Thursday 30 October 2014

Wednesday's Word: Unknown (29 October 2014)

         I spent the summer of 1980 in Fort Wayne, Indiana as a seminary intern at Trinity Episcopal Church where my cousin, Cory Randall, was Rector.  Cory felt that it was important that I get to know the whole Episcopal community in Fort Wayne, so I spent time in other congregations in the area.  I met many people, was offered gracious hospitality by many and learned a great deal about parish ministry.

         When I returned to my seminary to begin my final year, I had some financial concerns that I had kept to myself.  When I went to the book store to purchase the books for the fall term, my financial anxiety rose significantly.  It seemed that every professor wanted us to buy five or more books, each a hardback edition of three to four hundred pages.  I collected the books and went to the counter to have the staff record my purchases on my student account.  After a while I stopped watching the cash register, my despair growing with each bell-like tone.

         After every book had been entered and the necessary information recorded, I asked the staff person, ‘Well, how bad is it?’  ‘You owe nothing,’ she said.  ‘Nothing,’ I stammered.  ‘Nothing,’ she replied, ‘your course books and any other books you think you need are being paid for by an anonymous donor in Fort Wayne.’  This donor has remained unknown to me to this day despite some subtle attempts on my part to ferret out her or his identity.  He or she is unknown but not forgotten almost thirty-five years later.

         Each year on the 28th of October the Anglican Church of Canada remembers Saints Simon and Jude, two men who are named among the twelve apostles in every list found in the Gospels.  Despite this role in the life of the early community, they remain fundamentally unknown to us.

         According to the Gospels Simon was a member of the Zealots, a movement that many people today might consider a terrorist movement.  The Zealots sought by guerilla warfare to hasten the coming of the Messiah.  What I want to know is why Simon left the Zealots behind to join Jesus?  We have no record of his ‘conversion’ and in these days of ‘radicalization’ Simon’s story would be a gift.

         Poor Jude had the misfortune to share the same first name as Judas Iscariot.  As a consequence later Christian tradition invoked Judas as the patron saint of lost and hopeless causes.  I still remember, as a boy, reading classified ads thanking Saint Jude for aiding the petitioner in finding something that was lost or healing someone with a life-threatening illness.  What was it like to share the name of the one who betrayed Jesus?  We do not know.

         Simon and Jude are unknown to us but we have not forgotten them.  Each time their feast day rolls around we have the opportunity not only to remember them but to remember all those nameless and unknown people who have shaped our lives as we seek to follow the way of Jesus.  I give thanks for all the ‘unknown’ people who have contributed to the life of Saint Faith’s, some whose names are forgotten, some whose names are so deeply buried in our archives that it would take some time to recover them.  But they are not forgotten, especially as we draw near to the Church’s great celebration of the unknown saints.


         Pause today and remember.  Hold before God the memory of all those, known and unknown, who have guided you, shaped you, embraced you, emboldened you.  Remember and be thankful.

Thursday 23 October 2014

Wednesday's Word: Mystery (22 October 2014)

In former generations this mystery was not made known to humankind, as it has now been revealed to his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit:  that is, the Gentiles have become fellow heirs, members of the same body, and sharers in the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel.  Ephesians 3.5-6

         Since early September I have been conducting an on-line tutorial in liturgy with two students from the College of Emmanuel and Saint Chad in Saskatoon.  For the last two weeks we have been looking at baptism.

         On Tuesday we discussed what I understand to be the difference between Sin and sins.  To my way of thinking Sin is the human desire to be God, to be the centre of the universe.  What we call sins are the particular acts and attitudes that give expression to this Sin.

         Sin has both personal and corporate character.  In my opinion, racism, sexism, nationalism, consumerism, fundamentalism and all other ‘-isms’ which ‘corrupt and destroy the creatures of God’ (The Book of Alternative Services, 154) are corporate manifestations of Sin.

         We confront Sin with the mystery of God as unfolded in the life and witness of Jesus of Nazareth.  At the heart of this mystery is the revelation that we are each and every one of us necessary to God.  Each and every one of us has gifts that help form the divine mosaic, begun in creation, disrupted by human Sin, and restored through Christ in the power of the Spirit.


