ADVENT 2011

He shows mercy to everyone, from one generation to the next, who honors him as God. He has shown strength with his arm. He has scattered those with arrogant thoughts and proud inclinations. He has pulled the powerful down from their thrones and lifted up the lowly. He has filled the hungry with good things and sent the rich away empty-handed. - Luke 1:50-55

Time Magazine name "The Protester" as its "Person of the Year" - the generic protester, both individual and collective, who has stood up to challenges in the face of sometimes insurmountable odds, who sees injustice and inequality in the world and who helps to draw the attention of others to those who have lost their ability to be seen and heard.

We, as Christians, are given a marvelous example of just how personal our God can be in the mystery of the Incarnation; God in human form is made manifest. We are also given a glimpse into the nature of this divine and human intersection in the way that God chose to be born - from the womb of a young peasant woman from Nazareth. In our own church, we celebrate the Blessed Virgin Mary as our patron, and when the scriptures and the season allow it, we cast our gaze upon her inspiration and example.

The powerful passage from Luke, known popularly as the canticle "Magnificat," is the attributed response of Mary to her cousin Elizabeth's recognition of the blessedness of the One that Mary carried within her. Mary's response is filled with the affirmation of God's power and her (and our) dutiful recognition of the honor due to God. It is also a cry for social justice for all of those who have disappeared or been allowed to disappear from view - the hungry, the humble, the meek, the lowly, the unprotected. It's almost not surprise when Jesus' own teachings often turned his disciples attention to those same people who were most in need. His mother must have taught him well! We, too, must cast our gaze toward those who have no face or voice. In the example of Jesus and of his mother, our patron, we are to give voice to those who society has forgotten. We must stand in solidarity with them. We must raise our voices in protest against injustice, unfairness, cruelty, and ignorance.

I am often humbled by my students at Gannon University, and this fall, one particular student drew my attention repeatedly. When the Occupy movement started this past fall, a group of individuals gathered at the gazebo in Perry Square, adjacent to our campus, and voiced their protest against the perceived indignities and injustices acted against the poor and disenfranchised in our society. While many young people were attracted by the novelty of the situation, this one young man, Jared, not only joined his voice to the other protesters but had the stamina and drive to stay with them. As the autumn chill hit the air, and while many others left the gazebo, Jared committed his energy to continue to give voice and face to the undeserved. He went to classes, did his homework, and then stood in solidarity with the men and women of Occupy Erie. Many times Jared's hopes have been challenged and the statements being made were lost, not unlike those whom he tried to support. But through the autumn into winter, Jared continues to support and stand up for justice. Most importantly, he does so with a powerfully strong Christian faith, a faith that gives him strength in adversity.

While we do support the separation of religion and government from our Constitutional perspective, Jesus and Mary remind us that we can never separate our faith and our social actions; in fact, our faith is supposed to inform our actions as we stand up to social injustice. The Episcopal Church's "Holy Men and Holy Women" by which we commemorate the saints who have inspired us, is filled with examples, not unlike Jared, of those who have committed themselves to making a difference in our communities, our state, our nation, and our world. May we have the strength, like Jared, to honor God and to honor the least among us, filling them with good things and not allowing them to be sent away empty-handed.

In Jesus' Name,
Fr. Shawn

Christ the King 2011

Something happens to me each fall on the day of the first real snowfall. I’m not talking about those spits and sputters with icy pellets that mix with rain. I mean the first time you look out and see the soft, light flakes falling from the autumn sky, dark clouds mixed with brief moments of sunlight. When it’s cold enough to prick the lungs when you inhale and clouds escape your mouth and nose when you breathe out.


I was once told that this time is a magical time for people like me – the abstract random thinkers. Personality profiles tell me that I’m one of those individuals who does not think of things in an orderly fashion, nor do I experience things concrete terms. I am a “compassionate dreamer,” one who feels more than thinks, who perceives more than judges. At a teaching conference, we were grouped according to our personality types, and as we sat chatting about the idiosyncrasies we abstract random/INFP’s exhibit, someone in the group mentioned that when the snow first falls, they love to make a cup of hot cocoa, put on winter seasonal music, and sit in the window and watch the falling puffs of white. We all chimed in that we like to do the same. And then our eyes filled with tears – not from sadness but from recognition that the first snow fall has always been magical to us.

