Epiphany 3C sermon

Can you name your heart’s deepest hope? I’m not talking about some nice wish that you’d like to have fulfilled, like hoping it’s sunny out so you can do some outdoor work or getting your taxes in early so you can get a refund, but a hope that touches the deepest fibres of your being. Maybe it’s the hope that this poor world will truly someday experience real peace. Or the hope that there be no hungry children in the world. Or the hope that the world religions might embrace one another instead of fight. Or the hope that disasters like that which happened in Haiti almost two weeks ago or similarly in El Salvador nine years ago not be compounded by what humans have done to the land and to themselves to compound the tragedy. Or, on a more personal level, that people be set free from whatever it is that holds them captive — fear, addiction, financial worries, relationship problems, hatred, or any other sign of what it means to be a fallible human being. Our hearts hold a lot of deep hopes and desires that surpass mere wishes.

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This morning’s gospel portrays Jesus speaking to his people, a people hungry for hope. I think their eyes were fixed on him after his reading from Isaiah because he spoke a truth for which their hearts yearned — they would be set free. It is not too far-fetched, either, to place our selves in that synagogue with the same concerns and hunger.

The first verses we hear this morning, vv 14 and 15 from chapter 4 of Luke, introduce Jesus’ ministry and note his popularity. They also introduce a new section in Luke’s gospel, Jesus’ Galilean ministry and the revelation of Jesus, which will run through to Chapter 9.50. A few features of this portion of the gospel are worth noting: Jesus will gather those disciples who will be his witnesses later in the Book of Acts; Jesus teaches in the synagogue about the reality of the fulfillment of God’s reign and then teaches about love in the context of grace. The section’s basic questions are: ‘Who is Jesus?’ Who can do such works and teach with such power? It also describes the awakening of the disciples’ faith and subsequent teaching about discipleship, especially about rejection and suffering. The entire flow of the section moves from the disciples’ hearing and learning about Jesus to their confessing him as their saviour. We will be hearing from this segment all the way through to the First Sunday in Lent. (Interestingly, on that Sunday, we will jump to what immediately precedes this morning’s reading, the temptation in the wilderness.)

Unfortunately, the first teaching scene is broken up by the lectionary between this and next week. I say ‘unfortunately’ because this week we hear Jesus’ teachings, and next week we hear about people’s reactions to Jesus’ teachings. Since hearing the gospel is not like watching a murder mystery film, where if I tell you what happens next I am spoiling the whole thing, let me say that after hearing what Jesus had to say, people were ready to drive him over a cliff. But that part of the story can wait for next week.

Jesus returns to his homeland, Galilee, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit plays an active and important role throughout the gospel of Luke and the Book of Acts. In this case, the Spirit’s main role is to guide Jesus and equip him for teaching. The Spirit is present at the beginning of Jesus’ ministry, just as the Spirit will aid the earliest church’s ministry starting in Acts 2.

Jesus opens the scroll and reads a composite from Isaiah 61 and Isaiah 58. This portion is rich in overtones recalling verses of the Hebrew Scriptures and other parts of Luke’s gospel itself. The passage is carefully chosen because Isaiah 61 is what is known as one of the Servant Songs, those songs which have been later seen in light of Jesus. The figure in Isaiah 61 brings a message of redemption and of God’s deliverance to the exiles. Jesus goes a step further by declaring that he is the one who will bring about the dawning of the new age of salvation. Jesus ties in Isaiah 58 by meeting in love the needs of those who need God, something Israel had not done. At the same time, his words recall those powerful words of the Magnificat and the Nunc Dimittus.

Jesus reveals his mission of salvation as the Anointed One, the one with the message of good news. Preaching the good news is fundamental to Jesus’ ministry and to the gospel of Luke. He is light and liberator to the poor, captive and blind. He calls the community to a revolutionary way of showing God’s love for all and to offer comfort to those of God’s people who have suffered oppression. By asking the community of God to free the captive and give light to the blind, Jesus also asks the community of God to consider how it stands in relationship with people and societal structures. First most, the community is called to proclaim good news (the gospel hope) to the poor, release to the captives, sight to the blind, freedom to the oppressed, and proclaim a year of Jubilee, a year when all debts are erased and all are equal in God’s sight.

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As those baptised in Christ, we are also called, by the Spirit of God to do as did Jesus, to be witnesses to that amazing expression of hope. The Holy Spirit, through our baptism, does in us what it did in Jesus: it helps us bring good news to the poor, liberate captives, give sight to the blind, uplift the exploited, and proclaim God’s grace.

How does that presence of the Spirit translate into our daily lives? It means that wherever we find any human being not fully living up to her or his human dignity, that wherever we find a human being dehumanised, we should help that sister or brother be fulfilled and overturn whatever oppression holds them captive — whether it’s psychological, spiritual, physical, medical, economic, or cultural.

