Church Stuff-More or less

"It Gets Better" for the Trevor Project

2011-11-18T17:37:00.000-05:00

I recently made an "It gets better" video or the Trevor Project and posted it on youtube. This is what I said.

I am John Dornheim and I am speaking to you from my office on the C W
Post campus of Long Island University where I work as the Protestant
Campus Pastor. I grew up about 35 miles from here in a small suburban
community called Northport. Back then, we didn’t know too much about
bullying. Being New Yorkers, we could be tough on each other but most
of us gave as good as we took.

We also didn’t know much about homosexuality or same sex
relationships. I say this even though, on one side of my house, two
men lived together and on the other, two or three women. As far as I
knew or cared, they were just neighbors.

When I was a freshman in college, I worked with a gay Lutheran pastor.
Due to the times, he was forced to stay in the closet where he
consoled himself with alcohol. Ultimately, that led to his early
death. As my last year in seminary began, a classmate came to me and
said that he was not going to be approved to be a pastor because he
was gay. Our class held a special meeting and told the administration
that if Kevin wasn’t good enough, then none of us were. We all
graduated together in May. Now, in my church, gays, lesbians, and
transgendered folk can be pastors and, if they choose, be married.

Times, I believe, have changed. We are now much more public about our
sexuality or orientation but for many gay and lesbian youth, life can
be very difficult.

Shortly before I started in this position at C. W. Post, a young man,
Tyler Clemente, took his own life in New Jersey. It was one of many
such events that took place last year and I believe it was what led to
the creation of this “It gets better project.” Another young man,
Jamey Rodemeyer, posted his own video this past May. At 14, he had
been the subject of bullying for several years. For a few minutes at
least, Jamey believed that it would get better. Not too long ago,
Jamey ended his life.

If you are watching this video because you are being bullied, do not
suffer in silence. Tell someone about it. Tell your friends. You do
have friends and they do care. If it is happening at school, tell your
favorite teacher, guidance counselor and principal. Tell your family
even if it means also telling them that you are gay. Tell your
clergyperson, many of us are supportive even if we don’t talk about it
very much. If it is hard for you to tell others, bring a friend with
you. But whatever you do, don’t do nothing.

Does your school have a GSA, a gay straight alliance? If so, join it.
If not, start it. You will find that there are both gay and straight
students willing to work together. There are several websites that
will help you, maybe even a local organization for lgbt youth like
you.

If you are being cyber bullied on places like Facebook, Formspring or
Twitter, report that person. Block that person. Do not respond to
them. It will only encourage them.

Bullying is not about you, it is about the bully and when they realize
that you are stronger than they are, they will stop. And you are
stronger than they are. Unfortunately, it won’t change them, they will
look for someone else. That is why it is so important to tell others
about the bullying, about the bullies. With every person who stands
up, there is one less target.

I wish that we could change things in life as easy as we turn on a
light switch. I wish that I could tell you that it will get better
today or tomorrow or next week. Change takes time but I believe in my
heart of hearts that things do get better, things will get better. Be
patient. Be strong. Be whatever you have to be to get through this but
just don’t be alone. Together we can make a difference. Together we
will conquer those who bully and hate. Together we will build a world
in which you will flourish and grow. It is not too late.

You are in this world for a reason. You may not yet know what that
reason is, but there is one. Whatever you do with your life is
important. It may seem insignificant but it is important that you do
it because no one else will.

If you need someone to talk to, please call the Trevor Project at 1
866 488 7386. Someone is there 24 hours a day, seven days a week to
talk with you.

My sermon for 09/11/11

2011-09-10T15:24:00.000-04:00

It was a Tuesday morning much like so many before it. 8:30 on the second Tuesday and I was getting in my car to drive down to Washington, to the National cathedral for my monthly tour as chaplain of the day. I slipped a cd into the player and headed off. My routine was to listen to music for a half hour and then turn on a DC Sports talk show as I got in range, usually around 495. As I drove, I noticed smoke in the distance, an unusual sight to be sure. A column of smoke billowing up and flowing to the south towards Virginia. There would be no sports talk that morning as I realized the smoke that I was seeing was coming from the Pentagon and the radio station alerted to me to the events that were unfolding. Back in NY, the quiet of the morning had been shattered by a passenger airline that had crashed into the World Trade Center, then another, then the Pentagon. The streets of DC were eerily empty as though time was standing still. The sidewalks were devoid of the usual traffic, outdoor cafes vacant, people were nowhere to be seen. The grounds of the Cathedral likewise as I pulled in. The only people that I would see were outside the Diocesan office-my verger, a surgeon, Dr. Judith Greene, and my Episcopal bishop, Jane Holmes Dixon, talking. I pulled into the nearest parking spot and got out of my car. What should we do, in light of the events which were still unfolding? Close the cathedral or keep it open. My thoughts were that it needed to be open, that people would come, people would come to find solace and offer their prayers. A Christian-Muslim dialog was scheduled for that day and there was some thought that the building might be yet another target and it would be best to shut it down. So, I turned the car around and headed home, listening to the news reports. A fourth plane had gone down in a rural field in western Pennsylvania, a field that I had driven past each Sunday for four or five months on my way to church. I dialed a colleague there on my mobile and we talked for a while. When I arrived back at the parsonage, my then wife and nine year old daughter were sitting, staring at the television as the scenes were played over and over again as though on an endless, continuous tape. The horrific scenes of the planes, the crashes, the fires, people choosing to leap to their deaths rather than be burned alive. Commentators speculating as to the cause. I didn’t need to watch for very long for the pictures to be burned indelibly into my memory. The reasons behind the catastrophes were insignificant, or so I thought. It was a tragedy of proportions that I had never experienced. I went to the church.

When people of faith experience such events, many begin to ask “where was God that such could happen on God’s watch?” as though God is some kind of cosmic puppeteer who controls all of the events of our world and lives. It doesn’t, God doesn’t, work that way. Creator though God be, Creation was left to our caretaking. Truth be told, we’ve never quite lived up to expectations. Nonetheless, it is a question that has been asked for as long as there has been speech. It is asked by people of faith who have suffered loss, sometimes a tremendous loss, sometimes a less significant loss. It is asked by them because they see God as some sort of Divine Protector and they are directing their words to that God. It is also a question asked by people of little or no faith.

"Then came the march past the victims. The two men were no longer alive. Their tongues were hanging out, swollen and bluish. But the third rope was still moving: the child, too light, was still breathing...
And so he remained for more than half an hour, lingering between life and death, writhing before our eyes.
And we were forced to look at him at close range. He was still alive when I passed him. His tongue was still red, his eyes not yet extinguished.
Behind me, I heard the same man asking:
"For God's sake, where is God?"
And from within me, I heard a voice answer:
"Where He is? This is where--hanging here from this gallows..."
That night, the soup tasted of corpses."

So writes Eli Wiesel of his concentration camp experiences in his epic “Night.” For those who question God’s presence (or absence) in times of trouble, Wiesel reminds us that God IS there in the midst of suffering. God, though unseen, is present. Always and in all ways. Truly, there is no place where God is not. God is with us in our joys and gladness, God is with us in our sorrows and sadness. God rejoices with us and God weeps with us. God walks with us into the following days that may not be as joyous or sad. God leads us into our futures, ever confident that the best is yet to come and that the joy or sorrow that we feel today will be just a memory. Memories, happy or sad, which make us who we are today. Do we remember to thank those responsible for our happiness and do we remember to forgive those who caused us sadness?

Since that first 9/11, we have been placed in the position of never being able to forget. The initial pictures, the continual reminding, all these are indelibly burned into our memory as surely as those buildings and airplanes burned on that day. Another question for us to ponder is “what do we do with those memories?” Happy memories enable us to enjoy present and future happiness’. They give us strength for the day, strength for the days ahead regardless of how we might be feeling. They remind us of good times and enable us to face the future with optimism. Sad, tragic memories often have the opposite effect. They may immobile us. They may lead us to view others with suspicion. They may cause us to withdraw. Left on their own, we see only a dark, dismal future. Yet, when coupled with the happy memories, we see that life is worth living, that the future is one of promise and that even in the worst of times, there will be another better day.

So, we will never, we can never forget that day. There are, however, those who will also say that we can never forgive. Surely, that must sadden God as much as those events we remember today.

When a friend asks us to join them on an endeavor, if we know and trust that friend, we look forward to the opportunity. After all, they’ve rarely let us down in the past. For those of us who have chosen to follow Jesus, those of us who claim to know and trust Jesus, this isn’t always the case. We forget that Jesus never told us it would be fun, it would never be easy. One of the hardest things that Jesus asks of us is to forgive. And, oh, does he tell us to forgive. He tells us to forgive our friends when they slight us, he tells us to forgive our enemies when they hurt us, he tells us to forgive all of the people in between. Yet, each of us harbor those hurts inside of which we have failed to forgive. It is often oh so hard to forgive. The hardest part of remembering the events of this day ten years ago is to forgive but forgive we must. If we are to remember, if we are to survive, we must forgive. In our remembrance, let us be about the business of not building more walls, but of building more bridges. Let us forgive our past hurts, let us look at strangers not as enemies but as friends who we’ve not yet met. Let us look to the future with hope and not fear, knowing that God has been with us in all of our joys and sorrows, and will be there in those yet to come. Amen

The Day the Music Died

2011-07-17T19:50:00.000-04:00

There are few dates from my youth that I can tell you exactly where I was and what I was doing when I heard the news. Most people can tell you where they were when JFK was killed-I was sitting in science class though I don’t remember if it was 7th or 8th grade.

I am (or try to be) a restorer of people and things. July 16, 1981. I was in my garage working on the first piece of furniture (An oak dresser that I still use) I ever refinished. Working alone, I usually have a radio on for companionship. A news bulletin interrupted the normal programming. On the Long Island expressway, near Jericho, the exit I often use these days when I go to work, Harry Chapin had been driving his VW in the fast lane when it started crapping out and he started to move to the right that he might get to the shoulder when a truck rear ended him, killing him instantly, or so I hope. Harry would have been 39 that December.

Harry, for those who did/do not know him was not just an “Old Folkie.” Harry was an ambassador. He believed in this world and he believed in the people who inhabit it. While he made his living writing songs and singing them whenever he had the chance, Harry was committed to ending world hunger. Hungry people don’t just live in foreign lands, they live here, too. You just don’t see them on the late night commercials. Here, on Long Island, little was being done to resolve the problem and Harry knew it. So, he went out and got a grant for $50,000 and World Hunger Year and Long Island Cares were born. They still exist today because Harry died that day on the Long Island Expressway. I never knew Harry all that well. For most of his career, I was off in college somewhere listening to “Taxi” or “Circle” or “WOLD.” But, I am still convinced today that the Harry I did know would have ended world hunger once and for all. I mean that—world hunger. once and for all. Harry would have found a way.

If you ever saw Harry on the streets of Huntington, you’d have thought that he was the mayor. Not that Huntington has a mayor. IF Huntington HAD a mayor, it could have been Harry. If he had woken up one morning and announced “I’m the Mayor,” he would have been. No one would have argued. Everyone would have applauded. But the only applause Harry heard (or wanted to hear) was when he was onstage.

They say suburbanites are the stiff upper lipped/stone faced type. Perhaps there is some truth to that for we live where we do because, well, because we don’t want to be on top of our neighbors. Often, we really don’t want to have much to do with them either. But, Harry was a different sort of subrubanite. He seemed to treat everyone as his neighbor, in the the best definition of the word, a stranger was a friend he’d not yet met. If you saw him on the street, he’d always have a big smile on his face, greeting everyone he passed by. There are times still, on Main Street, just outside of Marsh’s Men Store, where I think I see him yet. Once you met Harry you’d never forget him.

I know that Harry lives on. Not just in his brother Tom’s or daughter Jen’s music, but in the hearts of those who met or knew him and in the lives of those who still work for Long Island Cares. Harry’s dream of eradicating world hunger unfortunately lives on, if only out of necessity. A sad, sad necessity.

Harry once (and probably more than once) said, “Our lives are to be used and thus to be lived as fully as possible, and truly it seems that we are never so alive as when we concern ourselves with other people.” Before he tragically died, Harry was never so alive.

Welovethegays

2011-06-22T03:40:00.001-04:00

For the past few weeks, many of the eyes of the nation have been focused on New York as our elected officials have danced around the issue of same sex marriage. While I have been an advocate for this endeavor for the past eight or nine years, it seems like much of my time has been consumed arguing for this change as well as lobbying our state senators to affirm Governor Cuomo’s bill. With other volunteers in the Human Rights Campaign, we have gathered tens of thousands, maybe even hundreds of thousands, of signatures which have been presented in Albany. I have been accused of being unfamiliar with the Scriptures, of following a different God, and consigned to the depths of hell when I die. I am fairly certain that the first two claims are in error. As for the third, I will depend on the mercy of God. I know that when I stand before the Judgment Throne, I will prefer to be judged for having been too generous with God’s mercy than too stingy. I would like to think that I have been a faithful servant.

Throughout the centuries, the Church has often had to atone for her past mistakes. Throughout those same centuries, much of the Church has held to the position that homosexuality is contrary to God’s will. This position is based upon a narrow reading of eight passages in Scripture. A narrow, superficial, and erroneous reading of passages that have nothing to do with people who are, by their nature, by their very Godly creation, homosexual. The Church has also depended upon the interpretations of these passages by its previous theologians-the early Church fathers and continuing through the ages. The Church has erred and many of us have come to the conclusion that it is time to atone for this misinterpretation and the way that it has been used against our homosexual brothers and sisters. It should be noted that I say this in all humility.

As fervently as we believe this, there are those who hold, most vociferously, to the opposite, historical, traditional understanding. I believe that what grieves me the most about this is that many in the GLBT community will hear their words and conclude that there is no place for the Church in their lives. I know that participation in a faith community is not for everybody but if someone chooses to absent him or herself from these communities, I hope that it is not because they feel unwanted, unloved by those who claim to follow an all loving, all merciful, all welcoming God. As much as I am telling my senators to pass this legislation, I am also telling my fellow gay and lesbian citizens, do not give up on us. More and more Christian denominations in this country are speaking up. More and more denominations are intentionally welcoming the gay community into their midst, even to the point of recognizing and accepting their gay clergy, some who are partnered, some who are single. Yet, many of our politicians only hear one voice, believe that the Church is united in the historic, traditional understanding that homosexuals are condemned by God and same sex marriage will bring about the ultimate destruction of that sacred institution. None of this is true.

Many claim that there is an historic, Biblical model of marriage. There is not such a model. Marriage is something that has changed over the centuries, perhaps from the very beginning of time. If there is a threat to this sacred institution, it is primarily evident in the fact that we heterosexuals haven’t taken it as seriously as we should have. That does not give us the right to deny it to those who might do better.

Throughout the years, homosexuals have been forced by the Church to deny or repress their sexuality. There is no doubt that many who are outspoken against homosexuality and same sex marriage are some of these same people who continue to deny or repress their own sexuality. On the other hand, some of us do not fear homosexuality. We are comfortable and confident in our own sexuality. We have adjusted as gays and lesbians have become more public. We have recognized that it has not meant the end of our society.

I presently live in the same conservative suburban Long Island community in which I grew up. As a high school student, I was no different from many of my peers. A classmate who was more of an art student than he was a jock was just a faggot to the rest of us. Whether he was gay or not, we never knew. We were just confident that he was. So, I am also atoning for my own sins. Even though I knew gays and lesbians most of my life, Billy was just a fag, someone less than me, someone different from me, someone I definitely didn’t want to be. In college, three men tried to make advances towards me. One was a Lutheran Church Missouri Synod pastor, one was a classmate, and the other picked me up when I was hitchhiking in Chicago. I had matured enough by then to merely say, “no thank you.” In the subsequent years, I stood up for gay classmates in seminary, I was one of the early signatories for Equality Maryland, even to the point of officiating at one same sex marriage. At that time, I told the two women that while the ceremony was not recognized by the state, I was confident that it was blessed by God. Over the years, I have been blessed to have worked with gay pastors, some partnered, some single. I am tremendously proud that my church now recognizes them as their peers had for several years.

It was frustrating to lose the battle in Maryland and equally frustrating to watch them lose again this past year. I write this with mixed emotions because we could just as easily lose this year in New York as we could win. We might not even see it voted upon this week. If marriage equality does not become a reality in New York this year, we will be back. We will be back with a vengeance. We owe it to those who we have betrayed all these years, all who the Church has despised and rejected. I will be back because I owe it to Billy for calling him a faggot. I will be back because I owe it to Richard who died a broken, alcoholic pastor consigned to living his life in the closet, for Jeffrey, my classmate, who just wanted to know love, and even for that unnamed motorist who thought I’d trick him out. I owe it to the college students with whom I minister these days at C. W. Post. But, most of all, I owe it to my children and (future) grandchildren who deserve to be left with a better, more loving society.

I will be back because it is the right and Godly thing for me to do. But, honestly, I really believe that God will do what I have not been able to do-soften the heart of one more state senator and if I come back, it will be to right some other wrong.

When Jesus came to dinner

2010-11-13T18:24:00.000-05:00

Rachel inquired about Amish folklore. I once told this story in a sermon back in PA but I think it had an Appalachian source back then. I think that the story also took place at the woman's house with several different guests knocking on her door.

Ruth looked at the envelope again. There was no stamp, no postmark, only her name and address. She read the letter one more time...
Dear Ruth,
I'm going to be in your neighborhood Saturday afternoon and I'd like to stop by for a visit.
Love Always,
Jesus
Her hands were shaking as she placed the letter on the table. "Why would the Lord want to visit me? I'm nobody special. I don't have anything to offer."
With that thought, Ruth remembered her empty kitchen cabinets. "Oh my goodness, I really don't have anything to offer. I'll have to run down to the store and buy something for dinner."
She reached for her purse and counted out its contents. Seven dollars and forty cents. "Well, I can get some bread and cold cuts, at least." She threw on her coat and hurried out the door.
A loaf of bread, a half-pound of sliced turkey, and a carton of milk...leaving Ruth with a grand total of twelve cents to last her until Monday. Nonetheless, she felt satisfied as she headed home, her meager offerings tucked under her arm.
"Hey lady, can you help us, lady?" Ruth had been so absorbed in her dinner plans, she hadn't even noticed two figures huddled in the alleyway. A man and a woman, both of them dressed in little more than rags.
"Look lady, I ain't got a job, ya know, and my wife and I have been living out here on the street, and, well, now it's getting cold and we're getting kinda hungry and, well, if you could help us, lady, we'd really appreciate it."
Ruth looked at them both. They were dirty, they smelled bad and, frankly, she was certain that they could get some kind of work if they really wanted to. "Sir, I'd like to help you, but I'm a poor woman myself. All I have is a few cold cuts and some bread, and I'm having an important guest for dinner tonight and I was planning on serving that to Him."
"Yeah, well, OK lady, I understand. Thanks anyway." The man put his arm around the woman's shoulders, turned and headed back into the alley.
As she watched them leave, Ruth felt a familiar twinge in her heart. "Sir, wait!" The couple stopped and turned as she ran down the alley after them. "Look, why don't you take this food. I'll figure out something else to serve my guest." She handed the man her grocery bag.
"Thank you lady. Thank you very much!" "Yes, thank you!" It was the man's wife, and Ruth could see now that she was shivering.
"You know, I've got another coat at home. Here, why don't you take this one." Ruth unbuttoned her jacket and slipped it over the woman's shoulders. Then smiling, she turned and walked back to the street . . .without her coat and with nothing to serve her guest. "Thank you lady! Thank you very much!"
Ruth was chilled by the time she reached her front door, and worried too. The Lord was coming to visit and she didn't have anything to offer Him. She fumbled through her purse for the door key. But as she did, she noticed another envelope in her mailbox. "That's odd. The mailman doesn't usually come twice in one day." She took the envelope out of the box and opened it.
Dear Ruth,
It was so good to see you again. Thank you for the lovely meal. And thank you too, for the beautiful coat.
Love Always,
Jesus
The air was still cold, but even without her coat, Ruth no longer noticed.

