February 22, 2023

I hope you got enough to eat last night as we celebrated the end of the Epiphany season with a traditional dinner of pancakes, eggs, and sausage. Everyone who attended seemed to have a good time and we all enjoyed the food and decorations. That festive feeling, though, now gives way to the penitential season of Lent and the Ash Wednesday services of today.

Today we pray that God will create and make in us new and contrite hearts. Today we are invited to a season of self-examination and repentance; a season of prayer, fasting, and self-denial; a season of reading and meditating on Holy Scripture; and a season of reconciliation and forgiveness.

On this day we are also reminded of our mortality: Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return.

On this day we are called to make a right beginning.

During this season of Lent, may you find time to explore the wilderness, may you identify that which pulls you away from God and set that aside, may you find that which draws you closer to God and pick that up, may you rend your heart not your clothing, and may you be restored to wholeness of body, mind, and spirit.

Ash Wednesday Services:

Parking Lot – 10, 2, and 4

Church – 12:15 and 7:00

Personal Confessions by appointment

May you have a holy Lent,

Todd+

February 15, 2023

How you live your life today is how you live your life.

I heard this quote the other day on a podcast I was listening to. I think it stuck out to me because Lent begins next week with Ash Wednesday.

You are all familiar with the Lenten tradition of a seasonal discipline; whether that is the discipline of abstinence (abstaining from sweets, television, social media, coarse language, etc.), or whether it's a discipline of acquisition (daily prayer, reading scripture, healthy eating, exercise, attending worship, etc.), the idea is to use our chosen disciplines to draw closer to God. We shouldn't opt for a discipline simply to be miserable for 40 days in order to celebrate a return to “normal” on Easter. Instead, these disciplines of abstinence or acquisitions should be taken on with some forethought as to how a particular change will draw us closer to God.

Maybe you tend to snack without thinking. Maybe you might think that abstaining from sweets/snacks will help your overall health. Maybe not buying snacks gives you some extra money. Maybe you answer God's call to feed the hungry by donating that money to the food bank or Micah's Backpack. There are any number of ways that your discipline of abstinence or acquisition can be used to move your focus from the self to God and/or those around you.

The overall goal of a Lenten discipline is to change our overall behavior for the long-term.

But if we really pay attention to the above quote, it's telling us something interesting (and probably something we've all heard before in a different form): the past is gone, the future doesn't exist, and there is only this moment.

We don't live in the past. We can't live in the future. We can only live moment-to-moment in the present.

Doing things to change how we live in the future isn't really the point of making changes, whether they be Lenten disciplines or New Year's resolutions. It is only by changing how we live our lives today that will determine how we will live our life.

As you begin to prepare for Lent and a discipline of abstinence or acquisition, spend some time discerning how you would like to live your life today; and then abstain from or acquire one thing that will help bring you closer to God today.

February 8, 2023

After last week's Wednesday Word, several people wanted to know more about praying with prayer beads. As I pointed out on Wednesday, the Anglican rosary doesn't have set prayers, per se, but leaves it up to the individual to create their own system.

While this may be frustrating at first (we want to make sure we are doing it “right,” and even the disciples said, “Lord, teach us to pray”), that openness leaves room for adjustments. Not every prayer works for us every time. Sometimes we can only pray simple prayers; other times we are more open to longer prayers. It all depends on where we are physically, spiritually, and emotionally. For instance, I made a hospital visit yesterday to a parishioner in ICU – that was not the time to offer up one of those long, beautiful prayers from the BCP. I instead offered a short prayer of healing and comfort.

There are times when long, beautiful prayers are appropriate. There are also times when short, blunt prayers are appropriate. The beauty of the rosary is that, no matter which end of the spectrum you find yourself, it helps keeps you focused as you move through the beads.

Here is a short guide, so to speak, of how you might pray the rosary:

1. At the cross, say an opening prayer

2. At the invitatory bead, say a prayer inviting God into your presence

3. At each large cruciform bead (4 around the rosary), recite a piece of scripture

4. At each small week bead (7 between larger beads), use an easily repetitive prayer

5. At the completion of one or three circuits, return to the invitatory bead with a closing prayer

6. End at the cross with a concluding prayer

As I said, there are as many different forms as there are people praying the rosary. Here is my system:

1. Cross: O God, make speed to save us; O Lord, make haste to help us. Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit.

2. Invitatory: Be present, be present, O Jesus our great high priest, as you were present with your disciples.

3. Cruciform: I lift up my eyes to the hills, from where is my help to come? My help comes from the Lord, the maker of heaven and earth.

