Thoughtful Posts by a Monk

These are two blog posts, one on Corpus Christi and one on the Trinity, which I found very helpful in thinking about these feasts for the Church (follow the links) by the Abbott of St. Gregory's:

Christ’s Dynamically Wild Presence
The Elusive Trinity

You can find more information here and here.

More with #PBCurry

A few more articles:

Fresh off royal sermon, bishop warns 'somebody woke up Jim Crow'

How I Wrote the Royal Wedding Sermon — and Why I Went Off Script

Bishop who lit up royal wedding tells Washington crowd: 'Love your neighbor'

Royal Wedding bishop Michael Curry warns against 'dangerous crisis of moral and political leadership' in Washington

An American Triduum - 3 American Feasts with Prayer

I love the idea of three days of prayer centered around 3 American Feast Days (this is often called a triduum). I think about the three Feast Days of America that are centered on summer & our lives as Americans: 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.

Bishop Michael Curry and Rev. William Barber on Poor People’s Campaign

Memorial Day Prayers

Memorial Day Prayers 2018

Invocation

We give you thanks, O Lord, for all who have died that we may live, for all who endured pain that we might know joy, for all who made sacrifices that we might have plenty, for all who suffered imprisonment that we might know freedom. Turn our deep feeling now into determination, and our determination into deed, that as men and women died in service to their country for the blessings of peace, we may live into that liberty and goodwill for the sake of the Prince of Peace, [even Jesus Christ our Lord.] Amen.

(based upon a prayer by Leslie D. Weatherhead)

Benediction

As we pause to lift our hearts and minds in prayer, let us be mindful of those who have laid down their lives in the service of their country. O God, we ask your strength, that we might dedicate ourselves to perfecting your kingdom of peace and justice among the nations. Let us give thanks for the many blessings of freedom which we possess, purchased at the cost of many lives and sacrifices. Fill us with courage to fulfill our tasks and in no way break faith with the fallen. We commend these fallen to your mercy and ask that you give them eternal rest. This we ask and pray in your holy name. Amen.

(based on a prayer From Refuge and Strength – Prayers for the Military and their Families, Theodore W, Edwards, Jr. Church Publishing, 2008)

May 27 Sermon - Trinity Sunday

O God Most High, in the waters of baptism you made us your sons and daughters in Christ, your only-begotten Son. Hear deep within us the cry of that Spirit, & grant that we may become heralds of the salvation you offer to all and go forth to make disciples of all nations. We ask this through Christ, with whom you have raised us up in baptism, the Lord who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, One God for ever and ever. Amen. (From Prayers for Sunday and Seasons, Year B, Peter J. Scagnelli, LTP, 1992.)

And Isaiah said: “Woe is me! I am lost, for I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips; yet my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!”

The seraph touched my mouth with the live coal and said: “Now that this has touched your lips, your guilt has departed and your sin is blotted out.” And I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” And I said, “Here am I; send me!”

“Here am I; send me!” We may feel unworthy, like Isaiah did, like we don’t have anything to offer. We may feel unclean or sinful, but God calls each of us through our baptism to be God’s instruments in the world today.

That live coal has touched us in our baptism and our guilt/shame are taken away; the Spirit of God is in us, waiting to pour into this world by how we use our gifts, in what we say & do.

A Quaker pastor remembers the insight he learned from a woman who was part of the meeting (his church) that he once pastored:

"[This] elderly woman had committed herself to works of mercy. As I got to know her better, I was astounded at the many ways in which she had blessed hurting people. Though her income was modest, she lived simply so she could give generously. Though her many commitments kept her calendar full, she still found time to be present for those who needed comfort. The longer I knew her, the more I marveled at her charity, given the scarcity of her resources. Because of her humility, she was reluctant to talk with others about her own accomplishments. But one day she let slip the principle that guided her life, when she said to me, 'Little is much when God is in it.'

"I have thought of that many times since, appreciating its truth more and more as the years pass. Little does become much when love is present. Love does magnify our works. Jesus knew this. He knew even the smallest gesture of love could transform the darkest situation and so fully committed himself to divine love that we are still awed by his life. Believe me when I tell you this: We can be like him, and like all the other God-bearers our world has known... We can be like him when we say yes to the Divine Presence that is also in us, as thoroughly as we are able. As we do that, our lives, and the lives of others, will be transformed. God's joy will be in us, and our joy will be full." [From The Evolution of Faith: How God Is Creating a Better Christianity by Philip Gulley.]

Little is much when God is in it.

Those Quakers understood that call to love and to service. And God will be there.

“Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” And she said, “Here am I; send me!”

Gino Bartali was a famous Italian cyclist, a household name, as the champion of the Tour de France of 1938. In 1943, when the Nazis came to Italy, a large community of Jews had fled to Florence, where the rabbi there turned to the cardinal of Florence. And the cardinal turned to Bartali and asked for help to smuggle the Jews out of the country via monasteries.

