Dear People of Christ Church,
This week Paul Hartge, our Micah Intern, will be our preacher at both services. It's been wonderful these past few weeks to hear the different voices of our stewardship speakers, and we'll also hear from Bill Fowler this week about what stewardship means to him. Please turn in your pledge cards, and really consider in prayer how your financial giving to your church community can reflect how valuable our community is.
A church community is a community of pastoral care, fellowship, and worship, but it's also a community of learning and teaching. Even those who don't attend our book groups or seasonal series are still learners as they approach their faith; in listening to Scripture as part of our worship, in hearing sermons, in reading the Quarterly and (hopefully) reading pieces in this space as well. We never stop learning in our daily lives; our faith commitments can also be areas of intellectual growth.
We're a learning community, but we're also a teaching community. Of course we teach our children, but we teach each other, too. Having Paul Hartge, our Micah intern with us this year is about learning from him and what he has to share, but it's also about his learning from us. Part of this year for him is discerning whether God might be calling him to ordained ministry. Each person in this community is part of that discernment work as he learns about ministry and his gifts and desires. And so, this week, he turns his focus to preaching.
During my year as a Micah intern, I had the chance to preach both at my internship site (the Church of St John the Evangelist in Boston), and at the Episcopal Chaplaincy at Boston University. As part of my work with St John's, I worked with homeless people in Boston, so when two men whom I'd worked with in that community found out I was preaching, they came out on a cold December evening to hear me. I was, of course, nervous, but afterwards Matthew and Al held up signs like Olympic judges-one "10" and one "9.5." (Matthew thought it was a little much for me to receive two perfect tens, but he assured me that I'd done well). I actually still have those signs-a reminder of that time of intense prayer and work, certainly, but also support from the people I was ministering with. So all blessings to Paul this Sunday! I know each of you will offer him the hospitality of your listening hearts.
Speaking of learning, you've also seen printed here that we hope to offer a series on faith and politics in November. All the way back to St Augustine (and certainly earlier), the question of the relation of the individual believer to his or her country has been a subject of lively debate in the Christian tradition. In the founding of this country, the separation of church and state was viewed to protect the church from the state, rather than the other way around, as we tend to read it now. What do St Paul's words about being transformed, rather than conformed to the world, have to say to us? To our civic participation? This series will be more a time to talk about these wider issues than, necessarily, a "pro/con" on what the church says about particular issues (though we will get to some of them as well). Please let us know of your interest in participating. We're hoping to get a Bible Study off the ground, too, possibly jointly with St Peter's.
Finally, you'll see in our "Staff news" section that we have big news! Stephen and his wife Tanya expect the birth of their daughter in early November, and my family and I are moving to Medford, where my husband's church is, as well as my son's preschool, which my daughter will soon attend. (It's Mama's turn to have the longer commute, and our kids are ready for a house with a proper yard). Our new house is West Medford, not far from the Arlington line, so it's not too far. I will likely be out of the office Wednesday and Thursday of next week, but Emilie, our administrator, always knows how to find me and I'll be on email.
Blessings,
Sara+
Tuesday, October 26, 2010
Wrangling over Words
Dear people of Christ Church,
This Sunday, we celebrate the baptism of Olivia Christie. Olivia has been coming to Christ Church with her big brother Nicholas (3) and parents Amy and David. Welcome to the household of God, Olivia!
This week as we celebrate the Eucharist with Baptism, we'll continue our journey through the books of Jeremiah and Timothy. We've been reading both continuously since September, and we'll be with them for several more weeks. It's good to spend some more time listening to the same books in church, but it doesn't leave a lot of space to spend sustained time grappling with them since preachers tend to focus more on the Gospel texts for Sundays. Given continuous readings, they don't often tie up neatly with the themes of the Gospel.
