Palms to Passion

The earliest known account of Palm Sunday comes from a Spanish (or perhaps she was Gallic) pilgrim, Egeria, who described the elaborate ritual she saw in Jerusalem in 381 or so. Palm Sunday took all day, with time out for a mid-day meal before the faithful joined the bishop on the Mount of Olives for a procession with palms into the Holy City. Egeria wrote about her experience, and by the fifth century Palm Sunday had caught on in Spain and soon spread through the Christian world.

Our Palm Sunday did not take all day, nor did we have to walk so far. We began with a procession of palms that wound down the aisles and around, led by our acolytes and wonderful choir. We sang and prayed, and we walked and we waved our palms.

For me, it was a new experience though I have lived in many Palm Sundays. This was my first Palm Sunday at St. Paul's, and is was new and wonderful. We heard the ancient story of the triumphant procession of palms as Jesus entered Jerusalem. Then members of our congregation read the Passion story from the Gospel of Mark, reading aloud while standing in different places in our nave. David McIlhiney preached a homily about how we must travel with Christ to the Cross to unlock the Kingdom of God. 

And so our walk into Holy Week, and to the Cross, begins on a beautiful, sunny spring day (and that is Lori with her palm after our 10 am service). There is something fitting about the contrast of such a gorgeous day with the Passion story that comes next. I believe it is the contrast that gives Palm Sunday so much power.

Tomorrow, Monday in Holy Week, includes our regular noon Prayers for Peace, with prayers from many traditions. At about 12:30 pm we will celebrate a simple Eucharist. Please join me if you can, and wherever you are at noon, please pray for peace and especially for the peace of Jerusalem . 

May your week be blessed.

So it begins: What happens in Holy Week

We enter into Holy Week tomorrow: We remember the events of betrayal, crucifixion, and entering into Hell itself. At the end of Holy Week comes the joyous declaration of Resurrection, new life. The fruits of Easter – and Spring - will soon be with us.

Before we go there, I’d like to sketch for you what transpires at St. Paul's in Holy Week (you will find this similar to the sermon I preached last Sunday). It is my hope and prayer that you will not rush through this the holiest of weeks of our year. I’d like you not to skip from Palm Sunday to Easter without experiencing the richness of what comes in between and the depth of its meaning for us in our walk of faith.

Please accept my personal invitation to participate in as much of Holy Week as you can, wherever you are, and to be especially attentive to the Holy Spirit working within you. Listen for the Holy Spirit, allow yourself to be made new, just as Easter makes each of us new.

I will post on this site each day of Holy Week to explain a bit of what we are doing and why, and to share what I am experiencing. I will also give you a heads up on what comes the next day. And, sorry, no Monday Funnies this week, but it will return the day after Easter Day.

Holy Week is first and last about servanthood, ours to each other, and Christ as servant to all of us. The events of Holy Week represent Jesus lowering himself, step by step, into the fullness of servanthood: Jesus declares, “Where I am, there will my servant be also.”

The first day of Holy Week is tomorrow, the day called, The Sunday of the Passion: Palm Sunday. It begins with the waving of palms and the great triumphant entry by Jesus into Jerusalem, and then Palm Sunday quickly slides into remembering the tragedy and torture of the crucifixion soon to come.

On Monday of Holy Week, we will end our regular noon Prayers for Peace with a Holy Eucharist at 12:30 pm.

On Tuesday of Holy Week, we will hold our noon Holy Eucharist, and at 7:30 pm, our university students will lead their very moving – haunting – chants of Taize.

Wednesday of Holy Week is marked by our Evening Prayer at 5:30 pm and our community night supper. Then I will lead an instructed Eucharist at 7 pm, pausing along the way to explain a bit about how and why we do what we do in the Eucharist.

The three days of Easter begin on Thursday evening at 7:30 pm – Maundy Thursday. We begin the great three days on Thursday, in keeping with the Hebrew calendar in which the new day begins at sundown. The third day begins at sundown on Saturday.

During the Great three days, classically called the Easter Triduum, there are no blessings or dismissals. The reason is the Church understands the services of Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, Holy Saturday and the Great Vigil of Easter to be one great continuous liturgy.

The word “maundy” derives from Middle English, and it means “mandate.” Maundy Thursday commemorates the Last Supper when Jesus “mandates” that we remember him each time we experience the bread and wine of our Holy Eucharist.

On Maundy Thursday, we recall that Jesus ate with his disciples, then washed their feet. The focus, though, is not on the meal, but on his act of lowering himself to the feet of his followers.

At St. Paul’s on Maundy Thursday, we will wash the feet of all who wish to have their feet washed, and we will celebrate our last Eucharist before the day of Resurrection. Truly, our mandate is to serve each other and the world.
We will strip the Altar to its bare wood, and we will take consecrated unleavened bread and keep it in a place of reverence in the chapel. We do so to signify that Jesus is still with us even as he hangs on the Cross.

At noon on Good Friday, Jesus lowers himself still further. He goes to the Cross, crucified between two criminals, giving to us his supreme act of love to suffer with us in our pain, and show us that there is more to life than death.

On Good Friday we will offer solemn prayers at noon, and again offer those prayers at 5 p.m. After the five-o’clock prayers, we will, in silence, distribute the bread we have reserved in the chapel, a mark of Jesus being with us especially in times of pain.

Once more on Good Friday, at 8 p.m., we will assemble for prayers, and we will dim the candles, one at a time, in the solemn observance of Tenebrae, a Latin word meaning “shadows.”

