Epiphany to Lent 2017

This Proper is always used on the Sunday before Ash Wednesday

O God, who before the passion of thy only-begotten Son didst reveal his glory upon the holy mount: Grant unto us that we, beholding by faith the light of his countenance, may be strengthened to bear our cross, and be changed into his likeness from glory to glory; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

-         1979 Book of Common Prayer, p. 165

Since September, a group of parishioners have walked through the Book of Common Prayer, reading it page by page, section by section, and gaining an appreciation for the wonderful history of faith that it provides, but also the opportunities for creative worship and local flavor that it allows.

We have come to recognize the gifts of daily prayer, whether or not we are actively engaged in it or not, and the design of seasons by which we mark our year in faith from Advent through Pentecost, reflecting on our Baptismal Covenant and how the liturgical progress helps to reinforce, year after year, that we are called by God, saved by God, and sent forth by God.

We are now coming to the end of Epiphany, which this year seems to have had strong significance. Perhaps it’s because we have seen our communities and nation challenged by fractious attitudes; maybe it’s because we’ve been personally challenged to keep our own lights of faith and love lit and in public view of all. This collect, which brings to an end the season by which we have looked for evidence of Jesus of Nazareth as our Messiah and Lord, ask not just for the light that shines in darkness, but for a light that is even stronger. The Light we seek is not a single candlelight; it is a a burning flame, blinding, emanating from a Transfigured form of Christ that burns in its brightness. It is this light that ultimately shocked the disciples and struck fear into the hearts of the powers of the day – both the Empire in Rome and Pharisees in Temple in Jerusalem.

This Light, which has grown from week to week through our long Ephipany season this liturgical year, is now strong enough to guide us through the darkest times, even as we stand in the shadow of the Cross. We need not fear; we need only remember: when we are reduced to anxiousness and even tears, the Light of Christ will be there to lift us back up, as we are also restored by Christ’s glory in our own glory.

It may well be that, as we enter into Lent in this particular year, in our particular context, that our cross may seem heavier than it has in years past. Maybe that’s why a long Epiphany may be more than just a calendar fluke. Maybe this year, more than any recent year, we’ve needed this extra time to see the Light, hold the Light, and courageously lift the Light. With the Light of Christ in one hand, and the Cross of Christ in the other, we will be ready, even should the moment of darkness come.

We are the Light of the World!

Peace in Jesus Christ, in whom we live, move, and have our being,

Fr. Shawn

Advent 2016

Advent: a coming into place, view, or being; arrival.

-  www.dictionary.com

Regardless of where we might individually identify in the many cultural, social, and political frames in which we place ourselves, this is certainly a time of Advent. Wherever we have been, as communities, as congregations, as neighborhoods, as families, and even as persons, there is not one of us that does not perceived that something new is coming into place. As veils have been pulled back which once covered complicated aspects of ourselves, we are forced to see anew the challenges of our mutual dependence. We are even challenged to ask ourselves of our own essential being; who we are in the many relationships we share.

Not one of us can deny that this will be an Advent that we remember for generations to come. And we cannot deny the (literal) elephant in the room that now focuses our beliefs, attitudes, and values.

Our very own bishop, the Right Reverend Sean Walter Rowe, offered a powerful testimony and inspiring commentary on the results of the general election. It carefully articulated that our mercy must be tempered with advocating social justice. Bishop Rowe also reminded us of the importance in reconciliation for the offender to accept responsibility and ask forgiveness, noting that mercy to an unrepentant sinner may be most difficult to show. As we navigate this difficult time, we remind ourselves of the importance of our obligations to be the voice for those who are in great anxiety.

I have been reminded by congregants of the struggles that they have had in their life journey. While I may be called to share a vision of comfort and calm, I also affirm the capacity for empathy and sympathy we all have toward those who have experienced much more fear and enmity from others. When we see the way some Episcopal churches have been vandalized and attacked for being welcoming and affirming of God’s love, we are reminded that there may be pushback, especially in these volatile days, against our inclusivity.

We are asked to be an Advent people. Our readings and liturgies of this liturgical season ask us to recognize our reliance and trust, as a people, in the promise of Christ’s coming. It is a challenging time, and we need to have room in our hearts to see Christ there, and the courage to give birth to him in the lives of others. Advent is a time of preparing, a time of affirming, and a time of waiting.

But we will arise, and shine, in faithful proclamation that our Light has come!

In hopeful anticipation,

Fr. Shawn

Repentance and Forgiveness of Sins to All Humanity

...the Messiah will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, and repentance and forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations... 

- Luke 24:46-47

Alleluia! Christ is Risen!
The Lord is Risen Indeed! Alleluia!

The Gospel of Luke is a gospel for both insiders and outsiders. For the insiders, it grounds Jesus' ministry in the fulfillment of God's promise of salvation, in glorious canticles, miraculous scenarios, and insightful parables. Jesus of Nazareth was the Messiah of Israel's hope, and all things necessary to human salvation are encapsulated in this Good News.

And human salvation includes...well...everyone! If you're human, then you are saved by the Incarnate God in Jesus the Christ. In this verse from the end of Luke's gospel, the Risen Jesus is in the midst of the disciples, and is helping them to understanding the meaning of his presence, providing insight from the entirety of scripture, He said that things were written about him in the "Law of Moses," or the what is known as the Torah, in the books of the Prophets, or what we call the Nevi'im, and the Psalms, which is held in the Ketuvim or wisdom literature. In other words - all of what we Christians sometimes refer to as the Hebrew Scriptures.

The ground for faith in God's love of humanity is made evident in the life, ministry, passion, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. This is our faith. However, it is not our faith to hold to ourselves. It is also our commission that we share that faith with others.

And this is where Jesus' ministry jumps from Jerusalem to all of creation - that we share the gospel that all sins are forgiven, that we are called to change our motion to be what God has created us to be. This is not just a Gospel for believers; it is a Gospel for all humanity.

We are charged that we are to share with others that when they are loving God and loving one another, then they are doing as God has created them to do. When we fail to live into our design; when we deny that we are created, when we ignore the gift of our own lives, when we refuse to change paths of our lives, when we reject that others are also created by God, when we reject God's diversity in creation, when our arrogance refuses to allow for God's forgiveness of others, when we cease to allow our faith to inspire us to move and act on behalf of God's desire for right mindfulness and right action - we are not heeding the invitation of the Risen Jesus to preach his name and his Good News to all.

