hope

Finding joy everywhere!

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Can you feel that? The excitement and anticipation of Christmas is upon us. Even the church takes a moment out of our time of anticipate to REJOICE!

This Sunday is Gaudete Sunday which means the Sunday of joy or rejoicing. We take a moment to look with joy at what is coming. The joy of the one who John the Baptist said he was unworthy to unfasten his sandals. And I so feel John the Baptist’s feelings!

John felt so unworthy. I know that feeling. I feel unworthy to accomplish the tasks that our Lord set before me 26 years ago. As I sat at the college Thursday evening getting ready to receive my Bachelor’s degree in Clinical Psychology, I found myself in a moment of profound sadness. I only had my wife and my daughter there to cheer me on.

It brought back all the fights to get to this moment. I was reminded by all the people who said I wasn’t smart enough or an education would be wasted on me. I grew sadder by the moment. Here I was surrounded by students so very happy to hold their degree in their hands and I was sad.

As I sat there, slowly the images of people who supported me came to mind. Dr. Butler, Dr. Terlizzi, Dr. C, Dr. Miller, Dr. Swain, Bishop St. George, Bishop Ben, Rev. Marc. The list kept growing and I started to feel that same happiness. The clouds started to part and I felt the sunshine of joy.

John likely dealt with the same “imposter syndrome” that we all suffer from. No amount of education can prepare you to run a church during a pandemic. It cannot help you when you are standing there with a grieving wife who just lost her husband and two children in a car wreck. The only thing that helps in those moments is the Holy Spirit.

So here I am. Proud holder of yet another degree and continuing to fight to build a parish in Augusta Georgia. Have we succeeded? Maybe not in the conventional terms. Yet, hundreds watch our mass online and listen to the message of the Gospel over vast distances. So, I think that is pretty amazing.

I hope you will join us this Sunday to celebrate a church that celebrates you!

Pax et Bonum,

Bishop Greer

Prepare the Way

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We start the season of Advent this Sunday. As part of our commitment to helping our community and to standing up against injustice, we are offering a class on December 3, 10, and 17 on How to be a Resisting Church. This study will focus on the teachings of Rev. Detrick Bonhoffer and Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. We will learn how to resist injustice in a non-violent and peaceful way.

Also, we will focus on preparing the way of the Lord. This series will focus on various ways me can be more Christ-like all year long, but also during this Advent and Christmas season.

We start off this journey with the call to be vigilant. We are called to look at the signs of the times and to not allow them to drag us down, but to help us hope for the future to come. Jesus reminds us that we are not to be discouraged by all the evil in the world, but to take up our cross, to follow him, and to continue to do the work of the Gospel.

It is in this message that we are reminded that we must continue to help the poor, the homeless, as well as the widow and the orphan. Our mission to make a positive change in the world does not stop because others have decided to be evil. No, our mission is more important now more than ever.

So, we renew our commitment to those who need it most. We continue to call for help to maintain our blessing bag ministry. We will continue to bring services to those who cannot attend any other way. And we will continue to work to build up a congregation in the CSRA to offer an affirming and welcoming liturgical church.

We ask you to consider what you can do to live this message more each and every day.

Won’t you help us to the Prepare the Way?

Pax et Bonum,

Bishop Greer

Resisting Hate

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Our Gospel this Sunday points to a dystopian future of our world. A future where the heavens are destroyed, and the earth is in ruin. Sadly, so many Christians cheer this type of future that they miss the entire message of the Gospel. They believe that Jesus’ words are truth, except when it comes to this Gospel.

You see, Jesus said that these events will occur before the generation he is speaking to passes away. That is about 40 years or so after that speech. This Gospel has been used to predict the coming of the end of the world and the “rapture” to scare people into submission.

During the previous election, many conservatives used this language and these types of dystopian imagery to scare people into voting for them. They not only misinterpret the scriptures, but they do the very thing Jesus cautions against: they combine Caeser and God.

We continue to find ourselves at the edge of a cliff. Many Christians have given their faith, allegiance, and whole selves to political leaders. They have decided that the church must be an arm of the government and do the bidding of the government. However, this is not what Jesus wanted. In fact, Jesus was crucified by a combination of government and religion.

2000 years later, we are right back where we started. Our parish, Saint Francis Parish and Outreach, refuses to be an arm of the government. We refuse to marginalize those in our midst that political leaders build their campaigns on the back of. We refuse to dehumanize people of color, immigrants, LGBTQIA+, the poor and homeless, prisoners, women, and those who are elderly and in need of our support.

This Advent, we are offering a class on How to be a Resisting Church. We will look at the lives and messages of the Rev. Dr. Detrick Bonhoffer and the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. We will learn their message of peaceful resistance to an unjust government. And we will offer this class to anyone who wants to participate.

December 3, 10, and 17 at 6:30 PM ET on Zoom, we will offer everyone a chance to take this class. To receive information on how to participate, you can email the parish at bishopgodsey@oursaintfrancis.org or fill out the form below.

We hope you will join us as we start this next chapter in our parish!

Pax et Bonum,

Bishop Greer

Are we loving our neighbor?

