Trinity Sunday Sermon

Thanks be to the Father
I arise today
He gives me light
He guides my way
Thanks be to the Savior
I arise today
He gives me love
He hears me pray
Thanks be to the Spirit
I arise today
He gives me life
With me to stay. Amen.

This ‘Rising Prayer’ by David Adam, a priest and author, uses the Celtic tradition & its emphasis on each person of the Holy Trinity.

Christians since our founding have tried to figure out how to describe this faith in Father, Son and Holy Spirit. The early church began defining our faith through the use of creeds (Nicene & Apostles) but it still struggled to sort out the relationship between God the Creator, Jesus the Son and the Holy Spirit.

It wasn't until the 5th/6th century that The Athanasian Creed, a doctrinal statement regarding our Triune God was created. At a time when the church was still working out its understanding of the Trinity and of Jesus, when different groups had different ideas, the Church began to get the house in order.

The Creed (Latin) is believed to be written 100 years after the death of Athanasius of Alexandria.

Section I – The Trinity
Catholic faith = all of our faith (universal church)
And the son = the filioque!
Section II – Jesus

[The Shield of the Trinity is a visual representation of the doctrine of the Trinity, derived from the Athanasian Creed.] A version of the creed is on page 864-865 in our BCP.

Many metaphors have been employed to explain the Holy Trinity of the Father, Son and Spirit. The great Eastern Orthodox theologian of the eighth century St. John of Damascus saw "the Father as a root, the Son as a branch, and the Spirit as the fruit, for the substance of these three is one." Today we celebrate the heart of our Gospel-centered faith: our belief in the God who reveals himself as Father, Son and the Holy Spirit.

But ultimately the mystery of our Triune God must not rest with doctrines and creeds. For our beliefs, our creeds, must rest in our hearts. For ultimately our belief in God, is as the 1 John puts it, in God who is love.

As I read recently in a Trinity Wall Street newsletter about a member’s first memory of God:

"I was two or three," he remembers, "and I was angry about something. Very angry. I threw a tantrum and flew through the house crying and stomping. I ran and hid under my bed where I lay muttering to myself about how awful my mother was and how much she hated me. Finally, when I ran out of steam, I looked out from under the bed to see that my mother had been sitting quietly the whole time in the rocking chair, holding a glass of milk and patiently waiting. She wasn't angry at all, just waiting until I was ready to climb into her lap to be comforted . . . "[This] may be my earliest memory of any kind . . . a memory of God because it's what I think of when I read, God is love." [From "Formation is lifelong" by Robert Owens Scott, Trinity News, Trinity Church Wall Street.]

Today's celebration of the Holy Trinity reminds us of the many ways that God makes his presence known in the manifestations of his love in our lives and our world. God is the very love that creates, nurtures and preserves: the God who has revealed himself as Jesus, Son, the Word who unites us to God and to one another through his Gospel of reconciliation and peace; and the God who continues to reveals himself in our lives as Spirit, who enables us to realize God's love in our lives and to bring that love to others in our imitating the humble and generous servanthood of God's Christ.

I saw & felt such love on the track last night in Trumbull for the Relay for Life. In silence we walked around the track, the wind was blowing, our luminaria were lit, and I felt very connected to others who were walking but also to those who I was thinking about in my heart (those who had died of cancer & for those who are still fighting the good fight).

As a professor of mine put it, “Theology does well when it mitigates human hubris and invites us into the unknown. I still find Trinitarian language the most inviting, not for certainties but for encounters with the Lover, the Beloved, and the Love Overflowing.”

God is the source of all good things, from the air we breathe to the grace we experience in the kindness of the heart. May today's Feast Day of the Trinity be a re-connection for us with the many ways God makes his loving presence known in our lives, a feast of our faith.

In the name of the Father, Son & Holy Spirit. Amen.

The Athanasian Creed

 The Athanasian Creed (source: Christian Reformed Church)

Whoever desires to be saved should above all hold to the catholic faith.
Anyone who does not keep it whole and unbroken will doubtless perish eternally.
Now this is the catholic faith:

That we worship one God in trinity and the trinity in unity,
neither blending their persons
nor dividing their essence.
For the person of the Father is a distinct person,
the person of the Son is another,
and that of the Holy Spirit still another.
But the divinity of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit is one,
their glory equal, their majesty coeternal.

What quality the Father has, the Son has, and the Holy Spirit has…

The Father is uncreated,
the Son is uncreated,
the Holy Spirit is uncreated.

The Father is immeasurable,
the Son is immeasurable,
the Holy Spirit is immeasurable.

The Father is eternal,
the Son is eternal,
the Holy Spirit is eternal.

And yet there are not three eternal beings;
there is but one eternal being.
So too there are not three uncreated or immeasurable beings;
there is but one uncreated and immeasurable being.

Similarly, the Father is almighty,
the Son is almighty,
the Holy Spirit is almighty.
Yet there are not three almighty beings;
there is but one almighty being.

Thus the Father is God,
the Son is God,
the Holy Spirit is God.
Yet there are not three gods;
there is but one God.

Thus the Father is Lord,
the Son is Lord,
the Holy Spirit is Lord.
Yet there are not three lords;
there is but one Lord.

Just as Christian truth compels us to confess each person individually as both God and Lord,
so catholic religion forbids us to say that there are three gods or lords.

The Father was neither made nor created nor begotten from anyone.
The Son was neither made nor created; he was begotten from the Father alone.
The Holy Spirit was neither made nor created nor begotten;
he proceeds from the Father and the Son.

Accordingly there is one Father, not three fathers;
there is one Son, not three sons;
there is one Holy Spirit, not three holy spirits.

Nothing in this trinity is before or after,
nothing is greater or smaller;
in their entirety the three persons
are coeternal and coequal with each other.

