Holy, holy, holy, perfect Lord of Hosts,
heaven and earth are full of the holiness of your glory.
You have created all creatures with your word.
You carry them all without being weary,
and feed them all without ceasing.
You think about them all without forgetting any.
You give to all without being diminished.
You water all the earth without running dry.
You watch over all without sleeping.
You hear us all without neglecting any.
While your presence fills every place,
they have told us about you in a way we can receive.
--An Ethiopian prayer;
From Richard Marsh,
Black Angels: the Art and Spirituality of Ethiopia
+
Saturday, February 26, 2011
Monday, February 21, 2011
Lent and Easter 2011
You are invited to keep a holy Lent - and celebrate a happy Easter.
Ash Wednesday services will be offered at noon and 7pm.
St Alban’s will offer a Lenten program on five Wednesdays during Lent beginning at 6pm with a simple soup/salad supper (potluck) followed by a Taizé-style evening worship service. Dates are March 16, 23, 30, and April 6, 13. (Learn about Taizé at http://www.taize.fr/en).
During Holy Week we offer services at 7pm Monday through Friday. Palm Sunday and Easter Sunday services will be at 8am and 10:30 am. The Palm Sunday procession on April 17th (led by the children) will begin the 10:30 service that day. All children are invited to join in the Easter Egg Hunt after the 10:30 service on Easter morning, April 24th.
http://stalbansedmonds.org
+
Ash Wednesday services will be offered at noon and 7pm.
St Alban’s will offer a Lenten program on five Wednesdays during Lent beginning at 6pm with a simple soup/salad supper (potluck) followed by a Taizé-style evening worship service. Dates are March 16, 23, 30, and April 6, 13. (Learn about Taizé at http://www.taize.fr/en).
During Holy Week we offer services at 7pm Monday through Friday. Palm Sunday and Easter Sunday services will be at 8am and 10:30 am. The Palm Sunday procession on April 17th (led by the children) will begin the 10:30 service that day. All children are invited to join in the Easter Egg Hunt after the 10:30 service on Easter morning, April 24th.
http://stalbansedmonds.org
+
To Garden with God
TO GARDEN WITH GOD
DATE: March 5, 2011
TIME: 9:00 am – 3:00 pm
LOCATION: Mustard Seed House
Join Christine Sine in exploring the connection between community, spirituality and gardening. Prepare yourself for the growing season at this seminar by learning from an expert gardener, connecting with other gardeners and taking a moment to recognize the spiritual in your gardening practice. Spiritual insights, practical suggestions for backyard gardening and time for reflection will all enrich and deepen our faith as we explore new ways to connect to the God we love. Each participant will receive a copy of To Garden With God – Spiritual Insights from the Garden, and other helpful resources for organic gardening in the Pacific Northwest.
"I am pleased to recommend the work of Christine Sine. Over the last of couple years, I have grown to deeply appreciate her spiritual insights and knowledge. Community gardening has been an important faith based response to the recession and her work on spirituality and gardening is important for anyone who wants to engage their spiritual practice with stewardship of the land."--The Rt. Rev. Gregory H. Rickel, Bishop of Olympia
COST: $45 – $50 (includes lunch & book; if cost is prohibitive email mail@msainfo.org for scholarship information.)
+
DATE: March 5, 2011
TIME: 9:00 am – 3:00 pm
LOCATION: Mustard Seed House
Join Christine Sine in exploring the connection between community, spirituality and gardening. Prepare yourself for the growing season at this seminar by learning from an expert gardener, connecting with other gardeners and taking a moment to recognize the spiritual in your gardening practice. Spiritual insights, practical suggestions for backyard gardening and time for reflection will all enrich and deepen our faith as we explore new ways to connect to the God we love. Each participant will receive a copy of To Garden With God – Spiritual Insights from the Garden, and other helpful resources for organic gardening in the Pacific Northwest.
"I am pleased to recommend the work of Christine Sine. Over the last of couple years, I have grown to deeply appreciate her spiritual insights and knowledge. Community gardening has been an important faith based response to the recession and her work on spirituality and gardening is important for anyone who wants to engage their spiritual practice with stewardship of the land."--The Rt. Rev. Gregory H. Rickel, Bishop of Olympia
COST: $45 – $50 (includes lunch & book; if cost is prohibitive email mail@msainfo.org for scholarship information.)
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Roger Andersen on Ice
Arctic Ice Presentation
Roger Andersen is part of the Polar Science Center/Applied Physics Lab/University of Washington, and at 7:30 pm Tuesday March 15, at St Alban's Episcopal Church, Edmonds, he will offer a slide show featuring 35 years of doing science in the Arctic. Roger feels that so often he has to offer an unsatisfactory description about his work, and perhaps about where he has been, that he just thought he would give anyone interested a better description, complete with pictures.
The Arctic gets a lot of attention these days, and here is a chance to see what it is like from someone who frequently travels there. If there is interest, he would be happy to discuss how science works and what being a scientist is like, especially if any students of any age show up considering science careers. For those wishing to talk about the current debate concerning climate change, that would be OK too.
You won’t want to miss this fascinating and insightful presentation!
Here are a couple of projects Roger Andersen is involved with:
http://psc.apl.washington.edu/northpole/
http://psc.apl.washington.edu/switchyard/index.html
You are always welcome at St Alban's!
St. Alban's Episcopal Church
21405 82nd Place West (near Five Corners)
Edmonds WA 98026
425-778-0371
stalbansedmonds.org
+
Roger Andersen is part of the Polar Science Center/Applied Physics Lab/University of Washington, and at 7:30 pm Tuesday March 15, at St Alban's Episcopal Church, Edmonds, he will offer a slide show featuring 35 years of doing science in the Arctic. Roger feels that so often he has to offer an unsatisfactory description about his work, and perhaps about where he has been, that he just thought he would give anyone interested a better description, complete with pictures.
The Arctic gets a lot of attention these days, and here is a chance to see what it is like from someone who frequently travels there. If there is interest, he would be happy to discuss how science works and what being a scientist is like, especially if any students of any age show up considering science careers. For those wishing to talk about the current debate concerning climate change, that would be OK too.
You won’t want to miss this fascinating and insightful presentation!
Here are a couple of projects Roger Andersen is involved with:
http://psc.apl.washington.edu/northpole/
http://psc.apl.washington.edu/switchyard/index.html
You are always welcome at St Alban's!
St. Alban's Episcopal Church
21405 82nd Place West (near Five Corners)
Edmonds WA 98026
425-778-0371
stalbansedmonds.org
+
Sunday, February 20, 2011
sour apples
Remember the story Augustine told of the boys in the orchard? That was not gleaning - that was stealing!
Do you remember the story of Ruth? - gleaning among the sheaves, following the harvesters in the field of a man named Boaz. She was following Leviticus 19 - and so was he.
He did not begrudge the foreigner, the poor, the widow, or the stranger, a share in God's bounty. He gave her dignity, respect for her loyalty, and generosity. He shared what God had given.
For who gives us bread from the earth? - the Lord - and we all belong to Him.
Abundance and generosity show piety - that is a love for God carried out in action, in behavior that honors the sacred character of all relationships and puts God first.
God is present in every relationship, every interaction with our fellow human beings.
And so Leviticus:
Do not steal or deal falsely or defraud or cheat or take advantage of weakness and ignorance.
Show by honesty and fair dealing that you love the Lord. Show this is God's world, and you know you live in it - by his grace.
Do not go around spreading rumors.
Do not bear grudges.
That you may be holy,
Broadcast not resentment but peace.
You are God's Temple; you belong to Christ.
So go beyond the circle of retaliation, of revenge upon revenge. Of 'getting your own back'.
End the cycle of violence.
Start a new cycle of generosity and holiness.
Do not rejoice in wrongdoing or delight in telling about it.
Rejoice in the right.
Begin the cycle of creative restoration is the way of life.
The goal is holiness in life together, in being light to the world.
We are the witness to the Gospel, the mirror of the holiness of God.
Our behavior testifies to God's nature, his holiness alive in us.
No grudge bearing.
No tale bearing.
No playing favorites.
No cheating.
No holding back from grace.
Yes "you will look like fools" - to fools, but glorious in the kingdom of God.
You are salt.
You are light.
Abandon retaliation for reconciliation.
Return not evil but good.
Be not a victim but a life-giver.
Your guide is God, not how other people act.
Act - live out - the love of God; make it real, make it show.
Be perfect, that is, be complete - love like God.
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cf. Rules for Respect, Address to Convention of the Diocese of Olympia, 2007, by the Rt. Rev. Gregory H. Rickel
And another apple story...
+
Do you remember the story of Ruth? - gleaning among the sheaves, following the harvesters in the field of a man named Boaz. She was following Leviticus 19 - and so was he.
He did not begrudge the foreigner, the poor, the widow, or the stranger, a share in God's bounty. He gave her dignity, respect for her loyalty, and generosity. He shared what God had given.
For who gives us bread from the earth? - the Lord - and we all belong to Him.
Abundance and generosity show piety - that is a love for God carried out in action, in behavior that honors the sacred character of all relationships and puts God first.
God is present in every relationship, every interaction with our fellow human beings.
And so Leviticus:
Do not steal or deal falsely or defraud or cheat or take advantage of weakness and ignorance.
Show by honesty and fair dealing that you love the Lord. Show this is God's world, and you know you live in it - by his grace.
Do not go around spreading rumors.
Do not bear grudges.
That you may be holy,
Broadcast not resentment but peace.
You are God's Temple; you belong to Christ.
So go beyond the circle of retaliation, of revenge upon revenge. Of 'getting your own back'.
End the cycle of violence.
Start a new cycle of generosity and holiness.
Do not rejoice in wrongdoing or delight in telling about it.