Three for the price of one: Eucharistic Prayers for the Feast of All Saints (November 1)

2010-10-30T23:33:00.000-04:00

It is truly right and a good and joyful thing that we should at all times and in all places,
offer our thanks and praise to you, Holy God through Christ our Lord.
You sit in holy array upon the throne as angels and archangels sing your praises, for you are overflowing with love.
And so with the Church on earth, with the saints of all time and all places and all the hosts of heaven,
we praise your name and join their unending hymn:
The Sanctus is said or sung.

You are indeed holy, O God, and blessed is your Son Jesus Christ.
Through him we know that we are your beloved children and we shall be like him when he is revealed to us.
By the baptism of his suffering, death, and resurrection,
you gave birth to your church,
delivered us from slavery to sin and death,
and made with us a new covenant by water and the Spirit.

On the night before he suffered death, our Lord Jesus gathered his friends around the table and as he took bread, he offered thanks to you; breaking it, and giving it to all of them, saying:
“Take and eat; this is my body, given for you. Do this for the remembrance of me.”

After all of them had eaten, he again took the cup and offered thanks to you, and gave it for all to drink, saying:
“This cup is the new covenant in my blood, shed for you and for all people for the forgiveness of sin. Do this for the remembrance of me.”

And so, in remembrance of these your mighty acts in Jesus Christ,
we offer ourselves in praise and thanksgiving as a holy and living sacrifice,
in union with Christ’s offering for us,
as we proclaim the mystery of faith:
Christ has died.
Christ has risen.
Christ will come again.

Pour out your Holy Spirit on us gathered here and on these gifts of bread and wine.
As they are the body and blood of Christ for us,
so may we be for the world the body of Christ,
redeemed by his blood.
With great joy we remember our brothers and sisters who have gone before us and now dwell in your glorious kingdom. (The honored dead of the congregation in the past year may be named.) May we ever be united with them in death as in life as we await the Resurrection.

By your Spirit bind us to Christ,
one to another,
together in ministry to all the world,
until Christ comes in final victory and we feast at the heavenly banquet.
Through your son Jesus Christ, with the Holy Spirit in your holy church,
all honor and glory is yours, Almighty God, now and forever.
Amen.

And now, as God’s confident children, we boldly pray:
Our Father in heaven...
or
It is truly right and a good and joyful thing that we should at all times and in all places, offer our thanks and praise to you, Holy God through Christ our Lord.
Blessed are you, God of creation and all beginnings,
God of Abraham and Sarah,
God of Miriam and Moses,
God of Joshua and Deborah,
God of Ruth and David,
God of priests and prophets,
God of Mary and Joseph,
God of apostles and martyrs,
God of our mothers and fathers,
God of our children to all generations,
And so with the Church on earth, and all the hosts of heaven, we praise your name and join their unending hymn:
The Sanctus is said or sung.

You are indeed holy, O God, and blessed is your Son Jesus Christ.
Through him we know that we are your beloved children, and that we shall be like him when he is revealed to us.
By the baptism of his suffering, death, and resurrection,
you gave birth to your church,
delivered us from slavery to sin and death,
and made with us a new covenant by water and the Spirit.

On the night before he suffered death, our Lord Jesus gathered his friends around the table and as he took bread, he offered thanks to you; breaking it, and giving it to all of them, saying: “Take and eat; this is my body, given for you. Do this for the remembrance of me.”

After all of them had eaten, he again took the cup and offered thanks to you, and gave it for all to drink, saying: “This cup is the new covenant in my blood, shed for you and for all people for the forgiveness of sin. Do this for the remembrance of me.”

And so, in remembrance of these your mighty acts in Jesus Christ, we offer ourselves in praise and
thanksgiving as a holy and living sacrifice, in union with Christ’s offering for us,
as we proclaim the mystery of faith:
Christ has died.
Christ has risen.
Christ will come again.

Pour out your Holy Spirit on us gathered here and on these gifts of bread and wine.
As they are the body and blood of Christ for us,
so may we be for the world the body of Christ, redeemed by his blood.

Renew our communion with all your saints, especially those whom we name before you*, our brothers and sisters who have died in the faith confident in the hope of rising again;
As we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, strengthen us to run with perseverance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of our faith.
By your Spirit bind us to Christ,
one to another,
together in ministry to all the world,
until Christ comes in final victory and we feast at the heavenly banquet.
Through your son Jesus Christ, with the Holy Spirit in your holy church, all honor and glory is yours, Almighty God, now and forever.
Amen

And now, as God’s confident children, we boldly pray:
Our Father in heaven...

(*or “in our hearts” if a rite of naming the saints has already occurred in the liturgy)
or

It is truly right and a good and joyful thing that we give you thanks, at all times and in all places,
Holy Father, eternal and all-powerful God, through Christ our Lord,
in whom you have brought us through the waters of baptism and made us one body, the church, the communion of saints.
Therefore with the whole Church on earth, with angels and all the saints, we proclaim your glory and with one voice sing (say):
The Sanctus is said or sung.

You are indeed holy, O God, the fountain of all holiness.
Over the waters of creation, you brought light from darkness.
Out of the waters of the flood, you brought life from death.
Through the waters of the Red Sea, you brought freedom from bondage.
In the waters of baptism, you bring communion from isolation.
We thank you for creation, for redemption, and for your love that will reconcile and rule all in all.
Especially we thank you for the gift of your Son, who is one with you and makes us one in him and one in the faith of your church.

On the night before he suffered death, our Lord Jesus gathered his friends around the table and as he took bread, he offered thanks to you; breaking it, and giving it to all of them, saying: “Take and eat; this is my body, given for you. Do this for the remembrance of me.”

After all of them had eaten, he again took the cup and offered thanks to you, and gave it for all to drink, saying: “This cup is the new covenant in my blood, shed for you and for all people for the forgiveness of sin. Do this for the remembrance of me.”

For as often as we eat of this bread and drink from this cup, we proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.
Christ has died.
Christ has risen.
Christ will come again.

Therefore, O God, with this bread and cup we remember the incarnation of your son,
his prayer that we may be one,
his death and resurrection,
his ascension and continual intercession for us,
his sending of the life giving spirit.
We cry out for the resurrection of our lives, when Christ will come again in beauty and power to share with us the great and promised feast.
Amen. Come Lord Jesus.

Send your Holy Spirit to bless us and these your gifts of bread and wine, that the bread we break may be a communion in the body of Christ, and that the cup we share may be a communion in the blood of Christ.
Amen. Come, Holy Spirit.

In the waters of baptism you have made us one with him;
give us unity in the faith, and enable us to grow in all things in him.
Join our prayers with those of your servants of every time and every place, especially our brothers and sisters who have died in the faith, confident of rising again at the last day and unite them with the ceaseless petitions of our great high priest until he comes as victorious Lord of all.
Through him, with him, in him, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, all honor and glory are yours almighty God, now and forever. Amen

And now, as God’s confident children, we boldly pray:
Our Father in heaven...

The Eucharistic Prayer for the Feast of the Reformation (October 31)

2010-10-29T23:04:00.000-04:00

It is truly right and a good and joyful thing that we should at all times and in all places,
offer our thanks and praise to you, Holy God through Christ our Lord.
You entered into a covenantal relationship with your people but they walked away.
Through the work of Martin and Phillip and the other Reformers,

your people rediscovered your will.
And so, with the Church on earth, and all the hosts of heaven,
we praise your name and join their unending hymn
The Sanctus is said or sung.

You are indeed holy, O God, and blessed is your Son Jesus Christ.
He has fulfilled the law, justifying us to you through our faith in him.
But his message was lost by those who protected the Church as if it were their god.
By the baptism of his suffering, death, and resurrection,
you gave birth to your church,
delivered us from slavery to sin and death,
and made with us a new covenant by water and the Spirit.

On the night before he suffered death, our Lord Jesus gathered his friends around the table and as he took bread, he offered thanks to you; breaking it, and giving it to all of them, saying:

“Take and eat; this is my body, given for you. Do this for the remembrance of me.”

After all of them had eaten, he again took the cup and offered thanks to you, and gave it for all to drink, saying:
“This cup is the new covenant in my blood, shed for you and for all people for the forgiveness of sin. Do this for the remembrance of me.”

And so, in remembrance of these your mighty acts in Jesus Christ,
we offer ourselves in praise and thanksgiving as a holy and living sacrifice,
in union with Christ’s offering for us,
as we proclaim the mystery of faith:

Christ has died.

Christ has risen.
Christ will come again.

Pour out your Holy Spirit on us gathered here and on these gifts of bread and wine.
As they are the body and blood of Christ for us,
so may we be for the world the body of Christ, redeemed by his blood.
By your Spirit bind us to Christ,
one to another,
together in ministry to all the world,
until Christ comes in final victory and we feast at the heavenly banquet.
Through your son Jesus Christ,
with the Holy Spirit in your holy church,
all honor and glory is yours,
Almighty God, now and forever.

Amen

And now, as God’s confident children,
we boldly pray:

Our Father in heaven...

The Eucharistic Prayer for the Commemoration of James Hannington and his companions, Martyrs (October 29)

2010-10-27T14:37:00.001-04:00

It is truly right and a good and joyful thing
that we should at all times and in all places,
offer our thanks and praise to you, Holy God through Christ our Lord.
You send disciples into all the world, promising to be with them in death as in life.
And so with the Church on earth, with James, Bishop Hannington,
his companions,

and all the hosts of heaven,

we praise your name and join their unending hymn:
The Sanctus is said or sung.

You are indeed holy, O God, and blessed is your Son Jesus Christ.
He purchased the road to you with his blood.
By the baptism of Jesus’ suffering, death, and resurrection,
you gave birth to your church,
delivered us from slavery to sin and death,
and made with us a new covenant by water and the Spirit.

On the night before he suffered death, our Lord Jesus gathered his friends around the table and as he took bread, he offered thanks to you; breaking it, and giving it to all of them, saying:
“Take and eat; this is my body, given for you. Do this for the remembrance of me.”

After all of them had eaten, he again took the cup and offered thanks to you, and gave it for all to drink, saying:

“This cup is the new covenant in my blood, shed for you and for all people for the forgiveness of sin. Do this for the remembrance of me.”

And so, in remembrance of these your mighty acts in Jesus Christ,
we offer ourselves in praise and thanksgiving as a holy and living sacrifice,
in union with Christ’s offering for us,
as we proclaim the mystery of faith.

Christ has died.

Christ has risen.
Christ will come again.

By your Spirit bind us to Christ,
one to another,
together in ministry to all the world,
until Christ comes in final victory and we
feast at the heavenly banquet.

Through your son Jesus Christ,
with the Holy Spirit in your holy church,
all honor and glory is yours, Almighty God,
now and forever.

Amen

And now, as God’s confident children, we boldly pray:

Our Father in heaven...

Note: James Hannington was sent to Eastern Equatorial Africa early in his ministry in 1884 to
continue the evangelism work that began in the 1870’s with the favor of King Mutesa, who died in 1884. However, his son and successor, King Mwanga, opposed all foreign presence, including the missions. In 1885, Bishop Hannington and his entourage made a tragic error by entering Uganda from the east. As he was travelling toward Uganda, he was apprehended by emissaries of King Mwanga. He and his companions were brutally treated and, a week later, 29 October 1885, most of them were put to death. Hannington's last words were: "Go tell your master that I have purchased the road to Uganda with my blood."

The first native martyr was the Roman Catholic priest Joseph Mkasa Balikuddembe, who was beheaded after having rebuked the king for his debauchery and for the murder of Bishop Hannington. On 3 June 1886, a group of 32 men and boys, 22 Roman Catholic and 10 Anglican, were burned at the stake. Most of them were young pages in Mwanga's household, from their head-man, Charles Lwanga, to the thirteen-year-old Kizito, who went to his death "laughing and chattering." These and many other Ugandan Christians suffered for their faith then and in the next few years.

In 1977, the Anglican Archbishop Janani Luwum and many other Christians suffered death for their faith under the tyrant Idi Amin.

The Eucharistic Prayer for the Feast of St. Simon and St. Jude, Apostles (October 28)

2010-10-26T01:26:00.001-04:00

It is truly right and a good and joyful thing that we should at all times and in all places, offer our thanks and praise to you, Holy God through Christ our Lord;
who after his resurrection sent forth his apostles to zealously preach the gospel and teach all nations,
and promised to be with them always, even to the end of the age.
And so with the Church on earth, with Simon, Jude, and all the hosts of heaven, we praise your name and join their unending hymn:
The Sanctus is said or sung.

You are indeed holy, O God, and blessed is your Son Jesus Christ.
Your love for your children has been revealed in him.
He was the cornerstone and his apostles the foundation of your church.
By the baptism of his suffering, death, and resurrection,
you gave birth to your church,
delivered us from slavery to sin and death,
and made with us a new covenant by water and the Spirit.

On the night before he suffered death, our Lord Jesus gathered his friends around the table and as he took bread,

he offered thanks to you; breaking it, and giving it to all of them, saying:
“Take and eat; this is my body, given for you. Do this for the remembrance of me.”

After all of them had eaten, he again took the cup and offered thanks to you, and gave it for all to drink, saying:
“This cup is the new covenant in my blood, shed for you and for all people for the forgiveness of sin. Do this for the remembrance of me.”

And so, in remembrance of these your mighty acts in Jesus Christ,
we offer ourselves in praise and thanksgiving
as a holy and living sacrifice,
in union with Christ’s offering for us,
as we proclaim the mystery of faith:

Christ has died.

Christ has risen.
Christ will come again.

By your Spirit bind us to Christ,
one to another,
together in ministry to all the world,
until Christ comes in final victory and we feast at the heavenly banquet.
Through your son Jesus Christ, with the Holy Spirit in your holy church, all honor and glory is yours,
Almighty God, now and forever.

Amen

And now, as God’s confident children, we boldly pray:

Our Father in heaven...

The Eucharistic Prayer for the Feast of St. Luke, Evangelist (October 18)

2010-10-17T19:41:00.000-04:00

It is truly right and a good and joyful thing
that we should at all times and in all places,
offer our thanks and praise to you,

Holy God through Christ our Lord.

When your children hurt or are in pain you heal them,
sometimes through miracles,
sometimes through physicians and medicines
and sometimes not in our sight but in your eternal kingdom.
And so, with the Church on earth, with Luke the evangelist and all the apostles,
and all the hosts of heaven, we praise your name and join their unending hymn
The Sanctus is said or sung.

You are indeed holy, O God, and blessed is your Son Jesus Christ.

Your spirit was upon him to preach the good news to the poor,
to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind,
to set at liberty the oppressed,
and to announce that the time had come when you would save your people.
He healed the sick,
fed the hungry,
and ate with sinners.

By the baptism of his suffering, death, and resurrection,
you gave birth to your church,
delivered us from slavery to sin and death,

and made with us a new covenant by water and the Spirit.

On the night before he suffered death,
our Lord Jesus gathered his friends around the table and as he took bread,

he offered thanks to you;
breaking it, and giving it to all of them,
saying:
“Take and eat; this is my body, given for
you. Do this for the remembrance of me.”

After all of them had eaten,
he again took the cup and offered thanks to you,
and gave it for all to drink, saying:
“This cup is the new covenant in my blood,
shed for you and for all people for the forgiveness
of sin. Do this for the remembrance of me.”

And so, in remembrance of these your mighty acts in Jesus Christ,
we offer ourselves in praise and thanksgiving as a holy and living sacrifice,
in union with Christ’s offering for us, as we proclaim the mystery of faith:

Christ has died.

Christ has risen.
Christ will come again.

until Christ comes in final victory
and we feast at the heavenly banquet.
Through your son Jesus Christ,
with the Holy Spirit in your holy church,
all honor and glory is yours,
Almighty God, now and forever.

Amen

And now, as God’s confident children, we boldly pray:

Our Father in heaven...

Remembering the lost

2010-10-12T16:47:00.001-04:00

On this, the 12th anniversary of the death of Matthew Sheppard, members of the Rainbow Alliance and the Interfaith Center gathered outside Hillman to ponder the recent suicides of young gay men due to bullying. Fr. Ted Brown, the Roman Catholic campus pastor, and I offered prayers. Mine went as follows:
“Our hearts, O Lord, are grieved. You have created all things and called them good yet there are those who would defile your Creation through hate and unmitigated prejudice. We mourn the deaths of those who have taken their own lives in response to being unloved, badgered, and bullied. We are confident that they now rest in Your loving arms. Strengthen us, dear God, that we might stand firm in opposition to the evil around us, that we might come to the day when all of Your children, brothers and sisters all, stand together as one and Your reign of peace may come among us. Amen”
The Interfaith Center is a safe haven for the entire Post community regardless of orientation or circumstance.

Eucharistic Prayer for a festival for the Blessings of Animals usually near the Feast of St. Francis (Oct. 4)

2010-09-29T16:08:00.000-04:00

It is truly right and a good and joyful thing
that we should at all times and in all places,
offer our thanks and praise to you, All-powerful, most holy, most high God.
You formed out of the ground various wild animals, various birds of the air and set humanity in dominion over them.
You rescued two of every kind from the flood with Noah and his family.

And so, with Francis of Assisi and Anthony of the Desert*,
with earth, air and sea and all their creatures,
and with all the hosts of heaven, we praise
your name and join their unending hymn:

The Sanctus is said or sung.

You are indeed holy, O God, and blessed is your Son Jesus Christ.
He was the true Passover Lamb and Shepherd of Your sheep.
He came into our world but unlike foxes with their dens and birds with their nests,
there was no place for him to lay his head.
By the baptism of his suffering, death, and resurrection,
you gave birth to your church,
delivered us from slavery to sin and death,
and made with us a new covenant by water and the Spirit.

On the night before he suffered death,
our Lord Jesus gathered his friends around the table and as he took bread, he offered thanks to you;
breaking it, and giving it to all of them, saying:
“Take and eat; this is my body, given for you. Do this for the remembrance of me.”

After all of them had eaten,
he again took the cup and offered thanks to you, and gave it for all to drink, saying:
“This cup is the new covenant in my blood,
shed for you and for all people for the forgiveness
of sin. Do this for the remembrance of me.”

And so, in remembrance of these your mighty acts in Jesus Christ,
we offer ourselves in praise and thanksgiving as a holy and living sacrifice,
in union with Christ’s offering for us,
as we proclaim the mystery of faith:

Christ has died.

Christ has risen.
Christ will come again.

Pour out your Holy Spirit on us gathered
here and on these gifts of bread and wine.
As they are the body and blood of Christ for us,
so may we be for the world the body of Christ, redeemed by his blood.
Make your Church throughout the world an instrument of your peace.
Where there is hatred,
May your Church sow love;
Where there is injury, pardon;
Where there is doubt, faith;
Where there is darkness, light;
Where there is despair, hope

And where there is sadness, joy.

By your Spirit bind us to Christ, one to another,
together in ministry to all the world,
until Christ comes in final victory and we feast at the heavenly banquet.
Through your son Jesus Christ, with the Holy Spirit in your holy church,
all honor and glory is yours,
Almighty God, now and forever.

Amen

And now, as God’s confident children, we boldly pray:

Our Father in heaven...

