Well, they are what they are...monster vines, loaded with green tomatoes, squishing the heavy wire cages that surround them. Tomatoes on steroids...better not be! Not in MY garden!
I'm home for the duration, taking care of stuff and then I am "gone" again. It's always good to check into the blogosphere, see how folks are doing. It seems others are in and out as well. That's good. Now I don't feel too bad about not being fully present.
Had a friend in the hospital but she's out now. However during her recovery, she had to put her older dog to sleep...just too much pain for the ol' gal to deal with. She's fine now, wherever our companions go to frolic in open fields, where there's always a frisbee in the air, food in the dish and lots of shade and cool water. I lost a bunny too, during the tremendous triple-digit heat we had the last week or so. It's sibling seems to always be on the lookout for Beta, patiently waiting for his return. At least Alpha is not alone. Homer and Frac keep him occupied doing binkies, or eating or lounging in the shade.
In the interim I have been reading to a little elderly lady in hospice a couple times a week. She had never heard of the author Sue Monk Kidd but she has now. I am reading "The Secret Life of Bees" to her and she loves it. And I love reading it to her out loud. It's amazing what a little attention can do for folks in hospice care.
It's time to go now. I will be back in a few weeks, writing up a storm no doubt about something that strikes or moves me to put fingertips to keyboard.
Until then, enjoy summer. Drink lots of water, stay out of the heat, go swimming, walk the dog and revel in life.
Catherine+
Friday, July 28, 2006
Tuesday, July 18, 2006
Taking A Little Time Away...
It is the middle of summer and I think I need a tiny vacation from my blogspot.
Don't get me wrong, I enjoy blogging. It has in some ways become a saving grace. It is a place were I can fine tune my writing in all of its forms and shapes, share the ideas of others with credit duly given and also to talk about my church--whether Trinity South or THE Church Episcopal USA, and just about any country's name you wish to tack on.
I love my Church because it--in all its frailty and shortcomings--is a very tender yet strong place to be, physically and spiritually. And that is the beauty of it--my church can be and is everywhere I am. I am not a "perfect" Christian, in fact, there is no such creature. We are all in a constant state of flux and growth [at least those of us who choose to grow and not get all gummed up in the static existence of some] and that is as it should be.
I think I have tried to be informative and open-minded [emphasis on the word "try" here], and I think I have succeeded for the most part. From the get-go I let everyone know that I would occasionally rant about things that would and do touch me deeply or that I felt justifiably passionate about, whether about Memorial Day or being a chaplain, or talking about pets, and folks commented accordingly. Thank you for your candor.
It was and is also a creative outlet for poetry, the celebratory and the mournful, and I was happy to provide a place where others could and did have their work shown to the blogosphere and cyberspace, in the hope that it would make a positive difference in someone's life, somewhere.
And it was and is a delight to share the occasional sermon from my rector--with her permission
-- to a wider audience that I felt needed to hear the hope and joy, prayer and praise from someone I admire and respect so very much, and who for me, represents Christ to me each Sunday and during the week. Hat tip to the Rev. Anne Bartlett and, bowing inwardly, namaste.
To my critics and there are some, especially to the north in Portland and surrounding area, I offer this:
If any had bothered to read or visit my blog, you would have had the opportunity to know me better before indiscriminately deleting my postings to the TrinityTwo Yahoo! Group list [ a joint list between Trinity Cathedral Portland and Trinity Church, Ashland ] or banishing me and my attempts to inspire conversation on an otherwise dead list. If people leave something inactive, it is understandable because there is no point in staying. For months there was nothing posted and I, being one who reads things for intellectual stimulation and edification, found the list sorely lacking in content. The words and actions of some of its members have indeed strained the bonds of affection I felt were commonly held as Episcopalians in the same diocese.
I will remain on the list, though to what avail I know not; perhaps in the hope that an enlightened soul or two will sally forth and offer something of their own for us to feast on instead of the usual empty plate.
I will pray for its success, that its members may become kinder and edify one another.
I will return to writing and posting in about a month, if not sooner. If I feel that something needs to be said or a perspective given, then I will do it. In the meantime I wish all on my update list and those that aren't, peace and goodness, health and well-being. I urge us all to go out and be the Church.
Blessings on the journey,
Catherine+
Don't get me wrong, I enjoy blogging. It has in some ways become a saving grace. It is a place were I can fine tune my writing in all of its forms and shapes, share the ideas of others with credit duly given and also to talk about my church--whether Trinity South or THE Church Episcopal USA, and just about any country's name you wish to tack on.
I love my Church because it--in all its frailty and shortcomings--is a very tender yet strong place to be, physically and spiritually. And that is the beauty of it--my church can be and is everywhere I am. I am not a "perfect" Christian, in fact, there is no such creature. We are all in a constant state of flux and growth [at least those of us who choose to grow and not get all gummed up in the static existence of some] and that is as it should be.
I think I have tried to be informative and open-minded [emphasis on the word "try" here], and I think I have succeeded for the most part. From the get-go I let everyone know that I would occasionally rant about things that would and do touch me deeply or that I felt justifiably passionate about, whether about Memorial Day or being a chaplain, or talking about pets, and folks commented accordingly. Thank you for your candor.
It was and is also a creative outlet for poetry, the celebratory and the mournful, and I was happy to provide a place where others could and did have their work shown to the blogosphere and cyberspace, in the hope that it would make a positive difference in someone's life, somewhere.
And it was and is a delight to share the occasional sermon from my rector--with her permission
-- to a wider audience that I felt needed to hear the hope and joy, prayer and praise from someone I admire and respect so very much, and who for me, represents Christ to me each Sunday and during the week. Hat tip to the Rev. Anne Bartlett and, bowing inwardly, namaste.
To my critics and there are some, especially to the north in Portland and surrounding area, I offer this:
If any had bothered to read or visit my blog, you would have had the opportunity to know me better before indiscriminately deleting my postings to the TrinityTwo Yahoo! Group list [ a joint list between Trinity Cathedral Portland and Trinity Church, Ashland ] or banishing me and my attempts to inspire conversation on an otherwise dead list. If people leave something inactive, it is understandable because there is no point in staying. For months there was nothing posted and I, being one who reads things for intellectual stimulation and edification, found the list sorely lacking in content. The words and actions of some of its members have indeed strained the bonds of affection I felt were commonly held as Episcopalians in the same diocese.
I will remain on the list, though to what avail I know not; perhaps in the hope that an enlightened soul or two will sally forth and offer something of their own for us to feast on instead of the usual empty plate.
I will pray for its success, that its members may become kinder and edify one another.
I will return to writing and posting in about a month, if not sooner. If I feel that something needs to be said or a perspective given, then I will do it. In the meantime I wish all on my update list and those that aren't, peace and goodness, health and well-being. I urge us all to go out and be the Church.
Blessings on the journey,
Catherine+
Monday, July 17, 2006
6th Sunday in Pentecost: Of Plumb Lines, Stepping Out and Closets
The following is today's sermon for Pentecost 6 2006, preached by the Rev. Anne K. Bartlett, Rector of Trinity Episcopal Church, Ashland, Oregon.
