The Renewal of Ministry with the Welcoming of a New Deacon

Had an incredible and wonderful liturgy of renewal and welcoming on Sunday, June 10, 2012 at Holy Cross in Trussville. Below are excerpts of the liturgy that was adapted in part from Enriching our Worship 4 and the celebration of new ministry for Deacons in the Diocese of Maryland.

Collect

O God of unchangeable power and eternal light: Look favorably on your whole Church, that wonderful and sacred mystery; by the effectual working of your providence, carry out in tranquility the plan of salvation; let the whole world see and know that things which were cast down are being raised up, and things which had grown old are being made new, and that all things are being brought to their perfection by him through whom all things were made, your Son Jesus Christ our Lord; who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, forever and ever. Amen.

The Covenant of Shared Ministry

The Archdeacon says

Holy Scripture records that when God and God's people enter into a covenant with one another, God creates a sign to mark the new relationship.  When a deacon and people enter into a covenant with one another, the exchange of symbolic gifts is an appropriate way to mark the occasion.

Representatives of the congregation, the deacon, other clergy of the congregation, and representatives of the wider church present appropriate symbols to persons or groups chosen to reflect specific aspects of the ministry of the congregation in the world at large and within the life of the church itself.

A person selected presents a stole to the Deacon, saying:

Steve, receive this stole and be among us as deacon and servant.

People         Amen.

Members of the Altar Guild present Vessels to the deacon, saying

Steve, take this paten, chalice and oil stock and be among us as one who assists the bishop and the priests in public worship and in the ministration of God's healing and reconciling Word and Sacraments.

People         Amen.

Others present a Bible and other appropriate books to the deacon, saying

Steve, receive this Bible and Daily Office Book and be among us as one who studies and seeks nourishment from the Holy Scriptures and who proclaims the Gospel.

People         Amen.

The Deacon gives a Book of Common Prayer and a bible to the laity, saying:

Receive these books to use as you lead the congregation in prayers and readings.

People         Amen.

The Wardens present washing symbols to the deacon, saying

Steve, receive the pitcher, basin and towel and be among us as one who serves the needy and helpless of the world.

People         Amen.

The Deacon presents a loaf of bread or fresh foods to members of the congregation, saying

Fellow Christians, we will work together to share our bounty with the people of the world whom Jesus served as he fed the five thousand.

People         Amen.

The Rector presents a candle lit from the Paschal Candle to the deacon, saying

Steve, accept this Candle and be among us as Christ's Light in the World, making him and his redemptive love known to all by your word and example.

People         Amen.

The Archdeacon then says

Steve, and parishioners of Holy Cross, let all these be signs of the ministry we share in this place, in our diocese and in the church throughout the world.

People         Amen.

Archdeacon  The Lord be with you.

People         And also with you.

Deacon        Let us pray.

The Deacon may then kneel in the midst of the people, and say

O Lord my God, you have called me to a special ministry of servanthood in this place.  To you and to your service I devote myself, body, mind and spirit.  Let me find nourishment and a model for my life in the study of the Holy Scriptures.  Let me find joy in faithfully proclaiming the Gospel.  Help me to serve all people, especially the poor, the weak, the sick, and the lonely.  Grant me the grace to make Christ known to those, among whom

I live, and work, and worship.  Give me the insight and courage to interpret to the Church the needs, concerns, and hopes of the world.  Be my constant guide, and let my life and teaching remind Christ's people that in serving the helpless they are serving Christ himself.  All this I ask for the sake of your Son our Savior Jesus Christ.

People         Amen.

The People may then kneel, and say

Almighty God, we thank you that by the death and resurrection of your son Jesus Christ you have overcome sin and reconciled us to yourself, and by the sealing of your Holy Spirit you have bound us to your service.  Renew In us the covenant you made with us at our Baptism. Send us forth in the power of the Spirit to perform the service you set before us; through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord, who lives, and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.

Deacon        Amen.

Concluding Prayer

Almighty Father, we thank you for feeding us with the holy food of the Body and Blood of your Son, and for uniting us through him in the fellowship of your Holy Spirit. We thank you for raising up among us faithful servants for the ministry of your Word and Sacraments. We pray that Steve and the people of Holy Cross may be an effective example in word and action, in love and patience, and in holiness of life. Grant that we, with him, may serve you now, and always rejoice in your glory through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.

Dream a New World

This video on the diaconate from the Diocese of North Carolina tells the stories of deacons and their important role in accompanying the people of the church to discover and embrace their ministries in the world. It also offers accounts of “hearing the call” to the diaconate and advice to those persons who may be feeling a similar call.

Hearing a Deacon's Call

Deacons lead people into service by "preaching without words." 

The background music, Michael Curry's passion for the diaconate, the deacons ability to articulate their discernment process and calling seem right on to me in this video.

Lenten Meditation for Tuesday in the Fifth Week in Lent, 2012

“Grant your people grace to love what you command and desire what you promise; that, among the swift and varied changes of the world, our hearts may surely there be fixed where true joys are to be found…”

from the Collect of the Day

It’s not an easy gospel reading when called to meditate, pray, and reflect on conflict in community, “Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin…” (9:42 RSV). The Greek word  skandalisē (σκανδαλίσῃ) is usually translated as “cause to stumble” or “cause to sin” and is a term that Mark uses here, and three other times in this reading, to indicate a rejection of God’s message.

So, apparently we have a lot of responsibility when we involve ourselves in the lives of others. If we lead others away from God, then what we hear in this reading is the finality of judgment. That millstone used for grinding grain would have been familiar to the hearers of this parable and would have brought a vivid image to mind. Having a millstone tied around your neck before being thrown into the sea would mean that you’d quickly sink to the bottom, into the muck, where you’d be swallowed up. Doesn’t get much more final than that.

As followers of the Way of Jesus Christ we’re being told that there is no room for half-hearted attempts in our words, our actions, our lives. After beginning this gospel reading with a death/life paradox, we are presented with three parallel statements about what it means to save/lose your hand, eye, and foot. The formulation of each of the sayings is the same:

                If your (hand/eye/foot) skandalisē you, (remove) it…

                … for it is better to enter life (without) it…

                … than be thrown (with it) into Gehenna.

Not a lot of room for negotiation! Perhaps the way to put a ‘positive spin’ on this is to say that we are called to sanctity and to lead others to that same holiness.