4. Each Week bead: Holy God, holy and mighty, holy immortal one, have mercy upon us.

5. Invitatory: Personal prayers

6. Cross: the Lord's Prayer

If you are looking for more resources, here are a few websites that may be helpful:

https://www.unspokenelements.com/pages/how-to-use-anglican-prayer-beads

http://www.kingofpeace.org/prayerbeads.htm

https://sgnsource.weebly.com/uploads/2/4/2/6/24265184/prayer_beads_handout.pdf

https://ahearttoknow.com/anglican-prayer-beads/

Praying the rosary isn't necessary for a good prayer life; what's necessary for a good prayer life is to make time to pray. May you find the time to pray in whatever form that looks like for you.

February 1, 2023

In saying the rosary, the mechanical element frees the mind to rest in the mysteries, or more simply to find its repose in God. – Robert Llewelyn, A Doorway to Silence

I don't know where I came across this book, but it's a guide, so to speak, on the use of the rosary. Mr. Llewelyn was not Roman Catholic, but served as Chaplain of the Julian Shrine at Norwich. Over his time there he came to appreciate praying the rosary on a daily basis. As I've mentioned before, I discovered the rosary and began one while I was in Oregon. When the open-carry of weapons became legal, I decided that wearing a rosary would be a better open-carry option.

There is a difference between a Catholic rosary and an Anglican rosary, primary of which is the Catholic rosary is made up of “decades” (ten bead sections) while the Anglican rosary is made up of “weeks” (seven bead sections) – please, no jokes about us being “Catholic-lite.” Another difference is that the Catholic rosary often makes use of set prayers (such as the Hail Mary), while the Anglican rosary leaves it up to the user to develop their own prayers.

I've developed my own system over the years which includes the opening acclamation from Holy Eucharist, the Trisagion, and the Lord's Prayer.

This repetitive prayer at first holds the mind's attention; it gives us something to focus on so that our minds don't wander willy-nilly, leaving us to wonder why we were even praying. The repetitive prayer, if said often enough, eventually becomes an anchor, holding us secure but allowing the mind to drift within the mystery of God, engaging God in ever deeper levels.

In some sense, then, our Sunday liturgy might also be seen as a type of rosary. There are elements that change from week to week (hymns, Collects, and readings), but even those things that change are in always-familiar places. And there are elements that rarely change (Holy Communion).

For people new to the Episcopal church, the repetitive nature of the liturgy can hold their attention or get them to focus on worship. Which book we use (red or blue), what page we're on, and whether we're singing S-120 or Hymn 120 all take concentration. Eventually, though, as a person becomes familiar with the service, the repetitive words and actions become more and more familiar, allowing the liturgy to become an anchor while they begin to contemplate the mystery of God and engage with God in ever-deepening levels. Both the rosary and liturgy have also been described as a safe, protective blanket, allowing one to be wrapped up in God's love.

So whether you are praying the rosary or praying the liturgy, I encourage you to see those things as anchors to your faith that allow you to lose yourself in the mysteries of God without getting lost.

January 25, 2023

One thing have I asked of the LORD; one thing I seek;*  that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life – Ps. 27:5

Psalm 27 is one of my favorite psalms. It talks of how the Lord protects the psalmist from his enemies. It longs for the day when the psalmist can dwell in the house of the Lord for ever. It speaks of how the Lord will sustain the psalmist in times of trouble.

When I have found myself in times of trouble or distress or discomfort, I have often turned to this psalm for strength and comfort.

There are times when Verse 5 is more on point than other times. Sunday mornings when I arrive before anyone else and the church is quiet, with the morning sun streaming through the Resurrection Window, I will sit for a minute and think, “I would love to dwell in this house all the days of my life.”

Christmas Day is another time where Verse 5 stands out. It's the first service after the Christmas Eve Mass, it's quiet, and the faint scent of incense is still hanging in the air. In that moment the nave looks and smells like I imagine what the throne room of God looked like to Isaiah (Is. 6:1-4) or John (Rev. 4).

Verse 5 stands out for me every Sunday morning when we are gathered as the people of God and we join our voices with angels and archangels as we sing, “Holy, holy, holy Lord, God of power and might. Heaven and earth are full of your glory. Hosanna in the highest.”

The flip side of this verse is not only a desire to dwell in the house of the Lord for ever, but a desire to escape. In reading this psalm there is a plea from the psalmist to have God remove him from the troubles of the world. That desire to escape the troubles of the world has been around a long time. It shows up in this psalm. It shows up at the Transfiguration when Peter says to Jesus, “Let us build three dwellings: one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.” It shows up today when people have built a whole religion around the rapture.

But we are not called to escape this world. Jesus never called his disciples to follow him into the desert and disappear. The rapture is a theological fantasy developed by misunderstanding scripture. Jesus didn't let Peter build those dwellings, and they all had to go down the mountain into the midst of people.

