Driving, traveling, shopping and cooking all preceed the gatherings anticipated for this coming Thursday. Family members may be in Los Angles or around the corner. Wherever they are people remark to me that is not so important how long it takes to get there or what is on the menu. What is important is that the family is together.
The Thanksgiving celebration may extend over more than one day. For example, two Thanksgiving on two different days so that the married adult children can make the rounds of both sets of parents. Or, one celebration with family and another with friends. We want to be with those we love.
Our desire to be with those we love and who love us is at the heart of Thanksgiving. I invite you each day this week in prayer to offer thanks for those who love you. Reflect on the people who let you know that you are important, cherished. Reflect on the people who love you in several different dimensions of love: friendship, companionship, beloved, child, parent, soul mate, sibling. Recall that you did not ask for this love but that is flows to you naturally and freely. Experience this love as a way to connecting to God's love for us, a love that we do not ask for but one that flows to us naturally and freely.
May our thankfullness and our Thanksgiving Celebrations be overflowing.
Reflecting on the every day, practical dimensions of faith. Practices to shape our lives each day as followers of Christ. Stories to share our practical experiences of wisdom, faith, hope, and love.
Monday, November 22, 2010
Saturday, November 20, 2010
Father Carol
There is a bubbling conversation in the Diocese of Maryland. Unless otherwise requested by the clergyperson, the bishop will call men priests Father and women priests Mother. Since I am not called to be the head of a monastic order of women, since I am not called to be celibate but instead called to be and have lived for the last 24 years as married woman, I have asked the bishop not to call me Mother. I consider the call to monastic life and the call to celebacy as particular vocations within the church and for certain individuals. Mother expresses this monastic and celibate call.
I am called to preach, teach, and celebrate the sacraments in the life of a congregation and on behalf of the church. I am called to be a steward of property and administration, a care taker of souls, an guide for the spiritual lives of people of St John's, and light by which these same people celebrate the ministries to which they have been called. Traditionally, the church has called members of the church called to the minstry to which I am called, Father. And, in the last thirty years it has been recognized that God calls both men and women to this particular life in the church.
Now, consider King Peggy. Morning Edition on NPR shared her story on November 11, 2010. Briefly, she was named as King of her village in Ghana after the King, her uncle, died. The village never had a woman king before nor did Peggy every anticipate being King. But, she has accepted her new 'destiny' and now works to make the lives of her people better.
So, King Peggy's story leads me to ask, why not Father Carol? Is it necessary to divide women and men clergy by name since the function of a parish priest has always been called Father? Why is the gender distinction needed when those names, Father and Mother, speak to very different ministries?
I am trying Father Carol 'on' in this post but also on my new Twitter page. We'll see how it unfolds.
I am called to preach, teach, and celebrate the sacraments in the life of a congregation and on behalf of the church. I am called to be a steward of property and administration, a care taker of souls, an guide for the spiritual lives of people of St John's, and light by which these same people celebrate the ministries to which they have been called. Traditionally, the church has called members of the church called to the minstry to which I am called, Father. And, in the last thirty years it has been recognized that God calls both men and women to this particular life in the church.
Now, consider King Peggy. Morning Edition on NPR shared her story on November 11, 2010. Briefly, she was named as King of her village in Ghana after the King, her uncle, died. The village never had a woman king before nor did Peggy every anticipate being King. But, she has accepted her new 'destiny' and now works to make the lives of her people better.
So, King Peggy's story leads me to ask, why not Father Carol? Is it necessary to divide women and men clergy by name since the function of a parish priest has always been called Father? Why is the gender distinction needed when those names, Father and Mother, speak to very different ministries?
I am trying Father Carol 'on' in this post but also on my new Twitter page. We'll see how it unfolds.
Friday, October 29, 2010
Conversation
Last Saturday I experienced a personal triumph: I set up an iGoogle Page. Now, most people I am sure can do it in the 30 seconds described on the iGoogle home page. It took me an hour, but, it still was a triumph because the buttons, toggles, choices, and pictures to set up the page that were far from intuitive for me are now more familiar. I was determined to improve my skill with electronic media rather than give up in frustration.
A significiant part of the conversation about faith, belief, theology, ethics, the church in the public square, and personal devotion is moving to the electronic media. In the past week The Congregational Resource Guide, one of the most comprehensive sites for spirituality, leadership, and the life of congregations, launched a newly designed website with articles that change daily. The turn around time for our reflections, conversations with ourselves and others, posts in blogs is more likely one day than one week. It is a challenge but I am one of several contributors to these posts.
Those reading the latest every day will likely experience a breadth and depth of the church that was the previously was only present in professional church and clergy conversations. Expanding this conversation will strengthen all believers and strengthen the church.
I am glad that a significant part of the conversation also remains right where it should be: in our prayers to God, in face to face conversations after worship, and with those with whom we take the adventure of faith.
