Alzheimers and laughter

From Scott Fisher:

Scott Fisher
‎& his Mother sit
in the back
of the Unit's Dining Room
laughing & laughing.
It all goes away,
you understand,
all the memories - of family sunday dinners
& Midwest childhoods
& a young girl's dance,
and more.
It ALL goes away,
memories & stories
taking flight like birds
that have stayed too long in the Fall,
and felt a North Wind.
Awayyyyyyyyyyyy it all goes,
even Dignity, of course......
until all that is left is laughter & companionship.
What else really matters?
The flock of memories
will wait for us the far side of The Green Hill,
like children excited at our Return.

3 Easter

Readings are here.

From Edge of Enclosure:

And he did not rise in order finally to depart from hence, not so that the travail of death which gave birth to him anew might transfer him to the life and light of God and he would leave behind him the dark bosom of the earth empty and without hope. For he rose again in his body. That means he has already begun to transform this world into himself. He has accepted the world forever. He has been born again as a child of the earth, but of the transfigured, liberated earth, the earth which in him is eternally confirmed and eternally redeemed from death and futility.

He rose, not to show that he was leaving the tomb of the earth once and for all, but in order to demonstrate that precisely that tomb of the dead - the body and the earth - has finally changed into the glorious, immeasurable house of the living God and of the God-filled soul of the Son....He rose again to reveal that through his death the life of freedom and beatitude remains established forever within the narrow limits and sorrow of the earth, in the depth of its heart.

-Karl Rahner
The Great Church Year: The Best of Karl Rahner's Homilies, Sermons, and Meditations

The gospels are all over the place on the nature of Christ's resurrected body. In one place he says don't cling, in others he does not eat, but here he says,

"Look at my hands and my feet; see that it is I myself. Touch me and see; for a ghost does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have." And when he had said this, he showed them his hands and his feet. While in their joy they were disbelieving and still wondering, he said to them, "Have you anything here to eat?" They gave him a piece of broiled fish, and he took it and ate in their presence.

What is your experience of the risen Christ? In the midst of meals, in allowing you to let go of preconceived ideas about life and death? In helping you overcome your fear of death or your fear of life.

Youth respond to ABC TV

ABC did a program on youth on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota - this is their answer:

A case for doubt

Some thoughts about doubt. This Sunday we read the story of Thomas. Readings are here.

The BBC is featuring a series on doubt. "Doubt is so much more useful than certainty" Madeleine Bunting relates her thoughts on The Case for Doubt:

"Doubt is a glorious reminder of our limitations as human beings, of how suspicious we should be of certainty".

Journalist and writer Madeleine Bunting makes the case for doubt in religion - why religious doubt is a 'glorious reminder' of our limitations as human beings, why we should always be suspicious of the certainty that breeds intolerance, and how the doubt she so feared as a child has now become a useful ally.

Madeleine Bunting is the third of five contributors making The Case for Doubt - that it is much more meaningful than certainty and much more valuable than fixed opinions and beliefs.

Other thoughts from Bunting:

Doubt was seen as the flu or a cold - but with Vatican II doubt became more respectable.

Once seen as a great error - now church leaders admit their doubts. Now it is a normal part of a spiritual path.

She speaks of a nun who freely admitted her doubts but was untroubled by her unbelief and it did not affect her choice to commit her life to faith.

Doubt and skepticism are the order of the day with their poisonous kin cynicism.

In the "age of uncertainty" who we are? what we are for? how to endure suffering? how to makes sense of our few decades of life?

Dictionary: Doubt - a feeling of uncertainty, an undecided state of mind.

Does the uncertainty of our thoughts have to affect how we choose to live our lifes.

Belief is not an intellectual proposition but (according to Karen Armstrong) from an old German word "to commit to" Not an assertion of fact but an expression of commitment to follow Christ.

Commitment and practice - faith is an accumulation of habit acquired by actions

Attentiveness and patience and skill - can be learned - it is not about mind tricks.

Faith is about dedicated practice -- doubt is about hesitation.

But doubt can serve the purpose of balance - when to doubt and when to believe, when to be skeptical and when to act is the question.

It is a useful ally - to live with humility.

I wonder if Thomas is called the Twin because he has both faith (as shown in his earlier statements in the Gospel of John that they must follow Jesus as he goes to Jerusalem even though they fear what will happen there) and doubt. The life of a follower of Christ needs this balance lest we become mindless and faithless.

