Ramblings With Lois

On Protest Movements

2012-01-25T09:01:00.002-05:00

I was watching a documentary on the public protests in the U.S.A. during the closing years of apartheid in South Africa, protests that eventually, without financial backing but only the will of the people, brought the U.S. Congress to overthrow President Reagan's veto of a bill to impose economic sanctions against South Africa.

As I watched, I was thinking throughout of the Occupy movement in this country and overseas, beginning with Occupy Wall Street. I was thinking of the attempts of some churches - St. Paul's Cathedral in London, Trinity Wall Street in the U.S. - to show support by making indoor spaces, on a schedule, available, or to limit the number of tents and tent dwellers.

Suddenly I saw what was and is happening: If you can say you are supportive, and here are some rooms you can use, but no space, or limited, controlled space for camping out in public in protest, then you have domesticated the movement and can guarantee making it invisible, thus pulling its teeth so in the end the protest and the movement behind it will have no effect at all.

This was tried again and again during the years of protest in this country against apartheid. From outright racist observations that black people should be about dealing with drug addiction and education among their own people instead of meddling in foreign policy (best to leave it to your betters, was the implication), to the President of the United States claiming that economic sanctions would hurt the very people we hoped to save, the goal was to pull the teeth of the anti-apartheid movement.

It failed.

Not Baltimore's year

2012-01-23T10:47:00.002-05:00

Well, the Baltimore Ravens lost to the N.E. Patriots yesterday.

I don't like sports, except for Formula 1 grand prix racing. I do like Baltimore - the Orioles and the Ravens. It's been a long dry spell. 2001 was the last time the Ravens went to the Super Bowl. Without them there, I will, of course, not be watching the Super Bowl, because it's not the sport, for me, it's the team.

But I have to say, the Ravens played a very good last game.

Quoth the raven, "On to New England!"

2012-01-15T16:13:00.002-05:00

The Baltimore Ravens have just defeated the Houston Texans in the divisional playoff.

Now they go on to play the New England Patriots, and from there, to the Super Bowl.

With absolutely no apology to my friends, colleagues and parishioners here in Connecticut, I will be rooting for Baltimore all the way!

Epiphany sermons

2012-01-09T12:44:00.003-05:00

Here is the link to the sermon I preached yesterday, Sunday, January 8th, for the Feast of the Epiphany, the 10:00 service of Holy Communion.

http://gracenorwalk.blogspot.com/2012/01/epiphany.html

I also presented the first Sunday afternoon Protestant Christian evening service of prayers at Norwalk Hospital yesterday, at 3:30. Here is the link to my message for that service.

http://gracenorwalk.blogspot.com/2012/01/epiphany-message-for-norwalk-hospital.html

Snark revisited

2012-01-04T16:33:00.003-05:00

I have my answer to why it's okay, if you're a young woman in your twenties to park blocking access to and egress from my driveway: "You know what?" Today's parker said, "It didn't hurt you."

There you have it. So long as something you want to do does not hurt anyone else, it's okay to do it. Rudeness and inconsideration notwithstanding.

I had read in an article in a past issue of Christian Century that this is the moral compass of the current young adults - okay to do it so long as you don't hurt anyone else. In theory, this didn't matter to me, until I realized my experiences over the past eight months are an object lesson in this moral compass.

Now, as for the adult male construction workers who can't see that the end of their truck is blocking my driveway, well, that's another matter. I'm tempted to park on the street, in front of my own sidewalk. Trust me - if I do that, I'll be the only person in all of Norwalk to be ticketed for blocking a driveway! Of course, I'm assuming that is still a law. OCICBW...

Now, how come I don't get any little smiley face emoticons with this program? : )

First snark of the year

2012-01-02T19:06:00.001-05:00

Please tell me, why is that people cannot tell they are blocking a driveway, even when there is a car in the driveway? If they do know they are blocking a driveway and do it anyway, why is that okay?

9th Day of Christmas

2012-01-02T16:52:00.003-05:00

New Year's weekend I spent in New York with family. On Friday we went to The Rubin Museum of Art for the current Himalayan Art installation. I had my breath taken away by some of the works I saw. I was also horrified by the one painted wood figure clothed in the flayed skins of humans with their heads still attached.

One floor had figures and paintings of the young Buddha. Another was an exhibit of art representing the kings of a mythical kingdom, each of them surrounded by differing numbers of those who had achieved enlightenment. At some point I found I was uneasy that not one of the enlightened ones were women. Later, as I reconnected with my nieces, one of them told me that she was enjoying the exhibits until she realized there were no portrayals of women except as consorts and a couple of dieties, either dancing on a recumbent man or as what we would see as monsters.

This was our experience. Yes, we brought our modern expectations with us. Yes, we saw the art in its own context and appreciated it. And yes, too much of it became oppressive to us as modern day women.

Next, we went to The Tank, a small not-for-profit theatre on the 8th floor of some building off Times Square. We were there to see Scott Blakeman, stand up comic, and a "panel of liberals and conservatives from the media, the arts and politics". It was a mix of comedy and serious political conversation. One of the panel was a woman, a Catholic and a physicist and ethicist, who has been on an important panel that most recently made ethical recommendations to the current Pope regarding stem cell research. Again, my niece, although the woman was a self-described conservative while saying that these labels are no longer useful, found herself in sympathy with what she was saying.

That is, until the young - and she was very young, and very tiny and beautiful - woman, in an interruptive comment to what one man, another Catholic, was saying about the need for abortion to available to women who have been raped, said that, well, the human body is very adept at defending itself and only a tiny percentage of rapes will result in pregnancy.

My niece shut down. Of course. Because even is only one woman in the entire course of history becomes pregnant as the result of rape, that is too many.

So, all this proved to be the background for a sudden, late night challenge to me: How could I, a woman, be a Christian and, worse, serve a Christian church, when Christianity and Judaism before it have been horrible to women, have virtually no positive images of women in their scriptures compared to men, and even in modern times persist in being dismissive of women when, without women, their religions wouldn't even exist because men just plain don't go to church in enough numbers to matter?

Again, this is not an occasion to fact check. Perception is 100% of reality. And I have to agree that we do not have an acceptable record with regard to women. Even when a positive female role model arises in scripture, we dismiss it - ie Mary Magdalene becomes portrayed as a prostitute, where there is no evidence at all that this was the case, and her position as first apostle, the first one sent out by Christ to carry the Good News of the resurrection, is ignored when it comes time to ordain women.

My niece has a point. I am never going to be able to break through her perception. Why should I? She's right.

I can only do what I am compelled to do. I serve Christ as a priest in The Episcopal Church. Sometimes I don't know why. Sometimes I do. I cannot and will not try to defend the record on women in the Jewish and Christian scriptures. There is little defense, and what is there continues to be downplayed.

Meanwhile, I have a sermon to prepare, on The Epiphany. And a congregation to serve at a time in history when the very way we are church no longer works and is changing.

Rock on.

Happy New Year!

2012-01-01T06:56:00.002-05:00

Well, it's 2012. Now what?

Is this a nice, clean, blank sheet of paper to work with?

Or is it the cumulative mess of the preceding years and centuries for us to continue to deal with?

Would that it were the former.

Another annual chance to begin again, to start all over, to wipe the slate and begin to dream and to build those dreams.

The Feast Day of St. Stephen

2011-12-26T08:42:00.002-05:00

St. Stephen, first deacon in the early Christian ecclesia, the community of Christ.

And the first martyred for Christ.

Celebrated on the first day after Christmas Day, December 26.

To all deacons, a Happy Feast Day on the occasion of the day of your patron.

To all priests, who were ordained deacon before being priested, may we remember those vows we first took.

To the Church Universal, may we remember that Stephen forgave his murderers. "Lord, do not hold this sin against them." (Acts 7:60)

Neither hold against us our sins against one another in your name.

Blessed Stephen, pray for us.

HAPPY CHRISTMAS!

2011-12-25T14:19:00.001-05:00

Advent Journal 13

2011-12-23T16:16:00.003-05:00

A few nights ago our night hospitality volunteer phoned to say that as he was locking up and checking the building before leaving for the night, he heard a noise in the downstairs kitchen. He phoned the rectory. My spouse went over and they searched together. They found a homeless man making a sleeping place for himself, in the rain, in an alcove off the back of the building against the furnace room. The loud bang had been the broken table, left outside for later pick up, that he was trying to muscle around as a roof. The man had a walker.

He was outside. He was no danger to the building. He was given food and some moving blankets and left where he was comfortable.

The following morning I saw him - the walker was the giveaway - getting ready to leave.

Now, before you raise the alarm because he wasn't invited to doss down inside the building, the primary reason is that in case of a fire, he might not be able to get out in time, nor would the fire company know there was anyone inside. The other is that some people are outside because they cannot abide closed places.

This morning I was walking the labyrinth on the parking lot. I had gotten halfway around on the first lap when I saw a man or woman, impossible to tell, talking to the building, waving arms, arguing. I didn't notice the hawks on the steeple cross until I saw the person, then one of the hawks took flight and I saw the second one up on the cross.

I watched the person apparently holding a heated conversation with the front wall of the church. After about ten minutes of just standing there in place, I left the labyrinth, walked through the small parking lot to the left, and around back toward the main parking lot, so I could see the talking person. That was when I saw the walker. The man was talking with the unhoused church sleeper guy, whose name, by the way, is Michael.

At 8:50 when I was finished walking the labyrinth, I saw Michael preparing to leave. As he headed down the two steps with the help of his walker, I watched from my distance in case anything should happen to him. Actually, he could have reached the sidewalk by taking the walkway around the steps, but he seemed adept at walkering stairs. He reached the sidewalk, took a sip from a Dunkin' Donuts cup and boarded the bus which had just reached the corner in front of the church.

In scripture, Michael is an Archangel, the one who leads the forces of God for protection.

In my mythology, hawks are signs of God's presence. Two hawks at once are, well, doubly powerful.

An hour later I was talking with my spouse on the phone and he told me that when he left for work this morning at 7 he saw Michael sleeping in front of the church doors, under the overhang. It was raining again. I said, "Good. I'm glad he's still with us."

Now, what are we going to do about this, dear reader? How are we going to greet this latest invitation from God to open our doors, spend ourselves prodigally, give ourselves away with no thought for ourselves, and make a place where an unhoused person, man or woman, able or differently abled can make a home?

"The sparrow has found her a house and the swallow a nest where she may lay her young, by the side of your altars, O God of hosts, my Ruler and my God." (Psalm 84:2)

Advent Journal 12

2011-12-21T06:54:00.002-05:00

L'heure bleu

That brief time of the morning - today it is 6:55 a.m. - when the sky turns cobalt. Those brief minutes before any light appears on the horizon. The true herald of dawn is l'heure bleu.

Dark objects are blackest black against that cobalt backdrop. The very air is blue. White objects are tinged with cobalt. My favorite shade of blue.

Even on this rainy morning, the sky is cobalt, the white garage and the water tub in the back yard are blue. And just a few minutes later, gone, as the sky lightens toward dawn.

Advent Journal 11

2011-12-18T07:42:00.001-05:00

O Root of Jesse, you stand for an ensign of the people; before you, the rulers will shut their mouths; and for you the nations will seek: come and deliver us, and do not tarry.

Vestry meeting today after worship.

Advent Journal 10

2011-12-16T19:34:00.002-05:00

"...the task of the church is to see what God is doing, and join in." (Thinking Anglicans : O Sapientia)

What is God doing in Norwalk?

What is God doing at Grace?

Advent Journal 9

2011-12-15T19:29:00.002-05:00

Thursday in the week of Advent 3, December 15, 2011

I've taken up reading Jurgen Moltmann's The Coming of God: Christian Eschatology. Wow! It's a great read. Now, it's not all systematic theologians about whom a person can say that. Of course, I've been a fan of Moltmann's theology for a long time. This one is great Advent reading.

Advent Journal 8

2011-12-13T08:53:00.003-05:00

Tuesday December 13 2011

I have to confess, I worked well after 9:00 last night on the bulletin for Sunday, December 25, Christmas Day. I got inspired, my creativity took me over, and I completed a service of readings and carols and villancicos over which I'm looking forward to presiding. It helps that I have found a way of transporting to the bilingual bulletin the Spanish version of the bidding prayers and the Christmas blessing.

So I am unapologetic towards myself for breaching my Advent discipline. I woke feeling more joyful and positive than I have in awhile. My creative genii was still with me. I did wait until full light this morning to give it full reign. Then I proceeded to draw up the entire bulletin for New Year's Day, Sunday, January 1 - The Feast of the Holy Name of Jesus. Brilliant.

I did realize as I sat down to Morning Prayer that I had not read Vespers or Compline yesterday. Each day is a new start. The previous day is over. Tomorrow is not yet here. Let today be sufficient for me, O Lord my God.

Advent Journal 7

2011-12-11T15:56:00.002-05:00

Sunday Advent 8 December 11, 2011

"What can I give him, poor as I am?

If I were a shepherd, I would give a lamb.

If I were a Wise Man, I would do my part.

Yet, what I can, I give Him: give my heart."