On Holy Saturday morning, at 9 a.m., we will assemble here for a brief time for the prayers of Holy Saturday, the day that marks when Christ descends into Hell itself to open the gates wide and let everyone out. The prayers of the morning are brief, and I am especially inviting those of you who are preparing our sanctuary for the evening Vigil to participate in this short service.

Holy Saturday is the anvil upon which Easter rests. Without Jesus going to the dead to break the chains of Hell, the resurrection has little to do with us.

With Holy Saturday, Jesus takes us with him at the Resurrection. I hope you will join me for a few minutes Saturday morning in the chapel.

On Saturday evening, after sundown comes our first opportunity to celebrate the third day of Easter: The Resurrection. We assemble for the Great Vigil of Easter – the biggest, most splendid and opulent worship of the entire year.

We light a fire outside, and bring the light of the Paschal candle into the church. The Paschal Candle leads our procession, and there are no crucifixes carried on this night. We are done with the Cross. Inside the church, sitting in the dim light, we hear again the story of creation. And then with lights on, and bells ringing, we declare the Resurrection – we loudly declare Christ has Risen – and we experience again the joy of Easter and our first Eucharist of the Easter season.

Bring your bells and come join us.

On Easter Day morning we come here in the sunlight, our Lent completed and our new life in Christ begun once again.

And with grateful hearts we join in our prayer for The Great Vigil of Easter: “Stir up in your Church that Spirit … which is given to us in Baptism, that we, being renewed both in body and mind, may worship you in sincerity and truth.”

May each of you, wherever you are, have blessed and Holy Week, and a season of hope and renewal in the Easter that is to come.

-- James+

The Blue Hymnal in a pew rack near you

A few of you have asked whether I write poetry, and the answer is yes. But most of it is a form of personal therapy and I'm not sure it should ever see the light of day beyond my notebooks. But here is one I will share with you today. May your Friday find you well, and may you discover many blessings in the mysteries of the Holiest of weeks to come.

The Hymnal (blue) 1982

By James RIchardson

O Gracious Light (twenty-five)

to dawn’s early light (seven-hundred-twenty)

You’ll find the block numbers up on the wall

       they change every week.

Then find a blue book in front of you.

So many hands hold it,

       their eyes careening across scratches

              and dots.

       mouths in Os, open, take a breath,

oh please take a breath

So many hands smudge the corners

       afraid to touch above the tiny italic,

       never veering above

              Watts, Proulx or Winkworth.

The book, after all, is silent, always.

       Or is it?

       The tunes leaping from eye to fingers to keyboard

The rest of us faking it a little,

       Or a lot.

       Warbling up and down with the dots and scratches,

              cross hatches become sounds,

              and that is a miracle if ever there was one.

Ever notice the lower corners on the cover of the Hymnal (blue) 1982?

       A little tatered, bent, flattened

specks of brown paper sticking out,

bits of cardboard fraying,

Like my voice.

The Week is coming: Experiencing Easter

Soon we enter Holy Week, that most mysterious time of remembering the Passion of Our Lord: the Last Supper, the betrayal in the garden, the trial, crucifixion, descent into Hell, and then the amazing Resurrection of Easter. It is the most holy of weeks, and for the clergy, it is generally the most stressful week of the year (keep all of us in your prayers). 

This will be my first Holy Week in Charlottesville, and I am looking forward to it with a mix of anticipation and a little anxiety. Please keep Lori and me in your prayers, and I hope you will join us for as much of Holy Week as you can.

Below is the Presiding Bishop's Easter message, followed by the Holy Week schedule for St. Paul's. Blessings to all...

Easter 2009 Message from 

Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori

The light returns and the days lengthen, even if it remains startlingly dark as we rise these days – daylight savings time is not always a blessing so early in the year! Christians, however, look for light even in the midst of darkness, for we know that darkness will not overcome it. The rising of the Son brings light into lives filled with grief, agony, and despair. Are you searching for the light of new life?

Easter recollects us and reorients us toward God’s eternal light of truth and peace and love. The resurrection is the ultimate proclamation that nothing can separate us from that light, not despair or destruction or death. We see hints of that resurrection all around us once our eyes have learned to look, and we continue to hope for its fullness, for the blessing of a light so encompassing that there can be no darkness or separation. Lent has been a willingness to experience the darkness of our current separation and tune our yearning for that light. Carry that yearning into Eastertide, and beyond, that we and the world around us may know the blessing of the light of Christ.

Easter 2009

The Most Rev. Katharine Jefferts Schori
Presiding Bishop
The Episcopal Church

Holy Week Schedule of Services at St. Paul's

Passion (Palm) Sunday - Sunday, April 5: 8 am - Holy Eucharist Rite I; 10 am - Holy Eucharist Rite II, procession with palms; 5:30 pm - Holy Eucharist Rite II
Monday in Holy Week - Monday, April 6: Noon - Prayers for Peace; 12:30 pm - Holy Eucharist
Tuesday in Holy Week - Tuesday, April 7: 12:15 pm - Holy Eucharist; 7:30 pm - Taize Evening Service
Wednesday in Holy Week - Wednesday, April 8: Noon - Prayers for Healing; 5:30 pm - Evening Prayer with Holy Week Message for Children, followed by Community Night dinner; 7 pm - Instructed Eucharist
Maundy Thursday - Thursday, April 9: 7:30 pm - Foot washing, Holy Eucharist and stripping of the Altar
Good Friday - Friday, April 10: Noon - Good Friday Liturgy of the Word; 5 pm - Good Friday Liturgy with homily and Communion from the Reserved Sacrament; 8 pm - solemn Prayers and Tenebrae
Holy Saturday & The Great Vigil of Easter - Saturday, April 11: 9 am - Holy Saturday Liturgy of the Word; 7:30 pm - The Great Vigil of Easter and adult baptisms (with incense)
Easter Sunday: The Day of Resurrection - Sunday, April 12: 8 am - Holy Eucharist Rite I with hymns; 9:15 am - Festival Eucharist with Brass and choir; 11:15 am - Festival Eucharist with Brass and choir; 5:30 pm - Holy Eucharist Rite II with hymns

Remembering and Holy Week soon to come

I am a little late with today's post -- an internet glitch at home. Sorry.

