<html><body><div style="background-color: transparent; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">In case the power goes out - for those of you on the East Coast!</div><div style="background-color: transparent; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><br></div><div style="background-color: transparent; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">This was typed out last night from notes taken in a couple of separate days' "free time".</div><div style="background-color: transparent; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><br></div><div style="background-color: transparent; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">Happy hurricaning - or whatever!</div><div style="background-color: transparent; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><br></div><div style="background-color: transparent; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">Bob</div><div style="background-color: transparent; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><br></div><div style="background-color: transparent; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<p style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.33px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">THE
EPISCOPAL CHURCH OF ST. ALBAN, ALBANY <span style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"> </span>THE SEVENTEENTH SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST</span></p>
<p style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.33px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">PROVERBS
1:20-33<span style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"> </span><span style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"> </span><span style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"> </span><span style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"> </span><span style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"> </span><span style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"> </span><span style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"> </span><span style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"> </span><span style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"> </span>PROPER 19 b</span></p>
<p style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.33px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">JAMES
3:1-12<span style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"> </span><span style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"> </span><span style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"> </span><span style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"> </span>16<sup>th</sup> SEPTEMBER, 2018</span></p>
<p style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.33px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">MARK 8:27-38<span style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"> </span><span style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"> </span><span style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"> </span><span style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"> </span>CANTICLE: A SONG IN PRAISE OF
WISDOM (WISDOM 7:26 – 8:1)</span></p>
<p style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.33px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"> </span></p>
<p style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.33px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"> </span>You’d<span style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"> </span>think that God would have been a little more
astute at creation. I mean, did you see that first line of the collect?
“Without you we are not able to please you.” </span></p>
<p style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.33px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"> </span>Give me a break! Our discipline in
life is to please God, to offer worship, to make joyful, to express our delight
in God’s glory. But we can’t do it. According to the prayer with which we
opened, we CAN’T please God till God tells us and gives us the means to do what
we need to do. </span></p>
<p style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.33px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"> </span>It sounds as if we’re in a terrible
bind.</span></p>
<p style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.33px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"> </span>Think about that, though. If it’s
God who helps and leads us to praise, then chances are if were half alert, then
we’ll see how we’re to do this. It’s not up to us to set the standards. Thank God,
this is so, otherwise we’d be all over the place in how we think we’re expected
to praise. God gives us a wonderful break, then. We’re just to listen with
hearts and minds as well as ears, and we’ll find out how we’re supposed to
live.</span></p>
<p style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.33px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"> </span>Of course, our perception apparatus
may not be fully functional. We have to get rid of all the things which
interfere with our reception of God’s communication with us. Nevertheless,
we’re not totally bereft of hope because God, in both Hebrew and Christian
Scriptures, talks to us in the past through our ancestors, through the people
who are sensitive and attuned to spiritual messages.</span></p>
<p style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.33px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"> </span>So the good news right from the
start is that God loves everyone and everything in creation so much that we’re
all given the tools we need, and the opportunities, and the sense to be able to
ask for help and company in life. It’s this latter gift which the first reading
and the canticle address.</span></p>
<p style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.33px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"> </span>Wisdom has always been seen as one
of the ways in which God makes expression. Wisdom is this act of God to draw us
to our senses, to make us aware of how amazing and how fulfilling life can be.
First, though, se have to be open to the fact that God’s Wisdom IS present and
active.</span></p>
<p style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.33px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"> </span>The first reading describes such a
tragic and, unfortunately, relatively common situation. Wisdom IS right here,
present with us and all of creation. Wisdom, representing to us the ability to
grow and to be transformed; Wisdom comes, stands, flows round us; will uphold
us. Yet Wisdom waits, never forcing Herself – and, yes, Wisdom is and always
HAS been expressed as having and being feminine. Wisdom never forces Herself on
us. Even in such seemingly vital matters of finding what to do this morning to
please God; even here and now, Wisdom gives us a choice. Become aware of what
God wishes, and invite God to transform us so that we become more and more
aware of this; or we can tell God to take a hike; we have all that we need; we
can take care of ourselves. For the most part,, we’re rational and intelligent,
so we think we can go it alone. We don’t see a need to pay attention to whoever
is talking, or seeking our attention, and we take sides in more and more
verbally and physically abusive ways when someone suggests a new way, a
different way of approaching life.</span></p>
<p style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.33px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"> </span>That description of Wisdom in the
busiest streets of the city fits our society so well, and the unfortunate
aspect of it is that religious figures are buying in, more and more, to
isolationism and beliefs that they know everything there is to know, and that
they have a lock on the truth. The tragedy is that there are religious figures
who should be the ones to lead us to explore how God is present and ho God
calls for changing and expansion of our societies until absolutely everyone is
included; the tragedy is that it is often the religious figures who fail to
appreciate God’s Wisdom calling us to transformation of our lives and
attitudes.</span></p>
<p style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.33px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"> </span>In the preface to a book written by
a friend, the series editor wrote, “Perhaps no term fits the work and
circumstances of the church in the twenty-first century better than
‘transformation’. We are increasingly aware of the need for change as we become
ever more mission-focused in the life of the church, both internationally and
domestically. But society as a whole is rapidly moving in new directions, and
mission cannot be embraced in an unexamined way, relying on old cultural and ecclesiastical
stereotypes and assumptions.” <sup>1</sup></span></p>
<p style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.33px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"> </span></span></p>
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