_______________________
In the name of the Holy One, who is ever sending us out and bringing us back Home. Amen.
I hear the Gospel words – “He called the twelve and began to send them out two by two.” and my heart sinks. Oh no, not the “sending out” story. It’s one thing to hear about Jesus going about the countryside, preaching and teaching, healing, giving hope,turning lives around, casting out the occasional demon. It’s quite another to hear he sent out his disciples to do the very same things, because then the story might have implications for us.
Of course the whole Biblical saga is about being sent out – or thrown out, as the case may be–from the Garden of Eden on. We children of God are always being told to pack up and move on. Think of Abraham and Sarah, asked at their advanced age to leave friends and family and all that was familiar, on the assurance only of God’s wild word of promise. Think of Moses and the Israelites who were told to leave Egypt in the middle of the night with hardly the clothes on their backs. They were sent through the Red Sea waters only to wander around the desert for forty years to learn what it meant to live in the present moment, by faith, relying solely upon the providence of their God.
Consider the prophets. Talk about being sent out with a message nobody wanted to hear! Crazy old Ezekiel last week was instructed to speak the Word of the Lord to a rebellious and resisting folk, “whether they hear or refuse to hear.” And this morning we got a snippet of the story about Amos, who had neither the family background nor the vocational training to be the bearer of God’s word of judgment on the crooked generation of his day. “I am not a prophet nor a prophet’s son,” he told Amaziah, the priest in charge of the King’s Chapel, the staff person coordinating the President’s prayer breakfast, who was not at all pleased to hear what Amos had to say. “I am a herdsman, for heaven’s sake, and I know how to prune sycamore trees. But God told me to tell you this, about the plumb line and the divine judgment coming upon the religious and political institutions of this land. Hey, this wasn’t my idea, but I have no choice, you see, but to go where God has sent me and do what I have been told to do.”
Sometimes in our biblical story, the “being sent forth” is coupled with a promise: of land, or children, or new and abundant life. But often there is no specific promise attached to the mission, other than it’s what God wants us to do; quite the opposite, in fact. Woven through Scripture like a red thread is the rejection by the world of those whom God has sent to it. Consider Jesus, the Son who was sent. Consider the Cross.
This journeying, this being asked to leave one place and go to another, this “being sent” syndrome is a major theme in our Judeo-Christian faith. We’re always being told to “Go. Go and tell the others.”
Think of Mary Magdalene in the garden that first Easter morning. When she got over mistaking Jesus for the gardener and fell into his arms, he gently set her back on her own two feet and said, “Do not cling to me, Mary. Go, tell the others.”
Nowhere in the bible is it promised that when we are obedient to the command to “go and tell the others” that we will be well received or listened to with respect or even fare well, much less be “successful,” whatever that means in this context. Rather, we are explicitly forewarned that we will likely encounter trials, tribulations, outright rejections. Consider Paul.
Though the rejection these days in our North American culture may be of the mild variety – being ignored, dismissed as irrelevant or naïve, listened to with condescension or even mild hostility, I still don’t want to hear these stories about “being sent.” I want to stay in church where it’s safe and secure, with my parish family and friends. I want to nestle in close to the altar. I don’t want anything to ever change (including the words of the Prayer Book). I want to cling to Jesus right here, forever. I don’t want to go out there into the world to speak unbelievable Good News that few want to hear or to do my tiny part in trying to heal this broken world. I’d much rather work on our hospitality skills, when the strangers show up at our door. It’s much less threatening that way,isn’t it?
Besides, it’s not our style, as Episcopalians, to even imagine ourselves going out
two by two, like fresh-faced Mormons in their clean white shirts and ties, or the Jehovah Witnesses, sweet-faced middle-aged women dressed in brown, holding out The Watchtower for me to take, gently probing to ascertain whether I’ve been saved. I think I’ve told you about the Saturday morning some years ago when I simply couldn’t face another discussion about my salvation, so I hid in the hall closet until they gave up waiting and walked away. I didn’t see them shake the dust off their sandals at the sidewalk’s edge, but I would not have blamed them if they had.
Episcopalians get very anxious when we hear the word evangelism spoken right out loud in public. So I’m not going to talk about evangelism but rather about – listen up – reconciliation. Let’s stop worrying for a moment about being sent out, two by two, to knock on doors. Instead, let’s use our spiritual imaginations and wonder what Jesus might have had in mind when he sent out those first disciples. It wasn’t because his followers were spiritual adepts, you know. They were as frightened, as clueless, as clumsy as we are no doubt. That’s the reassuring thing about the disciples; they really are just like us.
But early on in his ministry with them, Jesus said, “Okay, it’s time for you to practice. I want you to go out and do what you’ve seen me do. I want you to talk to others about God, how the Kingdom is all around, for those with eyes to see. I want you to help others voice their deepest longings to change their lives, get back on track,find “true north” again and live lives congruent with the men and women whom their Father created them to be. Not everyone will be interested in what you have to say; not everyone will be ready to share their souls with you. Travel light --just take yourselves, you don’t need any books, DVDs, brochures. I’m giving to each other so that you can encourage one another and keep on track. You just need to show up, wherever you go,with whomever you may be. Be fully present when you do show up. Speak your truth, the truth you have learned from me. Then let go of the outcome. That’s up to God, not you.
“Do acts of healing, wherever you are. Feed the hungry, heal the sick, include the outsiders and those on the margins, confront evil in all forms, be mediators of reconciliation at all times. Show in your actions, and in your own being, that you already live in God’s Kingdom of love and grace.”
You know, we are talking a lot right now about the mission of the church. It’s too easy to hear that phrase and have our eyes glaze over. It’s very tempting to think that the church exists primarily as a community of belonging, where we come weekly to feel connected to one another and to God. And that’s right and good, but it’s not enough. Because ultimately the church is not supposed to be a comfortable community of belonging but a community of transformation, a place where we allow ourselves to be known, to be healed, to be changed, to be surrendered, and then to be sent. Oh, there’s that word again: to be sent.
The most exciting thing that happened at the recent General Convention of our
Episcopal Church was the renewed focus on the mission of the church. I daresay it was just as if someone had held up a plumb line and pointed out, “I think we’re out of kilter here. We’re spending most of our energy on arguing with one another instead of going out and doing the work Christ has given us to do.” At convention, whenever we stopped obsessing inwards and refocused on our mission, as expressed in the Milennial Development Goals of addressing the root causes of global poverty, energy poured out, especially from the younger members there. It was infectious, and we became united again – over mission.
Question: What is the mission of the Church?
Answer: The mission of the Church is to restore all people to unity with
God and each other in Christ.
Question: How does the Church pursue its mission?
Answer: The Church pursues its mission as it prays and worships,
proclaims the Gospel, and promotes justice, peace and love.
Question: Through whom does the Church carry out its mission?
Answer: The Church carries out its mission through the ministry of all its
members.
St. Paul wrote that God has given us “the ministry of reconciliation. …we are
ambassadors for Christ, since God is making his appeal through us.” The practical implication of the ministry of reconciliation, restoring all things to unity with God; the practical implication of being ambassadors for Christ, individually and corporately, is that we have work to do, beyond these doors, At the end of each Eucharist we pray God to “send us out to do the work you have given us to do.” Our work is the same work that Jesus did, the same tasks he sent out his disciples to do in his name, way back then and right here now.
