Make her a priest in your Church

Fourteen years ago today...

and to observe the day, I read GOEs. It seems fitting.

Compa made my chasuble and stole. The photo doesn't show the top panel that is a light purple. The outline of the mountains is of Killington and Pico. The lining of the chasuble is a wonderful mallard drake green. Sumptuous.

Oh, we were so much younger then....

Epiphany 3A

The lectionary has chosen gospel readings that for the past three weeks have hammered out one theme: Jesus’ invitation to ‘Follow me,’ and our response to his invitation. The gospel reading this morning from Matthew picks up in the story of Jesus’ calling the disciples and records the response of a few. It is worth pausing a short while to consider once again Jesus’ call to us and our response.

What has happened in the gospel story since the last time we heard from Matthew two weeks ago? Jesus has been baptised by the Holy Spirit and then withdraws to the desert to grapple with temptation and his understanding of what it means to obey God. We will hear that story on the first Sunday of Lent.

Now Jesus begins his public life of ministry. John the Baptist’s mission has ended abruptly and, as we will later find out, brutally. Jesus comes on the scene having chosen Galilee, a marginal region despised by the Jews from the capital and by the system. The province is close to pagans, and its somewhat mixed religion is suspect in the eyes of those clinging to cultic purity. Matthew quotes Isaiah’s words, calling it Galilee of the nations or of the pagans — the true light will shine before those who are closer to the darkness. This is an early prelude of the final commissioning of the risen Jesus in which he will charge the disciples to make disciples of all nations, all peoples. (It is useful to keep Matthew 28.19, this commissioning, in mind throughout the year as we hear from the gospel since it is one of the fundamental messages of the gospel.)

The great teaching will start soon in the sermon on the mount but this text gives a summary of its essential elements to situate the framework and the personages in a kind of introduction. The kingdom is near; its contributions and treasures will be specified later. At this point, people are invited to repent and to turn their lives around. In a summary, Matthew presents Jesus in his teaching mission ‘proclaiming the good news of the kingdom.’ At the same time, the works of Jesus show that the announced kingdom is already being fulfilled; it is already working—the healings confirm the validity and power of the proclaimed message.

Between that message and the many who will receive it, the initial framework of Jesus’ public life is completed by his fundamental call to the disciples. He invites them into his mission and, in crucial words, ‘they follow[ed] him.’ There are two sets of brothers. Jesus finds them in their family and work environment, engaged in their daily lives, in the daily routine, and proposes another option for them, to go fishing for others. Without really knowing what they are getting themselves into, they drop everything to follow Jesus.

What does that really mean? Think about your daily routine, whatever it is. Day in, day out, most of us do pretty much the same thing. This workday routine is familiar, and most of the time it fits. It locates us, defines our place in the scheme of things, provides a sense of security and shapes our identity. Our role comes with its own lore, its own language and its own rhythm. Haven’t you ever started a new job and the first week was spent learning the local idiom and peculiarities? We are identified by what we do and when we want to, we promote our identity by saying, ‘I am a… teacher, nurse, shop-owner, business woman, lawyer, doctor, retired, stay-at-home parent,’ whatever.

Then into this world of known habit, Jesus enters. ‘Follow me,’ he announces calling each one of us by name. Jesus summons us to follow him and leave all our nets (and nests) behind. There is a call here that demands a response, and a mystery in the invitation, for it comes from God. For those fishermen, the word goes out and does not return empty. Think of the nets dropped where they are, the boats dragged up on the shore and left. Call and response. ‘Follow me,’ Jesus calls and they drop everything and go.

We get the same invitation at our baptism. Jesus walks into our world and calls us to follow him. Jesus calls us by name and invites us to be disciples. ‘Follow me,’ Jesus says to the church. ‘Leave your nets and follow me.’

Now clearly not all of us can drop everything and follow Jesus in quite the way the early disciples did. In many cases that would be irresponsible. But, we are called through our baptism, to come together as the body of Christ — the church, the ecclesia, the gathered ones — to share in the work of Christ. Paradoxically, by sharing in the work of Christ, we are led right back into the world again. We may find our nets where we dropped them, but we have been changed and energised through the power of the Holy Spirit to do what God calls us to do in our lives and community. We do not see the world as we did before.

As followers of Jesus, as the baptised, we are not allowed to stay at home, doing our own thing. We are not even allowed to be alone, safe and secure in our righteousness. We are asked to associate ourselves with Jesus and with one another in the body of Christ, the church, to bring about justice to a world that desperately needs it. We are called, in the words of the prophet Micah ‘to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with [our] God.’ We are called to live out the baptismal covenant in our daily lives and routines.

For two Sundays running, we affirmed that covenant. Perhaps now with a little distance we can think about what exactly that means in this day and age… because, in the words of hymn 661, ‘the peace of God it is no peace…’ and following Jesus will cost us, too.

God has called us as a people of faith to proclaim a new realm, the Reign of God, and to proclaim this as much by our actions as by our words. God’s dream is for the transformation of this world of ours, where God’s purpose will be done here on earth, even as it is in heaven… but some times we must live and serve faithfully in the face of intractable realties.

Some times we must live and serve faithfully and not be captured by our desire for results. It is like teaching and having no idea what one’s impact will be on the student and trusting even though the results are invisible.

Sometimes we are call not to be a solution, but a sign, a witness to God’s dream. When we pray and work for peace and the end of violence as a solution to things in this world, we have to be ready to witness by word and action, take risks, and yet not see much happen as a result of our witness and prayer. Yet we know that prayer can work wonders so we keep at it.