So in everything, as was said earlier,
we must worship their trinity in their unity
and their unity in their trinity.

Anyone then who desires to be saved should think thus about the trinity.

But it is necessary for eternal salvation that one also believe in the incarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ faithfully. Now this is the true faith:

That we believe and confess
that our Lord Jesus Christ, God's Son,
is both God and human, equally.

He is God from the essence of the Father,
begotten before time;
and he is human from the essence of his mother,
born in time;
completely God, completely human,
with a rational soul and human flesh;
equal to the Father as regards divinity,
less than the Father as regards humanity.

Although he is God and human, yet Christ is not two, but one.
He is one, however, not by his divinity being turned into flesh,
but by God's taking humanity to himself.
He is one, certainly not by the blending of his essence,
but by the unity of his person.
For just as one human is both rational soul and flesh,
so too the one Christ is both God and human.

He suffered for our salvation;
he descended to hell;
he arose from the dead;
he ascended to heaven;
he is seated at the Father's right hand;
from there he will come to judge the living and the dead.
At his coming all people will arise bodily and give an accounting of their own deeds.
Those who have done good will enter eternal life,
and those who have done evil will enter eternal fire.

This is the catholic faith: one cannot be saved without believing it firmly and faithfully.

The Next Presiding Bishop

A very good (and interesting) article has been posted at the Living Church website on the four nominees for our next Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church.

Who Will Lead Episcopalians?

A good question.  Read the article.  

Who do you like?

Relay for Life - Luminaria Ceremony

9:00 PM: Mark: We all come to Relay for the same basic reasons: We may have fought cancer ourselves or watched someone we love battle the disease. So we Relay. We Relay so that we can celebrate cancer survivors. We find a place of common understanding when we come here as survivors and join others who have faced the same disease. We Relay to celebrate the lives of those who have battled cancer in our lives. Perhaps it’s a loved one who has emerged victorious. Relay gives us a place to rejoice in that victory together. At the same time, we also celebrate the lives of people we’ve lost. We remember the journey we walked with our loved ones, and we Relay to keep their memory alive. The luminaria lining the track gives us a way to honor their memory. We Relay, too, to find comfort and healing from others who experienced the same loss and understand our grief. In both celebrating the lives of those we love and remembering those we’ve lost, we are motivated to do something – anything – to make sure no one else we care about, or no one else we know, has to face this disease.

Dawn: Speaks about her mom.
Mark – Please do not crack your glow sticks until you are directed to do so.

Kurt – We remember the courageous tonight. Stuart Scott, an ESPN broadcaster who died this year after battling cancer for 7 years, reminded us that (in his words) “this whole fight [with cancer], this journey thing is not a solo venture. This is something that requires support. & When you die, that does not mean that you lose to cancer. You beat cancer by how you live, why you live, and the manner in which you live…So live. Live. Fight like hell. And when you get too tired to fight, lay down and rest and let somebody else fight for you.”

His words remind me of the famous words of the poet Dylan Thomas:

Do not go gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rave at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light…

Do not go gentle into that good night.
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Tonight let us celebrate and honor the lives of, not only our valiant cancer survivors & their caregivers, but also those who are no longer with us. Let us not go gentle but rage against the dying of the light. For Cancer shows no preference. It strikes young, old, mothers, fathers, brothers, sisters, husbands, wives and friends. Tonight let us pay tribute to those we love, and all whose lives have been touched by cancer and take a quiet moment and pray.

(a moment of silence)

Loving God, as we walk the relay for life, help us to celebrate the little victories with cancer, for those who cancer is in remission, for those who have hope in new therapies. Let us remember those who have died and all who mourn for loved ones, those families that continue to struggle with cancer and all who minister to those fighting the good fight. Be with us as we fight back against this disease so we can celebrate more birthdays and less days with cancer. Amen.

As we prepare to light these glow sticks, these our candles, let us hear the words of life and hope from the poem Candles by Surjit Paatar:

Light these candles.
Rise, light these candles.
There will remain,
These quarrelsome winds,
But you should light these candles.

May darkness not think the moon scared.
May night not think the sun dead.
Light these lamps to honor life.
Rise, light these candles.

Granted, the night's reign may be stubborn,
But rays of light still survive.
On dark pages, verses revealing life.
Rise, light these candles.

These cruel whirlwinds will remain,
The fall will shake away the leaves,
But this does not mean that new leaves will not grow.
Rise, light these candles.

Unafraid of the poison that spreads daily in the wind,
Nature continues to do its duty,
Of transforming poison into nectar.
Rise, light these candles…

Do not linger on death,
reflect upon the passage of time.
These difficulties will pass away.
Rise, light these candles.

Mark - Relay For Life is held to remember those we have lost to cancer, to support all those who are battling the disease, and to work towards the day that no one has to hear the words – “you have cancer.”

Mark/Dawn/Kurt: Please rise and take your Luminaria glow sticks in hand. Tonight, we pay tribute to those we love, and those whose lives have been touched by cancer. Please crack your glow stick when you receive your cue:

· If you are honoring your father or mother, please crack your glowstick now.
· If you are honoring your brother or sister, please crack your glowstick now.
· If you are honoring your husband, wife, or partner, please crack your glowstick now.
· If you are honoring your son or daughter, please crack your glowstick now.
· If you are honoring a grandparent, aunt, uncle, cousin, or other relative, please crack your glowstick now.
· If you are honoring a friend or neighbor, please crack your glowstick now.
· If you are here as a survivor, we celebrate with you and ask you to crack your glowstick now.