Thomas Merton said “We are supposed to be the light of the world. We are supposed to be a light to ourselves and to others. That may well be what accounts for the fact that the world is in darkness!”  We possess the capacity to decide to choose to work on behalf of good or evil. Both Jesus and Merton invite us to believe that who we are and what we do matter.

Jesus’ words to us today are uncompromising but full of hope. “For every one will be salted with fire” (9:49 RSV). Let us encourage one another to touch that fire and live in peace as we pursue God’s rule on this earth.

El Dia de Los Muertos, Birmingham, Alabama Style
This is a video journal of the 2011 Celebration of Remembrance a block from where I live.

Sermon for the Twenty First Sunday after Pentecost (Proper 24, Year C)
Sunday, October 17, 2010 at St. Andrew’s in Montevallo, Alabama
Jeremiah31:27-34 Psalm 119:97-104 2 Timothy 3:14-4:5 Luke 18:1-8
The Rev. Steve Shanks, Deacon

Let us pray:
Beloved sisters and brothers, let us look to the Lord.
May only God’s word be spoken,
May God’s word be heard.
In the name of Jesus, I pray. Amen.

Quite a weekend here at St. Andrew’s. Our diocesan bishop, our very own Henry Parsley and friends old and new, with us for the blessing of our new campus ministry center next door, a festival Eucharist in this space last night celebrating over 150 years of ministry in this community… and here we are catching our collective breaths… with Jeremiah who shows up telling us of a new covenant where God will have a direct connection with his people, and Timothy urging us to persevere, to be persistent and focused, in living out our call to be bearers of God’s word and faithful in our action.

Then we have today’s Gospel, where Jesus tells a parable about an unjust judge and a poor widow. Like all parables, this story has more than one layer of meaning. One meaning is the one that Luke guides us to when he says that Jesus told it to remind the disciples about the need “to pray always and not to lose heart.”

Probably the most popular reading of the parable, and it asks us to identify with the widow, pleading unceasingly to an outlaw judge, “who neither feared God nor had respect for people, for her petition to be heard.” God is less easily or obviously identified by contrast in this reading with the unjust judge, who after much delay answers the widow’s incessant pestering simply in order to get rid of her.

The analogy is from the lesser to the greater, a typical rhetorical device of that time, so that Jesus comments after telling the story, that if such a wicked man as the judge when he tires of the widow’s pleas, will grant her request, so much more will our just, merciful, and loving God be that much quicker to answer our prayers.

I’ve got to tell you, I’ve always had trouble with that particular interpretation, even if it seems at first blush that Luke sets the parable up to be read that way. The lesser to greater technique is a good one, but can only be taken so far. And this is really stretching it. Usually there is some form of commonality between the lesser and the greater.

For example, Jesus asks in another place if a parent would give his child a snake, and assuming the answer is a resounding “no” goes on to say, so much more so will our heavenly Father give us good things. But, this judge is in no way like God; he is despicable, utterly selfish, with no redeeming values, no respect for anything divine or human; he is a law unto himself, he has nothing in common with our greater, eternal Judge, other than the mere title – judge.

He is the exact opposite of Old Testament judges, who are admonished in 2 Chronicles by King Jehoshaphat to take care what they do, for they are not judging on behalf of human beings but on behalf of God, who judges them. The King explicitly advises and directs them to let the fear of God be upon them, and reminds them to act carefully because with God there is no injustice, no partiality, no bribe-taking.

The widow in this interpretation is also portrayed against type. Biblical widows typically are referred to in the Bible as, weak, poor and defenseless. They are lumped together often with orphans and foreigners, persons who are the most vulnerable and without resources. And Scripture repeatedly tells us that special concern needs to be shown for these persons who are unable to help themselves.

This widow, however, is anything but helpless. She is bold, brash, outspoken, demanding justice ceaselessly until she gets what she wants. She confronts the judge in his own typically male-only arena, and finally wears him down with her persistence. In fact, he gives in because there’s no other way to get rid of her and in his final comment in Greek, indicates that he’s afraid she’ll give him a black eye. You don’t get that sense of combativeness in most English translations, and we have to settle for the idea that he only fears being worn down, or slandered and his good name destroyed.

This is one courageous, tough, determined woman, totally focused on having her way, on extracting justice, even from the most dishonest, unjust, uncaring, unaware judge in existence.
So what if we look at this parable from a different point of view. What if we are called to imitate her perseverance as disciples, not because she is a victim who with little influence and power could easily lose heart, but instead with her insistent, unwearying, continual, outspoken demand for justice… represents God.

And the judge – well, he’s me… us…. in all our various manifestations individually and corporately. He’s us personally in our own selfishness, complacency, prejudice and resistance to change; he’s us communally in all of our political, economic, and social systems that are unjust, corrupt, and invested in the existing structures of power and the protection of the privileged.
Doesn’t that make this parable easier to understand? Not only does the widow seem more “god-like” in her dogged resistance to injustice, naming it, facing it and denouncing it until justice is achieved, so also is another pesky problem with the more traditional interpretation done away with. When the judge is seen as the figure representing God, the story implies that if one badgers God persistently enough, one can eventually wear God down and get anything they want.
Now, I understand that this can be is a common attitude towards prayer – after all, Jesus does say, “ask and you will receive, seek and you will find, knock and the door will be opened.” But instead of hearing this as another admonition to persevere and not to lose heart, we hear it instead as technical advice on how to get our way with God.

I read not long ago about a church announcing that it would be hosting an all-day seminar on “how to Minister and Receive Healing,” and the description for the seminar said, “The seminar is designed to train people how to minister healing, see results when they pray, and understand how to receive healing.” Did you hear that – “see results”? Is that what prayer is about? Is that why we pray? In order to “see results”?

With the widow playing the part of God in this parable, the story also becomes one of godly power revealed in seeming weakness. And it offers points of view about the methods that might be used to achieve a just end. It is, after all, the judge that worries about getting a black eye; there isn’t an indication that the widow was ready to give him one. Violence isn’t part of her strategy. She just keeps on keeping on and never loses heart.

I was reminded of Martin Luther King, Jr. and the power of persistence. In developing his strategy for continual mass non-violent demonstrations, he wrote that he was inspired by Gandhi who’d said about the British, that the Indian people must “never let them rest.” and Gandhi had urged them to keep protesting daily and weekly in lots of different ways. King comments, “All history teaches us that like a turbulent ocean beating great cliffs into fragments of rock, the determined movement of people incessantly demanding their rights always disintegrates the old order.” And then he says, “Our powerful weapons are the voices, the feet, and the bodies of dedicated, united people, moving without rest toward a just goal.” In another place he wrote, “Somewhere we must come to see that human progress never rolls in on the wheels of inevitability. It comes through the tireless efforts and the persistent work of dedicated individuals who are willing to be co-workers with God.”

