Today’s reading from 1 Corinthians is a continuation from last week’s. For some reason when I read today’s passage earlier this week, I started thinking of it literally. (Now, you may think I’ve gone “over the edge” but stay with me.)
The images that came to mind were absurd: You sitting out there in your chairs at Crissey Farm…One of you an eyeball. Another an ear. Another a heart. One a head, and so on. In thinking of it in that silly way, I was able to “hear again" the part of today’s passage that says, “If all were a single member (like an eyeball or a heart), where would the body be?” The parts have to be assembled together as a body, in order for there to be a body at all—instead of a bunch of silly, isolated parts.
Then my mind went from the literal-absurd eyeballs on chairs to more abstract images of some of Picasso’s work, especially the cubist-Fauve-influenced ones from the late 1930s. In these parts of things, and especially faces, are fragmented and perhaps reconstructed in shocking ways. In some of his paintings Picasso used this style to communicate great emotional distress, like the shattering experience of grief.
To state the obvious, a fragmented body or face is not a whole body or face. And I believe it is God’s will that the Body of Christ be whole—all parts in their proper place. Working together. Complete. And in being whole, then the Body of Christ can give light in the darkness to this sinful and broken world.
So we must use and honor all the parts, because they are all necessary to make the body whole. Think about it…An eyeball that can see a glorious sunset, is of no use unless it has a heart and mind to process and enjoy it. A heart full of love needs arms and lips and voice to express the love.
So as I look out at you today, in your chairs at Crissey Farm, I don’t see an eyeball in one chair, a foot in another. I see people who bring many, many gifts to this place. If I could step up on a little balcony, I could see you as a whole, as the body of Christ at St. James. Some are teachers. Some prophets. Some mercy givers and helpers. Some healers. Some offer hospitality. Some nurture others. Some are young, fragile, or frail and need our protection. Some have remarkable abilities to exercise leadership. Some have brilliant, disciplined minds. Some have great pragmatic wisdom. Some remind us to exercise caution, while others are way ahead, boldly out there “leading the charge.” And some have great artistic gifts, which you generously share. But we’re all together, part of an organic whole, sharing our gifts and relying on each other’s gifts. We do this because we know that each of us has a piece of Wisdom and Truth, and none of us has all the Wisdom or Truth, but together we will have a much better opportunity to be Wise and know Truth. So we rely on each other’s gifts in order to best take light into the world and build up the Body of Christ. While we are many parts/members, everyone who is in Christ belongs to the one Body…through our baptisms and through the Holy Spirit.
So our distinctions, the things that make us unique individuals, never bar us from the community. We’re all together in this, and no one part of the Body can claim to be more necessary than another. All of us are equally essential. The gifts God gives us are of equal value. So we must highly regard each other…
It puts a different light on, “Love your neighbor as yourself,” because our neighbors are all part of our self, which is the Body of Christ. And, because we are united as one body, we feel the suffering of any one of the members, and we share the joy of any one of the members because they are part of us and we are part of them.
This way of thinking and being together in this parish family will serve us well as we continue in our process towards discerning the future God is calling us into, and as we discern the kind of building that will best help us live into God’s mission. When we realize we cannot be isolated parts: We’re not eyeballs and ears sitting in the chairs, trying to do our thing without regard or relationship with all the members and those we will serve. When we realize instead we are essential parts of one Body sitting in these chairs, then we’ll know in the depths of our beings, “The body does not consist of one member, but of many, and if we were each just a single member, then there would be no body.”
As we of St. James move forward, and so we’re not fragmented or disassembled like a Picasso painting, we’ve got to stay in right relationship with all our parts, so that we are indeed, together, the Body of Christ, a light in the darkness to this sinful and broken world. Amen.
Saturday, January 30, 2010
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
Reflections on Martin Luther King Jr. Day in La Ceiba – from Jake Pinkston on teaching mission in Honduras
Finals week has arrived for the second term, which means I can finally take a deep breath. I was much more prepared this time around for the pre-finals onslaught. Even so, the race to finish chapters, put together study packets, chase down the students who were missing assignments, and then grade the subsequent deluge of labs, worksheets and test corrections that were the reward for my efforts made it a long week. Now that I have closed grades, things are a lot calmer. Tomorrow I give my four of my five science finals then have the rest of the week to plug in final grades and prepare for the next term. It is all half days this week so I should have plenty of time to recharge. Then I get to start all over again for round three. Still got plenty left in the tank.
Because today the secondary school had math and social studies exams all morning, on Friday the whole school met for an afternoon assembly celebrating the life a work of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. While he is not part of the pantheon of great Honduran leaders, Veronica and other faculty felt it important to recognize the accomplishments and impact of the youngest Nobel Peace Price Laureate. Each class from the primary school gave a presentation in the form of a skit, poem or song. The ninth grade class, led by Ms. Betty, ended the ceremony by reading Dr. King’s “I have a dream…” speech. I was tapped at last minute to be the MC so that the teacher organizing the event would be able to marshal her troops more effectively. Besides giving the opening prayer and introducing the groups, my main task was to make sure the children had a microphone in front of them so everyone could hear so I stayed busy. At the end, a box was passed around raising money for the victims in Haiti and many students enthusiastically stuffed in some of their after-school snack money. Amazing.
The presentation was short and simple, but I found it very powerful. Hearing the words of Dr. King, which I have heard many times in my life, coming from the mouths of student who were not American, most of whom had never even seen America but knew first hand the weight of their words gave the speech a whole new meaning. These children know what it means to be oppressed, to be overlooked, ignored, and manipulated. These children know how it feels to live a life where safety is a tenuous hope, never a guarantee. Dr. King speaks for them.
Honduras is the poorest country in Central America. Its massive disparity in wealth distribution leaves a tiny few in power and the masses picking at the scraps. The politicians line their pockets with aid money while the police demand bribes for the simplest of services. Basic infrastructure is crumbling and security worsens as more desperate people looking to make a living get involved in one of the only growing job fields, drug trafficking. The children are extremely bright. They see parallels the between their lives and the lives of minorities living in the United States.
Many of the students are able to come to Holy Trinity because they have family members working in the US, sending money back home. Many have not seen their parents in years because they are working in the country illegally and can never return. They know that if they go to the United States, they will enter a culture that often treats there ethnic group as second class citizens. Yet if you ask any child, they would go in a heartbeat, because the see so little to look forward to if they stay here. Already one of our 10th graders left for New Orleans and another is in the process of getting a visa. While this may benefit the student and family, it only continues the cycle, as the country’s best and brightest head for the doors instead of sticking around and pushing for change. It is hard to blame them. Change is often proposed, seldom accomplished, and can be a dangerous undertaking.
Through it all, the students remain positive. They are not bitter. They are not cynical. They are not defeated. The students continue to work hard because they believe there is a chance they will beat the odds. In my closing comments, I told them that 50 years later, Dr. King’s dream of peace, justice and equality is far from a reality. But it is still alive. It lives in them, in their daily interactions, in their minds, hearts and prayers. It lives because they want it to live. I challenged them not to just remember the dream but make it theirs to achieve: to focus to the possibilities of the future and not the failures of the past. Don’t wait for it to happen. Work toward it today. Work toward it tomorrow. Work toward it together.
Approaching the midpoint of my year, I have begun to reflect on my hopes and goals for my students. I came here with the hope of educating them in the way I was educated so that they might have the opportunity to further their studies, ideally in the United States. However, that goal has become secondary. I now feel that my true mission is to empower my students with the tools, knowledge, and most importantly the will to change their country. I want them to believe that it doesn’t have to be this way and they can be part of the solution. I am beginning to network with several members of the community to find ways to show the student specifically where they can fit into that puzzle, now and in the future. Hopefully I will be able to develop some projects for them for the final term. I want my students to take their American dreams and make them Honduran dreams. The drive for change has to come from within. I cannot do it for them but I will certainly give them all the fuel I can.