The letters of first and second Timothy is one of the books we call "the pastorals"-scholars are pretty sure that Paul himself didn't write them, but as part of the Biblical canon we still read them and value what they have to say. Of course, we value them in context; Timothy is also the book that counsels women not to speak in church, so it requires a bit of cultural unpacking as well. These last few weeks Timothy has had some very memorable phrases, in which he speaks to the people who aren't as steadfastin their beliefs as he would like. In that world, like ours, there was a lot of competition for religious allegiance, and a lot of controversy, and he jumps right into the fray. Last week we heard him counsel "avoid wrangling over words, which does no good but only ruins those who are listening." This week, he warns, "For the time is coming when people will not put up with sound doctrine, but having itching ears, they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own desires."
Who are these people with itchy ears? Are they the people who don't bother coming to church? Agnostics and atheists? Is it us? And is it really such a bad thing? I think I want to speak in defense of those "itchy eared folks," those who wrangle over words and interrogate received texts and beliefs. Timothy was speaking to a community that worried that people would abandon their faith in favor of the next big thing. Then and now, people are distractable. It seems to me, though, that "wrangling" is actually part of the call of the Christian, not a liability to faith. Today, the obstacle to faith isn't doubt, it's apathy. We should start to worry when we don't even care enough to struggle. Being critical of our historical faith doesn't mean we'll fall away, it means that we are interested! As long as we're asking questions, we're engaging; as long as we are "wrangling over words" we're affirming that the words that we say have power.
This week, I invite you to take a few minutes of prayer and do some of that interrogation. Do it in love, trusting God to be with you. Ask God to sit with you in your questions, and guide you to listen for God's word. Ask yourself how God speaks to you in your current context, in your life here and now.
Ask, and the door will be opened unto you, seek and ye shall find..
Blessings,
Sara+
This Sunday, we celebrate the baptism of Olivia Christie. Olivia has been coming to Christ Church with her big brother Nicholas (3) and parents Amy and David. Welcome to the household of God, Olivia!
This week as we celebrate the Eucharist with Baptism, we'll continue our journey through the books of Jeremiah and Timothy. We've been reading both continuously since September, and we'll be with them for several more weeks. It's good to spend some more time listening to the same books in church, but it doesn't leave a lot of space to spend sustained time grappling with them since preachers tend to focus more on the Gospel texts for Sundays. Given continuous readings, they don't often tie up neatly with the themes of the Gospel.
The letters of first and second Timothy is one of the books we call "the pastorals"-scholars are pretty sure that Paul himself didn't write them, but as part of the Biblical canon we still read them and value what they have to say. Of course, we value them in context; Timothy is also the book that counsels women not to speak in church, so it requires a bit of cultural unpacking as well. These last few weeks Timothy has had some very memorable phrases, in which he speaks to the people who aren't as steadfastin their beliefs as he would like. In that world, like ours, there was a lot of competition for religious allegiance, and a lot of controversy, and he jumps right into the fray. Last week we heard him counsel "avoid wrangling over words, which does no good but only ruins those who are listening." This week, he warns, "For the time is coming when people will not put up with sound doctrine, but having itching ears, they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own desires."
Who are these people with itchy ears? Are they the people who don't bother coming to church? Agnostics and atheists? Is it us? And is it really such a bad thing? I think I want to speak in defense of those "itchy eared folks," those who wrangle over words and interrogate received texts and beliefs. Timothy was speaking to a community that worried that people would abandon their faith in favor of the next big thing. Then and now, people are distractable. It seems to me, though, that "wrangling" is actually part of the call of the Christian, not a liability to faith. Today, the obstacle to faith isn't doubt, it's apathy. We should start to worry when we don't even care enough to struggle. Being critical of our historical faith doesn't mean we'll fall away, it means that we are interested! As long as we're asking questions, we're engaging; as long as we are "wrangling over words" we're affirming that the words that we say have power.
This week, I invite you to take a few minutes of prayer and do some of that interrogation. Do it in love, trusting God to be with you. Ask God to sit with you in your questions, and guide you to listen for God's word. Ask yourself how God speaks to you in your current context, in your life here and now.
Ask, and the door will be opened unto you, seek and ye shall find..
