Hurricane Florence & Episcopal Relief & Development

Hurricane Florence 2018: How Can I Help?

from Episcopal Relief & Development

As I sit in Charlotte, North Carolina, I understand the roller coaster of emotions felt by people throughout many states bordering the Atlantic - concern, anxiety, relief, renewed concern - as forecasts and models for Hurricane Florence morphed and cast the Cone of Uncertainty in different directions in the days before it made landfall. Like you, I am now deeply saddened to see the devastation experienced in the Carolinas, which will likely grow worse as rivers and waterways continue to rise.

When we see images of people suffering, we want to do something to help. Of course we do. As Christians, we are called to seek and serve Christ in all people and never more so than in times of crisis.

For those impacted by Hurricane Florence, please follow the advice of your local authorities. Take care of yourself and your loved ones. Otherwise, you won’t be able to help anyone else later on. As the airlines remind us: “Put on your own oxygen mask first before you help others.”

For those of us observing and praying from lesser impacted areas and from areas untouched by Florence, it’s important to remember that this is a marathon and not a sprint. Equally important to remember, as with many things in life: Timing can be everything. Understanding the phases following a disaster can be useful in determining how you can help.

After most disasters there are three distinct, if sometimes overlapping, phases: Rescue, Relief and Recovery.

Phase 1 - Rescue

The Rescue phase focuses on saving lives and securing property. It is most acute in those parts of a region that are directly flooded or damaged. Police, fire departments and other government agencies are best able to do this work. They have training and expertise, and they have equipment that can clear roads and debris and find people. The Rescue phase can take one to two weeks, sometimes longer.

In the case of Hurricane Florence, the rescue phase is just beginning. It can be heartbreaking to watch, I know. However, I urge all of us to be patient. Please pray for those who are suffering and for the professionals who are risking their lives to save others. Fortunately, many people people evacuated from the coastal and low-lying areas in North and South Carolina, and professionals are rescuing many who became trapped by rapidly rising waters.

Phase 2 - Relief

Next is the Relief phase. We and our partners begin preparing for this phase once we understand the magnitude of an event. During this phase, the local church will be one of the first places people go to seek assistance and shelter. Because they are prepared and experienced in disaster response, we know that our partners in the impacted dioceses will be active in the Relief phase. This is where Episcopal Relief & Development can support our partners.

Phase 3 - Recovery

Eventually, we get to the third and final phase: Recovery. During this period, the emphasis shifts to restoring services, repairing houses and buildings, returning individuals to self-sufficiency and rebuilding communities. Hurricane Florence presents two challenges in this regard. First, the double whammy of Rescue on top of Recovery: many communities that are now being inundated with rain and rising water from Hurricane Florence are still recovering from Hurricane Matthew’s impact in 2016.

The second challenge of the Recovery phase is that most of the television cameras and attention have moved on, but the human suffering has grown. It is a chronic state, not a crisis. However, this is the phase in which the Church excels. Our churches are part of the communities that have been impacted and can best identify needs and work with the community to address them efficiently and effectively.

This may still leave you wondering: How can I help?

Financial Support

Now is the time to offer financial support. Contributing to Episcopal Relief & Development will ensure that we have enough resources to support the work of our church partners as they serve the most vulnerable in their communities. They are best positioned to assess needs and timing for response efforts.

One of the immediate ways Episcopal Relief & Development and our partners help individuals is by handing out gift cards to local stores so that people can choose what they need the most. It not only affords people dignity but it also helps stimulate the local economy, which needs to recover post-disaster.

Volunteering

The best approach is to wait until those affected have indicated what kind of support is most needed and whether they are ready to house and utilize volunteers. Inserting ourselves at the appropriate time alleviates additional stress and complications that can actually make things worse. If you think you would like to volunteer please register with Episcopal Relief & Development’s Ready to Serve database. This list of volunteers will be shared with the impacted dioceses once they are ready to use and support volunteers. They will contact you if and when they need help.

Donating Goods

My firm recommendation is don’t do it. Piles of discarded clothing in parking lots after Hurricane Katrina and SuperStorm Sandy teach us not to send clothes or shoes or things. After major disasters, diocesan staff have limited capacity to receive, store or distribute donated goods. Here’s a great article about the challenges of communities receiving donated goods: here.

Getting Prepared

As a reminder, September is National Preparedness Month. If were not impacted directly by Hurricane Florence, now is a great opportunity for you and your loved ones to prepare for disasters. Check out these helpful resources and tips: here. You can select 1 or 2 things to do each week. By the end of the month, you will feel less anxiety and more prepared to face a sudden disaster or event.

An effective response requires us to discern what is most helpful and appropriate at any given time. Let’s continue to hold those directly impacted in our hearts and prayers throughout their recovery, long after the media images fade.

The bishops from impacted dioceses in the Carolinas shared a joint statement on the challenges of sending donated goods and unaffiliated volunteers from outside the region at this time.