Later in Ps. 27 the psalmist writes, “You speak in my heart and say, “Seek my face.”* Your face, LORD, will I seek.”

May we always remember that our faith is not calling us to escape from the world, but to live in the world while continually seeking the face of God.

January 18, 2023

In the gospel reading from this past Sunday we heard John's version of how the disciples connected up with Jesus. In the synoptics (Matthew, Mark, and Luke), Jesus is walking by the Sea of Galilee when he comes across Simon Peter & Andrew and James & John and basically says, “Get out of your boat and follow me.”

In the Fourth Gospel, however, we are given a different scenario. In this gospel we see John the Baptist and some of his disciples sort of hanging out when John says, “Look, here is the Lamb of God!” and his disciples, one of whom is Andrew, follow after Jesus. Jesus invites them to come see where he is staying, and then Andrew goes and rounds up his brother Simon Peter to also come along.

In her sermon this past Sunday, Dcn. Sue talked about the revelation of when, where, and how we see Jesus. She also recalled some of her own call story into ministry. In that story she said it was her pastor at the time who invited her to step out of her comfort zone and, with the help of a young teenage boy, write the prayers of the people for their worship service.

In her story her pastor was playing the part of Andrew. He, like Andrew, was someone who was already following Jesus when he invited someone else to come along.

I think that sometimes we can get so focused on the synoptic version of being called to discipleship that we forget about John's version of being called to discipleship. What I mean is, we hear any number of call stories and assume it's Jesus who is calling us. After all, there are plenty of scriptural references to that, such as the calling of the disciples I've already mentioned, or where we read that God or Jesus called someone, as well as hymns (Jesus calls us o'er the tumult of our life's wild restless seas). We hear these stories or hymns and we automatically think, “Jesus calls out to all of us directly.” That leads us to maybe think that if we don't hear Jesus we aren't being called.

I'm not saying that's not true, but what I am saying is that sometimes call stories (Dcn. Sue's and Peter's from Sunday's gospel, for instance) take another avenue. Sometimes those call stories happen because someone pointed someone else in the right direction. For Dcn. Sue it was her pastor. For Simon Peter it was Andrew.

The point is this: The Season of Epiphany is all about revelation. It's all about finding out who Jesus is. It's all about seeing the light. The season started when the wise men followed the star to the Holy Family's house. Then we heard about the baptism of Jesus and the voice and descending dove. Sunday we heard Andrew being point to Christ by John the Baptist and then pointing his brother to Christ.

In this Season of Epiphany, let us remember that Christ calls to everyone in a variety of ways, and sometimes that involves us inviting others to follow along with us. Don't forget to help point out Christ to others wherever you may find him.

Todd+

January 11, 2023

Frantic, frenetic, and constant chaos. We do not have enough chocolate in the building to help.

That pretty much sums up the month of January.

We are preparing for the annual meeting. People are writing and sending in reports. Ballots are being mailed both physically and electronically today. The annual report is being produced in stages as we receive reports.

The Search Team for our next Minister of Music has been working hard with interviews, checking references, planning to meet candidates in person, and everything else associated with process.

We are reaching out to a variety of different contacts and resources in our ongoing effort to replace Katherine as our treasurer.

It seems there are a multitude of people working to plan and organize the festivities associated with Mark King's final Sunday.

Mark and I have worked to plan ahead so our interim organist, Brenda Weiser, can focus on providing quality music during this time. We're also working ahead so that our hopefully newly-called Minister of Music will have an easy transition.

In addition to all of that, Mark is working on sorting, cleaning out, and moving 28-years of office stuff.

And lest I forget Melonie, in addition to her regular duties she is also caught up in all of the extra activities mentioned above. Her desk often looks like someone turned her drawers upside down and scattered the contents all over the office; but at the end of the day she's managed to put everything back where it belongs.

Things here are frantic, frenetic, and in constant chaos. I think we need more chocolate.

At this time of the year, and this year in particular, I am grateful for those moments I can slow down, put all of the chaos and stress to the side, breathe, and spend some time with God. For me this comes when I end the day in the South Transept and pray Evening Prayer. It comes on Wednesday at 12:15 when I escape out of the office into St. Mary's Chapel for the midday/mid-week Eucharist. And it comes every Sunday when, for about 2-1/2 hours I worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness; a time when I hear the readings, pray the Psalm, join with angels, archangels, and all the company of heaven as we sing, “Holy, holy, holy Lord . . .” and especially a time when I have the privilege and honor of administering Holy Communion.

There are times when things are frantic, frenetic, and in chaos. There are times when you don't have enough chocolate to cope. But hopefully, in the midst of all that frenzy, you have a time a place to sit, breathe, slow down, and be with God.

“Be present, O merciful God, so that we who are wearied by the changes and chances of this life may rest in your eternal changlessness.”