Rejoice in the right.
Begin the cycle of creative restoration is the way of life.
The goal is holiness in life together, in being light to the world.
We are the witness to the Gospel, the mirror of the holiness of God.
Our behavior testifies to God's nature, his holiness alive in us.
No grudge bearing.
No tale bearing.
No playing favorites.
No cheating.
No holding back from grace.
Yes "you will look like fools" - to fools, but glorious in the kingdom of God.
You are salt.
You are light.
Abandon retaliation for reconciliation.
Return not evil but good.
Be not a victim but a life-giver.
Your guide is God, not how other people act.
Act - live out - the love of God; make it real, make it show.
Be perfect, that is, be complete - love like God.
+
cf. Rules for Respect, Address to Convention of the Diocese of Olympia, 2007, by the Rt. Rev. Gregory H. Rickel
And another apple story...
+
rules for respect
Rules for Respect
In every Letter of Agreement I have had with congregations, and now with the Diocese of Olympia I have asked that the “Rules for Respect” spelled out below be made part of the agreement. I first saw these in an article by Church of the Nazarene pastor Charles Christian. I think they are quite helpful in framing our communication and life together. I vow to do my best to follow them and invite you to do the same. We will all fail, but through gentle challenge and loving encouragement these can become a foundation for healthy communication for us all. Blessings to you! Greg
10 Rules for Respect
1. If you have a problem with me, come to me (privately).
2. If I have a problem with you, I will come to you (privately).
3. If someone has a problem with me and comes to you, send them to me. (I’ll do the same for you)
4. If someone consistently will not come to me, say, “Let’s go to Greg together. I am sure he will see us about this.” (I will do the same for you.)
5. Be careful how you interpret me—I’d rather do that. On matters that are unclear, do not feel pressured to interpret my feelings or thoughts. It is easy to misinterpret intentions.
6. I will be careful how I interpret you.
7. If it’s confidential, don’t tell. If you or anyone comes to me in confidence, I won’t tell unless a) the person is going to harm himself/herself, b) the person is going to physically harm someone else, c) a child has been physically or sexually abused. I expect the same from you.
8. I do not read unsigned letters or notes.
9. I do not manipulate; I will not be manipulated; do not let others manipulate you. Do not let others manipulate me through you. I will not preach “at you.” I will leave conviction to the Holy Spirit (she does it better anyway!)
10. When in doubt, just say it. The only dumb questions are those that don’t get asked. Our relationships with one another, at the end of the day, are the most important things so if you have a concern, pray, and then (if led) speak up. If I can answer it without misrepresenting something, someone, or breaking a confidence, I will.
--Rules for Respect, Address to Convention of the Diocese of Olympia, 2007, by the Rt. Rev. Gregory H. Rickel
+
In every Letter of Agreement I have had with congregations, and now with the Diocese of Olympia I have asked that the “Rules for Respect” spelled out below be made part of the agreement. I first saw these in an article by Church of the Nazarene pastor Charles Christian. I think they are quite helpful in framing our communication and life together. I vow to do my best to follow them and invite you to do the same. We will all fail, but through gentle challenge and loving encouragement these can become a foundation for healthy communication for us all. Blessings to you! Greg
10 Rules for Respect
1. If you have a problem with me, come to me (privately).
2. If I have a problem with you, I will come to you (privately).
3. If someone has a problem with me and comes to you, send them to me. (I’ll do the same for you)
4. If someone consistently will not come to me, say, “Let’s go to Greg together. I am sure he will see us about this.” (I will do the same for you.)
5. Be careful how you interpret me—I’d rather do that. On matters that are unclear, do not feel pressured to interpret my feelings or thoughts. It is easy to misinterpret intentions.
6. I will be careful how I interpret you.
7. If it’s confidential, don’t tell. If you or anyone comes to me in confidence, I won’t tell unless a) the person is going to harm himself/herself, b) the person is going to physically harm someone else, c) a child has been physically or sexually abused. I expect the same from you.
8. I do not read unsigned letters or notes.
9. I do not manipulate; I will not be manipulated; do not let others manipulate you. Do not let others manipulate me through you. I will not preach “at you.” I will leave conviction to the Holy Spirit (she does it better anyway!)
10. When in doubt, just say it. The only dumb questions are those that don’t get asked. Our relationships with one another, at the end of the day, are the most important things so if you have a concern, pray, and then (if led) speak up. If I can answer it without misrepresenting something, someone, or breaking a confidence, I will.
--Rules for Respect, Address to Convention of the Diocese of Olympia, 2007, by the Rt. Rev. Gregory H. Rickel
+
Thursday, February 17, 2011
Janani Luwum
In the Westminster Abbey gallery of 20th century
Christian martyrs, Janani Luwum, Archbishop of
Uganda, represents Africa. On the night of
February 16-17, 1977, as the archbishop stood up
to his government and spoke up on behalf of his
suffering people, he received martyrdom at the
hands of Idi Amin. For a hundred years, Uganda
had seen the passion of Christ through his
people: sharing in his suffering and in the joy
of the resurrection that transcends it.
As Jesus inaugurated his ministry in the
synagogue at Nazareth, he declared that today
these words of the prophet Isaiah have been
fulfilled in your hearing:
"The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he
has anointed me to bring good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim release to the
captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to
let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year
of the Lord's favor." (Luke 4:18-19)
If the church has anywhere been called to share
in the ministry and mission of Christ, in his
passion and in his joy, it is here and now - here
and now for Janani Luwum was Uganda in the time
of Obote and Amin; for us it is here and now
where we are today.
Four decades before Janani Luwum was born,
Christianity came to Uganda through Anglican and
Roman Catholic missionaries. Many of them and the
people who responded to their message became
martyrs straightaway, as the ruler of that time
saw them as a threat.
King Mwanga had 32 of his own followers,
Christian converts, stacked like cordwood and
burned. As they died, they sang praise to God and
prayed for their persecutors. The killings did
not have the intended effect: the Ugandan people,
seeing the example of the martyrs, sought out the
few remaining Christians to learn about the
gospel - and the faith spread like wildfire.
We celebrate Uganda's 19th century martyrs
beginning with James Hannington, and we celebrate
its 20th century martyrs beginning with Janani
Luwum.
Born in Acholiland in northern Uganda, Janani
Luwum initially thought to become a
schoolteacher. When, like his father before him,
he converted to Christianity, he began
immediately to share the word and speak out for
God's justice for the people in the land. He
became a figure of peace and reconciliation as he
sought to give the gospel African expression. He
encouraged his church to become economically
independent and take its place among the churches
of the globe as an equal partner in mission. He
worked for the poor, for education and the
alleviation of suffering. And he worked for
justice.
Thirty years after the death of Janani Luwum, the
archbishop of York, John Sentamu, in his Martin
Luther King memorial lecture on 20 January 2007,
gave God's people a call to action that has
implications beyond the walls of the lecture
hall-or the church:
"We must do battle with the four modern demons of
our time: Idolatry, materialism, militarism, and
race-ism. The Christian response is grounded and
formed in the words of Jesus: Love one another.
This is the love that turns the other cheek, the
love that stands in the face of suffering and
refuses to be cowed, this is a love so strong
that it bursts forth from the grave leaving
behind it an empty tomb."
JRL+
+
(See also http://www.jananiluwumtrust.com/luwum.html)
Christian martyrs, Janani Luwum, Archbishop of
Uganda, represents Africa. On the night of
February 16-17, 1977, as the archbishop stood up
to his government and spoke up on behalf of his
suffering people, he received martyrdom at the
hands of Idi Amin. For a hundred years, Uganda
had seen the passion of Christ through his
people: sharing in his suffering and in the joy
of the resurrection that transcends it.
As Jesus inaugurated his ministry in the
synagogue at Nazareth, he declared that today
these words of the prophet Isaiah have been
fulfilled in your hearing:
"The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he
has anointed me to bring good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim release to the
captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to
let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year
of the Lord's favor." (Luke 4:18-19)
If the church has anywhere been called to share
in the ministry and mission of Christ, in his
passion and in his joy, it is here and now - here
and now for Janani Luwum was Uganda in the time
of Obote and Amin; for us it is here and now
where we are today.
Four decades before Janani Luwum was born,
Christianity came to Uganda through Anglican and
Roman Catholic missionaries. Many of them and the
people who responded to their message became
martyrs straightaway, as the ruler of that time
saw them as a threat.
King Mwanga had 32 of his own followers,
Christian converts, stacked like cordwood and
burned. As they died, they sang praise to God and
prayed for their persecutors. The killings did
not have the intended effect: the Ugandan people,
seeing the example of the martyrs, sought out the
few remaining Christians to learn about the
gospel - and the faith spread like wildfire.
We celebrate Uganda's 19th century martyrs
beginning with James Hannington, and we celebrate
its 20th century martyrs beginning with Janani
Luwum.
Born in Acholiland in northern Uganda, Janani
Luwum initially thought to become a
schoolteacher. When, like his father before him,
he converted to Christianity, he began
immediately to share the word and speak out for
God's justice for the people in the land. He
became a figure of peace and reconciliation as he
sought to give the gospel African expression. He
encouraged his church to become economically
independent and take its place among the churches
of the globe as an equal partner in mission. He
worked for the poor, for education and the
alleviation of suffering. And he worked for
justice.
Thirty years after the death of Janani Luwum, the
archbishop of York, John Sentamu, in his Martin
Luther King memorial lecture on 20 January 2007,
gave God's people a call to action that has
implications beyond the walls of the lecture
hall-or the church:
"We must do battle with the four modern demons of
our time: Idolatry, materialism, militarism, and
race-ism. The Christian response is grounded and
formed in the words of Jesus: Love one another.
