Thursday, October 3, 2013

Cannot go to work

Its one thing to not have a job, its another to be physically unable to get to work, its another to have a job and not want to go, and its entirely a different thing to have a job that you want to go to and cannot because you are employed by the Federal Government. First, to all the members of St. John's who are home because of the government shut down, I admire you perseverance to use the time that you want to be at work in creative ways. Some of you are planning ways to assist family and neighbors with projects. As public servants you are continuing to serve. Some of you are beginning home projects that you otherwise have not been able to complete, because you have been reliably at your jobs. Some of you are volunteering in your community and here at St. John's. Common among all of you who are home not from your own choice is that you are not yet shutting down but still looking for leaders to lead the country to a new place. Thank you for your common sense and dedication as citizens. Second, I appreciate that there are many others who are members of St. John's who businesses depend upon the Federal Government operating, such as contractors, food service, even home care providers who are now displaced or whose families are cutting back because of the economic uncertainty. Thank you for the same perseverance and service as citizens. And finally, I know this places everyone in a position to question commitments of both time and money. How much income will be lost? Is there anything to be done to make it up? When to cut back? How to look day to day? Your parish stands with you. Whatever support and help you need, the community of St. John's surrounds you. Whatever questioning or fist shaking or wondering you want to do out loud, we are here to listen. While the current financial situation of your household may have an impact on the financial household of St. John's, it will not change our joy in community and our appreciation of all our members. We all wonder, "How long, O Lord?" However long, Christian community continues through the Spirit of St. John's among us all.

Wednesday, September 4, 2013

You have searched me out and known me.

The Psalm for this coming Sunday is Psalm 139, one of my favorites. This is the Pslam I turned to in my late twenties when I was trying to discern who I was. Living alone, managing a house, job, friends, and broken relationships, I was not moving deeper to understand myself and who I was with God. It was lonely. I did not turn to friends because I felt only God and me could work this out. Yet, nothing that I could recognize from God seemed to be coming my way. More doors where closing than opening. It was comforting to me to hear in this Psalm that that even if I didn't know who I was and where I was called, God knew. Even if I couldn't see it at the time, God knew. And, not only did God know but that knowing stretched through my past, my painful present, and my hope for the future. "God, you know my sitting down and rising up...you discern my thoughts from afar...you are acquainted with all my ways..." A Life with God is not a straight line up an ever winding spiral. We revisit our joys and sorrows at different parts in our life seeing them with a new perspective of the accumulated days lived. We find ourselves sure of what we are doing and wonder and times of transition, "who am I?" Psalm 139 is always there for me

Tuesday, September 3, 2013

Practically, as in almost there?

Practically Christians, as in almost there? That is a question that came up shortly after beginning this blog. It is the opening a new school year on our campus and the opening of new program year for the parish so it is a good time to revisit why "Practically..." Think of practicing the piano, or a language, or any skill. At first it is awkward and then as the body learns the movements it becomes more fluid. Then it is time to learn another level, a different song or movement. The same is true of the Christian life. We are always practicing. Even with a refresher as an adult, we don't begin again as if we were children. We practice from the place we find ourselves in today and then move into more practice. We touch our center and God's center. So Pratically Christian is about practicing our faith life day to day. That is also part of the practically, it that our faith is practical - in real time, every day, in each place and relationship in which we find ourselves. Practically Christian, practicing day to day. While some days we may feel the frustrations of being incomplete and almost there, the focus is on what we can do each and every day as people of faith. And that is all good news!

Thursday, June 13, 2013

Caffe Decaffeinato

Foods are full, simple, and as they are intended to be in Tuscan cooking. Measuring means less and taste means more. That is why I've come to the conclusion that Italians really don't know the meaning of Decaffeinato. I came to that conclusion about 3 am last night. Lunch had concluded with a lovely, what I thought was a decaffinated expresso. Clearly not true at 3 am. After all, coffee was never meant to be striped of its pizzazz. Consider if in our life with God measuring meant less and taste meant more. Savor the rising and falling of emotion in a hymn, allow the time of prayer to take us where God wants to go, skip our to-do list for God and enter instead into a sweetness of simple rest. Don't accept a watered-down or altered version of someone's experience of faith but find the pizazz of our own. Wouldn't that be as God intended in our relationship?

