June 27, 2018

Most atrocities are stimulated by accounts of the enemy's atrocities – C.S. Lewis, The Problem of Pain, p. 59

I read these words from C.S. Lewis on Monday. While they stand out as a fairly obvious statement, little did I know that on Tuesday I would wake up to multiple examples of these words put into action.

The President labeled a Virginia restaurant “dirty” and “filthy,” which prompted many of his supporters to attack the wrong restaurant. There was yet another story of whites behaving badly, this time of a white woman calling the cops on an 8-year old black girl selling water to raise money for a trip. And then there was the video of the encounter between a white woman and a Latino man and his mom where she was shouting that they were illegal and rapists.

In our past, whites propagated various exaggerated lies against blacks, Chinese, and Native Americans, among others. Nazis did the same thing about Jews, gays, and Bolsheviks. America did it against Germans and Japanese in WWII. And when we tell stories of atrocities that “everybody knows to be true,” it becomes so much easier to participate in atrocities ourselves.

It becomes easy to ship millions of people off to death camps. It becomes easy to march thousands of people across a Trail of Tears. It becomes easy to relocate Japanese-Americans to internment camps. It becomes easy to lynch blacks. It becomes easy to keep “those people” in cages. It becomes easy to deny due process.

But here's the thing: Atrocities based on accounts of atrocities are still atrocities.

We can do better as human beings.

We must do better as Christians.

How will you do better?

Blessings,

June 20, 2018

Habits

A habit is defined by the dictionary as: an acquired behavior or pattern regularly followed; customary practice or use; a particular practice or custom.

We have all kinds of habits in our lives, some of which are unconsciously followed, some habitually followed, some which we work to follow. For instance, women with long hair habitually brush it back behind their ear. I habitually put on my left shoe before the right. Some of us work to cultivate habits of exercise or prayer. There are many other habits we could name.

Some habits are difficult to break. An alcoholic's habit of drinking, or a smoker's habit of smoking at a particular time in the day come to mind. Other habits are easily broken. Trying to cultivate a habit of healthy eating may disappear in seconds as you habitually open up the cookie jar when you pass by. Or that habit of exercising regularly may fall by the wayside during vacation or a business trip when your schedule is suddenly changed.

I find that some of my habits tend to be lost when my schedule changes. Three weeks ago the office was closed for Memorial Day. That meant that Tuesday was Monday, Wednesday was Tuesday, and the whole week was off. It also meant that I came within inches of walking out the door for lunch on Wednesday and forgetting that I had a mid-week Eucharist to celebrate. My habit was almost broken.

Last week I was at Virginia Theological Seminary for the first week of the preaching program. I brought some of my exercise equipment in the hopes that I would be able to maintain that habit. Thankfully, I was. But being gone that entire week meant that I had to reenter my regular schedule this week and reacquaint myself with some of my habits, and some of them were forgotten as I work to “get back in the swing of things.”

I have a habit of calling people on their birthdays if it falls when I'm in the office. I missed one or two of those, but called to offer a belated birthday wish.

I have a habit of writing the Wednesday Word on Tuesdays so that you can have it in your inbox on Wednesday morning. Oops. So here is my belated Wednesday Word; I hope you still find it valuable.

What habits do you have that might need to be broken? What habits would you like to work at so that they move from a customary practice to a regularly followed pattern?

The good thing about good habits is that, even if they are broken, you can always work to pick them back up again. May you find time in your life to reestablish those habits that make you better.

Blessings,

June 13, 2018

Sabbath

A few months ago I was at a church leadership conference held down at Kanuga, the sprawling and well-appointed conference and retreat center of the Episcopal Church located in Hendersonville, NC. One of the speakers at this conference was the Rev. Jay Sidebotham. Among other things, he is most well-known for illustrating the cartoons on those large church calendars (one of which is hanging in the parish house where the Sunday offering is counted). And in a previous life, he was an illustrator for the old School House Rock animation bits.

One of the things he does as a priest is a weekly meditation piece, similar to my Wednesday Word, but his come out on Mondays and are called Monday Matters. My reasoning for writing on Wednesday is to help give a little “pick-me-up” in the middle of the week. His reasoning for writing on Mondays is to give his readers a good start to the week.