         In the face of the Sin that manifests itself in events such as the recent attacks in Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu and Ottawa, attacks motivated by a religious fundamentalism that cannot make room for others, we hold up the mystery of inclusion.  In Christ there is no longer Jew or Greek, no longer slave or free, no longer male and female (Galatians 3.28).  There is only one humanity whose diversity is not meant to divide but to enrich.  It is to us that the task falls to continue to empower the mystery first made known in Christ and being made known in those who follow the way of the Logos.

Wednesday 15 October 2014

Wednesday's Word: Silence (15 October 2014)

Now there was a great wind, so strong that it was splitting mountains and breaking rocks in pieces before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind; and after the wind an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake; and after the earthquake a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire; and after the fire a sound of sheer silence.  (1 Kings 19.11b-12)

         On Tuesday the 14th of October the CBC radio programme, ‘The Current’ with Anna Maria Tremonti broadcast a segment on a new movement that is gaining traction in North America:  the ‘mindfulness’ movement.  ‘Mindfulness’ builds upon the teachings of Buddhism and, by extension, those of other major religious traditions including Judaism and Christianity.  The goal of this movement is to help us become more attentive to the present and more aware of the workings of our inner selves.  One of the tools of ‘mindfulness’ is silence.

         There are various kinds of silences:  the silence of having no one to talk to, the silence of being so angry with another person that speech is impossible, the silence when electricity is shut off and we have no access to our electronic devices, the silence of being so far from urban society that no sound penetrates our environment.  But there is one other kind of silence:  the intentional silence of listening for God.  North Americans, however, have been conditioned by our visual and audio media to shy away from silence.  We fill every moment with sound by playing music in the background while we work, while we shop, while we drive.  Silence is, I think, frightening to many of us.  Deep within us we know that unexpected insights can surface in silence and many of those insights we seek to keep buried.

         On Thanksgiving Monday I had an encounter with just such an insight.  Paula had gone upstairs for an afternoon nap accompanied by our dog and cats.  For several hours I remained on the main floor of our townhome watching some recorded television and trying to do a little reading.  Then came the unexpected period of silence:  No children’s voices from the school next door, no sound from the road just beyond our home, no voices of the older Sikh women who frequently gather nearby to chat.  I had put my book down, closed my eyes for a few minutes and then a phrase from Sunday’s reading from the Gospel according to Matthew came:  ‘And can any of you by worrying add a single hour to your span of life?’ (Matthew 6.27)

         From silence a word was spoken that I try to keep suppressed but is true:  I do worry.  I worry about retirement; I worry about my children; I worry about the Parish; I worry about the Church.  In short I worry about the future.  But the future is not in my control, only the present and what I do with each and every moment that I draw breath.  Silence brought me back to the present.

         All of us need silence.  Let me write again:  All of us need silence, the intentional silence of setting everything aside to listen for God.  Sometimes the silence is empty; sometimes the silence is filled with cares and concerns that bubble up from the deep fissures of our souls.  But if they are not allowed to come to the surface, they cannot be exposed to the light and to the wisdom of God.  And if they are not exposed to the light and to the wisdom of God, they can become corrosive.

         I invite you to join me in taking time each day, even if only for a few minutes, for intentional silence.  Perhaps we will hear the voice of God and, in hearing that voice, find what we need to be who we are created to be.



Friday 10 October 2014

St. Faith's Pet Blessings - Sat Oct 4, 2014


Saturday October 4th was the Feast Day of St. Francis of Assisi, which commemorates the life of St. Francis, who was born in the 12th century and is the patron saint of animals and the environment. 

Richard and Christine set up across the street in front of “Bean Around the World” so people could bring by their pets to be blessed and receive a little treat.

Several familiar furry friends and their humans came by and we and met some new ones.
The dogs attended in person for their blessing
while the cats chose to send their pictures.
Sadly no birds or rodents visited. 
Fortunately the snakes and spiders stayed home J

Below is a picture and a video of Richard, Argyll and Allan (one of Argyll’s humans).


A Prayer of Blessing for our Pets
Creator of all life and love,
we praise you for surrounding us with living creatures,
great and small,
who reveal to us the wonder of your creation.
We thank you for our pets
who bring so much joy into our lives.
By the power of your love may our lives together
be a sign of the peace and harmony
you seek for the whole of creation.
Blessed are you, o Holy One, now and forever.  Amen.