tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-81053714626215925112024-03-14T03:34:36.570-04:00Fiat Lux"Let There Be Light" - A place for conversation with the Rector of St. Paul's Memorial Church, 1700 University Avenue, Charlottesville, Virginia, 22903
http://www.stpaulsmemorialchurch.org/The Rev. James Richardsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03484680361356703398noreply@blogger.comBlogger1528125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8105371462621592511.post-50133285426306700472015-07-31T17:07:00.001-04:002015-07-31T17:07:03.382-04:00New blog: Come join me on the road!<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-qjUU_0OPb7M/VbvjJ1HIvVI/AAAAAAAAHRQ/1lkBECYXuyI/s1600/EmmausJim.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-qjUU_0OPb7M/VbvjJ1HIvVI/AAAAAAAAHRQ/1lkBECYXuyI/s320/EmmausJim.JPG" width="320" /></a>Dear friends,<br />
<br />
I've opened a new blog marking the beginning of this new chapter for us as we travel back to California. Everything on Fiat Lux will remain – but come join me on the new blog. I'm calling it The Open Table at Emmaus. You can read my first post <a href="http://emmaustable.blogspot.com/"><span style="color: red;">HERE</span></a>.<br />
<br />
– JimThe Rev. James Richardsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03484680361356703398noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8105371462621592511.post-25005226643482977712015-07-19T20:31:00.000-04:002015-07-19T20:31:21.450-04:00Jesus will be there before we get there: Go with open hands, an open mind, and an open heart<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-T2fS6q3CYoQ/VaxAK-AUtfI/AAAAAAAAHPo/zZBHX9Bn-go/s1600/Fiat%2BLux%2BCake.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-T2fS6q3CYoQ/VaxAK-AUtfI/AAAAAAAAHPo/zZBHX9Bn-go/s320/Fiat%2BLux%2BCake.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
Dear friends,<br />
<br />
Today was my last Sunday at St. Paul's. It has been an emotional day on many levels. I preached and celebrated at all three services. My sermon is below.<br />
<br />
I launched this blog, <i>Fiat Lux</i>, seven years ago when we came to St. Paul's. And while I have not posted much recently, this blog has been a major part of my ministry at St. Paul's, particularly in our first years when I posted nearly every day. We even started a few traditions here, like sharing Al Martinez's Christmas story every year.<br />
<br />
This is the 1,529th posting on <i>Fiat Lux – </i>and the last.<br />
<br />
And so Fiat Lux also comes to an end. I may start a new blog when we get to our new place: The Church of the Incarnation in Santa Rosa. I will let you know here in this space and on Facebook. By the way, this blog won't disappear. You can still go back and read some of my reflections from our time together.<br />
<br />
In the meantime, thank you for you for reading, thank you for your many blessings. May God's light shine upon you! Fiat Lux!<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
+ + +</div>
<br />
Today's gospel lesson: <a href="http://www.lectionarypage.net/YearB_RCL/Pentecost/BProp11_RCL.html#GOSPEL" style="text-align: -webkit-center;">Mark 6:30-34, 53-56</a><br />
<br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt;">“And wherever he went,
into villages or cities or farms, they laid the sick in the marketplaces, and
begged him that they might touch even the fringe of his cloak; and all who
touched it were healed.”<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Seven years ago, the week before Palm
Sunday, Lori and I made our first trip to Charlottesville. We brought with us a
small palm frond from California to help adorn this wonderful church.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt;">We were hosted by the St. Paul’s search
committee – a group of people who had been working tirelessly to find a new
rector.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>After a long travel day flying here
from Northern California, where I have lived most of my life, the search
committee members picked us up at the airport.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>They had given each candidate for
rector a code name to maintain the confidentiality our identities. My code name
was “A-5,” and so Lori and I made lapel buttons so they would recognize us at
the airport – mine said “Rev A-5” and Lori’s said “Ms A-5.” <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Actually, they knew what we looked like,
so it was a bit of an inside joke. And we didn’t really need our identity
protected. I was the interim rector at All Souls Parish in Berkeley, and my
time there was drawing to a close. The entire parish in Berkeley was in on this,
and the entire parish was holding St. Paul’s in their prayers while we were
visiting here.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Our St. Paul’s hosts took us to dinner
and then to our hotel. The next morning would bring interviews and tours in
earnest, so they gave us a little time to recover from our travels.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>When we walked into the hotel room, I
heard music that was familiar to me, but probably not to many of you. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt;">It was the music of the Miwok Indian tribe, and
I have a CD of their music. The Miwok are the indigenous people of Yosemite, which
for me is the most spiritually important place on the planet. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt;">And on the television screen was a video showing
scenes of Yosemite with Miwok music playing in the background.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14pt; text-indent: 0.5in;">This may sound odd to you, but I knew
in that moment we were being summoned to go to Charlottesville, to join you in
leading this parish. I knew in that moment I would say yes to this call.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt;">I felt great reassurance in that moment that
Jesus was with us, and would go ahead of us, lighting our path.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I also
knew in that moment that the day would come when we would be summoned to go
back to Northern California.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt;">Today, this moment has come.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt;">Seven years ago, I knew that Jesus would bring
us here, and then to the next place after Charlottesville, and the next place
after that. I had no idea where that would be. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt;">But this I know: Jesus always goes ahead of us.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt;">This is a lesson I have learned over and over,
sometimes the hard way. The lesson is right here in the gospel we hear today:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt;">“And wherever he went,
into villages or cities or farms, they laid the sick in the marketplaces, and
begged him that they might touch even the fringe of his cloak; and all who
touched it were healed.”<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt;">Many years ago, when I was a seminarian, I spent
a long summer undergoing training as chaplain in a big urban hospital. I was
assigned to the intensive care units. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>My supervisor was a Methodist pastor,
Lisa Nordlander. On the first day of my assignment, I asked her if I was
supposed to bring anything to the hospital rooms. A prayer book? A Bible? What
tools should I bring?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Just yourself,” Lisa said.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Just myself?”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Just yourself.” <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Lisa told me this, and it has never
left me: Jesus would be in the room before I got there and Jesus would be there
after I leave. Go into the room with open hands, an open mind, and an open
heart.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>This is a lesson I hope all of us will
hold in the days and months and years ahead.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>My friends, this is my last Sunday
sermon with you. I am not going to talk about the past. What has been done, has
been done. What has not been done, has not been done. Let it be.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>You will have time enough to look in
the rearview mirror and evaluate what we’ve done well, and not done so well,
over these past seven years.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>But that is not for today.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Today I want to urge you to walk into
the future with open hands, an open mind and an open heart. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Jesus goes ahead of all of us. He is
there before we get there and will be there after we leave. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt;">Jesus welcomes us with wide open arms when we
arrive, bids us to linger awhile, and goes ahead of us to the next place. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt;">He will embrace us with love, weep with us when
we hurt, and leap for joy when we laugh. He is, as the New Testament proclaims,
the chief cornerstone who binds us together for all time. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt;">Jesus will be there tomorrow, next week, next
year, and a thousand years from now. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I know it is nearly impossible to think
in thousand-year terms. But try for a moment.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Think of the earliest Christians: Could
they possibly have imagined that 2,000 years later, people would still follow
Jesus? Could those early disciples have possibly imagined this city, this
corner, this university across the street, or this parish?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Can we imagine of who will come after
us 2,000 years from now? <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Jesus bids us to go with him into this
future with open hands, open minds and open hearts. He bids us to go, and to
create this next world now. He goes ahead of us, he is already there to show us
the way. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt;">Will we go to where he has led the way?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Author Lauren Winner calls this the “Easter
question.” Will we go to where Jesus is already?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The Easter question is the most important
question facing St. Paul’s.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt;">The most important question for St. Paul’s is
not who will be the next rector, or how to balance the budget, or what social
justice issues to confront in the community, or how to repair the building. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt;">All of these are important questions, but they
are but a flash in time.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The most important question facing St.
Paul’s and all of us is the Easter question: <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>How will St. Paul’s go with Jesus into
the future, opening the doors, bringing in new people, and sending people to go
to the places of wonder, the places of healing?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>How will we go? Timidly or boldly?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Will we keep the doors open and the
lights on? Or will we close the doors, pull up the gates and think of ourselves
as a tiny sanctified social club? Will our response be that we are too busy
doing church things?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Or will our response be: “Here I am,
send me”? <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt;">Jesus beckons us to think as big as God’s
abiding grace. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt;">You will soon be going to a place of discernment
as a parish – really, you are always in a place of discernment. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt;">The word “discernment” is perhaps overused these
days. It simply means to be open to the nudging of the Spirit.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt;">Take this time seriously, look for the Spirit
moving in yourself as individuals, and in this congregation. Trust in the
Spirit and trust in each other. Be kind, be gentle, be patient with each other<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt;">Let down your guard so that you can hear the
Spirit in each other. And have fun with this. This can be a joyful time if you
let it. This can be the most fun you’ve ever had as a parish.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt;">This congregation is vibrant. You are creative
and caring, and you have many gifts. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt;">Don’t get into the rut of thinking one ministry
is in competition with another. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt;">God brings all the resources we need and the people
with all talents we need. Everything you need in this parish is here already.
God’s abundance is bursting from the walls of this church because God fills each
of you with abundance. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt;">Find your path and go where Jesus leads you as
individuals and as a congregation. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt;">I assure you, the Spirit will lead you if you
have eyes to see and ears to hear.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt;">And know that Jesus goes there before you get
there:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt;">“And wherever he went,
into villages or cities or farms, they laid the sick in the marketplaces, and
begged him that they might touch even the fringe of his cloak; and all who
touched it were healed.”<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt;">By the way, I never found out who put the hotel television
onto the Yosemite channel.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt;">Thank you for your prayers, your support, your
friendship, your patience, your hard work and the many blessings you have
bestowed upon us these seven years. God bless you, now and always. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt;">Go! And Be Bold!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt;">AMEN<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<br /></div>
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The Rev. James Richardsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03484680361356703398noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8105371462621592511.post-26404451069825300782015-06-21T14:12:00.003-04:002015-06-22T10:33:44.307-04:00Storms in Charleston and our world: Peace, be still, be calm<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-3Boa4VyyxHk/VYb93v5OwSI/AAAAAAAAHPI/teec3I2Orf0/s1600/Unknown.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-3Boa4VyyxHk/VYb93v5OwSI/AAAAAAAAHPI/teec3I2Orf0/s1600/Unknown.jpeg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Emmaneul AME Church, <br />
Charleston, S.C.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<i>I preached today about the horrific events in Charleston, South Carolina, and the many storms in our world.The gospel for today is <a href="http://www.lectionarypage.net/YearB_RCL/Pentecost/BProp7_RCL.html#GOSPEL"><span style="color: red;">Mark 4:35-41</span></a>.</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i> I also talked about General Convention this morning -- we are headed to Salt Lake City today. Here is my sermon from this morning:</i><br />
<br />
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+ + +</div>
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<br /></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt;">See now is the
acceptable time;<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt;">See now is the day of
our salvation.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt;">Amen.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Jesus and his followers camped along
the shore of the Sea of Galilee. They had been there for days and it was hot
and intense. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt;">He told many parables about seeds and small
things that grew to big things, and how they should let their lights shine that
others may see, and how to listen and see the presence of God all around them
and within them. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt;">He told them over and over, you are loved by
God, you are the beloved; and you must love others as God loves you. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt;">Crowds had gathered to listen. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The crowds had never heard or
experienced anything quite like this. They wanted more. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt;">But evening was at hand, and Jesus was wrung
out. Even the Son of God needs sleep. So he and his followers got in a boat and
began to sail across the lake to look for a quiet place away from the crowds. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt;">As they rowed, the wind rose and sea became
rough. Before long they were in a terrible gale.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>And somehow Jesus fell asleep in the
back of the boat.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>His followers woke him up – do you <u>not</u>
care our boat is about to be swamped and we might drown? Geez, Jesus, do
something!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Peace. Be still. Be calm.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>And so the wind ceased and the sea
became like glass.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Then Jesus spoke: Why are you so afraid?
