...the kind of work each one of us has agreed to do: to use every resource at hand to build the reign of God--to use the gifts we have, the ones we think we might have, and the ones we haven't yet discovered yet, to be willing to speak aloud about our vision of peace, whether in the newspaper or the halls of Congress, and to dedicate our lives to making that vision come alive, to give our hearts to it, to believe in it, with every fiber of our being. - p. 35
Thus the Kingdom of God comes to earth! And what a vision of the Peaceable Kingdom it is. ++Katherine has moved into the second section of her book, assembling a small but invigorating group of sermons dedicated to raising our awareness to our call as disciples of peace.
I, like her (and I am finding many more similarities in thoughts and feelings), sign many of my correspondences with "Peace." For my Christian brothers and sisters, I sign "Peace in Christ." I do this to remind myself and others of our call to be peacemakers, and with every close, I ask myself, "Am I making peace or breaking peace with and through this person?"
There is always conflict in every place: in our homes, in our workplaces, even in our houses of worship. ++Katherine points out that as baptised members of Christ's church, we are called to join with Jesus and with others to be bringers of peace and builders of the Kingdom of Heaven here on earth. We don't have an option, if we take our Baptismal Covenant seriously.
So, lets get to work. With whom at work are you not at peace? In your family? In your past or future? Do you see others who are not at peace with each other? How can you take steps toward making peace, even if such steps may be difficult to make?
Wednesday, February 28, 2007
Tuesday, February 27, 2007
A WING AND A PRAYER "Who's Got a Hold on You?"
Who has a hold on you? Who has laid claim to your heart? ...Who's story is claiming and softening your heart? What questions are rising? Those are God's invitations. It's an ancient pattern: when God hears the voices crying in the wilderness, God sends Moses and Aaron and Miriam, and eventually, you and me. When we hear the people cry, they lay a claim on us. That's where we meet Jesus, that's where we share God's love, and that's where we're meant to be. - p. 29
++Katherine ends this first section of the book by reminding us of our interconnectedness. Each of us, in come fashion, is both dependent upon and responsible for all others. And as we make our way through the day, we are bombarded by images of others, either live images through our car windows, or mediated images in radio or television newscasts, of brothers and sisters who are in desparate need.
As we noted earlier, we can be overwhelmed by the amount of need that we encounter in our communities. But that shouldn't deter us from responding. I was once told that we cannot change everything at once, but we should find one thing, and focus on that. One person, one family, one community challenge, and commit to making that one thing better.
Just look around the immediate surroundings of our church. The immediate block...what do you see? Does anything "get a hold on you"? Does an image burn itself into your mind? Have you shared your perception of that need with the members of the church vestry? If not, why not? We are, each of us, members of the Body of Christ. When you see it, share it. Post it here, or bring it up with the clergy. Silence is not an answer to God's invitation to make a difference.
++Katherine ends this first section of the book by reminding us of our interconnectedness. Each of us, in come fashion, is both dependent upon and responsible for all others. And as we make our way through the day, we are bombarded by images of others, either live images through our car windows, or mediated images in radio or television newscasts, of brothers and sisters who are in desparate need.
As we noted earlier, we can be overwhelmed by the amount of need that we encounter in our communities. But that shouldn't deter us from responding. I was once told that we cannot change everything at once, but we should find one thing, and focus on that. One person, one family, one community challenge, and commit to making that one thing better.
Just look around the immediate surroundings of our church. The immediate block...what do you see? Does anything "get a hold on you"? Does an image burn itself into your mind? Have you shared your perception of that need with the members of the church vestry? If not, why not? We are, each of us, members of the Body of Christ. When you see it, share it. Post it here, or bring it up with the clergy. Silence is not an answer to God's invitation to make a difference.
Monday, February 26, 2007
A WING AND A PRAYER "Total Ministry" & "Saints in Our Midst"
We need leaders in the church--and I insist that every baptized person is a Christian leader somewhere--who know how to lay down their lives for others. We need leaders whoare engaged in daily ministry in the world, we need ordained leaders, and we need those who blur the boundaries. - p. 23
Did you leave the womb, or the family home, expecting to go where you are today? What odd places has God asked you to visit? What strange and wonderful ministries have beckoned you? - p. 26
Sometimes reality just smacks you in the face! ++Katherine's description of some of the parishes in the Diocese of Nevada sounds surprisingly like our own, here in Northwestern Pennsylvania. We are challenged, and we are small in number. While some of the urban parishes, and even parishes in small towns and bouroughs are holding steady and even growing, most of our smaller parishes in towns experiencing economic challenge or declining populations may not see out the decade.
