May 13th, 2020
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Wednesday Words Easter Week 5 5-13-20
Psalm 72 Psalm 119: 73 – 96 Leviticus 19: 1 – 18 1 Thessalonians 5: 12 – 28 Matthew 6: 19 - 24 Matthew 6: 19 - 24
19 “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust consume and where thieves break in and steal; 20 but store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust consumes and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
22 “The eye is the lamp of the body. So, if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light; 23 but if your eye is unhealthy, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!
24 “No one can serve two masters; for a slave will either hate the one and love the other, or be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth.
We are blessed this week to have two saints to consider – two saints who are widely separated by time, by geography and by cultures. Each followed God’s call and each made a difference in their world.
Back in time we meet Pachomius the Great. Born just as the 4th century began, Pachomius lived in Egypt. As a young man, he was caught up in a violent conscription of boys and men for the Roman army. Shipped down the Nile to Thebes, Pachomius met Christians who came every day to bring food and comfort to the kidnapped men. This ministry impressed him so deeply that he vowed to learn about the faith when he was released from the Army.
When he returned to Egypt a few years later, he did indeed search out Christians, was baptized, and vowed to follow the example of the hermits, living a holy life alone in the desert. Like many of us, Pachomius found that while someone else’s spiritual practice seemed attractive, it was not a good fit. He desired the separation, but he did not do well in total isolation.
Sound familiar? Lots of us are finding physical distancing and staying home all day, every day not to our liking! I understand Pachomius well!
Instead of giving up, Pachomius listened to a call from God to create a new way to live as a separated holy person. He created a community of separation – a monastery where men and women could have contact but each lived in a separate cell. Each could choose the level of fasting, of meeting together that was right. Each could maintain silence or join in periods of worship with others. One God-size does not fit all – a spiritual truth for which we can be incredibly grateful.
In modern times, we honor a holy woman who lived into her world and made a significant difference. Frances Perkins was born in Boston in 1880 to a family with a tradition of education for women. She received a stellar education culminating in a degree in economics from Wharton School and a master’s in sociology from Columbia.
From the beginning of her working career, she fought hard for better working conditions for women and children. After witnessing the horrible Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire in 1911, she became a passionate champion for workers’ rights. In 1933, Franklin Delano Roosevelt asked Frances to be his Labor Secretary – the first woman to hold a Cabinet position.
It is amusing to me that Frances faced serious opposition from legislators not simply because she was a woman – educated, yes, but still a woman – but also because she did not take her husband’s last name when they married. That was a clear indication to these legislators that Frances was a RADICAL!
It is because of Frances that we have the 40 hour work week, that child labor was regulated, that unemployment insurance and a federal minimum wage exist, and that “being pretty” was eliminated as a requirement for being hired as a secretary in government offices. Frances drafted the Social Security Act of 1935 and helped get it passed. She might have been a radical but, in my opinion, she was God’s radical and I am grateful for her passion for all workers.
Well over 1000 years apart in time, Frances Perkins, an American Episcopalian, and Pachomius the Great, an Egyptian hermit, followed God in quite different ways. Each, however, left an indelible mark on the world, and each made the lives of many others much better.
Being a saint is not a process of becoming something you are not. Being a saint is becoming everything you are and everything you can be in the power of God. We were not created to be exactly alike. We were created to be wonderfully, gloriously, vibrantly different so that God’s work can be done in every corner of God’s creation.
As we so often say: Let us go forth to love and serve the Lord.
Thanks be to God.