All will be well, even in the storms. Have a little a faith that God will bring
you through.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>So it is that this story itself can be
heard as a parable about the storms of life. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt;">Peace. Be still, be calm, have a little faith. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt;">You will get to the other side.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt;">This past week, we’ve been reminded once again
that our world and our nation are in the midst of many storms. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt;">Terrible conflicts rage in the Middle East,
Central Asia and Africa. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt;">The number of refugees in the world is as high
as it was after World War II: 60 million people fleeing wars and famines, half
of them children. The number of refugees swells by 45,000 a week – about the
same number of people who live in the city of Charlottesville.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt;">Closer to home this past week, we’ve seen yet
another massacre at the hands of a deranged gunman. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt;">This is time it was in a church in Charleston,
South Carolina, at the Emmanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church – the oldest
African American church in the South. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt;">As you know by now, nine precious people in a
Bible study group, including the pastor, were murdered.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt;">Words are not enough this week. Words are just
not enough.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt;">The mental health of the perpetrator and the
easy availability of guns are certainly at issue. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt;">But to talk only about mental illness and guns
is to avoid the elephant in the room of our collective national soul: The
legacy we still carry from slavery, segregation and racism.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt;">The gunman was motivated by white supremacy, and
news reports say he wanted to unleash a race war. His targeting of a black
church was not a random act of violence. This young man did not grow up in a
vacuum. He learned his racial hatred somewhere – and from someone.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt;">Like it or not, we are in this storm together as
a nation and there is no escape.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Jesus,
aren’t you afraid we are perishing?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt;">Peace. Be still, be calm, have a little faith. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt;">You will get to the other side. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt;">There are other forces at work, not just forces
of hatred. Even now, there are people who are surrounding hate with love and
forcing it to surrender. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>This parish has its own legacy of hope
and courage in the storms. Decades ago, this parish took a stand against
segregation when it was hardest to do. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt;">In the many years since, the people in this
parish have worked in the community to bring racial reconciliation and hope and
healing. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt;">This parish surrounds hate with love and forces
it to surrender.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt;">Many of you attended a prayer vigil the other
night at Mount Zion First African Baptist Church across town, an African
American church which this parish has had a long relationship with.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This
parish knows how to stand up when it counts. This is one of those times.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And, sometimes,
we need be reminded that we are a part of something larger than this single
parish. This is one of those times.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt;">We part of the Episcopal Church, which is a part
of the Anglican Communion. But we are part of something even larger than that.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt;">We are a part of the Body of Christ – the church
universal for all time and in all places, and that means the church in Charleston
is our church. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt;">The tears of Charleston are the tears of Jesus.
We cannot be disciples of Christ without sharing his tears – and knowing in the
same boat with our brothers and sisters in Charleston.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt;">Yes, we are on stormy seas. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt;">Peace. Be still, be calm. Have a little faith.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt;">Amidst the storms we’ve also seen something else
this week. We’ve seen signs of hope. In a Charleston courtroom, we heard an
outpouring of forgiveness from the families of those who were murdered. Can we
do less as faithful people?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt;">A half-world away, we heard a pope this week
give voice to the collective outcry of the planet that is endangered by climate
change. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt;">And within our own Episcopal Church, we’ve heard
our bishops pledge to engage more fully with the issues of racism, poverty and
justice.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt;">To give one example, Bishop Jim Mathes of San
Diego, who is a friend of mine, said this: <span style="color: #10131a;">“The
next time we recite our baptismal covenant and say the words, ‘to respect the
dignity of every human being,’ race relations and reconciliation are what we
should be thinking about.”</span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt;">Our diocese in Virginia recently began a
dialogue on race.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt;">This dialogue has been hard starting. It has
felt as though there is an underlying fear about the demons that might be
unleashed like genies from a bottle. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt;">But it is time to face our fears. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt;">If this conversation does not begin with us,
then with who? Reconciliation must begin with us.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt;">It happens that the leaders of the Episcopal
Church will be gathering in the next week for our national General Convention,
held every three years. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt;">I will be boarding an airplane later today bound
for Salt Lake City where General Convention will be held. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt;">I will be representing the Diocese of Virginia
as one of four clergy alternates. This will be my third General Convention.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt;">General Convention is not something we
ordinarily talk about from the pulpit, but I want to do that a bit today.
General Convention is our highest governing authority in our denomination. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt;">It has a language all its own – rather than
“delegates,” we have “deputies.” All of the proposals are to be found in what
is called “the blue book,” though it is no longer blue or a book. You can find
all of it online. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt;">General Convention is a bicameral legislature,
with a House of Deputies that functions like a House of Representatives, and an
upper house, the House of Bishops, which functions like a Senate.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt;">Proposals must pass both houses in identical
form to win passage.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt;">The deputies were chosen by each diocese at
local conventions two years ago. Each of the 110 dioceses elects four clergy
deputies and four lay deputies, and eight alternates. I am an alternate clergy
deputy.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt;">Others from St. Paul’s are also going: Emily
Shelton, one of our UVA students will help represent the Episcopal Peace
Fellowship; and Grace Aheron, one of our youth leaders, will be participating
in several events.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt;">It is easy, too easy, to criticize General
Convention as outmoded or inefficient or too expensive. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt;">But it is worth celebrating that a democratic
legislative body governs our church. We do not have a magisterium handing down
edicts from on high. We elect our leaders.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt;">This will be a momentous General Convention.
This is the end of Presiding Bishop Katharine’s nine-year term, and the bishops
will be electing a new presiding bishop. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt;">They will go behind closed doors and will not
emerge until they reappear with the presiding bishop-elect, who must then be
confirmed by the House of Deputies. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt;">The candidates include Bishop Michael Curry of
the Diocese of North Carolina, who by the way, ordained Pastor Heather a few
years ago. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt;">If elected, Bishop Curry would become the first
African American presiding bishop in our history. There are three other
candidates, imminently qualified and faithful bishops. Please keep all of them
in your prayers. It is a tough job.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt;">Also on deck is a proposal to change the
marriage ceremony to allow for the marriage of two people of the same sex. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt;">A great deal of debate has gone into this, and a
task force has spent many years examining the theology, the biblical passages and
the cultural, legal and social issues. This is not a new topic for our church.
Where this will go, I cannot predict.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt;">General Convention is more than legislation,
much, much more. There will be three times as many people in Salt Lake
attending General Convention as there will be voting deputies and bishops.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>General
Convention is a festival, with worship services, workshops, reunions, and
networking to-the-max. I always learn something new and meet new people.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt;">Going on side-by-side with General Convention is
a national youth gathering, and the triennial meeting of the national Episcopal
Church Women. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt;">I’ve always found General Convention fascinating,
uplifting and full of energy. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt;">Please keep in your prayers all of us who are going
to Salt Lake. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt;">Let me close where I began – with the story of
Jesus in the boat quelling the storm. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt;">There is one overriding point to the story that
I hope all of us will keep in mind in the days and months ahead: the Risen
Christ is in charge, not us. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt;">The responsibility falls to us to be the
stewards of this church.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt;">We must be the ones surrounding hatred with love
and forcing hatred to surrender.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt;">And know this to the depths of your soul: the
Risen Christ is here in this boat with us, guiding us, calming the storms,
drying our tears – and will be with us forever. AMEN.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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The Rev. James Richardsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03484680361356703398noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8105371462621592511.post-45814313075387451192015-06-12T12:14:00.000-04:002015-06-12T12:14:27.447-04:00Taking Leave<div class="MsoNormal">
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z-index:251659264' from="90pt,27pt" to="297pt,27pt"/><![endif]--><!--[if !vml]--><span style="height: 5px; margin-left: 89px; margin-top: 26px; mso-ignore: vglayout; position: absolute; width: 212px; z-index: 251659264;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14pt;"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14pt;">Dear
St. Paul's Family,</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt;">These
past seven years have been an amazing grace-filled experience for Lori and
myself. We have made Charlottesville our home and we love this parish and each
of you. We have experienced many joys – and many trials – together. It is
therefore with mixed emotions that I tell you of my intent to resign as your
Rector and return to the Diocese of Northern California this summer. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt;">I
have been offered the position of “priest-in-charge” of the Church of the
Incarnation in Santa Rosa, a small city in Sonoma County north of San
Francisco. My mother, who just turned 90, lives about an hour away, and most of
my family is in the area. It has become abundantly clear in the last few months
that my family needs us to return, and I could not ignore this invitation by the
people of Santa Rosa to do so.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt;">I
realize that this decision may come as a surprise to some. I had intended to
finish my ministry here at St. Paul’s and retire from this wonderful parish.
But I am reminded once again that my timing might not be the Holy Spirit’s
timing. I was not looking for a new position. However, a few weeks ago I was
approached by the Rt. Rev. Barry Beisner, the bishop of the Diocese of Northern
California, who asked me to consider this position. Barry has been one of my
mentors for more than 20 years, long before he became a bishop. I was ordained
in his diocese and served there as a lay leader and later as a priest for 18
years. After much prayer and conversation, I’ve accepted this offer.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt;">My
last Sunday at St. Paul’s will be July 19. Between now and then, I hope we can
celebrate what we have done together. I will make myself available in the next
few weeks to meet with anyone who feels the need to meet with me for whatever
reason. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-right: -.1in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt;">St. Paul’s is a very strong and vibrant parish, with
a talented staff, gifted lay leadership, and outstanding clergy. Charles
Lancaster, our senior warden, and Darren Ball, our junior warden, and all the
members of the Vestry, will be working with the staff of the Diocese of
Virginia in this transition. They will develop a plan to appoint an interim
rector and form a search committee. This is a parish of people who know how to
“be bold” and meet the future with grace and courage.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt;">There
is no way that I can thank you adequately enough for the opportunities you have
given me these past seven years. We will cherish your love forever. Finally,
please keep us, and all of the St. Paul’s family, in your prayers.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt;">Blessings,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt;">Jim</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
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The Rev. James Richardsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03484680361356703398noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8105371462621592511.post-52883009345333149842015-04-25T07:19:00.001-04:002015-04-25T07:19:42.581-04:00New way to support our University of Virginia students<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-tkrGrSyH_H0/VTt3nZgpezI/AAAAAAAAHOc/4DUjCqGwwqI/s1600/Canterbury%2BLogo.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-tkrGrSyH_H0/VTt3nZgpezI/AAAAAAAAHOc/4DUjCqGwwqI/s1600/Canterbury%2BLogo.jpg" /></a></div>
We now have a new way to support our student ministries through the University of Virginia Fund with one-time gifts or on-going contributions. Please promote this with your friends. This is a good way to show support for both UVA and our Canterbury student program. Click <a href="https://securelb.imodules.com/s/1535/customform/index.aspx?sid=1535&gid=16&pgid=8988&cid=15878"><span style="color: red;">HERE</span></a> to give to our Episcopal Canterbury student ministry.The Rev. James Richardsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03484680361356703398noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8105371462621592511.post-55435362289038009252015-02-18T06:01:00.002-05:002015-02-18T06:01:50.707-05:00St. Paul's Lenten reflectionsOnce again we bring you reflections for each day of Lent written by members and friends of St. Paul's. The first, by poet priest Doug Vest, is posted for Ash Wednesday. Please have a look and come back each day. The link to the reflections is <a href="http://lentenreflections2015.blogspot.com/"><span style="color: magenta;">HERE</span></a>, and you can also click on the colorful cross icon on this page to get there.The Rev. James Richardsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03484680361356703398noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8105371462621592511.post-70793187398402027352015-01-22T08:04:00.001-05:002015-01-22T08:04:37.029-05:00My prayer at the Virginia General AssemblyI should have posted this a few days ago. It was my honor and privilege to give the opening prayer at the Virginia General Assembly last Friday, also marking the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday. As some of you know, I was the Chaplain to the California Senate for four years and did this every legislative day. I much enjoyed seeing another legislature in action (or in the opening stages of action), and I am grateful to Delegate David Toscano for inviting me. Below is my prayer, inspired by a blessing written by William Sloane Coffin many years ago.<br />
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Gracious and loving God, as we honor in the next few days the memory of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., we come before you with gratitude for his prophetic life and service, and we give thanks for the opportunity to serve in our own time.<br />
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Give us the eyes to see the possibilities others do not see, and the ears to hear the people whose voices are seldom heard.<br />
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May our lawmakers risk something big for something good; may they remember that the world is too large for anything but compassion, and too small for anything but cooperation.<br />
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May God kindle in our hearts the courage to break down the boundaries that divide us, the wisdom to lift up those who are poor, sick, oppressed and afraid, and the strength to work tirelessly to make real our nation’s promise of equal justice for all.<br />
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May our lawmakers build this great commonwealth not just for ourselves but as a beacon to the world for generations to come. In this we pray, AMEN.
