January 25:: It is hard to believe that it has been almost a month since I posted to my blog. I have been on the road almost every week or weekend. After a lovely Christmas Eve in Eden and Rock Springs, I spent the first week of January catching up with friends while eating at our new Asian restaurant. Having an Asian (not Chinese) restaurant may not sound like a big deal if you live in a city but in rural Wyoming to be able to eat excellent Thai, Cambodian, and Vietnamese food is a piece of heaven.
January 11-16 I went to Indianapolis to facilitate groups for a consultation of all sorts of educators in the Episcopal Church - from Sunday School to Seminary - the intent was to hear what each other is doing and what is bringing new life to education for Christians of all ages. For me it was a time of seeing new friends and making new ones plus learning and connecting about how my work with EFM intersects and promotes others and their work.
Home long enough to wash clothes and re-pack and off to DelRay Beach, FL and the Duncan Center for the last meeting of the Joint Nominating Committee for the Next Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church. It was interesting work and a great group of 29 lay persons, clergy, and bishops from all over The Episcopal Church including Puerto Rico and Colombia. The announcement of our nominees is today.
Today is a breathing, clothes washing day. Tomorrow a funeral for a friend. Friday off to Casper for the Standing Committee meeting, then to Denver for work. After that - February and a trip to the Oregon coast and seeing family.
I am not preaching this Sunday but am intrigued by the readings, especially the gospel. Click here to read it. The "unclean" spirits recognize Jesus wherever he goes. There is something about his wholeness that makes the chaos within us even more apparent. Here is a poetic reflection I wrote a few years ago and is in my book, Streams of Mercy:
Fragmentation
recognizes wholeness.
Disintegration
cries out to
the weaver of souls.
So much of the culture teaches us to have a sense of self that is more dependent on others' perceptions rather than our essential being. Our self worth and self image get damaged by the "slings and arrows" of life. When I was very sick I began to see myself as a sick person - being sick was my whole identity. The healing I received did not have to do with getting physically well but retrieving my whole self - as a person who happened to have an illness. One of the reasons I don't like praying for "the sick" "the poor" "the suffering" or whatever - is that they become the category rather than a person in all of his or her being. It is a dehumanizing sort of process. One that allows us to separate ourselves from one another. When Jesus appears on the scene - he recognizes the whole person and in that recognition - wholeness of mind, body and spirit returns to her or him.
This just in from Episcopal News Service:
Episcopal News Service
Wednesday, January 25, 2006
Nominees named for election of 26th Presiding Bishop
[ENS] Note to Readers: Following is the full text of a news release from the Joint Nominating Committee for the Election of the Presiding Bishop. A subsequent ENS release will convey photographs and biographical information about the nominees. This text appears in Spanish at http://www.iglesiaepiscopal.org.
The Joint Nominating Committee for the Election of the Presiding Bishop is pleased to announce the names of those bishops it will place in nomination for Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church, to succeed the Most Rev. Frank Griswold. These names will be formally submitted to the General Convention at a joint session on June 18, 2006, the day prior to the day appointed for the election of the 26th Presiding Bishop by the House of Bishops. The Nominees are:
The Rt. Rev. J. Neil Alexander, Bishop of Atlanta
The Rt. Rev. Edwin F. Gulick, Jr., Bishop of Kentucky
The Rt. Rev. Katharine Jefferts Schori, Bishop of Nevada
The Rt. Rev. Henry N. Parsley, Jr., Bishop of Alabama
The Committee is grateful to all those bishops who were willing to be considered for nomination. The grace with which those bishops considered entered into discernment with the Committee is a witness to the faithful ministries each has offered to the Church and a sign of the enduring health of our Church.
The discernment process included a Call to Discernment, an initial questionnaire, interviews with references for all those whose names were submitted, interviews with those selected for further consideration, and site visits with those who continued in consideration. At its January 20-22, 2006, meeting the Committee then made the determination to nominate these persons.
The Committee consists of 29 persons - a bishop, clergy and lay person from each of the nine provinces of the Episcopal Church, elected by the House of Bishops, and two young persons appointed by the President of the House of Deputies. The Committee has met five times and sub groups have been on interview teams across the Church.
We have discovered in our work together that our love for the Church and our affection for one another have been strengthened in common prayer, in reflection on the ministry given each of us and in the effort to respond to the challenge God and the Church have placed before us. We are grateful for the opportunity to serve the Episcopal Church in this way. Our nomination of these persons is presented as a report of the whole Committee and without reservation.
Background, medical and psychological examinations were conducted for all those nominated.
We believe any of the persons named, if elected, and with God's help and the prayerful support of the church, can provide the leadership required in the Episcopal Church at this time. We commend these nominees to the Church and ask that prayers be offered for them, for the Bishops at General Convention who will elect and for the Deputies who will be asked to consent to the election. Most especially we ask prayers for the Episcopal Church and its leadership and for its continuing ministry among the peoples of the several countries it serves in the name of Jesus Christ.
The Committee held its final meeting January 20-22 at the Duncan Conference Center, Delray Beach, Florida, and there completed the work required of it by the Constitution and Canons of the Episcopal Church. Provided that there are no circumstances that would require our meeting prior to General Convention as a Committee, we will next present ourselves to the General Convention at the time designated to formally place these persons in nomination.