I came across a wonderful gem the other day from Barbara Crafton, who is an Episcopal priest who is currently serving in Florence, Italy. She has a terrific website called the Geranium Farm, and she sends a missive every day or two to folks. This one, I think, is especially fitting for Holy Week coming up, and says something about how we make the ancient story our story, the concept of remembering that we do in our liturgy.

In fact, all liturgy is just that: the recapturing of something that once happened, bringing it alive again and amplifying its meaning in the present moment, where we are now. The endless debate about "what's really happening" in a sacrament is fruitless, by and large: they are not rational occurrences, and they cannot be reduced to reasonable explanation. It is one of the saddest parts of being rational beings, this sterile insistence of ours that everything make sense, our grumpy suspicion of mystery. It cuts us off at the knees. Human beings are more than brains with legs. We are hearts, too. Many things can reach us, through many doors other than the door of our understanding. We owe it to ourselves to open all the doors, and throw open a few windows, too, while we're at it.

Thanks for having an IMPACT

Last night the faith community of Charlottesville was 1,500 strong in the stands at the old UVa basketball arena, gathering under the auspices of IMPACT (Interfaith Movement Promoting Action by Area Congregations Together). 

We heard concrete proposals for creating more affordable housing to the region, and we got commitments in favor of those proposals from members of the Albemarle Board of Supervisors and the Charlottesville City Council. We also heard proposals for early childhood education, though members of the local school board declined to show up.

I am very proud to report that St. Paul's was 115 strong (the second largest turnout amongst the congregations). Thanks especially to John Frazee for working so hard with IMPACT and all of your efforts to get such a strong turnout from St. Paul's. Thanks also to Joan Burchell for your hard work on the education task force.

You can read accounts of the evening and see video of the evening on the NBC29 website HERE or on the Daily Progress website HERE.

For me, the issue was summed up by testimony of Valerie Bowe, who we've heard at earlier meetings. Ms. Bowe, a single mother, has a bachelor's degree and a job in Charlottesville. But she has struggled to find an apartment she can afford. It takes her nearly two paychecks per month to pay the rent. "I kind of had to choose between where I'm going to live as opposed to can I get some food in my refrigerator and I chose where I'm going to live and let the food take care of itself," she said.

The Charlottesville area has a severe shortage of rental housing for those earning $20,000 a year or less -- an estimated 4,000 units are needed. Minimum wage jobs do not pay the rent. Last night our local elected officials committed to doing something, and that is a step forward. Thanks to one and all for coming.

Photo from NBC29

Monday Funnies

Before we get to the business at hand (the Monday funnies), just a quick reminder that tonight we will assemble at 6:15 pm at U Hall to advocate for affordable housing in Charlottesville. If you can make it earlier, we will provide a light dinner 5 pm at St. Paul's and then carpool to the big meeting. This gathering is organized by a coalition of congregations under the auspices of IMPACT, and you can read about tonight's effort elsewhere on my blog by clicking HERE. You can also read more about the issues on St. Paul's IMPACT blog.

Now, to return you to our regularly scheduled program. As you know, there is a lot of kaffuffle in our church these days over such weighty issues as gay rights, the ordination of women and all that. So here are a few solutions floating around the internet (and I have no idea the identity of the authors), and the latest installment of Dave Walker's 'toons. Welcome to the Monday Funnies...

Why We Oppose Men's Ordination:

1- Because man's place is in the army.

2- Because no really manly man wants to settle disputes otherwise than by fighting about it.

3- Women would not respect men dressed in skirts.

4- Because men are too emotional to be priests. Their conduct at football matches, in the army, at political conventions shows this, while their innate tendency to appeal to force and violence renders them unfit to represent Jesus.

5- Because some men are so handsome they will distract women worshipers.

 6- If the Church is the Bride of Christ, and bishops are as husbands to the Church, all priests should be female.

Ten Really good reasons to oppose Gay Marriage

1- Heterosexual marriages are valid because they produce children. That's why infertile couples and old people can't legally get married.

2- Obviously gay parents will raise gay children, since straight parents only raise straight children. 

3- Straight marriage, such as Britney Spears' 55-hour, just-for-fun marriage, will be less meaningful.

4- Heterosexual marriage has been around a long time and hasn't changed at all; for example, women are still property, blacks still can't marry whites, and divorce is still illegal.

5- Gay marriage should be decided by people not the courts, because majority-elected legislatures, and not courts, have historically done a swell job of protecting the rights of the minorities.

6- Gay marriage is not supported by religion. In a theocracy like ours, the values of one religion are imposed on the entire country. That's why we have only one religion in America.

7- Gay marriage will encourage people to be gay, in the same way that hanging around tall people will make you tall.

8- Children can never succeed without a male and a female role model at home. That's why single parents are forbidden to raise children.