“I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, and every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight; "and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed and all flesh shall see it together.””
Martin Luther King, Jr. - 28 August 1963: Lincoln Memorial, Washington D.C.
Isaiah 40: 4-5
Because today the secondary school had math and social studies exams all morning, on Friday the whole school met for an afternoon assembly celebrating the life a work of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. While he is not part of the pantheon of great Honduran leaders, Veronica and other faculty felt it important to recognize the accomplishments and impact of the youngest Nobel Peace Price Laureate. Each class from the primary school gave a presentation in the form of a skit, poem or song. The ninth grade class, led by Ms. Betty, ended the ceremony by reading Dr. King’s “I have a dream…” speech. I was tapped at last minute to be the MC so that the teacher organizing the event would be able to marshal her troops more effectively. Besides giving the opening prayer and introducing the groups, my main task was to make sure the children had a microphone in front of them so everyone could hear so I stayed busy. At the end, a box was passed around raising money for the victims in Haiti and many students enthusiastically stuffed in some of their after-school snack money. Amazing.
The presentation was short and simple, but I found it very powerful. Hearing the words of Dr. King, which I have heard many times in my life, coming from the mouths of student who were not American, most of whom had never even seen America but knew first hand the weight of their words gave the speech a whole new meaning. These children know what it means to be oppressed, to be overlooked, ignored, and manipulated. These children know how it feels to live a life where safety is a tenuous hope, never a guarantee. Dr. King speaks for them.
Honduras is the poorest country in Central America. Its massive disparity in wealth distribution leaves a tiny few in power and the masses picking at the scraps. The politicians line their pockets with aid money while the police demand bribes for the simplest of services. Basic infrastructure is crumbling and security worsens as more desperate people looking to make a living get involved in one of the only growing job fields, drug trafficking. The children are extremely bright. They see parallels the between their lives and the lives of minorities living in the United States.
Many of the students are able to come to Holy Trinity because they have family members working in the US, sending money back home. Many have not seen their parents in years because they are working in the country illegally and can never return. They know that if they go to the United States, they will enter a culture that often treats there ethnic group as second class citizens. Yet if you ask any child, they would go in a heartbeat, because the see so little to look forward to if they stay here. Already one of our 10th graders left for New Orleans and another is in the process of getting a visa. While this may benefit the student and family, it only continues the cycle, as the country’s best and brightest head for the doors instead of sticking around and pushing for change. It is hard to blame them. Change is often proposed, seldom accomplished, and can be a dangerous undertaking.
Through it all, the students remain positive. They are not bitter. They are not cynical. They are not defeated. The students continue to work hard because they believe there is a chance they will beat the odds. In my closing comments, I told them that 50 years later, Dr. King’s dream of peace, justice and equality is far from a reality. But it is still alive. It lives in them, in their daily interactions, in their minds, hearts and prayers. It lives because they want it to live. I challenged them not to just remember the dream but make it theirs to achieve: to focus to the possibilities of the future and not the failures of the past. Don’t wait for it to happen. Work toward it today. Work toward it tomorrow. Work toward it together.
Approaching the midpoint of my year, I have begun to reflect on my hopes and goals for my students. I came here with the hope of educating them in the way I was educated so that they might have the opportunity to further their studies, ideally in the United States. However, that goal has become secondary. I now feel that my true mission is to empower my students with the tools, knowledge, and most importantly the will to change their country. I want them to believe that it doesn’t have to be this way and they can be part of the solution. I am beginning to network with several members of the community to find ways to show the student specifically where they can fit into that puzzle, now and in the future. Hopefully I will be able to develop some projects for them for the final term. I want my students to take their American dreams and make them Honduran dreams. The drive for change has to come from within. I cannot do it for them but I will certainly give them all the fuel I can.
“I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, and every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight; "and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed and all flesh shall see it together.””
Martin Luther King, Jr. - 28 August 1963: Lincoln Memorial, Washington D.C.
Isaiah 40: 4-5
Sunday, January 17, 2010
Rector’s Report--Annual Meeting, January 17, 2010
There was an ad in the Berkshire Eagle Tuesday for a book called, “Mountain Man Insights” (by Henry Kranz). The ad ran a quote from the book, “The handwriting was on the wall. Then the wall collapsed.”
When I gave the Rector’s Report a year ago, I think we were still pretty much in shock. This year although I know we’re all in different places, I think we have moved out of shock and probably out of denial, and into an energetic place of exploration and discernment. We’ve spent, and will continue to spend, countless hours on engineers, architects, attorneys, building inspectors, and insurance people. Much of the rest of this meeting will be about that.But in addition to these things, I am amazed and very proud of the discernment work and the new ministries that have started blossoming this year. I’m also proud of the way we have “carried on” in the midst of our stressful situation.
During the homily, I spoke some about the discernment work. This work has been greatly augmented by our participation in the Partnership for Missional Church (PMC). This process is teaching us new ways of listening to each other, the community, and the Spirit. I think the impact of what we are learning will be lasting on the way we are together and make decisions as a parish. It is such a relief to try to be the Church in a spiritual instead of a secular way! What good news that we are in God’s hands and God has work for us to do that’s part of God’s own mission!
For me personally there is a great sense of joy and a realization that three seemingly different parts of my own journey have come together and been integrated this year as St. James goes through our corporate discernment process.
Those 3 things from my journey are: 1. My 10-year study of Adaptive Challenges in the Clergy Leadership Project. 2. The Ignation spiritual discernment which I’ve used in the past, but only for personal decision making. 3. The PMC process.
In this report, I’d like to highlight a few of this year’s new ministries. On Friday night I received an email from Jake Pinkston, our teaching missioner in Honduras:
“Hey Francie, I realize this is a little late for the annual meeting but I figured since I am sort of on the payroll, I should give you an update.” Now remember last summer when Jake asked us to help make this mission year possible, he told us he was frugal. Well, here’s an accounting of his year: He received $7,290 in gifts from the Diocese of Western Massachusetts, St. James parishioners, Vestry, rector, and choir and from Transfiguration (the church he attended in Colorado). His total expenses for the first six months were $1,621.68! Now we have a new young missioner Jane Clausen, who is working in an AIDS orphanage in Ethiopia.
These are Children of this parish, and we are just so proud of their choices to give of their time, talent and treasure to help children in some of the poorest parts of our world. And I am proud of you as a congregation for supporting them as they grew up and now with your prayers and monetary gifts as they seek to serve.
Another amazing ministry that began this year is Gideon’s Garden. The idea started with our youth, was nurtured by Pennie Curry, and was generously gifted by Dan and Martha Tawczynski of Taft Farms. With our 1/3 acre of land and a lot of labor, the youth of our parish and other youth, as well as many adults, supplied an amazing amount of produce for the People’s Pantry, Breaking Bread Kitchen, The Stockbridge Open Table, and about 6 families.
You know we named this Garden for our first full-time rector, Gideon Bostwick (1770-90). Now Gideon had a real missionary spirit, and traveled to 47 towns, riding on horseback 80-100 miles per week to spread the Gospel & baptize people in CT, VT, NY, and MA. I believe this spirit of taking the Gospel out to people and places beyond our walls is part of St. James’ essential DNA. And this Garden we till, that bears his name, seems to have been taken over by the Holy Spirit and become a place where all kinds of people come, not only to work, but to pray. The Garden has become a prayer chapel, a meditation garden, for people who desperately need a place to be safe and quiet. It’s a place to be still and know that God is God. The people who go there may never step foot inside a conventional church, but I believe for them Gideon’s Garden is a “church without walls.” It’s a non-intimidating, safe place where they have a chance to connect with God.
I wonder if there’s not a metaphor here for us as we seek to find our place in God’s mission. How can we in our own day continue to take the Gospel out beyond the walls of the church, as Gideon Bostwick did? As Jake is doing? As Jane is doing?
