As those in the Episcopal church in some dioceses learn that they can no longer be in communion with the rest of us, I have mixed feelings. My first reaction is, "what took you so long?", an uncharitable and unthinking knee-jerk reaction, however true to my feelings.
The second, more reasoned response is, how do you think the Holy Spirit works if not through science, reason, imagination, scripture, learning, study, and revelation through experience? What else can the Holy Spirit do? My understanding is that spiritual growth happens when our experience is met with God's holy intentions for us.
I believe that the church is long overdue for rethinking the abuse of people based on their sexual orientation. While psychology, human dignity, and pastoral care all tell us to love people who are downtrodden and "less than", and our baptismal covenant requires us to work for justice and the dignity of all persons, the church has had unseeing eyes, based on unhelpful and hurtful dogma about the infallibility of some words written by men some 2000 years ago, which no longer speak to our hearts or our Christian understandings. Those who hold that scripture cannot be wrong seem to me to be the extreme result of those initial reformers who were trying to deny the pope's authority by substituting sola scriptura.
So, yes, let those who cannot go forward into the Way being offered by the Holy Spirit go the way of biblical inerrancy, if indeed that is their dogma (I wonder). Let the rest of grow into the knowledge and love of God and the care for our brothers and sisters, so we may go in peace to love and serve the Lord, Alleluia.
Monday, December 10, 2007
Monday, December 3, 2007
St.Nick--We Got to Love Him
Nicholas of Myra will be celebrated this week. In North America, his day is not so special, but in other parts of the world, St. Nicholas Day is the day children get candy and fruit in stockings or shoes left out overnight.
Nicholas was bishop of Myra (in modern Turkey) around 375 or so. We don’t know many details about him, except that he was tortured and imprisoned during Diocletian’s persecutions. In one mythical story it is said he secretly left gold in the stocking of a poor maiden who could not marry because she lacked a dowry. He is known as the patron of seafarers and children, an odd combination, to be sure. The one thing that perhaps connects them is that both groups are dependent---one on their vessels in the midst of the gigantic waves, and the other on adults for their survival and growth. Thus we connect Nicholas to acts of benevolence and protection.
Last year I was part-time chaplain at both Northwestern University Canterbury and St. Gregory’s Episcopal School for at-risk boys in K-8 grades in urban Chicago. I wanted to make connections between these two groups, so I led some Canterbury students to St. Gregory’s to have St. Nicholas Day with the children. One NU graduate student looked very much like a Turkish bishop after we dressed him up for chapel. He led the children in a teaching on St. Nicholas, while other students filled with goodies the shoes that had been left outside the chapel. After chapel, the NU students helped the older class prepare for a Hip Hop Morning Prayer at which they were officiating the next week.
As chaplain at St. Gregory School I had hoped this visit from NU students, the first encounter with St. Nick for most of the boys, would be a special event for the school, as it was. But I had not counted on the college students being moved as well, as I later discovered that they had experienced an inner-city school for the first time in their lives. I am told by NU chaplain Liz Stedman that they still talk about that trip.
While St. Nicholas may be historically obscure, the acts done in his name, of giving and benevolence, powerfully speak to us today. While we may disdain the morphing of the bishop of Myra into a fat man from a mythical North Pole, brought to us from Dutch settlers as Santa Claus, we cannot deny the gifts, both temporal and spiritual, we have both given and received, that speak of love—enduring and divine. Nicholas of Myra fills a place in our hearts that calls us to give to others unconditionally. And if we connect that giving to the ultimate gift given to us by God, then the bishop of Myra, whoever he really was, lives again, showing us a path of peace.
Nicholas was bishop of Myra (in modern Turkey) around 375 or so. We don’t know many details about him, except that he was tortured and imprisoned during Diocletian’s persecutions. In one mythical story it is said he secretly left gold in the stocking of a poor maiden who could not marry because she lacked a dowry. He is known as the patron of seafarers and children, an odd combination, to be sure. The one thing that perhaps connects them is that both groups are dependent---one on their vessels in the midst of the gigantic waves, and the other on adults for their survival and growth. Thus we connect Nicholas to acts of benevolence and protection.
Last year I was part-time chaplain at both Northwestern University Canterbury and St. Gregory’s Episcopal School for at-risk boys in K-8 grades in urban Chicago. I wanted to make connections between these two groups, so I led some Canterbury students to St. Gregory’s to have St. Nicholas Day with the children. One NU graduate student looked very much like a Turkish bishop after we dressed him up for chapel. He led the children in a teaching on St. Nicholas, while other students filled with goodies the shoes that had been left outside the chapel. After chapel, the NU students helped the older class prepare for a Hip Hop Morning Prayer at which they were officiating the next week.
As chaplain at St. Gregory School I had hoped this visit from NU students, the first encounter with St. Nick for most of the boys, would be a special event for the school, as it was. But I had not counted on the college students being moved as well, as I later discovered that they had experienced an inner-city school for the first time in their lives. I am told by NU chaplain Liz Stedman that they still talk about that trip.
While St. Nicholas may be historically obscure, the acts done in his name, of giving and benevolence, powerfully speak to us today. While we may disdain the morphing of the bishop of Myra into a fat man from a mythical North Pole, brought to us from Dutch settlers as Santa Claus, we cannot deny the gifts, both temporal and spiritual, we have both given and received, that speak of love—enduring and divine. Nicholas of Myra fills a place in our hearts that calls us to give to others unconditionally. And if we connect that giving to the ultimate gift given to us by God, then the bishop of Myra, whoever he really was, lives again, showing us a path of peace.
Monday, November 26, 2007
Thanksgiving is gone
The official day of Thanksgiving has come with a little fanfare (mostly at places where food is sold!). What if every day were a day of giving thanks:
- for the anxiety that sometimes finds us, because it reminds us that we are human, and something needs our attention
- for the annoying neighbor or relative, without whom we wouldn't be able to practice forgiveness
- for illness that keeps us humble, asking for assistance from total strangers
- for the rain, in the midst of drought, either spiritual or temporal
Today practice giving thanks for something that perks up your complacency and shows you a new face of God.
Wednesday, November 14, 2007
Samuel Seabury
This week we remember the consecration of Samuel Seabury.
The portion of the gospel of Matthew appointed for the commemoration of the consecration of Samuel Seabury is familiar to us:
During the exam we certainly felt “harassed and helpless.” However, at the dinner, we garnered the support and compassion of the entire seminary community, as all of the seminary community, faculty and students alike, we expected to attend the liturgy and dinner following. First and second-year students would watch us closely, and begin their own time of anxiety about the exam. Faculty would commiserate with us about unfair questions asked in their areas of expertise. We knew we were not alone, that compassion abounded for us, like the compassion of Jesus for the crowds.
We are all like the crowds Jesus encountered, harassed and helpless in some area of life, all in need of the compassion of our communities. When you remember the compassion you have received, you become more able to pass that compassion on to others in your midst. I hope this week you can be part of a compassionate presence in your own workplace/dorm/classroom of the “harassed and helpless.”
The portion of the gospel of Matthew appointed for the commemoration of the consecration of Samuel Seabury is familiar to us:
Every year at Seabury-Western Theological Seminary, Samuel Seabury’s day is celebrated by the Boar’s Head Dinner, held one week after the General Ordination Exam (GOE) is finished. If you don’t know about it, the GOE is a four-day written exam of 7 substantial essay questions covering the 7 canonical areas of study required of all seminary students for ordination. To say the least, it is a grueling ordeal, especially for some of us older, less physically-resilient students. The Boar’s Head Dinner, a take-off on medieval baronial feasts, complete with Elizabethan liturgy beforehand, was therefore a time of raucous partying for students.Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, and
proclaiming the good news of the kingdom, and curing every disease and every
sickness. When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were
harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.
During the exam we certainly felt “harassed and helpless.” However, at the dinner, we garnered the support and compassion of the entire seminary community, as all of the seminary community, faculty and students alike, we expected to attend the liturgy and dinner following. First and second-year students would watch us closely, and begin their own time of anxiety about the exam. Faculty would commiserate with us about unfair questions asked in their areas of expertise. We knew we were not alone, that compassion abounded for us, like the compassion of Jesus for the crowds.
We are all like the crowds Jesus encountered, harassed and helpless in some area of life, all in need of the compassion of our communities. When you remember the compassion you have received, you become more able to pass that compassion on to others in your midst. I hope this week you can be part of a compassionate presence in your own workplace/dorm/classroom of the “harassed and helpless.”
Wednesday, November 7, 2007
Willibrord
This week we commemorate Willibrord, the first Archbishop of Utrecht, missioner from England to The Netherlands in the late 8th and early 9th centuries. He was born in Northumbria, where Celtic influences were prominent. He studied in France and Ireland, then was sent with 9 companions to Frisia in 690. We know these details of his life from The Venerable Bede’s History of the Church in England, and having no other sources, are unable to say much more about his life and work, except that it was interrupted by wars in the regions he served.