And while we can all hope for numbers, and may experience positive results from church growth models and programs, the reality is this: we should not determine our success or failure by the numbers in the pews, but by our effectiveness as Christians working in the world. It is no longer the job of the ordained to merely guide you through worship on Sunday morning and then do the work of the church the other six days of the week. You are also Christ's hands in the world.
We are, each of us, called to respond to Jesus' call with whatever gifts or talents we are given, to make the world better than when we found it. At the end of the day, my prayer is always,
"Please, Lord, let me not only not break it worse than it was when I woke this morning, but also gift me in such a way as to make it somehow better, both for those whom I serve and for those who are yet to come."
We are Christians: ergo we are CALLED to MINISTRY. What is your ministry? To whom do you minister? How did you make the world better today than it was when you woke this morning?
Did you leave the womb, or the family home, expecting to go where you are today? What odd places has God asked you to visit? What strange and wonderful ministries have beckoned you? - p. 26
Sometimes reality just smacks you in the face! ++Katherine's description of some of the parishes in the Diocese of Nevada sounds surprisingly like our own, here in Northwestern Pennsylvania. We are challenged, and we are small in number. While some of the urban parishes, and even parishes in small towns and bouroughs are holding steady and even growing, most of our smaller parishes in towns experiencing economic challenge or declining populations may not see out the decade.
And while we can all hope for numbers, and may experience positive results from church growth models and programs, the reality is this: we should not determine our success or failure by the numbers in the pews, but by our effectiveness as Christians working in the world. It is no longer the job of the ordained to merely guide you through worship on Sunday morning and then do the work of the church the other six days of the week. You are also Christ's hands in the world.
We are, each of us, called to respond to Jesus' call with whatever gifts or talents we are given, to make the world better than when we found it. At the end of the day, my prayer is always,
"Please, Lord, let me not only not break it worse than it was when I woke this morning, but also gift me in such a way as to make it somehow better, both for those whom I serve and for those who are yet to come."
We are Christians: ergo we are CALLED to MINISTRY. What is your ministry? To whom do you minister? How did you make the world better today than it was when you woke this morning?
Saturday, February 24, 2007
A WING AND A PRAYER "You Can't Always Get What You Want"
Most of us, most of the time, expect things to be fair. And our sense of fairness assumes a predictable and fundamental relationship between behavior and outcome. ...radical equality offends us because most of us believe, somewhere deep down, that we deserve what we have, that we've done something right to be as blessed as we are. - p. 19
We love it when things are going right, and we somehow think that we've earned the gifts that God has given us; we are somehow rewarded. But the problem with the reward mentality is that when we embrace it , we somehow have to also embrace the punishment mentality. This means that in moments that things aren't going our way then we are likely to ask ourselves why God is punishing us, and what part of our life is not being lived out the way that God expects it to be lived out. You'll hear this kind of punishment/reward theology pronounced from many pulpits and on many televangelist programs each and every week.
Our own Nicene Creed seems to point us toward the same reading: that Jesus will come again "...to judge the living and the dead." Judgement and evaluation are not the same as punishment and reward. For us to assume that somehow a life lived in purity will be rewarded while a life lived in doubt and sin will be punished is forcing God respond to judgement in a very human response. But God is bigger than the Creed, and certainly wiser and kinder than humanity.
++Katherine invites us to see what it means to have enough, to see ourselves as living abundantly, not just because we do indeed have much, but also because we are indeed blessed. The gift of God's grace in our eternal salvation is not something that any can earn, it is an abundance of love shared with all of us from the Cross. The abundance in our life comes from the abundance of our faith, and we are called as Christians to preach this abundance to everyone. EVERYONE!
We are not to judge, to burden others with either reward or punishment. We are to preach the love of Christ crucified, died, and resurrected. Anything less is to deny the abundance that has been, is, and will always be given to us.
We love it when things are going right, and we somehow think that we've earned the gifts that God has given us; we are somehow rewarded. But the problem with the reward mentality is that when we embrace it , we somehow have to also embrace the punishment mentality. This means that in moments that things aren't going our way then we are likely to ask ourselves why God is punishing us, and what part of our life is not being lived out the way that God expects it to be lived out. You'll hear this kind of punishment/reward theology pronounced from many pulpits and on many televangelist programs each and every week.
