Musings of an altomom

Forgive us our sins

2011-09-10T15:19:00.000-04:00

Over twenty years ago, someone hurt me very much. There’s no need to recount the details; the reason I bring it up is because I have forgiven this man many times. Sometimes, I remember the incident, think it over,
nd tell myself I’ve forgiven him. Then I put it away again, determined not to give it any more thought.

But I do think about it. It hasn’t been more than a few months since I told someone the story! I can’t tell you how many times I have “forgiven” him. In truth, I understand he didn’t intend to hurt me. I don’t hold it against him. And I don’t bear him a grudge. But somehow, the incident has remained alive for me all these years.

When I began thinking about what to say today, this story popped into my head. This time, I realized
that I have forgiven him but until now I hadn’t been able to see my own involvement as being other than victim. In truth, I had a lot to do with my own hurt. There were several places in the conversation where I could have stopped it, where I should have stopped it, and yet I didn’t.

How many times must I forgive my brother, Lord? As many times as it takes, replies Jesus.

I think I’ve finally forgiven this person for the last time. It won’t make a difference to our relationship. He’s dead now; yet, even if he wasn’t, we would be living far apart and traveling in different circles. But I still need to forgive him for my own sake, for my own spiritual health.

An important part of forgiveness is deciding to release ourselves from the unhealthy baggage not forgiving piles on us. As usual, I did not come to understand this on my own. I was reading an article called, “Is forgiveness possible at Ground Zero?”

Today is 9/11. Ten years ago today, we stopped whatever we were doing and watched the horrors of that day over and over again. Almost immediately, Americans began looking at Middle Easterners differently
and many began casting blame for the tragedy on the nearest Arab-looking person. Then there were all those officials that might have stopped it if only….

We are very good at placing political blame in this country. We are doing it again at all levels of government
over the jobs and debt crises. Perhaps blaming someone helps at first. But in the long run, it is an impossible game to win. Because, you see, it doesn’t help anyone heal, it doesn’t help rebuild cities and towns, it won’t feed the hungry or clothe the poor.

And it really doesn’t make us feel better, either. Forgiving those who chose to attack this country, forgiving those who seem to put politics ahead of what’s good for the country, has to be the Christian response.

Now here’s what we need to remember about forgiveness. It in no way releases the wrongdoers from the sin of their actions. Saying, I forgive you, does not wipe the slate clean. What it does, is allow us to heal
and to learn trust once more. Forgiving someone does not mean they can continue doing the same old thing,
causing the same hurt. It means that by our act of forgiveness, we are working to turn them around.

Do you remember in the epistle two weeks ago, Paul said if our enemies are hungry, we should feed them;
if they are thirsty, give them something to drink; for by doing this you will heap burning coals on their heads?
What a strange thing to say, but Paul means that we are to treat those who have wronged us, who are our enemies, with the same kindness we treat each other. In so doing, we embarrass them into changing their ways. Changing their heart is the part of forgiveness that is about them.

And that’s what the parable is about today. An oriental potentate calls for an audit of all his accounts and discovers that one of his officials has mismanaged a great deal of money. The sum in the parable is so huge
that no one could ever pay it back which makes you wonder where the potentate got it in the first place!

In any case, the official begs for mercy, assuring the potentate that he will indeed pay it back if given enough time – perhaps three lifetimes would be enough. He is greatly surprised, as is everyone within earshot, to hear the potentate forgive him the entire debt.

And yet, the official then sees someone who owes him a trifling amount of money – easily paid off in a matter of months or years – and he orders him thrown into jail until the debt is paid. When the potentate hears this,
he has the official treated the same way.

How can we be forgiven if we are not willing to forgive? It is not a simple matter of asking our own sins to be forgiven and then going about business as usual. If that was the case, forgiveness would be cheap,
not worth asking for.

Remember that forgiveness requires a response from the one being forgiven, some kind of restitution or admission that leads to a changed life. By refusing to accord his own debtor the same magnanimous treatment given to him, the official has cancelled out the forgiveness given to him. It does not take the act of the potentate to do this. No, he merely makes it official. The sinner, by refusing to learn anything from the potentate’s act of forgiveness, condemns himself to living in the torment of his sin.

In reading this parable, we need to be careful not to allegorize it. The potentate does forgive just as God forgives – limitlessly – but that is the only way in which he is like God. God does not sell families into slavery. God does not renege on promises made. The parable is strictly about forgiveness and how we are not to set limits on the forgiveness we offer those who sin against us.

Jesus taught us to pray Forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us. If I am not willing to forgive, how can I be forgiven? Just as we work at not causing others harm, so we must work at forgiving
those who harm us.

One of the lessons to come out of 9/11 is that we do not understand the mind of our Islamic brothers and sisters. We are working to correct that but we may never fully understand. St. Paul warns us not to pass judgment on another, that our Lord has welcomed them even though they may not know it. The one who is faithful to his or her lord is upheld by our Lord. That was a radical teaching for Christians then and it is still one for us now.

God’s mercy and forgiveness are unlimited. It is not ours to build in limits.

The images of the World Trade Center being hit, burning and collapsing are part of our memory now. The plane slamming into the Pentagon is not an image we can forget. The courage of the people on board the plane that went down in Pennsylvania, as well as the courage of those who tried to put out the fires at all three sites and lost their lives, is part of who we are now.

But, while we can’t forget, we certainly can and must forgive even if we don’t really know who we are forgiving. If we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord; so then, whether we live
or whether we die, we are the Lord’s.

The Lord has forgiven. So must we.

Psalm 103:8-13

2011-09-06T11:31:00.000-04:00

You are full of compassion and mercy,
     slow to anger and of great kindness.
You will not always accuse us,
     nor will you keep your anger for ever.
You have not dealt with us according to our sins,
     nor rewarded us according to our wickedness.
For as the heavens are high above the earth,
     so far have you removed our sins from us.
As a parent cares for a child,
     so do you care for those who fear you.
                  --St. Helena Breviary

Being slow to anger and of great kindness are two things I strive for. I don't like to be angry but I don't understand people who rarely are. I am getting better, though, at not reacting out of anger quite so quickly. The kindness part has slowed that down and often give me time to think of why I am angry and how it happened.

But it is a great comfort to me to know that God is slow to anger and of great kindness. That God does not count our sins and then decide how to care for us is astounding. The call to hate the sin and love the sinner is one we don't manage very well and usually find not the least bit helpful. But that seems to be one description of how God loves us.

I suspect every parent and an awful lot of children read that last verse with fear and trepidation. Have we treated our children the way we want God to treat us? When we are called to punish - and all parents are so called at times - do we take the other four verses into consideration? By our actions, what are we teaching our children about God? I know there are times I should have done better, should have been slow to anger, should have somehow managed to remember mercy and kindness.

Shall we shun one another or dine together?

2011-09-03T15:40:00.000-04:00

This is the sermon on MT.18:15-20 that I will likely preach at St. Christopher's tomorrow morning.

Sometimes, in preparing sermons, I will go back and see what I wrote in the past – something that is hard to do since I often don’t use a text. In any case, the sermon from six years ago, before I got here, actually used the word shunning. Somehow – I confess I stopped reading at about that point – I went on to suggest that shunning can be a good thing. I’ll bet a lot of people were confused that day!
No one likes confrontation. It happens and, if we do it well, it clears the air. Most of the time we don’t do it well, though, so we avoid it and hope we will eventually forget whatever is causing the conflict. That rarely happens, either.

In her sermon on this gospel text, Barbara Brown Taylor creates this fanciful story*:

Fred, a fellow parishioner, asks you one Sunday if he can borrow your lawn mower after church. His is in the shop. You’ve known Fred for a number of years and worked with him on several projects so you agree. Well, a week goes by and then another and Fred hasn’t returned the lawn mower. So you go over to his house and ask to have it back. “Oh,” says Fred. “My neighbor borrowed it from me and left it in his driveway. He forgot it was there and backed out over it and there’s no lawn mower left. Sorry about that.”

Well, you are really steamed. So you tell Fred that it was his responsibility to take care of the mower and get it back to you in one piece and you suggest that he give you a check for half the cost of a new one. Fred tells you it’s not his responsibility and too bad for you!

So you go get a few other members of the church who know Fred and go back to ask for the check. Fred won’t even open the door but shouts some unkind remarks through the door.

Then you call the parish together and tell them what happened. They get busy making signs encouraging Fred to help pay for the mower and you all head back to Fred’s house. No one answers the door when you ring the bell and all the blinds are closed. But everyone waves their signs and smiles, waving any time the curtains flicker.

Finally, Fred comes out, looking quite sheepish, and hands you a check for half the cost of a new mower.

And I suppose this is where someone says, “They all lived happily ever after.” Except I don’t think we would. Fred will likely leave the parish because he is embarrassed. Others will wonder why they went along with this crazy scheme and will probably not speak to you for a few weeks at least. And, while you have gotten the check, I would imagine you don’t feel too good about this, either. This just doesn’t work.

Let’s put the gospel passage in context. The disciples have come to Jesus to ask, “Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?” And Jesus says that unless we become like children, we will never enter the kingdom. He’s talking about humility and probably curiosity and trust. Jesus goes on to say that the one who causes a child to stumble would be better off tossed in the sea with a great huge millstone around her neck. And then comes that awful part about cutting off an offending hand or foot and tearing out an eye that has caused you to stumble.

Just before our reading, Jesus talks about the lost sheep, how the shepherd leaves the 99 to go and find it, what rejoicing there is over that one sheep. “So it is not the will of your Father in heaven that one of these little ones should be lost,” says Jesus.

With that last line in particular in mind, hear again what Jesus says today.

If another member of the church sins against you, go and point out the fault when the two of you are alone. If the member listens to you, you have regained that one. But if you are not listened to, take one or two others along with you, so that every word may be confirmed by the evidence of two or three witnesses – why? Well, not so you can be vindicated or the other be castigated, but rather so rumors have no chance of being spread about what was said. If the member refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church; and if the offender refuses to listen even to the church, let such a one be to you as a Gentile and a tax-collector.

And, once again, that last line is the kicker. It sounds exactly like we should shun the greatest sinners – recognizing, of course, that we are all sinners of one sort or another, I’m sure. But who is writing this gospel? A tax-collector! And who did Jesus eat with more than the righteous? You have it. Gentiles, tax-collectors and all the heinous sinners those two words represent.

I have to admit it never occurred to me that Jesus goes through that long instruction about how to deal with conflict and then tells us to have dinner together. Jesus always seemed to be enjoying himself at those dinners, too.

This entire chapter of Matthew is about how we treat each other. And how we treat each other says a lot about how we are a community.

What kind of community do we want to be? I asked this question yesterday on Facebook. David Lose, a professor at Luther Seminary in St. Paul, Minnesota, asked it first. He says there are all sorts of communities all over the place and we are probably part of several – work-related ones, social-media ones, communities based on specific activities like running or watching our kids play soccer. But, asks Lose, “What kind of community do we want from our congregation – largely social, somewhat superficial (which is, of course, safe)? Do we want something more meaningful or intimate (which is riskier and harder)? Do we want a place that can both encourage us and hold us accountable? Are we looking for a place we can be honest about our hopes and fears, dreams and anxieties? Do we want somewhere we can just blend in or are we looking for a place we can really make a difference?”

That is a huge question. It is the foundation for the work I hope we will do at our parish retreat in a few weeks. Think about it. Write down some answers and share them with someone else, maybe two or three someones. And then come share those answers with the church at the retreat. I, for one, am hungry for your answers. I am dying to listen. I guarantee you that the Holy Spirit will be there to help us take all of our answers and forge a vision for our future together. This is Kingdom work and it will take every single one of us sinners to do it.

*story is paraphrased

Rock for stumbling or for building?

2011-08-20T09:18:00.001-04:00

Imagine arriving here this morning only to discover that St. Christopher’s Church and parish hall are no more. Sometime during the night, an enemy has crept in and dashed the walls to the ground. Our church is destroyed.

I can see us standing around staring at the piles of rubble, turning in one direction and another trying to find something that is familiar, that will help us to make sense of what has happened. But the missing buildings make it all look alien, strange, scary. By the waters of Babylon, there we sat down; and there we wept when we remembered Zion.

Once we could look beyond the destruction, we might well discover that, like the Israelites in Babylon, we also live in an alien land. While Christianity might still be the dominant faith in this country, mainline Christianity – established churches with full-time ministers and staffs – is under attack both from within and from without. How are we to be Christians in this unfriendly place when we have no sacred space to retreat into?

That is the very situation the Israelites found themselves in. No Temple, no place for God to dwell and for the faithful to make their sacrifices. No city, no land that has been given them by that same God. Maybe even no God. And there they sat, on the metaphorical ash heap of life, in Babylon, for years. More than a generation sat and wept, unable to move beyond their grief, their sense that God had abandoned them forever. They mourned a life that they could remember dimly, in fragments because none of them had ever lived it.

The second prophet called Isaiah comes to these people with a message of life, a message that stirs them from the ashes and requires action on their part. In six verses, the prophet reminds them of the Exodus, Abraham and Sarah, Eden, the laws given to Moses and God’s incredible act of creation.

“Listen to me,” he says, “all of you who seek the Lord. Look to the rock from which you are hewn, to Abraham and Sarah, your first parents. Out of this one, I have made many, says the Lord. Hear the message that the Lord will bring comfort to Zion and make Eden out of the waste places in which she lives, a garden filled with joy and gladness, with thanksgiving and with song.

“Listen to me, I tell you, you people of God, and pay attention, you the nation of the Lord. A teaching will go out, the teaching given to Moses of justice and deliverance, a teaching of light and salvation. And it will go out to all of the peoples from the coast to the mountains, from the south to the north. My arm reaches out to all of them. Lift up your eyes and see the heavens above and the earth below, these that I created before I created you. All of this will vanish and wear out; every living creature will die. But my salvation will be forever, and my deliverance will never be ended.”

We are not the ancient Israelites. For instance, we have not been forced to leave our homeland and live in the wilderness of an alien land. Even if our church were destroyed tonight, we have insurance with which to rebuild it. But we are *like* them in that we often identify ourselves by this place rather than by the One who has called us into this community. When you think of St. Christopher’s, what do you picture first: this wonderful space or the faces of the community? The answer says a lot about who we are. If we identify St. C’s as a particular space, then we are limiting the work that God can do here. If we see our community, then our understanding of St. C’s knows no bounds.

Like the Israelites, we need to listen. We need to look to the rock of our faith, the Christ, to learn how to be God’s people. Here at St. Christopher’s, we are young enough to still have in our midst some of the very building stones of our first community of believers. We can still know what it is like *not* to have this place but to travel with the altar or the nursery in the trunk of one’s car all week long.

Like the Israelites, we can look to our ancient roots as well and know that the Lord is made known to us in those stories of Eden, Abraham, Sarah, Moses and, yes, even the Israelites themselves. Our story begins with all them and continues through the Christ and Peter, another rock. We have been given the eloquent teachings of Paul and so many who have come after him.

But what we do with that foundation, how we choose to build, where we shine the light of the Lord is entirely up to us, this community of faithful people.

We do live in an alien land. How can we take what is best from our past and use it to help shape our future? How are we to present ourselves as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God? How can we transform ourselves in such a way that others will know God through us?

These are not questions for individuals. They are addressed to the one body in Christ here gathered. Talk to each other. Pray for guidance in building the future that God wants for us. Look, listen, seek and heed. Only then can we begin to understand that we have a part to play in the coming of the Kingdom. Then we can step out boldly and do what God is asking, not in fear but in confidence, knowing that we, too, are rocks, part of the very foundation of the Church.

(The image at the top is of the Cathedral in Port au Prince, Haiti)

A weekend of being tourists

2011-07-18T08:46:00.000-04:00

Saturday morning, we left at 7:00 for a "three hour trip" to Copan. But first we stopped for fuel and water. Then we took a side trip to Santa Clara, a village way above the valley where the road is. It was a road full of very rocky places, several deep ruts/dips and mud in a few spots. But Fredy managed to get us there in one piece. The school has been built by donations from several churches. All of the buildings are brick with Spanish tile roofs and ceramc tile floors. The windows are screened and open to catch the breeze. This weas by far the best of the schools we saw in our travels. It is a bilingual school and two of the girls who were in the Santa Cruz shelter are boarding students here.

After about half an hour - I did not wear a watch this week so time has been relative - we returned to our van and headed back down the mountain road and the highway to Copan. In several of the villages and towns, speed bumps have been installed to keep people from flying through and endangering lives. Remember this is a country with no speed limits and people also ignore the double yellow line in the middle of the road. Speed bumps in a loaded van are not fun, though, and added to the wear and tear of our derriers.

We finally reached Copan about 1:00. Yes, that is six hours after we left home. ;-) Our first stop was Macaw Mountain. This attraction was built by a man from Knoxville who came to Honduras as a Peace Corps volunteer and pretty much never left. All of the macaws, parrots and toucans we saw are birds that have been rescued from poachers. They come to Macaw Mountain to heal before they are returned to the wild. Most of us had our pictures taken holding two or three of these beautiful birds. We would normally have been allowed to walk through the aviaries; however, this is mating season so we had to leave the birds pretty much alone. Macaws are mate for live and live to be about 80 years old.

We had lunch here and then headed for our hotel and some shopping. I confess to having gone a little wild on the latter before heading for the hot tub at the hotel. After a nap, we had a late dinner in the hotel dining room. On Sunday, we got up late and ate big breakfasts before heading to the Mayan ruins. Copan is the last Mayan site built and it is from here that Mayans disappeared completely at the end of the 9th century. All that was left when the Spanish arrived about seven hundred years later was ruins. Reconstruction began in 1891 and continues today. Apparently the site is so rich that they can uncover in two months enough things to study for two years. Nury told us they are behind in the study part of things and have stopped digging until they catch up.

Our tour guide was named Marvin (!) and was quite knowledgeable about the site and the history of the Mayans. We had a good time with him. He told us that bananas and palm trees are not native to Honduras but came from Asia. I can't imagine Honduras without either of those trees. We did see some incredibly old capok trees that have survived earthquakes and hurricanes. One of them looked to be growing out of the hill at a sixty-five degree angle.

We had lunch at a restaurant in town. The taco soup would have been sufficient since most of us were still digesting breakfast. It was really very good. We also had baked chicken, potatoes, carrots and green beans. Sunday dinner just like Mom used to make! After a little more shopping - Adam finally found his hammock - we got back onto our van and started back to San Pedro Sula. The homeward trip only took four and a half hours with one stop to stretch about halfway. We siad good-bye to Javier, our favorite waiter, and Belinda, the bartender at the pool. This morning, we will head for the airport and begin our journeys home. Susie Cox returns to Los Angeles and the rest of us come home to Kingsport by way of three different airports. We have become a family in this short week.

Last day in th shelters

2011-07-16T00:11:00.000-04:00

This morning started off slowly. Fredy needed to get the tire we blew yesterday replaced. He ended up getting new tires for both front wheels. Frankly, given the roads we have been driving, I am surprised flat tires aren't a daily or weekly event. In any case, it was after ten when we left our hotel. It did give us a chance to sleep in, though.

We returned to Santa Cruz which is a little more than an hour from here. The children had just finished their morning school work before heading off to school after lunch. So we had very little time with them. The older boys went outside to play soccer with Adam Harpster. Betty, Caitlin and Beth had the girls making note cards - another learning: never put out more stickers than something needs since the more there are to choose from, the more they will stick on whatever they are making. The younger boys enjoyed the bean bag toss we brought. When the children sat down for lunch, we helped serve them, heard them say grace and then Gordon thanked them for letting us come to visit. We ended by singing the Doxology and then headed for our van.

Baldamar, the leader of the Santa Cruz shelter, took us to see the home of one of the children who comes to the shelter. It was more than a mile away and the roads were precarious at best and impassable at worst. We ended up walking the last few blocks because Fredy simply couldn't get the van any farther.

This house was better than most because it had a concrete floor and a new tin roof, gifts of the congregation to which an Osman Hope board member belongs. The home is a single room with a blanket hanging down the middle to give a sense of living space and sleeping space. There is electricity but no plumbing. The cooking is done outside and there is a kind of lean-to for storage. The mother sells spices to make a living. Her market is locals and the children sell the spices by going door to door in the town. Lately, the economy has been so bad that very few people are buying. So, even though she grows as many of the spices as she can, her stock is very low and her clientele even lower. There are five children in this house ranging in age from four to fifteen. Despite the extreme poverty, the family has done everything they can to make their home beautiful. It is surrounded by flowers and trees.

We had lunch at Nury's family home on Lago de Yojoa (yo ho' a). This lake has several tilapia farms in it so our lunch was freshly caught and fried tilapia. Hondurans eat fish like we eat fried chicken - with their fingers. They also fry their fish whole. Yes, that's right, from tip to tail! The first thing I did was remove the head and a few fins. But the work was worth it as this was some of the best fish I have ever eaten. It was accompanied by a kind of vinegar cole slaw, pickled spicy onions (there were jalopenos in the jar, too) and pineapple for dessert.

After we ate, Nury cut Emperor's Canes for each of the ladies. This is an ornamental that is quite expensive in the States. The stalk really does look like rhubarb red sugar cane. The flower is not really a flower as we think of them at all. It looks like this:

WE finally drove back into San Pedro Sula and did some shopping at Nury's gift shop. We head for Copan tomorrow morning very early so I will say good night and get ready for bed.

Santa Cruz

2011-07-15T00:09:00.000-04:00

Let me tell you about where we are staying. In the US, this would be called an extended stay hotel. We have a living room/dining/kitchen - complete with pans, two burners, a fridge and toaster oven - two bedrooms and a bath. With the exception of the Brewer family, there are two of us in each apartment. It is really quite comfortable. It is air conditioned to the point of chilly so Susie and I usually turn it off when we return home at night and don't turn it back on; however, the maid always does that for us.

Hotel Villa Nuria has its own restaurant, gym, laundry, pool and mini market. I don't think any of us has used the gym but the pool is our afternoon respite and we have eaten all breakfasts and two dinners in the restaurant. Oddly, pizza is one of the things they do well. The whole compound is gated/walled for safety.

Today, we went to Santa Cruz which is outside of San Pedro Sula by about an hour's drive. There is no speed limit here so I have no idea how many kilometers away it is. On our way down the road, we had a flat tire! So all of the men got out to take care of it. Fredy told the ladies to stay inside. There was very little room on the shoulder and we did worry about our folks standing in the road. It didn't take too long to fix and we were back on the road once again.

Santa Cruz is the cadillac of shelters. It has two very large rooms with high ceilings and ceiling fans. The children have showers as well as toilets in the bathrooms and each of them bathes before going to school. The ages here range from about five to fifteen years. Two of the boys who were there this afternoon we 18 but they are assistants rather than students. We did some crafts to start then played games, adding musical chairs and statues to our repertoire. We ended with balloon animals and swords and then jump rope. All of the children like to jump rope.

As half of us worked with the children, the other half worked to paint the inside of the church with which the shelter is associated. It was oil-based paint and Gordon said the fumes really got to him. Needless to say, it wasn't easy for these folks to clean up.

Santa Cruz is a decent size town with a central square and a "shopping district" of sorts. After we had driven through the town, we came back into San Pedro Sula with just enough time to take showers and change for dinner. We went to a Mexican-style restaurant in the city. Nury, Fredy, Ingrid, Esther (two girls who came to Kingsport last fall for a visit) and Ileana (administrator of La Lima) all went with us so we were quite a large party; however, this restaurant seemed to cater to large parties. The food was quite good and I think a good time was had by all.

And now it is time for bed once again. We have said our prayers individually tonight and are very tired.

Day Three of our Journey

2011-07-13T23:07:00.000-04:00

We began our day today back at La Lima. Most of the men finished painting the outside of the shelter in two shades of blue. Adam played soccer with many of the boys off and on all morning but only after he and I discovered that neither one of us can make a God's Eye - a relatively simply craft involving two popsicle sticks and a few yards of yarn. Rebecca and Caitlin excelled at this craft, though, so Adam and I could slink off to other things without too much guilt.

There were more children there this morning than usual. Apparently, many of those who would normally be in school in the morning decided they would rather stay at the shelter and play with us. So play we did. We played Sevens again and did a few rounds of the Hokey Pokey. Then the children showed us how to play two different games that start out like "ring around the rosey" but end differently. In one, everyone freezes in a pose and has to hold it or be called out. The other requires a person in the middle to close their eyes and spin around before pointing to the next person to take their place. There are songs with both of these games but I didn't understand a single word. There was another circle game too but I honestly don't think I can describe it.

After lunch, we went to the Jesus Rivera shelter where we only had time for them to sing to us and for us to play the ubiquitous Sevens. It was the first time our painters had a chance to play. Then we drove through the neighborhood and down to the river where most of the people live in shacks made of cardboard or plastic with tin roofs. They run their own power lines in, however, so most of them have television and internet even though they do not have running water or plumbing. Life is strange.

Then we visited Villa Nuria which is a shelter run by the Iglesia Episcopal. We did some crafts, Betty and Caitlin painted faces and we did balloon animals and swords. And yes, we played Sevens one more time. I think that may be our trademark game.

Our weather probably was cooler than Kingsport today and the humidity was less during the day. That doesn't mean we weren't feeling the heat, drinking lots of water and wrapping wet bandanas around our necks or heads all day long. We came home to a wonderful breeze at poolside. Dinner was at a local "American" restaurant with a few typical dishes on the menu as well. They were out of beer and wine so most of us drank water, bottled of course.

Tomorrow, we will start out early as it is a long way to the Santa Cruz shelter.

One thing I have noticed here: we are used to seeing pictures of dogs and cats, maybe a bird, on signs for veterinarians. There is a veterinaria not far from our hotel and the sign features a chicken, a pig and a cow! We have not seen any cats on our wandering but quite a few dogs. All of them are very thin. So are the horses and cows we have seen by the side of the road. There are many people who drive carts pulled by horses, usually on the side of the road.

And with that, I believe it is time for me to go to bed. We have all found that the heat saps our strength and we are glad to go to bed early.

Our first day in a shelter

2011-07-12T21:54:00.001-04:00

Continuing with the theme of learning, the first thing we learned today was that we can relax into Honduran time without any trouble. We did not leave as scheduled even though Fredy and Nury were both here and ready to go.

Let me tell you about our two invaluable assistants. Fredy is our driver. He makes most of his living in this season of mission trips, driving groups like ours. He knows all the main roads and all the back ones, too. Fredy has his ear to the ground and makes sure we do not travel through neighborhoods that are too dangerous. He is married and has three beautiful little girls ages 11, 7 and 2. In the past, he has worked on cruise ships. He spent five years washing dishes, was only allowed to be home for two months a year and earned $400/month! Something to consider next time one of us takes a cruise.

Nury is an entrepreneur, politician and tour guide. She is a native of Honduras (as is Fredy) but her parents sent her to boarding school in the States for high school. I believe both her sister and brother are legal residents of the US and she and her parents also have residency in both places. Nury does most of the translating for us and helps Gordon decide what we need to do different from the original schedule. She owns a string of gift shops and is involved in the local arts council.

Which brings me to our second learning of the day. You can plan all you want but the kids will determine what really happens. We arrived at La Lima shelter about 10:00 this morning. Our plan called for a group of activities in the morning and a second group in the afternoon. Well, half the kids go to school in the morning and the other half go in the afternoon. So we needed to the morning crafts with both groups and fill in with games where we could. Betty O'Neill got started on the wall mural right away. Her husband, Mike, and Nury helped her at first and then Beth Dowty got into the painting this afternoon. The outside painting that needed to be done had to wait until there were brushes and rollers available - another trip to the store and, yes, it was only the men who went (I guess we didn't learn that lesson yesterday after all).

We decided that we would do balloon animals with the kids after the crafts were done. So Rebecca, Caitlin, Adam, Susie and Beth all learned how to use the balloon pumps and that tying the balloon is the hardest part of making balloon animals, something I learned years ago. I have to say we made some very creative animals; however, the big winner of the day was swords! We made sword after sword - they had a tendency to pop - and Chris Harpster was the biggest kid there. At one point, he was right in the middle and they were all wailing on him with their own swords. I think we might have to start calling Chris "the dread Pirate Roberts."

After lunch, we had a new batch of kids and started all over again. Except the balloons had gone into the lunch time so we didn't repeat them. We brought a kiddy pool to make bubble solution in. The deal is to get a kid to stand in the middle, use the hoop as the balloon wand and make the bubble around the child. Well, it didn't work out that way; however, the kids had a wonderful time trying to see how high they could get the bubble wall to go and, in the afternoon when Gordon brought more soap, they got about four feet high. This was a really big hit.

We had games planned and jettisoned many of them - too hot outside mostly, although Adam had them going with the soccer ball - so Chris and Caitlin called on their camp counselling days and played a slapping/clapping games called Sevens. I haven't learned it yet. At the end of the afternoon when all the adults were too tired to do much more than watch Betty and Beth paint, I pulled out the memory card game Bunny and I bought at Target one day. I started making sure all the pairs were together because I figured we would play with half the cards (36 instead of 72). One of the little boys came over to see what I was doing and helped me match everything up. We put half away and shook up the rest before laying them out. By that time, three girls had joined the circle. That first game was pretty quick and we discovered who likes to cheat and who doesn't. So we used all 72 cards for the second game and added two more players. We barely managed to finish the third game, with about seven players, before the team left me behind.

The neighborhood where this shelter is located is exactly what you picture when you think of a barrio - dirt roads, chickens and ducks wandering around, no grass to speak of and a lot of corrugated iron roofs and walls. But there are many homes that at least started out as concrete block structures so it is a real mix of poor and desperately poor. Plumbing is primitive at best. But every house has gated entries. Nury told us that it is so dangerous that children are not allowed to play outdoors except maybe at school in an enclosed yard. The drug cartels are powerful here.

We came home to a refreshing dip in the pool, prayer time and a good dinner in the hotel restaurant.

Now about those pictures. I confess that I brought the wrong cord to transfer pictures. Alas, no one else brought their computer along with their camera. So we will have to have a big slide show when we return home.

Good night, my friends. More tomorrow.

Things I learned on our first day in Honduras

2011-07-12T09:18:00.000-04:00

Chris Harpster and his son, Adam, picked up Caitlin Stone and me at 3:00 sharp yesterday morning and we set off for Asheville to catch our flight. Coming up Buckner Gap in North Carolina, we blew a tire and learned that two people can change a tire in 20 minutes in the dark and that two flashlights were sufficient to see by.

We made the plane with time to spare and learned that even at 6:00, there can be air traffic - thanks to the fog. We arrived in Atlanta and met up with the rest of the group as they came in from Knoxville and Tri-Cities. Adam learned that it is easy to fall asleep almost anywhere.