It is a full challenge to respond to Jesus' charge. It is a charge that we must embrace each day of our lives. It is the Way to the Truth and the Life that we find in our Savior.

It is our celebration of the Resurrection of the Messiah.

Alleluia! Christ is Risen!
The Lord is Risen Indeed! Alleluia!

In the joy of our eternity,
Shawn+

Ash Wednesday 2016

I am a social media wonk. It’s not just a hobby for me; as a professor of communication, I am fascinated by the comings and goings of various social media fads and by the tidal wave of social media apps for my smart phone and tablet devices. My students are constantly telling me about new ways to share information, interests, and entertainment. And while they tell me that Facebook (what some in my generation call “The Facebooks”…good grief) is SO 2005, I still maintain my FB profile and presence, post and share information, and keep up with family, friends and alumni. Yes…I do have 5,000 “friends,” and frequently, when I post something controversial, I lose followers and can replace them with one of the many requests I have in cue.

Recently, there have been a plague of surveys which somehow are supposed to tell you something about yourself that you didn’t know, or reassure you of something that you’d like to believe is true about you. For example, I was engaged in a photo survey of my pictures on FB, and that my celebrity doppelganger is either a husky Russell Crowe or a thin John Goodman. I took both as complimentary. I also found through a questionnaire that my Anglican theologian heart is best represented by 19^th century Anglican priest and university professor, F. D. Maurice. I had no idea who Maurice was, until I looked him up.

Our collect for Maurice in Lesser Feasts and Fasts asks God to “Keep alive in your Church, we pray, a passion for justice and truth; that, like your servant Frederick Denison Maurice, we may work  and pray for the triumph of the kingdom of your Christ….” That resonated with me, so I looked further into his life and teachings.

Studied law? Not me. Refused his law degree because he would not subscribe to an oath of conformity. ME! Joined the Anglican Church because of personal responses to other traditions. ME! Came to theology after other studies. ME! Professor of humanities studies. ME! Formed the Christian Socialist Movement. (SHHHHH! I also have leanings in that direction…).

Maurice was a passionate ecumenist, which, after working decades at a diocesan Roman Catholic institution, I have sincere empathy. He wrote more commentaries on New Testament studies than Old, and I am drawn to the Gospels and Epistles as well. What hooked me more were some of his most quoted statements.

“We have been dosing our people with religion when what they want is not this but the living God.” My students at Gannon University frequently say that they are disillusioned with traditional Roman Catholic and mainline Protestant churches who insist that their particular Christianity is the ONLY way, truth, and life. The sad reality is that Jesus Christ is the Way, the Truth, and the Life, and not the religious institutions that mediate the Gospel message. The reservations of young people are communicating to us very clearly that Christian territorialism weakens the message, especially when that message is one of Christ’s desire for radical forgiveness and unconditional love.

“Competition is put forth as the law of the universe. That is a lie. The time has come for us to declare that it is a lie, by word and deed.” We are not out to triumph over one another, but to see that God’s will triumphs over all. When we divide ourselves as winners and losers, when we strive to dominate, decimate, or destroy those who differ from us, then we are not living into Christ’s examples to broaden our understanding of all humanity as our neighbor and our care.

“I do not think we are to praise the liturgy but to use it. When we do not want it for our life, we may begin to talk of it as a beautiful composition.” Liturgy communicates faith only if the audience of liturgy understands what it is saying. Language, gestures, ceremonies without meaning and without function have no part in the liturgical life of the Church. We must be constantly creating, refining, and innovating our worship so that it is meaningful and relevant to the faithful. And we must also appreciate the nuances and delicacies with which we perform our rites and rituals. Liturgical aesthetics are important, as long as they are appreciated not as museum pieces but as living, breathing expressions of thanksgiving and oblation.

“Christian Socialism will commit us at once to the conflict we must engage in sooner or later with the unsocial Christians and the unchristian Socialists.” Those who do go to church on Sunday mornings and then flip the bird to their neighbor as they pull in the driveway are just as mistaken and dangerous as those who wish to impose economic equality without engaging forgiveness and repentance. If there is to be equity in society, then the equity is best grounded in Christian social teaching. Gannon University’s integration of Catholic Social Teaching in our coursework and service learning/volunteerism has enlivened in me the importance of working for justice and peace, not just as a humanist, but as a disciple of Jesus Christ. We cannot separate social justice from the Gospel message; and, in fact, when we integrate them faithfully, we also become doers of the word and not just preachers.

I still have much to learn from F. D. Maurice, and I will continue to read his works and glean strength from his example. The connection is a gift I never thought I’d get…from a silly survey on Facebook!

Peace in Jesus Christ.

Fr. Shawn

Autumn 2015

My brothers and sisters,^* whenever you face trials of any kind, consider it nothing but joy, ³because you know that the testing of your faith produces endurance; ⁴and let endurance have its full effect, so that you may be mature and complete, lacking in nothing. – James 1:2-4

 

We have been walking with James through the past several weeks in our Revised Common Lectionary readings. James’ authorship is debatable – some scholars believe that it was written by an apostle, some believe it was composed by a later admirer and follower of The Way. Many affirm it was written by James the brother of Jesus, an early leader in the church. Some deny its authenticity completely, and even Martin Luther wanted to have it banned from the canon completely, because it demands demonstration of faith, an opposition against Pauline “sola fide” – justification by faith alone. Regardless, women and men much more insightful than I over the centuries have found it to be authentic in presentation of our faith foundation, as well as inspirational in its commands for communities of Christian through the centuries.