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This Sunday we hear the lesson from Jesus concerning what the greatest commandment is. This Scribe comes to him wanting to know what the greatest commandment is. And Jesus tells him that the first is to love God will all your heart, soul, mind, strength and to love your neighbor as yourself.

We as Christians have a serious problem with these commandments. Christians today spend so much time attacking one another or attacking those who they view as different from themselves. We spend so much time looking for things to be angry about and people to dislike.

Jesus’ message is more important today than ever before. It is necessary for us to go back to his message and start to love one another. We should be loving to everyone, regardless of their faith, race, gender, sexual orientation, and social status.

When our time comes to stand before God, we will not be judged on how many Bibles we owned, how many people we beat into submission, or how often we sat in the pew of the church. We will instead be judged on how we treated one another, how well be helped those most in need, and whether or not we accepted the Divine in everyone we met.

How will you be judged? Will you be found faithful or wanting?

Maybe it is time to join us for Sunday Mass to start your journey toward faithful living of the Gospel of Jesus!

Pax et Bonum,

Bishop Greer

Are you willfully blind?

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We are all blind like the man Bartimaeus in this Sunday’s Gospel. Whether that blindness is willing or not, we choose at times to ignore the things right before us. Jesus asks what many of us see as a simple and unnecessary question of Bartimaeus. He asks what Bartimaeus wants him to do for him.

Jesus asks him this question because what seemed noticeable, his blindness, might not have been the thing he needed help with. It might have been that Bartimaeus was content with being blind. Jesus wanted to hear from Bartimaeus what he wanted.

God is not usually in the habit of forcing us to do anything. This too is why Jesus asked. We pray for those who are willfully blind in our day and age, but the reality is that they must be willing to see. They must be willing to confront the truth right in front of them.

In our world today, we see a complete lack of empathy, care, concern, love, and kindness. So many of us walk around blind to these vices. It is much easier to just claim it is hyperbole than to accept that these have become the standard for most people.

Today is the day to make a change. Today is the day to open your eyes and choose to look at all the ugliness and sadness in the world. Today is the day to choose to be a light in the darkness, to show love and empathy.

Join us this Sunday to learn how to remove your blinders and to see the path Jesus set before us.

Pax et Bonum,

Bishop Greer

A Servant to All

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This Sunday’s Gospel has a line that caught my attention: “Rather, whoever wishes to be great among you will be your servant; whoever wishes to be first among you will be the slave of all. For the Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

As a Franciscan Parish, we are drawn to the words of our father, Saint Francis of Assisi. For those who do not know what a Franciscan is, we are followers of the teachings of Saint Francis.

Saint Francis heard a voice speak to him one day, “Francis, go and rebuild my church which, as you see, is falling down.” While Francis thought he was being called to repair the church of San Damiano, he would come to understand that God was calling him to repair the whole church worldwide of the greed, clericalism, and abuse that ran throughout it.

Saint Francis believed that the solution to this cancer in the church was to reject worldly wealth, care for the poor and sick, and to be a servant to all people. This is, after all, the message of the Gospel. Francis was willing to sell all his father’s possessions and give those funds to the poor and sick. This even though his father would go on to disown him.

Francis is quoted as saying, “It would be considered a theft on our part if we didn’t give to someone in greater need than we are.” This teaching is one of the foundations of our parish. It is our call to help those who cannot help themselves. As I said last Sunday in my sermon, we are called to help even when we have little to give.

This Sunday, the Gospel focuses on the disciples’ anger at James and John asking to sit at Jesus’ right and left hand. Jesus says those words I opened with to all the disciples. Nearly 2000 years later, that teaching is still meant for us.

As Saint Francis said, “We should never desire to be over others. Instead, we ought to be servants who are submissive to every human being for God’s sake.” We are called to be servants to all people regardless of who they are. We are to show no partiality when we meet others.

I ask you today to decide to walk this path with us. Come follow the teachings of the Gospel and of Saint Francis. Not just on Sundays, but on every day of our lives.

I hope to see you at Mass on Sunday!

Pax et Bonum,

Bishop Greer

Giving Joyfully

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This Sunday we have the Gospel reading of the rich young man. Jesus was asked by him what he must do to inherent eternal life. Jesus told him that he must follow the ten commandments. He replied that he had kept all the commandments since his youth. Jesus then told him to go, sell all that he had, and give that money to the poor. The young man went away upset because he was rich and did not want to let go of his wealth.

Jesus remarks to his disciples that it is easier for a rope to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to inherent the Kingdom of God. Yes, I know, most English translations say camel, but that is a mistranslation. The actual translation preserved in the Syriac Peshitta says rope.

Living in the Deep South and having endured the recent destruction caused by Hurricane Helene and Milton, I have seen so many people reach out to help one another survive. None of them were rich. All of them were people like me and you; barely scrapping by and trying hard to survive on what little they had.

Like the parable of the woman who gave her last two coins to the temple treasury, so many people gave from their need, not their abundance. The few people who were rich and helped did so after being shamed on social media into helping. That is not given from their heart or their sense of Christian charity. No, it was giving from their desire to save face.