As a boy, I used to love this time of year. Living in Johnsonburg, along Powers Run which paralleled the highway to St. Mary’s, PA, and being so close to the forest that which was just a leap away, the passing of seasons was not something we merely observed. They were experienced in all the senses: the sound of crunching leaves under our feet as we walked the path next to the stream; the sound of wind as it whistled through the leafless branches in the trees; the smell of burning barrels from gleaned gardens and raked yards. It all is a sign of time moving forward and the cycle of the year dropping down into a kind of quiet pall.

For me, it’s the sign that the summer is truly gone. The hot days and warm nights, the leisurely afternoons are all stepping aside. The leaves have mostly fallen, and the grass has stopped growing. There is a gentle surrender as the world puts itself to bed for a while. The sun does rise so high in the sky, and as it sets, it casts a golden light on each building and tree as it slowly disappears beyond the horizon.

God has made some of us very sensitive to these milestones during each year’s journey. We see things in constant motion, constant flux. We don’t fear the winter chill or the long nights. We embrace and respect them. And we see them as a reminder that there can be no rebirth without decay; there can be no resurrection without death. The days grow gradually colder. The snow falls gently, at first, on the soft ground. The nights grow steadily longer. And in the midst of this gradual passing we also recall in our random and abstract imaginations, that it won’t be long before the crocuses and daffodils will be pushing up through the soil to put winter to bed and hail the coming spring.

We are a patient people – we are an advent people. And we trust in God’s providence and love.

Love Your Neighbor

In everything do to others as you would have them do to you; for this is the law and the prophets. Matthew 7:12

You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself. Luke 10:27

I was strangely attentive to the news on September 21. Somehow, the media outlets captured my attention with the story of Troy Davis’ appeal and execution. I have long been an abolitionist regarding the death penalty, and this man’s story took hold of my heart and mind. I couldn't believe that the legal institutions continued to pronounce his guilt as he maintained his innocence right up to his final moments.

While I certainly empathize with all of those who have lost family and friends at the hands of violent criminals, I do not advocate state employment of capital punishment. But as always, I do not assume that I am right in my stance on the issue, and in typical Anglican fashion, I test my disposition by looking at scripture, tradition, and reason.

The teachings of Jesus to his disciples regarding how to treat others are unambiguous. The scripture passages above are only two of the examples of the many statements Jesus made on how we are to act as community. We are called to treat others as we would want to be treated. We are invited to respect the dignity of all human persons. We are to respect the sanctity of all human life.

As Episcopalians we have a history of church teachings on the subject of capital punishment/the death penalty. Since 1958 The Episcopal Church has opposed capital punishment on the theological basis the life of each individual is that we all have infinite worth in God’s sight, and that only the Almighty has the divine providence to take any life. This opposition to the taking of any life by any human person has been reaffirmed by several conventions since that time.

Even recently Bishop John Bryson Chane of Washington DC (and former assisting clergy at the Cathedral of St. Paul) articulated that the Maryland legislature should abolish the application of the death penalty in that state because it was “unjust and ineffective” and opposed its application because Jesus himself “forbade violence as a means to solve problems caused by evil.” He also pointed out that it is a sad reality that capital punishment unfairly targets the economically challenged, and that the death penalty has never been shown to deter commission of violent crime.

Our desire for vengeance is a human. But like most of our appetites, vengeance only leads to someone else feeling justified in wishing vengeance upon those who took the life of their loved one. In the midst of the emotions and appeals last month, I was stunned and inspired by Troy Davis’ final wishes and prayer: “I ask my family and friends that you all continue to pray, that you all continue to forgive. Continue to fight this fight. For those about to take my life, may God have mercy on all of your souls. God bless you all.”

Mr. Davis’ words are reminiscent of another individual’s last moments in life, which were not filled with a cry for vengeance but rather an end to the mechanism of institutionalized killing.

Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing. Luke 23:34

I pray that we, too, will be forgiven.

They're Here!!!