In his reflection last week, he reflected on Sabbath rest. He was primarily focused on the gospel reading from June 3 where Jesus healed the man with the withered hand on a Sabbath. Where Jay was going with this was that Jesus spent so much time challenging the rules of the day about Sabbath rest because we need to be reminded that sabbaths are occasions to recall that God is love and we are to show that same love to all people all the time. “The Sabbath,” he wrote, “is a time to get to know God better.”

But in taking the time to get to know God better, we must also take the time to get to know ourselves better, and this is another aspect to sabbath. Jay said he once received advice from an older priest to make sure he took a Sabbath day for himself. Weekly. Religiously. I don't remember asking an older priest for advice along those lines, but somewhere someone let me and my classmates know to do this. Since my first week as an ordained clergy person, I have always taken Friday & Saturday off. And I've been pretty good about making sure that those days are not interrupted (obvious emergencies and rare instances being an exception).

I bring this up because this week I am taking a type of sabbath rest. I am down at Virginia Theological Seminary engaged in the first week of that preaching seminar thing. It's a type of Sabbath because I can spend time learning more about myself as a preacher. I can spend some quiet time (hopefully) learning more about where God might be calling me along these lines. And I'm trying not to worry about what my in box is collecting.

Sabbath time is important for everyone. It was important for God to rest after six days spent creating. It is important for clergy to rest so they don't burnout themselves, or their families, while living into their calling. And it is important for all of you as well. Do you spend quality time away from those things which push and pull you in different directions? Do you spend quality time reconnecting with those you love? Do you spend quality time with God?

If not, take some time for a Sabbath rest. After all, both God and Jesus did.

Blessings,

June 6, 2018

Traditional Marriage

In the most recent edition of The Living Church (June 3, 2018), Bp. John Bauerschmidt of Tennessee writes about possible changes to the Prayer Book in general and marriage in particular.

At the upcoming General Convention next month, the Episcopal church will consider making changes to the current BCP. This is a long process and whatever might get approved for action will take several years to implement. One change being considered is adding gender-neutral marriage liturgies to the BCP. As Bp. Bauerschmidt points out, these liturgies were developed with same-sex couples in mind, but could be used by any couple desiring to be married in the church. This would also require a change in the Catechism which would state that Holy Matrimony is a life-long union between two people.

The bishop sees this move as “troubling” because it would effectively change the doctrine, discipline, and worship of the church. He writes, “As an attempt to make the trial liturgies more widely available, it is a singularly blunt instrument to employ,” and he is fearful that those who value the traditional understanding of marriage will lose their place within the Episcopal Church.

A few thoughts.

When people use the word “traditional,” I've noticed it often means, “How I understand it to be.” If we talk about traditional biblical marriage, that can mean multiple things: one man/one woman; one man and his (dead) brother's wife; one man, one woman, and concubines; a rapist and his victim; a man, a woman, and her slave(s); a soldier and a female POW; a man, a woman, and a woman, and a woman, and a woman . . .; a male slave and a female slave. Biblical marriage is somewhat . . . malleable.

And let's not forget that marriage was, for a long time, seen as a property transaction; hence the “giving away” of the bride from one owner (dad) to a new owner (husband). It was a property transaction because the State needed a way to keep track of legitimate heirs. The church didn't really get involved in marriages until about the 12^th Century.

Last week I presided at the marriage ceremony of Jerry and Bruce. It was one of the best events I have ever been a part of. Marriage is a covenant between two people and is (ideally) to be a life-long union. What if, instead of focusing on the players in the game, we focus on the game itself. The game of marriage is to be life-long; it is to represent the union between Christ and Church; it is for mutual joy, help, and comfort. Holding marriage up as ideal should be more important than who we allow to participate.

And, finally, in reviewing the bishop's words, I note that he is fearful of losing his place in the church. This seems to me to be the same fear that men had about women voting, the same fear that whites had (and have) about granting equality to non-whites, and on and on. Those in power are always fearful of losing their piece of the pie.

What those who are fearful need to remember is that God will bake more pie, because all means all.

Blessings,