We now ask all of you to line the track and get ready to walk a lap in silence for everyone we are honoring…

Trinity Sunday - A Poem

Trinity Sunday by Malcom Guite

In the Beginning, not in time or space,
But in the quick before both space and time,
In Life, in Love, in co-inherent Grace,
In three in one and one in three, in rhyme,
In music, in the whole creation story,
In His own image, His imagination,
The Triune Poet makes us for His glory,
And makes us each the other’s inspiration.
He calls us out of darkness, chaos, chance,
To improvise a music of our own,
To sing the chord that calls us to the dance,
Three notes resounding from a single tone,
To sing the End in whom we all begin;
Our God beyond, beside us and within.

Remembering Nepal

Here is an adaptation of Psalm 23, from Christian Aid

Lord, who is our shepherd,
We pray for the people of Nepal in this time of want.
Guide those who grieve to still waters; restore their soul.
Lead those who are searching to the right places.
Comfort those who are trapped in the darkest valley of fear.
May generosity and compassion overflow in response
so that goodness and mercy may follow all
who will live in the shadow of this earthquake.
May they dwell in secure houses and
know healing and protection all their life long.

To learn more about what is happening there & ways you can help...

http://anglicanalliance.org/news/20226/update-from-nepal-after-recent-earthquakes

http://www.anglican.org.sg/index.php/news/item/nepal_earthquake

https://www.episcopalrelief.org/press-and-resources/press-releases/2015-press-releases/earthquake-in-nepal

People over Profit

I was struck by this TEDx talk on People over Profit.

I think it fits well with what Jesus (and the whole of Holy Scripture) says we are to do with our neighbors.  It is always love.  Not of money, but of people. It is people over profit, or as one of our prayers (from the BCP) beautifully puts it:

O God, your unfailing providence sustains the world we live in and the life we live: Watch over those, both night and day, who work while others sleep, and grant that we may never forget that our common life depends upon each other's toil...

It reminds me of what this CEO did, cut his salary so his workers earned more:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/on-leadership/wp/2015/04/14/this-ceo-raised-all-his-employees-salaries-to-at-least-70000-by-cutting-his-own/

The Mother's Union

When I was in Mozambique in 2014, I first encountered the Mother's Union.  Similar to our ECW here in the US, the Mother's Union is very strong there as it is the primary women's organization of the diocese and is truly the backbone and the worker bees of the Anglican Church of Mozambique!

You can learn about it here:

http://www.mothersunion.org/about-us/where-we-work/worldwide/mozambique

God 'has never failed me yet' affirms Mothers' Union president (New Zealand)

http://www.anglicannews.org/news/2015/05/god-has-never-failed-me-yet-affirms-mothers-union-president.aspx

Mary Sumner started meeting with mothers of her parish in 1876 Mary wrote the first Mothers' Union prayer..

All this day, O Lord,let me touch as many lives as possible for thee; and every life I touch, do thou by thy spirit quicken, whether through the word I speak, the prayer I breathe, or the life I live. Amen.

The current prayer, like the original, focuses on the real concerns and needs of women throughout the world.  

Loving Lord, We thank you for your love so freely given to us all. We pray for families around the world. Bless the work of the Mothers' Union as we seek to share your love through the encouragement, strengthening and support of marriage and family life. Empowered by your Spirit, may we be united in prayer and worship, and in love and service reach out as your hands across the world. In Jesus' name. Amen

Our Episcopal Church Women’s Prayer

Almighty God, we pray that You will bless our work in mission and ministry in the world. Help us to pray fervently, labor diligently and give liberally to make known the power of your love given through your son Jesus Christ. Let us not forget the lessons from the past nor fear the challenges of the future. Anoint us with your grace and shine in our hearts as we reflect your light throughout the world. Amen.

Memorial Day Poems

We remember & honor their sacrifice...

Decoration Day by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Sleep, comrades, sleep and rest
  On this Field of the Grounded Arms,
Where foes no more molest,
  Nor sentry's shot alarms!

Ye have slept on the ground before,
  And started to your feet
At the cannon's sudden roar,
  Or the drum's redoubling beat.

But in this camp of Death
  No sound your slumber breaks;
Here is no fevered breath,
  No wound that bleeds and aches.

All is repose and peace,
  Untrampled lies the sod;
The shouts of battle cease,
  It is the Truce of God!

Rest, comrades, rest and sleep!
  The thoughts of men shall be
As sentinels to keep
  Your rest from danger free.

Your silent tents of green
  We deck with fragrant flowers;
Yours has the suffering been,
  The memory shall be ours.

In Flanders Fields by John McCrae

In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.

Memorial Day By Michael Anania

http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poem/178467

Saint of the Week: Oscar Romero

icon by Tobias Haller

In light of his beatification this past weekend, even though his feast date in our church is March 24 (the date of his assassination), we remember him this week...

His readings: http://www.lectionarypage.net/LesserFF/Mar/Romero.html

His bio: http://satucket.com/lectionary/Oscar_Romero.htm

My favorite quote: "How beautiful will be the day when all the baptized understand that their work, their job, is a priestly work--that just as I celebrate Mass at this altar, so each carpenter celebrates Mass at his work-bench, and that each metal-worker, each professional, each doctor with the scalpel, the market woman at her stand is performing a priestly office! How many cabdrivers I know are listening to this message there in their cabs... You are a priest at the wheel, my friend, if you work with honesty, consecrating that taxi of yours to God - bearing a message of peace and love to the passengers who ride in your cab." (Oscar Romero Nov. 20, 1977)

Memorial Day: History

As we remember and honor the faithful dead who served our country in our various wars and conflicts to win and protect the freedoms we have, a look back at its history is important:

http://www.pbs.org/national-memorial-day-concert/memorial-day/history/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Memorial_Day

A view on Wikipedia will show us that many places honored the war dead. I bring up the African American experience because too often, those who are miniorities in our country, have their history forgotten or set aside for other narratives. African Americans also had a hand in this memorial.
From Race and Reunion: The Civil War in American Memory, by Professor David W. Blight:

African Americans founded Decoration Day at the graveyard of 257 Union soldiers labeled "Martyrs of the Race Course," May 1, 1865, Charleston, South Carolina.