This is the love that turns the other cheek, the
love that stands in the face of suffering and
refuses to be cowed, this is a love so strong
that it bursts forth from the grave leaving
behind it an empty tomb."
JRL+
+
(See also http://www.jananiluwumtrust.com/luwum.html)
Tuesday, February 15, 2011
As Bold As Love: Janani Luwum and the Martyrs of Uganda
In the Westminster Abbey gallery of 20th century Christian martyrs, Janani Luwum, Archbishop of Uganda, represents Africa. On the night of February 16-17, 1977, as the archbishop stood up to his government and spoke up on behalf of his suffering people, he received martyrdom at the hands of Idi Amin.
For a hundred years, Uganda had seen the passion of Christ through his people: sharing in his suffering and in the joy of the resurrection that transcends it.
As Jesus inaugurated his ministry in the synagogue at Nazareth, he declared that today these words of the prophet Isaiah have been fulfilled in your hearing:
“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor.” (Luke 4:18-19)
If the church has anywhere been called to share in the ministry and mission of Christ, in his passion and in his joy, it is here and now – here and now for Janani Luwum was Uganda in the time of Obote and Amin; for us it is here and now where we are today. And as he was called, we are called, to embody Christ in our own time and place, knowing that God is with us, before us to lead us, beside us to guide us, within us to inspire us, as we seek to serve him in this world.
During the 1880s, four decades before Janani Luwum was born, Christianity came to Uganda through Anglican and Roman Catholic missionaries. Many of them and the people who responded to their message became martyrs straightaway, as the ruler of that time saw them as a threat.
In 1886 King Mwanga had 32 of his own followers, Christian converts, stacked like cordwood and burned. As they died, they sang praise to God and prayed for their persecutors. The killings did not have the intended effect: the Ugandan people, seeing the example of the martyrs, sought out the few remaining Christians to learn about the gospel - and the faith spread like wildfire.
We celebrate Uganda's 19th century martyrs beginning with James Hannington, and we celebrate its 20th century martyrs beginning with Janani Luwum.
Born in Acholiland in northern Uganda in 1922, Janani Luwum initially thought to become a schoolteacher. When, like his father before him, he converted to Christianity, he began immediately to share the word and speak out for God's justice for the people in the land. He became a figure of peace and reconciliation as he sought to give the gospel African expression. He encouraged his church to become economically independent and take its place among the churches of the globe as an equal partner in mission. He worked for the poor, for education and the alleviation of suffering. And he worked for justice.
Among his legacies are the leaders he helped to train, including the present archbishop of Uganda, Henry Luke Orombi, and the archbishop of York, John Sentamu. Thirty years after the death of Janani Luwum, Dr Sentamu, in his Martin Luther King memorial lecture on 20 January 2007, gave God's people a call to action that has implications beyond the walls of the lecture hall - or the church:
“We must do battle with the four modern demons of our time: Idolatry, materialism, militarism, and race-ism...
“We do not educate our opponents by refusing to sit down with them... The belief that we should not be in communion with those against whose views we are passionately opposed benefits neither side. The walls of ignorance and enmity are built higher still in the refusal to even attempt to win over our opponent but rather to prefer to walk our own way convinced of our own righteousness...
“The Christian response is grounded and formed in the words of Jesus: Love one another... This is the love that turns the other cheek, the love that stands in the face of suffering and refuses to be cowed, this is a love so strong that it bursts forth from the grave leaving behind it an empty tomb.”
As we move from Epiphany to Lent, from the season in which God illuminates us with the knowledge of his love embodied in his Son, to a season of preparation for welcoming and worshipping Christ in praise and practice, let us remember the Christian witness and example of Janani Luwum and the martyrs of Uganda, and make our own response to the gospel as bold as love.
JRL+
For a hundred years, Uganda had seen the passion of Christ through his people: sharing in his suffering and in the joy of the resurrection that transcends it.
As Jesus inaugurated his ministry in the synagogue at Nazareth, he declared that today these words of the prophet Isaiah have been fulfilled in your hearing:
“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor.” (Luke 4:18-19)
If the church has anywhere been called to share in the ministry and mission of Christ, in his passion and in his joy, it is here and now – here and now for Janani Luwum was Uganda in the time of Obote and Amin; for us it is here and now where we are today. And as he was called, we are called, to embody Christ in our own time and place, knowing that God is with us, before us to lead us, beside us to guide us, within us to inspire us, as we seek to serve him in this world.
During the 1880s, four decades before Janani Luwum was born, Christianity came to Uganda through Anglican and Roman Catholic missionaries. Many of them and the people who responded to their message became martyrs straightaway, as the ruler of that time saw them as a threat.
In 1886 King Mwanga had 32 of his own followers, Christian converts, stacked like cordwood and burned. As they died, they sang praise to God and prayed for their persecutors. The killings did not have the intended effect: the Ugandan people, seeing the example of the martyrs, sought out the few remaining Christians to learn about the gospel - and the faith spread like wildfire.
We celebrate Uganda's 19th century martyrs beginning with James Hannington, and we celebrate its 20th century martyrs beginning with Janani Luwum.
Born in Acholiland in northern Uganda in 1922, Janani Luwum initially thought to become a schoolteacher. When, like his father before him, he converted to Christianity, he began immediately to share the word and speak out for God's justice for the people in the land. He became a figure of peace and reconciliation as he sought to give the gospel African expression. He encouraged his church to become economically independent and take its place among the churches of the globe as an equal partner in mission. He worked for the poor, for education and the alleviation of suffering. And he worked for justice.
Among his legacies are the leaders he helped to train, including the present archbishop of Uganda, Henry Luke Orombi, and the archbishop of York, John Sentamu. Thirty years after the death of Janani Luwum, Dr Sentamu, in his Martin Luther King memorial lecture on 20 January 2007, gave God's people a call to action that has implications beyond the walls of the lecture hall - or the church:
“We must do battle with the four modern demons of our time: Idolatry, materialism, militarism, and race-ism...
“We do not educate our opponents by refusing to sit down with them... The belief that we should not be in communion with those against whose views we are passionately opposed benefits neither side. The walls of ignorance and enmity are built higher still in the refusal to even attempt to win over our opponent but rather to prefer to walk our own way convinced of our own righteousness...
“The Christian response is grounded and formed in the words of Jesus: Love one another... This is the love that turns the other cheek, the love that stands in the face of suffering and refuses to be cowed, this is a love so strong that it bursts forth from the grave leaving behind it an empty tomb.”
As we move from Epiphany to Lent, from the season in which God illuminates us with the knowledge of his love embodied in his Son, to a season of preparation for welcoming and worshipping Christ in praise and practice, let us remember the Christian witness and example of Janani Luwum and the martyrs of Uganda, and make our own response to the gospel as bold as love.
JRL+
Sunday, February 13, 2011
Not Fade Away
2011 February 13
Sixth Sunday after the Epiphany
Ecclesiasticus 15:15-20
or Deuteronomy 30:15-20
1 Corinthians 3:1-9
Matthew 5:21-37
Psalm 119:1-8
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Nine days after the last British soldiers left American soil, in December of 1783 George Washington met with his officers for a farewell dinner. He addressed them all with great affection and took his leave of them, saying,
'With a heart full of love and gratitude I now take leave of you. I most devoutly wish that your latter days may be as prosperous and happy as your former ones have been glorious and honorable.'
The next day he headed home to his farm.
That is how the victor of the American Revolution said goodbye to the people he had lead, for years, from a beginning as colonial subjects of a faraway king, through a common compact to serve together for the liberation of their country from that ruler, through the establishment of Articles of Confederation and other instruments for unity, and on together through city and wilderness, summer and winter, until they won through to their goal.
Ahead of the people they led was the further goal: the establishment on this continent of a new nation, conceived in liberty.
That is one occasion that echoed today's first reading, from the end of Deuteronomy.
Here is another.
On the night before he died, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., who had led civil rights marchers since the day Mrs. Parks stayed in her seat on a city bus in Montgomery Alabama, spoke to a congregation in Memphis Tennessee, and he said words that echoed, intentionally, the words of Moses.
Martin Luther King said, "Something is happening in Memphis; something is happening in our world. And you know, if I were standing at the beginning of time, with the possibility of taking a kind of general and panoramic view of the whole of human history up to now, and the Almighty said to me, "Martin Luther King, which age would you like to live in?" I would take my mental flight by Egypt and I would watch God's children in their magnificent trek from the dark dungeons of Egypt through, or rather across the Red Sea, through the wilderness on toward the promised land. And in spite of its magnificence, I wouldn't stop there. ...
"Well, I don't know what will happen now. We've got some difficult days ahead. But it really doesn't matter with me now, because I've been to the mountaintop.
And I don't mind.
Like anybody, I would like to live a long life. Longevity has its place. But I'm not concerned about that now. I just want to do God's will. And He's allowed me to go up to the mountain. And I've looked over. And I've seen the Promised Land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight, that we, as a people, will get to the promised land!
And so I'm happy, tonight.
I'm not worried about anything.
I'm not fearing any man!
Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord!!"
On that occasion, Martin Luther King could think of no grander leave-taking than the one we have before us in the words of Moses on the plain before the Promised Land, as he spoke to the People of God.
Moses and Aaron and Miriam had led the people on their journey out of bondage to freedom, had made with them the covenant with God that bound them together as a people, had received with them the Law - which laid out for them how to be obedient to God in that covenant relationship, had walked with them through the wilderness, and now had brought them to the brink of the Promised Land.
Moses on the plains of Moab, in the final chapters of Deuteronomy (29:1-30:20), gives his farewell address to the people. He reminds them of all this that they had gone through together, all they had been to each other, and all they had compacted together to do. He reminded them of who they were: the people of God, chosen, redeemed, and blessed.