A significiant part of the conversation about faith, belief, theology, ethics, the church in the public square, and personal devotion is moving to the electronic media. In the past week The Congregational Resource Guide, one of the most comprehensive sites for spirituality, leadership, and the life of congregations, launched a newly designed website with articles that change daily. The turn around time for our reflections, conversations with ourselves and others, posts in blogs is more likely one day than one week. It is a challenge but I am one of several contributors to these posts.
Those reading the latest every day will likely experience a breadth and depth of the church that was the previously was only present in professional church and clergy conversations. Expanding this conversation will strengthen all believers and strengthen the church.
I am glad that a significant part of the conversation also remains right where it should be: in our prayers to God, in face to face conversations after worship, and with those with whom we take the adventure of faith.
Monday, October 25, 2010
Halloween Lights
The decorations have sprouted across the neighborhoods in my community. Some are ghoulish and greusome, like the open coffin sporting flowers. Some are oversized fear, like the giant spider on the front door where the seasonal wreath should be. Some are lights, shades of orange and amber mimicing Christmas lights.
Halloween is now a "Holiday." It is an annual fall festival that excites people to decorate, party, and, play. The once child like fantasy of Halloween to dress up and imagine yourself bigger, stronger, more magical and larger than all the adults you know has now recaptured its morbid roots. The ancient festival of All Hallows Eve was the ward off the destructive spirits captured by the growing darkness and colder nights.
As children, and increasingly adults, 'celebrate' Halloween the feast of the next day returns to its own significance. The feast of All Saints is when Christians remember those whose lives show us a life in Christ that is bigger, stronger, more mysterious, and more inspiring than we can find any place else. All Saints Day is the day I buy my Advent candles. Perhaps it is also the day I should begin to decorate with lights that are shades of indigo and purple for the season of Advent.
If we decorate with Halloween lights a month before October 31 and we begin to decorate with Christmas lights a month before December 25, then All Saints Day could initiate our anticipation of the more Christ like life to which we are called to prepare in Advent.
Halloween is now a "Holiday." It is an annual fall festival that excites people to decorate, party, and, play. The once child like fantasy of Halloween to dress up and imagine yourself bigger, stronger, more magical and larger than all the adults you know has now recaptured its morbid roots. The ancient festival of All Hallows Eve was the ward off the destructive spirits captured by the growing darkness and colder nights.
As children, and increasingly adults, 'celebrate' Halloween the feast of the next day returns to its own significance. The feast of All Saints is when Christians remember those whose lives show us a life in Christ that is bigger, stronger, more mysterious, and more inspiring than we can find any place else. All Saints Day is the day I buy my Advent candles. Perhaps it is also the day I should begin to decorate with lights that are shades of indigo and purple for the season of Advent.
If we decorate with Halloween lights a month before October 31 and we begin to decorate with Christmas lights a month before December 25, then All Saints Day could initiate our anticipation of the more Christ like life to which we are called to prepare in Advent.
Saturday, October 23, 2010
Embarrassed
Everyone has 'my most embarrassing moment' stories to tell. There is nothing worse that being embarrassed in front of someone that you care about or want to impress.
The story of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector found in Luke 18 describes how the Pharisee avoids embarrasement and the Tax Collector brings embarrassment as his offering before God. The Pharisee has done everything right and made the correct morning sacrifice. For this he is rightlyfully grateful. The Tax Collector has done everything wrong and made no morning sacrifice. His offering at the temple that morning admits he is embarrassed before God. Assuming his motives are genuine, he leaves worship a changed person. The story also assumes not much changes for the Pharisee.
Naturally we tend to cover up that which stirs up shame and embarrassment in us. When we cover it up, we also hold onto the experience. The guidance of scripture is to place before God all that holds us back.
At this time of year, many congregations ask members to commit finances for the coming year. Many of us are embarrassed about money and embarrassed when the church talks about money. Perhaps this year we can place at the altar that which embarrasses us about money and leave worship changed.
The story of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector found in Luke 18 describes how the Pharisee avoids embarrasement and the Tax Collector brings embarrassment as his offering before God. The Pharisee has done everything right and made the correct morning sacrifice. For this he is rightlyfully grateful. The Tax Collector has done everything wrong and made no morning sacrifice. His offering at the temple that morning admits he is embarrassed before God. Assuming his motives are genuine, he leaves worship a changed person. The story also assumes not much changes for the Pharisee.
Naturally we tend to cover up that which stirs up shame and embarrassment in us. When we cover it up, we also hold onto the experience. The guidance of scripture is to place before God all that holds us back.
At this time of year, many congregations ask members to commit finances for the coming year. Many of us are embarrassed about money and embarrassed when the church talks about money. Perhaps this year we can place at the altar that which embarrasses us about money and leave worship changed.