The See of Utrecht today is in full communion with the Church of England, testifying to the importance of Willibrord’s bringing Celtic and Anglo-Saxon Christianity to this region of Europe.
The collect for Willibrord, from Lesser Feasts and Fasts:
O Lord our God, who call whom you will and send them where you choose: We thank you for sending your servant Willibrord to be an apostle to the Low Countries, to turn them from the worship of idols to serve you, the living God; and we entreat you to preserve us from the temptation to exchange the perfect freedom of your service for servitude to false gods and to idols of our own devising; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.
The language of this collect seems quaint to us in its use of the phrase “worship of idols”, as we now understand idolatry to be as rampant among modern Christians as among any group of “pagans” of history. However, we do serve the living God, and try to keep mindful of God’s presence in our midst, providing guidance in confusion, grace in our moments of need, and mercy when we fall. We continue to pray that God would deliver us from our penchant of serving false gods in our lives. Maybe Willibrord will help us even now, interceding on our behalf.
Have a blessed week.
The See of Utrecht today is in full communion with the Church of England, testifying to the importance of Willibrord’s bringing Celtic and Anglo-Saxon Christianity to this region of Europe.
The collect for Willibrord, from Lesser Feasts and Fasts:
O Lord our God, who call whom you will and send them where you choose: We thank you for sending your servant Willibrord to be an apostle to the Low Countries, to turn them from the worship of idols to serve you, the living God; and we entreat you to preserve us from the temptation to exchange the perfect freedom of your service for servitude to false gods and to idols of our own devising; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.
The language of this collect seems quaint to us in its use of the phrase “worship of idols”, as we now understand idolatry to be as rampant among modern Christians as among any group of “pagans” of history. However, we do serve the living God, and try to keep mindful of God’s presence in our midst, providing guidance in confusion, grace in our moments of need, and mercy when we fall. We continue to pray that God would deliver us from our penchant of serving false gods in our lives. Maybe Willibrord will help us even now, interceding on our behalf.
Have a blessed week.
Monday, October 1, 2007
For Ghandi's birthday, Quotes on peace from Ann Jay
In celebration of the October 2 birthday (1869) of Mahandas K. Ghandi, the great peace activist and statesman of India, who promoted civil disobedience and walked very softly, I offer these quotes concerning war and peace.
From Mahatma himself;
"Permanent good can never be the outcome of untruth and violence."
"When I despair, I remember that all through history the way of truth and love has always won. There have been tyrants and murderers and for a time they seem invincible, but in the end, they always fall."
Mohandas K. Gandhi, Peace activist, Indian statesman (1869-1948)
From Generals and Warriors;
Ours is a world of nuclear giants and ethical infants. We know more about war than we know about peace, more about killing than we know about living. Omar N. Bradley : U.S. General (1893-1981)
~~
"I like to think that people in the long run are going to do more to promote peace than our governments. Indeed, I think that people want peace so much that one of these days governments had better get out of the way and let them have it.
"Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed."
Dwight David Eisenhower : U.S. General and 34th president (1890-1969)
~~
"Of course the people don't want war. But after all, it's the leaders of the country who determine the policy, and it's always a simple matter to drag the people along whether it's a democracy, a fascist dictatorship, or a parliament, or a communist dictatorship. Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism, and exposing the country to greater danger."
Herman Goering: German Military and Nazi Leader, International war criminal (1893-1946)
~~
"It is only those who have neither fired a shot nor heard the shrieks and groans of the wounded who cry aloud for blood, more vengeance, more desolation." "War is hell."
William Tecumseh Sherman: Union General in the American Civil War (1820-1891)
From Statesmen and world leaders;
"Youth is the first victim of war - the first fruit of peace. It takes 20 years or more of peace to make a man; it takes only 20 seconds of war to destroy him." Boudewijn I, King of Belgium (1934-1993)
~~
"In taking revenge a man is but even with his enemy, but in passing it over he is superior, for it is a prince's part to pardon."
Francis Bacon: essayist, philosopher, and statesman (1561-1626)
~~
"Nobody made a greater mistake than he who did nothing because he could do only a little."
Edmund Burke: statesman and writer (1729-1797)
~~
"Forgiveness is the answer to the child's dream of a miracle by which what is broken is made whole again, what is soiled is made clean again."
Dag Hammarskjöld: 2nd UN Secretary General (1905-1961)
~~
"I am not one of those who believe that a great army is the means of maintaining peace, because if you build up a great profession those who form parts of it want to exercise their profession."
Woodrow Wilson: 28th US president, Nobel laureate (1856-1924)
From writers and other artists;
"A patriot must always be ready to defend his country against its government."
Edward Abbey: naturalist and author (1927-1989)
~~
"The love of one's country is a splendid thing. But why should love stop at the border."
Pablo Casals: Cellist, composer and Conductor (1876 – 1973)
~~
"We are all in the same boat, in a stormy sea, and we owe each other a terrible loyalty."
G.K. Chesterton: essayist and novelist (1874-1936)
~~
"When the power of love overcomes the love of power, the world will know peace."
Jimi Hendrix: musician, singer and songwriter (1942-1970)
~~
"In war, there are no unwounded soldiers." Jose Narosky: writer
~~
"In all history there is no war which was not hatched by the governments, the governments alone, independent of the interests of the people, to whom war is always pernicious even when successful."
Leo Tolstoy: novelist and philosopher (1828-1910)
~~
"Did you know that the worldwide food shortage that threatens up to five hundred million children could be alleviated at the cost of only one day, only ONE day, of modern warfare."
Peter Ustinov: actor, writer and director (1921-2004)
~~
"There may be times when we are powerless to prevent injustice, but
there must never be a time when we fail to protest."
Elie Wiesel: Novelist, philosopher, humanitarian, political activist and Holocaust survivor.(1928-)
From a child;
"How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world."
Anne Frank: child diarist and concentration camp victim (1929 – 1945)
From the wise whose names have been lost in time;
"When two elephants fight it is the grass that gets trampled." African proverb
~~
"Forgiveness is the fragrance the violet sheds on the heel that has crushed it." Anonymous
~~
"The man who strikes first admits that his ideas have given out.
Chinese Proverb
~~
"A great war leaves the country with three armies - an army of cripples,
an army of mourners, and an army of thieves." German proverb
~~
"Without retaliation evils would one day become extinct from the world."
Ibo saying
~~
From those who have studied Society;
"The man who prefers his country before any other duty shows the same spirit as the man who surrenders every right to the state. They both deny that right is superior to authority."
Lord Acton: historian (1834-1902)
~~
"The day will come when, after harnessing space, the winds, the tides and gravitation, we shall harness for God the energies of love, and on that day, for the second time in the history of the world, we shall have discovered fire." Pierre Teilhard de Chardin: Jesuit Priest, paleontologist and philosopher(1881-1955)
~~
"No society that feeds its children on tales of successful violence can
expect them not to believe that violence in the end is rewarded."
Margaret Mead: anthropologist (1901-1978)
~~
And from religious leaders;
All forms of violence, especially war, are totally unacceptable as means to settle disputes between and among nations, groups and persons. "
"Nonviolence does not mean that we remain indifferent to a problem. On the contrary, it is important to be fully engaged. However, we must behave in a way that does not benefit us alone. We must not harm the interests of others. Nonviolence therefore is not merely the absence of violence. It involves a sense of compassion and caring. It is almost a manifestation of compassion."
"Internal peace is an essential first step to achieving peace in the world. How do you cultivate it? It's very simple. In the first place by realizing clearly that all mankind is one, that human beings in every country are members of one and the same family."
"If we looked down at the world from space, we would not see any demarcations of national boundaries. We would simply see one small planet, just one."
Dalai Lama, Spiritual Leader and author (1935- )
~~
"If we have no peace it is because we have forgotten that we belong to each other."
Mother Theresa (born Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu): Missionary, Nobel Peace Laureate, beatified by Roman Catholic Church (1910-1997)
~~
May these words and thoughts help spread the peace and harmony we so desperately need in this world.
Peace and Love,
Ann Jay
From Mahatma himself;
"Permanent good can never be the outcome of untruth and violence."
"When I despair, I remember that all through history the way of truth and love has always won. There have been tyrants and murderers and for a time they seem invincible, but in the end, they always fall."
Mohandas K. Gandhi, Peace activist, Indian statesman (1869-1948)
From Generals and Warriors;
Ours is a world of nuclear giants and ethical infants. We know more about war than we know about peace, more about killing than we know about living. Omar N. Bradley : U.S. General (1893-1981)
~~
"I like to think that people in the long run are going to do more to promote peace than our governments. Indeed, I think that people want peace so much that one of these days governments had better get out of the way and let them have it.
"Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed."
Dwight David Eisenhower : U.S. General and 34th president (1890-1969)
~~
"Of course the people don't want war. But after all, it's the leaders of the country who determine the policy, and it's always a simple matter to drag the people along whether it's a democracy, a fascist dictatorship, or a parliament, or a communist dictatorship. Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism, and exposing the country to greater danger."
Herman Goering: German Military and Nazi Leader, International war criminal (1893-1946)
~~
"It is only those who have neither fired a shot nor heard the shrieks and groans of the wounded who cry aloud for blood, more vengeance, more desolation." "War is hell."
William Tecumseh Sherman: Union General in the American Civil War (1820-1891)
From Statesmen and world leaders;
"Youth is the first victim of war - the first fruit of peace. It takes 20 years or more of peace to make a man; it takes only 20 seconds of war to destroy him." Boudewijn I, King of Belgium (1934-1993)
~~
"In taking revenge a man is but even with his enemy, but in passing it over he is superior, for it is a prince's part to pardon."
Francis Bacon: essayist, philosopher, and statesman (1561-1626)
~~
"Nobody made a greater mistake than he who did nothing because he could do only a little."
Edmund Burke: statesman and writer (1729-1797)
~~
"Forgiveness is the answer to the child's dream of a miracle by which what is broken is made whole again, what is soiled is made clean again."
Dag Hammarskjöld: 2nd UN Secretary General (1905-1961)
~~
"I am not one of those who believe that a great army is the means of maintaining peace, because if you build up a great profession those who form parts of it want to exercise their profession."
Woodrow Wilson: 28th US president, Nobel laureate (1856-1924)
From writers and other artists;
"A patriot must always be ready to defend his country against its government."
Edward Abbey: naturalist and author (1927-1989)
~~
"The love of one's country is a splendid thing. But why should love stop at the border."
Pablo Casals: Cellist, composer and Conductor (1876 – 1973)
~~
"We are all in the same boat, in a stormy sea, and we owe each other a terrible loyalty."
G.K. Chesterton: essayist and novelist (1874-1936)
~~
"When the power of love overcomes the love of power, the world will know peace."
Jimi Hendrix: musician, singer and songwriter (1942-1970)
~~
"In war, there are no unwounded soldiers." Jose Narosky: writer
~~
"In all history there is no war which was not hatched by the governments, the governments alone, independent of the interests of the people, to whom war is always pernicious even when successful."
Leo Tolstoy: novelist and philosopher (1828-1910)
~~
"Did you know that the worldwide food shortage that threatens up to five hundred million children could be alleviated at the cost of only one day, only ONE day, of modern warfare."
Peter Ustinov: actor, writer and director (1921-2004)
~~
"There may be times when we are powerless to prevent injustice, but
there must never be a time when we fail to protest."
Elie Wiesel: Novelist, philosopher, humanitarian, political activist and Holocaust survivor.(1928-)
From a child;
"How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world."
Anne Frank: child diarist and concentration camp victim (1929 – 1945)
From the wise whose names have been lost in time;
"When two elephants fight it is the grass that gets trampled." African proverb
~~
"Forgiveness is the fragrance the violet sheds on the heel that has crushed it." Anonymous
~~
"The man who strikes first admits that his ideas have given out.
Chinese Proverb
~~
"A great war leaves the country with three armies - an army of cripples,
an army of mourners, and an army of thieves." German proverb
~~
"Without retaliation evils would one day become extinct from the world."
Ibo saying
~~
From those who have studied Society;
"The man who prefers his country before any other duty shows the same spirit as the man who surrenders every right to the state. They both deny that right is superior to authority."
Lord Acton: historian (1834-1902)
~~
"The day will come when, after harnessing space, the winds, the tides and gravitation, we shall harness for God the energies of love, and on that day, for the second time in the history of the world, we shall have discovered fire." Pierre Teilhard de Chardin: Jesuit Priest, paleontologist and philosopher(1881-1955)
~~
"No society that feeds its children on tales of successful violence can
expect them not to believe that violence in the end is rewarded."
Margaret Mead: anthropologist (1901-1978)
~~
And from religious leaders;
All forms of violence, especially war, are totally unacceptable as means to settle disputes between and among nations, groups and persons. "
"Nonviolence does not mean that we remain indifferent to a problem. On the contrary, it is important to be fully engaged. However, we must behave in a way that does not benefit us alone. We must not harm the interests of others. Nonviolence therefore is not merely the absence of violence. It involves a sense of compassion and caring. It is almost a manifestation of compassion."
"Internal peace is an essential first step to achieving peace in the world. How do you cultivate it? It's very simple. In the first place by realizing clearly that all mankind is one, that human beings in every country are members of one and the same family."
"If we looked down at the world from space, we would not see any demarcations of national boundaries. We would simply see one small planet, just one."
Dalai Lama, Spiritual Leader and author (1935- )
~~
"If we have no peace it is because we have forgotten that we belong to each other."
Mother Theresa (born Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu): Missionary, Nobel Peace Laureate, beatified by Roman Catholic Church (1910-1997)
~~
May these words and thoughts help spread the peace and harmony we so desperately need in this world.
Peace and Love,
Ann Jay
Tuesday, September 25, 2007
Mission trip
I am in conversation with MSU Wesley Foundation minister and others for a spring break trip to Chicago.
Would you be interested? If we can gather enough students, it will go a long way towards making our planning more real. Reply to this blog or find me on Facebook and let me know if you would be a candidate for this trip!!
Would you be interested? If we can gather enough students, it will go a long way towards making our planning more real. Reply to this blog or find me on Facebook and let me know if you would be a candidate for this trip!!
Saturday, September 15, 2007
God's embrace
The Avowal
by Denise Levertov
As swimmers dare
To lie face to the sky
And water bears them,
As hawks rest upon air
And air sustains them,
So would I learn to attain
Free fall and float
Into Creator Spirit's deep embrace,
Knowing no effort earns
The all-surrounding grace.
by Denise Levertov
As swimmers dare
To lie face to the sky
And water bears them,
As hawks rest upon air
And air sustains them,
So would I learn to attain
Free fall and float
Into Creator Spirit's deep embrace,
Knowing no effort earns
The all-surrounding grace.
Thursday, September 6, 2007
Patience and all that
I am in a new career, a vocation that calls upon me to let go of the markers of success I was used to gauging myself on. Like the numbers of people who showed up to my classes when I taught, the amount of money (in grants) that I brought in, the number of scholarly articles and books I published.
That measuring stick is now obsolete, but it is truly hard to discard. When I celebrate the Eucharist and look out into the small rural congregation I am serving, I have to use another measure of effectiveness, if indeed "effectiveness" is what my priesthood is all about.
What does it mean to be an effective priest?
I used to teach evaluation to health managers, so effectiveness was very important in measuring the success of patient and health professional outcomes. It usually had something to do with health and access to care, not just any care, but good care, in a timely manner. The right professional for the patient, in terms of cultural accessibility; The right cost to patient and insurance; The right diagnosis, the right treatment administered correctly and in the apppropriate amounts, with the right follow up care. Not only that, but much of my professional life was spent evaluating long-term care for elderly patients and residents of home and nursing home. In those cases, effectiveness may be measured by persons' being able to stay at home for the longest, safest period, being independent in functioning in daily living activities, while having good social supports. The outcomes of long-term care were lots more amorphous than measuring the outcomes of heart surgery.
So, where does this knowledge lead me now, in knowing how I am doing in my new priestly role?
First, head counting won't work in celebrating the Eucharist or being with students. The numbers who show up for any given program say something about its appeal, yes, but what does that mean spiritually? I cannot know really. I need to reflect more on this.
Second, how does one measure another person's spiritual growth from an encounter with them? There are good markers of pastoral work and spiritual direction, based on the professions underlying them. There are boundaries and correct methods of confronting people's defenses to help them engage their issues, both with God, others and themselves and ultimately, with the person who God has made them to be. But even good process does not ensure good spiritual outcomes. Is it all really in God's hands, with our without a priestly presence and guidance??
Third, there are no "outcomes" in spiritual work, in the sense of measurable moments when we can say our work is finished. Spiritual work does not even end with death, but in some ways, is just beginning as we grow in relation to God into eternity. But, surely, that does not mean we give up on looking for spiritual growth around us, in our encounters, does it?
What an effective priest does is a process not primarily an outcome, for me. A process of pastoral presence. Not just sitting in the student center, reading, but making eye contact and saying hello to passers-by, in a way that allows for love to be transmitted to strangers, gently, not accusingly or aggressively. Pastoral work involves the process of listening for the hurt, anger, and distress, as well as the moments of light and love, in a person's life--active listening, it's called. The process is that unconditional love be transmitted to the person. The priest is real, not faking a pious concern. The priest uses psychic energy to stay tuned to the other person, setting aside his/her own agenda for the moments with the other.