Jesus said to his friends, “Let the children come to me; do not stand in their way, for to them belongs the kingdom of God.” - Mark 10:14b-15

I don’t know what I expected, but when Donna, Joyce and I saw the children make their way from the stairway into the church, it wasn’t what I expected. Maybe it’s because my own son is in his last year of middle school, and I was expecting the kids to look more like him. Maybe it’s because I forgot just how tiny preschool kids are. But there they were, a dozen or so little faces, little arms, and BIG eyes!

And they were so respectful. As they entered the sanctuary, their teacher, aid and room parent reminded them that they were coming into a special space. So they walked with care, maybe even an involuntary reverence, and they approached the front of the church. We had placed a candle there on a small table, just a reminder that this was a special time.

Noonday prayer – modified for these young people. I reminded myself that their attention spans were not much more than three to five minutes (which on long days or after a busy week is a good two minutes longer than my own!). “The Lord be with you!” “And also with you!” A quick version of “Happy First Day of School” (set to the tune of “The Birthday Song” – pretty sure they all knew that one), followed by Donna’s reading of the scripture above (loosely paraphrased by me). Joyce offered prayers for the start of the school year, for friends old and new, teachers and those who help them, families and all who care for us. I offered a final blessing: “God created you; God loves you; God is with you. God blesses you!” We closed with a song – “Jesus Loves Me.” While I thought that they might all know this camp classic, only one youngster on the far end knew the tune and the words (and did she sing out!).

It is wonderful feeling the life in the church. I’ve been at St. Mary’s since the fall of 2009, and for almost all of my office hours, whether Saturday mornings or Thursday afternoons, the place has been quiet as the grave. Not that an introvert doesn’t appreciate silence, but aside from myself and the occasional visitor, there has been no life around me. Outside the doors, beyond the buildings, sure, but nothing inside. Which confronted me with the question – what have we to give to those around us? How can we be better stewards of this building, this property, which we have inherited from those who went before us, and how can we use this building to share in Christ’s mission? How can we share our stories with those who don’t know of Christ’s love?

After our quick service, I asked they had any questions. While most volunteered stories about their dogs and cats, one young man asked, “Why is there a church connected to our school?” I smiled, and explained that we had a building that wasn’t getting much use, and when Miss Chelsie Rudzinski came to us and asked if the YMCA could use the building, we said, “Sure!” I don’t think I answered his question, but I think I answered mine. And maybe even yours.

PENTECOST 2011

“Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age."- Matthew 28:19-20 (NRSV)
There was a time, as one parishioner pointed out earlier this month, when our season of Pentecost was called the season of Trinity. While we preserve Holy Trinity Sunday in our Lectionary, initiating the second Sunday of Pentecost, we necessarily employ the Trinity as a guide for our season. Yet, we should. The Trinity captures the mystery of God’s nature: Three Persons in one Unity; Creator, Redeemer, and Sanctifier; Lover, Beloved and Unconditional Love shared not only between by transcending into all creation.

This mystery is ultimately how we frame our understanding of our own salvation. We are called into relationship with out Creator, recognizing our total dependence upon God for all life, all grace, all gifts that we share. And in spite of our human tendencies toward self-centeredness, God our Creator is made manifest to us in Jesus Christ, he who redeems us from our brokenness in becoming incarnate and affirming the intimate relationship between God and humankind. And after Jesus’ mission and life, passion, death, resurrection and ascension, God promises that we will not be left alone, but will have God the Holy Spirit, our inspiration, our solace, our guide to help us to continue the divine mission.

Trinity and Pentecost are essentially linked, not just in theology, but in ecclesiology, as we, the Church, continue the mission of reconciling all creation to God and to one another. Henri J. M. Nouwen said, “Without Pentecost the Christ-event…remains imprisoned in history as something to remember, think about, reflect on. The Spirit of Jesus comes to dwell within us, so that we can become living Christs here and now.”

Our color for the season of Pentecost is green – a color of life and growth. May we embrace this season as one for the growth of the mission of the Church and the sharing of the Gospel of Jesus Christ with our world.

Peace in Christ,
Shawn+

End of Times

"Some say the world will end in fire.
Some say in ice." - Robert Frost


Throughout history it has been a human obsession to wonder about how creation will come to an end. Doomsday predictors have been a part of the intellectual, religious, and scientific discourse since the beginning of human society. It is not just a faith phenomenon - our recent discussions and findings in the ecology of the earth have raised awareness of whether our planet can continue to sustain the side effects of the human species. Whether or not you believe that global warming is a result of our carbon footprint, it doesn't take much more than a Sunday drive to witness the negative impact that our sprawl and our polution have on our environment.


