Prayers for the Church in Zimbabwe

This week, I wanted to share some news of our bishop, The Rt. Rev M. Thomas Shaw, SSJE. The SSJE means that he’s a monk—a brother in the Society of St John the Evangelist, a monastery in Cambridge (SSJE is a great resource—see www.ssje.org for more on their ministries). Bishop Shaw is our diocesan bishop, and his work is supported by two suffragan (assisting) bishops, The Rt. Revs Gayle Harris and Bud Cederholm. Gayle will be visiting us next fall, in September (she was also here in the spring of 2006), and Bud was here in March of 2007.

Tom just came back from a trip to Zimbabwe, taken at the request of our Presiding Bishop, Katharine Jefferts Schori and with the invitation of Sebastian Bakare of the Diocese of Harare. This is from his statement about the trip:
I was asked to travel to Harare to express the church’s solidarity with our Anglican brothers and sisters in the Diocese of Harare who are under profound oppression and to gather information for the presiding bishop about the political situation there. I interviewed some 50 priests, lay people and human rights lawyers in Harare over the course of my one week stay. I can report that the situation in Zimbabwe is indeed grave. There are widespread violations of human rights, daily reports of murder and torture and an economic and humanitarian crisis of enormous proportions. The inflation rate is one million percent and unemployment ranges between 80-90%. There are long lines for gas and at banks, limited electricity and clean water and virtually empty shelves in supermarkets. . . . Thousands of Anglican worshipers have been locked out of their churches, their church properties have been occupied by government-backed allies and their personal automobiles have been confiscated. A local priest must move from house to house every night to avoid possible arrest. A nine-year-old boy and a widowed mother of five children were beaten by police for failing to leave the church site.

In an article in the Boston Globe about his trip, Bishop Shaw talked about the inspirational faith of the Church there:
Sunday I went to this really poor township, and over 400 people were worshiping in this yard of this person's house, spilling out into the road. It was an unbelievable experience. The enthusiasm, the joy that these people have is pretty profound. . . I preached about the fact that they are not isolated in the Anglican Communion, and that there were literally millions of people around the globe that . . . are praying for them…. And I preached about that they were a real model for the rest of us around the world, in the way that they are standing up against oppression, and not letting it get in the way of their worship for God.

We’ll hear more about the international church in the coming weeks as Anglican bishops across the globe prepare to travel to the Lambeth Conference, a meeting of all the bishops that happens every ten years (the conference is from July 16 to August 3). Please take a moment now to pray for Christians everywhere, especially the church in Zimbabwe, and for fair elections there later this month.

For a short video and the Boston Globe article, visit http://www.boston.com/news/world/africa/articles/2008/06/06/bishop_finds_flock_tormented_in_zimbabwe/?page=full

For more background on the situation for the Anglican Church in Zimbabwe, see
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/16/world/africa/16zimbabwe.html?sq=zimbabwe%20anglican&st=cse&scp=1&pagewanted=all

Eating Locally (from March, 2007)

God said, ‘See, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit; you shall have them for food. And to every beast of the earth, and to every bird of the air, and to everything that creeps on the earth, everything that has the breath of life, I have given every green plant for food.’ And it was so. God saw everything that he had made, and indeed, it was very good. (Genesis 1: 29-31)

This week, a lot of events around environmental issues and food have come across my desk. Earth day isn’t until April 22, but a lot of things are happening now. You can see some of the events listed below. On a very close-to-home note, Waltham Fields Community Farm is selling shares in their Community Supported Agriculture Program. I don’t think I’ve every used this space to encourage you consider buying anything, so I hope you’ll excuse it just this once.

Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) is a movement that started here in Massachusetts in an effort to help local farmers, the environment, and to improve food quality. Right here in Waltham, on Beaver Street, Waltham Fields Community Farm grows a wide variety of vegetables (some fruits, but mostly veggies). As a CSA shareholder, you take on a portion of the risk—and the benefit—of your local farm. Noah and I were shareholders for the first time last year—some of you may have heard me talk about it. You pay a fee for the season and pick up delicious, fresh vegetables and fruit for 20 weeks, from June to October. You also get “pick your own” privileges on the farm for special treats like cherry tomatoes, strawberries, herbs, and flowers. The food is delicious and an excellent value (about 20 dollars a week for enough veggies to feed 2 adults and children, plus leftovers—one week we had ten pounds of tomatoes!). Moreover, the positive environmental impact of eating locally and pesticide-free is tremendous. (WCF, while they use organic practices, are not officially certified “organic.”)