 

Personally, I squirm each week as the readings are proclaimed from the lectern. I’ve even gone back to read the portions of the readings not always included. Here are some of James’ “Greatest Hits”:

…the doubter, being double-minded and unstable in every way, must not expect to receive anything from the Lord…-1:6

 

…rid yourselves of all sordidness and rank growth of wickedness, and welcome with meekness the implanted word that has the power to save your souls…-1 :21

 

…faith by itself, if it has no works, is dead…-2:17

 

…show by your good life that your works are done with gentleness born of wisdom…-3:14

As our beautiful Prayers of the People affirm each week, we are a community that relies on connectedness and mutual affection, a gathering of friends and family who support one another in our spiritual journeys, and a faithful following that recognizes that what we say and do in worship must manifest in our lives outside of the hour we spend together on Sunday mornings. The Epistle of James was clearly written to both inspire Christians but also to challenge them to manifest faith and hope in how they engage their neighbors, do their jobs, relate to family. Christianity is not a thing that is mere belief, but it is our whole disposition to every moment of our lives. Moments of joy? They are a gift from God! Moments of despair? They are a gift to reflect on our reliance on God. Moments of frustration? They are a gift to trust in God’s grace to give us patience.

 

We believe, and our belief is demonstrated in our Christian disposition to see everything in light of God’s grace. Paul’s justification is not ignored by James; it is made manifest in our ability to insert that faith into our responses to every moment of our life. In this way, my faith doesn’t dictate my reactions; my reactions are framed by my indelible faith. We read James because we need to. Repeatedly. And whole-heartedly.

 

In Christ’s Peace,

Shawn+

Pentecost 2015 - B

This weekend's readings have the faithful moving on, "shaking the dust from their shoes," and focusing on mission. In preparation for Sunday's sermons, I came across this passage in IMAGES OF JESUS by Roman Catholic Benedictine theologian, Anselm Grun (given to me on as a gift at my priestly ordination...ten years ago...by the charming and inspiring Sr. Lucille DeStefano.). It helped me to empathize with more traditionalist Christians, as well as to be confident in radical hospitality and pure affection for all humanity.

Some conservative Christians use Jesus' capacity for enmity to justify the way in which they give offence everywhere. But there's also a danger here. If we use Jesus' experience of enmity to justify every conflict in which we get involved, we become blind to our own role in the conflict. Perhaps we give offense because we're incapable of understanding others, and are blind to their true concerns. Some people attempt to claim that their Pharisaism is an attitude of Jesus. When they experience resistance or criticism they hide behind the argument that Jesus, too, wasn't popular with everyone. Such identification with Jesus is always dangerous. It makes us blind to ourselves. I am not Jesus. I am not as transparent and clear as Jesus. So I must first check whether I've got needlessly involved in a confrontation with other people, whether I've simply been stubborn and incapable of understanding them, and whether I've hurt them. Only when I've examined myself sufficiently will I be able to recognize whether the enmity that I experience springs from the other person's hardheartedness or my own narrow-mindedness.

However, if I remain honest about myself, time and again I will have experiences similar to those of Jesus. If I speak of God's goodness I will be accused of being to lax. If I proclaim Jesus' mercy I will be told that my attitude will land me in hell. Such enmity corresponds to Jesus' experiences. When Jesus speaks authentically of God, he arouses anger and hatred in those with a narrow image of God who feel unsettled by him. Those who speak out will always also encounter enmity. Jesus gives me the courage to show myself as I am, to express myself and my quest for God without seeking to please everyone.

Anselm Grun, IMAGES OF JESUS, "The Jesus Who Is Capable Of Enmity," pp.. 36-37. 

I put it to you, and I leave it to you!

Peace/Salaam/Shalom,

Fr. Shawn

Pentecost 2015

You've got to be taught to hate and fear,

You've got to be taught, from year to year.

It's got to be drummed in your dear little ear

You've got to be carefully taught.

You've got to be taught to be afraid

Of people whose eyes are oddly made,

And people whose skin is a diff'rent shade,

You've got to be carefully taught.

You've got to be taught before it's too late,

Before you are six or seven or eight,

To hate all the people your relatives hate,

You've got to be carefully taught!
- Oscar Hammerstein II, lyricist, SOUTH PACIFIC

The heartbreak in Charleston, South Carolina this week is on many of our minds. When we heard the news of the horrific attack on a group at the AME church who were engaged in a bible study that ended in the deaths of nine faithful, and by all accounts, caring individuals, there were no words. As details from the killings continue to be revealed, many of us are overwhelmed with emotions – some sadness, some anger, some confusion, and some, of course, with a deep desire for retribution and justice.

My mind, of course, linked to the lyrics of a Broadway musical. In 1949, the legendary musical team of Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II brought their award-winning adaptation of James A. Michner's TALES OF THE SOUTH PACIFIC to the stage with SOUTH PACIFIC, a sweeping love story set in World War II. While many more immediately might immediately recall the songs Some Enchanted Evening, or I'm Gonna Wash That Man Right Outta My Hair, or There is Nuthin' Like A Dame, I was drawn to a song that is, even now, sometimes cut from performance: You've Got To Be Carefully Taught. In the second act of the musical, Lt. Cable is confronted by Emile Debecque who asks why his love interest, Nellie Forbush, has such aversion to his biracial children to his first wife, a Polynesian woman. Cable is overcome with his own self-loathing, and confesses that, “...it's not something you're born with...” but something that is intrinsically part of many's upbringings. As he sings, he confronts his own racial prejudice and hatred, and the audience, too, must also be confronted.

The song's inclusion in the musical almost brought about the downfall of the show. Many producers were concerned that the message was to controversial for audiences, and that potential supporters, particularly in southern theatres, would not book touring companies or produce the show because of its clear condemnation of racism. Many in the US had linked anti-racist rhetoric to communist principles. In Georgia, for example, a bill was introduced outlawing entertainment containing “an underlying philosophy inspired by Moscow.” But the authors were stubborn, and refused to allow the song to be removed, as it was in integral part of the show.

While we will continue to wrestle with questions regarding the mental state of the attacker, his behaviors and statements before the murders, the acquisition of the weapon used to commit this horrific act, and the correct response to create safer public spaces, one thing simply cannot be argued or explained away: this person was carefully taught – by his family, by his teachers, by his friends, by media, by society, by history – to hate. And his hate is more than mere distrust or aversion; it is a hate that allowed him to take the lives of others even after he was treated by those victims with caring and welcome.

Our response must be assume our responsibility, as followers of Jesus Christ, to counter that hateful teaching with the teaching of welcome, hospitality, concern, equality, justice, and love. It was radical in the first century; it is, in some parts of the world, just as radical today. We have to talk about it with our young people. We have to talk about it ourselves. We have to show it in how we live our lives and open are arms to all who are different from us.