So, are you ready to be a “co-worker” with God following the pattern of this gutsy and spirited widow? There are many ways our discipleship can take shape and make a difference, as many ways as there are people here today.

One example comes from a friend over in Georgia, who recalled a state legislator for the area of New York where she had previously served a church, who was totally disinterested in the efforts of a local group that was promoting affordable housing for the poor. Beth was a part of the advocacy group, and they continued, day in and day out, to call him, send him letters, visit his office, take him to see the sites that concerned them. And finally, one day, he gave in; he saw the light – they’d beaten him down! And he went on to testify before Congress about the need for affordable housing. Through their efforts, they’d made him an instrument of God’s justice in spite of himself!

I was also of another story about a woman who at the age of 80 approached a local fabric store to request the old dress patterns that they would be soon throwing away to make room for newer ones. She knew that these patterns could be sent to other countries to help women make much needed clothing. But she was denied despite repeated requests. So, she drove her Cadillac to the alley behind the store day after day and waited, and one day, the patterns were thrown into the dumpster, and she jumped out with her stepladder and climbed into the dumpster, tossing patterns out on to the pavement one after the other, only to realize then that she couldn’t get out of the dumpster. So she picked up her cell phone and called a friend to come and rescue her. She also has arranged with Hartsfield Airport to receive the scissors that are confiscated from travelers, to send to sewing centers. She now has a warehouse full of items that nobody else wants, but that she can send to places in need.

And among many of our own examples of outreach at St. Andrew’s is the gathering and sorting of gently used clothes to give away to those in need in our community of Montevallo.

Jesus asks at the end of this parable, “When the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?” In the last two weeks of readings, we’ve heard faith described as obedience and as gratitude. Today, faith is found in persistence – God’s and ours. Throughout our lives God continues to call us; and so long as we live it will continue. We will never arrive at the place where we can say, “I’ve done it all; God can’t ask any more of me.” God’s call may be different at different times in our lives, but there is always more to do. At times I… we… will listen well, and at other times not so well, but “God’s voice is never stilled. Each time we hear and respond, [each time we persevere], we become more the [faithful] person God calls us to be.”

May Christ find us faithful to the end.

Thanks be to God!

In Christ’s Name,

Amen. Alleluia.

An introduction to Taizé

Life at Taizé from Taizé on Vimeo.

hey, y'all, to commemorate 70 years of Taize and the 5 years since Br. Roger's death, the community is putting together videos which start with this 15 minute or about life in the community and continues with other short ones, still more being posted each week throughout the month.

Sermon for the 5th Sunday after the Epiphany (Year C)
Saturday, February 07, 2010 at St. Andrew’s in Montevallo, Alabama
Isaiah 6:1-8, [9-13] Psalm 138 1 Corinthians 15:1-11 Luke 5:1-11
The Rev. Steve Shanks, Deacon

Let us pray:
Beloved sisters and brothers, let us look to the Lord.
May only God’s word be spoken,
May God’s word be heard.
In the name of Jesus, I pray. Amen.

So, today we’re putting out into deep waters with this great story about how Jesus calls the fishermen to follow him on the path to discipleship. This Gospel story from Luke the Evangelist, a physician from Antioch and a sometime companion of Paul, has three particular parts that I’d like to reflect on.

First, we hear how they’ve been out fishing all night on the Sea of Galilee and they’ve caught nothing, how Jesus borrows Simon’s boat and teaches the crowd on the shore and when he is finished, he turns to Simon and says, “Put out into deep waters and lower your nets.” That seems a pretty incredible statement, and one worthy to spend some time with. Of course, Simon Peter is at first resistant and tells how he knows all about fishing, and Jesus couldn’t know anything, and there are no fish to be caught… but then he gives in and does what Jesus says. In a poetic way, we probably all feel like we’ve spent our whole lives out on the water all night and haven’t caught anything, and along comes Jesus telling us to put out into deep waters. That’s God, always pushing us out to go farther than we think we can go, into the unknown, into uncharted waters. So the question becomes: how is Jesus pushing you these days out into deep waters? How are you going to respond to his call?

Then, they make a big catch and both boats nearly sink because of the great number of fish, and how does Simon Peter respond? He falls at the knees of Jesus and says, “Depart from me Lord, for I am a sinful man.” There is a great mystery here. I think the Gospel is telling us that whenever we enter into the presence of God, whenever we realize that we are in the presence of Christ, we suddenly recognize not only his light and holiness, but our darkness and sinfulness. So the Gospel calls us to recognize our sinfulness before Christ, to realize that we are sinners. But Jesus does not condemn Simon Peter or us. He loves us, forgives us and calls us. We are sinners but we are also greatly loved by God, and we need Christ to help us and save us. For me, I want to change Simon Peter’s plea to say, “Never depart from me Lord, for I am a sinful man and I need you.”

Finally, Jesus says this great line to Peter, “Do not be afraid. From now on, you will be catching men and women.” With that, they leave their nets, their boats, the fish, their parents… and follow him. Jesus says the same thing to us today. He does not want us to live in fear. Instead he invites us to live in relationship with him, to follow him and to join his campaign to change the world by leading one another and all people to God and God’s reign of love and peace. So we can ask ourselves: How are we dropping our nets and following Jesus? How do we practice discipleship to Christ today? How are we trying to catch people for Christ and the reign of God?
A stumbling block in considering how to respond to Jesus’ call to us is that it is can be all too easy to become so preoccupied with our inabilities and shortcomings, that it leaves us nearly in a state of inaction. It can be difficult to believe that God, who is holy and pure, can use the most imperfect men, women, boys and girls … people like you, like me. But God does.

Facing whatever feelings of inadequacy, unworthiness, or sinfulness … whatever that loud voice in our ear is saying, in opposition to the small still quiet voice of God, and in the light of God’s holiness and righteousness… facing that is a necessary step if God is to use us as instruments of God’s love. Simon Peter, the prophet Isaiah, the Apostle Paul, and innumerable other women and men of God inside and outside of Scripture share in this experience. In contrast to God’s virtue, the women and men who God commissions will always identify their own faults and failures. But in spite of that, they will also recognize God’s readiness to forgive and empower, which frees them to work with peace and confidence on behalf of poor and hungry people in our nation and around the world.