Our own Nicene Creed seems to point us toward the same reading: that Jesus will come again "...to judge the living and the dead." Judgement and evaluation are not the same as punishment and reward. For us to assume that somehow a life lived in purity will be rewarded while a life lived in doubt and sin will be punished is forcing God respond to judgement in a very human response. But God is bigger than the Creed, and certainly wiser and kinder than humanity.
++Katherine invites us to see what it means to have enough, to see ourselves as living abundantly, not just because we do indeed have much, but also because we are indeed blessed. The gift of God's grace in our eternal salvation is not something that any can earn, it is an abundance of love shared with all of us from the Cross. The abundance in our life comes from the abundance of our faith, and we are called as Christians to preach this abundance to everyone. EVERYONE!
We are not to judge, to burden others with either reward or punishment. We are to preach the love of Christ crucified, died, and resurrected. Anything less is to deny the abundance that has been, is, and will always be given to us.
Friday, February 23, 2007
A WING AND A PRAYER "Collective Memory"
The remembering that brings us into paradise is both about bringing to mind what we've already known or experienced, and about a dream for the future, for what is possible in God's creation. Remembering is about the truths of our faith as well as the possibilities for making those truths real now and in the future. p. 17
In acting classes at Gannon, we teach our students that when they create a character for a scene or play, their performances are more realistic when they see the character not just from the lines and actions of the scene or play that they are performing. They have to see that character in a sense of the continuum of time. Whether you are playing Laura Wingfield from The Glass Menagerie or Eugene Morris Jerome from Brighton Beach Memoirs, you have to see the character as being both the sum total of their life experiences and also on a projection to a myriad of possible futures.
We, too, are the sum of what we've seen, what we've been, what we've done, etc. Each one of us is also filled with hopes for the future. As the Body of Christ, we must not be distracted by the many sad failures and proud accomplishments of our past. Collectively, we do share in each of them, but are neither burdened nor falsely proud by them. They have created in us strong desires about what we hope to accomplish next.
What do we feel are the Church's greatest accomplishments? What have been our worst moments? How do we take what we've been, look at where we are, and make plans for a future that is brighter than either our past or our present?
In acting classes at Gannon, we teach our students that when they create a character for a scene or play, their performances are more realistic when they see the character not just from the lines and actions of the scene or play that they are performing. They have to see that character in a sense of the continuum of time. Whether you are playing Laura Wingfield from The Glass Menagerie or Eugene Morris Jerome from Brighton Beach Memoirs, you have to see the character as being both the sum total of their life experiences and also on a projection to a myriad of possible futures.
We, too, are the sum of what we've seen, what we've been, what we've done, etc. Each one of us is also filled with hopes for the future. As the Body of Christ, we must not be distracted by the many sad failures and proud accomplishments of our past. Collectively, we do share in each of them, but are neither burdened nor falsely proud by them. They have created in us strong desires about what we hope to accomplish next.
What do we feel are the Church's greatest accomplishments? What have been our worst moments? How do we take what we've been, look at where we are, and make plans for a future that is brighter than either our past or our present?
Thursday, February 22, 2007
A WING AND A PRAYER - "Tending the Wounded Body of Christ"
As members of the Body of Christ, we can cure the sickness that is hopelessness. We can wash away the leprosy of listlessness. We can cast out the demon of despair. We have received God's love without payment, we can give without payment. We can show what it means to be treasured. p. 14
How wonderful to be given hope! ++Katherine offers us many glimpses of those who offer hope to others, not just in the Christian tradition but also in other traditions. The challenge for many is in seeing how our lives are interwoven and how our journeys may well be parallel.
Growing up in the Appalachian Mountains of western Pennsylvania did not provide me with many opportunities to meet those who were not Christian. In fact, the only distinction offered between faiths in my hometown were Roman Catholic and Protestant (denomination was almost inconsequential!). Imagine my thrill to come to Erie to attend Gannon University, and discover that there Jews and Muslims, even right here on the campus. Friendships arose, and opportunities as well to share in other forms of worship. I never lost my faith, but somehow it became even more dynamic in relation to the others I was finding.
What was surprising was the realization that many on the journey were reaching out to others in need. I wondered about their desire to do so, and what motivated them. It was a Christocentrist view of working for social justice, until I realized that Christ could certainly work beyond Christianity. I found hope in the fact that we could share energies, share resources, and share the burden of making a difference. Our call for us to see that each of us is special and are agents of God's salvation may even allow for us to imagine a Christ who can reach out to everyone, even to those who do not yet know intimately of His grace.
How have you seen Christ at work in the world, not just in the hands of His faithful, but in places you would hardly expect to find Him?
