Unity in Christ and in combatting racism (Churches United in Christ)

Churches Uniting in Christ (CUIC), a covenant organization of 11 different US denominations/communions who have pledged to live more closely together in expressing their unity in Christ and in combating racism, held its triennial plenary session in Montgomery, Alabama from June 6-9, 2019. The meeting began with tours of the Dexter Avenue King Memorial Baptist Church, the Legacy Museum and the Legacy Memorial founded by the Equal Justice Initiative to memorialize the 4,000 plus lynchings that have been documented.

“The formation of CUIC in 2002, of which The Episcopal Church was a founding member, came from the recognition that racism, as much as church doctrine, is a ‘church dividing’ issue,” said The Rev. Margaret Rose, ecumenical and interreligious deputy to the Presiding Bishop. “Exposing this injustice is the first step in healing those divisions.”

“This year’s meeting in Montgomery put this commitment in sharp focus,” said Rose. “The visit to the Legacy Museum, for me, connected the dots between slavery and mass incarceration as never before. Later, walking in silence through the Memorial, known as the lynching memorial, I found myself praying for the people in each County noted. When I got to the metal block for Carroll County Georgia, where I grew up, the names of James McClure and Jack Johnson, lynched in the 1880’s, became forever inscribed in my heart. Where are their families now? What repair has been made? These are the questions we must ask as a church and as denominations.”

The remainder of the triennial gathering was devoted to visioning and planning for the next three years. Reports were given by the Racial and Social Justice Task Force and the Young Adult Task Force, the two primary foci of CUIC since it last met in 2016. The two Task Forces have sponsored live forums and webinars addressing issues of racism, mass incarceration, and mental health.

CUIC’s foci for 2019-2022 are: 1) to continue and expand the work of the Young Adult Task Force to include a component to equip additional young adults as ecumenical leaders 2) to work with other organizations who promote grassroots activity to combat racism and 3) to envision a new structure or new entity that will provide continued opportunities for bilateral and multilateral agreements among the member denominations/communions. This work will be directed by the Coordinating Council, which includes three members from each member organization.

“I am grateful for the work the CUIC Young Adults and others who are carrying us forward, insisting that there is no real unity without justice,” said Rose. “In recent years, the work of the CUIC Young Adult Task Force has taken this work to heart, creating webinars on race and mental health, participating in the Black Lives Matter Movement and more. The participation of the eleven member churches has meant that we do this work both ecumenically and interracially.”

Also representing The Episcopal Church were: The Rt. Rev. Eugene Sutton, The Episcopal Diocese of Maryland; The Rev. Brandt Montgomery, The Episcopal Diocese of Western Louisiana, and Mr. Richard Mammana, associate for ecumenical and interreligious relations.

Videos and various statements from CUIC can be found on the website, www.ChurchesUnitingInChrist.org.

CUIC member churches
African Methodist Episcopal Church (AME)
African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church (AME Zion)
Christian Church (Disciples of Christ)
Christian Methodist Episcopal Church (CME)
The Episcopal Church
International Council of Community Churches (ICCC)
Moravian Church-Northern Province
Presbyterian Church USA
United Church of Christ (UCC)
United Methodist Church (UMC)
Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) as a partner in Mission and Dialogue.

About Churches United in Christ

The story of CUIC (Churches Uniting in Christ) begins on December 4th, 1960 when Rev. Eugene Carson Blake, then the Stated Clerk of the United Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A., preached a sermon at Grace Cathedral at the invitation of Bishop James A. Pike of The Episcopal Church. This sermon proposed creating a united Protestant Church which would have been named the Church of Christ Uniting. Thus, COCU (the Consultation on Church Union) was created, and its efforts continued for 40 years. Although the vision of Rev. Blake and Bishop Pike did not become reality, the central motivation for creating unity among Christians has remained alive and well in CUIC. Leaders of nine member communions met on January 20th, 2002 at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee to inaugurate CUIC as a successor to COCU. CUIC intends to "live into unity" rather than simply "consulting" about unity, and is committed to the elimination of racism as a barrier to unity within and among member communions.

In 2002, 11 Christian communions pledged to live more closely together in expressing their unity in Christ and combating racism through Churches Uniting in Christ. In the midst of war, terrorism, disasters, economic collapse, strident political polarization, and increasing wealth disparity, these church bodies are deepening their relationships and extending their common life. They look forward to a greater public witness of reconciling the baptized and seeking unity with justice.

Pentecost Sermon

this was the sermon given by the Rev Dr. Geoffrey Hahneman at St John's in Bridgeport...

The Acts of the Apostles 2:5 “Now there were devout Jews from every nation under heaven living in Jerusalem. And at this sound the crowd gathered and was bewildered, because each one heard them speaking in the native language of each. Amazed and astonished, they asked, ‘Are not all these who are speaking Galilēans? And how is it that we hear, each of us, in our own native language? . . . -- in our own languages we hear them speaking about God’s deeds of power.’ All were amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, ‘What does this mean?’”