Friday, October 15, 2010
Community
Many years ago, a devote and articulate Jesuit priest once shared with me that he didn't find God in worship, or ritual, or, knowledge. He found God in the relationships around him. At first, this was a suprise since this man was in charge of worship, ritual, and teaching for a hosptial chaplaincy. And as a Jesuit, his order was well known for their commitment to the development of a life of the intellect searching for God.
Yet, he searched beyond those places into the broken vessels of human interactions that comprise our friendships, our family, our colleagues, and the people God places in our paths. These broken vessels are known as community, that web of relationships that are never perfect but nevertheless shine with the love of God. Our lives at times will know the intensity and comfort of close relationships. At times we wonder if those times of close friendship will ever come again as our children age and the circle of our adult friends change. We wonder if we will make new friendships when we move, enter a long term care community, or, must now live without a spouse.
In the broken, imperfect web of relationships we do find God. St. Augustine said, "Our hearts are restless until we find our rest in Thee." Our restless hearts can find a place of comfort in God in community with one another.
Yet, he searched beyond those places into the broken vessels of human interactions that comprise our friendships, our family, our colleagues, and the people God places in our paths. These broken vessels are known as community, that web of relationships that are never perfect but nevertheless shine with the love of God. Our lives at times will know the intensity and comfort of close relationships. At times we wonder if those times of close friendship will ever come again as our children age and the circle of our adult friends change. We wonder if we will make new friendships when we move, enter a long term care community, or, must now live without a spouse.
In the broken, imperfect web of relationships we do find God. St. Augustine said, "Our hearts are restless until we find our rest in Thee." Our restless hearts can find a place of comfort in God in community with one another.
Wednesday, October 13, 2010
Legacy
Our desire to worship God and to connect spiritually with others is related with our desire to leave a legacy. That legacy need not be a monument, those some confuse legacy with permance. That legacy need not be an accumulation of weath, those some confuse legacy with the ability to control future decisions. Our legacy is our values, that which we hold most important, most formative, most inspiring, and most of what be desire to share with others. A monument, a gift to heirs, a donation to an alma mater can express our values, but, our legacy does not need a physical form to be passed on. What our legacy needs is our hearts.
Monday I attended the 25th reunion of my seminary class. Worshiping in the classic chapel, much about the campus, the people, and the courses taught at the school have changed. What has not changed is the lively intellect of faculty seeking to awaken in students that the love of God can be expressed through the mind. What has not changed is the commitment of community to worship. Unchanged is commitment that the spreading of the gospel comes from pastor well prepared to preach and teach from the pulpit, from the pastor who is also an author, from the director of development who calls upon his Divinity studies in his relationships with donors, and from the physican who studied both medicine and divinity and founded a not for profit health care practice that serves beyond the confines of the current health care system.
What does your heart desire to pass on to others this week?
Monday I attended the 25th reunion of my seminary class. Worshiping in the classic chapel, much about the campus, the people, and the courses taught at the school have changed. What has not changed is the lively intellect of faculty seeking to awaken in students that the love of God can be expressed through the mind. What has not changed is the commitment of community to worship. Unchanged is commitment that the spreading of the gospel comes from pastor well prepared to preach and teach from the pulpit, from the pastor who is also an author, from the director of development who calls upon his Divinity studies in his relationships with donors, and from the physican who studied both medicine and divinity and founded a not for profit health care practice that serves beyond the confines of the current health care system.
What does your heart desire to pass on to others this week?
Monday, October 4, 2010
Witness
The meaning of the word witness is broader and deeper when we look towards our Christian witness. The word usually has a functional meaning: to describe events observed, to report those events, to attest to the truth of facts, or, to attest to the truth of belief. These connotations set the person in conflict, or at least in contest, with the other witnesses around them.
Witness is broader as Christian witness because it means words as well as action. We can witness to the goodness of Christ's life in our by choosing to share our lives with others. We can witness to the goodness of Christ's life in ours by choosing to shape our lives according to the discipline of giving of our time, talent and treasure so that others know Christ's life. We can witness to the goodness of Christ's life in our by respecting the dignity of each person we encounter. These forms of witness are part of the Baptismal Covenant that Episcopalians affirm.
Witness is deeper as Christian witness because it asks each of us to be both individually dediacted to our spiritual growth as well as beings members of a Christian community that is growing in faith. Witness is deeper when we draw upon the living Christ within us to help us navigate those places when we intentionally move outside of our comfort zone. Witness asks us to keep the larger picture in mind: my needs, the needs of my household, and the needs of the community balance one another.
The first generations of Christians held all their goods in common. Yes, they attended to their own needs and the needs of their households but they also were mindful dedicate a portion of their goods for use of the community. They shared their money, material possessions, and gifts for the goodness of sharing and not for the control of determining where those shared goods would be distributed.
Christian witness raises the goodness of Christ's life for us, in us, around us, and for others to the forefront of our words and actions.
