5 EASTER
Click HERE for Readings.

Thoughts towards a sermon. There was a wonderful program at Trinity Instituteon the book of Revelation. The title of the conference was God's Unfinished Future. You can listen to the speakers HERE.
The meeting focused on what we can say in the face of neo-Millennialists like those who wrote the Left Behind books and other believers in Rapture theology. I especially appreciated Barbara Rossing and Jurgen Moltmann in their presentations. Both emphasized that the New Heaven and New Earth will take place here not somewhere in the great bye and bye in the sky. A concept that is self evident now that I have heard it, is that our "end-times" theology affects our current living. If we believe that God will sweep up the good into some perfect place, then we do not care what happens to this earth. If we believe that God in Christ is establishing the reign of God here in our midst - we will care for the earth and those who live here.
Our passage from Revelation today says:

"See the home of God is among mortals. He will dwell with them as their God; they will be his peoples, and God will be with them; he will wipe away every tear from their eyes."

We often read this passage at funerals for its solace but for the living it is even more compelling. If we pray, as we did in the Collect, to be followers in the steps of Jesus Christ, our work is here and now.
Both the reading from Acts and the Gospel give us a start on what we are to do. In Acts we hear of how Peter came to see Gentiles as full members of Christ's body, without the need for circumcision and other requirements. This passage speaks to us to day as we wrestle with issues of inclusion and exclusion in the church. Who is in and has full membership? There are many Bible passages that say that the Gentile is unclean and cannot be a member of the Body. In Ezra, the prophet even says that the members must put away their "foreign" wives and children if the member wants to stay. In our day - slavery was justified because it is okay in the Bible. Other issues of inclusion have the same dilemma. Reading without analyzing the situation of the day in which the particular verse of scripture was written, can lead us off the track of following Jesus.
The Gospel leads us back on track. Jesus says, we cannot go fully where Jesus has gone but we can be followers. The new commandment is our guide and our map:

"I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another"

This loving is not just for our friends and those we find easy to love, it is not just for humankind. It is for all the peoples of God and for the whole creation. God calls us to join in creating a new earth where God dwells in our midst. Where we sing with the Psalmist in Psalm 148

1 Hallelujah!
Praise the Lord from the heavens; *
praise him in the heights.

2 Praise him, all you angels of his; *
praise him, all his host.

3 Praise him, sun and moon; *
praise him, all you shining stars.

4 Praise him, heaven of heavens, *
and you waters above the heavens.

5 Let them praise the Name of the Lord; *
for he commanded, and they were created.

6 He made them stand fast for ever and ever; *
he gave them a law which shall not pass away.

7 Praise the Lord from the earth, *
you sea-monsters and all deeps;

8 Fire and hail, snow and fog, *
tempestuous wind, doing his will;

9 Mountains and all hills, *
fruit trees and all cedars;

10 Wild beasts and all cattle, *
creeping things and wingΠd birds;

11 Kings of the earth and all peoples, *
princes and all rulers of the world;

12 Young men and maidens, *
old and young together.

13 Let them praise the Name of the Lord, *
for his Name only is exalted,
his splendor is over earth and heaven.

14 He has raised up strength for his people
and praise for all his loyal servants, *
the children of Israel, a people who are near him.
Hallelujah!