And then we arrived in Honduras. Upon landing, we learned that there can be delays even when there is no air traffic. It took about fifteen minutes for our gate to be made ready. The next lesson was that you can start out in the middle of the line waiting at Customs and end up being last. We met up with Susie Cox, Beth Dowty's aunt, who flew in from California to join our group. Waiting seems to be a national pastime and no one is anxious about getting anywhere in a hurry at all - unless you are in a vehicle or riding a motorcycle. Then the need for speed urges drivers to use their horns as often as possible.

The afternoon rain storm came as promised but it lasted longer than the ones we have in Kingsport and immediately clogged the streets with water. I suppose this is what makes Honduras a country as full of green as any poster of Ireland. This is a beautiful country.

Our first meal in country was at Power Chicken. Yes, that's right, the mascot looks like a pumped up chicken in an outfit reminiscent of Super Man. The food, though, was really good. We had chicken, beef, pork and short ribs, spanish rice, fried plantain slices (no, I didn't try these) and yucca fries (yes, I did try these and they are good but needed ketchup ;-).

In the afternoon, we learned not to send the men to the grocery store. I am sure there was a long line at checkout but it still took them an inordinate amount of time to buy bread, peanut butter and jelly, water and snacks. Maybe there were too many snack choices.

We returned to Hotel Villa Nuria, having dropped our luggage off before lunch, and Gordon began the process of checking us in. This involves having someone come into each apartment with the residents to make sure there are the requisite number of dishes, silver, pots, pans and towels. Also to see that all the lights and the air conditioner are working.

Then we spent the last of the evening unpacking ourselves and then all of the supplies we brought with us. Sister believes we have more than any of their other trips. You all have been very generous and we thank you.

The final learning of the day was that the internet likes to keep you waiting, too. So I waited until this morning to get this message to all of you. Today, we will visit La Lima shelter and I promise to take pictures. Then we will learn whether the cord I brought will work for downloading to the computer!

So much to learn and only a week in which to do it!

Trinity, a sermon

2011-06-16T07:40:00.000-04:00

Trinity Sunday, the day most preachers try to explain how we believe in one God whom we describe as three persons or types. I’ll give you the quick answer. It’s about relationships.

There are times when we relate to God as the creator or as a kind of parent. There are times when the Son
is how we know God best. And then most of the time it is the Holy Spirit that we recognize moving in and through us.

Now that we have that out of the way, let’s talk about the readings!

Almost every single one of us cut our biblical teeth on Genesis 1 plus that little bit of chapter 2. We love that story even as we admit that it is a myth, the kind of story that is mostly fiction built on a fundamental truth,
this one being that God created everything that is. It is a comfort story and despite all attempts to paint it as anti-evolutional, it is exactly the opposite of that. This is a story of how our world evolved. Told around campfires in the camps of nomads, passed on to children generation after generation, these stories of our early ancestors speak of how they understood God to be related to and involved with themselves and all that surrounded them.

We cannot fault them for not including the big bang theory or an anthropological understanding of evolution,
species coming and going, fault lines and tectonic plates causing the earth to shake or ice ages pushing the land around to form mountains and valleys. There was no way they could know any of those things. It is only in the last several hundred years that we have begun to discover the rich knowledge beyond the Genesis understanding of God and creation.

Along with the psalmist, these early people considered the heavens, the work of God’s fingers, the moon and the stars God set in their courses. And they asked, where do we fit into this scheme and how come we
seem to be masters of all that we see on the earth? The psalmist has no answer for those questions. It is sufficient to state them, to recognize that the Lord gave us mastery over creation and then to praise the name of the Lord.

With all of our science, do we really understand why humanity has the power to nurture and to destroy
that which we had no hand in creating? Not really. So why should we consider the awesome-ness of earth and sky? Why should we wonder why God made us a little lower than the angels? Because doing so
brings us into relationship with the Lord of creation. God made us and then invited us to be stewards of the rest of creation.

We were not given creation to do with as we choose, however. There are some who see humanity as co-creators with the Almighty. I’m not sure I agree with that idea but I am awed to realize that God chooses to share the work of care and nurture of all created order with us, that God trusts us that much!

Jesus reiterates that care in the Gospel. Jesus tells the disciples that authority in heaven and on earth
belongs to him. He does not give it to them, but because he has the authority and they are the ones who know and love him, he sends them out to make more disciples, disciples of all nations to be stewards of the Church, caring for and nurturing it. Through his authority, they are to baptize and teach, bringing others into the family. And he, the one who holds the power, will be with them always, caring for them as he always has
and helping them to continue growing in the work they now share with him and with those they will teach.

Relationships. Between people and nations, between the Lord and the creation.

The apostle Paul has a stormy relationship with the Corinthians. Even so, he loves them deeply and they love him as the one who cared enough to show them how God wanted them to live in Christ. Paul ends this epistle by calling them brothers and sisters. They are now closely related through the redeeming work of the Son.

Paul tells them to agree with one another and live in peace. Obviously Paul must have been an only child.
But even when we are not in agreement, my brothers and sisters, we do agree on the love of God that we share.

You and I know that the God of love and peace is with us. And when we greet one another, whether with a nod, handshake, hug or kiss, we share that love and peace with the entire communion of saints.

Relationships. Ours with each other. Ours with God, Creator, Redeemer and Sustainer. God knows us at our beginning, God walks beside us throughout our lives, God waits to welcome us into the gates of larger life opened to us only by the grace of that very same God.

The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with all of you.
Amen.

Abuse by Bible

2011-04-30T16:38:00.000-04:00

Listen again to what Peter told the crowd at Pentecost:

"You that are Israelites, listen to what I have to say: Jesus of Nazareth, a man attested to you by God with deeds of power, wonders, and signs that God did through him among you - this man you crucified and killed
by the hands of those outside the law.”

This is not the first time in the last two weeks that we have heard the Jews blamed for the death of Jesus.
In fact, compared to the two Passion Narratives we read on Palm Sunday and Good Friday, it sounds relatively mild. I would be willing to bet that none of you heard anti-Semitism in this reading or in the Passion readings, either. I’m guessing that’s because we just don’t hear it anymore. Perhaps, we’ve heard in sermons and hymns that we are the ones who crucified/crucify the Christ to the point that we substitute ourselves for the Jews, Chief Priests, etc.

And I am also betting that none of us here would declare ourselves anti-Jewish. Most likely we really aren’t.
I do hope we have all thought about it, though. Otherwise, we are very likely to say something incredibly offensive to a Jew and then be stunned by his or her response! It is not enough to declare ourselves as free of this prejudice. We have to work through the issue, test our feelings and question whether we are truly
not prejudiced.

You see, we cannot simply ignore these passages from the New Testament that have been used for thousands of years to oppress, abuse and kill people of the Jewish faith, our ancestors in belief.

AJ Levine, who grew up in a predominantly Catholic neighborhood and even went to church with her Catholic friends, was stunned one school day when she was seven to have a friend tell her that she had killed Jesus! Obviously, her little friend had heard about the crucifixion of Jesus and taken it to heart. Was she inherently anti-Semitic? We don’t know. But it seems likely that no one attempted to explain things to her.

Here’s a common sense approach – perhaps a little too simplistic – to hearing that Jews demanded Jesus’ death. It was to the Jews that Jesus went. There was not a large community of Chinese or Dutch or Americans living in Palestine at the time who decided that this itinerant teacher was causing them trouble and had to die.

Jesus was a Jew. Jesus came to the Jews primarily, and on the Feast of the Passover, Jerusalem was full of Jews. Not Americans, not Canadians, not French or Norwegians or Philipinos. Had any of those peoples been there and been faithful Jews, they would have acted in the same manner. Maybe they would have without being Jews!

We cannot change what happened. We cannot edit the story to make it more palatable. But we must make sure that we do not beat up our Jewish brothers and sisters because of it.

This is, of course, just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to using Scripture to oppress, abuse and kill people. How many centuries did we allow and participate in slavery in large part because it exists in the Bible and Paul even went so far as to return a runaway slave to his master? Granted, he sent a nice letter along imploring the owner to remember that his slave was a brother in Christ. So we baptized a lot of slaves and that is supposed to make it all right?

How long has it been since a woman was kept in subservience because it is the biblical way? It’s still going on. We use Scripture to excoriate people of other faiths – sometimes even different denominations – other countries, other genders and, yes, other orientations. We simply have to stop using the Bible to justify what we want to believe and what we feel. There are way too many places where God tells us it is not ours to do the judging.

We also need to be very careful about not reading into Scripture what is not there. For instance, poor Thomas, who was one of the faithful – remember it was Thomas who said they should go to Bethany with Jesus even though they might well die with him there – has forever been labeled by one word in all of those said about or by him.

Doubt.

Because Thomas is honest enough to express his doubts, he is forever called Doubting Thomas. Do we think he was the only disciple who had doubts? And we have convinced ourselves that doubt is wrong,
that doubt is the opposite of faith. So we read back into the story this misunderstanding of a perfectly good word.

My brothers and sisters, one of the reasons many of us are Episcopalians is because we are encouraged to ask questions, to work through out doubts knowing that the community is here to support us through those hard times and questions. We baptize babies and young children into the Christian faith precisely so that, when they doubt, they will know the love of God is present anyway, especially then.

Doubting is working through the questions. It is being honest about where we are in our journey, what is causing us to stumble. Doubting is not turning away or giving up. Rather it is actively engaging in the working out of faith in real time with real people and often in real pain.

Rather than scorn Thomas, let us lift him up as one who has been where we are and whose experience

of doubt turning to belief gives us the courage to grow in faith and to live in hope.

(Image from gci.org)

Home again, home again

2011-01-28T15:16:00.000-05:00

By now - Friday afternoon - most of the nominees, all of the shepherds and Transition team members should be home. There's some concern about snow in the Northeast but we have said our prayers for safe journeys and sent everyone on their way.

Yesterday, we left Johnson City and headed for the Cathedral in Knoxville. There, Dean Ross had a lively discussion with the nominees about the ministries of the Cathedral. I think we all learned a lot. Then we headed just down the road to the Diocesan House. Annie vonRosenberg and Laura Nichols had arranged lunch for us and the staff. The transformation of the conference room into restaurant was stunning! We used real china and silver, tableclothes on all six tables and stemmed water glasses. Charlie and Annie had made cookies in the shape of the the diocesan seal, complete with a modified "drawing" of the actual seal in yellow and purple piping. All of the staff welcomed us with big smiles and open arms.

After lunch, the nominees had several discussions with various people and then retaped their presentations since one of the mikes malfunctioned on Tuesday night. Those should be on the search website by now (http://etdiocese-search.com/) and I hope you will take a look at all of them.

The rest of the afternoon was spent getting to Grace Point, seeing all of the buildings (we opted out of a hike ;-) and then driving down to St. Timothy's Signal Mountain where we had another gracioius welcome and a marvelous dinner. Then Father Choyce celebrated Eucharist for us and we went home to the Doubletree to bed.

I can't begin to thank all of the people who made this week a real success. I do have to start by thanking Gaines Campbell, Kathryn Mathewson and Norma Mills. These three, the walkabout subcommittee, made all of the arrangements, listened to my fears and allayed them. The kind people of Thankful Memorial, St. Paul's Chattanooga, Christ Church, St. Martin's, St. Peter's, St. Paul's Athens, Resurrection, St. Barnabbas, St. James Greeneville, St. John's Johnson City and St. John's Cathedral opened their churches to us with love and grace.

And then there are the shepherds: Jocelyn Bell, Erik Broeren, Chris Harpster, Kate Jacobs and Claire Keene who put their regular lives on hold for a week to make this pilgrimage with their nominees. Without the good faith and willingness of the five nominees to be a part of our discernment, of course, none of this would have happened. I have to thank the spouses for also being willing to walk with us. All too often, it is easy to concentrate on the nominees and forget that there are five other lives that have been affected. Thanks again to the Search Committee for their incredible work.

Finally, I want us to remember the parishes where our nominees serve: Holy Innocents, Beach Haven NJ; St. Martin's, Metairie LA; St. Stephen's, Houston TX; St. John's, Elizabeth NJ; St. Peter's, Fernandina Beach, Amelia Island FL. Regardless of who is elected, each of these parishes has had to make adjustments on our behalf. Thanks to all of them.

So the walkabout is over. Now we move on to the election in two weeks. Please continue in your prayers, refer often to the website and know that the Fourth Bishop of East Tennessee will be a good fit.

Running for the bus

2011-01-26T23:12:00.000-05:00

Much of the last week has been spent in two of these big white vans. Over the four days we have been together, there has been good conversation, laughter, silence, a little confusion - especially when vans go different directions to the same place. But I believe friendships have been formed that won't be easily forgotten or set aside. You see, when we gather in the Lord's name and to do the Lord's work, relationship happens. It doesn't matter that these folks are all standing for the same election. What I have heard them all say is that it matters what the Holy Spirit calls delegates and clergy to do. And, meanwhile, they have become friends.

This was our last walkabout meeting tonight. St. John's did a good job of keeping us warm in a building without a boiler. They fed us well and made us welcome. Remarkably, all of the nominees managed to have as much energy tonight as they did Monday night. This after a day of driving in rain and/or snow and visits to two churches other than St. John's. We had coffee this morning at St. Barnabas, Jefferson City - a Lutheran/Episcopal worshiping community. They have done a masterful job of renovating an old house into a real house church, pews and all. Then we travelled to St. James in Greeneville for lunch and a stirring rendition of Drop Kick Me Jesus, Through the Goalposts of Life. What fun!

And now, once again, we are ready to turn out the lights and go to bed. Tomorrow, we will be on the road once again and driving all the way back to Chattanooga with stops to be made between here and there. Keep those prayers coming just a little longer!

Good night!

Neither rain nor snow nor sleet....

2011-01-25T22:39:00.000-05:00

We have had drizzly rain on and off all day today but it wasn't enough to dampen the spirits of our walkabout crew. After piling all of our luggage in Chris Harpster's van as well as in the back of the two big white vans, we left the Doubletree in Chattanooga and headed for Athens. The folks at St. Paul's Athens greeted us warmly and were more than happy to show us their church, tell us the story of how they decided to turn the back of the nave into the front (and vice versa) and then send us on up Route 11 to Loudon.

Resurrection Loudon fed us three great soups - I am getting the recipe for the golden chicken for our own soup suppers - and then sent us on up the road to Knoxville, where we took the nominees to see The Church of the Ascencion, site of the new bishop's ordination in June. After a few wrong turns - I swear two thirds of the drivers simply decided it was time to go home to Kingsport! - we all made it to our hotel and out of the vans long enough to check emails and/or take a nap.

And then we headed to Episcopal School of Knoxville where faculty, students and staff made us feel like we were part of their family. I hadn't been to ESK in several years and was really impressed with the size of the campus but mostly with its beauty. These are buildings that invite you to be engaged in learning. At Evening Prayer, the middle school singers sang two songs for us and we all sang Lord, make me a Sanctuary together. Then the presentations and question and answer portion of the evening took place with perhaps a little more chaos than the previous evening but within the time frame we had set for the whole event, always a good thing.

I continue to be impressed by our nominees. That's about all I can honestly say, though, since I do not want to be swaying anyone else's minds and hearts. Having heard them all twice has been a great gift, though, one I wish everyone could have. Still, I bellieve if you all read what has been published on the website and come to one of the walkabouts, you will get a good idea of who each of the nominees is.

So tomorrow, we hope the snow will be very mild and might even decide to skip us entirely. We will take our time getting from one place to another even if it means blowing the schedule sky high. Better to keep everyone safe than to make all the deadlines. That said, the snow may slow us down but it will not stay us from our appointed rounds!

You are in my prayers as I travel outside of the parish and I know that you are praying for all of us making this journey around the Diocese.

Pardon me boys....

2011-01-24T23:07:00.000-05:00

We have spent today wandering from place to place in Chattanooga, finishing up at St. Paul's for the first of the three regional walkabout sessions. We began the day with a visit to Christ Church, a beautiful church with a really good organ. The treat was that the organist was there and playing when we arrived. We convinced her to play Praise to the Lord and we all sang lustily. It is a good acoustical space. We heard from several members about the Christian Ed program and the beginnings of their discernment process for the next priest, their former rector having just retired.

Then it was back in the big white vans and off to St. Martin's of Tours. This church has done some adding on in the last several years, expanding the nave and building space to house a pre-school. The kids were in class so it was really fun to watch them. The people were most welcoming and happy to tell us about their congregation. It sounds like a good group of people. In the entry, there is a board that listed all the newcomers, those who have recently gotten married and all of those serving in the military. I wondered where we would put something like that at St. Christopher's.

Back again to the vans and across the Chickamauga Dam to St. Peter's. We had a tour of the school (nursery to 5th grade), the nave and then were served a really good lunch. I plan to get the recipe for the portabelo mushroom pasta! One of the interesting things about St. Peter's is that the sanctuary is on the second floor. It is a bright space full of natural light. Over the door are two paintings done by a Russian artist of two scenes from St. Peter's life. Fascinating!

After a few hours rest - yes, I did take a nap - we went down the street to St. Paul's where the staff, led by Donald Fishburne, did a marvelous job of taking care of us all, keeping us on time and providing us with a lovely evening service. We began the service with a Taize chant as everyone entered and then joined in. It really set the tone and opened us up to being quiet and listening for the Spirit. The nominees all did brief - 3 minutes or less - presentations that helped us know what we might want to ask in the break out sessions.

And now we have eaten dinner, lingered over coffee and dessert for more good conversation, and begun packing for tomorrow's trip to Knoxville. So it is time to turn out the lights and say our prayers. Thank you all for yours!

Now the day is over

2011-01-23T21:55:00.000-05:00

It is 9:30 of this first day together on the Walkabout and life is good. All flights to Chattanooga arrived early, on time or at least not very late. The good people of Thankful Memorial Church welcomed us for a tour of their really lovely church and wine and cheese in the parish hall. And then we were off to Hennen's for a very good dinner.
That's a lot of superlative language but it is how I'm feeling as we begin this five day journey. There was lively conversation at all three tables at dinner, in the vans going and coming and in the lobby as people met, some for the first time and began to make those connections that remind us the Episcopal world is a small one.
I promised Vikki Myers that I would take pictures on this trip. Well, I remembered I had my camera with me after every left Thankful and once again as I picked up my purse after dinner. I'll have to do better tomorrow.
And now I think we are all ready to get some sleep. Even for those of us who are local, it has been a long day. So I will say good night.

And we're walking, we're walking

2011-01-20T11:21:00.000-05:00

Walking in the light of God.

Walking on eggshells.

Walking the walk, talking the talk.

Walking on water.

Jesus walked. Oops! That's Jesus wept.

Well, in any case, Sunday evening begins the official Walk About Week in the Diocese of East Tennessee. We start in Chattanooga and end in Chattanooga. While we are there, we will visit six churches. Wending our way to Knoxville on Tuesday, we will visit three more and a school. Making the great hike to Upper East on Wednesday, three more congregations will greet our bishop nominees and their spouses. And, just in case we haven't seen enough at that point, we will stop at the Cathedral, the Diocesan House and Grace Point on Thursday. Are you tired yet?

This really is an exciting time for our Diocese. Five people are walking with us through the process of discerning our next bishop. That means five families, five congregations and even five other dioceses have allowed us to disrupt their routine so that we might hear the Holy Spirit. How gracious they all are!

So many people have made all of this possible. There's the Standing Committee, the Search Committee and the Transition Committee for starters. But there are lots of people at all those churches who will greet the Walk About group, feed us and host the three "meet the nominees" events. There are many on the diocesan staff who have helped us on this journey starting with Bishop vonRosenberg and his wife, Annie, who isn't even on staff but is pitching in. I think it is clear to all of us that the Spirit is already moving, calling us to a new place and a new day which will be built on all that has come before.

So in our walking, we need to remember one more "walking" phrase: And he walks with me, and he talks with me. All of us who will be meeting nominees, caring for them and their spouses, showing off our churches and Diocese to them are walking with God.

It's going to be a great week!

Blue Christmas

2010-12-14T09:31:00.000-05:00

This is the first year we will have a Blue Christmas service at my parish. It seems appropriate for us as well as for the larger community. We lost a beloved member this year and had a young man commit suicide. A few of us have children in prison, there have been several serious hospital stays and probably a lot of other things have happened that I am not aware of. So we are inviting the community to join us in prayer and meditation.

The gospel reading for this service is the birth narrative from Luke. Everyone knows this story. Last year, when we read it Christmas Eve, I cast Joseph and Mary as poor people from back in the mountains who were traveling to Washington DC and had to stop here so Mary could have her baby. It wasn't a sermon that was bursting with joy. I think we lose sight of the fact that the birth of Jesus wasn't a time of joy. They were away from home, required to go to Bethlehem by an oppressive government. There was no doctor to tell Mary that she was too pregnant to travel and it wouldn't have made a difference anyway. They had to go; there was no choice in the matter. Add that to the general scariness of giving birth - scarier then than now even! - and it wasn't a clap-happy night.

We have surrounded this holiday with such overflowing joy that we often lose sight of what the day/night actually was. We also forget that this is more than just another baby. Jesus is the one who comes to bring God into our lives in a radically new way. And he doesn't come to the wealthy or well-connected but rather says over and over again that he comes for those who are weary and heavy laden, the very people who will gather for Blue Christmas.

And we will bring this baby gifts, although they might not look like gifts. You see, we bring Jesus our problems, our sorrows, our pain and our losses. We are most real when we admit that there is more to us and to our celebration than joy in gathering together and in giving and receiving gifts. There is remembering those who are no longer with us or who, for whatever reason, cannot be with us around tree and table. There is sadness mixed with our joy and we do ourselves a disservice if we do not recognize that.

Here's one of my favorite Christmas stories. My youngest sister was convinced there was no Santa Claus. She spent her 8th Christmas noticing little things - who had written the tags, what store the box came from (in the days before generic boxes). And then she announced that there wasn't any Santa Claus.

I think we spent the entire next year trying to convince her otherwise but she was adamant. Mother and Nana had wrapped the presents and put the tags on. She knew where they had come from and it just wasn't the North Pole. To prove that she was right, she put out a snack for Santa the next Christmas. And she wrote a note asking that Santa leave her a note in reply. She also warned us that she would recognize anyone's handwriting even if we wrote wrong-handed. I remember wondering how in the world we were going to pull this off. There just didn't seem to be any way to pass her test.

Christmas Eve, we all went to the early service. Then, Mom put the little kids to bed, Daddy went off to direct another church choir and my older sister and I went to sing in the choir for the late service. I admit I was thinking more about what to do for the Santa note than I was interested in the sermon. As we processed out of church, I noticed a good friend of the family in the back row. Obie hadn't ever come to church; in fact, I'm pretty sure I knew that he had no use for church. So I was delighted to see him there. We asked him to come back to the house with us, knowing that Mother and Daddy would love to see him. Yes, you guessed right; Obie wrote the note from Santa.

My little sister was flummoxed! She had no idea where that note came from but it was enough to help her believe for one more year even though the boxes came from the same stores and Mother wrote the tags.

The reason this story is one of my favorites is that Obie died young of an awful disease. The doctors told him he could go to bed and perhaps have another year or he could go back to teaching and directing plays and he would die much sooner. He chose to do the work he loved and use the talents he had been given as long as he was able.

I think of Obie every Christmas Eve when we sing Hark the Herald Angels Sing, the hymn we processed out of church to that long ago night. And I shed a few tears for a man who was so dear.

RevGals Pie Debate

2010-11-26T08:30:00.000-05:00

1) Are pies an important part of a holiday meal?
       If I had to choose which was more important, pie would win out over turkey even. I made pumpkin, pecan chess and bourbon chocolate pecan. Long ago, though, I went from apple pie to apple crisp.

2) Men prefer pie; women prefer cake. Discuss.
       I prefer pie over cake any day. In my immediate family, we used to do birthday pies rather than birthday cakes.

3) Cherries--do they belong in a pie?
       Yes, but not sweet ones. Years ago, we could get sour cherries during the season but since I moved back south, I can't find them. Anyway, I would can lots of cherries and we would have cherry pie all year. Yum!

4) Meringue--if you have to choose, is it best on lemon or chocolate?
       Lemon definitely. I don't really like chocolate pie, probably because it is rarely dark chocolate and there's no point in eating any other kind of chocolate. But meringue is the very best on key lime!

5) In a chicken pie, what are the most compatible vegetables? Anything you don't like to find in a chicken pie?
       Carrots and peas. When I was a kid, this was about the only way I ate peas. You can add potatoes if you have to but keep everything else out. No beans, turnips, parsnips or anything else.

There is only one cake I would ever allow at a Thanksgiving dinner. That's an apple stack cake. Our grocery store was selling them last week. I finally had to tell a manager that what they had was *not* an apple stack cake. They had taken yellow cake layers, sliced them in half and put apple butter between the layers. Absolute heresy! I have experimented with using gingerbread cookie layers rather than sugar cookie ones. It is good but still not as good as your basic short cookies and applesauce with or without cinnamon. My aunt uses half applesauce and half apple butter - both home made - but I prefer just applesauce.

Today is the day we eat desserts for breakfast! I confess pecan pie does not make a good breakfast but I often feel like the only reason I make pumpkin pie and apple crisp is so we can have them first thing in the morning. A great way to start the day, especially when the weather is lousy like today.

Thanks!

2010-11-22T15:51:00.000-05:00

Here’s my Thanksgiving prayer. If anything in it leads you into your own prayer, you have my permission to stop listening to the sermon and go where prayer takes you.

Good and gracious God, I thank you that I am not a wandering Aramean. At the same time, I thank you that my ancestors were. I cannot begin to imagine the hardship they faced, the days of wondering if it was worth it or whether it would just be better to lie down and die. I thank you that they remained faithful followers of yours, trusting that the Lord their God was there always.
I thank you, too, that I did not have to find my way through the wilderness of this country when it was settled. I wonder sometimes what made people move off the coastlands and start walking towards the mountains. Thank you for those who had the zeal for exploration. I know that I can live here between the Cumberland Plateau and the Smokies because people living many years before me made it possible.

And thank you for the circuit riders and family Bibles, the tent meetings and riverside baptisms. As much as I love my mostly proper Episcopal Church, I am truly thankful for all of the men and women that made sure wherever they went on this huge continent, you went with them.

Thank you, God, that I got to make the decision to follow your loving Son after the crucifixion/resurrection. I confess that I wonder sometimes if I would have done what the crowd did and allowed myself to be swayed from Hosanna to Crucify. I am most thankful to have been spared that particular temptation.

You see, God, I don’t think I have what it takes to be a wanderer or to settle land that doesn’t look like it would support any crop other than more trees and rocks. I’m not sure I would remember to be faithful in prayer and reading of Scripture and tradition if I didn’t have a church community to worship with me. And I see so many people who, when confronted with adversity, turn away from you. It isn’t that I have lived a charmed life with no difficult decisions or times when I have felt alone. There have been plenty of those and I suspect there are more of those times in store before I leave this mortal coil. But all of those who have walked with you before I ever came to be and those who taught me to walk with you and with them have made it possible for me to give you thanks even when I cannot see the light anywhere. And thanks for those who taught me to walk this Way.

So, on the eve of the day which we set aside to be thankful, I want to give you thanks especially for your peace. It really is beyond all understanding and I like that about it. I am a better person knowing that your peace guards my heart and my mind in Christ. May I keep on doing the things you have given me to do and may others come to walk with you because you walk with me.

Thank you.

By faith

2010-08-07T12:14:00.002-04:00

When Abraham left Ur, he did not go alone. His wife, his nephew, his household of servants, all went with him to the unknown land. And, of course, God was with Abraham, too, this Lord Almighty of whom Abraham had never heard before God spoke to him.

So why did Abraham follow? How did he know that he was hearing the voice of God and not that of his own mind, wondering if there might not be a better land far away from that of his ancestors? The author of Hebrews says Abraham acted by faith. So did Abel, Enoch and Noah whose stories we skipped in this morning's reading. If we had continued reading, we would have heard that Rahab, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph and Moses also acted by faith.

But what is faith and how do we know that we are putting our faith in God? The author of Hebrews has much to say about that. To better understand him, though, we need to know more about this so-called letter. Sadly, if we are searching for who/what/where details, we will be disappointed. We do not know who the author was or when and to whom he wrote. We do not know where he was or where the congregation was, either. What we do know is that this letter is more likely a sermon, written to buoy up a flagging congregation and we think it was written before the end of the first century because that was a time when it was really hard to be a Christian.

Tom Long, author of a commentary on Hebrews, says this: "The Preacher is addressing a real and urgent pastoral problem, one that seems astonishingly contemporary. His congregation is exhausted. They are tired - tired of serving the world, tired of worship, tired of Christian education, tired of being peculiar and being whispered about in society, tired of the spiritual struggle, tired of trying to keep their prayer life going, tired even of Jesus. Their hands droop and their knees are weak, attendance is down at church and they are losing confidence."

Does any of that sound like a time or two in our own lives? Havent we all experienced times when we just feel that being a Christian - constantly being ready for the return of the Christ even though a large part of us just doesn't believe we will ever see it and we sometimes doubt that it will ever happen at all? - is exhausting and maybe even futile? I've heard a lot of people say something like, "Well, if God really does care, why doesn't God come down here right now and *do* something about this?" It is not very hard at all to put ourselves in the shoes of the Hebrews even though some 2,000 years separates us.

It is to this situation of exhaustion and flagging faith that the sermon is speaking. When we are ready to give up, says the Preacher, remember Abraham. Remember all the faithful people who have gone before us, rarely seeing the fruit of their labor but having faith that the fruit will come.

We too get tired, even tired of being peculiar. This country may be called a Christian nation but it really isn't. What would happen, for instance, if we told our child's soccer coach that he or she won't be playing on Sundays? What would happen if we refused to work on Sundays? What would happen if we asked our company for time off to go on a spiritual retreat or if we asked to leave early because we want to go to church? As far as I know, I am the only one here who ought to work on Sundays and who actually does get to take time for spiritual reenergizing.

But Jesus is very clear that we are supposed to be ready at all times for the bridgroom to come. How, Lord, are we supposed to do that 24/7, we want to ask? The answer, I believe, goes back to faith. We are grounded by our faith. We need to see everything we do, no matter how trivial or secular it seems, as being done in faith. For instance, children with the special gifts necessary to play soccer give thanks for that ability, pray that the Lord will continue to be with them as use their gifts and that through the sport of soccer they may learn how those same skills might be put to use for the kingdom of God. That sounds very strange, doesn't it? But I believe that we are to use our gifts and that by doing so, we will be drawn closer to the Lord. How? Well, we are to have faith that God will reveal that to us in God's time.

Faith, says the Preacher of Hebrews, "is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen." Because we have faith in the promises God has given us through the Christ, we act out of faith even though the world doesn't often look as though God care one whit about it or us. It is through faith that we live in the promises of peace, jsutice, mercy and salvation.

Do not be afraid, little flock, for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom.