What does it look like, when we’re out and about, doing the work we have been
given to do? Well, here’s what I think: it looks like taking our turn staffing the local food bank, it means transporting children to foster care homes, it means be present with a friend in grief, holding hope for her until she can find her own hope again. It means serving on boards who are help the marginalized, it means researching agencies you wish to donate 0.7% of your income to addressing the issues of global poverty, health, education, clean water in the most distressed areas of our global village, it means organizing practical help for an overwhelmed young mother.
It means finding the specific work that Jesus is calling you to do, to be his ambassador, his disciple out there, beyond our doors, in the small acts of everyday kindness, in learning how to speak truth to power, in acquiring the skills you need to be a chaplain to those who are dying, or those in prison, or those who suffer from addiction, or those whose lives seem hopeless and without any purpose. The list is endless, but that does not excuse any one of us from finding our own work to do in the world in Christ’s name.
Because that is our ministry. That is the mission of the Church. That is what
Jesus has sent us out to do. And here is what I have come to understand: that as soon as we refocus on our Christian mission, we find our souls – and the soul of the Church --once again in proper re-alignment with Christ. As soon as we get out of our own way, we find God at work in us, transforming us, changing us, making us clearer channels of God’s power and grace.
Then whatever it is that we do in Jesus’ name, well, it’s no longer about us, don’t you see; it’s about our turning ourselves over to God to do with us as God will. Thus we find ourselves freed from anxiety, from fear, from concern even about the outcome of our ministry. In the process of being sent out, we find ourselves being transformed and sanctified.
Then, and only then, can we go forth into the world rejoicing in the power of the Spirit, unafraid and undeterred by the scope and the complexity of the problems of this world because we have come to know that God’s power, working in us, can do infinitely more than we can ask or imagine.
Amen.
_______________________
In the name of the Holy One, who is ever sending us out and bringing us back Home. Amen.
I hear the Gospel words – “He called the twelve and began to send them out two by two.” and my heart sinks. Oh no, not the “sending out” story. It’s one thing to hear about Jesus going about the countryside, preaching and teaching, healing, giving hope,turning lives around, casting out the occasional demon. It’s quite another to hear he sent out his disciples to do the very same things, because then the story might have implications for us.Of course the whole Biblical saga is about being sent out – or thrown out, as the case may be–from the Garden of Eden on. We children of God are always being told to pack up and move on. Think of Abraham and Sarah, asked at their advanced age to leave friends and family and all that was familiar, on the assurance only of God’s wild word of promise. Think of Moses and the Israelites who were told to leave Egypt in the middle of the night with hardly the clothes on their backs. They were sent through the Red Sea waters only to wander around the desert for forty years to learn what it meant to live in the present moment, by faith, relying solely upon the providence of their God.
Consider the prophets. Talk about being sent out with a message nobody wanted to hear! Crazy old Ezekiel last week was instructed to speak the Word of the Lord to a rebellious and resisting folk, “whether they hear or refuse to hear.” And this morning we got a snippet of the story about Amos, who had neither the family background nor the vocational training to be the bearer of God’s word of judgment on the crooked generation of his day. “I am not a prophet nor a prophet’s son,” he told Amaziah, the priest in charge of the King’s Chapel, the staff person coordinating the President’s prayer breakfast, who was not at all pleased to hear what Amos had to say. “I am a herdsman, for heaven’s sake, and I know how to prune sycamore trees. But God told me to tell you this, about the plumb line and the divine judgment coming upon the religious and political institutions of this land. Hey, this wasn’t my idea, but I have no choice, you see, but to go where God has sent me and do what I have been told to do.”
Sometimes in our biblical story, the “being sent forth” is coupled with a promise: of land, or children, or new and abundant life. But often there is no specific promise attached to the mission, other than it’s what God wants us to do; quite the opposite, in fact. Woven through Scripture like a red thread is the rejection by the world of those whom God has sent to it. Consider Jesus, the Son who was sent. Consider the Cross.
This journeying, this being asked to leave one place and go to another, this “being sent” syndrome is a major theme in our Judeo-Christian faith. We’re always being told to “Go. Go and tell the others.”
Think of Mary Magdalene in the garden that first Easter morning. When she got over mistaking Jesus for the gardener and fell into his arms, he gently set her back on her own two feet and said, “Do not cling to me, Mary. Go, tell the others.”
Nowhere in the bible is it promised that when we are obedient to the command to “go and tell the others” that we will be well received or listened to with respect or even fare well, much less be “successful,” whatever that means in this context. Rather, we are explicitly forewarned that we will likely encounter trials, tribulations, outright rejections. Consider Paul.
Though the rejection these days in our North American culture may be of the mild variety – being ignored, dismissed as irrelevant or naïve, listened to with condescension or even mild hostility, I still don’t want to hear these stories about “being sent.” I want to stay in church where it’s safe and secure, with my parish family and friends. I want to nestle in close to the altar. I don’t want anything to ever change (including the words of the Prayer Book). I want to cling to Jesus right here, forever. I don’t want to go out there into the world to speak unbelievable Good News that few want to hear or to do my tiny part in trying to heal this broken world. I’d much rather work on our hospitality skills, when the strangers show up at our door. It’s much less threatening that way,isn’t it?
Besides, it’s not our style, as Episcopalians, to even imagine ourselves going out
two by two, like fresh-faced Mormons in their clean white shirts and ties, or the Jehovah Witnesses, sweet-faced middle-aged women dressed in brown, holding out The Watchtower for me to take, gently probing to ascertain whether I’ve been saved. I think I’ve told you about the Saturday morning some years ago when I simply couldn’t face another discussion about my salvation, so I hid in the hall closet until they gave up waiting and walked away. I didn’t see them shake the dust off their sandals at the sidewalk’s edge, but I would not have blamed them if they had.
Episcopalians get very anxious when we hear the word evangelism spoken right out loud in public. So I’m not going to talk about evangelism but rather about – listen up – reconciliation. Let’s stop worrying for a moment about being sent out, two by two, to knock on doors. Instead, let’s use our spiritual imaginations and wonder what Jesus might have had in mind when he sent out those first disciples. It wasn’t because his followers were spiritual adepts, you know. They were as frightened, as clueless, as clumsy as we are no doubt. That’s the reassuring thing about the disciples; they really are just like us.
But early on in his ministry with them, Jesus said, “Okay, it’s time for you to practice. I want you to go out and do what you’ve seen me do. I want you to talk to others about God, how the Kingdom is all around, for those with eyes to see. I want you to help others voice their deepest longings to change their lives, get back on track,find “true north” again and live lives congruent with the men and women whom their Father created them to be. Not everyone will be interested in what you have to say; not everyone will be ready to share their souls with you. Travel light --just take yourselves, you don’t need any books, DVDs, brochures. I’m giving to each other so that you can encourage one another and keep on track. You just need to show up, wherever you go,with whomever you may be. Be fully present when you do show up. Speak your truth, the truth you have learned from me. Then let go of the outcome. That’s up to God, not you.