And as we begin to respond to God’s call to us… with our minds to think, hearts to love, hands to serve… it is important to know, as best we can, what has worked, what has not, and why. To do that is what, in my vernacular, is referred to as participatory community based research so that the needs we’re meeting are indeed of those that we’re appointed to serve. That how we determine the needs, and how they’re met, is formed in equal partnership between traditionally trained “experts” and members of the community to which a ministry is intended.

In the wake of the earthquake and devastation in Haiti, thought it might be helpful to review an experience of “helping” that has become an example of what the result can be when other interests or concerns end up being placed ahead of the real and actual needs of the poor, working poor, and hungry.

I think that it is always important that we educate ourselves about whoever it is that we’re partnered in ministry with, in this case about the history of Haiti and its people's incredible struggle of resistance and self-determination against continued cycles of colonial and neocolonial suppression. The mainstream media continues to stress that Haiti is the most impoverished country in the western hemisphere without offering a serious analysis of why that is the case.
One way to begin to understand Haiti's experience with poverty and economic oppression is in the history of the eradication of the Haitian Creole pig population in the 1980's, a modern parable and as recounted by former Haitian president Jean Bertrand-Aristide.

“In 1982 international agencies assured Haiti's peasants their pigs were sick and had to be killed (so that the illness would not spread to countries to the North). Promises were made that better pigs would replace the sick pigs. With an efficiency not since seen among development projects, all of the Creole pigs were killed over a period of thirteen months.

“Two years later the new, better pigs came from Iowa. They were so much better that they required clean drinking water (unavailable to 80% of the Haitian population), imported feed (costing $90 a year when the per capita income was about $130), and special roofed pigpens. Haitian peasants quickly dubbed them “prince a quatre pieds [prahn-suh-a-ka-truh-pyay],” or “four-footed princes”. Adding insult to injury, the meat did not taste as good. Needless to say, the repopulation program was a complete failure. One observer of the process estimated that in monetary terms Haitian peasants lost $600 million dollars. There was a 30% drop in enrollment in rural schools; there was a dramatic decline in the protein consumption in rural Haiti; a devastating decapitalization of the peasant economy and an incalculable negative impact on Haiti's soil and agricultural productivity. The Haitian peasantry has not recovered to this day.”
With stories like this to inform but not discourage us, it reminds me of what I think is one of the most amazing dimensions of our faith… that God is willing to forgive each of us, all of us, and to empower us in our work on behalf of the least among us. What a wonderful God we worship, who knows our failures and yet says, “Your sin is blotted out. Don’t be afraid. I am sending you to do my work in the world.”

I think that Jesus is the greatest person who ever lived, and he really is worth following. That it’s worth it to drop our nets, change our lives, and try to follow in his footsteps. It’s also so very important that each one of us join his project of calling people to discipleship, of catching people for Christ, of being fishers of women and men. There are a lot of politics and campaigns these days, which has become the cultural norm it seems, but for me the Gospel campaign of Jesus is the only one worth joining, the one worth giving our lives for, the one that I choose to give my life to.

So, what does it means to join the Gospel campaign of Jesus?

I think that in this world of hate, indifference and fear, our job is to catch people for Christ’s love.
In this world of gossip, pettiness, hypocrisy and lies, our job is to catch people for Christ’s truth.

In this world of enmity, resentment, grudges, revenge and the death penalty, our job is to catch people for Christ’s compassion, forgiveness and reconciliation.

In this world of injustice and oppression, our job is to catch people for Christ’s justice.

In this world of selfishness and greed, our job is to catch people for Christ’s way of selfless service.

In this world of violence and bombing raids and colonial occupation, our job is to catch people for Christ’s nonviolence.

In this world of war, nuclear weapons, imperialism, and global militarism, our job is to catch people for Christ’s peace.

In this world of despair and death, our job is to catch people for Christ’s hope, for the new life of God’s reign of resurrection. From now on, we are catching women and men for the nonviolent Christ.

And in the words of Sir Frances Drake, who knew a lot about being called to deep water, let us pray…

Disturb us Lord when
We are too well pleased with ourselves
When our dreams have come true,
Because we dreamed too little
When we arrived safely
Because we sailed too close to shore.

Thanks be to God.
In Christ’s Name,
Amen. Alleluia.

Sermon for the 1st Sunday after the Epiphany: The Baptism of our Lord (Year C)
Sunday, January 10, 2010 at Trinity Church in Clanton, Alabama
Isaiah 43:1-7 Isaiah 43:1-7 Acts 8:14-17 Luke 3:15-17,21-22
The Rev. Steve Shanks, Deacon

Let us pray:
Beloved sisters and brothers, let us look to the Lord.
May only God’s word be spoken,
May God’s word be heard.
In the name of Jesus, I pray. Amen.

You know, if you were a member of the Orthodox Church and following the Julian calendar instead of the Gregorian civil calendar that we follow, the twelve days of Christmas would have only just begun, and the feast of the Epiphany wouldn’t be here until January nineteenth. I mention this because in the Orthodox churches, the gospel lesson you would hear read on Epiphany is not the story of the visit of the Magi that we heard proclaimed last Sunday, but the reading we just heard about the baptism of Jesus. For the Orthodox, this is the primary story of God’s manifestation, which they call by an even stronger word than “epiphany.” They call it “theophany,” the blazing forth of God.

Why this story in particular? Well it’s not because they have such a high theology of baptism (although they do), but because this is the only story in all of the gospel accounts where all three persons of the Trinity are named as present – are acting in the world. There’s Jesus, of course, obediently but surprisingly being baptized in the river Jordan. There’s the Holy Spirit, descending like a dove from the heavens to Jesus, and There’s the voice of God, heard blessing Jesus, and claiming him as beloved Son.

God the creator, the first person of the Holy Trinity, doesn’t show up in person much in the gospels. Jesus mentions God a lot, of course: talks to God, talks about God, teaches others to do the same. But there’s only one other personal appearance, at the Transfiguration, where God does and says the exact same thing as in today’s story. The rest of the time it’s angels and prophets and especially Jesus speaking on God’s behalf.

So what can we learn from this unique “blazing forth” of God in all three persons at Jesus’ baptism? Well… other than that Jesus’ baptism was taken seriously enough that the whole family showed up?

First of all, notice what the three of them are doing. Jesus is doing what he always does: being fully human, fulfilling and yet somehow subverting rules and expectations in a single action, over turning social understandings of power and priority just by showing up – being a different kind of Messiah than everyone was expecting.

