Holy Innocents

"A voice was heard in Ramah,

wailing and loud lamentation,

Rachel weeping for her children;

she refused to be consoled, because they are no more."

 

It has been a trying month.  Our Christmas preparations were shattered by the realization that peace on earth is not a reality – not yet.  This gospel lesson that we heard today, the gospel lesson for Holy Innocents is more that the fulfillment of prophecy.  It is a statement of the depravity to which the lust for power and wealth can drive human beings and the reality that our world is far from the Dream of God and of the pain and suffering that depravity causes.

From Colunbine to Sandy Hook we have come face to face with the loss of innocence.  A USA TODAY examination found mass killings, shootings of 4 or more people, target Americans once every two weeks on average, in attacks that range from robberies to horrific public shooting sprees like the massacre in Newtown, Conn.,

One Saturday afternoon in 1979 I was working at St Dominic’s hospital in Jackson MS.  My code beeper went off and I headed to the ER.  There I saw a 5 year old little boy named Peter, paralyzed from a bullet that had severed his spinal cord at C3.  His 8 year old brother had reached under the seat of the car and found a handgun owned by the husband of their nanny.  In one horrific moment the brother swung around, inches from Peter’s neck and say “bam” as he pulled the trigger.  I have often watched as folks have died, and there is always a sadness about it, but there is nothing more heart-wrenching than when tragedy strikes a child. 

That we have a huge problem in America is pretty obvious.  In December here in our small part of the world it has been devastating.  I mean this part of the country has the most restrictive gun laws in America with the possible exception of California.  We have the best educated populace in America.  We have the most expansive system of healthcare, hospice care, mental health care for those who can pay and for those who cannot pay.  By most accounts we should be living in the safest place in America.  And yet Haverhill made the headlines as the town where the week after the horror of Sandy Hook, someone chose to fire a BB gun into a schoolbus.  What on earth were they thinking?  Well they were not thinking at all!  I mean how ignorant can you get?   

And there are other forms of violence against innocents…  According to UNICEF, 22,000 children die each day due to poverty. And they “die quietly in some of the poorest villages on earth, far removed from the scrutiny and the conscience of the world. Being meek and weak in life makes these dying multitudes even more invisible in death.  Lord have mercy, Christ have mercy, Lord have mercy.

It is enough to cripple even the most optimistic person….  But here we are in the midst of the Christmas season, longing for Peace on Earth, Goodwill to All.  I am in awe of the teachers in Sandy Hook whose preparation for emergency had taught them to lock the doors from the inside and hide the children and I am humbled by the sacrifice of the women who lost their lives trying to stop the violence.

At Christmas we always get that soaring reading from the first chapter of the Gospel of John – “In the beginning was the Word”.  The lectionary moves us out of the stable to consider the Christmas miracle of God with us on a much more expansive scale.  God separated the sky from the earth and the land from the seas - and before it all was the Word.  The Word that would become flesh and dwell among us.  Kind of knocks your socks off when you think about it.  I am in awe of the Creator incarnated, the infinite confined in human form just as I am, the invincible made vulnerable in order to live the hurts, to share the pains. Madeline L’Engle writes:

The Creator demonstrated that behind the majesty, there’s the power of love, that driving force behind the willingness to stoop, to be made vulnerable, to be stripped naked, be born a babe.  Utterly unfathomable.  At one point in human history,   God entered and lived among all of this horror – miracle enough!!   But that is not the end of the miracle of Christmas, because God dwells in us too.  In each one of us is the kernel of goodness of our Creator waiting for us to open our hearts to be the bearers of God’s truth in the world.  That is perhaps the most profound miracle of Christmas – that God dwells in each one of us with the potential to be agents of the Dream of God….   We are both the vessels and the beacons of God’s love in this world.

More than anything else this Christmas I have felt a call to listen God’s word as a clarion call to do something about the violence that seems so pervasive in our society and so today I want to begin a conversation that I hope will ground every single meeting and gathering we have here at Trinity in the coming year.  We have an opportunity to think about and to prepare for the ways we can become more resilient ourselves and better able to help others confront violence.  