Some times we are called simply to show up, to be present when we can do nothing… sitting for hours by someone who has just found out awful news; befriending someone whose entire life has been destroyed and who has to start all over again; being in solidarity, sharing in the struggles and hope of the aching peoples of the world, whether in Palestine or El Salvador… simply being present, silently some times, when no spoken word, no action is adequate.

Sometimes we are called to be prophets, that is, to know and believe deeply in our hearts the dream of God, and to live and share that dream and witness faithfully in our lives, like a mustard seed, a dab of leaven, trusting that God, not us, will make something of this witness.

The above examples are what it means in part to follow Jesus, to become one of his disciples. The message of today’s Gospel, and of the entire Epiphany Season, is that each one of us called to follow, to be faithful, to make some sacrifices for what matters, to take risks sometimes for love’s sake, and to be so rooted together in God’s Good News of love, forgiveness and hope, that we are not paralyzed nor dispirited by the struggles that at times overwhelm us.

We can’t do it on our own, however; the task would be far too great and overwhelming. We need one another, companion disciples of Jesus, to walk with us on the way and to pray without ceasing.

God, you are our light, our lamp,
in you all our days are bright.
Light the way of our hearts
and of our minds
that we may know your will
and the longings of our own hearts.
Teach us to follow where you lead,
and to become the ones you love,
that in all our choices,
and in the choices of others reflecting your will,
We may be the ones you desire us to be
and serve where you call.
Give us courage when the light is dim,
faithfulness to live with the light we have,
and a holy wonder in your steadying arms,
and to you we will always give thanks.
Amen.

Remain Episcopal

Well, I spent a good two or three hours this afternoon watching the events taking place in Hanford CA and blogging at Jake's Place about it (that is, transcribing some of what PHOD Bonnie Anderson had to say). (Look at the 200+ comment thread for the live videocast). It was moving to quasi-participate in the eucharist, that is, to watch but not partake.

If I am tired, I can only imagine how the folks out there must feel.

And I am utterly amazed with the technology we have that we are able to participate vicariously in such a gathering.

The photo is of Saint John's Lodi, one of the congregations that has voted to 'remain Episcopal.' My Clergy Leadership Project friend, Rick, former rector of the congregation was also founder of Remain Episcopal. He's not longer there but surely was there today in spirit (maybe he was!).

Prayers continue for all of them.

Songs of thankfulness and praise

Good news, really. You've been praying for Naomi, that she have hope. Yesterday she had CT and MRI scans and today she found out the numbers and they are improving. The chemo has knocked off three of the seven tumours — one in each lung, the one on her liver are totally gone. The other lung tumour has shrunk 5mm. Next week they'll do an extensive MRI on her foot (the 'boulder' as she calls it since it's the original site), shoulder and spine. She refers to her tumours as 'rocks' and has the imagine of squeezing them away. So you all keep praying and she'll keep squeezing.

[photo taken from here.]

Another much smaller thanksgiving is that I saw Miss Funky Paws giving herself a full bath for the first time since I took her in. She is coming out of her depression and now is alive enough to groom herself. That, too, is good news albeit on a smaller scale.

Friday Cat Blogging

OK, a bunch of photos, mostly of my father's cat and two of the four from here.

First, a movie (at the bottom of the post)! It's Young Guy playing with a new toy (that now has been destroyed).

My father's cat likes to sleep in front of the fireplace. Nice spot for her.


My father built this tower for his nearly 18 year-old cat. She has discovered that if she gets up on it, she'll get scritches and my father likes it because it is easier on his poor shoulders than trying to rub her head through the banister.


Here she is on the top step of the tower. Note her reflection in the picture window.


This toy now has been destroyed — Young Guy managed to separate the fuzzy red ball from the red legs. I don't know now if the toy will hold any further interest.


Miss Funky Paws has another place to sleep. Since I took that photo, she has managed to get rid of the mat that she had on her hindquarters.

Dondequiera vayas

I don't know if I am coming or going and for that reason I am not terribly focused.

I made a quick trip down to my parents' (250 miles one way) to check up on them and see how they are doing. I confess that it's always tiring so rather than try to create an interesting post, which I can't, instead I leave you with a classic of M. C. Escher.

Sister moon

Late night, 5 degrees out, an almost-full moon looks over us.

Time to hang it up. Sleep tight.

Epiphany 2A

One day, about halfway through this year’s trek on the Camino we came across a covered well on top of which was an assortment of goodies left for the weary pilgrim — what people walking the Appalachian Trail would call, ‘Trail Magic.’ In this case, there was a styrofoam chest with goodies inside, a tin of tea, a thermos of hot water, some oranges, artichokes under a little Turkish-looking net cover (that absolutely fascinated me), some biscuits and crackers in wooden boxes, and even some chocolate. On the ground and in the trees were some votives as well as on the lid of the well. Someone had written, ‘¡Hola Peregrinos! Hay café’ and instructions on how to make it. The entire scene was astounding and restful and even looking at my photograph nine months later, I am moved by the generosity of the souls who shared themselves with the hungry pilgrim.


We later found out that the people behind this little oasis were an English couple who had walked the Camino. They were so moved by their journey that they dropped everything and moved to Spain so that they could accompany pilgrims. Somehow their hearts were touched so deeply that they up and moved, in their way to follow God, or Jesus, or the pilgrim spirit — I don’t know which for sure but something holy moved them.