You were chosen. You are saved. You will be blessed.
And then he put before them the choice. As they stood together waiting to go in and claim the land for themselves, he told them - not where they were going, but how to go forward together, how to go forward into the future in a way that would be worthy of all they were and all they were called to be.
He said, I have set before you today a choice: life and prosperity, or death and adversity. To follow the way of the Lord, the way of the One who has brought you out of Egypt, led you in the Wilderness, made covenant agreement with you - "I will be your God and you will be my People" - and given you the words to guide you in following through on that covenant, the One who has sustained you these forty years, the One who has brought you safe thus far - to follow the Lord into LIFE - that is one way to go. The other - that will lead you to death - you may choose that instead. It's up to you.
CHOOSE LIFE
And then Jesus makes it harder. He tells his disciples, on the mountaintop, there is more to this than keeping the rules - you must keep the faith.
Love the Lord, and hold fast. Through respect and obedience live out your faith in response to love.
It's not about the rules; it's about the relationship.
It's not about which side of a line you're on.
It's not about coloring inside the lines - or slipping across when his back is turned.
It's not about working the system.
It's not about maintaining the system.
You must be more righteous than the best of the rule-keepers.
Only through Christ and in Christ and with Christ is this possible.
With him it is all loving response to a loving God.
Love God, love one another, love your neighbor as yourself. Do as you would be done by.
This is the way to LIFE.
To trust in God.
To keep his commandments - that is a matter of course if you love the Lord.
As a matter of course we fall short. We fail. We let each other down. We even betray.
And then we have to come back, once again, to the feet of the Lord.
Before we can celebrate our achievements, or acknowledge even the blessings we have received, we find we have to confess our faults, our failings, and make peace.
Be reconciled. Be reconciled before God.
There is not much room for false pride - the pride of not acknowledging your true place in the universe. There is not much room for false humility - also the pride of not acknowledging your true place in the universe.
What there is room for is hope - and faith - and love. What there is room for is pride that is true - that is self esteem based on acknowledging your true place in God's creation - as his people, as his children, as the ones he is building into his kingdom.
There is room for true humility - the acknowledgment of God's call to us, God's work in us, God's creation in us of the people he always conceived us to be - his children.
There is a moment of freedom. It is the present moment. The past is over and done with; full of folly and treasure and pride and false hope and true love as it may have been, it is over now. The future is in God's hands. Today, now, this moment, is the moment of freedom.
In this moment we are given a choice. Before us he has put fire and water: it is that distinct a choice.
There on the left is life, waiting to be lived.
On the right, nothing really. Not in the long run. Just false pride, false hope, false humility.
On the left is life. A warning though:
It is real life. It is life full of all that we need God for - all the pain and joy and sorrow and grace and loneliness and crowdedness and humanity and individuality that comes with life. The moments of desolation, the moments of swelling pride.
It is all there - now - choose life.
Choose it in big ways - and small ones.
Go for a walk. Be a friend.
Haven't seen somebody for awhile? Give them a call.
Go see somebody in the hospital. Go watch somebody graduate from high school. Go see a baby take another step - and give that goofy grin like Neil Armstrong stepping on the moon.
Go see a dog chase a ball in the park. Go bring a primrose to someone in prison, or sick, or in the nursing wing.
Go ahead and see if you can't get into that class - the one that leads to the outrageous dream. Try out for 'Pinafore'. Play the bass trombone.
Make your own list.
It's your life - that is, it's in your hands - and God's, if you let it be in his hands.
He gives you the choice.
Choose life.
And know now that it is never about the rules - not really - not ultimately. They are there for you, surely. There is no getting out of it - we have things to do, promises to keep. But they are not the point. The point is the love of the Lord, the living God.
The One who made you, sustains, redeems and sanctifies you, calls you into his service - he calls you to follow him still, over the threshold of the promised land and into his kingdom.
If you seek God's will, love the Lord and keep to his ways, you will be blessed.
What's more - you will bless others.
Blessed One, bless us, in the breaking of the bread, the sharing of the cup, the sharing of our lives, the redeeming of the world. Bless us: Blessed One.
+
[This is more or less the sermon I gave at the 8 o'clock service. At the 10:30 service I walked away from the script and preached from the open book of the gospels.]
+
Edmonds, Washington: Saint Alban's Episcopal Church.
+
Sixth Sunday after the Epiphany
Ecclesiasticus 15:15-20
or Deuteronomy 30:15-20
1 Corinthians 3:1-9
Matthew 5:21-37
Psalm 119:1-8
+
Nine days after the last British soldiers left American soil, in December of 1783 George Washington met with his officers for a farewell dinner. He addressed them all with great affection and took his leave of them, saying,
'With a heart full of love and gratitude I now take leave of you. I most devoutly wish that your latter days may be as prosperous and happy as your former ones have been glorious and honorable.'
The next day he headed home to his farm.
That is how the victor of the American Revolution said goodbye to the people he had lead, for years, from a beginning as colonial subjects of a faraway king, through a common compact to serve together for the liberation of their country from that ruler, through the establishment of Articles of Confederation and other instruments for unity, and on together through city and wilderness, summer and winter, until they won through to their goal.
Ahead of the people they led was the further goal: the establishment on this continent of a new nation, conceived in liberty.
That is one occasion that echoed today's first reading, from the end of Deuteronomy.
Here is another.
On the night before he died, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., who had led civil rights marchers since the day Mrs. Parks stayed in her seat on a city bus in Montgomery Alabama, spoke to a congregation in Memphis Tennessee, and he said words that echoed, intentionally, the words of Moses.
Martin Luther King said, "Something is happening in Memphis; something is happening in our world. And you know, if I were standing at the beginning of time, with the possibility of taking a kind of general and panoramic view of the whole of human history up to now, and the Almighty said to me, "Martin Luther King, which age would you like to live in?" I would take my mental flight by Egypt and I would watch God's children in their magnificent trek from the dark dungeons of Egypt through, or rather across the Red Sea, through the wilderness on toward the promised land. And in spite of its magnificence, I wouldn't stop there. ...
"Well, I don't know what will happen now. We've got some difficult days ahead. But it really doesn't matter with me now, because I've been to the mountaintop.
And I don't mind.
Like anybody, I would like to live a long life. Longevity has its place. But I'm not concerned about that now. I just want to do God's will. And He's allowed me to go up to the mountain. And I've looked over. And I've seen the Promised Land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight, that we, as a people, will get to the promised land!
And so I'm happy, tonight.
I'm not worried about anything.
I'm not fearing any man!
Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord!!"
On that occasion, Martin Luther King could think of no grander leave-taking than the one we have before us in the words of Moses on the plain before the Promised Land, as he spoke to the People of God.
Moses and Aaron and Miriam had led the people on their journey out of bondage to freedom, had made with them the covenant with God that bound them together as a people, had received with them the Law - which laid out for them how to be obedient to God in that covenant relationship, had walked with them through the wilderness, and now had brought them to the brink of the Promised Land.
Moses on the plains of Moab, in the final chapters of Deuteronomy (29:1-30:20), gives his farewell address to the people. He reminds them of all this that they had gone through together, all they had been to each other, and all they had compacted together to do. He reminded them of who they were: the people of God, chosen, redeemed, and blessed.
You were chosen. You are saved. You will be blessed.
And then he put before them the choice. As they stood together waiting to go in and claim the land for themselves, he told them - not where they were going, but how to go forward together, how to go forward into the future in a way that would be worthy of all they were and all they were called to be.
He said, I have set before you today a choice: life and prosperity, or death and adversity. To follow the way of the Lord, the way of the One who has brought you out of Egypt, led you in the Wilderness, made covenant agreement with you - "I will be your God and you will be my People" - and given you the words to guide you in following through on that covenant, the One who has sustained you these forty years, the One who has brought you safe thus far - to follow the Lord into LIFE - that is one way to go. The other - that will lead you to death - you may choose that instead. It's up to you.
CHOOSE LIFE
And then Jesus makes it harder. He tells his disciples, on the mountaintop, there is more to this than keeping the rules - you must keep the faith.
Love the Lord, and hold fast. Through respect and obedience live out your faith in response to love.
It's not about the rules; it's about the relationship.
It's not about which side of a line you're on.
It's not about coloring inside the lines - or slipping across when his back is turned.
It's not about working the system.
It's not about maintaining the system.
You must be more righteous than the best of the rule-keepers.
Only through Christ and in Christ and with Christ is this possible.
With him it is all loving response to a loving God.
Love God, love one another, love your neighbor as yourself. Do as you would be done by.
This is the way to LIFE.
To trust in God.
To keep his commandments - that is a matter of course if you love the Lord.
As a matter of course we fall short. We fail. We let each other down. We even betray.
And then we have to come back, once again, to the feet of the Lord.
Before we can celebrate our achievements, or acknowledge even the blessings we have received, we find we have to confess our faults, our failings, and make peace.
Be reconciled. Be reconciled before God.
There is not much room for false pride - the pride of not acknowledging your true place in the universe. There is not much room for false humility - also the pride of not acknowledging your true place in the universe.
What there is room for is hope - and faith - and love. What there is room for is pride that is true - that is self esteem based on acknowledging your true place in God's creation - as his people, as his children, as the ones he is building into his kingdom.
There is room for true humility - the acknowledgment of God's call to us, God's work in us, God's creation in us of the people he always conceived us to be - his children.
There is a moment of freedom. It is the present moment. The past is over and done with; full of folly and treasure and pride and false hope and true love as it may have been, it is over now. The future is in God's hands. Today, now, this moment, is the moment of freedom.
In this moment we are given a choice. Before us he has put fire and water: it is that distinct a choice.
There on the left is life, waiting to be lived.