42
In Douglas Adams' book The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy the answer to life, the universe and everything is 42. For those of us growing up in the 40s and 50s and fans of the Brooklyn Dodgers, 42 was the answer. Jackie Robinson became a Dodger April 15, 1947. He broke the color barrier in major league baseball. Martin Luther King, Jr. credits him with being the one who made it possible for the civil rights movement to unfold in our time. A six part series on his life and times is in the Philadelphia Inquirer. Click here to read it all.
For me, growing up in Portland OR, the Brooklyn Dodgers captured my imagination and heart. I listened to them play on the radio, with what I later learned where sound effects of the studio rather than live sounds, I agonized with their losses and rejoiced in their victories. Somehow it did not enter my 6 year old mind that there was anything new with Jackie Robinson - all I knew is that by 1955, he had been key to their beating the hated Yankees in the World Series. Now I know more of the history and the grit and the suffering that it took to be the first African American in the Major Leagues.
Sunday, Major League Baseball honored Jackie Robinson, his widow, Rachel told of the work that goes on in his name. Click HERE to learn more. She spent time Sunday in the ESPN booth with my favorite announcer team of Joe Morgan and Jon Miller. It is easy to see who made it possible for Jackie Robinson to be on the field in those days. She continues his work to give youth a chance for education and leadership.
April 15 now stands for something other than the day one's taxes are due. Maybe it should be thought of as the day when those of privilege remember their debt to those who have gone before. No one is "self made" - all of us stand on the shoulders of those who have made the way for us. Now is the time to be the shoulders for those to come. 42 is the answer to Life, the Universe and Everything.

EASTER 2
For Readings Click HERE

Thoughts towards a non-sermon. I am not preaching this week but could not help thinking about the fact that this year the Second Sunday of Easter and Yom HaShoah fall on the same day. Every year our gospel for this Sunday is about the disciple, Thomas. Every year Yom HaShoah commemorates the loss of six million Jewish persons in the death camps of Germany. The connection between the disciple who declared he had to see and touch the wounds of Jesus before he could believe the Resurrection and the millions who suffered wounding unto death by those who professed to believe that very Resurrection is startling.

Christianity claims Incarnation as a core doctrine. The blood and the body are central to our worship of God. I think, however we shy away from entering in to the woundedness of Christ's body in the world. We love so-called reality shows with more and more gore - but it is an escapist way of thinking we are involved. We sit on our couches, distanced by the camera, objectifying pain and suffering into entertainment, passive, not active.

I wonder, do we have compassion fatigue or are we inured to the suffering by the overload of our senses? How can we respond and yet not fall into despair? Am I a holocaust deny-er at some level? There is so much suffering in the world. Every continent has places where people are wounded daily by war, famine, drought, disease, exploitation, slavery, abuse, much of it caused by our own treatment of one another. Perhaps that is the reason we escape into a 60 minute TV show or a violent movie - where the suffering is contained and ends.

The collision of these two days teach us to look at the wounds of the world and see "my Lord and my God."

From Torah.org on Yom HaShoah

Rabbi Yehudah Prero teaches that "Shoah is the Hebrew word for 'whirlwind.' It is the term used to described the conflagration that swept up six million Jewish souls between 1938 and 1945. A war was waged against the Jews in which unspeakable atrocities were perpetrated against a defenseless people. Men and women, young and old alike, were butchered at the hands of the accursed Nazis, may their name be eradicated for all time. Every year, on Yom HaShoah, we remember the martyrs who sanctified the name of G-d in the camps, the ghettos, and in the gas chambers.
A story is told of a unique Chanukah in Aushwitz. It was December, and a group of Jews in Aushwitz desired greatly to have a candle lit on the upcoming holiday. Obviously, there was no way the Germans would allow this to happen, and candles were impossible to come by in the camp. However, this did not deter these Jews. They saved small portions of fatty butter every day until they had enough to make a small candle. On the eve of Chanukah, they gathered in secret, a group of emaciated bodies who had given up their sole sustenance, around one rabbi. The rabbi then made the three blessings that one recites on the candles the first night of Chanukah. After the blessings were made and the candle was lit, one of the assembled approached the rabbi and asked "How could you make the third blessing? In the third blessing, we thank Hashem for bringing us to this day! How can we thank G-d for bringing us to this day while we are standing amidst horrors, death, and torture! Aren't the dead
better off than those alive?
The rabbi responded that he too questioned as to whether this blessing should be made. "However," he said, " when I looked around at the assembled crowd, I saw the glow on everyone's face, and I perceived that faith was burning bright in their hearts. I, therefore had to bless Hashem, for allowing me to live to see this assembly to martyrs who sanctify the name of G-d in public, who keep their faith
amidst the flames."

