May 27, 2020

Stepping Out

Monday was the rare day in my household when all three of us had the day off. We could have opted to spend the day sleeping, which, given our recent schedules, would have been totally appropriate. We could have opted to meet with some new neighbor friends who apparently have the skills and tools to put in a patio/fire pit. Given how long the bricks have been in our driveway, that would have been even more appropriate. Instead we opted for a spur-of-the-moment, 4-hour drive up to Kinzua Bridge State Park in Pennsylvania.

The Kinzua Bridge spans the Kinzua Creek and gorge, and was originally 301' high and 2053' long. Up until about 2001 it was used as a rail excursion. But then the middle section of the bridge was destroyed by an F-1 tornado in 2003, and now the bridge ends mid-span with a viewing area and clear Plexiglas floor to see down to the bottom of the gorge. It is now known as the Kinzua Bridge Skywalk, and the remains of the bridge have been left as-is to show the power of nature.

There were a few places on that walk that gave several people pause. Looking over the edge can induce a bit of vertigo, as can looking down through the Plexiglas. And climbing up one of the supporting towers for pictures could be a bit dicey.

I began thinking about this bridge and our faith. The bridge is sturdy enough, but there can be forces at work which may cause severe damage. After that damage, though, the bridge was reworked from a railroad excursion into a sky bridge for pedestrians. And even though the bridge is sturdy enough (it doesn't sway and you won't fall through the cracks), it does take some bit of courage to step out there, peer through the Plexiglas down below, or lean over the edge a bit to get a good picture.

Sometimes our faith is the same way. Our faith may be sturdy enough, but there can be forces at work which may cause damage, sometimes severe, to our faith. COVID19 is one we are experiencing right now. Questions about what is church? How can we be church? What is the relevance and meaning of our building? How will we continue? And more, come up over and over again. But, like the bridge, our faith will not be totally destroyed. We will probably have to rework some of our old things and habits into new ways of doing and being the church. It may take a bit of courage to step out and see how things have changed, or to peer out past the safety barrier to see how things are different.

The attraction of the Kinzua bridge is not gone, it's just different. Likewise, coming through this time of pandemic will not make our faith disappear, but it may change it in some way; and that's okay. Sometimes those changes, though, feel like we've been hit by a tornado and leave us twisted and battered. But those scars are all part of our story. We are just being reworked into something new and different.

Through it all, remember those final words of Jesus and the beginning words of the Church, “I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”

In this time of stress and change, I hope you are doing well,

May 13, 2020

Structured for Holiness

I found an old article from The Living Church dated April 17, 2016 written by Zachary Guiliano detailing the spirituality of holy living while living in the midst of a PhD desert. In the article he describes what it was like to be sequestered away while he traveled, researched, and wrote his dissertation, and how that experience shaped his spiritual life.

In discussing Anglicanism, he quoted a saying he often heard: 90 percent of Anglicanism is just showing up (this mirrors Woody Allen who said, “80 percent of success is showing up,” and Yogi Berra who said, “90 percent of baseball is mental, the other half is physical”). What the author was getting at in that quote is that coming to church on a regular basis, participating in the liturgy, and praying at specific times – regardless of your state of mind, whether or not you are distracted, angry, depressed, happy, or joyful – has a way of shaping you and molding you into a state of holiness. The tenacity to worship on a regular basis, the patience to wait upon the Lord, the endurance to run the race to the end, all work to shape holy virtues.

To do this, though, requires a willingness to structure our lives around worship and faith. Faith and worship aren't (or shouldn't be) just something we get up and do if we feel like it or if we have time. The things in our lives that are important will find ways to make it into our calendar. But sometimes the things we feel are important get pushed to the side because “they'll always be there,” like family, relationships, worship.

When the author found himself floundering and being easily distracted from what was important (his dissertation), he discovered advice given to St. Antony of the Desert encouraging him to find a pattern, and within that pattern he would discover holiness.

And so, he says, he structured his days. From the time he woke up to morning coffee and prayers to working on the dissertation to lunch to household chores to more work to evening prayers and, finally, to bed, he structured his life. It was within that structure that he found productivity. It was within that structure that he also discovered holiness.

As we continue our life in quarantine, or sheltering-in-place, or limited activity, or whatever you want to call it, I'm hopeful that, by now, you have found a structure to your days. That structure may be what keeps you productive. That structure may be what keeps you sane. That structure may just lead you to a state of holiness.

The advice given to St. Antony of the Desert is certainly applicable now: “Work, pray, rest, repeat. This is the way to quell temptation. Do this, and you will be saved.”

Be well,

May 6, 2020

"To be sent as Jesus was sent is to be part of that community of learners and at the same time to do life-giving signs.  And the signs are not just for his own community, they are about abundant life for all -- whoever was at the wedding, whoever turned up as part of the five thousand needing food."  David F. Ford, Who is Jesus Now? Maxims and Surprises, Anglican Theological Review, Vol. 101, Number 2, pp. 222-223.
This article by David Ford, in his own words, attempts to "articulate seven maxims in answer to the question, Who is Jesus now?"  As you would imagine, there's a lot packed into his article, so maybe it was because we've had several Sundays where the gospel reading has come from John that I found it particularly timely.  Especially since we are dealing every day with the fallout from COVID.
We are followers of Christ.  We are part of a community of learners.  The disciples learned from following Jesus as he walked hither and yon, having conversations with men and women, Jews and Gentiles, Pharisees and Samaritans.  They saw him perform miracles and signs not only for them, his disciples, but for those outside that community.  The wine at Cana wasn't only for the disciples, but for all the guests.  The loaves and fish were not only meant to be shared among the disciples, but with everybody gathered together in that place. 
One of the things we are grappling with during this COVID pandemic is how to be a community that offers abundant life for all.  We are trying to maintain our community as best we can during these times, everything from online services (which have continually improved) to thinking about various small groups and studies to virtual coffee hours.  And, of course, finances are bound to come up in any of these discussions with the concern that, as people's income dwindles so too will our donations.  And we wonder how that will impact us.
But we also must consider the wider community.  How can we, as followers of Christ, as a prominent church in Hagerstown, as a Christian community in a particular area of Hagerstown with a surrounding population in need, proclaim and live a message of abundant life for all?  Now more than ever we must not become so inwardly focused that we are of no outwardly good. 
Christ appeared in difficult times, and it is in these difficult times today where we must reflect the image of Christ not only to our own community but to those around us.  We have work to do with each other, and this is where we shall stay.  But we also have work to do with the 5000 who are desperately looking for the face of God, and this is where we must go.

Be well,