I want to thank all of you, because we have carried on here at Crissey Farm in fine form. I especially want to acknowledge the choir and our Minister of Music Charles Olegar for bringing us the Good News week after week in song and sometimes even with noisy gongs and clanging symbols! We are indeed blessed by such remarkable, faithful and creative musicians.
And behind the scenes our Parish Secretary Bonnie Weiland continues to work at home to produce our bulletins and coordinate our schedules. Thanks go as well to Fairview Hospital for letting us do most of our copying there, and for hosting our Executive Committee and Vestry meetings.
Now just think about what all it takes to create our worship experience here at Crissey Farm. First our thanks to Gary and Andrew, who make this space available to us. Then there’s our great Hospitality Team, Altar Guild, Ushers, Greeters, Teachers, Lectors, Prayer Writers, Acolytes, Chalice Bearers, Healing Ministers, and those who set up, take down, and clean up. And those yummy coffee hours! And during coffee hour, the amazing Artist of the Month series that showcases our gifted parish.
If you don’t know, we owe our thanks as well to Wheeler & Taylor, who provide a space for our Thursday Eucharist free of charge.
And I want to say thank you to the Vestry for their time, talent, wisdom and dedication during a very difficult year. Finally I want to acknowledge our Executive Team and invite them to come up: Senior Warden Doreen Hutchinson, Junior Warden Doug Happ, Clerk Lee Cheek, and Treasurer Dick Kelly. You cannot begin to imagine the work these four dedicated souls have done this year. As a token of my appreciation, I’d like to present them all with bottles of POM. It’s a de-stressing/detoxifying pomegranate juice and also with Relaxing flavored tea bags…enjoy! We don’t start again until tomorrow! Thank you all.
When I gave the Rector’s Report a year ago, I think we were still pretty much in shock. This year although I know we’re all in different places, I think we have moved out of shock and probably out of denial, and into an energetic place of exploration and discernment. We’ve spent, and will continue to spend, countless hours on engineers, architects, attorneys, building inspectors, and insurance people. Much of the rest of this meeting will be about that.But in addition to these things, I am amazed and very proud of the discernment work and the new ministries that have started blossoming this year. I’m also proud of the way we have “carried on” in the midst of our stressful situation.
During the homily, I spoke some about the discernment work. This work has been greatly augmented by our participation in the Partnership for Missional Church (PMC). This process is teaching us new ways of listening to each other, the community, and the Spirit. I think the impact of what we are learning will be lasting on the way we are together and make decisions as a parish. It is such a relief to try to be the Church in a spiritual instead of a secular way! What good news that we are in God’s hands and God has work for us to do that’s part of God’s own mission!
For me personally there is a great sense of joy and a realization that three seemingly different parts of my own journey have come together and been integrated this year as St. James goes through our corporate discernment process.
Those 3 things from my journey are: 1. My 10-year study of Adaptive Challenges in the Clergy Leadership Project. 2. The Ignation spiritual discernment which I’ve used in the past, but only for personal decision making. 3. The PMC process.
In this report, I’d like to highlight a few of this year’s new ministries. On Friday night I received an email from Jake Pinkston, our teaching missioner in Honduras:
“Hey Francie, I realize this is a little late for the annual meeting but I figured since I am sort of on the payroll, I should give you an update.” Now remember last summer when Jake asked us to help make this mission year possible, he told us he was frugal. Well, here’s an accounting of his year: He received $7,290 in gifts from the Diocese of Western Massachusetts, St. James parishioners, Vestry, rector, and choir and from Transfiguration (the church he attended in Colorado). His total expenses for the first six months were $1,621.68! Now we have a new young missioner Jane Clausen, who is working in an AIDS orphanage in Ethiopia.
These are Children of this parish, and we are just so proud of their choices to give of their time, talent and treasure to help children in some of the poorest parts of our world. And I am proud of you as a congregation for supporting them as they grew up and now with your prayers and monetary gifts as they seek to serve.
Another amazing ministry that began this year is Gideon’s Garden. The idea started with our youth, was nurtured by Pennie Curry, and was generously gifted by Dan and Martha Tawczynski of Taft Farms. With our 1/3 acre of land and a lot of labor, the youth of our parish and other youth, as well as many adults, supplied an amazing amount of produce for the People’s Pantry, Breaking Bread Kitchen, The Stockbridge Open Table, and about 6 families.
You know we named this Garden for our first full-time rector, Gideon Bostwick (1770-90). Now Gideon had a real missionary spirit, and traveled to 47 towns, riding on horseback 80-100 miles per week to spread the Gospel & baptize people in CT, VT, NY, and MA. I believe this spirit of taking the Gospel out to people and places beyond our walls is part of St. James’ essential DNA. And this Garden we till, that bears his name, seems to have been taken over by the Holy Spirit and become a place where all kinds of people come, not only to work, but to pray. The Garden has become a prayer chapel, a meditation garden, for people who desperately need a place to be safe and quiet. It’s a place to be still and know that God is God. The people who go there may never step foot inside a conventional church, but I believe for them Gideon’s Garden is a “church without walls.” It’s a non-intimidating, safe place where they have a chance to connect with God.
I wonder if there’s not a metaphor here for us as we seek to find our place in God’s mission. How can we in our own day continue to take the Gospel out beyond the walls of the church, as Gideon Bostwick did? As Jake is doing? As Jane is doing?
I want to thank all of you, because we have carried on here at Crissey Farm in fine form. I especially want to acknowledge the choir and our Minister of Music Charles Olegar for bringing us the Good News week after week in song and sometimes even with noisy gongs and clanging symbols! We are indeed blessed by such remarkable, faithful and creative musicians.
And behind the scenes our Parish Secretary Bonnie Weiland continues to work at home to produce our bulletins and coordinate our schedules. Thanks go as well to Fairview Hospital for letting us do most of our copying there, and for hosting our Executive Committee and Vestry meetings.
Now just think about what all it takes to create our worship experience here at Crissey Farm. First our thanks to Gary and Andrew, who make this space available to us. Then there’s our great Hospitality Team, Altar Guild, Ushers, Greeters, Teachers, Lectors, Prayer Writers, Acolytes, Chalice Bearers, Healing Ministers, and those who set up, take down, and clean up. And those yummy coffee hours! And during coffee hour, the amazing Artist of the Month series that showcases our gifted parish.
If you don’t know, we owe our thanks as well to Wheeler & Taylor, who provide a space for our Thursday Eucharist free of charge.
And I want to say thank you to the Vestry for their time, talent, wisdom and dedication during a very difficult year. Finally I want to acknowledge our Executive Team and invite them to come up: Senior Warden Doreen Hutchinson, Junior Warden Doug Happ, Clerk Lee Cheek, and Treasurer Dick Kelly. You cannot begin to imagine the work these four dedicated souls have done this year. As a token of my appreciation, I’d like to present them all with bottles of POM. It’s a de-stressing/detoxifying pomegranate juice and also with Relaxing flavored tea bags…enjoy! We don’t start again until tomorrow! Thank you all.
A Homily preached January 17, 2010, Epiphany 2 C, On the day of the Annual Meeting By the Rev. Frances A. Hills, Rector
Because of the way this past year has unfolded and because of the discernment process we’re in, I heard today’s familiar spiritual gifts reading from 1 Corinthians differently this time. I’m reminded of a way we talked about group dynamics when I was in Clinical Pastoral Education training years ago: If everyone in the group was just “in the room together,” doing their own thing, we called it “parallel play”. That means everyone was playing/working in the same room, but in isolation. We were not playing/working TOGETHER for a common good. On the other hand, there were times when we actually played/worked together collaboratively. We shared our” toys”-- our tools, our gifts, our different ways of seeing the world as we approached a common project or process.