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If Jesus were to call you to follow him, could you do it?

That is what this morning’s gospel is all about when we hear Jesus say to the disciples: What are you looking for? Come and see.

These two sentences — ‘What do you seek? Come and see’ — frame the Gospel of John and they also frame our meditation this morning about seeking and proclaiming Jesus Christ.

In the Fourth Gospel, we learn the question we are to ask, and what we are to seek; we learn that we are both witnesses to Jesus’ coming and to Jesus’ resurrection. In this particular gospel reading, we learn the question about seeking, the identification of Jesus as teacher, the question of where Jesus is staying or going, and we receive an invitation to discipleship.

Most important, Jesus’ question, which introduces these important ideas, shows that Jesus is starting to do the work for which he has been sent. Jesus’ first words in this gospel are a question that he addresses everyone who will follow him, ‘What are you looking for?’ By this the Gospel writer implies more than an ordinary request for walking after Jesus.

This question touches on the basic need of humanity that causes us to turn to God, and the answer of the disciples must be interpreted on the same level. When they ask, ‘Where are you staying?,’ they are really asking, ‘Where is God?’ And the answer is that where Jesus abides, so there is God the Father. Jesus is where we are to abide — he in us and we in him. We wish to stay or dwell with God; we seek constantly to escape time, change, and death, we seek to find something that is lasting. Jesus answers our question with the all-embracing challenge to faith: ‘Come and see.’ By answering thusly, Jesus is really saying, ‘Follow me. Come and know who I am.’

So from the Gospel of John, we are given this morning a question and an answer that we are to take with us in life:
What do you seek?

God’s glory above all; Jesus Christ above all…. Through Christ, we are led to God’s glory.

God’s glory in Jesus Christ, as found in our brothers and sisters who are made in the image of God. As those who have been baptised as Jesus Christ’s own, we are called to love and serve one another as Christ loves us.

But even before we can begin to find those truths, we must live up to Jesus’ answer to our question, ‘Come and see.’ If we do not ourselves come and see where Christ abides, if we do not ourselves follow Christ wherever that might lead us, then we cannot speak to the glory of God.

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So, back to the original question: if Jesus were to call you to follow him, could you do it?

Could you drop everything? Could you leave behind the phone messages, the work; leave your spouse — write a note and leave it on the table saying, ‘I’ve gone walking with Jesus?’, leave behind your grandmother’s dinner plates, the cats!, the comforts of your favourite easy chair?

Could you follow Jesus, or would you try to bargain saying, ‘Can’t I put some of this stuff in storage just in case it turns out not to be so much fun following Jesus?’?

How can you follow Jesus, when it seems he has nothing to offer you? — no multi-million dollar contract, why, he doesn’t even have a halo or trail glory after him!

If Jesus were to call you, could you hear it and know it is really Jesus?

How do you know when it is Jesus calling anyway? When you have a longing desire to know and to hear God’s call and follow it without thinking, then it is true.

How do you know it is Jesus calling? By trust. We trust Christ to find the truth, and to learn what it means to live in Christ’s hope, promise and light. And we know if the call is from God when it comprises the following four characteristics.

First, following Christ costs something. There is a sense of loss that can come with following Christ. Following Christ involves giving up our lives, giving them over to God’s desire, realising that sometimes God’s desire is not always our desire. Following Christ costs something of ourselves, a giving up of our selves, our souls, and bodies. But it does not end there.

Second, we follow Christ on behalf of others. Following Christ is not just a personal event; it is something that takes place in community with others. Our Christian pilgrimage is one that is shared. We have land-marks along the way to encourage one another such as reaffirmation of baptismal vows or confirmation; we have our regular weekly gathering of the eucharist to help one another. In our Christian pilgrimage, we promise we will seek and serve Christ in one another, loving our neighbours as our selves. So our faith journey involves others. Maybe that also is a cost, but it can be a joy, too.

Third and fourth, when we follow Christ with all our heart, soul and mind, our life becomes more full and our community becomes stronger.

•Both are enriched by participation in a communion of companion believers.

•Both are enriched by hope, by promise and by trust.

•Both are enriched because Christ asks us to stretch ourselves a little more, a little harder than we might otherwise.

•Both are enriched, precisely because we are asked to give of ourselves, yes — to sacrifice our selves for one another.

What a radical idea for this day and age! Saint Francis hit this idea right on the nail when he wrote, ‘For it is in giving that we receive; it is pardoning that we are pardoned; it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.’
It is costly to follow Christ, make no doubt about it, but in that following come ineffable joys.

The 17th century poet, George Herbert, put into words most exquisite what it means to follow Christ.

Come, my Way, my Truth, my Life:
such a way as gives us breath;
such a truth as ends all strife;
such a life as killeth death.

Come, my Light, my Feast, my Strength:
such a light as shows a feast;
such a feast as mends in length;
such a strength as makes his guest.

Come my Joy, my Love, my Heart:
such a joy as none can move;
such a love as none can part;
such a heart as joys in love.
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So the question remains…

When Jesus invites us to ‘come and see,’ will we follow?

When Jesus invites us to ‘come and see,’ will we go without second thoughts?

If Jesus is our Way, our Truth, our Life, our Light, our Feast, our Strength, our Joy, our Love and our Heart, why, then, count the costs? Let’s go.

Oh that it be

Thou, Who at Thy first Eucharist didst pray
That all Thy Church might be forever one,
Grant us that every Eucharist to say
With longing heart and soul, “Thy will be done.”
O may we all one bread, one body be,
Through this blest sacrament of unity.

