Reflections: Coming Home

May  28, 2012
The Rev. Marguerite Alley

Coming Home

I came across my to-do list from May of 1998 while cleaning out some files at home the other day. I was deep in the throes of planning my Ordination liturgy during May of 98. On the list were things like “call printer about recycled paper”, “talk with Jeff about music” “check with ECW about reception”. I was suddenly flooded with memories of what a fabulous day that was. Friends from my childhood, from Chanco, from college and from the churches I had attended had all come to join the celebration. I imagine more than one of them thought “thank God she has finally figured out what she wants to be when she grows up”! It is hard to believe that was 14 years ago! Each year I tell myself that I am going to mark the occasion of my ordination by doing something intentional to remind myself of the vows I took that day. But each year, the date slips past me, and days, weeks and sometimes even months go by before I remember the anniversary of my ordination! Since May and June are the months when we typically celebrate graduations, it is possible I was doing that instead of remembering my ordination. It is possible that I was reminding folks of the importance of fatherhood instead of thinking fondly of that day. It is possible I was just not “present” and was worried about exams or concerts, or stuff here at the church or whether or not I would get the grass cut before it rained….or any other of a host things that distract me from being intentional about the ways I have been blessed in the years since my ordination.

As a deacon, I answered a very specific call in my ministry. When I was ordained, it was to care for people living with AIDS and HIV. At the time, I expected to spend the rest of my life in and around hospice nurses, hospitals and social workers. My life has changed pretty significantly since that day. Most of the people I cared for are dead now. The support groups I started and ran for so long have ceased meeting and I now find myself working in the field in which I started my “working life” with the church….formation.

Jesus preached often on the themes of “finding life” and losing “losing life” and “finding life once more”. (Mark 8:34)  This doesn’t mean that you actually have to die in order to experience what Jesus is talking about…but you do have let go of who you thought you were, or were going to be, or have become. Try as I might to explain it with the best metaphors and analogies, it must be experienced before one can really understand it from the inside.

About 30 years ago I became very frustrated with the church. I felt it was filled with hypocrites, busybodies, and know-it-alls. So, I left. My self-imposed exile lasted about 3 months. Not very long to most people, but for me it seemed like a lifetime! I was living in Illinois, taking cello lessons from the retired principal cellist of the Cincinnati Orchestra and working at an egg processing plant. (More on that in another post!) I was disappointed in the church. I had made the church out to be some kind of “land of Oz” sort of institution where everyone agreed on things, everyone treated each other with kindness and respect, and where everyone was there for the same reason…..to worship. I was bitterly disappointed when as a student I was licensed as a chalice in the local parish, and had someone get up and move to another position so as to not receive the cup from me….a woman. I was angry when 11 women ordained in the church were told that their ordinations “didn’t count” because they were women. I was hurt when the church I attended in my college town did not minister to me in days and weeks following the death of my father. In short I was bitter, disappointed and angry at the church, and so I left. I was determined I could live without “them”. Interestingly enough, I discovered quite the opposite. I was even more miserable without them! Without that community of support (however fickle), without that time together in reflection and communion each week, I felt as if I had been cut loose and was left adrift in a big open sea, with no sight of land or rescue.