Being a priest is sitting with God and simultaneously interpreting God's presence, through other people, as well as through scripture and sacraments. Being a priest is giving up any agenda of control over who shows up, or how God chooses to enter into relationships, or whether God chooses to use the priest at all in relationships. (That's humbling...)
There is much to ponder about priestly effectiveness, and I have only touched the tip of the proverbial iceberg. Family systems in congregations has much to say on the subject, for instance. Stay tuned for more, as I reflect on my first year as a priest over the next few months.
That measuring stick is now obsolete, but it is truly hard to discard. When I celebrate the Eucharist and look out into the small rural congregation I am serving, I have to use another measure of effectiveness, if indeed "effectiveness" is what my priesthood is all about.
What does it mean to be an effective priest?
I used to teach evaluation to health managers, so effectiveness was very important in measuring the success of patient and health professional outcomes. It usually had something to do with health and access to care, not just any care, but good care, in a timely manner. The right professional for the patient, in terms of cultural accessibility; The right cost to patient and insurance; The right diagnosis, the right treatment administered correctly and in the apppropriate amounts, with the right follow up care. Not only that, but much of my professional life was spent evaluating long-term care for elderly patients and residents of home and nursing home. In those cases, effectiveness may be measured by persons' being able to stay at home for the longest, safest period, being independent in functioning in daily living activities, while having good social supports. The outcomes of long-term care were lots more amorphous than measuring the outcomes of heart surgery.
So, where does this knowledge lead me now, in knowing how I am doing in my new priestly role?
First, head counting won't work in celebrating the Eucharist or being with students. The numbers who show up for any given program say something about its appeal, yes, but what does that mean spiritually? I cannot know really. I need to reflect more on this.
Second, how does one measure another person's spiritual growth from an encounter with them? There are good markers of pastoral work and spiritual direction, based on the professions underlying them. There are boundaries and correct methods of confronting people's defenses to help them engage their issues, both with God, others and themselves and ultimately, with the person who God has made them to be. But even good process does not ensure good spiritual outcomes. Is it all really in God's hands, with our without a priestly presence and guidance??
Third, there are no "outcomes" in spiritual work, in the sense of measurable moments when we can say our work is finished. Spiritual work does not even end with death, but in some ways, is just beginning as we grow in relation to God into eternity. But, surely, that does not mean we give up on looking for spiritual growth around us, in our encounters, does it?
What an effective priest does is a process not primarily an outcome, for me. A process of pastoral presence. Not just sitting in the student center, reading, but making eye contact and saying hello to passers-by, in a way that allows for love to be transmitted to strangers, gently, not accusingly or aggressively. Pastoral work involves the process of listening for the hurt, anger, and distress, as well as the moments of light and love, in a person's life--active listening, it's called. The process is that unconditional love be transmitted to the person. The priest is real, not faking a pious concern. The priest uses psychic energy to stay tuned to the other person, setting aside his/her own agenda for the moments with the other.
Being a priest is sitting with God and simultaneously interpreting God's presence, through other people, as well as through scripture and sacraments. Being a priest is giving up any agenda of control over who shows up, or how God chooses to enter into relationships, or whether God chooses to use the priest at all in relationships. (That's humbling...)
There is much to ponder about priestly effectiveness, and I have only touched the tip of the proverbial iceberg. Family systems in congregations has much to say on the subject, for instance. Stay tuned for more, as I reflect on my first year as a priest over the next few months.
Wednesday, August 29, 2007
Thoughts on the beginning of the fall term
Every September for nearly half my life, I have gone to the store to buy pencils, paper, notebooks and binders, then, more recently, printer paper and ink, diskettes, and, every four years or so, a new laptop. From 2003-06 I was in seminary in Evanston, IL, the first northern suburb of Chicago, and learned very quickly how much the prices of books had risen since I was last in graduate school.
Why do all this expensive schooling? I know my dad, a very down-to-earth farmer (pun intended), was very skeptical of any schooling that did not have a direct bearing on your ability to get a good, steady job. He grew up during the Great Depression, not having the opportunity for higher education, except for one quarter, before finances kept him from continuing. I think he would have been an accountant had he been able to continue, but instead, he took up the work on his father's farm, where days were long, and work was physical and tiring. Where the weather and the farm markets controlled his life in many ways.
But I have expended lots of money for my several degrees (bachelors, two terminal masters degrees and a doctorate), and spent half my life, counting elementary and secondary schools, in educational institutions. In many ways, the preparation to be a priest was the least mentally challenging, but certainly the most emotionally and spiritually challenging. My dad would have understood this education in the sense that it prepared me for a new career, but he would have been baffled why I chose to leave a lucrative career in health policy scholarship to prepare for a profession that pays much less.
If my dad were here, I could only say this to him: God led me to this profession. The priesthood is a calling and vocation, not a program of job training that you necessarily choose out of a list at the career counselor's office.
In fact, if your choice of career is more about money and ego, it probably has little to do with God. God calls us to vocation, while we call ourselves into a career. That doesn't mean we can't be in a lucrative career that is also our calling. I think of any of the human services professions as vocations. And many other professions can be vocations, depending on how we approach them, what we are hoping to do with our life.
Vocation can be hard, for several reasons. Vocation requires listening closely to where God is calling. Our listening can be assisted, however, with the help of close friends, confidantes, counselors, and spiritual advisors. Marriage can be a vocation. Being a lay person is a vocation just as much as being a priest. Both vocations are called to specific ways to be a minister for the gospel and the spread of the word of God. Vocation is responding to where God is calling you to be, using your desires, your positive qualitites, your talents, your very being.
May God's call to you be your heart's desire this day and for the rest of your life.
May this fall term be all that you are seeking.
Why do all this expensive schooling? I know my dad, a very down-to-earth farmer (pun intended), was very skeptical of any schooling that did not have a direct bearing on your ability to get a good, steady job. He grew up during the Great Depression, not having the opportunity for higher education, except for one quarter, before finances kept him from continuing. I think he would have been an accountant had he been able to continue, but instead, he took up the work on his father's farm, where days were long, and work was physical and tiring. Where the weather and the farm markets controlled his life in many ways.
But I have expended lots of money for my several degrees (bachelors, two terminal masters degrees and a doctorate), and spent half my life, counting elementary and secondary schools, in educational institutions. In many ways, the preparation to be a priest was the least mentally challenging, but certainly the most emotionally and spiritually challenging. My dad would have understood this education in the sense that it prepared me for a new career, but he would have been baffled why I chose to leave a lucrative career in health policy scholarship to prepare for a profession that pays much less.
If my dad were here, I could only say this to him: God led me to this profession. The priesthood is a calling and vocation, not a program of job training that you necessarily choose out of a list at the career counselor's office.
In fact, if your choice of career is more about money and ego, it probably has little to do with God. God calls us to vocation, while we call ourselves into a career. That doesn't mean we can't be in a lucrative career that is also our calling. I think of any of the human services professions as vocations. And many other professions can be vocations, depending on how we approach them, what we are hoping to do with our life.
Vocation can be hard, for several reasons. Vocation requires listening closely to where God is calling. Our listening can be assisted, however, with the help of close friends, confidantes, counselors, and spiritual advisors. Marriage can be a vocation. Being a lay person is a vocation just as much as being a priest. Both vocations are called to specific ways to be a minister for the gospel and the spread of the word of God. Vocation is responding to where God is calling you to be, using your desires, your positive qualitites, your talents, your very being.
May God's call to you be your heart's desire this day and for the rest of your life.
May this fall term be all that you are seeking.
Friday, August 24, 2007
What's happening this week
For the week of August 26 in YA and campus ministry:
- Check out the link to MSU every week, to keep up to date on the Wednesday night activities.
- Noon eucharist starts at St. Augustine's on the UK campus this week. We will be contemplative, using some silence, instead of the usual homily.
Sunday August 26 two activities will be happening--
- 6:00 PM cook out for Georgetown College students at Holy Trinity church on Broadway in Georgetown
- 7:00 PM U2Charist at St. John's Versailles, check the link on the right for directions to St. John's
And keep watching this blog as well as the Lexington Young Adult facebook group to learn more about the Vocare weekend coming up from Friday night January 4, through Sunday January 6 (Epiphany), 2008. It costs $90, but we will not let anyone miss out because of money! Lots of young adults from the diocese have gone, if you want to talk to someone who has, let me know, and I will put you in touch with the Vocare Committee.
Sunday, August 12, 2007
Fall is Coming!
