Speaking of chickens:  have you ever considered how many chickens there are in the world?  Seriously.  The other day, I was listening to some program on NPR and the discussion was wildlife. Not that chickens are necessarily "wild life," yet it did spark some thoughts into my head.  And last Sunday, while we were gathering to begin our Bishop's Committee meeting, Mike Golden mentioned how much he likes chicken.  So, again, the question came to my mind as to how many chickens may there be in the world.  Think about it:  virtually every restaurant in this country alone serves some sort of chicken; be it grilled, deep fried, shredded, cut-up into small kidney-shaped pieces, breaded and deep fried, chicken-kabobs, broiled and baked. You name it, chicken is served up and do we eat it up!  Personally, I'm rather fond of a neat, grilled chicken sandwich, with lettuce, tomato, mustard and just a bit of mayo.  Makes me hungry thinking about it.

Now, let us consider the immense abundance of grace the Holy Spirit provides, each day, to each person throughout the world.  Please, I realize my comparison of the world's population of chickens and the third part of the Holy Trinity may well be a stretch and perhaps borders on the sacrilegious.  However, it is just that - a comparison with no disrespect intended.  You see, both are impossible to determine!  THAT IS THE POINT, my friends.

Last weekend my sermon focused on the gifts of the Holy Spirit and how blessed we are, as deserving recipients of the gifts of the Spirit.  Jesus warned His followers that the Spirit's gifts could not be provided all at once, lest we "explode."  Of course, Jesus didn't say it quite that way.  He intimated that, to use the passage from St. John's Gospel:  "I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may be with you forever."  (John 14: 16).  That Helper, I believe, is the Holy Spirit.  We pray for guidance and assistance in our daily activities and endeavors.  We ask God the Creator, Jesus the Redeemer and the Paraclete, the Holy Spirit to be with us, to guide and direct us in our travels, in our work and in our worship.  Without fail, we are gifted with the very grace of which we beseech and implore.  At St. Nicholas Church, we have much for which to be grateful.  We are blessed in such great measure.  I for one do not take it for granted.  In my daily prayers, I am mindful to offer my humble thanks to the Almighty One for the gifts and grace found in each member of this community of faith, whom I love and cherish.

We may not always have our prayers answered in exactly the way we desire.  God works in God's own way and time.  We pray for patience.  We pray for strength.  We pray for guidance.  God gives us what we need, not necessarily what we want or desire.  I would wager to guess there are many people out there --good, sincere people at that -- who are "praying" they win the biggest Lotto ever.  Sadly, most will not win a darn thing.  Did God ignore our pleas?  I just don't think God works like that.  Yet, whoever wins this mega Lotto prize may very well utter these very words, "Thank you, God."

So let us thank God for all the gifts we receive:  the Holy Spirit which works through God the Father and Jesus the Son that they continues to support and strengthen us.  And why?  Because we are loved beyond telling, beyond measure, beyond our ability to determine the depth, the height, the width of God's love for us.  Which brings us back to the matter of chickens...just how many are there in the world...

Amen.

 

-Manny