In the fall of 2009, the Episcopal Church in Connecticut was in the middle of an episcopal election. Like many, I attended one of those forums, where the candidates for bishop were asked questions by members of the diocese. At the one I attended, a member of newly reformed St. John’s Haitian congregation asked Ian Douglas whether as bishop he would support Haitian ministry. It seemed like an easy question to answer, to simply say ‘yes’, of course, for who doesn’t support different ministries in the Church? But Ian Douglas, then a Professor of Mission at the Episcopal Divinity School in Cambridge, surprisingly responded that he didn’t believe in “adjectival” ministries! “Adjectival” ministries? What did he mean by that? He meant ministries that have an adjective in front of them, like “Haitian” ministry or “Hispanic” congregation. Candidate Ian Douglas then went on to reiterate that there is only one adjective that matters, because there is only one ministry in the Church, the ‘Christian’ ministry, that of seeking to reconcile ALL people to God and one another through Christ Jesus our Lord, which according to the Book of Common Prayer is the stated Mission of the Church.

And as Bishop Douglas has repeatedly declared since, the Prayerbook in his opinion, has got it wrong here; the reconciliation of all people to God and to each other through Christ, is NOT the Mission of the Church, but rather that is, he says, the Mission of God, that is what God is all about in our lives, and that is the central purpose of God’s activity here on earth. Bishop Douglas has insisted that the Church is invited by God to join in on this Mission, to participate in God’s activity, to further the reconciliation of all people to unity with God and one another; or not. It is up to us to decide whether we as Christians really wish to participate in that Mission. Do we?

This Mission of God is an audacious goal. For we human beings by nature tend to retreat into our own corners, we tend to hang out with those who are like us. We usually seek haven with members of our own tribe, with our own kind, with people who look like us, who share our values, who speak the same language and represent the same culture as we do. We do not easily mix well with others. So we often break out into our little ‘adjectival’ ministries. We feel safer and more secure with ‘our’ people. We like our little silos and we feel protected there.

But Bishop Ian’s response also suggests that we should not be supporting the segregating of our churches into different ‘adjectival’ communities of Christians, that we shouldn’t have white churches or historic African-American churches, or Hispanic or Haitian congregations. We should have just ‘Christian’ churches, seeking to reconcile all of God’s people to each other and to God. We ought not to be separating and dividing ourselves up into these different like-minded groups, if we really want to participate in the Mission of God, but do we?

For the Mission of God calls us out of our complacency, call us out from our protected environs, calls us out from our segregation, and call us out into a strange, new world, into foreign and unfamiliar places, where the ‘other’ lives, whose ideas and values may be very different from our own! Our Christian calling then can sometimes be uncomfortable, even frightening at times; as it demands discipline and courage on our parts to overcome our natural reticence to engage with the stranger in our midst, with the ‘other,’ with ‘those people,’ you know who I mean. And so this work of reconciliation often takes faith on our part to engage in, because sometimes it is a scary venture, and in the end we must have trust in our heavenly Father, if we really wish to participate in the Mission of God.

And in a time when our nation is so divided, in a time when our politics so partisan, where is the voice calling for unity and reconciliation in this country, where is the voice to bring us back together as Americans, the voice that is more concerned for us as a people, as a nation, than for any particular political party or tribe? Isn’t that what the Christian Church is called to do? Are we not called upon to speak up at times like these? To stand up for the acceptance of one another, for love of neighbors, for hospitality to the stranger and foreigner in our land? Did we not take vows at our Baptism to respect the dignity of every human being? Did we not take vows to seek and serve Christ in all persons? To strive for justice and peace among all people? To proclaim by word and example the Good News of God in Christ? Why aren’t we doing that? Where is our voice?

Though the Christian Church ought to be part of the solution to this national crisis, we are instead, I fear, part of the problem. For Martin Luther King, Jr.’s words are still true today fifty years later, 11:00 o’clock on Sunday mornings is still the most segregated hour of the week. President Eisenhower integrated the army in 1948. Brown versus the Board of Education began the integration of our schools in 1954. Redlining neighborhoods was outlawed by Fair Housing Act in 1964.

So how is it that our churches are still so segregated, so adjectival, especially if we are to be a voice of reconciliation in this land, if we are to really engage in the Mission of God. We need now to desegregate our churches. For our actions speak louder than our words, and how can we as Christians help bridge the divide in our nation, if we ourselves as Christians are so divided, so segregated, gathering as we do so often on Sunday mornings only with those who look like us, and think like us, and speak the language as we do! This is what is so remarkable, so refreshing, about this joint Pentecost celebration this morning, the gathering Christians of different peoples and cultures and languages together as one, as on that first Pentecost so long ago, to speak about God’s great deeds of power among us, to talk of God’s great love for all humankind, to celebrate God’s mission of reconciliation across all barriers and frontiers!

I have felt blessed over the last 15 years to work in a parish like this, in the midst of a city which does not have any racial or ethnic majority, even within any of our neighborhoods, and so one would expect the churches in this city at least to reflect the diverse faces of the people of our community, but they don’t. A few may, but sadly most of churches even in this diverse city are adjectival. Even here we are segregated! And worse yet, this diverse city of Bridgeport is surrounded by suburbs and churches that are almost exclusively white. How can this be? Why is this so? And more importantly, what are we as Christians doing about it, if anything? What are the gates and barriers that divide us?