Eventually, I found my way back. Strangely enough, it was through the door I originally entered! I went to church for the first time as a teen having been invited to attend a youth group function. I came back the same way when a friend from my youth group days invited me to help with their youth group. When I walked in the door to the church it was as if my heart “unclenched” for the first time in months and I could breathe again. It felt as comfortable as old shoes, faded jeans or whatever metaphor you want to use. Of course I had to endure the string of questions… “Where have you been”, “why did you stop coming” and so forth. At first I was uncomfortable sharing that because I was afraid people would think I was talking about them, and be offended. But I as told my story as best I could, I discovered many folks had the same experience. Their words of wisdom included, people are people, humans are not perfect, the church is made up of people who are broken and so forth. All of these sentiments did little to help me “forgive” the church. It was not until someone asked me “what did you do to help them see you differently”? that I realized that I was really more in need of forgiveness than any of “those” people. I realized that I had judged, condemned and bailed out on the very people who eventually support me in my ministry and stand for me at my ordination. I realized that in my rush to judgment, I missed the whole point of church. To come as we are, to be who we are, and to share where we are in our journey.

~~~~

We want to hear your reflections on this piece. What are your thoughts? Please post below!

Sermon on Faith-5/20/2012

The Rev. Julia W. Messer
May 20, 2012—7^th Sunday of Easter
Acts 1:15-17, 21-26

Faith may not look the way you expect it to look like.

I grew up going to Episcopal churches and going to an Episcopal camp. While the location and the focus of these two places were different, they both focused on God. Yet to me growing up, the God of church and the God of Camp Kanuga were NOT initially the same God. The God of church was experienced in about two hours and expected us to be quiet, to be awe inspired, and to savor formal music, all within a beautiful structure.   The God of camp was the God that was in stars that we watched from our tents, the God of short services, and the one who loved our camp songs that we sang  at every opportunity—we had Taps and Kumbaya at night, and in the morning and at every meal we sang songs to God. 

I was blessed to meet the God of ritual and the God of wonder and slowly over time began to understand that they were the same God.  I was lucky because God never fit into a certain box for me. And nor did my faith. I knew I could meet God at the altar or in the mountains. God was God, and my faith was my own—well of course with cradle Episcopal leanings!

So when I read today’s first reading from Acts, I couldn’t help but think about how some people think faith should look. In the reading, we learned that the disciples felt that they must replace the twelfth disciple. After Judas betrayed the group that Christ had called together, and after Jesus had left the disciples, the apostles struggled with how to go forward. Do they call another person to make the group twelve strong or do they take another path? Ultimately they followed Peter’s passionate plea and decided they should call someone who had walked with them since the early days. So they narrowed the list down to two names, Matthias and Barsabbas, and then cast lots. The lot fell on Matthias.  But after that, we never hear from or about either of them again in the New Testament.

But what is important to recognize is at this time the followers of Christ had just seen Jesus ascend into heaven so they were without him, and they were waiting for Jesus to send his Holy Spirit to be amongst them. (The sign we know to be the Holy Spirit descending on Pentecost). They were operating when they thought God was silent and while they were filled with faith and expectation, they also were filled with doubt and fear at the time.

          They probably wondered what God wanted from them at that time. I don’t know. But to me, it seems this account is focusing on them trying to make sure their group and how their faith was carried out had to look a certain way. To me I wonder, why the disciples didn’t get that this new faith was NOT supposed to look like how it used to. Yet the Jewish apostles were so used to how the faith was supposed to be and bound by so many laws that they still couldn’t seem to break through them. An example of this was when they were present for Jesus’ transfiguration.  When Peter witnessed it, he wanted to build temples for Jesus, Moses, and Elisha because he knew that whenever they saw or heard God, they were supposed to build an altar to God as so many people in the Old Testament had done.

The apostles knew what their faith should be like when Jesus was right there guiding them and correcting them along the way. But after he had left them they were stuck.   They had experienced God walking amongst them, and now he was gone.  And on top of that their friend had betrayed them and Jesus. What were they to do? What could they do after the mountain-top experiences of faith they had experienced?

Frederick Buechner once wrote “Faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” He also wrote, “Faith is better understood as a verb than as a noun, as a process than a possession. It is on-again-off-again rather than once-and for all.”

What Buechner tried to convey is that everyone does not experience faith or God the same way. That faith is not supposed to look, feel, or be a certain way. It doesn’t fit in a neat little box—that once you experienced faith that is how you will always experience your faith and that it will NEVER change again. So when the disciples tried to make an exact replication of the model that they knew, they were limiting themselves.

Today we can also fall prey to this. Perhaps whenever we experience God we then expect that must be how we will experience God for the rest of our lives. Or we expect church to be a certain way.   We Episcopalians can fall into this trap too when we slip into the familiar statement that most Episcopalians have said at least once in their life: “We have never done it that way before.”

This statement is true as we are people of tradition, but there is a fine line between what tradition is and what is being closed off.  Episcopal churches can use this statement to limit newcomers from joining the vestry, the choir, or the Altar Guild, trying to keep any form of diversity out of their pews.  Or they use it in order to only pray and worship a certain way.

          Now again I grant you that I am not talking about Emmanuel.  It’s pretty hard to worship the same way at Emmanuel because we are indeed a dynamic parish open to new ideas and new ways.  But we do fall into this trap in other ways, in that do we sit in the same pew every Sunday? Do we speak to the same people during the peace or coffee hour?

We all can do this in our personal or business lives when we stick to what is familiar instead of stretching ourselves. Do we take the same way home every time we leave church or work? Do we only see a certain type of movie?

Now I grant you, that as an Episcopalian, there is something comforting and home-like when church is familiar. But have you considered participating in Cursillo, Happening, Camp, Parish Retreat, or any other experience of community and faith outside church? What about how and when we pray—is it always the same prayers at the same time of day?  If for example you always pray at night before going to sleep, try adding good morning prayers—prayers for the day to start with God. Do we only use the daily lectionary? Try reading a book in the Bible straight through.

If our faith becomes too comfortable then we miss out on so many opportunities. So I am going to issue a challenge this week. Look at your past and current spirituality, how has it changed? Currently do you feel close to God when participating in this practice then recognize that you feel God… and rejoice! If not, I invite you to challenge yourself to try something different, to spiritually stretch yourself in a way you never thought of before. 

Remember that “faith is better understood as a verb than as a noun, as a process than a possession. It is on-again-off-again rather than once-and for all.”

 ~~~

+ In the name of God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. +

Reflections: Being a Follower

Being a Follower

 

“We come to the table of the Lord
 as one body formed in your love.


When I was about 10 years old our neighbor was on a mission to save the “heathen children” of our neighborhood. I was one of those heathen children whose parents did not attend church. In the summer time we ate lunch at the home where we were playing, and we often ate outside at the picnic table. Each day we ate there we had to endure the “talk” about being saved in order to get to heaven. When I got older and met more and more Christians, I began to wonder if ‘being saved’ is the same thing as being a Christian. I have grown to believe that there is a big difference.  Being a Christian is about being a follower of Jesus not just a believer in Jesus the Christ.

Lots of folks have said to me that they don’t need to go to church in order to have a relationship with Jesus. They tell me Jesus can be worshipped on the golf course, in yoga class, or in the quiet of their backyard. All of this is certainly true. But while one can believe in Jesus without being at church, I don’t think you can follow Jesus without the church. The church helps you, upholds you and supports you when you cannot do it for yourself. The church is there for you and loves you when you feel you have nothing to give. I love my backyard and I have put in many hours there but the church challenges me in a way that my azaleas cannot. I need to be at that table with you each week because that is where I am challenged to be a follower.

We are social beings by nature. We cannot thrive without each other. Think of what we know about children raised in orphanages who were not touched or cuddled. They struggle their whole lives to form lasting attachments. The one form of punishment that prisoners dread most is solitary confinement. Being alone 24 hours a day, 7 days a week for weeks, months or years is detrimental to our emotional health. But many folks still maintain that we should go it alone when it comes to faith.

