tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-72067835183646398662024-03-13T04:24:54.178-04:00Stone of WitnessSee how I lay in Zion a stone of witness, a precious cornerstone, a foundation stone: The believer shall not stumble. And I will make justice the measure, integrity the plumb-line. Isaiah 28: 16-17.Muthah+http://www.blogger.com/profile/10589837671378205837noreply@blogger.comBlogger431125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7206783518364639866.post-59252884195960705302016-02-05T09:27:00.001-05:002016-02-05T09:27:30.455-05:00<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Church
History, New Church and Jesus<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">A couple of
years ago I had read Diarmaid MacColloch’s <i>Christianity,
The First 3,000 Years.</i> I had taught church history since the 70’s but it
was a limited idea of what happened in Christianity. It had been very limited to western
Christianity and totally irreverent to the broadness of how the story of Jesus
was spread throughout the whole of the Middle East, Africa, India, China. MacCulloch opened to a type of Christianity
that had become a political control in Papal and Orthodoxy to a history of the Church of
the East. And if there is anything that
faces us today it is the willingness for us to look hard to see how we have
allowed Christianity throughout the world, (and it does not matter what
religion) to dictate what Christianity that often has not based upon the person of
Jesus except for those who are in that spiritual relationship of the Holy One. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">I must admit that I thought that Christianity came west in Europe early,
but not for almost 500 to 800 years.
Christianity became a faith of the Middle East and even the Far
East. I had also the privilege of reading
Philip Denkins, <i>The Lost History of
Christianity</i>, a fascinating understanding of the first 1,000 years of
Christianity of those that were not under the Roman/Orthodox Christianity that
got lost. Those who were not Trinitarian were vaster and much more open to a
way of understanding than what happened after the split between first Orthodoxy
and the various Myaphysite Christianity that developed in the East, Egypt,
Africa and finally to India. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">For many
places throughout the world from the time of the 4<sup>th</sup> century,
Christianity, especially in places where colonization from a culture quite
different demanded specific behavior having to do the colonizing. From the time
of Constantine used Christianity to control his Eastern Roman world. But how Christianity became less a faith by
those who used religion as a way of maintaining empires, Christianity became as
much as a sociological element throughout centuries. Church leaders were as much political elements than faith leaders. And we still see this in many churches of the world today. We still see this kind of church leadership in Roman Catholicism, but we still see this kind of call from many within Anglicanism because it is the way that it has existed for centuries.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"> By the development of America under the
English, we certainly saw this in America with regards to the behavior of
Native American peoples, demanding ways of living in order to be considered
acceptable enough not to be imprisoned. We
can still see in the African understanding of Anglicanism, a Christianity that
is more based on a manner of being that has less to do with the relationship
with Christ and more if one lives like the Brits…or perhaps a type of
British/Western European life style than faith.
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">I am
convinced that much of what was taught throughout the colonization of
Anglicanism had less about faith but much about making a colony possible to run. What happened as the US turned away from
British colonialism, a new way of Christianity was developed that changed from old
Anglicanism. The removal of Church as a
state religion changed the entire European concept as Christianity developed in
the US. And yet, there is still considered that there are expectations of what
Christianity by government of what has been expected even when this nation has
had a type of difference. We have more churches
than any other in the world, and in many churches have no unity. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">I had a
colonial church back in the 1980-90’s.
It had started in the 1690’s to meet the needs of the Piscataway Indians
along the Potomac River, but the Native Americans were not interested. It
became a small place where </span><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;">Anglicans came to support each other as they became a
community.</span><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;"> </span><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;">It still is a solid parish
that has tried to remind people that the faith in the story of Jesus.</span><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;"> </span><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;">It is simple. It continues to be a place of
history. It also continues to be a place where on the banks of Washington, DC
it sometimes continues to speak of what Jesus continues to remind the people,
and the diocese that faith still gathers people to live the love and the
liturgy of faith.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Even today,
there are those in all of our Anglican churches we have different ways of
understanding the place of Church as it speaks in its local environs. But it
also has a way of describing how it speaks internationally. For those Churches that are still national
and political, all need to be aware of the way. Christianity often speaks the
cultural expectations of those who observe their faith in an area. At the same time, in those Churches that are
less social or cultural entities, especially in places where Christianity has
less to do with the cultural and more to do with the spiritual, that is by far
more open to the person of Jesus. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Personally,
I believe that the Anglican Communion, because we have never tried to be a
standardized Church, we have tried to respect the distinctions that come from
being both social and spiritual. If
there is anything that the American’s relationship to start the Anglican
Communion was to respect what had happened, but not to accept the national,
social expectations of the faith. It is
part of the joy of the Anglican Communion to be all over the scene, but not
without respect.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Our
Christian requirements as some levels will always be from the actions of
Jesus. I do not deny that the problems
that face the Churches of those African nations that are in violence with
religions they face. At the same time, I
do not believe that the issues of violence against LGBTQ issues that we have
chosen to repudiate in our own era. It is an issue of Jesus’ love for others
and acceptance of people who have been treated with disrespect and fear. For half a century, life in the US has made
moves that will eventually be seen in loving rather that fear. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">But in the
inner part of the faith, in that scary, spiritual part every Christian is
invited is to ask the difficult questions: am I afraid of what God is calling
us all to do? Am I willing to ask the difficult questions of human sexuality
has to do with Christianity today? Am I
willing to find that being whole in the name of Jesus has more to do with teaching
me how to love others no matter their calling?
Can what others have named as Christianity really speak what Jesus
called from his own people? Was what
Jesus doing to call the 1<sup>st</sup> century Jerusalem to open his Jewish
people to return what the prophetic embrace of the God no matter what the
ethnicity was beginning to edge out the people of the Temple? <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">If what we
are seeing another church emerging in the world today, it is a church that needs both to be willing to go back to be faithful to our origins, but at the same
time to reject those things that have kept us from being the honest and not
demanding of others. I do not believe
that the only thing the Church can be for the future is to be judgmental. Jesus’ call to his people was for them to
call themselves not to be judgmental of others.
If there is something for the future for the Anglican Communion it is
for us to talk, share, and respect one another even when don’t agree. It is the conversation that will continue our
love for Jesus. If there is anything that will continue us as
a Communion. We cannot discipline one
another; we cannot demand of others. All
we can do is keep up the conversation. </span><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;">If there are those who are too frightened to talk, then Christ is not
present.</span><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;"> </span><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;">If there is anything that we
must be willing to do, it will be NOT to ignore, but be willing to continue to
ask the difficult questions that Jesus always did. But always done with
respect.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">For some of
our Churches the place where Women, LGBTQ, Catholics, Evangelicals, all provide
difficulties for some cultures for discussion.
For some who have been unwilling to even give acknowledgement that women
are more than prepared to share their faith in both intelligence and ability
make it so difficult to realize what Jesus shared in the women of the Church in
the 1<sup>st</sup> century. With that for
those places in the Communion, we can no longer just ignore their abilities.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">I am
especially filled with the efforts that are being made by our TEC Presiding
Bishop, Michael Curry. His life will
always be a powerful statement not only in our nations of TEC, but he will also
be one so ready to put himself in the arms of Jesus daily. Evangelical but Catholic. But Evangelical and
Catholic while part of history must not determine the structure of the
future. We need perhaps to be less stone
church and more open to being people who want to share Jesus with those who
have never known the person and spiritual life.
We are not a Church of illness, although at one point I was worried that
we were. Today I am more convinced here
in Fort Worth that we are beginning to see a Church for the future… a Church
that will look to living the life of Jesus daily, momentarily. We have the possibility to think outside of
what has always been so that our Christianity may speak more of what Jesus
called us to do. It will be the honesty that comes from asking the hard questions.
But more importantly it is a Christianity that call us out of what we
have always done in order to love others…even the ones who find fault with
us. I do not fear what others fear. Jesus has always taught how much I am loved
just as I am and calls me to love others the way they have found Jesus loving
them. When we get to that kind of
Christianity, when others know the love of God, the world will be changed.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
Muthah+http://www.blogger.com/profile/10589837671378205837noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7206783518364639866.post-16653992880312140262016-02-03T10:14:00.000-05:002016-02-03T10:14:45.200-05:00And Why Did We March?<i>This is something I wrote back in August while coming home from the commemorations of Jon Daniel's life and the events of Selma. But it was not so much about Jon as it was about what has happened in the past 50 years.</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i><br /></i>
<i><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">And why did we march?</span></i><br />
<i><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> Was it just an adolescent lark?</span></i><br />
<i><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Hope and Youth incarnate in colors</span></i><br />
<i><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> so foreign --- so alike?</span></i><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Dreams of a land so lush</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i> or a rush</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>To claim the righteousness of lives</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i> not branded with sourness of age?</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i><br /></i></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Hope is the liquor</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i> that addicts youth</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>To visions so attainable in the fresh-eyed, </i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i> just beyond reach,</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Overwhelming the soul.</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i> Set on paths to live long.</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Battle, like moths to lamps...yet</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i> strange to elder myopia</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Rooted in a future of the Holy</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i> only to find denial in new generations holding</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i> such visions uncouth.</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i><br /></i></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>And why did we risk?</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i> For life itself---to make possible</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i> a generation to dream of a life without us.</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Requiacat en Pacem </i></span><br />
<i><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></i>
<i><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></i>Muthah+http://www.blogger.com/profile/10589837671378205837noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7206783518364639866.post-38521132969284172762016-01-20T22:11:00.001-05:002016-01-20T22:11:43.286-05:00Anglican Communion, The Episcopal Church: What we are and what we are not.I have been trying to figure out how to respond both what has been happening to the Anglican Communion, what is happening in my own diocese and what has been happening in my life. I have been in the conversation about the Anglican Covenant for many years and watched how this attempt by those with a rather Anglo-Catholic understanding trying to bring a type of standardizing to the Anglican Communion that we have never been. Even the Church of England refused to accept the Anglican Covenant as developing a 'curica' in the Anglican Communion. The refusal of the CoE to accept the Covenant brought the resignation of ABC Rowan Williams because he did not have the support of many of the dioceses of his own Church, a very UK understanding of how political leadership there. <br />
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The purpose of the Anglican Communion has always been to recognize a history from our British/Celtic experience, the post/Reformation understanding that included married clergy, and an understanding that we do not necessarily embrace the same theological backgrounds, but that it was our worship that has reinforced our faith for 1500 years. <br />
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The meeting of the Primates of the various presiding bishops in Cambridge this past week was better than we could have imagined since 2003 and the election of Bishop Gene Robinson as bishop of New Hampshire. +Gene was refused invitation to the Lambeth gathering of bishops because he was gay. There are bishops in parts of Africa and Middle Eastern parts of the world still treat LGBTQ people as criminal. Our Episcopal Church has made a opening to understand not only with our country, for the last 50 years we have gradually opened our church to what a type of anti-LGBTQ has been passed as a type of sinful maintenance of people who follow only heterosexual marriage. <br />
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As Christians, we are not dealing with a liberal/conservative issue. We are, like Christianity, in other issues have had to look at social issues in the light of what Jesus did in his own era. Jesus in the 1st century tried to get Jews to see what was happening in Jerusalem to open the world to what the God of Israel had always been open to people who were no longer Jews. It was type of Judaism that had become by the 1st century one that became ethnically essential following the return of those of the Exile rather that for the message that God love was more important. It is not surprising that the bitterness that came after the Babylonian Exile developed through the bitterness that came between Pharisee/Sadducee division. It is interesting that Jesus who came from Nazareth did not follow the conservatism of Judaism of Jerusalem. Was Jesus' teaching upset both the Pharisees AND the Sadducees of his age that brought his death? It has never been understood. But it was the Romans who killed him because he was easily dusted away rather than Judaism to deal with issues of the era.<br />
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We, in this country, have seen similar division. In the 18th century there was an understanding of people of color in ways that Anglo people saw themselves as being brighter, smarter, God-blessed. We allowed our theology to support a type of color or cultural vision that was never of Christ. We allowed Christian theology, whether it was Episcopal or any denomination, to support slavery in this nation long after the British Church finally undid slavery in the UK. If you have never seen the film Traces of the Trade and the participation of the DeWolf family, its slave trade in the 18th and 19th century on slavery and their continued participation in their participation in the Episcopal Church. (Yes, Jim DeWolf was THAT family) It is time to understand that the Church allowed a brutal financial participation that was contrary to goodness. But as a Church we have seen how this understanding was begun to be seen as not just a vile understanding of racism, we have embraced our own call by Christ to know that racism, to refute it, for white people to own and confess our participation in racism and embrace forgiveness.<br />
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A similar issue has developed over the past 50 years in The Episcopal Church (TEC) about the LGBTQ issue. There had never been a difference between what has been between violent or pederasty and the loving development of people who have found love of same sex. Those who are most afraid of violent same-sex abuse is more likely to include those who love among their own sex rather than appreciate the call of same-sex lovers.<br />
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That violent same sex abuse is a totally different understanding behavior has not been understood psychologically for centuries. The abuse in military, prisons, even in the societies in which anger is at the center of ways of debasing others especially by male is deeply offensive. Sexual misconduct then becomes a way to control others. <br />
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Back in the early '90's I had a seminarian intern when I was in the Diocese of Washington. He was already a priest but he had been sent from Uganda to study at VTS. He was a remarkably bright man but was very uncomfortable about talking about gay issues at the seminary. Talking about anything about sex was just taboo in his nation. In Uganda in the 1800's the very British bishop of the beginning of the colonial church lost his life and with many young men by a king of the area who took part in sexual abuse of the people of the Church. The martyrdom is recognized by both Anglicans and Roman Catholics as the center of Christianity. But they have not looked at European development of Catholic and Anglican participation in the political participation at taking over African areas. It is not surprising that the people of that part of Africa still see the behavior of their king's sex abuse as violence. But because the discussion of sexual behavior of any kind makes it impossible for them to see that people who are gay can be seen as something other than sexual abuse. It is also interesting that the inundation by Africa by HIV/AIDS is also seen as something that is not to be discussed. It is not surprising that the Primates of Africa still find it difficult to speak honestly about what is threatening them. It is easier to find difficulty with TEC, Canada, NZ, Australia, and in nations that are willing to discuss such issues that have less to do with some 'sexual propriety' and have more to do with what is happening with what is sexual behavior in their countries. <br />
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What we have seen over last in western society is a type of looking at what really happens, and are seeing that what is loving is at the center of loving people. It was the kind of thing that Jesus tried to teach in his own era about what was loving by people who were not necessarily Jews. Jesus called people to live honestly and how to live honoring God's participation with all. And if there has happened anything in our Church's understanding of Jesus' Movement, we are calling from ourselves is to speak the truth about how we live our lives together.<br />
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Our Presiding Bishop, Michael Curry, has not dismissed primates who have misused their authority. He is not taking us out of the Anglican Communion because the primates who have never understood their own place in the Communion. We have a PB who understands that as Christians still are called to call a world to the mission of Jesus that has always been at the center of our Anglican Communion. His own history as an African American and is deeply embracing of a faith that is calling Christianity to a living out not the social values, but the living out the deep call to know the ability to own the sinfulness of ancient ideas so that we can embrace all...it will call us to understand how we have behaved sinfully in the face of racism, sexism, attitudes towards women, religionism, just so that we don't have to be afraid. When we have been called by Jesus we have always been freed to embrace the goodness that allows us to not be be afraid when we are trying to greater. But please God, we will continue to learn just what joy that we are being able to what we can for those places to hear the same joy that we are learning.<br />
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If there has been anything in our Diocese of Fort Worth, we are seeing a major change in our diocese in the past 6 months. We are living out a Christianity that this diocese has not been able to live out a Christianity for the past 35 years because it was so fearful what Christ's life has call it to. Now our diocese is growing. The parish we attend has grown by 24% in the past 6 months. Our school is growing. We are going to have to add more services and most likely are going to have to add room while we are still in court with the Iker crowd who is losing population. The clergy of the TEC diocese is not bothering about what the Iker crowd is blowing off about. We are talking about a what a new era not just needs from Jesus, but what we are seeing in the history of Christianity can remind us what Jesus was about. We are less calling us to say that Christianity is the only religion. We are seeing from those who are faithful Hindu, Muslim, Buddhist, and other faiths to have many of the same things that Jesus taught us. We need to find in that goodness a way to begin the conversations that will open us to the love that our faiths call from us. <br />
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Our faith is the new way of what it means to love God...the God that continues to teach us, to draw from us and teaches us that fear is not something we need to live out. Our PB, Michael Curry is leading us. As clergy we need to be willing to live that loss of fear to live the life of the Jesus Movement we will be the type leadership for the Church. But what we are seeing here in Ft. Worth is a group of clergy and especially lay leadership are a group of people who have said we are followers of Jesus. We are ready to live what Jesus is call out of us and it is awesome. If there is a future for the people of TEC is because we refuse to be afraid any longer.<br />
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<br />Muthah+http://www.blogger.com/profile/10589837671378205837noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7206783518364639866.post-4614760989126857262016-01-01T10:26:00.000-05:002016-01-01T10:26:24.869-05:00New Year, New Head, a New LifeThis is the first time I have tried to write since I went down with a brain tumor on the 9th of December. The surgery was on the 14th and for a few days I couldn't even speak following what the neurosurgeon pulled out some of the tumor. It was as much a problem to try make my head to try to explain what was going on inside my head. For several days I thought I was explaining what I thought was in my head, but there was really not much pain. I just felt that I had 2 heads. There was numbness on the left but not real pain. As the past 2 weeks have gone on, I have finally been working out at a Rehabilitation Hospital and I am now in better physical condition than I have been in the past 20 years. <br />
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Tomorrow I go home for a week and do outpatient work. Next week I will meet with an Oncologist as well with the Neurosurgeon to see what more needs to be done. Most likely there will be chemo. I don't know how long that will be or whether there will be radiology. But if what they have already done with almost no pain, or illness, I can't complain. <br />
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What I am finding is just as much difficulty is trying to use my new computer and the Windows 10 that was before a tumor so I guess my having to deal with something new that pushes me each day to think a bit more. It sort of feels like there is less in my brain to get in the way of computer stuff and have a whole new way to orient to my computer. I find a positive way of coming to this new computer with a new way of relating to my computer that I would normally just find as a computer one more pain. But this morning I am finding an opening to something quite open, something embracing technological that I would not normally have done. <br />
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The relationship of God has been one that has so cradled me in a way I haven't known in years. It is a time that I would never have known...it is something I have believed. But this is a time of an experience of friends, family and spiritual closeness that is on so many levels that I am still unable to even explain how close and how I have known God's presence. It is both transencendent and immanent all at the same time. Is it merely medication?....no. It is being able to know that God in humanity and Creation is doing stuff in my life that I have not known. Am I more than usual? No, but I feel nicer than I have in a number of years. <br />
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I will begin to write theology again now. I will begin to take on the things that those writers like Diarmaid MacCulloch, Diana Butler Bass, and other people who are beginning to describe faith that are willing to address the goodness that the God who has always been able to reach so much more outside what the Church has often tried to demand what the Church has demanded rather than what God wants.<br />
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If there is a new world that faith does demand of us for the future, the Church is being faced with a way of knowing what it means to claim that what is good and holy. It may not look like what Christianity has dealt with for the past 1000 years. It may look like a way of who we are in the face of what people from different faiths that allows us to hear how people who find how that holiness speaks finally to all. The more that I have seen in the health of people both in the medical world no matter what their faith brings to them, they are willing to make sure that the goodness for whatever reason they call me to think and live in a way that embraces world in a way that I have never thought of. It is a type of faith. It isn't so simple to just let God do God's thing. It is a participation in a way of life that is much grander that I would have allowed myself. <br />
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I do hope those who read my blog these days feel free to hop on what I say now. I will appreciate for people to have ideas different from mine to put their stuff in comments. It is a new age. It is a new way to look at the goodness of all that still speaks of the goodness of the Holy that is still so very much available. The goodness however it makes itself available to us and that is all that is important.<br />
<br />
<br />Muthah+http://www.blogger.com/profile/10589837671378205837noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7206783518364639866.post-58207743786450374942015-11-15T21:06:00.000-05:002015-11-15T21:07:51.876-05:00Martin of Tours and St. Martin in the Fields: A Patronal Feast<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The patronal feast is always a special date for every
congregation. I tried to find out how we
got named St. Martin’s in the Field and so far haven’t found out. (As we come close to our 50<sup>th</sup>
anniversary in a couple of years, it might be interesting for those who know
that story to put it in print.) </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Usually
the saint for which a congregation is named is important to the spirit of a
parish and for us here at St. Martin’s that is true. But the name of St. Martin’s in the Fields is
also the name of an important parish in the heart of London in Trafalgar Square
that may have figured in the naming of our parish. Often parishes get named after parishes in 'old country'. So I did some</span></div>
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checking. <span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">I am a classical music aficionado and am used to hearing
music from the Academy of St. Martin’s of the Field, one of the finest music
schools of the UK. I knew it started from a parish in London, so I decided to do a bit of study on that congregation.</span><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">The earliest date on that parish is
1222.</span><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">It kind of puts our history in a
bit of perspective, doesn’t it?</span><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">It was
built in the fields between Westminster Abby and the Diocese of London and in
the 13</span><sup style="line-height: 115%;">th</sup><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"> century there was a bit of a kerfuffle about to whom the
parish belonged —the Abby or the Bishop of London. (Sounds a bit familiar, huh?)</span><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">Now, that church is in the center of London
in Trafalgar Square in what is considered the center of London.</span><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">It has been a church for the homeless for
centuries, a place where 'the doors are never closed.'</span><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Our parish was named a little less than 50 years ago, and it
would not surprise me because of the lovely fields around us. But like the London church, we are quickly
becoming the center of a lively community, no longer out in the country where
we were just within the lifetime of many of us. When I started teaching here in Keller in 1967, I can assure you there was nothing here BUT fields! <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"> Another little piece
of information I found was that a distant cousin of mine was the organist at
St. Martin’s in the Fields, Trafalgar Square.