So, Bartali got on his bicycle, and becomes a de facto bike messenger for a network that ran between Florence and Assisi — about 110 miles apart — which helped refugees get fake papers. He would collect photos of the refugees from the monasteries and safe houses where they were taking shelter. And then he'd bike the photos to a father/son team in Assisi, who were printers and could make actual fake identity papers that the photos would be attached to.

"Bartali was a great person to participate in this secret network in this way because he was one of the few people during the war years who had relative liberty to move around," says McConnon. "He still trained on his bicycle, so he could be seen in the countryside in Tuscany and Umbria." And if he got stopped, well, he could just say he was training for his next race. He hid the fake papers and photographs in the bike frame, the tube, underneath the seat and in the handlebars.

This was risky, of course. He was married and had a young son. His diaries from the wartime years, express his anxiety. His family knew some of what he was doing, as he was also hiding a Jewish family in his house. But they didn't know the full extent. Near the end of the war, someone tipped off the authorities and Bartali was brought before the secret police, who knew something was up, even if they didn't know what.

Prisoners were tortured in plain view and Bartali sat there for three days in the HQ. "But after three days, when they took him out to question him, one of the aides to the head of the secret police said, 'Look, I can vouch for this man. If he says he hasn't done anything wrong, you should let him go,'" says Jacoby.

Bartali was released. It wasn't until his older son was in his 30s that Bartali told him any of this. It stayed a secret to everyone else for decades.

Archival footage from 1985 of Bartali saying in Italian, "I don't want to talk about it or act like a hero. Heroes are those who died, who were injured, who spend many months in prison." He's estimated to have helped at least 800 Jews escape the Nazis… (http://www.wbur.org/endlessthread/2018/02/23/the-goat)

Little does become much when love is present.

Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” And Bartali said, “Here am I; send me!”

Today is the Sunday when we honor the Holy Trinity, which celebrates the many ways God makes his presence known in our lives, in the manifestations of his love in our lives and our world and invites us to look with a new awareness to behold God in our midst. As the Gospel of John reminds us:

“For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life. Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.” And we are now sent out in Jesus name, like Gino Bartali, and the Quaker woman, and all those who through the Spirit bring that love into the world.

May this holy day of the Trinity reawaken our senses and our consciousness to behold God's love in our lives, in our making the little into much that is holy and sacred, knowing God is with us. Amen.

#ReclaimingJesus

You can learn more here and here about Reclaiming Jesus.

Presiding Bishop's Sermon - #RoyalWedding #Episcopal

Royal Wedding:

• The order of service is here.
• Read more here.
• The music is here.
• Article on the PB before the sermon is here.

The Bishop's Sermon:

• You can find the text here.
• You can watch it here.

The reaction:

https://religionnews.com/2018/05/21/curry-legacy/

https://uppitynegronetwork.com/2018/05/22/bishop-michael-curry-an-explainer-essay/

https://medium.com/@kristiyorkwooten/why-bishop-currys-royal-wedding-message-is-a-game-changer-26e825e0e9bd

https://www.npr.org/2018/05/20/612747577/royal-wedding-was-filled-with-symbolism-of-african-american-history

https://www.episcopalnewsservice.org/2018/05/21/presiding-bishops-royal-wedding-sermon-on-love-draws-global-praise-boosts-episcopal-evangelism/

https://www.marketwatch.com/story/the-sermon-that-as-much-as-meghan-markles-central-role-americanized-the-british-monarchy-2018-05-19

https://www.today.com/news/rev-michael-curry-opens-royal-wedding-sermon-quiet-british-amen-t129516

#PrayFastAct #ForSuchATime #Veterans

May 2018 #PrayFastAct for Veterans (from here)

The Episcopal Church and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America continue our united call to Pray, Fast, and Act in support of good policies and programs that provide opportunities for and respect the dignity of all people.

This month we focus on programs that assist veterans and their family members. New investments and policies in recent years have helped expand veteran access to education, labor opportunities, healthcare, and housing. Still, too many veterans, active service members and their families still struggle with complex challenges—ranging from barriers to benefits to increased mental health risks. We must continue to support those of us who risk everything for the safety and wellbeing of our communities.

Studies from the Department of Veterans Affairs have found that 22 veterans take their lives each day-- a rate 21 percent higher when compared to other civilian adults. Some factors, such as the on-going opioid epidemic, have also disproportionately impacted veterans, increasing demand for services among those seeking recovery and contribute to the many challenges impacting families. There is a great need to do more for veterans in our communities. Through chaplains, dioceses, and congregations across the country the Church plays a special role in welcoming returning veterans. Let us take action by asking Congress to protect programs that address the needs and equip veterans as they return from service.

On May 21, join the EPPN, ELCA Advocacy, and Presiding Bishops of the Episcopal Church and the ELCA as we #PrayFastAct.

Pray for those who have answered a vocation of military service and for their families; for the many military chaplains across the world who bear the witness of Christ in word and sacrament; for those who have lost their lives in service of our country and who are moved to harm themselves.