Blessings,
Sara+
Thursday, October 7, 2010
Hospitality
Dear people of Christ Church,
By now, hopefully you've received your stewardship mailing, or taken a look at the materials displayed at the back of the church. This year's campaign is loosely tied around some themes that emerged from our vestry and GPS ministry committees--hospitality, outreach, and faith. We try to be a welcoming church-- follow up with newcomers when we get those little yellow cards, and hopefully talk with folks at coffee hour or after the service. Hospitality is a deeper Gospel value, though, than just responding to people in a polite way.
In the Biblical world that Jesus grew up in, hospitality was a cardinal virtue. One of my favorite icons is of the three angels who visited Abraham at the oaks of Mamre (it's also interpreted as an icon of the Trinity, and if you look carefully it seems as though the angels are including you, the viewer, as a having a seat at the table). They seem just to be ordinary travelers, but Abraham bends over backwards to welcome them. They slaughter a calf, make cakes, and eat under the oak trees, and the angels tell Abraham and Sarah that they will conceive a child. Sarah laughs, but with God, all things are possible. The story gets picked up again in the letter to the Hebrews, where we are reminded, "Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by doing that some have entertained angels without knowing it." (Heb. 13:2). St Benedict used to tell his monks to welcome every knock on the door saying, "It is the Lord."
The thing about church, though, is that it's easy to always think of ourselves as the welcomers--as if we were the hosts of the table. But the first table we gather around is the altar-the ultimate symbol of hospitality. The coffee hour table comes next, but first is that liturgical, divine hospitality where we are all guests. My Lutheran friends are fond of quoting Martin Luther as saying that Christian evangelism is just one beggar telling another where to find food.
On Sundays, "Welcoming" is bigger than just you or me. It's bigger, even, than our work together. The altar guild puts out what we need to set the table, the priest says the blessing, the people say Amen, and we all eat. We are the Body of Christ and God's hands, but we are not the source. It's God feeding us. We each are welcomed every time we share the Eucharist without qualification. Without regard to our past or our potential, we are welcomed. Without regard to our intelligence, our age, our mindfulness or distraction, we are welcomed. The hospitality of the Eucharist lights a candle testifying to a new reality-dark though it is, we will keep saying Eucharisto! Thank you.
Blessings,
Sara+
PS: for the WS Merwin poem from which I stole parts of that last line, you can click here.
By now, hopefully you've received your stewardship mailing, or taken a look at the materials displayed at the back of the church. This year's campaign is loosely tied around some themes that emerged from our vestry and GPS ministry committees--hospitality, outreach, and faith. We try to be a welcoming church-- follow up with newcomers when we get those little yellow cards, and hopefully talk with folks at coffee hour or after the service. Hospitality is a deeper Gospel value, though, than just responding to people in a polite way.
In the Biblical world that Jesus grew up in, hospitality was a cardinal virtue. One of my favorite icons is of the three angels who visited Abraham at the oaks of Mamre (it's also interpreted as an icon of the Trinity, and if you look carefully it seems as though the angels are including you, the viewer, as a having a seat at the table). They seem just to be ordinary travelers, but Abraham bends over backwards to welcome them. They slaughter a calf, make cakes, and eat under the oak trees, and the angels tell Abraham and Sarah that they will conceive a child. Sarah laughs, but with God, all things are possible. The story gets picked up again in the letter to the Hebrews, where we are reminded, "Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by doing that some have entertained angels without knowing it." (Heb. 13:2). St Benedict used to tell his monks to welcome every knock on the door saying, "It is the Lord."
The thing about church, though, is that it's easy to always think of ourselves as the welcomers--as if we were the hosts of the table. But the first table we gather around is the altar-the ultimate symbol of hospitality. The coffee hour table comes next, but first is that liturgical, divine hospitality where we are all guests. My Lutheran friends are fond of quoting Martin Luther as saying that Christian evangelism is just one beggar telling another where to find food.