*Francis of Assisi (October 4) and Anthony of the
Desert, also known as Anthony the Abbot, (January 17) are
considered patrons of animals and pets.
A prayer from Albert Schweitzer: “Hear our humble
prayer, O God, for our friends the animals, especially for
animals who are suffering; for any that are hunted or lost or
deserted or frightened or hungry; for all that must be put to
death. We entreat for them all Thy mercy and pity, and for
those who deal with them we ask a heart of compassion
and gentle hands and kindly words. Make us, ourselves, to
be true friends to animals and so to share the blessings of
this earth.”

The Eucharistic Prayers for the Feast of St. Michael and All Angels (September 29) (A twofer)

2010-09-28T21:16:00.001-04:00

It is truly right and a good and joyful thing
that we should at all times and in all places,
offer our thanks and praise to you, Holy God through Christ our Lord.

In praising your faithful angels and archangels, we also praise your glory,

for in honoring them, we honor you, their creator.
Their splendor shows us your greatness,

which surpasses in goodness the whole of all creation.
Through Christ our Lord the great army of angels rejoices in your glory.

And so with the Church on earth,
with angels and archangels,

cherubim and seraphim

and with all the hosts of heaven,
we praise your name and join their unending hymn
The Sanctus is said or sung.

You are indeed holy, O God, and blessed is your Son Jesus Christ.
You sent your messenger Gabriel to announce his incarnation.
Through the heavenly host, his birth was proclaimed to a world that dwelt in darkness.
When our Lord was tempted in the wilderness, you sent your angels to minister to him.

By the baptism of his suffering, death, and resurrection,
you gave birth to your church,
delivered us from slavery to sin and death,
and made with us a new covenant by water and the Spirit.

On the night before he suffered death,
our Lord Jesus gathered his friends around the table and as he took bread, he offered thanks to you;
breaking it, and giving it to all of them, saying:
“Take and eat; this is my body, given for
you. Do this for the remembrance of me.”

After all of them had eaten, he again took the cup and offered thanks to you,
and gave it for all to drink, saying:
“This cup is the new covenant in my blood,
shed for you and for all people for the forgiveness
of sin. Do this for the remembrance of me.”

And so, in remembrance of these your
mighty acts in Jesus Christ,
we offer ourselves in praise and
thanksgiving as a holy and living sacrifice,
in union with Christ’s offering for us, as we
proclaim the mystery of faith:

Christ has died.

Christ has risen.
Christ will come again.

As they serve you in heaven, may your holy angels watch over and protect us here on earth.

By your Spirit bind us to Christ,
one to another,
together in ministry to all the world,
until Christ comes in final victory
and we feast at the heavenly banquet.

Through your son Jesus Christ, with the Holy Spirit in your holy church,
all honor and glory is yours, Almighty God, now and forever.
Amen

And now, as God’s confident children, we boldly pray:

Our Father in heaven…

It is truly right and a good and joyful thing
that we should at all times and in all places,
offer our thanks and praise to you, Holy God through Christ our Lord.
Fountain of all life and source of all goodness,
you made all things and fill them with your blessing;
you created them to rejoice in the splendor of your radiance.
Countless throngs of angels stand before you to serve you night and day

and, beholding the glory of your presence, they offer you unceasing praise.

And so with the Church on earth, with Michael, Gabriel, Uriel, and Ariel,
with all the angels and archangels and all the hosts of heaven,
we praise your name and join their unending hymn
The Sanctus is said or sung.

You are indeed holy, O God, and blessed is your Son Jesus Christ.
When Israel, your chosen people, was captive in Egypt
You sent your angel to deliver them
When they wandered in the wilderness,
You sent your angel to watch over them.
In the fullness of time, you sent your Son into the world that all may be redeemed though him.
Your heavenly host announced his coming

and when, in preparation for his mission on earth, he endured temptation in the wilderness,
you sent your angels to minister to him.

By the baptism of his suffering, death, and resurrection,
you gave birth to your church,
delivered us from slavery to sin and death,
and made with us a new covenant by water and the Spirit.

On the night before he suffered death,
our Lord Jesus gathered his friends around the table and as he took bread,

he offered thanks to you; breaking it, and giving it to all of them, saying:
“Take and eat; this is my body, given for
you. Do this for the remembrance of me.”

After all of them had eaten,
he again took the cup and offered thanks to you,
and gave it for all to drink, saying:
“This cup is the new covenant in my blood,
shed for you and for all people for the forgiveness
of sin. Do this for the remembrance of me.”

And so, in remembrance of these your mighty acts in Jesus Christ,
we offer ourselves in praise and thanksgiving as a holy and living sacrifice,
in union with Christ’s offering for us,
as we proclaim the mystery of faith:

Christ has died.

Christ has risen.
Christ will come again.

By your Spirit bind us to Christ,
one to another,
together in ministry to all the world,
until Christ comes in final victory and we feast at the heavenly banquet.

Through your son Jesus Christ, with the Holy Spirit in your holy church,

all honor and glory is yours, Almighty God, now and forever.

Amen

And now, as God’s confident children, we boldly pray:

Our Father in heaven…

The Eucharistic Prayer for the Feast of Hildegard of Bingen, Visionary (September 17)

2010-09-16T19:48:00.002-04:00

It is truly right and a good and joyful thing
that we should at all times and in all places,
offer our thanks and praise to you,
Holy God through Christ our Lord.

O power of eternity, who has ordered all things in your heart:
by your word all things are created As you have willed
And your word itself, Puts on flesh in the form that is drawn from Adam.
And so with the Church on earth,
with Hildegard and all the hosts of heaven,
we praise your name and join their unending hymn:
The Sanctus is said or sung.

You are indeed holy, O God, and blessed is your Son Jesus Christ.
He lived among us, as one of us, and drew to himself the poor, the lame, the blind, all those cast out to the margins of life.
To all who came, he restored to fullness of life and led them to you.
By the baptism of Jesus’ suffering, death, and resurrection,
you gave birth to your church,
delivered us from slavery to sin and death,
and made with us a new covenant by water
and the Spirit.

On the night before he suffered death,
our Lord Jesus gathered his friends around
the table and as he took bread,
he offered thanks to you; breaking it, and
giving it to all of them, saying:
“Take and eat; this is my body, given for
you. Do this for the remembrance of me.”

After all of them had eaten,
he again took the cup and offered thanks to
you, and gave it for all to drink, saying:
“This cup is the new covenant in my blood,
shed for you and for all people for the forgiveness
of sin. Do this for the remembrance of me.”

And so, in remembrance of these your
mighty acts in Jesus Christ,
we offer ourselves in praise and
thanksgiving as a holy and living sacrifice,
in union with Christ’s offering for us,
as we proclaim the mystery of faith.
Christ has died.
Christ has risen.
Christ will come again.

Breathe your Holy Spirit on us gathered here and on these gifts of bread and wine.
As they are the body and blood of Christ for us,
so may we be for the world the body of Christ, redeemed by his blood,
enkindled with the flame of your love.

By your Spirit bind us to Christ,
one to another,
together in ministry to all the world,
until Christ comes in final victory
and we feast at the heavenly banquet.

Through your son Jesus Christ,
with the Holy Spirit in your holy church,
all honor and glory is yours,
Almighty God, now and forever.
Amen.

Now, as God’s confident children,
we boldly pray:
Our Father in heaven...

The Eucharistic Prayer for the Feast of the Holy Cross (September 14)

2010-09-14T14:28:00.001-04:00

It is truly right and a good and joyful thing that we should at all times and in all places, offer our thanks and praise to you, Holy God through Christ our Lord.
You decreed that all creation should be saved through the wood of the cross.
The tree of humanity’s defeat became the tree of victory;where life was lost, there life has been restored through the Christ our Lord.
And so with the Church on earth, and all the hosts of heaven, we praise your name and join their unending hymn:
The Sanctus is said or sung.

You are indeed holy, O God, and blessed is your Son Jesus Christ.
He was lifted high upon a cross so that all who believe in him might not perish but live eternally with you.
By the baptism of his suffering, death, and resurrection,
you gave birth to your church,
delivered us from slavery to sin and death,
and made with us a new covenant by water

On the night before he suffered death,
our Lord Jesus gathered his friends around the table and as he took bread, he offered thanks to you; breaking it, and giving it to all of them, saying:
“Take and eat; this is my body, given for. Do this for the remembrance of me.”

After all of them had eaten,
he again took the cup and offered thanks to you, and gave it for all to drink, saying:
"This cup is the new covenant in my blood,shed for you and for all people for the forgiveness of sin. Do this for the remembrance of me.”

And so, in remembrance of these your mighty acts in Jesus Christ,
we offer ourselves in praise and thanksgiving as a holy and living sacrifice,

in union with Christ’s offering for us,
as we proclaim the mystery of faith:
Christ has died.
Christ has risen.
Christ will come again.

Pour out your Holy Spirit on us gathered here and on these gifts of bread and wine.
As they are the body and blood of Christ for us,
so may we be for the world the body of Christ,
redeemed by his blood.
Illumine our lives, O God, with the radiance of Christ’s love,
and inspire us to shine in faith and witness as his holy disciples.
Transform us into his likeness that we may live for you, as he lived,
and love others, as he loved them.

By your Spirit bind us to Christ,
one to another,
together in ministry to all the world,
until Christ comes in final victory
and we feast at the heavenly banquet.

Through your son Jesus Christ,
with the Holy Spirit in your holy church,
all honor and glory is yours,
Almighty God, now and forever
Amen

And now, as God’s confident children,
we boldly pray:
Our Father in heaven...

Great Thanksgiving: Remembrance/Anniversary of 9/11

2010-09-10T23:49:00.000-04:00

This prayer was authored by Heather Josselyn-Cranson, a graduate student at Boston University School of Theology, Boston, Massachusetts. She wrote it for use at the seminary chapel service to be held on September 11, 2002. For additional commentary, see the note below.

Fr Mychal Judge and St. Francis of Assisi

The Lord be with you.

And also with you.

Lift up your hearts.

We lift them up to the Lord.

Let us give thanks to the Lord our God.

It is right to give our thanks and praise.

It is right, and a good and hopeful thing,

in all places and circumstances

to give thanks to you, Father Almighty,

creator of heaven and earth.

You formed your children in your image and loved them all:

Ishmael and Isaac,

Esau and Jacob,

Leah and Rachel.

When animosity arose between them

and they failed to love each other,

you lamented to see them struggle against one another,

as you mourn the hatred and fighting

that we, their descendants, continue.

Yet through your prophets you promised a day of peace

for all people, when swords would become plowshares

and the lion lie down with the lamb.

Therefore, in repentance and hope,

together with your people on earth and all the company of heaven,

we praise your name and join their unending hymn:

Holy, holy, holy Lord, God of power and might,

heaven and earth are full of your glory.

Hosanna in the highest.

Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.

Hosanna in the highest.

Holy are you, and blessed is your son Jesus Christ.

Although his very birth was attended by violence against innocent children,

your Spirit anointed him to guide our feet into the path of peace

and to bless the poor, the mourners, the meek, the hungry, the merciful, the pure, and the peacemakers.

He healed the sick,

summoned sinners to his calling,

and taught your people to love their enemies and to refrain from judging.

By the baptism of his suffering, death, and resurrection,

you gave birth to your church,

delivered us from slavery to sin and death,

and made with us a new covenant by water and the Spirit.

When the Lord Jesus ascended, he left us his peace,

given not as the world gives,

and he promised to be with us always,

in the power of the Holy Spirit.

On the night in which he gave himself up for us,

he took bread, gave thanks to you,

broke the bread, gave it to his disciples,

and said, "Take, eat; this is my body which is given for you.

Do this in remembrance of me."

When the supper was over he took the cup,

gave thanks to you, gave it to his disciples, and said,

"Drink from this, all of you;

this is my blood of the new covenant,

poured out for you and for many for the forgiveness of sins.

Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me."

And so, in remembrance of these your mighty acts in Jesus Christ,

we offer ourselves in praise and thanksgiving as a holy and living sacrifice,

in union with Christ's offering for us, as we proclaim the mystery of faith.

Christ has died, Christ has risen, Christ will come again.

Pour out your Holy Spirit on us gathered here,

and on these gifts of bread and wine.

Make them be for us the body and blood of Christ,

that we may be for the world the body of Christ,

redeemed by his blood.

By your Spirit,

make us one in Christ and one in love,

joy, peace, patience, kindness,

goodness, faithfulness, gentleness,

and self-control,

until Christ comes in final victory

and we feast at his heavenly banquet.

Through your Son Jesus Christ,

with the Holy Spirit in your Holy Church,

all honor and glory are yours, almighty Father, now and forever.

Amen

Commentary: The Center for Worship Resourcing staff noted that God mourning and lamenting the familial strife among the offspring of Sarah and Abraham can clearly be attributed to New Testament interpretation, but they questioned whether it could be found in the narrative. Heather responded as follows:

"I was actually thinking, not of the New Testament, but of Jeremiah. Our Hebrew Bible professor (Kathe Darr) told us several times that Jeremiah puts a lament in God's mouth at the plight of God's people. Looking back at that book now, I see God mourns Israel's unfaithfulness. I had generalized it in my mind to mean God lamenting all sinful or unfaithful behavior on the part of God's people. I do feel that God's actions in the Genesis narratives betray sorrow at the hurt of each of the people I named in the prayer. Certainly God saves Ishmael's life when Isaac''s mother would just as soon see him die. And God pities Leah's unloved situation, and so gives her children. I feel more cautious in the case of Esau (the whole 'Jacob have I loved' bit), but even there. . . . Does God not move in Esau's heart to help him forgive Jacob? You are right that I have not borrowed the 'lamenting' language directly from the periscopes I cite in the prayer. But it is not New Testament language specifically, and I think it is not too far from the scriptural text.

"Parts of the prayer are drawn from Isaiah 2, the Song of Zechariah, the Sermon on the Mount, the Beatitudes, the gifts of the Spirit list in Galatians 5, and John 14."

Copyright © 2002 Heather Josselyn-Cranson. Used with permission.

Adapted from "A Service of Word and Table I" Copyright © 1972, 1980, 1985, 1989, The United Methodist Publishing House. Used with permission.

The Center for Worship Resourcing is grateful to the Rev. Heather Josselyn-Cranson for submitting this resource to us for use on the Worship website. Congregations and other church bodies are welcome to copy and use this Great Thanksgiving for a one-time, non-profit worship or educational purpose as long as they include the following copyright notice:

Copyright © 2002 Heather Josselyn-Cranson. Used with permission. Adapted from "A Service of Word and Table I" Copyright © 1972, 1980, 1985, 1989. The United Methodist Publishing House. Used with permission.

The Eucharistic Prayer for the Feast of Constance and her companions, Martyrs of Memphis (September 9)

2010-09-08T21:15:00.002-04:00

It is truly right and a good and joyful thing

that we should at all times and in all places,

offer our thanks and praise to you,

Holy God through Christ our Lord.

You founded human communities so that the needs of the poor, the sick, and the disenfranchised might be met.

You promise to be with us, in sickness and in health, even unto death.

We praise you for servants who respond to your call, especially those who risk all to be present with the less fortunate in their midst.

And so with the Church on earth,

with Constance, Amelia, Thecla, Hughetta, and all the hosts of heaven,

we praise your name and join their unending hymn:

The Sanctus is said or sung.

P: You are indeed holy, O God,

and blessed is your Son Jesus Christ.

He came into the world that he might reconcile all creation to you,

even to the point of laying down his life

that we might be restored and given the gift of everlasting life.

By the baptism of Jesus’ suffering, death, and resurrection,

you gave birth to your church,

delivered us from slavery to sin and death,

and made with us a new covenant by water and the Spirit.

On the night before he suffered death,

our Lord Jesus gathered his friends around

the table and as he took bread, he offered thanks to you;

breaking it, and giving it to all of them, saying:

“Take and eat; this is my body, given for you. Do this for the remembrance of me.”

After all of them had eaten,

he again took the cup and offered thanks to you,

and gave it for all to drink, saying:

“This cup is the new covenant in my blood, shed for you and for all people for the forgiveness

of sin. Do this for the remembrance of me.”

And so, in remembrance of these your mighty acts in Jesus Christ,

we offer ourselves in praise and thanksgiving as a holy and living sacrifice,

in union with Christ’s offering for us,

as we proclaim the mystery of faith:

Christ has died.

Christ has risen.

Christ will come again.

Pour out your Holy Spirit on us gathered here and on these gifts of bread and wine.

As they are the body and blood of Christ for us,

so may we be for the world the body of Christ, redeemed by his blood.

Inspire us to follow the examples of the saints that our eyes might be opened to the needs

of others.

By your Spirit bind us to Christ,

one to another,

together in ministry to all the world,

until Christ comes in final victory

and we feast at the heavenly banquet.

Through your son Jesus Christ,

with the Holy Spirit in your holy church,

all honor and glory is yours,

Almighty God, now and forever.

Amen.

And now, as God’s confident children, we boldly pray:

Our Father in heaven...

Author’s note: In 1873 a group of sisters of the Sisterhood

of St. Mary went to Memphis, Tennessee, at the request of

Bishop Charles T. Quintard, to establish a school for girls

adjacent to the Cathedral of St. Mary. They were

confronted by an epidemic of yellow fever and began to

care for the sick. Yellow fever returned in 1878. The sisters

stayed in Memphis to continue to minister to the sick

while others fled the city. Sister Constance and six other

Sisters of St. Mary, Sister Clare of the Society of St.

Margaret in Boston, and a number of Memphis clergy

ministered to the victims of the deadly disease. More than

5,000 people died, including Sister Constance on

September 9, 1878, Sister Thecla on September 12, Sister

Ruth on September 17, and Sister Francis on October 4.

The Eucharistic Prayer for the Feast of Mary, Mother of Our Lord (August 15)

2010-08-14T11:12:00.001-04:00

It is truly right and a good and joyful thing

that we should at all times and in all places,

offer our thanks and praise to you,

Holy God through Christ our Lord.

In the fullness of time you sent your Son to be born of Mary, your favored one.

From that day forth all generations have called her blessed.

And so with the Church on earth,

with Mary and all the hosts of heaven,

we praise your name and join their unending

hymn:

The Sanctus is said or sung.

You are indeed holy, O God, and blessed is your Son Jesus Christ.

Born of lowly estate, he was the Son most High.

By the baptism of his suffering, death, and resurrection,

you gave birth to your church,

delivered us from slavery to sin and death,

and made with us a new covenant by water

and the Spirit.

On the night before he suffered death,

our Lord Jesus gathered his friends around

the table and as he took bread,

he offered thanks to you; breaking it, and

giving it to all of them, saying:

“Take and eat; this is my body, given for

you. Do this for the remembrance of me.”

After all of them had eaten,

he again took the cup and offered thanks to you,

and gave it for all to drink, saying:

“This cup is the new covenant in my blood,

shed for you and for all people for the forgiveness

of sin. Do this for the remembrance of me.”

And so, in remembrance of these your

mighty acts in Jesus Christ,

we offer ourselves in praise and

thanksgiving as a holy and living sacrifice,

in union with Christ’s offering for us,

as we proclaim the mystery of faith:

Christ has died.

Christ has risen.

Christ will come again.

Pour out your Holy Spirit on us gathered here

and on these gifts of bread and wine.

As they are the body and blood of Christ for us,

so may we be for the world the body of Christ,

redeemed by his blood.

May our souls proclaim the greatness of our Lord

and may our spirits rejoice in God our Savior.

By your Spirit bind us to Christ,

one to another,

together in ministry to all the world,

until Christ comes in final victory

and we feast at the heavenly banquet.