“Do acts of healing, wherever you are. Feed the hungry, heal the sick, include the outsiders and those on the margins, confront evil in all forms, be mediators of reconciliation at all times. Show in your actions, and in your own being, that you already live in God’s Kingdom of love and grace.”
You know, we are talking a lot right now about the mission of the church. It’s too easy to hear that phrase and have our eyes glaze over. It’s very tempting to think that the church exists primarily as a community of belonging, where we come weekly to feel connected to one another and to God. And that’s right and good, but it’s not enough. Because ultimately the church is not supposed to be a comfortable community of belonging but a community of transformation, a place where we allow ourselves to be known, to be healed, to be changed, to be surrendered, and then to be sent. Oh, there’s that word again: to be sent.
The most exciting thing that happened at the recent General Convention of our
Episcopal Church was the renewed focus on the mission of the church. I daresay it was just as if someone had held up a plumb line and pointed out, “I think we’re out of kilter here. We’re spending most of our energy on arguing with one another instead of going out and doing the work Christ has given us to do.” At convention, whenever we stopped obsessing inwards and refocused on our mission, as expressed in the Milennial Development Goals of addressing the root causes of global poverty, energy poured out, especially from the younger members there. It was infectious, and we became united again – over mission.
Question: What is the mission of the Church?
Answer: The mission of the Church is to restore all people to unity with
God and each other in Christ.
Question: How does the Church pursue its mission?
Answer: The Church pursues its mission as it prays and worships,
proclaims the Gospel, and promotes justice, peace and love.
Question: Through whom does the Church carry out its mission?
Answer: The Church carries out its mission through the ministry of all its
members.
St. Paul wrote that God has given us “the ministry of reconciliation. …we are
ambassadors for Christ, since God is making his appeal through us.” The practical implication of the ministry of reconciliation, restoring all things to unity with God; the practical implication of being ambassadors for Christ, individually and corporately, is that we have work to do, beyond these doors, At the end of each Eucharist we pray God to “send us out to do the work you have given us to do.” Our work is the same work that Jesus did, the same tasks he sent out his disciples to do in his name, way back then and right here now.
What does it look like, when we’re out and about, doing the work we have been
given to do? Well, here’s what I think: it looks like taking our turn staffing the local food bank, it means transporting children to foster care homes, it means be present with a friend in grief, holding hope for her until she can find her own hope again. It means serving on boards who are help the marginalized, it means researching agencies you wish to donate 0.7% of your income to addressing the issues of global poverty, health, education, clean water in the most distressed areas of our global village, it means organizing practical help for an overwhelmed young mother.
It means finding the specific work that Jesus is calling you to do, to be his ambassador, his disciple out there, beyond our doors, in the small acts of everyday kindness, in learning how to speak truth to power, in acquiring the skills you need to be a chaplain to those who are dying, or those in prison, or those who suffer from addiction, or those whose lives seem hopeless and without any purpose. The list is endless, but that does not excuse any one of us from finding our own work to do in the world in Christ’s name.
Because that is our ministry. That is the mission of the Church. That is what
Jesus has sent us out to do. And here is what I have come to understand: that as soon as we refocus on our Christian mission, we find our souls – and the soul of the Church --once again in proper re-alignment with Christ. As soon as we get out of our own way, we find God at work in us, transforming us, changing us, making us clearer channels of God’s power and grace.
Then whatever it is that we do in Jesus’ name, well, it’s no longer about us, don’t you see; it’s about our turning ourselves over to God to do with us as God will. Thus we find ourselves freed from anxiety, from fear, from concern even about the outcome of our ministry. In the process of being sent out, we find ourselves being transformed and sanctified.
Then, and only then, can we go forth into the world rejoicing in the power of the Spirit, unafraid and undeterred by the scope and the complexity of the problems of this world because we have come to know that God’s power, working in us, can do infinitely more than we can ask or imagine.
Amen.
The Bishop of Oregon Reflects on GC'06
Reflections on The General Convention by Bishop Johncy Itty, June 29, 2006
My Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
“So we are ambassadors for Christ, since God is making his appeal through us; we entreat you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.” (II Corinthians 5:20)
These words of scripture remind us of our responsibility to be instruments of God’s goodness in our world and in our community. As Christians we bear an important responsibility in sharing the Good News of the Gospel of Jesus Christ in a spirit of humility, compassion, and reconciliation. Reconciliation demands a renewal of heart, mind, and spirit so that God’s Holy Spirit can work within us.
The season of Pentecost is a season of new birth and a season of renewal. It is a time in which we are called to witness the power of the Holy Spirit moving in and with us and among the communities in which we live, pray, and worship. It is a season in which we are called to grow in commitment to Jesus and grow in our zeal for discipleship among the complex fabrics of our personal and corporate lives.
The themes “Come and Grow” and “Reconciliation” permeated a considerable part of our recent General Convention gathering in Columbus, Ohio. We join with many dioceses around the country in giving thanks to God for the faithful witness of our Presiding Bishop, Frank Griswold, who has served our church with prayerful dedication these past nine years and has led us through some difficult times during our common life together as a community of God’s people. We also join in celebrating the election of The Right Reverend Katharine Jefferts Schori, Bishop of Nevada, who has been elected to serve our church as the 26th Presiding Bishop. Bishop Jefferts Schori has served in our diocese at Good Samaritan Church in Corvallis and had been very active as a research scientist in oceanography at Oregon State University. As we honor and celebrate this member of our own community, we pray that God’s blessings will abide with Bishop Jefferts Schori as she assumes leadership and leads us in mission on behalf of the wider church.
The General Convention of the Episcopal Church meets every three years and offers a time for gathering as a church family in prayer, bible study, reflection and legislation. The Reverend John Danforth, former senator from Missouri and most recently, former United States Ambassador to the United Nations, spoke to convention participants on the importance of our church’s leadership in reconciliation in both local and global contexts. Dr. Jenny Te Paa, Dean of St. John’s Theological College in Auckland, New Zealand shared some refreshing insights into what it means to be a Christ-centered community in communion with the larger church. A number of other distinguished bishops, priests, deacons, lay leaders and ecumenical colleagues participated in the life of the convention in a variety of ways that reminded us about the interconnectedness of human life and the breath and depth of the Episcopal Church’s relationships all around the world.
The convention drew well over eight thousand people from all around the country, including over eight hundred delegates and over three hundred bishops from throughout the United States and around the world.
At this gathering, a number of resolutions were introduced and passed. Some others were deferred or referred to other bodies for action. The following points reflect a sampling overview of the legislative highlights of the 75th General Convention. Additional detailed information can be obtained on the Episcopal Church’s website, www.episcopalchurch.org. The full text of particular legislation can be reviewed on the following site: http://gc2006.org/legislation/
Sample Highlights
The General Convention, as part of its active support of mission and evangelism, officially expressed its support of the United Nations Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and urged parishes, missions, and dioceses to work toward their implementation.
Passed resolution strengthening relations with United Methodist Church.
UMC seen as "a member of the one, holy, Catholic and apostolic Church in which the Gospel is rightly preached and taught" and encourages the development of a common Christian life between the two bodies.
