September 25, 2019

That's my pew.

We've all heard these words uttered by someone, or maybe even ourselves. There are multiple reasons for making this statement. Sometimes it's an informative declaration telling people where you normally sit. Sometimes it's a playful way of recognizing our ingrained habit of sitting in the same place. Sometimes, like a former Oregon parishioner told me, it's to honor their parents and grand-parents who sat in that pew. And sometimes, like my family experienced many years ago, it's a rude acknowledgment that you have intruded into someone's territory.

We are creatures of habit. I've noticed that people tend to sit in the same seats for vestry meetings, classes, and even a two-day meeting. And sometimes I think clergy lament the fact that everyone sits in the same place because it can lead to a cliquish behavior or, as I mentioned, the feeling of territorial rights. Maybe we clergy think we need to get people out of their rut, so that's why it bothers us. One time in Montana I preached a sermon along these lines only to find that everyone had changed places the following week. Of course, the next week they were back in their regular spots.

But I just read an article in a monastery newsletter that made me rethink the value of “my pew.”

According to this article, many monasteries have assigned seating for their monks and nuns. That is, each person is given a particular place to sit based on their seniority (time of service) in the monastery. They remain in that place until a more senior person leaves or dies, when they move up one space. Because of this system, people can spend years or decades in the same spot.

This spot becomes a place where prayer is cultivated. It becomes a place where the prayers of the person occupying that spot become infused in the life of the person sitting there. It becomes a place where all the prayers of the past are connected with the prayers of the present and anticipate the prayers of the future. It becomes a place that binds you to God in a way different from other ways.

This is my spot. This is where I am connected to God, past, present, and future. That connectedness, that infusing of prayer and Spirit, allows you to sit and be in the presence of God. And it allows for a certain stability in your prayer and faith.

So rather than think, “That's my pew” because you've always sat there, think of that pew as your anchor to God. This is where you have prayed for years, maybe even decades. This is where the prayers of your past are connected to your prayers of the present and anticipate your prayers of the future. This is where you encounter God.

That is your pew. That is where you are connected to the great cloud of witnesses and to angels and archangels. That is your place of prayerful stability and where you are bound to God in that thin place of the Holy Eucharist.

That's your pew. May you treat it with holy respect.

Blessings.

Todd+

September 18, 2019

We are all familiar with this Latin phrase which is found on our coins and means, "Out of many, one."

It fits as our national motto because this country was, and is, made up of people from North and South America, Europe, Africa, and Asia (and maybe even a few Australians).  There is, of course, an unfortunate history of groups abusing and enslaving others, and we have far to go before we reach the ideal that "every [person] is created equal."

In a sense, this could also be the motto of the Church.  As Paul wrote in Galatians, "There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus," and in Ephesians, "There is one body and on Spirit . . . one Lord, one faith, one baptism . . ."  Like our country's founders recognized that from many countries came one, Paul recognized that many people make up the one body of Christ.

And yet, this desire for unity, the desire to be one, oftentimes seems unattainable due to our own sins of racism, greed, oppression, hatred, theological warfare, and the like.  During a service recently, a former Montana colleague was reading a prayer out of the BCP that mentions "our unhappy divisions."  He misread it as, "our happy divisions."  And while that was a slip of the tongue, he mused that his slip might be more correct -- that we really are more happy when we are divided.

And I read in another place that "we have entirely too much pluribus and not enough unum."

We are a divided people -- politically, socially, economically, and theologically.

Jesus once told his followers, "For where two or three are gathered in my name, I am there among them."  That's not because two, three, or more people create something holy and sacred; it's because we have a tendency to not get along and we need Jesus among us.

None of this means that we need to bury our disagreements in an attempt to become some sort of unified cult.  We can disagree.  We can have differences of opinion.  The trick is to do it respectfully.  The trick is to do it while holding the other up, rather than working to take down.

We are a divided people -- politically, socially, economically, and theologically.  Among these happy divisions, are we willing to invite Jesus into our midst?  Among these happy divisions, are we willing to align ourselves with gospel values?  Among our happy divisions, are we willing to keep Jesus front and center?  Because it most certainly is the case that, despite our pluribus, Jesus is our unum.

Blessings,

Todd+

September 11, 2019

On this day

On this day, we pray: O God of grace and glory, we remember before you this day our brothers and sisters who were slaughtered by the violence of our fallen world. We thank you for giving them to us, their family and friends, to know and to love as companions on our earthly pilgrimage. In your boundless compassion, console us who mourn. Give us faith to see in death the gate of eternal life, so that in quiet confidence we may continue our course on earth, until, by your call, we are reunited with those who have gone before.

On this day, we pray: O God, the Father of all, whose Son commanded us to love our enemies: Lead them and us from prejudice to truth; deliver them and us from hatred, cruelty, and revenge; and in your good time enable us all to stand reconciled before you; through Jesus Christ our Lord.

On this day, we pray: O God, you have bound us together in a common life. Help us, in the midst of our struggles for justice and truth, to confront one another without hatred or bitterness, and to work together with mutual forbearance and respect; through Jesus Christ our Lord.

On this day, we pray: Grant, O God, that your holy and life-giving Spirit may so move every human heart, and especially the hearts of the people of this land, that barriers which divide us may crumble, suspicions disappear, and hatreds cease; that our divisions being healed, we may live in justice and peace; through Jesus Christ our Lord.

On this day, we pray.

Amen.

September 4, 2019

Chores and Sin

We all have our chores to do around the house; at least, I hope we all do and don't let the care of the house fall to one person. In my house, because I have Fridays off, it's my job to do the weekly laundry, pay bills, and clean the bedroom and bathroom that belong to me and my wife. Very rarely I need to skip cleaning the bathroom due to something that gets in the way, but it almost always gets cleaned.

The tub is sprayed down and scrubbed. The shower doors are Windex-ed. The sink and vanity mirror get the same treatment. The floor is vacuumed and sometimes scrubbed. The toilet is cleaned inside and out. And the mats are vacuumed. Luckily it's not a large bathroom, so it doesn't take a whole lot of effort; it's just a matter of getting in there and doing it – 30 minutes tops, maybe 40 under special circumstances.

While I was cleaning this past weekend, I noticed that the space behind the shower door bumpers was looking icky, so I took those off and cleaned both wall and bumper. And when I was doing the sink, I remembered that it had been awhile since I took out the drain stopper. Whereas the bumpers were icky, this was positively gross, with black, brown, and gray gunk built up, along with a small wad of hair (for those eating breakfast right now – sorry).

As I said, I clean the bathroom faithfully every Friday; and yet, there was still an accumulation of yuck.

Sin works the same way. We try to keep our lives clean and holy. We participate in church on a weekly basis not for pardon only, but also for renewal. And yet, no matter how hard we try, how faithful we are, sin has a way of gathering in our lives, finding places to hide and grow, that, if not dealt with regularly, will result in an accumulation of yuck.

We generally don't like to talk about sin, confession, or repentance. But, if we want to do more than a cursory clean where people see only our surface, if we want to do a deep soul-clean, we need to open up those places where sin can build up and, eventually, cause major problems.

Just like we do regular maintenance and cleaning around the house to keep it from being overrun by yuck, we also need to do regular spiritual maintenance and cleaning in our lives to keep it from being overrun by sin.

Take time to examine your life. Take time to confess and repent. Take time to remove the yuck that slowly builds up over time. And then do it again next week.

Blessings,