Contraception and the Church

There has been a lot of talk lately about contraception and what the Church should say about it...

In the Episcopal Church: "We believe that contraception and birth control are matters of individual conscience." is how I've seen it on the web and I think that is a practical way of putting our beliefs.

Other churches, most notable the Roman Catholic Church disagree.  Even some businesses claim it infringes on their beliefs. (Although, I find for profit companies arguments on this to be quite lacking in credibility.)

Rachel Held Evans has an important and thought provoking blogpost on this:

http://rachelheldevans.com/blog/privilege-and-the-pill

Read it.  I think she is spot on.

Telling our Story

Their story, yours and mine -- it’s what we all carry with us on this trip we take, and we owe it to each other to respect our stories and learn from them. ~ William Carlos Williams

The story of St. Peter’s Episcopal Church began in 1802 when the first group of Episcopalians gathered in the town of New Stratford (the first name of Monroe) and began to build a church from which they could have their own worship space and reach out to their neighbors. Since those early days, St. Peter’s Church has been a life giving presence in the Monroe community and beyond. Here are some snap shots of our story in 2013.

The year began with a new mission opportunity for St. Peter’s Church, helping a tiny village and a small church in faraway Mozambique build a nursery school and water collection system. We met Bishop Sengulane and his wife and began to learn about a partnership that we had chosen with the community of Megumeto. We decided on a goal of $5,000 and gave our first check to the Bishop. The children joined in and sold lemonade at our Parish Tag Sale. In the fall, they held a bake sale after services. Everyone in the community joined in and helped raise $5,000 by the end of January 2014. We applied for and received a $10,000 grant from our Diocese of CT to begin work on phase II, to help the community build a well.

The children helped us in our worship, as they, along with our adult choir, sang praises to God over the course of the year. Our Junior Choir reminded us all of the beauty of God’s creation and how to sing a joyful song to our God. At Christmastime, they helped us remember the story of our salvation, of Jesus who was born for us in a humble stable, and how to share the beauty of Christmas with everyone.

Our adults gathered to explore questions of faith and grapple with the important issues of our time (e.g. immigration) through book discussion and our film & food nights. Opportunities both online and in community gave parishioners the chance to work on our fall bible study: the Gospel of Mark. And of course, whenever we gathered, there was always plenty of good food to be found!

Out of that abundance we have, we reached out in love to our neighbors! A Girl’s Night Out in November collected funds for the town’s Project Warmth. We made a Thanksgiving meal for Chapel on the Green and in frigid temperatures made sure that those in need on the New Haven green had a delicious hot meal and were able to get knitted scarves from Knit One, Pray Too and donated coats from our parish to help them stay warm.

In our times of fellowship and love, we gathered as a community at hockey and baseball games, we tasted the finest wines and beers, we enjoyed the company of friend and stranger, offering the hospitality of St. Peter’s Church. Our largest fundraisers were also our largest opportunities as a community to come together to serve and love, our annual Fish Fry lovingly prepared by even injured parishioners & our annual Apple Festival with a tour bus visit, were bigger than ever!

Worship brought us together with neighbors nearby and far away. We gathered to sing, to pray, to hear God at work in our world and reflect on God with us.

The story of St. Peter’s Church in 2013 was a story filled with hope, with love and with a real sense of the blessings that God has given to us to share with everyone. It was a story that every member of the parish contributed too, for every member, every friend, shared a line in the story. A story that continues today in our mission to welcome everyone with God’s love on their journey of faith, making strangers into friends!

(Paper edition included pictures with each paragraph.)

Learning from Trauma

There was an excellent article on the Sojourners Blog: A New Normal: Ten Things I've Learned About Trauma by Catherine Woodiwiss

I wasn’t really expecting painful things to happen to me.

I knew that pain was a part of life, but — thanks in part to a peculiar blend of “God-has-a-plan” Southern roots, a suburban “Midwestern nice” upbringing, and a higher education in New England stoicism — I managed to skate by for quite some time without having to experience it.

After a handful of traumas in the last five years, things look different now. Trauma upends everything we took for granted, including things we didn’t know we took for granted. And many of these realities I wish I’d known when I first encountered them. So, while the work of life and healing continues, here are ten things I’ve learned about trauma along the way:

1. Trauma permanently changes us.

Read the whole list of 10 at the blog.  It is well worth reading.