The Rev. Grant Gallup, grant73@turbonett.com.ni at Casa Ave Maria in Managua, Nicaragua speaks to this concept of holding onto faith as we see and touch the wounds of the world:

"To avoid looking at the wounds of the Risen Jesus and the death of his saints is to avoid the venture of faith. " Put your finger here, and see my hands," Jesus said to Thomas. And says to us, "Put out your hand and place it in my wounded side. Do not be faithless but believing."

Timidity will keep the Christian community compliant with the movement towards zombie fascism that is taking place relentlessly in the United States, before our blinded eyes. The television and the newspapers will not show you the hands of Christ in the Holy Land today. The manufactured media events of the sports and entertainment industries will do their best to give you bread and circuses and turn your eyes away from the wounds of Jesus in all the Galilees of the Two Thirds world today, in Africa, in South East Asia, in Central America. You are bidden to make your peace with oppression and Be Nice, don't exaggerate, and stay in your place. Back to the prayer bench, back to the kitchen.

Don't avoid the wounds of Christ, don't avoid the relics of the martyrs. Kiss them, and talk about them, and talk to them. Kneel to them and sing of them. Don't celebrate King's birthday and forget his martyrdom. Don't avert your eyes from the Risen One, dazzling in his beauty, frightening in the power of his voice, the sound of a raging river in a flood. Don't avoid the flaming eyes, and the Life that is there for all. He has the keys.

John's gospel tells us at the end of the lesson for today that Jesus did many other Signs which are not written in his book, but these are written that we may believe. Jesus is today amongst us doing Signs and Wonders, breaking in to fearful hiding places and breaking out of prisons and out of lies, -- these are not yet written much, or noticed in our Murdoch managed media. But we preach--the pulpit being one of the last places where dissent is possible--we preach that you may believe that it is Jesus who is the Christ, the Heir of God and Lord of the New People, and that believing you may have life in this name."

Enter into the woundedness of the world and believe.

Badges from HERE

NEWS OF THE WEIRD

There is a new meme-thing going around - you are supposed to tell 6 weird things about yourself and tag others.

I was tagged by Eileen the Episcopali-fem

1. Filling the dishwasher so every space is filled before running it.
2. Cantaloupe makes me throw up
3. I hate mayo -- more that hate - blech, so white, so weird
4. I read OCICBW (aka Mad Priest) every day - often several times a day.
5. I cry during commercials -especially if the music is just right
6. I always (if at all possible) eat Wheaties and milk (1%) for breakfast - sometimes for dinner too.

I am sure you could tell me more that I don't recognize as weird.

Consider yourself tagged if I sent you an email or answer on your blog or here.

EASTER
Readings are HERE

My favorite Easter poem by John Niehardt, 1908 (author of Black Elk Speaks)

Once more the northbound Wonder
Brings back the goose and crane,
Prophetic Sons of Thunder,
Apostles of the Rain.

In many a battling river
The broken gorges boom;
Behold, the Mighty Giver
Emerges from the tomb!

Now robins chant the story
Of how the wintry sward
Is litten with the glory
Of the Angel of the Lord.

His countenance is lightning
And still His robe is snow,
As when the dawn was brightening
Two thousand years ago.

O who can be a stranger
To what has come to pass?
The Pity of the Manger
Is mighty in the grass.

Undaunted by Decembers,
The sap is faithful yet.
The giving Earth remembers,
And only (we) forget.