Articles:

https://www.episcopalnewsservice.org/2018/09/17/episcopal-churches-in-the-carolinas-assess-damage-offer-help-after-hurricane-florence/

http://www.episcopalrelief.org/press-and-resources/press-releases/2018-press-releases/episcopal-relief-and-development-responds-to-deadly-hurricane-florence

Sermon: September 23

O God, I do not know what to ask of you. You alone know my true needs and love me more than I know how to love. I ask neither for cross nor consolation, but only that I may discern and do your will. Teach me to wait in patience with an open heart, knowing that your ways are not our ways, and your thoughts are not our thoughts. Help me to see where I have erected idols of certitude to defend myself from the demands of your ever unfolding truth: truth you have made known to us in the one who is the truth, our Savior Jesus Christ. Amen. (After Metropolitan Philaret of Moscow, 1867)

Doing God’s will is hard. Put politics and religion together, sometimes it can be harder still to discern the way.

In the news this week, away from these shores, the Russian Orthodox Church announced it will no longer take part in structures chaired by the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople. As one Russian Bishop put it, "Essentially this is a breakdown of relations. To take an example from secular life, the decision is roughly equivalent to cutting diplomatic ties…"

Why all the fuss?

Because part of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church wants to become its own national body, not linked through Moscow, which it has been. The Russian Orthodox Church wants no one meddling in its affairs and it sees the reaching out by the Ecumenical Patriarch to that church as part of that effort.

Discerning God’s will for our lives is not easy. Churches have a hard time with it, just as we do. In fact, we spend most of our lives trying to make sure we are indeed on the right path, following God’s will and truth for our lives.

Which makes me think of the words from Abraham Lincoln’s 1858 Senatorial Speech: “Sir, my concern is not whether God is on our side; my greatest concern is to be on God’s side, for God is always right.”

That is our challenge. To make sure we are on God’s side, and not serving some idol we have erected to our certitude. To see the needs that are before us and to hear God’s call to us…

It was one of the worst industrial disasters in American history. On March 25, 1911, a fire destroyed the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory in NYC. Crowds watched in horror as the fire raced through the building, killing 146 workers, many of them jumping to their deaths from the eighth, ninth and tenth floors. Triangle was a sweatshop, employing young immigrant women who worked in a cramped space at lines of sewing machines; they worked 12 hours a day for a mere $15 a week.

One of the onlookers that day was Frances Perkins, a 31-year-old wife and mother from an upper-class family, who had been lobbing with vigor for better working hours and conditions for laborers. She was having tea with friends nearby when the fire broke out and Mrs. Perkins and company ran to the scene. The fire and its aftershocks left a deep mark on Frances Perkins and it played a pivotal role in her life, galvanizing her advocacy for workers. Frances Perkins was an active member of her Episcopal church.

As David Brooks writes in his book The Road to Character:

"Up until that point [Frances Perkins] had lobbied for worker rights and on behalf of the poor, but she had been on a conventional trajectory, toward a conventional marriage, perhaps, and a life of genteel good works. After the fire, what had been a career turned into a vocation. Moral indignation set her on a different course. Her own desires and her own self became less central and the cause itself became more central to the structure of her life."

Indeed, Frances would use politics to fulfill the work of faith that she felt we needed to have in our country and that she believed God led her to do.

“Frances Perkins became Labor Secretary from 1933 to 1945 under Franklin D. Roosevelt, was the first woman to serve in a presidential cabinet. As Secretary of Labor, she was the prime mover of the New Deal, championing a social safety net to the elderly, minimum wage, the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC), unemployment insurance, a shorter work week, and worker safety regulations. It is said that she wrote the Social Security Act in the rectory of St. James’ Episcopal Church in Washington, DC.

She has been called Roosevelt’s moral conscience. Donn Mitchell, suggests she was the “most overtly religious and theologically articulate member of the New Deal team.” Throughout her 12 years as Secretary she took a monthly retreat with the Episcopal order of All Saints’ Sisters of the Poor, with whom she was a lay associate member.

“I came to Washington to serve God, FDR, and millions of forgotten, plain common workingmen,” she said. Her theology of generosity informed her professional life and, in turn, transformed the lives of millions of Americans.

“When friends once questioned why it was important to help the poor, Frances responded that it was what Jesus would want them to do.” - Heidi Shott

I think Frances Perkins understood what God wanted her to do. She heard the call and she followed it…

Then they came to Capernaum; and when Jesus was in the house he asked them, “What were you arguing about on the way?” But they were silent, for on the way they had argued with one another who was the greatest. He sat down, called the twelve, and said to them, “Whoever wants to be first must be last of all and servant of all.” Then he took a little child and put it among them; and taking it in his arms, he said to them, “Whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes not me but the one who sent me.”

A child was one who was without status in the society of Jesus day, no protections; they were vulnerable, powerless and so often ignored. Jesus makes the point that if we want to be first, then we shall serve, if we want to follow God’s will, then we are to find those vulnerable in our society, widows and orphans, people suffering and separated from one another, and to welcome them, love them, just as Jesus did, for that is following and welcoming God’s will into our lives.

Frances Perkins heard the call of God in the plight of the powerless: the poor and abused workers. She took on her cross in the spirit of Jesus' humble servanthood and used politics to help others. Christ calls us to take up our own crosses in the everyday joys and sorrows we live in our homes, churches, schools and communities.

To put aside our own self-importance to bring dignity, comfort and hope to another, to work to bring forth and affirm the gifts of others, to seek reconciliation before all else is to be the servant leader who welcomes God into their midst by welcoming the most vulnerable.