The agreement permits common, joint celebrations of the Eucharist within prescribed guidelines
Support of gay and lesbian people as "children of God who have a full and equal claim with all other persons upon the love, acceptance, and pastoral concern and care of the Church."
Adopted a resolution calling for equal representation of women and men on all decision-making bodies within the church at local, diocesan and national levels. This recommendation originated with the 2005 meeting of the Anglican Consultative Council.
Acknowledged the past involvement of the Episcopal Church in slavery and supported a study of monetary and non-monetary reparations to descendants of the victims of slavery.
Created a new task force to study aspects of church disciplinary canons. Proposed changes to Title IV, which among other things would have included subjecting laity to ecclesiastical discipline, was not fully discussed and revised in time for action. Hence, it was referred to a task force for continued revisions in the next three years.
Authorized the creation of a Standing Commission on Lifelong Christian Education and Formation to develop and recommend policies for children, youth, adults, and seniors for lifelong Christian formation (A105).
Approved additional commemorations in the Calendar of the Church Year and authorize trial use thereof for the triennium 2007-2009, for Harriet Bedell, Deaconess and Missionary; Anna Julia Heyward Cooper, Educator; James Theodore Holly, Bishop of Haiti and Dominican Republic; Oscar Romero, Archbishop of San Salvador, and The Martyrs of El Salvador; Tikhon, Patriarch of Russia and Confessor; Vida Dutton Scudder, Educator and Witness for Peace; and Frances Joseph-Gaudet, Educator and Prison Reformer (A063 and A064).
Approved for trial use new liturgies concerning rites of passage (A067).
Acknowledged the authority of the triune God, exercised through Scripture (D069.)
Recognized the position in the Constitution and Canons that only those who have been baptized in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit shall be eligible to receive Holy Communion; and that the 76th General Convention receive a pastoral and theological understanding of the relationship between Holy Baptism and Eucharistic practice (D084).
Urged the church to work to ensure that governments provide programs that combat social and economic conditions that place children at risk or diminish children's ability to achieve their full potential in the world (A018).
Passed Resolution B033 that calls on bishops and Standing Committees to "exercise restraint by not consenting to the consecration of any candidate to the episcopate whose manner of life presents a challenge to the wider church and will lead to further strains on communion.
Authorized the establishment of a Church Planting Initiative to raise funds for new congregations (A042).
Presiding Bishop Frank Griswold was recognized in the formal minutes of convention: "Deep gratitude to our Presiding Bishop for his guidance throughout 75th General Convention and his faithful service as chief pastor of the Episcopal Church." The bishops also expressed their thanks to Phoebe Griswold for her "ministry to all God's children around the world."
Indeed, a multitude of issues and topics were brought before the Convention that affects the life of our wider community. Of special significance was General Convention’s renewed commitment to mission and evangelism. I pray that as we join with many others throughout our church and around the world, we will continue to use our gifts and energies in mission to be agents of Jesus Christ’s renewing, redeeming, and transforming grace.
“Finally beloved, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is pleasing, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence and if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.” (Philippians 4:8)
+ Johncy Itty, Bishop
My Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
“So we are ambassadors for Christ, since God is making his appeal through us; we entreat you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.” (II Corinthians 5:20)
These words of scripture remind us of our responsibility to be instruments of God’s goodness in our world and in our community. As Christians we bear an important responsibility in sharing the Good News of the Gospel of Jesus Christ in a spirit of humility, compassion, and reconciliation. Reconciliation demands a renewal of heart, mind, and spirit so that God’s Holy Spirit can work within us.
The season of Pentecost is a season of new birth and a season of renewal. It is a time in which we are called to witness the power of the Holy Spirit moving in and with us and among the communities in which we live, pray, and worship. It is a season in which we are called to grow in commitment to Jesus and grow in our zeal for discipleship among the complex fabrics of our personal and corporate lives.
The themes “Come and Grow” and “Reconciliation” permeated a considerable part of our recent General Convention gathering in Columbus, Ohio. We join with many dioceses around the country in giving thanks to God for the faithful witness of our Presiding Bishop, Frank Griswold, who has served our church with prayerful dedication these past nine years and has led us through some difficult times during our common life together as a community of God’s people. We also join in celebrating the election of The Right Reverend Katharine Jefferts Schori, Bishop of Nevada, who has been elected to serve our church as the 26th Presiding Bishop. Bishop Jefferts Schori has served in our diocese at Good Samaritan Church in Corvallis and had been very active as a research scientist in oceanography at Oregon State University. As we honor and celebrate this member of our own community, we pray that God’s blessings will abide with Bishop Jefferts Schori as she assumes leadership and leads us in mission on behalf of the wider church.
The General Convention of the Episcopal Church meets every three years and offers a time for gathering as a church family in prayer, bible study, reflection and legislation. The Reverend John Danforth, former senator from Missouri and most recently, former United States Ambassador to the United Nations, spoke to convention participants on the importance of our church’s leadership in reconciliation in both local and global contexts. Dr. Jenny Te Paa, Dean of St. John’s Theological College in Auckland, New Zealand shared some refreshing insights into what it means to be a Christ-centered community in communion with the larger church. A number of other distinguished bishops, priests, deacons, lay leaders and ecumenical colleagues participated in the life of the convention in a variety of ways that reminded us about the interconnectedness of human life and the breath and depth of the Episcopal Church’s relationships all around the world.
The convention drew well over eight thousand people from all around the country, including over eight hundred delegates and over three hundred bishops from throughout the United States and around the world.
At this gathering, a number of resolutions were introduced and passed. Some others were deferred or referred to other bodies for action. The following points reflect a sampling overview of the legislative highlights of the 75th General Convention. Additional detailed information can be obtained on the Episcopal Church’s website, www.episcopalchurch.org. The full text of particular legislation can be reviewed on the following site: http://gc2006.org/legislation/
Sample Highlights
The General Convention, as part of its active support of mission and evangelism, officially expressed its support of the United Nations Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and urged parishes, missions, and dioceses to work toward their implementation.
Passed resolution strengthening relations with United Methodist Church.
UMC seen as "a member of the one, holy, Catholic and apostolic Church in which the Gospel is rightly preached and taught" and encourages the development of a common Christian life between the two bodies.
The agreement permits common, joint celebrations of the Eucharist within prescribed guidelines
Support of gay and lesbian people as "children of God who have a full and equal claim with all other persons upon the love, acceptance, and pastoral concern and care of the Church."
Adopted a resolution calling for equal representation of women and men on all decision-making bodies within the church at local, diocesan and national levels. This recommendation originated with the 2005 meeting of the Anglican Consultative Council.
Acknowledged the past involvement of the Episcopal Church in slavery and supported a study of monetary and non-monetary reparations to descendants of the victims of slavery.
Created a new task force to study aspects of church disciplinary canons. Proposed changes to Title IV, which among other things would have included subjecting laity to ecclesiastical discipline, was not fully discussed and revised in time for action. Hence, it was referred to a task force for continued revisions in the next three years.
Authorized the creation of a Standing Commission on Lifelong Christian Education and Formation to develop and recommend policies for children, youth, adults, and seniors for lifelong Christian formation (A105).