We see far too much degradation of the human being in our world. Sadly, there are too many poor of spirit, soul, health, material goods in our world. And it is not just ‘out there,’ it is in our midst, too. There is a stream of people who come in through our doors seeking help. I was astounded during jury selection for a case concerning a drug bust several years ago to hear that 10/35 Vermonters present in the court room had some family member affected by drugs.

How do we respond then? We should be like Christ—as far and as best as we can—helping, enlighting, uplifting. Bringing clarity to someone who does not understand God’s grace, bringing hope to someone who has lost it, pointing someone to the manifestation of God’s grace, Jesus Christ. Wherever there is someone poor in our midst—and that changes constantly from person to person, from condition to condition—we are called to respond out of compassion, out of love, and out of God’s justice and mercy. Some of us have been set on fire by the Spirit and are going to have an open door, free lunch to anyone who wants to come, known and unknown, on the 13th with the hopes that it may reach those who are hungry. We are called to bring hope to the captive and help the captive be set free. Some of us go to the jail and share God’s message of pardon and redemption.

We are God’s appointed in this tremendous task of jubilee ministry. Here, at Trinity, as small as we might feel sometimes, each one of us can make a difference. You and I are called to bring the message of God’s Jubilee (not vengeance) to Rutland and its environs, to our places of work and recreation, even to our families. It’s hard work sometimes but doing so is part of our commitment, as expressed in our baptismal vows.

Think about this charge of being a people of Jubilee as we move into our second year together. Think about how you in partnership with Trinity can be a reconciler, peace-maker, and instrument of God’s justice and favour here, now, always.

And may God who has given us the will to do these things, give us the grace and power through our baptism to perform them.

photo: our wall of gratitude... under construction!

From Bishop Duracin of Haiti

FROM THE RT. REV. JEAN ZACHE DURACIN, BISHOP OF HAITI

23 January 2010

Mr. Robert W. Radtke
President
Episcopal Relief and Development
815 Second Avenue
New York, NY 10017

Dear Mr. Radtke:



Grace and peace to you from God our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ.

I am writing to you from the tent city we have set up behind the rubble of College Ste. Pierre, our marvelous senior secondary school that is no more. As you know, we have gathered approximately 3,000 people here alone. Across the land, the Diocese of Haiti has set up at least 21 refugee camps, caring for more than 23,000 people.

In this letter, I wish to make clear to the Diocese of Haiti, to Episcopal Relief and Development and to all of our partners that Episcopal Relief and Development is the official agency of the Diocese of Haiti and that we are partners working hand-in-hand in Haiti's relief and recovery efforts.

I also am announcing in this letter that I am appointing The Rev. Lauren R. Stanley, Appointed Missionary of The Episcopal Church, to work directly with ERD on my behalf. I am asking all partners in The Episcopal Church to communicate directly with Rev. Stanley, so as to keep communications with the Diocese of Haiti open. Rev. Stanley is to communicate and work with ERD on my behalf.

In addition, I am asking that all of our partners in the Presbyterian Church USA work directly with ERD, with Rev. Stanley as the central communications person. PCUSA has worked with us for many years, and we are deeply grateful for their compassion and their commitment to the people of Haiti.

We in the Diocese of Haiti have a vision and a plan for this relief and recovery effort. We know the situation on the ground, we are directing emergency relief to those who need it most, and we already are making plans and moving forward to help our people. Since the earthquake struck, we have been and will continue to work closely with your two representatives here, Ms. Katie Mears and Ms. Kirsten Muth. I have complete confidence in you and your agency.

Finally, I wish to make it plain: I know that many of our partners wish to come to Haiti right now to help. Please tell them that unless they are certified professionals in relief and recovery, they must wait. We will need them in the months and years to come, but at this point, it is too dangerous and too much of a burden for our people to have mission teams here.

Please tell our partners, the people of The Episcopal Church, the people of the United States and indeed the people of the world that we in Haiti are immensely grateful for their prayers, their support and their generosity. This is a desperate time in Haiti; we have lost so much. But we still have the most important asset, the people of God, and we are working continuously to take care of them.

I hope that this letter will help all of us work together to help God's beloved people in Haiti. If you have any questions or concerns, please contact me. If others have questions or concerns, please ask them to contact you or to work directly with Rev. Stanley.

Faithfully,

Mgr. Jean Zaché Duracin
Evêque d'Haïti

Contact information for The Reverend Lauren Stanley:

The Rev. Lauren R. Stanley
TEC Appointed Missionary in Haiti
Assistant to Bishop Duracin,
Partnership Program and Development
Diocese of Haiti
US mobile: 703-678-3892
MereLaurenS@gmail.com
http://GoIntoTheWorld.net

Words on faith

"That's the way life is. There are moments like this, moments of sadness. There are moments of celebration. What's important is to keep the faith. We must keep the faith, knowing that God is with us in the good as well as in the bad days. We must keep the faith." — Bishop Jean Zache Duracin of the Episcopal Diocese of Haiti

The Wall Street Journal has posted a video with an interview with Bishop Duracin in which he said these words. Go look at it; it gives you a sense of the devastation that has befallen our sisters and brothers.