The Rev. James Richardsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03484680361356703398noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8105371462621592511.post-56719096778006557692015-01-21T22:36:00.001-05:002015-01-21T22:36:24.371-05:00Marcus Borg and his passing<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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We learned tonight that Marcus Borg died this morning. I did not know until now he was ill. His book <i>Meeting Jesus Again for the First Time</i> in the early '90s had a huge impact on me. <div>
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It was my pleasure to be his driver and guide when he led our clergy retreat in the Diocese of Northern California a few years ago. <div>
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Driving around Sacramento, we talked about all sorts of concepts in the New Testament from eschatology to resurrection. He was a relentless scholar and a gentle teacher.</div>
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I will reflect more in this space about him in a few days.<div>
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His contribution to our understanding of who Jesus really was is enormous. He was controversial, and he evoked strong reactions. He was also willing to entertain other opinions and change his mind. He will be missed. May he rest in peace and rise in glory!</div>
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The Rev. James Richardsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03484680361356703398noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8105371462621592511.post-4016112230422871622015-01-20T19:35:00.001-05:002015-01-20T19:35:26.638-05:00Alcohol, driving, texting and the tragedy in Maryland<i>Friends,</i><br />
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<i>As you are probably aware, the Suffragan Bishop of Maryland, Heather Cook, has been charged with manslaughter in the death of a bicyclist. This came across my email today from <b>Jim Mathes</b>, the bishop of the Diocese of San Diego, who is also a friend of mine. He says this far better than I can, and so I would ask that you read this:</i><br />
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Beloved in Christ,</div>
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There has been much written about the tragic event in the Diocese of Maryland on December 27. On that day, the bishop suffragan, Heather Cook, while driving and allegedly intoxicated and texting on a mobile device, struck a cyclist, Thomas Palermo. I have been, thus far, able to resist adding to the avalanche of words. However, I have found myself profoundly affected by this horrible event. A husband and father is dead. A bishop is charged, arrested and now in rehab in prison as she awaits trial. A diocese is reeling.</div>
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It is abundantly clear that our church will reevaluate its calling processes in light of this event. Bishops and all clergy in our church, and I imagine other denominations, will receive much greater scrutiny. However, I wonder what should be our contemplation. What should be our confession and amendment of life? In particular, I ponder our relationship with the three contributing factors in this matter: motorized vehicles, alcohol, and mobile communication.</div>
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As most of you know, I run and walk a fair amount. Over the last couple of weeks, I have been more observant of motorists' driving habits. Most of the time when people come to stop signs, they do not fully stop. Indeed, some people are rather reckless in their haste. Add this to speeding, changing lanes too closely, and other behaviors, and it is remarkable that there are not more injuries and deaths on the highway. Comparisons of gun deaths to automobile deaths are often used to underscore the need for gun control. But the reality is that, in the majority of the U.S., more people die in automobile accidents than because of a gun.* <span id="yui_3_16_0_1_1421799572873_6021" style="font-size: 11pt;">Automobiles can be deadly. We forget when we drive a car that we are propelling thousands of pounds of metal, glass, plastic, and rubber at high speed. The laws of physics will not suspend when we are in a hurry or inattentive. My confession to you is that I have too often put my own schedule and priorities above safety. My amendment of life is to exercise a renewed caution while driving. My highest priority must be to others and to care for myself. </span></div>
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Thirty-one percent of the automobile fatalities in the U.S. are related to alcohol. In spite of this, and a whole host of other damage done to individuals and families by alcohol abuse, our culture continues to be alcohol-focused in social interactions: beer at ball games, champagne at New Year's, etc. As Episcopalians, we have fully bought into that. Historically, we have tended to differentiate ourselves by our drinking: whenever two or three are gathered together, there is a "fifth." It is time to deeply consider our relationship to alcohol, not in some sort of prudish way, but in a way that strongly asserts moderation and confronts, out of love, behavior that is harmful. My confession to you is that I have been complicit in a culture that promotes alcohol consumption. We are going to reevaluate how, and if, we serve alcohol at diocesan events. In addition, I am going to look into ways that the clergy members of the diocese can practice health and well-being in their alcohol use, including intervening where there are problems.</div>
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Living in the age of data phones, email, and texting, and the use of mobile devices while driving, has become a significant safety issue. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention includes texting as one of many actions while driving that is considered "distracted driving." One fifth of all U.S. auto fatalities include distracted driving as a contributing factor. Again, why are we so busy that we must multi-task? What makes us think that what we are doing is more important than our own lives and the lives of those around us? I suggest that our promise to respect the dignity of every human being requires that, when undertaking the great responsibility of moving a car at high speed, we give it our fullest attention. My confession is that I have done things while driving that are distracting to me and thus, dangerous. My amendment of life is to change this behavior. In particular, I need to reevaluate the way I talk on the phone while driving. There is no question that, while lawful, the whole exercise of making and executing phone calls is distracting. As your bishop, I should let voicemail do the work while driving and let driving be my singular work.</div>
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This reflection is open-ended for me. I hope it serves as an invitation for conversation within our clergy community, and our wider church community. The Maryland event should change us. Our relationship to Jesus as the one who comes to show us the way, the truth, and the life, is an invitation to change and transformation. That is why I come to you at this time with a posture of personal and inward reflection, confession, and "with God's help" and yours, a life more on the way of Jesus. In this time, we are called to a greater sense of self-awareness and to evaluate our own behavior and congregational practices. Will you join me in this movement?<br />
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Please pray for the Palermo family, the Diocese of Maryland, and Bishop Cook. Let us pray for healing, peace and reconciliation.</div>
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<span id="yui_3_16_0_1_1421799572873_6025"><br />Peace and gentle days be with you,</span></div>
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<span id="yui_3_16_0_1_1421799572873_6031"><img alt="signature" border="0" src="http://ih.constantcontact.com/fs009/1101649887417/img/60.jpg" height="63" hspace="5" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1421799572873_6030" name="ACCOUNT.IMAGE.60" style="border: 0px;" vspace="5" width="182" /></span></div>
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<span id="yui_3_16_0_1_1421799572873_6032">The Rt. Rev. James R. Mathes<br />Bishop </span></div>
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The Rev. James Richardsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03484680361356703398noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8105371462621592511.post-49264737419744301732015-01-13T08:42:00.000-05:002015-01-13T08:42:49.491-05:00The passing of Al Martinez, author of "Get the kid his peaches"Sad to hear today of the death of Al Martinez, the great storyteller of the Los Angeles Times. We've featured his "Get the kid his peaches" story every Christmas Eve on this blog (you can read it once again <a href="http://spmcrector.blogspot.com/2014/12/the-greatest-christmas-story-ever-told.html"><span style="color: red;">HERE</span></a>). May he rest in peace, rise and glory, and his words continue to inspire, amuse and push us from our comfort zones.<br />
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The Rev. James Richardsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03484680361356703398noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8105371462621592511.post-72115960478601689262015-01-07T06:35:00.001-05:002015-01-07T06:35:21.087-05:00Epiphany, the moon, and the stars within<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Moonset, Arlington House, Virginia<br />Photo by The Washington Post</td></tr>
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Not all stars are in the sky. Some are within us.<br />
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The last few mornings, if you were up early enough, like I was, you would have seen the moon setting on the western horizon.
The moon was nearly full, and rose in the east soon after sunset, and the moon gradually rose in the night sky, glowing white above us.<br />
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As we slept, the moon arched toward the western sky horizon.
Then the moon dimmed to orange as it sank in the western sky, glowing like the sunset of a few hours earlier, but not in a way that blinds us when we look into it.<br />
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The moon is a reminder that the brightness of the sun is with us even in the darkness of the night.
I’d like to think that is what Epiphany is about – a reminder that the Holy still glows even on these dark, dreary cold winter nights.<br />
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You can’t look into the sun without blinding yourself. Sometimes the holy is like that, too. But you can look at the moon all night long if you like. Sometimes these fainter reminders of the holy are easier for us to see, too.<br />
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In the Epiphany story from the Gospel of <a href="http://www.lectionarypage.net/YearABC_RCL/Epiphany/Epiph_RCL.html#GOSPEL"><span style="color: blue;">Matthew 2:1-12 </span></a> we meet once again the magi as they follow the glow of a star to the crib of Jesus. Like watching the moon arching across the sky, they follow this star all night long.<br />
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Let me point out a few details you might not have noticed in the story of the magi:
The story does not tell us what the star looked like. It must have been a faint star indeed. I doubt it looked like the star streaking across the sky on Hallmark cards.
Nowhere in the biblical story does it say anyone other than the magi saw the star. No one else sees it. Not Herod, not anyone in Jerusalem. Only these men, who like the moon, rise from the east.<br />
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Maybe the star wasn’t in the sky at all.
Maybe the star was glowing inside them.
When magi first saw this star, they did not know where they were going, or how the journey would come out.
But they followed it anyway.<br />
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That is the definition of faith – following a star, going somewhere, and doing something, without being certain of the final destination.
The magi were not the first to follow a star, and not the last. We too are called to follow the star glowing inside us.<br />
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The wise men – the Magi – follow their star to the infant Jesus. They come to behold and honor the newborn king, and they discover that this king is like no other.<br />
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He will grow to become a servant king with no throne, no scepter, no political power.
He will wash the feet of his followers, heal the sick, feed the hungry, and share meals with saints and sinners alike.<br />
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He will teach, he will pray, he will get frustrated and angry at the greed and narrowness of people. He will ultimately go to the Cross to show us that there is more to life than death – more to life than what we see now.<br />
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As he walks among us, Jesus teaches really only one thing – that we should love God, and love each other, as God loves us.
We are challenged to do just that, by giving life to God’s shalom and using our hands and feet to bring healing, peace and justice to the world around us.
That is the star we are called to follow.<br />
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Sometimes we only see the star in the moonlight, but we still can see the star.<br />
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<i>“Arise, shine; for your light has come, and the glory of the LORD has risen upon you. For darkness shall cover the earth, and thick darkness the peoples; but the LORD will arise upon you, and his glory will appear over you.” (Isaiah 60:1)</i>The Rev. James Richardsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03484680361356703398noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8105371462621592511.post-12901835303815209312015-01-02T08:04:00.002-05:002015-01-02T08:05:00.085-05:00The angels encamped around us this year<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-M5z2jRtByZQ/VKaVSeNsT9I/AAAAAAAAHKg/y7RI2wHJPGE/s1600/m42b_norm.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-M5z2jRtByZQ/VKaVSeNsT9I/AAAAAAAAHKg/y7RI2wHJPGE/s1600/m42b_norm.jpg" height="230" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Orion Nebula, NASA</td></tr>
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<i>“The angel of the LORD encamps around those who fear him, and delivers them.”</i><br />
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– Psalm 34:7</div>
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My childhood admission: I used to be afraid of a lot of things. I saw the movie “The Blob” with Steve McQueen about space goo from a meteor that landed on earth and ate everyone, especially kids sitting in movie theaters. The Blob oozed under seats and out of heat ventilators.<br />
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For years I thought The Blob might be under my bed. Ok, I really didn’t think that, but just to be safe, I did not let my hand hover below the bed at night.<br />
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More seriously, I was also afraid of the concept of infinity. The idea that space goes on and on forever scared the daylights out of me. I can’t explain exactly why, but it did. Still does.<br />
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The idea of infinite time also scared me. What came before time? Does time end? If time does end, did existence ever exist? If time doesn’t end, how does that work?<br />
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Adding to my fear, in church the preacher used to talk about God living outside of time and God coming at the end of time. How does that work?<br />
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Call me a neurotic kid with such strange fears. My parents thought I should be more worried about spelling tests and my “times table.”<br />
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Yet, I think some of my childhood fear about infinity and time might be what the biblical admonitions about “fear of the LORD” are getting at. It is tempting to translate the word “fear” into “awe” (of the LORD), and that works one level. But creation is so vast, and the concepts of time, space, infinity, are truly so beyond human comprehension that there must be more to this than awe. Who are we to think we can understand this? Who are we to think we can tame the universe? There is a lot to be afraid of out there.<br />
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We cannot know God easily or directly. <i>The Book of Job</i> ends with God bellowing at Job, “Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth? Tell me, if you have understanding.” (<i>Job 38:4</i>). We don’t.<br />
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I bring this up as a way of suggesting that we might enter the new year with a measure of humility about our most cherished beliefs and opinions about everything from religion to politics. We are but mortal, made from dust and to dust we shall return. God’s ways are not our ways, and we are living on a finite rock in a tiny corner of the universe. Our conflicts over religion and politics are comparatively trivial. There is so much we don’t know even about ourselves and our planet, let alone the rest of the universe. <br />
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We might want to hold lightly to our opinions, listen to each other a little more closely, care for each other a little more deeply, and not be so certain we have this God thing figured out so perfectly. “Fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom,” so the wise rabbi says in <i>Proverbs 1:7</i>.<br />
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There is hope in this. The Morning Prayer reading for today begins with Psalm 34 and its prayer for wisdom and peace. Lately I’ve been reading the psalms from the Revised Standard Version of the Bible rather than the psalms tucked into the back of the prayer book. I like RSV version better including Psalm 34, especially this line: “The angel of the LORD encamps around those who fear him, and delivers them.”<br />
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May each of us find the angels encamped around us this year, protecting us from evil and from the arrogance of our own certainty. May many blessings light our path. And let’s be careful out there.<br />
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: white;">By James Richardson, Fiat Lux
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<br />The Rev. James Richardsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03484680361356703398noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8105371462621592511.post-88731438990389772402014-12-31T06:33:00.002-05:002014-12-31T06:33:37.759-05:00Blessing for the new year<i>Here is a blessing for the new year from our friend Steven Charleston:</i><br />
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There is no harm that can come to you, no matter how frail and fragile you feel, for this passing stream of light is not the measure of all you are, but only the rough canvas on which the colors of your life are forever being painted. You are not encompassed by a clock, marked off into a reality of artificial movements, but designed to be free from such constraints, able to rise up on the wings of your own imagination to see the hands behind the time. Hurt may happen, but it will never last nor have the final word in the sonnet that is your soul, for that wisdom will go on and on, speaking wonders into a future you cannot even name.The Rev. James Richardsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03484680361356703398noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8105371462621592511.post-86147120600325035982014-12-28T22:17:00.000-05:002014-12-28T22:17:00.356-05:00Daydreams turning to spring and ... baseballWell my friends, we are deep into winter now, and a boy's thoughts turn to ... baseball.<br />
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I should have posted this awhile back: my commentary for The Sacramento Bee, my former journalistic home, on the San Francisco Giants season just past. That would be the World Series Championship season. So with daydreams turning to spring, here is my piece...<br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Giants fan fulfills bucket list baseball season</span></h1>
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<span class="ng_byline_name" style="box-sizing: border-box;">BY JAMES RICHARDSON</span></div>
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11/01/2014 4:00 PM </div>