Hosea and the Lord's Prayer

2010-07-24T16:08:00.000-04:00

At first reading, the prophet Hosea and the Lord's Prayer have absolutely nothing in common. But I think we might be able to at least find that they make sense together.

At the time that the Lord began to prophesy to Israel through his servant Hosea, Israel was at war with Assyria. The inhabitants of the Northern Kingdom, were we able to ask them, would tell us that they were Jews, followers of Adonai, the one God. I am sure that the Shema - Hear O Israel: the Lord is our God, the Lord is one - was uttered daily by all of these people. Not only did they proclaim God as Lord, they also kept all the feasts and sacrifices as prescribed by Moses.

The problem wasn't that they now considered themselves children of Baal or Astarte, it was that they were very comfortable being Jews. They had it in the back of their heads that the Lord was their God and the Lord would always be there for them, would always rescue Israel. This made them so comfortable that they promptly forgot everything else they knew about God and how they had been told that children of God behave. They used questionable ethics to get ahead - in business, in society, in government and foreign affairs. They believed in God but they trusted that they knew what was best for Israel and God was behind the times.

So God has Hosea act out his prophecy. "Go marry a prostitute, Hosea. For my people are prostituting themselves by forsaking me," says the Lord. "You will have children but they will be the product of prostitution, Hosea, because the children will be like their mother, selling themselves to the highest bidder to get what they think is happiness and security.

"Your first child will be a boy named Jezreel, named after the place where King Jehu slaughtered so many people, ostensibly in my name but in truth to avenge his ancestor Naboth. Your daughter will be named Lo ruhamah because Israel will get no pity from me this time. And the third child, another boy, will be named Lo-ammi. By this Israel will know that they are not my people and I am not their God.

"But in the days far ahead, the children of Israel will be more in number than the grains of sand on the seashore and in this very same place, I will call Not My People the Sons of the Living God."

It couldn't have been easy for Hosea to marry a prostitute. Gomer was probably a temple prostitute, one who was part of the fertility rites of the local gods. Everyone knew who and what she was. Having her in his house, walking down the street with her, raising her ill-gotten children would have been an awful embarrassment, bringing shame on Hosea and his extended family. But he obeyed the Lord and married this most unsuitable woman, letting everyone know that Gomer is a symbol of how they treat the Lord.

The United States has always considered itself to be a Christian nation, one nation under God. Europe is the cradle of Western Christianity and yet the consensus today is that Christianity is dead in Europe. That is certainly a generalization; however, consider this story. My sister Beverly was in Sweden for Easter one year. At a dinner on Easter Eve, someone asked her what she was going to do the next day. Bev said she was going to go to church. "Why?" her companion asked.

Nor can we honestly say that the United States is a Christian nation. Besides the fact that we have become a haven for many faith traditions - a very good thing and one that is part of our charge from God to welcome the stranger - we seem to be Christian like Hosea's Israel was Jewish. We believe in God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit but can't seem to translate that into daily living. We would rather trust ourselves or those we have chosen to lead us.

And so we come to the Lord's Prayer, probably one of the first things we ever memorized, somewhere around the tender age of three. It is as much a part of us as the Shema was a part of Hosea's Israel. We can all say it at the drop of a hat and with just about that much thought. Hear again Luke's version:

Father, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come. Give us each day our daily bread. And forgive us our sins, for we ourselves forgive everyone indebted to us. And do not bring us to the time of trial.

If we stop and listen to what we are praying, we may well be brought up short. This is not something to be rattled off. It is a prayer we say boldly, with the conviction that God hears us.

Father, hallowed be your name. There is no one or no thing greater than you, Lord. You are the beginning and end and in you we live and move and have our being. I trust you.

Your kingdom come. I will not spend my life raising up my own kingdom, God. I will look to you for guidance and direction so that your kingdom may thrive and that I may live there.

Give us each day our daily bread. I'm not asking for more than I need or deserve. I trust that you will help me find what I need and what my family need. I will not be greedy.

And forgive us our sins, for we ourselves forgive everyone indebted to us. I know, Lord, that I have sinned against you either by what I have done or what I have not done. Others have sinned against me and they are indebted to me for forgiveness. Some have even asked me to forgive them and I know that I need to do that. Maybe if I remember that I am indebted to you for forgiveness, I will remember to forgive them.

And do not bring us to the time of trial. Please, Lord, do not try my faith. For I know I will be found lacking even though I strive to be righteous.

This is but one interpretation of the Lord's Prayer. It isn't perfect or the only way to interpret what Jesus told us to pray. The key is to go beyond these few short sentences, this small collection of words, and pray it as if all of life hinged on God's answer.

Because it does.If we continue to pay lip service rather than taking God as the center of our lives from whom everything flows, we will end up like Israel did. Defeated, killed, removed from the land.

We are here because we know this to be true. We understand that the Lord expects us to be serious about being faithful children of God, that the Lord desires nothing more than to be in loving communion with us. And so we pray boldly not just for ourselves but to call upon the Lord to be present with us even when we are afraid, full of sin and anger and greed. We turn to the Lord because there is simply no one, no where else to turn. We live in God and with God and act through God.

Because the Lord did not abandon the people of Israel. God allowed their decisions to form their destruction but when they saw how wrong they were, God restored them and called them Sons of the Living God. We are the inheritors, through Christ, of the land, called Children of God forever. The Lord is our God, the Lord is one and to the Lord be all the power and the glory. Amen.

Samaritans and plumb lines

2010-07-10T18:16:00.000-04:00

It is a good thing that tomorrow's lectionary pairs the parable of the Good Samaritan with the reading from Amos about God setting a plumb line in the midst of Israel. Here's why I think this is so.

First, the plumb line is a symbol of God's judgment on Israel. I tend to think of a plumb line as something I fashion to help me hang wallpaper straight. The theory is that getting the first strip of paper on the wall straight will cause all of the others to go on straight, too. The last time I put up wallpaper, I got out a plumb line, chalked the string, found the line and hung the first strip along the chalked line. By the time I finished the job - well, actually, about eight strips of paper into the job - I was just a shade off. Since this job was for my pleasure in my house and the unaligned strips met in an obscure part of the wall, my philosophy was, "it's close enough for government work." (Who came up with that line anyway??) So I left it.

But if you are building a structure - or a nation - you can't stray from plumb ever. There are no obscure parts of the wall. There are no places in the government that can be left even a little askew or the whole system will rot.

It seems the Israel hadn't been checking the walls of the nation often enough to make sure than they were still plumb, that there were no places where internal pressure had caused the wall to bow out, no corners where the ground had settled and taken a part of the foundation down with it. Furthermore, they didn't seem the least bit concerned about it. Perhaps they believed that God would continue to make everything okay or maybe they felt they had outgrown God and could take care of everything themselves without heavenly "interference."

So the Lord gives Amos a vision (literally makes him see) of the plumb line being set against a wall this is no longer straight. Amos' job is to tell the high priest Amaziah and King Jereboam that the nation is damaged beyond repair and the Lord intends to tear it down. This does not mean that the Lord no longer loves Israel or has turned from the promise made to them to be God's people forever. It does mean that God is not content to go with business as usual. And apparently a quick fix is not possible. The nation is too far out of line. The walls are bulging precariously.

So why does this vision complement the parable of the Good Samaritan. Well, the summary of the Law can easily be seen as a plumb line for life. It was not new with Jesus but had been a part of the teachings of the nation of Israel back even before the time of Amos. The lawyer demonstrates that he knows it well and we might even surmise that he has tried his best to live by it. But he is not content to let it stand as it was written and taught. He wants Jesus to qualify it, to modify the design.

So Jesus tells him a story that is both reasonable - there were good reasons for the priest and Levite to pass the injured man by - and so horrible that the lawyer has to couch his answer in different words than the ones Jesus used. He couldn't bring himself to say "Samaritan." The lawyer can only answer Jesus' question about true neighborliness by saying, "the one who showed him mercy."

The Samaritan had the same summary of the Law in his heritage. The difference between him and the priest and Levite is that it is so ingrained in his being that he cannot possible pass the man in the ditch by. It is not possible for him to leave him there. He simply has to do something.

There is a bumper sticker that says, "Practice random acts of kindness." The Samaritan - and Jesus and Amos - would tell us that there is nothing random about acts of kindness. Mercy and kindness ought to be as much a part of every day as breathing in and out. They are not uniquely Christian in nature. Most all faiths profess mercy and kindness to others as well as to self. We have no exclusive claim on them, although that hasn't stopped us from thinking we do. I remember someone talking about another person who did not belong to a church and saying, "He's such a good person, almost as if he were Christian!"

At a time in the life of the world when we are bombarded daily with stories of destruction and unkindness, of violence rather than mercy, it would be very easy to read these two lessons and here only doom, destruction and vindictive judgment (vengeance is mine, says the Lord, after all). In fact, that is where I have been with the readings all week. Then today, I read a reflection by Jennifer Lord, a professor of homiletics at Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary. She sees the crux of the lesson here in the lawyer's answer, "the one who showed him mercy." Jesus tells him to go and do the same.

Mercy is so much more than goodness or even kindness. Lord says, "it means something more than forgiving a debt or an offense. [Mercy] suggests blessing and unwarranted compassion as well as lenience. It is about pardon, kindness, strength and even rescue and generosity." (CC, June 29, 2010:19)

Mercy is part of love. We show mercy to those we love - blessing, compassion, kindness. We are generous with those we love and we are - usually - quick to pardon their offenses. Jesus tells us quite simply in this passage that the love and mercy, kindness and goodness we have for our intimate loved ones is to extend to our neighbors. And Jesus does not put any limits on the neighborhood.

So rewrite the parable of the merciful Samaritan for yourself. Where in our neighborhoods would the crime occur? Would the story be different for you if a child or a woman were attacked and left for dead? Who would pass the injured one by and what good reasons would they have? A doctor's wife once told me that her husband no longer stopped when he saw an accident for fear of being sued for malpractice. Is that a good enough reason to keep going?

Who is the Samaritan for you? Who would be the hardest person for you to cast in the starring role? That is who Jesus would use if he were telling you this parable. It would not be a close friend or someone who sees the world through the same lenses you do.

Finally, ask yourself what role you play in the story. Whatever the answer is, the theme of the parable is mercy. Jesus offers mercy to the lawyer when he tells him to go and do likewise. He does not hold up before him all his previous failed attempts to do so. He does not condemn him. Jesus uses the parable to tear down a bulging wall in the lawyer's faith and then he rebuilds it by showing him, through the parable, how to get back in plumb, how to straighten out and up.

Sunday morning musings

2010-06-27T13:38:00.000-04:00

If, however, you bite and devour one another, take care that you are not consumed by one another.

This line from Galatians 5 jumped out at me this morning as I listened to the lessons being read. Biting and devouring isn't usual Sunday fare, thanks be to God, but I wonder if it was usual Sunday - and maybe even daily - fare for the new Christians in Galatia. It's such colorful language for sniping and fighting!

I suspect I bite and devour sometimes even though I feel like I bend over backwards doing just the opposite. When others begin to do so, I try to ease the tensions or simply walk away rather than get involved.

But there are times when we have to stay and fight. It seems to me the various parts of the Anglican Communion have been biting and devouring lately - or should I say once again or still. A part of me wants to jump into the fray and do a little biting myself. Part of me wants to walk very far away, even out of the relationship. But that feels like I am letting the biting and devouring consume me.

If, however, you bite and devour one another, take care that you are not consumed by one another.

Take care that you are not consumed by one another, says Paul. It sounds to me like we have permission to disagree even to the point of taking chunks out of each other but that we are never to go for the knockout punch. Hmmm.... I would love to know what Paul was talking about, wouldn't you? Is he saying, "If you are going to argue, don't walk away mad" or "If you are going to fight, don't draw blood?" It's hard to know, isn't it.

But it refreshing to see that Paul doesn't seem to be saying that we should make nice just for the sake of keeping the peace. We shouldn't paste that plastic smile on our faces and pretend everything is fine. Somehow we are meant to engage each other about our differences. It ought to be a loving disagreement with each of us listening to the other and thinking about how best to respond without saying "well, that's just stupid," no matter how obliquely we try to do that.

So I guess biting and devouring are not generally appropriate behavior amongst the greater family but Paul is realistic enough to know we will still try it on once in a while. 'When you do," he seems to be saying, "take care not to cause the other - and hence, ourselves - irreparable damage. Always leave the discussion with the door still open and all the bodies intact.

(Image from winning-smiles.co.uk)

what are you doing here?

2010-06-18T10:32:00.002-04:00

Elijah led an amazing life. He is fed by ravens and widows, raises a child from the dead and then takes on Jezebel and her prophets/priests of Baal. While Eliijah was living with the widow, King Ahab had been looking for him everywhere and is quite pleased to find him. At last he has a chance to get rid of this annoying prophet.

But Elijah tells Ahab to gather all of Israel together at Mt. Carmel and "bring 450 priests of Baal with you." I guess the mix is enough to make Ahab curious. In any case, he does not take this opportunity to get rid of Elijah but does what he asks instead.

And so the famous contest takes place.  One prophet of God versus 450 of Baal's. Two bulls cut into pieces and placed on a stack of dry wood were the weapons of choic. The person or group who can get their god to light the fire wins. Elijah is ever gracious, offering to let his adversaries pick the bull and go first. So the prophets of Baal picked a bull, prepared it for sacrifice and then began chanting to their God. O Baal, here us! All day long they prayed and prayed, shouting out to their god and calling his name over and over again. But nothing happened even though they continually walked around and around the offering.

Then it was Elijah's turn. First he gathered twelve stones and repaired the altar of the Lord that had once stood there. Then he dug a trench around the altar, laid the wood in a particular order, placed the pieces of the bull on top and told the Israelites to pour lots of water on top. And then he prayed.  Not all day but really for only a few minutes.  The Lord answered his prayer and lit the fire, consumed all of the sacrifice and even the water in the trench. The Israelites seized the prophets of Baal and Elijah killed them all.

To top it off, the drought ended and it began to rain.

After a triumph like that, you would think Elijah would find a comfy chair, a skin of good wine and some great barbeque and relax. But instead, he chases the king back to Jezreel. Ahab tells his wife all that had happened - he was a real whiner - and she sends a message to Elijah telling him he is in for it now.  She swears that she will have him killed by the end of the day.

Even thought Ahab has just been incredibly vindicated by the Lord, proving to one and all that the Lord is great and mighty, he hears the message and heads for the hills. He runs from the northern part of the kingdom to the very southern end. There he sees a lovely tree in the barren wilderness and lies down to sleep.

Can you hear the Lord sighing as Elijah runs away?

Despite all the times God has acted on Elijah's behalf, keeping him safe from famine and from Jezebal, Elijah is so elated by "his" triumph at Carmel that he is vulnerable to threats and criticism. Isn't that what happens to us when we are on an incredible high, having just accomplished a goal or done something we thought was beyond our ability? We are so happy that it takes almost nothing - an unkind word, a smirk or sneer - to pop our balloon and send us crashing to earth. This is how Elijah feels.

So the Lord sends an angel to feed Elijah and prepare him for an even longer journey deeper into the wilderness. The Lord sends him to the very mountain upon which Moses and God used to talk. You would think just being there, remembering the stories of Moses being in God's presence would be enough to turn Elijah around, to remind him whose prophet he is.

But once Elijah arrives, the Lord speaks to him and says, "What are you doing here, Elijah?" and Elijah whines almost as much as Ahab. "I have been very zealous for the Lord, the God of hosts. For the Israelites have forsaken your covenant, thrown down your altars and killed your prophets with the sword. I alone am left and they are seeking my life, to take it away."

So God, hearing the despair in Elijah's whining, tells Elijah to go out on the mountain and the Lord will pass by. The Lord was not in the wind, the earthquake or the fire. No, the Lord was in the stillness. Sheer silence, a space absolutely devoid of sound or movement. And Elijah recognizes God there and hides his face.

Again God asks the question. "What are you doing here, Elijah?" Now you would think that Elijah, having experienced the Lord firsthand, would have a new answer. Even "I don't know" would have been better than his last answer to the question. But, no, he repeats what he has already said. Again, I hear God sighing, wondering what else can be done to turn Elijah around.

The Lord tells Elijah to go home by way of Damascus. God doesn't promise that all will be well, that nothing bad will happen to Elijah. There are no rainbows in the sky or pillars of cloud and fire. God just tells him to go home. "And on your way, annoint Hazael king in Damascus and Jehu king in Israel. Also anoint Elisha as a prophet."

Just as Moses needed the seventy elders to help him, so Elijah needs help. He can't do it alone - although the stories we have make it sound like he was doing a pretty good job.

When we lose trust in our faith in God, how do we answer God's question. "What are you doing here?" Sometimes it is not so much a matter of losing trust as it is taking matters into our own hands and making a real hash of things. "What are you doing here?" I think God asks us this question a lot. How about times when we agree to do something because we know someone has to do it? We aren't the right person for the job but we know it has to be done. "What are you doing here?" Are we brave enough to honestly admit we don't really know what we are doing or do we stick with the same old excuses. "Well, someone had to do it, God. You didn't seem to be helping much so I struck out on my own. I like to take charge and there seemed to be a leadership void I could easily fill."

The man with a legion of demons must have felt as high as Elijah after Jesus sends the demons out of him and into the pigs. But then he sees the fear in his kin and his former neighbors and he begs Jesus to take him with him. The fear has pricked his balloon of triumph and he loses trust in the one who just made him well.

But Jesus doesn't make it easy for him. He tells him to go home, and proclaim what God has done for him. That couldn't have been easy to do. No one wanted to be reminded of this event. They have asked Jesus to leave and the healed man's presence won't really let that happen. He knew what he was doing there.

What are we doing here? Are we doing what the Lord has called us together to do or are we content to have everything stay the same. Are we running away, sleeping under a lovely tree or allowing our demons to tear us apart? Can we set aside wind, earthquake and fire long enough to hear God in the sheer silence?

I suspect that the truth is we could probably answer yes to all of those questions. We do do the work of the Lord but we are content to remain the same, not listening for other new ways God is calling us to work. There are times when we run away, just want to get away from it all and even times when the pressures, stresses and anxieties tear us apart. And for many of us, finding that silence is what keeps us on the right track.

What are we doing here is a good question to ask ourselves. Maybe not every day but often enough that we seriously consider whether we are walking with God, sitting on the sidelines or have decided to take over and run our own show. Whatever the answer to God's question, we need to answer it honestly and be prepared for God's response. It might not be what we want to hear. It is likely to challenge us and may even be a little scary.

But just as God is present to ask the question, God is present to help us live into the answer. As the psalmist says more than once, "Put your trust in God."

Adoption and the Holy Spirit

2010-05-22T11:44:00.001-04:00

Before we could tell my in-laws that we were applying to adopt a child, my husband's grandmother remarked how sad it was that his cousin had to raise someone else's children rather than being able to have her own. As you can imagine, I had hysterics.
Many friends would say something like, "don't worry; once you adopt, you'll probably get pregnant right away." And a dear family friend often said about her adopted daughter, "we love her as if she were our own."

Now I knew that adoption was the right thing for us to do. Both of us came to that decision through prayer. But I worried about how we would bond with a child that we hadn't given birth to, particularly since we were not expecting to adopt an infant. Then my sister Beverly told me that giving birth to Michelle and seeing and holding Michelle for the first time were completely unrelated events. As soon as the nurse said, "here's your baby" and put her in Bev's arms, that is exactly who she was. And is.

The first time we met Heather, we knew she was ours. It didn't matter that we hadn't made her, that I hadn't carried her for nine months. It didn't matter that she was three and not a tiny infant. We took one look and became parents of an adorable blonde little girl. Life before Heather was a distant memory in the blink of an eye. The same was true for Matt although the circumstances were much different. My kids couldn't be more mine if I had birthed them.

It really doesn't matter when we come to know God for we are children of God NOT from the moment we set eyes on God but from the moment God sets eyes on us. Jesus came to let everyone know that they were already children of God. They just needed to turn to God, centering their life on the Lord rather than the marketplace, the pasture or the vinyard.

Jesus knew we wouldn't always remember that, though. So he sent the Advocate to be with us always. What a wonderful word that is! An advocate supports, advises and instructs, argues for us and maybe even with us when we stray from the way. Advocates are active. It is not a sedentary job but requires a lot of work.

When we think of the Holy Spirit, do we think of an active, relentless being working hard on our behalf all of the time? Or do we think of a being who occasionally comes down to touch our lives with a little bit of flame? The collect says that God "taught the hearts of your faithful people by sending to them the light of your Holy Spirit." The flames that descended on the disciples didn't stop at the crowns of their heads. They went straight to their hearts and continued to burn there long after that fateful morning.

When we are baptized, the prayers ask that we be filled with God's "holy and life-giving Spirit." Not just on the occasion of the application of water and oil but for every moment of our lives. Read the service of baptism and see how many times we invoke the Spirit. It's a lot! We are serious about the place of the Spirit/Advocate in our lives. This is not a casual, on-off relationship; it is for life. Whenever we feel alone or abandoned, remember that the Spirit is actively working on our behalf.

Follow me

2010-04-15T10:18:00.001-04:00

All of his life, Peter had been a fisherman. His father was probably a fisherman before him and raised Peter in the trade. Peter would have raised his sons to follow in the family business as well.

But then one day, his brother Andrew came to him and announced "We have found the Messiah." Peter - who was called Simon at that time - went with Andrew to where Jesus was. It was Jesus who named him Peter and it was Jesus that Peter followed throughout the next three years.

Peter saw amazing things: the miracle of the wine at Cana, the feeding of the 5000 with just a few loaves and fish, Jesus walking on the water, the raising of Lazarus. Peter and the others heard Jesus teaching the crowds and sat at his feet for their own lessons. And right before Jesus was crucified, Peter denied he knew him three times despite having proclaimed his love and steadfast loyalty only hours before.

Still, it was to Peter that Mary Magdalene ran with the news that she had seen the risen Lord and he and another disciple ran to see for themselves. Peter was in the house when Jesus appeared to the disciples both times. He heard Jesus say, "As the Father has sent me, so I send you." Jesus breathed on all those in the house and said, "Receive the Holy Spirit."

But nothing seems to have changed for Peter or the others. Rather than going out to proclaim the good news, these followers have gone back to the sea. I imagine these men lounging around, hoping that Jesus will come visit them again. When it doesn't happen, Peter announces that he's going back to work. All the others decide to go, too. So that night, they set out in the boat but they caught no fish. That's the way it is in the fishing business. One night there will be a good catch and another, there are no fish to be found.

In the morning, a man calls to them from the shore, asking them if they have caught anything. When they shout back that it was not a good night for fishing, he tells them to cast the net out on the right side of the boat. So many fish they couldn't haul the net into the boat! And one of the men says, "It is the Lord!" Peter immediately puts on his robe and jumps into the water.

That's one of my favorite biblical moments. I know Peter wouldn't be wearing Gucci loafers and an Armani cashmere sport coat but, still, it seems terribly strange to get dressed to go swimming. Now Peter would have to sit around the fire hoping his clothes dried quickly. And the weight of that wet robe must have slowed down his swim time considerably.

After breakfast on the beach, Jesus begins to question Peter. "Simon son of John, do you love me more than these?" What does he mean, "more than these?" Is Jesus asking if Peter loves him better than the other disciples love Jesus? Is he asking if Peter loves him more than Peter loves the other disciples? These possibilities don't seem likely given that Jesus didn't teach them to love one person more than another. And Jesus never said he loved one of them more than the others. If he is to be the example of love, then quantifying love can't be what he has in mind here.

It is more likely that Jesus is asking Peter whether he loves Jesus more than his life, his vocation, fishing. Does Peter love Jesus so much that he is willing to give up that which shaped and defined him for all of his years before the last three? Peter assures Jesus that he loves him and Jesus tells him to "feed my lambs." Two times, then, Jesus asks "do you love me?" And Peter assures him of his love, finally adding that Jesus knows everything so surely he knows of Peter's love for him. Each time, Jesus tells him to tend or feed his sheep. And finally he says to Peter, "Follow me."

Follow me. If Peter looks back at the last few hours of life, he may realize what that means. It does not mean business as usual Monday through Friday with weekend trips into the nearby towns to proclaim the good news. It means proclaiming that good news all the time. It means doing what Jesus did, loving and feeding the flock, bringing others into the fold and even dying in the proclamation of the Word. Jesus didn't stay in one place for long and Peter is meant to leave home, too. Jesus healed the sick and raised the dead and Jesus did not limit himself to citizens of Israel. All of this, Peter is to do as well, going wherever the Spirit takes him, preaching and healing to whomever he encounters. Loving Jesus, following Jesus will take all of his life.

Jesus says to us, "Follow me." That is not something we fit into spare moments or section off a part of the week to take care of. Being a follower of our Lord is a life-long commitment made for us, usually, at baptism and affirmed by us when the bishop lays hands on us at confirmation. We need not to ask ourselves, "How will I fit Jesus into my life?" but rather ask "How will my life fit into my commitment to follow Jesus?" When we begin each day praising God and giving thanks, we have our priorities straight. When we wake up wondering how we are going to get everything done and beginning to make lists, we need to start over.

Fortunately, we are not the final judge of how well we answer Jesus' call to follow. And the very good news is that Jesus will keep asking us, bringing us back to the fold when we stray too far away, reminding us who it is we love. Every time we gather at his table, we are brought home - home to God's never failing love, home to the one who knows everything about us.

Maundy Thursday

2010-03-31T12:44:00.000-04:00

I am officially tired of the Gospel of John. It's not that the readings during Holy Week aren't wonderful ones but I'd like to hear from Luke tomorrow. Ah well, that's not what we are mandated and, after all, it is Mandatum Thursday.

This I command you, to love one another. We would be happier probably if this commandment had followed something other than the washing of the disciples' feet. That is uncomfortable enough already without having it linked to loving. We understand how giving our infants a bath is an act of love but we aren't so sure about how washing our teenagers' sneakered, sockless feet might be the same act of love.
And then there's all those other feet in church with us. Sure we love each other but that doesn't mean we want to touch everyone's feet. Jesus doesn't particularly care if we want to or not.

Jesus tells Peter that refusing to have his feet washed has no part of Jesus. Jesus washes the feet of all twelve disciples, too. He doesn't pass over Judas but treats him with the same love he has for all the others. Jesus washes all the feet because he loves all of the disciples and he knows that in some way or another, all of them will let him down, even betray him, that night.

There are two great acts in the service on this night. The first is the washing of feet, something we are all encouraged by our Lord to do. It is a symbol for us of our servanthood and reminds us that humility is a good thing. It also says to the one whose feet we wash, you are loved, loved by the one who first washed feet and loved by me. As you wash someone's feet, think of all the people you love enough to do this for. Then think of all the people who have betrayed you in one way or another and ask yourself if you could wash their feet.

The second is coming together to share in the Eucharist. This is something we do all the time in the Episcopal Church. It is the action that brings us close to our Lord as we honor his command to Do this. It is also, for Christians, as holy as Passover is for our Jewish brothers and sisters. It is a clear sign that God is with us, that God saves us from ourselves. As you come to the table to take the bread and to drink the cup, look at those who are there with you. Remember that Jesus came to earth for all of us, that there is no one at this table who is lesser or greater than the next. We are all loved intensely by the God who created us, died for us and rose again that we might live.

Ubi caritas et amor, Deus ibi est. Whereever there is charity and love, God is there. Footwashing and feasting, charity and love. May they fill our hearts and spil over into our actions.

Whiplash Sunday

2010-03-23T16:28:00.000-04:00

Palm Sunday is so odd! Who needs two gospel readings in one service? We are somehow supposed to begin the morning jubilant and excited. "Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord!" We are supposed to cast off our winter cloaks and lay them on Jesus' path, damping down the dust on the road and showing honor to this great teacher we have been listening to and following for some part of these last three years.

And then, just as we settle into the pews after singing All Glory Laud and Honor, we are confronted by the end of the week and are cast again as that same joyous multitude but this time, we are demanding Jesus' life! Just like that we go from praise to spitting. It's the kind of shift in thinking that gives me a crick in my neck and an ache above my eyebrows. What's more, reading this story as we do 2,000 years after the event (give or take a few dozen years) gives us a warped sense of what happened. Too bad the multitude of disciples didn't have Luke's manuscript handy at the start of the week so they could see and hear clearly.
You see, those folks understood the significance of the Mount of Olives, how the Messiah was supposed to come from there. They likely thought the donkey a strange touch but some of them knew there is prophetic writing to back it up. But they didn't have Luke's description of the scene like we do. They were too busy being in that place, feeling the excitement and joy and looking forward to what was surely to come next - the victory of the Messiah over the Roman oppressors.

We, though, see the scene through Luke's eyes. We feel the sense of the multitude that victory and triumph belong to Jesus even as we see the paradox of that victory in the image of this king riding on the young donkey, certainly not an animal fit for a king. Try as we might, we cannot manage to be so caught up in the crowd's emotion that we miss that detail. Luke makes it stand out for us.

And few who were there likely heard the Pharisees rebuke Jesus, demanding that he silence the people. Would they have understood the reference to the stones crying out in Habakkuk? There the stones cry out for injustice done against the peoples: war and violence, slave labor and degradation. Here, Jesus is telling the Pharisees that the stones would cry with that same message for he has spent his entire ministry speaking for these same peoples - those marginalized by war, economics, greed and even religion.

Now on the other side of the city, another triumphal entry is occurring. It is the season of the Passover when tempers run high in Jerusalem. So Pilate, the Roman governor is coming into Jerusalem with his troops to make sure that the peace is kept throughout the festival. His entry is far more regal with his servants and troops arrayed before and behind him. No one dares get close enough to lay down a cloak or palm branch here. Pilate himself likely rides in on a fine horse or in a gilded chariot driven by a personal slave. Yes, Pilate is coming to bring peace, too, peace to the territory of Judea and especially the city of Jerusalem, the peace of submission to a mightier nation.

Yet the multitude knowing what is happening on the other side of the city, still shouts out, "Peace in heaven and glory in the highest heaven.!" They, too, expect peace, the peace of the kingdom of God brought about by the reign of Christ.

But again, we cannot really share their enthusiasm. It seems naive to us who watch the drama year after year from such a great distance, a distance of more than time. We know what will happen when these two great figures meet. There is nothing peaceful in the encounter. It is painful, confusing and maybe even a little embarrasing. When you hear the Passion, have you ever felt like someone sitting in the stands saying, "Come on Jesus, you can turn this around. You've got the power and the words to change their minds and make them see the light. Just do it!" You know who is going to win and you know it looks like you are backing the loser. This time, we hope the story will end differently, that the orchestra will break into Beethoven's Ode to Joy and Jesus and Pilate will clasp hands in solidarity and stride off for a festival banquet.
God doesn't do peace like that. "The peace of God," says the hymn, "it is no peace but strife closed in the sod. Yet let us pray for but one thing, the marvelous peace of God."