Is it the large lot sizes required for houses in the suburbs that exclude the poor minorities, or is it simply the absence of affordable housing, or is it the lack of public transportation or needed social services, or is it simply institutional racism and class prejudice? I tell you, that if we the Church focused more of our time and our energy on confronting these kinds of questions, and less on questions of human sexuality or theological orthodoxy, then I believe the Christian Church would be thriving, that the Church would be relevant in our society, and that we as Christians would be truly engaged in the God’s Mission, and an example of unity and reconciliation to a sadly divided world.

Our mission, our ministry is supposed to be breaking down those walls that divide us, removing the borders that separate us one from another, and building the bridges that unite us to God and to each other. Pentecost, this wonderful feast of diversity, of bringing people of different nations and tongues together as one, is not supposed to something we celebrate only once a year. It is what we are supposed to be doing every day of our lives as Christians, as Christians really engaged in the Mission of God!

We are NOT supposed to be retreating back into our convenient clusters of ‘adjectival’ ministries and congregations! We are supposed to be engaged in the Mission of the Church. We are supposed to be engaged in the ministry of reconciliation of all people to each other, and to God our Father, and not just to those who look like us, or think as we do, or who share our values and speak the same language as we do. So let’s get at it! Let’s be the Church, let’s do the mission of God, in a world that so desperately need us to do so. Amen.

Summer of Prayer II

Let Me, Lord

Let me, Lord, discern my faults
Without becoming self-absorbed,
Let me confess my sins
Without excuse,
Let me be penitent
Without despair,
Let me grow in faith
Without self-righteousness,
Let me increase in virtue
Without conceit,
Let me be generous to a fault
Desiring nothing,
Let me be humble
Craving no esteem,
let me be honest
even in my silences,
let me be loving
with a true heart, and let me be filled with your Holy Spirit
that I may worship and adore you, always. Amen.

(UTO Book of Prayers – Alice Baird of upper South Carolina)

In Marilynne Robinson’s book Home (2008) the main character, Glory, is reflecting on prayer. Her father had told her to pray for patience, but deep in her is a desperate truth and desperate desire that is longing to be given the air to breathe and the dignity of voice:

So she prayed, Lord, give me patience. She knew that was not an honest prayer, and she did not linger over it. The right prayer would have been, Lord, my brother treats me like a hostile stranger, my father seems to have put me aside, I feel I have no place here in what I thought would be my refuge, I am miserable and bitter at heart, and old fears are rising up in me so that everything I do makes everything worse. But it cost her tears to think her situation might actually be that desolate, so she prayed again for patience, for tact, for understanding–for every virtue that might keep her safe from conflicts that would be sure to leave her wounded, every virtue that might at least help her preserve an appearance of dignity, for heaven’s sake.
Resources: UTO Book of Prayers, Disciples Prayer Book, Forward Day by Day, Forward Movement Prayers (Morning), Prayers for Sleepless Nights and more can be found in the Narthex of the Church.

June 23 Sermon

O God of all peoples and nations, to you no one is a stranger, for your saving love knows no boundaries, and your compassion extends to all. In Jesus, you have come under our roof to speak but a word, and we are healed. May we, in turn, never set boundaries to your grace, but gladly offer the embrace of your peace to all without difference or discrimination. We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God for ever and ever. Amen. (Peter J. Scagnelli)

How can I love my neighbor as myself
when I need him as my enemy –
when I see in him the self I fear to own
and cannot love?

How can there be peace on earth
while our hostilities are our most
cherished possessions –
defining our identity, confirming
our innocence? (Eric Symes Abbott)

Did his neighbors love him?

The Gerasene Demoniac lived a hard life – in chains, in the tombs among the dead – the possessed put away from others. Then Jesus enters the scene. He is not welcomed by onlookers. He is an outlander, stranger to those parts. And he is greeted by the demons, who know him!

"What have you to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I beg you, do not torment me" -- for Jesus had commanded the unclean spirit to come out of the man.

So Jesus asks his name – “Legion” they reply…

And then using a herd of swine, Jesus casts out the demons. The people come to see what has happened – and their world is turned upside down – the man is in his right mind, clothed, restored to the living.

Then all the people of the surrounding country of the Gerasenes asked Jesus to leave them; for they were seized with great fear.
But why fear? Because Jesus has challenged and changed the world order.

As biblical scholar Jeffrey Johns puts it: "The miracle story is not just about a personal exorcism. It is about the promise of God's ability to defeat and re-order the disordered powers that afflict individuals and communities" (The Meaning in the Miracles, 91).

Yes, Jesus healed the man but he exposed the demonic, the land is possessed too.

“The demoniac is called by the Latin name "Legion," referring to a company of up to 6,000 Roman soldiers. The exorcism of the evil powers occupying the demoniac is linked with acts of Roman oppression in that region. The Gospel of Luke identifies Roman military might with the supernatural powers that are behind all systems of violent oppression. Personal exorcism becomes symbolic of corporate liberation from oppression. The exorcism breaks the demonic spell that keeps the individual dependent upon the dominant power (p. 86). As we hear the hooves of the pigs clicking toward the sea, the message is that even the power of Rome will ultimately be no match for the liberating power of God in Christ.” (Alyce McKenzie)

That is the deep truth. That God’s authority and love will break any power that chains God’s creation. It is Jesus who challenges us to look beyond labels and beyond our enemies. He calls us to be his ministers in this world to break the chains that create difference and separation, to free the oppressed.