David Brooks has written his own article in the NY Times on the blogpost:

The Art of Presence by David Brooks

Tragedy has twice visited the Woodiwiss family. In 2008, Anna Woodiwiss, then 27, was working for a service organization in Afghanistan. On April 1, she went horseback riding and was thrown, dying from her injuries. In 2013, her younger sister Catherine, then 26, was biking to work from her home in Washington. She was hit by a car and her face was severely smashed up. She has endured and will continue to endure a series of operations. For a time, she breathed and ate through a tube, unable to speak. The recovery is slow.

The victims of trauma, she writes in a remarkable blog post for Sojourners, experience days “when you feel like a quivering, cowardly shell of yourself, when despair yawns as a terrible chasm, when fear paralyzes any chance for pleasure. This is just a fight that has to be won, over and over and over again.”

Her mother, Mary, talks about the deep organic grief that a parent feels when they have lost one child and seen another badly injured, a pain felt in bones and fiber.

But suffering is a teacher. And, among other things, the Woodiwisses drew a few lessons, which at least apply to their own experience, about how those of us outside the zone of trauma might better communicate with those inside the zone. There are no uniformly right responses, but their collective wisdom, some of it contained in Catherine’s Sojourners piece, is quite useful...

 Read his whole article here.

Remembering Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

What is the best way to honor the legacy of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King? How would the civil rights leader, activist and clergyman want people to remember him?

In 1994, the United States Congress answered that question when it passed the King Holiday and Service Act, designating the third Monday in January as a national Day of Service. The Act asked
Americans to see the day not just as time off from work or school, but as an opportunity to honor King’s legacy by taking part in community service projects. In short, they were asked to “make it a day on, not a day off.”

On January 20, 2014 millions of Americans across the country — including many Episcopalians -- will conduct food drives, paint schools and community centers, recruit mentors for needy youth, and bring meals to homebound neighbors, among many other projects. The King Day of Service brings together people who might not ordinarily meet, breaks down barriers, leads to better understanding and ongoing relationships, and gives organizations an opportunity to recruit new volunteers for their work. Participation in the King Day of Service has grown steadily over the past decade, with hundreds of thousands of Americans each year engaging in projects. Episcopal congregations throughout the nation will take part this year in the Day of Service, many of them in cooperation with other churches and community organizations.

Information and photos from the Corporation for National Community Service. (from Episcopal News Service]

***************************
Almighty God, by the hand of Moses your servant you led your people out of slavery, and made them free at last; Grant that your Church, following the example of your prophet Martin Luther King, may resist oppression in the name of your love, and may secure for all your children the blessed liberty of the Gospel of Jesus Christ; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

Renewal of Baptismal Vows

As we remember Jesus' baptism, let us also remember our own...

The Renewal of Baptismal Vows (from the BCP)

Do you reaffirm your renunciation of evil and renew your commitment to Jesus Christ?
People      I do.

Celebrant  Do you believe in God the Father?
People        I believe in God, the Father almighty, creator of heaven and earth.

Celebrant  Do you believe in Jesus Christ, the Son of God?
People        I believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord.
                  He was conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit
                     and born of the Virgin Mary.
                  He suffered under Pontius Pilate,
                     was crucified, died, and was buried.
                  He descended to the dead.
                  On the third day he rose again.
                  He ascended into heaven,
                     and is seated at the right hand of the Father.
                  He will come again to judge the living and the dead.

Celebrant  Do you believe in God the Holy Spirit?
People        I believe in the Holy Spirit,
                   the holy catholic Church,
                   the communion of saints,
                   the forgiveness of sins,
                   the resurrection of the body,
                   and the life everlasting.

Celebrant  Will you continue in the apostles' teaching and  fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in the prayers?
People        I will, with God's help.

Celebrant  Will you persevere in resisting evil, and, whenever you fall into sin, repent and return to the Lord?
People        I will, with God's help.

Celebrant  Will you proclaim by word and example the Good News of God in Christ?
People        I will, with God’s help.

Celebrant  Will you seek and serve Christ in all persons, loving your neighbor as yourself?
People        I will, with God’s help.

Celebrant  Will you strive for justice and peace among all people, and respect the dignity of every human being?
People        I will, with God's help.

The Celebrant concludes the Renewal of Vows as follows

May Almighty God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has given us a new birth by water and the Holy Spirit, and bestowed upon us the forgiveness of sins, keep us in eternal life by his grace, in Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen.

Baptism of Jesus Sermon

O God of grace, by the power of the Holy Spirit you have given us new life in the waters of baptism; strengthen us to live in righteousness and true holiness, that we may grow into the likeness of your Son, Jesus Christ. Amen.