The "First Decoration Day," as this event came to be recognized in some circles in the North, involved an estimated ten thousand people, most of them black former slaves. During April, twenty-eight black men from one of the local churches built a suitable enclosure for the burial ground at the Race Course. In some ten days, they constructed a fence ten feet high, enclosing the burial ground, and landscaped the graves into neat rows. The wooden fence was whitewashed and an archway was built over the gate to the enclosure. On the arch, painted in black letters, the workmen inscribed "Martyrs of the Race Course."

At nine o'clock in the morning on May 1, the procession to this special cemetery began as three thousand black schoolchildren (newly enrolled in freedmen's schools) marched around the Race Course, each with an armload of roses and singing "John Brown's Body." The children were followed by three hundred black women representing the Patriotic Association, a group organized to distribute clothing and other goods among the freedpeople. The women carried baskets of flowers, wreaths, and crosses to the burial ground. The Mutual Aid Society, a benevolent association of black men, next marched in cadence around the track and into the cemetery, followed by large crowds of white and black citizens.

All dropped their spring blossoms on the graves in a scene recorded by a newspaper correspondent: "when all had left, the holy mounds — the tops, the sides, and the spaces between them — were one mass of flowers, not a speck of earth could be seen; and as the breeze wafted the sweet perfumes from them, outside and beyond ... there were few eyes among those who knew the meaning of the ceremony that were not dim with tears of joy." While the adults marched around the graves, the children were gathered in a nearby grove, where they sang "America," "We'll Rally Around the Flag," and "The Star-Spangled Banner."

The official dedication ceremony was conducted by the ministers of all the black churches in Charleston. With prayer, the reading of biblical passages, and the singing of spirituals, black Charlestonians gave birth to an American tradition. In so doing, they declared the meaning of the war in the most public way possible — by their labor, their words, their songs, and their solemn parade of roses, lilacs, and marching feet on the old planters' Race Course.

After the dedication, the crowds gathered at the Race Course grandstand to hear some thirty speeches by Union officers, local black ministers, and abolitionist missionaries. Picnics ensued around the grounds, and in the afternoon, a full brigade of Union infantry, including Colored Troops, marched in double column around the martyrs' graves and held a drill on the infield of the Race Course. The war was over, and Memorial Day had been founded by African Americans in a ritual of remembrance and consecration.

Our prayer:

ALMIGHTY God, our heavenly Father, in whose hands are the living and the dead; We give you thanks for all your servants who have laid down their lives in the service of our country. Grant to them your mercy and the light of your presence, that the good work which you have begun in them may be perfected; through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord. Amen. (from the BCP)

Pentecost Sermon

O Holy Spirit, still me. Let my mind be inquiring, searching.
Save me from mental rust. Deliver me from spiritual decay.
Keep me alive and alert. Open me to your truth.
O Lord, teach me so that I may live in your Spirit. Amen.
(adapted from The Sacrament of the Word by D. Coggan)

At that 1st Pentecost that we heard in the Acts of the Apostles this morning, when the Spirit came down upon the disciples, it gave them the ability to speak so all could hear the Good News in a symphony of voices, in their own mother language, the Good News of Jesus and that salvation has come to all the peoples.

The Spirit set the apostles free to do their ministry, just as Jesus promised at the Ascension.

The poet Malcolm Guite sees in Pentecost the ‘four elements’ of earth, air, water and fire. How each of them expresses and embodies different aspects of the Gospel and of God’s goodness, as the Spirit is poured out, breathed, kindled…

Today we feel the wind beneath our wings
Today the hidden fountain flows and plays
Today the church draws breath at last and sings
As every flame becomes a Tongue of praise.
This is the feast of fire, air, and water
Poured out and breathed and kindled into earth.
The earth herself awakens to her maker
And is translated out of death to birth.
The right words come today in their right order
And every word spells freedom and release
Today the gospel crosses every border
All tongues are loosened by the Prince of Peace
Today the lost are found in His translation.
Whose mother-tongue is Love, in every nation.

Finding that Spirit today in truth, and freedom and love for as Jesus said, "When the Spirit of truth comes, the Spirit will guide you into all the truth."

In her book Honeybee, the Arab-American poet and writer Naomi Shihab Nye tells of waiting for her flight in Albuquerque when she heard this announcement: "If anyone near Gate 4-A understands Arabic, please come to the gate immediately."

As it happened, that was Naomi's gate and she went to the counter. An older woman, in traditional Palestinian dress, was crumpled on the floor, wailing. The agent asked Naomi to explain to her that her flight was going to be delayed but would come, that there was no need to worry.

Naomi stooped down and put her arm around the woman and spoke to her in Arabic, assuring her that her flight was not cancelled, that she would get to her destination. The distraught woman cried to Naomi that she needed to be in El Paso the next day for medical treatment. She did not understand that the flight was only delayed, not cancelled.

“You'll get there, just late." Naomi said in Arabic. "Who is picking you up? Let's call him."

Naomi called the woman's son in El Paso and explained (in English) what had happened. Naomi told the son that she would stay with his mother until her plane left. Mother and son then talked and he assured her that he would be there to pick her up whenever she arrived. Then, just for fun, Naomi and the woman called her other sons. Naomi then called her own dad and the woman and Naomi's dad spoke for several minutes in Arabic - and discovered that they had several mutual acquaintances.