“Too often the demonic systems that we live with, dominate us by rigidly classifying those who are included and those who are excluded…The insightfulness of this miracle story is shown in the fact that Jesus goes out to heal the very one, Legion, Gentile, who is the symbol of the alien oppression. Jesus steps outside the territory of Israel into ‘unclean’ territory, heals the most untouchable of the untouchables, and makes him in effect his first apostle to the other Gentiles. And he does it unambiguously in the role of God himself against Roman occupation.” (p. 92)

The exorcism makes the people fearful because it challenges the status quo and the oppression that is a part of their own lives. But not even Rome can stop Jesus and even as the majority rejected him, the one saw the light, and was free.

“As in so many Gospel stories, it is the least acceptable who turns out to be the most accepting of what Christ has to offer and becomes his messenger of the same liberation for others.” (p. 93)

We might ask today: "Can we accurately name the demons in our own lives and that of our community?" Not only in our personal struggles but also societal struggles…

The Rev. Kenneth Leech, for example, writes, “Already the demons are being named. The enemy is being identified. Its names are legion. Racism is a demon. Poverty is a demon. Powerlessness is a demon. Self-depreciation is a demon. And those who prop them up are demonic in effect. A strategy of liberation includes a ministry of exorcism, the naming and casting out of demons.” (1981)

I listened to some of the testimony given the other day to H.R.40 - Commission to Study and Develop Reparation Proposals for African-Americans. There were two Episcopalians that spoke, Bishop Eugene Taylor Sutton of the Episcopal Diocese of Maryland and Katrina Browne, documentary producer and active lay leader. But the testimony of author Ta-Nehisi Coates, caught my attention most, because I think he named some of our demons…

“The typical black family in this country has one-tenth the wealth of the typical white family. Black women die in childbirth at four times the rate of white women. And there is, of course, the shame of this land of the free boasting the largest prison population on the planet, of which the descendants of the enslaved make up the largest share. The matter of reparations is one of making amends and direct redress, but it is also a question of citizenship. In H.R. 40, this body has a chance to both make good on its 2009 apology for enslavement, and reject fair-weather patriotism, to say that this nation is both its credits and debits. That if Thomas Jefferson matters, so does Sally Hemings. That if D-Day matters, so does Black Wall Street. That if Valley Forge matters, so does Fort Pillow. Because the question really is not whether we’ll be tied to the somethings of our past, but whether we are courageous enough to be tied to the whole of them.”

Will we be freed by Jesus, will we name the demons of our times and help love our neighbors and free those who are yoked or will we remain fearful like that countryside, sending Jesus away?

So Jesus got into the boat and returned. The man from whom the demons had gone begged that he might be with him; but Jesus sent him away, saying, "Return to your home, and declare how much God has done for you." So he went away, proclaiming throughout the city how much Jesus had done for him.

Likewise, may we from our own homes declare what God has done for us, the dead who live, the oppressed who are free. Amen.

Reparations #HR40 #Episcopal

That the 75th General Convention of the Episcopal Church (2006), affirming our commitments to become a transformed, anti-racist church and to work toward healing, reconciliation, and a restoration of wholeness to the family of God, urge the Church at every level to call upon Congress and the American people to support legislation initiating study of and dialogue about the history and legacy of slavery in the United States and of proposals for monetary and non-monetary reparations to the descendants of the victims of slavery.

You can read more on this here:

https://episcopalmaryland.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2019/06/Reparations-Letter-Appendix-D.pdf

The story of Episcopalians giving testimony for HR 40:

https://www.episcopalnewsservice.org/2019/06/20/episcopalians-testify-in-support-of-bill-h-r-40-in-house-judiciary-subcommittee-hearing-on-juneteenth/

https://www.episcopalnewsservice.org/pressreleases/maryland-bishop-to-testify-on-reparations-before-house-subcommittee-wednesday/

Work done by Episcopalians in Maryland:

https://marylandepiscopalian.org/2019/06/17/resolution-on-racial-reconciliations-passes-unanimously-at-235th-diocesan-convention/

To watch clips of the hearing:

https://www.c-span.org/video/?461767-1/house-judiciary-subcommittee-examines-case-slavery-reparations

Transcripts:

https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2019/06/ta-nehisi-coates-testimony-house-reparations-hr-40/592042/

http://www.tracesofthetrade.org/testimony/

World Refugee Day

World Refugee Day | Episcopal Church

On this World Refugee Day, Episcopal Migration Ministries and The Episcopal Church Office of Government Relations invite you to join in the work of welcome through advocating for our newest neighbors!

Download the 2019 World Refugee Day Advocacy Toolkit and learn how you can show your support for the children, women, and men forced to flee. World Refugee Day marks a day we lift up the courage, strength, and perseverance of refugees worldwide. As people of faith invested in the work of welcome, we have to utilize our stories to ensure that elected officials promote and maintain our nation’s admirable tradition of refugee resettlement and implement humane and just immigration policies.
 