For Memorial Day
We give you thanks, O Lord, for all who have died that we may live, for all who endured pain that we might know joy, for all who made sacrifices that we might have plenty, for all who suffered imprisonment that we might know freedom. Turn our deep feeling now into determination, and our determination into deed, that as men and women died for peace, we may live for peace for the sake of the Prince of Peace, even Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. (based upon a prayer by Leslie D. Weatherhead)

For those who serve
Almighty God, we commend to your gracious care and keeping all the men and women of our armed forces [and federal ministries] at home and abroad. Defend them day by day with your heavenly grace; strengthen them in their trials and temptations; give them courage to face the perils which beset them; and grant them a sense of your abiding presence wherever they may be; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Fast in remembrance of the sacrifices men and women in the armed forces make for our common good, and for their families who cope with daily challenges in the absence of their loved ones.

Act by urging our lawmakers to pursue innovative solutions and further address the challenges facing veterans.

Additional Resources:

• Learn about additional opportunities for congregations to assist veterans in your community at the faith-based office of the U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs.
• Learn more about the Episcopal chaplaincy in VA hospital settings or in the military.
• For resources to support veterans in your region, please contact the Episcopal Veterans Fellowship (EVF).
• VA Resources for Clergy and Faith Communities
• VA National Center for PTSD Clergy Toolkit
• VA Office of Mental Health Services: Overview of substance use resources 
• Reading our one-page information on veterans!

Looking at Our Bias

We all have bias.  It is a mechanism that we have as human beings. But if we don't understand our bias, it can lead us away from living the way Jesus would have us live, with open hearts to the world that God has made.

What can we do?

• watch Peanut Butter, Jelly and Racism from the New York Times POV series 
• read "How to Reduce Unconscious Bias at Work" and it's list of types of implicit bias.
• listen to "Rap on Trial: How An Aspiring Musician's Words Led To Prison Time" - an episode of NPR's show Hidden Brain (a conversation about life's unseen patterns)

#EpiscopalChurch & #PoorPeoplesCampaign

40 Days for Justice Begins

The Executive Council of the Episcopal Church, at its January meeting called the whole Church enter into “action, ministry, and official relationship” with the Poor People’s Campaign, a faith-based movement serving the least and most vulnerable among us."

We hope you will join in the prophetic voice calling people of faith to embrace this the revival of Dr. King’s dream in the Jesus Movement.

Actions, worship and teaching in your state -- Register at https://www.poorpeoplescampaign.org/faith-1/ or visit poorpeoplescampaign.org.

WEEKLY THEMES

WEEK ONE (May 13-19)

SOMEBODY’S HURTING OUR PEOPLE: Children, Women, and People with Disabilities in Poverty

WEEK TWO (May 20-26)

LINKING SYSTEMIC RACISM AND POVERTY: Voting Rights, Immigration, Xenophobia, Islamophobia, and the Mistreatment of Indigenous Communities

WEEK THREE (May 27-June 2)

THE WAR ECONOMY: Militarism and the Proliferation of Gun Violence

WEEK FOUR (June 3-9)

THE RIGHT TO HEALTH AND A HEALTHY PLANET: Ecological Devastation and Health Care

WEEK FIVE (June 10-16)

EVERYBODY’S GOT THE RIGHT TO LIVE: Education, Living Wage Jobs, Income, Housing

WEEK SIX (June 17-22)

A NEW AND UNSETTLING FORCE: Confronting the Distorted Moral Narrative

June 23 – Global Day of Solidarity and Sending Forth Call to Action Mass Rally in Washington DC

Learn more here.

#ThyKingdomCome - A Video by our Presiding Bishop

Thy Kingdom Come

What do mean when we pray 'Thy Kingdom Come?'
Presiding Bishop Michael Curry of the Episcopal Church

“Thy Kingdom Come... “ is a prayer that God's will and God's dream might be realized in our time and in our lives. Watch this moving reflection from Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church, Michael Curry, for Thy Kingdom Come 2018. Don't forget to sign up and #pledge2pray for more people to come to know Christ as part of this year's Thy Kingdom Come - visit www.thykingdomcome.global

Sermon: May 13 #nurses

Sanctify, O Lord, those whom you have called to the study and practice of the arts of healing, and to the prevention of disease and pain. Strengthen them by your life-giving Spirit, that by their ministries the health of the community may be promoted and your creation glorified; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. (BCP)

As the college student rang the doorbell and delivered the pizza, the man who answered growled, "What's the usual tip?"

"Well, sir," the student replied, "this is my first delivery, but the other guys said that if I got a dollar out of you, I'd be doing great."

"That so?" grunted the customer. "Well, in that case, here's ten bucks." "Thank you, sir," the grateful student said, taking the bill. "This will be a big help at school."

"By the way," the customer asked, "what are you studying?" - "Applied psychology."

This psychology student has learned not just to see what people do but why they do it - and what will make them act differently. Jesus, in today's Gospel, prays that we will do the same. He calls us to see the truth in its totality - not just to recognize a series of facts but to understand how those facts connect to reveal reality and truth.

The Risen Christ challenges us not to approach truth in terms of wins and losses or of power or of the comfort of convention, but to approach truth as where and how God is present in our lives and our world. To be a person of authentic faith means to face and seek out the truth - regardless of our doubts and cynicism and fear. To be "consecrated in the truth" begins with embracing the Spirit of God: the wisdom, the wholeness, the love of God who is the first and last and constant reality.