May we in our own way follow the will of God today and like Frances Perkins who in faithfulness to her baptism sought to build a society in which all may live in health and decency: may we contend tirelessly for justice and for the protection of all in our own time, that we may be faithful followers of Jesus Christ. Amen.

Remembering 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

her ministry and work (Architect of the Gracious Society):
http://www.anglicanexaminer.com/Perkins-1.html

More details here:

https://www.lentmadness.org/2013/03/damien-of-molokai-vs-frances-perkins/

https://www.lentmadness.org/2013/03/frances-perkins-wins-lent-madness-2013-golden-halo/

Also here:

https://www.ssa.gov/history/fperkins.html

http://francesperkinscenter.org/

Personal Witness (a Prayer by Christina Rossetti)

Lord Jesus Christ, make those who love you, and who love you in return, mirrors of you to those who are unloving; that being drawn to your image they may reproduce it in themselves, light reflecting light, love kindling love, until God is all in all. Amen.

(After Christina Rossetti, 1894 from Frank T. Griswold's: Praying Our Days: A Guide and Companion, 2009)

Refugees & the Episcopal Church

Presiding Bishop, church respond to further cuts to the US refugee resettlement program

The United States was a worldwide leader in refugee resettlement just two years ago, when more than 80,000 refugees were welcomed into the country with help from the nine agencies with federal contracts to do that work, including Episcopal Migration Ministries. That number has dwindled under the Trump administration, which announced Sept. 17 it would reduce resettlement further, to just 30,000 a year.

The Episcopal Church has a long history of standing with refugees, people who are fleeing violence, war and political and religious persecution, and on Sept. 18 the church expressed its disappointment at the reduced cap on the number of refugees.

“As followers of Jesus Christ, we are saddened by this decision,” Presiding Bishop Michael B. Curry said in a written statement. “Our hearts and our prayers are with those thousands of refugees who, due to this decision, will not be able to find new life in the United States. This decision by the government does not reflect the care and compassion of Americans who welcome refugees in their communities every day. Our faith calls us to love God and love our neighbor, so we stand ready to help all those we can in any way we can.”

Read more here.

To learn more about the church’s involvement in refugee resettlement, click here.

St. Peter's has supported IRIS which is a local partner with Episcopal Migration Ministries (EMM), you can find out more here.

Sermon: September 16

Almighty God, you proclaim your truth in every age by many voices: Direct, in our time, we pray, those who speak where many listen and write what many read; that they may do their part in making the heart of this people wise, its mind sound, and its will righteous; to the honor of Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

The Lord God has given me the tongue of a teacher, that I may know how to sustain the weary with a word. – In our first reading, the prophet Isaiah speaks of his role as a teacher, to sustain the weary with the words he uses.

Our second reading from the letter of James reminds us that “the tongue is a small member, yet it boasts of great exploits. How great a forest is set ablaze by a small fire! And the tongue is a fire. With it we bless the Lord and Father, and with it we curse those who are made in the likeness of God. From the same mouth come blessing and cursing. My brothers and sisters, this ought not to be so.”

Our tongues, the words we use, are to be for the benefit others. Sadly, our words spoken and those we write (mostly through our social media habits) often are not. They represent our partisan or tribal interests, we demonize the other side, we curse those made in God’s image for they do not believe like we believe.

James is right we often get in trouble for the words we say, giving poison instead of healing words.

When Jesus asked his disciples what people were saying about him… “John the Baptist; and others, Elijah; and still others, one of the prophets.” He asked them, “But who do you say that I am?” Peter answered him, “You are the Messiah.”

But as Jesus taught them about what was to come, Peter took him aside and rebuked Jesus. But Jesus turned for all to hear and rebuked Peter, reminding him to keep his mind on heavenly things and not earthly.

The words we use matter, especially we can sustain the weary, when we offer a blessing instead of a curse. And as followers of Jesus, that is part of our calling too.

Mister Rogers was once asked to meet a boy with cerebral palsy. The boy was unable to talk or walk - but he not only suffered physically but emotionally. Some of those entrusted with his care made him feel responsible for his illness, that only a very bad little boy would have to live with the things he had to live with. When the boy grew up to be a teenager, he would get so mad at himself that he would hit himself, hard, with his own fists and tell his mother on the computer he used to communicate that he didn't want to live anymore, for he was sure that God didn't like what was inside him any more than he did.

The boy had always loved Mister Rogers, and now, even when he was fourteen years old, he watched the Neighborhood whenever it was on; the boy's mother sometimes thought that Mister Rogers was keeping her son alive.

On a trip to California, Fred Rogers made time to meet the boy. At first, the boy was very anxious about meeting Mister Rogers. He was so nervous, in fact, that when Mister Rogers arrived, he got mad at himself and began hating himself and hitting himself. His mother had to take him to another room and calm him down. But Mister Rogers didn't leave. He just waited patiently, and when the boy came back, Mister Rogers talked to him, and then made this request: "I would like you to do something for me. Would you do something for me?"