World Refugee Day Resources:

• Use the “Welcome the Stranger: Affirmations for Faith Leaders” to foster support for refugees and other displaced people in your community.
• Welcoming America World Refugee Day Toolkit
• List of nationwide World Refugee Day events
• Visit the Refugees Welcome campaign website and join the movement.
• Follow Episcopal Migration Ministries and Episcopal Public Policy Network on Facebook and Twitter and watch for social media posts supporting #WRD2019, #RefugeesWelcome, and #SupportRefugees to support welcome and hospitality for refugees.
• Find a local World Refugee Day event on this RCUSA list of Nationwide Events
• Join the Episcopal Public Policy Network to learn more about how you can work with local and elected leaders to support refugees.

Summer of Prayer I

The Gift of Today

Gracious and loving God,

Thank you for the gift of this day: for the brilliance of the rising sun, for the ripples of the flowing river, for the music of the birds and the industry of the small animals.

May I use this day wisely and reverently and to your glory, always remembering that each and every day is a blessing from you to be shared and honored.

I pray this all in Jesus’ Name. Amen.

(UTO Book of Prayers – The Rev Jennifer Kenna of Central New York)




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From Beginning to Pray by Anthony Bloom

What we must start with, if we wish to pray, is the certainty that we are sinners in need of salvation, that we are cut off from God and that we cannot live without Him and that all we can offer God is our desperate longing to be made such that God will receive us, receive us in repentance, receive us with mercy and with love. And so from the outset prayer is really our humble ascent towards God, a moment when we turn Godwards, shy of coming near, knowing that if we meet Him too soon, before His grace has had time to help us to be capable of meeting Him, it will be judgment. And all we can do is to turn to Him with all the reverence, all the veneration, the worshipful adoration, the fear of God of which we are capable, with all the attention and earnestness which we may possess, and ask Him to do something with us that will make us capable of meeting Him face to face, not for judgement, not for condemnation, but for eternal life…

Resources: UTO Book of Prayers, Disciples Prayer Book, Day by Day, Forward Movement Prayers (Morning), Prayers for Sleepless Nights and more can be found in the Narthex of the Church.

Trinity Sermon

 
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.

Henri Nouwen, priest, professor, writer and theologian once asked the question: “What do we really choose to see?” It is a matter of enormous importance what we look at and how we look at it… We do not have to be passive victims of a world that wants to entertain and distract us. We can make decisions and choices. A spiritual life in the midst of our energy-draining society requires us to take conscious steps to safeguard that inner space where we can keep our eyes fixed on the beauty of the Lord.”

Nouwen is getting us to think about our world view and how the world can divert us from connecting with God. He invites us to choose to see the Beauty of our Lord in our world.

St. Sergius, a Russian monk, woodworker and toy-maker who, in the 14th Century, founded a monastery in the dense forests north of Moscow. He left no writings, save for these words: “The contemplation of the Holy Trinity destroys all enmity.” (Jim Forrest)

In the year 1410, a Russian monk and iconographer named Andrei Rublev wanted to help people in Russia understand their faith better, to see the beauty of God. He wrote his most famous icon: the Holy Trinity which is on the front page of your bulletin.

“For iconographers, writing an icon is a spiritual exercise.” (Holy Women & Men)

Rublev would wrote his icon to honor the St. Sergius with the hope that the Russian people “would conquer 'the devouring hatred of the world by the contemplation of the Holy Trinity.’" (Henri Nouwen) The Trinity was seen and felt to be a unifying force in a world so filled with hate and fear.

But the story, as told by the late priest and author Henri Nouwen, isn’t just about the writing of a famous icon, but about an understanding and an invitation to join the Trinity, the House of Love.

Nouwen writes, “Long ago in Russia, there were many attacks made on a small town, and in a monastery the monks got very nervous and could no longer concentrate on their prayers because of all the violent conflicts throughout the town. The abbot called his icon painter, Rublev, to paint an icon to help the monks remain prayerful in the midst of restlessness, trouble, and anxiety. Rublev painted an icon based on the visit of the three angels to Abraham in Genesis 18, seated around a table of hospitality.”

In the icon, the figure in the center (S) points with two fingers to the chalice and inclines toward the figure on the left (F), who offers a blessing. A third figure (HS) on the right points to a rectangular opening on the front of the table through which the viewer is invited to enter and participate in the spiritual actions. Together, the three figures, the Trinity form a mysterious circle of movement in perfect proportion. So when the monks prayed with the icon and focused on that circle of hospitality, love, and intimacy, they realized that they did not have to be afraid. When they allowed themselves to be part of the community formed by the three figures and let themselves be drawn into that circle of safety and love, they were able to pray and not lose heart.”

Nouwen goes on to say, “Andrei Rublev painted this icon not only to share the fruits of his own meditation on the mystery of the Holy Trinity but also to offer his fellow monks a way to keep their hearts centered in God while living in the midst of political unrest. The more we look at this holy image with the eyes of faith, the more we come to realize that it is painted not as a lovely decoration for a convent church, nor as a helpful explanation of a difficult doctrine, but as a holy place to enter and stay within. As we place ourselves in front of the icon in prayer, we come to experience a gentle invitation to participate in the intimate conversation that is taking place among the three divine angels and to join them around the table.”