For all Thy Church, O Lord, we intercede;
Make Thou our sad divisions soon to cease;
Draw us the nearer each to each, we plead,
By drawing all to Thee, O Prince of Peace;
Thus may we all one bread, one body be,
Through this blest sacrament of unity.

So, Lord, at length when sacraments shall cease,
May we be one with all Thy Church above,
One with Thy saints in one unbroken peace,
One with Thy saints in one unbounded love;
More blessèd still, in peace and love to be
One with the Trinity in Unity.

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We always sing this hymn as the offertory on Maundy Thursday so it carries with it the overtones of Holy Week.

Today the choir sang this hymn this morning as the offertory anthem (ever since arriving I have sung in our acapella choir... this morning a quartet). Usually I am pretty good about keeping my own feelings out of the picture on Sunday morning but at coffee hour this morning I finally wept as I tried to say to the choir director and choir member that the words to this hymn made me so incredibly sad.

Even as I inwardly fulminate at the craziness that is taking place in San Joaquin, Fort Worth and Pittsburgh, even as I believe in my heart that the leadership there is horribly misguided, I realise the toll that all this takes. It's not about me; the tears this morning were for all the people in those places who have been so hurt and whose faith may have been irrevocably damaged. The tears are for this hope so eloquently expressed and the recognition of how far within our own church we have travelled. The tears are bewilderment at those loud voices who hate this church so much but remain within it when their hatred is destroying them and others. And they are for this church that I so love.


Nancy Roth in New Every Morning (Year C)*, writes about this hymn by comparing unity to George Seurat's Un dimanche à la Grande Jatte (I wrote a term paper long, long ago on this work and the mathematics that lay behind his pointillism). She describes his technique of pointillism that is 'based on what happens to the human eye when it sees different colors placed next to one another: the many dots become one color, which glows in a way that a flat expanse of one shade of paint could never do.' She refers to the painting that is at the Art Institute of Chicago: 'If you look closely... you see that no figure is outlined: the entire painting is like a mosaic of dots of different colors.'

She then goes on to compare this painting with ecumenism. I think her words about ecumenism could just as well fit the whole of The Episcopal Church:

'"Color and light" might be a good motto for the ecumenical movement, as well as for the differences within a denomination or parish. Our differences can either be divisive or they can be exciting — like the color and light of Seurat's paintings. To make it possible for the latter to happen, we need not give up our cherished beliefs or even say that they do not matter. Instead, we need only to let go of our desire to force our beliefs on others. There are serious issues which threaten to divide us. But when we refuse to become enemies, when we dare to talk with one another, we are like the dots of bright orange or pink or red that Seurat carefully placed on his canvases, living side by side.

'It is, I think, the only way that Christians today can truly be "forever one." Each dot retains its integrity; but together, they are a new creation, and a beautiful one: color and light.'


* (New York, NY: Church Publishing, 2000, 130-31).

One year from today

One year from today, on a Tuesday, the US will inaugurate a new president. You know the bumper stickers: 01-20-09.

Oh pleeeease! May it not be any of the Republican crowd currently running.

The small photo is of JFK's inauguration so long ago. Life wasn't rosy then either, no, we had a long way to go on civil rights, but somehow that era seems so much better. (In retrospect, it wasn't.) But at least we weren't dealing with a drive to establish a theocracy and seeing who could be more 'holy' than the next and beating a very dead horse (Ronald Reagan).

De acuerdo

Puttering around the web and blogosphere, I ran across this logo. If you google it, you'll find that there is a blog devoted to this action. The last time this group of bloggers 'swarmed' was on Easter. For those of you who know me and know where I stand politically, I don't think that you'll find it a surprise that I am dreading our government becoming more and more of a theocracy. The thought is terrifying. All I can see is a world like Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale, a story that scared me when I read it back in 1991.

I won't go as far as putting this logo in the sidebar, but I sympathise with the sentiment... especially as I read more and more of Hucklebee's words. Those pesky gays and lesbians? Get rid of them, lock them up. The US constitution? Change it so it reflects an evangelical fundamentalist's understanding of God.

Time to go read Karen Armstrong's The Battle for God, which I have had since it came out eight years ago (has it been that long? Yes, pre-September 11th 2001). She writes in the preface that can be found in the paperback edition (which I printed out from online somewhere):

'[O]nce people begin to use religion to justify hatred and killing, and thus abandon the compassionate ethic of all the great world religions, they have embarked on a course that represents a defeat for faith. This aggressive piety can tip some of its more extreme proponents into a moral darkness that endangers us all. If fundamentalists in all three faiths [Christianity, Judaism, Islam] are beginning to embrace more radical and nihilistic creeds, this is a truly perilous development. It is all the more important, therefore, that we learn to understand what lies behind this profound desperation and understand what impels fundamentalists to act as they do....'

People of the United States, wake up!

[Tengrain who does amazing (and naughty) things had this article:

Lilly Ledbetter worked at Goodyear Tire & Rubber for 19 years. She was a good employee, got to work on time, did her job day in and day out, and only learned after she retired that she earned considerably less than the men she worked with who were doing the same job… Ledbetter filed a lawsuit, and initially was awarded $3 million in damages. The case went all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, where by a decision of 5-4 the Justices reversed the lower court ruling. It's by following TG's link that I found the logo above.]

Friday cat blogging

A little late and not all the photos I wanted to put up but I've run out of time and energy.