The multitude of disciples is all gone now. They have wandered away all week long as the peace they longed for seems less and less likely to occur. Enough of them stayed long enough to be turned against Jesus and to demand his death. The last eleven have put great distance between themselves and Calvary by the time Jesus is nailed on the cross, fearing for their own lives. No one wants to be crucified, after all.

Even Pilate doesn't get the peace he expected to bring to this city. The Jewish leaders have dragged him into this interreligious warfare despite his best attempts to stay out of it. And those leaders of faith and Temple get no peace, either.

We don't feel peace, either, do we? This is one of those times when the grace of God, the peace of God, the love of God seem to have withdrawn from us. For we know that we are the multitude of disciples. We get caught up in the excitement and joy and sometimes we are convinced to turn away. We are uncomfortable playing the part of that multitude when they cry, "Crucify him!" because we know we have done so and will probably do so again even though we try hard not to.

But, my brothers and sisters, do not fear. The love, the peace and the grace of God surround us now just as the disciples were surrounded. Whether we find ourselves bold enough to stand at the foot of the cross or too afraid to come very close at all, God is standing with us.

God is with us all this week as we hear the stories of that first Holy Week. Let us allow ourselves to feel that presence, to share God's pain and sorrow just as God shares ours.

Figs, Sins and Mercy

2010-03-06T21:09:00.000-05:00

The crowd around Jesus is large, a multitude of thousands according to Luke, so many that they are stepping on each other in an attempt to get closer. The chapter before our reading today is one familiar teaching after another about possessions and anxiety and the coming of the kingdom of God. But they keep peppering Jesus with questions and it is clear that they do not understand him.

In frustration, Jesus cries out that if they are able to tell the weather from the clouds and the winds, why can’t they interpret the present time.

It is in the midst of that conversation that someone mentions the Galileans who were slaughtered by Pilate’s forces while they made their sacrifices in the Temple. It would seem that they are telling Jesus they certainly can interpret the time. We just don’t know exactly what their interpretation is. Are they saying that the Romans are getting bolder, that it is no longer safe even in the Temple, that now more than ever they need a King David-like messiah who will rid them of the oppressors?

Or are they saying that the fate of these Galileans is proof of the fact that they were not righteous ones making sacrifice but sinners who got what was coming to them. Perhaps they believe that God strikes down sinners who dare enter the Temple!

Whatever they meant, Jesus immediately turns the talk to sin, repentance and, yes, judgment. “Do you honestly think these Galileans were more sinful than all the others? Do you think the eighteen people killed when the tower fell were the only sinners in Jerusalem? No, I tell you, what happened to them had nothing to do with their sins.”

And that’s where everyone there probably began breathing a sigh of relief. Except that Jesus hadn’t gotten to the period of his sentence. “No; but unless you repent you will perish as they did.”

What? Does this mean this multitude needs to go home and lock themselves in their houses so that nothing can fall on them and Pilate can’t get to them? Didn’t Jesus understand that they were merely pointing out they could interpret the time? Is he telling them that they are not righteous, that God’s judgment could fall on them, too? You can begin to understand why some of these same people will turn against Jesus, can’t you? He is intent on poking them with a sharp stick.

And then he tells the parable of the fig tree. Fig trees have often been used by the prophets to represent Israel. The man in the parable probably lives in town, an absentee landlord. Note that he “has” the tree planted and it is to his vinedresser, a servant, that he is talking. All the man wants is the fruit. And when there is none, he decides that the tree should be cut down.

Now any gardener will tell you this is reasonable. Figs use up a lot of nutrients in the soil, nutrients that the grapes would be getting otherwise. And their sole purpose is to produce figs. If they don’t, then taking the tree out makes sense.

But the vinedresser asks for more time, for mercy on this tree. He will take better care of it, loosen the soil and fertilize it with manure to give it more nutrients. “Just give it this one more year, sir, and let’s see what happens.”

We are not told what happens to the tree. The disciples don’t ask for an interpretation of the parable. Maybe they understand this one. So why do we - I - have a hard time with it?

The first part of the reading makes good sense to me. I don’t for a minute think that bad things happen because God is striking us down for our sins or even the sins of our ancestors. That was the common belief at the time and it is still widely believed today. If it weren’t, then Pat Robertson’s statement that the earthquake in Haiti was God’s judgment wouldn’t have made the news, would it? When bad things happen to our dear friends, we don’t always know what to think. Well, Jesus makes it clear that we can stop thinking those things happened because of a person’s sins. Bad things often happen to us when we sin but God doesn’t cause us to become terminally ill or be hit by a drunk driver. Rather we live in the consequences of our own bad decisions, something which can be pretty hellish.

I do believe that Jesus is telling the multitude and us that we may well die without having made our sins right. If the only time we confess is here on Sunday, thinking that will take care of repentance for another week, we are sadly mistaken. There is a prayer in The Great Litany that asks the Lord to deliver us from dying suddenly and unprepared. Just like those who went to make their offerings in the Temple and found themselves the victims of state oppression. Or those who happened to be walking down the wrong street at the wrong time. Confession, repentance and reconciliation are daily activities. We don’t store our sins up all week long and get rid of them all at once. Some might take years but that just means we need to work on them for as long as it takes.

But the parable reminds me that even though the wrath of God doesn’t manifest itself in cancer or car accidents, the wrath of God still exists. Judgment Day will happen for all of us. An author I read this week said she imagines it will be like standing under a glaring spotlight and being bombarded by all the pains she has caused others, pains she meant to inflict and pain she didn’t know she had. For me, it has always been like the parable of the wheat and the weeds that grow up together, are harvested and then separated with the weeds being burned up.

I believe we will stand face to face with the Lord and be judged. I believe we can know a little of what that will be like every day when we sit down with God and talk about what we’ve done and what we haven’t done, about how we have hurt or been hurt and what we need to do about that.

But before we go thinking that we need to live our lives in fear and trembling waiting for the ax to be put to our roots, we need to remember the end of that parable. It’s about mercy and it says that even in judgment there is mercy. They come together as part of a whole. We all want mercy, rely on mercy when we go wrong, pray for mercy at least every Sunday - Lord have mercy, Christ have mercy, Lord have mercy.

So I believe that, in some odd way, judgment is something we ought to look forward to. It won’t be painless but we will come away truly cleansed of all our wrongdoings, perhaps truly recognizing God’s love and mercy for the first time, so that we may increase in knowledge and love of the Lord and go from strength to strength in the life of perfect service in God’s heavenly kingdom.

Haiti and dining out

2010-03-02T11:42:00.003-05:00

Time flies and I've not been motivated to post much, I guess. Almost two months has gone by since the last one.

I've been thinking about Haiti a lot since the earthquake. John Talbird brought a "mite box" calendar to our Diocesan Convention to encourage people to continue contributing to the relief efforts there. Our Diocese has had a companion relationship with the Diocese of Haiti - the fastest growing diocese in The Episcopal Church - in the past and there are still strong ties.

One of the things the authors of the calendar remind us is that we are not called to be benefactors of the people in Haiti but rather friends. That is certainly a different take than most of what we hear in the pleas for us to help. It is one thing to send a check to help nameless, faceless people but quite another to send help - a check or goods or warm bodies with the right skills - to stand with our friends and rebuild with them. I feel blessed to know John and others who go to Haiti regularly and bring back stories about the people there. I know, too, that those folks are also taking stories about us to the Haitians.

Yesterday's calendar entry was about the difficulty of transportation during tropical rainstorms. "Imagine unpaved roads of mud that have endured centuries of animal and vehicle traffic. The ruts are so deep that the trenches swallow tired. Puddles are three and four feet deep at times. Torrential rains can make travel so impossible that no mechanical vehicles can operate there." I am thinking of the many days this winter when county schools have been closed because of snow. Our small amounts of snowfall haven't begun to make travel as impossible as it can be in Haiti and yet, we have closed school countless times in the last two months!

Reading this calendar is incredibly humbling. Realizing that Chile is now also suffering the after effects of an earthquake and a tsunami requires me to rethink my priorities. I read the summary of my credit card expenditures for 2009 just this morning. I am ashamed to see what I spend eating out, for instance, and that is nothing compared to the general catchall "merchandise"!

So this is the year that I take living simply to heart. I'm not quite sure that will extend to going to the library rather than the bookstore but it will definitely take in dining out and "merchandise."

The wedding at Cana

2010-01-15T12:06:00.002-05:00

What a curious story this is, especially for the Gospel of John where Jesus is portrayed as confident of his mission and in charge of his life. Here, though, we have a story in which his mother sounds pushy and he sounds petulant and reluctant, maybe even downright rude. There is no consensus among the commentators I have read about how to handle this story.

I am enough of a historian to be fascinated by the discussions of culture then and now, language and religious practices then and now. But I don't really think knowing that the containers used for ritual purification being empty is a symbol of the emptiness of the old religion helps me understand this story. I'd really love to know why John put it in here. It seems so very out of place in this Gospel.

Carol Lakey Hess, in Feasting on the Word, suggests that Mary's comment about the lack of wine is her way of nudging Jesus/God to do what is needed to make the situation right. I like the idea of nudging God. Isn't that what we often do in our prayers? Don't we spend a lot of time talking with God about all the things that need fixing?

But does Mary think Jesus hasn't noticed the lack of wine? Likely he has and I think his reply about what that problem has to do with him is nudging Mary back. "How important is this to you?" he might be asking. And her response makes it clear that saving the family's face is very important to her. "Do whatever he tells you."

In order to nudge God, we have to be aware of what's happening around us. I wonder how many of the guests at the wedding were aware that the wine was running out. The story leads us to believe that many of them were too drunk to notice anything. But Mary noticed. She was watching closely the activity around her.

If we are going to make it a habit to nudge God, we need to be prepared to be nudged back. "How deeply do you care about this? What do you expect me to do?" And here's where we become less Mary and more servants of the house. Because if we want God to pay attention, then we must be willing to do whatever God tells us to do.

I like the fact that our epistle reading this week is Paul's discussion of spiritual gifts. We don't all have the same ones but they are equally important and all given to us by the Spirit. God nudges us to use our particular gifts in specific situations.

When we pray, we need to listen for God's response. We can even anticipate by checking the need against our gifts. Do I have what it takes to make a difference there or not? If I can't, then what can I do? Sometimes, the answer is praying for those who can to respond to the need. Sometimes, like in the response to the earthquake in Haiti, our role is in the background supporting those with the gifts necessary to help the people and the country recover.

Do whatever he tells you. Mary is speaking to us. So is Jesus.

Christmas Eve?

2009-12-22T10:51:00.003-05:00

A young couple, traveling through Kingsport on their way to Washington DC, were forced to stop their journey becaue the wife was in labor. It took all the money they had to make the trip to the capitol but they were hoping that they could get help from their representative. They had written to him asking for assistance but their letters were never answered. So, despite Mary's condition, she and Joseph decided that the only wat to get help was to plant themselves in their congressmans' office. Little did they know, he had gone to the islands for Christmas and his office was closed until late January.

Joseph drove their old jalopy into Kingsport, following the big blue signs with an H on them. he wanted a doctor to see Marry and, if this really was the time for their son to be born, perhaps the hospital would deliver the baby even though they had no insurance. But the hospital turned them away.

So they drove downtown, trying to find some place to stay and give birth. All the agencies were closed for the holidays and the Salvation Army could only provide a bag lunch as all their beds were full that night. The couple knocked on all the church doors but everyone was busy singing Christmas carols and the ushers didn't like the way the couple was dressed.

Mary and Joseph kept driving around but could find nowhere willing to let them stay. Their credit cards were maxed out and none of the motel operators were willing to take a chance that the bill would get paid.

Finally, they decided to take shelter on a loading dock on Stone Drive. It was clear to them that Mary couldn't go any further. And there she had the baby. Joseph looked through the dumpster and found some boxes and wrapping materials to make a bed of sorts for the child and scrounged some more to find bubble wwrap and more cardboard to keep them all warm.

There was a security guard patrolling the parking lot. She was the activity over on the loading dock and decided she'd better check it out. The closer she got, the more she realized there was something different about these vagrants. And then she saw the child.

Well, she went right up and asked Joseph if there was anything she could do for them. He smiled and thanked her for her consideration. He allowed as how they could use a bite to eat. So the guard went right up the hill to Kroger and started looking for things they could eat without having to heat them first. She found some blankets, too, and added them to the cart. When she got to the checkout, she told the clergy aboud Joseph and Mary. And the clerk told the manager and the manager got on the loudspeaker and told everyone in the store. Pretty son, everyone was picking up groceries, socks, diapers and baby wipes and heading for the checkout. All the store staff rushed to help them check out and quickly locked up the store.

Then all of those people rushed to their cars and followed the security guard to the place where the baby lay. It wasn't hard to find because there was a great big star shining over the loading dock by this time. Everyone unloaded their gifts into Joseph's car and then went to see the baby. They stayed and stayed, reluctant to leave because there was something about this scene that woke a distant memory in each of them.

And then one of the store clerks remembered. "For see - I am bringing you good news of great joy for all the people: to you is born this day a Savior, who is the Messiah, the Lord." And she was so surprised that she blurted it out! Everyone's heds came up and they looked at each other realizing that the clerk had it right.

Someone began singing Silent Night and slowly, everyone else joined in. Even those who hadn't sung it since they were little children remembered the words.

And suddenly, there was with the people a multitude of the heavenly host, praising God and saying, "Glory to God in the highest heave, and on earth peace among those whom he favors!"

Just another Wednesday?

2009-09-23T14:54:00.004-04:00

There is a rhythm to the life of a parish priest. It is based first on the weekly liturgies and the work that goes into making sure they go well. Sermon preparation is ongoing starting Monday and, in a good week, might be completed by Thursday.
Then there are calls to folks who need checking up on, mostly for health reasons, and home communions. Youth Group is a weekly occurrence and some planning is required for that. We are a small enough church that there aren't a whole lot of meeetings and that's nice. I enjoy the ones we do have more that way.

But sometimes, a nice quiet week on the calendar can turn into a whirlwind of activity. The call asking for a ride to the doctor an hour and a half away. The day the phone rings off the hook like this morning. People stopping by for one thing and another - this morning's impromptu question about our theology of when the Spirit comes within us! - and emails that require attention right away or need more time and study before answers can be written.

My ex used to say there were days when all he did was put out fires. That's an apt description of the life of a priest. Even when it is a scheduled fire, like a meeting or a counseling session, it's still putting out fires.

No one teaches you how to do that in seminary! Although, if you listen closely when professors talk about their days in the parish, you can pick up the basic knowledge that life will often be about putting out fires. Still, the necessary tools are not sold in the bookstore or lectured about in any class.

The key is not to turn a match into a roaring blaze. I try to start by not adding any accelerant to the conversation. And listening, asking a few questions - bot not too many! - helps slow the burn. If we are lucky, the fire goes out as quickly as it began.

I am a fan of chaos so I don't want my days to be regimented and strictly ordered. But I did learn about organization when I was a librarian and I find it helpful to pull out those lessons now and then. Otherwise, I would need cloning in order to be in more than one scheduled place at a time. ;-)

Regardless of how long the day or how many unexpected events occur, today is in so many ways just another Wednesday. A day the Lord has made, a day I've tried to remember all I have to do and maybe even gotten most of it done. A day to be cherished and to give thanks for.

OMG! Proverbs 31:10-31

2009-09-19T16:29:00.003-04:00

Even my secretary expressed offense at the fact that we are reading this lesson tomorrow morning. I automatically determined that it would not receive homiletical comment in *my* church. But then, at a meeting of women on Thursday, I began to think more about why I really dislike this description of the capable wife.

Basically, this is a classic example of reading ancient passages with eyes of the 21st century. I would guess that none of the teenagers in the congregation can relate to this passage at all. They have likely never met this woman. Frankly, when I think of my grandmothers, as much as I loved them and see some of these traits in their lives, I can't say they were as selfless as this virtuous wife. I see my mother in some of it and my mother-in-law in there, too. But this image of a woman who worked 24/7, ran the household, bought and planted the vinyards, made all the clothes and out of the best fabrics, laughed in the face of the future, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera, doesn't ring true for me. She's too good. I am inclined to think that a group of men sat over their wine one evening and decided to imagine "the perfect wife." Good of them to toss in a line about loving the Lord while they were at it.

The problem here is that we are more than a few centuries away from this particular time in history and we have no idea what on earth is so great about giving your whole life to make your husband look good. For that matter, it doesn't read well if the genders are reversed either, does it? Do any of us want a husband who spends his whole life making us look good as we sit in the city gates doing woman's work?

All too often, we like to slide past the parts of Scripture we don't like. Some folks skip straight from Genesis and Exodus - the stories are good - stop off at Psalms for a bit and then head straight for the New Testament, giving a short nod to Isaiah on the way. Obviously, the great lectionary gurus thought we ought not to do that. So does Proverbs 31:10-31 have anything to say to us?

Since it is linked with Mark 9:30-37, I think it just might have some use. Mark tells the disciples once again that he will be killed and rise again but they didn't understand. So they chose to discuss who among them was the greatest. You know the story. Jesus asks them what they were talking about, they have to confess and he tells them that the one who is first is really last and servant to all even to the point of welcoming little children, the very least of all humanity.

In other words, if we want to be welcomed into the Kingdom by God, we need to be more like the capable wife. We need to fight for the needs of our family - remember the Kingdom family is a lot larger than who live in our houses - and make sure everyone has warm clothing for the winter. We need to laugh and be happy because we are daily engaged in the work of the family and in proclaiming the greatness of the head of our household.

And there is one particular line in Proverbs that speaks directly to the image of Jesus with the child: "She opens her hand to the poor, and reaches out her hands to the needy." Children in our world have a lot more power than they did in Jesus' time. But the poor are the most helpless today. They have no voice. Without a residence, they have no way to access the miserable system of red tape we have devised in order to secure food and shelter for themselves and their children. One in four children in this country live in poverty. That means an awful lot of adults are there, too, adults who are fighting for their families just as hard as the capable wife. But they have no way to buy a vinyard or the cloth to make fine linen garments of the richest colors.

That's where we disciples come in. Forget about being first, last or coming in a good second. Spend all that energy seeking ways to help those who cannot help themselves. Don't add to their burden by asking them whether they are truly needy. Just feed them, give them warm clothing and a place to stay.

I talked with a priest today who told me his congregation is losing members because the folks who run the soup kitchen at his church refuse to turn away people who have come from other towns. The feeling of those leaving is that they should only feed those who live in their town - not a town that looks to have a lot of hungry people in it to start with. But the organizers won't turn anyone away and they haven't run out of food yet. In fact, they have helped organize another soup kitchen in a neighboring town. This is what Jesus calls us to do. Willingly, happily, with no strings attached.

So despite the feminist hackles that go up as soon as we hear Proverbs 31, there is something about this amazing surreal woman that can still teach us how to live, how to raise up our bridegroom and pay no attention to our own status. Don't you just hate it when what you want to ignore turns out to have something to teach you? :-)

John 6:56-69

2009-08-20T09:03:00.004-04:00

"This teaching is difficult," they said. "It's too hard. Who can accept it?"

Probably the first time I said "it's too hard" was in algebra class. And despite my parents' urging to try, try again, I gave up quickly and skated by on poor grades. Then there was the zipper I couldn't seem to get into a suede cloth jumper. After the third try, I said, "this is impossible. It can't be done." My mother, with her teeth gritted, said, "oh yes it can!" and went to the sewing machine and did it in no time at all.

One of the things I believe my generation (boomers) has to answer for the most is the way we deal with "this is difficult/too hard." Even those of us who never bought into "free love" liked the idea of "if it feels good, do it." Difficult things don't feel good, at least not right away. So we walked away from the hard things, especially in our faith as we asked, "how can God allow this to happen?"

Eventually we came back for the most part. Our parents might say that we finally grew up. We started doing the difficult things - working real jobs, raising families, learning to budget our money - because we didn't really have a choice. There was no one else to do it for us. But we didn't teach our children to tackle the difficult things, did we? We particularly didn't manage to teach them the importance of belonging to a faith community.

I remember the next time I said "this is too hard." It was when my dad had been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, late stage. I was talking to my mother-in-law. I told her that losing a parent was too hard and that I didn't want to do it this time, let alone three more times. She merely said, "you don't have a choice."

It is true there are difficult things that we can't walk away from. But difficult teachings is another matter. I have friends who have left their faith behind because someone died, because someone didn't die soon enough, because they didn't like the priest, because the new hymns replaced old familiar ones, because the size/shape/ethnicity/sexuality of the congregation changed and they couldn't deal with it. Too many of them, confusing faith in the Christ with membership in a worshiping community, walked out.

Peter has the right of it in his answer to Jesus. Jesus asks, "do you also wish to go away?" and Peter answers, "Lord, to whom can we go? You have the words of eternal life. We have come to believe and know that you are the Holy One of God."

When people tell me they are leaving The Episcopal Church, the first question I ask is whether they have found another church. We humans need a church to help nurture and support our faith when it wobbles. If those who want to leave TEC haven't got somewhere else to go, I urge them not to leave. If they have found another community that is more nurturing and supportive, then I urge them to become a part of it with my blessing.

But the difficult teachings don't go away just because we change congregations or denominations. They are always there, poking and prodding us.

The teaching of Jesus is difficult, sometimes too difficult. That is when we turn to our brothers and sisters in faith. Sometimes all we need is their presence with us. Sometimes we need them to listen to our doubts and questions and help us come to understand better. After all, we are supposed to grow in faith, not rise from baptism fully formed. You don't teach a child to count from one to ten and then put them in an advanced calculus class.

But once we have come to believe, there really is nowhere else to go. Leaving doesn't help solve the difficult things. Staying might not, either, but choosing to stay means we have chosen to continue working on the hard teachings. And just because Jesus no longer walks among us teaching in parables doesn't mean the difficult teaching isn't still going on.

Difficult teaching makes us uncomfortable. It's supposed to. If we have made ourselves a cozy nest of our faith, a hammock that rocks us gently in the shade of the trees, then we are not working hard enough on being faithful. Reread the gospels. Go back and hear what Paul wrote while he sat in prison. Nowhere will you find Easy Street. Almost everywhere you will find challenges, obstacles, tests, hard teachings. Paul speaks of being a prisoner in the Lord. This is not an image of comfort yet it is a state of being that Paul relished.

So when the teaching is too hard, when there are obstacles in the road, turn to your church family. Ask the hard questions there. You will likely find that others are struggling with the same question.

Story and Public Narrative

2009-07-25T12:05:00.003-04:00

One of the things we were asked to do at General Convention this year was telling our stories through the use of Public Narrative. The focus of our conversations was mission. The idea is for each person in the group to tell a one to two minute piece of their story that tells how they began doing mission work. The next step, after hearing each of those stories, is to create the story of the group and then to move the combined story into a story of now - what our combined story is telling us we need to be doing together now.

Public Narrative wasn't my favorite part of the Convention. In fact, we were arranged in table groups with our dioceses and most all of us had done this same exercise - in diocesan groups - at our synod meetings. So, after the first day, we opted out. Frankly, it was time we used to rest and our daily lunches together were, in a less structured way, our time of sharing story and hearing how we need to move forward now that we are home.

But there was one example of Public Narrative - me, us, now - that I realize I didn't share with you all and that I didn't think of in those terms at the time. One day, we had many ecumenical visitors. They were from all kinds of Christian, Jewish and Muslim congregations. One of them spoke to us and then asked a cantor, a muezzin and a priest to chant the Abrahamic Prayer that we share in common (The Lord bless you and keep you....). The cantor began and his chant transported us all. As he ended, the muezzin took up the prayer with equal power. He was followed by the priest whose chant was Anglican in form. And then all three of them chanted together. Rather, they chanted in their own style at the same time, sometimes creating blissful harmony and at other times dissonance that should have been jarring but seemed to be right.

When the last note faded away, our combined story woven together in incomparable manner, the need to love, honor and respect our brothers and sisters of all faiths was made clear. We don't have to sing the same tune. There doesn't have to be perfect harmony. But we must recognize our common bond and work together for the peace we cannot achieve separately.

Done!

2009-07-17T20:03:00.002-04:00

We have concurred, adopted, amended, heard millions of points of personal privilege or clarification, moved to suspend the rules, moved to change the rules, probably moved to ignore the rules forever and still finished all of the remaining business by 4:30 pm on the last day.

I have carefully weeded out my five inch wide three ring binder and thrown out all the now useless paper. My Blue Book is about to be deep sixed here in my room. For those of you who are concerned about the environment, this area sorts and recycles anything that can be recycled, something I wish more cities, counties and states would consider. So all of that paper as well as the cardboard cover of the notebook and the metal binder will find itself becoming something else.

It is now time to pack, to discover just how much I can get in my suitcase, how much will go in my backpack and what "extra" bag I can pass off as my purse for boarding purposes. I don't think there is much more I can throw out at this point and I have done my best not to pick up and/or buy too much in the exhibit hall while I was here. Okay, there are those two bags of books from Church Publishing but no one who knows me really expects me to pass a book display and come away empty handed. ;-)

For all the times when we wished people would stop talking, when tempers flared and we found ourselves taking sides even if we didn't express that out loud, the tenor of this General Convention has been reasonable. We weren't always quiet in expressing our opinions but, with only two exceptions that I know about, no one was rude or out of line - both times it was the same person.

We do have fun. The rules are a good thing but we tend to break them appropriately. One of them is that we do not applaud; however, when someone is introduced, we usually applaud before being given permission. We sing together in the House. We do laugh, especially the last two days when the president and secretary kept referring to each other by the wrong title and then getting the giggles. And we have been blessed this year with meditation and prayer twice a day done by The Rev. Frank Wade of the Diocese of Washington, a deeply insightful man who has an incredible way with words.

Despite the fact that most of the deputies are over 50, our young deputies are increasing in number and also in voice. They speak well and passionately and I am very proud of them. Since my first General Convention 24 years ago, the number of persons of color has increased dramatically as well. The Episcopal Church is not monochromatic or geriatric as we are often led to believe.

And so dear friends, I bid Anaheim a very fond farewell. I have seen old friends, made new ones and look forward to getting back home to friends and family and my animals.

Money, mission and courtesy

2009-07-16T21:40:00.002-04:00

Today began with a special order to consider the budget. We had the rules for the special order read to us. Then we spent more than 30 minutes asking questions about the rules. Then we began talking about the budget and promptly forgot the rules. When we finally settled down, it was almost time to go to Eucharist. We started at 9:30 and hadn't adopted the budget by 11:30. I give thanks that this is not how we do business in East Tennessee!

After church and lunch, we did finally adopt the budget but the last 19 minutes of debate took us about 45 minutes. Except that there were no commercials or color announcers, passing the budget was much like a football game. What is supposed to take 6o minutes really takes three hours. :-)

And then we put on our running shoes and took off. All the courtesy resolutions have been passed and sent on to the Bishops. We passed resolutions on the environment, the Defense of Marriage Act, Honduras, some changes to the canons and we defeated a resolution to give the Official Youth Presence the vote. A deputy who is about 18 got up and said if the youth presence wanted to vote, they should run for General Convention like everyone else. That pretty much convinced those on the fence!

I had a short meeting of the Prayer Book committee immediately following the 6:00 recess but our legislative day is now over. There is no session tonight for which I know we all give thanks. Many of the EAst Tennessee deputies are heading downstairs to have dinner together, having decided we are just too tired to venture out. I'm having breakfast with a friend - a real breakfast with eggs! - in the morning. This is only the second time I've had the time to go somewhere, sit down and be served that most important meal of the day.

Tomorrow will be the final sprint for the finish line. The finish line will happen even if we are not ready for it. So pray for extra stamina tomorrow and we will see you back in East Tennessee at post-Convention meetings next week. The one for Upper East is at St. Christopher's on the 22nd at 7:00. That's Wednesday night.

Wild Wednesday

2009-07-15T23:43:00.003-04:00

As is so often the case, we started off slow this morning. Lots of announcements, procedural questions and reports from the House of Bishops. Then we did elections for the Executive Committee and General Seminary's Board of Trustees (it is the only seminary owned by the Church so we have to do this).

Then it was time for the Eucharist and I was so tired, I came back to the room and took a long nap, almost missing lunch. I gave up coffee today and I guess it really does perk me up! This afternoon, we passed the Denominational Health Plan, Lay Pension Plan and a long document on interreligious conversations. We also heard from the Program, Budget and Finance Committee. The budget is seriously cut. They listened to our Bishop's resolution and cut the interim bodies' budgets by almost half. The House of Bishops and the Executive Council also took cuts so there will be fewer face to face meetings for everyone in the next triennium and that's a good thing. We are also going to try having an eight day convention in three years. While that feels like it is impossible, the fact that the interim bodies have less time to work will lessen our work as well.

The exciting news on the liturgy front is that the bishops passed an amended version of the resolution on same gender liturgy. It will come to the House of Deputies tomorrow at some point and we will move to concur. Rather than summarize, here is the text:

"Resolved, the House of Deputies concurring, That the 76th General Convention acknowledge the changing circumstances in the United States and in other nations, as legislation authorizing or forbidding marriage, civil unions or domestic partnerships for gay and lesbian persons is passed in various civil jurisdictions that call forth a renewed pastoral response from this Church, and for an open process for the consideration of theological and liturgical resources for the blessing of same gender relationships; and be it further

Resolved, That the Standing Commission on Liturgy and Music, in consulation with the House of Bishops, collect and develop theological, and liturgical resources and report to the 77th General Convention; and be it further

Resolved, That the Standing Commission on Liturgy and Music, in consulation with the House of Bishops, devise an open process for the conduct of its work inviting participation from provinces, dioceses, congregations, and individuals who are engaged in such theological work, and inviting theological reflection from throughout the Anglican Communion; and be it further

Resolved, That bishops, particularly those in dioceses within civil jurisdictions where same-gender marriage, civil unions, or domestic partnerships are legal, may provide generous pastoral response to meet the needs of members of this Church; and be it further

Resolved, That this Convention honor the theological diversity of this Church in regard to matters of human sexuality; and be it further

Resolved, That the members of this Church be encouraged to engage in this effort. "

I know there are many who will be upset about this and I am sorry about that. This is a justice issue for me. It affirms that there is but one baptism and it is not qualified in any way. Jesus made it pretty clear that the neighbor we are to love is more often someone it is hard to love rather than someone just like us.

And now I am heading for bed. Many of us went to LA night at the Arena and I'm sure one of them will fill you in. I needed the down time in order to make the next two days. We are pretty much assured of a night session tomorrow.

Peace to you all.

Do you want fries with that?

2009-07-15T00:43:00.002-04:00

To say we are getting a little punchy at this point is to understate the obvious. As we sang All Things Bright and Beautiful this afternoon - at a pitch that basses probably loved but altos definitely did not - John Talbird and I began to waltz. Lynn Schmissrauter took the afternoon off and sent us cookies. We did remember our manners and shared them with Mississippi and Rochester, the deputations to our left and rear.