Approved additional commemorations in the Calendar of the Church Year and authorize trial use thereof for the triennium 2007-2009, for Harriet Bedell, Deaconess and Missionary; Anna Julia Heyward Cooper, Educator; James Theodore Holly, Bishop of Haiti and Dominican Republic; Oscar Romero, Archbishop of San Salvador, and The Martyrs of El Salvador; Tikhon, Patriarch of Russia and Confessor; Vida Dutton Scudder, Educator and Witness for Peace; and Frances Joseph-Gaudet, Educator and Prison Reformer (A063 and A064).
Approved for trial use new liturgies concerning rites of passage (A067).
Acknowledged the authority of the triune God, exercised through Scripture (D069.)
Recognized the position in the Constitution and Canons that only those who have been baptized in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit shall be eligible to receive Holy Communion; and that the 76th General Convention receive a pastoral and theological understanding of the relationship between Holy Baptism and Eucharistic practice (D084).
Urged the church to work to ensure that governments provide programs that combat social and economic conditions that place children at risk or diminish children's ability to achieve their full potential in the world (A018).
Passed Resolution B033 that calls on bishops and Standing Committees to "exercise restraint by not consenting to the consecration of any candidate to the episcopate whose manner of life presents a challenge to the wider church and will lead to further strains on communion.
Authorized the establishment of a Church Planting Initiative to raise funds for new congregations (A042).
Presiding Bishop Frank Griswold was recognized in the formal minutes of convention: "Deep gratitude to our Presiding Bishop for his guidance throughout 75th General Convention and his faithful service as chief pastor of the Episcopal Church." The bishops also expressed their thanks to Phoebe Griswold for her "ministry to all God's children around the world."
Indeed, a multitude of issues and topics were brought before the Convention that affects the life of our wider community. Of special significance was General Convention’s renewed commitment to mission and evangelism. I pray that as we join with many others throughout our church and around the world, we will continue to use our gifts and energies in mission to be agents of Jesus Christ’s renewing, redeeming, and transforming grace.
“Finally beloved, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is pleasing, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence and if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.” (Philippians 4:8)
+ Johncy Itty, Bishop
Anglican women in Africa: 'the priority is for life'
Episcopal News Service
Monday, July 17, 2006
Kenya's Dr. Esther Mombo lectures at women's ordination conference in Manchester
By Matthew Davies
[ENS, Manchester, England] The impact of Christian women on African society was the focus of Dr. Esther Mombo's closing lecture, titled "We see them and hear them...but has it made a difference?" at a conference on women's ordination hosted by the University of Manchester's Lincoln Theological Institute July 12-14.
Mombo, dean of St. Paul's United Theological Seminary in Limuru, Kenya, acknowledged that the present church leadership is extremely vocal on issues of sexuality, but insisted that for women in Africa that is not a priority.
"The priority is for life," she said. "We are not having the discussions that we see in public, such as human sexuality, but discussions of life and death issues."
One of the world's largest continents, Africa accounts for about 14 percent of the total population and boasts vast ethnic and cultural diversity, but some countries are roiled with conflict, and HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases continue to pose life-size challenges.
Recent statistics suggest that 42 million people in the world are living HIV/AIDS, with 25.8 million of those cases in Africa. "Although Africa has
14 percent of the world's population, it has 62 percent of the world's HIV/AIDS cases," Mombo said.
For women in Africa, the problem is with heterosexuality not homosexuality, she said. "It is the heterosexuals who will rape small children in the hope that [such a myth] will rid them of HIV/AIDS."
Women's ordination in Africa plays a vital role in helping to overcome gender inequality, poverty, violence and HIV/AIDS, Mombo explained, as "it provides an important place for women to contribute to the wellbeing of people in society."
African Christianity, she said, has created its own unique flavor of religion and has assumed a more charismatic character. It tends to be described as conservative, especially in light of its proactive evangelistic mission, but has long been presented as vital and growing. The 12 Anglican provinces in Africa account for almost two thirds of the world's 77 million Anglicans.
"When you look at the ordinary Christians, they have an incredible faith just as if God is walking with them," Mombo said. "They never let go even when death is wiping them out ... Because Jesus saves!"
Mombo explained that women have been ordained in Africa for nearly two centuries, "but it is not uniform, just like Africa is not uniform," she said. "One side of a country may ordain women when another does not."
In addition to the practices, policies and leadership of the church, the ordination of women in Africa has been affected by its history of colonialism and conflict. Education and female literacy levels have also played a significant part.
Offering a historical account of the ordination of women during the time that missionaries were delivering Christianity to Africa, Mombo said, "Mission Christianity, which began in North Africa, was always fourfold, through evangelism, education, health and industrial training. Through this framework the missionaries found a way of liberating women in what they saw as oppressions."
The Anglican-run Mothers' Union, the Presbyterian Church's Women's Guild, and other denominational women's organizations, have consistently been the backbone of the church, Mombo added, as they are the groups that carry the social welfare banner.
The 1950s and 60s in Africa saw the liberation struggles that brought independence to both the churches and countries, and women began to receive the education that prepared them for roles in business and the government.
"The church lagged behind in terms of women's leadership because of its historical context and women weren't given the education to prepare them to become church leaders," she said. "The churches at the time would also say no to women's ordination because of theological reasons," a more common one being that Jesus never appointed a woman as one of his disciples.
Through ecumenical initiatives, the churches began to address the ordination of women. The All Africa Conference of Churches (AACC) began discussions on the subject in 1963 when a consultation in Kampala, Uganda, welcomed a conversation on the place of women in the church. The World Council of Churches held a consultation in 1970 that had an impact on the African churches.
A further AACC meeting in 1974 resolved to urge the formation of an advisory committee of men and women to draw a program for the inclusion of women in society, and in 1980, another conference called for equal rights for women in the church and for them to be ordained into full pastoral ministry.
Before the 1978 Lambeth Conference -- the once-a-decade meeting of Anglican bishops -- a number of African Anglican provinces were already discussing the ordination of women.
In Uganda in 1974, the issues were raised at the provincial synod. One of the bishops asked why the province couldn't wait until the Church of England had made a decision on women's ordination. According to Mombo, one bishop replied, "if you wait for the Church of England, you'll wait until doomsday."
In 1975, some Kenyan bishops brought a motion to their Provincial Synod, which affirmed the principle of women's ordination. It was decided that any possible candidates should undergo theological training and that there should be further consultation with the House of Bishops before any ordinations took place.
In 1979, one Ugandan bishop ordained a group of women as deacons and four years later, ordained three as priests.
Today, six of the 38 Anglican provinces do not allow women's diaconal, priestly or Episcopal ordination. They are Central Africa, Jerusalem & Middle East, Melanesia, Nigeria, Pakistan, Papua New Guinea and South East Asia.
"The women pioneers' story is a mixed bag," Mombo said. "Some of them left ministry because the church was not ready for them, some have continued to study and work and to serve the churches today."
She noted that, in terms of members, they may be small, "but the disciples of Jesus were small in number yet they turned the world upside down."
