Frankincense, the sacred incense

Frankincense

There is a saying,  everywhere you go, you take a little bit of it home with you. 

When I went to Arabia in 2009, I noticed the smell of incense is everywhere.  They burn incense many places, including the malls and in many souks and shops. 

And naturally, as frankincense is from southern Arabia, (the southern coast of Oman, Yemen and the northern coast of Somalia).  Frankincense is actually a tree, the boswellia sacra. 

Frankincense tree in Arabia

These trees have been cultivated for thousands of years for their resin, (tree sap) which is and has been used as sacred incense for the past 5000 years.  When the sap dries, it looks like little golden nuggets.  And when burned, it emits a sweet aroma.

So, when I was preparing to return home after being in Arabia for nearly 5 months, I wanted to buy some gifts for my friends back home.  But wanted something authentically Arabian.  

 Incense shop

So I decided to buy frankincense.  I went to a souk, (a marketplace), where there are many vendors that sell incense.   They sell it by the pound.

I asked the seller to put my frankincense nuggets in small little zip-lock baggies, so I could give them as gifts to my friends back home.  

As he was putting the frankincense in the bags, two Arab men were watching us from across the counter.  They were both dressed in their white dishdashas, (white tunics) and ghutras, (white head gear) with the black iqal (crown).  

Arabian incense burner

With their Arabian accents, they asked me in English why I was buying so much frankincense. 

I told them I wanted to get something authentically Arabian to give as gifts for my friends back home.  Something that did not say "made in China" when you turned it upside down!

They burst out laughing! 

I still have a lot of that frankincense here at my home from that trip, even though I have given much of it away, much to the enjoyment of my friends!  I burn it occasionally, and it fills my house with its sweet, sacred smell.

My little Frankincense Tree

A while back, I wondered about growing or purchasing a frankincense tree.  I soon discovered they are pretty rare in the USA and thus, very hard to come by. 

I persisted and finally found this little tree!  

My little tree pictured here is about 2 feet tall in the pot.  And yes, this is a true Frankincense tree, the boswellia sacra!

Why did I want one?  Well, not to cut it and bleed its sap.  I hope my little tree grows big and healthy.  I do after all live in a desert!  Sonoran desert, meet a plant from the Arabian desert!  

As they say... everywhere you go, you take a little bit of it home with you! 

Divine Wisdom

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SERMON:  May 26, 2013  Trinity Sunday   “Divine Wisdom”

Icon:  Holy Wisdom

Proverbs 8:1-4, 22-31, Romans 5:1-5, John 16:12-15   

The Rev. Laura Adelia  (Sermon given at St. Peter's Episcopal Church, Casa Grande, AZ.)

“In the name of God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit”  Amen.

Good morning everyone!  It’s another lovely day here at St Peter’s! 

There was a commercial on TV many years ago, jazz musician Miles Davis was playing his trumpet.  Then he stops, and says, “I’ll play it first, and tell you about it later…”.  

Now, if this makes perfect sense to you, you are probably more “right brained”!   If not, you are probably more “left brained”!

I am sure many of you have heard of the right brain – left brain theory.   It theorizes that each side of our brains uses different aspects of thought.  And for each of us, one side tends to be more dominant. 

For example, our “left brain” is the side of our brain that utilizes logic, numbers, planning, and analytical reasoning.   The left brain tends to be more linear and literal in thought.   So if you are one of those people that relates more to thinking in this way, then you are probably more “left brained”. 

The “right brain” on the other hand is the side of our brains that utilizes intuition, creativity, the arts, emotions, spontaneity, thinking in metaphors and symbols, more non-linear thought and images and expressions. 

So, if you are an artsy person, creative, and or tend to think more in circles rather than lines, you are probably more “right brained”!

Let’s take a poll here.  How many relate to being more left brained?   And how many relate to being more right brained?

Both sides of our brains of course, are important and needed!  But isn’t it amazing how musicians improvise, or solo?  How artists create, how writers write stories, how inventors invent, how people envision, and so forth?   

Today is Trinity Sunday, which celebrates the doctrine of the Trinity, the three persons or essences of God.

The Trinity is one of the most fascinating and yet controversial of Christian dogmas.  It can be very difficult to fully understand ‘three in one and one in three’.  In many ways, the Trinity is a mystery. 

Many a theologian over the millennia have tried to understand and explain it.   Boatloads of books have been written about it, and still it is a mystery!

There is a story about St. Thomas Aquinas, Scholastic theologian from the Middle Ages, who wrote “Summa Theologica” and volumes of theology.  And what happened to him when he was near his time of passing?  He had a flash of insight…and in a moment he understood but could not explain it.  And commenting on all his life’s’ volumes theological writings, he said, “it’s all straw”!  

Perhaps it is because theologians especially in the Western world have predominantly used analytical and intellectual, left brain thought. 

But what if we looked at the Trinity with our “right brain”?   Our artistic, creative, non-linear intuitive side?

A whole new world opens up!

Well, I was going to bring in my icon of Toitza, which means ‘Trinity’ in Russian.  But I accidentally left it at home…it is sitting on my kitchen counter.  Sigh.  Oh well. 