I can no longer just find that my presence here at St. Martin’s is just
a matter of serendipity.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The Saint Martin for whom both Trafalgar Square and here
in Keller/Southlake is named is one of the early Christian spiritual
powerhouses. Martin was born in the
early 4<sup>th</sup> century in Hungary, the son of a member of the Roman
Imperial Horse Guard. He spent his
childhood near Pavia, Italy and at the age of 10 attended the Christian
community there. There was a certain amount of mobility at that time as there is today. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">Against his parent’s wishes he became a catechumen, much as the
Emperor Constantine had done. At the age
of 15 he was drafted into the cavalry and stationed in France. The military at that time was as much the
agent of public works for the empire as it was a fighting arm. They built roads, towns and </span><span style="font-size: 18.6667px; line-height: 21.4667px;">aqueducts</span><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">When Martin was 18, he met a man who had too little clothing
to keep him warm. With his military
sword, Martin cut his lush military cloak in half and gave it to the man. That night Martin dreamed that the man who
had received the cloak was Christ. He had been touched by the spirit of God. The
next morning, he went to the priest and asked to be baptized. Not long after his baptism there was a threat
of war by local Gallic chieftains.
Martin went to his military commander and said he was a ‘soldier for
Christ and he could not fight.’ He was
arrested for cowardice. He offered
himself to be placed on the front lines and help his colleagues, but said he would not carry a sword. The
military threat dissolved and Martin was dismissed from the army in
France. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">Martin set himself up as a hermit on
an island off the Italian/French coast.
Soon he came into contact with Hilary of </span><span style="font-size: 18.6667px; line-height: 21.4667px;">Poitier</span><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">, the earliest bishop of the area, and
attached himself as a hermit. Martin
became a monk before the idea of monasticism was very well developed. Others, men and women, flocked to him for
advice and direction. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Christianity was still new in the area and it was difficult
to find those who could lead. The people
of Tours needed a bishop. They knew that
Martin would not accept the position so they invited him to tend to someone who
was ill in Tours. The people of Tours wanted to press him into service as
bishop. Martin tried to escape by hiding among the geese, but the geese gave
him away. And to this day, Martin is considered the patron of geese. The herald
of hospitality among the Celtic people has always been the goose.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Martin was consecrated as the bishop of Tours in 371. But instead of being housed in the bishops’
palace, he chose to live in the caves across the river from the city where many
new Christians came to live with him. The Abby of Tours grew up there and
became a center of learning and remarkable devotion in which all were welcome. Martin
founded monasteries and parishes throughout that part of France. And through this time of the </span></div>
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“Dark Ages”
these monasteries became the centers of education for England and Europe after
the fall of Roman Empire.<br />
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The mark of hospitality of Tours was one that was
absorbed into Benedictine spirituality some 250 years later, and it has
characterized the lives of those who followed in the spirit of Martin of Tours. </span><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">We really do not know much about the life of Martin </span><i style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">per </i><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><i>se</i>, but he was a soldier who refused
to </span></div>
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fight.<span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">He understood the meaning of
Christ’s peace.</span><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">It is not the way we
think of Christianity today, but perhaps it is a part of Christianity that
perhaps we need to recapture.</span><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"></span><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">He was a
man who preferred to follow Christ by being a monk, but was pressed into service
to the whole of Christian community to serve in leadership.</span><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">He was called to serve Christ not the way HE
wanted but in a manner that was needed.</span><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">
</span><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">He stood firm in Trinitarian theology at a time when the Emperor was
touting Arianism.</span><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">Yet he did not believe
in the wars that were fostered to root out those who did not believe the way he
did.</span><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">He was outspoken in his opposition
of the institution of the death penalty for those who were convicted of
heresy.</span><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">He was an icon for peace and
hospitality at a time when unrest was beginning to infect various parts of
western Europe.</span><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">The Abby of Tours,
Marmoutier </span><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">and Liege and </span><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">the various convents </span></div>
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founded by him became the
refuges for pilgrims in the age of pilgrimage and marked the highway systems of
what is now France, northern Italy and Spain.<span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">So what do we have to take from our patron today? Martin, as a person, was a person who
personally took his faith seriously. His
personal relationship with God in Christ moved him to center on service,
kindness and living out the peace he saw in Christ. The manner of his living informed his
theology and vice versa. Wealth and
position were not for him. He stood for
what he understood was the way that Christ had taught and he ministered in that
light. Conscientious objection was not centered in fear. It was a clear conviction to fight was
singularly opposed to the values of Christ.
It is ironic that he became the patron of the military in the 19<sup>th</sup>
century with his firm conviction about peace.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"> Hospitality was also
part of how he saw his commitment in </span><span style="font-size: 18.6667px; line-height: 21.4667px;">community</span><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">. Those places which he founded became places where people in need could find welcome no matter their
situation. He refused to find fault with
those with whom he disagreed. He would
not malign those who held different ideas of faith but required those who followed
him to offer generosity despite the differences. He was a bishop who did not garner power or
use his authority to demean others. He
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Saints are not necessarily remarkable men and women. They are plain ordinary people who face their
lives with a single mindedness centered on Jesus. They give us a vision of how we can face the
things in our lives with the kind of vision that Jesus had. The early saints have some wonderful stories
(we call it hagiography) told about them that may or may not be factual, but
they are true to the character of their gifts.
What I see in Martin is the greatness of the person, but also what has
followed in the institutions that have been raised up in his name. All over Europe, institutions were raised up
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under the influence of Martin of Tours.
They became the hospitals, the monasteries, the places of higher
education especially in France and the stops of cordiality on the pilgrim ways
to Compostella in Spain, to Rome and even to the Holy Lands. Even St. Martin’s in the Fields, Trafalgar
Square, founded some 800 years after Martin’s life, has a tradition of being a
place of education and hospitality to the homeless, ‘never closing its
doors’. <o:p></o:p><br />
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The kind of peace that Martin lived is the kind of peace that
we too can live here at our St. Martin’s.
And while we remember Martin of Tours as a soldier, he was a soldier who
called for the laying down of arms in the name of Jesus. He was a bishop who laid down his raiment so
that the poor could be clothed. He was a
saint that spoke quite theologically but refused to demand the expelling of
others if they believed </span></div>
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differently.
These are all qualities that we, here in Keller/Southlake, can call from
ourselves as we conform to the life of our patron. It is the way that we celebrate his life with
our own. Even in the youth of our
foundation—50 years is not a very long time in the story of Christ, we stand in
an ancient tradition as it is reformed into the newness of faith today. We stand upon the shoulders of a humble man,
a faithful man, a peaceful man who followed in the ways of Jesus. And we stand upon the stones of monasteries
and dioceses of Europe, built also as a place of hospitality, peace and
education. And we should be able to see
that we being tended by the saint even without knowing it.<o:p></o:p><br />
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">So how do we continue the tradition for a new era? How will we maintain the charisma of our
patron for a new age? <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">1.<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">Let
us claim a code that calls us to non-violence as a part of our core.</span></div>
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</span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Let
us contribute the education of Christian values in for all ages.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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</span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Let
us demand from ourselves a type of humility that allows this community to go
out to others and invite them to share Christ with us.</span></div>
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</span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Let
us always offer the kind of welcome that allows for differences. Hospitality is not just radical, it is part
of our DNA! </span><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; text-indent: -0.25in;">It comes from the heart of
our namesake.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Martin dared to live the life of Christ and it changed the
face of Europe. St. Martin in the
Fields, now in Trafalgar Square some 800 years ago helped to change the fabric
of British society. Can we begin to
think of what it might mean a millennium from now here in North Tarrant
County? We may be the center of Dalworth
then and our fields filled with ways for others to know of Christ. This building probably won’t be here, but the spirit
of Martin can still be lived in what we have begun here. We stand in a tradition, a remarkable heritage,
but it isn’t just history we promote.
The remarkable ways that we have to continue these values and will
continue throughout the generations ahead will continue to promote the values
we have absorbed and embrace. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">I invite you to make the new paths to Christ as did Martin
1,800 years ago. AMEN<o:p></o:p></span></div>
Muthah+http://www.blogger.com/profile/10589837671378205837noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7206783518364639866.post-23767417208002133552015-10-18T15:39:00.000-04:002015-10-18T15:39:32.849-04:00Of Truth, Witnesses to History and Windows 10<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I have a new computer with Windows 10. I can't quite tell if the problems with Windows 10 are a part of the program or the fact that the new HP has a touch pad that I can't turn off. But so far I have erased my prose much to my consternation and which undoes much of the quietude that celebrating the mass at the early service this morning offered. I am also about to attend a clergy conference, the first in several years. Add to that the funeral of a friend on Sat., the visit at my former parish in the Diocese of Washington last week and the incredible service at the National Cathedral with the dedication of the image of Jonathan Daniels in the narthex. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Prayer shapes our believing, so we say in the Episcopal Church. How we pray helps me come to a greater understanding of how God acts in my life, and this can be for good or ill. But the various exercises we do throughout the week also shape our believing. There is part of me that is likely to relegate issues with the new computer to the realm of the holy--or at least the unintelligible. I am thankful that I learned I can cuss at God like a Jew and I have no trouble of doing the same to Microsoft or Hewitt-Packard. The blue air just fills my room and only the cats have to avoid it.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">But learning to post on my blog with all these new tools do have something to</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> do with faith. I do not put my trust in HP, I do put my trust in a loving God that has ushered me about the country the past couple of weeks allowing me to catch up with friends that I haven't seen in a while and who have shared their walk in Christ's light. And so I come to a recalcitrant computer as a newbie and yet I touch on the love of those from my past. I guess that is the nature of one's 70's. The old is constantly touching the new or perhaps it is the new that is touching the old that makes one's life so interesting. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">A week ago Friday, J and I flew to Baltimore-Washington Airport and were met by J's seminary roommate and her husband, also a classmate. This was a part of this summer's 50th anniversary of the martyrdom of Jonathan Daniels which I have talked about in various posts on The Selma Tales. But catching up with friends, those who also attended our wedding in May, was delightful. We were lay, bishops, priests and deacons but that wasn't what mattered. We talked about the old days and the new days with the same kind of joy. We still talked about hopes for the future often realizing that we would not see their </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">realization. To me that is what friendship really is--those with whom one can remember the past and yet still image for a time we can barely see and most likely won't. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">On Sunday morning we met people from my old parish for breakfast. I saw the parents I had known now being grandparents, the children I had taught now being parents themselves and women whose marriages I </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">had blessed, celebrating their lives with one another as widows. Returning is bitter-sweet yet powerful. For one woman I had buried her husband when she had a young son, but that day brought me her grandson (about the same age as her son was back then) and asked me to bless him. What an awesome moment for me.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">As I was walking up the way to my old church, no one really knew I was coming, I met a former warden. We embraced. She too had a grandchild in tow who read the Epistle. The ancient parish was continuing to do what it has done for over 300 years...teaching the next generation how to know of Christ. Thankfully, the parish has a new organ. The one we had when I was there was known to make some rude noises upon occasion--usually when we had important guest. God always offers humility at a time when we want pride.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">At coffee hour we caught up with those multitudes that we had known together, remembered those who had died in the bosom of the parish and those who had moved to other places nourished by the community of the time. That too is what friendship means: carrying on the traditions and faith that is borne of </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">communal love and care. By the time we broke up the 'coffee hour', we had little time to brave DC traffic to get to the Cathedral for the Evensong. Much has happened in 20 years to the traffic patterns, and we were stuck in DC central without maps. It seems that DC on various map programs on phones are blocked. We had to resort to rolling down our windows and ASKING people! What an amazing thing! Human contact in the process of making a pilgrimage??! </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">We got there in time to find parking. In the little place that used to be called the "Herb Cottage" we found our parish seminarian from Fort Worth. It was </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">good to find Lisa studying but waiting for us. She is doing her internship at the Cathedral. What an awesome experience. But she will always be spoiled by that experience. Nothing in the Episcopal Church, much less the Diocese of Fort Worth will EVER be like the National Cathedral. But that is true about every parish and every position in our Church. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The National Cathedral is the most like the cathedrals of England and Europe. It does not have a parish attached as do other diocesan cathedrals. The architecture provides the awe of the medieval world that we in the Americas never experienced. But there are always things that are uniquely American such as the moon rock in one of the stained glass windows or the faces in the statuary that remind us of our particular part of the Christian kingdom. The service of Evensong is something that is not celebrated much in our part of the Anglican Communion anymore. The UK does a better job most of the time. But not last week. The Choir was incredible. The service of </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Evensong was done with such simple honor, in the warmth of the quire, but with the dignitaries which brought such solemnity to the marking the sainthood of an American seminarian who gave up is life to save another at the age of 26. Presiding Bishop Katharine Jeferts Schori, blessed the statue. Bishop Mariann Budde presided. And Dr. Harvey Guthrie, a professor of Jon and Judy's and the dean of EDS when I was there, preached. And once again he found the Gospel in Hebrew scripture and rattled cages to remind us that God continues to speak through ancient words.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> Judy and I have been witnesses to history. That is both a blessing and a curse. But looking back 50 years at a time when Christianity has been both its greatest and yet at its worst, we still have stories to tell of a God who is with us and whose glory can still be experienced. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Saturday I attended the funeral of a Baptist friend. Arnold and Barbara were the first people I had gotten to know when I spent a bit of time at a Baptist church in Dallas last year when I did not feel comfortable in my own diocese. Barbara sat next to me in choir and Arnold, who had just been diagnosed with Alzheimer's, had been missionaries in the early 80's in Korea. We had common stories to share. And Arnold was able to still discuss points of Church History with me. He also shared his little book of the experience of a military coup in South Korea that ultimately meant that he would return to Korea to testify in the revelations of military misconduct. He was so revered by the Korean people that Korean dignitaries were sent to celebrate in the funeral service. Most who knew Arnold here in TX knew a nice dottering old man. The people of Korea knew a courageous man who had sheltered the college aged children of their town, who had interviewed lower members of the military in order to understand the truth of coup, and who had spoken the truth to the people of Korea. Alzheimer's was not the memory of the people of Korea. So the liturgy celebrated not only the hope of the future of Arnold in heaven, it carried the truth to shape the faith of future generations.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Bearing witness to history is often seen by the young as those who are 'stuck in the past'. But what I have seen over the past weeks is not that at all. I have seen those who have lived one reality challenge those who would rather avoid truth than embrace it. There is a temptation to continue to reconstruct truth than observe its real consequence. And while it seems easier to ignore those places where the truth has been uncomfortable, or even </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">frightening, there can never be health when we build on histories that are not rooted in it. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I long for truth to triumph in the Church worldwide. I long for the time when God, no matter how God is named, can be embraced despite differences. I stand as a witness that it can happen. I have known it in my own life. I have shared it with others so they too can live in the freedom of the truth. And this is the gospel I teach--that the Truth will set us free.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> , </span>Muthah+http://www.blogger.com/profile/10589837671378205837noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7206783518364639866.post-7188369342720683522015-09-12T18:02:00.001-04:002015-09-12T18:02:55.615-04:00The Selma Tales: Montgomery and Selma III<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><i>On the way to Selma we went through Montgomery. One of our pilgrims, Richard Morrisroe, the former Roman Catholic priest who was shot with Jonathan Daniels in Hayneville, took the bus microphone and as we passed the hospital, he told of his harrowing experience after the shooting. He lay on the ground in front of the cash store at least a half an hour bleeding before anyone was allowed to tend to him. He was transported to a hospital in Montgomery in the hearse that carried Jon's body. He lay in a corridor without care for some hours before a Roman Catholic priest was able to <table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://encrypted-tbn3.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcRnbeO3lBXZ-8JtAsGafZfxg7ei9LnCT1lCFlC1-_f8CGxOtdgl" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://encrypted-tbn3.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcRnbeO3lBXZ-8JtAsGafZfxg7ei9LnCT1lCFlC1-_f8CGxOtdgl" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Cash Store in Hayneville, AL</td></tr>
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find a doctor who would tend to him. Finally, it took 11 hours of surgery to save his life. I believe that Richard was in hospital for almost 6 months after that. He was permanently marked by this incident. He subsequently left the priesthood, became a civil rights lawyer, married a woman of color and has two wonderful children, one who is named Jonathan and several grandchildren.</i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">I had met Richard on several other venues celebrating the life of Jon over the years. He is mainly a quiet, thoughtful person. He is still a strong Catholic, and I think finds himself rather bemused by the fact that he has been a part of the life of an Episcopal saint. Later, in NH, I would hear him say that he knew Jon 'eight days in life and fifty years in death'. He has been a ready witness to the death of Jonathan, willing to share this pilgrimage even though it was difficult. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">We arrived in Selma at the Edmund Pettus Bridge. There is now a National Parks Historical Center on the corner across</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"> from the famed bridge. Many of the pilgrims walked the bridge. It was a hot day and Judy and I opted not to. We had done that before. For several in the group that was quite meaningful and empowering. There was not much time to linger because we had been invited to lunch at St, Paul's Episcopal Church.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><i>St. Paul's closed its doors to the marchers 50 years ago. The Episcopal members of the march gathered on the steps of the church and praying that the doors and hearts of the people </i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><i>would be opened. Later, through the spring semester, Judy and Jon would attend the parish taking with them children from the projects in which they were staying. They were treated to really crude comments from 'good' members of the parish. There was even discussion of destroying the chalice after the Black children received communion. Judy, Jon, the children and few other African-Americans were only allowed to sit on the back row. Over the altar in the church are the words "He is risen, He is not here." But the group could only see a portion of the phrase..."He is not here." And agreed.</i> </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">The present rector of St. Paul's hasn't been there a year, but he was so welcoming. They prepared a lovely luncheon and then spoke of the change of heart that the parish had come to. Several of the older members reminisced, but I had a hard time staying present. I realized that the deep Southern Alabama drawl still carries the weight of racism for me. It took all I could to listen to the veiled excuses for their behavior 50 years ago. It was hard to stand in forgiveness, and yet I knew that was where the heart of my pilgrimage was. This pilgrimage wasn't about Jon; it was about me, about how privilege has changed me for good or ill. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">I had to step out of the remembrances for a bit just to catch </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">my breath. And when I returned the rector was making a presentation to Judy in the name of Jon for helping the parish grow. A lovely trophy was presented. It was the first time I have seen Judy awarded anything or even acknowledged for her work in Selma. She has so often gotten lost in the mystique of Jon that people didn't realize the work she did. Most of the photographs of Jon that are part of his story were taken by Judy and yet she is never given credit for them. They now are copyrighted by others. </span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">EDS Pilgrimage 2015</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">We returned to Montgomery and went to the Civil Rights monument. It is a simple fountain in the center of the city's government complex. Designed by Maya Lin, the architect of the Vietnam memorial in Washington, DC. There is a constant</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"> sheen of water that flows over the names of the Civil Rights Martyrs. Some of the pilgrims went to one of the churches, but I sat in the evening with a young priest I had met on facebook. We talked of ministry and the needs of the Church in the wake of the racial issues that still face us. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">The bus was quiet on the way back. Later I heard that the trip to the church was quite a spiritual time for those who went. I was still trying to reconcile my emotions in the face of the racism that I was still feeling and working through what that kind of exclusion says about us as Church. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Even now, some weeks after the trip, I am still trying to allow myself to touch those hidden places in myself--I do not </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">believe that I find racism in me but I did find a growing dissatisfaction with the kind of privilege that I represent simply because of my skin. I know that it has offered me things that I have not deserved simply because of the color of my skin. It sets up barriers that I have worked hard to to tear down and yet at times it seems that not enough has been removed for us to know how to trust one another. And so in my seventies I feel that 'separate' state that continues to break my heart. And yet I cannot give up...<i>la lucha continua...