9- Gay marriage will change the foundation of society. Heterosexual marriage has been around for a long time, and we could never adapt to new social norms because we haven't adapted to cars or longer life spans.

10- Civil unions, providing most of the same benefits as marriage with a different name, are preferable, because separate-but-equal institutions are constitutional.

More on Point Lobos

On Saturday I posted the terrific slide show from the New York Times, featuring Edward Weston's photographs of Point Lobos near Carmel, Calif., taken in the 1940s; so today I thought I would show off a few of my own photos of Point Lobos, taken in October 2006. Have a good Sunday...

Edward Weston

A little dividend: The New York Times website today has a terrific eight-frame slide show of photographs by Edward Weston, taken in the 1940s at Point Lobos near Carmel, and the slide show is narrated by his grandson, Kim. This is a treat for your eyes and heart. To see it, click HERE. Also see related article.

Earth Hour tonight: Turn off your lights

Tonight lights will go off all over the world for one hour at 8:30 pm local time in observance of the third annual Earth Hour, a practice begun in Australia to show worldwide support for efforts to lower greenhouse gases and care for the earth. 

As I write this, the lights have already gone off in Sydney and the lights will continue going off around the globe for one hour at a time. So, if it is safe for you to do so, turn off your lights at 8:30 pm local time for one hour. To learn more about what you can related to Earth Hour, click HERE. And if you haven't already, please read my related post from yesterday, below.

Global warming, global restoration and journalists

Many years ago, in my journalism career, I wrote extensively on environmental issues, and in the 1980s I was among a group of journalists who established environmental investigative reporting as a distinct discipline within journalism (and in those days we spoke primarily of newspapers as the platform of journalism). My speciality was watersheds and pollution from toxic waste dumping. 

The stories that I and others wrote resulted in the federal "Superfund" to cleanup such sites. I bring this up today to point out a number of global trends that are disturbing and which the faith community has a stake in because the faith community, by definition, is part of the global community.

First, journalism: Newspapers are in a major economic meltdown and are closing or seriously downsizing. That ought to bother you mightily. Newspapers are still the major platform for serious journalism in the world; when you read a story on the internet, chances are a newspaper reporter wrote it and an newspaper editor edited it. The fallout of the economic collapse of car dealers, retailers and real estate marketers is that they have pulled their ads from newspapers, and the newspapers are collapsing. That is the result of an economic model too dependent on those sectors, and not the result of falling circulation or bad journalism (the rise of the internet is a convenient excuse for newspaper executives who made bad business decisions in the last 10 years). All of that is background for where I want to go with this.

Today marks the last day for Chris Bowman at The Sacramento Bee, where Lori worked as an editor for 20 years and I worked for 10 years as a reporter. Chris was among many journalists laid off earlier this month, caught up in the mass of layoffs throughout journalism. Chris is among my oldest friends, he was one of my two "best men" at my wedding (and my other best man, Tony Ramirez, was laid off by the New York Times last year). 

Chris is a leading environmental investigative journalist. He is a former Nieman Fellow from Harvard, which is the most prestigious fellowship in journalism. Chris is a founder of an organization that promotes environmental journalism, and he taught environmental journalism in Zimbabwe back when Western journalists had access to that country. With Chris removed from journalism (and we hope only temporarily), there is one fewer trained set of eyes and ears documenting the threats to our environment. That is an incalculable loss to all of us and to the environment.

Next, to related trends in the politics of the environment: Earlier this week, Lori and I participated in a meeting in Washington DC to hear from Mike Marshall, the new executive director of Restore Hetch Hetchy, a decades-long effort to remove the dam from Hetch Hetchy Valley in Yosemite National Park. Mike outlined a long-term political strategy to convince Congress to remove the dam built in the 1920s by San Francisco (this post includes an artist's conception of what the Hetchy Hetchy Valley would look like without the dam). I will say more about this issue in another post. 

Last night, we joined members of St. Paul's who live at Westminster-Canterbury in seeing a film about an appalling proposal to build a strip mine in the Bristol Bay watershed of Alaska, the richest salmon waters in the world (the top photo on this post is from that watershed). The proposed Pebble Mine would include building the world's tallest dam to hold toxic mining sludge, theoretically keeping the sludge poisons out of the rivers. If you are wondering at the reliability of such dams, check out the Iron Mountain sludge dam in California, now a federal EPA superfund site, and earlier this week labeled the "worst water in the world" in the San Francisco Chronicle (another newspaper soon to fold).

I mention all this by way of pointing out the confluence of a number global trends: it takes journalists to investigate and highlight threats to the environment, especially those in places remote from the rest of us, like in Alaska. Journalists are in shorter supply today, and that ought to alarm us.

Related to this is a conversation that needs to happen (and the work of journalists can help us make it happen) around the sometimes competing politics of the environment. The dire need to reverse global warming is now the necessary focal point of the major environmental lobbying organizations, like the Sierra Club. The danger of that focus is that the specific localized threats, like the proposed Pebble Mine, will slide through unexamined by the nation, and remain only feebly opposed by environmentalists who can't be in two places at once.

This is also an issue about world poverty. Worldwide, mining companies are stripping poor countries of their resources with little return to those countries, and that is an issue for the faith community if we take seriously that greed is a sin. There is a report issued today on how mining companies are depriving African countries of much needed tax revenue (click HERE.)

Moreover, restoration of the earth -- symbolized by removing the dam at Hetch Hetchy -- must remain on the environmental agenda because restoration is part of the healing of our planet. This past Monday in Washington DC we heard just how stretched environmental organizations are in working on both global warming and restoration issues. There is much work to be done, and much organizing and conversation that needs to happen around all of this.