The House of Bishops, at its September 2005 meeting, resolved that the House will consider only those additional nominations by Bishops or Deputies to the 2006 General Convention that are made with time sufficient to conduct the background, medical and psychological examinations required of all nominees. It has set a date of April 1, 2006, for receipt of those nominations, which shall be considered nominations from the floor.
Such nominations are to be made in writing to the Bishop Co-Chair of the Joint Nominating Committee for the Presiding Bishop, the Rt. Rev. Peter James Lee, and assent must be received in writing by the Bishop so named.
For further information, contact either of the co-chairs, the Rt. Rev. Peter James Lee, pjlee@thediocese.net, or Ms. Diane Pollard, dbpsd4u@aol.com.
Members of the Joint Nominating Committee:
Province One
The Rt. Rev. Gayle E. Harris
The Rev. Thomas J. Brown , Secretary
Mr. Albert T. Mollegen, Jr.
Province Two
The Rt. Rev. Gladstone B. Adams III, Chaplain
The Rev. Jeannette DeFriest
Ms. Diane B. Pollard , Co-Chair
Province Three
The Rt. Rev. Peter James Lee, Co-Chair
The Rev. Canon Mark Harris
Mrs. Jane R. Cosby
Province Four
The Rt. Rev. Duncan M. Gray III
The Rev. E. Claiborne Jones
Mr. Vincent Currie, Jr.
Province Five
The Rt. Rev. Kenneth L. Price, Jr.
The Rev. Dr. Richard L. Tolliver
Dr. Scott E. Evenbeck
Province Six
The Rt. Rev. Bruce Caldwell
The Rev. Ann K. Fontaine, Chaplain
Mr. Don Betts
Province Seven
The Rt. Rev. Don A. Wimberly
The Rev. James P. Haney V
Ms. Sarah J. Knoll
Province Eight
The Rt. Rev. Jerry A. Lamb
The Rt. Rev. Bavi E. Rivera
Mrs. Bettye Jo Harris
Province Nine
The Rt. Rev. David Alvarez
The Rev. Luis F. Ruiz
Ms. Blanca Lucia Echeverry
Appointed Youth Representatives
Ms. Sierra Wilkinson
Mr. Bradley A. Woodall
Wednesday, January 25, 2006
Tuesday, December 27, 2005
HOLY NAME- today is the Feast of the Holy Name, the remembrance of the day when Jesus was given his name and circumcised, recognition of him as a member of the tribe and his identity. In his day, and in our day in some places one has no identity outside of one's tribe. A person without a clan was a non person. Many kinship groups have rituals of inclusion and naming. Christians have baptism - which is available to all persons regardless of gender, family of origin, or tribe. It is a sign of inclusion into the family of God, which of course, already exists with our birth. The ritual makes that fact visible to the community and the community commits itself to recognizing and supporting the person being baptized as sister and brother.
Naming is an act of power. God does not easily give God's name to us - because it was believed that having that name would give humans power over God. We see in the story of Moses - that God gives a name which is really a verb - I AM, or I am who I am, or I am whom I am becoming - all possibilities in the original language. It is the essential of God's being but not a name which can be "fixed" and used for power over God. When we name children we often give names that contain our hopes for them or that connect them to their heritage and family. I think of the parent's who gave the name to Zaccheus - what were their dreams for the son whom they named "innocent" and who grew up to be a hated tax collector for the Roman occupation. Could Jesus see through the layers of life to the child who began as Zaccheus-innocent? Was the name reclaimed in the breaking of bread in Zaccheus home that day?
Often people write my name and spell it Anne - when it is really Ann. It makes me think that they do not really know me or that I am not really important enough for them to care. Probably they just don't know or are more used to the other spelling. My husband gave me a gift of my name by telling me if we had a boat he would call it annnoe- Ann-no-e. I loved it because I felt known and affirmed. Kind of nutty, I admit - but nevertheless important to me.
In the Bible words have power - Jesus is the Word made flesh. He is the ultimate word beyond our written and spoken words. It is in relationship to him that we learn Truth. The words of the Bible and their stories point to the Holy One. Often the stories are hard to comprehend as we move from a culture of centuries ago to our day. For me, they all need to be held and examined in the Light of the Christ to gain clarity. There is a rabbinic tradition of binding and loosing when interpreting scripture and the laws of the Bible. When Jesus says he gives us power to bind and loose - this is what he is saying. Binding is like a strict interpretation. Loosing is saying that the law does not apply in these new circumstances. For more on this subject Click Here.
In my book of daily meditations, Streams of Mercy I wrote:
"You search the scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life;..."
--John 5:39 (NRSV)
Sitting at the desk of my days
Pages pile up
Paper and ink
Yellowed and curling
Dry dusty
Searching texts
While the Word knocks on the door of my room
A friend with a cup of tea.
This is the heart of faith for me - the relationship with the Holy who is so familiar and yet unknowable. When Jesus is taken to the Temple to be circumcised and named - God is brought near to us in this life. The blood and the joy.
Naming is an act of power. God does not easily give God's name to us - because it was believed that having that name would give humans power over God. We see in the story of Moses - that God gives a name which is really a verb - I AM, or I am who I am, or I am whom I am becoming - all possibilities in the original language. It is the essential of God's being but not a name which can be "fixed" and used for power over God. When we name children we often give names that contain our hopes for them or that connect them to their heritage and family. I think of the parent's who gave the name to Zaccheus - what were their dreams for the son whom they named "innocent" and who grew up to be a hated tax collector for the Roman occupation. Could Jesus see through the layers of life to the child who began as Zaccheus-innocent? Was the name reclaimed in the breaking of bread in Zaccheus home that day?