Update on Haiti from Episcopal News Service

Aftershock rocks Haiti, Diocese of Haiti expands its recovery role
By Mary Frances Schjonberg, January 20, 2010

[Episcopal News Service] As a major aftershock rocked the Haitian capital of Port-au-Prince and Léogâne, more news emerged Jan. 20 about the growing role of the Episcopal Diocese of Haiti in the country's short-term relief efforts and long-term recovery.

The news included reports of babies being born and the loss of more people served by the diocese.

A magnitude 5.9 aftershock struck just after 6 a.m. local time about 35 miles southwest of Port-au-Prince, according to the U.S. Geological Survey, which had earlier in the day calculated the aftershock at 6.1 on the Richter scale. It was one of 28 temblors the USGS recorded up until 4:43 EST Jan. 20. A magnitude 6.0 quake is 10 times less in magnitude than a magnitude 7.0, such as the one that devastated Port-au-Prince and the surrounding area eight days ago.

The Haiti Nursing Foundation reported on its website Jan. 20 that three students from the diocese's school of nursing in Léogâne died in their homes during the Jan. 12 quake that also destroyed 80 - 90 percent of the buildings in the main part of town.

That report came along with the news that six babies had been born at the makeshift hospital that has been operating at the school's buildings since just after the earthquake.

The foundation reported that 27 members of a relief team from Japan, including four doctors and seven nurses, are now working at the school and sleeping in one of the dormitories. Members of Doctors Without Borders have also been treating people at the school and members of the United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti have fixed the school's generator and are due to work on its water pump, nursing school dean Hilda Alcindor said on the foundation's website.

She has said that she, the nursing students and the incoming medical personnel have treated at least 5,000 people since the quake. A tent city has sprung up in the open fields around the school. The school's foundation also reported that the nursing students have set up 10 first-aid stations around Léogâne.

In addition, the foundation said, Chip Lambert, a doctor from the Medical Benevolence Foundation had arrived Jan. 19 with a stock of supplies.

The Medical Benevolence Foundation was already a partner with the nursing school as well as the diocese's Hôpital Ste. Croix in Léogâne, a clinic on LaGonava Island, and St. Vincent School for Handicapped Children in Port-au-Prince.

According to confirmed reports, included on CNN's iReport here, at least six children and staff, and possibly as many as 10, were killed when one of the school's buildings collapsed. Since then, the school has been robbed of materials, St.Vincent's director, the Rev. Léon Sadoni said in the CNN iReport and elsewhere.

About 130 St. Vincent students are living at a survivor camp of about 3,000 that diocesan Bishop Jean Zaché Duracin, who was made homeless by the quake, established near College Ste. Pierre in downtown Port-au-Prince. Plans are being made to transfer the St. Vincent students to other living quarters.

Ste. Pierre, a diocesan primary school, was destroyed in the quake, as were at least three other of the diocese's 254 schools, ranging from pre-schools to a university and a seminary. Another of the destroyed schools is the Holy Trinity complex of primary, music and trade schools adjacent to the demolished diocesan Cathédrale Sainte Trinité (Holy Trinity Cathedral) in Port-au-Prince. More than 100 of the diocese's churches have been damaged or destroyed, Duracin has said.

The Rev. Canon Oge Beauvoir, the dean of the diocese's seminary and one of four Episcopal Church missionaries assigned to Haiti, has been assisting Duracin at the camp. He is working with the Jacksonville, Florida-based nonprofit FreshMinistries and its international arm, Be The Change International to help coordinate the Haiti portion of an effort to bring in doctors, medical technicians, translators and prescription medications.

BTCI issued a news release Jan. 19 that said the U. S. Department of Health and Human Services had asked it to help in the relief coordination. The Rev. Dr. Robert V. Lee, chair of FreshMinistries and BTCI, has long-standing relationships with the Episcopal Church in Haiti and close ties with the Haitian government, according to the news release.

Be The Change Haiti will coordinate those efforts on the ground, the release said. Beauvoir, who also heads Be The Change Haiti, has thus far found nearly 40 Haitian physicians and 37 translators, the organization said. Beauvoir, who escaped harm during the earthquake, has offered the diocese's school buildings for use in administering aid and coordinating further relief efforts.

Trinity Wall Street is also participating in the effort to gather personnel for the effort. Lee, BTCI's chair, asked his friend and Trinity rector the Rev. James Cooper for help in locating French and Creole speakers, particularly those with medical backgrounds, who would be willing to help in Haiti. Trinity made the need known and about 50 people responded, according to Donna Presnell, Trinity assistant manager for public relations and promotion. She said the parish is awaiting further word from Lee and Be The Change.

Fraudulent emails re. Haiti

It has come to our attention that someone purporting to be Bishop Jean Zaché Duracin might be sending out fraudulent emails in his name, asking for financial donations. Please do not respond with funds unless you are absolutely certain that the sender is who he or she claims to be. At this time, the far safer way to support the people of Haiti is through Episcopal Relief & Development.