Witness is broader as Christian witness because it means words as well as action. We can witness to the goodness of Christ's life in our by choosing to share our lives with others. We can witness to the goodness of Christ's life in ours by choosing to shape our lives according to the discipline of giving of our time, talent and treasure so that others know Christ's life. We can witness to the goodness of Christ's life in our by respecting the dignity of each person we encounter. These forms of witness are part of the Baptismal Covenant that Episcopalians affirm.
Witness is deeper as Christian witness because it asks each of us to be both individually dediacted to our spiritual growth as well as beings members of a Christian community that is growing in faith. Witness is deeper when we draw upon the living Christ within us to help us navigate those places when we intentionally move outside of our comfort zone. Witness asks us to keep the larger picture in mind: my needs, the needs of my household, and the needs of the community balance one another.
The first generations of Christians held all their goods in common. Yes, they attended to their own needs and the needs of their households but they also were mindful dedicate a portion of their goods for use of the community. They shared their money, material possessions, and gifts for the goodness of sharing and not for the control of determining where those shared goods would be distributed.
Christian witness raises the goodness of Christ's life for us, in us, around us, and for others to the forefront of our words and actions.
Friday, September 24, 2010
Homecoming
Homecoming is a fall school tradition sporting dances, football, students, and alums. However, Homecoming is more than celebrating this great school and friends. Homecoming rejoices that you belong to this place, to these people, to this community.
Belonging is the deepest desire of our spiritual lives. Our deepest desire to belong to God comes through in our deep desire to belong to one another. We seek to belong to a community, a people, a particular place that anchors us. Belonging attaches the larger purposes of our lives in Christ to people with whom we can laugh, cry, and share.
Belonging is the spiritual connection within all homecoming celebrations. Where do you belong and where do you celebrate? Discover a homecoming to capture your spirit's desire to connect to God and others. Arrive at this homecoming as one who belongs.
Belonging is the deepest desire of our spiritual lives. Our deepest desire to belong to God comes through in our deep desire to belong to one another. We seek to belong to a community, a people, a particular place that anchors us. Belonging attaches the larger purposes of our lives in Christ to people with whom we can laugh, cry, and share.
Belonging is the spiritual connection within all homecoming celebrations. Where do you belong and where do you celebrate? Discover a homecoming to capture your spirit's desire to connect to God and others. Arrive at this homecoming as one who belongs.
Tuesday, September 21, 2010
Naming what is important
Well known time managament advisors offer the counsel to separate what is important from what is urgent and then focus on what is important. The advice recognizes that we all can get caught up in the crises of the moment and loose focus on the bigger picture. And, we can use the crisis of the moment to distract us from addressing other priorities.
Naming and then focusing on what is important in our relationship with Christ can also be overshadowed by the crisis of the moment. We tend to be outward focused on the needs of the world, our communities, and those we love. The quick prayer for patience with a two year old or wisdom with a teen. The deep breath to get us through the moment, and, then we are onto the next thing. While raising the moments, hurts, and needs of our lives to the compassionate life of Christ is important, we often turn to that side of our spirituality in crisis.
This week try practicing two sides of the spiritual life that are important and inward. The first side is daily intercessions for the needs of the world. Pray for a period of time, perhaps 10 minutes, naming all the people and places you desire to sent Christ's healing love. Do this every day instead of in the moment. Create a time that you offer to the world a 'daily vitamin' of love. The second side is to name the inner feelings of gratitude and connection. Name the people, the relationships, that give you life and love. These are the places that your life and Christ's life meet. These are the places that are not in crisis but are nurturing in the big picture of your life.
Naming what is important goes beyond the crisis and into the deeper places of Christ's love within us.
Naming and then focusing on what is important in our relationship with Christ can also be overshadowed by the crisis of the moment. We tend to be outward focused on the needs of the world, our communities, and those we love. The quick prayer for patience with a two year old or wisdom with a teen. The deep breath to get us through the moment, and, then we are onto the next thing. While raising the moments, hurts, and needs of our lives to the compassionate life of Christ is important, we often turn to that side of our spirituality in crisis.
This week try practicing two sides of the spiritual life that are important and inward. The first side is daily intercessions for the needs of the world. Pray for a period of time, perhaps 10 minutes, naming all the people and places you desire to sent Christ's healing love. Do this every day instead of in the moment. Create a time that you offer to the world a 'daily vitamin' of love. The second side is to name the inner feelings of gratitude and connection. Name the people, the relationships, that give you life and love. These are the places that your life and Christ's life meet. These are the places that are not in crisis but are nurturing in the big picture of your life.
Naming what is important goes beyond the crisis and into the deeper places of Christ's love within us.