God is always inviting us to join in the holy conversation. To see this invitation to God’s House of Love. It is only when we accept such an invitation, when we dare to put ourselves there in the midst of prayer, worship, meditation that we can feel our very souls being transformed, transformed from the house of fear that we daily live in.

Again in Nouwen’s words: “Hardly a day passes in our lives without our experience of inner or outer fears, anxieties, apprehensions and preoccupations. These dark powers have pervaded every part of our world to such a degree that we can never fully escape them. A network of anxious questions, which begins to guide many, if not most, of our daily decisions.

Still it is possible not to belong to these powers, not to build our dwelling place among them, but to choose the house of love as our home. This choice is made not just once and for all but by living a spiritual life, praying at all times and thus breathing God’s breath. Through the spiritual life we gradually move from the house of fear to the house of love.”

As disciples of Jesus, the practices of prayer, worship, study & service help ground us in the spiritual life that leads us to that house of love. It is something we choose daily.

To live into the house of love which Nouwen describes as “the place where we can think, speak, and act in the way of God – not in the way of a fear-filled world. From this house the voice of love keeps calling out: ‘Do not be afraid...come and follow me...see where I live...go out and preach the good news....the kingdom of God is close at hand...’

Violence, Fear, and hatred are as much a part of our lives today as it was in the days of Andrei Rublev in Russia in the 15th Century. His icon stands as a testament to our faith in God, in the Holy Trinity, in calling us to the place of love, where fear and hatred no longer can rule over us. Again in Nouwen’s words:

“The house of the Lord is the house of love for all people. There is a circle of safety, intimacy, and hospitality in the house of love. In that house we can slowly let go of our fear and learn to trust. In that house we can find freedom, community, and joy. Peacemaking is possible when we live in the house of love. Justice can be practiced where we live in the house of love. Ministry is effective when we live in the house of love. There we can be, and move, and trust, and love in freedom and without fear.”

We are invited to sit at that table and to join God as we gaze into God’s beauty and adopt God’s view. May this holy place and our homes and our very own hearts rest in the Holy Trinity, the house of love. Amen.

Presiding Bishop’s Pride Month statement honors LGBTQ Episcopalians

Presiding Bishop Michael Curry today offered the following statement:

Jesus said: “I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” (John 13:34-35)

In my years of ministry, I have personally seen and been blessed by countless LGBTQ sisters, brothers and siblings. Dear friends, the church has in like manner been blessed by you. Together with many others you are faithful followers of Jesus of Nazareth and his way of love. You have helped the church to be truly catholic, universal, a house of prayer for all people. You have helped the church to truly be a reflection of the beloved community of God. You have helped the church to authentically be a branch of the Jesus movement in our time.

Your ministries to and with this church are innumerable. I could speak of how you often lead our vestries, and other leadership bodies in the church. I could speak of how many of you organize our liturgies of worship, lift our voices in song, manage church funds, teach and form our children as followers of Jesus, lead congregations, ministries and dioceses. But through it all and above it all, you faithfully follow Jesus and his way of love. And in so doing you help the church, not to build a bigger church for church’s sake, but to build a better world for God’s sake.

During June, Americans and people around the world observe Pride. Today, as we mourn the 49 people who were murdered at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando three years ago, I am mindful that Pride is both a celebration and a testament to sorrow and struggle that has not yet ended. Especially this month, I offer special thanks to God for the strength of the LGBTQ community and for all that you share with your spouses, partners and children, with your faith communities, and indeed with our entire nation.

A Prayer for Pride Month

(based on a prayer from Trinity Wall Street)

God, our friend, you told our ancestors that the rainbow is the sign of your blessing and protection, especially after times of despair. We remember all those who have worked to make your church a place of invitation for LGBTQ+ people. We remember those who have fought for LGBTQ+ equality under the law and in practice in the United States. We remember those for whom these freedoms are not yet realized. We pray for those who live under the threat of fear of intimidation, oppression, and violence by their neighbors or by the state. We remember those who fight for equality today and tomorrow. We will never forget. We remember that your challenge to love our neighbors will challenge even us. We remember that for some of us welcome and celebration in our families and faith communities is sometimes occasional or elusive. This month we raise our own rainbow. May it serve as a sign of hope, a sign of our commitment to justice, inclusion, and welcome, and of your love made real in us. May it be a blessing to all who come this way. Amen.

Leo Tolstoy

June 10 is the day in 1881 that Leo Tolstoy began a fateful pilgrimage to a nearby monastery. His great novels - War and Peace and Anna Karenina - had made him rich and famous, but he felt a hollow emptiness in his life, and fell into a deep depression. Then one day, alone on a walk in the woods, he had an epiphany: “At the thought of God, happy waves of life welled up inside me. Everything came alive, took on meaning. The moment I thought I knew God, I lived. But the moment I forgot him, the moment I stopped believing, I also stopped living.” The monastery became for him a place of spiritual retreat, at which he worked out the implications of his conversion. He decided to renounce meat, sex, alcohol, tabacco, and expensive clothing. He wanted to give away all his money, too, but his wife, Sophia, reminded him that they needed at least some resources to raise their 10 children! (from the SALT Blog)

You can read some of his short faithful writings here (pdf).