There's a towel between Young Guy and Orange Guy; neither can see the other but they know the other is there. Young Guy is playing with a new toy that Orange Guy thinks is cool.


Here's the new toy in action that all three think is so great because you can flip it up in the air, toss it around and kill it. Young Guy carries it around and drops it at my feet ready for me to throw it so he can play fetch.

I'll add to this page tomorrow but it's time for bed.

How true

from I can has cheezburger

The icebox

I knew I was in trouble last night when I went downstairs to turn off the kitchen lights. It was too cold in the front hall, even if it was 5 degrees outside. But it was close to midnight and I didn't feel like dealing with it.

This morning, when I woke up at 7.45 and stuck my head fully out from under the two blankets, I knew. It was just a question of how bad.

47 downstairs and 50 upstairs.

Even for a Vermonter, that's cold. The cats were cold, too, sitting there glaring at me with all their fur stuck out for extra warmth. It was a three-cat night because they wanted my body heat and, in my sleep, I was glad for theirs.

So mid-morning, Young Guy decided to join me where he thought it might be warmer. What you can't tell is that I had on a turtleneck, two wool sweaters and a wool vest and then wrapped myself up in a nice puff. That purple thing that makes me look like a mummy is a small quilt throw that comes in handy.

The furnace shut-down wasn't because the oil tank was empty, though it was close to. I missed (because I was on the phone and didn't get to talk to the repairman — I know it was because the local oil company doesn't have any women repair people) what the problem was with the furnace but eventually, about 11.00, I heard the creaking noise the radiators make when the water is coming through and for some reason, I could also smell the heat.

Even now, the house isn't totally back up to temperature though the living room (right over the furnace) is warm.

I may have to take a shower to thaw out because I am still chilled.

Even though the house isn't mine, I love it dearly but I do wish there were a stove downstairs for these moments when the furnace quits.

Small thing, however. There are people who live in the streets who have nowhere to go, nowhere to get warm. May God have mercy on them tonight as it will snow.

All in a day

All winter long I have been smelling skunk. When it has warmed up, the smell has been particularly strong. I figured they had moved in under the ramp.

This morning the nursery school teacher solved the mystery. It's kind of sad but mostly gross.

By the corner of the outside of the parish house foyer, in the snow and ice, is a small arrow. She thinks that someone shot the skunk with it but the animal didn't die outright, it wandered over here where it finally died. So we've been smelling a rotting skunk all winter.

So, add that to my list of wondrous achievements. Come thaw, I am going to have to dig that thing out and dispose of it. It ranks on the level with cleaning up a bathroom after people have sicked it up. And people want to get ordained to parish ministry?!

Last night the vestry gently chewed me out for getting up on the roof last week. But I was desperate. My office was getting soaked.

Again, with all that is going on in the world, you can allegorise this as you see fit.

Lord, it is night.

At the end of a long day there isn't that much in me left to write.

My calendar doesn't look like this because I have a sticker for the Anglican Episcopal Church of El Salvador on it as well as a sticker of the country's seal. It helps distinguish my calendar from other people's though most people use palm pilots now.

At this hour, an almost half moon faces me, high in the western sky.

As for today...

clergy day — 20% of the clergy, if that, showed up for clergy day which is a four-hour chunk of the day

followed by chatting with two people

then coming home and working with the parish treasurer on 2008 budget and the end of year 2007 actuals

and then two-hour vestry meeting at which we passed a four-figure deficit budget for 2008. At least we got it down from a five-figure deficit and the proposed deficit is less than half of that five-figure deficit

and now unwinding to go to bed.

The hardest part of the day was spending six hours sitting on metal folding chairs. My leg muscles have total spazzed out and tightened up. Tomorrow, rowing will be interesting.

But it is night. What has been done has been done; what hasn't hasn't. Let it be.

Small surprise that is more than what meets the eye

A surprise is, by its nature, unexpected. Nonetheless, I was amazed to realise this morning that the little African violet has escaped detection and, therefore, destruction from Young Guy, who attacks all the plants that are on the shelf over the kitchen sink. He gets up in the window as I am preparing their meals and chomps off their leaves.

Those brave little flowers along with my super leggy geraniums are about the sole glimpse of spring we'll see here for a long time yet. (Compare this with someone down in Kentucky who is crowing about the snowdrops already peeking their heads up, something I won't see until April.)

The water bottle in the background is the sole surviving Episcopal Relief and Development bottle I have. The other week when the temperature was in the sub-zero region, I tried to bring both frozen bottles into the house to thaw out. I dropped one on the shed floor (cement) and though the bottle is made out of plastic, it shattered.

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You can allegorise both thoughts to your heart's content... I don't have it in me for deep thoughts.

Perhaps that I have been carrying all day with me my mother's call this morning. She's trying to figure out what to write (she is of the school that one sends out sympathy notes as soon as possible) to someone my age or thereabouts from my hometown, whose husband jumped in front of a commuter train last Thursday. The only clue they have to his suicide is a letter of termination from his employer that he would have received that day but I would hazard there was a lot more going on. All I can pray is that he find in death the peace he couldn't find in life. And I pray for his widow and their two children who have to deal with the aftermath of his violent and tragic act.

So let that little African violet be a sign of life in the midst of death.

What's in a name?

The selection of names of the new split-away 'Anglican' congregations is mind-boggling for the simple reason that the names are about as un-Anglican as you can get.