Monday, September 13, 2010
Common Good
Sunday into Monday takes us into primary elections. Comments overhead are about how tired people are of the repetative ads. The overload might be enough to make some tune out. While it may not seem like the one voice of one vote in the many voices of political ads makes a difference, voting always makes a different for the common good. Yes, we vote to express our opinion. Yes, we vote to register our individual voice but just as importantly we vote because collectively voteing create the good that we call democracy. Christians help create the common good in our congregations, communities, and, through our participation in government.
Sunday into Monday spiritual practice is to appreciate all the ways you participate in a common good that is bigger than you are. You create more than our individualistic perspective by being part of a whole. Do you experience the common good in your household, in your school, in your workplace, or congregation? Where does it touch you in your relationship with Christ when you listen and share your own opinion. Where does it stretch you to build an idea or project based on the collective wisdom of your congregation's leadership instead on the leverage of a few? This week, look for God's presence in the common good.
Sunday into Monday spiritual practice is to appreciate all the ways you participate in a common good that is bigger than you are. You create more than our individualistic perspective by being part of a whole. Do you experience the common good in your household, in your school, in your workplace, or congregation? Where does it touch you in your relationship with Christ when you listen and share your own opinion. Where does it stretch you to build an idea or project based on the collective wisdom of your congregation's leadership instead on the leverage of a few? This week, look for God's presence in the common good.
Monday, September 6, 2010
Labor Day
At St. John's Episcopal Church yesterday, we heard that the skills that create our work do not, in God's eyes, create our worth. The Rev. Nick Szobota, our preacher for the day, pointed out that a diversity of skills, capacities, and, excellence is necessary for our common life. And, as the collect of our tradition reminds us, God 'so linked our lives one with another that all we do affects, for good or ill, all other lives...'
Our worth in God's eyes is not based on our labor alone. Our worth is based on God embracing us as God's children, children who are inheritently worthy of love, respect, and, recognition for the contributions each of us makes to the common good. Our worth does not come from society's esteem, which will change in each generation, but remains constant throughout the ages because our worth comes from God.
On this Labor Day, remember your worth in God's eye just as we remember the labor we contribute for the goodness of us all.
Our worth in God's eyes is not based on our labor alone. Our worth is based on God embracing us as God's children, children who are inheritently worthy of love, respect, and, recognition for the contributions each of us makes to the common good. Our worth does not come from society's esteem, which will change in each generation, but remains constant throughout the ages because our worth comes from God.
On this Labor Day, remember your worth in God's eye just as we remember the labor we contribute for the goodness of us all.
Saturday, September 4, 2010
Speaking of Faith III
Stories hold life and truth. We create stories so that the moments of life and truth we want to remember have a container, a sacred vessel, with which to carry these moments. We tell stories about our children, our parents, the people who shape our lives, and sometimes even about ourselves. Stories about ourselves reveal more that we would usually tell yet we seek to share that life and truth with others.
Listening to so many stories produced for consumption may confuse us. Following this week the news about Hurrican Earl, danger and preparedness were the themes. While the people interviewed were on the scene and in places impact was anticipated, the stories shared did not reveal anything more than what was already known. Its confusing when in the depths of our being we know stories tell us about life and truth and yet so many stories for consumption reveal little.
Tell a story today. Share a story today. Its an act of community to bring another into your story and to listen to another person's story. Its an act of faith to know that stories reveals the life and truth of our lives together. Tell a story that brings forth joy, or passion, or compassion. Listen for a story that will show forth a new, glistening dimension of the life and truth that surrounds us.
Listening to so many stories produced for consumption may confuse us. Following this week the news about Hurrican Earl, danger and preparedness were the themes. While the people interviewed were on the scene and in places impact was anticipated, the stories shared did not reveal anything more than what was already known. Its confusing when in the depths of our being we know stories tell us about life and truth and yet so many stories for consumption reveal little.
Tell a story today. Share a story today. Its an act of community to bring another into your story and to listen to another person's story. Its an act of faith to know that stories reveals the life and truth of our lives together. Tell a story that brings forth joy, or passion, or compassion. Listen for a story that will show forth a new, glistening dimension of the life and truth that surrounds us.
Wednesday, September 1, 2010
Speaking of Faith II
As I reflect on the name change of radio program, from "Speaking of Faith" to "Being," I am reminded of the adage: when is a business not a business? The answer is when it is a church. Communities of faith have the same organization structures of all organizations with the same goverance, financial, and oversight needs. Yet, the dynamics that influence how churches function are supposed to be and ought to be driven by the expression of faith. How we speak of faith in a church organization is different than how we speak of faith in a company or workplace.
For example, volunteers are committed because of values and the "compensation" is living those values more clearly than perhaps they can do in other parts of their lives. Clergy and professional congregational staff are teachers, conveyors, and perservers of those values. They are more than the supervisor or 'boss.' And, emotions, needs, support, understanding, will always we sought and assumed more in the faith community work place than in an employer-employee relationship.