I would love to tell you we did lots of good stuff today; however, even though we have passed a special order that puts us in speed mode - 10 minutes for discussion and then vote - we are being slowed down by a group of dioceses that move all sorts or procedural things and ask for points of personal privilege. It feels to me like this is being done intentionally and I can only think that the point is either to get us so backed up that controversial resolutions cannot be heard or that the point is merely to stall convention entirely. I do hope I am wrong about this but the problem with having a legislative system is that this sort of thing can happen.

We have passed D025 fairly overwhelmingly. Bishops got it first, made a slight amendment that I like very much - pointing out that there is a mystery of the Spirit involved in being called - and then we approved their language. Now it depends on who you talk to what the effect of this resolution is. First of all, let me say that the committee that crafted it, World Missions, was very sensitive to the fact that many would be upset and took that into account. I have rarely seen a more pastorally worded document. Second, I need to point out that gays and lesbians have never been barred from the ordination processes according to the canons. Each diocese chooses, though, to interpret those canons and in our own Diocese, the policy is that we do not send postulants to seminary unless they are married or celibate. Celibacy applies to anyone not married and not just to gays and lesbians. I am required, for instance, to remain celibate unless I remarry (God forbid!).

So I am on the side of those who would argue that we have affirmed what has been in place for many years. Nowhere in the resolution does it say that we will consent to the election of a partnered gay/lesbian bishop or that we intend to elect a bunch of them. Am I picking nits? I'm sure many will argue that this is the case.

We are waiting to see what, if anything, will come from the Bishops on same-gender blessings. My committee passed a substitute resolution yesterday morning which was largely crafted by the six bishops on the committee. At the moment, it seems to be stalled in the HOB and I understand a small group of bishops are working on a rewrite. I will know more when our committee meets again tomorrow morning. I confess it is beginning to seem like we will have more meetings than there are days left to have them on.

Tonight, we had our East Tennessee dinner at a very good restaurant. There are enough of us here counting alternates and a few spouses and our communications director that we needed two tables. I know my table went solidly for the seafood. I couldn't tell if the other table did too but it looked like there were some dissenters who went for the beef instead. Thanks to Annie and Charlie for hosting our time together. We do have a good time.

Monday, later than usual

2009-07-14T01:32:00.002-04:00

It's time for my nightly ramblings. This has been a good day overall. My committee met twice and got several things done and ready for debate in the House of Bishops. I made a substantive change to a single paragraph in Rachel's Tears, Hannah's Hopes and feel quite good about that. This is the new liturgies and pastoral resources for issues around childbirth, including abortion, stillbirth, miscarriage and infertility - although less of the latter that the rest. In any case, we passed the document out of committee this evening.

You will likely read about the resolution I talked about yesterday in tomorrow's (this morning's?) newspapers. Please read the section I quoted yesterday as well as what the papers said. In essence, we didn't change the stand of the church all that much. What we did was revert to our canons which we "set aside" in 2006 to pass B033. The House of Bishops made a small change that I haven't read yet and passed D025 today. I'm sure this one will make all newspapers that are looking for sensational news. It is not really all that sensational.

We passed a new revision of Title IV of the Canons today. This is the canon that deals with discipline. I confess to not having read the entire document but I understand from summary versions and Peter Keese, who sat in all the sessions, that this is a very good revision. Still not perfect, but then most things don't really reach that exalted state.

The next four days are going to be packed and I am sure there are things I won't realize I need to tell you. The pace gets to the point where it is very difficult to do more than read a summary of what is being passed. Then you have to keep up with what the bishops have passed and/or concurred with. I promise you that by the time we have our post-Convention meetings, we will have a comprehensive understanding of all that happens here. Meanwhile, we are all still tracking particular areas and that's where each of concentrate our energies.

On that note, we have consented to the election of a new bishop for Ecuador Central. It is a long and painful story as to why this was such a controversial election. No one disputes the qualifications of the bishop-elect but many people in that Diocese question the process. There was not a clear vote - it was a tie - and the interim bishop cast the deciding ballot that threw the election into the House of Bishops, a very kosher decision. Well, emotion and pride of place complicate it greatly. Bishop Luis has his work cut out for him in the next few years.

And that's all I have to say about today. I had dinner with a few of my committee members. It was really great to have a chance to talk without large tables and rules between us. Above all else, this is a large part of what General Convention is about. Just as we greet old friends and welcome new ones at diocesan conventions GC is all of that on a grander scale. There are seminary friends to see, people I know from my other diocesan residencies and then new friends to meet and get to know beyond a handshake or nod of the head. Worship is a large part of our time together, too, and I need to say that our chaplain, The Rev. Frank Wade, is incredible. Frank's meditations and prayers are insightful, poetic and spot on every single time. I do hope these will be published somewhere and soon.

Until tomorrow, God bless you all.

Sunday, the half way mark

2009-07-13T01:02:00.003-04:00

We began our day together with Eucharist at 10:00. The Presiding Bishop celebrated and preached. The two previous presiding bishops concelebrated and it really was good to see all three of them at the altar together. They were applauded out at the end of the service. This was the UTO Ingathering service so all the UTO representatives from each diocese presented the offerings. The offering at the service - the only service with an offering collected - also goes to UTO. Given that there were probably five to eight thousand people there, it should be a substantial gift to fund work around the globe.

The afternoon session of the House of Deputies was taken up largely by a single resolution. D025 is titled "Commitment and Witness to the Anglican Communion." It begins by reaffirming our commitment to and participation in the Anglican Communion; encourages congregations, individuals and dioceses to participate in the many networks within the Communion and makes it clear that we are willing to commit ourselves financially to the Communion as well. I'm going to quote the text of the rest of the resolution rather than paraphrase it. I remind you that all of this resolution still has to be concurred by the House of Bishops or it dies.

"Resolved, That the 76th General Convention affirm the value of "listening to the experience of homosexual persons," as called for by the Lambeth Conferences of 1978, 1988, and 1998, and acknowledge that through our own listening the General Convention has come to recognize that the baptized membership of The Episcopal Church includes same-sex couples living in lifelong committed relationships "characterized by fidelity, monogamy, mutual affection and respect, careful, honest communication, and the holy love which enables those in such relationships to see in each other the image of God" (2000-D039); and be it further

Resolved, That the 76th General Convention recognize that gay and lesbian persons who are part of such relationships have responded to God's call and have exercised various ministries in and on behalf of God's One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church and are currently doing so in our midst; and be it further

Resolved, That the 76th General Convention affirm that God has called and may call such individuals to any ordained ministry in The Episcopal Church, which call is tested through our discernment processes acting in accordance with the Constitution and Canons of The Episcopal Church; and be it further

Resolved, That the 76th General Convention acknowledge that members of The Episcopal Church, as of the Anglican Communion, based on careful study of the Holy Scriptures, and in light of tradition and reason, are not of one mind , and Christians of good conscience disagree about some of these matters."

We voted by orders (each diocese has one lay vote and one clerical vote based upon a canvass of the four deputies in each order) and the resolution passed overwhelmingly. Now it will go to the House of Bishops and we shall see what they think.

Much of our deputation had dinner together tonight at the Cheesecake Factory. Ann Markle and I decided that we had better walk back even if we did have salads (the menu listed some of them as lo-cal because they had less than 590 calories!) because we also had cheesecake. I mean, what's the point of going to a restaurant that features cheesecake if you aren't going to eat any?! I even walked up three flights of stairs once I got inside the hotel. Eight elevators aren't enough for all of the Episcopalians who seem to all want to go up or down at the same time.

Tomorrow begins with a committee meeting at 7:30 once again. We will try to hammer out a resolution on same-gender blessings. Having looked at this issue from two or three angles, we really cannot use the language of marriage even though several states have. It would require canonical change and also BCP change. I hope we will have this out by Tuesday but it may well be Wednesday.

Good night, all. Or good morning.

And now for something completely different!

2009-07-12T00:57:00.002-04:00

It was my intention to trade seats back with Ann Markle this morning; however, when I got up, I realized neither of us had the necessary signed document from our chair. So I called poor Ann at 6:37 to tell her to go ahead and sit as a deputy. I planned to sit in the alternate section and was looking forward to hearing Ray Suarez from the Lehrer Report preach at 11:00. And then Cal Calhoun and I would switch places in the afternoon so he could have time off.

Well, as I entered the House of Deputies, Cal was coming out. He said, "I just heard about Katie," one of our lay deputies. I asked what he had heard about her and found out that she had fallen and cut her chin. So he and I went to First Aid to check on her. It turned out that she needed to go to an ER to have it checked and likely stitched. So Katie and I got a cab to Western Medical Center and spent five hours in the ER. She didn't have stitches. Katie said the doctor told her that with a cut that close to the face, they prefer to glue it shut! And Katie said she immediately realized she was, after all, in California and not Chattanooga. :-)

Charlie and Annie vonRosenberg had lunch ready for us when we got back shortly after 2:30. Then Katie and I both headed back to the floor of the House with me still sitting as an alternate since I had missed the time for credentialing.

This afternoon, East Tennessee's resolution on universal health care came out of committee for a vote with a few changes but nothing substantive. So sad that Bob Strimer was off today but his brother Peter said a few words in his stead. There was no real debate and now it goes on to the House of Bishops.

In my own committee this morning, we heard testimony on the resolutions on developing prayers/liturgies for the death or illness of companion animals. There were two wonderful dogs with us, Emily and Kona. As Emily's handler was signing up to speak, I simply sat down on the floor in front of Emily and got my face washed thoroughly. She is a great dog and much better behaved than either of mine!

Tonight was the Sewanee dinner. We heard all sorts of good things about what's happening on the mountain and said thank you to the retiring chancellor and vice chancellor. It was a good time and I had a chance to talk to a few old friends and professors and met a few new friends, too.

Tomorrow being Sunday, we will not meet in the morning. The UTO Ingathering and Festival Eucharist is at 10:00. THEN I will head for credentialing and change back to being a deputy for the rest of the Convention. It is so good to have alternates here to give us a break. I can't tell you what is so terribly exhausting about sitting and waiting but I am tireder tonight than any other.

Blessed Sunday to all of you.

Almost a day off

2009-07-11T00:35:00.003-04:00

This morning started early which is beginning to feel normal. It's not that much earlier than I start working at home but at home, I don't begin with meetings!

We began deliberating on and thinking about how to craft legislation on same sex blessings. The debate is complicated by state laws this time around. Several states have legalized same gender marriages and the church in those states needs a way to respond. Regardless of what the marriage statutes are from state to state, The Episcopal Church is incorporated in each state and so our canons cannot stray from state law - as I understand it. So how do we write a resolution that will conform in all states? I'm not sure we have figured that out yet. We shall see tomorrow.

This morning's legislative session was again a committee of the whole to allow people to speak about B033. For the most part, people spoke in favor of moving on rather than repealing it, something that hasn't been done very often in our history and isn't really helpful. The World Mission Committee will now take all the comments and begin to craft that resolution.
After lunch, I changed places with Ann Markle and became an alternate for the afternoon. So I had time for a nice lie down, finished a book and had my nails done. What a treat! And then it was back into a committee meeting but a brief one.

Ann, Kay Reynolds, Katie Piper and I had dinner together and then took a cab to a grocery store for breakfast bars, fruit (raisins for me, nectarines for others) and a few other things to make our days easier and our breakfasts and lunches less expensive. The cab was very late coming, arriving just as we were loading our stuff and ourselves into another one. He was a delightful cabbie, listens to classical music and can't imagine why people like to get drunk. Neither can we so it was a friendly ride back. We had been offered a ride by a retired bishop and his wife if we were still there when they came back out of the grocery store. Since they were driving a fairly small car and none of us are fairly small, it's a good thing we didn't have to take him up on it.

The good news tonight is that the House of Bishops passed our Bishop's resolution today without amending it. This is a resolution to cut in half the budgets for all interim bodies. I said more about it on the Diocesan blog site (http://gc.etdiocese.net).We ought to get it in the House of Deputies in the next few days. Of course, we are already behind by at least a day in our own business. The most controversial thing to come before us this afternoon was the consent to the election of the new bishop for Ecuador Central. It is a long story, the short version of which is that the election was very close and the deputies here are contesting it. The Credentialing Committee, headed by Lynn Schmissrauter of our deputation, feels that the bishop-elect is well qualified and a fine man. I am told that the consent has been tabled to a time certain and that's a shame.

Tomorrow is another day and who knows what joys await us. It really is exciting to be here and an honor to serve East Tennessee as a deputy.

The Thursday that felt like Wednesday

2009-07-10T00:23:00.003-04:00

I suppose it is because we began meetings on Tuesday but my internal clock is telling me it is a day earlier than it really is. Another component may well be that I am wondering how we can possibly do what still has to be done in the time left. This is not a rationale for a longer Convention!

I began the morning at 7:00 with a two hour Prayer Book meeting. We spent the entire time reviewing, editing, amending - pick the word you like best - six sets of commons and proper prefaces. Think of these as generic "feast day" collects. I think we managed to do good work despite our size - about 35 people - and our varied liturgical backgrounds. A key question was, "do all collects need to end with a trinitarian doxology?" Kind of makes you wonder how I managed to stay away, doesn't it? :-) Oddly, I rather thrive on this sort of thing.

This afternoon, we had a hearing for people wishing to speak to the resolutions that have been proposed on same sex blessings. I would guess there were more than 500 people in the room. Thankfully, not all of them wanted to speak! We will begin discussing the next step tomorrow morning at 7:30. Subcommittees will need to be formed so that we can get through all the legislation assigned to us in a timely manner - in other words, before we all fly home. At this point, I have no idea what will come out of the committee on same sex blessings but I can assure you it will have been prayed about, deliberated on at length and given very serious consideration before it leaves our hands.

This afternoon, the House of Deputies met as a Committee of the Whole to begin talking about how/if this Convention will return to B033, our agreement not to consent to the election of a bishop whose lifestyle is offensive to the Communion. We heard the history and a summary of the ways we can reasonably move and then we had one on one conversations with someone we did not know about our own experience of B033, the church's experience and what God is calling us to do now. It was a useful conversation and time well spent. We will continue that conversation tomorrow morning and the World Mission Committee is still in a hearing on the subject as I type (my own Committee's evening hearing wore me out or I'd be there).

So, dear readers, I am going to brush my teeth and go to bed. Tomorrow begins early and will be a busy legislative day since resolutions are beginning to come out of committees. It won't be the rush it always is at the end of our time together but it is enough to keep us from getting bored.

Officially Open

2009-07-09T00:03:00.003-04:00

This is what the House of Deputies looks like from our table. There is another deputation behind us but, otherwise, we are at the very back of the hall! If it weren't for those big screens, we would need binoculars!

Another busy day and yet I am not nearly as tired as yesterday. We had our first day of legislative sessions. After spending much of the morning hour's session doing organization stuff, we actually got down to legislation this afternoon. As you can imagine, the only kind of resolutions to clear committees so quickly are not the least controversial. All resolutions must clear both houses to be official.

We had the opening Eucharist today. It was wonderful! We have a pick-up choir so I got to sing and that always makes me feel good. Some of the music was from the African tradition and ably led by a canon of the Diocese of Los Angeles. Along with those of us who run in at the last minute and sing - very bad choir form but that's all the time we have - there are some fine singers here from LA as well. Bishop Katharine preached.

My own committee met twice today. We have moved some legislation forward, rewritten the several funding requests into one bill - I moved to delete most of the funding requests and was soundly voted down - and sent another piece of liturgical change into subcommittee for substantial reworking.

This evening Archbishop Rowan Williams spoke to us on the global economic crisis. He believes that more than an economic crisis we have a crisis of truthfulness. We have been lying to ourselves and we have learned to tolerate high levels of evasion. We have lied consistently about our own place in the world and the unlimited nature of goods and resources.

I have more notes on his speech but I am hoping it will be published in one of the daily publications so I'll wait to say more.

Three of us snuck out after Bishop Rowan's speech because, quite simply, we were hungry! We had a good dinner not too far away and now I am planning to watch the last hour of So You Think You Can Dance and go to bed. Tomorrow's first meeting starts at 7:00.

Still Pre-Convention!

2009-07-08T00:35:00.003-04:00

For the day before Convention, I must say my day has been every bit as busy as a Convention day. I started with a Prayer Book, Liturgy and Music committee meeting at 8:00. We spent four hours deciding how we are going to proceed with hearings and meetings on the 65 resolutions that have been assigned to our committee, knowing that there will likely be a few more added once the deadline for submitting resolutions passes. It was a good morning although I suppose people who are not detail oriented might have felt like they had fallen down the rabbit hole.

After lunch, we met at 2:00 for presentations from the Presiding Bishop and the President of the House of Deputies. In introducing the theme of this Convention - Ubuntu - Bishop Katherine spoke of the Great Western Heresy, which is believing that we can be saved as individuals, putting ourselves at the center of life rather than putting God there. Ubuntu says that I can only become a person in relation to other people, that community and relationship are central to who I am and who you are, that my salvation depends on yours.

President Bonnie Anderson introduced Public Narrative, a way to tell our stories in relationship to mission, a process we were introduced to at our Provincial Synods. Mission, she said, is the reason the church exists.

Marshall Ganz, the man who developed Public Narrative, spoke next, relating how he came up with the process and pointing out that it is an ancient practice by citing Moses' encounter with God at the burning bush.

The last meeting of the afternoon was an orientation session for the House of Deputies. Voting procedures were reviewed and an amusing "play" about how resolutions are introduced on the floor of the House and then debated and voted on kept us all laughing.

After a short gathering in the Bishop's quarters, several of us headed out to committee hearings. For me, that meant hearings on the Blue Book resolutions regarding acceptance of Holy Women, Holy Men - the proposed revision of Lesser Feasts and Fasts. We heard testimony from several people about changes they would like to see made. After the hearing and an hour of committee deliberation, several of us met in subcommittee to redraft the resolution to put this revision into trial use. It became clear that we either ask the churches to use the whole revision for three years or spend all of General Convention picking and choosing who should and shouldn't be included. As many of you know, I have serious questions about many of those recommended for commemoration; however, if we will take seriously the fact that this is for trial use and that we are encouraged to make our feelings about that use known to the committee, I believe we will end up with a good list of commemorations to add to our Calendar.

Now, it remains to be seen if this passes the House of Bishops and is concurred by the House of Deputies! I'll let you know the continuing saga.

A media heads up. We have scheduled hearings on same sex blessings for Thursday afternoon. That same day, there will be hearings on Resolution B033 which passed the last Convention. This resolution says we will not consent to the consecration of anyone whose life style will cause further conflict within the Anglican Communion (my words, not the exact wording of the Resolution). There will also be two sessions on Thursday and Friday to deliberate on B033 as a Committee of the Whole. So Friday's news outlets may well pick up on that. Do please remember that it is likely not to be as sensational as they make it out to be. Also remember to check official Episcopal sites for more reasonable coverage.

And now it is almost 10:00 out here in California. The fireworks at Disney are over for another day - I can hear them even if I can't see them - and it is time for all good deputies to go to bed. We begin our legislative day at 8:00 tomorrow and end the day with a speech on global economics from Archbishop Rowan.

Good night all!

Arrival

2009-07-06T18:50:00.002-04:00

The Magic Kingdom is somewhere nearby but, thankfully, I can't see it. I did hear a lady in the elevator say she could see the nightly fireworks from her room which is at the other end of my floor. I'm happy to be at this end.
We are beginning to gather. Some people, mostly committee chairs, came out to Anaheim yesterday but the bulk of deputies and bishops will arrive today. My first committee meeting is at 8:00 a.m. tomorrow as are many others.
My flights were good and smooth enough that I slept through both of them. Herb Berl and I had the same fliight from Houston so we met and had a nice lunch - shrimp po boys! - before getting on the plane. The Hilton Anaheim, where our deputation is staying, is truly right next door to the Convention Center. It is such a short walk that I may have to sign up for the health club (a mere $35 for our ten day stay) to get much exercise at all.
Even in the short hour we have been here, I have seen friends from Mississippi and New Hampshire and had a good conversation with a deputy from Arkansas. I know there will be times in the next ten days when I won't want to sit through one more meeting but I am excited to be here. If my past experiences hold true, I'll still be excited when it is all over and done for another three years.
Stay well and stay tuned...

Hardness of heart?

2009-07-01T10:32:00.003-04:00

One of the web sites I use in my sermon prep is RevGalBlogPals. This morning, I read a post that talked about the people of Nazareth alreadyhaving their mind made up about Jesus. They were closed off to hearing anything new because of that. This person went on to say that she plans to talk about how we make up our minds and then don't change them, especially when we are going to meetings.

I don't know if this person is a General Convention deputy but I got her point. Have we all already made up our minds before we arrive in Anaheim?Is there any room for the Holy Spirit to move? I don't think it matters what "side" we are on, we need to leave the HS some breathing room. If our agenda is fixed, there is no place for God.

It is hard to sit in meetings for most of ten days and not have moments of heart hardness. We get weary of listening to the same points being made over and over by people who feel they simply have to speak even if someone else has already made their point. Sometimes we get so caught up in being a legislative body that we forget we are *supposed* to be listening for God in all those speakers, that amongst all the resolutions that have been proposed, there just might be a path opening up before us. I hope we have enough sense not to make our minds up about that path before we have listened and read and prayed. And having said that, I know from experience that it is so easy to "go negative" and stop listening and reading and praying for anything except a break.

So when you pray for General Convention, I would ask that your prayer include something about opening our hearts and minds, about not prejudging each other or allowing our own agendas to get in the way of God's agenda. Pray that we might be brave enough to do God's will.

Thank you.

Mishnah

2009-06-23T17:19:00.002-04:00

There is a tradition, particularly among Jewish scholars, called mishnah. It is storytelling based upon a biblical text that attempts to retell the text in a new way. It puts faces and lives on people about whom Scripture tell us just a little. I would like to share with you a mishnah I learned many years ago on this Sunday's gospel from Mark.

There was a young man named Jairus and a young woman named Miriam. Their fathers arranged, as fathers did in those days, for them to be married to each other. Jairus and Miriam were quite please with the match and it was no time at all before they fell deeply in love.

A year after the marriage, Miriam gave birth to their first child. Jairus was so delighted to be a father that he didn't even mind that this first child was a girl. He named her Hannah. Miriam was sure their next child would be a son. But this birth had been a hard one. Miriam suffered from hemmorhages and there would be no more children.

The laws of Israel are quite clear about this sort of thing. The hemorrhaging made Miriam unclean, ritually unclean. Because Jairus was a leader in the synagogue, it was most important for him to follow all the laws religiously. Miriam's problem was not only embarrassing, it jeopardized his own ritual cleanliness. And so, Jairus had to divorce his wife even though he still loved her. He gave back her dowry and set her up in a house with her favorite maid.

For years, Miriam sought a cure. Every quack and magician soon learned that Miriam was an easy touch. She rapidly ran through her dowry, had to send the maid back to Jairus and ended up sleeping on the street and begging for a living.

In the meantime, Hannah was growing up in her father's house. As she grew towards adulthood, she was afraid her mother's disease would also be hers. Hannah thought if she didn't eat, she wouldn't grow up. So she stopped eating. Soon Hannah was so malnourished she became very sick, so sick she was close to death. Jairus was beside himself. First he had lost his beloved wife and now it appeared his daughter was going to die.

A servant told him that the Teacher was nearby. Jairus knew all about Jesus. He knew that synagogue leaders weren't supposed to have anything to do with this man. But Jairus believed that Jesus really did heal people. He ran to find Jesus. He begged Jesus over and over to come heal Hannah.

Miriam had also heard that Jesus was there and she rushed to the square in the hope that this man could do what no one else could. There were so many people crowded around Jesus. It was hard for Miriam to work her way through them all and when she finally got to the front of the crowd, she was shocked to see Jairus on his knees begging Jesus. She was more shocked to hear that her daughter was dying.

Miriam followed Jairus and Jesus, keeping back far enough in the crowd that Jairus would not see her but not so far back that she couldn't reach out and touch a corner of Jesus' cloak. She knew that was all it would take to heal her finally.

As she touched the hem, she felt the disease leave her. Jesus stopped and asked his disciples who had touched him. But they pointed to the size of the crowd and said it could have been anyone. So Jesus asked the crowd the same question.

Miriam was afraid to tell him but she knew she had to. Jesus compelled her to speak just by his quiet presence. So she stepped forward and knelt to beg Jesus' forgiveness. Jairus couldn't believe it was her! Jesus simply said, "Your faith has made you well," and then he began walking again.

Now a servant of Jairus' household broke through the crowd and told Jairus that Hannah was dead. Before either Jairus or Miriam could cry out, Jesus said to them, "Do not fear. Only believe."

When they came to the house, Jesus took three of his disciples inside along with Hannah's parents. When they came to Hannah's room, Jesus took her hand and said, "Little girl, get up!" Hannah got up from her bed and walked toward her parents. "Give her something to eat," Jesus told Miriam.

In a fairy tale, this is when I'm supposed to say they lived happily ever after. That's only partly true. Jairus was glad to have his wife and daughter back but he couldn't imagine leaving his prestigious job in the synagogue. He thought his happiness was there.

Miriam was glad to see Jairus and Hannah again but she knew that her life was different now. She wasn't too concerned about happiness. She had been healed because of her faith in the Teacher and she knew that she had to follow Jesus.

Even to the foot of the cross.

[I first saw this story more than twenty years ago on a preaching listserv. Alas, I did not save that original message so I don't know who the author was. I have added a few touches of my own but the original is not mine. Thanks to the woman who originally wrote it.]

the run up to General Convention

2009-06-17T14:58:00.002-04:00

It's been quite a while since I posted anything here. My excuse is that I've been reading all 400 pages of the report from the Standing Commission on Liturgy and Music. I'm down to reading through the lessons proposed for particular commemorations. Some of them work well and others leave me scratching my head. Of course, some of the lessons assigned to existing commemorations also leave me scratching my head! I can't complain too loudly, though, as I have no desire to or expertise for assigning more appropriate lessons.

There are many weighty matters that will come before the General Convention in July. I think that the most important one is returning ourselves to a mission-oriented church. We have become so overwhelmed by program - Episcopalians love writing and reading, after all - that we have lost sight of the purpose of program. If it doesn't directly result in or support mission, then perhaps we can do without it.

We also like to reinvent the wheel or at least make it better. This is a concept borrowed straight from capitalism. The notion that streamlining the bumpers or adding cruise control will get consumers to buy the new model when there really isn't much, if anything, wrong with the old one. Our commissions and committees, though, must come up with something to do or they may find themselves dissolved.

So I propose that we suspend the work of almost every single commission, committee and board for the next three years unless the work is clearly missional. I also believe we can do most of this kind of work electronically. Face to face meetings are really great but conference calls, emails and skype will drastically reduce expenditures. Consolidating efforts - for instance, information gathering which is done well by Church Pension and the State of the Church group might join forces and produce one report - would reduce duplication and save hundreds of trees.

And then when we come together for the General Convention of 2012, we can consider whether we have managed nicely without certain CCABs or whether they need to be reactivated. Would it be so bad, for instance, if the Standing Commission on Liturgy and Music didn't produce a new addition to the Enriching Our Worship series or revise The Book of Occasional Services? Can we manage to survive with the current Book of Common Prayer, the five EOW books, Lesser Feasts and Fasts and the current Book of Occasional Services for three to six years? I think the answer is probably yes.

Of course, the hardest thing in the world is to stop a group from meeting after they have gotten used to doing so regularly. And there just might be groups whose work we would miss. But we will never know unless we try to get along without them and redirect our focus outward.

And that's my nickel's worth!