Each Sunday we welcome our children with the words Shalom my friends, Shalom.  God’s Shalom implies liberation, salvation and the ability to thrive in life.  It is the consequence of justice and righteousness, not of violence and bloodshed. It is the end of coercion and fragmentation. Whereas violence begets more violence, Shalom is a time 'when all God's creation eases up on hostility and destruction and finds another way of relating.' (paraphrased from Walter Brueggemann)

A new way of relating might include the words we use in worship, the shape of our prayer, the decisions we make about what programming we have, what community celebrations we observe and how, the hospitality and commitment we show to community groups working on violence related issues.  Individually it might mean choosing to read a book or article that educates on the political issues around violence.  We may not all reach the same conclusions but we can all be a better informed electorate.  What this is really about is turning away from indifference and turning instead to compassion and love.

So I want to invite you to consider a couple of things. 

First consider signing a pledge at Annual meeting. 

As an Episcopalian committed in baptism to seeking justice and peace and promoting the dignity of every human being, I commit to being part of the solution to the violence in our culture that claimed the lives of 26 people at Sandy Hook Elementary School and that claims the lives of 2000 innocent children through gun crimes each year. I commit to the pursuit of laws that keep guns out of the hands of criminals, prioritize the needs of at-risk children, provide care for mental illness, and address the many ways in which our culture both celebrates and trivializes violence. I commit to holding my lawmakers, my community, and my own household accountable. I commit to accomplishing these things in 2013. I commit to being the change we need

Secondly, take the time to learn about the issues being considered by lawmakers.  Changing the cycle of violence will involve substantial creativity and commitment in our communities, the commitment of our congregation to stay the course, and a commitment to examining our own behaviors. How about signing up to attend Team Haverhill’s Possible Dreams meeting on January 27.  It will take three hours of your time, but will provide an opportunity for you to talk with others about your hopes and dreams for our city – perhaps even God’s hopes and dreams for us.

Lastly, I ask that you not let despair or anger poison your hope for you and for your children.  Christ’s Peace that we offer each time we share the Eucharist is about freedom from the fear, hatred, and oppression that limits our love and our life.  God’s shalom is bigger than that.  God’s Shalom opens the way for all to be free to love and to live.  It opens the way for Peace on Earth and goodwill for all.  Include in your prayer each and every day a petition that God will give you the strength and courage to persist.

Our Presiding Bishop closed her Christmas message with this:

“Alleluia alleluia let us Go and look – and discover the love of God poured into our world in human form. Hope reigns abroad, in the cosmos and in human hearts. And rejoice, for a child of the light is born in our midst!”
                           Let the church say……  Amen

Relief for New Jersey: Shoes Needed

Alert to the Merrimack Valley Deanery and to other interested persons……  If you know someone who might help please forward….

During my time on the Gulf Coast I worked with many churches who sent teams of people to help rebuild homes and lives after Katrina.  One of those churches was a small parish in South River, New Jersey.  South River was hit hard by Sandy, but Holy Trinity was not damaged.  The parish has opened its doors to be a distribution center for clothing, food, and water for those who have no place to go.  I was not surprised.  I spoke with Mother Joanna Graham, the interim there,  who said that just yesterday a woman walked into the church with a child looking for shoes.  The child was wearing plastic bags on her feet.  I promised Mother Joanna that I would do everything I could to see that she has plenty of shoes to hand out. 

So now I am turning to you.  Trinity is willing to be the collection site for children’s shoes, coats, and warm clothing.  VERY gently used or new please!!!!  Mother Joanna said that she would be grateful to anything, but let’s not short-change our brothers and sisters by offering our discards.  I will provide the truck to carry the goods to New Jersey.  I will need a driver and helpers to go with me to load and unload.  Trinity parishioners will come pick up your donations if you need that service. 

There is more information coming from Michael Hamilton soon, but this is a opportunity to help now. I do not know about NY but NJ lost several churches and rectories.  Pray for our clergy colleagues as they deal with not only the losses of their parishioners, but also their own losses.  I know from working with the clergy in MS that knowing that others cared was sometimes the difference between despair and hope.  Let’s be thinking about how we might provide a respite for their renewal as this tragedy drags on in the weeks and months and years to come. 

God bless, 

Jane Bearden+

Collaboration ministry in the old tobacco country of Maryland

Here's an essay by Greg Syler on the collaborative work they're doing in several parishes in Prince George's County Maryland.  There's a lot of excellent wordly wisdom in it.  But this one piece of anti-worldly-wisdom stands out for me. He wrote:

Stop buying books and looking for the next great consultant, bishop, rector, or senior warden. Listen to what God is calling you into, and what God is saying to your gathering. People are ready to do creative ministry, together.