Often people write my name and spell it Anne - when it is really Ann. It makes me think that they do not really know me or that I am not really important enough for them to care. Probably they just don't know or are more used to the other spelling. My husband gave me a gift of my name by telling me if we had a boat he would call it annnoe- Ann-no-e. I loved it because I felt known and affirmed. Kind of nutty, I admit - but nevertheless important to me.
In the Bible words have power - Jesus is the Word made flesh. He is the ultimate word beyond our written and spoken words. It is in relationship to him that we learn Truth. The words of the Bible and their stories point to the Holy One. Often the stories are hard to comprehend as we move from a culture of centuries ago to our day. For me, they all need to be held and examined in the Light of the Christ to gain clarity. There is a rabbinic tradition of binding and loosing when interpreting scripture and the laws of the Bible. When Jesus says he gives us power to bind and loose - this is what he is saying. Binding is like a strict interpretation. Loosing is saying that the law does not apply in these new circumstances. For more on this subject Click Here.
In my book of daily meditations, Streams of Mercy I wrote:
"You search the scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life;..."
--John 5:39 (NRSV)
Sitting at the desk of my days
Pages pile up
Paper and ink
Yellowed and curling
Dry dusty
Searching texts
While the Word knocks on the door of my room
A friend with a cup of tea.
This is the heart of faith for me - the relationship with the Holy who is so familiar and yet unknowable. When Jesus is taken to the Temple to be circumcised and named - God is brought near to us in this life. The blood and the joy.
Tuesday, December 20, 2005
CHRISTMAS EVE - this is the night when God was born into our joy and suffering. A most amazing event - Emmanuel - God with us.
Luke 2
"And it came to pass in those days, that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be taxed. (And this taxing was first made when Cyrenius was governor of Syria.) And all went to be taxed, every one into his own city. And Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judaea, unto the city of David, which is called Bethlehem; (because he was of the house and lineage of David:) To be taxed with Mary his espoused wife, being great with child. And so it was, that, while they were there, the days were accomplished that she should be delivered. And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn. And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid. And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord. And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men. And it came to pass, as the angels were gone away from them into heaven, the shepherds said one to another, Let us now go even unto Bethlehem, and see this thing which is come to pass, which the Lord hath made known unto us. And they came with haste, and found Mary, and Joseph, and the babe lying in a manger. And when they had seen it, they made known abroad the saying which was told them concerning this child. And all they that heard it wondered at those things which were told them by the shepherds. But Mary kept all these things, and pondered them in her heart. And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things that they had heard and seen, as it was told unto them."
There is something about the language of the King James Version for this reading. Maybe it is because it is the most familiar language from my earliest hearing of this story. I hear "And it came to pass...." and I am hooked. This year the line that jumped out for me is the angels saying, "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men." (of course this is from the days when men was an inclusive word meaning all humankind) "Will" is not used in all the translations - often it reads "peace among those on whom God's favor rests." The Greek word "eudokia" has a range of meaning - delight, satisfaction, good pleasure, kindness, wish, purpose. That God has Good Will toward us is at the heart of the Christmas story. God cares and delights in us to such a degree that God comes among us helpless and naked, trusting us with Godself. Who among us does not delight in babies. Well, maybe not at 3 a.m. when we cannot satisfy and calm them and we have been up for a week of nights - but still we intend good will toward them. God is teaching us in Jesus how we are to be towards one another. Think about the person with whom you are having the most difficulty, think about them as a helpless baby - smiling and gurgling at you. It is hard to continue to have ill will in such a moment. Good will is easy when we are in that frame of mind. I am not saying that we should be silly and let a person continue to abuse us or put ourselves in danger, but I am saying we can let go of the feelings that harm us and act from wisdom instead of revenge.
If we are able to do this with those we know - can we do it towards those we do not know - on a global scale? Good will is not a feeling - it is a decision, a choice. I choose to have your best interest at heart. I act out of what will be best for all of us. I let go of my scarcity thinking and act out of abundance - abundance of love, abundance of all that is really needed for life. I don't pour my kerosene into the water system, I take care of the earth - the only place we have. I act with good intention toward all - not out of hatred, or reaction to my prejudice. What would the world be like if we all could act with good will?
We might just have peace on earth. The angels have it right but it won't happen just because they say it. It will happen because we take up the message and make it happen. Tonight and this week practice Good Will towards all whom you meet. When you read about some terrible thing - pray for the people involved. When you hear some bit of gossip - think tenderly of those involved. There are many ways to practice Good Will - you will think of many more as it becomes a habit. Make this your resolution for an hour, a day, a year. Follow the newborn Christ, come and see.
O God,
Open our eyes that we may see the needs of others;
Open our ears that we may hear their cries;
Open our hearts that we may feel their anguish and their joy.
Let us not be afraid to defend the oppressed, the poor, the powerless,
because of the anger and might of the powerful.
Show us where love and hope and faith are needed, and use us to bring them to those places.
Open our ears and eyes, our hearts and lives, that we may in these coming
days be able to do some work of justice and peace for you. Amen.