Look to the Rock

https://episcopalnews.ladiocese.org/dfc/newsdetail_2/3184371



(from 2017)

Bishop Michael Curry recalled the dispersal of Israelites during the Babylonian exile: “This is what the prophet said: ‘Listen to me, you who pursue righteousness and you who seek the Lord. Look to the rock from which you were hewn and to the quarry from which you were dug. Look to Abraham, your father and to Sarah, who bore you.’ Look to the rock.”

While acknowledging current political uncertainty and ambiguity, Curry emphasized themes of unity, love, and building relationship: “It is fitting that we should be observing the birth of Dr. Martin Luther King at this moment and this time. We need him seriously now.”

Curry evoked the image of the “Sankofa” bird, a Ghanaian symbol “that reminded people that the way into an uncertain future is by knowing how to look back and to glean wisdom from the past and strength from the ancestors so that you can go forward in uncertain and ambiguous times.”

He recalled the 1991 discovery of a colonial-era slave and free African burial ground in lower Manhattan, now a national monument. Etched into one of the surviving wooden caskets, workers discovered the symbol of the Sankofa, which translated to English means roughly “go back and get it.”

“The Hebrew prophet understood this,” Curry said, referring to Isaiah, who preached during the Jewish dispersion. “The prophet (Isaiah) knew it … he was doing Sankofa. Look back to the wisdom of the past. Bring it into the present to go into future. This was at a time when Jewish people found their world disrupted. Their world had been one way one day, and the next, a nightmare.

“These were days when as James Weldon Johnson (“Lift Every Voice and Sing”) says, these were the days when hope unborn had died … and it is in this context that the Hebrew prophet spoke to his people. Listen to me, you who seek God’s dream in the midst of a nightmare … you who believe in love.

“Look to the rock whence you were hewn and the quarry whence you were dug. Look to Abraham. Look to Sarah. Look to Martin. Or, better yet, look to Jesus. The truth is … we ignore the wisdom of the past at our peril.”

You can find another version of his sermon, here.

Way of Love Podcast - Episode 1

What is the way of love?

Questions for Reflection
Use these questions for personal reflection, group discussion, or both.

1. In his sermon, Bishop Curry challenges those listening to follow Jesus and his way of love, saying, “Don’t be ashamed to be people of love.” Have you ever felt reluctant, or embarrassed, to live a Jesus centered life? Where did those feelings come from? If you are still in that season, what would help you live a shame-free life of love?

2. The Way of Love is not a curriculum or a program; it is a set of timeless practices that are meant to help people structure their lives around the life and teachings of Jesus. In his conversation with Lorenzo Lebrija, Bishop Curry speaks about the importance of “training the spirit” and practice, practice, practice. Have you ever thought about your spiritual life as something that needs practice and training? Just as we develop physical muscles when we exercise, so our soul develops spiritual muscles when we practice things like prayer, worship, and studying Scripture over and over. What “spiritual muscle” would you like to build up?

3. Living in a context greater than ourselves is essential to a healthy and whole life. How does (or how could) being part of the Jesus Movement inform how you live your daily life, how you interact with others, and what choices you make – from how you spend your money to how you spend your time?

Prayer: A Collect for Guidance

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

https://wayoflove.episcopalchurch.org/episodes/DFMS3081130278

Prayer for Courage

The word Croí is the name of the prayer space at Corrymeela. A beautiful circular building
with a living room that burrows into the earth. The word ‘Croí’ is Irish for ‘heart’. It is
pronounced ‘Kree’.*

Courage comes from the heart
and we are always welcomed by God,
the Croí* (heart) of all being.

We bear witness to our faith,
knowing that we are called
to live lives of courage,
love and reconciliation
in the ordinary and extraordinary
moments of each day.

We bear witness, too, to our failures
and our complicity in the fractures of our world.

May we be courageous today.
May we learn today.
May we love today.
Amen.

(C) https://www.corrymeela.org/

Easter 7 Sermon (June 2)

Draw your Church together, O God, into one great company of disciples, together following our Lord Jesus Christ into every walk of life, together serving him in his mission to the world, and together witnessing to his love on every continent and island. Amen. (NZPB)

One love
One blood
One life
You got to do what you should
One life
With each other
Sisters and my brothers
One life
But we're not the same
We get to carry each other,
carry each other
(One by U2 (2006))

There is one life, one blood, one love, we are not the same but we carry each other. When we think of our lives, we know we exist in a community of life that God has created & God longs for us to be united.

Jesus prayed for his disciples, “…that they may all be one. As you, Father, are in me and I am in you, may they also be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. The glory that you have given me I have given them, so that they may be one, as we are one…”

In this text from the Gospel of John, Jesus affirms his one–ness, his connection with God seven times. Each time with a slightly different emphasis and he wants his disciples to experience it too.