Despite the similarities between business and faith organizations, there will always be a disconnect between how a company runs and how a church runs. So, there is always be a disconnect between how people speak of faith in the at work and how they speak of faith in their communities.
Still, I uphold the public conversation that shapes our lives in both workplace and faith community that expresses what we believe and where our hearts rest.
For example, volunteers are committed because of values and the "compensation" is living those values more clearly than perhaps they can do in other parts of their lives. Clergy and professional congregational staff are teachers, conveyors, and perservers of those values. They are more than the supervisor or 'boss.' And, emotions, needs, support, understanding, will always we sought and assumed more in the faith community work place than in an employer-employee relationship.
Despite the similarities between business and faith organizations, there will always be a disconnect between how a company runs and how a church runs. So, there is always be a disconnect between how people speak of faith in the at work and how they speak of faith in their communities.
Still, I uphold the public conversation that shapes our lives in both workplace and faith community that expresses what we believe and where our hearts rest.
Monday, August 30, 2010
Sunday to Monday - Speaking of Faith
Yesterday I learned that my favorite podcast, Speaking of Faith, is changing its name to 'Being.' The reason sited was that many listeners reported that a title with the word faith in it was an obstacle for them. The title 'Being' intendes to capture the essense of the program that is about 'religion, ethics, meaning and ideas.' For me the title change moves the intersection of ideas from the place where our horizontal personal focus meets our veritical wider-than-self focus to a more limited view of only the personal focus. For me both the horizontial and vertical are essential to a full life.
So Speaking of Faith is what we do when we move from Sunday to Monday. For Christians, Sunday is the start of the week, a day that we emphasize the vertical focus. We literally look upward when we gather in community and put ourselves in direct relationship to God and one another. We literally look upward and are lifted through worship and prayer together. For Christians, Monday is the day we practice the intersection of that vertical focus with our horizontal personal focus. It is meant to be a balance, every changing and dynamic and not a formula. It is meant to be creative and not a receipe. It is meant to bring the wider life we know in God in Christ into our lives and those around us.
Here are some ways this week for Speaking of Faith:
Each morning name five things you love about your life and name five things that you love about your relationship with God.
Prepare for the start of your faith communities year by identifying what you want to learn about you believe and how can your church help you learn that.
Pray for your children, or grandchildren, or children of the neighborhood as they begin the new adventure of the school year.
Pray for the teachers, administrators, and school bus drivers for the work they do.
So Speaking of Faith is what we do when we move from Sunday to Monday. For Christians, Sunday is the start of the week, a day that we emphasize the vertical focus. We literally look upward when we gather in community and put ourselves in direct relationship to God and one another. We literally look upward and are lifted through worship and prayer together. For Christians, Monday is the day we practice the intersection of that vertical focus with our horizontal personal focus. It is meant to be a balance, every changing and dynamic and not a formula. It is meant to be creative and not a receipe. It is meant to bring the wider life we know in God in Christ into our lives and those around us.
Here are some ways this week for Speaking of Faith:
Each morning name five things you love about your life and name five things that you love about your relationship with God.
Prepare for the start of your faith communities year by identifying what you want to learn about you believe and how can your church help you learn that.
Pray for your children, or grandchildren, or children of the neighborhood as they begin the new adventure of the school year.
Pray for the teachers, administrators, and school bus drivers for the work they do.
Monday, July 12, 2010
Sunday to Monday
Worship on Sunday praises God for the gifts of God's goodness in our lives. As Christians we most powerfully experience that goodness in three ways, through the life of Christ that dwells in human life, through the intimate presence of the Holy Spirit that enables us to continually be attentive to that life within us, and through our community with one another in that life. Moving from Sunday to Monday, this week, reflect where you attention most frequently rests. Is it on the irrations, time pressure, and obligations? Or, can you bring your attention to the moment, this moment, any moment savoring that Christ is within you, around you, above you and below you.
Friday, July 9, 2010
Journey, Again
Not all journeys are pilgrimages of progressive steps towards the unknown and revealing an inner wisdom. Some journeys are steps, progressive or not, to find what is know and recreate the lost. A serious computer crash that wipes clean documents that were made with our thoughts and hands, that deletes events and appointments that represent anticipated relationships, that cancels contacts that hold a history of our personal and professional interconnectedness, creates a journey to recapture what is known and recreate the lost. It is a journey of grief of what is gone. It is journey of grief for what was planned and it now replaced with efforts to regather. It is a journey of grief for good intentions and commitment to one's work. The promise is that God is present in every journey. What springs forth from our efforts now will carry that blessing and the mark of Christ's life within us. What we recreate will show forth what God intends for us now.
Wednesday, July 7, 2010
The Journey Matters II
The piligrimage journey to Iona changed all of our lives. For ten days we lived in a closer relationship with one another and with God than any of us experienced before. We reflected on the presence of God in our day, in the moments of beauty, justice, and creation, in the moments of friendship and discovery. Rather than an abrupt awakening or conversion, the change was subtle, gentle, bringing forth the seed God had already planted there. The lyrics of this song we learned at Iona captures this emerging life, "God has chosen me, God has chosen me, and planted a seed, he knows that I need. Its fruit shall be joy."