On the right, nothing really. Not in the long run. Just false pride, false hope, false humility.
On the left is life. A warning though:
It is real life. It is life full of all that we need God for - all the pain and joy and sorrow and grace and loneliness and crowdedness and humanity and individuality that comes with life. The moments of desolation, the moments of swelling pride.
It is all there - now - choose life.
Choose it in big ways - and small ones.
Go for a walk. Be a friend.
Haven't seen somebody for awhile? Give them a call.
Go see somebody in the hospital. Go watch somebody graduate from high school. Go see a baby take another step - and give that goofy grin like Neil Armstrong stepping on the moon.
Go see a dog chase a ball in the park. Go bring a primrose to someone in prison, or sick, or in the nursing wing.
Go ahead and see if you can't get into that class - the one that leads to the outrageous dream. Try out for 'Pinafore'. Play the bass trombone.
Make your own list.
It's your life - that is, it's in your hands - and God's, if you let it be in his hands.
He gives you the choice.
Choose life.
And know now that it is never about the rules - not really - not ultimately. They are there for you, surely. There is no getting out of it - we have things to do, promises to keep. But they are not the point. The point is the love of the Lord, the living God.
The One who made you, sustains, redeems and sanctifies you, calls you into his service - he calls you to follow him still, over the threshold of the promised land and into his kingdom.
If you seek God's will, love the Lord and keep to his ways, you will be blessed.
What's more - you will bless others.
Blessed One, bless us, in the breaking of the bread, the sharing of the cup, the sharing of our lives, the redeeming of the world. Bless us: Blessed One.
+
[This is more or less the sermon I gave at the 8 o'clock service. At the 10:30 service I walked away from the script and preached from the open book of the gospels.]
+
Edmonds, Washington: Saint Alban's Episcopal Church.
+
half his age
When Bilbo Baggins was twice my age he gave his 111th birthday party for the Shire folk.
He had spent most of his life among them, except for some strange adventures.
He now sought to be welcomed into a place that had been awaiting his arrival for years.
And so he prepared (apparently) a speech. And he stood up on a stool and spoke out:
My dear Bagginses, and Boffins, Tooks and Brandybucks...Grubbs, Chubbs, Hornblowers, Bolgers, Bracegirdles and Proudfoots...
Today is my one hundred and eleventh birthday. Yes, and alas...
Eleventy-one years is far too short a time to live among such excellent and admirable Hobbits!
I don't know half of you half as well as I should like; and I like less than half
of you half as well as you deserve.
I have..things to do and I have put this off for far too long...
I regret to announce, this is the end. I am going now. I bid you all a very fond
farewell!!
(and then he whispered)
Goodbye.
Goodbye. We say it with such easiness. We say it with sorrow. We say it with pride.
Shall we say it, at last, in humility, with grace? In abundant joy? In temperate pride?
We can, you know.
For we are the children of God and we go - all of us eventually - to be by his side.
We go together - in every small step we take toward his throne.
When we take the road toward life - when we 'choose life' as Deuteronomy prompts us - we go forward.
We choose life in little ways. And step by step we move forward.
Some of those steps are pretty dramatic. Some are mundane.
The dramatic ones - the ones we notice - we are able more readily to take because we have taken the small steps.
The road away from life, with its soft steady plodding into the darkness (cf. C. S. Lewis, The Screwtape Letters) or its dramatic dives, can be taken in small doses too. But let's not go there.
Let's look at the way of life.
It is the way of God.
Mary Holmes, who taught art history - and life - at UC Santa Cruz, remarked once - and this to a class of young adults in college - that what was missing from religion in our time is
OBEDIENCE
of all things. Obedience.
Obedience to the law of love, the way of life, the way that Moses chose to take, the way the law leads to - and the way Jesus chose to follow, even to the Cross.
The way of life has small steps of behavior - of charity, of celebration, of gratitude.
It is with us whether we are up or down.
The words of the wedding promises almost fit, because this is a covenant relationship too.
for better for worse,
for richer for poorer,
in sickness and in health,
God's covenant lasts forever.
The love of God in which all other loves find their home and origin and consummation, that is eternal.
And we are invited to live into it. Because the way of the Lord is the way of Love.
The way of love - even the way of the Cross - is the way God has laid out for us.
Jesus has pioneered that road. He has taken it - and he is with us as we travel it.
He will be with us always - the end of the ages will find him still with us.
And we will rejoice in that love, and keep to his ways, as we choose life.
Choose life - and the blessing of God be upon you, now and always, together or alone.
Far away or around the corner, God is near.
+
Bilbo Baggins gives his farewell speech in The Fellowship of the Rings, a 'fairy-story' told by J. R. R. Tolkien (1954).
+
He had spent most of his life among them, except for some strange adventures.
He now sought to be welcomed into a place that had been awaiting his arrival for years.
And so he prepared (apparently) a speech. And he stood up on a stool and spoke out:
My dear Bagginses, and Boffins, Tooks and Brandybucks...Grubbs, Chubbs, Hornblowers, Bolgers, Bracegirdles and Proudfoots...
Today is my one hundred and eleventh birthday. Yes, and alas...
Eleventy-one years is far too short a time to live among such excellent and admirable Hobbits!
I don't know half of you half as well as I should like; and I like less than half
of you half as well as you deserve.
I have..things to do and I have put this off for far too long...
I regret to announce, this is the end. I am going now. I bid you all a very fond
farewell!!
(and then he whispered)
Goodbye.
Goodbye. We say it with such easiness. We say it with sorrow. We say it with pride.
Shall we say it, at last, in humility, with grace? In abundant joy? In temperate pride?
We can, you know.
For we are the children of God and we go - all of us eventually - to be by his side.
We go together - in every small step we take toward his throne.
When we take the road toward life - when we 'choose life' as Deuteronomy prompts us - we go forward.
We choose life in little ways. And step by step we move forward.
Some of those steps are pretty dramatic. Some are mundane.
The dramatic ones - the ones we notice - we are able more readily to take because we have taken the small steps.
The road away from life, with its soft steady plodding into the darkness (cf. C. S. Lewis, The Screwtape Letters) or its dramatic dives, can be taken in small doses too. But let's not go there.
Let's look at the way of life.
It is the way of God.
Mary Holmes, who taught art history - and life - at UC Santa Cruz, remarked once - and this to a class of young adults in college - that what was missing from religion in our time is
OBEDIENCE
of all things. Obedience.
Obedience to the law of love, the way of life, the way that Moses chose to take, the way the law leads to - and the way Jesus chose to follow, even to the Cross.
The way of life has small steps of behavior - of charity, of celebration, of gratitude.
It is with us whether we are up or down.
The words of the wedding promises almost fit, because this is a covenant relationship too.
for better for worse,
for richer for poorer,
in sickness and in health,
God's covenant lasts forever.
The love of God in which all other loves find their home and origin and consummation, that is eternal.
And we are invited to live into it. Because the way of the Lord is the way of Love.
The way of love - even the way of the Cross - is the way God has laid out for us.
Jesus has pioneered that road. He has taken it - and he is with us as we travel it.
He will be with us always - the end of the ages will find him still with us.
And we will rejoice in that love, and keep to his ways, as we choose life.
Choose life - and the blessing of God be upon you, now and always, together or alone.
Far away or around the corner, God is near.
+
Bilbo Baggins gives his farewell speech in The Fellowship of the Rings, a 'fairy-story' told by J. R. R. Tolkien (1954).
+
"I've been to the mountaintop"
Martin Luther King, Jr
"I've Been to the Mountaintop"
delivered 3 April 1968, Mason Temple (Church of God in Christ Headquarters), Memphis, Tennessee
Something is happening in Memphis; something is happening in our world. And you know, if I were standing at the beginning of time, with the possibility of taking a kind of general and panoramic view of the whole of human history up to now, and the Almighty said to me, "Martin Luther King, which age would you like to live in?" I would take my mental flight by Egypt and I would watch God's children in their magnificent trek from the dark dungeons of Egypt through, or rather across the Red Sea, through the wilderness on toward the promised land. And in spite of its magnificence, I wouldn't stop there....
Well, I don't know what will happen now. We've got some difficult days ahead. But it really doesn't matter with me now, because I've been to the mountaintop.
And I don't mind.
Like anybody, I would like to live a long life. Longevity has its place. But I'm not concerned about that now. I just want to do God's will. And He's allowed me to go up to the mountain. And I've looked over. And I've seen the Promised Land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight, that we, as a people, will get to the promised land!
And so I'm happy, tonight.
I'm not worried about anything.
I'm not fearing any man!
Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord!!
http://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/mlkivebeentothemountaintop.htm
+
"I've Been to the Mountaintop"
delivered 3 April 1968, Mason Temple (Church of God in Christ Headquarters), Memphis, Tennessee
Something is happening in Memphis; something is happening in our world. And you know, if I were standing at the beginning of time, with the possibility of taking a kind of general and panoramic view of the whole of human history up to now, and the Almighty said to me, "Martin Luther King, which age would you like to live in?" I would take my mental flight by Egypt and I would watch God's children in their magnificent trek from the dark dungeons of Egypt through, or rather across the Red Sea, through the wilderness on toward the promised land. And in spite of its magnificence, I wouldn't stop there....
Well, I don't know what will happen now. We've got some difficult days ahead. But it really doesn't matter with me now, because I've been to the mountaintop.
And I don't mind.
Like anybody, I would like to live a long life. Longevity has its place. But I'm not concerned about that now. I just want to do God's will. And He's allowed me to go up to the mountain. And I've looked over. And I've seen the Promised Land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight, that we, as a people, will get to the promised land!
And so I'm happy, tonight.
I'm not worried about anything.
I'm not fearing any man!
Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord!!
http://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/mlkivebeentothemountaintop.htm
+
Saturday, February 12, 2011
Moses says Goodbye
Moses said to all Israel the words which the Lord commanded him, "See, I have set before you today life and prosperity, death and adversity. If you obey the commandments of the LORD your God that I am commanding you today, by loving the LORD your God, walking in his ways, and observing his commandments, decrees, and ordinances, then you shall live and become numerous, and the LORD your God will bless you in the land that you are entering to possess. But if your heart turns away and you do not hear, but are led astray to bow down to other gods and serve them, I declare to you today that you shall perish; you shall not live long in the land that you are crossing the Jordan to enter and possess. I call heaven and earth to witness against you today that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Choose life so that you and your descendants may live, loving the LORD your God, obeying him, and holding fast to him; for that means life to you and length of days, so that you may live in the land that the LORD swore to give to your ancestors, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob."
Deuteronomy 30:15-20
+
Deuteronomy 30:15-20
+
George Washington says Goodbye
Washington's Farewell Address 1796
Friends and Citizens:
The period for a new election of a citizen to administer the executive government of the United States being not far distant, and the time actually arrived when your thoughts must be employed in designating the person who is to be clothed with that important trust, it appears to me proper, especially as it may conduce to a more distinct expression of the public voice, that I should now apprise you of the resolution I have formed, to decline being considered among the number of those out of whom a choice is to be made. ...
Though, in reviewing the incidents of my administration, I am unconscious of intentional error, I am nevertheless too sensible of my defects not to think it probable that I may have committed many errors. Whatever they may be, I fervently beseech the Almighty to avert or mitigate the evils to which they may tend. I shall also carry with me the hope that my country will never cease to view them with indulgence; and that, after forty five years of my life dedicated to its service with an upright zeal, the faults of incompetent abilities will be consigned to oblivion, as myself must soon be to the mansions of rest.
Relying on its kindness in this as in other things, and actuated by that fervent love towards it, which is so natural to a man who views in it the native soil of himself and his progenitors for several generations, I anticipate with pleasing expectation that retreat in which I promise myself to realize, without alloy, the sweet enjoyment of partaking, in the midst of my fellow-citizens, the benign influence of good laws under a free government, the ever-favorite object of my heart, and the happy reward, as I trust, of our mutual cares, labors, and dangers.
http://avalon.law.yale.edu/18th_century/washing.asp
+
See also
Washington Said Farewell To Officers
At Fraunces Tavern At War's End
On December 4, 1783, nine days after the last British soldiers left American soil and truly ended the Revolution, George Washington invited the officers of the Continental Army to join him in the Long Room of Fraunces Tavern so he could say farewell. The best known account of this emotional leave-taking comes from the Memoirs of Colonel Benjamin Tallmadge, written in 1830 and now in the collection of Fraunces Tavern Museum. As Tallmadge recalled,
"The time now drew near when General Washington intended to leave this part of the country for his beloved retreat at Mt. Vernon. On Tuesday the 4th of December it was made known to the officers then in New York that General Washington intended to commence his journey on that day.
At 12 o'clock the officers repaired to Fraunces Tavern in Pearl Street where General Washington had appointed to meet them and to take his final leave of them. We had been assembled but a few moments when his excellency entered the room. His emotions were too strong to be concealed which seemed to be reciprocated by every officer present. After partaking of a slight refreshment in almost breathless silence the General filled his glass with wine and turning to the officers said, 'With a heart full of love and gratitude I now take leave of you. I most devoutly wish that your latter days may be as prosperous and happy as your former ones have been glorious and honorable.'
After the officers had taken a glass of wine General Washington said 'I cannot come to each of you but shall feel obliged if each of you will come and take me by the hand.' General Knox being nearest to him turned to the Commander-in-chief who, suffused in tears, was incapable of utterance but grasped his hand when they embraced each other in silence. In the same affectionate manner every officer in the room marched up and parted with his general in chief. Such a scene of sorrow and weeping I had never before witnessed and fondly hope I may never be called to witness again."
http://www.frauncestavernmuseum.org/mus_farewell.html
+
Friends and Citizens:
The period for a new election of a citizen to administer the executive government of the United States being not far distant, and the time actually arrived when your thoughts must be employed in designating the person who is to be clothed with that important trust, it appears to me proper, especially as it may conduce to a more distinct expression of the public voice, that I should now apprise you of the resolution I have formed, to decline being considered among the number of those out of whom a choice is to be made. ...
Though, in reviewing the incidents of my administration, I am unconscious of intentional error, I am nevertheless too sensible of my defects not to think it probable that I may have committed many errors. Whatever they may be, I fervently beseech the Almighty to avert or mitigate the evils to which they may tend. I shall also carry with me the hope that my country will never cease to view them with indulgence; and that, after forty five years of my life dedicated to its service with an upright zeal, the faults of incompetent abilities will be consigned to oblivion, as myself must soon be to the mansions of rest.
Relying on its kindness in this as in other things, and actuated by that fervent love towards it, which is so natural to a man who views in it the native soil of himself and his progenitors for several generations, I anticipate with pleasing expectation that retreat in which I promise myself to realize, without alloy, the sweet enjoyment of partaking, in the midst of my fellow-citizens, the benign influence of good laws under a free government, the ever-favorite object of my heart, and the happy reward, as I trust, of our mutual cares, labors, and dangers.
http://avalon.law.yale.edu/18th_century/washing.asp
+
See also
Washington Said Farewell To Officers
At Fraunces Tavern At War's End
On December 4, 1783, nine days after the last British soldiers left American soil and truly ended the Revolution, George Washington invited the officers of the Continental Army to join him in the Long Room of Fraunces Tavern so he could say farewell. The best known account of this emotional leave-taking comes from the Memoirs of Colonel Benjamin Tallmadge, written in 1830 and now in the collection of Fraunces Tavern Museum. As Tallmadge recalled,
"The time now drew near when General Washington intended to leave this part of the country for his beloved retreat at Mt. Vernon. On Tuesday the 4th of December it was made known to the officers then in New York that General Washington intended to commence his journey on that day.
At 12 o'clock the officers repaired to Fraunces Tavern in Pearl Street where General Washington had appointed to meet them and to take his final leave of them. We had been assembled but a few moments when his excellency entered the room. His emotions were too strong to be concealed which seemed to be reciprocated by every officer present. After partaking of a slight refreshment in almost breathless silence the General filled his glass with wine and turning to the officers said, 'With a heart full of love and gratitude I now take leave of you. I most devoutly wish that your latter days may be as prosperous and happy as your former ones have been glorious and honorable.'
After the officers had taken a glass of wine General Washington said 'I cannot come to each of you but shall feel obliged if each of you will come and take me by the hand.' General Knox being nearest to him turned to the Commander-in-chief who, suffused in tears, was incapable of utterance but grasped his hand when they embraced each other in silence. In the same affectionate manner every officer in the room marched up and parted with his general in chief. Such a scene of sorrow and weeping I had never before witnessed and fondly hope I may never be called to witness again."
http://www.frauncestavernmuseum.org/mus_farewell.html
+
Bilbo Baggins says Goodbye
Bilbo stepping on a stool...he bows in gratitude at the
applause.
FRODO
Speech!
BILBO
(clearing throat)
My dear Bagginses, and Boffins, tooks and
Brandybucks...Grubbs, Chubbs,
Hornblowers, Bolgers, Bracegirdles and
Proudfoots...
ANGLE ON: A HOBBIT WITH PARTICULARLY BIG FEET
ODO PROUDFOOT
Proudfeet!
BILBO
Today is my one hundred and eleventh
birthday. Yes, and alas...Eleventy- one
years is far too short a time to live
among such excellent and admirable
Hobbits! Tremendous outburst of approval!
BILBO (CONT'D)
I don't know half of you half as well as
I should like; and I like less than half
of you half as well as you deserve.
SCATTERED CLAPPING as the guests try to work out if that was
a compliment or not. CLOSE ON: FRODO AND GANDALF smiling to
themselves. CLOSE ON: Bilbo...a strange hum seems to fill his
head. A bead of sweat rolls down his brow.
Bilbo's hand pulls something out of his waistcoat pocket and
holds it behind his back.
BILBO (CONT'D)
I have..things to do and I have put this
off for far too long...
CLOSE ON: BILBO'S
knuckles turn white as he tightens his
grip on the small object behind his back.
BILBO (CONT'D)
I regret to announce, this is the end. I
am going now. I bid you all a very fond
farewell!! Bilbo looks across at Frodo,
hesitates... then...
BILBO (CONT'D)
(whisper)
Goodbye.
Bilbo instantly vanishes. The party explodes into an
uproar... the crowd leaps to its feet.
http://www.imsdb.com/scripts/Lord-of-the-Rings-Fellowship-of-the-Ring,-The.html
+
applause.
FRODO
Speech!
BILBO
(clearing throat)
My dear Bagginses, and Boffins, tooks and
Brandybucks...Grubbs, Chubbs,
Hornblowers, Bolgers, Bracegirdles and
Proudfoots...
ANGLE ON: A HOBBIT WITH PARTICULARLY BIG FEET
ODO PROUDFOOT
Proudfeet!
BILBO
Today is my one hundred and eleventh
birthday. Yes, and alas...Eleventy- one
years is far too short a time to live
among such excellent and admirable
Hobbits! Tremendous outburst of approval!
BILBO (CONT'D)
I don't know half of you half as well as
I should like; and I like less than half
of you half as well as you deserve.
SCATTERED CLAPPING as the guests try to work out if that was
a compliment or not. CLOSE ON: FRODO AND GANDALF smiling to
themselves. CLOSE ON: Bilbo...a strange hum seems to fill his
head. A bead of sweat rolls down his brow.