It is sad that such times of great need often provide opportunities for deceitful persons to attempt to gain. Our goal is to ensure that the people of Haiti are supported in a secure manner.

The Rev. Canon C. K. Robertson, Ph.D.
Canon to the Presiding Bishop & Primate
The Episcopal Church

Info on Haiti

La Cathédral du Saint Esprit, Port au Prince, now utterly destroyed

An Urgent Message from the Diocese of Haiti
Please Share
Wednesday 21 January at 3:05pm

Dear Friends in Christ:

On behalf of the Bishop of Haiti, the Rt. Rev. Jean Zaché Duracin, first let me say Mesi anpil, thank you very much, for your love, your prayers, your support, your generosity and your kindness.

I know that many of you want to go to Haiti to help. Many of you already have planned mission trips and have long-standing relationships with your brothers and sisters in Christ in Haiti. Please, Bishop Duracin has been very clear about this: Unless you are a certified first-responder, now is not the time to come. Please let the professionals do their job first as they help the Haitians through the immediate dangers and relief efforts.

Episcopal Relief & Development is working very hard, day and night, to get help where it needs to go. The agency is working closely with Bishop Duracin as well, who is directing efforts, along with the Executive Council of the Diocese of Haiti, and deciding where the most urgent needs are and how to meet them.

I believe the best course of action right now is to pray, to be generous in your financial assistance, and to begin praying about how you can respond in the future. If you are considering -- or had already scheduled -- a mission trip, please pray about who should go to help with the first stages of rebuilding: Those who are healthy, who have specific skills such as carpentry, construction, plumbing, electrical work. Consider learning more Haitian Creole -- 10 lessons are available for free at www.byki.com, and more lessons can be purchased.

The Diocese of Haiti will need your help for many years. This crisis is a marathon, not a short sprint, so we must be prepared to be in this for the long haul.

One immediate way that you can help: Please send all information to me at my email address. I am compiling it for Episcopal Relief & Development. I especially need to know about parishes in the immediately affected areas, their locations, their GPS coordinates and the latest updates you may have received. We have a lot of information floating around out there, but I don't get all of it, and there could be vital information that I miss.

In addition, please to keep an eye on my web site, www.gointotheworld.net. Help me to ensure the information I have is correct, and help me get more information to post.

Please know that Bishop Duracin is counting on everyone here to work together, to help the people and to be faithful. Together, we WILL help God's beloved children in Haiti.

Blessings and peace and many, many prayers,

The Rev. Lauren R. Stanley
TEC Appointed Missionary in Haiti
Assistant to Bishop Duracin,
Partnership Program and Development
Diocese of Haiti
US mobile: 703-678-3892
MereLaurenS@gmail.com
http://GoIntoTheWorld.net

Epiphany 2C

Irish Anglican Herbert O’Driscoll, in his reflections on the readings of our lectionary, offers some wise words about what it means to be church for us on the morning that we have our annual meeting.

Commenting on the passage from Isaiah, he expands on the prophet’s analogy of God talking to God’s beloved people, Israel. He likens their relationship to that of a couple in love, and the transformation that occurs for the pair as their relationship deepens and matures. Using the traditional analogy of the church being Christ’s bride, O’Driscoll thinks about how God must delight in us. Knowing that delight helps O’Driscoll when he gets frustrated with church and realises his view of the church is jaundiced.

O’Driscoll writes, ‘Our conversation about the church these days is full of frustration, fear for the future, and even anger that the church seems unable to fulfil all our hopes and intentions for it. We endlessly list its weaknesses as we see them, and we make dire prophecies about the future. But suppose that [Jesus Christ] sees the church sees the church through very different eyes, looking at it from a heart that loves the church beyond measure—because he gave life to bring it to birth. Could [Jesus] possibly see some reasons to delight in the church today?’

We pray at the Easter Vigil and at every ordination a collect in which we speak of the church, ‘that wonderful and sacred mystery.’ There is much for us to delight in. Not only does Christ love the church, but you and I do, too. That’s why we’re here today… because in the church, that wonderful and sacred mystery, we come close to God in ways that are not always possible in the busyness of our daily lives. Church, the place and people, offers a time-out and a chance to let our defences down, so that the Spirit might touch us in unexpected ways.

Isaiah tells Israel that God will give them a new name. O’Driscoll muses how we might begin to give the church a new name? What might it mean? Right now, the church is much in the news but largely it comes across negatively. What if we were to show even in our city the positive energy and love there is here? O’Driscoll asks a question that is good for us to ponder, too: What new name does Christ wish us to give the church? Maybe we should look at the church, talk about it, as if we love it deeply as I think we do. For the church is not just the buildings, furnace, copier and all the material things that form Trinity. What really matters are the people. We must remember how deeply God loves us. And then we must show that love to one another. By showing that care, we might well give the church a new name, one that goes beyond ‘Episcopal,’ one that indicates peace and love.