By the time the woman boarded her flight, she was at peace, even laughing with Naomi and other waiting passengers. Before departing, she pulled from her bag a sack of cookies - little crumbly mounds stuffed with dates and nuts and topped with sugar - and offered them to the other women at the gate. To Naomi's surprise, no one declined. The traveler from Argentina, the mom from California, the lovely woman from Laredo were all smiling, covered with the same sugar.

Naomi writes that, as the older woman said goodbye and boarded the plane, "I looked around the gate and thought, This is the world I want to live in. One with no apprehension. This can still happen anywhere, I thought. Not everything is lost."

The fire of Pentecost re-ignites in a New Mexico airport: The Spirit of God overcomes the barriers of language and perception, transforming fear into peace, misunderstanding into community. As on Pentecost, God's Spirit continues to speak in the love of the Beatitudes, in the forgiveness of the prodigal's father, in the generosity of the Good Samaritan, in the hope of the resurrection.

That same Spirit of Peace and Hope guided a group who began a walk for peace in New London; while they walked, when they passed a playground, the would leave a rock that said “peace” on it. They spent last night in our Memorial Room (and had a meal here) and are walking today to Sandy Hook to the UMC there (for a service) and will be placing another peace rock in a Newtown park. (Remembering the teachers and students at Sandy Hook Elementary School.)

That Spirit is also a Spirit of Remembrance & Freedom as I think about Memorial Day.

Last year, Bernard Jordan, an 89-year-old World War II veteran was reported missing from his nursing home in England. He was found later in France. He wanted to attend the 70th anniversary of D-Day in Normandy to honor friends he lost and where he himself had fought. He hid his uniform/metals behind his coat when he left. He return safely a few days later…

The gift of the Spirit, the gift of our Pentecost faith enables us to hear the voice of God speaking in the midst of the clamor and busyness, the pain and despair of our lives, inviting us to embrace the life and love of God in our homes and hearts.

Come Holy Spirit, breathe into our hearts your peace and kindle in us the fire of your love. Amen.

Words of Advice (from the past) for the Church Today

"The church is the church only when it exists for others. To make a start, it should give away all its property to those in need. The clergy must live solely on the free-will offerings of their congregations, or possibly engage in some secular calling. The church must share in the secular problems of ordinary human life, not dominating, but helping and serving. It must tell men [and women] of every calling what it means to live in Christ, to exist for others…. It must not under-estimate the importance of human example (which has its origin in the humanity of Jesus and is so important in Paul’s teachings); it is not abstract argument, but example, that gives its word emphasis and power." ~ Dietrich Bonhoeffer (Letters & Papers from Prison)

 "Do you want to honor Christ’s body? Then do not scorn him in his nakedness, nor honor him here in the church with silken garments while neglecting him outside where he is cold and naked...What we do here in the church requires a pure heart, not special garments; what we do outside requires great dedication.

Let us learn, therefore, to be men of wisdom and to honor Christ as he desires. For a person being honored finds greatest pleasure in the honor he desires, not in the honor we think best. Peter thought he was honoring Christ when he refused to let him wash his feet; but what Peter wanted was not truly an honor, quite the opposite! Give him the honor prescribed in his law by giving your riches to the poor. For God does not want golden vessels but golden hearts.

Now, in saying this I am not forbidding you to make such gifts; I am only demanding that along with such gifts and before them you give alms. He accepts the former, but he is much more pleased with the latter. In the former, only the giver profits; in the latter, the recipient does too. A gift to the church may be taken as a form of ostentation, but an alms is pure kindness. Of what use is it to weigh down Christ’s table with golden cups, when he himself is dying of hunger? First, fill him when he is hungry; then use the means you have left to adorn his table. Will you have a golden cup made but not give a cup of water? What is the use of providing the table with cloths woven of gold thread, and not providing Christ himself with the clothes he needs? What profit is there in that? Tell me: If you were to see him lacking the necessary food but were to leave him in that state and merely surround his table with gold would he be grateful to you or rather would he not be angry? What if you were to see him clad in worn-out rags and stiff from the cold, and were to forget about clothing him and instead were to set up golden columns for him, saying that you were doing it in his honor? Would he not think he was being mocked and greatly insulted?" ~ Excerpt from a homily by St. John Chrysostom on the Gospel of Matthew

"Nine-Tenths of the work of the Church in the world is done by Christian people fulfilling responsibilities and performing tasks which in themselves are not part of the official system of the Church at all." ~ William Temple (Christianity and Social Order)

"It is not for their sake that there is an army; it is for the sake of the nation and the cause which it has espoused. So the church exists in the first place, not for those of us who are its members, but for the Kingdom of God." ~ William Temple (Issues of Faith)

Saint of the Week: Frances Perkins

icon by Tobias Haller

 

Readings for Her Day: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/lectionary/frances-perkins-public-servant-and-prophetic-witness-1965

Her biography: http://satucket.com/lectionary/frances_perkins.htm

and story: http://www.livingchurch.org/saint-behind-new-deal

And what we should rememer of her ministry & work (Architect of the Gracious Society):
http://www.anglicanexaminer.com/Perkins-1.html

An American Triduum

I am playing with the notion of three days of prayer centered around a Feast Day (i.e., triduum) as I think about the three Feast Days of America, that are centered on summer: Memorial Day, Independence Day and Labor Day.

These are appropriate prayers for each of these occasions (from the BCP):

Memorial Day

Almighty God, our heavenly Father, in whose hands are the living and the dead; We give you thanks for all your servants who have laid down their lives in the service of our country. Grant to them your mercy and the light of your presence, that the good work which you have begun in them may be perfected; through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord. Amen.