Through your son Jesus Christ,

with the Holy Spirit in your holy church,

all honor and glory is yours,

Almighty God, now and forever.

Amen

And now, as God’s confident children,

we boldly pray:

Our Father in heaven...

The Eucharistic Prayer I for the Transfiguration of Our Lord

2010-08-06T14:00:00.001-04:00

It is truly right and a good and joyful thing

that we should at all times and in all places,

offer our thanks and praise to you,

Holy God through Christ our Lord.

You brought light out of darkness and set

the sun to brighten the day

and the moon and the stars to illumine the

night.

Your glory blinds the eyes of our sin,

while your radiance warms our needy hearts.

You lead us by the light of your truth into

the way of righteousness and peace.

And so with the Church on earth,

and all the hosts of heaven,

we praise your name and join their unending

hymn:

The Sanctus is said or sung.

You are indeed holy, O God,

and blessed is your Son Jesus Christ.

On a lonely mountain his human body was transfigured by your divine splendor.

In his face, we have glimpsed your glory.

In his life, we have seen your love.

For your image is untarnished in him,

and the burden of human sorrow and suffering could not diminish his reflection of your holiness.

By the baptism of his suffering, death, and resurrection,

you gave birth to your church,

delivered us from slavery to sin and death,

and made with us a new covenant by water and the Spirit.

On the night before he suffered death,

our Lord Jesus gathered his friends around

the table and as he took bread, he offered thanks to you;

breaking it, and giving it to all of them, saying:

“Take and eat; this is my body, given for

you. Do this for the remembrance of me.”

After all of them had eaten,

he again took the cup and offered thanks to you,

and gave it for all to drink, saying:

“This cup is the new covenant in my blood,

shed for you and for all people for the forgiveness

of sin. Do this for the remembrance of me.”

And so, in remembrance of these your mighty acts in Jesus Christ,

we offer ourselves in praise and thanksgiving as a holy and living sacrifice,

in union with Christ’s offering for us, as we proclaim the mystery of faith:

Christ has died.

Christ has risen.

Christ will come again.

Pour out your Holy Spirit on us gathered here and on these gifts of bread and wine.

As they are the body and blood of Christ for us,

so may we be for the world the body of Christ, redeemed by his blood.

Illumine our lives, O God, with the radiance of Christ’s love,

and inspire us to shine in faith and witness as his holy disciples.

Transform us into his likeness that we may live for you, as he lived,

and love others, as he loved.

By your Spirit bind us to Christ,

one to another,

together in ministry to all the world,

until Christ comes in final victory

and we feast at the heavenly banquet.

Through your son Jesus Christ,

with the Holy Spirit in your holy church,

all honor and glory is yours,

Almighty God, now and forever.

C: Amen

P: And now, as God’s confident children,

we boldly pray:

C: Our Father in heaven...

The Eucharistic Prayer for the Feast of Saints Mary and Martha of Bethany, Companions of Jesus

2010-07-29T15:09:00.000-04:00

P: It is truly right and a good and joyful thing

that we should at all times and in all places,

offer our thanks and praise to you, Holy

God through Christ our Lord.

You founded your Church on the apostles

to stand firm forever

as the sign on earth of your infinite holiness

and as the living gospel for all humankind.

And so with the Church on earth,

with Mary, Martha, their brother Lazarus,

and all the hosts of heaven,

we praise your name and join their unending

hymn:

The Sanctus is said or sung.

P: You are indeed holy, O God,

and blessed is your Son Jesus Christ.

For over thirty years, he walked among us,

yet he had no home to call his own.

Often, the only rest he knew was found in

Bethany, in the company of those he called his

friends.

It was there that Martha would serve him,

while Mary was fed by his words.

By the baptism of Jesus’ suffering, death, and resurrection,

you gave birth to your church,

delivered us from slavery to sin and death,

and made with us a new covenant by water and the Spirit.

On the night before he suffered death,

our Lord Jesus gathered his friends around

the table and as he took bread,

he offered thanks to you; breaking it, and

giving it to all of them, saying:

“Take and eat; this is my body, given for

you. Do this for the remembrance of me.”

After all of them had eaten, he again took

the cup and offered thanks to you, and gave it for all to drink, saying:

“This cup is the new covenant in my blood,

shed for you and for all people for the forgiveness

of sin. Do this for the remembrance of me.”

And so, in remembrance of these your

mighty acts in Jesus Christ,

we offer ourselves in praise and

thanksgiving as a holy and living sacrifice,

in union with Christ’s offering for us,

as we proclaim the mystery of faith:

C: Christ has died. Christ has risen.

Christ will come again.

P: Pour out your Holy Spirit on us gathered

here and on these gifts of bread and wine.

As they are the body and blood of Christ for us,

so may we be for the world the body of

Christ, redeemed by his blood.

Help us to choose the better way that,

having been fed at your table,

we might serve all those in need.

By your Spirit bind us to Christ,

one to another,

together in ministry to all the world,

until Christ comes in final victory and we

feast at the heavenly banquet.

Through your son Jesus Christ,

with the Holy Spirit in your holy church,

all honor and glory is yours,

Almighty God, now and forever.

C: Amen

P: And now, as God’s confident children,

we boldly pray:

C: Our Father in heaven...

Rite of Reception

2010-07-25T11:52:00.001-04:00

Forty years ago, I was still in the Missouri Synod and spending the hot summer at St. Paul's/Bushwick with five or six other Bronxville schoolmates. The pastor was Richard Frank. I mention him because he was a gay pastor, and in 1970 one was not a publicly gay pastor, let alone a partnered gay pastor. Richard was single but he wasn't the only gay pastor in the area and often, on weekend nights there would be cocktail parties at one of their homes. In those days, because they were all closeted, these parties were their only opportunities for socializing together. Richard was also an alcoholic and I remain convinced, to this day, that prevailing thought in both church and society contributed to that problem. So, I was called upon to be his designated driver. When there was a party, Richard and I would get in his VW beetle and head off and, as far as I know, I would be the only straight person present. I only remember the name of one other person who would be there and, even though he is also dead, I don't mention his name because he was a prominent figure in the church. I stopped being the designated driver the night Richard hit on me on the way home.

I have known and worked with many gay pastors since those days and I have been able to get past that incident in the car with Richard and work in the church (and society) to help bring about the day when LGBT pastors not only need not live and work in a closet but can also enjoy the same rights and benefits of marriage like the rest of us. The Lutheran Church in which I serve has been trying to get past those days of repression and it hasn't been easy. But today, in San Francisco, a group of pastors will finally be recognized, and received, as partnered people who have faithfully served the church despite all of the obstacles that have been placed in their paths. Ironically, perhaps, this group is roughly the same size as those cocktail parties back in Brooklyn. Seven pastors are in this class-the Rev. Paul Brenner, the Rev. Jeff Johnson, the Rev. Craig Minich, the Rev. Dawn Roginski, the Rev. Megan Rohrer, and the Rev. Sharon Stalkfleet. The Rev. Ross Merkel will be reinstated to the roster. For our church, this is indeed an historic day. It is conceivable that, my good and dear friend, the Rev. Michael Hiller would have also been included today but he could not wait for this day and transferred his service to the Episcopal Church a few years ago.

Recently, I came across this song and I posted it on my Facebook page in honor of Megan:

Bless you, my sister, bless you on your way

You have roads to roam before you're home

And winds to speak your name.

So go gently, my sister, let courage be your song
You have words to say in your own way
And stars to light your night.

And if you ever grow weary,
And your heart song has no refrain
Just remember we'll be waiting
To raise you up again.

And we'll bless you, our sister, bless you in our way
And we'll welcome home all life you've known
And softly speak your name.
And softly speak your name.
Bless you, our sister, bless you on your way.
(Blessing Song by Marsie Silvestro)

If necessary, let us all be ready to raise her (and others) up again because we still have work left to do until all are truly welcome in this church of ours.

The Eucharistic Prayer for the Feast of St. Mary Magdalene, Apostle to the Apostles and Companion of Our Lord

2010-07-21T23:07:00.003-04:00

It is truly right and a good and joyful thing

that we should at all times and in all places,

offer our thanks and praise to you, Holy

God through Christ our Lord.

You chose Mary of Magdala, the apostle to the Apostles,

to be the first to herald the resurrection of your Son.

Having been loyal to him, even to his crucifixion,

she went to his tomb on that first Easter morning

where she beheld the Risen Christ.

And so with the Church on earth,

with Mary and all the hosts of heaven,

we praise your name and join their unending hymn:

The Sanctus is said or sung.

You are indeed holy, O God,

and blessed is your Son Jesus Christ.

He came to redeem even those whom the world deemed most unworthy.

He restored Mary to health of body, mind, and spirit

and she remained faithful to him, even to the cross and grave.

By the baptism of his suffering, death, and

resurrection,

you gave birth to your church,

delivered us from slavery to sin and death,

and made with us a new covenant by water

and the Spirit.

On the night before he suffered death,

our Lord Jesus gathered his friends around the table

and as he took bread, he offered thanks to you;

breaking it, and giving it to all of them, saying:

“Take and eat; this is my body, given for you.

Do this for the remembrance of me.”

After all of them had eaten,

he again took the cup and offered thanks to you,

and gave it for all to drink, saying:

“This cup is the new covenant in my blood,

shed for you and for all people for the forgiveness of sin.

Do this for the remembrance of me.”

And so, in remembrance of these your

mighty acts in Jesus Christ,

we offer ourselves in praise and

thanksgiving as a holy and living sacrifice,

in union with Christ’s offering for us,

as we proclaim the mystery of faith:

Christ has died.

Christ has risen.

Christ will come again.

Pour out your Holy Spirit on us gathered

here and on these gifts of bread and wine.

As they are the body and blood of Christ for us,

so may we be for the world the body of Christ,

redeemed by his blood.

May we ever share in the proclamation of

his resurrection.

By your Spirit bind us to Christ,

one to another,

together in ministry to all the world,

until Christ comes in final victory and we

feast at the heavenly banquet.

Through your son Jesus Christ,

with the Holy Spirit in your holy church,

all honor and glory is yours,

Almighty God, now and forever.

Amen

And now, as God’s confident children,

we boldly pray:

Our Father in heaven...

The Eucharistic Prayer for the Feast of St. Peter and St. Paul, Apostles

2010-06-29T00:39:00.000-04:00

P: It is truly right and a good and joyful thing

that we should at all times and in all places,

offer our thanks and praise to you, Holy

God through Christ our Lord.

You fill our hearts with joy as we honor

your great apostles:

Peter, our leader in the faith,

and Paul, the fearless preacher.

Peter raised up the Church from the

faithful flock of Israel.

Paul brought your call to the nations, and

became the teacher of the world.

You made them shepherds of the flock to continue the work of your Son.

Each in his chosen way gathered into unity the one family of Christ.

Both shared a martyr’s death and are praised throughout the world.

And so with the Church on earth,

with Peter, Paul, and all the hosts of heaven,

we praise your name and join their unending hymn:

The Sanctus is said or sung.

P: You are indeed holy, O God,

and blessed is your Son Jesus Christ.

He is the eternal Shepherd who never leaves the flock untended.

He chose Simon as his disciple,

the rock on which he would build Your church.

On the Damascus Road he called Saul

to turn from a life of persecution and your Spirit rested upon him.

By the baptism of his suffering, death, and

resurrection,

you gave birth to your church,

delivered us from slavery to sin and death,

and made with us a new covenant by water

and the Spirit.

On the night before he suffered death,

our Lord Jesus gathered his friends around

the table and as he took bread, he offered thanks to you;

breaking it, and giving it to all of them, saying:

“Take and eat; this is my body, given for

you. Do this for the remembrance of me.”

After all of them had eaten,

he again took the cup and offered thanks to you,

and gave it for all to drink, saying:

“This cup is the new covenant in my blood,

shed for you and for all people for the forgiveness

of sin. Do this for the remembrance of me.”

And so, in remembrance of these your mighty acts in Jesus Christ,

we offer ourselves in praise and thanksgiving

as a holy and living sacrifice,

in union with Christ’s offering for us,

as we proclaim the mystery of faith:

C: Christ has died. Christ has risen.

Christ will come again.

P: Pour out your Holy Spirit on us gathered here

and on these gifts of bread and wine.

As they are the body and blood of Christ for us,

so may we be for the world the body of

Christ, redeemed by his blood.

Illumine our lives, O God, with the radiance of Christ’s love,

and inspire us to shine in faith and witness as his holy disciples.

By your Spirit bind us to Christ,

one to another,

together in ministry to all the world,

until Christ comes in final victory and we

feast at the heavenly banquet.

Through your son Jesus Christ,

with the Holy Spirit in your holy church,

all honor and glory is yours,

Almighty God, now and forever.

C: Amen

P: And now, as God’s confident children,

we boldly pray:

C: Our Father in heaven...

Prayer for the Summer Solstice

2010-06-21T09:36:00.003-04:00

Great Light, come and illume and guide us today. Shine forth with radiance and power into the darkness that covers this land. Let not the days of our destruction overcome us, let not the darkness have its way, leave us not to our own evil devices and immoral ways, but come and shine with brilliance over this nation, rise us again into that which we have been and can be again.

Light of the world, shine within me today, shine from within me today and all days hence forth, let naught but you be indwelling in me and naught but you stand out in me.

Great Light, be my guide and hold me fast that I may be the light upon a hill which cannot be hidden.

Shine forth and ever more!

Amen

(from The Community of Aidan and Hilda)

The Eucharistic Prayer for the Feast of St. Barnabas, Apostles

2010-06-11T15:30:00.003-04:00

P: It is truly right and a good and joyful thing

that we should at all times and in all places,

offer our thanks and praise to you,

Holy God through Christ our Lord;

Throughout the ages you have been a God of second chances,

ever willing to forgive your children who hesitate or fall short of your expectations.

We glorify you for Jesus,

who after his resurrection sent forth his apostles

to preach the gospel and teach all nations,

and promised to be with them always,

even to the end of the age.

And so with the Church on earth,

with Barnabas and all the hosts of heaven,

we praise your name and join their unending hymn:

The Sanctus is said or sung.

P: You are indeed holy, O God, and blessed

is your Son Jesus Christ.

Your never failing love for your children has been revealed in him

as he lived and died to reconcile us to you.

By the baptism of his suffering, death, and resurrection,

you gave birth to your church,

delivered us from slavery to sin and death,

and made with us a new covenant by water

and the Spirit.

On the night before he suffered death,

our Lord Jesus gathered his friends around

the table and as he took bread, he offered thanks to you;

breaking it, and giving it to all of them, saying:

“Take and eat; this is my body, given for

you. Do this for the remembrance of me.”

After all of them had eaten,

he again took the cup and offered thanks to you,

and gave it for all to drink, saying:

“This cup is the new covenant in my blood,

shed for you and for all people for the forgiveness

of sin. Do this for the remembrance of me.”

And so, in remembrance of these your mighty acts in Jesus Christ,

we offer ourselves in praise and thanksgiving

as a holy and living sacrifice,

in union with Christ’s offering for us,

as we proclaim the mystery of faith:

C: Christ has died. Christ has risen.

Christ will come again.

P: Pour out your Holy Spirit on us gathered

here and on these gifts of bread and wine.

As they are the body and blood of Christ for us,

so may we be for the world the body of Christ,

redeemed by his blood.

May we, like Barnabas, be ready to freely give of our own

to maintain what you have established.

By your Spirit bind us to Christ,

one to another,

together in ministry to all the world,

until Christ comes in final victory and we

feast at the heavenly banquet.

Through your son Jesus Christ,

with the Holy Spirit in your holy church,

all honor and glory is yours, Almighty God,

now and forever.

C: Amen

P: And now, as God’s confident children,

we boldly pray:

C: Our Father in heaven...

The Eucharistic Prayer for the Commemoration of The Martyrs of Uganda (June 3)

2010-06-04T11:14:00.007-04:00

Better a day late than a dollar short--wait, I am more than a dollar short these days. Anyway, Uganda has been in the news lately, as its government seeks to officially persecute its GLBT citizens. It's not as though Uganda has been a safe place before. In 1886, the African nation of Uganda was ruled by a pedophile named Mwanga. When young Christians began to refuse his advances, he arranged for the murder of almost three dozen or so boys, mostly Roman Catholic and Anglican, by being burned alive. It is said that many of these martyrs went to their death singing the hymns of their faith, often even as the flames sought to engulf them as they were being burned at the stake alive. Less than a century later, another tyrant sought out those who opposed his rule and many Christians perished during the reign of Idi Amin Dada. Uganda is often considered the most Christianized nation on the continent.

P: It is truly right and a good and joyful thing
that we should at all times and in all places,
offer our thanks and praise to you,
Holy God through Christ our Lord.

You gave the martyrs the courage to lay down their lives in Christ’s service
and in faithful witness to your steadfast love.

And so with the Church on earth, with Charles Lwanga and all the martyrs of Uganda and all the hosts of heaven,
we praise your name and join their unending hymn:
The Sanctus is said or sung.

P: You are indeed holy, O God,
and blessed is your Son Jesus Christ.
He is the Good Shepherd who willingly laid down his life for his sheep.

By the baptism of Jesus’ suffering, death,
and resurrection,
you gave birth to your church,
delivered us from slavery to sin and death,
and made with us a new covenant by water and the Spirit.

On the night before he suffered death,
our Lord Jesus gathered his friends around
the table and as he took bread,
he offered thanks to you; breaking it, and
giving it to all of them, saying:
“Take and eat; this is my body, given for
you. Do this for the remembrance of me.”

After all of them had eaten,
he again took the cup and offered thanks to
you, and gave it for all to drink, saying:
“This cup is the new covenant in my blood,
shed for you and for all people for the forgiveness
of sin. Do this for the remembrance of me.”

And so, in remembrance of these your
mighty acts in Jesus Christ,
we offer ourselves in praise and thanksgiving
as a holy and living sacrifice,
in union with Christ’s offering for us,
as we proclaim the mystery of faith.
C: Christ has died. Christ has risen.
Christ will come again.

P: Pour out your Holy Spirit on us gathered here
and on these gifts of bread and wine.
As they are the body and blood of Christ for us,
so may we be for the world the body of Christ,
redeemed by his blood.

Inspire us to give our lives in service to you
even though it may not mean that we share in the
suffering of your holy martyrs.

By your Spirit bind us to Christ,
one to another,
together in ministry to all the world,
until Christ comes in final victory and we
feast at the heavenly banquet.

Through your son Jesus Christ,
with the Holy Spirit in your holy church,
all honor and glory is yours, Almighty God,
now and forever.
C: Amen

P: And now, as God’s confident children,
we boldly pray:
C: Our Father in heaven...

The Eucharistic Prayer for the Commemoration of Blandina and Her Companions, Martyrs

2010-06-02T12:37:00.003-04:00

There is a tendency to think that persecution of the early Christians happened only in places like Rome or Jerusalem. Sadly, the ugly part of the Roman Empire stretched to the north where, in 177, persecution of believers began in Lyons, France, and elsewhere. Christians first experienced social ostracism until the government became involved when being a Christian became grounds for detainment. Slaves in Christian households were taken into custody and tortured. Persecution knew no boundaries. In this year, civil unrest was nurtured among the citizenry and those especially chosen included an elderly Bishop, Pothinus, a deacon, Sanctus, a new convert, Maturus, and a slave, Blandina all of whom suffered death because of their faith and the false allegations made against the church. After their torturous deaths, their remains were casually tossed into the Rhone.

P: It is truly right and a good and joyful thing
that we should at all times and in all places,
offer our thanks and praise to you,
Holy God through Christ our Lord.