Secondly, and to use a word from John’s Gospel, the Holy Spirit is paracleting away: in other words, mediating between the divine and the earthly, and in so doing showing that the two are intimately connected, that God has both the will and the means to act in human lives.

And then there’s God the creator. That voice, doing again the most important act from the creation story, which is not the making itself but the divine assessment: “It is good.” “Behold my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.” This final quality report, both in the creation story and in the gospels, is the part of the creative act that often seems to be ignored, both in our lack of respect for the things and people God made and declared to be good, and in the contrary assessment of Jesus made in his lifetime and after by so many. Humankind has not always been as well-pleased with Jesus as God was.

So God is revealed to us, in all of God’s three-personed godliness, in the moment of Jesus’ baptism. It is a moment we uniquely recall when we baptize; when you were baptized. In communion we call on the risen Jesus to be known to us in the breaking of the bread, but in baptism we expect all three persons of the Trinity; Father, Son and Holy Spirit, to be present and involved.

We pledge ourselves to them, all three, in the Apostle’s Creed. And in the rest of the Baptismal Covenant, [which we will have a chance to renew in a few minutes,] we also pledge ourselves to do the same things that God is doing in the Theophany, God’s blazing forth, at Jesus’ baptism.

We pledge to continue in the Apostles’ teaching, in the breaking of the bread, and in the prayers, and to persevere in resisting evil, and whenever we fall into sin repent and return to the Lord. In other words, we pledge to embrace being fully human – to live into (and occasionally to subvert or transform) the stories and traditions that we have been handed, and to hand them on to our children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren. And we pledge to recognize that our failings, our shortcoming, our sins, do not set us beyond the reach of God’s love; that God is always ready to love us and to receive us when we repent.

We pledge to proclaim by word and example the good news of God in Christ. This is Holy Spirit work – to be the messenger and message to those who ache to hear of and to experience the love of God. We, like that dove, are bearers of God’s Word, and our Baptismal Covenant reminds us of the seriousness and solemnity of the charge… to carry the good news to the ends of the earth.

And, finally, we pledge to seek and serve Christ in all persons, loving our neighbors as ourselves, and to strive for justice and peace among all people, respecting the dignity of every human being. Do you see how those pledges give life and force to the recognition of God’s proclamation of the goodness of creation and of Jesus? The indignities, the uncharitableness, the cruelty that we visit on one another and on the world reflect a failure to embrace the goodness, the God-pleasing rightness of all that God has made, of all that has been given into our care.

And one of the great things about these pledges is that they make wonderful touchstones. They are an ‘easy to carry with you’ guide to Godly action.

When I am cross ways with someone, or am making judgments about him or her, am I truly seeking Christ in that person?

And whether or not I find the Christ that I know is there in that person, are my choices and actions serving Christ?

Am I, by my words and actions at this moment, showing the world the good news about God in Christ – that the embrace of love reaches beyond all boundaries to draw the children of God together – that God can and does love you, can and does love me… extravagantly, passionately, without limit?

And perhaps most importantly, for ourselves and for our institutions, am I respecting the dignity of every human being?

Do the choices that I am making right now, that my family, or committee, or Vestry are making today; honor and uphold the dignity of every person those decisions will affect?

Because if not, if the answer to any of those questions is “no,” our Baptismal Covenant, and indeed the love and example of God, calls on us to make different choices, to keep struggling with our choices, to keep learning from and repenting our mistakes, until we can honor those pledges with our lives as well as with our words.

And when we do that – when the gospel is proclaimed in all we do, and Christ is sought and served, justice and peace are striven for, and the dignity of every human being is respected and cherished, then God will blaze forth again and again, and we shall all be well pleased.

Thanks be to God.
In Christ’s Name,
Amen. Alleluia.

Sermon for the 14th Sunday after Pentecost 2009 (Proper 18B)
Sunday, September 06, 2009 at St. Andrew’s in Montevallo, Alabama
Proverbs 22:1-2, 8-9, 22-23 Psalm 125 James 2:1-17 Mark 7:24-37

Let us pray:
Beloved sisters and brothers, let us look to the Lord.
May only God’s word be spoken,
May God’s word be heard.
In the name of Jesus, I pray. Amen.

In the first half of the 7th Chapter of the Gospel According to Mark, that we heard last week, Jesus says that you can't judge a book by its cover; you must look beyond external factors like nationality or religious heritage or social position to get the real story on someone's faith. He then puts this theory into practice by traveling a good 100 miles out of his way into the region of Tyre and Sidon – into the heart of paganland – to make the arduous journey from the theoretical to the practical.

So, here we find ourselves with this week’s gospel that poses difficulties from a variety of angles. Jesus encounters a Gentile woman who wants him to heal her daughter. He says no, essentially calls her and all Gentiles dogs, and states firmly that his mission is only to Israel. She argues with him. He then agrees to heal her daughter. So, what happened?

One thing that has happened in this encounter is that when Jesus answers the woman, regardless of what specifically he says, he is recognizing the woman’s right to speak with him. Just by making the request, she is implying – even if perhaps solely out of desperation – that she has a right to claim his time and power. By arguing, she implies that she is worthy of challenging him. And by answering, Jesus affirms that she has that status in his eyes. This is a profoundly counter-cultural recognition of her dignity. But then Jesus insults her by calling her and her people dogs (and no, there's no trick of Greek translation that can make it about cute little puppies – Jesus is calling her people scavengers of the lowest sort).

But then, to all appearances, Jesus changed his mind – not only about healing one girl, but about his mission. This bothers a lot of people; most sermons I've heard that have spent time with this aspect of the story, have suggested that Jesus really knew all along that his mission was to Gentiles as well as Jews, and that he was only pretending to think otherwise to help the woman increase her faith, or to further demonstrate his power, or some other reason.

Personally, I find that kind of reading offensive as well as unconvincing. If Jesus changed his mind, then Jesus can’t be the kind of eternally changeless “unmoved mover,” to use Plato's phrase, that a lot of people present God as being. But if Jesus didn't change his mind and was just saying things he didn’t believe so that he could accomplish some other end, then Jesus is a liar – and a pretty cruel one at that, since the poor woman is clearly worried about her child.