From The Episcopal Peace Fellowship
Luke 2
"And it came to pass in those days, that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be taxed. (And this taxing was first made when Cyrenius was governor of Syria.) And all went to be taxed, every one into his own city. And Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judaea, unto the city of David, which is called Bethlehem; (because he was of the house and lineage of David:) To be taxed with Mary his espoused wife, being great with child. And so it was, that, while they were there, the days were accomplished that she should be delivered. And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn. And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid. And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord. And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men. And it came to pass, as the angels were gone away from them into heaven, the shepherds said one to another, Let us now go even unto Bethlehem, and see this thing which is come to pass, which the Lord hath made known unto us. And they came with haste, and found Mary, and Joseph, and the babe lying in a manger. And when they had seen it, they made known abroad the saying which was told them concerning this child. And all they that heard it wondered at those things which were told them by the shepherds. But Mary kept all these things, and pondered them in her heart. And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things that they had heard and seen, as it was told unto them."
There is something about the language of the King James Version for this reading. Maybe it is because it is the most familiar language from my earliest hearing of this story. I hear "And it came to pass...." and I am hooked. This year the line that jumped out for me is the angels saying, "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men." (of course this is from the days when men was an inclusive word meaning all humankind) "Will" is not used in all the translations - often it reads "peace among those on whom God's favor rests." The Greek word "eudokia" has a range of meaning - delight, satisfaction, good pleasure, kindness, wish, purpose. That God has Good Will toward us is at the heart of the Christmas story. God cares and delights in us to such a degree that God comes among us helpless and naked, trusting us with Godself. Who among us does not delight in babies. Well, maybe not at 3 a.m. when we cannot satisfy and calm them and we have been up for a week of nights - but still we intend good will toward them. God is teaching us in Jesus how we are to be towards one another. Think about the person with whom you are having the most difficulty, think about them as a helpless baby - smiling and gurgling at you. It is hard to continue to have ill will in such a moment. Good will is easy when we are in that frame of mind. I am not saying that we should be silly and let a person continue to abuse us or put ourselves in danger, but I am saying we can let go of the feelings that harm us and act from wisdom instead of revenge.
If we are able to do this with those we know - can we do it towards those we do not know - on a global scale? Good will is not a feeling - it is a decision, a choice. I choose to have your best interest at heart. I act out of what will be best for all of us. I let go of my scarcity thinking and act out of abundance - abundance of love, abundance of all that is really needed for life. I don't pour my kerosene into the water system, I take care of the earth - the only place we have. I act with good intention toward all - not out of hatred, or reaction to my prejudice. What would the world be like if we all could act with good will?
We might just have peace on earth. The angels have it right but it won't happen just because they say it. It will happen because we take up the message and make it happen. Tonight and this week practice Good Will towards all whom you meet. When you read about some terrible thing - pray for the people involved. When you hear some bit of gossip - think tenderly of those involved. There are many ways to practice Good Will - you will think of many more as it becomes a habit. Make this your resolution for an hour, a day, a year. Follow the newborn Christ, come and see.
O God,
Open our eyes that we may see the needs of others;
Open our ears that we may hear their cries;
Open our hearts that we may feel their anguish and their joy.
Let us not be afraid to defend the oppressed, the poor, the powerless,
because of the anger and might of the powerful.
Show us where love and hope and faith are needed, and use us to bring them to those places.
Open our ears and eyes, our hearts and lives, that we may in these coming
days be able to do some work of justice and peace for you. Amen.
From The Episcopal Peace Fellowship
Friday, December 16, 2005
ADVENT 4 In the Episcopal Church and many other churches, the weeks leading up to Christmas are called Advent. It is a time of turning inward and preparing a place in our hearts for God to be born once again in our hearts just as Jesus was born over 2000 years ago in Bethlehem. This week we celebrate Mary and Elizabeth. Mary - a young woman chosen to be the God-bearer and her cousin Elizabeth pregnant in old age who will give birth to John - the one who points the way to Christ in the Gospels. Click here for the reading. I ran across a wonderful painting depicting the meeting of these two women. The joy of the Spirit filling both women, strengthening them for the days to come. This is the amazing thing about Christianity - it does not promise every thing in life will be wonderful but it does promise that God is with us. That is the meaning of Incarnation - God in Flesh - in the "meat" of life, the fat and the lean, the juicy and the stringy.
On another topic - today my husband and I went on our annual "tree hunt." It is our tradition to cut our own tree in the nearby forest. He used to take the children and they would help him (depending on their ages). Some years it was slogging through chest deep drifts of snow, coming home triumphant and exhausted. Now they have moved away from rural Lander to the big cities. In the meantime, the Forest Service has opened up cutting in a place that is only a short walk from end of the road - so we were able to get our tree in about an hour - including buying the permit. Christmas is not my favorite season of the year - see my breaking of the ornaments blog for more on that. I put off getting ready until the last minute - good thing it lasts through January 6 - Epiphany - so I can get everything done. My Christmas letters are likely to be Valentine's Day letters at the rate I am going. Tomorrow we will decorate the tree. The best thing for me are the church services. This year we will do an Instant Christmas Pageant at Eden, Wyoming, then off to Rock Springs and a Midnight Mass. On Sunday we will have a 9 a.m. Christmas Day service. My Christmas began this year with a Service of Lessons and Carols where a young boy soprano began the service singing Once in Royal David's City. The BBC will have Lessons and Carols on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day for those who have not heard it this year.