Years of teaching of hatred are not easy to overcome, if they can be overcome at all. However, complacency in the face of racial intolerance does not follow the example of Jesus, who not only called out hatred, but confronted it with radical, unconditional love and self-sacrifice. The struggle for equality and justice is not one that was fought and one in the last century; it may well be the eternal struggle for all of human history. It is our responsibility and charge to engage this struggle and do what we can to leave the world more loving, more accepting than it was before our first entrance on the stage.

In the peace of Christ,

Fr. Shawn

Lent 2 2015

A few years back, someone asked me what my Biblical "Life Verse" was. I had not even thought about what verse might guide my life - I doubted if I would have a single verse that would guide a minute of a typical, hectic day. But in the midst of the search, during a vacation bible school that Carly Rowe and I were coordinating at the Cathedral, we came a cross a song that was based on a verse from the prophet Micah. The chorus of the verse was, "Act justly, love mercy, walk humbly, humbly with your God." Naturally, those words lifted in song by elementary voices made the verse irresistible and powerful.

Our New Revised Version of the text of Micah 6:8 is a little different:

He has told you, O mortal, what is good;
   and what does the LORD require of you
but to do justice, and to love kindness,
   and to walk humbly with your God?

When I read the words from my study Bible, I felt I had been hit by lightning. All of my life, I have tried to do what is right, what is fair, what is just, and to encourage it in others. All of my life, I have tried to love kindness, to show kindness to others, to encourage that right action in others, and to provide safe and healthy environments where kindness is normal. And as a person who has been given much by God and by others, through industry, study, and development, I have always said that all of my gifts are God's, and I am humbly allowed to share them with others.

At this time, however, through several prompts around me, I am drawn to the requirement that I "do justice." The news is filled with injustices that seem insurmountable: the economic injustices of Wall Street who engage in risky profit-driven practices which continue to put 99% of the population's welfare, industry, and lives at stake. The social injustices of our criminal justice and penal systems that has created an income line placing fines on those who are arrested and incarcerated. The paternalistic injustice that allows wealth to corrupt, and for the corrupt to become powerful, and for that power to prevent wealth from effecting the common good.

I and others from our church attended the Inter-Church Ministries of Erie County's continuing education event, "Creating Common Good: A Practical Conference for Economic Equality," partnered with the Trinity Wall Street (TEC) Institute, which presents conferences, workshops, and extraordinary dialogues for in which people of all faiths (and even none at all) share visions and ideas on how to make this world a better, safer, and holier place. Hearing the words of Dr. Cornell West, Barbara Ehrenreich, and The Most Reverent Justin Welby (our own Archbishop of Canterbury) was inspiring, unsettling, and challenging.

++Justin provided a statement which resonated especially with me: "Complacent, lazy churches accept inequality without challenge." It took me aback. I believe that we, in our outreach, are doing our best to countermand the course of injustice in wealth distribution. We support our local food banks, we extend our hands to needy beyond our borders through our regular contributions to the the Episcopal Relief and Development, we have opened our church building to those who have a spiritual and educational need.

But coupled with the Micah "What does the LORD require of you..." is a reminder that it is our charge to DO justice, not to tolerate injustice. As we can certainly celebrate our impact on our community, our region, our world, we must always ask ourselves if there is something else, another word to be spoken, another action to be done, which might also bring God's will for humanity and the world into being.

In the evening, after this provocative conference, I attended the Erie Playhouse's production of TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD. By the end, I was inspired, upset, and challenged - another patron said to me, "This play is so timely." My reply was, "Yes. It is timely. And it SHOULDN'T BE." And then I asked myself, what can I do to DO justice, love KINDNESS, and still walk HUMBLY - and do all with GOD.

In Christ's Peace,

Shawn+

Lent 1 2015

Jesus' temptation reveals the way in which the Son of God is Messiah, contrary to the way Satan proposes to him and the way men wish to attribute to him. This is why Christ vanquished the Tempter for us: “For we have not a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tested as we are, yet without sinning” (Heb. 4:15).  By the solemn forty days of Lent the Church unites herself each year to the mystery of Jesus in the desert. - Catechism of the Roman Catholic Church/CCC 540

This year, I have a different outlook on Lent, thanks to a student who approached me on Ash Wednesday and asked what smudged foreheads were all about. He hadn’t really been a part of any faith community, though his family were certainly spiritual. I realized that the notion of humbling before God, examination of personal sinfulness, desire to reconcile for being a miserable offender, etc., were just not going to be rhetorically effective.

I read again the words at imposition – “Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return.” There was a time before we were, and there will be a time after we are gone. And between those times is the time of our existence, when we are created from the fantastic elements of the universe. Being created in itself can be a humbling experience, but not in the way that you might expect. It means also knowing that we are individual – individually made, individually gifted, individually provided with insights and resources which can have a positive impact on our co-sojourners and on ourselves.

So I said to my student, “You are created in love – you are invited to take time to think about the wonderful gifts you have been given, and to ask yourself if you are living into your created potential. The ashes are not a sign of false humility as much as they are a sign of synergistic vitality.”

In the Roman Catholic catechism, this perspective, while occluded by sin-language, is also shared. We are invited in these forty days of Lent to journey with Jesus into a place apart, where we can have a more clear perspective of our created-ness, and see if we are living as God has created us to live. Not as the challenges of this world would wish us to live, or in ways that other people think we should live. Lent is a time for personal examination – but maybe not just of brokenness. This Lent I am looking at the gifts I have been given by God and asking myself if I am prepared, as Jesus was prepared, to use those gifts for the betterment, not only of my relationship to my Creator, but also to my companions on life’s journey.

I invite you, too, to journey to the desert and celebrate your gifts and God’s invitation.