So then, what does it mean to be a follower rather than a believer? It seems to me that we have gotten a bit twisted in our thinking about this. We believe that we can do nothing to aid or hinder our own salvation. We believe that Christ performed the one saving act in history, once and FOR ALL. So, if my personal salvation is already taken care of, then being saved is not an act I have a part in and therefore doesn’t define me as a Christian. If that is true, then what does define me? If being a Christian is a matter of my “status” (saved vs not) then is that all there is to it? Well, not in my mind. If we say that Jesus saves then we are talking about Jesus. If I say that I am a Christian then I am talking about myself. The truth for me is that I am a follower of the one who saves. Both are true statements but we cannot substitute one for another because only one of them requires action on my part. As a follower then, I am on the road with other followers. We care for and support each other, we challenge each other to keep going when we think we have nothing left. At least for me, going it alone is not an option because I would have given up long ago.

Many of you know that I am a “gym rat” and while the evidence of that is not always “visible” I am none-the-less committed to my own health in this way. Now, if it were up to me (the laziest person I know) when I get home from work, I would rather park my backside on the couch and not move until time to eat or sleep than to change clothes and go to the gym. If it were up to me, I rather sleep an extra hour than to get up early and go to the gym. But, I know that my trainer is there waiting for me and that he will be very disappointed in me if I don’t show up. While at the gym, if I were on my own, I would do 10 reps, feel a little tired and say “that’s good”! My trainer can always get 5 more from me! Even when I think I have nothing left, he can always get one more. Sometimes he has to assist me, but I always feel stronger and better after a workout with him, than one strictly on my own. In most ways church is like that for me as well. I alone have to make the decision to be here, but once I do, I am no longer alone, I can do more than I think and I feel better when I leave. So, you may come alone, but you won’t leave that way!

“We come to the table of the Lord
as one body formed in your love."
 

"Mother's Day" sermon

Easter 6-B

May 13, 2012

The Rev. Marguerite Alley

Today is of course Mothers’ day. It might interest you to know that in many churches it is now called “Church and Family day”.
  Although the form of Mothers’ Day is quite different across the nations, the current traditions in this country are largely our own with some British influences.
  The Anglican Church  was organized in such a way that there was a Cathedral in the city and there were satellite parishes throughout the countryside. Folks who lived too far from the city would travel on foot to the small parishes during the winter months when the distance was too far and the roads were likely to be impassable. The first Sunday in May generally coincided with a time at which the roads had become passable, the snow melted and the worst of the puddles dried. So this date was set aside as the day where the small congregations could make their way in to the town and join in celebratory worship in the cathedral.  This Mother Church Day (or Mothering Sunday) developed through the years, and eventually, since it was also a time when the spring flowers returned, it became customary to gather and give flowers and small gifts to the Mothers as they gathered with their families.
 Our own tradition here in the United States was started by Julia Ward Howe as a means of avoiding further war. She made a Mothers’ Day proclamation in 1870 as a means of encouraging women in her call for disarmament. In 1908, a woman by the name of Anna Jarvis suggested that we have an annual event to honor mothers and she was able to convince President  Wilson to declare it a national holiday in 1914. The idea was very popular and of course still is. An interesting footnote though is that Ms. Jarvis was quite dismayed at how quickly the holiday was commercialized and in her later years stated publicly that she regretted having pushed to make it a national holiday.

The original idea was for mothers to be able to spend the day (always a Sunday) enjoying their families by worshipping together, and then relaxing together. As our society has developed and our mind set about Sunday has changed, we have lost that simple celebration of family and the importance our mothers play in our lives. But not all the changes have been negative. When we consider the way women were treated in the early years of the church, we see that we have made great strides. In the early church the male role was considered much more important than that of the woman, and women were expected to play a much more subservient role. It was also an age when roles of family members were much more defined than they are today. Jesus showed much more respect for women than was required but we should remember that this would not have been the norm for his day. While there are still places in the world, and even within subsections of our own society where women are given subservient roles, relatively rapid changes have been occurring.
  Some of these changes are no doubt a consequence of advances in technology. For many homes, the drudgery of household tasks such as of cooking, washing and cleaning, once immensely time-consuming, are now largely a thing of the past, and there are many more roles now available in the workforce to women. In today’s society, which still far from perfect, women play a far more significant role and enjoy many more freedoms.

Our idea of family has changed as well. Where as once we thought of family as one mother, one father and children, we now see many single parent homes, 2 moms, 2 dads, and in some cases, 4 or more parents and grandparents. Jesus himself foreshadowed one aspect of this change by suggesting that the Church family rather than nuclear family should be a point of support. This has a contemporary feel to it. Loving people who find themselves in different kinds of families is a commonsense solution in a fractured and uncertain society. In practice we should be truthful with ourselves and admit while John records Jesus as making the ideal of love key to his message few if any of the saints were able to achieve this ideal in their lives.  So while clearly it is an ideal worth striving for, it is probably best understood as a goal rather than as a prerequisite for the Christian journey.

As far as I can tell the message Jesus emphasizes a call to relationship. Remember the great commandment: love the lord with all you heart and love each other. So we are called first  to embark on a life-long journey in search of that mysterious, creative and elusive “God” force which draws us  with a sense of  awe and wonder, and  second to find and use a human setting for the awakened sense of love and compassion..
   Jesus is very clear about the attitude required for this commitment and, according to the gospel accounts he himself was prepared to die for this principle. In our reading today from the Gospel of John, we discover Jesus telling his disciples that they are to love, but not just love in general, they are to love as he has loved them. Although that sounds straightforward, to find meaning in his statement we must first be sure we know how Jesus expressed his love.  The apostles were not the most lovable bunch of guys. They argued about who was more important, they told Jesus who they thought he should and should not associate with, and in the end, they hid themselves away, one betrayed him and one abandoned him.  For all their potential problems, Jesus did not appear to have gone out of his way to choose  followers  like himself. The implication then is that by talking of and showing this love for each other , Jesus was actually referring to something that was  a novel form of relationship.
 This radical kind of friendship is reflective of something I once heard Desmond Tutu refer to. He said “An enemy is a friend waiting to be made”.