Independence Day

Lord God Almighty, you have made all the peoples of the  earth for your glory, to serve you in freedom and in peace: Give to the people of our country a zeal for justice and the strength of forbearance, that we may use our liberty in accordance with your gracious will; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Labor Day

Almighty God, you have so linked our lives one with another that all we do affects, for good or ill, all other lives: So guide us in the work we do, that we may do it not for self alone, but for the common good; and, as we seek a proper return for our own labor, make us mindful of the rightful aspirations of other workers, and arouse our concern for those who are out of work; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.  Amen.

Sermon: May 17

Be present, be present, O Jesus, our great High Priest, as you were present with your disciples, and be know to us in the breaking of bread & in the Scriptures, we pray. Amen.

Today, on this 7th Sunday of Easter, we celebrate the Ascension of Jesus, Jesus departure from the disciples.

I remember teaching my children to ride a bike, just like I was taught when I was a child.

First came the training wheels and then came the day they wanted them off. Slowly, slowly, they pulled away from me as I held the bike up. A few crashes later they were confident and riding around the parking lot on their own.

I did that on the street I grew up on with my father teaching, holding me up. Part of life is in giving our children the freedom to learn, to crash, to pick themselves up & try again, to trust themselves, just as we had been taught, and of course, there will be bumps and bruises along the way.

That in a nutshell is what the Feast of the Ascension is all about…

The disciples were lost without Jesus when they thought it was all over with his crucifixion on Good Friday but after the Resurrection when he kept appearing to them, helping them understand their ministry & their calling, they grew confident in who they were.

Then in the Ascension, as they watch Jesus leave, he sends them to go & do their work. They will crash, they will have bumps and bruises but it is now their ministry and they are entrusted with it. All that they had learned would guide them with the Holy Spirit into the truth of their calling.

Scott Adams, the creator of the popular comic strip Dilbert, the daily adventures of a nerdy engineer trying to make sense of corporate America while working for the world's most dysfunctional technology company, wrote in 2011 about the struggle to maintain our sense of humanity in the rat-race of our lives:

"Have you ever wondered who you are? You're not your body, because living cells come and go and are generally outside of your control. You're not your location, because that can change. You aren't your DNA because that simply defines the boundaries of your playing field. You aren't your upbringing because siblings routinely go in different directions no matter how similar their start.

"My best answer to my own question is this: You are what you learn.

"If all you know is how to be a gang member, that's what you'll be, at least until you learn something else. If you become a marine, you'll learn to control fear. If you go to law school, you'll see the world as a competition. If you study engineering, you'll start to see the world as a complicated machine that needs tweaking.

"I'm fascinated by the way a person changes at a fundamental level as he or she merges with a particular field of knowledge. People who study economics come out the other side thinking a different way from people who study nursing. And learning becomes a fairly permanent part of a person even as the cells in the body come and go and the circumstances of life change . . .

"It's easy to feel trapped in your own life. Circumstances can sometimes feel as if they form a jail around you. But there's almost nothing you can't learn your way out of. If you don't like who you are, you have the option of learning until you become someone else. Life is like a jail with an unlocked, heavy door. You're free the minute you realize the door will open if you simply lean into it." [Scott Adams, Dilbert.com, October 19, 2011.]

Our journey in life is about learning and discovering our ministry just like the disciples. For we live after the Ascension, when Jesus is gone. It’s up to us, relying on the Holy Spirit, to discover our mission in God’s grand scheme of things. Along this journey, we will also crash, get things wrong, have bumps and bruises as we learn what it means to follow Jesus and what he has in store for us.

At the age of 87, Michaelango wrote the inscription “Ancora Imparo” (translated - I am still learning) into one of his sketches and then repeated it out loud on his death bed. The painter and sculptor who came from nothing and had accomplished so much in his lifetime, still believed he was still learning.

In his "high priestly prayer," Jesus prays that we might transform our lives and re-create ourselves through "learning" and comprehending the "truth" of God's compassion, justice and forgiveness as he revealed it through his life among us.

Our discipleship is about learning and practicing and seeking.

By learning compassion, Christ promises that we can begin to transform the lives of the lost, the despairing, the marginalized; by practicing justice, we can begin to change the unjust attitudes and perspectives that demean and hurt all members of society; by seeking reasons to hope despite the cynicism and negativity that surrounds us, we give the world reason to hope.

After the Ascension, Jesus leaves the ministry to us. Our training wheels are off. Now we go and do and still keep learning. With this in mind, let me leave you with the words of the great Bangladesh poet, Tagore:

[(Chitto Jetha Bhayshunyo) Where The Mind Is Without Fear by Rabindranath Tagore]

Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high
Where knowledge is free
Where the world has not been broken up into fragments
By narrow domestic walls
Where words come out from the depth of truth
Where tireless striving stretches its arms towards perfection
Where the clear stream of reason has not lost its way
Into the dreary desert sand of dead habit
Where the mind is led forward by thee
Into ever-widening thought and action
Into that heaven of freedom, my Father, let all [my] disciples [country] awake.

May we awake to what Jesus has given us & live into that truth that Jesus entrusts to us. Amen.

Discipleship, Resurrection & A Memorial to the Church

We have been working on our discipleship project at St. Peter's Church since January. It seems that as we approach General Convention this summer, we are being called with others throughout the Episcopal Church to make this journey.

For immediate release:

Group calls for The Episcopal Church “to act with boldness to proclaim the gospel” 

A group of General Convention deputies, bishops, and others have released A Memorial to the Church, calling for The Episcopal Church to “act with boldness to proclaim the gospel.” One member of the group, the Rev. Adam Trambley, deputy from Northwestern Pennsylvania said, “We hope this letter to the church will prompt significant action both at General Convention and among all Episcopalians.”

