Why was this perfume not sold and the money given to the poor?

I am not preaching today; we have a guest preacher, Matthew Lukens, who is a seminarian at the Berkeley Divinity School at Yale University and is being sponsored for ordination by St. Paul's. He will be preaching at all three of our Sunday services: 8 am, 10 am and 5:30 pm. If you are in the vicinity, I hope you will come by and hear him. Matthew is a terrific preacher.

A few weeks ago, I was asked to write a reflection for a Lenten booklet of reflections published by my seminary, the Church Divinity School of the Pacific. My reflection appears today. It is based on the gospel lesson for the day, John 12:1-8. Here is my reflection:

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Spikenard

The nard oil that Mary used to anoint Jesus’ body came from the spikenard plant in India. The oil was placed in an alabaster box then transported by caravan across the long flat desert to the markets of Jerusalem.

One pound of nard oil cost 300 denari, the equivalent of nearly one year’s wages for a common laborer.

Spikenard is still costly – a pound now runs about $480. There are many corners of this globe today where that would be one year’s wages. So it is not an unreasonable question Judas asks: “Why was this perfume not sold…and the money given to the poor?”

The gospel writer whispers to us that Judas is a thief and has no intention of spending the money on the poor. But that doesn’t answer the question that has lingered in the air through the ages:

Couldn’t that money be better spent on the poor?

“Leave her alone,” Jesus replies. “You always have the poor with you, but you do not always have me.”

This fact also lingers in the air: the poor are still with us.

Today, though, Jesus reminds us of another fact: He is with us. He bids us to linger awhile precisely because the poor are with us and we have work to do tomorrow.

When I hear this passage, I think of all of the loving hands of those who have prepared holy places for worship Sunday after Sunday, year after year, century after century.

I think of those who have pressed the linens, and baked the bread, filled the cruets with wine, and arranged the flowers that will soon adorn sacred spaces at Easter. I think of grand cathedrals and simple chapels, and a beach in Central America long ago with friends from CDSP celebrating together our Holy Eucharist with a spark that felt as if it were the first time.

Today, linger awhile. Jesus is filling us with passion and courage – and the strength to feed the poor in body, mind and spirit.

Linger awhile. Be extravagant in your love for the living Christ, and extravagant in your love for each other. Worship fully, pray earnestly, sing loudly, give generously, and share in the bread and wine of our sacred meal as if it were the first time.

Tomorrow there is work to be done.

By James Richardson, Fiat Lux

Bricks, stones and prayers

BERKELEY -- I am heading East today. I've been here most of the week for meetings at the Church Divinity School of the Pacific, our seminary in the West serving the entire Episcopal Church and the Pacific Rim.

Last night was the weekly community night when students, faculty, staff and administrators gather to pray, hear the Word of God, and share in the bread and wine of Holy Eucharist. The school is smaller now than it was when I was here in the 1990s. There was something about the gathering last night that reminded me of what the first disciples must have been like.

It was more intimate than when I was here, and these disciples are perhaps closer, and faced with enormous challenges to the seminary itself, they need to be stronger than we were. I am grateful beyond measure for their fortitude.

In the candlelight last night, I also noticed the bricks in the chapel. I always notice the bricks. They are a darker crimson than the bricks in Virginia. They aren't warm like Thomas Jefferson's bricks, rather these bricks give off a serious hue that feels more like an abbey, which I suppose, is what they are meant to feel like. CDSP is a seminary, after all, so that should not be too surprising.

I wonder if bricks absorb prayers? The bricks of our chapel have heard many prayers for many decades. They heard  our prayers last night, they heard the prayers of my class, and they heard many prayers for many years before we were here.

The Morning Prayer reading from today in Genesis 28:10-22 has Jacob resting his read on a rock, and as he sleeps he dreams of how heaven and earth are intimately connected, like a ladder, and he is blessed by God in his dream. When he awakes, he pours oil on the rock and names a city for it. He honors the stone where he laid his head. We are connected, to each other, and to the universe around us. The bricks and the stones know it.

Recounting the ancient mysteries for generations to come

BERKELEY -- I arrived here yesterday for meetings at our seminary for the Pacific Rim and the Western United States, the Church Divinity School of the Pacific, where I graduated in 2000.

I've served on the Alumni Council for a year or so, and it has been a time of fascinating transition.

As you know, The Episcopal Church is undergoing tremendous change as we attempt to understand how to "be church" in the 21st century and beyond. Not surprisingly, the Episcopal seminaries are struggling to keep up with that change while forming leaders for a landscape that is shifting under everyones' feet.

Most of the schools, including CDSP, are facing serious financial challenges, but those challenges are also forcing a fresh view of how education and formation is created for the next generations of lay and clergy leaders.

The Episcopal Church has been always underpinned by an educated clergy and that is one of our bedrock values. That education does not come free, but it is a little like the infrastructure of towns and cities -- it is hidden from view but crucial to the life of the community. If it is neglected, it will decay and eventually collapse.

As it happens, Psalm 78 appointed for this morning has opening stanzas that are apt descriptions of the mission of the seminaries:

Hear my teaching, O my people; *
incline your ears to the words of my mouth.


I will open my mouth in a parable; *
I will declare the mysteries of ancient times.


That which we have heard and known,
and what our forefathers have told us, *
we will not hide from their children.


We will recount to generations to come
the praiseworthy deeds and the power of the LORD, *
and the wonderful works he has done. 

Psalm 78:1-4

Blessings this Sunday

Dear friends,

My apologies for not posting in the last few days. I've been busy tending to family matters and plan to get back on track in this space in the next few days. Last Wednesday, I was able to attend the installation of the Rev. Mark Richardson as the new president and dean of the Church Divinity School of the Pacific, and I will have more to say on that and the broader issue of theological education.

Today, please keep my family in your prayers and may many blessings be with you always.

Faithfully,

Jim+

The Passion Narrative through the eyes of Mark: A special Lenten course at St. Paul's

St. Paul’s has many remarkable and generous people including my very good friends, The Very Rev. Charles A. Perry, and his wife Joy. Charles is the retired Dean of the Washington National Cathedral, and also the retired president and dean of the Church Divinity School of the Pacific in Berkeley, which as it happens, is my seminary.

This Lent, Dean Perry brings us a very special course on The Passion Narrative through the eyes of the Gospel of Mark. On Passion Sunday, also known as Palm Sunday, we dramatically read Mark’s passion narrative, the earliest written of the four gospels. The story of Our Lord’s passion and death is at the heart of our walk through Lent, and so is worth spending the time unfolding its meaning and message.

On the four Lenten Sundays in March, leading to Passion Sunday, our Adult Education Ministry Team is offering this very special study of Mark’s Passion Narrative in detail. Dean Perry will make a presentation each Sunday after our worship service and lead a discussion. As an aid to study and meditation, Dean Perry has prepared a short pamphlet with his notes that will be available to participants. The course will be begin immediately following the 10 am worship on March 8, 15, 22 and 29 from 11:30 a.m. to 12:15 pm in the Chapel.

I hope you can join us for this remarkable offering by Dean Perry this Lenten season.