We are a small parish. We have very little in the way of funding. However, we continue to help the poor and homeless, not from our abundance, but from our need. We cannot turn our backs on those who need our assistance. And we are commanded to help them no matter what.

Today, I ask you, will you give to our parish and help us to continue the great work we do here in the Central Savannah River Area (CSRA)? Will you give of your need or your abundance to make sure others have what they need to survive? Will you bless others as you have been blessed?

So many people watch us online, yet so few support the parish financially. It is time this changed. Be a part of our ministry by dedicating your time, talents, and money to help us.

If you cannot give financially, can you be a lector? Can you take time to record you reading the Sunday readings to send to us? What about taking time to record a video about how our parish affects your life? Or maybe you have parish management skills we can use. There are so many ways for you to volunteer and help us out.

Pray about how you might be able to help others through our parish family.

Pax et Bonum,

Bishop Greer

Where are the loving Christians?

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Saint Francis Parish and Outreach has been working tirelessly to bring a voice of compassion, love, social justice, and radical inclusion to the CSRA for almost 21 years now. We are routinely asked why more people don’t come to our church. And I don’t have the answer to that question.

I would like to think that people in our community are loving, accepting, affirming, and inclusive in their love for their neighbors. However, I find it very disheartening to see churches that teach radical exclusion, hatred, abuse, and condemnation full to the brim while churches like Saint Francis remain empty on Sunday.

I won’t lie to you, there are Sundays where I sit and hold back the tears as I sit before Jesus in the tabernacle. We have dedicated our lives to helping those most marginalized in our community: the homeless, the poor, the LGBTQIA+, women, and people of color. It has been our founding principle to stand up against injustice and abuse. We continue to work to make a difference in our community by joining with others to stand against oppression, stigma, racism, and bigotry.

Where are those who want to help with this ministry? Where are those who aim to live the Gospel message of inclusion and love?

We have so many things planned as we move into fall and the Christmas season. We have our Blessing of the Pets on Sunday, October 6th during Mass at 3:00 PM. We are planning our annual Blue Christmas Service in December. And who can forget our Christmas Midnight Mass!

I am pleading with you this week, come visit us this Sunday at 3:00 PM at 557 Greene Street in Augusta, Georgia. Come see an entirely different way to be Catholic. Come experience the beauty of the Metropolitan Community Church of Our Redeemer that graciously lets us use their space for worship. And come to support the living Gospel!

Make Saint Francis Parish and Outreach your new church home!

Pax et Bonum,

Bishop Greer

Our command to help others

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We have seen the situation play out in churches repeatedly throughout the years. People who claim to be Christians fighting with each other over who is the best Christian. They play a game with their faith, seeing it as something that one must work to be better than their fellow Christians.

Sadly, this is not a new situation. Jesus had to confront this type of spiritual abuse among his own disciples. They were caught by Jesus arguing about who was the greatest disciple. And Jesus confronted this argument in a unique way.

Jesus tells the disciples that if they want to be the first in the kingdom of God, they must first be the last. They must be like a little child. In other words, they had to be humble and put others before themselves.

Saint Francis of Assisi would spread that same message 1200 years later. He would remind his followers that to be first, you had to put everyone ahead of you. He went as far as to tell his brothers that they needed to be last when it came to getting their food and eating. They should make sure others were fed first.

These brothers, later called friars, would make this a central part of their daily lives. Here at Saint Francis Parish and Outreach, we are a Franciscan parish focused on putting those most in need ahead of ourselves.

I am asked a lot why we ask for so much help to feed the homeless and poor. My answer is simple: Jesus told us to, and Saint Francis commanded us to. So, we work diligently to help as many people as we can.

We ask you to help for two reasons: 1) the task is too great for one person to do alone, and 2) we are giving you the opportunity to live the message of the Gospel. This is your chance to be part of a movement bigger than yourself, to help those most in need of love and support.

I know you get tired of hearing about it, but your support helps us and you. It helps the poor and homeless in the CSRA. And sending a donation to our parish helps to keep us actively helping those who need our help most.

I hope you will come to worship with us this Sunday, either in person or online. And that you will consider signing up for reoccurring donations to our outreaches and parish.

Pax et Bonum,

Bishop Greer

Faith without works is dead

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Faith without works is dead. That is the message of this Sunday’s second reading. We live in a world where most Christians believe that all they need to be a good Christian is to have faith.

Don’t misunderstand what I am saying. Faith is a critical part of our religious and spiritual walk. However, if you have faith only then you are missing the most critical part. Saint James tells us that faith comes through our works.

Without the work we do to help those around us, our faith is stagnated and dead. One of the great messages of Jesus was to help those in most need around us. We are called to help the homeless, the orphan, the widow, and the marginalized.

When we abandon those works, we show that we have little or no faith in the teachings of Jesus. It is time for the church to stop trying to set up an earthly kingdom for Jesus and to start following his teachings. It is time we work to help others and to be a force for good in our world.

If the church focused on work that helps the communities we live in, then we would see a dramatic decrease in homelessness, poverty, and hunger. We would see many people abandon their hatred and anger and start showing love to one another.

Now is the time to make this change. Won’t you join us?

Pax et Bonum,

Bishop Greer