January 20, 2021

Football officiating and church.

People have heard me talk about how intertwined these two things are for as long as I've been in ordained ministry. I was a football official long before I even considered ordination, but it wasn't long after ordination, or maybe it was during seminary, when I really began to see the similarities between the two.

Football officiating has its rules book, procedures, and mechanics. Our church has the Book of Common Prayer, rubrics, and liturgies. One rule may point to or draw from several other rules and it takes understanding each of them to understand the whole. One rubric may point to or draw from several other rubrics and it takes understanding each of them to understand the whole. Football and church have a lot in common.

Yesterday morning before going into the office I saw that the NY Mets had fired their relatively new general manager for sending many inappropriate and unsolicited texts to a female reporter in 2016 while he was with a different team. Yesterday afternoon I learned that Sarah Thomas, the first full-time female official in the NFL, earned a spot on this year's Super Bowl crew, making her the first woman to work an NFL championship game.

Earlier this year people marching for justice and racial equality were met with severe resistance. People who cried, “Black lives matter” were shouted down with cries of, “All lives matter” and, “Blue lives matter.” Banners proclaiming “Black Lives Matter” were torn down, desecrated, or had the word “Black” whited out. In November, a game between the LA Rams and Tampa Bay Buccaneers was the first NFL game to be officiated by an all-African American crew. And I was reminded of Johnny Grier, who, in 1988, became the first African American referee in the NFL (I got to meet him once, but that's another story).

Football has its issues. So does the Church.

But at it's best, in football officiating there is no division, there is only one crew. All four, five, six, seven, or eight people on a crew work together in harmony. There is no male or female, black or white, only positions in a black and white shirt. And all of the positions work for the good of the crew.

At its best, in the Church there is no division. As Paul wrote, “In Christ there is no more Jew or Gentile, slave or free, male or female (and I would add, black or white), there is only one in Christ.” All of us, like a crew of officials, work our different positions for the good of the Church.

In respect to equality and unity, maybe the Church can learn something from a crew of football officials where male and female, black and white, work together seamlessly.

Blessings,

January 13, 2021

 I heard there was a cheese factory explosion in France. Da brie was everywhere.

Last week I wrote about rediscovering joy. A several hours later there was a whole lot of less-than joyful times. From the attempted coup at the capitol to the fallout to the screaming about whose fault this was to the screaming about whether we let the perpetrators go “in the name of healing” or whether we prosecute the perpetrators “in the name of healing and justice,” it has been a rough few days.

Added to all of that is that things in the office have been more hectic than usual. We are working on holding our annual meeting via Zoom. That meeting, by the way, is scheduled for January 24 at 11 am. In order to do that we needed a plan to get ballots to everyone. Most parishioners will receive (or have received) a ballot via e-mail. There are a few, however, who don't have e-mail and we were blessed to have a dedicated crew of couriers who offered to both deliver and pick up paper ballots. It has been a rough few days as we prepare to hold an online annual meeting.

Add to all of that and we still need to produce the annual report. Most individual reports are in, and we (well, mainly Melonie) is working on getting everything in a coherent format. Once she does that, I'll proof it, we'll print a few copies, and then we'll upload it to the website and place it here:

http://www.stjohnshagerstown.org/announcements (not there yet, but that's where it will go).

Add to all of that the situation with COVID and everyone trying to stay safe and healthy, trying to work or find work, trying to learn either from home or at school. Things are rough all the way around. And right now, to be honest, I am exhausted. But so is everyone else.

Which is why I opened today's Wednesday Word the way I did: because I, for one, needed to smile. I needed a little laugh in the midst of all the chaos. Yes, things have been rough, and yes, things will continue to be rough for awhile. But let's try to not lose our joy. Let's not lose our ability to laugh.

I'm reminded of the picture called “Laughing Jesus,” that I first saw in a priest's office years ago. I think about that picture now in the midst of chaos and whatnot feeling like we need to laugh. And I wonder . . . Did Peter tell him a fishing joke? Did he just watch one of “these little ones” do something incredibly funny? Did he, as Son of God, just tell his disciples the best dad joke ever?

We all need to find time to smile and laugh. So no matter how rough these days are, I hope you find time to laugh.

And with that, I will leave you with a favorite joke of a certain someone who always laughs at it:

Do you know what happens when you toss a hand grenade into a kitchen?

You get Linoleum Blownaparte!

Have a great day,

December 23, 2020

Yesterday I sent out a message saying that in-person worship services had been suspended indefinitely. I immediately received a text from a parishioner asking if I was canceling the Parking Lot Lessons & Carols. I responded, “Only if the weather is really bad.”

A weather app that I've come to trust is predicting approximately one quarter of an inch of rain beginning at 3:00 and continuing through the five o'clock hour. But it is also calling for temperatures in the upper fifties. So, unless that temperature changes, or the wind kicks up and it's raining sideways, I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that the 4:00 Parking Lot Lessons & Carols will go on as planned.

Bring an umbrella – or two or three or four. Bring your rain coats. Bring your flashlights.

On this Christmas Eve let us gather to read the story and sing the songs of Christmas. The weather may not be perfect, but I think it will do us good to gather safely and to see our friends and family of our parish who have become so important to us over the years.