Christina Rossetti

Advent Journal 6

2011-12-10T16:25:00.002-05:00

December 10 2011

Today was the fourth annual Christmas Play, Pray and Learn, featuring a visit from Bishop Nicholas of Myra (died in the fourth century), the story of our Christmas customs, and the story of and veneration of Our Lady of Guadalupe, whose feast is on December 12.

It was a marvelous morning. The kids were great and they had a wonderful time. Lots of adults making lunch in the kitchen. Men working out how to get the traditional Guadalupana music online for the veneration service. A great time was had by all.

If you were there helping, thank you, everyone! ¡Muchas gracias!

Oh yeh, did I say, all of the children were latinos/latinas from Iglesia Betania and San Lucas y San Pablo. 15 in all. I had a ball.

Now off to say Evening Prayer. God's Peace be with you.

Advent 5

2011-12-08T11:30:00.002-05:00

Wednesday December 7 2011

Today I observed my Advent discipline by keeping all four of the daily prayer offices. Doing pretty good about observing abstinence from working on the computer except during daylight hours.

Reading: Benjamin Franklin did not like "aliens" - non-English immigrants. Did you know that? He was especially down on the Germans, particularly those who were taking over Pennsylvania, which, he declared, was founded by the English and here come the Germans with their language and customs messing everything up.

Very interesting. So leave one country hundreds of years ago because of being treated as aliens in one's own land only to do the same to others not like oneself who come to that new land for the same reasons our English forebears did. I guess the apple really does not fall far from the tree.

I am really starting to see a theme to this Advent even in the magazine articles I read.

Advent Discipline Journal

2011-12-07T16:48:00.004-05:00

As of today, Wednesday Dec 7 2011 I have kept most of the Daily Office since Tuesday of the First Week of Advent. Since making a vow of discipline to not do church work on the computer between dark and full light each day during Advent, and to eschew social media and my blog for that time, I have succeeded about 80%. I just have to check in to see what others are saying and doing on Facebook!

Advent has always been a mystery to me. This year is no different. I have resumed blogging in order to journal those experiences that seem to be part of something mysterious going on. And to keep track of my chosen disciplines.

It is now full dark. Buenas noches. Hasta luego.

Advent Journal 4

2011-12-07T16:46:00.003-05:00

Wednesday December 7 2011

Today I was talking with one of the ESL teachers who has taught classes in English at the church where I serve. She hopes one day to branch out into lots of languages and to have true multiculturalism happening at this place.

Now, I ask, just what is going on here?

Advent Journal 3

2011-12-07T16:44:00.002-05:00

Monday, December 5 2011

This afternoon I learned that twelve years ago a man from the Church Mission Society came to this church where I now serve and asked if they would welcome a multicultural center here. The Society would provide all the staff. Since the church was between pastors, they said no at that time. The man retired and moved and so there was no more said.

Advent Journal 2

2011-12-07T16:42:00.002-05:00

Saturday December 3 2011

This morning I told The Divinity that we needed to see some money, some sign, in order to continue to work toward joining The Divinity's work here.

At lunch I learned that a woman had come into the church looking for a donation box, which we do not have. A parishioner was there and the woman handed him some folding money because she uses the parking lot often. Then she wrote a check for $25.00. She also filled out a prayer card.

Advent Journal

2011-12-07T16:40:00.001-05:00

Thursday December 1 2011

With great authority someone said today that he/she does not believe my church is called to multicultural ministry.

Closed for Advent

2011-12-01T17:30:00.002-05:00

Dear friends,

I am closing down for the rest of Advent. The mere thought of not blogging, not facebooking, not tweeting makes me feel so free that I have decided to do just that.

Maybe you'll see me again in January.

A blessed Advent, a happy Christmas, and a New Year filled with joy to you all.

The Word of the Day

2011-12-01T08:13:00.002-05:00

Rather than reinvent the wheel, I commend the following link for your Advent reflections.

The Word from the Society of St. John the Evangelist.

Advent Peace

2011-11-30T10:43:00.002-05:00

Advent, in the Christian tradition, is a time of getting ready to receive Jesus, the Christ. It is a time of remembering to always be ready for Jesus to show up anywhere, at anytime, not just in December. It is a time to prepare our hearts for the celebration of his birth on December 25th. It is a time to empty out some of the junk in our minds and hearts and spirits to make a little more space for God to get in and have a conversation with us.

I usually choose a discipline of scripture readings, devotional readings, and art to help me make that empty space in which God can take up residence, at least for awhile, until I fill that space up again with junk.

My Advent discipline this year is different from other years. Inspired by the Practicing Prayer group at my church, Grace Episcopal in Norwalk, Connecticut, I pledged to go without internet or computer from dark until full light each night and morning. This includes doing work on the computer - bulletins, sermons, etc.

Of course, I forgot my pledge, but mi esposo did not. He asked me about it last night at 8 p.m. as I sat down to do some computer stuff. And so, I finished what I was doing, hit "send" and walked away until 6:45 this morning.

And that was hard. When I get bored I head straight for the computer. Being bored is code for I don't want to do any other things that I might be doing, especially tending to my spiritual life. Last night I got out my 8 1/2 by 11 spiral school notebook, which I use for journaling, and began to write. Then I prayed compline and went to bed. This morning I began with journaling three pages of stream of consciousness stuff - mostly about a weird dream about being at a conference in England with Rowan Williams, Archbishop of Canterbury doing a series of talks, talks, talks - and then read Morning Prayer, did my exercises, made my tea, fed the dog, and then it was full light and I went straight to the computer to check emails!

Of which there were two. One of them "junk mail".

This discipline, or rule of life for Advent, includes no checking email or social networks on my iPhone. Meanwhile, the iPhone of mi esposo kept blinging every time he got mail and it was all I could do to not automatically reach for my own phone and check if I had anything.

So, this morning, my question is this: I'm an old person. I didn't grow up with electronic media except black and white television and the radio and a telephone on a party line (which means one line for several households!). So while I have grown accustomed to - some might say overly dependent on - the computer, it won't be quite so cutting as it might to a 20-something year old.
So I ask, if there is anyone who is has grown up totally connected who is reading this blog, what would it be like for you to totally unplug for, say 12 to 14 hours every night?

Of course, older people may also answer this question!

Blessed Advent to all, and to all an unplugged night!

It's Christmas! Isn't it?

2011-11-28T20:58:00.003-05:00

Today lighting decorations went up on my street. I first noticed it on the house just opposite - a very tasteful single strand of multicolor lights outlining the roof of the front porch.

And I like it.

Yes, it's Advent. Yes, I know about how early "secularization" decorating for Christmas robs Advent of its meaning, or so some think.

No, it doesn't do that for me. I still observe Advent. I love Advent. Early decorating won't make any difference to me.

Now, I may have written something like this in previous years, but this year it feels different. I realize how much I love lighting displays in this darkest time of the year. I realize that by October, when it's night, and I'm driving in the rain, and I approach the traffic lights and their reflections off the wet road, I feel Christmasy, and I like it. I know that the decorations and lights my neighbors put up today will be gone by Christmas day.

And if I get scroogy about those early lights, if I twist myself into a knot about the violation of Advent, I'll miss entirely something I love. My neighbors won't be celebrating Christmas for twelve days after the 25th. They've already had four weeks of it. So I will enjoy them now.

And so, I'm enjoying the lights. I'm enjoying extending my Christmas joy and mixing it with my Advent anticipation. And today I replied to the first "Merry Christmas", with a Merry Christmas of my own. And yes, we are going to light up a small fir tree in the front yard this week.

Slippery slope? Only if my mind allows it. And it won't. Because I love Advent, and the dark, and lighting small lights in the dark, to remind me of what it is for which I'm waiting.

What are you waiting for this end-of-the-year?

Thanksgiving Eve

2011-11-23T19:35:00.003-05:00

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone. I'm not cooking this year. We're going out to a restaurant and supporting the waitstaff, of which I was once one.

From the sermon Monday night at the Norwalk Interfaith Community Thanksgiving Service:

Thanksgiving isn't about how thankful you are for what you have. Thanksgiving is about what you have done or been that people are thankful for you, or what you have done, or been. (That's a paraphrase but that's the jist.)

Cheers!

Xena blogging

2011-11-20T16:03:00.002-05:00

I knew it was there before my human caretaker.

She had let me out into the backyard and I knew right away there was something back there. I took off, but it had the advantage over me. It can fly. I can't. A delicious squirrel was in its claws. It cleared the fence, turned left between the garage and the church, flew through the stand of red maples and perched way on the other side of the property. All I could do was watch.

My human was way behind. She didn't see it until it was in the air, after I had already realized I had lost the race to catch it on the ground.

Unfair. I've been trying to catch a squirrel for two years. I wonder how I can get wings and drop down on one and fly away with it.

Now, here's the mystery. I found the kill spot. Just a few fluffs of fur, and only one drop of blood, just starting to set up. How can that be?

Note from the human: It took me a few seconds to realize why Xena, Warrior Labrador Retriever Princess of All Norwalk, was running hell bent for leather off the porch and into the yard. I got to the deck and it was low off the ground and rising, with the squirrel dangling from its claws. All I could get for identification was it was a hawk the size of a buteo and had a heavily barred tail. For a birder, that's frustrating. Immature Red Tail? Red Shouldered? Or did I have it all wrong? Was it the Goshawk that breeds along the Rte 7 connector? It all happened so fast. I saw it land. By the time I went into the house for field glasses, it was already gone.

Mind you, this is in the middle of a city in Connecticut. 4:00 on a Sunday afternoon.

A path through the leaves

2011-11-17T08:43:00.003-05:00

This morning I was walking the prayer labyrinth painted on the Grace parking lot. As I walked, my mind was trying to untangle the best way to present the new Multicultural Ministry we are founding in a way that people would understand why, and to what purpose.

I looked over toward the part of the labyrinth where one of the Japanese maples had dropped nearly all its beautiful red leaves overnight, and I realized that part of the labyrinth was completely covered. I laughed, because, from where I was standing, I saw I would not be able to find the path when I got there.

However, I walked on, concentrating on my feet, and, I hope, God, and when I got to the part of the labyrinth that was under leaf cover, I realized that bits of the painted path peaked through the leaves just enough so I could see the path and its directional breaks.

And I thought, "Aha! such a metaphor!" And so, we proceed on the path toward being one of the few places in Fairfield County, and in Connecticut, where the Episcopal Church has a presence among Hispanic/Latino people. Even though we have no money to do so. Even though the path appears to be totally obscured.

But maybe not so obscured as we think.

Cross posted from Episcopal Cafe - The Church has left the building

2011-11-16T15:59:00.003-05:00

Go to Episcopal Cafe through this link and watch this video. It is very thought provoking.

I wrote down four phrases while I watched the first time.

"Hebrews and Brews" Bible study

"The church has left the building."

"Think outside the box.

Where are the people?"

"Collaborate and possibly fail."

Hey out there, to those who read here and belong to other churches or institutions. How can we collaborate for the good of all?

Those of you in churches on the edge of closing: Are you willing to take risks and fail and try again and again?

Would any of you out there go to a Bible study if it was held at Dunkin' Donuts or O'Neill's Pub?

Thought for the day, from my cousin

2011-11-16T08:27:00.003-05:00

My cousin Linda Jennings Wilk posted this on facebook.

"We are blessed to be gathered as a people who are called to listen deeply to the Word: as it was spoken to those who came long before us, who ministered and wrote what was told to them, as it comes to us when we are gathered in worship and waiting for revelation, and we must especially be alert to remember that God will continue to reveal the Truth to us ongoing, so that nothing will be set in stone. Just as our lives continue to unfold, so God is still speaking."

Your comments are invited.

The forgotten?

2011-11-11T18:30:00.002-05:00

Every Veterans' Day I remember those who served democracy and did not fight.

This year I remember my father, William Paul Thien. He served as a civilian working for Douglas Aircraft in Eritrea and Ethiopia during WWII.

While en route east on the U.S.S. Chateau Thierry, between May 29, 1942 to July 24, 1942, he assisted the ship's company in "operating, maintaining and protecting this vessel...during which time the ship passed through hazardous waters."

"The United States then being in a state of war, this voluntary service on his part was in accordance with the best tradition of the United States Navy, therefore, as Commanding Officer of this vessel, I take great pleasure in commending and thanking him for his services as a member of the lookout and plane watch, which were beyond the normal call of his duties".

The commendation for my dad, dated July 24 1942, is on the letterhead of the U.S.S. Chateau Thierry and signed by B.W. Cloud, Commander, U.S. Navy, Commanding, and attested by G. F. Prestwich, Lieut. Commander, USNR, Executive Officer.

After Africa, my dad was transferred to Wendover Air Base, Utah, to complete some modifications to the B29s. The war ended shortly after I was born in Wendover.

Thank you to all the civilians.

November 11 - St. Martin of Tours

2011-11-11T07:47:00.002-05:00

Today is the feast day of Martin of Tours. You can read his bio and legend, by James Kiefer, here.

The core story is that, as a young man, Martin was a soldier. One day he encountered a beggar at a city gate. It was a freezing cold day and Martin, in a fit of compassion, took off his cloak, cut it in half and gave half to the beggar.

That night Martin dreamed that he saw Jesus wearing the half of his cloak, and heard Jesus saying that it had been given to him by Martin, a soldier and a non-Christian.