</i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><i><br /></i></span>Muthah+http://www.blogger.com/profile/10589837671378205837noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7206783518364639866.post-85088632804378465762015-09-05T14:37:00.000-04:002015-09-05T14:37:10.805-04:00Is it not the rich who oppress you?<br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><i>Has not God chosen the poor in the world to be rich in faith and to be heirs of the kingdom that he has promised to those who love him? But you have dishonored the poor. Is it not the rich who oppress you? Is it not they who drag you into court? Is it not they who blaspheme the excellent name that was invoked over you? James 2</i></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="background-color: white;">Nearly every time I read Scripture things jump out at me. Reading the texts for tomorrow, I am caught by this phrase from the Epistle. I am not preaching so I haven't prepared the texts all week like I would if I were going to be in the pulpit.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="background-color: white;"> I have read this passage for years and probably preached on the whole passage numerous times, but for some reason I am caught by these words, this part of the whole part of the Epistle of James for so many different reasons that it feels like it swirls around in my heart.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="background-color: white;">This Epistle isn't used much in the lectionary. Martin Luther was really opposed to this epistle because it spoke of spiritual works, works that showed forth the change of heart, the transformation of spirit that occurs when faith is operative in the Christian. Luther was trying to </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">emphasize the place of faith over works which at the time was the face of Roman Catholicism. The Catholic theology of works had devolved into a cash hound for the Vatican so that it became a mere matter of buying one's salvation. Luther was rightly scandalized by the Church's practice of selling indulgences. However, Luther's corrective was to deny the place of works in the salvific action of faith. Actually it wasn't Luther who was opposed to 'works'. It was those who parsed the theologians later in history. And it is the exaggeration of this idea of faith OVER works that has eroded the Christian message in the past 25 years. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="background-color: white;">The balance of faith and works has always been a difficult barometer of faith. It is so easy to look at what one person does to measure their faith, we think. And yet it is so difficult for us to know the struggle of faith that goes on in the heart of </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">individuals in relationship to the Holy Center of their lives. I am sure there are those who are scandalized by my outward actions when I am advocating for those who are not as strong. How we can judge the character of others solely by their actions is a mystery to me. And yet I find that I do that just like others. It is a constant struggle for me.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="background-color: white;">But this part of the whole passage caught me. It throws a monkey wrench into all the Protestant Work Ethic, or the Prosperity Gospel</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"> that is being bantered about these days. It is easy to think that the 'ME' generations have led us to the type of 'get ahead' thinking that amounts for education these days. But it isn't a recent phenomenon. Obviously James and his followers were dealing with the same problem. The author of the epistle is dealing with a time of dislocation and violence and yet he is exhorting his followers to peacemaking as a sign of their faith. I have always found this epistle one that calls me to action standing firmly on the Christian principles that I have learned in the life of Jesus.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="background-color: white;">But this one little verse has stopped me. </span></span><a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="OLE_LINK8" style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-size: large;"><i>God [has] chosen the poor in the world to be rich in faith and to be heirs of the kingdom that he has promised to those who love him? </i></span></a><span style="background-color: white; font-size: large;"> Of course, this mirrors the </span><br />
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Sermon on the Mount. Of course, the Magnificat speaks of 'lifting up the poor', but do we really trust that? If Christianity is really lived, if we are really going to embrace a kind of spirituality that proclaims the simplicity that was taught by Jesus of Nazareth, how do we treat the poor? How do we see the poor? Do we see them as people who have more faith than we ourselves? Or do we not even see them?<br />
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-size: large;">Over 45 years ago I went to Mexico to do 'missionary work'. I thought that I had something to 'give to the poor people' in small</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"> ranchitos. I must admit I had a rather romantic idea of what being a missionary was. I was going to 'take faith' to a poor people. When I got there, I found a people who had greater faith than I because their faith was so necessary for their basic existence. I was 'rich' by their standards although I had been raised working class in my own <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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country. But I was educated and I had a car...signs of material wealth in their eyes. They appreciated what I brought them, teaching English, but I came to realize that they had so much more to teach me about trusting my life to God. And I learned something <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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about being poor. I learned that the work ethic I had growing up enough. I didn't have to 'get ahead' of others just to be successful. What I chose was not success, or perhaps my definition of success changed. I chose to try to live as best I could living Christ's life and provide for myself minimally. I chose to live a life of poverty--not the kind of abnegation that denies the beauty of God's life. But I chose to step off the rat race of self-aggrandizement to know that my values were more important to live than trying to meet society's. Somehow I was able to allow myself to be different enough not to worry about what the neighbors thought. In 1970 I made private vows of poverty, chastity and obedience--an obedience that was made to Christ, not those who felt they had the right to demand it. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="background-color: white;">My friends have been with others who have chosen to live simply in faith assured that God was in charge. Yes, there have been times when I have gotten into financial problems because I choose not worry about what I am saving for a rainy day. I try to be responsible, but constantly worrying about my portfolio is not something that I do. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="background-color: white;">Recently we had a bit of a problem with cash flow and our account </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">was charged with items that were supposed to be paid by others. The person responsible for the mistake said "You should have a credit card. This wouldn't be happening if you just had a credit card." I told him that I do not choose to have a credit card and participate in the credit system of privilege that continues to deprive the poor and <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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participates in debasing people everyday. He didn't 'get' it. (I think he's a banker.) He is a good person but cannot see that the kind of identification with the poor that this passage calls us to. He can't see that the whole system is what abases millions around the world and conversely debases him. To choose to opt out of the system is unheard of, in his mind. He does not see it as oppression. And he doesn't realize just how he is chained to the fundamental of richness that leaves him impoverished.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="background-color: white;">All too often those who are in positions of privilege cannot see </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">what they are doing is oppressive. I have often railed against 'white, straight, male privilege' and I am finding that it isn't any one race, sexual orientation, gender that oppresses. It is those who seem to have the comfort of being able to dictate how life is to be lived by others. We are seeing it a clerk in Kentucky, in heads of universities that ignore quotas, police who live in fear so that they inflict fear on others, even people in our own churches or synagogues. We may do it to people in the grocery line or to a waiter at the restaurant. James' words haunt: </span><a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="OLE_LINK8" style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-size: large;"><i>Is it not they who blaspheme the excellent name that was invoked over you? </i></span></a><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="background-color: white;">I often forget the blessed name that was invoked over me at my baptism. I often forget the faith of the poor that is in me and find</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"> myself trying to 'get ahead' instead of 'paying it forward' in the name of Jesus. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="background-color: white;">When I find myself worrying I try to unravel it, to pick it apart to see what is at the heart of it. I often find that it is my own sense of privilege that is at the center of it. It is then that I must call myself to repentance and return to the poverty of my choosing, the poverty that says I can depend upon God for all that I need. It is in that poverty that I can find the richness of God's presence.</span></span><br />
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<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="OLE_LINK8" style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></a>Muthah+http://www.blogger.com/profile/10589837671378205837noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7206783518364639866.post-44374470721552371722015-09-02T20:03:00.002-04:002015-09-02T20:54:02.059-04:00The Selma Tales: Civil Rights Institute, Birmingham, AL II<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-size: large;">After meeting our fellow pilgrims on Wed. evening and some guided discussion, Thurs. morning we all went to the Civil Rights Institute in Birmingham. There was a instructional exhibit for those who had never experienced the Jim Crow laws of the South. The majority of our group had either not grown up in the South or were too young to have been confronted with many of the</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"> degrading expectations of people of color in the 50's and 60's. It was hard for me to remember the indignity of Jim Crow.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">I remember the injustice of those laws. Riding in the back of the bus, the green or worse water fountains, the smell of bathrooms that were never cleaned marked 'colored' from the time I was small. It wasn't until college that I learned of 'night riders', the rape of Black women that was not seen as a crime, and the lynchings. The Institute had exhibits that brought them all back. The recordings of </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">bigoted politicians and police were played that reminded me of the TV in the 60's. But standing now in a Birmingham museum the horror of those days it all returned. Judy and I did not walk together. I couldn't walk with anyone. The violence of the videos of marches, police brutality upon non-violent marching were visions I didn't want to revisit, and yet needed to. It is so easy for white folk to close their eyes. However, if my Black friends had had to endure it, I could </span><br />
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not in conscience close my eyes. There is such truth in "I am not free if my brother is oppressed." My own oppression came over me in waves, the kind of oppression that I allow when I fear those who would belittle others because of ethnicity, color, culture, sexual orientation, creed.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">We also went to the 16th Street Baptist </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Church, the church that was bombed in 1963 and where 4 tween girls were killed on their way to their Sunday School class. Many went to the Jazz museum where images of how people of color coped with the oppression and how a local musician was able to lead young people of the era into creativity rather than hatred. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">While in the Institute I met the daughter of Rev. Fred </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Shuttlesworth, the founder of the SCLC (Southern Christian Leadership Conference) and a member of the NAACP, an organization that was outlawed in AL in the 50's. She was visiting the Institute while on a visit to Birmingham too. I felt humbled by her presence. She wanted Judy's name so that the whole story of the struggle for equality could be told. She too understood that White folk were oppressed by Jim Crow too. Any group that has to oppress others to feel superior is already imprisoned. And the White folk of the South were as much chained by their fear as people of color were by the law. And in many cases, still are.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">When we got back on the bus, I sat with an African-American priest, younger than I, who had never lived under Jim Crow. "How could they do that to MY people?" she cried. I realized how much of a shock the exhibit had been for her. I was reliving but she was experiencing it for the first time. My heart hurt for her. It hurt for me--a White woman whose race had terrorized her people and I began to understand just how hard it is to us to talk with one another to get to any kind of healing of the racial barriers. Between the shame and the indignation it is hard to insert reconciliation. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">This pilgrimage was not about what happened 50 years ago. It was </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">about now. It was about Ferguson, Charleston, and every other murder that we have had over the past years. It was about Rebel flags. It was about voting rights now. It was about scholarships and percentages </span><br />
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of minority admittance or employment. It was about anger and despair where minorities will always be minorities until America becomes brown or learns that cultures are designed to give us more than what they mean to separate in us.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">A type of fatigue began to settle on me. I not only couldn't find internet connections in which I could blog or sent my impressions back to the parish or the diocese as I had planned. I was overwhelmed with what <u>hadn't</u> happened in the past 50 years in the South. And by the end of my first day, I knew that this trip was going to be life changing if I allowed it.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"> </span>Muthah+http://www.blogger.com/profile/10589837671378205837noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7206783518364639866.post-61725192801987760852015-08-29T12:38:00.002-04:002015-08-29T12:54:10.441-04:00The Selma Tales: Impressions following the Jonathan Daniel's 50th Anniversary Pilgrimage. I<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-size: large;">I had planned to write an ongoing series of blog posts while on pilgrimage to mark the 50th anniversary of Jon's death in Hayneville, AL. It just wasn't possible, primarily due to fatigue. Walking, talking with many different people and a ton of mixed feelings bombarded me for the 2 1/2 weeks that we were gone.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">There were little things like a savaged tire before we even arrived in Birmingham. Then there were the larger things, such as visiting with the survivors of Jon's death who had never quite all met together to process their feelings. It was such a combination of mixed emotions that it will take time for me to engage this 'happening' of events. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">I am both grateful for the combination of events that Judy and I participated in throughout August but I am still mystified by the grief, anger and deep sadness that still hovers around the life and death of Jon Daniels. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Since Judy Upham, my spouse, was the companion of Jon in the spring of 1965 when they marched in Selma at the call of Dr. Martin Luther King, it was a foregone conclusion that we would mark the 50th anniversary. But due to a fall in January we were uncertain if we would be able to. Then we learned of a guided pilgrimage by our seminary to mark the 50th anniversary of Jon's martyrdom. It would begin Aug.12th in </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Birmingham and end </span><span style="font-size: large;">with an actual walking through the events in Hayneville, AL. Judy and I had wanted to ride on the bus with the rest of the pilgrims and initially we did; however logistics required that we drive part of the way so that when the pilgrimage was over we could drive back to Selma on Sunday to attend St. Paul's Episcopal Church, the parish that had initially denied entrance to the marchers in 1965.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">In addition to the pilgrimage, Judy and I were invited to speak in Detroit as a way to mark the feast of Jon Daniels by a former classmate, the Rev. Ron Spann, at St. James, Grosse Pointe. And </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">we were also invited to the Jonathan Daniel Day celebration Aug. 21-24 in Keene, NH, Jon's hometown. We then flew back to Birmingham, picked up the car and drove home. </span><span style="font-size: large;">All in all, it was a true saturation in the life, death and inspiration of Jonathan Daniels.</span><br />
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<a href="https://encrypted-tbn2.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTeDaX7IBQRApvrnfo2wAhSqjhohkrr3QEJFoiTyGT6RiEJLNg_FA" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://encrypted-tbn2.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTeDaX7IBQRApvrnfo2wAhSqjhohkrr3QEJFoiTyGT6RiEJLNg_FA" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">As with all spiritual journeys, pilgrimage is sacramental. The outward actions of movement are often the sign of something very powerful going on the soul, or whatever part of the human experience that is touched by the Holy. This was no mere aping of what the saint had done. This was the kind of transformative event that can be recognized as a 'mountain top experience', but without the euphoria. It was and still is, for me, a time in my life that will continue to demand my attention and my growth in so many different areas in my life. It touches the interior but it requires so much exterior change as well as interior change for me to find the balance that I know that God calls righteousness.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Now that I am released from the 'silence' that was demanded of me the past year by those frightened of the truth, I plan to write on the various points that touched me along the pilgrimage. They will range from Jim Crow to hummingbirds to white privilege. I will</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"> group them under the heading of <i>The Selma Tales</i> not because they all have to do with Selma, AL but because they touch me because of Jon Daniels, Judy Upham, Ruby Sales, Richard Morrisroe, Gloria House and Jimmy Rogers, fellow pilgrims, the people of Keene, NH and some of the people of AL we met along the way.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Most of these points are as much of an attempt to process what has happened in my heart over the past month. Like all extroverts, I need to 'discuss' what I saw or felt to make them real for me. Some are incidents that need to be understood so I can let go of them. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Some are precious to be treasured. Richard Morrisroe, the Catholic priest who was shot with Jonathan made a statement that sticks with me: "I knew Jon for 9 days in life and for 50 years in death." It is true with me. I have known him for almost 40 years in death, but I have seen his life lived out in others and that is what sainthood is about. So I continue my pilgrimage, the same one that follows in the footsteps of Christ.</span><br />
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Muthah+http://www.blogger.com/profile/10589837671378205837noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7206783518364639866.post-21764652185375921202015-08-01T17:38:00.000-04:002015-08-03T14:21:13.414-04:00Martyrdom--what does it mean?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-size: large;">As I prepare to go on the Jonathan Daniels' 50th anniversary pilgrimage, I am pondering what martyrdom means. Throughout the history of Christianity we have had those who have 'died for their faith' or whose lives have been laid down for others because of their faith. Originally the term <i>martus</i> meant <i>witness</i>, but as the years after the death of Jesus, many who followed him were seen as those who threatened the control of the Imperium. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Saint Stephen is noted as the first Christian martyr (Acts 7ff). Stephen was fairly inflammatory in his preaching so it isn't surprising; however, the stoning of him did mark for the early followers of Christ's Way a powerful image of the cost of discipleship. </span><span style="font-size: large;">The 2nd century was </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">filled with those who were willing to lay down their lives for the faith. The attitudes of Roman or even local rulers were that Christians were 'obnoxious' or rebellious. Christians were pacifists and refused to serve as conscripts in the Roman army. And they refused to worship the Roman gods which was considered treasonous. Just how destabilizing Christians were to the Roman Pax is questionable, but Christians were targeted and harassed the way that minority cultures or movements are today. That so many were martyred says more about the fear that permeated Roman imperial society than it did about Christian bravery. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Martyrdom is still known in Christianity. Even today, Christians</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"> are being targeted and killed because of their faith. Well-lived Christian lives are still frightening to those who wish to control others. For many Christians the witness of those who have laid their lives down for others is still the 'seed of the Church". </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">It makes me deeply sad that in order to do good, or preach good, or to live the goodness of life in the name of Jesus is still grounds for people to kill. The need to kill those who are different is centered in the fear of those who are 'other'. The other sadness comes from those who </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">USE the word <i>Christian</i> to control others, and therefore negate the meaning of the cross.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">I do not believe that the cross is the sign that demands <i>suffering </i>despite Gregory I. Nothing in the life of Christ teaches that we are to take on suffering as a way of faithful living. It is interesting that the cross does not become a symbol of Christianity until the 3rd or 4th century once the imperial powers have taken over the Church. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"> So what does it mean to 'pick up the cross and follow after me'? Does it mean that I am to try to emulate Christ in the way I am to die? No! It means that I need to be willing to live my life so freely and so lovingly that death has no power over me. It means that if I am asked for my life to save others, I can give it. But it does not mean that I am to go seek ways of giving up my life to emulate Jesus' death. 2 Cor. 6:2-10 speaks of the kind of integrity that life in Christ means--it is a kind of living that defies the critique that often happens to those who try to follow the Way of Jesus. For invariably, living the life of Christ mocks the status quo in societies in which there are classes, boast have/have nots societies, or those who rule over others. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">In the particular martyrdom of Jon Daniels: he was not killed</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Martyrdom doesn't really make saints. God does that. But martyrdom makes a society question. The death of one who is willing to sacrifice his/her life because it can be lived freely is so awe-inspiring that it attracts the worn eyes of those bored by life caught up in meaninglessness. Jon's death captured the imagination of hearts that had grown tired of those who practiced a benign faith. It caught the attention of those in Northeast who had been blind to the plight of people in the South--</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Blacks and Whites caught in an evil system. It was a system that masked the reality of humanity with layers of religious bias, socio-economic lies, historical jingoism and convenient anti-intellectualism. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">The witness of Jon's death brought a conscientiousness to the 'powers that be' at the time that brought legal changes for our nation. Is that what Jon and Judy Upham were doing in Selma? Or </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">was it just naivete? It might have been, but there is something about lives that are lived in the freedom of Christianity. They weren't thinking about their grade points when they responded to the call of Dr. King. They were living lives freed by their love for God that would allow them to help others know the freedoms they knew. They were supported by institutions that allowed them to act on their faith. And had grown up in families that engendered the kind of fairness that Jesus' life characterized. They had responded in a manner that changed their lives. And would change the lives of others.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Jon wasn't thinking when he pushed Ruby from the path of Tom Coleman's shotgun. He didn't have to. His faith was so integral to his living that it was 'natural' to do it. That is a saint! One who doesn't even have to think about laying down his life for another.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">So martyrdom is not so much about the death of a saint. It is about the living of those who are willing to live with such abandon that they are not afraid of death, not afraid of what others think, not afraid of the cost. They live only in sight of God's love and that is enough. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><i>Holy One, I do not believe that you have asked me to be a martyr, but you have invited me to live a life worthy of your calling. Grant that through the witness of others, I can keep the freedom you have wrought in me ever before me and allow me to continue to live in ways that can help others to know the joy that living in you means.</i></span><br />
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<i style="font-size: x-large;"> Amen</i></div>
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Muthah+http://www.blogger.com/profile/10589837671378205837noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7206783518364639866.post-41845821269331207382015-06-28T19:46:00.000-04:002015-06-28T19:46:29.913-04:00Touching the tassels: Sermon for June 28<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
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<b><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Mark 5:21-43<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">It feels
good to be back in the pulpit here at St. Martins. For those who have known me
to preach extemporaneously, I have finally come to that place in life when I am
beginning to lose words. So I will be
working from a text so that you won’t have wait for my brain to cough up the
right word. It will make the sermon
shorter!!!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">I would like
for us to look at the Gospel reading for today.