And his prayer is a call to follow in his way offering prayers of comfort and hope as we live into his spirit of truth. We are called to use our words and actions to spread that truth and love of Jesus. Today, I think of Nurses who are the unsung heroes in so many of our conflicts and in our lives today, who consecrated in the truth that all need healing and wholeness in their lives.

I think of Florence Nightingale – Lady of the Lamp

Probably the best known nurse - her nursing career began before the war where she was astonished how badly nurses were trained and how bad conditions were in hospitals. She began to remedy this before she went and served in the Crimean War. Her nursing was an epic of heroic patience and compassion. She often worked for 20 hours without a break, supervising every detail of the insanitary and evil-smelling hospital. She visited the wards alone every night, lamp in hand, to comfort the men. The scene has been told by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow in his poem “Santa Filomena":

A lady with a lamp I see
Pass through the glimmering gloom,
And flit from room to room

On England’s annals through the long
Hereafter of her speech and song
That lights its rays shall cast
From portals of the past

A Lady with a Lamp shall stand
In the great history of the land,
A noble type of good
Heroic womanhood.

She carried out her duties with such efficiency that the death-rate in the army hospital fell by 40% in four months. Much of today’s modern nursing harkens back to her work. (http://www.pioneerassociation.ie/pioneer-magazine/154-december2010article)

But she wasn’t the only nurse in Crimea.

I think of Mary Seacole – “Mother Seacole”

Mary Seacole, a Jamaican/Scottish nurse widely known to the British Army as “Mother Seacole” - when the Crimean War broke out, Mary’s application to assist was refused despite her nursing experience. Determined to help, she used her own limited resources to travel and set up a hotel behind the lines in Crimea. Here, she tirelessly tended to the curing and comforting of wounded soldiers coming off the battlefield and people from all walks in need: “The grateful words and smiles which rewarded me for binding up a wound or giving a cooling drink was a pleasure worth risking life for at any time.” She also nursed the wounded on the battlefield - sometimes under the hail of gunfire. Google doodle honored her work in 2016 for her legacy as an empowered healer and humanitarian. (https://www.google.com/doodles/celebrating-mary-seacole)

In 2016, a statue of Mother Seacole was erected opposite the Houses of Parliament on the grounds of St Thomas' Hospital & is inscribed with words written in 1857 by The Times' Crimean War correspondent, Sir William Howard Russell: "I trust that England will not forget one who nursed her sick, who sought out her wounded to aid and succour them, and who performed the last offices for some of her illustrious dead." (http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-london-36663206 )

I think of Clara Barton – angel of the battlefield

Clara Barton knew that she was needed most on the Civil War battlefields where the suffering was greatest. She prodded leaders in the government and the army until she was given permission to bring her voluntary services and medical supplies to the scenes of battle and field hospitals.

Following the battle of Cedar Mountain in northern Virginia, she appeared at a field hospital at midnight with a wagonload of supplies drawn by a four-mule team. The surgeon on duty later wrote: "I thought that night if heaven ever sent out a[n]... angel, she must be one - her assistance was so timely." Thereafter she was known as the Angel of the Battlefield.

A Woman of Valor: Clara Barton and the Civil War by Stephen B. Oates says it all:

“During this and many other battles, we witness Clara Barton, the American Florence Nightingale, setting up candle lanterns so that the surgeons could amputate all night, or ladling out mouthfuls of soup so that the dying could relieve their thirst, or distributing crackers to the starving or cloaks and blankets to the cold. These were among the ways she tried to improve the odds of the wounded and mitigate the agony of the doomed. We watch her pause to hold a man as he slips into unconsciousness, then bend down to another as he whispers a plea that she write to his mother to report his dying devotion. Eventually we follow her to Andersonville, the notorious Confederate prison camp in Georgia, where, after the war, she led the effort to identify the Union dead.”

Barton helped to establish field hospitals and distributed supplies to Union soldiers after the failed siege at Charleston. In the process, Barton herself became gravely ill and was evacuated. Later in life, she helped found the American Red Cross in 1880 and even brought aid to the Armenians suffering through a genocide by the Turks.  (https://ehistory.osu.edu/biographies/clara-barton-angel-battlefield)

I think of Augusta Chiwy - The Forgotten Nurse of Bastogne

Augusta Chiwy in December 1944 was visiting her family at their home in Bastogne, when an American Army doctor knocked on the door. He was desperate for help. The battle of the bulge had begun and he was alone in a makeshift medical aid station.

Augusta was a nurse & immediately went to work at the station. At the time, black nurses were not allowed to treat white soldiers - but the doctor got around the regulation by reminding wounded white soldiers that Ms. Chiwy was a volunteer - and added, "You either let her treat you or you die."

During the siege, the station's ambulance driver was killed. Augusta and her friend, Renee Lemaire, put on Army uniforms and drove the ambulance to the front and back. Because they were wearing Army uniforms and not nurses' garb, they could have been shot had the Germans captured them.