What is it that we forget? In the Psalm today we sang "The Lord is my strength and my song" It is the song we often forget when we get caught up in the world of trouble, pain, and grief. Anthony deMello has a meditation that speaks of the song the angels sang at Jesus' birth - Peace on Earth and Goodwill to Humankind - but deMello goes on to ask what was the song the angels sang at our births? We knew our song at birth and we seek to hear it again as we go through our life. Often abuse or life or insults mute our song so we can no longer hear it. It goes something like this: "you are the beloved of God, you were born in this time and this place and the world is not the same world if you had not been born, you have a special gift to offer for the healing and wholeness of the world."
When we are grieving it is hard to hear our song. When we have been hardened by others, we lose the tune. When we put our hearts on things that do not last, we no longer know the words.
Peter, Mary Magdalene, and the beloved disciple all heard their songs anew as they traveled with Jesus over the three years he was with them. Peter heard that he was a "rock" - he was an impetuous person who seems anything but solid in the story we hear in the Bible - but still Jesus saw something in him that was rocklike. Mary Magdalene was oppressed by seven devils - what that means we don't know - but it definitely made her life unbearable. Jesus saw a human person in Magdalene in a day when women were treated as possessions. He revealed to her that she was a person of worth and value. The beloved disciple never has a name - we often assume that person was John to whom the gospel is attributed- but I like to think it could be anyone of us. One who rests against Jesus at the last supper - hearing the last heartbeats of Jesus before his death.
In our Gospel today we hear how each of them, even though they had been with Jesus for 3 years forgot the song they had heard in his presence. When Jesus died, so did the song that he had sung to them. They returned to the old ways- all they could remember. Death was common, they knew what to do with bodies. Since it had been the Sabbath they could not properly care for this body of the one they loved so deeply. Now it is the next day. They go to the tomb to do what they have always done when someone dies. Even when they see the stone rolled away and the empty tomb - they still don't know what to make of it. Peter and the other disciple go home. That is often what we do when we don't know what else to do - go home. Magdalene stays - her home has been with Jesus - a home she cannot find anywhere else. So she stays and weeps, bowed down with grief. So bowed down with grief she does not recognize Jesus when he asks her, "Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you looking for?" Only when he calls her name, "Mary" does she see him. The notes of her song start with her name - and she races off to tell the others "I have seen the Lord." "He is alive."
Peter takes a bit longer to hear the fullness of his song. In our reading from Acts he hears the full score. He had thought the message of Christ was only for his people, the Jews. Hanging out with Paul he sees that there might be more, but he is unsure. The church has a controversy about what Gentiles must do to become Christian. It is one of the first church controversies. Just before he says, ""I truly understand that God shows no partiality, but in every nation anyone who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him," Peter has a dream where a cloth full of food that in his tradition is unclean comes down from heaven and God says eat. Peter resists as it is so abhorrent to him to even touch unclean foods. But God says - nothing I make is unclean. Suddenly Peter understands what Paul has been trying to say - all are welcome - there is no Jew or Greek, slave or free, male or female in God's eyes. We are all brothers and sisters, children of God. Peter learns the song of hope and liberation and begins to sing it to all he meets.
So, where are we in remembering or knowing our song?
Have we forgotten? How will we relearn it? Is grief or pain or attention to the wrong sorts of things blocking us from hearing it? Are we continuing to do things that don't work trying to get a different result? Are we looking in all the wrong places? Or have we heard and embellishing the words and music with our liberation and our hope. There is a saying "My friend is one who knows my song and sings it when I forget." Jesus is the ultimate singer of our song but all of us as followers of Christ can sing for each other and bring the music to life in our midst. When we hear our song we are like Mary, hearing her name spoken by Jesus. Our hearts leap and we know we are the beloved of God, welcome in this world, and with a call to participate in the healing of the world. War and trouble, disaster and hunger can weigh us down and close our ears. Isaiah in our first reading lived in a time of disaster yet even so he sang of a a life into which we can enter today. As we pray "keep us in eternal life" -- a life lived in God's world that exists even when we can't believe. Singing our song and helping others to find their songs - brings us into that world - we step in and participate in the coming of God's realm here, now.
Isaiah envisions it in this way:
For I am about to create new heavens
and a new earth;
the former things shall not be remembered
or come to mind.
But be glad and rejoice forever
in what I am creating;
for I am about to create Jerusalem as a joy,
and its people as a delight.
I will rejoice in Jerusalem,
and delight in my people;
no more shall the sound of weeping be heard in it,
or the cry of distress.
No more shall there be in it
an infant that lives but a few days,
or an old person who does not live out a lifetime;
for one who dies at a hundred years will be considered a youth,
and one who falls short of a hundred will be considered accursed.
They shall build houses and inhabit them;
they shall plant vineyards and eat their fruit.
They shall not build and another inhabit;
they shall not plant and another eat;
for like the days of a tree shall the days of my people be,
and my chosen shall long enjoy the work of their hands.
They shall not labor in vain,
or bear children for calamity;
for they shall be offspring blessed by the LORD--
and their descendants as well.
Before they call I will answer,
while they are yet speaking I will hear.
The wolf and the lamb shall feed together,
the lion shall eat straw like the ox;
but the serpent-- its food shall be dust!
They shall not hurt or destroy
on all my holy mountain, says the LORD.