Shortly after, Martin was baptized and became a Christian.

As Kiefer writes, today being Veteran's Day in the U.S., and Armistice Day elsewhere:

"The Feast of Martin, a soldier who fought bravely and faithfully in the service of an

earthly sovereign, and then enlisted in the service of Christ, is also the day of the

Armistice which marked the end of the First World War. On it we remember those

who have risked or lost their lives in what they perceived as the pursuit of justice and peace."

The Faithful Departed

2011-11-06T20:48:00.002-05:00

This evening I was posting my sermon from this morning on the Sermon Blog and I decided to follow up on someone from my past who I had named as one of the faithful departed ones who bequeathed to me gifts that have made me who I am.

The person I named in my sermon was my music teacher in junior high school. When I was older I learned that he had become a woman, at a time when that was just not done. She lost her job and never worked as a teacher again because of being true to herself as God had intended her to be.

When I looked her up online I found this article. My music teacher was more of a hero than I had thought. She wrote a book titled A Handbook for Transsexuals.

When we were kids in Mr. Grossman's music classes, we made fun of him. He was a little, round man who wore patent leather Italian shoes that came to a point at the toes and he had a way of conducting that was eminently mockable for ten and eleven year olds. We had no idea what we were doing.

In my sermon this morning I credited Miss Grossman for giving me the gift of bravery.

Paula Grossman died in 2003, eight years ago. Thank you, Miss Grossman.
Rest eternal grant unto her, O God, and may light perpetual shine upon her.
May her soul, and the souls of all the departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace.

O Happy Day!

2011-11-01T06:54:00.002-04:00

For all the saints, who from their labors rest,

to thee by faith before the world confessed,

thy Name, O Jesus, be forever blessed. Alleluia!

Happy All Saints' Day! ¡Feliz día de todos los santos!

Holy October, Batman!

2011-10-29T08:44:00.003-04:00

UPDATED at 1:34 U.S. DST

It's October 29, the last Saturday of October, the last Saturday before Hallowe'en, and the day of our annual celebration at Grace Episcopal Church, Norwalk, with Iglesia Episcopal Betania.

The Hallowe'en Party for All Ages is today at 10:00 and we're under a winter storm advisory, a flood watch, and a wind advisory. Good grief.

Well, the church will be open. The party goodies will be set out. If anyone comes, we shall do crafts, hear the True Story of Hallowe'en, read about the Witch of Endor and the Dry Bones, and have a comfort lunch of mac and cheese and tomato soup.

For me, one of the high holy days of the year, All Hallows - when the light of the early pre-Christian bonfires meet the Light of Christ. ¡Celebramos!

UPDATE - The party was awesome! At first the adults outnumbered the kids - three kids and at least six adults. We did crafts. We read stories. We heard the scriptures about the Witch of Endor, the Valley of Dry Bones, and Michael defeating the Devil, and we heard the true story of Hallowe'en. Then we played some games, had lunch, and while we were eating the rest of the kids arrived, two of them from a totally different church - way cool! After more crafts and games, everyone went trick or treating in the Memorial Room, going from station to station getting goodies.

Great party. Great helpers. Great food. Really Great Kids! Thank you everyone!

Word for today

2011-10-26T09:30:00.003-04:00

From Canticle 11 in the Episcopal Church Book of Common Prayer, the Third Song of Isaiah:

Arise, shine, for your light has come, *
and the glory of the Lord has dawned upon you.

For behold, darkness covers the land; *
deep gloom enshrouds the peoples.

But over you the Lord will rise, *
and his glory will appear upon you.

Nations will stream to your light, *
and kings to the brightness of your dawning.

Your gates will always be open; *
by day or night they will never be shut.

Rebuild my House

2011-10-23T07:06:00.003-04:00

Haggai 1:1-9

1 In the second year of King Darius, in the sixth month, on the first day of the month, the word of the LORD came by the prophet Haggai to Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua son of Jehozadak, the high priest: 2 Thus says the LORD of hosts:These people say the time has not yet come to rebuild the LORD's house. 3 Then the word of the LORD came by the prophet Haggai, saying: 4 Is it a time for you yourselves to live in your paneled houses, while this house lies in ruins? 5 Now therefore thus says the LORD of hosts:Consider how you have fared. 6 You have sown much, and harvested little; you eat, but you never have enough; you drink, but you never have your fill; you clothe yourselves, but no one is warm; and you that earn wages earn wages to put them into a bag with holes.
7 Thus says the LORD of hosts:Consider how you have fared. 8 Go up to the hills and bring wood and build the house, so that I may take pleasure in it and be honored, says the LORD. 9 You have looked for much, and, lo, it came to little; and when you brought it home, I blew it away. Why? says the LORD of hosts. Because my house lies in ruins, while all of you hurry off to your own houses.

It is said that St. Francis of Assisi had a vision of Jesus as he prayed in the ruins of a church, San Damiano, outside Assisi. In the vision Jesus said, "Francis, go and repair my house which, as you can see, is falling into ruins."

Francis thought Jesus meant him to rebuild the church of San Damiano, so he rebuilt it. However, as his life of poverty developed, he came to understand that Jesus had no asked him to restore ruined buildings but to rebuild the Body of Christ, the Church writ large. Francis was asked to rebuild and renew Christianity.

In the Gospel of John, Jesus says, "I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinegrower. He removes every branch in me that bears no fruit. Every branch that bears fruit he prunes to make it bear more fruit."

Do you notice he doesn't say the dead wood is pruned. He says that the branches that bear fruit are pruned so they will bear more fruit. The dead branches are simply removed.

Today all Christian communities, of whatever denomination, are being asked by Jesus to rebuild - not our crumbling buildings which no one can afford, but Christianity itself. What are the dead branches in our Christian life? Where we have born fruit, how are we being pruned in order to bear more fruit?

In our Episcopalian churches we are being challenged by dwindling worshipers, dwindling revenues, increasing costs to keep open our huge, honking buildings built to the glory of God. More important, however, much more important, we are being challenged with how, or even if, we have preached the Gospel, the Good News of Christ to date, and how we can preach that ancient Gospel today.

What would be Good News for a person in their late teens, early twenties, who have bought the message from our U.S. American culture that individualism is supreme, that whatever seems right to an individual is moral and that the only immorality is to judge another's moral relativity? Who has bought into the religion called consumerism, which teaches them that the only sin is being in debt.? Who has bought into a definition of abundant life that does not seek transcendence nor the public good, but to buy whatever you want so long as you can afford it? Who are driven to heavy drinking and unbounded sexual activity and at the same time purport to have no regrets? Who have, until the Occupy Wall Street movement, been politically uninterested?

The poor we always have with us because we do nothing to change the circumstances of our culture and our society to make poverty impossible. The sick, ditto. The oppressed, I regret to say, in increasing categories. But what of those who today believe they have no need of the Gospel of Jesus, that God love unconditionally, that God became one of us that we might be joined, reconciled, to God because we can't do it for ourselves, that the beloved Child of God, Jesus, died and descended into hell to bring up those who have been condemned?

And would good news for the rich be the same as good news for the poor, the lost, the sick, the oppressed, and the current generation of emerging adults who have drunk the Kool Aid of individualism and consumerism?

And what about those of us who are already baptized into Christ's body, those of us who call ourselves Christians, what is our Good News? Our Good News is the same as it was for St. Francis: Go and repair my house which, as you can see, is falling into ruins.

That which we see as disaster - the pruning of our finances and people, the burden of our buildings, the cutting out of dead wood - is our Good News, done so we might go out and rebuild the true house of God: Not Christianity itself, but the restoration and reconciliation of all humankind to one another, to creation, and to God>

How will we do that? WILL we do that? Or shall we continue to wring our hands over what once was? By all means, sit in ashes and weep, and then, get up, rise, and walk.

Haggai 2:1, 4-5

In the second year of King Darius, in the seventh month, on the twenty-first day of the month, the word of God came by the prophet Haggai, saying: Yet now take courage...take courage all you people of the land, says the LORD; work, for I am with you, says the LORD of hosts, according to the promise that I made you when you came out of Egypt. My spirit abides among you; do not fear.

Do not fear. Get up and walk. Get up and get to work.

Bring your own brain

2011-10-18T13:19:00.002-04:00

I've been challenged recently with a phrase I use to describe the Episcopal Church, as a church where a person doesn't have to check their brain at the door, and I've often wanted to start a "Bring your own brain Bible study".

So I've been thinking how I could explain what I mean by these brain statements to people who have taken offense at them. And it's this:

Once, when I was a seminarian intern, I learned that, where I was serving, the Episcopal priest had the final say in what a passage in the scriptures meant. In fact, that was what Bible study was: the priest teaching about the scriptures and telling people what they meant.

Now, never mind that the same priest had in fact changed his mind on scriptural meaning from time to time. When a parishioner asked me to tell her what a passage meant, and I asked her what she heard in it and what it meant to her, she was adamant, and so was my supervising priest, that it would be my job, as a priest, to tell people authoritatively what a passage means, full stop. Forget what the lay person might hear in the passage.

I call that having to check one's brain at the door. The Bible printed in English for the first time meant that these scriptures were openly available to everyone, not just the ordained. The consequence was surely going to be that lay people would have their own opinion on what scriptures meant, and they might disagree with the official line of the Church. My take is, Good!

Second example, I remember my now late cousin, a Roman Catholic, who was a man, saying that he hoped he never had to listen to a sermon delivered by a woman, because no woman was ever going to tell him how to think. On probing, I found that this what sermons in his RC church were - the priest telling the people how to think. Whether this was what was actually happening, this is what my cousin wanted and perceived he was getting, so he was checking his brain at the door.

As a lay person, long before I even thought about becoming an ordained clergyperson, I was charged with teaching the five session Scripture portion of a 12 week training for lay people preparing to become Lay Readers, which included planning non-Eucharistic services and giving Holy Communion.

After three sessions, I noticed that one man never took part in any of the discussions. I asked if there was anything I could do. He said, Oh, no, please don't misunderstand. I was raised Roman Catholic. We never even got to read the Bible for ourselves. The priests told us what they thought we needed to know. So all this is entirely new to me and I'm just sitting here absorbing it all like a sponge without even breathing much less speaking.

I've never forgotten that.

Maybe there is a better phrase than not checking one's brain, or bringing one's own brain. I use those phrases because there are people out there who are desperate to be released from what they experience not as Christ's freedom but shackles. I'll work on what phrase I might use instead. Meanwhile, liberating the brains of the laity from the prison of being told what to think and believe is what I have been called to do. So I shall, and I will, continue to do so.

Hero

2011-10-17T07:53:00.003-04:00

Dan Wheldon, IndyCar driver, died yesterday, Sunday, in a horrific 15 car crash caused by two cars ahead of him touching.

Read Jay Hart's full story about Dan and his life and death here.

Dan came from Emberton, England. He was driving go-karts from age 4 and at age 21 came to the U.S. and landed in IndyCar. He won the Indianapolis 500 twice, in 2005 and 2011. But, as Jay Hart points out, in a sport which values sponsorship over talent, he was without a job. He was driving yesterday only because some person funded a promotion to bring attention to the series. The promotion was for non-regular drivers and Dan, without a sponsor or a team, qualified. He had to start at the back of the pack, and had worked his way up ten spots when the two cars ahead of him touched and that was that.

My husband, Newlin, says that the IndyCar sport has gotten too dangerous. The cars are now too fast for the shortness of the oval track on which they race. They are all identical, and all it takes is two cars touching wheels ever so slightly to cause the kind of crash we saw yesterday.

Read the entire article at the link. Dan was a good man. He deserves our attention. Rest in peace, Dan, and may flights of angels sing thee to thy rest.

Pensée

2011-10-14T17:16:00.003-04:00

I know why I'm driven to paint, or pastel, or drawing, or even photography. I've always known it. It's about possession. I'm driven to possess - to capture and possess - a color, a feeling of light, an impression, a thought. It's not about the object. It's about what light does to it, or shadow, or interplay of colors.

And I can never get it right. And I just hate it when it finally changes and is lost forever.

This time of year is the hardest. The bright yellow of the leaves where the sun strikes them directly, the darker yellow - almost a peachy yellow - where the light is indirect, the faint hint of pink along the edges of just a few leaves, the interplay of all those shades among themselves.

And worst of all, most painful, is the inability of catching pure light itself. There's a light that's like it's coming through water or glass. It happens in the morning, as summer wanes. It's so clear, so pure. And even a photo won't catch it.

This is what it's like to have God always receding into distance ahead of one, enticing and never satisfying, never to be owned or possessed but always driving one onward in spite of oneself.

Steve Jobs 1955-2011

2011-10-06T08:24:00.001-04:00

"Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart."

Bumper sticker of the day

2011-10-03T13:34:00.000-04:00

Life begins at the end of your comfort zone.

Paradox of the day

2011-10-03T06:00:00.002-04:00

Yesterday I went to Stew Leonard's to pick up a couple of decorative pumpkins and a chrysanthemum plant for the season. People were being kind and respectful in spite of it being crowded. In the parking lot pushing my trolley back to the car otherwise tense atmosphere of cars and pedestrians and children all having different purposes did nothing to lesses the smiles and camaraderie that marked the hunt for holiday decorations.