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11/03/2014 9:07 AM</div>
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<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />Read more here: http://www.sacbee.com/opinion/california-forum/article3497613.html#storylink=cpy</div>
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My father took me to my first baseball game at Candlestick Park in 1962. The Giants played the St. Louis Cardinals, and Willie Mays won the game in the 10th inning with a home run. I was 9 years old. I was hooked on Giants baseball for life.</div>
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This season I did something that has always been on my bucket list: follow <a href="http://sanfrancisco.giants.mlb.com/schedule/?c_id=sf#y=2014&m=10&calendar=DEFAULT" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #0d76ba; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank" title="">the Giants season</a> game by game, and not just occasionally. This season, I would follow every game. That’s 162 regular season games and, as it turned out, 17 postseason games.</div>
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I started by watching the televised spring training games on MLB.TV. By the end of the season, I had watched, or listened to, 105 regular season games, including 10 playoffs and seven World Series games. If I didn’t watch or listen, I read the wrap the next morning in the Northern California newspapers.</div>
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My wife, Lori, was a saint for putting up with what became my obsession. She watched many games, and we went to a few. At a family wedding in Wisconsin, I had a game playing on my smartphone. </div>
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In an odd way, it helped that we no longer live in California. We live in Virginia, which, as it happens, is the market territory of the Washington Nationals. There were no blackouts for Giants games here except when the Giants played the Nats, in which case the tickets were about one-third the price of a seat in San Francisco.</div>
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At our first Nats game, we found ourselves sitting in a sea of orange and black that stretched from home plate into the left field stands. It seemed we were seated with thousands of diaspora Californians rooting for our ancestral team. Pitcher <a href="http://sanfrancisco.giants.mlb.com/team/player.jsp?player_id=408241&c_id=sf#gameType='R'&sectionType=career&statType=2&season=2014&level='ALL'" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #0d76ba; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank" title="">Jake Peavy</a> signed a baseball for me.</div>
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For most games, I could webstream Bay Area TV coverage. But for some games, I listened to the KNBR radio webstream, and that took me back to my boyhood when that is how we “saw” most Giants games. </div>
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Hearing it on the radio tapped my imagination in ways I’ve not experienced in years. No slow motion, no replays – just the artistry of a voice in a booth finding just the right words to describe an enormously complex series of movements on a field. My favorite line, as <a href="http://sanfrancisco.giants.mlb.com/team/player.jsp?player_id=340192#gameType='R'&sectionType=career&statType=1&season=2014&level='ALL'" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #0d76ba; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank" title="">Marco Scutaro</a>was plodding around third base: “He’s leaking oil.” </div>
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I learned a lot about baseball, how grueling it is and how Bruce Bochy had to manage through slumps, injuries and “buzzard’s luck” as he calls it. We saw new players emerge, in particular <a href="http://sanfrancisco.giants.mlb.com/team/player.jsp?player_id=605412&c_id=sf" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #0d76ba; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank" title="">Joe Panik</a>, but also saw many veteran players struggle with season-ending injuries – <a href="http://sanfrancisco.giants.mlb.com/team/player.jsp?player_id=430912&c_id=sf" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #0d76ba; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank" title="">Matt Cain</a>, <a href="http://sanfrancisco.giants.mlb.com/team/player.jsp?player_id=434636&c_id=sf" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #0d76ba; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank" title="">Angel Pagan</a>, <a href="http://sanfrancisco.giants.mlb.com/team/player.jsp?player_id=516949&c_id=sf" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #0d76ba; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank" title="">Hector Sanchez</a>, Scutaro. I grew to understand that the baseball season is as much about stamina as it is skill. So is watching.</div>
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We saw Tim Lincecum pitch a no-hitter, and then fall into the doldrums. We suffered through the Dan Uggla experiment at second base (batting average with the Giants: .000) and admired <a href="http://sanfrancisco.giants.mlb.com/team/player.jsp?player_id=474832&c_id=sf" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #0d76ba; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank" title="">Brandon Belt</a> as he came back twice from injuries. </div>
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We were awestruck by <a href="http://sanfrancisco.giants.mlb.com/team/player.jsp?player_id=452254&c_id=sf" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #0d76ba; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank" title="">Hunter Pence</a> at full throttle every single game he played. My favorite Pence sign, appropriately at a Nationals game, was “Hunter Pence wrote the Declaration of Independence.” I suppose that only in Washington, D.C., would that be meant as an insult. </div>
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And, yes, <a href="http://sanfrancisco.giants.mlb.com/team/player.jsp?player_id=518516&c_id=sf" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #0d76ba; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank" title="">Madison Bumgarner</a> is an extraordinary pitcher – and an extraordinary hitter with four home runs, two of them grand slams. Yet this team was not about a superhero, but about a bunch of guys who did things very well when it counted. </div>
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But it was more than just about pitching, hitting and scores. Baseball is also about relentless hype and promotion, and endless prognostication by baseball “experts.” Like political writers (of which I once was one), getting it wrong doesn’t stop the experts from churning out more authoritative opinions, usually discarded a few days later.</div>
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Mostly, I learned how a bunch of basically humble guys figured out how to play together under enormous pressure and win when by all the odds they should have lost. They looked like they were having fun. Many of the teams they played did not (read Dodgers). Sometimes the Giants lost, and lost badly. Other games they just barely won (like that last game of the World Series). If there is any sport that mirrors daily life, this is it.</div>
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To have this season conclude in a 3-2 nail-biter in the seventh game of the World Series is nothing I remotely could have predicted when I started this adventure in March.</div>
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Ski season approaches. The television will be off most of the time in my house. If the 49ers make it to the Super Bowl, I’ll check it out. Mostly, I will be awaiting the words: “Pitchers and catchers report.”</div>
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James Richardson, a former senior </div>
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writer with The Bee, is an Episcopal priest and the rector of St. Paul’s </div>
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Memorial Church in Charlottesville, Va.</div>
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<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />Read more here: http://www.sacbee.com/opinion/california-forum/article3497613.html#storylink=cpy</div>
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The Rev. James Richardsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03484680361356703398noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8105371462621592511.post-83012464104724233702014-12-24T00:01:00.000-05:002014-12-24T00:01:00.485-05:00The greatest Christmas story ever told: Get the kid his peaches<div style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; margin: 0px;">
<span style="color: #030608;">Here again, my friends, is the greatest Christmas story ever told by a great story teller, </span><b style="color: #030608;">Al Martinez</b><span style="color: #030608;">, formerly of the </span><i style="color: #030608;">Oakland Tribune,</i><i style="color: #030608;"> Los Angeles Times </i><span style="color: #030608;">and </span><i style="color: #030608;">the Los Angeles Daily News. </i><span style="color: #030608;">Al is known as the "Bard of LA" and has won three Pulitzer prizes since he began writing columns in 1952. He wrote his </span><span style="text-decoration: none;"><a href="http://www.dailynews.com/20130331/al-martinez-writes-his-last-column-says-goodbye" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="color: red;">last column</span></a><span style="color: red;"> </span></span><span style="color: #030608;">on March 30, 2013. </span></div>
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I run this story every year in <i>Fiat Lux</i>, and it brings a tear to my eye every time. So here it is, the Greatest Christmas Story Ever Told:</div>
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<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #3333ff;"><br />A Christmas Story</span></b></div>
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<i>By Al Martinez</i></div>
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IT happened one Christmas Eve a long time ago in a place called Oakland on a newspaper called the Tribune with a city editor named Alfred P. Reck.</div>
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I was working swing shift on general assignment, writing the story of a boy who was dying of leukemia and whose greatest wish was for fresh peaches.</div>
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It was a story which, in the tradition of 1950s journalism, would be milked for every sob we could squeeze from it, because everyone loved a good cry on Christmas.</div>
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We knew how to play a tear-jerker in those days, and I was full of the kinds of passions that could make a sailor weep.</div>
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I remember it was about 11 o'clock at night and pouring rain outside when I began putting the piece together for the next day's editions.</div>
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Deadline was an hour away, but an hour is a lifetime when you're young and fast and never get tired.</div>
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Then the telephone rang.</div>
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It was Al Reck calling, as he always did at night, and he'd had a few under his belt.</div>
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Reck was a drinking man. With diabetes and epilepsy, hard liquor was about the last thing he ought to be messing with, but you didn't tell Al what he ought to or ought not to do.</div>
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<br /></div>
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He was essentially a gentle man who rarely raised his voice, but you knew he was the city editor, and in those days the city editor was the law and the word in the newsroom.</div>
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<br /></div>
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But there was more than fear and tradition at work for Al.</div>
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<br /></div>
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We respected him immensely, not only for his abilities as a newsman, but for his humanity. Al was sensitive both to our needs and the needs of those whose names and faces appeared in the pages of the Oakland Tribune.</div>
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<br /></div>
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"What's up?" he asked me that Christmas Eve in a voice as soft and slurred as a summer breeze.</div>
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<br /></div>
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He already knew what was up because, during 25 years on the city desk, Reck somehow always knew what was up, but he wanted to hear it from the man handling the story.</div>
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<br /></div>
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I told him about the kid dying of leukemia and about the peaches and about how there simply were no fresh peaches, but it still made a good piece. We had art and a hole waiting on page one.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; margin: 0px;">
Al listened for a moment and then said, "How long's he got?"</div>
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<br /></div>
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"Not long," I said. "His doctor says maybe a day or two."</div>
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<br /></div>
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There was a long silence and then Al said, "Get the kid his peaches."</div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; margin: 0px;">
"I've called all over," I said. "None of the produce places in the Bay Area have fresh peaches. They're just plain out of season. It's winter."</div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; margin: 0px;">
"Not everywhere. Call Australia."</div>
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<br /></div>
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"Al," I began to argue, "it's after 11 and I have no idea . . .”</div>
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<br /></div>
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"Call Australia," he said, and then hung up.</div>
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<br /></div>
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If Al said call Australia, I would call Australia.</div>
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<br /></div>
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I don't quite remember whom I telephoned, newspapers maybe and agricultural associations, but I ended up finding fresh peaches and an airline that would fly them to the Bay Area before the end of Christmas Day.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; margin: 0px;">
There was only one problem. Customs wouldn't clear them. They were an agricultural product and would be hung up at San Francisco International at least for a day, and possibly forever.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; margin: 0px;">
Reck called again. He listened to the problem and told me to telephone the secretary of agriculture and have him clear the peaches when they arrived.</div>
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<br /></div>
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"It's close to midnight," I argued. "His office is closed."</div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; margin: 0px;">
"Take this number down," Reck said. "It's his home. Tell him I told you to call."</div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; margin: 0px;">
It was axiomatic among the admirers of Al Reck that he knew everyone and everyone knew him, from cops on the street to government leaders in their Georgetown estates. No one knew how Al knew them or why, but he did.</div>
<div style="background-color: white; margin: 0px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; margin: 0px;">
I made the call. The secretary said he'd have the peaches cleared when they arrived and give Al Reck his best.</div>
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<br /></div>
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"All right," Reck said on his third and final call to me, "now arrange for one of our photographers to meet the plane and take the peaches over to the boy's house."</div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; margin: 0px;">
He had been drinking steadily throughout the evening and the slurring had become almost impossible to understand.</div>
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<br /></div>
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By then it was a few minutes past midnight, and just a heartbeat and a half to the final deadline.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; margin: 0px;">
"Al," I said, "if I don't start writing this now I'll never get the story in the paper."</div>
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<br /></div>
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I won't forget this moment.</div>
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<br /></div>
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"I didn't say get the story," Reck replied gently. "I said get the kid his peaches."</div>
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<br /></div>
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If there is a flash point in our lives to which we can refer later, moments that shape our attitudes and affect our futures, that was mine.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; margin: 0px;">
Alfred Pierce Reck had defined for me the importance of what we do, lifting it beyond newsprint and deadline to a level of humanity that transcends job. He understood not only what we did but what we were supposed to do.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; margin: 0px;">
I didn't say get the story. I said get the kid his peaches.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; margin: 0px;">
The boy got his peaches and the story made the home edition, and I received a lesson in journalism more important than any I've learned since.</div>
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<br /></div>
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I wanted you to know that this Christmas season.</div>
<div style="background-color: white; margin: 0px;">
<i><br />Al Martinez is a former reporter and columnist for The Oakland Tribune, from 1955 to 1971, The Richmond (Calif.) Independent and Los Angeles Times to now. Born in Oakland, he also has written several novels, for television and the movies. This article first appeared in the Los Angeles Times on Dec. 25, 1986.</i></div>
</blockquote>
</div>
</div>
The Rev. James Richardsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03484680361356703398noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8105371462621592511.post-19023908847739642142014-12-23T00:01:00.000-05:002014-12-23T00:01:00.345-05:00Christmas message from Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-1N-JTsSzEWg/VIZaCIuqlGI/AAAAAAAAHJI/kvAQpBjs3o4/s1600/Katharine.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-1N-JTsSzEWg/VIZaCIuqlGI/AAAAAAAAHJI/kvAQpBjs3o4/s1600/Katharine.jpeg" height="400" width="265" /></a>The altar hanging at an English Advent service was made of midnight blue, with these words across its top: “We thank you that darkness reminds us of light.” Facing all who gathered there to give thanks were images of night creatures – a large moth, an owl, a badger, and a bat – cryptic and somewhat mysterious creatures that can only be encountered in the darkness.<br />
<br />
As light ebbs from the days and the skies of fall, many in the Northern Hemisphere associate dark with the spooks and skeletons of secular Hallowe’en celebrations. That English church has reclaimed the connection between creator, creation, and the potential holiness of all that is. It is a fitting reorientation toward the coming of One who has altered those relationships toward new possibilities for healing and redemption.<br />
<br />
Advent leads us into darkness and decreasing light. Our bodies slow imperceptibly with shorter days and longer nights, and the merriness and frantic activity around us are often merely signs of eager hunger for light and healing and wholeness.<br />
<br />
The Incarnation, the coming of God among us in human flesh, happened in such a quiet and out of the way place that few noticed at first. Yet the impact on human existence has been like a bolt of lightning that continues to grow and generate new life and fire in all who share that hunger.