Another fun thing to do is Advent Calendars - found online in several places. Here are some that I like (click on them to link):
Tate the Cat
Washington National Cathedral
BBC Bach Advent Calendar
So Blessings of the Season be with you whatever spiritual path you have chosen. May the love that is at the heart of the universe fill your life and the life of the world.
On another topic - today my husband and I went on our annual "tree hunt." It is our tradition to cut our own tree in the nearby forest. He used to take the children and they would help him (depending on their ages). Some years it was slogging through chest deep drifts of snow, coming home triumphant and exhausted. Now they have moved away from rural Lander to the big cities. In the meantime, the Forest Service has opened up cutting in a place that is only a short walk from end of the road - so we were able to get our tree in about an hour - including buying the permit. Christmas is not my favorite season of the year - see my breaking of the ornaments blog for more on that. I put off getting ready until the last minute - good thing it lasts through January 6 - Epiphany - so I can get everything done. My Christmas letters are likely to be Valentine's Day letters at the rate I am going. Tomorrow we will decorate the tree. The best thing for me are the church services. This year we will do an Instant Christmas Pageant at Eden, Wyoming, then off to Rock Springs and a Midnight Mass. On Sunday we will have a 9 a.m. Christmas Day service. My Christmas began this year with a Service of Lessons and Carols where a young boy soprano began the service singing Once in Royal David's City. The BBC will have Lessons and Carols on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day for those who have not heard it this year.
Another fun thing to do is Advent Calendars - found online in several places. Here are some that I like (click on them to link):
Tate the Cat
Washington National Cathedral
BBC Bach Advent Calendar
So Blessings of the Season be with you whatever spiritual path you have chosen. May the love that is at the heart of the universe fill your life and the life of the world.
Tuesday, November 22, 2005
BIRTHDAY PRESENTS -- today is my birthday and I received 2 great presents (more to come, no doubt!)
One is a down filled robe from my husband, which will surround me with warmth through the long Wyoming winter. And the other is "MY BOOK:" Streams of Mercy: a meditative commentary on the Bible.. Click here to see all about it. It is the culmination of several years of reflections on the Daily Office readings found in the Episcopal Book of Common Prayer and a year of editing. Thanks to the encouragement of friends and our daughter's work of editing plus many others looking at it and offering corrections and ideas. Although I wrote the original reflections, it came from all the people who have influenced my spiritual journey and it is now a product of a whole community of people. Thanks to everyone who made it happen.
One is a down filled robe from my husband, which will surround me with warmth through the long Wyoming winter. And the other is "MY BOOK:" Streams of Mercy: a meditative commentary on the Bible.. Click here to see all about it. It is the culmination of several years of reflections on the Daily Office readings found in the Episcopal Book of Common Prayer and a year of editing. Thanks to the encouragement of friends and our daughter's work of editing plus many others looking at it and offering corrections and ideas. Although I wrote the original reflections, it came from all the people who have influenced my spiritual journey and it is now a product of a whole community of people. Thanks to everyone who made it happen.
Thursday, November 17, 2005
THANKSGIVING: off to the Oregon Coast to eat, nap, walk on the beach and reconnect with the Pacific Ocean. I grew up by the ocean, spending summers with my grandparents and brothers while our parents worked in the city. The ocean most represents the Holy to me - the beauty, the danger, the peace, the storms, giving and taking. When I set out for a walk on the beach I never know what will find. Sometimes it is hard to know what one sees, sometimes it is a banal piece of material culture and sometimes a massive tree that has been ripped loose from a distant forest. The best thing to find is glass Japanese fishing float. I don't think they are still used. When I was a child we would always find them after storms - blue green globes traveling from across the sea. Now they are rarely found. A common thing to find are sand dollars. They come in many sizes but most are about 3-4 inches in diameter. Gifts to be found and carried home to remember sandy, sunny, stormy days and nights near the great sea. Most sea life needs to be protected and admired without touching so that it will live on. So off we go to get sand in our shoes and find the rhythm of waves and tides, nights and days, wind and sun.
Tuesday, November 08, 2005
ALL THAT JAZZ - this Sunday in Rock Springs we will worship with a Jazz group - Ronnie Kole.
Click here for the readings for Sunday.
This week we have the famous story of the landowner who entrusts his property to his slaves. Thanks to William Loader's thoughts at Textweek instead of seeing this as one more stewardship, how to get money out of people so we can pay the bills sermon - I am challenged to see the giving away of property as the giving away of Godself. The gospels tell us that in Jesus, God came among us and gave away all. The talents were an amount of money -we have taken the word into English to mean our gifts, our abilities. Looking at these talents as pieces of the Holy given out freely - the question becomes more than just about our money or even our personal abilities. The parable becomes a challenge to clinging tightly to our little bit of understanding of the immensity of the Holy - try to protect it from others and their understandings. Hiding our bit of God under the mattress. Trying to contain the uncontainable.
I am not a musician nor do I play in a jazz band so I should probably call for a testimony from someone who does but here is my impression. Trying to keep the Holy buried and contained is sort of like not being willing to risk the interplay of music that makes up jazz. A player who holds too tightly to his or her tune cannot reap the benefits of what happens when one lets go and lets the music take over the life of the group. Of course there is study and practice with one's particular instrument. There is learning the music so well that it creates a freedom to take off and know we will return. But when it all works - the wild applause tells us - Well done - good and faithful servant.