“You can choose your friends, but you can’t choose family” or so the saying goes. If we can, as Jesus has taught us, love and care for those who may see things differently, or don’t look like we do, then it should be pretty easy to love and care for the people with whom we worship to whom we are actually related! And yet…..well..you know where I was going with that!

Jesus puts this ideal right out there when he says “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.”  What should our response be? If we   take this message seriously then we need to make a serious effort to shift our first loyalty from ourselves, to those around us.  Because until we see those around us as valuable and worthy of sacrifice we have not begun to understand how to honor those we claim to love.

Reflections: Holy Listening

May 2012
The Rev. Marguerite Alley

Holy Listening

If talking about our faith is important for us to really understand and articulate our faith then learning to listen to each is equally important. If we aren’t willing to listen to each other, then the work we do to understand exactly what we believe is in many ways pointless.

I used to work as a Hospice Chaplain. During that time, I got to know my clients pretty well. When they died, I had had plenty of time to prepare myself. I also had a supervising chaplain with whom I could “process” my own stuff. That became a very valuable tool for my own formation and understanding of end of life issues.

I remember on more than a few occasions telling folks to basically ignore what their friends and family were saying and “go with their gut”. So often, the things we say when someone is diagnosed with a catastrophic illness, is dying or after their death, are things we have heard in movies, on TV or read in books; they just don’t ring true. If someone said them to us under the same circumstances we would find them at the least disingenuous and at best irrelevant. Yet, we have been conditioned to feel as if we must say something.

Think of the litany of useless and particularly un-helpful things we have heard (and start today to eliminate them from our storehouse!). “Well, she is with God now”. “God needed another angel, so he took her”. “You can beat this!” “Well, at least he is not in pain anymore”. “You must be strong”. “The pain will get better as the days go by”. Let’s face it folks….none of these really does anything to help anyone truly “deal with” a life-threatening illness, loss or the grief that follows.

There are no two ways about it. Illness and Death stink. We can rationalize and justify, but in the end…the one we have loved is suffering or gone from our presence and there is really nothing we can do about it. In the days and weeks that follow an event such as a “bad” diagnosis or a death, our family, friends and acquaintances all process the information as differently as we do. Some may take a step back, as if afraid that it is contagious.

We have been conditioned to feel that as your friend we must say something but we don’t know what to say. When words fail, we retreat into silence and distance. Some may send flowers and cards expressing their sorrow for your loss. This is the “acceptable” (if not polite) but distant response. And it is nice from the receiving end to know that other folks are at least aware of your pain. Often, however, a week goes by, then two or three and no word from them. It feels as if they expect that you are “all well” by now (following a loss) or have had enough time to process and deal with your diagnosis and should be ready to get on with you life.

Very often, we abandon our friends and family in the worst part of the storm. Remember our friend Jonah? In the middle of the tempest the captain of the ship throws him overboard, believing that God will be appeased and the storm calmed. I think sometimes we throw our friends overboard because of the tempest they cause in us; the fear of our own illness and death, or loss is too great.

So, then what shall we do? I am somewhat miffed that the church has not done a better job at teaching us how to listen to each other and not fall prey to the idea that we can (or should) have something to say. It strikes me as a bit arrogant that I might think I have something to say to someone that would eliminate or even significantly relieve the pain and fear of their circumstance. Even if I am a “survivor” and have some practical information to convey, I cannot possibly know or understand the depth of emotion for someone else facing a similar circumstance.

Recently, a childhood friend of mine died from complications associated with diabetes. Her sister is not a member of a church and I really felt compelled to help her process her loss. In the days after the funeral, as she went about the difficult task of cleaning out the house, sorting clothes, dealing with the insurance company and the bank and so forth, her pain was at it rawest. As she talked about her pain, I was tempted at several points to change the subject. I had to work very hard to stay present with her, to listen carefully, to resist giving easy answers about God’s presence with her in the pain. Her pain was so great, I could actually feel it, and it didn’t feel good. I wanted to escape her pain. More than a few times I wanted to say “time to move on”, “get on with your life”. 

To be a good listener to this woman in pain, I had to deal with my own discomfort in the presence of her emotions. It is hard work. I’ve had more than a couple of losses of my own and a few years of helping people deal with these kinds of events, so I understand grief, loss and pain they are experiencing. Yet listening to someone in this sort of pain is still just as uncomfortable for me as it was the very first time. And the urge to say the right thing, the thing that will help them, relieve them or even cure them is still strong! But I do believe that listening is one of the more important and valuable things we can offer each other as part of a faith community. It also one thing we can offer those who don’t yet belong or see the value of belonging to a faith community. It is not something that comes naturally for most of us. We must practice our listening skills at home, at work and of course at church.

Sermon May 6 2012 The Rev. Baldwin

May 6, 2012 - John A. Baldwin

The Bible is filled with interesting characters who make a brief appearance and then disappear, never to be heard from again. This morning's first reading has one such person - a nameless man who is identified as a eunuch, as well as being an important official in service to Candace, queen of the Ethiopians. What might we surmise, or hazard a guess, about this individual?