Inspired by the conversation begun by the Task Force to Reimagine the Episcopal Church, the memorial calls for the church “to recommit itself to the spiritual disciplines at the core of our common life, to go into our neighborhoods boldly with church planters and church revitalizers, and to restructure our church for the mission God is laying before us today.” General Convention typically considers resolutions, but The Episcopal Church’s canons and rules of order also provide for memorials, which are written in the form of letters to the church. The Muhlenberg Memorial of 1853 is perhaps the most famous of the the memorials, and while its immediate effect was slight, it changed the conversation inside the church in a way that later led to liturgical change and other shifts to meet the needs of that time. The hope is that this memorial will lead to change within our church to promote evangelism and discipleship.

The Rev. Susan Brown Snook, deputy from Arizona, said, “In addition to the memorial, our group is offering several resolutions to support the call to discipleship and transformation.” She added that signers to the memorial do not necessarily support any or all of the nine resolutions. The package of resolutions includes action — Encouraging a significant commitment to church planting —
Promoting revitalization of existing congregations — Amending the Constitution & Canons to permit more structural flexibility — Clarifying roles of churchwide officers — Creating a task force to look at episcopal elections — Eliminating the provincial structure within The Episcopal Church

The text of the memorial and all nine resolutions, along with explanatory material, is available at www.episcopalresurrection.org. Those who wish to add their names as signatories should email endorse@episcopalresurrection.org and include their full name and whether they are a bishop, deputy, alternate deputy, or other. Those who endorse the memorial may not necessarily agree with the nine resolutions proposed by the drafting committee.

These materials were written by a drafting committee consisting of Trambley and Brown Snook, along with the Rev. Tom Ferguson; the Rev. Canon Scott Gunn, deputy from Southern Ohio; the Rev. Canon Frank Logue, deputy from Georgia; Mr. Brendan O’Sullivan-Hale, deputy from Indianapolis; and the Rev. Steve Pankey, deputy from Central Gulf Coast.

Marriage & the Episcopal Church

  From the Anglican Theological Review:

What makes a marriage Christian? What does marriage mean in church and society today?

The Episcopal Church’s Task Force on the Study of Marriage was formed in 2012 to “explore biblical, theological, historical, liturgical, and canonical dimensions of marriage”; their report will be considered at the 2015 General Convention and beyond.

Four scholars have critiqued the report in the essay “Marriage in Creation and Covenant,” and we present that critique here along with three responses by other scholars, as well as the report itself.

Bringing this work together is a joint project of the Anglican Theological Review and The Living Church, reflecting both publications’ commitment to foster thoughtful, informed, and stimulating conversation about matters facing the church.

Report of the Task Force on the Study of Marriage https://extranet.generalconvention.org/staff/files/download/12485

Marriage in Creation and Covenant John Bauerschmidt, Zachary Guiliano, Wesley Hill, and Jordan Hylden

Another Look at Augustine on Marriage: An Historian’s Response to “Marriage in Creation and Covenant” Daniel Joslyn-Siemiatkoski

Three Questions for the Authors of “Marriage in Creation and Covenant” Scott MacDougall

A Rejoinder to “Marriage in Creation and Covenant” Kathryn Tanner

Ascension Day

Almighty God, whose blessed Son our Savior Jesus Christ ascended far above all heavens that he might fill all things: Mercifully give us faith to perceive that, according to his promise, he abides with his Church on earth, even to the end of the ages; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and
reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, in glory everlasting. Amen.

Ascension  (sonnet) by Malcolm Guite

We saw his light break through the cloud of glory
Whilst we were rooted still in time and place
As earth became a part of Heaven’s story
And heaven opened to his human face.
We saw him go and yet we were not parted
He took us with him to the heart of things
The heart that broke for all the broken-hearted
Is whole and Heaven-centred now, and sings,
Sings in the strength that rises out of weakness,
Sings through the clouds that veil him from our sight,
Whilst we our selves become his clouds of witness
And sing the waning darkness into light,
His light in us, and ours in him concealed,
Which all creation waits to see revealed .

There is a crack in everything God has made, that's how the light gets in!

"There is a crack in everything God has made except Reason." - Ralph Waldo Emerson

"Ring the bells that still can ring
Forget your perfect offering
There is a crack in everything
That's how the light gets in."
- from Anthem by Leonard Cohen

A meditation adapted from Renewalworks...

Everyone has some area that calls for healing, an area of brokenness, imperfection or incompletion, a growth opportunity. The recognition of that opening for God’s light to shine through is a critical part of the proclamation of the gospel...

So often, the religious journey seems to be about being right, so that someone else will be wrong. What would it be if we focused not so much on being right, but being righteous? By righteous, I mean that word in the sense that St. Paul uses it in his letters. It is not about political or theological correctness (and folks across the spectrum subscribe to respective correctness). Righteous is a relational term. It means being set in right relationship. That right relationship begins with accepting that we are accepted (a quote from Paul Tillich, another smart guy, and I bet your impressed that I worked him into this message, aren’t you?)

In our tradition, that right relationship begins with receiving grace, knowing that our worth is not established by how many poets we can quote (with proper attribution). On the basis of that acceptance, we can engage with others in a spirit of openness, a recognition that we all have growth opportunities, and the kind of deep joy that cares little whether we got the quote right or not.

In marriage, in families, among siblings, with parents and children, at the workplace, in the pews, we spend way too much time worrying about who is right. What would it take to focus more on being in right relationship, which includes seeking the best for the other, giving and receiving forgiveness?

There is a crack in everything God has made, including a crack in my efforts to use that Emerson quote to impress folks. A mentor used to say that he never met a motive that wasn’t mixed. Thanks be to God, we have a God who loves us, and chuckles over our jockeying, a God who keeps teaching us and loving us.

Is there a place in today’s schedule to focus less on being right and more on being in right relationship? - Jay Sidebotham

There is a crack in everything God has made, that's how the light gets in!