Throughout the ages, you stood by those
who witnessed to your love,
even to the point of offering up their very lives.

And so with the Church on earth,
with Blandina, Pothinus, Sanctus, Maturus,
and all the hosts of heaven,
we praise your name and join their unending hymn:
The Sanctus is said or sung.

P: You are indeed holy, O God,
and blessed is your Son Jesus Christ.
Fully God and fully human,
no vile was done by him
yet he took upon himself the sins of the world.

By the baptism of Jesus’ suffering, death,
and resurrection,
you gave birth to your church,
delivered us from slavery to sin and death,
and made with us a new covenant by water
and the Spirit.

On the night before he suffered death,
our Lord Jesus gathered his friends around
the table and as he took bread,
he offered thanks to you; breaking it,
and giving it to all of them, saying:
“Take and eat; this is my body, given for
you. Do this for the remembrance of me.”

After all of them had eaten,
he again took the cup and offered thanks to you,
and gave it for all to drink, saying:
“This cup is the new covenant in my blood,
shed for you and for all people for the forgiveness
of sin. Do this for the remembrance of me.”

And so, in remembrance of these your mighty acts in Jesus Christ,
we offer ourselves in praise and thanksgiving
as a holy and living sacrifice,
in union with Christ’s offering for us,
as we proclaim the mystery of faith.
C: Christ has died.
Christ has risen.
Christ will come again.

P: Pour out your Holy Spirit on us gathered here
and on these gifts of bread and wine.
As they are the body and blood of Christ for us,
so may we be for the world the body of Christ,
redeemed by his blood.

May we be fully rooted in your love that we
might withstand any sufferings that come our way.

By your Spirit bind us to Christ,
one to another,
together in ministry to all the world,
until Christ comes in final victory
and we gather at the River with the white robed martyrs
and feast at the heavenly banquet.

Through your son Jesus Christ,
with the Holy Spirit in your holy church,
all honor and glory is yours, Almighty God,
now and forever.
C: Amen

P: And now, as God’s confident children, we boldly pray:
C: Our Father in heaven...

Mass at the Beach 8 AM

2010-05-30T23:04:00.002-04:00

Said the sign and I thought, "why not." I have been avoiding church for a variety of reasons and this was a less than 2 mile drive for me instead of the 38 mile one I usually make. So, I set my alarm for 7 but, truth be told, I am accustomed to CPT* so it was no surprise that I was about 10 minutes late.

The local Roman parish has been hosting a mass on the beach twice yearly since 1998 and this would be the last one for the current priest. Maybe 200 or 300 people were present this morning, Trinity Sunday. I do believe I heard it mentioned a few times although the sermon/homily was focused elsewhere, somewhere, kind of nostalgic. I realize that, in the Lutheran liturgy, the Creed is optional but I thought for sure one would be included today--but it wasn't. Odd. The prayers of the Church/people was a little disjointed, too. Sometimes the priest forgot to give us our clue for a reponse. He prayed for peace throughout the world and named some places. Since it is also Memorial Day, one would expect him to include places like Iraq and Afghanistan, but he didn't.

After a subtle sharing of peace, we moved into the communion liturgy. I didn't expect to get any wine, it was just for the priest but, then he gave some to the communion ministers but not the acolytes, er altar servers. What's up with that? We received at one of several stations. To me, being at the beach evoked scenes of Jesus feeding people with things like real bread, fishes, and the like so, naturally, the little beige wafer was woefully insufficient. Not insufficient for grace, just not much of a meal. Oh, yeah, there was the Lord's Prayer, too, and I was smooth enough to know where to stop instead of going on like the Lutheran I am accustomed to being.

We were given a benediction and the dismissal was more like "Oh, yeah, support your parish especially with your special offerings, an envelope for which was included in your box." That was for the regulars, I guess. Maybe they didn't think folks like me would show up because of a sign that said "Mass at the Beach, 8 a.m."

Anyway, when the musicians launched into God bless America or something, I knew it was time to go. But, at least, I had Mass at the beach, 8 a.m.

*CPT is a slang expression for "colored people time." It means we start when the Spirit moves, show up when you can, and we finish when we finish, no need for a watch. It's how I roll.

Lorica for Trinity Sunday

2010-05-30T02:02:00.002-04:00

I find this appropriate for today and will read it when I prepare for worship. It is attributed to Patrick of Armagh, Bishop and Missionary of Ireland (scroll down for the Irish translation).

I bind unto myself today
The strong name of the Trinity,
By invocation of the same,
The Three in One and One in Three.

I bind this day to me for ever,
By power of faith, Christ's Incarnation;
His baptism in the Jordan River;
His death on cross for my salvation;
His bursting from the spicèd tomb;
His riding up the heavenly way;
His coming at the day of doom;
I bind unto myself today.

I bind unto myself the power
Of the great love of the Cherubim;
The sweet 'Well done' in judgment hour;
The service of the Seraphim,
Confessors' faith, Apostles' word,
The Patriarchs' prayers, the Prophets' scrolls,
All good deeds done unto the Lord,
And purity of virgin souls.

I bind unto myself today
The virtues of the starlit heaven,
The glorious sun's life-giving ray,
The whiteness of the moon at even,
The flashing of the lightning free,
The whirling wind's tempestuous shocks,
The stable earth, the deep salt sea,
Around the old eternal rocks.

I bind unto myself today
The power of God to hold and lead,
His eye to watch, His might to stay,
His ear to hearken to my need.
The wisdom of my God to teach,
His hand to guide, his shield to ward,
The word of God to give me speech,
His heavenly host to be my guard.

Against the demon snares of sin,
The vice that gives temptation force,
The natural lusts that war within,
The hostile men that mar my course;
Or few or many, far or nigh,
In every place and in all hours
Against their fierce hostility,
I bind to me these holy powers.

Against all Satan's spells and wiles,
Against false words of heresy,
Against the knowledge that defiles,
Against the heart's idolatry,
Against the wizard's evil craft,
Against the death-wound and the burning
The choking wave and the poisoned shaft,
Protect me, Christ, till thy returning.

Christ be with me, Christ within me,
Christ behind me, Christ before me,
Christ beside me, Christ to win me,
Christ to comfort and restore me,
Christ beneath me, Christ above me,
Christ in quiet, Christ in danger,
Christ in hearts of all that love me,
Christ in mouth of friend and stranger.

I bind unto myself the name,
The strong name of the Trinity;
By invocation of the same.
The Three in One, and One in Three,
Of whom all nature hath creation,
Eternal Father, Spirit, Word:
Praise to the Lord of my salvation,
salvation is of Christ the Lord.

or

Atomriug indiu

niurt tríun

togairm Tríndóite

cretim treodatad

foísitin oendatad

i nDúilemon dáil.

Atomriug indiu

niurt gene Chríst cona baithius

niurt a chrochtho cona adnacul

niurt a esséirgi cona ḟresgabáil

niurt a thoíniuda fri brithemnas mbrátho.

Atomriug indiu

niurt gráid Hiruphin;

i n-aurlattaid aingel

i frestul archaingel

i frescisin esséirgi ar chenn fochraicce

i n-ernaigdib úasalathrach

i tairchetlaib fáthe

i praiceptaib apstal

i n-iressaib foísmedach

i n-enccai noebingen

i ngnímaib fer fírían.

Atomriug indiu

niurt nime

soilsi gréine

étrochtai ésci

áini thened

déini lóchet

lúaithi gaíthe

fudomnai maro

tairismigi thalman

cobsaidi ailech.

Atomriug indiu

niurt Dé dom lúamairecht;

cumachtae nDé dom chumgabáil

cíall Dé dom imthús

rosc nDé dom remcisin

clúas Dé dom étsecht

bríathar Dé dom aurlabrai

lám Dé dom imdegail

intech Dé dom remthechtas

scíath Dé dom immdítin

sochraite Dé dom anacul

ar intledaib demnae

ar aslaigib dúalchae

ar airrechtaib aicnid

ar cach nduine mídúthrastar dam

i céin ocus i n-ocus

i n-úathad ocus i sochaidi.

Tocuirir etrum indiu inna huli nertso

fri cach nert n-amnas fristaí dom churp ocus dom anmain

fri tairchetla saebḟáthe

fri dubrechtu gentliuchtae

fri saebrechtu eretecdae

fri imchellacht n-idlachtae

fri brichtu ban ocus gobann ocus druad

fri cach fiss arachuili corp ocus anmain duini.

Críst dom imdegail indiu

ar neim

ar loscud

ar bádud

ar guin

condomthair ilar fochraicce.

Críst limm, Críst reum, Críst im degaid
Críst indium, Críst íssum, Críst úassum
Críst dessum, Críst túathum
Críst i llius, Críst i ssius, Críst i n-érus
Críst i cridiu cach duini rodomscrútadar
Críst i ngiun cach oín rodomlabrathar
Críst i cach rusc nomdercadar
Críst i cach clúais rodomchloathar.

Atomriug indiu

niurt tríun

togairm Tríndóite

cretim treodatad

foísitin oendatad

i nDúilemon dáil.

Dragons, in honor of St. George's Day

2010-04-23T15:51:00.002-04:00

The dragon has been a creature of myth and legend for centuries throughout the world. In his book, View Over Atlantis (1969), John Michell says, "In every continent of the world, the dragon chiefly represents the principle of fertility. The creation of the earth and the appearance of life came about as a result of a combination of the elements. The first living cell was born out of the earth, fertilized from the sky by wind and water. From this union of yin and yang sprang the seed which produced the dragon. Every year the same process takes place".

It may seem strange to speak of yin and yang, so obviously Oriental terminology, when speaking about Celtic life and legend. While the terms may be from the Orient, the concepts are not uniquely so. Michell observed how the ancient practice of Feng Shui in China contributed to the harmony of the landscape and the people. He also observed that geomancy had been practiced in ancient Britain. When an ancient Celt, and especially Druids, would survey the land for any activity (i. e. building, festival celebrations, etc.) they would speak of the ley of the land. Today we use that same term, although it has a related, but different meaning. Today when we speak of the "ley of the land" we often picture exactly how the hills roll or the shape of the river as it flows; more of the concrete concept of how the land lays or actually and physically appears.

Cosmic forces flowed through and affected the area, or how the area affected those forces. The Celts believed that dragons were creatures of the parallel world and their power and presence would affect the ley of the land. "The places associated with the dragon legend, the nerve centers of seasonal fertility, appear always to coincide with sites of ancient sanctity", Michell adds.

The path of the dragons, called a vein, was critical to the flow of energy or ley of the land. IF there was a spot that the dragon crossed often, a spot where the veins crossed or a spot where the dragon would stop to rest, that became a spot of heightened power. Stonehenge is thought to be one of those places. In addition, some believe that the Celtic Cross surrounded by a circle is a symbol of the crossing ley lines and how the circle of life should be centered on that power.

King Arthur himself was burdened by dreams of dragons; although it is unclear which color he saw. He saw them specifically at the time of Sir Mordred's conception and before his death. He is eaten by dragons in his final dream and it is at his next battle that Sir Mordred kills him. It is said that when a king sees dragons there will be much ruin come to his kingdom and himself.

With the introduction of Christianity to the Celts came a change in the role of dragons. Some people even believe that there were no dragons in Celtic mythology until the English came, mainly because there is no record of them in the Celtic world until then. However, it is more probable that there was simply no written record of their existence–the Celts stories surviving by oral tradition. The "sudden" appearance of dragons when the Christians invaded can be easily explained by the meticulous effort Christians gave to written records.

The Apostolic Church was very good at taking local beliefs and using that belief for its own benefit. Take, for example, the story of St. George. Here the great power of the Dragon is turned into the power of the Devil. Traditional symbolism holds that St. George slayed the Dragon (Satan) to save the maid (Christianity). It is also very convenient that the Celtic symbol was the Dragon.

Today the dragon is continuously popular amongst the Celtic revivalist, especially story tellers and craftsmen; and we must not forget that dragons have never gone out of style for the Welsh, for it is their flag which proudly displays the Red Dragon and their motto which reads: Y Ddraig Goch Ddyry Cychwyn, The Red Dragon Leads the Way.

Yom HaShoah 2010

2010-04-11T09:45:00.001-04:00

One: We are in many ways a culture without memory. The Holocaust, a series of events that occurred just over a generation ago, changed the world forever. Yet by some the Holocaust is forgotten, or seen as irrelevant, or even viewed as something that never happened.

All: As people of faith, we refuse to forget. We refuse to participate in the erasing of history. As a community of faith, we decide to remember, as we hear the historical record from Europe a generation ago and reflect upon events in our own time. We dare to listen to the voices of the past, even as they echo today.

One: In this moment, we are all Jews wearing the yellow Star of David.

All: We are all homosexuals wearing the pink triangle.

One: We are all political activists wearing the red triangle.

All: We are all criminals wearing the green triangle.

One: We are all antisocials wearing the black triangle.

All: We are all Jehovah’s Witnesses wearing the purple triangle.

One: We are all emigrants wearing the blue triangle.

All: We are all gypsies wearing the brown triangle.

One: We are all undesirable, all extendable by the state.

…Leader: To God of both memory and hope, we pledge ourselves to be a people of resistance to the powers of death wherever they may appear, to honor the living and the dead, and to make with them our promise: Never again!

Solemn Reproaches

2010-04-02T23:01:00.001-04:00

Is it nothing to you, all you who pass by?
Look and see if there is any sorrow like my sorrow
which was brought upon me,
which the Lord inflicted on the day of his fierce anger.

O my people, O my church,
what have I done to you,
or in what way have I offended you?
I led you forth from the land of Egypt
and delivered you by the waters of baptism,
but you have prepared a cross for your Savior.

I led you through the desert forty years,
and fed you manna,
I brought you through tribulation and penitence,
and gave you my body, the bread of heaven,
but you have prepared a cross for your Savior.

What more could I have done for you
that I have not done?
I planted you, my chosen and fairest vineyard,
I made you branches of my vine;
but when I was thirsty, you gave me vinegar to drink
and pierced with a spear the side of your Savior.

I went before you in a pillar of cloud,
and you have led me to the judgment hall of Pilate.
I scourged your enemies and brought you to a land of freedom,
but you have scourged, mocked and beaten me.
I gave you the water of salvation from the rock,
but you have given me gall and left me to thirst.

I gave you a royal scepter,
and bestowed the keys of the kingdom,
but you have given me a crown of thorns.
I raised you on high with great power,
but you have hanged me on the cross.

My peace I gave, which the world cannot give,
and washed your feet as a sign of my love,
but you draw the sword to strike in my name
and seek high places in my kingdom.
I offered you my body and blood,
but you scatter and deny me.

I sent the Spirit of truth to guide you,
and you close your hearts to the Counselor.
I pray that all may be one in the Father and me,
but you continue to quarrel and divide.
I call you to go and bring forth fruit,
but you cast lots for my clothing.

I grafted you into the tree of my chosen Israel,
and you turned on them with persecution and mass murder,
I made you joint heirs with them of my covenants,
but you made them scapegoats for your own guilt.

I came to you as the least of your brothers and sisters;
I was hungry and you gave me no food,
I was thirsty and you gave me no drink,
I was a stranger and you did not welcome me,
naked and you did not clothe me,
sick and in prison and you did not visit me.

(Inter-Lutheran Commission on Worship)

A CELTIC PRAYER FOR PRIESTS

2010-04-01T15:24:00.000-04:00

Christ is the Priest above us,

Ordained of God for all the living.

Christ is the Priest above us.

The bread, His Body; the wine, His Blood;

Food for the wayward, drink for the lost.

Christ is the Priest above us.

His garden of sorrow, His garden of betrayal,

A Kiss for the King, a Sign for the soldiers.

Christ is the Priest above us.

Nailed to the Cross of terrible agony;

Anguish, distress, crucified pain.

Christ is the Priest above us.

I hear the hills, I hear the seas,

I hear the angels heralding to earth,

Christ is the Priest above us.

His Heart, my heart; His Hands my hands;

My very self belongs to Him.

Christ is the Priest above us.

I bear his name; I speak his voice,

Without envy, or anger, or shadow on heart.

Christ is the Priest above us.

I am the face of Christ the Priest;

I am His servant at the door.

Guide me, guard me, heal me, help me

Be the window through which You shine–

Christ the Priest above us. Amen.

Oscar Romero, Presente

2010-03-25T01:14:00.005-04:00

Thirty years ago, On March 24, 1980, as he was celebrating Mass, consecrating the Eucharist, Oscar A. Romero y Galdamez was assassinated by a member of the El Salvadoran military. As he had predicted, his murder would not diminish the work that he had begun among the poor of San Salvador. Even before his death, the government of El Salvador had been systematically eliminated voices of the faithful whom they deemed to be threats to their oppression of the poor. Among these were:
Rutilio Grande Garcia, S.J. - assassinated March 12, 1977
Alfonso Navarro Oviedo - assassinated May 11, 1977
Ernesto Barrera - assassinated November 28, 1978
Octavio Ortiz Luna - assassinated January 20, 1979
Rafael Palacios - assassinated June 20, 1979
Alirio Napoleon Macias – assassinated August 4, 1979

The death of Monsenor Romero did not bring an end to the bloodshed.

On December 2, 1980, four churchwomen (Maryknoll Sisters Ita Ford and Maura Clark, Ursuline Sister Dorothy Kazel, and lay missioner Jean Donovan) were murdered by members of the El Salvadoran National Guard.

On November 16, 1989, six Jesuit priests and two laywomen were murdered in their sleep: Ignacio Ellacuria , Ignacio Martin-Baro, Segundo Montes, Arnando Lopez, Joaquin Lopez y Lopez, Juan Ramon Moreno, Juli Elba Ramos, a cook, and Cecilia Ramos, her daughter, age 15.

Over 70,000 El Salvadorans died in a war that spanned the 1970’s and the 1980’s and was underwritten by the United States Government. Many were professional church workers. Yet, for most of his career, the Church turned a deaf ear to the suffering that went on and that Romero, in his life, sought to alleviate.

"I do not believe in death without resurrection," he said. "If they kill me, I will be resurrected in the Salvadoran people."

"Yo no creo en la muerte sin resurrección," dijo. "Si me matan, voy a ser resucitados en el pueblo Salvadoreño".

For this sanctoral day, I wrote the following eucharistic prayer:

Commemoration of Oscar Romero and the Martyrs of El Salvador (March 24)
P: It is truly right and a good and joyful thing
that we should at all times and in all places,
offer our thanks and praise to you,
Holy God through Christ our Lord.
You have brought rulers down from their thrones
and exalted those who were hungry.
You have filled the hungry with good things
and the rich you have sent away empty-handed.
And so with the Church on earth, with Oscar,
with the martyrs of El Salvador and all the hosts of heaven,
we praise your name and join their unending hymn:
The Sanctus is said or sung.

P: You are indeed holy, O God,
and blessed is your Son Jesus Christ.
Your Spirit was upon him and you anointed him to preach the Good News to the poor.
You sent him to proclaim release to the captives,
the recovery of sight to the blind,
to release those who were downtrodden and
to proclaim the favorable year of the Lord.
By the baptism of Jesus’ suffering, death, and resurrection,
you gave birth to your church,
delivered us from slavery to sin and death,
and made with us a new covenant by water and the Spirit.
On the night before he suffered death,
our Lord Jesus gathered his friends around the table
and as he took bread, he offered thanks to you;
breaking it, and giving it to all of them, saying:
“Take and eat; this is my body, given for you.
Do this for the remembrance of me.”
After all of them had eaten, he again took the cup and offered thanks to you,
and gave it for all to drink, saying:
“This cup is the new covenant in my blood,
shed for you and for all people for the forgiveness of sin.
Do this for the remembrance of me.”
And so,
in remembrance of these your mighty acts in Jesus Christ,
we offer ourselves in praise and thanksgiving
as a holy and living sacrifice,
in union with Christ’s offering for us,
as we proclaim the mystery of faith.
C: Christ has died. Christ has risen. Christ will come again.