As followers of Jesus, our baptism connects us with Jesus and with God our creator; and we live that bond out in our mission in the world by the love we share with God’s creation.

Josh was a college student spending his vacation working with a relief organization that built housing in underdeveloped countries. Josh made friends with a number of the children in the village. One boy, Obioma, especially endeared himself with the college volunteers. Always upbeat and smiling, Obioma was eager to do whatever he could to help. Josh noticed that Obioma wore the same dingy shirt every day. So he scrounged up three T-shirts from what he and the other students had brought and that family and friends back home had donated. The shirts were a little big on Obioma, but he'd grow into them.

When Josh gave the shirts to the little boy, Obioma gave him a big hug and broad smile. The next day, Josh saw two older boys wearing shirts he had just given to Obioma. Fearing the worst, Josh went looking for Obioma to make sure he was all right. "Those gifts were for you, Obioma, so you'd have a change of clothes," Josh told his little friend after he found him safe. Obioma replied, "But, Mr. Josh, you gave me so many!" [From More Random Acts of Kindness.]

The generosity that Josh shares is returned by Obioma as he shares generously with others. In his calling to reach out and help, Josh found his bond to others who in turn knew their connection too. We live out our mission where we are, as the poet, KY farmer and Christian, Wendell berry reminds us that Jesus’ call to live the abundant life means: We become “conscious, consenting and responsible participants in the one great life.”

One great life.

As human beings, we are social creatures. Connected with each other through God’s creation. Our lives are not as separate as we so often think they are. As God shows us throughout creation.

I have just started the book the Hidden Life of Trees – written by German forester Peter Wohlleben – a book that goes into detail in how trees communicate and share food underground, via their root systems. The forest is filled with a community of neighbors that sustains each other. Wohlleben leads his readers on a fascinating journey into the forest, viewing trees as living beings who exist on a very different timescale from our own frantic lives. His book reminds me that such connections are what God has built into all of his creation. We all are linked one to another through our creator.

As he lay on his sickbed in 1624, the priest and poet John Donne pondered his life as he heard the church bells and wondered if it tolls for him.

“Perchance he for whom this bell tolls may be so ill as that he know not it tolls for him; and perchance I may think myself so much better than I am, as that they who are about me and see my state may have caused it to toll for me, and I know not that.”

And then Donne muses about our interconnectedness through the church and in creation.

“The church is catholic, universal, so are all her actions; all that she does, belongs to all. When she baptizes a child, that action concerns me; for that child is thereby connected to that body which is my head too, and ingrafted into that body whereof I am a member. And when she buries a man, that action concerns me: all mankind is of one author and is one volume; when one man dies, one chapter is not torn out of the book, but translated into a better language; and every chapter must be so translated.

No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main. If a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is the less, as well as if a promentory were, as well as if a manor of thy friend's or of thine own were. Any man's death diminishes me because I am involved in mankind, and therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee.

Another man may be sick too, and sick unto death… this bell that tells me of his affliction digs out and applies that gold to me, if by this consideration of another's danger I take mine own into contemplation and so secure myself by making my recourse to my God, who is our only security.”

(Devotions Upon Emergent Occasions: Meditation XVII by John Donne, 1624 )

Donne give us much to consider – for the bell tolls for us to consider our lives seriously.

“All humanity is connected in the Body of Christ, and all are equal before God. The implication for the individual living on Earth is that he is part of a greater whole, such that the death-bell has deep and significant meaning for everyone who hears it. We are all in this life together and part of the same divine plan, so the bell does toll for the sake of all who have ears to hear it.

The toll for another’s death is also a reminder to get our own affairs in order in the short time remaining before our own death. The civic-mindedness that comes from seeing oneself as part of a greater whole also provides direction for one’s life as an expression of spiritual devotion as one tries to live by God’s will.” (Gradesaver.com)

In this one great life we have, we get to carry each other. May we find that one-ness that Jesus prays for us. In our bond with God who created us and the love we share with one another. Amen.

Prayers for our National Life (Country & President)

From the Book of Common Prayer

18. For our Country

Almighty God, who hast given us this good land for our heritage: We humbly beseech thee that we may always prove ourselves a people mindful of thy favor and glad to do thy will. Bless our land with honorable industry, sound learning, and pure manners. Save us from violence, discord, and confusion; from pride and arrogance, and from every evil way. Defend our liberties, and fashion into one united people the multitudes brought hither out of many kindreds and tongues. Endue with the spirit of wisdom those to whom in thy Name we entrust the authority of government, that there may be justice and peace at home, and that, through obedience to thy law, we may show forth thy praise among the nations of the earth. In the time of prosperity, fill our hearts with thankfulness, and in the day of trouble, suffer not our trust in thee to fail; all which we ask through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

19. For the President of the United States and all in Civil Authority

O Lord our Governor, whose glory is in all the world: We commend this nation to thy merciful care, that, being guided by thy Providence, we may dwell secure in thy peace. Grant to the President of the United States, the Governor of this State, and to all in authority, wisdom and strength to know and to do thy will. Fill them with the love of truth and righteousness, and make them ever mindful of their calling to serve this people in thy fear; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, world without end. Amen.