On Sundays, "Welcoming" is bigger than just you or me. It's bigger, even, than our work together. The altar guild puts out what we need to set the table, the priest says the blessing, the people say Amen, and we all eat. We are the Body of Christ and God's hands, but we are not the source. It's God feeding us. We each are welcomed every time we share the Eucharist without qualification. Without regard to our past or our potential, we are welcomed. Without regard to our intelligence, our age, our mindfulness or distraction, we are welcomed. The hospitality of the Eucharist lights a candle testifying to a new reality-dark though it is, we will keep saying Eucharisto! Thank you.
Blessings,
Sara+
PS: for the WS Merwin poem from which I stole parts of that last line, you can click here.
Tuesday, September 7, 2010
Children's Sunday changes, and a welcoming community
This week, we'll celebrate our regular first Sunday of the month children's Sunday. This year, we're going to try something a little different for children's Sundays. We're scaling back the every month children's Sunday just a little--we'll still do the children's sermon instead of the "regular" one, but I won't have all the kids up at the altar. At the same time, we'll ramp up and have two larger scale kids' Sundays a year, where kids will be at the altar helping to bless the bread and the wine, as well as doing the oblations, the readings, etc. The first big kids' Sunday will be on October 3, when we'll also celebrate "Creation Sunday," and encourage everyone to walk, bike, or carpool to church. After all, part of the reason we conserve is to have a healthy earth for future generations. It's also St Francis Day weekend, so stay tuned for some possible animal-blessing announcements.
Whether you have kids or not, the children who are part of our community have a connection to you--even if you don't know it. We all form part of the community they will carry with them for all their lives. Having our kids in church every month is a blessing to all of us. It reminds us that you never have to wait to receive the blessings of God. I'd also like to pass on a few thoughts about kids in church from children's educator Rhonda Waters, a friend of mine who'll soon be ordained in Montreal. She offers some suggestions for families, and for the wider congregation:
+Small children like to wander. Rejoice if you have a wanderer in your midst -- it's a sign that she/he feels safe in your community. And remember -- a wandering child is almost always quieter than an uncomfortable and restless child. Parents, do know where your kids are, but don't be too mortified if they climb the chancel steps.
+Sunday School is important but so is incorporating kids into the worshipping community. In fact, Sunday School can become a problem if it serves only to separate kids from the rest of the Body of Christ -- de-corporating the worshipping community, if you will. We are one body in Christ--each one of us.
+Kids should be seated where they can see what's going on. The front of a church actually has quite a lot to look at and quite a few people move around over the course of a service. Children who can see are more apt to pay attention because there is something to pay attention to. Families, sit near the front!
I am so grateful for the ways Christ Church is a welcoming community to everyone. Single adults, older adults, families, couples--thanks to each of you for making this community a place with holy--and whole--worship for all.
Blessings,
Sara+
Whether you have kids or not, the children who are part of our community have a connection to you--even if you don't know it. We all form part of the community they will carry with them for all their lives. Having our kids in church every month is a blessing to all of us. It reminds us that you never have to wait to receive the blessings of God. I'd also like to pass on a few thoughts about kids in church from children's educator Rhonda Waters, a friend of mine who'll soon be ordained in Montreal. She offers some suggestions for families, and for the wider congregation:
+Small children like to wander. Rejoice if you have a wanderer in your midst -- it's a sign that she/he feels safe in your community. And remember -- a wandering child is almost always quieter than an uncomfortable and restless child. Parents, do know where your kids are, but don't be too mortified if they climb the chancel steps.
+Sunday School is important but so is incorporating kids into the worshipping community. In fact, Sunday School can become a problem if it serves only to separate kids from the rest of the Body of Christ -- de-corporating the worshipping community, if you will. We are one body in Christ--each one of us.
+Kids should be seated where they can see what's going on. The front of a church actually has quite a lot to look at and quite a few people move around over the course of a service. Children who can see are more apt to pay attention because there is something to pay attention to. Families, sit near the front!
I am so grateful for the ways Christ Church is a welcoming community to everyone. Single adults, older adults, families, couples--thanks to each of you for making this community a place with holy--and whole--worship for all.