Many activities about to begin--
MSU on Sundays and Wednesdays. Dinner on Sunday at 6 followed by a meeting. Wednesdays meeting at 8 followed by contemplative worship experiences at 9:15. Click on the link to keep up with the current calendar.
On Tuesday mornings I will be at KSU having coffee at a table for "chat with the chaplain", open to anyone who wants to stop by in the student center.
On Thursdays there will be a noon contemporary eucharist at St. Augustine's on the UK campus, primarily for faculty and staff to be able to attend, but open to all.
On August 26, I will be at Holy Trinity Georgetown to have a eucharist and barbecue with Georgetown College students and parishioners from the church there. That is the same night that there will be a U2Charist in Versailles.
Hope to see you at one or more of these opportunities for young adults and college students in our diocese.
Blessings on your school year!
MSU on Sundays and Wednesdays. Dinner on Sunday at 6 followed by a meeting. Wednesdays meeting at 8 followed by contemplative worship experiences at 9:15. Click on the link to keep up with the current calendar.
On Tuesday mornings I will be at KSU having coffee at a table for "chat with the chaplain", open to anyone who wants to stop by in the student center.
On Thursdays there will be a noon contemporary eucharist at St. Augustine's on the UK campus, primarily for faculty and staff to be able to attend, but open to all.
On August 26, I will be at Holy Trinity Georgetown to have a eucharist and barbecue with Georgetown College students and parishioners from the church there. That is the same night that there will be a U2Charist in Versailles.
Hope to see you at one or more of these opportunities for young adults and college students in our diocese.
Blessings on your school year!
Thursday, July 26, 2007
Liturgy and belief
Episcopalians subscribe to a way of thinking about liturgy:
"lex orandi, lex credendi." This Latin phrase means, in short, that we believe as we pray. Our prayer book therefore contains much theology in it.
Did you ever really listen to the words of the Eucharistic Prayer (any of them)? Have you heard a sermon on the baptismal covenant we repeat when first baptized, and thereafter, whenever others are baptized in worship? Do you know any collects (the prayers at the beginning of the eucharist that change every week)?
- What is the priest's role in eucharist and why can't priests say mass by themselves?
- Why do priests, deacons and bishops wear those weird clothes and stoles? Where does it say that these vestments are required?
- Where did Easter Vigil come from?
- When did the church first start blessing marriages?
- Can anybody be buried from the church?
- What does it mean to be ex-communicated, and why does the church do this?
- What do we believe about personal confession?
- Can a deacon perform a wedding? When can lay people perform baptisms?
- What does High Church and Low Church mean? When were candles banned from altars?
The Rev. Elise Johnstone will lead the discussion on liturgy and Episcopal belief at "Canterbury Pub," held at Azur restaurant's patio this Tuesday night at 6:30. Have an age-appropriate beverage, try to stump the priest!
Tuesday, July 24, 2007
July Doldrums
Well it's nearly vacation time, and I'm bored. I have put together brochures for MSU and all the parishes in the Diocese for their campus ministries. Theology on Tap, aka "Canterbury Pub", the third night, is tonight, and it ends next Tuesday.
I will begin having group meetings for students at Morehead on Wednesdays starting Wed. Aug. 8, and will also have services at St. Alban's at 6 pm on Wednesdays. I will be putting up a MSU link on this blog so students can keep abreast of what's happening there.
KSU is stalled a little for lack of contacts there. Ideally we would have an Episcopal faculty member who could help us get a student group going. We won't be doing that as early as this fall, probably, but I hope to begin something sometime this next year.
At UK I will be beginning a Thursday Holy Eucharist at noon. I would like it to be a little different, perhaps with contemplative music (Taize or something similar). I will need to find a musician to help with that. A flute, celtic harp, hammered dulcimer, etc. would be wonderful.
Things start up mid-August, so this vacation will be the last days off until Christmas break. Nothing big planned for this vacation, as I am hoping to go to France next May and will be saving up for that trip.
I will begin having group meetings for students at Morehead on Wednesdays starting Wed. Aug. 8, and will also have services at St. Alban's at 6 pm on Wednesdays. I will be putting up a MSU link on this blog so students can keep abreast of what's happening there.
KSU is stalled a little for lack of contacts there. Ideally we would have an Episcopal faculty member who could help us get a student group going. We won't be doing that as early as this fall, probably, but I hope to begin something sometime this next year.
At UK I will be beginning a Thursday Holy Eucharist at noon. I would like it to be a little different, perhaps with contemplative music (Taize or something similar). I will need to find a musician to help with that. A flute, celtic harp, hammered dulcimer, etc. would be wonderful.
Things start up mid-August, so this vacation will be the last days off until Christmas break. Nothing big planned for this vacation, as I am hoping to go to France next May and will be saving up for that trip.
Thursday, July 19, 2007
Fr Matthew' Video Log
Hey, check out my new function at the bottom of the page. Matthew Moretz is curate (assistant) at St. Paul's Yonkers, NY, and has a video log that has drawn a lot of attention across the Episcopal church and beyond. I have added his VLog to this page. Hope you like it!
Saturday, July 14, 2007
Jass mass--you missed a good one!
We had great music, an engaging liturgy and a fun time at the jazz mass. Byron McChord played keyboard and John Bell provided guitar and vocals, as we sang from Lift Every Voice and Sing.
Newly ordained transitional deacon, The Rev. Janey Wilson, gave a sermon peppered with jazz references and the spirit of Benedict, whom we celebrated last night.
Hopefully we can do another eucharist with jazz, when more folks can come, perhaps in the fall on a Saturday evening, early, before people go out for the night, or Sunday evening when we can get even more musicians involved.
Sorry you missed it!
Newly ordained transitional deacon, The Rev. Janey Wilson, gave a sermon peppered with jazz references and the spirit of Benedict, whom we celebrated last night.
Hopefully we can do another eucharist with jazz, when more folks can come, perhaps in the fall on a Saturday evening, early, before people go out for the night, or Sunday evening when we can get even more musicians involved.
Sorry you missed it!
Thursday, July 12, 2007
All that is perfect is not good
In the middle of issues cropping up in the Jazz Mass preparations I am reminded of Leonard Cohen's words:
Ring the bells that still can ring.
Forget your perfect offering.
There is a crack in everything.
That’s how the light gets in.
It seems that I learn best when things are not exactly as I planned. That's when I am called to understand that there are other ways that a thing can happen that will be okay, that I am ultimately not in control after all, but God is. I have an issue of "atheism in practice", when I believe it's all about me and my accomplishments, rather than God working through me and the talents and gifts I have been given. When I feel responsible for all that happens in my life and work is often when I get caught up short with reality, the needs of others, the timelines of God.
The cracks in the bell are the best I can do, in the last analysis.
Ring the bells that still can ring.
Forget your perfect offering.
There is a crack in everything.
That’s how the light gets in.
It seems that I learn best when things are not exactly as I planned. That's when I am called to understand that there are other ways that a thing can happen that will be okay, that I am ultimately not in control after all, but God is. I have an issue of "atheism in practice", when I believe it's all about me and my accomplishments, rather than God working through me and the talents and gifts I have been given. When I feel responsible for all that happens in my life and work is often when I get caught up short with reality, the needs of others, the timelines of God.
The cracks in the bell are the best I can do, in the last analysis.
Tuesday, July 10, 2007
Big Week for Diocese of Lexington Young Adults
Two big events this week--
the start of Canterbury Pub tonight at 6:30 at Azur Restaurant's patio, or indoors if it continues to rain...The topic for the next four Tuesdays is "What Do Episcopalians Believe?"
Friday we have young adult musicians providing a jazz setting for Eucharist here at Mission House in Lexington, starting at 6 pm. I hope this will be the first of many services that the young adult commission sponsors with good music and new worship opportunities.
This is an exciting time in the diocese as young adults begin to see their power, look at options for improving the response to their needs and take action to see their needs being met. Several priests of the diocese are engaged in various campus ministries, and the theology on tap program, which I hope will continue once a month this fall.
We ended the vocational discernment group in June and I think there is interest in continuing this fall too. More info will be coming on that.
As campus missioner, my office is still in the diocesan headquarters, but there is a plan to make the office at UK in St. Augustine's chapel, with the current Lutheran pastor there, Barry Neese. I hope to institute one eucharist a week for faculty at UK, more info will be coming on that too.
If there is a program or event you would like to see in the diocese, reply to this post or email me. The more input I have, the better the programming for young adults.
the start of Canterbury Pub tonight at 6:30 at Azur Restaurant's patio, or indoors if it continues to rain...The topic for the next four Tuesdays is "What Do Episcopalians Believe?"
Friday we have young adult musicians providing a jazz setting for Eucharist here at Mission House in Lexington, starting at 6 pm. I hope this will be the first of many services that the young adult commission sponsors with good music and new worship opportunities.