It is really two healing stories wrapped into one. It is easy to just
choose one of the readings but Mark embeds one of these stories in the other
and because of this little literary device, we are invited to look at the
embedded one as the more important.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">First, it is
important to look at what Jesus is saying and doing in this passage. Jesus is in an area that was religiously
diverse in the northern Galilee. It was
not a majority Jewish community. The first story is of the 12 year old daughter
of the leader of the synagogue, Jarius.
The other is the story is of a Gentile woman* who has had a hemorrhage
for 12 years. Even though the story of Jarius’ daughter is a
story of resurrection, because of how this story is constructed it tells me
that the important part of this passage lies in the story of the Gentile woman
who reaches out to touch Jesus.* I bring up the number 12 because it is a
metaphoric number. And when you hear the number 12 in the New Testament it is
always associated with the coming of the messiah who would gather together all
the 12 tribes of Israel in the reign of God. This story is about living in the
kingdom where resurrection will not be needed nor will there be a need for
healing.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;"> Jesus came to heal—yes. But more importantly Jesus came to renew the
faith as it was practiced in Israel in the first century. He was neither a conservative in faith nor a
progressive. He was a radical. He wanted to get back the roots of faith in
God—not just observance of the Law of Moses.
And the root was love of God and love of others. </span><b><sup><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 7pt;"> </span></sup></b><i><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt;">Love the Lord your God
with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all
your strength.’</span><sup><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 6pt;">[</span></sup><a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Mark+12%3A30-31#fen-NIV-24704a" title="See footnote a"><sup><span style="color: #b34b2c; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 6.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">a</span></sup></a><sup><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 6pt;">]</span></sup><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt;"> </span><b><sup><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 7pt;">31 </span></sup></b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt;">The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’</span><sup><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 6pt;">[</span></sup><a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Mark+12%3A30-31#fen-NIV-24705b" title="See footnote b"><sup><span style="color: #b34b2c; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 6.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">b</span></sup></a><sup><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 6pt;">]</span></sup><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt;"> There is no commandment greater than these.” Deut. 6:5</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">And what we
see in these stories is not a NEW gospel, but a reclaiming of what was central
to People of Israel’s relationship with God. It is my opinion that Jesus did
not come to start a new religion, but to draw all into the realm of God. Not
just Jews, not just Gentiles. But all.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">In first
century Judaism, how one obeyed the Law labeled someone as faithful, or
righteous (tzedek) in Hebrew. Some followed the laws to the letter—every
jot and tittle. Others, and especially
those farther away from Jerusalem followed the laws </span></div>
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‘spiritually’ or
allegorically. But the word ‘tzedek’
also means balanced and that is what Jesus taught. Faith was a balanced relationship with the
Holy One and with humanity.<o:p></o:p><br />
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The Gentile
woman was a woman who had tried everything to be healed. She was shunned
because she was not ‘righteous’ because a hemorrhaging woman was unclean. Touching such a person rendered a man
unclean, unable to enter the synagogue, unclean to celebrate Shabbos without a
trip to the ritual baths. So this
encounter takes all the temerity of this woman to reach out to the rabbi. She desires to be healed of her illness. She
had to reach across the social customs of her society. This is one story in which Jesus does not
initiate the healing; the woman does.
She claims a faith in this man who has not even seen her. And Jesus confirms her healing: “Daughter,
your faith has made you well; go in peace, and be healed of your disease.” He returned her life to balance, to
acceptability and removed the shame that her society had heaped upon her
because of her illness.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Jesus
stepped into the real meaning of Mosaic Law—to the bring wholeness, to bring
balance and healing despite all the rules and expectations of how one was
supposed to act. Jesus stepped over the
partitions and boundaries of normal expectations so that God’s work could be
seen. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">This is what
I believe that Mark is trying to tell of the ministry of Jesus. <i>Mark </i>is
the first Gospel and the oldest and in some ways the most revealing of the
person of Jesus. And I take heart in
this story of the woman with the hemorrhage.
Because I can hear so much of myself in this story that speaks of
balance, of the willingness to not wait to know acceptance in God but to reach
out and claim it even when we don’t look like everyone else.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The other
thing about this story is that it has so much meaning for our own day. There is a temptation to think that this is
‘girls only’ passage. But it isn’t. It has to do with the kind of healing of all
those deep places within us that are ‘ickky’, those places we don’t want to
look at. David Lose, Lutheran pastor and
teacher, refers to this ‘ickky </span></div>
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place’ as our deepest vulnerability. It is that place where we try to avoid
looking at ourselves and refuse to talk about, afraid that others would be
horrified if they knew. And consequently
we often never become healed. It is only
when we acknowledge that deepest hurt, deepest unclean, part of ourselves that
can God’s healing can be claimed. Often those places don’t have anything to do
with sin, but it where we aren’t perfect.<o:p></o:p><br />
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The woman
wanted healing and had spent 12 years trying to be healed. But it is when she reaches out to Jesus that
she knows the power of God in her life.
She isn’t Jewish—she isn’t one of his flock. She steps beyond the normal boundaries of
polite behavior to claim the righteousness—the<i> tzedek</i>, the balance that she so
desperately needed. She would not allow
herself to be bound by convention. She
quit living quietly in her own hell of being an untouchable. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">To know the
healing of our hidden places requires a thirst to know balance and a
willingness to speak the hidden so that it no longer tyrannizes us. We have to be willing to acknowledge that we
aren’t perfect and neither is anyone else.
We spend so much of our time trying to cover up our imperfections rather
than live the life that God </span></div>
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has given us.
How much of our lives are spent in trying to cover up those ‘icky’
places in our lives. Trust me, growing
up lesbian in Tx in the 1950’s gets one in touch with the ‘icky’ of life. But unless
we are uncommonly well balanced or have had a lot of therapy, I would guess
that most of us are hiding something that we don’t even want to look at and
won’t let God’s healing to restore us. And because of it we lose sight of the
joy living in God provides. This story helps us see what it means to know the
liberation that is part of the life of faith.
It is a place of comfort and courage. <o:p></o:p><br />
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">But this
story is not just for individuals. Our
society has many places where we as a people avoid raising up the places where
we are unbalanced until things converge. And it is often in the face of tragedy
that we see the consequences of our illnesses.
Over the </span></div>
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past year we have seen increasing instances where racism has
raised its ugly head in this nation.
Fifty years ago, Judy and I both were in Selma for the marches that now
they make movies about. And later in the
summer we will make the pilgrimage to commemorate the death of Jonathan Myrick
Daniels, our Church’s civil rights martyr.
But here we are 50 years later and still finding people being killed or
harassed simply because of the color of their skin. We find people killed in
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church. We find children harassed simply because of the color of their
skin. And I don’t care what color we
are, we hear the discouraging and disgusting comments from those around us,
possibly even from family members, neighbors, colleagues or other students that
are designed to diminish others because they don’t belong to whatever group we
belong to. Those of us who are from
minorities—however we identify, have known the exclusion and even the terror of
not being able to live freely in a country that is supposedly the land of
liberty and the home of the brave.<o:p></o:p><br />
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"> And even though we as Church say that radical
hospitality is practiced here in this diocese, we don’t ever talk about the
pain that our thoughtlessness can engender.
Here at St. Martin’s I don’t believe we have had diversity training in
this, the most diverse parish in our diocese.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Back in the
late 80’s and 90’s I was rector of a parish about the size of St, Martin’s in
the DC area. It was one half Black and
one half White. Early in my tenure and
deeply in my Southern stupidity, I made the mistake of asking the 4 persons of
color on my vestry what the Black take was on a certain issue. A six-foot two African American woman,
principal of a local high school said, “Lauren, Toby is from Mobile, Alabama,
I’m from the Bronx, Norman is from Jamaica and Emanuel is from Nigeria—pray
tell</span></div>
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me which Black perspective do you want?” After I wiped the egg from my face
we spent the next 10 years learning to listen to the hearts and desires of
people who were so different and who had come together to be one because their faith
demanded it. Diversity requires the hearts to listen to one another. To tell of the stories of our fears and joys
and to honor the stories of one another<o:p></o:p><br />
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"> Here in Fort Worth we have been so caught up
with the division of our Church we have not listened to the hearts or the
stories of those who are different from us so that </span></div>
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we can hear the call that we
all have, to know the healing of God’s love. And how many of us who are in the
majority are willing to compromise the way that we have always done things so
that the diversity of our parish can be seen and celebrated? Perhaps we need to
be willing to talk frankly and in love about our love for God, and how each of
us know that One God but live our relationship out a bit differently. Episcopalians sharing faith??? What a novel thing!!!
<o:p></o:p><br />
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">When we
aren’t willing to embrace what it means to really be one, we never know that
balance, that righteousness<i>, tzedek</i>,
that Jesus offered to the woman who touched his cloak. We also will never truly be that nation that
invites people from all over the world to our shores if we aren’t willing to
recognize that longing to be healed of the boundaries that separate us.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Because I am
a teacher at heart, I am going to give you some homework. I will not be grading papers, but in the end
THERE WILL BE A TEST! I would like you each to ask yourselves ‘1. what needs to
be healed in my life so that I don’t expect others to be like me?’ 2. ‘am I willing to reach out to Christ and
allow myself to be healed of my fear?’ It is only when we as a faith community
are willing to address those questions that we can claim the radical
hospitality that we so desire to offer. The God who gave Jesus the power to heal,
gives us the power in faith to be healed of the fears that keep us from knowing
the joy of life. I am not suggesting
that you go shout your vulnerabilities to the world. But let yourself to reach out to the tassels
on God’s garment. And as a parish and
diocese, let us reach out despite our brokenness to know the joy that God holds
for us. This is the Gospel that Jesus
proclaims. AMEN.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">(*Following preaching this twice, Judy reminded me that no where in the passage is the woman identified as a Gentile. I went back to the text and she was right! So I stand corrected about my isogesis. Spouses are so helpful.) </span></div>
Muthah+http://www.blogger.com/profile/10589837671378205837noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7206783518364639866.post-65262499317806950442015-06-15T18:43:00.002-04:002015-06-15T18:43:26.268-04:00Behold, I make all things new!--a preparation for the 78th General Convention<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Today I
commented on a national church site on which I spoke to the area of TX in which
I now live. After spending 43 years
living outside of TX, and now have returned ostensibly to help our diocese
recover our Episcopal identity and to live supposedly happily in retirement, I
have had to wake up to some realities that I wasn’t prepared to address when I
moved here 5 years ago. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">I have been
in NY State, MD, CA in the meantime and have watched our Church grapple with
racism, prayer book revision, women’s ordination, Latino inclusion, the
addressing of the place of LGBT persons in the church without too much schism. There is a temptation to believe that there
was a time before all of this ‘newness’ began we were all one big happy family. Actually I have never known the Church
without an issue that some said threatened us. And when some of those issues
didn’t affect me personally, I understood that the Church needed to make
allowances for those who it did. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Faith
demands that we constantly bounce what we know of the Holy One off on how we
personally live and how we corporately live in the light of the Gospel, the
light of how Christ lived. The journey of
faith is constantly making me face the cool comfortable shadows in which I want
to walk so that I can see clearly how I participate in my own enslavement to
systems that keep me bound. God’s desire for me is to live in the Light, in a
way that proclaims with every step that Christ’s is my life.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"> Part of the problem of having preached
regularly for most of my lifetime is that over the years I have ingested enough
Scripture and been forced to unpeel it from its time and place in order to know
what it means some 21 centuries later, is that most of my actions I have to
regard through an awe filled lot of messages.
But whenever I begin to hear the other messages about how we need to be
people of peace and move slowly, I keep hearing “Behold, I make all things new.”
It is from Revelation, not my favorite book of the Bible. Also one of the most operative passages in my
life is “I am the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end”. It is in Christ
that I begin and I end. I have no real existence
outside of that relationship. So I know
I am beloved by God. And I know that I
am in Christ. But as a priest I am
required to uphold a Church too. I am
not solely my own person. When I don my
collar, I must speak for the Church too.
I cannot go off on my own personal journey without the community of
faith which </span></div>
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ordained me. Do I have a
personal conscience? Of course! And I live it out always. I am no good to Church or Christ if I do my
own thing in isolation or without thought.<o:p></o:p><br />
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">At the same
time, different places have different ways of going about living out the same
Gospel that challenge me. And perhaps it
is the gap between those who have been formed in this part of the Church and
those who have been formed by other regions of the Church that drives up my
wariness. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The
Episcopal Church has always been a place that accepted ‘local custom’ as a
natural way to live out one’s faith.