Jesus is among us like a flitting moth – will we notice his presence in the street-sleeper? He pierces the dark like a silent, streaking owl seeking food for hungry and defenseless nestlings. He will overturn this world’s unjust foundations like badgers undermining a crooked wall. Like the bat’s sonar, his call comes to each one uniquely – have we heard his urgent “come and follow”?<br />
<br />
God is among us, and within us, and around us, encountering, nudging, loving, transforming the world and its creatures toward the glorious dream the shepherds announced so many years ago, toward the beloved community of prophetic dreams, and the nightwatch that proclaims “all is well, fear not, the Lord is here.”<br />
<br />
May Christ be born anew in you this Christmastide. May his light burn in you, and may you labor to spread it in the darkness. The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light, and it is the harbinger of peace for all creation.<br />
<br />
<i>The Most Rev. Katharine Jefferts Schori
Presiding Bishop and Primate
The Episcopal Church</i>The Rev. James Richardsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03484680361356703398noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8105371462621592511.post-72074777650840608462014-12-20T09:54:00.000-05:002014-12-20T09:54:00.071-05:00A poem to get us throughI haven't run a poem on Fiat Lux in awhile. <b>Margaret Haupt</b>, one of our Stephen Ministry leaders, sent this, and so I pass it along...<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;">
+ + +</div>
<br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', 'Segoe UI', Helvetica, Arial, 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 25px;"><b>Kindness</b></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', 'Segoe UI', Helvetica, Arial, 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 25px;"><i>By Naormi Shihab Nye</i></span><br />
<br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', 'Segoe UI', Helvetica, Arial, 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 25px;">Before you know what kindness really is</span><br style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', 'Segoe UI', Helvetica, Arial, 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 25px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', 'Segoe UI', Helvetica, Arial, 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 25px;">you must lose things,</span><br style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', 'Segoe UI', Helvetica, Arial, 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 25px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', 'Segoe UI', Helvetica, Arial, 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 25px;">feel the future dissolve in a moment</span><br style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', 'Segoe UI', Helvetica, Arial, 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 25px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', 'Segoe UI', Helvetica, Arial, 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 25px;">like salt in a weakened broth.</span><br style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', 'Segoe UI', Helvetica, Arial, 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 25px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', 'Segoe UI', Helvetica, Arial, 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 25px;">What you held in your hand,</span><br style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', 'Segoe UI', Helvetica, Arial, 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 25px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', 'Segoe UI', Helvetica, Arial, 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 25px;">what you counted and carefully saved,</span><br style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', 'Segoe UI', Helvetica, Arial, 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 25px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', 'Segoe UI', Helvetica, Arial, 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 25px;">all this must go so you know</span><br style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', 'Segoe UI', Helvetica, Arial, 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 25px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', 'Segoe UI', Helvetica, Arial, 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 25px;">how desolate the landscape can be</span><br style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', 'Segoe UI', Helvetica, Arial, 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 25px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', 'Segoe UI', Helvetica, Arial, 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 25px;">between the regions of kindness.</span><br style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', 'Segoe UI', Helvetica, Arial, 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 25px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', 'Segoe UI', Helvetica, Arial, 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 25px;">How you ride and ride</span><br style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', 'Segoe UI', Helvetica, Arial, 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 25px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', 'Segoe UI', Helvetica, Arial, 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 25px;">thinking the bus will never stop,</span><br style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', 'Segoe UI', Helvetica, Arial, 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 25px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', 'Segoe UI', Helvetica, Arial, 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 25px;">the passengers eating maize and chicken</span><br style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', 'Segoe UI', Helvetica, Arial, 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 25px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', 'Segoe UI', Helvetica, Arial, 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 25px;">will stare out the window forever.</span><br style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', 'Segoe UI', Helvetica, Arial, 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 25px;" /><br style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', 'Segoe UI', Helvetica, Arial, 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 25px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', 'Segoe UI', Helvetica, Arial, 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 25px;">Before you learn the tender gravity of kindness,</span><br style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', 'Segoe UI', Helvetica, Arial, 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 25px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', 'Segoe UI', Helvetica, Arial, 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 25px;">you must travel where the Indian in a white poncho </span><br style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', 'Segoe UI', Helvetica, Arial, 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 25px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', 'Segoe UI', Helvetica, Arial, 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 25px;">lies dead by the side of the road.</span><br style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', 'Segoe UI', Helvetica, Arial, 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 25px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', 'Segoe UI', Helvetica, Arial, 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 25px;">You must see how this could be you,</span><br style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', 'Segoe UI', Helvetica, Arial, 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 25px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', 'Segoe UI', Helvetica, Arial, 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 25px;">how he too was someone</span><br style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', 'Segoe UI', Helvetica, Arial, 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 25px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', 'Segoe UI', Helvetica, Arial, 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 25px;">who journeyed through the night with plans </span><br style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', 'Segoe UI', Helvetica, Arial, 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 25px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', 'Segoe UI', Helvetica, Arial, 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 25px;">and the simple breath that kept him alive.</span><br style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', 'Segoe UI', Helvetica, Arial, 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 25px;" /><br style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', 'Segoe UI', Helvetica, Arial, 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 25px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', 'Segoe UI', Helvetica, Arial, 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 25px;">Before you know kindness as the deepest thing inside, </span><br style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', 'Segoe UI', Helvetica, Arial, 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 25px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', 'Segoe UI', Helvetica, Arial, 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 25px;">you must know sorrow as the other deepest thing. </span><br style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', 'Segoe UI', Helvetica, Arial, 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 25px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', 'Segoe UI', Helvetica, Arial, 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 25px;">You must wake up with sorrow.</span><br style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', 'Segoe UI', Helvetica, Arial, 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 25px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', 'Segoe UI', Helvetica, Arial, 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 25px;">You must speak to it till your voice</span><br style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', 'Segoe UI', Helvetica, Arial, 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 25px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', 'Segoe UI', Helvetica, Arial, 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 25px;">catches the thread of all sorrows</span><br style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', 'Segoe UI', Helvetica, Arial, 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 25px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', 'Segoe UI', Helvetica, Arial, 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 25px;">and you see the size of the cloth. </span><br style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', 'Segoe UI', Helvetica, Arial, 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 25px;" /><br style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', 'Segoe UI', Helvetica, Arial, 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 25px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', 'Segoe UI', Helvetica, Arial, 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 25px;">Then it is only kindness that makes sense anymore,</span><br style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', 'Segoe UI', Helvetica, Arial, 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 25px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', 'Segoe UI', Helvetica, Arial, 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 25px;">only kindness that ties your shoes</span><br style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', 'Segoe UI', Helvetica, Arial, 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 25px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', 'Segoe UI', Helvetica, Arial, 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 25px;">and sends you out into the day to mail letters and </span><br style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', 'Segoe UI', Helvetica, Arial, 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 25px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', 'Segoe UI', Helvetica, Arial, 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 25px;"> purchase bread,</span><br style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', 'Segoe UI', Helvetica, Arial, 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 25px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', 'Segoe UI', Helvetica, Arial, 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 25px;">only kindness that raises its head</span><br style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', 'Segoe UI', Helvetica, Arial, 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 25px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', 'Segoe UI', Helvetica, Arial, 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 25px;">from the crowd of the world to say</span><br style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', 'Segoe UI', Helvetica, Arial, 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 25px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', 'Segoe UI', Helvetica, Arial, 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 25px;">it is I you have been looking for,</span><br style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', 'Segoe UI', Helvetica, Arial, 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 25px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', 'Segoe UI', Helvetica, Arial, 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 25px;">and then goes with you every where</span><br style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', 'Segoe UI', Helvetica, Arial, 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 25px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', 'Segoe UI', Helvetica, Arial, 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 25px;">like a shadow or a friend.</span>The Rev. James Richardsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03484680361356703398noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8105371462621592511.post-74342905235721814002014-12-11T16:05:00.000-05:002014-12-11T17:09:29.528-05:00Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe: Friday is her feast day<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-8YGQ35rzIu4/VIoEu_c09PI/AAAAAAAAHJw/-SCIDBjREWY/s1600/our-lady-of-guadalupe.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-8YGQ35rzIu4/VIoEu_c09PI/AAAAAAAAHJw/-SCIDBjREWY/s1600/our-lady-of-guadalupe.jpg" height="320" width="320" /></a><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #030608; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20.799999237060547px;">Friday is a very big deal in our hemisphere, even here in Charlottesville, though you might not notice. </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #030608; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20.799999237060547px;">The Catholic Church if the Incarnation is hosting hundreds of people at pre-dawn Eucharists Friday </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #030608; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20.799999237060547px;">–</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #030608; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20.799999237060547px;"> early so people can get to work. The first Eucharist is at 2 am.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #030608; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20.799999237060547px;">Let me tell you why Dec. 12 is an important feast day for millions of people. It is a story of dark-skinned peasants resisting the powerful, and the Holy Spirit doing what the Holy Spirit does ...</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #030608; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20.799999237060547px;">Nearly 500 years ago, the story goes, an Aztec with a Spanish name – Juan Diego – saw an apparition of the Virgin Mary. </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #030608; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20.799999237060547px;">The local Spanish bishop, Juan de Zumárraga, did not believe him and told him to bring back proof of this vision. Juan Diego came back with his tunic full of flowers – Castilian roses – and the roses were blooming in winter. When Juan Diego poured the roses from his tunic, an image of Mary was imprinted on his tunic. </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #030608; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20.799999237060547px;">That image has become probably the most copied and venerated image of Mary in the world.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #030608; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20.799999237060547px;">Today is her feast day </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #030608; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20.799999237060547px;">–</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #030608; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20.799999237060547px;"> Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe, la Virgen de Guadalupe – the Virgin of Guadalupe. This day in 1531 marks when an Aztec brought roses to the bishop, and the bishop had to believe him.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #030608; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20.799999237060547px;">Whether you believe in the story, or believe it happened exactly that way, is less important than what she represents primarily to the people of Mexico and elsewhere in Latin America. Her shrine near Mexico City is the most visited Marian shrine in the world.</span><br />
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The Virgin of Guadalupe is sometimes known as the brown virgin – her skin color is that of the indigenous peoples of America. She is the Mary of the poor and the outcasts and those left behind or wiped out as Europeans colonized, industrialized and regimented the Americas. She is the Mary of the lowliest among us who stand up and say "you have it wrong, please listen."<br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #030608; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20.799999237060547px;"> Even the word “Guadalupe” has roots in native Aztec language, and many believe the image is</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #030608; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20.799999237060547px;">filled with Aztec symbols. She is the Mary of hope to the poor of the Americas.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #030608; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20.799999237060547px;">There is another level to this that I would commend to you: The Holy comes to us not just in male imagery (God the Father) but in female imagery. </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #030608; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20.799999237060547px;">The Holy Spirit is like a wind that will blow where she will, and will show her face in ways that speak to people in the depths of their soul, and give them strength and courage when they most need it. The Virgin of Guadalupe does precisely that for so many, and I have met them (and they weren't all Latino).</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #030608; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20.799999237060547px;">Although Our Lady of Guadalupe is not on the official Episcopal calendar of saints, she will be celebrated in many Episcopal churches across the country, particularly in the Southwest.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #030608; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20.799999237060547px;">As many of you know, I have a small collection of amazing Guadalupe folk art that I keep on my dresser at home. I have Guadalupe candlesticks, tin and ceramic figurines, santos wood carvings, and a lighted Guadalupe concha (shadow box) on the wall. Nearly all of these items are gifts from friends far and wide, and I cherish each item with thanks for the hands that made them.</span><br />
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<span style="color: white; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 20.799999237060547px;">By James Richardson, Fiat Lux</span></span>The Rev. James Richardsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03484680361356703398noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8105371462621592511.post-76593268922798541252014-12-09T15:25:00.000-05:002014-12-09T15:25:19.956-05:00UVA President Teresa Sullivan meets with University chaplains to discuss changing the culture<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">UVA President Teresa Sullivan<br />Photo by the Associated Press</td></tr>
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“It’s been a semester like no other.”<br />
<br />
So began Teresa Sullivan, president of the University of Virginia, at a meeting with 15 University chaplains Tuesday morning. The chaplains, including myself, are part of an umbrella organization called “United Ministries” that include a wide spectrum of Christians, Jews and Muslims.<br />
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The chaplains asked to meet with President Sullivan last week in a letter about the current crisis surrounding a culture of sexual assault and alcohol abuse that has been rampant for decades. She responded immediately with an invitation to meet with her.<br />
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This has been a semester like no other in recent memory.<br />
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Hannah Graham, a second-year student, was abducted early in the semester, and her body was found about a month later. Two other students have died by taking their own life.