Peace,

Fr. Shawn

Pentecost 1 2014

The renewed stretch of Ordinary Time which marks the last portion of the Liturgical Year is no longer misperceived as ordinary in the sense of uninteresting, but ordinary in the sense of a regular motion of the weeks and months by which we measure our progress toward the goal and the Gift we have received.
- Dr. Jeff Mirus

When I was younger during the summer months, I remember the church bulletins each week noting that we were commemorating the Nth Sunday in “Ordinary Time.” This denotation always seemed to point to the fact that this extended period had neither the joy of the months before and after Christmas nor the penitence/celebration of the months before and after Easter. Now that I am an Episcopalian, and while I am thankful that we mark the time as successive weeks as “Sundays after Pentecost.” While not pushing the “ordinary” or “typical” feel to the weeks, there is a sense that this is not really a season at all, but rather a time of normality.

Dr. Mirus invites us to be sure not to miss the gift of normality we experience during our summer and autumn cycles. Our Sundays may not have the power distinctions which correspond to the major events in the Gospels, but they do have the very wonderful teachings and incidents in the life of Christ. We enjoy the intimate and inspiring parables and teachings on the Kingdom of Heaven, a kingdom that is especially near since Jesus’ incarnation. We have a special treat in Paul’s teachings from the Letter to the Romans. Depending on tracks used, we are reminded of stories from the Torah, or witnesses from the prophets.

There is nothing simple about ordinary time. In fact, in its separation from the Christmas and Easter cycles, our Sunday worship actually focuses not on narratives but on faith, on practice, on living the life of a disciplined Christian. How we believe is how we pray; how we pray guides what we believe. Sundays spent in thoughtful reflection of all of our religious texts and sharing of the Holy Communion in community are even more special during this ordinary time.

Many churches, including ours, see declining attendance during the warmer summer months, as we find ourselves vacationing, engaging in many more activities, or even just relaxing after a very busy and productive winter and spring. Hopefully, you will also find time to spend an hour with your faith family at St. Mary’s, sharing smiles, fellowship, and Good News, all of which remind us that this ordinary time after Pentecost is anything but ordinary!

Peace,

Fr. Shawn

Easter 2 - 2014

After the service was over, and the congregation went into Downey Hall for treats and desserts, I was asked the questions "How do you feel?" and "Do you feel any different?" by many people. I responded by telling them, "No, I don't feel physically different," and I followed that up, saying, "In the sense of being mentally and spiritually different, I can indubitably sense a change." After Confirmation, the Church views Confirmands as adults. After hearing that I was now seen as an adult through the eyes of the Church, I knew there was something new and different about me. I am a new person. I am someone who can be looked up to. I am partitioned from childhood. I am now an adult in the Episcopal Church. I am confirmed, not conformed.

-          Seamus Clerkin, Spring 2014

What difference does it make? Learning more about our faith, our traditions, our rites, our mission – in the course of several weeks, a group of four young people from several churches in Erie county came together to walk through an intense exploration in preparation for confirmation in the Episcopal church.

I tried to remember my own confirmation experience at Holy Rosary Roman Catholic Church in Johnsonburg. It’s odd what stands out in my mind: the choice of Augustine for my confirmation name (because he was naughty in his younger years but still found a way to be canonized), singing “Come Holy Spirit” verses and drawing Bishop Murphy’s attention, my wonderful  spiritual mentor and friend, St. Angela Marie Servidio, who encouraged my growth in the Christian faith.

And I remember what Seamus described. A change – something about me had shifted at the moment of confirmation. I was no longer a child, and while I was still young in faith (what the Church used to call the stage of Mystagogy (post-Easter neophyte member in the ancient tradition), I was no longer naïve. I had knowledge, and I had a role in the mission of the work of Jesus Christ.

I can remember other moments of change heightened by the sacramental rites: becoming Almi’s husband in the rite of marriage, being made a priest in the rite of ordination. Each time, something inside and outside changed – ontologically changed. My very essence was different; the moment before I was not, then as a result of sacramental sign in words said, hands laid on, and oil applied, I became someone new.

Seamus’ words on what happened to him at confirmation are worth all of our reflection. How often do we consider just how much we changed when we became full members of our faith tradition? How often do we affirm our own participation in the Jesus work in the world? How often do we recognize that as a result of Christ’s love and invitation, we are not nor can ever be who we were before our transformation in the sacrament of confirmation?

Thank you, James, Koby, Mauri, and Seamus, for your willingness to be confirmed in faith, and for confirming in us our call to share in Jesus’ mission of love and forgiveness in our broken world.

Peace,

Fr. Shawn

Easter 2014

The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it.
- John 1:5

The Easter ham and lamb have been roasted, devoured, and the leftovers have been zip-locked and frozen. The chocolate bunnies and painted eggs have also been eaten, and the baskets put away in plastic bins to store safely. Networks have reverted back to regular serial programming, leaving behind epic tales which will not be broadcast until next spring.

Yet, if we take breathe in the reality of the moment, we must affirm that our story of salvation is one that we tell each and every time we gather in faith. Our weekly Sunday Holy Eucharist is a thanksgiving for the gift of life. Even our burial services are understood as Easter celebrations, as we remember the end of the power of Death and the assurance of our eternal life in Christ.

We must also recognize the power of this message – that in Christ all are made alive. This means that the power of salvation lies in Christ’s omnipotence. This means that the powers of this world are gelded by the eternal power of divine love. Whenever the powers of this present age try to diminish or replace Christ’s strength, they become scandals to that love.

Certainly secular temporal authorities are threatened by this Good News – if they cannot control the masses with threats physical well-being or with the attempt to negate things spiritual and eternal, then Christ wins. For non-believers, the threat is belief in things not seen, and the threat is real. Political structures from ancient Rome to the present time have discounted the power of hope, or abused faith by exacting payment, literal and figurative, from believers looking to a heavenly reward for earthly suffering. Regardless, the secular powers will discredit or abuse the faithful.

Institutional religion, however, can be just a threatened by Christ’s universal invitation. For two millennia various Christian groups have tried to be more than just evangelists of the Gospel; they have tried to mediate Christ’s judgment, essentially placing themselves between the faithful and the promise of eternal life. By doing so, religions have usurped the power of Christ and tried to demand a fealty for salvation. At the beginning of the twenty-first century, various individuals and denominations have discovered that power to stand between the faithful and the Cross has been taken away, forcing them to redefine their evangelistic work in the world.

So, the Easter message isn’t static or played out, nor is it impotent or unimportant. It is vibrant, dangerous, empowering, controversial, and as vital as it was when the empty tomb was first discovered. It does, indeed, bring all things into the light. To downplay the extra-ordinariness of Resurrection is to miss the meaning of the entire salvation story: in Christ, we are saved, saved from eternal death, and invited into eternal life.