Amen.

Another view of the Passion of Christ from the Episcopal Diocese of Massachusetts.

Holy Week - The Passion

LENT 4
For readings click HERE

From Paul's second letter to the Corinthians: "If anyone is in Christ, they are a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting the message of reconciliation to us. So we are ambassadors for Christ, since God is making his appeal through us; we entreat you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God."

The ministry of reconciliation and its difficulties is the theme that runs through our lessons this week. From the moment of celebrating the passover in the new land to today it is a difficult ministry to reconcile ourselves to one another and to God. The various obstacles can be seen in the story of the Prodigal Son. The younger son has to hit bottom before he can let go of his pride and selfishness to return to his father's house. The older son will have to let go of his pride and self righteousness to return to the father's house. The father is not like any father of the era of Jesus - obviously he represents the One who is willing to let go of all prestige and pride of place to run after his two sons and love them back into relationship. Jesus seems to be saying that God will not give up on us and desires our relationship so much that God will break down all the preconceived ideas of the nature of God. Jesus represents God as one who will come down from whatever throne on which we place God to fly flapping sandaled, hair flying after us, to cry on our necks, to run first to the broken and next to the unbreakable egos we try to maintain.

What does that say to us who are called to the ministry of reconciliation - called to that ministry by our baptism and participation in the Body of Christ? A friend of mine was torn between going to a funeral of a man who had died angry at her church community and staying home for fear of being rejected once again by the family. She decided to go. The family greeted her warmly and openly. They too must have had their fears about whether any of their old friends would come. Each person in the story had to move out of their fears to begin reconciliation. Each had to step into a situation of the unknown.

God is constantly calling us back into relationship and is willing to let go of godself to make that happen. God gives up all power to enter into human life as Jesus - allows all the human joy and sorrow to be a part of God. I find it hard to even make a small move towards reconciliation with some. This is not a call to endanger oneself in a situation of abuse, but to see the other as also a child of God. Prayer seems to be the first step. The next step is unknown to me but I pray will become clear as I move into it.

The Collect for the Day says:
Gracious Father, whose blessed Son Jesus Christ came down from heaven to be the true bread which gives life to the world: Evermore give us this bread, that he may live in us, and we in him; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever.

Pray that in receiving the bread of reconciliation - we will be strengthened to become bread for others.

AMEN.

A LUTA CONTINUA....

This week on Theology Pub we are watching the video of the concert and talk by Bernice Johnson Reagon; a historian, activist and founder of Sweet Honey in the Rock; at Trinity Institute. The theme of this year's presentations is God's Unfinished Future. All of the sermons and presentations that I have heard so far have been challenging and refreshing. James Carroll preached at the Opening Eucharist using the Ginsberg poem HOWL in his examples of how God in Christ shows us that God is with us in suffering and joy. Barbara Rossing's presentation is a re-visioning of the Book of Revelation as a story of the healing of the nations and the earth. Jurgen Moltmann discusses how our view of "end times" shapes our living in the present and the choices we make.