This is an exciting time in the diocese as young adults begin to see their power, look at options for improving the response to their needs and take action to see their needs being met. Several priests of the diocese are engaged in various campus ministries, and the theology on tap program, which I hope will continue once a month this fall.
We ended the vocational discernment group in June and I think there is interest in continuing this fall too. More info will be coming on that.
As campus missioner, my office is still in the diocesan headquarters, but there is a plan to make the office at UK in St. Augustine's chapel, with the current Lutheran pastor there, Barry Neese. I hope to institute one eucharist a week for faculty at UK, more info will be coming on that too.
If there is a program or event you would like to see in the diocese, reply to this post or email me. The more input I have, the better the programming for young adults.
Tuesday, July 3, 2007
Christian freedom
Last Sunday's epistle included Paul's sermon on Christian freedom to the Christians of Galatia:
For freedom Christ has set us free...not for self-indulgence. We are free to love our neighbors as ourselves, to serve each other.
But we are not free until all are free. Dr. Martin Luther King demanded that freedom ring throughout the country, and once all were free-- male, female, black, white, Jew, Protestant, Catholic--we could then join hand together to sing the negro spiritual, "Free at last, free at last, thank God almighty, we are free at last."
Are you truly free? Free from hate of yourself and free to love others?
Do you know how you are forgiven, and then can forgive; are loved, and then can love?
When you are watching the fireworks and listening to the national music tomorrow, remember your freedom in Christ.
For freedom Christ has set us free...not for self-indulgence. We are free to love our neighbors as ourselves, to serve each other.
But we are not free until all are free. Dr. Martin Luther King demanded that freedom ring throughout the country, and once all were free-- male, female, black, white, Jew, Protestant, Catholic--we could then join hand together to sing the negro spiritual, "Free at last, free at last, thank God almighty, we are free at last."
Are you truly free? Free from hate of yourself and free to love others?
Do you know how you are forgiven, and then can forgive; are loved, and then can love?
When you are watching the fireworks and listening to the national music tomorrow, remember your freedom in Christ.
Monday, July 2, 2007
Scehdule for Canterbury Pub
Check out the link to the Canterbury Pub schedule that starts on July 10 at Azur Restaurant.
Sunday, June 24, 2007
5 practices for adaptive leadership
The speaker at our chaplains' conference writes on adaptive leadership, an idea that Heifitz has developed, to make our leadership less personality oriented and technical, and more responsive to complex problems of organizations. Parks presented her concept of 5 practices to put into motion leadership when we are faced with complexity:
1. The practice of acknowlegement--seeing what is, and what we might become, getting out of cultural comfort zone to include more students/faculty/administrators and diverse opinions and contexts in our campus ministry.
2. The practice of discernment--helping students and young adults to use critical thought processes to ponder: what is; what is needed; what should be shed; what we need to atune ourselves to; exploring possibilities; incorporating new patterns; then embodying our new knowlege.
3. The practice of the hearth--incorporating both motion and stability, Sabbath in time and space; contemplation and action in renovating ourselves and our organizations.
4, The practice of the table--based on the fact that we become a group when someone brings food; sharing at the table, both receiving and giving (Benedictine type of hospitality).
5. The practice of the commons--helping our students to connect to the fabric of life through service in community, helping their initiation into suffering and wonder.
As you can tell these are fascinating topics and I have not been able to flesh them out very well in this short blog. Sharon Daloz Parks is a Quaker who is very spiritually grounded in her concepts of learning and leadership. It was wonderful to have her presentations at his conference. She reminds me of my therapist in Lexington--centered and wise. Her book Leadership Can Be Taught, I highly recommend. She has a couple of others that are good as well.
1. The practice of acknowlegement--seeing what is, and what we might become, getting out of cultural comfort zone to include more students/faculty/administrators and diverse opinions and contexts in our campus ministry.
2. The practice of discernment--helping students and young adults to use critical thought processes to ponder: what is; what is needed; what should be shed; what we need to atune ourselves to; exploring possibilities; incorporating new patterns; then embodying our new knowlege.
3. The practice of the hearth--incorporating both motion and stability, Sabbath in time and space; contemplation and action in renovating ourselves and our organizations.
4, The practice of the table--based on the fact that we become a group when someone brings food; sharing at the table, both receiving and giving (Benedictine type of hospitality).
5. The practice of the commons--helping our students to connect to the fabric of life through service in community, helping their initiation into suffering and wonder.
As you can tell these are fascinating topics and I have not been able to flesh them out very well in this short blog. Sharon Daloz Parks is a Quaker who is very spiritually grounded in her concepts of learning and leadership. It was wonderful to have her presentations at his conference. She reminds me of my therapist in Lexington--centered and wise. Her book Leadership Can Be Taught, I highly recommend. She has a couple of others that are good as well.
Wednesday, June 20, 2007
Jazz Mass July 13
The Feast of St. Benedict (transferred) will be celebrated at Mission House (203 East 4th St in Lexington) with a Jazz Eucharist on July 13. Come join the young adult musicians and bring a picnic and your lawn chair at 6 pm.
Tuesday, June 19, 2007
Chaplains' conference
I am headed to Seattle for the Episcopal Campus Ministry conference.
Our guest speaker wrote a book on ministry with young adults, so it should be a good conference. I will see some friends there, including Michael Fincher, Chaplain at UCLA and Liz Stedman, chaplain at Northwestern.
Our guest speaker wrote a book on ministry with young adults, so it should be a good conference. I will see some friends there, including Michael Fincher, Chaplain at UCLA and Liz Stedman, chaplain at Northwestern.
Saturday, June 16, 2007
Forgiveness
Tomorrow's gospel is the story of a prostitute who washes Jesus's feet with her tears and dries them with her hair. Simon the Pharisee is outraged about who she is, and her uncleaness touching Jesus. Jesus uses the opportunity to teach about forgiveness. The prostitute's sins were forgiven, so much more so since she had so many of them, but even so, the Pharisee did not see his own sins, which also were forgiven. Had Simon known his own forgiveness, maybe he would have been able to see the forgiveness that the prostitute had too.
None of us do anything to merit forgiveness in God's eyes, yet we require all manner of apology, contrition, punishment, and worse, sometimes death, before we will forgive others. It is a form of arrogance that we do this, because, if God in God's wisdom and mercy forgives each of us, who are we to hold other people to a higher standard than God?
It is a dilemma, and the way we have set up society, that we often require proof of another's contrition in order to restore our relationships. I know I have sought another's apology before being able to have the breadth of heart and generosity of spirit that allows me to forgive easily. Countryman says that our own lack of forgiving can be traced to our not accepting that God has already forgiven us too. That, yes indeed we need forgiveness and that it is offered free for nothing.
What would it mean if each of us accepted our forgiveness? It would mean we could admit freely our lack of meeting our own standards, be truthful about ourselves and about the hurts and anger we have sustained from the actions, thoughts and work of others. Once we accept this outpouring of God's love, we come to accept ourselves with all our warts, and we also become converted to have the mind of God, that is, to see the world as needing forgiveness. We see that we can be instruments of God's peace and forgiveness in the world, being authentically who we are, forgiven in our own humble human state.
None of us do anything to merit forgiveness in God's eyes, yet we require all manner of apology, contrition, punishment, and worse, sometimes death, before we will forgive others. It is a form of arrogance that we do this, because, if God in God's wisdom and mercy forgives each of us, who are we to hold other people to a higher standard than God?
It is a dilemma, and the way we have set up society, that we often require proof of another's contrition in order to restore our relationships. I know I have sought another's apology before being able to have the breadth of heart and generosity of spirit that allows me to forgive easily. Countryman says that our own lack of forgiving can be traced to our not accepting that God has already forgiven us too. That, yes indeed we need forgiveness and that it is offered free for nothing.
What would it mean if each of us accepted our forgiveness? It would mean we could admit freely our lack of meeting our own standards, be truthful about ourselves and about the hurts and anger we have sustained from the actions, thoughts and work of others. Once we accept this outpouring of God's love, we come to accept ourselves with all our warts, and we also become converted to have the mind of God, that is, to see the world as needing forgiveness. We see that we can be instruments of God's peace and forgiveness in the world, being authentically who we are, forgiven in our own humble human state.
Thursday, May 31, 2007
Why this blog?
So, check out this little blog about pastors blogging. It is a small list of the pros and cons for ministry when church leaders blog. You and I could come up with the same list on our own, I think, but it's helpful when others are thinking of some the good reasons for church leaders, like me, to have a blog.