Monday, July 17, 2006
Kenya's Dr. Esther Mombo lectures at women's ordination conference in Manchester
By Matthew Davies
[ENS, Manchester, England] The impact of Christian women on African society was the focus of Dr. Esther Mombo's closing lecture, titled "We see them and hear them...but has it made a difference?" at a conference on women's ordination hosted by the University of Manchester's Lincoln Theological Institute July 12-14.
Mombo, dean of St. Paul's United Theological Seminary in Limuru, Kenya, acknowledged that the present church leadership is extremely vocal on issues of sexuality, but insisted that for women in Africa that is not a priority.
"The priority is for life," she said. "We are not having the discussions that we see in public, such as human sexuality, but discussions of life and death issues."
One of the world's largest continents, Africa accounts for about 14 percent of the total population and boasts vast ethnic and cultural diversity, but some countries are roiled with conflict, and HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases continue to pose life-size challenges.
Recent statistics suggest that 42 million people in the world are living HIV/AIDS, with 25.8 million of those cases in Africa. "Although Africa has
14 percent of the world's population, it has 62 percent of the world's HIV/AIDS cases," Mombo said.
For women in Africa, the problem is with heterosexuality not homosexuality, she said. "It is the heterosexuals who will rape small children in the hope that [such a myth] will rid them of HIV/AIDS."
Women's ordination in Africa plays a vital role in helping to overcome gender inequality, poverty, violence and HIV/AIDS, Mombo explained, as "it provides an important place for women to contribute to the wellbeing of people in society."
African Christianity, she said, has created its own unique flavor of religion and has assumed a more charismatic character. It tends to be described as conservative, especially in light of its proactive evangelistic mission, but has long been presented as vital and growing. The 12 Anglican provinces in Africa account for almost two thirds of the world's 77 million Anglicans.
"When you look at the ordinary Christians, they have an incredible faith just as if God is walking with them," Mombo said. "They never let go even when death is wiping them out ... Because Jesus saves!"
Mombo explained that women have been ordained in Africa for nearly two centuries, "but it is not uniform, just like Africa is not uniform," she said. "One side of a country may ordain women when another does not."
In addition to the practices, policies and leadership of the church, the ordination of women in Africa has been affected by its history of colonialism and conflict. Education and female literacy levels have also played a significant part.
Offering a historical account of the ordination of women during the time that missionaries were delivering Christianity to Africa, Mombo said, "Mission Christianity, which began in North Africa, was always fourfold, through evangelism, education, health and industrial training. Through this framework the missionaries found a way of liberating women in what they saw as oppressions."
The Anglican-run Mothers' Union, the Presbyterian Church's Women's Guild, and other denominational women's organizations, have consistently been the backbone of the church, Mombo added, as they are the groups that carry the social welfare banner.
The 1950s and 60s in Africa saw the liberation struggles that brought independence to both the churches and countries, and women began to receive the education that prepared them for roles in business and the government.
"The church lagged behind in terms of women's leadership because of its historical context and women weren't given the education to prepare them to become church leaders," she said. "The churches at the time would also say no to women's ordination because of theological reasons," a more common one being that Jesus never appointed a woman as one of his disciples.
Through ecumenical initiatives, the churches began to address the ordination of women. The All Africa Conference of Churches (AACC) began discussions on the subject in 1963 when a consultation in Kampala, Uganda, welcomed a conversation on the place of women in the church. The World Council of Churches held a consultation in 1970 that had an impact on the African churches.
A further AACC meeting in 1974 resolved to urge the formation of an advisory committee of men and women to draw a program for the inclusion of women in society, and in 1980, another conference called for equal rights for women in the church and for them to be ordained into full pastoral ministry.
Before the 1978 Lambeth Conference -- the once-a-decade meeting of Anglican bishops -- a number of African Anglican provinces were already discussing the ordination of women.
In Uganda in 1974, the issues were raised at the provincial synod. One of the bishops asked why the province couldn't wait until the Church of England had made a decision on women's ordination. According to Mombo, one bishop replied, "if you wait for the Church of England, you'll wait until doomsday."
In 1975, some Kenyan bishops brought a motion to their Provincial Synod, which affirmed the principle of women's ordination. It was decided that any possible candidates should undergo theological training and that there should be further consultation with the House of Bishops before any ordinations took place.
In 1979, one Ugandan bishop ordained a group of women as deacons and four years later, ordained three as priests.
Today, six of the 38 Anglican provinces do not allow women's diaconal, priestly or Episcopal ordination. They are Central Africa, Jerusalem & Middle East, Melanesia, Nigeria, Pakistan, Papua New Guinea and South East Asia.
"The women pioneers' story is a mixed bag," Mombo said. "Some of them left ministry because the church was not ready for them, some have continued to study and work and to serve the churches today."
She noted that, in terms of members, they may be small, "but the disciples of Jesus were small in number yet they turned the world upside down."
Sunday, July 16, 2006
The other stuff that happened at General Convention
This morning in our Adult Forum at Trinity, the Rev. Anne Bartlett and lay deputy Anne McCollum, continued the topic of Experience At Convention, a first-hand account of what it was like to be there and participate in and around the goings-on in Columbus amidst 8,000 or so Episcopalians from all over the world.
We hear mostly about the issue that was the focus for many, gay and lesbian equality in all levels of the Church. Other things did happen as our deputies explained, such as the one thing everyone could agree on and that was the MDG's or Millennium Development Goals to eradicate world poverty and hunger.
There was more accomplished as well. Read about it here:
http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2006/07/14/faith/
14_19_607_13_06.txt
We hear mostly about the issue that was the focus for many, gay and lesbian equality in all levels of the Church. Other things did happen as our deputies explained, such as the one thing everyone could agree on and that was the MDG's or Millennium Development Goals to eradicate world poverty and hunger.
There was more accomplished as well. Read about it here:
http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2006/07/14/faith/
14_19_607_13_06.txt
Friday, July 14, 2006
Life and Hope: How to keep your sanity while waiting for God's will
It's a dilemma we all face now and then. What to do with your life while you wait for the will of God.
It has been something of a discovery as I have been finding out over the past year...there is lots to be said of patience and broken pencils. I mean, there is only so much house cleaning and closet rearranging to be done in times of a fallow field. So some creativity is called for, some you do on your own and the other kind that just manages to find you, idling at the curb.
As I have looked for gainful yet honorable work, I have helped inventory a local middle school library, helped paint a friend's living room, dining room and workspace of her condo with rough plaster walls--which as we know is a job no one in their right mind would do but for the love of said friend--and on top of that baby-sat her cockatiel while her hardwood floors were being installed, sanded and varnished times three; moved furniture, dusted furniture, willing got hauled all over the Valley looking at paint chips and area rugs until I knew everything there as to know about shades of almond and meadow green. My home became a one-time bed and breakfast for said wonderful friend over the course of a week, wherein I prepared coffee [which I don't drink] and some organic healthy breakfast each morning to the temporarily and somewhat anxious pal.
Trust me, my painting and furniture-moving muscles are fully awake...ugh.