And then in November, Rolling Stone magazine wrote an article about a student, “Jackie,” and her allegations of being gang raped at a UVA fraternity party.<br />
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Rolling Stone has since partially retracted the story. But there has been no let up in the debate over how to change the culture at UVA.
It was clear in our meeting that President Sullivan welcomes that debate and is determined to make significant changes not just to UVA’s procedures, but also to UVA’s culture.<br />
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“I’ve been on this” since coming to the University in 2010, she said, soon after the beating death of student Yeardley Love at the hands of her student boyfriend.<br />
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Regardless of whether Rolling Stone got specific facts right on one incident, she noted, “we have actual survivors we are trying to take care of.”<br />
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She said the recent firestorm has surfaced survivors of sexual assaults from decades ago: “A wave of hurting that is hitting us.”<br />
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UVA’s counseling services are stretched to the maximum, and she asked for help from the chaplains.
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<br />
President Sullivan also discussed a number of ideas about how to stem underage drinking by providing competition to alcohol-soaked fraternity parties. Several chaplains pointed out that their organizations have created alcohol-free parties and events, but have not been well supported by UVA.<br />
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She pledged to look into that.
She noted that she is working on opening a police substation on the “Corner,” and create a corps of “ambassadors” that will walk around in the neighborhood to help students get home.<br />
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The leaders of the fraternities are also engaged with her in working out new agreements with the University. She said she is urging them to “do things boldly, out of the ordinary” that could create a “virtuous cycle,” and could be a model for other colleges and universities struggling with the same issues.<br />
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The chaplains offered several ideas, including finding ways to tell the story of sexual abuse survivors that memorializes and keeps their struggle in front of the University community much the way the story of slavery is being told.<br />
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The chaplains pledged to cooperate with President Sullivan – and each other – in shifting student culture away from sexual violence and alcohol abuse.
She pledged to improve communications with the chaplains and the community.<br />
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The chaplains also told President Sullivan that they are holding her in their prayers. She said she has been reading Psalm 27 a great deal lately:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>“The LORD is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?”</i></blockquote>
The Rev. James Richardsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03484680361356703398noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8105371462621592511.post-20481835364962806412014-12-05T07:36:00.001-05:002014-12-05T08:07:30.875-05:00Voices unheard: Black Lives Matter<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-GGoC7HtqBq8/VIGkac27oQI/AAAAAAAAHIo/Ja5a5IqOQw0/s1600/BlackLivesMatter.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-GGoC7HtqBq8/VIGkac27oQI/AAAAAAAAHIo/Ja5a5IqOQw0/s1600/BlackLivesMatter.jpeg" height="320" width="320" /></a>I want you to see the picture at the right, and I know some of you will not like it. I know some of you believe that this has no place in Church or on a church-related blog. I expect I will hear from you. I hope I do. Let's talk.<br />
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I also think we need to be aware that the Church is not an island unto itself. We are very much a part of the world and culture around us. We need to hear voices that we seldom hear -- especially the young and people of color.<br />
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This picture is of <b>Kelly Carson</b>, one of our Canterbury undergraduate students who has been very involved in undergraduate-led social justice movements over the past year at the University of Virginia. This picture shows her at the rally led by the <a href="https://atuva.student.virginia.edu/organization/blackstudentalliance"><span style="color: blue;">UVA Black Student Alliance</span></a> Wednesday evening after the decision not to indict the police officer in the death of Eric Garner in New York.<br />
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The rally started at the Mad Bowl, went through the libraries and several other buildings before going to Carrs Hill. The rally was so loud in Alderman Library that people came in from all the other rooms and floors to see what was going on. The crowd is behind the photographer in this picture. You can learn more at #blacklivesmatter.<br />
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In the Tuesday evening discussion this week at our Canterbury student group, our students talked about how the young people leading are leading a new movement are like John the Baptist -- "a voice of one calling in the wilderness."<br />
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I also know how hard it is to be a cop. I spent years covering the criminal justice system as a reporter. I've seen the guilty get off and the innocent go to prison. I've spent hours and hours on "ride alongs." I've been shot at, and I helped rescue a wounded California Highway Patrolman in a vicious shoot-out with bank robbers. I very much get it that those who put on a badge don't know if they are coming home at night. I know that cops can do everything right, but in an instant, everything can go very wrong. I've lost three friends who were police officers who were shot to death in the line of duty. Each was a dedicated public servant who did as much off duty to help people as they did on duty. I am thankful every day for cops.<br />
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And I also know the system needs to change, that police departments need to work harder at listening to voices seldom heard and connect with their communities. Firepower will not solve our most intractable problems of poverty, race, gangs and drugs.<br />
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I don't have public policy solutions for you, and I am not sure the Church is very good at that anyway. But I do believe we have an enormous role in changing the culture, and in being voices of reconciliation, love and courage. If the Church cannot hear the angry and the lost, we have no reason to be.<br />
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In the weeks ahead, we need to create a safe forum for conversation and listening, where no one will be demonized for sharing their experiences and opinions. We know how to do that. I hope you will join me in this effort.<br />
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Finally, I ran across this quote the other day from the <b>Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr</b>., who said this in 1968 shortly before he was killed. His words, I believe, still apply:<br />
<blockquote>
<i>"It is not enough for me to stand before you tonight and condemn riots. It would be morally irresponsible for me to do that without, at the same time, condemning the contingent, intolerable conditions that exist in our society. These conditions are the things that cause individuals to feel that they have no other alternative than to engage in violent rebellions to get attention. And I must say tonight that a riot is the language of the unheard."</i></blockquote>
<span style="color: white;">By James Richardson, Fiat Lux</span>The Rev. James Richardsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03484680361356703398noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8105371462621592511.post-48616230169683697482014-12-04T07:46:00.003-05:002014-12-04T07:46:37.999-05:00Healing the horrors: All are alive<i>"Now he is the God not of the dead, but of the living; for to him all of them are alive."</i><br />
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Lately we've endured a great deal of horror in Charlottesville: The abduction and murder of a second-year student, Hannah Graham, and then the revelations in <a href="http://www.rollingstone.com/culture/features/a-rape-on-campus-20141119?page=7"><span style="color: red;">Rolling Stone</span> </a>magazine about a sub-culture of rape and alcohol abuse in some of the fraternities. Anyone who has been here for any length of time was not surprised at these revelations. That has set off a firestorm that has not abated. We have preached on this, and posted a great deal on our <a href="https://www.facebook.com/StPaulsMemorialChurch?ref=bookmarks"><span style="color: blue;">St. Paul's Facebook page</span></a>, so I do not propose to repeat any of that here.<br />
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We've also suffered a great deal of loss in the parish -- 20 deaths so far this year, an average of nearly every other week. We have a lot of hurting, grieving people right now.<br />
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With that backdrop, this morning's <i>Daily Office</i> reading from <a href="http://bible.oremus.org/?ql=284695895"><span style="color: blue;">Luke 20:27-40</span></a> struck me in a new way. To set the scene, Jesus is gathered with rabbis who are questioning him about whether a woman who was married and widowed seven times has a husband in heaven.<br />
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There are contemporary commentators who seize on this passage as proof that marriage is between a man and a woman. But as I read it, I think that is quite beside the point Jesus makes. He is telling us that marriage is human artifact, a rite, and that in heaven everyone is a child of God. Marriage ceremonies and cultural customs don't mean much in heaven.<br />
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But there was something else that struck me this morning, and it isn't about marriage issues. In fact, it is the larger point Jesus makes: "Now he is the God not of the dead, but of the living; for to him all of them are alive."<br />
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<i>"...all of them are alive."</i><br />
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All of the trials and horrors will pass away. All who are sick will be healed. This life is but a small slice of the spectrum of life. Those who are hurting will be healed, the grieving will have their tears wiped away. No one will be driven away. For to God, all are alive. No one is dead.<br />
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: white;">By James Richardson, Fiat Lux</span></span>The Rev. James Richardsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03484680361356703398noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8105371462621592511.post-86147639616671302782014-11-27T07:59:00.000-05:002014-11-27T07:59:18.811-05:00Giving thanks in perilous times<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-B_q_BZQ8XQU/VHcf01C6HPI/AAAAAAAAHII/N0KIVXpJVuw/s1600/Unknown.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-B_q_BZQ8XQU/VHcf01C6HPI/AAAAAAAAHII/N0KIVXpJVuw/s1600/Unknown.jpeg" /></a><i>“The year that is drawing towards its close, has been filled with the blessings of fruitful fields and healthful skies.” </i><br />
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So began the proclamation establishing an annual day of national Thanksgiving.
You might think you know the origins of these words, or you might be surprised to find out.<br />
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It is true that the first thanksgiving feast on these shores was done by English settlers, the pilgrims. But they did it only once.<br />
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George Washington declared a day of Thanksgiving after the nation won its independence. But it was done only once and only in a few places.<br />
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Rather, the origins of an annual day of Thanksgiving came in a particularly horrific chapter of our nation’s history, and in a particularly awful month in that chapter.<br />
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The date the proclamation was signed –
Oct. 3, 1863 – was a bare three months after the Battle of Gettysburg, and a mere two weeks after another ferocious battle, at Chickamauga, Tennessee.<br />
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The idea for an annual observance of thanks came from Sarah Hale, a widow with five children who was penniless.
She caught the attention of the President of the United States who agreed with her.
Sarah Hale, by the way, went on to become an advocate for the education of girls and an famous author. You know her best as the author of “Mary had a little lamb.”<br />
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In this, the darkest hours of our national existence, in midst of a terrible civil war that claimed hundreds of thousands of lives, the proclamation she inspired implored the nation to count its blessings, and earnestly asked God to bind our wounds.<br />
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That our ancestors would pause to give thanks, in spite of everything they had experienced, was extraordinary. They set a selfless, generous for us.
We too live in perilous times.
With fires raging in Ferguson, with horrific violence in Iraq and Syria, with religious conflict in Israel-Palestine, and with the recent horrors that have come to light right here at the University of Virginia, it would be easy to slip into despair or slide into willful ignorance.<br />
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We should do neither.<br />
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Instead, on this Thanksgiving, I believe it fitting and proper to once again pray for the healing of our nation and world; pray that violence will end everywhere; and pray that we will, with God’s grace, become instruments of healing, reconciliation and justice for all.<br />
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Like our ancestors, we must begin by giving thanks for our blessings: the food on our table tonight, the love of family and friends, and the work we are given to do that each of us might make a difference.<br />
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And so hear again this proclamation, from the pen of the great man who signed it:<br />
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<i>“To these bounties, which are so constantly enjoyed that we are prone to forget the source from which they come, others have been added, which are of so extraordinary a nature, that they cannot fail to penetrate and soften even the heart which is habitually insensible to the ever watchful providence of Almighty God…” </i><br />
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<i> “No human counsel hath devised nor hath any mortal hand worked out these great things. They are the gracious gifts of the Most High God, who, while dealing with us in anger for our sins, hath nevertheless remembered mercy. It has seemed to me fit and proper that they should be solemnly, reverently and gratefully acknowledged as with one heart and one voice by the whole American People. </i><br />
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<i> “I do therefore invite my fellow citizens in every part of the United States, and also those who are at sea and those who are sojourning in foreign lands, to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next, as a day of Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the Heavens, and I recommend to them that while offering up the ascriptions justly due to Him for such singular deliverances and blessings, they do also, with humble penitence for our national perverseness and disobedience, commend to His tender care all those who have become widows, orphans, mourners or sufferers in the lamentable civil strife in which we are unavoidably engaged, </i><br />
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<i> “And fervently implore the interposition of the Almighty Hand to heal the wounds of the nation and to restore it as soon as may be consistent with the Divine purposes to the full enjoyment of peace, harmony, tranquility and Union.</i><br />
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<i> “In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the Seal of the United States to be affixed.” </i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>Signed,
Abraham Lincoln</i>The Rev. James Richardsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03484680361356703398noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8105371462621592511.post-51432836648171586652014-11-23T17:06:00.000-05:002014-11-23T17:06:57.751-05:00Christ the King Sunday: Changing the culture of sexual violence at the University of Virginia<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-JdgsjDrNJQI/VHJZMsPtKYI/AAAAAAAAHH4/3WGM6ogdiGE/s1600/RollingStone.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-JdgsjDrNJQI/VHJZMsPtKYI/AAAAAAAAHH4/3WGM6ogdiGE/s1600/RollingStone.jpeg" height="166" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Credit: Rolling Stone magazine</i></td></tr>
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Today is Christ the King Sunday, a day preachers (including me) usually spend time explaining why Jesus, this anti-monarchial Jewish rabbi, is the "king of kings."<br />
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The big time hint comes in the gospel lesson from <a href="http://www.lectionarypage.net/YearA_RCL/Pentecost/AProp29_RCL.html#GOSPEL" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue;">Matthew 25:31-46</span></a> when Jesus says he is the one who is hungry, naked, thirsty, and in prison. He is the king who is with those who are in despair and in the low places.<br />
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We are in one of those low places now here in Charlottesville. <a href="http://www.rollingstone.com/culture/features/a-rape-on-campus-20141119?page=7"><span style="color: red;">Rolling Stone</span></a> magazine published this week a lengthy article about the culture of sexual violence at the University of Virginia, and it has sparked a long overdue reaction. We've posted a lot of the statements and reactions on our <a href="https://www.facebook.com/StPaulsMemorialChurch?ref=bookmarks"><span style="color: magenta;">St. Paul's Facebook</span></a> page, and I won't post that here. But I want to share with you my sermon from this morning, which is my public statement on this.<br />
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Last week broke very cold, and not just the temperature outside. <br />
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This was among the most challenging, and chilling, weeks I’ve experienced in the nearly seven years since you’ve called me here.<br />
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This is not an easy sermon today. <br />
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As you may know by now, our community was rocked by a Rolling Stone magazine article detailing a culture of sexual violence and alcohol abuse in fraternities that are only a few yards from this church.<br />
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The article is a very tough read, and I had to put it down several times. The details are shocking – horrific – and I cannot comprehend how any human being can treat another human being this way.<br />
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Then, later in the week, came news of another student suicide, Peter D’Agostino, the second student to die this way in a semester that was already marked by the murder of Hannah Graham.<br />
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Good Lord, enough already.<br />
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I must confess I have struggled to find the words to present you this morning in this pulpit.