The two women combed the battlefield, often coming under enemy fire, to find the wounded in the deep snow. A bomb blast on Christmas Eve near the station killed her friend Renee and 30 wounded American soldiers. Augusta herself was blown through a wall, but survived.

The siege at Bastogne ended the day after Christmas. Several hundred American GIs owe their lives to the young nurse who worked at the two aid stations for more than a month.

Sixty-seven years after that horrible winter, Ms. Chiwy was honored by the Belgian government for her humanitarian care. She said simply, "What I did was very normal. I would have done it for anyone. We are all children of God." [The New York Times, August 25, 2015.]

The quiet dedication and generous service to the children of God by Augusta Chiwy, Mary Seacole, Clara Barton & Florence Nightingale follow the call of Jesus. Nurses continue to serve us in hospitals, in other care facilities, in bringing hope, love and healing to our broken world. Today let us offer a prayer in remembrance & thanksgiving of nurses of the past and for the nurses among us today. May we all have such hope & caring in our lives, embracing that healing Spirit of God. As we know, in the Gospel, it is not the measure of the gift but the measure of the love that directs the gift that is great before God.

The Flame of Florence Nightingale's Legacy (Nightingale Prayer)

“Today, our world needs healing and to be rekindled with Love.
Once, Florence Nightingale lit her beacon of lamplight to comfort the wounded.
Her light has blazed a path of service across a Century to us --
through her example and through the countless nurses and healers
who have followed in her footsteps.

Like Mary Seacole, Clara Barton & Augusta Chiwy.

“Today, we celebrate the flame of Florence Nightingale's legacy.
Let that same light be rekindled to burn brightly in our hearts.
Let us take up our own ‘lanterns of caring,’ each in our own ways —
to more brightly walk our own paths of service to the world —
to more clearly share our own ‘noble purpose’ with each other.

“May human caring become the lantern for the 21st century.
May we better learn to care for ourselves, for each other and for all creation.

“Through our caring, may we be the keepers of that flame.
That our spirits may burn brightly to kindle the hearts of our children and great-grandchildren —
as they, too, follow in these footsteps.” Deva-Marie Beck, PhD, RN © 1996

Amen.




To carry on her work of care, visit here.

Prayers for #Nurses & #Mother'sDay

A Nurse's Prayer
[O great healer] Give Nurses strength and wisdom,
When others need their touch;
A soothing word to speak to the needy,
Their hearts yearn for so much.
Give Nurses joy and laughter,
To lift a weary soul;
Pour in them compassion,
To make the broken whole.
Give them gentle, healing hands,
For those left in their care;
A blessing to those who need them,
For we give our thanks in this Nurse's prayer. Amen.

adapted from a prayer by Allison Chambers Coxsey
A Mother’s Day Prayer
On this Mother's Day, we give thanks to God for the divine gift of motherhood in all its diverse forms. Let us pray for all the mothers among us today; for our own mothers, those living and those who have passed away; for the mothers who loved us and for those mothers who struggled with love; for all who hope to be mothers someday and for those whose hope to have children has been frustrated; for all mothers who have lost children; for all women and men who have been our substitute mothers and we who have done so for those in need; and for the earth that bore us and provides us sustenance. We pray this all in the name of God, our great and loving Mother. Amen.

Adapted from a prayer by the Rev. Leslie Nipps from Women's Uncommon Prayers (Morehouse Publishing, 2000), p. 364.

Nightingale Prayer

The Flame of Florence Nightingale's Legacy

                                                                                                                    

“Today, our world needs healing and to be rekindled with Love.
Once, Florence Nightingale lit her beacon of lamplight to comfort the wounded. 
Her light has blazed a path of service across a Century to us --
        through her example and through the countless nurses and healers
        who have followed in her footsteps.

“Today, we celebrate the flame of Florence Nightingale's legacy.
Let that same light be rekindled to burn brightly in our hearts.
Let us take up our own ‘lanterns of caring,’ each in our own ways —
        to more brightly walk our own paths of service to the world —
        to more clearly share our own ‘noble purpose’ with each other.

“May human caring become the lantern for the 21st century.
May we better learn to care for ourselves, for each other and for all creation.

“Through our caring, may we be the keepers of that flame.
That our spirits may burn brightly to kindle the hearts of our children and great-grandchildren — 
as they, too, follow in these footsteps.”           Deva-Marie Beck, PhD, RN © 1996

Learn more here.

A Mom for the Abandoned

Thinking about Mother's Day, I remember this story I saw in 2016.

It is a beautiful story of a mother who refused to let those dying from AIDS in the 1980s in Arkansas be alone.

“Who knew there’d come a time when people didn’t want to bury their children?” says Ruth Coker Burks.

Burks pulled a chair to his bedside, talked to him, and held his hand. She bathed his face with a cloth and told him she was there. “I stayed with him for 13 hours while he took his last breaths on Earth,” she said.

Read the incredible story here.