A prayer by John Coburn:

Lord Jesus:
We do not understand everything about you, or about ourselves.
But we do know that the more we trust you,
the more we know about you
and therefore about ourselves.
So we thank you for the little we do
understand about you and ask you to help us to trust
that, that we may grow in knowledge and love of you
and of ourselves.
Let us then not worry overmuch about who agrees with us,
who disagrees, who is for us, who is against us,
who understands us, who doesn't care.
As we trust you to do with us as you will,
then we shall become more wholly ourselves and
members of you. Amen

Notes towards a sermon -- not quite there yet. Readings are here.


Mary Magdalene – early, weeping burdened with her grief, uncaring of her safety in the streets and outskirts of the city, she walks through the town out to the place where she last saw him in the garden near his tomb. Jesus the man who healed her of her torment, who gave her back her life, who made life worth living, who made all things possible even for a woman who once been outcast as possessed by 7 demons. Walking – to the garden – to be near him one more time. Head down. Eyes swollen with tears.

What’s this – the stone is rolled away? How can this be? She runs to Peter and the other disciple – breathless - she reports what has happened. Peter and the beloved disciple run to the tomb. The unnamed disciple stops short at the edge of the cave – but Peter being Peter barrels by and into the opening. – Sure enough the body of Jesus is gone. The grave wrappings are there – the head piece neatly folded off by itself – as if the owner had sat on the side of a bed – wondering and holding and folding it before walking off.

The disciples return home – nothing more for them to see. But Mary Magdalene stays and looks again into the tomb – has this really happened? This time she sees 2 messengers (angels) sitting on the place where Jesus had been lying. Were her demons returning – was her mind going again? But no -- they speak reassuringly to her.

Now someone else is asking why she is weeping – it must be the caretaker of the garden – the gardener? Why wouldn’t she be weeping – what a question? Her whole life has come to a crashing halt – what else is there but to weep?

And yet – suddenly a word – her name, Mary. Can it be? Yes – he is here – so close – to touch? But no Jesus says do not hold on to me – do not cling to that which you knew before – I must move on into the fullness of life – beyond what you have known – to show you and the world the life that can be.

Once there was another garden – long ago when all creation was one with one another and with God – perfect union. But humans wanted more –they were restless– so they went out to explore and learn and love and live – but somewhere they became divided from God and from one another and forgot how to live in union with God and each other and the creation. They began to cling to things, possess others, use and abuse the creation and one another. Then they became fearful and anxious. Afraid there would not be enough – enough love, enough possessions, enough life. Anxious that others had more which would mean less for them.

So God came amongst us – eating and drinking and healing and laughing and weeping – Emmanuel – God with us – to show us once more that Eden is found in the breaking bread. Fear is conquered by love. Even dying is not the end. Freedom is found when our fears die. Jesus shows the way to break the bonds of the old ways that are not working for us. True freedom is discovering that death is life giving. So do not cling to your previous experience of what you always knew – prejudice, feare of scarcity, addictions to things that only work temporarily to cover the pain. Let those things die so you might have life. Allow the resurrected Christ into you midst – it is already happening – invite God in more and more – see what can happen in your life.

Embrace the fullness of life when death is no longer feared but a path to new life.

Jesus says, Do not cling to me – do not cling to any message you have heard attributed to me - that says you are less than, any message that takes away life – do not try to put God into a preconceived set of ideas -- open your eyes and see the resurrected Christ in your midst. Allow faith to grow and change. See that you are beloved of God – intended to be here in this time and this place – know that the earth would not be same without you.

Today – come to the altar – receive the body of Christ – the bread of Eden – and the blood of Christ - the wine of the Spirit – return to life filled and fed.


Things people say at the end of life. Five top regrets:

1. I wish I'd had the courage to live a life true to myself, not the life others expected of me.
"This was the most common regret of all. When people realise that their life is almost over and look back clearly on it, it is easy to see how many dreams have gone unfulfilled. Most people had not honoured even a half of their dreams and had to die knowing that it was due to choices they had made, or not made. Health brings a freedom very few realise, until they no longer have it."

2. I wish I hadn't worked so hard.
"This came from every male patient that I nursed. They missed their children's youth and their partner's companionship. Women also spoke of this regret, but as most were from an older generation, many of the female patients had not been breadwinners. All of the men I nursed deeply regretted spending so much of their lives on the treadmill of a work existence."