P: Pour out your Holy Spirit on us gathered here
and on these gifts of bread and wine.
As they are the body and blood of Christ for us,
so may we be for the world the body of Christ, redeemed by his blood.
Fill us with the boldness of your servant Oscar;
enable us to denounce sin in our world and pronounce your reign among us,
and to lend our hands and our hearts to building that reign in our world.
By your Spirit bind us to Christ,
one to another,
together in ministry to all the world,
until Christ comes in final victory and we feast at the heavenly banquet.
Through your son Jesus Christ,
with the Holy Spirit in your holy church,
all honor and glory is yours, Almighty God, now and forever.
C: Amen

P: And now, as God’s confident children, we boldly pray:
C: Our Father in heaven...

A Prayer of Hope: A Prayer from Chile

2010-03-01T17:52:00.001-05:00

I believe that behind the mist
the sun waits.
I believe that beyond the dark night
it is raining stars.
I believe in secret volcanoes
and the world below.
I believe that this lost ship will reach port.
They will not rob me of hope,
it shall not be broken,
it shall not be broken.
My voice is filled to overflowing
with the desire to sing,
the desire to sing.

I believe in reason,
and not in force of arms.
I believe that peace will be sown throughout the earth.
I believe in our nobility,
created in the image of God,
and with free will reaching for the skies.
They will not rob me of hope,
it shall not be broken,
it shall not be broken.

By: Education for Justice

Leonard Cohen on the state of Christianity

2010-02-21T21:32:00.000-05:00

"I don't really have a 'take on the state of Christianity.' But when I read your question, this answer came to mind: As I understand it, into the heart of every Christian, Christ comes, and Christ goes. When, by his Grace, the landscape of the heart becomes vast and deep and limitless, then Christ makes His abode in that graceful heart, and His Will prevails. The experience is recognized as Peace. In the absence of this experience much activity arises, divisions of every sort. Outside of the organizational enterprise, which some applaud and some mistrust, stands the figure of Jesus, nailed to a human predicament, summoning the heart to comprehend its own suffering by dissolving itself in a radical confession of hospitality."

"To care for the poor; To lighten everyone's burden; To comfort the suffering..."

2010-02-01T23:17:00.004-05:00

The Feast of St Brigid (Lá Fhéile Bhríde), February 1

Brigid, Brigit, Bride, even known as Ffraid, was born in 452 CE, the daughter of a nobleman and a slave. From an early age, Brigid demonstrated unparalleled compassion for the poor and those in need. It is said that the fire of the Holy Spirit followed her wherever she went and that a fire burned unquenched at the monastery in Kildare that she established. On the day that she was consecrated to the religious life, the bishop inexplicably offered the prayer of ordination and he would not retract it.

Brigid practiced a ministry of Christian hospitality because "it is in the name of Christ I feed the poor, for Christ is in the body of every poor person." Raised in a foster family, she knew firsthand of compassion for others as well as the practice of anam cara, the Celtic term for soul friendship. When the anam cara of one of her own foster sons suddenly died, she comforted him in his grief and adjured him to find a new anam cara immediately. Brigid was a mentor and spiritual guide to many but she was, most importantly, a companion along the way, an anam cara. With a soul friend, one feels at home not only in the world, but also in the greater world of the spirit. The soul friend honors the secrets of the heart and gently nudges one's dreams into being.

St. Brigid and her cross are linked together by the story that she wove this form of cross at the death bed of either her father or a pagan lord, who upon hearing what the cross meant, asked to be baptized. One version goes as follows:

A pagan chieftain from the neighborhood of Kildare was dying. Christians in his household sent for Brigid to talk to him about Christ. When she arrived the chieftain was raving. As it was impossible to instruct this delirious man, hopes for his conversion seemed doubtful. Brigid sat down at his bedside and began consoling him. As was customary, the dirt floor was strewn with rushes both for warmth and cleanliness. Brigid stooped down and started to weave them into a cross, fastening the points together. The sick man asked what she was doing. She began to explain the cross, and as she talked his delirium quieted and he questioned her with growing interest. Through her weaving, he converted and was baptized at the point of death. Since then the cross of rushes has been venerated in Ireland.

Of the three patron saints of Ireland, Brigid is the only one native born. Many wonderful tales are associated with her generosity. In one story, she gives away her father’s sword to a leper. She is able to provide a constant supply of milk and ale to her guests. Her prayer for a feast in heaven is to have a "great lake of ale...and every drop a prayer"

I should like a great lake of finest ale
for the King of kings.
I should like a table of the choicest food
for the family of heaven.
Let the ale be made from the fruits of faith
and the food be forgiving love.

I should welcome the poor to my feast,
for they are God's children.
I should welcome the sick to my feast,
for they are God's joy.
Let the poor sit with Jesus at the highest place,
and the sick dance with the angels.

God bless the poor,
God bless the sick,
and bless our human race.
God bless our food,
God bless our drink,
all homes, O God, embrace.

Brigid died this day, as well, in 525 CE.

Haiti Cries . . . And We Cry With Them

2010-01-14T23:33:00.001-05:00

(A prayer as we search through the rubble)

by Safiyah Fosua

Earth shaking

Home breaking

Ground-moved-the-mountain-into-my-way tragedy!

Broken bodies

Broken hearts

Broken lives.

Haiti cries

And we cry with them.

God,

Our hearts are aching as we try to imagine what the daylight brought

To our brothers and sisters in Haiti.

Heal the young eyes that have seen far too much on this day.

Heal the hearts of many who have lost friends, family and a way of life on this day.

Be with those who are missing

And those who are dying outside of the grasp of

Loving hands to hold them

Loving voices to soothe them.

Move us over here from empathy to action

From sympathy to substance

As we contemplate what can be done to help

Today

And many days

Into a forever-changed future.

Amen.

See other Prayers, Hymns, Sermons and Resources for Times of Natural Disaster on this website.

UMCOR Relief Efforts

Safiyah Fosua is Director of Invitational Preaching Ministries with the General Board of Discipleship.

Copyright 2010 The General Board of Discipleship of The United Methodist Church, PO Box 340003, Nashville TN 37203-0003. Worship website: www.umcworship.org.
This resource may be printed, copied, distributed, reprinted in church bulletins or newsletters, or otherwise used for nonprofit local church worship or education with the inclusion of the copyright citation and General Board of Discipleship Worship website as its source.

A Haitian Prayer

2010-01-13T22:01:00.002-05:00

A Haitian Prayer

Senye, si nap viv jodi a
malgre siklon, grangou, ak maladi,
nou dwe di,
“Mesi, Senye
Nou genle la pou yon bi.”

Lord, if we are alive today
in spite of hurricanes, hunger and sickness,
we should say,
“Thank you, Lord,
we must be here for a purpose.”

(Haitian prayer)

The Work of Christmas

2010-01-06T00:25:00.001-05:00

When the song of the angels is stilled,
When the star in the sky is gone,
When the kings and princes are home,
When the shepherds are back with their flock,
The work of Christmas begins:
To find the lost,
To heal the broken,
To feed the hungry
To release the prisoners,
To rebuild the nations,
To bring peace among people,
To make music in the heart.

––Howard Thurman

When the world was dark

2009-12-24T13:47:00.003-05:00

When the world was dark
and the city was quiet,
you came.

You crept in beside us.

And no one knew.
Only the few
who dared to believe
that God might do something different.

Will you do the same this Christmas, Lord?

Will you come into the darkness of tonight’s world;
not the friendly darkness
as when sleep rescues us from tiredness
but the fearful darkness,
in which people have stopped believing
that war will end
or that food will come
or that a government will change
or that the Church cares?

Will you come into that darkness
and do something different
to save your people from death and despair?

Will you come into the quietness of this city,
not the friendly quietness
as when lovers hold hands,
but the fearful silence when
the phone has not rung,
the letter has not come
the friendly voice no longer speaks,
the doctor’s face says it all?

Will you come into that darkness,
and do something different,
not to distract, but to embrace your people?

And will you come into the dark corners
and the quiet places of our lives?

We ask this not because we are guilt ridden
or want to be,
but because the fullness of our lives long for
depends on us being as open and vulnerable to you
as you were to us,
when you came,
wearing no more than diapers,
and trusting human hands
to hold their maker.

Will you come into our lives
if we open them to you
and do something different?

When the world was dark
and the city quiet
you came.

You crept in beside us.

Do the same this Christmas, Lord.
Do the same this Christmas.
Amen

from Cloth for the Cradle

Nun Danket Alle Gott

2009-11-26T14:06:00.005-05:00

Martin Rinkart was a German Lutheran pastor during the Thirty Years War, a time marked not only by violent warfare but also famine and pestilence. As the only clergyperson to remain in his town of Eilenberg (one of the others had fled for their own safety and Rinkart buried the other two), it was his responsibility to bury the dead, and bury them he did. Sometimes, like in 1637, 40-50 funerals in one day. Fr. Martin conducted almost 4500 funerals, including that of his wife who died in May of that year.

In a time of unspeakable horror and devastation, Fr. Martin was able to sit down and write a prayer which endures to this very day, a favorite of many Lutherans around the world:

Now thank we all our God With hearts and hands and voices;
Who wondrous things hath done, In whom this world rejoices.
Who, from our mother's arms, Hath led us on our way,
With countless gifts of love, And still is ours today.

This day of National Thanksgiving, first recognized as such by Abraham Lincoln during a much similar time, is a day for me to remember significant events in my life that have happened on that day and give thanks. Not for turkey and all the trimmings but for relationships with which God has blessed me, relationships which began on this day in years past.

While we gather together, let us not forget all of those for whom this day will not be one of Thanksgiving but, perhaps, one of mere survival. Let us remember those for whom this is yet another day in a difficult life, a life which could be made better were we to try and make it so. By doing so, might we not be seen as truly thankful for what we have and who we are?

It is not the critic who counts

2009-10-13T22:12:00.001-04:00

“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better.
The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena,
whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly;
who errs and comes short again and again;
because there is not effort without error and shortcomings;
but who does actually strive to do the deed;
who knows the great enthusiasm, the great devotion,
who spends himself in a worthy cause,
who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement and who at the worst,
if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly.
So that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat.” Theodore Roosevelt

Unofficial (even unaware) Guest Blogger Mark Hanson

2009-08-21T20:41:00.002-04:00

After the fourth and final vote which opens the door and/or recognizes partnered gay and lesbian clergy (and other church professionals), ELCA Presiding Bishop Mark Hanson offered the following words. There are few times in history when humble people are called upon to perform heroic deeds and, at the same time, maintain both a sense of humility and courage for the moment at hand. It was one of those moments and PBp Mark Hanson is that person. He said:
I WANT MORE TIME TO THINK ABOUT WORDS FROM ONE YOU HAVE CALLED TO SERVE AS PASTOR OF THIS CHURCH.
I HAVE BEEN STANDING HERE THINKING ABOUT MY 23 YEARS AS A PARISH PASTOR AND HOW DIFFERENTLY I WOULD GO INTO A CONTEXT IF I WAS GATHERING WITH A FAMILY OR A GROUP OF PEOPLE THAT HAD JUST EXPERIENCED LOSS OR PERHAPS WERE WONDERING IF THEY STILL BELONGED OR IN FACT FELT DEEPLY THAT ONES TO WHOM THEY BELONG HAD BEEN SEVERED FROM THEM. THAT WOULD BE A VERY DIFFERENT PASTORAL CONVERSATION. AND I WOULD PROBABLY TURN TO WORDS SUCH AS ROMANS 8,
“WHO IS TO CONDEMN? IT IS CHRIST JESUS WHO DIED, YES, WHO WAS RAISED, WHO WAS AT THE RIGHT HAND OF GOD, WHO INTERCEDES FOR US, WHO WILL SEPARATE US FROM THE LOVE OF CHRIST? I’M CONVINCED THAT NEITHER DEATH, NOR LIFE, NOR ANGELS NOR RULERS NOR THINGS PRESENT, NOR THINGS TO COME, NOR POWERS, NOR HEIGHT NOR ANYTHING ELSE IN ALL CREATION WILL BE ABLE TO SEPARATE US FROM THE LOVE OF GOD IN CHRIST JESUS.
BUT THEN I THOUGHT, “WHAT IF I WERE GOING INTO A FAMILY OR A GROUP, A COMMUNITY THAT HAD ALWAYS WONDERED IF THEY BELONGED AND SUDDENLY HAD NOW RECEIVED A CLEAR AFFIRMATION THAT THEY BELONGED.
ALL OF THE WONDERING ABOUT THE DIVIDING WALLS, THE FEELINGS OF SEPARATION SEEMED TO HAVE DROPPED AWAY. THAT WOULD BE A VERY DIFFERENT CONVERSATION. I WOULD PROBABLY READ TO THEM OUT OF EPHESIANS.
“BUT NOW IN CHRIST JESUS, YOU WHO WERE ONCE FAR OFF HAVE BEEN BROUGHT NEARBY THE BLOOD OF CHRIST. FOR HE IS OUR PEACE. IN HIS FLESH, HE HAS MADE BOTH GROUPS INTO ONE. HE’S BROKEN DOWN THE DIVIDING WALL THAT IS THE HOSTILITY BETWEEN US. IN HIM, THE WHOLE STRUCTURES JOINING TO AND GROWS INTO A HOLY TEMPLE AND LORD IN WHOM YOU ALSO ARE BUILTING TO SPIRITUALLY INTO A DWELLING PLACE OF GOD.“
BUT THEN I THOUGHT, WHAT IF THOSE TWO GROUPS WERE TOGETHER, BUT ALSO IN THEIR MIDST WERE THOSE WHO HAD NOT EXPERIENCED LOSS OR THE FEELING OF THE DIVIDING WALL OF SEPARATION COMING DOWN, BUT WERE WONDERING AND WORRIED IF ALL THAT HAD OCCURRED MIGHT SEVER THE UNITY AND WONDERED IF THEIR ACTIONS MIGHT HAVE CONTRIBUTED TO RECONCILIATION OR SEPARATION? IF ALL THOSE PEOPLE WERE TOGETHER IN A ROOM, I WOULD READ FROM COLOSSIANS,
“AS GOD’S CHOSEN ONES, HOLY AND BELOVED, CLOTHE YOURSELVES WITH COMPASSION, KINDNESS, HUMILITY, MEEKNESS AND PATIENCE. BEAR WITH ONE ANOTHER. IF ANYONE HAS A COMPLAINT AGAINST THE OTHER, FORGIVE EACH OTHER JUST AS THE LORD HAS FORGIVEN YOU SO YOU MUST ALSO FORGIVE. ABOVE ALL, CLOTHE YOURSELVES WITH LOVE, WHICH BINDS EVERYTHING TO IN PERFECT HARMONY AND LET THE PEACE OF CHRIST RULE IN YOUR HEARTS, TO WHICH INDEED YOU WERE CALLED IN THE ONE BODY AND BE THANKFUL. LET THE WORD OF CHRIST DWELL IN YOU RICHLY. TEACH AND ADMONISH ONE ANOTHER IN ALL WISDOM, WITH GRATITUDE IN YOUR HEARTS, SING SONGS, HYMNS AND SPIRITUAL SONGS TO GOD.
AND WHATEVER YOU DO IN WORD OR DEED, DO EVERYTHING IN THE NAME OF JESUS, GIVING THANKS TO GOD THE FATHER THROUGH HIM.“
THAT PASSAGE GIVES INVITATION AND EXPECTATION THAT THOSE DEEPLY DISAPPOINTED TODAY WILL HAVE IN THIS CHURCH THE EXPECTATION AND THE FREEDOM TO CONTINUE TO ADMONISH AND TO TEACH. AND SO, TOO, THOSE THAT HAVE EXPERIENCED RECONCILIATION TODAY, YOU ARE CALLED TO HUMILITY.
YOU ARE CALLED TO CLOTHE YOURSELVES WITH LOVE. BUT WE’RE ALL CALLED TO LET THE PEACE OF CHRIST RULE IN OUR HEARTS, REMEMBERING AGAIN AND AGAIN THAT WE ARE CALLED IN THE ONE BODY.
I WILL INVITE YOU TOMORROW AFTERNOON INTO IMPORTANT, THOUGHTFUL, PRAYERFUL CONVERSATIONS ABOUT WHAT ALL OF THIS MEANS FOR OUR LIFE TOGETHER. BUT WHAT IS ABSOLUTELY IMPORTANT FOR ME IS THAT THAT’S A CONVERSATION WE HAVE TOGETHER.
I ENDED MY ORAL REPORT WITH THESE WORDS.
“WE MEET ONE ANOTHER FINALLY, NOT IN OUR AGREEMENTS OR OUR DISAGREEMENTS, BUT AT THE FOOT OF THE CROSS. WHERE GOD IS FAITHFUL, WHERE CHRIST IS PRESENT WITH US, AND WHERE, BY THE POWER OF THE HOLY SPIRIT, WE ARE ONE IN CHRIST."

LET US PRAY.
OH, GOD, GRACIOUS AND HOLY, MYSTERIOUS AND MERCIFUL, WE MEET THIS DAY AT THE FOOT OF THE CROSS AND THERE WE KNEEL IN GRATITUDE AND AWE THAT YOU HAVE LOVED US SO MUCH THAT YOU WOULD GIVE THE LIFE OF YOUR SON SO THAT WE MIGHT HAVE LIFE IN HIS NAME.
SEND YOUR SPIRIT THIS NIGHT, THE SPIRIT OF THE RISEN CHRIST THAT HAS BEEN BREATHED INTO US.
MAY IT CALM US.
MAY YOUR SPIRIT UNITE US.
MAY IT CONTINUE TO GATHER US.
IN JESUS’ NAME,
AMEN

...but She is still my mother.

2009-08-19T03:06:00.003-04:00

The church that I love, to which I have given my entire adult life, is having its regular "churchwide assembly" aka CWA this week in Minneapolis. For some time now we have been debating sexuality, same-sexuality in particular. We have a tendency to do things backasswards. Case in point, we really haven't come to terms wuth same-sexuality but this week we are trying to decide whether or not our rostered people (pastors, deacons, etc) can serve while living in covenanted same-sex relationships. We're going to try to come to terms with sexuality, same or other, this week too, but that seems to be almost secondarily.

There are basically two positions on this question, simply put, "yes" or "no" and we both claim to base our stance on Scripture. The same Scripture which we have kinda taken for granted, and in true backassward fashion have begun a "Book of Faith" initiative to try and resolve the fact that we all look at it a little differently. What are you gonna do? Sometimes we have taken Martin Luther's words about "putting the best construction on things" too close to heart. We take a lot for granted.

Naturally, I fall into the "yes" category. I've known gay pastors for 40 years (and I have seen the harm the church has done to them firsthand). As a senior seminarian, my class came together in support of our gay peers and told the school that if they weren't certified for ministry, none of us would be. I've known partnered gay pastors for over 10 years now, maybe longer. One of them was, for a time, my pastor-or at least my "father confessor." I was one of the first signers for "Equality Maryland", I presided at one same sex wedding (for two women named Kimberly), and I regularly march in Pride Parades. I'm straight, not narrow. I grew up in small town white suburban America, so I have come a long way.

