At a peace gathering - Sölle

Thanks to Acts of Hope

At a peace gathering

We’re not only ten thousand I said
there are more of us here
the dead of both wars
are with us

A journalist came and asked
how could I know that
haven’t you seen them
i ask the clueless guy
haven’t you heard your grandmother
groaning when they started it up again
do you live all alone
without any dead who drop in
for a drink with you
do you really think
you are only yourself

Dorothee Sölle, The Mystery of Death

XXI Pentecost

Readings.

The man born blind:
The question this raises for me is "what do I have to cast off to be able to see?" How are things I have accumulated, the cultural baggage of my life, blinding me to seeing life? A priest who is blind says that this passage speaks to him - not because it offers him sight as sighted people would have it but because it leads him to "insight." His physical blindness allows him to hear the hearts of those who come to him with out being blinded by their appearance, clothing or attitude.

Earlier in Mark, we hear the story of the rich young man who does everything right but cannot follow Jesus because he can not rid himself of his possessions. It is hard work to let go of things - as I know from getting ready to move into a house 1/3 the size of our current home. It is even harder to get rid of years of cultural learnings about who is worthy of my attention, who can come to the table, who is a child of God - not as the world sees but as God sees. As the old musical South Pacific says "we have to be carefully taught" and we are.

I once took an anti-racism course where the teacher talked about the arrows that life throws at us about our worthiness - not measuring up - our minds, bodies and souls under attack - and we build up layers of self protection to make it through our days. The result is that each of us responds from under layers and layers of armor. We can't be open to one another as we hide from the risk of wounding.

Jesus invites us to take off our cloaks of protection and follow him - the one who is willing to be wounded for anyone and all. The blind man leaps at the chance - he knows the circumscribed life is no life. He flings off all that he has for the chance at LIFE.

Happy Halloween

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Mirrors of our lives

A good one for Sunday - mirrors and what they tell us:
Looking in the Mirror by Martha Sterne.

I remember the barber, Cecil Orr by name, who gave our three-year-old son his first real hair cut. And, oh my, it was a little trauma--the little boy lips trembling and huge crocodile tears swimming in his eyes--and his daddy and I were about to cry too--but the barber just started murmuring, "My boy, I believe you are a baseball player. I believe you are a fine baseball player. I bet you can hit that ball a mile, my man. You can hit that ball a mile, can't you Charlie?" And the little boy heard the words--you're a baseball player--and looked in the mirror and stopped seeing the scissors and hearing the whuuzzzz of the clippers and saw instead baseball player Charlie--we'd always called him Charles--and there with Cecil, he saw Charlie, the baseball player who could hit that ball a mile.

Then some years later, I went to Grady, who every time I walked in the door of the beauty parlor always screamed in mock horror, "Emergency, emergency!" But this time I walk in and I'm not in the mood for kidding around. I have been doing--often very naively and poorly--a jobs ministry in an Atlanta public housing neighborhood. And I have seen more than comfortable, middle-class people want to see or know how to understand about the grind and the pain in the prison of generations of poverty. I think the day I went to see Grady I had found out that a lovely very young woman that I'd helped to find a little crummy job had been leaving her five-year-old at home alone because she couldn't find child care and she didn't want to disappoint me. Can you imagine how I felt about that? Well, I don't talk about that to Grady, but I say, "Grady, I either need a totally new haircut or a totally new me and right now I don't care which." And without saying a word, he cut off every hair of my head--almost like shaving someone who is entering monastic orders. He did that with my back to the mirror, and I was thinking, "Oh, my Lord, what is he doing?" And then he swung the chair around. And I saw me. And he said, "Martha, you don't need a new you. You need to be you, and God knows that'll be enough." And you know what? He was right. The hair grew back and I grew up.

Read more here.

Kennedy on health care

In memory of Ted Kennedy -- I hope we pass legislation that gives health care to all within our country:

Pilgrimage

Click on the photo to see the video slide show:



My Montage 8/24/09

Danse Macabre

Fr. Matthew presents:

Mad as hell doctors for single payer

Jumping Jehosphat!! The Gospels and Acts

Barbara Harris preaches Integrity Eucharist

No longer strangers

Readings are here.

The apostles gathered around Jesus, and told him all that they had done and taught. He said to them, "Come away to a deserted place all by yourselves and rest a while." For many were coming and going, and they had no leisure even to eat. And they went away in the boat to a deserted place by themselves.

Rest awhile sounds delightful to the bishops and deputies and all who attended General Convention the last 2 weeks. I told people I was on the General Convention diet - no time to eat. I received notes from friends at home giving me helpful ideas about how to eat healthy with the schedule of 7 a.m. committee meetings, legislative sessions, worship and of course the need to see all one's friends from all over the country. This was the best organized convention I have attended in the 9 times I have gone. Both presiding officers - the President of the House of Deputies Bonnie Anderson and Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori are calm, non-anxious presiders over the complex parliamentary procedure mix of Robert's Rules and Episcopal Rules of Order. They both allow people to speak their passions in a non-manipulative setting. Even those who lose various votes feel heard.

The Gospel goes on to talk about how the crowd's needs impinged on the Apostles' need for rest. And so it was at General Convention. The needs of the poorest of the poor were ever before us. We restored the 0.7% for a Millennium Developments Goals line item and raised it to 1%. Even though it means cutting our own programs and relying more on the volunteer strength of the church. We had resolutions that added up to much more that we could count on coming in this time of economic worry. Many worthy programs could not be funded or were cut back and staff will be let go. We stood in solidarity with the Disney workers who are being asked on minimum wage to pay more for health insurance out of their meager salaries.

The church decided to follow the thinking of the author of Ephesians:

For he is our peace; in his flesh he has made both groups into one and has broken down the dividing wall, that is, the hostility between us. He has abolished the law with its commandments and ordinances, that he might create in himself one new humanity in place of the two, thus making peace, and might reconcile both groups to God in one body through the cross, thus putting to death that hostility through it. So he came and proclaimed peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near; for through him both of us have access in one Spirit to the Father. So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are citizens with the saints and also members of the household of God, built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the cornerstone. In him the whole structure is joined together and grows into a holy temple in the Lord; in whom you also are built together spiritually into a dwelling place for God.

The General Convention made two clear statements about where we are as a church on full inclusion. One was that we will follow our canons on non-discrimination on access to the process to ordination. (not guaranteeing ordination but access to the process) essentially saying that where we are today is a place of no more moratoria but a place of careful discernment and being true to our heritage.

The other was the request to begin looking at rites for marriage and blessings for gays and lesbians in committed, mutual, faithful partnerships. More and more states are offering civil marriage and partnerships. In those states bishops can make pastoral accommodation for those couples. We will consult widely as we develop rites - and we will study the whole question of all marriages and the rites we use.

The Convention had many more young leaders - in both the Deputies and the Bishops - strong articulate voices who are taking over the church with wisdom and energy.

We had visitors from all around the Anglican Communion - telling us to stand up for all that we have to offer - not to act out of fear - but to offer hope.

I have much hope for the church as I stand here today - we took a leap of faith and I believe the angels were bear us up. If not we have the promise of the resurrection. We look to the day when there are no strangers - only brothers and sisters, family - at home on the earth in all the lovely diversity and connection that God offers.

UPDATE: The sermon came out somewhat this way but I did add a comment made by our 18 year old Deputy when asked what she thought was the most important thing - she said it would probably be some unnoticed thing that becomes the base for something we don't even know yet. Also talked about the Denominational Health Plan, the Title IV revisions, and the Covenant.

Here is a interview with me made by our Communications Officer in Wyoming.

Happy Birthday USA