Have you ever considered how much energy it takes to drive a cucumber from California to Massachusetts? A lot! Why do that, when we can grow cucumbers right here? Remember that E. coli bacteria scare last year when the California spinach was contaminated, but the farm and packaging systems were so large it took weeks to figure out where the illness came from? By eating straight from the farm, such risks are significantly minimized. And it tastes better, too. A tomato that was harvested last week has significantly more flavor than one that was picked before it was ripe, and spent weeks in a truck or grocery store distribution center. In addition to which, WCF donates hundreds of pounds of food to local hunger relief organizations. (If you were at the Waltham Interfaith Thanksgiving service last November, you heard from Janet, who distributes vegetables at the Salvation Army).

Of course, being a CSA member isn’t the only way to respond to environmental food issues. Buying from the Waltham farmers market has much of the same impact, without the commitment to the whole growing season and up front financial investment. But I have to say, visiting the farm every week and seeing and smelling the ground where your food came from is simply a spiritual experience. As modern people, it is easy for us to lose sight of how God’s creation nourishes us directly, and how intimately we really are connected to God’s creation. We are given dominion over the earth, but we are also charged to be caretakers. We each have a part to play in that work.

For more on the farm, visit http://www.communityfarms.org/ or call 781-899-2403.

If you’re interested in hearing more about the impact of local food systems, ask one of our youth. Last October, we spent the day at the Lincoln Food Project, another local farm that works for hunger relief and local agriculture

Question Authority

This past Sunday for our usual first-Sunday-of-the-month children’s service at Christ Church, our youth group took parts of our service. Thanks to Caroline Beermann, who lead a reflection with the children, Emma Scalisi who read the Gospel, Devon Franklin who wrote and read the Prayers of the People, and MaryAnn Murray, who lead the psalm and read the second reading. Thanks, too, to Suzanne Hughes, our talented youth group leader (who is also our very talented treasurer) who shepherded them in their preparations for the day.

It didn’t occur to me at the time, but the readings were especially appropriate for a young person to reflect on. There’s one line, which on reading the text for the first time it’s easy to skip over: Now when Jesus had finished saying these things, the crowds were astounded at his teaching, for he taught them as one having authority, and not as their scribes. Watching Caroline sit with our kids, I was struck by how important it must be for kids to see other kids in leadership—in the same way as it was important for me to have a woman priest growing up, to see that I could do that, too. Our kids need to have that example of being included in the leadership and witness of God in this church. Caroline had the authority to teach with them because she is a member of this community. We have something to learn from everyone. Caroline talked about how the authority of Jesus came from love—not (and here I’m extending what she said a little) from the power of institutional authority or worldly respect, like the scribes.

Authority is a tricky thing—I once had a bumper sticker that said, “Question Authority.” Of course, anyone who has ever been sixteen years old probably feels that sentiment at one time or another, but I don’t think it’s just about adolescent rebellion. Being a Christian is about trying to see how God sees, not how the world sees—and that means that status in the world is not of ultimate value. It can be nice to be successful in the world’s eyes, but it’s not what we’re called to do. In his letter to the Galatians Paul writes: Am I now seeking human approval, or God’s approval? Or am I trying to please people? If I were still pleasing people, I would not be a servant^* of Christ. (Gal 1: 10)

But we want to be nice. We want to have others’ approval. We want, especially, to have the approval of those who can benefit us. We judge each other. And so we might be more interested in talking to the well-dressed person at coffee hour than the one who looks like they slept outside. We want our kids to be friends with the “right” kind of people. We stereotype people, categorizing them by sexual orientation, race, gender, politics. I know I do this—I feel so strongly about the things I believe, sometimes it can be hard to imagine that any sane person could disagree. Do they have their heads in the sand? Are they blind? Or am I?

A bishop can be respected for his or her depth of education, or experience, or sensitivity, but God’s love is not any more present with those wearing purple shirts than with those wearing sarcastic T shirts or dirty overcoats. The Gospel is just as likely to be heard out of the mouth of a teenager as it is the archbishop, however many more resources he might have at his disposal to articulate them. The challenge to each of us, of course, is to listen.