What has not been proclaimed as sinful is often permissible no matter if
it appears to be wrong. It allows each
region of the Church to grapple with issues in due time and often I am so
impatient. I would so like the Church where I live to be like the Church I came
from, or experienced elsewhere. But it
doesn’t happen that way. And nothing
that I can do will change others overnight.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">As the
Church gets ready for its 78<sup>th</sup> General Convention, our triennial all
Church meeting in Salt Lake City at the end of the month, many of the issues
that have faced the Church over the past 50 years will once more be raised. I have been a part of much of that history
and live with decisions made in their light. And they have been </span></div>
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momentous
issues. Our Church has had a reputation
for taking the bull by the horns and addressing the hard issues that face
us. I am proud of that record not
because those decisions are liberal or conservative, but because we as a faith
community have done hard work in trying to speak of how Christ is present to
us. After the 2003 Convention, those in
the pews knew that being LGBT was ‘acceptable’ when a gay man was elected
bishop. After the 1976 convention we
knew that women could be priests even though there were those who would not
allow it in their own regions. As a
faith community we said what the ideal was whether it was what existed or
whether it was even being tried in the local areas.<o:p></o:p><br />
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">That has
worked for the past 50 years. Local ‘custom’
has often flown in the face of all the legislative work that Deputies and
Bishops could work out in their 2 weeks of </span></div>
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legislative process. However, there is a problem when local
practice tops the rulings of General Convention. And that is what happened here in Fort
Worth. The ‘local custom’ was at such
odds with the workings of rest of Church that the leadership of nine years ago
could not accept the decisions of the larger body. It brought schism when it needed only to have
been a point of disagreement and discussion. When we see such issues as life
threatening—or soul threatening, there is no place to go except to leave. And
while I find real exception in the way that the then leadership did it, I do
not find it shameful that they had to leave.
The experience of Church in the local custom was at such variance that
the center could no longer hold. <o:p></o:p><br />
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">A response
to my comment on the website was one in which the responder admitted that he is
opposed to mine and that because of his opinions he is feeling that he cannot
find a ‘home’ in the Church any longer because of his holding his particular
position. It touched my own experience
of exclusion in the Church because I have held the opposite view. I hurt for him. At the same time, I do not require him to
renounce his position. I do not demand
that he leave the Church or be turned away from the sacraments and the life of
the Church because he disagrees with me.
And that is why I continue to speak up to the growing backlash to LGBTQ
presence in the Church and their service in the ordained ministry. I have no problem that my colleague has a
different opinion. I actually relish
it. It means that the Church is alive
and well. But when his opinion must carry
with it exile, the exclusion minorities in the Church, the loss of faithful
people who are excluded because of <u>his </u>opinion, then I take issue. We may disagree, but we may not exclude and
that is what the LGBT movement has been about.
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br />
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Whether
Same-Sex marriage passes at GC, isn’t that important. Whether we restructure the Church is mere
moving the deck chairs on the Titanic in my opinion. The Church that I have
known over the past 40 years is changing so fast that I can’t keep up. I just hope they can continue to send my
pension check. But the faith is still
there. The journey with Christ is still
there no matter how it is packaged. “Behold,
I make all things new” is still the journey of the Church no matter what it
looks like. It is still the willingness
us of all to listen for those places where those who are denied access to that
message and flag them for the Church. It
is willingness to continue to be the outward and opening of life in Christ that
will forever call us to this journey no matter if we have buildings or even altars. It will be those of us who can hear that call
who will build the new church, the new diocese, the reign of God.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
Muthah+http://www.blogger.com/profile/10589837671378205837noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7206783518364639866.post-82570374883589062032015-05-21T15:52:00.002-04:002015-05-21T15:52:33.783-04:00Walking on the Dark Side<div class="MsoNormal">
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<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;">I have just finished Barbara Brown Taylor’s <i>Learning to Walk in the Dark, </i>a
beautifully written book<i> </i>that at the
same time heals and scares the heck out of me.
I believe that it is meant to do that.
She reminds me that I can depend on nothing, not even God, for certainty
when I so long for it. After </span></div>
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all, what
is faith for if not to give us some sense that we are ‘right with God’ when
everything else in our lives is going haywire?
Taylor goes way beyond my comfort level inviting me into the ‘darkness’
[sic.]. What she really does is invite
me into my fears to examine them, become familiar with their terrifying hold
and allows me to relax in their tenuous hold on me so that their bonds begin to
fail. It is an amazing process but not
for the faint in heart. <o:p></o:p><br />
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<span style="font-size: 16pt; line-height: 115%;">I have not written much over the past 12 months. I have been embroiled in some up close and
personal events in my life. As those who
have followed this blog over the years know, I have had a life-long
acquaintance with depression. But if
there is one thing that I am sure of, this experience has not been depression. Like Taylor, I am knowledgeable enough to
know that John of the Cross’s </span><i style="font-size: 16pt; line-height: 115%;">Dark</i> <i style="font-size: 16pt; line-height: 115%;">Night of the Soul</i><span style="font-size: 16pt; line-height: 115%;"> is far too dramatic to
call this ride. But the gloom I have </span></div>
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<a href="https://encrypted-tbn1.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcSSLB294VqMo3kMgQQK2cZPyVgvXNAO02gJjE3YrqB-_TNCJxqm" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://encrypted-tbn1.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcSSLB294VqMo3kMgQQK2cZPyVgvXNAO02gJjE3YrqB-_TNCJxqm" /></a></div>
lived the past 10 months has been an
alleyway that I <span style="font-size: 21.3333339691162px; line-height: 24.5333347320557px;">don't</span><span style="font-size: 16pt; line-height: 115%;"> wish on others. It
has been a walk with the Holy in ways that I would never have guessed or
wanted. I am not yet finished with this
path, but I am being moved to speak of this passage simply because the Gospel
cannot be kept within. <o:p></o:p></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;">I have been told that if I value my priesthood, I should be
quiet. I have been told that ‘people are
not ready for the truth I speak’. I have
also heard that ‘the other side will use what I say against us’. But all of this is fear of others who will
not enter their own terror. It paralyzes
and heightens the anxiety rather than allows a passage through it to the
embrace of healing and the liberation of the soul. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;">Spoken journeys are the paths through the apprehension that
keeps frozen the heart that longs to deepen its relationship with God. Ask any therapist or spiritual director. Fear is the stuff that keep us imprisoned,
locked in the dungeons of our hearts and minds. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;">The Gospel is that which releases us from the constraints of social
conventionality and points us toward the Truth of the Universal Path of the
Holy One. I find in those who have
marked this journey the courage ‘to live lives worthy of their calling’. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;">As one who still appreciates the name ‘Christian’ and refuses
to allow the dogmatic fundamentalists to define the term, my Christianity
demands action. I cannot just be quiet
like the benign soul</span></div>
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who smiles at the preacher on Sunday and says ‘good
sermon’ even though they can’t remember what was said. My baptism demands a boldness in faith that
cannot be hidden.<o:p></o:p><br />
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Muthah+http://www.blogger.com/profile/10589837671378205837noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7206783518364639866.post-91187426889620605982015-04-02T17:50:00.000-04:002015-04-22T12:31:07.518-04:00Marriage, Covenant and Holy Week<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://encrypted-tbn3.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTZupsv13ctSR4b24WOgcvS5h6eN5bywCbBh-2kn2qa7jp0UGBi" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="298" src="https://encrypted-tbn3.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTZupsv13ctSR4b24WOgcvS5h6eN5bywCbBh-2kn2qa7jp0UGBi" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">This isn't the normal article one would usually find during Holy Week on this blog. Because of J's fall and broken neck in January and the weeks in rehab and therapy, we chose not to observe Lent this year. January and </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9FPXpmOpFwQOozBtBZi3q8c1G9tR5G_Ja9l1kM50_uTD2rT8hi-UOb5ThupX4I8rscMa7Mck79WLL8lSg6Xck7JFeqYvsptnv4WwOldfvKFL2EmxD2dcY9PwH7Wa6whyjCRe4sauAzMY/s1600/CAM00074.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9FPXpmOpFwQOozBtBZi3q8c1G9tR5G_Ja9l1kM50_uTD2rT8hi-UOb5ThupX4I8rscMa7Mck79WLL8lSg6Xck7JFeqYvsptnv4WwOldfvKFL2EmxD2dcY9PwH7Wa6whyjCRe4sauAzMY/s1600/CAM00074.jpg" height="200" width="113" /></a></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">February was as close as we wanted to come to the journey to the Cross this year. And consequently I am not ready for Easter. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"> Since </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">neither of us have liturgical duties this year, we are 'sitting this one out'. We will attend, of course, but not get too Eastery--no chocolate eggs. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Instead we are both are contemplating the meaning of Covenant and Marriage as we have decided to be married in </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYIyaGLuqyWMe_lfwbiD9Y79iJtF-3KxdGU934IU79nAzEEc9WtwJommfaQTLfoiKGQWD0PYVOQx9z0wcQKMK04DBtqJOAHO5M6I3bOdmGQQMWyVPvwmnQk2rvePD2PCdkALGPF9Q5Cow/s1600/CAM00071.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYIyaGLuqyWMe_lfwbiD9Y79iJtF-3KxdGU934IU79nAzEEc9WtwJommfaQTLfoiKGQWD0PYVOQx9z0wcQKMK04DBtqJOAHO5M6I3bOdmGQQMWyVPvwmnQk2rvePD2PCdkALGPF9Q5Cow/s1600/CAM00071.jpg" height="320" width="240" /></a></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">Delaware in May. This may come as a shock to some. It even comes of a bit of shock to me as I have never thought of myself as being 'the marrying kind.' But the real issues of safety in medical facilities became not only apparent, but they showed to be real barriers to good care and made clear we need to make our relationship more 'official' as we grow older. One may have all the medical power of attorney in the world, but if the doctor, nurse or orderly on the medical team doesn't want to deal with you, you can't get the medical information for the other unless one is a spouse.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Judy Upham and I have lived together for 40 years. We first came together because of financial constraints: we were roommates trying to do ministry at the very beginning of women's ordination in the Episcopal Church. J was one of the movers and shakers in the movement and was priested only 6 days after the ordination of Women was permitted in 1977. We met at a group of interdenominational women in ministry founded by Mary Bruggeman in St. Louis. We moved into a small house a couple of blocks from Eden Seminary.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYOvFoWvj5mugW87obBusffpwSemLbcHXHm8oEmQGiwHIFkCDQN0DCLAU7PCLh5joxJf0_jUEbzrZokvsWvB4UkZnfrOAe1Azv8mw4sAIAfEZW59EtfbUconFj7Z2TJZ4hJTxOfEnWk44/s1600/CAM00050.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYOvFoWvj5mugW87obBusffpwSemLbcHXHm8oEmQGiwHIFkCDQN0DCLAU7PCLh5joxJf0_jUEbzrZokvsWvB4UkZnfrOAe1Azv8mw4sAIAfEZW59EtfbUconFj7Z2TJZ4hJTxOfEnWk44/s1600/CAM00050.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Our relationship was not 'love at first sight'. However we did know 'respect' very quickly and enjoyed the conversations and shared our respective ministries: I, a religion teacher in Roman Catholic schools and she, a hospital chaplain. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Those were heady times. The ELCA had just been formed; Seminex was meeting at St. Louis U, a Jesuit school where I was working on Masters in Religious Education. I was also directing the choir in a large RC church. We understood each other as support, financial, spiritual and emotional, over the years. In 1979 J was called to Syracuse, the first woman called across diocesan lines to become a rector. I followed when the publication of Paul VI's encyclical on women was promulgated, and I realized that I could no longer stay a Roman Catholic. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">I did not become an Episcopalian in J's parish. We knew that separation to do ministry was important and we have never worked or were members of the same congregation until retirement, recognizing that each of us had different ways of following God's call to us. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">I understood our relationship to be not much different from my life as a vowed celibate while I was in the convent. I knew myself to be lesbian, but I also understood that the private vows I had made were still the way I wanted to live. I could not live openly as gay; I would never have been accepted as a priest and pastor in the congregations I served. Also, I never </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><a href="https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcRJ1uzCE9oGn5TY7ERkE-P76duR_HhV13hVqWgmIyRjPPROcVBi" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcRJ1uzCE9oGn5TY7ERkE-P76duR_HhV13hVqWgmIyRjPPROcVBi" width="174" /></a></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">wanted to J to be identified as lesbian. It was too much of a stigma. We both respected the relationship that she had had with Jon Daniels. The gay-straight relationship was a comfortable one for us. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">In the 80's we explored the possibility of joining with other women and formed the Caritas Community. At that time there were no women bishops to sponsor and we chose not to go through the rigamarole of becoming 'official'. Most of us were not Anglo-Catholic and the models of being an order didn't fit the priestly nature of the 5 of us who discussed the Community. It never really developed in the kind of spiritual reality that we wanted.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">We lived in each other's rectories. We attended the same clergy events and participated in the work of diocese as </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">rectors or interims as our ministries took us. Sometimes we had to have 2 separate households to do the work that we were given. But we still spent a great bit of time with each other. We supported each other for 'richer or poorer, in sickness and health' and over the years the love just grew. She helped me through seminary. I took care of her after an aneurysm. It was just what we did because of the commitment that we never had to speak. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">In 2003 after I supported the election of +Gene Robinson, I was outed by the dean of my district who finally left the Church. The treatment that we received from the bishop then helped us realize that the Episcopal Church may be 'welcoming </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">and affirming', but we weren't to be believed when we said we were celibate. I have had enough of knowing looks by men who cannot understand that there can be intimacy without sex. We became worker priests learning about retail and the grocery business. Finally I was called to a small ELCA congregation and was able to get enough credits to retire.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">When NY state began to explore 'same-sex' marriage J and I would joke about getting married but we weren't serious about it. We had friends who began to be married. I was invited to critique the Blessings of Same-Sex liturgies before their acceptance at the 2012 General Convention. I </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><a href="https://encrypted-tbn3.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQHi208DIdi8LARsndZ5SDm7ouIsx5VIuULw0yS09MHQLNbfmVKmQ" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="190" src="https://encrypted-tbn3.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQHi208DIdi8LARsndZ5SDm7ouIsx5VIuULw0yS09MHQLNbfmVKmQ" width="200" /></a></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">was asked to celebrate the first Blessing in the Diocese of Fort Worth with the permission of the bishop. Marriage still wasn't on my radar. Texas doesn't recognize it. Slowly but surely however, I realized that what J and I had was more than just roommate status. And besides, at 70, to still refer to J as my 'roomy' was just a bit too much! </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">After a lovely visit with a lesbian couple at Christmas, on the way home, I asked Judy if she would really want to be married to me. Her vociferous response of YES!!! shook me. I never knew she felt as deeply committed to me as I felt to her. We have always told each other that we love her. We do it several </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">times a day and especially when it is the hardest to say it. But to be espoused is a whole different thing. It is opening one's self to embrace a whole level of affirmation of life in one another. It isn't about ownership, as marriage is often understood. It isn't about sex. It isn't about obedience but it is about the laying down one's life for the other. It is a surrender.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">The kind of intimacy we have may not be the same as either heretosexual couples or lesbians. But it is just as deep, and it has stood the test of time. It has gone through the same ups and downs that most good marriages have. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Marriage is about trust and covenant. It is about common values. It is about holding up our place in society with respect and embrace. It is about nurture of those around us in Christ's love. And just as surely as J and I are called priests of the Church, we are called into the covenant relationship of Marriage. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Those who feel that marriage can only be about </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">procreation do not read Scripture rightly. Most marriages in Scripture are about the giving and taking of property. And this is even the basis of the Marriage ceremony in the prayer book. I hope I am not stepping on what many of you hold sacred about your marriage vows, but the vows that J and I will repeat in May will bring a covenantal nature to the relationship we have lived for more than a generation. I am just thankful that we have lived to time and place where we can do this with the support of those who love us. We will not be each other's wife. We are neither wives. And neither of us are husbands. We are two women who have claimed God's call to be coupled in the bonds of holiness and eternity.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkSuBmRVBV9Ar3AtVpVIkPqeNhFXx5EkZ-nNUvAHrnZ3vODbBIs2zKaF9-GtcURAS3xSv9MWMGAT_E6ibxncnR5zXjnkwf4axp9mTkf4cWDQsCro0pzKhlf2qc9TRQLePuO1PpkUB0qbY/s1600/CAM00049.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkSuBmRVBV9Ar3AtVpVIkPqeNhFXx5EkZ-nNUvAHrnZ3vODbBIs2zKaF9-GtcURAS3xSv9MWMGAT_E6ibxncnR5zXjnkwf4axp9mTkf4cWDQsCro0pzKhlf2qc9TRQLePuO1PpkUB0qbY/s1600/CAM00049.jpg" height="150" width="200" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><b>If you can celebrate with us, please join us at St. Peter's Episcopal Church in Lewes, DE on May 30 at 2:oo pm. Please RSVP by email or Message so we can know how many to prepare for. If not, your prayers and spiritual presence would be appreciated.</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><b>Lauren Gough and Judith Upham</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>Muthah+http://www.blogger.com/profile/10589837671378205837noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7206783518364639866.post-10201291693895056322015-02-09T14:59:00.001-05:002015-02-09T16:45:00.724-05:00Of Bishops, Clergy, Discrimination and Accountablity<div class="page-header">
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<span style="color: #990000;">I am grateful for this letter from Gay Clark Jennings, the President of the House of Deputies. This is an incidence that has made me heartsick all the way around. I do not know +Cook, but I grieve for her as a single woman cleric. I am heartsick for the family of Thomas Palermo. But I believe that Gay+ gets it right. We do need a better system of choosing our bishops. And she has truly hit the nail on the head when it comes to confusion with confidentiality and secrecy. One has to do with personal dignity; the other has to do with hiding.</span></div>
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<a href="http://houseofdeputies.org/a-letter-from-president-jennings-the-death-of-thomas-palermo.html" itemprop="url">A Letter from President Jennings: The Death of Thomas Palermo</a><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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February 9, 2015<br />
Dear Deputies and Alternate Deputies:<br />
Like many of you, I was deeply saddened by the news that bicyclist
Thomas Palermo had died on December 27 after he was struck by a car
driven by Bishop Heather Cook of the Diocese of Maryland. Mr. Palermo’s
wife, Rachel, his children, Sadie and Sam, and his family are in my
prayers every day. As a parent who has lost a child, I also grieve for
Mr. Palermo’s parents, who survive him. I hope that you will consider a
donation to the <a href="http://www.youcaring.com/tuition-fundraiser/children-of-tom-palermo/283939">educational trust fund</a> that has been established for his children.<br />
In the weeks since Mr. Palermo was killed, many people in the church
have struggled to understand better how our systemic denial about
alcohol and other drug abuse in the church may have contributed to
Bishop Cook’s election and confirmation as a bishop even as she seemed
to be struggling with addiction. Many Episcopalians are asking what
people in positions of authority in the church knew about her history of
addiction and driving while under the influence of alcohol. They are
also asking why the electors in Maryland and the bishops and standing
committees who consented to her election were not made aware of this
information, some of which is a matter of public record.<br />
Bishop Cook has been indicted on 13 counts including vehicular
homicide and the Standing Committee of the Diocese of Maryland has asked
her to resign as bishop suffragan. There is also a Title IV
investigation underway, and I hope there will be an open reporting of
its results that will answer many of these questions.<br />
However, the ongoing Title IV investigation does not relieve those of
us who help lead the church of our obligation to acknowledge that the
credibility of the process by which we elect bishops is in question.