I found myself contrasting this experience with last Christmas at the same Stew Leonard's. Stews had a flawless system set up for choosing and then picking up Christmas trees, and for negotiating the holiday decoration shop. But the atmosphere of the shoppers was tense, competitive, cranky, to say the least.

So-called pagan holiday - happy people. So-called religious holiday - crabbiness in the extreme. Why, given how tense the run up to Christmas makes us, why do we do it to ourselves? Why do we load up December with such high, unreachable expectations? Why, even though we know we're going to stress ourselves to the nth degree, do we not do something to change that?

I'm beginning to see why Hallowe'en is my favorite religious holiday. And I wonder, as a priest, what I can engineer this year to support people in paring back on meeting all the expectations that the Christmas holiday brings.

Random thought

2011-10-02T16:02:00.002-04:00

I read, somewhere, recently that politicians, always having their eye on the next election, are very attentive to - even maybe afraid of - what their public have to say. That is why it is important to be informed ourselves and to contact our legislators and mayors, governors and president when we have an opinion on how we would want things to go.

The thing that stood out for me in whatever it was I read is that politicians respond to grass roots organizing - like the sit-ins in Wisconsin over labor rights. I have been reminded of this because of the occupation of Wall Street in New York City this week. The occupation has its own website, here. I haven't read what the people are protesting, but I see the protest has spread to Boston.

As an aging hippie, I remember those days when my generation sat-in in protest against the Vietnam War and marched against racism. Most recently I've noticed a lot of television air time reliving the music of Pete Seeger and Bob Dylan (the early Dylan of my day).

Whether it's sit-ins or occupying territory or writing letters and making phone calls, while still maintaining separation of Church and State, this blog reminds its readers that democracy is not a spectator sport. Democracy is hard work. It requires participation and whatever I may believe about the Wall Street occupation, or the Tea Party, these are examples of participation in the process of democracy.

You have a choice. Complain, or speak up.

In case you don't know where to start, the Episcopal Church makes it easy. General Convention has in most years passed resolutions stating the mind of Convention with regard to a variety of public issues - racism, reproductive rights, poverty, etc. To put our money, so to speak, where our mouth is, TEC has provided the Episcopal Public Policy Network so you can find what the Church says about things, and then make your own decision on what you want to write or phone to your congressperson.

If you sign up with EPPN, they will send you emails on a green background (because before the internet they used to send out green postcards!) advising you of bills coming up for votes in the House or the Senate, or anything else that you might want to take a stand on. If you agree with TEC's take on the issue, you can even write your congressperson with a simple click of the mouse. The point being, if you want democracy, TEC makes it easy for you to know about issues and do something about participating in the process.

Democracy is work. Make up your own mind what you are going to do about it.

St. Sergius

2011-09-24T08:28:00.003-04:00

Tomorrow is the feast day of St. Sergius (d. 1392). Because tomorrow is Sunday, his feast will not be celebrated, so this blog celebrates him today.

Go to this link to read all about Sergius.

The collect, that is, the prayer for this day is:

O Most Holy God, you call us to turn away from worldly wealth and to follow you in love and obedience: Give us grace to follow the example of your servant Sergius of Moscow, whose gentleness of life and faithfulness to his native Russia inspired many to commit themselves to a deeper spiritual life in the midst of troubled times; through our Savior Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Sergius had a special devotion for the Holy Trinity. Thus, the icon pictured to the left of the article linked above bears in the upper left hand corner the Trinity as depicted in the icon by Rublev.

I mention Sergius today because in western Christianity, this season, autumn, the season of harvest, is also the season of stewardship for the churches.

Stewardship has come to mean time to pledge your money to the church you attend, for the spread of the word of God, to keep the building open, and to support the priest/minister and programs.

Stewardship, however, reflected in the life of St. Sergius, is so different. It was about using his gifts and talents of scholarship, poverty, love and devotion to the Trinity to draw all people to Christ Jesus. His preference was for the solitary life, but he recognized God's call when people began to be drawn to live with Sergius the life he had given to God. Hence, stewardship of his life was, for Sergius, a giving over of his desires for the sake of the Gospel.

To the churches I say, stop your pledge campaigns. You all of you know what is needed is you want your church to stay open, to have clergy, and to do whatever it is you are doing in your individual congregations to serve Christ. Therefore don't waste your time reminding one another that nothing you own is yours; it is all on loan to you by God for the work of God's mission in the world of reconciliation, restoration and transformation. Don't waste your time telling one another how much it costs to run a church so give until it hurts. All that is a waste of your time.

Instead, consider how your life is being spent. Consider how your life reflects Christ Jesus to the world. Consider how you use what God has lent you to feed the hungry, visit the sick and imprisoned and lonely, heal and sustain the unemployed and underemployed, and restore yourself and all you know and don't yet know to wholeness with God in Christ through the power of the Holy Spirit.

And I tell you right up front: I for one fall woefully short on all counts. May God have Mercy on me, and on us all.

2011-09-21T06:27:00.002-04:00

With a hat tip to Episcopal Cafe, Bp. Marc Andrus of California writes on his blog from the House of Bishops meeting in Quito, Ecuador about the second day of the meeting:

' The opening song had this refrain: "May we always have hearts without doors; may we always have open hands". I remembered what I learned this past spring about the Guarani people, they call themselves the people with open hands. What that means is that as they receive something - money, material possessions, emotional investment, ideas - they are thinking about how they can enhance the gift, and pass it on.

The Guarani, through several centuries of experience with colonizing Western culture have learned to call us the people of the closed hands; people who immediately invest energy in how to hold onto possessions of all kinds.'

I am particularly taken by the concept of ideas as gift, and enhancing and passing on the idea as a gift.

Bits and pieces

2011-09-21T06:11:00.003-04:00

Monday was national "Talk like a pirate" day and I missed it. Aaaarrrgggghhhh!

A satellite is hurtling toward earth and so far no one knows where it will hit.

Yahoo!Mail went to a new, so-called updated format and it's total rubbish but it's a done deal.

We're in for at least five days of rain and Friday bears a red warning of torrential rains possible.

"Don't ask, don't tell" in the U.S. American military died yesterday, thanks be to God.

One out of five ain't bad!

Pathos

2011-09-15T09:08:00.004-04:00

Yesterday, under comment moderation, I stopped a comment from one of the blogosphere's trolls. He wrote, "Your church is pathetic...".

Now, I have no idea what he/she means by that. It is not the first time I have seen the identical comment, here in comment moderation and on other blogs who let trolls run free for a limited time until they get boring.

There are a number of ways in which the trolls mean our church, or the church, or Christianity, is pathetic. The first is the camp that adheres to the belief that satan has taken over all the churches in Christendom and we are all damned, but that we clergy still have work to do, in that we are to preach relentlessly that satan is running the churches, you are all damned, and there is absolutely no way for you and me to be saved. That's troll #1.

The next meaning is directed specifically at The Episcopal Church, in that we are pathetic because we have abandoned scripture by embracing gay, lesbian, transgendered, bisexual and other people as beloved children of God, with a claim on salvation equal to that of those of us who are heterosexual and that we find it in our hearts to bless same sex unions and even marriages. For this troll we are pathetic because we delude ourselves into thinking TEC will grow when actually the trolls' job is to demoralize us into believing that our embrace of all people including gays and lesbians and heterosexuals will cause everyone to abandon us until we disappear completely from the earth.

A third troll is a subset of the second. Our embrace of all people, this troll shouts (yes, it is possible to shout even with the written word!) is a lie, that we are uniformly lily white and European and we don't really want people of any other culture or race in our churches and no one of another culture or race would want to be in our lily white churches. To which the congregation I serve would express great surprise, especially those from Caribbean countries and Africa and Central and South America who not worship with Europeans but continually shape and change who and what we are as Christians.

A fourth troll is the kind that believes individual churches are pathetic - ie the church I serve. For this troll we are wasting our time trying to keep our doors open for the sake of - well, anything. Hence, this troll feels nothing but scorn.

And the fifth troll scorns Christianity as a whole as delusional and even dangerous as well as a waste of time.

Pathetic.

From the word "pathos", meaning "a quality, as of an experience, that arouses feelings of pity, sympathy, tenderness, sorrow, or compassion, or the feeling itself, so aroused".

Thanks be to God my church is pathetic. May we continue to grow in pathos all the days of our life, as we continue to ask ourselves what God is doing here and how we can join God in that ongoing work.

Holy Cross Day

2011-09-14T07:54:00.002-04:00

According to one article on this feast of the church, a day to celebrate the cross was established on this day, September 14, the date in 335 a.d. of the dedication of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, built by Helena, mother of the emperor Constantine, over the sites identified as those of the crucifixion and burial of Jesus. Good Friday being a day of mourning, a separate day for joyful celebration seems fitting.

Almighty God, our Savior Jesus Christ was lifted high upon the cross to draw the whole world to you: Mercifully grant that we, who glory in the mystery of our redemption, may have grace to take up our cross and follow Jesus; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, in glory everlasting.

Thought for the day

2011-09-12T08:10:00.002-04:00

"Patriotism is not enough...I must have no hatred in my heart."

Edith Cavell, executed as a British spy by the Germans, 1915.

9/11

2011-09-11T06:46:00.001-04:00

Peace on earth. Good will toward all people.

The Prodigal Returns

2011-09-08T08:49:00.000-04:00

I have just returned from a four day Cursillo renewal weekend. Exhausted and at the same time glad I went.

I feel a bit squeamish saying I am a Cursillista and greeting people with "De Colores". I don't care for insider language. This Cursillo was the first entirely Hispanic Cursillo in the Episcopal Diocese of Connecticut. I was the only English speaking person there. It was wonderful. So, since Cursillo is a Spanish word and was begun in Spain, in Spanish, and I serve, along with English speaking parishioners, a Spanish speaking congregation, I guess it's not so weird to say, "I am a Cursillista." It's what people who complete the four day weekend are called. So, there you have it.

High point: The Director of the weekend, who came up from Puerto Rico, thanked me tearfully at the end of the closing worship for embracing and opening my heart and my congregation to people from her culture and language and for standing with them. I was overwhelmed.

De Colores

2011-09-02T06:47:00.003-04:00

Today I begin to attend the first Spanish Cursillo in the Diocese of Connecticut. The entire weekend will be in Spanish. My kindergarten level Spanish will be taxed to the max and I expect to not understand more than half of what I hear. For me it's not about the content. It's about being vulnerable. It's about giving myself up to the culture I have been called to serve and through that giving myself up to God.

I'll be honest. I have not made a Cursillo with English speaking people ever. In the expressions I have been exposed to, it felt too exclusive. I remember a diocesan bishop not being allowed to celebrate the closing Eucharist because he had not made his Cursillo. The church doesn't need exclusive societies.

The Latino community in Connecticut has seen fit to adopt me. There is no sense of exclusivity in the year of preparing for this Cursillo to which I have been privy. There is openness and joy. And so, this weekend I attend Cursillo.

Cursillo means "short courses". There are short lessons on the Christian life followed by discussion. The hope is to encounter the living Christ. "It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God." (Hebrews 10:31) So keep me, and all my friends from Iglesia Betania and other Latino congregations in Connecticut who are making our Cursillo together this weekend.

This is a true story: Death and resurrection

2011-08-31T13:15:00.002-04:00

There was once a parish whose worshipers had dwindled to five souls. The bishop came to see them, bringing with him a priest. The job of the priest was to be the closing of that parish.

The bishop told the faithful remnant of five the facts of life. After some silence, one of the five stood up and said, "Well, then. I guess we're dead."

And the bishop smiled.

Do you know why he smiled? He smiled because he knew this truth: There is no resurrection without death. And there can be no resurrection for those who are dead and do not realize it. These five knew they were dead.

The little parish had nothing left to lose. They started to take chances. In their last weeks, the five decided to give themselves away to the neighborhood in which their church stood. They stood out in the cold nights with a meager few bags of groceries and gave them away to anyone who went by. After awhile, they had to build collaborations with neighbors because the number of grocery bags needed to give away were beyond the resources of the five.

By the time the line of those in need of groceries was so long it reached down the block and around the corner, the neighborhood had begun to make common cause with the five, who were no longer five, but more.

The church I serve is not dead, in the sense people mean when they say dead. A way of life is dead. The church of decades ago is dead. Those who remain are healthy and struggling. Having looked death in the eye, they may rise again, and they will rise again, if they will focus on the one true question: What is God doing? And am I willing to follow Christ into that thing God is doing?

Xena Princess Hero

2011-08-30T08:07:00.003-04:00

You're not going to believe me. You're going to say it's all a coincidence. You had to be there.

Yesterday a new dog crossed the church parking lot with its human in tow. Xena was in the rectory back yard at the time and barked the dog its place in the scheme of things here on this corner of Norwalk.

Late last night I was in the upstairs office of the rectory with Xena sleeping on the rug at my side. Suddenly she starts barking, vigorously, warning, almost angry. I followed her as she ran downstairs. I let her out into the back yard and she streaked, barking, for the back chain link fence. I could see a slim human figure there in the shadows. It just stood there. Xena commanded with her barking and the person began to move on. By then I was with Xena and the woman, for this is what the figure was, was saying, "I'm sorry, I'm sorry" as she moved away. I asked what was wrong.