Bilbo's hand pulls something out of his waistcoat pocket and
holds it behind his back.
BILBO (CONT'D)
I have..things to do and I have put this
off for far too long...
CLOSE ON: BILBO'S
knuckles turn white as he tightens his
grip on the small object behind his back.
BILBO (CONT'D)
I regret to announce, this is the end. I
am going now. I bid you all a very fond
farewell!! Bilbo looks across at Frodo,
hesitates... then...
BILBO (CONT'D)
(whisper)
Goodbye.
Bilbo instantly vanishes. The party explodes into an
uproar... the crowd leaps to its feet.
http://www.imsdb.com/scripts/Lord-of-the-Rings-Fellowship-of-the-Ring,-The.html
+
Thursday, February 10, 2011
Forward to Freedom: From Exodus to Easter
You are invited on a journey of the spirit -
Forward to Freedom: From Exodus to Easter
David Adam has written a wonderful book for Lent. In a series of forty meditations, one for each day of Lent, he invites us to reflect on the story of Moses in the book of Exodus.
The people of God set out from bondage in Egypt to follow the promise of God to a new place. On the way through the wilderness they experience God in new and profound ways. The story of this great journey provides inspiration for us to follow the Israelites’ example – to launch out into new adventures, freeing others and ourselves from slavery and seeking God’s Promised Land.
Containing a Scripture reading, a short meditation, and a prayer for each day of Lent, this is a book to challenge our relationships to the world, to each other and to our God.
David Adam was vicar of St Mary’s Church on the Holy Island of Lindisfarne, and writes prayers in the Celtic stream of our common faith.
We have chosen “Forward to Freedom” as our Lenten theme this year. We will use the book to start our conversations in the adult education hour between services. Please join us for the discussions – and consider making this book your Lenten reading for the year.
If you would like a copy of the book you may find one through a lending library or buy one from a used bookseller in person or by mail order. Look online (www.bookfinder.com).
–Fr. John, Eric Hanson, and Karen Ford
(Amazon.com lists many used and new copies at low prices; so does amazon.co.uk)
http://stalbansedmonds.org/2011/02/forward-to-freedom-from-exodus-to-easter/
+
Forward to Freedom: From Exodus to Easter
David Adam has written a wonderful book for Lent. In a series of forty meditations, one for each day of Lent, he invites us to reflect on the story of Moses in the book of Exodus.
The people of God set out from bondage in Egypt to follow the promise of God to a new place. On the way through the wilderness they experience God in new and profound ways. The story of this great journey provides inspiration for us to follow the Israelites’ example – to launch out into new adventures, freeing others and ourselves from slavery and seeking God’s Promised Land.
Containing a Scripture reading, a short meditation, and a prayer for each day of Lent, this is a book to challenge our relationships to the world, to each other and to our God.
David Adam was vicar of St Mary’s Church on the Holy Island of Lindisfarne, and writes prayers in the Celtic stream of our common faith.
We have chosen “Forward to Freedom” as our Lenten theme this year. We will use the book to start our conversations in the adult education hour between services. Please join us for the discussions – and consider making this book your Lenten reading for the year.
If you would like a copy of the book you may find one through a lending library or buy one from a used bookseller in person or by mail order. Look online (www.bookfinder.com).
–Fr. John, Eric Hanson, and Karen Ford
(Amazon.com lists many used and new copies at low prices; so does amazon.co.uk)
http://stalbansedmonds.org/2011/02/forward-to-freedom-from-exodus-to-easter/
+
Saturday, February 5, 2011
There is no peace along the way of safety.
There is no peace along the way of safety. For peace must be dared, it is itself the great venture and can never be safe. Peace is the opposite of security. To demand guarantees is to want to protect oneself. Peace means giving oneself completely to God's commandment, wanting no security, but in faith and obedience laying the destiny of the nations in the hand of Almighty God, not trying to direct it for selfish purposes. Battles are won, not with weapons, but with God. They are won when the way leads to the cross.
--Dietrich Bonhoeffer, "Peace Speech", Ecumenical Christian Council for Life and Work, Fanø, Denmark, 28 August 1934.
Eric Metaxas, Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy (Thomas Nelson, 2010) p. 241.
Renate Bethge, Dietrich Bonhoeffer: A Brief Life (Fortress Press, 2004) p. 33-35.
http://bonhoefferblog.wordpress.com/
+
--Dietrich Bonhoeffer, "Peace Speech", Ecumenical Christian Council for Life and Work, Fanø, Denmark, 28 August 1934.
Eric Metaxas, Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy (Thomas Nelson, 2010) p. 241.
Renate Bethge, Dietrich Bonhoeffer: A Brief Life (Fortress Press, 2004) p. 33-35.
http://bonhoefferblog.wordpress.com/
+
Friday, February 4, 2011
City on a Hill
Where I went to college the student newspaper – and the campus - was called the City on a Hill.
That was for two reasons. One, obvious, literal one, was that we were up on a hillside overlooking the town and you could see from miles away our white buildings shining in the sun. You could go down to the cliffs by the ocean, look back up, point, and say, ‘that’s my college.’
The other reason was that we were intended to be an example, a model, even a light, illuminating what was all around us. The university motto was “FIAT LUX” – not Oxford’s “Dominus illuminatio mea (The Lord is my light)” but the University of California’s “Let there be light”.
And it fit that our founding provost was Page Smith, an American historian. He knew – and told us – that the early New England colonists brought with them the idea of being ‘as a city upon a hill’, that could not be hid.
This very passage was their inspiration: they sought to build, right here on earth, an outpost of the kingdom of heaven. They hoped to found their community in such a way that the reign of God would be manifest in them and in their conduct and piety.
That was New England. I’m afraid we did not always come up to their standards. I’m afraid they didn’t either. But we tried – and so did they.
We tried – in a secular way – to be a model community. My own college modeled itself on the ideal of Francis Bacon, ‘the pursuit of truth in the company of friends’.
Not a bad ideal.
What it reflected was the light that has its original more clearly shown in this gospel.
The light of the world is the light of Christ. We are the light of the world because he is the light of the world. And he calls us to be – he declares us to be – the light of the world.
Jesus says to us, not you will be – or should be – or might be, given time – but you are: you are the salt of the earth, the light of the world.
You are what gives the whole world its flavor, what draws it out like salt in a recipe; you are what purifies and preserves, as salt does, so that the meal does not spoil or get rotten.
You are the light of the world; you are the lamp that sheds light on everything around it.
It would be silly to deny it. That is who you are!
That is who we are – and what we are meant to be, what we are called to be.
What good news.
What does it mean to be the light of the world, the salt of the earth?
He has told you, O mortal, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God? (Micah 6:8)
What would it look like to do justice – to be one of the blessed, those who strive for righteousness?
What would it look like to love mercy – to perform intentional acts of kindness?
What would it look like to walk humbly with your God? It isn’t simple – ‘walk this way’ – but it is pure in intention.
Is this not the fast that I choose: to show justice toward the weak, compassion toward the downtrodden, and charity toward the poor?
The point of fasting – of giving something up for Lent or for a season or for a day – is to let something go for a positive reason, because we have something larger in mind. There is some larger purpose – there is more to life than food, or clothing, or shelter, or safety.
Or safety. That is the dangerous part: to give up safety – for the sake of peace.
The peace of Christ is not the same thing as avoiding danger, or even conflict. The peace of Christ that is no peace, not as the world knows it. The peace of Christ is the welcoming of righteousness into the world, in every act, being, and gift of our lives.
Listen to what a young pastor said to a large gathering of church people back in 1934:
“There is no peace along the way of safety. For peace must be dared, it is itself the great venture and can never be safe. Peace is the opposite of security. To demand guarantees is to want to protect oneself.”
Dietrich Bonhoeffer explained that peace means giving oneself completely to God's commandment, wanting no security, but in faith and obedience laying our destiny in the hand of Almighty God, not trying to direct it for selfish purposes.
That is where the people Isaiah spoke to were falling down. They were acting piously enough but their gifts at the altar were bribes; they hoped God would be on their side. They were going through the motions of religion. Their sacrifices were not real because they had no foundation in conduct.
Isaiah was not denouncing them for their ritual; he was denouncing the emptiness of their hearts.
If you have a quarrel with your brother, and you are on the way to the altar to make an offering, first, set down your gift, go and be reconciled, and then come to the altar.
The ritual is made real in the actions of the people. That is what Isaiah was missing; that is what, he said, true religion – and true spirituality – requires.
Again, what is required of you, O mortal – is the justice, love, and mercy of God.
And humility.
To walk humbly with your God is to know your right place in the universe.
To walk humbly with your God is to accept your calling.
This calling, Dietrich Bonhoeffer – that young pastor in 1934 – recognized, could require real self-sacrifice, not for a cheap win over one’s opponents, but out of loving obedience.
He went on to say this:
“Victory is won when the way leads to the cross.”
Not an easy lesson – not a happy ending – in the way we ordinarily think of such things.
But a martyr’s death – and that is what Bonhoeffer’s own faith led to – is not the end; it is the beginning. A martyr’s death is an extraordinary calling – rare, uncommon, but real.
The gift of life – the gift of living for God – is the common calling, the one most of us share: we are invited by God into the living of life for others, to live life abundantly, to live life as children of God, and to give the gifts of that abundant life to those around us.
So, we serve one another – and the stranger, in our midst and far away. And as we do so, we serve Christ:
“When did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink, or naked and clothe you, or sick or in prison and visit you?”
When you did as much for the least of these, my children: and you are my children too.
It is a calling that requires the sacrifice that is not dramatic – not likely to get attention – the simple sacrifice we witness every day, of charity, of hope, of faith shared among us.