Long before this crisis, many people in the church understood that the
process no longer serves us well in some instances. I have served as
consultant to six bishop search committees, and I concur. The seeming
failure of the process in Maryland lends new urgency to the discussion.<br />
Resolution A002 from <a href="http://reimaginetec.org/TREC_Report.pdf">The Task Force for Reimagining the Episcopal Church</a>
asks General Convention to authorize a task force to recommend a new
process for selecting bishops to General Convention in 2018, and it is
very likely that other resolutions that address the need for
transparency and accountability in bishop searches and elections will
come before convention as well.<br />
In addition, I have decided to appoint a House of Deputies
special legislative committee on alcohol and other drug abuse to review
the General Convention’s 1985 policy on alcohol and drug abuse (<a href="http://www.episcopalarchives.org/cgi-bin/acts/acts_resolution-complete.pl?resolution=1985-A083">Resolution A083</a>)
as well as propose and receive resolutions on this and related topics. I
believe firmly that people who experience addiction can be called by
God to lead our church. I have been blessed by the leadership and
pastoral gifts of my own bishop, Mark Hollingsworth, who, since before
being named a nominee for bishop, has spoken and written openly and
powerfully to us about his many years as a recovering alcoholic. I also
know that the church can sometimes confuse secrecy and confidentiality,
and that our desire for reconciliation can sometimes make us reluctant
to confront one another in love. I hope that we can examine our church’s
relationship to alcohol and other drugs in a clear-eyed and forthright
way, mindful of the systemic issues that can constrain transparency.<br />
These are the measures I can take to help our church repent for our
role in Thomas Palermo’s death. I ask each of you to remember that all
of us bear responsibility for ensuring that we elect our leaders
honestly and transparently. Even until the very last moment, we all bear
responsibility for coming forward when we believe that the process has
failed us; in fact, in the liturgy of ordination for a bishop, the
Presiding Bishop says, “You have been assured of <i>her</i> suitability and that the Church has approved <i>her </i>for
this sacred responsibility. Nevertheless, if any of you know any reason
why we should not proceed, let it now be made known.” (Book of Common
Prayer, p. 514).<br />
Please join me in praying for our church, for Heather Cook, for the
Dioceses of Maryland and Easton, and most especially for the family and
friends of Thomas Palermo.<br />
Faithfully,<br />
<img src="http://houseofdeputies.org/images/gay_sig_trans.png" height="64" width="200" /><br />
The Rev. Gay Clark Jennings<br />
President, House of Deputies</div>
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<span style="color: #990000;">I remember protesting the election of Jack Iker in 1991, but because no one in the House of Bishops wanted to take seriously the charge of his clearly stating that he could not 'support the Constitution and Canons of the Episcopal Church', nothing could stop Jack's consecration. Neither </span><br />
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<span style="color: #990000;">the attending bishops, the clergy nor the laity were willing to look forward enough to see what kind of lasting and destructive effect his election would have on the Church. As Church it was easier to smile and 'be nice' rather than be willing to ask the hard questions that the dioceses of Fort Worth, Quincy, San Joaquin, et, al. were posing with their 'gentleman's agreement' on women's ordination. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #990000;">We have a similar 'gentleman's agreement' is now being touted in the House of Bishop's re., the ministry of LGBTQ persons and the bishops are not willing to see what kind of duplicity they are again farming. Bishops in some areas believe that they have the right to control the priests of their dioceses as to how they live, what they may wear, who they may see and where they may attend church. The Diocese of Texas has been especially grievous in this matter since the days of +Benitez. At least some of this is being rectified by that diocese today, but it does not go far enough to note the damage that the Church has done to LGBTQ persons. </span><br />
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<span style="color: #990000;"> The shame with which many of us had to grow up because of not only flawed theology, but outrageous Biblical scholarship, has been held in place by those who are frightened and unable to reflect on a human dignity other than their own. First of all, it is paternalistic, at best. It is judgmental and discriminatory and worse. It can leave clergy constantly in fear of losing their jobs, their careers, unable to support themselves or their families simply on the whim of a single person in bishop's orders. According to the canons, a bishop may not do this, but once again, there is no way to bring such charges against a bishop without really ruining one's career. The Women's Caucus produced a long list of instances where clergy are being bullied by their bishops and it is a growing problem throughout mainline churches. It is an ugly little secret throughout the Church that our juridical officers are unable to be held accountable.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #990000;">And while I am grateful to +Andy Doyle's leadership in his support of the repeal of discriminatory canons in the Diocese of Texas, this should not be a matter for just a bishop to </span><br />
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<span style="color: #990000;">decide. How the clergy may serve and how they may live is a matter for the laity and the clergy to decide also. If we are to root out discrimination, it cannot be a matter single bishop's opinion. It must be the will of the diocese; it needs to be canonical. There must be a willingness of the diocese to fight the discrimination within themselves. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #990000;">As for the election of bishops: all too often we go the easiest route to avoid conflict when we go shopping for a new cleric, bishop or priest. In that kind of climate, it is easy to hide. It is easy to appear 'nice' rather than able to face the conflict in life. For someone who finds it difficult to address conflict in their lives, the episcopacy is no place for them in the present-day Church, and for that matter, the ordained ministry of any order. We need to develop clear system of vetting of candidates who can lead the Church <u>through</u> conflict rather than hide from it. Alcoholism, drug abuse, role playing, social climbing, are all forms of hiding. And the Church is full of clergy who play such games because the structure of the church is no longer one in which transparency and integrity is held as a sacred value. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #990000;">When women's ministry in the early 80's began to erode the 'good ole boy' network, where a new clergy person had to 'know someone' in order to get a cure, we replaced it with a computer driven system that ostensibly put everyone on an equal footing. But these days, it is often the diocese who becomes the lynch pin, for who is called. It is a different twist on the 'good ole boy's club'. And bishops still have inordinate control over the clergy's lives in ways that are not healthy and would be considered criminal in the public or private sector. </span><br />
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<span style="color: #990000;">General Convention '15 may just be able to begin to address some of these issues because they are fresh. But my guess is that the House of Bishops, the lower house, will stall any work by the House of Deputies to bring order to the Church that might affect the slow decline of a Church that has lost faith in its leadership. Is this part of checks and balances? Perhaps, or it may be leading to the kind of log jam we have in Congress that will end up killing us.</span><br />
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<a href="https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcSdEAMsU7rrijctEKyAwstW8Y_Os3xdQCeQs0dWGMr5n1rUPXTR" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="355" src="https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcSdEAMsU7rrijctEKyAwstW8Y_Os3xdQCeQs0dWGMr5n1rUPXTR" width="640" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">What is
appealing about sermons?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Today I have
listened to 3 or 4 of them.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Now that I
am retired I don’t have the weekly responsibility of preparing sermons.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I generally enjoyed the process of
preaching.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> It is why I took my doctorate in it. But I like to listen to good sermons too. I even go back and read some of the sermons of the great preachers not only of my tradition but others as well.</span></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/ce/Launcelot_Andrews_(1555-1626)%2C_English_School_circa_1660.jpg/250px-Launcelot_Andrews_(1555-1626)%2C_English_School_circa_1660.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/ce/Launcelot_Andrews_(1555-1626)%2C_English_School_circa_1660.jpg/250px-Launcelot_Andrews_(1555-1626)%2C_English_School_circa_1660.jpg" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Preaching isn’t what some lay folks
think, a matter of talking off one’s head or out of one’s back pocket.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Preaching is a holy discipline of being
willing to pay attention.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But it isn’t
just a hyper-awareness; it is a programmed vigilance. It is programmed by the
lectionary that keeps one connected to the readings of the Christian world but
it is constantly changing by the events of the world and our lives.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">I have never
been one who could just pull out an old sermon and preach it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Only when I was incapable of thinking when I
was too sick for the synapses to fire did I ever repeat a sermon—themes, of
course, theological points, sure. But I could never just pull up an old sermon
and preach it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It didn’t seem honest.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://sp.yimg.com/ib/th?id=HN.608030321456187870&pid=15.1&P=0" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="138" src="https://sp.yimg.com/ib/th?id=HN.608030321456187870&pid=15.1&P=0" width="200" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">But now,
when I listen to sermons, I long to hear the faith of the person
preaching.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I don’t care about hearing a testimony.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> I don't want to just hear an interpretation of the passage. </span>I want to know if the person who is preaching
really believes what s/he says.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I want
to know if the passage that is being preached is something that made the
preacher think.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Today, I have listened
to Baptist, Methodist, Christian Science, Episcopal and a non-denominational
mega feel good church and e<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span>ach one had a
piece of the puzzle that God has for me today.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Some of it pulled me back into that comfortable rhythm of the Revised
Common Lectionary (RCL) and some of it was meditations on other texts.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">I remember Alec Baldwin saying that he went to a church (not the same one) every Sunday
to listen to people who think.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I had
never really thought about why people</span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://sp.yimg.com/ib/th?id=HN.607988552890126180&pid=15.1&P=0" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://sp.yimg.com/ib/th?id=HN.607988552890126180&pid=15.1&P=0" width="174" /></a></div>
listened to sermons.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was a part of church going.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But now that I am listening, I too want to
know what people think.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I want
preachers who have bothered to prepare, have bothered to embrace either the
Scripture or the topic.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I want to know
that they have struggled with the things that are raised by an event, or better,
how they have wrestled with the passage to glean some meaning for their lives
as well as mine.<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Rarely was I
ever able to tell for whom a sermon was written.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Most of them were directed to me as much as
anyone or any parish.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But occasionally,
someone would say, “You were talking to me today”.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And I have even said the same to a
preacher.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I always appreciated hearing
that it had made an impact on someone, rather than “good sermon, Pastor.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://sp.yimg.com/ib/th?id=HN.608028783862547006&pid=15.1&P=0" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://sp.yimg.com/ib/th?id=HN.608028783862547006&pid=15.1&P=0" /></a></div>
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">But what
does it mean for us when we do think about an issue.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Does it cause a change of behavior?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Not generally.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> But it starts the wheels rolling. </span>Sometimes, it does.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I still remember the sermon Dean Harvey Gutherie of
EDS, a Scripture scholar, taking apart the prohibition of women speaking in
Church in Timothy back in the ‘70’s.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And while I
don’t remember exactly what he said, I knew what it meant when Scripture was 'opened' to me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It felt like the top of my
head had been opened to a new light and interpretation.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It opened me to the call I had been hearing
but could not give myself permission to pursue.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Preaching is
a holy discipline that requires not only struggle with Scripture but also a
struggle with what is going on in the world and the particular world of the
congregation.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> The Bishop that ordained me, +Ned Cole, said one should preach with a </span></span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><a href="https://sp.yimg.com/ib/th?id=HN.608000905220195252&pid=15.1&P=0" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://sp.yimg.com/ib/th?id=HN.608000905220195252&pid=15.1&P=0" /></a></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">Bible in one hand and the newspaper in the other. </span>No wonder I was always
fatigued following preaching…struggling with so many things and pulling them
together to make a coherent point.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Today I come
away from the lectionary readings with the sense that Jesus did not allow evil
to speak in his hearing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He silenced
evil when he could.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He didn’t listen to
the whine or the excuse.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He looked past
it and called forth the goodness of the possessed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That is a hard task, but it is one I want to
hold on to today.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">I appreciate
good preaching.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I appreciate the time
and effort that others have given to the readings to make them come alive for
me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But like Alec Baldwin, I love to
hear how people think.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is the holy
discipline—it is Incarnational theology at its best.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And like the Eucharist, it is ‘where God and
Man [sic] have sat down.’</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
Muthah+http://www.blogger.com/profile/10589837671378205837noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7206783518364639866.post-33410136568021740982014-11-19T13:49:00.000-05:002014-11-19T13:49:03.862-05:00Outer Darkness--Beyond the Pale<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQUkYt2pWGTM5SJbnWZ05kAD731eHQvgbI5Eb8kYrb2HCqMylqyHw" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQUkYt2pWGTM5SJbnWZ05kAD731eHQvgbI5Eb8kYrb2HCqMylqyHw" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
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<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">I am an avid
genealogist and have been since high school.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>And while I don’t at present have a membership with <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Ancestry.com</i> I have been able to trace our family back to the
mid-17<sup>th</sup> century in England and Scotland.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In addition to that, I love listening to
others and how they have traced their families.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>It is no wonder that I have become a <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Find
Your Roots </i>maven.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://encrypted-tbn3.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQoocNq8B23ToHzKb9tBk83FZft1rNkIRcWeWFghmkjb4b5ULn9vg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://encrypted-tbn3.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQoocNq8B23ToHzKb9tBk83FZft1rNkIRcWeWFghmkjb4b5ULn9vg" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Recently
there was a remarkable program on Jewish celebrities: Carol King, Tony Kushner
and Alan Dershowitz.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I have always been
a history geek of Western Europe but I have never paid much attention to
Eastern Europe.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But the lives of all
of these three celebrities were rooted in that middle European Jewish
experience that was so influenced by Russia, Poland and Lithuania, the area known as the Pale—and
consequently a community of millions of Jews who were so affected by Nazi and
Russian oppression.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The images of the
extermination camps were indelibly marked on my mind from childhood as the
trials of war criminals were still fresh in my growing up years.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That </span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://encrypted-tbn3.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQJIy-RWgQ_3rppltd9waQJ_Lx4iK2OAN_AMOtHtKVmI4QiLx-G8Q" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="151" src="https://encrypted-tbn3.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQJIy-RWgQ_3rppltd9waQJ_Lx4iK2OAN_AMOtHtKVmI4QiLx-G8Q" width="200" /></a></div>
kind of inhumanity was experienced in
other places and is still being played out in various locations in the world;
however, it was in Middle Europe that I became aware of the kind of evil in my
lifetime.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was part of these stars
intimate family lives and I was fascinated by how their lives had been shaped
by such brutality and yet had become so famous and relatively selfless.<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">I was
totally unaware of The Pale, the prescribed area where Czarist Russian Jews
were forced to live in the late 18<sup>th</sup> and early 19<sup>th</sup>
century.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Middle European cities were
almost closed to Jews, so small all-Jewish farm communities grew up for
survival, similar to small all African-American communities which grew up in the South following the Civil War.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But the<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">
shtetel </i>that is so wonderfully described in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Fiddler on</i></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><a href="https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQ0DSuq_LmBeshlUoJbXJKUOpOZt9aEj8nQaK1XAlRRP3RwYIl0" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQ0DSuq_LmBeshlUoJbXJKUOpOZt9aEj8nQaK1XAlRRP3RwYIl0" /></a></i></div>
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"> the Roof</i> was a remarkable system of self-care which the
Jewish communities formed to survive.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>They were centered on the synagogue and were permeated with deeply-held
spiritual and mystical beliefs that were a response to the dogmatic, legalistic
Judaism that had developed in other parts of Diaspora.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There was a deeply held concept of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">tzedakah </i>(from the word, <i>righteousness
</i>but meaning<i> charity</i>) that meant that they were to take care of one another even
if you did not know them.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They saw to it
that the bright got educations, the poor were fed, the homeless sheltered,
etc.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was rooted in the commandments
of Hebrew Scripture and a sense of community that we might call, in the light of early 21<sup>st</sup>
century American politics, as liberal.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>But they were not understood as <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">liberal</i>
then.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was seen as something quite
conservative—it was a way to survive.<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">I was also struck
by the comments on last Sunday’s readings by a colleague who lives in
China.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She had heard a preacher who hadn’t
‘gotten it’ and responded with this interpretation of the parable of the talents:</span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://encrypted-tbn1.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQIC7SQ10MBzfTcAkf_RkrV-2hggdXg_6rqZuK416RgXFw5Zvcm" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="199" src="https://encrypted-tbn1.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQIC7SQ10MBzfTcAkf_RkrV-2hggdXg_6rqZuK416RgXFw5Zvcm" width="200" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">So what is this story
about?<br />
<br />
Well, the first thing you need to know is that it was not written for 21st
century Americans. It was written in probably 70 or so, maybe
earlier. It was written for Jews who had converted to Christianity,
though I think the two were not as far apart even then as they are today.
Anyway, and it was probably sourced from Mark. But I wasn't there and I
don't know. I got that from some notes I made in the margin on my
Bible. Always get a Bible with wide margins. That's my
advice. <br />
<br />
So, if we are not the intended audience then it is important to think about
what the story sounded like in those first century Jewish convert ears.
You can't skip that step. I have heard a lot of sermons lately where
people skip that step. No, people. You have to do that step.
So, here's what you need to know about that.<br />
<br />
The economic system in first century Palestine was as corrupt as Wall Street is
today. No foolin',. it was bad. And the way this wicked
householder made his money was by robbing the serf/slave laborers who worked on
his land. It is likely that at one time the land had belonged to them. or
at least to their fathers and grandfathers. But, times
change. Things get hard. And over the years the land had been sold
off. Now the former small land holders were renters, and they were
perennially in debt to the new land holder... the man who reaps where he does
not sow. <br />
<br />
If you reap where you have not sown that means you are stealing. I don't
know how to be any clearer about it. The householder was a thief.
That is how he got rich.<br />
<br />
</span></i></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><a href="https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQYyFsgPQ4-dSjrCI69qHHtiJAsTUp0gRj8XB6JWHehSzH8a8N-Ig" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQYyFsgPQ4-dSjrCI69qHHtiJAsTUp0gRj8XB6JWHehSzH8a8N-Ig" /></a></i></div>
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">So, anyway, he decides to go on a trip: a vacation, business trip, off to
see his mistress... we don't know. He's going away. And he wants
someone to look after his loot while he's gone. So the storyteller here
presents us with three trustees: One who receives FIVE talents, one who
receives only two, and one who gets just one. <br />
<br />
The trustee who got five talents had obviously proven himself to the
householder, because five talents is a lot of dough. In other words, he
is well acquainted with the machinations of evil. He can turn five into
another five easily, and probably still had some to tuck away for
himself. That's just how things worked back then. <br />
<br />
The trustee who got two talents was probably pretty good too. But, he was
more like a junior partner. He might have still had a few things to
learn, but the householder trusted him. Even two talents is a lot of
dough.<br />
<br />
But the last one... he is different. This trustee was only given one
talent. I think that in the honor/shame culture of that time and place
that might have looked like one of two things: It might have seemed like
a slap in the face. Only one talent, after all. Or, it might have
been an opportunity to prove himself worthy/evil by going along with the
householders financial shenanigans. <br />
<br />
Trustee one and two get to work right away extorting money from their poor
neighbors, and they are</i><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><a href="https://encrypted-tbn3.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcSr4CPmJfTsijEtyILnBQEgboM2xFFNX4yxX1v9BuyYNg7UxKZe" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://encrypted-tbn3.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcSr4CPmJfTsijEtyILnBQEgboM2xFFNX4yxX1v9BuyYNg7UxKZe" /></a></i></div>
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">
ready for the master's return.<br />
<br />
The other trustee, he refuses to participate. And he knows his
master. In fact,. when the master comes home trustee three calls him
out, "You are a bad guy. You take what is not yours. I
am scared of you," he says, "But I will not extort and rob
either. I am not going to play these games with people's lives.