As of today, I have begun keeping an elderly lady company at a nursing home by reading her poetry and telling a few stories for about an hour a day, every other day or so as she is now on hospice again, and everyday counts to her and her family. She delighted in a Wendell Barry and then a Jayne Relaford Brown piece, as well as a haiku on rabbits. There was a little St Anselm, shoehorned in for variety, and I also shared a poem written by a friend of The Rev. Susan Russell about crocuses but it was really an allegory for General Convention in disguise.
I met the home's director and nursing manager, the resident charge RN and a few other wonderful folk who help make the lives of these elderly and disabled people richer and more comfortable. The Licensed Clinical Social Worker for hospice is pretty special too. A real neat and intelligent woman who radiates glee and takes a truthtelling interest in her charges. Gotta love that!
I am also going through a little more of my material inheritance: lots of sewing stuff, ceramic shop stuff, antiques, toys my mother could never throw away because HER little ones played so happily with them and because as a child she never had any. Quilts--lots of quilts--some she made, some my grandmother made, some she bought. And I have my books: boxes and boxes and boxes of them...time for a serious weeding in that department.
And then there is time to be still. We all need that now and then, recharging the ol' batteries, clearing the mind of clutter and everyday debris. I have a garden for that, thankfully, with the occasional bunny hopping through, stopping long enough to notice me, wash an ear and then silently move on...to the backyard where the fresh food and cool water is set out for them. Taking notice of the resident hummingbirds and considering their lives is also a thing to be meditative on while recharging, or the bees on the oxalis and daisies.
Being still has never been easy for me since my energy and strength was demanded or needed elsewhere. I am learning balance these days, not a simple task at all--the learning or the balancing. My priest has encouraged me to take up centering prayer which she demonstrated one day. It looks so simple and easy, and I am sure it is...at least the times I have tried it. It was good time but she's more disciplined at it than I am...oh, and the discipline part, that's not easy either but I keep trying, and I suppose that is the crux of the matter: that we keep trying, and that we resist giving up and giving in to those thoughts and inactions that would otherwise sink us deeper into despair or convince us that all our effort is hopeless.
Well, it isn't hopeless and we need not sink into despair because Christ has already convinced us by the ultimate demonstration of His unending love that there is hope when it appears all hope is gone. Rising from the dead is very big deal. And if that does not give the hopeless hope, then I have nothing else to offer.
So, there is hope for me, hope for a way out of my occasional panic attacks about finances and the future; hope for the many others who are in more dire straits than I am, you know, the folks living under our local bridges and overpasses in town and throughout the Valley.
Hope that things will get better in the Middle East and that the terrorist group in Lebanon will get their coming-uppance for kidnapping two soldiers and attacking the rest, setting off the entire problem occurring as I type. Hope that the "war" in Iraq will end somehow and bring our men and women home. Hope that the insurgents will be put down by their own people so peace can happen.
Hope that the poor and hungry at home here in America can have a decent place to sleep, eat and live. That there will be opportunity for their children instead of embittered lives that will prey on the drug habits of others.
Hope for healing, everywhere. It helps to put things into perspective, doesn't it? Yeah, thought so.
Peace,
Catherine+
It has been something of a discovery as I have been finding out over the past year...there is lots to be said of patience and broken pencils. I mean, there is only so much house cleaning and closet rearranging to be done in times of a fallow field. So some creativity is called for, some you do on your own and the other kind that just manages to find you, idling at the curb.
As I have looked for gainful yet honorable work, I have helped inventory a local middle school library, helped paint a friend's living room, dining room and workspace of her condo with rough plaster walls--which as we know is a job no one in their right mind would do but for the love of said friend--and on top of that baby-sat her cockatiel while her hardwood floors were being installed, sanded and varnished times three; moved furniture, dusted furniture, willing got hauled all over the Valley looking at paint chips and area rugs until I knew everything there as to know about shades of almond and meadow green. My home became a one-time bed and breakfast for said wonderful friend over the course of a week, wherein I prepared coffee [which I don't drink] and some organic healthy breakfast each morning to the temporarily and somewhat anxious pal.
Trust me, my painting and furniture-moving muscles are fully awake...ugh.
As of today, I have begun keeping an elderly lady company at a nursing home by reading her poetry and telling a few stories for about an hour a day, every other day or so as she is now on hospice again, and everyday counts to her and her family. She delighted in a Wendell Barry and then a Jayne Relaford Brown piece, as well as a haiku on rabbits. There was a little St Anselm, shoehorned in for variety, and I also shared a poem written by a friend of The Rev. Susan Russell about crocuses but it was really an allegory for General Convention in disguise.
I met the home's director and nursing manager, the resident charge RN and a few other wonderful folk who help make the lives of these elderly and disabled people richer and more comfortable. The Licensed Clinical Social Worker for hospice is pretty special too. A real neat and intelligent woman who radiates glee and takes a truthtelling interest in her charges. Gotta love that!
I am also going through a little more of my material inheritance: lots of sewing stuff, ceramic shop stuff, antiques, toys my mother could never throw away because HER little ones played so happily with them and because as a child she never had any. Quilts--lots of quilts--some she made, some my grandmother made, some she bought. And I have my books: boxes and boxes and boxes of them...time for a serious weeding in that department.
And then there is time to be still. We all need that now and then, recharging the ol' batteries, clearing the mind of clutter and everyday debris. I have a garden for that, thankfully, with the occasional bunny hopping through, stopping long enough to notice me, wash an ear and then silently move on...to the backyard where the fresh food and cool water is set out for them. Taking notice of the resident hummingbirds and considering their lives is also a thing to be meditative on while recharging, or the bees on the oxalis and daisies.
Being still has never been easy for me since my energy and strength was demanded or needed elsewhere. I am learning balance these days, not a simple task at all--the learning or the balancing. My priest has encouraged me to take up centering prayer which she demonstrated one day. It looks so simple and easy, and I am sure it is...at least the times I have tried it. It was good time but she's more disciplined at it than I am...oh, and the discipline part, that's not easy either but I keep trying, and I suppose that is the crux of the matter: that we keep trying, and that we resist giving up and giving in to those thoughts and inactions that would otherwise sink us deeper into despair or convince us that all our effort is hopeless.
Well, it isn't hopeless and we need not sink into despair because Christ has already convinced us by the ultimate demonstration of His unending love that there is hope when it appears all hope is gone. Rising from the dead is very big deal. And if that does not give the hopeless hope, then I have nothing else to offer.
So, there is hope for me, hope for a way out of my occasional panic attacks about finances and the future; hope for the many others who are in more dire straits than I am, you know, the folks living under our local bridges and overpasses in town and throughout the Valley.
Hope that things will get better in the Middle East and that the terrorist group in Lebanon will get their coming-uppance for kidnapping two soldiers and attacking the rest, setting off the entire problem occurring as I type. Hope that the "war" in Iraq will end somehow and bring our men and women home. Hope that the insurgents will be put down by their own people so peace can happen.
Hope that the poor and hungry at home here in America can have a decent place to sleep, eat and live. That there will be opportunity for their children instead of embittered lives that will prey on the drug habits of others.
Hope for healing, everywhere. It helps to put things into perspective, doesn't it? Yeah, thought so.
Peace,
Catherine+
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