You may rightfully ask, why talk about this at all in church? I’ve asked myself that. My answer is, this parish was founded a century ago with the specific mission of serving and ministering to the students of the University of Virginia. We have an obligation to talk about it.
And the gospel today – the Word of God – compels us to talk about this.<br />
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So I begin with this gospel lesson from Matthew that maybe captures some of the feelings of helplessness right now in our community:<br />
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<i>“I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not give me clothing, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.”</i><br />
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Like you, I have struggled to know how to feed the hungry, welcome the stranger, and protect the most vulnerable among us – especially our kids who come here as students.<br />
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All week, there was much conversation among students, faculty and staff, and in the wider community, and among those of us who work here in this church. <br />
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University officials have clearly struggled to find their feet, and respond in an appropriate and caring way.<br />
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The Charlottesville clergy is also struggling, especially those of us who pastor to our students.<br />
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Nearly all of the campus chaplains, of many faith traditions, will gather here at St. Paul’s tomorrow for a special meeting to try to figure this out together.<br />
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There are many questions for all of us, and I certainly don’t have all the answers.
How do we clothe those who are vulnerable and violated? How do we bring them out of whatever prisons of despair and depression they may dwell? How do we see that justice is done?<br />
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And how do we turn our anger into making sure that no young woman will ever be attacked again? How do we declare “No more of this” and make it stick? <br />
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The Gospel of Matthew takes us today into a very low place, but then brings us to high place, and reaches beyond despair.<br />
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Today is also called by the Church, “Christ the King Sunday,” when the Church proclaims that Jesus is the Lord, the king of all. <br />
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Here in this gospel lesson, we find out what kind of king of kings he truly is – the king who goes into the places of hunger, and fear, abuse, violence – prison itself – to heal us – and proclaim no more of this.<br />
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If we look, we will see this already happening right here.<br />
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Start with the students themselves – they are living beacons of hope, and they have much to teach us if we are open and listening.<br />
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On Friday, something extraordinary happened at St. Paul’s. A diverse group of students organized what they called “Turkey-pa-looza.”<br />
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They gathered up unused food from the UVA dining halls, brought it here, and then cooked and packaged meals in green bags for needy families in the community. If you go to our website or Facebook page, you will see photos of them in our kitchen.<br />
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<i>“For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me.”</i><br />
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I want to give you another example: We are supporting a group of students who are launching “Buddies on Call.”<br />
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These students will be stationed in our church late on Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights to escort other students who are trouble and need help getting home.<br />
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Meanwhile, student leaders have stood up and demanded to be heard. They have built a website with resources for students, and links to give University officials their wisdom on how to change this culture.<br />
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Let me quote from the student letter:<br />
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<i>“It is easy to hate, to cast whole communities in doubt, to deny, or to hide. But if we respond to hard times with hard work, if we respond to division with unity, if we respond to efforts to tear us down by building each other up, then we'll look back on this moment as the time we stood up to answer the call.”</i><br />
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And there is something more. <br />
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Today we are baptizing a baby, Christian, into God’s One Holy and Apostolic Church. <br />
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Christian, you may not have quite thought of this yet, but you and your parents have been waiting since the day of your birth, four months and 14 days ago, for this day to arrive:
The day of your baptism.<br />
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But God has been waiting since the foundation of the world for this day to arrive.
That means this is a way bigger day for God than it is even for you or your parents.
The world is never going to be the same again because you are being baptized today – and God rejoices and takes delight in you. <br />
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We need you here. We can’t wait to see you baptized, and we can’t wait to see what you will bring into our world. <br />
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We pray you will have a long and healthy life. We know you will certainly go your own way on many things, and you probably will put a few gray hairs on your parents’ heads.<br />
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But today is yours. Today you will be marked as “Christ’s own forever,” and that is no small claim. <br />
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Christ will never let go of you, not ever.<br />
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And you are stuck with us, and we welcome you to the deep end of the baptismal pool.<br />
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Christian you already have much to teach us. What we do for the least among us we do to Jesus. Help us to figure out how to do that with you. <br />
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We can start with our hands outstretched in thanksgiving – and give thanks for the gift of our life, thanks for the people we love, and thanks for the time we are given on this earth to make a difference.<br />
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We can show our thanks with our grateful giving, and we can show our thanks with our service to each other.<br />
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It is right that we begin every prayer with thanks, and ground our life in the sharing of bread and wine in our Holy Eucharist – words that mean “the Great Thanksgiving.”<br />
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God has very ambitious dreams for us – serving our community, serving each other –and here in this place by making our university community not only a vibrant center of learning, but also a safe environment so that everyone who comes here can thrive. <br />
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When we care for the most vulnerable among us, we are caring for Jesus himself. In the gospel lesson today, Jesus proclaims that when we care for the most vulnerable, we will see the very face of the Risen Christ in the face of each other.<br />
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Those moments are truly holy moments.<br />
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One of these moments comes right now, when we baptize Christian. We will renew our baptismal covenant to “seek and serve Christ in all persons, loving your neighbor as yourself” and we will pledge to “strive for justice and peace among all people, and respect the dignity of every human being.” <br />
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And then let us go from here to make our promises real in our lives, with our prayers, with our service, with our giving, and with our actions. Welcome to this extraordinary life, Christian. AMEN
The Rev. James Richardsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03484680361356703398noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8105371462621592511.post-78975248319725287122014-11-17T06:42:00.001-05:002014-11-17T06:47:58.545-05:00Rabbi Dan Alexander's sermon at St. Paul's<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-oTqJ34ARG94/VGneWzcmKyI/AAAAAAAAHHo/NPxXtEOVm4o/s1600/RBBIDAN.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-oTqJ34ARG94/VGneWzcmKyI/AAAAAAAAHHo/NPxXtEOVm4o/s1600/RBBIDAN.jpeg" /></a>We had a terrific Sunday at St. Paul's, with <b>Rabbi Dan Alexander of Congregation Beth Israel</b> giving the sermon (I preached at his synagogue Friday evening, see post below this one). Rabbi Dan also was our guest at the adult forum, and fielded many questions with skill and good humor. Here is the text of this sermon, and the audio can be heard on our website <a href="http://www.stpaulsmemorialchurch.org/media/sermons/sermonda111614.mp3"><span style="color: red;">HERE</span></a>.<br />
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<b>Of Sweetened Words and Theological Humility</b></div>
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<i>November 16, 2014</i></div>
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I am honored and grateful for this opportunity to preach in the sanctuary of St. Paul’s Memorial Church this morning. Standing here brings back fond memories that extend back to 1979, when in my first year as Director of the Hillel Foundation at UVA, I met the Rev. David Poist. I count David and also Paula Kettlewell among the clergy I have known the longest and whose acquaintance and friendship I have valued so highly over the years. Your current rector, the Rev. Jim Richardson fills the shoes of his esteemed predecessors with great distinction and, as he does, brings honor to your church through his leadership in the general community, especially in the arena of social justice. His friendship sustains me. <br />
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In preparing to speak to you this morning I first thought I would challenge myself by reacting to one of your lectionary readings, not an easy one from the Scriptures we hold in common but one more difficult for me, from your Scriptures and then to see what I might bring to an encounter with a text sacred to Christians but not to Jews. But, as it happened, that encounter led me back to my own tradition and in particular to a rabbinic text, a midrash, that when unpacked reveals some core elements of Jewish self-understanding. My goal in all of this is to make a modest contribution toward better understanding between our two communities. I will speak on the theme “Of Sweetened Words and Theological Humility.”<br />
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As you probably all know, <i>Matthew 25:14-30</i> records one version of the Parable of the Talents. I read the parable, thought about it, discussed it with a few folks, investigated some commentaries and then decided you would be better served if I leave its exposition to teachers from within your faith community while I simply note that the literary form of the passage, a teaching by means of parable, bears similarity to many midrashim, those long or short literary compositions which were delivered in synagogues as homilies during the century when Jesus lived, as well as before and after. In the remarks that follow, I exit the realm of your Testament for the more familiar arena of rabbinic literature in the service of my goal of cultivating the ground of mutual understanding between our faith communities. <br />
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What is a midrash? From the Hebrew root meaning to seek or inquire, a midrash is a genre of imaginative rabbinic literature, that is to say fiction, that begins with an inquiry into some aspect of Scripture, some curiosity that arises from an encounter with a passage or a phrase or a word or a letter in the sacred text, some itch that calls for a scratch. The midrash is the literary scratch, so to speak, but a scratch that can shed significant light on the perspective, values and sensibilities that inform the worldview of the author. And one more thing: midrashim (the plural of midrash) fit within the general category of Oral Torah or Oral Tradition, a catch-all term for the sacred literature of the Judaism that arises when the priest and sacrifice-oriented religion of the Second Temple period gives way to the synagogue, rabbi, prayer and mitzvah-oriented religion we now recognize as Judaism. That is, midrash can be fanciful but it occupies a place of high honor and seriousness in the Jewish library.<br />
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I chose the following midrash (which was collected in several Medieval anthologies that in turn draw on older sources no longer extant) because it addresses the very nature of Torah. Torah in turn is the Jewish equivalent of Jesus. For it is the Torah, in the sense of the revealed word of God, that contains and represents the covenant by which we Jews derive our identity, our sense of unique calling and our purpose. As we read and unpack this midrash, we will see that it begins with a slight misdirection as it presents itself as a commentary on a verse from the Song of Songs, one of the stranger books of the Hebrew Bible. In its plain sense, the Song of Songs comprises a series of fairly racy love poems. I would like to know which Biblical editor allowed this stuff to pass the canonical screening?! I would like to shake his or her hand.<br />
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Well, it would appear that in ancient Jewish circles, these love poems made the canonical cut because prominent rabbis of the day interpreted them as metaphors for the love not between human lovers but the one that characterizes the relationship between the Creator of the Universe and the people Israel whom the Creator chose for covenant. That is certainly the assumed interpretation behind this midrash and the third century rabbis who are quoted in it. The midrash, Part I: <br />
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"His mouth is most sweet" (<i>Song of Songs 5:16</i>). It is said in the name of Rabbi Yohanan: The moment Israel at Sinai heard the word "I," their souls left them, as is written, "My soul left me when He spoke" (<i>Song of Songs 5:6</i>).<br />
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Of course, in the un-interpreted Bible, the sweet mouth belongs to the speaker’s kissable lover. However, to the rabbis it belongs to the Master of the Universe and specifically describes the nature of God’s speech to the people Israel, the sweet words of Torah spoken at Mount Sinai. The word “I,” you probably know, is the first word of the Ten Utterances. By the way, the first letter of the first word Anochi is the silent letter aleph. In some versions of this midrash, the drama begins as the soon as the silent letter reaches the ears of its human recipients. Of course, in the Bible, “My soul left me when he spoke” describes a swooning lover, not revelation at Mt. Sinai, but you are getting used to the rabbinic interpretive move by now. Back to the midrash:<br />
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At once, the Word returned to the Holy One and said: “Master of the universe, You are ever alive and enduring, the Torah is ever alive and enduring, yet You are sending me to the dead? THEY ARE ALL DEAD!” <br />
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So, for Israel's sake, the Holy One went back and sweetened the Word, as is said, "The voice of the Lord is powerful, the voice of the Lord is stately" (<i>Psalms 29:4</i>), which, as Rabbi Hama bar Hanina explained, means that the voice of the Lord was powerful for young men and had measured stateliness for the aged…. Rabbi Levi said: “Had it been written, "The voice of the Lord is in His strength," the world could not have stood it.” Hence Scripture says, "The voice of the Lord is fitted to the strength" (<i>Psalms 29:4</i>). That is to say, to the strength of each and every person, the young according to their strength, the aged according to their strength, the little ones according to their strength, the sucklings according to their strength, the women according to their strength.<br />
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Now it is apparent what drives this midrash, the itch that invites the scratch. In weaving together verse fragments from the Song of Songs and from <i>Psalm 29</i>, the rabbinic authors seek to address the paradox of divine revelation, the odd notion that the One who Creates everything, the Omni-everything Diety would see fit to encounter a band of scruffy former slaves gathered around a mountain in the Sinai peninsula and communicate to them in a manner that results in a book. Does an elephant speak to an ant? Do we humans speak to bacteria? Incommensurate scale and incompatibilities of many sorts make these encounters nearly impossible to conceive of. Along the lines of this kind of thinking, it should be nearly impossible for God to speak to us and even more difficult for us to receive the divine phone call. It shouldn’t happen. <br />
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But, as a core concept of Jewish faith, the revelation did happen and did result in a revealed, sacred text, regarded sometimes more narrowly as the Ten Utterances and sometimes more expansively as the entirely of Torah, both in its written /Biblical manifestation and also in its oral, unfolding, post-Biblical sense. But, in the imagined view of this midrash God at first did not, as it were, know God’s own strength. God forgot, one might say, the puniness of the creatures to whom the divine speech was being addressed. <br />
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Beyond the humor embedded in this image of a God who does know His or Her own strength, an important point of theology is being made. An implication of this account of revelation that strikes me as significant is that the revelation that results from the human-divine encounter at Sinai, the only one that could allow humans to come away intact, requires a do-over with a necessarily altered version of the Word, a Word subsequently made palatable for human consumption through well modulated sweetening; that is to say, the Word that can be successfully received by finite, mortal, delicate humans is decaf and not full strength and, therefore, no longer the full and unimpeded Truth with a capital “T.” It seems to me that in conflicts over who has the better or truer or only version of God’s word, a humble acknowledgment that no one really has it might help soften the tone of discourse. No one has it because, in the view of this midrash, no one could receive it fully and live to tell the tale. The midrash offers its own variant in parable form, as follows:<br />
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Another exposition of "His mouth is most sweet" (<i>Song of Songs 5:16</i>): The Holy One was like a king who spoke so harshly to his son that the latter fell into a faint. When the king saw that he had fainted, he began to hug him, kiss him, and speak softly to him, saying, "What is it with you? Are you not my only son? Am I not your father?" So, too, as soon as the Holy One said, "I am the Lord your God," then and there Israel's souls left them. When they died, the angels began to hug them and kiss them, saying to them, "What is it with you? Be not afraid--'you are children of the Lord your God'" (Deuteronomy 14:1). At the same time, the Holy One repeated the Word softly for their sake as He said, "Are you not My children, even as I am the Lord your God? You are My people. You are beloved unto Me." He kept speaking gently to them until their souls returned. [<i>Song of Songs Rabbah 5:16, 3; Exodus Rabbah 5:9</i> and 29:4 as quoted in <i>The Book of Legends</i>, Sefer Ha-Aggadah by Bialik and Ravnitzky]<br />
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In this anonymous retelling of the midrash, after seeing the effect of the sternly spoken “I am the Lord your God,” God turns into a loving parent. As a parent, I can certainly recall the unintended effects of my harshly spoken words to my children whose fragility when they were young I sometimes forgot. Perhaps after seeing how mere words affected the Israelites, God, as imagined in this version of the story, summons nursing angels to caress them back to health. Here, the anonymous rabbinic author responds to a persistent Jewish anxiety over the experience of abandonment and distance, an anxiety here situated in the very moment when divinity was presumably closest, when the Word became manifest as Torah, first harshly and then sweetly.