Alleluia!

In Christ’s peace,
Fr. Shawn

When in Here....(thanks, Mike White!)

My wife and I recently returned from an inspiring trip to Rome. “The Eternal City” is for many, if not the cradle, then the nursery of Christianity. Throughout the city, religious and public art overwhelm with a sense of living in the midst of history.

While the churches are full of tourists, students, and the needy, they are not necessarily full of the faithful. After receiving ashes early in the morning at St. Sabina’s on the Aventine Hill, we were surprised the rest of the day to see no one else with a mark on their foreheads. We weren’t embarrassed to have ashes smudged on our skin – how could we be embarrassed when surrounded by shrines of early century martyrs who truly suffered. It did, however, remind us that faith, lived with immediacy and relevancy, can be a catalyst in the lives of others, especially when embraced publically and not privately.

Each major religion has seasonal times of self-examination. For Christians in the catholic traditions, Lent is our forty days of penitence, wisely placed at the end of winter and before the tilling of the spring, to reflect on where we have been, where we are, and where we hope to be in our relationship to God, but also to one another. In our external sign of the season of Lent, and in our internal life of prayerful reflection, we became tangible embodiment of current faith walking the ancient paths.

In THE HOUSE OF THE SOUL, modern mystic and spiritual writer Evelyn Underhill comments that our interior life, lived in the natural and supernatural sense, must be balanced with the external world around us, what she calls “the city.” For Lent calls us not just to self-examination, but to also scrutinize our relationships with our neighbors. Our moments of penitence might be more meaningful if we not let our interior examination prevent our outward gaze. Taking time for self is important, but the self is always in relationship to the other, our neighbors, and “the city” that helps us to live a life that is visibly celebrated in faith.

Pax,

Fr. Shawn

Epiphany 6 2014

So I hope that you will tell this tale tomorrow

It will help your heart remember and relive
It will help you feel the anger and the sorrow

And forgive

- "Why We Tell the Story" from ONCE ON THIS ISLAND, lyrics by Lynn Ahrens

In our Holy Eucharist we find a delicate and powerful balance between the two parts to the service - the Word of God and the Holy Communion. In both parts of the service, there are a series of calls and responses from the ministers and the congregation, phrases repeated week after week, and gestures and postures assumed as we participate in the celebration, our principle Sunday worship.

For those who do not come from a liturgical background, our standing, kneeling, repeating and gesturing can be confusing. In reality it can even be confusing to us. Why do some of us bow our heads at the mention of the Trinity, or even when the directions in the worship allow us to stand for the Eucharistic prayer, why do some of us always kneel through that portion of the service? And the readings from the Holy Scriptures; why do we cycle through them ever three years, repeating the same patterns, hearing the same readings read and explained/unpacked in the homilies and sermons offered by the preachers?

This month, the Erie Playhouse is producing the Lynne Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty musical, ONCE ON THIS ISLAND, based on Rosa Guy's 1985 novel MY LOVE, MY LOVE. In the context of the stage production, a small community is confronted by a terrible and awesome storm which frightens one of the young people. In order to allay her fears, the community come together to tell and act out a story of love, beautiful and painful, heartrending and life affirming. The story not only distracts the young girl from her fear, but also instills community values of love and forgiveness, acceptance and hope.

Anyone who sees the musical cannot help but make a connection to our own community, often gathered together in times of struggle or question. And just as the virtual stage community tells its stories to bind the members together and to reassure them of their future, our faith community gathers together, hearing stories and songs from our thousands of years of salvation history. We note the challenges to faith, and the moments of desolation and sadness, but also the moments of glory and celebration.

These stories are shared in the service of the Word, and they are re-called and re-membered in our Holy Communion, when Christ's own words of reassurance and promise are shared with us, making something that happened two thousand years ago very real and very present. It is an action at once pure and simple, and at the same time immensely complex. And still, we share the scriptures, we pray together, we approach the altar, and we share a meal.

We tell the stories, in word and gesture, in prayer and silence, and we, too, rely on our Sunday worship to help us relive and forgive.

Peace in Christ,

Fr. Shawn

Epiphany 2014

The Gentiles shall come to thy light, and kings to the brightness of thy rising.

-          Isaiah 60:3

The Season of Epiphany is a season of recognizing how the Light of Christ shines in the lives to whom he was revealed. In our scripture readings for this extended season this year (primarily from the Gospel of Matthew), we hear time after time of how God’s salvation was being made in Jesus of Nazareth, the Christ. From his baptism through his purification through his ministry, those with whom he came into contact were shown the light of salvation and recognized Jesus as the Messiah.

Our final few Sundays are linked to Matthew’s sharing of Jesus penultimate teaching, the Sermon on the Mount. In these extended discourses (which may or may not have been from a single communicative moment, but which encapsulate the essence of Jesus’ message) Jesus shares with his disciples, followers and curious onlookers the endless desire of God to reach God’s people, to break down barriers of doubt, and to empower the listeners to share the Good News in confidence.

This message is one of challenge, though, as it requires the listener to eschew habitual responses and “repent” in the essential meaning of the word: turn it around. If you mourn, turn it around: you shall be comforted; if you save your light, turn it around: be a light to the world. If you do what the law says, turn it around: rather, do what God intends. If you harbor anger, turn it around: be reconciled with those who confront you. If you seek vengeance, turn it around: keep nothing from those who want. If you hate your enemies, turn it around: love those who hate you.

When we see conversions in the lives of the sinful, we doubt the sincerity, and certainly we can question the veracity of instant changes in behaviors, attitudes and values. Yet we must also affirm that conversion and change from what we would normally do is exactly what Christ is calling us to do. We are challenged, even confronted, to abandon the habitual, expected response and turn it around.

In fact, it is in the Sermon on the Mount that we find a wonderful guide for Christian living – a life of loving, reconciling, giving, praying, worshiping, serving, and relaxing into a life of service and grace. If we can live into the teachings of Jesus, maybe we can also bring about epiphanies in others, shine a light in their darkness, and inspire them as he has inspired us to live life anew and turn it around.