Click here for the readings for Sunday.
This week we have the famous story of the landowner who entrusts his property to his slaves. Thanks to William Loader's thoughts at Textweek instead of seeing this as one more stewardship, how to get money out of people so we can pay the bills sermon - I am challenged to see the giving away of property as the giving away of Godself. The gospels tell us that in Jesus, God came among us and gave away all. The talents were an amount of money -we have taken the word into English to mean our gifts, our abilities. Looking at these talents as pieces of the Holy given out freely - the question becomes more than just about our money or even our personal abilities. The parable becomes a challenge to clinging tightly to our little bit of understanding of the immensity of the Holy - try to protect it from others and their understandings. Hiding our bit of God under the mattress. Trying to contain the uncontainable.
I am not a musician nor do I play in a jazz band so I should probably call for a testimony from someone who does but here is my impression. Trying to keep the Holy buried and contained is sort of like not being willing to risk the interplay of music that makes up jazz. A player who holds too tightly to his or her tune cannot reap the benefits of what happens when one lets go and lets the music take over the life of the group. Of course there is study and practice with one's particular instrument. There is learning the music so well that it creates a freedom to take off and know we will return. But when it all works - the wild applause tells us - Well done - good and faithful servant.
Saturday, November 05, 2005
ALL SAINTS: This is the week we celebrate All Saints and All Souls. I like to think of them as capital "S" and small "s" saints and souls. Those whose names we know and about whom stories have accumulated (more and less legendary) and those who have changed the world but whose name we will never know or who are known only to us personally. Famous Saints: like St. Francis - who by his actions called the church back to holiness of life, Martin Luther King, Jr who had a dream and died for that dream, Mary Magdalene who became the first witness to the Resurrection and Apostle to the Apostles, (as she is called in the Orthodox tradition), St Patrick, who learned the love of God while enslaved and came back to his captors to witness to that love. The less well known saints like the teacher who said the word that encouraged us when we thought we couldn't learn something. A neighbor who took us in when we came home from school and no one was at our house. The coach who taught us the "trick" that helped us understand how to catch or hit. The Sunday School teacher or church camp leader who showed us the wonder of God, not just the rules. Many of the more well known saints changed the course of history by being willing to stand up or in the case of Rosa Parks - sitting down. She was tired - not from a hard days work but tired of being told she had to give up her place because of the color of her skin. Her action came at a time when others had been arrested and humiliated before her - but suddenly every one was tired and joined the bus boycott. It was that critical moment in time when she made her choice.
Our readings, click here include a picture from Revelation of all the saints gathered around God, sheltered and cared for by the Holy One, with all their tears wiped away by God. It is an image to sustain those who work for justice and resist oppression, like the images that can be heard in the song Lift Every Voice and Sing.
Lift every voice and sing, till earth and Heaven ring,
Ring with the harmonies of liberty;
Let our rejoicing rise, high as the listening skies,
Let it resound loud as the rolling sea.
Sing a song full of the faith that the dark past has taught us,
Sing a song full of the hope that the present has brought us;
Facing the rising sun of our new day begun,
Let us march on till victory is won.
Stony the road we trod, bitter the chastening rod,
Felt in the days when hope unborn had died;
Yet with a steady beat, have not our weary feet,
Come to the place for which our fathers sighed?
We have come over a way that with tears has been watered,
We have come, treading our path through the blood of the slaughtered;
Out from the gloomy past, till now we stand at last
Where the white gleam of our bright star is cast.
God of our weary years, God of our silent tears,
Thou Who hast brought us thus far on the way;
Thou Who hast by Thy might, led us into the light,
Keep us forever in the path, we pray.
Lest our feet stray from the places, our God, where we met Thee.
Lest our hearts, drunk with the wine of the world, we forget Thee.
Shadowed beneath Thy hand, may we forever stand,
True to our God, true to our native land.
The first letter of John speaks of being children of God in the here and now as well as the future. Our lives show whether or not this is true. It is the actions not the words that are the proof. St. Francis says our lives may be the only Bible someone ever sees. Gandhi said he believed in Jesus -it was Christians that disproved Christianity.
And our Gospel is the well known beatitudes or Sermon on the Mount. It reveals our true state - blessed. Created in the image of God and with the potential to reveal God. The brokenness of our true state - poor in spirit, mourning, meek, hungering and thirsting for righteousness (right relationships), comes in the first 4 lines, yet we are still blessed and will receive a way to return to the fullness of our creation. Shocking when you think our usual use of the word "blessed" - as in, God blessed me when I was saved from the wreck, or when we are rich and happy -we are blessed. Here it is in our brokenness we learn that we are also blessed.
Sainthood - to which we are all called - the early church called all Christians - saints, is our created being - mercy, pureness of heart, peacemaking, are signs of this whenever we act from our image of God self.
Living out our call is not without a price - as most saints discover, put downs, social ostracism, and even death have awaited those who follow the crucified one. Does not really sound like Good News - but our end is not in death - social death or real death. We are promised life and that promise carries us through to stand or sit to make this world all that God desires. AMEN
Our readings, click here include a picture from Revelation of all the saints gathered around God, sheltered and cared for by the Holy One, with all their tears wiped away by God. It is an image to sustain those who work for justice and resist oppression, like the images that can be heard in the song Lift Every Voice and Sing.