And besides, who – other than Plato – says that Jesus isn’t allowed to change his mind, to learn something he didn’t know before? Certainly, learning is part of what it means to be human. Try to turn Jesus into someone who knew everything and could do anything from day one and you'll quickly get drawn into fairly silly speculation about how Jesus could have spouted the full Sermon on the Mount (and in any language to boot!) on the day he was born, but faked being able to talk only like the baby he was – perhaps so he wouldn't give away his secret identity, like Clark Kent having to hold back from running at full speed on Smallville. That kind of speculation is evident in some of the later gospels that are outside the Christian canon, but it’s not in any of our canonical gospels, which consistently portray Jesus as a real, honest-to-goodness human being who as a baby needed his diapers changed and who, like the rest of us, learned to walk and talk and function by playing and otherwise interacting with his mother and other people.

In other words, Jesus had to learn words and speech when he was a child. As Luke puts it, “the child grew and became strong, filled with wisdom” (Luke 2:40). Jesus changed, not only getting taller and physically stronger, but learning things he didn't know before. If that idea is offensive, it's the offensiveness of the Incarnation, of the idea that God could dwell among us in the flesh. Human beings aren't born knowing and doing everything they will ever be able to know and do. They learn and grow, and in particular, they learn and grow in relationship. Jesus did too – all his life, as human beings do. I might even go so far as to say that part of being made in God's image means that we become more fully ourselves in relationship. Knowing others and loving others changes us, teaching things we didn't know before and helping us to grow into the fullness of our identity and vocation, and our capacity to grow in relationship comes from a God who experiences that too.

I know that doesn’t fit in very well with that picture of God as an “unmoved mover,” never experiencing a change of mind. But that picture is Plato's far more than it is our bible’s. Our scriptures are full of stories of human beings trying to change God’s mind. We call it intercessory prayer, and scripture shows it as working at least sometimes – God is moved to show mercy, to act in deliverance because someone asked. Observing that raises a great many problems of theodicy and the nature of evil in the world, among other things, but there it is, scattered throughout our canonical writings. And though it doesn’t make things any easier for me, I’m glad it’s there.

I'm glad because it is a wonderful corrective to our human tendencies toward arrogance and hardness of heart. Why should we listen to someone else's view on a matter of importance when we already know what the scriptures say, what those words mean, and therefore what the truth of the matter is? If any had the right to that kind of posture, it would be God. But if we take our scriptures seriously, we have to allow the possibility that God too is changed in relationship.

That may sound radical, but I find that radical message in our scriptures; as God is moved after observing the destruction wreaked by the great flood to say “never again,” and hangs God’s bow – God’s weapon – in the sky as a sign of God’s permanent swearing off of such moves. God – the one Plato presents as “unmoved mover” – is MOVED to mercy, and makes a covenant of mercy with all of humanity.

Is it so radical, then, to think that Jesus, God’s agent, might also be moved by his encounter with a Gentile woman seeking healing for her daughter? I not only don't think so but I thank God for people who aren’t willing to take “no” for an answer – even or especially “no” plus “Godtalk” coming from a perceived religious authority which is a particularly potent combination when coming from powerful men – but rather I thank God for people who will push for compassion and mercy. They prove to us that even God isn't the sort to say, “God said it; I believe it; that settles it.”

They teach us something that we would have gathered anyway had we been paying attention when Jesus says, “be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect” and then makes clear that the “perfect” he means isn't about being static in a “right” position, but rather compassion toward righteous and unrighteous alike (Matthew 5:43-48).

They teach us that no one should be so certain that they are right that she or he cannot make room to listen; and to listen in a way that allows us to be changed by what we hear.

They teach us that God is love, and of course it’s a very poor lover who is eternally unmoved by her or his beloved.

So when Jesus encounters a man who is deaf and therefore mute – someone who is unable to listen and therefore was unable to learn to speak – Jesus is very well prepared.

“Be opened,” he says. He says it not only with compassion for someone who has suffered, but also with the authority of one who has experienced what it is that he’s talking about. That is, after all, what the persistence of the Gentile woman said to him when he was deaf to her cries and therefore unprepared to speak of God's love for all peoples. “Be opened” – and Jesus was.

And so must we. And so shall we.

We must forgive, deepen our love.

In so fulfilling our vocation, we ourselves are healed.

Thanks be to God.
In Christ’s Name,
Amen. Alleluia.

Mission to New Orleans - Advisory Group on Forced Evictions

Since 2005, New Orleans residents – particularly in low-income communities – have been fighting against forced evictions resulting from the city’s rebuilding plans. As part of the city’s overall development approach, which favors private sector interests over the interests of low-income residents, the Housing Authority of New Orleans (HANO) has demolished thousands of public housing units without regard for residents' human right to housing and denying them the chance to participate in the development process.

In response to this, and at the request of local activists, between July 26th and July 31st 2009, the Advisory Group on Forced Evictions (AGFE), an independent international group that advises the Executive Director of UN-HABITAT, is conducting a fact-finding mission to New Orleans, to investigate the city’s continuing forced eviction issues. The issues that will be addressed range from the destruction of public housing to the lack of adequate rebuilding or rental assistance at either the federal or local level which has effectively left thousands of people homeless since the storm, to new plans to evict residents who have rebuilt in favor of large development schemes.

This page will be documenting the AGFE mission with a series of videos featuring testimonies from affected local residents and the groups involved in coordinating the mission.

Download this factsheet to learn more about AGFE's Mission, and this schedule to see who they're meeting.

THURSDAY: AGFE to New Orleans Day 5 - DC meetings
Eric Tars, Human Rights Program Director at the National Law Center on Homelessness and Poverty, reports from DC on visits with federal officials, including Rep. Maxine Waters, chair of the Housing & Community Opportunity Subcommittee, with the Advisory Group on Forced Evictions mission, July 30, 2009.

Watch the previous vlogs by following these links:

TUESDAY: Day 2 AGFE to New Orleans - Charity Hospital and Mid-City Visits - Eric Tars reports on the second half of the July 28, 2009 site visits of the international Advisory Group on Forced Evictions, to the Mid-City area of New Orleans, where hundreds of residents are threatened with imminent eviction due to plans to construct a massive hospital complex that government studies have shown is unnecessary and disregards the needs of the community.

MONDAY: Day 2 AGFE to New Orleans - Homeless Site Visits - Eric Tars reports from two squatters settlements in New Orleans about homelessness since Hurricane Katrina as part of the international Advisory Group on Forced Evictions visit.

SUNDAY, Part 2: New Orleans Town Hall Meeting Wrap Up - Eric Tars reports from the town hall meeting with New Orleans advocates and residents for the Advisory Group on Forced Evictions [July 26, 2009].