3. I wish I'd had the courage to express my feelings.
"Many people suppressed their feelings in order to keep peace with others. As a result, they settled for a mediocre existence and never became who they were truly capable of becoming. Many developed illnesses relating to the bitterness and resentment they carried as a result."

4. I wish I had stayed in touch with my friends.
"Often they would not truly realise the full benefits of old friends until their dying weeks and it was not always possible to track them down. Many had become so caught up in their own lives that they had let golden friendships slip by over the years. There were many deep regrets about not giving friendships the time and effort that they deserved. Everyone misses their friends when they are dying."

5. I wish that I had let myself be happier.
"This is a surprisingly common one. Many did not realise until the end that happiness is a choice. They had stayed stuck in old patterns and habits. The so-called 'comfort' of familiarity overflowed into their emotions, as well as their physical lives. Fear of change had them pretending to others, and to their selves, that they were content, when deep within, they longed to laugh properly and have silliness in their life again."

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.

This year – remember.

Holy Saturday: harrowing hell

Good Friday: if it be your will

If it be your will 

That I speak no more 

And my voice be still 

As it was before 

I will speak no more 

I shall abide until 

I am spoken for 

If it be your will 

If it be your will 

That a voice be true 

From this broken hill 

I will sing to you 

From this broken hill 

All your praises they shall ring 

If it be your will 

To let me sing 

From this broken hill 

All your praises they shall ring 

If it be your will 

To let me sing 

If it be your will 

If there is a choice 

Let the rivers fill 

Let the hills rejoice 

Let your mercy spill 

On all these burning hearts in hell 

If it be your will 

To make us well 

And draw us near 

And bind us tight 

All your children here 

In their rags of light 

In our rags of light 

All dressed to kill 

And end this night 

If it be your will 

If it be your will.

Leonard Cohen

Maundy Thursday: wash my hands

by Lucy Nanson, New Zealand:

Wash my hands on Maundy Thursday
not my feet
My hands peel potatoes, wipe messes from the floor
change dirty nappies, clean the grease from pots and pans
have pointed in anger and pushed away in tears
in years past they’ve smacked a child and raised a fist
fumbled with nervousness, shaken with fear
I’ve wrung them when waiting for news to come
crushed a letter I’d rather forget
covered my mouth when I’ve been caught out
touched forbidden things, childhood memories do not grow dim
These hands have dug gardens, planted seeds
picked fruit and berries, weeded out and pruned trees
found bleeding from the rose’s thorns
dirt and blood mix together
when washed before a cup of tea
Love expressed by them
asks for your respect
in the hand-shake of warm greeting,
the gentle rubbing of a child’s bump
the caressing of a lover, the softness of a baby’s cheek
sounds of music played by them in tunes upon a flute
they’ve held a frightened teenager,
touched a father in his death
where cold skin tells the end of life has come
but not the end of love,
comforted a mother losing agility and health.
With my hands outstretched before you
I stand humbled and in awe
your gentle washing in water, the softness of the towel
symbolizing a cleansing
the servant-hood of Christ.
Wash my hands on Maundy Thursday
and not my feet.

Maundy Thursday

Notes towards a sermon. Readings are here. Exodus tells of the origins of Passover – Blood on the door posts and the lintel. A spring festival of birth – lambing – a way to ensure safe passage for all being born. All entryways were daubed with blood. Flocks and herds were the wealth of the community – each loss was that much less for the whole group. So all care must be taken to bring new life. The people of Israel were about to be birthed into a new people – a free people – no longer slaves of others. It would be a long infancy – once birth was assured. Jesus – God with us – is born, lives and dies that we might know we are born into freedom. He has painted our doorways with his own blood that me might go out and in and no longer be enslaved to whatever keeps us from living. We are no longer slaves to what the world thinks – we are freed to live into the one who created us. Into the image of God that each of us can be. In the footwashing – Jesus gives us a model of that freedom. Free to take any position in the community to serve God and neighbor. Even footwashing – in those days the lowest dirtiest job. In Eucharist God feeds us with his very essence – simple wine and bread – the fruits of creation. As the seed is scattered on the hillsides and plains, grows into a fruitful crop, is gathered and ground, kneaded and shaped, baked in the oven, then broken again to feed the world – so are we that bread. The grapes grow and are made into wine – the wine of the spirit – the blood of God – infuses our days with the joy and strength to step out in faith. And though we are all followers of Christ – we are also Judas – the betrayer – who dips his bread in the wine along with the others. Remember this as you dip your bread into the wine. We have the choice each day – betray or follow? Always forgiven when falling and renewed to start again. This is what we experience this night – the story of life and death and new life. It is what we know of our lives – lived out in our sacred meal that makes every meal sacred.