The reason I started this blog was to be able to reach the young adults and college students (and faculty and staff) of the Diocese of Lexington on a regular basis, to:
The reason I started this blog was to be able to reach the young adults and college students (and faculty and staff) of the Diocese of Lexington on a regular basis, to:
- allow myself and my theology to be better known by diocesan young adults and others
- publicize and encourage young adult participation in diocesan events and college ministries
- get comments from those I am ministering with, about the world today, different opinions on Christian engagement with our world, and whatever may be in the hearts of young adults in our diocese
- and, hopefully, not last, to have some fun contacting friends and other campus ministers
As time goes on, I am adding and subtracting items from the blog. I need your feedback.
What works for you on this site?
What would you like to see, to assist the ministry of, by and for campus students/faculty/staff and young adults in the Diocese of Lexington??
If you're out there and you're reading this, get back to me!
Tuesday, May 29, 2007
Vacation pix
Go to the link above to see my Picasa web album. I accidently copied pix that were already there, but this is the first time I have used Picasa, so I guess it will be better next time.
The pix are of our rented cottage near Candler, NC, a canoe trip down the French Broad River, and on a hike on Graveyard trail in Pisgah National Forest, right on the Blue Ridge Parkway outside of Asheville. The trail name comes the logged remains of stumps and then of a fire that swept the area in 1925. It is covered with mostly mountain laurel and other vegetation and has some nice water falls on it.
The pix are of our rented cottage near Candler, NC, a canoe trip down the French Broad River, and on a hike on Graveyard trail in Pisgah National Forest, right on the Blue Ridge Parkway outside of Asheville. The trail name comes the logged remains of stumps and then of a fire that swept the area in 1925. It is covered with mostly mountain laurel and other vegetation and has some nice water falls on it.
Thursday, May 24, 2007
Sabbath
Vacation time for me. Sabbath.
I am rethinking the meaning of Sabbath in my life. Sabbath is not the utilitarian use of time off, so that you can work harder and be fresher when you return to work. It is not a break from work on which you "recharge your batteries." Sabbath is not like resting a horse to be able to use the horse again.
We are neither horses, nor machines, nor cogs in the machinery of production. Although, I admit we may feel this way often, in the world of work or school.
Sabbath is the reminder to us that we are not in charge. Those who can't take vacations are practicing "functional atheism." They believe that they are so important that they cannot be absent from work because nothing will get done, and their work place will fall apart.
God has other things to teach us on Sabbath. It is that God is in charge of all creation. That we are dependent upon God for all that we have, all that we are, all that we will be. Sabbath is the gift given to us, in a face-to-face encounter with our dependence on God's great mercy and abundance. Without Sabbath, we could learn this, but it would be difficult. The slowing and stillness of mind and body that accompanies true Sabbath make us clearly aware of our dependence.
Sabbath is about thanksgiving, praise, faith, and allowing God to be God.
Bring it on!!
I am rethinking the meaning of Sabbath in my life. Sabbath is not the utilitarian use of time off, so that you can work harder and be fresher when you return to work. It is not a break from work on which you "recharge your batteries." Sabbath is not like resting a horse to be able to use the horse again.
We are neither horses, nor machines, nor cogs in the machinery of production. Although, I admit we may feel this way often, in the world of work or school.
Sabbath is the reminder to us that we are not in charge. Those who can't take vacations are practicing "functional atheism." They believe that they are so important that they cannot be absent from work because nothing will get done, and their work place will fall apart.
God has other things to teach us on Sabbath. It is that God is in charge of all creation. That we are dependent upon God for all that we have, all that we are, all that we will be. Sabbath is the gift given to us, in a face-to-face encounter with our dependence on God's great mercy and abundance. Without Sabbath, we could learn this, but it would be difficult. The slowing and stillness of mind and body that accompanies true Sabbath make us clearly aware of our dependence.
Sabbath is about thanksgiving, praise, faith, and allowing God to be God.
Bring it on!!
Wednesday, May 23, 2007
Lambeth--The first Round begins
See the headlines on the right column of this blog for the issue of the Archbishop of Canterbury not inviting Bishop Gene Robinson to the Lambeth Conference of Anglican Bishops for 2008.
I have heard from our own bishop about the House of Bishops' potential response to this latest development. Let it be said that I believe that the Archbishop of Canterbury has shown extreme cowardice in not allowing all to heard and be part of the theological (and politicial) process that is the current discussion of the unity of the Anglican Communion worldwide.
If you are unfamiliar with the issues of bishop's Robinson's ordination as a the first partnered gay bishop, I encourage you to go to the Episcopal News Service web site to learn more.
Or, if you choose, don't. But I can assure you that these issues will not be going away any time soon, and we as a church must respond to them.
What are your thoughts?
I have heard from our own bishop about the House of Bishops' potential response to this latest development. Let it be said that I believe that the Archbishop of Canterbury has shown extreme cowardice in not allowing all to heard and be part of the theological (and politicial) process that is the current discussion of the unity of the Anglican Communion worldwide.
If you are unfamiliar with the issues of bishop's Robinson's ordination as a the first partnered gay bishop, I encourage you to go to the Episcopal News Service web site to learn more.
Or, if you choose, don't. But I can assure you that these issues will not be going away any time soon, and we as a church must respond to them.
What are your thoughts?
Tuesday, May 22, 2007
Guilt
I heard a good description of guilt, on the audio book, Eat, Pray, Love (Elizabeth Gilbert).
A former South African nun said--
"...guilt is the ego's attempt to convince you that you're making moral progress."
Whoa...
I cannot even begin to contemplate how this works, but it seems so intuitively right. Guilt has a way of grabbing you by the collar and holding on for dear life, and you let it, because it feels so good to beat yourself up for some far-flung, old thing you said, did, or even thought (a la Jimmy Carter). Guilt does not let go easily once that collar has been grasped, and it begins to choke you after a while. Guilt has no power unless you give in to it. Guilt can only be helpful when you have begun to use it for moral improvement--in the Episcopal church, perhaps confession with a third party, prayer, making amends, if possible and if it will improve relationships, and then working to get past this thing, on to new behavior: thinking, speaking, relationships.
It takes a lot of work to break the stranglehold of guilt. You must be courageous, not just guilty: you must be ready for change and transformation, for repentence and conversion (read: literally, "turning around"). Change of self is hard indeed, much harder than nurturing guilt, being kind to it, and letting yourself feel how good it hurts.
Jesus, whenever addressing someone who is guilty, always calls them forward to their best selves, to repent, to give up their wealth, to pick up their pallet and walk. He often asks those he heals if they want to be healed. This is our cue to healthy Christian lives.
Do I want to be healed?
A former South African nun said--
"...guilt is the ego's attempt to convince you that you're making moral progress."
Whoa...
I cannot even begin to contemplate how this works, but it seems so intuitively right. Guilt has a way of grabbing you by the collar and holding on for dear life, and you let it, because it feels so good to beat yourself up for some far-flung, old thing you said, did, or even thought (a la Jimmy Carter). Guilt does not let go easily once that collar has been grasped, and it begins to choke you after a while. Guilt has no power unless you give in to it. Guilt can only be helpful when you have begun to use it for moral improvement--in the Episcopal church, perhaps confession with a third party, prayer, making amends, if possible and if it will improve relationships, and then working to get past this thing, on to new behavior: thinking, speaking, relationships.
It takes a lot of work to break the stranglehold of guilt. You must be courageous, not just guilty: you must be ready for change and transformation, for repentence and conversion (read: literally, "turning around"). Change of self is hard indeed, much harder than nurturing guilt, being kind to it, and letting yourself feel how good it hurts.
Jesus, whenever addressing someone who is guilty, always calls them forward to their best selves, to repent, to give up their wealth, to pick up their pallet and walk. He often asks those he heals if they want to be healed. This is our cue to healthy Christian lives.
Do I want to be healed?
Monday, May 21, 2007
Pentecost, Pizza, Canterbury Pub
Lots happening for young adults in our Diocese this summer. The Young Adult Commission decided on Friday (before Pizza at Pazzo's) that they would sponsor the July Jazz Eucharist for the entire diocese to come--whoa! We are excited.
Also, we are beginning Theology on Tap on 4 Tuesdays in July, starting the 10th. Diocesan leaders will discuss the topic, "What Do Episcopalians Believe?" We are calling our ToT "Canterbury Pub."
All right, so some would say it will not take long to discuss what we believe, because...
But actually, there is a lot in our heritage as Anglicans--
What are your questions? What do you want to know about your Anglican heritage, and your Episcopal roots? Email the Young Adult Commission at yac-diolex@googlegroups.com or reply to this blog.
I hope you will come to this venue for age-appropriate beverages in July! We are working on a place that will be announced maybe as soon as later this week.
Also, we are beginning Theology on Tap on 4 Tuesdays in July, starting the 10th. Diocesan leaders will discuss the topic, "What Do Episcopalians Believe?" We are calling our ToT "Canterbury Pub."
All right, so some would say it will not take long to discuss what we believe, because...