In the recent days and weeks we've heard more than most want to hear about Harold Camping, Family Radio Network, Judgement Day, End Times, Rapture. With a great deal of faith and a great deal of searching, this group of Christians have looked for hidden signs and signals in scripture and in history to try to determine how and when the world will come to an end. If one can predict the date and time, then one can be prepared, and prepare others for the Christ's return. You can be on the right side of Judgement, can express that faith, can bring others to salvation.

While most of the faith and scientific communities disregard the fervor of Camping and his followers (and there will be a need for pastoral care and reassurance to those who hoped to be raptured on May 21 and found themselves still having to go to work on May 23), one cannot deny their passion for belief. It is hard to fault those who feel that they need to know the endgame - it's a little like reading the last ten pages of a novel. Many of us don't like surprises, don't like ambiguity, don't appreciate the journey as much as we want to be at our destination. The challenge that presents itself to all of us as we come to the end of the Easter Season is how do we sustain our faith in the Risen Lord, how do we follow Him, how do we express our faith in Resurrection, and not worry about how and when our salvation will be encountered?

Camping and his faithful, as many apocalyptic communities before, cannot live in the ambiguity of God's love and faithfulness. Nor can they live in a faith that fills life with Christian hope. We, however, are an Easter people. We are a people of the Kingdom of God. Our faith guide and shepherd, Bishop Sean W. Rowe, constantly invokes the phrase, "It's a Great Day in the Kingdom!" And he does so in sure and certain faith. His surity is our inspiration, and we, in turn are called to share that certainty with others. In Matthew 24:36, Jesus tells us that we do not know the day or the hour of His coming - only God the Father knows. What we do know is that we are to live a life of faith and love, following the example of Christ. To be in right relationship with Jesus is to share His Gospel with the world, in word and deed, and to rest in assurance that we will be welcomed home at the end of this journey.

Holy Week/Easter 2011

During the past several weeks, I have had the pleasure to walk with members of our congregation as they have prepared to either formally affirm their mature faith in confirmation or be welcomed into full membership in The Episcopal Church (USA). I have listened to their questions, loved their answers, embraced their doubts and shared their hopes. Each one of them has a very different story, and they are all blessed with distinctive gifts of Spirit and faith. They have all been touched by the Word of God and by our manner of worship. And all have responded to God's call and accept their responsibilities to share in God's work. These new and renewed members of the Christian Church are at the heart of the traditions of our Lenten and Easter seasons, a time of preparation and covenant through which we all share as members of the body of Christ in His work in the world. We, as a congregation and faith community, have made these young and not-so-young people welcome at St. Mary's, have inspired them to growth in their own faith, and have come to look forward to how they will help guide our small faith community as we continue to share the Gospel in east Erie County. While we celebrate their formation and acceptance of God's invitation, we are also bolstered in our own faith, knowing that by word and example we have lived into our own Baptismal Covenant. We have shared the faith and practice of our denomination, we have share how we have been blessed and redeemed by Christ, we have shared our own struggle to see Christ's face in the face of everyone we meet. We are humbled that our children and our friends wish to join us in our faith journey at the Mission of St. Mary's in Lawrence Park. How wonderful to fully embrace this seasonal tradition that has been a part of the Church for two millennia. This is our season of growth, of strenghthening, of evangelizing. Let us give thanks to God for Jesus Christ, who loved us so that He shared His Body and Blood that we might be redeemed from hatred, intolerance and fear, and brought us to new life in the Spirit and eternal life with God. Let us hold up our confirmands and newly received members, Beau, Denny, Jason, Josh, Linda, Matt, Morgan, Neal, and Samantha, in prayer. May God continue to work in them and in us to make manifest His glory in the world!