Here's a recent selection:

New Faith Anglican Church
Solid Rock Anglican Church
New Hope Anglican Church
[added 19 Jan] Somerset (PA) Anglican Fellowship

and so forth. [You can add to the collection.]

I don't get it. For a bunch of people who tout that they only have the 'faith once delivered to the saints' (I defy you to unpack that sentence), what is wrong with naming their churches with a good old saint? Do the saints also have cooties by virtue of having been used by Episcopalians?

I really don't understand. Obviously, I am not supposed to because I am such an apostate.

Anciliary question: what percentage of these congregations are headed by graduates of TESM?

Epiphany 1 • The Baptism of Christ

For such a major piece of our theology, the incarnation, we spend an awfully short amount of time during the year formally focused on it. We linger only two weeks after Christmas, thinking about the ramifications of the incarnation before zooming onto the season of Epiphany. Occasionally, in the course of the year, we might return to ponder the incarnation in its entirety, and use the special preface appointed for the Sanctus as we did for Christmas-tide, but other than that, we’re off and running into a relatively short Epiphany this year, which will end on 6 February.

Strangely, or perhaps for the better?, the lectionary does not allow us time to ponder the depth of meaning of the incarnation. It launches us into Epiphany and the stories of Jesus’ life and ministry.

I love Epiphany not just because it is all about light (unlike a lot of other congregations, we keep our vestments white rather than switch to green because white is what we usually see outside at this time of year and it is brighter) and revelation or because it is the season in which I first presided at the eucharist but because it is when God makes God’s self known to us. For the next four weeks, we walk with Jesus as he shows himself to those around him. He begins to show them what it means that God is made human. And so, we aren’t really that far away, after all, from considering the incarnation.

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While on the Feast of the Epiphany proper (which last week happened to land on a Sunday) we hear the story of the magi coming to worship this newborn king, on the first Sunday after Epiphany, we always hear the account of Jesus’ baptism from one of the three synoptic gospels, Mark, Matthew or Luke.

Matthew underlines that Jesus goes from Galilee to John at the Jordan to be baptised by him. The purpose of Jesus’ journey is clearly expressed—more than what we have in the other gospels. Shortly before, Matthew had stated that many people were coming to be baptised by John. From Nazareth in Galilee, Jesus joins this group of people before starting his mission. John the Baptist, who had said he was not worthy to carry Jesus’ sandals declines to baptise Jesus. Though John had made a profound spiritual impact on the people, he had but prepared the way for the coming of the Son of God.

In Matthew, John the Baptist is the first person to start a conversation with Jesus. What Jesus says in his initial dialogues in each gospel gives extraordinary clues to his work and impact as seen by the gospel writer. In Mark’s gospel, Jesus announces the end of empty times of waiting and hoping, and then proclaims the coming of God’s kingdom. In Luke, Jesus focuses on his anointing with the Holy Spirit and his work of liberation for captives and the oppressed, and his good news for the poor. In John, Jesus asks a leading question, ‘What are you looking for?’

In Matthew, Jesus tells John to get on with the baptising, including him, because, ‘It is proper for us in this way to fulfill all righteousness.’ What Jesus is saying is, ‘It is time for you and me to begin bringing God’s righteousness to its fullest expression, here and now.’ Bringing about God’s righteousness, then, is what Jesus will do throughout the rest of Matthew’s gospel.

Righteousness occupies a central place in Matthew’s gospel. Jesus talks extensively about it on the Sermon on the Mount in the beatitudes (chapter 5). And what is righteousness? It is a gift of God and the work of God, and for that reason it has to be preached by those who believe in God. Righteousness implies a relationship with God and with human beings—that is, life in God as found in the Christian community. Righteousness acknowledges the rights of everyone, especially the defenseless and mistreated. Righteousness, in its essence of relationship with God and others, involves social justice. Love of God, and love of others finds its completion in righteousness. Fulfilling righteousness means striving for the kingdom of God and God’s justice.

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Baptism, then, invites us to be part of that process of bringing about God’s realm and justice. It may seem odd to reaffirm the baptismal covenant just a week after the last time we did, but I think the context is different: last week our bishop, our chief pastor, the one who has vowed himself to be a ‘guardian of the faith,’ led us in that reaffirmation. Today, we say it together as a congregation, a particular faith community as we promise to do our best to live out these five vows. Based on scripture, the five questions spell out what is needed to ‘keep God’s holy will and commandments’ and what it means to be righteous.

Think for a moment about what each promise means. When we promise to participate in the teaching, prayers and the sharing and breaking of the bread, we say that we are a community of pilgrims, all discerning God’s desire for us. We learn together about God’s call for us.

By saying that we will repent and return to God acknowledges the reality of our brokenness and our capacity to sin, to break right relationship with God and our neighbour and ourselves. Regardless, our life journey is that of forgiveness and reconciliation.

We promise to proclaim by word and deed the good news of God in Christ. We are perhaps too reticent in this regard; we can live and show that life is truer than death, that forgiveness is stronger than sin, and love is stronger than fear.
We are called by the core of our being to serve. How many schools and colleges have taken the motto, ‘Not to be served but to serve’? I can think right off hand of two. Christ showed for us what it means to serve; by loving our neighbour, we show them the face of Jesus.

Finally, we are called to be justice-seekers. Being baptized is a way of life, a calling. It is a way that touches all of life: the spiritual, economic, political and social realities of our world. Justice lies at the heart of the biblical message, from the ancient prophets to the message of the Reign of God in Jesus’ ministry. To promote the dignity of every human being often means that we, a community of disciples, struggle against the powers of this world, as Jesus did.