What do you have in common with…

• St Francis & St Patrick
• William Wilberforce (The great Abolitionist of England),
• Bernard Mizeki (Catechist & Martyr of Mozambique)
• Martin Luther King, Jr./Billy Graham/Mother Theresa
• Pope Francis/PB Katharine Jefferts Schori

It’s your baptism. It’s what makes us a Christian.

“There is one Body and one Spirit; There is one hope in God's call to us. One Lord, one Faith, one Baptism; One God and Father of all.”

These words from Paul’s letter to the Ephesians (chapter 4), remind us that whoever we are, wherever we were baptized, we were all baptized into one body that is Christ’s, and it is by God’s Spirit that we are sealed in baptism and made Christ’s own forever. For there is one Lord, one faith and one baptism.

And just as Jesus heard the words after his baptism, “This is my Son, the Beloved, with whom I am well pleased.” This is also true of us. That each of us, you and I, are also beloved by God, baptized into Jesus life, death and resurrection.

And it’s important that we remember our baptism, give thanks that we are beloved too and show it in our lives! I know I have told this story before but its one I love…

Two friends are having lunch at a local restaurant when one woman is distracted by a scene two tables over.

"What's the matter?" her friend asks.

"See that couple over there? We're sharing the same waiter except they're being so demanding that he barely has time for anyone else. Look at how they turn up their noses at everything he brings them."

"Maybe their order just isn't to their liking."

"No, that's not it at all. I was a waitress in college and I know the game. They're just trying to berate that kid into a free lunch."

Just then, they watch as the manager walks over to the table and stands next to the waiter. The couple complains loudly about the food and service. The manager takes the check from the waiter and motions him away.

"See what I mean?" the first woman says.

The embarrassed waiter comes over to the women's table. "Is there anything else I can get you?" he asks, his eyes downcast as he places the check on the table between the two women.
 

The former waitress snatches the check before her friend can even look at it and pulls out several bills from her purse. She hands everything to the waiter.

"Keep the change."

"But ma'am, that's . . ."

She takes the young man's hand and squeezes it. She looks him in the eye and says, "I know the kind of afternoon you're having. You're a terrific waiter. And you've earned every dime of this. So don't argue with an old lady who's been there." [From The Other Ninety Percent by Robert K. Cooper.]

It was a simple gesture, a tip. And yet she honored that waiter and she honored herself.

“You are the Beloved, with whom I am well pleased.”

Our baptism is the root of our lives. We are part of the household of faith. But with it, comes responsibility too, for so many in our world, do not see themselves as the apple of God’s eye, as beloved by their creator.

So it comes to us, to remember that we are beloved by God and in turn remind others, just as the old lady did to the young waiter one afternoon.

For it is our vocation, our calling as the baptized, to live into what Christ has done for us and to live that in this world.

As William Stringfellow put it in his first book:

“Thus the vocation of the baptized person is a simple thing: it is to love from day to day, whatever that day brings, in this extraordinary unity, in this reconciliation with all people and all things, in this knowledge that death has no more power, in this truth of the Resurrection. It does not really matter what exactly a Christian does from day to day. What matters is that in whatever the Christian does it is done in honor of the triumph of Christ over death and, therefore, in honor of his or her own life, given by God and restored to each in Christ, and in honor of the life into which all people and all things are called. The only thing that really matters is to live in Christ instead of death.” (from Instead of Death)

May we remember our baptism this day, remember that we too are beloved, and share that with our world, just as the saints of old did, so that we may live in Christ instead of death. Amen.

Baseball Hall of Fame - Sinners or Saints?

There has been a lot of discussion lately regarding the Baseball Hall of Fame and who gets voted in and those who do not.  Lots of talk about "character", cheating and who did or did not use.

Two very good articles are here:

http://espn.go.com/mlb/story/_/id/10262467/three-players-elected-baseball-hall-fame-fate-other-greats-unresolved

http://espn.go.com/mlb/hof13/story/_/id/8826383/what-mlb-hall-fame-be

And a good follow-up

http://www.grantland.com/story/_/id/10261642/mlb-hall-fame-voting-steroid-era


But I keep wondering what is the purpose of the Hall of Fame?

The HOF has people in it who have cheated, whose character in any light is terrible and many are missing who should be in it who have nothing to do with the whole "steroid era."

It is missing people who have done incredible things on the ball diamond.


There are sinners and saints in the HOF; I think many more should go in, including Bonds, Clemens and Pete Rose (the player).  Its time to have the best players inducted.  If they have done something to negativly impact the game, then name it.