What is salvation? Ask a poet

We soon enter into Holy Week, with the events of betrayal, crucifixion, and entering into Hell itself. At the end comes the startling celebration and declaration of Resurrection, new life, Easter. And as Dan Edwards, the bishop of Nevada, suggests on his terrific blog, these events raise the question: What is salvation?

The apostle Paul attempts to answer that question in his many letters, but even Paul admits we "see in a mirror dimly" (1 Corinthians 13:12). Many a theologian has since tried to define salvation and/or the mechanisms of grace. Complicated scholarly constructions and volumes of paper are created in the task. Thomas Aquinas finally admitted that his efforts amounted to little more than a "stack of straw" and he never wrote another word.

I rather think that the poets may have a better grasp of this, or at least a better grasp at expressing the meaning of salvation (regular readers just knew I'd end up at a poem, didn't you?). And so it is that our friend Karen in Tennessee sent a poem yesterday that took my breath away. Here it is:

Salvation

by Lynn Ungar

By what are you saved? And how?
Saved like a bit of string,
tucked away in a drawer?
Saved like a child rushed from
a burning building, already
singed and coughing smoke?
Or are you salvaged
like a car part -- the one good door
when the rest is wrecked?

Do you believe me when I say
you are neither salvaged nor saved,
but salved, anointed by gentle hands
where you are most tender?
Haven't you seen
the way snow curls down
like a fresh sheet, how it
covers everything,
makes everything
beautiful, without exception?

Having an impact: Come next Monday evening

Next Monday May 30 congregations from many faith communities in Charlottesville will gather at "U Hall," the old arena off Emmett Road. The gathering is the annual "Nehemiah Action" organized by IMPACT. 

All those words boil down to this: A group of dedicated faithful people will present a series of proposals on creating more affordable housing in our region, and ask the public officials who are present for their commitment to making life better for the poorest among us. The photo on this page is by Dan Tarjan, from the Cavalier Daily, illustrating some of the rental housing that is available in Charlottesville.

If you live in the Charlottesville area, please come. Here from John Frazee, who leads our IMPACT effort at St. Paul's, is a Q&A about next Monday:

Frequently Asked Questions about the Nehemiah Action:

Any change to the issue updates?

Not really - but the issues are outlined at the IMPACT blog (click HERE), and there has been a minor change in affordable housing -- the regional housing fund is no longer on the table.

Are we meeting beforehand? Carpooling? Walking?

All of the above. We'll have some light food and drink at the church at 5pm. Those who wish to walk can do so, and there is a group from Canterbury heading out at 5:45pm. The rest can carpool over to U Hall, and will probably leave Church around 5:45 as well. (Let me know if you're interested in meeting at St. Paul's -- I'd like to get a headcount for food.)

Parking?

The parking is primarily at U Hall. I believe there will be spaces available at the John Paul Jones arena across the street. All entrances will be locked expect the North Entrance, which faces the JPJ. You can drop off outside the entrance and then find parking, if necessary. Just follow the human traffic or look for IMPACT’s outside ushers, wearing yellow shirts, who will be placed at and around the entrance.

Do I need a ticket to get into the Action?

No. Many people will not have tickets when they arrive (either because they did not receive one, lost theirs, or are not members of IMPACT congregations). If you do have a ticket you can ignore the sign-in tables and head straight down the hall and give your ticket to an Usher on the way down the stairwell.

So what happens if I don’t have a ticket?

COME TO THE ACTION!!! Beyond that the rest is easy: Just follow the crowd towards the North Entrance to U-Hall where Ushers will direct you to sign-in tables located along the sides of the hallway. At the tables, leaders from our congregations will be sitting with a pen and ticket. Just write your name, congregation (if applicable) and who invited you -- being sure to fill out 1 ticket for each person in your party. With tickets in hand just head down the hall.

If I don't have a ticket, do I have to sign-in with my congregation?

Nope. Just go straight to the sign-in tables as you enter the North Entrance where a leader from one of our congregations will make sure you have a pen and paper to fill out.

Once I sign-in where do I go?

Once you have filled out tickets at our sign-in tables just head down the hall where you will find stairwell entrances to either side, manned by ushers who will have buckets you can place your ticket(s) in. Than head downstairs, where Ushers will be handing out agendas as you head through the ground floor entrance to the gymnasium.

What about those who are unable to walk up and down stairs?

Instead of heading down one of the stairwells, just keep heading straight ahead where a separate table will be set up where ushers can collect your ticket, give you an agenda and direct you to the 2nd level entrance where seats for those with walking disabilities can seat.

Will childcare be provided?

Childcare will be provided. However, the rooms we used last year are unavailable and we are currently exploring two options both of which are still in U-Hall and located very close to the ground floor entrance…We will let everyone know exactly where before Monday, but rest assured there will be more than enough trained staff available to those with young children ages 4-12

What happens if I arrive late?

COME ON IN! Just go straight down the hall to the table located in front of the entrance to the 2nd level, sign-in grab an agenda and if you have any questions just look for our floor team who will be stationed on each level wearing yellow shirts.

What about the St. Paul's IMPACT blog?

OK, so that's not frequently asked. But it's HERE: 

The Holy Ahhh and the Great Amen

This past Saturday we were treated to a wonderful "Quiet Day" led by author and noted New Testament scholar Bonnie Thurston. She offered a wonderful set of mediations, and while all of them struck a chord, one of her insights really stuck with me and I am still meditating upon it. 