On his computer, the boy answered yes, of course, he would do anything for Mister Rogers, so then Mister Rogers said, "I would like you to pray for me. Will you pray for me?" The boy was thunderstruck. Nobody had ever asked him for something like that, ever. The boy had always been prayed for, and now he was being asked to pray for Mister Rogers. At first he didn't know if he could do it, but he said he would, he said he'd try, and ever since that day he kept Mister Rogers in his prayers and didn't talk about wanting to die anymore, because he figured Mister Rogers is close to God, and if Mister Rogers liked him, then that must mean God liked him, too.

When a reporter who was there complimented Mister Rogers on how beautifully he boosted the boy's self-esteem, Fred Rogers saw the situation much differently. "Oh, heavens no, Tom! I didn't ask him for his prayers for him; I asked for me. I asked him because I think that anyone who has gone through challenges like that must be very close to God. I asked him because I wanted his intercession." [From "Can You Say . . . Hero?" by Tom Junod, Esquire, November 1998.]

Words matter. Mr. Rogers knows this and in a simple gesture helps a young man in his life, he sustained him in a beautiful way, and likewise was sustained himself. We are called to help each other.

One pastor calls it the “church downstairs.” For years, Alcoholic Anonymous has met in the church hall every day of the week, sometimes twice a day. The supportive pastor started thinking of those meetings as the “church downstairs” after a new parishioner told him how she came to join the parish after first going “downstairs” for several months. The priest occasionally sits in on the meetings and it has helped him understand what it means to be “church.” Three things about AA have struck him:

First, there is a “genuine and low-key sense” of welcoming. But it is not simply a matter of a designated greeter shaking every new hand. In fact, “AA is at its most hospitable after the meeting is over. No one is bolting for the door when the last word is pronounced. Instead, people stay around for another cup of coffee, especially if someone new has joined them.”

The second thing the pastor has noticed is how the “church downstairs” rallies around the weak, the powerless, and the hurting. “Even those some might relegate to the social fringe are met with acceptance in the group, not least because a common denominator — We are all powerless over alcohol — remains central.”

And the third thing that Alcoholics Anonymous groups demonstrate so well, the pastor admires, is “the belief that everyone has a story to tell and a right to be heard. This belief is essential not only to the Twelve Steps, but to the sense of commonality and communion that is generated in the group. Everyone can learn something from another person’s story . . . ”

Welcoming strangers. Lifting the weak and struggling. Listening to what everyone has to say. Maybe that’s why they need more chairs at the “church downstairs.” [From “The Church Downstairs: What Catholics Can Learn from Alcoholics Anonymous” by Father Nonomen, Commonweal, July 13, 2012.]

Taking up the cross of Jesus, mirrors Jesus' call to us in baptism, to take up his work in the service we give and the respect we afford to others through our words. As Fred Rogers understood by requesting this suffering boy's prayers, only in putting ourselves in the humble service of the poorest and neediest, of the forgotten and the rejected, can we come to know the love of God in our lives. By offering comforting words to the weary, in a community of support, AA becomes the church downstairs.

May we do the same upstairs here and in our own lives. Before you speak, before you post, think about your words, the meme you are about to post. Does it sustain the weary? Is it a blessing or a curse? Amen.

PRAYER TO BE USED IN HOUSEHOLDS

---

MORNING PRAYER.

The head of the family having called together as many of the family as can conveniently be present, let one of them, or any other whom they shall think proper, say as follows.

OUR Father, who art in heaven, Hallowed be thy Name. Thy kingdom come. Thy Will be done on earth, As it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our trespasses, As we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation; But deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever and ever. Amen.

Heavenly Father, in you we live and move and have our being: We humbly pray you so to guide and govern us by your Holy Spirit, that in all the cares and occupations of our life we may not forget you, but may remember that we are ever walking in your sight; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

We will try this day to live a simple, sincere and serene life, repelling promptly every thought of discontent, anxiety, discouragement, impurity, and self-seeking; cultivating cheerfulness, magnanimity, charity, and the habit of holy silence; exercising economy in expenditure, generosity in giving, carefulness in conversation, diligence in appointed service, fidelity to every trust, and a childlike faith in God.

In particular we will try to be faithful in those habits of prayer, work, study, physical exercise, eating, and sleep which we believe the Holy Spirit has shown us to be right. And as we cannot in our own strength do this, nor even with a hope of success attempt it, we look to you, O Lord God, in Jesus my Savior, and ask for the gift of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Grant us patience, O Lord, to follow the road you have taken. Let our confidence not rest in our own understanding but in your guiding hand; let our desires not be for our own comfort, but for the joy of your kingdom; for your cross is our hope and our joy now and unto the day of eternity. Amen.

Almighty God, we entrust all who are dear to us to your never-failing care and love, for this life and the life to come, knowing that you are doing for them better things than we can desire or pray for; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Lord God, almighty and everlasting Father, you have brought us in safety to this new day: Preserve us with your mighty power, that we may not fall into sin, nor be overcome by adversity; and in all we do, direct us to the fulfilling of your purpose; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. 

The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Ghost, be with us all evermore. Amen.

The Little Way & Hospitality

The Little Way of Hospitality

By Richard Beck

Posted on 9.30.2015

Two years ago I wrote about my discovery of Thérèse of Lisieux and her practice of the Little Way. And odds are, if you've heard me speak over the last two years there was a good chance that I brought up the Little Way.

I have come to see myself as a devotee of the Little Way. So has Jana. We talk about the Little Way and Thérèse just about every week. And the practice of the Little Way has disrupted our lives, sometimes in hard ways but more often than not in surprising and life giving ways.