#ThyKingdomCome

During the 11 days of Thy Kingdom Come, it is hoped that everyone who participates will deepen their friendship with Jesus, bring other to know Jesus or know him better, and come to know that every aspect of their life is the stuff of prayer. Thy Kingdom Come is a global prayer movement that invites Christians around the world to pray for more people to come to know Jesus. What started in 2016 as an invitation from the Archbishops of Canterbury and York to the Church of England has grown into an international and ecumenical call to prayer.

The Prayer:

Almighty God, your ascended Son has sent us into the world to preach the good news of your kingdom: inspire us with your Spirit and fill our hearts with the fire of your love, that all who hear your Word may be drawn to you, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

You can find resources here: https://www.thykingdomcome.global/prayerresources

Home page: https://www.thykingdomcome.global/

I have also printed out resources and they are available at church.

A CNN HERO - Rev Becca Stevens & Thistle Farms

Rev Becca Stevens and her Nashville-based nonprofit, Thistle Farms, have helped more than 200 women escape the streets and transform their lives.

Learn more here: https://thistlefarms.org/

Rev. Becca Stevens - The Wonder and Grace of a Drop in the Bucket

Her website: http://www.beccastevens.org/

Finding Faith Today - Rev. Becca Stevens

     

From NBC - Kicking off a special series "Finding Faith Today," Jenna Bush Hager introduces us to one woman who is making a difference in so many lives with Thistle Farms, a special community in Nashville, Tennessee, where faith has helped survivors with one simple idea: love.

Challenging our Bias & the Bubbles We Live In

 

Everybody's in a Bubble, and That's a Problem
In politics as well as business, people are shaped by who they see—and who they don't. 

 

Living in bubbles is the natural state of affairs for human beings. People seek out similarities in their marriages, workplaces, neighborhoods, and peer groups. The preferred sociological term is “homophily”—similarity breeds affection—and the implications are not all positive. White Americans have 90 times more white friends than they have black, Asian, or Hispanic friends, according to one analysis from the Public Religion Research Institute. That’s not a description of a few liberal elite cliques. It’s a statistic describing the social networks of 200 million people. America is bubbles, all the way down.

We all live in a bubble.
Here’s why you step out of it, according to experts

Picture this, you’re online scrolling through your Facebook newsfeed and this is what you see: ‘Keep them out! Finally nice to see there’s accountability in this country #travelban.’ Or you see this: ‘How can this even be legal? Families are being torn apart #travelban.’Depending on your ideologies and opinions, you might see one or the other. But usually not both. That’s according to experts who say you’re living in an online bubble.

Three quarters of whites don’t have any non-white friends

"All my black friends have a bunch of white friends. And all my white friends have one black friend." That's the memorable punchline of a Chris Rock bit from 2009 on interracial friendships. And according to some recent number-crunching by Robert Jones of the Public Religion Research Institute, there's a good deal of truth to that statement.

May 6 Sermon (Easter 6)

Your love, O God, is revealed among us in the gift of your Son Jesus, who laid down his life and bestows on us the joy of abiding in your love. Baptized into Christ’s body, we pray that through the witness we bear, you will bring forth fruit that will last. Teach us, God of love, how to love one another as you have loved us. We ask this through Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God for ever and ever. Amen. (Peter J. Scagnelli)

Last week, it was about love. This week it’s about…love. I get the feeling, love is on the top of the list of what God tells us that is important for our lives and what we are to be offering one another. It is the fruit we give one another, it is how we abide in God’s love. As I thought about the word love, I remembered a line from an old song…

"If you can't be with the one you love, love the one you're with" which was a frequent remark made by the musician Billy Preston and used with permission by Stephen Stills in his song from 1970.

"If you can't be with the one you love, (honey) love the one you're with"

I think that can be a useful way for us to think about that love command that God gives us. We can’t always be with the ones we love, so we are to love the one we are with.

In Boston’s Quincy Market there is a memorial to the victims of the Holocaust. The memorial is made up of six pillars of plexiglass. On a background of the millions of prisoner numbers assigned by the Nazis to those who perished, each pillar contains stories that speak of the cruelty and suffering in the camps.

But one of the pillars tells a different story. It is about a little girl named Ilse, a childhood friend of Gerda Weissman Klein, who recounts the tale. Gerda remembers the morning when Ilse, who was about six years old at the time of her internment at Auschwitz, found a single raspberry somewhere in the camp. Ilse carried the raspberry all day long in a protected fold of her pocket. That evening, her eyes shining with happiness, Ilse presented the raspberry on a leaf to her friend Gerda.
 

“Imagine a world,” writes Gerda, “in which your entire possession is one raspberry, and you give it to your friend.”

In the midst of the horror of the Holocaust, little Ilse manages to discover the joy that only comes from bringing that same joy to another. That is the commandment of Jesus to us who would be his Church: to love one another as Christ, God made human, has loved us.

At the ECW luncheon, we heard from the founder of Magdalene House in Nashville, a non-for-profit recovery community for women and Thistle Farms, a for-profit cottage industry launched to help support Magdalene House and its residents. The founder, The Rev Becca Stevens, once said, “I want to love the world, but I need to make sure that it happens one person at a time that I encounter.”