But actually, there is a lot in our heritage as Anglicans--
- the three-legged stool of theological sources,
- the "via media",
- the Elizabethan Settlement,
- the Scottish Prayer Book,
- Anglican sacramental theology,
- Anglican liturgy and hymnology,
- Anglican saints,
- Anglican spirituality...
What are your questions? What do you want to know about your Anglican heritage, and your Episcopal roots? Email the Young Adult Commission at yac-diolex@googlegroups.com or reply to this blog.
I hope you will come to this venue for age-appropriate beverages in July! We are working on a place that will be announced maybe as soon as later this week.
Friday, May 18, 2007
Pizza at Pazzo's Tonight//Canterbury Pub in July!
Tonight 7 pm.
The young adult commissioners will be talking about Theology on Tap, better known for us at Canterbury Pub.
What would you like to have presented for discussion?
Let us know...
The young adult commissioners will be talking about Theology on Tap, better known for us at Canterbury Pub.
What would you like to have presented for discussion?
Let us know...
Thursday, May 17, 2007
Ascension Day
We celebrate the ascension of Christ into heaven today.
But there is no "up" in this ascension because Christ is at the right hand of God, and God's hand is in all creation. There is no "up" to heaven, because heaven surrounds us. And just so, Jesus surrounds us in his divine presence, gone from us in bodily form, but still with us.
In the propers for this Sunday, the 7th Sunday of Easter, we will read the very last of the High Priestly Prayer, in the Gospel of John, where Jesus asks that God provide his faith community with the same love shown through Christ; that the faith community be in God as Jesus is in God. Today, in the ascension, Christ leaves this earthly realm, but takes us with him in the divine relationship.
We the faith community are now the "locus of love" in the world, showing and mirroring the divine relationship of God and Jesus. We are the divine relationship, in its intimacy, its mutuality, its reciprocity. We the faith community, not a bunch of individuals, but a true community of interconnectedness, are in this together, this love of the world. Pray with Jesus, our intercessor, that God will give us all the glory of this intimate divine relationship, give us peace and love abounding, as we continue the work begun for us in Jesus, the Word made flesh.
But there is no "up" in this ascension because Christ is at the right hand of God, and God's hand is in all creation. There is no "up" to heaven, because heaven surrounds us. And just so, Jesus surrounds us in his divine presence, gone from us in bodily form, but still with us.
In the propers for this Sunday, the 7th Sunday of Easter, we will read the very last of the High Priestly Prayer, in the Gospel of John, where Jesus asks that God provide his faith community with the same love shown through Christ; that the faith community be in God as Jesus is in God. Today, in the ascension, Christ leaves this earthly realm, but takes us with him in the divine relationship.
We the faith community are now the "locus of love" in the world, showing and mirroring the divine relationship of God and Jesus. We are the divine relationship, in its intimacy, its mutuality, its reciprocity. We the faith community, not a bunch of individuals, but a true community of interconnectedness, are in this together, this love of the world. Pray with Jesus, our intercessor, that God will give us all the glory of this intimate divine relationship, give us peace and love abounding, as we continue the work begun for us in Jesus, the Word made flesh.
Wednesday, May 16, 2007
Draft Anglican Covenant Study Guide
This came in my email this morning from the Episcopal News Service. It may be of interest to some young adults who are focused on how our church is structured. It relates to the draft Anglican Covenant, or how the many Anglican church entities will organize with each other throughout the world.
Monday, May 14, 2007
Canterbury Fellowship at Morehead State
Morehead is getting going. I met today with the dean of Students to begin the process of formalizing a group for Episcopal/Lutheran students and others interested in a more theologically open religious student group. There are a few steps involved and more students than we currently have, so it will take a few months before we are a formal organization on the MSU campus.
However, it is exciting to be meeting with students and faculty already and have many who seem to be hungry for this ministry.
I ask your prayers for the Canterbury Fellowship at MSU.
However, it is exciting to be meeting with students and faculty already and have many who seem to be hungry for this ministry.
I ask your prayers for the Canterbury Fellowship at MSU.
Friday, May 11, 2007
Mother's Day Proclamation
Arise, then, women of this day!
Arise, all women who have hearts,
Whether our baptism be of water or of tears!
Say firmly:"We will not have great questions decided by irrelevant agencies,
Our husbands will not come to us, reeking with carnage, for caresses and applause.
Our sons shall not be taken from us to unlearn
All that we have been able to teach them of charity, mercy and patience.
We, the women of one country, will be too tender of those of another country
To allow our sons to be trained to injure theirs."
From the bosom of the devastated Earth a voice goes up with our own.
It says: "Disarm! Disarm!
The sword of murder is not the balance of justice."
Blood does not wipe out dishonor, nor violence indicate possession.
As men have often forsaken the plough and the anvil at the summons of war,
Let women now leave all that may be left of home for a great and earnest day of counsel.
Let them meet first, as women,
to bewail and commemorate the dead.
Let them solemnly take counsel with each other as to the means
Whereby the great human family can live in peace,
Each bearing after his own time the sacred impress, not of Caesar,
But of God.
In the name of womanhood and humanity, I earnestly ask
That a general congress of women without limit of nationality
May be appointed and held at someplace deemed most convenient
And at the earliest period consistent with its objects,
To promote the alliance of the different nationalities,
The amicable settlement of international questions,
The great and general interests of peace.
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mother"
This was written in 1870 by Julia Ward Howe in response to the carnage of the Civil War and the Prussion War.
Arise, all women who have hearts,
Whether our baptism be of water or of tears!
Say firmly:"We will not have great questions decided by irrelevant agencies,
Our husbands will not come to us, reeking with carnage, for caresses and applause.
Our sons shall not be taken from us to unlearn
All that we have been able to teach them of charity, mercy and patience.
We, the women of one country, will be too tender of those of another country
To allow our sons to be trained to injure theirs."
From the bosom of the devastated Earth a voice goes up with our own.
It says: "Disarm! Disarm!
The sword of murder is not the balance of justice."
Blood does not wipe out dishonor, nor violence indicate possession.
As men have often forsaken the plough and the anvil at the summons of war,
Let women now leave all that may be left of home for a great and earnest day of counsel.
Let them meet first, as women,
to bewail and commemorate the dead.
Let them solemnly take counsel with each other as to the means
Whereby the great human family can live in peace,
Each bearing after his own time the sacred impress, not of Caesar,
But of God.
In the name of womanhood and humanity, I earnestly ask
That a general congress of women without limit of nationality
May be appointed and held at someplace deemed most convenient
And at the earliest period consistent with its objects,
To promote the alliance of the different nationalities,
The amicable settlement of international questions,
The great and general interests of peace.
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mother"
This was written in 1870 by Julia Ward Howe in response to the carnage of the Civil War and the Prussion War.
Thursday, May 10, 2007
Jimmy and God
Jimmy Carter was interviewed on the radio program Speaking of Faith.
I highly recommend it, he has some interesting things to say about theology and politics, and the peace process in particulare.
I highly recommend it, he has some interesting things to say about theology and politics, and the peace process in particulare.
Women at the altar, but not for other women??
I'm going to Cincinnati tomorrow with a group of Episcopal women that I belong to. We are staying at Episcopal convent that did not used to allow women to preside at the Eucharist.
See any irony here?!
Thank God, it now does allow women at the altar. I think this was due to new nuns coming into the convent who were more up to date. But a cynical part of me hopes it was not because they ran out of male priests to come preside.
The grounds are really quite nice. They have a beautiful Anglican style chapel, complete with rood screen in dark wood. It is old too, with the altar still on the wall.
What will become of Christianity that is steeped inside these old frames--old buildings and institutions like this convent? Will there still be a place for Christians there? Should there be?
See any irony here?!
Thank God, it now does allow women at the altar. I think this was due to new nuns coming into the convent who were more up to date. But a cynical part of me hopes it was not because they ran out of male priests to come preside.
The grounds are really quite nice. They have a beautiful Anglican style chapel, complete with rood screen in dark wood. It is old too, with the altar still on the wall.
What will become of Christianity that is steeped inside these old frames--old buildings and institutions like this convent? Will there still be a place for Christians there? Should there be?
woops
So I was having a good conversation about the theology of anointing for healing of persons who are "standing in" for another person who needs the healing. My friend Michael, chaplain of UCLA commented with the idea of spirituality in a quantum mechanics metaphor. I was asking him to tell me more about this theology.
And then...I accidently deleted my BLOG.
(Here insert a Charlie Brown "ARGH!")
So, I hope we can get back on track, talking about the meaning of healing by proxy.
What do you think?
And then...I accidently deleted my BLOG.
(Here insert a Charlie Brown "ARGH!")
So, I hope we can get back on track, talking about the meaning of healing by proxy.
What do you think?
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