I’m reading the 1st Corinthians passage today in a much more collaborative way than I think I have in the past. As Christians we’ve all been given spiritual gifts, and we certainly use these in our various personal lives and in the church. For example, those who have the gift of teaching, teach. Those who have the gift of healing, heal. And so on. Churches tend to do this corporately as well. So if we as a parish identify our main gift as music, then we focus on music. Other churches may focus on children’s education or foreign missions. Now, please don’t hear me wrong: All this is well and good. It comes from asking the question, “what are my/our gifts and how can I/we use them?” ‘Nothing wrong with that except I know it’s easy for us to get into some kind of Ego thing with this approach. Some can’t seem to find their gifts, and this is depressing to them. Others know what their gifts are, but always seem to be looking over their shoulder or on the other side of the fence, wondering why they can’t have someone else’s gifts.
A new approach to this that’s come to me this year, is to get the focus off of my gifts/our gifts and onto God’s mission: To acknowledge that God has a mission, and then to ask, “What is my part/what is St. James’ part in God’s mission.” If we come about it this way, the Ego thing just evaporates, and we see we are really part of God’s great cosmic work of justice and compassion. We realize our play and work cannot be parallel play and work: We’ve got to break down the divisions between us and all come to the table bringing all of our gifts, knowing that what we can be, do, and make together is infinitely more than we can by ourselves.
That’s why I am excited about the process we are in together. I look forward to learning new things from the short reports from the 3 committees later today. But more than that, I look forward to the opportunity we’ll have to listen to each other’s ways of looking at these three options. Of course we’ll all bring our biases to the table. That’s human nature, but it’s good for us to be aware of our biases. In recognizing these, hopefully we can be more open and listening to others’ ideas. I fully believe that today and as we continue in this process, we will hear things we’ve not thought of individually or in our smaller groups. As we sit together and listen, we really have a chance to discern God’s will and God’s mission and to learn from the amazing gifts and the many different ways of seeing things that are present among us today. In this corporate setting I believe we can hear a word from God through the mouths of one another, as the Spirit moves among us.
I pray as we witness the various ways God’s Spirit is manifested among us today, we will come to see more clearly God’s preferred and promised future for us and how we fit into God’s mission of justice and compassion for the world. Amen.
I’m reading the 1st Corinthians passage today in a much more collaborative way than I think I have in the past. As Christians we’ve all been given spiritual gifts, and we certainly use these in our various personal lives and in the church. For example, those who have the gift of teaching, teach. Those who have the gift of healing, heal. And so on. Churches tend to do this corporately as well. So if we as a parish identify our main gift as music, then we focus on music. Other churches may focus on children’s education or foreign missions. Now, please don’t hear me wrong: All this is well and good. It comes from asking the question, “what are my/our gifts and how can I/we use them?” ‘Nothing wrong with that except I know it’s easy for us to get into some kind of Ego thing with this approach. Some can’t seem to find their gifts, and this is depressing to them. Others know what their gifts are, but always seem to be looking over their shoulder or on the other side of the fence, wondering why they can’t have someone else’s gifts.
A new approach to this that’s come to me this year, is to get the focus off of my gifts/our gifts and onto God’s mission: To acknowledge that God has a mission, and then to ask, “What is my part/what is St. James’ part in God’s mission.” If we come about it this way, the Ego thing just evaporates, and we see we are really part of God’s great cosmic work of justice and compassion. We realize our play and work cannot be parallel play and work: We’ve got to break down the divisions between us and all come to the table bringing all of our gifts, knowing that what we can be, do, and make together is infinitely more than we can by ourselves.
That’s why I am excited about the process we are in together. I look forward to learning new things from the short reports from the 3 committees later today. But more than that, I look forward to the opportunity we’ll have to listen to each other’s ways of looking at these three options. Of course we’ll all bring our biases to the table. That’s human nature, but it’s good for us to be aware of our biases. In recognizing these, hopefully we can be more open and listening to others’ ideas. I fully believe that today and as we continue in this process, we will hear things we’ve not thought of individually or in our smaller groups. As we sit together and listen, we really have a chance to discern God’s will and God’s mission and to learn from the amazing gifts and the many different ways of seeing things that are present among us today. In this corporate setting I believe we can hear a word from God through the mouths of one another, as the Spirit moves among us.
I pray as we witness the various ways God’s Spirit is manifested among us today, we will come to see more clearly God’s preferred and promised future for us and how we fit into God’s mission of justice and compassion for the world. Amen.
Thursday, January 14, 2010
Ardent Even In The Cold – from Jake Pinkston on teaching mission in Honduras
Fine Scottish weather has arrived in La Ceiba. Like much of the northern hemisphere, Hondurans have been experiencing some unusually cold weather for the last week, accompanied by frequent showers and overcast skies. They don’t like it at all.
Students and faculty alike have been bundled up from head to toe with scarves, jackets, extra socks, even gloves and hats… in class! The dress code was even relaxed so that the students could wear jeans, which are much warmer than the lightweight pants and skirts that are the usual standard. For the first time all year, the windows are closed and the wall fans are off. Still, some students have been shivering in class. The low temperature: an icy 58º Fahrenheit.
I guess it does not quite compare to New England winters but when you are acclimated to subtropical weather, the cool-off is quite a shock. It can be 100 degrees and Hondurans won’t bat an eye, but drop the temperature below 70 and you would think glaciers were coming down off the Nombre de Dios Mountain range. I didn’t know they even had down jackets in Honduras. As for me, I am still teaching in short sleeves and enjoying every minute of it. How nice it is to not have to shout above the hum of fans and traffic and not be sweating bullets all day. My students already thought I was crazy. This has only confirmed their suspicions.
Sadly, it looks like the worst of it has passed and the rest of the week will be in the mid-70s. I am sure I will be looking back fondly on this week in April and May when the country becomes one big sauna again.
The reason for the late post this week is missionary season has begun at Holy Trinity. Dan and Kitty Telep, friends of Mike and Betty from Pittsburgh and well traveled missionaries, spent the last five days with us. It has been nonstop feasting for Mike, Betty, Veronica, Denny (her husband) and me. Saturday night we had a welcome dinner at Veronica’s, also celebrating Dan and Kitty’s 39th wedding anniversary. Sunday we watched the NFL playoffs between brunch and dinner at Mike and Betty’s, and Monday night we dined at La Quinta Real. I offered to have everyone over at my place but when we realized we would have all had to sit on the floor and eat around my bed (I have no tables), we decided it best to go elsewhere. Last night we gave Dan and Kitty a proper send off from a little restaurant right on the beach, complete with a Cuban cigar for Dan before the took off for the US early this morning. It was joyous half week of friends and fellowship. I feel like I am going through party withdrawal cooking dinner at home for the first time in what seems like forever.
Kitty and Dan spent Monday and Tuesday helping out at school. Dan gave the sermon at the Monday morning service and later shared with the students his experiences returning to Vietnam as a missionary after serving in the War. He also helped Mike and Denny with the boys’ shop class. Kitty, the sewing extraordinaire, brought materials and led all the secondary school girls in a bag making project. For two days, she battled through temperamental sew machines that seemed to find new ways to break as soon as she fixed them and showed the girls how to follow the patterns and complete the project. The bags turned out beautifully and the girls were thrilled to have them to take home and show off.
While Kitty and Dan gave talent and treasure to enrich the experiences of the students, their biggest contribution to Holy Trinity was their presence. This was their fourth visit to La Ceiba supporting Mike and Betty in their mission work. Their profound faith, patience, and commitment to service inspired and elevated the spirits of everyone they reached out to. They were warm and engaged, looking for any opportunity to help out and interact. There were several students they had built relationships with over the years and the student’s faces lit up when Dan and Kitty remembered them by name. They also got to know several of our newer students.
At times it is hard for me to gauge my efforts at Trinity, as my perspective comes from my day-to-day work in and out of class. I have extremely high expectations for myself and can at times focus too much on the future while not fully appreciating the present. Dan and Kitty’s positive feedback and encouragement were empowering, especially with their knowledge of the progression of the school over the last few years. It has given me new strength and resolve in my mission here.