Blessings,
Sara+
Thursday, September 2, 2010
From 8/26: No one's excluded
This week, I've continued to watch with sadness the unfolding of dramatic Islamophobia in our country. Just this morning, the newspaper included stories about the church in Florida that's planning "Burn a Koran" day on September 11, and a New York cab driver who was stabbed by his passenger after answering affirmatively to the question "are you a Muslim." And, of course, the debate over "the mosque at ground zero" (which is neither a mosque nor at ground zero (it's a community center; there's already a mosque) rages on. On Sunday in my sermon, I said that it felt like our whole country was bent over by fear; we are in need of a collective "Daughter, you are healed" as Jesus spoke to the woman bent over for 18 years. We're collectively bent over by fear, unable to see or hear.
In the daily office this morning, another Scripture passage hit me over the head in speaking to fear of Islam (or fear of gay marriage, or fear of immigrants, or fear of any group). The early church was, we know, in a very diverse context. There were constant questions about who could be part of the church and who couldn't--and what was required for them to do to join. As a movement solidly in the Jewish community, what do to with those who wanted to follow Jesus but weren't Jews? Jews and Gentiles weren't even supposed to eat together, much less pray or be part of the same community.
That all changed with the conversion of Cornelius, the centurion--an officer in the Roman army. He and Simon Peter had simulataneous visions concerning the inclusion of Gentiles in the church. Cornelius was told in his vision to send people to get Peter, while Peter's message was a little less clear. He saw a large sheet coming down with all kinds of animals that were forbidden for Jews to eat.
"A voice spoke: Get up, Peter; kill and eat.' But Peter said, 'By no means, Lord; for I have never eaten anything that is profane or unclean.' The voice said to him again, a second time, 'What God has made clean, you must not call profane." (Acts 10:13-15).
Totally confused, Peter tries to figure out what's going on when Cornelius' people appear and ask Peter to go with them. He goes, and tells Cornelius and his companions: 'You yourselves know that it is unlawful for a Jew to associate with or to visit a Gentile; but God has shown me that I should not call anyone profane or unclean. So when I was sent for, I came without objection." (Acts 10:28-29)
There's an important shift here, which is why it kind of hit me over the head. Peter's vision was of animals--he could easily have interpreted his vision as being about the Jewish dietary laws (the text even tells us that he was hungry). Kill and eat--it doesn't say anything about people. But in the course of wrestling with it and praying, Peter discerns that God isn't just talking about some narrow ban on certain foods, he's being told that being a Christian is about extending grace and love to everyone--even those who are not Jews or Christians! "God has shown me that I should not call anyone profane or unclean." Cornelius was an agent of the state that had oppressed and separated the Jewish people for years. If he wasn't worthy of recrimination, then nobody is.
And if the Roman military wasn't "out" in Jesus' day, I can't think of anyone now who could be, either. At that critical period in the formation of this movement around Jesus, the invitation of the risen Lord was toward wider embrace and wider inclusion. We have to listen to Peter, now, and reconnect with that heritage of our Christian faith. Whether it's gender, race, religion, or sexuality, Christian voices need to be heard--no one is excluded from God's love, and everyone should be free to live and pray as they are called.
Blessings,
Sara+
In the daily office this morning, another Scripture passage hit me over the head in speaking to fear of Islam (or fear of gay marriage, or fear of immigrants, or fear of any group). The early church was, we know, in a very diverse context. There were constant questions about who could be part of the church and who couldn't--and what was required for them to do to join. As a movement solidly in the Jewish community, what do to with those who wanted to follow Jesus but weren't Jews? Jews and Gentiles weren't even supposed to eat together, much less pray or be part of the same community.
That all changed with the conversion of Cornelius, the centurion--an officer in the Roman army. He and Simon Peter had simulataneous visions concerning the inclusion of Gentiles in the church. Cornelius was told in his vision to send people to get Peter, while Peter's message was a little less clear. He saw a large sheet coming down with all kinds of animals that were forbidden for Jews to eat.