To conclude: a midrash is a fiction, a product of human imagination. But, this one, as I ponder it, contains some potential guidance for Jews and Christians as we continue to navigate our sometimes fraught and intertwining spiritual paths, each seeking to authentically heed the divine call we receive through the mediation of our distinct traditions. As we continue on those paths, may we do so in honest recognition of the asymmetries and commonalities which divide us and bind us.
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May we all come to recognize the sweetened, do-over nature of the Word as we each define it, the Word revealed uniquely to Jews and the Word revealed uniquely to Christians.<br />
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May we cultivate our theologies and engage one another in humble recognition that no one possesses the Truth with a big T. <br />
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And may the One whose speech brought forth the world and all that is in it continue to speak to all of us gently and sweetly. And let us say, “amen.”<br />
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<br />The Rev. James Richardsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03484680361356703398noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8105371462621592511.post-77420038242507913192014-11-15T10:08:00.002-05:002014-11-15T10:08:39.255-05:00Bury the dead! Raise the living! The common roots of Jewish and Christian social justice<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
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Lori and I were guests at the Friday evening Shabbat service yesterday at Congregation Beth Israel here in Charlottesville. And it was my privilege to be the invited speaker.<br />
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Truly, it was one of the great honors of my priesthood to preach in a synagogue. I am very grateful to my friend <b>Rabbi Dan Alexander</b> for inviting me; we've been talking about this "pulpit trade" for months, and he will be preaching at St. Paul's on Sunday at 10 am.<br />
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Before the services, Lori and I enjoyed dinner with Rabbi Dan and his wife before coming to the synagogue. I am also very grateful that quite a few folks from St. Paul's came to the synagogue Friday.<br />
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All of us were made to feel very welcome, and we will reciprocate the welcome Sunday.<br />
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Here is the text of the sermon I gave Friday:<br />
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<i>Shabbat, shalom</i>.<br />
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Good evening. I am very grateful for the invitation from my good friend, Rabbi Dan Alexander, to speak to you tonight. Thank you so much for welcoming my wife, Lori, and I into your congregation.<br />
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We have been looking forward to this for many weeks. While I am accustomed to preaching, I have never done so in a synagogue before, so this is a new experience for me.<br />
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As Rabbi Alexander has probably mentioned, he will be preaching in my church on Sunday.
We are both hopeful that our “pulpit trade” will foster new understandings, and new friendships between our congregations, and deepen our personal friendship.<br />
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Rabbi Alexander asked me to talk about social justice from a Christian perspective. Before I can even attempt to do that, I must acknowledge that to speak as a Christian about social justice strikes me as presumptuous. <br />
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I must begin by confessing that my own religion, in the name of Jesus Christ, has perpetrated so much social injustice in this world that I would blame no one for not listening to anything Christians have to say.<br />
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I am also mindful that this past week marks the 76th anniversary of <i>Kristallnacht</i>. I am especially mindful that supposedly good Christians participated, or stood by and did nothing. So for me to even try to speak of social justice, I must first stand in a place of atonement.<br />
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That brings me to the second place I must stand. I must ask you to recognize that I don’t speak for the entirety of Christianity. <br />
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I can speak only from my own experience and perspective, and only from one corner of the Christian tradition. Allow me to tell you a little about my corner.<br />
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I was born into, and I am a priest of, the Protestant Episcopal Church of the United States of America, which has its roots in the Church of England, forged in the religious wars in the 15th, 16th and 17th centuries. <br />
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The Church of England, through 300 years of much bitterness and bloodshed, eventually found its way to the Enlightenment experiment of religious tolerance. The Church of England said, in effect, believe what you want to believe as long as you pray in a common way. <br />
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That did not exactly mean full tolerance for Jews and Muslims, or Catholics for that matter, but it was a start.<br />
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The American Episcopal Church broke away from the Church of England in the American Revolution, yet not completely. <br />
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As a founding partner of the Anglican Communion in the 19th century, we still consider that the Archbishop of Canterbury is our spiritual leader, but there is a great deal of tension in that relationship. <br />
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Although the Episcopal Church is relatively small in the United States, the Anglican Communion is the second largest Christian sect in the world. Only the Roman Catholics are larger.<br />
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A few days ago, we proudly celebrated the feast day of one of our archbishops of Canterbury, William Temple, who denounced Nazism in the 1930s, and became the first archbishop of Canterbury since the middle ages to go into battle when he landed with the troops at Normandy.<br />
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And that brings me to the topic that Rabbi Alexander asked me to preach about: social justice in our own time, and in our own community.<br />
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Someone once asked me to define the mission of social justice. Here is how I put it: If you see people drowning in the river, you pull them out. That is the mission of mercy. But at some point, you might want to walk upstream to see why they are falling in. That is the mission of social justice – changing the institutional and societal structures so that people won’t drown in the rivers.<br />
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Rabbi Alexander also asked me for a title to this talk, but Episcopalians don’t usually do titles. But I used to work for newspapers and I can write a headline, and so I came up with this: “Bury the dead! Raise the Living! The sacred roots of social justice.”<br />
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This title came to me when I looked at the Torah passage appointed for this Shabbat. It is a rather long section of Genesis that begins with the burial of Sarah and goes quite a distance into the marriage of Isaac. <br />
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It is not a passage in the Episcopal cycle of readings, or lectionary, so it would not be heard on a typical Sunday in my church. <br />
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In the reading, Abraham goes to the Hittites and asks for a place to bury Sarah. The Hittites give him the choicest of land. Abraham wants to buy it but they say no, please, this is our gift. Then Abraham, surrounded by the Hittites, and presumably by his children, takes Sarah’s body to a cave. <br />
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Abraham buries Sarah with great care. Her remains are so sacred that she is buried in a special place. Many come, even strangers, even the Hittites, to see her buried.
Sarah matters. Sarah is sacred, even in death.<br />
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Right here, in the burial of Sarah, is the common root of social justice for Jews and Christians. How? <br />
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We hold in common that all people are sacred, created in the very image of God – sacred even in death. <br />
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The great Hebrew Bible is the story of a great people, through many travails and triumphs, many joys and tragedies. It is also the story of individuals, like Sarah and Abraham, and how each of us – you and I – are sacred beings in the eyes of our creator.<br />
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And if we hold that the dead are sacred, how much more must we hold that the living are sacred? Yes, we bury our sacred dead, but we must also raise up the sacred living to places of justice, dignity and peace. <br />
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We fall short when we fail to see the sacredness in each other, or worse, violate that sacredness in others – and in ourselves.<br />
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Yet we live in a world where the living are often seen as anything but sacred and life is cheap. We live in a world dominated by fear, power and greed; where coercion, violence, revenge and death are the ultimate solutions seemingly for everything. <br />
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Armies, prisons, capital punishment, war, terrorism, jihads, crusades and fundamentalism of every stripe have become the default position for just about every problem. <br />
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But that is not our common tradition rooted in the sacredness of God’s creation. Our common tradition is the harder path – the path of healing, reconciliation, forgiveness, and building one sacred living stone at time for a better world to come. Ours is the sacred path of shalom.<br />
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Every time we resort to coercion, violence and death as tool – even when we must do so to fight evil itself – there is a cost to the sacredness in ourselves. And yet, even then, our Creator calls us back to the better path, the path of shalom. <br />
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This path is right here in this community, in this synagogue, in my parish.<br />
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One of the reasons I came to Charlottesville six years ago is because our faith communities here cooperate in social justice work through IMPACT, which stands for Interfaith Movement Promoting Action by Congregations Together.<br />
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Rabbi Alexander is one of the founders of IMPACT, and in fact, he came up with the clever name.
IMPACT is extraordinary, and I want to tell you why: As you know, we live in a world that is being torn to pieces by hatred, religious violence, power politics, and bigotry of every sort.<br />
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Yet here in Charlottesville, Christians, Jews and Muslims come together to hammer out solutions to the hardest problems in our community. <br />
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Instead of being torn asunder by our differences – and those differences are real – we’ve found a way in common to change the structures of injustice in our community. <br />
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And, yes, we haven’t always gotten it right. We’ve been harsh and times, and had many miss-steps.<br />
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Yet we’ve had notable successes, most recently with convincing the University of Virginia medical system to create a job-training program for unskilled young people in our community.<br />
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What we do together has implications far beyond Charlottesville and our immediate issues. We are beacons of hope for how the rest of the world could be.<br />
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Rabbi Dan asked me to speak about social justice from the Christian tradition. I’ve done that only partly. To complete this task, I must speak of Jesus of Nazareth, but not the Jesus who has been used as a bludgeon for persecution, or the Jesus of endless philosophical debates about the essence of his nature, divine and/or human.<br />
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Rather, the Jesus I speak of was a rabbi. That is what his followers called him – rabbi. The name “Jesus” wasn’t really even his name – Jesus is a bad Germanic translation from the Greek translation of the Hebrew name Joshua.<br />
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This rabbi Joshua – <i>Yesou</i> – stood with the Hebrew prophets who warned the people to not put their trust in earthly rulers, but to love God with all our heart, all our mind, all our soul – the shema – and to love our neighbors at least as much as we love ourselves. <br />
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This means, then as now, caring for the poor, the outcasts, the strangers, the orphans; the homeless, the drug addicts, the mentally ill – and being bold enough to love those who would do us harm, even our enemies. <br />
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A well known Baptist preacher, someone you’re familiar with, Martin Luther King, Jr., called it “the strength to love.”<br />
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This truly is our sacred path that we share, and it is the path of the Creator of all that is, and was, and ever shall be.<br />
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<i>Shabbat, shalom.</i><br />
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<span style="color: white;">By James Richardson, Fiat Lux
</span>The Rev. James Richardsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03484680361356703398noreply@blogger.com0