To begin with, Ethiopia is in the heart of Africa, so most likely he was racially dark in complexion. As a eunuch he may have been castrated as a child, although in translations of ancient texts, eunuchs can also be physically intact men who are impotent, celibate, or otherwise not inclined to marry & reproduce. Some scholars have suggested he might have been a gay man. That there were varieties of descriptions of who and what eunuchs are, is alluded to in Matt. 19:12, where Jesus himself says, “There are eunuchs who have been so from birth, there are eunuchs who have been made eunuchs by men, and there are eunuchs who have made themselves eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom of heaven.” (I'll bet that's a passage you didn't learn in Sunday School!).

Over the Millennia, eunuchs have performed a wide variety of functions in many different cultures as courtiers, domestics, and guardians of women or harems. Seemingly lowly domestic functions—such as making the ruler's bed, bathing them, cutting their hair, or even relaying messages—could in theory give a eunuch "the ruler's ear" and impart de facto power on the humble but trusted servant. In the case of the Ethiopian eunuch, he had gained so much trust with Queen Candace that she gave him charge over her entire treasury.

We might also note that he is a religious man. He had come up to Jerusalem, into the very heart of Judaism, to worship, and he's a literate man who reads Holy Scripture (in this instance, the Book of the prophet Isaiah) with a desire to understand. When the apostle Philip approaches his chariot, he is eager to go deeper into holy mysteries. He is thus receptive to opening his heart to Jesus Christ, and entering into the waters of baptism.

What seems clear to me is that the Ethiopian eunuch, given his nationality, race, and sexual status, is an outsider, (a marginalized person), who under normal circumstances Philip would never have approached. However, the Holy Spirit whispers in Philip's ear....”Here is someone you must connect with”. Philip steps outside his comfort zone. He puts aside judgmental thoughts he might have previously harbored about who is worthy or not worthy of the Kingdom of Heaven, and a new soul is welcomed into the family of Christ.

This story about Philip and the Ethiopian eunuch is an appropriate one, not only on a Sunday when we are baptizing an adult and 3 infants, but also on a Sunday when I'd like to reflect with you on a powerful experience I had last weekend as a member of a Kairos team at Sussex II state penitentiary.

When our team of 28 men entered the Sussex II compound on April 26th, we entered into a world of 1200 inmates, sentenced to incarceration due to their crimes, addictions, poor judgments and mistakes, gang memberships and broken lives. Courts have locked them away both to punish and protect. As a society we judge our prison inmates as being unworthy of respect or dignity. We try hard to forget about them by locking the doors and throwing away the keys. We are far more interested in punishment than rehabilitation. It has surprised me over the years, in trying to involve others in prison ministry, how disinterested so many are. People even here at Emmanuel think: “They deserve to be there!” “Why should I concern myself with them, or even pray for them?” “Good riddance to bad rubbish.” While I confess that I too am grateful that many of these inmates are not loose to inflict harm on others, I do wonder: Just how faithful to the heart and ministry of our Lord Jesus Christ are these attitudes toward the incarcerated?

Have you ever thought through the implications of Jesus' Parable of the Last Judgment (Matt. 25), in which the righteous are praised for feeding the hungry, giving drink to the thirsty, clothing the naked, and visiting the sick and those in prison, while the unrighteous are castigated for not engaging in those acts of kindness? Like the unrighteous, we might protest that we'd do most of these things if we knew we were doing them to the Lord, but visiting in prison?.....not interested, period. Guess what. Jesus isn't giving anyone a pass in this Parable.

When we reflect on the giants of the faith in the Old and New Testaments, as well as in church history down through the ages, some interesting things emerge. Jesus, Peter, Paul, Joseph, Joan of Arc, Gandhi, Martin Luther King Jr. have all been jailbirds. Some might dismiss this as comparing apples to oranges. Some are in jail because of their faith, others because of their crimes. There are some people, however, who make no distinction at all. Back in the early 1980's, I along with 75 other Episcopal priests presented ourselves for arrest at the South African Embassy in Washington, DC to protest the horrendous evil of apartheid in that country. One of the families at my church promptly disassociated them-selves with me, our parish, and the Episcopal Church, because they felt I was setting a terrible example for their two daughters. Jail is jail is jail. How dare you!

How easy it is to forget as well, that some of the most important people in the Jewish-Christian narrative of God's interactions in the human drama had less than stellar qualities. Jacob was a liar and a thief in stealing the inheritance of his brother Esau. Moses murdered a man before leading the Israelites out of Egypt. Rahab & Tamar, two of Jesus' ancestors, were prostitutes. King David was guilty of adultery and  murder. And yet, the message of forgiveness, redemption and new life beyond the wickedness of their sinful actions is a critical component of salvation history.

When our team went into Sussex II prison we spent the weekend entering into relationships with 42 inmates (7 tables, each with 6 inmates and 3 team members). The men ranged in age from 23 into their 60's, with sentences as short as 4 months, with some there for life. Many had drug-related offenses. Few had relationships of any kind with their fathers. A great majority were Afro-American.

Sitting at my table was a young man with obvious gang connections, a 40 year old white man who had been a high school cross-country star, an Hispanic who had allowed drug addiction to tempt him into stealing money from his position as a bank teller, a middle-aged man in prison for life, and a young black youth who rarely opened his mouth. We entered the weekend as strangers, we left it as friends. Our purpose was clear and simple: to build a bulkhead for Christ in a harsh environment.....to bring to those who feel lonely, marginalized, rejected, and ashamed the good news of God in Christ. We were not there to judge them, but to love them, and to entice them towards faith in Christ Jesus. As St. Paul asserts in his Epistle to the Romans, “Nothing can separate us from the love of Christ.”