She said the dog got away from her. She's dog sitting for a friend and the dog got out of the house and she couldn't find him. She was, by now, almost across the parking lot and heading out to the street.

Meanwhile, Xena is barking, not at the woman, but off to the right, barking with great command, like I've never heard her.

And here comes the big white dog from this afternoon. Chastened. Not bounding, but coming up to Xena, at the fence, a little ashamed of himself. I called the woman back. Xena held that dog with her will, right there at the fence, barking at it, until the woman got to the dog and tied this pathetic little string she was using as a leash onto its collar.

Then the dog timidly moved its nose close to the fence and Xena let it to the greeting thing.

I have been on the receiving end of the herding instinct of whatever other breed Xena is mixed with, but I've never seen her heard another animal. And what I saw was just that - from a distance, and through a fence, Xena herded that dog, held it, and then, only when all was well, she released it.

That's my Xena! Labrador mix breed warrior princess of all Norwalk indeed!

And now I await Mad Priest, premier herding dog guru (border collies), to set me straight and I'll take it like a man. And still, I know what I saw.

Moving on

2011-08-29T15:15:00.003-04:00

The hurricane is over. Irene is gone. There is plenty of rebuilding and cleaning up and restoration of utility services to be done. I rejoice that elderly parishioners I could not contact yesterday had their phones restored to I could do so this noon. Take a deep breath. Rest, relax and restore after carrying so much tension and anxiety (unbeknownst to my conscious self!).

Meanwhile, the "moving on" thought for today is:

What does it mean to be called as a people by God into new community and to be broke?

What are the implications?

Cross Posting ramblings

2011-08-27T20:58:00.004-04:00

I posted this in the comments at Episcopal Cafe under "Hurricane Check-in":

I'm in Norwalk, CT, on Long Island Sound. Grace Church was flooded out in the 1954 hurricane, when it was located on the Norwalk River. We relocated further away but who knows - it's still only a few blocks away. We in town have not been ordered to evacuate.

Preparations have gone as far as they can. Cloudy. Occasional drizzle. No wind yet. It feels strange - disorienting - like I can't tell what day it is since life does not seem to be carrying on in the neighborhood the way it usually does on a Saturday.

Service cancelled for tomorrow. Elderly all checked up on. Keeping iPhone charged. Sent the bulletin - always full text English and Spanish side by side, with readings - to those who have email. Have already planned a post hurricane Service of Thanksgiving, bilingual, with my Hispanic Missioner counterpart for Thursday evening at 7.

The porch rockers have been lashed to the railings, the hatches battened down next door at the church, and now we wait.

And so, to bed.

Hurricane watch Saturday

2011-08-27T05:59:00.002-04:00

Took the dog for her usual 5:00 a.m. walk down the bike trail. On the return it was beginning to spit rain out there.

I have two brothers who live in the evacuation zone in Delaware. The one who lives right on the beach has, according to the other brother, probably (probably!) already left for inland Maryland. The other brother and his rescue greyhound King Charles, are "probably" going to stay put. He's not on the beach. I'm trying to remember if he's near marsh land. Oh bother. My anxiety level is rising. Must remember to breathe.

Today I will tie the porch rocking chairs to the railing. And I'm going to cut myself a big bouquet of zinnias. I'd rather cut them all since they're going to be pummeled to the ground anyway so might as well enjoy them inside. Can't do anything about the green zebra stripe heirloom tomato plant. I might pick some of the larger fruits - not really large enough yet, but still...better than not enjoying them at all.

Later today my partner in ministry, the latino missioner, and I will plan a thanksgiving service for later in the week, for the passing of the hurricane. I look forward to that.

Hurricane

2011-08-26T19:07:00.003-04:00

'Nuff said.

When I was a little girl, growing up in a bungalow across the street from the Passaic River in smalltown Millington, we kids loved hurricanes (of course!), especially when we lost electric power.

Daddy would bring out the kerosene hurricane lanterns and we'd all sit around the big four foot square heating vent (the only one in the house) between the living room and the dining room.

We heated with coal, so power outages didn't keep us from being warm and cooking. Yes indeed, the top of the coal furnace was just below the level of the floor. Daddy took the grate off the vent opening and Mom cooked on top of the furnace.

For us kids, power outage storms were an adventure, camping out without the inconvenience of nature.

Now I am old. I've prepared without being panicy. If things cut loose outside and fly around, well, they do. Meanwhile one of the newly fledged redtail hawks is perched on the crossbar of the steeple cross on the Catholic Church cattercorner from our house, and the other one is perched on the microwave - what are they? antennae? - on top of the office building across the street from our back yard. Calling to one another. I wonder what they are saying.

I shall announce church services are cancelled for Sunday. Better safe than have people worrying up to the last minute. Leaving me with only one worry I can't do anything about: What happens to Xena, labrador retriever warrior princess of all Norwalk, on Sunday when she has to go out and attend to business during the storm?

August's strange treasures

2011-08-20T16:09:00.002-04:00

For the past few weeks I have been finding the sheddings of cicadas around the pine trees in the back yard of the rectory. At first, I just noticed that the holes in the ground - early in the spring the exit/entrances for burrowing bees - were more numerous and much larger. Then I started to see a few sheddings near the holes. Now the ground is littered with them! They lie about in piles of six to ten, and more. Here's a link to someone else's photos of cicadas - not my cicadas nor my yard, but easier than doing my own photos!

Miss Xena has had her own cicada incident. She took one on this afternoon. It was still in the grass, probably drying its wings. I rescued it and tossed it over the fence into the next yard. I have no idea if it will survive Xena's exploratory playing.

Meanwhile, yesterday late afternoon, I saw my first warbler in the city since I moved here five years ago, and certainly the first in the three summers we have been in the rectory. It was a black and white warbler (black and white is its name - here it is). Not to be confused with the blackpoll warbler.

Also, the tomatoes are bearing fruit, against all odds (planted in soil undercut by pine tree roots). The prize is an indeterminate heirloom, green zebra. It just wasn't setting fruit. Finally, Newlin restaked it and, voila! Fruit galore!

I'm also trying to sprout some Italian green beans and some Italian green summer squash seeds for a late planting. We shall see.

And the glory of it all - the zinnias are really taking off.

If I had gone away for vacation, as I was going to, I would have missed all this. It's not quite so relaxing, vacationing in the rectory, next to the church and its parking lot. Newlin and I have screened off much of the fence so I can have a little privacy.

Vacation bonus: I have been drawing something, anything, and often some things almost every day for three weeks. I am very proud of myself. And let's not forget, I am still on target for reading at least one complete murder mystery every day!

A good vacation. I will miss it. And I will still have zinnias, birds, tomatoes, and drawings to remember it by.

Vacation Treasure Hunt

2011-08-16T21:37:00.003-04:00

I was watching History Detectives on TV and found, on their website, that you can submit a family mystery to them to research so I dove into the Thien Family Archives, of which I am the caretaker, to see if I could find the stuff I knew I have on my Dad during WWII with Douglas Aircraft and Wendover Utah.

Well I found it, but not until I found his father's birth certificate, giving his father's father's and mother's names. And, just for a bonus, my mother's father's geneology from Norway (in Norwegian but with translation, thank God!). AND, the Goodrich family photo from the 1800's of the "Goodrich Drum Corp" with names. Hidden gold!

Tomorrow, a day with Ancestry.com updating the old family tree with solid info. I love this stuff.

And I'm still going to write to History Detectives to see if they can verify my dad's part in certain aspects of WWII which have been part of the family lore but with little detail. Bonus there: a commendation for Daddy, a civilian, aboard a ship attacked at sea, for his service above and beyond.

And then there's "Aunt Alma" (Daddy's aunt), the artist and genealogist, but that's another story, for another day.

Right on!

2011-08-11T21:46:00.002-04:00

"If you want to create jobs, CREATE THEM!" Rep. Jan Schakowsky (d - IL) "If you want to create jobs, HIRE PEOPLE!"

The purpose of wealth - including church endowments and the profits of business BEFORE taxes and dividends to stockholders - is to provide jobs for people, AT A LIVING WAGE, so that there is no person who is not employed at a living wage. Lois Keen, jobbing priest (TEC)

Just do it.

Question of the Day

2011-08-05T20:33:00.002-04:00

I just watched, for the second time today, a commercial on TV for Kindle - an electronic book/print media library storage system - and the method for selling this Kindle is to demean those who carry books around instead of storing them in an 8 oz Kindle.

So my question is this: When did it become okay to put down people who prefer the alternative to the product being advertised? Why do we put up with this negative comparative advertising? About the same time we gave positive reinforcement to negative political advertising?

The companion to negative comparative advertising is the violence based advertising. For instance, the antacid commercial that has the food beating up the person who wants to eat it, making the antacid necessary in order to tame the food.

Another sign that I am a dinosaur is that I refuse to buy anything, even if I want it, that relies on negative comparison - no, put down comparison that demeans the other - or violent advertising hiding behind puerile attempts at humor. I find it killing to the collective soul of humankind. I realize, too, this is all wrapped up with our need to bludgeon one another over ideas, opinions and beliefs.

So, Kindle, so what if I prefer a book to a Kindle? I don't need a reason. It's an aesthetic thing. Like preferring to draw with a pencil rather than a computer program. This is why I seldom give reasons for my likes or dislikes, my preferences, and decisions. We live in a culture of overcoming objections. There is no more "let your yes be yes and your no be no" (James 5:12).

It's "let my yes be your yes and my no be your no".

Finally, Kindle, how about changing from comparative ads to just stating the features and benefits of a Kindle without comparing it to books and people who prefer to lug books around in book bags? People like me. Who find it comforting to spend a vacation pouring over my stacks and piles of books, handling them, and just enjoying looking at them in every room of the house. Take me as I am, Kindle. And I'll do the same for you. Not better or worse, just different.

Thought for the week

2011-08-05T08:04:00.002-04:00

On Sunday, July 31, with the Hungarian Grand Prix over, Formula 1 began their three week holiday. NO work to be done on the cars during this time.

On the same day, after watching the Hungarian Grand Prix - Jensen Button took the checker and won! - I began my three week vacation.

Coincidence? I think not.

Sightings at Grace

2011-07-28T08:52:00.005-04:00

If you come to Grace at around 8:00 in the morning, you will find a lone Asian woman in the area outside the office entrance. She comes here after her run to do her cool-downs, her tai chi and her stretches. You will see her using the trees as natural gym equipment.

Meanwhile, with school out, sightings of children on the parking lot labyrinth have increased.

In the afternoon, you might just catch a young couple, sitting on a marble bench under the trees.

Grace is surrounded by multiple-unit dwellings - houses turned into apartments - with little privacy and little room for doing the things many of us take for granted - sitting under a tree, doing our exercises, running around, even courting.

While churches with dwindling financial resources are scurrying around trying to find money to stay alive, I still dream of ways to be an integral part of the neighborhood, ways that never will translate into money or survival.

I dream of having the outside doors open all day long, all weather, with access to the bathrooms and refreshments - water, juice, coffee, tea - available to anyone who just wanders onto the property or who stays to enjoy the setting.

What if there was just a cooler with bottles of water on ice, sitting under the trees, all day, every day? "Help yourself!" it would say. What if, while I am away, someone came and unlocked the parking lot entrance, near the green railing where the Asian woman does her exercises, and propped the door open, with a sign that says, "Restrooms here!".

What if I didn't spend my vacation away at all, but made my dream come true? Would anyone join me? I wonder...

Best wishes and congratulations

2011-07-25T08:52:00.002-04:00

This blog and its owner is delighted by the reports of gay and lesbian marriages in New York State yesterday, the first of many couples who might just save marriage for heteros with their passion for commitment and constancy. God bless all of you and your unions!

Sermon for Pentecost 6

2011-07-24T20:24:00.003-04:00

Sermon

Proper 12, Pentecost 6, July 24, 2011

Genesis 29:15-28; Psalm 105:1-11, 45b; Romans 8:26-39; Matthew 13:31-33, 44-52

The Reverend Lois Keen

I love this story about Jacob and Laban. Jacob, the sneak, Jacob, the manipulator, the trickster, is out-tricked by Laban!

All through this part of Genesis Jacob and Laban trade trick for trick. And Jacob the Trickster is the one to whom the people of Israel, the Jews, look back on as the father of them all.

In fact, most of the heroes of scripture are at the same time deeply flawed. Yet God loves them and upholds them and works salvation through them.

It says something about a people, in this case the Jews, that they don’t try to clean up their heroes but let the warts show for all the world to see, to the glory of God.

Yes, you heard me. Our flaws, your flaws, give glory to God. The flaws of Jacob and Rahab and Tamar and David and Bathsheba and Solomon and Jonah and the prophets, all their flaws glorify God. For it is God’s love for them, warts and all, that proves to us that God alone saves, God alone reigns, God alone decides the value of a person. And if God wants to value a harlot or a trickster or an adulterer or a cranky, rebellious, disobedient prophet, then God will do so.

And God does do it! Over and over again. It is from within this flawed, sinful, life that God chooses to send the Messiah, the redeemer, the savior of the world.

Look at the parable of the dragnet, at the end of today’s Gospel. There is a tradition reading of this parable, the plain reading, that says that good and bad people will live together until the end of time when they will be sorted out and the bad people will be burned up in eternal fire.