It was wonderful having Dan and Kitty at Trinity. We are so grateful for all they did for us. If anyone at St. James is interested in visiting the school, even for a short while, I would love to help make that happen. You have no idea how much of a difference you can make. They brought a spark of energy and purpose that enkindled the hearts and minds of many chilled children. You can too.
“I pray that, according to the riches of his glory, he may grant that you may be strengthened in your inner being with the power through his Spirit, and that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith, as you are being rooted and grounded in love.”
Ephesians 3: 16-17
Students and faculty alike have been bundled up from head to toe with scarves, jackets, extra socks, even gloves and hats… in class! The dress code was even relaxed so that the students could wear jeans, which are much warmer than the lightweight pants and skirts that are the usual standard. For the first time all year, the windows are closed and the wall fans are off. Still, some students have been shivering in class. The low temperature: an icy 58º Fahrenheit.
I guess it does not quite compare to New England winters but when you are acclimated to subtropical weather, the cool-off is quite a shock. It can be 100 degrees and Hondurans won’t bat an eye, but drop the temperature below 70 and you would think glaciers were coming down off the Nombre de Dios Mountain range. I didn’t know they even had down jackets in Honduras. As for me, I am still teaching in short sleeves and enjoying every minute of it. How nice it is to not have to shout above the hum of fans and traffic and not be sweating bullets all day. My students already thought I was crazy. This has only confirmed their suspicions.
Sadly, it looks like the worst of it has passed and the rest of the week will be in the mid-70s. I am sure I will be looking back fondly on this week in April and May when the country becomes one big sauna again.
The reason for the late post this week is missionary season has begun at Holy Trinity. Dan and Kitty Telep, friends of Mike and Betty from Pittsburgh and well traveled missionaries, spent the last five days with us. It has been nonstop feasting for Mike, Betty, Veronica, Denny (her husband) and me. Saturday night we had a welcome dinner at Veronica’s, also celebrating Dan and Kitty’s 39th wedding anniversary. Sunday we watched the NFL playoffs between brunch and dinner at Mike and Betty’s, and Monday night we dined at La Quinta Real. I offered to have everyone over at my place but when we realized we would have all had to sit on the floor and eat around my bed (I have no tables), we decided it best to go elsewhere. Last night we gave Dan and Kitty a proper send off from a little restaurant right on the beach, complete with a Cuban cigar for Dan before the took off for the US early this morning. It was joyous half week of friends and fellowship. I feel like I am going through party withdrawal cooking dinner at home for the first time in what seems like forever.
Kitty and Dan spent Monday and Tuesday helping out at school. Dan gave the sermon at the Monday morning service and later shared with the students his experiences returning to Vietnam as a missionary after serving in the War. He also helped Mike and Denny with the boys’ shop class. Kitty, the sewing extraordinaire, brought materials and led all the secondary school girls in a bag making project. For two days, she battled through temperamental sew machines that seemed to find new ways to break as soon as she fixed them and showed the girls how to follow the patterns and complete the project. The bags turned out beautifully and the girls were thrilled to have them to take home and show off.
While Kitty and Dan gave talent and treasure to enrich the experiences of the students, their biggest contribution to Holy Trinity was their presence. This was their fourth visit to La Ceiba supporting Mike and Betty in their mission work. Their profound faith, patience, and commitment to service inspired and elevated the spirits of everyone they reached out to. They were warm and engaged, looking for any opportunity to help out and interact. There were several students they had built relationships with over the years and the student’s faces lit up when Dan and Kitty remembered them by name. They also got to know several of our newer students.
At times it is hard for me to gauge my efforts at Trinity, as my perspective comes from my day-to-day work in and out of class. I have extremely high expectations for myself and can at times focus too much on the future while not fully appreciating the present. Dan and Kitty’s positive feedback and encouragement were empowering, especially with their knowledge of the progression of the school over the last few years. It has given me new strength and resolve in my mission here.
It was wonderful having Dan and Kitty at Trinity. We are so grateful for all they did for us. If anyone at St. James is interested in visiting the school, even for a short while, I would love to help make that happen. You have no idea how much of a difference you can make. They brought a spark of energy and purpose that enkindled the hearts and minds of many chilled children. You can too.
“I pray that, according to the riches of his glory, he may grant that you may be strengthened in your inner being with the power through his Spirit, and that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith, as you are being rooted and grounded in love.”
Ephesians 3: 16-17
Tuesday, January 12, 2010
Sermon, January 10, 2010, Epiphany 1 C by the Rev. Frances A. Hills, Rector
Today is the Feast Day of the Baptism of our Lord. In the Church calendar, it’s one of the five traditional days for baptisms and a day for us to renew our Baptismal Vows. However, today we don’t have a baptism, and we will wait and renew our vows next week at the Annual Meeting.
So today I’d like us to focus on the beautiful, comforting passage we read from the Book of the Prophet Isaiah. Maybe not this one especially, but many passages from Isaiah are quite familiar to us because they are quoted in the New Testament. Perhaps we know Isaiah best from the passages in the King James Bible that Handel set in “The Messiah.”
Isaiah is a book written over several centuries, probably from the 8th Century Before the Common Era (BCE) until perhaps the 2nd Century BCE. Obviously, the entire book is not written by the same writer, and it is addressed to three very distinct historical situations. We call these three divisions “First,” “Second” and “Third” Isaiah.
Although there are three distinct times, historical situations, and writers, there are two major themes that knit together the centuries, authors, and situations of this entire book. One theme is that God is behind all historical events. The other is that Jerusalem, its king, and the proper worship of God are of central importance to God’s People.
Now today’s passage comes from Second Isaiah. It was written in the mid 6th Century BCE during the time in Israel’s history we call “the Babylonian Exile.” In 586 BCE, forty or so years before, the Babylonians had sacked Jerusalem, destroyed the temple, and scattered God’s Chosen People, sending many into exile in Babylon. Now to try to understand the depth of this tragedy for Israel, we’ve got to realize how central Jerusalem and the Temple were to their religion. In a sense, the City and the Temple was the place where God resided. So that’s the only place where people went to worship. There were no local synagogues yet, so the centrality and holiness of that One place for the people cannot be over estimated.
This is the period of time when the Book of Lamentations was written, and it gives voice to the deep grief the exiled people were experiencing away from their home.
This is also the time for which PS 137 is written:
“By the waters of Babylon we sat down and wept,
When we remembered you, O Zion (Jerusalem).
“As for our harps, we hung them up
On the trees in the midst of that land….
“How shall we sing the Lord’s song
Upon an alien soil?
“If I forget you, O Jerusalem,…”
The depth of their grief is profound. And so after close to 50 years of exile, comes a word of hope and comfort from Second Isaiah.
“Thus says the Lord, he who created you, O Jacob, he who formed you, O Israel: Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine.
“When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you; when you walk through fire you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you…
“You are precious in my sight, and honored, and I love you…Do not fear, for I am with you; I will bring your offspring from the east, and from the west I will gather you; . . bring my sons from far away and my daughters from the end of the earth—everyone who is called by my name, whom I created for my glory, whom I formed and made.”
This promise of redemption is probably made shortly before Persia conquers Babylon, and Persia’s benevolent King Cyrus, invites God’s people to return and rebuild Jerusalem. There will be an end to their being scattered and separated from each other. There will be an end to their exile. They will go home.
Can you imagine what balm the prophet’s words were to the ears of the exiles? “You are precious in my sight, and honored, and I love you.” God called them by name and will protect them!