#prayersof (Prayers of the People) General Convention 2015

from SSJE...

Brother, Give Us A Word will be helping collect Prayers of the People for the General Convention of the Episcopal Church, 24th of June 2015 through to the 2nd of July. For that period we will send an extra email a day in advance asking if you consider writing a prayer or sending an image on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram with #prayersof.

The prayers will follow one of nine themes, seven of which are the forms of prayer identified in the Book of Common Prayer: life, thanksgiving, praise, intercession, adoration, oblation, penitence, petition, and celebration. In preparation for this time of prayer I commend to a sermon by my brother Luke on the theme of Thanksgiving.

#Thanksgiving: Food on the Road – Br. Luke Ditewig 

"Look around right now: notice divine love in the ordinary stuff of life, in words and actions, your very breath and the stars above. God is with us and within us. God is still saving, refreshing and blessing us here. It says instead of complaining, give thanks for all heavenly food on the hard road that leads to life. Give thanks for manna and even more BBQ chicken"

We invite your prayers to the God of Life in words and images on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram in the format #prayersof #Thanksgiving.
You may want to start “I give thanks…”

On the day at General Convention when Prayers of the People are on the theme of Thanksgiving, Brother, Give Us A Word will have a short meditation on Thanksgiving and a link to a special audio Morning Meditation that the Brothers have recorded. Later that day Brother, Give Us a Word will send you a link to a special audio Evening Reflection on Thanksgiving.

To learn more please visit www.prayersofthepeople.org.

Yours faithfully,
Br. Geoffrey Tristram
Superior

Rogation Days

The word "rogation" come from the Latin rogare, which means "to ask," and the Rogation Days are days set apart to bless the fields, and ask for God's mercy on all of creation (often done as a procession around the "parish"). The standard practice in the Episcopal Church on the Rogation Days is to pray for fruitful seasons on Monday, commerce and industry on Tuesday, and stewardship of creation on Wednesday.

Insert into the Prayers of the People (after nation before suffering):
Bring newness and change to all of creation, O God, that new life may spring up from the old and that we may be your faithful stewards of your good gifts. Awake, O Creation, rise from death,
And Christ will give you life!

Collects  – BCP p. 259 & 260
19. For Rogation Days

I. For fruitful seasons
Almighty God, Lord of heaven and earth: We humbly pray that your gracious providence may give and preserve to our use the harvests of the land and of the seas, and may prosper all who labor to gather them, that we, who are constantly receiving good things from your hand, may always give you thanks; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.


II. For Commerce and Industry

Almighty God, whose Son Jesus Christ in his earthly life shared our toil and hallowed our labor: Be present with your people where they work; make those who carry on the industries and commerce of this land responsive to your will; and give to us all a pride in what we do, and a just return for our labor; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

III. For stewardship of creation

O merciful Creator, your hand is open wide to satisfy the needs of every living creature: Make us always thankful for your loving providence; and grant that we, remembering the account that we must one day give, may be faithful stewards of your good gifts; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who with you and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Blessing (adapted from C of E):
May God who is the source of all goodness and growth,
pour his blessing upon all things created,
and upon you his children,
that you may use all good gifts to his glory and the welfare of all peoples;
and the blessing of God almighty,
the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit,
be among you and remain with you always. Amen.

Mother's Day

The chair of the Pensacola Area Episcopal Peace Fellowship Chapter - Bill Sloan - offers this insert he created for churches to use in their Mother's Day bulletins:

A Mother's Day Proclamation

Julia Ward Howe, author of the Battle Hymn of the Republic and mother of five, was a strident activist against slavery and for the rights of women, battling alongside Susan B Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton for the right to vote. Her Appeal to womanhood throughout the world, 1870, later called her Mother's Day Proclamation, was her reaction to the American Civil War and the Franco-Prussian War. If we take Howe's vision into account, we are more likely to read the Battle Hymn as a manifesto to reject violence than to crush the South - to see that God is trampling out the grapes of anger and vengeance before they can ferment into something intoxicating. If you have been aroused by the Battle Hymn - who hasn't? -- you have to take her Appeal to Womanhood seriously indeed.

Appeal to womanhood throughout the world

"In the sight of the Christian world, great nations have exhausted themselves in mutual murder. Again have the sacred questions of international justice been committed to the fatal mediation of military weapons. Arise then, women of this day! Arise all women who have hearts, whether your baptism be of water or of tears! Say firmly: We will not have questions decided by irrelevant agencies. Our husbands shall not come to us reeking of 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 women of one country will be too tender to those of another country to allow our sons to be trained to injure theirs."

On Mother's Day 2015 let us give thanks and praise God for the life of Julia Ward Howe and let us pray for all mothers:

Loving God, on this day
we thank you for the love of our mothers and those who have given us motherly care,
all who have nurtured our souls and blessed our lives.
We pray for those mothers in our world today where war or famine,

violence or illness have hindered their care for children.
We ask you to bless them with your own special love.

May we see your loving Spirit within all mothers and help us to live our lives in peace.
We ask this in the name of Jesus, who was loved by his mother Mary.  Amen.

 
Mothering Sunday by Malcolm Guite

At last, in spite of all, a recognition,
For those who loved and laboured for so long,
Who brought us, through that labour, to fruition
To flourish in the place where we belong.
A thanks to those who stayed and did the raising,
Who buckled down and did the work of two,
Whom governments have mocked instead of praising,
Who hid their heart-break and still struggled through,
The single mothers forced onto the edge
Whose work the world has overlooked, neglected,
Invisible to wealth and privilege,
But in whose lives the kingdom is reflected.
Now into Christ our mother church we bring them,
Who shares with them the birth-pangs of His Kingdom.