Lift every voice and sing, till earth and Heaven ring,
Ring with the harmonies of liberty;
Let our rejoicing rise, high as the listening skies,
Let it resound loud as the rolling sea.
Sing a song full of the faith that the dark past has taught us,
Sing a song full of the hope that the present has brought us;
Facing the rising sun of our new day begun,
Let us march on till victory is won.
Stony the road we trod, bitter the chastening rod,
Felt in the days when hope unborn had died;
Yet with a steady beat, have not our weary feet,
Come to the place for which our fathers sighed?
We have come over a way that with tears has been watered,
We have come, treading our path through the blood of the slaughtered;
Out from the gloomy past, till now we stand at last
Where the white gleam of our bright star is cast.
God of our weary years, God of our silent tears,
Thou Who hast brought us thus far on the way;
Thou Who hast by Thy might, led us into the light,
Keep us forever in the path, we pray.
Lest our feet stray from the places, our God, where we met Thee.
Lest our hearts, drunk with the wine of the world, we forget Thee.
Shadowed beneath Thy hand, may we forever stand,
True to our God, true to our native land.
The first letter of John speaks of being children of God in the here and now as well as the future. Our lives show whether or not this is true. It is the actions not the words that are the proof. St. Francis says our lives may be the only Bible someone ever sees. Gandhi said he believed in Jesus -it was Christians that disproved Christianity.
And our Gospel is the well known beatitudes or Sermon on the Mount. It reveals our true state - blessed. Created in the image of God and with the potential to reveal God. The brokenness of our true state - poor in spirit, mourning, meek, hungering and thirsting for righteousness (right relationships), comes in the first 4 lines, yet we are still blessed and will receive a way to return to the fullness of our creation. Shocking when you think our usual use of the word "blessed" - as in, God blessed me when I was saved from the wreck, or when we are rich and happy -we are blessed. Here it is in our brokenness we learn that we are also blessed.
Sainthood - to which we are all called - the early church called all Christians - saints, is our created being - mercy, pureness of heart, peacemaking, are signs of this whenever we act from our image of God self.
Living out our call is not without a price - as most saints discover, put downs, social ostracism, and even death have awaited those who follow the crucified one. Does not really sound like Good News - but our end is not in death - social death or real death. We are promised life and that promise carries us through to stand or sit to make this world all that God desires. AMEN
Friday, November 04, 2005
REMEMBERING ROSA PARKS
The invocation offered at the Pasadena NAACP Annual Dinner on October 26th
O God of love and justice, we remember this night the life and witness of our sister, your servant, Rosa Parks. We remember that by her act of courage on a bus that afternoon 50 years ago, she injected new meaning and dignity into the veins of civilization. We remember this night that she sat down in order that others might stand up We remember this night that she refused to cooperate any longer with unjust laws. We remember this night that she said, "The only tired I was, was tired of giving in."
As we eat this meal tonight, O Lord, and enjoy the fellowship at our tables, we pray that you will bless this food and this fellowship, God, by making us, like our sister Rosa Parks, tired of giving in.
Make us tired of giving in, Lord, to the classism and racism in our country exposed by the winds of hurricane Katrina.
Make us tired of giving in, Lord, to this unjust war that has now taken the lives of over 2,000 U.S. soldiers and tens of thousands of Iraqis, and which rewards corrupt corporations, takes away civil liberties, and sets Christian against Muslim.
Make us tired of giving in, Lord, to tax cuts for the super wealthy that steal food from the poor and steal schools and health-care from everyone else.
Make us tired of giving in, Lord, to a life of timidity and insensitivity that does not live for liberty and justice for all.
Make us tired of giving in, Lord, to leadership that does not ask us to sacrifice so that the human race can become the human family.
For in living for others and in prayerful awareness of our dependence upon You and of our interdependence on one another will we truly be blessed.
All these things we pray in your holy name. Amen.
--The Reverend J. Edwin Bacon, All Saints Church, Pasadena
The invocation offered at the Pasadena NAACP Annual Dinner on October 26th
O God of love and justice, we remember this night the life and witness of our sister, your servant, Rosa Parks. We remember that by her act of courage on a bus that afternoon 50 years ago, she injected new meaning and dignity into the veins of civilization. We remember this night that she sat down in order that others might stand up We remember this night that she refused to cooperate any longer with unjust laws. We remember this night that she said, "The only tired I was, was tired of giving in."
As we eat this meal tonight, O Lord, and enjoy the fellowship at our tables, we pray that you will bless this food and this fellowship, God, by making us, like our sister Rosa Parks, tired of giving in.
Make us tired of giving in, Lord, to the classism and racism in our country exposed by the winds of hurricane Katrina.
Make us tired of giving in, Lord, to this unjust war that has now taken the lives of over 2,000 U.S. soldiers and tens of thousands of Iraqis, and which rewards corrupt corporations, takes away civil liberties, and sets Christian against Muslim.
Make us tired of giving in, Lord, to tax cuts for the super wealthy that steal food from the poor and steal schools and health-care from everyone else.
Make us tired of giving in, Lord, to a life of timidity and insensitivity that does not live for liberty and justice for all.
Make us tired of giving in, Lord, to leadership that does not ask us to sacrifice so that the human race can become the human family.
For in living for others and in prayerful awareness of our dependence upon You and of our interdependence on one another will we truly be blessed.
All these things we pray in your holy name. Amen.