Then there is the "no" category. I haven't been exactly charitable to them, I've likened them to Pharisees, I've described them as a flock of "Chicken Littles". In doing so, I upset them and made discussion difficult and, if the truth be told, I've probably pissed Jesus off. For that I am heartily sorry and sincerely repent. But I still think that their words and actions warranted it. (Sorry, Jesus) The world is not going to end. We do not doubt the Bible (or even hate it), it is the Word of God. Our ecumenical partners have their own problems and aren't going to scuttle our agreements. Partnered GLBT pastors are not going to send us out into the barnyard to romp with farm animals or make us want to marry our pets, no matter how cute we may find them to be. Those of us who are married are not going to run out and get divorced so that we can hook up with a person of our sex. I could go on, but I think you get the picture. It is a religion based on fear. It may be God's Church but come hell or high water, it has to be protected. Yeah, right. I don't recall that being part of my ordination vows.

So, my church is meeting in Minneapolis. Part of me wants to be there but I am not really big on crowds unless there is a ball involved and meetings that last more than hour? Uh-uh, not for me so five days worth definitely not my thing. I watch at home, I go to the library, I chat and read on the 'net and I am hopeful. Maybe this time we will get it right. The dust will settle, we will look around and think, "hmm, life will go on." Our little band of Lutherans will stop being followers, we will resume our rightful position of being Reformers. Our GLBT members are silent no more. They have summoned the courage to stand up and be counted, to be proud of how God has created them even when they are telling us all about the shitty way that the church has treated them over the years. All they ask for is what the rest of us have taken for granted, what the rest of us have abused and failed to care for--to be able to spend their lives with the one person they love almost as much as they love God. Who are we to deny them that? Afterall, they might teach us a thing or two about love. About the Church. About God.

For some reason, our GLBT brothers and sisters are saying that they want to be part of this thing we call church. I am not sure I get that but, then again, I am not sure I always get the amazing unexpected things that God tends to do.

The Church... Yeah, I know, but She is still my mother.

Growing Deep in God's Word

2009-08-12T13:05:00.002-04:00

Here is my current contribution to the devotional blog at Growing Deeper in God's Word, a ministry of Epiphany Lutheran Church in Dale City, Virginia:

John 6:35, 41-51 Jesus said to them, ‘I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty. 41 Then the Jews began to complain about him because he said, ‘I am the bread that came down from heaven.’ ⁴²They were saying, ‘Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How can he now say, “I have come down from heaven”?’ ⁴³Jesus answered them, ‘Do not complain among yourselves. ⁴⁴No one can come to me unless drawn by the Father who sent me; and I will raise that person up on the last day. ⁴⁵It is written in the prophets, “And they shall all be taught by God.” Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to me. ⁴⁶Not that anyone has seen the Father except the one who is from God; he has seen the Father. ⁴⁷Very truly, I tell you, whoever believes has eternal life. ⁴⁸I am the bread of life. ⁴⁹Your ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. ⁵⁰This is the bread that comes down from heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die. ⁵¹I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats of this bread will live for ever; and the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.’

When they were hungry in the wilderness, starving even, bread came down from heaven. They believed Moses when he told them what it was and they ate it. Thousands of years later, Bread again came down from heaven but this time they were not so trusting. They did not believe Jesus even though they probably knew him better than Moses. I guess that, sometimes, familiarity does breed contempt. That was their loss.

Weekly, bread still comes to us from heaven, not fluffy white manna but real flesh, flesh and blood to feed us today, even unto everlasting life. Manna bread gave the Israelites strength for the journey out of wilderness yet, sooner or later, they all died. Jesus bread gives us strength for our journeys but, though we die, it feeds us forever.

Bread, Jesus bread, strengthens us that we might be his body to a hungry and aching world. Just as Jesus feeds us with himself, we are to feed others as he would have us. Having been strengthened again by him, may you go out into the world and find those who still hunger. Greet them, welcome them, feed them, and bring them in. It is still a wilderness.

Heavenly Father, you sent down from heaven your only begotten son Jesus to be, by his offering of himself, bread and life for the world. You call us to be imitators of you by offering ourselves prayerfully in love to you and our brothers and sisters. Help us to grow in our vision and our understanding of becoming a fragrant offering. Feed us always with the bread of life. This we ask in Jesus’ name. Amen

Feast of Mary of Magdala

2009-07-22T17:08:00.011-04:00

"O God, our desire, you formed us in our mother's womb, and call us by our name. In the compassion of our suffering presence may we know, as Mary Magdalen knew, that you can make our violated bodies vessels of love. In the strangeness of human attraction we put our trust in you, knowing that we may live with you forever." Amen

Today, the church remembers Mary of Magdala, apostle to the apostles, perhaps the "beloved disciple" of the Gospels. She was the first to believe and proclaim the Resurrection of her Lord yet the unbelief of the other disciples was but a foreshadowing of the rejection which the Church would hurl her way. Misunderstood, misinterpreted, mistreated, largely by a misogynist church dominated by patriarchal voices. It has taken many centuries to "rehabilitate" Mary although even today there are those who continue to see her as a prostitute and a threat to traditional understandings of the Gospel.

While Dan Brown may have restored her to the forefront in his "DaVinci Code" there are times when I fear that he only muddied the waters. We don't know anymore about her than we knew before and the debate over whether or not Mary was more than a disciple to Jesus obscures the facts as we know them. Jesus exorcises seven demons from Mary, the Gospel tells us and most understand this to mean that Mary had been possessed by the "Devil" and Jesus freed her. I would like to think that what the writer meant was that the "daemons" were really Mary's chakras and that he had to make them orderly if she was to have a role in his ministry and Resurrection. I suppose that, this side of paradise, we will never know for sure but it is obvious that Jesus had special things in mind for her. And why not, for it is only she of all of the disciples who understood his words and his purpose.

I also think that Jesus' final admonition to Mary has been misinterpreted by the church over the years. "Noli me tangere" is understood to mean that Mary is not to touch him but I think that it means "do not cling to me" because the body which you once knew has been changed, do not cling to the old but embrace the new.

And so Mary does, she runs from the Garden and tells the others of his Resurrection. A woman, perhaps one who was once outcast, is the first to preach the Good News of Jesus' resurrection.

We know little of Mary's activities after this. The church shunts her off into relative obscurity and rejects the gnostic writings attributed to her in one bold stroke with all other gnostic writings as though none of them will enable us to better comprehend who and/or what Jesus was.

On this feast day of Mary of Magdala, I invite you to seek out her Gospel, perhaps some of the legends concerning her and expand your mind and your faith.

Beannachd Dia Dhuit (Blessings of God Be With You)

2009-07-20T10:25:00.000-04:00

May the blessing of light be on you - light without and light within.

May the blessed sunlight shine on you like a great peat fire,

so that stranger and friend may come and warm himself at it.

And may light shine out of the two eyes of you,

like a candle set in the window of a house,

bidding the wanderer come in out of the storm.

And may the blessing of the rain be on you,

may it beat upon your Spirit and wash it fair and clean,

and leave there a shining pool where the blue of Heaven shines,

and sometimes a star.

And may the blessing of the earth be on you,

soft under your feet as you pass along the roads,

soft under you as you lie out on it,

tired at the end of day; and may it rest easy over you when, at last, you lie out under it.

May it rest so lightly over you that your soul may be out from under it quickly;

up and off and on its way to God.

And now may the Lord bless you, and bless you kindly.

Amen

A Scottish blessing

Sunday's sermon a few days early

2009-06-23T01:46:00.002-04:00

This is based on the Gospel reading for Proper 8, Mark 5.21-43:
Though the weatherman might disagree, we are into summer and yet another Independence Day soon approaches...
The Gospel has just been proclaimed, a familiar story...Jesus is heavy into his public ministry and scarcely has a moment alone to recharge his batteries.
Jairus.
His dying daughter.
An unclean woman.
Healings abound.
Does one have anything to do with the other?
Is there a connection between patriotism and the Christian faith?
More specifically, is there some connection between American patriotism and the Christian faith?
Independence Day is about being independent. And we Americans are indeed proud of our so-called independent spirit, our individualism. We speak longingly of the frontier where, when the smoke of a neighbor's chimney became visible, it was time to move on.
But Christianity is about dependence -- dependence on the goodness and grace of God -- and interdependence -- dependence on one another as a body of believers. Christianity is about living in community. It is sometimes said that there is no such thing as a solitary Christian; I have to agree with the truth of that statement except, perhaps, in some very extreme circumstances.
We tend to link the words "God and country" together as if they are somehow grammatically and inseparably joined. However, when we think about it, we know the link isn't always there. An honorable person, a Christian, will, of course, perform their patriotic duties because fellow citizens are dependent upon their doing their part -- but only to the extent the nation's demands do not conflict with God's commands.
The First Commandment forbids us from having any gods other than the one true God -- the God revealed to us in Jesus Christ. We are to be loyal to our nation, but as Christians we are not to worship it.
So, we have to be careful when we celebrate nationhood in the church. Some denominations -- I'm thinking of the Mennonites in particular right now -- do not permit a flag in the church. Now the Mennonites I have known are very responsible American citizens, but they are clear on who is being worshiped in the church -- God and not the state.
But, having said these words of caution, I do think there is a clear link between what America is to stand for and what happens in today's Gospel reading from the fifth chapter of Mark. I think we see an intersection of the Gospel and some of our highest national ideals.
The Gospel story begins with Jesus' return from his trip across the Sea of Galilee in which the great storm was encountered and calmed. He gets out of the boat and is immediately surrounded by a huge crowd of people. Just imagine the scene, the masses of people. Imagine it from the point of view of the people in the crowd. You may have been in a similar situation at some time in your life -- in the midst of a crowd of people straining forward to try to see what's going on, to catch a glimpse of the action. You know how difficult it can be to see anything unless you're fortunate enough to be one of the really tall people in the crowd. And you really can't move except in unity with the crowd as a whole. Yet our Scripture tells us that Jairus comes along and steps right up to Jesus, falling at Jesus' feet. I think that says a lot about Jairus' position in the community. He was a leader of the synagogue and the people must've stood aside for him to make his way to Jesus. He was a Very Important Person.
And Jesus takes Jairus' request seriously. Upon hearing about the condition of Jairus' daughter, Jesus "went with him."
But then there's that woman;
that unclean, outcast of a woman;
that woman who is not supposed to be around anyone;
that woman who has, in almost everyone's eyes, been cursed by the very God Jesus represents. She touches Jesus' cloak, and Jesus feels the power go out from him. So he stops and demands to know who touched him.
Jesus knows that her need is greater than just being healed of the bleeding.
She needs to be accepted into the community.
She needs to be assured that she is not cursed by God.
So Jesus stops and listens to her, and calls her "daughter," and tells her to go in peace.
Jesus takes time for the outcast, for the rejected, for the woman pushed to the very margins of society.
That woman is every bit as important as the daughter of a prestigious synagogue leader. For that matter, she is as important as the synagogue leader himself.
Social standing means absolutely nothing to Jesus.
Jesus welcomes all who seek him.
And, at its best, the United States of America welcomes those who seek new life within its borders.
In the harbor of New York City, on a small island stands a lady who waits to welcome the world. Beneath her feet are the words:
Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!
Oh! How these words reflect the heart of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. They speak words of welcome just like Jesus does. They say all are welcome in this great land, just as all are welcome in Jesus' kingdom.
This is something we can hold up as pleasing to God. This is something worthy of God's blessing.
To the extent that we as a nation live by these words, it is perhaps appropriate to link "country" with "God."
For when we are about the business of welcoming people into community with us, we are doing God's work. That is some of the most important work we do for God. For it is in this welcoming that healing and life comes about.
It is in this welcoming that others can find the eternal life offered by God through Jesus Christ.
The greatness of America is, I believe, largely attributable to its welcoming of peoples "yearning to breathe free" -- Germans, Irish, English, French, Italians, Scandinavians, Poles, Hungarians, Russians. Jamaicans, Haitians, Cubans. Mexicans, Salvadorians, Hondurans, and Ecuadorians. Iraqis, Afghans, and Iranians. We welcomed these people, we continue to welcome these people, into America by allowing them to enter. For this God has blessed us. Sadly, the people of America often do not welcome the newcomers -- we are in fact hostile toward them -- and I think for that reason the blessing is less. The residents of America cannot claim the fullness of the blessing that would have been available to America if we truly opened our hearts to all of the newcomers.
We are to welcome people not just because, as the writer of Hebrews warns, we might be entertaining angels unawares, but because all people possess the image of God. God's people are to be a welcoming people. I can think of nowhere else other than this place, this house of God, this community of believers, for this to be true. We people of Epiphany are indeed a congregation of immigrants. My great-great grandfather arrived in NY from Germany on April 24, 1857, maybe your ancestors did as well. Maybe you came to our country 100 years later or so from a Caribbean island. Maybe you’ve come to the US from a Latin American country post Y2K. Maybe you have more recently arrived from France or Poland. It matters not, for we are indeed a congregation of immigrants and we know what it is like to have been newcomers searching for a welcome.
So, in preparation for this coming Independence Day, I invite you to reflect on your welcoming skills. Our ideals as a nation call us to welcome those from other lands to share in our bounty. But think about welcoming on a more personal level. How welcoming are you to new people in our community? How welcoming are you to our guests or to these new members in our church? Do you greet them at fellowship time and spend some time talking with them? Do you invite them to sit down with you and participate in the refreshments. Or do you just leave that to others? At the potluck, do you make a point of sitting at a table with them and actually talking to them?
Do you do it even if they don't look like your "kind of people"?
Jesus reminds us today that we are not to leave people on the margins, but that we are to welcome them into our fellowship. Let us keep that reminder in our in the front of our hearts and minds as we go out into our world this week.
Our God is a welcoming God. The greatest welcome we can extend to anyone is to invite him or her to join with us at God's table. There is no better way to demonstrate our unity as one people in Christ -- to make the point that in Christ's church NO ONE IS ON THE MARGINS -- than to participate together in the Holy Communion.
As Paul says to the church in Corinth, "Because there is one bread, we who are many are one body, for we all partake of the one bread." In God through Christ Jesus, there is no distinction.
Black, brown, white, or something in between, we who are many are one body.
We who speak English, nosotros que hablamos Español, we who are many are one body, nosotros que son muchos somos un cuerpo.
Male and female, young and not so young, gay or straight, we are one body.
Let us not, here at Epiphany, push any to the margins but, rather, let us welcome each other to the table, the table where God calls us all to be fed by God with the body and blood of the Son, Jesus our Lord. And strengthened by this Holy Meal, may we take the unity that we share here, at this table, with us that we might truly be welcoming people. Amen

From the Desert

2009-06-18T23:51:00.003-04:00

A brother who was insulted by another brother came to Abba Sisois and said to him, "I was hurt by my brother and I want to avenge myself."

The old man tried to console him and said, "Do not do that, my child. Rather leave vengeance to God."

But he said, "I will not quit until I avenge myself."

Then the old man said, "Let us pray, brother." And standing up he said, "O God, we no longer need you to take care of us since we are now able to avenge ourselves."

Hearing these words, the brother fell at the feet of the old man and said, "I am not going to fight with my brother any more. Forgive me, Abba."

Read elsewhere, worth sharing

2009-06-17T22:25:00.003-04:00

O Breath of God,
You moved on the face of the waters and created order out of chaos…
Calm our hearts that we may hear you!

You who spoke light into darkness and pushed the shadows aside…
Drive out our fears and make your face shine upon us!

You who wrestled with Jacob and marked him as you Israel…
Dance with us in our clumsiness and teach us your ways!

We re what you make of us
So we give ourselves to you.

We have only what you have given us
So we give it all back to you.

We become only what you dream for us
As we learn…
over
and over again,
to say “Yes!”

to you…the One
who wrestles and dances
and creates and comforts
and dreams with us
with this world
with all that ever has been and ever will be,
Amen

Monday's Devotion from Epiphany

2009-06-15T01:10:00.000-04:00

Luke 14. 28For which of you, intending to build a tower, does not first sit down and estimate the cost, to see whether he has enough to complete it?...31Or what king, going out to wage war against another king, will not sit down first and consider whether he is able with ten thousand to oppose the one who comes against him with twenty thousand? (NRSV)

Counting the cost. When we are looking to buy a home, we figure out how much we can pay and buy accordingly. When it is time for vacation, we don’t just throw some clothes in a suitcase, jump in the car and take off. No, we’ve spent time planning, where to go, what to take with us, how much it will cost. How much will it cost to follow Jesus?
First, Jesus tells us that it will cost us all of our possessions. It will be really hard to follow Jesus if we are dragging a pile of stuff behind us. Surprisingly, perhaps, we only have record of one person being unable to do this. Can you give up all of your possessions?
Secondly, we are told that we must carry the cross. What does that mean? I think I t means that following Jesus does not grant special privileges. If anything, life often gives us an extra helping of bad because we ought be able to bear it. How’s your cross bearing?
Finally, no earthly person can stand between us and Jesus. Parents, siblings, children. None of them. Unfortunately, there is always one who does. Mirror man. Mirror woman.

The cost seems too much to bear, O Lord, and yet you lay it upon us. Help us bear the cross-ours and others-that we might be faithful followers. Amen

A Desert Father used to say...

2009-06-12T21:33:00.002-04:00

"In the beginning when we got together we used to talk about something that was good for our own souls, and we went up and up, and ascended even to heaven.

But now we get together and spend our time criticizing everything and we drag one another down into the abyss."

Wednesday's Devotion from Epiphany

2009-06-10T00:15:00.001-04:00

Luke 13. 18He said therefore, “What is the kingdom of God like? And to what should I compare it?...20And again he said, “To what should I compare the kingdom of God? (NRSV)

Two things immediately come to mind here. Jesus rarely talks about himself but, rather, he talks a lot about the kingdom of God. Secondly, Jesus rarely repeats himself so I guess he thought this was really important.

The kingdom of God is totally unlike that which most of us experience. It can be an eternal place but I think it is, more importantly, the way that we live our lives together. I, along with a few others refer to it as the kin-dom. It is a place of peace, a non-violent place. It is a place where we no longer erect barriers, one from another. It is a place where no poverty exists— poverty of wealth, poverty of health, even poverty of spirit. It is a place where nations beat their swords into ploughshares and the lion, indeed, lies down with the lamb.

The Baptizer was more right than he knew when he proclaimed the kingdom at hand. Somehow I think that they were a lot closer then than we are now. Somehow I think that we have spent 2000 years moving further away. There have always been glimpses of the kingdom, but that is all. What must we do to grow closer?

The kingdom, O Lord, is that thing just beyond our grasp if and when we reach for it. Help us, then, to work to make our world more kingdom like so that we might recognize Your Kingdom when it comes. Amen

St. Columba

2009-06-09T14:58:00.004-04:00

Columba 521-597

Feast Day 9 June
Columba was born into an Irish royal clan and trained as a priest. He travelled preaching and teaching thoroughout Ireland foundeding several monastries including those at Derry (546) and Durrow (556).

Acording to one legend Columba was condemned by a Synod in 561, possibly due to his part in a dispute over the ownership of a copy of a Gospel which resulted in the deaths of many in the battle of Cooldrevne. Possibly because of the difficulties of separating his family political interests and his religious calling or possibly as a penace he left his beloved Ireland with a group of twelve for exile on Iona, in 563, where he established a monastic community and become the first Abbot of Iona.

Using Iona as a base Columba and his companions travelled widely on mainland preaching to the heathen Picts.

Today many legends and stories still exist about the life of Columba. One of my favourites is found in a " Celtic Miscellany" which has a wonderful 17th Century story about a contemporary of Columba's who went to a hermitage in the wilderness taking nothing with him and whose only companions there were a cock, a mouse and a fly.