There is a less traditional, but in some places popular reading, that says the good and bad in us will live side by side until we are judged, at which time the dross, the bad, will be burned out of us, we will be refined, and only the good God sees in us will endure.

I see in this parable that the dragnet is the lives of each of us, as well as the life of all of us together, and in that dragnet God takes us, individually and together, as we are, and uses whatever we are to advance the ultimate reign of God. For God alone judges truly. God alone knows the human heart, and the life that has gone into shaping the human soul.

See how much God loves and values each soul. Even the smallest, cramped, shriveled soul can, like a tiny seed of mustard, contribute to the reign of God, and only God knows how. We are left to take it on faith.

Together, even the smallest of souls can, in God’s economy, if God chooses, leaven enough flour to make a loaf of bread the size of this planet.

The tradition reading of the parables of the treasure in the field and the pearl of great price is that we are to see the reign of God, the Kingdom of Heaven, as so great a treasure that we will give our all to obtain it, to be part of it. We are to pray and work for the kingdom, give ourselves away in order to possess it. God’s kingdom is to be prized beyond anything we can possess or imagine. This is one true reading.

The much less traditional reading, which is mine, is that God loves and values us and all creation so much that God has given up and sold everything to possess us just as we are. All of us.

We are so valuable, that, if necessary, God would steal us and hide us until God could purchase us. We are so valuable that God searches all creation until each of us is found and bought. And the price was God’s most precious possession: The only begotten Child of God, the birth, life and death of Jesus of Nazareth, born of a human woman, into a human family, in a specific place and time, to be given away for the sake of us all, and raised from death as the seal on the covenant, the promise that not only this one life, but all life is too precious to be lost in the end.

It is tempting to think that the merchant, searching for fine pearls, is God seeking only those souls fine enough and good enough to buy. That puts us back in the place of judge. We are not qualified to make that judgment. And we will continue to make those judgments because we are not God, we are human, with all sorts of good and not so good and even bad things mixed up in us, even the best of us, until God sorts it all out.

This is why, in our Prayer Book, in the rite of reconciliation of a penitent, sometimes called confession, the priest always acknowledges to the penitent one her own sinfulness and asks the penitent to pray for her.

There are, of course, huge holes in my reading an din my reasoning. I know it. None of this explains away the evil in the world, and the evil that humans do to one another and to all that God created.

I preach this morning against the backdrop of my own continual evolution of trying to know God, to understand God’s absence, God’s apparent failure to fix things that are wrong; against the backdrop of people I know losing their jobs and still jobless. Against the backdrop of six senior staff people being laid off at Diocesan House in Hartford, people I know and for whom I grieve and fear. I speak today against the backdrop of my own anxiety for Grace and Betania churches and the people I serve, and for myself. I preach profoundly from the depths of grief for the terrible murders in Norway, the land of my grandfather. I preach having fallen asleep Wednesday night saying to God, “Who are you, really, God? What are you? What are you really about?”

There is no explanation, in God’s love, for a whole lot of things. Occasionally you hear of the survivor of some horrible crime forgiving, truly forgiving, the perpetrator. That is rare. The normal response is anger, hatred, desire for revenge, even depression. These responses can come up even in picky things, like being cut off by a driver on the highway. In those times, it is almost impossible to imagine that the person who has wronged us is equal to us in God’s eyes.

I could not in safety speak these things, these contradictions, out loud without the assurance of the story of Jacob the Trickster, the assurance of Jesus’s parable of the pearl of great price, and of the verses from today’s reading of Paul’s letter to the Romans.

Paul writes, “The Spirit helps us in our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought…” while I pray – dear God, strike my enemy dead – “…but that very Spirit” Paul says, “intercedes with signs too deep for words…” – dear God, says the Spirit, your servant is in trouble. Help. – “And God, who searches the heart…” – Lois is really angry! – “…knows what is the mind of the Spirit…” – She needs my love, and some perspective – “…because the Spirit intercedes for [all people] according to the will of God” and God’s will is only, always, love.

“For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, not angels, nor rulers, not things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

And that goes for everyone who is, and ever was, and ever will be, in the name of Jesus Christ.

Hamilton wins!

2011-07-24T13:47:00.002-04:00

...taking victory in the German Grand Prix at the Nurburgring.

Lewis Hamilton, McLaren-Mercedes

Fernando Alonso, Ferrari

Mark Webber, Red Bull Racing-Renault

It was a brilliant race all-round, marked by excellent driving, lots of passing and place switches, and as much won in the pits as on the track - it was the battle of the McLaren/Red Bull/Ferrari pit crews all race, with tire changes made in seconds, shaving off milliseconds time after time. A great day for Forumla 1 Grand Prix racing.

Thank you, Lewis!

Prayers please

2011-07-24T07:02:00.003-04:00

My grandfather was a Norwegian immigrant. He came to this country on April 3, 1906. He adopted this country fully, fighting in the U.S. Army in WW I. And he rarely let a day go by when he wouldn't sing for us, in Norwegian, Ja, vi elsker dette landet, the Norwegian national anthem - which he loosely translated as "Yes we love this land with fond devotion".

Embedding from YouTube has been disabled, but maybe this link will get you there. This is for my Grandpa (bestefar) and the people of Norway, at this time of grief, terror, and need.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hhhStVKawbk

God bless Norway and keep her and her people in loving care.

Black Wednesday, as it is being called

2011-07-22T07:25:00.005-04:00

On Wednesday we in the Diocese of Connecticut received the notice that in order to balance the diocesan budget, six people were being laid off at Diocesan House in Hartford. I am terribly sad for friends who are losing their jobs. At the same time, I was surprised the find myself feeling I should check my pockets, as it were, to make sure I still had a job, even though I am not hired or paid by the diocese. I was relieved to find that a shrink I know had done the same thing.

That same evening a "white paper" was published by International Episcopal Church Central (TEC, or 815, to most) about the necessity of churches making wide use of social media or die.

Of course, it doesn't say, "or die". That's how I read it. It left me feeling left out, again, my livelihood threatened, for a second time in one day. I serve a church in which 33% of parishioners are online, a tiny portion of them engaged in "social media". Only one of whom - our webmaster - is willing and able to take on our internet presence - blogs and facebook. So from whence are to come the people to do the research and discernment and work required by this "white paper"?

Again, that same shrink acquaintance, having read the same paper, said it assumes parishes with people, plural, willing and able to take on this work. That is how I read this paper - hence the "or die" read.

So, fighting off the hound (those at OCICBW... will know of what I write) became a little harder this week. Yet today, having gone to bed last night in hopelessness, I woke, trying to find that hopelessness, like probing for a bad tooth, and could not, and cannot, find it. Strange, that leaves me feeling let down, because hope for a future of the one Episcopal church in town with a charism of radical welcome toward and equality of Hispanic/Latino people, is what has kept me going, and I don't know how that can continue, so from whence cometh this respite? I am confused rather than grateful.

Hence, my prayer on Wednesday night and since: Who are you, really, God? What are you about?

A sad day

2011-07-22T07:23:00.002-04:00

Borders will close entirely. No reorganization, no buyout, just completely going out of business. I will miss them. The ambience of their stores inspired me. There are other bookstores out there, but none that made me feel welcome, as Borders did. So, goodbye, good friend.

On the edge of my seat

2011-07-19T21:13:00.002-04:00

All right, I confess, I played hooky this afternoon for two hours at dinnertime to see Harry Potter: The Deathly Hallows Part II. It - was - brilliant.

True, it was filmed for a much younger audience, the generations that now expect loud, sudden, explosive noises and dizzying panning shots that leave the viewer feeling off balance, and, having been filmed for 3-D (I went to the 2-D version) those effects were even more chaotic. At the same time, I'm not sure it wasn't the right thing to do, since this last part of the saga is the armageddon-or-second-coming sequence - end of the world destruction on a huge scale.

The acting was perfect. I think I shall have to see it again on Friday just to see the adult support actors casting the spells that will buy Harry time to find the diadem of Ravencroft.

I surprised myself, too. Halfway through the death of Snape, I realized I was crying. Alan Rickman did such a wonderful job that I didn't realize I was seeing it as something real. And, from that point, there were more such crying events, some for sadness, some for relief, some for joy.

I am not going to even stoop to allegorize or get teachy about the story. I'll save that for Sunday. I didn't go to see the movie for that purpose. I went to see a story that still captivates me acted out on the big screen, and I was not disappointed. If you see nothing else of the movie, the sudden freedom given a dragon, chained underground for decades to guard a vault, all color washed out of it, even its eyes, the first glimpse of light far above, towards which it climbs, not even knowing or caring that three escaping heroes are hitching a ride, its breaking through the glassed cupola of Gringots bank, its stumbling first attempts at flight, and its final soaring to freedom leaving the London "ferris wheel" Thameside far below were alone worth the price of admission for me.

A fitting end to a wonderful series of books.

Japan wins

2011-07-17T18:22:00.002-04:00

...and why not? We don't have to win every time. I feel sometimes that our need to win is the need to show our superiority over the rest of the world. In a country that claims itself to be Christian, or at least grounded in Christianity, we follow a Lord and God who claims we are to sit at the foot of the table and not the head.

To the women of the World Cup Football ( Soccer ) Team, congratulations! A game well played by both sides.

Fingernail hanger

2011-07-17T16:53:00.002-04:00

This Women's World Cup game between Japan and U.S.A. is a real nail biter. I'd love to see the U.S.A. win. I'd also like Japan be able to go home with a victory. Fifteen minutes more of OT and I'm off to dinner.

In mentoring young people, it's always helpful not to know everything. Let them teach you something or bring you up to date on some important world event. Parish ministry is the same. I don't have to know everything. It's far more important to listen to what interests the people I serve and let them be the expert.

She's back!

2011-07-17T15:37:00.003-04:00

I have been on vacation. It was a wonderful, restful week, aside from the light flea infestation in the trailer, no air conditioning and only one window that opens. But the location was beautiful, for which I give thanks to God.

This is important to me...

2011-07-05T16:29:00.003-04:00

...for those I love and care for.

Independence Day - from what?

2011-07-04T10:08:00.003-04:00

From the Book of Common Prayer of The Episcopal Church International, headquartered in New York City:

For July 4
Lord God Almighty, in whose Name the founders of this country won liberty for themselves and for us, and lit the torch of freedom for nations then unborn: Grant that we and all the people of this land may have grace to maintain our liberties in righteousness and peace; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

For the Nation
Lord God Almighty, you have made all the peoples of the earth for your glory, to serve you in freedom and in peace: Give to the people of our country a zeal for justice and the strength of forbearance*, that we may use our liberty in accordance with your gracious will; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
*forbearance: Tolerance and restraint in the face of provocation; patience. In law, the act of a creditor who refrains from enforcing a debt when it falls due.

For the Human Family
O God, you made us in your own image and redeemed us through Jesus your Son: Look with compassion on the whole human family; take away the arrogance and hatred which infect our hearts; break down the walls that separate us; unite us in bonds of love; and work through our struggel and confusion to accomplish your purposes on earth; that, in your good time, all nations and races may serve you in harmony around your heavenly throne; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Gospel appointed for Independence Day, from Saint Matthew
Matthew 5:43-48
Jesus said, "You have heard that it was said, 'You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.' But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be children of your Father in heaven; for he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the righteous and on the unrighteous. For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet only your brothers and sisters, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? Be perfect [meaning: whole, holy], therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect."

For our Enemies
O God, the Father of all, whose Son commanded us to love our enemies: Lead them and us from prejudice to truth; deliver them and us from hatred, cruelty, and revenge; and in your good time enable us all to stand reconciled before you; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Reflection
I believe in God. I believe in the power of the Holy Spirit to make real this teaching of Jesus. I think that we would see a difference in the world if we Christians took Jesus's command to love and pray, without prejudice, unconditionally, for our enemies and persecutors. I pray that I can be one who prays thus, beginning with the people who cut me off while driving. I'm starting small and working my way up.

Sermon, Independence Sunday 2011

2011-06-28T12:06:00.003-04:00

Sermon

Pentecost 3

July 3, 2011

Independence Sunday Service of readings and music

There will be no sermon at Grace on Independence Sunday, July 3, 2011. The readings from various historical sources, and the Gospel of Matthew, will be let stand on their own, followed by Holy Communion. Instead, here is a meditation on the portion of Matthew appointed for that day.

Gospel: Matthew 5:43-48

Jesus said, "You have heard that it was said, `You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.' But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be children of your Father in heaven; for he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the righteous and on the unrighteous. For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet only your brothers and sisters, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect."

Lord God Almighty, in whose Name the founders of this country won liberty for themselves and for us, and lit the torch of freedom for nations then unborn: Grant that we and all the people of this land may have grace to maintain our liberties in righteousness and peace; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Three hundred years ago this nation was founded in protest against tyranny and fashioned in freedom for all men. At the same time, it was decided that the 1700’s were not the time for freedom and equality for women, or for slaves who had been imported from Africa. The matter of women’s suffrage was delayed whilst this nation took up, decades later, the matter of freedom for African slaves. This nation of freedom, liberty and justice for all, came to war over the matter.