Now, I wanted us to focus on this today because we at St. James are also in exile. We are away from our “sacred space” and many of our “holy things.” We know the pain and grief of this. But, unlike those in the Babylonian Exile, we have not been scattered and dispersed from our city or from each other. We are still together and learning this truth, “The church is not the building but the people (But people who need some kind of sacred space).” We’re also unlike those in the Babylonian Exile, because we haven’t “hung up our harps!” We seem to do a fairly great job of “singing the Lord’s song on an alien soil.” Maybe “alien” is a bit extreme for our circumstances, but we certainly can make music to the glory of God, on the “different” soil at Crissey Farm, Gideon’s Garden, and at our neighboring churches when we join with them.
We’re in the middle of the hard work of discernment. By the world’s standards, we just don’t have enough time; but in some mysterious way, I believe we are doing this discernment work in God’s Time…Kyros Time, that functions in a time and space beyond the clock. I believe in fact the time restraints we’ve been given by the insurance company are somehow part of the way God’s Spirit is working with us. In quoting a book title from C. S. Lewis, Bishop Scruton said, “Perhaps the deadline the insurance company is imposing is a ‘Severe Mercy’ for St. James.”
Yes, we’re in a tough time, and it will no doubt get harder before it gets easier. So I hope we can let the words of the ancient prophet minister to us in our exile, as they did to the Israelites in Babylon.
“When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you; when you walk through fire you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you.”
As we move more deeply in our discernment of where God is calling St. James, be assured, this God of the Prophets loves us. We are precious in God’s sight. We are honored. This great God has called us by name, and God’s Spirit will be with us every step of the way. Amen.
So today I’d like us to focus on the beautiful, comforting passage we read from the Book of the Prophet Isaiah. Maybe not this one especially, but many passages from Isaiah are quite familiar to us because they are quoted in the New Testament. Perhaps we know Isaiah best from the passages in the King James Bible that Handel set in “The Messiah.”
Isaiah is a book written over several centuries, probably from the 8th Century Before the Common Era (BCE) until perhaps the 2nd Century BCE. Obviously, the entire book is not written by the same writer, and it is addressed to three very distinct historical situations. We call these three divisions “First,” “Second” and “Third” Isaiah.
Although there are three distinct times, historical situations, and writers, there are two major themes that knit together the centuries, authors, and situations of this entire book. One theme is that God is behind all historical events. The other is that Jerusalem, its king, and the proper worship of God are of central importance to God’s People.
Now today’s passage comes from Second Isaiah. It was written in the mid 6th Century BCE during the time in Israel’s history we call “the Babylonian Exile.” In 586 BCE, forty or so years before, the Babylonians had sacked Jerusalem, destroyed the temple, and scattered God’s Chosen People, sending many into exile in Babylon. Now to try to understand the depth of this tragedy for Israel, we’ve got to realize how central Jerusalem and the Temple were to their religion. In a sense, the City and the Temple was the place where God resided. So that’s the only place where people went to worship. There were no local synagogues yet, so the centrality and holiness of that One place for the people cannot be over estimated.
This is the period of time when the Book of Lamentations was written, and it gives voice to the deep grief the exiled people were experiencing away from their home.
This is also the time for which PS 137 is written:
“By the waters of Babylon we sat down and wept,
When we remembered you, O Zion (Jerusalem).
“As for our harps, we hung them up
On the trees in the midst of that land….
“How shall we sing the Lord’s song
Upon an alien soil?
“If I forget you, O Jerusalem,…”
The depth of their grief is profound. And so after close to 50 years of exile, comes a word of hope and comfort from Second Isaiah.
“Thus says the Lord, he who created you, O Jacob, he who formed you, O Israel: Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine.
“When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you; when you walk through fire you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you…
“You are precious in my sight, and honored, and I love you…Do not fear, for I am with you; I will bring your offspring from the east, and from the west I will gather you; . . bring my sons from far away and my daughters from the end of the earth—everyone who is called by my name, whom I created for my glory, whom I formed and made.”
This promise of redemption is probably made shortly before Persia conquers Babylon, and Persia’s benevolent King Cyrus, invites God’s people to return and rebuild Jerusalem. There will be an end to their being scattered and separated from each other. There will be an end to their exile. They will go home.
Can you imagine what balm the prophet’s words were to the ears of the exiles? “You are precious in my sight, and honored, and I love you.” God called them by name and will protect them!
Now, I wanted us to focus on this today because we at St. James are also in exile. We are away from our “sacred space” and many of our “holy things.” We know the pain and grief of this. But, unlike those in the Babylonian Exile, we have not been scattered and dispersed from our city or from each other. We are still together and learning this truth, “The church is not the building but the people (But people who need some kind of sacred space).” We’re also unlike those in the Babylonian Exile, because we haven’t “hung up our harps!” We seem to do a fairly great job of “singing the Lord’s song on an alien soil.” Maybe “alien” is a bit extreme for our circumstances, but we certainly can make music to the glory of God, on the “different” soil at Crissey Farm, Gideon’s Garden, and at our neighboring churches when we join with them.
We’re in the middle of the hard work of discernment. By the world’s standards, we just don’t have enough time; but in some mysterious way, I believe we are doing this discernment work in God’s Time…Kyros Time, that functions in a time and space beyond the clock. I believe in fact the time restraints we’ve been given by the insurance company are somehow part of the way God’s Spirit is working with us. In quoting a book title from C. S. Lewis, Bishop Scruton said, “Perhaps the deadline the insurance company is imposing is a ‘Severe Mercy’ for St. James.”
Yes, we’re in a tough time, and it will no doubt get harder before it gets easier. So I hope we can let the words of the ancient prophet minister to us in our exile, as they did to the Israelites in Babylon.
“When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you; when you walk through fire you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you.”
As we move more deeply in our discernment of where God is calling St. James, be assured, this God of the Prophets loves us. We are precious in God’s sight. We are honored. This great God has called us by name, and God’s Spirit will be with us every step of the way. Amen.
Thursday, January 7, 2010
Sermon, January 3, 2010, Christmas 2 C, by the Rev. Frances A. Hills, Rector
Some of you know I spent last week on retreat at the Society of St. John the Evangelist (SSJE) Monastery in Cambridge, MA. The Monastery is a beautiful, old building with a magnificent chapel that’s mostly made of very shiny marble. The seating is choir-style, so people sit across from each other, leaving a large, empty, rectangular floor space between. This space often has various liturgical, seasonal adornments.
This Christmas someone had gifted the chapel with an amazing crèche that had been made in Palestine, where the brothers have a mission. The carved, olive-wood figures ranged from about 18”-24”. Some were gently painted with pastels. They were displayed, not all grouped together, but in a “journey scene” with 7 differently shaped slate slabs, like you might use as stepping stones in the garden.
These were arranged at different heights and spread out in a line over about 8 feet of the floor. The Holy Family was on the center, highest stone. The shepherds, sheep, and donkey spread out over three other stones, and the Wise Men and their camels came from the other direction on the three remaining stones. The stones with the figures were surrounded by tiny, live evergreen and date trees. Votive candles were scattered among the figures, rocks, and trees.
I went into the dark chapel several times just to contemplate the scene, lit ever so gently by the candlelight dancing on the marble floors. What struck me were the Wise Men. For one thing, they’d already arrived, as they probably have at many
of our crèches at home, even though Epiphany’s not until Jan. 6. That’s the day
the Church celebrates the Wise Men’s official arrival at the manger.
Now these Wise Men, Magi, were probably astrologers, and probably not kings.
It’s the church’s tradition over the centuries that’s made them into kings. Tradition also gave them names and made them three in number. The Bible doesn’t tell us how many there were, or what their names were. What it does say is that they brought three gifts…gold, frankincense and myrrh. So we really know very little
about these mysterious ones from the East except that they were not Jews, and they were seeking a child who was to be born “The King of the Jews”. They’d followed a star to a place they did not know to find some kind of TRUTH they hoped the Child would provide.
Now as I sat in the Monastery looking at the Wise Men, I thought of the TRUTH they were seeking. What had they expected from this Child foretold by the stars?