The cock used to wake him for Matins at midnight every day. The mouse would nibble his ear and ensure that he slept no longer than five hours and the fly would walk along the psalter as he read and kept his place until he returned the next time. After writing to Columba about these three, his companions unfortuantely all died and he was left alone.

He wrote again to Columba telling him that his congregation had died and Columba replied, "Don't think so much about the death of your flock, as misfortune only comes where there are riches".

Columba died on Iona and is buried there, he comemorated in a tiny Chapel in the recently restored Abbey.

Sources: The Life of Columba by Adomnan of Iona , gives a contemporary account of the Legend of Columba about 100 years after his death.

You can find the 6th Century Rule of St. Columba at http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/columba-rule.html

Monday's Devotion from Epiphany

2009-06-08T00:02:00.000-04:00

Luke 13. 2 He asked them, “Do you think that because these Galileans suffered in this way they were worse sinners than all other Galileans? 3No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all perish as they did. (NRSV)

Devotion: I cannot read this passage without the tragedy of 9/11 coming to mind It was read over and over in the Fall of 2001. The death of innocent citizens from over 90 nations cannot just be dismissed as the demonic actions of a dozen people. “Why does Billy hate me?” cannot be deflected or blamed on Billy’s ignorance. We must look within.
Jesus is not justifying the taking of innocent life. Far from it. These occurrences are not always accidents but sometimes innocent suffer for others. I believe that all of our actions have consequences, intended or not. Bad things do happen to good people, there is no getting round that. When we are involved, we need to understand why. Why did what we do cause something bad? Why did it happen to me? Not to excuse these actions but to find a way to prevent them from happening again.
The President has been in the Middle East. Some continue to condemn his diplomacy, especially with those who have not been our allies. We have to change, not because others want us to, but because we have been pretty self-centered when it comes to dealing with and Jesus calls us on it.

We need to change, Jesus, but we are afraid it will be a sign of weakness. Help us to see you in the faces of others that we might repent. Amen

For Trinity Sunday- St. Patrick's Breastplate

2009-06-07T12:03:00.001-04:00

Lorica of Saint Patrick

I arise today
Through a mighty strength, the invocation of the Trinity,
Through a belief in the Threeness,
Through confession of the Oneness
Of the Creator of creation.

I arise today
Through the strength of Christ's birth and His baptism,
Through the strength of His crucifixion and His burial,
Through the strength of His resurrection and His ascension,
Through the strength of His descent for the judgment of doom.

I arise today
Through the strength of the love of cherubim,
In obedience of angels,
In service of archangels,
In the hope of resurrection to meet with reward,
In the prayers of patriarchs,
In preachings of the apostles,
In faiths of confessors,
In innocence of virgins,
In deeds of righteous men.

I arise today
Through the strength of heaven;
Light of the sun,
Splendor of fire,
Speed of lightning,
Swiftness of the wind,
Depth of the sea,
Stability of the earth,
Firmness of the rock.

I arise today
Through God's strength to pilot me;
God's might to uphold me,
God's wisdom to guide me,
God's eye to look before me,
God's ear to hear me,
God's word to speak for me,
God's hand to guard me,
God's way to lie before me,
God's shield to protect me,
God's hosts to save me
From snares of the devil,
From temptations of vices,
From every one who desires me ill,
Afar and anear,
Alone or in a mulitude.

I summon today all these powers between me and evil,
Against every cruel merciless power that opposes my body and soul,
Against incantations of false prophets,
Against black laws of pagandom,
Against false laws of heretics,
Against craft of idolatry,
Against spells of women and smiths and wizards,
Against every knowledge that corrupts man's body and soul.
Christ shield me today
Against poison, against burning,
Against drowning, against wounding,
So that reward may come to me in abundance.

Christ with me, Christ before me, Christ behind me,
Christ in me, Christ beneath me, Christ above me,
Christ on my right, Christ on my left,
Christ when I lie down, Christ when I sit down,
Christ in the heart of every man who thinks of me,
Christ in the mouth of every man who speaks of me,
Christ in the eye that sees me,
Christ in the ear that hears me.

I arise today
Through a mighty strength, the invocation of the Trinity,
Through a belief in the Threeness,
Through a confession of the Oneness
Of the Creator of creation

St. Patrick (ca. 377)

Wednesday's Devotion from Epiphany

2009-06-03T00:34:00.000-04:00

Luke 11. 11When they bring you before the synagogues, the rulers, and the authorities, do not worry about how you are to defend yourselves or what you are to say; 12for the Holy Spirit will teach you at that very hour what you ought to say.” (NRSV)

Devotion: I have to say that it is one of the biggest excuses in the books. Ask someone to do something in a congregation that means saying something, often something original and the response that you get is “Well, uh, uh, what would I say? I wouldn’t know what to say.” Of course not. They are speaking the truth because we Lutheran Christians have gotten fat and lazy. We have never had (except for painful confirmation exams) to put into words what faith means to us. We have never had to verbalize it, let alone share it with someone other than, perhaps, our closest and dearest. We pay pastors to tell us what we believe and why we believe it. So, we politely demur.

Unfortunately (or, perhaps, fortunately) that no longer suffices. Now, more than ever before, the church is at a crossroads. If it hasn’t lost its identity, it is misunderstood. It can no longer depend upon paid professionals telling it and those around it what it believes. Too many of those paid professionals have been tried and found wanting. Too many of them have been found to be the very real human beings that they are.

It is up to you. Stand up, speak up, figure out who God is to you and why it is important to tell someone else. The Holy Spirit will give you the words.

We are a shy lot, O Lord and are not really sure who you are to us and how we might want to share that with others. Open our hearts, let your Spirit come in. Open our mouths and let your words come out. Amen

Monday's Devotion from Epiphany

2009-06-01T10:05:00.000-04:00

Luke 11. 33“No one after lighting a lamp puts it in a cellar, but on the lampstand so that those who enter may see the light. (NRSV)

When I became active in the church as a teenager, I quickly learned to sing “This Little Light of mine…” It’s a nice ditty, good for kids, VBS and confirmation camp but sometimes I rue that is where we left it.

Nowadays, we only use candles for aroma and more often than not, our lights have dimmer switches that we set down low. Mood things, I guess. Too many of us do that with the Light of Faith, and there are times when, at best, it is a dimly burning wick. Not what Jesus expected, do you think? Lighting our candles and placing them on stands might brighten our rooms, but is that what this is really all about?

Jesus was the Light of the World and it is what he expects of us, as well. Taking a lit candle outdoors even on the cloudiest of days doesn’t seem realistic but, hey, what on the surface that Jesus commands does?

There is a darkness covering our world, darkness threatening to extinguish the spirits of all those we see around us. The good news is that its never too late. Light your candle, take it outside, be a light of the world. The time is now.

Our wicks are trimmed but it hard keeping our candles lit. Enflame our souls and kindle our lights so that the darkness can be again overcome. Amen

The Time is Near

2009-05-30T02:26:00.002-04:00

A few weeks ago, there was little on the television, having lost access to MSNBC due to some digital event which I don't fully understand. I decided to watch the second season of Millenium, the old science fiction/theology series from about 10 years ago. At the end of the credits for each episode, the words "The time is near" appeared on the screen and after a while, I began to ponder the meaning of those words.

This evening it dawned on me (well, if that isn't a contradiction of terms) that those words had particular meaning to me.

When I began writing this blog, it was about 6 months after I had left Hopkins. I had no job, no call and, for all intents and purposes, no church. It was a few months after the most significant relationship in which I had ever been came to yet another end. Unlike the previous endings, it was not to resume. I was alone. Alone in my house in Baltimore. Just me and Lacey, Rachel's dog of whom I had obtained post-marital custody. The two cats had died. My friends distant, if not disappearing altogether. Even my therapist had retired.

I think it was Bettye (who I introduced here early on) who suggested that I was entering desert time. She was, as usual, more right than she could have ever imagined. I was being driven out into the desert for an indeterminate time. Tonight, I came to the realization that I have been in that desert all of this time.

So, as I began, "the time is near." The time to leave the desert is near. It is my intention to reflect upon that desert in the blogs soon to come. But first, I had better write my two weekly devotions for Epiphany. Chuck doesn't need any more stress.

The time is near.

Wednesday's devotion from Epiphany

2009-05-27T01:20:00.002-04:00

Luke 10. 23Then turning to the disciples, Jesus said to them privately, “Blessed are the eyes that see what you see! 24For I tell you that many prophets and kings desired to see what you see, but did not see it, and to hear what you hear, but did not hear it.”
(NRSV)

Our “big C” church has been arguing, along with many other “big C” churches, about homosexuality. It has been, all too often, very ugly. I have often opined that it will take the dying out of one more generation before we make any progress. Sadly.

I have always had hope. I have had hope because I have watched younger generations look at this in entirely different ways. They view others with fewer barriers than have their parents and grandparents. They also, I think, understand Jesus as someone to whom they should listen and not need to protect. They take him at his word and take it to heart.

It has been more of a struggle for the rest of us. We fiercely protect the Church, the Scriptures, even God, as though we have no choice. There are many things God won’t do without our help but this is not one of them.

Jesus is speaking to us as well as to those who follow us. We must remove the blinders which lead us to fail to see those around us as brothers and sisters and not as “different.” We must stop seeing what separates us and start seeing what unites us. There have been times when we have done this, we just aren’t very consistent.

We neither listen or see very well at times, Jesus. Open our eyes, open our ears, so that we may see and hear you in the guise of those we meet. Amen

Monday's Devotion from Epiphany

2009-05-25T01:53:00.000-04:00

Luke 9: 62Jesus said to him, “No one who puts a hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.” (NRSV)

Sometimes, I wish that Jesus wouldn’t have used so many agrarian illustrations. How does one make them relevant to a society that is largely urban, at best suburban? Most people I know are limited to growing things in pots, maybe postage stamp sized gardens but most of these people are not farmers. We tend to take larger scale things for granted as we cruise the produce sections of our mega-marts. I suppose that since he had surrounded himself with a bunch of fisherman that he knew what he was doing.

I think that Jesus is telling us a couple of things here. First, commitment to following him cannot involve a constant looking back at where we have been or what we have left behind. We most focus on what is in front of us, on that which is at hand. We can’t be thinking about what we once did, or what we could have done, but what we are doing, what we should be doing.

Secondly, most of us will never be satisfied contemplating what we have accomplished, we must be continually moving forward. Speaking of relationships, Woody Allen once compared them to a shark that must continue moving forward or it will die. So it is with Jesus and us.

The past, O Lord, is often a safe place to be, We remember the good old days and forget that they probably weren’t as good as we think. Help us, in our following to only focus on the task in front of us, the task which lays ahead. Amen

Wednesday's devotion form Epiphany

2009-05-20T07:30:00.000-04:00

Luke 12. 29And do not keep striving for what you are to eat and what you are to drink, and do not keep worrying. (NRSV)

This is not “Don’t worry, be happy”/Bobbie McPherrin nor is it Joel Osteen/God’s gonna make you rich sort of stuff. Jesus is reminding us that sometimes we spend too much time with that which is beyond our grasp. It is beyond our grasp not to tease us, not to keep us striving, but because God doesn’t think it is something we need.

The kingdom of God, the kingdom of heaven, can be found within all of us. It’s been there all of the time even if we are oblivious to it. When we recognize it, when we become attuned to it, we begin to realize what is important and that, for most of us, what we have is really enough. If we spend as much time tending to the kingdom as we do with ornaments, we come to realize that what Jesus is trying to teach us is true.

Sometimes, however, there are those around us who don’t have enough ornaments, who are unable, on their own, to obtain that which God desires of them. We have to set aside our own stuff and spend time helping them. It’s a kingdom thing.

Help us to be satisfied with what we have and rather than seek other riches take care of the things we have, the things you have given us. But help us also to look for the stuff that others need and deserve. Amen

Monday's Devotion from Epiphany

2009-05-19T00:55:00.001-04:00

Luke 9. 20He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” (NRSV)

It is a question for the ages, a question which Jesus never stops asking. An answer is required, not just of the inner circle of disciples but of all who purport to be disciples. It is not so much a test as it is a reality check. How can we truly be disciples if we do not know the answer to the Master’s question? The answer is not casual-Jesus is my homeboy, Jesus is my BFF, my superhero, my all-in-all, blah blah blah. Which isn’t to say that those things aren’t important-hey are. But what does it mean to me that Jesus is your bud?
The disciples answer Jesus’ question correctly. They do not dwell on the warm and fuzzy but, rather, point out the all encompassing-Jesus is the “Messiah of God.” Yes, I have a personal relationship with Jesus-and so should you-but who Jesus is to me is not who he is to you. What he is-or who he is-for the whole world is what is important and tells us why each of us should have a relationship with him-despite the price he tells us we will pay.
Who do you say that he is?

We have never met you, we have never walked with you, we have never sat at your feet yet we still proclaim you “Messiah.” Help us pick up our crosses and follow you daily. Amen

Monday's Devotion from Epiphany

2009-05-11T22:43:00.002-04:00

Luke 7. 44Then turning toward the woman, he said to Simon, “Do you see this woman? I entered your house; you gave me no water for my feet, but she has bathed my feet with her tears and dried them with her hair. (NRSV)

Jesus is speaking to his host, Simon, an overly pious man. He is speaking to a religious leader of his time, a time in which women were treated as second class citizens, at best.

“Do you see women? Do you see them not as objects to abuse but as human beings to honor and cherish? ? Do you see how you have hurt them? Do you see how you have terrified them, punished them, oppressed them, starved them, raped them, and killed them? Do you see the presence of God in women?”

Jesus is speaking to us because times have not changed all. I doubt we would be anymore comfortable than Simon. Both in church and society, women are all too often treated as second class citizens, at best.

In my life, the most significant woman (my most significant partner) I have known was sexually abused as a child from the time she was nine until she was old enough to escape the house. Yet this woman has been able to show me a God who I never could have imagined without her help. As rocky as our relationship has been (people who have been abused have a great deal of trouble with the issue of trust), I still cherish her and all that she has taught me. Yes, Jesus, I see her.

You created us equal in your sight but we have failed to live out that equality. Forgive us our sins, increase our faith that we might truly go in peace. Amen

My friend, Calvin Moreland

2009-05-08T15:33:00.002-04:00

If, by chance you read this today, and it is before 7:00 pm Baltimore time, stop and say a prayer for my friend Cal. I got to know Cal at St Mark's Church in Baltimore when I started attending their Thursday evening Eucharist. St. Mark's is a wonderful old church, steeped in Anglo-Catholic Lutheranism. The congregation is probably a 50-50 mix of gays and straights, young and old. Cal wasn't straight nor was he young although he once may have been both. Or at least acted that way. Every Thursday night, Cal would greet me, call me "Padre" and ask how my week had been as though he actually cared. Truth be told, he did care and I appreciated it a whole hell of a lot and more, I think, than he knew.
Back in the day, Cal started out as a Lutheran pastor. I don't know if he was aware of his homosexuality or not then because, like many gay pastors, he married, had a family. Like some gay pastors, he finally got to the point where the church and he parted ways. He divorced, maintained a good relationship with all and eventually settled down with Billy Slaughter. On the surface, they seemed an odd couple but it was evident to all who really knew them that they loved each other deeply. Through it all, Cal never left the church, it left him. Cal never stopped serving the church, the church took his service for granted
I regret never really learning Cal's story when I lived in Baltimore. I guess it was enough at the time just to know he was my friend. I hope I was his, too.

In paradisum deducant te Angeli; in tuo adventu suscipiant te martyres, et perducant te in civitatem sanctam Ierusalem. Chorus angelorum te suscipiat, et cum Lazaro quondam paupere æternam habeas requiem.

May angels lead you into Paradise; may the martyrs receive you at your coming and lead you to the holy city of Jerusalem. May a choir of angels receive you, and with Lazarus, who once was poor, may you have eternal rest.

Rest in peace, my friend Cal.

Church Stuff-More or less

"It Gets Better" for the Trevor Project

My sermon for 09/11/11

The Day the Music Died

Welovethegays

When Jesus came to dinner

Three for the price of one: Eucharistic Prayers for the Feast of All Saints (November 1)

The Eucharistic Prayer for the Feast of the Reformation (October 31)

The Eucharistic Prayer for the Commemoration of James Hannington and his companions, Martyrs (October 29)

The Eucharistic Prayer for the Feast of St. Simon and St. Jude, Apostles (October 28)

The Eucharistic Prayer for the Feast of St. Luke, Evangelist (October 18)

Remembering the lost

Eucharistic Prayer for a festival for the Blessings of Animals usually near the Feast of St. Francis (Oct. 4)

The Eucharistic Prayers for the Feast of St. Michael and All Angels (September 29) (A twofer)

The Eucharistic Prayer for the Feast of Hildegard of Bingen, Visionary (September 17)

The Eucharistic Prayer for the Feast of the Holy Cross (September 14)

Great Thanksgiving: Remembrance/Anniversary of 9/11

The Eucharistic Prayer for the Feast of Constance and her companions, Martyrs of Memphis (September 9)

The Eucharistic Prayer for the Feast of Mary, Mother of Our Lord (August 15)

The Eucharistic Prayer I for the Transfiguration of Our Lord

The Eucharistic Prayer for the Feast of Saints Mary and Martha of Bethany, Companions of Jesus

Rite of Reception

The Eucharistic Prayer for the Feast of St. Mary Magdalene, Apostle to the Apostles and Companion of Our Lord

The Eucharistic Prayer for the Feast of St. Peter and St. Paul, Apostles

Prayer for the Summer Solstice

The Eucharistic Prayer for the Feast of St. Barnabas, Apostles

The Eucharistic Prayer for the Commemoration of The Martyrs of Uganda (June 3)

The Eucharistic Prayer for the Commemoration of Blandina and Her Companions, Martyrs

Mass at the Beach 8 AM

Lorica for Trinity Sunday

Dragons, in honor of St. George's Day

Yom HaShoah 2010

Solemn Reproaches

A CELTIC PRAYER FOR PRIESTS

Oscar Romero, Presente

A Prayer of Hope: A Prayer from Chile

Leonard Cohen on the state of Christianity

"To care for the poor; To lighten everyone's burden; To comfort the suffering..."

Haiti Cries . . . And We Cry With Them

A Haitian Prayer

The Work of Christmas

When the world was dark

Nun Danket Alle Gott

It is not the critic who counts

Unofficial (even unaware) Guest Blogger Mark Hanson

...but She is still my mother.

Growing Deep in God's Word

Feast of Mary of Magdala

Beannachd Dia Dhuit (Blessings of God Be With You)

Sunday's sermon a few days early

From the Desert

Read elsewhere, worth sharing

Monday's Devotion from Epiphany

A Desert Father used to say...

Wednesday's Devotion from Epiphany

St. Columba

Columba 521-597

Feast Day 9 JuneColumba was born into an Irish royal clan and trained as a priest. He travelled preaching and teaching thoroughout Ireland foundeding several monastries including those at Derry (546) and Durrow (556).

Monday's Devotion from Epiphany

For Trinity Sunday- St. Patrick's Breastplate

Wednesday's Devotion from Epiphany

Monday's Devotion from Epiphany

The Time is Near

Wednesday's devotion from Epiphany

Monday's Devotion from Epiphany

Wednesday's devotion form Epiphany

Monday's Devotion from Epiphany

Monday's Devotion from Epiphany

My friend, Calvin Moreland

Feast Day 9 June
Columba was born into an Irish royal clan and trained as a priest. He travelled preaching and teaching thoroughout Ireland foundeding several monastries including those at Derry (546) and Durrow (556).