When you hear the Little Way described it's often described as a practice of self-mortification, of putting up with people when they frustrate and irritate us.

But that's not how I see it. For my part, as I teach the Little Way, I see it as a practice of approaching people, moving toward people in love. As I explain it, the Little Way is a practice of welcome, embrace and hospitality.

For example, I consider the passage below from Story of a Soul to be the quintessential example of the Little Way. Note in the passage the overriding theme of approaching others with small expressions of warmth, welcome and kindness. Thérèse describes how the Sisters in her convent were variously popular or shunned. And having noted these distinctions--the socially rich versus the socially poor--Thérèse goes on to describe how the practice of the Little Way is a practice of hospitality, of welcoming the Sisters who were shunned and marginalized:

I have noticed (and this is very natural) that the most saintly Sisters are the most loved. We seek their company; we render them services without their asking; finally, these souls so capable of bearing the lack of respect and consideration of others see themselves surrounded with everyone's affection...

On the other hand, imperfect souls are not sought out. No doubt we remain within the limits of religious politeness in their regard, but we generally avoid them, fearing lest we say something which isn't too amiable. When I speak of imperfect souls, I don't want to speak of spiritual imperfections since most holy souls will be perfect in heaven; but I want to speak of a lack of judgment, good manners, touchiness in certain characters; all these things which don't make life agreeable. I know very well that these moral infirmities are chronic, that there is no hope of a cure, but I also know that my Mother would not cease to take care of me, to try to console me, if I remained sick all my life. This is the conclusion I draw from this: I must seek out in recreation, on free days, the company of Sisters who are the least agreeable to me in order to carry out with regard to these wounded souls the office of the Good Samaritan. A word, an amiable smile, often suffice to make a sad soul bloom...I want to be friendly with everybody (and especially with the least amiable Sisters) to give joy to Jesus.

Again, what I find powerful in this passage is how the Little Way is described here by Thérèse as less a discipline of self-mortification than a practice of approaching and welcoming:

"I must seek out..."

I must seek out. That's the practice of the Little Way of hospitality. Seeking out, approaching and moving toward people you might not have normally approached, for whatever reason. All with the goal of extending a small act of welcome and hospitality, a kind word or a smile.

That's it. That's the practice. Moving toward people with small acts of welcome, inclusion and kindness. That is the Little Way of hospitality.

And while it seems a small thing, this practice of approaching and seeking out has completely disrupted my life.

The Little Way of hospitality is the most potent practice of spiritual formation that I have ever engaged. If you want to be more like Jesus this is the practice I recommend. And I preach it wherever I go.

Read more here (4 parts + epilogue):

http://experimentaltheology.blogspot.com/2012/01/meditations-on-little-way-part-1.html

https://lukenorsworthy.com/2017/11/20/richard-beck-stranger-god/

http://experimentaltheology.blogspot.com/2015/09/the-little-way-of-hospitality.html

Remembering 9/11 with Poems

Go Down, Death
James Weldon Johnson, 1871 - 1938

(A Funeral Sermon)

Weep not, weep not,
She is not dead;
She's resting in the bosom of Jesus.
Heart-broken husband--weep no more;
Grief-stricken son--weep no more;
Left-lonesome daughter --weep no more;
She only just gone home.

Day before yesterday morning,
God was looking down from his great, high heaven,
Looking down on all his children,
And his eye fell of Sister Caroline,
Tossing on her bed of pain.
And God's big heart was touched with pity,
With the everlasting pity.

And God sat back on his throne,
And he commanded that tall, bright angel standing at his right hand:
Call me Death!
And that tall, bright angel cried in a voice
That broke like a clap of thunder:
Call Death!--Call Death!
And the echo sounded down the streets of heaven
Till it reached away back to that shadowy place,
Where Death waits with his pale, white horses.

And Death heard the summons,
And he leaped on his fastest horse,
Pale as a sheet in the moonlight.
Up the golden street Death galloped,
And the hooves of his horses struck fire from the gold,
But they didn't make no sound.
Up Death rode to the Great White Throne,
And waited for God's command.

And God said: Go down, Death, go down,
Go down to Savannah, Georgia,
Down in Yamacraw,
And find Sister Caroline.
She's borne the burden and heat of the day,
She's labored long in my vineyard,
And she's tired--
She's weary--
Do down, Death, and bring her to me.

And Death didn't say a word,
But he loosed the reins on his pale, white horse,
And he clamped the spurs to his bloodless sides,
And out and down he rode,
Through heaven's pearly gates,
Past suns and moons and stars;
on Death rode,
Leaving the lightning's flash behind;
Straight down he came.

While we were watching round her bed,
She turned her eyes and looked away,
She saw what we couldn't see;
She saw Old Death.She saw Old Death
Coming like a falling star.
But Death didn't frighten Sister Caroline;
He looked to her like a welcome friend.
And she whispered to us: I'm going home,
And she smiled and closed her eyes.

And Death took her up like a baby,
And she lay in his icy arms,
But she didn't feel no chill.
And death began to ride again--
Up beyond the evening star,
Into the glittering light of glory,
On to the Great White Throne.
And there he laid Sister Caroline
On the loving breast of Jesus.