In the readings for this morning, we heard the ending of Abraham Lincoln’s second inaugural address:

“With malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in, to bind up the nation’s wounds, to care for him who shall have borne the battle, and for his widow and his orphan, to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves and with all nations.”

In the main body of that address, Lincoln wrote this about the civil war:

“On the occasion corresponding to this four years ago, all thoughts were anxiously directed to an impending civil war. All dreaded it. All sought to avert it. While the inaugural address was being delivered from this place, devoted altogether to saving the Union without war, insurgent agents were in the city seeking to destroy it without war – seeking to dissolve the Union and divide effects by negotiation. Both parties deprecated war. But one of them would make war rather than let the nation survive. And the other would accept war rather than let it perish. And the war came.

“…Each [side] looked for an easier triumph, and a result less fundamental and astounding. Both read the same Bible and pray to the same God, and each invokes [God’s] aid against the other…The prayers of both could not be answered. That of neither has been answered fully…Fondly do we hope, fervently do we pray, that this mighty scourge of war may speedily pass away.” (carved on the wall inside the Lincoln Memorial, Washington, DC.)

Today we Christians all over the world still read the same Bible. We share the earlier scriptures with Judaism. And Islam reveres our scriptures and Jesus. We Christians, with Jews and Muslims, pray to the same God. It is in how we each read the scriptures, and how we imagine God, that draws us into coming to blows with one another, Christian with Muslim, Muslim with Jew, Christian with Christian, and on and on world without end. All of us drawing from our scriptures the right to war, and all of us drawing from our prayers the strength to go to war.

I cannot speak to how Muslims and Jews understand their scriptures or how and who they believe God is. I can speak to the Christian scriptures.

Do we Christians not believe Jesus meant it as a command to us, what we read today from Matthew’s gospel?

“I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be children of your Father in heaven; for he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the righteous and on the unrighteous. For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet only your brothers and sisters, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same?”

And do we not hear what Jesus is really saying when he says we are to love our enemies and pray for those who persecute us? Does he say, “Love them, pray for them, and go to war against them”? Where in these words is the warrant for war, on the world stage, within a nation, or against one another in our families, our churches, our jobs, our acquaintances?

And are we always “the righteous”? If we have enemies, are we not also someone else’s enemy? And you know the history of persecution, how those who have been persecuted so often then turn and persecute others in return.

I’m no fool. I don’t think we will see an end to war or persecution on this side of life. We humans are too invested in possessiveness and greed and even fear of one another. Without these, England might have said to the colonies, “Oh, of course. We see the injustice in what we are doing. We will make you equals in this enterprise of colony building, or maybe we will even set you free from us to build your own nation!” But no, England wanted the revenue and the resources to be had, and the power and control. And so did we.

It was the same on both sides of our nation’s Civil War. It is the same when nations war on others in order to annex territory, or to gain access to some resource or other. And of course those on the receiving end of tyranny and war have no choice but to defend themselves. And we see no alternative to war when we see others being persecuted. And so we continue.

And so Jesus weeps, while he commands us to love one another, all others, and pray for one another, all others.

I believe in God. I believe in the power of the Holy Spirit to make real the teachings of Jesus. I think that we would see a difference in the world if we Christians, all of us, took Jesus’s command to love and pray, without prejudice, unconditionally for our enemies and persecutors. I pray that I can be one who prays thus, “With malice toward none, with charity for all…to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves and with all nations.”

Sermon June 26 2011 Pentecost 2

2011-06-28T11:55:00.000-04:00

Sermon

Pentecost 2, June 26, 2011

Proper 8, RCL

Genesis 22:1-14; Psalm 13; Romans 6:12-23; Matthew 10:40-42

ENGLISH

Almighty God, Grant us so to be joined together in unity of spirit, that we may be made a holy temple acceptable to you. (from the collect for the day)

In Genesis this morning we heard that “Isaac said to his father Abraham, "Father!" And he said, "Here I am, my son." He said, "The fire and the wood are here, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?" and Abraham said, "God himself will provide the lamb for a burnt offering, my son…And Abraham looked up and saw a ram, caught in a thicket by its horns. Abraham went and took the ram and offered it up as a burnt offering instead of his son. So Abraham called that place "The LORD will provide”.”

We, Iglesia Betania and Grace, Hispanic/Latino, Caribbean, African, African/American/, European, have offered up everything in order to be a community that reflects reconciliation and restoration and transformation to this city, this diocese, this nation, this world.

How will God, then, provide for this enterprise?

What is God waiting for us to provide first?

In Psalm 13 we pray, “How long, O LORD? How long shall I have perplexity in my mind…But I put my trust in your mercy; I will sing to the LORD, for the LORD has dealt with me richly…”

What has God already provided?

In Paul’s letter to the Romans, he thanks God that the congregation has “become obedient from the heart to the form of teaching to which you were entrusted…” What is that teaching?

The teaching is this: that in Christ there is neither slave nor free, Jew or Greek, male or female, legal or illegal, documented or undocumented, Caribbean or European, Hispanic or African, but one body.

God has provided that we have come together in Jesus’s name. How will we build on that gift?

In Matthew’s gospel, Jesus says, “Whoever welcomes you welcomes me…”

Whoever you welcome is Jesus Christ. When all of us together welcome one another as equals, ready to learn from one another, none of us being more in possession of this building or this place than one another, we welcome Jesus Christ.

We have been sent here by God, each one of us. God alone has called us together. We are the gift provided by God. God may indeed provide more. In gratitude, we must provide our selves, our souls and our bodies, in the name of Jesus Christ.

IN SPANISH

Dios todopoderoso, Concédenos que estemos unidos en espíritu, de tal modo que lleguemos a ser un templo santo aceptable a ti. Amen

Hoy en el Génesis leemos:

Isaac le dijo a Abraham:

—¡Padre!

—Dime, hijo mío.

—Aquí tenemos el fuego y la leña —continuó Isaac—; pero, ¿dónde está el cordero para el holocausto?
—El cordero, hijo mío, lo proveerá Dios —le respondió Abraham.

Abraham alzó la vista y, en un matorral, vio un carnero enredado por los cuernos. Fue entonces, tomó el carnero y lo ofreció como holocausto, en lugar de su hijo. A ese sitio Abraham le puso por nombre: «El Señor provee.»

Nosotros, la Iglesia Betania, Iglesia de la Gracia, hispanos / latinos, caribeños, africanos, africanos / americanos y europeos, ofrecen a Dios todo lo que tenemos para que podamos ser una comunidad. Somos la imagen de la reconciliación, la restauración y transformación de esta ciudad, esta diócesis, a esta nación, este mundo.

¿Cómo proveyó Dios para esta empresa? Lo proveerá Dios?

¿Qué quiere Dios de nosotros?

Salmo trece:

¿Hasta cuándo, oh Señor?

¿Hasta cuándo tendré dudas en mi mente?

Mas yo en tu misericordia he confiado;

Cantaré al Señor, porque me ha hecho bien.

¿Qué ha dado Dios ya?

Romanos: San Pablo da gracias a Dios: Que ya se han sometido de corazón a la enseñanza que les fue transmitida.

¿Qué es esta enseñanza?

Esta es la enseñanza.

En Cristo no hay esclavo ni libre. En Cristo no hay Judio ni griego, no hay hombre o mujer, no legal o ilegal, no documentada o indocumentada, no el Caribe o Europa, no hispano o africano. Hay un solo cuerpo.

Dios establece que nos reunimos en el nombre de Jesús. ¿Cómo vamos a aprovechar ese regalo?

Jesús dijo: »Quien los recibe a ustedes, me recibe a mí…<<

Todo el mundo le dan la bienvenida es Jesucristo.

Cuando le damos la bienvenida unos a los otros como iguales, damos la bienvenida a Cristo.

Cuando creemos que todo propietario de este lugar juntos, damos la bienvenida a Jesucristo.

Cada uno de nosotros ha enviado aquí por Dios. Sólo Dios nos ha convocado. Somos el regalo dado por Dios. Dios puede dar más. En agradecimiento debemos ofrecer nuestras personas, nuestras almas y nuestros cuerpos en el nombre de Jesucristo.

2011-06-25T06:18:00.002-04:00

This blogger applauds and celebrates the legislation, passed last night and signed by Governor Cuomo after 11:00 p.m., that extends marriage to persons of the same sex in the state of New York. The bill takes effect in 30 days.

Hat tip to Episcopal Cafe for the report.

In memoriam

2011-06-24T16:44:00.002-04:00

Peter Falk has died. He is one of my favorite actors, and not just for "Columbo". Rest in peace, Mr. Falk. I'll miss you.

Latest from mi esposo

2011-06-24T13:52:00.005-04:00

My husband was at Watkins Glen earlier this week as photographer for a non-spectator high performance car club event. In addition to the car clubs that rent the Glen for Driver Education days, the Glen is also open on those days for Thunder Road Tours at noon and 5:00.

Anyone can sign up to be in the line of cars that get to drive around the track at Watkins Glen at about 60 MPH for two laps, a stop at the start/finish line for photo ops, and a final third lap. I did a Thunder Road tour just last summer and every second I thanked God for the Driver Education day at Lime Rock Park Newlin got for my birthday the year after cancer!

Now my husband's late father, who died over 30 years ago, was a car person. He was a white collar worker for DuPont and yet his suburban home always had more cars parked in the yard than some legendary Appalachian homesteads, just higher class. All for tinkering with.

Senior's favorite cars were Pierce-Arrows, some of which were often featured as gangster cars in old movies. So when mi esposo got into the flagger stand to shoot yesterday's 5:00 tour, he was in tears when the cars came in sight - every one of them a classic Pierce-Arrow. Here's a shot of a few of them, and then the "art" shots of a hood ornament.

Enjoy.

Thought for the Day

2011-06-22T09:31:00.002-04:00

My husband sent me this:

Sermon, Trinity Sunday, June 26 2011

2011-06-20T10:38:00.003-04:00

The sermon for yesterday, Trinity Sunday, was the Rublev Trinity...and its means as a window into the eternal.

Note the space between the first and third figures, down front. That is your place at the table. Welcome. Enter. Rest.

Well, so much for the Renaissance Man

2011-06-20T10:23:00.002-04:00

This morning, according to Yahoo! news, The National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE) in its "2011 Job Outlook" reports the five most in-demand prospective employees are those with bachelor's degrees in:
accounting
finance
engineering
computer science
or business administration

Funny, I worked for the DuPont Company for eleven years, as a credit analyst and my bachelor's was in History, and Literature (dual degree). I was told that was why I was hired: a bachelor's in the humanities gave me critical thinking skills needed in the field. Now I would be lucky to get a job at Borders. Oops, they're in bankruptcy, closing most of their stores.

Unfortunately, the priesthood is evolving into one in which those five degrees above will be more valued than the humanities. That's not to say they will be more useful; that's only to say it will be thought they will be a more useful background for studying for priesthood - entrepreneurs are what are needed now, and that's not my passion.

So, with age 66 coming up soon (thank God there's not an extra 6 in that age! - see Revelation of John 13:18) I'm becoming a dinosaur in my calling. The good news is, kids of all ages love dinosaurs!

Harry Potter countdown

2011-06-17T07:24:00.005-04:00

I just saw the trailer for the final Harry Potter movie, "Deathly Hallows II". I think today I will re-read the last book in the series. I will definitely be at the theatre when the movie opens July 15.

Oh, wait, I'll be in Watkins Glen that week. Well, there's always the "big towns" of Horseheads or Corning! I've been waiting for this movie forever but reading the book again will hold me over.

28 days!

Priorities

2011-06-14T11:17:00.002-04:00

I have my priorities straight - Newlin is in Watkins Glen International Speedway and today my hero, Lewis Hamilton and his Formula 1 car from last year's season are at the Glen. He and some Nascar driver are going to drive three laps on the track, and then swap cars and do another three laps.

Newlin has already seen Lewis's car - it comes in a big box, in pieces and they assemble it at the track. Newlin is a spectator for this one. He sent me a photo of the portion of the track he can see. (I can't stand that I'm not there!)

Just now he told me he has heard Lewis's car. (Oh I really can't stand it!) This is so not fair - I was advised by a parishioner to take a sick day and go to Watkins Glen. Just so you know, I have my priorities straight but I'm here in Norwalk anyway.

Tonight they'll televise the "seat swap" on the Speed Channel (74) but I'll be in Hartford for Program and Budget. Again, my priorities are straight but instead of watching the coverage on Speed, I'll be in Hartford.

I am my father's daughter. #1 priority: loud engines and speed. He crewed racing motorboats on the Hudson back in the day. My love is Formula 1 and any fast car running around a road track - Watkins Glen, Limerock Park, New Jersey Motorsports - these are my favorites. Will vacation never come?!

The Word of the Lord

2011-06-13T19:12:00.002-04:00

To the legislators in the United States, and to the churches, who think balancing budgets at the expense of the poor is a good thing, Psalm 12, verse 5 says this (according to the Episcopal Church Book of Common Prayer):

"Because the needy are oppressed,

and the poor cry out in misery,

I will rise up," says the LORD,

"and give them the help they long for."

From the psalmists lips to God's ear, since we humans are listening only to our own fears and greed.

Victory!