Monday, June 10, 2013

Retracing our steps

In Florence not all the streets appear on the brightly colored maps printed for travelers. We start out in the direction we want go on a street that appears on the map. Then we find ourselves on an unmarked street but still in the general direction we want to go. Sometimes forging ahead leads to the destination. And it almost always leading to meandering before figurimg out where we are. Sometimes we retrace our steps. It's like confession, or call it self reflection if that makes it sound more comfortable to you. Confession is to turn around, turn away from the path you are currently traveling to get back on the path you want. In theological language the path you want, and you want it because God desires that path for you, is the path that leads to God. Retracing our steps to find the streets other Christian travelers have also discovered lead in the way we want to go.

Tuesday, June 4, 2013

Toscana

Land, people, food and hospitality weave inseparably in Tuscany. To produce, cook, serve, and invest in food are all hard job with long hours and no days off (eecailly March to December). The people on these "industries" are have passions, not jobs. They bring personality, perseverance, intelligent, humor, and commitment to make the world a better place. Today we met butchers including one of the few woman butchers, a woman Veterinarian with cashmere goats, and restaurateurs who are the social centers of their villages. This is Slow Food- local, sustainable, building their communities.

Friday, May 24, 2013

Voices

I speak in many voices.  Not the sound of my words but the experience and roles of my  life: spouse, mother, priest, administrator, friend, advisor, mentor, supervisor, colleague.  While the context directs  which voice I use, none of the voices are distinct.  Sometimes to be a thoughtful administrator the mother layer is in my voice.  Sometimes to be a mother the administrator voice organizes home life.

Yet, there is one voice that is in every layer, the Christian voice.  On this sabbatical, I am reflecting on my heart core.  That which gives me life.  That which is my inner scaffolding, central support, architecture of my beliefs. Naming my roots in Christ, literally, continues to be very supportive.

So, when I came across the following, paraphrased from the Collegeville Institute web page, developing my Christian voice became that much more important. "It is not enough to preach.  It is not enough to teach.  It is not enough to update the church's Facebook page.  We must learn to write and speak theology accessible for everyone". Write and speak theology for everyone are at my core.  It is what this blog is about as well as the many other voices of my life.  What are the practical, everyday dimensions of a Christian voice?  How is it heard?  Where? Am I speaking out loud or whispering in my own head? What inspires others to speak in their own Christian voice?

What inspires me is to know and feel that my Christian voice makes two profound differences.  First that everyday I choose life with God and I am grateful.  Second, that I make a difference in the lives of others everyday. I am not measuring the difference.  The size, impact, is less important than the difference Christ in me makes. In that way I am developing my voice and speaking to connect with others.

Sunday, May 12, 2013

Illuminations

At one time in church history, monks copied manuscripts, primarily The Bible, and adorned them with illuminations on the page.  The act of copying is an art and the painting of illumination is an art.  Few of those manuscripts of the sacred Word for living survive today.

The art of illumination happens still today but not in prized manuscripts or copied pages.  More often than not its in today's disposal mediums, print and digital.  Their life is intended to be while the reader's eye is on the page.  The art is clarity.  We miss many illuminations because their production is daily and fleeting.

One illumination appears in today's Washington Post.  An opinion column written by Michael Gerson entitled, "Elevated by the Common Good."  His writing is an act of common good because he does not agree with the book he describes, Common Good by Jim Wallis.  He illuminates where he and Mr. Wallis agree and disagree and why.  He makes his points based on a thorough knowledge of faith principals and values yet he does not share about his own faith or question Jim Wallis' because they disagree.  The article is an illumination of religion speaking in the public square to build up our human and civic community.  Worth reading both Mr. Gerson and Mr. Wallis. 

Wednesday, April 10, 2013

Bible Reading Easter Season

This morning I posted on  St. John's Bible Reading Challenge Facebook:

It was bound to happen.  After Lent discipline moves into Easter Season, I have fallen behind on the daily ready challenge.  I am catching up.

Romans 5:21 from The Message reads, "All sin can do is threaten us with death, and that's the end of it. Grace, because God is putting everything together again through the Messiah, invites us into life--a life that goes on and on and on, world without end."

So what about those do to lists, do they save us?  What about the jammed packed schedules and all the good we do for others, does that bring us life?  While we might find meaning there and joy and connection, life begins and continues because "...God is putting everything together again through the Messiah..."