The baptismal covenant, above all other covenants that exist, serves as the compass point for how we lead our lives. As Christians, we operate ethically from these vows. The baptismal covenant helps us with the business of being human, made of flesh, and not being perfect.

But Matthew’s gospel also gives us the idea of being people of the beatitudes. What I know deeply in my heart is that the beatitudes are as important for me, a fallible human being, yet made in the image of God, as the baptismal covenant. Together, these two writings inform my life. I fall way short of living them out, but still, they are there to return to again and again. Knowing that there is a community of enfleshed that is, incarnate, people living with the same commitment to the baptismal covenant and beatitudes also takes away some of the loneliness that invariably comes when I look at the world situation.

Lastly, and this is the most important piece in living according to these two texts is the knowledge that God loves us, no matter what. We, too, are those in whom God delights and forgives before we need it. We are God’s beloved sons and daughters.

So, as angels in the bible say so often, ‘Do not be afraid,’ and as Matthew’s gospel ends with the promise, ‘I am with you until the end of the ages,’ let us together, the community of the baptised, God’s beloved children, incarnate and made in the image of God, go out and do the work we have been given to do, in Christ’s name.

This comes as no surprise

from one of the zillions of web quizzes out there:

You Are 45% Left Brained, 55% Right Brained

The left side of your brain controls verbal ability, attention to detail, and reasoning.

Left brained people are good at communication and persuading others. If you're left brained, you are likely good at math and logic. Your left brain prefers dogs, reading, and quiet.

The right side of your brain is all about creativity and flexibility.

Daring and intuitive, right brained people see the world in their unique way. If you're right brained, you likely have a talent for creative writing and art. Your right brain prefers day dreaming, philosophy, and sports.

It comes as no surprise because I am left-handed but also ambidextrous, intuitive off the scale (to the point that a college professor asked if I had ever taken a course in logic and when I said no, she said it was evident) and love writing, singing and used to do a lot of drawing. My brain freezes with numbers.

But... if the left brained person prefers dogs, does that mean the right brained person prefers cats? Hence, the silliness of the quiz because I also like quiet.

[idea snarfed from RevDrMom and drawing nicked from here. Obviously the drawer is right-handed because if I were posting drawings of my hand, it would be the right one!]

Friday cat blogging

OK everyone, here we go. This nowhere nearly as exciting, entertaining or anticipated as Friday Mr Red Peanut blogging but since the good Padre is off in Darien or somewhere with the kidlins at camp, it will have to suffice.


Here's Miss Funky Paws lounging on her favourite pillow and blanket. You can sort of make out how high the 'thumb' claw is on her hind paw. I am convinced she is a geriatric kitty. So the goal is to make her days as happy as possible, as if there were a way to make up for whatever unknown but evident awful past.


La Doyenne sees it her personal right and challenge to hone in on whatever place someone else has deemed as comfortable. Here she has scrunched herself on top of Orange Guy who was there first.


Ditto for here although they don't look too unhappy.


Here's the view from the top.


And from the side. Sweet.


Eventually Young Guy decides he wants to try out the basket by the desk. Great idea having it there because I always have a cat at hand!

It's ooblick time!

The roads have hardened back up again but this is what they looked like yesterday. Only in mud season/January thaw do we cancel school because the buses can't make it out the back roads.

This road somewhere in Barre exhibits perfectly the goo that Vermonters must navigate during such times. Nothing like a lot of mud on top of frozen ground and then covered with a slight sheen of ice — it makes for really exciting driving, even worse than snow.

Now I know Panamanian mud and it can be daunting but frankly it doesn't have a hold a candle to this stuff.

Back to normal

whatever that is... but I put my office back together this afternoon.

The rectangle on the ceiling is where the leak was; the red rectangle on my desk is the major area that got wet. So... until we are past snow season and future ice dams, I will have the most neat desk in my history because I will keep papers off it. I have moved all my photos off to the side and pray that all the diplomas and certificates will survive if it rains again.

To polish off the scene I went out and bought white switch plate covers that I will put in tomorrow. The brown is so dreary and functional.

Meanwhile, I will spare posting a photo of all the bruises I now have on my knees and legs from crawling around on the roof Monday night. Let's just say that my shins took a beating from the standing seams of the roof. I didn't feel it at the time because my legs were so cold but was aware of it when they thawed out.

Now onto the annual report.

The Sisyphus Files, 3 (this go-round)

Actually, I took a day off from the mess. Instead, I cranked out minutes I absolutely had to get in today and then had a good long visit with Naomi. Your prayers of HOPE for her are working. She will have chemo 4a/5 (or number 7/10 however you want to count) this Friday. She actually is getting a little bit of peach fuzz back on her head and it's coming in lighter than how her hair was before she lost it. Anyway, keep praying for her.


Meanwhile, this is what the office looked like this morning and as it is tonight. Mañana.... I guess I will hang things back up on the wall. The desk, however, I may just cover with the tarp when I am not around.

And so it goes.

Hisssspit

Lisa over at My Manner of Life wanted to know what a hisspit graphic might look like. This one seems as good as any other I could glom off the web.

Hissspit is for those moments in life when words fail me but I need to do something. I think felines have a perfect answer. The recent cause for hissspitting is the discussion on the House of Bishops/Deputies list over the phrase, 'Love the sinner, hate the sin,' which some people think is benign and many of us think is totally offensive since it is only selectively used in relationship to LGBT people.