2011-06-12T17:09:00.002-04:00

Wow oh wow oh wow!!! Jensen Button overtakes Vettel on the last lap to win the Canadian Grand Prix! Excellent!

24 Hours

2011-06-11T18:45:00.002-04:00

C'est le vingt-quatre heures du Mans.

First run in 1923, this morning began the 88th year of the 24 hour endurance race called the 24 Hours of Le Mans. The race will end tomorrow morning, Sunday.

Le Mans is a city in France. The sports car race that is the 24 Hours of Le Mans runs on the Circuit de la Sarthe, a combination of public roads and purpose built race track. The Wikipedia link will tell you all about the race.

Today there were two terrible accidents, one in daytime, only 50 minutes after the start, and the second this evening after dark. Both involved Audis. In the first, the car flew through the air, struck a wall and broke into pieces. Both drivers walked away. This leaves the Audi team with only one car left in the race.

Ernest Hemingway is quoted as having said, "There are only three sports: bullfighting, motor racing, and mountaineering; all the rest are merely games." I suppose because in all three of them death is sometimes a result of the sport itself.

Last week, during qualifying for the Monaco Formula 1 Grand Prix, a new young driver crashed into a tire wall and was badly concussed. He is all right, but he tried to drive practice yesterday for the Canadian Grand Prix and determined he's still not in good enough shape to withstand the g forces that stress drivers of Formula 1 race cars. In 2009 Felipe Massa, driving for Scuderia Ferrari, was struck in the helmet during qualifying for the Hungarian Grand Prix by a suspension spring that had come off Rubens Barrichello's Braun. Massa crashed into the tire barrier and was life-threateningly injured. I was watching on television. It was terrifying.

The 24 Hours of Le Mans and the Formula 1 Grand Prix series are road races. There are other road race series, run on closed tracks with chicanes, uphills, hairpin turns and esses. This is not oval track racing, which is altogether another animal and a sport in its own right. And I was watching the 2001 Daytona 500 as Dale Earnhardt drove into the wall on the last lap and died.

But road racing is what I love. I love the tracks; I love watching the really great drivers, like Lewis Hamilton, make their cars look like they're dancing. I dread the crashes. And I love the sport. There's nothing like a really masterfully performed pass on a curve.

I hope I never am watching again when someone dies driving really fast around a road course because they love to drive that way and do it publicly so I can enjoy the beauty and the thrill vicariously.

Thankful

2011-06-10T15:20:00.002-04:00

Yesterday (Thursday, 9 June) evening we had very bad weather come through here - high winds, scary winds, really were the worst of it, and rain, with threat of a tornado. Thankfully, the tornado threat went away.

Tree limbs were waving about wildly as if they had ball bearings in their attachment to the trees. All I could think of was, "What about the baby birds in the nest over the parking lot?"

Now, if I had never seen the mama bird bringing food, and heard the baby birds set up their caterwauling demands to be first fed, I would not be worrying about baby birds in nests. But I did see them and hear them and knew they were there. So, I worried.

After the storm was over, I looked through the glasses at the nest. Its placement seemed disturbed. Maybe it was just the leaves that were disturbed, so I checked under the tree and - no baby birds, so probably okay.

This afternoon was the first I saw the mama - a Robin - bringing food to the nest, and there were the babies - little scrawny necks stretched, mouths wide open, "Me first! Me first!" baby bird noises sounding.

All is well. I hate finding baby birds dead on the ground. I thank God that Robins evolved to produce sturdy, well-attached nests.

As an aside, Mourning Doves, on the other hand, build a nest of twigs and pine needles in the crook of a tree branch and its a pretty flimsy thing. Maybe that's why they lay only two eggs at a time. A third of nests fail. No wonder they raise - or try to raise - five or six pairs of young, each pair in succession after the previous one is fledged. It's a miracle to me there are so many Mourning Doves at all!

Pentecost

2011-06-09T10:01:00.001-04:00

"Go out and look for Jesus in the ragged, in the naked, in the oppressed and sweated, in those who have lost hope,in those who are struggling to make good. Look for Jesus. And when you see him, gird yourselves with his towel and try to wash their feet."

Frank Weston, Bishop of Zanzibar, from 1908 'til his death in 1924.

Discuss.

Thought for the Day

2011-06-07T18:14:00.000-04:00

Psalm 145, verse 17:

You open wide your hand,* and satisfy the needs of every living creature.

Try reading this with your hand opened wide, palm up. Try reading it this way three times a day. Share here any changes you notice.

Our hands belong to God. They are on loan from God. They belong to God. Inasmuch as we open wide our hands and satisfy the needs of every living creature, our hands are doing the work for which they were made.

This is not my original idea. I give thanks to a rabbi friend for this wisdom and practice.

30th anniversary of AIDS

2011-06-06T08:58:00.003-04:00

Here is a link to Episcopal Cafe for links on the 30th Anniversary of the reporting of the first case of HIV/AIDS.

I remember a sermon, preached by a physician, at the Cathedral Church of St. John in Wilmington, Delaware in the 1980's. By that time the Cathedral was holding an annual HIV/AIDS memorial day and Evensong. The physician said that the virus has been around for centuries, probably millenia. The miracle is that it didn't become epidemic among humans until a time when it was possible to identify it and find treatments for it. Since that sermon, the treatments have been developed that can extend life of those with HIV/AIDS.

However, we are forgetting. It is still here. It is still global. Yesterday, during our church's annual fundraiser luncheon for the school we sponsor in Waterloo, Sierra Leone, the poet who was part of the program included a poem on the "blue stick". In African countries it is used to diagnose HIV/AIDS. The point poignantly draws us to listen to a woman who is monogamous and yet is infected because, in a patriarchal society, she has no choice about having intercourse with her spouse or whether that intercourse is protected sex or not.

On this week of the 30th anniversary of the recognition of HIV/AIDS, please pray. And if there is something you can do, do it.

From the sublime to the ridiculous

2011-06-06T06:08:00.002-04:00

I know, just yesterday a vision of the Ascension of Christ. Today a kvetch on spam.

I've been noticing for about three months now the latest attempt to get us to open dangerous attachments under the guise of the benign.

I routinely receive notices that say they are from UPS, or DHL, or FedEx, with an attachment. The first one, months ago, was from FedEx. My husband gets occasional deliveries through them so I opened the email. It instructed me to open the attachment to get the details of a delivery. I called mi esposo - the carriers had never used attachments before. He said he was not expecting anything, so I deleted the file.

Now I receive these things daily - yesterday all three of them in one day! and another this morning. These are not from the actual carriers. They are spam. Sometimes I'd love to find out what's behind that closed door, the attachment. But I know better.

I wonder if there's something theological in this? No, there's just badly behaved people doing badly behaved things in order to create chaos and disaster in the lives of other people they don't even know, and this latest attempt is hiding behind actual legitimate businesses so there's a high chance people are getting spam blowing up in their faces. Enough.

Ascensiontide

2011-06-04T18:35:00.002-04:00

Yes, Ascensiontide.

From Easter Day until the Feast of the Ascension 40 days later, the season is known as Eastertide. Two days ago, Thursday, was the Feast of the Ascension. So now instead of Eastertide, the remaining ten days until the Feast of Pentecost is called Ascensiontide, a season presided over by the ascension of Jesus into heaven to sit eternally at the right hand of God the Father.

Depictions of the Ascension can be a little silly - from Jesus piously looking up into heaven hovering a little above the ground, with the disciples huddled below on the hilltop, to depictions in which all we see of the Savior are his feet dangling from a cloud, soon, too, to disappear from sight.

And yet...

...the preferred collect, or prayer collecting our hopes and thoughts, for the Ascension reads, "Almighty God, whose blessed Son our Savior Jesus Christ ascended far above all heavens that he might fill all things: Mercifully give us faith to perceive that, according to his promise, he abides with his Church on earth, even to the end of the ages;...Amen."

The emphasis on "that he might fill all things" is mine. This is because when Bishop Laura Ahrens read that collect on Thursday noon in worship, I suddenly heard those words for the first time: Jesus "ascended far above the heavens that...he might fill all things". Aha! At last, at 26 days short of yet another birthday (well over 60!) I get the Ascension.

Yes, in Jesus's day people's understanding of the universe was that one could ascend into the sky and disappear, to come out in a stable place with land and thrones and throngs of angels and such. We have been up there. We know that is (most likely) not true. So why do we continue this farce of "the ascension"?

On Thursday noon I got it: whatever happened to the disciples after the crucifixion, that lead to an empty tomb and a belief in the bodily resurrection accompanied by bodily post-death experiences of Jesus present with them in the flesh, at some point Jesus did cease to be with them - he ascended. He returned to The Father. But not without promising to send a "comforter" - a strengthener, one to strengthen them in the time to come. When Bp. Laura read that collect, I suddenly saw Jesus, as the disciples realized he was no longer with them fixed in time and space, filling the entire universe, the world, the sky, the universe, all things.

So it is the "sitting at the right hand of God" that is fanciful. The right hand of God is anyplace Jesus is, and Jesus is in every atom and molecule and breath and depth of the entire universe. He is now present for and in all things.

Now, I'm sure I have been told that, and I have thought that, but on Thursday was the first time I knew that, in fact, I saw it. In a flash, I saw Jesus fillling all things.

And then it was gone. But not forgotten.

In ten days we will celebrate Pentecost, a Jewish festival during which, according to St. Luke in the book of The Acts of the Apostles, the Holy Spirit of Jesus was sent as a great wind among the disciples, men and women alike, and descended on them as tongues of fire, filling them with the spirit of Jesus. Filling all things. Seen and yet unseen.

"Mercifully give us faith to perceive that, according to his promise, Jesus abides with his Church on earth, even to the end of the ages..." Not only his Church on earth, but with all things at all times and in all places, on earth and throughout the universe, for all time. Amen.

The week that was

2011-06-02T17:50:00.002-04:00

It feels like I've already lived a full seven day week.

Late Monday night, early Tuesday morning, at 1:45 a.m., Miss Xena, Labrador Mix Warrior Princess of all Norwalk, jumped up from a sound sleep barking. Not just any bark, her "we have to go downstairs and check something dodgy out" bark, her "danger Will Robinson bark", her "let me at 'em" bark.

I got up and tried to calm her. At the same time, I heard this "dinging" sound. I wondered where it was coming from. Maybe that what woke Xena up. I opened the bedroom door to let her out onto the stairs landing and then I heard it - someone was ringing the doorbell, over and over and over.

I told Newlin and he got up and got dressed, and he and Xena went downstairs. As I crept down after them, I saw Newlin crack the door open, and then he said, "No. Go away. We can't help you" and Xena started barking again. I thought it was over. But the person started ringing the doorbell again. Newlin cracked the door open again and told the guy if he didn't stop, we were going to call the police, and the guy started to push the door open. He got his hand in as Newlin was closing the door again, so Newlin couldn't close it all the way.

That was when he told me to phone the police.

I called the police, and the whole time I'm giving 911 the information I'm thinking, "Does he have a gun? Can he shoot through the metal front door? Is it really metal?" But the man on the 911 phone told me they were sending someone right away, and to phone back if the man left before the police got there.

He didn't leave. He kept talking through the crack in the door, not shouting but in a seductive sort of voice, like the "candy gram" shark in the old Saturday Night Live routine, except it wasn't funny. It was creepy. "Let me in. This is my house. Let me in." I could smell the alcohol all the way into the house.

Thank God, the police came very promptly. They pulled the guy away from the door and Newlin closed it. They talked to the guy a lot. Then they asked us if we wanted to press charges. I didn't know what to do - what would the charges be, I wondered. Then I said, "I don't know - I just want to make sure he's not going to come back here." They assured me they were taking him away whether or not we pressed charges so we let it go at that.

Of course there was so much adrenalin running through our systems it was hard to get back to sleep. Then the terror hit me. The feeling of violation, of assault. I dozed on and off until the alarm went off at 5. Then I got up.

I had to. I had a conference for the next two days and I had to leave at 7:30. Sleep deprived. So I went. The conference was brilliant even as tired as I was, but finally it was time to go to bed. I was looking forward to a good night's sleep - the hotel is one I know for really great beds. I thought, "At least no one is going to come to the door and ring the doorbell over and over again..." and I was back at 1:45 in the morning feeling the same fear, the same terror, the same sense of being invaded.

I turned on the television, set it for "sleep" and did indeed fall asleep and slept well. Here it is, Thursday, and I still feel creeped out by the whole thing. It was the voice, you see, and that hand, those fingers, gripping the open edge of the door and not letting go, Newlin leaning into the door because the man was trying to push his way in. And you know why he was there? He wanted to see his girlfriend. The cops said her name was Wendy and he thought ours was her house.

The conference went from 9 a.m. Tuesday to 2:30 Wednesday and it was brilliant and exhausting. Then I stayed in Hartford because I had a diocesan council meeting Wednesday night which went from 5:30 to 9:00. I drove home and got there at 10:30 p.m.

Then I couldn't get to sleep. At best I slept four hours last night. And today I had a deanery clergy meeting with the bishop to go to. So I'm so tired I don't even want to eat. I'm just waiting for Newlin, and maybe for the sun to go down, so I can make it official. Thank God tomorrow is my day off!