--The Reverend J. Edwin Bacon, All Saints Church, Pasadena
Friday, October 14, 2005
SUNDAY October 16. We are celebrating St. Francis Day a bit late this year. For the readings click here.
I read an article in The Living Church, by The Rev. Larry Harrelson of Sisters, OR, about Francis that gave me some ideas about how Francis, before his conversion, symbolizes our lives in this day and time. Weighed down with burdens of maintaining our place in the world, our status, we live our lives out of relationship with our true selves, our neighbors and God. We put up masks of "making it." We spend our days busy with activities that in the long run will not matter to us. We don't leave time for that which produce joy. We live in fear that there will not be "enough."
Francis was a wealthy young man, full of himself, his power, his abilities. He rode into battle looking for glory but ended up in prison, abandoned in a crowded cell, in the dark. We cruise along thinking our might as a nation, or our individual abilities will carry us through. It seems only when we find ourselves in disaster do we have to face our true selves - our ultimate powerlessness and hunger, our emptiness of life. Francis heard a call from God "As you go, proclaim the good news, 'the kingdom has come near.' Cure the sick raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, cast out demons. You received without payment; give without payment. Take no gold, or silver, or copper in your belts, no bag for your journey, or two tunics. or sandals or staff, for laborers deserve their food." Matt 10:7-10. He gave up everything and found everything.
Once Francis came upon the wolf, Gubbio, who was terrorizing a village - he spoke to Gubbio about how he could feed his hunger without endangering the villagers. How often our hungers turn us into people that terrify others. Will we find food for our spiritual hungers?
He would carry worms across the road so they would not be injured by the wheels of the vehicles or careless feet. Can we find that kind of tenderness toward the creation and our planet that sustains us?
His father wanted him to return to the family business and said he would cut him off from his inheritance if he did not. Francis stripped off all the clothes that had been purchased by his family's wealth and stood naked rather than give up his sense of what God wanted of him. Can we strip off all that does not make this world a better place? Stand open to God and God's call on our lives? Share rather than hoard? Give up power to empower others?
Today we bless our animal friends, those who are with us and those who are absent. It is a symbol of our care for creation and the gifts that the creation gives us. St. Francis is honored all over the world with ceremonies such as this one. But St. Francis is also more - a person who challenges us to live in truth and witness to the power of God's love for us and for all creation.
I read an article in The Living Church, by The Rev. Larry Harrelson of Sisters, OR, about Francis that gave me some ideas about how Francis, before his conversion, symbolizes our lives in this day and time. Weighed down with burdens of maintaining our place in the world, our status, we live our lives out of relationship with our true selves, our neighbors and God. We put up masks of "making it." We spend our days busy with activities that in the long run will not matter to us. We don't leave time for that which produce joy. We live in fear that there will not be "enough."
Francis was a wealthy young man, full of himself, his power, his abilities. He rode into battle looking for glory but ended up in prison, abandoned in a crowded cell, in the dark. We cruise along thinking our might as a nation, or our individual abilities will carry us through. It seems only when we find ourselves in disaster do we have to face our true selves - our ultimate powerlessness and hunger, our emptiness of life. Francis heard a call from God "As you go, proclaim the good news, 'the kingdom has come near.' Cure the sick raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, cast out demons. You received without payment; give without payment. Take no gold, or silver, or copper in your belts, no bag for your journey, or two tunics. or sandals or staff, for laborers deserve their food." Matt 10:7-10. He gave up everything and found everything.
Once Francis came upon the wolf, Gubbio, who was terrorizing a village - he spoke to Gubbio about how he could feed his hunger without endangering the villagers. How often our hungers turn us into people that terrify others. Will we find food for our spiritual hungers?
He would carry worms across the road so they would not be injured by the wheels of the vehicles or careless feet. Can we find that kind of tenderness toward the creation and our planet that sustains us?
His father wanted him to return to the family business and said he would cut him off from his inheritance if he did not. Francis stripped off all the clothes that had been purchased by his family's wealth and stood naked rather than give up his sense of what God wanted of him. Can we strip off all that does not make this world a better place? Stand open to God and God's call on our lives? Share rather than hoard? Give up power to empower others?
Today we bless our animal friends, those who are with us and those who are absent. It is a symbol of our care for creation and the gifts that the creation gives us. St. Francis is honored all over the world with ceremonies such as this one. But St. Francis is also more - a person who challenges us to live in truth and witness to the power of God's love for us and for all creation.
Something for fun:
You are Julian of Norwich! It's all about God, to
you. You're convinced that the world has a
happy ending. Everyone else is convinced that
you're a closet hippie, but you love them
anyway.
Which Saint Are You?
brought to you by Quizilla
You are Julian of Norwich! It's all about God, to
you. You're convinced that the world has a
happy ending. Everyone else is convinced that
you're a closet hippie, but you love them
anyway.
Which Saint Are You?
brought to you by Quizilla
Wednesday, September 28, 2005
This week I am actually watching the tide and seeing what it brings - we are at Cannon Beach. Took a long walk around the "bird rocks" - usually surrounded by water - tonight while the tide was out. Stopped by the local grill for salmon, lovely. Not thinking things theological this week - just enjoying the grandchildren. Tomorrow I meet by phone with the publisher of my book. It is a compilation of my "poems" on the Daily Office. What a lot of work goes into the final editing of a book - I have more admiration for published writers now. More when we surface from the coast.
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