Casting lots

2009-05-23T09:28:00.001-04:00

Do you remember the last time we read of anyone casting lots? Yup, it was the soldiers trying to decide who would get Jesus’ cloak. Casting lots is an ancient way of making decisions. It is similar to flipping a coin or eeny-meeny-miny-mo. It is drawing straws or tossing the dice. Casting lots is relying on the old ways to move the new way forward.
We might ask why Peter thought there had to be twelve disciples but he doesn’t really explain his reasons other than to say that they need to replace Judas.
It is true that there were twelve tribes of Israel and Jesus did call twelve
disciples. So I suppose Peter equated one twelve with the other and, indeed, scholars too have often done so. If that’s the case, then eleven was an insufficient number. Perhaps Peter was wondering how the Holy Spirit, the one to come after Jesus, would know who they were if there weren't twelve.
In fact, Luke says there are about 120 people gathered in that place and Peter set up rather arbitrary qualifications for disciple candidates. The potential disciple has to have been a part of the group from the very beginning, from the banks of the Jordan where Jesus was baptized – an event, by the way, that none of the disciples witnessed – to the crucifixion – another event witnessed by only one of the eleven. So just as the number twelve is arbitrary, so are the qualifications for discipleship.
In any case, prayers are made, lots are cast and Matthias is elected to take Judas’ place. And then we never hear about him again! He is a place holder,
someone to fill the void only.
It appears that the disciples, in this interim period when Jesus is no longer with them but the Holy Spirit has not yet come into their midst, have reverted to old ways instead of praying to discern new ways. And are we any different?
In the Episcopal Church, the process for calling rectors and bishops is relatively similar. A search committee is appointed, names are submitted for consideration, the list is pared down to about three to five people and then a decision is made. Thus it has been for as long as any of us can remember.
Except it hasn’t. Bishops used to place rectors in their parishes and there are still bishops who do that, particularly in mission churches. In our own Diocese, we offersparishes three ways to call a new rector. There’s the standard full search which is the method used most often. There is an option
to have the Diocese submit six to twelve names to the search committee.
And there is the option to choose one of two or three candidates to be priest in charge for one to two years during which the priest and parish discern
whether this is a good fit.
There is a diocese in our church located on the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. It is a very small, isolated diocese and, over the years, this diocese has developed a way of being church that is called Total Ministry. Total ministry draws on the gifts of all the members of each congregation to get done the work not just of the parish but also much of the work of the priest. You see, there aren’t enough priests to have one celebrate and preach every Sunday. So people have been identified who can preach, teach, administer the parish and do pastoral calling. The gifts of the whole congregation are necessary to be the body of Christ.
Total ministry is a wonderful addition to our understanding of how we are to be the church. It is rooted in the teaching of St. Paul. In the Diocese of East Tennessee, we call it Shared Ministry and there are several parishes who now work this way or have borrowed part of the model to enhance and enrich the ministry of the laity.
Well, back to the Diocese of Northern Michigan. Discernment is critical to the success of total or shared ministry. The vestry doesn’t meet and arbitrarily
decide that Lucy should preach and Horatio should make pastoral visits. No, over a period of as much as two years the whole congregation meets in prayer
to do the work that will help them hear the Spirit’s voice, will, in effect, elect
the right person for each job.
Just a few months ago, this diocese elected a new bishop. Their previous bishop, Jim McElvey, died in June of 2007. Normally, we would instantly begin the process of electing a new bishop. But Northern Michigan, fully invested in the discernment process of total ministry, decided to use that same
process to find their new bishop.
And it worked. One name was put forward as the person who should be the next bishop. A special convention was called and the Diocese concurred with the discernment committee’s decision.
But the rest of The Episcopal Church, a majority of whose dioceses have to consent to the election of every new bishop, immediately had fits. How, we asked Northern Michigan, can you have an election if there is but one name on the ballot?
Northern Michigan dared to do a new thing, to trust that the way the Spirit has been moving in their Diocese would effectively lead to the right person for the job of bishop. But the rest of us want to cast lots. We like the old ways and aren’t interested in learning new ones.
Sometimes, we have to change. Sometimes the old casting of lots needs to make way for the new discernment through the Spirit. This lesson, of course, doesn’t just apply to how we elect bishops and clergy. It isn’t even just about how we organize our churches.
Life is not meant to be static. I once knew someone who washed all her clothes with hot water because that is how the washer was set when it was installed. But sometimes you need cold or even warm water and most of us don’t use hot water much at all. Her argument was that it came that way and so that’s the way it would be used.
We don’t come with carefully defined never to be changed settings. If that were the case, we would all still be in diapers. The fact that we are supposed to change and grow and keep on learning is not a new idea for any of us. But the fact that the changes and the growth and the learning are guided by God through the work of the Spirit just might be.
Sure, we believe the Spirit guides us in spiritual decisions but we have carefully divided our lives into sections. There is the spiritual section in which God is present and active and there is the worldly or everyday section which I control myself, making decisions with the help sometimes of other people but this is not God’s area of expertise.
Well, that’s just not true! All of life is spiritual and God is in all of it. It goes back to the notion of abiding that we have heard in the gospel readings the last two weeks. In fact, that is what Jesus is still talking about in this week’s reading; he just uses different words.
We are God’s and so God abides in us. Therefore, it is right and good to make decisions and changes in conversation and partnership with God. And sometimes God helps us to realize that the old ways are just that – old. They were right for their time, served their purpose, but now we need to put them away and seek new ways to do what we are called to do.
Listening for God is one of the hardest things we are called to do. But it is also one of the most rewarding. Because God opens doors and windows we didn’t know were there. God takes us to surprising places along with people we never thought we would share the journey with.
What are the old ways that don’t work for us anymore? How might the Spirit be calling us? We will never know unless we decide to listen.

liturgy and fiction

2009-05-13T07:08:00.002-04:00

It seems to me that authors are skimping on their research these days. I remember when I worked at the State Library in Florida an author called to check train schedules from the early 20th century. I was impressed she was going to that much "trouble" since I was pretty sure most of the people who might remember when trains arrived and departed stations in Florida at that time would likely be dead. Still, she was doing her research.
In recent years, glaring errors in liturgy and clerical dress in fiction seem to jump out at me. Are there more of them or am I just more sensitive now that I am a priest? Rita Mae Brown had her Lutheran priest wearing a green surplice once. Green! And Laura Childs' most recent book has a funeral set at Grace in Charleston that would likely never happen in an Episcopal Church. The funeral director preceded the casket down the aisle, it was set crosswise at the steps to the chancel and the "minister" was wearing a black suit with a white notched collar!
So why can't authors research liturgy before writing about it? In traditions with a book of worship, it's easy to find out what the prayers would be and how the service would be conducted. As far as dress goes, most clergy would probably be happy to have someone ask them what they wear to do a funeral or a wedding or even Sunday services.
Okay, I'm climbing down from my soapbox now. Sometimes you just have to vent. :-)

Love one another

2009-05-12T06:43:00.002-04:00

Once again this Sunday, the lessons are about love. Peter's declaration that "Truly God shows no partiality" seems to cry out for an institutional response. But I think my job this week is to tie together loving as God loves us to removing boundaries and barriers on a more personal level. I need to help my parishioners realize that the Holy Spirit is working in their lives to help tear down barriers that God did not build in the first place and how seeing each other through the love of God that we know in ourselves is the only way for that to happen short of an experience like Peter's. And I think it helps to know that Peter learned the lesson more than once as he backslid on occasion.
Loving as God loves us is, for most of us, a lifelong education. We might think we are doing really well but then we realize that there are still people we aren't loving so much as we are judging them. Where is the line between those two things?
My guess is that there is at least one person in each of our lives that we love deeply, maybe even unconditionally (or as close to that as we humans get), who has done unlovable things. How have we managed to keep the barriers from coming up? How has the love we feel mitigated the circumstances?
I don't know where these thoughts are leading yet. It's only Tuesday, after all, and the Holy Spirit has a few more days to work me into shape.

Vines, abiding and loving one another

2009-05-09T20:03:00.003-04:00

Abide in me as I abide in you. We don’t talk about abiding much these days. It’s more than living, has a touch of remaining, and, when I looked it up on my computer thesaurus, it’s current use has to do with toleration. The thesaurus says it means to put up with, to stand or to stomach something.

Well, that’s a far cry from what Jesus had in mind. Abide in me as I abide in you is a direct translation of I am the vine and you are the branches. Jesus says that a branch that tries to abide without the vine will be fruitless, won’t be able to do its job and, in fact, will wither and die.
So abiding is a quality of relationship, the relationship that gives us life. Think of it as being in the same skin as Jesus, really being an extension of the Lord. Abiding is more than believing.
It is sharing Jesus’ DNA.

And abiding leads to fruitfulness, an “activity deeply rooted in the soil of God’s grace.” There was once a man who liked people but would rather spend time with his books. He and his wife were new to the town and the wife wanted to make friends with other couples their age. On paper, it sounded like a good plan but sometimes in the middle of a dinner party, the man would find himself drifting in the direction of his library.

Over time, though, he discovered he really liked their new friends and couldn’t imagine life without them. He realized that he was an extension of them. This group got together once a week and they prayed, ate, and played together. They also ministered to their neighborhood
together.

And then, one day, they all decided to move into the city because they felt their gifts –
especially their model of Christian community – were needed there. They began sharing more than ever – cars, food basics and shelter when one apartment or another was being worked on. And good things happened in the city with the help of this community.

Think of them as a kind of family if you will. Or think of them as branches on the same vine,
there to help each other be fruitful.

The hard part about being a branch on Jesus the vine is that it calls for community over individuality. It requires us to understand that abiding in Jesus is not limited to the two of us.
It is not a case of me and my Jesus over here and you and your Jesus over there and we are all doing our own thing. We don't even get to have starring roles and it is not a one person play.
No, the vine is our source of life and the branches are – all together – the rest of the plant. No branch gets to stand out. No branch is immune from pruning done to help us become a better branch. And the pruning is for the whole plant even if it happens only to a single branch.

We have a hard time with that concept. Our culture has hammered into us the importance
of being me or you so much that we have lost sight of the fact that not being us makes both me and you poorer, can cause us to wither and die.

There is a small town in Mexico. It is at the base of the mountains and also on a main railroad route. Every day, trains go by the town loaded with agricultural produce, some manufactured goods and people hanging on however they can. These people come from areas of Central America that are so poverty stricken that they are willing to risk everything to make the treacherous and illegal journey into the United States.

When the trains get to this town, they often slow down, I guess because they are beginning the climb into the mountains. And the people of this town take advantage of that slowing down to run out to the train and pass up food and sometimes clothing to those clinging to the train.
The town is not a poor one except perhaps by our standards. The people are happy to share
whatever food they have with these people who, for lack of food, have been driven from their homes. A reporter asked the townspeople how they could be so generous when they might find themselves also without food.

“Whatever we give, God multiplies,” said one woman. “We help because they are suffering more than we are.”

There are some in the town who do not approve but most everyone is united in doing what they can to help.

Beloved, let us love one another, because love is from God. Those who abide in love abide in God. Abiding in God requires loving one another even to the point of putting the needs of others
on a par, if not above, our own. We cannot be fruitful just for ourselves. We must be fruitful for God, wherever and however God calls us to do that.

When Philip ran out to join the Ethiopian, he did not go alone. He knew that he was part of a community, that he abided in God. And so it was easy for him to invite the Ethiopian to abide in God, too. And it was that same community, confident in the love of the Lord, that the Ethiopian instinctively knew was what he had been waiting for all of his life.

Abiding is serious business. It can’t be done in a few hours a week and it can’t be about just me and my Jesus. May this bundle of branches come to abide in the vine as we work together to be fruitful for God.

[Many thanks to Meg from RevGalBlogPals and Christian Century for the inspiration.]

Spello

2009-05-01T13:57:00.002-04:00

Lee and I asked Sarah, one of our hosts, where we should go on our last day. She said we definitely needed to go to Spello and so off we went. It is not that far away from Trevi and it was nice to have a short drive rather than a relatively long one. We walked up into town and found a wonderful church, Church of Saint Mary Major – not sure what that means but this is definitely a church dedicated to Mary the mother of Jesus. I did find a statue of St. Christopher and took a few pictures without flash. Then I bought a book and some postcards about the rest of the place. There are some famous frescoes and I am currently too dumb to remember who painted them.
Lee decided that, while we had bought wine and we had eaten some fine meals, we had never done a wine tasting. So we wandered into an enoteca – fancy name for place that sells wine but also has great food – and asked if they could do a tasting for us along with lunch. Sure! We sat down at noon and got up at 4:00. In between, we tasted five really good wines and had bruschetta, antipasto tipici (five different kinds of area meats including prosciutto, bacon, salami, and two we don’t know the names of but one was the best “pastrami” I’ve ever eaten), a plate of four different ages of pecorino cheese with pumpkin marmalade, and finally two kinds of lasagna. One was pesto and pine nuts and the other was traditional but nothing like I make or anyone else in the States. And, as you might have guessed would happen, we decided we needed to take some of the wines home. But, alas, we cannot find a box to carry them in safely as luggage so we have them tucked into our suitcases.
And so we have now made our way back to the States. All the wine arrived safely as did the honey, olive oil, spelt and art work. I did manage to get toothpaste on my pashmina but it has washed out nicely, too.

Montalcino, Sant' Antimo and I Poggioli

2009-05-01T13:40:00.005-04:00

We had a wonderful day, one with no rain at all and lots of sun. We arrived in Montalcino shortly after one. April 25th is a national holiday so there were lots of people in town for festivities we managed to miss most of. As is also the case here in Trevi, holiday activities take place until about noon and start up again late in the afternoon, going until around nine or ten at night. Our favorite wine store and the internet point are both gone but, otherwise, Montalcino hasn’t changed a bit. Claire and Lee took pictures in town and down into the valleys around as well. We had a good lunch at Il Grifo, found the store that one of our favorite wineries has opened up and did some tasting. The woman running the store was from Denmark and spent an exchange year in Columbus, Ohio. So we had a good time talking with her and then bought some Brunello di Montalcino to bring home. She also told us that we could buy a box for shipping our wine nearby. It is just like the one we brought home from California last year and we will check it as luggage since we are each allowed two bags and no one has more than one.
We headed down to Sant’ Antimo and had an enjoyable hour there. I asked the caretaker if they had a picture of the St. Christopher fresco but he said no. I thought I told him that my church is St. Christopher’s but he looked at me strangely and told me no, this is Sant’ Antimo. Yes, I agreed, it is but *my* church is St. Christopher’s. Since he got it the second time, I don’t think my pigeon Italian was to blame. ;-) And by the time we began the journey home, we found ourselves outside Buonconvento at 7:00 so we stopped at I Poggioli for dinner. Maria Angela greeted us at the door as usual and we told her when we had been there last (this was my Italian lesson for yesterday: two years ago = due anni fa).

There are some incredibly old olive trees at Sant' Antimo. I've been trying to get the "perfect" picture of one that I can enlarge and have framed for five years. This may be the one!

Florence

2009-05-01T13:31:00.003-04:00

It was the best of days, it was the worst of days. We arrived in Florence by car. Mostly it was a good drive except for the roads around Perugia which slow down to a dead stop for several kilometers. But Lee told me when we got to Florence that he had managed at one point to drive 100 mph (*not* kilometers!) so he had enjoyed the drive! The sun was out in force in Florence, something we have had too little of, so we began by sitting at a café above the city having a cappuccino before setting off down the hill. It took two panoramic pictures to get from one side of the city to the other.

We crossed the river just below the falls – a five foot drop but still falls, I guess – and headed toward the Uffizi to find a restaurant Bev and Lee have been to before. Lunch was quite good and relatively light. Our waiter was a very nice, chatty man who quickly picked up our names and joked with Lee about traveling with three women. Bev told him that she and Lee were married and I said I was Bev’s sister but I got the word wrong, using the word sister like a nun so she corrected me. He asked if I was actually a nun and I said no, I am a priest and so is Claire (who was off finding the WC). Well, that set him back but he gradually figured out it was okay and we were from the same church as St. James in Florence where he is going the end of May for the wedding of friends. A “real” priest walked by and Giuseppe tried to get him to meet us to no avail – and no surprise, either. ;-)
When he left to get our drinks, Lee said he thought he wasn’t from Italy. Bev, Claire and I assured him he was dead wrong; however, we had to eat our certainty when Giuseppe told us he is from near Bethlehem. He still has brothers there.
We were slow to get up from lunch as it was so nice to sit outside and be warm and dry. When we did, we wandered down to San Lorenzo and the market where the porcolino statue is found. Yes, Claire and I succumbed to a little bit of shopping and then we all rubbed the boar’s nose, dropping coins out of his mouth into the grate below assuring our return to the city. Then we had to rush to find the Academia since our tickets were for 2:00. We got lost but found it just in time. The Michelangelo statues are as powerful as ever. I heard an American tourist wondering what that was David had on his shoulder. He thought it might be a snake so I told him it was the slingshot and pointed out the stone in his other hand. There was also an exhibit of some archduke’s musical instrument collection that included an Amati violin.
When we walked the two blocks to San Marco, the real reason for our trip to Florence, we discovered it had closed at 1:50. So Claire didn’t get to see the Fra Angelico’s but she did find a book. We stopped for gelato before going into the Museo dell Opera dell Duomo and the skies were beginning to get dark with clouds.
The museum was wonderful. I don’t think I had seen the panels from Ghiberti’s bronze doors before. Everything in this museum is original works from the Duomo that have been moved to preserve them much as the Academia has the David which used to be in a piazza in the city. By the time we finished at the museum, it was 4:00 and raining. We tried to see the Duomo but it was now closed. We had left umbrellas and raincoats – except for Claire who needed the pockets of hers to carry cameras – in the car so we broke down and bought two umbrellas from a street vendor. And that was when the day went south. We finally hailed a cab to take us back to the parking lot. When we got out of the cab, Bev told us that her wallet was no longer in her purse. So Lee and Bev spent about an hour canceling a credit card and her debit card. The rain was the worst we had had as we drove home and none of us envied Lee having to drive in it. But the sun was still shining somewhere behind us and we saw about six different rainbows! The last was in a sky so dark you wouldn’t expect to see one at all but there it was. Not really much comfort and yet they were some comfort. Kind of an "all will be well."

Montefalco, Bevagna and Bettona

2009-05-01T08:28:00.004-04:00

We decided, starting rather late in the morning, that we would go back to Montefalco and see the rest of the town, then head for Bevagna and end up with Jo-Ann. So off we went with Beverly driving this time.
We entered Montefalco from the opposite side of town than the last time and took several pictures but, before we knew it, we were right back in the middle at the piazza and pretty much everything was closed up even though it was lunch time. We did find an internet café, though, and we checked our emails. Lee knew he would have some business that needed seeing to. It was a good place to people watch.

Bevagna started out being just about as interesting as Montefalco but without a good restaurant. As we walked from gate to gate not finding the Roman Theater – well we found it but the entrance was under construction so we couldn’t get in – we began to understand why Umbria is called the “undiscovered Tuscany.” But Lee pulled out a map of Bevagna and said we had missed the piazza where the two churches were together so we set off to find it/them. Thanks to the help of a nice man who knows the sign of people staring at a map and then all around them, we did indeed get to our goal. Alas, we didn’t have time to look into both churches – I’m not really sure we knew the second one was there even! – so we settled for the one. It really was a lovely little church, completely renovated in the last twenty years. The building was 13th century, I think, but the frescoes were much newer than that, maybe 18th.

After a few wrong turns – fortunately there were two ways into the parking lot so we made a few circles – we got on our way to Bettona, a tiny town of about 350 people that was begun by the Etruscans, razed and rebuilt by the Romans, razed and rebuilt by Napoleon and somehow not destroyed by WWII. The view is incredible! On one side of town you can see from Perugia to Assisi and beyond. We had a nice glass of local red wine before setting off on a tour of the town. One of the chapels was open enough for us to see their costumes and statues from the Good Friday parade – called something like the parade of the dead. Jesus was in a large wheelbarrow kind of cart and Mary was dressed in the most awful black garments lavishly trimmed in silver and gold. The chapel was pretty, though. ;-)
We trotted off home, again stopping at the grocery store. Bev and I baked the leftover pasta from our second night, adding ricotta, zucchini and a jar of sauce with basil in it. It was quite good and plenty for everyone. We tried a cheap bottle of Montefalco Rosso and it lived up to its price. I’m beginning to think that the wine is what is keeping us awake at night.

Assisi

2009-05-01T08:22:00.005-04:00

Despite the dark and threatening skies this morning, we headed for Assisi. And we did actually see some sun but not much. We wended our way into town by a new route that sometimes went completely the opposite direction to where we wanted to go but it all worked out, putting us out at the intersection that led to our usual parking lot. We discovered that there is a tunnel into the old part of town from that lot so we took it and it ended up just about where we were hoping to go first, the Church of St. Claire. This is a lovely 13th century church built out of white and rose stone. There was a very large piece of art in the piazza in front of the church that depicts immigrants coming to Italy. It is made out of wood from rundown houses and barns that would otherwise be thrown away.
After seeing inside the church – no pictures allowed – we wandered down the street. When I say down the street in Italy, it means truly down. Likewise, up ascends, sometimes very steeply with steps to assist. We did far more shopping that we needed to but it was lots of fun. Assisi is known for lace and, of course, there are always ceramics. Claire and I looked at some stoles and chasubles but weren’t wowed by any of them. Too Roman, I guess.

We stopped for lunch at the Buca di San Francesco, sampling the white wine from the Assisi region and very good food, even dessert. I think everyone in the restaurant were Americans. The people at the table behind us were from Columbia, SC and Cleveland, Ohio so we swapped “we’ve been there”s. We had fun trying to get the water in the bathrooms to run for more than a very few seconds. Bev expected her hands to foam if it started raining again – they did not.

Of course, our next stop was the Basilica. They are very strict about pictures but that didn’t stop many people from trying to take them anyway. It was hard to get a feel for the place this year as there were more tour groups than ever. This must be a school holiday week. We have had school groups everywhere we have gone but Assisi was swarming with them. The frescoes, though, never disappoint and there is an altar area where they are restoring the frescoes so we spent time watching that. Today, I was particularly aware of the fresh flowers on all the altars since so many of them were lilies. But the altar where we sat watching the restoration work was decorated with several kinds of flowers, one of which looked like rhododendron bushes – they were potted.
So we wandered up this time, heading for San Ruffino which is the Duomo where Francis, Claire and Frederick Barbarosa were all baptized. It’s 11th century, I believe. Most of the outside stone decorations are very worn, to the point it is sometimes hard to figure out what they are. We like the crucifix in this church. Jesus looks like he just breathed his last and is at peace. I think he looks a little sad still. Naturally, there are no pictures to be taken here, either, although I think we did the last time we came.
And so home again, stopping at the grocery store for a few necessities. Bev and I have done some laundry and it is drying by the fireplace. It’s given new meaning to the term hot pants. We have had wine, cheese, salami and crackers for dinner, downloaded two of three cameras and shared some good conversation and laughter. Soon we will head for bed, perchance to sleep.

Spoleto

2009-05-01T08:03:00.004-04:00

We had a wonderful day in Spoleto! It didn’t rain all that much even though it waited until we were walking out of the parking garage to start. We have checked the weather channel and now don’t expect to see much sun on this trip at all. Spoleto’s history includes both Umbran and Etruscan roots prior to the Roman occupation. We started at the Teatro Romano – those Romans surely did love their theater! – and then began walking up into the town. We did some window shopping along the way and arrived at the Duomo only to find it closed until 3:00. So we began the real climb to the Rocca, a walled town at the top of the hill. But we found a simply wonderful store just up the hill from the Duomo so we had a shopping break before continuing the climb.
Needless to say, the views from the top were quite spectacular and the rain stopped for most of the rest of the day. We found a gelatteria and had our second helping for this trip – I had pistachio and stracciatella – and then set off to see the aqueduct that spans the gorge, 278 ft. high – or down - from where we were. It is an incredible structure and I managed to get right up to the railings on the path to take pictures (I don’t like heights). Then, wonder of wonders, we discovered that you can walk across to the other side of the gorge on the aqueduct! Taking our phobia in hand, we all walked across. Fortunately, the path is about four feet wide so I could stay close to the wall. It really was a spectacular view from the middle. Lee stayed on the “left bank” quite awhile, walking all of the trails and getting higher and higher. We ladies opted to go back across and walk the rest of the way around the Rocca, taking pictures of flowers and trees along the way. When we got around to the Duomo side, we discovered the path blocked by construction so we retraced our steps, located Lee, still on the other side, by his whistling and then headed back to the Duomo.

It really is a beautiful church. A school group came in about the same time we did. They were pretty quiet and respectful. Most of them dipped their fingers in the holy water, looked at the high altar and crossed themselves, then kissed their hand. I hadn’t seen that last part before. No one at St. Christopher’s does it that way. ;-)

After taking all the pictures we wanted, we walked up the steps again so we could walk back down by a different street. This led to a piazza where we sat down to rest and have a glass of wine. As we sat, we talked about maybe finding an internet café. Lee looked up and found it right across the street! So he finished his wine and went over to check it out. Since he didn’t come back, we paid our bill and followed him over. Well, the internet was free to patrons so Lee had gotten another glass of wine. Bev and I followed suit while Claire switched to cappuccino. We checked emails, weather and found a brochure listing housing for sale in Spoleto. The latter gave us a chance to expand our Italian and also listed a perfect apartment that Bev wants to buy. We put the brochure back in order to avoid temptation.
We figured we ought to think about dinner since it was 7:00 so we asked the bar owner if he had a recommendation for us. And he did, calling to make us a reservation even! So we walked down the street, right past the restaurant, down a few more streets and then asked for directions. She pointed us back the way we had come and we found the back door but it wasn’t marked so we kept looking. Lee went down the opposite way and I headed back the way we had originally come. Sure enough, twenty feet from the street corner, there was Tempio del Gusto. We went in, told them Mauro had sent us and were treated to a wonderful dinner. They always begin with “amuse bouche” – three little hors d’ouvres, one we can’t remember except for its taste (good!), one beef with truffle sauce, one ham trout which was pickled trout, we think. Lee had ordered a primi piatti so they brought complementary primi to us ladies, a wonderful combination of cheese and puff pastry topped with truffle sauce. And *then* we had our dinners and, of course, dessert. We left there quite happy and more than a little full only to discover that the walkway to the parking garage was closed! No one panicked except yours truly. Lee finally found an elevator that took us right to the car and off we came home.

Sunday in Orvieto

2009-05-01T08:01:00.002-04:00

Sunday morning, we came as close to hurrying as we have managed on this trip. I got into and out of the shower, dressed and came back into the living room only to discover Claire lighting clown candles on a cruciform cake! I had completely forgotten it was my birthday but they hadn’t.
We took an overland route to get to Orvieto. At one point, we followed the Tiber River for quite a ways and ended up in the middle of a bicycle race. Cars parked on the side of the road – more like in the road – and police watching to make sure no one hit anything. This road reminded Bev of the Blue Ridge Parkway without the curbs and I have to say I was very glad to be in the front seat!
Once in Orvieto, we had just enough time to find the Church of the Resurrection, the Episcopal mission there. Finding it was purely serendipitous. We were on the right street and I had found the Tabacci shop and wine bar that were supposed to be opposite the church. But the church refused to reveal itself. Finally, a young lady in a dress walked into this little alcove/courtyard and I said she looked like she was going to church. So we followed her and, sure enough, that’s exactly where she was going! Russ, the new vicar, greeted us as we came in as did Kay who I remember from our last visit. After the service, one of the others I remember (Rod) walked up and said “Father Kempton! That’s what our connection is!” He and his wife live in Belgium half of the year and go to Kempton’s church there. I hadn’t remembered that connection so we chatted about both the church in Orvieto and the one in Waterloo for some time. This is a great congregation.
We had lunch in the restaurant where we ate two years ago and it was very good. We drank white wine since that is what Orvieto is known for and the waiter brought us complementary Asti after the meal because it was my birthday. This was a “sec” Asti, much better than the sweet stuff we get in the States.
And after lunch, it began to pour. No gentle rain this. It came straight down all afternoon. That didn’t stop us from seeing the Duomo, my favorite church in all of Italy, and doing some shopping. Bev happened onto a sweater store and bought three! Claire and I kept ourselves to shopping for family and friends. We also found probably the priciest internet café ever and checked emails for the first time. They had good tea, though, and it was warm and dry. We took the major road route home even though it was supposed to be longer. Timewise, it was a lot shorter and all of us arrived home without feeling queasy. :-)

Trevi, Montefalco and Deruta

2009-05-01T07:58:00.002-04:00

On Saturday, we set out to see Trevi. It is a lovely little town with a new piazza and an old one. We waited in the new piazza for Lee to park the car and enjoyed basking in the sun. Then we set off up the hill, ostensibly to look for an internet café, and stumbled into San Francesco. They were setting up for a concert that evening. We think this church has been deconsecrated. In any case, we looked around for a few minutes and then they kicked us out. So we kept walking up and found the Church of Saint Emiliano. I’m going to guess this is a Romanesque-era church given the style of walls and the statue of the saint on the outside wall. Inside is very bright, thanks to clear clerestory windows. We took lots of pictures as you can imagine.
When we wandered back down to the old piazza, there was the internet café but it was lunchtime so it was closed. We decided to take ourselves to Montefalco, a town not too far away but not all that easy to get to. Sometimes the road signs in Italy aren’t too clear. We found the car park and climbed up to the town gate. Once inside, we realized it really was lunch time and we were hungry. So we took ourselves to the piazza and had a very nice lunch outside the Hotel Federico II. We did a lot of people watching while we were there. I hate to say it but we picked out the British tourists by their teeth. A school group wandered past us once or twice and some families looking like they were on vacation, too. Must be an Easter holiday?
Montefalco is known for its red wine. As with Brunello in Montalcino, there’s the official Sagrantino di Montefalco and then there’s Rosso di Montefalco. The rosso is excellent. We had the same brand at lunch that we had had the day before in Gubbio. Still good. Since there was also an enoteca at the hotel, we bought some Montefalco wines to bring back with us. We opened a sagrantino yesterday and it, too, is excellent, drier than the rosso - actually, I decided it was too dry for my taste but I was in the minority. Then there is the sagrantino di passito which is a very nice dessert wine, good with cantucci (sort of small biscotti with almonds). And yes, we bought some of that too!
After lunch, we decided to head for Deruta and get the pottery cravings out of the way. We wandered up hill and down dale, over where rivers ought to be but not through the woods and finally found it (actually, it was right where the map said it would be but getting from one road to another was exciting as they didn’t always seem to be where they belonged). The road was lined with ceramic stores so we just picked one, went it and bought all the pieces we had planned to buy. They are being shipped even as I type and will arrive at my house before we do.
And then we decided we had had enough wandering around for one day so we found the SS3, our main highway to everywhere, and headed for home. We had a lazy evening and set an alarm so we could get up early enough to make church in Orvieto Sunday morning. Naturally then, Claire and I didn’t go to sleep until after 2:00.

Gubbio

2009-05-01T07:52:00.003-04:00

We had a leisurely morning before heading north to Gubbio. We parked near the Roman Theater. The day was mostly overcast so who knows whether Bev can Photoshop enough sunshine into those pictures to make them worthwhile. The town is lovely and old. We found a good hotel restaurant for lunch. Claire and Bev had risotto with zucchini. Bev had some kind of wonderful artichoke tart with a magnificent sauce on it. We all sampled it. I had a pasta made from bread crumbs and parmesan cheese combined with vegetables and Lee had a scrambled eggs and black truffles dish that was served, as were all the others except for the artichoke tart, in an odd sort of parmesan basket. I have no idea how they made those! We wandered from the the Piazza dei Console down to the church of San Francesco, stopping in the church of San Giovani along the way. Both of the churches “felt” like churches rather than museums as so many churches do in big cities in Europe. Then we had the first gelato of the trip before heading for the car.

One doesn't really expect to look up and see a dog in the window! But this little fellow was watching everyone go by from his perch about ten feet above the street. Given that there are no front yards in Gubbio, I suppose this is as good as it gets.

This splendid statue of St. Francis and the wolf was, naturally, outside the church of St. Francis! The light wasn't poor so I couldn't get a really good shot. This wolf is smiling.

Arriving in Bovara and lunching with Ettore

2009-05-01T07:46:00.003-04:00

Our agriturismo is in Bovara – bigger than Bald Creek but only just. It is called I Mandorli and our apartment is downhill. There’s a set of twenty steps and then six or seven more down before the four up to the apartment door. We have a lovely view of the grounds out our windows. We can hear the church nearby ring the hour, quarter hour and sometimes three quarter hour. Oddly, we seem to miss the half hour! Last night, it rang continuously for a few minutes but we didn’t bother to see if there was an emergency as we were feeling very lazy.

After we arrived and unpacked, we opened a bottle of wine, pulled out the cheese and salami and bread that our hosts had left us and feasted in the backyard. By the time we had polished off all the food and two bottles of wine, we simply went to bed. Lee is still working through his cold so he was first in but the rest of us followed not too far behind him.

Thursday morning, we lazed around the apartment until it was time to meet Jo-Ann a little ways down the road at Ettore’s farm – that’s Eh’ tore ay. We are the only Untourists in Umbria this two weeks so we had a mini-orientation as we already know about road signs, parking lots and using the right kind of fuel in the car. After Jo-Ann talked, Ettore showed us around the farm. It has been in his family for four generations, having started life as a convent. He grows spelt, olives, organic fruits and vegetables and tobacco – yes, we had a hard time believing that last one and were too polite to stop his lecture by telling him we already knew about curing tobacco. He also keeps chickens, sheep and four cows. Three of the cows are Chianina beef and one is a milk cow. He grows enough grapes to make wine for his family and his brother’s – both families live on the farm. His wife, Lorella, made us a wild asparagus omelet for part of our lunch. Ettore made bruschetta over the fireplace coals and used his own olive oil on it along with salt. That’s all real bruschetta is supposed to be. More than that is crostini. We finished the meal with a wonderful blackberry tart, all home grown right down to the flour and lemon.