Paul of Tarsus put this in other words (1 Co 1:22-25)

 "Jews demand signs and Greeks desire wisdom, but we proclaim Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, but to those who are the called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. For God’s foolishness is wiser than human wisdom, and God’s weakness is stronger than human strength."

Good stuff, Greg, thank you.

http://www.ecfvp.org/vestrypapers/death-and-resurrection/real-collaboration/

In Search of the Spirit

As Christians we sometimes find ourselves in search mode. Searching for the right church, the right priest, the right job, the right home. We wake up fresh with purpose and direction and spend our days working tirelessly to find or attain what we think is missing in our lives. We hold meetings, talk among friends, family and co-workers about how to make more money, improve our relationships, creating processes to most efficiently get all we need to get done. So much of our time is spent searching we don't realize we already have everything we need to live our life as God intended.  That is until we think we've lost it.

Here we are at All Saints' Episcopal Church again in search of a Priest in Charge. Our leadership has been at work holding meetings to discern what is our mission in the community; searching for our purpose. They spend much of their time planning and executing events to bring in money and people to help us grow. Our parishioners work hard doing many of the day to day operations of the church:  polishing the pews, counting the collection, planting the flowers,  singing in the choir. And yet we still feel like we're missing something.  We feel that if we just had the right priest all our problems would be solved.

All these efforts are certainly noble and worthwhile and necessary. The right Priest in Charge will definitely be a welcome addition to our church family and improve upon what we have created here at All Saints. But the Spirit of who we are as individuals and as a community of Christians committed to serving each other has always been with us and will continue to be, no matter who is in charge. To realize this all you have to know is how it feels when someone isn't in church on a Sunday. It's then that you can feel their Spirit. It's felt in your missing them.  It's felt in your memory of what they may have done for you or said to you that made you feel so good.

So in our search for a Priest in Charge or whatever we may personally be searching for, let us remember we already have what we need in ourselves and in each other. As Christians we are blessed by knowing that the Holy Spirit is already alive in us; flowing through us and into everyone we meet.  We are never alone, never without, never at a loss. We already have it All.

A Psalm of David: Psalm 23:1-4
"The Lord is my Shepherd; I have everything I need.  
He lets me rest in fields of green grass and leads me to quiet pools of calm water. 
He gives me new strength. He guides me in the right paths, as he has promised. 
Even if I go through the deepest darkness, I will not be afraid, 
Lord, for you are with me. Your shepherd's rod and staff protect me."

May God Bless Every One of You and All of You!

Niki Sarkis, Junior Warden, All Saints Church, West Newbury, MA

New England Lutherans have a new bishop.

A news item ... in fact, a Good News item!

Bishop Margaret Payne of the New England Synod of the ELCA is retiring after twelve years, so last Friday and Saturday the Synod Assembly elected her successor. I had the privilege of being one of the 550 or so electors in that Assembly.

He is the Rev. James Eric Hazelwood, and presently serves as the pastor of St. Andrew Lutheran Church in Charlestown, RI.

In his statement to the assembly before the third ballot (of five) Pastor Jim explained that he grew up in a household that didn't participate in any church, so he knows how to communicate with folks in that situation.

I think we'll learn a lot from his approach to ministry in the 21st century.

Ollie Jones+

Come On. Be Tacky!

By Suzanne DeWitt, St. Paul's, Newburyport
Don’t you love it when God lines things up to create seemingly random coincidences?

Since January I’ve been attending a study of Jesus’ healing ministry at St. Paul’s Church in Newburyport. The twice monthly study is led by pain relief specialist Bob Keller. It centers on Biblical accounts of Jesus’ healing power, and provides an opportunity to explore and practice healing prayer techniques.

On Thursday May 17 a Christian Science healing workshop was held at the Newburyport public library. I’ve studied Christian healing for about 10 years and thought it might be interesting to see how Christian Scientists’ approach it. The place was packed. People of all ages were represented, and there were several wheel chairs and at least one oxygen tank present.

People are hungry for healing. They want to believe it. They want to search it out.
On May 18 and 19 a healing conference was held at Christ Church in Exeter NH, and run by The Rev. Dr. Jack Sheffield from Christ Healing Center in San Antonio. Attendees came from Episcopal churches around the region. Like the study at St. Paul’s it was a wonderful time of teaching, encouragement, and hands-on prayer.