Peace in Christ,

Fr. Shawn

Celebrating our Christian Diversity

(from the "Reflections" column in the Erie Times News, Saturday Nov. 23, 2013)

My non-Christian friends think that Christianity is a cluster of aggressive tension and mutual distrust. And whenever I can, I deny their accusations with a kind smile and gentle shake of the head.

Yet if we look at ourselves honestly, we are Christians in different ways , a strange misalliance of disagreements. Let’s be honest: we are many Christianity’s evangelizing distinctive gospel messages. We cannot attract others when we angrily disagree – “You’re not a true Christian!” “You turn your back on Christ!” “You’ve denied the Holy Spirit acting in the world!”

But what do we share? We affirm in our faith that God is revealed not just in scripture but in God’s own wonderful living, breathing, evolving universe around us and in us. And that God strives to reach out to humanity in the world through the person of Jesus of Nazareth. Jesus himself was not one for uniformity. His prayers for unity were not an attempt to cookie-cut churches in a singular spiritual orthodoxy, but rather allow faithful followers to be individually expressive of the many dialects of Spirit.

One religious community loves contemporary music, while another treasures traditional hymns. One loves “high” liturgy and deeply symbolic gestures and vestments, while another responds with spontaneity in prayer and worship in denim and madras. One values a deep experience of Jesus Christ in a powerful re-membering of Jesus’ last meal with his friends, while another heightens the experience of the Spirit moving and working in all aspects of their lives. These are not differences that divide us, but diverse expressions of our shared faith that, when lived out in our individual communities, sound together in a harmonic affirmation that we are all disciples of Jesus Christ and are all living as subjects of our true monarch, Jesus our Savior and Redeemer.

For many Christians, this weekend we bring to a close our church year, celebrating the end of our growing season and spiritual harvest. We also remind ourselves that our trust is in God, that in spite of distractions and diversions, it is Jesus who reigns in our lives; it is Christ’s love that we treasure and, hopefully, share. Let us strive to celebrate our diversity in our various Christian lives and love one another as we are loved by God and wish to be loved by one another.

Christ the King 2013

O God from whom all holy desyres, all good counsayles, and all juste workes do procede: Geve unto thy servauntes that peace, which the world cannot geve, that both our hartes maye be sette to obey thy commaundementes, and also that by thee, we being defended from the feare of oure enemies, may passe oure time in rest and quietnesse; throughe the merites of Jesu Christe our saviour. Amen.

-       The 1549 Book of Common Prayer

At Bexley Hall Seminary in Rochester, New York, we marked our days of study and community by celebrating the daily office. While for many seminaries, participation is voluntary, for us, with our limited time together as a commuter hub of faith, reflection, education and engagement, we seized every opportunity to gather in prayer and song. It is a comfort that in the Anglican tradition, we continue to embrace the monastic hours in our honoring of Morning and Evening Prayer.

Each day we started with Morning Prayer, and each evening we ended with evening prayer. It was always surprising that Morning Prayer was actually so energized and vibrant – we were, after all, well rested and celebrating the coming of the new day. But after hours of conversation, discussion, debate, and fellowship, evening prayer always had a much softer, calmer edge. It put an end to our labor, to our strain and struggle, and stilled the pendulum. The moments of prayer and silence helped us to put the day in perspective, to consider what we learned and observed, and to allow for recognition of accomplishment.

This is one of the reasons that we will take time on the Feast of Christ the King to celebrate the end of the church year with an Evening Prayer or Evensong service. We have much to celebrate – our completion of another year of celebrating God’s love and the sharing of that love with others, God’s sustenance through our own struggles and loss, and ultimately the ingathering of our harvest of grace and forgiveness given to us as we give to others.

Evensong is also a way of affirming our trust in God. While night has always been a time of wonder, and the dark has been a source of mystery and fear, we need not fear for we know that God is always with us. We trust in God’s grace, and at the end of our day, we lie down in confidence that we have been, are, and will always be surrounded by God’s love.

But we have a special reason to celebrate this year. Our Christ the King Evensong will also inaugurate a new ministry and affirm an existing relationship. For the past year, Joyce Geiza has been participating in the program provided by the Verger’s Guild of the Episcopal Church (www.vergers.org) and has completed her studies and will be a certified member of the guild and installed as St. Mary’s verger. What is a verger? Essentially, a verger is exactly what Joyce has been to St. Mary’s for many years. A master of ceremonies, a manger of facilities, an executor of liturgies, and a hospitable welcoming face to the community. Since my arrival four years ago, I have appreciated Joyce’s priceless gifts that she has shared with all of us at St. Mary’s.

We also will be sharing our service and time of prayer and celebration with our brothers and sisters from Christ the Redeemer Lutheran Church up the street on Silliman Avenue. Pastor Al Gesler and I have had conversations about ways to share in ministry and prayer with our two congregations. This will be our first time coming together in prayer. We also will be celebrating a shared Advent Lessons and Carol service in December.

I hope you can join us for Evensong on November 24^th as we give God thanks and celebrate the accomplishments of last year, our shared ministry with our Lutheran friends, and Joyce’s new ministry in our congregation.

Peace,
Fr. Shawn

St. Mary the Virgin August 2013

Immaculate Mary, thy praises we sing;
Who reignest in splendor with Jesus our King.
Ave, ave, ave Maria! Ave, ave Maria!
           - “Immaculate Mary” – Marian hymn

It can sometimes be surprising, both to Roman Catholics and many Protestants, to see that our church in Lawrence Park, Erie’s matronal saint is Saint Mary, the Virgin. For the Romans, there is a common misconception that the role of Mary, while maybe not as pronounced in their tradition, is non-existent in the Protestant traditions.

In point of fact, the Episcopal Church, a constituent member of the Anglican Communion, has many churches dedicated to Mary, the Mother of God, as well as noted feast days throughout the church year, including the Annunciation, the Presentation, and many of the Sunday’s of Advent. England, once hailed as Mary’s home, has countless shrines and dedicated churches where Mary is revered. Denominations with a more Protestant pathos are confused by our devotions to Mary, our use of hymns and prayers, even the Rosary, in our prayer and worship life. The Anglican and Roman Catholic churches even have a shared statement, Mary: Grace and Hope in Christ, stating our shared love and devotion to the Mother of the Lord.