Our trip to Italy

2009-05-01T07:24:00.003-04:00

Greetings! We have been to Italy, Umbria mostly with a few spots in Tuscany as well, and have returned home to warm Spring weather and a swine flu outbreak. Well, no swine flu here yet but it certainly is the hot topic - the only good news being that the Church is recommending hugs instead of handshakes at the passing of the peace.

I kept a travel journal on the trip but it is too lengthy to post all at once (12 pages!). So here's a summary and then I'll post pieces with pictures which will, in fine computer style, be posted ahead of this post. The last shall be first....

Overall, we had a wonderful time in Umbria. Our agriturismo - the best way to see Italy is to stay at one of these and do day trips, I am convinced - was in Bovara at the foot of the town of Trevi. The weather was cool and more often than not also rainy. That only stopped prolific picture taking but not our travels. We went to Gubbio, Trevi, Montefalco, Orvieto, Spoleto, Bevagna, Bettona, Spello, Deruta, Assisi, Florence, Montalcino, Buonconvento and Sant' Antimo. We also spent a fair amount of time just resting in our apartment with a lovely fire in the corner fireplace, a bottle or two of wine and local cheeses and meats. We found some really wonderful little restaurants - the one in Trevi was so good, we ate there twice in one day and came back two days later - lots of goodies we simply had to buy, and fell in love with some of the local wines, most notably the whites which none of us usually drink at home. The day of the worst rain, we saw a double rainbow and then had about a half dozen more rainbow sightings even as the sky grew darker and darker.

The people of Italy continue to charm us and my Pimsleur Italian really did come in handy more than once. Sitting in the airport Wednesday morning waiting for our flight, I eavesdropped on a conversation behind me and discovered that I could understand some of what they were saying. This doesn't mean, of course, that anyone there would have understood me!

One of the renewed insights, though, is the marked difference between a church that is active and one that is merely a museum. There is such a different feel and smell to those places where people still gather for worship. It affects the whole space, even the art on the walls and the statues in their niches, bringing life to what would otherwise be rather dead. The loveliest painting in a museum cannot hold a candle to a fading fresco in a church where candles are lit in prayer, music is sung and liturgies are offered. None of that will likely come through in the pictures we took but it is a sense that we will always remember when we look at them again.

He is risen! Alleluia?

2009-04-11T16:18:00.004-04:00

“Terror and amazement had seized them; and they said nothing to anyone for they were afraid.”

It’s not exactly the “happily ever after” ending we want it to be, is it? But if you hark back to the first Sundays of this liturgical year, you will recall that the beginning of Mark takes us by surprise as well. He jumps right into the story declaring, “The beginning of the good news of Jesus Christ the son of God." There is no genealogy, no birth narrative, no laying out of plot.
In fact, there are two things that characterize Mark’s gospel more than any others. He uses the word “immediately” a lot; and Jesus is always telling people to keep quiet about what he has done for them and who he is.

The ending of his gospel, then, seems to be in keeping with the rest of it. Of course, the young man dressed in white does give the women a message for the disciples: “go, tell his disciples and Peter that he is going ahead of you to Galilee; there you will see him, just as he told you.”
And it is that last phrase – just as he told you – that is the key to it all.

Jesus had already told them exactly what was going to happen as well as that, when it did, he would wait for them in Galilee. And how do we hear, how do we see what happened when the disciples found him there? Because that’s what we want, isn’t it, to be flies on the wall when the disciples see the risen Christ?

Well, we have to go back and begin reading the Gospel of Mark again. “Jesus came to Galilee,
proclaiming the good news of God.” Now that we have seen the crucifixion, read the ministry and teaching of Jesus again.

“What do we see when we read the Gospel of Mark again, this time with post-resurrection eyes,” asks theologian Tom Long? “We see Jesus healing and teaching and casting out demons,
but always being misunderstood, even by those closest to him. In other words, Mark is telling
us that the saving action of God in the world is always hidden, ambiguous, sealed off from the obvious explanation. We go back to Galilee, and the second time around every story in the Gospel of Mark is a post-resurrection appearance. What we see is a God who surprises us at every turn in the road, a God whose power is expressed finally in weakness.”

The Gospel of Mark begins with a bang and it ends with a whisper. But, oh my, how that whisper changed the world. And if I had to guess, I’d say that those women couldn’t stay quiet for long. Because the good news of Jesus Christ simply has to be told. We can no more keep it quiet than anyone in the Gospel managed to. Whether we shout it or whisper it, the good news demands to be told.

And when we’ve said our alleluias and passed the peace, then the Gospel demands one more thing. We have to go out into the world and proclaim the gospel in everything that we do.
We have to leave the comfort and safety of that upper room and head for Galilee. Because Jesus is there waiting for us and I’ll bet he’s even made lunch.

(thanks to Thomas Long's sermon "Dangling Gospel"
@ www.religion-online.org/showarticle.ask?title=3392)

Palm and/or Passion Sunday

2009-04-04T13:05:00.002-04:00

I have wondered most of my adult life why we give a cursory wave to the triumphal entry that Palm Sunday celebrates before we rush to the crucifixion in the very same service. Surely, said my hopeful self to my cynical self, the only reason is not because most everyone stays home during the week and would thus miss the Good Friday events if we didn't include them on Sunday. More often than not, my cynical self wins that argument, by the way.

Our Lenten program this year was reading the last five plays of the radio series A Man Born To Be King, by Dorothy Sayers. We really got into it, even those who were sure they would never read in public were asking for parts. The plays helped us "be" in that time, living the events with Jesus, the disciples, the Sanhedrin and everyone who was in Jerusalem that fateful week. It made me begin to think about time.

Have you ever noticed how time can stand still and rush by seemingly at the same time? Of course, time is terribly regular with every hour having sixty minutes and every day having 24 hours but sometimes a day can seem about six hours longer than normal and other days don't seem to have nearly enough hours. And the 24 allotted to that day often seem about 30 minutes long.

I remember when my dad was dying, time went by too fast but there were parts of the day that seemed to drag. When I remember those ten weeks, they seem about a month long. Do you suppose that's what it was like for the disciples and Jesus? Were there hours in those last five days that seemed interminable while others flew past and then - suddenly! - dinner was over an the guards were arresting the Master?

I think that's part of why we rush to crucifixion on Palm Sunday. It would be so easy to relax into the celebration of palm branches waving and people cheering, to want to stay in those moments as long as possible. But Jesus' reality was never the Hosanna parade and always the parade to the cross, complete with jeers and cries of "Crucify!"

The same thing is true about our Christian life. We cannot spend it all at the font with a - hopefully - smiling baby. We cannot relax into confirmation and the good feeling of taking our baptismal vows ourselves. We have to put down the prayer book with our name on the front and the Bible with the page in the front that says, "This Bible was given to_____ in honor of her confirmation." We have to have our hands free for the moment when we will pick up our cross, free to take and drink out of the same cup our Lord did.

So as much as we need to celebrate that wonderful day when Jesus rode into Jerusalem, we simply have to spend more time focusing on the part of the week that shaped our life in Christ. It is good for us to hear the Passion Narrative read more than once, maybe even three times! Hearing it on Palm Sunday does not excuse us from our obligation to continue walking through every day of that last week, the one we now call Holy. It may seem strange to begin the journey by hearing about the end of it, but then time does strange things, doesn't it?

Friday Five - Holy Week sanity

2009-04-03T11:58:00.002-04:00

Today's Revgalblogpals asks these five questions as we continue to prepare for a busy week. For me, it is ten days beginning with a prayer vigil by the youth group tonight. So here are my answers.

1. What restores you physically?
If the weather cooperates, I will spend a fair amount of time walking, with or without the dogs.

2. What strengthens you emotionally/ mentally?
Reading something totally unrelated to Holy Week helps. Sitting in silence does too but happens less often as my mind is usually churning with last minute stuff. Fortunately, my secretary is highly organized and has the bulletins all done so I have fewer last minute fears. Leaves more time for wondering what God would have me say about these lessons we read every single year!

3. What encourages you spiritually?
Singing! Holy Week is full of opportunities to chant and sing wonderful hymns. And I am practicing the Vaughn Williams Mass for the Civic Chorale concert, a truly glorious piece.

4. Share a favourite poem or piece of music from the coming week.
It is hard to choose just one or even two. I suppose Ah, holy Jesus and Were you there are my favorite hymns of Holy Week. I'll have to think about the poems.

5.There may be many services for you to attend/ lead over the next week, which one are you most looking forward to and why? If there aren't do you have a favourite day in Holy week if so which one is it?
We are doing a full Tenebrae service again this year. Being a little better at it than last when we made some last minute vocal substitutions - I hadn't planned to sing half the psalms! - I am looking forward to experiencing the service more and leading it less.
But my favorite service of the week is probably Good Friday. The solemn collects, walking the way of the cross, emptying the aumbry of reserve sacrament. It is a day when all of the symbols seem to speak louder, be more visible.
And I would be remiss if I didn't mention the little liturgy for Holy Saturday, the time when the tomb is sealed and no one is there except the guards. It is the quietest time of the church year and reminds me of the silence of exhaustion after the birth of the one sealed in that tomb.

Being different

2009-03-27T07:16:00.004-04:00

The other day, I heard someone on television say that only nine percent of the population are left handed. I remember another someone at my first General Convention some thirty years ago submitting a resolution asking that we remove all references in the Book of Common Prayer that discriminate against left handed people, too. I thought it was a strange request.

But there have been times, recent times, when those who are left handed have been persecuted. When I was a child, many teachers would try to force them to conform, to be just like all of us normal people who, sensibly and correctly, wrote with their right hands. Changing what is natural and right for a left handed person is cruel and unjust. I don't think it happens anymore but I don't know for sure. I'm not left handed so I don't keep up with left handed discrimination. It doesn't make the news.

But other kinds of discrimination do make the news, particularly gay/lesbian discrimination. The gay/lesbian population is said to be roughly ten percent of the overall population. There are more gays than left handers! And we know there are lots of programs that claim to reorient or "heal" these people. We know they are treated differently, looked on as deviants from the norm. They are, in short, persecuted.

Being left handed and being gay may sound like an apples/oranges comparison. While it is possible to choose to be left handed - I mouse with my left hand thanks to carpal tunnel in my right, for instance - it is terribly difficult to completely reorient one's entire life to left hand dominance. We are born right or left handed. Parents watch their children from a very early age to see which hand will be dominant. Right handed parents may have left handed children and vice versa. They cast back in their family histories trying to remember who else was left handed. "Where did Jimmy get that trait?" they will ask just as the short parents of a tall kid will wonder where she got her height.

So why, then, don't we treat being gay/lesbian like we do being left handed? Or tall? Or green-eyed? Why do we single out this ones genetic trait as being the worst of the worst when, in fact, they are all merely the ways our genetic soup happens? I know the answer, of course, but it makes me sad. For all of our intellectual advances in the last 100 years, we are still small minded people. I wish it weren't so.

A story about my least favorite creature

2009-03-21T11:18:00.005-04:00

This was told yesterday morning at our church by one of the staff for the African Childrens Choir. It was part of the childrens' morning devotions and, perhaps because the storyteller and I had talked about this week's Old Testament reading (Numbers 21:4-9), it works for my sermon tomorrow. Here is the story:

Once upon a time, there was a village at the base of a high mountain. The people who lived in the village, as so many peoples do, had a special ceremony to mark the time when a boy child became a man. When he was deemed ready, the boy would leave the village and climb to the top of the mountain - about a day's journey - taking nothing with him except what he wore. He would spend the night on the mountain and return the following day whereupon the whole village would hold a big celebration to mark his transition from boy to man.

There was a boy in the village preparing for this rite of passage. Finally, the day came when he was ready to climb the mountain. Everyone saw him off early in the morning and began preparations for the next evening's celebration. He strode off in confidence to find his own trail for, you see,, there was not a marked trail for him to follow. Each boy was expected to find his own way.

As he walked, the boy thought about life, about childhood and putting away childish things so he could be a man in all senses of the word. He thought about what it means to be a man, how there are challenges that children do not have to face and the lessons to be learned in manhood are harder than those of childhood. He thought of his parents and gave thanks for all they had taught him and for the love they had for him.

But mostly as he walked, he was acutely aware of where he was and what might be there with him. He had to take each step carefully because there were many kinds of snake on the mountain. He needed to look for edible berries and bark so that he would not go hungry. He had to find streams so he could quench his thirst. And he became aware that the higher he climbed, the colder it got - not just because it was higher in the air but also because the day began to die and night was coming on.

At last, he reached the top of the mountain. It was almost dark and he barely had enough light to find some branches to make a shelter for himself. When it was done, he crawled into the shelter to go to sleep.

But he began to hear a rustling noise just outside his shelter. He tried to ignore it but it wouldn't go away even when he thought good thoughts about his family and the village. Then a snake put his head under the edge of the shelter!

"Please, little brother," hissed the snake. "It is very cold up here on the mountain and I have no heat as I am a cold-blooded animal. I know that your kind fear my kind but I promise not to bite you if you will just share your body heat with me. If you don't, I will surely die from the cold."

The boy thought this must be a test of his manhood. He knew well that the snake could kill him in an instant. But he had been raised to be a compassionate man, helping others when he could, and so he agreed to allow the snake to sleep beside him. And so they slept side by side all night and the snake did not bite the boy.

In the morning, the boy jumped up to begin his journey back down the mountain and to the village waiting to celebrate his coming of age. The snake was still there and very slow to move. Even though he had some heat from the boy during the night, it was still very cold. So it asked the boy if it could ride down the mountain on the boy's shoulders, at least until it was warm enough to move easily on its own. Because the snake had kept its promise not to bite, the boy agreed again to help the snake.

And so they started the journey down together. By noon, it was much warmer and the snake was beginning to stretch and writhe as snakes are wont to do. Still, the snake asked the boy to carry it a little farther. After awhile, the boy was so used to the snake's weight and occasional hiss that he didn't even know it was still there.

Just before they reached the village, the snake lashed out in an instant and bit the boy. Immediately, the boy began to feel the poison enter his body and his limbs grow numb. As the snake began to slither away, the boy asked, "Why? Why did you bite me when I had been so kind to you and helped you live?"

And the snake said, "You knew when you let me sleep with you what I was. I am a snake. I cannot change who I am or what I do."

And the boy died.

Now, several of us hearing this story were horrified to hear the ending. But the storyteller went on to say that sin is like the snake. It cannot change what it is and we know when we decide to take it in what it is and what it will do to us. Even though we rationalize our bad choices or think we will only do them once, they slither their way into our very being and will kill us.
And she is right. What seems like mere whining and complaining by the people in the wilderness will, if they keep it up, destroy them from the inside, will kill them as it becomes their way of life. So did the Lord send the snakes or were they already there, waiting to bite those who harbored them?

Wilderness redux

2009-02-28T07:11:00.002-05:00

This is my sermon from three years ago. Since I wrote it, there have been more storms and floods and disasters and the current economic situation is beginning to feel like a wilderness. In any case, I think this is still relevant and not too terribly dated. Likely, some of it will show up in tomorrow's sermon.

Genesis 9:8-17
Mark 1:9-15

Generally speaking, I am not one who thinks in images; I am much more word oriented. But the word “wilderness” is a highly visual one for me. There is an icon of Jesus in the wilderness. It is a mostly yellow place with some green trees one of which looks a bit like a cat with its paws tucked under its chest. The devil has bird feet and pterodactyl wings and seems to be scurrying away from the Christ. At the bottom of the icon, angels on either side of a gloriously robed Christ offer him bread and wine.

Well, it’s a nice picture but it doesn’t strike me as all that realistic. I found a painting, though, that moves me deeply. Christ is seated on a rock in a place filled with rocks. He has on a simple robe and cloak – no purple or gold here – and his feet are dirty. His hands are clenched between his knees and he is looking toward the ground but his eyes are vacant, staring but seeing nothing. This Christ is empty, alone, waiting for someone to minister to him.

All of us grew up on the story of Noah and the ark. Illustrations of this story – before, during and after the flood – are usually relatively benign images except for German woodcuts of those caught in the floodwaters. Certainly the ones in our Bible storybooks are not at all threatening or scary. In today’s reading, the ark has reached its final resting place, the dove has given the sign that there is dry ground and God has set his bow – quite literally the weapon of a warrior – n the sky as a promise never to inundate the world again. And reading of the flood overwhelmed me with images from the last year – of Mississippi, Louisiana, New Orleans, Central America and the Philippines.

Flood and wilderness. Until now, I never stopped to think about what awaited Noah once the doors of the ark opened. Somehow, those Bible story pictures have shaped my knowledge far more than I realized.

Noah did not step out into a land covered with rich grass for pasture and trees filled with ripe fruit. Noah’s post-flood world looked just like a land of mudslides, houses torn from their foundations and crushed, bodies buried in mud or left in the attic where they died. Noah’s world was empty, desolate, waiting for someone to minister to it.

We don’t have to look far to find an image of what Noah’s wilderness looked like. We don’t even have to travel outside of East Tennessee, out of this part of God’s creation that is so beautiful with the mountains all around us; yet those mountains hide pockets of devastating poverty and land ravaged by overuse and mining.

There are times when we are like Christ, in our own wilderness, seemingly alone and empty.
There may be times when we are thrust into the wilderness of the destruction that Noah faced.
Most of the time, we are called to be the angels who minister to those in either wilderness.
We start that ministry with prayer. You can be sure that is the first thing Jesus did when he was driven into the wilderness. We pray for those who cannot pray for themselves for sometimes the wilderness is so barren or painful that prayer just can’t happen. We pray, too, that we will be shown how we should be ministering angels. We might need only make a call or give a hug. We might need to get in the car and head into the wilderness with the energy and tools needed to turn it back into a livable place.

But we do not pray “there but for the grace of God go I.” This is the prayer of the Pharisee
who says, “Father, I thank you that I am not like that tax collector.” Jesus teaches us to pray instead “your will be done” and “deliver us from evil.”

The picture of Jesus alone and unseeing is not the total picture. Jesus knows he is not alone. He may not know what the wilderness holds for him, but Jesus is confident that God is present with him, that God’s will will be made known and that he will be delivered from evil.

Noah opens the door of the ark on the worst flood devastation humankind has ever experienced. But God has just made a covenant with Noah and all living creatures and God does not walk away from a promise. God chose Noah to build the ark and to be the preserver of all living things including humanity. Now that the deed is done and the journey is over, God will continue to guide as Noah and his family turn devastation into a verdant, life-giving land once again.

When you find yourselves in a wilderness, even when you cannot pray, be assured that God is with you, that the Holy Spirit is leading you and sending angels to minister to you. They might not look like angels. You might think they are good friends or perhaps strangers but strangers and good friends do the work of angels and do it willingly.

Lord, make us angels to those in the wilderness who need us to minister to them.

Running up to Ash Wednesday

2009-02-23T14:29:00.003-05:00

I'm looking forward to Lent this year. I haven't got a particular discipline mapped out - that rarely works for me anyway - other than to spend more time kneeling. Most of my liturgical mentors favored standing over kneeling and I like to stand and pray, too. But I'm feeling a need to get on my knees this year. Perhaps by the end of Lent I will figure out why!

After several years of not having to see doctors for much more than annual checkups, I've spent the last two months visiting specialists and having elaborate, expensive tests. All of them turned out well - you might even say they were unnecessary - but I have been reminded more vividly than usual that I am mortal. It hasn't made me uncomfortable but I think that is part of wanting to return to my knees for prayer. A habit learned in childhood that brings comfort? A need to make an outward and visible sign of the inward knowledge that God is sovereign? Who knows.

If I am praying at home, being on my knees usually means having one or both dogs wanting my attention. Again, my animals are a connection for me to the Divine so being on my knees with them may be a good thing. I can't say that trying to exercise with dogs climbing over and onto me helps the exercise, though. ;-)

So I'll give it a try. Maybe I just need a change of perspective. Maybe the light is better down on my knees!

The Transfiguration: a new way to hear it?

2009-02-21T11:30:00.000-05:00

For the last several weeks,
we have been reading stories
of healing –
Peter’s mother-in-law,
everyone in town,
the leper.
If Epiphany were a few weeks longer,
we would also
read the story of the four men
who brought their paralyzed
friend to Jesus and lowered
him through the roof
so that Jesus might heal him.
Today, though,
we jump ahead several
chapters and read the story
of the Transfiguration of Jesus.
What if this, too,
is a healing story?
In the previous chapter of Mark,
which we will read later in the year,
Jesus feeds the 4,000
and then sails away.
The Pharisees demand a sign,
he refuses to give one
– sighing deeply in his spirit -
and again sets sail
for somewhere away
from the demands being made upon him.
As he and the disciples are in the boat,
he teaches them the odd lesson
about the yeast of Pharisees and Herod.
The poor disciples,
still stuck on the feeding event
and the fact that they have once again
come away with very little to eat,
decide Jesus is chastising
them because they don’t have enough bread.
And seeing that they still
don’t understand,
still haven’t realized who he is
and what he is about,
he reminds them of how each time
thousands were fed, there was lots left over.
When they arrive in Bethsaida,
some people beg Jesus to heal a blind
man and he does
but he cannot heal him with a simple touch.
He has to touch him twice.
And finally,
Jesus asks the disciples,
“who do you say that I am?”
and Peter blurts out the truth,
“you are the Messiah”
and then turns right
around and rebukes Jesus for daring
to speak of crucifixion and resurrection.
Is it any wonder
that Jesus is tired,
discouraged and low in spirit?
Is it any wonder
that the disciples,
who have lived with one notion of Messiah
all of their lives,
still don’t understand,
still can’t figure Jesus out?
And so Jesus does what he has done before.
He retreats to a quiet place
away from the demands of those who come after him.
But this
time he takes three of the disciples with him.
Peter and James and John
are invited to go up the mountain, too.
We cannot know
whether Jesus knew or suspected
what was going to happen
on that mountain.
Certainly, the disciples hadn’t a clue.
I think it is most likely
that Jesus needed time away,
time to be quiet and pray,
to renew his spirit
so that he could carry on,
so that he could face
what he knew was coming.
And God responds
with transfiguration.
God affirms and renews Jesus
for the journey ahead.
The disciples are terrified!
You see, they had no idea
that they also
needed time away,
needed renewal and fresh vision
in order to endure the journey ahead.
In other words,
the disciples needed to be healed.
In their fear,
Peter makes the clumsy request
to memorialize the event,
building booths for Moses, Jesus and Elijah
so that they and the disciples can remain
right there in that place and moment.
It’s not a bad
idea but it is one rooted
in old ideas,
old liturgical ways
and the Transfiguration cannot
be contained in the old.
It requires a new
response,
a new heart
that is willing to live
in the mystery of transfigured healing.
And Jesus tells Peter, James and John not
to tell a soul
what they saw until after
he has risen from the dead.
For the very first time,
Jesus command for silence is obeyed.
The disciples have only begun
to heal their hardened hearts.
They have had a mere glimpse
of what the new way of being Messiah is.
There’s not a chance
they are going to tell anyone
because they are still trying
to believe they saw it themselves.
Do you blame them?
Would we have dared to speak of it?

It seems to me
that we have come to expect
that we will have mountaintop experiences
in our lives.
Perhaps you have been to a conference or class
that has left you renewed and excited.
Perhaps there is a song
or even a brief encounter with someone
that has lifted you up,
refreshed your faith.
Most of us immediately
want to share
that experience with others.
And when I have tried to do
that, those I talk to smile,
sometimes look vacant,
and say something innocuous like,
“that’s nice.”
If my idea of mountaintop events being healing ones
is even close to truth,
then we really have to hear
the rest of that story.
The last thing the disciples heard
on that mountaintop was,
“Listen to him.”
God did not demand that they speak
or share their experience with others.
God told them to listen.
I don’t know about you
but I find it hard to listen
if I am busy talking.
And then Jesus tells
them to be silent.
Listen and be quiet.
In order for healing to happen,
we have to listen
with all of our being.
And then we have to be quiet.
The healing of our spirit,
of our heart,
is not like trying to come up
with a new program concept.
We don’t need to bounce ideas
off of one another.
We need to listen
and sit in silence.
There will be a time to talk,
a time to share,
but it will be far more effective
if we have given God and ourselves
time to complete the healing.
Peter was on the right track
when he called Jesus Messiah
but his healing had only begun
with that revelation.
I’m sure no one was more stunned
than Peter when those words
came out of his mouth.
When Jesus then began to speak
of the upcoming events,
of crucifixion and resurrection,
Peter responds out of a heart
that has only begun to heal,
from an understanding this is still
embryonic.
Peter needed to listen
and be quiet.
We are entering the season we set aside
for those very tasks.
Lent is a time to examine our hearts,
confess our faults
and then listen
for the Lord to heal us.
It is a time to contemplate how
we have failed to be faithful
and contemplation is best done in silence.
All too often,
we hear stories like the Transfiguration
and get comfortable in the familiar,
assuming we know what it’s about,
that there is nothing new to be learned.
That was my first
and even my second reaction
upon realizing it was the gospel for today.
But an offhand comment
made by one of my sisters during a phone call
changed all that for me.
I have been guilty
of not listening to Jesus.
My hope for Lent and beyond
is that I will begin to listen with new ears
and then be silent for awhile so that I can really hear.
Alas, my job is not to stay silent
but my prayer is the ancient one:
May the words of my mouth
and the meditations of my heart,
be always acceptable in your sight,
O Lord my strength and redeemer. Amen.

Spending free time

2009-02-20T08:27:00.002-05:00

Revgals asks: Tell us how you would spend: 1. a 15 minute break 2. an afternoon off 3. an unexpected free day 4. a week's vacation 5. a sabbatical

A fifteen minute break is probably the hardest. If I pick up a book, it will be an afternoon off. If I check my email, there's usually something work related. Even walking the dogs takes more than 15 minutes! And I'm trying to stay out of the kitchen as much as possible.
I'd spend 15 minutes sitting still, doing nothing more than being quiet. More than that would likely require 15 minutes of thought to decide what to do in the 15 minutes. :-)

I take afternoons off, though, and find that this is a good time to run short errands. If there aren't any, I like to plan dinner and maybe invite someone over to share it with me. Then, of course, there are always dogs who would like to go for a walk and a book beckoning me into the comfy chair in the living room.

Unexpected free days are rare indeed. Sleeping until 7 sounds like a good way to start one. Not getting dressed until almost noon sounds good, too. Then going where my heart leads or not going at all, eating whatever I want and loving being a slug feels like a good idea. Since today is my day off, this also sounds like my "plan" for today!

A week's vacation is easy. I'd head north to see my mom and a few sisters. Or I'd head south and see my kids. More likely the latter as I haven't seen the kids in quite a while and mom and the sibs wander through relatively often.

Now sabbatical planning is at the back of most of our minds almost all the time, I think. I know I should do some study but I'm more intrigued by the idea of doing a pulpit exchange or two. There is a small congregation in Orvieto, Italy that is currently without a priest. I wouldn't mind spending three months there. But that also sounds like work except the scenery is different. So I do think I would travel, spend some time on Iona and Lindisfarne and maybe see about taking a course at Oxford or St. John's College, Durham. I'd like to do more singing, too, especially the Hours. Of course, any sabbatical plans rely on financial considerations so my guess is that my plans will remain in the back of my mind a little longer than I had hoped.

I really don't have problems wondering what to do with time off. There is always a good book at hand, fiction as well as work-related. The dogs are always glad of my company whether we are playing, walking or just napping in the sun. And I have been known to spend an hour or two playing solitaire on the computer or doing crossword puzzles. The hard part of time off is not feeling like I should be doing something else, calling on parishioners or planning ahead.

January 20, 2009

2009-01-20T13:22:00.002-05:00

How many of us will be blogging on this day! I didn't make it home in time to see Obama take his place on the platform but I discovered I could choke up just hearing him announced on the radio. I haven't turned on the DVR yet so I'll have to rely on the newspaper for a second "hearing" of his speech. It was so powerful as was the swearing in itself. And the National Anthem, as it so often does, choked me up once again.
What has moved me more in the last few days is pictures of the Obama family volunteering their time yesterday to help others. I'll bet the Secret Service gnashed a few teeth over that! I wonder what would happen if we all took MLK Day as a time to go work wherever our gifts are needed.
What a great day this is. It is wonderful to see someone from my home state be sworn in as vice president. I think I probably always figured that was a likely as having an African American become president!
And now we hear that our prayers are needed for Senators Kennedy and Byrd. Oh what a day.

1 Corinthians 6;12-20 - Can we say those words in church??

2009-01-17T06:51:00.002-05:00

After much prayer and study, I felt the Epistle was what I should preach about Sunday. Thanks to the brave soul on RevGals who first suggested it as a possibility. In any case, here's my sermon for Sunday.

When I was about 12, my dad came home one day about as angry as I ever saw him. Dad was directing a Methodist Church choir at that time and had become close to those folks. They were a second church community for him.

Well, one of the sopranos had a daughter who got pregnant and had to get married. I already knew about this, of course, as scandals of this kind were not all that common so the grapevine worked overtime to get the news out quickly. Most of the gossip seemed focused less on the pregnancy and more on the fact that the father of the baby was Roman Catholic. Horrors! What on earth was a good Methodist girl doing dating a Roman Catholic? And then to get pregnant with his child? It was too much to bear.

And, for the soprano, it was too much too bear. She was so distraught that she ended up being hospitalized in the state-run asylum. And that’s what made my dad so angry. This daughter had not honored her family. She had brought shame and sorrow to the point of a mental breakdown on those who loved her best. Bev and I were read the riot act about what we could expect if we treated our own mother that way.

My dad’s anger on that occasion is as close as I can get in my own experience to feeling what Paul must have felt when the Corinthians took his teaching about being free from the Law just a little too far. They interpreted what he said to mean that all things were lawful for them. When we read this passage, which is specifically addressed to the issue of using pagan Temple prostitutes, we scratch our heads and wonder where they ever got the idea that sleeping with a prostitute could possibly be a good idea. And so we tune out. Besides, we really don’t like to read words like fornication and prostitute in church anyway. It just isn’t polite in this place and in a family of men and women, adults, young adults and children.

So what words would make it relevant and acceptable to speak of? The Corinthian argument that food is meant for the stomach and the stomach for food makes me think of all the times I have said, “I know I shouldn’t eat any more but it is just so good and besides – this is the clergy argument – the people who prepared coffee hour went to a lot of trouble and it would be rude of me not to try everything.”

Or we could talk about not looking at someone else’s test in the hope of seeing a correct answer. And there’s always taking pens home from the office “inadvertently.” How about buying more than we need or want?

There are all sorts of situations we can substitute for fornication and prostitution. Pick the one that helps you to hear the rest of Paul’s teaching here.

Not all things are beneficial and I will not be dominated by my desire for those things that are not beneficial. Shun that which does not honor the body – our individual bodies and our corporate bodies of family, friends and church community – and finally, “Glorify God in your body.”

