I just drove to Newport News and back, on I-64. I did something that is very odd: I set my cruise control smack dab on the speed limit.

I passed a total of three vehicles. I was passed by hundreds of cars and trucks.

My conclusion: People don't really care that gas is $3 a gallon. If they did, they'd drive more slowly and save gas. Gas hasn't gotten expensive enough for us to begin conserving!

When do your words become the Word of God? It's possible that they could, in daily life, in your interactions with others!

Here is a quote from the late Orthodox theologian, Alexander Schmemann:

"Our world is incredibly verbal and we are so constantly flooded by words which have lost their meaning and therefore their power. Christianity reveals the sacredness of the word -- a truly Divine gift to humanity. For this reason our speech is endowed with tremendous power, either positive or negative....

"To control speech is to recover its seriousness and its sacredness, to understand that sometimes an innocent 'joke,' which we proffered without even thinking about it, can have disastrous results -- can be that last 'drop' which pushes a person into ultimate despair and destruction. But the word can also be a witness. A casual conversation across the desk with a colleague can do more for communicating a vision of life, an attitude toward others or toward work, than formal preaching. It can sow the seeds of a question, of the possibility of a different approach to life, the desire to know more.

"We have no idea how, in fact, we constantly influence one another by our words, by the very 'tonality' of our personality. And ultimately people are converted to God, not because someone was able to give brilliant explanations, but because they saw in the other person that light, joy, depth, seriousness, love which alone reveal the presence and the power of God in the world."

The theme of each Sunday is resurrection. During Sunday morning worship, through Word and Sacrament and community, we enact the new life made possible by the resurrection of Jesus the Christ.

Right now, that every-Sunday theme is embedded in the context of Pentecost. The season of Pentecost began with the great festival Sunday of Pentecost, when we celebrate the giving of the Holy Spirit to the Church (read Acts 2:1-21 again), and it extends until the first Sunday in Advent! The season of Pentecost raises our awareness of how God the Holy Spirit forms us in faith.

Here is a wonderful, ancient prayer for the season of Pentecost:

Almighty God, Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
grant, we pray, that we might be grounded
and settled in your truth by the coming of
your Holy Spirit into our hearts.

What we do not know,
reveal to us;
What is lacking within us,
make complete;

That which we do know,
confirm in us;
And keep us blameless in your service,
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen.

Clement of Rome (died c. 96)

What a delightful time it is in the garden these days. In my home garden, there are 17 Easter lily blooms open! It is so wonderful to be sitting on the porch, and sniffing the scent of Easter lilies.

At the church, my last count was 54 Easter lilly blooms that were open. Fifty-four!

Easter lilies in June?! Yes -- highly appropriate. Because regardless of the season of the church year -- Advent, Christmas, Epiphany, Lent, Easter, Pentecost -- the theme of each Sunday's worship service is the resurrection of Christ. What a great reminder those lilies are, here in June: He is risen! He is risen indeed! Alleluia!

Yesterday was the day of Pentecost, 50 days after Easter, with the story from Acts, of the Spirit descending upon Jesus' gathered disciples; the gift of the Spirit to the Church. That story includes the description of the disciples being given the ability to speak in all the languages of the world's peoples. (And so, in this visionary experience, even Jews and Arabs are worshiping God together!)

In the stained glass of the cupola in the St. Stephen building, many ancestors in the faith are depicted. Of those illustrations, the one that most strikes me is that of Abraham. He is depicted with a sash across his chest, and on the sash are three symbols: the Star of David, the Cross, and the Crescent Moon and Star of Islam. What foresight that stained glass artist had -- more than 40 years ago! -- to speak to our day. Think of this. If all the peoples of the world -- Jew, Christian and Muslim -- gave importance to the fact that we are all descendents of Abraham, and that that common ancestry in God is more important than any divisions among us, there would be the basis for peace in the world!

On this second day in the long season of Pentecost, here is the prayer in today's Daily Lectionary: "Father in heaven, fifty days have celebrated the fullness of the mystery of your revealed love. See your people gathered in prayer, open to receive the Spirit's flame. May it come to rest in our hearts and disperse the divisions of word and tongue. With one voice and one song may we praise your name in joy and thanksgiving. Grant this through Christ our Lord. Amen."

It's Saturday morning and I'm scheduled to lead a 40 mile ride for the Williamsburg Area Bicyclists -- and it's raining.

Usually, when your plans are rained out, aren't you frustrated? Me too. This morning, though, somehow, by the grace of God, I'm ok with the rain! I've been sitting out on the screened porch, watching and listening to the rain, listening to the birds (who are overjoyed!) and thinking about what a gift from God this day is. Every day, of course, is an undeserved gift from God. And it's been so dry. We need the rain badly. So, as part of my morning prayer, I'm relaxing and giving thanks for the wet weather. I hope it rains all day, since that's one gift God is giving us with this new day.