And then let us celebrate the birth of Christ with our families to the best of our ability. Maybe that means we change some traditions, or start new ones, or create temporary ones to get through this season. Hopefully it also means joining us on our Facebook page at 10:45 tomorrow night for the late Christmas Eve service.

I titled this edition of the Wednesday Word “Defiance.” It was at this time, this first Christmas, that, as the Gospel of John says, the light of God broke through the darkness to shine on the world, and the darkness did not overcome it.

These are, no doubt, dark days. And some days it feels like the darkness is closing in. In-person worship is indefinitely suspended. It's going to rain on Christmas Eve during a planned Lessons & Carols. Our inability to gather and celebrate with friends is becoming weary. And any number of other dark, depressing things are piling up around us.

It is at this time that we need to shine some of the light of God into the world. Come and sing in the rain. Come worship online. Invite others to participate in our online worship.

Defiance isn't always grand acts of courage. Defiance certainly isn't not wearing a mask and rebuking the virus in the name of Jesus. Sometimes all it takes to defy the darkness is to shine even a little light.

Let us defy the darkness, shine our light, sing with joy, and proclaim to the world that God is with us, even and especially in dark times.

Blessings,

December 16, 2020

“I cannot be an optimist, but I am a prisoner of hope.” – Dr. Cornel West, Harvard University

In an article from TrinityNews (Trinity Church, Wall Street) back in 2014, Dr. West explained how he saw the difference between optimism and hopefulness by saying that hope allows us to see the darkness in the world while generating actions, work, and witness to bring an end to that darkness. Optimism, on the other hand (and in his opinion), is a naive belief that everyone will see a happy ending.

If you have been watching our worship services online you may have noticed that every Sunday the Advent wreath has a different banner facing the camera. Those four banners are Hope, Love, Joy, and Peace. They coincide (roughly) with the themes of that particular Sunday of Advent. For instance, this past Sunday was Gaudete Sunday, the Sunday of the pink/rose candle, and the Sunday where the traditional introit of the service has been, “Rejoice in the Lord always.” So the Joy banner is hung.

The theme of the First Sunday of Advent is Hope. In the gospel reading for that Sunday Jesus talks about the end of days. The sun will be darkened, the moon will not give its light, and stars will fall from heaven. Nations will be in distress and people will faint from fear of what is coming. We are to keep awake and be alert, for the Son of Man will come at an unexpected hour. We are given a glimpse of the coming darkness, but that admonition to remain awake and alert also gives us hope.

Our faith isn't based in optimism; it doesn't promise that everyone will see a happy ending. Instead, our faith is based in hope. Our faith tells us straight up, “There will be dark days ahead.” But our faith also gives us the hope of bringing light to a darkened world. Our faith gives us the hope to cast away the works of darkness. Our faith gives us the hope to, as Dr. West said, generate actions, work, and witness to bring an end to the darkness.

In Advent we are both preparing and waiting for the coming Messiah. That preparation comes from Jesus' warning to keep awake and alert. The waiting comes from the fact that no one knows the day nor the hour. So we wait. And we prepare. And in that waiting and preparation there is hope.

In these dark days of COVID, separation, and gathering restrictions, how are you shining the light of Christ and Church? How are you preparing to bring an end to the darkness? How do your current actions testify to both the need to wait and the need to prepare?

In this season of Advent, I hope you are not passively waiting for better days, but working to shine a light in the darkness.

Blessings,

December 9, 2020

 Advent is the season of waiting and preparation. It is the season of active quietness.

Sometimes we know exactly for what we are waiting and preparing. Right about now most of us are waiting and preparing for Christmas. Decorations are going up. Mailing lists are being reviewed. Cookies and mom's fudge are being made. Or maybe this year we have scaled back on all of the above because, to be honest, COVID has taken a toll on our ability to be joyful or productive. But however we are preparing for Christmas, we know it's coming and so we wait and prepare in our own way.

Sometimes we wait and try to prepare for the unpreparable. But how can we prepare for that of which we only know will be life-changing? How can we prepare for something of which we have only seen from the outside and for which we wait to be ushered into the inside? How can we prepare to take on something that will ultimately lead us into a new way of being?

I suppose all of the above can be applied to any aspect of our lives. Everything from getting married to accepting a new job or making a career change to deciding which college to attend will, if we think about it, lead us into a new way of being. We really aren't prepared for all that marriage throws our way. New jobs and careers have challenges we didn't see coming. And so it goes that we wait and prepare as best we can for what we think is coming.

I think all of this came to mind today because a friend and seminary classmate is one of the Final Four nominees for Bishop of Chicago. Their electing convention is this Saturday, so it's very possible that the Seabury Class of '04 will have its first bishop.

This week is probably the ultimate Advent week for my friend. He (and the other three nominees) will be patiently waiting for the outcome of the election. They are all preparing for Saturday. But how does one exactly prepare for the possibility that you might be a bishop by the end of the week? How does one prepare to not be shocked when you open your closet and see a row of purple shirts instead of black? How does one prepare to lead a diocese, not just a parish, and have canonical authority and oversight of possibly a few hundred other clergy?