First, a disclaimer: those of you versed in Eastern spiritual practices probably know this already, but this is new to me. Here it is, but go with me awhile on this...

In eastern meditative practices, one always begins with breathing "Ahhh..." Indeed, the word "yoga" (which I have practiced) means "breathing" and all yoga practices begin with "Om" which sounds more like "AH-Ommm." 

Try this as you read this, you will notice the bone above your heart vibrating. The sound centers on the heart, and the idea is to breath out so you can breath in to open your heart to the holy. 

So here is the part I never noticed until Bonnie pointed it out: In our Jewish and Christian traditions, we say "Ah" quite a bit -- as in "Amen" and "Alleluia" and "YAHWEH" (the Hebrew word translated into English as "LORD"). And another from our Abrahamic tradition: "Allah." Next time you say any of those words, breath deeply, and think of how this opens you to breathing in the Holy. 

And here is one more: the name "Jesus" is actually a (badly) Germanized translation of the Hebrew name "Joshua" which sounds in Hebrew like "Yehoshua" (Hebrew: יְהוֹשֻׁעַ ) The Ah sound again.

Ahhhmeen.

Monday Funnies

A few insights about preaching today, with thanks to Dave Walker and his cartoon. Welcome to the Monday Funnies...

A little girl became restless as the preacher's sermon dragged on and on. Finally, she leaned over to her mother and whispered, “Mommy, if we give him the money now, will he let us go?”

* * *

A boy was watching his father, a pastor, write a sermon.
“How do you know what to say?” he asked.
“Why, God tells me.”
“Oh, then why do you keep crossing things out?”

* * *

A Sunday school teacher asked, “Billy, do you think Noah did a lot of fishing when he was on the Ark?”

“No,” replied Billy.

“Why not?” asked the teacher.

“How could he?” replied Billie, “He only had two worms!”

* * *

When Suzy noticed a broken vise grip in the trash can, she decided to buy her husband a new one for his birthday. She went to the hardware store and asked the salesman, “Do you have any vises?”

“Sorry, ma'am,” he replied. “I gave them all up for Lent.”

Thanks to One and all for a great Sunday!

Thanks to one and all for the One Episcopal Sunday. We collected more than 140 letters to public officials asking them to support efforts to alleviate world poverty. We also collected an offering for the Anglican Communion's work in Zimbabwe, and I heard many commitments to attend the IMPACT meeting on affordable housing Monday March 30.

We don't have to do everything. But you proved we can do something.

Tomorrow we will be in Washington DC and will be lighting a candle in memory of my father, David Richardson, at the Lincoln Memorial at a vigil for Alzheimer's victims. Please light a candle tomorrow night for him and all the people you know suffering from this awful disease. And please visit my dad's page at the Alzheimer's Association, and sign the guest book. You can find the page by clicking HERE.

And, yes, we will have the Monday Funnies tomorrow!

One Episcopal Sunday and the Spirituality of Money

Tomorrow, on our Fourth Sunday of Lent, we are going to observe One Episcopal Sunday at St. Paul's. For those unfamiliar with this, the One Campaign is the effort among many churches to advocate for the eradication of global poverty. 

That may sound utopian (aren't the poor "always with us" as Jesus says?). Yet it is a reachable goal if the governments of the developed world could devote significant economic resources to bringing such things as safe drinking water and farm irrigation systems to the developing world. We will talk more about that tomorrow. For more information about the One Campaign, click HERE.

There is, of course, more to this than advocating that governments do things. It also has something to do with how us and how we live and what we do with the resources entrusted to us in this lifetime. Although the Church seems to fight endlessly over sex and marriage, in all truth Jesus had little to say on those subjects and a great deal to say about money. Sometimes it feels like we'd rather avoid talking about the really tough subject: our money, how we make it and what we do with it.

My friends at the Bread of Life Center in Sacramento are doing something interesting this Lent around the topic of money. The Center, which relocated itself from a comfortable suburb to a poor neighborhood, does a lot of work in training spiritual directors. This Lent the Center invited spiritual directors and others to participate in a program of writing spiritual autobiographies  around the topic of money. Below are the questions the Center is giving to participants, and I commend this exercise to you:

Questions About Your Family History With Money

What were your childhood messages around money?
What was your father’s attitude about money? Your mother’s attitude? Did your parents ever fight about money? Who in your family made the money decisions? Would you call your parent(s): Generous, Cautious, Stingy?

How would you describe your early personal experiences with money?
Magical? Worrisome? Fun? Scarce? Enough? What happened that led to your early decisions about money? Did you ever steal money or shop-lift as a child? If so, did you get caught? What did you learn from that experience?

Was/is anyone in your family a member of a union?
What was your attitude toward the trade union movement growing up? Now?

Have you ever experienced unemployment?
Have you ever received public assistance, or has anyone in your family? Bankruptcy or foreclosure? What did such experiences feel like? How have they affected the way you think about yourself and about money?

What memories do you have about your first job?
How did it feel to first earn your own money?

If you are or ever have been in a significant relationship, how would you describe the way you and your partner made money decisions?
How did/does your relationship with money impact your marriage, your sex life, your play? Does this way of relating to money look anything like your parents?

Do you ever worry about having enough money?
About running out of money and becoming dependent upon others? Where does the worry come from?

Today the word that best describes your attitude about money is ______________.
How does this attitude align with your deeply held values and/or religious beliefs? If it aligns, what has helped make this so? If it doesn’t align well, what is the impact?