The presentation in the concert by Bernice Johnson Reagon speaks to me of how to stay in the struggle for justice for the long haul. She talks of her involvement with the campaign for civil rights for all in the U.S. In song and story she brings us into a sense of how to keep on keeping on in the face of set backs and slow progress. Some quotes from her, "Victory is in taking the stand," not always in the result in the moment, "if your coalition is too comfortable and you are too comfortable in your coalition, your coalition is not broad enough," "walk wide awake in the world." One of her premises is that our memories shape our choices and she quotes Elie Weisel, "you may not have a personal memory of the camps of the holocaust, but you can live as though you have that memory." Not only our personal memories but memories of others if we choose to remember them can shape our decisions about how to live now. Listen HERE for the whole concert.

She quotes the story of Henry T. Moore,in Freedom Never Dies. Moore said, "Freedom never descends upon a people. It is always bought with a price." His family was killed in a bomb blast in their home because of his work in Florida in the cause of freedom. Langston Hughes wrote this about Henry Moore:

"Ballad of Harry Moore"
(Killed at Mims, Florida, on Christmas night, 1951)

Florida means land of flowers.
It was on Christmas night
In the state named for the flowers
Men came bearing dynamite.

Men came stealing through the orange groves
Bearing hate instead of love,
While the Star of Bethlehem
Was in the sky above.

Oh, memories of a Christmas evening
When Wise Men traveled from afar
Seeking out a lowly manger
Guided by a Holy Star!

Oh, memories of a Christmas evenin
When to Bethlehem there came
"Peace on earth, good will to men"--
Jesus was His name.

But they must've forgotten Jesus
Down in Florida that night
Stealing through the orange groves
Bearing hate and dynamite.

It was a little cottage,
A family, name of Moore.
In the windows wreaths of holly,
And a pine wreath on the door.

Christmas, 1951,
The family prayers were said
When father, mother, daughter,
And grandmother went to bed.

The father's name was Harry Moore.
The N.A.A.C.P.
Told him to carry out its work
That Negroes might be free.

So it was that Harry Moore
(So deeply did he care)
Sought the right for men to live
With their heads up everywhere.

Because of that, white killers,
Who like Negroes "in their place,"
Came stealing through the orange groves
On that night of dark disgrace.

It could not be in Jesus' name,
Beneath the bedroom floor,
On Christmas night the killers
Hid the bomb for Harry Moore.

It could not be in Jesus' name
The killers took his life,
Blew his home to pieces
And killed his faithful wife.

It could not be for the sake of love
They did this awful thing--
For when the bomb exploded
No hearts were heard to sing.

And certainly no angels cried,
"Peace on earth, good will to men"--
But around the world an echo hurled
A question: When?...When?....When?

When will men for sake of peace
And for democracy
Learn no bombs a man can make
Keep men from being free?

It seems that I hear Harry Moore.
From the earth his voice cries,
No bomb can kill the dreams I hold--
For freedom never dies!

I will not stop! I will not stop--
For freedom never dies!
I will not stop! I will not stop!
Freedom never dies!

So should you see our Harry Moore
Walking on a Christmas night,
Don't run and hide, you killers,
He has no dynamite.

In his heart is only love
For all the human race,
And all he wants is for every man
To have his rightful place.

And this he says, our Harry Moore,
As from the grave he cries:
No bomb can kill the dreams I hold
For freedom never dies!

Freedom never dies, I say!
Freedom never dies!

The Collected Poems of Langston Hughes, editor Arlond Rampersad and associate editor David Roessel. Alfred A. Knopf, New York, 1995, pages 588-590.

Another author Reagon cites is Y.M. Barnwell who speaks of how people get the strength to carry on:

We Are...
from "lessons" by Ysaye M. Barnwell (c)1993)

For each child that's born
a morning star rises
and sings to the universe
who we are.

We are our grandmothers' prayers.
We are our grandfathers' dreamings.
We are the breath of our ancestors.
We are the spirit of God.

We are
Mothers of courage
Fathers of time
Daughters of dust
Sons of great vision.
We are
Sisters of mercy
Brothers of love
Lovers of life and
the builders of nations.
We are
Seekers of truth
Keepers of faith
Makers of peace and
the wisdom of ages.