And Jesus took his own hand and wiped away her tears,
And he smoothed the furrows from her face,
And the angels sang a little song,
And Jesus rocked her in his arms,
And kept a-saying: Take your rest,
Take your rest.

Weep not--weep not,
She is not dead;
She's resting in the bosom of Jesus.

----------------------------------------------

Survivors - Found

Joan Murray

We thought that they were gone--
we rarely saw them on our screens--
those everyday Americans
with workaday routines,

and the heroes standing ready--
not glamorous enough--
on days without a tragedy,
we clicked--and turned them off.

We only saw the cynics--
the dropouts, show-offs, snobs--
the right- and left- wing critics:
we saw that they were us.

But with the wounds of Tuesday
when the smoke began to clear,
we rubbed away our stony gaze--
and watched them reappear:

the waitress in the tower,
the broker reading mail,
a pair of window washers,
filling up a final pail,

the husband's last "I love you"
from the last seat of a plane,
the tourist taking in a view
no one would see again,

the fireman, his eyes ablaze
as he climbed the swaying stairs--
he knew someone might still be saved.
We wondered who it was.

We glimpsed them through the rubble:
the ones who lost their lives,
the heroes' doubleburials,
the ones now "left behind,"

the ones who rolled a sleeve up,
the ones in scrubs and masks,
the ones who lifted buckets
filled with stone and grief and ash:

some spoke adifferent language--
still no one missed a phrase;
the soot had softened every face
of every shade and age--

"the greatest generation" ?--
we wondered where they'd gone--
they hadn't left directions
how to find our nation-home:

for thirty years we saw few signs,
but now in swirls of dust,
they were alive--they had survived--
we saw that they were us.


------------------------------------------------



Pax
D. H. Lawrence:

All that matters is to be at one with You, the living God; to be a creature in Your house, O God of Life!
Like a cat asleep on a chair
at peace, in peace
at home, at home in the house of the living,
sleeping on the hearth, and yawning before the fire.
Sleeping on the hearth of the living world,
yawning at home before the fire of life
feeling the presence of You, the living God
like a great reassurance
a deep calm in the heart
a presence
as of a master, a mistress sitting on the board
in their own and greater being,
in the house of life.

-------------------------------

May 1915
Charlotte Mew

Let us remember Spring will come again
To the scorched, blackened woods, where the wounded trees
Wait with their old wise patience for the heavenly rain,
Sure of the sky: sure of the sea to send its healing breeze,
Sure of the sun, and even as to these
Surely the Spring, when God shall please,
Will come again like a divine surprise
To those who sit today with their great Dead, hands in their hands
Eyes in their eyes
At one with Love, at one with Grief: blind to the scattered things
And changing skies.

----------------------------------


The Peace of Wild Things
Wendell Berry

When despair for the world grows in me and I wake in the night at the least sound in fear of what my life and my children's lives may be, I go and lie down where the wood drake rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds. I come into the peace of wild things who do not tax their lives with forethought of grief. I come into the presence of still water. And I feel above me the day-blind stars waiting with their light. For a time I rest in the grace of the world, and am free.

Remembering 9/11

Fr. Mychal Judge spoke these words to Engine 73, Ladder 42 in the Bronx, NY on September 10, 2001:

“Thank You, Lord, for life. Thank You for love. Thank You for goodness. Thank You for work. Thank You for family. Thank You for friends. Thank You for every gift...

As we celebrate this day in thanksgiving to You, keep our hearts and minds open. Let us enjoy each other's company, and most of all, let us be conscious of Your presence in our lives, and in a special way, in the lives of those who have gone before us.

No matter how big the call. No matter how small. You have no idea what God is calling you to. But he needs you. He needs me. He needs all of us. Keep supporting each other. Be kind to each other. Love each other. Work together and do what you did the other night and the weeks and the months and the years before and from this fire house, God's blessings go forth in this community. It's fantastic!”

Father Mike was a chaplain of the Fire Department of New York City beginning in 1992 and was recognized as the first official victim of the 9/11 attacks. On that day, when he heard that the World Trade Center had been hit, Father Mike rushed to the site. He was met by the Mayor of New York, Rudolph Giuliani, who asked him to pray for the city and its victims. He administered the Last Rites to some lying on the streets, and went to the command post in the North Tower to see where he could assist.

When the South Tower fell, debris from the tower entered the lobby and many were killed including Fr. Mike. A NYPD lieutenant, who was also buried in the debris, found Fr. Mike's body and then assisted by two firemen and two others, carried his body out of the North Tower lobby using a chair and took him to nearby St Peter's Church. The picture of that scene has become one of the iconic photographs from 9/11.

His story stays with me, because his life speaks of how we are to live with one another. A man who rushed to do his duty, to be a prayerful presence in the midst of crisis. A man who loved his neighbor, who cared for the fire fighters under his care, and as a Franciscan monk, he also looked out for those in need in his community.

The words he spoke are just as true for us today as they were 17 years ago in NY. God needs you and God needs me; Keep supporting each other. Be kind to each other. Love each other. From what you do, God’s blessings will go forth into our communities.