Palm Sunday: Hosanna

Readings are here.

Hosanna! We shout at the beginning of our liturgy - waving our palms. I always thought it meant something like Hallelujah but discovered that it means "Save us." Save us, save me! My question today is "Save us from what? for what?" What are the things you wish to be saved from? What do you want to be save for?

The people of Isaiah's time wanted to be saved from Exile. They wanted to be free, have their own country and temple again. They want to be saved from dispersion, to be kept together as a people, to be able to stay faithful to the one true God, to teach their children about God. They wanted to run their own lives, be free from living in a strange land.

The people of Jesus time wanted to be saved from oppression of a foreign government, they wanted a more fair system of wealth. In those days most lived in poverty with a few owning all the land and assets. Many were day laborers - just like those you see waiting on the corner to be picked up to work the orchards, strawberry or bean fields. Always worrying if they would have enough to feed their families at the end of each day. Even those who had jobs lived marginal lives. They wanted to have a life that was more than grinding poverty, to be able to raise and educate their children to have better lives.

The people of Paul's time wanted to learn about this person Jesus who revealed the nature of God as loving and compassionate and freeing. They did not want to suffer persecution for not worshipping the emperor. They wanted saving for a better life.

Jesus comes riding into our lives on a donkey. In the symbols of his day - he is using the symbol of a king returning from battle. Riding the donkey is a sign of peace. The war is over and peace is returning. It is an attempt to show the king as one of the people (reminds me of some politicians h/t to Maria Evans). So Jesus rides in with the message of peace. But this peace is not just absence of war but shalom - that peace of God that passes understanding, that peace that means well being for all people and the creation, the peace that offers life to all and life abundant.

What do you want saving from and saving for?

How do you see Jesus offering new life for you?

What is your prayer to Jesus?

MacCulloch/Kings debate Covenant on BBC

Bag of marbles or grapes - or Gadarene swine in slow motion?

Hysterical?

The Right Rev. Gregory Cameron- an architect and supporter of the Covenant has written reasons for voting yes. Published at the Fulcrum website he offers 5 points.

Cameron: 1. A covenant is the way we say we belong together.

Answer: 1. Can't we just say we belong together without a piece of paper?

Cameron: 2. The Covenant would restore trust.

Answer: 2. Doesn't seem to be working- so far it has made people more mistrustful and it is not even in effect yet.

Cameron: 3. The Covenant sets out our common ground.

Answer 3. While many agree about this, there is a non-Anglican emphasis on a literal reading of scripture as a primary source for decision making.

Cameron 4. Anglicanism has always sought out the middle way (the Via Media) to find a centre around which people can gather.

Answer: 4. And we have never had a covenant to find this middle way - an external piece of paper to force the middle way goes against our way of sorting it out.

Cameron 5. The Covenant offers a better way of doing business.

Answer: 5. Better? how? reduced to eternal squabbling instead of moving ahead in mission.

Other points: Cameron: So why the opposition? There has been some hysterical language from the “No to the Covenant” campaign, saying such things as the Covenant is institutionalised homophobia (It isn’t actually mentioned in the Covenant, which is designed to facilitate conversation on this subject among others) and that no cleric could feel safe in his or her own pulpit, but the objections seem to boil down to ...

We (No Anglican Covenant Coalition) are hysterical? Who is using red font? Not us.

It is a common tactic to accuse one's opponents of being hysterical when one has no real answer to the questions asked and facts presented. Read the rest of Bishop Cameron's essay and decide for yourself if he adequately responds to the questions and facts presented at the No Anglican Covenant: Anglicans for Comprehensive Unity web site The Revd Canon Dr Sarah Coakley, Norris-Hulse Professor of Divinity, Cambridge University, Church of England says:

“The disturbing theological vacuity of the Covenant document nonetheless comes with a hidden iron fist: do not be misled by its rhetoric of friendly collaboration between national churches,” writes Prof Coakley. “The Covenant bespeaks a quite different ecclesiology from that of Cranmer's ‘blessed company of all faithful people,’ and profoundly alters what it means to be Anglican. The deepest theological challenges of our day cannot be answered by hapless bureaucratic manipulations of our theological tradition.”