What we do, how we use our body as well as our spirit affects our life in Christ. Hear Paul say that our bodies are united to Christ in our baptism and that to use them improperly is to damage that connection in terrible ways. We are to take care of this gift of body/life so that we can glorify God.

And that means avoiding extremes. Just as it is wrong to eat more than I need to eat, it is wrong not to eat enough. While it is a good thing to exercise, it is not a good thing to spend all my time exercising and working on physique or external beauty.

“O Lord, you have searched me and know me. You are acquainted with all my ways.” Psalm 139 reminds us in wonderful images that God is always with us. But even though the psalmist says that God hems us in, behind and before, and lays hands upon us, the psalmist does not say that God tells us exactly what to do and when. We have choices to make but we make them in God’s presence.

This community is one place we experience that presence of God. I grew up in a close church community like this one. Any of the adults felt free to admonish or guide as the situation warranted and I, mostly, did what they told me to do because it usually sounded like what my parents would tell me if they were standing beside me. But it never occurred to me to wonder if the decisions I made would affect any of those kind, loving people.

Paul’s letter to the Corinthians encourages us to look out for one another because we are all one in Christ and part of the body of Christ. That makes good sense to me. I do, mostly by virtue of my position here, consider that what I do will affect all of you. But we are all ministers, all called by God to do particular things for the good of the Kingdom. So, just as I have to consider all of you in my actions, you all need to consider one another. Family members make a difference in the lives of each member of the family.

Of course, we cannot be extreme in our care of one another or we will end up tearing this place apart. But we can be mindful of the needs of others here. We can greet the stranger in our midst. We can pray for one another. Have you ever thought of the parish directory as a prayer list?

Jesus called his disciples into community with him and each other. Long after he ascended into heaven, they were still a community. They had their ups and downs, their squabbles and moments when they longed for the restrictions of the old Law. But they glorified God in their bodies. They proclaimed the Good News by word and example every single day. How can we do anything less?

What needs doing before Christmas?

2008-12-19T07:32:00.002-05:00

RevGals ask what five things need to be done between now and Christmas?
Well, it would be nice if a magic fairy would appear and clean the house. The choir party is here Sunday night and it has been raining all week. That means there are muddy paw prints everywhere even though I try to wipe all eight paws when they come in the house. And of course, my housekeeper doesn't come until Tuesday!
I need to get Christmas cards mailed to family and friends. The debate is whether to include a xerox letter or not. Probably not.
I could use a sermon for this Sunday, although I have some ideas.
There's grocery shopping to be done. The Charlotte/Memphis family will arrive Christmas Eve.
I need to make the final donations online to Second Harvesters. My family gives small gifts that are edible/drinkable or finite is some way. We sometimes give books and then pass them through the extended family. But most of our gift giving is charitable donations. Heifer and Episcopal Relief and Development have been my organizations of choice for several years; however, this year I feel a need to give locally as well.

There's really not much to be done, especially when I look at all that's been done in the last three weeks. If the cards don't go out until after Christmas, that will be fine. But all the other things definitely have to be done this weekend. Then I think I'll take Tuesday off.

2008-12-05T10:39:00.002-05:00

"What do you long for this advent? What are your hopes and dreams for the future? What is your prayer today?
In the vein of simplicity I ask you to list five advent longings...."

I don't know whether I am having trouble limiting myself to five longings or if I can't think of even one. Most of the time, it seems to me, there is no time to long for anything except perhaps an end to the busyness that is life for lots of us. But even when I do have time, I still don't think about what I long for the most. Well, not in a serious way.

I long for the end of division within my denomination. I don't understand it and it is taking so much time away from the proclamation of the good news and the work of the kingdom. It grieves me to hear us hurling labels and turning our backs on all of God's children in favor of a group that thinks and acts in a particular way.

I long for time with my children, time I don't seem to make any more than they do now that we are all adults and have very different lives taking us in many directions.

I long for the coming of the Christ, not because I need to see it in order to have my faith validated or rewarded - I naively said once that this was the one event that would convince me of faith (ah youth!) - but because I don't think humanity is ever going to get it right. I don't think we can conceive of life without war and poverty and bigotry. Only God can straighten out this mess that we have made again - history is full of stories of our predecessors who didn't do any better.

So my prayer is one of gratitude, a cry for peace and a plea for guidance in what or how I am supposed to play a part in making peace happen.

That's all I have today. It is my day off and I really don't have anything to do other than ponder the sermon for the early service on Sunday. I've built a fire in the fireplace and I'm going to stretch out on the sofa with my dogs and an Ivan Doig novel. Then I'm going to dinner with a friend and a concert afterwards. Right now, this day is probably what I long for most.

Peace to you all.

Sheep and Goats

2008-11-19T14:30:00.002-05:00

I don't know about the rest of you but sheep and goats stories don't really work for me. True, I have parishioners who keep one or both and I've read - and preached - all the stuff about sheep behavior, goat warmth issues, scapegoats and even shepherds.

The only reason I can think of for Jesus to use sheep and goats is that you don't house them together. They can go to the same pasture but they sleep in different places. So his listeners would have been caught up in the familiar, I suppose.

But then it gets a little weird since neither sheep nor goats do much talking that we can understand and it is clear that Jesus has moved out of the pasture and onto the judgment seat.

So there we all are, milling around the great conference center in the sky. In order to get into the meeting area, we have to show our badges. But the folks guarding the doors seem to be sending some people in the doors on the left and others into the doors on the right. When we get inside, there's a big net separating the room and no one can get by it.

Jesus addresses us all and says that the left half have served him and the right half didn't. Shock and surprise are present in both groups. Both ask, "Lord, when?" but get very different answers.

It's the surprise that gets to me. Faithful Christians ought not to be surprised. At least, I'm sure that's what I was taught somewhere along the line. And most of us, especially given that we know this parable by heart, usually notice when we pass someone by or stop to help them, don't we? If we don't help someone, we have good reasons for our non-action, of course. We rationalize it or at least say that helping would have put us in danger. If we help, we may well do so gladly and willingly but often, there is that little voice in our heads reminding us how good we are being, the points we are scoring.

Here's why I think the sheep and goats are surprised. I think the sheep automatically, without thinking, stop to help, move over to share the grass and water, cuddle up to keep the shorn one warm. To be told that every time they did this, they did it to the Lord is a surprise to them because it was the natural thing to do.

The goats don't stop for anyone ever. Life is all about them, making sure they have enough, they are warm enough, they are safe and are receiving God's bountiful grace. But it never occurs to them to make sure others are taken care of. That's a sheep thing and goats are not, simply not, sheep. So they, too, are surprised to hear that they have systematicallly, all their lives, rejected the Christ even though they thought differently.

I don't think many of us are goats. My guess is that even the tycoon with the hardest of hearts has a little sheep in him/her somewhere. But I'm equally sure that most of us haven't reached sheep status yet. Kindness, generosity, giving are things we still have to work at, especially if it means I might feel shorted by helping someone else. But I know we can get there. I have role models who are/were great sheep, nary a goat gene anywhere. I'll bet you do, too.

And when we get pretty good at being sheep, let's convert the goats. Let's show them how to be short-haired, butting-headed, omnivorous sheep. Still goats but different. And I'll bet goats have some good things to teach even all those surprised sheep!

Pharisees

2008-11-01T18:40:00.002-04:00

I don't know exactly what I will preach tomorrow - especially since I have a children's homily at the second service instead of a "real" sermon - but it will be something like the following. And, of course, who knows what the congregation will, in fact, hear!

Pharisees: just like us?

I know it seems such an obvious thing to say but Pharisees didn’t come fully formed. When we encounter them in the gospels, they are grown men and, somehow, it never occurred to me before to think of them as anything else.

But they were children once just like we were. Okay, not *just* like us but certainly the first century equivalent of that. They were helpless babies, learned to roll over then crawl and finally stand up, graduating from walking to running in what probably seemed like a blink of an eye to their mothers.

Most likely, their fathers were Pharisees before them but Pharisee wasn’t a job like being a carpenter or tilling fields or tending sheep. No, Pharisees worked like everyone else. A Pharisee was more like being an Episcopalian or Baptist, Republican or Democrat. In those days, politics and religion were so closely connected it was hard to tell them apart, a lot like it still is in the Middle East today in fact.

Pharisees were one party within Judaism. They might be described by others as liberal but I doubt we would use that word. Pharisees believed their authority could be traced all the way back to Moses by way of other prophets. They stressed a single verse of Exodus: you shall be for me a priestly kingdom and a holy nation. Second Maccabbees says it this way: God gave all the people the heritage, the kingdom, the priesthood, and the holiness. So you might say the Pharisees promoted democracy. They established schools and synagogues all over the country and encouraged fathers – all fathers – to see that their sons were instructed in the Law. The Pharisees became the most learned of all people and saw Torah rather than Temple as the central focus of Jewish life and faith.

The Pharisees opposed capital punishment. The Sadducees were strict in observing “an eye for an eye” but the Pharisees believed in making financial restitution instead. They wrapped up the laws that led to the death penalty with so many restrictions and qualifications that they were almost never applied, almost being the key word.

But the Pharisees were also a fairly exclusive club. Calling themselves habirim, they would swear an oath in front of at least three other Pharisees that pledged strict adherence to the laws of Levitical purity, promised to avoid associating with anyone considered an ignorant boor, and guaranteed payment of tithes and other fees to the priests and the poor. And those laws included all of the oral law derived from the Decalogue. All 613 laws, not just the basic ten.

“The aim and object of the Law, according to Pharisaic principles, are the training of man to a full realization of his responsibility to God and to the consecration of life by the performance of its …duties….” (JewishEncyclopedia.com – Pharisees). That doesn’t sound so bad, does it?

Then why does Jesus rail against the Pharisees so in today’s passage from Matthew? Why does he heap woes upon their heads?

Because in the pursuit of responsibility to God, the Pharisees put too much emphasis upon their own importance and knowledge. They became the message rather than the messengers. It was more important to be *known* as a Pharisee than it was to actually *be* a Pharisee.

They were no longer true to who they were. Image trumped reality. They stopped being compassionate. They stopped being strict observers of the Law unless someone else was looking. They became, to a certain extent, the ignorant boors they were supposed to shun. Being better than the Sadducees and others became more important that dedicating their lives to God.

We can say this is about pride and humility but I think it goes deeper than that. Pride is not always a bad thing. We can be proud of what we accomplish but we cannot take all the credit. We cannot say “I did it all by myself” when we know that we are given our talents, we are given opportunities to use them.

Humility is not always a good thing. People have turned themselves into doormats in the name of humility when perhaps God was calling them to stand up and take action. We can “aw shucks” ourselves to a point where no one will consider asking us to help because we have convinced them we aren’t useful.

Before we can be proud or humble, we have to be honest. We have to know ourselves well, understand our worth or usefulness and be willing to take on kingdom work.

There is an old derogatory maxim that says, “Those who can do and those who can’t, teach.” That’s a terrible thing to say about teachers, isn’t it? But I would guess that we have all encountered someone who hasn’t the ability for something who is more than willing to tell us how we should do it. How many of you parents have had childless people try to give you sage advice on raising children? How many of you kids have had adults tell you how easy you have it these days even though they never had the homework you do and weren’t required to learn all the world throws at you today?

Honesty about ourselves includes being honest about our faith. We can’t tell someone how to be a Christian when we don’t spend a lot of time at it ourselves. If we haven’t got a prayer discipline, we can’t hold others to that standard. And yet we do that sometimes, don’t we?

I read an Easter sermon the other day that made me want to stand up and cheer. Dr. Fred Craddock, a Disciples of Christ pastor, once told a congregation that they couldn’t begin to have Easter if they hadn’t been to the funeral. You don’t get to Easter Sunday by skipping Holy Week and especially Good Friday. Dr. Craddock could say that because he hasn’t ever skipped it! His congregation could hear it because they knew without a doubt that the man was not saying “do as I say, not as I do.”

Never lose sight of the being that God has made you. Pop psychology says be comfortable in your skin and that’s good theological advice, too. If we can do that, then we can – along with our Father – be proud of what we accomplish and – because of our brother – be humble in those same accomplishments.

Coins and the Friday Five

2008-10-17T07:11:00.002-04:00

For those of you who haven't heard of it, the Friday Five happens every week (duh!) on revgalblogpals. This week's list is inspired by the coin in Sunday's gospel. So here's my answers.

1) When was the last time you flipped a coin or even saw one flipped in person?
I went to a football game the first Saturday in October. I'm pretty sure I saw the coin toss. It might have been the highlight of the game. The bands were the highlight of the afternoon.

2) Do you have any foreign coins in your house? If so, where are they from?
I have some Euros left over from the last trip to Italy. I'll be taking them back with me next April when we travel to Umbria.

3) A penny saved is a penny earned, they say. But let's get serious. Is there a special place in heaven for pennies, or do you think they'll find a special place in, well, the other place?
When I was a child, we had mite boxes. The boxes were handed out at the beginning of Lent and collected the Sunday after Easter. We were supposed to earn the mites/pennies we put in those boxes.
Then I grew up and got my own United Thank Offering box. Now I know that the UTO people suggest putting in a quarter every time you want to give thanks but I have a strong mental image of my dad putting all the loose change from his pocket into that box once or twice a week and that's what I do, too. So I just turned all my pennies, nickles and dimes in last Sunday when we had our fall Ingathering.
Pennies, then, have always been vehicles for giving thanks. I'll stick with the old song and say pennies are from heaven. ;-)

4) How much did you get from the tooth fairy when you were a child? and if you have children of your own, do they get coins, or paper money?
I got a dime per tooth. My kids got quarters. Our daughter had a lovely tooth pillow that a friend made. When she lost her first tooth, we got out the pillow, she put the tooth in the little pocket and we explained about putting the pillow on her bed so the tooth fairy could come get it and leave a surprise in its place. Well, Heather was having none of that. No alien being was coming into her bedroom for any reason whatsoever! We finally convinced her to leave it in the hall even though she would have preferred outside the front door. Now that I think about it, I may still owe my son for his teeth!

5) Did anyone in your household collect the state quarters? And did anyone in your household manage to sustain the interest required to stick with it?
I have a sister who collects them and I think she stayed the course. Alas, I'm not all that interested in what's on a coin to consider collecting it. Haven't they begun changing nickles now?

THE election

2008-10-11T16:06:00.003-04:00

I've been on vacation for ten days. I had a great time and, yes, politics came up in conversation more than once. But we didn't take my car and so I was cut off from XMradio and the POTUS08 station - all election all the time.

Considering that I did my best to ignore all of the primaries - it was two years long! - I find it really amazing that I am now really interested in the election itself. Don't get me wrong, I have always exercised my right to vote but in the last decade, I haven't been excited about that. Now, I am listening to reporters, pollsters, commentators, speeches - XM plays them from start to finish without comment - and even morning conference calls from both campaigns. This is crazy! But it feels really good. It feels like this year we get to vote *for* someone. I've been going to the polls to cast a negative vote for far too long. Even the show hosts on the station sound excited.

I'm a Democrat mostly and will surely vote for Obama/Biden this year. That doesn't mean that I think either of them hung the moon or that there isn't room for improvement. For instance, I'd like candidates to really answer questions at debates rather than twist the questions to fit the prepared responses. I may have to go back to The West Wing and see the debate camp episode again to make me feel better about debates.

This afternoon, I had an email from the Obama campaign about the debate - okay, it came last week but I've been ignoring email on vacation - and the subject was "How do you think I did?" Alas, there was no way for me to answer the question! It was merely another request for money. It's not that I haven't contributed but I would have liked a chance to tell Obama that he needs to answer the questions directly so they really sound like answers and not "here's a piece of my campaign rhetoric that almost speaks to that question."

Ah well, I'm still excited about the election even though I live in a state that is so red you can't get an Obama bumper sticker here or a yard sign. Maybe by the next election, all states will be in play and everyone will campaign in all states rather than only in those where campaigning might make a difference. Even better, maybe by the next election, the parties will have discovered that the obscene amount of money spent by each campaign would have been better spent on anything else and we can just have a few televised debates, email flyers and skip all the racing around the country giving the same speech a zillion times. I don't know how they do that last part and instill life into that speech. If I have to preach the same text three times on Sunday, the folks at the third service get a pretty dull sermon. ;-)

So get out and vote for someone who you want to win! I may even have an election night party if I can find enough Democrats to do more than make a foursome for bridge or golf.

Laborers in the vineyard

2008-09-20T07:59:00.002-04:00

I got in trouble once preaching this story. It was at a preaching station and the three ladies who attended did not like the idea that they were graced in equal measure with the rest of the world. It was the only time someone in that congregation commented on one of my sermons and it was not complimentary!
Every three years, though, as I study this text, I still hear Jesus telling us that when we come to believe in him matters not at all, this the believing is all that is necessary. I am liberal enough to think that grace comes *before* belief but that's another discussion for another time.
So here's my sermon from three years ago, cleaned up slightly. Parts of it will likely show up in my sermon tomorrow morning.

Proper 20A RCL
Matthew 20:1-16

The drive into work in New Orleans took us right by a temporary work agency. By 7:00, many folks had already been hired on for the day. But all day long, more would arrive and some of those who arrived very early weren’t always hired early. Kind of like being picked last for the team. Even when we drove home at 4:30, there were still people hanging out. Whether they were still hoping to be hired, I don’t know.
Now the word slave is not politically correct and it is jarring when we hear it in the context of Scripture. Today’s parable does not talk about slaves, though, and that gives us all the information we have about these workers. You see, slaves have guaranteed employment.
If you recall the parable of the prodigal son, he planned to ask his father to make him one of the slaves for slaves were treated relatively well and had job security. Some of them even got paid for their work.
Not so laborers. If you found work, you ate. And finding work was chancy unless it was harvest time when more workers were needed.
So the landowner goes out early to the marketplace and hires laborers at the going rate. Jesus does not tell us whether all the available workers are hired, but hiring of at least some happens. At nine, the landowner hires more folks and tells them he will pay what is right. Naturally, they assume it will be less than a full day’s wage. Three more times, he hires laborers
and the last time, he asks why they aren’t already working somewhere. "No one has hired us,"
they reply.
Now, the usual interpretation here is that these people arrived late, maybe partied too long the night before, or that they are known to be poor workers so no one wants to hire them. But Jesus doesn’t tell us that. He simply says that at 5 o’clock, there are still workers waiting to be hired.
Already, this story is departing from the normal. It was common to hire laborers and it would be done early in order to get a full day’s work done. So going out again and again is a little strange and the hearers must have wondered why the landowner is so anxious to get the harvest done quickly. While there are lots of possible reasons, Jesus doesn’t tell us why. Our speculation is interesting but not overly useful.
But the command to pay the last first is really out of the ordinary. At this point, Jesus’ audience is on the alert. And they are right to be so for the landowner pays every single laborer the full day’s wage. I guarantee you there was murmuring going on!
Even in the early church, the listeners were deeply shocked by this turn of events. We know this because there are five endings to this parable plus Matthew’s own saying about the last and first. The original ending was “friend, I am doing you no wrong; did you not agree with me for the usual daily wage?” This is a bitter pill to swallow but it does make sense. The first got what they had agreed to.
After that, the endings get more and more bizarre as the church tries to explain what happened.
“Take what belongs to you and go” is not the least bit helpful. “I choose to give to this last the same as I give you” really just restates what Jesus said. “Am I not allowed to do what I choose with what belongs to me” is beginning to get the point. But “are you envious because I am generous” seems a very odd thing to say especially if it really means “is your eye evil because
I am good?” which is a literal translation of the Greek.
And then we have Matthew’s own end to the parable. To understand it, we have to go back to the end of the previous chapter.
The rich young man has just been to see Jesus and learned that all his good works won’t get him into heaven. In fact, Jesus tells the disciples that it will be harder for the wealthy to enter the kingdom than it is for the poor. He doesn’t say they won’t enter but that possessions shift our focus from the kingdom of God to our own kingdoms. The disciples ask, “who then can be saved?” and Jesus tells them “for mortals it is impossible, but for God all things are possible.”
And Peter once again puts his foot wrong and says, “we have left everything for you so what will be our reward; what will we have?”
Jesus does not rebuke him this time. He tells Peter that the disciples will sit on thrones around him and pass judgment on the tribes of Israel. Then he says that anyone who has left their old life behind to follow him will receive a hundredfold and have eternal life. And he ends by saying,
“But many who are first will be last, and the last will be first.”
It is quite possible that today’s parable is aimed directly at the disciples who, still thinking in earthly terms, expect to receive a greater reward than those who have only come to believe
in the last few days or weeks. To emphasize the point of the parable, Matthew returns to the words of the last teaching about the kingdom. “The last will be first, and the first will be last”
he ends this parable.
I’d love to say that settled it for the disciples but the very next scene in the Gospel of Matthew
is where James and John – in Matthew’s telling, it’s their mother who does the talking – ask if they can have the seats on Jesus’ left and right. It is hard to think in heavenly terms when all we know are earthly ones.
Okay, what does this mean for us as well as for the rest of the household of God?
Grace, like forgiveness, comes in one size only and is available to all. No matter how long we have been followers of the Christ, we receive the same amount of grace as everyone else. We can’t work for it. We can’t stockpile it. Grace belongs to God and God seems to bestow it freely without any evidence that the bestowee ought to get it. Apparently, God does not see
with our eyes or judge with our kind of judgment. And that's good news for all of us, isn't it?
You and I actively work for the kingdom of God. Saying our prayers, attending services regularly, sharing in the Eucharist, helping out whenever and wherever we can, giving part of our wealth to the church in thanksgiving for God’s grace and love. There are myriad other ways
that we work for the kingdom. But we do that work because it is what God’s people do not because it earns us points or a better seat at the banquet.
Jesus has racked up all the points. He has done the hardest work for us.
Does it really matter if the last are first or the first are first? Not at all. We are given our invitation to the banquet at birth. Some begin their labor in the vineyard as soon as they can walk and talk. Others come and go or choose to wait until the last minute and there are lots of people who don’t even know they have labored until they see God.
God loves each and every one of us and God blesses us all with grace in exactly the same measure, just enough.

Forgiving and forgetting

2008-09-13T09:49:00.002-04:00

After much thought and prayer - will I ever really understand forgiveness or do I understand and refuse to acknowledge that? - here is the base for my sermon tomorrow. Whether it will come out this way is anyone's guess, of course, but it is what I think God is calling me to say.

How many of us come to church today intending to say the General Confession while still hanging on to a hurt, anger or grudge which we have no intention of forgiving? I am in that number and I daresay I am not the only one here who is.
Three years ago, when I last preached these texts, I said that there was someone in my past who had hurt me and that when I thought of or talked about that experience, the hurt always came back. Except, by the time of that sermon, I realized that the hurt was no longer there, that there was no power in the story to make me angry with that person anymore. This week, as I read that sermon again, I discovered that I no longer remember what the person had even done and I felt really good about that. I still do.
But that event was more than twenty-five years ago! For way too long, I didn’t let it go nor did I attempt to do anything to reconcile with the person who I felt had hurt me. That’s a lot of General Confessions said while still carrying the burden of my lack of forgiveness.
Let’s face it, we are not good at forgiving. Even those of us who think we are probably aren’t. We are willing to say a quick “Oh that’s all right. It wasn’t that big a deal” to most infractions against us but we don’t always mean it. How often when we see the person we have “forgiven” do we once again think of the unkind thing she said or the lack of respect we feel from him? If we aren’t really going to forget these things, can we really say we have forgiven them? Are we just acting the role of the morally righteous in the hope that no one will see through the façade?
Jesus says we are to forgive way past the point of reason. But it is only recently that I have come to understand that forgetting really is a major part of forgiving. If we can’t forget, then we still need to forgive. If we hold a grudge or still chew over the painful events, we are being slowly consumed by our own anger.
It the parable, the servant who owes several lifetimes of debt ought to go away from his master’s room joyful and feeling lighter than air not that the heavy burden has been lifted from his soul. But instead, he lashes out in great anger when he sees someone who owes him a much smaller debt. We all know what’s wrong with this picture and we don’t see ourselves in it because none of us, I am sure, has incurred debts of such magnitude. And we are not too quick to move the parable from the realm of monetary debt to any other kind
because monetary debt probably doesn’t divide us from one another.
Harsh words, deeds done intentionally and especially unintentionally, things done and left undone are far more likely to separate us. And those may, in fact, be harder to forgive than a debt of money. Why? Because those things cut into the fabric of our life together in ways that money never will.
When your brother dies, you expect me to call, don’t you? Well, let’s say I forget to do that and when I next see you at the door after church, I don’t say anything about him or ask how you are doing. It is perfectly natural for you to think, “Maggie doesn’t care about me. She isn’t the least bit pastoral.” And when a friend is in need of care, you will say something like, “well, don’t call the church for help. Maggie doesn’t do pastoral care.”
Now what if I never knew that your brother died? Perhaps, in your haste to go to be with the rest of your family before and after the funeral, you didn’t call but you assumed that someone else would do that for you. But you try to brush it off by thinking that I must have been really busy and you want to believe that I still care about you even though it looks like I don’t.
Simply brushing this aside with an “Oh that’s all right” isn’t forgiveness. The only way to begin forgiving is, as we heard last week, to come see me and lay out the problem. Because if I don’t know that I’ve hurt you, how can I ask you to forgive me?
St. Paul warns us against passing judgment. I think that sometimes we confuse judgment and forgiveness. If you can just make the flat statement , “Maggie doesn’t do pastoral care” then you have passed judgment and think you can put it behind you. Forgiveness requires us to confront the one who has hurt us, remember the hurt even though that means living it again, and then being willing to see it from the other person’s eyes. One person’s throwaway line may well be another’s knife in the back. One person’s pain of rejection may be another’s unawareness of events.
When we judge others, we rarely forget why we have made that judgment. There is no forgiveness in our judgment of one another. That is why Paul exhorts us not to judge. Judgment leads to self righteousness and superiority and that leads right back to our need to ask forgiveness. For when we act out of our own sense of right, we very often cause deep pain for someone else.
Paul and Matthew are writing to and for specific communities, both of them very new Christians. Despite two thousand years of Christian history between them and us, we haven’t advanced all that far in our own faith that we cannot still learn the lessons these new believers had to learn.
We pray today that the Holy Spirit will direct and rule our hearts in all things. More than an annual collect for the day, that prayer needs to be one we say daily, even more than once a day. For the Holy Spirit is very good about opening our hearts and mouths to say the right thing and our minds and hands to do it. And by living a Spirit-led life, we will find the way to forgive each other our transgressions and then to forget them altogether. Then we can go forth into the world with joy knowing that God has forgiven us and our burden has been lifted from us.

2008-09-12T07:33:00.002-04:00

Friday Five - School?
1. Is anyone going back to school, as a student or teacher, at your house? How's it going so far?
While the dog could use a refresher course, no one is going to school this semester. I am, though, preparing to teach church history next semester and that could be going better. It's the first time I've taught for the Diocese so it feels different.

2. Were you glad or sad when back-to-school time came as a kid?
I liked school so I looked forward to going back each fall. The only year that was hard was firt grade and that was because my mother was about to have a baby so life was less normal than usual. I think Daddy went off to band camp about then, too, and I was staying with oen family while my sister went to another. Nope, I was not happy.

3. Did your family of origin have any rituals to mark this time of year? How about now?
When I was in elementary school, part of our August vacation was going to my great-uncles' store in Mars Hill and getting school supplies. One year, we bought readers too for my younger sister. I do remember never liking the socks.
We didn't have any rituals for my kids. When we moved to New Orleans, I remember having to find new stores for shopping for new school clothes. One day, I saw a store I knew I'd seen advertised and suggested we stop and see what they had. It was all we could do to walk all the way through the furniture store and back out before laughing ourselves sick! :-)

4. Favorite memories of back-to-school outfits, lunchboxes, etc?
Not a one. I'm sure I must have had a lunchbox at one point but I don't remember. And there's very few outfits I remember wearing ever. Now if you asked my sister, Barbara, I'm sure she remembers every single one.

5. What was your best year of school?
I'm not sure one year stands out more than another. I loved most all of them right through both master's degrees. First grade was memorable because I walked home with Mrs. Boone and her children many a night - kept after for not completing Today's News which I learned was more fun than finishing it. In fifth grade, I got to work in the library for the first time and that was a real treat as well as setting the course for my first career. In 12th grade, I was a chemistry lab assistant - a clear case of the halt leading the blind - and it was a lot of fun. That year, I only had four major subjects so I could fit choir into my schedule and I love to sing.

I remember a lot of my teachers. So many of those men and women pushed and prodded me into being more than I wanted to be - type B personality traits came out early. I saw that same dedication in some of my kids' teachers, too. I so admire those who feel called to teach and don't lose the call part of that when they finally get into the classroom.

School starts early in upper East Tennessee. Our kids have been back for over a month now. My great-nephew, who lives in Illinois, had his first day a few weeks ago. He is a first grader and still trying to decide if he wants to be one. His brother starts pre-school in two more weeks and can hardly wait, having watched his brother love those three years in Montessori. May they both love learning as much as I still do.

Puppets and Children's Homilies

2008-08-20T12:11:00.002-04:00

Last year, we instituted a monthly children's homily. It takes the place of the sermon since it is my experience that adults listen to the kids' part and don't need another sermon on top of that.

A friend of mine was telling me that he had a puppet he used for homilies - he was doing a children's chapel service every Sunday, complete with homily, a feat I never want to try. Anyway, one Sunday, he left the puppet at home. When the service started, one of the kids asked where "Jeff" (I can't remember his name) was and Andy explained how he had stayed at home that morning. "No offense, Andy, but we like it better when Jeff preaches," responded the child. !!

With that in mind, I set off to find my own puppet. I loved one in particular. It was a dessert sheep, dressed up in nomad garb and complete with sunglasses. But the first time I practiced with the puppet, I realized a terrible thing. He was male and I can't *do* male. So I took him back and gave up on the puppet idea.

Until my installation in May. The Sunday School gave me a puppet. She is a camel with very long eyelashes and gold trim on her headgear. Yesterday, we went down to the church to practice for Sunday's debut sermon. Well, her name is Mae East and she has a deep Southern gentlewoman accent. I love her! Let's hope the kids do, too.

Logs and specks

2008-08-20T12:02:00.003-04:00

I am disheartened today. A very nice group of people got together last night to be about the work of the Lord and did a lot of complaining and character assassination. How do we ever expect the world to give Christianity credence when we just don't/can't behave like Christians?

Sometimes, I wonder if we even consider what it means to follow Jesus. Actually doing it seems to be even more hit or miss. And yet I know some people who are incredibly successful at being Christian, treating everyone as a loved member of the household of God even if that person drives them crazy. When did it become necessary for us to tell others *that* they drive us nuts and *how* they drive us nuts. Oh yes, and how to *change* so they will no longer drive us nuts.

I commisserated with God on the drive home about putting up with all of us when I am sure God regularly feels like I did last night.