“After experiencing the death of her father and subsequent child abuse when she was 5, Becca longed to open a sanctuary for survivors offering a loving community. In 1997, five women who had experienced trafficking, violence, and addiction were welcomed home. Twenty years later, the organization continues to welcome women with free residences that provide housing, medical care, therapy and education for two years. Residents and graduates earn income through one of four social enterprises. The Global Market of Thistle Farms helps employ more than 1,800 women worldwide, and the national network has more than 40 sister communities.” (bio)

During Becca’s address a member of that community who has graduated from Magdalene House lit a candle, telling us of the meditation circle at Thistle Farms saying, “We light this candle for the women on the streets, and we light this candle for the women trying to find their way home.”

Love remembers where it came from and love shines forth so everyone can experience it. The light that they have lit with love shines not only in our country but it has gone to Greece to help with the Syrian refugees.

“The current refugee crisis has women and their children trading an unsafe home for unknown waters. With almost nothing but a life vest, they arrive in an unfamiliar world in search of a new life. Women refugees have come together with Thistle Farms to start the first social enterprise in Ritsona, Greece. Women are weaving welcome mats that include the fabric from life vests worn by refugees on their journey to Greece. The Welcome Project is committed to helping women find their path forward. They believe that love is the greatest force for change in the world.”

As Christ gives his life for others, he commands us to do the same; as Christ brings healing and peace into the lives of those he meets, he commands us to find our life’s purpose in bringing his healing and peace into the lives we touch; on the streets of America. In refugee camps.

It’s simple acts of love, lighting a candle for others to bring hope and love in a world so often empty of each. For Christ reveals to the world a God who loves his children, he commands us to love one another as brothers and sisters. Such love can be overwhelmingly demanding – but such love can be the source of incredible joy and fulfillment, no less than an experience of Easter resurrection.

Love heals. Love welcomes. Love will transform this world.

That is the fruit that will last, God says, and that is the fruit that we are to bring forth in our lives.

In the poetic words of Malcolm Guite…

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.

"If you can't be with the one you love, (honey) love the one you're with" Amen.

#ThyKingdomCome #Pledge2Pray in 1 week

Prayer during the day with Thy Kingdom Come

May 10 - 20

DISCOVERING A PATTERN FOR PRAYER

During Thy Kingdom Come, you are invited to discover new habits and ways of praying to God, that those whom you know might come to know Jesus.

From the earliest days of the Church, people have gathered together to praise God and to pray for salvation through his Son. Prayer During the Day is a form of worship and prayer which can be used by individuals or in groups, at any time of the day, as a structure for praise and petition. It is drawn from Common Worship, one of the worship resources of the Church of England. You are welcome to use it in any way you like, or change it so that it suits your needs.

Whether you are new to ‘structured’ prayer or an old hand, you are invited to try Prayer During the Day for the period between Ascension and Pentecost. We hope you may find in it a spiritual rhythm which will nourish your heart and keep prayer on your lips, enabling you to become part of a global wave of prayer.

HOW TO USE PRAYER DURING THE DAY

1. You can read what follows out loud, or to yourself.
2. You can pray by yourself or in a group. When in a group, everyone can say the words in bold type. You can choose to say or sing the psalms and songs together or to choose someone to speak and others to listen.
3. You can choose your own psalms, songs, and readings, or use the ones given.
4. There is a passage of Scripture for each day of Thy Kingdom Come. You may wish to use each on the day for which it is listed, or you might use other readings.
5. In the Prayers, you can pray out loud or silently whether by yourself or in a group, and you can pray in your own words or use the ones suggested.

Prayer During the Day from Ascension Day until the Day of Pentecost

Preparation
O God, make speed to save us.

O Lord, make haste to help us.

Gladden the soul of your servant,
for to you, O Lord, I lift up my soul.
Psalm 86.4
Praise
Blessed are you, the God of our ancestors,
worthy to be praised and exalted for ever.

Blessed is your holy and glorious name,
worthy to be praised and exalted for ever.

Blessed are you, in your holy and glorious temple,
worthy to be praised and exalted for ever.

Blessed are you who look into the depths,
worthy to be praised and exalted for ever.

Blessed are you, enthroned on the cherubim,
worthy to be praised and exalted for ever.

Blessed are you on the throne of your kingdom,
worthy to be praised and exalted for ever.

Blessed are you in the heights of heaven,
worthy to be praised and exalted for ever.

The Song of the Three 29-34
The Word of God

[Listen to the words of the Bible, in a psalm and a short reading. What do these passages make you think about? Which words, images, and ideas strike you? How do they make you feel? ]
Psalm 47
O sing praises to God, sing praises.

1 Clap your hands together, all you peoples;
O sing to God with shouts of joy.

2 For the Lord Most High is to be feared;
he is the great King over all the earth.

3 He subdued the peoples under us
and the nations under our feet.

4 He has chosen our heritage for us,
the pride of Jacob, whom he loves.

5 God has gone up with a merry noise,
the Lord with the sound of the trumpet.

6 O sing praises to God, sing praises;
sing praises to our King, sing praises.

7 For God is the King of all the earth;
sing praises with all your skill.

8 God reigns over the nations;
God has taken his seat upon his holy throne.

9 The nobles of the peoples are gathered together
with the people of the God of Abraham.

10 For the powers of the earth belong to God
and he is very highly exalted.

O sing praises to God, sing praises.

