Lately as part of my prayer, I’ve been reading the diaries of Dorothy Day, published in a volume entitled “The Duty of Delight.” I ordered it at the Catholic Worker conference I attended in July. As a founder of the Catholic Worker movement, Day lived in voluntary poverty with those in need and traveled among the “houses of hospitality” founded by the movement. The newspaper, “The Catholic Worker” that she started advocated for equitable working conditions, pacifism, and the Catholic faith through the thirties and forties, to much social opposition. Day spent her time with communists and longshoremen; priests and alcoholics. Her radical interpretation of the Gospel was hard, her politics were uncompromising—and there’s a lot about what she advocated that I strongly disagree with. But reading her is still a little like spending a few minutes with a saint every morning.
A saint, but not, well, a “saint.” She was not perfect. The gift of reading someone’s diaries is that you really get to see what they were like—their frustrations and irritations, impatience with themselves and with others. The holiness of her life was that she was constantly on a path toward God, but never lived her life in such a way as to insulate herself from those who were not. She never separated herself morally, or even bodily. She lived with the people she served, sharing grimy kitchens and cold winters because she believed that Jesus would have done so.
I am very aware of how comfortable my life is—vacations with family, pleasant bike rides to my well-furnished office, delicious food on my dinner table. The beauty of Day’s writing, though, is that she helps you to move beyond the paralysis of “I’m a bad person for not living like that” and into a wider, more grace-filled space of love and forgiveness for others. There is nothing particularly holy about being obsessed with one’s sins. The holiness comes in when your awareness of your own faults opens you to forgive the faults of those around you. Day summarizes it this way; “It makes one unhappy to judge people and happy to love them.” (June 25, 1938) Indeed.
We are all on the journey toward God—sometimes halting and stumbling, and sometimes running with abandon and joy. Day quotes St Catherine of Siena: “All the way to heaven is heaven, because He said I am the way.” Jesus Christ has already reconciled us to God, and we are loved more than we now. The light of God’s hope reflects back on us already, even in the darkest moments of the present.
Thanks be to God!
Thursday, August 28, 2008
Thursday, August 21, 2008
fall
I had a wonderful time traveling in Sweden visiting with my family, but I am glad to be back writing to you. Your vestry has been busy working behind the scenes this summer to plan for fall, with great ideas for stewardship (in October) adult education (our Tuesday class continues, starting Sept. 30), and discernment about the future of Christ Church (look for a letter from Senior Warden Marcia Luce to come in a few weeks). Bishop Gayle Harris will be visiting with us on September 28.
There are also some exciting diocesan events coming up too, with parish resource day on September 27, held here in Waltham at Bentley College. Workshops will be offered on such diverse topics as environmental stewardship and ending global poverty and parish leadership and financial practice. Each of our bishops will also be speaking—Bishop Tom on a new book of his on Scripture; Bishop Bud on “Worshipful Work for Vestries and Committees” and Bishop Gayle on “Anglican Evangelism: Telling our Stories.” Here at Christ Church, we will be hosting the diocesan Eucharistic Visitor training on September 20. As you know, we have recently initiated a pastoral care team for people to visit the homebound. Whether you’d like to visit the same person regularly or if you’d just be willing to be “on hand” to bring communion to those who are in the hospital once in a while, I hope we’ll have a good turnout from Christ Church on that day. There are many ways to participate.
Yet another event is happening on September 23, when WATCH (The Waltham Alliance to Create Housing) will hold a community forum at Christ Church to talk about the future of downtown Waltham and local development. It’s not just about housing! There is much in store for us, and you can read more about each of these events in the Fieldstone Crier, which will be mailed in early September.
At the same time as I am looking forward to the fall, I have to remind myself that we still have a full ten days before Labor Day (and hopefully many more sunny and warm days before New England’s October chill). We are constantly looking forward, constantly plotting and planning for what is to come ahead. Of course, we need to plan, and it is good to get excited about the year. Even though I haven’t been in school for a while, the fall always still reminds me of new classes, new teachers, and new possibilities. But it’s easy to get ahead of ourselves and forget the Sabbath rest that these long days hope for us. I’ll close with the prayer for Saturdays from the Book of Common Prayer (p. 99—it’s in the rite for Morning Prayer)
Almighty God, who after the creation of the world rested from all your works and sanctified a day of rest for all your creatures: Grant that we, putting away all earthly anxieties, may be duly prepared for the service of your sanctuary, and that our rest here upon earth may be a preparation for the eternal rest promised to your people in heaven; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
There are also some exciting diocesan events coming up too, with parish resource day on September 27, held here in Waltham at Bentley College. Workshops will be offered on such diverse topics as environmental stewardship and ending global poverty and parish leadership and financial practice. Each of our bishops will also be speaking—Bishop Tom on a new book of his on Scripture; Bishop Bud on “Worshipful Work for Vestries and Committees” and Bishop Gayle on “Anglican Evangelism: Telling our Stories.” Here at Christ Church, we will be hosting the diocesan Eucharistic Visitor training on September 20. As you know, we have recently initiated a pastoral care team for people to visit the homebound. Whether you’d like to visit the same person regularly or if you’d just be willing to be “on hand” to bring communion to those who are in the hospital once in a while, I hope we’ll have a good turnout from Christ Church on that day. There are many ways to participate.
Yet another event is happening on September 23, when WATCH (The Waltham Alliance to Create Housing) will hold a community forum at Christ Church to talk about the future of downtown Waltham and local development. It’s not just about housing! There is much in store for us, and you can read more about each of these events in the Fieldstone Crier, which will be mailed in early September.
At the same time as I am looking forward to the fall, I have to remind myself that we still have a full ten days before Labor Day (and hopefully many more sunny and warm days before New England’s October chill). We are constantly looking forward, constantly plotting and planning for what is to come ahead. Of course, we need to plan, and it is good to get excited about the year. Even though I haven’t been in school for a while, the fall always still reminds me of new classes, new teachers, and new possibilities. But it’s easy to get ahead of ourselves and forget the Sabbath rest that these long days hope for us. I’ll close with the prayer for Saturdays from the Book of Common Prayer (p. 99—it’s in the rite for Morning Prayer)
Almighty God, who after the creation of the world rested from all your works and sanctified a day of rest for all your creatures: Grant that we, putting away all earthly anxieties, may be duly prepared for the service of your sanctuary, and that our rest here upon earth may be a preparation for the eternal rest promised to your people in heaven; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
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