SUNDAY, Part 1: Setting the Stage for the Advisory Group Visit - Eric Tars, on his way to New Orleans for the AGFE visit, provides additional background information on the origins of the mission and some of the housing rights violations that have occurred.

SATURDAY: Forced Evictions - Public Housing Residents Speak Out: In this video by the National Economic & Social Rights Initiative (NESRI), two residents of public housing in New Orleans talk about their recent efforts to save public housing.

FRIDAY: Preparing for New Orleans - Eric Tars explains the background to the AGFE mission, and gives a preview of what he'll be vlogging about throughout the week of 27th July.

HUMAN RIGHTS & HOUSING
So what is the Human Right to Housing, and what are the actual provisions in human rights law that guarantee this right? Here's an overview from NESRI:

The right to housing guarantees the right to live in security, peace and dignity. This right must be provided to all persons irrespective of income or access to economic resources, and the housing provided must be adequate, meaning 'adequate privacy, adequate space, adequate security, ... adequate basic infrastructure and adequate location.'

The right to housing is guaranteed in human rights declarations and treaties, including the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, and the American Declaration on the Rights and Duties of Man.

"Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care." - Article 25, Universal Declaration of Human Rights

Excerpted from NESRI's Human Right to Housing Info Sheet no. 1. See also NESRI's factsheet on the Human Right to Development.

RELATED VIDEOS AND RESOURCES
"Coming Home": A clip of this forthcoming documentary about the demolition of public housing in New Orleans, featuring Mayday NOLA.

HUD Secretary Donovan Denies Community Participation: A brief video from Mayday New Orleans about trying to reach HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan when he visited New Orleans. Not only does this second video underscore how public housing residents have been denied their right to participation, but it also inspired a similar video from a housing advocacy organization in North Belfast, Northern Ireland.

Further links:
NESRI
NLCHP
Mayday New Orleans
Terms of Reference for AGFE
NLCHP Wiki on housing issues on the Gulf Coast

NOTE: This post is a product of NLCHP and NESRI, with the assistance of WITNESS, and not affiliated with AGFE or UN-HABITAT

Salsa at The Granada

the lovely erin is my one and only daughter *smiles*

Jubilee Ministry Centers —

Providing Refuge and Hope
By the Rev. Deacon Steve Shanks,
Our Diocesan Jubilee Ministry Officer

When Jesus stood in the synagogue in Nazareth, unrolled the Isaiah scroll, and read God’s promise of good news to the poor, of Jubilee—the Year of the Lord’s Favor, he opened for us a window into the Kingdom of God. As we see the work of congregations, congregational clusters, and ecumenical clusters doing the work of compassion—feeding, clothing, sheltering, and visiting, and the work of justice—speaking, teaching, and prophesying, we honor the commitment they are making to reflect to the world the generosity of God and the invitation to live in his Kingdom.

The concept of Jubilee was established by the words of Leviticus 25:10:“You shall hallow the fiftieth year, and you shall proclaim liberty throughout the land to all its inhabitants.”The stated goal of Jubilee Ministry in the Episcopal Church is to teach others to connect the talk of faith with the walk of peace and justice for all people.

Jubilee Ministry is faith in action—faith that can be expressed as that which grows out of loving God with all your heart, mind, soul, and strength and action that can be expressed as that which compels us to love our neighbor as ourselves. Jubilee Ministry seeks to hold these two important dynamics of our spiritual journey in tension so that God’s reconciling work is known by our witness.

Jubilee Ministry Centers throughout our diocese serve as places of refuge and hope, living expressions of our Baptismal promise to seek and serve Christ in all persons.

St.Timothy’s in Athens provides a multicultural preschool, tutoring, basic language skills programs, English as a Second Language classes,AA Groups (including a prison AA group) and a Hispanic Al-Anon, and a drop-in pantry.

Christ Church in Fairfield (Birmingham) provides CityWorks:The Fairfield Initiative, an interfaith Community Development Corporation that offers affordable housing with “strategic neighbors”; a literacy program; a thrift store; a prison ministry; and emergency services.

Grace Church in Woodlawn (Birmingham) provides 55th Place Thrift Store, Grace-by-Day, the Interfaith Hospitality House, emergency food packs three days a week at the Woodlawn Christian Center, Community Kitchens, and a Hispanic ministry.

Good Samaritan Health Clinic in Cullman provides free primary healthcare for low-income, uninsured, and under-insured county residents; hearing testing; eye disease exams; dental exams; free medications; and diabetic/nutrition education.

St. John’s in Decatur provides a Community Free Clinic offering free healthcare and prescription drugs, health-related education programs, eye exams, and dental care; Parents and Children Together (PACT) offering services for at-risk families to prevent child abuse and neglect as well as child-wellness programs; and Camp Joy offering camping experience and adult and youth volunteers to serve at-risk children.

Nativity in Huntsville provides individual tutoring for reading, math, and computer skills in the Adult Learning Center of Huntsville; English as a Second Language classes; and the HEALS free medical clinics at target elementary schools.

The Jubilee Community Center in Montgomery provides an after-school program with tutoring and mentoring by volunteers from local colleges, entrepreneurial class for ages 15 and up, clothing, direct health services, the Jubilee Choir, youth-enrichment programs, lobbying on issues affecting the community, job training, Vacation Bible School, and a free tax-filing service for working families.

Chattahoochee Valley Episcopal Ministry Inc. (CVEM) supported by St. Matthew’s in Seale and St. Stephen’s in Smith Station provides direct economic assistance; continued community revitalization efforts; programs for children and youth; women’s mentoring; housing advocacy; services related to homelessness, race relations, and prison inmates; and a Peace and Justice Group that meets regularly to study social issues and offer forums and other means of education and action.

Bishop Parsley and Bishop Sloan invite every congregation in our diocese to examine the work they are doing with and among the poor, both here in Alabama and around the world, and prayerfully consider applying for designation and affirmation as a Jubilee Ministry Center. Holy Trinity in Auburn and Trinity in Clanton are currently in the process of applying to become Jubilee Ministry Centers.

Sometimes a Center starts with a single congregation that wants to begin walking in faith. Sometimes it begins with a cluster of churches within a community that perceive a need to serve the poor in a particular way. Any of these congregations or clusters of congregations can become designated by the Episcopal Church as a Jubilee Ministry Center if they agree to do one or more of the following: advocacy on behalf of the people they serve, empowering staff and volunteers to connect their work with their Baptismal vows, evangelizing through prayer or pastoral presence, and inviting others to share in worship. In this way all Jubilee Ministry Centers give back to God through what God has given them.

