Episcopumpkin!

I love it! Thanks to the Episcopal Cafe for posting this and to Austin the artist! Bravo!

When you think of Christians & Gays/Lesbians...

Sadly its this picture that springs to mind.

It must make God weep to see some who claim to be followers of Jesus more interested in hate than living out the life that Jesus calls us to do.

A recent NPR Story (Religious Undercurrent Ripples In Anti-Gay Bullying) states:

The Department of Education sent a letter to schools, colleges and universities Tuesday warning them that failing to stop bullying could violate federal anti-discrimination laws. The letter comes amid growing concern that there may be a religious undercurrent to the harassment of teens who are seen as gay.

Consider Justin Anderson, who graduated from Blaine High School outside Minneapolis last year. He says his teenage years were a living hell. From sixth grade on, he heard the same taunts.

"People say things like, 'Fags should just disappear so we don't have to deal with them anymore'; and, 'Fags are disgusting and sinful,' " he told the Anoka-Hennepin School Board. "And still, there was no one intervening. I began to feel so worthless and ashamed and unloved that I began to think about taking my life."

Anderson told his story at a public hearing last month — a hearing convened because in the past year, the district has seen a spate of student suicides. Four of those suicides have been linked to anti-gay bullying.

Justin Anderson survived. Justin Aaberg did not. Aaberg, 15, loved the cello, both playing and composing numbers like "Incinerate," which he posted on YouTube. Justin was openly gay. He had plenty of friends, but he was repeatedly bullied in his school. In July, his mother, Tammy, found her teenage son hanging from his bed frame.

"They were calling him, 'Faggot, you're gay,' " she recalls. " 'The Bible says that you're going to burn hell.' 'God doesn't love you.' Things like that."

Read the whole story here.

What should we say to those being bullied? They are children of God and loved by God! Go here for a blessing for those who are being bullied.

We can also make a pledge to follow the Golden Rule. It simply says:

This is what I’m doing:
I pledge to treat others the way I want to be treated.
Will you join me in this pledge?
“Do to others as you would have them do to you.” (Luke 6:31).

Find out more here.

Diocesan Convention

On Oct 22 - 23 was the 226th Diocesan Convention of the Episcopal Diocese of CT.

• Bishop Douglas' convention address may be found here
• BIshop Ahrens' homily from Evening Worship may be found here.
  
• Bishop Curry's sermon from Convention Eucharist may be found here
• Day 1 report (eNewsletter)
• Day 2 report (eNewsletter)
• Go here to read resolutions, budget, etc.
  

A Blessing for those who are being bullied

Episcopalians "Believe Out Loud": A Blessing for those who are being bullied: "If you are a GLBT boy or girl, man or woman, who is being bullied, then this blessing is for you. Carry it with you. Keep it near you at all..."

Just found this! Bravo Integrity & Bishop Charleston!

October 24 Sermon (Proper 25)

On my way up to Hartford for Diocesan Convention, I passed by a Pumpkin Farm off of I-91. The farm was large but the number of pumpkins, hundreds and hundreds of them, was amazing. It seemed like they stretched on forever; the crop was abundant. I thought of a line from today’s psalm:

You visit the earth and water it abundantly; you make it very plenteous.

In the days of the OT, the Hebrew Scriptures reminded farmers that after such a bountiful crop, to leave some on the fields for the poor to glean. The most famous story of such gleaning we might remember is from the story of Ruth who would meet her soon to be husband (Boaz) after she gleaned his field. Ruth was an ancestor of Jesus. Such generosity to remember the poor was to be practiced by all. You hear those words echoed in our first reading from Sirach…

Give to the Most High as he has given to you, and as generously as you can afford. For the Lord is the one who repays, and he will repay you sevenfold. He will not ignore the supplication of the orphan, or the widow when she pours out her complaint.

Through the generosity of God, God expects us to reciprocate, to be generous not only to God but towards others too, to remember the orphan and widow, the poor, those on the margins of society. For God will hear the cry for justice from the orphan and widow, the cries of the poor, and God looks to us to help from the abundance we have been given. But we struggle with such help and we struggle because we live alienated from one another, as Bishop Douglas talked about at convention:

In our country, it seems that everywhere we look we are increasingly alienated from each other in ever more distorted human and political relationships…
there is no lack of incivility and even hate in our society today as we scapegoat the “other,” the marginalized, the one who is different, in an attempt to alleviate our fears, our insecurities, and our sense of loss.

We hear such alienation echoed in our Gospel reading this morning:

And the Pharisee, standing by himself, was praying thus, `God, I thank you that I am not like other people: thieves, rogues, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I give a tenth of all my income.'

Jesus short little parable this week is his commentary on humility, on how we put down others to make ourselves the righteous ones. The Pharisee does not see himself like the others. And yet, the tax collector is the one praised and the Pharisee is not, Jesus again shakes things up and wants us to see our place as with other people. For it is the tax collector who doesn’t give thanks for not being others or praising his own works, but simply prays for God’s mercy, as a sinner. He is the one who speaks rightly. As Jesus said,

“for all who exalt themselves will be humbled, but all who humble themselves will be exalted."