OK, so let’s do an imagination exercise…I will describe it for you.   The icon portrays three beings sitting around a table.  They are wearing robes and have their hair in a pony tail braid.  You may have seen this icon before, it is pretty well known.  It was painted in the 14^th century.

Troitza (Trinity) icon

This icon, like all icons, tells a story and is full of symbolism.     I had this icon on the wall in my office when I was stationed at Luke AFB for many years.  In walked another chaplain, who was of the more evangelical persuasion of Christianity.  I guess he was not familiar with icons, because as he looked at it, he commented, “What’s the deal with the three women?”

Yes, many times we see what we want to see, or hear what we want to hear.  And that’s what he saw, three women!  But it is not three women.

The Trinity icon depicts the story in Genesis where three angels visited Abraham at the Oaks of Mamre.  But this icon is often interpreted and thus named, the 'Holy Trinity'. 

Of the three persons of the Trinity, it seems God as Father and God as the Son get top billing.   But the Holy Spirit kind gets put on the back burner.

Perhaps it is because our society and culture tends to emphasize the “left brain”, or perhaps concepts of God as Father and the God the Son are more tangible…and easier to relate to?    The Holy Spirit on the other hand, is well, out there!  It has no form.  It’s vague.    It’s mysterious.

Are you a Holy Spirit person? I confess, I like the Holy Spirit!  With its free form ambiguity and mysteriousness.   The Spirit can’t be put in a box, or controlled.  It goes where it will…

Now, in the book of Proverbs that we heard read this morning focuses on the Holy Spirit, but personified as “Wisdom”. 

Sophia

Interestingly Proverbs presents Divine Wisdom as feminine in form.  She is known as “Chokhma” or “Hokhma” in Hebrew.   In Greek, we know her as “Sophia”.  Wisdom.  Holy Wisdom.

Divine Wisdom calls to us…and tells us to “get wisdom”!!

And who does not want wisdom?    But we just can’t go and get it so easily!  It can’t be learned from reading a book or taking a class.  It seems to be associated though, with the school of hard knocks!  Life experience.

Humility and listening cultivates holy wisdom.  In a world where the superficial tends to be emphasized, with the biggest, the fastest, and attention seeking behaviors… Good Lord help us!  We need wisdom! 

For ancient Israelites, wisdom was one of the top virtues, alongside kindness.  King Solomon was said to be very wise.  How did Solomon become wise? 

He asked God! 

When Solomon became king, he prayed to God to grant him wisdom so he could rule his people well and wisely.  It was said that God was pleased with this, as Solomon’s request was selfless.  Thus God granted him wisdom.

And Jesus says to his disciples in John, “I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you…”

Every one of us has the spark of Divine Wisdom in our souls.  Whether we call it Holy Spirit, or the Spirit of Truth, or Divine Wisdom….We can feel it, and hear it…and know it….if we pay close enough attention.

It’s the “still small voice”, so easily squelched out by life’s busy-ness and noisy-ness.  And we do live in a fast paced and noisy world, don’t we?

On this three day weekend, this Memorial Day weekend…where we pause to reflect and remember…and honor those who gave all…  amid the noise and busy-ness…the picnics and barbeques and gatherings with family and friends… 

Let us pause to listen….  Is God perhaps trying to tell you something?

Are we listening?

“Knowledge speaks, wisdom listens…” 

Amen.

Sermon: Day of Pentecost

Sermon:  Day of Pentecost, May 19, 2013  The Rev. Laura Adelia

Gen 11:1-9, Ps 104, Romans 8:14-17, Jn  14:8-17, 25-27     

(Sermon given at St. Peter's Episcopal Church, Casa Grande, AZ)

“Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable to you, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer.”  (Psalm 19:14)

Good morning everyone!  It is wonderful to be with you all here at St. Peter’s!  And don’t you all look so very dashing in red this beautiful day of Pentecost!  I very much look forward to getting to know you all!  I wish it were under other circumstances though, as Vicar Judy is not well and now on medical leave.  Hopefully with some time for rest she will heal and be well.

This day of Pentecost, by the way, is the birthday of the early Christian church!  So happy birthday church!  

And so I ask you, how have you experienced the Holy?    Think about that right now.  How did it feel?

How many of you speak a second or third language?  Or have tried to learn another language?     Not very easy, is it?  (Hardly anyone raised their hands.)

OK, I have to ask, What do you call someone who speaks 3 languages?  Trilingual.  Two languages?  Bilingual.  One language?  American!

About 7 or 8 years ago, I decided to expand my horizons take Arabic.  So there I was in class, Arabic 101 at Phoenix College.  And the teacher walks in.  He was from Bangladesh, and was one of those people that speaks five languages!  Uh!   And he tells us in his Bangladesh accent, “Ahdahbik vedi eezy!”  

Hmmm!   Well, I can tell you Arabic was not 'vedi eezy'!  It was fun to learn, but it was a lot of work.  I wound up taking 4 semester of Arabic and even going to Jordan and Israel for a cultural study for six weeks.  And here it is, all these years later, and all I can remember is the alphabet and a few Arabic words and phrases!