For more information about applying to have your outreach initiative designated a Jubilee Ministry Center, please contact the Rev. Steve Shanks, Diocesan Jubilee Ministry Officer, at srshanks@gmail.com or 205/960-1826.

Excerpted from the Alabama Episcopalian, The Episcopal Diocese of Alabama, Pentecost, May-June 2009 / Vol. 94, No. 4

Sermon for the Seventh Sunday after Easter, Year B
at Trinity in Clanton, Alabama
Acts 1:15-17, 21-26 Psalm 1 1 John 5:9-13 John 17:6-19

Beloved sisters and brothers, let us look to the Lord.
May only God’s word be spoken,
May God’s word be heard.
In the name of Jesus, I pray. Amen.

"If we receive human testimony, the testimony of God is greater; for this is the testimony of God that he has testified to his Son." That's what we hear in the reading from the First Epistle of John. And a friend has reminded me that thanks be to God that the testimony of God is greater – because we certainly have some pretty odd ways of discerning and trying to testify to God's will.

I think that the passage from the book of Acts makes for a pretty good case in point. The role of the Twelve is on one hand so very, very important that it just can't be left to eleven or thirteen; and on the other hand, the person to fill the seat left vacant by Judas Iscariot is chosen by lot. The judgment of Israel left to a couple of thrown rocks or bones. Sometimes, reading things like this, one has to say to oneself what might be the ultimate question in life… "Just what is God thinking??!"

It's a question that I've asked myself more than once, and I'm glad to say that it's a question that God fears no more than I might have the capacity to answer it for myself.

What I believe is that God is calling us to abundant life in a world that welcomes, facilitates, and spreads abundant life; and yet I pick up a newspaper that tells me about deaths in battle, in traffic accidents, in inexplicable illnesses. It's all well and good for John Lennon to encourage us to imagine a world of peace, compassion, and responsibility to further these qualities, but imagining it will only get us so far… "so", in this case, being a synonym for "not." Imagine all the dreamers, yes – but imagine what would have happened to their work if they had only stuck with what seemed realistic. And if we're really going to take Jesus seriously, we might want to ask what's realistic anyway.

… and speaking of where our dreams bump up against reality… church unity is a highly desirable goal and will undoubtedly be a topic of continuing conversation and likely some debate at our church’s General Convention in Anaheim this summer. Actually, it's more than a goal; it's a description, a word we say when we see people living as God intends, as sisters and brothers with any who will break bread and share resources with them. It's an appealing goal, and so a lot of people get on board with it without pausing to think about how they want to actually build a world, a network of people and resources, to help the Church move toward being what God truly intends for it to be.

Now, I know that this might be starting to sound like some kind of a "get back to work" speech, but it isn't. The reason rests in Jesus' prayer that we hear in the Gospel: “that we all might be one, as he is one with God.” The unity of the church isn't just a goal toward which we strive; it is a reality that we live into more deeply as we explore, with others in community, just what it might mean that we are children of God.

That's not just a fancy theological way of saying "Get back to work" either. What might it mean to us – to you and me – if we really took Jesus' prayer in, really believed that God's children are one because God is one, that the unity of Christ's Body is a consequence of Christ, rather than the end goal toward which we strive, but most often fail?

One of the main consequences of taking that leap of faith, I think, would be the dismantling of a lot of our excuses. Without it, we might convince ourselves that we can treat those around us anyway we want to until such a time as they ‘toe the line’ and thereby effect the unity for which Jesus prays in this Sunday's gospel. In other words, I'll wait and treat that person as a brother or sister the moment that he or she behaves!

And, of course, that path is one of madness. As long as we're waiting for everyone, but us, to meet some standard before we'll declare ourselves to be of the same Body as them, we're choosing the thankless and joyless task of monitoring those around us, and perhaps the world itself, for signs of dysfunction and misery.

It's a destructive way to live, in the way that our mind's “background processes” work. We are constantly on the lookout, making judgments and reevaluating them. The “search requests” we make on our brain most frequently become “wired” into the brain and the life of our psyche. If we call upon our brains several times a week, or a day, to figure out what's wrong with those around us and the world in which they work and live, it's natural for our minds to start performing these tasks in the “background,” constantly creating categories and placing people in them. A theology based on that is going to dwell on what's wrong with the world in ways that is going to use up energy that we could devote to participating in God's work of making things – all things – right.

In other words, we don't have to struggle to become a member of the Body of Christ; Meister Eckhart reminds us that we can't find God shouting and chasing after him in the wilderness, we have only to open the door and let him in, it is a free gift Christ offers, and what we do in response to that gift is up to us. The hard part of that oftentimes is that it places us in the company of people who aren't much like us, and the more differences arise, the more we stress about whether the relationship will fracture. And the more we stress about whether the relationship will fracture, the more likely we are to avoid a sense of loss both of relationship and of control by coming up with reasons why fracture and decay are inevitable. It gets in the way of our becoming close with one another and with God.

A friend is fond of saying that we waste too much time in church “building community.” Community, oneness already exists. We may not see it, may not act like it, but it pre-exists our recognition of it. This is the hope I take away from today’s Gospel, the hope I preach.

Me and my worst enemy are one. Jesus asked it of the Father. It’s done. Now, what shall I, what shall we, do about it?

So, what if we took as our starting point that we are members of the Body of Christ, not because we achieved a goal but because of who Christ is and what Christ has done?

It just might give us courage to be honest about our differences, since our connectedness with others is based not on what we think or what we do, but on who and whose we are.

It just might challenge us to search for avenues of compassion toward others; if we are by action of the Creator of the universe one with our sisters and brothers around us, we ought to get used to it, since our fellow members of the Body of Christ will depart from us only when Christ departs (that is to say, sometime between "never" and "later than never"), and our central task shifts from trying to find ways to figure out who should matter to us, to one of learning to live as joyfully and lovingly with those with whom we are, one way or another, journeying.

And it just might give us what we need to change the world, bring healing to the sick, sufficiency to the destitute, freedom to the captives, because as members of one Body we are called to witness to Christ's presence everywhere it is, and that's throughout a world being made new by grace, and called to respond in extending grace.

Thanks be to God!
Amen. Alleluia.

Neko Case Interview and Music

saw Neko at Workplay a few weeks ago and have been a long time fan of her writing, wit, and esthetic, and really enjoy the interview and music