Here's what's rightfully yours." <br />
<br />
Trustee three is the hero of the story. It is possible that he was given
the money as a joke, because the master of the house knew that the trustee was
honest. It's possible that the trustee had been on the fence and the
master wanted to see which way he would go. We can only speculate about
these things. But something happened that forced a decision on the part
of the third trustee.<br />
<br />
The first two were taken into the master’s house to live with him. Why?
Because they would have been killed if the master had left them out there with
the peasants.<br />
<br />
The other trustee... he could walk freely among the peasants without fear
because he had not defrauded them.<br />
<br />
The questions we should ask ourselves today are:</i><br />
<ul type="disc">
<li class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; tab-stops: list .5in;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">What
am I doing to overthrow the oppressive economic systems in the world
today?</span></i></li>
</ul>
<br />
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">How is my participation in capitalism perpetuating the
poverty of others?</span></i></li>
</ul>
<br />
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">How can I begin a personal revolution to live in a way that
does not aid and abet the terrorists of industry and government in their
relentless enslavement of the poor? </span></i></li>
</ul>
<br />
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">How can I begin an economic revolution to overthrow
capitalism and bring economic stability to all?</span></i></li>
</ul>
<br />
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Am I ready to live with the consequences of dissent? </span></i></li>
</ul>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br />
You come up with your own questions. I have to go to work. Oh,
perfect. I work so much I don't even have time to blog.<br />
<br />
Addition: When I lived in Myanmar I saw lots of houses surrounded with
razor wire and I would often put up a little prayer that I am never so rich
that I need razor wire. I'd rather be poor and have</span></i></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><a href="https://encrypted-tbn3.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTCrI5r7rKEpgAR2ZGmTv1fmkEB9Fb-wuSvjwu1YyPxCdg5UGnw" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://encrypted-tbn3.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTCrI5r7rKEpgAR2ZGmTv1fmkEB9Fb-wuSvjwu1YyPxCdg5UGnw" width="133" /></a></i></div>
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"> the friendship of the
peasants than rich, isolated, and fearful. <br />
<br />
We really do have to have some compassion for the first two trustees.
They had to live in the master's house. And I'll bet it had razor wire.—Linda
McMillan<br />
<br />
</i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">I was, as the Baptists say, ‘convicted’
by this interpretation of this reading, one that has given me trouble when it
has come up in the lectionary.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This is a
woman who grew up in Texas but presently lives in Asia. But she knows what it means.</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Having been
‘cast into outer darkness’ in my life more than once, I know the </span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcSc7McLxbx-6E2c96PdwikKsOR1BjWRxA34OzL7draHxsDIiyV-" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcSc7McLxbx-6E2c96PdwikKsOR1BjWRxA34OzL7draHxsDIiyV-" /></a></div>
separation and
anxiety that the dark produces. Barbara Brown Taylor’s <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Learning to Walk in the Dark</i> has been an important assistant in
that journey.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Trying to walk in the
light of Christ is easy when everyone else is doing it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But often time the Christian journey calls
for the willingness to embrace the darkness, the loneliness of God’s intimacy
in order to live the integrity of God.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The isolation can be unbearable; it can be dangerous as it was for the
first century Christians or the people 'living beyond the Pale.' <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>However, if
one is aware that such a place in ‘outer darkness’ is where God is, then it is
not only possible, it is where one gets fed, nurtured, strengthened.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We need but look to such spiritual greats as
Theresa of Avila or John of the Cross to know of this walk.<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The Jews
of 17<sup>th</sup> and 18<sup>th</sup> century Russia learned that life was not
only possible ‘beyond the Pale’ but it could be lived with respect and love,
rich in faith and culture.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>From that
grounding many found deeply rooted community that defied the dominant culture
to retain strong family and cultural ties that have nurtured their creativity.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>God is not only the God of Light, but is the
constant companion in darkness.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Prevailing culture is not where God is.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>God is in the integrity of beauty, honesty, truth, and love.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When we cannot find those things in our
lives, it is important to embrace them even if they find us ‘cast into outer
darkness’.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> It is the place where the emerging Church is going to have to grow. It has always been the place where those who wish to live by God's love have had to inhabit. </span>It isn’t a bad place if we
are willing to allow God to embrace us there.</span></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
Muthah+http://www.blogger.com/profile/10589837671378205837noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7206783518364639866.post-39262402110487949842014-08-18T18:05:00.000-04:002014-08-18T18:05:13.452-04:00 Ferguson, Jon Daniels, Uppity Women and Mercy<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">I had
another sermon all developed to preach this Sunday but the events of the past
week have<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>focused the nation’s attention
to the events between police and the people of a St. Louis, MO suburb.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I used to live in suburban St. Louis.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I remember the overt racism there.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I had hoped it was better, but evidently it
isn’t.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Also on the 14<sup>th</sup> our Church
celebrated the feast of Jonathan Myrick Daniels.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Jon was The Rev. Judy Upham’s boyfriend , my long-time companion, when
they were in seminary.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>response to Dr. Martin Luther King’s call to
witness the inhuman treatment of the freedom demonstrators in Selma, Alabama in
1965. Jon and Judy stayed in Selma that spring.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Jon was murdered by a deputy sheriff that August.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He, too, was a 20 something man, who was doing </span><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"></span>what God had called him to do, to call for the just treatment of others.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was the death of Jonathan that helped
galvanize the Episcopal Church and the hearts of the Northeast to bring about
the legislation that has helped to bring about the strides that have been made
in race relations over the past 50 years. Strides which have even included the right to aspire to any office in the land<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And there has been a dramatic change of
attitude throughout our world.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Those of
us who are a bit long in the tooth have seen it. .<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But we still have a long way to go.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The show of
force by the Ferguson police in the face of death of a young man of color in
2014 at the </span></div>
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hands of a police officer was the result of trying to control the
events that would reflect badly on a poorly conformed police force.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The
use of swat teams against demonstrators was déjà vu for all of us who worked
for civil rights in the 60’s and for all <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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who have watched the apathy that has
grasped this country.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Thankfully, the
President of the United States was willing to step in and draw a halt to the
impending race war that was being precipitated in MO.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>An act no President has ever done in our
nation’s history.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Granted, the situation
is still quite problematic.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But the
change in attitude was dramatic by Friday night.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And no more lives were lost due to
confrontation with police.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A change in
attitude by law enforcement will be the answer to what happens to the community
of Ferguson.<br />
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The reading
from Sunday’s Gospel is an example of a change in attitude.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A Canaanite woman with a sick child prevails
upon Jesus when he is visiting in the Canaanite regions of Tyre and Sidon.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She cries out to him.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Greek word for her cries is the word for
the call of a raven.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A colleague says
</span></div>
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that word could be easily translated ‘squawked’ after him.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is obvious that the woman was one of those
obnoxious women who refused to be excluded, who refused to be shut up because
she knew her cause was right.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She just
wanted healing for her daughter.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Jesus knew
what his call was:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He was to go to the
lost sheep of the House of Israel.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He
was supposed to minister to his own people who had been displaced in the
Greco-Roman divisions of what had been greater Israel.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But this Canaanite woman, this woman who was
squawking after him knelt before him and all but prostrated herself before him
begging for her child.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And Jesus says
such an uncharacteristic thing: <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“It is
not fair to take the children's food and throw it to the dogs."<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Most of us hear this and are scandalized by
what he says.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But I doubt if was scandalous
to Matthew’s readers as they read it in the latter part of the 1<sup>st</sup>
century.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was the way that</span> <span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">most of them understood their
position in the Church.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The Synagogue
of the First Century was badly divided as the Christian movement.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Jews were divided by various sects
following the destruction of the Temple in 70 AD.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Synagogues also had incorporated many
non-ethnic Jews who followed the Law of Moses.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>In addition to this, the various incorporation of the followers of the
various rabbis, made for a vigorously diverse type of Judaism that was having a
hard time holding center.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Toward the end
of the centuries some synagogues were expelling those who followed Jesus.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So there developed a split between the Greek
speaking Christians and the Aramaic or the Ethnically Jewish who followed
Jesus.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Matthew’s
Gospel was decidedly written for those who were familiar with the customs of
Judaism.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He knew that the kind of
comment of “the children’s [of Israel] food, would be understood as what </span></div>
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was
appropriate for the people of Israel, not those Gentiles who were coming to
Jesus.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This passage comes right after
the feeding of the 5,000 when the abundance of God’s mercy is shown in the
breaking of the bread.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That was a
reiteration of the story of how the Children of Israel survived the wanderings
in the wilderness, on the generosity of God’s mercy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><br /></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The uppity
woman of Canaan reminded Jesus of the wideness of God’s mercy, too.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>His mission to the lost sheep of Israel would
have ramifications for those far beyond his ministrations.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And in this moment Jesus saw the truth of the
woman’s pleas:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>God’s mercy is
unlimited.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>God’s mercy is not just for a
few.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>God’s nurture and mercy is not for certain
populations—it is for all.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There was a
change in attitude for Jesus---at least in the Gospel of Matthew.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">If our era
has any common theme over the past 50 years, it has been changes in
attitude.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We are beginning to see the
genuine changes of attitude all over the world.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>There are watershed moments </span></div>
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that tip us to see that we have to change so
that God’s goodness can be seen.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The
saints of our Church are often linked to those moments.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Jon’s life and death certainly is one of those.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But the hard work of living into those
changed attitudes is much more difficult to do.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I can draw a causal link from Jon’s death to
what we have seen in Ferguson this week.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>But can I see the shifts toward seeing the immigrants trying to cross
our boarders in the same way that we see Jacob’s sons coming into Egypt to
escape the famine in their land and finding the mercy of their brother
Joseph?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Can we see in the police
brutality at a gay bar here in Ft. Worth, a link to Ferguson, MO?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Can we see in the words of the Canaanite
woman that the crumbs are to be enjoyed by all the world?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Can we too know the universality of God’s
mercy even if we aren’t part of whatever ‘in’ crowd that we are not a part
of?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Can we too be assured of the
protection of the God’s love just as surely as the wealthy, the powerful, the
comfortable, the young and good looking, or the cultured?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">Judy went to Harvard as an economics major hoping to figure out how to feed the world. She found in her first class that the earth had the capacity to feed all of creation, but she was taught it was not expedient to do so. That is when she realized that after her <i>cum laude</i> degree in economics, she </span></span></div>
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needed to go to seminary. The problem was not economics; the problem was sin.<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> So what is in the events of this week and the sinfulness of our age? What allows us 50 years after Selma to continue brunt force options to gain control when we are afraid? What allows us to become more than what we were 2000 years ago in the face of a squawking mother calling out for deliverance for her child? It requires a change of attitude. It takes a willingness to see our own fear healed in the light of God's mercy and know it profoundly. It takes the willingness to pay attention to squawks of those calling out for justice and nurture. It requires of us, both individually and corporately, to change attitudes so that God's mercy can be seen. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">Jesus found it in the faith of the Canaanite woman. I saw it in the act of a President. Where do you see it? We need to be willing to proclaim that mercy of God to the world--it is what we are called to do by all that is Holy.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><br /></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> n </span>The
squawking woman of Canaan had that courage, and Jesus changed his
attitude.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In the face of those squawking
voices of God , can we?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
Muthah+http://www.blogger.com/profile/10589837671378205837noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7206783518364639866.post-64672214910661532732014-08-09T15:32:00.000-04:002014-08-09T15:32:41.122-04:00...and we shall see what will become of his dreams.<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<br /></div>
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<a href="https://encrypted-tbn3.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTN6U_ebYYCHzHtYNvKmKGfXGyhWIOoCeLCWK9L_PGRh7AbqpobWA" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://encrypted-tbn3.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTN6U_ebYYCHzHtYNvKmKGfXGyhWIOoCeLCWK9L_PGRh7AbqpobWA" width="292" /></a></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">How many of you have read the book of Genesis?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If you haven’t, may I suggest that sometime
this week you get out the first book of the Bible and read Chapters 37-50.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It will make these Old Testament readings
make more sense.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They really need to be
read together to get the whole story of the patriarchs of our faith.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The story we have today is about Joseph, the
guy with the coat of many colors, the dreamer of Jacob’s children, who is
obviously obnoxious but is the favorite of the 12 children.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If we want a paradigm for raising children,
the stories of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob or Israel are not the ones we want to
emulate.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Joseph is a visionary. And what is insufferable, is that he
is his father Jacob’s favorite. His brothers are fed up with him.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Now most of us don’t have siblings that we
would sell in to slavery, but I know some of us with siblings might have
entertained similar ideas at a weak moment.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">The one phrase that struck me as I first read this was:</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Here comes this dreamer. Come
now, let us kill him and throw him into one of the pits; then we shall say that
a wild animal has devoured him, and we shall see what will become of his dreams</span>.</b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Dreams and visions are hard to deal with.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Has anyone ever tried to build their ‘dream
</span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://trendspig.com/static/cc220eddc7b35b0c246d046679836804.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://trendspig.com/static/cc220eddc7b35b0c246d046679836804.jpg" height="191" width="200" /></a></div>
house’ or buy their “dream car?”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Every
time you try to get that ‘perfect image’, you have to face reality.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The builder says you can’t do it that way, or
it doesn’t come in that color.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Somehow
the dream doesn’t turn out the way you want it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>That’s because being human is about being imperfect.<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was the dreamer
Joseph who would save his people during a famine by bringing them into Egypt where
Pharaoh had prepared for the </span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://encrypted-tbn2.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcSOyD1tq5cravKET9QM9fRBptm4_FvIjs3sptXu17cFxALhXPS7nA" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="151" src="https://encrypted-tbn2.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcSOyD1tq5cravKET9QM9fRBptm4_FvIjs3sptXu17cFxALhXPS7nA" width="200" /></a></div>
famine.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It
would also be where the Children of Israel would know what it meant to be
slaves, gain their emancipation through the graciousness of God and become the
nation that gave rise to the Messiah.<br />
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">But we still dream, don’t we?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>We still hope.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That too is part
of what it means to be human.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There is a
passage from the Prophet Joel that is also quoted in the 2<sup>nd</sup> chapter
of Acts that reminds us what happens when the Spirit comes to us:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">And it shall come to pass in the
last days, saith God, I <span class="criteria">will</span> pour out of my Spirit
upon all flesh: and <span class="criteria">your</span> <span class="criteria">sons</span>
and <span class="criteria">your</span> daughters shall prophesy, and <span class="criteria">your</span> young men shall <span class="criteria">see</span> <span class="criteria">visions</span>, and <span class="criteria">your</span> old men
shall dream dreams.</span></i></b></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Joseph could not keep his dreams or his prophecy to
himself.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Prophets can’t.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It just isn’t possible to keep your dreams to
yourself when God has given you the vision of what could be.</span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://encrypted-tbn3.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQ3fBiygCxzkBS3hHqtQEha18nIu15zAHs49FFTQsYoge-9UzRClA" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="135" src="https://encrypted-tbn3.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQ3fBiygCxzkBS3hHqtQEha18nIu15zAHs49FFTQsYoge-9UzRClA" width="400" /></a></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"> </span> </div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://encrypted-tbn2.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQsqiZNmgAw1tCn7hEX5HB8XG7iD8ZJkdvGruRW7cFrAon_WUACQg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="149" src="https://encrypted-tbn2.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQsqiZNmgAw1tCn7hEX5HB8XG7iD8ZJkdvGruRW7cFrAon_WUACQg" width="200" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-size: small;">Five years ago, the people of this parish dreamed a
dream.<span> </span>It was one in which love
conquered the divisions that had developed in this part of the Church.<span> </span>They dreamed of a church that was built on
the love of Christ.<span> </span>Its dream was to
become a place where participation, accountability and transparency would
operate as primary organizational values.<span>
</span>And over the few years I have come here, I have seen that dream begin to
be realized among you.<span> </span>It hasn’t been
easy.<span> </span>I have seen you deal with the
warts of your humanity.<span> </span>But most of all,
I have watched you share that dream with others.<span> </span>Many of you have shared that vision with
me.<span> </span>And through your efforts I have
watched you begin to grow beyond the place where you were ‘waiting for the
Spirit or the courts to save you from your humanity’<span> </span>You have kept your visions despite those who
would be fed up with your ‘naiveté’ or those who would tell you it couldn’t
work that way.</span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="line-height: 150%;"></span></span><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Over the past few months I have come to the realization that
I am getting old.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Illness </span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://encrypted-tbn3.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQNGEy8Qrl04faEieZC2TxHiLvUAlGGJ6Vi5wuzVcR9gbDZ89WvIw" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://encrypted-tbn3.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQNGEy8Qrl04faEieZC2TxHiLvUAlGGJ6Vi5wuzVcR9gbDZ89WvIw" /></a></div>
does that to
you. I am no longer prophesying which I have always understood as part of my
calling as priest.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I have now come to
the place of dreaming dreams.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I will not
see the realization of the vision I had for the new Church that is developing
all over the world.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But that doesn’t
bother me anymore.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Because it is places
like here at St. <span style="font-size: small;">_______</span> that I know that the vision is alive and well.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">The vision that the Church is a place where people can find
