’ve been preaching for the Gospel now for seven years and you all know that I am very faithful. But there has been a small grain of doubt that I was carrying, I’m not even sure I can call it doubt because it was more of a collapse or mix-up of how my relationship with God is supposed to be. Maybe I was thinking about more like a human to human relationship. In any event, whatever that was it made my experience as a Christian, my sense of God’s love fluctuate and vary. I don’t know if any of you were trying to get on the internet since the big storm, but along with the power outage, the connection to the internet super spotty. I was trying to use google and there were times where it was down and I would see this spinning like it was trying to connect to no avail, then there were times that it was slow but then the page would appear, and sometimes it just worked. That’s basically what my connection to God was like before the weekend. The result was that my faith in God was spotty, and through the pressure Bob and I have had with the growth of our business, it’s been a difficult time. These difficult times actually ended up being a blessing because it highlighted the faulty connection I had. In his second letter to the Corinthians, St. Paul wrote “By the death of his beloved Son, God reconciled every human being to himself, whether they knew it, believed it, accepted it or not.” When I read todays lesson from St. Paul’s letter to the Romans, I saw that his words completely articulate exactly what I just experienced. Since we are “justified by faith, we have peace with God… [I no longer need to doubt or prove anything, I can finally relax, rest, have peace. And this was made possible] …through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have obtained access to this grace in which we stand.” God’s sent His Son Jesus Christ to give us access to God. Think of this illustration. There was a young boy whose family who was on vacation in England and he was super excited to tour Buckingham Palace. The tour started inside going through the state rooms. After, watching the official changing of the guard the boy went up to one of the guards and asked, “when will the Queen be coming out?” When the guard told the boy that the Queen would not be making an appearance that day, the boy started to cry. His upset did Yr A Pentecost 02 (RCL)
Page 1
dissipate a great deal when by chance Price Charles was on the grounds. He noted the commotion, came over. Feeling compassion for the boy, he offered to take the boy and his embarrassed parents to meet the Queen. Through Jesus, we have unlimited and forever access to God’s “grace in which we now stand.” Jesus was obedient and faithful and he sacrificed His life to prove to us that God exists and love us to no end. St. Paul says that no matter what happens to us in our lives, no matter the trials and tribulations we will all are suffering, have suffered and those we will suffer, we can endure, and this will build character and character produces hope because “God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us.” This is the foundation of our Christianity, that there isn’t anything more we need to understand, learn, do or know. We just need to have faith that God loves us just the way we are, it is not based upon what we do. This is why He sent Jesus and this is what Jesus wanted us to learn when he sacrificed his life on the cross. By accepting this gift, faith justifies you, once and for all! Jesus sent the Holy Spirit to be our advocate and to remind us what he taught. The Cursillo curriculum discusses what will equip us as we strive to live a Christian life - Piety, Study, and Action. Before each discussion we prayed for the Holy Spirit to be sent forth to bring Heaven to Earth and renew the face of the earth. Piety is what we do to communicate with GTF, GTS and GTHS and includes fellowship, song, meditation, being in nature, worship, prayer and so on. The talks on Study and Action where particularly insightful for me. Gaining wisdom is a natural response to a desire to deepen our unconditional relationship with God, through study, we can develop a deeper understanding of our faith. (And there is a bonus, when we fill our minds and hearts with knowledge and love, it leaves less room for junk!) What should we study? It’s very important that we choose options feeds our soul, and if you aren’t sure, pray about it or ask someone you trust to make suggestions. For instance, I highly recommend the Education for Ministry program which has a four year program to support Christian formation meets weekly from September to May and I now also recommend the 3-day Cursillo weekend that will be held again next year, I believe the first weekend in June. When can you fit that in? There is no question making time for study will take sacrifice. Gaining wisdom is an access to continued transformation, and I thank God that no matter how burdened my schedule has been, I have been continuing to study. Because had I not gone to Cursillo last weekend, I’m not sure how long it would have taken for me to discover what I did. In our Gospel lesson today, Jesus summons the 12 disciples, gave them the authority to act on his behalf and the new apostles were sent out with specific instructions to proclaim the good news to the lost sheep of the Israelites, “The kingdom of heaven has come near.” As baptized and confirmed Christians, we too are called into action through the promise we made to “proclaim by word and example the Good News of God in Christ.” The volunteers at the Cursillo weekend made a huge difference with me and many others by providing their time and the space for transformation. Our church on a regular basis takes action to show the love of Christ in this world. This weekend there are several youth, youth leaders and clergy who have answered God’s call to take action by embarking on a mission trip to Rosebud. While they are there, they will be on his time, being God’s hands. We are called to as the Apostles were called, to spread the good news of His love. And when we do, we bring Heaven to Earth. Yr A Pentecost 03 (RCL)
Page 2