Be Perfect

Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.
Matthew 5:48

Perfect: conforming absolutely to the description or definition of an ideal type (from dictionary.com)

Sometimes the notion of obtaining perfection is frighteningly daunting. Think of perfection. Think of being perfect. Are you getting that funny feeling in your stomach? We we think of being perfect, we often set our sights on what we think is the perfect model: am I the perfect parent? The perfect child? The perfect employee? The perfect boss? The perfect student? The perfect guide? The perfect priest? The perfect parishioner? In short - am I a perfect person? To measure our perfection, we have to find a standard by which we can measure ourselves, and often we look more at the ways that we are perfect, and not always at those ways where we do not measure up (unless we're in our teenage years, when the whole world is upside-down).

During the first half of the nineteenth century in Oxford, England, a group of young theologians were wrestling with many conflicting ideas of what was perfection in Church of England. There were strong Evangelicals who were proponents of the emotional experience of religion in opposition to passionate intellectuals who were proponents of High Church principles of a traditional approach to faith. Many tried to unite the two sides, affirming that the Church was a Via Media, a "middle way" that espoused the principle of "both/and" rather than an "either/or." (Glad to see so much has changed over time...!)

Until he joined the Church of Rome in 1845, John Henry Newman, an Anglican cleric and one-time vicar of St. Mary's in Oxford, was one of those young clerics, both a leading theologian and a powerful preacher. His own wish was to affirm both the personal connection to Christian spirituality and the powerful efficacy and transformative power of traditional liturgy. For Fr. Newman, perfection was truly attainable by each person. "Be you content with nothing short of perfection."

But what was the measure by which perfection was to be tested? Certainly we cannot be perfect in the same way that God is perfect. God is perfect God; God is pefect love, abundant in forgiveness and grace. We as human persons are perfect, but perfect in our brokenness, in our incompleteness, in our predilection to judge one another, distrust one another, and denigrate one another. We might say that we are perfect...perfectly AWFUL!

Still, saying we are awful and not doing anything about it is a copout. It is just an excuse for not trying. We are more likely not even to try to attain perfection so as not to risk failure. I can't do it on my own, and to ask for help is an admission of my own weakness. And to turn to God for help, well, we are even to arrogant to admit that we cannot achieve perfection without His un earned grace. Still, try we must, for as Fr. Newman put it, "...exert yourselves day by day to grow in knowledge and grace; that, if so be, you may at length attain the presence of Almighty God."

We must try to reach perfection, but not measure it by our own imperfect rule. We measure ourselves by God's measure, who calls us to strive to be perfect in loving Him, and in loving one another as He has loved us.

Love one another with mutual affection. Outdo one another in showing honor.
Romans 12:10

[John Henry Newman quotes are from his Parochial and Plain Sermons, edited and featured in Love's Redeeming Work: The Anglican Quest for Holiness (Oxford University Press).]

Glorious Humility

We've packed up Christmas, and we've put it back in storage in the basement. Alas and alack! I know I'm a bit of a geek about Christmas, but I must confess that my theology is grounded in the Incarnation, and for me, the Feast of the Incarnation is paramount to my faith.

But I do love Epiphany, too (heck, if you get right down to it, I love each liturgical season for the gifts and inspiration each offer!). Epiphany is the season of discovery, revelation, recognition, and realization. Throughout the season - and this winter's Epiphany is about as long as the season can get - we share signs and revelations of Jesus' divinity and godliness, along with his truly human and worldly self. There is glory in his miracles and signs, there is power in his preaching and his healing. But there is also humility in his humble servant hood, his example of walking, eating, and communing with the marginalized and the ignored.

Glory AND humility, divine AND human, exalted AND humbled, God AND Man - opposites, held in relation to one another as God's desire to hold God's self close to creation. It is enigmatic - mysterious - that, as Henri Nouwen put it, "It is hard to believe that God would reveal his diving presence to us in the self-emptying, humble way of the man from Nazareth." (THE ROAD TO DAYBREAK) It is hypocritical for those of us as faith communities and institutions to seek power, control, and popularity, when Christ's example was in embracing the powerless, the voiceless, and the littleness of the world.

Epiphany is a season of abundance and blessing, but it is also the season of quiet healing, still faith, and awe in the gift of Christ. May we continue our liturgical year, in sincere celebration of the gifts of the season, celebrating the Incarnate mystery of God mad Man, and the revelation of that truth by recalling and retelling the miraculous works and inspiring teachings of Jesus.