And as they knelt to pay him homage, what did they see? How could it be that the hopes and fears of all the years, God’s very TRUTH itself, was wrapped in these swaddling clothes and lying in a manger? The wise men’s faces, lit by candlelight,
were transfixed. Even the animals seemed mesmerized by this Child. The holiness of the scene cannot be put into words…But it was there at the Monastery, as it was there in Bethlehem in the 1 C, and as it is here for us today, if we let ourselves really see the TRUTH that’s in the Child.
Whatever the Wise Men saw, they were not able to return home by the same road
they’d taken to get there. They’d been changed by the TRUTH they’d seen and could not do the conventional, worldly thing, which would have been to go back through Jerusalem and report to King Herod exactly where they found the Child.
Something happened to them in their encounter with the Child, and they trusted their dream, which warned them not to go back to Herod.
Somehow this Child had made believers of these “Gentile Wise”, and they became symbols of God’s Good News being meant for all the world, not just the Jews.
For us at St. James, I can imagine us right now kneeling at the manger. We’re encountering the Child, the TRUTH in our discernment process about moving forward as a parish. I believe the process the Child offers us is a process that honors everyone. It’s a process that really listens for God’s voice and for the wisdom in each other’s voices. This is based on the faith and knowledge that Christ is present in each of us. The goal in this spiritual discernment process is not to have our own way but to find the mind of Christ, believing that the Holy Spirit is an active presence who plays THE leading role as we go forward. So we must hold our own opinions lightly, so that the Spirit has room to move among us and within us. We must follow a star to a place we do not know to find a TRUTH we trust the Child will provide.
This is a process based on cooperation, not competition. That’s why it’s so important that the work that will be done in these next few weeks will be done as ONE TEAM with three committees that freely share their information and progress and do not act as three separate, competing groups. When the discernment work is done, we do not expect unanimity because we do, after all, come together as very different people with diverse ideas and values. However a common value I’ve heard expressed frequently is that we want to stay together. So although we don’t expect unanimity, we do pray for consensus, so that all of us understand and support the path that’s ultimately chosen for the future of St. James, even if it’s not our personal first choice. If we can find this consensus, I believe we will experience a sense of God’s peace. We’ll have a surge of joy and energy. Things will converge…come together and make sense. And our process will be fruitful.
If we can see the TRUTH and God’s goodness in the face of this spiritual discernment, in the face of the Child, then we, like the Wise Men, cannot return to Herod, who is so afraid of this Child that he would have him killed. We cannot go home by the ways of Herod’s world, by the paths of competition, win/lose mentality, or by decisions that don’t include really listening to all voices and honoring the movement of the Holy Spirit among us.
My dream, and I believe God’s dream, is that having seen the Child, we’ll not return to Herod, which would be deadly, but that we’ll set about “going home” by an entirely new and life-giving way.
Amen.
This Christmas someone had gifted the chapel with an amazing crèche that had been made in Palestine, where the brothers have a mission. The carved, olive-wood figures ranged from about 18”-24”. Some were gently painted with pastels. They were displayed, not all grouped together, but in a “journey scene” with 7 differently shaped slate slabs, like you might use as stepping stones in the garden.
These were arranged at different heights and spread out in a line over about 8 feet of the floor. The Holy Family was on the center, highest stone. The shepherds, sheep, and donkey spread out over three other stones, and the Wise Men and their camels came from the other direction on the three remaining stones. The stones with the figures were surrounded by tiny, live evergreen and date trees. Votive candles were scattered among the figures, rocks, and trees.
I went into the dark chapel several times just to contemplate the scene, lit ever so gently by the candlelight dancing on the marble floors. What struck me were the Wise Men. For one thing, they’d already arrived, as they probably have at many
of our crèches at home, even though Epiphany’s not until Jan. 6. That’s the day
the Church celebrates the Wise Men’s official arrival at the manger.
Now these Wise Men, Magi, were probably astrologers, and probably not kings.
It’s the church’s tradition over the centuries that’s made them into kings. Tradition also gave them names and made them three in number. The Bible doesn’t tell us how many there were, or what their names were. What it does say is that they brought three gifts…gold, frankincense and myrrh. So we really know very little
about these mysterious ones from the East except that they were not Jews, and they were seeking a child who was to be born “The King of the Jews”. They’d followed a star to a place they did not know to find some kind of TRUTH they hoped the Child would provide.
Now as I sat in the Monastery looking at the Wise Men, I thought of the TRUTH they were seeking. What had they expected from this Child foretold by the stars?
And as they knelt to pay him homage, what did they see? How could it be that the hopes and fears of all the years, God’s very TRUTH itself, was wrapped in these swaddling clothes and lying in a manger? The wise men’s faces, lit by candlelight,
were transfixed. Even the animals seemed mesmerized by this Child. The holiness of the scene cannot be put into words…But it was there at the Monastery, as it was there in Bethlehem in the 1 C, and as it is here for us today, if we let ourselves really see the TRUTH that’s in the Child.
Whatever the Wise Men saw, they were not able to return home by the same road
they’d taken to get there. They’d been changed by the TRUTH they’d seen and could not do the conventional, worldly thing, which would have been to go back through Jerusalem and report to King Herod exactly where they found the Child.
Something happened to them in their encounter with the Child, and they trusted their dream, which warned them not to go back to Herod.
Somehow this Child had made believers of these “Gentile Wise”, and they became symbols of God’s Good News being meant for all the world, not just the Jews.
For us at St. James, I can imagine us right now kneeling at the manger. We’re encountering the Child, the TRUTH in our discernment process about moving forward as a parish. I believe the process the Child offers us is a process that honors everyone. It’s a process that really listens for God’s voice and for the wisdom in each other’s voices. This is based on the faith and knowledge that Christ is present in each of us. The goal in this spiritual discernment process is not to have our own way but to find the mind of Christ, believing that the Holy Spirit is an active presence who plays THE leading role as we go forward. So we must hold our own opinions lightly, so that the Spirit has room to move among us and within us. We must follow a star to a place we do not know to find a TRUTH we trust the Child will provide.
This is a process based on cooperation, not competition. That’s why it’s so important that the work that will be done in these next few weeks will be done as ONE TEAM with three committees that freely share their information and progress and do not act as three separate, competing groups. When the discernment work is done, we do not expect unanimity because we do, after all, come together as very different people with diverse ideas and values. However a common value I’ve heard expressed frequently is that we want to stay together. So although we don’t expect unanimity, we do pray for consensus, so that all of us understand and support the path that’s ultimately chosen for the future of St. James, even if it’s not our personal first choice. If we can find this consensus, I believe we will experience a sense of God’s peace. We’ll have a surge of joy and energy. Things will converge…come together and make sense. And our process will be fruitful.
If we can see the TRUTH and God’s goodness in the face of this spiritual discernment, in the face of the Child, then we, like the Wise Men, cannot return to Herod, who is so afraid of this Child that he would have him killed. We cannot go home by the ways of Herod’s world, by the paths of competition, win/lose mentality, or by decisions that don’t include really listening to all voices and honoring the movement of the Holy Spirit among us.
My dream, and I believe God’s dream, is that having seen the Child, we’ll not return to Herod, which would be deadly, but that we’ll set about “going home” by an entirely new and life-giving way.
Amen.
Wednesday, January 6, 2010
A Rejuvenated Traveler Returns – from Jake Pinkston on teaching mission in Honduras
It is a funny feeling returning to a place you have left for the holidays. As soon as you walk back in the door, it is officially over, back to real life. While there is always a lingering yearning to walk back out the door and do it all over again, there is also a feeling of release getting back into the normal routine, especially when it is a routine that you find challenging and rewarding. After almost three weeks and countless miles crossing the Gulf of Mexico, the Atlantic Ocean, and the Iberian Peninsula, it feels good to be back in La Ceiba and back in school.