We need to practice such humility, never putting others down to build ourselves up, always looking towards God’s mercy and love. Generosity toward others and humility towards ourselves is a good start for our lives as Christians. What does this look like today? How might we tell the parable today? One might use a story from The New York Times’ "Metropolitan Diary." In a recent diary (June 21, 2010), a correspondent reported observing this scene:

While waiting for the neighborhood parking garage to open one evening, the writer saw five young men hanging out. On the trunk of their car were two large pizza boxes and five Snapple bottles. The guys were having a great time - but their horsing around was getting out of hand. The extra pizza slices were being thrown around and the empty Snapple bottles were smashed on the pavement. The observer wrote that he was getting angry at the mess and noise, but did not want take on five rather large young men alone, so he remained in his car.

That's when the clown appeared. A real clown - greasepaint, a big rubber nose, baggy clothes, big floppy shoes - the whole clown bit. He looked as if he had just stepped out of the Ringling Brothers circus tent. Apparently he was on his way to entertain at a child's birthday party.

When the clown came upon the scene, he said nothing. He walked to the trunk, picked up one of the boxes and stooped down to pick up the broken glass and pizza globs on the street. The clown then walked to the corner and deposited the mess in a trash container. The young men were dumbfounded. When he had finished, the clown walked up to the five and passed his hat. The five sheepishly dug into their pockets and gave him their change. The clown bowed and went on his way.

As one author put it after reflecting on that story:

“We are not the center of the world, that realization that we are part of a much larger "circus" than our own little "sideshow." That is the Gospel value of humility: to realize that all the blessings we have received are the result of the depth of God's love & grace and not because of anything we have done to deserve it.” (Jay Cromier)

If our lives are marked with such generosity and humility, then we will be living our lives as St. Paul [and our Bishop at convention talked about], living as “ambassadors for Christ” and through such generosity and humility “to be drawn more deeply into God’s passion and mission to restore all people to unity with God and each other in Christ.” Amen.

Emmett Jarrett, RIP

The Rev. Emmett Jarrett, TSSF, a wise and gentle soul, my one time spiritual director, died last week. May his soul and the souls of all the departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace.

Homeless advocate, peace activist Emmett Jarrett dies
By Kathleen Edgecomb Day Staff Writer

New London - Emmett Jarrett, an Episcopal priest known for his love and kindness to all, died Saturday the way he lived - at peace, in a home filled with books, religious icons and a community of family and friends.

"We were all there with him. He shared his life and his love of life, and he shared his death with us all. It was a privilege and an honor,'' said his friend, Paul Jakoboski, vice president of Gemma E. Moran United Way/Labor Food Center. Jakoboski has lived for the past 18 months at St. Francis House, the home at 30 Broad St. that Jarrett and his family opened to any and all.

Jarrett, 71, helped organize the New London Homeless Hospitality Center Inc. and was a popular figure in the antiwar movement. For years he was a regular at peace vigils at the base of the Soldiers and Sailors Monument, participated in three Peace Pilgrimages across Connecticut and was arrested several times while protesting the war in Iraq.

But he is most remembered as the man who opened St. Francis House on Broad Street 10 years ago. It was an experiment by Jarrett and his wife, Anne Scheibner, to create an "intentional Christian community." It was a place to pray, a center for peace and justice ministry, and a home that welcomed the homeless, those in transition and those looking for a more spiritual life.

Read the whole article here.

Emmett wrote several books and composed poetry. Here is one of his writings.

Fireflies in Winter: Imagine Peace by Emmett Jarrett, TSSF

Think of a baby, sucking at his mother's breast,
her eyes, half-closed, brimful with satisfaction.
Or the urgent yearning of a boy to discover,
touching the body of a girl, an answer.

Imagine a man at work in the heat of day:
he digs the ground where the vine is planted, prunes
the bare brown arms that reach into the arbor.
See him stretched out under the fig tree, tasting its fruit.

Think of a woman walking through her garden:
she stoops to pinch the suckers from tomatoes,
pick blueberries, gather an apron full of peas.

Imagine an old man and woman, in front
of the fire on a winter night. They look out
at the cemetery: the moon shimmers
on the ancient snow. Headstones peep out
from the white carpet like houses on a village street
lit from behind by fireflies.

Civility & our Response

"Civility costs nothing and buys everything."
- Lady Mary Wortley Montagu, 1689-1766

We are just a few weeks away from the November 2 elections and there is no better time for us to remember to be civil in our conversations and to encourage others to do the same. Take the civility pledge (civilityproject.org) or sign our board in the Narthex:

• I will be civil in my public discourse and behavior.
• I will be respectful of others whether or not I agree with them.
• I will stand against incivility when I see it.

Why now? If we listen to the conversations going on, there is a lack of depth to them and discourse is more about the sound bite. Civility is a biblical imperative, because it is how we treat (love) one another. “We don’t need to give up our values, water them down, or throw out our convictions to have civil conversation. It is exactly these beliefs that allow us to engage in real dialogue.” (sojo.net)

"There can be no high civility without a deep morality."
- Ralph Waldo Emerson, 1862