Prayers:

God of steadfast love, who led your people through the wilderness: Be with us as we remember the anniversary of the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. By your grace, lead us in the path of new life, in the company of your saints and angels; through Jesus Christ, the Savior and Redeemer of the world. Amen. (Diocese of Long Island)

God the compassionate one, whose loving care extends to all the world, we remember this day your children of many nations and many faiths whose lives were cut short by the fierce flames of anger and hatred. Console those who continue to suffer and grieve, and give them comfort and hope as they look to the future. Out of what we have endured, give us the grace to examine our relationships with those who perceive us as the enemy, and show our leaders the way to use our power to serve the good of all for the healing of the nations. This we ask through Jesus Christ our Lord, who, in reconciling love, was lifted up from the earth that he might draw all things to himself. Amen. (Bp. Griswold)

Reflect on 9/11

From  www.911memorial.org/reflect-911

Observe moments of silence

Observe a moment of silence on September 11 at any or all of the following times marking key moments on 9/11. As in years past, the moments below will be observed as part of the official 9/11 anniversary ceremony held at the World Trade Center for victims’ families.

8:46 a.m.: Hijackers deliberately crash American Airlines Flight 11 into floors 93 through 99 of the North Tower (1 WTC).
9:03 a.m.: Hijackers deliberately crash United Airlines Flight 175 into floors 77 through 85 of the South Tower (2 WTC).
9:37 a.m.: Hijackers deliberately crash American Airlines Flight 77 into the Pentagon, near Washington, D.C.
9:59 a.m.: The South Tower (2 WTC) collapses.
10:03 a.m.: After learning of the other attacks, passengers on United Airlines Flight 93 launch a counterattack on hijackers aboard their plane to try to seize control of the aircraft. In response, the hijackers crash the plane into an empty field near Shanksville, Pa.
10:28 a.m.: The North Tower (1 WTC) collapses. The 16-acre World Trade Center site is in ruins, with collateral damage affecting all adjacent properties and streets. A rescue and recovery effort begins immediately.

Read the names of the victims aloud

The names of the men, women and children killed as a result of the 9/11 attacks have been read aloud at the official 9/11 anniversary ceremony in New York City every year. Download a list of the names inscribed on the 9/11 Memorial. (Names include all those killed in the 9/11 attacks and the six individuals killed in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing.)

The 9/11 Memorial Guide allows users to select specific names or groups of names, including names from a certain town or state, a specific company or first responder agency.

Remembering St. Paul's Chapel and 9/11

https://www.trinitywallstreet.org/about/stpaulschapel/911

Sermon on the Green - Apple Festival (Sept. 9)

Grant us a vision, Lord, to see what we can achieve; to reach beyond ourselves; to share our lives with others; to stretch our capability; to increase our sense of purpose; to be aware of where we can help; to be sensitive to your presence; to give heed to your constant call. Amen. (David Adam)

Jesus put his finger into the man's ears and, spitting, touched his tongue; then he looked up to heaven and groaned, and said to him, “Ephphatha!” -- that is, “Be opened!” (Mark 7: 31-37)

The challenge from this second story of the Gospel this morning is to hear what Jesus might be saying to us not just someone who needs healing. Maybe its our ears (and tongues) that need opening?

A mother was planning a birthday party for her six-year-old son. She wanted to protect him from the social consequences of inviting Jason, an unpopular child, to the party. Jason stuttered, so he was constantly teased, often cruelly. But Mom realized that her son had to make the decision on his own.

Mom was pleasantly surprised to discover that her son not only could take care of himself but also stick up for his friend. When other boys at the party started making fun of Jason, her son confronted them, saying: “He doesn't talk funny. You listen funny.” [Kathleen Chesto.]

We often listen "funny." Fear and ignorance often distort our ability not only to hear but also to see the good in the midst of bad, the reasons to hope in the midst of despair. The words Jesus speaks to the deaf man in today's Gospel – “Ephphatha” – are spoken to us, as well: that our hearts and spirits be “opened” to accepting God's love from those who are “different” and “uncool”; that our hearts and spirits be “opened” to realizing God's presence in times and places that make us squirm; that our hearts and spirits be “opened” to realizing God's grace despite our difficulty to trust, to accept, to understand.

Because if we are not open, then it will affect our relationships…

A renowned marriage therapist and counselor says he can tell in five minutes of listening to a married couple's conversation what their relationship is like and whether it will endure.

Five minutes.

What he listens for is the way in which they are attuned or not attuned to one another. If they pay attention and actually listen to their partner before formulating their response; if their response is conveyed with directness and respect; if there is an underlying interest in the well-being of the other person of the relationship. If these things are present in the conversation, the relationship is strong and likely to endure, even when there are considerable differences the couple is struggling to overcome.  [Dr. John Gottmann, cited in "Tell Me about Your Day" by Patrick Thyne, The Living Pulpit, October-December 2003.]

Christ's gift of Ephphatha is the ability to put aside one's ego and wants and the need to control in order to as St. Benedict puts it “"Listen and attend with the ear of your heart.” Our self-centeredness can make us deaf to the presence of God, isolating us from God's compassion in the midst of conflict and anger, in the midst of brokenness and hurt - but Ephphatha, while not pretending disagreements do not exist, is to listen to one another with empathy: to love enough to listen from the perspective of the other and to seek the meaning of our lives in securing happiness and fulfillment in theirs.