the Spirit of God must be kept before those who love Christ.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Since I was here last, you have opened
yourselves </span></div>
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to an outreach ministry that takes Christ to those who can only
dream now.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You live out the dreams of
the ancients. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It has been the way that
the good news has been passed on for centuries.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span></span>For those of us who are living into the dream of God’s
kingdom, it is probably not looking like we initially envisioned it would
be.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But those of you who are still
proclaiming the vision do well to listen to the hopes of those who now
dream.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Because the vision is always
growing, always changing. </div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Five years ago, your
vision was based upon getting the property back.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Now, the vision is ‘how can we serve right
where we are in the name of Christ’.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>However, those of us who have become dreamers, those of us who are old
enough to remember, keep track of the story, keep track of the values that
precipitated the vision, remember the history of what has happened and how not
to fall back into past behaviors that led to imprisonment. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">When the vision gets lost in ‘reality’ it is easy to embrace
the expedient rather than the movement of the Spirit.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>All of us in this room are children of God.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We long to embrace the Holy One and the lives
that are generated by our relationship Go back to when you were first married,
the dream spouse that you ‘thought’ you had, hasn’t always been a dream.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>with God.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>We envision ourselves as those trying to do what it is we are called to
by God. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We long for the
goodness that is generated in us by the Holy Spirit.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And we know that in goodness is the only way
we can know happiness.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We call it from
ourselves; we invite <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>others
to join in that happiness.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But like that
perfect vision, that ‘dream house’, it is not always easy to keep our eyes on
that vision.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It so easy to settle for
what works rather than the genuine happiness to which God invites us.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Our Gospel reading is that wonderful story of Jesus walking
on the water.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We often</span></div>
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think of this as
one of Jesus’ miracles.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But walking on
water isn’t just for Jesus, any more.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Please note that Peter walked on the water too.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Granted, when he took his eyes off Jesus, he
sank.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He lost his vision.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">The vision we have of a new parish, a new diocese, a new
Church depends upon our willingness to keep our eyes on Christ—keeping our eyes
on the vision of Goodness and Love—keeping our eyes on Participation,
Accountability and Transparency.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Our
visions must be rooted in the history of who we have been as much as what we
hope to become otherwise it becomes ‘pie in the sky in the bye and bye.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As we all carry the vision and share that
vision, more often than not, our dream gets accomplished.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is the willingness to step out on the
waters of faith that allow that dream of a better world to be something more
than a fairy tale.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is being willing to
keep the vision before us all even when there are those who would be willing to
sell us into slavery again.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Remember
slavery is very comfortable—and requires no thought or too much effort.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And for some, slavery is the only experience
of life they know, so they see dreamers as a real threat.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">So today I laud your willingness to walk on the water of your
faith, to keep yourself open to the love of Christ, and to share the faith in
the Spirit that invites us to dream. Keep visioning.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Keep acting on that vision.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is Holy. It is Righteous. It is the way to
live into the freedom that God longs for us. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is the way that we will survive.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And it certainly will be the way we will
grow. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>AMEN</span></div>
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Muthah+http://www.blogger.com/profile/10589837671378205837noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7206783518364639866.post-68446878831276741112014-07-15T13:29:00.000-04:002014-07-15T15:42:35.315-04:00Muthah+http://www.blogger.com/profile/10589837671378205837noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7206783518364639866.post-48803398064467469722014-07-09T17:19:00.001-04:002014-07-09T17:19:55.164-04:00Post Hack: Church in the 21st Century<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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It has been some time since I have blogged. I was badly hacked in early June. Of course I changed my password, and was hacked again. I changed password again and was hacked again. This happened so many times that I couldn't keep up with my passwords.<br />
<br />
Not only was my FB account hacked but my Google and Blogspot accounts as well. And I even had some evidence that my email account was entered. I was unable to access my Facebook account. My own paranoia not withstanding, I finally got the feeling that the attacks were not just phishing that might get some business more accounts to send their Viagra ads to. This just seemed too personal and targeted.<br />
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I took my computer to a fixit shop and even the geeks couldn't figure out what was going on. A friend who has spent his career in the NSA (it is nice to have friends in devious places) suggested I contact law enforcement as this kind of hacking is not only illegal but can be dangerous. So today I am off to visit my local PD to see if that is what is going on.<br />
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I have never felt that I had anything to hide. I don't own much for people to steal; I don't say things that are untrue if I can help it. If I do, I print a retraction and offer my apology as soon as I find out. I admit to being a bit snarky but it isn't prosecutable---that is until I found an humorous Facebook meme show up in an accusation that I was a bully and not what a priest should be. I have not only been stunned by this act, it has brought on several severe health issues for me. (Dang, getting old is a pain!)<br />
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What has our church come to? What kind of powers are so afraid of a funny exchange on fb that <br />
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would silence the kind of discussion that this blog has always engendered? What kind of fear do those in power have that the truth that I speak, is so fearsome that they must silence it? If the position of the Church is so precarious that it cannot support the airing of different opinions, are we really Christ's Church? <br />
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My readership has been fairly large since my I started blogging in 2003. It has brought people together from around the world to discuss the meaning of Church, not just Episcopalians or Anglicans, but those who embrace faith in the God who loves. Some are not Christian and some are not even believers. There are several members of both the House of Bishops and the House of Deputies that follow this column. Sometimes they disagree with me and that is exactly the purpose of writing--that the conversations go on and that we grow by sharing and critiquing the stuff I air here.<br />
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I have always felt that the Church should be a place where we can discuss and share the meaning of what it means to love God and be loved in the Christian community called Church. Over the years I have critiqued the Church not because I wish to pull her down, but because I love her and long for her to be the Barque of Christ that has carried me all these years. Such critique has always been that which strengthened us rather than undermined those who serve Christ within her boundaries. Truth, that so difficult element of God to be defined, cannot ever hurt the Church of God. Truth can only free us from the tyranny of ignorance, arrogated power and fear. <br />
<br />
All those years that I stayed closeted to keep others comfortable in not knowing I was lesbian made me aware of just how 'bent' I had become trying to deny the Truth of myself. It had nothing to do with what was going on in my bedroom because nothing was. But the fear kept me from knowing the freedom that Christ's love blessed me with. As I began to <br />
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'straighten' when I came out, I knew that I could only stand tall and stand for the giftedness that I and all other gay people know in their faithful relationships with Christ. No longer am I willing to stay silent in the face of oppression. I have known too much in my body and soul to ignore the voice of those who choose to live free in faith. <br />
<br />
The same thing goes for the Church. When we as Church function behind closed doors, when we become cliquish, when we have to remain quiet for fear of others pointing to our freedom calling it license, then we are not living into the love God has heaped upon us. When we try to make Church 'comfortable' and appealing to those who wish to ignore the rights of others, we are betraying our Baptismal vows.<br />
<br />
The Christian life is not meant to be easy. It isn't meant to be peaceful. It is meant to be truthful; it is meant to be holy; it is meant to be self-emptying. Muthah+http://www.blogger.com/profile/10589837671378205837noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7206783518364639866.post-60048203617828181912014-06-20T11:00:00.000-04:002014-06-20T11:00:37.200-04:00Two Sparrows<h3 class="post-title entry-title" itemprop="name">
<span style="color: blue;">This was written by my friend and Presbyterian colleague, Andrew Stehlek. </span> </h3>
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Two Sparrows
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<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Please
meet my friends Chirp and Tweet. In Spring 2009, when we still lived in
upstate, this couple of House Finches resolved to built their nest
right on our porch. They took particular interest in an unused lantern
in front of our kitchen window. They started to bring all sorts of old
grass and green twigs from a nearby white cedar. No matter how hard we
tried to discourage them, their resolve was clearly stronger then ours.
Soon, behind our lamp there was a substantial nest in the final stages
of construction. It was obvious that our porch was taken and occupied.
We did not mind much since Chirp and Tweet were also true to their
names, every morning and evening they rewarded us with their lovely
songs - House Finches are known musicians. <br /> Just as we were
getting used to the idea that our porch would be taken out of our use
through the end of Summer, right before the nest was ready, late one
morning, there was a sudden noisy brawl on our porch. A larger dark bird
visited their nest looking around; it could hardly fit between the nest
and porch ceiling. It was a cowbird - an infamous cuckoo-like
nest-parasite. The finches, half of its size, repelled it quickly.
Nevertheless, they abandoned their almost-finished nest; it would have
been too risky for their future brood. One visit of a cowbird did, what
four noisy humans could not do. The House Finches left our porch and
moved over to a nearby thick bush. There they brought up their family,
singing and warbling around our house while we listened from our porch
for the rest of that summer.<br /> Now, this Sunday, in the Gospel
reading (Matthew 10:29) it looks like Jesus stuck a price tag of one
penny on two sparrows. Is it possible that he behaved like that,
wielding a price-sticker gun and labeling everything around? My own
experience with Chirp and Tweet screams NO, I would not have sold them
even for millions! And the Greek rhetorical grammar as well as broader
gospel context makes it clear. Jesus was not any crazy capitalist
monetizing everything left and right! God does not measure value by
money like so many in our world do! </span></span></div>
Muthah+http://www.blogger.com/profile/10589837671378205837noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7206783518364639866.post-1913973226326305952014-05-30T18:18:00.002-04:002014-05-30T18:27:38.553-04:00Friday Five: Priesthood<br />
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Friday Five: Priesthood</h1>
<div class="entry-meta">
<span class="meta-prep meta-prep-author">Posted on</span> <a href="http://revgalblogpals.org/2014/05/30/friday-five-priesthood/" rel="bookmark" title="2:00 am"><span class="entry-date">May 30, 2014</span></a> <span class="meta-sep">by</span> <span class="author vcard"><a class="url fn n" href="http://revgalblogpals.org/author/marybethbutler/" title="View all posts by marybethbutler">marybethbutler</a></span> </div>
I’ve just finished a great little book by L. William Countryman called <a href="http://astore.amazon.com/rev09-20/detail/0819217735">Living on the Border of the Holy: Renewing the Priesthood of All</a>.<br />
<a href="http://revgalblogpals.files.wordpress.com/2014/05/living-on-the-border-of-the-holy-9780819217738.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img alt="Living-on-the-Border-of-the-Holy-9780819217738" class="size-medium wp-image-19642 alignright" src="http://revgalblogpals.files.wordpress.com/2014/05/living-on-the-border-of-the-holy-9780819217738.jpg?w=299&h=300" height="300" width="199" /></a>Countryman
suggests that not only do all Christians have a ministry, but all of us
have a priesthood. The “priesthood of all believers” comes to mind, and
he takes that farther to suggest that humanity shares a ‘universal
human priesthood’. Every human has the capacity to encounter and then
pass on something of transcendent significance.<br />
For today, think back over your life, and share about five (or more)
who have been priests in your life (or ministers, pastors, whatever
language is comfortable for you). In sharing, know that names are not
necessary.<br />
Do share a link in the comments here if you play along today on your blog. We’d love to read about your richness of experience.<br />
<br />
<span style="color: blue;">Mary Beth is a friend of mine and I appreciate so much her willingness to post this FF today. In our diocese the priesthood of our denomination often times is over fixated on how different the vocation of 'priest' is from the 'lay person'. The ordained priesthood, in my mind, is not any higher or more important than any lay person who is living his/her Baptismal vows. It is just a bit different. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: blue;">I haven't read Bill Countryman's new tome. He was one of my profs when I was working on my doctorate, so I know the person and can guess what he might have said. Bill is a biblical scholar whom I respect and know that he has based what he has said deeply in Scripture. He is also an ordained gay man who has had to struggle with the Church</span> <span style="color: blue;">and all the vagaries of what that has meant both professionally and personally over the past 30 years. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: blue;">I understand the role of priest as one who points to the Holy One and I have many 'priests' in my life, lay and ordained, two legged and four, because I get it that the whole Creation shouts out the presence of God. With that in mind...</span><br />
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<span style="color: blue;">1. The first priest in my life was a Sister. A Roman Catholic nun who pointed me to prayer that allowed God to enter my life in a conscious way. <b>Lorene </b>helped me to see where God was and gave me a vocabulary to describe that experience. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: blue;">2. Back in my adolescence, there was the mother of one of my schoolmates who taught me about love. Along with my </span><br />
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<span style="color: blue;">grandmother, they are the people who introduced me to people who allowed me to touch the love of God. As I grew up, <b>Charlotte </b>was always there, not in an obtrusive way. But we were able to pick up where we had left off no matter how many years there were in between. I would visit when I visited my hometown. And then, when it was time, her husband and children gave me the singular honor of performing her funeral. </span><br />
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<span style="color: blue;">3. I have had cats since I was a child. But one, <b>Gizmo</b>, a little grey rescue taught me about fidelity. She didn't start our as 'my' cat, but over the years </span><br />
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<span style="color: blue;">she became that. She was with me 18 years. I have one now that is beginning to worm her way into my heart the same way. But Gizmo was a witness to me of how creaturehood signs who God is. </span><br />
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<span style="color: blue;">4. Those who know me know that I live with one of the first women priests in the Episcopal Church. And while <b>J</b> has been Priest for me at times, she is also what NOT PRIEST means in my life. She is that friend who has just been there for me for almost 40 years. I met her at a gathering of women in ministry back in 1975 that was organized by Mary Bruggemann (yes, Walter's 1st wife). She did not intrigue me</span> <span style="color: blue;">so much as a sacramental sign, but as a woman who had been called. We have seldom had to be priest for each other. We are not wife for each other either. We are simply sisters who have journeyed together, more like Cleopas and his companion on the road to Emmaus and our hearts have been warmed on the way. </span><br />
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<span style="color: blue;">5. In 1988 I was called as only the 3rd or 4th woman rector in the Diocese of Washington, DC. It was a lonely business. My parish was wonderful but <b>J.</b> was 5 hrs. away and long-distance calls were expensive. I had one colleague who was also a woman rector in my deanery. We would meet for lunch once a month and would laugh ourselves silly about having to dodge the problems in our parishes, the aggravation of unenlightened men both lay and ordained, sharing what it meant to be the visible. <b> +Jane Dixon</b> went on to be the 2nd woman bishop in our denomination. And she became MY bishop. Both of us were able to live into the sacramentality of that relationship. She always said, </span><span style="color: blue;">“I am a symbol of the inclusiveness of God" and she was the sign of Christ present both in her friendship and in her episcopacy. </span><br />
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<span style="color: blue;">Bonus: I have a rector who is my pastor and boss who is truly a priest for me. After 30 years of being a priest, it is really nice to have one of my own. Melanie is the age of a daughter if I had one. Yet she has a vision of what it means to be Christ's own in the Church that has expanded mine. She is a colleague, but she signs for me so many times the best in myself and highlights it for me. And more and more both J and I are in need of a pastor, a sacrament of God's love. </span><br />
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<br />Muthah+http://www.blogger.com/profile/10589837671378205837noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7206783518364639866.post-21692916454334099722014-05-23T13:29:00.003-04:002014-05-23T13:29:23.801-04:00Friday Five: Trash, Treasure or Tea?
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<span class="meta-prep meta-prep-author"><span style="color: #6aa84f;"><span style="color: blue;"> The Friday Five is up again. This one I couldn't pass by. It is far to close to home</span>. <span style="color: blue;">Muthah+</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span class="meta-prep meta-prep-author">Posted on</span> <a href="http://revgalblogpals.org/2014/05/23/friday-five-trash-treasure-or-tea/" rel="bookmark" title="12:10 am"><span class="entry-date">May 23, 2014</span></a> <span class="meta-sep">by</span> <span class="author vcard"><a class="url fn n" href="http://revgalblogpals.org/author/unfinsymphony/" title="View all posts by Deb">Deb</a></span></span>
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<a href="https://revgalblogpals.files.wordpress.com/2014/05/20140523-083031-30631015.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img alt="20140523-083031-30631015.jpg" class="aligncenter size-medium wp-image-19836" height="298" src="https://revgalblogpals.files.wordpress.com/2014/05/20140523-083031-30631015.jpg?w=335&h=300" width="223" /></a>This is a corner of my garage:<br />
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This weekend, our church is have a “Rummage Sale and Tea” event. The
“rummage” part of course is of donated furniture, clothing, books and
toys, or as some call it “Trash or Treasure.” (I think some of you call
it “a jumble sale.”) The “tea” is an opportunity for those who don’t
want (or shouldn’t) buy anything to still drop in and visit. It’s going
to be a fun community event.<br />
To get ready for this, I’ve been doing some sorting of things I
don’t/won’t/can’t use to pass along to someone else. I also made a batch
of Tea Tassies as part of the tea refreshments. All of this preparation
birthed this week’s Friday Five! <br />
Pictures are optional but make this more fun. Play along and don’t
forget to post your link in the comments so that we can come and visit!<br />
1. TREASURE: What is the best thing you’ve ever found at a rummage
sale? Was it a bargain or just something you’ve longed for but couldn’t
afford?<br />
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<span style="color: blue;">When I was just about to start my first parish, my home parish had a rummage sale that really helped. I had to set up house keeping in a 4 bedroom rectory that was one of the oldest homes in the village. It had been built in 1864 and I didn't have much to go into it. I got a couch, a chair and a few other things but the thing I remember most fondly was an upright GE mixer that was older than I was. It reminded me of the one my mother had. I kept that thing until it began to smell like it was burning oil 3 years ago when J bought me a Kitchen Maid for Christmas. I gave it away so I am guessing that it is still being used.</span><br />
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2. TRASH: What is an item you couldn’t WAIT to donate to a sale like
this, and then were surprised that someone not only bought it, they were
so excited to have?<br />
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<span style="color: blue;">A bread machine that I had also gotten at a rummage sale.</span><br />
<span style="color: blue;"> </span> <br />
3. BUDGET: How disciplined are you at these kinds of events? Can you stick to a budget, or do you empty your wallet?<br />
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<span style="color: blue;">I generally avoid rummage sales because my wallet is too thin and my garage needs a rummage sale.</span><br />
<span style="color: blue;"> </span> <br />
4. TAKE IT AWAY: What’s something you’d gladly donate right this minute if I would just come pick it up?<br />
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<span style="color: blue;">About 1/2 my garage.</span><br />
<span style="color: blue;"> </span> <br />
5. TEA: Do you have a favorite tea? Or a special teapot? Tell us more!<br />
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<span style="color: blue;">After years of being a coffee maven, I have turned to tea more often. I live with a Starbucks addict so stops there are common. But I love a good English Breakfast with milk. I DO NOT like Earl Grey. I am sure that there is something seriously wrong with my British roots. My grandfather was English and loved his tea. When he and my grandmother were young marrieds, Grandpa would go into the Chinese Tea merchants in Chicago and have a special blend of tea mixed. It was light in color and a very delicate blend. My Grandmother was a Scotswoman and one day invited her aunt to tea. Now the Scots (at least in my family) are famous for tea that will grow hair on your chest. When Grandfather served his very finely wrought tea, Great Aunt said: "Hoot, mon! T'is na tea a'tall!" And that phrase has been used in our family ever since as a comment on when something is not up to snuff.</span><br />
<span style="color: blue;"> </span> <br />
BONUS: Share a recipe that you think would be divine for a tea. Or,
if you aren’t a baker, tell about something scrumptious that you have
had recently in the baked good category. For those of you who are now
gluten-free, we want your favorite GF recipe!<br />
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<span style="color: blue;">I am not a baker. I keep thinking I am going to try. I do upon occasion do muffins but that is about it.</span><br />
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<span style="color: blue;"> But I love a good <u>really </u></span><u> </u><span style="color: blue;">grainy bread toasted with lemon curd and butter. I don't need much more to make my breakfast complete.</span><br />Muthah+http://www.blogger.com/profile/10589837671378205837noreply@blogger.com0