How does the disparity between the wealthy and the poor of the world impact your life?
What arises in you around the amount of money you have compared to others? How does this awareness affect you?

What do you want your relationship with money to look like?
What is missing for you in your current relationship with money?

What kind of personal debt burden do you now carry (consumer credit, mortgage, loans, etc.)?
Have you ever had tax problems? What is the effect on your mental/emotional/spiritual health?

Did your parents invest in the stock market?
What messages regarding “savings” and financial security did you grow up with? For you, what does an ‘investment’ consist of? How have you invested? How actively have you tried to manage your investments?

Do you have any secrets about your relationship with money? If so, are you willing to share them now with someone? If not, why not?

Do you have any forgiveness work (with God, yourself or others) to do about your history with money?
Have you had, or still have, a gambling problem? Have you lost or stolen other people’s money? Have you lied to loved ones about how you spend money? Have you invested in endeavors that exploit others or pollute the earth?

Fruits of the Spirit

It has been a most serious week, and rather rainy in these parts so it is definitely time to lighten up a little. Coming up tomorrow (Saturday) we have a "quiet day" led by author Bonnie Thurston from 9 am to noon (come join us). 

The Virginia Festival of the Book in Charlottesville is well underway. We went to panel yesterday by authors of books on the civil rights era, including our friend Mildred Robinson. 

We plan to go to a few more events including a panel on the beat poets today. So, to mark the promise of Spring, and to bring you into the world of letters, here is a gift of poetry from the collection of our friend Karen in Tennessee:

Tangerine 
By Ruth L. Schwartz

It was a flower once, it was one of a billion flowers
whose perfume broke through closed car windows,
forced a blessing on their drivers.
Then what stayed behind grew swollen, as we do;
grew juice instead of tears, and small hard sour seeds,
each one bitter, as we are, and filled with possibility.
Now a hole opens up in its skin, where it was torn from the
branch; ripeness can’t stop itself, breathes out;
we can’t stop it either. We breathe in.

~

The Orange
By Wendy Cope

At lunchtime I bought a huge orange
The size of it made us all laugh.
I peeled it and shared it with Robert and Dave—
They got quarters and I had a half.

And that orange it made me so happy,
As ordinary things often do
Just lately. The shopping. A walk in the park
This is peace and contentment. It’s new.

The rest of the day was quite easy.
I did all my jobs on my list
And enjoyed them and had some time over.
I love you. I’m glad I exist.

Light a candle with us for my dad

Next Monday evening (March 23), Lori and I plan to join a candlelight vigil on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial for victims of Alzheimer's Disease. My dad, David, died of Alzheimer's five years ago, and we are doing this as a tribute to him. 

Did you know that more than 5 million people in America live with Alzheimer's every year? Their families care for them as best they can, and many, like my dad end up in a nursing home or a hospital as they lose all of their mental faculties.  It is truly "the long goodbye" and for us it was the most difficult, awful ordeal we have endured as a family.

You can join us at this vigil without leaving your home by "lighting a candle" on the Alzheimer's Association website. We've set up a special memorial page in memory of my dad. You can find it by clicking HERE, and you can donate on-line in his memory so that this cruel disease might yet be eradicated. And please sign the guest book on the memorial page.

Thank you so much!

Goats?

My favorite quote from the Bloggin' Bishops today comes from Dan Edwards, bishop of Nevada, blogging from the House of Bishops meeting in Kanuga, NC:

"The afternoon was a tedious business meeting with Roberts Rules. If they had Roberts Rules at the Council of Nicea I fear we might still be sacrificing goats."

And to think what more we have in store! The bishops took lessons at their meeting on how to blog. Watch out, more coming. Let us pray they are as funny as Bishop Dan.

Being a questioning Christian and our friend Holly

We have a young friend, Holly, who is a college student in Sacramento.  Lori and I have known Holly since she was very tiny. She lives in an intentional Christian community connected to an Episcopal Church in our old neighborhood. 

Holly is currently in a place of spiritual discernment about many things, and, I believe, she has a healthy skepticism about churches and religious despots. She recently wrote a lengthy essay which she shared with her friends, including us.  

And so with Holly's permission, I am sharing some of her essay with you. I especially like her questions. Here you are, from Holly ...

I wonder about the term “Christian” because it seems as if it's used a bit loosely as of late. … But what gets me thinking is this, "We all believe in the same God." Do we really?

The understanding of God, by Christians, is based upon multiple things:

- Your Bible. What translation do you have? This is something very important to consider - one changed word, can change the meaning of an entire passage. Do you listen to it literally or metaphorically or do you just pick and choose? Is it a guideline or a lifeline? Does the Old Testament and it's old Covenants/Laws apply with the New Testament? Have you actually read the whole thing?

-Your teacher. Who is teaching you? Do you take what they say blindly or do you look into things yourself? How many pastors/churches have you experienced? Do you take the word of any "holy" person as fact, or simply something to consider? Who else influences you? Has your learning only been within the church, or have you taken outside theology courses, and the like.

- Your experience. In church, outside of church, family, etc. Life experience greatly impacts how you interpret God. You can ask one person, "what reflects God for you?" The answers vary. Every time.

-Your personality and also the way it applies to your intelligence. Now this one may seem like a stretch to you, but it's true. I'm not calling Christians naiive or stupid (trust me...that would insulting myself, as well) but just that our interpretation of God, the depth of our faith, etc, is determined by what we understand and how we understand it, and what we don't understand and how we deal with that. If a person contradicts us - are we going to be open minded, or completely biased? Some people are, some people aren't.