Perhaps the biggest surprise of the weekend for me was the fellow at my table who shared that he was in prison for life, and was fortunate not to have received the death penalty. He evidently did something pretty awful, probably involving the taking of a human life. And yet I witnessed in him, a Christian faith that was deep and authentic, very different from some others who seemed to be dabbling at it during the weekend. Again and  again he displayed a “pastor's heart” reaching across the table to others who were struggling to make sense of God's love and grace in the midst of so much in their lives that had been pretty crappy. He had no illusions about himself, but he had felt the power of God changing his heart and giving him a purpose for living beyond the pale of society.

Why is it that with so much evidence in scripture, tradition and experience of God's love, forgiveness & healing power that so many Christians embrace a harsh, judgmental, and unforgiving attitude towards those we lock away? What do we believe God is calling us to as people of faith, if not to reach out in love to the unlovable, and to those we fear. Jesus himself urged his disciples in his Sermon on the Mount to love our enemies & pray for those who persecute us. (Matt.5:44)

I came away from the weekend, aware that we had touched but only a few lives in prison, but deeply grateful that we had made the effort. Many, many more are living in a cauldron of fear, anger and despair, and are thirsty for love so many were denied as children. I hope and pray in the years ahead that the good and  faithful here at Emmanuel, especially those who've been strengthened and  nourished through Cursillo, may summon up the courage to go beyond our comfort zones and engage with prison ministry. The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are very few.

Reflections: So what do we believe?...

So what do we believe?...

By: The Rev. Marguerite Alley

Sometimes it is really hard to identify and articulate what we believe. As busy as we are most of the time, it is hard to even find time to relax let alone sit and think about what we actually believe but it is a really important part of our formation. We must make and take time to explore who we are and whose we are and learn how to identify this for ourselves and for the world. It is far too easy for us to say “let’s leave that for someone else to sort out” or “I don’t really know enough to wrestle with these things”.

Articulating our beliefs requires a bit of work. Sometimes it might feel like hard work but it is worth the effort in the end.Those of us who spend our lives in service to the church are not really that much better off. The day to day details of parish life can become so monochromatic that we lose sight of our own faith and beliefs as well. In the final analysis, the only way to really nail it down it is to jump in with both feet, swim around in the deep end and start figuring it out.When you come across something that just really makes sense to you then share it with someone. This is particularly important. We don’t have to work on these things in a void or alone! Checking our perceptions and insights with someone is a really good way to be certain we aren’t heading down some crazy path of our own undoing.

Here is an example of my own recent mental meandering. I have come to believe that every day I have the chance to put my faith into action. Some might call these challenges. I can choose to one of three things. I can ignore it. I can choose to do what others do. I can choose to work it out for myself and therefore put my own beliefs into action. More specifically, I was on hold on the phone. I was cranky and impatient and needed to get business done and move on. I could hang up and start over again later. I could BE cranky on the phone with the poor fellow on the other end. I could wait my turn, politely state my business, get it done and move on with my day knowing that I treated that gentleman on the other end with dignity and respect and it took about 10 minutes out of my day.

I want to be very cautious here about this statement about opportunities for growth. I do NOT mean that God sends us challenges or makes bad things happen to see how we will respond and thus test our faith or to teach me a lesson. Believing that God makes these things happen is taking the cheap way out because not only is it unfair to God, it also suggests that I don’t believe in evil and sin, which is certainly not true.Perhaps even more important is that if God is doing this to“test me” then at some level I must believe that I am so important in the grand scheme of things that God would “mess with me” at the expense of everyone else involved. That folks, if you will pardon my bluntness (I sense a big TQ chuckle)is a load of hooey!

So, if I have the chance to put faith in action, and it is not a test sent by God then what exactly am I trying to get at here? (Loosely translated: “Get to the point Marguerite”) I think God is that voice in back of my head saying “watcha gonna do?” When I feel discomfort and avert my eyes at the corner because “that man” is standing next to my car with his “Homeless Vet” sign and I feel a bit hypocritical….I think that is God’s voice in my head….suggesting that now might be a good time for me to put my “money where my mouth is” so to speak. (if only my treasure were as big…..)

When I am in traffic and I have the urge to offer my special one finger salute to the lovely person (on their cell) who just cut me off…..I suspect that it is God’s voice that reminds me “be patient, it wasn’t personal, and why are you so cranky anyway”?When I am faced with criticism and or conflict, and I feel my insecurity bubbling up, that voice reminds me that if I have done my best it doesn’t matter and if I haven’t then I will next time. When I hear people arguing, calling each other names and profiling one another based on misperceptions, ignorance and outright lies, my heart is filled with a sense of fear and hopelessness for the world. Yet I hear God remind me of my call as a deacon to stand for justice, to be a voice for those who have none to remind us here at Emmanuel of our corporate call to seek and serve Christ in all. It is God who tells me to be brave when I have to tell the truth.

If I take time to listen to God, I see that I really do have a choice in how I respond to what happens to me daily, and it helps me put a finer point on what I believe. My choice of response in turn has impact on those around me and that changes the world. My willingness to be open to that voice, therefore, really does matter.

St. George and the Dragon

The Rev. Julia W. Messer
April 29, 2012

St. George and the Dragon

A-h-h-h-h.  St. George.  For my last 2 years of seminary, I lived in St. George’s Hall.  Every spring we, as seminarians who had lived in St. George’s did before us, would celebrate St. George’s birthday as close to April 23rd as we could.  We would create a play and have a celebration in his honor.  There are many versions of St. George’s story, but today I will share with you my story of St. George. 

Once upon a time, in a time of dragons, probably around 302 AD there lived a young knight named George. George was brave, strong, and good, but unlike many people in those far-off days, George was also a Christian.  