Languages.   

It seems to be the basis of the story in the Tower of Babel story we just heard in Genesis.  The primeval mythological story of how so many languages came to be in the world.

The story is about languages and power. “Babel” actually means “gate of God” in Akkadian, the ancient language of Sumeria, "bab" is gate or door, and "el", is God.  But the story in Genesis is referring to Babylon, so named as in Hebrew the word “balal” means “confusion”.  As well there is a much deeper meaning of the story. 

Contrast this to the story in Acts, which we did not hear today.  The story of the day of Pentecost, where the disciples are in a house, and sound of rushing wind comes upon them, and they are filled with the Holy Spirit.  From this, they are given “tongues of fire” and are able to speak multitudes of languages, and travel the world.

Notice in the two stories, in Babel, the people lose something, and in the Pentecost story in Acts, the people, the disciples gain something.  

And in the Gospel story, we have Philip, who has a moment of insecurity and anxiousness and asks Jesus to ‘show them the Father, and they will be satisfied’.    In other words, show us God!

Can you imagine being in Jesus’ shoes for a moment?  You have just led your disciples all over for the past three years, doing all these amazing things, healing the sick, giving sight to the blind, teaching, preaching, even raising the dead!   No wonder Jesus responds with “Philip, I have been with you all this time and you still do not know me?”  

But haven’t we all been there?  No matter how many times we feel God’s presence in our lives sometimes anxiety and fear gets the best of us and we still need assurance!

But Jesus, ever patient and always teaching says, God the Father is in him, and he is in God the Father.   In other words, God is always present!

Jesus then gives words of comfort and assurance.   After he is gone, God will send them the Holy Spirit, the Advocate, who will teach them everything… and remind them all they have been taught.

Most of the time, we think of a Holy Spirit or Pentecost experience as an ecstatic and intense spiritual experience or event.   

As well, we tend to associate very beautiful places in nature, such as Sedona or the forest, the tall pines with wind rushing thru the trees and sweet pine smell with cool mountain air on our skin, “God’s country” as we would call it, or an amazing Arizona sunset as a place or event where one would experience the Holy.  

But let’s not forget the Holy is ever present in the ordinary and the mundane too.  Even with us in places that seem ‘God forsaken’.  

When I was deployed to the deserts of Arabia, to an “undisclosed location in SW Asia”, an airbase in the middle of nowhere, with it’s high walls and barbed wire fences, lack of aesthetics, beige and white sand, intense desert heat….it was not a pretty place.   But, in spite of this, I felt and knew God, the Spirit was there with me!   

However, my last week there, my replacement had come in.   I was awaiting transport home and a strange thing happened.  My plane kept getting delayed and I was anxious to go home, naturally.    The delays made me even more anxious.  I wanted to get home to my doggies, my family, my friends! My home!    And for the first time I actually saw how ugly the place really was!  

It was as is the Spirit did not allow me to see the ugliness of the place the 5 or so months I was there.  For if I had, I would not have been able to do my work and minister to the people there! 

Yes, the Holy is always present, whether or not we let ourselves see it and feel it. Sometimes it may feel to us that God, or the Holy is absent in our lives for a while.  I think this happens from time to time for all of us.  Mother Theresa even described that even she felt an absence of God, for 50 years!  And we are talking Mother Theresa here!  

Perhaps God was / is there all the time, it is just at times we do not feel it.  It is easy to let fear and worry take over.  And then it is ever more difficult to feel and know that the Holy Spirit is always with us.  

As well, the Spirit is present not just in the good and joyful events of life, but is also there with us in our sorrows, pain, and sufferings too. 

In those times when fear may be getting the best of us, let us focus on and let us remember the words of Jesus, “Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not be afraid.”   

There really can be a peace that passes all understanding.   But we must be open to God’s language and communication…the Holy Spirit.   It may not always come as an ecstatic, peak spiritual experience, but it can come.  It does come.  In the calm, in our breath… in everyday moments…

God’s presence will not be defeated by fear.  Hope overcomes despair. Light overcomes the darkness!

Let us walk in love, supporting one another, caring for one another, and pray for one another...knowing the Spirit, the Comforter, is always with us!   

Amen!

Two Audio Sermons: Veteran's Day 2012 and DEC 23, 2012 Trinity Episcopal Cathedral

Rev. Laura at the Blessing of the Animals, OCT 2012

In the three and a half or so months that I assisted at Trinity Cathedral in Phoenix last year, I led worship numerous times, celebrated Eucharist, preached sermons and homilies, chanted for Evensong, blessed animals, censed the altar, visited people in the hospital, prayed with and for people, blessed and anointed people, assisted with funerals, baptisms, and more.    I got to do many of the wonderful things that an Episcopal priest gets to do! 

Two of my sermons were recorded; Veteran's Day, NOV 11, 2012, the other on DEC 23rd, 2012.  

If you would like to listen, they are linked here:

Rev. Laura's sermon DEC 23rd, 2012  

Rev. Laura's sermon NOV 11, 2012   (Veteran's Day) 

Enjoy!

Audio sermon DEC 23, 2013
Audio sermon NOV 11, 2012