I suppose what this boils down to, is that, if you consider all those things, your God and my God may both be based on what we've read in the same exact book, but I believe in something completely different from you...

Perhaps because my experiences have been far too vast and different, and I suppose it's just weird for me to think that one religion is broken up into so many parts, with so many people claiming they've got the right one. And what I think is ironic is that, when the church formed - the same thing happened, and that's how we ended up with Paul's letters. Now, people still use those letters for a large portion of their beliefs...and yet we still have all these conflicts and confusions! Which God is the one we are meant to believe in? And how can we keep using the word Christian in such a way?

Monday Funnies

Here's your weekly installment of the Monday Funnies...

Two priests died at the same time and met Saint Peter at the Pearly Gates.

St. Peter said, “I'd like to let you guys in now, but our computer is down. You'll have to go back to Earth for about a week, but you can't go back as priests. So what else would you like to be?”

The first priest says, “I've always wanted to be an eagle, soaring above the Rocky Mountains.”

“So be it,” says St. Peter, and off flies the first priest.

The second priest mulls this over for a moment and asks, “Will any of this week ‘count’, St. Peter?”

“No, I told you the computer's down. There's no way we can keep track of what you're doing.”

“In that case,” says the second priest, “I've always wanted to be a stud.”

“So be it,” says St. Peter, and the second priest disappears.

A week goes by, the computer is fixed, and the Lord tells St. Peter to recall the two priests. “Will you have any trouble locating them?” He asks.

“The first one should be easy,” says St. Peter. “He's somewhere over the Rockies, flying with the eagles. But the second one could prove to be more
difficult.”

“Why?” asks the Lord.

“He's on a snow tire, somewhere in Maine.”

* * * * * *

A preacher delivered a sermon in ten minutes one Sunday morning, which was less than 1/3 the usual length of his sermons.

He explained, “I regret to inform you that my dog, who is very fond of eating paper, ate that portion of my sermon which I was unable to deliver this morning."

After the service, a visitor from another church shook hands with the preacher and said, “Pastor, if that dog of yours has any pups, I want to get one to give to my minister.”

* * * * * *

A preacher was on the program at a district convention to preach for twenty minutes. The other preachers from the district were sitting behind him in the choir section, giving him moral support and throwing in an occasional “Amen” to help the preacher along.

The preacher preached his twenty minutes and continued on despite the alloted time.

He preached for 30 minutes, then forty minutes and then for an hour. He even continued, for a whole hour and ten minutes.

Finally, a brother sitting in the front row took a song book and threw it at the preacher, who was still going strong with his message.

The preacher saw the song book as it was hurled his way and he ducked.

The song book hit one of the preachers sitting in the choir section.

As the man in the choir section was going down, you could hear him say, “Hit me again, I can still hear him preaching!”

Tweaks and additions to Fiat Lux

Dearest Readers,

I've added a few tweaks to Fiat Lux while trying to keep it simple. If you scroll down, the left column contains various portkeys that will take you to other places. Click on the images, see where you go (kind of like Harry Potter when he apparates somewhere else).  Toward the bottom of the left column are two portkeys that apparates you to blogs connected to Fiat Lux: the class on the Book of Common Prayer and to a collection of the poems and prayers that pop up here from time to time. Those blogs have portkeys that will bring you back here.

I've added a "blogroll" of blogs I am following. Not all are church related. Thanks to a number of you, I've added to the "Bloggin' Bishops" list. A bunch of bishops are blogging today from their meeting in Kanuga, NC. And, I cannot help but mention, the only diocesan bishop east of the Mississippi River who is blogging is Gene Robinson. The Brits and the Westerners have the eastern bishops beat by miles on this.

What kind of church will we be? Who will we reach? How?

I posted this video a few months ago from the Diocese of New Hampshire, and I've had requests for it again. This is a promotion for a conference coming up on May 9 in New Hampshire. The underlying message applies to all of us in the Episcopal Church (and to yesterday's post). Here you are, and watch for the dancing bishops at the end ...

Religious identification changing

How Americans think of themselves as religious -- or not -- is undergoing a major shift. The American Religious Identification Survey, or ARIS, which has been measuring this since 1990, notes a number of significant trends across our religious landscape. Churches and their leaders need to take serious note.

The survey of 54, 461 adults, found a overall decline in those declaring they have any religious identification. Mainline non-Catholic Christians have declined nationally to 12.9 percent, from 18.7 percent in 1990.

In the South Atlantic (where we are) is still the strongest enclave of Christianity. The West is becoming more Catholic (primarily due to immigration) while the Northeast less so. The South Atlantic is slightly more Catholic, going from 14 percent to 17 percent. Although mainline Protestantism remains the dominant religion the Southeast, it has nonetheless declined from 74 percent to 61 percent. You can read a chart showing all the results by clicking HERE.

There is a lot to be said, more than I have time here today. First, we should not be looking for scapegoats; mainline Christianity is not declining because some of our churches we are more inclusive. The less inclusive (Southern Baptists) are also on the decline. If anything, our inclusiveness gives us a foundation to build future growth. 

The numbers should tell us to not be complacent, that we cannot rest on past glories and ways of doing things. To reach new people and bring back those who find us irrelevant means we must be creative and open to new ways of being the Church while strengthening our core mission of bringing Christ's light of hope, healing and reconciliation into the world. We need to stop hiding our light under the basket. I hope we can explore these themes here on this blog and elsewhere in the days ahead.