St. Mary’s, Lawrence Park, Erie, has a deep connection to Mary in our prayers and worship, with our Mary altar with etching of Our Lady of Walshingham at the entrance to the sanctuary, and our use of the Rosary in seasons of deep devotion and reflection. Our yearly celebration of our matronal feast includes an outdoor picnic with music and readings dedicated to observing the essential work of Mary in the Gospel and in our world.

However, the devotion to Mary can often cloud the Gospel narrative. We enthrone Mary, even sometimes placing her as an intermediary between ourselves and Jesus/God. We ask for her prayers on our behalf, we pray for her intervention, and we even find ourselves placing her in a position that takes away from her ordinariness, her humanness, her likeness to ourselves.

Mary was an adolescent girl, poor, and uneducated from a place that had lost all significance under Roman imperialism. She was absolutely ordinary, negligible even, in a part of the world from which nothing of value could possibly come. Yet from this simple and ignored life was this young girl lifted from obscurity. It’s hard to remember that for most of the powerful in her time, Mary was non-existent. Putting her in a modern context closer to home, Mary would be like those young, immigrant or minority girls we see sitting on a porch on East 10^th Street, or helping a single mother at the Horan Apartments. Just as we, shamefully, drive by and try not to notice, the Mary of first century Palestine would not have been noticed either.

But Mary was noticed – by God. And she was chosen by God. And she accepted God’s call and invitation to share in salvation’s plan. Mary’s true inspiration to us is not in her glorification and enthronement, but in her election and her promise. If God can call Mary, he can certainly call you and me. And if Mary can say, “Yes!” to God, we can certainly do the same.

In Christ’s Peace,
Fr. Shawn

4 Pentecost 2013 - THE SPIRIT OF ERIE

This is the place, my children, which your father, the Great Spirit has chosen for the site of your villages. The hills and the plains abound in game to feed you and clothe you; the pure water from the streams will slake your thirst; the fields will yield a hundred fold returns from the labors of your women; the lake will furnish you fish in abundance; the sun rising beyond the mountains in the East will give you life and the cool, health-giving breezes coming from the land of snow and ice will strengthen your sons and daughters in mind and body so that you, my favorite children, ma be the pride of your race.” – from an Indian legend of Presqu’ Isle

Working on the Perry 200 celebration’s grand pageant, THE SPIRIT OF ERIE, has been a grand undertaking. More than 200 volunteers in the cast, orchestra, and crew of the event have been working for months creating this entirely original experience. While it has been a labor of love to create, it has also been a wonderful lesson in Erie history.

What have been the greatest revelations have been the stories and perspectives of the Eriez Nation, the Native Americans who were among the first to inhabit the shores of the bay. They understood that this place we call home is an extraordinary place – a place of plenty, with a wealth of resources and beauty. They felt that they were special because the Great Spirit had blessed them with this land of wonder.

When I thought about the daughters and sons of Jacob, returning to Canaan, a land flowing with milk and honey, with abundance of gifts and the richness of the resources, it was not hard to draw the parallel. When you have much, it is perfectly natural to look to God and give thanks.

Sometimes, though, we forget what we have and see only what we lack. When we look at other places, and then look to our own community, we can covet what others have. Sure, we may not have the sunshine that other places in our country have. Yes, there may be greater wealth in others cities, and greater resources. There are certainly places where the economy has recovered more quickly, where industries are scrambling to plant roots. It is easy to look with envy on other communities, and forget what we have.

The Eriez legend forces us to recall that while we may want so much more, it is important not to ignore the gifts that we living in Erie have been given. Each time Almi and I would return to our city after having been away for a long time, driving north on I-79, and we’d come over the ridge around Summit Township and see the lake spread before us, and the bay contained by the sheltering arm of the peninsula. Then we’d look northeast and southwest to the fields and vineyards, the wooded parks and interconnected communities. It always felt wonderful, to come home, to be back near the lake, to feel the constant winds.

We are blessed to live in this wonderful place. We are blessed to recognize the gifts we have been given. We are happy to shout our thanksgivings, in prayer, in song, and in community celebration.

God has blessed us with Erie – may we always give thanks for the sky, the land, the water – the Spirit.

Peace,
Fr. Shawn+

The Situation

An actor entering through the door, you've got nothing. But if he enters through the window, you've got a situation. - Billy Wilder

In the theatre we present stories that raise the stakes, raise the energy, raise the conflict, raise the surprise for the audience. Great stories are never merely about the common - even "every person" stories point out the amazing in the average. As my colleague Paula Barrett puts it, "Nobody ever wrote a play about a family sitting down to a quiet, uneventful meal." And if we think about the plays, television shows, films, and books that hooked us and kept our interest, they were about surprising characters in surprising situations.

It's pretty easy to lose Easter in the weeks following the feast of the Resurrection, just as it is easy to lose Pentecost in the madness of the events and celebrations that permeate the month of May. Our singing of "Alleluia" after it's Lenten absence becomes routine by the fourth Sunday of Easter. And while we hit the liturgical color red HARD on Pentecost, we see it not so much as passion and fire of the gift of the Advocate as much as it seems to reflect the roses we give to our mothers or our prom dates.

We often take these critical holy seasons casually, perhaps because we aren't surprised by the incredible power of the situations that they commemorate. We say, repeatedly, "Alleluia! Christ is Risen!" so many times, that we may not recall just how extra-ordinary the situation is. We center so much of our ingenuity and creativity in our own egos that we neglect that inspiration, the "breath" of newness, comes from the gift of God's presence always with us.

Jesus' resurrection appearances were not entrances through a doorway - they were THROUGH THE DOOR! Pentecost wasn't an "aha" moment - IT WAS TONGUES OF FIRE AND ECSTATIC PROCLAMATION! If they hadn't been extra-ordinary situations, you would not be reading this right now.

Each Sunday is a celebration of the Resurrection. Each new idea and proactive initiative to make our lives and communities better places is stirred in us by the Holy Spirit. These remembrances started with amazing moments, unbelievable events, startling situations. Let us try to keep our feasts by recalling the shocking stories from which Easter and Pentecost arose. They aren't nothing - they are EVERYTHING!