My friend is preparing for the unpreparable.

So on this Wednesday and through this week, I would ask that you keep the Rev. Dr. Fulton Porter, his family, and the Diocese of Chicago in your prayers as they wait in preparation for the outcome of an election guided by the Holy Spirit that will determine their next bishop.

And regardless of what we are waiting and preparing for, may we always wait in prayer and be prepared to be changed into a new way of being.

Blessings,

Todd+

November 25, 2020

 “You keep us waiting. You, the God of all time, want us to wait. For the right time in which to discover who we are, where we are to go, who will be with us, and what we must do. So thank you . . . for the waiting time.” – John Bell

We are at the end of Ordinary Time, and quickly approaching the season of Advent – that season of patient activity and active waiting. We also continue to be in the season of COVID-19 – or the season of coronatide, as some of my friends have labeled this particular time, a tongue-in-cheek reference to the Church's naming of seasons like Christmastide, Eastertide, or Whitsuntide.

We became unfortunately familiar with the coronavirus this past spring, Lent in particular, and we tried to tie that in somehow with what we were experiencing. We are called to prepare for the days of Holy Week and Easter through a season of penitence and fasting. During the Lenten season we are asked to fast from something and use that time for self-examination, repentance, prayer, self-denial, and by reading and meditating on God's holy Word. As we moved through Lent, and then into Holy Week and Eastertide, many clergy put forth the idea that the coronavirus was gifting us with an extended Lent. We were being given a time to fast from certain church activities, to reevaluate what we did and why we did them, and to consider new ways of accomplishing the mission of the church.

That season extended well past Eastertide, past Whitsuntide, and into the Season after Pentecost. And it wasn't until the Ninth Sunday after Pentecost when we were finally able to regather as a congregation, even though in limited numbers. That lasted until just after November 1 when we were forced to once again limit worship to online only with just a few people in the building.

It has been a long Lenten season, this coronatide.

But as we prepare to move into Advent, it occurred to me that maybe this coronatide isn't a Lenten season or experience after all. Yes, it is causing us to fast from corporate worship. Yes, it is causing most of us to fast from participating in Holy Communion. But more than causing us to fast, it's causing us to wait.

We are a resurrection people. But we are also an Advent people. We are waiting for the coming of the Messiah. We are waiting for the fulfillment of the kingdom. We are waiting for the time of regathering. We are waiting to feel the touch of a friend, a hug, a handshake.

Coronatide isn't an extended season of Lent; it's an extended season of Advent. As we wait, let us wait actively. Let us prepare ourselves for the joyful coming of connections, of friendships, of touch, of regathering. Let us be like the five wise bridesmaids who were wise not because they gathered together apart from everyone waiting for the bridegroom to arrive now, but who were wise because they gathered to wait and were ready with enough oil to shine through the night when finally called by the bridegroom to gather.

May we give thanks for the waiting, and may we be ready to enter the festival hall when called.

Blessings,

November 18, 2020

 This past Sunday the Welcoming/PR team put up a post on our Facebook page that said:

Church Online – Not Canceled

Quiet Time with God – Not Canceled

Praying for the Sick – Not Canceled

Checking on a Friend – Not Canceled

Helping Others – Not Canceled

Being the Church – Now More Than Ever

We have entered another phase of increased COVID cases. We have once again limited people in the church building for worship to only those necessary (clergy, musicians, lector, videographer). Mark and I are making alternative plans for both the bishop's visitation next month and the Christmas Eve services should the COVID numbers continue to be high. We are working at being flexible in this unusual time. Although to be honest, I did tell Mark that I was tired of being flexible.

But the Facebook post I referenced above and the worship planning Mark and I do reminded me that I need to remind you – We have not stopped being the Church. Just because we can't gather and worship God in the beauty of holiness does not mean that we are being stopped from being God's people and living into the mission of Saint John's.

We are still able to worship by gathering online. One of the joys I experience from this is seeing people interact with each other in the comments during the service and offering prayers, thanksgivings, updates, and support.

We are finding ways to welcome people. Whether that is reaching out to new people who have attended our worship in person when able, or checking up on people through phone calls and letters, we are still working at maintaining our connections.

We are finding ways to serve. The Service and Outreach commission oversaw a food giveaway, is involved in the distribution of Bester Christmas shoeboxes, and serving lunches at Potomac Towers.

Deacon Sue and I host a bible study and discussion on Tuesday nights and Sunday afternoons respectively. Bob Ayrer hosts a discussion about the early church on Thursday nights. Heidi McCusker and Rebecca Connor provide Sunday school programs following the 9:30 worship service. Joelene Young leads an active and engaged teen program (J2A) for the high school students.

I write all this to let you know that we haven't stopped being the Church. We are still doing things. Is there more we could be doing? Probably. Have we stopped being the Church, or have found ourselves unprepared like the five foolish bridesmaids? No.

So thank you for your participation. Thank you for your flexibility. Thank you for your support. Thank you for continuing to be the Church. Thank you for continuing. And as we move forward through these difficult times, let us always continue to continue.

Blessings,