Isaiah tells Israel ‘You shall be a crown of beauty in the hand of the Lord… a royal diadem.’ O’Driscoll muses, ‘Perhaps we need to look at the church with the express intention of discerning those things that are its crown jewels. We might begin in a very simple and personal way. What for oneself are the precious and lovely things of the church? A glorious anthem remembered clearly. A magnificent prayer that has entered into one’s own speech patterns. A friendship discovered in the fellowship of the church. A deep sense of peace as a piece of bread is placed in one’s hand. A cross, perhaps old and dulled by time, yet glorious against an evening sky. These and other things are the jewels that form a crown of beauty… a royal diadem.’ What are the lovely things of Trinity that touch you? How has your life been changed by the people of Trinity? Where in this community do you find your deepest needs met? Where do the people point you back to God? And where do you find God in Trinity?

O’Driscoll reminds us that when it comes to the church, the relationship that will bear the most fruit and happiness is one that is committed and steady. People may ‘use the church when they need it, attending on special or uplifting occasions, following an admired leader, but otherwise withdrawing,’ but those relationships he calls ‘half-hearted.’ That appellation may be harsh but truth is, the steady participation in the ebb and flow of the life of the congregation is as important to a deepening of one’s faith as showing up for the high points.

The church is God’s beloved because it is composed of us, God’s beloved. We are called together (that verb is the root of both synagogue and church in their respective languages of Hebrew and Greek) by baptism, by our love for God and God’s love for us.

And, as God loves us, so we show that love to others, near and far. I hold in my hand a tin cross, made in Haiti. Notice what is in the centre, at the crossing of the arms: a heart. This simple cross expresses the heart of God, given for us. As ones who baptised into this heart of love, we share that love with others. Our brothers and sisters in Haiti have had their lives turned upside-down this week in ways that are unfathomable to most of us. The Episcopal Church of Haiti, part of Province II of our church and, in fact, our largest diocese with 200 schools and hospitals, has suffered enormous losses — their once-beautiful cathedral is a pile of rubble; their bishop and his family are homeless; congregants died while at church; families have lost members and more. No matter how little we may feel we have here, we have more. And so this morning I invite you to give of your wealth to our sisters and brothers and then be there for them for the long-haul because reconstruction will be very long indeed. Remember that heart in the middle of the cross.

Our lives are touched by and touch people near and far. We will learn more of that in a short while. At the end of this service, we are going to gather in the unique process called ‘annual meeting,’ provided for us by the canons of the church. Unless you have been in a church where there is no democratic process, it is hard to appreciate what a treasure annual meeting really is. Enjoy it. Realise that it’s our chance to celebrate Trinity and find ways to deepen our relationship with God. For God delights in the church and loves it and us beyond measure.


Endnote
Herbert O’Driscoll, The Word Among Us, Year C, Vol. 1 (Toronto: Anglican Book Centre, 1997), 73-75.

Message from Archbishop Barahona

[English below]

Llamado del primado de IARCA (la Iglesia Anglicana de la Región de Central América) en solidaridad con el pueblo Haitiano.

Estimados hermanos y hermanas, amigos y amigas de la Provincia Anglicana de la Región Central de América y otras personas que con espíritu de solidaridad quieran poner atención a este llamado desde la ciudad de San Salvador, El Salvador, cede del Primado de la Provincia de IARCA.

Les ruego, les suplico, por el amor de Dios que hagamos lo que podamos para apoyar al sufrido pueblo de Haití en la tragedia del martes 12 de enero, cuando un terremoto de 7.3 grados ha destruido gran parte de la infraestructura de esta nación y que ha dejado mas de 100 mil muertos y millones de damnificados, es una de las tragedias mas grandes que hemos tenido en los últimos tiempos.

Oremos para que Dios de fortaleza a la gente y a los familiares que han perdido a sus seres queridos y de una manera muy especial, enviamos nuestro mensaje de solidaridad a nuestra querida Iglesia Episcopal de Haiti, a su Clero y a nuestro hermano Obispo el Revdmo Jean Zache Duracin.
 
Nosotros en nuestra Provincia, sentimos el sufrimiento de ellos; les pido que hagamos donaciones y las enviemos a nuestra institución de ayuda y desarrollo: “Episcopal Relief and Development, estamos seguros que ellos están allí y nosotros debemos apoyar esta gran ayuda humanitaria.

Vayan nuestras oraciones para los que han fallecido, para pedir fortaleza de Dios para sus familiares y los sobrevivientes.

Que la misericordia de Dios este siempre con nosotros.

El Revmo Martín Barahona
Obispo de El Salvador
Primado de IARCA

Call of the Primate of IARCA (the Anglican Church of the Region of Central America) in solidarity with the Haitian people

Dear brothers and sisters, friends of the Province of the Anglican Church of the Region of Central America and other people who, with a spirit of solidarity, want to heed this cry from the city of San Salvador, El Salvador, seat of the Primate of the Province of IARCA:

I beg you, I implore you, for the love of God, that we do all we can to help the people of Haiti. They are suffering from the tragedy of 12 January when a 7.3 earthquake destroyed a major part of the infrastructure of this nation and left more than 100.000 dead and millions of homeless. It is one of the greatest tragedies that we have seen in recent times.