"A voice spoke: Get up, Peter; kill and eat.' But Peter said, 'By no means, Lord; for I have never eaten anything that is profane or unclean.' The voice said to him again, a second time, 'What God has made clean, you must not call profane." (Acts 10:13-15).
Totally confused, Peter tries to figure out what's going on when Cornelius' people appear and ask Peter to go with them. He goes, and tells Cornelius and his companions: 'You yourselves know that it is unlawful for a Jew to associate with or to visit a Gentile; but God has shown me that I should not call anyone profane or unclean. So when I was sent for, I came without objection." (Acts 10:28-29)
There's an important shift here, which is why it kind of hit me over the head. Peter's vision was of animals--he could easily have interpreted his vision as being about the Jewish dietary laws (the text even tells us that he was hungry). Kill and eat--it doesn't say anything about people. But in the course of wrestling with it and praying, Peter discerns that God isn't just talking about some narrow ban on certain foods, he's being told that being a Christian is about extending grace and love to everyone--even those who are not Jews or Christians! "God has shown me that I should not call anyone profane or unclean." Cornelius was an agent of the state that had oppressed and separated the Jewish people for years. If he wasn't worthy of recrimination, then nobody is.
And if the Roman military wasn't "out" in Jesus' day, I can't think of anyone now who could be, either. At that critical period in the formation of this movement around Jesus, the invitation of the risen Lord was toward wider embrace and wider inclusion. We have to listen to Peter, now, and reconnect with that heritage of our Christian faith. Whether it's gender, race, religion, or sexuality, Christian voices need to be heard--no one is excluded from God's love, and everyone should be free to live and pray as they are called.
Blessings,
Sara+
From 8/19: What do we value?
I had a wonderful vacation, but after settling in a little it's nice to be back. We spent the first week camping in North Conway and visiting friends in Montreal, and then went with them to Isle La Motte, Vermont, where we rented a house for 2 weeks. Being away, I was very aware of my relationship to technology. You could get wireless internet from across the street if you sat on the front porch of the house, and our iphones kept us connected (though very, very slowly) to the newspaper and our home email. So I was, comparatively, untethered. It took a while, though-the first week of vacation I was constantly posting on Facebook-Adah eats sand! Isaiah manages not to break an arm on the swing set! The sunset is beautiful! (somehow everything on Facebook seems to need exclamation points). By the end, I'd cut back-but couldn't resist putting up a picture of the Lake Chaplain duct tape boat races (it's what it sounds like-boats, made of duct tape, piloted mostly by teenagers).
I thought about it a lot--in one way, how nice to be able to share; my mother, visiting her sister in Sweden, could see what we were doing in New Hampshire. At the same time, when someone responds, you're back to the device; looking at what clever thing someone else has posted in response to your cleverness. Kind of narcissistic. My pile of books reflected my uneasiness.
My first read was Hamlet's Blackberry. Unfortunately, the title turned out to be more clever then the book, which was pretty superficial. I liked the historical perspective, though-it's about how innovation has challenged, and helped, human flourishing over the years. And every time, the next big thing is touted as the means to a good life, and every time, people get panicked about how technology is changing them. The early Greeks were stressed out about writing the same way many of us get stressed out over email. Same for the printing press, same for the erasable "tables" people used to jot down notes (Hamlet's device, of the title). Another book, along the same theme of discontent with contemporary frenzy, was lent to me by Gene Burkart: Helena Norberg-Hodge's Ancient Futures: Learning from Ladakh. Applying 16 years of living in Ladakh, she writes about what happened to the "Little Tibet" region of northern India when international development set in. A formerly placid, contented society became infected with acquisitiveness, insecurity, etc. It was published almost 20 years ago so I would be interested in a second edition!
Though I turned to both books out of the same impulse--a kind of questioning of contemporary technological society--their underlying approaches couldn't be more different. In the one, technology comes out the victor--we just have to learn to manage it rather than being managed by it. In the other, technology was the problem, pretty much from start to finish ("human scaled" projects, however, like solar ovens were cool). Both, though, offered a vision of an alternative--the Ladakh book, certainly more so-that another way is possible.