One day the Emperor demanded that all soldiers in his army had to offer sacrifice to the Romans gods of the time. Because George was a Christian and a high ranking knight, he chose instead to give up all that he had and set out on his own for an adventure. In his adventures he faced many evils, but one of his adventures took him to a far away land called Sylene because the fieriest dragon was laying waste to the land. The dragon lived in the great marshy swamp and would leave the swamp to raid the city.

Of course this dragon had steal-like scales, breathed fire, and had wings that had him fly faster than any horse, so that no one could track him back to exactly where he was hiding in the swamp.

In order to prevent the dragon from eating the people, the people of Sylene started to offer two sheep every day, until they ran out of sheep. Then they offered goats, then cows, then horses. A wizard in the city had a vision that if they offered one of their children once a year the dragon would leave them alone for the whole year.

So the King of Sylene and council called all of the citizens together and told them their plan. Every citizen must pick a pebble out of a sack. One of the pebbles would be white, the rest, black. Whoever picked the white people would be sacrificed to the dragon.

The next day everyone gathered together and each pulled a stone from the bag. The King pulled a black pebble and the knights pulled black pebbles.  Slowly but surely, the people pulled a pebble from the bag.  And then it happened, one person drew the white pebble, the princess of Sylene. The King tried to offer all that he had to have some else take her place, but she wouldn’t let her father and so the princess was dressed up and lead out to the edge of the marsh and left  there.

And that is exactly where the knight George found her. After she told him the story, he waited for the dragon to appear. When the dragon did appear George attacked the dragon. The battle raged on, but in the middle of the fight, the knight prayed for help from God. Suddenly the dragon stopped fighting and knelt down.  George tied a rope around the dragon and he, the princess and the dragon walked into the city. When the people saw the dragon was defeated, they merrily rejoiced and they converted to Christianity.

What happened to the dragon? Most stories end with St. George killing the dragon, but other stories say that the dragon lived out its days protecting the very city that it once tried to destroy. There are a few stories that end with George and the dragon joining together and traveling the world, fighting the evil of the world.