It is the calling to be who we really are, as we were made to be: salt and light.
May we be in your world, Lord, the seasoning that brings out the flavor in everything, the preserver and sanctifier that makes every good thing healthy and wholesome.
May we be in your world, Lord, as the radiance reflecting your glory and revealing your love. And, if it be your holy will, grant that this church, a place of your abiding, be continued still to be a sanctuary and a light.
Holy God, you gather the whole universe into your radiant presence and continually reveal your Son as our Savior. Bring healing to all wounds, make whole all that is broken, speak truth to all illusion, and shed light in every darkness, that all creation will see your glory and know your Christ. Amen.
NOTES and SOURCES
Holy God, you gather the whole universe
into your radiant presence
and continually reveal your Son as our Savior.
Bring healing to all wounds,
make whole all that is broken,
speak truth to all illusion,
and shed light in every darkness,
that all creation will see your glory and know your Christ. Amen.
(http://lectionary.library.vanderbilt.edu/prayers.php?id=17)
* Isaiah 58:1-9a (9b-12)
* Psalm 112:1-9 (10)
* 1 Corinthians 2:1-12 (13-16)
* Matthew 5:13-20
http://www.feastingontheword.net/
+
There is no peace along the way of safety. For peace must be dared, it is itself the great venture and can never be safe. Peace is the opposite of security. To demand guarantees is to want to protect oneself. Peace means giving oneself completely to God's commandment, wanting no security, but in faith and obedience laying the destiny of the nations in the hand of Almighty God, not trying to direct it for selfish purposes. Battles are won, not with weapons, but with God. They are won when the way leads to the cross.
--Dietrich Bonhoeffer, "Peace Speech", Ecumenical Christian Council for Life and Work, Fanø, Denmark, 28 August 1934.
Eric Metaxas, Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy (Thomas Nelson, 2010) p. 241.
+
The Jewish Study Bible (Oxford, 2004) p. 899-900, explains that in Isaiah 58
The prophet denounces the Judeans, focusing not on pagan practices but on apparently proper religious practices that the Judeans perform hypocritically. (People pray for divine intervention in their quarrels against others; their prayers and fasts have selfish purposes, not sacred ones.) The Judeans observe rituals such as fasting, but they do so only for their own benefit, not out of true devotion. Real humility toward God would engender a desire for justice toward the weak, compassion toward the downtrodden, and charity toward the poor. Then fasting would involve a willingness to give up one’s own things rather than the hope to acquire salvation.
+
That was for two reasons. One, obvious, literal one, was that we were up on a hillside overlooking the town and you could see from miles away our white buildings shining in the sun. You could go down to the cliffs by the ocean, look back up, point, and say, ‘that’s my college.’
The other reason was that we were intended to be an example, a model, even a light, illuminating what was all around us. The university motto was “FIAT LUX” – not Oxford’s “Dominus illuminatio mea (The Lord is my light)” but the University of California’s “Let there be light”.
And it fit that our founding provost was Page Smith, an American historian. He knew – and told us – that the early New England colonists brought with them the idea of being ‘as a city upon a hill’, that could not be hid.
This very passage was their inspiration: they sought to build, right here on earth, an outpost of the kingdom of heaven. They hoped to found their community in such a way that the reign of God would be manifest in them and in their conduct and piety.
That was New England. I’m afraid we did not always come up to their standards. I’m afraid they didn’t either. But we tried – and so did they.
We tried – in a secular way – to be a model community. My own college modeled itself on the ideal of Francis Bacon, ‘the pursuit of truth in the company of friends’.
Not a bad ideal.
What it reflected was the light that has its original more clearly shown in this gospel.
The light of the world is the light of Christ. We are the light of the world because he is the light of the world. And he calls us to be – he declares us to be – the light of the world.
Jesus says to us, not you will be – or should be – or might be, given time – but you are: you are the salt of the earth, the light of the world.
You are what gives the whole world its flavor, what draws it out like salt in a recipe; you are what purifies and preserves, as salt does, so that the meal does not spoil or get rotten.
You are the light of the world; you are the lamp that sheds light on everything around it.
It would be silly to deny it. That is who you are!
That is who we are – and what we are meant to be, what we are called to be.
What good news.
What does it mean to be the light of the world, the salt of the earth?
He has told you, O mortal, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God? (Micah 6:8)
What would it look like to do justice – to be one of the blessed, those who strive for righteousness?
What would it look like to love mercy – to perform intentional acts of kindness?
What would it look like to walk humbly with your God? It isn’t simple – ‘walk this way’ – but it is pure in intention.
Is this not the fast that I choose: to show justice toward the weak, compassion toward the downtrodden, and charity toward the poor?
The point of fasting – of giving something up for Lent or for a season or for a day – is to let something go for a positive reason, because we have something larger in mind. There is some larger purpose – there is more to life than food, or clothing, or shelter, or safety.
Or safety. That is the dangerous part: to give up safety – for the sake of peace.
The peace of Christ is not the same thing as avoiding danger, or even conflict. The peace of Christ that is no peace, not as the world knows it. The peace of Christ is the welcoming of righteousness into the world, in every act, being, and gift of our lives.
Listen to what a young pastor said to a large gathering of church people back in 1934:
“There is no peace along the way of safety. For peace must be dared, it is itself the great venture and can never be safe. Peace is the opposite of security. To demand guarantees is to want to protect oneself.”
Dietrich Bonhoeffer explained that peace means giving oneself completely to God's commandment, wanting no security, but in faith and obedience laying our destiny in the hand of Almighty God, not trying to direct it for selfish purposes.
That is where the people Isaiah spoke to were falling down. They were acting piously enough but their gifts at the altar were bribes; they hoped God would be on their side. They were going through the motions of religion. Their sacrifices were not real because they had no foundation in conduct.
Isaiah was not denouncing them for their ritual; he was denouncing the emptiness of their hearts.
If you have a quarrel with your brother, and you are on the way to the altar to make an offering, first, set down your gift, go and be reconciled, and then come to the altar.
The ritual is made real in the actions of the people. That is what Isaiah was missing; that is what, he said, true religion – and true spirituality – requires.
Again, what is required of you, O mortal – is the justice, love, and mercy of God.
And humility.
To walk humbly with your God is to know your right place in the universe.
To walk humbly with your God is to accept your calling.
This calling, Dietrich Bonhoeffer – that young pastor in 1934 – recognized, could require real self-sacrifice, not for a cheap win over one’s opponents, but out of loving obedience.
He went on to say this:
“Victory is won when the way leads to the cross.”
Not an easy lesson – not a happy ending – in the way we ordinarily think of such things.
But a martyr’s death – and that is what Bonhoeffer’s own faith led to – is not the end; it is the beginning. A martyr’s death is an extraordinary calling – rare, uncommon, but real.
The gift of life – the gift of living for God – is the common calling, the one most of us share: we are invited by God into the living of life for others, to live life abundantly, to live life as children of God, and to give the gifts of that abundant life to those around us.
So, we serve one another – and the stranger, in our midst and far away. And as we do so, we serve Christ:
“When did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink, or naked and clothe you, or sick or in prison and visit you?”
When you did as much for the least of these, my children: and you are my children too.
It is a calling that requires the sacrifice that is not dramatic – not likely to get attention – the simple sacrifice we witness every day, of charity, of hope, of faith shared among us.
It is the calling to be who we really are, as we were made to be: salt and light.
May we be in your world, Lord, the seasoning that brings out the flavor in everything, the preserver and sanctifier that makes every good thing healthy and wholesome.
May we be in your world, Lord, as the radiance reflecting your glory and revealing your love. And, if it be your holy will, grant that this church, a place of your abiding, be continued still to be a sanctuary and a light.
Holy God, you gather the whole universe into your radiant presence and continually reveal your Son as our Savior. Bring healing to all wounds, make whole all that is broken, speak truth to all illusion, and shed light in every darkness, that all creation will see your glory and know your Christ. Amen.
NOTES and SOURCES
Holy God, you gather the whole universe
into your radiant presence
and continually reveal your Son as our Savior.
Bring healing to all wounds,
make whole all that is broken,
speak truth to all illusion,
and shed light in every darkness,
that all creation will see your glory and know your Christ. Amen.
(http://lectionary.library.vanderbilt.edu/prayers.php?id=17)
* Isaiah 58:1-9a (9b-12)
* Psalm 112:1-9 (10)
* 1 Corinthians 2:1-12 (13-16)
* Matthew 5:13-20
http://www.feastingontheword.net/
+
There is no peace along the way of safety. For peace must be dared, it is itself the great venture and can never be safe. Peace is the opposite of security. To demand guarantees is to want to protect oneself. Peace means giving oneself completely to God's commandment, wanting no security, but in faith and obedience laying the destiny of the nations in the hand of Almighty God, not trying to direct it for selfish purposes. Battles are won, not with weapons, but with God. They are won when the way leads to the cross.
--Dietrich Bonhoeffer, "Peace Speech", Ecumenical Christian Council for Life and Work, Fanø, Denmark, 28 August 1934.
Eric Metaxas, Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy (Thomas Nelson, 2010) p. 241.
+
The Jewish Study Bible (Oxford, 2004) p. 899-900, explains that in Isaiah 58
The prophet denounces the Judeans, focusing not on pagan practices but on apparently proper religious practices that the Judeans perform hypocritically. (People pray for divine intervention in their quarrels against others; their prayers and fasts have selfish purposes, not sacred ones.) The Judeans observe rituals such as fasting, but they do so only for their own benefit, not out of true devotion. Real humility toward God would engender a desire for justice toward the weak, compassion toward the downtrodden, and charity toward the poor. Then fasting would involve a willingness to give up one’s own things rather than the hope to acquire salvation.
+
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