Too much ink has already been spilled in that listserve, at Lisa's place, at Elizabeth's place and in the comments at Jake's place so I am not further commenting... just hissspitting.

The Sisyphus Files Continued

If only that little figure would continue to move — when I first put it up, it would move, chasing the rock down the hill and then pushing it up again. Oh well. Maybe I need to download it again.

Anyway, ol' Sisyphus is at it again.

Yesterday morning, my office was neat, my house was still picked up. The whole joint has gone to hell in a handbasket.

First, the office. I had to move everything back in except the rug is still wet so it's draped over a stepladder and old lectern. (I will photograph it tomorrow.) Everything else is in neat piles but just that, piles.

The house is so-so because of pulling out everything for the talk on the Camino. The pack is now on the kitchen floor where I dumped it last night when I got the message about the ceiling leak. At least the cats know I am not leaving.


Even before I got out of bed this morning, I knew that I had one other task: the shed roof (which I can see from my bed) had finally dumped. That's about an hour plus of shovelling.

So, I put on my boots, but since it was 50 out (!), I didn't need a polartec: even a turtleneck and denim shirt were too much. No gloves either. An iPod helps the time go by quickly.


I had a spectator's gallery with Orange Boy downstairs in the kitchen window and Miss Funky Paws upstairs (red arrow).


Here's a close-up of her as she looked down at me, probbly wondering what the creature doing? That is a characteristic look.

Tomorrow is a new day. Let's see what adventures it brings (!).

L'Ennui

or in other words, j'ai le ralbol. (I am fed up.)

I was wondering when the 'traditionalists' were going to start vociferating about the current discussion on extending the benefits of marriage to same-gender couples. Well, today with the start of our legislative session, they announced the formation of, get it, the 'Vermont Marriage Advisory Council,' a group that will hold hearings on the benefits of 'traditional' marriage.

Stephen Cable of Rutland, the founder of the conservative group Vermont Renewal, said the formation of this traditional marriage council is in response to what he says is the pro-gay marriage leanings of the Vermont Commission on Family Recognition and Protection.

The traditional marriage group Take It to the People will also become more active in the debate this year. Craig Bensen of Cambridge, a member of the group, said he plans to launch an effort called Let Vermont Vote – a push to put a nonbinding referendum on gay marriage before the state's voters in November. [Benson was a real loud mouth in the civil union debate.]

They will be bringing in the ultra-right Family Rsearch Council to participate in their forums across the state.

You can read the rest here.

Frankly, I am so sick and tired of the conservatives yammering on about protecting marriage from those evil gays and lesbians.

Do pray for this little state of Vermont. Even here, things can get nasty. Last time we were graced by Ralph Reed setting up shop and even a visit from the arch wacko, Fred Phelps. (Actually, they helped the cause by their sheer ugliness.)

For a really good read on the civil union process, read David Moat's Civil Wars. (The link is to Powell's, Portland OR.) From the publisher:

In 2000 Vermont became the first state to grant gay and lesbian couples the right to join in civil unions — a groundbreaking decision that has inspired similar legislation in six states thus far. But it was not an easy victory; the ruling sparked the fiercest political conflict in the state's memory. David Moats was in the thick of it, writing a series of balanced, humane editorials that earned a Pulitzer Prize. Now he tells the intimate stories behind the battle and introduces us to all the key actors in the struggle, including the couples who first filed suit; the lawyers who spent years championing the case; and the only openly gay legislator in Vermont, who ensured victory with an impassioned, deeply personal speech on the House floor at a crucial moment.

Civil Wars is a remarkable drama of democracy at work on a human scale.

[photo: from a website: how to buy lesbian wedding rings :P ]

The Sisyphus Files or Here We Go Again

This is not the post I was going to write but the one that I was given. I gave my presentation at the local ladies' reading circle. That was lots and lots of fun — absolutely no effort on my part because it is so easy to talk about the Camino.

When I got back, I had a phone message from the nursery school teacher who said that she had gone into my office to photocopy something and saw that water was pouring from a leak in the ceiling. Drat — I really thought we were going to escape an ice dam. Nope. I phoned her and she said she had moved everything off my desk because that is where the leak was but my photos got wet so she took them out of the frames and the folders with my vestry notes were wet.

So, I changed into rain pants (which I subsequently tore on the standing seam roof) and jacket, huge boots, gloves and got a snow shovel. I dragged a ladder to the side of the one-story parish house that is by the church because I knew that I could wedge it in a way that it wouldn't fall down. With shovel, I climbed up on the roof, and crawled my way to the front where the leak is (where it always is). And then, sitting or lying down on my stomach (for a longer reach), I shovelled off as much snow as I could.


Here's a view from the roof, looking at the rectory.


And this is the lilac tree that captures the snow that then gets stuck and backs up.


My poor office. I guess I am fated to take it apart partially every other year (to get the floor done) and completely every four or ten (to get the ceiling repaired). This is it mostly taken apart. The red circle indicates the seam along which the water is leaking.


These are some of the things that normally hang on the walls.


And more stuff — I have too much but I've been in this office for 14 years.


I wish the office could stay like this, that is, empty, but since we share the one-room parish house with the nursery school, I will have to move everything back in. I will not reassemble my desk until I am sure that the roof won't leak again. The computer is under the tarp. The nursery school teacher, who rescued it, said that only the speakers seemed to have gotten wet.


It's time for some Abuelo!