Peter Fitch, St. Croix Vineyard Sunday, November 13, 2016 Something to Give Peter Fitch, St. Croix Vineyard Sunday, November 13, 2016

J.R.R. Tolkien 1892-1973

Thérèse de Lisieux (1873-1897) I know well, Jesus, that love can only be repaid by love; what I’ve always looked for and have found at last is some way of satisfying my feelings by returning love for Your love . . .

Thérèse But this love of mine, how to show it? Love needs to be proved by action. Well, even a little child can scatter flowers, to scent the throne-room with their fragrance; even a little child can sing, in its shrill treble, the great canticle of love. That shall be my life, to scatter flowers--to miss no single opportunity of making some small sacrifice, here by a smiling look, there by a kindly word, always doing the tiniest things right, and doing it for love.

A small thing . . . Matthew 26:6-13 6 Now when Jesus was in Bethany, at the home of Simon the leper, 7 a woman came to Him with an alabaster vial of very costly perfume, and she poured it on His head as He reclined at the table. 8 But the disciples were indignant when they saw this, and said, “Why this waste? 9 For this perfume might have been sold for a high price and the money given to the poor.”

Matthew 26:6-13 10 But Jesus, aware of this, said to them, “Why do you bother the woman? For she has done a good deed to Me. 11 For you always have the poor with you; but you do not always have Me. 12 For when she poured this perfume on My body, she did it to prepare Me for burial. 13 Truly I say to you, wherever this gospel is preached in the whole world, what this woman has done will also be spoken of in memory of her.”

Thoughts on this passage Normally a favourite with people who love to pray—they see their prayers in this vein, as symbolic devotion (the alabaster jar could be seen as the heart of the one praying, breaking open in concern for people or for God) But really it’s an act, a small act, that is considered a waste by those looking on; however, it means a great deal to Jesus

My hunch The small acts that please God most are acts of will or determination that rise fairly spontaneously in the midst of life’s circumstances Holding on through a panic attack because you know you can Choosing not to be offended Helping someone who needs a hand or a listening ear These, too, are like breaking a jar of perfume over Jesus’ feet

Not a small thing

Now, another idea: Inscape

C. S. Lewis, “Morality and Psychoanalysis” I would much rather say that every time you make a choice you are turning the central part of you, the part of you that chooses, into something a little different than it was before. . . The bigness or smallness of the thing, seen from the outside, is not what really matters.

Gregory of Nyssa (c.332-395 A.D.) We are in some manner our own parents, giving birth to ourselves by our own free choice in accordance with whatever we wish to be . . . moulding ourselves to the teaching of virtue or vice. The Life of Moses

Last Word

Leonard Cohen (1934-2016) Holy is your name, holy is your work, holy are the days that return to you. Holy are the years that you uncover. Holy are the hands that are raised to you, and the weeping that is wept to you. Holy is the fire between your will and ours, in which we are refined. Holy is that which is unredeemed, covered with your patience. Holy are the souls lost in your unnaming. Holy, and shining with a great light, is every living thing, established in this world and covered with time, until your name is praised forever. (“43” Book of Mercy)