 

 ~~~

Why do we remember St. George? Why is St. George the patron Saint of England and other countries? A lot is lost to history, but we do know that King Edward III made George the patron saint when he formed the Order of the Garter in St. George’s name in 1350.  I think what has endured is the image and story of a person of strength and character who was willing at any cost to fight dragons.

Dragons can be viewed as many different things in history.  Ancient tales from all over the world are filled with stories of dragons. In the Middle Ages, the dragon was commonly used in stories to represent the devil.  And of course, in recent history, we have the dragons of Harry Potter books.  As author G.K. Chesterton once wrote: “Fairy tales do not tell children the dragons exist. Children already know that dragons exist. Fairy tales tell children the dragons can be killed.”

What are today’s dragons? And can they be killed?  They are everything. Dragons can be our worst fears, obstacles we place before ourselves or things beyond our control.  Dragons are things that seem unbeatable, the things that we wrestle with, the things that we have to choose to face or they will slowly eat away at us.

There are real fire-breathing dragons that bring misery and terrorize – emotionally, physically, and even spiritually. Dragons that terrorize all they touch can be anything from physical disease, financial problems, addictions, or our vices such as giving into self-doubt, worry, gossip, or even explosive or physical anger.

Most of us do not set out to defeat our dragons. Most of us do not view ourselves as dragon slayers. Sometimes we are even comfortable with the dragons – we would rather feed them quietly than face them. Most of us will only fight our dragons when forced to face them.

We all have our dragons.

How we face them can have different endings, much like the story of St. George. In this version when the Sylenes weren't able to fight their dragon, they got help.  Their method to fight was NOT healthy--sacrificing what was important to them is not a way to defeat the dragons in their lives.   An outside source could slay the dragon when those involved could not.

An example of that today would be people who fight their addiction, learn to come face to face with it and start on the road to recovery, and then use their personal history to help others fight their dragons. What it boils down to is that a person, like George, can choose to fight another’s group’s obstacles and evils. Or after the fight people can, like George, turn the evil into a way to help others. 

The dragons we carry with us and fight are not ones we can easily slay and let go of. Dragons are powerful forces.  But what’s great is that there is a slayer of dragons or one who works with our dragons lives within each and every one of us. You see, there is a St. George in each of us!

+In the name of God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. +

Earth Day at Emmanuel

April 22, 2012

Earth Day

The Rev. Marguerite Alley

 

The earth is the Lord’s and all that is in it,

The world and all who dwell therein.

For it is he who founded it upon the seas

And made it firm upon the rivers of the deep.

Psalm 24:1-2

In some ways, our Gospel for today seems in direct contradiction to the idea of conservation and the reason for our Earth Day celebration today. “Consider the lilies”, Jesus says…..do not worry about tomorrow…..”On first glance, it might appear that Jesus is saying that God (through the world) will provide all that we need…over and over again and that we, as “rulers of creation” should expect this and concern ourselves with conserving. I would suggest  though that a better interpretation might be that if we aren’t worried about tomorrow, then we won’t  take more than we need. If we aren’t worried about tomorrow, then we CAN share with everyone in need. I suspect that interpretation is more in line with what Jesus had in mind.

Somehow, at least to me, it seems more urgent this year that we pay some serious attention to what we do to and for the planet we inhabit. Maybe I am just dwelling on the scary news I have heard recently. Let me share with you some of what I have picked up in the news. The population of Chinstrap penguins is declining because many of the newborn pups are not surviving. The krill they eat thrives below the ice and the ice is not there. Without the little crevasses that are naturally in ice pack, the krill can’t survive to full growth either…so less food for the penguins.

Polar bears are also looking for food and drowning while trying to get to it.. There's talk that they are approaching endangered species status. The ice floes they rely on as more or less “rest stops” between feeding places are further and further apart because they are melting….. so the bears drown from exhaustion trying to get to their food which is already diminished because of the lack of krill.. While I was in Alaska last summer I learned that 84% of the artic glaciers have retreated in the past 50 years and the average temperature has increased by 4 degrees.   One large glacier has actually shrunk by a record nine miles since 1993, surpassing anything ever seen or expected. The warming oceans have caused giant icebergs to calve off, tumbling into the water. It is a pretty amazing thing to hear and see.

In many ways it is easy to say…what do I care about global warming…I have A/C. Or why should I worry about krill and chinstrap penguins? I don’t eat them….so my food source is safe. I don’t wear them…so I am not going to freeze to death. I don’t see them…so I needn’t worry about them. It is easy to blow them off. This next bit of news may put a finer point on it, though. Sheila Watt-Cloutier is a Canadian Inuit. She recently traveled to Washington, D.C., hoping to get the attention of the United States government with a simple and clear message: climate change is killing her people. They rely on frozen ground and ice to get to the animals during hunting season. The ice has been unusually thin. More of her people have died this year than in recent memory; deaths that are the result of thin ice; thin ice that is the result of climate change. Inuks (inuit individuals) go back significantly farther than we do. They are the descendants of what anthropologists call the Thule culture, who emerged from western Alaska, after crossing the land bridge from Asia, around 1000 AD and spread eastwards across the Arctic.….Researchers  find no evidence of significant ice melt in their history. If those folks who have lived on and work the ice for over a thousand years say that the ice is melting, who am I to argue? But again….it is easy to blow it off. After all, how many Inuks do you know?

Joe Barton, a Texas congressman believes that we should stop being alarmists and look at the benefits of global warming. If it gets warmer in places like Siberia, they can have a longer wheat season. I am sure the Pacific-Islanders like the folks in Maldives, would probably not agree…as they are already making plans to vacate a couple of their islands as the water continues to rise. But I am sure that having a longer wheat season in Siberia is a worthwhile trade-off for them.

It is hard not to worry a little bit.  But it also hard to know what to believe. Everyone at the table has a stake in the argument. So all of this has been in the back of my mind as I tried to write a sermon that would convey the sense of urgency I feel. What can I pray for, hope for in this season that is traditionally a time of honoring the earth, celebrating new life, rebirth and the return of spring?

No simple song singing the earth's beauty will do. No honoring of the season's turning is possible without acknowledging that there is a certain urgency for us to change how we care for “this fragile earth, our island home”. And that is my stake in the argument. I do believe that we have been gifted with a home and that the best way to show our gratitude is to care for it and to take the care of it seriously.

There can be little doubt that since we arrived on the planet we have “taken it” as our own but are we responsible for caring for our home? The ancients who honored the solstices and the equinoxes did not share the same sense of certainty that we seem to take for granted—the certainty that spring will come again. Perhaps because we feel we have a better scientific understanding of our world, we seem certain that we will enjoy spring year after year after year. In the days before Christianity was widely accepted, the Spring Equinox was kind of a big deal. After a winter of darkness and cold, we welcomed the light of spring like a conquering hero. In ancient times we honored our “Mother Earth” and gave thanks for what the earth provided for us….food, warmth and shelter. Now it kind of feels like we are disappointed in our planet for “giving out”.  At least for me, celebrating spring is tempered with a bit of fear and a sense of urgency. It is the fear that we cannot count on spring. We cannot count on the earth's capacity to renew itself. We cannot count on this season of rebirth and renewal to return year after year after year. Not at the rate we are going anyway.

As a Christian and as an Episcopalian I stake my life on the idea of our interdependence—the connection of everything of which we are a part. Everything draws sustenance from earth-centered traditions that guided and still guide the lives of many peoples and cultures.  We really need, now more than ever before to honor that  connection and interdependence and the wisdom of our ancient relatives. 

Our pioneering spirit and sense of individualism—whether as people or countries—has led us to act as if our own personal needs and our lifestyles are more important than those in need and we can take care of them when we have time, we can conserve a little when it is convenient and use as much as we “need”  for our comfort. 

As you knoaw we are in an economic crisis. I however, see very little evidence of it, apart from those who remain unemployed. No doubt, there are people in this very community who desperately need and want a job. However, as I said, I see little evidence. Here is my reason for saying that. Our student parking lot is still full. Every day. They are driving  Suburbans, Navigators, Sequioia’s, and Blazers, not Smart Cars, Minis and Bugs.  Students are still driving 1 block, or 1 mile to school in a big gas-guzzling SUV that gets 8 miles to the gallon. If families can afford $125-150 in gas each for Jr. to drive to school, then we are not in an economic crisis especially when the school bus is free.  I know that will make me really unpopular with our teens! If we aren’t eating out less, not buying $125 tennis shoes, or spending $200 a month for cell phone plans, we are not in an economic crisis.

This spring, in this season of rebirth and renewal, maybe we need to pay more attention to our own practices. Perhaps we can be a bit more generous to those with whom we share the planet and not take more than we need by remembering our interconnectedness in our prayers and reflections. Maybe we could spend a little more time together as a family, say watching TV together in one room…rather than in separate rooms on separate machines. Maybe we could drive a car that seats 4 rather than one that seats 8. Maybe we could walk to the post office or the store instead of driving 1 block. There are so many little things we can all do that would make a difference. It just requires that we pay attention and have the desire. This planet, as never before, depends on us because in a very real way we are all on thin ice.