Let us pray that God will give strength to the people and families who have lost their loved ones and, in particular, we send our message of solidarity to our beloved Episcopal Church of Haiti and to our brother bishop, the Most Rev. Jean Zache Duracin.

In our province, we feel their suffering.

I ask you to make donations and send them to our help and development agency, Episcopal Relief and Development. We are sure that they are there and we need to support this huge humanitarian effort.

May our prayers go with those who have perished; may we ask for God’s strength for their families and survivors.
 
May God’s mercy be always with us.

(the Most Rev.) Martín Barahona,
Bishop of El Salvador
Primate of IARCA

Feast of the Epiphany

I had learned in church school that the Epiphany was the festival of the church commemorating the manifestation of Christ to the gentiles in the persons of the Magi. I am not sure I understood what ‘manifestation’ was about; I just remember that we were threatened in confirmation class that if we couldn’t spell ‘epiphany’ or ‘Episcopalian’ that we couldn’t be confirmed. That was enough to strike terror into my sixth-grade heart because I really, really wanted to be confirmed. I figured, I think, that I would get around to the meaning of Epiphany later on in life.

Then I learned that ‘epiphany’ had another, deeper meaning. It could be ‘a sudden, intuitive perception of, or insight into, the reality of the essential meaning of something, usually initiated by some simple, homely, or commonplace occurrence or experience.’ By extension, people can have access to the divine through intuition, insight and perhaps even their dreams.

Think of Proust’s seeing his past in the form of the madeline cookie he dipped into his tea, or the clarity (the answer to that miggly problem you couldn’t figure out) that bursts into your mind when you’re walking or exercising. A simple experience can open up the world to you.

For those of us who have tested as ‘intuitives’ on the Meyers Briggs’ test, we understand well the leaps of logic for which we constantly must apologise or fill in the gaps for those who don’t share the same way of responding to the world. It may be easier to access the divine because of the way our brain is wired. But even the non-intuitive, sensory thinker can access the divine and has moments of intuition that defy reason.

Clearly that’s what this passage from Matthew is all about. Even Herod had an intuition about Jesus—so strong that he called together Three Wise Men to go and search for him—God only knows why. Apparently, the Three Wise Men did as well. Intuitively—or, as scripture says, ‘having been warned in a dream’—they ‘did not return to Herod, but left for their own country by another road.’ Common sense would have told them to be obedient to the King. Apparently, common sense has little to do with the manifestations of God.

Have you ever had the driving sense to do something, contact someone or act not fully knowing why but knowing you have to, because somehow God is involved in that drive? Sometimes you do and find out that your reaching out to a person at a particular moment was the life-saving gesture that that person needed. Sometimes God’s reason, manifested as our intuition or in our dreams, supercedes our reason. And it’s OK.

Intuition. Insight. Dreams. They’re all stuff of God. All manifestations of the divine spark we were each given at the beginning of our own creation. It’s not ancient history at all because it happens over and over again in the days and times of our own lives.

When we allow ourselves to trust that divine spark within each of us, and follow where it leads, we may find ourselves smack in the presence of God. Then we, like the three Magi, may find ourselves overwhelmed with inexplicable joy. Humbled beyond understanding in the presence of the simple, the homely or the commonplace. And generous beyond measure in the midst of the essential meaning of it all.

Which may well be the first steps to the manifestation of true wisdom, leading to our own epiphanies.

Trinity at night

Just a few photos of the church at night in the snow storm...


These were taken at a very slooooow shutter speed, hence a little bit of blurring.


This is a slightly higher resolution than the previous one.


It was a nice walk over to the church in the snow... now we'll see what it all looks like tomorrow!

Christmas 2C

[Nourse Hall, February 2009]

What brought you to church this snowy morning? What compelled you to shovel out, drive through the mush to arrive here to sit on hard pews cushioned by futons? More aptly asked, who brought you here this morning? Can you feel in your heart the words of Psalm 84, ‘How lovely is your dwelling place...’? The Book of Common Prayer words are equally familiar: How dear to me is your dwelling, O Lord of hosts. The verse continues: My soul has a desire and longing for the courts of the LORD; my heart and my flesh rejoice in the living God.

My soul — the centre of my breathing and responding to life;

my heart — the centre of my reflection and understanding;

my flesh — my human frame;

indeed, my whole being longs to be near God, the Giver of life.

The passion with which the psalmist writes is akin to that of a lover who has not seen the belovèd for a long time. One senses that every fibre of the psalmist’s being reaches out to God. As one who perhaps has not yet connected with the Belovèd — that is God — the psalmist looks longingly at others who live with God: the sparrow and swallow are fortunate because they dwell near the house of God. Those people who praise and have strength in God are blessed. The psalmist reiterates his trust in God who will give grace and glory and will not withhold good things from those who walk with integrity. Those who trust in God are truly happy and the psalmist wants to be one of those fortunate people.

