October 19, 2014 - Children's Sabbath (Nineteenth Sunday after Pentecost)
"Children" - Text from Matthew 19:13-15
Greetings to you, my family in Christ, sisters and brothers, saints and sinners, children of God.
I am approaching 48 years old, and of course, it is not "old" by many measures, as many members of my beloved St. Francis family will remind me when I complain about the toils that age has thus far been having on me. But it does seem to be a kind of milestone in my life. Way back in 1989, over half my life ago, I tested positive for HIV, which pretty much eliminated the question of passing on my DNA to later generations, for fear of passing on the virus as well, and so any time I ever thought about the desire to have children, I pretty much moved forward from that thought. But now, in 2014, I am still around and in better health than ever, and my virus has been undetectable for probably the last five years. But I'm going to be 48 soon, and my spouse is going to be 60. And so the prospect of bringing a newborn child into this world now is also the prospect of approaching 70 when that child is in the midst of college. It will be a time that I hope to be beginning retirement and at least joining my husband's golden years in life.