It all comes back to the essential question: what do we value? How do we create, to totally contort a phrase from Dorothy Day, a life in which it is easier to do what we really want? What disciplines can we adopt and what choices can we make to encourage us to remember what it was that we really wanted?
I need church for that--and I'm glad to be back.
Blessings,
Sara+
I thought about it a lot--in one way, how nice to be able to share; my mother, visiting her sister in Sweden, could see what we were doing in New Hampshire. At the same time, when someone responds, you're back to the device; looking at what clever thing someone else has posted in response to your cleverness. Kind of narcissistic. My pile of books reflected my uneasiness.
My first read was Hamlet's Blackberry. Unfortunately, the title turned out to be more clever then the book, which was pretty superficial. I liked the historical perspective, though-it's about how innovation has challenged, and helped, human flourishing over the years. And every time, the next big thing is touted as the means to a good life, and every time, people get panicked about how technology is changing them. The early Greeks were stressed out about writing the same way many of us get stressed out over email. Same for the printing press, same for the erasable "tables" people used to jot down notes (Hamlet's device, of the title). Another book, along the same theme of discontent with contemporary frenzy, was lent to me by Gene Burkart: Helena Norberg-Hodge's Ancient Futures: Learning from Ladakh. Applying 16 years of living in Ladakh, she writes about what happened to the "Little Tibet" region of northern India when international development set in. A formerly placid, contented society became infected with acquisitiveness, insecurity, etc. It was published almost 20 years ago so I would be interested in a second edition!
Though I turned to both books out of the same impulse--a kind of questioning of contemporary technological society--their underlying approaches couldn't be more different. In the one, technology comes out the victor--we just have to learn to manage it rather than being managed by it. In the other, technology was the problem, pretty much from start to finish ("human scaled" projects, however, like solar ovens were cool). Both, though, offered a vision of an alternative--the Ladakh book, certainly more so-that another way is possible.
It all comes back to the essential question: what do we value? How do we create, to totally contort a phrase from Dorothy Day, a life in which it is easier to do what we really want? What disciplines can we adopt and what choices can we make to encourage us to remember what it was that we really wanted?
I need church for that--and I'm glad to be back.
Blessings,
Sara+
Thursday, July 22, 2010
Summer's Theme: Youth and Young Adults
This week, I'm trying to tie up all my loose ends before my vacation starts on Monday. I've been struck recently about how the theme for this summer at Christ Church seems to be youth and young adults:
We hosted New England Climate Summer last week (last week's e crier post was about them--if you missed it, you can see it on the blog).
We worked at B Safe last Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday:
B Safe is the Episcopal urban day camp we've volunteered with for several years. This year, we added an extra day, helping for 3 days instead of 2 as we have in the past. In sponsoring days at B Safe, we are responsible for providing lunch and paying for a Friday field trip. As one of the kids said to Bill on Wednesday, "You're the guy with the good sandwiches!" --chicken salad, not just tuna! Christ Church has been very generous with donations--about $525 gathered so far--but we are still $164.00 short of covering the cost, so if you have funds to spare, we are still collecting. Special thanks to Bill Fowler for organizing us, and to everyone who made lunches and came to Houghton's Pond and St Augustine and St Martin's in Roxbury.
We have been getting ready to (hopefully) host an intern from the Micah Project:
Rev Christine Nakyeyune, the pastor of St Peter's, and I have been interviewing candidates for an intern position as part of the diocesan Micah Project program. If we are matched with the right person, an intern for 30 hours per week will work with Christ Church and St Peter's to facilitate our joint work, and also help out in each individual congregation. The selection process is, in the end, up to the director of the Micah Project, but I am hopeful that we'll have a person work with us. They'd be here September 2010-July 2011.