Psalm 84 is suitable for several transitions in life… those moments when the soul yearns to be close to God. Certainly one of the most beautiful musical renditions of this psalm is in Brahm’s German Requiem, written in memory of his mother. The universal desire to dwell in God’s courts spans the course of a lifetime from youth, to midlife, to death.

What follows is a meditation on Psalm 84, as experienced in one priest’s life in a particular parish, this one, in the month that we have annual meeting and in which she celebrates her 16th anniversary of ordination to the priesthood. Perhaps parts of this reflection can resonate with your experience and love of this place called Trinity.

How dear to me is your dwelling, O Lord of hosts…

Some of us get to spend more time in God’s dwelling place than others. Certainly I have. Being able to putter prayerfully is a perk of being a priest in a parish (how’s that for a tongue-twister?). I have the opportunity to be in here by myself, walking around, setting up, just being. Some of you do, too, by virtue of serving in choir, altar guild, as chalice bearer or lay eucharistic visitor. There is something wonderful about having a holy space when it is empty and quiet because one realises that it really is not. It is filled with people’s prayers. It is filled with God’s spirit. And so part of my week is spent wandering around the church and chapel, taking in your prayers, your presence and God’s spirit. It is all part of being the priest in partnership.


My heart and my flesh rejoice in the living God.

Up at Saint Mary’s in Northfield, in the summertime on the hot days, I would go over to the naturally cool church, kick off my sandals at the door and walk in barefoot… the way many faiths direct their believers to do when entering sacred space. I could feel the holiness of the church seep in through the soles of my feet. I have adapted this habit to here as well. Try it sometime. I won’t mind. God won’t mind.

By the same token, I would sometimes pray, sitting on the floor in front of the altar. I’ve placed tea candle votives on the floor in front of our high altar once or twice. It is striking (and safe) and reminds me of the countless churches in Spain and France I visited on the Camino. As I said in my sermon last week, the candles people had lit and left behind spoke of prayers that the rest of us could see. And so I invite you to linger sometime in the chapel, that glorious space made more relevant during Christmas tide by the frieze that contains the words to the prologue to the Gospel of John. Light a candle, leave a prayer, write something in the book by the votives, look at the icon of Mary and Jesus.

Now, we are about to test all this nice talk about the loveliness of God’s dwelling place by our annual migration to the chapel and parish hall. The two early services will still be in an obvious ‘church-y’ place whereas the late service will be in Nourse Hall. I am aware that this move is difficult for some and that some even stay away during the winter months because they feel they cannot worship in such a strange place. Perhaps it is less upsetting to me because I started worshipping in Nourse Hall five weeks after I arrived here last year; perhaps, too, because from age 3-12 I worshipped either in a parish hall or in the all-purpose room of my elementary school. I learned from an early age on that God’s spirit could be found wherever one is as long as one is part of the church, the body of people called together, the ecclesia, those called out in God’s name.

Happy are they who dwell in your house! They will always be praising you.

We are called to be the church. Together we make up part of the spirit that resides in God’s dwelling place. Just as God’s spirit, God’s shekina, the animating force dwells within each one of us, so it also dwells in the body as it comes together for prayer and to break bread. That force will fill our hearts whether we are in the church or in the chapel or in Nourse Hall because it will be God’s presence made manifest by our prayer.

Happy are the people whose strength is in you, whose hearts are set on the pilgrim’s way.

One benefit of our moving to Nourse Hall is that the church body can regain consciousness of the rest of this building complex. I sometimes wonder if the majority of the congregation knows just how much happens here outside of Sunday morning worship? You’ll find out about the amazing activity in the annual report but suffice to say that a lot of people go in and out of these doors, use this parish hall whose faces do not show up here on Sunday morning (we might ask why sometime).

Those who go through the desolate valley will find it a place of springs, for the early rains have covered it with pools of water.

So many people come through these doors seeking emotional and spiritual solace. As the economy has gone further and further south, more and more people come seeking aid. Discerning who really needs it and who might be scamming us is probably the hardest part of being in a church or social organisation. Our parish secretary does a heroic job of working through the requests, referring the many to BROC, pointing those who are in emotional distress to my office and gently turning away those whose stories sadly do not ring true.

But people also come to this place for company, fellowship, prayer and a gentle word. Much of parish ministry consists of just being present in the moment, never knowing who might come through the door but certain that we entertain angels unawares and that any one of those people seeking solace might be Jesus.


For one day in your courts is better than a thousand in my own room…

There is no church of one. We can pray alone at home, outdoors, in whatever place we call sacred but finally we need to come back together. This community, the church, is a sanctuary where we can become vulnerable and search for deep intimacy with God.
No good thing will the LORD withhold from those who walk with integrity.

As you and I walk through the seasons together, joined by prayer and communion, we will find that spiritual intimacy for which our souls so yearn. We can have the courage to wrestle with the difficult questions, feel safe to be ourselves unvarnished, allow ourselves to become vulnerable so that we can risk that deep encounter with God.