We are our grandmothers' prayers.
We are our grandfathers' dreamings.
We are the breath of our ancestors.
We are the spirit of God.

For each child that's born
a morning star rises
and sings to the universe
who we are.

WE ARE ONE.

This presentation encouraged me to stay on in the church - working for full inclusion of gay, lesbian, transgender persons, to stay on the Anti-Racism committee of our Diocese and with our work breaking down the systemic barriers of racism, and to continue with my Green Lent project to do my little part of saving the earth -so there will be a place for us to live together. The Wombat has it right. click here

Susan Russell in her blog An Inch at a Time uses St. Patrick and his choice to go back to the place where he had been a slave in chains. His choice to return and preach the message of freedom where he had no freedom. Check it out HERE. A quote:

"Our witness of God's inclusive love is not just a witness to the presence of the holy in our lives and our relationships and our vocations but a witness to the power of God's love to transcend ANYTHING that holds us captive or enslaves us. So let's remember on this St. Patrick's Day that the same God who inspired a former captive named Patrick to return to his captors and evangelize them in the 4th century is working in us as we work to call this church and this communion to wholeness in the 21st."

AMEN

LENT 3
Click here for readings.

The Collect for today is:
Almighty God, you know that we have no power in ourselves to help ourselves: Keep us both outwardly in our bodies and inwardly in our souls, that we may be defended from all adversities which may happen to the body, and from all evil thoughts which may assault and hurt the soul; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

A Collect is a a prayer that gathers (collects) our thoughts about God and God's activities in our lives. It begins with some property of God, then a request for ourselves growing out of that property, and an affirmation of the nature of God.

Today I am not preaching but am reflecting on my week and the Collect spoke to this week for me.

During the week an idea that grew from many people and many places came together as Rainbow Presence. Two of us agreed to put our names to it so it would not just be anonymous or just an issue. We put up a blog and sent out a Press Release (see it at the blog). Our idea was to help put a face on the "issue" of gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, and transexual members fo the Episcopal Church and for their allies/supportes to show a sign of "you are not alone." It was one of those ideas that emerged spontaneously after the meeting of Primates in Tanzania and their Communique. Easter became the date for a Rainbow Presence. It seemed so low key to us - a small rainbow pin, rainbow stole, or just a card in the offering plate. Just something to say "I am a member of this church not an ISSUE" or "You are not alone."

Who would have believed the outcry from those who oppose full inclusion of gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender Christians in the church. I won't print their words here but if you have on your asbestos wear and protective glasses on you can read it HERE and HERE. I was shocked by the vitriol, the threats of refusal to serve communion (excommunication) to rainbow wearers, and even violence from alleged Christians. I pity the poor unsuspecting Cursillista (another rainbow wearing group) who shows up on Easter with his or her rainbow.

On the other side a few who would be supportive questioned our choice of Easter and asked if we were politicizing a Holy Day. This was not a part of the earlier discussions when many could have objected or did not know we were talking about Rainbow Presence. Easter emerged as the day after there was some angry discussion about a Day Without Gay, a boycott by all who support full inclusion and a ban on all music, art, and liturgy by artists and writers who are gay. This transformed into a positive witness rather than a negative one. Easter just seemed to be a good day to witness to the power of the Resurrection in all our lives. Easter is the day when we celebrate that death is conquered and we are freed from its power.

Personally, I have discovered that although I knew the kind of threats that daily life brings to sisters and brothers who are gay, lesbian, transgender, I did not KNOW (duh - dope slap here) it in my person. It brings new meaning to the angels' words "Fear Not." Bishop Gene Robinson was on NH Public Radio this week and spoke to this among other things. Click HERE to listen.

I have learned a lot from the school of life this week. Being a believer in the Incarnation - God with us - as demonstrated by Jesus birth, life, death and resurrection, I think this is the school in which God teaches. The UCC Church says "God is still speaking,' (from John 16:12-13) and this week, for me, it is true.

Lent 2 Meditation



Ana Hernandez sings Covenant Song. Also availble a meditation on Lent 1 Open My Heart