Monday, February 25, 2013

Bible Reading Challenge

Taking the challenge?  Will you share your thoughts.  Richard Foster in Life with God,  Reading the Bible for Spiritual Formation, says that scripture is border territory, the place my life merges with yours.

We find our true selves, as wonderful and diverse and different as each of us, in the pages of scripture. Will you take the risk and share that which most deeply yours from God?

You can through the Bible Reading Challenge SJEC.  This is a closed Facebook group.  Let me know you want to join and I'll add you to the group.  (If you don't already have a facebook page, you will need to create one.)  Closed on Facebook means only those in the group can see one another's posts.  Its a way we can network with one another and share among us.

Today Genesis tells the story of Jacob and Laban, an illustration of how wonderful, diverse, different in motivation and perspective we all are!

Join me!

Friday, February 22, 2013

Bible Reading Challenge

Today I caught up.  The challenge began on Ash Wednesday and I started yesterday.  So today I've read through, Genesis 22-27, Psalm 9, and, Matthew 9.

I noticed, again, how much of Matthew we hear read aloud in church yet we hear it in a completely different order.  The teachings that begin with Matthew 5 continue in a sequence through Matthew 7.
Those chapters could be Lent reflection for spiritual growth in 2014!

What did you notice?

For my Bible I am using The Life with God Bible, New Revised Standard Version, published by Harper Bibles.  The editor is Richard Foster, a well known writer on the Christian Spiritual Life.  In addition to notes on the texts there are more extensive notes on spiritual disciples and how to use the texts for spiritual formation.

Did you go to Bible Reading Challenge or Diocese of Maryland website to download the daily reading?  Are you with me and our bishop as we read through the Bible Ash Wednesday 13 to Ash Wednesday 14?  Follow my blog, comment, and share.

Thursday, February 21, 2013

Prayer, Reflection, and Study

The season of Lent invites not only the spiritual disciplines of putting oneself aside, fasting and giving to others, but also going deeper into our inner spiritual lives.

Resources abound.  Two for going deeper are right, literally, at our fingertips.  First, The Daily Lenten Devotions written by members of St. John's appear on our home page, www.stjohns.org.  A reflection that brings one closer to members of our community and to God is there in a few key strokes.

Second, read the Bible along with others in the Diocese of Maryland.  The diocese is offering the Bible Reading Challenge to read the entire Bible in one year from Lent 13 to Lent 14. Go to www.ang-md.org for the click through to the daily reading list.  Don't worry it started Ash Wednesday.  I am starting today too and I invite you to join me.  Want to form a facebook group or email list to encourage one another?  Then, email me at my st john's email address.  Accountability in community supports our individual goals!

Lent is the season a spiritual disciplines.  A Spiritual Discipline is an intentionally directed action by which we do what we can do in order to receive from God the ability (or power) to do what we cannot do by direct effort. Richard J. Foster Life with God.  Page 16.  Intentionally direct your action to Devotions with St. John's and reading the Bible in community.  May this Lent draw you closer to God.

Thursday, February 7, 2013

Another reflection to share

As I read for spiritual challenge and nurture, as I read for sermon preparation, as I read to pray, I am always glad to discover reflections written by colleagues.  In parish ministry while my life and times focus on the congregation I serve, often I have colleagues and friends with whom I have shared a project or season of ministry but who I do not see face to face on a regular basis. Reading a colleague's writing brings me back into that friendship.

So I share today a reflection written by a colleague found, like many others I have shared, in Daily Feast, Meditations from Feasting on the Word, Year C, by Lewis F. Galloway.

1 Corinthians 15:1-11

"Receiving the Gospel is not simply giving assent to the articles of a creed.  Receiving the Gospel is not a matter of accruing one more good thing to a life that is already full of good things. Receiving the Gospel is discovering in Christ a new center of existence, a new power for living, a new perspective from which to view all things."

Tuesday, January 29, 2013

Not yet too big on themselves

Just yesterday Jenni Ovenstone Smith and I were discussing 'youth' ministry.  Ministry is ministry, sharing the Good News of Christ's life, bringing people closer to Christ and one another, sharing joys and sorrows, support and challenge.  The 'youth' added to ministry means more creativity, more direct comments and talk, more opportunity to deeply touch lives.