As Christ was raised by your glory, O Father,
so may we be raised to new life
and rejoice to be called your children,
both now and for ever.

(or)
Sunday Psalm 104.26-32
Monday Psalm 21.1-7
Tuesday Psalm 29
Wednesday Psalm 46
Thursday Psalm 84
Friday Psalm 93
Saturday Psalm 98

Glory to the Father and to the Son
and to the Holy Spirit;
as it was in the beginning is now
and shall be for ever. Amen.

Short readings
 
[There is a reading for each day of Thy Kingdom Come, but you can feel free to choose your own. ]
Ascension Day or on any day after Ascension
Christ did not enter a sanctuary made by human hands, a mere copy of the true one, but he entered into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God on our behalf.
Hebrews 9.24
Friday after Ascension
As it is, we do not yet see everything in subjection to human beings, but we do see Jesus, who for a little while was made lower than the angels, now crowned with glory and honour because of the suffering of death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone. It was fitting that God, for whom and through whom all things exist, in bringing many children to glory, should make the pioneer of their salvation perfect through sufferings.
Hebrews 2.8b-10
Saturday after Ascension
I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Romans 8.38,39
Sunday after Ascension
On the last day of the festival, the great day, while Jesus was standing there, he cried out, ‘Let anyone who is thirsty come to me, and let the one who believes in me drink. As the scripture has said, “Out of the believer’s heart shall flow rivers of living water.”’ Now he said this about the Spirit, which believers in him were to receive.
John 7.37-39a
Monday
Have you not known? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary; his understanding is unsearchable. He gives power to the faint, and strengthens the powerless. Even youths will faint and be weary, and the young will fall exhausted; but those who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength, they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint.
Isaiah 40.28-end
Tuesday
Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; and there are varieties of services, but the same Lord; and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who activates all of them in everyone. To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good.
I Corinthians 12.4-7
Wednesday
I will pour out my spirit on all flesh; your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, and your young men shall see visions. Even on the male and female slaves, in those days, I will pour out my spirit.
Joel 2.28,29
Thursday
Jesus said, ‘Ask, and it will be given to you; search, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened for you. For everyone who asks receives, and everyone who searches finds, and for everyone who knocks, the door will be opened. Is there anyone among you who, if your child asks for a fish, will give a snake instead of a fish? Or if the child asks for an egg, will give a scorpion? If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!’
Luke 11.9-13
Friday
In Christ every one of God’s promises is a ‘Yes’. For this reason it is through him that we say the ‘Amen’, to the glory of God. But it is God who establishes us with you in Christ and has anointed us, by putting his seal on us and giving us his Spirit in our hearts as a first instalment.
2 Corinthians 1.20-22
Saturday
The Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. And all of us, with unveiled faces, seeing the glory of the Lord as though reflected in a mirror, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another; for this comes from the Lord, the Spirit.
2 Corinthians 3.17,18
The Day of Pentecost
Jesus said, ‘Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.’ When he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit.’
John 20.21,22
Response

Let anyone who is thirsty come to me,
and let the one who believes in me drink.
John 7
Prayers
[You can use these ‘prompts’ to guide your own prayers, especially if praying by yourself, or you can plan some other prayers. A form especially appropriate for Thy Kingdom Come is given in full below]
Prayers may include these concerns:

• God’s royal priesthood, that it may be empowered by the Spirit
• Those who wait on God, that they may find renewal
• All people, that they may acknowledge the kingdom of the ascended Christ
• The earth, for productivity and for fruitful harvests
• All who are struggling with broken relationships

The following may be prayed:

God of our salvation,
hope of all the ends of the earth,
we pray:
Thy kingdom come.

That the world may know Jesus Christ
as the Prince of Peace,
we pray:
Thy kingdom come.

That we may be bold to speak the word of God
while you stretch out your hand to save,
we pray:
Thy kingdom come.

That the Church may be generous in giving,
faithful in serving, bold in proclaiming,
we pray:
Thy kingdom come.

That the day may come when every knee shall bow
and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord,
we pray:
Thy kingdom come.

The Prayer for Thy Kingdom Come, or another prayer, may be said
[This prayer will be used in all public Thy Kingdom Come events, and you are encouraged to pray it in personal and group prayer as well]
Almighty God,
your ascended Son has sent us into the world
to preach the good news of your kingdom:
inspire us with your Spirit
and fill our hearts with the fire of your love,
that all who hear your Word
may be drawn to you,
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen.

The Lord’s Prayer is said.

[Use the version of the Lord’s Prayer most familiar to you, in the language of your choice.]
The Conclusion

May the grace of the Holy Spirit enlighten our hearts and minds. Amen.

View Prayer During the Day for the period between Ascension Day and Pentecost online:
https://www.churchofengland.org/prayer-worship/worship/texts/daily2/day/ascensiontopentecost.aspx