How wonderful to be given hope! ++Katherine offers us many glimpses of those who offer hope to others, not just in the Christian tradition but also in other traditions. The challenge for many is in seeing how our lives are interwoven and how our journeys may well be parallel.
Growing up in the Appalachian Mountains of western Pennsylvania did not provide me with many opportunities to meet those who were not Christian. In fact, the only distinction offered between faiths in my hometown were Roman Catholic and Protestant (denomination was almost inconsequential!). Imagine my thrill to come to Erie to attend Gannon University, and discover that there Jews and Muslims, even right here on the campus. Friendships arose, and opportunities as well to share in other forms of worship. I never lost my faith, but somehow it became even more dynamic in relation to the others I was finding.
What was surprising was the realization that many on the journey were reaching out to others in need. I wondered about their desire to do so, and what motivated them. It was a Christocentrist view of working for social justice, until I realized that Christ could certainly work beyond Christianity. I found hope in the fact that we could share energies, share resources, and share the burden of making a difference. Our call for us to see that each of us is special and are agents of God's salvation may even allow for us to imagine a Christ who can reach out to everyone, even to those who do not yet know intimately of His grace.
How have you seen Christ at work in the world, not just in the hands of His faithful, but in places you would hardly expect to find Him?
Wednesday, February 21, 2007
A WING AND A PRAYER - "One Body, Many Members"
The governing principles of God's reign aren't designed to make any of us particularly comfortable. When we think about the poor, captives, blind, and oppressed, do we know they have need of us? All are members of the body of God's creation, all have a need of one another.-p. 9
Our Presiding Bishop has just returned from a meeting of the primates of the Anglican Communion in which the notion of needing those with whom we do not agree or who understand God's revelation differently has not just drawn lines in the sand, but also built walls that seem to grow taller and thicker each day. There is a desire to cocoon ourselves, to circle the wagons, and to keep out those who make us uncomfortable or who force us to see ourselves, taking us out of our comfort zones. Still, the charge is to recognize that our notion of being the "Body of Christ" may well be greater than our notion of "Church." If we recognize the dignity of every human person, then we have to recognize the interrelatedness of each of us to each. We also have to see a requisite reciprocity as well, and know that while someone in need has need of me, I, too, have need of them, as uncomfortable as it might make me.
Riding the subway in N.Y.C. is challenging at best. You learn how to look but not to see, to glance around but not make eye contact, to respect the idea of being alone in a very public space. A few years back, a man passed by me, holding a can with some small change, and wearing a sign that read, "I have A.I.D.S. Can you help me?" He didn't say anything; he didn't extend his can into anyone's personal space. What was most noticeable were the number of people who looked at him, but refused to see him, and essentially ignored him to the point of removing him from their existence. Ignoring needy doesn't just remove them from the list of human persons; it also removes us from God's gifts of empathy and sympathy.
Who have we chosen to remove from the list of "human"? Who is not worthy of our sight, let alone our gaze? And what is the personal price we pay in order to have the "privilege" to ignore others out of existence?
Our Presiding Bishop has just returned from a meeting of the primates of the Anglican Communion in which the notion of needing those with whom we do not agree or who understand God's revelation differently has not just drawn lines in the sand, but also built walls that seem to grow taller and thicker each day. There is a desire to cocoon ourselves, to circle the wagons, and to keep out those who make us uncomfortable or who force us to see ourselves, taking us out of our comfort zones. Still, the charge is to recognize that our notion of being the "Body of Christ" may well be greater than our notion of "Church." If we recognize the dignity of every human person, then we have to recognize the interrelatedness of each of us to each. We also have to see a requisite reciprocity as well, and know that while someone in need has need of me, I, too, have need of them, as uncomfortable as it might make me.
Riding the subway in N.Y.C. is challenging at best. You learn how to look but not to see, to glance around but not make eye contact, to respect the idea of being alone in a very public space. A few years back, a man passed by me, holding a can with some small change, and wearing a sign that read, "I have A.I.D.S. Can you help me?" He didn't say anything; he didn't extend his can into anyone's personal space. What was most noticeable were the number of people who looked at him, but refused to see him, and essentially ignored him to the point of removing him from their existence. Ignoring needy doesn't just remove them from the list of human persons; it also removes us from God's gifts of empathy and sympathy.
Who have we chosen to remove from the list of "human"? Who is not worthy of our sight, let alone our gaze? And what is the personal price we pay in order to have the "privilege" to ignore others out of existence?
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