I had a wonderful vacation on the Pinkston extended-family excursion to visit Nell in northeastern Spain. Joined by our cousins from Houston Texas, we flew to Barcelona then drove across southern France, around mountains, through tunnels and over passes to the tiny former principality of Andorra. We arrived on Christmas Eve night and after settling into our small bed and breakfast, we were able to track down the English Speaking Church of Andorra, a bimonthly Anglican Church . Together we enjoyed a service of readings and Christmas carols followed by minced pies and mulled wine in a restored Romanesque chapel. While much of the structure had failed, they managed to keep of the old adornments and windows, maintaining the beautiful character and history of the church.
The family then spent the next fours days skiing the snow fields of the Pyrenees. We made a brief stop over to visit Nell’s host parents in Zaragoza, where my brother and I both studied our junior years in high school as well. Then it was back to Barcelona, where we spent a festive New Years feasting. The only tricky part was trying to eat traditional Spanish good luck grapes with lots of seeds in time with the chiming bells. I made it to four, got behind, then downed the whole handful. Very pleasant. Although I am not sure that was the proper procedure, I already felt very lucky to have such a great family to share the holidays with.
Hospitality is not usually a term given to us northeastern folk but I feel like it should be. I was very fortunate to have a place to crash for the 12 hours in between my flights in both directions. My rugby classmate and friend from Colby put me up for the night in NYC while I waited for my family to join me the next day in Newark. On the way back, old friends from Camp Hi-Rock met me in the Queens, took me out for Indian food (yum… there is nothing close to Indian food in Honduras) and even made sure I made it to Penn Station on time for my 1am train, as at that point I was a jet-lagged zombie.
While it was awesome to catch with friends whom I had not seen in six months, it meant even more as a traveler to be able to get my body and mind off the road. I love to see the world, but I find the time in the airports and bus stations to be absolutely draining and dehumanizing. Line up, wait, line up, strip down, pat down, sit down, wait, line up, sit down, wait, drink, wait, eat, wait: I feel like a steer being herded through a feed lot. Reflecting upon my initial journey down in April when I spent the night in the Atlanta airport, I realize I was never able to step out of that system and it made the traveling very difficult. Escaping Newark and the travel grind was true gift.
I faced two major delays in my return from Spain. The first was a two hour wait in Barcelona as the post-underpants bomber TSA regime now requires a full frisk and inspection of all passengers and their carry-ons. As it was 6am or so, I happily slept through most of it. The second delay interrupted my nap as my bus started shaking then quickly slowed to a halt on a dirt pull off on the side of the road about half way between San Pedro Sula to La Ceiba.
When the bus didn’t move and the DVD theme music to “Charlie Wilson’s War” played for about the tenth time, most of the passengers shuffled to the exits to see what was up. The driver and his assistant were head first up to their waists in the back diesel engine of the tour bus, working away with wrenches replacing a belt that had blown out. While they worked, I started chatting with some scraggly dressed college guys from the University of Utah. They were on their way to Utila for some cheap diving as they finished up their three week tour of Central America. Ten minutes went by, the engine slowly turned over, fired up and we were back in the bus.
I continued talking with them about their trip and plans and found that they had no place to stay in La Ceiba. At this point it was dark and raining and I had no idea where one might stay besides the equivalent Ritz. They seemed like good guys so I invited them to camp on the floor of my apartment and they offered me dinner at Wendy’s. Both party's were quite pleased with the deal. So we hiked from the bus station, dumped the stuff in the apartment, did a bit of grocery shopping and ate Bacon Double Cheeseburgers. They used my internet and guidebook before taking off the next morning to catch the early ferry.
It couldn’t have been a better way to end my journey. I was able to pay it forward with some hospitality of my own, meet some great guys and I now have a place to ski in Utah in the future. And even better, I was able to extend my vacation one more night.
“Rejoice in hope, be patient in suffering, persevere in prayer. Contribute to the needs of the saints; extend hospitality to strangers.” Romans 12: 12-13
I had a wonderful vacation on the Pinkston extended-family excursion to visit Nell in northeastern Spain. Joined by our cousins from Houston Texas, we flew to Barcelona then drove across southern France, around mountains, through tunnels and over passes to the tiny former principality of Andorra. We arrived on Christmas Eve night and after settling into our small bed and breakfast, we were able to track down the English Speaking Church of Andorra, a bimonthly Anglican Church . Together we enjoyed a service of readings and Christmas carols followed by minced pies and mulled wine in a restored Romanesque chapel. While much of the structure had failed, they managed to keep of the old adornments and windows, maintaining the beautiful character and history of the church.
The family then spent the next fours days skiing the snow fields of the Pyrenees. We made a brief stop over to visit Nell’s host parents in Zaragoza, where my brother and I both studied our junior years in high school as well. Then it was back to Barcelona, where we spent a festive New Years feasting. The only tricky part was trying to eat traditional Spanish good luck grapes with lots of seeds in time with the chiming bells. I made it to four, got behind, then downed the whole handful. Very pleasant. Although I am not sure that was the proper procedure, I already felt very lucky to have such a great family to share the holidays with.
Hospitality is not usually a term given to us northeastern folk but I feel like it should be. I was very fortunate to have a place to crash for the 12 hours in between my flights in both directions. My rugby classmate and friend from Colby put me up for the night in NYC while I waited for my family to join me the next day in Newark. On the way back, old friends from Camp Hi-Rock met me in the Queens, took me out for Indian food (yum… there is nothing close to Indian food in Honduras) and even made sure I made it to Penn Station on time for my 1am train, as at that point I was a jet-lagged zombie.
While it was awesome to catch with friends whom I had not seen in six months, it meant even more as a traveler to be able to get my body and mind off the road. I love to see the world, but I find the time in the airports and bus stations to be absolutely draining and dehumanizing. Line up, wait, line up, strip down, pat down, sit down, wait, line up, sit down, wait, drink, wait, eat, wait: I feel like a steer being herded through a feed lot. Reflecting upon my initial journey down in April when I spent the night in the Atlanta airport, I realize I was never able to step out of that system and it made the traveling very difficult. Escaping Newark and the travel grind was true gift.
I faced two major delays in my return from Spain. The first was a two hour wait in Barcelona as the post-underpants bomber TSA regime now requires a full frisk and inspection of all passengers and their carry-ons. As it was 6am or so, I happily slept through most of it. The second delay interrupted my nap as my bus started shaking then quickly slowed to a halt on a dirt pull off on the side of the road about half way between San Pedro Sula to La Ceiba.
When the bus didn’t move and the DVD theme music to “Charlie Wilson’s War” played for about the tenth time, most of the passengers shuffled to the exits to see what was up. The driver and his assistant were head first up to their waists in the back diesel engine of the tour bus, working away with wrenches replacing a belt that had blown out. While they worked, I started chatting with some scraggly dressed college guys from the University of Utah. They were on their way to Utila for some cheap diving as they finished up their three week tour of Central America. Ten minutes went by, the engine slowly turned over, fired up and we were back in the bus.
I continued talking with them about their trip and plans and found that they had no place to stay in La Ceiba. At this point it was dark and raining and I had no idea where one might stay besides the equivalent Ritz. They seemed like good guys so I invited them to camp on the floor of my apartment and they offered me dinner at Wendy’s. Both party's were quite pleased with the deal. So we hiked from the bus station, dumped the stuff in the apartment, did a bit of grocery shopping and ate Bacon Double Cheeseburgers. They used my internet and guidebook before taking off the next morning to catch the early ferry.
It couldn’t have been a better way to end my journey. I was able to pay it forward with some hospitality of my own, meet some great guys and I now have a place to ski in Utah in the future. And even better, I was able to extend my vacation one more night.
“Rejoice in hope, be patient in suffering, persevere in prayer. Contribute to the needs of the saints; extend hospitality to strangers.” Romans 12: 12-13
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