On May 20 I participated for the first time on St. Paul’s Sunday morning healing prayer. Our God of transcendence and immanence lined up a 4 day immersion project for me, coincidentally timing the three events to occur sequentially in one long weekend.

Fr. Sheffield is an entertaining and informative presenter. His eyes sparkled when he said things like “I just LOVE this Jesus!” after describing a miraculous healing. He knew his audience however, and passed along a quip that resonated. He said that as Episcopalians we can do anything as long as it isn’t tacky. The crowd laughed, knowing it to be true. We Episcopalians are a tasteful bunch. But what do the scriptures tell us? Do they teach us to avoid doing the embarrassing?

Imagine the babble at Pentecost, with its accusations of drunkenness. Or consider how tacky it must have been to touch the skin of a leper. How déclassé to wash anyone’s feet, let alone those of subordinates. How appalling to eat with sinners and harlots, to lodge in the unclean stench of a tannery, or to be touched by a woman who has hemorrhaged for 12 years. Not to mention the tackiest Biblical account of all; the crucifixion of Jesus Christ.

Christianity is certainly tacky in this sense. It is potentially embarrassing. Societally offensive. It draws attention in uncomfortable ways. But Christianity should also be tacky in the alternative sense of the word. The World Dictionary defines tacky as "slightly sticky or adhesive". The nascent church was definitely adhesive, when Pentecost’s babble brought thousands to follow The Way. When healings and resurrections drew throngs of people to follow Christ. It was sticky indeed. And it still should be.

People are hungry for healing of all kinds. Jesus gave his healing power to his church. He left it with and in us. He wants us to be His hands and feet and heart, offering healing to a hurting world.

You and I can be part of that. Consider coming to St. Paul Newburyport’s study of Jesus’ Healing Ministry. It is held at 7:00PM on the 2^nd and 4^th Tuesdays of each month. Click here for more information.

Come on! Be tacky!

It has been a busy week....

I have two things on my mind…..

First - On Pentecost in the Epistle to the Romans there is that line about “who hopes for what is seen?”  If I know what the gift I am about to receive is – then I don’t need to hope for it at all.  It is either what I want and need or it is not.  There is no mystery in that at all.  “If we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.”  

Now I will readily admit that patience is not one of my strong points.  I am a do it now – get it done sort of gal.  My idea of waiting patiently for something to happen is to play with my smart phone while I pat my foot and become increasingly anxious over the outcome of my plans.  But I think there is a subtle difference here.  I think what Paul is trying to say is that this thing that is not seen is so beyond our wildest imagination – that we don’t even know it is coming.  What God has in mind is not even on my radar screen.  So of course we wait with patience – we do not know it is coming.  And yet in some mysterious way we do.  And that is what the hope is really about – this hope for what is not seen is faith.  And in the end when we have no words to even approach the mystery we do not see, it is God who gives us the gift of the Holy Spirit and it is the Holy Spirit who speaks for us – and you got to love this line.   “With sighs too deep for words”

Second - On Pentecost we hear in this wonderful story of the early church how the Holy Spirit came and lit up the followers of Jesus literally and figuratively.  They went into the streets telling Jesus’ story to anyone who would listen and they were understood in unexpected and miraculous ways.  And so I wonder, when are our voices unintelligible?  What is it that touches our tongues so that others might hear and understand?  What is it that takes the words we speak and transforms them for the hearers into God’s message?  The author of Acts tells us that it is the very Spirit of God that fills us with love, compassion, and a willingness to reach out to our brothers and sisters, to listen intently to the stories of struggle, to speak truthfully and openly in telling our own stories.  When we open our hearts up to God and allow the Spirit to work in and through us then we are speaking the universal language of Love and we are able to be understood and to understand.

God’s Love, God’s Light, God’s Spirit comes to us as a free gift.  It is given to all – each in her own language – so that all might share in the grace of it.  It sets us on fire with energy and excitement.  It burns like a hot coal in our bellies giving us the passion and desire, and energy to climb to the top of the mountain.  It is all we need for the journey.  God’s spirit fills every void and stretches as far as the imagination can carry us.

11^th Century rabbi named Meir ben Issac wrote a poem for that speaks of God’s Love:

"Could we with ink the ocean fill, Were every blade of grass a quill, Were the whole world of parchment made, And every man a scribe by trade, To write the love of God above would drain the ocean dry; Nor could the scroll contain the whole, Though stretched from sky to sky."