Tuesday, July 6, 2010
The Journey Matters
The title of today's post is borrowed from the mission of St. George's School, "Because the journery matters." The time to journey from last February and the last blog to today's post drew upon love, strength, balance, patience, and, the need to be flexible. In the journey of these days, God's presence was felt when everyone at St. John's adjusted schedules to cope with the snow. The presence of God was celebrated in the transitions of life: graduations, weddings, baptisms, retirements. Many drew closer into the presence of God through the pilgrimage to Iona. The journey of each day added another step to this season of a different pace. The words to describe the journey, this time, are not what is most important. What matters is the journey of these days in God's presence and with God's people.
Tuesday, February 16, 2010
Personal and Public Hospitality
Hospitality recognized the 'stranger' as a child of God lwho is oved and valued in God's eyes as much as we ourselves are loved and valued. Hosptiality is an act of the our heart opening to the heart of another. In this way, hospitality is a personal practice, an act we an offer at any time and at any place.
Hospitaltiy has another dimension as a public act. The sign of this public act is our greeting of someone we do not know. A hand shake, sharing our name, listening for the guest's name in return. However these signs of public greeting are not the same as the public practice of hospitality. The public act of hospitality is to gather with others as a community and place ourselves in relationship to God. One person described it this way to me, "I need time to get on my knees each week with people who are seeking to believe, with people I know and I don't know. Getting on my knees places me in the posture of humanity in relationship to God's divinity."
As a community, we kneel knowing we a loved by God and yet we are not God. Kneeling togehter in our collective humanity is a public act of hospitality, welcoming one another in relationship with God and one another in Jesus Christ.
Hospitaltiy has another dimension as a public act. The sign of this public act is our greeting of someone we do not know. A hand shake, sharing our name, listening for the guest's name in return. However these signs of public greeting are not the same as the public practice of hospitality. The public act of hospitality is to gather with others as a community and place ourselves in relationship to God. One person described it this way to me, "I need time to get on my knees each week with people who are seeking to believe, with people I know and I don't know. Getting on my knees places me in the posture of humanity in relationship to God's divinity."
As a community, we kneel knowing we a loved by God and yet we are not God. Kneeling togehter in our collective humanity is a public act of hospitality, welcoming one another in relationship with God and one another in Jesus Christ.
Thursday, February 11, 2010
Practicing Hospitality
While I sit inside my house snowed in, I am practicing hospitality. None of us knows when we will be subject to the mercy and goodness of strangers. Today, I am at the mercy and goodness of 'strangers' who will be plowing the roads, patroling the streets, staffing the ER if I experience a medical emergency, managing the use of public resources to get businesses open and people back to work. Most of these people are unknown to me but the professionalism and goodness with which they do their jobs influence my life significantly. I am practicing hospitality by recognizing the contribution, and sacrifice, these people are making on my behalf.
While we tend to think of strangers as those who we do not know in our congregations, as those who orginiate from a culture different from our own, as people so unfamiliar we need to be wary of them, strangers are actually part of our lives every day. Perhaps a story will illustrate. One Easter dawn several years ago, I was walking from the rectory to the church. No one was awake and moving about except a police officer in his patrol car. I smiled, waved, and kept walking. Later that morning at the packed Easter service was a man, attending alone, who I did not recognize. Then I noticed his uniform.
An unfamiliar face at worship may be someone who has worked extra shifts at the hospital because other medical staff did not make it through the snow. Or, a teacher connecting to this new parish community. Others have received their goodness and mercy. Practicing hospitality welcomes these 'strangers' into the life of the worshipping community that morning.
Much of our current scriptures are translated from Greek. The Greek word for stranger also means guest and host. We can treat one another as strangers, or, we can recognize that interplay between guest host. Sometimes we are the guest, subject to the mercy and goodness of another. And sometimes we are the host, offering that mercy and goodness to the guest. Practicing Hospitality is recognizing the mutality of our relationships with one another.
While we tend to think of strangers as those who we do not know in our congregations, as those who orginiate from a culture different from our own, as people so unfamiliar we need to be wary of them, strangers are actually part of our lives every day. Perhaps a story will illustrate. One Easter dawn several years ago, I was walking from the rectory to the church. No one was awake and moving about except a police officer in his patrol car. I smiled, waved, and kept walking. Later that morning at the packed Easter service was a man, attending alone, who I did not recognize. Then I noticed his uniform.
An unfamiliar face at worship may be someone who has worked extra shifts at the hospital because other medical staff did not make it through the snow. Or, a teacher connecting to this new parish community. Others have received their goodness and mercy. Practicing hospitality welcomes these 'strangers' into the life of the worshipping community that morning.
