Nov 25 2019 John 6:34-38 Commemoration of James Huntington

Jesus said to them, ‘I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.

James Huntington was born in Boston in 1854. He was ordained a priest, and felt called to serve the poor immigrants in New York’s Lower East Side, and ultimately founded the Order of the Holy Cross, the first Episcopal monastery. Their focus was to serve the poor immigrants, particularly the young. They brought God’s life giving message of Jesus Christ to the people in the poor corners of NY, and taught them about the bread that will never leave them hungry, and a sense of God’s love.

About the rule for the monastery, Huntington wrote, “Holiness is the brightness of divine love, and love is never idle; it must accomplish great things”.

I have known people who I’d describe as Holy. It’s not that they shine or shimmer, or that they have halos, or speak in measured, ever-religious ways. Rather, they do have a brightness about them, that seems to be absolutely rooted in their acceptance of God’s divine love, and their exuding God’s divine love.

I am increasingly moved by people with such focus that their whole life centers on doing God’s work, whether cloistered monks or in the world missionaries. What intrigues me is that I live a worldly life with worldly things like grocery shopping, and a job that pays the bills, that’s punctuated by moments of holy, God focused work and worship. On the other hand, I get the sense that monastics live a life that’s holy, God focused work and worship, punctuated by worldly things like grocery shopping and a job that pays the bills.

Most God-followers do both. We have moments of holy, God-focused work and worship and we have worldly concerns and demands. People who love God, and yet only think about God or God’s call to them for 2 hours on Sunday do both. Monastics do both. I bet the Pope and Dalai Lama do both. We have our moments focused on God and service and love and worship. And we have the rest of the time. Maybe the balance differs between people. Or maybe it’s just our false dualism thinking between God’s work and everything else. 

This morning, I’m thinking about the balance between God focused work, and everything else. I’m wondering if it’s nothing more than the attention and focus we pay to our day. When I am intentional about morning prayer, I’m absolutely thinking I’m doing something on the God side of the ledger. But when I get up, get dressed, make lunch, ride to work, that focus escapes me. But maybe it’s no less God’s work. It’s just my less-focused God work.

Monastics are stuck doing the dishes, and worrying about paying the bills, but they’ve constructed their day so it’s easier to remember that every minute of every day is God’s. God’s divine love that demands action. Today, I want try to erase that fake division of the time of my day, between my actions done in divine love that are holy, and everything else. I want to try to live one day, or starting more modestly, one morning, remembering that every moment and every action is holy, whether I’m reading and reflecting on scripture, or meeting with my loved one’s care team.