This week we are work site for young people from Rediscovery, Inc:
Rediscovery is a local non profit that serves those who are "aging out" of the foster care system. Working with ages 16-24, they help provide resources for children to gain leadership, employment, and life skills. Rediscovery has an impressive record of success. 72% of youth have either received a high school diploma or GED or are on track to do so before leaving their care, compared with 33% average among all youth aging out of foster care. The Rediscovery program we're involved in is a grant they received for summer jobs; for an eight week period, crews of workers go from site to site helping out in the community (at no cost to the host). Here at Christ Church, they painted our bike rack (by the way--thanks to Plug & Play for donating it, and Ken Johnson for delivery) and put a coat of waterproofing on the handicap ramp. They also painted the downstairs back hallway for us, and are now working on the entry way and stairs down to Lower Fales Hall and the Grandma's Panty area. We are thankful for Rediscovery's work with these young people, and thankful that we can benefit from their hard work! Thanks to Warren Barret, Peter Lobo and Jonathan Duce for their support of this project as well.
Our confirmation students' book drive just wrapped up, and our partnership with Children of Incarcerated Parents is beginning with our drive for school supplies. So many thanks to those who have, and will, donate!
I am so proud of how we have been able to open our building, and ourselves, to the needs and gifts of the community around us. Every summer, I think, "Maybe it will slow down this year..." and it never quite does. Thanks be to God!
Blessings,
Sara+
We hosted New England Climate Summer last week (last week's e crier post was about them--if you missed it, you can see it on the blog).
We worked at B Safe last Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday:
B Safe is the Episcopal urban day camp we've volunteered with for several years. This year, we added an extra day, helping for 3 days instead of 2 as we have in the past. In sponsoring days at B Safe, we are responsible for providing lunch and paying for a Friday field trip. As one of the kids said to Bill on Wednesday, "You're the guy with the good sandwiches!" --chicken salad, not just tuna! Christ Church has been very generous with donations--about $525 gathered so far--but we are still $164.00 short of covering the cost, so if you have funds to spare, we are still collecting. Special thanks to Bill Fowler for organizing us, and to everyone who made lunches and came to Houghton's Pond and St Augustine and St Martin's in Roxbury.
We have been getting ready to (hopefully) host an intern from the Micah Project:
Rev Christine Nakyeyune, the pastor of St Peter's, and I have been interviewing candidates for an intern position as part of the diocesan Micah Project program. If we are matched with the right person, an intern for 30 hours per week will work with Christ Church and St Peter's to facilitate our joint work, and also help out in each individual congregation. The selection process is, in the end, up to the director of the Micah Project, but I am hopeful that we'll have a person work with us. They'd be here September 2010-July 2011.
This week we are work site for young people from Rediscovery, Inc:
Rediscovery is a local non profit that serves those who are "aging out" of the foster care system. Working with ages 16-24, they help provide resources for children to gain leadership, employment, and life skills. Rediscovery has an impressive record of success. 72% of youth have either received a high school diploma or GED or are on track to do so before leaving their care, compared with 33% average among all youth aging out of foster care. The Rediscovery program we're involved in is a grant they received for summer jobs; for an eight week period, crews of workers go from site to site helping out in the community (at no cost to the host). Here at Christ Church, they painted our bike rack (by the way--thanks to Plug & Play for donating it, and Ken Johnson for delivery) and put a coat of waterproofing on the handicap ramp. They also painted the downstairs back hallway for us, and are now working on the entry way and stairs down to Lower Fales Hall and the Grandma's Panty area. We are thankful for Rediscovery's work with these young people, and thankful that we can benefit from their hard work! Thanks to Warren Barret, Peter Lobo and Jonathan Duce for their support of this project as well.
Our confirmation students' book drive just wrapped up, and our partnership with Children of Incarcerated Parents is beginning with our drive for school supplies. So many thanks to those who have, and will, donate!
I am so proud of how we have been able to open our building, and ourselves, to the needs and gifts of the community around us. Every summer, I think, "Maybe it will slow down this year..." and it never quite does. Thanks be to God!
Blessings,
Sara+
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