So, this morning when I read the following meditation I am again reminded that ministry is ministry is ministry and talking about God is talking about God.

From Daily Feast, Meditations for Feasting on the Word, Year C, Page 99.

"Tuesday, Jeremiah 1:4-10

Reflection
Jeremiah is ushered into something bigger and better, into God's truth and life of service to the Almighty. Perhaps this is the edge young people have: they are not too big themselves just yet, either physically or in the soul.  Jeremiah's solid excuse for why he cannot speak God's word is that he is 'only a youth'- as if grownups know how to speak of God!  Never do we speak of God capably. We try, we mumble impotent sounds; but does this not happen with babies who coo or with young lovers? The most eloquent words we can muster seem ridiculously inadequate, and the stammer voices the truest affection.
James C. Howell

Response
What excuses have you given to God about your call?

Prayer
God who calls me into life, help me remember that it is so much bigger and better than I can every imagine. Amen."


Monday, January 28, 2013

You are the Body of Christ

For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. 1 Corinthians 12:12

The apostle Paul employs the analogy to human body to the church in a new way. Instead of going with the familiar approach of his time that likened the hierarchy of social status found in the human community to the hierarchy of importance in the parts of the body, Paul uses the compatible and necessary functioning of each part of the body to the compatible and necessary functioning to each part of the church.  No one part can claim superiority.  And, no one part can claim superiority because what holds the body together, its unity, is the same for all-The Spirit of Christ among everyone.

The unity of the church universal as well as any congregation is our organic connection to Christ. Our connectedness is a gift even when parts do not all function together.  However, instead of turning our attention to how we support one another in sorrow and in joy, instead of turning our attention to how we balance our functioning together within our congregation,  instead of looking at our congregation in the compassionate ways we compensate for one another, let us turn our attention how our connectedness functions to benefit all.

Connected as a body, our congregation literally spiritually supports hundreds of thousands of lives each week.  We gather to worship, pray, serve and share in the spiritual nurture of the church community. That spiritual nurture feeds its members.  And those members go out into the world.  Our community nurtures a drug counselor in one of the worst neighborhoods in Baltimore, a social worker who finds community homes for the mentally ill, CEOs who employ thousands of people, teachers from graduate level to elementary school, teachers from the gifted to the learning disabled, carpenters, those who are oversee national security, physicists, researchers, doctors, all who use their spiritual nurture from our congregation to touch people's lives with their gifts.

In the Epiphany season when the church universal and our congregation remembers that as the Body of Christ we bring Christ's life and love to the world, we can ask what difference can any one congregation make?  As the Body united to one another so that we function as a church and are thereby nurtured and sustained, we make a lot of difference through the lives we live.

Tuesday, January 1, 2013

Spiritual Conversations

Over the next few days we will greet one another with the question, "How was your Christmas?" Or, "How were your Holidays?"  Or, "Were the kids home?"  The usual answer to these questions are, "it was great, or, we had lots of fun, or, we ate too much, or, can't wait to get back to a routine."

Over the next few days, instead of asking the usual questions, try asking "Did you have any spiritual conversations in the last week?"  Likely you'll get a quizzical look that says, "what is a spiritual conversation?" The reply is "A conversation of thankfulness, integrity, clarity, or, compassion,  a conversation that affirms that God is among us in our everyday moments."

Spiritual conversations are not long conversations about searching for meaning but conversations about belonging.  Spiritual conversations are not debates over the tenets of belief but conversations about where Christ's life meets ours.  Spiritual conversations are not about if its found in scripture but where scripture finds us.

A spiritual conversation is presence and being present to one another.  It asks another, "How are you doing?" and you really want to know. Its a compassionate conversation between doctor and family when there are no other treatments to offer.  Its a conversation that appreciates the gifts of a co worker, or, when parents risk to speak about what is really happening with their child in an effort to love their child better.  A spiritual conversation celebrates childhood, and adolescence, and young adulthood, and 55 and better, and retirement, and beyond as a gift from God to be in that particular stage of life.   A spiritual conversation speaks of gratitude rather than happiness for as one scholar observed, "Thankfulness is harder to come by than happiness, but immeasurably better to count on." (David L. Bartlett)

Did you have any spiritual conversations last week?