May God help us to be open to the world that God has made that we may listen and that we may love. Amen.

Sermon: September 2

Be present, be present, O Jesus, our great High Priest, as you were present with your disciples, and be known to us in the breaking of bread and in the Scriptures; who live and reign with the Father and the Holy Spirit, now and forever. Amen.

I’ve been thinking of American Icons. Those whose lives embodied the best of who we are. They weren’t perfect. They weren’t saints. But they often stood out to remind us of what we could be.

I think it all begin in their hearts. Which is what our scripture lessons today alluded to…

Moses said, “But take care and watch yourselves closely, so as neither to forget the things that your eyes have seen nor to let them slip from your mind all the days of your life; make them known to your children and your children’s children.”

Remember the commandments of God. Live them. Speak them. Make sure your children and their children know about them & our history. Don’t just keep them inside but share them from your hearts.

James wrote, “But be doers of the word, and not merely hearers who deceive themselves.”

James warns us not just to say what we believe, but it to live it out in our lives by what we do. James in his letter, like Moses before him, tells us to remember the commandments and live them.

Jesus said, “people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me; For it is from within, from the human heart, that evil intentions come…”

And Jesus takes it one step further, what defiles us is not from outside of us. But from our hearts. Do we live according to what God has asked of us, that Moses and James spoke of, or do we live just for ourselves and our fulfillment?

Thinking about the scripture before us, I watched like many of you, two funerals for American icons this week: Aretha Louise Franklin and John Sidney McCain III.

Their lives, for me, were lived from their hearts. They represented the best of America. Using their God given talents.

I can hear the Queen of Soul singing her 1967 hit R E S P E C T…

“It [The song reflected] the need of a nation, the need of the average man and woman in the street, the businessman, the mother, the fireman, the teacher—everyone wanted respect,” Franklin wrote. “It was also one of the battle cries of the civil rights movement. The song took on monumental significance.”

I can hear Senator McCain asking us to be our best selves – “We are citizens of the world’s greatest republic, a nation of ideals, not blood and soil. We are blessed and are a blessing to humanity when we uphold and advance those ideals at home and in the world… To be connected to America’s causes – liberty, equal justice, respect for the dignity of all people – brings happiness more sublime than life’s fleeting pleasures. Our identities and sense of worth are not circumscribed but enlarged by serving good causes bigger than ourselves.”

Maybe, just maybe, we are living out what Jesus asks of us, when people see us as a blessing to humanity, when we act out of the goodness of our hearts, and the values that lie within, like respect.

“She offered the musical path to respect; he embodied respect in patriotic form.” (Hank Stuever)

What do we offer with our lives? What values do we embody?

Many years ago, a great warrior abandoned his life of war and destruction and became a monk, happily living a quiet life serving his brothers and the poor and sick of the villages around the monastery.

One day, an arrogant warrior rode through the village. He terrorized the villagers with his threats and demands. He soon made his way to the monastery where he recognized the monk from their adventures years before. The reckless warrior did everything he could to provoke his old adversary into a fight: the boor threw rocks, shouted insults, smashing parts of the poor monastery. But the monk would not respond. By dusk, the warrior finally grew tired of the game; he defiantly spat on the monastery door and rode off.

Some of the villagers who had been brutalized by the warrior, asked the monk why he did not confront the intruder. “If someone offers you a gift and you do not accept it, to whom does the gift belong?” the old monk asked.

“He who offered it,” they replied.

“The same is true for anger, envy and ridicule,” the monk explained. “When they are not accepted, they forever belong to the one who holds on to them.” [Adapted from the Moral Stories website.]

In the hurts, indignities and injustices perpetrated against us, what is often worse than the act itself is what the act does to us as persons: we respond with suspicion, cynicism, self-absorption, anger, vengeance. One of the most difficult challenges of being a disciple of Jesus is not to let those things “outside” of us diminish what we are “inside” ourselves, not to let such anger or vengeance displace the things of God in the sacred place of our hearts but to let God’s presence transform the evil that we have encountered into compassion and forgiveness.

We saw that in the lives of Aretha and John through their heartfelt offerings that have helped us as a country move forward, from the battlefield of Vietnam and the battle for Civil Rights in our country, through her songs and his work in congress, they could have given into the hate and violence they experienced, but their values would not let them.

"Aretha Franklin and John McCain didn't talk about the good old days. They wanted to bring the past into the present. They were living reminders."(John Baick)

They did what Moses would have asked of them…to be living reminders to us today.

They could have retired to very comfortable private lives, but neither chose that route. The lived from their hearts, from the principles that guided them… one stayed on stage sharing her gift of bringing joy through song, and the other fought for legislation that he passionately believed in.

“Like John McCain, Aretha Franklin understood who she was, valued where she came from, and left behind the footprints of a giant. At a time when too many of us are struggling to fit into other people's boxes, we could all benefit from following in their footsteps.” (Solomon Jones)

And maybe that’s why so many came to offer their condolences, to honor their lives in Detroit, Phoenix, DC, to offer their hearts for those whose lives embodied the best of who we are. Maybe its why so many of us watched on TV too.

May God instill in our hearts the spirit of compassion and justice, enabling us to transform the world outside into God's Kingdom that begins within each of us, the place of love, hope, and respect. Amen.