We have the promise of spiritual intimacy through regular participation in the worship of this community. By coming together week-in, week-out, through the sustenance of the eucharist, we are able to live in the tension of the worlds of Monday-Friday 9.00-5.00 and the Sanctuary.

We come to this table for solace and strength, for pardon and renewal to become one body, one spirit in Christ so that we may worthily serve the world in Christ’s name. Through the eucharist, our soul, heart and bodies can connect with our Belovèd. With that connection made, we can then go forth into the world, rejoicing in the power of the Holy Spirit.

How dear to me is your dwelling, O Lord of hosts.

Yes.

Feast of the Holy Name

The night when she first gave

birth had been

cold. But in later years

she completely forgot

the frost in the beams above her

pain and smoking ovens

and the strangling of the choking

towards morning.

But above all she forgot the

bitter shame

of not being alone,

which is the fate of the poor.

Mainly because of that

in later years it became the feast

at which 
everything was present.

The rough chatter of the

shepherds fell silent.

Later in the story they became

kings.

The wind, which was very cold,

became the angels’ song.

Indeed, of the hole in the roof,

which let in the frost,

there remained only 
the star which looked in.

All this

came from the face of her son,

who was gentle,

loved song,

invited the poor to him.

And had the custom

of living among kings,

and seeing a star above him at

night time. (1)

Bertolt Brecht’s poem, ‘Mary,’ describes not only Jesus’ birth but also our process of re-seeing things, and renaming life experiences. This unique time of living with the story of the incarnation begs us to reconsider not only who Jesus is but who we are.

The readings of Christmas-tide vacillate between the humble place where Jesus was born to the vast heavenly space above us. Shepherds and kings, frost and stars, crowd our imaginations. Throughout this period, however, the readings constantly point us back to the mystery of God becoming incarnate and dwelling among us, of our receiving God’s presence, God’s shekina, as well as the breath of life which has been from before time.

This morning’s reading continues on the story-line of Jesus’ infancy, taking us to just a week after his birth when his parents, obeying Jewish law, take him to be named and sealed with one sign of God’s covenant, circumcision. At the time of being marked, the baby receives his name, ‘Jesus, the name given by the angel before he was conceived in the womb.’

And from that day on, Jesus grows into that name, God-with-us, Emmanuel. At the time Jesus was named, people thought and scriptural writings attested as well, that to call someone by name was to know the essence of that person. There are the stories of Abram and Sarai receiving new names, once God has discerned who and what they shall be for their people. Once they have their name they discover what they are to become.

+

I always feel the pull between the secular observances of New Year’s Day and what we are commemorating here.

Edmund Morgan, writing in the New York Times several years ago about Ben Franklin, says: ‘Is it peculiarly American to want to make yourself a better person? Do people in other countries begin the New Year with a set of resolutions to get up earlier, cut down on drinking, stop smoking and lose weight? Do they energize themselves with books telling them how to be their own shrinks? Do people in, say, Italy or France, think they need to reform themselves annually? Surely not the French. Are bookstores in other countries filled with titles like ‘Fire up Your Life,’ ‘Dare to Win,’ ‘Your Road Map to Lifelong Happiness,’ and, yes, ‘Overcoming Anxiety for Dummies’? (2)

But who amongst us hasn’t had that tug, that yearning to start anew, to have a new name, to discover our essence? Even as a seminarian in my early thirties, I remember the powerful and hopeful experience of starting out a semester with clean, unwritten-in notebooks, and a pile of new books to read. It’s a neat experience but for most of us, once we have left academia, we have less opportunity to contemplate a new start. Life is more of an unending spiral that leaves us little opportunity to contemplate our true essence and who God wants us to become.

New Year’s and the Feast of the Holy Name both speak to that deep-down yearning to start out with a clean slate and get a new name as it were. But the new name is not about our name but how God calls us to a new way of being. God calls us back to those covenants we have made, giving us hope and courage to be who we are and who God created us to be. Through God’s calling us again and again God invites us to discover our essence.

For when God calls me by name, God is not calling me, ‘Dorothy Day,’ or ‘Rigoberta Menchu’ or the names of some of my icons of holiness, ‘Debbie’ or ‘Hannah.’ God calls me by name, Lee Alison, offering me a new way of being and a new way of living.

Each time God calls me by name, I am offered a clean slate, a new way of being. That is far more enriching than New Year’s resolutions which, in my experience, last about two weeks. The gift of being called by name is but a part of the whole wondrous gift of the incarnation that we celebrate at Christmas. Our response to God’s call is to remember the covenant we have made at baptism and answer with firm voice, ‘I will, with God’s help.’ That, too, is wondrous.


END NOTES
(1) Cited in Jesus of Nazareth, Dorothee Soelle and Luise Schottroff, eds (Louisville: WJK Press, 2002), 11.
(2) Edmund S. Morgan, ‘Poor Richard’s New Year,’ The New York Times, Tuesday, December 31, 2002, A21.