Much of our current scriptures are translated from Greek. The Greek word for stranger also means guest and host. We can treat one another as strangers, or, we can recognize that interplay between guest host. Sometimes we are the guest, subject to the mercy and goodness of another. And sometimes we are the host, offering that mercy and goodness to the guest. Practicing Hospitality is recognizing the mutality of our relationships with one another.
Monday, February 8, 2010
Christian Practices
Since the early centuries, Christians have been known as followers of The Way. Jesus names himself, The Way, The Truth, and The Life. How each generation faithfully finds The Way requires reflecting, debating, theologizing, and even as today, sometimes arguing.
Practicing Our Faith, A Way of Life for a Searching People offers guidance to contemporary Christians. The editor, Dorothy Bass, engages authors from across the spectrum of current scholarship and practice. As she describes in the opening pages, instead of examing the whole of Christian life, the contributors name the most important activies that comprise the Christian life.
Christian Practices are described as: "addressing fundatmental needs and conditions through concrete human acts," "done together over time," "posses standards of excellence," and, show us "how our daily lives as all tangled up in the things God is doing in the world." (pages 6-8). All the practices are necessary for a balanced and healthy Christian life but focusing on one will open up ways to practice the others.
Christian practices will be the focus of the next several posts. Yesterday highlighted the practice of Sabbath Keeping. Today, I invite you to reflect on the elements, or dimensions, of your spiritual life that show you "how your daily life is all tangled up in the things God is doing." What engages you in the world and brings you into closer relationship with God?
Practicing Our Faith, A Way of Life for a Searching People offers guidance to contemporary Christians. The editor, Dorothy Bass, engages authors from across the spectrum of current scholarship and practice. As she describes in the opening pages, instead of examing the whole of Christian life, the contributors name the most important activies that comprise the Christian life.
Christian Practices are described as: "addressing fundatmental needs and conditions through concrete human acts," "done together over time," "posses standards of excellence," and, show us "how our daily lives as all tangled up in the things God is doing in the world." (pages 6-8). All the practices are necessary for a balanced and healthy Christian life but focusing on one will open up ways to practice the others.
Christian practices will be the focus of the next several posts. Yesterday highlighted the practice of Sabbath Keeping. Today, I invite you to reflect on the elements, or dimensions, of your spiritual life that show you "how your daily life is all tangled up in the things God is doing." What engages you in the world and brings you into closer relationship with God?
Sunday, February 7, 2010
After the Snow
Welcome to Practically Christian, a blog reflecting on the presence of Christ in daily life. Some of us are 'practical Christian' looking for the ways we can make a different. Some of us are 'praciting' to be Christian looking for ways we can invest our daily lives with gratitude, awareness of love, faithful decisions, and community. Some of us consider ourselves to be not yet Christian and wondering how we walk that path. Practically Christian opens ways to learn, to deepen, and to engage the presence of the living Christ among us where ever we are on our journey. The conversation centers on the community of St. John's Episcopal Church and Parish Day School in Maryland.
Today is Sunday and the day after the snow. The shape of our day will be different from what we had planned. Many will find ourselves digging out of our driveways and unable to attend worship, see friends, or attend gatherings. The distance of our travel is likely to be limited to the distance we can walk. The busyness of our usual itineary is replaced by a few essential activities close to home.
Today is a day to practice Sabbath. The Biblical concept of a week is six days of work and one day to contemplate God. In 2010 the day after the snow, contemplate God. Contemplating God is worship at home. Try using the guidance offered on http://www.stjohnsec.org/. Contemplating God is gratitude flowing when we embrace the beauty of creation. Contemplating God is feeling our bodies as we shovel snow, breathing deep, stretching to the warmth of muscles and awaking to the crispness of the air. Contemplating God is looking at the stillness of the earth and the engery of the sun glistening around us. Contemplating God is taking a walk holding the hand of someone you love. Today is a day to practice Sabbath.
Today is Sunday and the day after the snow. The shape of our day will be different from what we had planned. Many will find ourselves digging out of our driveways and unable to attend worship, see friends, or attend gatherings. The distance of our travel is likely to be limited to the distance we can walk. The busyness of our usual itineary is replaced by a few essential activities close to home.
Today is a day to practice Sabbath. The Biblical concept of a week is six days of work and one day to contemplate God. In 2010 the day after the snow, contemplate God. Contemplating God is worship at home. Try using the guidance offered on http://www.stjohnsec.org/. Contemplating God is gratitude flowing when we embrace the beauty of creation. Contemplating God is feeling our bodies as we shovel snow, breathing deep, stretching to the warmth of muscles and awaking to the crispness of the air. Contemplating God is looking at the stillness of the earth and the engery of the sun glistening around us. Contemplating God is taking a walk holding the hand of someone you love. Today is a day to practice Sabbath.
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